Lmst

#Computerhacks

Relays Run This Balanced Ternary Adder https://hackaday.com/2026/03/15/relays-run-this-balanced-ternary-adder/
#Computerhacks #Relay #Relaylogic #Relays #Ternary #Ternarycomputer

Relays Run This Balanced Ternary Adder

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://hackaday.com/2026/03/15/relays-run-this-balanced-ternary-adder/

<div><img alt="" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" height="448" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/7034101773318239327-1-e1773482464342.jpeg?w=800" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" width="800" /></div><p>If you’re at all familiar with digital computing, you’ll know that computers represent everything in binary values of one and zero. Except that’s not technically the only way to do computing! You can use any numerical system you like if you build your hardware to suit, <a href="https://hackaday.io/project/205212-a-balanced-ternary-adder-built-from-relays" target="_blank">as [Jeroen Brinkman’s] ternary adder demonstrates.</a></p>
<p><img alt="" class="alignright wp-image-998768 size-medium" height="400" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/7034101773318239327_9a7735.jpeg?w=165" width="165" /></p>
<p>As you might guess from the prefix, “ternary” refers to a base-3 numerical system. In this case, [Jeroen] implemented a balanced ternary system, which effectively uses values of -, 0, and + instead of just 1 and 0. The adder is built using relay logic, and is designed to handle 4 trits—the ternary equivalent of bits, where each trit can have one of the three aforementioned states. On a hardware level, trit states are represented with voltages of -5, 0, or 5 V in this case, and are handled with special tri-state switching elements that [Jeroen] constructed out of simple SPDT relays.</p>

What is a Computer?

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://hackaday.com/2026/03/14/what-is-a-computer/

<div><img alt="" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" height="484" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/computers.jpg?w=800" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" width="800" /></div><p>On the podcast, [Tom] and I were talking about the new generation of smartphones which are, at least in terms of RAM and CPU speed, on par with a decent laptop computer. If so, why not just add on a screen, keyboard, and mouse and use it as your daily driver? That was the question posed by [ETA Prime] in a <a href="https://hackaday.com/2026/03/11/are-we-finally-at-the-point-where-phones-can-replace-computers/">video essay and attempt to do so</a>.</p>
<p>Our consensus was that it’s the Android operating system holding it back. Some of the applications you might want to run just aren’t there, and on the open side of the world, even more are missing. Is the platform usable if you can’t get the software you need to get your work done?</p>
<p>But that’s just the computer-as-a-tool side of the equation. The other thing a computer is, at least to many of our kind of folk, is a playground. It’s a machine for experimenting with, and for having fun just messing around. Android has become way too polished to have fun, and <a href="https://hackaday.com/2025/08/26/google-will-require-developer-verification-even-for-sideloading/">recent changes on the Google side of things actively prevent you from installing arbitrary software</a>. The <a href="https://hackaday.com/2025

What is a Computer? https://hackaday.com/2026/03/14/what-is-a-computer/
#Computerhacks #HackadayColumns #Rants #Android #Cellphone #Computer #Fun #Newsletter #Smartphone

Running a PC off AA Cells With Buck Converters Really Boosts Performance

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://hackaday.com/2026/03/13/running-a-pc-off-aa-cells-with-buck-converters-really-boosts-performance/

<div><img alt="" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" height="388" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/aa_battery_powered_pc_second_try_scuffedbits_youtube.jpg?w=800" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" width="800" /></div><p>After the previous attempt of running a PC off AA cells got a lot of comments, [ScuffedBits] decided to do the scientifically responsible thing and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjh34YvYS-c" target="_blank">re-ran the experiment</a> with all the peer-reviewed commentary in mind. Although we noted with the <a href="https://hackaday.com/2026/02/28/running-a-desktop-pc-off-aa-alkaline-cells/">previous experiment</a> that only alkaline cells were used, [ScuffedBits] rectified this by stating that both carbon and alkaline AA cells were used the first time around.</p>
<p>For this second experiment a number of changes were made, though still both carbon and alkaline cells were put into the mix. To these a third string was added, consisting of NiMH cells, for a total of 64 cells with each of the three strings outputting around 25 VDC when fully charged. These fed a cheap buck regulator module to generate the 12 VDC for the DC-DC converter on the mainboard’s ATX connector.</p>
<p>Although it appears that the same thin Cat-5e-sourced wiring was used, with the higher voltage this meant a lower current, making it significantly less sketchy. Unlike with the first experiment, this time around the Core i3 530 base

Running a PC off AA Cells With Buck Converters Really Boosts Performance https://hackaday.com/2026/03/13/running-a-pc-off-aa-cells-with-buck-converters-really-boosts-performance/
#Computerhacks #Alkalinecell #Batterypowered

How Would a Field Sequential Home Computer Have Worked? https://hackaday.com/2026/03/12/how-would-a-field-sequential-home-computer-have-worked/
#Computerhacks #Retrocomputing #CBS #Color #Fieldsequential

How Would a Field Sequential Home Computer Have Worked?

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://hackaday.com/2026/03/12/how-would-a-field-sequential-home-computer-have-worked/

<div><img alt="" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" height="450" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/field-sequential-cbs.jpg?w=800" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" width="800" /></div><p>The early history of colour TV had several false starts, of which perhaps one of the most interesting might-have-beens was the CBS field-sequential system. This was a rival to the nascent system which would become NTSC, which instead of encoding red, green, and blue all at once for each pixel, made sequential frames carry them.</p>
<p>The Korean war stopped colour TV development for its duration in the early 1950s, and by the end of hostilities NTSC had matured into what we know today, so field-sequential colour became a historical footnote. But what if it had survived? [Nicole Express] takes into this alternative history, with <a href="https://nicole.express/2026/the-apple-that-wasnt.html" target="_blank">a look at how a field-sequential 8-bit home computer might have worked</a>.</p>
<p>The CBS system had a much higher line frequency in order to squeeze in those extra frames without lowering the overall frame rate, so given the clock speeds of the 8-bit era it rapidly becomes obvious that a field-sequential computer would be restricted to a lower pixel resolution than its NTSC cousin. The fantasy computer discussed leans heavily on the Apple II, and we explore in depth the clock scheme of that machine.</p>
<p>While it would have been possible wit

Building an Analogue Computer to Simulate Neurons

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://hackaday.com/2026/03/08/building-an-analogue-computer-to-simulate-neurons/

<div><img alt="A black circuit board with many colored banana connector plugs in placed on a table. Behind it, two analogue voltage dials stand on either side of an oscilloscope stand. The oscilloscope is a cheap model, with a small LCD display and an exposed red circuit board." class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" height="450" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/analogue_computer.png?w=800" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" width="800" /></div>
<p>The rapidly-improving speed and versatility of digital computers has mostly driven analogue computers out of use in modern systems, as has the relative difficulty of programming an analogue computer. There is a kind of art, though, in weaving together a series of op-amps to perform mathematical calculations; between this, a historical interest in the machines, and their rarity value, it’s no wonder that new analogue computers are being designed even now, such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chYhkQcEVxk" target="_blank">[Markus Bindhammer]’s system</a>.</p>
<p>The computer is built around a combined circuit board and patch panel, based on the designs included in three papers in a <a href="https://www.analogmuseum.org/english/library.html" target="_blank">online library</a> of analogue computer references. The housing around the patch panel took design cues from the Polish AKAT-1 analogue computer, including the two dial voltage indicators and an oscilloscope display, in this case

Building an Analogue Computer to Simulate Neurons https://hackaday.com/2026/03/08/building-an-analogue-computer-to-simulate-neurons/
#Computerhacks #Analog #Analogcomputer #Analogue #Integrator #Patchpanel

LEGO Space Computer Made Full Size, 47 Years On

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://hackaday.com/2026/03/05/lego-space-computer-made-full-size-47-years-on/

LEGO Space Computer Made Full Size, 47 Years On https://hackaday.com/2026/03/05/lego-space-computer-made-full-size-47-years-on/
#Computerhacks #ToyHacks #3Dprintedcase #Casemod #Lego #LEGOspacecomputer #Macmini

Turning a Cast-Iron Radiator into a Water-Cooled PC

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://hackaday.com/2026/03/01/turning-a-cast-iron-radiator-into-a-water-cooled-pc/

<div><img alt="" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" height="463" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/cast-iron_radiator_gaming_pc_billet_labs_youtube.jpg?w=800" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" width="800" /></div><figure class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_921784" style="width: 400px;"><a href="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/cast-iron_radiator_gaming_pc_plumbing_billet_labs_youtube.jpg"><img alt="Bottom of the cast-iron radiator gaming PC during plumbing. (Credit: Billet Labs, YouTube)" class="size-medium wp-image-921784" height="400" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/cast-iron_radiator_gaming_pc_plumbing_billet_labs_youtube.jpg?w=400" width="400" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-921784">Bottom of the cast-iron radiator gaming PC during plumbing. (Credit: Billet Labs, YouTube)</figcaption></figure>
<p>Water-cooled PCs generally have in common that there’s a radiator somewhere in the loop, yet nobody said that you can’t build the PCB into the radiator. Something like a genuine Victorian-era cast-iron radiator, for example. For the folk over at [Billet Labs], this is just your typical project, of course, even if it took a solid <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxtZ9DnQJVk" target="_blank">three months to make it all work</a>.</p>
<p>Their previous project was also a water-cooled PC, but in the form of a <a href="https://hackaday.com/2025/

Turning a Cast-Iron Radiator into a Water-Cooled PC https://hackaday.com/2026/03/01/turning-a-cast-iron-radiator-into-a-water-cooled-pc/
#Computerhacks #Castiron #Radiator #WaterCooling

Running a Desktop PC off AA Alkaline Cells

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://hackaday.com/2026/02/28/running-a-desktop-pc-off-aa-alkaline-cells/

<div><img alt="" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" height="482" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/aa_battery_powered_pc_scuffedbits_youtube.jpg?w=800" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" width="800" /></div><p>Everyone is probably familiar with the concept of battery-powered devices, but generally, this involves a laptop with a beefy battery pack and hardware optimized for low power draw. You could also do the complete opposite and try to run a desktop PC off alkaline AA cells, as [ScuffedBits] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5lskFXDbWs" target="_blank">recently did out of morbid curiosity</a>. Exactly how many alkaline cells does it take to run a desktop PC for any reasonable amount of time?</p>
<p>One nice thing about using batteries with a desktop PC is that you can ditch the entire AC-DC power conversion step and instead use a DC-DC adapter like the well-known PicoATX and its many clones. These just take in 12 VDC and tend to have a fairly wide input voltage range, which is useful when your batteries begin to run out of juice. In this case, just above 10 VDC seemed to be the cut-off point for the used DC-DC adapter.</p>
<p>In the end, [ScuffedBits] used what looks like 56 alkaline AA cells connected in both parallel and series, along with two series-connected 6,800 µF, 40V electrolytic capacitors to buffer the spikes in power demand, after early experiments showed that the cells just cannot provide power that quickly.

Running a Desktop PC off AA Alkaline Cells https://hackaday.com/2026/02/28/running-a-desktop-pc-off-aa-alkaline-cells/
#Computerhacks #AAcell #Batterypowered

Bionode is Hand Truck Transformed into Mobile Computing Lab

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://hackaday.com/2026/02/26/bionode-is-hand-truck-transformed-into-mobile-computing-lab/

<div><img alt="" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" height="450" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Bionode-featured.png?w=800" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" width="800" /></div><p>[Steven K. Roberts] is the original digital nomad, having designed and built mobile computing for his own use since the 80s. His latest project is <a href="https://microship.com/meet-bionode/" target="_blank">Bionode</a>, a portable computing lab built into a hand truck that can accommodate a wide spectrum of needs for a person on the go.</p>
<p>Far more than just a portable computer with wheels and a handle, Bionode is an integrated collection of systems with power management, a sensor suite, multiple computers, NAS for storage, networking, video production tools, and even the ability to be solar charged. [Steven] also uses a laptop, and Bionode complements it by being everything else.</p>
<p>If one truly wishes to be mobile and modular as well as effective, then size and weight begins to be just as important as usability. Everything in Bionode has a purpose, and it currently contains a PC with GPU for local AI and machine learning work, a NAS with 14 TB of storage, an Ubuntu machine, a Raspberry Pi 5 running <a href="https://www.home-assistant.io/" target="_blank">Home Assistant</a>, another Raspberry Pi 5 for development work, a Raspberry Pi 3 for running his 3D printer, and a Raspberry Pi 4 for SDR (software-defined radio) work. A smart KVM means

Bionode is Hand Truck Transformed into Mobile Computing Lab https://hackaday.com/2026/02/26/bionode-is-hand-truck-transformed-into-mobile-computing-lab/
#Computerhacks #Digitalnomad #Diy #Mobilelab

QUOD is a Quake-Like in only 64kB https://hackaday.com/2026/02/23/quod-is-a-quake-like-in-only-64kb/
#Computerhacks #64kb #Codeoptimization #Demo #Firstpersonshooter #Quake

NextSilicon’s Maverick-2: the Future of High-Performance Computing? https://hackaday.com/2026/02/20/nextsilicons-maverick-2-the-future-of-high-performance-computing/
#Computerhacks #Highperformancecomputing #Sandianationallaboratory #Supercomputer

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