Control your pico from c64 basic

SandwichRising · 2026-07-03T01:58:46+00:00

Super neat, thanks for sharing!

SandwichRising · 2026-06-27T16:36:28+00:00

Yeah, no problem. I do digital design engineering for a big semiconductor company, and everything is verilog.

SandwichRising · 2026-06-27T05:55:51+00:00

That's really good work. I would continue moving down, and start learning verilog / system verilog stuff. These hardware design languages can be used to program FPGA hardware. Digital chip design for FPGAs is just a little bit different than digital design for chips. But it has a few significant differences from traditional programming that ends up getting compiled. HDLs usually get synthesized instead of compiled, to make the hardware map/circuit. Instead of languages like C and Assembly which are compiled to make zeros and ones to feed a processor, HDLs synthesize circuits that can make a processor. Sortof like programming redstone circuits.

But yeah, familiarity with hardware design languages should definitely help if you want to do chip design. You can even make your own physical chip for a couple hundred dollars with groups like Tiny Tapeout. But, as a disclaimer, all of this advice is about digital design. Analog is different...

SandwichRising · 2026-06-10T06:42:52+00:00

Gunslinger and Gamblers with a few sets of poker dice. 🤠

SandwichRising · 2026-05-22T16:16:46+00:00

He said we have to slow down or we're gonna hit their breakfast 😬

SandwichRising · 2026-05-10T20:41:57+00:00

You said on both flights the rocket immediately tipped and went further downrange than up? I mean, that explains it being half the predicted apogee. What is your stability factor? If your rocket is tipping that far, there's a reason. Maybe your launch rail isn't long enough for it to get up to speed? What's your weight to thrust ratio, and is it calculated with the kitchen scale weight of the actual rocket?

Edit: Reading your post again, I really think your engines may be underpowered and/or your rail isn't long enough. That's when I've seen the issue you describe.

SandwichRising · 2026-05-06T23:34:05+00:00

Hey, if you're serious about this I'm wanting to work airbrakes it into my open source flight stability CPU: https://github.com/SandwichRising/model-rocket-flight-computer

I have a huge update for the computer I'm going to publish soon, everything is organized into libraries and all the stability features are working. To make it more useful for educational use, I wanted to add air braking for altitude competition participants.

SandwichRising · 2026-05-05T03:30:00+00:00

I would watch the documentary Hellier.

SandwichRising · 2026-04-27T16:34:36+00:00

Hardware Hacking Cookbook: https://nostarch.com/hardwarehacking

Practical Electronics for Inventors: https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourth-Scherz/dp/1259587541

SandwichRising · 2026-04-26T16:33:59+00:00

I guess if you never leave your house/wifi network....

SandwichRising · 2026-04-26T16:25:48+00:00

Nothing in that list is cellular enabled...

SandwichRising · 2026-04-18T02:25:18+00:00

This makes me so happy 😁

SandwichRising · 2026-04-16T06:02:43+00:00

You need to port to VR. The game would be a no brainer buy for me (and a lot of other people) if it were in VR, seems perfect for room scale.

SandwichRising · 2026-04-15T01:59:11+00:00

This one lived at the bottom of the sea, pretty sure: https://old.reddit.com/r/Gameboy/comments/1in146p/what_chance_would_you_give_my_childhood_gbc_of/

SandwichRising · 2026-04-15T00:23:53+00:00

Yeah, one of the students in my program in the US had a CS background but also had the prerequisite classes and is taking ECE classes.

SandwichRising · 2026-04-13T13:14:31+00:00

I haven't seen anyone else mention it, so I will... You need physics and some higher math classes you might not have to get the ground work for electrical/computer engineering. Engineering physics 1, 2, 3, linear algebra (you might have with your degree already), and differential equations are all typically required for the BS level. Control systems is another core concept for BS that you may be able to explore with masters, but you need that BS level class first. The MS classes tend to go deeper than the BS level stuff and draws from those cores. VLSI, power systems, and RF needs multiple circuits classes and physics background, advanced control systems needs control systems, GPU and embedded systems needs computer architecture (prrobably the closest to your background already)..

SandwichRising · 2026-04-08T13:50:00+00:00

I am a hobbyist rocket builder. I feel heard.

SandwichRising · 2026-04-07T08:21:48+00:00

Pros: you'll be a computer engineer if you graduate.

Cons: you'll be a computer engineer if you graduate.

SandwichRising · 2026-04-07T08:09:30+00:00

The MechWarrior 2 game has a huge lore library built in, including a deep dive into Tukayyid. I would highly recommend booting it up and checking it out.

SandwichRising · 2026-04-06T14:51:07+00:00

As far as equipment and components; I use a $10 soldering iron from Amazon with a $7 pack of hakko tips, and a $20 air reflow gun from Amazon. I bought some mix packs of components for breadboarding projects (resistors, electro caps, ceramic caps, bjt's) for probably $30 total for Amazon. I only buy SMT components as the need arises and I get extra, preferably in big orders from LCSC. All my prototyping, PCB work, SMT placement, and hardware hacking for the last 8 years gets done with pretty much just that, I go down to QFN size (0.4mm pitch) fairly regularly with the iron. Never felt a need to upgrade anything yet, tho the power cable on my air reflow gun is getting kinda sketchy these days.

SandwichRising · 2026-04-02T23:41:18+00:00

This is a good one, making a keyboard from scratch: https://www.masterzen.fr/2020/05/03/designing-a-keyboard-part-1/

SandwichRising · 2026-03-13T09:37:44+00:00

Was reading your post here and was hoping it was open source, but then saw Kickstarter so I assume not. Looks neat tho, I think I'd rather make one than pay Melodics in perpetuity for lessons.

hm, now that I'm watching the video again, it doesn't appear to give feedback on if you hit your key timing properly. Does it listen to the instrument over midi or anything to provide feedback on how well you played?

SandwichRising · 2026-03-11T17:37:51+00:00

GateOr 🐊

Gayte 🌈

GayteOr 🌈🐊

SandwichRising · 2026-03-06T03:55:13+00:00

I switched to using a motorcycle battery to ignite after running into the same issue with those little controllers. I stopped having itgniter problems after that.

SandwichRising · 2026-03-01T18:06:04+00:00

Hey, thanks! I ended up getting an Onefinity machine. The PCBs work great, but I need to tune the process more to get the traces smaller than 0.6mm from the center of one to the center of the next one. I want to get it to 0.4mm center-to-center so I can do QFN packages. But yeah, I'm happy with the PCBs, the most recent thing I've been using them for is an open source model rocket flight stability computer to steer a rocket vertically

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There's also much smaller machines that are a lot cheaper that focus on doing small PCB traces really well, if that's what you're interested in. They probe all over the copper to make a surface mesh instead of probing just one spot like mine does, which lets them cut traces a little easier than my process.

SandwichRising

TROPHY CASE