The Curious Engineer

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Matt's Tech Pages

mattmillman.com

ElectronicsRetro computingEmbedded / microcontrollersAudio / hi-fi

’15’20’25
Posts
108 from 30 Apr 2014 to 24 Sep 2026
Posting
now and then (1 in the last year)
Kind
personal blog
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https://www.mattmillman.com/feed/

2026 1

  1. Announcing Alarm Home Server – Reverse engineered backend for legacy/orphaned Climax (Yale and other) alarm systems

2024 1

  1. 50Ω Carrier for TV IF SAW filters

2023 7

  1. Blasted fake CA3080’s AGAIN
  2. Not much happening here lately…
  3. A fully functioning copy of HI-TECH C for 8051 XA (finally) surfaces
  4. Dealing with Altera MAX7000/MAX7000E devices in legacy designs
  5. OCuLink/U.2 to PCIe x4 adapter design files released
  6. Reviving an ST M48Z35 battery backed RAM chip
  7. Agilent ESG E4433B – Baseband Generator Repair (UND)

2022 22

  1. New TMS2716 capable version of 2708/MCM6876x shield added
  2. BPROM (Bipolar PROM) / PAL Programming (service)
  3. A quick look at some pattern generators (PM5631/PM5644)
  4. 2-Wire LED Christmas light controller project added
  5. Repairing a Dell U3011 with a faulty backlight
  6. Recreating a PM5688’s TDA1541A based Audio Output assembly
  7. NICAM II: BBC Engineering opens the archives, shows us some vintage kit
  8. Lost a Tektronix GPIB screw?
  9. Bode Plotting audio filters with a function generator, a benchtop DMM, and some extra software
  10. TCA240: Modulation with an ancient chip
  11. Demystifying a (mysterious) Philips OQ0702P Double Balanced Mixer
  12. Remembering NICAM Part 3: Philips PM5688 Test receiver teardown
  13. Remembering NICAM Part 2: Recreating a PAL-I signal, and receiving it with something fancy
  14. Remembering NICAM Part 1: Broadcast equipment teardown
  15. 1701 EPROM free to a good home
  16. Can a Xenon flash damage electronics?
  17. “HV” (High voltage) UPDI programming adapter for the Atmel-ICE
  18. Squeezing a few extra volts from a Dell N870P-S0 (NPS-885AB) power supply
  19. Agilent 8753ES Repair Part 3 – A21 Test Port Coupler
  20. Agilent 8753ES Repair Part 2 – A24 Transfer Switch
  21. Acquisition (and repair) of an Agilent 8753 ES
  22. Adding a DC input to a UHF masthead amplifier (and reverse engineering it in the process)

2021 13

  1. Rolling your own PCIe Bifurcation riser
  2. Ho Ho Ho… Why can’t my sodding LED Christmas lights just glow?
  3. Hacking Thunderbolt Part 2: Retrofitting PCI Hot-Plug to the UEFI
  4. A quick look at a short (and shady) Thunderbolt extension cable
  5. DS28E17 Breakout Boards
  6. Intel 8755/8755A programming adapter added to HVEPROM project
  7. Through-hole solution for XBee SX modules
  8. Creating a 1-wire bus ambient light sensor with the DS28E17 and VEML7700
  9. Why do we call these “DuPont” connectors?
  10. Why I don’t ‘do’ Arduino
  11. Soldering QFNs using solder paste and stencils
  12. New (old) project added – intelligent fan speed controller
  13. Controlling a Honeywell BDR91 boiler relay with an RFBee or HGI80

2020 22

  1. mattmillman.com on IPv6 once again
  2. Motor over-current/torque detection and limiting circuits
  3. Matt takes delivery of an MDPC-X “CTX3” crimp tool
  4. MCS-48: The quest for 16-bit division on the 8-bit CPU which can’t divide anything
  5. MDPC CTX3: A load of doubtful marketing bollocks lands on my crimp connectors page
  6. An easy to build MCS-48 programmer, and something to use it for
  7. IWISS SN-025: Another “DuPont” crimp tool lands
  8. A new budget “DuPont” crimp tool is bought to my attention
  9. Crimp tools and connectors page updated
  10. Another one of Matt’s over engineered 1702A programmers is born
  11. So… are those Amazon sourced £20 drill batteries any good then?
  12. Making some proper capstans for QIC tape drives
  13. Attaching a 5¼” floppy drive to a laptop, that wasn’t designed to have one attached to it
  14. I have some EPROMs, from Russia
  15. Reviving a QIC tape backup solution from 30 years ago
  16. ROM Adapter for running ‘B’ firmware on a Keithley 2001 with a pre Rev-K digital PCB
  17. Attaching LTO Tape drives via USB or Thunderbolt
  18. Windows command line management tool for LTFS
  19. Specialty Electrical Tapes
  20. Keysight parts division: Clearly not profitable
  21. Restoring a thrashed Plextor PX-40TSi SCSI CD-ROM Drive
  22. A look at a vintage Sony CD Burner

2019 11

  1. New project published – low cost ultra high output variable DC power supply
  2. A quick look at the Keithley 2380 DC Electronic Load
  3. Retrofitting a Bosco IXO cordless screwdriver with a USB-C charger connector
  4. Fixing a Sony KDL-40W5810 with a “14 blink” error code
  5. Does the Dell Latitude M.2 WWAN socket have the SATA interface on it?
  6. Those Thunderbolt to PCIe boards which shouldn’t exist, but do
  7. Two Arduino shields for programming ancient EPROMs
  8. Silencing a Cisco 2951 (for where ever silence may be required)
  9. AMP RJ45 vs WE/SS (Regular) RJ45 Plugs
  10. OMG. It’s a UK (BS1363) Piggyback Plug
  11. Remembering the PDL 40A Interrupted phase tap-on plug

2018 4

  1. Building your own pulse dial to tone dial converter for vintage telephones
  2. A crash course in using GPO telephones in the modern world
  3. A circuit for generating 100 Hz or 1 KHz square wave signals
  4. Silencing a Cisco 2911 router for home use

2017 7

  1. MC34063: A tough lesson
  2. An easy way to mount DS18B20 temperature sensors
  3. ROVAEdit Readme published
  4. A simple low battery detection circuit with hysteresis
  5. Making use of recycled Xilinx XC9500 CPLDs
  6. Converting an IBM PC 5150 “Model A” black 115V power supply to 230V
  7. Building an AT2XTKB (AT to XT) keyboard adapter on prototype board

2016 2

  1. Getting rid of that darn Device Information dialogue in Xeltek’s SuperPro programmer software
  2. 6Gb/s SATA 3.0 over eSATApd (12V/5V) cables

2015 11

  1. Configuring a Cisco 877 for IPv6 on Snap/2Degrees
  2. Connecting an HD44780 based character LCD to an Intel style bus
  3. 8OD CPLD Top level schematic
  4. 8OD.1 Board: Mea Culpa
  5. ROVATool 2.0 released
  6. Wire to board connector info
  7. ROVATools v1.2 released
  8. Mystery character problem solved
  9. Back to the Logic Analyser
  10. Running 8OD with the Arduino ethernet shield
  11. 8 months later, 8OD prototypes finally completed

2014 7

  1. Acquisition of an Agilent 16702B
  2. Auto power on after AC loss mechanism for PC mainboards
  3. TDSScreenCap – A utility to take screen grabs from the serial port of a TDS3000 series
  4. Added review for B.NTA92C LCD Controller
  5. Reviews for D.I.Y. LCD Controllers
  6. Announcing ROVA Tools – Alternative programmer, and editor for ROVA Family of Realtek LCD Controllers.
  7. tech.mattmillman.com updated…