this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2025
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I was briefly confused how an open source flashlight firmware had anything to do with this..... then I noticed this post wasn't in the Flashlight forum. So apparently Anduril is a war contractor AND a great flashlight firmware but are not related at all.
I just don't like something intended for war being called Anduril. They've missed JRRT's point completely.
There is also a company called palantir which is pretty much a cyberpunk corporate distopia surveillance company.
Well, that would at least somewhat resonate with what a palantir is.
With the wrong part, the kind that Denethor thought he could use and that Sauron and Saruman used, and I really like more the implication of that from Frodo's dream where he stands at one of the towers in the north looking far away.
Why the hell would a flashlight need firmware?
I did a quick search, so I’m basically an expert now. imaginary hair flip
So, some flashlights have multiple brightness modes. I guess that’s controlled via a tiny, low power microprocessor.
And if it’s a computer, it can be hacked!
So the firmware does things, depending on the capabilities of the hardware in the flashlight, but you can set it to override defaults for brightness, change how many levels of brightness you have, add (or remove) a blinky SOS mode, sleep timers in case it’s accidentally left on, and even add a way to check the battery percentage via a button press pattern, that the flashlight responds to with a series of blinks.
No lie, kind of fascinating stuff. I like to hack other stuff, like smart appliances (replacing firmware so it doesn’t share my data, but I still get to use it as a smart device). I don’t think I would be into talking to my flashlight via Morse code, but I can see the appeal as both a hobby, and for folks who need flashlights as safety equipment.
Why the hell make it with a microprocessor when something simple like brightness levels and simple blinking patterns can be made with much simpler digital electronics without the need for any programming whatsoever leaving the whole hacking-issue out of the equation.
Because you could design all of those feature in analog, and make custom boards for every change or have one board you update every few years based on supply, cost, and maybe power performance, but make and adjust features on a minute by minute basis if want to.
The driver, power source, etc can all be more easily separated from the logic too. It could be tiny, or massive. Same software, same controller.
Its a flashlight, not exactly a field in raging development.
Honestly I'm thinking it's because it's cheaper to have programmers doing simple FW programming for things than it is to have engineers design the required circuits. There are so many things with microprocessors in today that just does not actually need it but it was the lazy option. It opens stupid avoidable avenues of vulnerabilities.
…. I don’t know. It’s just what came to mind when I thought of household appliances being hijacked.
I love it,keep up the good work Scotty!
Cheaper components and manufacture to use a dedicated microcontroller to run PWM to dim the LEDs than something like a 555 and transistors to change its logic/capacitor path to vary brightness.
They even may use the same micro for charging lipo batteries, not sure since there are dirt cheap chips for that too.
The fact that people have bothered to modify such basic firmware is pretty funny though.
Or you use one GreenPak device and OTP it based on the model and have it cheaper and more reliable, any supporting circuits like drivers, FETs, bulk capacitance, etc.. Would have to be designed per-model anyway on MCU based design.
Is there are particular GreenPak device hobbiest can use? They look interesting personally
SLG46826V-DIP SLG47115V-DIP SLG47004V-DIP
These are the breakout boards of their respective chips.
These chips are the 3 "multiple time programmable" chips in their line (if I have the right ones, I put them in my mouser list a while ago). Which means that once you program them, they aren't burned in with those settings and can be reused.
There is also a "debug mode" where you don't program them at all but program all the settings after boot so that the settings are cleared again after the chip is repowered. I have never used it, but that is what the renesas rep told us during our technical call at work.
They are super handy at getting rid of all of the logic needed for amplifiers, CC/CV circuits, etc...
And Aragorn's sword :c
That broken thing nobody remembered, until it was reforged.
I can name a few other such things, but at this point in my existence I'm just afraid to do so. Murphy's laws and such.
Yeah, Anduril the company has been around for a minute (Since 2017). Luckey got in early on selling weapons tech to the government after he sold Oculus.
What's with some really scary companies (Anduril, Palantir) cribbing their names from LOTR?
Peter Thiel is a Lotr fan
How in the world would a LOTR fan make such life choices?
Because he is an evil bastard. There is a behind the bastards episode about him.
maybe a Sauron fan more like
Yeah, totally didn't understand the morality of the book and thinks sauron is a good role model