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Tim's Blog
Personal blog · cpldcpu.wordpress.comhardwareprogramming
Tim's Blog is a personal blog at cpldcpu.wordpress.com about hardware and programming. Since 2014, 30 different Hacker News readers have linked it 38 times, most often “The “terrible” 3 cent MCU – a short survey of sub $0.10 microcontrollers”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-08-28, and you can follow it by feed.
Most-linked posts?
- The “terrible” 3 cent MCU – a short survey of sub $0.10 microcontrollers9 people · 10 mentions · first linked 2019-08-13
- Reverse Engineering a Real Candle5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2016-01-06
- Implementing Neural Networks on a "10-cent" RISC-V MCU3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2024-04-25
- Implementing neural networks on the "3 cent" 8-bit microcontroller2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2024-07-01
- Controlling RGB LEDs with only powerlines: Anatomy of a Christmas light string2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2022-01-23
- General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-01-28
- What made the 1960s CDC6600 supercomputer fast?2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2020-02-15
- A WS2812/Neopixel built from discrete transistors2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-03-21
What Hacker News says?
I feel the same way. Electrics are neat, though - especially if you make your own: https://cpldcpu.wordpress.com/2016/01/05/reverse-engineering... But I just like the 'ambiance' too much. There are always different levels of risk adverseness: if I was considering candles a pollution health hazard I should also stop riding motorcycles, vaping various things, and stop eating like I do...
Comment linking /2016/01/05/reverse-engineering-a-real-candle/
on “Monitoring my home's air quality with AirGradient's DIY sensor”Submitted The “terrible” 3 cent MCU – a short survey of sub $0.10 microcontrollers as a story · 252 points
HN discussionRead the article: > There are rectangular regular areas that look like memory, there is a large area in the center with small random looking structure, looking like synthesized logic and some part that look like hand-crafted analog. And the PIC12 is known to be a source of inspiration for dirt-cheap Chinese microcontrollers, see for example [0]. Hard evidence? No. But if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and…
Comment linking /2019/08/12/the-terrible-3-cent-mcu/
on “General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker”Submitted General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker as a story · 237 points
HN discussionAccording to another article on the authors site, linked from this one, most of these microcontrollers are “write once”: https://cpldcpu.wordpress.com/2019/08/12/the-terrible-3-cent...
Comment linking /2019/08/12/the-terrible-3-cent-mcu/
on “General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker”Submitted What made the 1960s CDC6600 supercomputer fast? as a story · 216 points
HN discussionwe're two orders of magnitude past that stage. a ryzen 7 is ten billion cmos transistors for a hundred dollars, ten nanodollars per transistor. so how much does a minimal computer cost at ten nanodollars per transistor? the intersil im6100 was a pdp-8 cpu in 4000 cmos transistors, and the 6502 was comparable, but that's with no memory other than the cpu registers. for a useful microcontroller you probably need about…
Comment linking /2019/08/12/the-terrible-3-cent-mcu/
on “General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker”Submitted Reverse Engineering a Real Candle as a story · 172 points
HN discussion> I have noted this article for my talk about how CPUs are free. If teeny computers are free, and if I want to re-program them for my own use cases and personal applications, then why do I have to still spend nearly a thousand dollars or two on embedded systems development equipment like microcontroller development boards, JTAGs, ICEs, ROM flashers, UART-based bootloading solutions, and other delicate programming in…
Comment linking /2024/01/14/revisiting-candle-flicker-leds-now-with-integrated-timer/
on “General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker”Submitted Implementing neural networks on the "3 cent" 8-bit microcontroller as a story · 159 points
HN discussionGoing to drop this here: “Reverse engineering” a real candle https://cpldcpu.wordpress.com/2016/01/05/reverse-engineering...
Comment linking /2016/01/05/reverse-engineering-a-real-candle/
on “General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker”Submitted Controlling RGB LEDs with only powerlines: Anatomy of a Christmas light string as a story · 152 points
HN discussionsure! i hope you enjoy it! there was a lot of discussion of them about five years ago: https://jaycarlson.net/2019/09/06/whats-up-with-these-3-cent... https://cpldcpu.wordpress.com/2019/08/12/the-terrible-3-cent...
Comment linking /2019/08/12/the-terrible-3-cent-mcu/
on “The PERQ Computer”Submitted Implementing Neural Networks on a "10-cent" RISC-V MCU as a story · 125 points
HN discussionAs noted in the first post, the Z80 is still much easier to generate code for than the 6502. I see everyone there seems to be referring to free/open-source compilers, but I know of one commercial compiler for Z80 (IAR) whose output is quite good, and I have linked to in this previous comment I made on a different article about Z80 C compilation: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18902501 If one didn't know better…
Comment linking /2019/08/12/the-terrible-3-cent-mcu/
on “Why do C to Z80 compilers produce poor code? (2018)”Submitted Neural Networks (MNIST inference) on the "3-cent" Microcontroller as a story · 47 points
HN discussionUse a neural network to detect numbers? (Well, this runs on a slightly more capable MCU, though) https://cpldcpu.wordpress.com/2024/05/02/machine-learning-mn...
Comment linking /2024/05/02/machine-learning-mnist-inference-on-the-3-cent-microcontroller/
on “Nyquest NY8A051H – 1.5 cent microcontroller: weekend die-shot”Submitted Decapsulating the CH32V203 Reveals a Separate Flash Die as a story · 37 points
HN discussionMake a LED candle? https://cpldcpu.wordpress.com/2019/09/28/a-led-candle-based-...
Comment linking /2019/09/28/a-led-candle-based-on-the-3-cent-mcu/
on “Nyquest NY8A051H – 1.5 cent microcontroller: weekend die-shot”Submitted Implementing Neural Networks on the "10-cent" RISC-V MCU without Multiplier as a story · 5 points
HN discussionIt’s also likely faster to implement as a one-off for a hobbyist and, using a low-cost MCU, cheaper than building it around a $0.10 555 if you want to make a product. https://cpldcpu.wordpress.com/2019/08/12/the-terrible-3-cent...
Comment linking /2019/08/12/the-terrible-3-cent-mcu/
on “A Battery Spot Welder Made from an Old Microwave and Excessive Mahogany [video]”Submitted Controlling RGB LEDs with Only Powerlines: Anatomy of a Christmas Light String as a story · 5 points
HN discussionMy pleasure https://cpldcpu.wordpress.com/2016/01/05/reverse-engineering... (but not my blog)
Comment linking /2016/01/05/reverse-engineering-a-real-candle/
on “One to Zero: 21st century to the Dark Ages”Submitted BitNetMCU: Neural Networks on the "10-cent" RISC-V MCU without Multiplier as a story · 4 points
HN discussionCompletely accurate, particularly around the "don't tell them it's an 8051" clones. I have a friend that used to reverse engineers all sorts of embedded black box products and he's said "when there's no markings or other clues, assume it's some kind of 8051 and see where you get". That might not be as true these days with ubiquitous ARMs and sub 10 cent Chinese/Taiwanese microcontrollers (many apparently PIC12 knock…
Comment linking /2019/08/12/the-terrible-3-cent-mcu/
on “The Microcontroller That Just Won’t Die”Submitted Addressable 7 segment display using a 7 cent microprocessor as a story · 4 points
HN discussionBackground of the 2N709 used in the CDC6600 supercomputer in the 1960s: https://cpldcpu.wordpress.com/2020/02/14/what-made-the-cdc66... https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/digital-logic/12/... The functionally similar NPN switching transistor to the ancient 2N709 is still available. Search for PMBT2369. Acronyms, BJT: Bipolar junction transistor
Comment linking /2020/02/14/what-made-the-cdc6600-fast/
on “How peak compute looked in the 1960s: NXP PMBT2369 supercomputer dieshot”Submitted “Reverse engineering” a real candle as a story · 3 points
HN discussionYou can actually bit-bang low speed USB on Arduino [0]. There is even a bootloader [1] for ATtiny visible to host as HID USB device. It is obviously not compatible with Arduino, but those tiny boards look too cute to ignore [2]. Also, you can use USB port both for downloading firmware and your application. [0] https://github.com/obdev/v-usb [1] https://github.com/micronucleus/micronucleus [2] https://cpldcpu.wordpre…
Comment linking /2014/04/25/the-nanite-85/
on “Building the worlds jankiest serial to USB cable from scavenged parts”Submitted Analysis of the Gen2 Addressable RGB LED Protocol as a story · 2 points
HN discussion
