$8 tool to fix e-waste?
Lately, I’ve been diving into a project that’s more preparation than execution—honing my skills in anticipation of tackling a repair. A friend of mine has an old network switch that’s seen better days, and we’re gearing up to repair it together. It’s not in my hands just yet, but I’ve been using the time to get familiar with the tools I’ll need. Namely, my trusty $8 logic analyzer from AliExpress.
This tiny device has been my companion as I work on decoding UART and other serial protocols, experimenting with different setups, and learning how to interpret the data streams it captures. It’s been an exercise in patience and precision, capturing signals, deciphering their meaning, and preparing for the diagnostic work to come. Think of it as training for a technical marathon—the kind where every step forward feels like progress, even if the finish line isn’t quite in sight yet.
My friend, who specializes in writing software, brings a very different perspective to the table. He thrives in the abstract world of code, building solutions from scratch in pure logic. I, on the other hand, am a hardware hacker through and through. I write code only when absolutely necessary—Assembly or C++ if I can help it. Recently, I’ve been forcing myself to wrangle with C# for my amateur radio digital mode project. Writing software for a customizable 8x8 pixel art grid that can be transmitted over the air has been... let’s say, humbling. But as with all projects, the challenge is part of the fun.
The network switch project, when it arrives, will be a meeting of minds: his software expertise and my hands-on hardware experience. I can already see how our skills will complement each other, or maybe clash impossibly... For now, though, I’m sharpening my skills, putting the logic analyzer through its paces and building the confidence I’ll need to dive into the real repair.
This kind of preparation reminds me why I love hardware hacking so much. It’s not just about fixing things—it’s about the joy of discovery, the satisfaction of mastering tools, and the promise of learning something new. And with the right tools, a bit of code, and a friend to share the journey, the process itself becomes just as rewarding as the outcome.
It's quite funny, an $8 tool will be used to fix his piece of e-waste that probably cost him about $10 but provide so much valuable service. Reminds me of the first hardware hacky repair I did a few years ago now (coincidentally, the week I first ran into the girl I keep referencing) that involved opening up a 2012 iMac with an EFI lock, buying $18 of tools to read the ROM chip, dump it to a Raspberry Pi, then reading the .hex file dumped off the chip and interpreting different parts making amendments and deleting bits while keeping the file to the same size. A fascinating repair that led me deep into the hobby of hacking hardware.
Anyways this concludes a slightly more technical post compared to recent. If you don't want to read the technical dribble, then flick me a message and I will move the techy stuff to one blog and keep the personal anecdotes here.
73,
Daniel