The Commodore 1541 was built to do one job—to save and load data from 5.25″ diskettes. [Commodore History] decided to see whether the drive could be put to other purposes, …read more (https://hackaday.com/2026/01/05/commodore-disk-drive-becomes-general-purpose-computer/)

Putting the M in a UNI-T MSO
https://hackaday.com/2026/01/05/putting-the-m-in-a-uni-t-mso/

[Kerry Wong] points out that the Uni-T MSO oscilloscopes have a logic analyzer built in — that’s the MSO, or Mixed Signal Oscilloscope, part — but you have to add …read more (https://hackaday.com/2026/01/05/putting-the-m-in-a-uni-t-mso/)

Tying up Loose Ends on a Rope-based Robot Actuator
https://hackaday.com/2026/01/05/tying-up-loose-ends-on-a-rope-based-robot-actuator/

One of the perennial challenges of building robots is minimizing the size and weight of drive systems while preserving power. One established way to do this, at least on robots …read more (https://hackaday.com/2026/01/05/tying-up-loose-ends-on-a-rope-based-robot-actuator/)

Close-Up Look Reveals that Raindrops Are More Erosive than Assumed
https://hackaday.com/2026/01/05/close-up-look-reveals-that-raindrops-are-more-erosive-than-assumed/

Whenever it rains, people generally don’t look too closely at what the drops do exactly when they hit a surface. We generally assume that stuff will get wet and depending …read more (https://hackaday.com/2026/01/05/close-up-look-reveals-that-raindrops-are-more-erosive-than-assumed/)

Messing With JPEGs in a Text Editor is Fun and Glitchy
https://hackaday.com/2026/01/05/messing-with-jpegs-in-a-text-editor-is-fun-and-glitchy/

If you’re looking to edit an image, you might open it in Photoshop, GIMP, or even Paint Shop Pro if you’re stuck in 2005. But who needs it — [Patrick …read more (https://hackaday.com/2026/01/05/messing-with-jpegs-in-a-text-editor-is-fun-and-glitchy/)

Powering on a 1985 Photophone CP220 Videoconference System
https://hackaday.com/2026/01/06/powering-on-a-1985-photophone-cp220-videoconference-system/

The concept of remote video calls has been worked on since Bell’s phone company began pitching upgrading from telegrams to real-time voice calls. It wasn’t until the era of digital …read more (https://hackaday.com/2026/01/06/powering-on-a-1985-photophone-cp220-videoconference-system/)

Super Mario 64, Now With Microtransactions
https://hackaday.com/2026/01/06/super-mario-64-now-with-microtransactions/

Besides being a fun way to pass time, video gaming is a surprisingly affordable hobby per unit time. A console or budget PC might only cost a few hundred dollars, …read more (https://hackaday.com/2026/01/06/super-mario-64-now-with-microtransactions/)