A Paintball Turret Controlled Via Xbox Controller

Video games, movies, and modern militaries are all full of robotic gun turrets that allow for remotely-controlled carnage. [Paul Junkin] decided to build his own, albeit in a less-destructive paint-hurling fashion.

The turret sits upon a lazy susan bearing mounted atop a aluminium extrusion frame. A large gear is mounted to the bearing allowing the turret to pan when driven by a stepper motor. A pair of pillow block bearings hold a horizontal shaft which mounts the two paint markers, which again is controlled by another stepper motor to move in the tilt axis. An ESP32 microcontroller is responsible for running the show, panning and tilting the platform by commanding the large stepper motors. Firing the paintball markers is achieved with solenoids mounted to the triggers, which cycle fast enough to make the semi-auto markers fire in a way that almost feels like full-auto. Commanding the turret is via an Xbox One controller; communicating with the ESP32 over Bluetooth using the BluePad32 library.

It’s worth noting you shouldn’t shoot paintballs at unsuspecting individuals, since they can do extreme amounts of damage to those not wearing the proper protection. We’ve featured a great many other sentry guns over the years, too, like this impressive Portal-themed build. Video after the break.

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hackaday.com/2025/11/04/a-pain…

Print in Place Pump Pushes Limits of Printing

3D printing has taken off into the hands of almost anyone with a knack for wanting something quick and easy. No more messing around with machining or complex assembly. However, with the general hands-off nature of most 3D prints, what could be possible with a little more intervention during the printing process? [Ben] from Designed to Make represents this perfectly with an entire centrifugal pump printed as one.

This project may not entirely fit into the most strict sense of “print in place”; however, the entire pump is printed as one print file. The catch is the steps taken during printing, where a bearing is placed and a couple of filament changes are made to allow dissolvable supports to be printed. Once these supports are dissolved away, the body is coated with epoxy to prevent any leakage.

Testing done by [Ben] showed more than impressive numbers from the experimental device. Compared to previous designs made to test impeller features, the all in one pump could stand its own against in most categories.

If you want to check out the project yourself, check out the Hackaday project here. One of the greatest parts of the open source 3D printing world is the absolute freedom and ingenuity that comes out of it, and this project is no exception. For more innovations, check out this DIY full color 3D printing!

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hackaday.com/2025/11/04/print-…

Droni sull’aeroporto di Bruxelles e sulle basi militari. La sicurezza è a rischio

Martedì sera, a causa della presenza di un drone nello spazio aereo, il controllore del traffico aereo Skeyes ha disposto la sospensione temporanea dei voli in partenza e in arrivo all’aeroporto di Bruxelles, dalle 20:00 alle 21:30.

Successivamente, intorno alle 22:00, sono state ricevute le prime segnalazioni secondo le quali lo spazio aereo è stato nuovamente chiuso.

Diversi aerei stono stati dirottati verso altri aeroporti, come Maastricht e persino l’aeroporto di Schiphol (Amsterdam). È la prima volta che il traffico aereo all’aeroporto di Bruxelles viene interrotto a causa di un drone, ma incidenti simili si sono verificati anche in parti in Europa.

Infatti i droni hanno costretto gli aeroporti di Copenaghen, Oslo e Aalborg a chiudere temporaneamente a settembre, mentre l’aeroporto di Monaco ha dovuto sospendere le operazioni due volte in 24 ore a ottobre.

Gli aerei che non sono riusciti ad atterrare all’aeroporto di Bruxelles sono stati inizialmente dirottati verso l’aeroporto di Liegi, ma anche lì sono stati segnalati droni. I voli diretti a entrambi gli aeroporti sono stati successivamente dirottati verso gli aeroporti di Maastricht e Colonia, secondo l’emittente francese RTBF. “Non ci sono ancora prove di un collegamento tra le segnalazioni di Bruxelles e Liegi”, ha affermato Skeyes.

Dopo una breve riapertura intorno alle 21.30, anche lo spazio aereo sopra l’aeroporto di Liegi è stato nuovamente chiuso in seguito ai nuovi avvistamenti di droni, riporta l’agenzia di stampa Belga. Anche l’organizzazione europea per il controllo del traffico aereo Eurocontrol ha segnalato interruzioni del traffico aereo negli aeroporti regionali di Anversa, Ostenda, Liegi e Charleroi.

I cittadini hanno chiamato la polizia locale, che si è immediatamente recata sul posto ed è riuscita a confermare visivamente la presenza di due droni, ha confermato martedì sera il sindaco Steven Matheï (CD&V) all’agenzia di stampa Belga. I tentativi di intercettare o bloccare i droni sarebbero falliti.

“Non è ancora tutto chiaro, perché il Ministero della Difesa non è stato in grado di rilevare alcun drone. L’elicottero della polizia federale è stato chiamato per rintracciare il velivolo, se necessario”, ha detto Matheï. Non sarebbe stato rilevato nulla nella base aerea stessa.

Lo scorso fine settimana, i droni sono stati avvistati tre volte sopra la base aerea di Kleine-Brogel e di recente sono stati effettuati altri avvistamenti anche sopra altri siti militari.

Lunedì, all’esercito belga è stato ordinato di abbattere i droni che sorvolavano il territorio militare, a condizione che ciò potesse essere fatto in sicurezza: senza danni collaterali, ma questo non è scontato. Inoltre, dato che questi droni sono oggetti piccoli, veloci e molto manovrabili, non c’è alcuna certezza che possano essere colpiti.

Chi o cosa si nasconda dietro i numerosi droni avvistati di recente rimane per il momento poco chiaro. Il Ministro della Difesa Theo Francken (N-VA) ha ipotizzato che la Russia potrebbe essere il colpevole, ma finora non sono state trovate prove a conferma di tale affermazione.

L'articolo Droni sull’aeroporto di Bruxelles e sulle basi militari. La sicurezza è a rischio proviene da Red Hot Cyber.

2025 Component Abuse Challenge: Weigh With A TL074

The late and lamented [Bob Pease] was one of a select band of engineers, each of whose authority in the field of analogue integrated circuit design was at the peak of the art. So when he remarks on something in his books, it’s worth taking notice. It was just such an observation that caught the eye of [Trashtronic]; that the pressure on a precision op-amp from curing resin could be enough to change the device’s offset voltage. Could this property be used for something? The op-amp as a load cell was born!

The result is something of an op-amp torture device, resembling a small weighing machine with a couple of DIP-8 packages bearing the load. Surprisingly modest weights will change the offset voltage, though it was found that the value will drift over time.

This is clearly an experimental project and not a practical load cell, but it captures the essence of the 2025 Component Abuse Challenge of which it forms a part. Finding completely unexpected properties of components doesn’t always have to lead to useful results, and we’re glad someone had done this one just to find out whether or not it works. You still just about have time for an entry yourself if you fancy giving it a go.

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Jenny’s Daily Drivers: ReactOS 0.4.15

When picking operating systems for a closer look here in the Daily Drivers series, the aim has not been to merely pick the next well-known Linux distro off the pile, but to try out the interesting, esoteric or minority OS. The need remains to use it as a daily driver though, so each one we try has to have at least some chance of being a useful everyday environment in which a Hackaday piece could be written. With some of them such as the then-current BSD or Slackware versions we tried for interest’s sake a while back that’s not a surprising achievement, but for the minority operating systems it’s quite a thing. Today’s choice, ReactOS 0.4.15, is among the closest we’ve come so far to that ideal.

For The N’th Time In The Last 20 Years, I download A ReactOS ISO

It’s fair to say there are still a few quirks, but it works.
ReactOS is an open-source clone of a Windows operating system from the early 2000s, having a lot on common with Windows XP. It started in the late 1990s and has slowly progressed ever since, making periodic releases that, bit-by-bit, have grown into a usable whole. I last looked at it for Hackaday with version 0.4.13 in 2020, so have five years made any difference? Time to download that ISO and give it a go.

Installing ReactOS has that bright blue and yellow screen feeling of a Windows install from around the millennium, but I found it to be surprisingly quick and pain free despite a few messages about unidentified hardware. The display driver it chose was a VESA one but since it supported all my monitor’s resolutions and colour depths that’s not the hardship it might once have been.

Once installed, the feeling is completely of a Windows desktop from that era except for the little ReactOS logo on the Start menu. I chose the classic Windows 95 style theme as I never liked the blue of Windows XP. Everything sits where you remember it and has the familiar names, and if you used a Microsoft computer in those days you’re immediately at home. There’s even a web browser, but since it’s the WINE version of Internet Explorer and dates from the Ark, we’re guessing you’ll want to replace it.

Most Of The Old Software You Might Need…

Hello GIMP 2.6, my old friend!
There’s a package manager to download and run open-source software, something which naturally Windows never had. Back in 2020 I found this to be the Achilies’ heel of the OS, with very little able to install and run without crashing, so i was very pleased to note that this situation has changed. Much of the software is out of date due to needing Windows XP compatibility, but I found it to be much more usable and stable. There’s a choice of web browsers but the Firefox and Chromium versions are too old to be useful, but I found its K-Meleon version to be the most recent of the bunch. Adding GIMP to my installed list, I was ready to try this OS as my daily driver.

I am very pleased to report that using K-Meleon and GIMP on ReactOS 0.4.15, I could do my work as a Hackaday writer and editor. This piece was in part written using it, and Hackaday’s WordPress backend is just the same as in Firefox on my everyday Manjaro Linux machine. There however the good news ends, because I’m sorry to report that the experience was at times a little slow and painful. Perhaps that’s the non-up-to-date hardware I’d installed it on, but it’s evident that 2025 tasks are a little taxing for an OS with its roots in 2003. That said it remained a usable experience, and I could just about do my job were I marooned on a desert island with my creaking old laptop and ReactOS.

… And It Works, Too!

So ReactOS 0.4.15 is a palpable hit, an OS that can indeed be a Daily Driver. It’s been a long time, but at last ReactOS seems mature enough to use. I have to admit that I won’t be making the switch though, but who should be thinking about it? I think perhaps back in 2020 I got it right, in suggesting that as a pretty good facsimile of Windows XP it is best thought of as an OS for people who need XP bur for whom the venerable OS is now less convenient. It’s more than just a retrocomputing platform, instead it’s a supported alternative to the abandonware original for anyone with hardware or software from that era which still needs to run. Just like FreeDOS is now the go-to place for people who need DOS, so if they continue on this trajectory, should ReactOS become for those needing a classic Windows. Given the still-installed rump of software and computer controlled machinery which runs XP, that could I think become a really useful niche to occupy.

hackaday.com/2025/11/04/jennys…

Furto del Louvre: Windows 2000 e Windows XP nelle reti oltre che a password banali

I ladri sono entrati attraverso una finestra del secondo piano del Musée du Louvre, ma il museo aveva avuto anche altri problemi oltre alle finestre non protette, secondo un rapporto di audit sulla sicurezza informatica risalente a un decennio fa e ora venuto alla luce.

Sebbene la Ministra della Cultura Rachida Dati abbia affermato che «i sistemi di sicurezza del museo non hanno fallito», tutto suggerisce che si siano comunque verificate alcune violazioni della sicurezza informatica.

Secondo documenti riservati consultati dal quotidiano Libération, nel 2014 bastava digitare “LOUVRE” per accedere al server responsabile della videosorveglianza del museo più famoso della Francia. Oppure digitare “THALES” per avere accesso al software pubblicato dall’omonima azienda.

Queste password, che in gergo tecnico si chiamano “di default” o “predicibili banali”, erano già definite dall’ANSSI (Agenzia nazionale per la sicurezza informatica francese) come un grave rischio. Le stesse segnalavano che «la rete degli uffici del Museo del Louvre include anche sistemi obsoleti» come Windows 2000 — che non garantiva più né il blocco delle sessioni né aggiornamenti antivirus.

L’ANSSI aveva verificato tutto ciò con un audit interno del 2014. Microsoft aveva smesso di fornire aggiornamenti di sicurezza per Windows 2000 già nel luglio 2010. Nell’audit erano contenute raccomandazioni ben precise: usare password più complesse, migrare il software su versioni supportate, correggere le vulnerabilità. Ma il museo non ha risposto se abbia effettivamente seguito queste indicazioni.

Un secondo audit fu condotto nel 2017 dall’INHESJ (Istituto Nazionale di Studi Avanzati sulla Sicurezza e la Giustizia) e rilevò che «alcune postazioni di lavoro hanno sistemi operativi obsoleti (Windows 2000 e Windows XP) che non garantiscono più una sicurezza efficace (nessun aggiornamento antivirus, nessuna password o blocco di sessione…)». Microsoft interruppe il supporto esteso per Windows XP nel 2014.

Vent’anni di debito tecnico hanno gravato pesantemente sulla sicurezza del Louvre, con il continuo accumulo di sistemi di videosorveglianza analogica, videosorveglianza digitale, antintrusione e controllo accessi, alcuni dei quali con server dedicati o applicazioni proprietarie. Alcuni di questi sono diventati obsoleti nel tempo e avrebbero richiesto aggiornamenti o sostituzioni.

L'articolo Furto del Louvre: Windows 2000 e Windows XP nelle reti oltre che a password banali proviene da Red Hot Cyber.