Got myself a USB powered UV light. It came with a few tubes of solder mask:
I’m gonna keep this in my booth where it will be used. Don’t want to use it anywhere near where I keep my UV solder mask because I don’t want to accidentally cure it!
This morning I was fooling with cables for my Xbox. I want to make some breakout boards with controllers and front-panel buttons and LEDs that I can install in my bench and simply plug in when I’m working on a board.
I had a play with what I had in stock and built the cable you can see below. In the bottom of the frame is the Xbox controller connectors for two controllers, and in the top of the frame is my 10 pin JST PHD connector which I wired up just to make sure I had the right components and everything was working.
It works, but I used 22 AWG gauge wire where I probably want 24 or 26 AWG instead, so I ordered some of that on AliExpress.
I also swung by Digi-Key and stocked up on JST PHD connectors. On an Xbox motherboard (I’ve only checked v1.6 so far, I’m just getting started) you will find a 10 pin JST PHD connector for the front LEDs and power/eject buttons, two 12 pin JST PHD connectors for the controllers, and a 14 pin JST PHD connector for the DVD ROM. I got all such things:
And because I seriously lack restraint I purchased a shitload of every type of USB Type A Female connector I could find on AliExpress:
Also I’ve set up some storage so I can work on multiple OGXbox projects at the same time:
I’ve installed my two new microscopes, the TOMLOV DM602 Pro which arrived today, and the Yizhan Microscope which arrived yesterday.
Using my new 8K 5-in 1-out HDMI 2.1 Switch I can put either of the microscopes on the top display. I can also put the Rigol MSO5074 scope and an Xbox on the top display. There is one spare HDMI port which is on the front of the device which I can use for ad hoc purposes.
Before the HDMI switch output runs into the top display (a Teac TV) it runs through a 4K Audio Video Capture Device which allows me to record the output for inclusion in my videos.
Well. Turns out you can only chain up to five USB hubs. I know, because I tried to chain six. I feel like this is a life accomplishment, and it should unlock a secret level or something. After finding this limitation myself, ChatGPT confirmed it.
An interesting write up concerning a shanzhai knock off: Anatomy of a cheap USB to Ethernet adapter.
So today I found this Xbox USB Device Compatibility List. Gonna get myself an old 2GB iPod Nano for the task!
I found some info on how mass storage devices are operated over USB:
I believe the relevant kernel source code is here.
This turned up on HN today: Tomu, a tiny ARM microprocessor which fits in your USB port.
Today via r/programming: How does USB device discovery work?. An interesting video of a dude using his pretty awesome looking oscilliscope…