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https://hackaday.com/2010/10/24/hackaday-links-october-24-2010/ | Hackaday Links: October 24, 2010 | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"gears",
"internet explorer",
"lexus",
"popcorn"
] | Square Gears
This video
demonstrates square gears and other oddly shaped cogs. We can’t think of a use but it’s interesting none-the-less. [via
Tinkernology
]
Cooking with Lasers
It’s late and you’ve been at the workbench for quite some time. But why go to the kitchen for a snack? Grab a couple of 1 watt lasers, hot glue a kernel of corn to a DC motor, and
you’ll have popcorn in no time
.
Calling this a simulator just doesn’t do it justice
Okay, so
this link is a Lexus commercial
. But it’s worth watching to see the footage of this driving simulator. Inside that pod is an actual automobile surrounded by a 360 degree screen. The room has a full x and y axis to move the pod (and the car) as you drive through the simulated world. It’s like someone gave a bunch of geeks an unlimited budget and say “go nuts”. [Thanks Luke]
What takes the most time in your hacking adventures?
Everyone whose spent some time in web design has run across the peculiar rendering bugs and workarounds associated with Internet Explorer.
Internet Explorer Stole My Life
aims to tabulate the collective time wasted from the lives of developers. We think it’s hilarious because spending the same amount of time meeting
W3C standards
and this problem would go away. But [Caleb] mentioned something interesting when he saw this site: What part of your hacking adventures wastes the most time? We’d love to hear about it in the comments. | 51 | 49 | [
{
"comment_id": "202151",
"author": "freakshow29",
"timestamp": "2010-10-24T19:09:06",
"content": "so…whats the point to a driving simulator? i see the point to flight simulators because very few people can afford to purchase a plane. i feel like most people have been in a car before, and people w... | 1,760,377,352.185593 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/24/hackvision-is-build-your-own-retro-game/ | Hackvision Is Build-your-own Retro Game | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"atmega328",
"pong",
"space invaders",
"TVout"
] | If you wanted to try your hand at programming some retro games Hackvision can jump-start the process. It is
an Arduino-based game console in a controller format
. You get four directional buttons and one function button. It has two RCA jacks for mono audio, and black and white video.
We’re happy to find that there’s
information about game development
that will help you follow along with the Space Invaders and Pong examples. The system uses the Arduino TVout library for video, which is robust and fairly easy to interact with. But once you see the game play in the video after the break it’ll be hard to resist building one of these. Don’t forget, this is Arduino based. If you already have an Arduino that uses an ATmega328 you just need to build the audio, video, and button circuits.
[Thanks Franz] | 23 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "202104",
"author": "michael",
"timestamp": "2010-10-24T17:06:19",
"content": "Getting this to work on arduino takes tweeking an h file. If you have 2 resistors and an arduino you can get hackivision running on your arduino.Check out my site for details.http://www.flakelabs.com/index... | 1,760,377,351.124035 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/24/lightsaber-color-selector/ | Lightsaber Color Selector | Mike Szczys | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"18f2221",
"color",
"lightsaber",
"pic",
"rgb",
"star wars"
] | [George Hadley] developed a nice setup to
control the color of a replica Lightsaber
. A small PCB houses a PIC 18F2221 and three switching transistors for the colors. A powerful LED resides in the tip of the handle, lighting up the diffuser that makes up the blade. But our favorite part is the control scheme. He’s embedded a small RGB LED in the handle, giving feedback as to which color of light can currently be adjusted (red, green, or blue). One button scrolls through the colors and a slide potentiometer adjusts that them.
We wouldn’t go as far as calling this a Halloween prop, we think it’s better suited for
serious replica builds
. But it would make an amazing addition to the little one’s costume. See it in action after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POjmL48CssU] | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "202103",
"author": "Eirinn",
"timestamp": "2010-10-24T16:42:34",
"content": "Lol, now you got the choice of good and evil at your fingertips.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "202123",
"author": "bogdan",
"timestamp": "201... | 1,760,377,350.927465 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/23/marx-generator-knocks-our-rocks-off/ | Marx Generator, Knocks Our Rocks Off | Jakob Griffith | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"capacitor",
"disaggregate",
"generator",
"high voltage",
"lightning",
"marx",
"pole pig"
] | What weighs more than 500 pounds, produces 500 kilovolts, and we don’t recommend you try at home in any way shape or form? If you guessed a
rock disaggregation device
, you’re correct!
We also accepted lightning generators as correct answers
. Using high voltage electricity, a rock can be split apart down to its grains without destroying the precious minerals inside; unlike traditional grinding and mechanical techniques that often ruin the sample. All it takes is a massive hydro pole transformer, five 1uf 100 kilovolt capacitors, eight hand wound inductors, and two massive cojones to stand within 20 feet of the thing while it’s going off. Video after the divide.
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAQabaA2DWE&feature=player_embedded%5D | 52 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "201495",
"author": "spiritplumber",
"timestamp": "2010-10-23T21:14:24",
"content": "Bonus points for the look of the thing!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "201496",
"author": "spiritplumber",
"timestamp": "2010-10-23T21:... | 1,760,377,351.495612 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/23/im-me-usb-dongle-hacking/ | IM-ME USB Dongle Hacking | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"cc1110",
"cy7c63803",
"cypress",
"dongle",
"girl tech",
"im-me",
"OpenBench Logic Sniffer",
"usb"
] | This circuit board is from the USB dongle of a Girl Tech IM-ME. [Joby Taffey] took it apart and
poked around to learn its secrets
. These dongles come along with the pink pager that has become a
popular low-cost hacking platform
. But we haven’t seen much done with the dongle itself up until now.
[Joby] used
the OpenBench Logic Sniffer
to gain some insight on what’s going on here. The board has two chips on it, a Cypress CY7C63803 USB microcontroller which talks to the computer over USB and also communicates over SPI with a Chipcon CC1110 SoC radio. It looks like reprogramming the Cypress chip is a no-go, so he went to work on the CC1110. The inter-chip communications data that he acquired by sniffing the SPI lines gave him all he needed to reimplement the protocol using his own firmware. As a proof of concept he to reflashed the CC1110 and can now send and receive arbitrary commands from the dongle. There’s a tiny video after the break showing a script on the computer turning the dongle’s LED on and off.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN29hRLuAic] | 14 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "201459",
"author": "cgmark",
"timestamp": "2010-10-23T20:01:02",
"content": "I would love for someone to post some info on how to program these cypress chips. They are used in everything from keyboards and mice to ir controls. The only info I can get from cypress is you have to buy ... | 1,760,377,351.643781 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/23/evalbot-arrival-and-assembly/ | EvalBot: Arrival And Assembly | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"assembly",
"evalbot",
"robot",
"texas instruments",
"ti"
] | [Chris Muncy] just received his EvalBot from TI and
took some pictures of the assembly process
. He was one of the lucky folks that
picked up the kit for just $25
using a short-lived coupon code. Seeing the kit makes us wish we had ordered one. There is some assembly required but as you can see, it’s pretty much just mechanical assembly of the wheels and the front bumper arms.
We think the wheel design is quite good. It consists of two small gearhead motors mounted on the rectangular PCB parts that you can see on the right portion of the image above. Those mount to the circular mainboard using metal L brackets. The wheels themselves are three circular pieces of PCB, one with a smaller diameter sandwiched in between its two larger cousins. This creates a channel that is perfect for a neoprene O-ring to give the wheel traction. The main board uses an optical sensors and a hole through all three parts to function as a rotation counter.
It’s a fancy piece of hardware and we can’t wait to see what you can do with it! If you’ve got one,
we want to hear about your adventures
. | 38 | 38 | [
{
"comment_id": "201408",
"author": "Erik Johnson",
"timestamp": "2010-10-23T18:10:54",
"content": "Can’t wait ’til mine arrives!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "201412",
"author": "Bill",
"timestamp": "2010-10-23T18:21:13",
"content... | 1,760,377,351.347951 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/23/avr-programming-introduction/ | AVR Programming 01: Introduction | Mike Szczys | [
"Featured",
"how-to",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"AVR",
"introduction",
"programming"
] | We love looking at hardcore electronics projects with a beefy microcontroller and hundreds, if not thousands, of lines of code at its center. But everyone needs to get there somehow.
This tutorial series aims to make you comfortable programming the
Atmel
AVR line of microcontrollers
. Whether you’ve never touched a microcontroller before, or you’ve cut your teeth with dozens of Arduino projects, this will help you get right down to the hardware and give you the confidence to build anything.
Series roadmap:
AVR Programming 01: Introduction
AVR Programming 02: The Hardware
AVR Programming 03: Reading and compiling code
AVR Programming 04: Writing code
Prerequisite knowledge
Here’s the good news: I’ve set the bar quite low. You need basic knowledge of installing programs on your computer and using them. You should have some idea of
how a solderless breadboard works
and it is advisable that you have a multimeter and know how to measure voltage with it. And you shouldn’t be afraid of using Google to research questions that aren’t explicitly answered here.
What does a microcontroller actually do?
This is a loaded question. For the sake of understanding I’ll take this down to the most simple explanation:
A microcontroller takes some type of input
It makes a decision based on the software you have written
The outputs are changed based on the decision in step 2.
A microcontroller does what you program it to do. It does so quickly, and reliably.
How does it work?
For this tutorial series I will be discussing digital logic. That is to say that all input and output pins will be judged based on a voltage of zero, or 5V. This produces our digital 1’s and 0’s, with 5 volts as a one, and zero volts as a zero.
So if you want to light up an LED just wire up the circuit to a pin, make that pin an output, and set it to a logic high (5 volts). If you want to add a button, connect it to a pin that is set as an input and program the chip to measure the voltage level of that pin. It really is that easy, once you learn how to write the correct commands so that the chip understands your wishes.
A look at he chip itself
I’ve decided to use an ATmega168 microcontroller. It’s a powerful chip but it’s no harder to start using than its younger brethren. It will leave plenty of room for you to grow into your projects, while remaining affordable (less than $4.50). Here’s a diagram of it:
This is often called the pinout as it shows what each of the 28 pins on the chip actually does. All of these pins have multiple functions and that’s why there’s long lines of text next to each, except for five which only have one name. These are the pins having do with voltage and ground (VCC, GND, AVCC, AREF, AGND), an important issue with microcontrollers.
Integrated circuits need a steady voltage source. This means as part of our project we’ll need to build a voltage regulator. This is an easy thing to do on a breadboard, and you should be able to get your hands on the parts locally. It is also worth noting that there is a semi-circular dimple on the top of the chip. This is something you’ll find in the plastic case of these dual-inline-package chips an it’s used to make sure you don’t plug it in backwards.
Take a look at the pinout once again and look for the pins whose names start with PD. You should see eight of them total, labeled PD0 through PD 7. This is a fantastic example of the 8-bit nature of these chips. PD stands for Port D, one of the input and output register.
Everything in these chips centers around 8-bits.
That’s a sequence of eight 1’s or zeros in different combination. If you want to turn on or off specific features, you change one or more bits in a 8-bit register. Every time you want to change one pin you must address all eight in the register. We’ll learn much more about this but not until the third part of the series.
Programming
The ATmega168 is a programmable microcontroller. But better yet, it’s reprogrammable. In fact, when you’re working on a project you’ll most likely reprogram it several times an hour.
This chip has a size limit of 16 kilobytes of programming space. In these modern times of 64 gigabyte iPods 16 kilobytes might sound minuscule. But in reality that’s 16 kilobytes of machine code. You can do a lot with that… trust me.
You do need some type of hardware to get the code onto these chips. Usually this comes in the form of an AVR programmer. In the second part of this tutorial we’ll look at several different programming options, then build and program a test circuit.
Do Your Homework
To get ready for the rest of this tutorial series I need you to gather some tools. You must have some type of computer, be it a Linux box, Mac, or Windows PC. This will run software that takes our code, compiles it into something the microcontroller can use, and then tells a programmer how to write it to our chip.
The compiler
We’re eventually going to be writing our own code for the AVR, which uses the RISC architecture. But we’re doing this on a computer with x86 architecture. The tool necessary to accomplish this is called a
cross-compiler
. This is quite possibly the best reason to choose AVR for development, there’s an excellent tool chain available that can easily be installed on multiple platforms.
Mac users: Install
CrossPack
Windows users: Install
WinAVR
Linux users: Debian and Ubuntu users should install the GCC-AVR package which includes the entire toolchain. Others may want to look at the
AVR-libc toolchain page
for help compiling the packages.
This is not the only option. Many Windows users swear by
Atmel’s free AVR Studio software
. This is the only time I’ll reference it as I don’t have a Windows machine and have never tried that package.
Programming software
Our software-of-choice to run the hardware programmer is called AVRdude. If you installed one of the toolchains above you should already have this program. Go to a terminal window or the command prompt and type the following to make sure:
avrdude -h
This will show the help screen. If you get an error, you should check to make sure you properly installed the toolchain in the previous step,
or go download AVRdude yourself
.
What the future holds
That wraps up the introductory installment of this series.
Part 2
:
In the next installment of this series we’ll take a look at several pieces of hardware that you can use to program an AVR microcontroller. I’ve written a
hello world
program and will walk you through building the circuit on a breadboard, connecting the chip to a programmer, and using AVRdude to write this simple firmware to the device. I don’t want to get you too excited, but this does involve a flashing LED.
Part 3
:
A pre-compiled HEX file was used to program the AVR microcontroller in Part 2 of the series. In this portion we’ll look at the C language source code that made up that firmware. I’ll also talk in-depth about the peripherals available on the chip and detail how to use them. We’ll finish up by adding functionality to the original program, recompile it, and reprogram the chip with the upgraded version.
Part 4
:
Now that you’ve acquired AVR programming skills I’ll show you how to start building cool stuff with them.
Follow me:
@szczys | 69 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "201351",
"author": "profil",
"timestamp": "2010-10-23T16:11:52",
"content": "Oh, nice!Waiting for part 2 :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "201352",
"author": "Caleb Kraft",
"timestamp": "2010-10-23T16:12:48",
... | 1,760,377,351.217435 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/23/rgb-led-headband/ | RGB LED Headband | Caleb Kraft | [
"LED Hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"headband",
"led"
] | [Johncon] wrote this fantastic instructible showing us how to
make an RGB LED headband
. This should come in really handy the next time we find ourselves needing one… it happens. He picked up this little RGB LED strip while on a business trip to Shanghai. He had to reverse engineer the chip that controls each pair, but once that was done there wasn’t much left to do. He’s using a picaxe microcontroller since he had some lying around and, as he points out, they require very little external hardware.
He says he’s going to be ordering more of this LED strip soon and is willing to make a group buy if anyone is interested.
[via
MakeZine
] | 20 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "201308",
"author": "ruzo",
"timestamp": "2010-10-23T13:55:52",
"content": "Macegr as strips like thoose to sell..",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "201309",
"author": "Mouse Jay Kelly",
"timestamp": "2010-10-23T13:59:25",
... | 1,760,377,351.404218 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/22/halloween-props-pumpkin-in-standby-mode/ | Halloween Props: Pumpkin In Standby-mode | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"attiny2313",
"evil mad scientist",
"Halloween props",
"led",
"mac",
"pumpkin",
"standby"
] | Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories is preparing for Halloween with
this standby-mode pumpkin
. Inside there’s an LED plugging a hole that is drilled just to the skin of the gourd-like vegetable. It fades in and out similar to a sleeping Mac, using what we think is a vastly over-powered circuit based on an ATtiny2313 (1k of programming space for this?). But we still like the idea and we’d enjoy seeing it scaled up to a full LED matrix.
We’ve come to expect pumpkin hacks from EMSL and they don’t disappoint. Last year was
a mechanized version
, and the year before
an LED schematic symbol
. So what about your creation? With about one week left, take a look around and see if you can’t create something as wonderful as
the Pie of Sauron
. | 28 | 28 | [
{
"comment_id": "200945",
"author": "Paul Potter",
"timestamp": "2010-10-22T19:16:23",
"content": "Slight overkill, but amusing. Nice.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "200949",
"author": "will",
"timestamp": "2010-10-22T19:37:20",
"co... | 1,760,377,351.072375 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/22/fm-bug-using-salvaged-smd-parts/ | FM Bug Using Salvaged SMD Parts | Mike Szczys | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"bug",
"fm",
"nokia",
"RF",
"transmitter"
] | If you’re a soldering ninja this
FM transmitter bug
is for you. It’s quite similar to
the one we looked at yesterday
, but this uses 100% salvaged parts. Two phones donated components; a Nokia 3210 for its voltage-controlled oscillator and a Nokia 1611 for the rest of the parts. The bad news is that mobile technology like cellphones use some of the smallest surface mount packages known to man. That’s where the soldering skill come into play. The good news is that if you’ve been scavenging for discarded phones in order
to reuse their LCD screens
you already have these parts on hand.
[Thanks George] | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "200917",
"author": "biozz",
"timestamp": "2010-10-22T17:31:06",
"content": "is it just me or is this smd one bigger than the threw hole one? XD",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "200919",
"author": "Spork",
"timestamp": "20... | 1,760,377,351.271427 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/22/1000w-search-light-now-build-a-bat-signal/ | 1000W Search Light – Now Build A Bat Signal | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"arc",
"bat signal",
"lamp",
"search light",
"spotlight",
"welder",
"xenon"
] | Forget flashlights, and leave those burning lasers at home, [Ben Krasnow] built a
search light using a 1000W xenon arc lamp
. That box you see on the side of the trash-can housing countains a starting circuit that shoots 30 kilovolts through the xenon lamp to get it started but it is separate from the power supply. [Ben]
started experimenting with the lamp back in April
but recently finished the project by using the inverter from an arc welder to get the 50 amps at 20 volts needed when the lamp is on.
The insert on the left of the image above is an outdoor picture of the beam. You can make out a tree at the bottom. Take a look at the video after the break for a full walk-through of the circuitry and some test footage of the finished product.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4Zvh-Luic0] | 41 | 40 | [
{
"comment_id": "200881",
"author": "Polaczek",
"timestamp": "2010-10-22T15:52:12",
"content": "Wow, this is beautiful. Very nicely explained. Hats off to you sir!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "200883",
"author": "bilbao bob",
"timesta... | 1,760,377,351.575 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/22/panaplex-in-a-jar/ | Panaplex In A Jar | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"nixie",
"tube"
] | Check out this
home made panaplex display
. Panaplex displays are closely related to nixie tubes, but instead of layering individual numbers and lighting them separately, it uses pieces to build the numbers like a digital display. [Lindsay] managed to make one at home, using a jam jar as the vacuum tube. Argon as the gas in the tube gives it a pleasant purple color. We really think the end result is fantastic, you can see some build pictures and a run through of the numbers on the site. Unfortunately there aren’t any videos of the display in action.
[via
Makezine
] | 12 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "200828",
"author": "Cubby",
"timestamp": "2010-10-22T14:21:13",
"content": "Went to the link and took a look at the project. For a home made display, it looks quite pleasing to the eye. Well done!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id"... | 1,760,377,351.955925 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/21/tiny-fm-transmitter-bugs-rooms/ | Tiny FM Transmitter Bugs Rooms | Mike Szczys | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"bug",
"fm",
"transmitter"
] | Lucid Science delves into spy-tech once again with this
tiny FM transmitter
. Their post demonstrates a bit larger version than seen above, using a 9-volt battery and protoboard sized to match which makes for easier soldering. The design uses a microphone, two transistors, enameled wire for the coil, as well as various resistors, capacitors, and a potentiometer. What you end up with is an amazingly clear audio signal that can be picked up with a normal FM radio.
This would make a great project to do with the kids. You can talk about circuit design, practice soldering, and when finished they’ve got an almost miraculous toy to play with. Just be careful what you say around the house, the room might be bugged! | 30 | 30 | [
{
"comment_id": "200569",
"author": "RadBrad",
"timestamp": "2010-10-21T20:40:03",
"content": "Thanks once again for linking to one of my projects. The goal here is to show a step by step build process of the basic transmitter to the electronics beginner. The transmitter does work well, but it does ... | 1,760,377,351.709319 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/21/multiple-core-propeller-speeds-up-display-addressing/ | Multiple Core Propeller Speeds Up Display Addressing | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"cascading",
"led",
"module",
"parallax",
"propeller",
"serial"
] | Th
If you ever wondered what an eight-core Propeller processor can do for you, [Tom] found one answer. He’s using the
multiple cores to individually address serial displays
. He has six display modules, and each of them incorporate six 8×8 LED modules. This makes for a total of 2304 LEDs, and since they’re addressed by cascading serial data, that means 2304 bytes pushed to the display. You’re going to suffer from quite a bit of slow-down if you choose that communication method.
This is where multiple-cores come in handy. Instead of cascading data between the six modules, he assigned a different core to each. Now he can concurrently address the six displays, reducing his serial data from 2304 bits per frame down to 384 bits per frame. As you can see in the video after the break, updating the display six times as fast as before yields fantastic results.
Now what if you’re using
a processor that has forty of these multi-core Propeller chips
?
This does make us wonder, can’t the same thing be done on a single-core processor? An eight-bit device takes one cycle to set all eight bits on a single port. So why not just connect the six serial connections on six bits of the same port? Weigh in with your thoughts in the comments.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9Q9hVrrLS4] | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "200515",
"author": "walt",
"timestamp": "2010-10-21T19:05:50",
"content": "that kicks ass!1st!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "200532",
"author": "bob",
"timestamp": "2010-10-21T19:43:33",
"content": "ahhh this setup... | 1,760,377,352.377007 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/21/uv-eprom-eraser-in-a-toolbox/ | UV EPROM Eraser In A Toolbox | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"blacklight",
"eprom",
"eraser",
"flourescent",
"uvc"
] | [Devon Croy] belongs to a hackerspace that works hard to keep hardware from going to the landfill. He found they were in possession of over a hundred Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory chips (EPROM). Not to be confused with EEPROM, which are electronically erasable, these EPROM chips require a strong source of UV light to blank the old data before they can be written again.
Instead of buying a tool to erase two or three chips at a time
he built his own bulk EPROM eraser
from an old metal toolbox. He used parts from a fluorescent black light and acquired a new bulb that generates light in the UVC spectrum, the band which works as an eraser for the chips. After bolting the parts into the case he added a spring-loaded timer knob and a safety switch that kills the power when the case is opened, similar to
the UV exposure box
we looked at yesterday.
Of course, if you don’t need a bulk eraser you could shop some garage sales for
a UV pacifier cleaner which can also erase EPROM chips
. | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "200503",
"author": "Timmah",
"timestamp": "2010-10-21T17:58:43",
"content": "I applaud his desire to keep e-waste from going to the landfill, but whatever energy savings that results in ( by not having to buy a new equivalent ROM device ) is somewhat countered by the energy it takes... | 1,760,377,352.014065 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/21/90-tb-drive-array-for-home-storage-needs/ | 90 TB Drive Array For Home Storage Needs | Mike Szczys | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"array",
"hard drive",
"raid",
"raid5",
"raid5+0",
"wd",
"western digital"
] | Why store it in the cloud when you could have
a 90 Terabyte hard drive
(
translated
) array in your house? The drives are mostly Western Digital Caviar Green EARS 2TB models which are known for energy efficiency and quiet operation. It’s a little unclear as to whether this is using one or two motherboards, but the drives are connected using PCI RAID5 and RAID5+0 controller cards. There’s a total of 40 cooling fans built into the case, half on the bottom and the rest on the top. They move air up through the case, with plans to add a dust filter in the future. Heck, with that type of air movement you could throw on a standard furnace filter. Apparently it is quiet enough to talk in “almost a whisper” while next to the plywood monolith. But we’re a bit skeptical of that claim.
It’s not quite as fancy looking as
the 67 TB storage from last year
… but it does look pretty easy to build at home.
[Thanks Henrique via
EnglishRussia
] | 53 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "200441",
"author": "haku",
"timestamp": "2010-10-21T15:28:44",
"content": "I would be interested to know what the standby power draw was on that thing. I am guessing somewhere in the region of 300+ watts… (which is a lot to have on all the time)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth"... | 1,760,377,352.318667 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/21/crash-space-takes-on-the-machine/ | Crash Space Takes On The Machine | Jakob Griffith | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"building",
"crash space",
"distance",
"hackerspace",
"music",
"play",
"scion",
"sound",
"take on th machine"
] | It’s that time again, time to take on the machine with the Hackerspace,
Crash Space
(and
part two
)! The team of Californians set out and successfully turned the front of their building into a musical instrument, similar to [David Byrne’s]
Playing the Building
. When a pedestrian walks by they set off distance sensors, which in turn actuate mallets that strike particular objects to produce a tone. We were pleasantly surprised at how interactive the installation was, even if it didn’t sound that great. But will it be enough to beat out the previous two teams? And how will it do up against Artisans Asylum’s
not what you’re thinking
Breakfast Machine next time?
[thanks Deven] | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "200424",
"author": "Derek",
"timestamp": "2010-10-21T14:01:27",
"content": "The Family Guy clip is gold. The only cartoon that made me laugh harder than that did was the Beavis and Butt-head episode “Nosebleed”.Of course, half of the fun of watching Nosebleed the first time was my ... | 1,760,377,352.421889 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/20/avr-dds-signal-generator-improvements/ | AVR DDS Signal Generator Improvements | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"AVR",
"dds",
"function generator",
"pcb",
"signal generator"
] | [Vassilis Papanikolaou] took a good thing and made it better with some
design upgrades to this AVR based signal generator
. We looked at
version 1.0 of this tool
back in 2006 and since then it saw
an upgrade to 2.0
. But [Vassilis] wanted to take things one step further, with a compact single-sided PCB. What you see above is the beautiful result of his work; a professionally made board that is compact, uses through-hole components, and has zero wire jumpers.
If you want to build one for yourself there’s a great parts list as well as board artwork and schematic. The system uses an ATmega16 so you’ll need a way to program one. There’s also just a bit of firmware tweaking to remap the control buttons to match the updated hardware layout. | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "200229",
"author": "Trollicus",
"timestamp": "2010-10-21T00:42:15",
"content": "Hey, nice work!!I think one of these will be on my bench soon.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "200248",
"author": "mess_maker",
"timestamp":... | 1,760,377,352.231781 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/20/building-a-uv-exposure-box/ | Building A UV Exposure Box | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"exposure",
"pcb",
"resist",
"ultraviolet",
"uv"
] | There are two methods of using etchant resist when making circuit boards. We use the toner transfer method that requires ironing on laser toner to the copper, but you can also use chemical resist that reacts to ultraviolet light. [Bogdan] decided to start doing more of the latter so
he built a UV exposure box
to make the process easier.
It is possible to use flourescent light bulbs
for this, but he decided to use UV LEDs,
a method we’ve also seen before
. But there’s always room to innovate, and [Bogdan] built-in a couple of nice features that are new to us. Because the UV light can be bad for your eyes, he included a set of red visible-light LEDs on the bottom half of the box that are used to align two layers of exposure mask when making double-sided boards. There’s also a switch that automatically shuts off the UV light when the box is opened. And as the coup-de-grace, he added
a programmable timer to regulate the exposure
, using his newly created box when etching the PCB for it. | 29 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "200153",
"author": "Stu",
"timestamp": "2010-10-20T21:16:14",
"content": "I made one of these too, out of an old flatbed scanner body, aluminium foil lined on the inside, with two 4Watt insect killer uv lamps, a lot safer on the eyes and skin. The lamps were on special offer too, 2 ... | 1,760,377,352.486709 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/20/waterproof-diy-momentary-push-switch/ | Waterproof DIY Momentary-push Switch | Mike Szczys | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"button",
"copper foil",
"momentary push",
"paintball",
"scope",
"switch"
] | [Patman2700] has a nice scope for his paintball gun that uses a red dot instead of cross-hairs. The problem is that he kept forgetting to turn it off which ended up running the batteries down frequently. His solution to the problem was to get rid of the toggle switch used to turn it on and replace it will
a home-made momentary push button switch
. Now he presses the switch to aim and doesn’t waste juice when he’s running around, trying not to get pelted with paint.
Since this is used outside he wanted it to be water-tight. The switch is built using materials we’ve seen in
previous diy switches
; adhesive-backed copper sheets for conductors, foam to keep them separated until pressed, and plastic as a support. Copper is applied to the plastic base, with a ring of foam separating the base from the second layer of copper. When squeezed, the two layers of copper come in contact to complete the circuit. To make it work a bit better [Patman2700] added a dab of solder in the center of the bottom copper layer so there is less distance between conductors, and used extra foam to build up a bump in the center of the assembly for a better ‘button’ feel. The whole thing is encased in shrink-wrap with the seams sealed with super glue to keep moisture at bay. | 23 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "200078",
"author": "jmlb",
"timestamp": "2010-10-20T19:42:19",
"content": "isn’t shrink wrap something they use to wrap shipments. It kinda looks like sarand wrap.This looks more like a heat shrink tube.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comme... | 1,760,377,352.550452 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/20/rodent-based-power-generation/ | Rodent-based Power Generation | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"alternator",
"bicycle computer",
"coil",
"hamster",
"induction",
"magnets",
"rare-earth"
] | Your hamster lives to good life, with food delivery and a maid service that cleans up after him. [DanF] helped to brighten up this hamster’s life even more by improving its exercise equipment and giving it a small night-light as well. This project
adds a low RPM alternator to the hamster wheel
.
The first part of the process was to reduce energy lost to friction by fitting the wheel with a bearing. From there a ring of permanent magnets was added which will pass by a stationary coil and induce a current. It works, but unfortunately there’s not enough power generated to charge a battery. That means the light is only on when the hamster is running. But maybe you can figure out a way to use a super-capacitor like we saw in
that exercise bike hack
.
One nice finishing touch to the setup is a bicycle computer to track how much time was sent on the wheel, and the distance traveled.
[Thanks Dizzy] | 33 | 33 | [
{
"comment_id": "200029",
"author": "RogueAngel2k.com",
"timestamp": "2010-10-20T18:21:13",
"content": "that was removed from a Prius, right?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "200032",
"author": "net",
"timestamp": "2010-10-20T18:22:37",
... | 1,760,377,352.6206 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/20/new-dynamic-duo-arduino-and-eclipse/ | New Dynamic Duo, Arduino And Eclipse | Jakob Griffith | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"eclipse",
"ide",
"program"
] | There are a lot of solutions to
programing an Arduino
: the default avr-g++, Studio, etc. But [Sandeep] let us know about using one of the more powerful IDEs out there,
Eclipse
, to do the same. We’ve already outlined why
Eclipse is a great IDE
but now the fact that you can use it in your MCU based projects adds to its usefulness and already
large feature list
. However, don’t be turned off by [Sandeep’s] tutorial. While it is aimed at people who are completely new to setting up an IDE and working with an AVR, the tips certainly can benefit even the most experienced hacker. | 21 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "199987",
"author": "spiritplumber",
"timestamp": "2010-10-20T16:14:09",
"content": "Finally some arduino news that isn’t rampant fanboyiusm :) seriously, this is quite useful.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "199991",
"author... | 1,760,377,352.679281 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/20/plantenna-the-plant-antenna/ | Plantenna: The Plant Antenna | Jakob Griffith | [
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"am",
"antenna",
"frequency",
"plant",
"pwm",
"radio",
"transmission"
] | The back story behind [Mike] experimenting with plants as
AM radio transmission
antennas
antennae
is rather interesting and worth the short read. But for those who just want the facts, [Mike] took an ATMega324,
modified the PWM
output into a sinusoidal AM signal (using a simple form of
RLC circuitry
), and connected the circuit to a plant
no plants were harmed in the making of this project
. The results? Well we’re not ones who would spoil the surprise, you’ll have to see for yourself in the video after the jump.
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPaM7u4EHZM&feature=player_embedded%5D | 37 | 35 | [
{
"comment_id": "199880",
"author": "Timmah",
"timestamp": "2010-10-20T13:55:58",
"content": "Rush Limbaugh finally goes green!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "199884",
"author": "mess_maker",
"timestamp": "2010-10-20T14:00:34",
"con... | 1,760,377,352.912116 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/19/using-a-cellphone-lcd-as-auxiliary-linux-display/ | Using A Cellphone LCD As Auxiliary Linux Display | Mike Szczys | [
"Cellphone Hacks"
] | [
"a60",
"lcd",
"linux",
"parallel port",
"shunt",
"siemens"
] | [Neil] is
driving this Siemens A60 LCD using a parallel port
on his Linux box. He likes this module because it has an integrated LED back-light, controller IC, and the pads are large enough for a human to solder. He notes that the screen runs on 2.9V, which matches the forward voltage of the LEDs used as back-lights. This means it is possible to use one f the LEDs as a shunt to drop incoming voltage down to a safe level for the controller. In fact, that’s what he did. The data lines are connected to the parallel port along with some current limiting resistors. The LEDs are connected with resistor calculated for maximum brightness, with the output from the LED used as the source voltage for the LCD controller chip.Whether you want to use one of these screens with a PC or something else, the code that [Neil] worked out should provide the information necessary to do so.
The
Nokia cellphone LCD post
inspired [Neil] to send in a tip about this project. If you’ve got well documented hacks that you’re just sitting on why not
let us know about them
? | 31 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "199397",
"author": "Ryan",
"timestamp": "2010-10-19T20:32:27",
"content": "I wonder if the Logitech G19 software could be hacked to work with one of these displays?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "199399",
"author": "Colecom... | 1,760,377,352.839237 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/19/more-el-chemistry-luminescent-ink/ | More EL Chemistry: Luminescent Ink | Mike Szczys | [
"chemistry hacks"
] | [
"copper",
"el",
"electroluminescence",
"glow powder",
"ink",
"penny",
"sulfate",
"sulfide",
"zinc"
] | [Jeri Ellsworth] continues her experiments with electroluminescence, this time
she’s making EL ink
. The ink she’s looking for is Zinc Sulfate in a solution. The process she chose is to re-dope some glow powder so that it can be excited by the field around an AC current. In her video (embedded after the break) she talks about the chemical properties she’s after by detailing a cubic lattice of zinc and sulfur atoms with an added copper atom (adding that atom is a process called doping).
The quick and dirty synopsis of the experiment starts by washing the glow powder with dish soap to acquire zinc sulfide crystals. Then she combined copper sulfate and zinc shavings from the inside of a modern penny to yield copper metal and zinc sulfate suspended in solution. That was mixed with the zinc sulfide from the glow powder washing and doped with a little more copper sulfate. The excess liquid is poured off, the test tube is capped with glass frit, and the whole thing hits the kiln to start the reaction. The result glows when excited by alternating current, but could have been improved by adding chlorine atoms into the mix.
We’re excited every time we see one of [Jeri’s] new chemistry hacks. We’d love to see more so if you’ve come across interesting chemistry experiments during your Internet travels,
please let us know about them
. Just make sure you have some idea of what you’re doing when working with chemicals… safety first.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmQqdYrn9g8] | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "199350",
"author": "zeropointmodule",
"timestamp": "2010-10-19T19:10:28",
"content": "nice..reckon this can be used to make multiple colours?apparently doping with other rare earths changes the colour.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_... | 1,760,377,352.772151 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/19/machining-an-slr-camera-from-scratch/ | Machining An SLR Camera From Scratch | Mike Szczys | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"camera",
"film",
"machining",
"milling",
"scratch",
"single-lens reflex",
"SLR"
] | It took us a while to stop drooling long enough to write about this amazing machining project. [Denis MO]
made a single-lens reflex camera from scratch
. The banner image above is not the finished product, but just one step in the production chain. [Denis] has been thinking about doing this project for 25 years and finally took the plunge. From the start, the only parts he planned on NOT making himself were the screws, ball bearings, shutter, curtain fabric, and interchangeable lenses. Everything else is his own creation based off of his own design. Spend some time looking over his project. There’s plenty of information and images of both the machining process, and the drawings he mocked up in the design process. We’ve also included a pic of the finished camera and the contact sheet from his test roll of film after the break.
[Thanks Javi] | 38 | 37 | [
{
"comment_id": "199294",
"author": "Fallen",
"timestamp": "2010-10-19T17:12:40",
"content": "Wow that is impressive.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "199309",
"author": "craig christ",
"timestamp": "2010-10-19T17:52:28",
"content": "... | 1,760,377,353.572281 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/19/propeller-platform-prototyping-board-gets-an-upgrade/ | Propeller Platform Prototyping Board Gets An Upgrade | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"eeprom",
"ftdi",
"microsd",
"propeller",
"propeller platform usb"
] | [Nick] over at Gadget Gangster has a new version of his prototyping hardware for Propeller microcontrollers, called
the Propeller Platform USB
. A little more than a year ago
we looked at the last version
which was larger, used a DIP processor, and came unassembled. The new version does come assembled because of the migration to surface mount components (which may take some of the fun out of it if you just love soldering kits). This not only reduces the board footprint, but makes room for more goodies. As the name implies, there’s now a mini-USB socket with a USB to UART bridge, a microSD card slot as been added, and the onboard EEPROM has been doubled. This is a nice hardware upgrade but the price has been upgraded by $25 as well. No worries, it’s open source so you can roll your own if you have the parts on hand. | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "199275",
"author": "NatureTM",
"timestamp": "2010-10-19T16:32:04",
"content": "Seemed out of my price range until I saw it’s 80MHz with 8 cores. I haven’t used propeller before, but this sure seems interesting. I might have to get one just to try my hand at multicore microcontroll... | 1,760,377,353.427947 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/19/hacking-tvs-in-1954/ | Hacking TVs In 1954 | Caleb Kraft | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"mute",
"retro",
"television"
] | This gem was
published in Mechanix Illustrated
magazine in may of 1954. AT that time, a remote control was the stuff of science fiction. This article shows the modern man how to modify his television to include a fancy button to stop all noise. This button, affectionately labelled the “SHADDAP” was marketed as a way to relieve the pain of long winded commercials. Basically, it cut the connection to the speaker, nothing super fancy. Is that an altoids tin as an enclosure?
[via
BoingBoing
] | 34 | 30 | [
{
"comment_id": "199234",
"author": "The DON",
"timestamp": "2010-10-19T14:28:03",
"content": "Sounds like a great idea (pun fully intended).I seem to remember a VCR was released (80’s) which would automatically pause recording for the advert breaks. I am not sure, but I think I remember that there ... | 1,760,377,353.294051 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/18/cheap-and-easy-sms-via-gsm-for-your-mcu/ | Cheap And Easy SMS Via GSM For Your MCU | Jakob Griffith | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"gsm",
"modem",
"rs232",
"serial",
"sms",
"text message"
] | Non acronym version of the title
: send and receive text messages via cell phone communication towers using an Arduino or other microcontroller. “We’ve been doing that for years!” you cry,
well yes
, technically. But [Fincham] lays it outs simply;
commercial offerings
are expensive and finding a
cell phone that uses RS232
now a days is getting difficult, so a new way of doing the same old is necessary. The good news is
USB GSM modems
are readily available, cheap, and only require a few interface pins to get them talking with an Arduino. In fact, the image above is all you need. | 68 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "198902",
"author": "FirefighterGeek",
"timestamp": "2010-10-18T22:58:05",
"content": "I’m not understanding the advantage here. Presumably you still need to purchase the service contract, yes?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "198... | 1,760,377,353.378742 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/18/data-confirmation-with-rf-communications/ | Data Confirmation With RF Communications | Mike Szczys | [
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"java",
"radio frequency",
"receiver",
"RF",
"transmitter"
] | [Rafael] built a system that uses radio frequency for communications. The code he was using with the inexpensive receiver/transmitter pairs already had some error correction but from time to time an entire message would be missed by the receiver. He set out to
make these RF communications more robust
.
A little more than a year ago we looked at
using these same transmitters with an Arduino
. [Rafael] has a similar setup but since they are unidirectional he chose to use two pairs for bidirectional communication (each operating at a different frequency to avoid interference). On one end, a computer transmits data to the Arduino which is in a remote location. His confirmation protocol relies on a randomly generated message identifier. The computer will continually transmit the same message. The Arduino continually receives these messages, comparing them with the last successfully received message. If they match, it is considered a successful data transfer and the Arduino transmits a confirmation back to the computer which then starts transmitting the next message.
This isn’t an application-specific protocol. For demonstration purposes [Rafael] built a quick home automation setup that uses it to operate a house lamp. | 35 | 35 | [
{
"comment_id": "198827",
"author": "Jonathan",
"timestamp": "2010-10-18T20:11:53",
"content": "I had thought about doing something with units like this when I was in college to try and make a wireless usb interface.Pretty cool setup though. This would be great for robotics to control the bot and ge... | 1,760,377,353.113385 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/18/3d-printing-with-lego/ | 3D Printing With LEGO | Mike Szczys | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"3d printer",
"lego",
"makerbot",
"MLCAD",
"nxt",
"reprap"
] | With 2400 LEGO bricks and a lot of patience, [Will Gorman]
built a LEGO 3D printer
. It’s similar to a RepRap or a Makerbot, but instead of extruding plastic, it uses pre-extruded building blocks (aka LEGO bricks). The grey wall extending far above the unit itself is a feed magazine which holds the raw material. A Java application takes an MLCad file and translates it into building instructions for the printer. Those instructions are then sent to the device via USB. See it happen after the break.
Now this just needs to be combined with
the LEGO sorting machine
for an inexhaustible supply of bricks.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YZeX8ti7Io] | 27 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "198815",
"author": "Astronouth7303",
"timestamp": "2010-10-18T19:14:42",
"content": "I would like to point out that it’s an LDraw file. MLCad merely uses it, like a half-dozen other programs.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1988... | 1,760,377,353.491323 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/18/data-plotting-for-the-visually-impaired/ | Data Plotting For The Visually Impaired | Mike Szczys | [
"Multitouch Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"cluster",
"data",
"plot",
"visually impaired",
"zigbee"
] | This setup helps to represent data in a meaningful way to for visually impaired people. It uses a combination of physical objects to represent data clusters, and audio feedback when manipulating those objects. In the video after the break you’ll see that the cubes can orient themselves to represent data clusters. The table top acts as a graphing field, with a textured border as a reference for the user. A camera mounted below the clear surface allows image processing software to calculate the locations for the cubes. Each cube is motorized and contains an Arduino and ZigBee module, listening for positioning information from the computer that is doing the video processing. Once in position, the user can move the cubes, with modulated noise as a measure of how near they are to the heart of each data cluster.
The team plans to conduct further study on the usefulness of this interactive data object. We certainly see potential for hacking as this uses off-the-shelf components that are both inexpensive, and easy to find. It certainly reminds us of
a multitouch display with added physical tokens
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibnz3poa9RU]
[Thanks UrsusExplorans] | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "198819",
"author": "d01",
"timestamp": "2010-10-18T19:39:02",
"content": "cool idea though it hurt my eardrums :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "199041",
"author": "Colin",
"timestamp": "2010-10-19T05:04:01",
"conte... | 1,760,377,353.772372 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/18/halloween-props-dancing-spider/ | Halloween Props: Dancing Spider | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"12f683",
"Halloween props",
"mosfet",
"pic"
] | [Isaac] grabbed the motor from an old printer and used it to
make a spider run up and down
the wall for Halloween. A PIC 12F683 uses a MOSFET to drive the motor. The program loop has a little bit of dramatic flare to it, raising the arachnid with a bit of a jerky motion to give it some life, then wait for a time before quietly lowering the spider (hopefully onto an unsuspecting party-goer). The driver board is set up for two motors, making it easy to reuse in future projects. This is quite effective, and the only addition we might suggest is to add a couple of red LEDs as some glowing eyes.
Take a look at the finished product after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl839oufN3g] | 4 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "198758",
"author": "bilbao bob",
"timestamp": "2010-10-18T16:48:14",
"content": "Dear hackaday editorial staff…If you want to stop your social media experiment from becoming a sodden mess of SEO spam (without a nickle coming from it), you should probably turn off links in user names... | 1,760,377,353.676057 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/17/hackaday-links-october-17-2010/ | Hackaday Links: October 17, 2010 | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"card",
"magnetic",
"scanner",
"sentry"
] | Cards you should crank
These greeting cards
must be the product of a mechanical engineer run amok. They come with a crank and are designed to entertain with their simple, yet elegant movements. [Thanks Phil]
Magnetic card stripe reader
[JP] built an Arduino based
magnetic card reader
. It uses off-the-shelf parts but if you don’t mind buying the components this will get you up and running in no time. If you want more info there’s also this
Teensy based version
.
Homemade Airsoft sentry gun
This sentry gun
has an amazingly fast firing rate that can continue for quite a while, thanks to the big flashlight housing that is holds a lot of ammo. [Thanks David]
Scanner easter egg
The engineers over at HP had a little fun
building an easter egg into this scanner
. If you know what you’re doing you can get it to play the Ode to Joy. It needs to join
the old-hardware band
from our Links post earlier in the month. [Thanks Googfan] | 18 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "198429",
"author": "someone",
"timestamp": "2010-10-17T21:29:37",
"content": "I’ll be the one; the scanner is not a hack. It was made to do that.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "198437",
"author": "Dr.Evil",
"timestamp":... | 1,760,377,353.63424 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/17/master-clock-system-uses-all-logic-no-microcontrollers/ | Master Clock System Uses All Logic, No Microcontrollers | Mike Szczys | [
"clock hacks"
] | [
"atomic",
"clock",
"digital logic",
"master"
] | What you see above is a master clock. It is the center of a system that can run an unlimited number of slave clocks, keeping them on-time thanks to its ability to synchronize with an atomic clock. [Brett Oliver]
put together the project
back in 2005 using digital logic chips, and no programmable microcontrollers. This includes everything from the binary decoders that drive the 7-segment displays, to the radio transceiver board that gathers the atomic clock data, to the various dividers that output 1 second, 2 second, 30 second, 1 minute, 1 hour, and 24 hour signal pulses. It’s a well document and fascinating read if you’re interested in
digital logic clocks
. | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "198408",
"author": "grenadier",
"timestamp": "2010-10-17T20:01:27",
"content": "Damn!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "198413",
"author": "Sashmo",
"timestamp": "2010-10-17T20:08:13",
"content": "I was thking of buldi... | 1,760,377,353.728125 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/17/gesture-controlled-robotic-hand/ | Gesture Controlled Robotic Hand | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"accellerometer",
"hand"
] | Inspired by the control system for the AMP suits in the movie Avatar, [Feelpavan] built this
gesture controlled robotic hand
. So far there is functionality for the wrists to rotate and bend, as well as for the fingers to flex (but not individually). This is accomplished by three servo motors on the hand assembly. The instructions for the hand are gathered from your own hand, through the use of an accelerometer and an Arduino that he built himself. Check it out after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMBTIPqh6D4] | 7 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "198390",
"author": "The ThunderBird",
"timestamp": "2010-10-17T18:35:44",
"content": "Interesting build, but wouldn’t the fingers be easier to handle via stretch-resistors rather than an accelerometer?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_... | 1,760,377,353.820375 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/17/live-action-fighting-games/ | Live Action Fighting Games | Mike Szczys | [
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"costume",
"fight",
"gladiator",
"helmet",
"nes",
"video game"
] | Here’s a strange one.
This fighting game
uses a video game interface to instruct modern-age gladiators on how to bring the pain. The costumed fighters cannot see anything other than a set of lights in their helmets instructing them to move or punch. A camera films them and overlays the footage on a digital background along with simulated blood and a health bar for each. NES controllers are used to instruct them, and switches inside the costumes register the pummeling they receive and deduct health accordingly. This wouldn’t be any good without a demonstration, which we’ve embedded after the break.
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/15884535] | 16 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "198342",
"author": "CutThroughStuffGuy",
"timestamp": "2010-10-17T16:20:12",
"content": "“This wouldn’t be any good with a demonstration, which we’ve embedded after the break.”with or without?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1... | 1,760,377,354.015853 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/17/homemade-music-player/ | Homemade Music Player | Jakob Griffith | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"mp3",
"music",
"parallax",
"player",
"pocket",
"portable",
"propeller",
"shield",
"song",
"wav"
] | Sadly, this pocket
mp3
wav player
doesn’t come close to the capabilities of even an iPod generation 1
yet
, but you have to give [Owen] props for making it in less than 24 hours. The system consists of a Propeller MCU (cleverly wired to be swappable with “shields” similar to Arduino systems), SD card for song storage, and an LM386 for audio. While the setup is a little dull, and only plays through songs non stop with no controls whatsoever, it certainly is a good start in the right direction for a cheap and simple portable
music player
. Of course some planned changes are in the works, include an accelerometer (gesture based controls?), etched PCB, docking station, and
a case
. We’re surprised there is no form of screen planned, considering Owen appears to have a rather good handle on
touch interfaces
; perhaps he’s waiting for revision 3. | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "198314",
"author": "Hacksaw",
"timestamp": "2010-10-17T13:50:11",
"content": "While not the most technically advanced it is still very cool.I can imagine a a quick flip of the wrist to skip to the next song…or fast forward hat sounds really cool.Nice job!",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,377,354.130209 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/16/shiny-motorcycle-computer/ | Shiny Motorcycle Computer | Mike Szczys | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"atmega644",
"computer",
"lcd",
"motorcycle",
"rotary encoder",
"rtc",
"temperature"
] | We’re rather surprised at how popular it has become to build your own motorcycle computer. [Mario Mauerer] tipped us off about
his shiny motorcycle computer
(
translated
) for his Yamaha XTZ 750. It uses an ATmega644 microcontroller to pull a variety of data together and display it on this white LED backlit display. He connected a flow meter to the fuel line to monitor gas consumption. Oil temperature is captured by inserting a brass tube (containing the sensor) through a hole in the oil cap and soldering it in place. Water temperature is gathered by measuring the external temperature of one of the cooling lines. [Mario] uses a rotary encode with a click function as the control interface device, and a battery backed real time clock keeps time.
A quick look at the PCBs tells the tale of good circuit design. But we do wonder about catching the reflection of the sun in that shiny bezel. | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "198077",
"author": "bogdan",
"timestamp": "2010-10-16T21:10:05",
"content": "Excellent job!All these bike board computers make me want wish I had a motorcycle.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "198096",
"author": "Mikey",
... | 1,760,377,354.072959 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/16/computer-aided-cake-decoration/ | Computer Aided Cake Decoration | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"cake",
"candy",
"decorate",
"frosting",
"spirograph"
] | This contraption lets you
decorate your cake at the push of a button
. It’s a stretch to call it computer aided as this is purely a mechanical monster, but we still enjoy the apparatus and see its CNC potential (we’re still waiting for that
pizza printer
to hit the market too). An icing syringe has been modified with a flexible hose on the business end. As constant pressure is applied to the plunger, the nozzle oscillates while the cake rotates. What results is a spirograph drawing on the top of your dessert. But the fun doesn’t stop there. Another push of the button and you get shiny silver orb candies joining in the party.
What, no video? Aw! If you know where to find a clip,
let us know
and we’ll update this post.
[Thanks Mowcius] | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "198045",
"author": "Ib",
"timestamp": "2010-10-16T18:59:26",
"content": "No Video?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "198046",
"author": "Pacman",
"timestamp": "2010-10-16T19:05:12",
"content": "Now wait until the ardui... | 1,760,377,354.330242 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/16/brightest-day-darkest-night-charge-it-with-arduinos-light/ | Brightest Day, Darkest Night, Charge It With Arduino’s Light | Mike Szczys | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"green lantern",
"Halloween props",
"lantern",
"power battery",
"power ring",
"rfid"
] | To userp the Green Lantern oath is a sacrilege. But calm your rage as you take in this
Green Lantern battery and ring project
. [Jon] built the power battery portion out of LEGO, but inside you’ll find an added bonus. An Arduino uses a set of LEDs and an RFID reader to bring the object alive. A matching ring contains the RFID tag that activates the lights when held up to the lantern’s lens. You can see this used to charge the power ring (and join in by saying the oath) in the video after the break.
Want to build something like this but don’t have an RFID reader? This would be easy to pull off by adding a magnet to the ring and a hall effect sensor in the lantern. Maybe this will make you rethink your Halloween costume this year.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw1dTOP2eo4]
[Thanks Hugo] | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "198030",
"author": "grenadier",
"timestamp": "2010-10-16T17:37:19",
"content": "Ring needs more tritium glow lamp.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "198075",
"author": "strider_mt2k",
"timestamp": "2010-10-16T21:02:54",
... | 1,760,377,354.224829 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/16/they-polyplasmic-archophone/ | The Polyplasmic Archophone | Caleb Kraft | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"arc",
"high voltage",
"music",
"tesla"
] | The
polyplasmic archophone
is a fresh approach to high voltage “
arc music
“. They are using an Arduino clone to convert signals for the ignition coils. It is still unfinished, but the effect is decent. In the end it will have 2 tiers of voice coils for a total of 13. They are using different materials for the antenna so they can get different colors of sparks. You can see a video of it after the break and we must say the effect is quite nice. Change the lighting on that video and we could imagine this being the set to a [Joules Verne] movie.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WfszpzNAmw]
[via
Makezine
] | 41 | 40 | [
{
"comment_id": "197972",
"author": "Jake",
"timestamp": "2010-10-16T14:32:22",
"content": "This can’t even hold a candle to those tesla coil ‘speakers’. Those things are freaking AWESOME!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "197974",
"author": "... | 1,760,377,354.677585 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/15/adafruit-industries-opens-a-job-board/ | Adafruit Industries Opens A Job Board | Caleb Kraft | [
"News"
] | [
"contract",
"jobs",
"work"
] | Adafruit industries is doing their part to help the hacker community with their latest addition,
a job board
. It just went live today so there aren’t many jobs posted, but we expect that to change in the immediate future. you can also post your services offered there, if you’re looking for work. We really appreciate when companies support the hacker community, so we tip our hats to you Adafruit. | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "197667",
"author": "PocketBrain",
"timestamp": "2010-10-15T21:08:14",
"content": "Oh yeah, bookmarked.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "197668",
"author": "fluidic",
"timestamp": "2010-10-15T21:10:29",
"content": "HAC... | 1,760,377,354.479398 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/15/cellphone-crowd-pleasers/ | Cellphone Crowd-pleasers | Mike Szczys | [
"Cellphone Hacks"
] | [
"art",
"bird",
"cellphone",
"landfill",
"scavenge",
"trash"
] | When you start to think about the cellphone waste our society produces it can be quite daunting. How many cell phones have you had in recent years? Now multiply that by five billion cellphone subscribers. [Anthony Goh] and [Neil Mendoza] found something to do with a very minuscule portion of those left-overs; building
interactive birds out of the old parts
. You’ll have to check out their accomplishments in the video after the break as the image above doesn’t do them justice. Interactivity for the exhibit is provided by an Arduino, which communicates with one working phone via a serial connection. The phone can still make and receive calls, and controls parts from other, less functional cellphones. They can call each other, or receive calls from the audience.
Yes, there is art in garbage. But there’s also a lot of hacks waiting to happen. Take a look at the
Nokia cellphone LCD
feature and then start scavenging.
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/15769292] | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "197634",
"author": "fco_bcn",
"timestamp": "2010-10-15T20:10:44",
"content": "brilliant!there’s literally gold in ewastereminds me ofhttp://hackaday.com/2010/03/31/cnc-plotter-from-old-parts-2/cheers",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id... | 1,760,377,354.592688 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/15/c-sharp-development-101-part-2-toolbox-controls/ | C Sharp Development 101 – Part 2: Toolbox Controls | Greg R. Jacobs | [
"Software Development"
] | [
"application",
"c sharp",
"c++",
"development",
"forms",
"toolbox",
"windows"
] | In this tutorial we are going to start finding out more about the toolbox we utilized in the
previous tutorial
. The Controls available in the toolbox are quite extensive and allow users to simplify a variety of everyday tasks such as manually creating and instantiating a textbox on a windows form. At the end of this tutorial you should be comfortable finding Controls in the Visual Studio Toolbox, alter or produce code to link tools together using event handlers and ultimately get a better sense of Visual Studio, it’s layout and how to easily navigate it.
To start we are going to create a new Windows Forms Application project in a new solution that will be called ApplicantRegistration. After the project is created we need to change the name of the form from Form1 to main and change the name on the top of the form to Applicant Registration under text in the Properties tab. Then we can start adding in labels and changing Text and Name Properties for:
First Name (Text: First Name, Name: lblFirstName)
Last Name (Text: Last Name, Name: lblLastName)
Address (Text: Address, Name: lblAddress)
City (Text: City, Name: lblCity)
Zip Code (Text: Zip Code, Name: lblZipCode)
Email Address (Text: Email Address, Name: lblEmail)
Phone Number (Text: Phone Number, Name: lblPhone)
After the labels are completed, we need to add the text-boxes that are going to coincide with the labels. The textboxes are going to have to be altered to make the names of each textbox readable when we do decide to code some guts. The following are the textboxes that must be added to the form and the changes to the name property as well:
First Name (Name: txtFirstName)
Last Name (Name: txtLastName)
Address (Name: txtAddress)
City (Name: txtCity)
Zip Code (Name: txtZipCode)
Email Address (Name: txtEmail)
Phone Number (Name: txtPhone)
After this has been done the result should look like this after moving the labels and text boxes around the form:
We now want to add the button that we are going to utilize to enter the forms data into a storage container. We need to drag the button from the toolbox onto the form and change the Text to “Submit” and the name to btnSubmit. After this is done we can double click on the button which will take us to the code that will be utilized when the user clicks the button. To do this we are going to start out by clearing all of the form data so when the user presses submit the boxes clear and are ready for another entry. To do this our code will look like something along the lines of:
private void btnSubmit_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
txtFirstName.Text = "";
txtLastName.Text = "";
txtAddress.Text = "";
txtCity.Text = "";
txtZipCode.Text = "";
txtEmail.Text = "";
txtPhone.Text = "";
}
After the code for the button is made we want to extend the form to the right and add some controls for birth-date and gender. We will start by making labels for Birthday and Gender respectively. After we have created the two labels we are going to drag three combo boxes onto the form, one for the day, month and year. When renaming objects on forms I tend to shorten what the object is into a minimum of two letters and a maximum of four. The final result would be cbYear, cbMonth and cbDay respectively. We can now drag two radio buttons onto the form and rename the text of one to Male and the other to Female. After these have been positioned we can code the methods to populate the dates and tie the two radio buttons together.
The first item on the agenda will be the two radio buttons. We are going to tie them together so that the two cannot be both checked. To do this we need to check and see if the opposite radio button is checked. We will do this by utilizing the CheckedChanged event handler for both radio buttons and this code:
private void rbMale_CheckedChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (rbMale.Checked == true)
rbFemale.Checked = false;
else
rbFemale.Checked = true;
}
private void rbFemale_CheckedChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (rbFemale.Checked == true)
rbMale.Checked = false;
else
rbMale.Checked = true;
}
Next we are going to populate the combo boxes we dragged onto the form earlier. To do this we are going to have to check which one is picked and populate the days for that particular month. Leap Years are an advanced function that will be implemented in the next tutorial but will be important to the final build. We are also going to code a for loop to add the years 1900 to 2010 dynamically on the forms startup. We can do both of these by utilizing main_Load and the cbMonth_SelectedValueChanged event handlers. The code will look something like this:
private void main_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
for (int i = 2010; i >= 1900; --i)
cbYear.Items.Add(i);
}
private void cbMonth_SelectedValueChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
cbDay.Items.Clear();
if (cbMonth.Text == "September" || cbMonth.Text == "April" || cbMonth.Text == "June" || cbMonth.Text == "November")
for (int i = 1; i <= 30; ++i)
cbDay.Items.Add(i);
else if (cbMonth.Text == "January" || cbMonth.Text == "March" || cbMonth.Text == "May" || cbMonth.Text == "July" || cbMonth.Text == "August" || cbMonth.Text == "October" || cbMonth.Text == "December")
for (int i = 1; i <= 31; ++i)
cbDay.Items.Add(i);Day.Items.Add(i);
else
for (int i = 1; i <= 28; ++i)
cbDay.Items.Add(i);
}
private void rbMale_CheckedChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (rbMale.Checked == true)
rbFemale.Checked = false;
else
rbFemale.Checked = true;
}
The final form should look something along the lines of this now:
The next logical step would be to include code to output this data to a text file or even a database. We will cover this in the next tutorial using both output methods. The first will be a text file as mentioned and the database of choice will be a mySQL database which we will go over installing in the next post. If you are eager you can acquire the program
here
and install it before the next tutorial. We could have used Microsoft’s Access database program but it is not free and the main objective of these tutorials is cheap development.
After this is done we can run the program by pressing F5 and enter in some test data. Once all of the data is entered we can press the submit button and the data – if done correctly – should disappear. If you can’t wait until the next tutorial, here is some reading on
connection strings
and
reading and writing to a text file
to get you up to speed. Until next tutorial, Happy Hacking! | 29 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "197610",
"author": "kevin",
"timestamp": "2010-10-15T19:19:30",
"content": "I’m just taking a human computer interaction course and we are “programming” using c#.We were given copies of visual studio pro 2010, and it does alot of the tedious work for you…I would much rather learn to... | 1,760,377,354.547236 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/15/vapor-phase-reflow-soldering/ | Vapor Phase Reflow Soldering | Mike Szczys | [
"chemistry hacks"
] | [
"circuit board",
"galden",
"paste",
"pcb",
"solder",
"vapor phase reflow"
] | Ditch that old toaster oven and move to the next level of surface mount soldering with
this vapor phase reflow method
. [Ing.Büro R.Tschaggelar] put together this apparatus to use
vapor phase reflow
at his bench instead of sending out his smaller projects for assembly. It uses the heating element from an electric tea kettle to boil Galden HT 230 inside of a Pyrex beaker. There’s a copper heat break part way up the beaker to condense the chemical and keep it from escaping. When a populated board is lowered into the heated chamber, the solder paste reflows without the need to stress the components with unnecessary heat. Better than traditional reflow? At this level it’s hard to say, but we do find his method quite interesting.
[Thanks Chris] | 19 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "197389",
"author": "cotton509",
"timestamp": "2010-10-15T17:24:50",
"content": "The website is geting Hackadayed…. aka ADDOS D:",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "197432",
"author": "BusError",
"timestamp": "2010-10-15T17:5... | 1,760,377,354.843188 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/15/3d-printing-with-visible-light/ | 3D Printing With Visible Light | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"3d",
"dlp",
"printer",
"projector",
"resin",
"visible light"
] | This 3D printer manages some pretty fantastic resolution, and these are just
the early results
of [Junior Veloso’s] build. He put together a machine that prints objects in resin that cures in visible light. To print, a thin layer of raw liquid resin self-levels across a printing surface and a DLP-based projector shines light from below, onto the portion to be hardened. The z-axis then pulls that layer up and the next to be printed will become the newest bottom layer. Horizontally the printer yields 1024×768 resolution with a layer thickness as small as 0.01 mm. No wonder he’s turning out this kind of quality.
The model above took 5 hours to print, with eight-second exposure for each layer, and 0.1mm layer thickness. There is lots of good information on his blog, from the
early planning
, to the
finished hardware
so take some time to learn about this fascinating project.
Update:
Thanks to reader [Nave.notnilc] for pointing out that we’ve seen
a chemical 3D printing technique
before. | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "197339",
"author": "nave.notnilc",
"timestamp": "2010-10-15T16:17:09",
"content": "apparently the resin is “around 200 USD per kg”. looks similar to the stuff used in that projector 3d printing thing posted on HAD a while ago.see:http://3dhomemade.blogspot.com/2010/07/last-post-for-... | 1,760,377,354.731926 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/15/self-balancing-unicycle-2-0/ | Self-balancing Unicycle 2.0 | Mike Szczys | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"balancing",
"electric",
"LiFePO4",
"sbu",
"unicycle"
] | Focus Designs has
a new version of their self-balancing unicycle
for sale. This improves upon
their original design
in several ways. The battery pack has moved to LiFePO4, which is
becoming more common in electric transportation
. There’s also regenerative braking and fall protection which kills the motor when you fall off.
We’ve embedded their marketing video after the break. Our favorite part is the shot seen above: a guy on the unicycle cruising along next to a woman who is running. There’s nothing like sitting on your bum while some else exercises.
At any rate, from what we see in the video they’ve turned out a solid product.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JOgTKigxGs] | 21 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "197312",
"author": "ben",
"timestamp": "2010-10-15T15:12:39",
"content": "You could use it as a bar stool that takes you home!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "197320",
"author": "JB",
"timestamp": "2010-10-15T15:23:12",
... | 1,760,377,354.789172 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/15/spherical-multitouch-rig/ | Spherical Multitouch Rig | Caleb Kraft | [
"Multitouch Hacks"
] | [
"multitouch",
"nui group",
"sphere"
] | We all love a little bit of multitouch, but we’ve seen so many setups that it is getting a bit less exciting. This one will get your attention with its unique shape. It is a
spherical multitouch
using all open source software. Well, since the poles are unusable, it might just be toroidal, or cylindrical, but it is still impressive. They are using a convex mirror mounted to the upper most point of the frosted sphere to reflect a projector mounted at the bottom of the base. A web cam pointed at that same mirror picks up reflected IR light from a few emitters. You can catch a video of it after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf7g9tnhOFc]
[via
boingboing
] | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "197316",
"author": "stubaw",
"timestamp": "2010-10-15T15:18:32",
"content": "Now all they need to do is find a way of getting rid of the lag. Can’t imagine that it’ll be easy seeing as the technique they’re using must involve some crazy image processing…",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,377,354.951203 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/15/window-curtain-moves-to-screen-pedestrians/ | Window Curtain Moves To Screen Pedestrians | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"AVR",
"camera",
"curtain",
"motion",
"niklas roy",
"processing",
"window"
] | [Niklas Roy] built
a motorized window curtain
to screen out foot traffic in front of his window. When you hear “motorized curtain” you may think that this will move up and down but it doesn’t. Instead, the small curtain move horizontally to cover passersby as they travel down the sidewalk. This is accomplished using a camera in conjunction with some motion sensing software. In the video after the break you can see that the software also anticipates the movement, and ends up doing a good job of keeping the target covered. That’s thanks to the Processing sketch working in conjunction with a rotary encoder on the hardware setup. Details for both are available on the page linked above.
This harkens to other community involvement hacks we’ve seen like the
subway stair piano
, or the
bottle recycling video game
. It’s fun and quirky, which is not too much of a surprise as we saw a glimpse of that when we looked at [Niklas’] public fountain
hydropower generator
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKhbUjVyKIc&w=470]
[Thanks Lejupp and others via
Engadget
] | 24 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "197280",
"author": "Chris",
"timestamp": "2010-10-15T13:48:37",
"content": "If the curtain doesn’t suffice, I’m sure this can be mounted on the outside with a paintball gun attached to it. ;-D",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "197... | 1,760,377,354.90478 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/14/pumping-station-one-takes-on-the-machine/ | Pumping Station: One Takes On The Machine | Jakob Griffith | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"challange",
"ice cream",
"pumping station: one",
"scion"
] | Part one
and
Part two
of Hackerspace Pumping Station: One taking on the Scion challenge are up and ready for your viewing pleasure. The team at Pumping Station: One built a Tron themed bicycle that when setup properly, would churn ice cream
that turned your urine neon
in about 6 minutes by using dry ice and ethyl alcohol. Besides sounding not so tasty, and having a multitude of problems along the way, the project turned out the be a success. The question becomes, does it stand up to the last Hackerspace, NYC Resistor, who made a
drink mixing slot machine
? And how will both fair against the up and coming Musical Building by Crash Space?
[Thanks Deven] | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "197058",
"author": "Grammar Nazi",
"timestamp": "2010-10-15T02:48:09",
"content": "*”fare”, not “fair”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "197060",
"author": "zool",
"timestamp": "2010-10-15T03:00:07",
"content": "meh",
... | 1,760,377,357.111416 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/14/android-oscilloscope/ | Android Oscilloscope | Mike Szczys | [
"Android Hacks"
] | [
"android",
"bluetooth",
"dsPic",
"java",
"LMX9838",
"oscilloscope",
"python",
"sdk"
] | Here’s
a 2-channel Oscilloscope for your Android phone
. It uses a base module driven by a dsPIC for signal processing. From there, an LMX9838 Bluetooth module broadcasts the data to the phone so that the waveform can be displayed. [Yus] ported some Python code he had been using over to a set of Java and XML files in order to get it working on Android. This was actually the first time he worked with the SDK… we’d say he’s a quick learner. See it in action after the break.
[Thanks Gabriel] | 31 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "196959",
"author": "Spork",
"timestamp": "2010-10-14T20:02:27",
"content": "That is a cool hack. Remote O-Scope is sometimes useful and not having to carry your DSO Nano around is a nice plus.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "196... | 1,760,377,356.615548 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/14/cadsoft-eagle-migrating-to-xml/ | Cadsoft Eagle Migrating To XML | Mike Szczys | [
"News"
] | [
"cadsoft",
"eagle",
"open source",
"pcb",
"schematic",
"xml"
] | [PT]
posted about an exciting development from Cadsoft
, the migration to XML based parts, schematics, and board layouts. The adoption of this open standard goes hand-in-hand with the
open hardware initiatives
people like [PT] have been pushing for.
Cadsoft Eagle is our go-to schematic and PCB software. We even have a tutorial which guides you through
preparing your files for PCB manufacture
. But the files containing parts libraries, schematics, and board layouts have always been binaries. A transition to XML means a lot of things. They will be easier to edit, and much friendlier for tracking changes using version control systems like SVN, CVS, Mercurial SCM, Git, etc. But immediately on our minds is the accessibility for hacking. Think of how easy XML parsing is in programs like Python. It should be snap to write scripts on a whim that will manipulate the XML files in any way imaginable. This doesn’t discount the value of Eagle, it extends the usability far beyond what any team of engineers at Cadsoft could produce by themselves. And for that, we say Bravo. | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "196925",
"author": "Nick McClanahan",
"timestamp": "2010-10-14T18:15:29",
"content": "There have been a few text formats for libraries & schematics, but xml would be the easiest and most flexible. Good stuff – can’t wait to see it start showing up in EDA packages!",
"parent_id"... | 1,760,377,357.063363 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/14/touring-the-available-nokia-lcd-screens/ | Touring The Available Nokia LCD Screens | Mike Szczys | [
"Cellphone Hacks"
] | [
"2760",
"6100",
"6101",
"breakout",
"lcd",
"nokia",
"rossum",
"spi"
] | [Rossum’s] taking
a look at the Nokia LCD screens
that are both plentiful and begging to be bent to your will. For quite some time the
Nokia 6100 screens have been used in a lot hacks
, but he wanted to see what else is out there. He digs into his junk box of cell phones and comes up with a couple to test; the Nokia 6101 and Nokia 2760. The screens use a 3-wire SPI interface, which he sniffs out with a logic analyzer. At power-up the cellphone polls the screen to determine which type of LCD controller is connected. [Rossum] grabs these commands from the logic analyzer and uses it to determine the hardware in use with each screen.
He made himself a nice breakout board which has connectors for several different screens. The firmware he’s using detects when a screen is attached and switches to the applicable protocol for that display. Take a look at the video after the break. | 23 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "196894",
"author": "goldscott",
"timestamp": "2010-10-14T16:29:45",
"content": "Sweet break-out board.Next project: Make all the screens function together in a multi-monitor like setup.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "196897",
... | 1,760,377,356.777931 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/14/larson-scanner-hacking/ | Larson Scanner Hacking | Caleb Kraft | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"cylon",
"larson scanner"
] | We all love a good larson scanner. They’re so iconic that Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories makes a kit. However, just getting a kit and building it isn’t enough for many of us. How would we make a larson scanner better? Simply by adding more. EMSL shows us how you can
modify their kit in both hardware and code
to chain them together. They detail the modifications very clearly and show some video examples. You can see a three larson scanner chain in action after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9Bd3uFi5ls] | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "196835",
"author": "Sci",
"timestamp": "2010-10-14T14:37:25",
"content": "With all the work that went into this upgrade, I don’t understand why he uses “an old scanner that has seen better days” as the third one, where it’s missing LED makes the whole thing seem a bit broken.Okay, i... | 1,760,377,356.663034 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/14/assassins-creed-blades-make-us-wince/ | Assassin’s Creed Blades Make Us Wince | Mike Szczys | [
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"assassin's creed",
"drawer",
"knife",
"slider",
"taxi driver",
"weapon"
] | [TheBserk] made himself a set of
auto-locking and auto-retracting hidden blades
inspired by those in the game Assassin’s Creed. As you can see in the demo (and build guides) after the break, they work really well. We don’t like the idea of sharpened metal ramming its way past our wrists. But it’s not the first time we’ve seen
dangerous arm-mounted hacks
.
Reminiscent of
Taxi Driver
, [TheBserk] uses drawer slides from the local home store for his build. They are cut to length, and modified using springs for the automatic action. There is a lock to keep the blade extended, and a pull-wire to actuate it. Although dangerous, the build is well done. We think someone has mechanical engineering in his future, and possibly a trip to the emergency room.
The demonstration
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt4lEdi1UII]
Build guide part 1
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8EJTn35lTc]
Build guide part 2
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVZByih_0s4]
[Thanks Kentaro] | 109 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "196764",
"author": "MrBunker",
"timestamp": "2010-10-14T12:16:54",
"content": "“We think someone has mechanical engineeringin his future, and possibly a trip to the emergencyroom.”you forgot to include “jail cell” (in mostjurisdictions this would be treated moreseriously than a simp... | 1,760,377,357.014297 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/13/open-call-send-us-your-debounce-code/ | Open Call: Send Us Your Debounce Code | Mike Szczys | [
"HackIt"
] | [
"assembly",
"button",
"c++",
"code",
"debounce",
"filter",
"switch"
] | If you’ve ever designed an embedded system with at least one button you’ve had to deal with button debouncing. This is also know as
contact bounce
, a phenomenon where a button press can be registered as multiple button presses if not handled correctly. One way to take care of this is with a hardware filter built from a resistor-capacitor setup, or by using a couple of NAND gates. We find that [Jack Ganssle] put together the most comprehensive and
approachable look at contact bounce
which you should read through if you want to learn more.
We’re interested in software solutions for debouncing buttons. This seems to be
one of the most common forum questions
but it can be hard to find answers in the form of reliable code examples. Do you have debounce code that you depend on in every application? Are you willing to share it with the world? We’d like to gather as many examples as possible and publish them in one-post-to-rule-them-all.
Send your debounce code to:
debounce@hackaday.com
Here’s some guidelines to follow:
Please only include debounce code.
Get rid of other unrelated functions/etc.
You should send C code.
If you want to also send an assembly code version that’s fine, but it must be supplementary to the C code.
Please comment your code.
This will help others understand and use it. You may be tempted to explain the code in your email but this info is best placed in the code comments
Cite your sources.
If you adapted this code from someone else’s please include a note about that in the code comments.
As an example we’ve included one of our favorite sets of debounce code after the break. Please note how it follows the guidelines listed above.
/*--------------------------------------------------------------------------
10/13/2010: Button debounce code by Mike Szczys
based on "danni debounce" code by Peter Dannegger:
http://www.avrfreaks.net/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&p=189356#189356
This code detects and debounces button presses. It is tailored for use with
AVR microcontrollers but I've adapted it for other architectures easily and
successfully. It can be modified to use all eight bits on the same port
for up to eight buttons.
The interrupt service routine (ISR) at the bottom uses binary counter
variables (ct0 and ct1) to check the buttons once every 10ms until 40ms has
passed. If the button registeres the first and last times it reads it as
a keypress. There is no functionality in this code for detecting a held
button.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
// F_CPU used by debounce to calculate 10ms interrupts
#define F_CPU 1200000
#include <avr/io.h>
#include <avr/interrupt.h>
//define pins used by buttons
#define KEY_DDR DDRB
#define KEY_PORT PORTB
#define KEY_PIN PINB
#define KEY0 1 //Button on PB1
#define KEY1 2 //Button on PB2
//Debounce variables
unsigned char debounce_cnt = 0;
volatile unsigned char key_press;
unsigned char key_state;
/*--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prototypes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
unsigned char get_key_press( unsigned char key_mask );
void init_timers(void);
void init_io(void);
/*--------------------------------------------------------------------------
FUNC: 10/13/10 - Used to read debounced button presses
PARAMS: A keymask corresponding to the pin for the button you with to poll
RETURNS: A keymask where any high bits represent a button press
--------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
unsigned char get_key_press( unsigned char key_mask )
{
cli(); // read and clear atomic !
key_mask &= key_press; // read key(s)
key_press ^= key_mask; // clear key(s)
sei(); // enable interrupts
return key_mask;
}
/*--------------------------------------------------------------------------
FUNC: 10/13/10 - Sets and starts a system timer
PARAMS: NONE
RETURNS: NONE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
void init_timers(void)
{
cli(); // read and clear atomic !
//Timer0 for buttons
TCCR0B |= 1<<CS02 | 1<<CS00; //Divide by 1024
TIMSK0 |= 1<<TOIE0; //enable timer overflow interrupt
sei(); // enable interrupts
}
/*--------------------------------------------------------------------------
FUNC: 10/13/10 - Initialize input and output registers
PARAMS: NONE
RETURNS: NONE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
void init_io(void)
{
//Setup Buttons
KEY_DDR &= ~((1<<KEY0) | (1<<KEY1)); //Set pins as input
KEY_PORT |= (1<<KEY0) | (1<<KEY1); //enable pull-up resistors
}
/*--------------------------------------------------------------------------
FUNC: 10/13/10 - Main
--------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
int main(void)
{
init_timers(); //start the timer
init_io(); //setup the buttons
for (;;) //loop forever
{
if( get_key_press( 1<<KEY0 ))
{
//KEY0 press detected. Do something here
}
if (get_key_press( 1<<KEY1 ))
{
//KEY1 press detected. Do something here
}
}
}
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ISR(TIM0_OVF_vect) // interrupt every 10ms
{
static unsigned char ct0, ct1;
unsigned char i;
//TCNT0 is where TIMER0 starts counting. This calculates a value based on
//the system clock speed that will cause the timer to reach an overflow
//after exactly 10ms
TCNT0 = (unsigned char)(signed short)-(((F_CPU / 1024) * .01) + 0.5); // preload for 10ms interrupts
i = key_state ^ ~KEY_PIN; // key changed ?
ct0 = ~( ct0 & i ); // reset or count ct0
ct1 = ct0 ^ (ct1 & i); // reset or count ct1
i &= ct0 & ct1; // count until roll over ?
key_state ^= i; // then toggle debounced state
key_press |= key_state & i; // 0->1: key press detect
}
[Photo credit:
Jack Ganssle
] | 75 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "196442",
"author": "George",
"timestamp": "2010-10-13T20:23:35",
"content": "“Site your sources” –> “Cite your sources”. Kthxbai.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "196443",
"author": "Chris Muncy",
"timestamp": "2010-10-13... | 1,760,377,357.199922 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/13/lego-automatic-transmissions/ | LEGO Automatic Transmissions | Mike Szczys | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"automatic",
"flywheel",
"lego",
"transmission",
"treadmill"
] | [AviatorBJP] is building some impressive automatic transmissions using LEGO parts. Your best bet is to check out
his YouTube channel
as he’s got a slew of videos related to topic. We’ve embedded test footage of first and second generation vehicles as well as the most recent flywheel design after the break. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves, let’s look at how the system works.
Each transmission centers on a mechanism that includes hinged arms attached to a central axle. The arms are held together with a rubber band but as the axle spins faster, they overcome the elastic force of the band and begin to pivot outward. This pulls the shaft in one direction, moving its gear up to the next position in the transmission box. To test the system [AviatorBJP] uses a treadmill. A string is attached to the front of the vehicle to keep it in place and the treadmill is switched on to simulate engine power.
This design is quite brilliant, and he’s not keeping it to himself. If you’ve grown tired of the
manual LEGO transmission
you built, you can follow his multi-video build process to make one of these for yourself.
1st Generation
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1G2SylEllg]
2nd Generation
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2k9dtpiars]
Newest flywheel design
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMCXfSR3K1Y]
[Thanks Derp via
Break
] | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "196404",
"author": "Mad",
"timestamp": "2010-10-13T18:33:13",
"content": "this is just so ingenious !hats off guys !!!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "196411",
"author": "Alwar",
"timestamp": "2010-10-13T18:56:05",
"... | 1,760,377,356.830899 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/13/paging-system-for-your-tv-remote/ | Paging System For Your TV Remote | Mike Szczys | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"base",
"beep",
"locate",
"pager",
"remote",
"telephone",
"television",
"tv"
] | [Matt] brought together a TV remote and cordless phone to
add a locator system to the remote control
. One of the best features of a cordless phone is the pager button on the base. When you press it the handset beeps until found. Matt gutted one and got rid of the unnecessary parts. He then cracked open his TV remote housing and inserted the telephone handset’s circuit board, speaker, and battery. The base station is used just like normal to locate the phone/remote combo, and has been modified with a charging cable to top-off the telephone battery which powers everything in the newly hacked unit. [Matt’s] demonstration video is embedded after the break.
It’s too bad that he got rid of the microphone. It would be interesting to take calls on this thing.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xb57M-KpII] | 16 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "196351",
"author": "bluewraith",
"timestamp": "2010-10-13T16:12:08",
"content": "Would have been nicer if he had used the original contacts for charging, instead of of the plug in wire.A small NC switch could power cycle the remote in order to silence the pager.",
"parent_id": n... | 1,760,377,356.718619 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/13/diy-print-head-experiments/ | DIY Print Head Experiments | Caleb Kraft | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"inkjet",
"piezo",
"print",
"reprap"
] | Inkjet printheads are a pretty rare thing to see done in home workshops. We would love to see more and got really excited when we saw this
single nozzle, drop on demand, head being built
. using a piezo disk intended to be a cheap buzzer and some reprap magic, [Johnrpm] got some results. [Madscifi] has been refining the design of the nozzle and the two have shared the process with us. Since it drops a single droplet of liquid, it can be used in a variety of manners, such as dropping plain old boring ink, or dropping a solvent into a powder for some 3d printing. You can see an example of the 3d printing in sugar above.
[via
Makezine
] | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "196337",
"author": "nave.notnilc",
"timestamp": "2010-10-13T15:26:50",
"content": "cool, but it is extremely easy to get inkjet heads (i.e. empty print cartridges) for trivial amounts of money that you can refill as desired, and you can even get second-hand whole printers for trivia... | 1,760,377,357.245925 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/11/embedded-rfid-for-online-passwords/ | Embedded RFID For Online Passwords | Mike Szczys | [
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"aac keys",
"implant",
"login",
"password",
"rfid",
"windows 7"
] | [Jair2K4] is using his
unique RFID tag address as an online password
. We’d bet that if you went far enough to get an implant in your hand you’d continually search for a reason to use it. Wanting to do more than just
start his car with a wave of the hand
, he built an interface module out of an Arduino and a Parallax RFID reader. Using a program called
AAC Keys
on Windows 7 he emulates a keyboard using the input from the Arduino. When it comes time to login he types his username and parks the cursor in the password box. By holding the RFID implant next the reader, the ID is dumped as the password, along with a newline (might be a carriage return, we’re not certain) character which submits the login. Take a look for yourself after the break.
On the one hand, nobody will be able to steal his tag as easily as they could steal one that is on a key ring. But we know RFID is rather notorious for a false sense of security. As long as you’re not using it for state secrets we think it’s a nice solution.
Update:
After reading the comments on this feature, [Jair2K4] made some changes to his code. It now reads the tag and verifies it with stored data, then spits out whatever password you wish (making it easy to change passwords from time-to-time). He also added servo control to the sketch.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6FRRaWo60w#t=0m32s] | 33 | 33 | [
{
"comment_id": "195313",
"author": "Taylor Alexander",
"timestamp": "2010-10-11T20:04:21",
"content": "Yeah, this is a cool way to more easily enter your password, but it’s still just a text password, and anyone that figures it out can login without the RFID tag (just type it in normally). Its not ... | 1,760,377,357.315758 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/11/nes-controller-gets-a-rumble-pak/ | NES Controller Gets A Rumble Pak | Mike Szczys | [
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"and",
"controller",
"nes",
"rumble pak",
"vibrate"
] | Add some feedback to an original NES controller
by making it vibrate. This feature is often known as
Rumble
Pak
, a controller add-on for the Nintendo 64 which vibrated as a game feature. This version adds a small DC motor (in the upper right) with a screw soldered off-center to the motor shaft.
[Andy Goetz] and his friend built this as a robot controller, taking advantage of the latch and clock pins. Normally, nothing happens while both pins are held high, a signal that they easily patched into using an AND gate. This is actually a neat find, as the addition of an internal microcontroller could add bi-directional communication when the latch is high and the clock is strobed. | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "195297",
"author": "Craig",
"timestamp": "2010-10-11T19:31:08",
"content": "You KNOW it belongs on Hack-a-day when you see a quad-AND chip with its pins splayed flat, at an angle, and lead wires soldered straight to the pins!I assume they’re using the LED as a traditional diode in t... | 1,760,377,357.365249 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/11/bicycle-hub-hydropower/ | Bicycle Hub Hydropower | Mike Szczys | [
"green hacks"
] | [
"fountain",
"generator",
"hub",
"hydropower",
"shimano"
] | [Niklas Roy] wanted to create electricity from moving water so he came up with this
hyrdopower generator
. It is part of his grand scheme to rent out small personal fountains made from buckets. They need electricity to run so he hooked up the generator to the water jet of a public fountain. It should be possible to use this setup with falling water in a similar way that
other generators
do.
To build the device he cut fins out of PVC pipe to use as the scoops. They are attached to a Shimano hub generator, meant for producing power while you pedal. The hub is mounted in the front for from a bicycle, which can then be mounted anywhere moving water is available. The only thing that worries us about the setup is [Niklas’] comment that being showered with water didn’t destroy the hub right away.
See the hub and the smaller fountains in the clip after the break.
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/15385716] | 36 | 36 | [
{
"comment_id": "195223",
"author": "fartface",
"timestamp": "2010-10-11T17:19:57",
"content": "Useful for stealing power from public fountains only.a creek or river will not power this thing as the water is moving too slowly. there are far better designs out there for getting real power instead of... | 1,760,377,358.387334 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/11/learning-to-walk-a-tutorial-on-making-bipeds-walk/ | Learning To Walk, A Tutorial On Making Bipeds Walk | Caleb Kraft | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"bioloid",
"gait",
"walk"
] | [Robert Lam] has produced a number of video tutorials, his latest being a
tutorial on how to make a biped robot walk
. He is mainly covering the individual motions and actions. He doesn’t go into any specific programming, but rather breaks down the act of walking into several motions and discusses the reason you need them as well as some variations. For some this will seem like obvious observations, but we’ve seen plenty of biped robots that attempt to walk without shifting their weight.You can watch this video after the break, but be sure to dig around in some of his
other tutorials
for plenty of good stuff.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhz6m6fu494] | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "195169",
"author": "fluidic",
"timestamp": "2010-10-11T15:11:26",
"content": "Somehow, I was expecting quite a bit more math and quite a bit less “get the foots even”…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "195188",
"author": "xera... | 1,760,377,357.973178 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/11/creepy-hdd-activity-lights-for-halloween/ | Creepy HDD Activity Lights Just In Time For Halloween | Caleb Kraft | [
"computer hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"Case mod",
"halloween"
] | We almost skimmed right past this
spooky HDD activity light
thinking it was just another set of LEDs wired to the motherboard. However, they explained right off that they didn’t want just another blinking light on their case. They wanted it to change its intensity smoothly based on hard drive activity. While there are a million ways this could have been over engineered, we think they did a pretty good job of simplifying the circuit. The bill of materials is pretty much just a handful of resistors, LEDs, an opto isolator, and a capacitor. The effect, is quite nice and can be seen in the video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sRWlocb_s8]
[via
Hacked Gadgets
] | 23 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "195146",
"author": "Grovenstien",
"timestamp": "2010-10-11T14:17:14",
"content": "Arrghhhh the terror of it all! Can I come out from behind my chair yet?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "195166",
"author": "ioco",
"times... | 1,760,377,357.842342 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/11/oogoo-a-home-made-sugru-substitute/ | Oogoo, A Home-made Sugru Substitute | Phil Burgess | [] | [] | If you follow Instructables.com, it might seem like every third article lately is about
Sugru,
the nifty air-drying silicone putty that’s good for all manner of repairs and custom parts. It’s fantastic stuff (and we love their slogan, “Hack things better”), but one can’t (yet!) just drop in on any local hardware store to buy a quick fix…so [mikey77] has
cooked up a recipe for a basic Sugru work-alike
. His “Oogoo” (a name likely inspired by
oobleck
) is a simple mix of
corn starch
and
silicone
caulk.
A two-ingredient recipe would hardly seem adequate material for an article, but [mikey77]’s left no stone unturned, providing an extensive tutorial not only on mixing the compound, but how to add colors,
cast
and carve custom shapes, and how his home-made recipe compares to
the name brand product
. As a bonus, the article then drifts into a little Halloween project where he demonstrates etching conductive cloth, how to make
conductive glue
, and other hands-on shenanigans. | 48 | 38 | [
{
"comment_id": "195132",
"author": "neorazz",
"timestamp": "2010-10-11T13:26:41",
"content": "What are the viscoelastic properties of this mix ? Could the recipe be changed to make something like greenglue …for soundproofing",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"c... | 1,760,377,357.927267 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/10/hackaday-links-october-10-2010/ | Hackaday Links: October 10, 2010 | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"dslr",
"engraving",
"ipad",
"jiggler"
] | Old timey pics with a new timey camera
Update:
We’ve already looked at this one… see
the full article
for all the details.
One way to get old-looking photographs is to use a vintage camera. Then again you can just connect a 1908 lens to a modern dslr with great results.
[Thanks MS3FGX]
Cheap iPad mounting bracket
Need a way to hang your iPad but don’t want to spend some bucks? [Tumbleweed]
used a $3 plate hanger
to do the trick.
Hand engraving
You can get free laser engraving when you buy an iPhone but
it won’t look as good as this does
. [Viljo Marrandi] spent eight hours on this, but most of the time was spent resharpening tools dulled by the tough metal.
Let time prevent your computer from going idle
Want to keep your screen saver from running? No need to change settings, software, or use special hardware. Just
set your mouse on an analog watch
and let the moving hands jiggle it around. [Thanks Lovro] | 21 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "194784",
"author": "biozz",
"timestamp": "2010-10-10T20:21:09",
"content": "Déjà vu on the first link XDlove the engraving!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "194788",
"author": "zool",
"timestamp": "2010-10-10T20:34:21",
... | 1,760,377,358.126115 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/13/chumby-takes-its-first-steps/ | Chumby Takes Its First Steps | Caleb Kraft | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"biped",
"chumby",
"freescale"
] | [Eric Gregory] has gone a bit mad scientist on the Chumby,
turning it into a bipedal bot
. We expected all kinds of cool
chumby
hacking, but we can’t say we saw this one coming. [Eric] points out that with a 454Mhz processor, 64MB of RAM, 2GB of expandable storage and a USB host port, the Chumby is more than capable as a robotics platform. With the addition of a mysterious and soon to be announced sensor board, he has made this chumby into a walking biped. While anyone who can write programs for linux, or even write flash applications can create software for the chumby, [Eric] chose to port the
Robot Vision Toolkit
over. This opens the doors to people who can write in Basic or who have written for the C64 or Apple][. You can see a video of this guy in action after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBMvGDectjk]
[via
bunnie’s blog
] | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "196241",
"author": "deathventure",
"timestamp": "2010-10-13T13:49:11",
"content": "Skynet is adapting to basic human technologies.We’re all doomed…Cat’s reaction: “Meh, we already own you”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "196243"... | 1,760,377,358.231555 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/12/building-a-recumbent-trike-from-old-parts/ | Building A Recumbent Trike From Old Parts | Mike Szczys | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"bicycle",
"bike",
"recumbent",
"trike",
"welding"
] | This recumbent trike was built using parts from three salvaged bikes and without welding. These bikes are a bit easier on the back and neck than the traditional riding position. This one also allows for a shorter pedal crank which was a concern for the creator, [Barry Millman]. Not only did he do a fantastic job of making the thing, but
he shared the project in verbose detail
.
It’s a good build. It won’t win a prize for light-weight design as it includes a big chunk of plywood. But it is worth the weight hit if welding is not an option. For your viewing pleasure you’ll find a short parking lot test-drive of the finished recumbent after the break.
Oh, and if you want a more dangerous cycling build, try this
over-under tandem
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Exc0whaZuoI] | 24 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "195899",
"author": "djrussell",
"timestamp": "2010-10-12T19:31:24",
"content": "typo in the title. you guys need a copy editor? ;)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "195907",
"author": "Drake",
"timestamp": "2010-10-12T19:5... | 1,760,377,358.183868 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/12/arm-prototyping-on-the-cheap-with-stm32-discovery/ | ARM Prototyping On-the-cheap With STM32 Discovery | Mike Szczys | [
"Microcontrollers"
] | [
"arm",
"crosscompiler",
"discovery",
"gnu",
"stm",
"stm32"
] | STMicroelectronics has another inexpensive development board out; the
STM32 Discovery is an ARM Cortex-M3 prototyping platform
. Coming in under $10 puts it right along the lines of
their 8-bit offering
, but this one is 32-bits with 5 KB of RAM and 128 KB of programming memory. It runs a bootloader and has on-board USB for easy programming. They’ve even got a trio of crippled IDE’s to get you started.
Unfortunately this is following a growing trend with the exclusion of Linux support. [Gordon] wrote in to let us know that there is hope in a couple of forms (but not using the USB functionality). The first is
a serial programmer using the RS232
that [Paul] came up with (there’s a lot more on his blog so spend some time there). But you can also
use the serial debug protocol
to program the board.
Either way you’ll still need a method of compiling the code. We’ve had great success rolling our own
GNU ARM cross compiler using this guide
. Or you can grab a pre-built package by downloading
Sourcery G++ lite
. | 50 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "195878",
"author": "Tony",
"timestamp": "2010-10-12T18:09:57",
"content": "Do these have any hope of running the .NET micro framework like similar ARM-based development boards (for example FEZ microhttp://www.tinyclr.com/compare/)?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"repli... | 1,760,377,358.059747 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/12/use-a-3d-mouse-with-eagle-cad/ | Use A 3D Mouse With Eagle CAD | Mike Szczys | [
"Software Hacks"
] | [
".NET",
"3d",
"3DConnecxion",
"cad",
"eagle",
"mouse"
] | [Sebastian] made
a 3D mouse work with Eagle CAD
. He was inspired after using a 3DConnexion device to manipulate the views in a copy of Solid Edge 3D CAD modeling software. The system uses the 3D mouse in one hand with the regular mouse in the other.
It turns out that 3DConnecxion offers a lot of tools to get their devices working with your software. [Sebastian] downloaded the .NET example and modified it to read in data from the device. With the use of hot-keys he manages to get zoom, pan, and centering to work (see for yourself after the break). The only drawback to his implementation is that he can’t pan while dragging parts. But that’s just a small issue waiting for you to find a solution.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1NS4ZDU89Q] | 29 | 28 | [
{
"comment_id": "195848",
"author": "Brennan",
"timestamp": "2010-10-12T16:23:54",
"content": "I’m sorry but that looks like a clumsy solution for most people. It might work for him just because he is so used to doing things a certain way in CAD, but for me it would not be any help at all. All you h... | 1,760,377,358.45422 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/12/halloween-props-puking-pirate/ | Halloween Props: Puking Pirate | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"ghoul",
"Halloween props",
"hose",
"pirate",
"puking",
"pump",
"vomit"
] | With everyone’s favorite free-candy holiday approaching, [Slouriesr] set to work building
a vomiting ghoul for his Halloween display
. He’s calling it a puking pirate and it centers around a pump and some simple plumbing fixtures.
First, the vomit receptacle was made by adding a sink drain with a pop-up stopper to the bottom of a kitty litter bucket. The drain slows the evacuation of liquid into a five gallon bucket below. In that bucket you’ll find a float switch pump used to keep water off of a pool cover. As the bucket fills up the pump turns on and empties the water through a hose ending at the ghoul’s mouth. The result is a 20-second puke cycle sure to delight the trick-or-treaters. Sure, there’s a lot of work to be done to get this guy looking the part, but what a great idea!
Help keep us in the holiday spirit
by sending the details
on your latest prop build. | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "195831",
"author": "jackie",
"timestamp": "2010-10-12T15:36:20",
"content": "funny! Can’t wait for Halloween!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "195843",
"author": "kvmanii",
"timestamp": "2010-10-12T15:54:41",
"content... | 1,760,377,358.501176 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/12/take-me-back-to-a-simpler-time-radio-flyer/ | Take Me Back To A Simpler Time, Radio Flyer | Jakob Griffith | [
"Toy Hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"1976",
"car",
"cart",
"mazda",
"radio flyer",
"truck",
"vehicle",
"wagon"
] | [Fred Keller] and [Judy Foster], both retired, are proving that age is just a number. What you see above is a nostalgia inducing full size
driveable Radio Flyer
red wagon. The base of which is a 1976 Mazda pickup truck, while the wagon portion is a mishmash of wood, fiberglass and bondo, detergent bottles,
and more
. Even the steering wheel has been retrofitted from an actual wheel from a wagon. We were surprised to find out the entire conversion only took the two 11 months to complete (finishing this past august), and even more confounded to learn the vehicle is completely street legal.
[Thanks Rob] | 24 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "195813",
"author": "nes",
"timestamp": "2010-10-12T14:00:44",
"content": "That’s awesome! Looks a little low slung but I love it. Wonder if the handle ‘works’.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "195820",
"author": "nimitzbrood"... | 1,760,377,358.56292 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/11/adding-mobile-control-to-your-gardening/ | Adding Mobile Control To Your Gardening | Mike Szczys | [
"green hacks"
] | [
"app",
"firewall",
"garden",
"grow",
"winphone"
] | [The Cheap Vegetable Gardener] wanted to check in on his garden from the road so
he wrote a control app for his WinPhone
. The hardware work is already done; having been
built and tested
for quite some time.
The implementation comes in two parts, both shown in the chart above. The grow box is behind a firewall as you don’t want random folks turning on the water and grow lights on a whim. The first part of the interface takes care of this separation by providing a set of functions on the host machine. The second portion is the phone app itself which calls those functions and displays all the pertinent information from the status of the lights, heater, exhaust, and water pump, to the current temperature and humidity. He’s even used
Google Charts
to graph data over time. The app itself took about two hours to code with no prior experience, a testament to the level of approachability these tools are gaining. | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "195363",
"author": "Eirinn",
"timestamp": "2010-10-11T21:33:18",
"content": "Nice use of mobile communication – and for once actually useful.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "195373",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2010-... | 1,760,377,358.614688 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/10/add-on-panel-brings-automated-vents-flaps-to-a-pc/ | Add-on Panel Brings Automated Vents Flaps To A PC | Mike Szczys | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"bezel",
"case",
"fan",
"fins",
"heat",
"servo",
"styrene",
"supercap",
"vents",
"water jet"
] | [SXRguyinMA] built a replacement top bezel for his computer case. He wanted to
add vents that would automatically open or close
based on the cooling needs of the computer. With some careful measurements he modeled the parts in Sketchup and sent out for them to be cut from styrene with
a water jet cutter
.
The parts
came back looking great and the
assembly of the shutters
went swimmingly. The bezel also includes a lighted screen for temperature information, as well as the front USB ports, headphone and mic jacks, etc. Hidden underneath is an Arduino board and servo motor. The Arduino polls the temperature and drives the servo to adjust the fins accordingly. There’s even a supercap in the circuit that will close the vents when the PC powers down or when power is unexpectedly lost. See it in action after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx2G64BgPgM] | 37 | 37 | [
{
"comment_id": "194733",
"author": "peter larson",
"timestamp": "2010-10-10T18:16:00",
"content": "this looks stangely like this alienware case:http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-area51/pd?refid=alienware-area-51",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": ... | 1,760,377,358.692629 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/10/new-a4-jailbreak-debacle-puts-the-brakes-on-for-ipad/ | New A4 Jailbreak Debacle Puts The Brakes On For IPad | Mike Szczys | [
"iphone hacks",
"ipod hacks"
] | [
"4g",
"a4",
"chronicdevteam",
"geohot",
"greenpois0n",
"ipad",
"iphone",
"ipod",
"limera1n"
] | If you’ve been waiting in the wings for the next Jailbreak to be release you should know there’s been a bit of a speed bump. [ChronicDevTeam], which has been working on an exploit for A4-based iOS devices called SHAtter,
tweeted last Thursday
that the fully tested, untethered, and unpatchable package knows as
greenpois0n
would be released today. But on Friday [Geohot], who you may remember from
the PlayStation 3 Hypervisor exploit
, rolled out his own mostly untested and admittedly beta jailbreak called
limera1n
.
So where does that leave the situation? Because [geohot] used a different exploit, the [ChronicDevTeam] decided not to release greenp0ison. If they did, it would give Apple a chance to block two different exploits. Instead they are working feverishly to incorporate, test, and repackage using the same exploit as limera1n.
If you don’t want to wait, jailbreak now, but you risk problems with an unstable exploit method that is only available for Windows.
[via
@ChronicDevTeam
] | 26 | 26 | [
{
"comment_id": "194648",
"author": "dnny",
"timestamp": "2010-10-10T16:18:11",
"content": "Only available to windows ? woot? How about us fanboys? I will wait.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "194653",
"author": "fluidic",
"timestamp": "... | 1,760,377,358.754857 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/10/human-theramin-one-step-closer-to-cyborgs-not-really/ | Human Theremin, One Step Closer To Cyborgs (not Really) | Jakob Griffith | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"instrument",
"theremin"
] | Oh [Humberto], what will you think up next? A
human Theremin
you say,
and
it’s for Halloween? Certanly this will blow last years creepy
capacitance sensing jack-o-lantern
out of the water right? Eh, not really, but still cool none-the-less. By using pairs of IR LEDs and IR photo-transistors, [Humberto] makes a simplistic distance sensor. Then its just a matter of converting that light value
into sound
, which is accomplished by using some very clever PWM square wave hacking to make a triangle wave. Also, [Humberto] goes over the process of using fast integers to represent slow floating point numbers. While none of the project is really a new concept, it certainly is put into an easy perspective so anyone can try their hand at it. All well worth the read, or you can catch a video after the jump.
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dF-ZGquRNY&feature=player_embedded%5D | 5 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "194571",
"author": "Tachikoma",
"timestamp": "2010-10-10T14:13:02",
"content": "Typo in the title, should be Ther[e]min.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "194628",
"author": "Caleb Kraft",
"timestamp": "2010-10-1... | 1,760,377,359.399796 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/09/yashica-electro-shutter-mod/ | Yashica Electro Shutter Mod | Caleb Kraft | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"3.5mm",
"camera",
"film"
] | We saw this picture on Flickr this morning and started getting really curious. The caption says that [Steffanhh1]
modified the Yashica Electro Shutter camera to be fully manual
. We’re not camera experts so we had to
do a little research to see what was going on here
. The Yashika Electro got its name due to how the shutter speed is controlled. You have two little LEDs that light up depending on which direction you need to turn the dial (based on ambient light?). [Steffanhh1] really wanted full control, so they hacked in a dial with a knot of resistors under it. The first test photographs are
downloading
developing, so we’ll have to wait to see the results. | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "194054",
"author": "flapjackboy",
"timestamp": "2010-10-09T18:10:31",
"content": "3.5mm? surely you mean 35mm. 3.5mm film would be pretty impractical.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "194082",
"author": "bilbao bob",
"tim... | 1,760,377,359.286073 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/09/using-an-arduino-or-seeeduino-for-its-ftdi-chip/ | Using An Arduino Or Seeeduino For Its FTDI Chip | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"breakout",
"ftdi",
"seeeduino",
"usb"
] | We think of the Arduino as a rapid prototyping tool but we never thought of it as an FTDI breakout board before. [Ihsan Kehribar] wrote
a quick post to show how it’s done
. You’ll find an FTDI chip on Arduino boards that have a USB connector. It’s used to handle the USB communications on one side, and TTL serial communications on the other. The serial pins from the chip are mapped to the UART on the AVR chip, and in turn they appear on the pin headers for easy connections. Just load up a really simple sketch(available from Ihsan’s post) to make sure the processor doesn’t get in the way and you’ve got yourself an FTDI breakout board. If you happen to have a Seeeduino there’s even more functionality as the board has a selector switch that allows you to choose between 5V and 3.3V levels.
This doesn’t hold true to
the newest generation of Arduino
, as those board have replaced the FTDI chip with
an
ATmega8U2
. That’s basically and ATmega8 with native USB handling… fancy.
[Thanks Marcus] | 24 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "194000",
"author": "addidis",
"timestamp": "2010-10-09T16:50:07",
"content": "Dont be confused though, the newer method used by arduino is far far superior. But give it some time to be out and get worked on before you judge it. Once people realize what is possible using a usb enable... | 1,760,377,359.227773 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/09/pulling-data-from-the-im-me-spectrum-analyzer/ | Pulling Data From The IM-ME Spectrum Analyzer | Mike Szczys | [
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"cc1110",
"girltech",
"GoodFET",
"im-me",
"michael ossmann",
"spectrum analyzer",
"travis goodspeed"
] | A small, cheap spectrum analyzer with an LCD can be a fun thing to play with. But to be truly usefully you need access to raw data, and lots of it. [Travis Goodspeed] set out to make that possible by
pulling data with a GoodFET and a Python script
.
He started with [Michael Ossmann’s]
IM-ME spectrum analyzer
, which uses a CC1110 chip. The two of them are giving a lecture at Toorcon 12 (called
Real Men Carry Pink Pagers
) and this will be used as a demonstration device. After studying the datasheet he found the starting RAM address and did some further work to deciphered how the data is stored in it. From there it was a matter of working out the timing for grabbing the data, and coding a method for storing it. Now he’s looking for brave souls to help him trailblaze with this newly-discovered tool. It seems that if you know what you are doing, and have abundant patience, you can use this for a bit of old-fashioned reverse engineering. | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "193983",
"author": "addidis",
"timestamp": "2010-10-09T15:40:46",
"content": "Nice work travis! wish i could make it to Toorcon 12",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "193993",
"author": "Rollyn01",
"timestamp": "2010-10-09T1... | 1,760,377,359.167249 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/08/beefy-battery-backup-still-running-after-a-decade/ | Beefy Battery Backup Still Running After A Decade | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"backup",
"battery",
"stove",
"ups"
] | In 1997 [Michael Butkus Jr.] found an uninterruptible power supply in the dumpster. The batteries were shot, but he needed a backup to keep his pellet stove running for heat, drive the exhaust fan to keep the smoke out of the house, and power his computer and other electronics. After a bit of head scratching he decided to
beef up the UPS using deep-cycle batteries
.
He actually built two of these. One is smaller, and
similar to what we’ve seen before
. The other is larger and uses four batteries, two pairs in parallel which are then connected in series. He’s careful to use heavy gauge wiring and 50 amp fuses for each battery, both of which will protect against the risk of fire. One thing we found interesting is that the batteries are stored in the basement, directly below the UPS which is connected via a short run of 12 gauge home electrical wire.
We were happy to see that he’s done updates at the top of his post over the years. He lost a few batteries due to neglectfully letting the water levels drop too much. He did switch over to sealed automotive batteries sometime in 2004 or 2005. Looks like things have been going strong ever since.
[Thanks Spencer] | 39 | 38 | [
{
"comment_id": "193656",
"author": "bilbao bob",
"timestamp": "2010-10-08T22:12:18",
"content": "The batteries are the only things that have to fail in these.Prior to 1992 or 1993, the batteries were US made, and many of them lasted almost seven or eight years (if lightly loaded) before bulging and... | 1,760,377,359.532146 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/08/reddit-hacking-for-votes-and-profit/ | Reddit Hacking For Votes And Profit | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"captcha",
"reddit",
"script",
"social engineering",
"spam",
"upvotes",
"votes"
] | Looks like someone figured out how to game the Reddit system. This probably has been done before, but as far as we know nobody’s actually shared the methods in detail. [Esrun] wrote some scripts that allow him to
register multiple accounts and use them to up-vote stories
.
The hack goes something like this. A script registers a group of accounts. Each uses a different IP and the only part that requires intervention is typing in the Captcha. This doesn’t take long. You can see the script interface above as well as a demonstration video after the break.
Once the accounts have been acquired a story is submitted and the new accounts vote on it. They’re not all up-votes though, as having both up and down votes puts the article into the controversial section of Reddit (which is desirable), and doesn’t rouse as much suspicion from the moderators. He ran a few tests that he shares and it seems that as long as the article is interesting, this can be quite successful.
Great, more spam with our social media please.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c3SboR4uco]
[Thanks Joseph via
Reddit
] | 36 | 35 | [
{
"comment_id": "193628",
"author": "dawg",
"timestamp": "2010-10-08T21:14:00",
"content": "Yeah, thanks HAD. Was three paragraphs really necessary for this drivel? This isn’t even exciting: Man creates program to register 100+ accounts on a popular social media site, and proceeds to vote up/down an... | 1,760,377,359.357026 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/08/add-supercaps-to-your-exercise-routine/ | Add Supercaps To Your Exercise Routine | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"ATmega128",
"bike",
"exercise",
"super capacitor",
"supercap"
] | Many exercise machines generate electricity as you pedal or climb in order to run the on-board electronics. Unfortunately if you stop or even slow down too much the juice will die and your exercise program will reset. Wanting to improve on this gotcha, [Mike]
cracked open his exercise bike and added some super capacitors
.
On the circuit board he found an ATmega128 was in charge of the user interface. He probed the board a little bit and couldn’t find how it was connected to the power regulators. After some additional snooping he found it has its own SOIC regulator separate from the ones that run the display and peripherals. He takes us through the calculations he made before choosing his parts. What he ended up with is a set of three supercaps in series that add about two minutes of juice before the levels drop and the chip resets. The design of the board helped a lot as the high-load electronics (like the LCD screen) are on a separate power bus than the processor. | 26 | 26 | [
{
"comment_id": "193542",
"author": "djrussell",
"timestamp": "2010-10-08T18:32:47",
"content": "“Many exercise machines generate electricity as you pedal or climb in order to run the on-board electronics.”They do? I sold treadmills, bikes, and ellipticals for a year or so and all of them took batte... | 1,760,377,359.459976 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/08/game-boy-printer-usb-cable-and-software/ | Game Boy Printer USB Cable And Software | Mike Szczys | [
"Nintendo Game Boy Hacks"
] | [
"attiny45",
"nintendo",
"printer",
"receipt",
"serial",
"Thermal",
"usb"
] | [Furrtek] hooked up his
Game Boy printer for use with a PC
(
translated
). The two-part hack started with a cable to attach the device via USB. A Nokia interface cable was used as a base to translate the USB signals into serial, and an ATtiny45 microcontroller added to talk to the printer. He did a great job of free-forming the circuit alterations and fitting it back into the plastic USB plug housing.The next step was to write some software. Using VB6 he coded an application that loads in an image, scales it to fit, and allows you to adjust the contrast that the thermal printer produces. For testing purposes he’s reusing old receipts. See it in action after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN-63UAD2G4] | 19 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "193476",
"author": "John Avitable",
"timestamp": "2010-10-08T17:15:51",
"content": "Holy crap, I remember having the gameboy printer with the gameboy camera! Nice work bringing an old gadget back to life!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comme... | 1,760,377,359.681919 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/08/bench-supply-with-current-limiting/ | Bench Supply With Current Limiting | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"ATmega32",
"bench",
"graphic lcd",
"power supply",
"psu",
"supply",
"transformer"
] | This is a bench
power supply with adjustable voltage and current limiting
. [Sylvain’s] creation can regulate 0-25 volts while sourcing 0-5 amps. Current limiting is a nice feature as it will allow you to test your prototypes to ensure the power regulator you choose will not be over or underpowered.
This supply is really a two-in-one. The case has two separate circuits so that you can have different power rails going at the same time. There is a microcontroller involved, but the ATmega32 doesn’t do anything more than measure the voltage and amperage and drive the graphic LCD screen. Two potentiometers are responsible for setting the voltage and limiting the current.
[Thanks Sargonout] | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "193461",
"author": "willy",
"timestamp": "2010-10-08T16:57:57",
"content": "Instead of using hooking up a transformer, could you just cheat and use an old PSU?The one i use for my electronics stuff says it can supply 12v 14A, and a -12v 1A (among others of course)… You could use tho... | 1,760,377,359.739811 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/08/turtles-all-the-way-down-40-propeller-mcu-skyscraper/ | Turtles All The Way Down, 40 Propeller MCU Skyscraper | Jakob Griffith | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"MCU",
"parallax",
"propeller",
"skyscraper",
"stack"
] | Why bother
interconnecting 40 Propeller
microcontrollers one on top of the other? For the power that comes from parallel processing of course! [Humanoido] put the setup together for a total of 1280 ports, 640 counters, and more all running at 6.4 billion instructions per second
for the low low price of 300-500$ by our count
. The “skyscraper” even comes complete with software and schematics, promising developers the ability to expand or adapt for any venture. Why would we need such a setup in the first place? For any of the following: vision tracking/modification, artificial intelligence, advanced robotic control, or more.
Related: [Humanoido] loves putting MCUs together, check out one of his other creations the
Basic Stamp supercomputer
.
[Thanks Logan996] | 29 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "193371",
"author": "osgeld",
"timestamp": "2010-10-08T13:51:28",
"content": "Okay?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "193375",
"author": "Matt R",
"timestamp": "2010-10-08T14:03:18",
"content": "We missing a video or an... | 1,760,377,359.820257 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/07/playing-piano-with-optical-sensors/ | Playing Piano With Optical Sensors | Mike Szczys | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"atmega16",
"cny70",
"i2c",
"midi",
"optical",
"piano",
"pianoteq",
"sensor",
"twi"
] | [Sebastian] is trying to improve the responsiveness of an electric keyboard. He was unsatisfied with the lack of adequate sensitivity to keystroke. The first step in his process was to measure how fast the quickest keystroke actually is. By setting up an LED and phototransistor and taking some measurements he found that sampling at 1 kHz would be more than adequate.
With initial testing complete he ordered some CNY70 transmissive/reflective light sensors that can be place below the keys. He measures the sensor with the ADC on an ATmega16 microcontroller. Running at 16 MHz he can sample each of the eight analog-to-digital converter channels at 1202 Hz. After doing a bunch of math he put together some lookup tables that are used to translate the ADC data into midi signals. We’ve embedded a video of
one sensor controlling the midi program
PianoTeq. [Sebastian] also sent us a schematic of one node in the sensor network (see it after the break).
When everything is said and done he plans to use eleven ATmega16 microcontrollers to address the 88 keys, with an additional microcontroller to act as the master using a two-wire interface for communications.
Update:
[Sebastian] put up a webpage with a fairly verbose description.
Reading it straight from the source
really clears up a lot of questions.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUHbq3j0ObE] | 16 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "193083",
"author": "Remarknl",
"timestamp": "2010-10-07T21:14:01",
"content": "I love the Music A. i never thought about opical sensors in this application. nice system to detect shocks because its fricton free..",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
... | 1,760,377,359.874304 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/07/an-interesting-take-on-wep-cracking/ | An Interesting Take On WEP Cracking | Mike Szczys | [
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"aircrack-ng",
"crack",
"linux",
"password",
"penetration testing",
"screen",
"turbogears",
"wep"
] | [Ben Kurtz] is
doing a little WEP cracking
but in a bit of a different way than we’re used to. WEP cracking makes us think of war driving; driving around with your laptop open, looking for WiFi access points, and stopping to run some software when you find them. [Ben’s] way is similar but different in one key way, he’s using an iPhone as the frontend.
This started as a way to find a use for some leftover equipment. He threw together a Linux box and loaded up
Aircrack-ng
, the software we often see
used in penetration testing
. To remove himself from shady-looking activities in public he coded a web interface using the Python package
Turbogears
. It uses screen, a program often used with SSH to run services concurrently in different terminals, with the option to disconnect without stopping the processes. Now it’s just a matter of parking the hardware near an AP, and doing the work in a browser on your mobile device. You can check out the script he wrote, as well as installation instructions, in his post linked above.
[Thanks Tech B.]
[Note: Banner image not directly related to this post] | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "193062",
"author": "Bunny",
"timestamp": "2010-10-07T20:20:11",
"content": "I used to do something similiar before the iPhone came out. Had a symbian phone with Wifi.and use putty for symbian. Would set up a ad-hoc network with another wireless card in my laptop. So the main wifi ca... | 1,760,377,360.165421 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/07/automated-chip-burning/ | Automated Chip Burning | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"atmega328",
"bootloader",
"dip",
"pick and place",
"programmer",
"servo",
"vacuum",
"zif"
] | [Alexsoulis] needed to burn the Arduino bootloader to a slew of ATmega328 chips. Instead of sitting there and plugged the chips into a programmer one at a time, he build
a robotic microcontroller programmer
.
It starts with the DIP package microcontrollers in a tube, with a servo motor to dispense them one-by-one. An arm swings over and picks up the chip with a fish pump powered vacuum tweezers similar to
the pick-and-place head
we saw recently. From there the chip is dropped into a ZIF socket and programmed by an Arduino. Once the process is complete it is moved to the side and the process repeats.
We’ve reported on
using an Arduino as an AVR programmer
but we’ve never actually done it ourselves (we use an AVR Dragon programmer). Take a look at the video after the break and let us know if you think the actual programming seems incredibly slow.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPusu0SkN2w]
[Thanks Kyle via
Let’s Make Robots
] | 28 | 28 | [
{
"comment_id": "193017",
"author": "osgeld",
"timestamp": "2010-10-07T18:50:59",
"content": "i use avrisp (arduino isp) all the time with my arduino, its 19200 baud and as fast as you would expectyea this is pretty darn slow, so I dunno? wtf?otherwise cool bit of robot action",
"parent_id": nul... | 1,760,377,360.230094 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/07/bios-password-cracking/ | BIOS Password Cracking | Mike Szczys | [
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"bios",
"bruteforce",
"checksum",
"laptop",
"password",
"python"
] | [Dogbert] took a look at
the security that goes into BIOS passwords
on many laptops. He starts off with a little background about how the systems work. People are bound to forget their passwords, so when you enter a wrong one three times in a row you get a message similar to the one above that locks you out until all power is removed from the system (then you get three more tries). But check out that five-digit number in the picture. That’s a checksum of the password. Some BIOS versions display it automatically, some require you to hold down a certain key during POST, but it’s the pivotal data needed to crack the password.
[Dogbert’s] post doesn’t go into verbose detail about the algorithms he uses to brute force the passwords. But he has posted the Python scripts he uses to do so. Learning how to generate the passwords based on the checksum is as simple as studying the code, which is often the best way to learn. | 45 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "192970",
"author": "Junkman",
"timestamp": "2010-10-07T17:05:21",
"content": "I always just flash the bios works using a jumper setting and takes just a minute or 2.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "2751575",
"author": ... | 1,760,377,360.415471 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/07/nyc-resistor-takes-on-the-machine/ | NYC Resistor Takes On The Machine | Jakob Griffith | [
"Beer Hacks"
] | [
"drink",
"hackerspace",
"mix",
"nyc resistor",
"slot machine",
"twitter"
] | Here we are with Episodes
two
and
three
(aka,
NYC Resistor
part one and two) completing the Take on the Machine Hackerspace challenge we mentioned
a while back
. For the challenge NYC Resistor took an old style slot machine and converted it into a drink mixing deviant; even making the device post a Tweet for every drink. However, it seems to be lacking refrigeration of some kind, could this be the downfall of a potential winner for the challenge? Up next is the Hackerspace Pumping Station: One: do you think they can compete? Is there a particular Hackerspace you can’t wait to see? Let us know!
[Thanks
Deven
] | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "192944",
"author": "Brennan",
"timestamp": "2010-10-07T16:13:43",
"content": "Weird, I just stumbled onto this from boing boing last night and watched the intro + first two videos of NYC Resistor. A really quality mini-series and I highly recommend everyone to watch it. I can’t wait... | 1,760,377,360.059978 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/07/upgrading-the-freetronics-twentyten-with-a-real-time-clock/ | Upgrading The Freetronics Twentyten With A Real-time Clock | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"clock hacks"
] | [
"real-time"
] | [John Boxall] finds himself doing a fair amount of
projects that require a realtime clock
. He does fast and frequent prototyping, usually using the
Freetronics twentyten
which is an Arduino alternative that boasts a few features like a nice prototyping area, edge visible LEDs, and Mini USB. What is lacking, however, is a real-time clock. Instead of making another shield type system, he just wanted to permanently add this feature to his board. He shares the whole process is photographed and explained quite well for anyone who would want to follow along. | 10 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "192915",
"author": "GZPhreak",
"timestamp": "2010-10-07T15:02:32",
"content": "fix link maybe to be:http://blog.littlebirdelectronics.com/add-a-real-time-clock-to-the-freetronics-twen",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "192917",
... | 1,760,377,360.111903 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/07/cheap-robotic-hand/ | Cheap Robotic Hand | Caleb Kraft | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"fingers",
"hand",
"PICAXE"
] | [Mazvydas] shares with us, his
cheap robot hand
. He was inspired by
this project
, where someone used an Arduino and a glove with some flex sensors to control a pre-made hand. He wanted to go a little more DIY though. He chose a picaxe microcontroller and constructed the hand himself out of twine, some plexi-glass, and some rubber hose. He does ultimately plan on adding glove control as well.
Unfortunately there’s no schematic or source code. Maybe if we ask really nicely he’ll share.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2tXNkszbpM]
[via
Makezine
] | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "192936",
"author": "walt",
"timestamp": "2010-10-07T15:48:38",
"content": "cleaver!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "192937",
"author": "smoker_dave",
"timestamp": "2010-10-07T15:49:12",
"content": "Male equivalent to... | 1,760,377,360.338214 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/07/arduino-rfid-and-you/ | Arduino, RFID, And You | Jakob Griffith | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"announce",
"arduino",
"database",
"door",
"lock",
"python",
"rfid",
"security",
"tag",
"voice"
] | [Matt] has mixed up a batch of
two RFID
reading door lock
systems. While the “door lock” part of the setup has yet to come into existence, the “RFID reading” section is up and running. By using the Parallax RFID readers (
for cheap, remember?
) and an Arduino, [Matt] is able to parse an RFID tag, look its number up in a database, and then have a computer announce “Access Denied” in a creamy “Douglas Adam’s sliding door of Hitchiker’s Guide” kind of way with Python.
Good books aside, catch a
not as exciting as you’re thinking
video after the jump.
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mws0nqkqvGg&feature=player_embedded%5D | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "192890",
"author": "smoker_dave",
"timestamp": "2010-10-07T13:48:30",
"content": "RFID without Manchester decoding is cheating.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "192892",
"author": "Navic",
"timestamp": "2010-10-07T13:56:0... | 1,760,377,360.288722 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/06/pyrosphere-at-burning-man-2010/ | Pyrosphere At Burning Man 2010 | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"burning man",
"flamethrower",
"music",
"pyrosphere"
] | What’s thirty-seven feet tall, has ninety-one flamethrowers, and is controlled by an Arduino? Why it’s
Pyrosphere
, an interactive art piece at this year’s Burning Man. It lights up the night along to the music in a way that makes us want to set up a lawn-chair and watch the show. You can see for yourself in the video after the break, but you really should have thrown on the
LED fur coat
and gone to see it in person.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxy8mmiGBjc]
[Thanks Erin] | 31 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "192391",
"author": "R. Barrabas",
"timestamp": "2010-10-06T19:38:35",
"content": "There was a large water-filled basin under the display, where flammable gas (propane?) bubbled up to create a flammable foam.The audience was invited to light the wisps of foam and watch them burn from... | 1,760,377,360.481844 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/06/solar-powered-wifi-repeater/ | Solar Powered WiFi Repeater | Mike Szczys | [
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"ap",
"DD-WRT",
"hotspot",
"panel",
"rechargeable",
"router",
"solar",
"wifi"
] | For all those times you need to broadcast your own access point where there’s no outlet [Larry] shows us how to
make a solar-powered hotspot
. He started by slapping a solar panel on the lid of a cigar box and attaching it to five rechargeable AA batteries inside. These power the mainboard from a router which is the perfect size to friction fit in the opening. It has been flashed with a copy of DD-WRT, and set to scan for open WiFi connections. When it finds one it connects and rebroadcasts its own WiFi signal to the surrounding area. He leaves it in the back window of his car and uses it to get on the net during lunch. | 43 | 42 | [
{
"comment_id": "192339",
"author": "leadacid",
"timestamp": "2010-10-06T18:26:08",
"content": "Neat! I’d be interested to know the physical lifespan the batteries through that kind of charging setup (overcharge, overvoltage, etc?) and then how many hours it gets from that charge.I could use someth... | 1,760,377,360.558003 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/06/mini-pinball-is-all-pixels/ | Mini Pinball Is All-pixels | Mike Szczys | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [
"cabinet",
"hyperpin",
"lcd",
"mini",
"pinball",
"pinmame"
] | You won’t find those familiar steel balls inside this
mini-pinball cabinet
. That’s because [Luis’] latest creation is a fun way to play virtual pinball. The playing field is a 10″ LCD screen with an accompanying 8″ screen in the marquee. Inside the well-crafted case you’ll find a mini-ITX motherboard running
HyperPin
, a frontend software suite for LCD-based virtual pinball. He’s also using
PinMame
for the score board that was often provided by
a gas plasma display
on newer mechanical machines. There’s video after the break, and take a moment to check out [Luis’]
other mini-cabinet builds
.
What’s that you say? No substitute for the real thing?
That’s exactly what [Ben Heck] thinks too
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxPIKYXjX5k] | 20 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "192309",
"author": "Entropia",
"timestamp": "2010-10-06T17:20:52",
"content": "Put Pinball Fantasies on it! :P",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "192322",
"author": "sam seide",
"timestamp": "2010-10-06T17:49:53",
"cont... | 1,760,377,360.612208 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/06/pic-programmable-power-supply/ | PIC Programmable Power Supply | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"18f4520",
"dac",
"keypad",
"pic",
"power",
"power supply",
"programmable",
"r-2r",
"transistor",
"voltage"
] | This
programmable power supply
is the perfect addition to your bench tools. [Debraj Deb], who previously
built a whole house power monitor
, designed this build around a PIC 18F4520 microcontroller. The desired voltage is set with an attached keypad, resulting in a digital output on the 8-bits of port D. The port connects to another protoboard with an R-2R digital-to-analog converter resulting in the target voltage. A set of transistors amplifies the current and a power transistor then takes care of the final output. After the break you’ll find two videos, the first walks us through the hardware and the second demonstrates the device in action, along with measurements of its performance. This certainly provides a lot more functionality than
an ATX power-supply conversion
.
Update:
A big thanks to [Debraj] who sent us a code package as well as
the schematic
(PDF) used during testing. We’re having trouble getting the code package up for download right now. Check back later, hopefully we’ll have it up soon.
Part 1
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6XO1oouZm8]
Part 2
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUTZ4zQ2HoA] | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "192270",
"author": "Madhur",
"timestamp": "2010-10-06T16:15:30",
"content": "Neat !Thanks for sharing :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "192290",
"author": "Dave",
"timestamp": "2010-10-06T16:45:46",
"content": "Nice... | 1,760,377,360.924911 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/06/syyn-labs-glowing-dna/ | Syyn Labs’ Glowing DNA | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"art",
"display",
"led"
] | This
beautiful music syncronized double helix
was made by Syyn labs. Last time we saw them, they had created
that amazing rube goldberg style music video for OK Go
. This 100 foot long LED DNA strand took over 1000 combined man hours to build. It took 512 LEDs, 32 LED controllers, 4 Arduinos, 4 computers, over a mile of wire and a very dedicated team, which included [
Eliot Phillips
]. It takes input from beatmatching/VU software as well as a 32 button console or an iPad. You can catch a video of it in action after the break, and they plan on releasing a timelapse of the build in the near future.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yN7RBGrmeY] | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "192248",
"author": "Fallen",
"timestamp": "2010-10-06T15:21:39",
"content": ":D cool",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "192253",
"author": "ftorama",
"timestamp": "2010-10-06T15:33:26",
"content": "Reminds me of this:ht... | 1,760,377,360.870204 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/10/05/rat-propulsion-via-brain-machine-interface/ | Rat Propulsion Via Brain-machine Interface | Mike Szczys | [
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"brain",
"electrode",
"neural",
"paralysis",
"rat",
"ratcar"
] | Our little red-eyed friend
can drive this vehicle around with his mind
. WITH HIS MIND, MAN!
This is the product of research into adaptive technologies. The process is pretty invasive, implanting neural electrodes in the motor cortex of the brain. The hope is that some day this will be a safe and reliable prospect for returning mobility to paralysis victims.
We found it interesting that the vehicle was trained to react to the rats’ movements. They were allowed to move around a test space under their own power while brain signals were monitored by the electrodes. Video tracking was used to correlate their movements with those signals, and that data is used to command the motors for what the Japanese researchers are calling RatCar.
We can see the possibilities opening up for a
mechanized cockroach
v. RatCar free-for-all. Something of a battlebots with a live tilt. But we kid, this is actually quite creepy.
[via
Neatorama
and
PopSci
] | 78 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "191795",
"author": "JayMan",
"timestamp": "2010-10-05T22:07:01",
"content": "Animal crulty is not okay, i can’t beleive something like this would be posted on hack-a-day",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "191797",
"author": "an... | 1,760,377,361.009945 |
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