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Microcontrollers like those of the ATmega-based Arduino family are well-suited to a variety of tasks, but their limited memory and slow processing speed relative to a traditional CPU make them ill-suited for general purpose computing. Ill-suited, but not incapable - as demonstrated by Hackaday user Gilchrist and his incredible PIP Arduino Web Browser. As the name suggests, it's a fully-functional web browser implemented on an Arduino Uno with a joystick as input and a serial peripheral interface (SPI) 320x240 colour display as its output. Crazy, perhaps, but here at oomlout we're all too pleased to see people treading the...

Our friend Saar Drimer at UK-based circuit design specialist Boldport has announced the latest release of the company's open-source PCB design software. PCBmodE 3.0 is a considerable upgrade from its predecessors, which Boldport has been using internally to create some of the most attractive fusions of art and engineering we've ever seen. The Python-based software takes JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) files as its input and turns them into a scalable vector graphic (SVG), which is then translated into Gerber and Excellon files suitable for commercial production on any scale. While it's not the most beginner-friendly of tools, it's well...

We're big fans of building your own tools to solve a particular problem rather than reaching for an off-the-shelf solution, and we're hardly alone. The OpenBuilds website is filled with users who design and build everything from hand tools to laser cutters, and user Mohsen Abbasi recently published a neat little creation of his own: a portable hot-wire cutter for foam. Using some wood, wire, a spring and a lithium-polymer battery, Mohsen's creation allows him to quickly cut and shape modelling foam for a radio controlled boat he is building at a fraction of the cost of an off-the-shelf mains-tethered...

Creating designs for use with laser cutters isn't like creating designs for traditional printing. One of the key differences is the need to use vector lines, rather than raster bitmaps, to ensure a rapid and smooth cut. Josh Reuss of design marketplace Ponoko has recently published a public-domain stroke-only typeface specifically designed for laser etch work. Consisting of nothing more than grouped lines - so each letter needs to be positioned by hand - the typeface is readable down to just 1mm, which is great for projects with more compact layouts. The free file contains the entire alphabet plus punctuations,...

  Here at oomlout, we're lucky to work in lovely industrial premises with plenty of room for all our toys and no noise-sensitive neighbours. For a lot of makers the home has to double as a workshop, and that puts something of a damper on what equipment can be used and when. Petteri Aimonen's solution for using his CNC router in his apartment, spotted on Hackaday, is particularly neat: an attractive MDF cabinet with some clever design features, including a temperature-based cut-off and a door that lays flat for easy access to the innards - not to mention the upholstered...