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https://hackaday.com/2014/10/10/hacklet-18-tick-tock-its-time-for-clocks/ | Hacklet 18 – Tick Tock, It’s Time For Clocks | Adam Fabio | [
"clock hacks",
"Hackaday Columns"
] | [
"Clocks",
"hacklet",
"time",
"timepiece",
"watch"
] | In three words, Hackers love clocks. Not only do we think that digital watches are still a pretty neat idea, we love all manner of timepieces. This episode of The Hacklet focuses on the clock projects we’ve found over on
Hackaday.io
.
We start with [rawe] and [tabascoeye], who both put the famous XKCD “now” clock into hardware. [tabascoeye] used a stepper motor in his
xkcd world clock
. [rawe] didn’t have any steppers handy, so he grabbed a cheap wall clock from Ikea for his
xkcd.com/now clock in hardware
. The now clock needs a 24 hour movement. Ikea only sells 12 hour movements, so [rawe] hacked in a 555 and some logic to divide the clock’s crystal by two. He’s currently using an EEVblog uCurrent to verify his modified clockwork consumes about half a milliwatt.
Next up is [Craig Bonsignore] and his
Touchscreen Alarm Clock
. [Craig] got sick of store-bought alarm clocks, so he built his own. Then he modified it, added a few features, and kept building! The current incarnation of the clock has a pretty novel interface: a touchscreen over a bicolor LED matrix. The rest of the clock consists of an Arduino, an Adafruit Wave shield, and a Macetech Chronodot. [Craig] is currently mashing up these open source designs and building a single Arduino shield for his clock.
[Warren Janssens] took the minimalist route with
The Iris Clock
. Iris is a ring of WS2812 RGB LEDs. The LEDs are mounted behind a wall colored piece of wood in such a way that you can only see their glow on the clock frame and the wall beyond it. This helps a with the eye searing effect WS2812s can have when viewed directly – even when dimmed with PWM. The code is mainly C with some AVR assembly thrown in to control the LEDs. [Warren] has given Iris 8 different time modes, from hour/minute/second to percentage of day with sunrise and sunset markers. With so many modes, the only hard part is knowing how to read the time Iris is displaying!
[David Hopkins] also built a ring clock. His
Stargate LED Clock
not only tells time, but is a great replica of the Stargate from the TV series. [David] used four Adafruit WS2812 Neopixel segments to build a full 60 RGB LED ring. The Stargate runs on an Arduino nano with a real-time clock chip to keep accurate time. A photoresistor allows the Stargate to automatically dim at night. With some slick programming [David] added everything from a visual hourly “chime” to a smooth fade from LED to LED.
[dehne1] gives us something completely different with
The Bendulum Clock
. A bendulum is [dehne1’s] own creation consisting of an inverted pendulum built without a pivot. The inverted pendulum swings by bending along its length. In [dehne1’s] design, the bendulum is made out of a spring steel strip rescued from a car windshield wiper. The Bendulum doesn’t have a mechanical escapement, but an electromagnet sensed and driven by an Arduino. The amazing part of this project is that [dehne1] isn’t using a real-time clock chip. The standard 8MHz Arduino resonator is calibrated over various temperatures, then used to calibrate the bendulum itself. The result is a clock that can be accurate within 1 minute each day. [dehne1] mounted his clock inside a custom wood case. We think it looks great, and want one for Hackaday HQ!
We’ve used enough clock ticks for this episode of The Hacklet. As always, see you next week. Same hack time, same hack channel, bringing you the best of
Hackaday.io!
Still want more? Check out our
Timepiece List! | 13 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1978923",
"author": "Darcy",
"timestamp": "2014-10-10T14:06:05",
"content": "I love clocks! I made a rooster clock using just 1 LED!http://inventorartist.com/time-rooster/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1979012",
"aut... | 1,760,376,042.787459 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/10/beverly-crusher-the-greatest-name-for-an-audio-effect/ | Beverly-Crusher, The Greatest Name For An Audio Effect | Brian Benchoff | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"audio",
"bit crusher",
"bitcrusher",
"digital audio",
"sample",
"sample rate reducer"
] | Image © aliceazzo [http://aliceazzo.deviantart.com/].
When it comes to audio effects, you have your delay, reverb, chorus, phasing, and the rest that were derived from strictly analog processes. Compared to the traditional way of doing things, digital audio is relatively new, and there is still untapped potential for new processes and effects. One of those is the bit crusher, an effect that turns 8- or 16-bit audio into mush. [Electronoob] wanted to experiment with bitcrushing, and couldn’t find what he wanted.
Undeterred, he built his own
.
There are two major effects that are purely in the digital domain. The first is the sample rate reducer. This has a few interesting applications. Because [Shannon] and [Nyquist] say we can only reproduce audio signals less than half of the sample rate; if you run some audio through a sample rate reducer set to 1kHz, it’ll sound like crap, but you’ll also only get bass.
The bitcrusher is a little different. Instead of recording samples of 256 values for 8-bit audio or ~65000 values for 16-bit audio, a one-bit bitcrusher only records one value – on or off. Play it through a speaker at a decent sample rate, and you can still hear it. It sounds like a robotic nightmare, but it’s still there.
[Electronoob] created his bitcrusher purely in software, sending the resulting bitcrushed and much smaller file to an Arduino for playback. Interestingly, he’s also included the ability to downsample audio, giving is project both pure digital effects for the price of one. 1-bit audio is a bit rough on the ears, but 2, 3, and 4-bit audio starts to sound pretty cool, and something that would feel at home in some genres of music. | 44 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "1978383",
"author": "larry",
"timestamp": "2014-10-10T11:17:08",
"content": "A way to implement this in analog circuitry: apply a huge amount of gain and limit the output. This is basically a heavily clipped file.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,376,042.99659 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/10/a-pc-engine-to-turbografx-16-converter/ | A PC Engine To TurboGrafx-16 Converter | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"classic game",
"cpld",
"game console",
"PC engine",
"retrocomputing",
"TurboGrafx",
"turbografx 16",
"video game"
] | The PC Engine was pretty popular in Japan, but only the coolest kids in America had the US edition, the TurboGrafx16. These two systems weren’t exactly the same; the TurboGrafx-16’s data bus was flipped so the games were made to be incompatible, and the US games have a region lockout. [Kaz] looked at the existing hacks for running Japanese games on US systems, and every single one of them required modding a console. Thinking he could do better, he came up with the
PC-Henshin
, an adapter and CPLD that allows Japanese game to run on US consoles.
To take care of the mixed up lines on the PC card connector between the US and Japanese variants, a few adapter cards are available. That’s great, but they only solve one part of the compatibility problem. The region lockout routine found on nearly every American title mean PC Engine consoles can’t run TurboGrafx-16 games. [Kaz] used a small, cheap CPLD to read the data bus, patch everything as it is read out, and turns a Japanese console into something that can play American games.
Video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTJBBTdZmUI | 23 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1978112",
"author": "Dave Gibson",
"timestamp": "2014-10-10T09:58:19",
"content": "Ahh the memories of wasted days playing Military Madness.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1978390",
"author": "Knossos",
"timestamp": "20... | 1,760,376,042.520498 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/08/laser-dog-goggles-make-halloween-a-nice-night-for-a-walk/ | Laser Dog Goggles Make Halloween A Nice Night For A Walk | Kristina Panos | [
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"dog costume",
"doggles",
"dogs with frickin' laser beams",
"robodog",
"tank girl",
"terminator"
] | Sure, you could dress your dog up for Halloween in some pre-fab hot dog costume or a little French maid outfit, but what’s the fun in that? Hilarious as it may be, there’s no hack there. [Becky Stern] will help you out of your pet costume rut with the tutorial for her latest creation,
laser dog goggles
.
First things first: the laser she uses is fairly benign. You can safely stare it down for just under 30 seconds, so your pet should be okay. [Becky] offers other helpful safety suggestions, like covering the delicate battery pack with fabric to avoid scratching damage, and waiting until the adhesives are completely dry before outfitting Rover. But hey, if your dog isn’t into eye wear, don’t force it.
These are based on
Doggles
brand dog goggles and the Adafruit Trinket. The laser is mounted on a micro servo so that it pivots back and forth, allowing your dog to scan the ground like RoboCop or Terminator. As you might expect, [Becky]’s tutorial includes a comprehensive list of tools and great documentation. Check out her video overview after the break. | 31 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "1972438",
"author": "David",
"timestamp": "2014-10-09T05:07:29",
"content": "How is this a Hack?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1972474",
"author": "lazeryodog",
"timestamp": "2014-10-09T05:21:25",
"co... | 1,760,376,042.624 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/08/scrobbys-on-your-roof-cleaning-your-solar-panels/ | Scrobby’s On Your Roof, Cleaning Your Solar Panels | Kristina Panos | [
"Robots Hacks",
"The Hackaday Prize"
] | [
"freescale",
"robot",
"solar panel cleaning",
"solar panels",
"Teensy"
] | Solar panels are a great, sustainable addition to your home’s energy scheme. They’re bound to get dirty, but they can’t withstand harsh chemicals and still be effective. While there are companies that will come out and clean your installation a few times a year, the service is a recurring cost that adds up quickly. With
Scrobby, his entry into The Hackaday Prize
, [Stefan] sought to build a highly affordable and sustainable solution that, after installation, requires no dangerous trips back up to the roof.
Scrobby is solar-powered and cleans using rainwater. The user can set and alter the cleaning schedule over Bluetooth from their phone. [Stefan]’s prototype was built around a Teensy 3.0, but he will ultimately use custom boards based on the Freescale KL26. In addition to the Bluetooth module, there are six ultrasonic sensors, rain and temperature sensors, and motor-driven spools for tethered movement.
Make the jump to see Scrobby get his prototype bristles installed and show off his abilities in [Stefan]’s demo video. To register for updates, check out
Scrobby’s website
. If you hurry, you can donate to
Scrobby’s Kickstarter
campaign. The question is, who will clean Scrobby’s solar panels?
This project is
an official entry
to The Hackaday Prize that sadly didn’t make
the quarterfinal selection
. It’s still a great project, and worthy of a Hackaday post on its own. | 33 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "1971953",
"author": "Waterjet",
"timestamp": "2014-10-09T02:41:48",
"content": "Can’t you just toss a handful of bristle bots up there?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1972040",
"author": "cr0sh",
"timestamp": "2014-10-0... | 1,760,376,043.069288 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/08/eevblog-tears-into-the-white-van-speaker-scam/ | EEVblog Tears Into The White Van Speaker Scam | Adam Fabio | [
"Teardown"
] | [
"dave jones",
"EEVblog",
"Hustle",
"scammers",
"social engineering",
"White Van Speaker Scam"
] | [Dave Jones] shows us just how bad audio equipment can get with his
white van speaker scam teardown
(YouTube link). Hackaday Prize judge [Dave] has some great educational videos on his
EEVblog YouTube channel
, but we can’t get enough of his rants – especially when he’s ranting about cheap electronics. Check out his
world’s “cheapest” camcorder teardown
for a classic example
This week [Dave] is tearing down some white van speaker scam A/V equipment. The
White Van Speaker Scam
(WVSS) is an international hustle which has been around for decades. A pair of guys in a white van stop you in a parking lot, gas station, or other public area. They tell you they’ve got some brand new A/V equipment in the back of their van that they’ll give you for a “great deal”. The speakers are always in fancy packaging, and have a name that sounds like it could be some sort of high-end audiophile brand worth thousands.
Needless to say anyone who buys this equipment finds they’ve been duped and are now the proud owner of some equipment which only sounds good when hitting the bottom of a dumpster. Coincidentally, a dumpster is exactly where [Dave] found his WVSS equipment.
The case of his “Marc Vincent” surround sound system turned out to be nothing more than thin chipboard hot glued together. The electronics were of such shoddy quality that few words describe them – though [Dave] is always ready to improvise. From the ultra cheap subwoofer driver to the 1990’s era vacuum fluorescent display, everything was built down to the lowest cost while still looking nice from the outside. Even the ground wire was just tack soldered to the frame. We especially liked the three vacuum tubes that weren’t even soldered in. The leads were bent over to hold them onto a PCB, while a blue LED lit the tube from below.
Click past the break to see what [Dave] found inside his “3D Optics” projector.
The “3D Optics HD-8500” video projector turned out to be somewhat better quality. Still junky, but not bad enough put [Dave] in a screwdriver stabbing mood. The projector was a low-end 800×600 LCD model with cheap optics. The electronics were halfway decent though. It appears this is more a case of a low cost projector being massively oversold.
Have you seen the white van scammers? Ever hacked on home electronics this shoddy? Let us know down in the comments! | 91 | 36 | [
{
"comment_id": "1971293",
"author": "Maxwell",
"timestamp": "2014-10-08T23:17:23",
"content": "Those scammers should make props! I mean, you really can’t tell the difference between a video and a picture of the legitimate thing!I wonder how many people buy these things and never know they bought cr... | 1,760,376,042.914139 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/08/reverse-engineering-star-wars-yoda-stories/ | Reverse Engineering Star Wars: Yoda Stories | Eric Evenchick | [
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"games",
"HxD",
"LucasArts",
"reverse engineering",
"star wars"
] | Star Wars: Yoda Stories was released by LucasArts in 1997 to minimal critical acclaim. As IGN said, “like Phantom Menace proved, just because it’s Star Wars doesn’t mean it’s good.” This didn’t stop [Zach] from playing it, and years later, taking an interest in reverse engineering the game.
[Zach]’s
reverse engineering of Star Wars: Yoda Stories
(
google cache
) takes a look at the game’s data file. This binary file is parsed by the game at run time to extract sound effects, sprites, and map tiles. Perhaps the best known game data file type was Doom’s
WAD file
, which had purpose built editing programs from third parties.
After a quick look at the data file in
HxD
, [Zach] began writing scripts in C# to extract different sections of the data file. Once the sections were found, more code was used to apply a color palette and generate bitmaps.
In the end, [Zach] managed to get a couple thousand tiles of the game’s data. He found some interesting ones, such as the sports car that he replaced the X-Wing with in his mod. The engine for an earlier Lucasarts game,
Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures,
should be very similar, and once we find the Mac install disk and a copy of ResEdit, we’ll post something on Hackaday.io. | 22 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1970712",
"author": "Wesley Nixon (@NewOnyxIsle)",
"timestamp": "2014-10-08T20:11:54",
"content": "Did you kill his poor webserver?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1970758",
"author": "Zee",
"timestamp": "2014-10-08T20:2... | 1,760,376,043.123071 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/08/hackaday-10th-anniversary-demoscenes-and-blink1/ | Hackaday 10th Anniversary: Demoscenes And Blink(1) | Brian Benchoff | [
"Featured",
"The Hackaday Prize"
] | [
"10th anniversary",
"blink(1)",
"Crashspace",
"demoparty",
"demoscene",
"demoscene board",
"Hackaday 10th Anniversary",
"kickstarter",
"null space labs"
] | There were two LA hackerspaces represented at our 10th anniversary party, and members from both of them were able to give a talk on the projects coming out of their labs. [Arko] from null space labs showed up with a few of his creations including
CUBEX
, his high altitude balloon payload and a demoscene board he’s been working on. [Tod] from Crashspace showed up with the rest of the Crash crew and helped out with the morning build-offs and labs.
A Demoscene Board
Demoscenes, for one reason or another, aren’t extremely popular in the US. In Europe, you can find teams working on programatically generated music videos year-round, coded for Commodore 64s, Amigas, even stranger computers, and x86 assembly. There’s an art to the whole thing, but for those of us on this side of the pond, there aren’t many venues to demonstrate impeccable graphics programming skill.
[Arko] wants to change this. He’s designed a demoscene board around
a PIC micro
with hardware graphics acceleration, USB OTG, VGA out at 640×480, and an audio out port. It’s meant to be a platform to create demos on, and already [Arko]
has ported
the famous Craft demo from [lft]
to his platform. Edit: the Craft demo was playing on the older ATmega88 version of the board. The PIC board is a little more capable.
Being that there are so few Demo parties in the US, only building a board to play demos would be just a bit shortsighted. [Arko]’s main reason for giving this talk was to tell everyone about the
LayerOne Demoparty
next year just a few miles from the Hackaday Hackaspace. It coincides with the LayerOne conference, and the board itself will soon be available for sale in the Hackaday store.
Blink(1) and How To Kickstarter
When it comes to electronics and tech Kickstarters,
Blink(1)
defines what it means to have a minimum viable product. It’s a USB plug, a small microcontroller, and an RGB LED. That’s it. [Tod] wanted to take this simple project and learn how to turn it into a product. [Tod] emphasised the ‘learn’ part of his plan; the alternate title for this talk was, “How to Fail Multiple Times and Still Ship 20,000 Units.”
The Blink(1) started as a standard My First Arduino Sketch, blinking three LEDs, quickly moving over to a USB LED device. This rather large USB dongle sat there for a few years until he decided to turn this into a product. It turned out building a product is a lot more involved than building a kit, with considerations to the enclosure, the packaging, and the inevitable CNC mold fails. Assembly – and the success of his first Kickstarter – was also an issue. [Tod]’s friends ended up assembling most of the kits.
Despite these problems, [Tod] was still able to ship a few thousand units and is now working on another production run with SeeedStudio. It’s a remarkable story, with the Blink(1) used by Google, Disney, Microsoft, Facebook, and a whole bunch of other huge companies. The Blink(1) is also in the mainline Linux kernel, something you can’t say about a lot of Kickstarters out there. | 18 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1970221",
"author": "Mike Szczys",
"timestamp": "2014-10-08T17:16:13",
"content": "These are both great talks! Tod’s hiccups during production are heartbreaking. I do get the feeling that this is what the majority of the successful kickstarter projects are in for (which is why they’... | 1,760,376,042.728854 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/08/photography-rig-captures-holy-grail-shots/ | Photography Rig Captures Holy Grail Shots | Kristina Panos | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"camera axe",
"high speed photography",
"milk crown",
"water droplet",
"water spout"
] | You’ve seen amazing shots of water spouts and milk crowns. You’ve seen shots of bullets piercing glass ornaments, playing cards, and poor, defenseless pieces of fruit. Maybe you’ve even seen that holy grail of shots—a bullet piercing a water spout. But how is it done? How do photographers capture this two-headed mythical beast of high-speed photography? [Maurice] has cracked the code and
shared it for all to see
.
He uses a Camera Axe to trigger the camera,
a device he came up
with
years ago
that’s on its
fifth version
. His setup uses a 100mm macro lens, a key flash, and two fill flashes that sit behind a diffusing wall of whiteness. All three flashes are connected to a multi-flash board which feeds into Camera Axe. [Maurice] explains how he gets nice, tall water spouts by thickening it with xanthan gum. He adds Jet Dry to reduce the surface tension and some food coloring to keep things interesting.
[Maurice] also runs through his pellet shooting rig, which he made with some polyethylene tubing and an air compressor. He ended up shooting the pellets at 20psi, which sends them traveling at 75 feet per second. They move slowly enough that he can use his own stomach to stop them in the demonstration. Dialing in just the right settings to get the pellet to intersect the spout at the right time took some finagling, and that will hold true for anyone who attempts to recreate this setup. He gives a link to his code files in the video description to get you started. Video is after the break. | 6 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1969787",
"author": "Brian",
"timestamp": "2014-10-08T14:35:33",
"content": "Amazing skills displayed here. Also good job on the photos.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1971219",
"author": "Rob",
"timestamp": "2014-10-08... | 1,760,376,042.558839 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/08/brushless-motor-controller-shield-for-arduino/ | Brushless Motor Controller Shield For Arduino | Ethan Zonca | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"arduino shield",
"BLDC",
"Brushless DC electric motor",
"motor controller",
"sensorless"
] | Brushless motors are ubiquitous in RC applications and robotics, but are usually driven with low-cost motor controllers that have to be controlled with RC-style PWM signals and don’t allow for much customization. While there are a couple of open-source brushless drivers already available, [neuromancer2701] created his own
brushless motor controller on an Arduino shield
.
[neuromancer2701]’s shield is a sensorless design, which means it uses the back-EMF of the motor for feedback rather than hall effect sensors mounted on the motor. It may seem strange to leave those sensors unused but this allows for less expensive sensorless motors to work with the system. It also uses discrete FETs instead of integrated driver ICs,
similar to other
designs
we have covered
. Although he is still working on the back-EMF sensing in his firmware, the shield successfully drives a motor in open-loop mode.
The motor controller is commanded over the Arduino’s serial interface, and will support a serial interface to ROS (Robot Operating System) in the future. This shield could be a good alternative to hobby RC controllers for robots that need a customizable open-source motor controller. The PCB design and source code are
available on GitHub
. | 19 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1969373",
"author": "Andrew",
"timestamp": "2014-10-08T11:53:13",
"content": "The popular SimonK open firmware for 3-phase BLDC controllers also supports serial. Additionally this mod:https://github.com/balrog-kun/tgyimplements I2C control with controllable spin direction, RPM fee... | 1,760,376,042.678928 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/08/using-a-standard-coil-for-nfc-tag-implant-reading/ | Using A Standard Coil For NFC Tag Implant Reading | Mathieu Stephan | [
"Wearable Hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"limpkin",
"NFC",
"nfc implant",
"tag",
"xnt"
] | A few months ago Hackaday covered the xNT crowdfunding campaign which aimed at making an NTAG216 based NFC implant for different purposes. I actually backed it, found that standard NFC readers don’t perform well and therefore decided to try
using a standard coil as an antenna
for better reading performances.
Most NFC readers typically only have a small sweet spot where implant reading is possible. This is due to what we call
coupling factor
which depends on the reading distance and reader & NFC tag antenna geometries. Having a smaller antenna diameter increases the coupling factor and makes implant positioning easier.
In my detailed write-up you’ll find a good introduction to impedance matching, a process where a few passive components are added in series/parallel with an antenna to bring its complex impedance close to a RF signal transmitter’s. This usually requires expensive tools but allows optimal power transmission at a given frequency.
You may find our xNT coverage
here
. | 18 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1969031",
"author": "0xfred",
"timestamp": "2014-10-08T09:53:44",
"content": "You’re a bloody hero. I was just thinking about emailing to ask if you’d got anywhere with this. I was thinking about looking into antenna design myself, but I suspect I’d struggle.",
"parent_id": null... | 1,760,376,043.298267 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/07/acoustic-impulse-marker-tracks-sounds-with-a-pencil/ | Acoustic Impulse Marker Tracks Sounds With A Pencil | James Hobson | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"ATmega 1284P",
"tracker",
"tracking device"
] | Two students at Cornell University have put together a rather curious sound tracking device called an
Acoustic Impulse Marker.
[Adam Wrobel] and [Michael Grisanti] study electrical and computer science, and for their final microcontroller class they decided to build this device using the venerable ATmega 1284p.
The system uses a three-microphone array to accurately position sharp noises within 5 degrees of accuracy. The microcontroller detects the “acoustic delay” between the microphones which allows it to identify the location of the sound’s source vector. It does this using an 8-stage analog system which converts the sounds from each microphone into a binary signal, which identifies when each microphone heard the noise. The resultant 3 binary signals are then compared for their time delay, it selects the two closest microphones, and then does a simple angle calculation based on the magnitudes of each to determine the sounds position.
When the sound is identified, its location is sent to a 180 degree servo, which is geared at a 1:2 ratio to a pencil “pointer” which gives it a full 360 degrees of pointing capabilities.
The system works best for sharp sounds, but occasional picks up speech as well.
[via
Hacked Gadgets
] | 13 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1968436",
"author": "StinkySteve",
"timestamp": "2014-10-08T06:01:39",
"content": "Clever, but kind of simple at the same time. Perfect!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1968597",
"author": "Alan",
"timestamp": "2014-10-0... | 1,760,376,043.361436 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/07/the-effects-are-in-the-guitar-its-so-simple/ | The Effects Are IN The Guitar? It’s So Simple… | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"Arduino Uno",
"guitar",
"guitar effects",
"music",
"Pickups",
"stratocaster"
] | We’ve all had that problem. Up on stage, rocking out Jimi Hendrix-style on guitar with your band, but frustrated at having to mess around with foot pedals to control all of the effects. [Richard] solved this problem in a unique way: he put a
preamp and a microcontroller in a guitar that can create some very interesting effects
.
For the musically challenged, electric guitars often have several sets of electromagnetic pickups that detect vibrations in the strings at different points along the strings. Selecting different pickup combinations with a built-in switch changes the sound that the guitar makes. [Richard] wired the pickups in his Fender Stratocaster to the microcontroller and programmed it to switch the pickups according to various patterns. The effect is somewhat like a chorus pedal at times and it sounds very unique.
The volume and tone knobs on the guitar are used to select the programmed patterns to switch various pickups at varying speeds. This has the added bonus of keeping the stock look of the guitar in tact,
unlike some other guitars we’ve seen before
. The Anubis preamp, as it is called, is a very well polished project and the code and wiring schematic are available on the project site along with some audio samples. | 21 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1967717",
"author": "seth",
"timestamp": "2014-10-08T02:20:34",
"content": "Guitarfetish has offered Modboards for a long time now…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1967731",
"author": "Troutmask",
"timestamp": "2014-10-0... | 1,760,376,043.418361 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/07/120-node-rasperry-pi-cluster-for-website-testing/ | 120 Node Rasperry Pi Cluster For Website Testing | Adam Fabio | [
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"adafruit",
"atx power supply",
"raspberry pi",
"Resin.io"
] | [alexandros] works for resin.io, a website which plans to allow users to update firmware on embedded devices with a simple git push command. The first target devices will be Raspberry Pis running node.js applications. How does one perform alpha testing while standing up such a service? Apparently by
building a monster tower of 120 Raspberry Pi
computers with Adafruit 2.8″ PiTFT displays.
We’ve seen
some big
Raspberry
Pi
clusters
before, but this one may take the cake.
The tower is made up of 5 hinged sections of plywood. Each section contains 24 Pis, two Ethernet switches and two USB hubs. The 5 sections can be run on separate networks, or as a single 120 node monster cluster. When the sections are closed in, they form a pentagon-shaped tower that reminds us of the classic
Cray-1 supercomputer
.
Rasberry Pi machines are low power, at least when compared to a desktop PC. A standard Raspi consumes less than 2 watts, though we’re sure the Adafruit screen adds to the consumption. Even with the screens, a single 750 watt ATX supply powers the entire system.
[alexandros] and the resin.io team still have a lot of testing to do, but they’re looking for ideas on what to do with their cluster once they’re done pushing firmware to it. Interested? Check out their
Reddit thread
! | 36 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "1967105",
"author": "DC (@dragonnetworks)",
"timestamp": "2014-10-07T23:13:08",
"content": "At $70/node (assuming they don’t get volume pricing and assuming $35 for the Pi and $35 for the PiTFT shield)… I hate to be critical but you could build out a /lot/ more power for $8400 than ... | 1,760,376,043.693451 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/07/printbot-prints-on-the-ground-uses-talcum-powder/ | PrintBot Prints On The Ground, Uses Talcum Powder | Rich Bremer | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"robot",
"roomba"
] | Yes, this is a printing ‘bot but it’s not a 3D Printer. Even though it’s called
Printbot
, don’t get it confused with other products that may begin with ‘Print’ and end in ‘bot’. Printbot is half Roomba, half old inkjet print carriage drive and the remaining half is a small PC running Windows CE.
The whole point of this ‘bot is to draw/write/print things on the floor. No, not in ink, in talcum powder! The Roomba drives in one axis as the powder is systematically dropped in the ‘bots wake. It works one line at a time, similar to how a progressive scan TV displays an image on the screen. The PC on board the Printbot reads 8-bit gray scale images from a USB drive, re-samples the image and outputs the image one line at a time to an external microcontroller. The microcontroller is responsible for driving the Roomba forward as well as moving the hopper’s position and dispensing the powder in the correct place. Check out the small photo below. That black and white strip is not there for good looks. It is part of the encoder positioning system that is responsible for communicating the location of the hopper back to the microcontroller.
To dispense the talcum powder there is a funnel that acts as a hopper. Down the center of the funnel is a drill bit that prevents any powder from falling out. A small DC motor rotates the drill bit for a specific amount of time and just the right amount of powder comes out of the funnel spout. The funnel is then moved to the next spot that requires a powdery deposit and the process repeats itself.
Now if only someone could come up with a robot vacuum to follow the Printbot and clean up all that mess!
Do you think this is cool but don’t dig the talcum powder? Check out this
similar setup
from back in the day which uses a marker to write in a dot matrix style.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukxT9QqYgG0 | 27 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "1966527",
"author": "Dan",
"timestamp": "2014-10-07T20:03:04",
"content": "[youtubehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p0OadRapq4&w=560&h=315%5D",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1966538",
"author": "Will Lyon",
"tim... | 1,760,376,043.845953 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/07/retrotechtacular-the-futures-so-bright-were-gonna-need-photochromic-windowpanes/ | Retrotechtacular: The Future’s So Bright, We’re Gonna Need Photochromic Windowpanes | Kristina Panos | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Retrotechtacular"
] | [
"fuel cell",
"home of the future",
"Philco",
"single-function monitors",
"Wink Martindale"
] | This is
a day in the life of the Shaw family
in the summer of 1999 as the Philco-Ford Corporation imagined it from the space-age optimism of 1967. It begins with Karen Shaw and her son, James. They’re at the beach, building a sand castle model of their modular, hexagonal house and discussing life. Ominous music plays as they return in flowing caftans to their car, a
Ford Seatte-ite XXI
with its doors carelessly left open. You might recognize Karen as Marj Dusay, who would later beam aboard the
USS Enterprise
and remove Spock’s brain.
The father, Mike Shaw, is an astrophysicist working to colonize Mars and to breed giant, hardy peaches in his spare time. He’s played by iconic American game show host Wink Martindale. Oddly enough, Wink’s first gig was hosting a Memphis-based children’s show called
Mars Patrol
. He went on to fame with classics such as
Tic Tac Dough
,
Card Sharks
,
Password Plus
, and
Trivial Pursuit
.
Mike calls up some pictures of the parent trees he’s using on a screen that’s connected to the family computer. While many of today’s families have such a device, this beast is almost sentient. We learn throughout the film that it micromanages the family within an inch of their lives by keeping tabs on their physiology, activities, financial matters, and in James’ case, education.
The computer home-schools him two days a week, mostly through a giant flat screen display. Separate consoles give him recorded lectures and test his recall of the material, which is pretty poor. Meanwhile, his mother engages the kitchen console to conjure a tailored menu for the family’s lunch based on their dietary needs and the health records it keeps. She haggles a bit on Mike’s behalf, and the computer goes to work. It selects the frozen portions and runs them through the microwave. Karen’s only job is to transfer the food to plates and pull beverages from dispensers.
After lunch, Karen does some online shopping and Mike grumbles over her purchases and the family’s other expenses from his office. He can check their bank balance, budget, and remaining car payments. Continuing the theme of having a dedicated monitor for each thing, the office has three of them, each seemingly single-purpose. There’s also an electronic post office where he can write a letter to anyone using a stylus on a tablet.
The Shaw’s home is powered by a fuel cell equipped with blinkenlights. It also provides pure water, burns their waste, heats and cools the air, controls humidity, and removes pollen, dust, and bacteria. What it certainly does not do is periodically release a burst of vapor that keeps them calm and docile, occasionally forgetting what year it is or who ground the first telescope.
We don’t want to spoil the whole thing. Watch as Karen uses up her vast amounts of free time throwing pots, and Mike fulfills the computer’s exercise regimen set out for him in a turtleneck for some reason. Bizarre as this film may be, many of the Philco-Ford Corporation’s dreams came true. The analog controls and cordboard-looking switching is amusing, but the idea of chemical vapor cleaning closets is just scary. Bonus: here’s a short video of Walter Cronkite showing off
the very same office
.
Retrotechtacular is a weekly column featuring hacks, technology, and kitsch from ages of yore. Help keep it fresh by
sending in your ideas for future installments
. | 39 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "1966113",
"author": "von Corax",
"timestamp": "2014-10-07T17:57:11",
"content": "To me, this film is filled with the same bright, enthusiastic optimism as, say, the movies “Demon Seed” and “Colossus: The Forbin Project.”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,376,043.775703 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/07/hackaday-10th-anniversary-non-binary-computing/ | Hackaday 10th Anniversary: Non-Binary Computing | Brian Benchoff | [
"Featured",
"The Hackaday Prize"
] | [
"10th anniversary",
"Hackaday 10th Anniversary",
"hackaday con",
"logic",
"non-binary",
"SETUN",
"ternary",
"ternary computer",
"thundersqueak"
] | When [Thundersqueak] was looking for a project for The Hackaday Prize, she knew it needed to be a special project. IoT devices and microcontrollers are one thing, but it’s not really something that will set you of from the pack. No, her project needed to be exceptional, and she turned to
logic and balanced ternary computing
.
[Thundersqueak] was inspired to design her ternary computer from a few very interesting and nearly unknown historical computing devices. The first was the [Thomas Fowler] machine, designed all the way back in 1838. It could count to several thousand using a balanced ternary mechanical mechanism. The [Fowler] machine was used to calculate logs, and the usual boring mathematical tasks of the time.
A bit more research turned up
the Setun
, an electronic computer constructed out of vacuum tubes in 1958. This computer could count up to 387,000,000 with eighteen ternary digits. On the binary machine you’re using right now, representing that would take twenty-nine binary digits. It’s about a 2.5 times more efficient way of constructing a computer, and when you’re looking for the right vacuum tubes in 1950s USSR, that’s a great idea.
[Thundersqueak] isn’t dealing with vacuum tubes – she has a world of semiconductors at her fingertips. After constructing a few truth tables for ternary logic, she began designing circuits to satisfy the requirements of what this computer should do. The design uses split rails – a negative voltage, a positive voltage, and ground, with the first prototype power supply made from a 741 Op-amp. From there, it was just breadboarding stuff and checking her gates, transistors, and truth tables to begin creating her ternary computer.
With the basic building blocks of a ternary computer done, [Thundersqueak] then started to design a basic ALU. Starting with a half adder, the design then expanded to a full adder with ripple carry. We’re sure there are plans for multiplying, rotating, and everything else that would turn this project into a CPU. | 39 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "1965426",
"author": "Shrad",
"timestamp": "2014-10-07T14:21:08",
"content": "I wonder if you made one with gigahertz opamps or so… there surely are some tri-state microwave buffers which would be usable in this project, no?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
... | 1,760,376,043.612583 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/07/internet-connected-ti-84/ | Internet-Connected TI-84 | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"BlockDude",
"doom",
"Spark Core",
"STM32F103",
"ti",
"TI CC3000",
"ti-84",
"wi-fi"
] | Just before the days where every high school student had a cell phone, everyone in class had a TI graphing calculator. In some ways this was better than a cell phone: If you wanted to play BlockDude instead of doing trig identities, this was much more discrete. The only downside is that the TI calculators can’t easily communicate to each other like cell phones can. [Christopher] has solved this problem with his latest project which
provides Wi-Fi functionality to a TI graphing calculator
, and has much greater aspirations than helping teenagers waste time in pre-calculus classes.
The boards are based around a Spark Core Wi-Fi development board which is (appropriately) built around a TI CC3000 chip and a STM32F103 microcontroller. The goal of the project is to connect the calculators directly to the
Global CALCnet
network without needing a separate computer as a go-between. These boards made it easy to get the original Arduino-based code modified and running on the new hardware.
After a TI-BASIC program is loaded on the graphing calculator, it is able to input the credentials for the LAN and access the internet where all kinds of great calculator resources are available through the Global CALCnet. This is a great project to make the math workhorse of the classroom even more useful to students. Or, if you’re bored with trig identities again, you can
also run a port of DOOM
. | 22 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1964884",
"author": "Dohzer",
"timestamp": "2014-10-07T11:18:59",
"content": "Finally, a better way to cheat on exams!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1964968",
"author": "Blue Footed Booby",
"timestamp": "2014-10-07T11:... | 1,760,376,043.989413 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/07/cnc-router-converted-to-3d-printer/ | CNC Router Converted To 3D Printer | Rich Bremer | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printer",
"CNC router",
"repstrap"
] | 3D Printers have come down significantly in price over the past few years. Nowadays it is even possible to get a 3D printer kit for between $200-300. It’s arguable how well these inexpensive printers perform. [Jon] wanted a printer capable of quality prints without breaking the bank. After researching the different RepRap types that are available he concluded he really wasn’t up for a full machine build. He had previously built a CNC Router and decided it was best to
add a hot end and extruder
to the already built 3 axis frame.
The CNC Router frame is made from aluminum, is very rigid and has a 2′ by 2′ cutting area. All axes glide smoothly on THK linear bearings and are powered by NEMA 23 motors driven by Gecko 540 stepper drivers. The router was removed from the machine but the mounting bracket was left on. The bracket was then modified to hold the extruder and hot end. With 3D Printers there is typically a control board specifically designed for the task with dedicated outputs to control the temperature of the hot end. Since [Jon] already had the electronics set up for the router, he didn’t need a specialized 3D Printer control board. What he does need is a way to control the temperature of the hot end and he did that by using a stand-alone PID. The PID is set manually and provides no feedback to the computer or control board.
[Jon] used liked Mach3 for controlling his CNC Router so he stuck with it for printing. He’s tried a few slicers but it seems Slic3r works the best for his setup. Once the g-code is generated it is run though Mach3 to control the machine. [Jon] admits that he has a way to go with tweaking the settings and that the print speed is slower than most print-only machines due to the mass of the frame’s gantry and carriage. Even so, his huge whistle print looks pretty darn good. Check it out in the video after the break… | 22 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "1964451",
"author": "Chris C.",
"timestamp": "2014-10-07T08:56:01",
"content": "I’d like to see more motion platforms used as multipurpose machines with interchangeable tooling. So it’s a bit anticlimactic that [Jon] made a separate 3D printer after all, just a few months later. A... | 1,760,376,043.92258 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/06/dusty-junk-bin-downconverter-receives-fm-on-an-am-radio/ | Dusty Junk-bin Downconverter Receives FM On An AM Radio | Elliot Williams | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"am",
"down converter",
"downconverter",
"fm",
"junk box",
"radio"
] | This amateur radio hack is not for the faint of heart! With only three transistors (and a drawer-full of passive parts), [Peter Parker, vk3ye] is able to
use a broken-looking AM car radio to receive FM radio signals
(YouTube link) on 2 meters, an entirely different band.
There are two things going on here. First, a home-made frequency downconverter shifts the 147 MHz signal down to the 1 MHz neighborhood where the AM radio can deal with it. Then, the AM radio is tuned just slightly off the right frequency and the FM signal is slope detected.
The downconverter consists of a local tuned oscillator and a mixer. The local oscillator generates an approximate 146 MHz signal from an 18 MHz crystal, accounting for two of the three transistors. Then this 146 MHz signal and the approximately 147 MHz signal that he wants to listen to are multiplied together (mixed) using the third transistor.
If you’re not up on your radio theory, a
frequency mixer
takes in two signals at different frequencies and produces an output signal that has various sums and differences of the two input signals in it. It’s this 147 MHz – 146 MHz = 1 MHz FM signal, right in the middle of the AM radio band’s frequency range, that’s passed on to the AM radio.
Next, the AM radio
slope detects
the frequency-modulated (FM) signal as if it were amplitude modulated (AM). This works as follows: FM radio encodes audio as changes in frequency, while AM radios encode the audio signal in the amplitude, or volume, of the radio signal. Instead of tracking the changing frequency as an FM radio would, slope detectors stick on a single frequency that’s tuned just slightly off from the FM carrier frequency. As the FM signal gets closer to or farther away from this fixed frequency, the received signal gets louder or quieter, and FM is detected as AM.
At 5:23, [vk3ye] steps through the circuit diagram. As he mentions, these are old tricks from circa 50 years ago, but it’s very nice to see a junk-box hack working so well with so few parts and receiving (very) high frequency FM on an old AM car radio. A circuit like this could make a versatile front end for an SDR setup. It makes us want to warm up the soldering iron.
Thanks [Morris] for the tip. | 10 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "1963930",
"author": "John P",
"timestamp": "2014-10-07T06:08:07",
"content": "Thanks guys, keep the stuff like this coming!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1964028",
"author": "Figureitout",
"timestamp": "2014-10-07T06:3... | 1,760,376,044.035985 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/06/an-msp430-flash-emulation-tool-from-an-msp430/ | An MSP430 Flash Emulation Tool From An MSP430 | Brian Benchoff | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"jtag",
"msp430",
"programmer",
"Spy-by-wire",
"texas instruments"
] | It isn’t much trouble programming one of TI’s MSP430 chips, but outside of the official Flash Emulation Tool, TI doesn’t make programming one of these microcontrollers
cheap.
The most common way of programming an MSP430 is using a Launchpad Dev board, and [Vicente]
has the best looking one yet
.
The MSP430 series of chips can be programmed through JTAG or Spy-By-Wire, and the official, professional engineering tool from TI for these chips
costs about $100
. Those of us with more sense than money have another option – use one of the TI Launchpad dev boards as an MSP430 programmer.
[Vicente]’s project uses the MSP430G2 Launchpad, with just a few wires going to the proper connector found in the official programmer from TI. There are a few limitations; the programmer only works at 3.6V, so programming 1.8V devices might not be a good idea. Also, it only works with Spy-By-Wire and no JTAG support is available. Still, it’s a great looking project, and does exactly what it’s designed to. | 44 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "1963261",
"author": "NotArduino",
"timestamp": "2014-10-07T02:29:14",
"content": "Not only is this story not novel, making this special box is so fucking complicated. All you have to do is run three wires (TEST, RST, GND) from your launchpad board to your msp430 to program it.I gues... | 1,760,376,044.120263 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/06/twittering-chicken-coops-batman/ | Twittering Chicken Coops, Batman! | Elliot Williams | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"chicken coop",
"home",
"home automation",
"opencv",
"sensors",
"twitter"
] | By now you’ve seen almost anything Tweet. But have you seen
the (French) twittering chicken coop?
(
Google translate link
) [Hugo] had kept two chickens as part of a household-waste reduction campaign, and then afterward started work.
Even if you don’t read French, the
chickens’ twitter feed
basically tells the story.
The setup can take IR photographs of sleeping chickens and notify [Hugo] when it’s time to collect the eggs. Naturally, an abundance of other sensors are available. The coop can tweet based on ambient temperature, nest temperature, light level, motion sensor status, or the amount of remaining chicken feed. You can easily follow whether the two fowl are in the coop or out in the yard. It’s like Big Brother, only for birds.
The application is, frankly, ridiculous. But if you’re into home (or coop) automation, there’s a lot to be learned and the project is very well documented. [Hugo] used
OpenCV
for visual egg detection, and custom Python code to slightly randomize the tweets’ text. All of these details are up on his
Github account
.
And if you just can’t get enough chicken-coop hacks, be sure to check out
this mobile chicken coop
,
this coop in the shape of a golden spiral
, or
this Bluetooth-enabled, talking chicken coop
, among others. You’d think our name was Coop-a-Day. | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1962992",
"author": "Alex Satrapa",
"timestamp": "2014-10-07T01:14:22",
"content": "Not at all ridiculous. If you have chooks in the backyard, and work a 9-5, you want to make sure they are locked up safely before dusk (because that’s when foxes are more active). Rather than simply ... | 1,760,376,044.167362 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/06/quadrotor-pod-racing/ | Quadrotor Pod Racing | Elliot Williams | [
"drone hacks"
] | [
"drone fpv",
"quadcopter",
"racing"
] | A group of multicopter enthusiasts from Argonay, France cordoned off a path through the forest and spent the day racing.
The resulting video
makes it look like a heck of a good time.
Twenty “drone” pilots all used first-person view (FPV) camera setups for complete immersion, racing at up to 50 kilometers per hour through a 150m course in the woods that was chosen for maximum thrills and spills. The track basically followed a footpath, but the pilots still had to be extremely alert to avoid natural obstacles (we call them “trees”). The narrator adds that the nearly random lighting and camera artifacts added an extra level of difficulty to the event.
After practicing a few times just to get around the track in one piece, they started racing each other in heats. On the final heat, at 3:40 in the video, five copters start off head-to-head and tear out into the woods. Of them, only two cross the finish line.
FPV drone crash scenes still make us wince a little bit. We wonder how many of the participants spent the next few nights in the repair bay.
Thanks to [Bradley Wilkinson] for the tip. | 39 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "1962065",
"author": "MrX",
"timestamp": "2014-10-06T20:34:41",
"content": "Now you caught my attention!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1962076",
"author": "Arran",
"timestamp": "2014-10-06T20:38:01",
"content": "Now... | 1,760,376,044.244092 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/06/4-axis-cnc-foam-cutter-sports-a-unistrut-frame/ | 4 Axis CNC Foam Cutter Sports A Unistrut Frame | Rich Bremer | [
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"cnc",
"foam cutter",
"hot wire foam cutter"
] | CNC Foam Cutters are capable of cutting out some pretty cool shapes that would otherwise be extremely difficult to do. They do this by pulling a heated metal wire though a block of foam. Electrical current passing through the wire heats it up causing the foam to melt away, there is no dust and no mess to clean up. [batchelc] decided to make his own
large-scale CNC Foam Cutter
and took a lot of photos along the way.
Since machine is 4 axis, meaning both sides can move forward/back and up/down independently of each other, tapered shapes are possible. One example where this would be helpful is cutting wings that are swept or have different profiles at each end.
The main frame of the machine is made from Unistrut and measures a whopping 60 by 60 inches. Subtract the size of the mechanical components and the cutting area ends up being 48 by 42 and 22 inches high. The foam sits on an MDF bed, gravity is the only method of holding the foam down during cutting. The wire doesn’t actually touch the foam so there is no force applied to cause it to move. The hot wire moves slowly and melts the foam just a few thousands of an inch in front of the wire resulting in no contact between the two.
Both axes on each side are driven by 1/2-10″ lead screws supported by bearing blocks on both sides. The longitudinal axes smoothly traverse the length of the machine by means of skate bearings that ride on the Unistrut channel itself. The vertical axes have a plastic bushing that slides along a round shaft.
The control portion of the machine is a HobbyCC FoamPro kit that came with the 4 axis stepper motor control board and 4 NEMA 23 stepper motors.
GMFC
software is used to both generate the g-code and send the commands to the stepper motor control board. | 29 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1961372",
"author": "Waterjet",
"timestamp": "2014-10-06T17:10:00",
"content": "That’s pretty neat. Unistrut is fairly rigid over the distances we are talking about and with the tolerances a machine like this can operate under. Are there any provisions for fume exhaust? Why MDF for ... | 1,760,376,044.420421 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/06/hackaday-10th-anniversary-1o57-and-the-art-of-encryption/ | Hackaday 10th Anniversary: [1o57] And The Art Of Encryption | Brian Benchoff | [
"Featured",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"10th anniversary",
"cryptography",
"defcon",
"Hackaday 10th Anniversary",
"ThIs is NoT a hint"
] | [Ryan] a.k.a. [1o57] comes from an age before anyone could ask a question, pull out their smartphone, and instantly receive an answer from the great Google mind. He thinks there’s something we have lost with our new portable cybernetic brains – the opportunity to ask a question, think about it, review what we already know, and reason out a solution. There’s a lot to be said about solving a problem all by yourself, and there’s nothing to compare to the ‘ah-ha’ moment that comes with it.
[1o57] started his Mystery Challenges at DEFCON purely by accident; he had won the TCP/IP embedded device competition one year, and the next year was looking to claim his title again. The head of the TCP/IP embedded competition had resigned from his role, and through a few emails, [1o57] took on the role himself. There was a miscommunication, though, and [1o57] was scheduled to run the TCP/IP
drinking
competition. This eventually morphed into a not-totally-official ‘Mystery Challenge’ that caught fire in email threads and IRC channels. Everyone wanted to beat the mystery challenge, and it was up to [1o57] to pull something out of his bag of tricks.
The first Mystery Challenge was a mechanical device with three locks ready to be picked (one was already unlocked), magnets to grab ferrous picks, and only slightly bomb-like in appearance. The next few years featured similar devices with more locks, better puzzles, and were heavy enough to make a few security officials believe [1o57] was going to blow up the Hoover dam.
With a few years of practice, [1o57] is turning crypto puzzles into an art. His DEFCON 22 badge
had different lanyards
that needed to be arranged to spell out a code. To solve the puzzle, you’ll need to talk to other people, a great way to meet one of [1o57]’s goals of getting all the natural introverts working together.
Oh. This talk has its own crypto challenge, something [1o57] just can’t get out of his blood:
So far nobody has solved the
@hackaday
10 year anniversary in-talk-mini-crypto-puzzle-of-doom…("it's only a model")
— LosT/李智上 (@1o57)
October 5, 2014
We talked for a little bit, and 0x06 0x0a1 MFY YWXDWE MEOYOIB ASAE WBXLU BC S BLOQ ZTAO KUBDR HG SK YTTZSLBIMHB | 35 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1960893",
"author": "gannon",
"timestamp": "2014-10-06T15:08:01",
"content": "“POA YOTVSN NFXQDUX RXAJ QBPMK SU B TSCZ INSK OSZTC XM NJ UHWZSHSAPNW”?The game is afoot it seems",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1961411",
... | 1,760,376,044.845759 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/06/winning-game-app-contests-with-computer-vision/ | Winning Game-App Contests With Computer Vision | Mike Szczys | [
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"bejeweled",
"bot",
"puzzle",
"solver",
"solving"
] | [Gadget Addict] found out about a contest being held by a shoe seller. Their mobile app has a game very much like Bejeweled. The high scorer each month gets £500. His choices were to be better at the game than everyone else, or to be smarter. He chose the latter by
writing a computer vision program to play the game
.
There are two distinct parts of a hack like this one. The first is just figuring out a way to programmatically detect the game board and correctly identify each icon on it. This is an iPad game. [Gadget Addict] is mirroring the screen on his laptop, which gives him easy access to the game board and also allows for simulated swipes for automatic play. Above you can see two examples where black pixels may be counted in order to identify the icon. A set of secondary checks differentiates similar entries after the first filtering. The other part of the hack involves writing the algorithms to solve for the best move.
If you liked this one, check out
a super-fast Bejeweled solver
from several years back. We should also mention that this was just a proof of concept and [GA] never actually entered the contest. | 10 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1960299",
"author": "Myndale",
"timestamp": "2014-10-06T11:37:10",
"content": "Respect for waiting until the comp was over before going public. Perhaps an even more useful application of such skills is in the various crowd-sourcing games like Phylo, a genome mutation alignment game ... | 1,760,376,044.465058 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/06/cpm-source-code-released/ | CP/M Source Code Released | Adam Fabio | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"cpm",
"Gary Kildall",
"Udo Munk"
] | To celebrate the 40th anniversary of CP/M, the Computer History Museum has
released a package containing early source code
for several versions of CP/M. Originally designed by [Gary Kildall] in 1973, Control Program for Microcomputers (CP/M) is an early operating system for microprocessor based computers. The OS was originally written for the Intel
Intellec 8
, an Intel 8008 based computer. Since it was on an Intel machine, CP/M was written in PL/M (Programming Language for Microcomputers), a language [Kildall] had previously developed for Intel .
CP/M pioneered the idea of a ROM based
Basic Input Output/System (BIOS)
for commonly used routines on a given computer. The use of BIOS made CP/M easy to port. Eventually it was ported to thousands of different machines and architectures, including the Altair, IMSAI 8080, C-64, and C-128 and Apple II systems.
Gary and his company
Digital Research
, were one of the top contenders for the operating system on IBM’s new personal computer. Ultimately, Microsoft got the job by purchasing 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products. Somewhat ironically, 86-DOS itself was written based on the CP/M Application Programming interface (API).
The source itself is an amazing trip back in time. Included are portions of CP/M 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, and 2.0. Portions of CP/M have been released previously. As with the previous files, this version includes modifications performed by z80-pack author [Udo Munk] in 2007. Version 1.3 is especially interesting as it is primarily scanned copies of the CP/M source code.
If you’re into vintage computing, and know how important CP/M was to the early days of personal computers, check out the CP/M source. If you find any interesting or clever bits of code, be sure let us know about it in the comments.
[Image Source:
CulturaInformatica
] | 51 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "1960128",
"author": "DougL",
"timestamp": "2014-10-06T10:48:33",
"content": "Wow this brings back memories. My first DIY computer was an 8008 I designed and built myself. Then I got a Z80 and put on CPM as my first real operating system. It was a good step for all of us in those ... | 1,760,376,044.770784 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/05/web-browser-pushes-arduinos-limits/ | Web Browser Pushes Arduino’s Limits | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"Arduino Uno",
"browser",
"ethernet shield",
"hackaday retro",
"retro edition"
] | Some projects that we build fulfill a genuine need for a new piece of hardware or software that will make life easier or fix a common problem. Other projects, on the other hand, we do just because it’s possible to do. [Gilchrist] has finished work on a project that fits squarely in the second category: a
web browser that runs exclusively on an Arduino Uno
with an ethernet shield.
The Arduino can serve plain-text web pages to an attached LCD and can follow hyperlinks. User input is handled by a small joystick, but the impressive part of the build is on the software side. The Arduino only has 2KB of RAM to handle web pages, and the required libraries take up 20KB of memory, leaving only about 12 KB for the HTML parser/renderer and the LCD renderer.
The Arduino browser is a work in progress, and [Gilchrist] mentions that goals for the project include more robustness to handle poor HTML (the
Hackaday retro edition
loads flawlessly though), a terminal, and WiFi capabilities. To that end, maybe a good solution would be using
the new ESP8266 chip
to keep things small and inexpensive? | 21 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1959163",
"author": "Isom",
"timestamp": "2014-10-06T05:21:30",
"content": "With all the ESP8266 references it start to feel like HAD is getting paid to promote the chip",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1959231",
"autho... | 1,760,376,044.539469 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/05/badusb-means-were-all-screwed/ | BadUSB Means We’re All Screwed | Mike Szczys | [
"Peripherals Hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"badusb",
"blackhat",
"malware"
] | Does anyone else get the feeling that the frequency of rather horrible vulnerabilities coming to light is accelerating? Off the top of our head, there’s Heartbleed, Shellshock, and now this one.
The BadUSB exploit attack stems from the “invisible” microcontroller
in most USB devices.
We first heard about it when we were attending DEFCON in August. The exploit had been announced the same week at Blackhat but there wasn’t much information out yet. Now
the talk has been posted
and there’s
a well-explained overview article at Big Mess o’ Wires
.
Here’s how this one goes: all USB devices rely on a microcontroller to handle the peripheral-side of USB communications. The computer doesn’t care which microcontroller, nor does it have a way of knowing even if it wanted to. The uC is “invisible” in this situation, it’s the interface and data flowing through it that the computer cares about. BadUSB is an attack that adds malicious functionality to this microcontroller. To the computer it’s a perfectly normal and functional USB device, while all the bad stuff is happening on the peripheral’s controller where the computer can’t see it.
How deeply do you think about plugging each and every USB device? Check out what happens at 19:20 into the video below. The USB device enumerates and very quickly sets up a spoofed Ethernet connection. You can still load a webpage via WiFi but the fake connection is forwarding packets to a second server.
Once discovered, you can wipe the computer and this will stop happening; until you plug the same device again and reinfect. Worse yet, because the controller is invisible to the computer there’s almost no way to scan for infected devices. If you
are
smart enough to suspect BadUSB, how long will it take you to figure out if its your mouse, your keyboard, a thumb drive, a webcam, your scanner… you get the point.
[Thanks Kuldeep] | 138 | 42 | [
{
"comment_id": "1958428",
"author": "David",
"timestamp": "2014-10-06T02:06:33",
"content": "Wait, BadUSB must have a detectable footprint. Why can’t it be intercepted & blocked before it accomplishes anything?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": ... | 1,760,376,045.195755 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/05/hackaday-links-october-5th-2014/ | Hackaday Links: October 5th, 2014 | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"att",
"eagle",
"magnetic stripe",
"nixie",
"sara-u260",
"van de graaff"
] | Good news from CadSoft this week. They didn’t miss all the complaints about their decision to use a Node Lock License for EAGLE 7. This had meant that users of the popular PCB design software would be limit on how many machines they could use the software with a license.
They have removed License Management
from the package (and all the citizens rejoiced).
We’re tripping over the growing pile of hardware that boast the “next-big-thing” in getting devices onto a network. That’s not a complaint at all. This time around it’s a cell chip,
the U-blox SARA-U260
, which can connect to 3G on the AT&T network and is just 16x26mm. They call it world’s smallest but we have no idea if that’s true or not. Anyone have a source and/or pricing for these? [Thanks Austin]
This guy loves his Nixie tube. How much? To the extent that he built up a hardware and software interface that
behaves much like a pet
. It’s voice activated, and the infectious delight of [Glasslinger’s] video demo is in itself worth watching. [Thanks Morris]
Making this Magnetic Stripe Reader work as a USB device
is really nothing more than adding a serial-to-USB converter. The journey to find the way to add the converter makes for a fun read though.
We know from watching
Breaking Bad
that you can kill power to a building by shorting the power lines outside with a huge bouquet of mylar balloons. This installation is a twist on the idea. Connecting one
mylar balloon to a Van de Graaff generator
and floating it next to another results in an oscillating repel-discharge-repel cycle. [Thanks filnt via
NPR
] | 8 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1957970",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2014-10-05T23:56:42",
"content": "OK now, in your best Mortal Combat voice, “Mylar balloons, FIGHT!”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1958016",
"author": "r4k",
"timestamp": ... | 1,760,376,044.951294 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/05/hackaday-10th-anniversary-quinn-dunki-and-veronica/ | Hackaday 10th Anniversary: Quinn Dunki And Veronica | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks",
"computer hacks",
"Featured"
] | [
"10th anniversary",
"6502",
"Hackaday 10th Anniversary",
"quinn dunki",
"retrocomputer",
"veronica"
] | In case you haven’t been reading Hackaday for the last few weeks, we just had
an amazing 10th anniversary party
in Pasadena this weekend, full of workshops, talks, and a party that reportedly went until four in the morning. One of the amazing hackers we invited to give a talk was [Quinn Dunki], creator of Veronica, the modern 6502 computer stuffed inside an old radio.
We first saw Veronica
a few years ago
, but [Quinn] figures she’s been building her computer for about five years now. She’s a software developer by trade that decided one day to dip her toes into the murky seas of hardware development and build a computer from the ground up. She chose the 6502 as the brains of her contraption, laid out everything on single-sided boards etched in a kitchen, and connected everything with a backplane. Right now it has a USB keyboard, (technically a PS/2 keyboard with a USB plug), NES controllers, a VGA display, and a monitor and Pong in ROM. [Quinn]’s goal was to build a computer that could program itself, and after five years, she’s accomplished that goal.
[Quinn] admits her software background was responsible for a few of her admittedly bad design choices; the VGA is generated by an ATMega microcontroller, working under the theory that if she could clock the micro fast enough, she could do VGA. She now believes an FPGA would have been a better choice for video output, but now that the video circuit is done, she probably won’t revisit that problem.
There is one thing missing from Veronica, and something that [Quinn] will be working on in the future: mass storage. Right now every program Veronica can run is either stored in ROM or entered via the keyboard. A hard drive is the next problem to solve, either with an SD card, or a Compact Flash or IDE hard drive. | 19 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1957448",
"author": "jack",
"timestamp": "2014-10-05T20:39:11",
"content": "Veronica, the one computer that has massively influenced my own ventures into computer hardware.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1957494",
"author":... | 1,760,376,044.905855 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/05/bed-leveling-with-a-solenoid-actuator/ | Bed Leveling With A Solenoid Actuator | James Hobson | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"auto bed leveling",
"bed leveling",
"z-axis probe"
] | Ah, the woes of printer bed leveling. Unless you have a fancy 3D printer, bed leveling is a tedious task. [Rupin] got tired of messing around with his printer, so he decided
to make his very own bed leveling sensor.
The goal was to create a Z-axis probe that works as both an auto-leveling sensor and as an end stop. He originally was trying to design something using a servo motor probe, but ended up chucking the idea since the motor was noisy and calibration was difficult.
He’s since switched over to use a solenoid actuator with an optoisolator to determine the position. The actuator extends an M3 screw which will touch the bed — as the position is adjusted, it is possible to adjust the bed using software for a perfectly level bed, every time.
Relatively speaking, the hardware aspect of this was quite easy to do. [Rupin] is now cleaning up the code and when he’s happy with it he will publish it as part of the Marlin branch of printer firmware.
Alternatively if you’re looking for more of a challenge you can try
using temperature force sensitive resistors to level your bed… | 32 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1956940",
"author": "thantik",
"timestamp": "2014-10-05T17:03:12",
"content": "Disclaimer: I work for DeltaMakerThat said, this is how we’ve been doing our touch probes for over a year now –https://plus.google.com/104012815742569035024/posts/es6J8EEocmq",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,376,045.024426 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/05/illumaphone-uses-light-to-make-music/ | Illumaphone Uses Light To Make Music | James Hobson | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"illumaphone"
] | Move aside Theremin, we have another crazy instrument that relies on its musicians to frantically wave their arms around to produce a beat. This is the
Illumaphone.
[Bonnie Eisenman] recently took a course on Electronic Music, and for her final project she was allowed to basically do whatever she wanted — so she chose to create a custom musical instrument. It’s fairly simple on the hardware side, making use of coffee cups, an Arduino Uno, six photo-resistors, some alligator clips and a whole bunch of cardboard — but don’t let the lackluster parts list fool you, it actually works quite well for what it is!
Each coffee cup is a different note, and the amount of light that gets into the cup determines its volume and vibrato. It even auto-calibrates to the ambient light levels when it is first setup! The light level data is interpreted by the Arduino which then sends it to a laptop standing by, which uses a software called ChucK to synthesize the notes for output.
If this technology is too intense for you, you can always
build a trusty soda-can Theremin instead. | 9 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1956789",
"author": "bruno",
"timestamp": "2014-10-05T16:04:23",
"content": "she never heard of Jean-Michel Jarre’s laser harp ?https://www.google.ch/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=jean%20michel%20jarre%20laser%20harp",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,376,045.24181 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/05/arduino-drink-dispenser-turns-quarters-into-liquid-courage/ | Arduino Drink Dispenser Turns Quarters Into Liquid Courage | James Hobson | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"alcohol vending machine",
"barbot",
"vodka dispenser"
] | Ever feel the need to have your very own alcohol vending machine at home? Well if you do, [Ben] and [Dan] have just the
Arduino based machine for you!
It was actually part of a school assignment for product design at Brunel University – the whole thing was designed and built in just over a week. The machine accepts and counts coins giving you a total readout on the LCD screen. When the correct amount is inserted you can select your shot and the machine will pour you a stiff one.
The thing we like about this vending machine — we’re not sure if it actually qualifies as a
barbot
— is that it doesn’t have any fancy pumps. In fact, it just uses two inexpensive solenoid valves and gravity to dispense the drink, much like a typical bar bottle dispenser.
It sounds like they’re considering commercializing it, but we can see quite a few problems with a machine that will accept coins from anyone and pour out a drink.
[via
HackedGadgets
] | 6 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1955957",
"author": "Dax",
"timestamp": "2014-10-05T11:27:57",
"content": "What problems? As long as it’s not open to the general public, you can have any sort of vending machine you like.These kinds of robotic bartenders are mostly being marketed to homes and businesses, instead of... | 1,760,376,045.286835 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/05/feed-that-shoulder-boom-box-with-a-wrist-tune-transmitter/ | Feed That Shoulder Boom Box With A Wrist Tune Transmitter | Mike Szczys | [
"Raspberry Pi",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"dick tracey",
"fm transmitter",
"pifm"
] | Next time you’re strutting down the block with that hi-fi on you shoulder, don’t subject yourself to the limitations of a radio station’s tight playlist or the short run time of a cassette tape. Pack your tunes on your wrist and beam them directly with
this wearable FM transmitter
. No wires… it’s like the future is now!
The Raspberry Pi has proven itself to be
a dependable FM transmitter
. This project follows in those footsteps but moves the goal line a few leaps further. The build has a full user interface which will make it easy to adapt to just about any application you can imagine. And the added twist is shown in the latter third of the video after the break. [Navic209] has included a microphone in the design which allows the wearer to transmit voice to an appropriately tuned radio. It gives the device a very Dick Tracey-esque feel. | 13 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1955692",
"author": "Galane",
"timestamp": "2014-10-05T10:09:01",
"content": "Mr. Microphone meets Raspberry Pi.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1955841",
"author": "Haku",
"timestamp": "2014-10-05T10:55:41",
"conten... | 1,760,376,045.332 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/04/your-living-room-becomes-next-mario-kart-course/ | Your Living Room Becomes Next Mario Kart Course | Rich Bremer | [
"Virtual Reality"
] | [
"mario kart",
"motion sensing",
"racing game",
"robot",
"robot projects"
] | [Ken] likes his living room and he is on a continual mission to make it more interesting. Recently, he has made a giant leap forward with a racing game project he calls
RomoCart
. Think of it as a partially-physical game of Mario Kart. You are able to race others around a track while still having the ability to fire projectiles or drop defensive measures in efforts to win the race!
First, lets talk about the hardware required. The racers are standard
Romo
educational robots. Wireless game controllers provide the means for the drivers to control the Romos. Hanging from the ceiling is an
Xtion
motion sensing camera and a video projector, both pointed down at the floor.
To get started, the system scans the floor and determines a race course based on the room layout and any physical objects in the vicinity. A course is then generated to avoid the obstacles and is projected onto the floor. At this point it would still be a pretty neat project but [Ken] went way further. The ceiling-mounted camera tracks the motion of the Romos driving around the track and the video projector displays a smoke trail behind each racer. Randomly displayed on the track are items to help you win the race, including an acceleration item that makes your Romo go twice as fast for a short time.
Have a tailgater? No problem, just pick up some bananas and drop them on the track. If a following competitor drives into one, they spin out. If you want to get super rude, pick up some missiles and fire them at the racers ahead of you. A direct hit will stop them right in their tracks.
[Ken] is no stranger to HaD, he’s had a few of his projects covered here before. Check out his
Tempescope
,
Moving Window
and his
Autonomous Lighting System
.
Check out a video of the racing in action after the break. It is amazing! | 12 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1954930",
"author": "atheros",
"timestamp": "2014-10-05T05:51:02",
"content": "This is really impresive!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1955101",
"author": "Z00111111",
"timestamp": "2014-10-05T06:44:48",
... | 1,760,376,045.380934 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/04/diy-camera-stabilizer-takes-the-shakes-out-of-filming/ | DIY Camera Stabilizer Takes The Shakes Out Of Filming | Rich Bremer | [
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"camera gimbal",
"image stabilization",
"stabilizer",
"steadicam",
"steadycam"
] | We’ve all prematurely stopped watching some Youtube video because of shaky camera work that makes the video unwatchable. There is a solution available for this problem, it’s a device called a camera stabilizer and it is designed to compensate for jerky camera movement. There are several types available for purchase but they can get fairly expensive. Even the cheaper ones at a few hundred dollars are not economical for hobbyists. [John] set out to make his own
camera stabilizer
using some unorthodox parts.
[John’s] chose a gimble style design that effectively lowers the camera’s center of gravity down close to the camera persons hand. The handle of the device must also be mounted in a manor to prevent angular and rotation movement of the supporting hand from transferring to the camera.
The handle is from a cement trowel, on top of which is a ball bearing mounted to a threaded rod. A PVC fitting was heated to soften it and the bushing pressed in. This bearing is responsible for allowing the rotational freedom between the handle and the camera. To decouple any angular movements, two hinges were attached to the PVC fitting. The hinges are perpendicular to each other, one allows forward-back tilting while the other allows left-right tilting. The upper hinge is attached to a piece of poplar wood that also serves as a base for the camera.
At this point, if you were to try to hold this contraption with the camera installed, it would immediately tip over due to gravity. To prevent this, the center of gravity of the moving parts (including the camera) must be lowered. [John] did this by using some aluminum tubing to support wood weights that reside lower than the pivot points created by the hinges.
If you like the DIYer-style stabilizers, check
this other wooded one
out. Want something more polished looking? How about this
pistol grip stabilizer
? | 14 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "1954282",
"author": "Andrew",
"timestamp": "2014-10-05T02:38:46",
"content": "What’s a “gimble”?And don’t you mean “manner”?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1954393",
"author": "TacticalNinja",
"timestamp": "20... | 1,760,376,045.520423 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/04/supercapacitors-for-the-raspberry-pi/ | Supercapacitors For The Raspberry Pi | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"raspberry pi",
"raspberry pi ups",
"RPi",
"supercap",
"ups"
] | As versatile as the Raspberry Pi is, it has a weakness when it needs to be able to shut down properly during a power outage, especially when handling data-sensitive or industrial applications. To solve this problem, [Pavol Sedlacek] has created a
supercapacitor-based UPS specifically for the Raspberry Pi
that gives it enough time to properly halt its processes and shut down if it detects a power failure.
The device is called the Juice4Halt. It uses a DC-DC converter to provide power to the Pi from the normal power supply and to charge the supercapacitors during normal operation. It is bidirectional, so in the event of a power failure it works in reverse to take power from the capacitors and feed it back to the Pi. A second DC-DC converter handles power from an external power supply.
A side effect of using supercapacitors as a UPS is that they can also help the Pi survive brownouts. The project site has an incredible amount of detail about the functionality of the device, including circuit diagrams and the source code. We’ve seen other
supercapacitor-based UPS units before
but this particular one is much more robust and would be truly at home in any industrial or other sensitive setting. | 45 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1954738",
"author": "Maxwell",
"timestamp": "2014-10-05T04:41:34",
"content": "Now we just need to scale it up for my desktop.. there’s an annoying lack of 5-minute UPSes for when the power cuts out for a second or so.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,376,045.909195 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/04/hackaday-10th-anniversary-update/ | Hackaday 10th Anniversary Update | Adam Fabio | [
"News"
] | [
"Hackaday 10th Anniversary"
] | The Hackaday 10th anniversary is going great guns. Attendees have already built line following robots with [Adam Fabio], learned lockpicking with [Datagram] and [Jon King]. [Jame Hobson’s] team is building an awesome video game controller. The attendees are currently building LiPo battery chargers. [Todd Black] gave a great presentation on the care and feeding of LiPo batteries. He designed and built a PCB just for this event!
Some familiar faces are on hand, such as [Chris Gammell], [Bil Herd], as well as the entire Hackaday editing team!
Still to come are talks by [
Steve Collins
], [
Quinn Dunki
], [
Jon McPhalen
], and [
Thundersqueak
].
Want to check out the live view? Click our
Hackvision
streams! | 4 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1952972",
"author": "StevenD",
"timestamp": "2014-10-04T20:05:54",
"content": "Happy 10th Hackaday! Looking forward to 10 more!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1953894",
"author": "Renaud",
"timestamp": "2014-10-05T00:55... | 1,760,376,045.714328 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/04/building-a-retro-computer-that-never-existed/ | Building A Retro Computer That Never Existed | Mike Szczys | [
"computer hacks",
"FPGA"
] | [
"c65",
"commodore",
"fpga"
] | Sometimes you come across a build so far along you wish you could go back and enjoy it just a bit at a time. This C65 build is so far along, it’s like binge watching a retro computer build. One that never actually existed.
Okay, that’s admittedly a bit rash. But technically the C65 (successor to the Commodore C64) never saw its way through development. A good place to start looking in on the build is
from the second post way back in March
. The FPGA-based project is already looking promising with proof-of-concept display tests. Are we the only ones surprised by the 1920 native display resolution?
Checking back in June we see that there is
some software working
but a bounty of bugs will definitely keep [Paul] busy for a while. Fast forward to the beginning of September and he’s come full through to
getting a network connection up and running
.
The Wikipedia page on
the C65
gives a good idea of how awesome this would have been back in the day had it actually made it to market. We suppose it joins the Commodore lists of would-haves and should-haves
with the likes of the C128
. | 9 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1953121",
"author": "jack",
"timestamp": "2014-10-04T20:45:18",
"content": "I now feel tempted to try and recreate acorn computers final computer design, phoebe….",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1956765",
"author": "Me... | 1,760,376,045.757895 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/04/the-esp8266-becomes-a-terrible-browser/ | The ESP8266 Becomes A Terrible Browser | Brian Benchoff | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"arduino mega",
"Broser",
"ESP module",
"ESP8266",
"hackaday retro edition",
"retro edition",
"wifi",
"Wifi module"
] | The ESP8266 are making their way over from China and onto the benches of tinkerers around the world for astonishing web-enabled blinking LED projects and the like. [TM] thought he could do something cooler with his WiFi to UART module
and decided to turn one into a web browser
.
There’s no new code running on the ESP8266 – all the HTML is being pushed through an Arduino Mega, requesting data from a server (in this case
our fabulous retro edition
), and sending the data to the Arduino serial console. The connection is first initiated with a few AT commands to the ESP module, then connecting to the retro server and finally dumping everything received to the console.
It’s not much – HTML tags are still displayed, and images are of course out of the question. The result, however, isn’t that much different from what you would get from Lynx, meaning now the challenge is open for an Arduino port of this ancient browser. | 11 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1951985",
"author": "Liam Jackson",
"timestamp": "2014-10-04T14:40:56",
"content": "This is like one of the first things I did (but with google). Definately not HaD worthy!I agree this is an exciting module, but I’d at least expect to see some code either on the module itself or an ... | 1,760,376,045.960852 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/04/split-flap-display-if-cant-find-it-built-it/ | Split Flap Display: If You Can’t Find It, Built It | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"split flap"
] | It’s pretty hard to deny that split-flap displays are incredibly awesome. This one has been a long time coming, and it’s not a refab or surplus build. [Tom] fabricated these beautiful
alpha-numeric split flaps from scratch
.
Having recently seen
an alarm-clock split flap hack
just a week or so ago we found ourselves wondering where in the world people manage to find this type of awesome mechanical hardware. If you can’t get it out of grampa’s attic, the next best thing is to build it from the ground up.
This was not a build to be taken lightly. [Tom] started years ago, and part way into the project we looked at
some of the control hardware for the installation
. Make sure that you dig deep into his blog posts. It’s the only way you’ll put together the whole picture of how he ended up with each belt and stepper motor driven character module. | 18 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "1951402",
"author": "Christoph Gommel",
"timestamp": "2014-10-04T11:16:19",
"content": "Fortunately we got our hands on some split flap characters from the german Railway.If you want to play around with them tryhttp://fbm.cntx.deThere are some more for rent:http://split-flap.com",
... | 1,760,376,046.070919 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/04/the-teensy-becomes-an-mpc/ | The Teensy Becomes An MPC | Brian Benchoff | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"Akai MPC",
"force sensitive resistor",
"mpc",
"Teensy",
"teensy audio adapter board"
] | A staple of every recording studio today, the Akai MPC began as a simple sampling groove box in the early 90s. The form factor of a few force sensitive pads assignable to different samples should be familiar to anyone with a little bit of MIDI gear, but these are rarely custom-made devices.
Now, it runs on a Teensy
. [Michele] created his own MPC-style MIDI pad controller with the Teensy 3.0, the Teensy audio adapter board, and an ingenious PCB design that uses replacement MPC pads.
[Michele]’s MPC was first featured
in the MIDI hacklet
, but back then the only working component was the pads themselves. The velocity sensitive pads are made of two copper traces laid on a single acetate sheet. A bit of
Velostat
is glued to the back of the pad so when the pad is pressed, it contacts both of the traces. The harder the pad is pressed, the lower the impedance, and with everything sent to an analog pin, each pad becomes a force sensitive resistor.
With the key feature of an MPC taken care of, [Michele] turned his attention to the sampling and software of his device. The new Teensy 3.0 audio adapter board –
and a great new library
– takes care of everything. [Michele] doesn’t have a proper video of his MPC up yet, but he was able to film a random guy playing his machine at Rome Maker Faire yesterday. You can check that out below. | 8 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1951095",
"author": "Jan Smetana (@xsoft)",
"timestamp": "2014-10-04T09:38:19",
"content": "Cool, new Jubeat controller ^_^http://www.gamo2.com/en/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=310",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1... | 1,760,376,046.013741 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/03/camera-mod-lets-this-raspberry-pi-shoot-in-different-spectrums/ | Camera Mod Lets This Raspberry Pi Shoot In Different Spectrums | James Hobson | [
"digital cameras hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"ir camera",
"near IR"
] | For [Peter Le Roux’] first “real” electronics project, he decided to make a camera based off the venerable Raspberry Pi platform. But he didn’t just want a regular camera, he wanted something
that could shoot in near IR wave lengths…
It’s a well-known fact that you can remove the IR blocking filter from most cameras to create a quasi IR camera hack – heck, that hack has been around
nearly as long as we have!
The problem is even if you let the IR light into the camera’s sensor, you still get all the other light unless you have some kind of filter. There are different ways of doing this, so [Peter] decided to do them all with an adjustable wheel to flip through all the different filters.
He designed the case after the PiBow enclosure – you can see our full
Pi Case Roundup here
– and had it all laser cut out of wood. Stick around after the break to see a nice explanation of the light spectrum and the various filters [Peter] uses.
Now if only it was this easy to hack a camera for Predator vision… | 7 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "1950301",
"author": "raph",
"timestamp": "2014-10-04T05:32:31",
"content": "And you can use it to monitor plant growth,http://publiclab.org/wiki/near-infrared-camera",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1952592",
"author": ... | 1,760,376,046.174464 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/03/perceiving-invisible-forces-with-an-emf-detecting-dress/ | Perceiving Invisible Forces With An EMF-Detecting Dress | Kristina Panos | [
"The Hackaday Prize",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"emf",
"emf detector",
"FLORA",
"haptic feedback",
"sonic feedback",
"vibration motor"
] | In June of 2014, [Afrdt] spent two weeks on a boat as an artist-in-residence in Linz, Austria. During that time, she created
a dress that detects EMF waves and outputs them
to vibration motors and a headphone jack.
[Afrdt] started by making two EMF coil antennas and sewed them to cuffs that snap together. She crafted fashionable fabric stripes that both conceal and carry the cables from the coils to an Adafruit FLORA that’s sewn into the body of the dress. The wearer experiences haptic feedback via vibration motors in the chest, and sonic feedback from a mini female headphone jack built into the collar. The zipper functions as a low-pass filter and volume control for the jack. One side bears resistive tape and runs to the FLORA, which is programmed to play an 800Hz tone. The other side runs to the headphone jack via conductive thread. As the zipper is opened, the pitch increases to toward the maximum pitch of 880Hz.
She drew inspiration for this project from [Aaron Alai]’s
EMF detector project
and built
the code
on top of it. Broader documentation and many more pictures are available both at
[Afrdt]’s site
and the
residency program’s site
.
This project is
an official entry
to The Hackaday Prize that sadly didn’t make
the quarterfinal selection
. It’s still a great project, and worthy of a Hackaday post on its own. | 9 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1949619",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2014-10-04T02:19:50",
"content": "There have been several hacks like this, I think HAD needs a new category, “Sensory Augmentation Hacks” for people for whom 5 isn’t enough.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,376,046.125495 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/02/auto-bike-light-on-when-moving-off-when-not/ | Auto Bike Light: On When Moving Off When Not | Mike Szczys | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"accelerometer",
"bicycle",
"bike",
"bike light"
] | If you’re plagued by perpetually dead bike light batteries you’ll like this one. It’ll also fix the problem of remembering to turn the lights on in the first place. This hack uses
an accelerometer to switch the light when the bike is in motion
.
In this case the bike light was chosen for its ability to fit the control board inside the case. But with this proof-of-concept you can easily spin a tiny board with uC and accelerometer to replicate the functionality (the Bluetooth module shown above is going unused in this application). Many accelerometer chips have low-power mode that can be used to was a uC so we could easily see this having very little impact on the normally battery life of your light. The one caveat being the need to regulate the voltage as many of these lights take a 12V cell.
The other alternative is to make sure your battery is always charging during the day.
This solar setup
is one way, but then you won’t want to leave the thing unattended. | 72 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "1944515",
"author": "Jeff Nme",
"timestamp": "2014-10-03T02:15:05",
"content": "So you’d get run over at night while being that mythical pushbike rider who stops at a red trafic lights or stop signs?Sounds like a great idea to have the light off when not in motion.",
"parent_id"... | 1,760,376,046.281824 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/02/even-more-power-wheels-racers/ | Even More Power Wheels Racers | Brian Benchoff | [
"Toy Hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"electric",
"go-kart",
"gokart",
"MITERS",
"Power Wheels",
"power wheels racing"
] | With the Power Wheels Racing series wrapping up for the year, the teams are winding down and writing up their build and rebuild logs for their cars. In previous years, the kids from MIT, a.k.a. MITERS, have brought small electric cars to the races, but
nothing like this
. It’s a true Power Wheels, or at least the plastic shell, an alternator, a huge battery pack, and a completely custom drivetrain.
[Dane], [Ben], [Rob], [Mike], and [Ciaran] started their build with an alternator that was salvaged from
[Charles]’ Chibi-Mikuvan
, added a motor from a CDROM drive for a sensor, and basked in the glory of what this cart would become. The frame was crafted from 1″ square tube, a custom disc brake machined, and a 10S2P battery pack built.
The alternator the team used for a motor had a rather small shaft, and there were no readily available gearboxes. The team opted to build their own with helical gears milled on the MITERS Bridgeport mill. That in itself is worth of a Hackaday post. Just
check out this video
.
With the build held together with duct tape a baling wire, the team headed out to the races in Detroit. Testing the racer before getting to Detroit would have been a good idea. During the endurance race, a set of 10″ rear tires were torn apart in just four laps, impressively bad, until you realize the smaller pink tires that were also from Harbor Freight fared even worse.
After a few races, the MITERS team figured out the weaknesses of their car and managed to get everything working perfectly for the race at Maker Faire NY. | 18 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1943996",
"author": "freelancer",
"timestamp": "2014-10-02T23:17:34",
"content": "As I interpreted their project log, in the end they ditched the alternator and used another motor, right?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "194425... | 1,760,376,046.35949 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/02/simple-photo-flash-trigger-for-water-balloon-photography/ | Simple Photo Flash Trigger For Water Balloon Photography | Rick Osgood | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"balloons",
"flash",
"photo",
"photography",
"trigger",
"water"
] | There have been countless projects to make custom photo flash trigger circuits. Usually the circuits react to sound, triggering the camera flash at the moment a certain sound is triggered. That type of trigger can be used to detect the popping of a balloon or shattering of glass. Other triggers detect motion, like a projectile crossing a laser beam for example. [Udo’s] friend had a fun idea to take photos of water balloons popping. Unfortunately neither of those trigger methods would be well suited for this situation. That’s when [Udo] had to get creative.
[Udo] built a unique
trigger circuit
that uses the water inside the balloon as the trigger. The core component of the circuit is an Arduino. One of the Arduino’s analog pins is configured to enable the internal pull-up resistor. If nothing else is connected to the pin, the Arduino will read 5 volts there. The pin is connected to a needle on the end of a stick. There is a second needle on the same stick, just a short distance away from the first. When these needles pierce the balloon’s skin, the water inside allows for a brief moment of conductivity between the two pins. The voltage on the analog pin then drops slightly, and the Arduino can detect that the balloon has popped.
[Udo] already had a flash controller circuit. He was able to trigger it with the Arduino by simply trying the flash controller’s trigger pin to one of the Arduino’s pins. If the Arduino pulls the pin to ground, it closes the switch on the flash controller and the flash is triggered. Both circuits must share a common ground in order for this to work.
All of the code for [Udo’s] project is freely available. With such spectacular photographs, it’s only a matter of time before we see more of these floating around. | 33 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "1943479",
"author": "Will Lyon",
"timestamp": "2014-10-02T20:23:02",
"content": "Great job. That’s is an AWESOME photo as well.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1943527",
"author": "Nater",
"timestamp": "2014-10-02T20:39:... | 1,760,376,046.441297 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/02/fail-of-the-week-sonar-submersibility-sealing/ | Fail Of The Week: Sonar Submersibility Sealing | Kristina Panos | [
"Fail of the Week",
"Hackaday Columns"
] | [
"HC-SR04",
"hydrophone",
"mineral oil",
"sonar",
"underwater sonar"
] | For the last decade or so, [Jason] has wanted to build an underwater robot. Can you blame him? More recently, he’s been
researching sonar sensing and experimenting
with the relatively inexpensive HC-SR04 module. Since
he had good luck getting it to work
with a PC sound card and a Stellaris Launchpad, he figured it was time to try using it underwater.
Hydrophone research led him to the idea of
submerging the sensor in mineral
water
oil
to both seal it and couple it with the water. Unfortunately, the HC-SR04 only sends one pulse and waits for echo. Through the air, it reliably and repeatedly returned a small value. Once inside a pill bottle filled with mineral oil, though, it does something pretty strange: it fluctuates between sending back a very small value and an enormous value. This behavior has him stumped, so he’s going to go back to the Launchpad unless you can help him figure out what’s going on. Should he use a different method to seal it?
Fail of the Week is a Hackaday column which runs every Thursday. Help keep the fun rolling by writing about your past failures and
sending us a link to the story
— or sending in links to fail write ups you find in your Internet travels. | 45 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "1942913",
"author": "M.S.Hoecker-Martinez (@msmithma)",
"timestamp": "2014-10-02T17:09:35",
"content": "You might have a problem with impedance matchinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_impedanceof the oil, the container and the water so the sound is returning from one of the in... | 1,760,376,046.55548 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/02/get-ready-for-hackaday-munich-by-attending-make-munich/ | Get Ready For Hackaday Munich By Attending Make Munich | Mike Szczys | [
"cons"
] | [
"electronica",
"hackaday",
"make munich",
"munich"
] | Need something to get you revved up for the Hackaday get-together in Munich next month? Don’t miss out on
this year’s Make Munich
.
The two-day festival will be held in Munich on November 1st and 2nd. Last year there were about 2500 in attendance and this year is shaping up to be even bigger! Wander through the exhibits to see what others have been building during their spare time. You’ll see everything from 3D printing, to custom electronics, crafts, art pieces, talks, and more. What a wonderful way to draw inspiration for the projects you want to pull off this winter!
What’s that you say? You have something to show off at Make Munich? You could always just carry it around with you but maybe it’s better to
apply for a booth or to give a talk
.
Seeing all that Make Munich has to offer should get you excited about doing some hands on hacking and you’ll have the chance just a couple of weeks later. The Hackaday crew is hard at work planning our
own afternoon hackathon and evening party
. Block out your calendar on Thursday, November 13th. We’re not quite ready to give away free tickets but watch the front page for an announcement soon!
We’re lucky to have a lot of people in the Munich area helping get the word out. A special thanks to [
Nils Hitze
] who is organizing Make Munich and has already connected us with a lot of interesting parts of the hacker community in the area. | 9 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1943117",
"author": "liuite",
"timestamp": "2014-10-02T18:12:06",
"content": "Condescending remarks in 5,4,3,2…..Seriously, the only people I’ve dealt with from Germany has been douche bags.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "194... | 1,760,376,046.790871 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/02/thp-hacker-bio-neil-jansen/ | THP Hacker Bio: Neil Jansen | Brian Benchoff | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"The Hackaday Prize"
] | [
"3d printer",
"firepick",
"firepick delta",
"hacker bio",
"pick and place",
"the hackaday prize"
] | If we were running a contest to give away a trip to space for building the most innovative open hardware project a few years ago, the winner would inevitably be a 3D printer. Times have changed, 3D printing is reaching the limits of what can be done with simple plastic extrusion, and there are new hardware challenges to be conquered. One of the challenges facing hardware designers is the ability to create and assemble electronic circuits quickly. For that, there are a few pick and place machines being developed, the lowest cost
being the FirePick Delta
. It sells itself as a $300 pick and place machine borrowing heavily from the RepRap project, enabling tinkerers and engineers to assemble PCBs quickly.
[Neil Jansen] is the project lead for the FirePick Delta, and along with team members ranging from software developers in the bay area, to electronics technicians and high school students, they’ve created what will become the lowest cost and most capable pick and place machine available. Already the machine has tape feeders, tray feeders, a vision system, and modules to dispense solder paste. It’s an astonishing accomplishment, and were it not for some damage in shipping, we would have a video of [Neil] demoing the FirePick at Maker Faire NY.
In lieu of that, we do have a bio on [Neil] and what challenges he’s faced in building the FirePick. You can read that below, or check out their second demo video for The Hackaday Prize:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46pLeLBYVTs
Robotics, and Extreme Circuit Boarding. The world does not yet recognize Extreme Circuit Boarding as a sport. But it basically consists of consuming large amounts of Red Bull, listening to loud Dubstep and Electro music, and designing crazy circuits, and then building them as quickly as possible when the boards and parts arrive. It’s extreme because you have to get the designs right on the first rev, with no rework. Kind of in the spirit of a hackathon or a Tattoo Inkmaster reality show. Since no one knows about this sport yet, I’m the unofficial world champion for 2014.
Aerospace, GPS / GNSS receivers, radios, autopilots, transponders, and collision avoidance systems, blah blah blah… My job is the hardware/software testing and verification of these boxes. These days I mostly write software, but at my last job, on a typical day, I’d be doing CAD in SolidWorks, schematic capture and pcb layout, writing embedded code, wiring test jigs and harnesses, requirements capture, and lots of other stuff. I only have a high school background, everything else is self-taught. Even though it’s a big stuffy company, I still get to do lots of different things, which keeps me happy. Our other team members have day jobs as well. Karl Lew works as a full stack software developer in Bay Area, California. Christian Lerche is an electronics technician in Denmark and works in a lab that works on locomotive electronics. Dayton Pid is our youngest member at 16 and is in high school. And Thomas Kilbride is in college at Purdue University.
My passion is basically the pursuit of reality through objectivism, critical thinking, and logic, and the propagation of those ideas leading by example, living by principles, appreciating the beauty of life, and taking personal accountability for my actions.
That honor almost went to my 2009 model MacBook Unibody recently. I have been using it as my main development platform for our Hackaday project, mostly while dual-booted into Windows 7. It’s extremely slow, sometimes requiring a few minutes to switch between different apps. It was maxed out at 4GB of RAM, and of course, every time I needed to dual-boot back to OSX to do photo editing or whatever, that was time lost. The battery has been dead for almost two years, so it’s pretty much anchored to the desk. I was almost about to take it out back and destroy it office-space style, while playing the obligatory “Still” from the Geto Boys from iTunes until it wouldn’t play any more. But instead, I hobbled together a new PC out of pieces I had lying around, and a new motherboard, CPU, and 16 GB of RAM. My productivity towards the HaD project since has probably tripled since I’ve gotten that taken care of.
I’m OS agnostic for the most part. On a typical day, I’m using Windows, OS X, BSD, Linux (both desktop and embedded), and occasionally esoteric RTOS platforms. I’m forced to run Windows for CAD, but it’s my least favorite to program on, and I agree with it the least philosophically. I use my MacBook for video editing, audio editing, photoshopping, and other graphic or A/V type stuff. Linux is awesome for embedded and server applications, but I can’t run Cubify Design on it, and I feel that the A/V apps on OS X are more matured and polished than anything available on Linux.
Linux would be my absolute favorite, but big corporations that make important pieces of software still won’t write programs for it, for some reason. In my dream universe, Microsoft would do like Apple did, and ditch their underlying operating system and .NET crap, and go with something POSIX (say, BSD) for their backend, thereby making it easier to write multi-platform software applications. They could even keep their crappy desktop look the same. But we all know they’d never, ever do that.
Hakko FX-888 soldering iron. I do everything from SMT to soldering 4-AWG wire, all with the same tip, out of laziness, and because I can. I couldn’t even imagine having to use a crappy soldering iron. Yet, I can’t say it makes me a snob, I’d have to have a $500 Metcal to say that.
MOS Technology 6581/8580 SID
. I have a small collection hoarded in my closet somewhere.
I tend to gravitate towards the C-like languages, because I can pick one that suits any level of application I need. I routinely code in C/C++ for embedded stuff, but only really use the basic object-oriented things like classes and inheritance.
I’m starting to really like Javascript, it’s so ubiquitous and useful for high-level stuff, even if it’s a decidedly evil language. And I actually really like the concepts and paradigm of Java, even if it never seemed to work well in practice. I don’t really like Python even though I use it occasionally (the tabs and general treatment of whitespace bugs me). I also have an aversion to Perl, Lisp, Ruby, Haskell, Clojure, etc. Not because they’re bad. But because I don’t have the time to understand them, and they make the open source software ecosystem a fragmented mess.
Create an open-source micro-factory, capable of creating amazing things locally and sustainably.. Ideally this is what Karl and I hope FirePick will evolve into. We see this as the logical progression of 3D fuse-filament printing, 3D metal printing, laser cutting, and SMT component assembly. If we can make it profitable for companies to at least make prototypes and small runs in America (or pretty much any other country for that matter), rather than everything coming from China, then we can say that we’ve done something truly empowering.
“Hard” Artificial Intelligence
(as opposed to the status quo “soft” AI). When I was a kid, I dreamed of pioneering in this field. Google claims to be working on this sort of stuff. These days, I’d be happy to be a cog in the wheel of some grand decades-long project to accomplish true AI.
I have to at some point finish a few pointless projects that I put off to work on this project… If I get the pick and place working well, then these will be a slam dunk. I want to finish my Nixie Tube wrist watch, that uses some
Burroughs B-4998
tubes, aka, the smallest Nixie tubes in the world. Second, I want to make a really tiny robot (40mm x 40mm) with two wheels and a camera, that can sort a pile of M&Ms by color. Hopefully with a powerful ARM processor and lots of sensors, running
SLAM
technique, kalman filtering, etc. Third is a telepresence robot with two robotic arms and gimbal stereo vision on a segway syle inverted pendulum, controlled with a
LEAP motion controller
and an Oculus Rift. Then I could just mail my artificial self around the world and see cool places, and get to interact with stuff, while staying on schedule.
I would say that almost all DIY pick and place machines were created by someone who had to manually place lots of SMT components onto circuit boards, all by hand, probably with tweezers and a microscope if they were lucky. Most people find the process of doing it by hand very tedious. Many of them, myself included, have decided to engineer their way out of the problem by building some sort of homebrew machine to make the process faster and less error-prone. I’ve seen countless DIY pick and place machines, both manual and automatic, on the front page of Hackaday over the years. They all shared a common idea and problem, and most of them shared a similar fate. The DIY machines were never completed, because the people who built them were smart and busy with whatever project they needed the placement machine for. The problem was that the their DIY machine was just a means to an end, it was never an end goal for them. That’s where our machine differs. FirePick Delta is our only project, that we plan on working on for many years to come. We plan on refining it, and adding new SMT component feeders and other modular tools. And eventually, if everything works out, we’ll probably make the world’s first open-source SMT assembly line, with reflow ovens, conveyor belts, and stencil printers, all released under open source HW and SW licenses.
I’ve actually had the idea to use a delta mechanism for pick and place applications since some time around 2003, but didn’t have the manufacturing resources to build it. Around January 2014, a friend from a DIY forum asked me if I wanted to borrow and put together a kit for a RepRap Huxley 3D printer. I built it in a weekend, and quickly built five Prusa Mendel i2’s on it. One of those Prusa i2’s printed parts for my FirePick Delta prototype, which will hopefully print other FirePick Deltas one day. It’s incredibly cool when you think that the little eMaker Huxley was actually printed from other machines, that were printed from machines, that trace their way back to the first Darwin 3D printer, invented by Adrian Bowyer… which was itself printed from a Stratasys in Bath University, UK. So the hundreds and/or thousands of machines that I’ll be building over the next few years can all trace their heritage back to the original Darwin (the eMaker came with a certificate and everything, so I’ll likely have certificates for mine as well). The ideas of robots making robots intrigues me. They sort of have a pedigree, which is really neat.
Anyway, I had just assembled the first prototype of the FirePick Delta (back then codenamed Project Bismuth), about a day or two before the Hackaday Prize was announced. I was probably one of the first people to create a project after the contest was announced, because i remember frantically typing it out that night. The timing couldn’t have been better. We had always intended to keep it open source, but entering it for the Hackaday Prize sure has forced us to do the dirty documentation work that no one ever does. Kudos for having a requirement to do a system-level diagram. That’s one thing that I’ve rarely seen from an open source hardware project, but is sorely needed.
I could use some advice on where to find a good web app developer with node.js, Bootstrap, AngularJS, and Express skills, that would work for free and has lots of time to devote :) We had originally intended to have our html5 gui for the pick and place machine completed by now, but we didn’t take into account was how hard web app development really is, and how few people out there really have a mastery of it. We’re stuck with a Java Swing UI instead, for the PnP functionality :(
I was really intrigued by the metal 3D printer that was one of the first projects to be tagged with TheHackadayPrize. I think it would have required a crazy amount of metallurgy skills to pull off successfully, and I’m not sure they had said skills, but the concept was still really cool.
We actually have an incredibly complicated project, compared to say, OpenMV (which we love by the way). We’ve had problems with our delta arm linkages, backlash / accuracy problems, Hierarchical BOM generation, and feeder problems. However, we’ve got some really innovative ways to mitigate them that will hopefully be documented on our site by the
Sept 29th
milestone. We’d be a month further along if we didn’t have hundreds/thousands of BOM items to document, so, uh, thanks for making us do all of that :)
Thanks to the FirePick Delta core team, and all the people who skulled our project and believe in our idea. You guys rock. | 13 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1942888",
"author": "Luís Outeiro",
"timestamp": "2014-10-02T17:02:11",
"content": "Awesome!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1943235",
"author": "squeeks",
"timestamp": "2014-10-02T18:50:22",
"content": "I keep looki... | 1,760,376,048.809441 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/02/unjettisoned-inkjet-turned-tumbler/ | Unjettisoned Inkjet Turned Tumbler | Kristina Panos | [
"green hacks",
"how-to"
] | [
"lapidary",
"LM317",
"parts tumbler",
"printer",
"rock tumbler",
"whaddya say we turn this baby loose on some feldspar?"
] | Don’t throw out that old printer! Not that you would, but even if you’ve already scavenged it for parts, you can
use the shell and the rollers
to make a rock/coin/what-have-you tumbler. If your printer is part scanner, it might end up looking as cool as [th3_jungle_inv3ntor]’s. You’ll have to laser-cut your own arachnid to supervise from above, though.
Somewhere between having an irreparable printer, being inspired by another tumbler, and the desire to make a
mancala
set for his sister-in-law, [th3_jungle_inv3ntor] was sufficiently motivated to get out his hacksaw and gut the printer. He used the main paper roller and its motor to do the tumblin’, and a smaller roller to help accommodate different jar sizes.
Aside from adding those sweet blue LEDs, he wired in a toggle switch, a speed control pot, and an LM317 to govern the tumbling rate. Unfortunately, the rocks in [th3_jungle_inv3ntor]’s town are too soft and crumbly, so he can’t make that mancala set after all. But hey, (almost) free stuff tumbler.
No dead printers lying around? If you have a drill and a vise, you could always
make a tumbler that way
, and nothing is compromised but the peaches jar. | 4 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1942003",
"author": "Quirk",
"timestamp": "2014-10-02T11:37:04",
"content": "I like projects that utilize those old broken/* printers.*It can be as much to replace ink as buy a new or used with ink.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id"... | 1,760,376,048.909591 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/03/robotic-octopus-to-take-over-the-seas/ | Robotic Octopus To Take Over The Seas | James Hobson | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"robotic animals",
"robotic octopus"
] | Much of robotics has been advanced by recreating animals movements – Why reinvent the wheel when nature got it right first? But have you seen many aquatic creatures movements re-imagined with mechanical linkages? The Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH) has recently
presented their robotic octopus
at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.
The eight armed (or is it legged?)
roboctopus
was based on of a real octopus which have a really cool method of propulsion which allows them to move at speeds of up to 40km/h. The researchers in Greece created slim silicon arms to recreate this movement, allowing their robot to propel itself at speeds of around 10cm/s — after adding webs to the arms, they were able to almost double its top speed to 18cm/s, or one-half its body length per second.
The cool thing about the bot is that other marine wild-life seem relatively unperturbed by it, which could open up many possibilities in underwater research!
Between
robotic kangaroos
,
rats
,
red snappers
and
even elephants
we’ll be able to have a robotic zoo in no time!
[via
TechPlus24
] | 12 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "1948881",
"author": "Dax",
"timestamp": "2014-10-03T23:04:58",
"content": "After a bit of unit conversion, it does 0.7 kph, which is rubbish compared to 40 kph.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1949093",
"author": "dsbl... | 1,760,376,048.559797 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/03/art-from-brainwaves-antifreeze-and-ferrofluid/ | Art From Brainwaves, Antifreeze, And Ferrofluid | Elliot Williams | [
"hardware",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"art",
"brainwaves",
"ferrofluid",
"moscow"
] | Moscow artist [Dmitry Morozov] makes phenomenal geek-art. (That’s not disrespect — rather the highest praise.) And with
Solaris
, he’s done it again.
The piece itself looks like something out of a sci-fi or horror movie. Organic black forms coalesce and fade away underneath a glowing pool of green fluid. (Is it antifreeze?) On deeper inspection, the blob is moving in correspondence with a spectator’s brain activity. Cool.
You should definitely check out the videos. We love to watch ferrofluid just on its own — watching it bubble up out of a pool of contrasting toxic-green ooze is icing on the cake. Our only wish is that the camera spent more time on the piece itself.
Two minutes into the first video we get a little peek behind the curtain, and of course it’s done with an Arduino, a couple of motors, and a large permanent magnet. Move the motor around with input from an Epoc brain-activity sensor and you’re done. As with all good art, though, the result is significantly greater than the sum of its parts.
[Dmitry’s]
work
has been
covered
many,
many
times already on Hackaday, but he keeps
turning
out the
gems
. We could watch this one for hours. | 15 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1948331",
"author": "markaeric",
"timestamp": "2014-10-03T20:29:13",
"content": "Neat! I’d like to see something like that with a more advanced (electro)magnet setup.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1948617",
"author": "Ryan... | 1,760,376,049.013488 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/03/share-your-hackaday-story-as-we-celebrate-10-great-years/ | Share Your Hackaday Story As We Celebrate 10 Great Years | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"10th anniversary"
] | Tomorrow we mark 10 wonderful years of reading Hackaday. Share your experience by recording a 1-2 minute video about how you discovered Hackaday and your favorite hack from all the greats that have hit the front page. Tweet the link to your video to
@Hackaday
with the hashtag #10years and we’ll add it to
the playlist
.
It doesn’t need to be anything special (but go nuts if you wish). I recorded a one-shot talking-head format as an example.
If you are lucky enough to be in the LA area,
get a free ticket for Saturday’s event
. In addition to all the clinicians and speakers, there’s a small collection of the Hackaday crew in town. | 8 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1947559",
"author": "ejonesss",
"timestamp": "2014-10-03T17:05:25",
"content": "looks like someone typo’d on the videotry copy paste insteadyoutube wont allow copy paste then disable javascript",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "... | 1,760,376,049.171554 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/03/trek-to-evil-mad-scientist-laboratories/ | Trek To Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories | Mike Szczys | [
"Featured"
] | [
"bulbdial",
"eggbot",
"emsl",
"evil mad scientist laboratories",
"lenore",
"silicon valley",
"tour",
"windell"
] | I’ve been a huge fan of EMSL for quite some time now, and my recent field trip proved that it has earned the name
Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories
for a good reason. For instance, look at the reflection in the glass near the bottom and you’ll glimpse the hearse that [Lenore] and [Windell] have sitting in front of the shop. But stop at the threshold, inside there are delights that ate up a couple of hours without me even noticing. And they thought they were going to get work done that day.
Don’t judge me by my appearance. This is late afternoon on a summer Saturday in Sunnyvale. Why does that matter? Obviously summer Saturdays in Silicon Valley always start with
the Electronics Swap Meet and Engineer’s breakfast
! That was a ton of fun but if you’re doing it right it’s also a bit tiring. No worries, a shot of excitement came over me as soon as I walked in that front door.
The Curiosities
All hail the original Bulbdial clock prototype
3D Printed (functioning) Strandbeest
The turely original Mario Bros.
Before we get into what EMSL actually sells, I simply must mention what [Windell] called their mini-museum but I would call a curio cabinet. One of the things he collects is mechanical devices, of which the variety of anti-backlash gears was my favorite. They are basically two gears stacked on top of one another with a spring that holds tension so there is no give between teeth.
But then it caught my eye. The original Bulbdial Clock prototype! I’ve been
in love with this design
since before I started writing for Hackaday. Also pictured above is a 3D printed functional Strandbeest model and the original Mario Bros.
I didn’t snap a pic, but [Windell] asked me to hold out my hand and then placed “the oldest thing you’ve ever held in your life” in my palm. A
fragment of muonionalusta
, it was heavy (basically a metal lump) and had a triangle pattern to it. I asked [Windell] if he had an emotional connection to it as I didn’t think I was feeling sufficient awe. That changed when he explained that the triangle pattern only forms when the metal cools slowly over the course of about 1-2 million years. Then it hung out for about another 4 billion years before ending up here. Awesome — and from eBay (I asked).
Their wares
Much larger ALU uses 8-balls (bicycle for scale)
Ball-bearing ALU removes abstraction from thinking about processor function
Perfect for nutrition info
New rev of eggbot
CNC torch April fool’s joke
I’m not dancing around the fact that this is a store. But it
did
feel more like a playground specifically designed to delight me.
Having worked my way through
The Elements of Computing Systems
and
the nand2Tetris project
I have a pretty good feel for how an ALU works. Silly me, I could have just picked up
a Digi-Comp II
which makes the procession of bits a visual and delightful experience. This build is a laser-cut modernization of a kit first available mid-century and once you flip the switch gravity drives the computation through to completion. It was fun playing with it and even more fun to see
the scaled-up version which uses 8-balls
.
I got a great look at the newest version of
the new Eggbot Pro
which is a solid chunk of serious CNC machine. Sure, you might not think drawing the nutritional information on the shell of a chicken egg is all that useful. But I’m not ready to jump into a shop-bot-style build yet. Something like this would let me dip my toe in the CNC pool (as it were) with a low barrier of entry. Also of note is
the torch-addon for the Eggbot
. I didn’t see it in action, but just seeing it again was enough to make me smile.
Everyone needs some art
Solder paste stencil
Laser-cut slotted dividers
Photo resist transparency
ASCII art Tie-fighter
Work is fun and all, but life is art. I was pleased to see that EMSL thinks so too. I made sure to capture a few of the interesting wall hangings found around the place.
There are a pair of electronic fabrication framings. One is used to make the transparencies for photo-processes of PCB fabs. I forget what footprint those are but hopefully [Lenore] will leave a comment and let us know. There was also a framed solder paste stencil.
Way up high in their CNC shop was some ASCII art and a beautiful abstract sculpture. The Tie-Fighter is CNC milled by spray painting a board black and then
milling away the letters to expose the wood-color
below. It’s a similar process to
this CNC halftone technique
. Speaking of, I was given a hush-hush preview of a product in development that makes very interesting use of the half-tone technique. But my lips are sealed for now. I asked [Windell] to write an explanation or tutorial when they go public so keep your fingers crossed for that.
The abstract art is a laser cut set of slats. Put them together correctly and they become a grid to isolate individual LEDs but put them together wrong and you get a visually interesting art-piece. I’m certain this “wrong” way was far more painstaking to produce!
Thank you to both [Windell] and [Lenore] for showing me the shop and their inner sanctum. I couldn’t sign off without mentioning that this finally pushed me over the edge and I ordered my own Bulbdial kit after I got home. This thing is the most well-engineered kit I’ve ever encountered and I somehow managed to find 2 hours over a couple of weekends to assemble it. My wife is still adjusting to the new addition to our living room decor, but she did concede that it makes a pleasant night-light! | 5 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1947078",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2014-10-03T15:21:17",
"content": "I really liked them a few years ago, but back then they seemed to begin moving in the recipes and crafts direction, shortly thereafter I found hackaday.comI’ll go back and read the rest of your posting now…",... | 1,760,376,048.511194 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/03/interacting-with-virtual-reality-brings-us-even-closer-to-a-real-holodeck/ | Interacting With Virtual Reality Brings Us Even Closer To A Real Holodeck | James Hobson | [
"Virtual Reality"
] | [
"leap motion controller",
"oculus rift",
"virtual reality"
] | One of our readers has been playing around with virtual reality lately, and has come up with a pretty cool beta run of his research —
virtual interaction using your hands.
Using an Oculus Rift, the Leap Motion controller and a beta run of Unity 4.6, [Tomáš Mariančík] put together a test environment for physical interaction. The
Leap Motion
controller is capable of tracking your fingers with extremely high detail, which allows him to create a pair of virtual hands inside the test environment that almost perfectly mimic his movements. The hack here is making it all work together.
In the following demo he shows off by interacting with holographic menus, grabbing body parts off of anatomically correct human being (thanks to Unity3D), and manipulating his environment.
He admits the software isn’t quite polished yet, but was too excited to show off the concept to wait. We’re certainly excited to see what comes next — how about some haptic feedback gloves and some
motion sensing sandals
to allow you to walk around? | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1946470",
"author": "Maave",
"timestamp": "2014-10-03T12:28:22",
"content": "That motion control is much better than I expected. He was very quick with the buttons by the end of the video.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1946496... | 1,760,376,048.854662 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/03/joule-thief-steals-power-for-a-clock/ | Joule Thief Steals Power For A Clock | Bryan Cockfield | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"aa battery",
"clock",
"joule thief",
"power supply"
] | A common project among electronics tinkerers is the
joule thief
, a self-oscillating circuit that can “steal” the remaining energy in a battery after the voltage has dropped so low that most devices would stop working. Typically the circuit powers an LED until almost all of the energy is extracted from the battery, but [Lionel Sears] has created a
specialized joule theif that uses the “extra” energy to power a clock
.
The circuit uses four coils instead of the usual two to extract energy from the battery. The circuit charges a large capacitor which provides the higher current pulses needed to drive the clock’s mechanism. It can power the clock from a single AA battery, and will run until the voltage on the battery is only 0.5 volts.
Normally the clock would stop running well before the voltage drops this low, despite the fact that there’s still a little chemical energy left in the batteries. The circuit can drive the clock for an extended time with a new battery, or could use old “dead” batteries to run the clock for a brief time while the final little bit of energy is drawn from them. If you’re so inclined, you could even use
hot and cold water with a joule thief
to run your clock! Thanks to [Steven] for the tip. | 14 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1946000",
"author": "tekkieneet",
"timestamp": "2014-10-03T10:14:44",
"content": "The “extra” energy part is delusional. Joule thief is a very poorly design boost converter with low efficiency. In the lifetime of the battery, the joule thief is stealing more energy than that last ... | 1,760,376,048.958846 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/02/transformer-inductive-coupling-simulation-is-sfw/ | Transformer Inductive Coupling Simulation Is SFW | Kristina Panos | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"bell wire",
"inductive coupling",
"lissajous curves",
"PVC",
"transformer"
] | [James] has a friend who teaches at the local community college. When this friend asked him to build a
transformer coupling simulation
, he was more than happy to oblige. Fortunately for us, he also made a video that explains what is happening while showing the output on a ‘scope.
For the simulation, [James] built primary and secondary coils using PVC pipe. The primary coil consists of 11 turns of 14AWG stranded wire with 4V
running through it
applied. The first secondary he demonstrates is similarly built, but has 13 turns. As you’ll see, the first coil induces ~1.5V in the second coil. [James] first couples it with the two windings going the same way, which results in the two 2Mhz waveforms being in phase with each other. When he inserts the secondary the other way, its waveform is out of phase with the primary’s.
His second secondary has the same diameter PVC core, but was wound with ~60 turns of much thinner wire—28AWG bell wire to be exact. This match-up induces 10V on the secondary coil from the 4V he put on the primary. [James]’ demonstration includes a brief Lissajous pattern near the end. If you don’t know enough about those,
here’s a good demonstration of the basics
coupled with an explanation of the mechanics behind them. | 12 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1945290",
"author": "Chris C.",
"timestamp": "2014-10-03T06:35:50",
"content": "Don’t know why [James] called it a simulation. Since actual magnetic coupling is occurring, it’s more aptly called a demonstration. Semantics aside, it’s a good hands-on demo. One could also try inser... | 1,760,376,048.733425 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/02/gcc-for-the-esp8266-wifi-module/ | GCC For The ESP8266 WiFi Module | Brian Benchoff | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"8266",
"compiler",
"ESP8266",
"gcc",
"internet of things",
"IoT",
"wifi"
] | When we first heard about it a few weeks ago, we knew the ESP8266 UART to WiFi module was a special beast. It was cheap, gave every microcontroller the ability to connect to a WiFi network, and could – possibly – be programmed itself, turning this little module into a complete Internet of Things solution. The only thing preventing the last feature from being realized was the lack of compiler support. This has now changed. The officially unofficial ESP8266 community forums
now has a working GCC for the ESP8266
.
The ESP8266 most people are getting from China features a Tensilica Xtensa LX3 32-bit SOC clocked at 80 MHz. There’s an SPI flash on the board, containing a few dozen kilobytes of data. Most of this, of course, is the code to run the TCP/IP stack and manage the radio. There are a few k left over – and a few pins – for anyone to add some code and some extended functionality to this module. With the work on GCC for this module, it’ll be just a few days until someone manages to get the most basic project running on this module. By next week, someone will have a video of this module connected to a battery, with a web-enabled blinking LED.
Of course that’s not the only thing this module can do; at less than $5, it will only be a matter of time until sensors are wired in, code written, and a truly affordable IoT sensor platform is created.
If you have a few of these modules sitting around and you’d like to give the new compiler a go,
the git is right here
. | 69 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "1941435",
"author": "macegr",
"timestamp": "2014-10-02T08:09:21",
"content": "Whoa, nice. Now that it has GCC, the next step is FCC.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1942495",
"author": "Mike Szczys",
"timestamp... | 1,760,376,049.123359 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/01/invisibility-achieved-with-a-few-clever-focal-points/ | Invisibility Achieved With A Few Clever Focal Points | James Hobson | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"invisibility",
"invisibility cloak",
"invisible",
"rochester cloak"
] | Students at the University of Rochester have developed a clever optical system which allows for
limited invisibility
thanks to a bit of optic
sorcery
physics.
Almost all invisibility technologies work by taking light and passing it around the object as if it were never there. The problem is, a lot of these methods are very expensive and not very practical — and don’t even work if you change your perspective from a head on view.
[Joseph Choi] figured out you can do the same thing with four standard achromatic lenses with two different focal lengths. The basic concept is each lens causes the light to converge to a tiny point in between itself and the next lens — at which point it begins to diverge again, filling the following lens. This means the cloaked area is effectively doughnut shaped around the tightest focal point — if you block the center point of the lens, it won’t work. But everything around the center point of the lens? Effectively invisible. Take a look at the following setup using lasers to show the various focal points and “invisibility zones”.
Pretty cool stuff — let’s see someone in our community make one! Any cool applications come to mind? It’d be quite fun with giant lenses, but we think that would probably get quite expensive pretty fast…. More info can be found in their
paper on Paraxial Ray Optics Cloaking.
[Thanks Slipster!] | 53 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "1941049",
"author": "Smonson",
"timestamp": "2014-10-02T05:29:30",
"content": "Diverge… converge… Ehhhhh close enough!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1942647",
"author": "pff",
"timestamp": "2014-10-02T15:31:3... | 1,760,376,049.620174 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/01/using-the-boxee-remote-with-a-pc/ | Using The Boxee Remote With A PC | Brian Benchoff | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"boxee",
"Boxee Remote",
"media center",
"media PC",
"RF keyboard",
"usb",
"xbmc"
] | When it was first announced in 2010, the Boxee remote was a stroke of genius. Not because it controlled the BoxeeBox, the set-top media center PC, mind you. It was impressive because the reverse side of the remote had a small qwerty keyboard, just the thing for searching menus loaded up with movies and TV shows and entering URLs. [Martin]’s BoxeeBox loved his BoxeeBox, but it’s an old device now, with some support for web streaming (including Netflix) gone.
Other media center devices have filled the void in [Martin]’s life, but he loved that Boxee remote. Getting it working on his XBMC-equipped PC was a top priority. This meant figuring out a way to connect the RF receiver from a BoxeeBox to a USB port.
It turns out this is pretty easy
, requiring only a few parts and half of a USB cable.
[Martin] traced out the connectors on the RF receiver for the BoxeeBox, and found the usual V+, V-, Power, and Ground connections found in a USB cable. The receiver operated at 3.3 Volts, so stepping down the voltage required regulator. The rest of the project was simply putting everything in a project box and stuffing it behind his PC.
Windows identifies the RF receiver as a normal keyboard, so everything went swimmingly. Since [Martin] built this small device, a few people
have come up with better keyboard layouts for XBMC
and the Boxee remote, allowing this device to function far into the future. | 34 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "1940631",
"author": "Gabriel Campos",
"timestamp": "2014-10-02T02:55:37",
"content": "Or, you know, you could just buy a USB receiver for it. That’s only how I’ve been doing it for years…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "19426... | 1,760,376,049.359031 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/01/console-controllers-for-jamma-boards/ | Console Controllers For JAMMA Boards | Brian Benchoff | [
"Playstation Hacks",
"Xbox Hacks"
] | [
"arcade",
"arcade game",
"jamma",
"mame",
"supergun"
] | Back in the day, and by that we mean the late 80s and early 90s, arcade machines started using the JAMMA standard, a means for a single arcade board to be wired in to the controllers, video output, and other ephemera found in arcade cabinets. Since then, quite a few people have amassed a collection of these vintage arcade boards. Putting them to use requires a means of providing power, video output and controller connections. The usual way of wiring in a joystick and buttons is with a wiring harness, but [Mike] and [Jasen] are connecting Xbox 360 and PS3 controllers to their machines
with the help of a Raspberry Pi Hat
.
[Mike] and [Jasen] created Project Kajitsu to replace the expensive ‘Supergun’ controllers arcade game collectors usually use to play Street Fighter, X-Men, and Battletoads. They’re using the USB ports on a Raspberry Pi B+ to listen to two XBox or PS3 controllers and translate button mashing into something these old games can understand.
The guys are using a custom Linux Kernel that boots in just a few seconds, providing the bare minimum of an OS to support the controllers. The board itself is extremely simple; just a few bus transceivers, caps, resistors, and headers. They have an iPhone-quality vertical video proof of concept video (below), and although they’re still figuring out the best way to simplify the Bluetooth pairing process,
they’re well on their way to supporting wireless controllers
.
This board only provides controller input. If you have one of these old boards, you will need video output.
That’s another project entirely
, but very simple if you have an SCART monitor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyUOopUHAtk | 16 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1940090",
"author": "wulfman",
"timestamp": "2014-10-01T23:41:37",
"content": "I have a huge collection of these boards. Largest one in Arizona. Its nice to see people still playing with these games. Its gaming history at its finest.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"rep... | 1,760,376,049.505599 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/01/ask-hackaday-help-nasa-with-their-high-altitude-problem/ | Ask Hackaday: Help NASA With Their High Altitude Problem | Will Sweatman | [
"Ask Hackaday",
"Hackaday Columns"
] | [
"high altitude balloon",
"international space station",
"nasa",
"university"
] | Unless you’ve been living under a high voltage transformer, you’ve probably heard that NASA has grounded the Space Shuttle fleet. This makes getting stuff to and from the International Space Station slightly more difficult. With the growing need to get small experiments back to the surface quickly and safely, NASA is researching an idea they call Small Payload Quick Return, or
SPQR
(pdf warning). Basically, they toss the experiment out of the window, use drag to slow it down, and then use a High Altitude High Opening (HAHO) self guiding parafoil to steer the thing down to a predefined location on the surface.
Now, what we’re interested in is the self guided parafoil part, as it takes place in known hacker territory – around 100,000 feet. This is the altitude where most high altitude balloon experiments take place. NASA is throwing a bunch of money and brainpower to research this part of the system, but they’re having problems. Lots of problems.
Stick around after the break and see if you can help, and maybe pick up some ideas on how to steer your next High Altitude Balloon project back to the launch pad.
Want to get on NASA’s radar? Send up a HAB payload to the Stratosphere and return it to a specific GPS address in one piece. Post it on Hackaday.io and keep your phone handy. Because they are having a lot of trouble doing this, and would surely be interested in your tech.
So the basic idea is:
Deploy para foil
Get GPS lock.
Use a microcontroller to move some servos and steer the Near Space Craft to a specified GPS address.
Corkscrew down to the surface.
Profit!
Pulling this off is not as easy as it sounds, and NASA is finding this out the hard way. The AMES Research Center has delegated the HAHO part of the SPQR project to a handful of select universities. They have
done
several
studies
and
experiments
, most of which have ended in complete failure. (All links are pdf)
To summarize just a few of the problems –
There is a tendency for the system to develop a flat spin, where the payload and para foil ‘orbit’ each other at a high speed, proving to be unrecoverable.
The para foil will not inflate because of the low air density.
The lines get tangled easily.
Be sure to check out some of the studies and let us know your thoughts. NASA just might be listening. How would you solve these difficult problems? | 97 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "1939480",
"author": "icanhazadd",
"timestamp": "2014-10-01T20:07:40",
"content": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Leonardo_da_Vinci_helicopter.jpg??",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1939501",
"author... | 1,760,376,050.117767 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/01/sine-waves-squares-waves-and-the-occasional-fft/ | Sine Waves, Squares Waves, And The Occasional FFT | Bil Herd | [
"classic hacks",
"Featured"
] | [
"fft",
"harmonics",
"sine wave",
"spectrum",
"spectrum analyzer",
"SPICE",
"square wave"
] | I became aware of harmonics and the sound of different shaped waveforms early in my electronics career (mid 1970’s) as I was an avid fan of [Emerson Lake and Palmer], [Pink Floyd], [Yes], and the list goes on. I knew every note of [Karn Evil 9] and could hear the sweeping filters and the fundamental wave shapes underneath it.
I remember coming to the understanding that a square wave, which is a collection of fundamental and (odd) harmonics frequencies, could then be used to give an indication of frequency response. If the high frequencies were missing the sharp edges of the square wave would round off. The opposite was then true, if the low frequencies were missing the square wave couldn’t “hold” its value and the top plateau would start to sag.
Using a copy of [SPICE] a free circuit simulation application, I have created several sine wave sources and summed them together. Seen here, the waves combine into a square wave with it looking squarer as I add more and more signals that are multiples of the main frequency called harmonics. When building a square wave only odd harmonics are used as even harmonics tend to cancel themselves out.
Kno
wing now that we can build a square wave from multiple signals it then stands to reason that we can take a waveform apart and display its constituent pieces or signals.
Enter the Spectrum Analyzer; In this case it’s some math that occurs in my Digital [Tektronix] scope in the form of a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). For this demonstration I left the 102 pound [HP] RF Spectrum Analyzer in its nook below the bench.
Sure enough, the odd harmonics stand out right where they are supposed to be. I could lay a small ruler touching the tips of the waves and they form a straight line. This is possible as the display itself has already been converted to a logarithmic scale.
My inclination is to launch into a diatribe of how these frequencies, always higher than the fundamental, combine to create noise in the RF Spectrum and how the interaction of these waves also get caught up in transmission lines, ground planes, apertures and antennas. Instead I will go back to my roots and put the signals to a speaker so that they might be heard. It’s easy to hear a note from [ELP Lucky Man] and when listening carefully one can start to equate sine wave distortions with “spray” or the extra harmonics that give some depth to a note being played on a synth. Play around with this. Who knows, maybe you’ll end up getting the band back together? | 35 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "1938998",
"author": "Me",
"timestamp": "2014-10-01T17:20:29",
"content": "Awesome, at work right now but I can’t wait to watch this!When I connect my oscilloscope to various ham radio projects I can see… nope, not quite getting the clean sine wave I expected. But.. then what? I have... | 1,760,376,050.30524 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/01/unreal-line-up-and-live-stream-of-hackadays-10th/ | Unreal Line-up And Live Stream Of Hackaday’s 10th | Mike Szczys | [
"Featured"
] | [
"10th anniversary",
"dropcam"
] | Yeah, check out that line-up poster. We’re so lucky to have an unreal collection of talented people pitching in to make this event happen. This Saturday is going to be Epic! Good thing since we’re celebrating 10-years-of-Hackaday!
What’s that you say? You don’t live in Los Angeles and are going to miss out? We’ll be live-streaming the event on:
Hackervision #1
Hackervision #2
You should put this feed on in the background while you hone your solding skills on that project you’ve been meaning to finish.
We will also be recording and posting the talks so that you may watch at your leisure.
Here’s a quick run-through of all that we have going on:
The day will start with three workshops, the first is a tiny-robot build based on
[shlonkin’s] design
. The second is a lockpicking workshop hosted by [datagram] and [Jon King]. And the third is a Lithium charger workshop and build hosted by [Todd Black].
The afternoon brings the mini-conference with major talks by [Ryan ‘1o57’ Clarke], [Steve Collins], [Quinn Dunki], [Jon McPhalen], and [ThunderSqueak]. There will be Lighting Talks by [Tod Kurt] and [Arko], as well as special appearances by Hackaday head editors from the past decade.
In the evening we’ll move into party mode. Music is presented by [The Gentlemen Callers] with interactives by
[Deezmaker]
and
[Two Bit Circus]
.
Of course there will be a handful of the Hackaday writers in town for the event as well. [Adam Fabio] will be leading the robot workshop, [James Hobson] will be leading a build-off throughout the day, and [Mike Szczys], [Brian Benchoff], and [Bil Herd] will be on hand to do whatever is needed.
If you are interested in attending
there may still be tickets available
. We have been sold out but we’ve asked anyone who is unable to attend to cancel their ticket so new tickets become available as that happens. Yep, fans of Hackaday are courteous people. Yet another reason to celebrate.
[Poster Art by
Joe Kim
—
Full Resolution 15.5MB
] | 11 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1938831",
"author": "[Todd]",
"timestamp": "2014-10-01T16:29:24",
"content": "Link to high-res poster? This will look awesome framed on a wall in my workshop.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1939386",
"author": "Mike S... | 1,760,376,050.170882 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/01/developed-on-hackaday-sometimes-all-you-need-is-a-few-flags/ | Developed On Hackaday: Sometimes, All You Need Is A Few Flags | Mathieu Stephan | [
"Hackaday Columns"
] | [
"assembler",
"compiler",
"developed on hackaday",
"limpkin",
"mooltipass",
"password",
"password keeper"
] | The development of the Hackaday community
offline password keeper
has been going on for a little less than a year now. Since July our beta testers have been hard at work giving us constant suggestions about features they’d like to see implemented and improvements the development team could make. This led up to more than 1100 GitHub commits and ten thousand lines of code. As you can guess, our little 8bit microcontroller’s flash memory was starting to get filled pretty quickly.
One of our contributors, [Miguel], recently discovered one compilation and one linker flags that made us save around 3KB of Flash storage on our 26KB firmware with little added processing overhead. Hold on to your hats, this write-up is going to get technical…
Many coders from all around the globe work at the same time on the Mooltipass firmware. Depending on the functionality they want to implement, a
dedicated folder
is assigned for them to work in. Logically, the code they produce is split into many C functions depending on the required task. This adds up to many function calls that the GCC compiler usually makes using the
CALL
assembler instruction.
This particular 8-bit instruction uses a 22-bit long value containing the absolute address of the function to call. Hence, a total of 4 flash bytes are used per function call (without argument passing). However, the
AVR instruction set
also contains another way to call functions by using
relative addressing
. This instruction is
RCALL
and uses an 11-bit long value containing the offset between the current
program counter
and the function to call. This reduces a function call to 2 bytes and takes one less clock cycle. The
-mrelax
flag therefore made us save 1KB by having the linker switch
CALL
with
RCALL
instructions whenever possible.
Finally, the
-mcall-prologues
compiler flag freed 2KB of Flash storage. It creates master
prologue/epilogue
routines that are called at the start and end of program routines. To put things simply, it prepares the AVR stack and registers in a same manner before any function is executed. This will therefore waste a
little execution time
while saving a lot of code space.
More space saving techniques can be found by clicking
this link
. Want to stay tuned of the Mooltipass launch date? Subscribe to our
official Google Group
! | 26 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "1938519",
"author": "gannon",
"timestamp": "2014-10-01T14:34:45",
"content": "Don’t forget to inline functions that are only ever used once also",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1938524",
"author": "Mathieu Stephan",
... | 1,760,376,049.794101 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/01/minicut2d-and-omniwheel-robot/ | Minicut2d And Omniwheel Robot | Adam Fabio | [
"Robots Hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"EPP",
"EPS",
"foam",
"FrenchFoam",
"holonomic",
"Minicut2d",
"omni wheels",
"robot",
"styrofoam",
"Wicked Device"
] | You’d think we would be done with the World Maker Faire posts by now, but no! We keep looking at our memory cards and finding more awesome projects to write about.
[Renaud Iltis] flew over from France to show off
MiniCut2D
, his CNC hot wire foam cutter. MiniCut2D uses X and Y
, and Z
st
epper motors much like a 3D printer. Rather than print though, it pulls a heated nichrome wire through styrofoam. Foam cutting is great for crafts, but it really takes off when used for R/C aircraft. [Renaud] was cutting some models out of
Depron
foam in his booth. [Renaud] has set up
FrenchFoam.com
as a central location for users to upload and share designs in DXF format.
One of the neater features of MiniCut2D is that it can be loaded with a stack of foam boards to make several cuts at once. Not only is this a time saver when cutting repeating designs like wing ribs, but it also ensures the cut pieces are identical. Hey, even CNCs make mistakes once in a while.
Omniwheel Robot
In the MakerShed booth, we found [Victor Aprea] showing off Wicked Device’s new product, the
Omniwheel Robot
. Omniwheel utilizes a
holonomic
drive with
omnidirectional
wheels. The kit comes with a Nanode Zero, Wicked Devices’ own Arduino Uno clone, a motor control board, 3 motors, 3 omnidirectional wheels, and a whole list of hardware. The only thing needed to complete the kit is a radio control unit and receiver. Omniwheel may be simple, but we found driving it around to be mesmerizing – and a bit challenging. It’s a good thing [Victor] brought that plexiglass cover, as we bumped it a few times.
We’d love to see one of these little bots with a couple of sensors and autonomous control. If you build one, make sure to post it to
Hackaday.io
! | 13 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1938621",
"author": "Waterjet",
"timestamp": "2014-10-01T15:12:28",
"content": "Hot foam cutter, thin wood body? Cool bot but at least make the body out of something resistant to catching fire.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "... | 1,760,376,050.225833 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/10/01/reverse-engineering-a-wireless-studio-lighting-remote/ | Reverse Engineering A Wireless Studio Lighting Remote | Rick Osgood | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"camera",
"github",
"library",
"lights",
"nRF24L01+",
"Open Logic Sniffer",
"photo",
"photography",
"radio",
"remote control",
"reverse engineer",
"spi",
"strobe"
] | If you want to take a photograph with a professional look, proper lighting is going to be critical. [Richard] has been using a commercial lighting solution in his studio. His Lencarta UltraPro 300 studio strobes provide adequate lighting and also have the ability to have various settings adjusted remotely. A single remote can control different lights setting each to its own parameters. [Richard] likes to automate as much as possible in his studio, so he thought that maybe he would be able to
reverse engineer
the remote control so he can more easily control his lighting.
[Richard] started by opening up the remote and taking a look at the radio circuitry. He discovered the circuit uses a nRF24L01+ chip. He had previously picked up a couple of these on eBay, so his first thought was to just promiscuously snoop on the communications over the air. Unfortunately the chips can only listen in on up to six addresses at a time, and with a 40-bit address, this approach may have taken a while.
Not one to give up easily, [Richard] chose a new method of attack. First, he knew that the radio chip communicates to a master microcontroller via SPI. Second, he knew that the radio chip had no built-in memory. Therefore, the microcontroller must save the address in its own memory and then send it to the radio chip via the SPI bus. [Richard] figured if he could snoop on the SPI bus, he could find the address of the remote. With that information, he would be able to build another radio circuit to listen in over the air.
Using an Open Logic Sniffer, [Richard] was able to capture some of the SPI communications. Then, using the datasheet as a reference, he was able to isolate the communications that stored information int the radio chip’s address register. This same technique was used to decipher the radio channel. There was a bit more trial and error involved, as [Richard] later discovered that there were a few other important registers. He also discovered that the remote changed the address when actually transmitting data, so he had to update his receiver code to reflect this.
The receiver was built using another nRF24L01+ chip and an Arduino. Once the address and other registers were configured properly, [Richard’s] custom radio was able to pick up the radio commands being sent from the lighting remote. All [Richard] had to do at this point was press each button and record the communications data which resulted. The Arduino code for the receiver is available on the
project page
.
[Richard] took it an extra step and wrote his own library to talk to the flashes. He has made his library available on
github
for anyone who is interested. | 3 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "1938695",
"author": "Ralph Doncaster (Nerd Ralph)",
"timestamp": "2014-10-01T15:47:17",
"content": "There’s a couple ways to sniff the nrf24l01 traffic, and I think I read about them hear on HaD.This is one:http://travisgoodspeed.blogspot.com/2011/02/promiscuity-is-nrf24l01s-duty.ht... | 1,760,376,049.832558 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/30/the-chibi-mikuvan-or-a-power-wheels-with-a-ford-fusion-battery/ | The Chibi-Mikuvan, Or A Power Wheels With A Ford Fusion Battery | Brian Benchoff | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"chibikart",
"go-kart",
"gokart",
"Power Wheels",
"power wheels racing"
] | At all the big Maker Faires, the Power Racing Series makes an appearance, turning old Power Wheels into race cars that whip around the track at dozens of miles an hour. [Charles] is somewhat famous in the scene – there’s even a clause
in the official rules
named after him – so of course anything he brings to race day will be amazing.
It was
. It used a battery pack from a Ford Fusion plugin hybrid, a custom body, and a water cooling unit from a dead Mac G5.
A few months ago, we saw [Charles]
tear into the battery pack
he picked up for $300. This is the kind of equipment that will kill you before you know you’ve made a mistake, but [Charles] was able to take the pack apart and make a few battery packs – 28.8v and 16Ah – enough to get him around the track a few times.
The chassis for the Chibi-Mikuvan was built from steel, and the bodywork was built from machined pink foam, fiberglassed, and finished
using a few tips
[Charles] gleaned from [Burt Rutan]’s book, Moldless Composite Sandwich Aircraft Construction. The motor? That’s
an enormous brushless motor
meant for a 1/5th scale RC boat. The transmission is from an angle grinder, and
the electronics are a work of art
.
The result? A nearly perfect Power Wheels racer that has a curb weight of 110 pounds and tops out at 25 mph. It handles well, too: in the videos below, it overtakes the entire field of hacky racers in the Power Wheels Racing competition at Maker Faire NYC, and afterwards still had enough juice to tear around the faire. | 19 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1937029",
"author": "cyberzerocool",
"timestamp": "2014-10-01T05:22:22",
"content": "Looks sick. I wanna build an electric car so bad. Who wants to sponsor me? Hackaday?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1937050",
"author": "W... | 1,760,376,049.886151 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/30/pain-machine-brings-pleasure-too/ | Pain Machine Brings Pleasure, Too | Kristina Panos | [
"The Hackaday Prize"
] | [
"cold pressor",
"pain",
"peltier cooler",
"wine chiller"
] | Pain is a good thing. It tell us to pull our hand away from the stove and to stay off a turned ankle. But we all have different experiences of pain, and chronic pain degrades our quality of life. A person’s reports of pain will vary from one day to the next based on many factors, so the 1-10 scale isn’t universally effective in determining a person’s pain level. [Scott]’s
entry into The Hackaday Prize
is based on the classic
cold pressor testing
device, which measures changes in heart rate and blood pressure in a patient while their hand is immersed in ice water for one minute.
[Scott] has tentatively dubbed his device The Pain Machine, but it does more than the typical cold pressor apparatus; it also delivers simulated pain relief in the form of warm water when the valves are reversed. In addition, the subject under testing can push a button when they’ve had enough. While his original plan used external sources of hot and cold water, [Scott] pulled a couple of Peltier coolers from some wine chillers for a more contained design.
The Pain Machine uses an Arduino ATMega 2560 to control gravity flow solenoids, collect temperature data, and send the data cloudward. A couple of 110V pumps circulate the water. [Scott] will open up the code once he has finished commenting it and fleshed it out with use cases. For now, you can check out his two-minute entry video after the break.
This project is
an official entry
to The Hackaday Prize that sadly didn’t make
the quarterfinal selection
. It’s still a great project, and worthy of a Hackaday post on its own. | 8 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1936430",
"author": "Geekmaster",
"timestamp": "2014-10-01T02:14:20",
"content": "Kinky! Just don’t squick the vanillas!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1936824",
"author": "Waterjet",
"timestamp": "2014-10-01T... | 1,760,376,050.354143 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/30/add-cnc-to-your-propane-tank/ | Add CNC To Your…Propane Tank??!? | Elliot Williams | [
"cnc hacks",
"Holiday Hacks"
] | [
"cnc",
"fire",
"halloween",
"propane"
] | It’s starting to be that time of year again; the Halloween-themed hacks are rolling in.
[John Lauer] needed a propane-powered flame effect for his backyard ICBM “crash site”. Rather than pony up for an expensive, electronically-controlled propane
valve, he made a custom bracket to
connect a stepper motor to the propane burner’s existing valve
.
With the stepper motor connected up, a
TinyG stepper motor controller
and [John’s] own graphical interface,
ChiliPeppr
, take care of the rest.
The hack is almost certainly a case of “everything looks like a nail when you have a hammer” but you have to admit that it works well and probably didn’t take [John] all that much time to whip up. Maybe everyone should have a couple spare stepper motors with driver circuitry just lying around ready to go? You know, just in case.
All the details of the build are in the video. If you’re done watching the flames, skip to around 2:50 where we see the adapter in action and then [John] steps us through its construction.
You may have seen coverage of the
TinyG motor controller
here before.
Additional thanks to [Alden Hart] for the tip. | 14 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1936023",
"author": "macegr",
"timestamp": "2014-09-30T23:43:19",
"content": "Taste the hack, not the fuel",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1936204",
"author": "Default",
"timestamp": "2014-10-01T00:55:38",
"content":... | 1,760,376,050.408379 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/30/the-teensy-audio-library/ | The Teensy Audio Library | Brian Benchoff | [
"ARM",
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"envelope filter",
"fft",
"flanging",
"mixing",
"musical instrument",
"Teensy",
"Teensy Audio library"
] | There are a few ways of playing .WAV files with a microcontroller, but other than that, doing any sort of serious audio processing has required a significantly beefier processor. This isn’t the case anymore: [Paul Stoffregen]
has just released his Teensy Audio Library
, a library for the ARM Cortex M4 found in the Teensy 3 that does WAV playback and recording, synthesis, analysis, effects, filtering, mixing, and internal signal routing in CD quality audio.
This is an impressive bit of code, made possible only because of the ARM Cortex M4 DSP instructions found in the Teensy 3.1. It won’t run on an 8-bit micro, or even the Cortex M3-based Arduino Due. This is a project meant for the Teensy, although [Paul] has open sourced everything and
put it up on Github
. There’s also a
neat little audio adapter board for the Teensy 3
with a microSD card holder, a 1/8″ jack, and a connector for a microphone.
In addition to audio recording and playback, there’s also a great FFT object that will split your audio spectrum into 512 bins, updated at 86Hz. If you want a sound reactive LED project, there ‘ya go. There’s also a fair bit of synthesis functions for sine, saw, triangle, square, pulse, and arbitrary waveforms, a few effects functions for chorus, flanging, envelope filters, and a
GUI audio system design tool
that will output code directly to the Arduino IDE for uploading to the Teensy.
It’s really an incredible amount of work, and with the number of features that went into this, we can easily see the quality of homebrew musical instruments increasing drastically over the next few months. This thing has DIY Akai MPC/Monome, psuedo-analog synth, or portable effects box written all over it. | 46 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "1935488",
"author": "chuck",
"timestamp": "2014-09-30T20:37:34",
"content": "‘…there’s also a great FFT object that will split your audio spectrum into 512 bins, updated at 86Hz.’Home brew vocoder?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id... | 1,760,376,050.489924 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/30/retrotechtacular-the-first-atlas-launch/ | Retrotechtacular: The First Atlas Launch | Kristina Panos | [
"Retrotechtacular"
] | [
"atlas",
"cape canaveral",
"ICBM",
"launch",
"missile launch",
"SM-65 Atlas"
] | As the Cold War conflict expanded in the 1950s, the Soviet Union dry-tested a hydrogen bomb and defense tactics became a top priority for the United States. Seeking to create a long-range nuclear missile option, the Air Force contracted Convair Astronautics to deliver SM-65 Atlas, the first in series of ICBMs. In the spotlight this week is a sort of video progress report which shows
the first launch from Cape Canaveral’s LC-14
on June 11, 1957.
After the angle of attack probe is unsheathed, everyone moves out of the way. The launch is being monitored by base central control, but the swingin’ spot to spectate is the blockhouse. They have a periscope and everything. As the countdown continues, liquid oxygen pipelines whistle and wail into the idyllic Florida afternoon with the urgency of a thousand teakettles. Cameras and tracking equipment are readied, and the blockhouse’s blast door is sealed up tight.
Around T-3 minutes, it’s time to run down the go/no-go checklist in the blockhouse. It is at this point that we find out this launch was under a 10-hour countdown, which has gone exactly as planned. Some top-secret things are bleeped out on the soundtrack, but we are allowed to know the objectives of this test, which are to prove the basic elements. These include the durability of the airframe, the launching mechanics, autopilot fallback, propulsion, and overall flight stability. There’s another checklist at the two-minute warning, and the angle is set to [redacted]. At long last, it’s time to launch the [redacted] thing.
Atlas launched successfully and was stable for a little while. Shortly after launch, one engine failed and then another. Because of this, the Range Safety Officer remotely destroyed it. Debris fell all over the base and in the sea, but most of the major components were recovered for their precious data. All in all, many things went well or at least satisfactorily, and the Convair Astronautics division of General Dynamics didn’t lose their contract.
Atlas models were only in the ICBM business for a short time. Most notably, they launched the first American astronauts into orbit and enjoyed a long, illustrious career launching satellites.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WP0wbeSce8
Retrotechtacular is a weekly column featuring hacks, technology, and kitsch from ages of yore. Help keep it fresh by
sending in your ideas for future installments
.
[Thanks for sending this in, James. Happy Space Week!] | 31 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "1935012",
"author": "Brandon",
"timestamp": "2014-09-30T17:24:04",
"content": "Ahh… The smell of WD-40 must have been strong that day.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1935342",
"author": "markaeric",
"timestamp... | 1,760,376,050.562613 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/30/atmel-and-arduino-announce-wi-fi-shield-101-at-world-maker-faire/ | Atmel And Arduino Announce Wi-Fi Shield 101 At World Maker Faire | Adam Fabio | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"ATECC108",
"Atmel",
"cryptoauthentication",
"Wi-Fi Shield 101",
"wifi",
"WINC1500"
] | Atmel and Arduino teamed up at World Maker Faire to introduce the
Wi-Fi shield 101
. [Gary] from Atmel gave us the lowdown on this new shield and its components. The shield is a rather spartan affair, carrying only devices of note: an Atmel
WINC1500
WiFi module, and an
ATECC108 crypto chip.
The WINC1500 is a nifty little WiFi module in its own right. WINC handles IEEE 802.11 b/g/n at up to 72 Mbps. 72Mbps may not sound like much by today’s standards, but it’s plenty fast for most embedded applications. WINC handles all the heavy lifting of the wireless connection. Connectivity is through SPI, UART or I2C, though on the Arduino shield it will be running in SPI mode.
The ATECC108 is a member of Atmel’s “CryptoAuthentication” family. It comes packaged in an 8-pin SOIC, and is compatible with serial I2C EEPROM specifications. Internally the similarities to serial EEPROMs end. The ‘108 has a 256-bit
SHA
engine in hardware, as well as a
Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS)
level random number generator. Atmel sees this chip as being at the core of secure embedded systems. We think it’s pretty darn good, so long as we don’t hear about it at the next
DEFCON
.
The Wi-Fi shield 101 and associated libraries should be out in January 2015. We can’t wait to see all the new projects (and new ways to blink an LED) the shield will enable. | 25 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "1934565",
"author": "StinkySteve",
"timestamp": "2014-09-30T14:20:27",
"content": "Any idea how much it will cost?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1934579",
"author": "Indyaner",
"timestamp": "2014-09-30T14:23:46",
"... | 1,760,376,051.13042 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/30/3d-printing-of-parameterized-speaker-enclosures/ | 3D Printing Of Parameterized Speaker Enclosures | Brian Benchoff | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"speaker",
"Speaker enclosure"
] | Despite what you would gather from looking at a mess of wires, carpet, and MDF in the back of a Honda Civic hatchback, building speaker enclosures is a pretty complex business. To get the right frequency response, you’ll need to take into account the driver’s resonant frequency, the volume of any internal components, and how well the speaker works when it reaches the resonant frequency. Heady stuff, but when [Rich] at NothingLabs started 3D printing his own speaker enclosures,
he realized he could calculate an ideal enclosure automatically
. Ah, the joys of OpenSCAD.
[Rich] wrote a bit of OpenSCAD and put it up
on the Thingiverse Customizer
, allowing anyone to manually enter a box volume, height and width ratio, size for a speaker hole, and even bass ports.
There are a few really cool features for this way of constructing speaker enclosures; assembly is a snap, and it’s most likely air tight right out of the printer. [Rich] printed an enclosure for a 3″ driver that has a frequency response down to 66Hz – an extremely impressive piece of work. Video below. | 15 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1934179",
"author": "Joe C",
"timestamp": "2014-09-30T11:45:12",
"content": "Very cool! The only thing that I think is missing, just based on some of my experimentation with alternative speaker enclosures, would be some provision to make the walls stiffer. The really awesome thing w... | 1,760,376,050.913879 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/30/finding-a-shell-in-a-bose-soundtouch/ | Finding A Shell In A Bose SoundTouch | Brian Benchoff | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Linux Hacks"
] | [
"bose",
"root",
"shell",
"SoundTouch"
] | Bose, every salesperson’s favorite stereo manufacturer, has a line of Wi-Fi connected systems available. It’s an impressively innovative product, able to connect to Internet radio, Pandora, and music libraries stored elsewhere on the network. A really great idea, and since this connects to a bunch of web services, you just
know
there’s a Linux shell in there somewhere.
[Sara] found it
.
The SoundTouch is actually rather easy to get into. The only real work to be done is connecting to port 17000, turning remote services on, and then connecting with telnet. The username is root.
The telnet service on port 17000 is actually pretty interesting, and we’re guessing this is what the SoundTouch iOS app uses for all its wizardry. [Sara] put a listing of the ‘help’ command
up on pastebin
, and it looks like there are commands for toggling GPIOs, futzing around with Pandora, and references to a Bluetooth module.
Interestingly, when [Sara] first suspected there could be Linux inside this box, she contacted Bose support for any information. She figured out how to get in on her own, before Bose emailed her back saying the information is proprietary in nature. | 49 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "1933499",
"author": "StinkySteve",
"timestamp": "2014-09-30T08:21:15",
"content": "Nice! One of the first things I’d have done is sniffed the traffic from the mobile App. That’s how I found out how to control some generic Wifi bulbs :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"r... | 1,760,376,051.546789 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/29/multi-input-ir-remote-control-repeater/ | Multi Input IR Remote Control Repeater | Brian Benchoff | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"cable",
"cable box",
"infrared",
"ir receiver",
"IR transmitter",
"remote control"
] | [Peter]’s folks’ cable company is terrible – such a surprise for a cable TV provider – and the digital part of their cable subscription will only work with the company’s cable boxes. The cable company only rents the boxes with no option to buy them, and [Peter]’s folks would need five of them for all the TVs in the house, even though they would only ever use two at the same time. Not wanting to waste money, [Peter] used coax splitters can take care of sending the output of one cable box to multiple TVs, but what about the remotes? For that, he developed
an IR remote control multidrop extender
. With a few small boards, he can run a receiver to any room in the house and send that back to a cable box, giving every TV in the house digital cable while still only renting a single cable box.
The receiver module uses the same type of IR module found in the cable box to decode the signals from the remote. With a few MOSFETs, this signal is fed over a three-position screw terminal to the transmitter module stationed right next to the cable box. This module uses a PIC12F microcontroller to take the signal input and translate it back into infrared.
[Peter]’s system can be set up as a single receiver, and single transmitter, single receiver and multiple transmitter, many receivers to multiple transmitters, or just about any configuration you could imagine. The setup does require running a few wires through the walls of the house, but even that is much easier than whipping out the checkbook every month for the cable company.
Video below. | 23 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1933099",
"author": "RunnerPack",
"timestamp": "2014-09-30T05:48:03",
"content": "Very nice! The only way this could be better is if it used a single board that could be populated for either receive or transmit, which would make it easier/cheaper to buy in bulk.Depending on the spec... | 1,760,376,051.057695 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/29/internet-of-things-refrigerator-alarm/ | Internet Of Things Refrigerator Alarm | Bryan Cockfield | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"FlyportPRO",
"internet of things",
"IoT",
"openpicus",
"refrigerator",
"web server"
] | For anyone who gets a late-night craving for anything out of the refrigerator and needs some help in the willpower department, [Claudio] may have the project for you. He has just finished work on a project that
sends out an alarm when the refrigerator door opens
, alerting others that you’re on the prowl for munchies.
The device uses a light sensor connected to an OpenPicus IoT kit that contains a FlyportPRO Wi-Fi module. When the refrigerator door is opened, the device sends out an email message via a web server, which can be sent to whomever you choose. All of the project’s code and instructions are available on the project site as well.
The project is pretty clever in that no actual interfacing with the refrigerator is required, beyond running a power cable through the seal of the door (although [Claudio] notes that the device will run on a lithium battery as an option). The web server itself can be set up to send out alarms during any timeframe as well, allowing a user to customize his or her nighttime snacking window. If you’re looking for a less subtle approach, we’d recommend the
fridge speakers
with a volume setting of 11. | 31 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "1932486",
"author": "Kuy",
"timestamp": "2014-09-30T02:16:24",
"content": "Electric Imp would be a good platform for this kind of project. It even includes a light sensor!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1932517",
"author": ... | 1,760,376,050.989893 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/29/mining-bitcoins-with-pencil-and-paper/ | Mining Bitcoins With Pencil And Paper | Brian Benchoff | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"bitcoin",
"bitcoin mining hardware",
"hashing",
"manual bitcoin",
"sha-256"
] | Right now there are thousands of computers connected to the Internet, dutifully calculating SHA-256 hashes and sending their results to other peers on the Bitcoin network. There’s a tremendous amount of computing power in this network, but
[Ken] is doing it with a pencil and paper
. Doing the math by hand isn’t exactly hard, but it does take an extraordinary amount of time; [Ken] can calculate about two-thirds of a hash per day.
The SHA-256 hash function used for Bitcoin isn’t really that hard to work out by hand. The problem, though, is that it takes a 64 byte value, sends it through an algorithm, and repeats that sixty-four times. There are a few 32-bit additions, but the rest of the work is just choosing the majority value in a set of three bits, rotating bits, and performing a mod 2.
Completing one round of a SHA-256 hash took [Ken] sixteen minutes and forty-five seconds. There are sixty-four steps in calculating the hash, this means a single hash would take about 18 hours to complete. Since Bitcoin uses a double SHA-256 algorithm, doing the calculations on a complete bitcoin block and
submitting them to the network manually
would take the better part of two days. If you’re only doing this as your daily 9-5, this is an entire weeks worth of work.
Just for fun, [Ken] tried to figure out how energy-efficient the bitcoin mining rig stored in his skull is. He can’t live on electricity, but donuts are a cheap source of calories, at about $0.23 per 200 kcalories. Assuming a metabolic rate of 1500 kcal/day, this means his energy cost is about 67 quadrillion times that of an ASIC miner.
Video below. | 17 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "1931938",
"author": "icanhazadd",
"timestamp": "2014-09-29T23:03:59",
"content": "Inefficient perhaps, but at least Dixon actually delivers their pencils.#butterflylabs",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1931978",
"author": "Ru... | 1,760,376,051.253453 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/29/very-dumb-security-for-a-wifi-thermostat/ | Very Dumb Security For A WiFi Thermostat | Brian Benchoff | [
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"heatmiser",
"internet of things",
"thermostat"
] | We have finally figured out what the Internet of Things actually is. It turns out, it’s just connecting a relay to the Internet. Not a bad idea if you’re building a smart, Internet-connected thermostat, but you have no idea how bad the security can be for some of these devices.
The Heatmiser WiFi thermostat
is probably the worst of the current round of smart home devices, allowing anyone with even a tiny amount of skill to control one of these thermostats over the Internet.
The Heatmiser is a fairly standard thermostat, able to connect to an 802.11b network and controllable through iOS, Android, and browser apps. Setting this up on your home network requires you to forward port 80 (for browser access) and port 8068 (for iOS/Android access). A username, password, and PIN is required to change the settings on the device, but the default credentials of user: admin, password: admin, and PIN: 1234 are allowed. If you’re on the same network as one of these devices, these credentials can be seen by looking at the source of the webpage hosted on the thermostat.
if you connect to this thermostat with a browser, you’re vulnerable to
cross-site request forgery
. If you use the Android or iOS apps to access the device with the custom protocol on port 8068, things are even worse: there is no rate limiting for the PIN, and with only four digits and no username required, it’s possible to unlock this thermostat by trying all 10,000 possible PINs in about an hour.
There are about a half-dozen more ways to bypass the security on the Heatmiser thermostat, but the most damning is the fact there is no way to update the firmware without renting a programmer from Heatmiser and taking the device apart. Combine this fact with the huge amount security holes, and you have tens of thousands of installed devices that will remain unpatched. Absolutely astonishing, but a great example of how not to build an Internet connected device. | 47 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "1931539",
"author": "Edak",
"timestamp": "2014-09-29T20:13:29",
"content": "it’s clearly a poorly designed device, however if someone does gain access to it then what could they do other than screw with the temperature in your home?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repl... | 1,760,376,051.690943 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/29/content-centric-networking-and-a-tour-of-xerox-parc/ | Content Centric Networking And A Tour Of (Xerox) PARC | Mike Szczys | [
"Featured",
"internet hacks",
"Interviews"
] | [
"ccn",
"content centric networking",
"parc",
"tour",
"Xerox"
] | You may be used to seeing rack mounted equipment with wires going everywhere. But there’s nothing ordinary about what’s going on here. [Elecia White] and [Dick Sillman] are posing with the backbone servers they’ve been designing to take networking into the era that surpasses IPv6. That’s right, this is the stuff of the future, a concept called Content Centric Networking.
Join me after the break for more about CCN, and also a recap of my tour of PARC. This is the legendary Palo Alto Research Company campus where a multitude of inventions (like the computer mouse, Ethernet, you know… small stuff) sprang into being.
I’m going to get back to CCN in a minute but let’s go in chronological order:
The Museum
“Notetaker” portable computer (1977–same year as Star Wars a New Hope)
Xerox Alto — one of the first “personal” computers
Wire-wrapped goodness on the ORBIT backplane
The first laser printer
Wall of achievements (view full size to read)
3D printed water purification system
Ethernet was invented here. Also shows modems for telephone line connectivity
[Elecia White] — embedded engineer, host of
Embedded.fm
, and
Hackaday Prize Judge
— was kind enough to offer me a tour. We started in the museum room of the building where we were met by [Dick Sillman]. He has
quite a CV
himself, including Director of Engineering at Apple and CTO of Sun Microsystems. It’s no surprise these two are working on something to reshape the technological horizon.
The story I was told while in the museum is that PARC was founded as a free-thinking research arm of the Xerox corporation. The gamble paid off because there were a multitude of innovations that are still around today. I saw the “Notetaker” portable computer, the Alto with its portrait-form-factor CRT monitor, and the original laser printer.
The original thinkers at PARC
One of the most enjoyable parts of this room is a wall plastered with a photograph from the early days. Note the lack of furniture and the comfort of bean-bag-chairs. The only thing differentiating this photo from today’s start-ups is the indoor smoking (and maybe the lack of laptops and smartphones).
The little machine shop
Another view of the machine shop
[Elecia] hanging out in the machine shop
Anyone need something machined?
Drill press bench
I wasn’t able to take photos of everything, but this machine shop was a fun stop. You walk in and see all the equipment and just know that there’s awesome stuff being prototyped here.
What is surprising is that you walk to the threshold of the next door and if you’re lucky you can peek inside. That’s where the “real” machine shop is and if you’re not an on-duty machinist the threshold is as far as you go. The idea is that you use the small shop to make an example of what you need, then take it to the real shop and they will fabricate however many you need.
To keep the machinist from losing their minds there is a computer monitor next to the door that shows the production state of each job… nobody pesters the machinists!
Lots of rooms with warning signs
Lasers
Electro hydro Dynamics
Here are just two shots of some of the warning signs you’ll find throughout the building. I somehow missed taking a picture of the biohazard warning. If it’s a piece of equipment useful for research I bet that they have it here.
The building itself feels like a secret fort. Maybe that’s not the best of descriptions, but it’s built in a series of pods placed one after another and all of them have the exact same layout. There are a few different floors in each pod, and sometimes the stairwells simply dead-end despite there being more levels above and below. It would have been a real challenge to find my way back to the front without a guide!
Parts on hand
The excitement of parts-on-hand
Component drawers
Hanging bins
If you just need that one component to finish the project, there’s a room for that. I found it amusing that [Elecia] and [Dick] were just as interested in poking around to see what is on hand as I was. I suspect they’re usually busy enough that they know exactly what they want before heading to the stock. On the way out I asked if I should shut the door, but this one just stays open, beckoning to every unsuspecting engineer who passes by.
The Future of the Internet
Back to the story at hand:
Content Centric Networking
. I’ve already mentioned that this is an alternative to IPv6. There are so many addresses available with v6, when are we ever going to run out and
need
to replace it? That’s not really the point.
CCN looks at a better way to address the transfer of data. Right now everything is based on IP addresses; one specific address maps to one specific location. But our devices aren’t exactly stationary any longer and that trend is going to continue. CCN focuses on the data itself and the device it’s intended for — agnostic of the location — by using names instead of addresses for routing.
There’s a lot to consider with this, like security. I was a bit shocked to find that the system signs every single packet. It doesn’t really matter how the data gets somewhere, or if it falls into the wrong hands. Man in the middle, spoofed addresses, and a slew of other issues can be solved this way. But back to my shock: how can you sign every single packet without a huge speed hit compared to what we have today? And how can you figure out where content is going if there’s no address to send it to?
Beaglebone-based CCN demonstration
Uses off-the-shelf parts: webcam, touchscreen.
Simplified explanation of the CCN demonstration
Testing for the conference
All packed up for a trip to Paris
The answer to speed is the hardware that [Elecia] and [Dick] are working on. They showed me one of their dinner-tray-sized 26-layer router PCBs that gets slotted into the racks in their work area. Impressive to say the least.
The answer to the rest is not completely clear in my mind. But I think that’s about par for the course. Even demonstrations are a bit tough to put together. Above are a few pictures of
the test rig for the concept
. Each node in the network is named (alpha, bravo, charlie, etc.). They are all connected to each other and all have the credentials to view the data packets created by others. This builds something of a “dropbox” of networked data. Each unit snaps its own images, but all images are displayed on the slideshow of every unit.
To truly grasp CCN you’re going to need a lot more reading. I’ll add some resources below. But before I do I’d like to thank [Elecia], [Dick], and PARC for an exciting and fun morning! I’d also like to mention that
I was a guest on embedded.fm this week
, talking about all things Hackaday and The Hackaday Prize.
Additional learning resources:
CCN Wikipedia Page
PARC CCN Article
Talk page from ACM conference | 28 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "1931134",
"author": "jg",
"timestamp": "2014-09-29T17:36:06",
"content": "I’m not certain how to tackle the subject you have raised. Anymore I am turning into a network specialist and am frequently knee deep in the stuff. I have a stupidly loud rack right next to me. I’ll try to exp... | 1,760,376,051.459407 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/29/a-nixie-clock-with-neon-bulb-logic/ | A Nixie Clock With Neon Bulb Logic | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"clock",
"counter",
"counter circuit",
"neon bulb",
"nixie"
] | This is an oldie, but
oh, man
is this ever good.
It’s a Nixie clock made without a microcontroller
. In fact, there aren’t any logic chips in this circuit, either. As far as we can tell, the logic in this clock is made with resistors, diodes, caps, and neon tubes.
The design of this is covered
in the creator’s webpage
. This clock was inspired by a few circuits found in a 1967 book
Electronic Counting Circuits
by J.B. Dance. The theory of these circuits rely on the different voltages required to light a neon lamp (the striking voltage) versus the voltage required to stay lit (the maintaining voltage). If you’re exceptionally clever with some diodes and resistors, you can create a counting circuit with these lamps, and since it’s pretty easy to get the mains frequency, a neon logic clock starts looking like a relatively easy project.
This clock, like a lot of the author’s other work, is built dead bug style, and everything looks phenomenal. It looks like this clock is mounted to a plastic plate; a good thing, because something of this size would be very, very fragile.
Video below, thanks [jp] for sending this one in. | 27 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1930647",
"author": "DV82XL",
"timestamp": "2014-09-29T14:36:36",
"content": "There were a few neon bulb logic projects that showed up in the hobbyist magazines back in the day. While they were neat, the need to buy and test so many bulbs to gather a set with parameters close enough... | 1,760,376,051.198315 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/29/adding-a-digital-back-to-a-sweet-old-camera/ | Adding A Digital Back To A Sweet Old Camera | Elliot Williams | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"canon",
"digital photography",
"dslr",
"leica",
"logic probe"
] | [Eugene] wanted to use his vintage Leica M4 as a digital camera, and he had a Canon EOS 350D digital camera sitting around unused. So he Frankensteined them together and
added a digital back to the Leica’s optical frontend
.
It sounds simple, right? All you’d need to do is chop off the back from the EOS 350D, grind the digital sensor unit down to fit into exactly the right spot on the film plane, glue it onto an extra Leica M4 back door, and you’re set. Just a little bit of extremely precise hackery. But it’s not even that simple.
Along the way [Eugene] reverse-engineered the EOS 350D’s shutter and mirror box signals (using a Salae Logic probe), and then replicated these signals when the Leica shutter was tripped by wedging an Arduino MiniPro into an old Leica motor-winder case. The Arduino listens for the Leica’s bulb-flash signal to tell when the camera fires, and then sends along the right codes to the EOS back. Sweet.
There are still a few outstanding details. The shutter speed is limited by the latency in getting the signal from the Leica to the 350D back, so he’s stuck at shutter speeds longer than 1/8th of a second. Additionally, the Canon’s anti-IR filter didn’t fit, but he has a new one ordered. These quibbles aside, it’s a beautiful hack so far.
What makes a beautiful piece of work even more beautiful? Sharing the source code and schematics. They’re both available at
his Github
.
Of course, if you don’t mind completely gutting the camera, you could always
convert your old Leica into a point and shoot
. | 30 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1930174",
"author": "michael",
"timestamp": "2014-09-29T11:31:31",
"content": "lets take 2 working cameras and make 1 shitty camera…..hipster logic…..",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1930189",
"author": "v00",
... | 1,760,376,051.608402 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/29/the-lpt-dac/ | The LPT DAC | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks",
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"Covox",
"covox speech thing",
"dac",
"LPT",
"resistor ladder"
] | About 30 years ago, before every computer had CD quality audio built in, audio cards and chips were technological marvels. MIDI chips, FM synthesis, and synths on a chip reigned supreme but one little device – just a handful of resistors – sounded fantastic. it was the Covox Speech Thing, a simple resistor ladder wired up to the parallel port of a computer that would output 8-bit audio to an external amplifier.
[FK] recently built his own Covox
(Czech,
Google translatrix
) with just 18 resistors, and the results sound
fantastic.
Instead of fancy chips,
the original Covox Speech Thing
used the 8 bit parallel port on a PC. Back in the olden days, this was the fastest way to get digital data out of a computer, but since it was digital only, a DAC was required to turn this into audio. A simple resistor ladder was sufficient, and this hardware was eventually supported by the old DOS games from Sierra and Id.
[FK] has a demo of this LPT DAC
available here
, but we’re not thinking that link will last long. If anyone has a better link, leave a note in the comments and we’ll update this post. Thanks [beavel] for sending this in. | 41 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "1929694",
"author": "Jan",
"timestamp": "2014-09-29T08:14:46",
"content": "Oh the memories! I have this thing on a piece of PCB in my drawer still!It was also known as Disney Sound Source and there were several variants of it. Even a stereo one!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth":... | 1,760,376,051.8395 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/28/sound-isolation-box-makes-living-room-based-cnc-routing-tolerable/ | Sound Isolation Box Makes Living Room Based CNC Routing Tolerable | Rich Bremer | [
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"cnc",
"CNC router",
"Isolation",
"sound"
] | CNC Machines can be loud, especially if they are equipped with a high-speed router spindle. Unfortunately, such a loud racket could be a problem for the apartment dwellers out there. Fear Not! [Petteri] has come up with a solution. It’s a
sound isolation enclosure
for his mini CNC Router that doubles as furniture. It keeps the sound and dust in while pumping out some cool parts….. in his living room.
What may just look like a box with an upholstered top actually had a lot of thought put into the design. The front MDF panel folds down to lay flat on the floor so that the user can kneel on it to access the machine without putting unnecessary stress on the door hinges. The top also is hinged to allow some top-down access or permit a quick peek on the status of a job. All of the internal corners of the box were caulked to be air tight, even a little air passageway would allow sound and dust to escape. Two-centimeter thick sound insulation lines the entire interior of the box and the two access lids have rubber sealing strips to ensure an air tight seal when closed.
With stepper motors, the spindle motor and control electronics all running inside an enclosed box, there is some concern over heat build up. [Petteri] hasn’t had any problems with that so far but he still installed an over-temp power cutoff made from a GFCI outlet and a thermostat temperature switch. This unit will cut the mains power if the temperature gets over 50º C by intentionally tripping the GFCI outlet. None of the internal parts will ignite under 300º C, so there is quite a safety buffer.
Although the isolation box came out pretty good, [Petteri] admits there is room for improvement; when cutting wood or aluminum, the noise level is kind of annoying. If he had to do it again, he would use thicker MDF, 20mm instead of 5mm. However, during general use while cutting plastic, the router is still quieter than his dishwasher.
Video below. | 22 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "1929288",
"author": "valdas",
"timestamp": "2014-09-29T05:13:19",
"content": "what about heat issues? like stepper motors they do get hot, especially then they are staying in same position and heat from spindle. And as i see even electronic components inside",
"parent_id": null... | 1,760,376,051.89745 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/28/thp-semifinalist-oshwatch/ | THP Semifinalist: OSHWatch | Brian Benchoff | [
"The Hackaday Prize"
] | [
"ewatch",
"the hackaday prize",
"watch",
"wearable"
] | No, it’s not a finely crafted wrist accessory from Cupertino, but
[Jared]’s OSHWatch
, but you’re actually able to build this watch thanks to an open design and reasonable, hand-solderable layout.
Built around a case found on DealExtreme that looks suspiciously similar to enclosures meant to hold an iPod Nano, [Jared]’s smartwatch includes a 128×128 RGB OLED display, magnetometer, accelerometer, Bluetooth 4.0 transceiver, and a lithium-ion charger and regulator circuit. Everything is controlled with a PIC24, which should mean this watch has enough processing power to handle anything a watch should handle.
As for the UI and what this watch actually
does
[Jared] is repurposing a few Android graphics for this watch. Right now, the watch can display the time (natch), upcoming appointments on his schedule, accelerometer and magnetometer data, and debug data from the CPU. It’s very, very well put together, and repurposing an existing watch enclosure is a really slick idea. Videos below.
The project featured in this post is
a quarterfinalist in The Hackaday Prize. | 21 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1929312",
"author": "starhawk",
"timestamp": "2014-09-29T05:23:57",
"content": "Pic is broken for me… just sayin’…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1929376",
"author": "Embedded-Clovis (@ClovisDuino)",
"timestam... | 1,760,376,052.019364 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/26/a-description-of-maddening-battery-terminology/ | A Description Of Maddening Battery Terminology | Brian Benchoff | [
"Parts"
] | [
"afroman",
"amp hour",
"battery",
"c++",
"cell",
"discharge",
"watt hour"
] | Once again, [Afroman] is here for you, this time breaking down electrolyte
and the terminology behind batteries
.
Volts and Amps are easy mode, but what about Amp hours? They’re not coulombs per second hours, because that wouldn’t make any sense. An Amp hour is a completely different
unit
podcast, where a 1Ah battery can supply one amp for one hour, or two amps for 30 minutes, or 500 mA for two hours.
Okay, what if you take two batteries and put them in series? That would double the voltage, but have the same Ah rating as a single cell. Does this mean there is the same amount of energy in two batteries as what is found in a single cell? No, so we need a new unit: the Watt hour. That’s Volts times Amp hours, or more incorrectly, one joule per second hour.
Now it’s a question of the number of cells in a battery. What’s the terminology for the number of cells? S. If there are three cells in a battery, that battery has a 3S rating. You would think that C would be the best letter of the alphabet to use for this metric, but C
is entirely different. Nothing here makes any sense at all.
What is C? That’s related to the number of amps a battery can discharge safely. If a 20C battery can discharge 2200mAh, it can deliver a maximum current of 44 A, with 20C times 2.2Ah being 44A.
So there you go. A complete description of something you can’t use logic and inference to reason through. Video below. | 27 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "1921886",
"author": "Dan L",
"timestamp": "2014-09-27T05:22:55",
"content": "“What is C? That’s related to the number of amps a battery can discharge safely. If a 20C battery can discharge 2200mAh, it can deliver a maximum current of 44 A, with 20C times 2.2Ah being 44A.”The reason ... | 1,760,376,051.96215 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/26/reanimating-a-philips-hdd-1420-mp3-player/ | Reanimating A Philips HDD 1420 MP3 Player | Kristina Panos | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"mp3 player",
"philips",
"philips hdd 1420 gogear",
"resurrection",
"Rockbox"
] | [OiD] had a dusty, old, forgotten Philips HDD1420 GoGear mp3 player kicking around his place. As you can imagine, the battery was dead. He had no charger or connector for the thing, but
decided to try to resurrect it anyway
.
He thought it would simply be a matter of providing alternative power, but the GoGear wasn’t having it and insisted on being connected to a computer. He had some luck consulting Pinouts.ru and found Philips’ own device manager software, but it still wasn’t easy. The device manager doesn’t work on Windows 7. He tried an XP box, but it didn’t detect the device.
Finally, he discovered that the hard drive was kaput and replaced it with an 8GB Microdrive. That helped, but he still had a hard row to hoe. [OiD] formatted the new HD and gave it the official firmware, but still had to replace some system files according to the Philips manual. He ended up using
RockBox
to reanimate it and decided to keep it on the device.
There was still an issue with charging, though. It has an IC that handles selection of either the proprietary external adapter or USB power, but the RockBox firmware doesn’t implement switching and defaults to the adapter. Several tweaks and a hacked-in mini USB later, the patient is in stable condition and cranking out the tunes. | 7 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "1921482",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2014-09-27T03:05:11",
"content": "The battery on my wife’s 8Gb GoGear MP3 player died a couple of months ago.It appears to be a lot different than the one in this article.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
... | 1,760,376,051.757332 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/26/esp8266-distance-testing/ | ESP8266 Distance Testing | Brian Benchoff | [
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"ESP8266",
"radio",
"wifi",
"wireless"
] | With progress slowly being made on turning the ESP8266 UART to WiFi module into something great, there is still the question of what the range is for the radio in this tiny IoT wonder. [CNLohr]
has some test results for you
, and the results are surprisingly good.
Connecting to the WiFi module through a TPLink WR841N router, [CN] as able to ping the module at 479 meters with a huge rubber duck antenna soldered on, or 366 meters with the PCB antenna. Wanting to test out the maximum range, [CN] and his friends dug out a Ubiquiti M2 dish and were able to drive 4.28
kilometers
away from the module and still ping it.
Using a dish and a rubber duck antenna is an exercise in excess, though: no one is going to use a dish for an Internet of Things thing, but if you want to carry this experiment to its logical conclusion, there’s no reason to think an ESP8266 won’t connect, so long as you have line of sight and a huge antenna.
There’s still a lot of work to be done on this module. It’s capable of running custom code, and since you can pick this module up for less than $5 USD, it’s an interesting platform for whatever WiFi project you have in mind. | 41 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "1920620",
"author": "David",
"timestamp": "2014-09-26T23:02:14",
"content": "Anyone know of a module that can do at least 5km?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1920687",
"author": "Maxwell",
"timestamp": "2014-0... | 1,760,376,052.460057 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/26/bring-a-hack-at-world-maker-faire-2014/ | Bring A Hack At World Maker Faire 2014 | Adam Fabio | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"Bring A Hack",
"BringAHack",
"contextual electronics",
"emsl",
"evil mad scientist laboratories",
"F",
"maker faire",
"Oculus",
"vr",
"World Maker Faire"
] | After a hard Saturday at World Maker Faire, some of the best and brightest in the Hacker/Maker community descended on The Holiday Inn for “Bring A Hack”. Created by [Jeri Ellsworth] several years ago at the Bay Area Maker Faire, Bring A Hack (BAH) is an informal gathering. Sometimes a dinner, sometimes a group getting together at a local bar, BAH is has just one rule: You have to bring a hack!
[Sophi Kravitz] has become the unofficial event organizer for BAH in New York. This year she did a bit of live hacking, as she converted her Wobble Wonder headgear from wired to wireless control.
[Chris Gammell] brought his original
Bench BudEE
from Contextual Electronics. He showed off a few of his board customizations, including making a TSSOP part fit on the wrong footprint.
[Windell and Lenore] from Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories brought a few hacks along. They picked up an old Radio Shack music player chip at the
Electronics Flea Market
and built it up on a breadboard. Also on display was their new
EggBot Pro
. The Pro is a beautifully machined version of the eggbot. Everything is built strong to withstand the sort of duty an EggBot would see at a hackerspace or public library. [Windell] was full of surprises, as he also gave everyone chunks of
Sal Ammoniac
, which is a great way to bring the tin back to a tired soldering iron tip. The hack was that he found his Sal Ammoniac at a local Indian grocery in the Bay Area. Check out
[Windell’s] blog entry
for more information.
[Cal Howard] brought his DIY VR goggles. [Cal] converted a Kindle Fire into an Oculus Rift style head mounted display by adding a couple of magnifying lenses, some bamboo kebab sticks to hold the lenses in place. Judicious use of cardboard and duct tape completed the project. His current hurdle is getting past the Fire’s lack of an accelerometer. [Cal] planned to spend Sunday at Maker Faire
adding one of his own!
As the hour grew late, everyone started to trickle out. Tired but happy from a long day at Maker Faire, the Bring A Hacker partygoers headed back to their hotels to get some sleep before World Maker Faire’s final day. | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1920256",
"author": "Adobe/Flash hater",
"timestamp": "2014-09-26T20:42:22",
"content": "Speaking of DIY-VR, How come everyone isn’t bidding up thoseiphone6-e-VR(e=ergonomic, VR=Virtual Reality formed) models??You know…., those rare, custom, butt shaped ones.ahhh I can just hear the... | 1,760,376,052.311715 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/26/countdown-to-finals/ | Countdown To Finals | Mike Szczys | [
"The Hackaday Prize"
] | [
"finals",
"judging"
] | There can be only 5.
This Sunday Night we will snapshot the state of
the final 50 entries for The Hackaday Prize
. Our panel of
Launch Judges
will then begin the difficult task of choosing the five projects which best exemplify the virtues of the challenge: Openness, Connectedness, Innovation, Wow Factor, Reproducibility, and User Experience.
Want to help your favorite project make the finals? Get in there and take a look at their write-ups. Leave a polite comment on the project page that mentions the parts that are unclear or things you think should be added to the description.
The five who do move on are up for
some huge prizes
: A trip to space, Milling Machine, a 3D Printer, a trip to Akihabara, and Team Skydiving. Of course we won’t know the order of the finalists or who the Grand Prize Winner is until the final judging round happens at the end of October. | 16 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1920294",
"author": "Stаn (@diyftw)",
"timestamp": "2014-09-26T20:56:55",
"content": "My kingdom for an RSS feed that excludes these “contest” posts…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1920354",
"author": "Gronk",
... | 1,760,376,052.364171 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/26/hacklet-17-keyboards/ | Hacklet 17 – Keyboards | Adam Fabio | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"cherry",
"cherry mx",
"hacklet",
"keyboard",
"Keytronic",
"mechanical keyboard"
] | This week on The Hacklet we’re featuring some of the best keyboard hacks from Hackaday.io!
Hackers are really into their keyboards. Everyone has a favorite, and those favorites vary wildly. Mechanical, soft touch, ergonomic, QWERTY, DVORAK, chorded, you name it, there is a hacker, maker, or engineer who loves it, or absolutely hates it. For some, no commercial product is perfect. All is not lost though, as a custom keyboard is just a hack away!
[Warren Janssens] gets things rolling with
Ergo60
, his 60 key ergonomic keyboard. [Warren’s] layout is a pair of 25 key hand clusters, each with a matching 5 key thumb cluster. This layout minimizes lateral wrist movement. With the reduced key count and stacked keys, the user’s hands never move from the home row. [Warren] rolled his own PCBs for Ergo60. A Teensy 2.0 running a fork of
TMK
serves as Ergo60’s controller. [Warren’s] is running Cherry Black switches and his keycaps are from Signature Plastics. [Warren] is using Ergo60 as his daily driver these days, so it’s no surprise that he’s set the “Completed Project” tag.
Some say he needs no keyboard at all, and that his heartbeat sounds just like an IBM Model M. All we know is he’s called [Brian Benchoff]. [Brian’s] created a pair of minimalist keyboard projects.
The Unhappy Hacking Keyboard
takes us back to basics. After all, computers run on 1’s and 0’s, right? What more could a person need? Apparently just a space and return. Unhappy Hacking Keyboard uses an ATtiny85 with V-USB as the controller and the interface. Keys are cherry MX blues. The keycaps are [Brian’s] own
Hackaday Cherry MX Keycaps
printed by Shapeways.
An entire generation of hackers don’t know the joy of typing on a tiny rubber keyboard. [Alistair MacDonald] aimed to fix that, so he turned an old computer into a keyboard with his
ZX Keyboard
. [Alistair] started with a broken ZX Spectrum. He gutted the original electronics and added an Ardunio Pro Mini running the V-USB library. [Alistair] directly wired the row and column I/O lines from the keyboard to his Arduino. The result is a keyboard which is the perfect size for cell phones, Raspberry Pi’s and the like.
[Servo] teaches us new ways to type with
Chordy KEY
, his chording keyboard project. Chordy Key is meant to be used in the left hand. Five finger buttons and three thumb buttons are all that is needed to chord out 64 different letters and symbols. [Servo] utilized an ATmega32U4 powered Sparkfun pro micro to control his keyboard. Chordy Key is a proof of concept, but with [Servos’s] use of 3D printed parts, Chordy Key looks like it’s ready for your next wearable computing project!
[jmptable] is also working on a chorded keyboard design.
Chord Keyboard
uses only 7 keys to send the entire ASCII character set and a few control combinations. [jmptable] used an ATmega328P as his processor. Chord keyboard isn’t wired though. An RN-42-HID module provides bluetooth connectivity to the world.
[jmptable] has provided an amazing amount of detail on his research, including one of his goals of adding a chorded keyboard to the Gameboy Advance. They keyboard itself would be mounted on the spine of a game cartridge. We would love to see that idea come to fruition, [Servo]!
Finally we have [Gertlex], who just wanted a scroll wheel embedded in his keyboard. He got there with the help of an Apple Mighty Mouse.
Keyboard with Apple Mouse Scroll Ball
is one of those hacks that looks like it original equipment. [Gertlex] took a drill to a Targus slim USB keyboard, putting a small hole right between the ESC and F1 keys. He fit the scroll ball from his Apple Mighty Mouse in the hole. Electronics are as simple as plugging the mouse and keyboard into the same USB hub. The only downside to the design is that [Gertlex’s] keyboard doesn’t recognize fast enough to send key presses during the boot process.
That’s just about enough keystrokes for this episode of The Hacklet. As always, see you next week. Same hack time, same hack channel, bringing you the best of Hackaday.io!
Update – check our our
keyboard list right here
! | 18 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "1919910",
"author": "rj",
"timestamp": "2014-09-26T18:33:47",
"content": "I feel obliged to mention keyboard.io",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1920695",
"author": "Quirk",
"timestamp": "2014-09-26T23:31:00",
... | 1,760,376,052.264809 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/26/were-at-maker-faire-atlanta-oct-4-5/ | We’re At Maker Faire Atlanta, Oct 4-5 | Marsh | [
"cons"
] | [
"atlanta",
"maker faire",
"maker faire atlanta"
] | If you live in the southeastern US, mark your calenders for next weekend—October 4th and 5th—and head out to the fourth annual
Maker Faire Atlanta
in downtown Decatur, GA. You can find a
complete list of participants here
.
I’ll be around all weekend to talk to makers about their projects and to hand out some Hackaday stickers. As [Brian] said with the HaD crew at the NY Faire, don’t be afraid to introduce yourself if you see me walking around or lurking at the
Hackyard
booth. See you there! | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "1919035",
"author": "LoveMHz",
"timestamp": "2014-09-26T16:49:54",
"content": "Glad to see HaD talking about Maker Faire Atlanta.. Looking forward to next weekend and will definitely stop by and say hey. (Along with my wife and daughter)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,376,052.632875 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/27/duinos-and-vr-environments/ | ‘Duinos And VR Environments | Brian Benchoff | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"Atmel",
"maker faire",
"Qduino",
"virtual reality",
"vr"
] | At the Atmel booth at Maker Faire, they were showing off a few very cool bits and baubles. We’ve got a post on the WiFi shield in the works, but the most impressive person at the booth was [Quin]. He has
a company
, he’s already shipping products, and he has a few projects already in the works. What were you doing at 13?
[Quin]’s Qduino Mini is your basic Arduino compatible board with a LiPo charging circuit. There’s also a ‘fuel gauge’ of sorts for the battery. The project will be hitting Kickstarter sometime next month, and we’ll probably put that up in a links post.
Oh, [Quin] was also
rocking some awesome kicks
at the Faire. Atmel, I’m trying to give you money for these shoes, but you’re not taking it.
[Sophie] had a really cool installation at the faire, and notably something
that was first featured on hackaday.io
. Basically, it’s a virtually reality Segway, built with an Oculus, Leap Motion, a Wobbleboard, an Android that allows you to cruise on everyone’s favorite barely-cool balancing scooter through a virtual landscape.
This project was a collaboration between [Sophie], [Takafumi Ide], [Adelle Lin], and [Martha Hipley]. The virtual landscape was built in Unity, displayed on the Oculus, controlled with an accelerometer on a phone, and has input with a Leap Motion. There are destructible and interactable things in the environment that can be pushed around with the Leap Motion, and with the helmet-mounted fans, you can feel the wind in your hair as you cruise over the landscape on your hovering Segway-like vehicle. This is really one of the best VR projects we’ve ever seen. | 5 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "1925079",
"author": "SomeEasternEuropeanGuy",
"timestamp": "2014-09-28T02:30:43",
"content": "Hey, that’s not cool to ask what people were doing at 13 (well I was learning Asian languages, but to each his own), since not everyone has the same background, upbringing and environment. ... | 1,760,376,052.744929 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/27/extrinsic-motivation-basement-wood-drying-kiln-2/ | Basement Wood-Drying Kiln | Kristina Panos | [
"The Hackaday Prize"
] | [
"arduino duemilanove",
"dehumidifier",
"dht22",
"kiln",
"pallet rack",
"rtc",
"wood",
"wood kiln",
"woodworking"
] | Once upon a time, a woodworker met another woodworker who happened to have a tree business. They struck a deal stating that the first woodworker would dry the sawn boards provided by the second and both would share the lumber. That’s exactly what happened to [Tim], which led to
his entry in The Hackaday Prize
.
[Tim] does a great job explaining his build of the kiln itself, his controls, and the gist of running the thing. The idea is to pull moisture out of the wood at just the right speed. Otherwise, the boards might
check
on the outside, honeycomb on the inside, or bear residual tension. He’s using a dehumidifier to pump dry air into the kiln and a control system to both monitor the relative humidity in the kiln and to dry the stock down to a moisture content in the 6-8% range.
The kiln is built from slightly blemished pallet rack shelving that [Tim] cut to suit his needs. He skinned it with 1/2″ insulation boards sealed with aluminium tape and plans to add sheet metal to protect the insulation.
[Tim] wanted to control both a fan and the dehumidifier, monitor relative humidity in the kiln, log the data, and send it to the internets. For this, he has employed an Arduino Due, a DHT-22, an RTC, a relay board, an Ethernet shield, and an LCD to show what’s happening. The hardware is all working at this point, and the software is on its way. Check out his entry video below.
This project is
an official entry
to The Hackaday Prize that sadly didn’t make
the quarterfinal selection
. It’s still a great project, and worthy of a Hackaday post on its own. | 10 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1924517",
"author": "Tim White",
"timestamp": "2014-09-27T23:36:21",
"content": "I just happened to pull open HaD and saw that this popped up. Ironically, I’ve been working on getting the software workable for a good portion of the day today. The kiln is now tweeting its status; y... | 1,760,376,052.798847 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/27/a-1920s-doorbell-is-upgraded-with-2010s-technology/ | A 1920’s Doorbell Is Upgraded With 2010’s Technology | Rick Osgood | [
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"diy",
"doorbell",
"home",
"House",
"mail slot",
"raspberry pi",
"upgrade",
"wireless",
"xbee"
] | When you move into an old house, you are bound to have some home repairs in your future. [Ben] discovered this after moving into his home, built in 1929. The house had a mail slot that was in pretty bad shape. The slot was rusted and stuck open, it was covered in old nasty caulk, and it had a built-in doorbell that was no longer functional. [Ben] took it upon himself to fix it up.
The first thing on the agenda was to
fix the doorbell
. After removing the old one, [Ben] was able to expose the original cloth-insulated wiring. He managed to trace the wires back to his basement and, to his surprise, they seemed to be functional. He replaced the old doorbell button with a new momentary button and then hooked up a DIY doorbell using an XBee radio. [Ben] already had an XBee base station for his Raspberry Pi, so he was wrote a script that could send a notification to his phone whenever the doorbell was pushed.
Unfortunately, the old wiring just didn’t hold up. The push button only worked sporadically. [Ben] ended up purchasing an off the shelf wireless doorbell. He didn’t want to have to stick the included ugly plastic button onto the front of his house though, so [Ben] had to figure out how to trigger the new doorbell using the nice metallic button. He used the macro lens on his iPhone to follow the traces on the PCB until he was able to locate the correct points to trigger the doorbell. Then it was just a matter of a quick soldering job and he had a functional doorbell.
Once the electronics upgrades were complete, he moved on to fixing up the look of the mail slot. He had to remove the rust using a wire brush and sandpaper. Then he gave it a few coats of paint. He replaced the original natural insulation with some spray foam, and removed all the old nasty caulk. The final product looks as good as new and now includes a functional wireless doorbell.
We’re big fans of salvaging old-school home hardware. Another example that comes to mind is
this set of door chimes with modernized driver
. | 12 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "1924297",
"author": "Tom Hargrave",
"timestamp": "2014-09-27T21:56:26",
"content": "The house may have been built in the 1920s but the doorbell was likely added much later.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1924568",
"au... | 1,760,376,052.699527 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/27/wireprint-is-a-physical-print-preview-for-3d-printers/ | WirePrint Is A Physical ‘Print Preview’ For 3D Printers | Rick Osgood | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"3d",
"3d printer",
"cornell",
"extrusion",
"printer",
"slicer",
"wireframe",
"wireprint"
] | 3D printers may be old news to most of us, but that’s not stopping creative individuals from finding new ways to improve on the technology. Your average consumer budget 3D printer uses an extrusion technology, whereby plastic is melted and extruded onto a platform. The printer draws a single two-dimensional image of the print and then moves up layer by layer. It’s an effective and inexpensive method for turning a computer design into a physical object. Unfortunately, it’s also very slow.
That’s why Hasso Plattner Institute and Cornell University teamed up to develop
WirePrint
. WirePrint can slice your three-dimensional model into a wire frame version that is capable of being printed on an extrusion printer. You won’t end up with a strong final product, but WirePrint will help you get a feel for the overall size and shape of your print. The best part is it will do it in a fraction of the time it would take to print the actual object.
This is a similar idea to reducing the amount of fill that your print has, only WirePrint takes it a step further. The software tells your printer to extrude plastic in vertical lines, then pauses for just enough time for it to cool and harden in that vertical position. The result is much cleaner than if this same wire frame model were printed layer by layer. It also requires less overall movement of the print head and is therefore faster.
The best part about this project is that it’s a software hack. This means that it can likely be used on any 3D printers that use extrusion technology. Check out a video of the process below to see how it works. | 25 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "1923667",
"author": "Thopter",
"timestamp": "2014-09-27T17:34:16",
"content": "So when will be able to use it?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1923699",
"author": "Waterjet",
"timestamp": "2014-09-27T17:48:30",
"cont... | 1,760,376,052.953059 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/27/automated-watering-system-uses-neat-diy-water-valve/ | Automated Watering System Uses Neat DIY Water Valve | Rich Bremer | [
"green hacks"
] | [
"plantwatering",
"watering"
] | [Valentin] is an engineering student and hobbyist gardener. He was planning on going home for a 3 week semester break and certainly could not leave his balcony plants to fend for themselves. The clearly obvious solution was to make an
automated watering system
!
The most interesting part of this build is the valve. Anyone could have bought an off-the-shelf solenoid valve, not [Valentin], he designed his own. It is simple and just pinches the water supply tube to stop the flow of water coming from the elevated 20-liter water container. The ‘pinching’ arm is raised and lowered by an RC Car servo. When the valve is in the closed position, the servo does not need to continually apply pressure, the servo is powered down and the valve stays closed. This works because when the valve is closed, all forces are acting in a strictly radial direction on the servo’s drive disk. Since there is no rotation force, the drive disk does not rotate and the valve stays closed.
The servo is controlled by a microcontroller. Instead of rotating the servo to a certain degree, the servo rotates until it hits a limit switch. Those limit switches tell the microcontroller that the valve is either in the open or closed position. You must be asking yourself ‘what happens if the limit switch fails and the servo wants to keep rotating?’ [Valentin] thought of that too and has his code measure how long it is taking to reach the limit switch. If that time takes too long, the servo is powered down.
Video below. | 37 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "1923175",
"author": "Polaczek",
"timestamp": "2014-09-27T14:26:34",
"content": "I like it, simple and effective.One other potential way of doing it would be based on weight.Pot too light? Open valve, add water.Pot too heavy? Close valve, no flow.But then you need a precise spring/ma... | 1,760,376,052.88307 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2014/09/27/thp-semifinalist-a-robotic-lawn-mower/ | THP Semifinalist: A Robotic Lawn Mower | Brian Benchoff | [
"The Hackaday Prize"
] | [
"lawnmower",
"the hackaday prize"
] | For all the Roombas in the world, you have to wonder why robotic lawn mowers aren’t more common. Sure, you can go out and buy one, but mowing the typical suburban yard is a piece of cake for a robot; there aren’t stairs, there are relatively few obstacles, and a boundary wire system is much simpler than simply bouncing into things like an iRobot.
[Schuhumi]’s autoCut
is the only household robot to make the semifinalists in The Hackaday Prize. Underneath, this bot is electric, has fully automatic operation, and even has a motor to change the height of the blades. The blades are actually designed more like a stringless weedwacker; the blades pivot back when they encounter a hard obstacle, although
this safety cage
is a really good idea
Instead of doing the random ‘bump and turn’ algorithm found in a roomba, there’s a lot of thought put into navigation with this bot. [schuhumi]
is using ultrasonic navigation
that triangulates the position of the bot in a yard. That’s a great idea; there’s no need to waste time or power rolling over what the bot has already cut.
You can check out [schuhumi]’s overview video and a demo below.
The project featured in this post is
a quarterfinalist in The Hackaday Prize. | 32 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "1922837",
"author": "Dave M",
"timestamp": "2014-09-27T12:00:55",
"content": "Very nice. Now does anybody know of a wildlife-safe robotic lawn mower design? I have accidentally run over a rabbit nest with a small mower in a suburban backyard (that might be undetectable since they ... | 1,760,376,053.034229 |
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