39C3: Recreating Sandstorm

Some synthesizer sounds are just catchy, but some of them are genre-defining. We think you could make that case for the Roland JP-8000 patch “Sandstorm”, which you’ve heard if you listened to any trance from the 90’s, but especially the song that was named after it.

“Sandstorm” is powered by the Roland Supersaw, and synth nerds have argued for a decade about how it’s made. The JP-8000 is a digital synthesizer, though, so it’s just code, run through custom DSP chips. If you could reverse engineer these chips, make a virtual machine, and send them the right program, you could get the sound 100% right. Think MAME but for synthesizers.

That brings us to [giulioz]’s talk at the 39th Chaos Communication Congress, where he dives deep into the custom DSP chip at the heart of the JP-8000. He and his crew had approached older digital synths by decapping and mapping out the logic, as you often do in video game emulation. Here, getting the connections right turned out to be simply too daunting, so he found a simpler device that had a test mode that, combined with knowledge of the chip architecture, helped him to figure out the undocumented DSP chip’s instruction set.

After essentially recreating the datasheet from first principles for a custom chip, [guiloz] and team could finally answer the burning question: “how does the Supersaw work”? The horrifying answer, after all this effort, is that it’s exactly what you’d expect — seven sawtooth waves, slightly detuned, and layered over each other. Just what it sounds like.

The real end result is an emulation that’s every bit (tee-hee!) as good as the original, because it’s been checked out on a logic analyzer. But the real fun is the voyage. Go give the talk a watch.

hackaday.com/2025/12/29/39c3-r…

Different Algorithms Sort Christmas Lights

Sorting algorithms are a common exercise for new programmers, and for good reason: they introduce many programming fundamentals at once, including loops and conditionals, arrays and lists, comparisons, algorithmic complexity, and the tradeoff between correctness and performance. As a fun Christmas project, [Scripsi] set out to implement twelve different sorting algorithms over twelve days, using Christmas lights as the sorting medium.

The lights in use here are strings of WS2812 addressable LED strips, with the program set up to assign random hue values to each of the lights in the string. From there, an RP2040-based platform will step through the array of lights and implement the day’s sorting algorithm of choice. When operating on an element in the array the saturation is turned all the way up, helping to show exactly what it’s doing at any specific time. When the sorting algorithm has finished, the microcontroller randomizes the lights and starts the process all over again.

For each of the twelve days of Christmas [Scripsi] has chosen one of twelve of their favorite sorting algorithms. While there are a few oddballs like Bogosort which is a guess-and-check algorithm that might never sort the lights correctly before the next Christmas (although if you want to try to speed this up you can always try an FPGA), there are also a few favorites and some more esoteric ones as well. It’s a great way to get some visualization of how sorting algorithms work, learn a bit about programming fundamentals, and get in the holiday spirit as well.

hackaday.com/2025/12/29/differ…

Keebin’ with Kristina: the One with the Keyboard-Mouse, Again

The astute among you may remember an earlier version of this Russian beauty, the Lapa, which I featured last year around this time. Creator [lemosbor] claims that the worry was less about visual beauty and more about ergonomics. Way more. Well then, let this serve rather nicely as a textbook definition of that old form-follows-function principle.
The lovely Lapa.
See, [lemosbor] believes that the keyboard must adapt to the hands and not the other way around. The main goals were to minimize hand and finger movement as well as the visual attention required of the keyboard itself. No, there were never going to be any screens or RGB, and there likely never will be.

But I refuse to sidestep the obvious beauty in this keyboard, which from the side resembles a stylish and expensive pair of slightly-heeled shoes that were tailored to the contours of the human hand. And let’s not forget those handmade, oval keycaps, which again are a product of form-follows-function.

Underneath those keycaps are extremely light, tactile switches — Kailh White V2s with 30g springs. Now check this out. Those DIY keycaps weren’t just for added fun, they are very lightweight on purpose. They allow [lemosbor] to type more easily and accurately than on square caps. But they created gaps which showed the switches, and the whole effect was evidently quite ugly. To solve this, [lemosbor] designed the case so that the switches are mounted on the bottom. They nestle completely into switch-shaped crevices, so they are held in place only by friction.
See? Kitten heels.
You might be wondering why the wrist wrests are totally different. I suppose I’ve buried the lede, which is that the right half of Lapa operates as a mouse. Like, you move it around the desk.

As you might imagine, this aspect wasn’t easy to design or execute such that the keyboard doesn’t move around like crazy while you’re trying to type. Basically, the right half is quite light by comparison. The cutouts of the honeycombed wrist wrest save on weight while also improving hand contact.

The thumbstick on the right side is used instead of the cursor keys, which [lemosbor] reports as being very convenient. The left side has a thumb toggle switch for choosing between Russian and English. There’s also a left thumbstick, which [lemosbor] uses to switch between tabs and programs.

But the coolest part might be the solenoid hidden under the left wrist rest. It knocks when switching layers, and does so a certain number of times corresponding to the layer so that [lemosbor] is never lost. Since [lemosbor] doesn’t type much English, the solenoid will constantly tap a little bit in English mode. Now I think that would be really fun to type along to, at least for a little while. Imagine what it could do for your flow state.

Via reddit

Claude Plods Along, Emanating From An Enabled Typewriter

As far as AIs go, I’ve personally only used ChatGPT, and I feel somewhat attached to its response style at this point. Honestly, Claude might be a shock to the system. But what wouldn’t be a shock at all is using a typewriter to interact with either one of them.

Hackaday’s own [Ben James] started with a electronic Brother AX-10, and that’s the important distinction here. This type of machine reads your keystrokes just like a computer keyboard, but it tells the daisy wheel print element how to spin, and the paper whether to go up or down.

Thanks to this operation, [Ben] was able to both intercept key presses and inject them. So you see where this is going. You and Claude take turns typing. If only the keys would phantom-depress, like a player piano.

For both processes, [Ben] used an Arduino Nano, which interfaces with the keyboard matrix through four multiplexers — columns, rows, input, and output. The Arduino is wired to a Raspberry Pi Zero W running a Python script that sends prompts to Claude’s API and gets answers in return. See Claude go in the video below.

youtube.com/embed/x4lFOUZCSg4?…

The Centerfold: E-Waste Vintage Battlestation

Believe it or not, these were mostly all pulled out of the e-waste pile just in time, kind of like Indy and the hat. In fact, rescuing stuff from electronics recycling is [ThisLifeSuckss]’ main hobby. Sounds like fun, if you have the space for all that you find. I myself do not.

Do you rock a sweet set of peripherals on a screamin’ desk pad? Send me a picture along with your handle and all the gory details, and you could be featured here!

Historical Clackers: the (Danish) Junior

As the commonplace name suggests, the Junior is meant as a toy for children. But by the looks of it, this would be a fine machine to add to your late 1940s office lineup.

For one thing, it’s almost all metal except for the wooden platen, two ink rollers made of cotton, and a couple of plastic platen knobs. The Antikey Chop declared it incredibly well-built for a toy, though the design is quite simple, clocking in at just 31 total parts.

Because the Junior was assembled largely by pinning or pressing pieces together, it was completely un-serviceable as disassembly would likely cause irreparable damage.

What you could do was change out the typewheel, which was cast, index and type, from one metal piece. It’s unlikely that non-Danish versions were created, however.

In order to use the thing, you would just spin the wheel until the character you want is in the top dead center position, and push the Space bar. This action caused the entire carriage to pivot an inch forward, and would advance the spring-driven escapement by one increment when it came back to rest.

The Return function involves pivoting the carriage forward and pushing to the right. Aside from this functionality, there’s not much to this typewriter. There’s no bell, no lever for Return, and certainly no line space lever or tab stops. After all, it’s a toy. But it would make one hell of a label maker.

Finally, a Scented Mouse for Heated Gaming Sessions

For some reason, the keyboard is called Marshmallow and not the fluffy white mouse, which is known on the streets as Fragrance Mouse. But I think marshmallow is exactly the scent I would want emanating from beneath my hand. Or maybe a nice, calming lavender, which it actually comes with.

The appeal of the keyboard is supposed to be in the muted, natural colors. Okay. That’s fair. Although it comes in three other colorways, I think this ‘green tea latte’ version takes the petit four.

And no matter which colorway you choose, the typography of the alphanumeric key legends is stunning and highly-readable. The white-on-gray of the modifiers and such is highly lacking in the legibility department, however.

As you might imagine, there’s a little tank inside Fragrance Mouse’s belly where you put the essential oils. But don’t worry about spilling, because there’s a porous insert that absorbs them.

Although they are sold separately, both peripherals are supposed to be office-quiet, with scissor keys on the Marshmallow and quiet switches in the mouse. Fragrance Mouse is weird, but I would go for it if it were a nice, comfortable trackball instead. But this thing isn’t even meant for left-handers. It should be hitting Microcenter soon, but you’ll have to buy the Marshmallow keyboard from ASUS directly.

Got a hot tip that has like, anything to do with keyboards? Help me out by sending in a link or two. Don’t want all the Hackaday scribes to see it? Feel free to email me directly.

hackaday.com/2025/12/29/keebin…

39C3: Hacking Washing Machines

Many of us have them, few of us really hack on them: well, here we’re talking about large home appliances. [Severin von Wnuck-Lipinski] and [Hajo Noerenberg] were both working on washing machines, found each other, and formed a glorious cooperation that ended in the unholy union of German super-brands Miele and B/S/H — a Miele washer remote controlled by Siemens’ web app.

This talk, given at the 39th Chaos Communication Congress (39C3), is about much more than the stunt hack, however. In fact, we covered [Severin]’s work on the very clever, but proprietary, Miele Diagnostic Interface a little while ago. But now, he’s got it fully integrated into his home automation system. It’s a great hack, and you can implement it without even opening the box.

About halfway through the talk, [Hajo] takes over, dissecting the internal D-Bus communication protocol. Here, you have to open up the box, but then you get easy access to everything about the internal state of the machine. And D-Bus seems to be used in a wide range of B/S/H/ home appliances, so this overview should give you footing for your own experimentation on coffee machines or dishwashers as well. Of course, he wires up an ESP32 to the bus, and connects everything, at the lowest level, to his home automation system, but he also went the extra mile and wrote up a software stack to support it.

It’s a great talk, with equal parts humor and heroic hacking. If you’re thinking about expanding out your own home automation setup, or are even just curious about what goes on inside those machines these days, you should absolutely give it a watch.

Editor Note: The “S” is Siemens, which is Hackaday’s parent company’s parent company. Needless to say, they had nothing to do with this work or our reporting on it.

hackaday.com/2025/12/29/39c3-h…

How Wind Nearly Took Down Boulder NTP

NTP is one of the most interesting and important, but all too forgotten, protocols that makes the internet tick. Accurate clock synchronization is required for everything ranging from cryptography to business and science. NTP is closely tied around a handful of atomic clocks, some in orbit on GPS satellites, and some in laboratories. So the near-failure of one such atomic clock sparked a rather large, and nerdy, internet debate.

On December 17, 2025, the Colorado front range experience a massive wind storm. The National Center for Atmospheric Reassure in Boulder recorded gusts in excess of 100 mph (about 85 knots or 160 kph). This storm was a real doozy, but gusts this strong are not unheard of in Boulder either. That is no small reason the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (now the National Laboratory of the Rockies) has a wind turbine testing facility in the neighborhood.

High winds and dry weather make for a particularly bad time.
Winds of this nature would not terribly interesting. However, the wind storm brought with it a particularly dangerous red flag warning outside of Boulder, a first for Colorado. Such high fire danger combined with damaged infrastructure prompted the local utility, Xcel Energy, to shut off power for hundreds of thousands of customers starting on December 17. Power was not regained until December 21 for many customers.

This outage came with all sorts of headaches to research institutions across Colorado. Not least of which was the National Institute of Science Technology’s (NIST) Boulder campus which houses a rather precise atomic clock. Due to predicted failure of NIST’s heat exchange, much of the normal monitoring equipment was unavailable to the scientists, further complicating the situation.

As was designed, once utility power failed, backup generators took over. But as the outage dragged on, indications came to the scientists in charge of the atomic clocks at NIST that one of the generators had failed. This prompted scientists to warn against relying on the Boulder NTP sources. The scientists running the clock feared complete failure of the hydrogen source clocks. Such failure would require a lengthy and complex re-start procedure once power was returned in the long term, and complete failure of a stratum one NTP source in the short term.

Further complicating the already bad situation was the fact that due to the dangers involved, the scientists could not reach the campus. So not only could they not confirm with certainty what issues the clocks may be experiencing, but they were unable to shut down the NTP servers. Fortunately, power was returned and the main source clock only drifted by a few microseconds. This is still far too much drift as would be preferred on a clock normally accurate in the range of nanoseconds, but perfectly usable for NTP which is only accurate to within a few milliseconds.

So this prompts the question, if such a key time source had failed, what would have happened? In short, not much. By nature of being so distributed, most servers have multiple NTP sources, often including GPS satellites. However, there would most certainly be any number of servers without multiple NTP sources configured. Websites hosted on such servers would be rendered inaccessible as HTTPS encryption handshakes require synchronized clocks. TOTP passkeys and FIDO hardware authenticators would likewise be unusable as both protocols rely on accurate time sources. So any two computers would be unable to properly execute protocols requiring synchronized time. Beyond the limited failures outlined above, its difficult to say what more the damage could be, but the effects are unlikely to be terribly dramatic.

If harnessing atoms to tell time sparks your interest, make sure to check out this atomic delay clock next! [Jeff Geerling] also has a nice discussion of this power outage that you might like.

hackaday.com/2025/12/29/how-wi…