Over time hackers and others come across older electrical equipment which may be completely outdated, such as control panels, test equipment and so on. However there can often be some fun life left in these - not for the original purpose but the functions within.
An interesting example of this has been demonstrated by Evan on his blog, who has repurposed the front display from an old video processor device. The digits are driven with a classic BCD to 7 segment converter IC which can easily be controlled by an Arduino. With a little investigation Evan managed to control the display and also read the buttons - and thus the device lives again and a simple numeric input/output device:
So next time you see something that's past the use-by date, think again and have some fun tearing it apart. For more information on Evan's hack, check out his interesting website. And for more, we're on facebook, Google+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well.
If you need to add external hardware or devices to your next Arduino project, you'll need a protoshield to mount the external circuitry. In doing so, consider our range of ProtoShields. From the tiny LeoStick to the Mega we have a wide range to suit your application.
