#I want ohm to keep doing projects and move forward

[incandescentflower]

I have been neck deep in this bbs fic lately and I think the focus has made it harder to watch Kidnap with the open mind in which I intended to watch it.

I just can't help wishing Ohm had an acting match in it, despite telling myself to stop that and just try to enjoy it for what it is, which is absolutely nonsense anyway.

oh well.

[racingtoaredlight]

Acoustics and Electronics

I’ve said this over and over and over again, but it’s the most essential part of music it cannot be emphasized enough.  Music...sound...is a physical being.  It is not something that just gets translated magically from someone’s hands or mouth to your ears.

The biggest impact on the development of modern music...from say the late 40′s to today...hasn’t been anything intellectual, theoretical or artistic.  It’s been the evolution of amplification technology.

Why does an orchestra have 80+ members?  To project that sound from the stage to the farthest reaches of the venue.  But what happens when technological advances allow a single musician to project sound waves with mass and force of an entire orchestra?  What happens when you can broadcast a recording over radio waves or the internet?

All of the sudden, things contract.  And over the past 2/3-century, we’ve seen that contraction come with outrageous velocity.  No longer are we reliant on giant groups of musicians to project sound...and no longer are we reliant on teams of sound and recording engineers to maintain and operate the equipment necessary to project sound.

But as a musician, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to understand the relation between the electric amplification and how it impacts sound waves.

***

TOP AMP (guitar):  Fender Deluxe Reverb, 22w (watts), 1 12″ speaker, 8 ohms.

BOTTOM AMP (bass):  Aguilar Tone Hammer 500, 500w, 1 12″ speaker, 8 ohms.

Which of these two amplifiers would you think is louder in a real-life setting?

***

Lets try an imagination exercise...

I’m sure most of you have at some point fucked around on a musical instrument.  And I’m sure that one of the first things you discovered was that the harder you played, the louder the instrument became.

One of the most fundamental laws in physics is FORCE = MASS X ACCELERATION.  Applied to your hands on a bass, if you just brush the string with your fingertip it will sound much quieter than if you really dug in with all the flesh in your fingertip, yanking the string away from the instrument.

Applied to soundwaves, think of them as boats.

What requires more force to move forward in calm water...a tiny kayak or a giant cargo ship?  Don’t say the kayak because you have to row because I know you want to so bad.  Dicks.  Conversely...what ship would you rather be in when waters get choppy?

The answer isn’t really easy because it’s not an apples to apples comparison.  You’re not asking a kayak to ship multiple containers across an ocean, just like you’re not asking a cargo ship to go white water rafting.  Like the physical world we live in, instruments are designed to fit a specific purpose dictated by the job they’re required to do...

***

Which brings us to our real-life application acoustics...

In earlier posts that touched on acoustics, I mentioned how different types of sound waves react differently when interacting with other sound waves.  It’s the reason why four trumpets can be heard as well as 18 violins.  Horn sound waves are like bulldozers, violins are like serrated knives.  It would take you a lot more effort to cut down a tree with a serrated knife than a bulldozer.

When looking at the guitar and bass though, the sound waves are similar enough that we can focus more on the physical aspect of amplification.  I.e. the force needed to project those sound waves...

Lets suppose that a guitar and bass’ sound waves are sustained for the exact same amount of time.  Now let me ask you an insultingly simple question...which instrument is bigger?

The bass, right?  Yes.  The bass.  And as we know from our study of physics, as the mass of something grows, it’s frequency decreases...you will never find a cargo ship that can accelerate as quickly as a cigarette boat.  It’s not physically possible.

Even when a guitar and bass play the same notes in the same register that overlaps between the two instruments, the frequencies of those notes on the bass will be lower because of increased mass of the instrument itself.  Frequency is determined by the distance between sound waves’ peaks and valleys, not by the speed in which those sound waves oscillate.  If this were the case, that hypothetical note you played really hard above would be a different pitch entirely.

***

Back to the question above about which amplifier is louder in a real-life setting...and gets us into the discussion about electronics.

When played at their optimal volumes, the two amplifiers will be pretty much spot on.  You could quibble and get into the science at a granular level, but in terms of practical application of these amplifiers, they’re close enough for government work.

We have an audience.  The bass and guitar needs to be equalized in terms of volume.  So then how could an amp that delivers 22w of power be the same as one with 500w?

The acoustic answer is that guitar’s sound waves have less mass but more acceleration.  The bass has more mass and its sound waves need more acceleration in order to keep up with the guitar.  Simplified, those watts are accelerating the vibrations picked up by the guitar’s/bass’ magnetic pickups.

Now lets get even more confusing...

***

*DISCLAIMER:  I am not an electrician, have only a very basic, practical understanding of this shit as to how it applies to actual playing...so if I’m wrong on some stuff, feel free to correct.

Both amps had an impedance of 8 ohms.  Ohms are a measure of resistance to an electric current...meaning if your amplifier (home stereo, guitar/bass, PA, whatever) is sending out a signal to a single 8 ohm speaker, it will encounter 8 ohms of resistance.

In real-world terms, what this means is that the wattage rating on those amplifiers with 8 ohm speakers is effectively cut in half.  It would be about a 15w rating for the Fender and a 300w rating for the Aguilar.

The more speakers you add, the more resistance you should experience...but it’s not that simple.  Say we add another 12″ speaker to either amp...if we wire it in series (amp > speaker 1 > speaker 2), the resistance is doubled because that single current gets 8 ohm of impedance from the first speaker, and then 8 more ohm from the second.

But if we wire in parallel, where the amplifier sends a signal to each speaker individually, you can use the full output of the amplifier (assuming it’s rated at 4 ohm max).

Why is this important?  For one extremely simple reason...

Say you send 4 ohm of signal to an 8 ohm speaker using that bass amp rated at 500w.  Your single 12″ speaker might have a max load of 400w...at 8 ohms it’s only getting about 300w, definitely safe for the speaker.  But what happens if you send all 500 of those roided up at 4 ohm watts to an 8 ohm speaker...

It’s too much current for the speaker to handle.  It might not happen immediately (though your shitty sound would certainly be noticeable), but at some point in the very near future (i.e. that same day), your speaker will blow.  This might come as a surprise to some of you, but it’s really hard to project sound waves when your speaker is smoking.

***

This is getting really long so I’ll try to finish it up quickly...

That picture at the top of the page?  The wall of Marshall amps?  Very useful in the days of antiquated PA systems and sound engineers figuring shit out on the fly.  In today’s world?  Vanity.

I know that he’s not a favorite of many here in the comments, but look at Trey Anastasio’s setup.  Ignoring personal preferences, Phish routinely plays in front of 25,000+ people, in venues ranging from outdoor festivals to giant indoor arenas to historic clubs...and he doesn’t need anything more than a single 2x12 speaker combo.  For awhile, he only had two of those 1x12 Fender Deluxe Reverb amps...which was beyond adequate for a place the size of Madison Square Garden.

Contrast that with Yngwie Malmsteen’s wall of Marshalls playing a 5,000 seat theater.

You needed amplification like that back in the day to project sound in massive stadium or arena concerts/festivals.  But in today’s era of mega efficient PA systems and automated sound engineering software, they’re pointless.  Today’s PA systems will project equalized sound with far greater fidelity, consistency and portability than any rig a musician could haul.

I go “direct in” on every single gig we play and use my tiny amp as a stage monitor so the band can hear me.  We use the Bose Stick PA for every gig that doesn’t have a PA system, and we did an outdoor show for 500+ people with power to spare.  This whole PA system takes 3 minutes to tear down and weighs probably 40 lbs total.

More importantly it takes all the guesswork out of having to get bass amps.  Given the venues and band formats we play in, I’d need probably 3 different speaker configurations to get the same consistency that simply going directly into the Bose Stick gives me every single time.

It saves musicians money (from having to buy equipment), time (from having to set up equipment) and headaches (from having to think about equipment).  Looking at those Marshall stacks again, do you realize how expensive that would be to transport, set up and, shit, BUY?  You’d have to hire multiple people who’s job it was simply to schlep that shit around.

And why?  Not for any sound benefit.  Not for anything functional or to account for the basic laws of physics.  Simply for vanity.

***

I think my point ultimately was “know your shit” but I dunno.  I just find this shit fascinating.

[chinxino5-blog]

It’s A Package Deal - Seven

They passed no other cars and didn’t slow for another five minutes. Five long minutes of Bryce’s pale face and Ohm’s white knuckles.

Their car zoomed through countryside, paddock after paddock, field after field. They pulled further and further away from civilisation; crossing bridges and cutting through segments of foliage for thirty seconds before leaping out into open early morning and the eyes of nocturnal creatures. Ohm didn’t say a word, and barely moved other than easing the wheel from side to side to keep them on the road and travelling smoothly, but quickly. His knuckles were losing feeling with how tightly he squeezed the leather and he felt as though his bones were made of metal.

Bryce gawked out the windshield, shoulders back and body completely locked up. He had given up on his seatbelt, hand tightly wrapped around the handle on the door and the other gripping the edge of his seat.

Ohm threw a look over his shoulder. Still not being followed.

Bryce steadied his breathing, lungs feeling frozen inside his ribcage. Even in the mild comfort of the car, the breath that left his lips curled in trails of steam – as did Ohm’s. He was shaking violently, even as he began regaining control over his breathing. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t determine whether it was the cold or the fear that still rattled him in his seat, icy fingers pressing lines down his legs, down his arms, down his back; leaving goose bumps in their trail. He was freezing, and terrified, and settled with both being the cause of his twitching and shuddering.

Their speed had put them a fair distance from anywhere and Bryce breathed an inaudible sigh of relief as Ohm eased his foot back a tiny bit. Ohm couldn’t unclench his hands from the wheel though, nor could he relax back in his seat. Still, the slightly lower speed allowed Bryce’s form to soften. He warily glanced at the driver.

He killed someone

Ohm didn’t look at the blonde, only just able to see the road ahead of them. He’d definitely seen cattle and sheep and hitting any animals while running from police would not make the morning any better. Bryce was slightly surprised by his words, as he watched the bearded man’s shoulders slowly lower as he straightened his back. “Are you hurt?” His voice uncoiled from within his throat, husky and strained as though speaking would alert the whole world to where they were.

Bryce shook his head, eyes big as he swung his unfocused attention back to the road ahead. He glanced back at the shattered windshield and bit the inside of his cheek. “We need to get another car.”

The older man paid no mind to his words, pulling left down another road before turning slightly in his chair to glance back and forth between the road and Bryce. After a few seconds of examining the clear road, he caught Bryce’s eyes for a long few moments and studied him. The swirling silver in his gaze still showed the distrust and caution, but the way his brows pinched and the way his lip quirked expressed only confusion. “You didn’t run.”

Blue eyes blinked in surprise. He hadn’t expected to hear those three words. He hadn’t expected to be questioned for staying. Thinking about it for half a second, he wondered why he hadn’t already questioned himself. He had had the perfect opportunity to make a break for it. “I didn’t?” His voice betrayed the lack of understanding he had for his own actions.

Ohm’s frown deepened before he reluctantly turned back to the empty road. “Why didn’t you?” The distrust from his voice dissipated slightly, mostly leaving behind an unsure confusion that wished to be explained.

Bryce tried to think. Why didn’t he run? It was a fair question – had he gone to the officers the moment Ohm went to reception, the hitman would likely be in cuffs and he’d be on his way back to New York, back to Ralph. So why did he feel so anxious about getting away? “You would have shot me.” His crappy cover up excuse didn’t flow just as nicely as he wished it too, and Ohm would have had to been dead stupid to not see how badly the blonde was lying. He didn’t know why he didn’t run. He would have taken the chance whether it risked getting shot or not… so why didn’t he?

Ohm didn’t believe Bryce for a second. He knew the man was likely to take freedom with a bullet wound if necessary. Still, it didn’t explain why he stayed. He threw an unsure side glance at the blonde. A part of his mind told him to stay wary, to always be aware of an underlying plan. A bluff. A plot to gain his trust and use it against him. But the confused thought written all over Bryce’s face told him he knew just about as much about why he stayed as Ohm did.

The two sat in mildly uncomfortable silence, nothing else to say to each other. ..

Bryce stared out the window, watching the moonlit paddocks swim by. His vision blurred as he thought. These days it was all he did really. Think, think, think. He was growing bored of it – wanting to do something rather than sit in the car, sit in a motel, sit in the car, listen to music, think, draw, think, drive, think. All he did was think.

He wished over and over again to be back in college, sitting in quiet rows and listening to some old lecturer read lines from his laptop. He didn’t have to think back then. He didn’t have to stress, or worry, or overthink every word he let leave his mouth. He just had to listen to someone else’s words and the tapping of laptop keyboards, and write down exactly what was said.

It was simple.

Thinking wasn’t simple. Trying to decode Ohm wasn’t simple. Trying to decode himself wasn’t simple. It was difficult. Impossibly hard. Why didn’t he run, why didn’t he say anything, why did he listen? Usually one has reasons behind their ideas. They do things for profit – emotionally, physically or mentally. They do things because it benefits them.

How did staying benefit Bryce? It didn’t. He wished he was anywhere but there. He wished he was home. He wished he was safe with his boyfriend. He wished he was young again, maybe sixteen, when he didn’t know what politics were, and what the news said, and how horrible the world could be. He wished he was blissfully ignorant to everything his past day had been.

So why did he stay.

Why, why, why?

It didn’t make sense.

Bryce was deep in his thinking as they drove, and Ohm tried not to look at him. He kept his eyes forward, his posture straight and mind jumping from topic to topic. Driving, haircut, LA, Bryce- no. LA, home, forest, money, missions, Bryce, smuggling, murder, hitman, LA, gangs, Bryce.

He stopped himself from slamming his head down on the steering wheel and sighed heavily. Bryce didn’t acknowledge him, he didn’t acknowledge Bryce. He focussed on the moonlit road and the moonlit paddocks and the sleeping cattle that didn’t even shift from their beds of grass as they tore down long winding road, after long winding road.

No police cars chased and found them. Nothing changed. And when the sun finally woke, it illuminated their pale faces, and heavy eye bags. It spared a few seconds glance at their pursed lips and blank stares before looking away as they disappeared back into the forest-like land Bryce had awoken to twenty-four hours earlier.

He grimaced when he felt relief wash over him at being once again consumed by the foliage where the sun could ignore their bullet-riddled car. He didn’t like the way he felt comfortable hidden away from prying eyes. He didn’t like the way he felt comfortable just with him and the hitman beside him.

He didn’t like it.

Anxiety was coursing through him with the dying adrenaline. Doubt about himself, about his thoughts, about Ohm, about their trip. He wanted to go, he wanted to stay. He didn’t want to get hurt.

He had to do something.

The silence was too thick in the car. He felt like he couldn’t breathe as it swelled like heat. He had to break it. He say something or make a sound.

“Can I please put on music,” he whispered. His voice was gentle, and shaking in his throat. He sounded timid and terrified and could feel panic bubbling up in his chest like some sort of kid’s science project. He couldn’t keep it down and it was about to come out in a scream.

Ohm threw him a glance, taking in his clenched fists and pursed lips. He recognised his wide eyes, staring straight ahead and the word “no” was silenced by, “Yeah, as long as it isn’t shit.”

The blonde tried not to look at him as he plugged in his iPod, and ignored the amount of time it took him to press shuffle before the car began playing quiet music to them. Ohm watched Bryce unnoticed as the blonde’s form relaxed slightly, his jaw relaxing and fingers loosening. He slowly, slowly, eased back in his chair and his features softened ever-so-slightly.

Grey examined blue. They tried to pick him apart and understand him inside and out. They tried to seek out his thoughts and figure out why he acted the way he did. They tried, and failed, as blue eyes closed. Grey returned to blackness of the early morning.

Bryce let his head tip back, breathing in deep through his nose as he opened his fists and intertwined his fingers together to stop himself from shaking. He focused on the music. Just the music. Not the image of the officer falling to the asphalt. Not the officer’s expression of slack startle that melted on his face. Definitely not the blood spatter carved into the inside of his eyelids.

He focused on the music. He focused on the two voices blending together, one feminine, one masculine. He watched the voices dance in his head, overriding the sight of murder and replacing it with pretty sounds and colours that the voices formed.

Ohm had to stop himself from glancing at the blonde. He didn’t want to be caught staring, or repetitively shooting him curious looks. It was probably intimidating and he didn’t feel too up to scaring him again. Bryce had seen him kill someone. He’d seen a man be shot right before his eyes. He’d seen how dangerous Ohm really was, how much damage he could really deal, how much damage he was willing to deal. He had seen the ruthless nature that controlled him and the thoughtless act of murder he’d done so many times.

It was weird to think about. He wasn’t worried, nor did he really care much at all about what the younger man thought. If anything, he was just curious. He hadn’t stayed with anyone in years. He hadn’t made friends, or been with family, or even made any social interaction at all other than business deals. Anyone who did witness what he did, how he worked, didn’t live much longer.

He didn’t think Bryce would either.

But there was at least another two or three days spent with the guy and he was suddenly very aware of how Bryce looked at him. Oddly enough, he wanted Bryce to look at him, even for just a moment, so he could look into his baby blues and see what they saw. He wanted to know the emotion now printed within them whenever they looked at him. Was it disgust? Amplified fear? Worry, anxiety, paranoia?

He was curious.

But Bryce likely wanted to be anywhere near the guy, so he settled down, turned the music up a few numbers and set his gaze straight ahead. He’d let the man sleep and relax while he could.

He only let himself wonder for a moment why he even cared that the Bryce got to rest. Such a wonder was stupid, as he told himself, for the only thing he cared about was the sweet, sweet silence allowing him to think and drive and think some more without annoying questions and odd looks.

First: Prologue

Previous: Six

Next: Eight

ao3: here

By the wayyy, I’m Australian so I’m sorry if I mess up placement in the car because in my head the driver is on the right side of the car. I know that’s different probably for most reading this and the actual setting so I’m sorry if I confuse anyone, it shouldn’t be too bad though <3

Let me know what you guys think! 

gi

[deborahringgold]

This is your SolarWakeup for April 1st, 2020

Market Data. Yesterday I joined Roth capital to talk about the survey results, which you can see for yourself by going here after you participate. I am glad to see that this platform has been helpful to others in making business decisions, moving forward with their business plans and getting through the pandemic. We will do this again in a few weeks, with the intention to track the depth and duration of the slowdown as governments continue to work through their local plans. Please pass the survey along your network and it is important to participate each week, I promise we will stop doing this when we are back to normal. Link SolarAPP Is Rolling. I caught up with Birchy from OpenSolar (ex Sungevity CEO), who’s been championing SolarAPP for the past 2 years, as the solution to reduce solar costs in the US.  Following up from my editorial on Friday that we need SolarAPP faster given that many solar jobs are on hold or stalled, Birchy shared some positive news.  Work started last week to accelerate the deployment of SolarAPP as a response to COVID driven restrictions in permit approvals.  The SolarAPP consortium is going to expand the pilot to many more communities than planned, to provide a solution for AHJs to approve solar system permits without office based processing.  If systems are installed by accredited installers using certified systems and installing to code, they would be eligible for automated permitting, subject to spot-checking and quality assurance by the AHJ.  In the near-term emails and video call efforts are still necessary to keep projects moving, but the automated permitting tool will be released in beta as a solution for AHJs to grant permits of solar systems in the next few months – and this will be the new nationwide ‘best-practice’ process created by NREL in consultation with the code and safety organizations representing key stakeholders.  NREL has just launched the new solarAPP web page and I encourage you to sign up to stay in touch for this key initiative.  You can stay informed about progress of this project, and register for an up-coming webinar that will discuss how communities can get involved in testing.  Solar installers should encourage their AHJs to attend the webinar as well.  This could be a real solution that can address a critical COVID response needed over the coming months, but also be a path to solving the bigger cost reductions achieved in all other international markets where residential solar installs at under $1.50/W largely due to non-existent soft costs. No-Touch In The Meantime. I am excited and wish that SolarAPP would happen overnight but in the meantime let us help our State associations with information and outreach to AHJs. If you are in California, you can check out the CALSSA AHJ database on their current status, update it if you find different information and educate your teams on this. Then you should participate in and ask your building department contacts to join in a webinar on how building departments can enable no-touch permitting and remote inspections. Tracking Current Permits. It is also time to see this week’s update on permit issuance for solar from across the Country. While the SolarWakeup survey tracks sentiment, sales and business strategy, our friends at Ohm Analytics are doing amazing work (temporarily for free) on showing you permits in major metros. Here’s my takeaway, building departments are either dipping to zero or close to it but then bouncing back, which tells me that they are creating a new process for processing the backlog. I’ll be watching to see what stays at zero and how close to the former average it bounces back to. Payroll Protection. In case you were looking for it, SBA released the draft application for the payroll protection program. Last Word. And now some bittersweet news. Next week will be the last week for the SolarWakeup daily newsletter, at least in this format. After 8 years, I have finally been tapped for a work assignment that doesn’t allow me to continue on. It is with great pleasure that I want to tell you that I’ve been nominated to join the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) as its newest commissioner. More on this soon and I hope you will join me in thanking the community we’ve built together over almost 3,000 newsletters. 

Utility Dive: New Jersey looks to exit PJM capacity market, worried the MOPR will impede its 100% carbon-free goals

Axios: Obama takes shot at Trump over rollback of vehicle emission standards

Politico: McConnell and Pelosi draw coronavirus battle lines

Greentech Media: Sungevity Lays Off 400 Workers Amid Job Warnings for US Solar Industry

Solar Power World: Solaria sues Canadian Solar for stealing shingled module process

Bloomberg: Left-Behind Industries Clamor for Billions in Next Stimulus Bill

Opinion

Reuters: Portugal’s solar energy auction postponed due to coronavirus

Best, Yann

The post This is your SolarWakeup for April 1st, 2020 appeared first on SolarWakeup.com.

from Solar Energy http://www.solarwakeup.com/2020/04/01/this-is-your-solarwakeup-for-october-18th-2019-2-2-2-2-2-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-19/

[terabitweb]

Original Post from Talos Security Author:

By Patrick Mullen.

We want to thank everyone who stopped by the Cisco Talos booth at DEFCON’s Blue Team Village earlier this month. We handed out these badges at our area where we had Snort rules challenges, reverse-Capture the Flag and recruiters ready to answer attendees’ career advice questions.

Unfortunately, there were two bugs in the board as created, which should be expected when it was created in such a short time, but we have a guide for how you can fix these. Once these bugs are fixed, you’ll have a fully functional Digispark clone that can be used for several projects, including impersonating a USB keyboard, as our example sketch does. You can also attach leads to the open jumpers to get full access to all of the pins from the ATtiny85 to drive your own projects.

Power is provided directly by the USB port when used as a USB device, by a USB charger, or via J2 at the top of the board. The center pin is GND, the right pin is for regulated for five volts, or the left pin can handle anywhere from 5V to 20V. During Defcon, we powered it with a nine-volt battery for convenience. The first bug is really easy — diode D1 on the lower right of the board has the line indicating the direction for the cathode on the wrong end due to using a faulty schematic.

The second bug took a bit more creativity to overcome, but the actual assembly isn’t too difficult and makes the build that much more fun. The issue is that the schematic for the USB port was rotated, so we need to tweak the circuit so everything connects to the right place. I think the end result adds character to the badge and is quite effective.

Tools needed:

Small straight slot (flat head) screwdriver

Soldering iron with a small tip

Solder

Small wire cutters

Small needle-nose pliers are helpful

Multimeter, or at least a continuity tester (beeps when two connections are attached)

A magnifying glass can be useful to check your work

Arduino IDE for programming the chip

Parts list:

ATtiny85 w/ Digispark bootloader. Bootloader is needed for programming over USB

8 pin DIP chip holder

5V power regulator

Through-hole mini USB connector

(2) 3.6V zener diodes

(1) Schottky diode

(2) 75 ohm resistors (or 100 ohm or 66.5 ohm as in schematic)

(1) 1.5k ohm resistor

(2) 330 ohm resistors

(2) LEDs

(1) 0.1 uF capacitor

(1) 4.7 uF capacitor

For reference, this is the board schematic. Note this schematic has the diode from USB 5V pin to the 5V rail upside down. The line indicating the cathode should be pointing up toward the 5V rail, not toward the USB port. But other than that, this is the best schematic I’ve found and is released under the creative commons license.

Prepare the board

To rewire the USB port in a way that is easier to build the board, we are going to have to cut one of the lines on the board.  If you want to be fancy, you can do this by drilling through the board, but scratching through the conductor (“line/wire”) with a straight slot screwdriver is more than sufficient.

Be careful to not hit one of the other lines and if you have a continuity tester (or a multimeter set on resistance and verify infinite resistance aka open connection), it’s always good to verify you’ve done so successfully and completely.

The line we want to cut (viewed from the back of the board) starts from the bottom-most connector of the USB jack, but cut it *after* the connection hole, before the ‘T’ junction.  See the photo since I’m not getting paid by the word and don’t want to write a thousand of them.  Note the multimeter is demonstrating there is no connection between the pin on the USB connector and that connection point on the board after our “cut.”

Prepare the USB connector

Thankfully, one of the USB connections is not used and this allows us to modify the jack to get rid of the unused pin and then create a bridge on the board to bring the pin that is used over to the circuit where it was originally supposed to be connected.

To remove the unused pin, flip the USB connector over so the pins are on top and the “open-end” is to the left. The pin you want to remove is the top left one.

I had great success by using the small straight slot screwdriver to bend the pin toward the “back” of the connector (to the right in the photo), then using needle-nose pliers to wiggle it back and forth until it broke off cleanly.

Solder on the USB connector

NOTE: We are going to need to bridge a connector here and to keep everything you need within the kit, we’re going to use part of a lead from one of the components.

Put the USB connector into the holes from the front side of the board and flip the board over.  You can use the power regulator (the black component with the metal fin) to keep the board level while you solder.

Solder the two positioning holes on the left to keep the connector from moving while soldering the pins.

Put one of the legs of the burnt orange / brown capacitor into the hole on the left with the pin sticking through it. Again, a picture helps here. All we are doing here is using a bit of that nice, thin wire from the capacitor to bridge between the two connectors on the left.

Solder all FOUR of the pins from the USB connector. DO NOT SOLDER THE EMPTY HOLE. These pins and these holes are really small.  Now would be a good time to clean your soldering tip and make sure you don’t use too much solder and bridge connections.

Cut the leg that you soldered into the hole about halfway up the leg. You don’t need much of the leg to go through the board when you solder the capacitor into the circuit, and you only need enough to reach to the open connection on the USB port.

Bend the cut leg over to the open connector, lay it across the connector being careful not to short any others, and solder it in place. Using your screwdriver can provide extra leverage and precision to bend the bridge all the way to the board.

Soldering on the “normal parts”

You can now solder on all components except the three diodes. The diodes are the “glass-looking” red things with the black line and the black with silver line component.

Notes for assembly — be aware that some parts are unidirectional.

The LEDs are unidirectional. The long leg goes through the hole with the square contact around it. NOTE: The two LEDs have square contact on opposite sides. 

The yellow capacitor is unidirectional. The long leg goes toward the “+” toward the bottom of the board. The burnt orange/brown capacitor can go in either way. The capacitors are connected in parallel, so it doesn’t matter which goes into the C1 or C2 connection.

R4 and R5, near the power regulator, are 330 ohms. In the kit, they are the fat resistors with orange-orange-brown stripes. Note the gold stripe on the resistors refer to the tolerance/”quality” of the resistor and doesn’t really matter for this circuit.

R3 and R1, the top two resistors below the USB connector, are 75 ohms, with purple-green-black stripes. If your kit does not include these resistors (we bought every 75 ohm resistor at Fry’s in Las Vegas), 100 ohms is a common size that will also work.  

R2, the bottom resistor on the right side, is 1.5k ohms and has brown-green-red stripes. 

The big blue resistors in the kits are not used. They were supposed to be 66.5 ohms. They are 66.5 *thousand* ohms. Oops.

The chip connector has a notch on it that lines up with the break in the silkscreen to the right.  This is used to indicate pin 1 on the chip. Do not have the chip in the socket while soldering it in place. Do not forget to trim the ends of the leads off after soldering.

The power regulator (the black thing with the metal fin) has a line on the board on the left side that indicates where the cooling fin goes. When connecting this component, I find that leaning it to the right when soldering it on will give you a little extra room to bend it over to the left so it’ll lie flat when finished.

Soldering on “funky bits”

Now, we need to reverse the 5V and GND circuits. I think steps 1 and 2 below make more sense if you see what the circuit will look like before reading it, so this is what you should have after step 2:

Take one of the zener diodes (the little glass-looking things with the red underneath and the black stripe).  The black stripe lines up with the stripe on the circuit board printing.  But, because this is the “funky” section, we’re going to connect it “weird.”

Insert the zener diode into the *left* diode slot, U3, but stick it in so it points straight up, with the black line down against the board.

Solder it in the straight-up position.

When you cut the lead on the back of the board, SAVE THE CLIPPING.  We’ll need it in a moment.

Leave the diode in this position for now.

Take the other zener diode, and bend the end with the black stripe as if you were going to mount it normally, but leave the other leg straight.

Insert it into the top connector of U2 (so the stripes match) but angle it to the left so it crosses the U3 silk screening before you solder it on.

You may find that with the other components on the board, and the relative sizes of the wire and the hole, that it’s easier to solder this component from the top if you leave yourself room after the bend.  Cut off the extra in the back of the board and solder from the back for a good connection if necessary.

Bend the loose leg of U2 so it goes around the bottom hole of U3 and across the top of the chip holder.  This is easier with needle-nose pliers.  We will be soldering this leg to the bottom leg of U3, so don’t worry about keeping a distance from the wire.

Connect the zener diodes together

Returning to U3 (the zener diode on the left), bend the remaining wire forward, through the bottom hole for the diode, and solder it into place.  Using needle-nose pliers to make the bend and insertion may make it easier.  Be gentle so you don’t snap the diode in half.  There’s no reason to get this too tight and risk breaking the component.

Solder the bottom leg of U2 to the bent leg of U3. Don’t forget to make sure that U3 is soldered into the board as described in the previous step.

Connect the zener diodes to GND

Solder the leg you removed from U3 into the top connector for D1, with the leg sticking straight up out of the board.  We are going to bend it so we can connect it to the tail of U2 (which has been bent around the bottom wire from U3).

Bend the leg up to meet the long lower leg from U2 and solder them together.  You should now have a connection from the top of D1 to both diodes, at the bottom of U3.

Solder the schottky (black w/ silver stripe) diode

For this one, the silkscreen is backward because the schematic I was using had this diode backward, so ignore the marking on the board. We are using the long legs of this diode to make a long connection to fix the circuit without needing additional wire. With the fix, the proper connection is for the end with the silver stripe to connect to the bottom of D1 and the other end to connect to the bottom of U2.  Feel free to tuck this in as much as you can, but make sure you are clear of any wires touching.  If you’re feeling particularly frisky, you can use the diode itself as an insulator against the connector for U2 that goes around the chip carrier, or some electrical tape.

Insert the chip

There is a little dot on top that indicates pin 1. That goes toward the end of the chip carrier with the indent (to the right of the board).

This is what the completed circuit should look like:

Programming the board

I’m going to outsource the programming of the board now to this YouTube tutorial. Remember, this board uses the ATtiny85 chip and is a Digispark clone. If you have any issues, search for those names online and you should get what you need.

Everywhere the creator of this video says “Digispark board,” hear “Talos Defcon 27 Blue Team Village badge” because they are the same.

Open the Arduino IDE and load the Digispark board managers (1:48 in the video).

Load the drivers (3:54 in the video).  Hopefully, with our board and the bootloader we have installed, this step will be easier for you.  He provides information and links if you have troubles.

Load the Arduino IDE (7:24 in the video).  If you want to do the blink sketch he talks about, you’re welcome to do so.  Or just go right to the excitement and do the next step instead!

Copy and paste this sketch

Now you can upload the program. Don’t forget to unplug the badge (if necessary) and plug it in when the IDE tells you to (as described at 9:07 in the video).

Now that your badge is programmed, you no longer need the Arduino IDE or drivers to control other computers. Just plug it in, wait five seconds while the board initially identifies itself as an Arduino then disconnects and reconnects as a keyboard, and watch it do its thing.  LED1 is a status light as programmed in the sketch — it turns on when it starts typing and turns off when it’s completed all of its commands.

If you want your badge to send different commands, change the lines that call the function type() and tell it to type something else. Please note that these chips have extremely tiny memories and unfortunately the DigiSpark library takes up a lot of room so you don’t have a ton of text you can type, but you do have a fair amount. If you look into trimming the installed size of the code you should be able to get more program onto the chip.

Some other notes on the badge:

If you get female lead connectors and solder them to J1 and J2, you can use the ATtiny85 to do whatever you want, as long as you only need a few data lines and a small memory.  You can, of course, solder to the leads directly if you want, but by putting in female leads you can make a reusable circuit.  Note it is probably not a good idea to drive the data pins however you want while connected to a USB data cord.

J2 is for external power, so you can run the board while not connected to USB.  The middle connector is ground.  The connector on the right is for 5V *only*.  The connector on the left can run 5V-20V DC.

You can also power the circuit using a USB charging cable, but as stated above, it’s not recommended to be connected to the computer USB data port if you’re running a sketch that is not specifically for driving USB data, like a keyboard.

You can program it either through the USB as you did above or by using something like an Arduino UNO as an ISP as described in this video.

If you want to change the bootloader (or if you get a stock ATtiny85 that doesn’t have the boot loader we installed on the ones in the kit), directions are in this video.

We hope to continue and do other badges in the future, hopefully, next time without bugs! We hope everyone had a great time at Hacker Summer Camp and look forward to next year where we’ll have all new challenges, badges and other fun things to poke at.

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Go to Source Author: Talos DEFCON badge build instructions and use Original Post from Talos Security Author: By Patrick Mullen. We want to thank everyone who stopped by the Cisco Talos booth at DEFCON's Blue Team Village earlier this month.