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https://hackaday.com/2011/07/16/playing-dvds-on-an-ipad/ | Playing DVDs On An IPad | Mike Szczys | [
"home entertainment hacks",
"ipod hacks"
] | [
"apache",
"dvd",
"idevice",
"ipad",
"stream",
"vlc"
] | [Harrison Jackson] figured out
how to add DVD playback to an iPad
. It doesn’t require a jailbreak, or any hardware modifications to your prized tablet. The work is done with some server-side processing and played back through the browser.
The popular open-source multimedia player VLC has the ability to encode from the command line during playback. [Harry’s]
option flag mastery of the program
allows him to convert a DVD to a 320×240 format that is iPad friendly. But this alone doesn’t get the video any closer to being on the iDevice. You’ll need to be running a webserver that can stream video. This example is on OSX, but since he’s using an Apache server it should be simple to reproduce on any Unix variant. Once you’ve enabled m3u8 files in the Apache mime-types, the iPad browser can be pointed to the file address VLC is kicking out and you’ll be watching a movie in no time.
We’ve wondered about replacing our home theater front-end with an ATV 2 running XBMC but the thought of having no optical drive in the living room requires some contemplation. If this becomes a feasible option (that isn’t downscaled from DVD quality) it will be a no-brainer to make that jump.
Don’t miss the demo video after the break. Full instruction are in the comment section of that clip.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZcjIZsl0gA&w=470] | 25 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "418463",
"author": "popoffka",
"timestamp": "2011-07-16T20:10:59",
"content": ">320×240 format that is iPad friendlyOh lol. Buying a huge 10″ tablet to watch QVGA videos on it is very badass indeed.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id"... | 1,760,377,142.437677 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/16/building-a-simple-fm-transmitter-bug/ | Building A Simple FM Transmitter Bug | Mike Nathan | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"bug",
"fm",
"kit",
"transmitter"
] | [Dino] got his hands on an FM transmitter “bug” kit via a friend, and thought it would make for
an easy and fun Hack a Week project
. The kit is simple two transistor half-wave FM transmitter, which the manufacturer suggests could be used to bug a room, hence the name. After poking a bit of fun at the instructions, [Dino] gets to work building the transmitter, wrapping things up in a little less than an hour.
Once he finished soldering everything together, he takes a few moments to test out the bug and to explain how various parts of the board work together in order to transmit the FM signal. He mentions that adding a dipole antenna would make it easy to extend the range of the transmitter, and briefly teases next week’s episode, where he plans on constructing a similar dual-stage transmitter.
This sort of FM circuit is one of the first few simple projects you would see in a beginner’s electronics class, so if you know anyone that is just starting to get their feet wet, be sure to pass this Hack a Week episode along.
Continue reading to see [Dino] explain the ins and outs of his FM bug transmitter.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUmUwWh_9RE&w=470] | 49 | 47 | [
{
"comment_id": "418443",
"author": "stormdog",
"timestamp": "2011-07-16T18:36:39",
"content": "He says that’s a Hartley oscillator. Is that correct? Doesn’t a Hartley need two inductors?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "2746494",
"au... | 1,760,377,142.625253 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/16/skateboard-tagging/ | Skateboard Tagging | Mike Szczys | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"pool",
"rc",
"remote control",
"skateboartd",
"SprayPaint"
] | We abhor vandalism, but we love art. Here’s
a skateboard hack that lets skate punks young and old tag their turf
while they ride. [D*Face], a
multimedia street artist
who grew up in London, added a mounting system to the bottom of his skateboard which includes a can of spray paint. We’re a bit surprised that there’s room enough for that, but the system fits nicely. They’re not locked into a constant stream because the system lets the rider (or a bystander) actuate the spray can via remote control.
But the brush is only one part of the painter’s tool chain. To get the most interesting effect, a pool was painted white to serve as canvas and a troupe of skaters was unleashed on it to try out the modified boards. Check out the video after the break to see the colorful and pleasing curves that result. We just hope nobody bailed and smeared the canvas at the same time.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScW5kWzSaSI&w=470]
[Thanks Jerome] | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "418408",
"author": "Hackerspacer",
"timestamp": "2011-07-16T16:25:22",
"content": "Still no posts about the new arduinos?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "418409",
"author": "ferdie",
"timestamp": "2011-07-16T16:32:29",
... | 1,760,377,142.375128 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/15/race-car-pov-led-displays/ | Race Car POV LED Displays | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"LED Hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"gps",
"led",
"POV",
"race car"
] | Last year, when [Alex] was asked by his friend [Martin] to help him out with building
some LED POV modules for a race car
, his response was a enthusiastic “YES!”
[Martin’s] goal was to involve fans more deeply in the race, so he decided that the POV modules would carry messages from fans on-board, printing them in the night as the race cars screamed around the track. The pair started prototyping and testing a design, wrapping things up shortly before this year’s 24 hours of Nürburgring.
The modules consist of an Arduino-compatible AVR, a GPS module, a 16-LED light bar, and the circuitry for driving the LEDs. While most of the components are pretty standard fare, the we don’t often see a GPS sensor built into a POV display. [Alex] says that the sensor is used to calculate the speed of the cars, ensuring a uniform font size.
They took their LED displays to the 24 hours of Nürburgring, where they were invited by Audi to install the modules on a pair of R8 Le Mans race cars. As you can see by the pictures on his blog
and Flickr set
, the POV units worked out nicely without having to stretch the camera exposure times too far.
If you’ re interested to hear a bit more about how the displays were built,
check out this entry in[Alex’s] blog
, where he goes through some additional details.
Update:[Alex] pointed us to
the videos
! | 26 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "418113",
"author": "Caleb Kraft",
"timestamp": "2011-07-15T21:15:34",
"content": "This post prompted a discussion internally.When does POV become light painting? We’ve heard people get nitpicky on the subject in our comment section.I propose this. If it *can* be seen by the naked ey... | 1,760,377,142.541857 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/15/cheap-voice-controlled-lighting/ | Cheap Voice-controlled Lighting | Mike Nathan | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"attiny",
"automation",
"AVR",
"voice recognition"
] | Voice-controlled home automation doesn’t have to be wildly expensive if you have a little bit of time and some know-how
to do the job yourself
. [jjshortcut] wanted to control the lighting in his room without using physical switches. On his blog, he describes how he did it without spending a ton of money.
He picked up a VRBot speech recognition module on eBay, which is an easy way to get your feet wet with voice control. The device has a bunch of built-in speaker independent commands, as well as the ability to record up to 32 custom triggers. Rather than mess with mains voltage and build his own light relays, he purchased a simple set of wireless light switches and began hacking.
He spent some time sniffing the wireless communications protocol to figure out how the lights were triggered, then he replicated that functionality using an AVR and a cheap 433 MHz module.
The system seems to work quite well despite how cheaply he was able to put it together. Stick around to see a quick video of his voice recognition system in action.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKVuMxKY_bE&w=470] | 9 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "418124",
"author": "wifigod",
"timestamp": "2011-07-15T21:35:39",
"content": "What’s “cheap”? The VRbot is the older version, with EasyVR being its successor. EasyVR is right around $60US, not sure about across the pond. I wouldn’t exactly say that $100 (added $30 for RF outlets and... | 1,760,377,142.480465 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/15/arduino-video-sampler/ | Arduino Video Sampler | Brian Benchoff | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"video sampler"
] | [gijs] sent in
an Arduino video sampler
he’s been working on. The sampler is able to capture, pause and play a short video forwards and backwards.
The video capture circuit is based on the
Nootropic Design video experimenter
. We’ve seen
a few project
use this video experimenter board, but never with such
smooth video
. The sampler samples frames at a resolution of 128×96 and stores everything in a 256Kbit SRAM. A back-of-the-envelope calculation tells us that the sampler can hold a little under a second of video, more than enough to do something cool.
[gijs] says there is a 1 bit version and a 1.5 bit version of his video sampler. While we’re busy wrapping our minds around what half a bit is, he’ll be upgrading the 1.5 bit version to 2 bits. He’s also ordered some PCBs and expects to have a kit out by October. Check out a demo after the break.
[vimeo
http://vimeo.com/26420870%5D | 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "418081",
"author": "Philippe",
"timestamp": "2011-07-15T19:11:38",
"content": "Hmmmm… 1.5 bit is 3 bits for two pixels ?That would give 3 “colors” per pixel : black, white and gray.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "418085",
"... | 1,760,377,142.32014 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/15/surplus-bazooka-converted-to-shoot-firework-artillery-shells/ | Surplus Bazooka Converted To Shoot Firework Artillery Shells | Mike Nathan | [
"Weapons Hacks"
] | [
"bazooka",
"fireworks",
"mortar"
] | [Mark] and his friends love fireworks, but got tired of the traditional ground-launched mortar rounds,
so they decided to spice things up a bit
.
A while back he purchased an Army-issue bazooka at a gun show but didn’t use it for much, so it sat unused for about 10 years. He dug it out of storage, then hit up his local hardware store for a few lengths of PVC piping. He cut the pipes to size and then used his 3D printer to build a couple of parts to securely mount the PVC pipe into the bazooka’s shell. With his standard tube, he can shoot 2” mortars from the bazooka, but says he can add a second nested length of PVC to allow for smaller rounds.
Obviously this sort of setup can be quite dangerous if it is mistaken for actual weaponry, or if your fireworks were purchased from some guy’s trunk at a highway rest stop. [Mark] and his friends have taken some precautions when they use the launcher, but this is still clearly a risky enterprise.
That said, we think its awesome, and if anyone has a spare bazooka sitting around, feel free to send it our way!
Continue reading to see the bazooka fireworks launcher in action.
[Correction]
Not a bazooka, it’s an AT-4. Thanks to those who pointed it out.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUdNGFR3cIw&w=470] | 41 | 40 | [
{
"comment_id": "418040",
"author": "BirchSama",
"timestamp": "2011-07-15T17:46:13",
"content": "Wha- what? Who buys a bazooka? Is the gun market in USA so loose? We can’t even buy a pistol in EU without 452364 mental exams and certifications.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": ... | 1,760,377,142.268814 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/11/controlling-a-counter-top-water-distiller-with-salvaged-parts/ | Controlling A Counter Top Water Distiller With Salvaged Parts | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"water distillation"
] | Hackaday reader [Kyle] wrote in to share a project he recently wrapped up, involving a
counter top water distillation unit
he uses at home.
He lives in Atlanta, and hates both the taste and contaminants in the water, so using this distiller is an absolute must in his house. The problem with this cheap unit is that it waits until it is completely dry before shutting off the heating element. According to [Kyle] this brings up two huge problems.
First, letting the unit run dry simply vaporizes all of the contaminants that he was trying to remove, allowing them to re-condense and contaminate his fresh water. Second, the heating element reaches extreme temperatures once the water is gone, which causes premature failure of the distillation unit.
He originally used a timer to remind himself to turn off the unit before it ran dry, but the process became tedious. He found that he would often forget to turn off the distiller before it ruined his newly cleaned water.
Looking for another solution, he decided to automate the process using some components left over from an Arduino-based terrarium temperature/humidity controller he built a while back. A salvaged toy clock tower was used as an input dial, which sets the distillation time on the microcontroller. The Arduino in turn manages a set of relays that controls the power supply to the distiller.
While [Kyle] only sent us this information to us via email, he has made
code
and
pictures
available online. We’re sure he would be pretty open to answering any questions you might have related to his build, so fire away in the comments section.
[Update]
After seeing that his distiller made the front page, [Kyle] directed us to
a write up he prepared
, detailing some more specifics on the project. | 57 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "416298",
"author": "RicoElectrico",
"timestamp": "2011-07-11T22:12:19",
"content": "Pure distilled water is harmful as it leaches out minerals (ie. ions) from your organism!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "416303",
"author":... | 1,760,377,142.771902 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/11/computer-controlled-el-wire-light-show/ | Computer-controlled EL Wire Light Show | Mike Nathan | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"el wire",
"sparkfun"
] | [Paul] wrote in to share a project he recently helped assemble,
a huge rolling light sculpture
with a ton of computer-controlled EL wire circuits. The sculpture recently featured as a float at the Starlight Parade held in Portland, Oregon.
Working alongside the folks from Hand Eye Supply, [Paul] helped design and build all 114 of the float’s electronic circuits. Almost 1000 feet of EL wire was used to light the massive float, all of which was controlled by 15 Sparkfun sequencer boards. The boards ran custom firmware he created in order to communicate with the lighting software that was chosen to run the show.
In the end, the float came out quite nicely, but it was not without its problems during the construction phase. [Paul] ran into tons of issues when using Sparkfun’s EL wire sequencers, and has put together
a detailed list of corrections
he made to the boards in order to get them working properly.
If you are interested in learning more about the project, you can check out
this behind-the-scenes look
at the float’s construction. | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "416277",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2011-07-11T21:17:02",
"content": "To give credit where credit is due, the float design was all the vision and hard work of Laurence Sarrazin, of Hand-Eye Supply (who sponsored this huge project)http://www.handeyesupply.com/",
"parent_id":... | 1,760,377,142.089771 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/11/running-android-on-large-touch-screen-displays/ | Running Android On Large Touch Screen Displays | Mike Nathan | [
"Android Hacks"
] | [
"android",
"lcd",
"multi touch",
"touch screen"
] | Forget Microsoft Surface, what do you think about having a 32-inch Android-powered touchscreen display in your living room? That possibility
might not be too far off
, thanks to the engineers over at SKR Technology in Japan.
Primarily a company that designs and builds digital signage, they were approached by several customers who wanted a large screen device that had multi-touch functionality similar to a smartphone. Since they frequently work with Windows, they tried building a solution around Windows 7, but it just didn’t function as smoothly as they would like. Instead they turned towards Android, but were disappointed to find out that none of their suppliers supported the OS.
Instead of scrapping the project, they build their own interface that allows an Android-powered device to interact with multi-touch displays. As you can see in the video embedded below the display works quite well, mirroring everything on the Android device’s screen.
While the product is not yet available commercially, we should see it come to market later this year. We hope to see an open source version sometime in the future as well, even if we can’t quite afford a 32” touch panel display.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNzt1SdEDu8&w=470] | 24 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "416266",
"author": "Jack",
"timestamp": "2011-07-11T20:37:56",
"content": "http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/monitors/touchscreenmonitors/novatech/nov-22tch.htmlI have one of these, and to be frank the touch screen functionality is pointless, however if it were part of a tabl... | 1,760,377,142.686661 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/11/crafting-a-hexapod-with-an-rc-controller/ | Crafting A Hexapod With An RC Controller | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"hexapod",
"rc",
"RF",
"servo motor"
] | Here’s a fantastic project that lets to
drive a hexapod around the room using an RC controller
. [YT2095] built the bot after replacing the servo motors on his robot arm during an upgrade. The three cheapies he had left over were just begging for a new project, and he says he got the first proof-of-concept module put together in about an hour. Of course what you see above has gone through much improvement since then.
The three motors are epoxied together, with the one in the middle mounted perpendicular to the motors on either side of it. Those two are responsible for the front and rear leg on each side, with the third motor actuating the two middle legs. It’s a design we’re already familiar with having seen the smaller Pololu version. You might want to
check that one out
as there’s some slow motion video that shows how this works.
[YT2095] added control circuitry that includes an RF receiver. This lets him drive the little bot around using a transmitter with four momentary push switches on it. We love the idea of using copper clad for the foot pads. | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "416456",
"author": "Eirinn",
"timestamp": "2011-07-12T06:48:51",
"content": "That’s an amazingly cute little robot. I like the 90 degree angled pcb – makes it look very homebrew :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "416473",
"a... | 1,760,377,142.815435 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/11/building-a-stepper-driver/ | Building A Stepper Driver | Mike Szczys | [
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"3d printer",
"555",
"cd4013",
"cd4015",
"stepper motor",
"stepper motor controller"
] | [TBJ] is building what he calls a junkbox 3D printer. You can probably guess that he’s trying to salvage most of the parts for the device, and after pulling a stepper motor from an old printer he was in need of a way to control it. What he came up with is
a stepper driver that uses discrete components
that are easy to acquire and inexpensive. The design calls for two inputs, one that toggles the direction in which the motor will spin, and the other that triggers one step of the motor. A CD4013 dual flip-flop takes care of both of these inputs in one chip package.
The motor is driven by a pair of H-bridges that he built using six transistors each. The trick with a stepper motor is that you need to drive the four poles of the motor to a specific logic level at a specific time. For this [TBJ] uses a CD4017 decade counter. A network of diodes grounds half of the output lines based on the flip-flop that controls direction. Our friend the 555 timer provides a clock for the circuit, keeping everything moving at a predefined rate. Check out the video after the break for an explanation and demonstration.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2fGj9A0MQI&w=470] | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "416219",
"author": "Roman Dulgarov",
"timestamp": "2011-07-11T18:17:22",
"content": "Nice, for once something where Bi-Polar and Girlfriend are not in same sentence lol. Interesting design….",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "416... | 1,760,377,142.962826 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/11/diy-clock-replica-is-better-than-the-real-thing/ | DIY Clock Replica Is Better Than The Real Thing | Mike Nathan | [
"clock hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"atmega",
"clock",
"led",
"thinkgeek"
] | After seeing the TIX clock for the first time,
[Gweedo Steevens] really wanted one
, but wasn’t interested in paying the seemingly high asking price
over at ThinkGeek
. He figured it wouldn’t be too incredibly hard to build his own, so he decided to give it a shot.
The clock relies on 27 LEDs to display the time, which were multiplexed to make the most of his ATMega16 microcontroller’s available IO pins. Once he was happy with how things functioned on breadboard, he migrated the LEDs to a piece of perf board, and etched his own PCB for the controller circuit.
He used an office overhead lighting grate to separate the LEDs, providing nice uniform light segments. He put a piece of clear perspex on the front to cover the LEDs, but later switched it out for a much darker piece, for better daylight viewing.
The finished product is fantastic, and in our opinion looks even better than the retail version – awesome job!
[via
HackedGadgets
] | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "416184",
"author": "steve",
"timestamp": "2011-07-11T17:11:00",
"content": "I think scotty wants his warp core back.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "416189",
"author": "Kelly",
"timestamp": "2011-07-11T17:18:48",
"co... | 1,760,377,143.060748 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/11/led-wand-for-light-painting-photography/ | LED Wand For Light Painting Photography | Brian Benchoff | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"HL1606",
"led",
"light painting",
"light wand",
"photography"
] | [Michael Ross] is a photographer who has been getting into light painting recently. He’s come up with his own RGB light wand to create some
amazing images
, and also written a very, very
thorough tutorial
(PDF warning) on how to build your own light wand.
The light wand is based on an Arduino Mega board and uses an RGB LED strip based on the HL1606 controller chip. We’ve covered
these LED strips before
, and they’re very easy to use with the
requisite library
. So far, [Michael] has built a 48-LED light wand and a 16-LED wand with a 6-position program selector, making it easy to do awesome single-exposure photos
like this
.
[Michael] creates his images in an Excel spreadsheet – rows are which LED to address and columns are units of time. The picture data is then copied and pasted straight from the Excel worksheet to the Arduino source code. This in itself is a pretty clever use of Excel.
Check out the how [Michael] creates one of his light paintings
here
. | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "416146",
"author": "TM101Radio",
"timestamp": "2011-07-11T15:37:05",
"content": "This is the coolest thing i ever seen.. When you said wand in the title i thought whoopy doo another led pen for picture taking.. BUT a programmable led light strip blows my mind..",
"parent_id": nu... | 1,760,377,143.010723 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/11/scavenging-ambient-electromagnetic-energy/ | Scavenging Ambient Electromagnetic Energy | Mike Nathan | [
"News"
] | [
"electromagnetic",
"energy",
"inkjet",
"radio waves",
"scavenging"
] | At this very moment, unseen radio waves are bouncing off almost everything that surrounds you. Emitted by everything from radio and TV stations to cell phone networks and satellites, these waves are full of unharnessed energy.
That is, until now.
Researchers at the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering have been working diligently to harness this unused energy, and recently unveiled their new antenna technology at the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Symposium.
The team, led by professor [Manos Tentzeris] has been working to develop ultra-wideband antennas to tap into the energy all around us. Using printers filled with a specially-formulated ink compound, they have been able to print these antennas on paper and polymer substrates. The antennas can harness energy stored in radio frequencies ranging from 100 MHz all the way up to 60 GHz, depending on the printing medium.
The team can currently power temperature sensors using television signals, and is preparing a demo in which they will power a microcontroller simply by holding it up in the air. The technology is still in its infancy, but the list of applications is almost endless. We doubt you’ll be powering your TV with this technology any time soon, but it definitely holds promise for things such as wireless sensor mesh networks and the like.
[Thanks, morganism] | 66 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "416089",
"author": "Pedro",
"timestamp": "2011-07-11T13:27:10",
"content": "These waves aren’t unused or unharnessed energy resources! By the law of conservation of energy, these guys are powering devices by attenuating your TV signal.The process is quite cool though. I was reading ... | 1,760,377,143.552871 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/11/waterfall-signal-visualizer-from-arduino-and-cellphone-lcd/ | Waterfall Signal Visualizer From Arduino And Cellphone LCD | Mike Szczys | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"ham",
"lcd",
"signal visualizer",
"waterfall"
] | [Leigh] is a HAM operator (you may know him as wa5znu). He is familiar with a signal visualization tool called a waterfall which plots signal strength and frequency over time. He wanted to build his own waterfall and ended up with this
Arduino-based version which he calls Cascata
. Cascata means waterfall in Italian which meshes nicely with Arduino’s country of origin
The display he chose is a Nokia LCD shield from SparkFun. It’s easy to plug in and there were already libraries available to drive the display. The audio input just connects to a headphone plug (you can just make it out at the bottom right in the image above) using some electrical tape. A free-formed resistor divider ensures that the signal is within a measurable range. [Leigh] found that signal noise was a bit of a problem but was able to improve his results by adding a capacitor to the Arduino headers between the VREF and GND pins.
See it in action after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4oW2X8QVhk&w=470] | 12 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "416084",
"author": "matt",
"timestamp": "2011-07-11T13:18:29",
"content": "Always wanted to teach myself FFT… This seems like a useful way to do so.Keep the ham hacks coming :)KC2ZYS",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "416097",
... | 1,760,377,143.465923 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/10/how-to-build-your-own-pulsed-laser-pistol/ | How To Build Your Own Pulsed Laser Pistol | Mike Nathan | [
"Laser Hacks",
"Weapons Hacks"
] | [
"gun",
"laser",
"ssy-1",
"yag"
] | Self-declared Mad Scientist and Instructables user [Trevor Nestor] recently built a pulse laser pistol and decided to share his build process, so that
you too can build a ray gun at home
. The gun is made up of mostly scavenged components, save for the Neodymium:YAG laser head, which he purchased on eBay for about $100. He does say however, that you can score an SSY-1 laser from an old rangefinder, providing you hang out near a stockpile of decommissioned Abrams tanks.
[Trevor] walks you through the process of recycling old disposable cameras to get enough components for a capacitor bank, as well as how the charging circuit should be constructed. He also discusses how the laser head needs to be wired, before showing off the finished laser pistol in a cheeky video, embedded below.
While the gun lacks the finish of
this laser pistol we showed you
, it’s no less potent when shooting through plastics, wood, and thin metals. It’s a great starting point if you are looking to build a laser of your own, leaving room for improvements, such as a faster charging circuit.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBFuHr1uG-o&w=470] | 50 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "415859",
"author": "daniel",
"timestamp": "2011-07-10T23:50:59",
"content": "Ugh. Save yourself some time:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBFuHr1uG-o#t=7m45s",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "415860",
"author": "daniel",
"t... | 1,760,377,143.414222 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/10/sound-card-microcontrollerpc-communication/ | Sound Card Microcontroller/PC Communication | Brian Benchoff | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"communication",
"microcontroller",
"serial port",
"usb"
] | The usual way send data from a microcontroller is either over RS-232 with MAX232 serial ICs, crystals, and a relatively ancient computer, or by bit-banging the USB protocol and worrying about driver issues. Not content with these solutions, [Scott] came up with
sound card μC/PC communication
that doesn’t require any extra components.
[Scott] bought a cheap USB sound card dongle on eBay (although a built-in sound card will do) and wired up the tip and ring of the plug to the microcontroller. The data is sent from the microcontroller a lot like Morse code – a short gap between pulses is a zero, a long gap is a one. This is parsed by a Python script using PyAudio. Synchronization, timing, and calibration is automatic because of a 10-bit ‘packet header’
explained in this video
.
After he had a really great way of sending data from a microcontroller to a PC, [Scott] asked himself if it would be possible to have bidirectional communication. Using the same sound card setup, he managed to get bidirectional communication off an ATtiny44a. You can see his demo video of this
here
.
The cleverness of hack is overwhelming, and we’re kind of amazed that this technique isn’t in the standard repertoire of solder monkeys. After looking at this, we’re tempted to throw out the half-dozen USB/RS-232 adapters we have lying around. They never worked anyway. Check out [Scott]’s highly informative video of his build below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0UEooQH2bw&w=470] | 40 | 39 | [
{
"comment_id": "415790",
"author": "jay",
"timestamp": "2011-07-10T21:10:03",
"content": "i figured the usual way these days was for your arduino to send it’s data back over the ftdi usb link?more seriously, you could probably crack open one of your cheap usb/rs-232 adapters, strip out the level co... | 1,760,377,143.330457 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/10/a-homemade-electric-chair-reveals-a-darker-side-of-hacking/ | A Homemade Electric Chair Reveals A Darker Side Of Hacking | Nick Schulze | [
"News"
] | [
"electric chair"
] | Here is an example of what happens when someone is tempted to use their hacking skills for evil. Hopefully it goes without saying, but do NOT try
this one
at home.
When his wife asked for a divorce [Andrew Castle] obviously did not like the idea so got busy building himself a DIY electric chair, placing a metal chair in his garage he wired it up to a 240V 13 amp wall output with the intention of luring his wife to sit in the chair for “a chat”. Fortunately the story ends as well as any story involving something as foolish as a homemade electric chair can end. We are guessing that [Andrews] wife’s suspicions were initially aroused when she was invited to sit in the lone metal chair in the garage, whilst he stood behind her holding a rubber cudgel. After a brief struggle she managed to escape unharmed and [Andrew] is now facing 10 years in prison.
All questionable morals aside, from the brief description available it looks like there may have been a few holes in the logic (or lack of) behind the construction of the chair, for one circuit breakers come to mind. | 77 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "415752",
"author": "Giovanni",
"timestamp": "2011-07-10T20:07:11",
"content": "I believe it’s more of a twisted mind issue than true evil. If he just wanted to get rid of his wife, he would shoot, stab, poison her… anything that’s easier. Also, he clearly didn’t plan it to look like... | 1,760,377,143.67858 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/10/bubble-blowing-bot-blows-big-bouncy-bubbles/ | Bubble Blowing Bot Blows Big Bouncy Bubbles | Nick Schulze | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"Bubbles Bot"
] | [Rob] Was cleaning out his car hole when he stumbled across a servo, a PC cooling fan, an Arduino and apparently a whole lot of bubble mixture. With all of this, some scrap timber and a few trips to the dollar store, he was able to whip up this
bubble blowing bot
to entertain his children. It looks like a fairly simple mechanism, the servo tips the old pipe bend into the sudds and the fan provides the air to blow the bubble. The size of the bubble is varied by altering the speed that the pipe bend tips.
The video after the break shows the robot blowing some nice big bubbles, and a quick view of the fan and servo mechanism. There is not a lot of information available but we find the motion of the pipe bend and the big bubbles it blows entertaining, you know the saying, “simple things…”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8S6-ferjuY&w=470] | 7 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "415719",
"author": "patman2700",
"timestamp": "2011-07-10T19:00:47",
"content": "There’s certainly something to be said for the ease-of-use inherent with microcontrollers.Now I wonder how this could be done using a few 555 timers…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replie... | 1,760,377,143.594707 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/10/improved-fpga-synth/ | Improved FPGA Synth | Brian Benchoff | [
"hardware",
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"fpga",
"midi",
"music"
] | A week or so ago we featured an FPGA MIDI interface. Since then the builder has gone crazy with his FPGA and revised his code to
include polyphony and PWM output
, and posted a
polyphony demo
.
In our
previous coverage
of the build, the synth was monophonic, and the MIDI implementation was pretty shaky. After realizing the hard work was done, [Mich] re-wrote the MIDI interpretation module to keep 8 voices in memory. Now the synth can play 16th note arpeggios at 999bpm.
The original build used 8 pins to output the audio with an
R/2R ladder
for a digital to analog converter. This didn’t work well with a polyphonic synth (everything was clipped or noisy), so [Mich] moved to PWM output.
[Mich] plans on building a PCB for the PWM mixer circuit and adding the ability to receive velocity data from the sequencer. He’s also thinking about adding a sampler to the build, but isn’t quite sure about the best way to implement that. If you have an idea for [Mich], leave it for him in the comments. Check out the video below for a demo of the FPGA synth playing
Popcorn
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F9AvosC6R8&w=470] | 9 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "415655",
"author": "woutervddn",
"timestamp": "2011-07-10T16:06:10",
"content": "things like this.. just give me an eargasm..",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "969023",
"author": "emsynthuser2009",
"timestamp": "... | 1,760,377,143.725243 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/12/fpga-generated-spdif-output/ | FPGA Generated SPDIF Output | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"74hc04",
"fpga",
"spdif",
"toslink"
] | [Mike Field] just finished implementing
SPDIF generation on an FPGA
. SPDIF is an industry standard for transmitting digital audio signals; the acronym stands for Sony/Philips Digital Interconnect Format. It’s been around for more than a decade and since it’s found on most home-audio equipment, building an SPDIF output into your projects may be quite a desirable feature. [Mike] mentions several ideas for this functionality like building high-end test equipment, or providing a high-quality output for electronic instruments.
He first jumped into analyzing the specification in order to determine the hardware requirements. Due to some issues with jitter, he found it necessary to use a 100 MHz clock signal. This pushes the jitter down to +/- 5ns of jitter, which he concedes may raise the hackles of audio purists, but does satisfy the published standard. Output requires just one pin of the FPGA and the five components seen above. A hex inverter (74HC04) voltage divider, capacitor, and RCA connector transmit the 0.5V signal to your audio-receiver of choice. Of course, since TOSLINK fiber optic connectors use the same protocol, you could redesign the output and make this an optical connection. | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "416669",
"author": "Dax",
"timestamp": "2011-07-12T18:23:18",
"content": "Why is jitter a problem with digital transmission? Can’t it simply be eliminated at the recieving end by buffering the signal?Or is this another hi-fi voodoo argument like putting the CD player on a slab of ro... | 1,760,377,143.77634 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/12/fablab-helps-the-developing-world-set-up-long-distance-wireless-ethernet/ | FabLab Helps The Developing World Set Up Long-distance Wireless Ethernet | Mike Szczys | [
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"antenna",
"ethernet",
"mesh",
"parabolic",
"reflector",
"wrt54g"
] | The wooden frame seen above hosts a parabolic reflector making up one side of a wireless network link. This is a Fab Lab project called FabFi which uses common networking hardware to
setup long-distance wireless Ethernet connections
. It’s a bit hard to tell in the image above, but the reflector focuses radio waves on the antennae of a router we’re quite familiar with, the Linksys WRT54G. It’s held upside-down in an enclosure meant to protect it from the elements. The node above manages to complete a connection spanning 2.41 miles!
One of the core values of the project is to develop hardware that is easy to build with limited resources, then to make that knowledge freely available. Anyone who has the ability to download and print out the 2D design file can build a reflector for themselves.
As we’ve seen in other projects
, paper stencils and hand tools can handle this job with no need for a laser-cutter (which was used for the prototype). WRT54G routers are inexpensive and the project uses the open source firmware OpenWRT. They can be run from 12VDC power which means a car battery works when mains power is not an option. The system has been running in Afghanistan for two years and hardware failure is still in the low single-digits.
[Thanks das_coach] | 29 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "416646",
"author": "Robot",
"timestamp": "2011-07-12T17:12:01",
"content": "I’m getting totally discouraged listening to story after story of large institutions faling individual. . . so storys like this make my day. Thanks!– Robot",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repli... | 1,760,377,143.895445 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/12/zzstructure-emulator/ | Zzstructure Emulator | Brian Benchoff | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Software Development"
] | [
"hypertext",
"operating system",
"Project Xanadu",
"zzstructure"
] | [John Ohno] has been working on a zzstructure operating system written C since January. [John] realizes not many people know what a zzstructure is, so he posted a
demo
of his project. [John] has also put all the
code
online.
A
zzstructure
is both a hypertext and operating system unlike anything we have today. You could say that when it was first conceived in 1960 it was 100 years ahead of its time. [John]’s implementation of zzstructures operates on a 256-dimension grid and functions a lot like a multidimensional forum thread. Although that’s a lot to wrap your head around, it can probably best be explained by
[Ted Nelson]
, the creator of zzstructures.
The zzstructure was an integral part of the first hypertext project,
Project Xanadu
, started by [Ted Nelson] in 1960. The idea behind Project Xanadu is a sea change from the current implementations of
hypertext
, but the project fell into a chasm of development hell lasting more than 20 years.
Wired
did a story on
The Curse of Xanadu
in 1995, and to read about a wonderful idea – an information structure not based on the idea of paper – be supplanted by the web is just sad. The UI of [John]’s build resembles the first implementation of Xanadu, but without the split-screen and dual-cursor design.
We’re really impressed with [John]’s work, and even though he thinks it would be great for electronic organizers, we think a zzstructure implementation would be great for coding or development. We don’t see many software hacks but with something like this, it’s hard not to be impressed.
EDIT: A few weeks after this story was published, [John]’s friend finished
a more elaborate zzstructure emulator
in Python. The code
is up on GitHub
and looks very,
very
impressive. | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "416636",
"author": "ENKI-][",
"timestamp": "2011-07-12T16:26:37",
"content": "A couple of minor corrections:* ZigZag is a side project of Xanadu. My implementation resembles the first implementation of ZigZag, not the first implementation of Xanadu.* A zzstructure isn’t an OS, it’s ... | 1,760,377,143.82533 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/12/wearable-video-coat/ | Wearable Video Coat | Brian Benchoff | [
"LED Hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"coat",
"led",
"wearable"
] | [David Forbes] is no stranger to the weird and esoteric, so he created
a color LED TV built into a lab coat
. He plans on bringing it to Burning Man next month.
The RGB LEDs are mounted narrow flex boards, providing a 160×120 pixel NTSC display. Video processing is taken care of by an Xilinx FPGA that takes the YCrCb video feed from a video iPod and converts it into four separate RGB streams for the front, back, and the two sides. The requisite controls for brightness and color are on the shoulders.
Of course, the build wouldn’t be over-the-top without the ability to plug a Nintendo into a lab coat, so there’s an NTSC input on an RCA jack. Everything is powered by two 11.1 V, 5Ah radio-control LiPo battery packs that should power this for a while.
Check out a video of the LED lab coat below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtSm8Oom2n4&w=470] | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "416597",
"author": "marks256",
"timestamp": "2011-07-12T15:12:44",
"content": "That’s awesome! I can’t wait to see it when it’s finished.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "416600",
"author": "svofski",
"timestamp": "2011-0... | 1,760,377,143.948433 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/12/one-click-unbrick-for-samsung-phones/ | One-click Unbrick For Samsung Phones | Mike Szczys | [
"Cellphone Hacks"
] | [
"cellphone",
"mobile",
"samsung",
"unbrick"
] | [Adam Outler] has been pretty heavy into mobile device hacking lately. The biggest problem with that field is recovering from back flashes or development firmware glitches. In many cases you can use a JTAG programmer to reflash stock firmware to resurrect a handset. Unfortunately you’ll be hard pressed to find a phone that comes with a JTAG header, and soldering to the microelectronic boards is not for the faint of heart.
But a solution is here, [Adam] pulled together a wide set of resources to create
a package to unbrick Samsung phones
. Now we’re sure that there’s more than a handful of people who would argue that a bad firmware flash that can be fixed this way means that the phone wasn’t actually “bricked” in the first place. But what we see is one more barrier torn down between being a hardware user and becoming a hardware hacker. You’re much more likely to get in there and get your hands dirty if you know that you’ll be able to undo your mistakes and reclaim you precious pocket hardware. See just how easy it is in the video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEotRhChSE4&w=470] | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "416643",
"author": "j0z0r",
"timestamp": "2011-07-12T16:50:37",
"content": "I think it’s crap that you can turn any high end consumer electronic into worthless plastic with a few ones and zeroes… I mean, where’s the virus killer app that just bricks the planet?",
"parent_id": nu... | 1,760,377,144.072733 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/12/re-manufacturing-inkjet-cartridges-for-3d-printing/ | Re-manufacturing Inkjet Cartridges For 3d Printing | Mike Szczys | [
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"3d printer",
"binder",
"cartridge",
"ink jet"
] | [Nullset] uses inkjet printer technology for his 3D printing needs. We usually think of hot-plastic printing like the RepRap or Makerbot when we hear about rapid prototyping, but this setup uses a liquid bonding agent to turn powder into a solid structure. Standard inkjet cartridges can be used to precisely place the bonding agent, but it’s hard on the heads and you have to replace them often. [Nullset] is getting pretty good at it, and decided to write
a tutorial on the modifications necessary to print with bonding liquid
.
At its core, the method injects binder into the cartridge through one port while using a second for drainage. [Nullset] found that the needle fittings used to inflate a basketball work great for this. He drills a couple of holes that the threaded end of the needles fit into. That connection is sealed with some epoxy, and the tubing that delivers the binder is zip-tied to the needles. A bit of purging is necessary to get rid of any old ink, but after the initial flush you’ll be up and running pretty quickly. He figures the whole process can be one in around 10 minutes once you get the hang of it. | 6 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "416668",
"author": "Bogdan",
"timestamp": "2011-07-12T18:20:58",
"content": "Good tutorial, but nothing extraordinary about it. It’s just what i (and maybe many others) would have thought of given the task.I’m still waiting for some sort of ink that hardens and turns into the printe... | 1,760,377,144.5724 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/12/accounting-for-material-loss-when-laser-cutting/ | Accounting For Material Loss When Laser Cutting | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"kerf",
"laser cutter"
] | When you cut something out, you lose a bit of material in the process. Think of a table saw and the sawdust it produces, that’s the waste material lost in an area the width of the blade. It’s really easy to measure that, just measure the blade. But [James] started wondering about
a good way to measure material loss from a laser cutter
.
Why does it matter? If you’ve designed pieces that should fit together with each other, loss of material can lead to joints that aren’t tight. [James] figured out that the loss could be measured by making several cuts within a rectangular frame. You can see his test pieces above, with ten strips cut out of each frame. After the laser is done doing it’s work just slide all the pieces together and measure the opening created at one end. It helps to have
an enhanced caliper
to make the measurement easy to read. Now divide that distance by the number of laser passes and account for that dimension next time you design parts for the cutter. | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "416528",
"author": "Phlip",
"timestamp": "2011-07-12T11:27:51",
"content": "Couldn’t you just weight it before and after?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "416529",
"author": "poisonfist",
"timestamp": "2011-07-12T11:34:28... | 1,760,377,144.310527 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/13/diy-wiper-speed-control-and-collision-avoidance/ | DIY Wiper Speed Control And Collision Avoidance | Mike Nathan | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"automotive",
"ir",
"laser",
"msp430"
] | On many new cars, automatic wiper speed control can be had as an upgrade, though most cars do not offer front-end collision prevention at all. [Rishi Hora] and [Diwakar Labh], students at the Guru Tegh Bahadur Institute of Technology in New Delhi,
developed their own version of these features
, (PDF warning, skip to page 20) which they entered into last year’s Texas Instruments Analog Design Contest. Under the guidance of professors [Gurmeet Singh] and [Pawan Kumar], the pair built the systems using easily obtainable parts, including of course, an MSP430 microcontroller from TI.
The collision prevention system uses a laser emitter and an optical detector to estimate the distance between your car and the vehicle in front of you, sounding an alarm if you are getting too close. In a somewhat similar fashion, the wiper speed control system uses an IR emitter and detector pair to estimate the amount of water built up on the windshield, triggering the wipers when necessary.
While not groundbreaking, the systems would be quite handy during monsoon season in India, and seem easy enough to install in an older vehicle. The only thing we’re not so sure about is pointing lasers at cars in traffic, but there are quite a few available alternatives that can be used to measure distance.
Continue reading to see a video walkthrough and demonstration of both systems.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euVh5xtFs1M&w=470] | 24 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "417105",
"author": "fartface",
"timestamp": "2011-07-13T17:48:17",
"content": "What I really want is a DIY Adaptave speed Cruise control.Make it easy to draft a Semi truck by making the car speed up and slow down with the trucker that cant keep his speed stable.",
"parent_id": n... | 1,760,377,144.372691 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/13/building-a-solar-power-heliostat/ | Building A Solar Power Heliostat | Brian Benchoff | [
"Solar Hacks"
] | [
"heliostat",
"solar power",
"sun tracking"
] | [Frits] has been working on an
solar panel heliostat
(in Dutch, check out the translated page
here
).
The heliostat uses a small PICAXE to control the motor, along with an
DS1307 real-time clock
to make sure the motors start at dawn. Instead of using optical encoders or magnetic sensors, the angle of the heliostat is measure with a pot attached to the drive shaft. [Frits] did a lot of data collection to figure out that this method is accurate to about 1 degree – just fine for something that doesn’t need to be exact.
According to [Frits] this heliostat will put out 12 to 50 percent more electricity than a fixed panel. Although the build does seem a little bulky, putting it on a house with a roof pitch of
23.5°
would greatly reduce the horizontal profile.
A video of a solar panel rotating at 15 degrees/hour isn’t that interesting, so [Frits] posted a clip of 6 mirrors slewing around fairly fast to demonstrate his system. Check it out after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOuJpzQQ9ic&w=470] | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "417049",
"author": "password",
"timestamp": "2011-07-13T14:17:14",
"content": "wow accurate to about 1 degree – *me calculates * – that accurate to 4min of the earths rotation.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "417052",
"autho... | 1,760,377,144.622846 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/13/automotive-battery-voltage-monitor/ | Automotive Battery Voltage Monitor | Mike Nathan | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"alternator",
"battery",
"charging system",
"pic",
"voltage"
] | [Rajendra’s] car had just about all the bells, whistles, and gauges he could dream of, but he thought
it was missing one important item
. In an age where cars are heavily reliant on intricate electrical systems, he felt that he should have some way of monitoring the car’s battery and charging system.
To keep tabs on his car’s electrical system, he built a simple device that allows him to monitor the battery’s instantaneous voltage when the car is powered off, as well as the charging voltage across the battery when the car is running. A PIC16F1827 runs the show, using a simple voltage divider network to step the input voltage down to an acceptable level for use with the PIC’s A/D conversion channel. The resultant measurements are output to a four digit 7 segment display, mounted on the front of the device.
He says that the voltage monitor works quite well, and we’re sure he feels a lot better about the health of his car’s charging system. For anyone interested in keeping closer tabs on their car, he has a circuit diagram as well as code available on his site. | 32 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "417022",
"author": "Bobby J",
"timestamp": "2011-07-13T13:17:27",
"content": "Or you could buy a ScanGuage and read it directly from the ODB port as well as a bunch of other information…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "417026",
... | 1,760,377,144.528196 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/13/faux-led-scroller-using-phosphorescence/ | Faux LED Scroller Using Phosphorescence | Mike Nathan | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"led",
"phosphorescent",
"pic",
"scroller"
] | Hackaday reader [BGR] wrote in to share
a video he put together
showing off a cool “poor man’s LED scroller” that he built. Rather than build a huge array of LEDs, spending tons of time time wiring and programming, he decided to use only a handful of LEDs on a moving display instead.
The scroller is built upon a PIC16F887 microcontroller which resides on an EasyPIC6 dev board he borrowed for the project. The PIC controls a strip of eight bright white LEDs, which are used to write text on a long strip of phosphorescent paper that can be found at many printing supply outfits. The paper’s dispensing mechanism was cobbled together with parts from several sources, including a laser printer and VCR.
When he wants to display a message, he inputs text into a flash application he wrote. The app sends the LED byte values to his scroller via a separate serial proxy that talks to the pic over his computer’s COM port.
The effect is pretty slick, looking similar to a slow-moving diffused LED scroller. The messages disappear after about 5 minutes in a pitch black room, which is perfect, since he originally intended to use the device for displaying Twitter updates. He is already considering a second revision of the project, which he wants to mount on the wall – sounds great to us!
Be sure to swing by YouTube to see the video, or continue reading to watch it here.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X_q6Db53jQ&w=470] | 38 | 37 | [
{
"comment_id": "416979",
"author": "zuul",
"timestamp": "2011-07-13T11:23:26",
"content": "haha, actually a pretty good ideadies out about the time it comes around again too",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "416982",
"author": "Pup",
"tim... | 1,760,377,144.750402 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/12/xbox-360-dvd-changer-is-the-ultimate-in-gaming-laziness/ | Xbox 360 DVD Changer Is The Ultimate In Gaming Laziness | Mike Nathan | [
"Xbox Hacks"
] | [
"ben heck",
"cd changer",
"gaming",
"xbox"
] | Let’s face it – gamers have a reputation for being pretty lazy.
In the most recent episode of his web series
, [Ben Heck] takes on the stereotypical gamer role and cranks the laziness factor to 11, lamenting the fact that he needs to get up off the couch to swap discs in his Xbox 360 console. Never allowing laziness get in the way of his hacking, he springs into action, hauling off to his shop in order to construct an Xbox DVD changer system.
He grabbed a pair of CD changers and popped them open to see how they operated. After choosing the best candidate based on its CD loading method, he got to work disassembling the changer. The old CD player and its guts were removed, which he replaced with DVD drive components ripped from his Xbox. Quite a bit of trimming and tweaking was required to swap out the components, but it seems that [Ben] got things working just fine.
With the mechanical portion of the project out of the way, he dug into the electronics. The CD changer had no way of knowing how to interface with the Xbox and vice versa, so [Ben] had to devise a way for the two devices to communicate. He used an Arduino Uno to control the systems, triggering the CD carousel only when the Xbox thought it had its drive slot opened.
While the system looks a bit unpolished, and the controller quite bulky, we love this thing! No matter if you are lazy or not, jamming these two devices together is exactly what hacking is all about. | 33 | 33 | [
{
"comment_id": "416749",
"author": "Chris",
"timestamp": "2011-07-12T22:07:17",
"content": "JTAG, Freeboot and a Large HDD…. Just saying.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "416750",
"author": "Will",
"timestamp": "2011-07-12T22:09:33",
... | 1,760,377,144.817843 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/12/shoulder-surfing-with-opencv/ | Shoulder Surfing With OpenCV | Mike Nathan | [
"iphone hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"ipad",
"iphone",
"opencv",
"security",
"shoulder surfing"
] | While it seems that many people are wise to shoulder surfing, keeping a lookout for anyone spying on their passwords, [Haroon] wrote in to remind us that
the threat is just as real today as it ever was
.
The subjects of his research are touch screen phones and tablets, which utilize on-screen keyboards for data entry. He says that while nearly all password entry boxes on these devices are obscured with the traditional line of asterisks, the keyboards themselves are quite an interesting vulnerability.
Since touch screen technology can be finicky at times, most vendors ship their devices with some sort of key press verification system. On the iPhone and iPad, for instance, each key is highlighted in blue following a button press. This functionality makes it quite easy for shoulder surfers to casually steal your password if you’re not paying attention.
But what if you are well aware of your surroundings? [Haroon] has developed a piece of software he calls shoulderPad, which is based on openCV that does the surfing for him. The application can monitor a video stream, live or recorded, extracting the user’s password from the highlighted button presses. His demonstrations show the recording taking place at a relatively close distance, but he says that it would be quite easy to use surveillance footage or zoom lenses to capture key presses from afar.
He does say that the button highlighting can be easily disabled in the iPhone’s options pane, which should negate this sort of attack for the most part.
Continue reading to see a quick video of shoulderPad in action.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGS4q-WHTlg&w=470] | 14 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "416726",
"author": "Steve",
"timestamp": "2011-07-12T21:18:17",
"content": "Erm, how do you disable keyboard highlighting in iOS?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "416736",
"author": "AJ",
"timestamp": "2011-07-12T21:29:55... | 1,760,377,144.676683 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/12/character-lcd-screen-add-on-for-android-devices/ | Character LCD Screen Add-on For Android Devices | Mike Szczys | [
"Android Hacks"
] | [
"accessory",
"adk",
"android",
"arduino",
"atmega2650",
"usb"
] | Here’s an
Android accessory project that adds a secondary LCD
display. It utilizes the Android Open Accessory Development Kit standard to connect the 16×2 character LCD as a USB device. It pairs an app on the phone which runs transparently with firmware for the ATmega2560-based Arduino compatible board you see to the left. The app launches as soon as the auxiliary hardware is connected and is responsible for determining which lines of text are pushed out to the LCD. The example code displays the current time on the top line, and scrolls incoming text messages as they are received.
This is a good way to get your feet wet with the ADK hardware. We’ve already seen it used for larger displays
like this LED marquee
, but this smaller test project doesn’t require much hardware setup. Chances are you either already have an Arduino and character LCD on hand, or can easily borrow which makes this an easy weekend project.
One note on that Arduino compatible board; it’s called a Freakduino ADK but we couldn’t figure out if it’s
a Freak Labs product
or not. If you have some insight about that, please leave a comment. | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "416697",
"author": "Hackerspacer",
"timestamp": "2011-07-12T20:05:49",
"content": "I love (?) it how the breadboard, Arduino board and LCD is about 1.5x the size of the entire phone!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "416702",
... | 1,760,377,144.865489 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/10/slick-16-segment-pov-hard-drive-clock/ | Slick 16-segment POV Hard Drive Clock | Mike Nathan | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"16 segment",
"clock",
"hard drive",
"hdd",
"led",
"POV"
] | Hackaday reader [svofski] sent in
a fantastic looking hard drive-based POV clock
(
Google Translation
) created by a maker in the Sichuan province of China. The clock,
like the one [svofski] built
, relies on LEDs placed behind the spinning platter to create the POV effect.
Quite a few carefully placed cuts have been made to the platter, which make up the segments required to display both numbers and letters of the alphabet. This isn’t a simple 16-segment POV display however. The font uses a lot of sharp edges and odd segment lengths, so we’re guessing that quite a bit of care was taken in the production of this clock.
You can see a demonstration of the clock in the video embedded below, which shows off its ability to display numbers, text, as well as a handful of simple patterns. It looks like there are some details available on the designer’s site, however it is all in Chinese, and Google’s translation is questionable at best. If
only we knew someone
that could give us a hand with deciphering the inner-workings of this clock…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE5rzA9dDk8&w=470] | 20 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "415613",
"author": "t&p",
"timestamp": "2011-07-10T14:13:33",
"content": "OMG those cuts are crazyI don’t know how you would program something like that",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "415620",
"author": "DarkFader",
"ti... | 1,760,377,144.920854 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/10/repairing-a-broken-salad-spinner/ | Repairing A Broken Salad Spinner | Mike Szczys | [
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"floss",
"grommet",
"parachute cord",
"salad spinner"
] | Behold [Quinn’s] broken salad spinner, and just when lettuce and other garden produce are hitting their peak. We were surprised to find out that she was able to get the mechanism apart to
fix the broken cord
. We’re sick and tired of ultrasonically welded plastic enclosures that lock out the most well-intentioned repairman. But in [Quinn’s] case there were a few plastic plugs hiding the screws that keep the two pieces of the case together.
After diagnosing that the cause of the broken cord was a gnarly metal grommet, she removed the offender and sought a replacement cord. The first material she tried was some dental floss but unsurprisingly it only lasted through a few spins. Next on the road to repair was a shoelace which did a bit better but also ended up broken. But the discovery of some parachute cord did the trick in the end and now it’s good as new if not better! | 47 | 46 | [
{
"comment_id": "415566",
"author": "karl",
"timestamp": "2011-07-10T12:50:31",
"content": "iZsh:Well, how do you define a hack?To me, it’s modifying something for an unintended use, or improvising a fix for a problem when help with, or a repair is not readly avalible –Before you call it a non-hack,... | 1,760,377,145.004157 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/09/hardware-xor-for-output-pins-on-avr-microcontrollers/ | Hardware XOR For Output Pins On AVR Microcontrollers | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"assembler",
"attiny13",
"AVR",
"toggle",
"xor"
] | Did you know that most AVR chips have a type of hardware exclusive OR (XOR) option when it comes to the logic levels of the output pins? If you look in the datasheet (the image above is a screenshot from an ATtiny13 datasheet) you’ll find a section on Toggling the Pin. It turns out that if you set a PORT as an output, writing logic one to the corresponding PIN register will toggle the logic levels of that out. This is really easy to overlook if you’re writing in C, but I’ve been working on learning a bit of assembler language and found this to be very useful. Keep reading after the break and I’ll tell you how I happened upon this info and what it’s good for.
So first off, let’s talk about why this doesn’t matter very much if you’re writing in C code. Normally if you want to toggle some output pins you’ll just write a one-liner that XOR’s with a bitmask:
PORTB ^= 0xFF;
This is a bit of C shorthand (learn more about that
from my tutorial series
) that performs the XOR on the current output levels and writes the result back to the port. But the same thing can be done in hardware by writing the bitmask to the PINB register:
PINB = 0xFF;
You don’t really care, because it’s just one line of code. In fact it’s probably easier to XOR the PORTB because it makes more sense conceptually. But the compiler might end up using more cycles than if you had written to the PIN register.
I happened across this feature because I was blinking some LEDs as a way to learn assembler. I had this jumble of code in an Interrupt Service Routine:
ldi myReg, 0xFF
in intReg, PORTB
eor intReg, myReg
out PORTB, intReg
It loads a bitmask into one register, loads in the current logic from PORTB to another register, performs an XOR of the two, and writes the result back to PORTB. This takes four cycles and requires two registers. Toggling bits is such a rudimentary operation I was surprised there wasn’t a command to XOR bits directly so I started searching around.
I came across this article
over at AVR Freaks which clued me into the bit toggle feature. Now I was able to reduce my assembler code as follows:
ldi intReg2, 0xFF ;temporarity use intReg2 as a bit mask
out PINB, intReg2 ;writing to PINB effectivley does an Exclusive OR on PORTB
This results in the same toggling effect, but takes just two cycles and requires the use of only one register.
What I found most interesting is that no matter how much I use AVR chips, there ‘s never a shortage of surprises waiting to be found in the datasheet. | 30 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "415359",
"author": "Bill",
"timestamp": "2011-07-09T22:14:57",
"content": "Haha, I mentioned this trick on a blog post about IO instruction times that was featured by HAD last year.http://hackaday.com/2010/08/19/todays-arduino-moment/I didn’t deconstruct machine code but analysed th... | 1,760,377,145.113597 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/09/live-cd-for-rfid-hacking-on-the-go/ | Live CD For RFID Hacking On The Go | Mike Nathan | [
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"live cd",
"mifare",
"NFC",
"rfid",
"sniffing"
] | [Milosch] wrote in to tell us that he has recently released
a bootable RFID live hacking system
– something he has been diligently working on for quite some time. The live distro can be used for breaking and analyzing MIFARE RFID cards, as well as a reasonable selection of other well-known card formats. The release is based off the Fedora 15 live desktop system, and includes a long list of RFID hacking tools, as well as some applications that allow for NFC tag emulation.
His toolkit also contains a baudline-based LF RFID sniffer package, allowing for a real-time waveform display of low frequency RFID tags. The LF sniffer makes use of a cheap USB sound card, as well as a relatively simple reader constructed from a handful of easy to find components.
We have seen
some of [Milosch’s] handiwork before
, so we are fairly confident that his toolkit contains just about everything you need to start sniffing and hacking RFID tags. If you’re interested in grabbing a copy of the ISO, just be aware that the live CD is only compatible with 64-bit systems, so older laptops need not apply. | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "415346",
"author": "Gil",
"timestamp": "2011-07-09T21:10:39",
"content": "Sounds very interesting. It’s only a shame not being compatible with 32bit processors.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "415412",
"author": "MS3FGX",
... | 1,760,377,145.163868 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/09/amazing-hemispherical-omnidirectional-gimbaled-wheel-robot/ | Amazing Hemispherical Omnidirectional Gimbaled Wheel Robot | Mike Nathan | [
"Robots Hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"hemispherical omnidirectional gimbaled wheel",
"hog",
"robot"
] | Bradley University grad student [Curtis Boirum] has built a robot which uses quite a unique drive system,
one we’re guessing you have never seen before
. The robot uses a single motor to drive its hemispherical omnidirectional gimbaled wheel, propelling it across the floor at amazing speeds with uncanny agility.
The robot uses a simple two axis gimbal for movement, which houses a small brushless RC airplane motor. The motor spins a rubber wheel at high speeds, which propels the robot in any direction at the flick of a switch, thanks to a pair of RC servos. When the servos tilt the gimbal, they change which side of the wheel is touching the ground as well as the gear reduction, eliminating the need for a mechanical transmission or traditional steering mechanism.
While he originally thought that he had invented the concept, [Curtis] found that this technology was nearly 100 years old, but that most people had forgotten about it. We’re pretty sure people will remember it this time around. How could you not, after watching the demo video we have embedded below?
We think it’s a great concept, and we can’t wait to see what other robot builders do with this technology.
[via
Gizmodo
]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaT7M3Nwj7c&w=470] | 33 | 31 | [
{
"comment_id": "415284",
"author": "Hackerspacer",
"timestamp": "2011-07-09T18:17:02",
"content": "Need 2 of these for omnidirectionability in a combat robot, stat!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "415285",
"author": "Hackerspacer",
"tim... | 1,760,377,145.303961 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/09/turn-any-bluetooth-device-into-a-midi-controller/ | Turn Any Bluetooth Device Into A MIDI Controller | Mike Szczys | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"android",
"bluetooth",
"midi controller"
] | [Peter Brinkman] is working on
a circuit that makes it easy to interface MIDI and Bluetooth devices
. His target hardware has been a MIDI compatible keyboard and an Android phone. He was inspired to tip us off about the project after reading about yesterday’s
Bluescripts project
.
We’ve embedded two demo videos after the break. They show [Peter] first using this hardware to receive MIDI signals from a keyboard on his Android phone, and then he demonstrates using the phone and an on-screen musical keyboard to transmit data back to a MIDI device which generates the intended sounds.
It’s an interesting project and he’s headed down the kit-production path right now. You’ll want to browse all of his recent posts, but we especially liked reading
his thoughts about simplifying the circuitry
. He originally had two separate voltages running in the circuit with a level converter for data signals. After some re-conceptualization he ditched several components and improved the functionality a bit.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkd9_suLcs8&w=470]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AJjBCInzR8&w=470] | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "415275",
"author": "lou eney",
"timestamp": "2011-07-09T17:23:20",
"content": "this is awesome. I have the same yamaha keyboard as you and this is a cool tool if put to good use. Picture this with a midi guitar…. my mouth waters",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replie... | 1,760,377,145.211926 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/09/measuring-home-networks-with-bismark/ | Measuring Home Networks With BISMark | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"bandwidth",
"gateway",
"openwrt",
"router"
] | The
Broadband Internet Service BenchMARK
is an open source initiative to put tools in the hands of the common Internet user that will make measurement and analyzation of home network traffic easier. It targets LAN and WAN network utilization by measuring latency, packet loss, jitter, upstream throughput, and downstream throughput. Of course gathering data isn’t worth anything unless you have a way to present it, and to that end the Project BISMark team has been developing a web interface where you can view the usage of anyone who’s running the firmware.
The project builds on top of
OpenWRT
, which means that you should be able to run it on any router that’s OpenWRT compatible. This includes the ubiquitous WRT54G routers and many others. We remember when DD-WRT added bandwidth monitoring as part of the standard release, which really came in handy when the stories about ISP bandwidth capping started to hit. We’re glad to see even more functionality with this package as it can be hard to really understand what is going on in your network. After the break you’ll find a video detailing the features of BISMark.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3hjp8EEJKs&w=470] | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "415227",
"author": "Aaron",
"timestamp": "2011-07-09T15:01:32",
"content": "“Analyzation”? The word is ‘analysis’. Jesus H. Christ, do any of you ever read what you type at any point before or after it’s posted?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
... | 1,760,377,145.639182 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/09/diy-guitar-fuzz-pedal/ | DIY Guitar Fuzz Pedal | Mike Nathan | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"fuzz pedal",
"geranium",
"music",
"transistors"
] | Instructables user and Community Manager [Randy Sarafan] recently put together a tutorial
on how to build an ages-old musical standard
, the “Fuzz Pedal”. He says that the secret to rocking out is fuzz, so if you can handle both a soldering iron and a guitar, this project is for you.
When you take a close look, the pedal’s components are actually quite simple. The distortion is created by a pair of transistors, which in his case are vanilla NPNs from RadioShack. We have covered
other distortion pedal builds before
, and they have used germanium transistors to obtain a ‘creamier’ sound – you should be able to swap these cheap ones for uprated models with little trouble.
The handful of components were soldered neatly to a piece of perf board, and placed into a sturdy metal case that looks like it can withstand even the harshest abuse. He’s got schematics and a BOM in his writeup, so all that’s keeping you from a rocking weekend is a little bit of time and a soldering iron – what are you waiting for?
Stick around to see a quick video of [Randy’s] fuzz pedal being built.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4xWnXvug54&w=470] | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "415196",
"author": "ZeUs",
"timestamp": "2011-07-09T12:52:53",
"content": "I like how quality sound is playing throughout the video and it ends with that really blank sound coming from that self-build guitar.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"c... | 1,760,377,145.692799 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/08/internal-7-segment-ps3-display/ | Internal 7-segment PS3 Display | Brian Benchoff | [
"Playstation Hacks"
] | [
"fan speed",
"multiple 7-segment display",
"ps3"
] | [Zach] sent in his
temperature controller and display for PS3
, and even though it only works with a PS3 fat, we like our PS2 backwards compatibility very much, thank you.
The build stated off with [Zach] putting thermal sensors on the CPU, the RSX, and Northbridge of his PS3. After starting out controlling the fan with his laptop, he moved on to an integrated fan and display controller after seeing this
post
about a ‘hidden display.’ In the end, one of the coolest looking PS3 mods we’ve ever seen was born.
The build runs off an Arduino Pro that gets the temperatures from the sensors, prints everything to a custom 7-segment display board, and controls the fan. [Zach] thankfully made the Arduino source available and also put up some board files if you’d like to make your own. It’s a pretty impressive build that’s completely invisible when the PS3 is powered off.
The design process of the fan controller is pretty interesting. It first started out as
4 independent 2-digit displays
before moving onto
2 displays with 5 LED indicators
. Seven 7-segment displays
with a really neat custom board
were used in the final build.
The Gerber files for these display boards are available to download, and would definitely be useful for other projects. Check out a video of the fan controller and display in action below.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynWb8_MXAEM&w=470] | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "414998",
"author": "John Boxall",
"timestamp": "2011-07-09T00:30:52",
"content": "Excellent mod, love the ‘1977’ look with the 7-segment display.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "415005",
"author": "Pilotgeek",
"timestamp... | 1,760,377,145.74725 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/08/g-mean-pay-kyle-mcdonald-a-visit/ | G-men Pay [Kyle McDonald] A Visit | Mike Szczys | [
"News"
] | [
"apple",
"fraud",
"kyle mcdonald",
"secret service",
"united states"
] | Looks like
the men in black have paid [Kyle McDonald] a little visit
. The United States Secret Service is investigating him for fraud and related activity for
his People Staring At Computers project
. We just took a look at that one yesterday, and were thankful that all he was doing was taking people’s pictures and not stealing their information. Looks like [Uncle Sam] wasn’t being as lenient–or it could have been Apple that did the complaining since mums the word from the corporate giant. [Kyle’s] also
keeping his mouth shut
after soliciting the advice of the
Electronic Frontier Foundation
.
Since details are scarce, it’s time to play armchair lawyer. Let us know in the comments what you think [Kyle] might be up against, and whether we’ll see this thing hit the courts or not. And remember not to take those comments as legal advice since none of us actually know what we’re talking about.
By the way, the gentleman seen above isn’t [Kyle], he’s one of the unsuspecting ‘victims’ with some
wikimedia commons
slapped in for effect.
[Thanks Craig, David, and others] | 112 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "414941",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2011-07-08T22:47:41",
"content": "“Let us know in the comments what you think [Kyle] might be up against”Yes. Let’s throw some gasoline onto this fire. Let’s do that.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"co... | 1,760,377,145.583884 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/08/voice-recognition-system-controls-everything-hopefully-wont-kill-us/ | Voice Recognition System Controls Everything, Hopefully Won’t Kill Us. | Brian Benchoff | [
"home hacks",
"Software Development"
] | [
"android@home",
"home automation",
"voice control"
] | [Aaron Bitler] and [Bud Townsend] have been working a
natural user system
that is, in their own words, “what android@home should have been.”
The
video
they posted is pretty impressive. The automation system responds to voice and can control appliances, ‘throw a party’, and provide a user with their location. This is just the foundation of a system that can be built upon – developers can easily integrate a microphone and speaker into a device so it can connect to the system’s server. Apps, too, are pretty extensible – they’re registered on the server with meta tags that provide a wealth of data to be manipulated. It’s a very, very cool project that we really want to try out.
After seeing the
video
, the first thought was to go through every episode of Star Trek collecting recordings of
[Majel Barrett’s]
speech.
[Douglas Rain]
is still alive (and still sounds like HAL), but we’d probably go with GLaDOS. If our house is going to kill us anyway, we’ll go with the one that will give us some blog cred. | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "414938",
"author": "xorpunk",
"timestamp": "2011-07-08T22:35:36",
"content": "this should be entertaining..I’d like to announce that I’ve perfected automation with square wheels..on a related note..",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id"... | 1,760,377,145.794021 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/08/chibimo-an-avr-based-usb-display/ | ChibiMo – An AVR-based USB Display | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"ChibiMo",
"display",
"lcd",
"usb"
] | [Ko] wanted to add an extra monitor to his computer, but he wasn’t looking for something huge that would sit atop his desk – he desired something smaller, much smaller.
His ChibiMo mini USB monitor
is a neat little creation that lets you extend or mirror your Windows desktop onto a tiny 128×64 pixel LCD panel. At first glance you might think that it is too small to be useful, but it is recognized in Windows in the same fashion as any standard monitor. This means that it would be quite easy to load system monitoring software solely on the LCD panel, keeping the clutter off of your main display.
The display is wired to an Arduino
like any other standard shield
, and is connected to his computer via a USB cable. Once the ChibiMo sketch is uploaded to the Arduino, the display driver needs to be loaded on the PC. This allows you to tweak the ChibiMo’s display settings in Windows’ display manager.
It’s a great concept, one we would love to see explored further. As of right now, the ChibiMo is only supported on x86 versions of Windows XP, and we weren’t able to find source links anywhere on his site. Perhaps there are some talented members of our community who would be interested in taking a whack at it… | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "414892",
"author": "sariel",
"timestamp": "2011-07-08T20:48:32",
"content": "thats great! but for the price he paid for the arduino and lcd plus the time he used in creating it, he could have bought a small 4inch usb lcd off ebay and saved himself the trouble. but i still love the... | 1,760,377,145.845578 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/08/on-dash-g-meter-project-is-another-way-to-distract-drivers/ | On-dash G-meter Project Is Another Way To Distract Drivers | Mike Szczys | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"accelerometer",
"g-meter",
"sx28"
] | [PJ Allen] built
a meter to display gravitation force
in an easy to read way. Good thing it’s easy to read, because he’s added it to the dashboard of his car. That way he gets instant feedback when he puts the pedal to the metal. We’re hoping this encourages safe driving practices. But since it appears that not only is he watching the meter while he drives, he’s also
holding a camera at the same time
, we’d say this makes him a menace on the road.
But we do like the hardware concept. He used five Red/Green LEDs to show what the accelerometer is sensing. A green display reflects acceleration, while a red display shows deceleration. Inside the project box you’ll find a Parallax 2-axis accelerometer and an SX28 micrcontroller. This is an
8-bit Parallax chip family that was discontinued
a few years back. | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "414827",
"author": "Alwar",
"timestamp": "2011-07-08T18:37:25",
"content": "I would change the blinking led by fade in/out to show more accuracy…Caution with this man in the road xD",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "414831",
"... | 1,760,377,145.900878 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/08/phillip-torrone-on-why-all-makers-should-learn-chinese/ | [Phillip Torrone] On Why All Makers Should Learn Chinese | Mike Nathan | [
"News",
"Rants"
] | [
"chinese",
"Makers",
"phillip torrone"
] | A while ago when he was working in China, [Phillip Torrone] started learning Mandarin Chinese in order to help him communicate more efficiently with his peers. Unfortunately, once he returned to the US, he slowly started forgetting most of what he had learned. He
recently wrote a piece over at Make:
explaining why he’s attempting to learn Mandarin once again, and why you as a maker should consider doing the same.
He starts off citing the economic trends which indicate that China’s global GDP share will likely bypass that of the US in a few short years. While the stats might be a bit boring he says, the rise of a new global superpower is nothing to shrug off.
Economic changes aside, he has found that through his workings at Adafruit and other tech companies, he is frequently being exposed to more and more Chinese on a daily basis. Between emails with suppliers, data sheets, and schematics, he says that learning Chinese is a must for makers.
What do you think? Do any of you full-time makers and hackers see the same trend in your jobs? Let us know in the comments. | 135 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "414770",
"author": "mike bradley",
"timestamp": "2011-07-08T17:21:06",
"content": "Just my 2 cents, english is spoken in so many other places around the world in business, and if chineese want to manufacture my products, they can learn english. I will however try my best to learn th... | 1,760,377,146.033538 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/08/bluescripts-makes-bluetooth-control-from-android-a-bit-easier/ | Bluescripts Makes Bluetooth Control From Android A Bit Easier | Mike Szczys | [
"Android Hacks"
] | [
"bluescripts",
"bluetooth",
"control"
] | Here’s a way to
gain control of your projects using an Android device
. Bluescripts is a free app available in the Android market that makes it a bit easier to make interfaces to send customizable messages. If you have a Bluetooth receiver in your project, connecting to it is as easy as putting the MAC address into an XML file on the Android device. Each tag in that file has a name, as well as the address of the target and the message that should be sent. On the receiving end, you just need to make sure your project hardware is ready to receive an ASCII message and act based on what comes through.
Check out the demonstration video after the break. Perhaps it’s not as cool as you could do if you were
writing your own Android program
, but we can’t think of anything we’ve seen that makes an Android interface this quick and easy.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwpuBH2VfSA&w=470] | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "414738",
"author": "Colecago",
"timestamp": "2011-07-08T16:26:20",
"content": "You’re right, it is cooler to write your own android program. But if you are going to promote your android programming series in all these bluetooth posts, maybe finish your freaking android bluetooth tu... | 1,760,377,145.950037 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/08/mini-ir-theremin/ | Mini IR Theremin | Brian Benchoff | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"infrared",
"theremin"
] | [Chris] at PyroElectro sent in a great 8-part write-up of a
miniature infrared theremin
.
The theremin is based on a PIC microcontroller and an infrared distance sensor. The build log goes through the theory of operations for the
IR sensor
and
tone generation
. [Chris] definitely does a great job showing the math that went into the design.
Although this project isn’t a true theremin because it operates on light like a
few
other
projects we’ve covered in the past, it’s easier to play because of the hard-coded notes. The build does show some promise though – he could likely expand it to use more accurate ultrasonic sensors or use, “two proximity sensors, one for treble and one for bass like an accordion.”
The theremin is usually played
with both hands
providing a continuous pitch and volume. This project features hard-coded, discrete notes, so we’re wondering about the possibility of implementing MIDI on this IR theremin. The original
MIDIbox
was based on the same microcontroller as this project, so it’s definitely a possibility.
Check out the video of the theremin in action below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6bF3Q_YM68&w=470] | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "414720",
"author": "gijs",
"timestamp": "2011-07-08T15:41:15",
"content": "related link:http://gieskes.nl/instruments/?file=wavetable-radar",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "414726",
"author": "BobSmith",
"timestamp": "201... | 1,760,377,147.662292 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/08/reverse-engineering-vxworks-which-replaces-linux-on-newer-routers/ | Reverse Engineering VxWorks (which Replaces Linux On Newer Routers) | Mike Szczys | [
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"DD-WRT",
"linux",
"reverse engineering",
"router",
"RTOS",
"Tomato",
"vxworks",
"wrt54g"
] | The Linksys router seen about is a WRT54G version 1. It famously runs Linux and was the source of much hacking back in the heyday, leading to popular alternative firmware packages such as DD-WRT and Tomato. But the company went away from a Linux-based firmware starting with version 8 of the hardware. Now they are using a proprietary Real Time Operating System called VxWorks.
[Craig] recently put together
a reverse engineering guide for WRT54Gv8 and newer routers
. His approach is purely firmware based since he doesn’t actually own a router that runs VxWorks. A bit of poking around in the hex dump lets him identify different parts of the files, leading to an ELF header that really starts to unlock the secrets within. From there he carries out a rather lengthy process of accurately disassembling the code into something that makes sense. The tool of choice used for this is
IDA Pro diassembler and debugger
. We weren’t previously familiar with it, but having seen what it can do we’re quite impressed.
[Image via
Wikimedia Commons
] | 25 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "414678",
"author": "Roel",
"timestamp": "2011-07-08T14:14:01",
"content": "IDA has been the de facto standard for reverse engineering since decades. Shame on you ;)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "414680",
"author": "Boris",... | 1,760,377,147.960648 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/08/vu-meter-scarf-lights-up-the-night/ | VU Meter Scarf Lights Up The Night | Mike Nathan | [
"LED Hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"clothing",
"led",
"scarf",
"VU meter"
] | [Eli Skipp] wrote in to share a project she has been working on bit by bit, for over a year –
an LED VU meter scarf
. The project was originally going to be built using a custom PCB, but no matter how long she spent troubleshooting the piece, it just wouldn’t work right. She eventually broke down and purchased a VU meter kit, which worked out quite a bit better than the homebrew version.
The VU meter circuitry is tucked away inside the scarf as she shows in the video below. The LEDs are connected using conductive thread sourced from
Lamé Lifesaver
, which she says is far more durable than other threads she has tried. After originally testing the VU meter, she was unimpressed by the output of the LEDs, so she swapped them out for brighter ones, which look much better. It looks like it works quite well – we definitely dig the idea of a scarf with a built-in VU meter, even if it was partially built from a kit.
Continue reading to see [Eli] give a quick demonstration and a rundown of the scarf’s construction.
[vimeo
http://vimeo.com/25740889
w=470] | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "414760",
"author": "robomonkey",
"timestamp": "2011-07-08T17:06:05",
"content": "hook it up to the ipod,zune,walkman….people can see what you’re hearing.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "414788",
"author": "Will",
"timest... | 1,760,377,148.207488 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/08/humanoid-robot-listens-to-music-plays-along-on-his-theremin/ | Humanoid Robot Listens To Music, Plays Along On His Theremin | Mike Nathan | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"hrp-2",
"humanoid",
"music",
"robot",
"theremin"
] | Researcher and YouTube user [mspetitegeek] along with her lab mate [Tatsuhiko Itohara] have been fortunate enough to spend some time working with the HRP-2 humanoid robot from Kawada Industries. Their research has seemingly been focused on using the robot to create real-time interactions with humans
for entertainment purposes, at the very least
.
The program they created allows the HRP-2 to listen and watch its human counterpart while he plays the guitar in order to recognize a beat pattern. Once the robot catches on, it plays along on his Theremin, matching both notes and rhythm perfectly. Since the human operator is clearly playing at a fairly relaxed pace, we are curious to see a demonstration where the robot required to match a snappier tune – it could be quite interesting.
In the meantime, we’re content to just sit back and enjoy the Mogwai-esque tones of the HRP-2 rocking the Theremin.
Keep reading to see a short video of the HRP-2 in action.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fuOdhMeF3Y&w=470] | 13 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "414656",
"author": "Philippe",
"timestamp": "2011-07-08T13:19:42",
"content": "It… uh… rocks !?!?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "414665",
"author": "kabadisha",
"timestamp": "2011-07-08T13:31:07",
"content": "Who on... | 1,760,377,147.901361 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/07/diy-table-saw-cuts-through-anything-leaves-no-room-for-mistakes/ | DIY Table Saw Cuts Through Anything, Leaves No Room For Mistakes | Mike Nathan | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"pcb saw",
"switching power supply",
"table saw",
"tools"
] | Students in the BASTLI lab at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich had been stuck using underpowered and unreliable saws for quite some time. The saws often got stuck while cutting through PCBs and were generally a drag to use. When group member [Mario Mauerer] came across a big and powerful brushless motor in his basement,
he decided it was time to upgrade the lab’s cutting tools
.
Along with fellow student [Lukas Schrittwieser] he built a test rig to see how powerful the motor really was, and satisfied with the results, the pair set off to build their own table saw. The enclosure was wrapped up pretty quickly, leaving the pair to source a power supply. Rather than purchase one, they built a 700w monster switching PSU to power their saw.
As you can see in the video below the saw chews through most things with the greatest of ease, but the students added a “boost button” to the saw just in case they need to run it at full tilt.
While we can’t exactly overlook the lack of finger and eye protection in their demonstration, it does look like a great little tool to have around.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTVCvn05nYQ&w=470] | 62 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "414407",
"author": "purduecer",
"timestamp": "2011-07-07T22:14:21",
"content": "Safety glasses!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "414409",
"author": "hoooooooooooooooooooooooorj",
"timestamp": "2011-07-07T22:20:14",
"c... | 1,760,377,147.746717 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/07/minecraft-is-now-a-3d-design-tool/ | Minecraft Is Now A 3d Design Tool | Brian Benchoff | [
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"3d printer",
"cnc",
"minecraft",
"python"
] | [Cody Sumter] and [Jason Boggess] are students at the MIT Media Lab, and they just came up with
Minecraft.Print()
, an attempt to create a bridge between Minecraft and the real world via 3D Printers.
The print is first prepared by placing obsidian, diamond, gold, and iron blocks on opposite corners of the model in Minecraft. From there, a Python script takes over and parses the world map to generate an .STL file for a RepRap or MakerBot.
So far, [Cody] and [Jason] have printed a few Companion Cubes and the model of the Enterprise D. We’re pretty impressed with the resolution of the prints, especially considering the original model is voxelated. The prints look very nice, and right now we really want to print out all the cool stuff we’ve seen, like
Isengard
,
gigantic CPU
, or maybe a
Minecraft 3D printer
.
Minecraft.Print() sure is a nice program [Cody] and [Jason] have there. It would be a shame if anything happened to it. Check out a video demo after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CLfNIZ4LNo&w=450] | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "414388",
"author": "Finger",
"timestamp": "2011-07-07T21:21:58",
"content": "Between the companion cube and the Enterprise – D, they’ve just made my day ^____^",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "414397",
"author": "xorpunk",
... | 1,760,377,148.162935 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/07/update-playing-piano-with-optical-sensors/ | UPDATE: Playing Piano With Optical Sensors | Mike Szczys | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"keyboard",
"reflectance",
"reflective sensor"
] | [Sebastian Steppeler] has been hard at work on his
optical sensors for an electric piano
. When we looked in on the project back in October
he was testing reflective sensors
to increase responsiveness and MIDI data resolution for his electric keyboard. Since then he’s finalized the sensor circuits and produced enough boards to monitor all 88 keys on this full keyboard. You can see the string of PCBs just above the ivories, waiting to be installed. Not only are then in, but he also added sensors for the pedals.
Because the boards were installed by hand, there are some variances in the physical placement. This can have a rather dramatic effect on the readings from the reflective sensors so he has been working out a method of balancing the calibration. Part of this is already being taken care of by the C# interface that he wrote for a PC. Take a few minutes to check out
all of his blog posts
, then jump down after the break and hear how great it sounds.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Asjjw7bALeI&w=470] | 7 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "414376",
"author": "John P",
"timestamp": "2011-07-07T20:43:33",
"content": "Will there be files posted? i.e. pcb/code?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "414398",
"author": "CRJEEA",
"timestamp": "2011-07-07T21:55:29",
... | 1,760,377,148.108974 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/07/ardudelta-would-make-a-great-pick-and-place-machine/ | ArduDelta Would Make A Great Pick And Place Machine | Brian Benchoff | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"delta",
"delta robot",
"pick and place",
"robot"
] | [Bogdan] sent in a great build of a delta robot
he originally posted on the Arduino forum
, but he didn’t receive much feedback there. We think a build like this deserves a lot more credit.
After working for 7 months on his robot, [Bogdan] has a pretty stable (and very classy) platform made out of wood. The platform and arms in delta robots are usually extremely light to reduce the inertia of the tool so [Bodan] crafted these out of carbon fiber tubes and plexiglas. Everything is controlled by an Arduino Mega2560 encased in a plexiglas enclosure with a 20×4 LCD, status LEDs, and an infrared receiver.
Delta robots are known for
insane speed and precision
, and are frequently used in pick and place machines. We covered a few home-brew pick and place machines
earlier this year
, but there haven’t been many developments since. While [Bogdan]’s robot only has a pen tool right now, it would be fairly easy to put in a small suction nozzle for accurate placement of SMD components. Even if he keeps the pen tool, it’s still a very clean and professional build.
Check out the video of the ArduDelta in manual mode below.
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/25925860] | 23 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "414348",
"author": "yetihehe",
"timestamp": "2011-07-07T19:22:38",
"content": "Fast: yes. Precise: not. Does it have Parkinson’s disease or what?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "414349",
"author": "pod",
"timestamp": "20... | 1,760,377,147.802398 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/07/hacking-and-rolling-at-the-red-bull-creation-challenge/ | Hacking And Rolling At The Red Bull Creation Challenge | Mike Nathan | [
"contests"
] | [
"badge hacking",
"contests",
"funny",
"red bull"
] | The crew over at the HarfordHackerspace used their wits and creativity to land a spot at the final round of Red Bull’s Creation challenge.
The team arrived in Brooklyn just yesterday
, ready to take on all comers in the 72-hour hacking challenge which kicked off earlier this morning.
Like any other hacker convention, the Red Bull challenge sports its own unique guest badges just begging to be poked, prodded, and otherwise fooled with. Once the team arrived in New York they were given theirs, and after the opening festivities came to a close, the hacking began. The badges were putting out what looked like Morse code messages via a single red LED, and while part of the team worked to record and decode the message, others started reverse engineering the badge’s on-board PIC.
They were successfully able to bypass the PIC’s fuses to read the code inside, and what they found was pretty funny. You will have to follow the link above to find out what it was, but rest assured, the Red Bull folks definitely have a decent sense of humor. | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "414327",
"author": "bsom",
"timestamp": "2011-07-07T18:20:44",
"content": "We are HarfordHackerspace.org, not NartfordHackerspace. :-) Happens all the time :-)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "414328",
"author": "bsom",
"... | 1,760,377,148.252537 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/07/infrared-control-for-appliances/ | Infrared Control For Appliances | Brian Benchoff | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"decade counter",
"infrared",
"tsop1738"
] | [RB] at Embedded Lab sent in a great guide on how to
control appliances with a remote control
using a really clever implementation of a decade counter and IR receiver.
The
build
itself is very simple – just a relay connected to mains power and a handful of resistors and transistors. The device is controlled with a decade counter and an infrared module usually found tucked away in the bezel of a TV.
When everything is plugged in, the first pulse from the remote switches the relay on, providing power to the outlet. When a second pulse is received, the reset pin on the decade counter is activated, setting the device back to its original off state. It’s a pretty clever build, and could be built with parts lying around the bench.
The project is powered through wall power with the help of a transformer and a 7805 regulator, but we think the size could be reduced with a pass-through power enclosure – the circuit certainly is small enough. In all, a very nice, low component count build. | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "414300",
"author": "Rock Salt Lamps",
"timestamp": "2011-07-07T17:35:30",
"content": "Great work good keep it up.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "414301",
"author": "True Lover's",
"timestamp": "2011-07-07T17:36:08",
... | 1,760,377,147.849368 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/07/play-dress-up-with-kinect/ | Play Dress Up With Kinect | Mike Nathan | [
"Kinect hacks",
"Xbox Hacks"
] | [
"Kinect",
"openni",
"virtual"
] | While we have seen Kinect-based virtual dressing rooms before, the team at Arbuzz is
taking a slightly different approach
(
Translation
) to the digital dress up game. Rather than using flat images of clothes superimposed on the subject’s body, their solution uses full 3D models of the clothing to achieve the desired effect. This method allows them to create a more true to life experience, where the clothing follows the subject around, flowing naturally with the user’s movements.
Like many other Kinect hacks, they use openNI and NITE to obtain skeletal data from the sensor. The application itself was written in C# with Microsoft’s XNA game development tools, and uses a special physics engine to render the simulated cloth in a realistic fashion
[Lukasz] says that the system is still in its infancy, and will require plenty of work before they are completely happy with the results. From where we’re sitting, the demo video embedded below is pretty neat, even if it is a bit rough around the edges. We were particularly pleased to see the Xbox’s native Kinect interface put to work in a DIY project, and we are quite interested to see how things look once they put the final touches on it.
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/25933286 w=470] | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "414263",
"author": "z",
"timestamp": "2011-07-07T16:20:08",
"content": "This website should be called “Kinect a Day”.I’m not trying to be negative, but surely there is more news than this Kinect news?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_i... | 1,760,377,148.309419 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/07/use-bluetooth-to-open-your-garage-and-start-your-car-remotely/ | Use Bluetooth To Open Your Garage And Start Your Car Remotely | Mike Nathan | [
"Android Hacks"
] | [
"android",
"bluetooth",
"home automation",
"remote control"
] | Instructables user [tcollinsworth] is a big fan of his Android smart phone. He practically carries it with him everywhere, so he figured it would be cool to
integrate as many of his home electronics with the phone as possible
. His garage door openers seemed like easy enough targets, and while he was in the garage, he decided to hack his car’s remote starter as well.
He put together a small circuit that allows him to trigger any device via an application called Daisy On/Off, made specifically for the Bluetooth board he selected. One set of pins were wired to the garage door opener’s terminals, and the other to his remote start key fob. Once he had everything connected up, he packaged his components in a project box courtesy of his MakerBot. With that finished, he put together a simple interface in the Daisy application which can start his car or open the garage with a single button press.
It should be mentioned that [tcollinsworth] works for Daisy, so the reasoning behind his choice of components and Android applications is an obvious one. That said, schematics for the Daisy Bluetooth board are available online and the device can be controlled using BlueTerm, so you can feel free to roll your own implementation if you wish.
Our only nagging thought is that the system should probably include a feedback circuit that relays messages to the phone, indicating that the door is indeed open and that the car has been started. Pocket dialing your car to start without opening the garage first would definitely be a bad thing.
Check out the video below to see the system in action.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iklkktHuupA&w=470] | 19 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "414243",
"author": "Aaron Bitler",
"timestamp": "2011-07-07T15:41:10",
"content": "This is pretty cool, now if you could incorporate this with voice recgention that would be cool… for example:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ6Ubllw_4k",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"re... | 1,760,377,148.473523 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/07/vfd-hacking/ | VFD Hacking | Mike Nathan | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"reverse engineering",
"vfd"
] | [Mostafa] was a bit bored and had a broken DVD player sitting around, so he decided to take it apart
to see what made the machine’s LCD panel tick
. Once he popped it open, he discovered it wasn’t an LCD panel at all, it was a VFD.
The seven segment display looked to be controlled by an ET16312n VFD driver, so he dug around online and found a datasheet for the chip. After looking at the documentation he was pretty confident he could get things working without too much trouble. He started tracing the board for the STB, CLK, Din, and Dout leads he needed to set up serial communications with the panel and was on his way in no time.
He hooked the panel up to the parallel port on his computer, and got busy hammering out some C code to write text to the display. Right now, the code lets you scroll text across the display, which is about as far as [Mostafa] cares to take it. It was done mostly as a proof of concept exercise, but since this VFD is compliant with the same NEC programming standard that most VFDs use, his code can likely be reused to drive any similar display with very little tweaking. | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "414195",
"author": "Techie",
"timestamp": "2011-07-07T14:26:57",
"content": "Nice hack… Even better, he uses a Mac.. :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "414198",
"author": "andar_b",
"timestamp": "2011-07-07T14:29:26",
... | 1,760,377,148.412839 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/07/smile-your-face-is-on-the-internet/ | Smile, Your Face Is On The Internet | Mike Szczys | [
"computer hacks",
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"apple store",
"face recognition",
"internet",
"picture",
"webcam"
] | [Kyle McDonald] is up to a bit of no-good with a little piece of software he wrote. He’s been installing it on public computers all over New York City. It uses the webcam found in pretty much every new computer out there to detect when a face is in frame, then
takes a picture and uploads it to the Internet
.
We’ve embedded a video after the break that describes the process. From [Kyle’s] comments about the video it seems that he asked a security guard at the Apple store if it was okay to take pictures and he encouraged it. We guess it could be worse, if this were a key logger you’d be sorry for checking your email (or, god forbid, banking) on a public machine. Instead of being malicious, [Kyle] took a string of the images, adjusted them so that the faces were all aligned and the same size, and then rolled them into the latter half of his video.
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/25958231 w=470] | 98 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "414112",
"author": "Me",
"timestamp": "2011-07-07T12:12:53",
"content": "Would have been very cool if he’d made the public exhibition show a live video feed of another of the public computers.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "414... | 1,760,377,148.566207 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/06/driving-game-steering-wheel-controller-without-the-wheel/ | Driving Game Steering Wheel Controller Without The Wheel | Mike Szczys | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"controller",
"Kinect",
"racing",
"video games"
] | For some reason this project makes us think of the Light Cycles in Tron. You know, the bike forms around the rider after they grab onto the wand that makes up its controls? Certainly you’re not going to see a car form out of thin air, but this
driving controller let you grab onto nothing to control a racing game
.
You can see that it uses a Kinect to map the body of the player and convert your movements into motion control. The demo video embedded below the fold shows the calibration step, followed by the available control options. Pushing the steering wheel forward turns on the nitrous, leaning forward or back accelerates and brakes, and a few arm signals let you navigate the game menus.
This works by mapping gestures to keystrokes. [Rajarshi Roy] tells us that there’s a very raw
code package available in their repository
but the plan is to clean it up this weekend. They will also work on a Wiki, documentation, and a tutorial on teaching the software new gestures.
We just don’t know what we like better, seeing the kinect extended as a gaming controller like this one, or using it in robotics like
that quadcopter
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq7mdl0yAy0&w=470] | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "413876",
"author": "cyrozap",
"timestamp": "2011-07-06T22:52:11",
"content": "This made me think of this:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AacoxHFYvZw",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "413883",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timesta... | 1,760,377,149.088879 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/06/playing-chess-on-a-microcontroller/ | Playing Chess On A Microcontroller | Brian Benchoff | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"chess",
"conways game of life",
"dma",
"pic",
"vga"
] | [Arthur Benemann] started a little project for his electrical engineering program, and suffered the worst case of feature creep we’ve ever seen. He just posted an instructable of his
picChess
project that is able to play chess on a VGA monitor with a keyboard, with sound, a clock, temperature sensor. Apparently, [Arthur] was bored one evening and threw in an implementation of Conway’s game of life.
[Arthur] chose a DSPIC33F μC for his project with everything laid out on a bread board. He’s quite proud of his VGA routine, the first time he’s ever used DMA. We’re really impressed by [Arthur]’s chess engine – his is the first homebrew chess engine we’ve seen on Hack A Day. Although the engine is a brute-force search with
Alpha-beta pruning
, the engine itself seems fairly advanced that will even supports
castling
.
Although
a
few
rules
aren’t supported and the ELO rating of the engine isn’t known, [Arthur]’s engine should still be able to beat an amateur player. A fairly impressive feat indeed.
Check out [Arthur]’s video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G27dC_rapko&w=470] | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "413905",
"author": "Hackerspacer",
"timestamp": "2011-07-07T01:00:01",
"content": "“temperature sensor”?Uhh? What possible purpose does that serve?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "413914",
"author": "evs",
"timestamp": "... | 1,760,377,148.868153 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/06/moisture-control-for-a-diy-greenhouse/ | Moisture Control For A DIY Greenhouse | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"gardening",
"greenhouse"
] | [Clover] loves plant biology, and tends a small garden while she is at home during breaks from college. She says that her family is notoriously unreliable when it comes to caring for plants,
so she decided to construct a greenhouse
to ensure that her garden will still be around the next time she comes home.
With her raised bed garden built and her seeds planted, she started work on the greenhouse itself, which was constructed using PVC pipe and clear plastic sheeting. Satisfied with how the structure came out, she focused on the greenhouse’s watering system and moisture sensors. The watering system uses solenoids that are connected to a pair of Arduino regulated relays. The Arduino uses moisture sensors constructed from nails, triggering the water flow when things get too dry.
The controller along with its LCD status panel was mounted inside a bird house to protect it from the elements while keeping in line with the house’s decor. [Clover] seems pretty happy with the build, but we suspect she will be adding some temperature and regulation at some point, to facilitate longer growing cycles.
Check out the video below for a quick tour of her setup.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdojUHjg35g&w=470] | 32 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "413819",
"author": "Alex",
"timestamp": "2011-07-06T20:14:38",
"content": "“half a person, or lots of plants” hahaLooks nicely done. Might have some issues with corrosion and dust, but it’s simple enough to replace if that becomes necessary.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,377,149.156317 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/06/propeller-based-robot-with-basic-object-avoidance/ | Propeller-based Robot With Basic Object Avoidance | Mike Nathan | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"hack a week",
"parallax",
"ping",
"propeller",
"robot"
] | The Parallax Propeller is a pretty powerful MCU as [Dino] recently discovered
in his latest Hack a Week installment
. He wanted to build a simple robotics platform that he could use for testing out various sensors, and he figured he might as well learn about a different type of micro controller in the process.
He pieced together his robot using a pair of old Roomba motors he had sitting around, mounting them on a standard RadioShack project box. A Propeller MSR1 control board runs the show, and a Propeller PING sensor is used to get an idea of what the robot’s surroundings look like. He is an admitted newbie when it comes to using Propeller micro controllers, but [Dino] was able to give his robot some rudimentary object avoidance abilities fairly easily. A few small bugs aside, he had the robot up and running in short order, a testament to how easy it is to work with the Propeller platform.
Stick around to see a brief video covering the robot’s construction we have embedded below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znGYZdH3ebs#&w=470] | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "413807",
"author": "crazymike",
"timestamp": "2011-07-06T19:04:46",
"content": "I remember making this exact same type of robot with a BASIC Stamp II about ten years ago, great times playing with stamps!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"commen... | 1,760,377,148.908794 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/06/mb-led-is-next-generation-of-led-video-block-puzzles/ | MB LED Is Next Generation Of LED Video Block Puzzles | Mike Szczys | [
"LED Hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"GLiP",
"puzzle",
"stm32",
"video"
] | Meet MBLed
, a set of interactive 8×8 LED tiles. Put them next to each other and they will orient themselves into a video screen which is the sum of the parts. If this sounds familiar it’s because we’ve seen the concept before in
the GLiP project
. [Guillaume] tells us that MB Led is the new version of GLiP and from what we’ve seen they’ve made a lot of progress.
The hardware is well designed. A PCB hosts the STM32 microcontroller and a pair of pin headers which receive the RGB LED matrix module. A pair of AA battery holders make up the legs for the device. Each has infrared receiver/emitter pairs on each of the four edges and constantly polls for its neighbors.
What really impresses us is the algorithms they’re using for communications. FreeRTOS runs on the ARM processors, and a series of messages was developed which allow the blocks to elect a leader, and follow its commands via the distributed system. Check out more about those algorithms on the page linked above, and join us after the break to see the demo video.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxhkEBGJZMA&w=470] | 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "413761",
"author": "Will",
"timestamp": "2011-07-06T17:17:54",
"content": "PURE. WIN.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "413774",
"author": "Kevin",
"timestamp": "2011-07-06T17:47:39",
"content": "The way you say “Elect... | 1,760,377,148.964654 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/06/your-snapshot-on-a-thermal-printed-receipt-instantly/ | Your Snapshot On A Thermal Printed Receipt, Instantly! | Mike Szczys | [
"digital cameras hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"atmega8",
"thermal printer"
] | What could be better than a low-res black and white photograph printed instantly on paper that will yellow and crumple over time? Wow, we really need to work on our sales pitch. But all kidding aside, we love the idea that [Niklas Roy] came up with in order to build
this thermal printing camera
.
His
Picasa album
has two snapshots of the hardware. He’s using an LM1881 for video sync separation just like he did with
his PING project
. From there an ATmega8 microcontroller grabs each column from the image and prints it using the thermal printer. It looks like everything runs on a 9V battery which is nice for portability (although we still never got our hands on that rechargeable 9V we’ve been meaning to pick up). Perhaps just as impressive is that [Niklas] got this up and running with about 400 lines of code. Nice!
Of course you’ll want to see this in action so we’ve placed a video clip after the break. Just like old-timey cameras it looks like you’re going to need to sit still until the image is done printing.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt5dBrXg8eY&w=470] | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "413752",
"author": "willow",
"timestamp": "2011-07-06T16:47:55",
"content": "This is very awesome.. love the idea and re-use of material",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "413755",
"author": "Aleks Clark",
"timestamp": "201... | 1,760,377,148.810403 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/06/retro-radio-building-on-another-wifi-radio-hack/ | Retro-radio: Building On Another WiFi Radio Hack | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"radio",
"router",
"wifi",
"wireless"
] | [Jay Collett] likes listening to Internet radio stations and decided to build
his own standalone hardware that lets him listen
without being at his computer. But he wasn’t starting from square one on this project. [Jay] built on the epic instruction set that [Mighty Ohm] published when he first built
his own WiFi radio
.
Both of these radios used the same method of getting onto the internet; a hacked router. We kind of like this because it means you should be able to use the radio as a bridge for wired Ethernet devices. But we digress. [Jay] departs from the instructions by using an Arduino and its IDE to interface an LCD screen with a different line/column orientation than the original, and to implement a different control scheme. This makes the project a bit more approachable if you prefer not to roll your own electronics.
Take a look at the video after the break. The router takes quite a while to boot, but once it does it seems that the controls are both intuitive and responsive.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzRpLWX_Lw4&w=470] | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "413732",
"author": "lou eney",
"timestamp": "2011-07-06T15:24:22",
"content": "this is a cool build. Thanks",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "413734",
"author": "Tweeks",
"timestamp": "2011-07-06T15:35:41",
"content":... | 1,760,377,149.01857 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/06/a-plotter-made-from-lego-parts/ | A Plotter Made From Lego Parts | Jeremy Cook | [
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"cnc",
"lego",
"plotter"
] | We’re always amazed at what people can come up with using Lego parts, but this hack certainly pushes the limits. Originally conceived as a 3D printer,
this plotter
is still an impressive proof-of-concept. Ironically, this “3D printer” was build with the hope of winning a Makerbot 3D printer, so be sure to vote for it if you’re impressed.
it’s pretty impressive seeing what [graphmastur] has done using only Lego parts. It’s especially entertaining to see a sheet of Lego “grass” used as the Y-axis table. The build was designed in Lego Digital designer, and the parts are available in “LDD” format or HTML.
This project is explained further in the video after the break. If you’d like to simply see it do a plotting operation, fast forward to around 4:30. The device is not perfect, but as the video says “it worked, pretty well” when drawing a square with an ordinary marker.
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbVgnLbvZWM&w=470%5D | 9 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "413705",
"author": "Will",
"timestamp": "2011-07-06T13:30:06",
"content": "You guys need to figure out how to embed the video so we can see the whole thing lol.Great concept though, neat to see it work!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment... | 1,760,377,149.279858 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/06/magic-locket/ | Magic Locket | Nick Schulze | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"jewelry",
"led",
"locket",
"pic"
] | [Andrey] from RTFM has built himself a
glowing LED pendant
using only three parts and some simple code. The hack is not particularly complicated but [Andrey] provides some decent instructions on Pickaxe programming via an RS232 serial port and RGB LED control to produce the nice glowing effects. The pendant contains an RGB LED, a Pickaxe-08 microcontroller and a couple of button cell batteries. To cram everything inside the locket, [Andrey] had to grind down the LED and Pickaxe-08 to their minimum dimensions using a file.
All of the Basic code for the pendant is supplied on the project page and [Andrey] describes how he manages to PWM all three LED pins for the colour effects. The video after the break may be of interest to anyone who has not had a go at Picaxe programming before or for a beginner who wants to try out some new embedded devices without a big hit to the wallet.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzSyRVETA8Y&feature=player_embedded&w=470] | 21 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "413675",
"author": "Tim P",
"timestamp": "2011-07-06T11:47:21",
"content": "Did you misspell PICAXE as PICKAXE ;)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "413677",
"author": "smoker_dave",
"timestamp": "2011-07-06T11:51:49",
... | 1,760,377,149.337413 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/05/paper-craft-claw/ | Paper Craft Claw | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"claw",
"glue",
"paper",
"paper craft",
"tape"
] | Grab some stiff paper and get to work
building your own paper claw
. [Dombeef] posted the instructions to recreate the claw above because he was unsatisfied with his previous design which was flimsy and unable to pick up just about anything. This version is a bit larger and it internalizes all of the parts.
Being paper craft, you don’t need much in the way of materials or tools. A push-pin makes holes for the paperclip and wire which serve as the pivot points. Glue and some tape hold the rest of assembly together. You can see a video of the final product after the break. A shaft at the center closes the claw when pulled, and opens it when pushed to opposite way. This makes it perfect for that
home-made crane game
(or was that
a claw game
?)… as long as you’re not trying to pick up anything too heavy.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_zpLkn6-rE&w=470] | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "413527",
"author": "bootnecklad",
"timestamp": "2011-07-05T23:04:58",
"content": "Time for an upgrade to metal? :D",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "413530",
"author": "Dino",
"timestamp": "2011-07-05T23:10:08",
"conte... | 1,760,377,149.383832 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/05/gps-lap-timer-from-secondhand-parts/ | GPS Lap Timer From Secondhand Parts | Mike Nathan | [
"gps hacks"
] | [
"atmega",
"gps",
"lap timer",
"lcd",
"racing"
] | Hackaday forum member [nes] was training for an endurance race, and rather than having someone verbally call out his lap times,
he wanted something he could keep in-vehicle
to help keep track of his performance. With the race budget running dry, he and his teammates needed something cheap, if not free, to get the job done.
He scored a “broken” GPS receiver on eBay for a measly £4 and found that the receiver worked, but corrupted software prevented the unit from mapping routes. Since he didn’t require routing functions to keep track of his lap times, he splayed the GPS receiver open and started hunting around for a serial bit stream. He found what he was looking for after a bit of probing and hooked it up to his computer to see if the data contained NMEA sentences.
He cut the receiver down to the necessary parts and then started work on the lap timer itself. The timer uses an ATMega32 to run the show, displaying relevant time and location information on an LCD panel he scavenged from the trash bin.
He admits that the wiring is a bit questionable, but says that after about seven hours of rough use, everything is still intact and working great. | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "413666",
"author": "Punkguyta",
"timestamp": "2011-07-06T11:00:02",
"content": "For what it’s worth, could he have not just worked on hacking a custom firmware onto the device instead of tearing it apart just for the GPS receiver, and from what I gather, a non-standard NMEA output t... | 1,760,377,149.426249 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/05/electronics-tutorial-twofer-soldering-skills-and-wires/ | Electronics Tutorial Two-fer: Soldering Skills And Wires | Mike Nathan | [
"how-to",
"News"
] | [
"basics",
"electronics",
"soldering",
"tutorial",
"wires"
] | There is a plethora of electronics tutorials scattered about online. Sometimes it can be hard to separate the good ones from the bad, and the enlightening from the misinformed. We recently came across a pair that we found helpful, and thought they would appeal to anyone starting off in electronics.
In this video tutorial
, [Dave Jones] at the EEVblog covers soldering, detailing good practices and common mistakes to avoid when working with through-hole components. As the second video in a series
he picks up where part one left off
, excitedly demonstrating the ins and outs of good soldering skills.
Hackaday reader [grenadier] is working on a series of beginner’s electronics tutorials, and
this week’s entry covers wiring
. He discusses wire types, gauges, and even provides a nifty self-computing chart that calculates power loss based on the length and gauge of the selected wire. Before wrapping things up, he briefly touches on fuses and the pitfalls of choosing wire that’s not up to the task at hand. While you’re over there looking over his tutorial,
be sure to check out the Junkbox
, there’s plenty of awesome stuff to be had! | 27 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "413486",
"author": "Morten Larsen",
"timestamp": "2011-07-05T20:24:01",
"content": "Dave Jones rules!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "413497",
"author": "drew",
"timestamp": "2011-07-05T21:16:37",
"content": "eev tut... | 1,760,377,149.765232 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/05/take-to-the-skies-with-this-flying-rc-superhero/ | Take To The Skies With This Flying RC Superhero | Mike Nathan | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"radio controlled plane",
"rc",
"toys"
] | It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s….
A flying RC super hero?
No, you’re not imagining things. Maker [Greg Tanous] loves both RC airplanes and super heroes, so he thought it would be awesome to
combine his two loves into one spectacular toy
. The RCSuperhero comes in two flavors, measuring 75″ and 57″ tall. The larger plane can be purchased as a kit, but the smaller unit is only available in plan form.
The flying superhero weighs in at just about three pounds, and is constructed from foam, carbon fiber, and various other lightweight materials. When using the recommended motor, the RCSuperhero can be launched from a standing position, doing away with the need for runways. The craft looks to be just as maneuverable as any regular RC airplane, making it easy for any seasoned pilot to pick up the controls and get started.
RC planes are pretty cool, but we’ve got to admit that the idea of a vertically launching, flying superhero sounds like a lot of fun!
Stick around to see [Greg’s] RCSuperhero in action.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1F1OpRxY-k&w=470] | 42 | 42 | [
{
"comment_id": "413433",
"author": "Marc",
"timestamp": "2011-07-05T17:28:00",
"content": "Coool",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "413434",
"author": "sneakypoo",
"timestamp": "2011-07-05T17:29:28",
"content": "Now I could be all seri... | 1,760,377,149.58272 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/02/game-boy-communicates-directly-with-an-sd-card/ | Game Boy Communicates Directly With An SD Card | Brian Benchoff | [
"Nintendo Game Boy Hacks"
] | [
"gameboy",
"sd card"
] | [kgsws] just finished his Game Boy upgrade that allows him to load games from an SD card. Loading a game off an SD card has been done before, but [kgsws] decided to not to use a cartridge-based device. In the end, he threw out all the stops and finished his project by having the
Game Boy access an SD card directly
.
[kgsws] his project trying to figure out how to put some GPIO pins on a game cartridge, but figured that this would take too much hardware. After looking at the specs of the link port, he realized that it was the wrong polarity. Not to be deterred, [kgsws] realized that there was something
like
a general-purpose I/O on the Game Boy – the
joypad input
.
After figuring out the logic of accessing the SD card through the joypad, [kgsws] set to work building a FAT32 parser and a simple BIOS on an EEPROM. The entire system runs off an ATmega32, and he was kind enough to include the
schematics
and
all the code
. The end result is really neat – it can load and save 512kB Game Boy ROMs and save data, read .txt files. As an added bonus [kgsws] put in a custom boot logo to replace the top-scrolling Nintendo logo.
While the joypad buttons don’t work when the SD card is being accessed, and the battery draw is larger than the already power-hungry DMG-001, we’re amazed by [kgsws]’s hardware hackery. Check out the video of [kgsws]’s hack below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tcam0vDfhY&w=470] | 26 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "412447",
"author": "phase",
"timestamp": "2011-07-02T15:34:26",
"content": "finished finished.Great post :). I love it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "412448",
"author": "Paul Potter",
"timestamp": "2011-07-02T15:40:44"... | 1,760,377,149.704414 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/01/a-mame-cabinet-fit-for-a-doctor-who/ | A MAME Cabinet Fit For A Doctor (Who) | Mike Nathan | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"arcade",
"dr. who",
"mame",
"tardis",
"video games"
] | While many people would be satisfied leaving a MAME console on their desk, others take the time to put their MAME creations in a nice, authentic arcade cabinet. Some people like [Simon Jansen] take the craft to a whole new level,
crafting a TARDIS from the ground up in order to house a MAME console
.
It all started with a computer that had no real purpose. [Simon] decided it would be great to use as a MAME console, so he started brainstorming ideas for an enclosure. As he tells it, he was staring out a window looking for inspiration when his eye caught a giant billboard for [Dr. Who], complete with a TARDIS. The rest was history.
The MAME cabinet is about 3/4 the size of an on-set TARDIS, and crafted mostly from MDF. Plenty of time was spent analyzing the different TARDIS designs featured on the show over the years, paying special attention to even the smallest of details. Once the construction of the TARDIS was complete, [Simon] started work on the MAME portion of the project.
His MAME console was built to completely fit inside the TARDIS when closed, but it also had to take into account the box’s inward folding doors, which take up a good bit of space. The base was also made from MDF, and includes a durable white plastic panel in which the controls are mounted.
The final result is amazing – it does the TARDIS justice, and it looks like plenty of fun to play as well. | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "404464",
"author": "Scott",
"timestamp": "2011-06-11T17:58:07",
"content": "EPIC, nothing else to say but EPIC Great job",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "404471",
"author": "Hackerspacer",
"timestamp": "2011-06-11T18:22:4... | 1,760,377,149.64338 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/01/automated-led-hallway-lighting/ | Automated LED Hallway Lighting | Jeremy Cook | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"home easy",
"led",
"lighting"
] | If normal hallway lighting just doesn’t live up to your standards,
this hack
may be for you. When [Sean] fitted his kitchen, he replaced the flooring leading up to it. In true hacker form, he decided to forgo (supplement?) traditional lighting and came up with his own solution.
This solution involved embedding the skirting used around his hallway hardwood with blue LED lights. Unfortunately, these LEDs were actually longer than the skirting was thick, so some plaster carving was also necessary. It is all hidden very well behind the skirting, so you can’t tell. These blue LEDs give a really cool effect, similar to what can be seen at some movie theaters.
Although impressive in itself, [Sean] decided to also hook his setup up to a
“Home Easy”
device for control. A passive infrared sensor for this system has also been ordered so the lights can turn on without human interaction. We can see this being fantastic for those late night trips to the kitchen for a drink. With this low light solution, you won’t be wondering back to the bedroom without your night vision. | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "412238",
"author": "Keith",
"timestamp": "2011-07-01T19:55:15",
"content": "LEDs are always nice. Not that he needed anything else for this project, but if the LEDs were all home wired individually you could add effects like chasing and cascading.",
"parent_id": null,
"dept... | 1,760,377,149.852764 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/01/boobie-board-powered-twitter-notifier/ | Boobie Board Powered Twitter Notifier | Mike Nathan | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"boobie board",
"lua",
"notification",
"twitter"
] | The team over at Archonix frequently challenge themselves to create a full working project in under 20 minutes. [Andrew Armstrong] put together a blog post detailing their most recent “Quickproject” –
a simple Twitter notifier built using their Boobie Board
.
They started by putting together a small notifier breakout module that could later be attached to their Boobie Board. The module is pretty simple and includes a trio of LEDs to alert you to activity across several online services, though only the Twitter notification module is currently complete. The notifier’s code was written in LUA, and primarily designed to interact with Linux desktops. They do not currently have a Windows compatible version of the code available, but they are more than happy to host it if someone desires to port their code over.
The notifier was put into an old candy tin with a plastic window, which is perfect fit for their project. All in all, the entire thing took them about 40 minutes, with half spent on hardware, half on code. The notifier does just what it was intended to do, but they have a healthy list of improvements that they would like to add, including the use of the other two notifier LEDs. | 16 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "412263",
"author": "mad_max",
"timestamp": "2011-07-01T21:16:37",
"content": "Haha, boobie.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "412312",
"author": "Matt",
"timestamp": "2011-07-02T00:53:39",
"content": "Bea... | 1,760,377,149.905803 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/01/flogo-a-floating-foam-logo-generator/ | Flogo – A Floating Foam Logo Generator | Mike Nathan | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"advertising",
"bubbles",
"flogo",
"helium",
"stencil"
] | Check out this floating foam letter machine that was shown off at last year’s IFA show in Berlin, the German equivalent of CES.
The contraption is called Flogos
, and comes from a company named SnowMasters based out of Alabama.
The Flogos machine consists of a helium and compressed air bubble generator positioned below a custom stencil cutout. As the bubbles form, they are forced into a relatively tight formation as they exit the stencil. Once a nice thick layer is established, a small plastic arm is dragged across the surface, liberating the foam from the stencil allowing it to float through the sky as you can see in the video below.
We think it’s pretty cool, and we wouldn’t mind having one around just for kicks. If you were to lay some stencils over a tweaked version of
this foam generator we featured last year
, you could probably have your own floating foam printer up and running in no time.
Stick around to see the video from IFA that originally caught our attention.
[Thanks DMF]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN-mfQsno2g&w=470] | 29 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "412195",
"author": "Alex",
"timestamp": "2011-07-01T17:27:25",
"content": "Very clever! I like that it’s not over-engineered. Stencils work just fine.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "412197",
"author": "Oren Beck",
"time... | 1,760,377,149.970262 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/01/livescribe-shuts-down-developer-program/ | Livescribe Shuts Down Developer Program | Brian Benchoff | [
"News"
] | [
"developers developers developers",
"livescribe",
"smartpen"
] | [Kelly] sent in a tip saying that Livescribe, the company behind a remarkable smartpen able to record handwriting, was shuttering the developer program by taking down their dev forums and removing the SDK, taking away the ability to write custom apps. [Kelly]
posted about this on her blog
.
Livescribe has a thriving community around it and the
pens
themselves have had some incredible hacks, like
Zork played on an Echo smartpen
.
Livescribe’s official reason for shutting down the development program is to concentrate on, “cloud access, storage and services.” While we’re still wondering why Livescribe would sideline the developers that give a platform more functionality, it’s astonishing that a company would take down the SDK and delete the dev forums of their own product.
Although the largest Livescribe development and hacking forum has been shut down, we fully expect an independent forum to pop up within the week. We’ll be sure to post a link to that forum when we get word of it. If you know where the new forum is, be sure to send it into the
tip line
. | 35 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "412148",
"author": "xorpunk",
"timestamp": "2011-07-01T15:18:45",
"content": "why? cause companies die by force when they don’t cover costs..who here had one?I work in software, I know all about the general public wondering how no-return affects your company..people who aren’t even ... | 1,760,377,150.143955 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/01/electro-active-polymers/ | Electro-active Polymers | Mike Szczys | [
"chemistry hacks"
] | [
"acrylic",
"eap",
"electro-active polymers",
"muscle"
] | What’s that you say? You’ve got rigid materials that change their shape when exposed to electric current? Sign us up for some! Although the fabrication process looks a bit daunting, we love the results of
working with electro-active polymers
. These are sheets of plastic that can flex by contracting in one direction when the juice is turned on. It has an effect very similar to muscle wire but distributed over a larger area.
From what we saw in the video after the break it looks like this is not the most resilient of materials. Several of the test shots have broken panes, but we’re sure that will improve with time. It looks like there is
some info out there about fabricating your own EAP
but the processes seem no easier than what’s going on at the research level. We might stick to
building our own air muscles
until EAP is easier to source for projects.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XGVMXCxBNA&w=470]
[Thanks Kristoph] | 22 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "412138",
"author": "Roman Dulgarov",
"timestamp": "2011-07-01T14:19:30",
"content": "If made as a bunch of strips it may work as “muscle” fabric … not sure what the strength and power requirements are though… but looks very interesting one application I can see is possibly to alig... | 1,760,377,150.02493 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/01/cnc-pdbu-pancake-batter-dispenser-unit/ | CNC-PBDU (pancake Batter Dispenser Unit) | Mike Szczys | [
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"cnc",
"flapjacks",
"griddle",
"lego",
"nxt",
"pancakes"
] | Flapjacks taste infinitely better when they’re machine-made. Well, that’s true for [Mexican Viking] who
built an automatic pancake maker
to the delight of his family.
Obviously, the building material of choice is Lego. The machine consists of a base with two linear gears on either side. A gantry is held high above this base, travelling upon geared towers to either side. The writing nozzle, fashioned out of ketchup bottles, can move back and forth along this gantry for a full range of motion along the X and Y axes. Lego pneumatic pumps supply pressurized air which forces the batter out of the bottle reservoir. This dispensing system is extremely clever and worth reading a bit more about. But if you just want us to make with the good stuff, you can see it grilling up pancakes in the video after the break.
The only thing missing is
automatic flipping
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aux0ZQJVBk&w=470]
[Thanks Hackadayisgreat via
Gizmodo
] | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "412129",
"author": "Mad Flapper",
"timestamp": "2011-07-01T13:45:18",
"content": "Flippin’ Great !",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "412132",
"author": "mbtronics",
"timestamp": "2011-07-01T13:47:55",
"content": "Is th... | 1,760,377,150.074402 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/01/importing-pcb-layout-into-google-sketchup/ | Importing PCB Layout Into Google Sketchup | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"cad",
"design",
"google",
"idf",
"pcb",
"sketchup"
] | If you’ve been spending hours with the digital calipers while designing enclosures for your circuit boards there may be a better way. [Phil] tipped us off about a new software package that will let you
import PCB layout files into Google Sketchup
. This way you can start working on the enclosure in CAD before you’ve populated your first board. Of course this adds to the pain of realizing there’s an error in your layout, but what are you going to do?
The free software was developed by RS Components, a European component distributor. It takes IDF files, which can be exported from most PCB design software, and converts them to a format compatible with Sketchup, Google’s 3D design software. For those who enjoy a very dry demonstration video you won’t want to skip seeing what we’ve embedded after the jump.
We’re kind of surprised that this hasn’t already been done. If it has, leave a link in the comments.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACNCB69-G9E&w=470] | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "412120",
"author": "steaky",
"timestamp": "2011-07-01T12:35:14",
"content": "We have to export our PCB’s as a DXF file, then import into ProE.Bit of a pain though",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "412126",
"author": "pinky",
... | 1,760,377,150.31048 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/01/external-text-display-for-nexus-one/ | External Text Display For Nexus One | Noah Dunker | [
"Android Hacks",
"Arduino Hacks",
"Cellphone Hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"android",
"arduino",
"cellphone",
"lcd",
"microcontroller",
"usb"
] | [follower] prototyped a
2-line external display for his Nexus One
using an Arduino with a USB Host Shield, and the Android Open Accessory Protocol. There are two basic software pieces at work: an Arduino sketch that handles displaying data sent from the phone, and a lightweight android app to detect the presence of the external screen and send data to it. As shown here, it diplays the time and the beginning of the most recently received SMS message.
This project coalesced from several other things [follower] had been working on with regards to USB accessories, background services, interfacing with the Arduino and handling SMS messages, so it’s modular and open-source. If you’re interested in mashing up microcontroller projects and your android phone, there’s plenty of stuff in this project to help you get off the ground.
As hacks go, this is very much a “because you can” sort of deal that’s designed to tie a bunch of cool things together. You’re unlikely to catch us carrying an LCD and breadboard around in our pockets any time soon, but it paves the way for some potentially fun phone accessories. | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "412105",
"author": "BacklitVillain",
"timestamp": "2011-07-01T11:22:04",
"content": "Nice. Could be good to veiw sms/email/notifications etc without having to remove you phone from you pocket, via a watch or something, perfect for in a meeting or out jogging.",
"parent_id": null... | 1,760,377,150.434294 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/06/30/new-conductive-ink-allows-circuit-prototyping-with-a-pen-and-paper/ | New Conductive Ink Allows Circuit Prototyping With A Pen And Paper | Mike Nathan | [
"News"
] | [
"circuits",
"conductive",
"ink",
"paper",
"pen"
] | Why spend time etching circuit boards and applying solder masks when all you really need is
a rollerball pen and some paper?
That’s what University of Illinois professors [Jennifer Lewis and Jennifer Bernhard] were asking when they set off to research the possibility of putting conductive ink into a standard rollerball pen.
The product of their research is a silver nanoparticle-based ink that remains liquid while inside a pen, but dries on contact once it is applied to a porous surface such as paper. Once dry, the ink can be used to conduct electricity just like a copper trace on a circuit board, making on the fly circuit building a breeze.
Previous ink-based circuit construction was typically done using inkjet printers or airbrushing, so removing the extra hardware from the process is a huge step forward. The team even has some news for those people that think the writable ink won’t hold up in the long run. The ink is surprisingly quite resilient to physical manipulation, and they found that it took folding the paper substrate several thousand times before their ink pathways started to fail.
While we know this is no substitute for a nicely etched board, it would be pretty cool to prototype a simple circuit just by drawing out the connections on a piece of paper – we can’t wait to see this come to market. | 42 | 39 | [
{
"comment_id": "411918",
"author": "KP",
"timestamp": "2011-06-30T23:14:58",
"content": "That’s pretty neat, but how am I going to solder to paper?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "411921",
"author": "Spork",
"timestamp": "2011-06-30T23:... | 1,760,377,150.39262 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/06/30/androcade-is-a-controller-and-stand-in-one/ | Androcade Is A Controller And Stand In One | Mike Szczys | [
"Android Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"bluetooth",
"gaming",
"mame",
"retro",
"stand"
] | We remember when retro-gaming required a lot of equipment and a serious time commitment to put together a gaming interface. [Scooter2084] proves that we’ve come a long way with this
gaming controller built to complement Android hardware
.
It’s not immediately obvious from the image above, but the controller itself looks just like Andy the Android. His head is tilted upward and acts as the tablet stand, while his torso hosts the controls. We don’t the arms and legs have a functional use but they are necessary to complete the look.
Traditionally arcade controls have used a hacked gamepad, or dedicated hardware like the
MAME cabinets that use iPac control boards
. But this rendition interfaces the joystick and four buttons using an Arduino. A Bluetooth shield lets you control the Android device wirelessly, and opens up the possibility to use this as a controller for laptop-based emulators and the like. Don’t miss the video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nhah_YujOM&w=470] | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "411914",
"author": "patman2700",
"timestamp": "2011-06-30T22:53:51",
"content": "“We don’t the arms and legs have a functional use…”I don’t want to sound too critical, but it seems as if editors aren’t even reading over their own articles before posting them.Errors aside, looks real... | 1,760,377,150.482671 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/06/30/driving-and-old-receipt-printer/ | Driving And Old Receipt Printer | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"parallel",
"receipt printer"
] | It seems like receipt printers are pretty popular as hacking targets lately. Aside from the wasted paper, they cooler than plain old blinking LEDs and we’d image there’s a ton of them floating around out there as advances in technology have prompted retailers to trade in the bulky dinosaurs for slimmer thermal printers. [Philip Hayton] picked up this Epson model at some type of equipment sale and set to work
figuring out how to control it
.
This unit is addressed via a parallel interface. After assessing the pinout and searching a bit for protocol information [Philip] hooked up his Arduino and printed out a fitting first message that reads: “Hello World”. He’s got a few tricks you can learn from when trying to talk to hardware with which you are not well acquainted.
Need a reason to go out and find your own receipt printer? Check out this
paper-based gaming system
for some inspiration. Now develop your own paper recycling setup and we can file this one under ‘
green hacks
‘.
[Thanks Andy] | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "411888",
"author": "that1guy",
"timestamp": "2011-06-30T21:15:25",
"content": "Driving and old receipt printer what?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "411889",
"author": "Noodle",
"timestamp": "2011-06-30T21:15:37",
"c... | 1,760,377,150.541683 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/06/30/tweeting-home-alarm-system/ | Tweeting Home Alarm System | Mike Nathan | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"alarm",
"arduino",
"security",
"twitter"
] | Instructables user [willnue] wanted to build a DIY Tweeting alarm system from the ground up, but reconsidered after taking a close look at the scope of such a project. He settled on using an off the shelf security system,
taking care of the Twitter interface on his own
. He bought a GE 45142 Wireless alarm and promptly disassembled it to see how he might retrieve status messages from the unit.
He figured that monitoring the alarm’s LEDs would make the most sense, so he used a bit of Ethernet cable and wired all of the system’s indicators to his Arduino board. He hooked up an Ethernet shield to the Arduino, then wrapped the pair up in a plastic project box that closely matched the look of the security system. Once that was done, he wrote some simple code for the Arduino that monitors each of the alarm system’s six status lights, sending updates to Twitter via the ThingTweet service.
With this system you might not get your status messages in time to foil whoever is carrying off your plasma TV, but at least you will know what to expect once you get home!
If you want to keep tabs on [Will’s] security system to
find out the best time to rob him
see how things are going,
check out his Twitter feed here
. | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "411873",
"author": "tony",
"timestamp": "2011-06-30T20:26:59",
"content": "I would love to see how to rig a up atracphone… i need to do somehting like this myself… howeverwe dont have any kind of telco/dsl/cable",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
... | 1,760,377,150.588908 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/03/sandbox-game-in-a-sandbox/ | Sandbox Game In A Sandbox | Brian Benchoff | [
"Kinect hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"Kinect",
"sandbox game"
] | The team at Monobanda have been working on a sandbox game called
Mimicry
that uses a Kinect to read the terrain of a sandbox.
From the
teaser video
and press release, the eventual goal appears to be controlling both a character in the game and the environment simultaneously. By reading the terrain of the sandbox with a Kinect, the team was able to import that into the game world. The team says the game world is inhabited by tiny virtual characters that, “roll around, jump and glide through the Mimicry world.” Anyone playing Mimicry can create obstacles for these little creatures or build them a race track. The Monobandia team says the point of this game is, “to create your own games.” With a fully editable world and its ‘rolling ball’ inhabitants, we can’t wait to make our own custom
Beyblade arena
.
Since the
release of the Kinect SDK
a few weeks ago, we’ve been seeing some
really amazing projects
that should have been day-1 demos from Microsoft. We’ve been impressed with the projects we’ve seen so far, and can’t wait to see what others come up with next. If you have a neat build, be sure to send it into the
tip line
.
Check out a video testing the game mechanics after the break.
[vimeo
http://www.vimeo.com/25665948%5D | 21 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "412824",
"author": "Volectorus",
"timestamp": "2011-07-03T19:36:36",
"content": "This would be Awsome for a motocross game.http://vimeo.com/25666910(additional vid)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "412854",
"author": "GuyPate... | 1,760,377,150.723336 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/03/a-simple-dolly-for-time-lapse-photography/ | A Simple Dolly For Time-Lapse Photography | Jeremy Cook | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"canon powershot",
"chdk",
"stepper"
] | [Henrique] wrote in to tell us about his time-lapse
photography hack
. Triggering of the camera is done via
CHDK
, or Canon Hack Development kit. This experimental kit allows Canon Powershot cameras to run scripts as well as other neat features without permanently changing anything. User scripts for
this hack
and others can be found here.
Once the Camera was set up to take pictures in a predetermined amount of time, a LDR (light dependent resistor) is used to detect when a picture is actually taken. A LED on the camera flashes every time an image is stored in the camera, so this provided an easy way to sense when this happens.
Once this signal is received, a PIC 16f84 processor and the associated circuitry then causes the stepper to step once per shot. The results of this experiment are very impressive, so be sure to check out the results after the break.
[vimeo
http://www.vimeo.com/25623454
w=470&h=225]
For another interesting camera trigger hack, check out this
trigger mechanism
made from an air freshener! | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "412709",
"author": "saturnnights",
"timestamp": "2011-07-03T14:20:56",
"content": "canon, not cannon.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_%28company%29",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "412720",
"author": "ic",
"timestamp": ... | 1,760,377,150.656118 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/03/robotic-schadenfreude-quadrotor-blooper-reel/ | Robotic Schadenfreude – Quadrotor Blooper Reel | Mike Nathan | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"fail",
"quadrocopter",
"quadrotor"
] | While quadrotors might just become the killing machines of choice some time in the future, we’re pretty sure it will be awhile before they run amok and wipe humans off the face of the planet,
if the following video is any indication
.
The team over at UPenn’s GRASP Lab film everything they do when it comes to quadrotors for posterity’s sake. When your awesome job consists of directing quadrotors through all sorts of acrobatic hijinks however, mistakes are going to happen. Thankfully, the team doesn’t keep these a secret, and while we’re typically wowed by what these flying machines can do, it’s also pretty fun to see them fail in such spectacular fashion.
If you have a spare minute, kick back, fire up the video, and enjoy the mechanical mayhem that ensues. We certainly sleep better at night knowing that while these things are awesome, a well-placed hula hoop is all it takes to ensure continued human supremacy.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVrxvqYlCDs&w=470] | 29 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "412698",
"author": "Colin",
"timestamp": "2011-07-03T13:11:12",
"content": "They may be bloopers, but some of that flying that they are attempting (e.g. putting a copter through a vertical slot or locating and flying through a hula hoop)is pretty damn impressive!",
"parent_id": ... | 1,760,377,150.792625 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/02/3d-display-using-a-kinect/ | 3D Display Using A Kinect | Brian Benchoff | [
"Kinect hacks"
] | [] | Youtube user [programming4fun] got a Kinect for father’s day and with just a little bit of code, came up with
a 3D display using only a Kinect
. Instead of the usual Kinect hacks like
computer vision
or
playing Mario
, we think the ‘Holographic display’ for the Kinect is one of the most useful implementations of the Kinect we’ve seen.
The build uses the Kinect SDK. The end result is a lot like the
Kinect snowglobe
we covered earlier, only instead of custom acrylic domes and a projector, this build enables pseudo-3D on any display. The hack works by having the Kinect track the users head. From that, it’s pretty simple to display a projection of a 3D model.
The system only supports a 3D display for one person, although with
shutter glasses
, that could be could be doubled. [programming4fun] says he’s thinking about adding anaglyph 3D – while the effect on video is pretty amazing, he says it’s not entirely convincing in real life.
We talked to the extremely modest [programming4fun], and he says the build isn’t technologically impressive at all. We’d disagree with that assessment because interfaces requiring movement have been around
since 1963
and they still haven’t caught on for a wide audience. While there have been a few motion controlled devices
that have worked well
, most of them
have been pretty bad
. The Kinect 3D display seems like it would have some utility with a Microsoft Surface type device.
[programming4fun] says if there’s enough interest he might be convinced to clean up his code and create an installer. Check out the video after the break.
UPDATE: [programming4fun] uploaded
another demo
with a “behind the scenes” look after this was published. Check it out.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDHJEbTPs7o&w=470] | 31 | 28 | [
{
"comment_id": "412560",
"author": "fco",
"timestamp": "2011-07-02T23:39:02",
"content": "it’s great when people do fantastic things and their ego doesn’t fly up.Two thumbs up!One for the work, the other for his attitude.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comm... | 1,760,377,150.86785 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/02/controlling-a-cga-monitor-with-an-arduino/ | Controlling A CGA Monitor With An Arduino | Jeremy Cook | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"cga",
"monitor"
] | CGA monitors may not be an amazing technological advance these days, but they can generally be found very cheaply. Additionally, they have a DB-9 connector and work off of TTL ranges (0-5VDC) making them ripe for experimentation.
This hack
takes advantage of all of these aspects to bring you an Arduino controlled CGA monitor.
One problem with experimenting with one of these monitors is that they are not that well documented. Fortunately, the detailed write up for this hack goes over some of the timing and frequency issues that one may encounter with this particular monitor. The article gives an Arduino pinout and the program used to drive the monitor with very detailed comments.
Although this hack is by no means a finished product, the now blurry test pattern seen above gives a pretty good proof of concept. It will be exciting to see if this hack inspires any other microcontroller-based projects. For some further information about CGA monitors, Wikipedia also has a fairly in-depth
write-up
about the technology. | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "412537",
"author": "Gray Simpson",
"timestamp": "2011-07-02T22:37:26",
"content": "I’m interested in seeing if this could result in a CGA converter for other signals!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "412541",
"author": "bootn... | 1,760,377,150.918459 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/02/not-your-ordinary-led-book-light/ | Not Your Ordinary LED Book Light | Mike Nathan | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"book",
"led",
"lighting"
] | [Steve Hoefer] is not a huge fan of traditional table lamps, so he set off to
build a reading light of his own
that was more aesthetically pleasing than the standard fare. He thought it would be pretty appropriate to construct his reading lamp out of a book, and we’re inclined to agree.
He stripped the pages from an old book he found at the thrift store, then built a plywood frame to fill in the recently vacated area. A second frame was built inside the first to support the installation of some warm LED strips as well as the acrylic sheet he used to diffuse the light. A whisker switch was installed in the corner of the frame, which turns the lights on when the book is opened. The lamp puts out about the light equivalent of a 40W bulb, and can be “dimmed” by simply adjusting how far the cover is opened.
It looks great on his bedside table, and like some of
his other book-related hacks
, it’s quite useful as well!
Be sure to check out the video of the light’s construction we have embedded below.
[vimeo
http://vimeo.com/25118139
w=470] | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "412505",
"author": "Anton Onszers",
"timestamp": "2011-07-02T19:05:47",
"content": "I love the way you can regulate the beam of light in this design. This is especially practical if you have someone next to you you don’t want to disturb. Great idea. I want one of those!",
"paren... | 1,760,377,151.242446 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/02/poor-mans-peltier-air-conditioner/ | Poor Man’s Peltier Air Conditioner | Mike Nathan | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"air conditioning",
"peltier"
] | It’s summer in Germany, and [Valentin’s] room was getting hotter than he could handle.
Tired of suffering through the heat
, and with his always-on PC not helping matters any, he decided that he must do something to supplement his home’s air conditioner. The result of his labor is the single room poor man’s A/C unit you see above.
He had a spare Peltier cooler sitting around, so he put it to good use as the basis for his air conditioning unit. He sandwiched it between a pair of CPU heatsinks before cramming his makeshift heat pump into a shoe box. Warm air is drawn into the box and across the cold side of the Peltier before being blown back into the room. On the hot side of the box air is also pulled in by a fan, drawing heat away from the unit before being exhausted outdoors through his window.
While he hasn’t quantified the machine’s cooling power, he seems quite happy with the results. We have a spare Peltier kicking around here somewhere, perhaps we should try building one just for grins. | 68 | 49 | [
{
"comment_id": "412472",
"author": "????",
"timestamp": "2011-07-02T17:10:19",
"content": "How effective is the cooling? No mention on how effective it is in the article.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6330614",
"author": "MM",
... | 1,760,377,151.111622 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/05/kinect-controlled-quadrotor/ | Kinect-controlled Quadrotor | Mike Nathan | [
"Kinect hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"Kinect",
"motion controlled",
"quadrotor"
] | The team over at the Flying Machine Arena has been busy
combining two of our favorite toys – quadrotors and Kinect
.
Like many other hacks, they are using Kinect to monitor their joint positions, mapping a handful of actions to the operator’s movements. Once the quadrotor is aloft, it can be directed around the room using the operator’s right hand. The gesture recognition system responds almost instantly, guiding the vehicle in all directions with ease. When the user’s left hand is raised, the quadrotor does a mid-air flip and awaits its next command, while a quick clap of the hands brings the machine to rest on the ground.
For the protection of anyone testing out the system, overhead motion tracking cameras are used to keep track of the Kinect’s position, creating an invisible midair barrier through which the quadrotor is not allowed to pass.
If you have a minute, check out the video below – controlling quadrotors looks way more fun than any Kinect game we’ve come across.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A52FqfOi0Ek&w=470] | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "413422",
"author": "BobSmith",
"timestamp": "2011-07-05T16:13:00",
"content": "The hack is fun, but what’s really impressive is that quadcopter. It is astonishingly stable. I want one.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "413424",
... | 1,760,377,151.157319 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2011/07/05/voice-controlled-robot-controlled-by-an-android-phone/ | Voice Controlled Robot Controlled By An Android Phone | Brian Benchoff | [
"Android Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"android",
"irobot",
"open accessory",
"voice control"
] | [Jeff] sent in a build of a
voice controlled robot
he just finished based on the
Android ADK
and an
iRobot Create
.
The robot is able to obey voice commands telling it where to go. Currently the robot responds to forward, reverse, left, right, stop, and ‘whistle while you work.’ It’s a creative use of the Android ADK with some obvious applications, but this project really shines with the write up on
instructables
. It’s rare that we’ve seen a project so well documented; it’s a great project for someone who wants to get their feet wet in the world of robotics.
[Jeff]’s write up goes through the steps of hooking up the ADK board to iRobot and providing all the electronic necessities. [Jeff] graciously provided
the code
for his robot if anyone would like to add to his project.
The ultimate goal [Jeff] is currently working towards is something akin to a
TurtleBot
, while keeping the voice control of the robot. In all, a very nice project. | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "413399",
"author": "Nardella",
"timestamp": "2011-07-05T13:12:35",
"content": "In other news, there is now a steering wheel controlled robot controlled by a car.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "413413",
"author": "Dino",
... | 1,760,377,151.197461 |
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