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https://hackaday.com/2012/01/26/sprite_tms-three-component-fm-transmitter/ | [Sprite_tm]’s Three-component FM Transmitter | Brian Benchoff | [
"ATtiny Hacks",
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"attiny45",
"fm transmitter",
"radio",
"sprite_tm"
] | When the Regency TR-1 transistor radio came out onto the market in the 1950s, it was hailed as a modern marvel of microelectronics. With only four transistors and a handful of other components, the TR-1 was a wonder of modern engineering. [Sprite_tm] may have those old-timers beat, though. He built an
FM transmitter
with the lowest parts count of any transmitter ever.
Like most of [Sprite_tm]’s builds, it’s an unimaginably clever piece of work. [Sprite] overclocked the internal RC oscillator of an ATtiny45 to 24 MHz. After realizing the PLL running at four times the frequency of the oscillator was right in the middle of the FM band, he set about designing a tiny FM transmitter.
[Sprite_tm] remembered his work on
MONOTONE
and made a short song for hit ATtiny. The firmware for the build takes the notes from his song and varies the 96 MHz PLL frequency a tiny bit, thereby serving as a tiny FM transmitter.
Does it work? Well, if you want to compare it to a Mister Microphone, the range is incredibly limited. That being said
it works.
It’s an FM transmitter built out of a microcontroller and a battery, and that’s very impressive. Check out [Sprite_tm]’s demo after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=HV6YQ4WKtYY&w=470] | 54 | 35 | [
{
"comment_id": "567929",
"author": "HackJack",
"timestamp": "2012-01-26T19:50:35",
"content": "NOW THIS IS A HACK!MORE OF THIS AND LESS OF THAT!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "567978",
"author": "N0LKK",
"timestamp": "2012-01... | 1,760,376,974.668583 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/26/jam-a-remote-helicopter/ | Jam A Remote Helicopter | Kevin Dady | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"ir",
"S107",
"Syma"
] | The Syma S107 IR is a popular little remote controlled helicopter. When a friend of [Michael]’s started flying one around the office he decided
to try and jam the signal, creating a no fly zone
. Luckily some
people on the internet
have already
decoded the IR signals
used by the flying menace. From there, a quick browsing of Mouser to source some LEDs, and to whip up some code for a TI MSP430 was all that was left.
The software on the micro controller is set to broadcast a “thrust off” signal, but [Michael] admits he is not 100% sure if the helicopter is actually receiving that, or if the signal from the no fly zone is mixing with the remote’s signal, causing garbage to be received. Either way when the helicopter gets in range of the no fly zone pad it drops from the air.
Things didn’t go perfectly though, overestimating the current capabilities of the MSP was causing the micro controller to reset and crash the debugger. But a simple rearrangement of how the signals are sent quickly solved this problem.
Join us after the break for a quick video.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgWysh5yhGg&w=470] | 39 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "567777",
"author": "danman1453",
"timestamp": "2012-01-26T14:11:46",
"content": "What about a spread signal? A continuously looping signal? I know from the airhog heli’s that simple direct sunlight will mess with them. So, maybe some artificial sunlight in the office? Maybe it will ... | 1,760,376,974.434491 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/25/custom-microcontroller-using-only-a-dremel/ | Custom Microcontroller Using Only A Dremel | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"msp430g2211",
"ti"
] | Check out this 6-pin MSP430 microcontroller. What’s that you say? TI doesn’t make a 6-pin MSP430? True, Texas Instruments doesn’t make one, so [Greg] grabbed his Demel and a cutoff wheel, and
chopped up a larger uC to arrive at this package
.
It may sound a bit crazy at first, but when you think about it there’s nothing really all that special about this. The plastic package on DIP components these days is mostly empty. The silicon die which does the computing is quite small in comparison, and usually mounted in the very center of the part. [Greg] simply cut off eight of the unneeded pins (four from each end).
Well, it might be a stretch to call them unneeded since he cut the ground and voltage pins. He gets around this issue by taking advantage of the same properties of the I/O pins used in
this barebones RFID tag
. You can inject power through the I/O and we’d bet you could easily use this chopped-up MSP430G2211 as an RFID tag if you wanted to.
[Thanks Ian] | 35 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "567199",
"author": "cs42",
"timestamp": "2012-01-25T16:07:16",
"content": "How about just using a modern package?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "567447",
"author": "Dax",
"timestamp": "2012-01-25T23:47:45",
... | 1,760,376,974.226224 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/25/bending-a-printer-control-board-to-output-pov-messages/ | Bending A Printer Control Board To Output POV Messages | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"7400",
"74hc373",
"74hc374",
"persistence of vision",
"POV"
] | Confronted with the issue of finding a use for his mounting pile of junk electronics, [Rue] set out to build a
persistence of vision device using a hardware state machine
. We have a suspicion that his original link may go down if there’s too much traffic so here’s
a cached link just in case
.
Any board that is MSC-51 or MCS-48 based would have worked for his purposes. This is because the addressing scheme of the hardware makes it an easy hack. The image above shows him cutting off the processor from this board. It was chosen because of a 74HC373; it was a mistake at first but since it’s pin compatible with the 74HC374 that he needed a simple swap did the trick. From there a clock source was added, and the address information necessary to display the message was burned into an EEPROM.
Step twelve of his writeup shows a Morse Code message created by attaching the board to a broomstick and twirling it around in an arc. We took just a minute to decode the message and believe it’s a shout-out to Hackaday. Nice, thanks for reading [Rue]! | 12 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "567196",
"author": "Steve-O-Rama",
"timestamp": "2012-01-25T15:58:34",
"content": "Excellent timing, no pun intended! I just happened to find an entire phone system from the mid-80s, and the main box has a TON of ICs like these (7400 logic). How do you guys at HaD do that?!? :)",
... | 1,760,376,974.043414 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/25/stop-light-converted-to-control-office-foot-traffic/ | Stop Light Converted To Control Office Foot Traffic | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"pir",
"traffic light"
] | When [Paul Rea] started work with his current employer, he was
intrigued by a traffic light that sat unused
near the entrance of the “Engineering Loft” where he was stationed. He promised himself that he would get it working one day, but several years passed before he had the chance to take a closer look at it.
He took the light home with him over Thanksgiving weekend last year, and started to dig around inside to see how things were wired up. It turns out the light was a pretty simple contraption, though he discovered it ran on mains voltage, something [Paul] didn’t really want to fiddle with. He swapped out the traffic light’s bulbs for some low-voltage models, which he could easily power with a 12v wall wart.
[Paul] then added an Arduino and PIR sensor to the light fixture in order to detect when someone was leaving the Engineering Loft, warning those who are on their way in. He says that people don’t really pay attention to the light very much, though he is pretty happy with the results.
Continue reading to see a short video of the traffic light in action.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw46A_LB3Nc&feature=player_embedded&w=470] | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "567198",
"author": "M4CGYV3R",
"timestamp": "2012-01-25T16:03:29",
"content": "If I had an ‘Engineering Loft’, I would totally install a slide to get back down from it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "567325",
"author": "von... | 1,760,376,974.771174 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/24/hide-your-repeater-and-gain-a-radio/ | Hide Your Repeater And Gain A Radio | Kevin Dady | [
"Nintendo Wii Hacks",
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"Hidden wifi",
"radio"
] | [Bradley]’s workplace was recently put into a position where they needed to install a WIFI network to operate some wireless barcode scanners, which was left open for anyone to connect to. Management thought that the people in the shop, who didn’t really need internet, would get less work done if they had access to it. So they just simply stuck the access point as far away as they could. Problem with that theory is that the signal still reaches a little bit where they don’t want it, and people in the shop really want access, so a repeater is needed.
Of course this repeater cant be just sitting out in the open. so [Bradley] decided to hide the it inside of an old radio.
Searching around he finally settled on a 10$ ebay radio from the 1980’s, which is large enough to hold the guts of a WRT54G. The routers AC adapter was popped open and wired into the AC input of the radio, the main board and antennas were epoxied to the back. Once everything is buttoned back up you’re left with a hidden repeater, and a fully functional radio.
Now hopefully none of his bosses read his blog! | 41 | 28 | [
{
"comment_id": "566595",
"author": "Alan",
"timestamp": "2012-01-24T22:08:49",
"content": "Anyone who works withBradleythat also works with bar code scanners over wi-fi..FIND THAT RADIO MEOW",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "566597",
"author"... | 1,760,376,974.305685 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/24/the-phone-box/ | The Phone Box | Kevin Dady | [
"Cellphone Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"celphone",
"single switch"
] | [Nerdindustries] had a interesting idea; “what if you could just flip a switch and call someone?”. This happens a lot, especially in companies where your trying to catch a certain someone who is always swamped in phone calls.
The Phone Box
is a basic Nokia cellphone that has a number stored into its speed dial. To help aid in communication the phones output is directed to a three and a half watt amplifier module ensuring that your going to hear it.
A delay circuit was made out of a basic RC network, so when you hit the switch the phone has a chance to power up and fully boot. Once the delay triggers it presses the speed dial button and off you go. Now someone has already asked “Why don‘t you just call them?”, and we got a kick out of the first answer “calling someone is NOT nerdy.”
Join us after the break for a quick video.
[vimeo
http://vimeo.com/35517716%5D | 19 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "566563",
"author": "Gdogg",
"timestamp": "2012-01-24T21:10:27",
"content": "“your going to hear it”ಠ_ಠ",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "566602",
"author": "m000z0rz",
"timestamp": "2012-01-24T22:19:54",
... | 1,760,376,974.361355 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/24/converting-a-mill-to-cnc/ | Converting A Mill To CNC | Brian Benchoff | [
"cnc hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"cnc",
"Grizzly",
"machine tools",
"machining",
"mill"
] | For most of the past year, [Joel] has been working on converting a manual mill to a
CNC mill
with the addition of a computer, brackets and stepper motors. He’s put an amazing amount of effort into his project, and the result is awesome and much less expensive than buying and shipping an old Bridgeport mill.
The project started with
this mill
from Grizzly. It’s a step above the small ‘hobby mills,’ but still very affordable at $1200 shipped to [Joel]’s driveway. The work began by
fabricating an enclosure
for the PC and motor drivers out of an electrical panel box. The controller box includes a touch screen, keyboard and computer running
Mach3
CNC software. The computer connects to a
breakout board
with a trio of
motor drivers
providing power for the stepper motors on each axis.
After a few months (good things take time), [Joel] was ready to
attach the stepper motors
to the axes of the mill. He’s just put up a few videos of milling copper-clad board for PCBs and surface machining ABS, viewable after the break. For a total investment that is less than finding, buying, and repairing an old industrial mill, we’ll call [Joel]’s project a success.
[flickr video=http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmillerid/6487457455/]
[flickr video=http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmillerid/6710516711/]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=Zq5Mhli4orM&w=470] | 16 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "566557",
"author": "grovenstien",
"timestamp": "2012-01-24T21:00:25",
"content": "Very tidy build! I am now very jelous as this is far better than my SEIG X1 CNC conversion. If anyone has the desire to convert a mill my advice is buy the biggest you can afford! There arn’t many th... | 1,760,376,974.484247 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/24/hackaday-links-january-24-2012/ | Hackaday Links: January 24, 2012 | Brian Benchoff | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"3d printing",
"3ds",
"cnc",
"copyright",
"engraving",
"PDIP",
"sega",
"sega genesis",
"soldering"
] | Open source engraving
[Scott] wanted to do some v-carving with a CNC router, but couldn’t find software to generate GCode that didn’t cost hundreds of dollars. He ended up doing the sensible thing and
wrote his own
that will generate tool paths from CXF fonts. We’ll be bookmarking this for when our router project is done.
Improving Genesis sound output
Dissatisfied with the sound output on his Sega Genesis, [Drakon]
installed a few mods
into his console. How much could it really affect the sound?
Listen to the video
. The changeover happens at 0:50. Impressive. Now if only the chiptune scene would get into Segas.
Yes, we did, and now we’re seeding
Here’s an alternative to
Thingiverse
: The Pirate Bay has
a new category
for 3D-printable objects. The best file so far? A
1970 Chevelle
. US Copyright law does not protect (most) physical objects, so it’s not illegal. Honestly, we can’t wait for somebody to take this to the courts; It’s sure to be an interesting case. Somebody upload a
ship hull design
and give the EFF a buzz.
Just be glad it’s not a QFN
[Mikey] was pulling a PDIP ATMega8 out of a socket with pliers and a screwdriver and broke the RESET pin. Ouch. He fixed it by soldering on a lead from a resistor. We’ve all done this before, but [Mikey]’s
results
look really good. Here’s the
gallery
.
This might be fake
If you want a second analog stick for your 3DS, you could wait a month and buy a
Circle Pad Pro
, or install a
PSP analog stick
. We’re not sure how this would work – the Circle Pad Pro works over IR, and we’re not seeing an IR transmitter on this build.
Here’s the source
if anyone wants to give this a shot. | 21 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "566525",
"author": "Leigh",
"timestamp": "2012-01-24T19:18:33",
"content": "These chip pullers cost under $2:http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&pa=16838&productId=16838Maybe Sparkfun and Adafruit et al should stock ... | 1,760,376,974.729759 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/24/raspberry-pi-runs-xbmc-reliably-decodes-1080p/ | Raspberry Pi Runs XBMC; Reliably Decodes 1080p | Mike Szczys | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"1080p",
"arm",
"gnu",
"h.",
"h.264",
"linux",
"raspberry pi",
"xbmc"
] | This is the Raspberry Pi board, an ARM based GNU-Linux computer. We’ve heard a little bit about it, but it recently garnered our attention when
the machine was shown running XBMC
at 1080p. That’s a lot of decoding to be done with the small package, and it’s taken care of at the hardware level.
Regular readers will know we’re fans of the XBMC project and have been looking for a small form factor that can be stuck on the back of a television. We had
hoped it would be the BeagleBaord
but that never really came to fruition. But this really looks like it has potential, and with a price tag of $35 (that’s for the larger 256MB RAM option) it’s a no-brainer.
Now there’s still a lot of rumors out there. We came across one thread that speculated the device will not decode video formats other than h.264 very well since it uses hardware decoding for that codec only. We’ll reserve judgement until there’s more reliable info. But you can dig through
this forum thread
where the XMBC dev who’s been working with the hardware is participating in the discussion.
Don’t forget to peek at the demo clip after the break too.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NR57ELY28s&w=470]
[via
Reddit
] | 62 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "566501",
"author": "Ivan",
"timestamp": "2012-01-24T18:23:00",
"content": "While this is neat. Aren’t cellphones already decoding 1080p for external monitors, and even down scaling for different screen resolutions?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,376,974.582875 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/24/remote-entry-via-android-and-launchpad/ | Remote Entry Via Android And Launchpad | Kevin Dady | [
"Android Hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"android",
"bluetooth",
"launchpad"
] | [MarkoeZ] had an issue with keys breaking off in his door lock, and while normal people might try to simply replace the lock all together, [MarkoeZ] decided to do it the “Hackaday” way by
adding a bluetooth lock to his door.
His door is already setup where someone can walk up to it, page an internal intercom and have someone buzz you in. From the inside the intercom was modded with a TI Launchpad with a “deal extreme” bluetooth module and relay.
Access is granted by the use of an android phone running “BT_Serial_Tester” which is a simple app that allows you to send characters over bluetooth. Just enter a pin, grab the door before the buzzer times out, and you’re in! A starting point for the MSP code and schematics are available on his blog. Join us after the break for a quick demonstration video.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl-_SbJ5eVY&W=470] | 8 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "566484",
"author": "M4CGYV3R",
"timestamp": "2012-01-24T17:40:01",
"content": "At first I thought you meant this:http://www.novationmusic.com/products/midi_controllers/launchpadI wouldn’t mind seeing someone build a button-combo lock out of one of those either…",
"parent_id": nu... | 1,760,376,974.81651 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/24/a-more-awesome-way-to-play-jenga/ | A More Awesome Way To Play Jenga | Jeremy Cook | [
"Toy Hacks",
"Weapons Hacks"
] | [
"gun",
"Jenga",
"pistol"
] | How many of you have started playing Jenga, and thought, “If only I had a pistol that would punch the blocks out violently for me, that would be much more fun?” Your presumed request has been answered with the
[Jenga Pistol 2]
! There is also the
[Jenga Pistol 1]
, which would be impressive if the second one wasn’t already made and functioning! There’s a great video of the second one working after the break, so be sure to check that out!
The pistol works by hurling a bolt forward using a rubber band for power. This bolt can then be pulled back, and the clever trigger mechanism automatically locks it in place for another shot. This mechanism by itself could serve as inspiration for any number of other pistol-powered hacks. As for the entire project, [Matthias] gives lots of excellent pictures of his work in the post that will let you understand the concept. For well-written plans though, you’ll have to cough up a very reasonable $6. You’ll also need a reasonably well equipped wood shop if you want to make one which is rather more expensive.
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9BmTmMEOhQ%5D | 12 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "566449",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2012-01-24T16:11:50",
"content": "I love the nonchalant people just eating and reading the newspaper in the background.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "566451",
"author": "oodain",
... | 1,760,376,975.225035 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/24/a-simple-self-contained-7-segment-display/ | A Simple, Self-contained 7-segment Display | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"ATtiny Hacks"
] | [
"7 segment",
"arduino",
"attiny85",
"display"
] | It’s no secret that seven-segment displays are an easy and useful way to relay data, so [Kelvyn Panici] decided to put together
a minimalst, self-contained display
for use around the house.
The display itself is a 16-digit model he picked up from DealExtreme for under $10. He wanted to find a microcontroller small enough to fit behind the display’s footprint, so he chose an ATtiny85 to control it. After mounting the mcu on a small piece of perfboard, he burned the Arduino bootloader and uploaded a small sketch to drive the display.
Things worked out quite well as you can see by the video below where he shows off a pre-perfboard prototype. [Kelvyn] currently does not have any immediate projects in the works that will utilize the display, though there are a plethora of possibilities. We think it would work great anywhere if it were fitted with a battery and some sort of wireless radio in order to make it completely self-contained.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4NZ0nGKdFo&feature=player_embedded&w=470] | 13 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "566421",
"author": "NatureTM",
"timestamp": "2012-01-24T14:48:28",
"content": "I saw these the other day on DX and thought I’d mention what I bought instead:http://www.dealextreme.com/p/8x-digital-tube-8x-key-8x-double-color-led-module-81873I think it would work nicely for a midi pa... | 1,760,376,975.626701 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/23/investigating-the-generative-properties-of-a-stepper-motor/ | Investigating The Generative Properties Of A Stepper Motor | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"generator",
"stepper motor"
] | You probably know that if you spin a motor (mechanically) it generates electricity on what would normally be the inputs. This can be a problem when you shut off a spinning motor and is the reason that protection diodes are built into motor driver circuits. But [Dino] isn’t interested in driving a motor, he wanted to see
what he could do with the electricity generated by spinning a stepper motor
.
He built the test rig that you see above for this purpose. In the foreground a 12V DC motor is held in place with an electrical conduit clamp. This connects to the stepper motor being tested using a segment of rubber tube. The DC motor provides a reliable input for his experiments, but could be replaced in the future by a propeller to make it wind powered, or by a water wheel. Check out the video after the break to see what kind of juice [Dino] gets out of it, and how it can be used for powering LEDs, recharging batteries, or driving a motor.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPMkBfuo824&w=470] | 40 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "565801",
"author": "Lupin",
"timestamp": "2012-01-24T01:08:43",
"content": "Do you only rectify one phase? As far as i understood the stepper motor has 4 phases and a common ground. Couldn’t you rectify all four phases? Something like described here:http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/v... | 1,760,376,975.467916 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/23/espresso-upgrade-gives-you-more-data-with-your-caffeine/ | Espresso Upgrade Gives You More Data With Your Caffeine | Mike Szczys | [
"cooking hacks"
] | [
"atmega16",
"espresso",
"temperature controller",
"thermocouple"
] | Whether you take it as a single shot or a double, a great Barista want’s to know the details on what’s happening with the espresso machine. [Tobi] was happily generating the morning cup when he realized that the needle-thermometer on his machine wasn’t working any longer. Instead of shelling out a lot of money for a direct replacement,
he built his own display and controller for this espresso machine
(
translated
).
He had a few goals with this hack. Obviously he needed to replace the temperature meter, but he also wanted a colorful display and some timing options. He was able to get his hands on a nice little OLED display that would fit in the vacated opening and it only cost a few bucks. He’s got his own mini-mill which came in handy when fabricating a board to host the ATmega16 which drives add-on, but he also used it to make a bracket for the screen replacement.
Now his machine is fixed, looks a bit more modern, and it has more features which are shown off in the video after the break. If you’re looking to add some custom circuitry to your coffee ritual you may also take some inspiration from
this similar espresso machine hack
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niTbSq3WpN8&w=470] | 7 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "565779",
"author": "voodoo",
"timestamp": "2012-01-24T00:22:18",
"content": "Nice project, but google translate fails here.“The machine has to be able to design a completely wonderful and enough pressure to actually scold also espresso machine.”… What?",
"parent_id": null,
"... | 1,760,376,975.270673 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/23/matrix-backpack-was-a-fun-design-project/ | Matrix Backpack Was A Fun Design Project | Mike Szczys | [
"LED Hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"8x8",
"bicolor",
"matrix",
"msp430",
"msp430g2201"
] | [Greg] is really working on a small scale with
his LED Matrix backpack PCB
. It’s a toy that he designed as an activity. He constrained himself to a board which would exactly match the outline of an 8×8 bicolor LED matrix package.
What you see here is the side of the PCB which will be facing the underside of the LED dot matrix module. Let’s call this the top of the board. The underside has a CR2032 battery holder which provides enough juice to run the display. Since the matrix is bi-color there’s a slew of pins to drive. [Greg] uses three shift registers for the high side, and sixteen N-channel MOSFETS for the low side. He’s chosen an MSP430G2201 microcontroller which has a nice sleep mode for power conservation. It has no problem driving tri-color animations as seen the clip after the break, but also has an unpopulated clock crystal footprint if you wanted to use it as a timepiece.
Despite the small footprints and cramped board [Greg] still hand soldered all of the components. He even posted a time-lapse of the process in the page linked at the top.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXVhfoKJW7E&w=470] | 7 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "565702",
"author": "Bill",
"timestamp": "2012-01-23T22:31:22",
"content": "Nice, I’m working on something similar, though meant to be chained together to make larger displays. Same profile, surface parts and all.http://www.billporter.info/arduquee-an-arduino-powered-marquee-design-... | 1,760,376,975.996511 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/21/weekly-roundup-12111/ | Weekly Roundup 1/21/12 | Jack Buffington | [
"News",
"Weekly Roundup"
] | [
"weekly roundup"
] | In case you were asleep at the wheel, here are our top stories of the week.
Our most popular post was one that shows you
how to make your own ‘personal assistant’
using Wolfram Alpha, text to speech software, and the phone network. It still won’t get your coffee though. You’ll just have to do that yourself.
Coming in at second place was a post about how to
use your Android camera phone as a Geiger counter
. Of course, this hack will work with any device that uses a CMOS sensor to do its imaging but they have gone and wrapped it up into a nice app.
Do you have access to a laser cutter and a burning desire (pun intended) to make gears?
In this post Alex makes some acrylic gears using an Epilog laser cutter
.
When is our government going to get it through their heads that we don’t want the internet to be controlled by a small group of corporations? Probably when the lobbyists stop giving them money by the boat load to do just that… It seems like several times a year a bill comes through that would severely restrict the internet or would at least allow someone to shut down a website without any sort of due process. Luckily, groups like the EFF are paying attention and are well organized for getting the word out there.
This post was our stand against the current bills that threaten our internet freedom.
Finally, on a lighter note, we have
a post about how to do ultrasonic welding on the cheap
using a ‘heat staker’ and a small drill press. | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "564515",
"author": "Aaron",
"timestamp": "2012-01-22T06:29:45",
"content": "its not 2011 anymore LOL…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "567177",
"author": "Malikaii",
"timestamp": "2012-01-25T14:49:16",
"content": "I w... | 1,760,376,975.308041 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/21/pvc-magnetometer-to-measure-magnetic-storms/ | PVC Magnetometer To Measure Magnetic Storms | Brian Benchoff | [
"Solar Hacks"
] | [
"aurora",
"magnetometer",
"solar storm"
] | In the hopes of getting a heads up on when the aurora borealis will be visible from his back yard, [Alex] built a
magnetometer
to measure disruptions in Earth’s magnetic field. The build is extremely simple, too. It’s amazing what you can build with a few components and a trip to the dollar store.
The
design
or [Alex]’s project is called a torsion magnetometers. In this setup, two mirrors are affixed to a permanent magnet connected to a string. A laser is shone onto the mirror and is reflected back to an array of sensors. In [Alex]’s case he used a simple laser pointer and a pair of photoresistors
encased in a PVC tube
.
[Alex] has been running his magnetometer in his back yard for over a month now and has the
data to prove it
. Luckily for [Alex], those graphs he has been generating may get a little more interesting. A coronal mass ejection
is coming our way
and is expected to hit today around 22:30 UTC. We’ll go outside to look for an aurora, but we’re sure [Alex] will be glued to his laptop tonight.
Check out the CGI visualization of [Alex]’s magnetometer after the break
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=paALINSBeJM&w=470] | 26 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "564255",
"author": "Whatnot",
"timestamp": "2012-01-21T21:22:10",
"content": "Won’t this also detect earhtquakes?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "564959",
"author": "Hydrox",
"timestamp": "2012-01-23T01:17:28",... | 1,760,376,975.689709 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/21/overlaying-video-on-encrypted-hdmi-connections/ | Overlaying Video On Encrypted HDMI Connections | Brian Benchoff | [
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"hdcp",
"hdmi",
"NeTV"
] | [bunnie] is up to his old tricks again. He successfully implemented a
man-in-the-middle attack on HDCP-secured
connections to overlay video in any HDMI video stream. There’s a bonus, too:
his hack doesn’t use the
HDCP master-key
. It doesn’t violate the DMCA at all.
HDCP is the awful encryption scheme that goes into HDMI-compatable devices. Before HDCP, injecting video overlays or even chroma keying was a valid interpretation of fair use. [bunnie] thinks that HDMI devices should have the same restrictions analog devices have, so he decided to funnel his own video into his TV.
The build uses the
NeTV
, a handy and cheap FPGA board with an HDMI input and output. [bunnie] got the FPGA to snoop the HDMI bus and decide if a pixel needs to be changed or not. This isn’t much different from what
researchers in Germany did
a few months ago, but unlike the academic security researchers, [bunnie] gives you a shopping list of what to buy.
As an example of his work, [bunnie] implemented something like a ‘tweet ticker’ on HDCP-encrypted video. There’s very little the NeTV setup can’t do from chroma keying, filters, or simply dumping the HDMI stream to a hard disk. Check out
the slides
from [bunnie]’s talk to get better idea of what he did.
[PAPPP] found a video of the talk in question. Check that out after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37SBMyGoCAU&w=470] | 25 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "564166",
"author": "Addidis",
"timestamp": "2012-01-21T19:00:26",
"content": "Just throwing it out there, not only a shopping list, you can buy the thing toohttps://www.adafruit.com/products/609",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": ... | 1,760,376,975.753669 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/21/flora-a-better-arduino-lilypad/ | FLORA: A Better Arduino LilyPad | Brian Benchoff | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"arduino",
"FLORA",
"ladyada",
"lilypad"
] | [Ladyada] has been working on
FLORA
, her wearable electronics platform, for a few months now. Even though it has just been announced the specs look much better than the previous queen of the hill, the
Arduino LilyPad
.
Going down the spec sheet for both the FLORA and the LilyPad, we see that FLORA has twice as much flash and SRAM as the LilyPad. The LilyPad has more options for I/O, but [Ladyada]’s FLORA has the benefit of not using an ISP header for programming; FLORA is completely USB-compatable. FLORA is also about a quarter-inch in diameter smaller than the LilyPad, something to take into account when you’re going for a wearable project.
On top of Bluetooth, GPS, accelerometer, compass and other modules planned for FLORA ( it doesn’t look like
they’re available yet
, though), FLORA has USB HID support so it can operate as a USB keyboard, mouse, MIDI device, or connect to a cell phone. If you’ve ever wanted a keytar cardigan, this is the board for you.
Check out [Ladyada]’s video demo of a LED-equipped fabric after the break.
[vimeo=35357226] | 17 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "564100",
"author": "Apexys",
"timestamp": "2012-01-21T17:31:14",
"content": "Well, the only question thats left is would they survive becoming wet in rain.That would be quite a neat thing!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "56439... | 1,760,376,975.52302 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/21/trashed-hard-drive-why-not-an-engraved-clock/ | Trashed Hard Drive? Why Not An Engraved Clock? | Jeremy Cook | [
"clock hacks",
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"engraving",
"hard drive platter clock",
"HDD clock",
"Zen Toolworks"
] | So your hard drive quit working. Don’t despair, with a “little” work your disk can be repurposed into a
clock like the one seen above
. I made this clock after several iterations of various success, including
the first revision
, which was simply the platter with a clock kit from a hobby store screwed into the middle. Still a very neat effect, but if you want to actually tell what time it is, it helps to have the numbers available.
For this, you’ll need some sort of CNC machine (
a kit-build router
in this case), and some way to generate the Gcode to get everything cut correctly. A guide to how the logo was eventually turned into something a machine could understand is
provided here
. Of course if you’re not sure what logo would look good on your clock, you can always skip a few steps and engrave the our logo. In this
[HAD] article
, it’s conveniently provided in .dxf format, which can be converted by a CAM (computer-aided manufacturing) program into code that your machine can understand.
Check out after the break for a video of two “platter clocks” being engraved using these methods:
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9ztyiEMuwo&w=470&h=315%5D | 19 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "564047",
"author": "Sean",
"timestamp": "2012-01-21T16:18:54",
"content": "For extra fun, take the mirror image of the clock and flip the metal piece inside the solenoid. It will now run counterclockwise and still keep time.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,376,975.576365 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/20/computing-with-the-command-line/ | Computing With The Command Line | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"command line",
"linux",
"nand",
"pipe"
] | Here’s something we thought we would never see: computing with just
pipes, /dev/zero, and /dev/null
.
As a thought experiment, [Linus] imagined a null byte represented an electron. /dev/zero would have an infinite supply of electrons and /dev/null would make a wonderful positive power supply. With a very short program (named mosfet.c), [Linus] can use Linux pipes to control the flow of electrons between /zero and /null. [Linus] used mosfet.c with a very short shell script to create a NAND gate. From there all bets were off. He ended up creating a
D flip-flop
,
4-bit adder
and a counter.
From a bit of cursory research, Linux has a maximum pipe capacity of 1,048,576 bytes and the maximum number of PIDs is 4,194,304 (correct us if we’re wrong). [Linus] can theoretically build some of the classic CPUs of the 70s and 80s with his pipe logic. An Intel 486
is just out of reach
, though. If you give someone a NAND or a NOR they’ll eventually build a computer; we thought we’d never see this, though. | 40 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "563698",
"author": "Gragg",
"timestamp": "2012-01-20T23:20:03",
"content": "So he created a really cumbersome form of vhdl using the OS for the logic. It is unfortunate that he had to resort to writing c code for the mofset. If you are going to concede that, you may as well write a ... | 1,760,376,975.832196 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/20/a-talking-reverse-geocache-puzzle-box/ | A Talking Reverse Geocache Puzzle Box | Mike Szczys | [
"gps hacks"
] | [
"puzzle",
"reverse geocache",
"talking"
] | Here’s
a talking reverse geocache puzzle box
which [Erv Plecter] built as a wedding gift for his friends. The box itself isn’t really the gift, but a surprise delivery system for a collection of cash from the couple’s circle of friends to go toward the honeymoon. We think this is about fifty times more fun that getting a fat envelope of bills. Who would really expect to find cash inside once you finally get to the target location?
Unlike
the other geocache box we saw recently
, this one has no display to show you clues to the destination. Instead, it plays back audio clips which [Erv] recorded himself. They’re quite tongue-in-cheek which is another nice personal touch. The pin seen protruding out of the right side of the box can be removed to play a clue and check the location. It’s connected by a little chain to a 5 euro-cent piece which conceals an emergency release mechanism for the lid. The device is powered with a Lithium battery and can be recharged without opening the box via a USB port in the side.
We’ve embedded the video demonstration of the box after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n67wZBMWLoM&w=470] | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "563631",
"author": "Wm_Atl",
"timestamp": "2012-01-20T21:33:22",
"content": "Nice.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "638075",
"author": "John",
"timestamp": "2012-04-26T01:11:00",
"content": "Did you use some sort of s... | 1,760,376,975.950582 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/23/reviewing-the-numbers-from-one-month-of-solar-harvesting/ | Reviewing The Numbers From One Month Of Solar Harvesting | Mike Szczys | [
"green hacks"
] | [
"battery",
"charge",
"efficiency",
"solar"
] | [Mathieu] just finished
analyzing the numbers from a month of solar energy harvesting
. You may remember that he was curious to see what kind of energy can be collected from small solar cells used indoors.
He built several copies of a test platform
which collected data between December 16th and January 16th.
First of all, it’s not shocking to find out that rooms with no sunlight produced negligible energy during that time. When you think about it, if they had been gathering a statistically significant amount wouldn’t that mean the lighting used in those rooms was incredibly inefficient? In other words, there’s no way you need to be making that much light.
But he did find that proper positioning in rooms that catch sunlight during the day can result in usable energy for small loads. He established that a 0.5 Watt panel harvested just a bit more than half of what a 1 Watt panel did. But perhaps the most useful discovery was that it’s quite a bit more efficient to have a charging circuit store energy in a battery rather than directly powering a fixed load.
It will take us a few more viewings to really decide what we can take away from the experiment for our own projects. But we appreciate [Mathieu’s] quest for knowledge and his decision to put this information out there so that others can learn from it. | 19 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "565672",
"author": "swordfishBob",
"timestamp": "2012-01-23T21:41:53",
"content": "” it’s quite a bit more efficient to have a charging circuit store energy in a battery rather than directly powering a fixed load.”I didn’t see that in the article. He did suggest using a big battery ... | 1,760,376,975.912783 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/23/whac-a-banker-to-relieve-your-frustration/ | Whac-A-Banker To Relieve Your Frustration | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"arcade",
"whac-a-mole"
] | [Tim Hunkin], builder extraordinaire and host of
The Secret Life of Machines
is a bit frustrated with the current economic climate and decided to take out his frustrations with a game of
Whac-A-Banker
.
[Tim]’s version of the classic Whac-A-Mole game uses tiny air cylinders to actuate five banker figurines up and down. The figures were cast with polyurethane and are reportedly holding up well. The cabinet is really interesting. When the game isn’t being played, a
really boring front panel
is displayed. After inserting a few coins, the panel drops into the machine to show the
fun and exciting scoreboard
.
If you’re ever around Suffolk, England, you can check out the Whac-A-Banker and a
lot of other [Tim Hunkin] creations
at the Southwold Pier. Thanks [John] for sending this one in. Yes, we did get
The Secret Life of Machines
in the states on the Discovery Channel, but it has been replaced with shows about trucking. Here’s
an archive
of the entire series for your viewing pleasure. Kiss your evening goodbye. | 31 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "565590",
"author": "Bob",
"timestamp": "2012-01-23T19:24:41",
"content": "What would people’s reaction be to a game of “Whac-An-Abortion-Doctor” or “Whac-A-Jew”? (BTW, I am pro-choice and Jewish.)Remember the fuss last year when the Republicans had a map targeting Democratic Congres... | 1,760,376,976.070392 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/23/controlling-an-led-matrix-with-an-android-phone/ | Controlling An LED Matrix With An Android Phone | Brian Benchoff | [
"Android Hacks",
"Software Development"
] | [
"android",
"arduino",
"ioio"
] | Even though everyone with a smart phone has a small, powerful computer in their pocket, we haven’t seen many applications of this portable processing power that use the built-in camera. [Michael] decided to change this and built an
LED matrix
that displays the data coming from the phone’s camera.
For the build, [Michael] used two
32×32 LED panels
from Adafruit along with an
IOIO
and an Arduino. To build the Android app, [Michael] used the Android
OpenCV computer vision library
that grabs an image from the Android camera and downsamples it to 64×32 pixels. This data is transferred over a serial connection from the phone to the IOIO and again from the IOIO to the Arduino. Even though each frame is 1024 bytes, [Michael] still gets around four frames per second on his LED matrix display.
After the break you can check out the results of [Michael]’s build. The video is a little choppy because of the frame rate issue, but it’s still an interesting build in the Android software development category.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhA4Jne7o14&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn6Ky3Qc5w4&w=470] | 13 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "565546",
"author": "nootropic",
"timestamp": "2012-01-23T18:05:53",
"content": "Small correction: it’s a 32×16 matrix, not two 32×32 matrices.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "565556",
"author": "dashroom",
"tim... | 1,760,376,976.273609 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/23/maximite-harkens-back-to-the-days-of-basic/ | Maximite Harkens Back To The Days Of BASIC | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"basic",
"Maximite",
"pic32"
] | Any self-identified geek that spent some time in the 80s will tell you how they used to type out programs into their ‘microcomputer’ with BASIC. It was a simpler time when a computer’s raison d’etre was simply being a BASIC interpreter. These days are long past us now; you can’t simply turn on a computer and have it load a BASIC prompt anymore. This is where [Geoff]’s
Maximite single board computer
comes in. It’s a tiny little box that whose only purpose is to play around with BASIC.
[Geoff]’s used a PIC32MX microcontroller with 128k of RAM for the CPU of his Maximite. Unlike an Apple ][ or TRS-80, the Maximite version of BASIC can do floating point arithmetic out of the box. To connect to the outside world, the Maximite has VGA or composite out to display the BASIC interepreter. A PS/2 keyboard port provides the input, and a USB port and SD card can be used to load and save programs from a PC.
The Maximite includes a 20-pin breakout for whatever IO you can imagine. This is duplicated on [Geoff]’s
mini Maximite
that is designed to be the retro throwback of an Arduino. We though those were called BASIC stamps, but if it gets kids programming, we’ll let it slide. | 49 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "565448",
"author": "Bob",
"timestamp": "2012-01-23T16:09:43",
"content": "It seems to me as if making something like this is more fun than actually using it once it’s made.Though I must admit, some of the projects I’ve done are the same (e.g. I had fun making my MAME cabinet, but I ... | 1,760,376,976.668325 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/23/3d-printed-helicopter-blades/ | 3D Printed Helicopter Blades | Brian Benchoff | [
"cnc hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"3d printer",
"helicopter",
"modeling",
"reprap",
"utilimaker"
] | If you’re like us, you’ve been infatuated with the small RC helicopter you picked up on Amazon up until the point where it careened off a wall and broke its blades. Now that you’re wondering about what to do with that small pile of plastic, metal, and electronics, why not
print some helicopter blades
on your 3D printer?
[Taylor] printed these blades on his
Utilimaker
, but we don’t see why they couldn’t be printed on a Makerbot or other RepRap. The first set of printed blades worked on the top rotor, but they were too heavy when all four blades were replace. The parts were edited in
netfabb
using a 0.08mm layer height and now they’re working perfectly. As far as free tools go,
Slic3r
is the new hotness for .STL to Gcode conversion and now that [Taylor] put the files up on Thingiverse, anyone can print a set of spare blades.
Check out [Taylor] comparing his printed blades to the stock ones that came with his
awesome heli
after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXlUSWrVzys&w=470] | 40 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "565339",
"author": "Bill rowe",
"timestamp": "2012-01-23T14:11:52",
"content": "I haven’t broken the blades but i broke the hub and landing gear. Hopefully the printed replacements aren’t as brittle!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_... | 1,760,376,976.350655 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/22/shove-a-hub-into-that-keyboard/ | Shove A Hub Into That Keyboard | Kevin Dady | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"keyboard",
"usb"
] | As masters of technology, our desks are often cluttered with odds and ends. We have cables spewing out of every nook, and our computer ports full. The last thing we really want is more stuff getting in the way or buried under piles of technical documentation when adding something like a USB hub. That is where [Michael] comes in,
shoving a small USB hub into his Logitech keyboard
.
The keyboard is already USB, and the hub has 3 forward facing ports and a fourth single port in the rear. Taking the 2 devices apart he used the already there USB cord from the keyboard replacing the input cord of the hub. Then he removed the rear port and directly wired his keyboard onto the hub.
From there, its just a matter of figuring out where he wanted the hub, and cutting out the plastic. He used a knife, and had fond memories of some minor cuts, which leads us to recommend being (more) careful. A little application of fire to blade goes a long way.
Once the keyboard is back together he has a convenient 3 port hub on the back of his keyboard that looks factory and saves clutter. | 30 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "564722",
"author": "Rob",
"timestamp": "2012-01-22T17:12:27",
"content": "That’s clever, I think I know what my next project is!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "564723",
"author": "FrankTheCat",
"timestamp": "2012-01-22T... | 1,760,376,976.415267 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/22/make-a-simple-o-scope-with-a-ftdi-board-and-a-couple-of-adcs/ | Make A Simple O-scope With A FTDI Board And A Couple Of ADC’s | Kevin Dady | [
"hardware",
"how-to",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"FT232",
"oscilloscope"
] | [RandomTask] has posted a nice tutorial on how to use a
FTDI serial to usb converter, and a couple analog to digital converters to make a simple software oscilloscope
. Using a “Universal Serial to USB converter” and one of many FTDI break out boards, he first reprograms the chip using FTDI’s programming software to put the device into a FIFO (first in first out) mode.
From there a pair of ADC0820 8 bit digital to analog converters are wired up, and input is fed to a couple 555’s for testing. It should be noted that there is no input protection, so things like voltages above 5 volts, or negative voltages are a big no-no with this setup. It still could be very handy while working with micro controllers or other digital circuits.
Data is then sent to the computer and displayed using a VB.net program, which has some basic features like scale and triggering, but also contains a couple bonuses like Calc Freq and Calc V delta calculation.
Many people have these little serial to usb converters, and might be in need of a simple scope. If you’re one of them, then you can cobble this together pretty darn quickly, and cheaply. | 25 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "564692",
"author": "steve",
"timestamp": "2012-01-22T15:20:14",
"content": "Sorry, but this is a data logger at best. The sample rate and update rate is far to slow for any serious use. Not to speak of missing voltage ranges.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [... | 1,760,376,976.584496 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/19/complete-guide-to-compiling-openwrt/ | Complete Guide To Compiling OpenWRT | Mike Szczys | [
"Linux Hacks"
] | [
"compile",
"linux",
"open source",
"openwrt",
"router"
] | Regular reader [MS3FGX] recently wrote
a guide to compiling OpenWRT from source
. You may be wondering why directions for compiling an open source program warrant this kind of attention. The size and scope of the package make it difficult to traverse the options available to you at each point in the process, but [MS3FGX] adds clarity by discussion as much as possible along the way.
OpenWRT is an open source alternative firmware package that runs on may routers. It started as a way to unlock the potential of the Linksys WRT54G. But the versatility of the user interface, and the accessibility of the Linux kernel
made it a must-have
for any router. This is part of what has complicated the build process. There are many different architectures supported and you’ve got to configure the package to build for your specific hardware (or risk a bad firmware flash!).
You’ll need some hefty hardware to ease the processing time. The source package is about 300 MB but after compilation the disk usage will reach into the Gigabyte range. [MS3FGX] used a 6-core processor for compilation and it still took over 20 minutes for a bare-bones distribution. No wonder pre-built binaries are the only thing we’ve ever tried. But this is a good way to introduce yourself to the inner workings of the package and might make for a
frustrating
fun weekend project. | 9 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "562964",
"author": "unrealex",
"timestamp": "2012-01-19T22:06:42",
"content": "Thanks MS3FGX. You ROCK!!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "563086",
"author": "MoFoQ",
"timestamp": "2012-01-20T02:26:47",
"content": "it’... | 1,760,376,976.771121 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/19/nes-controller-cannibalized-for-mp3-player-enclosure/ | NES Controller Cannibalized For MP3 Player Enclosure | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"mp3",
"mp3 player",
"nes controller"
] | We know some folks are very upset by the scrapping on vintage hardware, so let’s all observe a moment of silence for this NES controller.
Now that that’s behind us we can live vicariously through [Burger King Diamond’s] project. He polished up the NES controller and
repurposed it as an enclosure for a portable MP3 player
.
His first step was to remove some of the yellowing of the plastic
using Retr0brite
. He admits it wasn’t bad to start with but now it’s sparkling like new. Next, he started planning how everything would fit in the case. Luckily the MP3 player operates with one AAA battery which leaves plenty of room.
Just above the A and B buttons you can make out an opening that he cut in the case for the MP3 player’s LCD screen. The bezel from the original case works well for cleaning the rough cut opening. The buttons on the controller have been patched into the controls on the MP3 board, and the opening for the controller’s cable now holds the headphone jack. There’s also a USB port mounted next to it for easy file transfers.
The one thing we would like to see is a rechargeable battery so you don’t need to open the case to top off the power. But all in all this is a fantastic build! | 20 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "562925",
"author": "tehnoo",
"timestamp": "2012-01-19T21:11:04",
"content": "Very cool. I still a few brand new NES controllers in their box laying around for whatever reason.I had aspirations of gutting one, putting a 1st gen iPod nano guts in, putting the screen right in the middl... | 1,760,376,976.724699 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/19/fix-broken-buttons-on-your-asus-computer-monitors/ | Fix Broken Buttons On Your ASUS Computer Monitors | Mike Szczys | [
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"Asus",
"button",
"monitor",
"stuck",
"switch",
"vw202"
] | One of the perks of writing for Hackaday is that we often find hacks that we’ve been meaning to do ourselves. Here’s one that will let us fix our borked ASUS computer monitor buttons. [Silviu] has the same monitor we do, an ASUS VW202, and had the same problem of stuck buttons. We already cracked ours open and realized that the buttons are not easily replaced (you’ve got to source the right one). We just unstuck the offender and vowed not to press that button again, but [Silviu] actually figured out
how to disassemble and repair the PCB mount switches
.
As with most consumer electronics these days the worst part of the process is getting the monitor’s case apart. The plastic bezel has little spring tabs all around it that must be gently pried apart. Once the PCB which hosts the buttons was removed, he took the metal housing off of the broken switch. Inside he found that a bit of metal particulate (leftovers from manufacturing?) were causing the problem. A quick cleaning with a cotton swab removed the debris and got the tactile switch working again. | 24 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "562901",
"author": "XOIIO",
"timestamp": "2012-01-19T20:25:51",
"content": "I’m not sure why you wouldn’t just de-solder and re-solder a new switch onto it, seems simpler and it would probably go faster. These switches are in virtually every keyboard made after 200o (I think that’s... | 1,760,376,976.829911 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/19/adding-digital-game-indicators-to-a-neo-geo-arcade-cabinet/ | Adding Digital Game Indicators To A Neo Geo Arcade Cabinet | Mike Nathan | [
"classic hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"cabinet",
"digital display",
"games",
"neo geo"
] | [George] is a Neo Geo aficionado, and among his collection of paraphernalia, he has
a MVS-Mini game console.
His mini “Multi Video System” is a 2-slot model, meaning that it can hold two game cartridges at a time, which are indicated by plastic cards inserted in the cabinet’s face plate. Instead of swapping those cards out each time he changed cartridges, he thought it would be far cooler to install digital displays instead.
He scoured just about every retail store he could before finding a handful of small 5” digital picture frames that looked to fit the bill. After some careful cabinet modifications he had them wired up and ready for display. The frames don’t hold a ton of pictures, but they do support the use of SD cards. [George] says that he’ll likely just buy a ton of small SD cards, swapping them out whenever he changes games, though over time that might become as tedious as swapping out the plastic cards.
We would love to see [George] take his new digital display up a level, so be sure to share your ideas in the comments. Perhaps we can persuade him to automate things a bit. | 14 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "562791",
"author": "DanAdamKOF",
"timestamp": "2012-01-19T18:13:48",
"content": "Yaay, Neo-Geo related hacks are always appreciated :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "562799",
"author": "Jebson",
"timestamp": "2012-01-19... | 1,760,376,976.882478 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/19/controlling-a-cute-ikea-night-light-with-android-on-the-cheap/ | Controlling A Cute Ikea Night Light With Android On The Cheap | Brian Benchoff | [
"Android Hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"android",
"bluetooth",
"ikea",
"RGB LED"
] | When [trandi]’s wife saw a cute night light at Ikea, she had to have it. She actually bought several of these for when her husband would inevitably crack one open and start tinkering with the microcontroller inside. The
inevitable hack
is pretty cool, and also gives us some ideas for interfacing with Android on the cheap.
The build started as an Ikea
Spoka
night light, an adorable anthropomorphized night light with a squishy silicone skin. Inside the Spoka are a dozen tri-color LEDs that [trandi] can cycle through with the push of a button. After deciding to control the lights inside the Spoka with an Android phone he reached for an
IOIO
Android breakout board. Fate intervened and [trandi] ended up with a
ridiculously cheap Bluetooth modules
that provides a simple serial connection to other Bluetooth devices.
The build reuses the blue, red, orange LEDs in the night light but replaces the no-name 8-pin micro with an ATtiny2313. [Trandi] wrote a small Android app to control the color over a Bluetooth serial connection. Check out his demo after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9aHQkkmqHI&w=470] | 12 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "562755",
"author": "steve",
"timestamp": "2012-01-19T17:06:21",
"content": "Waste that power! Burn the damn oil! Leave nothing behind!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "562779",
"author": "Andy",
"timestamp": "2012-01-19T1... | 1,760,376,977.292307 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/19/reverse-geocache-box-looks-great-and-packed-with-features/ | Reverse Geocache Box Looks Great And Packed With Features | Mike Szczys | [
"gps hacks"
] | [
"18f87j50",
"oled",
"pic",
"reverse geocache",
"servo"
] | [Ranger Bob] crafted
this great looking Reverse Geocache box
. Our favorite feature is the black piece of acrylic on top. It’s laser cut (not sure if the letters are engraved or not) and gives a great finished look while hiding a couple of things at the same time.
The orange box is a metal cash box, and there’s a smooth indentation in the lid where the handle resides when not being carried. [Bob] removed the handle and mounted the GPS module in that void. But there’s also an OLED display mounted next to it. As you can see in the demo video after the break, the screen is bright enough to be seen clearly through the smoky acrylic covering that depression.
This project gave [Bob] the chance to order his first professionally made circuit board. He did the design in Eagle, managing to keep within the 5cmx5cm limits of Seeed Studio’s least expensive Fusion PCB option. The board hosts the PIC 18F87J50 responsible for handing the screen, GPS module, input button, and USB port. Power comes from an internal Lithium battery.
We’ve featured a lot of Reverse Geocache boxes and they’re still one of our favorite projects because so much love goes into the design and build process.
Here’s another one
that we chose randomly for your amusement.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF96i4Vor_4] | 8 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "562713",
"author": "Rangerbob",
"timestamp": "2012-01-19T16:07:41",
"content": "Hi there! To confirm – Yes, the lettering was raster laser engraved at the same time as the cutting. Thanks for showing my hard work!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,376,976.929015 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/19/doom-for-your-calculator-gets-a-color-upgrade/ | Doom For Your Calculator Gets A Color Upgrade | Mike Szczys | [
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"color",
"doom",
"ndless",
"nspire",
"ti"
] | You’re not still playing nDoom in black and white, are you? What decade do live in? Thankfully, the Doom port for TI-nspire calculators has been
upgraded to support color
. That is if you’ve got the hardware to run it.
The video after the break (and the image above) shows a TI-nspire CX running the popular first-person-shooter. It’s seen several upgrades since
the beta version
which we saw piggy-backed with a different TI-83 hack a year ago. The control scheme has been tweaked, and a menu system was added. It’s not the same on-screen menu that you would see with the DOS version of the game, but it accomplishes that same thing. This port is packaged with the Ndless program that unlocks the hardware so that you can perform your own hacks.
Unfortunately there is still no sound available for the game but that is a project for a different time. We know it must be possible because we’ve seen
a TI-84+ used to play music
stored on a thumb drive.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGVUsYRVRbw&w=470] | 16 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "562688",
"author": "HackJack",
"timestamp": "2012-01-19T15:23:11",
"content": "Runs just as smoothly as it did on my old 486 DX 2",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "562721",
"author": "steve eh",
"timestamp": "201... | 1,760,376,976.980001 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/20/numerous-quiz-buttons-built-on-the-cheap/ | Numerous Quiz Buttons Built On The Cheap | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"AVR",
"buzzer",
"cat5",
"ethernet",
"ikea",
"matrix",
"quiz"
] | [Sprite_TM] was tapped to
build a rather large quiz buzzer system
. Judging from his past work we’re not surprised that he seemed to have no trouble fulfilling the request. As the system is not likely to be used again (or rarely if it is) he found a way to finish the project that was both quick and inexpensive.
Each buzzer consists of a base, a button (both mechanical and electrical), and a couple of LEDs to indicate who buzzed in first. The mechanical part of the button uses a plastic bowl from Ikea and a wooden dowel surrounded by some pipe insulation. A momentary push switch is glued on the top of that dowel, and the insulation projects above that just a bit. This way it acts as a spring. The Dowel has been sized so that the bowl lip will hit the wooden base just as it clicks the switch.
As you can see, all of the buzzers are interlinked using Ethernet cable. The real trick here is how to read 14 buttons using just one CAT5 cable. This is done with the clever use of a 4×4 button matrix for a total of 16 buttons. The matrix also includes the LEDs for each buzzer. Since CAT5 has four twisted pairs this works out perfectly.
Looking for a more robust system thank this?
Here’s a pretty nice one
. | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "563587",
"author": "lostalaska",
"timestamp": "2012-01-20T20:45:08",
"content": "Nice, I have a friend who teaches 5th grade and recently asked me what it would take to build some quiz buttons that could be used when he is doing a review of material before a test with the children. ... | 1,760,376,977.022325 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/20/simple-machining-process-repairs-broken-control-knob/ | Simple Machining Process Repairs Broken Control Knob | Mike Szczys | [
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"bushing",
"ford",
"knob",
"lathe",
"mill"
] | [Francisco] is helping his mother with a repair to the headlight knob on her Ford Ranger. Above you can see the broken knob on the left, and what it is supposed to look like on the right (taken from [Francisco’s] own vehicle for reference). We’ve encountered split shafts on plastic knobs before and decided it was not something that could be fixed. But he didn’t give up so easily. He mentions that you can purchase a replacement for a few bucks, but he has the means to
repair the knob by machining a metal bushing
.
The idea is that you mill a metal ring whose inner diameter matches what the outer diameter of the plastic shaft should be. By inserting the broken knob in the ring, the plastic is held tightly together as if it had never broken. In the video after the break [Francisco] uses a metal pencil body from his junk box and a mini-lathe to cut the bushing to length, and mill the inner diameter to his specifications.
He talks about the difficulty of getting replacement parts in Chile, where he lives. But we think this kind of thrift is a great example for all hackers. If you’ve got the tools why not use them? And if you don’t have them, here’s a great excuse to procure them!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW9H0hJyQbk&w=470] | 49 | 37 | [
{
"comment_id": "563501",
"author": "Jeff",
"timestamp": "2012-01-20T19:09:01",
"content": "I used to make these locally for old Hondas for friends and family, it is pretty simple, and always a great idea!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "563504"... | 1,760,376,977.486463 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/20/fpga-snake-game-uses-no-vhdl-at-all/ | FPGA Snake Game Uses No VHDL At All | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"fpga",
"logic",
"schematic",
"snake",
"snes"
] | We’re really not supposed to start a feature like this; but this hack is
awesome
. It’s a game of
Snake implemented by an FPGA
dev board. It uses a 16×16 LED matrix as the display and an SNES controller for input. So far it sounds like a very normal version of the game. But as you start to hear how it works in the presentation after the break you fall in love with what’s going on here.
First of all, it’s not written in VHDL — the predominant programming language for FPGAs. Instead, [Darrell] used the schematic-only approach to build the logic. Okay, that’s starting to get more interesting. As he continues to explain the circuit we get to see how the control input works (pretty simple since
the SNES controller uses a parallel-to-serial shift register
) and how the display is multiplexed. But the actual game logic is where things really take off. Each pixel in the display has its own individual logic circuit. Basically every cell is its own processor which reacts both to what is passed into it, as well as to a random seed. That seed system is called the ‘bucket brigade’ and passes a chance to spawn a piece of food from one cell to the next. All of this together makes for one simple game that is eloquently executed.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niQmNYPiPw0&w=470] | 18 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "563476",
"author": "EccentricElectron",
"timestamp": "2012-01-20T18:09:24",
"content": "s/eloquently executed/elegantly executed/thank you and good night.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "563478",
"author": "Leo",
"timest... | 1,760,376,977.345708 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/20/tubular-pov-display/ | Tubular POV Display | Brian Benchoff | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"atmega1284",
"POV"
] | [Ryan]’s
cylinder POV display
is an amazing piece of work. Right now it’s impressive sitting on his workbench, but we’re sure it would be astonishing hanging above the middle of a dance floor. There are 64 RGB LEDs on this display and they’re certainly bright enough to liven up any space.
Power is provided through a slip ring. The ground is connected to the shaft of the motor [Ryan] picked up at an auto parts store. It’s an efficient way to do things, but the display can only be controlled by whatever image is stored in the ATMega1284’s flash memory. [Ryan] admits this isn’t an ideal setup so he’s working on a ZigBee or Bluetooth connection.
We’ve seen some
amazing spinny
POV cylinders
, but [Ryan]’s build looks amazingly professional. All the board files, schematics and code are uploaded, as well as an image converter for BMPs and PNGs. Check out the demo after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EInK-29akDs&w=470] | 19 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "563428",
"author": "Tom the Brat",
"timestamp": "2012-01-20T16:30:06",
"content": "Like, totally tubular!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "563439",
"author": "_Taxx",
"timestamp": "2012-01-20T16:49:10",
"content": "Wo... | 1,760,376,977.40302 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/20/diy-ultrasonic-plastic-welding/ | DIY Ultrasonic Plastic Welding | Brian Benchoff | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"plastic",
"reprap",
"ultrasonic",
"welding"
] | Here’s something that may be of interest to all the reprappers, vacuum formers, and other plastic fabbers out there:
ultrasonic welding
of plastics. If you’ve ever wanted to join two pieces of plastic without melting them together with acetone or screwing them together, [circuitguru] is your guy.
Ultrasonic welder setups are usually reserved for companies that don’t mind spending tens of thousands of dollars on a piece equipment. There are smaller versions made for
heat staking
– melting plastic pillars into rivets on the work piece – and [circuitguru] was lucky enough a somewhat reasonable price.
Because the heat staking gun was a handheld unit, a rotary tool drill press was put to work. The end result is a relatively inexpensive way to join two plastic parts without screws, glue, or solvents. The bond is pretty strong, too. Check out the video after the break to see [circuitguru] join two pieces of a plastic enclosure and try to tear them apart.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=fc1tCWhGX4g&w=470] | 40 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "563400",
"author": "BitMage",
"timestamp": "2012-01-20T15:13:26",
"content": "Please proofread your articles!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "563408",
"author": "Jeremy",
"timestamp": "2012-01-20T15:28:16",
"content"... | 1,760,376,977.795811 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/19/nes-controller-uses-capacitive-touch-instead-of-buttons/ | NES Controller Uses Capacitive Touch Instead Of Buttons | Mike Szczys | [
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"capacitance",
"capacitive",
"controller",
"mill",
"nes",
"pcb",
"touch sensor"
] | Here’s one way to really keep the component count low. [David] developed
an NES controller that doesn’t use any buttons
. The copper clad has been milled to provide a pad which registers a button push based on capacitance. The board has a SIL header at the top, making it easy to plug into the Arduino board that reads the inputs.
[David] had trouble getting the Arduino pin read functions to respond fast enough for he NES console’s expectations. He ended up using commands to access the ATmega’s peripherals directly in order to achieve the target timing. Speaking of, he did his own sniffing of the communication scheme using a logic analyzer. The results of that work, as well as the board files and code are available at the site linked above. And there’s a demo of the controller used to play Super Mario Bros. in the clip after the break.
This is actually a tangential project using
a PCB mill which he’s developing through Kickstarter
. This certainly shows that the mills works as designed.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q77DB5VSVzI&w=470] | 29 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "563025",
"author": "aztraph",
"timestamp": "2012-01-20T00:28:52",
"content": "I want a whole keyboard like that, that is awesome.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "563028",
"author": "cmholm",
"timestamp": "2012-01-20T00:3... | 1,760,376,977.724948 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/19/ball-in-maze-game-shows-creativity-and-classic-8-bit-sound/ | Ball-in-maze Game Shows Creativity And Classic 8-bit Sound | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"8 bit",
"accelerometer",
"ball",
"ball-in-maze",
"maze",
"music",
"pic"
] | [M. Eric Carr] built this a long time ago as his Senior Project for EET480. It’s
an electronic version of the ball-in-maze game
. We’ve embedded this video after the break for your convenience.
The game has just one input; an accelerometer. If you’re having trouble visualizing the game, it works the same as
this Android-based version
, but replaces the physical maze and marble with a virtual maze on the graphic LCD screen. This has huge implications. Instead of just recreating the maze on the screen, [Eric] designed a multi-screen world, complete with warp blocks, which adds difficulty to finding a solution. It also means that multiple different mazes can be played if you get tired of playing the same level.
This game also features music. A separate PIC microcontroller uses PWM to push out the 8-bit sound heard in the video. From the YouTube comments we learned that [Eric] didn’t write the music himself, but we still appreciate the playback quality he achieves with his hardware.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aeBRolStkU&w=470]
[via
Reddit
] | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "563195",
"author": "Jimbo",
"timestamp": "2012-01-20T06:11:00",
"content": "Very nice, I enjoyed this a lot. The music really added to it. I also like the ‘cheat’ that is implemented by flipping the board upside down :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},... | 1,760,376,977.529863 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/19/building-a-variable-frequency-drive-for-a-three-phase-motor/ | Building A Variable Frequency Drive For A Three-phase Motor | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"induction motor",
"IRAMS06UP60A",
"mc3phac",
"motor driver",
"three-phase"
] | Here are the power and driver boards that [Miceuz]
designed to control a three-phase induction motor
. This is his first time building such a setup and he learned a lot along the way. He admits it’s not an industrial quality driver, but it will work for motors that need 200 watts or less of power.
The motor control board uses an MC3PHAC driver IC and an IRAMS06UP60A handles the power side of things. The majority of the board design came from studying the recommended application schematics for these two parts. But that’s far from all that goes into the setup. Motor drivers always include levels of protection (the whole reason to have a driver in the first place) and that comes in several different forms. [Miceuz] made sure to add EMI, over voltage, and over current protection. He discusses all of these, sharing links that explain the concepts of each. | 23 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "562616",
"author": "mattbed",
"timestamp": "2012-01-19T14:09:53",
"content": "I was asked to produce something like this over the summer for a small scale investigation into the effects of power line harmonics caused by using VFDs on large (15MW) electric compressors.Ended up buying... | 1,760,376,977.662858 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/19/reusing-an-old-pacemaker-as-a-flash-timer/ | Reusing An Old Pacemaker As A Flash Timer | Mike Nathan | [
"digital cameras hacks",
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"flash",
"high speed photography",
"pacemaker"
] | Most people use pacemakers to, you know, keep their heart pumping at a steady rhythm. [David Prutchi] on the other hand
has found a pretty novel use for some of the old pacemakers
he has in his collection.
We really had no idea that pacemakers had uses outside the world of medicine, but [David] has taken advantage of their reliability in one of his favorite hobbies – high speed photography. In a darkened room, he set up an infrared barrier which feeds its signal to the atrium input of an old pacemaker. The signal is relayed through the ventricular output, which then fires his camera’s flash.
The pacemaker allows [David] to set an “AV” delay, which is the interval between when the atrium input receives an electrical impulse and when that signal is repeated from the ventricular output. This allows him to finely tune how much time elapses from when a drop of milk breaks the IR barrier to when his flash actuates.
We think this is a pretty cool way to reuse an old pacemaker, but check out the shots he has captured and judge for yourself. | 26 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "562580",
"author": "Sci",
"timestamp": "2012-01-19T13:05:20",
"content": "Little concerned about where/how you might actually acquire a collection of old pacemakers.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "562589",
"author": "... | 1,760,376,977.859651 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/18/stop-the-internet-blacklist-legislation/ | Stop The Internet Blacklist Legislation | Caleb Kraft | [
"News"
] | [
"censorship",
"pipa",
"sopa"
] | It doesn’t take much imagination at all to see what a horrible effect this censorship could have on sites like Hackaday.
Please do your part to stop internet censorship
.
Imagine how many companies would rather us not share with you how our brilliant readers have hacked their hardware to do bigger and better things than they were sold to do. Sites like Hackaday would not survive this censorship. | 210 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "561912",
"author": "jc",
"timestamp": "2012-01-18T13:47:54",
"content": "If it would affect HaD especially a whole lot, why not do a full site blackout ?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "561916",
"author": "me",
... | 1,760,376,978.065553 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/17/forget-siri-make-wolfram-alpha-your-personal-assistant/ | Forget Siri – Make Wolfram Alpha Your Personal Assistant | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"api",
"google",
"siri",
"speech recognition",
"wolfram alpha"
] | So you can spend a bundle on a new phone and it comes with a voice-activated digital assistant. But let’s be honest, it’s much more satisfying if you coded up this feature yourself. Here’s a guide on doing just that by
combining an Asterisk server with the Wolfram Alpha API
.
Asterisk is a package we are already familiar with. It’s an open source Private Branch Exchange suite that lets you
build your own telephone network
. Chances are, you’re not going to build one just for this project, but if you do make sure to document the process and
let us know about it
. With the Asterisk server in place you just need to give the assistant script an extension (in this case it’s 4747).
But then there’s the problem of translating your speech into text which can be submitted as a Wolfram query. There’s
an API for that too
which uses Google to do that translation. From there you can tweak abbreviations and other parameters, but all-in-all your new assistant is ready to go. Call it up and ask what to do when you have a flat tire (yeah, that commercial drives us crazy too).
[Thanks M] | 20 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "561579",
"author": "Th3badwolf",
"timestamp": "2012-01-18T01:00:52",
"content": "Read the whole thing and my code-fu isn’t up to the game…sadly enough.How about so code-sensei out here to take that and implement it as an app? market it at 5$ and I’ll buy it,anyone else?Wolframalpha ... | 1,760,376,978.174453 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/17/commandeer-x10-based-home-automation-with-your-favorite-microcontroller/ | Commandeer X10-based Home Automation With Your Favorite Microcontroller | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"enc28j60",
"home automation",
"serial",
"tc4427",
"x10"
] | X10 has been around for a long time. It’s the brand name for a set of wireless modules used to switch electrical devices in the home. There’s all kinds of different units (bulb sockets, electrical outlets and plug pass-throughs, etc.) and they’re mass-produced which makes them really inexpensive. Whether you already have some X10 controlled devices or just plan to add them later, we think you’ll find [Jeff Ledger’s] post on
controlling the system with a Propeller chip interesting
. The technique is not Propeller specific and will be simple to port to your microcontroller of choice.
[Jeff] got his hands on an X10 Firecracker. This provides a DB-9 serial connection meant to be used for computer control. But the interface is so simple all you need is two I/O pins feeding the level converter circuit seen above. You can get the TC4427 for less than a dollar, and the Firecrcker module for as little as $6. Since [Jeff] has already covered adding Ethernet via a ENC28J60 he goes on to detail a web-server that lets him switch his devices, all served from the Propeller chip.
Here’s
a different ENC28J60 Ethernet tutorial
for those interested in webpages from microcontrollers. And then there’s also
a ZigBee home automation project
if you’re not warming up to the idea of using X10 modules. | 12 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "561508",
"author": "Hal",
"timestamp": "2012-01-17T23:44:43",
"content": "What was his source for the Firecracker module? I thought that serial module was discontinued in favor of USB.[EDIT]Hmm. Seems it is back for sale but at some hefty prices. Interesting.",
"parent_id": null... | 1,760,376,978.116137 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/17/sensor-array-tries-to-outdo-the-other-guys/ | Sensor Array Tries To Outdo The Other Guys | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"bmp085",
"CdS",
"dht11",
"humidity",
"light",
"lux",
"pressure",
"sensors",
"temperature",
"tmp102",
"TSL230R"
] | The team over at the Louisville Hackerspace LVL1 is not going to be outdone when it comes to collecting environmental data. They put together
this Frankenstein of sensor boards
that lets you collect a heap of data showing what is going on around it.
At the center-left a small Arduino clone is responsible for collecting the data. Data storage is not talked about on their write-up, but if that’s an ATmega328 chip you should be able to work out an easy way to store data on the 1k of internal EEPROM. If that’s not enough, there is an I2C bus included on the board making it easy to add a compatible EEPROM.
The sensor on the bottom left should look familiar. It’s a DHT11 temperature and humidity sensor we’ve seen
popping up in projects lately
. But wait, there’s also a TMP102 temperature sensor; but that’s not the end of it. A BMP085 pressure sensor also includes a third temperature sensing option. Want to see when the lights go on in the room? There’s a CdS sensor and a TSL230R Lux sensor for that. An op-amp circuit can measure the sound level in the room via one of the Arduino’s ADC pins. And finally, an RTC board is used for time stamping the data.
Obviously this is overkill, and we’re sure it’s meant as a test platform for various sensors. All of them have been mounted on the protoboard and wired up using the point-to-point soldering method. | 13 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "561461",
"author": "BD",
"timestamp": "2012-01-17T22:01:29",
"content": "This I2C level shifter:http://wiki.lvl1.org/File:Father_Sensor_Array_Details.jpgShould ideally be replaced with the extended 4-FET level shifter from 2.3.5 of this appnote for best operation, or at least add pu... | 1,760,376,978.224664 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/17/tutorial-replacing-bad-capacitors/ | Tutorial: Replacing Bad Capacitors | Brian Benchoff | [
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"capacitor",
"capacitor plague",
"repair"
] | [glytch] sent in a tutorial on
replacing dying capacitors
on a motherboard, and we honestly can’t think of a better subject for an introductory tutorial. There’s nothing like having your friends think you’re a wizard for bringing broken electronics back from the grave.
For the repair a dead motherboard was [glytch]’s quarry. After taking a look at the board, he found a few bulging caps that were ready to burst. After ordering a few caps with the same voltage, capacitance, and dimensions (trust us, you want the same size cap), [glytch] took an iron and desoldering braid to the board and replaced a few caps.
Sooner or later, all capacitors are going to go break down. This isn’t always a bad thing – we picked up quite a few “broken LCD monitors” in the years after the
capacitor plague
and repaired them with a few dollars worth of caps. A lot of the caps in our
late 80s computers
have been replaced, and these machines are still chugging along. | 50 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "561385",
"author": "mandoholic",
"timestamp": "2012-01-17T19:57:16",
"content": "“After ordering a few caps with the same voltage, capacitance, and dimensions…” – In addition, make sure it’s rated for the same or higher temperature or you’re likely to be doing the job again sooner r... | 1,760,376,979.896238 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/17/augmented-reality-using-pez-dispensers/ | Augmented Reality Using Pez Dispensers | Brian Benchoff | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"AppMates",
"ipad",
"Pez"
] | [Johan] really got himself out of a bind with
this one
.
After his son started playing
AppMates
, he desperately wanted the requisite figures to complete the experience. AppMates is an iPad game where a child drives a small plastic car around a virtual environment displayed on the touchscreen. Unfortunately for [Johan]’s son, the officially licensed
Cars
characters
would take at least three months to make it to his home in Sweden. [Johan] did the next best thing and made his own.
[Johan] took a pair of
Cars
Pez dispensers and took off the figure. The bottom of the character was covered with a bit of plastic from the base of the Pez dispenser and a little bit of conductive foam and was added to the body. Now [Johan]’s son can drive his toys around Radiator Springs just like he could with the official figurines. There’s also the aspect of not making a child wait months for a bit of plastic, so we’ll call this one a win for [Johan].
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRhRsD7IO0M&w=470] | 4 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "561359",
"author": "HackJack",
"timestamp": "2012-01-17T19:14:01",
"content": "Mmmm I gotta admit that I was hoping for something a little more. I guess the post is useful for anyone who didn’t know that conductive foam (like what you often find with free chip samples) can be used o... | 1,760,376,980.220624 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/17/adding-sound-to-childrens-museum-exhibits/ | Adding Sound To Children’s Museum Exhibits | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"ambient sound",
"children's museum",
"mp3",
"museum"
] | Believe it or not, the local Children’s Museum staff was happy that [Bill Porter] left this mess of wires and equipment in one of their offices. It makes up
an ambient sound system for a couple of their exhibits
. A movie without sound just doesn’t fully entertain, and the same can be said for these exhibits. The ambient sound that goes with a boat room, and a hospital room in the Museum really helps to snag your attention. And [Bill’s] material cost came in at just over $200 for both rooms.
He started off by purchasing a speaker, amp, and MP3 breakout board (SparkFun). The speaker mounts in one of the ceiling tiles, with the wire running to a different room where the audio equipment is housed. There were a couple of problems with this; the museum staff forgot to turn on the system, and for all of its expense this only provided one room with audio. Bill figured that since only one speaker was being used he could make an audio file with a different clip on the left and right channel, then feed them to different rooms. He also added that programmable timer so the sounds will turn themselves on and off.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen hacks end up as museum pieces. Check out this other project that rigs up
some interactive telephones
. | 17 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "561352",
"author": "Darren",
"timestamp": "2012-01-17T18:27:15",
"content": "Museum staff tend to be very pragmatic about such things. It helps that the displays are very rarely produced as more than a one-off.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
... | 1,760,376,980.405036 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/17/the-emgrobotics-robot-control-board/ | The EMGRobotics Robot Control Board | Jeremy Cook | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"hexbug",
"ir",
"robot controller",
"ti launchpad"
] | There are many microcontrollers available to make robots with, but few that are built with the exact features that you would need to construct one. Meet the
[EMGRobotics MSP430G2553]
robot controller board.
At $15 without the CPU or $17 with a [MSP430G2553] already plugged into the socket, this control board may make some Arduino enthusiasts take note for their next project. Besides a very attractive price (you’ll have to go to the
home page to make a purchase
), this board ships with a built in IR range sensor and accommodations to drive up to four hobby servo motors. If this isn’t enough for you, two 3 volt DC motors can be soldered directly to connections on the board and controlled independently and in either direction. In other words you don’t have to muck about with trying to build your own H-bridge circuit, it’s all taken care of for you!
The article shows it controlling a Hexbug spider. [EMGRobotics] has actually done something similar (and well-documented) before with this platform, so be sure to check out the post about
hacking the Hexbug
iteslf! | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "561299",
"author": "kevin mcguigan",
"timestamp": "2012-01-17T16:38:54",
"content": "i just bought one and the Texas inst. product along with it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "561520",
"author": "Jeremy",
"timestamp": ... | 1,760,376,980.178643 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/17/music-box-is-still-alive-with-wavetable-synthesis/ | Music Box Is Still Alive With Wavetable Synthesis | Brian Benchoff | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"Music box",
"pic32mx",
"wavetable synthesis"
] | For all the wonder of dulcet tones coming from a century-old music box, we’ve got to admit that [Markus]’
wavetable synthesis build
is still pretty impressive. Of course, the Internet cred gained by doing a demo of
Still Alive
helps too.
Wavetable synthesis
stores a one cycle long waveform in RAM that can be played on a loop at varying frequencies. This technique has been around since the late 70s and can be found in a lot of the classic synths of the 80s and serves as the basis for Atari MOD music and the Game Boy chiptunes produced with
Little Sound DJ
[Markus] found a pair of battery-powered laptop speakers and decided a music box would be a wonderful project. Inspired by [ChaN]’s
ATtiny wavetable synthesizer
, [Markus] decided to up the ante and use a PIC32 microcontroller to make the programming a little more digestable. The entire project (with an awesome dead bug soldering job) is nearly as large as the PIC itself.
[Markus] threw up the source code along with some Python scripts to convert waveforms and MIDI files into something the chip can understand. Before you check that out, be sure to look at the
Still Alive
demo.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt3rpgWyKno&w=470] | 20 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "561229",
"author": "Knappster",
"timestamp": "2012-01-17T14:18:20",
"content": "Why can I imagine a companion cube that opens up to reveal a rotating cake inside? That sounds amazing.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "561245",
... | 1,760,376,980.462759 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/16/intelligent-flashlight-will-literally-show-you-the-way/ | Intelligent Flashlight Will Literally Show You The Way | Mike Szczys | [
"News"
] | [
"flashlight",
"intelligent",
"stabilization",
"torch"
] | Flashlights are so 20th Century. Be it the incandescent type that popped up very early on, or LED models with came around in the 90’s, there’s not much excitement to the devices. But [Sriranjan Rasakatla] is doing his best to change that.
This is his WAY-GO Torch
, an intelligent flashlight (a Smart Light?) that will not just light your path, but overlay useful data on it.
At the front of the unit a pico projector is housed on a jointed assembly. This allows the device to project data on the ground in front of you. Using a digital compass and GPS module, it can show the polar coordinates, guide you on your way, or provide information about the buildings around you. The motorized mount provides image stabilization based on IMU data. Check out the demonstration video after the break. It shows general functionality in the first part of the clip, with some footage of the stabilization system at about 4:30.
This really does seem like it came right out of a Sci-Fi novel. It’s useful, but the complexity makes it surprising that [Sriranjan] was able to pull it off. We wonder how the battery life is on the device, but it can’t be any worse that
one of those really huge flashlight builds
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ6eIi7YTv0&w=470] | 35 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "560651",
"author": "Ren",
"timestamp": "2012-01-16T21:51:43",
"content": "Cool!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "560659",
"author": "1000100 1000001 1010110 1000101",
"timestamp": "2012-01-16T21:56:30",
"content": "Ex... | 1,760,376,980.352802 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/16/3-adds-sweet-tunes-to-your-project/ | $3 Adds Sweet Tunes To Your Project | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"ebay",
"mp3"
] | It’s a fun time to design your own MP3 player, lovingly adding in features to a meticulously crafted user interface. But sometimes you just want
a quick and cheap way to add music to a project
. [Jeff Ledger] will show you how to do just that using some knock-off hardware from overseas. Instead of a proper breakout board — which can cost a bundle — he used a generic MP3 player acquired for $3 from an eBay seller.
Cracking open the case you’ll see that you actually get a lot for your triad of Washingtons. We know, it may be of questionable quality (see
this feature about cheap PSU problems
) but we’re not building mission critical hardware now are we? Inside is a rechargeable Lithium battery for use with another project, and a chip-on-board device with attached SD card slot, audio jack, and USB port. The battery inputs are used to solder the MP3 pcb to the power rails on your project. To control the playback, just make connections to the button pads as [Jeff] describes in his post. It sounds like this will work with any MP3 player which runs at either 3.3V or 5V. | 19 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "560628",
"author": "J. Peterson",
"timestamp": "2012-01-16T21:12:09",
"content": "I used to be amazed at the $5 string of Christmas lights (isn’t the copper in the wires worth more than that?). Now we have $3 MP3 players!?Next up: The $5 app phone (running Android, of course).",
... | 1,760,376,980.276604 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/16/just-in-case-you-didnt-know-how-awesome-laser-cutters-really-are/ | Just In Case You Didn’t Know How Awesome Laser Cutters Really Are | Mike Szczys | [
"Laser Hacks"
] | [
"cutter",
"engrave",
"epiog",
"gear"
] | [Alex] got his hands on an Epiloge laser cutter the easy way — the company he works for bought one. We’re sure he’s not trying to rub it in, but he really does
make the tool look and sound cool
in the post he wrote purely to show off the new
toy
hardware.
This model is a CO2 laser and it’s capable of etching and cutting a variety of materials. It does so with a 1200 DPI resolution at 0.005 pitch. The samples of engraved text and images show the clean lines and shapes this type of accuracy can achieve. The most stunning example is a piece of anodized aluminum which ends up showing some fantastic contrast that would make perfect face plates for project enclosures. Then there’s the cutting feature which is responsible for the gear demo seen above. We were surprised to hear that it will cut through acrylic but not polycarbonate.
After the break we’ve embedded [Alex’s] video. The camera is focused on the cutter as it engraves some lettering, then cuts out a gear. During the process he discusses what he’s learned about the device, sharing some interesting tidbits along the way.
We’re hoping to see some cool stuff like this from [Grenadier]
who recently won
a similar 40 Watt CO2 laser from Full Spectrum.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPw2_HtFFvQ&w=470] | 39 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "560495",
"author": "HAD",
"timestamp": "2012-01-16T18:04:45",
"content": "Plus when you turn it on you can yell FIRING ZE LAZOR!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "560510",
"author": "medix",
"timestamp": "2012-01... | 1,760,376,980.140741 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/16/electronics-that-tell-you-to-wash-the-dishes/ | Electronics That Tell You To Wash The Dishes | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackerspaces"
] | [
"dishes",
"opencv",
"webcam"
] | Nothing stinks up the house like a sink full of dirty dish. Well, a full trash can will do it to a greater extent, but that’s a project for another day. In what must be an overreaction to a perpetually full sink of dishes at his London Hackerspace, [Tom] built
a web-connected dirty dish detector
.
He calls it the Great OpenCV Wash-Up Detector. The system features a series of different signals to ‘remind’ forgetful geeks about cleaning up after themselves. The initial implementation uses a traffic signal to alert the room that there are dirty dished to be cleaned; illuminating the different colors to show how long the sink has been full. [Tom] also plans to add message bursts to the IRC room, and air horns when the situation gets dire.
As the name implies, this uses OpenCV to detect circles in the sink. A webcam has been mounted above it pointing straight down, providing a clear input image to detect plates, mugs, and the like. [Tom] even wrote some code that disables the system when the lights are turned off.
Of course, this may train offenders to leave the dishes on the counter where the detector can’t see them. | 25 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "560458",
"author": "hackamonth",
"timestamp": "2012-01-16T17:21:01",
"content": "nice, now all he needs to develop is a way to wash those stinkin dirty dishes… and we’ll all get one..",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "560459",
... | 1,760,376,979.955739 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/16/wii-nunchuck-on-an-80s-computer/ | Wii Nunchuck On An 80s Computer | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"i2c",
"msx",
"wii nunchuck"
] | For a computer that debuted in the early 80s the MSX was a very respectable machine. Of course these were the days that superimposing graphics over a video was an amazing feat, but [Danjovic] and [Igor] are still having fun with their boxen. They designed a
software interface for the Wii Nunchuck
(
translation
) on their trusty MSX computer.
The plug coming out the back of a standard Wiimote is just a simple I2C bus. Many things can be done with this port from
plugging in ancient controllers
to
controlling robots
. [Danjovic] and [Igor] managed to
write a routine
in Basic that converts the I2C data coming out of the Nunchuck to data the MSX can understand without any modification of the hardware whatsoever.
All the guys needed to plug the Nunchuck into the MSX was a voltage divider and a few pull-up resistors between the computer and controller. They got data from both buttons, the joystick and the accelerometer in the Nunchuck and made a small program to display some sprites on the screen to demonstrate this. Check that out after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNiMxM2kduk&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0B2zOgL6-U&w=470] | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "560828",
"author": "Alexandre Souza",
"timestamp": "2012-01-17T03:47:45",
"content": "Parabens ae!!! :D Congratulations to our friends :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "561335",
"author": "JB",
"timestamp": "2012-01-17T... | 1,760,376,979.811018 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/16/the-tim-8-is-the-smallest-8-bit-relay-computer-ever/ | The TIM-8 Is The Smallest 8-bit Relay Computer Ever | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"ALU",
"computer",
"Harry Porter",
"relay computer",
"Zuse"
] | Who wouldn’t want to build a computer out of relays? We do, but we’ve got too many projects on our plate already. It looks like [rory] has his priorities in order because
his build
is one of the most amazing we’ve ever seen.
We’ve seen [Harry Porter]’s
amazing relay computer
and we’re familiar with [Konrad Zuse]’s
WWII era endeavours
. Relay computers aren’t exactly uncommon, but [rory] built the TIM-8, that may be the smallest 8-bit relay computer ever. The total relay count in the TIM-8 is 152 compared to [Harry Porter]’s 415 relays. This isn’t a fair comparison because [Harry]’s uses 4-pole relays, while the TIM-8 uses 1-pole relays, making the [rory]’s project 8 times smaller than [Harry]’s.
There are a couple of neat features that makes the TIM-8 really exceptional. Programs for the TIM-8 are written in a text editor on [rory]’s desktop, then compiled and printed onto receipt paper. The TIM-8 has a few phototransistors to read the bands of white and black printed on the paper. [rory] has come a long way from a three bit adder made with relays and light bulbs.
Check out a ton of videos after the break. There’s a few demos of programs running off of receipt tape, calculating the Fibonacci sequence, and playing ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ on the relay sound card. Thanks to [J. Peterson] for sending this one in.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q3_E8MxYdg&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDJTVGIzOPU&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND1wa-KisgY&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ1i9b6cjSs&w=470] | 20 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "560371",
"author": "Dillon Chaffey (Chafflube)",
"timestamp": "2012-01-16T15:06:29",
"content": "That is truly incredible. It really helps to remind us all of the principles of computing. Thank you for the great post!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{... | 1,760,376,980.520887 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/16/hackaday-links-january-16-2012/ | Hackaday Links: January 16, 2012 | Brian Benchoff | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"Akai MCP",
"Case mod",
"component storage",
"mechanical television",
"midi",
"ps3",
"rapid fire",
"xbox 360"
] | Finally the 13-year-old on Battlefield 3 will get their comeuppance
[Shawn] sent in his fully adjustable
auto-fire mod
for an XBox360 controller. It’s pretty simple – just an ATtiny85 soldered to a button with a pot to adjust the rate and switch to turn it on and off. It could have been done with a 555, but this is good enough.
Now one for the PS3 bronies
[Capt-Nemo] loves and tolerates everyone so he
modded his 60 Gig PS3
with a bunch of LEDs to display Rainbow Dash’s
cutie mark
. Yes, it’s from
My Little Pony
. Don’t judge us. Watch the
demo video
instead.
How do
you
organize resistors?
A while ago we saw a
neat way to store resistors
in a piece of foam with a grid according to the first and third color bands. [Greg] did it
another way
that just puts a label on a piece of foam. Can you think of a better way?
It’s not a synthesizer, but is it fake?
A lot of people have been sending in
this video
of [Stephen] turning his kitchen into a synthesizer. We’re thinking he turned a bunch of bowls and cans into an MPC / MIDI controller
at best
, or it was all done in post. We’ll let our readers duke it out in the comments.
Blinky things spinning very fast
A gracious Hack a Day reader sent in a
mechanical television demo
he found during late night intertube browsing. We know it’s from a 1992 episode of
Computer Club
that aired in Germany. It’s four rotating bars of 232 LEDs that will display a standard TV signal. We think it might be time for an RGB LED version of this. Any takers? | 18 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "560360",
"author": "acomputerdog",
"timestamp": "2012-01-16T14:51:27",
"content": "as for the kitchen-synth-midi-thing,weather its a synth depends on your definition of synth. In my opinion, the whole thing could have been built fairly easily, especially if capacitive circuits were... | 1,760,376,980.86417 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/15/turn-your-camera-phone-into-a-geiger-counter/ | Turn Your Camera Phone Into A Geiger Counter | Brian Benchoff | [
"Android Hacks",
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"android",
"geiger counter",
"radiation",
"radioactive",
"smartphone"
] | Next time you’re waiting in the security line in an airport, why don’t you pull out your smartphone and
count all the radiation
being emitted by those body scanners and x-rays?
There’s an app for that
, courtesy of Mr. [Rolf-Dieter Klein].
The app works by blocking all the light coming into a phone’s camera sensor with a piece of tape or plastic. Because high energy radiation will cause artifacts on the CMOS camera sensor inside the phone, radiation will be captured as tiny specks of white light. The title picture for this post was
taken from a camera phone
at the Helmholtz Research Center in Munich being bathed in 10 Sieverts per hour of Gamma radiation from the decay of Cesium-137.
We have to note that blips of ‘bad data’ from a CMOS camera sensor aren’t unusual. These can come from electrical weirdness in the sensor itself or even the heat from the battery. [Rolf]’s app takes a reading of the noise floor and subtracts it from the counter. Radioactive decay resulting in Beta particles such as the Potassium-40 in bananas or the Uranium in granite counter tops don’t really register, although [Rolf] did have some success with Potassium chloride and a long measurement time. Still though, it’s a really cool way to turn a phone into a tricorder.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJcOq5sLxPo&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsG6JsMAJ_Q&w=470] | 96 | 42 | [
{
"comment_id": "559753",
"author": "Vince Mulhollon",
"timestamp": "2012-01-15T23:31:47",
"content": "You sure about that? If you are in a 10 Sv area you’ve got big problems (in other words, you probably are not replicating this experiment at home). Now 10 mSv is high but believable.",
"paren... | 1,760,376,981.171909 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/15/nice-shoes-wanna-recognize-some-input/ | Nice Shoes, Wanna Recognize Some Input? | Brian Benchoff | [
"Kinect hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"Kinect",
"multitouch",
"shoes"
] | Even though giant multouch display tables have been around for a few years now we have yet to see them being used in the wild. While the barrier to entry for a Microsoft Surface is very high, one of the biggest problems in implementing a touch table is one of interaction; how exactly should the display interpret multiple commands from multiple users? [Stephan], [Christian], and [Patrick]
came up with an interesting solution
to sorting out who is touching where by having a computer look at shoes.
The system uses a Kinect mounted on the edge of a table to extract users from the depth images. From there, interaction on the display can be pinned to a specific user based on hand and arm orientation. As an added bonus the computer can also recognize users from their shoes. If a user is wearing a pair of shoes the computer recognizes, they’ll just walk up to the table and the software will recognize them.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4TPlCJtXR0&w=470] | 15 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "559663",
"author": "Ecchin",
"timestamp": "2012-01-15T21:28:46",
"content": "MS Table says: Hello neo. Your shoes are dirty.The future is here.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "559899",
"author": "ChalkBored",
"... | 1,760,376,981.032033 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/15/diy-dimmable-clapper-for-all-your-lazy-lighting-needs/ | DIY Dimmable Clapper For All Your Lazy Lighting Needs | Brian Benchoff | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"attiny2313",
"clapper"
] | For the lazy man who can’t be bothered to buy a proper wattage lamp
here’s the Clever Clapper
, a Clapper that finally has the ability to dim the lights.
Like the
clapper we saw last month
, [Pete]’s version uses an ATtiny2313 and an electret mic. What sets [Pete]’s version apart from the vintage 80s model is the ability to dim the lights. Like any clapper, two hand claps within a second toggles the relay. Clapping three times within one second puts the lamp into fading mode. In this mode, the lights dim up and down with PWM until a fourth clap is detected.
[Pete] saw that the program memory in his ATtiny2313 wasn’t 100% full, so he added a few more capabilities. If you shine a laser onto his circuit, a relay trips and turns on a decorative moon lamp. There’s also a ‘lecture mode’ that feeds the microphone directly into the microcontroller to vary the PWM signal. The result is a light that brightens with more intense sound. Check that feature out after the break after the demo video of [Pete]’s Clever Clapper.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=kaP7LGRPf_I&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7XXPJOxyOs&w=470] | 10 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "559654",
"author": "Mental2k",
"timestamp": "2012-01-15T21:22:07",
"content": "I followed it fully up until the word “sadly” after that it’s all a bit wtf!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "559677",
"author": "Per Jensen",
... | 1,760,376,980.913531 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/13/replacing-an-overheating-tablet-power-supply/ | Replacing An Overheating Tablet Power Supply | Mike Szczys | [
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"Asus",
"power supply",
"tablet"
] | [Dave] has an ASUS tablet PC with a little problem. The device is charged via the docking connector’s USB cable when plugged into a special wall transformer. The problem is that the wall unit tends to overheat, and is shut down by a thermister inside to avoid permanent damage. The word on the Internet is to drop it in a zipper bag and chill it in the freezer for a bit. Although this works, it’s not the permanent solution that he was looking for. Instead, he hit the parts bin and
built his own power supply replacement
without buying anything.
The device is simply looking for 12V on the power pin (pin 1) of the USB cable. [Dave] dug through his mountain of unused AC adapters and found one that fit the voltage and current specs of the stock unit. He also grabbed a dusty old motherboard and plucked the USB ports off of the back. A bit of protoboard makes for a good base to connect the AC adapter wires to the ports, which was then covered with one big shrink tube. The result is seen above, and demonstrated in the clip after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaG__WOWEHI&w=470] | 28 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "558135",
"author": "b1r6m4n",
"timestamp": "2012-01-13T20:06:38",
"content": "I would have removed the thermister :DYea, but thats unsafe…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "558700",
"author": "Whatnot",
"timestam... | 1,760,376,980.978701 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/13/tool-box-light-dimmer-helps-out-a-friend-offers-up-design-tips/ | Tool Box Light Dimmer Helps Out A Friend, Offers Up Design Tips | Mike Nathan | [
"LED Hacks",
"Microcontrollers",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"ATmega88",
"leds",
"lighting"
] | [miceuz] has a friend that works as a theatre technician, and in the course of his job he often needs to jigger with various stage components while shows are in progress. As you can imagine, the lighting situation is far from ideal, so
he asked [miceuz] to build him an adjustable lighting solution
for his tool box.
The circuit itself is relatively straightforward, using an ATMega88 to provide the PWM required for dimming and color control. Input is taken from three different sources, a rotary encoder for color selection, a pot for brightness control, and a button to turn the light strip on and off.
[miceuz] says that while project came together pretty easily, it still presented some issues along the way which provide some useful design reminders for beginners (and some veterans) alike.
First and foremost:
debounce, debounce, debounce.
[miceuz] forgot this mantra and made a mad dash to add capacitors to his design after etching the PCB to ensure that his inputs were not bouncing all over the place. He also noted that one should always be sure to read the ADCL before the ADCH register when decoding ADC data. His final observation is that using thick traces is the best policy whenever possible – he ran into a lot of issues with traces detaching during assembly, which he had to rework with wire and solder.
In the end, his friend was happy with the result, and [miceuz] is a better hacker for having worked through his issues. What sorts of important/useful lessons have you learned through the course of your projects? Be sure to share them with us in the comments. | 12 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "558113",
"author": "DanJ",
"timestamp": "2012-01-13T19:01:26",
"content": "It’s less expensive to debounce switches in software. Most small buttons have a bounce period of less than 10 mSec. But even a larger debounce period, say 25-50 mSec, yields good results for most user inter... | 1,760,376,981.622535 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/13/pythagoras-a-delta-robot-for-drawing/ | [Pythagoras], A Delta Robot For Drawing | Jeremy Cook | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"delta robot",
"drawing",
"pythagoras",
"servo",
"stepper"
] | [Pythagoras]
is a delta robot built originally using RC servos. Humbly, [Aaron] “concedes” that the first version of his delta robot using hobby servos was easy to build. As anyone who has built any kind of robot knows though, there is definitely a lot of work involved in even the simplest robot. Coordinating three axes and programming it to draw a picture is a really great accomplishment.
The second version, however is currently in development and uses stepper motors instead of servos. These upgraded motors should make the robot faster, more controllable, and more accurate. This version is at least somewhat working as evidenced by the time-lapse video after the break.
Although the title page listed above is a little sparse on build details, if you dig deeper into the page, there are actually
15 articles
about the ‘bot, so be sure to poke around.
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxmmQhV0KS0%5D
If that’s not enough delta robot fun for you, be sure to check out this article about a
delta robot controlled by a Kinect
, or this attempt at a
3D printing delta ‘bot
! | 11 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "558066",
"author": "dkavanagh",
"timestamp": "2012-01-13T17:46:41",
"content": "This is very cool! I still hope to build one out of lego mindstorms someday. Anyway, what puzzles me is that this type of bot much better suited to vector drawing, so why make it do raster? That is still... | 1,760,376,981.482592 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/13/building-a-led-strip-the-minimal-way/ | Building A LED Strip The Minimal Way | Brian Benchoff | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"led",
"msp430",
"pwm"
] | For his first big build with an MSP430, [Javon] decided to
an RGB LED fader
. Having worked with Arduinos in the past, he figured that
his MSP430
would have a few PWM channels. After being proved wrong by the data sheet, [Javon] needed to figure out a way to switch a bunch of RGB LEDs with only one PWM channel on his microcontroller.
Because there was only one PWM pin on [Javon]’s micro, he needed a way to multiplex his output. He ended up using a 74HC4052 mux/demux chip to drive 20 LEDs. The LEDs were mounted onto hard board and the main part of the circuit built on a bit of perfboard. While there’s no total cost for his build, we’re guessing [Javon] didn’t spend much on his project; certainty much less than this
explosion of LEDs
.
[Javon] put all the build pictures up as a
Google+ album
and a few video demos up. Check those out after the break (009 Sound System warning, you might want to hit mute).
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekaUpoXU6PE&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGdunfZSGEA&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW8AYSsaDHA&w=470] | 6 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "558039",
"author": "adam",
"timestamp": "2012-01-13T16:58:22",
"content": "“009 sound system warning” ?? Is he hating on the music choice?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "558083",
"author": "Necro",
"timestamp"... | 1,760,376,981.218454 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/13/hackaday-links-january-13/ | Hackaday Links: January 13 | Jeremy Cook | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"golf balls",
"Mr Bitey",
"PICkit 2",
"ping-pong balls",
"Snap Circuits"
] | An 8×8 LED Matrix Game Grows Up:
[Pixel Land]
is an iPhone game similar to [Super Mario Brothers] using a virtual array of 8×8 pixels. This wouldn’t normally be interesting, but we’ve actually featured “this” game as an
8×8 LED matrix
game.
How to Drill Golf or Ping-Pong Balls:
Drilling golf or ping-pong balls is not easy. This simple
drill press fixture
makes that job easier and repeatable. So the next time you want to make lots of diffusers for your
LED board
, this might be a good device to consider!
The PICkit 2:
If you’ve ever wanted to get into PIC programming, possibly the PICkit 2 would be for you. [Ray] has written
a review of his first experiences
with setting it up and programming.
Mr Bitey is hungry for resistors!
Is light industrial machinery a hack? It’s a hard thing to define, but if so
[Mr. Bitey]
would meet the qualifications. It also meets the qualifications of having a great video, and name, so be sure to check it out!
A [Snap Circuits] Programmable Robot:
The
robot pictured above
on [Instructables] was built using
[Snap Circuits]
, with parts that literally snap together. A neat concept, this construction set seems to fall somewhere between traditional Legos and push-in breadboards. | 18 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "558023",
"author": "Fallen",
"timestamp": "2012-01-13T16:26:38",
"content": "Love the PIC kit 2<3",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "558036",
"author": "matt z",
"timestamp": "2012-01-13T16:52:19",
"content": "Cool@the ... | 1,760,376,981.431989 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/13/an-e-paper-information-panel/ | An E-paper Information Panel | Brian Benchoff | [
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"e-paper",
"epaper",
"gumstix"
] | With all the Kindles and Nooks we’re bound to find at yard sales and thrift shops in the coming years, this might be useful. [Chris] made a
door-mounted e-paper display
to keep himself up to date on recent events.
The hardware comes from an
e-paper development kit
[Chris] and his friend [Deian] were given a few years back. The dev kit sat in a dusty drawer until [Chris] decided to do something with it. With his door looking like a suitable palette, [Chris] decided to make an information panel that displays the date, his calendar, the weather, and a few RSS feeds.
There was already a Gumstix single board computer attached to the e-paper display, so [Chris] wrote a few scripts on his server and upload information to the paper display. The server renders the display as a PNG image at 800×600 resolution, converts it to
PGM
and compresses it for the Gumstix. There is a script running on the Gumstix to download the image from the server every five minutes and put it up on the display.
With the awesome readability and low power consumption of e-paper, we’re surprised we haven’t seen a project like this before. Guess we’ll have to wait until Kindles start showing up at flea markets. | 19 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "558002",
"author": "henry22",
"timestamp": "2012-01-13T15:38:20",
"content": "very impressive. If that’s on his dorm room door, he might want to put it in a case or something before it gets beer spilt on it. very cool",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{... | 1,760,376,981.374041 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/12/automating-the-shutdown-of-apc-ups-devices/ | Automating The Shutdown Of APC UPS Devices | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"server",
"shutdown",
"ups"
] | [Ishan Karve] works in some bizarro world where the building management demands that all servers and Uninterruptible Power Supplies be shut down at the end of each evening. While inconceivable to most systems admins, he has no recourse but to comply. This means that his employees need to turn things off before they leave for the day, and since they often work up to 15 hours a day, waiting for Windows server to shut down seems like an eternity.
Being the good manager he is, [Ishan] decided to build a device that
handles the clean shutdown of their servers and UPS for them.
An Arduino board serves as the brains of the device, communicating with and issuing shutdown commands to the UPS over a serial port. The Arduino is also connected to the office network, enabling it to send ARP requests to the servers in order to determine when they have completely shut down for the day. In order to protect against an accidental shutdown due to network connectivity issues, [Ishan] added an RTC module to the mix so that the Arduino does not issue shutdown commands until at least 8 pm.
Instead of waiting around for Windows to do its thing, [Ishan’s] employees can take off once they start the server shutdown process, knowing that they are totally compliant with their landlord’s crazy requests. | 56 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "557466",
"author": "Arihia Ngaronoa",
"timestamp": "2012-01-13T01:06:59",
"content": "Cool",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "557471",
"author": "polossatik",
"timestamp": "2012-01-13T01:16:29",
"content": "from the blo... | 1,760,376,981.572354 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/15/sound-reactive-el-wire-box-makes-gift-giving-awesome/ | Sound-reactive EL Wire Box Makes Gift Giving Awesome | Mike Nathan | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"el wire",
"equalizer",
"mp3",
"music",
"sound reactive"
] | [Jonathan Thomson] was ruminating on EL wire displays and decided that most he has seen are boring, static fixtures or installations that simply flash EL wire on and off at a fixed rate. He thought that EL wire has far more potential than that, and
set off to build something more exciting.
Using a graphic equalizer T-shirt, with which we’re sure you are familiar, he put together a slick, sound-reactive EL wire display.
He started off by removing the EL panel and inverter from the aforementioned T-shirt, separating the display into two pieces. He set aside the panel and focused on wiring up the inverter’s ribbon cable to a set of EL wire strands he picked up for the project. Once he had everything hooked up, he put a design together on a cardboard box, which he intended to use for wrapping Christmas presents. With the holiday behind him, [Jonathan] broke down his original display and constructed another to offer up some fun birthday wishes.
While the EL inverter was originally built to display sounds detected by an onboard mic, [Jonathan] added a 3.5” stereo jack to his so that he can feed audio directly into the display using an MP3 player.
Continue reading to see the EL display in action, and be sure to check out his writeup if you are looking to spice up your gift giving this year.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8tzKgmoIPg&feature=player_embedded&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjefd3lXv6I&feature=player_embedded#!&w=470] | 5 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "559602",
"author": "David S",
"timestamp": "2012-01-15T20:11:03",
"content": "What a cool project!I’ve wondered for a while if those equalizer t-shirts are built in such a way that you could address each of those little squares and have like 25 addressable sections of el wire…",
... | 1,760,376,981.69811 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/15/freeze-drying-astronaut-ice-cream/ | Freeze Drying Astronaut Ice Cream | Brian Benchoff | [
"chemistry hacks",
"cooking hacks"
] | [
"astronaut ice cream",
"freeze drying"
] | In our younger and more vulnerable years nothing was greater than visiting a museum, going to the gift shop, and badgering our parents to buy a pack of astronaut ice cream. Freeze dried ice cream leaves a taste of nostalgic chalky sweetness in our mouths, so we’re very excited to see that [Ben Krasnow] is now
making his own
astronaut ice cream.
The basic principle of freeze drying is simple. All you have to do is reduce the pressure and temperature of the food below the triple point of water and pump the sublimated water vapor out. For [Ben], this meant he needed to cool his Neapolitan Klondike bar to -30° C in a bath of chilled ethanol and pump out the air with a vacuum pump.
Interestingly, [Ben] found it necessary to heat his ice cream while under vacuum to extract more water vapor. This makes sense; at the pressures he was dealing with, [Ben] would never come across water in a liquid state. The entire process took about 18 hours. [Ben] admits this may have been a little longer than necessary, but it’s a small price to pay for reliving childhood memories. | 29 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "559478",
"author": "Denbo",
"timestamp": "2012-01-15T17:11:56",
"content": "School trips to the Air and Space in DC… good times.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "4118291",
"author": "steven",
"timestamp": "2017-... | 1,760,376,982.492643 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/14/jamie-zawinski-controls-his-drapes-from-the-command-line/ | [Jamie Zawinski] Controls His Drapes From The Command Line | Brian Benchoff | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"curtain",
"drapes",
"relay"
] | As one of the founders of Netscape and the Mozilla Project, [Jamie Zawinski] is no stranger to frustration elicited from syntax errors, terrible implementations, and
things that don’t work even though they should.
This familiarity of frustration is what makes [jwz]’s
command line controlled curtains
so great; it’s rare to see someone so technically proficient freaking out over the lack of DHCP on an Arduino Ethernet.
[Jamie]’s project begins as so many do – modifying an
existing piece of hardware
to connect to the Internet. This is easier said than done, as [Jamie] fried a USB hub, FTDI cable and an Arduino Ethernet all at the same time. Finally turned onto the
seeed relay shield
, [jwz] got busy writing scripts to power his curtain.
Of course, this level of automation is nothing without a good bit of integration. After [Jamie] realized his projector (a Panasonic PT-D5500U) and receiver (Denon AVR-2805) could talk to his computer, he got busy mashing them together with a Griffin PowerMate. Mashing the button on the PowerMate turns on the projector and closes the drapes. There’s also a cron job running so that [Jamie] is reminded of the glowing orange ball in the sky. | 20 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "558849",
"author": "fartface",
"timestamp": "2012-01-14T17:56:05",
"content": "Holy crap he did it the expensive way.Those boxes are low grade high price. There is $12.00 in parts but sell for $90.00I found that use robotics websites on how to modify servos to do full rotation and ... | 1,760,376,982.550104 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/14/weekly-roundup-11412/ | Weekly Roundup 1/14/12 | Jack Buffington | [
"News"
] | [] | For those of you who haven’t been paying attention in class, here is the best of what has hit our blog this past week:
In the #1 spot is a post about a project where some pretty ambitious hackers found a way to run
Linux on a digital picture frame
. Bravo!
Next up is a post where [Chris] needs some help getting his
1/10th scale, cycle accurate Cray I
‘supercomputer’ to boot.
In third place is a post about
a very elaborate 737 cockpit simulator
that was built over the past couple of years. This is a pretty intense build with lots of details about how it was done.
Following that is a post about a
3D-printed device that is similar to a phenakistoscope
but instead of using slits to allow you to see the models in succession, it blinks some LEDs at the appropriate times.
Finally rounding things out in fifth place is a post about
Makerbot Industries’ most recent release
, which will let you print out your own phenakistoscope. This 3D printer is bigger than their makerbot and optionally sports two extruders instead of one so that you can do dual colors or possibly dual materials. | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,376,981.783643 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/13/python-maps-mouse-movements-on-an-led-matrix/ | Python Maps Mouse Movements On An LED Matrix | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"16f877a",
"led matrix",
"mouse",
"pic",
"python",
"RF"
] | [Vinod Stanur] is working with a mouse input and a microcontroller driven LED matrix. The mouse cursor is tracked inside of a window by Python and the resulting coordinates on the LED grid are illuminated. He calls it
an LED matrix “Paint Toy”
because one of the features he’s included lets the user create pixel art like in MS Paint.
The 10×8 grid of lights is controlled by a PIC 16F877A. This display orientation is perfect for the 8-bit controller, which uses an array of ten bytes to keep track of the pixel data. A computer running his Python application (which uses the Pygame module to track the mouse movements) communicates with the display board via an RF connection. Five bytes plus a stop character make up the communication packet. The first two bytes contain the coordinates of the cursor, the other three bytes contain mouse button status.
As you can see in the demo after the break, the system is very responsive. The mouse can be moved quickly without latency issues, and if the cursor leaves the tracking window it gets picked up right away when it re-enters.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMq-896bv9Y&w=470] | 8 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "558304",
"author": "Mental2k",
"timestamp": "2012-01-14T02:43:13",
"content": "It would be good if this were scaled down. You could swap out the LEDs for some pins and embed it in the top surface of the mouse. It would give a nice interface for low vision peeps. Combine it with s... | 1,760,376,981.969234 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/13/laser-triggered-camera-rig-update-2011-version/ | Laser-triggered Camera Rig Update: 2011 Version | Mike Szczys | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"insect",
"laser",
"shutter"
] | [Fotoopa] keeps churning out new iterations of his laser-triggered camera rig. This is his latest, which he calls
the 2011 setup
. Regular readers will remember that we just covered a different version back in November; that one was
the 2010 rendition
. It had two DSLR cameras offset by 90 degrees with mirrors to face forward. This time around he has gone back to the single camera setup which was what he used on the
first
and
second
versions seen way back in 2008.
Whew, that’s a lot of links to specialty DSLR hardware. Let’s bring it back to this newest model (the link at the top). The biggest improvement is the shutter delay between when the laser beam is tripped and the image is take. [Fotoopa] reports that he’s managed to reduce that time down to 3.3 milliseconds. This is thanks to an external shutter replacement which improves on the stock shutter’s 52 millisecond delay.
For those that are seeing this for the first time. [Fotoopa] uses this rig to photograph insects in motion. A laser trip wire is responsible for triggering the shutter, and it does so with
stunning results
! | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "558231",
"author": "Seshan",
"timestamp": "2012-01-13T23:48:25",
"content": "This is his old one, he’s working on a new one, this one is completely dissembled.http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotoopa_hs/6412202503/in/photostream",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []... | 1,760,376,982.010022 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/13/grenadier-wins-the-laser-cutter-for-his-portable-x-ray-project/ | [Grenadier] Wins The Laser Cutter For His Portable X-ray Project | Mike Szczys | [
"contests"
] | [
"build lounge",
"full spectrum",
"grenadier",
"laser cutter",
"x-ray"
] | The results of the Full Spectrum Laser contest
over at Build Lounge have been announce. The top prize of
a 40 watt deluxe laser cutter
goes to [Grenadier] for
the portable x-ray machine
we saw at the beginning of the month. We think this is an excellent choice for top prize because, come on, this is pretty hard-core.
Taking second place was
a Christmas light show choreographed to music
. The open spaces of the University of Minnesota hosted the installation. We’ve embedded a video of the performance after the break.
Third prize went to the QC Co-lab Hackerspace for
their light wall
. It uses the ever popular GE Color Effects lights, with each bulb housed in a vacuum formed pyramid which acts as a diffuser.
There were also several honorable mentions. There’s a special place in our heart for [Jack Buffington’s]
solar clock
which was included in this group. We think the use of fiber optics to pipe the sunlight into a machined index ring is ingenious. And you’ve got to give him credit for developing a project that uses no electricity and almost no moving parts (there is a slider to adjust for daylight savings time).
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqk6jwzn1dw&w=470] | 13 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "558170",
"author": "mess_maker",
"timestamp": "2012-01-13T21:29:13",
"content": "Congrats @Grenadier!!! That is awesome.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "558179",
"author": "Krusty",
"timestamp": "2012-01-13T21... | 1,760,376,982.061641 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/12/boxie-is-an-adorable-toddler-videographer/ | Boxie Is An Adorable Toddler Videographer | Brian Benchoff | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"robot",
"robotics"
] | Meet
Boxie
. He’s a robot videographer with levels of interaction we haven’t seen outside an episode of
Dora the Explorer
. The project was conceived by [Alex] as his MIT thesis project to see if robots can use humans to make themselves more useful. All we know is Boxie is freaking
adorable,
as evidenced by
this video
.
The idea behind Boxie was inspired by
Afghan Explorer
to capture video in an attempt to tell a story. In the videos (after the break), Boxie wanders around the halls of MIT searching for people to help him (“can you carry me up the stairs?”) and tell stories (“what do you do here?”). It’s an experiment in autonomous documentary directorial skill that was edited down into a video that made sense.
[Alex] designed Boxie to be the cutest thing we’ve ever seen so he could elicit a response from the subjects of the documentary. We’re going to say the voice helped, but [Alex] also found the cardboard robot factor also played into the success. Boxie was originally planned to have a plastic skin, but [Alex]’s friends thought it looked really creepy. They suggested that [Alex] go back to the prototype cardboard body. All we know is there’s a robot cuter than a
Keepon
, finally.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdejYIKDqZo&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkTi696cxq8&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sWhWZab2ms&w=470] | 28 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "557442",
"author": "Jeremy Cook",
"timestamp": "2012-01-13T00:19:01",
"content": "There’s always “Boxie the Creepster”:http://hackaday.com/2011/05/23/an-odd-little-box/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "557443",
"author": "jc"... | 1,760,376,982.149543 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/12/cheap-wifi-bridge-for-pen-testing-or-otherwise/ | Cheap WiFi Bridge For Pen Testing Or Otherwise | Mike Szczys | [
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"aircrack-ng",
"openwrt",
"penetration testing",
"tp-link"
] | Twenty three dollars. That’s all
this tiny pen-testing device
will set you back. And there really isn’t much to it. [Kevin Bong] came up with the idea to use a Wifi router as a bridge to test a wired network’s security remotely. He grabbed a TP-Link TL-WR703N router, a low-profile thumb drive, and a cellphone backup battery; all cheaply available products.
No hardware hacking is necessary to connect the three components. The only other preparation needed is to reflash the router firmware with OpenWRT and load it up with common pen-testing software packages like Netcrack and Airhack.
[Kevin] calls this a drop box, because you find an Ethernet jack, plug it in, and drop it there. You can then connect to the router via Wifi and begin testing the wired network security measures. We’re sure images of espionage pop into your head from that description, but we’re certain this can be useful in other ways as well. If you ever find yourself with an Ethernet connection but no access to Wifi this is a quick way to setup an AP. | 18 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "557431",
"author": "theotherguys",
"timestamp": "2012-01-13T00:00:43",
"content": "Exploitable(forgive the pun)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "557432",
"author": "lsellens",
"timestamp": "2012-01-13T00:03:19",
"cont... | 1,760,376,982.992471 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/12/oscilloscope-clock-made-possible-by-dumpster-diving/ | Oscilloscope Clock Made Possible By Dumpster Diving | Mike Szczys | [
"clock hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"clock",
"dumpster diving",
"garbage",
"oscilloscope",
"trash"
] | We see people driving around the night before trash collection and reclaiming items doomed to the land fill (or on their way to recycling… who knows). We’re beginning to think we need to join those ranks. Case in point is this vintage oscilloscope which [Bob Alexander] plucked from the curb in the nick of time. Here’s the kicker, when he got it home he found it still worked! He couldn’t let this opportunity go to waste, so he figured out how to
turn it into a clock without losing the ability to use it as a scope
.
You probably already know that it’s possible to
display your own graphics on an oscilloscope
. In fact, you can buy a board from Sparkfun which will turn the scope into an analog clock, and that’s exactly what [Bob] did. But he was met with two problems, the X-axis was flipped and he didn’t have an easy way to power the board.
He struggled with the voltage supply, frying his first attempt at boosting the internal 6.3V supply to use with a linear 5V regulator. His second attempt worked though, soldering a 12V regulator to the transformer. He was then on to the X-axis correction, using a rail-to-rail op-amp to invert the signal. The project finishes by adding toggle controls and buttons on the back of the case to switch between scope and clock modes, and to set the time. | 17 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "557380",
"author": "Techrat",
"timestamp": "2012-01-12T22:31:53",
"content": "Sweet! How come I never find junk that looks that good? Usually, when I tumble over something like this, the tube is smashed or it’s completely fried, which is why it’s being thrown out….",
"parent_id"... | 1,760,376,982.224527 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/12/hellduino-hellschreiber-radio-transmissions-from-an-arduino-board/ | Hellduino: Hellschreiber Radio Transmissions From An Arduino Board | Mike Szczys | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"amateur radio",
"arduino",
"ham radio",
"Hellschreiber"
] | [Mark VandeWettering] was experimenting with a simple transmitting circuit and an Arduino. The circuit in the project was designed by [Steve Weber] to broadcast temperature and telemetry data using Morse Code. But [Mark] wanted to step beyond that protocol and set out to write
a sketch that broadcasts using the Hellschreiber protocol
.
This protocol transmits glyph images, which are decoded as you see above. For some reason we can’t help but think this is like Captcha for radio enthusiasts. We have seen
Hellschreiber used with AVR microcontrollers
before, but this is the first Arduino implementation that we’ve come across. [Mark] does a great job of demonstrating his project in the video after the break. He mentions that the transmitter has no antenna, but is still being picked up by his receiving antenna mounted behind his house.
Since [Mark] doesn’t really cover the hardware he used, you will need to look back at [Steve’s]
original design schematics
for more information.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHsZRqrMdH0&w=470]
[Thanks Toymaker Television] | 11 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "557340",
"author": "xvpower",
"timestamp": "2012-01-12T21:04:54",
"content": "Neat, the article title made me smirk.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "557351",
"author": "NatureTM",
"timestamp": "2012-01-12T21:29:43",
... | 1,760,376,982.744638 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/12/fully-loaded-electronics-lab-makes-your-projects-a-breeze/ | Fully Loaded Electronics Lab Makes Your Projects A Breeze | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"arduino shield",
"electronics bench",
"motor driver",
"workshop"
] | There’s really nothing special about this hack. [Craig Hollabaugh] needed an Arduino shield for hosting a Pololu motor driver and making connections to external hardware. What really caused us to spend way too much time reviewing his posts is that [Craig’s]
narrative style of documenting the project is delightful
, and we’re envious of his electronics lab. That link points to the first of four project pages. The next page is linked at the bottom of each page, or you can find the collection after the break.
[Craig] starts by designing a single-sided shield in Eagle. It’s been years since he made his own PCB, and it takes him about four tries to get the toner transfer right (we’ve also been victim to the wrong mirroring of the resist!). When it comes time to drill for the pin headers [Craig] uses his 3D printer to make a bracket allowing the Dremel to mount to the drill press. There’s a good tip here about buying carbide bits from Harbor Freight; we thought eBay was the only place to get these. Many of us would need to put in a parts order, but this workshop has a well-organized stock of everything he needs. He also has the solder paste and PID outfitted toaster oven to reflow the board. Oh, and when he forgets to add a resistor it’s off the rework station to add one.
See what we mean… one can never have too many tools.
Project Page 1
Project Page 2
Project Page 3
Project Page 4 | 13 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "557315",
"author": "jfmateos",
"timestamp": "2012-01-12T20:35:13",
"content": "I would suggest using CPM6.3 paper for toner transfer.For example, this transfer uses 6mil traces:http://www.todopic.com.ar/foros/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=36566.0;attach=17147;image",
"parent_i... | 1,760,376,982.422427 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/12/fixing-the-control-scheme-for-an-aftermarket-headlight-assembly/ | Fixing The Control Scheme For An Aftermarket Headlight Assembly | Mike Szczys | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"diode",
"headlight",
"led",
"passat",
"relay",
"vw"
] | The headlight enclosures on [Bill Porter’s] 2004 Passat had yellowed with age and were not outputting the kind of light they should. He decided to replace them with some aftermarket modules that also incorporated LED strips. When they arrived he was surprised at how easy there were to drop into place. But when testing he was certainly not satisfied with how they worked. The day-driving mode used the HID bulbs at full power, where the factory assembly had dimmed them during the day. He set out to
alter the electronics to work as he prefers
.
Always the mad scientist, [Bill] started off by making a truth table showing how the lights reacted to the various states of the ignition and headlight switches. What he came up with is an AND gate built from a relay and diode. It allows him to have the LEDs on as the running lights (without the HIDs on at all), and leaves the rest of the functionality unaffected. | 18 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "557139",
"author": "Chad B",
"timestamp": "2012-01-12T16:06:05",
"content": "I would recommend a Euro switch :-)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "557148",
"author": "Bill",
"timestamp": "2012-01-12T16:18:56",
... | 1,760,376,982.698845 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/12/robot-takes-voice-commands-via-open-source-csr/ | Robot Takes Voice Commands Via Open Source CSR | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"csr",
"julius",
"open source",
"speech recognition"
] | This is Chippu, a robot that [Achu] has been working on for some time. His most recent addition was to
give the robot the ability to respond to voice commands
. This is accomplished using a variation of the open source Continuous Speech Recognition package called
Julius
.
The package depends on two main parts, a set of acoustic models which let it match incoming sounds and a reference library of grammar which is built from those sounds. [Achu] published another post which goes into detail about
using Julius on a Linux box
. It seems like this is possible with less robust hardware (ie: on an embedded system) if you narrow down the number of acoustic and grammer models that need to be matched.
For now, Chippu is getting commands from a computer that runs the CSR. But this was only used as a proof-of-concept and [Achu] plans to transition the bot over to smaller hardware like the BeagleBoard.
Check out the demonstration of Chippu responding to voice commands in the video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHMeLI0H9f4&w=470] | 8 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "557121",
"author": "orenbeck",
"timestamp": "2012-01-12T15:16:56",
"content": "Incredible job of integrating COTS stuff into a functioning ‘bot. Good Work. This also can be so much more. I’ve a grandson recovering from a brain tumor. They were discussing service animals for him.But ... | 1,760,376,982.938765 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/11/dht11-humidity-and-temperature-sensor-package/ | DHT11 Humidity And Temperature Sensor Package | Mike Szczys | [
"Parts"
] | [
"16f628a",
"dht-11",
"humidity",
"pci",
"temperature"
] | Temperature and humidity measurements are a nice addition to many hobby projects. But [Rajendra Bhatt] makes the point that many of these sensors have a price tag that is well above what most hobbiests are willing to spend. He decided to take
an in-depth look at the DHT11 sensor
; which you can get your hands on for under $3 if you know where to look.
The four-pin device uses a 1-wire protocol. [Rajendra] discusses the ins and outs of the communications, demonstrating the part using a PIC 16F628. It’s a snap to connect to your project, requiring VCC, GND, and a pull-up resistor on the single data line. We’ve already seen it
used on at least one project
, and hope to see more of this little guy in your own hacks.
Now we found this part listed on eBay for less than $3 (buy it now price including shipping… how can they do that?). But Octopart didn’t come up with any options. If you know how to get this through traditional parts suppliers let us know in the comments. | 55 | 42 | [
{
"comment_id": "556517",
"author": "MobileWill",
"timestamp": "2012-01-12T01:39:00",
"content": "Take a look at these:I used this one curretly, works really wellhttp://www.dfrobot.com/index.php?route=product/product&filter_name=temp&product_id=80They also have the DHT-11 but on a breakout:http://ww... | 1,760,376,982.836286 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/11/adjustable-rapid-fire-for-xbox-360-controller/ | Adjustable Rapid Fire For Xbox 360 Controller | Mike Szczys | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"attiny85",
"controller",
"rapid fire",
"xbox 360"
] | [Shawn] wrote in to share his post outlining
the addition of rapid fire to an Xbox 360 controller
. He’s going all out with this mod by including a pretty beefy microcontroller. But you get a lot of functionality for that. You can just make out the trimpot below and to the right of the green A button. This tweaks the speed at which your right trigger repeats. Next to the trimmer is an amber LED which indicates whether the hack is enabled or not. The switch to the left of the D-pad simply patches the add-on circuit into the right trigger hardware.
Some might raise an eyebrow when we call the ATtiny85 used here beefy. But considering the job at hand, we’re sure a lot of the lower end of the ATtiny family will work just as well. [Shawn] soldered everything up on a piece of protoboard and removed one of the rumble motors to make room inside the controller. The video after the break is pretty shaky and out of focus, but you can clearly hear him explain how the hack works.
If you’re looking for a rapid fire mod that doesn’t require programming a chip, perhaps
you could just repurpose the PWM from the LED
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYAedWjAQ4E&w=470] | 39 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "556502",
"author": "obsoehollerith",
"timestamp": "2012-01-12T00:58:08",
"content": "Hmm… Whatever happened to just using a 555 timer and a couple of 2N2222s? Oh well. I guess that’s just my age (and wallet) showing!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,376,983.065013 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/11/power-wheels-jeep-makes-an-awesome-rc-car/ | Power Wheels Jeep Makes An Awesome R/C Car | Mike Nathan | [
"Toy Hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"Power Wheels",
"remote control",
"Revolt Labs",
"servo"
] | [Will] from RevoltLab wrote in to share part one of a cool project he is working on right now,
a remote-controlled mobile rocket launcher.
Before you run off and call the Department of Homeland Security, he says that the launcher will be used for personal hobby rockets, which are typically considered mostly harmless.
The first part of the build is mostly concerned with obtaining a Power Wheels car and tweaking it to be driven remotely. After stripping out most of the odds and ends out of a Barbie Jeep he found via Craigslist, he added a small hobby servo under the dashboard to actuate the pedal. A larger (and much more expensive) servo was attached to the Jeep’s steering bar, allowing [Will] to easily turn the wheels with the flick of a switch.
With the mechanical bits out of the way, he installed an R/C receiver and took to the
streets
lawn with his creation.
The car seems to handle pretty well, and although the price of the components quickly start to add up, we’d be more than happy to spend that kind of cash for an R/C car that size!
Continue reading to watch a short video of the Jeep in action, and be sure to check Revolt Labs’ site often to follow [Will’s] progress.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Zo1ZkT5C5u0&w=470] | 17 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "556481",
"author": "Colecoman1982",
"timestamp": "2012-01-11T23:43:20",
"content": "It’s certainly nothing to call Homeland security about, but anyone doing this may want to make sure that it isn’t done anywhere that is visible to neighbors that might care or public roads. This kin... | 1,760,376,982.891326 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/11/building-an-eeprom-programmer/ | Building An EEPROM Programmer | Mike Szczys | [
"computer hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"attiny13",
"attiny85",
"attinyisp",
"eeprom",
"isp",
"programmer",
"usb",
"veronica"
] | Behold this
ATtiny85 based EEPROM programmer
. It seems like a roundabout way of doing things, but [Quinn Dunki] wanted to build to her specifications using tools she had on hand. What she came up with is an ATtinyISP USB programmer, pushing data to an ATtiny85, which then programs an EEPROM chip with said data.
The hardware is the next module for her Veronica 6502 computer build.
When we last saw that project
[Quinn] was planning to add persistent storage for the operating firmware. This will be in the form of an EEPROM programmed with this device. Using ISP and an ATtiny as a go-between means that she should have no problems reflashing the OS without removing the chip. But it all depends on how she designs the interface.
For example, she blew a whole bunch of time troubleshooting the device because garbage data was being written to the chip. In the end, having
her manual bus programmer
hooked up during the flashing operation was the culprit. Lesson learned, it’s onward and upward with the build.
We’ve been featuring [Quinn’s] projects a lot lately. That’s in part because they’re really interesting, but also because she does such a great job of documenting her experience. | 16 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "556382",
"author": "Hackerspacer",
"timestamp": "2012-01-11T20:20:36",
"content": "[S]he does such a great job of documenting her exerpience (sic).",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "556395",
"author": "zigzagjoe",
"timesta... | 1,760,376,983.116651 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/11/microcontroller-based-audio-volume-level-compressor/ | Microcontroller Based Audio Volume Level Compressor | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"atmega328",
"bus pirate",
"compression",
"labview",
"mcp42010",
"volume"
] | In an effort listen to his music on shuffle without the need to touch the volume knob [Mike] build his own
automatic volume leveling hardware
. He knows what you’re thinking right now: there’s software to do that for you. But building the feature in hardware is a great stepping off point for a project.
He started the prototype using LabVIEW along with a Mobile Studio development board and a Bus Pirate. This project will be a mix of digital and analog components and it’s a bit easier starting off the exploration with these tools rather than jumping right into the AVR code.
The circuit will sample the incoming audio, modify it accordingly, and output the result. The output side is where the Bus Pirate really shines. He’s using some MCP42010 digital potentiometer chips to make the necessary changes to the levels. They communicate via SPI and it’s nice to have the Bus Pirate’s terminal to issue commands without the need to reflash a microcontroller.
[Mike] made a video showing an audio waveform with and without the hardware leveling. Sound quality is still great, and each clip is played at a reasonably comfortable listening level. We’ve embedded that demonstration after the break.
[yotuube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaEc6_wQ9FM&w=470] | 18 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "556355",
"author": "james",
"timestamp": "2012-01-11T19:16:16",
"content": "my first thought would have been to make some sort of opto-coupled analog circuit, but thats me. props to him for taking the time to learn the digital side and put this together!",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,376,983.171535 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/11/matchbox-launcher-reacts-to-emergency-band-radio-dispatcher/ | Matchbox Launcher Reacts To Emergency Band Radio Dispatcher | Mike Szczys | [
"Radio Hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"fire truck",
"matchbox"
] | [Jeff] and his wife put together a firefighter themed birthday celebration for their son. As he’s not entirely handy in the kitchen, [Jeff] decided not to lend a hand with the baking or cake decorating. But he didn’t forego the opportunity to combine a couple of different projects to make a
Matchbox car launcher that responds to emergency band radio
.
Since he’s an amateur radio enthusiast he already had a scanner to monitor the air waves. Apparently there’s a band just for relaying dispatch messages to emergency vehicles. He set the radio equipment to only monitor that channel. An Arduino was added to the mix, taking measurements of the voltage level on the scanner’s audio output. When it’s driven high enough the Arduino trips the toy car launcher.
The car launcher itself
is a pretty nifty setup. There are five chutes at the top of a ramp that each fit a car. A sliding gate holds them in place, but can be removed one slot at a time by a geared motor. The addition of a poster board facade and two flashing red LEDs makes the setup look right at home with the other party decorations.
See a call come into the station in the clip after the break. We don’t have a category called “fun parenting” so “toy hacks” will have to do.
[flickr video=http://www.flickr.com/photos/8190411@N07/6656354727/ w=470] | 15 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "556294",
"author": "Jordan",
"timestamp": "2012-01-11T18:12:12",
"content": "OMG that’s where I live! :D",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "556373",
"author": "Ashaman99",
"timestamp": "2012-01-11T19:52:00",
"content": ... | 1,760,376,983.362409 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/11/more-laser-shooting-range-goodness-now-with-duckies/ | More Laser Shooting Range Goodness; Now With Duckies | Mike Szczys | [
"Laser Hacks"
] | [
"duck hunt",
"glass",
"laser",
"rubber duckies",
"shooting range"
] | Here’s another project that
reminds us of the shooting games at a carnival
. This was actually inspired by the video game Duck Hunt, and was undertaken as a class project between four students at San Jose State University. It uses moving glass targets that look like rubber duckies. The player shoot sensors at their base with a laser-tipped gun. A direct hit is indicated by the duck glowing blue.
[Lananh Nguyen] is a Business Marketing major, but he’s also minoring in Studio Art and has been blowing glass for years. We think he’ll always have a side job making and selling glass because those ducks look fantastic. [Michael] and [Chris] worked together, building out the oscillating platform which moves the targets back and forth, as well as wiring up light sensors to the Arduino. A green laser diode was added to an acrylic gun to complete the project. Check out the game play video after the break to see how it all comes together.
If you missed the other laser shooting range when we featured it last week, you’ll want to
revisit that project
which uses tin cans as targets. | 7 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "556231",
"author": "aztraph",
"timestamp": "2012-01-11T17:40:09",
"content": "cool, can you have them stay on till they all go down and then reset?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "556526",
"author": "chris ponciano",
... | 1,760,376,983.230601 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/11/3d-printed-zoetrope/ | 3D Printed Zoetrope | Brian Benchoff | [
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"shapeways",
"zoetrope"
] | Normally, 29 men walking around in an endless circle would be the stuff of an [M.C. Escher] engraving. [Tobias] turned this into
a reality
with a little help from some LEDs and a 3D printer.
Like his
earlier project
, [Tobias] built himself a nice little strobing zoetrope that maintains the illusion of movement by flashing LEDs at precise intervals. Instead of a flat 2D image, [Tobias] went for a walking 3D figure that marches to the beat of a timer circuit. The figures themselves were printed via Shapeways.
The electronics were improved for this iteration. Formerly, [Tobias] used a 555 and a whole bunch of auxiliary components. The circuit was improved for this version to uses Schmitt triggers and an optical encoder. The easy-to-build-on-perfboard schematics and layouts
are available
, so feel free to build one for yourself.
[Tobias]’ zoetrope isn’t much different from the
gigantic Charon sculpture
seen at last year’s Burning Man. Sure, it’s not 40 feet tall but it’s still a nice piece of work. | 25 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "556178",
"author": "nexekho",
"timestamp": "2012-01-11T16:08:20",
"content": "I love it! The light artifacts on the camera are pretty cool too.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "556366",
"author": "Dax",
"timest... | 1,760,376,983.46486 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/11/universal-commodore-64-cartridge-speeds-up-demo-production/ | Universal Commodore 64 Cartridge Speeds Up Demo Production | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"commodore 64",
"demoscene"
] | As a life long lover of his venerable Commodore 64, [Frank] was looking for a way to speed up the development time when writing C64 demos. His solution is a
universal C64 cartridge
that will connect to a PC over a USB port.
The board is powered by a CLPD and a microcontroller loaded with code from [Frank]’s previous
C64 USB controller adapter
. A 16 Mbit flash chip is able to store 31 classic games like
Pitfall, Dig Dug,
and
Lode Runner.
On his
Google+ announcement
, [Frank] says this is a very early prototype. He plans on reducing the board size to fit inside a standard C64 cartridge, and the firmware for the micro and CLPD aren’t finished yet. That being said, [Frank] does have a board that does what he wants it to do: extremely rapid C64 development.
Check out [Frank]’s demo after the break of him compiling and re-uploading a simple demo to his cherished computer in just a few seconds. That’s a lot faster than it would take with a
1541 Ultimate
or other SD card reader.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxD64RWuJEI&w=470]
All for the want of a 6551 | 13 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "556174",
"author": "ac",
"timestamp": "2012-01-11T15:59:04",
"content": "128k ram for the cartridge data? Lame, isn’t even enough for some C64 cartridges from the 90s (e.g. Terminator 2).",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "556351... | 1,760,376,983.750061 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/10/this-digital-picture-frame-runs-linux-better-than-you-might-think/ | This Digital Picture Frame Runs Linux Better Than You Might Think | Mike Szczys | [
"Linux Hacks"
] | [
"arm9",
"df3120",
"digital picture frame",
"kernel",
"parrot"
] | Ah, the beauty of spreading the guts of some hackable hardware across your workbench. This happens to be the circuit board and LCD screen from a Parrot DF3120 digital picture frame. The device is pretty powerful, considering you can still find them available for around $25. You’ll get a 3.5″ screen, ARM9 processor with 8MB or RAM, Bluetooth, a tilt sensor, and more. It seem that [BusError], [Sprite_tm], [Claude], and few others really went to town and
spilled all of the secrets this device has to offer
.
Their goal of the hack was to get their own Linux kernel running. It is possible to reprogram the processor using its JTAG interface. And if you really want to drill down to the good stuff, there’s access to all of the BGA pins on the bottom of the board thanks to a grid of micro vias. But the device can be tricked into flashing your own firmware just by altering a stock upgrade image.
You can get a pretty good idea of what there is to do once you’ve replaced the firmware from the video after the break. A RAM upgrade (using a chip from an old PC133 stick) lets the video run smoothly as it’s controlled via a Wii remote.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwN6eztHQSA&w=470]
[Thanks Dans34] | 88 | 40 | [
{
"comment_id": "555539",
"author": "macegr",
"timestamp": "2012-01-11T01:39:25",
"content": "Oooo…considering how much the Chinese makers of these things outright steal other people’s designs (or the reference design, hehe) I’m hoping this means the same thing can be done to a lot of other cheap pi... | 1,760,376,983.970867 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/10/unshredding-paper/ | Unshredding Paper | Kevin Dady | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"unshred"
] | [Roel] had read that people won the DARPA shredder challenge, but that their technology was kept a secret, interested in this concept he also remembered an episode of the X-Files where they had reconstructed shredded paper using a computer system. Unlike most computer based TV show BS this did not seem to be too far fetched so he
went about trying it himself
.
First a note is written, and then cut up into strips, the strips are then scanned into a computer where the magic happens. Next each strip outlined in polygons and then the software is to follow the polygon outline looking for a change in color at the pixel level. The software then goes into a pattern matching mode and reassembles the paper based on a scoring system.
While not many people use old fashioned strip shredders anymore, the basic idea works and if you really wanted to expand it could be applied to cross cut or particle shredders. | 50 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "555515",
"author": "Requiem",
"timestamp": "2012-01-11T00:32:21",
"content": "And that’s why you just burn the document if it is that important to hide.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "555544",
"author": "drew",
... | 1,760,376,983.701553 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/10/using-a-touch-screen-with-an-stm32-microcontroller/ | Using A Touch Screen With An STM32 Microcontroller | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"ads7843",
"lcd",
"stm32",
"texas instruments",
"ti",
"touch screen"
] | [Andy Brown] has been working on a series of tutorials revolving around the STM32 processor family. He’s using the STM32plus development board, with an STM32F1 ARM Cortex M3 processor to drive a couple of different full color graphic LCD screens. His latest installment shows
how to read from the touch screen
included with both displays.
After the break we’ve embedded the video from which this screenshot was taken. As an example, [Andy] has programmed a painting program to show off what the touchscreen overlay is capable of. It starts off with the calibration routine we’re all familiar with, then drops to this screen with a virtual control panel and blank canvas.
This hardware uses the Texas Instruments ADS7843 controller, which [Andy] says is extremely common and that several other manufacturers use the same communications protocols. He discusses how to communicate with the controller, and how to incorporate the data into your program. Included is an open source library which you can use in your own projects.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Sv9fKLKvKc&w=470] | 10 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "555483",
"author": "MobileWill",
"timestamp": "2012-01-10T23:35:47",
"content": "Sweet, I was just thinking if it would be possible to interface a touchscreen with my phone. Maybe this can give a starting point. I hope the Lilyput TS uses the same IC.",
"parent_id": null,
"d... | 1,760,376,983.618697 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/10/hackaday-links-january-10-2012/ | Hackaday Links: January 10, 2012 | Brian Benchoff | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"avecSynth",
"mbr",
"midi",
"mit",
"nasa",
"nyan cat",
"open source",
"opencourseware",
"poster"
] | They can put a man on the moon, but they can’t put a man in LEO
Yeah,
we’re
enraged by that headline. Anyway, NASA
put up
a whole bunch of projects and made them open source. From the looks of it, there’s plenty of cool stuff: genetic algorithm libs, toolkits for astrodynamics simulations (on the
Goddard site
), and
this cool thing
.
Nyan
all
the disks!
[brainsmoke], a hacker over at revspace, made an assembler version of nyan cat that can be
placed on the bootloader
of any disk. Just a reminder that you shouldn’t mount everything out there. We learned that lesson the week we discovered a penicillin allergy.
It’ll replace the
Buffy
poster.
[Anthony Clay] has been working on a set of
EE posters
that he’s putting up as a
Kickstarter
. They’re Ohm’s Law, resistor calculator, capacitance, and inductance posters that would look great above any workbench. He’s looking for ideas for other posters, so drop him a line and vote for the 7400 logic poster.
All of them
.
Ooooohhhh
MIDI sampler
A while ago, we saw
this neat
MIDI Arduino shield. The
Kickstarter
reached its funding goal (there’s still time left!), but now [Keith] writes in to tell us that the
AvecSynth library
is
platform independent
. You could use this to record and play back MIDI messages. MIDI tape delay, anyone?
Open mind, not mouth.
With the success of the
Stanford AI class
last year, it looks like MIT is really
getting their head into the game
. Think of it this way: it’s
MIT opencourseware
that can lead to credentials.
Now the only question is, ‘how do you prank a virtual campus?’ | 14 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "555423",
"author": "Roger",
"timestamp": "2012-01-10T20:45:37",
"content": "Ooooohh its NOT a sampler! ITs a GM midi module.Ooooohh, its so 1992.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "555430",
"author": "Matt",
"timestamp": "2... | 1,760,376,984.069224 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2012/01/10/crank-out-the-jams-with-dinos-fuzz-face/ | Crank Out The Jams With [Dino]’s Fuzz Face | Brian Benchoff | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"fuzz face",
"guitar effect",
"stomp box"
] | Weekly Hack a Day feature [Dino] is back again, this time with
his very own guitar pedal
. It’s modeled on a three-transistor Fuzz Face clone and sounds very good in our humble opinion.
Fuzz pedals were some of the first guitar pedals on the market, and for good reason. Their easy construction and simple theory of operation (just amplify sound until the transistor saturates) made them an economical and available pedal for the legends of rock in the 60s. [Dino]’s build follows this tradition of simplicity with a common 2N3904 transistor and a pair of BC547 Silicon transistors. We’re guessing [Dino] couldn’t find any cred-worthy and mojo-giving Germanium transistors, but the result sounds just as good as we could imagine.
To test out his pedal, [Dino] hooked up a
[Jack White] style
single string lap steel and turned everything up to 12*. The result is
rock.
Check out the build vid after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=h86mTmVINSg&w=470] | 10 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "555283",
"author": "Balbor",
"timestamp": "2012-01-10T17:38:27",
"content": "Nice sound!I’ve noticed that he’s using just one 9V battery, but in the schematics two are used.What would be the diference? Is it losing the negative part of the waveform coming from the guitar coil?",
... | 1,760,376,984.018455 |
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