A lot of electronics wind up in landfills, and when [Playful Electronics] saw an old cash register heading for the dump, he decided to give its VFD display a new life as an Arduino peripheral. While ...

Hackers love the warm glow of a vacuum fluorescent display (VFD), and there’s no shortage of dead consumer electronics from which they can be pulled to keep our collective parts bins nicely stocked.

When an application requires changes in motor speeds to meet its objectives, a variable frequency drive (VFD) is often the first thing that comes to mind. This is for good reason—VFDs are typically ...