News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:The Walkman, Forty Years On by sangfroid_bio on Friday July 03, 2020 @08:31PM (#23728930)
Was the firmware at that time complex enough that you can attempt an OTA brick? Are radios from 1984 mostly analogue?
Re:The Walkman, Forty Years On by numpad0 on Friday July 03, 2020 @11:59PM (#23730001)
NASA Apollo 13 team did intentionally brick S-IVB upperstage radio downlink so that frequency auto-calibration goes way off so it won’t interfere with the rescue operation.

That auto-calibration system probably was a series of analog opamp circuits, so if that’s the case they managed to OTA brick a complex enough analog radio.

Re:The Walkman, Forty Years On by solarengineer on Friday July 03, 2020 @10:16PM (#23729473)
They were made entirely of electrical and electronic parts, didn't need firmware , and almost always could be repaired.
Re:The Walkman, Forty Years On by zrobotics on Saturday July 04, 2020 @12:10PM (#23733201)
Just to be a pedant, the android phone I am typing this on is also made entirely out of electrical and electronic parts as well. In fact, arguably this device contains a greater degree of those parts, as the only electromechanical parts are speakers, a vibration motor, and 3 tact switches.

A simple radio will have a speaker, slide switch for power, potentiometer for volume, and either a potentiometer or variable cap for tuning.

Although I do agree, the operative words there are 'simple' and 'no firmware'. ;)

Re:The Walkman, Forty Years On by pjc50 on Saturday July 04, 2020 @06:24AM (#23731375)
It would be entirely analogue in the signal path; radios didn't become digital until DAB. Although some acquired microprocessor front panel controls in maybe the 90s.