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https://hackaday.com/2011/08/08/video-turning-good-gnomes-evil/ | Video – Turning Good Gnomes Evil | Jack Buffington | [
"Featured",
"home hacks",
"how-to"
] | [
"feature adding",
"gnome",
"noob",
"video"
] | In this video [Jack] will show you how to take a garden gnome and a solar light to create a FrankenGnome that is sure to creep out your friends and neighbors. This Hackaday original video is the first in a new series of videos that we will now be posting on a weekly basis.
You’ll notice a few symbols at the beginning of these videos. These symbols are there to help you understand what the video is all about. In the upper left corner, we have the skill level. These will range from 1 for very basic projects to 4 for highly advanced projects. The upper right corner breaks the video into two categories. The first category is ‘feature adding’. In these videos we will be taking off-the-shelf items and modifying them to do something new. The other category is ‘skill building’. In these, we will be exploring different topics in depth. At first, the skill building videos will be mostly about electronics and software. In the future when we have excavated more room in Hackaday Headquarters, located deep beneath a mountain in remote
[REDACTED]
, we will start doing videos showing you topics with a more mechanical nature. The other icons represent the major skills involved in the project.
Check out the video after the break. | 23 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "430615",
"author": "theodore",
"timestamp": "2011-08-08T17:45:58",
"content": "What do you mean “turning gnomes evil”? I thought they were allreedy!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "430616",
"author": "default",
"timestam... | 1,760,377,120.012339 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/08/sound-activated-flash-for-high-speed-photography/ | Sound Activated Flash For High Speed Photography | Brian Benchoff | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"disposable camera",
"flash trigger",
"high speed photography",
"sound activated"
] | High speed video is everywhere these days, but the cameras and necessary equipment is a bit out of reach for a hobbyist. [Bassam] found a compromise and came up with a way to shoot high-speed photographs using a
sound triggered flash
.
[Bassam] started off by taking apart a disposable camera for the flash bulb and capacitor. After that, a circuit was designed that picks up a signal from a microphone, compares that to a preset threshold, and then uses a 555 timer to trigger the flash. The shutter of a DSLR can be left open in a dark room, so all that is needed to capture a moment in time is the snap of a finger. [Bassam] also posted gallery with the
fruits of his labors
.
Although this isn’t
the first time
we’ve seen a high-speed camera hack, the simplicity of [Bassam]’s build is impressive. He designed a
single sided board
for his circuit, and the parts are very common so it should be an inexpensive build. | 6 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "430589",
"author": "T0ast",
"timestamp": "2011-08-08T16:43:27",
"content": "“but the cameras and necessary and necessary equipment is a bit out of reach for a hobbyist.?wut?Cool post :]",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "430628",... | 1,760,377,119.723293 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/08/noise-generator-ported-to-run-on-small-avr-also-arduino-compatible/ | Noise Generator Ported To Run On Small AVR, Also Arduino Compatible | Mike Szczys | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"attiny45",
"AVR",
"luna mod",
"PICAXE"
] | Feeling a bit left out because he didn’t have a PICAXE on hand, [Rob Miles] decided to
port the Luna Mod code so that it would work on an AVR
chip. He chose to build his around an ATtiny45, but also mentions that this is Arduino compatible.
This case layout is a bit different from
the original Make version
, but we like this look just a bit better. It might not
satisfy your need for that hipster looking enclosure
, but the repurposed macadamia nut box looks seems it was built for this purpose. Take a look as the video after the break to see the final product and hear it spewing newly composed cacophony. [Rob] is
sharing the sketch as a dropbox file
but we’ve also included our own hosted link after the break in case is stops working.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRE7yiReohM&w=470]
Source Code | 12 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "430573",
"author": "default",
"timestamp": "2011-08-08T16:14:56",
"content": "Love it!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "430580",
"author": "EATY1",
"timestamp": "2011-08-08T16:28:54",
"content": "Me too, Like the audu... | 1,760,377,119.82656 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/08/old-pachinko-game-tweaked-to-add-a-reward-system/ | Old Pachinko Game Tweaked To Add A Reward System | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"classic hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"games",
"pachinko",
"restoration"
] | [Tim Higgins]
picked up an old pachinko game
at a garage sale for his wife, but it ended up sitting unused in the garage for a few years. When he finally dusted it off, he decided that he wanted to restore and build a nice cabinet for it, though he thought the idea was a bit lame.
He says he likes to use some sort of CPU in his projects, and even though it was overkill, he made it his goal to add some sort of microprocessor to the game. He didn’t want to ruin the original aesthetics of the machine, so he decided that he could use an Arduino to drive a rewards system for skilled pachinko players.
Using some PVC pipe, he built a treat hopper which is controlled by the Arduino. When the player wins, the microcontroller triggers a small hobby servo, which dispenses gumballs/candy/etc.
[Tim] says that his wife loved the gift, and he was quite pleased with how it came out as well. Hit up his blog for additional build details and be sure to check out the photo slideshow of the restoration that we have embedded below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqKkjC3AJXU&w=470] | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "430483",
"author": "mlseim",
"timestamp": "2011-08-08T14:13:08",
"content": "I wish I could do something like this. What a great gift.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "430557",
"author": "BLuRry",
"timestamp": "2011-08-0... | 1,760,377,120.264877 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/08/announcing-hack-a-day-themes/ | Announcing Hack A Day Themes | Jack Buffington | [
"News"
] | [
"hackaday",
"themes"
] | Starting next Monday we be adding some themed posts into the mix. Every couple of weeks we will pick a new theme. Our first theme will be about hacks and projects involving high voltage. Each day we will have a new post based on the current theme. To make this happen though, we need your help. If you have been working on something that involves high voltage or you know someone who has, hit us up on the
tip line
. If you have a cool high-voltage project but haven’t posted it online yet, take a look at
this link
where we show you some options. | 18 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "430415",
"author": "einballimwasser",
"timestamp": "2011-08-08T12:10:26",
"content": "Sounds very cool …. Do you take unfinished projects also? I have some small on the “Communication” theme, but it’s not finished yet due to the missing money in my pocket (saving money for a QRP tra... | 1,760,377,120.224231 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/08/home-automation-systems-easily-hacked-via-the-power-grid/ | Home Automation Systems Easily Hacked Via The Power Grid | Mike Nathan | [
"home hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"home automation",
"powerline communications",
"security",
"x10"
] | As home automation becomes more and more popular, hackers and security experts alike are turning their attention to these systems, to see
just how (in)secure they are.
This week at DefCon, a pair of researchers demonstrated just how vulnerable home automation systems can be. Carrying out their research independently, [Kennedy] and [Rob Simon] came to the same conclusion – that manufacturers of this immature technology have barely spent any time or resources properly securing their wares.
The researchers built tools that focus on the X10 line of home automation products, but they also looked at ZWave, another commonly used protocol for home automation communications. They found that ZWare-based devices encrypted their conversations, but that the initial key exchange was done in the open, allowing any interested 3rd party to intercept the keys and decrypt the communications.
While you might initially assume that attacks are limited to the power lines within a single house, [Kennedy] says that the signals leak well beyond the confines of your home, and that he was able to intercept communications from 15 distinct systems in his neighborhood without leaving his house. | 40 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "430409",
"author": "raidscsi",
"timestamp": "2011-08-08T11:55:41",
"content": "X10 signals are isolated by transformers. This guy got lucky(or unlucky), and shares his mains with 15 other users at least… Wouldn’t want to live there…I live on a rural street and have my own 8KV>240v ... | 1,760,377,119.952206 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/07/portable-get-a-proper-home-in-an-arcade-controller/ | Portable Gets A Proper Home In An Arcade Controller | Mike Szczys | [
"handhelds hacks"
] | [
"a320",
"arcade",
"dingo",
"emulator",
"handheld",
"Joystick"
] | [Luke] wanted an arcade-style controller that he could use for some gaming at home. He decided to use a portable game emulator as a base and then
added his own joystick and buttons along with a custom case
.
The donor hardware is a Dingo A320. It’s a nice little handheld with a 2.8″ screen, and plenty of potential to emulate games like Donkey Kong seen above, or to play homebrew. It’s even been
the target of some RAM upgrades
we looked in on in the past. The best part for [Luke’s] project is that it includes a video out port.
In the clip after the break you can see that [Luke] now has a compact controller with a huge arcade joystick, four buttons on the top surface, and the rest of the controls all around the edges of the enclosure. The video out option is selected in the menu system, so he preserved the original LCD for use during configuration.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_LXGtnWSkQ&w=470] | 16 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "430203",
"author": "that_guy",
"timestamp": "2011-08-07T23:07:12",
"content": "Seems pretty cludgy…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "430217",
"author": "zacdee16",
"timestamp": "2011-08-07T23:58:01",
"content": "It’s ... | 1,760,377,119.780539 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/07/most-useless-machine-upgrade-now-with-a-button/ | Most Useless Machine Upgrade — Now With A Button! | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"7400",
"most useless machine",
"nand",
"relay",
"switch"
] | There’s a soft spot in our hearts for pointless projects, as long as they’re well executed. [Bertho] really hit the mark with
his take on the most useless machine
. We’ve seen several renditions of this concept, most of them hinging on
a box that will turn a mechanical switch off whenever you turn it on
. But this take uses a push button to activate a switch flipping mechanism on another part of the machine.
You can see the drive gears in the image above. The final gear has a small bar which flips a switch to one side or the other. The circuit does this without the need of a microcontroller. A 7400 series NAND gate chip, some passive components, and two mechanical relays are all it takes. At each push of the button, the logic chip trips one of the relays to trigger the appropriate motor direction based on the current state of that switch. You can press the button during movement, but all that will do is delay the inevitable flip of the switch. | 11 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "430190",
"author": "Andy",
"timestamp": "2011-08-07T22:23:51",
"content": "I have all the electronics ready for my upgrade on the most useless machine, just have to get the mechanics done.also, i think the traffic busted his website.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"rep... | 1,760,377,119.874742 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/07/1-chip-usb-avr-development/ | 1 Chip USB AVR Development | Kevin Dady | [
"hardware",
"how-to",
"News"
] | [
"USB AVR"
] | Wouldn’t it be nice if there was an AVR microcontroller with USB device support built in so you would not need a separate programmer or serial link? Well in fact there are quite a few of them, and this awesome tutorial (
google translate
) is
a quick and easy crash course in using the ATMega 16/32U4 micro controllers
.
These 8 bit AVR’s (16k and 32k) have the usual list of features you would expect in a Mega AVR. 26 GPIO pins and a pretty easy to solder 44 pin surface mount package, the micro controller also has a USB 2.0 Full-speed/Low Speed Device Module and allows programming though a standard bootloader.
Once you have a pretty standard board assembled you need Atmel’s
FLIP
RS232, USB, or CAN device programming software (Windows or Linux) and your favorite AVR IDE setup, you’re good to go!
Join us after the break for a quick video.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsRRNQQkat4&w=450] | 30 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "430106",
"author": "Grim",
"timestamp": "2011-08-07T19:20:07",
"content": "nice",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "430107",
"author": "bsom",
"timestamp": "2011-08-07T19:21:11",
"content": "See: Teensy at pjrc.com",
... | 1,760,377,120.169134 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/07/rc-car-hack-saves-lives-in-war-zone/ | RC Car Hack Saves Lives In War Zone | Mike Szczys | [
"News"
] | [
"rc",
"traxxas"
] | R.I.P sand-colored radio-controlled truck. Your life ended with a bang and in doing so, saved some lives. This little work-horse is a hack that [Ernie Fessenden] put together and sent to his brother [Sergeant Chris Fessenden] who is on a tour of duty in Afghanistan.
[Chris’] team is trained to be on the lookout for roadside bombs, but [Ernie] wanted to sent him something cool that could also keep him safe. By adding a camera to the hood of the Traxxis Stampede and using a gun-mountable LCD screen, the soldiers now have a way to see what’s on the road ahead from their armored Humvee. Sounds like it would work just fine right? Well the hack just got a big endorsement when
it tripped an IED made of around 500 pounds of explosives
. [Chris] and five other soldiers on patrol were unharmed in the event, and [Ernie] already has a replacement model on the way.
[Thanks Rioexxo and Alex]
More proof that
battlefield hacks
deserve a place next to some of the high-ticket items you’d usually associate with weapons of war. | 59 | 34 | [
{
"comment_id": "430047",
"author": "Olivier",
"timestamp": "2011-08-07T18:23:16",
"content": "Traxxas, not Traxxis.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "430196",
"author": "Gilliam",
"timestamp": "2011-08-07T22:39:16",
"con... | 1,760,377,120.103165 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/07/blow-your-mind-with-the-brainwave-disruptor/ | Blow Your Mind With The Brainwave Disruptor | Mike Nathan | [
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"brainwave",
"eeg",
"entrainment"
] | Whether you believe in it or not, the science behind brainwave entrainment is incredibly intriguing. [Rich Decibels] became interested in the subject, and after doing some research, decided to build
an entrainment device of his own.
If you are not familiar with the concept, brainwave entrainment theory suggests that low-frequency light and sound can be used to alter brain states, based on the assumption that the human brain will change its frequency to correspond to dominant external stimulus. [Rich’s] device is very similar to [Mitch Altman’s] “
Brain Machine
”, and uses both of these methods in an attempt to place the user in an altered state of mind.
[Rich] installed a trio of LEDs into a set of goggles, wiring them along with a set of headphones to his laser-cut enclosure. Inside, the Brainwave Disruptor contains an Arduino, which is tasked with both generating light patterns as well as bit-banged audio streams.
Well, how does it work? [Rich] reports that it performs quite nicely, causing both visual and auditory hallucinations along with the complete loss of a sense of time. Sounds interesting enough to give it a try! | 32 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "429983",
"author": "Miroslav",
"timestamp": "2011-08-07T16:34:43",
"content": "If you hit about 18 Hz with light frequency, you may suffer epileptic seizure. Many people are susceptible to this, not just known epileptics. So have someone nearby who can turn the machine off if needed... | 1,760,377,120.368755 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/07/vtol-airplane-quadracopter-mashup/ | VTOL Airplane / Quadracopter Mashup | Brian Benchoff | [
"hardware",
"Robots Hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [] | A few guys from Jobi Robotics came up with a really interesting RC plane called the
Quadshot
. With 4 motors, the plane is very similar to the
quadcopter
builds we’ve seen, but an added wing allows it to fly horizontally much faster than a pile of carbon fiber and electronics.
The VTOL ability of the plane reminds us of
something we saw at the National Air & Space Museum
a long time ago. The
flight test footage
of the Convair Pogo shows landings are
troublesome
to say the least, so we can appreciate how much work went into this build.
The Quadshot uses the Open-Source
Paparazzi autopilot
with onboard gyros to take a lot of work out of flying. Their
autopilot board
can also be switched from remote control to a UAV at the touch of a button. This might come in very handy when transitioning between vertical and horizontal flight modes.
The team has already built about a dozen prototypes, and they’re looking to cover tooling costs to manufacture the Quadshot with a
Kickstarter campaign
. The video posted on their Kickstarter page looks very cool. We’re looking forward to seeing the ‘quadcopter with a wing’ builds that the Quadshot will influence. | 13 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "429956",
"author": "elduderino",
"timestamp": "2011-08-07T15:39:33",
"content": "I fly rc planes a lot and have always thought about a VTOL plane. A very neat idea and good job on getting it to work +2",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment... | 1,760,377,120.802294 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/06/dead-bug-arduino-is-still-breadboard-ready/ | Dead-bug Arduino Is Still Breadboard Ready | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"breadboard",
"deadbug",
"lilypad",
"prototype"
] | Here’s
a no-PCB Arduino that doesn’t obscure the DIP footprint
of the AVR chip. It’s built on an ATmega88 chip, and includes a programming header, reset button, a couple of filtering caps, and an LED. This is modeled after the Lilypad hardware, and fits nicely on top of the plastic case of the microcontroller, allowing it to be used in a breadboard or DIP socket. You can see a walk through of the components in the clip after the break.
We don’t really need most of the components on top of the chip (especially the status LED on the SCK line), but there are several things that we like about this. First off, the programming header is extremely nice. We could see this coming in handy for prototyping where you don’t want to add a header to your final design. Just use a chip socket, and this chip while you’re developing firmware. Once everything is dialed in, program a naked chip and swap the two. The same goes for the reset button, which is nice when working on firmware but may not be necessary in your final design.
This is quite an old project, and we’ve actually seen a successor to it. This is Rev. 2 and
we looked in on Rev. 7
back in March. That one is a full Arduino, but the circuit board has no substrate.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMzRi4AAvV4&w=470]
[Thanks Panikos] | 28 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "429716",
"author": "Addidis",
"timestamp": "2011-08-06T23:22:13",
"content": "Coolest Arduino yet.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "429717",
"author": "prototyper@gmail.com",
"timestamp": "2011-08-06T23:24:01",
"conte... | 1,760,377,120.87037 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/06/quick-and-easy-audio-preamp/ | Quick And Easy Audio Preamp | Mike Nathan | [
"classic hacks",
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"hack a week",
"npn",
"preamp",
"transistor"
] | The most recent installment of [Dino Segovis’] Hack a Week covers the construction of
a simple NPN transistor audio preamp
. Some time ago, he built
a small audio amplifier using an LM386
which worked well, but didn’t quite get his music as loud as he would like it. He decided to build a preamp to complement his amplifier, and demonstrates how you too can build one with just a small handful of components.
As the name probably suggests, the cornerstone of this amplifier is an NPN transistor. He explains that a forward bias is applied to the base-emitter junction, which results in the transistor operating halfway between its cut-off and saturation regions. Both halves of the input audio signal are superimposed on this bias voltage, resulting in a decent amount of gain across both channels from a relatively small package.
The preamp isn’t going to win any awards among audiophiles, but it is definitely a great beginner project. Its a novel way of demonstrating how transistors work, while producing a useful takeaway piece of audio equipment at the same time.
Continue reading to see a video showing just how big an effect [Dino’s] NPN preamp had on his music.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SclQIWkOtk&w=470] | 16 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "429701",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2011-08-06T22:46:31",
"content": "I love Dino’s audio projects. Music and art got me tinkering and it’s little doodads like this one that make electronics instantly accessible and rewarding to non-engineer types like me. Very well done sir! C... | 1,760,377,121.445689 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/06/instructables-joins-autodesk/ | Instructables Joins Autodesk | Kevin Dady | [
"News"
] | [
"interesting"
] | Everyones favorite site, Instructables.com, has announced a big move.
They have joined Autodesk
along with the same team that is doing Autodesk
123D
,
Autodesk is a great cultural fit for Instructables. They make tools for creative people: they’re the world leader in 3D design, engineering, and entertainment software. Even if you don’t recognize the name Autodesk, their software has powered the movies you watch, and designed the cars you drive and the buildings you work in. Instructables will be the community arm of the same team that makes 123D, SketchBook, Homestyler, and Pixlr, which will help provide creative tools, inspiration, and services for all types of creative people. Here’s Carl Bass, Autodesk’s CEO, talking more about his vision for the future of DIY.
Sofar the overall reaction on the site thread is tame, but many comments lean to skeptical, though typical with any transition to “The man” as one commenter called them.
Meanwhile MAKE has posted a in depth article “
Autodesk Acquires Instructables: What It Means for Makers
” in their usual (long) format. What’s your thoughts? | 55 | 35 | [
{
"comment_id": "429550",
"author": "Girrrrrrr2",
"timestamp": "2011-08-06T17:54:56",
"content": "I love autodesk, but im not sure if Instructables is going to be a good fit…Anyone know any alternatives to Instructables… Like how it was before it became premium a few months ago…",
"parent_id": n... | 1,760,377,121.393505 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/06/the-diy-nuclear-reactor/ | The DIY Nuclear Reactor | Jeremy Cook | [
"chemistry hacks",
"News"
] | [
"nuclear",
"nuclear boy scout",
"reactor"
] | “Wednesday, I was arrested and sent to jail,” is what your blog might say if you decide to try and duplicate
this project
. You may, however, be fortunate to be still writing your blog, as ATTEMPTING TO BUILD YOUR OWN REACTOR can be quite dangerous. That’s what [Richard] did using household items such as clock fingers for Radium, and smoke detectors for Americium. After the radioactive elements were separated from their household “containers” and melted down, they created a small explosion on his stove.
This attempted experiment is based on one that was done by
[David Hahn
], AKA, “The Nuclear Boyscout”, in order to obtain his nuclear energy badge. For what it’s worth, [David] did attain the rank of Eagle Scout, however, he turned his parent’s house into a Superfund EPA cleanup site in the process.
The video after the break describes the process of making a reactor from household materials. This video may be entertaining, but duplicating it is not recommended (and would be somewhat expensive).
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0TlECFbjvM&w=470&h=349%5D | 86 | 44 | [
{
"comment_id": "429482",
"author": "grenadier",
"timestamp": "2011-08-06T15:12:42",
"content": "The 98% sulfuric acid he was using is magnetudes more dangerous than the small amount of radioactive materials present",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id"... | 1,760,377,121.564747 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/06/ohm-sense-makes-sense-of-resistor-color-bands/ | Ohm Sense Makes Sense Of Resistor Color Bands | Brian Benchoff | [
"iphone hacks",
"Software Development",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"app",
"iphone",
"resistor",
"resistor color bands",
"tool",
"violet is a goddamned whore"
] | [Alex Busman]’s first foray in iOS programming looks like a pretty useful tool. He came up with
Ohm Sense
, an iPhone app that will take a picture of a resistor and calculate the value based on the color bands. It’s a great tool that we wish we had when we were starting out. At 99 cents, the app is also much cheaper than the
emotional cost of our relationship with Violet
.
[Alex]’s used
OpenCV
for processing of the image data. The app works by scanning the image from the top-left corner and continuing until it sees a beige rectangle. After a bounding box is drawn around the resistor, the iPhone scans the image for columns of color. After a little interpretation, the value of the resistor is displayed on the screen. While it only works on resistors with beige plastic now, [Alex] says he’ll expand that in the future to include blue bodied metal-oxide resistors. [Alex] says the coding only took a week, so if anyone would like code a similar app for Android, be sure to tell us on our
tip line
.
This isn’t [Alex]’s first Hack A Day build. We featured his
Handy Board project
that uses an NES controller to play some chiptunes earlier this summer. Compared to the projects we’ve let slip over the last few months, it’s good to see
someone
did something productive with their summer.
[Alex] posted a demo of his resistor app on YouTube. Check it out below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk0AEv8825U&w=470] | 59 | 38 | [
{
"comment_id": "429457",
"author": "grenadier",
"timestamp": "2011-08-06T14:07:57",
"content": "I hardly believe this is any faster than just thinking about it yourself",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "429465",
"author": "Joris",
... | 1,760,377,121.254046 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/05/need-cheap-and-plentiful-project-boxes-hit-up-your-local-hardware-store/ | Need Cheap And Plentiful Project Boxes? Hit Up Your Local Hardware Store | Mike Nathan | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"enclosures",
"open hardware",
"project box"
] | One thing that really makes a project complete is the way in which you package your final product. Some people are fine with a piece of protoboard with wires sticking out in every direction, and truth be told, so are we – depending on the application.
[Daniel] over at archive.org
was seeking out enclosures
to wrap up some humidity and temperature monitors he was working on. He suddenly realized that electrical junction boxes were cheap, widely available, and perfectly suited for the job. He hauled off to the hardware store and bought a few different boxes, then spent some time cleaning them up a bit before putting them into service.
While he couldn’t put the PVC-based plastic lids into his laser cutter, he did grab some birch plywood at the store, which fit his needs nicely. A few minutes in the cutter and a few coats of paint later, he had some great looking covers for his project boxes. He added a piece of ply to the inside of the metal enclosures to protect his components, and when everything was finished, he was quite pleased with the results.
Let’s say you don’t happen to have a laser cutter on hand. Plastic boxes would do fine in most scenarios, but if you absolutely required a metal enclosure, a few coats of Plastidip on all interior surfaces would keep your electronics safe as well.
Now, no one is calling the use of junction boxes for electronics projects revolutionary by any means. It’s just one of those items you can blindly pass by in the hardware store countless times without giving them a second glance, until someone happens to point out that they would make a perfect enclosure. That’s something we can appreciate.
If you’re interested in putting some of your own together, [Daniel] has made his laser cutter templates
available online
. | 35 | 26 | [
{
"comment_id": "429131",
"author": "Kaj",
"timestamp": "2011-08-05T22:14:32",
"content": "Junction boxes and PVC pipes/fittings – both real handy for building different types of enclosures!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "429132",
"author":... | 1,760,377,121.02254 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/03/reprap-vouyerism/ | RepRap Voyeurism | Mike Szczys | [
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"mendel",
"reprap"
] | Hey everybody, [Nbitwonder] is
building his own RepRap 3D printer
. What’s special about that? Well, not much and and lot all at the same time. The art of building a self-replicating 3d printer still has a lot to do with luck and forum-crawling to make all of the decisions that go into this complicated project.
Back in March [Nbitwonder] did a collaborative project over at Thingiverse and scored himself a set of printed parts from a guy who already has one of these printers. He then order a set of the non-printable hardware and has since been assembling it. If you’re interested but haven’t already taken the plunge, there’s enough pictures and information in this set of posts to satisfy your craving… for now.
We say this build is an art because it goes beyond just plunking the pieces together. Take the print head, for instance. Instead of going with the extruder that is considered the default for a Mendel build, [Nbitwonder] is working on a variation called
Greg’s Hinged Accessible Extruder
. We can’t wait until the hardware assembly is done, because it’s the calibration that really interests us. | 13 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "428066",
"author": "Nicholas Petty",
"timestamp": "2011-08-03T20:10:46",
"content": "Hope this doesn’t go against comment policy, but you have a little mishap in about the second sentence there.. Other than that, awesome post!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": ... | 1,760,377,121.303429 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/03/microsofts-attempt-at-an-arduino-killer-feels-like-a-gimmick/ | Microsoft’s Attempt At An Arduino Killer — Feels Like A Gimmick | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
".NET",
"c++",
"gadgeteer",
"microsoft"
] | Microsoft has thrown its hat into the open source hardware hobby market. Their offering is called
the Gadgeteer
. We’d love to tell you all about it, but the big M didn’t make it very easy to find out about the device and it’s addons. When we set out to find what processor is running on the board we were happy to see that they do call it an Open Source Hardware project, but no schematic is posted. When we did finally navigate to the hardware documentation it’s a file that must be downloaded and you’ve got to agree to their licensing before grabbing it. So that’s as far as we went, and now we’ll go back to using more open tools.
For those of you who aren’t scared off by the lack of openness, the first thing you’ll notice about this board is that it’s full of connector headers. Instead of the small rows that Arduino uses, the Gadgeteer is meant to use ribbon cables to connect to various breakout boards. You can program for the platform in C# using the .NET framework. This means using Microsoft Visual Studio for those that are already acquainted with the platform. But regular readers will note that we’re always looking for Linux support in our IDEs and you won’t find that here.
[Thanks Hrasdt (and several others) via
Slashdot
] | 119 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "427981",
"author": "Akoi Meexx",
"timestamp": "2011-08-03T18:28:46",
"content": "Does it interface with their thriving Zune product line? :pCan’t say as I’d pick one of these up any time soon. Too little too late, Microsoft.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []... | 1,760,377,121.161595 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/03/peltier-powered-sous-vide-rig-gets-it-right-every-time/ | Peltier Powered Sous-vide Rig Gets It Right Every Time | Mike Nathan | [
"cooking hacks"
] | [
"cooking",
"peltier",
"pid",
"sous-vide"
] | It seems that sous-vide cooking is becoming increasingly popular lately. [Meseta] caught the sous-vide bug
and wanted to try his hand at it
, though he did not have enough money for a premade sous-vide cooker. After seeing a good handful of lackluster DIY sous-vide rigs online, he decided that he would design and build a sous-vide cooker of his own.
He already had a Forebrain microcontroller at his disposal to use as a PID controller, but what he really needed was a cooking vessel. Rather than use an old crock pot or similar device, he purchased a small personal refrigerator that could be used for cooling or heating. The unit ran off a Peltier cooler that could be switched between modes, making it quite easy for him to control.
In his blog, he discusses the modification from beginning to end, and even shows off the results of his cooking endeavors. He hasn’t posted code as of yet, but he says that he is more than happy to share it with anyone who might be interested in building their own sous-vide cooker. | 13 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "427955",
"author": "Doktor Jeep",
"timestamp": "2011-08-03T17:40:15",
"content": "Be advised of the kinds of plastics used in this method of cooking. Some plastics may leach off chemicals that mimick hormones. Estrogen is usually the case. Now I know that people are going to smirk a... | 1,760,377,121.613081 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/03/how-to-add-modular-tools-to-your-soldering-platform/ | How To Add Modular Tools To Your Soldering Platform | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"alligator clips",
"peg board",
"soldering",
"third hand"
] | [Patenomics] has had some trouble finding a suitable place to work on projects in his tiny apartment. Lately he’s taken to using the stove top as a soldering platform and was looking for ways to protect the stove while adding functionality. He built this
soldering platform from a couple chunks of pegboard and some hardware store parts
. He’s in for under $15 and has a really functional platform that may be worth adding to your solder station.
The two pegboard pieces are held in place by threaded rod and some nuts. This hardware also lends itself to adjustable feet so that you can make the platform level and stable. The holes in the top and bottom sheets line up to receive and securely position some additional tools. Here you can see that bendable copper pipe keeps some alligator clips right where they’re needed, but future plans include adding lights, clamps, and lasers.
This makes a nice work platform to go along with your
other portable electronic bench tools
. But if you’ve really got the itch, you’ll eventually outgrow all of this and then it might be time to
find yourself a hackerspace to join
. | 19 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "427913",
"author": "Joe User",
"timestamp": "2011-08-03T16:05:58",
"content": "Using your cooking area for soldering, which involves toxic substances, isverybad idea.The pegboard stand is a cool.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id":... | 1,760,377,121.669937 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/03/come-see-whats-cooking-in-the-arduino-kitchen/ | Come See What’s Cooking In The Arduino Kitchen | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"arduino",
"development"
] | The crew that brought you the Arduino is always hard at work trying to bring the community closer together and to foster collaborative development. They recently rolled out
a new feature on their site
that is sure to be of interest to Arduino veterans and neophytes alike.
Arduino Labs is a platform which the team plans on using as an incubator of sorts, for projects that are underway, but not fully baked. Currently, they have highlighted two in-progress initiatives, including the Arduino Mega ADK, as well as a GSM/GPRS shield that the team has been developing in collaboration with Telefonica I+D.
As of right now, the site looks to be a one-way information outlet for the Arduino team to the community, but they stress that their aim is to create a more open development process within the Arduino project. While there is no official statement on the matter, we hope that the site will eventually allow members of the community to offer both their feedback and lend manpower to forthcoming projects.
[via
Adafruit blog
] | 6 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "427887",
"author": "Andy",
"timestamp": "2011-08-03T14:27:38",
"content": "IsThisnot the official statement for it? Or something like it?Or am i misunderstanding what you wrote? Which is highly possible.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comm... | 1,760,377,121.715366 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/03/a-3d-printed-aerial-drone/ | A 3D Printed Aerial Drone | Jeremy Cook | [
"Transportation Hacks",
"Weapons Hacks"
] | [
"3d printer",
"drone",
"selective laser sintering",
"sinter"
] | Drones come in many shapes and sizes, but now they can also be
3d printed!
To make these drones, the
[Decode]
group used a selective laser
sintering
process which is pretty interesting in itself. Once the printing process is done, these little planes are built with only five structural and aerodynamic components. Because of their simplicity, these drones can reportedly be assembled and ready to fly with no tools in only ten minutes!
This design was done by the [Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council] at the University of Southampton in the UK by a group of students. Besides this particular plane, they concentrate their efforts on building autonomous drones under 20 Kilograms. Using a 3D sintering process with this design allowed them to make this plane how they wanted, regardless of the ease of machining the parts.
This group has several
videos
of their planes on their website to download, but check after the break for an embedded video of the
[Newscientist]
piece about their project.
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFFFiB_if18&w=470&h=349%5D | 21 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "427853",
"author": "Squintz",
"timestamp": "2011-08-03T13:17:55",
"content": "That’s pretty cool!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "427863",
"author": "Franklyn",
"timestamp": "2011-08-03T13:32:01",
"content": "This is... | 1,760,377,122.489096 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/03/model-rocketry-from-the-rockets-point-of-view/ | Model Rocketry From The Rocket’s Point Of View | Mike Nathan | [
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"model rocket",
"video"
] | When someone writes in and says, “Hey,
I strapped a camera to a rocket
and took videos of it launching!” it’s really hard for us to not get suckered in. Try as we might, we just couldn’t resist taking a look at the videos [Vlad] recorded of his model rocketry “exploration”.
Inspired by our
4th of July post
featuring POV videos of bottle rocket launches, he bought himself an 808 keychain camera and decided to try his hand at some high flying video. He strapped the camera to his 46” Estes rocket with a few pieces of scotch tape in an effort to keep weight down, and set off to his launch pad.
He used a Estes C6-5 engine for each launch, which he estimates took the rocket up to a height of 300 feet rather than the typical 500 feet, due to the added weight. While not particularly useful, the video is still awfully fun to watch, and perhaps it will inspire others to mount cameras on even larger, more powerful rockets.
We can only hope.
Continue reading to check out the videos [Vlad] shot, but be warned, the descent is vertigo-inducing.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM2Rez20-2M&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxWeVqnMPmE&w=470] | 30 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "427818",
"author": "Seuros",
"timestamp": "2011-08-03T11:54:38",
"content": "Cool the video is from the future :D",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "427820",
"author": "jaqen",
"timestamp": "2011-08-03T12:06:43",
"conte... | 1,760,377,122.205722 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/05/lan-connected-washing-machine-lets-you-know-when-your-clothes-are-done/ | LAN-connected Washing Machine Lets You Know When Your Clothes Are Done | Mike Nathan | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"ethernet",
"laundry",
"washing machine"
] | [Micha’s] washing machine is equipped with a rather inaccurate timer, so it is always difficult to estimate when the load will be finished. Since it is located in his basement, he hated having to check on the machine continually to know when his clothes were done. Instead of hauling up and down the stairs over and over, he decided to
hack in an “end of cycle” notifier
of his own.
The washer has an LED that lights when it is finally done doing its thing, so [Micha] removed the LED and soldered in two wires, which he then connected to his Arduino. When the washer is finished and the LED should be lit, the Arduino senses that the input has been pulled low, signaling the end of the cycle. The Arduino was hooked into his home network via an Ethernet shield, enabling him to monitor the process from the comfort of the nearest web browser.
It’s a clever implementation, and it sure saves him a lot of time trudging up and down the stairs. Nice job! | 44 | 31 | [
{
"comment_id": "429079",
"author": "Munch",
"timestamp": "2011-08-05T20:43:52",
"content": "This goes far beyond applications in a single house-hold. I have long sought the laundromat which let me explicitly schedule time for a washing machine. Having a real-time display of current activity, alon... | 1,760,377,122.28639 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/05/robots-tends-your-lawn-while-you-veg-out-on-the-couch/ | Robots Tends Your Lawn While You Veg Out On The Couch | Mike Nathan | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"propeller",
"robot",
"wireless",
"xbee"
] | Most people can agree that picking weeds is not a whole lot of fun. [Dave] was not a big fan of sitting out in the heat toiling over his lawn, so he did the only rational thing
and built a robot to do it for him
.
Nuntius, the Garden Avenger, is a remote controlled robot that [Dave] can use to pick weeds from the comfort of his couch. The robot is controlled by a Propeller microcontroller, taking its commands wirelessly via a pair of XBee modules. Nuntius’ controller is pretty intuitive, consisting of a 5-axis arm complete with a gripper that [Dave] can articulate in any number of directions. His motions cause the robot’s arm to move in sync, and driving Nuntius is as easy as holding down a button and moving the controls in the desired direction.
[Dave] can monitor what Nuntius is doing via a wireless camera he has installed on the robot’s arm, allowing him to sit back and relax indoors while the robot handles the hard work.
Keep reading to see a short video demo of Nuntius in action.
[via
Make
]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnZ_UmJkjqs&w=470] | 3 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "429027",
"author": "Rob",
"timestamp": "2011-08-05T17:46:14",
"content": "you just posted this project on monday.http://hackaday.com/2011/08/01/robotic-gardener-takes-its-cue-from-bomb-disposal-bots/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id... | 1,760,377,122.38796 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/05/building-a-computer-out-of-555-chips/ | Building A Computer Out Of 555 Chips | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks",
"hardware"
] | [
"555",
"computer",
"flip-flop",
"logic gates",
"timer IC"
] | [M. Eric Carr] came up with an
interesting build
for the 555 contest earlier this year, and we’re pretty sure that it would have kicked the
winner of the complex category
off the throne if it were completed. Although it’s a few months late, we’re happy to feature at least part of his 555-based computer on Hack A Day.
[M. Eric Carr] started off implementing
Boolean logic with a 555
. After building a
universal gate
, he moved onto putting one bit of memory in a single 555. This design uses the 555 as a
latch
and is one of the craziest off-spec uses of a 555. While fitting 24 bits of memory on 5 large bread boards may seem like a waste, it’s a far cry from the
square feet
or
acres
of other computer builds we’ve seen.
From the post on the 555-based memory, [M. Eric Carr] says a completed design of his computer could be up and working this summer. It’s already August, so we’re hoping he’s still working on his design. Check out the video of the memory below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqTilH5Qp1k&w=470] | 17 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "428941",
"author": "theodore",
"timestamp": "2011-08-05T15:05:21",
"content": "Now it seams that with a good imagination and a lot of skill you can do anything with 555 timers, perhaps we should see what you can’t do with them. Great work by the way",
"parent_id": null,
"de... | 1,760,377,122.34201 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/05/basic-animatronics-tutorial-pic-based-servo-eyebrows/ | Basic Animatronics Tutorial: PIC Based Servo Eyebrows | Jesse Congdon | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"2 servo",
"animatronics",
"pic",
"PIC 18F452",
"servos",
"tutorial"
] | [Chris] writes in to let us know about his latest animatronics
tutorial
, this time on robotic eyebrows! The tutorial takes us through the process of using a fairly simple PIC circuit to display various facial expressions. Since a wide array of facial expressions have unique and well understood eyebrow positions this simple hack can make even the most bland looking mask come to life . Animatronics is a subject near and dear to our hearts, but the simple actuation of servos can go much further than cardboard faces. This easy to follow tutorial can help you on your way to controlling all sorts of servo stuff like
vent
flaps
or um…
fish
, if you’d like. The software is not very deeply explained but it is commented and available for download from [Chris]’s site.
From here [Chris] plans to expand the project with more tutorials that can help further animate the face. We are particularly interested in the one and two eye systems he mentions, as well as more complicated eyebrow mechanics. Also check out [Chris]’s other servo based robotics tutorials like the
Sharpie Spotifier
and the
Wooden Menace
.
There is also a video of the eyebrows in action after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/yoEkXngbcfE&hl&w=470] | 7 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "428920",
"author": "John Dorney",
"timestamp": "2011-08-05T13:32:05",
"content": "Integrate facial recognition software and mimic what the person is doing ! Ok, maybe that’s a bit down the road.Good start man. Looking forward to see it progress.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth":... | 1,760,377,122.006729 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/05/etch-a-sketch-automatically-draws-a-tribute-to-hack-a-day/ | Etch-a-Sketch Automatically Draws A Tribute To Hack A Day | Mike Nathan | [
"cnc hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"cnc",
"etch a sketch",
"parallax",
"propeller"
] | We have seen quite a few automated Etch-a-Sketch machines in our time, but when [Jason] wrote in to share his take on the subject, it came with
a nice bribe attached.
We are vain. It’s not something we are proud of, but when it comes to seeing the Hack a Day logo drawn out by a robot, consider us sold.
[Jason] has several CNC router builds under his belt, and thought it would be fun to automate his Etch-a-Sketch, a toy he loved as a child. He cut some gears and a face plate for the toy with his new CNC machine, then got busy programming his Propeller microcontroller to do his bidding.
A piece CNC software handles the conversion of a bitmap image to an outline, which is then converted to a CNC cutting path. The cutting path is translated into x/y coordinates by a bit of C++ code, before being fed into the microcontroller, which is running
a small SPIN application he calls RoboSketch
. The Propeller takes care of the rest, quickly drawing the image or pattern to the Etch-a-Sketch.
Continue reading if you would like to see a video of [Jason’s] tribute to Hack a Day, and don’t miss some of
our previous automated Etch-a-Sketch coverage
if this is something on your to-do list.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MNqW1GT4nc&w=470] | 8 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "428908",
"author": "svofski",
"timestamp": "2011-08-05T12:44:44",
"content": "Before hackaday I didn’t know this idiom, but after it had been repeated about 1000 times, I learned it well :Dhttp://www.google.com/search?q=“do+his+bidding”+OR+”do+your+bidding”+site:hackaday.com+-site:h... | 1,760,377,122.43397 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/04/using-an-led-cube-as-an-audio-visualizer/ | Using An LED Cube As An Audio Visualizer | Brian Benchoff | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"audio",
"audio visualizer",
"led",
"LED cube",
"VU meter"
] | [Isaac] sent in his mashup build of a LED cube combined with a graphic EQ meter.
The build
is fairly simple and from the
video
we can tell that his build would be a great installation in a dubstep venue. While it’s not the 9x9x9 cube possible with some
judicious coding
we think it’s a very fitting display for the intended purpose.
Unlike purely analog audio visualizations using resistor and capacitor networks, the
MSGEQ7
is a 7-band graphic equalizer IC that requires basically no support circuitry. The cube is powered from a few shift registers and takes up three pins on his Arduino.
Even with
freaking enormous
LED cubes, the resolution is still too low to do much of anything outside a game of Snake or Pong.
Volumetric displays
, while offering higher potential resolution, rely on a mechanism to spin the display around at a very high speed. [Issac]’s build gets around that limitation by only needing a few LEDs every band of his EQ. It’s a very nice build that gives a purpose to all the LED cubes out there. | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "428671",
"author": "Zhugie",
"timestamp": "2011-08-04T21:15:23",
"content": "may have to steal this. I built a 4x4x4 cube for a uni project a few months back and I’ve been looking to do something with it",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"commen... | 1,760,377,122.590751 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/04/would-you-like-to-play-a-game/ | Would You Like To Play A Game? | Kevin Dady | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"tv out"
] | [Itay] dropped a link in our inbox about
creating a simple video game system using Arduino
. Yes we all know where that is going … the TV out library for Arduino. However this tutorial should still be mentioned because it pretty much covers everything someone new would need to quickly and easily hook one of these things up, along with wii Nunchuck usage, library basics and creating your first game.
Lots of large pictures, diagrams, and explanation of software is included. Yes we know we feature this little setup a lot, that is because its so darn fun. So if you ever wanted to make your own little video game system (
without going crazy bit banging VGA out of a little micro in ASM
) this guide will help you get started making that next arcade masterpiece. | 17 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "428630",
"author": "alan",
"timestamp": "2011-08-04T19:12:09",
"content": "You can bash the arduino all you want, but for how simple this and how easy this is, it’s amazing.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "428638",
"author":... | 1,760,377,122.543072 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/04/prison-inmates-the-worlds-least-admirable-hackers/ | Prison Inmates: The World’s Least Admirable Hackers | Mike Nathan | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"inventions",
"prison",
"weapons"
] | One thing that always amazes us is the ingenuity displayed by prison inmates,
as demonstrated in the tools and weapons they create
while under the watchful eye of the law. Unlike most people however, these individuals have nothing but time on their side, which lends to the wide range of implements they inevitably dream up.
[Marc Steinmetz] took some time to photograph a handful of contraband items which were confiscated in various prisons. They range from the relatively benign bed sheet ladder to more sophisticated items such as battery-powered shotguns constructed from iron bedposts. While weaponry and escape aids are the most common prison yard creations, he also came across a DIY toaster, a hidden radio receiver, and one of our favorites – the surveillance bug pictured above, which was used to listen in on guards’ conversations.
While the use of any of these items in a controlled prison environment is questionable at best, it’s still interesting to see what people can hack together with limited resources and a heck of a lot of time.
[via
Neatorama
via
Environmental Graffiti
] | 38 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "428608",
"author": "Christian",
"timestamp": "2011-08-04T18:11:58",
"content": "Haha the rope ladder is the best piece :D",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "428610",
"author": "Addidis",
"timestamp": "2011-08-04T18:16:03",
... | 1,760,377,122.737483 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/04/an-arduino-board-for-your-tiniest-of-projects/ | An Arduino Board For Your Tiniest Of Projects | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"how-to"
] | [
"arduino pro mini",
"clone",
"diy"
] | Instructables user [dustinandrews] just took the wraps off his latest creation,
a DIY Arduino Pro Mini clone
.
Actually, to call it an clone is technically incorrect – while he aimed to produce a tiny Arduino-compatible board, his goal was not to replicate the Mini’s design. Instead, he developed a 1” x 1” board from scratch, covering the construction process in great detail.
When you are working with components this tiny, the only reasonable way to get things done is via solder reflow. He walks through the steps he took to produce the board, which should be enough to guide those doing reflow for the first time through the process without too much trouble.
The end result looks pretty nice, and when he puts it up side by side against the Arduino Pro Mini, his board can definitely hold its own. While his design lacks an on-board power regulator and reset button, he does provide two more analog I/O pins than the Mini, along with several other enhancements. | 29 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "428573",
"author": "Ad",
"timestamp": "2011-08-04T17:03:01",
"content": "1″ x 1″?Is that ruler broken? Looks a bit closer to 2cm X 2cm for the non metrically challenged",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "428595",
"author"... | 1,760,377,122.66015 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/04/the-lego-synchro-drive/ | The Lego Synchro Drive | Jeremy Cook | [
"News",
"Toy Hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"lego",
"mechanical",
"Technic"
] | [M-byte] wrote in to tell us about the
Lego Synchro Drive
. Although not a new hack, this autonomous vehicle is quite amazing in it’s simplicity. Using only one motor turning at a constant speed, this device is able to navigate obstacles by simply turning.
As [m-byte] was quick to point out, this is a simple task using modern electronics, but this drive is made using only Lego Technic parts. The machine’s motion is quite pleasing. When it hits an obstacle, the outer rotating ring stops, allowing the casters on the bottom to switch direction. One could see this invention coming out of Leonardo da Vinci’s notebook (minus the Legos).
Check out either of the embedded videos after the break to see this device in action. If you’d like to build one yourself, follow
this link
for very well illustrated directions.
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p7OMVMWD3A&w=470&h=349%5D
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uTApFE8H90%5D
If you would like a quick refresher on the mechanical side of hacking, check out this
Mechanical Engineering Primer. | 16 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "428485",
"author": "john",
"timestamp": "2011-08-04T13:27:17",
"content": "very elegant solution.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "428502",
"author": "ejonesss",
"timestamp": "2011-08-04T13:38:49",
"content": "great!!... | 1,760,377,122.791626 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/04/air-conditioner-regulation-using-a-hobby-servo/ | Air Conditioner Regulation Using A Hobby Servo | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"air conditioning",
"arduino",
"automation"
] | For anyone that works in a large office building, odds are you know the pains of dealing with a poorly regulated HVAC system. [Robovergne] and his co-workers recently moved to a new location, and found that the air conditioning control was less than effective, leaving the office
as hot as a sauna or as cold as a meat locker.
While they manually triggered the A/C on and off every half hour for a while, that grew tiring, so [Robovergne] decided to take things into his own hands. He had never used an Arduino before, and figured that regulating the air would be a great first project. He mounted a small hobby servo onto the front of the A/C remote, and wired a DS18B21 temperature probe to the Arduino. A small pot is used to adjust the temperature setpoints, which are displayed on the attached LCD screen. Now, when the temperature starts to rise, the Arduino triggers the servo to turn the air conditioning on without human interaction.
[Robovergne] says that while his solution is ugly, it works quite well. It definitely gets the job done, we can’t argue with that!
Continue reading to see a video of his automatic A/C controller in action.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2GPZRg92BM&w=470] | 28 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "428428",
"author": "steaky",
"timestamp": "2011-08-04T11:06:42",
"content": "cool idea.next step would be to reverse engineer the IR protocol and use the arduino as the remote(?)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "428535",
... | 1,760,377,122.965702 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/03/an-arm-dev-board-you-can-make-at-home/ | An ARM Dev Board You Can Make At Home | Brian Benchoff | [
"hardware",
"Microcontrollers",
"Parts"
] | [
"arm",
"dev board",
"development board",
"single-sided"
] | [BarsMonster] just challenged our conceptions of ARM development with his single-sided
development board
that’s loaded with an
STM32F100
(PDF warning) ARM microcontroller. The board is remarkably simple – just a regulator, resistor and a few caps are necessary to get a $1 ARM μC up and running.
[BarsMonster] gave us
a schematic
of his board along with the
Eagle .brd file
of his build. Everything is an SMD component, so except for 9 through-holes, this board can be
easily manufactured at home
.
While we have seen
a few
single sided projects at Hack A Day,
dev boards
made with this technique have fallen by the wayside. This surprises us because single sided boards are easy to make with the
various
CNC
mills
we’ve seen.
There are a few great projects out there for the STM32 processor, like a
web radio
, but [BarsMonster] is having some trouble finding some good libraries for his MCU (specifically STM32 libraries for Eagle). If you know of anything he can do, drop a note in the comments or on his
website
. | 52 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "428162",
"author": "Roberto",
"timestamp": "2011-08-03T23:08:15",
"content": "The Linuxstamp remains the only Linux-running board that you can make at home.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "428182",
"author": "Roberto",... | 1,760,377,123.056834 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/03/diy-propeller-based-ecg/ | DIY Propeller-based ECG | Mike Nathan | [
"Medical Hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"ecg",
"electrocardiogram",
"propeller"
] | [Ray] likes to build all sorts of Propeller-based projects, but one of the more interesting items we came across was
this DIY ECG
. While we have
covered other
DIY electrocardiograms
before, he left the breadboard behind and put together a nicely done PCB for his build.
The ECGs design should be pretty familiar to anyone that has seen
our ECG coverage
in the past. The user places his thumbs on the large built-in pads, which allow the circuit to sense the electrical signals produced by heart’s contractions. These small electrical impulses are then amplified using an AD627 instrument amplifier before being further amplified via a dual op-amp.
The amplified signal is filtered and then fed into the Propeller’s ADC, which displays the user’s heart rhythms via an LED. The data can also be fed into a computer via an optoisolated serial connection.
[Ray] lays out a litany of warnings and precautions that should be followed before downloading his schematics and firmware. We have to echo those warnings, as it doesn’t take a large well-placed shock to disrupt the heart. | 18 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "428132",
"author": "steve",
"timestamp": "2011-08-03T22:22:09",
"content": "Very nice. Clean and easy build. The artificial ground could be a bit enhanced, but since it works- who cares…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "428141",
... | 1,760,377,123.352692 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/03/dedicated-hacker-adds-usb-capabilities-to-his-commodore-64/ | Dedicated Hacker Adds USB Capabilities To His Commodore 64 | Mike Nathan | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"basic",
"c64",
"Commmodore 64",
"usb"
] | To say that Commodore 64 aficionados are a dedicated group
would be quite the understatement
. There are still quite a few individuals that spend all sorts of time building and programming for the C64 in order to make using them enjoyable, and to keep up to date with current technologies.
[Luigi] is one of these people. He wanted a way to easily transfer files between his PC and his C64 that was fast but cheap. To [Luigi], this meant USB file transfers, which would take quite a bit of work to implement. He started out by rolling his own BASIC interpreter which could eventually be extended to support USB. Using his BASIC-Plus interpreter, he was able to implement a USB Kernel, which could transfer files at 1.2 KB/s via a USB to serial adapter. Wanting faster file transfers, he built a USB to parallel adapter, which resulted in a nearly 8-fold increase in speed.
So, if you have been dying to have USB capabilities on your C64, look no further, [Luigi] has just what you need!
Continue reading to see a quick video of USB-64 in action.
[Thanks, Matt]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73CUKouZROk&w=470] | 23 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "428106",
"author": "Rob",
"timestamp": "2011-08-03T21:15:57",
"content": "Cool stuff I love C64 hacks.. I wish i would have started on a c64 instead of the 8086.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "428109",
"author": "HHH",
... | 1,760,377,123.294118 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/02/classic-game-cabinet-becomes-a-drivable-car/ | Classic Game Cabinet Becomes A Drivable Car | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"arcade cabinet",
"augmented reality",
"game cabinet",
"Outrun"
] | [Garnet Hertz], a professor and “artist in residence” at UC Irvine, built a
drivable
Outrun
arcade cabinet
for an experiment in augmented reality.
The old fiberglass and wood cabinet was hacked up and the motors, wheels, and drive train from an electric golf cart were stuffed inside. The original steering wheel and pedals were used for the controls. Although the
top speed
of the in-game car is about 180 mph, that was brought down to a reasonable 13 miles per hour.
The build doesn’t run on the original 68k processor. Instead, custom software is used to take real-world image data from two webcams on top of the cabinet. These images are then converted into
Outrun
sprites and displayed on the monitor. The software proportionally changes the speed of the in-game car, but it seems the difference between the game speed and real-life speed would be a little disconcerting. Although it’s not a real world track with the
corkscrew loops
of
Race Drivin’
, it’s still an interesting experiment in augmented reality.
Right now, we’re trying to figure out how to put this in our car.
Outrun
is now being
reverse engineered
, and the
road layer code
is complete. Does anyone want to take a stab at that build?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaTB5Q11Dzc&w=470] | 40 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "427526",
"author": "vasskk",
"timestamp": "2011-08-02T22:03:25",
"content": "coolest thing ever.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "427528",
"author": "Twerpling",
"timestamp": "2011-08-02T22:04:50",
"content": "This is... | 1,760,377,123.482016 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/02/visualizing-pcb-revisions-using-a-gerber-viewer/ | Visualizing PCB Revisions Using A Gerber Viewer | Mike Nathan | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"eagle",
"gerber",
"gerbv",
"pcb",
"schematics"
] | We all know that Eagle has its share of shortcomings. Instructables user [westfw] was particularly annoyed by the fact that while Eagle keeps copies of up to 10 revisions of your board, it cannot open those files without resorting to manually renaming each one. Even more frustrating to him is the fact that you can’t use Eagle to view two files simultaneously in order to compare layouts. This made hunting down changes quite tedious,
so he started looking for a better way to do things.
While using his favorite
open-source gerber viewer gerbv
, he noticed that the application let him load multiple copies of the same layer, XORing the PCBs’ colors together. Realizing that with some clever color selection, he could use gerbv to automatically highlight layout differences, he set off to automate the process.
The resulting script works on any flavor of *nix, and should play nice in Windows under cygwin as well. The script reads through Eagle backup files, renaming them and tweaking the colors so that when XORed, they show up as bright red areas in gerbv. It’s a simple yet handy tool to have on hand if you happen to do a lot of PCB design. | 13 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "427542",
"author": "hpux735",
"timestamp": "2011-08-02T22:24:01",
"content": "Awesome idea.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "427548",
"author": "macegr",
"timestamp": "2011-08-02T22:32:08",
"content": "Good old westfw... | 1,760,377,123.13107 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/02/only-losers-text-message-on-cellphones-this-guy-carries-his-own-teletype-for-that/ | Only Losers Text Message On Cellphones – This Guy Carries His Own Teletype For That | Mike Szczys | [
"Cellphone Hacks"
] | [
"asr-33",
"sms",
"stm32",
"teletype",
"text message"
] | Yes, that’s an SMS text messaging device. [Mdziewie] decided that texting on a regular cellphone was too boring and decided to
build himself an old-school SMS gateway
. Here’s
a translated link
but the formatting of the forum post gets screwed up with the machine translation.
The device he’s using is
an ASR-33 Teletype machine
, which was introduced to the market in 1963. It is connected to a GSM modem via an ARM microcontroller, the STM32F103. This chip, along with a few electronic components, let [Mdziewie] design an interface that doesn’t require alteration to the ancient hardware. The forum post linked above includes video of this sending and receiving texts. It’s awesomely loud as it hammers away at the paper, and seems to work as expected.
If you hunger for one of your own but don’t have half-century old equipment there’s still hope. Find yourself a typewriter and
turn it into a teletype machine
. | 21 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "427477",
"author": "Doc Oct",
"timestamp": "2011-08-02T20:18:10",
"content": "One thing that I’ve been considering for awhile is a morse code based SMS doohickey. It could be the size of a phone even with iambic paddles.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}... | 1,760,377,123.405099 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/02/chainless-bicycle-will-turn-a-few-heads/ | Chainless Bicycle Will Turn A Few Heads | Mike Szczys | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"bicycle",
"hub motor",
"scooter",
"velocipede",
"welding"
] | Someone let [Tane] play around with welding equipment and bicycle parts and look what happened! He built
a diminutive velocipede
. Now that’s just a term for a human-powered land vehicle, but the term fits a bit better as this is missing most of the stuff you’d expect to see on a bicycle.
He started with a mountain bike and a kick scooter, then went to work on both with a hack saw. A bit of welding and angle grinding left him with what you see above. It’s still steerable, but missing are the cranks, chain, and brakes. That’s okay though, the bike is low enough for your legs to reach the ground – you start it up and come to a stop Fred-Flintstone-Style.
[Tane] originally meant to add electric propulsion but didn’t quite get around to it. There’s always the option to
add a hub motor to the rear wheel
if he has the time and motivation. | 26 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "427422",
"author": "PsyKotyk",
"timestamp": "2011-08-02T19:17:09",
"content": "Looks like a great way to get a handlebar stem in the nuts.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "427472",
"author": "bronk",
"timestamp"... | 1,760,377,123.552771 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/02/incredibly-fast-3d-printing-with-the-ultimaker/ | Incredibly Fast 3D Printing With The Ultimaker | Mike Nathan | [
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"makerbot",
"reprap",
"ultimaker"
] | There’s a new 3d printer on the block,
and hot damn is it fast!
Hailing from the Netherlands, the Ultimaker 3D Printer has finally hit US shores, and aims to give the MakerBot a run for its money. The Ultimaker was designed by
Utrecht Fab Lab
manager [Siert Wijnia] along with two frequent lab patrons, [Erik DeBruijn and Martijn Elserman]. The trio were big fans of the MakerBot, but they wanted to make a better 3D printer.
And make a better printer, they did.
The Ultimaker can print using Either ABS or PLA plastic just like the MakerBot, but it is several magnitudes faster than its predecessor. While the MakerBot utilizes a moving build platform, the Ultimaker has a print head that can move along three axes. The moving print head, along with offset motors which are mounted on the printer’s frame allow the Ultimaker to build taller object than the MakerBot, at higher speeds.
That’s not to say that the MakerBot is bad in any way – rather, the presence of a new kid on the block shows how the evolution and progression of open source design benefits us all.
Keep reading to see a video of the Ultimaker in action, you won’t regret it!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2cgGTLMeCQ&w=470] | 92 | 37 | [
{
"comment_id": "427315",
"author": "Krazeecain",
"timestamp": "2011-08-02T18:08:13",
"content": "Holy crap that thing’s fast!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "427317",
"author": "Bill",
"timestamp": "2011-08-02T18:10:23",
"content": ... | 1,760,377,123.730039 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/02/virtual-segway-tours-using-the-wii-balance-board/ | Virtual Segway Tours Using The Wii Balance Board | Mike Szczys | [
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"balance board",
"google earth",
"monster milk truck",
"wii fit"
] | Take a tour of anywhere on earth without leaving your home. This
virtual Segway tour
uses the Wii Fit Balance Board and Google Earth to let the rider control a virtual tour by leaning in the direction they want to travel. It’s the product of
a hackathon at SVI Hackspace
, a new hackerspace in Stanford’s Huang Engineering Center.
The project was undertaken by four people who had just met for the first time that night. Seven hours later, they had a working system that combines a huge number of software packages; OS X, Osculator, Node.js, Socket.io, the Google Earth API, Monster Milk Truck, and Google 3D Warehouse. Most of those packages are used to get the board talking to the computer and then interpreting the data. Monster Milk Truck – which we had never heard of – is a plugin that lets you drive through Google Earth environments using button presses and arrows (which are simulated by the balance board data translations).
This is a nice complement to some of the other balance board hacks we’ve seen, like the one used to
control World of Warcraft
. Don’t forget to peek at the video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jnsxsn2CZFo&w=470] | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "427466",
"author": "dcj2",
"timestamp": "2011-08-02T19:52:23",
"content": "Nice idea, but its not exactly the most illustrative video, is it? Hey guys, lookit this video! Its a guy standing in front of a laptop. Isn’t that KEWL!?!?!?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"rep... | 1,760,377,123.59754 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/02/tiny-external-system-monitor-makes-it-easy-to-keep-tabs-on-your-pc/ | Tiny External System Monitor Makes It Easy To Keep Tabs On Your PC | Mike Nathan | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"attiny",
"system monitor",
"usb"
] | Instructables user [Jan] likes to
keep close tabs on his computer’s memory usage
, but wanted something more interesting to look at than the standard resource manager. He preferred to have an external display available that would show his computer’s status with a quick glance, and thus this system monitor was born.
His status panel contains a trio of constantly updated LED bars that show his computer’s CPU usage, available physical memory, and virtual memory consumption. With a small footprint being a priority, [Jan] kept the indicator’s size down by using SMD components and by including an on-board UART to USB converter to go along with his ATTiny microcontroller.
He uses a Python script to gather usage information from his computer, feeding it to his display over USB. The system works pretty well as you can see in the video below, though the virtual memory indicator doesn’t seem to get a ton of action – perhaps it could be used to indicate hard drive activity instead.
If you are looking to build something similar, [Jan] has made all of his code and schematics available for anyone’s use.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU2NwO662H4&w=470] | 13 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "427211",
"author": "Phik",
"timestamp": "2011-08-02T14:10:52",
"content": "Nice!I like how he’s included the virtual memory. I’m working on a similar project and hadn’t thought to include the virtual memory.[Blatant self promotion]http://waitwhatquestionmark.wordpress.com/2011/05/18... | 1,760,377,123.780411 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/29/comment-system-updates/ | Comment System Updates | Caleb Kraft | [
"News"
] | [] | We’ve been working hard on this one and finally made a tiny bit of progress.
You will find that comments are now nested. We can see there are some slight visual issues, but we’re working on it. Please be patient with us.
Another edition you will find is the “report” button. If you find comments offensive, click that button to let us know.
Again, we’re still working through this and have a decent list of quirks that need worked out but it seems to be mostly functional. | 88 | 49 | [
{
"comment_id": "425381",
"author": "CyberKing",
"timestamp": "2011-07-29T21:18:28",
"content": "so how many comments can be nestled?lets find out",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "425383",
"author": "Caleb Kraft",
"timestamp": "... | 1,760,377,123.903163 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/29/putting-a-pdp-10-on-an-fpga/ | Putting A PDP-10 On An FPGA | Brian Benchoff | [
"hardware",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"emulation",
"fpga",
"PDP-10"
] | [dgcx] has been working on
reimplementing a PDP-10/x on an FPGA
for the last 2 and a half years. This surprised us because we’re only hearing about this project
now
.
After designing three versions, [dgcx] eventually ended up with a one-FPGA implementation of a PDP-10 and an awesome
PDF writeup
. Although
PDP-10 emulators
do exist, this project isn’t an emulation – the system actually has the 36-bit word length of the original, implemented on five 4096 kilobit SRAM chips. This is a fully functioning replica, and even has
CHAOSNET
implemented with a small Ethernet controller.
Like the
miniature Cray-1 on an FPGA
, the only thing left to do is put the PDP-10 clone into an awesome case like the
working PDP-1 replica
. We imagine [dgcx] could get the
digital models
of a real PDP-10 fairly easily.
With very old computers, it’s very hard to find software to run on these machines. This was the same problem the builder of the tiny Cray had. If any Hack A Day readers know where [dgcx] could find some old DEC software, be sure to post something in the comments. Otherwise, he may just get started porting
the first edition of Unix
. | 41 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "425380",
"author": "rjnerd",
"timestamp": "2011-07-29T21:17:25",
"content": "I am pretty sure that the source/binaries for ITS are out there somewhere.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "425435",
"author": "GCL",
... | 1,760,377,123.981948 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/29/adding-auto-off-to-a-cheap-multimeter/ | Adding Auto-off To A Cheap Multimeter | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"ATtiny25",
"auto-off",
"multimeter"
] | [Florin] picked up a cheap multimeter in order to make multiple measurements at one time. Unfortunately, he wasn’t very good at remembering to turn it off when he was finished so he burned through some batteries. Why an auto-off feature wasn’t the first thing coded into the firmware we’ll never know, but [Florin] developed
his own hardware-based auto-off circuit
.
It sounds like he had all of the components necessary for this on hand already. He grabbed an AVR ATtiny25 in a surface mount package. To keep the board small, he didn’t include an ISP header, but instead made long pads that could have wires soldered to them for flashing the firmware. The microcontroller drives an NPN transistor that can cut off the ground path between the multimeter and its battery. A tactile switch is connected to one of the external interrupt pins and, when pressed, gives you 15 minutes of time to use the meter. After that, the chip kills the power and goes into sleep mode. Simple, and small enough to fit inside the case.
[via
Dangerous Prototypes
] | 24 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "425344",
"author": "dave",
"timestamp": "2011-07-29T20:31:59",
"content": "That’s funny, I’d want to do the opposite. Turning meters back on every 15 minutes is quite annoying.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "425361",
... | 1,760,377,124.082735 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/29/ir-communications-tutorial/ | IR Communications Tutorial | Kevin Dady | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"irda"
] | After seeing our
communications via light
post , reader [Chris] dropped this handy little link in our inbox. A very good
tutorial about using infrared to enable communications
between 2 pic micro controllers.
The tutorial covers all the parts you will need, physical wiring and schematics with notes detailing each section of the circuit. It then goes on into basic IR theory, and a simplified push button circuit you can make to see that it is, in fact, working. Once you get the exercise built on some breadboards, he does some software and get some results from it all.
Now in the end this little device was hitting in the neighborhood of 9600 baud, but had to be pretty darn close to each other with a direct line of sight. These are often accepted as a couple of drawbacks to IR technologies. IR, which has never really vanished, is in use on a lot of devices though. The more you know the better off you are.
Join us after the break for a quick video!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKfnrhUbH24&w=450] | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "425308",
"author": "Bogdan",
"timestamp": "2011-07-29T19:16:15",
"content": "You usually do this by modulating the emitting light with a certain frequency and look for that frequency at the receiving end. It’s not more complicated than this.At the emitter side of things you pulsate ... | 1,760,377,124.023588 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/29/midi-air-drums-let-you-play-anywhere/ | MIDI Air Drums Let You Play Anywhere | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"accelerometer",
"arduino",
"drums",
"midi"
] | [Maayan Migdal] wrote in to share
a really cool drum kit he constructed
that has one special twist – no drums at all. Using a simple MIDI device and an Arduino, his “Air Drums” look pretty sweet.
The hack makes use of a pair of garden rakes, which serve as his drum sticks. The rakes were cut down and modified to allow the addition of accelerometers and some USB cables. The left stick contains a single accelerometer for registering hi-hat hits, while the right stick is armed with a pair of the modules, which are used to trigger snare and crash symbol strikes. He modified a pair of sandals to fit better while drumming before adding a sensor to each shoe. The left sandal contains an accelerometer to register bass drum hits, while the right shoe uses a light sensor to simulate the use of a hi-hat pedal.
We think that the results are awesome, but feel free to check out the video below to see what we mean. If Guitar Hero wasn’t
dead in the water
on hiatus, we think this sort of setup would make a great replacement for the flimsy drum set that comes with the game. | 26 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "425227",
"author": "Decius",
"timestamp": "2011-07-29T16:58:01",
"content": "Nice build, I really liked how the video was put together :D (+Diagrams).I wanna make a pair of USB sandals <_<",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "425238"... | 1,760,377,125.900057 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/29/sleek-disc-less-gamecube-handheld/ | Sleek, Disc-less GameCube Handheld | Mike Nathan | [
"handhelds hacks",
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"gamecube",
"handheld",
"linux",
"portable",
"sd card"
] | Console hacker [techknott] has a skill set that is quite possibly second to none. We do love [Ben Heck] and think that his portable consoles are beyond awesome, but you’ve got to check out
this portable GameCube
[techknott] put together.
While the construction details are pretty sparse, the video below shows off the bulk of the portable ‘Cube’s best features. Far smaller than his
Flip-Top GameCube
or
Dreamcast
portables we’ve featured in the past, his new handheld sports a wider screen and is completely disc-less. While the legality of booting backup copies of games from an SD card is something we won’t delve into, we do like the concept.
The console itself is probably only about one and a half times the width of a standard GameCube controller, and while it doesn’t sport an internal battery pack, we wouldn’t turn one down. Besides, who wants to play GameCube outside? With one of these in hand, we are more than happy to keep our pasty selves indoors, thank you very much.
The only complaint we have here is the lack of build details. [techknott’s] handheld consoles are pretty amazing – we just wish that we could see how the magic was made!
Be sure to check out the video below to see the console in action.
[Thanks, Dave]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yesH8XIsDm4&w=470] | 35 | 31 | [
{
"comment_id": "425133",
"author": "jim",
"timestamp": "2011-07-29T13:26:11",
"content": "They’re usually pretty chunky and filled with tape.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "425137",
"author": "that1guy",
"timestamp": "2011-07-29T13:38:... | 1,760,377,126.068587 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/29/a-pill-reminder-box-to-be-proud-of/ | A Pill Reminder Box To Be Proud Of | Jeremy Cook | [
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"led",
"pills"
] | Not satisfied with the traditional daily pill boxes, [Ryan] set out to
build his own
. According to his article, these particular pills had to be taken every three days, and he wanted a solution that required “zero effort.” Although one might question whether his solution actually took this amount of effort, the build came out very well.
The result is a box that reminds one to take a pill from one or two bottles using a blinking LED. When the pill bottle is picked up, consumption is assumed and the timer is reset. The main components consist of an Arduino, real time clock, and a battery backup. Additionally, two picture frames are used to form the project enclosure along with some LEDs and other assorted hardware to finish everything.
This project combines some basic electronics hacking and programming with a very nice looking cover. The results are a very clean looking build with a good write up. For another example of a well finished project with great pictures, check out this
N64 portable build
. | 37 | 34 | [
{
"comment_id": "425091",
"author": "Dan",
"timestamp": "2011-07-29T11:09:02",
"content": "Maybe in the next version he could get the box to weigh the pill bottles to check if they have been taken ( not really needed but would be a great addition)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repli... | 1,760,377,126.239824 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/01/wasp-uav-gets-some-new-toys-now-intercepts-your-phone-calls-too/ | WASP UAV Gets Some New Toys, Now Intercepts Your Phone Calls Too | Mike Nathan | [
"Cellphone Hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"drone",
"gsm. defcon",
"penetration",
"uav",
"wifi"
] | If you had the pleasure of attending last year’s DEFCON conference, you are no doubt familiar with [Mike Tassey] and [Richard Perkins]. There, the pair showed off a work in progress
DIY aerial drone named WASP
. Short for Wireless Aerial Surveillance Platform, WASP was impressive
when we brought it to your attention last year
, but the duo has spent some time completing their project, adding a few extra features in the process.
The drone still packs the same pico-ITX computer which now runs Backtrack5, and utilizes a 340 million word dictionary for cracking WiFi networks (pardon the pun) on the fly. While updated pen testing tools are well and good, the most impressive update is that the drone can now act as a standalone GSM tower. This allows the pair to trick nearby phones into routing calls through WASP before being relayed to their carrier’s network.
Once WASP is launched, the plane flies autonomously along a preset route, sniffing, hacking, cracking and gathering data until [Tassey and Perkins] summon it back to Earth. The drone is as impressive as it is scary, and we can’t wait to hear what the pair has to say about it this time around.
Continue reading to watch a video demo of WASP taking to the skies and doing its thing.
[via
PopSci
]
[Thanks, DainBramage1991]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdrUpmsyMZA&w=470] | 34 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "426773",
"author": "rasz",
"timestamp": "2011-08-01T18:17:00",
"content": "“the pair” is working as contractors for DoD, nothing impressive, rather scary",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "426856",
"author": "cmholm",
... | 1,760,377,126.355784 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/01/robotic-gardener-takes-its-cue-from-bomb-disposal-bots/ | Robotic Gardener Takes Its Cue From Bomb Disposal Bots | Brian Benchoff | [
"Robots Hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"armitron",
"parallax",
"parallaxpropeller",
"propeller",
"wireless camera",
"xbee"
] | [Dave] posted some pictures and videos of his ‘Nuntius’ robot
on the Propeller forums
. From the pictures it’s an impressive build, but to really appreciate [Dave]’s skill,
check out the Youtube demo
.
The
controller
is a Propeller protoboard with bits of angle aluminum fastened together. Pots are positioned at the joints of the remote’s arm so the robot’s arm can mirror the shape of the remote. We usually see
Armatron
bots controlled via
computer
, or in the rare case of human control,
a mouse
. [Dave]’s build just might be one of the first remote manipulator builds we’ve seen on Hack A Day.
On the robot side of the equation, another Propeller board, motors, and servos are all powered by a 12 V motorcycle battery. Attached to the end of the manipulator is a cheap 2.4 Ghz wireless camera that [Dave] says makes you feel like you’re in the movie
The Abyss
. While we doubt this robot would be very good for underwater exploration, it does look like some of the
Bomb Disposal robots
we’ve seen. | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "426762",
"author": "Jon Neal",
"timestamp": "2011-08-01T17:28:36",
"content": "The response time seems slow. Pretty awesome project though. It reminds me of a dinosaur when it is out slowly panning around the yard. I love how he stuck a weed in the middle of his yard just so he coul... | 1,760,377,125.993533 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/01/making-the-case-for-in-circuit-debugging-tools/ | Making The Case For In-circuit Debugging Tools | Mike Nathan | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"debugging",
"ICD",
"pic",
"programming"
] | If you are in the market for a PIC microcontroller programmer, you may want to consider a model with an In-Circuit Debugger (ICD). [Rajendra] put together
a great tutorial on using an ICD
when debugging PIC firmware, which makes a pretty convincing argument for owning one.
In his tutorial, he happens to be using a MikroElektronika PICflash2, but he says that there are plenty of other ICDs out there if you are not keen on this particular model. The PICflash2 not only acts as an ICD, but as the name suggests it works as an ICSP as well.
[Rajendra] walks us through a short debugging session using some simple code that reads data from an LM34DZ temperature sensor, displaying the results on an LCD screen. While he isn’t actually hunting for bugs, he does show how easy it is to step through the PIC’s code one statement at a time, evaluating variables and registers along the way.
[Rajendra] does point out that using an ICD does occupy a few I/O pins while running, limiting your resources just a bit. We think that being able to debug code as it runs is pretty reasonable tradeoff if you don’t necessarily need each and every pin available for use. | 13 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "426717",
"author": "hpux735",
"timestamp": "2011-08-01T16:25:46",
"content": "For the price of that programmer/debugger I’d be extremely cautious. The PicKit3 (which is Microchip’s current low-end offering) is much more likely to be supported in MPlabX (the new Microchip IDE). Als... | 1,760,377,126.172925 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/01/fonera-based-quadcopter-can-be-controlled-from-a-web-browser/ | Fonera-based Quadcopter Can Be Controlled From A Web Browser | Mike Nathan | [
"Linux Hacks",
"Robots Hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"fonera",
"html 5",
"linux",
"pic",
"quad rotor",
"quadcopter"
] | [Tiakson] just wrapped up the construction of a quadcopter which
piqued our interest due to the unexpected mix of hardware
he used.
A good portion of the copter is made up of the essential bits we have come to expect from a quad rotor system. Instead of using an Xbee or hobby wireless controller however, [Tiakson] opted to use an old Fonera router running OpenWRT to control the system. He wrote special software that allows him to direct the quadcopter using an HTML 5 interface, adding a few kernel tweaks along the way that enabled him to emulate I2C ports over GPIO pins.
The Fonera takes in data from Wii nunchuck and Motion+ sensors, relaying commands to the on-board PIC 16F976 microcontroller. The PIC is used to manage the electronic speed controller modules using PWM, which the Fonera could not handle on its own.
This is a great use for a old router, and the cost is obviously far cheaper than buying off the shelf wireless control modules. We would love to hear how much extra weight the Fonera adds, as well as if there is any controller lag introduced by the web-based interface.
Continue reading to see a quick demo video of the quadcopter in action.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uxwy4beoppk&w=470] | 11 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "426691",
"author": "Pixel",
"timestamp": "2011-08-01T15:17:31",
"content": "Great. Yet another Quad working when I can’t get mine to come even close to being able to take off without oscillating to the point of flipping :(Nice project though.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,... | 1,760,377,125.945771 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/01/how-to-take-a-travelling-electronics-lab-on-the-road-with-you/ | How To Take A Travelling Electronics Lab On The Road With You | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"bench",
"mobile",
"portable",
"workbench"
] | If you’re a frequent traveler, or if you don’t have a garage or basement and find your kitchen table is doomed to serve most of its life as an electronics bench this hack is for you. [Robovergne] came up with
a mobile electronics lab
(
translated
) in order to help preserve the Wife Acceptance Factor for his hobby.
The project comes in two parts. On the right you see the pair of component storage cabinets. These are high-quality examples that fully enclose each drawer (cheaper cabinets are open at the back). This way, [Robovergne] was able to connect two of them together with a piano hinge, and add some carrying handles to the top.
The second half of the project is the bench itself. It features a lab supply, soldering iron transformer and holder, and some breadboards for good measure. The base of the unit houses a drawer which carries the bulk of his tools. Now he can pack up and clear out the living room in one single trip. | 22 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "426674",
"author": "HHH",
"timestamp": "2011-08-01T14:09:31",
"content": "Exactly what I needed! I’ve always considered packing electronic tools and components to be the most annoying thing about traveling. Now I can live in peace!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repli... | 1,760,377,126.125318 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/01/workshop-lights-so-bright-they-will-give-you-sunburn/ | Workshop Lights So Bright, They Will Give You Sunburn | Mike Nathan | [
"home hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"atmega",
"ccfl",
"leds",
"lighting"
] | There are few things more frustrating than trying to tinker at your workbench with suboptimal lighting. [Jeremy] was toiling away in his workshop one afternoon when
he decided that he finally had enough
, and set out to overhaul his lighting setup.
His workshop is incredibly bright now, sporting a handful of under the shelf CCFL tubes to complement the mixture of cool and warm LEDs that are mounted on the ceiling. One thing we really liked about his setup is that he added a handful of LEDs to the bottom of his workbench, aimed at the floor – perfect for those times when a tiny screw or SMD component goes missing.
Everything is controlled by an ATMega 328 that he shoved into a project box, allowing him to tweak the lighting to suit his needs using a few simple buttons and a small LCD panel.
[Jeremy] says that the entire thing is “overkill” and that it is decidedly the messiest wiring job he has ever done. For something that was put together hastily in an afternoon, we think it’s just fine. The only thing we’re left wanting is some schematics and source code.
As far as the overkill comment goes, say it with me: There. Can. Never. Be. Too. Many. LEDs!
Stick around to watch [Jeremy] give a demonstration of how the system operates.
[via
Adafruit blog
]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIJ_IDWS5T4&w=470] | 10 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "426661",
"author": "YT2095",
"timestamp": "2011-08-01T13:07:18",
"content": "“There. Can. Never. Be. Too. Many. LEDs!” Amen to that Brother! :D",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "426665",
"author": "steve",
"timestamp": "20... | 1,760,377,125.841984 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/01/heres-a-button-call-someone-who-cares/ | Here’s A Button, Call Someone Who Cares… | Mike Nathan | [
"Phone Hacks"
] | [
"Teensy",
"voip"
] | [Les] had thousands of dollars of expensive IP Telephone infrastructure at his fingertips, so he figured he might as well play around a bit – after all, what good is all that equipment
if you can’t have a little fun
?
Inspired by the “Awesome Button”
featured on Make
, he started thinking about what sort of feature he would like to have available at the push of a button. He must have had
Travis Tritt on the brain
the day he started building his creation, since he named it the “The Call Someone Who Cares Button”.
[Les] picked up an “emergency stop” button from eBay, wiring it to a TeensyUSB, just as it was done in the Make article. He mapped the button to the pause/break key, then whipped up a bit of C#code that listens for that key to be pressed. When toggled, the button sets forth a series of events that gets his boss on the line ASAP.
It’s a fun little project, and while I might have built a button that introduces fake static and echo into the line before dumping the call, I think it’s pretty cool all the same.
Since it seems that just about everyone has built some derivation of the Awesome Button, share yours with us in the comments, and be sure to stick around to see a quick video demo of the CSWC button in action.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLzkUqZnaNA&w=470] | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "426637",
"author": "Pete Prodoehl",
"timestamp": "2011-08-01T12:14:35",
"content": "Here’sThe ButtonI ended up building for myPhoto Booth. Based on the AWESOME button, of course.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "426678",
"aut... | 1,760,377,126.288206 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/01/toy-robot-hand-vastly-improved-now-more-offensive/ | Toy Robot Hand Vastly Improved, Now More Offensive | Brian Benchoff | [
"Robots Hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"PICAXE",
"robot hand",
"toys"
] | YouTube user [onefivefour] posted a video of his
hacked up toy robot hand
. These cheap
robot hands
usually only use one wire to move all five fingers. [onefivefour] improved upon the design and added five servos to allow independent control of each digit.
The servos are controlled by a PICAXE microcontroller, and [onefivefour] is willing to share the code. A few pressure sensors in the fingertips would turn this build into a great test bed for future development. It would also be great for an [Anakin Skywalker] Halloween costume if anyone on the planet ever wanted that specific costume.
[onefivefour] says he only spent $6 on his and while there’s more money sunk into the servos, it was probably a good investment. We love seeing hacked up pieces of plastic like the
fully functional Wall-E
or the
dancing Androids
. If you’ve got a toy hack in the works, drop us a line on our
tip form
. | 9 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "426633",
"author": "Dan",
"timestamp": "2011-08-01T11:46:24",
"content": "I wonder what the grip is like on this hand , is it able to pick up items or are the fingers not strong enough ?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "426820"... | 1,760,377,126.44673 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/31/hackaday-links-july-31-2011/ | Hackaday Links: July 31, 2011 | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"earbuds",
"iphone",
"solder pot",
"ti-84",
"tie"
] | Indestructible
earbuds
We’re still waiting for our [Lt. Uhura] style earbuds. But until then, can we interest anyone in
a set that will stand up to some abuse
?
Solder Pot Scavenger
[Felicitus] says we should get
a solder pot and use it to scavenge for parts
. His method looks pretty easy and it’s cheaper than buying
a rework station for this purpose
.
Smartphone cooling
Turn all your hacking skills loose to beat the heat. That’s what [Stephanie] did when
she added iPhone control for an oscillating fan
.
Tunes calculator
Graphing equations and crunching numbers wasn’t enough for [Drew]. He went and figured out how to make his
TI-84+ play music off of a thumb drive
.
Geek-chic
Don’t let anyone out-geek you at company parties. Beef up your arsenal with
this resistor color-code necktie
. And yes, you can wear it with a T-shirt! | 44 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "426373",
"author": "BiOzZ",
"timestamp": "2011-07-31T21:34:47",
"content": "my ear buds break EVERY 2 months almost on the nose … if these have skull candy quality id love temi need good bass for meh techno",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"c... | 1,760,377,126.711256 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/31/do-you-have-what-it-takes-to-make-lumber-keep-time/ | Do You Have What It Takes To Make Lumber Keep Time? | Mike Szczys | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"gears",
"pendulum",
"wood",
"wooden"
] | [Frank] sent in a link to this fantastic wooden clock. The design was dreamed up by [Clayton Boyer] and
he’s got full-sized templates for sale on his site
. We’ve marveled at his creations in the past, having featured
his useless machine
that was made from wooden gears. This “Bird of Paradise” clock steps up the complexity quite a bit, creating a timepiece without a case to show off the beauty of all of those teeth.
We wondered what goes into building one of these yourself. From the
FAQ page
it seems you could get by with a scroll saw, drill press, Dremel, and sander. That’s the medium-tech method, but you could opt to scan the plans in order to laser cut your parts, or
just use hand tools
. But in addition to building tips, there’s advice on how to fine tune clocks that don’t want to keep running, thoughts on finishing the wood parts, sanding, tweaking the teeth, and much more. It’s no secret we have a love for digital clock projects, but there’s something very seductive about a design like this that uses no electricity. Don’t miss the clip after the break to see what we mean.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m88hSkT8dEk&w=470] | 20 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "426307",
"author": "Addidis",
"timestamp": "2011-07-31T19:17:03",
"content": "Wow what a work of art.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "426314",
"author": "jon",
"timestamp": "2011-07-31T19:54:58",
"content": "And this... | 1,760,377,126.618668 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/31/monitoring-the-worlds-dns-status-using-a-display-straight-out-of-wargames/ | Monitoring The World’s DNS Status Using A Display Straight Out Of WarGames | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"analog meter",
"arduino mega",
"DataCenter",
"opendns",
"panel meter",
"tlc5940"
] | Nothing says Cold War like a map of the work with LEDs embedded in it. Throw in some analog dials for good measure and you’ve got a piece that would be comfortable mounted next the WOPR in everyone’s favorite ’80s-computers-run-amok movie. We think [Dima] really hit the mark when
building this status panel for OpenDNS
datacenter monitoring.
[Dima] works for OpenDNS and wanted to make something special for its upcoming 5 year anniversary. He’d already been toying with making boxes from laser-cut wooden pieces. This was just a matter of choosing a size that would fit the dials and leave a suitable area for a laser-etched map. Each of the twelve panel meters gets a PWM signal from the Arduino Mega that he used to bring the device to life. It shows a comparative server load for each data center based on the previous day’s numbers. There is an LED in the map for each of these centers. Right now they’re all red, but he used RGB LEDs and plans to upgrade the capability soon. He should have no problem doing this as he sourced some TLC5940 drivers to extend his I/O capabilities.
Don’t forget the check out the clip embedded after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf-T4aCyWHE&w=470] | 14 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "426256",
"author": "SuperNuRd",
"timestamp": "2011-07-31T17:06:05",
"content": "Map of the work should be ma of the world",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "426258",
"author": "SuperNuRd",
"timestamp": "2011-07-31T17:06:53"... | 1,760,377,126.763464 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/31/commodore-64-usb-controller-adapter-for-your-pc/ | Commodore 64 USB Controller Adapter For Your PC | Mike Nathan | [
"classic hacks",
"computer hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"c64",
"commodore",
"usb"
] | [Frank], like many people, has a soft spot in his heart for the Commodore 64. He prefers to play his C64 games on his computer nowadays, but likes using
his old school Competition Pro
rather than some modern controller with remapped buttons. The only problem with using the controller is that his new computer doesn’t have any ports that accommodate its 9-pin D-sub connector.
The VICE emulator maps keyboard inputs to controller actions, so he decided to build himself a D-sub to USB adapter that implements a virtual USB keyboard. He wrote a firmware package for the Freescale MC9S08JS16L microcontroller that allows him to send keypresses to his emulator whenever he performs an action with his Competition Pro joystick.
The circuit looks easier to duplicate than some
other C64 interfaces
we have seen before, and as you can see in the video below, it works quite well. We imagine that this setup can be used to connect all sorts of old input devices to modern PCs with little to no tweaking.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkqbnitMFDk&w=470] | 11 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "426278",
"author": "Shackadoodl",
"timestamp": "2011-07-31T18:01:49",
"content": "Looks like a great hack ^^For those among us who like these things in bulk could also buy the same thing from speedlink for about 15$. The part number is sl-6603-SBK competition pro usb joystick.I’m no... | 1,760,377,127.179226 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/31/parametric-script-makes-laser-cutter-designs-a-snap/ | Parametric Script Makes Laser Cutter Designs A Snap | Mike Szczys | [
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"laser cutter",
"script",
"svg"
] | [Tinkerer] bought a small cupboard from an antique store to fit nicely into his kitchen decor. After getting it home, he realized that some of the cubbyholes had originally housed drawers. The originals were long gone but this provided an opportunity for him to
make the replacements seen above
.
The first design approach that popped into [Tinkerer’s] mind was to draw the pieces in an editor like Inkscape. Some consultation with others at the local Hackerspace led him to
this script-based parametric SVG design tool
. We jumped right in to give it a whirl, clicking on Load –> Construction (category) –> Better Box. Once you’ve chosen the script, click on ‘Parameters’ on the left column and enter the sizing you want for your box. When all values are correct, click the renter tab, then export it as a Scalable Vector Graphic.
We’ve lamented time and again about
our lack of a laser cutter
, so we were unable to test this out. But we can’t see why it wouldn’t reproduce the same results that [Tinkerer] achieved. | 11 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "426212",
"author": "Brad",
"timestamp": "2011-07-31T14:17:54",
"content": "Good stuff. Btw, it’s the “render” tab. Not “renter”. :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "426218",
"author": "sneakypoo",
"timestamp": "2011-07-31... | 1,760,377,127.126259 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/30/avr-programmer-modelled-after-the-mkii-uses-lufa/ | AVR Programmer Modelled After The MkII – Uses LUFA | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"abcminiuser",
"at90usb162",
"AVR",
"dean camera",
"isp",
"lufa",
"mkii"
] | Here’s a new option for building your own AVR programmer. It’s called
the MkII Slim
and the diminutive size makes it live up to its name. The design is rather spartan, using just three chips; a voltage regulator, a MAX3002 level converter, and an Atmel AT90USB162 as the main microcontroller. This chip has a built-in USB module, foregoing the need for a separate FTDI chip.
The firmware is built on the
Lightweight USB Framework for AVRs
(LUFA). This is a USB stack implementation originally called MyUSB that was developed by [Dean Camera]. Regular lurkers over at the AVRfreaks forums will recognize [Dean’s] name, or his handle [abcminiuser] as a source for many of the high quality AVR tutorials found there. But we digress.
The programmer offers all the features you’d want in an In-System Programmer. It can easily be reflashed with future updates thanks to the bootloader running on the chip. There’s jumper-selectable power options, and it can program targets running at 3.3V or 5v. The full development package including code and artwork is available for download at the site linked above. For your convenience we’ve embedded the schematic after the break. | 20 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "425982",
"author": "Steve-O-Rama",
"timestamp": "2011-07-30T21:39:39",
"content": "And it even works with AVR Studio! Huzzah! Thanks for sharing!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "425983",
"author": "PhilipG",
"timestamp... | 1,760,377,127.014627 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/02/bluetooth-morse-code-keyboard-for-the-disabled/ | Bluetooth Morse Code Keyboard For The Disabled | Brian Benchoff | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Medical Hacks",
"Microcontrollers",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"bluetooth",
"input device",
"morse",
"morse code"
] | The team a Zunkworks wanted to build a device for people who can’t normally use a keyboard and mouse. The
Bluetooth Morse code keyboard
is what they came up with. This build gives the user full control over the keyboard and mouse using a single button or a sip & puff interface.
The project is build around an Arduino ProMini, an FTDI breakout board, and a
Bluetooth module
. It’s a fairly simple build, but the meat of the project lies in the
code
. Every keystroke and mouse movement is only a few button presses away.
Like the
USB Morse code keyboard
we saw last year, this project also translates the dits and dahs into characters that are available on a keyboard. In fact, Zunkworks even used the code for this USB morse keyboard as a reference. With only one button for user input, we’re reminded of
Stephen Hawking’s computer interface
. This project might be an improvement on Hawking’s system because it allows control of the mouse cursor.
Check out the video of the Morse keyboard below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mTEevUbbUU&w=470] | 15 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "427196",
"author": "austin",
"timestamp": "2011-08-02T13:20:05",
"content": "how does it know when one letter ends and another begins?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "427201",
"author": "Tel",
"timestamp": "201... | 1,760,377,127.229573 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/02/robots-listen-only-to-the-leader-when-building-a-roving-quadcopter-landing-pad/ | Robots Listen Only To The Leader When Building A Roving Quadcopter Landing Pad | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"georgia tech",
"helicopter",
"quadcopter",
"quadrotor",
"swarm robotics"
] | Swarm robotics is really starting to produce some interesting results. This image is from the video embedded after the break that show a group of
five robots creating a landing platform for a quadrotor helicopter
. The four that actually make up the platform are not in contact with each other, but instead following commands from the leader. We’re impressed by the helicopter’s ability to target and land on the moving platform. Takeoff appears to be another issue, as the platform bots stop moving until the quadcopter is airborne again.
These robots are part of a Graduate project at Georgia Tech. [Ted Macdonald] has been working along with others to implement an organizational algorithm that guides the swarm. The method requires that the robots have an overview of the location of all others in the swarm. This is done with high-speed cameras like we’ve seen in
other robotic control projects
. But that doesn’t discourage us. If you already have a flying robot as part of the swarm, you might as well add a few more to serve as the eyes in the sky.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbIs7hS-OMs&w=470]
[Thanks Supertroopa via
Engadget
] | 22 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "427146",
"author": "neorazz",
"timestamp": "2011-08-02T11:05:38",
"content": "Don’t let them talk to watson or were all done for",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "427159",
"author": "Eirinn",
"timestamp": "2011-08-02T11:38... | 1,760,377,127.075979 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/01/want-to-play-pong-on-your-oscilloscope/ | Want To Play Pong On Your Oscilloscope? | Kevin Dady | [
"News",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"graphics",
"oscilloscope"
] | I always have! I don’t know why, but I like the idea of using an oscilloscope screen as a general use video display. Why not? In my case it sits on my desk full time, has a large screen area, can do multiple modes of display, and is very easy control.
Making an oscilloscope screen do your bidding is an old trick. There are numerous examples out there. Its not a finished project yet, so be nice. It is actually rather crude, using a couple parts I had on hand just on a whim. The code is a nice mixture of ArduincoreGCCish (I am sorry, still learning), and includes the following demos:
Simple low resolution dot drawing
A font example
A very quickly and badly written demo of pong
The software runs on an Attiny84 micro controller clocked at 16Mhz, paired up with a Microchip MCP42100 dual 100k 8 bit digital potentiometer though the Attiny’s USI (Universal Serial Interface) pins. This is a fast, stable and accurate arrangement, but it requires sending 16 bits every time you want to change the value of one of the potentiometers so its also very piggy. I was just out to have some fun and did not have a proper 8 bit DAC. This was the closest thing outside of building one.
Join us after the break for pictures a (very) brief video and more.
This project has a total resolution of 256x256x1. This sounds like a lot of resolution but don’t get too excited. You can have only a few hundred to maybe 1000 pixels on screen before it starts flickering pretty badly. I am sure this can be solved by someone who is not using GCC commands for almost all of an Arduino script, furiously tying to shove 16 or 32 bits of data out of its SPI port PER PIXEL with an Attiny that has no dedicated SPI.
I had originally thought that I was going to do some form of raster scan display, much like a TV or computer monitor scanning a row of pixels one column at a time. You can see examples of this on
electronixandmore
in the projects section where the author converts RS170 television, and also VGA to an oscilloscope (along with a bunch of other cool stuff). Also take a look at this project that ran recently on Hackaday:
NintendOscope
.On my little 84 it ended up being extremely slow to scan each and every pixel and then modulating the Z axis on the back of the scope to change the pixels brightness.
Ok fine let’s keep it simple, how about some vector lines? I copied the site’s logo and quickly traced it out using the gimp using its [Web > Image Map] function. This spits out a file like this:
<img src="Untitled.bmp" width="125" height="120" border="0" usemap="#map" />
<map name="map">
<!-- #$-:Image map file created by GIMP Image Map plug-in -->
<!-- #$-:GIMP Image Map plug-in by Maurits Rijk -->
<!-- #$-:Please do not edit lines starting with "#$" -->
<!-- #$VERSION:2.3 -->
<!-- #$AUTHOR:kevin -->
<area shape="poly" coords="17,16,36,37,49,66,37,98,20,103,19,48" nohref="nohref" />
</map>
By drawing only points in that file I was able to produce the first “image” below. With a little refinement I produced a slightly cleaner result in the second image. As you can see you have to be very mindful where your little pointer is going because it leaves a trail. I was not really happy with the quality of these first try results, though its generally a very fast way to draw out wire-frame polygons (think Asteroids).
I ended up doing a mix. Instead of scanning every row and column, I only scan the rows and columns that have pixels to show. This produces a dot matrix image. I also needed an easy, but not epic, effort to convert images from computer to AVR. This was accomplished using the gimp, the XPM image format, and a little blob of lua.
Using the Hack a Day logo as an example, I roughly cropped out the skull and then used [Image >> Autocrop Image]. Next I went to [Image >> Canvas Size] and changed this to a 128×128 canvas. Finally I used [Image >> Flatten Image] with black set as the color background. The next step is to remove the black background. That’s easy enough with [Colors >> Color to Alpha].
I could display this as a solid raster but it would be way too slow to make out an image with this hardware and software. I need to remove most of the pixels. In order to do this, I use a quickie gimp cheat, go to [Filters >> Alpha to Logo >> Neon]. Now change the effect size to 5 and the glow color to white. Finally, delete the neon glow layer and flatten.
Since I am using a 1 bit per pixel color choice, I use [Image >> Mode >> Indexed], and choose 1 bit with no dithering. This produces a high quality outline of the logo, but it is still heavy on the pixels. In order to trim both ROM space and draw time I removed every other row and column by using [Filters >> Distorts >> Erase every other row]. I want it to fill with background which should be black. I did this once with rows and once with columns, even or odd is your choice, whichever looks better.
I dug in at 800% and touched up all the graphics with a 1 pixel paintbrush and saved as XPM format. XPM format is a basic text format where different characters represent a different pixel and color value. With only 1 bit per pixel you can quite clearly see the image in the text.
I removed the entire header, and so a lua script could phrase it I added “strings ={“ minus quotes so the file looks like:
strings = {
“data”,
“data”,
};
after the bracket and semi colon I added the following little blob of lua:
file = io.open("logo.out","w")
counter = 1;
for y = 1, #strings do
for x = 1,#strings[y] do
if string.sub(strings[y], x, x) == "+" then
file:write(y .. ",".. x .. ",")
counter = counter + 1
end
end
end
print(counter*2)
file:close()
This scans through the data and makes a file that contains a single line of comma separated values of every white pixel of the graphic. It also spits out a number in the command line which is the number of pixels * 2 for number of XY values. You need to know the number of pixels if you want to draw any graphic since the program loops though the lua generated CSV file. It’s basic and big but it works well enough for the example.
If you have lua installed its generally “lua filename.ext”, sometimes “lua51 filename.ext”, minus the quotes.
AvrGCCiberishduino code is an Arduino sketch with void setup, void loop, and I used analog read because there was no advantage to implementing it myself. Arduino’s expandability to other models of AVR and simplified functionality does very good for many things. When you need to bring out the speed it has its issues.
Pretty soon you are twiddling port registers and looking into how to use the USI (universal serial interface) to send out SPI because it is faster than you can do it in software blah blah blah. Eventually I had an Arduino sketch tied to only the attiny84, though one would need to only change pins for other attiny’s like the 85 or 2313.
Atmegas, like what is on a normal Arduino would need different SPI code to function
.)
// System
#include <avr/pgmspace.h>
#define cmdOne 0x11 // write to pot 0(X)
#define cmdTwo 0x12 // write to pot 1(Y)
// Graphics
prog_uchar hadlogo[] PROGMEM ={5,19,5,21,5,23,5,25,5,103,5,105,5,107,5,109,6,27,6,101,7,19,7,29,7,99,7,107,7,109,8,21,9,23,9,31,9,97,9,105,11,25,11,33,11,95,11,103,13,26,13,34,13,94,13,103,15,25,15,35,15,93,15,103,17,23,17,35,17,93,17,105,19,7,19,9,19,21,19,35,19,92,19,107,19,119,19,121,21,7,21,11,21,19,21,36,21,91,21,109,21,117,21,121,23,8,23,13,23,15,23,17,23,37,23,89,23,111,23,113,23,115,23,121,25,9,25,39,25,87,25,119,27,10,27,41,27,85,27,118,29,11,29,43,29,83,29,117,30,13,30,45,30,115,31,15,31,47,31,81,31,113,32,17,32,111,33,19,33,21,33,23,33,25,33,49,33,57,33,59,33,61,33,63,33,65,33,67,33,69,33,71,33,79,33,105,33,107,33,109,34,103,35,27,35,51,35,53,35,55,35,73,35,75,35,77,35,101,36,99,37,29,37,31,37,49,37,77,37,97,39,33,39,47,39,79,39,95,41,35,41,45,41,81,41,93,43,37,43,43,43,83,43,91,45,39,45,41,45,85,45,89,47,40,47,87,49,39,49,87,51,38,51,88,53,37,53,89,55,37,55,47,55,49,55,51,55,53,55,55,55,71,55,73,55,75,55,77,55,89,56,79,57,37,57,45,57,57,57,69,57,81,57,89,59,37,59,45,59,57,59,69,59,83,59,89,61,37,61,44,61,57,61,69,61,83,61,89,63,37,63,57,63,69,63,83,63,89,64,43,65,37,65,53,65,55,65,70,65,73,65,83,65,89,66,45,66,51,66,75,67,37,67,47,67,49,67,77,67,83,67,89,68,79,69,37,69,81,69,89,71,36,71,38,71,63,71,65,71,89,71,91,73,35,73,39,73,87,73,93,74,64,75,33,75,40,75,86,75,95,77,31,77,41,77,63,77,65,77,85,77,97,78,29,78,99,79,27,79,42,79,83,79,101,80,25,80,104,81,17,81,19,81,21,81,23,81,44,81,82,81,107,81,109,81,111,82,15,83,13,83,46,83,81,83,83,83,113,83,115,85,11,85,43,85,47,85,80,85,85,85,117,87,9,87,41,87,48,87,58,87,70,87,80,87,87,87,119,89,8,89,39,89,49,89,57,89,59,89,69,89,71,89,79,89,89,89,121,90,15,91,7,91,13,91,17,91,37,91,51,91,53,91,55,91,61,91,63,91,65,91,67,91,73,91,75,91,77,91,91,91,111,91,113,91,115,91,121,93,7,93,11,93,19,93,35,93,91,93,109,93,117,93,121,95,7,95,9,95,21,95,35,95,92,95,107,95,119,95,121,97,23,97,35,97,93,97,105,99,25,99,35,99,93,99,103,101,25,101,34,101,94,101,103,103,25,103,33,103,95,103,103,104,23,105,21,105,31,105,97,105,105,105,107,107,19,107,29,107,99,107,109,108,27,108,101,109,19,109,21,109,23,109,25,109,103,109,105,109,107,109,109};
// Functions
void qshift(byte input) // using the USI for SPI
{
USIDR = input; // put a byte into the register
USISR = _BV(USIOIF); // clear flag
while ( (USISR & _BV(USIOIF)) == 0 ) // send away
{
USICR = (1<<USIWM0)|(1<<USICS1)|(1<<USICLK)|(1<<USITC);
}
}
void latch(bool state) // toggle CS pin on digipot
{
if(state == 1) PORTA |= (1 << 3); // raise the latch
else PORTA &=~ (1 << 3); // lower the latch
}</p>
void logoscrn() // draw the Hack A Day logo
{
for (int i = 0; i < 674; i += 2)
{
// 0,0 on an image is upper left, on scope its lower left
// subtract pixel Y value from 255 to flip right side up
latch(0); // lower the latch
qshift(cmdTwo); // send the write channel two command
qshift(255 - (64 + pgm_read_byte_near(hadlogo + i))); // send Y data
latch(1); // raise the latch
// image is offset by 64 as it is only has a 128x128 canvas
latch(0); // lower the latch
qshift(cmdOne); // send the write channel one command
qshift(64 + pgm_read_byte_near(hadlogo + (i + 1))); // send X data
latch(1); // raise the latch
}
}
// Arduino Setup
void setup()
{
// set pins of PORTA, PA7 & PA2 as inputs, the rest are outputs</p>
DDRA = 0x7B;
}
// Arduino Loop
void loop()
{
logoscrn();
}
As you can see, this is a much improved picture quality.
The other 2 demos use this basic system with a button wired up between pin 6 and ground to switch demos. Demo 2 uses a counter and a scale variable to zoom from the upper left corner to full size large font with 3 lines of text and room for a few more. Demo 3 is the start of a sloppy pong game with a (stupid and jumpy) cpu opponent, no scorekeeping and a looping ball. Just hook up a potentiometer with one end on ground the other on +5 and the middle to pin to pin 11 of the Attiny84.
Software.zip
you will need a Programmer, Arduino or Arduino Core, and
Arduino Tiny
Unfortunately for now I have to move on from this idea, but please fear that I shall return soon enough!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqy76Bh4CDk&w=450] | 15 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "426923",
"author": "silvesterstillalone",
"timestamp": "2011-08-01T23:15:10",
"content": "Nice writeup. Very thorough in all seriousness.But..Wait a tick. Something feels conspicuously absent. I went here today to get Dtown maker faire coverage. No love for motown? Too scarry/far aw... | 1,760,377,127.292506 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/01/who-knew-thinkpad-batteries-require-a-jump-start/ | Who Knew Thinkpad Batteries Require A Jump Start? | Mike Szczys | [
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"cell",
"ibm",
"jump start",
"lithium",
"repair",
"replace",
"t40",
"thinkpad"
] | Lithium battery packs reaching the end of their life usually have a lot of kick left in them. That’s because they’re made up of multiple cells and it only takes the failure of one to bork the entire battery. One of the most interesting examples we’ve heard of this is in the Toyota Prius, but that’s a story for another time. In this case, [Mika] wanted to
resurrect the battery from his IBM Thinkpad T40
. He identified the offending cell and replaced it, but couldn’t get any juice out of the battery after the repair.
He was measuring 0V on the output, but could measure the cells instead of the control circuitry and was getting over 11V. Clearly, the control circuit wasn’t allowing an output. We completely understand the concept here (think about that really bad press about exploding laptop batteries). It seems there’s a lockout mechanism when the control circuit loses power. [Mika] managed to get past this by shorting voltage into the control circuit, a method he likes in the video after the break to jump starting a car.
We’ve seen similar cell replacement for power tools, like
a Dremel
or a
Makita drill
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyeHKKe2z0Q&w=470] | 59 | 47 | [
{
"comment_id": "426901",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2011-08-01T22:09:20",
"content": "This is interesting, I know that protected 18650 and RCR123A cells have a small built-in IC that sits under one of the terminals and cuts the connection between the cell and the terminal when the cell voltage... | 1,760,377,127.379902 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/01/adding-ambilight-clone-system-to-your-home-theater-just-got-a-big-price-cut/ | Adding Ambilight Clone System To Your Home Theater Just Got A Big Price Cut | Mike Szczys | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"ambilight",
"arduino",
"DealExtreme",
"npn"
] | Whenever we get a tip claiming a project is cheap and easy we raise a cynical eyebrow. But [Yonsje] isn’t telling us a story,
his Amiblight clone really does boil down the complexity
and slash the price.
For the uninitiated, this is a clone of the
Philips Amilight system
that has been an option with some of their TVs over the years. It puts RGB LEDs on the back of the frame, pointed at the wall. They are tuned to the edge colors of the display, linking the color of the ambient light in the room to the colors on the screen. We’ve seen
a ton
of
clones
over the years, just search our blog for “Ambilight”.
Like the others, this iteration depends on you playing back video from a computer. [Yonsje] is using an Arduino with his own shield to connect to the HTPC. NPN transistors in the shield drive the RGB LEDs. The real cost savings is in his lighting source. A Deal Extreme RGB LED bar costs just $11.30 including shipping, and can be cut into six different segments for even spacing around your television. Check it out in the clip after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKxIevO1AiE&w=470] | 25 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "426879",
"author": "Brian",
"timestamp": "2011-08-01T21:23:30",
"content": "I’d really like an ambilite clone, but I won’t dedicated a PC and it’s electricity draw to it. Can someone smarter than me please design on around an IC?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replie... | 1,760,377,127.442404 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/01/google-adk-clones-pack-a-few-extra-features-hopefully-far-cheaper-than-the-original/ | Google ADK Clones Pack A Few Extra Features, Hopefully Far Cheaper Than The Original | Mike Nathan | [
"Android Hacks",
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"adk",
"android",
"arduino",
"google"
] | [charliex] from Null Space Labs wrote in to share a project that he and the rest of the gang have been working on
over the last few weeks
. The team has been remixing and building clones of the Google ADK demo board we saw earlier this year, in hopes of getting a huge batch prepped before Defcon 19.
Their version makes subtle changes to the original, such as extra header rows for Mega AVRs, higher quality RGB LEDs, and a nifty pirate-Android logo. They also added the ability for the board to send and receive IR signals allowing it to be used as a TV-B-Gone, as well as in more fruitful pursuits. The Arduino board used with the ADK has only undergone minor revisions, most of which were layout related.
[charliex] hasn’t mentioned a price for their improved ADK boards, but we’re guessing they will be substantially cheaper than the official Google version. In the meantime, check out their site for a boatload of pictures and videos of these boards undergoing various stages of construction. | 9 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "426890",
"author": "BiOzZ",
"timestamp": "2011-08-01T21:50:49",
"content": "HAHA the andropirate is epic win!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "426915",
"author": "Buddhafw",
"timestamp": "2011-08-01T22:45:32",
"conten... | 1,760,377,127.49093 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/08/01/light-leds-with-fire/ | Light LED’s With FIRE! | Kevin Dady | [
"chemistry hacks"
] | [
"Copper Oxide",
"generator"
] | Reader [Andre] sent in a link which tells us all about this “cool”
Copper Oxide Thermoelectric Generator
. All you need is a bit of solid copper wire and a gas torch. Burn the wire so it gets a nice coating of oxide. From there, it is a matter of making the 2 sections of burned wire cross at a point and heat up only one of the wires. Whichever is hotter forms a cathode and whichever one is cooler is the anode.
Just one of these junctions is enough to produce a few hundred millivolts, but the author takes it a step further, well 16 steps further. He made a ring of these junctions in series, which is enough to light a bright blue LED. While the author notes that this thing is producing a considerable amount of voltage, its not producing much amperage. This could come in very handy in the future, like if you need some additional LED lighting for your camp stove. | 30 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "426793",
"author": "asheets",
"timestamp": "2011-08-01T19:06:55",
"content": "I was about to submit this one myself. It is from the same guy that charges old refrigerators with propane and makes his own miniature CRTs.I will have to admit that I disagree with his explanation, thoug... | 1,760,377,127.55796 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/30/rc-hexababy-is-guaranteed-to-give-you-nightmares/ | R/C Hexababy Is Guaranteed To Give You Nightmares | Mike Nathan | [
"Robots Hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"hexapod",
"remote control",
"toys"
] | For this week’s hack, [Dino] was working on a mechanical cat toy, but the project fell apart towards the end for some reason or another. With time running out,
he had to come up with something
on pretty short notice, using whatever he happened to have on hand. Luckily he picks up some seriously weird stuff at the local thrift store and had a disembodied doll’s head kicking around for this last minute project.
Taking a cue from Toy Story’s [
Sid Phillips
], [Dino’s] doll’s head hexapod is as creepy as it is simple. He had a remote controlled hexapod from RadioShack sitting around, and thought it would be fun to combine it with the doll’s head. He replaced the dolls eyes with a handful of LEDs, which are green as the hexapod retreats, but glow a bright red as it advances towards you. The only way it could be any creepier is if [Dino] added a voice box that plaintively called for “mommy” as the doll crawls around!
It’s a relatively goofy project, but it gave us a good chuckle. The most disturbing highlight of the build is when [Dino] removes the doll’s eyes using a wood drill bit around the 6:00 mark.
If you’re looking to kill a few minutes, be sure to check it out – [Dino’s] work is entertaining as always.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZPIhHBAjEc&w=470] | 18 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "425957",
"author": "Roy Eltham",
"timestamp": "2011-07-30T20:19:09",
"content": "Excellent Hack, sir! So simple, yet so cool.The drilling out of the eyes was especially awesome and creepy.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "425964"... | 1,760,377,127.623538 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/30/bejeweled-blitz-bot-makes-your-high-score-look-just-sad/ | Bejeweled Blitz Bot Makes Your High Score Look Just Sad | Mike Szczys | [
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"bejeweled",
"bot",
"puzzle",
"solver",
"solving"
] | Programmers don’t need to get good at a game to achieve a high score, they code a bot for that instead. Take [hypnotizd] for instance. He was learning to write in the C# language and decided to make
a bot that plays Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook
. He figures he took between 48 and 72 hours of coding over a couple of weeks, but remember, he was learning the language at the same time. We think you’d be hard pressed to achieve a 1.5 million range score by yourself, even with that amount of practice time.
We spoke with [hypnotizd] yesterday afternoon to get a bit of background on how he made this happen. His code (he’s not releasing it so you’ll have to write your own) scrapes the screen image as input. You can see at the beginning of the video after the break that he sizes his app to properly align each jewel in its grid. The program then identifies each game piece by finding the center of the cell and taking a 25 square-pixel average color. Many of the jewels are easily recognized in this first pass, but some are harder and require several different tests to identify. That’s the difficult part, choosing the best move is just a matter of coming up with your own rules on how the bot should play the game.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4BiLeKjXSA&w=470]
[Thanks Adam] | 48 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "425938",
"author": "BiOzZ",
"timestamp": "2011-07-30T19:19:20",
"content": "Nice! i love C# personally i find it my favorite languagei do allot of interfacing hardware with software",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "425940",
"... | 1,760,377,127.900628 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/30/usb-reddit-upvotedownvote-button/ | USB Reddit Upvote/Downvote Button | Mike Nathan | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"3d printing",
"reddit",
"Teensy"
] | [Chris] has recently become a self-declared Reddit addict and wanted to build something that would
streamline the process of voting on posts
. Inspired by the
Awesome Button hack
featured on
Make
a little while back, he thought that a physical upvote/downvote button would be the ideal peripheral for all of his Reddit needs.
He was a big fan of using the Reddit Enhancement Suite, which allows you to submit votes with a single keystroke. He combined this browser extension with a Teensy development board, and had his voting button prototyped in no time. Once he fine-tuned the Arduino sketch that he used to emulate the required keypresses, he got busy building a case for his creation.
He busted out his 3D printer and had a custom working project box in about 30 minutes. He printed arrows for the upvote and downvote buttons, snapped everything together, and then gave his quick vote box a spin. Everything worked perfectly, and he’s quite happy with his creation.
We imagine that our
resident Reddit addict in chief
is pretty jealous right about now…
Stick around if you’d like to see a time lapse video of the button’s creation.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNkKHRwk3MA&w=470] | 10 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "425899",
"author": "Tom Hek",
"timestamp": "2011-07-30T17:09:48",
"content": "As a full-time Reddit nerd, I have to say this is one of the best hacks ever (except for the motion controlled down/upvote button, but hey)..",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},... | 1,760,377,127.669614 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/30/am-singer-a-tiny-am-transmitter/ | AM Singer: A Tiny AM Transmitter | Jeremy Cook | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"am",
"radio"
] | [Simon Orr] wrote in to tell us about his
AM transmitter prototype
that he plans to put into production in a few months. The build is based on an “Easy AM Transmitter” featured in
this
Instructables article.
Interestingly enough, this device is capable of transmitting in the 100KHz to 480KHz frequencies. The AM band goes from 520 KHz to 1610KHz, so in order to hear this signal, one must actually tune the radio to twice the emitted frequency. This allows one to tune into the harmonic frequency and receive a signal in this range.
Using the harmonic frequency to transmit is an interesting concept by itself. Additionally, the idea that one could build this device with or without the kit in the future should appeal to experienced hackers and those just starting out alike. Check out the “AM Singer” prototype video after the break.
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VKMOBp7rL4&w=470&h=349%5D | 32 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "425853",
"author": "hpux735",
"timestamp": "2011-07-30T15:28:47",
"content": "I want to see more about the project, but I don’t really want to install fritzig, could you post an image?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "425857",
... | 1,760,377,128.138709 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/30/making-structured-wiring-do-your-bidding/ | Making Structured Wiring Do Your Bidding | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"ethernet",
"splitter"
] | So you’ve just moved into a home that has cat5 running throughout. This is called structured wiring and is a great feature for a home. But what if the existing wiring doesn’t work the way you would prefer to setup your network? [Firestorm_v1] has a workaround that lets you
reconfigure Ethernet without pulling new cables
.
He’s making splitters out of patch cables. Often, Ethernet devices are not using all eight conductors in the cable. Unless you are using Gigabit Ethernet, or running Power over Ethernet, only four of the conductors in each run are being utilized. This means you can create twice as many connections without running new cable or using addition switches. Each splitter has three RJ-45 connectors on it. One of them hooks to the wired jack in the wall while the other two hook to two different devices. You’ll need a second splitter to use on the opposite end of the wall jack, usually this is where the router or switch is located, in order to separate the combined signals. | 42 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "425768",
"author": "RooTer",
"timestamp": "2011-07-30T13:10:26",
"content": "Exact same thing but with addition of rj45 is very popular – love it simplicity",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "425770",
"author": "RooTer",
... | 1,760,377,128.326241 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/29/rgb-led-spectrum-analyzer-coffee-table/ | RGB LED Spectrum Analyzer Coffee Table | Mike Nathan | [
"LED Hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"coffee table",
"msp430",
"RGB LED",
"texas instruments"
] | This year, students working for Texas Instruments as part of their Co-op program were challenged to construct a project around the company’s MSP430 microcontroller. A team of three students, [Max Thrun, Mark Labbato, Ian Cathey] decided to build something that would fit perfectly in any college student’s dorm room –
an RGB LED coffee table
.
We’ve covered
RGB LED tables
in the past, but as far as we can tell this is the first MSP430 based unit we’ve seen. Microcontroller aside, the table features a lot of items that are considered “standard equipment” when it comes to these sorts of living room LED installations. The trio installed 128 RGB LEDs into their table, isolating each one using a wooden grid, and used some frosted glass to diffuse the display a bit.
What really makes this table stand out is the software. The team wrote an application that creates a Fast Fourier Transform of whatever music is being played, in order to find beats and generate real-time visualizations for their table. The result is a pleasing display that’s sure to be a hit at parties.
Check out the video below to see their creation in action.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E_63Ml4F7A&w=470] | 32 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "425469",
"author": "Elco Jacobs",
"timestamp": "2011-07-29T23:13:55",
"content": "The visualizations is awesome!Is the FFT running on the microcontroller or the PC?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "425499",
"author": "j... | 1,760,377,127.9722 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/29/improving-audio-output-from-an-hd-radio-receiver/ | Improving Audio Output From An HD Radio Receiver | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"auvio",
"burr-brown",
"hd tuner",
"insignia",
"op-amp",
"opa2604"
] | [Phil] picked up an HD radio receiver when Radio Shack was clearing them out at a 60% discount. But to his disappointment, when he hooked it up the sound left a lot to be desired with limited mid-range and flat bass. After some forum mining he discovered that the optical output didn’t have this problem, and came to the conclusion that the op-amp driving the analog audio-out jack needed some tweaking. He didn’t get his hands on a schematic for the board, but took the advice from some vintage equipment gurus and
swapped the stock IC for a Burr-Brown OPA2604AP chip
.
This fixed the problem without any other adjustments to the hardware. But while he was in there, he also secured the external antenna connector jack to the chassis for good measure.
If you’re wondering about the particulars of the equipment, [Phil] was hacking an Auvio HD Radio tuner. But he also mentions that Best Buy sells an Insignia NS-HDTUNE which may benefit from the same modification. | 19 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "425455",
"author": "The Timmy",
"timestamp": "2011-07-29T22:43:17",
"content": "nice. this project has me thinking… what electronics of mine are lacking in their potential due to poor/cheap component selection.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
... | 1,760,377,128.195256 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/28/ntsc-video-out-with-the-papilio-one/ | NTSC Video Out With The Papilio One | Mike Nathan | [
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"fpga",
"papilio one",
"tv output"
] | [Ben Leperchey] is working on building a Sega Master System clone using the Papilio One FPGA board, and although his ultimate goal has yet to be reached, he’s
bringing some great stuff to the table
in the meantime.
One component that is necessary for any sort of game system clone is NTSC/PAL video output, naturally. Since no one had constructed a TV output “Wing” (The Papilio One’s version of a shield or breakout board), [Ben] went and did it on his own. Using only 14 resistors and a low-pass audio filter, he was able to get the video output he was looking for with relatively little trouble. His VHDL code running on the Papilio does all the hard work of creating the video signal, while the wing he designed mostly handles the connectivity.
This is one of the first few projects/components we’ve seen come
out of the Papilio camp
, and it looks like things are off to a good start. We can’t wait to see the Master System implementation once it has been wrapped up!
Continue reading to see a quick video demonstration of the Papilio One and [Ben’s] TV output wing.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9I8JYqx2YY&w=470] | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "424835",
"author": "beeboue",
"timestamp": "2011-07-29T00:09:28",
"content": "I like the kinder, gentler HaD. This is almost like stumbleupon!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "424870",
"author": "Denis Bisson",
"timestamp... | 1,760,377,128.24854 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/28/live-nba-scoreboard-with-huge-7-segment-displays/ | Live NBA Scoreboard With Huge 7-segment Displays | Brian Benchoff | [
"News"
] | [
"display"
] | [Kianoosh] was in Las Vegas over spring break and was fascinated by the real-time sports scores displayed at the casinos. He figured that this would be an easy enough project to duplicate, so he built a
gigantic NBA scoreboard
that updates live from the NBA website.
The build uses the OS X Automator to pull scores down from the NBA’s mobile site. Sending this through a parser written in Java, the scores are then sent to an ATMega32 over an XBee. [Kianoosh] posted all the code and schematics, as well as a
PDF writeup
. Because the scoreboard is sport-agnostic, [Kianoosh] plans on writing new code for the NFL, MLB, and NHL. We’re really impressed with this build, and with the
giant 7-segment LEDs
, this would be a great addition to a sports bar (or really
any
bar).
[Kianoosh] recorded a video of his scoreboard in action (from April 13, 2011 in case you were wondering). Check it out below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5VDC8qn8Gc&w=470] | 14 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "424860",
"author": "dext3r",
"timestamp": "2011-07-29T01:27:08",
"content": "this is awesome. looks like a real sports scoreboard, and i see you “solved” the issue with triple digits scores :) lol",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": ... | 1,760,377,128.466827 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/28/creating-halftone-pictures-with-a-cnc-machine/ | Creating Halftone Pictures With A CNC Machine | Mike Nathan | [
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"cnc",
"halftone",
"pictures"
] | [Metalfusion], built himself a nice looking CNC machine and has been experimenting with some out of the box uses for his new tool. One novel use he is particularly fond of is
creating pictures with his machine
(
Google Translation
). While you might imagine that he is simply using the CNC as an engraver, literally drawing images on the surface of his workpiece, what he is doing is far more interesting.
He developed a small application that takes an image (jpeg, gif, or png) and converts it to a set of pixels, which can then be tweaked and skewed to his liking. The application exports the halftone image to a DXF file which can be fed into the CAD application that he uses to control his CNC machine. The CNC does the rest, using a v-shaped router bit to cut holes into his workpiece, generating a physical halftone picture from his digital image.
Thought the process does take some time to complete,
the resulting images
are well worth it. If you are interested in trying this at home using your own CNC machine, the DXF Halftone application is available on his site for free.
Continue reading to see his halftone generating CNC in action.
[via
HackedGadgets
]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REu3MBDsNWo&w=470] | 56 | 43 | [
{
"comment_id": "424783",
"author": "D1g1Ts",
"timestamp": "2011-07-28T21:43:45",
"content": "AH my ears, the vid is so loud.Though great project.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "424795",
"author": "jeremiah",
"timestamp": "2011-07-28T22... | 1,760,377,128.417249 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/28/wooden-machine-belongs-in-willy-wonkas-factory/ | Wooden Machine Belongs In Willy Wonka’s Factory | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"chain",
"differential",
"gear",
"universal joint",
"wood"
] | Behold the wooden machine
(
translated
) that is used for… well it does… it was built because… Okay, this is a case where asking what it does or why it was built is the wrong question. [Erich Schatt] began building the piece that he calls “Wheels” back in 1995. It took just seven years to complete, and is made entirely of wood. The video after the break shows a multitude of moving parts.
The chains were modeled after bicycle chains, which are used to transfer motion from the “rider” throughout the machine. The gearing for each segment was meticulously calculated, then perfected through trial and error. The complexity even calls for a differential and universal joints. It’s mesmerizing to watch and for that reason it’s made appearances at conventions and been featured in art exhibitions.
It’s also worth mentioning that this comes from a very humble-looking shop. [Erich] posted some pictures of his studio and aside from the abundance of bar clamps, it’s just your average garage or basement setup.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5wJCzksT9k&w=470]
[Thanks Michu] | 20 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "424749",
"author": "1000100 1000001 1010110 1000101",
"timestamp": "2011-07-28T20:54:36",
"content": "Wow…and I was proud of the workbench I built…this is phenomenal.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "424758",
"author": "Hacke... | 1,760,377,128.520728 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/28/frankenkindle-building-an-alternate-kindle-keyboard/ | FrankenKindle: Building An Alternate Kindle Keyboard | Mike Szczys | [
"handhelds hacks",
"Kindle hacks"
] | [
"breakout",
"ereader",
"keyboard",
"kindle",
"multiplexer",
"Teensy",
"TS3A5017"
] | If you’ve ever thought the Kindle keyboard was a bit cramped you’re not alone. [Glenn’s] been working on
developing an external keyboard for the Kindle
for quite some time. It may not make easier for everyone to use, but he’s motivated to improve usability for his sister who has Cerebral Palsy.
We see a lot of keyboard hacks that solder straight to the pads under the buttons, but for a compact device like the Kindle this would really mess things up. Instead of going that route, [Glenn] sourced a
20-pin Flexible Flat Cable and breakout board
that match the internal Kindle connector. The prototype seen above uses a TS3A5017 serial multiplexer chip to simulate the keyboard button presses. That multiplexer is driven by a Teensy++ microcontroller board which is monitoring a larger set of buttons on the V.Reader seen above. Check out the video after the break for a brief demonstration, then look around at the rest of [Glenn’s] blog posts to view different steps of the development cycle.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V5_qZqcM3k&w=470]
[Thanks Hybridblue] | 7 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "424741",
"author": "FractalBrain",
"timestamp": "2011-07-28T20:29:43",
"content": "I like it. If it can be, as he said, blackboxed, simplified and sped up a bit, there are a number of problems that could be tackle. Ok, well, my brain seems to have fixed on only one of them: Hang ... | 1,760,377,128.571584 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/28/rc-car-and-beagle-board-mate-for-a-versatile-robot-build/ | RC Car And Beagle Board Mate For A Versatile Robot Build | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"beagleboard",
"servo"
] | Here’s
a rover project that has plenty of power
(
translated
) to go places. This is true not only of its locomotive capability, but processing power as well.
The RC car used here
(
translated
) is not overly expensive, but offers a lot of versatility. It’s got front and rear steering via two servo motors, as well as independent drive motors for each end. The frame also offers an advanced suspension system that lets the vehicle flex to keep as many wheels on the ground as possible. It’s a great find if you don’t want to start off your project bogged down in the hardware design.
On the control side of things a Beagle Board has been choosen. The demo after the break shows it controlling an added turret servo, as well as the drive mechanism controlled via a keyboard. These are driven through the embedded Ubuntu image running on the board. This should provide plenty of processing power to add obstacle avoidance and autonomy routines in future versions.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTUvEsW8RbQ&w=470]
[Thanks Carlos] | 12 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "424706",
"author": "N0LKK",
"timestamp": "2011-07-28T19:12:29",
"content": "Mt first thought was how well does a rear suspension work as a front suspension? Well enough on a RC vehicle, I guess, going by the videos. Someday Hackaday will find one with that has a motor for each wheel... | 1,760,377,128.625698 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/28/a-professional-looking-n64-portable-build/ | A Professional Looking N64 Portable Build | Jeremy Cook | [
"handhelds hacks",
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"console",
"goldeneye",
"n64",
"portable"
] | Although Hack A Day is no stranger to console conversions,
this portable N64
build is worthy of note. The article itself is in Spanish, but for those that don’t speak the language, the steps and components necessary are well documented in pictures. There’s even a video of the finished product after the break.
What is especially interesting about this project is the professional looking build quality of the finished product. One might think it’s a custom injection molding job or possibly 3D printed, but everything is done with only glue, filler, and paint. A controller and console is hacked up to provide the raw materials for this build. An expansion pack is even attached to this console for good measure.
Power is provided by a 6800mA battery, and the console features a generous 7 inch display. A good wiring schematic is also provided in this article, so maybe it will inspire other quality console hacking in the future.
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhNVcomBsog&w=470&h=349%5D
Additionally, here’s another N64 portable
console hack
if one isn’t enough. | 36 | 36 | [
{
"comment_id": "424600",
"author": "elduderino",
"timestamp": "2011-07-28T16:47:34",
"content": "This is one of the coolest hacks I have seen. Does it have rumble though? And is it just me or does the sound seem really jumpy in the beginning of the first game?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": ... | 1,760,377,128.837524 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/27/camera-flash-marquee-real-of-fake/ | Camera Flash Marquee: Real Of Fake? | Mike Szczys | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"dslr",
"flash",
"marquee",
"matrix",
"music video"
] | It’s time for everyone’s favorite comment thread game: Real or Fake? This week’s edition comes in from a tip that [Fabian] sent us about
the music video Bright Siren by the band Androp
. The video starts by showing bundles of cables being sorted and connected to breadboards. We get a brief shot of a large LED matrix (presumably being used for testing purposes) then footage of a lot of DSLR cameras with external flashes. These are mounted on racks to produce the marquee seen in the image above. The band performs in front of it for the rest of the video.
We’ve embedded the original video, as well as a ‘making of’ video after the break. There’s also
a website
you can checkout that lets you write your own message on the marquee. That bit could be easily done in flash so there’s no que, you’ll notice there’s no live feed. While we think the theory is real, we’re a bit skeptical about whether this performance is real or video editing magic. In the behind the scenes clip you can see breadboards attached to each camera flash with rubber bands so we’d guess that at least some of the hardware was setup. But we’re wondering if the animated effects were done in editing like that
tea light animation
. Let us know what you think by leaving a comment.
Music Video:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYgw7XRf5nc&w=470]
Making of:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lGmO6eq9gM&w=470] | 105 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "423661",
"author": "cde",
"timestamp": "2011-07-27T18:11:15",
"content": "I’m not sure any flash can recharge and discharge at that rate (nearly 30fps). And that would be hell on batteries too.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "... | 1,760,377,128.948723 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/27/unlocking-wireless-pc-locks/ | Unlocking Wireless PC Locks | Kevin Dady | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"usrp"
] | [Mr.Pantz] pointed us to a web page we thought you would find interesting. It deals with
hacking PC lock using a Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) .
Following the good practice of logging off or locking your workstation while your not at it, it is darn hard to get users to actually do it. These little gadgets are a 2 piece setup one being a usb dongle, and the other being a badge like device. If the badge is turned off or is a distance greater than ~30 feet, the signal is lost and the pc is locked.
From there all you really need to do is figure out what frequency the 2 are running at and what codes are flying around the air. Some careful eyeballing suggests that this operates in the 434MHz region much like remote lock dongles for your car, and once the device is apart some research of 2 of the IC’s on board confirms it. Using the
GNU Radio
spectrum analyzer a signal is quickly captured, dumped, and a script is created to send the signal back out, provided you have the correct hardware to do so. | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "423638",
"author": "Henrik Pedersen",
"timestamp": "2011-07-27T17:26:41",
"content": "I have one exactly like this, and I can’t live without it in school when I need to go away for a second or a friend is trying to see through my private pictures xDBUT the standard software sucks BI... | 1,760,377,128.766493 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/27/automated-water-distiller-gets-an-overhaul/ | Automated Water Distiller Gets An Overhaul | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"automation",
"lcd",
"water distiller"
] | One thing we love about the hacking community is the drive that most people have to revamp and rework their “finished” projects. A few weeks ago, we wrote about a water distilling rig that [Kyle] hacked together, which allowed him to automate his distillation process.
He took his project back into the workshop
and tweaked a few things, giving us the heads up when he was finished.
He got his hands on a new distillation unit and decided that he wanted to transfer over his automation setup. He cleaned things up by ditching most of the components
from his first distiller
, including the toy clock tower dial (which we happened to think was pretty fun). The same relays and Arduino were used in the second version of the still, but he reworked all of his code to make use of his new control interface.
The new model sports an LCD panel that allows the user to interact with the machine via a push button rotary encoder. Now he can easily navigate through a series of menus that enable him to set the distillation quantity and start time, leaving the distiller to do the hard work. The still also does a quick safety check each time it starts up, to ensure that things are in good working order before firing up the heating element.
[Kyle] says he will continue to tweak the distiller, though we think it looks great already.
Continue reading to see a quick video of his Stillduino v2 in action.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eGcrKX39Zw&w=470] | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "423597",
"author": "mike",
"timestamp": "2011-07-27T15:51:53",
"content": "It now distills alcohol instead.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "423604",
"author": "haroldbalzac",
"timestamp": "2011-07-27T16:05:15",
"cont... | 1,760,377,129.268424 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/27/how-to-build-your-own-quadcopter-step-by-step/ | How To Build Your Own Quadcopter, Step By Step | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"quadcopter"
] | DIY-er [Russell] wanted a quadcopter, and like many people out there, he knew the satisfaction that would come from building it himself. Rather than purchase a kit or follow a set of online instructions, he spent a lot of time researching quadcopters, and eventually
put together a thorough tutorial himself
.
His Arduino-based quadcopter is named Scout and runs about $1,000 to $1,200 depending on which parts you choose to buy. [Russell] has a complete parts list available on his site, including plenty of alternate component choices for builders on a budget.
He covers the construction process in great detail, discussing frame fabrication and component placement as well as how to program the Arduino for the copter’s first flight. He also takes the time to break down his component list item by item to explain how each piece is part of the greater puzzle, which is great for first time builders.
We love seeing this level of detail when discussing a build process, and as you can see by the video embedded below, his quadcopter looks great!
[Thanks, Willow]
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/23568649 w=470] | 54 | 48 | [
{
"comment_id": "423570",
"author": "Chris",
"timestamp": "2011-07-27T14:27:56",
"content": "error : for the estimated cost, it’s written $1000-$1200 on the blog.Still, i didn’t think it would be that expensive.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "4... | 1,760,377,129.352181 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/27/londons-44con-is-looking-for-a-few-good-hackers/ | London’s 44Con Is Looking For A Few Good Hackers | Mike Nathan | [
"cons",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"44Con",
"DEF CON",
"penetration testing",
"security"
] | While we see plenty of security-related conferences here in the US, our friends across the pond were apparently anxious to hold
a large-scale security conference of their own
. At the helm of the first ever 44Con are DEF CON Goon [Adrian] and Penetration Tester [Steve Lord]. The pair are quite involved in London’s security community and are looking to bring like-minded individuals together over four days of security talks and workshops.
While 44Con’s list of speakers has been wrapped up, they are still looking for people to help run workshops on the 1st and 2nd of September. They are requesting that any hackers in the area drop them a line if interested.
Taking a look at their site, you can see that they have
a nice selection of talks lined up
catering to those on the business side of Information Security as well as deep technical discussions about threats and vulnerabilities. If you plan on hitting up the conference, be sure to let us know in the comments section. | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "423575",
"author": "Matthew",
"timestamp": "2011-07-27T14:58:53",
"content": "Is it Just Me or is the Link Not working",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "423605",
"author": "xorpunk",
"timestamp": "2011-07-27T16:07:36",
... | 1,760,377,129.102705 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/27/building-a-one-instruction-computer/ | Building A One-instruction Computer | Brian Benchoff | [
"Software Development"
] | [
"fpga",
"OISC",
"One instruction computer",
"verilog"
] | [Hasith] sent in
this project
where he goes through the process of designing a one instruction CPU in Verilog. It may not win a contest for the coolest build on Hack A Day, but we really do appreciate the “applied nerd” aspect of this build.
With only one instruction, an
OISC
is a lot simpler than
the mess we have to deal with today
. There are a few instructions that by themselves are Turing-complete (like
Subtract and branch if negative
, and
Move
). Designing an OISC with one of these instructions means it can also emulate a
Turing machine
.
[Hasith]’s build log goes through the entire process of building a fully functional computer – the ALU, program counter, instruction register and RAM. There’s even Verilog code if you want to try this out for yourself.
This isn’t the first time we’ve read about a one-instruction set computer. Years ago, we saw a
hardware version
of a subtract and branch if negative computer. [Hasith] plans another how-to post on how to write a small compiler for his OISC. [Hasith] seems like a pretty cool guy, so we’re hoping it’s not a
Brainfuck
compiler; we wouldn’t want him to take up a drinking habit. | 23 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "423552",
"author": "blues",
"timestamp": "2011-07-27T12:40:59",
"content": "You know of Transfer Triggered Architectures? They only have a move-Instruction and then move around the data to “special| units that will do all the work like multiplication, addition, and all the functions... | 1,760,377,129.412676 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/27/circuitbee-makes-sharing-schematics-and-circuit-diagrams-easy/ | CircuitBee Makes Sharing Schematics And Circuit Diagrams Easy | Mike Nathan | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"circuit diagram",
"CircuitBee",
"schematics"
] | When looking for things to write about, there is nothing we like to see more than well-documented schematics and code available for download. In the case of schematics, we realize that they can be a bit of a pain to publish. Many times we see them in the form of blurry JPEGs or humungous PDF files, neither of which are incredibly convenient to use.
The folks over at CircuitBee thought the same thing
, and have been working diligently to make it easier for everyone to share their awesome ideas with the world.
Their free service requires registration, and not much else. Once you’re in, you are free to upload your Eagle or KiCAD circuit diagrams, which are then run through CircuitBee’s servers. They convert your drawings into embeddable objects which allow others to view your project without a lot of fuss. Their embeddable schematic window can be rendered in full screen mode, and gives users the ability to zoom in on any portion of the drawing to see the circuit’s finer details.
[Ben Delarre] from CircuitBee says that the product is in the alpha stages right now, so there are plenty of features and useful tools coming in the near future. If you like to build and share, it’s definitely something worth checking out!
[via
Make
]
[Thanks, Sanchoooo] | 28 | 28 | [
{
"comment_id": "423515",
"author": "vic",
"timestamp": "2011-07-27T11:09:38",
"content": "Might be useful is registration wasn’t mandatory to view some schematics and if you could print correctly. It is also impossible to export the schematics, which looks to me like another lock-in attempt.Has the... | 1,760,377,129.479518 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/28/microcontroller-communications-using-flashing-lights/ | Microcontroller Communications Using Flashing Lights | Mike Nathan | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"microcontrollers",
"phototransistors"
] | [Scott] was driving in the pouring rain behind a car with its blinkers on
when inspiration struck
. He had previously created a simple communications system using his sound card that allowed him to
send data to a microcontroller from his PC
, but he thought that doing the same thing with light would be an interesting exercise.
He decided that the best way to go about building such a system would be to use a phototransistor along with his computer monitor to send data to his microcontroller. While he couldn’t really think of any practical application for the project, that didn’t stop him from putting it together just for grins.
[Scott] says the circuit is dead-simple, and includes a pair of phototransistors along with their required resistors. The receiver was tied into the ADC of his microcontroller, where he was easily able to pick up some simple light patterns. His ultimate goal is to put together a javascript application that sends data to his microcontroller, though he’s looking for a bit of assistance on the programming side of things – any takers?
While [Scott] couldn’t come up with any applications off the top of his head, we know of at least one. Anyone familiar with the Bloomberg financial application will likely have come across their “B-Unit”. This piece of hardware is about the size of a credit card, but thicker. Armed with a fingerprint scanner and a photodiode, it reads a series of flashing lights from your computer screen in order to ‘synchronize’ the unit for each login session that is not initiated with an official Bloomberg keyboard. So there’s one for you!
Continue reading to see a video of the system in action.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvVjsMMCx0U&w=470] | 43 | 40 | [
{
"comment_id": "424539",
"author": "The Steven",
"timestamp": "2011-07-28T15:44:36",
"content": "Chat via IrDA?Interesting idea.How about a Line-Of-Sight-Car-To-Car messaging system?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "424541",
"author": "JohnP... | 1,760,377,129.55876 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/28/security-bot-2/ | Security Bot 2 | Kevin Dady | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"security"
] | [William] Had originally built a little Security Bot to roam the halls of his house while he was not at home. He wanted a little bit more and started
Security Bot 2 to include a good pile of sensors and add pan and tilt control to the onboard camera
. Thanks to ordering pieces from a “who’s who” list of robotic and electronic hobby shops, the bits and pieces quickly arrived making assembly less tedious.
Packed on board of the 4WD platform are IR switches, IR distanace sensors, line sensors, Ultrasonic sensor, an Xbee (soon to be replaced with a WiFi Shield), pan/tilt brackets/servo, SpeakJet/TTS/Speakers, LCD, battery, serial motor controller, ICSP pocket programmer, Arduino Mega 2560, DSS Circuits Fuel Gauges, plus motors, batteries, camera, leds and a wiimote connection. (whew, that’s a mouth full)
All put together with some perfboards, breakout boards and a lot of jumper wire Security Bot2 is ready to patrol your premises! | 16 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "424494",
"author": "Jk",
"timestamp": "2011-07-28T14:48:57",
"content": "Nicely done :D :D mental hi 5",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "424499",
"author": "mindstormy",
"timestamp": "2011-07-28T14:53:02",
"content": "... | 1,760,377,129.609111 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/28/making-and-selling-star-wars-costumes-ruled-to-be-legal/ | Making And Selling Star Wars Costumes Ruled To Be Legal | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"costume",
"lawsuit",
"lucasfilm",
"mold",
"stormtrooper",
"vacuum former"
] | [Andrew Ainsworth] has been making and selling costumes based on Star Wars character (some original, and some of his own creation) for several years. Lucasfilm sued him for $20 million back in 2004 claiming infringement of intellectual property rights. He stopped selling them in the US (as it was a US copyright) but now the
UK Supreme Court has ruled in his favor
, siding with his claim that the costumes are functional items and not works of art.
Good for him, but copyright issues aren’t what interests us here. The BBC clip showing him
using a vacuum former to make the Stormtrooper helmet
really caught our attention. A bit of further searching led us to find the thirteen minute video after the break showing the entire process, from sculpting the mold by hand, to forming the components, and the final assembly seen above. It’s a fascinating process that makes use want to build our own vacuum former (preferably
on a larger scale than this one
). It would come in handy whether it’s Star Wars,
Daft Punk
, or any number of other projects you’ve got in mind.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk_048JvrXc&w=470]
[Thanks Danny] | 25 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "424452",
"author": "Ram41662",
"timestamp": "2011-07-28T14:02:03",
"content": "If the vacuum forming really interest you, then you might consider reading “Secrets of Building a Plastic Vacuum Forming Machine” by Vincent Gingery. It’s a bit of simplistic document, but it does give y... | 1,760,377,129.798696 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/28/smd-soldering-with-gas/ | SMD Soldering With Gas | Kevin Dady | [
"how-to"
] | [
"butane",
"soldering"
] | [desimon] had a wanted to use some accelerometer chips, but their 3x3mm 16-VFQFN packages made it pretty darn hard to solder by hand. While there are endless ways to approach this, we found this one peculiarity interesting from
his use of a gas torch
, though it is pretty much hot air reflow.
A PCB for the tiny devices is etched and tinned, the pads have a healthy but not overdone amount of solder applied to them. A liberal coat of flux, rough alignment of the chip and a few gentle passes from the torch and the hobby grade solder melts while the surface tension pulls everything into final alignment.
Having personally used a hot air gun a number of times (and also burning my hand about the same number of times) the localized heat of the torch does make more sense, and there is virtually no heat up time for it either, though it appears just as easy to scorch the board. It is a live flame so be careful! | 24 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "424420",
"author": "Reaper",
"timestamp": "2011-07-28T12:59:06",
"content": "I just got some little 3x3mm chips like that, I’m still working on the board design to go with it. XD",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "424424",
"aut... | 1,760,377,129.669341 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/28/3d-printed-singularity-drive-platform/ | 3D Printed Singularity Drive Platform | Brian Benchoff | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"3d printer",
"hemispherical omnidirectional gimbaled wheel",
"hog",
"remote control",
"Singularity drive"
] | [Silas] is a student at Olin College and came up with a platform using the
singularity drive system
in his spare time.
We covered a
LEGO build
of a singularity drive earlier this month. Instead of wheels, treads or legs, this drive system has a hemisphere spinning along its vertical axis. Interestingly, the robot does not change the speed or direction of its drive motor at all.
IEEE
is now calling this drive system a “singularity drive,” because
math
.
What makes [Silas]’ build really neat is that the entire platform was fabricated on a 3D printer. Unlike the previous singularity platform, We’re hoping he puts his design up on the web; a triple-singluarity drive platform inspired by a
Kiwi robot
would be very cool. Not as
face-meltingly awesome
as one you can ride in, but still very cool.
Check out the video below for [Silas]’ demo of the build.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIEBChw5x8Q&w=470] | 31 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "424387",
"author": "anton",
"timestamp": "2011-07-28T11:34:04",
"content": "Great work!The next step would be to add gyroscopic balancing to get rid of the two extra wheels… just as an idea …",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "4243... | 1,760,377,129.736719 |
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