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https://hackaday.com/2011/07/27/hackaday-comment-policy-were-cleaning-up/ | Hackaday Comment Policy; We’re Cleaning Up. | Caleb Kraft | [
"News",
"Rants"
] | [
"comments",
"trolls"
] | Sit down for a moment commenters, we need to talk.
Yes, you all knew this post was coming one day. We’ve talked about this topic at length internally, and we have decided that we’re going to clean up our act. For some time, Hack a Day has been growing a reputation as the prime source of extremely negative, vulgar, rude, sexist, and inflammatory comments in the hacking community. We’ve had complaints from readers (yes there are readers that aren’t commenters, thousands of them) and fellow members of the hacking community about this problem for a long time. [Eliot] even mentioned it back in 2009 when a
job applicant
expressed concern. We’ve nicely tried to steer things to the positive in a variety of ways, from
suggesting commenters
to be more supportive,
jokingly making a troll detector
, and simply stating that the comments need to stay “on topic and nice”.
When we see things like
these
tweets
by [Jeri Ellsworth], we hang our heads in shame.
She’s not the only one. We actually get this quite regularly. As our readership grows, we see it more and more often. We get emails explaining that people have done a hack but don’t really want to post it because the commenters will just tear it apart in an unnecessarily aggressive and negative way. We have actually had people ask us to
remove their projects and comments
due to uncivil behavior. Constructive criticism is good, but insulting and angry deconstruction isn’t helpful to anyone.
We’re better than that aren’t we? We are fast, agile and fairly unrestricted in our content. We should be at the center of this community, not on the outer edges, reviled by many for the behavior of a few. Hackaday should be the teacher at the front of the classroom, not the kid in the back throwing wadded up paper at the kids in the front.
What we’re doing:
First off, as far as we can foresee, we will never close the comments section of our web site down. Hackaday should be a home for the entire hacking community and as such, you will always be able to settle in and have a reasonable discussion. We do not want to implement any sort of G+ integration or similar, nor do we want to require registration to leave a comment. We will if we absolutely have to, but lets try to avoid that.
Comment sections and forums have often been a place where negative comments can get out of hand. There are
many theories
for why this happens, but the result is usually the same: rules and moderation. Many sites have
already
laid
down
the law and are adhering to their goals of keeping things civil. We realize that
we are to blame
if our image is this poor, so we are doing something about it.
From this point moving forward, Hackaday comments
will
be civil. If you are posting an empty in-joke (“where’s the Arduino?”), a declaration of “not a hack”, a racist, sexist, completely off topic, platform-hating, or personally insulting comment, your post will be deleted. This will be at the discretion of whichever Hackaday staff member happens to see your comment first.
Can you criticize Hackaday?
You can’t walk into a business and start screaming about how much they suck without being escorted out immediately. Same thing applies here.
We are always hard at work trying to find interesting hacks, makes, repairs, tweaks, videos, etc. that appeal to a wide spectrum of readers. We put this web site together for you, as well as 200,000 other individuals. Not everything will appeal to everybody. That would be impossible. However, if you don’t like a post or project, just skip it – we’ll have another one ready in short order. We will feature projects that appeal to the seasoned EE as well as the complete beginner. We were all beginners at one time, and it would have been great to have something like Hack a Day around back then to show us hacks ranging from simple to advanced.
From time to time however, Hack a Day can be a less than desirable place to hang out, especially for those who are coming here for the first time. We don’t want to chase off young, creative minds. As a community, we should be helping those that are just starting to venture into hacking electronics.
If you have a problem, email us. You’ll probably actually get a response that way too. My email is Caleb@ and you’re always welcome to email me personally. Again, please be civil (yep, I’ve had my share of death threats).
Grammar/spelling corrections and dead links:
No need to comment, just email us. A message to team@ will suffice, but you will probably get a quicker response by emailing the author directly. We know we have issues – we’re often so excited about a hack that some little goof slips by. Email us and we’ll fix it. Don’t write a 3 paragraph comment about how important the oxford comma is, or how we’re obviously incapable of functioning because we accidentally flubbed a word. We promise we will never intentionally screw up some grammar, spelling, or punctuation.
What you
can
will do to help:
Be constructive.
Every project here probably has an area that could be improved, or a part that was done inefficiently. Support your fellow hackers by offering your expertise. Explain why something isn’t working, or how you would improve it. Don’t slam them for their shortcomings. Also keep in mind that different people go about things different ways. Poster X didn’t build something the way you did? Offer an alternative without being insulting. If someone chooses to use their brand new Core i7 monster system to drive a few LEDs, that’s their prerogative. Inside, we all know that it is not the most efficient use of money or technology, there’s no reason to beat that dead horse in public.
You know what else encourages hackers to do more projects? A pat on the back. I talk to people all the time who say that they just don’t have any constructive criticism for the projects, so they don’t comment. Well, that and they know they’ll bring the ire of the worst commenters if they happen to ask a silly question. Drop in and say what you like about a project. Those positive posts might just be enough to encourage that hacker to take it a step further. How many projects have you seen dropped simply because people thought there wasn’t any interest? Tons. If you like a project, let them know.
To encourage this, the writers are going to be keeping an eye on the comments. Randomly, when we see someone being exceptionally helpful, we’ll contact them and send them a prize. This will most likely be in the form of a hackaday sticker, but we’ll see if we can’t find some other fun things as well.
Help us make Hack a Day
great
. Please.
[Update: we’re working on a comment flagging system currently]
[Update: threading and comment reporting have been added] | 565 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "423725",
"author": "Alan",
"timestamp": "2011-07-27T20:06:37",
"content": "As a long time reader and first time poster; I always enjoyed reading the comments due it’s gossipy nature.But I guess that’s what Facebook is for…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
... | 1,760,377,132.087754 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/27/bass-hero-combines-guitar-hero-with-dance-dance-revolution/ | Bass Hero Combines Guitar Hero With Dance Dance Revolution | Mike Szczys | [
"Nintendo Hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"controller",
"dance dance revolution",
"gamecube",
"guitar hero"
] | Standing up to play Dance Dance Revolution type games is sooooo much work. Thankfully, [Jebadiah0001] is taking the strenuous exercise component out of the game by
altering a guitar controller to play dancing games
.
He’s calling it Bass Hero because the DDR games only use four inputs, reducing the guitar controller to four string buttons like an electric bass would have. His implementation uses a GameCube controller to connect to the console. He took it apart to get at the button connections. Each string button on the guitar is connected on one side to a button on the GC controller, the other side is a common connection. But instead of pulling those straight to ground, he routes that signal through the strumming actuator. This way the player can get the correct buttons ready, then strum at just the right time to complete the circuit.
It certainly makes the harder levels of DDR quite a bit easier. See for yourself in the video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxJSUztZ3q8&w=470]
[Thanks Luke] | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "423705",
"author": "Xsoft",
"timestamp": "2011-07-27T19:09:53",
"content": "Yeap well .. its a fun. I tried this few years ago. Double mode is also interesting.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6oB3CrKKdMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBSV_gBaWQwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSZamkNQ... | 1,760,377,131.542028 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/26/add-external-mic-input-for-samsung-hmx-t10-videocamera/ | Add External MIC Input For Samsung HMX-T10 Videocamera | Mike Szczys | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"input",
"mic"
] | [Kalin] loved the picture from his new Samsung HMX-T10 camcorder, but the sound quality didn’t match up. Since it records video that can be directly imported to his editing suite of choice he didn’t want to just buy a different model, so
he cracked it open and added an external mic input
.
As with most consumer electronics these days, the hardest part of the hack is getting the thing apart and assembling it without any damage. [Kalin] had to get down to the bare circuit board to get to the audio input connections. He soldered up some shielded extension wire to an audio jack, then made some space in the case by cutting a bit of the plastic structure before finally gluing it in place. Details are a bit scarce, but it looks like he wired up the jack along with a couple of switches. We’d wager this still lets him use the stock microphone if he doesn’t feel like hauling around extra gear. | 15 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "423348",
"author": "falso",
"timestamp": "2011-07-26T23:27:55",
"content": "the link to the article is incorrect!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "423363",
"author": "me.",
"timestamp": "2011-07-27T00:40:04",
"content... | 1,760,377,131.495161 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/26/auxiliary-display-for-beat707-works-via-i2c/ | Auxiliary Display For Beat707 Works Via I2C | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"attiny85",
"beat707",
"cd4067",
"i2c",
"midi"
] | Bigtime
is a simple way to create an auxiliary display for
the Beat707 MIDI controller
. The right half of the display shows the beat pattern that the drum machine is using, while the left half keeps track of the current measure.
Just a few components went into the extra hardware. A four-digit seven segment display is fed data from an ATtiny85. Since that microcontroller has only eight pins, a 595 shift register and CD4067 take care of translating serial data into the outputs necessary to light the display. The entire thing connects to the Beat707’s I2C bus, which means you don’t need to make hardware alterations to the original, and this leaves plenty of room for more addons.
The code package includes a Fritzing file, but for your convenience we’ve embedded a PNG of the hardware connections after the break. You’ll also find the demo video where [Guilherme] explains how this works.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhpI_UP6tjY&w=470] | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "423324",
"author": "Beat707",
"timestamp": "2011-07-26T22:28:19",
"content": "In case anyone wonders, SV3 and SV1 are headers on the Beat707 PCB. Also, the GitHub files includes everything you need to flash the ATtiny85 chip, so no googling for messy libraries and tutorials, its all... | 1,760,377,131.991115 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/26/purdue-ieee-rov/ | Purdue IEEE ROV | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"ieee",
"mate competition",
"purdue university",
"rov"
] | Purdue University’s IEEE branch participated in this year’s Marine Advanced Technology Education Center Competition, taking second place for
the Hybris ROV seen above
. The competition included several compulsory functions, including the ability to cap an underwater oil well, collect biological samples, and take water samples at depth.
What they came up with is a quick and agile watercraft that easily overcomes a lot of the hardware hangups that typically plague ROV builds. There are eight thrusters, four for vertical motion and the other four take care of horizontal movement. The gripper mechanism can be clearly seen on the front of the craft, with two cylindrical containers housing the electrical components.
Don’t miss out on
the project definition page
. Each challenge is discusses in detail, along with the team’s solution. We were impressed by the amount of information they have posted, including overview of each electrical component as well as design files and source code. If you want to see how the first run of the competition went, click through the break to find embedded video.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWUnrvre7HI&w=470] | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "423317",
"author": "echodelta",
"timestamp": "2011-07-26T22:06:46",
"content": "Go Purdue!Maybe when the next well blows we will be able to figure out how much is spilling AND fix it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "423318",
... | 1,760,377,131.35008 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/26/hackaday-links-july-26-2011/ | Component Storage Roundup | Brian Benchoff | [
"Hackaday links",
"hardware",
"Parts",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"component storage",
"storage"
] | It’s been suggested that the first self-replicating computer virus was a single IC that eventually expanded into multiple plastic component storage boxes. Organizing components by their values is a huge PITA as well. Here’s some solutions we’ve found:
Photo Boxes
[Mathew] sent in
his organization scheme
that uses 4×6 photo boxes. Better get those boxes while they’re hot – we can’t remember the last time we used film.
Use a binder
This instructables
uses binders for storage. Good for passives, but unless someone can find anti-static bags for a binder, we’ll keep our ICs separate.
The only way to organize resistors
[Johannes]
stores his resistors on a sheet of styrofoam
. The grid has the first color band on the left side and the second color band on the top. Extremely, extremely clever. We’re wondering why we Radio Shack didn’t come up with this in the 70s. The grid
could
be laid out on a log scale, though.
If Susan is lazy, why does she do all the work?
[D.C. Boyce] hacked up a couple of lazy susans, built frames out of 2x4s and mounted plastic component drawers on them.
The result
is probably more space than we’ll ever need. To keep things simple, he wrote a database program to keep track of everything. | 53 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "423232",
"author": "justDIY",
"timestamp": "2011-07-26T18:56:26",
"content": "I wonder if one of those heat-bar type plastic bag sealers would work on anti static bags?For example, the larger kind like orders from Mouser / Digikey sometimes arrive in, seal some pockets into them, an... | 1,760,377,131.750877 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/26/a-study-in-avr-power-saving-techniques/ | A Study In AVR Power Saving Techniques | Mike Nathan | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Software Development"
] | [
"adafruit industries",
"assembly",
"Atmel",
"attiny",
"AVR"
] | [Scott] found the iCufflinks from Adafruit Industries pretty interesting, but he thought that the stated run time of 24 hours was a bit short. He figured
he could improve the product’s power consumption
at least a little bit, to improve the overall battery life.
From their schematics, he placed an order for parts and built two identical
iCufflink
mock-ups side by side – one running their code and one running his. He took baseline current draw measurements, then got busy slimming down the cufflinks’ software. It had been 20 years since he touched assembly, and he has never written it for an AVR, but judging by his work he’s not rusty in the least.
He slowed the ATtiny’s clock down and tweaked a few other settings for a savings of 53μA, but the real improvements came via a fairly simple fix. The original code called for the processor to institute a counting loop to sleep, which he found to be very wasteful. Instead, he chose to put the processor in an idle state, using the chip’s watchdog timer to wake it when it was time to pulse the LED. The power savings from this change alone was a whopping 261μA!
When he was said and done, the changes save about 315μA of current draw, and should allow the cufflinks to run for up to 38 hours without swapping batteries. In [Scott’s] opinion, a nearly 60% improvement in battery life is pretty good for a day’s work, and we’re inclined to agree. | 88 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "423191",
"author": "yetihehe",
"timestamp": "2011-07-26T17:29:17",
"content": "“The power savings from this change alone was a whopping 261μA”. And diodes suck around 5-10mA…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "423203",
"author"... | 1,760,377,131.945403 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/26/the-isostick/ | The Isostick | Jeremy Cook | [
"hardware",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"iso",
"isostick",
"usb"
] | The
Isostick
, a Kickstarter project now in development, is meant to emulate an optical drive in the form of a USB stick. Although there is nothing new with putting an iso file (optical disk image) on a USB stick, what is unique about this drive is that it fully emulates a drive without actually having to worry about drivers or extra programs.
When plugged in, a computer sees a flash drive and a virtual optical drive. An excellent feature is that this disk can store multiple “iso” files and select them with a built in utility program. This could be invaluable for a technician or hacker since more than one CD or DVD is often needed to complete a task.
If fully developed, one could expect to attach this “drive” to your keychain and not have to worry about lugging an optical disk around anymore. Also, the activity light is programmable, which is a nice bonus. | 93 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "423115",
"author": "sariel",
"timestamp": "2011-07-26T15:06:29",
"content": "isn’t this alot like the S3 jumpdrives? from what i understand S3 was developed to create a virtual optical drive so it could autostart a program from the manufacturer. If this is just the hardware equiva... | 1,760,377,131.854982 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/26/locking-notebook-enclosure/ | Locking Notebook Enclosure | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"lock",
"papercraft",
"puzzle"
] | [Dombeef] made
a locking enclosure for his sketchbook
. The diamond seen in the center of the book is formed by the four sliding parts of the lock. Only with the proper movements will you get the cover open so you can plan your next hack.
He was inspired by
this wooden version
created by artist [Kagen Schaefer]. There were no tips about how the mechanism was made but a bit of deep thinking led [Dombeef] to discover the secret. Being the papercraft ninja that he is (he makes things like
gyroscopes
,
strandbeests
, and
claws
) this was created using cardstock as the parts. There is a wooden pin on the right that serves as the latch. Each of the four puzzle pieces moves around each other to free a slot from its hold on the notched latch.
There is a diagram showing the parts and their movements in the post linked above. [Dombeef] also mentioned an animated GIF that he promises to publish soon. | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "423103",
"author": "dombeef",
"timestamp": "2011-07-26T14:08:31",
"content": "I also mentioned that I am making a wooden one eventually, but I still need to modify my plans a bit.And I really like the part” Being the papercraft ninja that he is” That made my day :)",
"parent_id"... | 1,760,377,131.39117 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/26/update-arduino-shift-register-pwm-gets-speed-boost/ | Update: Arduino Shift Register PWM Gets Speed Boost | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"pwm",
"shift register"
] | Community collaboration is a great thing. Take the Arduino PWM library for shift registers. Some folks at the Arduino forum pitched in and helped [Elco] trim off a bunch of clock cycles by using the Rotate Over Carry instruction. Now he’s reduced the overhead per shift-register from 108 down to just 43. So far this doesn’t mean more possible outputs – 768 is still quite a lot – but does it means better precision when max outputs are used. This effectively doubles the brightness levels for 768 LEDs from 16 up to 32.
We’re at a loss for what to link to here. [Elco] has
a new page for the library
. There’s the original
forums thread
but we didn’t see much of interest there. We found some stuff in
the comments of this Reddit post
. And of course, if you have no idea what we’re talking about go back and read
the original feature
. | 14 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "423086",
"author": "Bogdan",
"timestamp": "2011-07-26T13:27:06",
"content": "“ShiftPWM computes the outputs in a timer interrupt and uses the SPI to control the shift registers as fast as possible.”Finally. Hardware SPI.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}... | 1,760,377,131.442387 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/26/understanding-interrupts-in-pic-microcontrollers/ | Understanding Interrupts In PIC Microcontrollers | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"16f688",
"interrupts",
"pic",
"tutorial"
] | Interrupts are the name of the game for more functional microcontroller firmware. [Rajendra] just posted a tutorial covering all of the
interrupt types for the PIC 16F688 microcontroller
. He gives an overview of all of the major points: what an interrupt is, what causes interrupts, how to read the datasheet (often overlooked) to set up interrupts, and finally he applies it to a test platform and a bit of code.
We’ve been playing around with an Arduino again over the weekend and are a bit frustrated with the restricted access to interrupts. That issue deals with AVR interrupts,
a topic with which we’re already well acquainted
. But we work with PIC hardware much less often and it’s fun to explore how the other half does things, both in hardware and in code. | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "423109",
"author": "Alex",
"timestamp": "2011-07-26T14:18:29",
"content": "That’s a big LED!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "423282",
"author": "Matt",
"timestamp": "2011-07-26T20:38:33",
"content": "These tutorials ... | 1,760,377,132.130882 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/26/regarding-atmels-xmega-chips/ | Regarding Atmel’s Xmega Chips | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"Atmel",
"xmega",
"xmega128a1"
] | A few years back Atmel announced a new line of chips, the XMega series. We see the name bouncing around here and there, but when [Michael Kleinigger] mentioned that he’s seen very few project using these chips we realized that not only is he right, but we know next to nothing about them. Just
give his XMega review post a whirl
and you’ll be up to speed in no time.
He compares an XMega128A1 side-by-side with an ATmega1280. For those that abhor reading paragraphs full of words, there’s a table that can give you the quick facts like how the XMega costs less and runs faster. But we know from past discussions (like
the one on PWM
) that [Mike] knows his stuff so the whole thing’s worth a read. He’ll lead you through the programming tool chain (which hasn’t changed), a bit about the new event system, and then finish with a demo program on the Xplained development board. | 35 | 34 | [
{
"comment_id": "423038",
"author": "Sprite_tm",
"timestamp": "2011-07-26T11:14:30",
"content": "Hmm, looks like we broke the site… I can’t connect.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "423039",
"author": "tz",
"timestamp": "2011-07-26T11:15:... | 1,760,377,132.201502 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/25/ignored-disabled-man-builds-his-own-damn-elevator/ | Ignored Disabled Man Builds His Own Damn Elevator | Mike Nathan | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"accessibility",
"diy",
"lift",
"WheelChair"
] | There’s an old saying that goes something like, “When the going gets tough, the tough builds their own 5-story wheelchair lift.”
Actually we’re pretty sure that’s not even close to how the saying goes, but when his local council turned their backs on [Dmitry Bibikow’s] request for wheelchair access to his apartment,
that’s exactly what he did
.
[Dmitry], an avid mountaineer, was injured in a climbing accident that left him without the use of his legs. Unfortunately for him, he and his family reside on the 5th floor of an apartment building that was not handicap accessible. Rather than move out, he asked the local council to install an elevator, which they agreed to.
Time passed, and as the project sank deeper and deeper into a mire of bureaucracy, [Dmitry] began to lose hope of ever seeing an elevator installed. After six years of relying on friends to help him get in and out of his apartment, he took matters into his own hands and installed a chair lift just off the side of his balcony.
According to [Dmitry] it works great, and he can get from the front door to his apartment well before his more able neighbors make it up the stairs. So far, the city council has not said anything about the lift, and he hopes it stays that way. | 57 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "422823",
"author": "Matt",
"timestamp": "2011-07-25T23:08:52",
"content": "badass!I’d be nervous trying it out haha.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "422826",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2011-07-25T23:15:13",
... | 1,760,377,132.29088 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/25/diy-segway-recycles-broken-electric-scooters/ | DIY Segway Recycles Broken Electric Scooters | Brian Benchoff | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"accelerometer",
"cnc",
"gyroscope",
"h-bridge",
"segway"
] | [Petter] built himself a
DIY Segway
out of a couple of cheap electric scooters. We’ve seen a couple of very nice Segway builds in the past like the
all analog Segway
, or the
creepy walking version
, [Petter]’s Segway build seems like it would be a useful human transport device.
The motors, chains, gears, and wheels are scavenged from a pair of electric scooters. Steering left and right is accomplished by tilting the handlebars left and right. The handlebars themselves are attached to the joint at a
base
that allows them to be taken on and off. We’re thinking this would be great for throwing a [Petter]’s Segway in the trunk of a car – a design feature the original Segway doesn’t have.
The electronics of the project are based around an ATMega168 that reads data from an accelerometer and gyroscope. The motors are controlled by two H-bridges and are powered by two 12 V lead batteries wired in series. We’re not sure how long the batteries will last in a real-world situation, but [Petter]’s build seems to go fast enough.
Check out the demo video below:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBOQ6RMk6aw&w=470] | 21 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "422815",
"author": "Mathias",
"timestamp": "2011-07-25T22:55:38",
"content": "Cool that it is finally finished. :-)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "425533",
"author": "Gurgalof",
"timestamp": "2011-07-30T01:00:... | 1,760,377,132.415856 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/25/is-that-a-rom-in-your-locket/ | Is That A Rom In Your Locket? | Kevin Dady | [
"HackIt"
] | [
"eeprom",
"locket"
] | [Andrew] recently ordered some lockets to bejewel them with some LEDs but got a bonus small locket for free with the order. Not really having a plan for the small locket it kind of sat around until finally some inspiration hit. Meet the
ee-locket
which contains a tiny circular pcb with a 64k eeprom, a few passive support components and a male pin header on the back so you can quickly plug it into the micro of your choice.
While the uses of such a thing may not be obvious at first, just sitting down writing this I thought of a few applications, such as some form of key and lock system, mission impossible dreams, or just going full out geek at your next job interview. Its a pretty spiffy idea no matter what its used for, and we just love it when people shove electronics where no one expect them. | 31 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "422770",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2011-07-25T21:12:03",
"content": "Is that a male pin header in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "422771",
"author": "liard nelson",
"time... | 1,760,377,132.356709 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/25/digital-cootie-detector/ | Digital Cootie Detector | Brian Benchoff | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"attiny",
"attiny45",
"cooties",
"galvanic skin response"
] | Kids love games of exclusion. This usually manifests itself in games of ‘keep away,’ having someone ‘catch cooties,’ or the ever-popular ‘No Brian club.’ [Rob] wrote in to tell us about the
digital cootie detector
he built. The cootie detector operates on galvanic skin response. It’s actually very similar to an
E-Meter
, although instead of Thetans this device measures something that actually exists.
Galvanic skin response
is a measure of the skin’s conductivity. Skin conductivity changes because sweat glands will be activated when someone is nervous. This is a measure of psychological arousal, making it a great detector for games of exclusion – a kid who doesn’t want cooties will ‘psych themself out’ and give themselves cooties.
The build is based around an ATtiny45 with just a few resistors and paperclips required for a complete build. The ‘Cootie Detection Algorithm’ starts off with a flashing light – a great way to make someone nervous. After the test is completed, a green light means they can enter the quarantined area, while a red light means they must be excluded. There’s also a “device tampered” result – alternating red and green lights – that will show up when a clever child tries to short the paperclip leads. Check out the demo below:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgkBPqhUnNQ&w=470] | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "422747",
"author": "Decius",
"timestamp": "2011-07-25T20:16:12",
"content": "Never heard of a ‘No Brian Club’.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "422751",
"author": "xorpunk",
"timestamp": "2011-07-25T20:25:49",
"conten... | 1,760,377,132.619897 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/24/pass-the-bomb-electronic-drinking-game/ | Pass The Bomb Electronic Drinking Game | Mike Szczys | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"accelerometer",
"arduino",
"drinking games"
] | [Ragnar] and his friends were getting tired of the usual Friday night drinking games. They went through dice games, card game, and TV show based games before [Ragnar] retired to his workbench to whip up an electronic solution that would randomly pick a player and assign a certain number of drinks. That’s a novelty at first but not really a game. After letting the project sit for some time he revisited it and came up with a more advanced solution. The box seen above is his second attempt;
a game called pass the bomb
.
The case is a black aluminum project box. The user interface includes a 20×4 character LCD and three buttons. Check the video after the break for the menu system as well as english translations. Once turned on you can set the sensitivity for the accelerometer and choose the game. For now, pass the bomb is the only option – a game that counts down to a digital explosion. Carefully pass the device to the next player without upsetting the accelerometer or it’ll go BOOM and you’ll have to drink.
We’d prefer to
enjoy a nice frothy beverage
rather than searching for reasons to throw back some shots, but whatever floats your boat.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLc6eIJgqz8&w=470] | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "422321",
"author": "Devin",
"timestamp": "2011-07-24T21:45:52",
"content": "This would be a good Android/iOS app",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "422334",
"author": "Abbott",
"timestamp": "2011-07-24T22:29:17",
"conte... | 1,760,377,132.46424 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/24/going-a-long-way-for-game-boy-advanced-video-out/ | Going A Long Way For Game Boy Advanced Video Out | Mike Szczys | [
"Nintendo Game Boy Hacks"
] | [
"fpga",
"game boy",
"video out",
"xilinx"
] | Here’s an intense hack that lets [Matt Evans]
play Game Boy Advanced on a larger LCD monitor
. He didn’t take the easy way out during any step of the process.
He’s using an FPGA to translate the LCD signals from the GBA hardware into a 1280×960 picture that is then pushed to the large monitor. But did he use an FPGA development board? No, instead he picked up an old PCI card at a surplus store because it had a Xilinx Virtex-E FPGA. So the first thing he had to do there was to remove unneeded components and figure out how to make the connections to reprogram that chip.
So next you’d grab a working monitor and hook it up to the FPGA signal, right? Wrong, [Matt] had a slightly borked monitor, getting rid of the LVDS section and wiring up his own connections to push the RGB signals through in parallel.
Yeah, that’s a lot of work. But as you can see in the clip after the break, it works like a charm. If you’re looking for some other gnarly video-out hacks, check out this one that lets you
play Game Boy on an oscilloscope
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXrjUgqq6ik&w=470] | 26 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "422305",
"author": "Nate",
"timestamp": "2011-07-24T21:06:01",
"content": "WTB +1 button",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "422329",
"author": "VV",
"timestamp": "2011-07-24T22:14:37",
"content": "I used to love that ga... | 1,760,377,132.792961 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/24/hackaday-links-july-24-2011/ | Hackaday Links: July 24, 2011 | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"chair",
"encrypted",
"guitar",
"plasma",
"power meter"
] | Plasma speakers
Apparently if you run AC and DC currents through a welding torch flame you can
use the resulting plasma as a loudspeaker
. [Thanks Cody]
Power metering
The Google Power Meter API is no longer in development but that didn’t stop [Pyrofer] from finishing
his metering hardware
. It uses a reflectance sensor to read the meter instead of
using clamp-based current sensing
.
Music videos from inside the instrument
Filming from inside of a guitar
creates the camera effect seen above which looks like the waveform you’d see on an oscilloscope. [Thanks Philleb]
Hidden messages in audio files
GhostCoder
lets you encrypt and hide audio files within other audio files. The thought is, you can piggyback your own data into Torrents that are circling the interwebs.
2×4 Chair
If you’re skilled with a Skill saw you can
make a chair out of one 2 by 4
. You can see the pattern you’ll have to cut out from the board in the image above, wow! | 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "422287",
"author": "haexn",
"timestamp": "2011-07-24T20:36:34",
"content": "Does anyone know about this ghostcoder software? How does it tamper with torrent files and not mess up the hash check? Wont people using the software just get marked as a bad uploader?",
"parent_id": nul... | 1,760,377,132.676641 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/24/desktop-email-notification-bell/ | Desktop Email Notification Bell | Mike Nathan | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"arm",
"cortex 3",
"email",
"notifier"
] | Instructables user [meseta] wanted an audible notification whenever he received an email, but must have thought that his computer’s built-in sounds were lacking in some regard. To get the perfect sound that he desired, he built himself
a USB-powered notification bell
.
Using an off the shelf “front desk bell” and a hand made electromagnet, he constructed a bell that could be triggered whenever a message showed up in his desktop email client. The electromagnet can be triggered by a quick pulse from a microcontroller, and in [meseta’s] case, he used a Forebrain dev board. He created a filter in his email client that runs an executable each time a message is received. This executable in turn sends a message to his microcontroller via USB, triggering the bell.
While we think that the notifier could have been put together using a far less powerful microcontroller, it’s a neat idea regardless. People seem to love
alternative
notification
systems
, so we’re pretty sure this bell will appeal to many in that crowd.
Keep reading to see a short video demonstration of his email notifier in action.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flgRRSD1ycI&w=470] | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "422266",
"author": "bty",
"timestamp": "2011-07-24T19:03:47",
"content": "An ARM Cortex-M3 processor to drive a coil.. talk about overkill.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "422268",
"author": "Franklin",
"timestamp": "201... | 1,760,377,132.73102 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/24/guitar-becomes-an-improved-color-organ/ | Guitar Becomes An Improved Color Organ | Brian Benchoff | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"color organ",
"guitar",
"led",
"music is only a theory"
] | [Charles] wanted to put some LEDs in his guitar. He also wanted individual notes to output certain colors, but he couldn’t find any projects with tone-based algorithms to convert sound into colors. After about a year of work, his
ColorChord guitar
was born.
Unlike every other
color organ
build we’ve seen, the color of a note does not relate to the absolute pitch of the note. Instead, the colors are mapped within a musical key. A I chord will always be Yellow, a IV chord will always be purple, and a V chord will always be blue. Playing in the key of C will have the LEDs output yellow, purple, and blue for a C, F and G chord, respectively.
Right now, the processing the guitar’s audio output is handled by a PC. [Charles] says that latency is a big issue, so we’re guessing that’s the reason he hasn’t moved over to an embedded solution yet. He hasn’t quite figured out how to automatically determine the key of a song, but he’s working on that.
[Charles]’ build reminds us of the
Rickenbacker Lightshow
from the early 70s. It feels wrong to compare a Rickenbacker to a lucite Strat copy, but we’re going to say the ColorChord is superior to the
hand-painted automotive tail light bulbs
of the Rickenbacker.
Check out the
hott lixx
that are just way up high on the tiny strings and you mash your fingers on ’em below:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_i6bse7SKw&w=470] | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "422229",
"author": "Dino",
"timestamp": "2011-07-24T17:23:28",
"content": "Bonus points for the Lava Lamp!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "422232",
"author": "jordan",
"timestamp": "2011-07-24T17:29:10",
"content": "... | 1,760,377,132.996428 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/24/all-about-accelerometers/ | All About Accelerometers | Jeremy Cook | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Parts"
] | [
"accelerometer",
"adxl345",
"netduino"
] | If you’ve ever wondered about the use of or theory behind or the use of accelerometers,
this tutorial
by Love Electronics is a very good resource. In this article, Love takes one through how to hook up an
ADXL345
accelerometer and use it with a
Netduino
processor. Before the subject of hooking everything up is broached, a very good discussion is given on the general theory and operation of accelerometers.
Information is given about installing all the required software and libraries. Additionally, a mini tutorial about writing a “hello” application using the .NET framework is given. Finally, the application gives the [Windows Presentation Foundation] tools necessary to visualize the raw data that the Netduino produces.
One could really start using this processor and accelerometer from scratch with this tutorial and some basic electronics knowledge. This could add a great new feature to your next robot or allow measurement that couldn’t be done with simpler sensors. | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "422247",
"author": "zrzzz",
"timestamp": "2011-07-24T18:02:37",
"content": "I imagine to test it, the first thing you’d do is move it all around randomly, but how do you do that when its delicately connected to a breadboard and whatever’s on the other end of those USB connectors?",
... | 1,760,377,133.038124 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/24/using-an-arduino-to-measure-inductance/ | Using An Arduino To Measure Inductance | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"inductance",
"lm339",
"quad comparator"
] | Measuring an inductor is not something that most multi-meters can do. You usually need a high precision resistor (1% or better) in series with the inductor, a function generator to put a signal through the circuit, and an oscilloscope to measure the result. But what can you do if you don’t have these tools on hand? [Andrew Moser] has a method that lets you
pull it off with an Arduino and an LM339 quad comparator
.
The circuit works by feeding a signal in from the Arduino. This waveform is affected by the LC circuit, filtered by the comparator chip, then read back out the other side by the Arduino. That resulting signal is a square wave, which is an easy target for the Arduino to measure. That timing measured from the square wave can then be used to calculate the inductor’s value.
This is quite handy if you’re winding your own inductors. Now you can precisely tune that
Joule Thief
you’ve been working on.
[via
Dangerous Prototypes
and
Adafruit
] | 24 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "422197",
"author": "Weasel",
"timestamp": "2011-07-24T15:36:27",
"content": "Hahaha I was literally just about to look this up and it was in my RSS feed. I just need a few components.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "422217",
... | 1,760,377,133.102024 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/22/using-binary-code-modulation-to-control-led-brightness/ | Using Binary Code Modulation To Control LED Brightness | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"bcm",
"binary code modulation",
"led",
"pwm"
] | Pulse Width Modulation is definitely the preferred method of dimming an LED with a microcontroller, but we were interested in hearing about a different method called
Binary Code Modulation
. BCM does the same thing as PWM, it turns the LED on and off very rapidly so that your eye cannot detect a flicker. The brightness level is a result of the average amount of time the LED is on versus when it is off. This is called duty cycle and although it can be the same percentage for both PWM and BCD, there is a fundamental difference.
While PWM usually uses a cyclical on/off cycle (30% on, 70% off, repeat) BCD uses a cumulative cycle. As you can see above, each successive bit of binary code carries double significance compared to the previous bit. Now just assign a duty cycle based on your precision, and have an interrupt fire for each bit of the counter. The graph above shows some highs and some lows combining to reach the target duty cycle. An interrupt is used for each bit, and pin changes are made in the service routine.
The benefit of this system is that it is scaleable without adding overhead. You’re already running the interrupts so servicing 8 or 128 LEDs doesn’t have vastly different needs as it would with PWM. The big downside is that the more bits of precision you use, the faster your processor must run so that the eye doesn’t detect the lengthy on or off cycles of the higher bits as visible flickering.
Thank you [Yetihehe] for tipping us off about a link that [Tomas Martinsen] left when commenting about
an Arduino library for up to 768 PWM outputs
. | 15 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "421420",
"author": "Doc Oct",
"timestamp": "2011-07-22T20:33:36",
"content": "Don Lancaster’s magic sinewaves might be good to use for this too.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "421422",
"author": "foogoid",
"timestamp": ... | 1,760,377,133.253538 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/22/resistor-substitution-box/ | Resistor Substitution Box | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"bcd",
"decade box",
"e series",
"resistor"
] | [Vincent] on the EEVblog forums had an idea for an inexpensive
resistor substitution decade box
.
The build uses cheap decimal thumbwheel switches he bought on eBay. Each switch is wired up with resistors for each digit, and each switch is wired up in series. The result is a small, easy to read resistor box with a range of 1 Ω to 10 MΩ.
This isn’t a new idea; using encoders like this has been done before with a
BCD capacitance substitution box
. We saw some references to a
cheap programmable current source
(layout available
here
) that uses BCD switches and an LM317 regulator. While this type of build has been around
forever
, these projects are becoming economical because of the inexpensive decimal or BCD switches are available from China.
For [Vincent]’s project, we’re wondering if it would be better to have a pre-set 10 Ω box as the least significant digit. Of course, this would mean re-doing the project but it would increase the maximum resistance and get around the very small resistance in the smallest digit. Quite often, we’ve called
Zero Ohm resistors
“wire” and 1-9 Ohm resistors, “longer pieces of wire.” If you design for the
E series
, you’re never exact anyway. | 16 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "421423",
"author": "mstone",
"timestamp": "2011-07-22T20:41:04",
"content": "It’s a nice idea, but those things are a bitch to calibrate. You need as many significant digits of precision in your components as you have stages.A 1% 1M resistor will be somewhere within 10k of a megohm... | 1,760,377,133.155826 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/22/beefy-rover-looks-like-tons-of-fun/ | Beefy Rover Looks Like Tons Of Fun | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"6-wheeled",
"arduino",
"robot"
] | [Eric] and the crew over at The Tech Junkies, just put the finishing touches on
a pretty powerful robot
that they call “Mantis”.
The six wheel, chain-driven robot is pretty impressive at first glance. The robot is centered around a Netduino, which controls four 60 amp speed controllers. The speed controllers are tasked with driving four beefy CIM motors, which propel the robot along at a pretty decent tick.
For the project, the team designed their own controller application called
IPGamepad
, which allows the robot to be controlled by any Android device. The interface is pretty simple as you can see in the video below, making it quite easy to control the bot.
While the Mantis was not a cheap production by any means, it does look like a ton of fun to drive. The crew will be taking this robot along with 2 others out to Maker Faire Detroit, so be sure to swing by and say hello if you’re in the area.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHhsrZfG5UIw=470] | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "421393",
"author": "Drake",
"timestamp": "2011-07-22T19:07:42",
"content": "Looks like someone is a child brought up by FIRST",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "421394",
"author": "Drake",
"timestamp": "2011-07-22T19:09:38"... | 1,760,377,133.204822 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/22/modded-wall-e-becomes-a-real-robot/ | Modded Wall-E Becomes A Real Robot | Brian Benchoff | [
"Robots Hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"computer vision",
"object tracking",
"remote control",
"robot",
"servos",
"wall-e"
] | [DJ Sures] got his hands on a plastic Wall-E toy and decided to
build a robot
that includes a camera, voice recognition, and object tracking. The result is
adorable
so we’re putting this video before the break:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJiMUzJHYFk&w=470]
Wall-E is built around an
EZ-B Bluetooth Robot controller
. All the software functions are handled with the complementary EZ-builder software. All this isn’t revolutionary – our Lego Mindstorms RCX from 1998 could handle object tracking with the Lego camera. Wall-E has 5 servos inside of him as well as an eBay 2.4 GHz wireless camera.
[DJ Sures] has had a lot of experience modifying toy robots. The
Dalek build
and a toy robot version of The Doctor’s faithful companion
K9
are our favorite builds. This also isn’t his first Wall-E build; [DJ Sures] built one
last year
, but this is the first Wall-E with this much functionality. Right now, we’re thinking Wall-E needs a girlfriend. Maybe something along the lines of a
hovering sphere bot
? | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "421315",
"author": "ZeUs",
"timestamp": "2011-07-22T15:30:46",
"content": "He could easily be more adorable by smoothing out those movements of his. That EZ-B software really seems to pay off.Nice build.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"commen... | 1,760,377,133.360389 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/22/hack-a-day-visits-lvl1-hackerspace-in-louisville/ | Hack A Day Visits LVL1 Hackerspace In Louisville | Gerrit Coetzee | [
"Hackerspaces"
] | [
"hackerspace",
"kentucky",
"louisville",
"lvl1",
"tour",
"visit"
] | We recently had the pleasure of visiting the
LVL1 hackerspace in Louisville, Kentucky
. Any hackers in the Louisville area who haven’t visited yet are doing themselves a big disservice. The space recently had its one year anniversary in July, but it’s hard to tell. The space features many of the things you’d only expect in older spaces such as a laser cutter (added while we were visiting), CNC machines, extensive electronics workbenches, and even a section for those who are into music. The best part about the LVL1 hackerspace is it’s members. We’ve all heard horror stories of hacker spaces with drama or overly restricting rules, but the people at LVL1 are extremely friendly and willing to help.
The Micro Colonel (president, if you wanna go that route), [Christopher Cprek], gave us a tour of the space and its current projects. One of the most impressive is the
White Star Balloon
project, which aims to fly a balloon across the Atlantic. There’s also the
Louisville Soundbuilders
which meet at the space every other Monday at 8pm to make new instruments. Some other projects include a
telepresence robot
,
a pony that breaths fire
, and a power wheels race car for the Detroit Makerfaire. There are also things such as the
Kentucky Open Source Society
(KYOSS) that meets at the space. Even a few sumobots were scattered around. We were fortunate that at the same time we were visiting [
Brandon Gunn
], who regularly does video tours of the hackerspaces he visits, was there too; watch his video tour of the space after the break.
The space usually has an open to the public meeting every tuesday at 7:00, but be sure to check out their
calendar for more
. If you’ve never been to a hackerspace before you should definitely make an effort. It’s not the tools that make a space, but the people, and LVL1 delivers.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7C8cKVqtUDY] | 15 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "421274",
"author": "Dormant Labs",
"timestamp": "2011-07-22T14:10:38",
"content": "I wish Sioux Falls SD had a hackerspace :|",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "664993",
"author": "DanH03",
"timestamp": "2012-06-0... | 1,760,377,133.307079 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/22/sandia-labs-hopper-robot/ | Sandia Labs “Hopper” Robot | Jeremy Cook | [
"News",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"darpa",
"hopper",
"sandia"
] | Made by Boston Dynamics under contract from Sandia Labs, this “hopper” is quite incredible as you can see in the
video
after the break. Boston Dynamics is no stranger to great robotics designs, including the well known
“Big Dog”
four-legged robot. This robot, although possibly less advanced, has a very unique trick up it’s sleve.
This robot’s distinguishing feature is that it can navigate autonomously not only with wheels, but also with a powerful single leg that allows it to jump over obstacles of up to 25 feet. Although envisioned to “deliver a payload” in an urban environment, one could imagine a terrifying horde of these ‘bots jumping into action armed with bombs or other weapons.
According to
Sandia’s website
is that this form of locomotion has been “shown to be five times more efficient than hovering” when trying to get around obstacles under 10 meters. Technical challenges that have been overcome include managing the shock of landing and producing a leg powerful enough to jump to this height.
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDGP8IBs6fk&w=470&h=349%5D | 29 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "421252",
"author": "Hackerspacer",
"timestamp": "2011-07-22T13:14:29",
"content": "“shown to be five times more efficient than hovering”Also shown to make my bullshit meter go off.The launching action reminds me of Toro’s compressed gas “launcher” from the Battlebot show….",
"pa... | 1,760,377,133.428077 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/22/roll-your-own-toner-transfer-dice/ | Roll Your Own Toner Transfer Dice | Mike Nathan | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"dice",
"diy",
"games"
] | If you happen to be in the market for some designer dice or need a set of custom dice for a game you have created, you could pay a ton of money to have them made,
or you can do it yourself
.
[Dicecreator] runs a blog dedicated to the ins and outs of creating DIY game and collector’s dice. This subject is not something that we would normally be interested in, but one particular item caught our interest – DIY toner transfer dice. Very similar to the process of creating a toner transfer PCB, he walks through the steps required for making your own dice with very little overhead.
The steps are likely quite familiar to those who have fabricated your own PCBs at home. He starts out with blank dice, sanding the sides down with increasingly fine sandpaper until they are ready for the transfer process. An image is printed on glossy inkjet photo paper, which is then applied to each die with a standard clothes iron. After a bit of soaking in water to remove the excess paper, the die is ready to go.
Sure it’s not exactly rocket science, but it is a cool little trick that would work quite well if you are trying to replace a lost die or if you simply want to make a fun gift for a friend. | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "421204",
"author": "svofski",
"timestamp": "2011-07-22T11:29:02",
"content": "Why not leave this kind of stuff to Make blog?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "421213",
"author": "The Ideanator",
"timestamp": "2011-07-22T11... | 1,760,377,133.480489 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/24/creating-music-from-gpu-noise/ | Creating Music From GPU Noise | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"amp",
"gpu",
"guitar",
"laptop",
"pickup"
] | Yep, that’s a picture of a Laptop rocking out on an electric guitar. In what can only be described as a truly bizarre hack [CNLohr] discovered that the RF noise from the computer can be
used to play music through the guitar’s pickup
.
Check out the clip after the break to hear an annoying, but very discernible rendition of Jingle Bells. Once [CNLohr] stumbled onto the fact that changes in what the graphic processing unit is doing was affecting the pitch detected by the pickup he started writing some code. Now he’s got a program that automatically calculates the size of the window, and produces a white square on a black background to dial in the GPU at the right frequencies.
He mentions in the notes accompanying his video that he had to turn off Vsync to get this to work right. We don’t understand why but we’d love to hear what you think in the comments.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFexroOUG_g&w=470] | 27 | 26 | [
{
"comment_id": "422172",
"author": "Skitchin",
"timestamp": "2011-07-24T14:27:58",
"content": "Wow! No hardware modding required makes this x1000 times cooler. Great find!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "422174",
"author": "Japa",
"time... | 1,760,377,133.67958 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/23/cypherbot-uses-older-uc-and-retro-controller/ | Cypherbot Uses Older UC And Retro-controller | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"atari",
"board of education",
"bs2",
"ping",
"servo",
"xbee"
] | [PJ Allen] has been
working on a little robot
which he calls Cypherbot. The control circuitry is quite familiar; a Board of Education which features the Basic Stamp 2 microcontroller. This is an older and slower microprocessor, but it works quite well for this application since there’s no need for speed or heavy number crunching. The wheels of the bot are made out of plastic lids (we’re thinking peanut butter jars) with rubber bands for traction that are each driven by a servo motor. The third wheel is tiny and swivels as needed.
The front of the bot has a PING ultrasonic sensor mounted on a servo motor which lets the bot scan back and forth for a wider obstacle avoidance angle. In addition to the autonomous mode there’s an Xbee remote control. [PJ] picked up an Atari keyboard and is using that as the user input. Check out the little guy driving around the house in the video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2HLGc8d95g&w=470] | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "421936",
"author": "Alex",
"timestamp": "2011-07-23T23:47:06",
"content": "The BS2 isn’t that old…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "421969",
"author": "jmicz3d",
"timestamp": "2011-07-24T00:05:15",
"content": "My firs... | 1,760,377,133.61753 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/23/the-firebird32-a-new-dev-board-on-the-block/ | The Firebird32, A New Dev Board On The Block | Nick Schulze | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"codewarrior",
"coldfire",
"firebird32",
"flexis",
"freescale"
] | Here is yet another development board to add to your list (If you are into keeping lists), introducing the
Firebird32
. There seems to be no end to the production of new development boards, following the current style the Firebird32 comes in the familiar Arduino form factor to fit all of your Arduino shields.
The Firebird32 from [Wytec] is build around the 32bit Freescale Flexis MCU [
MCF51JM128
] running the Coldfire V1 core commonly found in industrial and medical equipment. We were kindly donated a board before release, the first thing that we noticed was the onboard 8×2 segment LCD which makes the perfect debuging tool. The board along with fitting standard Arduino shields has extra input headers for a keypad, an accelerometer and an extra communication header (IC2/SPI/SCI). It’s also sporting 8 x 12bit analogue inputs, external 32k EEPROM, an RGB LED, a buzzer and an extra push button. The Flexis chip along with the beefy 32bit processor can run at a clock rate up to 48Mhz using PLL and has an integrated USB port, all of this for under $30.
So the hardware seems nice and you can plug your Arduino shields right in, but (you knew it was coming right) it is not yet compatible with Arduino sketches or code. Currently for beginners the Firebird32 is supplied with the
StickOS BASIC
bootloader, it seems like a very high level programming language which may be useful to get a LED flashing but we not totally convinced on it utilising the chips full potential. To program in C/C++ or assembly, a USBDM programmer is required and code is compiled using the CodeWarrior IDE which offers step by step debugging which is nice, setting it up is not entirely obvious but some tutorials and source code to get you started are
available
.
The bottom line is that the Firebird32 is a nice looking board with some great hardware at a low cost for projects requiring some extra power, but it is not a tool for beginners. The Coldfire chipset is quite common in industrial equipment, so the board makes a perfect stepping stone for engineers who want to learn about coding embedded hardware, or migrating to the more advanced Coldfire V2/3 controllers. | 35 | 34 | [
{
"comment_id": "421825",
"author": "Bryson",
"timestamp": "2011-07-23T18:05:10",
"content": "first. Awesome though.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "421832",
"author": "Andy",
"timestamp": "2011-07-23T18:16:31",
"content": "@Brysonಠ_... | 1,760,377,133.891767 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/23/frustrating-fun-with-magnetic-levitation/ | Frustrating Fun With Magnetic Levitation | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"levitation",
"magnet"
] | [Andrey Mikhalchuk]
built his own magnetic levitation device
and you can too… if you have the patience. He’s not using electromagnets, like the
Arduino levitator
or the
floating globe
. Instead, a pair of ceramic ring magnets and a few hours are all it takes.
The base of his device is a couple of very large ring magnets that would most often be used in speakers. It’s hard to see them in the image above because there’s an inverted plastic container obscuring them. A second (or third depending on how you’re counting) ring magnet is selected because it is smaller than the circular void in the magnetic base. It’s impossible to simply balance the magnet in the air, but spinning it is a different story. By creating a perfectly balance magnetic top, then spinning it inside the magnetic field of the base, you can leave it floating in mid-air.
Check out the video after the break. It’s a neat effect, but you really do have to have a perfect setup for it to work. [Andrey] mentions that it takes a couple of hours to fine-tune. And if the ambient conditions change slightly, it throws the whole thing off.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RbsCiorwzI&w=470] | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "421816",
"author": "LoW_CoG",
"timestamp": "2011-07-23T17:31:53",
"content": "hmm reminds me of inception",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "421847",
"author": "Techartisan",
"timestamp": "2011-07-23T19:09:18",
"content... | 1,760,377,133.821016 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/23/apple-laptop-batteries-vulnerable-to-firmware-hack/ | Apple Laptop Batteries Vulnerable To Firmware Hack | Mike Nathan | [
"Mac Hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"apple",
"batteries",
"macbook",
"malware",
"security",
"vulnerability"
] | When you think about hacking laptops, it’s highly unlikely that you would ever
consider the battery as a viable attack vector
. Security researcher [Charlie Miller] however, has been hard at work showing just how big a vulnerability they can be.
As
we have been discussing recently
, the care and feeding of many batteries, big and small, is handled by some sort of microcontroller. [Charlie] found that a 2009 update issued by Apple to fix some lingering MacBook power issues used one of two passwords to write data to the battery controllers. From what he has seen, it seems these same passwords have been used on all batteries manufactured since that time as well. Using this data, he was subsequently able to gain access to the chips, allowing him to remotely brick the batteries, falsify data sent to the OS, and completely replace the stock firmware with that of his own.
He says that it would be possible for an attacker to inject malware into the battery itself, which would covertly re-infect the machine, despite all traditional removal attempts. Of course, replacing the battery would rectify the issue in these situations, but he says that it would likely be the last thing anyone would suspect as the source of infection. While using the battery to proliferate malware or cause irreversible damage to the computer would take quite a bit of work, [Charlie] claims that either scenario is completely plausible.
He plans on presenting his research at this year’s Black Hat security conference in August, but in the meantime he has created a utility that generates a completely random password for your Mac’s battery. He says that he has already contacted Apple to in order to help them construct a permanent fix for the issue, so an official patch may be available in the near future.
[Thanks, Sergio] | 45 | 45 | [
{
"comment_id": "421733",
"author": "CRJEEA",
"timestamp": "2011-07-23T13:15:51",
"content": "scary thought really I suppose that someone could press a key and cause the battery to shut off or even over heat and explode. It won’t be much longer then before people are needing to buy anti virus softwa... | 1,760,377,134.059545 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/22/radio-shack-will-now-stock-cellphones-cellphone-accessories-arduinos/ | Radio Shack Will Now Stock Cellphones, Cellphone Accessories, Arduinos | Brian Benchoff | [
"News"
] | [
"radio shack"
] | A few months ago, we covered
Radio Shack’s efforts to suck less
, and the Radio Shack DIY team has now come back with the
top ten suggestions
submitted. Of course Arduinos make the list at number 1, which we somewhat expected for beginner projects. Here’s the entire list in order:
Arduino
More kits and project suggestions
More introduction/instructional books
Larger LED selection
Larger resistor selection
TONS more capacitors
DIY audio and speaker equipment
HAM radio gear
More competitive pricing
Stronger sales force
For all the jest of the headline, we know we’re coming down too hard on Radio Shack. We tried pricing out individual components on Digikey matching what was in a
150 in 1 electronics kit
, and learned the profit margin on these kits are razor-thin. That being said, we long for the days when our local, independent Radio Shack – staffed entirely by
really weird and awesome people –
was still in business. They couldn’t turn a profit because of the 3 corporate Radio Shacks less than 10 miles away.
Tell us what Radio Shack got wrong in the comments section. We’ll put “There aren’t any individual AVR and PIC microcontrollers” down as our complaint. | 123 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "421469",
"author": "Jason",
"timestamp": "2011-07-22T23:04:25",
"content": "freekin sweet",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "421471",
"author": "hpux735",
"timestamp": "2011-07-22T23:13:34",
"content": "FIRST!haha, just... | 1,760,377,133.979511 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/22/adding-video-out-to-the-open-pandora/ | Adding Video Out To The Open Pandora | Mike Szczys | [
"handhelds hacks",
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"openpandora",
"pandora",
"tv out"
] | There’s very few users out there who actually have their hands on an Open Pandora Console. But the ones who do might find this hack useful for
getting TV out up and running
. It’s actually not hard at all, but if you don’t want to alter the hardware on the device you’ll first have to find a cable plug that will fit the EXT jack. This proved more difficult than it needed to be, since TI carries the connector but only sells them in multiples of 2200. A group buy was organized and we’d bet you can still get in on that action.
The connector in question carries TVout1 and TVout2 conductors. These correspond to the Luminance and Chrominance signals needed for the S-video protocol. But [MarkoeZ] wanted to use a composite connection. Turns out that’s not hard either, he hooked up the ground from the plug to the ground of the RCA jack, then connected both video lines to the center conductor, making sure to add an inline 470pf capacitor on the Chrominance side. Check out the demo video embedded after the break to see the final product.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL7NzxVVjyM&w=470]
[Thanks RBZ] | 29 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "421451",
"author": "jc",
"timestamp": "2011-07-22T22:11:13",
"content": "The reason why I don’t have my hands on an openpandora is because its wifi performance sucks, the hw developers don’t care about it, it’s closed hardware and they increased the price significantly recently. (An... | 1,760,377,134.174576 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/21/klout-klok-tracks-your-popularity-time/ | Klout Klok Tracks Your Popularity, Time | Brian Benchoff | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"clock hacks"
] | [
"clock",
"influence",
"klout",
"netduino",
"tft"
] | [Fabien Royer] has been playing around with Netduinos and he just came up with a really awesome project that will
display the time and social media popularity
. It’s a very nice build, and we’d guess that his social media influence is going to go up very shortly.
Klout
is a service that connects to your Facebook or Twitter profile and tells you how much influence you have on a scale of
1 to 100
(possibly 10 to 100. see
this
). To build the Klout Klock [Fabian] used a
Netduino Plus
, a good choice because of the integrated ethernet port. The Netduino connects to the
Klout API
to either satiate vanity or admit prestige. The display is an adafruit
TFT screen
.
What’s really interesting about this build is the handling of the memory limitations of the Netduino. Not only does the project have to store 40kb for the display, but it also has to update the internal clock, fetch and parse the Klout metrics, and finally display everything. [Fabian] got around the screen buffer issue by using the SD card on the Netduino as virtual memory.
The data pulled down from Klout was another matter entirely – the standard .Net micro frameworks took up far too much RAM, so the project connects to the Klout servers with just a simple socket connection and stores everything to the SD card. [Fabian] couldn’t find a lightweight JSON parser either, so he ended up writing one of his own. Everything is coded to be as lightweight as possible, so the final build ended up as a C++ app that was written like a C program.
Check out the video of the build in action below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYyiglSI6iw&w=470] | 7 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "420773",
"author": "NATO",
"timestamp": "2011-07-21T13:44:11",
"content": "It’s really sad when people start caring how much “influence” that they think they have on other people. What is the word for this type of self-centered thinking? It’s becoming more and more popular nowaday... | 1,760,377,134.108098 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/21/using-a-router-as-a-linux-based-pid-controller/ | Using A Router As A Linux-based PID Controller | Mike Nathan | [
"home hacks",
"Linux Hacks"
] | [
"espresso",
"linux",
"openwrt",
"PID controller",
"router"
] | [Nathan] had an small router kicking around and thought that he might as well put it to good use. He had always been interested in getting a better handle on his espresso machine, and figured that the router would be
a perfect Linux-based PID controller
.
He installed OpenWRT on the router, then disassembled it in order to get access to the router’s GPIO pins. He built a small PCB that allows him to get temperature info from the machine to the router using i2c. [Nathan] put together a PID package for OpenWRT, allowing him to control the machine over SSH, though he may build in a user-friendly web interface sometime in the future.
He says that most espresso machine PID controllers he has seen come in the form of big ugly boxes slapped on the side of the machine’s case,
though we have to disagree with him
on that point. Opinions aside, he is going for a minimalist design, and while he says that he is only about half way through the project, we think things are looking promising so far.
When everything is said and done, we hope to get a much closer look at all of his code, schematics, and more information on the router he used as well. | 23 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "420727",
"author": "fartface",
"timestamp": "2011-07-21T11:53:35",
"content": "Wow really light on details. What model and brand router? details on the schematic? how about a bit of code?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "420729... | 1,760,377,134.233567 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/20/followup-portable-sid-player-is-now-pc-output/ | Followup: Portable SID Player Is Now PC Output | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks",
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"6581",
"8580",
"MOS SID",
"sid"
] | When we first covered [Markus]’
portable SID player
we starting dreaming about an alternative universe circa 1987 that included a pocket-sized music player called the Commodore ePod. [Markus]’
updated firmware that connects his SID player to a PC
will have to do for now, we suppose.
The new firmware boots the Portable SID player as either a standalone device, or a ‘Network SID Device’. The portable SID player can now operate as the output device for either
Acid 64
or
GoatTracker
. Now, [Markus]’ SID player has the same feature set as a
HardSID
, or the long-forgotten
SID Card
.
[Markus] can play
40,000
SID chiptunes and can access all of them a lot easier than he could with the jog wheel on the original build. The new firmware is cycle-exact, meaning the sounds coming out of this SID player would be exactly the same as if they were played on a C64. We’d love to build one of these ([Markus] made the entire project open source), but gutting a C64 for the required SID just seems wrong.
There are other ways
to acquire a SID, though.
Check out the demo of the Network SID Device below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mimSNZdvRj4&w=470] | 9 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "420416",
"author": "Daniel",
"timestamp": "2011-07-20T21:36:56",
"content": "More demos please…MP3s of the thing putting out some beetz for hours on end would be great…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "420437",
"author": "MJD... | 1,760,377,134.277504 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/20/amazing-pipe-organ-desk-features-secret-compartments-and-an-all-wood-logic-board/ | Amazing Pipe Organ Desk Features Secret Compartments And An All-wood Logic Board | Mike Nathan | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"desk",
"logic board",
"organ",
"pneumatic",
"wood"
] | Feeling pretty good after putting together your brand new standing computer desk? Step aside please, [Kagen Schaefer]
has something he’d like to show you.
His Pipe Organ Desk is undoubtedly one of the coolest pieces of furniture we have seen in a long time. The project took [Kagen] over three years to complete, which sounds about right once you see how much attention was put into every last detail.
This desk is amazing in several ways. First off, the entire desk was constructed solely from wood. The drawers, the supports, knobs, screws, and even the air valves – all wood. Secondly, when one of the desk’s drawers are pushed in, air is directed to the organ pipes at the front of the desk, which plays a note.
A small portion of the air is also directed into the desk’s pneumatic logic board, which keeps track of each note that has been played. When someone manages to play the correct tune, a secret compartment is unlocked. The pneumatic logic board is an unbelievable creation, consisting of well over 100 wooden screws which can be tuned to recognize any number of “secret tunes”.
Sure a well-placed axe can open the compartment too, but who would destroy such a fine piece of work?
[via
Make
] | 38 | 38 | [
{
"comment_id": "420359",
"author": "Squintz",
"timestamp": "2011-07-20T19:54:36",
"content": "Here is a video:http://vimeo.com/25735281",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "420363",
"author": "andar_b",
"timestamp": "2011-07-20T20:01:01",
... | 1,760,377,134.350618 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/20/roomba-used-to-map-indoor-air-quality/ | Roomba Used To Map Indoor Air Quality | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"air quality",
"arduino",
"roomba"
] | The next time you set off for a long day in the coal mines, forget the canary –
bring your Roomba along instead!
While we are pretty sure that canaries are no longer used in the mining industry, this Roomba hack could make a suitable replacement if they were. A team from the Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science (PLOTS) recently showed off a Roomba which they modified to test an area’s air quality. Using an Arduino and a volatile organic chemical (VOC) detecting air quality sensor, the Roomba goes about its normal business, lighting an LED any time it encounters overly contaminated air. When captured via a long exposure image, the process creates a “bad air” map of sorts, with the polluted areas highlighted by the glow of the LED.
While the Roomba currently only detects VOCs, the team plans on adding additional sensors in the near future to expand its functionality. The Roomba is merely a proof of concept at the moment, but we imagine that similar technology will be adapted for use in unmanned explorations of chemically hostile environments, if that hasn’t happened already.
[via
DVice
] [Image via
TechnologyReview
] | 11 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "420311",
"author": "macw",
"timestamp": "2011-07-20T17:36:07",
"content": "The “bad air” map is an interesting idea, but doesn’t the air move around and change the distribution? Wouldn’t even the Roomba itself passing by blow some of the gases around into a new pattern?I think I lik... | 1,760,377,134.39943 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/20/output-up-to-768-pwm-signals-from-one-arduino/ | Output Up To 768 PWM Signals From One Arduino | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"595",
"pwm",
"shift register"
] | Here’s
an Arduino library that will let you drive a very large number of LEDs
. [Elco Jacobs], an electrical engineering student, is the author of the library. He has a work-study job that has him helping out others with their electrical projects and he was constantly being solicited for methods to control droves of light emitting diodes. This was the motivation that led him to produce the dazzling 16 RGB LED example seen in the video after the break.
His setup doesn’t use expensive LED drivers, but instead utilizes
595 shift registers
which are both common and cheap. He calculates that it is possible to control up to 96 of these shift registers, each driving 8 LEDs, with reasonably satisfying results. This is thanks to his well-optimized code that manages to drive the clock pin of the registers at 1.33 MHz. This optimization is done by writing each command in assembly, which allows him to precisely count the cycles. Each individual pin takes 12-13 cycles to address, totally 9984 cycles at worst when addressing the maximum number of outputs.
[Elco] thinks this is as fast as he can make the routine run, but he is asking for help with testing. If you think you know how to squeeze out a few more cycles, make sure you join in on his forum thread.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDmOvbga0uA&w=470] | 46 | 43 | [
{
"comment_id": "420239",
"author": "UltraMagnus",
"timestamp": "2011-07-20T15:05:49",
"content": "Yet another, “flash a LED with an arduino” project.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "420241",
"author": "Andy Goth",
"timestamp": "2011-07-... | 1,760,377,134.567172 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/20/hackaday-in-the-social-tangle/ | Hackaday In The Social Tangle | Caleb Kraft | [
"News"
] | [
"facebook",
"g++",
"googleplus",
"reddit",
"slashdot",
"twitter"
] | Like any other organization out there, we’re always trying to find new ways to reach our audience. Admittedly, we’re not the fastest when it comes to adopting a new social communication site. We’re working on it though, trying to be a bit more interactive … or just plain active.
So, if you’re looking for other ways to get your hacking fix, or see some interesting commentary, find us on
facebook
,
twitter
, our
own forums
, and now G+. We just signed up to G+ and our name is
“Hackie Smith”
. If you need an invite, email us at
theofficialhackaday@gmail.com
see below. Sometimes there’s good discussion in those places that doesn’t end up here on the site.
You can also find several of us spattered across the web in sites like
Reddit
and
Slashdot
.
[Update: Our g+ page got shut down. Feel free to find any of the writers on g+. I’ll give out invites, look for “Caleb Kraft” or 60mango@gmail] | 35 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "420208",
"author": "jc",
"timestamp": "2011-07-20T14:06:40",
"content": "Aaaaand that’s exactly what’s wrong with having so many social media platforms. Pick one, and stick to it. Personally, I prefer the website, because I don’t want to have to check 9 different places to find ou... | 1,760,377,134.638114 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/21/magic-the-gathering-nixie-life-counter/ | Magic: The Gathering Nixie Life Counter | Brian Benchoff | [
"LED Hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"card games",
"life counter",
"magic the gathering",
"nixie"
] | Someone sent in a tip that pointed us to
this Magic: The Gathering forum thread
where a user named [DistortedDesigns] made a life counter for Magic: The Gathering out of Nixie tubes. While there’s not many details for this build, it’s just too cool to be forgotten in a single forum.
The project began by
etching some plexiglas
. There’s some
earlier examples
of [DistortedDesigns]’ work that look very professional. The electronic are extremely simple – the 25 LEDs run off of 2 AA cells, and the nixies run off of 2 C cells. We were wondering when [DistortedDesigns] would drop the
A-bomb
, but it looks like this build doesn’t use a microcontroller.
The controls are back are toggle switches to power the LEDs and nixies. There are two knobs on the back, and from the write-up it’s pretty easy to infer that these are 10-position rotary switches. [DistortedDesigns] says, “the knobs in the back rotate around and supply power to each digit one at a time,” so with a transformer this seems like a very simple build.
It’s an excellent build that didn’t get enough attention when it’s author posted it. If you know of any under-appreciated builds, send it in
send it in to our tip line
. | 26 | 26 | [
{
"comment_id": "420971",
"author": "Aaron",
"timestamp": "2011-07-21T23:09:03",
"content": "The only problem I can see with that is you could never use it in any kind of tournament, because you’d be so constantly mobbed by impressed passersby that you’d never have time to play the game. :D",
"p... | 1,760,377,134.856071 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/21/power-tool-battery-charger-repair/ | Power Tool Battery Charger Repair | Mike Nathan | [
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"charger",
"drill",
"fan",
"repair"
] | [Webby] inherited a cordless drill from his dad and when he finally got around to using it, found that
the charger was dead in the water
. He disassembled it and narrowed the issue down to the charger’s primary transformer, but didn’t know where to go from there. A friend suggested that the coil’s thermal fuse might have blown, and upon further investigation, [Webby] discovered that his friend was right.
He removed the dead fuse and soldered in a piece of wire just for testing – not surprisingly the charger sprang to life. He picked up a new thermal fuse to replace the old one, but he wasn’t quite satisfied with the fix just yet. If the fuse burned out once already, there’s little to stop it from happening again, so he decided that installing a small cooling fan would be a good idea. He mounted the fan on the outside of the case after cutting some vent holes, leeching power from the charger itself.
While simply adding a fan to the charger might not be everyone’s idea of a perfect solution,
it has worked out quite well
for [Webby] in the past, so if it isn’t broken…
[via
HackedGadgets
] | 14 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "421000",
"author": "spiderwebby",
"timestamp": "2011-07-22T00:38:15",
"content": "If I knew this would end up on HaD I would have spent more than 5 seconds on the soldering… ah well, such is life! :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id... | 1,760,377,134.688613 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/21/demystifying-pid-control-with-a-look-at-the-new-arduino-pid-library/ | Demystifying PID Control With A Look At The New Arduino PID Library | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"library",
"pid"
] | We’ve been hiding away in air-conditioned comfort to wait out the hot weather afflicting most of the US right now. Luckily we’re keeping busy with the great links coming into our tips box.
[Brett] sent us a note about his work on the new Arduino PID library. He is the author of the original library and recently decided it was time for a ground-up rewrite. But along the way he took the time to
explain PID control and the choices he made during development
.
We see a lot of PID controllers around here, like
this router based espresso machine add-on
. Proportional-Integral-Derivative Controllers are a way to make sure the control you intended to get from your devices is actually achieved in practice. They monitor a process and accumulate results over time in order to account for future events. From what we’ve just described you can see why the subject needs to be demystified.
Get yourself elbow-deep into [Brett’s] article. He does a great job of discussing each issue, and uses a multitude of easily understandable graphs to show the hurdles each portion of code is meant to overcome. | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "420921",
"author": "Robot",
"timestamp": "2011-07-21T21:18:27",
"content": "Sweet! I especially appreciate the documentation.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "420924",
"author": "Stunt21",
"timestamp": "2011-07-21T21:31:1... | 1,760,377,134.911049 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/21/intro-to-dc-motor-control-using-the-sn754410/ | Intro To DC Motor Control Using The SN754410 | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"h-bridge",
"motor controller",
"pic",
"sn754410"
] | So your electronic hobby skills are coming along quite nicely but you’re not very comfortable doing more than blinking a few LEDs. Now’s a good time to try something new by
driving a couple of DC motors
.
You probably know that you can’t just hook these up to the pins of your favorite uC and call it good. The motors draw a lot of current (especially if they’re strained in lifting a heavy load) which would burn out your logic circuitry. Add to this the excess induced current that is generated when a spinning motor is shut off and you’re going to need a control system that can handle these dangers.
Enter the h-bridge motor driver. [Chris] has guided us through the process of
building and using a H-bridge
in the past. This time he’s using a motor controller that has four half H-bridges built into it. He hooks up the SN754410 to two motors, giving him speed and direction control for both based on the duty cycle of a PWM signal entering the chip for less than $2.50. Check out the video after the break for an overview of his methodology, then work your way through the multi-page post that he recently published.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzdSUYf7SLo&w=470] | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "420903",
"author": "xeracy",
"timestamp": "2011-07-21T20:20:40",
"content": "Scorpian?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "420919",
"author": "dombeef",
"timestamp": "2011-07-21T21:13:11",
"content": "^I was thinking tha... | 1,760,377,135.011972 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/21/lg-tv-hacking-via-serial-connection-or-ir-codes/ | LG TV Hacking Via Serial Connection Or IR Codes | Mike Szczys | [
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"LG",
"rs232",
"script",
"tv"
] | [Brendan Robert] has been sending us forum thread links outlining the things he’s learned while hacking LG televisions. They were a bit hard to follow for the uninitiated, so we asked if he could give us
an overview of what he’s been working on
. Not only did he do that, but he made a little Hackaday shout-out seen above by adding the skull and cross-wrenches as one of the menu overlays.
He’s using a TV as his computer monitor, which he picked up at a discount because it was a display model. Without the original remote, and wanting to have features like power-saving mode which is standard on monitors but not on this TV, he decided to see what he could accomplish. A couple of things made this quite a bit easier. First, there’s an RS232 port built into the back which removes the need to investigate and solder your own onto the board. Secondly, since LG built on the Linux kernel for the set, you can download some of the firmware sources from their website.
What he came up with is a script that will find and communicate with the TV over the serial connection. The test script used during development polled every possible command, looking for valid return values. Once [Brendan] established which commands work and what they do, he was able to take command of the unit, writing scripts to adjust brightness based on the ambient light in the room as seen from the computer’s webcam. Make sure you check out the sub-pages to his post that detail the brightness adjustments, stand-by functionality, custom overlay graphics, and the extra commands he uncovered. | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "420877",
"author": "M",
"timestamp": "2011-07-21T18:52:42",
"content": "It’d be sweet if he ditched the KVM and used Synergy (http://synergy-foss.org/) and a custom hook to switch the TV input when his cursor hit the screen edge.Synergy only works if you aren’t VPNing though.",
... | 1,760,377,134.967556 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/21/bypassing-manufacturer-imposed-battery-lockouts/ | Bypassing Manufacturer-imposed Battery Lockouts | Mike Nathan | [
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"battery",
"repair",
"sony"
] | When [Barret] went to use his camera the other day it kept shutting down on him, and upon inspecting the battery, he found that it was a bit swollen. Knowing that he needed a replacement,
he turned to an aftermarket battery
he had sitting around, but grew pretty annoyed when his Sony Cybershot camera would not accept it.
Apparently a recent firmware update causes his camera to reject non-Sony batteries, a situation he describes as “battery DRM”. There was no way he was going to pony up another $50 to Sony instead of using the perfectly good $10 battery he already had, so he decided to rectify the issue himself.
He stripped both batteries of their plastic coatings, revealing the lithium cells and their charging circuits. He desoldered the PCB from his Sony battery, transplanting it to his aftermarket battery after a little bit of trimming. He wrapped everything up with some tape and gave his franken-battery a spin. It worked a treat, and he was so satisfied with it that he did a similar swap in his aging Logitech mouse.
As more and more companies lock competitors out of the user-replaceable consumables market, these sorts of hacks are certain to become more and more prevalent. | 62 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "420808",
"author": "yetihehe",
"timestamp": "2011-07-21T16:05:37",
"content": "I think it’s good idea, but please watch out for explosions. Aftermarket batteries may have a little different chemistry, for which sony controller would be mistuned.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth":... | 1,760,377,135.108977 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/21/controlling-an-infuriating-game-with-an-accelerometer/ | Controlling An Infuriating Game With An Accelerometer | Brian Benchoff | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"game",
"gyroscope",
"processing"
] | [Daniel] just made a
motion controlled game controller
to go with his
infuriating game
. Thankfully, [Daniel]
posted the source for this game
so first time players already know the level select codes.
The controller is based on an Arduino Uno with what looks to be a
Sparkfun 2-axis accelerometer
providing the tilt sensing. A similarly sourced half-inch force sensitive resistor and temperature sensor control the ‘jump pads’ in the game. A small vibrating pager motor strapped onto the controller as a rumble pack.
The game itself, built with
Processing
, is maddeningly hard (at least using a PC and a mouse) and fairly addictive. We’re going to keep telling ourselves that the game is hard because we don’t have a good controller. That saves us from taking out some frustrations on our laptop, but it does bring up memories of the MadCatz incident.
Check out the video below for the demo.
[vimeo
http://vimeo.com/25952079%5D | 7 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "420793",
"author": "BLuRry",
"timestamp": "2011-07-21T15:19:12",
"content": "That’s pretty cool! I was thinking along the same lines using the fram dev board I picked up from TI for $15 recently (I managed to read the accelerometer from java so far after hacking apart the demo sour... | 1,760,377,137.192882 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/20/beat707-le-a-button-pad-based-standalone-midi-sequencer/ | Beat707 LE: A Button Pad-based Standalone MIDI Sequencer | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"button pad",
"midi",
"sequencer",
"sparkfun"
] | [Guilherme] picked up a SparkFun Button Pad and was taking a closer look at the device when he noticed that it was based off the ATMega328 microcontroller. Since he loves working with MIDI, he thought that the Button Pad would make a
slick yet compact standalone MIDI controller
.
Since his ultimate goal was to create a completely standalone controller aside from the power plug and MIDI interface, it forced him to work quite closely with the ATMega chip. He and his partners spent a good deal of time working through some serial communications issues so as not to block the LEDs or MIDI block timer during operation. Ensuring that the Arduino doesn’t block any other functions is obviously important when you are building a MIDI timer, and it seems [Guilherme] was successful in his quest.
The MIDI controller works quite nicely as you can see in the videos below, great job!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3KBr0tJkug&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4dpsLtee7k&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eESTo3ySTPk&w=470] | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "420207",
"author": "sawo",
"timestamp": "2011-07-20T14:05:30",
"content": "Great stuff!How about chaining those up to e.g. 3pcs 4×4 boards?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "420227",
"author": "Beat707",
"timestamp": "2011... | 1,760,377,137.399932 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/20/hacking-your-macbook-air-restore-drive-to-install-osx-lion/ | Hacking Your MacBook Air Restore Drive To Install OSX Lion | Mike Nathan | [
"Mac Hacks"
] | [
"lion",
"macbook air",
"OsX",
"restore"
] | [Josh Wright] wrote in with
a handy little hack
just in time for today’s release of Mac OSX Lion. If you’re not familiar with the new version of the OS, Apple has decided to change things up this time around, completely eliminating physical distribution media.
In the event that you need to run a factory restore, this becomes an issue for some users. Computers with DVD drives can run a burned copy of the previously downloaded Lion installer, but MacBook Air owners are left hanging. Their restoration process is more time consuming, requiring a system restore and the download of OSX Lion, followed by the subsequent upgrade process. [Josh] thought it would be great if you skip the initial restore step and jump straight to installing Lion, so he hacked his USB restore media to do just that.
While copying the OS to a USB drive might sound trivial, the process is not as straightforward as it sounds – not surprisingly, Apple has put measures in place to prevent mere mortals from altering the contents of the drive. [Josh] put together an easy to follow tutorial that walks you through removing the drive’s protection and copying your brand new OSX Lion restore image to it.
While you might be asking, “Why jump through all these hoops when a normal flash drive would suffice?”, we think that his writeup is quite helpful. We see no reason to tie up a usable flash drive to store your restoration disc when you already have a perfectly good (albeit locked) drive at your disposal.
♦The only caveat to the process is that you need a Windows machine, virtual or otherwise, to complete the first step – a requirement that elicited a hearty chuckle from us. | 26 | 26 | [
{
"comment_id": "420182",
"author": "TNTC",
"timestamp": "2011-07-20T13:01:10",
"content": "Apple: Driving innovation in the hacker community by inconveniencing users.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "420194",
"author": "M4CGYV3R",
"times... | 1,760,377,136.905683 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/19/rc-transmitter-does-everything/ | RC Transmitter Does Everything | Brian Benchoff | [
"Radio Hacks",
"Toy Hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"radio"
] | [Demetris] sent in a tip about a project he’s working on: an
Open Source Remote Control transmitter
. This is one of the most impressive looking RC transmitters we’ve ever seen. The OSRC could be great for a
small UAV
– just get the GPS position from the aircraft and map it with the transmitter’s screen. There’s also support for a video downlink so
flying around New York City
is possible with a single device.
The transmitter/receiver combo are more actually referred to as transceivers. According to [Demetris], the radios on both the ‘ground side’ and ‘vehicle side’ can talk to each other on a 115 kbps data link on the 2.4GHz band. Sending commands and getting telemetry to something we’ve seen before, but never in a single integrated package. The expected range is in the neighborhood of 10 – 40 km. The ground unit is based on a
Gumstix
board and has a 4.8 inch display. This really isn’t so much an RC transmitter but a computer that happens to control RC airplanes.
[Demetris] has had
some success
doing some professional development with Gumstix boards, so it looks like he has the skills to build a very nice R/C controller. | 56 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "419876",
"author": "Spork",
"timestamp": "2011-07-19T22:06:05",
"content": "Holy crap that is cool looking. If I can afford it I am definitely in to build it!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "419879",
"author": "Greg",
"t... | 1,760,377,137.353269 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/19/chilean-teen-builds-automatic-earthquake-alarm/ | Chilean Teen Builds Automatic Earthquake Alarm | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"alarm",
"arduino",
"earthquake",
"twitter"
] | When an earthquake is about to strike in Chile, who do you think is first to sound the alarm? You might be surprised that it’s not the government,
but rather a 14 year old boy
.
After living through an earthquake in 2010 and seeing the devastation this spring in Japan, Chilean teenager [Sebastian Alegria] decided that he wanted to construct something similar to Japan’s earthquake warning system. He purchased an off the shelf earthquake detector for less than $100, and connected it to his computer via an Arduino.
Now, whenever seismic activity is detected, his sensor tweets an alert letting his 29,000+ followers know that a perceptible earthquake is 5 to 30 seconds away. Apparently the Chilean government is working on a similar system that is still at least a year away, so in the meantime his fellow citizens rely on [Sebastian] instead.
While it might seem like a relatively easy hack to pull off compared to
other earthquake detectors
, we’re impressed by [Sebastian’s] creativity, and his will to help others. He’s been pounding away at computers since he was about 4 years old and has several other popular Twitter-based projects under his belt already, so we won’t be surprised if we hear from him again in the future. | 27 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "419850",
"author": "Lee",
"timestamp": "2011-07-19T21:20:07",
"content": "I wondered how it worked so I checked their website:http://quakealarm.com/faq.htmkudo’s for the kid hooking it up to an arduino. Half of me says congrats to the kit. The other half of me says it’s not a hack i... | 1,760,377,136.967291 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/19/obstacle-avoiding-hexapod-from-reused-parts/ | Obstacle Avoiding Hexapod From Reused Parts | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"dorkboard",
"hexapod",
"ping",
"servo",
"ultrasonic sensor"
] | [Rob]
built this hexapod
one day when he had some free time after work. Just like
the last hexapod we saw
, he based the build on
the Pololu design
which uses three servo motors for surprisingly reliable movement.
The hardware is very straight forward. A
Dorkboard
serves as the brain. It’s a PCB that is wider on each side by the width of one female pin-header than a standard AVR 28-pin microcontroller. This gives easy access to all of the pins on the Arduino chip while making it small and light. You can see that a four-pack of batteries hangs below the servo motors to provide power.
Protruding above the 6-legger is
a PING ultrasonic rangefinder
. This adds autonomy to the little robot, which you can see running some obstacle avoidance routines in the video after the break. We’ve asked [Rob] if is able to share his code and will update this post if we hear back from him.
Update:
Here’s
a link to the sketch
, and we’ve updated the picture with one that [Rob] sent to us.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2glaziGW5g&w=470] | 11 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "419848",
"author": "Ane",
"timestamp": "2011-07-19T21:18:06",
"content": "OMG I like that sound!!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "419849",
"author": "2",
"timestamp": "2011-07-19T21:19:13",
"content": "ahhhhhh! hello... | 1,760,377,136.765209 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/19/one-really-big-quadcopter-that-is-following-in-the-steps-of-the-spruce-goose/ | One Really Big Quadcopter That Is Following In The Steps Of The Spruce Goose | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"IMU",
"quadrotor",
"spruce goose"
] | Behold the Land-Bear-Shark,
a quadcopter on a rather grand scale
. At a full eight kilograms it’s an easy target to compare the [Howard Hughes] behemoth, but in addition to the weight, this still has yet to make its first flight.
To give you some scale to the image above, the board at the center is an Arduino. It controls the beast, along with the help of
a SparkFun IMU
board which rides atop. Really, if any quadcopter of this size has a chance of working, this should be the one. The construction is beautiful, making use of carbon fiber rod along with 3D-printed connectors to assemble the frame. A lot of thought has gone into small things like conserving weight used on the landing gear, which are incorporated into the bottom corner brackets. The batteries are connected in a manner that makes them easy to adjust, acting as ballast for balancing the craft.
We’re keeping our fingers crossed that this will be more than the tongue-in-cheek title of the post which calls it a Quadrotor-shaped sculpture.
[via
Adafruit
] | 39 | 39 | [
{
"comment_id": "419795",
"author": "MumbleFysh",
"timestamp": "2011-07-19T19:14:47",
"content": "Still looking for a sweet video. We also need a separate Quadcopter section.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "419799",
"author": "Bogdan",
"... | 1,760,377,136.842871 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/19/gambiologia-brazilian-physical-item-hacking/ | Gambiologia – Brazilian Physical Item Hacking | Jeremy Cook | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"art",
"brazil",
"gambiologia"
] | Gambiologia, according to the
source article
, is the “science of Gambiarra.” For those not from Brazil, Gambiarra is “a Brazilian cultural practice of solving problems creatively in alternative ways with low cost and lots of spontaneity.” In other words, the hacking of real-world items. Gambiarra also has a connection to recycling, as instead of throwing something used out, it becomes something else new.
Although hacking may not be thought of as art in the traditional sense,
[Fred Paulino]
aims to change this with his exhibition of 20 Brazilian and international artists. A “Gambiologist” himself, he’s put together quite a collection of hacks and mods for the world to see. From computer monitors with eyes displayed on them, to a toilet held open with a two-by-four, his exhibit seems to cover a wide range of physical hacks, or Gambiarra.
Be sure to check out the
article
, as many of the hacks are quite clever or unusual (even if some may seem a bit unsafe). For more examples of hacking items into something new, check out this
drill
made out of a pencil sharpener or this remote control
camera trigger
using air freshener parts. | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "419757",
"author": "xeracy",
"timestamp": "2011-07-19T17:18:17",
"content": "Stateside, the masses dont trust kludges… or anything lacking iPod polish, for that matter.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_bomb_scare)Here, money is thrown at problems and DIY fixes are looked dow... | 1,760,377,137.09819 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/19/jeri-ellsworth-builds-a-software-radio/ | [Jeri Ellsworth] Builds A Software Radio | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks",
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"fpga",
"ham radio",
"jeri ellsworth",
"radio",
"shortwave",
"software radio",
"software-defined radio"
] | [Jeri Ellsworth] has been working on a direct conversion receiver using an FPGA as an oscillator and a PC sound card DSP. Being the excellent presenter she is, she first goes through the
history and theory of radio reception
(fast forward to 1:30), before digging into the
meat of the build
(parts
2
and
3
are also available).
Instead of ‘old school’ receiving sets, the functionality of a software-based radio can be changed by just modifying the program. Building one of these receivers doesn’t use many parts, but the math and programming behind the radio can be pretty intense. Everything is fed into an off-the-shelf PC sound card for processing. The 16-bit sound card [Jeri] used covers 22kHz of radio bandwidth, but that can be increased to 48kHz with a 24-bit card.
The build itself is just a small circuit that goes between the antenna, but we have to respect [Jeri]’s ability to deal with that amount of analog madness. There’s also a
great PDF
on software-designed radio that [Jeri] linked to explaining everything in a non-youtube format. This receiver is pretty impressive considering we’ve come a
pretty long way
over the past century. | 27 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "419729",
"author": "Seuros",
"timestamp": "2011-07-19T16:07:24",
"content": "Jeri is the best presenter IMHO!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "419735",
"author": "lee",
"timestamp": "2011-07-19T16:17:33",
"content": "... | 1,760,377,137.047619 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/19/2011-ccc-r0ket-badge/ | 2011 CCC R0ket Badge | Mike Szczys | [
"cons"
] | [
"badge",
"chaos communication congress",
"RF"
] | [Geekabit] wrote in asking if we’d seen
the 2011 CCC badges yet
. The answer is NO, we haven’t
seen
them because the image above is the only sneek peek we can find on their broken-certificate website. But we are glad that he shared the link with us, because it does tell the tale of what hardware and firmware features will be on this year’s badge.
Right off the bat we need to applaud them for several things. Most notably, the 3.7 volt 600 mAh LiPo battery which can be recharged via the USB port. It boasts an ARM Cortex M3 processor which is running what they call and ‘unbrickable’ bootloader that is programmed via the USB port. You can see there is an LCD screen which we’d guess is about 128×128 pixels (correct us if you know otherwise). You’ll be able to interact using a 5-way button, via the RF transceiver, and possibly using an optical interface but we’re not sure that feature made it into the final design. They’ve also rolled in a shield system for extra harware so that you can design your own add-ons before you get there.
As always, if you get your hands on one of these, we want to hear all about your project as well as get an overview of the stock badge and its features so don’t forget to
drop us a line
.
Update:
[Never_gonna] left a comment with a link to
a series of posts about r0cket development
including a video which we’ve embedded after the break. Thanks!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5uWfg9Zc6U&w=470] | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "419701",
"author": "therian",
"timestamp": "2011-07-19T15:30:34",
"content": "why?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "419703",
"author": "never_gonna",
"timestamp": "2011-07-19T15:34:16",
"content": "http://r0ket.soup.i... | 1,760,377,137.147927 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/19/analyzing-tvs-talking-heads-with-processing/ | Analyzing TV’s Talking Heads With Processing | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"closed captions",
"processing"
] | [Michael] from Nootropic Design wrote in to share
an interesting and fun project he put together
using one of the products his company sells. The gadget in question is their “Video Experimenter” shield which was designed for the Arduino. It is typically used to allow the manipulation of composite video streams via overlays and the like, but it can also serve as a video analyzer as well.
When used for video analysis, the board lets you decode closed captioning data, which is exactly what [Michael] did here. He decided it would be fun to scrape the closed captioning information from various shows and commercials to do a little bit of content analysis.
Using a Processing sketch on his Arduino, he reads the closed captioning feed from his cable box, keeping a count of every word mentioned in the broadcast. As the show progresses, his sketch dynamically constructs a cloud that shows the most commonly used words in the video feed.
The results he gets are quite interesting, especially when he watches the nightly news, or some other broadcast with a specific target audience. We think it would be cool to run this application during a political debate or perhaps during a Hollywood awards ceremony to discover which set of speakers is the most vapid.
if you’re interested in learning more about the decoding process, [Michael] has put together
a detailed explanation
of how the closed captioning data can be pulled from a video stream. For those of you who just want to see the decoder in action, keep reading to see a quick video demonstration.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_2zWhPJvW8&w=470] | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "419675",
"author": "Alex",
"timestamp": "2011-07-19T14:12:51",
"content": "Well, I’m quite impressed. I expected some meaningless new media BS, but this is interesting, useful, and effective.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "4196... | 1,760,377,137.447654 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/19/hackaday-links-tuesday-july-19th/ | Hackaday Links: Tuesday, July 19th | Jeremy Cook | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"cnc",
"gameboy",
"multimeter",
"Pogo pin",
"useless machine",
"verbalizer",
"walle"
] | Here’s another “useless machine” variant. The trick to this one is that it has dual “fingers” and can work either way. Which way it turns off is selectable via a switch on the side, and the fingers can both be turned on to “fight” each other. Check out the
video
here.
This video depicts the assembly of a
Gameboy MAME-style cabinet
. For those wanting to try something like this, this video may fill you in on some of the required assembly techniques, such as how to put decals on the side of your cabinet.
This video featuring the “
Autonomous Ultimate Wall-E”
shows this robot’s navigational skills around the house. Additionally, it has some nicely actuated arms.
The
Verbalizer
is a microphone designed to be used with Google’s voice search. It’s also designed with Arduino compatibility in mind and is open-source. Could be a good tool for your next hack.
These clever
multimeter probes
were built using
pogo pins
used in electrical test equipment. The springs inside of these pins help keep them planted firmly on the test point in question and reportedly gives a very good connection. | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "419669",
"author": "Alex",
"timestamp": "2011-07-19T13:49:12",
"content": "Cool probes!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "419693",
"author": "D_",
"timestamp": "2011-07-19T15:16:44",
"content": "Looks to be one of thos... | 1,760,377,137.645114 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/19/modelling-chemical-reactions-using-an-fpga/ | Modelling Chemical Reactions Using An FPGA | Mike Szczys | [
"chemistry hacks"
] | [
"chemical kinetic systems",
"fpga",
"stochastic solver"
] | [Bruce Land] is a professor at Cornell University who was looking for a way to quickly solve chemical kinetic systems. He had used MATLAB but longed for a faster method. His upgrade achieves a 100 times speed increase by
using an FPGA as a parallel stochastic solver
.
It works by generating 100 pseudo-random 16-bit numbers using an Altera DE2 board. This is done once per cycle at 50 MHz so we’re talking about a lot of random numbers. They are run through the solver algorithms and used to compute each reaction cycle. On a 3.8 GHz P4 process running the MATLAB version one of these cycles would take about 1000 seconds, so the speed improvement can immediately be felt. It’s wonderful to have this new tool. It does make us wonder what could be done with
GPU processing that we’ve seen for password cracking
or bit coin mining. Much like FPGAs a GPU is prefect for running a large number of parallel operations. | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "419650",
"author": "Orangensaft",
"timestamp": "2011-07-19T12:21:22",
"content": "1.1 seconds on a FPGA, 1000 seconds on the P4 (sorry if that was obvious to everyone else)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "419654",
"author": ... | 1,760,377,137.740419 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/18/bringing-an-iwallet-back-to-life/ | Bringing An IWallet Back To Life | Mike Nathan | [
"iphone hacks"
] | [
"bluetooth",
"iphone",
"iwallet",
"repair"
] | The iWallet is a slick little device if you’ve got a big wad of cash burning a hole in your pocket. The $600 price tag was a little much for [cmw] to swallow,
so he bought a water damaged iWallet on eBay with hopes of repairing it
. Once took a close look, he knew that repairing it was a lost cause, so he decided to hack it instead.
He pulled out most of the wallet’s electronics save for the motor that opens the device, and replaced the damaged parts with his own. He installed an Arduino pro as well as a Bluetooth module, powering the pair with a small rechargeable LiPo battery. The iWallet’s fingerprint reader was then replaced with a series of LEDs that show the device’s Bluetooth connectivity status.
[cmw] can now connect his wallet to his phone, issuing unlock commands via Bluetooth. If you don’t want to fork out the cash, his version is nearly as good as the real thing.
Continue reading to see a quick video of [cmw’s] iWallet hack in action.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYFg0XafDN0&w=470] | 43 | 42 | [
{
"comment_id": "419293",
"author": "Mark A",
"timestamp": "2011-07-18T22:16:29",
"content": "You spent so much money making your wallet, you ended up with no money left over to put in the wallet. :o(",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "419294",
... | 1,760,377,137.821988 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/18/building-a-computer-around-a-ttl-cpu/ | Building A Computer Around A TTL CPU | Mike Szczys | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"cpu",
"homebrew",
"magic-1",
"minix",
"ttl"
] | [Bill’s] worked on
his homebrew computer
for almost a decade. He didn’t start with a Z80 processor like a lot of the projects we’ve seen, but instead build the CPU itself from 74-series TTL chips and a ridiculous amount of wire wrapping to connect it all.
The video after the break shows off the functionality. We love the front panel, which is packed with information but manages to remain organized and offers many convenient features. Our favorite is the ability to pause execution and scroll through the registers by spinning the dial. The clock signal has a variable speed which is selected by an internal DIP switch package that can be changed during a pause. It runs MINIX and has a library of programs, but perhaps most surprising is its ability to serve webpages.
Lately we’ve been interested in
drilling down through program language abstractions
to understand what is going on inside the silicon. This has given us new respect for those building processors from scratch. Think of it this way, if you actually need to build each instruction out of gates, you’ll be able to understand how those instructions work at the most fundamental level.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbSjsEPlhU8&w=470]
[Thanks Jamie] | 26 | 26 | [
{
"comment_id": "419272",
"author": "polossatik",
"timestamp": "2011-07-18T21:34:16",
"content": "Gotto love the “lots of blinky lights” comments..But this is the coolest thing i’ve seen here yet",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "419273",
"aut... | 1,760,377,137.882788 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/18/iphone-to-arduino-communications-sans-jailbreak/ | IPhone To Arduino Communications Sans Jailbreak | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"iphone hacks"
] | [
"apple",
"arduino",
"iphone",
"sdk"
] | When Google released their ADK allowing Android smart phones to interact with Arduino-based devices, we’re sure there were at least one or two iPhone users who felt left out. Thanks to the folks over at Redpark, those people can now
interact with an Arduino without having to jailbreak their phone
.
For anyone looking to do any sort of iPhone/Arduino interaction, this is a good thing – except for the price. The 30-pin to serial cable is currently available over at Make for $59, which honestly seems pretty steep to us. When we first saw this announced, our initial thoughts were that we would see an open-source version in no time.
Unfortunately, that idea was short-lived, as we were quickly reminded of
Apple’s MFI program
. If you are not familiar, MFI (aka Made for iStuff) program limits what can be connected to an iDevice via licensing fees and a boatload of legal agreements. While we won’t be picking up this dongle any time soon, we’re all ears if someone has done any reverse-engineering of those pesky MFI chips. | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "419232",
"author": "FaultyWarrior",
"timestamp": "2011-07-18T19:15:59",
"content": "Someone’s already “hacked” the MFI chips by chopping up an Apple USB cable and desoldering the chip. There was an article on here a while back about it. I think it was a clock radio or something.",... | 1,760,377,137.696891 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/18/diy-book-scanner-processes-600-pageshour/ | DIY Book Scanner Processes 600 Pages/hour | Brian Benchoff | [
"digital cameras hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"book scanner",
"books",
"ebookreader",
"ereader",
"image processing",
"it scans all books - scifi AND fantasy"
] | Like any learned individual, [Justin] has a whole mess of books. Not being tied to the dead-tree format of bound paper, and with e-readers popping up everywhere, he decided to build a
low-cost book scanner
so an entire library can be carried in a his pocket. If that’s not enough, there’s also a complementary
book image processor
to assemble the individual pictures into a paginated tome.
The build is pretty simple – just a little bit of black craft board for the camera mount and adjustable book cradle. [Justin] ended up using the
CHDK software
for the Cannon PowerShot camera to hack in a remote trigger. The scanner can manage to photograph 600 pages an hour, although that would massively increase if he ever moves up to a 2-camera setup.
We’re wondering if OCR could be applied to this build – it’s nice to have an image of a page on your computer, but searchable text would be amazing. If you have experience or a story about a massive OCR job, be sure to leave a note in the comments. Check out the videos below for a walk-through of the build and a demo of the operations.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-wJs3Xg4Y4&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C_yJ7eMs24&w=470] | 39 | 37 | [
{
"comment_id": "419204",
"author": "svofski",
"timestamp": "2011-07-18T18:10:47",
"content": "I found the title to be a little bit misleading. Although it’s a great and simple setup, the speed of scanning isn’t one of its highlights. If it had automatic page flipper, it would have been justified.",... | 1,760,377,138.0447 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/18/getting-more-information-from-your-battery-charger/ | Getting More Information From Your Battery Charger | Mike Nathan | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"atmega",
"battery charger",
"uart"
] | [Dane] bought a reasonably cheap ($17) Hobbyking Echo-6 battery charger and wanted to see
what sort of information he could pull from the unit
. Since the charger is designed for a variety of battery chemistries and sports an LCD screen, he figured that it contained a fairly decent microcontroller which he could tap into for some useful data.
He disassembled the unit and started looking around for any useful items. He discovered that it used an ATMega32 microcontroller and had quite a few unpopulated areas on the PCB, which led [Dane] to believe that the Echo-6 shared its main board with a more robust charger. He tapped into the ATMega’s UART and began seeing data immediately. Once he figured out what was coming over the serial line, he piped the data into LogView, resulting in some nice graphs showing off the charge/discharge processes in detail.
Tapping into the Echo-6 seems easy enough for any skill level, and we assume that just about anyone would benefit from getting kind of information out of their battery charger. | 9 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "419196",
"author": "chango",
"timestamp": "2011-07-18T17:30:06",
"content": "Can’t say how well it works in practice, but that looks like a really nice tool for $17.Though I’m curious what those rows of bussed SMT components (resistors?) are for on the lines leading to the JST conne... | 1,760,377,137.969364 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/18/robot-band-covers-marilyn-manson/ | Robot Band Covers [Marilyn Manson] | Brian Benchoff | [
"Musical Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"Marilyn Manson",
"robot band"
] | [James] built himself a robotic band from obsolete computer parts. The band needed something to play, and [Marilyn Manson]’s
Beautiful People
fit the bill. While it’s not the
Rock-fire Explosion
, having the [James]’ band cover [Marilyn Manson] is nearly as terrifying.
[James]’ original plan was to cover
Mad World
, but the stepper motors were drowning out the music for that song. While trying fix the cello problem the servos started acting up and reminded him of a certain song. While it’s not faithful to the
original
, we really like the arrangement on this version.
We saw the EOL band cover
Rock Lobster
when it made its rounds on the blogs earlier this year. The [Marilyn Manson] build is very similar to the previous one – we can see the same HP Scanjet 3C scanners and guitar and solenoid setup used from the previous project. Although [James] didn’t use the
TI99/4a
for the lead vocals this time, it’s still a very, very cool project.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QMtDyvAzVw&w=470] | 25 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "419141",
"author": "theodore",
"timestamp": "2011-07-18T14:19:56",
"content": "When the robots rise I will hold my lighter in the air.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "419145",
"author": "andrew",
"timestamp": "2011-07-18... | 1,760,377,138.208978 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/18/diy-robot-remote-control/ | DIY Robot Remote Control | Brian Benchoff | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Robots Hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"remote control",
"xbee"
] | [Patrick] wanted a remote control to control some of the robots he’s built. He also wanted to get some data back from his robots, so an inexpensive off-the-shelf solution wouldn’t be up to the task. Like all good geeks, [Patrick] decided to
build what he needed
.
For analog control, [Patrick] decided to use a Wiimote nunchuck. This turned out to be a very good choice – the nunchuck has a 2-axis joystick and 3-axis accelerometer in one small, easy to interface package . The wireless radio is taken care of with an XBee module. For the microcontroller, custom “
lcd backpack
” was created that provides an I2C port for the nunchuck, inputs for the buttons and the single pot, and 2 serial ports for the FTDI and XBee.
While the idea of fabricating a PCB with the pins for an LCD display already lined up is pretty neat, we’re wondering about what kind of data can be received from the robot. 9.6kbps isn’t a whole lot of bandwidth, so video is out of the question. If you have any ideas on what could be downloaded from the robot, put it up in the comments.
Check out the videos of [Patrick]’s custom controller below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5egHV2l_So&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVdeYgdxxjM&w=470] | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "419130",
"author": "Max",
"timestamp": "2011-07-18T13:35:52",
"content": "It seems a bit overengineered to me if this is just for sending joystick info to the robot. However, I can definitely see him reusing the controller on other projects, so all in all it looks like a pretty cool... | 1,760,377,138.084721 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/18/hacking-your-nesfamicom-console-for-better-video-and-audio/ | Hacking Your NES/Famicom Console For Better Video And Audio | Mike Nathan | [
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"famicom",
"nes",
"playchoice 10",
"ppu",
"vintage"
] | [Dominic] wrote in to share a pretty neat Famicom console mod that
improves both the video and audio output of the system
. While some of you may be familiar with the PlayChoice 10, we’re guessing that many of you are not. The PlayChoice 10 was an arcade-style machine that allowed you to play up to 10 different NES games. The system’s hardware was quite similar to the Famicom/NES consoles, but the graphics and sound performance was superior to either console.
[Dominic] decided to tweak his Famicom system, and ended up replacing its native Picture Processing Unit (PPU) with one from a PlayChoice 10. This allows the console to output RGB video natively, resulting in a crisper picture with brighter coloring. He didn’t stop there however. His Famicom system also sports an upgraded audio circuit that boasts psuedo-stereo sound as well as increased bass response and better overall audio clarity.
The console looks nearly stock, and performs quite well according to [Dominic]. Be sure to check out the video comparison embedded below to see how the modifications improved his system’s performance.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v7e-bjB13s&w=470] | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "419096",
"author": "MrBishop",
"timestamp": "2011-07-18T11:03:55",
"content": "Amazing, that sir is a heck of a hack.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "419097",
"author": "Johannes",
"timestamp": "2011-07-18T11:08:35",
... | 1,760,377,138.144032 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/17/cheap-and-easy-pcb-agitator-from-an-old-cd-rom/ | Cheap And Easy PCB Agitator From An Old CD-ROM | Mike Nathan | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"agitator",
"pcb",
"recycled"
] | Instructables user [mzsolt] enjoyed making his own PCBs, but
he wanted to speed up the etching process just a bit
. While some people put together elaborate bubble tanks and agitators, he wanted to keep his simple and more importantly, cheap.
He looked around the house and discovered an ancient CD-ROM drive that was collecting dust, which he figured would make a great agitator for smaller projects. He picked up a decade counter and a handful of other cheap components, then got busy pulling the drive apart. He connected the motor and the drive’s limit switches to the decade counter, which controls the entire setup.
When powered on, the drive ejects, taking his container full of etchant with it. When the drive hits the outer limit switch, the decade counter reverses the motor until it hits the inner switch, reversing the motor once again.
As you can see in the video below, it works reasonably well. He suggests using a variable power supply to regulate the motor’s speed, but a variable pot would probably work just as well. Obviously the agitator is best suited for smaller projects, but since it was so cheap to put together, you won’t hear us complaining.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5enNCC2iODo&w=470] | 32 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "418798",
"author": "spiderwebby",
"timestamp": "2011-07-17T21:06:16",
"content": "brilliant hack, but I think after about 2 mins of that noise I’d have to take a hammer to it!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "418802",
"author... | 1,760,377,138.278965 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/17/impressive-steampunk-keyboard/ | Impressive Steampunk Keyboard | Brian Benchoff | [
"hardware"
] | [
"brass",
"keyboard",
"leather",
"steampunk"
] | This
amazing steam punk keyboard
was sent in to the tip line, and while it’s not necessarily a ‘hack’ in the purest sense, the level of quality in the build is incredible.
Each key was crafted from brass tubing that was later filled with a wooden dowel and covered with the key cap label. While there’s no mention of how the key caps were made, we do especially like the
abstract Windows Key label
. After the PCB for the keyboard matrix was enclosed in a bit of plywood, the hand tooled leather was applied to the front. The
name plaque
that was hand engraved with a modified screwdriver is especially nice.
The build is based around the amazing
Das Keyboard
with Cherry Blue switches, one of the only keyboards currently being manufactured that comes close to the feel of the
One True Keyboard
. While it’s not a
keyboard built from scratch
, it’s still one of the best steampunk builds we’ve seen, most likely because
not a single gear was glued to the project
. | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "418781",
"author": "spiritplumber",
"timestamp": "2011-07-17T20:08:22",
"content": "+1 for steampunk done right.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "418784",
"author": "andar_b",
"timestamp": "2011-07-17T20:14:00",
"cont... | 1,760,377,138.465525 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/17/led-headgear-is-marvel-of-free-formed-circuitry/ | LED Headgear Is Marvel Of Free-formed Circuitry | Mike Szczys | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"atmega8",
"hat",
"tlc5916"
] | Hackaday contributor [Nick Schulze] popped out
an impressive set of LED headgear
for a hat-themed party.
[Nick] is no stranger to working with LEDs. Previously he built a blue 8x8x8 cube something like this other
512 node full color version
. He had a bunch of LEDs left over from that project and decided to put them to
good
use.
The first part of the build is the frame itself, made from thick fencing wire. He just started bending it around his head and got an uncomfortable head-shaped hoop to which he could solder. From there, enameled copper wire wraps its way through the system, supplying logic levels to all of the LEDs. Everything is done without a circuit board of any kind. The LED drivers themselves are attached by first using a zip tie to affix a resistor to the frame, then by soldering the TLC5916 chip to that resistor. Even the ATmega8 is included dead-bug style by soldering it to the frame which we think servers as ground. Program it with the free-floating female pin header and you’ll get the fantastic animations seen in the video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jMiPNVYAgM&w=470] | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "418786",
"author": "Vampyredh",
"timestamp": "2011-07-17T20:15:44",
"content": "Why did he shape it like that? I think A top hat shape would have been much cooler.Otherwise nice job.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "418815",
... | 1,760,377,138.316182 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/17/fpga-arduino-shield-uses-kickstarted-as-a-preorder-system/ | FPGA Arduino Shield Uses Kickstarter As A Preorder System | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"arduino",
"Crowd Funding",
"fpga",
"jack gassett",
"spartan 3a",
"xilinx"
] | [ Jack Gassett] is working on
an FPGA shield for the Arduino
. At first the idea of this expansion board seemed a little silly. But [Jack] mentions that the FPGA board can be quite useful for adding higher-order electronic complexity like HDMI capabilities to an Arduino. We’re not totally sold on the idea, but he’s not making the board solely for use with an Arduino either.
The plan is to use a Xilinx Spartan 3A FPGA which comes in a ball-grid array package. And that is the reason [Jack] decided to use Kickstarter for this project. He shared some of his issues with
BGA components in a home manufacturing process
a while back. To get these working reliably you need to have them professionally assembled, and that requires a sizable upfront investment. But as we read through his proposal it struck us that he’s actually using Kickstarter as a preorder system. You can get a base model with just the FPGA soldered on the board for $55. Not bad considering the chip will cost you at least $20 without assembly. Each level up includes a few more components like SRAM or add-on PCBs.
We get a lot of tips pointing to Kickstarter proposals but this is one of the few that seems right on the mark for supporting open and innovative development. Great work [Jack]!
[Thanks Simon] | 35 | 35 | [
{
"comment_id": "418741",
"author": "bothersaidpooh",
"timestamp": "2011-07-17T18:14:35",
"content": "Yay, BGA hobbyists!This is pretty clever, I might have a go at making some BGA based systems shortly as this seems to be the direction things are going.As for inspecting the board, one method I ran ... | 1,760,377,138.536402 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/17/dont-buy-an-ipad-make-one/ | Don’t Buy An IPAD, Make One! | Nick Schulze | [
"computer hacks",
"ipod hacks"
] | [
"diy ipad",
"tablet pc"
] | When [Liu] decided he wanted one of the new iPads, rather than fork out the cash he decided to
build his own
tablet Mac. His creation functions just as you would expect any tablet PC with some nice extra features such as running on Windows XP for any of you Microsoft lovers. [Lui’s] tablet apparently only cost him about $300USD, about half the price of the real thing. The two part video shows the entire construction in fast forward including a demonstration of the final working product. It looks like the tablet is built using spare tablet/laptop components and the case is constructed from sheet aluminum before being painted and labelled with apple stickers. The final product is a bit thicker than the real thing but looks great in the laptop style case [Lui] has whipped up. Kudos to the guy for saving a few bucks and making something great in the process, the video after the break is definitely worth a watch. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this kind of thing, actually we’ve
seen a few
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6TAguL2nFU&feature=related&w=470] | 37 | 35 | [
{
"comment_id": "418697",
"author": "tooth",
"timestamp": "2011-07-17T16:09:51",
"content": "that is vary nice. it cost half the price and it has more function than the i pad.it also can run xp. it looks a bit thick but i don’t think i would mind if it has more power and more function.",
"parent... | 1,760,377,138.650659 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/17/megavallometer-camera-trigger/ | Megavallometer Camera Trigger | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"dslr",
"intervalometer",
"light sensor",
"sound sensor"
] | [Tobe] has an intervalometer for his camera, but he wanted a device that could trigger the shutter using several different methods, not just time.
He calls his creation the Megavallometer
, which can utilize any one of three distinct criteria.
He recently purchased an Arduino and a couple of shields, so he figured this would be a perfect project in which to use them. He hooked up a microphone and a photodiode to the Arduino, allowing him to use both sound and light to trigger his camera, depending on which mode he selects. Of course, the Megavallometer still incorporates the functionality of a standard intervalometer as well.
Once connected to his camera he selects one of the three trigger programs, and the Arduino handles the rest. If either the light or sound triggers are selected, the respective sensors measure the ambient levels upon selection, allowing for accurate results in any setting.
While the Megavallometer is a bit larger than
other intervalometers we have seen
, it looks incredibly useful and can likely be strapped to a tripod or similar if need be.
If you have a minute, be sure to check out the video on his site for a sneak peak if his Megavallometer in action. | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "418668",
"author": "The Ideanator",
"timestamp": "2011-07-17T14:03:32",
"content": "It seems a bit slow with the light and sound triggers, especially if this is intended to take something fast, like water drops or things igniting/exploding. I suppose it could be done better and smal... | 1,760,377,138.578378 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/16/android-controlled-t-shirt-cannon/ | Android Controlled T-shirt Cannon | Brian Benchoff | [
"Android Hacks",
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"android",
"arduino",
"cannon",
"t-shirt cannon"
] | Every year, Qualcomm hosts the “Battle of the Schools.” This year the goal was to build homemade contraptions that would be judged on how cool they are. [Doug DeCarme], [Shaver Deyerle], and [Zach Rattner] – three Qualcomm employees at Virginia Tech – built an
Android controlled t-shirt cannon
for this event and ended up tying with Michigan State for first place.
The cannon is built around an Arduino Uno and a
BlueSMiRF Bluetooth modem
. [Doug DeCarme], the Android developer of the group, put together an app that would fire each barrel independently. The valves for the cannon are just 150 PSI inline sprinkler valves, bought from the local Home Depot. From the project breakdown, the team spent less than $150 on entire project.
From the
video
, we see that they’re getting some pretty good distance firing t-shirts at 160 PSI. Although we question the wisdom of using PVC as a pressure vessel holding 160 PSI, changing the PVC to a proper air reservoir wouldn’t be that hard. | 33 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "418519",
"author": "zigzagjoe",
"timestamp": "2011-07-17T00:54:12",
"content": "It looks like all they are doing is using the Arduino/android linkage is to fire the mess. Why not put a push button (optionally with relay) on some decent length wires and have done? About, what, 500$ c... | 1,760,377,138.80923 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/16/vga-pong-on-a-chipkit/ | VGA Pong On A ChipKIT | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"classic hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"chipkit",
"pong",
"uno32",
"vga"
] | [Nathan] got his hands on a chipKIT Uno32 development board and wrote
a Pong sketch that you can play with a VGA monitor
. We love the hardware that makes this feel very much like the classic. It uses a collection of resistor-based digital to analog converters to generate the color signals for the VGA protocol. The score for each player is show on a 7-segment display instead of being printed on-screen. And the paddles are made up of a pair of potentiometers.
You’ll remember that
the chipKIT Uno32 is an Arudino compatible 32-bit development board
. This project shows how the hardware handles, and how easy it can be to generate VGA signals with it if you know what you’re doing.
For those interested in the game physics themselves, [Nathan] provided a nice explanation about ball movement at the bottom of his post. If you need even more details, dive into the code package that he links to. | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "418644",
"author": "Andrew Smith",
"timestamp": "2011-07-17T12:18:06",
"content": "Looks good, I have this piece of kit but haven’t played with it yet. Usually pong games are researved for my fpga",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,377,138.733482 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/25/adding-usb-connectivity-to-old-benchtop-tools/ | Adding USB Connectivity To Old Benchtop Tools | Mike Nathan | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"bitbang",
"frequency counter",
"usb"
] | [Scott] was recently given a frequency counter, and once he brought it home, he started contemplating
how he could possibly make it better
. While the counter worked well as-is, he wanted to find a way to record data readings over a reasonably long period of time. He figured that interfacing it with his computer would be the best way to do this, but he had to find a way to connect the devices first.
He started poking around inside the frequency counter and stumbled upon a possible data source when taking a closer look at the display board. He found that he could read the frequency data as it was being written to the display, and send that data to his computer. He used an ATMega48 to intercept the data and code from the V-USB project to bit-bang the data to his PC over USB.
Now, anything he sees on the frequency counter can be easily collected and graphed on his computer with little fuss.
Stick around to see a quick video demonstration of his hack in action.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6uFN52LGnc&w=470] | 7 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "422727",
"author": "SuperNuRd",
"timestamp": "2011-07-25T19:16:44",
"content": "This is great but could there be a more detailed schematic for this great design!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "422734",
"author": "mess_maker... | 1,760,377,138.693963 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/25/singing-robot/ | Singing Robot | Kevin Dady | [
"Musical Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"Musical",
"robot"
] | The 4DOF CXN-I anthropomorphic robot arm in the Mechatronics Lab at FICES-UNSL (Engineering faculty, San Luis National University, Argentina) was built from scratch, and it is still a work in progress to teach and learn about mechatronics , in order to build another, more robust and precise arm in the future. When one of the students working with the device thought “hey, these motors are quite noisy, aren’t they? let’s put them to work towards something more useful”.
Armed with some guitar tabs, a robot and some noisy servos, [Guille] got the robotic arm to sing a little song raised a couple of octaves, and included it in the introduction video. Because hey, whipping a metal arm around like that is pretty mechanically strenuous, and its not all that great for the servos either.
Join us after the break for a quick video, the singing starts about 58 seconds into the show.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQvWT_AYUX0&w=450] | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "422645",
"author": "kaoD",
"timestamp": "2011-07-25T16:12:49",
"content": "Worst post ever for SO MANY reasons.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "422665",
"author": "SuperNuRd",
"timestamp": "2011-07-25T16:40:53",
"con... | 1,760,377,138.939298 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/25/50089/ | Hybrid Roller Coaster Concept | Mike Nathan | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"hybrid",
"regenerative braking",
"toyota"
] | Toyota recently ran an ad campaign touting “Ideas for Good” in which the actors speculated uses for Toyota Synergy Drive hybrid systems in non-automotive related applications. One idea that was floated involved using the car’s regenerative braking system at an amusement park, in an effort to reclaim and use some of a roller coaster’s kinetic energy.
Toyota sent a Prius t
o the team over at Deeplocal
, who deconstructed it and found that the car could generate 60 amps of current when braking. That’s not an insignificant number, so they decided to create a cool demonstration showing how powerful the technology is. They built a coaster car from the Prius’ guts, and positioned it at the top of an elevated platform, which was connected to a 70 foot track. In the video embedded below they push the car from the platform and down the track, using the regenerative braking system to illuminate a large display of amusement park lights.
While the video is little more than a well-produced advertisement for Toyota, we can’t help but think that it’s pretty cool. It’s doubtful that we will suddenly see an inrush of hybrid-based roller coasters any time soon, but the concept is interesting nonetheless.
[via
Notcot
]
[vimeo
http://vimeo.com/22778905
w=470] | 36 | 31 | [
{
"comment_id": "422610",
"author": "Aleks Clark",
"timestamp": "2011-07-25T15:15:45",
"content": "more credible if they had shown the lights going *out* after the car came to a halt…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "430541",
"author": ... | 1,760,377,138.887384 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/25/robot-vacuum-makes-cleaning-into-a-game/ | Robot Vacuum Makes Cleaning Into A Game | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"CAN",
"missile command",
"roomba",
"vacuum"
] | This is not a Roomba hack, but a ground-up vacuum cleaner robot build. It’s the result of a class project from six students at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden. There’s a slew of information available in their paper, but fair warning that it’s
an 8.6 MB PDF file
that we couldn’t get Google to translate. We were able to skim the PDF and cut and paste to translate the interesting bits we found.
Unlike a Roomba, which just uses a little sweeper to pick up debris, this robot actually includes a vacuum. The image above shows that the cylindrical body is wrapped in an LED matrix, with an ultrasonic sensor on the front for obstacle avoidance. The robot uses a CAN bus to control the various modules inside. We don’t think there’s any autonomous function, but that’s made up for by the remote control. It communicates via a ZigBee module, and includes a d-pad, touch screen, and accelerometer.We’re a little bit hazy on how the games are played, but there are at least two interactive version: one called ball, and another modeled after the classic game of missile command.
You can
check out the source code
for the project in their repository, or join us after the break for two demo videos.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrsCk6_gJcY&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4gP8wc6pdQ&w=470] | 7 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "422582",
"author": "Dan",
"timestamp": "2011-07-25T14:08:02",
"content": "“Unlike a Roomba, which just uses a little sweeper to pick up debris, this robot actually includes a vacuum”Pretty sure roombas have vacuums, and not just sweepers.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,377,138.985344 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/25/clocks-built-from-old-aircraft-surplus-parts/ | Clocks Built From Old Aircraft Surplus Parts | Mike Nathan | [
"classic hacks",
"clock hacks"
] | [
"aircraft",
"atmega",
"clock",
"indicator unit"
] | A few years ago, Tube Clock forum member[Sine1040] bought a set of four brand new aircraft indicator units that were built some time in the early 70’s. He had no idea what the units were actually used for, but he did know that he could repurpose them
into some pretty slick looking clocks
.
He disassembled all four boxes and between them, scrounged enough parts to build three clocks. After gutting the clocks and rearranging the digits, he built a timekeeping circuit using an ATMega8 which is clocked by a DS32 oscillator.
While the time is displayed using the large projection-style digit displays, the seconds are ticked off in the left-most analog meter. Minutes are also represented in the clock’s right-most analog window, swinging the needle from top to bottom as each one passes.
[Sine1040] paid special attention to keeping the boxes looking as stock as possible, with the only external modification being a power plug installed in place of an old grounding screw. The clock is definitely a different take on keeping time, and we think it looks great.
Continue reading to see a quick demo video of the clock in action.
[Thanks Brian]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMbgb7q2Syw&2=470] | 26 | 26 | [
{
"comment_id": "422554",
"author": "daqq",
"timestamp": "2011-07-25T13:12:50",
"content": "Great build!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "422557",
"author": "Bogdan",
"timestamp": "2011-07-25T13:14:55",
"content": "I have only one thi... | 1,760,377,139.046055 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/25/arduino-powered-2-4-ghz-spectrum-analyzer/ | Arduino Powered 2.4 GHz Spectrum Analyzer | Jesse Congdon | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Radio Hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"frequency analyzer",
"spectrum analyzer"
] | [Fred] dropped a note in our tip line to let us know about arduino forum user [bilbo]’s
latest project:
A 3-in-one spectrum analyzer, oscilloscope, volt-meter combo. The build consists of an Arduino, radio board and Nokia 5110 LCD breakout board. The (thin) video after the jump shows the rig in action. Though soldered to a full sized perf-board we can see later, smaller, battery powered versions prove useful in rooting out wayward bluetooth signals, or just finding that lost microwave oven. Although [bilbo] uses the same radio
board
as
similar builds
his creation boasts several different display modes, as well as doubling as a volt meter and miniature-oscilloscope. There is no shortage of
previous
spectrum
analyzer
builds
, but this one is the first one we have seen running on an Arduino.
Thanks for the tip [Fred]! If you feel like wedging some frequency scanning capabilities into your next project don’t forget to check out [bilbo]’s
forum
posts
for source code!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKIXmWpsmYs&w=470] | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "422538",
"author": "rick",
"timestamp": "2011-07-25T12:27:44",
"content": "Along a similar-ish line from last year:http://hackaday.com/2010/12/29/bringing-the-shark-to-the-bee/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "422655",
"autho... | 1,760,377,139.64517 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/24/hacking-14-year-old-power-pc-mac-back-to-life/ | Hacking 14 Year Old Power PC Mac Back To Life | Kevin Dady | [
"Mac Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"linux",
"macintosh",
"ppc"
] | For a while now I have been battling a dying 2.6Ghz dual core computer, but due to laziness and budget I just let it ride. At first it would occasionally crash in games, then it got to where it would crash during routine activities. After a year of this it would nail 105 degrees C in like 20 seconds and that is where the drama starts!
I threw my 2ghz “electronics” computer into my main machine’s case and used that for a few months. It’s motherboard had suffered from every electrolytic capacitor on it being puffy, but it has worked fine for nearly 5 years. I was surprised by the sound of what ended up being 2 caps blowing off of the geforce 7600 video card. In shock and excitement I removed the blown caps, slapped her back in and got another 4 months out of it before 2 more capacitors blew and took out a voltage regulator (and who knows what else with it).
Only armed with the craptop, I was stuck in a pickle! Then a co-worker came up to me and said “hey man you want this mac I only want its zip drive”. Well of course, going bonkers without my avrgcc, datasheets, and calculators, I took on the 14 year old Apple Power Macintosh 9600/300 as my bench machine, and I will now show you how I turned it from a novelty relic to a daily useful machine after the break.
So the machine I bought for the price of removing its zip drive is a 1997 powermac 9600 with a 300Mhz 604e motoroloa power pc cpu, stock 64 megs and a 8 meg non accelerated video card. These sold for 4,200 bucks new.
This one however was part of an AVID system and came to me loaded with every PCI slot filled with video gear, SCSI2, and 256 megs of ram in 8 out of 12 slots (32 meg sticks). It still had its *bitchy Rocket128 8 meg video card, and luckily a Targa2000 card with VGA output.
The cards, while impressive, are practically useless. Even if I had the dongles required to run avid stuff its mid 90’s technology that eats great amounts of power. All of these double board full length heaters were removed except for the Targa2000 card because of its VGA output. I don’t have a Macintosh monitor or adapter. Regarding the Targa2000 video card, its a fine card for the era, but a card made in this century would be awesome. With this video, mac os works, 8.x is snappy but a little limited. 9 is a dog 9.2 is better but its nothing impressive, any generic pci svga card could do the same, and so video became issue #1.
Video is kind of tricky for mac, it has to have its own rom, and its 2x as large as a standard pc rom (512Kbit vs 1024Kbit), So the first thing to do is find out what cards were available as “mac editions”.
Looking at
The Mac Elite Software Downloads
will give you an idea of what you can use. I have a power pc machine and would like to use an original rom, so that reduces my list down to the first table. The other tables include some roms for intel based machines, reduced (in attempt to fit the large mac rom on a smaller pc rom chip) and modified which are not really supported cards, so good luck.
To install these roms you pretty much need an x86 IBM compatible machine to use the rom flash software, and your card is going to need to have that 1mbit rom. This posed a problem cause at this moment all my pc’s with pci slots are toast, and the one card I have that might work is a 9250 with a pc rom, and the only mac side updater I could find still available for download was for OSX and this mac by nature will not go past 9.04.
Moving on I started reading about the radeon 7000. It is a pretty darn fast card for this machine, I could
find mac os9 rom updates and drivers for it
, and you can get the PC versions all day for cheap! Traditionally people would go on a hunt for a couple brands of cards that offered both PC and Mac versions and just never changed to the smaller rom for PC use. Those cards dried up pretty quick and if you see one now its going to cost an arm and leg (a 10 year old mac edition card used is like 40 bucks new around 100!).
During my search for software (ATI mac drivers went bye bye when AMD came in) I ran across an old site where dude grabbed any old pc 7000 and
cut off the rom with a pocket knife and soldered a larger one in its place using a stove and a flathead screwdriver
. He then proceeded to put it in his pc for the old 2 flash process but wondered if that was even needed. In fact no it isn’t! You can put a radeon7000 with a correct size blank rom in a mac and it will update it just fine.
I got online and instantly found a pc-pci version 7000 with 64 megs of ram brand new for 14.99 with free shipping. Once the card arrived I checked its rom and found it to be a nothing special 512Kbit 25×512 SPI eeprom that everyone has made at one point or another. I then dashed off to digikey and found a 25LC1024 made by microchip that would fit on the pads. Once that arrived I tried my best to do a professional job removing the chip, and yep a guy with a stove and a flathead had no problem, but I hosed the ground pad (doh!) … its nothing a little bit of 30 guage cant fix.
At this time I have a 15$ card with a 6$ (including mail) chip sitting on it and no bios. We need to correct that. First and foremost you need at least system 9.While I was waiting for all that shipping to happen I started upgrading my OS. The machine came with OS8.1? and I had a OS9.04 on a CD, which is the max this machine will take without some fiddling. MacOS9.04 is dreadfully slow and every other mac application you try complains about wanting 9.1 or 9.2(the last version of classic OS). Thankfully some people have sat down and cracked this problem in a program called
OS9 helper
. Using this program and the update disk images (
US English available from apple
, but I found a
set for the international crowd
too) you’re just a hop skip and jump away from 9.22 and the latest ATI drivers for a 7000 and much more!
Now we are ready to finish up that ATI card, insert the card into a unused slot, I wont remove the working video card yet. Then I fired up the mac and downloaded
R7000-ROM-208.hqx
and
ati-retail-9-2-2-jan2005.hqx
. Decoded and extracted both, ran the rom updater first. This will bring up a little ui asking if you want to update. It should only take a few moments to flash the blank rom and when it says that it is good. I am now ready to remove the old Targa2000 card and install the drivers.
This R7000 makes a HUGE difference in classic mac OS, where as before you could almost watch the Targa card draw windows, and
Classilla
(a mozilla browser for mac os9) was scrolling web pages about as my 386 would, I am now in a land of accelerated 2D and 3D graphics, Classilla is pretty useable and the computer plays a pretty mean game of Quake3 Arena @1024×768 all options cranked, but the issue is OS9.22 is very old in computer terms, software support is long gone and its still pretty slow just from its age. Besides what if I want to program my avr’s? Or get to a datasheet that is buried behind some java script? Really for this thing to be useable it needs a modern OS, something light but easy and can run on a Power PC cpu, with a ton of tools and programs, something Like Debian PPC…
I downloaded the newest version of Debian PPC as a
200 meg small CD
. There are full cd’s and DVD’s but this one gets what you want off the net so its more practical for me. In order to boot linux on what is called a “Old world Mac” you need a bootloader and a place to install your distro. The main bootloader that works on these old machines is called
bootX (linux)
. It is old and unsupported but works like a charm. The down side to it is you need to at least partially boot into OS9 first, so yeah, you have to keep OS9 around, even if its a tiny install.
As far as a place to install my copy of linux, I have a 9.2 gig SCSI (all the drives are SCSI in this old of a mac) that came out of a PC. Unfortunately, yes macs are a pain in the butt about hard drive’s too, and require that they also have a apple driver loaded onto them before the machine can use it. In the past you needed to use tools like “Hard Disk Toolkit”, which were commercial packages, that do just an OK job. Luckily people have
patched apples own drive tools
so you can initialize partition and format any drive. These tools do not like my install of OS9.22, so in order to use them, I had to use an OS8 boot disk.
I don’t need to partition and format the drive that linux is going on, but it does need its driver “updated” and initialized, which spatters data onto some special partitions so the computer knows what the heck you’re talking about later when you’re asking it to access the drive. In my situation the linux partitioner would not even see the drive until it been initialized.
I have a boot loader, and I have a decent enough disk to put linux on without killing my OS9 fun drive, so lets get this CD spinning! I extracted the bootX bootloader onto my desktop. Inside the folder is the application, a folder for linux kernels, and a system extension so when you’re done you can set it up where you dont have to go all the way to the OS9 desktop first before starting linux. I put the Debian CD into the drive and copied off the vmlinux and initrd from the install\powerpc folder to the bootX linux kernels folder. Start up bootX and point the kernel selection to the vmlinux off of the Debian PPC linux disk, and then point it to use the initrd ram disk also from the CD and click linux.
Sometimes if the CD was not in the machine at boot it will try and lock up. Just reboot and try again. Otherwise you should be greeted by the usual linux text chatter, then eventually launched into a basic text based installer. Simply follow the menus for the most part. When you arrive at the partitioning section it does not really matter how you partition the disk, just keep in mind to not wipe your OS9 partition or any partitions from the Apple disk drivers. So any option except use entire disk is probably safe. Also at this time it is wise to write down where the different linux partitions are, I have a boot partition at /dev/sdb7 and a root partiton at /dev/sdb8, though really I should have just stuck it all in one partition as the boot partition does not really do anything.
This is the trickiest part of the install. Debian will try to install another bootloader. You might get lucky and it might work. I have tried on a half dozen machines over the years and I have not gotten it to work, and it did not work this time either. That is fine just ignore it. The trick is to get the now customized linux kernel and ramdisk from my boot partition to my mac OS partition. Most tutorials on installing Debian on a “old world” machine say “just mount it and copy”, some even suggest using a apple prodos partition but never mention how to mount it … This install of Debian had no clue what a HFS+ disk was and I tried a dozen different ways to get it mounted or copied over. In the end the final part I needed for my main desktop computer had made it in the mail so I just gave up, used a PC SCSI card and linux on my PC to copy the 2 files off of the drive and just emailed it to myself on the mac.
Now that I have the boot files for my machine I just point bootX to use those, tell it where my root drive is, and within a few moments I am sitting at a nice little login prompt. A few apt-get installs later I was starting to build up my software. I had chosen, in the installer, to just give me a basic command line machine, if I had chosen “gui desktop” then I would have been loaded down with GNOME and a bunch of stuff I did not want or need on this machine, so I choose to install it myself. I ended up with xorg as a display server and XFCE as a desktop manager. Overall its pretty darn snappy for a 14 year old computer if you let an application or webpage load before messing with it, and over the month or so I have been using it near daily I have been happy and impressed with its performance.
Here is a short video of it coming up from a cold boot, into OS9 then into bootX, then into console linux into XFCE, which loads up a gecko browser, pdf reader, task manager, IDE, terminal and file manager along with all the desktop stuff in a reasonable amount of time. Sure its not going to break any speed records, but if you had to be stranded with this computer you would live quite comfortably. As far as its retro appeal goes, this machine is able to boot as low as macOS7 so you can get a ton of retro ware running on it, and was one of the very last models that was able to read and write Apple’s funky 800k DD floppy disks which is invaluable for my mac SE. The fact that I was able to keep it around as a cool old mac to poke around with and make it something that can be productive in my electronics work with near daily use makes this machine worth the hassle and the zip drive.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mkrv-uVkahA&w=450] | 63 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "422341",
"author": "Bill",
"timestamp": "2011-07-24T22:49:46",
"content": "I spy with my little eye an TI EvalBot box on the floor there behind your computer.(possible double post, HAD comments is acting up)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"co... | 1,760,377,139.363254 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/15/extmedia-an-xbmc-disc-changer-interface/ | ExtMEDIA: An XBMC Disc Changer Interface | Mike Nathan | [
"Video Hacks",
"Xbox Hacks"
] | [
"ben heck",
"blu-ray",
"changer",
"htpc",
"xbmc"
] | A while back, [Ben Gilstad] built his first HTPC, loading XBMC on it to manage all of his digital media. He loved XBMC’s features and flexibility, but he
needed a way to enjoy his DVD and Blu Ray collection
on the device without too much hassle. Far before [Ben Heck] considered
fitting his Xbox 360 DVD drive into a CD carousel
, this [Ben] was busy hacking a Blu Ray player into his.
He bought a broken disc changer at a garage sale, and tore apart a standard SATA Blu Ray player in preparation for the optical drive transplant. An ATMega168 controls the changer’s mechanics, monitoring the carousel’s position and triggering the proper motors when discs need to be swapped out. The AVR currently takes its direction from the HTPC over its serial port via a UDP proxy as XBMC did not support a serial interface at the time he was building the changer.
The second half of [Ben’s] project is an XBMC add-on that he uses to manage his huge collection of optical discs. In order to get XBMC to recognize each disc as a valid ‘file’, he created a clever workaround involving blank WMV clips. This enables him to view his DVDs as if they were digital files on his hard drive, complete with cover art.
It’s a fantastic project, and [Ben] says that his system should be able to support any number of physical disc changers simultaneously, without much issue. Unfortunately the project went on hiatus when he lost his job, so it’s packed away in storage for the time being. Once he gets back on his feet however, he has a whole list of planned changes and improvements to work on – we can’t wait to see it once complete!
Keep reading to check out a video demonstration of his XBMC add-on in action.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8uq1zcHOrQ&w=470] | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "418026",
"author": "blue carbuncle",
"timestamp": "2011-07-15T17:26:51",
"content": "If it’s streaming then why not just store it on the server computer’s hdd? I love all things Ben Heck, and thoroughly enjoyed his 360/multidisc hack and vid, but this seems like a lot of cart befor... | 1,760,377,139.231846 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/14/did-microsoft-steal-the-kinect/ | Did Microsoft Steal The Kinect? | Brian Benchoff | [
"News"
] | [
"Carlos Anzola",
"gesture interface",
"HiE-D",
"Kinect",
"microsoft",
"Project Natal"
] | In 2009, while Microsoft was busy designing and marketing what would become the Kinect, [Carlos Anzola], an inventor, tinkerer, and self-ascribed geek from Bogotá, Colombia, had been working for years on a nearly identical gesture interface for the PC. His creation, the Human interface Electronic Device, or HiE-D – pronounced ‘Heidi’ – was capable of gesture recognition years before Microsoft would release the Kinect.
After developing his gesture recognition device in 2007, Microsoft showed interest in [Carlos]’ device – going so far as to request a prototype. Microsoft suggested that he should apply for a patent on his technology. [Carlos] did just that, sending in patent applications to both the
United States Patent and Trademark Office
and the
World Intellectual Property Organization
a mere two days before the announcement of Project Natal and a full seven months before
Microsoft applied for their Kinect patent
.
Since the release of the Kinect, [Carlos] has been showing the HiE-D around Bogotá and has put a few videos of his technology up on Youtube, one of which can be seen below. You can also check out his
Youtube channel
for some great demos.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5jfOJ3TwyI&w=470]
With a reputation of experience in computer video, animation, and 3D processing, [Carlos] was approached by a technophobic American dentist who wanted a faster laser scanner for 3D modeling of his patient’s teeth. [Carlos] built an improved laser scanner and
was featured on
Caracol Noticias
, a Columbian Newscast. [Carlos] had to deal with a bit of feature creep from the technophobe dentist, because he now wanted to manipulate the models of his patient’s mouths without using a mouse. [Carlos] was hugely influenced by the
Minority Report
computer interface, and decided the easiest way to interface with a computer would be a gesture interface.
[Carlos] set out to build a device that would allow a person to control a computer using only gestures. His HiE-D would be a surprisingly simple but devilishly clever device. The HiE-D projects a pattern of dots, or constellation, in infrared onto the user. Infrared is invisible to the human eye, but is easily picked up by a camera onboard the HiE-D. This is how the Microsoft Kinect works, and can be seen by a
video camera in nightshot mode
. When the camera detects a change in this constellation, the image is processed and can identify reference points in the user’s face, hands, or even their entire body.
After hearing of the HiE-D, Microsoft courted [Carlos] and requested a prototype. He gave Microsoft a prototype of the HiE-D, and according to [Carlos], it was taken to Redmond in February of 2007 – more than two years before the announcement of Project Natal. After meeting with Microsoft two more times that year, he was told by Microsoft that a patent on his invention wouldn’t be a bad idea.
While any action on Microsoft’s part would be speculation, we will say that the Kinect is remarkably similar to the HiE-D. Both use a ‘constellation’ of infrared dots projected on the user, and both can are able to detect the ‘skeleton’ of a user for motion control. The image below, from the HiE-D patent, shows how the movement of a face can be tracked.
Today, [Carlos] is in talks with a few interested companies that would like to produce the HiE-D. He says it would sell for only $50 USD, compared to $140 for a Microsoft Kinect. The HiE-D doesn’t have a camera to capture video of a user, so
playing dress up
with a HiE-D would be impossible. This wouldn’t be to much of a drawback, because some of the
most impressive
Kinect hacks
we’ve seen
wouldn’t change at all with the HiE-D.
[Carlos] says he’s been in contact with a few lawyers in Boston, who believes he has a case against Microsoft for patent infringement. He’s undecided about how to proceed at this point – Microsoft does have the war chest to go after Google for
Android
and defend itself over its use of
3D mapping
. If we were [Carlos], we’d be pretty skeptical about our chances as well.
A flurry of interest from the hacker community surrounded the Kinect before its release date – there were
bounties posted
to develop an open-source driver so the Kinect would operate outside the closed Xbox ecosystem. The fact that a driver was released hours after the official launch of the Kinect is a testament to the interest in gesture recognition and the
Minority Report
interface. At Hack A Day, it’s not unusual to see tinkerers and geeks re-imagine existing products; there have been
copies of the Microsoft Surface
, and an attempt to
reverse engineer the Playstation Move
. Most of these are reimaginings of existing ideas or devices, which makes the uniqueness of [Carlos]’s build all the more amazing.
We’re reminded of the abilities of the anonymous home tinkerer every day. To us, “hacker” is a label of creativity, investigation, and understanding. Like [Carlos], some of us eventually stumble upon a new idea that will change how humans interact with their environment. Although [Carlos] may not get the windfall he deserves, we’re still pretty jealous of his ability to build something, alone in a small workshop, that would change how people interact with computers. | 86 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "417816",
"author": "Aaron",
"timestamp": "2011-07-15T04:02:47",
"content": "They bought it from a 3rd party company. /thread",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "417819",
"author": "Sean",
"timestamp": "2011-07-15T04:09:35",... | 1,760,377,139.54493 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/14/adding-extra-buttons-to-a-cintiq-drawing-pad/ | Adding Extra Buttons To A Cintiq Drawing Pad | Mike Nathan | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Multitouch Hacks"
] | [
"cintiq 21UX",
"drawing pad",
"linux",
"wacom"
] | [David Revoy] recently picked up a brand new Cintiq 21UX, and while he liked the drawing pad overall, he was less than impressed with the tablet’s buttons. He says that most 2D linux apps require a good bit of keyboard interaction, and
the built-in buttons just were not cutting it
.
After seeing a fellow artist use a joypad to augment his tablet, [David] thought that he might be able to do something similar, but he wanted to add a lot more buttons. He dug out an old Logitech game pad that was collecting dust, and disassembled it, rearranging some buttons in the process. Once he was happy with the layout, he built a cardboard enclosure for the PCB and hooked it up to the Wacom via USB.
He spent a few minutes mapping buttons to key presses using Qjoypad, and was up and running with an additional 14 buttons in short order. He says that the extra buttons make his job a ton easier, and add a little bit of comfort to his long drawing sessions. We like the fact that it is a non-permanent fixture, and that he was able to repurpose an old game pad in the process.
Check out the video below for a quick demonstration of his drawing pad hack.
[via
Adafruit blog
]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUBN23rNdWI&w=470] | 7 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "417661",
"author": "????",
"timestamp": "2011-07-14T22:07:50",
"content": "I like it when people custom tailor their home equipment to suit their lifestyle. Would recommend you upgrade the cardboard to abs plastic (vacuum form) or a project box.+1",
"parent_id": null,
"depth... | 1,760,377,139.274561 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/14/building-a-single-button-combination-lock/ | Building A Single-button Combination Lock | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"lock",
"padlock",
"security"
] | [John Boxall] of Little Bird Electronics was thinking about combination locks, and how one might improve
or at least change the way
these locks work. Traditional combo locks can be implemented in a variety of ways, most of which we are all familiar with. Standard rotary padlock and keypad-based electronic safes work just fine, but he was interested to see how one might implement a single button combination lock.
[John] determined that the best, if not only way, to build this sort of lock would require him to measure button press intervals. In his case he decided to monitor the intervals between his button presses instead, but the concept is the same. He first tested himself to see how accurately he could press and release the button, leaving a one-second space between presses. After looking at the results he determined that he would need to incorporate at least a 10% margin for error into his code in order to compensate for human error.
He then created an Arduino sketch to test his idea, defining a set of key press intervals that could be used to ‘unlock’ his imaginary vault. It worked quite well, as you can see in the video demo below.
Now we’re not suggesting that you lock up your mint condition My Little Pony collection or your illegal arms stash with this type of lock, but it could be useful as an extra failsafe for certain projects/gadgets that you want to keep all to yourself.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRtMYWTwv5c&w=470] | 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "417642",
"author": "Bob D",
"timestamp": "2011-07-14T21:17:57",
"content": "Reminds me a lot of this projecthttp://grathio.com/2009/11/secret_knock_detecting_door_lock/Though it doesn’t look like it uses any of the same code.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [... | 1,760,377,139.597609 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/14/vodafone-femtocells-hacked-root-password-revealed/ | Vodafone Femtocells Hacked, Root Password Revealed | Mike Nathan | [
"Cellphone Hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"femtocell",
"security",
"vodaphone"
] | As phone systems have evolved over time, the desire to break them and exploit their usage continues to flourish. Just recently, [The Hacker’s Choice (THC)] announced that they had
accessed secure data from Vodafone’s mobile phone network
last year, via their femtocell product.
The purpose of the femtocell is to extend mobiile network coverage to locations where reception might not be ideal, routing calls to Vodafone’s network via IPSec tunnels. [THC] knew that this meant the femtocells required a high-level of interaction with the carrier’s traditional mobile network, so they started poking around to see what could be exploited.
After gaining administrative access to the femtocell itself using the root password “newsys”, they found that they were able to allow unauthorized users to utilize the service – a simple ToS violation. However, they also had the ability to force any nearby Vodafone subscriber’s phone to use their femtocell. This enabled them to request secret keys from Vodafone, which they could then use to spoof calls and SMS messages from the victim’s phone without their knowledge.
They have been kind enough to release all of the
pertinent information about the hack on their wiki
for any interested parties to peruse. Now we’re just wondering how long it takes before stateside carriers’ femtocells are exploited in the same fashion.
[Thanks, kresp0] | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "417623",
"author": "Terry",
"timestamp": "2011-07-14T20:20:03",
"content": "eesh! this could be pretty bad news if the AT&T femtocells get the same treatment.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "417624",
"author": "Jon",
"t... | 1,760,377,139.695896 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/14/red-bull-creation-contest-results/ | Red Bull Creation Contest Results | Mike Szczys | [
"contests"
] | [
"accelerometer",
"chalkbot",
"creation",
"red bull",
"see-saw"
] | 72 hours of hacking came to a head with the completion of the Red Bull Creation. This years challenge was to build something out of junk that moves a human. It’s hard to pull all the aspects of the event together in one place, so here’s some links you’ll want to check out if you weren’t able to attend.
Tech Crunch has
an overview of all the event winners
. One of our favorites is pictured above. The spinning see-saw is not your average playground toy. Its built-in accelerometer waits for the forces to peak, then snaps a picture for later enjoyment.
Techshop
, a San Francisco hackerspace, took the team prize for their work on it. Don’t miss the video after the break
The overall winner was a team from Minneapolis called 1.21 Jigawatts. They produced a human-sized hamster wheel that pulled a small follower behind it. As you walk, the follower prints incoming text messages on the sidewalk, kind of like the
chalkbot
. We searched around for video of it, the best we could find is
this one
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_cERJsDn3U&w=470]
[Thanks NeonDion] | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "417578",
"author": "anonymous",
"timestamp": "2011-07-14T18:29:59",
"content": "The uploader has not made this video available in your country.Sorry about that.!@#$%^&*",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "417587",
"author": "Sup... | 1,760,377,139.739865 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/14/ibutton-is-opening-doors-at-the-tkkrlab/ | IButton Is Opening Doors At The TkkrLab | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackerspaces"
] | [
"ibutton",
"key",
"lock"
] | Finding
alternative ways to unlock doors
is a favorite hacker pastime.
TkkrLab
recently took on the challenge themselves. The hackerspace, which is located in the Netherlands, faced a problem common to communal workshops; how could they manage keyed access for a large number of members? The metal keys for the door are special, and cannot be cheaply duplicated. To further compound the issue, they are not the only tenants in the building so they can’t replace the lock with one that uses less-expensive keys. So they decided to add an electronic solution.
They first looked at a method for electronically opening the door. Often, this comes in the form of an electronic strike, but rather than alter the door jamb, they replaces the latching mechanism. The electronic latch was compatible with the original cylinder, which means the old keys still work in it. You can see the new assembly above. Just to the left of the lock is an iButton reader.
We’ve seen this hardware in projects
many times before. It’s cheap, and easy to work with. Now TkkrLab issues an iButton to each member, and can keep track of who is coming in door. | 25 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "417546",
"author": "FredP",
"timestamp": "2011-07-14T16:49:30",
"content": "“…they replaces the latching mechanism.”should be…“…they replaced the latching mechanism.”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "417552",
"author": "Jwatc... | 1,760,377,139.801423 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/14/a-beginners-guide-to-magnetometers/ | A Beginner’s Guide To Magnetometers | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"how-to"
] | [
"arduino",
"beginner concepts",
"magnetometer"
] | The folks over at LoveElectronics recently published
an article that explains some of the ins and outs of magnetometers
for those who are interested in trying one out, but might not understand how to use them.
A good part of the article focuses specifically on how to manipulate the HMC5883L magnetometer from Honeywell, but a lot of the information can be applied to other makes/brands of compass sensors. They start out discussing in very basic terms how the compass works, then delve into some specifics on how to interface the chip with an Arduino, courtesy of a breakout board that they sell. The breakout board is actually quite simple, so any number of custom iterations could be built for your own testing purposes.
They walk through the use of an HMC5883L-specific Arduino sketch they produced, making it easy for beginners to start getting useful data from the compass units. While a pre-made sketch might seem like a bit of a cop out, it at least gives the curious/motivated beginner a chance to look at some completed code in order to see how things work.
If you are interested in cutting your teeth on some
additional beginner concepts
, check out
these other how-to articles
and
tutorials
. | 9 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "417488",
"author": "Brad",
"timestamp": "2011-07-14T13:24:59",
"content": "Android phones come with a 3-axis magnetometer standard. Along with a 3-axis accelerometer, and many other sensors.The API for accessing the sensors is incredibly simple and great for beginners.",
"parent... | 1,760,377,139.851104 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/14/incredible-1000-mw-iron-man-repulsor-beam/ | Incredible 1000 MW Iron Man Repulsor Beam | Mike Nathan | [
"Laser Hacks"
] | [
"iron man",
"laser",
"super hero"
] | German lab technician by day, hacker by night [Patrick Priebe] has done it again, this time
strapping a ridiculously high-powered laser
to the palm of his hand. Earlier this year, we showed you an awesome
Neodymium:YAG pulse laser pistol
he built, and it seems he never takes a rest from constructing crazy laser projects.
[Patrick] is a huge Iron Man fan, and his palm-mounted laser unit was built as an ode to his all-time favorite super hero. Crafted to invoke images of Iron Man’s repulsor beam, his laser uses a 1000 mw 445 nm laser diode to get the job done. if you happen to be keeping track, that makes his DIY laser just as powerful as the WickedLasers Spyder 3 Arctic –
THE
benchmark in portable handheld lasers.
Like his previous builds, we can’t seem to find a whole lot of information about the laser’s construction process. We do know however, that the unit was crafted from a 2mm thick sheet of brass, which fits nicely on his hand while simultaneously acting as a very large heat sink. This large surface area allows him to run the laser continuously for three minutes before requiring a cool down, which is no small feat.
We think it’s an awesome project, and as you can see by the videos of the three separate revisions it has undergone, [Patrick] is quite serious when it comes to perfecting his wares.
MKI
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCnDsR5kLOQ&w=470]
MKII
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AKRYOc3IZM&w=470]
MKIII
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h47bvVaYv5I&w=470] | 55 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "417447",
"author": "RooTer",
"timestamp": "2011-07-14T11:23:49",
"content": "Can help but think that if he solds it to some kid there will be only trouble (poor neighbours)…But still cool hack.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "41... | 1,760,377,139.939268 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/13/nd-sticks-it-to-traditional-gaming-giants/ | ND Sticks It To Traditional Gaming Giants | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"bob pelloni",
"gaming",
"nD"
] | What do you do if you’re a developer that gets shut out of the approval process for closed-shop gaming systems? If you’re [Robert Pelloni] you protest first, then establish your own startup to
develop a gaming platform that is open and inexpensive
. The hardware seen above is a rendering of the nD, a cheap and open gaming handheld. They plan to sell it at cost ($20) and let anyone develop games.
Check out the video after the break to see the pitch. The hardware is sparse; a plastic case and some buttons, a 320×240 LCD screen, a PCB with a system-on-a-chip, and a rechargeable battery. But if you’re writing great games the spartan hardware doesn’t matter (we still love a good game of Metroid when we have the time). Developers will be able to license games for sale in the nD online market. They’ll keep 90% while nD takes it’s 10%. Not a bad deal.
If you haven’t heard about [Bob] protesting Nintendo,
give this article a gander
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDOoAw_YajU&w=470]
[Thanks Wouter via
OMG! Ubuntu!
] | 61 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "417241",
"author": "Adam Outler",
"timestamp": "2011-07-13T23:06:40",
"content": "WTH? Sell you products for more then your true value, because you will believe they do more then they actually do…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id":... | 1,760,377,140.023758 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/13/ioio-upgrades-get-a-bit-easier/ | IOIO Upgrades Get A Bit Easier | Mike Szczys | [
"Android Hacks"
] | [
"24f",
"accessory",
"adk",
"ioio",
"pic"
] | The IOIO, a breakout board for Android phones that predates the Android Developer Kit hardware, is a now a little bit easier to upgrade. That’s because [Ytai’s]
IOIO manager app just his the Android market
. The PIC24F that sits proudly on top of the board has always been running a bootloader, but for security reasons it is programmed to only talk to apps that have been officially signed. Now that there’s an app that meets this qualification, you can upgrade the firmware from your phone without the need for an external programmer.
What about the bootloader itself? Surely that will need upgrades over time, right? Well, yes. [Ytai’s] announcement today also came with an option for upgrading the bootloader but with one caveat. You’ll need two IOIO boards to complete the upgrade. One connects to the phone and becomes a programmer, while the other lays back and waits for a refreshing code flash. | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "417229",
"author": "xorpunk",
"timestamp": "2011-07-13T22:26:29",
"content": "uses aes and hashing, use clock to glitch loader until you can get a read for your code, then dump stuff. Uses partitioning bit just like ARM and others..*I don’t own any of this stuff *",
"parent_id":... | 1,760,377,140.071885 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/13/omniwheel-robot/ | Omniwheel Robot | Brian Benchoff | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"Holonomic drive",
"omnidirectional",
"omniwheel",
"robot",
"wiimote"
] | Like all of us, [Jonathan Guberman] has a list of projects and builds that ‘will get done when I have time.’ His
Kiwi drive
robot is no exception. It’s intended to be one piece of a much larger project, but he decided to document it anyway (we think in the hope of getting is rear in gear).
The robot uses a
holonomic drive
to get around. A holonomic drive uses three fixed wheels placed 120 degrees apart. The wheels can be independently controlled and with some vector addition the robot can move in any direction and rotate 360º inside its own wheelbase. Of course the wheels will have to be able to roll in two dimensions, so an
omniwheel
is used. Everything is controlled with a Wiimote nunchuck, and the movement is very smooth.
[Jonathan] has had a few projects featured on Hack A Day before, like his
Mechanical Pac-Man
and his
adorable
Portal turret plushie
. [Jonathan] really demonstrates his artistry and skill in his project, so we’re really wondering what his ‘larger project’ actually is. Take a guess in the comments section, that might get [Jonathan]’s rear in gear.
Check out the video of the omnidirectional robot after the break.
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/26250459] | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "417213",
"author": "elduderino",
"timestamp": "2011-07-13T21:50:31",
"content": "very cool and interesting. But seems like a very inefficient way to move forward.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "417235",
"author": "SuperNuRd... | 1,760,377,140.11747 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/13/replacing-non-standard-usb-charging-ports/ | Replacing Non-standard USB Charging Ports | Mike Nathan | [
"Cellphone Hacks",
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"extusb",
"htc",
"repair"
] | While many mobile phone manufacturers are moving towards the micro-USB interface as a standard, others such as Apple and HTC are still bucking the trend. Part of [arto’s] job includes repairing mobile phones, and last month he found himself faced with a pair of broken HTC handsets
that needed their charging ports replaced
.
Replacements for HTC’s proprietary connectors are apparently quite hard to find, and [arto] says he had to source them from an HTC repair center. With the proper parts in hand, he could finally get down to work.
The HTC Hermes handset he repaired was a breeze, as it had plenty of space available around the charging port. He said that this allowed him to replace the jack pretty easily, but the HTC Touch Dual was a mess in comparison. He started by removing the old adapter, which was done by cutting it out bit by bit. He says that he did it this way rather than desoldering, due to its proximity to other heat-sensitive components. After some careful soldering under a microscope, everything was back in working order.
While his repairs are not necessarily the things that hacks are made of, the information is still quite helpful. Broken charging ports are extremely common among smart phones, and with plenty of these older models still floating around, his pointers just might help someone save a few bucks on a replacement phone. | 20 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "417172",
"author": "AndrewNeo",
"timestamp": "2011-07-13T20:09:00",
"content": "HTC’s been putting microUSB ports on their phones for a while. The two phones in the article are 4-5 years old.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "4171... | 1,760,377,140.468092 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/13/color-changing-el-wire/ | Color Changing EL Wire | Brian Benchoff | [
"hardware",
"Parts"
] | [
"el wire",
"electroluminescent",
"Teensy"
] | All EL wire drivers use a resonator circuit to supply power to the EL wire. It’s an efficient system, but [Paul] noticed that there was some color change when powering different lengths of wire off of the same driver. He realized that this is because of the changing frequency of the resonator circuit, so the only reasonable thing for [Paul] to do was to build a
color fading EL wire driver
.
The circuit used to drive the wire is very simple. [Paul] used a Teensy board to switch two transistors and produce AC current. This is sent through a step-up transformer which powers the EL wire. It was necessary to use aqua or ‘Tron blue’ EL wire for this build because of the clear wire jacket. Many colors of EL wire have a fluorescent jacket – much like a fluorescent light bulb – that changes the color produced inside the wire to something different. [Paul] says the color change is subtle, but unique.
Of course the build is nothing without a video of the color changing EL wire. Check it out after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gROEIlym6Dw&w=470] | 34 | 33 | [
{
"comment_id": "417132",
"author": "adam outler",
"timestamp": "2011-07-13T19:11:38",
"content": "My el gauges in my car switch from blue to green. The controller is 6 years old.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "417155",
"author": "Alex",
... | 1,760,377,140.411987 |
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