Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes
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buspirate.bsky.social
Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes
@buspirate.bsky.social
1.3K followers 45 following 640 posts
Ian@dangerousprototypes. Slacker hacker, Instructable author, Hack a Day writer, Purveyor of hardware at Dangerous Prototypes and DirtyPCBs. Organizer of Hacker Camp Shenzhen. I made pink capacitors once too. We're also on: @[email protected]
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buspirate.bsky.social
Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes @buspirate.bsky.social · Nov 12
Great to see so many friends joining :) I'm Ian at Dangerous Prototypes. We make the Bus Pirate, an open source hardware debug tool. We also do stupid manufacturing tricks like anodizing capacitors, dying ABS plastic, and custom scratch n' sniff stickers. Here's a podcast I did in the spring:
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buspirate.bsky.social
Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes @buspirate.bsky.social · 3d
Thank you! Will do this tomorrow!
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Reposted by Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes
Robert Lipe @robertlipe.bsky.social · 3d
Ian, to your GPS resource, please consider adding the cross-platform, free, and open-source GPSBabel. CLI and GUI. Twenty four years & counting. It can reduce, interpolate, toss out junk, etc.

Coming soon (merged to Git): Kalman filter

www.gpsbabel.org Specfically
www.gpsbabel.org/htmldoc-deve...
GPSBabel: convert, upload, download data from GPS and Map programs
www.gpsbabel.org
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buspirate.bsky.social
Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes @buspirate.bsky.social · 3d
It's my first real dive into GNSS and it's all a bit overwhelming :) I have had a lot of fun though. The next module to arrive is a big upgrade and I'm excited to see how it does.
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buspirate.bsky.social
Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes @buspirate.bsky.social · 3d
Anyone going to 39C3 in Hamburg this December? It's my first, and I hope we get a chance to meet up if you'll be there too!
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buspirate.bsky.social
Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes @buspirate.bsky.social · 4d
Get one here: tinyurl.com/mu99kr29
DirtyPCBs.com
tinyurl.com
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buspirate.bsky.social
Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes @buspirate.bsky.social · 4d
A huge thanks to everyone in the forum for testing all the connectors! Read about the design here: tinyurl.com/nhdacemz
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buspirate.bsky.social
Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes @buspirate.bsky.social · 4d
New I2C quick connect adapter plank! One board to rule them all - supports Qwiic, Stemma (3P/4P/QT), Grove, Gravity, and Breakout Garden connectors. Quick prototyping with the Bus Pirate and your favorite solder-free ecosystem.
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buspirate.bsky.social
Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes @buspirate.bsky.social · 5d
New tutorial: Learn NMEA GPS modules with the Bus Pirate! Connect any GPS module via UART, decode NMEA sentences in real-time, and extract coordinates/satellite data. Includes a full teardown of common NMEA sentences. docs.buspirate.com/docs/devices...
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buspirate.bsky.social
Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes @buspirate.bsky.social · 6d
The Bus Pirate has a NMEA GPS decoder built into the UART mode, and the latest firmware includes a new release of the MINMEA library: tinyurl.com/3yfy3b49
Command Reference
To run this asciicast without javascript, use asciinema play /sizzle/sizzle-cast.json with Asciinema The Bus Pirate is a versatile debugging and development tool for working with various communicatio...
tinyurl.com
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buspirate.bsky.social
Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes @buspirate.bsky.social · 6d
Also thought it would be fun to check out multiple frequency GPS antennas as an alternative to the typical ceramic block. It's a lot easier to debug GPS on my work bench with one of these in the window, highly recommended.
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buspirate.bsky.social
Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes @buspirate.bsky.social · 6d
Time to upgrade a 10-year-old GPS! New modules track all 4 GNSS systems (GPS/BeiDuo/GLONASS/Galileo) for faster locks & better accuracy. Ublox NEO-M9N ($10) is common and solid, but the ZhongKeWei ATGM336H-F8N76 ($6.50) is cheaper with more frequencies/satellites. Any other recs?
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buspirate.bsky.social
Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes @buspirate.bsky.social · 7d
The latest Bus Pirate firmware has a usbpd command to probe and trigger USB C power delivery. Select a fixed voltage profile, or specify a voltage if PPS is supported. We used a generic AP33772S breakout board for development, but a Bus Pirate USB PD plank prototype is in the works.
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buspirate.bsky.social
Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes @buspirate.bsky.social · 10d
Follow alone as we develop a USB PD adapter plank and Bus Pirate firmware support in the forum: forum.buspirate.com/t/ap33772sdk...
AP33772SDKZ USB-C Power delivery management
Actually I think it was something else. I had to move all the print functions to the local file or they just didn’t get run. Not sure what is going on, but I wanted to customize them anyways so it mak...
forum.buspirate.com
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buspirate.bsky.social
Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes @buspirate.bsky.social · 10d
A single Samsung phone charger label matches the PD profile: with two fixed (5/9v) and 2 adjustable (3.3-5.9v, 3.3-11v) outputs. What do you think is going on? My wild guess is that the insides of the chargers evolve faster than the injection molded/silkscreened enclosure.
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buspirate.bsky.social
Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes @buspirate.bsky.social · 10d
My favorite charger from Taobao lists all the fixed voltage nodes (5/9/12/15/20) and a single adjustable 3.3-11v output. Once again, the PD offers an unlabeled option: 3.3-16v adjustable output.
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buspirate.bsky.social
Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes @buspirate.bsky.social · 10d
This $12 "emergency" charger from the supermarket checkout lists 5/9/12/15/20volt fixed output. However, the PD offers two additional adjustable output profiles: 3.3-5.9v and 3.3-11v. Another bonus!
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buspirate.bsky.social
Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes @buspirate.bsky.social · 10d
USB-C PD enables fast charging with fixed & programmable voltage outputs. Using Bus Pirate + AP33772S, I found charger labels don't always match actual PD profiles. This laptop charger lists 5/9/15/20V, but also supports 3.3-21V programmable output—unlabeled. More below..
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buspirate.bsky.social
Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes @buspirate.bsky.social · 11d
Check out the full demo: docs.buspirate.com/docs/devices...
DDR5 SDRAM module I2C
DDR SDRAM modules are the memory sticks used in computers and laptops. DDR modules have a small EEPROM chip programmed with Serial Presence Detect (SPD) data. Motherboards use SPD data to configure DD...
docs.buspirate.com
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buspirate.bsky.social
Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes @buspirate.bsky.social · 11d
In addition to EEPROM memory, the SPD has a 9/10/11/12-bit temperature sensor and temp management features. I show how to read the sensor registers and convert it to degrees Celsius.
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buspirate.bsky.social
Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes @buspirate.bsky.social · 11d
SPD sits on an I2C bus - scanning for devices we find two sets of addresses. The first is the PMIC, the other is the SPD. The EEPROM is divided into 8 pages of 128 bytes. I change pages with a register write in legacy mode, though an updated 2 byte address mode is available.
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buspirate.bsky.social
Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes @buspirate.bsky.social · 11d
DDR5 RAM Serial Presence Detect chips tell a computer about the RAM specs. It has 1024 bytes of EEPROM storage, temperature monitoring, and pass-through access to a Power Management IC (PMIC). I wrote a very hands on low-level demo on how to access the chip using a Bus Pirate
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Reposted by Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes
oldmattyb.bsky.social
OldMattyB @oldmattyb.bsky.social · 12d
I love the expandability of the Bus Pirate. Fully open source with a great community, it's easy to add new functionality to interface to different hardware and busses.
buspirate.bsky.social Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes @buspirate.bsky.social · 12d
It took 3 revisions to get right, but the DDR5 RAM SPD adapter is now available. Use with the Bus Pirate to read and write DDR5 SPD EEPROMs. HSA pin is grounded so blocks can be unlocked (offline mode). UDIMM (desktop) and SODIMM (laptop) supported.
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buspirate.bsky.social
Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes @buspirate.bsky.social · 12d
Get it: tinyurl.com/y4rhb29t Read about the design: tinyurl.com/2rtc9hsy
DirtyPCBs.com
tinyurl.com
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buspirate.bsky.social
Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes @buspirate.bsky.social · 12d
Use the Bus Pirate `ddr5` command to read, write, unlock, and hack DDR5 SPD contents. Find extended profiles and other hidden data in the unused EEPROM blocks.
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buspirate.bsky.social
Ian @ Dangerous Prototypes @buspirate.bsky.social · 12d
It took 3 revisions to get right, but the DDR5 RAM SPD adapter is now available. Use with the Bus Pirate to read and write DDR5 SPD EEPROMs. HSA pin is grounded so blocks can be unlocked (offline mode). UDIMM (desktop) and SODIMM (laptop) supported.
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