Getting started with GNU Guix June 21, 2015 Previously I wrote about how using GNU Guix in an HPC environment enables easy software deployment for multiple users with different needs when it comes to application and library versions. Although Guix comes with an excellent manual which is also available online , some people may want to have just some simple installation instructions in one place and…
GNU Guix in an HPC environment April 17, 2015 I spend my daytime hours as a system administrator at a research institute in a heterogeneous computing environment. We have two big compute clusters (one on CentOS the other on Ubuntu) with about 100 nodes each and dozens of custom GNU/Linux workstations. A common task for me is to ensure the users can run their bioinformatics software, both on their…
Upgrading the TEK's firmware on GNU/Linux November 23, 2014 I’m using the Truly Ergonomic Keyboard (model 209) for most of my typing, because it’s a pretty comfortable keyboard (when it works). One of the greatest features of this keyboard is that the layout can be customised and flashed to the hardware with a firmware upgrade. Unfortunately, the application used to flash the firmware is only…
Disassembling the Wavedrum firmware September 18, 2014 The Wavedrum’s processing unit is an ADSP-21375 by Analog Devices, a member of the SHARC processor family. The firmware of the Wavedrum, which is stored on a micro SD-card and, more importantly, on the flash memory chip is loaded into the processor during the boot process. Last time I confirmed by tracing the connections of the two boot pins…
Connectors on the Wavedrum's circuit board December 9, 2013 On the circuit board of the Wavedrum there are solder holes to accomodate three large connectors. Since they are so easily accessible and thus very inviting to anyone interested in modifying the instrument, I decided to trace each of the pins to its destination. The three connectors are named CN10, CN11, and CN12, respectively. CN10 is…
Firmware comparison between Wavedrums Original, Black and Oriental October 31, 2013 Since my first post on hacking the Wavedrum two fellow musicians have sent me copies of the contents of their Wavedrum instruments, so I now have the data for the original silver issue, the black re-issue and the Oriental. The differences between the data from the silver and the data from the black Wavedrum are…
Cover of Stevie Wonder's “Superstition” October 26, 2013 Here is my almost-finished cover of Stevie Wonder’s Superstition . The drum sounds come from a single Wavedrum track; I played the Wavedrum with hands only (no sticks). What sounds a bit like hi hats is really the snare of the snare drum sound, played with the fingertips. The patch consists of a velocity-sensitive snare drum and…
How to create an encrypted file container with dm-crypt October 1, 2013 Here are some instructions on how to create an encrypted filesystem on a file. Create an empty file with the size of your container. Here I’ll use a 100MB container. The file is created with dd which reads chunks from an input device and writes the contents to a file or another device. dd if=/dev/zero bs=1M count=100…
Hacking the Wavedrum August 11, 2013 The Wavedrum Oriental is a wonderful electronic instrument. Unlike an electronic drum set or drum machines with touch sensitive pads, this drum synthesizer’s sensors don’t merely trigger samples. The sensors rather behave like microphones or the pickup in an electric guitar; the signals of the four sensors—one sensor for the drum head, one sensor on the left…
A look inside the Kobo Touch July 25, 2013 The e-ink screen of my Kobo Touch ebook reader broke, probably because it didn’t like being bent regularly. It was a little over a year old when it happened, way too soon to give up on it, so I decided to take it apart and replace the screen if possible. If you want to open any device that is held together by plastic parts with teeny plastic flaps that…