CONTENT

This is a non-comprehensive list of projects that may or may not be ever completed by Spacecat Industries.

The projects listed below may be eventually turned into individual pages; each would hopefully end up containing some more-or-less helpful notes and descriptions relevant to what the project was actually about — what was learned and what wasn’t — to serve as a resource for ourselves and others, who may perhaps want to add these bits to their own unfinished project collections.

For now, this shall serve as a to-do-list of pages to write. Entries with existing pages will be eventually crossed off, and the articles will be linked to from here.

Do note that the articles may or may not ever get written; and that the order of all these is rather arbitrary, not meant to show the intended order of completion.

• iCE-DIP
  • A small DIP40 form-factor FPGA board, with Lattice ICE5LP4K FPGA - the one that isn’t supported by the FOSS toolchains. I’ve made it anyway. Might as well document it here.
  • Schematics
  • Lessons learned
    • Rail staging
    • MLCCs appearing shorted
  • Show/describe the initial bring-up jig/process
• WiProg
  • Wireless SPI flash programmer with ESP8266
  • Software for v0
  • Hardware wiring notes - I always forget
    • already mentioned on github page
  • Plans for v1/v2
• “xRisc 3L” Minecraft Computer
  • A computer built over a weekend in ~2013 by me and one Matti Dreef.
  • Absolutely terrible, dog-slow, but functional nonetheless.
  • We’re still proud of getting something like this built by hand anyway.
  • Show some demo programs
  • Describe the architecture
  • Publish the map
  • “Future subproject”: “xRisc 23L” Minecraft Computer Update
    • Let’s see how much better it could be, with a somewhat improved architecture
• Mini-Voltmeter
  • A miniscule panel-mount voltmeter based around a HCMS-2904 display and an ATTINY44A microcontroller.
  • Publish schematics
  • Programming jig notes
  • Finally write some sensible firmware for it
  • Publish said firmware
• AirCat
  • CO2 monitor/data logger
  • Describe stuff
  • Plans for v1/v2
  • Schematic
  • Software for v0
• Document homemade PCB process
  • Photographic process, exposure with UV SLA 3D printer
  • Nothing too out of the ordinary
  • Print file generation
    • Using self-modded UVtools
      • Made before UVtools CLI existed
    • Using “vanilla” UVtools
      • UVtools CLI should work, but appears to be undocumented
      • Figure it out, write some docs!
• QMtech FPGA board things
  • Document their IO/quirks somewhere convenient
    • XC7A75T + SDRAM
    • XC7A100T + DDR3
    • XC7K325T + DDR3
  • Try out the openXC7 tooling
  • Cool IO board from 2019
    • I’ve only built one for myself, but I might as well put the docs somewhere.
    • Schematics
    • IO description
  • Make some more modular boards
    • More QMtech FPGA boards!
    • Some basic IO breakout for prototyping
    • Something for the CCD project?
• Random FPGA notes
  • Timings/sequencers
  • UARTs
  • VGA/display timings
  • Random VGA display cores, bus handshaking stuffs
  • Links to random articles from people who know better
  • Random tooling notes and scripts
    • Mention the TCL scripts from Matti?
  • Link to FPGA stuffs
    • hdl-notebook
    • Switch back to Verilog at some point, OSS tooling is much better there
• Czech aircraft dials
  • I happen to have sourced some old aircraft dials, each with a weird 3-pin interface, supposedly connecting to a pressure transducer/thermometer/somesuch. How do I connect those up?
  • Reverse engineer the electrical interfaces
  • Create some connector drawings
  • Figure out some way to 3D print new connectors, as sourcing the old ones may not quite work…
• BreakFast 2 CPU shenanigans
  • Mostly for posterity. A custom, never-quite-finished 16-bit RISC CPU design.
  • Maybe discuss the instruction set musings in deeper detail someday.
  • Maybe also look into compilers for reals this time?
  • Just repost an updated version of the 2017/03 writeup?
    • De-cringe-ify the language
    • Update specs, the arch has changed a bit since then, too…
• Post something about the SC30 from way back?
  • A bit pointless and uninteresting now…
  • Once used as a school project
  • Only a shitty emulator exists
  • Some unfinished writeup exists (besides the school one, whose sources are now lost)
• CCD shenanigans
  • Using and abusing linear CCD chips!
  • Using the aforementioned iCE-DIP for signal generation
  • Driving CCDs
  • Sequencing stuff
  • Sequencer code for FPGAs
  • A word about ESD sensitivity
  • Actually get the PCBs made >:/
• CCD spectroscope
  • Use the same linear CCDs from the project above!
  • Just add diffraction grating!
    • Link the papers showing how one could make quite a decent one out of a CD/DVD
  • Actually figure out how to do this
  • Measure some random spectra and stuff
• Using Cypress EZ USB FX3 stuff
  • A thing that lets your random FPGAs and things talk USB 3 for all speed and convenience!
  • Devkit acquired
  • Confusing software? Find the firmware sources!
  • Figure out some way of interfacing anything with it
• LOMcat
  • An overly simplistic “Lights-out-manager” for regular PCs
  • Never built one yet, but the PCB was cute.
  • Perhaps this project is to be revisited someday?
• AntiBIOS
  • Turning an old laptop into a server, but it won’t start on its own as it needs to have some keys pressed every power-up?
  • Why not solve this with a hardware keyboard macro thingy?
  • Writing the firmware
  • Get the hardware too
  • Actually a little pointless now… Give up?
• LightMeter
  • This old analog photography is all fun and whatnot, but wouldn’t it be nice to have a flash-shoe-mounted miniature light meter?
  • IMU for image stacking help
  • Describe what this should’ve been
  • Actually finish this someday
• EDtracker
  • A head tracker for Elite Dangerous and other things. Lets you look around the cockpit and all by just tilting your head.
  • I didn’t originally make this; but I’ve built an instance of it myself, and I had to “fix” the firmware to get it to work nowadays.
  • Describe what I’ve done to make it work again
  • Perhaps try converting it into a platformio project, so it’s easier to get working later™
• Custom digital multimeter musings
  • A cool multi-channel modular multimeter mainframe. Portable, low-power, purely awesome.
  • Never got made nor hardware-prototyped; but some research still went into this years ago… (~2017)
  • Describe whatever I can still remember from it.
  • Some musings about the protocol once intended to talk between the modules
• Eagle PCB notes
  • Collect all the useful scripts and things
• SpaceDoc
  • Yet another bloated markdown renderer with plugins for all the random renderers!
  • Should be able to draw WaveDrom, bit-field diagrams, whatever Graphviz stuff… you name it.
  • Overcomplicated bloatware, as expected.
  • Describe what it should do
  • Describe what v0 does
  • Figure out some way to make a v1 that does this better
• HP plotter notes
  • All the useful things to know about HP 7475-like plotters
  • RS232 cabling
  • Handshaking
  • Models for pen holders
  • Describe the “pen force” mod found in my HP 7475
  • Describe HPGL unit differences supposedly found between the HP 7475 and some other HP plotters
• Sharp Pocket PC-E500
  • A cute little pocket computer from the 90s. Hopelessly underpowered, but people have apparently modded the living hell out of them!
  • Collect all the found information
    • Projects using the E500 stuffs
    • XASM - found that in this fun Forth impl for the E500! Someone still maintains it
    • Instruction set reference
    • Manuals
    • More modding info
  • Describe the memory mod found in my E500
  • Finally create that “SERN” card for it, extending the memory and everything.
    • This one was to include some extra RAM and a microcontroller emulating all the peripherals.
• All the random displays!
  • HDSP/HCMS displays
  • DL1414
  • Weird HDSP production runoffs
  • Russian LED displays
  • Russian “alien” EL displays
  • Russian VFDs
  • Dot matrix VFDs
• Aliexpress LCoS micro-projectors
  • I have found and obtained some tiny LCoS projector modules from aliexpress…
  • These have, once upon a time, been used by some small projectors for kids
  • Barely SD resolution, if that.
  • Collect the datasheets/schematics from the seller
  • Test them, see if I can interface them with some FPGA or something
• Tiny XY stages
  • Another Aliexpress find!
  • Reverse-engineer some better specs for these
• Thermal printer stuff
  • We have found some random thermal printers.
  • It might be fun to actually learn to interface one of these.
  • Describe what this one does/measures.
• Fastrax GPS modules
  • Cheaply found, but rather excellent early 2000s-vintage GPS receivers
  • Describe all the known bits found about these
  • Archive the software/docs for these
• Optics notes
• Film process notes
• Camera repair notes
• Switchmode power supplies notes
  • Random notes about SMPS design
  • Collect all the random appnotes
  • Finally design a replacement one for the PM3216 oscilloscope
• Random equipment manuals and similar
  • It might be a good idea to collect all the relevant manuals of the random gear I’ve come across
    • PM3216 and similar
    • Tektronix 453
    • Rigol things
    • Thurlby multimeters
      • ROM dumps
      • Describe the serial port mod
    • Prema IO scanner
    • Time Electronics multimeter
      • ROM dumps
      • Describe the issues
  • Random devkit resources
    • ADuC7061 mini-devkit
    • Aukro-sourced 128x64 LCDs
    • EBAZ4205 FPGA
    • QMtech FPGA boards
    • EZ USB FX3
• Random dental X-ray notes
  • Describe/mirror/clone the info found elsewhere online
    • See gxs700 on github.
  • Actually get some working X-ray setup
• Random engineery/sciencey books
  • Collect all the interesting things to read One Day™
• Early 1970s Japanese calculator stuffs
  • I happen to have obtained a rather old nixie-tubey desktip calculator from Casio. (Casio AS-A)
  • It’s using some early MOS chips, some of them have (partially) bitten the dust.
  • Relay what I can find about them
  • Mention the replacement board for one of the chips
• ITT talking clock chips
  • Apparently there used to be chips for crude voice synthesis for LED clocks back then. (80s?)
  • Describe some random info about those, find datasheets
    • UAA1003 (German datasheet)
• American Optical microscopes
  • I happen to have one now. It might be nice to compile some info about those.
  • There happens to be some fan site about it, link it.
  • Add some info about the infinity-corrected one that I have
  • Mention some info about taking pictures using one
• Projection Design DLP projector hacking
  • Trying to fool a projector into running without its lamp driver and color wheel. How hard can that be?
  • Oh, and it used to be finnicky to start even before I started working on it. Marvelous.
  • Get another one? Maybe one of them won’t suck as badly as this one?
• All the things I wanted to look into One Day™
  • Model aircraft building
  • Music
    • Chiptune stuffs
    • MIDI
    • All the effects
    • All the synths
  • DSP stuffs
    • Filters
    • Z-transform and stuff
    • All the FFT magics
    • Convolution
    • Image filters
  • CAN bus
  • Applied sorcery
    • Vacuum stuff
    • Glass-blowing stuff
    • Semiconductor manufacturey stuff
    • Spin-coating and whatnot
    • Optics, more of it
    • Interferometry
    • Photolithography
    • All the materials science stuffs
  • GPU Shaders and fun
    • Dithering
  • Create some sort of a dependency graph for all these projects
  • Look into ROS/building robots
  • Look into removing bayer filters from camera sensors
• Port over all the forgotten things from BitBucket back onto GitHub
  • There is a number of since-forgotten projects; some of which might still be useful now.
• Some articles from the previous oneday.comesfrom.space:
  • Automagic plant irrigation system
    • this never got built
  • Lab power supply
    • this did get built, but is unstable
  • On-Demand Drink Cooler
    • this never got built
  • Vintage speaking alarm clock
    • mentioned above
  • Small Z80 machine
    • there were several designs, none of which got really built
    • the Z80 still isn’t the best
  • A slightly larger M68000 machine
    • not sure if any designs ever got drawn up for realsies
    • the M68K still isn’t the best
  • A PDP-11 in an oscilloscope
    • Intended to use 1801-series CPUs
    • Intended to be built into an existing PM3216 oscilloscope
    • Never got built yet
  • Thermal printer controller
    • Using some thermal printer module once found in a surplus shop
  • FPGA programming tool
    • See WiProg above.
  • Silly instant camera
    • This was to use a thermal printer to form something even worse than a polaroid.
  • HPGL Plotter Controller
    • Some utility for controlling HP plotters
  • Modular Multichannel Multimeter
    • A portable multimeter, with pluggable modules for volts/amps/whatnot
    • Supposed to have some enhanced programmability, math, power/efficiency measurement, you name it
    • Slightly wide in scope.
  • xVec I
    • A simple vector processor
    • Shelved and forgotten
  • Nixie tube frequency counter
    • Using an existing nixie tube board once salvaged from another frequency counter
    • Meant to use a custom front-end with a prescaler chip
  • Webtastic Decimal clock
    • Decimal time is fun
    • Count time in decimal fractions of a day
    • Supposedly convenient:
      • .1 D is 2.4 hours, or 2 hours and 24 minutes - half of that is roughly an hour
      • .01 D is 14.4 minutes, or 14 minutes and 24 seconds
      • .001 D is 1.44 minutes, or 1 minute and 26.4 seconds - roughly a minute
      • .0001 D is 8.64 seconds
      • .00001 D is .864 seconds - roughly a ‘normal’ second
  • Bubble LED display alarm clock
    • An alarm clock would be handy
    • I happen to have some very nifty oldschool bubble LED displays
    • What could go wrong?
    • Never finished
  • SWAMP Switch-mode amplifier.
    • Some class-D audio amp.
    • Never built
  • MicroTube Amp
    • An audio amp based on some miniature vacuum tubes
    • Never built
  • Smartphone for the 90s
    • Add telephonic capabilities to a Sharp Pocket PC!
    • Meant to connect an off-the-shelf GSM module to the PC-E500
    • Never built
• Time-of-flight cameras
  • Do more with the random MaixSense-A010 camera
  • Look into designing something with the Melexis ones
• Thermal cameras
  • Do more with MLX90640
  • This NodeMCU project works well
    • But not quite well enough. The camera has much higher speed capture options available.
    • There is now a post describing the setup.
  • See what would it take to make it capture stuff at max/tweakable framerate
  • Perhaps finally look into USB and RP2040?
  • Get some better thermal camera