url stringlengths 37 208 | title stringlengths 4 148 | author stringclasses 173
values | publish_date stringclasses 1
value | categories listlengths 0 12 | tags listlengths 0 27 | featured_image stringlengths 0 272 | content stringlengths 0 56.1k | comments_count int64 0 900 | scraped_comments_count int64 0 50 | comments listlengths 0 50 | scraped_at float64 1.76B 1.76B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
https://hackaday.com/2010/02/06/hardware-based-randomness-for-linux/ | Hardware Based Randomness For Linux | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks",
"Linux Hacks"
] | [
"andy green",
"cpdl",
"entropy",
"random",
"whirlygig"
] | True randomness can be hard to come by in the digital world. [Andy Green] is making it easier to
get true entropy by using this random USB dongle
. The Whirlygig uses a
CPDL
to gather data from a set of of oscillators. The oscillators have a constantly fluctuating frequency due to temperature changes; if they run faster they generate more heat which in turn slows them down. This, along with the variable latency associated with polling a USB device, gives great depth of randomness. The device is detected and mounted under ‘/dev/hw_random’ and can then be fed into ‘/dev/random’ using the
rng-tools
package. [Andy’s] done a lot of testing, both on
the hardware
, and on the
quality of randomness
. We didn’t see an option to order this but he’s got
hardware
and
firmware
repositories so that you can throw one together yourself.
[Thanks Zunk] | 28 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "122321",
"author": "jim",
"timestamp": "2010-02-06T17:31:20",
"content": "now just for McGuvyer to poison the database with his trusty Zippo and then hack the Gibson with a paper clip",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "122326",
... | 1,760,377,499.425767 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/02/05/pre-spun-hard-drives/ | Pre-spun Hard Drives | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"hdd",
"psu",
"relay",
"staggered"
] | This device is lovingly called the SPINmaster. [Linux-works] built it to
spin up multiple hard drives before the motherboard starts up
. It detects the power-up from the PSU and uses a relay to hold the motherboard in reset, indicated by the red LED. Each of four relays then spins up a hard drive and illuminates the green LED when ready. Once all green lights come on the reset relay shuts off and the bios starts up. This type of staggered startup takes a lot of the load off of an under-powered PSU. He’s
posted firmware
and there’s
a schematic
available too. We took a look at his video but there’s not much to see as it’s just the inside of the machine while it boots up. | 56 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "122148",
"author": "mef",
"timestamp": "2010-02-05T21:18:40",
"content": "Why not just hold the reset to MB down for few seconds, would be quite simpler with cap and resistors.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "122149",
"autho... | 1,760,377,499.707065 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/02/05/pipe-heating-with-an-atmega8/ | Pipe Heating With An ATMega8 | Caleb Kraft | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"atmega",
"heat",
"pipes",
"thaw"
] | [Viktor] wanted a system to keep his pipes from freezing. The common method of using heat tape works pretty well, but can be wasteful. Many people just turn it on for the entire winter. [Viktor] wanted to
automate the heat tape’s power
so that it only activated during times that the pipes could actually freeze. To do this, he rigged an ATMega8 to a temp probe and is using it to control an ATX power supply. Pretty slick [Viktor].
[via
HackedGadgets
] | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "122143",
"author": "nimitzbrood",
"timestamp": "2010-02-05T21:03:43",
"content": "Very cool and much more geeky than my solution would be. (An X10 module and transmitter run by a cron script on a server. Take the outside temp from someplace local like a 1-wire weather unit and turn... | 1,760,377,499.363089 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/02/05/repurposing-a-click-wheel/ | Repurposing A Click Wheel | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks",
"ipod hacks"
] | [
"attiny88",
"AVR",
"click wheel",
"ipod"
] | We think the click wheel is the biggest contributor to the success of the original iPods. The devices were a brick with a monochrome screen but the user interface was slick and easy to use. [Jason] decided he wanted to
add a click wheel to his own project
. After using a logic analyzer he discovered that it doesn’t implement a common protocol such as I2C, perhaps a deliberate move by Apple to keep the controller under wraps? He managed to get past this hurdle, as seen in the video after the break, by bit-banging the data in from the click wheel and then reverse engineering the protocol.
It’s connected to an AVR ATtiny88 with feedback shown on a character LCD screen. We’re glad that [Jason] tipped us off about this, but he
doesn’t have any code available yet
. We love to dive into the source so the sooner he gets it up the better! We’ve got an old 3rd generation with a bad board that is begging to have the wheel ripped out of it, not to mention the dirt-cheap replacements available on ebay.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2DZd3MBNPc] | 24 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "122112",
"author": "zigzagjoe",
"timestamp": "2010-02-05T18:47:47",
"content": "first url is a dud",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "122113",
"author": "osgeld",
"timestamp": "2010-02-05T18:50:41",
"content": "isnt the... | 1,760,377,499.07651 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/02/05/arduino-to-nintendo-ds-interface/ | Arduino To Nintendo DS Interface | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"ds",
"ds lite",
"gba",
"nintendo"
] | [Hounjini] was poking around at the Game Boy Advanced bus of his Nintendo DS lite and figured out how to use it to
connect an Arduino to the DS
. For testing he’s soldered an IDC plug to the cartridge cover pin interface but this only requires four connections. The Arduino can both send and receive data from the DS lite as shown in the example videos after the break. The data access is made possible by making the Arduino look like a controller that the DS is happy to talk to.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnBe5NonHLA]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3aEGCiGEaA]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BddcjIB_sPQ]
[Thanks Christian] | 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "122101",
"author": "Rfx",
"timestamp": "2010-02-05T17:52:56",
"content": "It’s not messy enough !I do prefer mine :pIt’s in french but pics and vids vill show you what i mean :http://blog.yasaw.net/?page_id=47Arduino free !",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []... | 1,760,377,499.257975 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/02/05/antique-juke/ | Antique Jukebox Audio Streamer | James Munns | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"antique",
"audio",
"jukebox",
"streamer"
] | Reader [Jimmy] sent us some info about his recently completed
antique radio
to audio streamer conversion. The electronics from the original radio were too far gone to repair, but he took the time to pull apart modern components to provide a polished looking finished project without losing the antique feel. We like it, but we are just
suckers
for that
old time
look. Check out his
blog
for more photos. | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "122102",
"author": "Paul Potter",
"timestamp": "2010-02-05T17:54:15",
"content": "Great work.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "122107",
"author": "MkMan",
"timestamp": "2010-02-05T18:26:12",
"content": "Two thumbs up!... | 1,760,377,499.201729 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/02/03/print-your-own-pizza/ | Print Your Own Pizza | Mike Szczys | [
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"cnc",
"Pizza",
"repstrap",
"sprayer"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ7gD0nH-xA]
If you think there’s never enough computerized numerical control in your life perhaps
the pizza plotter
should be your next project. This is a large 2-axis machine that shoots pressurized sauce onto a pizza crust. It’s a food-grade
RepStrap
and appears to use a
garden spraye
r as a reservoir. They learned their lesson when a loose hose clamp sprayed sauce around the room. We’re thinking this is a bit of reinventing the wheel as pizza-making factories but it’s fun nonetheless. | 37 | 37 | [
{
"comment_id": "121691",
"author": "Tito",
"timestamp": "2010-02-03T20:14:33",
"content": "Mama-mia!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "121692",
"author": "raged",
"timestamp": "2010-02-03T20:15:00",
"content": "why not use a turntable... | 1,760,377,499.532469 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/02/03/lego-spider-bot/ | Lego Spider-bot | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"cnc",
"hdpe",
"lego",
"legs",
"mill",
"mindstorm",
"spider"
] | [MkMan’s]
LEGO spider robot
combines pieces from a Mindstorm kit with a few milled plastic parts. The legs are a locomotive concept called a
Klann Linkage
. They operate in pairs and convert the rotational force from one motor into movement for two legs. Here, a total of four rotating gears moves eight legs, besting
the hexapods we saw a couple of weeks ago
in both leg count and motor economy.
Each limb is made up of five pieces plus one base for each pair. That makes eleven pieces per pair and a total of 44 for the entire robot. [MkMan] milled these parts out of 3/8″ HDPE stock. He’s made videos of forward motion and turning which we’ve embedded after the break. Even on a polished surface the bot looks fairly efficient at getting around.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz4mflE2foM]
Walking forward
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl_5wCbvxMU]
Turning | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "121676",
"author": "Ashmedai",
"timestamp": "2010-02-03T19:09:19",
"content": "Somehow, the second vid makes me want to go out and duct tape two crabs together.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "121681",
"author": "Andrew",
... | 1,760,377,499.305765 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/02/03/amplifier-built-inside-a-9v-battery/ | Amplifier Built Inside A 9v Battery | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"9v",
"amp",
"amplifier",
"lm386"
] | It’s pretty creative to use a 9v battery as an enclosure. That’s what [Osgeld] did when building
this amplifier
. There are several advantages; they’re easy to find, it keeps a bit of the dead battery out of the landfill, and this method provides a built-in connector for a 9v power source. In this case the circuit is built around a LM386 audio amplifier. It’s glued to the back of a potentiometer and wired up with the other components for a package smaller than a quarter. A stereo jack reside in the side of the battery case with a cable and alligator clips for connection with a speaker. Now the amp can be quickly connect to any 4-8 ohm speaker. | 42 | 42 | [
{
"comment_id": "121648",
"author": "jeff-o",
"timestamp": "2010-02-03T17:56:41",
"content": "Neat. I wonder if it could be improved by using higher-end surface mount parts?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "121658",
"author": "osgeld",
"... | 1,760,377,499.152655 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/02/03/ask-a-winner-updates-day-4-answers/ | Ask A Winner Updates Day 4: Answers | Jakob Griffith | [
"Cellphone Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"answers",
"competition",
"interview",
"kaping with the n900",
"N900",
"nokia",
"push",
"questions",
"winner"
] | Not too long ago
we asked our readers
what they would like to hear about from the PUSH N900 winners and their hacks. We got some silly questions, and some serious, we asked both and now the PUSH teams have answered.
Solderin Skaters are really making progress. They’ve gotten their printed circuit boards and mounting equipment all set to go, and the code and algorithms are really shaping up. All that and more updates are seen in their latest
video
, and
blog
entry.
>Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions for HackaDay. We love when a hacker is willing to share their work with us.
>How did you and your team get together? Any fun backstory you care to share?
[Keywan] came back from Amsterdam with an N900 and everybody here was
envious. We saw the PUSH N900 project as an opportunity to equip
everybody with such a device. Because we couldn’t think about a hack
needed other ideas. We remembered funny things we did as
youngsters and *bam* there was the skateboard idea. We called
friends here (University of Bielefeld) and there (Berlin),
*tada* there was the team.
When we started working on the project we soon realized
we would need additional help to tackle such a big
project in such a short time (6 weeks), so we asked
three more highly qualified friends to join the team.
> Have you and your team worked on any other projects? Cellular related
> projects? N900 projects?
No, this is our first project together. [Jan] and [Sebastian] worked both on
different hardware projects. [Keywan] and [Flo] worked together a
shirt design and other non-technical stuff. [Nick] is involved in
a startup developing mobile applications. He sometimes suffers from
badly designed and closed source APIs during the development on other
platforms.
> What was your main inspiration for your team’s project?
We wanted to enhance a real everyday activity and
create an application beyond game controllers such as
Wii-Accessories and Tony Hawks: Ride.
> How do you think people will react when you finish/release?
We recruit a security team to protect us from fans and
paparazzi. Just kidding. We are curious how/if they will react,
but hope they will like it.
As with all open-source projects, we hope that the
work we did might be useful to other applications in
the future.
> Do you have any future plans with your team? Continued N900 development?
> Update your current projects?
We have not planned past the deadline, but we sure
would like to continue working together.
> What do you think of the other winners?
We like their projects and looking forward to meet them in
London. They are very nice and we are in contact with them.
Everybody tries to help each other. We share code, thoughts and
tips.
> Questions from our commentators.
>
> What are you thoughts on Arduino? Do you intend to use one in your
> project?
The Arduino family is a great timesaver for rapid
prototyping, so we did our prototype with an Arduino. But we needed small and
tough hardware, so we decided to design and build our own PCB.
It is based on the same microcontroller, an ATMega168.
> How is working with the N900 hardware and software?
[Nick] says: It’s like a cybernetic implant which I don’t want to
miss in my life. The hardware is very powerful and to be root on
a more or less normal Linux gives you a lot of freedom. The tons
of possible frameworks are sometimes a bit confusing, but gives
you possibilities like on no other platform.
> What do you think about the movement of cell phones towards open source
> software, such as the Maemo? Do you plan to, or have you ever tried
> Android?
We like Maemo even though it still have some glitches. Open
Source phone software gives you freedom in the hand. Just see
how the community around Maemo provide solutions for problems
Nokia didn’t see as crucial. Open Source on phones rocks!
Most of us didn’t worked much with the Android, but Nick tried
Android. For him it’s pretty painful installing an app for every
single messaging service. Google maps is nicer than the Ovi stuff
though. Developing on Android is a little more fun than e.g.
Blackberry, using Linux. But coding and running for example a rails
app on the N900 in minutes just changes the way you do developing for
mobile devices. You can even code on the N900 itself.
> (If you use a secondary power source, example – to run motors) What kind
> of battery life is expected for your project?
We expect a good hour of battery life (average power consumption
of our sensors boards is about 80 mA and our batteries have 130
mAh capacity. Bluetooth, status LEDs (10 mA each) and the ATMega
drain most of the power, the sensors power consumption is almost
negligible.
> Can we get a list of what you’re using in your project? (example –
> bluetooth sets, motors, dedicated sensors, etc)
Each Skateboard is equipped with two sensor boards. On each
sensor board, an ATMega168, running at 7,3728 MHz (to avoid
transmission errors) and connected to to an RN41 bluetooth
module, samples one triple axis accelerometer (ADXL345) and two
dual axis gyrometers (LPY/LPR5150). They are powered by through
a lithium polymer battery connected with BEC plugs to a
protection module. And of course, a large number of resistors
and capacitors. We used 0603 SMT components.
> And yes, we actually had a reader (Joe) ask the following (feel free to
> omit)
>
> How often do you change your underwear?
Underwhat?! | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,377,499.464442 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/02/03/php-runtime-rewritten-by-facebook/ | PHP Runtime Rewritten, By Facebook? | Jakob Griffith | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"c++",
"efficient",
"facebook",
"g++",
"hack",
"hackathon",
"php",
"speed"
] | Yes, its true. Facebook has completely
rewritten the PHP runtime
to make it faster and more efficient, and its completely open source. Named HipHop, its described as a source code transformer, changing PHP into optimized C++ which is then compiled using g++. Thus keeping the best aspects of PHP while taking advantage of the performance of C++. Using HipHop, the Facebook web server CPU usage has been decreased by about fifty percent! And who would have thought that this and many
other cool advances
in programming, started at a
Hackathon
. | 42 | 42 | [
{
"comment_id": "121616",
"author": "Laminar",
"timestamp": "2010-02-03T15:26:36",
"content": "Apostrophes. It’s okay to use them.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "121617",
"author": "osgeld",
"timestamp": "2010-02-03T15:31:11",
"cont... | 1,760,377,499.784458 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/02/03/foil-impressioning-defeats-security-locks/ | Foil Impressioning Defeats Security Locks | Mike Szczys | [
"lockpicking hacks"
] | [
"bump",
"foil",
"impressioning",
"lock",
"security"
] | Apparently it’s been around for fifteen years but
using foil impressions to pick locks
is new to us. This is similar to using
bump keys
but it works on locks that are supposedly much more secure. This method uses a heavy gauge aluminum foil to grab and hold the pins in the correct place for the lock to be turned. The foil is folded over and slits are cut where each pin will fall. It is then inserted into a lock on a tool shaped like a key blank. Jiggle the tool for a bit and the cylinder will turn. This just reminds us that we’re much more dependent on the good will of our fellow citizens to not steal our stuff, rather than the deterrent that a lock provides.
We’ve embedded a detail and fascinating demonstration of this method after the break. The materials in the video are from
a Chinese-made kit
. We’re not sure where you find these types of locks, but we don’t feel any less secure since
our keys could be obtained from a distance
anyway.
Update:
Video now embedded after the break. The link is down but you can try
the Google Cache version
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43EtAgFSso0] | 32 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "121603",
"author": "Dan",
"timestamp": "2010-02-03T13:42:10",
"content": "Where’s the detail and fascinating demonstration?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "121606",
"author": "Tim",
"timestamp": "2010-02-03T13:57:43",
... | 1,760,377,499.853212 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/02/02/usb-hdd-enclosure-to-dvd-connector/ | USB HDD Enclosure To DVD Connector | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"adapter",
"dvd",
"enclosure",
"hackintosh",
"usb"
] | This is a “why didn’t I think of that?” idea. [Alec] needed a way to connect an IDE DVD drive using USB. Rather than order a connector
he pulled the circuit board out of an old USB hard drive enclosure
and connected to his DVD drive. Bang, recognized and running.
This will prove extremely handy if you have a netbook without an optical drive. We’ve used
Unetbootin
to move
Linux ISO images to a thumb drive
in the past. In addition to getting around the lack of an optical drive, this saves burning the data to a piece of plastic. But, you should be able to use this with a Leopard retail DVD instead of a 16GB thumb drive for
a Hackintosh conversion
. That means you could install Leopard on a netbook without needing a Mac to transfer the disk image to your thumb drive first. | 123 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "121415",
"author": "Volfram",
"timestamp": "2010-02-02T21:04:16",
"content": "I actually have thought of this myself, and used it several times. I would recommend caution if you intend to boot from the drive, though. Some USB->IDE adapters can’t be seen by BIOS.",
"parent_id":... | 1,760,377,499.934695 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/02/02/our-favorite-xbox-to-htpc-hacks/ | Our Favorite XBOX To HTPC Hacks | Mike Szczys | [
"Roundup",
"Xbox Hacks"
] | [
"case",
"mod",
"xbmc",
"xbox"
] | Let’s face it, the original Xbox is ugly. It might have looked cool when it first came out but now most would be embarrassed to display that old beast with the rest of their entertainment hardware. This is unfortunate because the
old girl still has some life in her
. If you have tools, time, and talent you can give the box a facelift and bring it back to see the light of day. We’ve got six of our favorite Xbox to Home Theater PC hacks after the break to inspire you.
Xbox mini
by [Ghostavel]
This case was designed in autocad and laser cut from acrylic. The DVD drive was and the HDD swapped for an 80gig laptop drive to save space. A different heat sink and fan added to both the GPU and processor to keep this puppy cool and quiet. To the right in the foreground you can make out a tiny PSU.
Pioneer DVD Case
by [Barney_1]
DVD players are designed to sit in your entertainment center and that’s why they’ve been a popular home for Xbox guts. This hack removed the standard AV connector from the Xbox board and routes those solder points to the connections on a Pioneer DVD player case. An LCD display resides in the window for the DVD player’s display, and a PC DVD-Rom (not pictured above) takes the place of the original DVD tray. The power and eject buttons have been wired to work and the original IR receiver wired to the Xbox dongle, leaving the appearance (at least from the front) completely unaltered.
Xbox Slim
by [Coca627]
This case is made from
methacrylate
. The hardware changes include a smaller PSU, a slim DVD-rom, laptop HDD, and added USB ports. WiFi and wireless controllers have been included in the design. The white is a nice touch and will complement that white Wii that looks lonely next to the rest of your black components.
Minibox
by [Themikesssta]
This is more of a mod than a hack but it’s a pretty amazing one. On the hardware side he did remove some capacitors for less current draw during boot. The DVD and HDD have been swapped out for smaller ones and an LCD display has been added. The case is made from MDF but it’s the paint job that makes this look so good. There’s a total of five coats on this tiny box.
Xbox Micro
by [Bandit5317]
We
featured the Xbox Micro
last year because it’s a marvel of slimness. It’s got a laptop HDD and long-thin PSU and almost nothing else. Some serious shoe-horning had to be done to make the package this thin, and the finished look greatly benefits from those efforts.
Svelte XBMC
by [Richard Wileman]
There’s not much info on this case but we think it’s rather sexy so we’re throwing it in. As you can see, the DVD drive is gone, the HDD is smaller, and cooling has been upgraded with a fanless heat-sink and two case fans. The controller ports were rerouted to the rear of the case and the IR dongle has been built in for use with a remote control. The case cover has a grill above that massive heat sink and we’d be interested in finding out if both case fans are pumping air out of the case, in effect pulling a ton of cool air past the CPU. | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "121399",
"author": "djneo",
"timestamp": "2010-02-02T20:05:09",
"content": "But i am still doing my XBOX HTPC project.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "121404",
"author": "CodeAsm",
"timestamp": "2010-02-02T20:20:21",
... | 1,760,377,500.005416 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/02/02/minneapolis-hackerspace-twin-cities-maker/ | Minneapolis Hackerspace: Twin Cities Maker | James Munns | [
"Hackerspaces"
] | [
"hackerspace",
"Minne-Faire",
"Minneapolis",
"St. Paul",
"Twin City Maker"
] | After announcing the grand opening of a St. Louis Hackerspace, we received a tip that another group of our readers had an event coming up.
Twin City Maker
of the Minneapolis/St.Paul area are hosting a Maker Faire and art show next weekend. Unfortunately, we don’t have any writers in that neck of the woods, so there wont be an official Hack a Day presence, but we are sure all of you who make it out there will do us proud. Take pictures, wont you?
The Minne-Faire will be located at:
Hack Factory
3119 E 26th St. Minneapolis, MN 55406
Mini Maker Faire 2-6 PM
Art Show & Party 7-11 PM | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "121395",
"author": "noise",
"timestamp": "2010-02-02T19:49:34",
"content": "You must have an Arduino in your possession to gain admittance.I kid!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "121397",
"author": "Jtbarclay",
"timestamp... | 1,760,377,500.057289 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/02/02/beginner-concepts-555-push-button-toggle/ | Beginner Concepts: 555 Push Button Toggle | Mike Szczys | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"555",
"555 timer",
"beginner concepts",
"flip-flop",
"tactile switch",
"toggle"
] | PIC, AVR, and Arduino are ubiquitous in projects these days and a lot of the time it’s easy to over-complicate things with their use. In this case, [Tod] wanted to use a momentary tactile switch to turn something on and off. Instead of going with a microcontroller
he built the circuit around a 555 timer
. What he really needed in this case is a flip-flop but lacking a chip for that he went with the 555 because it has one built-in. Three resistors and a capacitor later he’s in business, adding another resistor and a transistor to deal with the load switching. We’ve embedded video of the circuit controlling an LED after the break.
This IC ends up in a lot of projects
so dig through your parts bin and give this circuit a try.
[flickr video=4239157645] | 29 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "121377",
"author": "nubie",
"timestamp": "2010-02-02T17:31:05",
"content": "I finally purchased one at Rat Shack, and lost it in my friends yard before I even got it home.Cool on the use of a flip-flop, I must check that out.Maybe eBay has some 555s for a couple $$.",
"parent_id... | 1,760,377,500.314 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/02/02/icosatetrapedal-robot/ | Icosatetrapedal Robot | Caleb Kraft | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"24",
"icosatetrapod"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REzrYWOzhWc]
24, Icosatetrapeds have 24 legs. This robot, built by [Monica Anderson] back in 2005 has 24 pneumatic soft legs. The motion is fantastic, like watching some kind of sea creature walk. Though it only goes about 1 meter per minute, we just couldn’t stop watching. The compressors were scavenged from some military equipment designed for nerve gas detection, and the brain is a mac mini. The rest is just valves, solenoids, wood, and tube.
[thanks Tom] | 32 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "121368",
"author": "deathventure",
"timestamp": "2010-02-02T16:03:18",
"content": "That’s great. It definitely reminds me of the bottom of a starfish creeping along the sea-floor.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "121370",
"au... | 1,760,377,500.244258 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/02/01/game-controllers-using-usb-host-shield/ | Game Controllers Using USB Host Shield | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"bluetooth",
"playstation 3",
"ps3",
"usb host shield",
"wii"
] | [I-Bot] has put together some libraries that make it easy to
use gaming controllers with an Arduino
. They interface through the
USB host shield
. This means that PS3 controllers connect via USB through a cable or a dongle. With the Wii remote things get a little more interesting. A
Bluetooth dongle
is used to make the connection wirelessly. What we have here is a cheap and easy way to add Bluetooth connectivity to your projects either through the USB Host shield, or by building your own hardware with
the schematics and code that are available from Circuits@Home
. There are several pages that walk you through the protocols using as well as a demonstration video you can see after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYcp4gfRY_A] | 21 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "121233",
"author": "Oleg",
"timestamp": "2010-02-01T20:52:45",
"content": "A little correction – code, video and articles were written by Richard Ibbotson AKA I-Bot. I am just hosting them.Oleg.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1... | 1,760,377,500.114846 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/02/01/leapfrog-didj-handheld-linux-on-the-cheap/ | Leapfrog Didj: Handheld Linux On The Cheap | James Munns | [
"handhelds hacks",
"Linux Hacks"
] | [
"Didj",
"Embedded Linux",
"Leapfrog",
"linux",
"woot"
] | Today our good friends over at
Woot!
are selling the Leapfrog Didj, a low cost educational toy aimed at little kids. Lucky for hackers out there, the Didj is actually
a linux device
, and gaining serial console access is as easy as
soldering two wires
. The documentation out there is a little outdated, with a number of broken links and stale wikis, but $25 for a portable linux device is a hard deal to beat. A list of sites which might be helpful are listed after the break, as well as the hardware specs of the Didj.
Let us know if you have played around with hacking the Didj before, and if you have any tips for other readers. Don’t forget to
tell us what you do
with the Didj as well!
Thanks to [Mark] for the tips and the hardware details.
(Possibly) Useful links:
Embedded Linux Wiki Page
GP32x Forums
mention the device
GP32x tries to
hunt down the chip ID
Good overview on hardware, etc
The
Didj is also available on Amazon
for $49, but unlike Woot’s sale, will be around after tomorrow.
Hardware Specs:
* Processor: 393 MHz Arm 9
* Display: 320×240 resolution
* One 24-bit 2D layer (no hardware acceleration)
* One 16-bit 3D layer
* One YUV video layer (no hardware acceleration)
* Graphics: API OpenGL ES 1.1–A reduced instruction set version of OpenGL for embedded systems
* Main RAM: 32 MB DDRI 131 MHz
* NAND Flash: 256MB for data storage/download content
* Media Cartridge: 64MB
* System Software: Brio–Firmware is built on an abstraction layer called Brio to make OS and hardware transparent to developers. This means all software must be ported to Brio to run on this device.
* Screen LCD: 3.2 inches, 16.7-Million Color TFT | 64 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "121201",
"author": "steve",
"timestamp": "2010-02-01T18:31:04",
"content": "This is on woot.com RIGHT NOW!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "121202",
"author": "Alastair",
"timestamp": "2010-02-01T18:31:10",
"content":... | 1,760,377,500.455145 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/02/01/snow-blower-robot/ | Snow Blower Robot | Caleb Kraft | [
"home hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"blower",
"mower",
"snow"
] | For those of us who are stuck in the middle of a cold and snowy winter, this project will seem like a stroke of genius. [Jimmy Bui] has
put together this robotic pushing platform
. While it is seen in the video (on the linked page) pushing a snow blower, it seems to be simply bolted on. This means it could push pretty much anything, such as a lawn mower. The platform itself looks like a common layout. He’s using the base of a motorized wheel chair, and some scavenged bits to protect the circuitry. He says that he built it after seeing elderly people having a hard time shoveling their driveways in his neighborhood. They don’t say if he loans it out to them now, but we suspect that he does.
[via
Robots Dreams
] | 23 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "121187",
"author": "PocketBrain",
"timestamp": "2010-02-01T16:30:14",
"content": "Snobots, sno!You do realize they will take over the planet. Until global warming melts all the snow and they will be out of a job.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
... | 1,760,377,500.367642 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/02/01/android-audio-serial-connection/ | Android Audio-serial Connection | Mike Szczys | [
"Android Hacks"
] | [
"accelerometer",
"audio",
"flight simulator",
"modem"
] | This seems like something of a throwback hack. [WilinNeofoxx] has built
an audio modem interface for use with his Android phone
. A program running on the Android device takes the accelerometer data and converts it into a 9600bps audio signal, kind of like a dial-up modem. His custom circuit board takes that sound in through the headphone jack and demodulates it for use on the serial port of a PC. This connection to controls a flight simulator using
the G1
‘s motion sensors. In the video at the bottom of his post he unplugs the audio cable for a few seconds and you can hear the audio datastream coming from the phone. It’s pretty annoying so you might want to turn down those speakers before viewing it. | 15 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "121244",
"author": "Michael",
"timestamp": "2010-02-01T22:25:12",
"content": "We are planning something similar. So far we have 9600 baud transmission working. I am currently fiddling with the mic input. We plan on producing a sub $20 kit for Android->arduino and Android->PC serial ... | 1,760,377,500.499463 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/02/01/ask-a-winner-updates-day-3-answers/ | Ask A Winner Updates Day 3: Answers | Jakob Griffith | [
"Cellphone Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"answers",
"competition",
"interview",
"kaping with the n900",
"N900",
"nokia",
"push",
"questions",
"winner"
] | Not too long ago
we asked our readers
what they would like to hear about from the PUSH N900 winners and their hacks. We got some silly questions, and some serious, we asked both and now the PUSH teams have answered.
The days are getting closer and closer to the N900 PUSH Showcase, and as such the teams are getting more and more stressed. But the team from Sketch Your World was willing to take time of out of their busy day for our interview. As always, keep up to date on the team at their
blog
– they’ve started drawing on the Etch a Sketch(tm), and it even (okay, it doesn’t really, but it’s still progress)
looks like a circle
!
>Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions for HackaDay. We love when a hacker is willing to share their work with us.
>How did you and your team get together? Any fun backstory you care to share?
I ([jeez], a.k.a. [Jesus Sanchez-Palencia]) met [Annie] (a.k.a. [Ana Cecília Martins]) and [Calega] (a.k.a. [Filipe Calegario]) during my Computer Engineering graduation.
Someday [Annie] became my girlfriend and we started to work on a few projects together on some crazy stuff that we like to do. [Calega] was also working with some cool projects by his own and one day, talking about ideas, projects, life, universe and everything else, we noticed that we (and some other friends) had this will to work with digital interaction, with hardware/software/human-behavior hacking. And so we decided to create the Wouwlabs group. (wouwlabs.com)
[Patifa] ([Patricia Montenegro]) is a very skilled Architect which works as a Designer. She is a co-worker of mine. One day I invited her to give a lecture on the University about the “Relationship between designers and developers” and the Wouwlabs people really liked her work. The PUSH N900 was a great opportunity to have her working with us and to join us in the Wouwlabs! =D
>Have you and your team worked on any other projects? Cellular related projects? N900 projects?
Well, me and [Patricia] work, mainly, with Mobile development. Yes, we have some other cellular projects and yes, we have some N900 projects. One nice to have is the Qt Mobile Demos (
http://wouwlabs.com/blogs/jeez/?p=135
). Also check Patifa’s blog (
http://patifa.wordpress.com/
) !
Me, [Annie] and [Calega] have worked on several projects before. It is nice to check our blogs (
http://wouwlabs.com
and just click on our names there!) in order to see them. We have even built a multitouch table! :)
Me and [Annie] have one cellular related project. We participated on the first Android Development Contests with a media manager called Jambo.
On this particular project (Sketch your World!) each one of us have a job: [Annie] is our image processing guru and is handling the drawing algorithm, patifa is our designer guru and is handling with the application’s GUI and the final version of the prototype, [calega] is working with the Arduino stuff, assembling everything, and I’m responsible for the Maemo side, developing the application in Qt and porting the needed stuff to Maemo 5.
>What was your main inspiration for your team’s project?
[Calega] should answer this, but AFAIR, he had this fixed idea about Etch-a-Sketch and how hard it is to draw on them. We couldn’t draw anything on it when we were children and we still can’t now that we are grown up! So he thought that it would be nice to finally have some draws on it, now that we can program an Arduino to that for us. :)
>How do you think people will react when you finish/release?
Hmmm, happy?! :P
I haven’t thought about this, since I’m really focusing on get it done in time! :P
But I really hope that everyone like it!
>Do you have any future plans with your team? Continued N900 development? Update your current projects?
We are really considering to do some more crazy stuff with Arduinos and N900s, and maybe do some nice applications to the N900.
We are all fully of ideas and will have to manage to have time for all of them (and to still earn some money with our regular jobs… ;)
I can say that I’m thinking of playing with Arduino+RFID+Bluetooth+N900 on the next months… let’s see… ;)
>What do you think of the other winners?
I really like all projects. Really!
I’m also willing to get to know the other teams! The video episodes are always so nice and the people seems to be very interesting.
HyperHappen did a wonderful job on this contest and they managed to get some very good projects and teams to work on it! :)
>Questions from our commentators.
>What are you thoughts on Arduino? Do you intend to use one in your project?
I’m a fan of the Arduino platform since the very first time I got in touch with it. As a Computer Engineer, I’ve worked with several other boards and micro-controllers before, but Arduino is easiest one. It is so quick to have something running on it! And you can use Wiring, which is a very simple programming language.
It’s amazing how there are some many different people using Arduino these days. From developers to artists!
Yes, we are using Arduino on our project!
>How is working with the N900 hardware and software?
Maemo 5 is a very nice platform! It is user-centered and developer-centered on the same time! It is fantastic how easy it is to develop an application (using Qt! :P) and get it running on your phone.
And now that we have the Qt Framework available, everything became so easy! We can do fancy applications and get them running smoothly on a phone. Yes, it is a PHONE! :)
And the N900 hardware… what can I say?! It’s best Phone ever! It’s best Tablet ever!
You have everything in it!
>What do you think about the movement of cell phones towards open source software, such as the Maemo? Do you plan to, or have you ever tried Android?
Yes, I have tried Android. IMHO, Android _looks_ nice. But my compliments stop here. I read a paper about its internals once, and everything seems to be so hackish…
I don’t like the UI itself, from none of the Phones I’ve seen so far that are running it.
I didn’t like to develop for it when me and [Annie] tried.
So yes, I guess that I can say that I don’t like Android. :)
But it’s just me, right?!
>(If you use a secondary power source, example – to run motors) What kind of battery life is expected for your project?
We use AC adapters (9v, 0.5 A). So I expect “battery” life time about all the energy that the Earth can still provide. :)
>Can we get a list of what you’re using in your project? (example – bluetooth sets, motors, dedicated sensors, etc)
We use BlueSmirf Gold Bluetooth modems, Arduino duemilenove, Ladyada’s motorshield, and two types of stepper motors:
– the ones from SparkFun (
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9238
)
– the ones from conrad.de: 42MM SCHRITTMOTOR (0.8 BIS 1.5A)
We are also using Etch-a-Sketch (TM), of course, and Plexiglass for the prototype’s stand.
>And yes, we actually had a reader (Joe) ask the following (feel free to omit)
>How often do you change your underwear?
Underwear?! Do people still wear that?!
:)
Just kidding. Here in Brazil (a city called Recife) it’s so hot that we usually take 2 or 3 showers per day.
And I change my underwear every time I take a shower…
Here in Germany, as it’s quite cold this time of year, I usually change my underwear once each two days! =D
Thank you for this opportunity!
[jeez] | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,377,500.580731 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/02/01/im-me-screen-reverse-engineered/ | IM-ME Screen Reverse Engineered | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks",
"handhelds hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"im-me",
"lcd",
"spi",
"st7565s",
"wireless"
] | [Dave]
figured out the command set for the IM-ME terminal
. It took a bit of sleuthing to get this
pink plastic peripheral
to give up these secrets. He used an oscilloscope to sniff out the SPI connections, then used
a hacked IM-ME
to capture the traffic from a factory-fresh unit. He managed to extrapolate how write data was being sent but he still couldn’t figure out how commands were differentiated from that data. With the info at hand he searched around the interwebs to find that the screen uses an ST7565S controller. Now he’s got custom firmware to make the LCD display do his bidding and we’re wondering what’s next? | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "121236",
"author": "CodeAsm",
"timestamp": "2010-02-01T21:01:16",
"content": "Awesome, I just got mine. Now I just need to get some time for these cool hacks/mods.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "121359",
"author": "Chris",
... | 1,760,377,500.541818 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/02/01/wii-motion-plus-direct-pc-interface/ | Wii Motion Plus Direct PC Interface | Mike Szczys | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"i2c",
"motion plus",
"parallel port",
"wii"
] | You can pick up a Wii Motion Plus module for under $20 and that’s not bad for an I2C gyroscope. This hack
taps into the device through a PC parallel port
. The connection calls for some level conversion to step down to the 3.3v needed by the module. The communication protocol borrows from the
Wii on Arduino code examples
that we saw last year. You can see the
Wii Motion Plus
controlling a virtual cube in the video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aj-JIishVo]
[Thanks Phsr] | 7 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "121232",
"author": "phsr",
"timestamp": "2010-02-01T20:50:40",
"content": "its “Phsr” :-)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "121305",
"author": "Catfood",
"timestamp": "2010-02-02T05:47:28",
"content": "Um, why dont you... | 1,760,377,500.746047 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/31/120v-switching/ | 120v Switching | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"power",
"switching"
] | [Kenneth] built
a 5v controlled power outlet
inside of a junction box. We’ve seen plenty of projects that can switch 120v outlets using 5v logic for
refrigerator controllers
,
lighting controllers
, or
grow systems
, but they almost always use solid state relays to facilitate the switching. This iteration uses mechanical relays along with the necessary protection circuitry. The project is housed in an extra deep single-gang box and allows for individual switching of the two outlets. You can see this connected to an Arduino switching two lamps after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnIrzqyprY8]
[Thanks Mightysinetheta] | 52 | 49 | [
{
"comment_id": "121061",
"author": "Jon",
"timestamp": "2010-01-31T21:31:04",
"content": "I’d be reluctant to actually put this in a wall in a home. having both low voltage and high voltage in the same box is a big NEC no no.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,377,500.833808 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/31/hacking-a-digital-bathroom-scale/ | Hacking A Digital Bathroom Scale | Caleb Kraft | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"parallax",
"scale"
] | [Micah] was inspired by projects he had seen of people using the Wii balance board as an input. He realized the balance board was overkill, and pricey for many applications. Since it is basically just 4 weight sensors, he thought, why not just use a scale? Often, only one sensor is needed and they’re really cheap from big box stores. He
picked up a digital scale and cracked it open
. As he moved forward, he wanted to keep this pretty simple. There
are other ways
of getting the information from a scale, but they have been generally more complicated than what he had in mind. He ended up bypassing the internal unknown microcontroller and just connecting the analog sensors to his parallax setup. You can read all about the process an download some source code on his site.
[via
Flickr
] | 18 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "121058",
"author": "jh",
"timestamp": "2010-01-31T21:08:29",
"content": "*is even… damn typos",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "121079",
"author": "drew",
"timestamp": "2010-01-31T22:21:37",
"content": "inb4 troll post... | 1,760,377,500.887368 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/31/recycled-cat-feeder/ | Recycled Cat Feeder | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"atmega8",
"autodine",
"cat",
"feeder",
"h-bridge",
"servo"
] | I find that I do a lot of fun projects but I’m very bad about documenting them when I’m done. Holidays are for hacking (in my mind) so I usually plan ahead and do something cool during my time off. This project, which I loving call the Autodine-2009, was a spontaneous event over Thanksgiving that I’m just getting around to writing about.
Our cat’s want to be fed at 6am and are very insistent about it. Like most folks, I’d rather be sleeping at that time of day so
I built an automatic cat feeder
. Now we sleep while the cats eat. We don’t want to rely on a hack to feed our cats when we’re away so I didn’t go the route of
an Internet-enabled multiple-dose feeder
. Instead, I used parts on hand to create a single-serving dispenser on a timer. A servo rotates a false bottom to gravity-feed the cat food. The servo doesn’t have control circuitry so it is controlled through an h-bridge (I did have to buy 2 transistors for that) by an AVR ATmega8 microcontroller. There are two salvaged tactile switches to set the time and timer, and a serial LCD display that I’ve had sitting around for years. Power comes from an old cell phone charger a friend had just given me that spawned the feeder idea when I asked myself “hmmm, what can I use this for”?
I’ll demonstrate this recycled device for you in a video after the break. This wasn’t as hardcore as my
AVR Tetris
build but I’m much happier now that I can sleep in a bit.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSnY4T1OP-E] | 25 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "121029",
"author": "Glenn v",
"timestamp": "2010-01-31T18:24:23",
"content": "Where do you obtain all these recycled cats, and to what do you feed them?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "121034",
"author": "aztraph",
"time... | 1,760,377,500.943646 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/29/another-take-on-roasting-those-beans/ | Another Take On Roasting Those Beans | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"bread maker",
"coffee",
"heat gun",
"roaster"
] | [Andrew] takes his coffee very seriously and like any hardcore aficionado he wanted to do the roasting himself. The
coffee roaster design
uses a heat gun for the roasting and sources an old bread maker as a vessel. As part of the automatic bread making process there’s a little agitator arm inside which keeps the beans moving while the heat is applied. A computer controls the heat gun, adjust with feedback from a temperature sensor. We had a bit of a laugh reading about melted temperature sensors, but design flaws aside this computer interface allows rather strict control of the roasting profile.
Reader [Youseff] tipped us off about this after seeing the
Popcorn Coffee Bean roaster
from last week. | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "120700",
"author": "SPARCS",
"timestamp": "2010-01-29T22:52:10",
"content": "it’s called a “corretto” it is the weapon of choice for many over athttp://www.coffeesnobs.com.authere are also ones made from a turbo roaster (the pot oven things MrT advertises) and pasta pots with a litt... | 1,760,377,500.977976 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/29/salty-leds/ | Salty LEDs | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"aquarium",
"coral",
"light",
"tank"
] | [Davross] pulled off
an LED lighting build
for his coral aquarium. The module consists of a wooden body holding a 3×16 grid of LEDs. They are mounted to heat sinks which themselves have cooling fans to help keep those puppies from melting. The system is
controlled by an Arduino
which allows for almost limitless lighting options. The photo above shows the LEDs running at 50%. He’s also taken some photos of
the tank in “moonlight” mode
. It’s a long and detailed forum thread but you can skip to some
nice photos of the coral
under the lights or
details about the build
.
[Thanks Passmadd] | 34 | 34 | [
{
"comment_id": "120673",
"author": "Frogz",
"timestamp": "2010-01-29T20:33:44",
"content": "in after arduino hate…oh wait, im the first posterfriken arduinos!it looks nice but since this has ardunios, why didnt he use rgb leds and allow ANY color combo??",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,377,501.155869 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/29/and-were-back/ | And We’re Back | Jakob Griffith | [
"News"
] | [
"competition",
"fail",
"sorry",
"we messed up"
] | Several of you were rather angry with us yesterday for
our competition
. Those not in the loop, our email competition@hackaday.com was not correctly configured and no body could send in their entries!
But have no fear, we have fixed the problem and now you can send in your guesses. To remedy the situation we have decided to extend the competition until 10AM PST Monday the 1st of February, 2010. We will announce the winner (so long as nothing else fails) Monday afternoon. So what are you doing here still reading? Time is wasting –
go win some tickets
! | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,377,501.186418 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/28/ask-a-winner-updates-answers/ | Ask A Winner Updates: Answers | Jakob Griffith | [
"Cellphone Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"answers",
"competition",
"interview",
"kaping with the n900",
"N900",
"nokia",
"push",
"questions",
"winner"
] | Not too long ago
we asked our readers
what they would like to hear about from the PUSH N900 winners and their hacks. We got some silly questions, and some serious, we asked both and now the PUSH teams have answered.
Todays team interview is
KAPing with the N900
. They’re N900 hack is the high flying Kite Aerial Photography. Check out what they have to say after the break. And be sure to keep up on their blog – they’ve released
their first test video
just a few days ago.
>Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions for HackaDay. We love when a hacker is willing to share their work with us.
Hi there, I’m [Ricardo Mendonça Ferreira], from the “KAPing with the N900”
project.
First of all, I’m a big fan of Hack-a-Day (even if I was not able to
read it for quite some time), so I’m happy to answer your questions.
>How did you and your team get together? Any fun backstory you care to share?
My other teammate is my wife. Lot’s of fun stories, but none related to
this project (yet). :)
Hmm… on second thought, here’s one: my wife’s stepfather was helping
us out when we were filming for the project. I asked him to assemble our
largest kite (a Maxi-Dopero, a bit larger than 4m x 2m) in the
background while I was giving an interview. We couldn’t stop laughing
when we saw the footage: he appeared scratching his had all the time, as
if he had no idea of what he was doing! Because, in fact, he didn’t! :D
>Have you and your team worked on any other projects? Cellular related projects? N900 projects?
We have never worked on anything like this before. We never had or used
an N900 or Arduino before this project.
>What was your main inspiration for your team’s project?
I’ve been practicing KAP (Kite Aerial Photography) since 2005, and I
always wanted a powerful yet simple to use KAP controller, so my
inspiration was my necessity. I already had planned to use an N900 for
this even before the launch of the Push N900 project. When I found out
about it, I did a bit of research and just submitted our project.
>How do you think people will react when you finish/release?
I hope more people will get to know about KAP, the N900, and use our
software and guidelines to develop their own KAP systems.
>Do you have any future plans with your team? Continued N900 development? Update your current projects?
This project is addictive! :) So the answer is yes, I plan to keep
updating my system and also develop other hardware and software
solutions for the N900.
>What do you think of the other winners?
They all have great and interesting projects, each one tackling
different problems and facing different challenges. I’m looking forward
to meet them and their creations in London!
>Questions from our commentators.
>
>What are you thoughts on Arduino? Do you intend to use one in your project?
I never used one before, but decided to use an Arduino Duemilanove after
reading the “PUSH N900 Hacker’s guide”. It will control two servo motors
with commands received from the N900 via Bluetooth.
>How is working with the N900 hardware and software?
Awesome! It’s like programming a desktop system. Since I’m a software
engineer with Unix experience, I felt at home with the device right from
the start.
>What do you think about the movement of cell phones towards open source software, such as the Maemo? Do you plan to, or have you ever tried Android?
I’m a big fan of both Nokia and Google for this. You can feel you really
“own” your device if it has one of these systems.
I always admired both Maemo and Android, but when I was looking for my
next gadget, I elected the N900 because Maemo seemed more mature and
with much better support for applications written in C / compiled into
native code. Of course, this opens more opportunities for processor
intensive applications than Android’s Dalvik Java virtual machine.
(Obs.: I know you can write native code for the Android, but AFAIK, it’s
not as simple as is on the Maemo, which supports it on the official SDK.)
>(If you use a secondary power source, example – to run motors) What kind of battery life is expected for your project?
This will depend *a lot* on the settings and how the system is used, but
my guess is that both motors and phone batteries will be good for
sessions longer than an hour. This is usually more than sufficient for a
good KAP session.
>Can we get a list of what you’re using in your project? (example – bluetooth sets, motors, dedicated sensors, etc)
Here’s my ingredients list:
– two N900 devices
– one Arduino Duemilanove
– one BlueSMiRF Gold Bluetooth modem
– two servo motors
– one Picavet suspension
– one rig to hold the motors and one N900
– one Rokkaku kite
– one pair of gloves
– one winder
– a lot of line
>And yes, we actually had a reader (Joe) ask the following (feel free to omit)
>How often do you change your underwear?
Please see my answer below. Should take just a couple of seconds for
some people do understand what this really is. ;)
''=~('(?{'.('`'|'%').('['^'-').('`'|'!').('`'|',').'"'.(
'['^'+').('['^')').('`'|')').('`'|'.').('['^'/').(('{')^
'[').'\\"\\\\'.('`'|'.').('`'^'!').('`'|'.').('`'|'$').(
'{'^'[').('['^',').('`'|'(').('['^'"').('{'^'[').(('`')|
'$').('`'|'/').('{'^'[').('['^'"').('`'|'/').('['^'.').(
'{'^'[').('['^',').('`'|'!').('`'|'.').('['^'/').(('{')^
'[').('['^'/').('`'|'/').('{'^'[').('`'|'+').('`'|
'.').('`'|'/').('['^',').'?\\\\'.('`'|"\.").
'\\\\'.('`'|'.').'\\";"})');$:='.'^'~'
;$~='@'|'(';$^=')'^'[';$/='`'|'.';
$,='('^'}';$\='`'|'!';$:="\)"^
'}';$~='*'|'`';$^='+'^'_';
$/='&'|'@';$,='['&'~';$\
=','^'|';$:='.'^'~';$~
='@'|'(';$^=')'^'[';
$/='`'|'.';$,='('^
'}';$\='`'|"\!";
$:=')'^'}';$~=
'*'|'`';$^='+'
^'_';$/='&'|
'@';$,="\[";
Thank you! | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "120541",
"author": "A",
"timestamp": "2010-01-29T01:37:28",
"content": "I’m curious if Ricardo actually wrote that perl.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "120542",
"author": "Xobs",
"timestamp": "2010-01-29T02:04:02",
... | 1,760,377,501.079876 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/28/contest-win-push-showcase-tickets/ | Contest: Win Push Showcase Tickets | Jakob Griffith | [
"contests",
"News",
"Phone Hacks"
] | [
"competition",
"N900",
"nokia",
"push",
"tickets",
"winner"
] | Who is ready to win some tickets to the
PUSH N900
Showcase?
The showcase is an event where all
5 teams
from the Push N900 competition are going meet up in London and present their N900 hacks. Including N900s that fly, skate, Etch a Sketch(TM), and more. We also hear there is going to be a poll-dancing robot thanks to
[Giles Walker]
. We were given tickets to the event, and decided to pass them along to our readers.
How can you gain a pair of tickets to this magical showcase? Check out after the break – hope you know a thing or two about resistors.
You’re working with any one of the team winners in the PUSH N900 competition. Your team needs two like resistors in order to complete the project on time.
Luckily your work drawer is overflowing with resistors, and you know that there are only 4 different values since you pulled them yourself from old junk.
You close your eyes and reach in. What is the minimum amount of resistors you have to pull out to ensure 2 of the same value?
That’s it? Yep! Send in your answer to the email
Competition@HackaDay.com
and two lucky winners will receive a pair of Tickets to the PUSH N900 showcase.
Rules and information.
1. The showcase will be the 4th of February, in London UK. If you are unable to make it or out of location – you can still win and your name will be announced. But we highly encourage you to pass your ticket to a runner up who can actually make it.
2. Competition is open to everyone and anyone – except Staff members and Contributing writers of HackaDay. There will be a total of TWO winners for this competition.
3. Entry Period is between January 28th 2010 Noon PST and February 1st 2010 10AM PST. Winners will be contacted and announced February 1st 2010.
4. Winners will be selected randomly from the correct entries using PRNG. The odds of being selected depend on the number of eligible entries received.
5. Winners will be contacted via email and will be asked to provide their first and last names, city/state/country of residence, their Email address, and if they wish to pass on the tickets to another winner. If a potential winner does not respond within 24 hours. We may select the next entry to take the place.
6. The prize will be two tickets to the PUSH N900 showcase per winner. No cash or other substitution may be made. Winner must accommodate their own travel and other expenses.
7. Participation in the Competition constitutes winner’s consent to use of winner’s first and last name, country of residence for promotional, publicity or advertising purposes worldwide in any media and on the World Wide Web, without further payment, consideration, review or consent (where allowable).
8. Participation in a giveaway constitutes entrant’s full and unconditional agreement to and acceptance of these Official Rules, which are final and binding. HackaDay reserves the right to change and modify these rules at any time for any reason.
9. Comments have been disabled so as to prevent cheating and answer sharing. | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,377,501.24904 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/28/happy-meal-toy-scavenging/ | Happy Meal Toy Scavenging | Mike Szczys | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"avatar",
"happy meal",
"salvage",
"scavenge",
"toy"
] | We’re sometimes shocked at the electronics included in ‘disposable’ items. For some reason (our tech inclinations?) we’ve been getting those audio greeting cards from relatives and it kind of kills us to see the PCB, batteries, and speaker in what would have otherwise been a fully recyclable card. Now we’ve got several sets of those guts waiting around for our next project.
[David Cook]
cracked open another disposable item, an Avatar action figure
that came as a Happy Meal prize. What he found inside will actually be useful. There’s a battery holder for the three coin-cell batteries, A blue LED (for those
blue LED hacks
our commenters are so fond of), and a piezo speaker. There are some other discrete components that may be of use to you but the first three are certainly a boon for those that are junk scavengers like us.
Has anyone else found some goodies inside these types of free toys? We’d love to hear about them in the comments. But for now we’re just glad to see the first good thing to come out of that annoying market saturation that accompanied
the movie
release.
Incidentally, [David’s]
h-bridge writeup
is our go-to reference for building quick motor controllers from parts on hand, or that can be purchased locally.
[Thanks Gron] | 51 | 49 | [
{
"comment_id": "120488",
"author": "Skitchin",
"timestamp": "2010-01-28T21:51:21",
"content": "I had Doc’s DeLorean(http://www.bttf.net/Doc_s_DeLorean_Happy_Meal_Toy_p/bf01.htm) It showered sparks when you roll it along. Very useful for burning down your house!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth":... | 1,760,377,501.341136 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/28/drill-powered-go-cart/ | Drill-powered Go Cart | Mike Szczys | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"drill",
"electric",
"go cart",
"neglect"
] | Here we have a
toy car modified to use a drill as the powertrain
. [Hans] has thrown a 12v 4.5 amp battery in to power the motor and it tops out around 9 miles per hour. This is similar in concept to the
trash-based go cart
from last week but this time there’s video. He’s built a couple of these and there’s footage of both after the break. Our favorite part is from the first video when dad chuckles with glee from behind the camera as son whips around the neighborhood on the mean-sounding machine.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCSEbVkRLpY]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOTm2-tY6VU]
[Thanks Wouter] | 36 | 35 | [
{
"comment_id": "120469",
"author": "vonskippy",
"timestamp": "2010-01-28T20:46:26",
"content": "Clever Dads ROCK!!!!!!!!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "120472",
"author": "jjrh",
"timestamp": "2010-01-28T21:09:33",
"content": "dang... | 1,760,377,501.422863 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/31/add-a-bluetooth-terminal-to-your-kindle/ | Add A Bluetooth Terminal To Your Kindle | Mike Szczys | [
"handhelds hacks"
] | [
"bluetooth",
"Bluetooth Mate",
"kindle",
"kindle dx",
"qt",
"sparkfun"
] | This is an Amazon Kindle DX with a Sparkfun Bluetooth Mate stuck in it. [Darron]
hacked the two together
in order to have a wireless serial terminal on the device. There are three big pads in the middle of the Kindle PCB labelled GND, RX and TX, making it easy to figure out those connections. Getting voltage was a bit more difficult. He managed to find 4V coming off of one side of the Kindle’s wakeup switch which works well because the
Bluetooth Mate
has a voltage regulator on board. To protect the Bluetooth module he modified it to pull-up the TX from the on-board regulated 3.3V rather than the 4V coming in from the Kindle.
He’s also been doing some software work on the device now that he has easy access to it. Along the lines of the
Ubuntu-on-Kindle hack
from September, he’s compiled
QT for the Kindle
and written a couple of programs such as Sudoku to show that it works. | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "121065",
"author": "blah",
"timestamp": "2010-01-31T21:38:48",
"content": "First, also this is bad ass.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "121108",
"author": "tim",
"timestamp": "2010-02-01T02:42:24",
"content": "kudos,... | 1,760,377,501.464456 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/31/hackaday-links-january-31st-2010/ | Hackaday Links: January 31st, 2010 | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"links",
"ps3 eye",
"urine"
] | Marble Junker
Here’s
a quick and dirty kinetic sculpture
. It’s a track for a steel marble to roll around in with a magnet on a rotating wheel to pick it up and start it over again. Not every hack has to be
a beautiful masterpiece
, they just need to be fun. Of course, if this were
an incredibly complicated piece
it probably wouldn’t have ended up in a links post.
Eight-eyed Computer
[AlexP] has been involved in the NUI Group and in writing drivers for the PS3 Eye. This time around
he’s got eight of them running
on one computer at 60fps. Security cameras come to mind but this could be useful in a lot of projects. We’d be interested in seeing what you come up with. [Thanks Kyle]
Urine-gone
If you have a problem with folks peeing on your stoop then
this is the answer
. [Hannes Nehls] put together a urinating-drunkard deterrent by placing a humidity sensor in the (achem…) trouble-spot and a small tube above. When they pee on the sensor, it pees right back on them. Video available if you click through to the link.
Amplifier Tutorial
If you’re a little shaky when it comes to understanding and working with amplifiers
this tutorial is for you
. It’ll walk you through the basic concepts, then apply that knowledge in a simple op-amplifier circuit.
Severed Heads
It’s always nice to end a links post with something creepy. These faces are made from a cast of the artist’s face. They sing a trio of nonsense and it’s the life-like movements combined with the obviously mechanical backend that tingles our spine. But they’re really just a novelty and not
the real thing
. [Thanks Browneyedalbino][via
Powered by Nerd
] | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "121014",
"author": "Tachikoma",
"timestamp": "2010-01-31T16:04:25",
"content": "Just a small suggestion here, I think it would make more sense to put subheadings above the relevant image.Oh yeah, if anyone is interested to learn more about opamps, download the Texas Instrument’s Han... | 1,760,377,501.516774 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/30/hybrid-analogbinary-clock-the-mk2/ | Hybrid Analog/binary Clock, The MK2 | Jakob Griffith | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"analog",
"arduino",
"binary",
"chronodot",
"clock",
"digital",
"multimeter",
"telcom linesman"
] | [Kieran] let us know about his
hybrid analog/binary clock
. The circuitry behind the clock is nothing too new. An Arduino combined with a
Chronodot
to produce an accurate clock. What we really enjoyed however was the creative implementation of an old British Telecom Linesman’s Multimeter as the case. The
analog meter
acts as the seconds hand, while a another display made of LEDs diffused with stripboard is the binary clock. The end product is nothing short of ingenuitive. | 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "120952",
"author": "Ryan",
"timestamp": "2010-01-31T01:31:58",
"content": "That is a BEAUTIFUL object. I really, really want one.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "120958",
"author": "gt",
"timestamp": "2010-01-31T02:28:25... | 1,760,377,501.617125 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/30/the-ultimatesimon/ | The UltimateSIMON | Mike Szczys | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"18F2550",
"game",
"pcb",
"pic",
"simon"
] | [Simon Inns] designed
a circuit board to retrofit an original Simon
electronic game. This hack is immediately a win because he made sure that his design required no modification of the original case. The new PCB has many improvements. It moves the device from using 2 D-cells over to a 9 volt battery, the incandescent bulbs were out swapped out for three LEDs per button, and the use of tactile switches makes the buttons a lot more responsive (but does require a bit of modification to the colored button covers). Under the hood there’s a PIC18F2550 controlling a serial LED chip and handling input monitoring and sound generation. The video after the break is safe to watch at work, there’s no
swearing involved
this time.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i914ja6S6U] | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "120936",
"author": "outroot",
"timestamp": "2010-01-31T00:36:16",
"content": "I don’t see moving from 2 D cells to a 9V as an improvement. Maybe in size, but it definitely will not last as long.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "1... | 1,760,377,501.564641 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/30/robot-band-gives-us-so-much-to-make-fun-of/ | Robot Band Gives Us So Much To Make Fun Of | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"drums",
"easy listening",
"percussion",
"robot",
"solenoid"
] | [Pat Metheny] has a robot armada backing him up when he performs on stage. They’re going on tour and he’s done an
interview explaining his mechanical band
. Like
the auto-drummer
, this setup uses multitudes of solenoids to play the percussion instruments, each getting commands from a computer. It’s pretty wicked to
see him use his guitar as a marimba controller
; it’s so responsive that he can tremolo and the solenoid follows in kind.
But there’s a lot more going on here. We love to see
crazy facial hair
from
time-to-time
, but this guy’s just got crazy hair! This easy listening isn’t exactly hair-band material but more like live-action
Animusic
. It’s also reminiscent of the automated orchestras at
House on the Rock
, an attraction you may remember reading about in
American Gods
. It’s fun to kid, but whether you like the music or not, he’s certainly talented when it comes to this genre.
[Thanks Grey] | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "120916",
"author": "Mr.Bigglsworth",
"timestamp": "2010-01-30T22:47:06",
"content": "If not the robot band the guy who looks like a loser from the 80s",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "120925",
"author": "Tyrone Shewlaces",
... | 1,760,377,501.788426 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/30/ask-a-winner-updates-day-2-answers/ | Ask A Winner Updates Day 2: Answers | Jakob Griffith | [
"Cellphone Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"answers",
"competition",
"interview",
"kaping with the n900",
"N900",
"nokia",
"push",
"questions",
"winner"
] | Not too long ago
we asked our readers
what they would like to hear about from the PUSH N900 winners and their hacks. We got some silly questions, and some serious, we asked both and now the PUSH teams have answered.
The Haptic Guide team took a moment of their time for us today. Their N900 hack is a belt that helps point you in the right direction with motors. But after our interview we found out they had much much bigger plans. Remember to check
their blog
for updates – including
new video
of their progress (sweet flexible circuit boards guys!)
>Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions for HackaDay. We love when a hacker is willing to share their work with us.
>How did you and your team get together? Any fun backstory you care to share?
[Mike] and [Tim] worked together at Dell for nearly two years. After the call center in Edmonton closed, they maintained contact and soon decided to compete against each other in the Microsoft “embeddedSPARK” competition in 2008/2009. Even though they were competing against each other, they worked together often while figuring out the Window CE development tools. [Tim] has strong skills with software development and [Mike] is strong with hardware development. While helping each other complete their projects, they discovered that they made a really good team. When the Nokia PUSH competition came about, they decided to work together on it.
>Have you and your team worked on any other projects? Cellular related projects? N900 projects?
We have competed (against each other) in the Microsoft “embeddedSPARK” 2008/2009 competition and have both made it to round 2 of the 2009/2010 competition as well. We also occasionally work on side projects both individually and together as hobbyists.
The PUSH N900 competition was our first joint venture into the world of cell phone hacking. [Tim] had previously experimented lightly in building applications for Windows Mobile devices, but no other platforms.
>What was your main inspiration for your team’s project?
[Mike] has liked the idea of a haptic compass since he first read about one. We spent an evening brainstorming in preparation for the PUSH competition and the idea of doing something with a haptic compass kept floating back to the surface. We decided to expand on the idea, as a haptic compass by itself was nothing new. Instead, we decided it would be perfectly complimented with a cell phone like the N900 to give it much more capability and even a social aspect.
>How do you think people will react when you finish/release?
We largely suspect people will react in one of two ways. First, there will be a large group of people that have never seen the like before and will look at it with an open mind and see the great potential of the product. Second, there will be a group of people that have seen a haptic compass before and will make the incorrect assumption that the project is just an unoriginal copy of that. We hope that the second group will look at the project again and realize that the belt itself is only a tool to help realize the larger picture.
There is a much larger vision for the Haptic Guide project than most people might realize. The primary focus on the blogs has been around the belt, which is a critical component, but the fact is that it is the N900 gives the project its primary value. The N900 is able to take photos and automatically encode them with geo-tags. These photos can then be shared online or sent to friends and they can use their N900 and the Haptic Guide software to load the photo and automatically be guided in a step-by-step manner to where that photo was taken. This provides a lot of value because you no longer need to type or talk in the location you want to go to, neither by address nor by latitude/longitude coordinates. You just need a photo of the location and the software breaks down the current and target locations into turn by turn directions just like you would find on a commercial GPS navigator. This is where belt comes into play; it eliminates the need to constantly watch the screen or listen for directions. Now you can have the phone in the holder or your pocket and be walking down the street and subconsciously following the vibrations in the belt without any distraction whatsoever from the environment around you. It is the perfect touring device.
>Do you have any future plans with your team? Continued N900 development? Update your current projects?
Going forward, we plan to develop other devices similar to the belt design so there is more than one option of a wearable device. Such things might include a wristband or armband, a watch with lights to indicate the direction, hats, etc. Also, we might look into the possibility of setting up an online geo-coded photo sharing service so you can plan a tour of locations you are visiting. Take a picture of a landmark, post it on the service, and people in the area can find the photo and go to that location if they choose to.
>What do you think of the other winners?
The other winners of the competition have been great. There is a very interesting mix of people across the teams, from geeks to artists. Also, the teams have been great as far as sharing information. For example, when [Tim] was getting started with the application development, Introcept from the Lighthack Crew was happy to share the details of his Bluetooth implementation which gave [Tim] what he needed to get the ball rolling.
>Questions from our commentators.
>What are your thoughts on Arduino? Do you intend to use one in your project?
There is no denying that the Arduino is a great learning and prototyping tool. For our prototypes, we are using the Arduino Mini Pro. We chose this because of the size constraints, outputs and processing power we might need. In a production environment, we would use an appropriate chip and design the circuits directly. But ultimately, this is just a prototype and the Arduino works great for it.
>How is working with the N900 hardware and software?
At first, working with the N900 was like diving into the deep end of a pool without knowing how to swim. But this was largely because [Tim] had never worked with any of the N900/Linux development tools before. Anyone familiar with C, C++, or Python coding in a Linux environment would likely have no problem at all with creating applications for it. The development tools are very compatible. In many cases, all it takes to get a desktop GTK application working on the phone at its absolute most basic, is to recompile the source code using the Scratchbox compiler and copy the files to the phone.
>What do you think about the movement of cell phones towards open source software, such as the Maemo? Do you plan to, or have you ever tried Android?
Open source software is almost always a step in the right direction. The real value of the Maemo environment is that the open source tools allow you to simply copy a Python script, for example, from one platform to another and it will just work. [Tim] has considered Android development for the future, but will likely stick to the N900 because of its open platform.
>(If you use a secondary power source, example – to run motors) What kind of battery life is expected for your project?
We are currently using a small 2000 mAh Lithium Polymer battery to power the haptic belt. Because of the motor selection we chose to use, the belt gets pretty good battery life: around 12 hours of constant use.
>Can we get a list of what you’re using in your project? (example – bluetooth sets, motors, dedicated sensors, etc)
For our prototypes, we chose to use mostly standard modular parts, most of which can be purchased at sparkfun.com. Each belt has the following major parts:
1 x Arduino Pro Mini (3.3V)
1 x BlueSmirf Gold Module
1 x HMC6352 Compass Module
8 x Vibration Motor
1 x Polymer Lithium Ion Battery – 2000 mAh
A double layer leather belt
One Nokia N900 (optional. Without it, the belt acts like a regular compass always pointing to magnetic north)
BlinkM I2C LEDs (optional)
>And yes, we actually had a reader (Joe) ask the following (feel free to omit)
>How often do you change your underwear?
Because there are so many possible amusing answers, we will decline to answer and see what the other teams say.
Thank you again! | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "120856",
"author": "johnr",
"timestamp": "2010-01-30T16:07:30",
"content": "The project I have been working on is approaching things from a different direction, but when I saw what they are doing wished I had known about it previously!http://sites.google.com/site/publicstuffishere/f... | 1,760,377,501.828116 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/29/our-thoughts-on-the-ipad/ | Our Thoughts On The IPad | Caleb Kraft | [
"Mac Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"apple",
"ipad",
"ipod"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEiUlf9BAYU]
The
iPad
,
announced earlier this week
, has been a massive media extravaganza. Some people were elated, and some let down. We’ve been asked over and over what our thoughts on the device are. Join us after the break to find out.
[Caleb]
–My grandma would love this. I really think that she is their target. It is easy to use, portable, and has a custom interface that removes all of the windows style interface cruft. Personally, I don’t need one. I have an iPhone (yes, I know most of you hate them). The iPad offers me nothing that my iPhone doesn’t, except a larger screen.
I am excited though. I’m excited at the prospect of a mid level
touch screen
tablet with an appliance style interface becoming common. I can’t wait to see the knockoffs that can run Linux with a custom interface. The knockoffs that will actually have USB ports, and a non wobbly back. Those same knockoffs that will most likely have a front facing camera. I want one of those.
As far as hackability goes, this might actually be fairly hackable. The
processor isn’t actually as proprietary as some would think
. It is ARM based, and not too different from some other devices we’ve seen. It appears as though
they planned for a camera
. There might even be a spot on the motherboard for it. I fully expect to see it “jailbroken”, but what I WANT to see is the guts modified. I want to see home hackers add external storage (card slot), load a different operating system, up the storage. Then again, I thought the same thing about the iPhones and iPod touches, but haven’t seen hardware hacks at all really.
[Mike]
–This is the first I’ve heard of the iPad. I got soooooo tired of all the apple tablet rumors that I quit paying attention. I run Linux only and unless this device will sync out of the box with my Linux systems I’m not interested. I also don’t usually do hardware hacks on anything that cost me more than $250 but buy so I’m not going to be cracking the case open on this thing anytime soon.
[James]
— The iPad has the opportunity to be a great product, but probably not for me, and probably not for most of our readers. It markets itself to the casual internet user who wants to listen to music, browse Facebook, or watch Youtube on the couch rather than the hardcore photo editor, writer, or programmer. I am excited to see someone like Apple really push the market, and cant wait to see the responses, especially from people
like MSI
and
Asus
. Personally, I’m waiting for someone to make a really great convertible tablet netbook with native support for Linux.
[Jakob]
— I hate Apple products, I mean almost with a passion. But I actually do own an iPhone – and I admit, it is one slick nice device. Small, powerful, convenient – all things the iPad is not. Its like Apple couldnt decide on making yet another iPhone revision or a full tablet PC and decided to give us a semi nerfed iPad instead. From what
I’ve heard, there is no multitasking
and several other features that – if can be included on the iPhone – why did they remove it from the iPad? Final note: being an apple product, its about $500 more then it should be.
(And it doesn’t even come with wings for extra absorption)
[Devlin]
— Meh, I don’t think there is going to be much to do with hacking the iPad, I won’t buy one because I don’t see a reason for having it. If others have the same thought, not many people are going to be buying the iPad and therefore not many people are going to be hacking the iPad. | 162 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "120703",
"author": "Odin84gk",
"timestamp": "2010-01-29T23:08:20",
"content": "iPad is to netbooks what the iPod was to mp3 players. If they make it pretty enough and easy enough to use, it will succeed.On a side note, it can act like a phone with a bluetooth headset and a VOIP appl... | 1,760,377,501.969339 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/25/unlocking-multitouch-for-droid-and-nexus-one/ | Unlocking Multitouch For Droid And Nexus One | Mike Szczys | [
"Android Hacks",
"Multitouch Hacks"
] | [
"android",
"droid",
"multitouch",
"nexus one",
"pinch zoom",
"root"
] | We’re fans of pinch-zooming and that means multitouch. Although the interface is natively supported by both the hardware and operating systems of the Nexus One and Droid phones, it is locked out of the stock installation. You can make
multitouch work on both handsets
if you’re willing to do a little firmware alteration.
The coding has already been done for you, it’s a matter of loading a custom kernel. Both the
Nexus One
and the
Droid
have been rooted, and that’s what you’ll need to do to unlock multitouch with new firmware. In addition to gaining full access to the device OS, you’ll need to load up some different apps that support pinch zooming, etc. Luckily, these are readily available and you may like them better than the stock browser, maps, and photo applications. | 23 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "119605",
"author": "hum4n",
"timestamp": "2010-01-25T23:52:31",
"content": "is this really worth it?I have been waiting patiently for 2.1 for my Droid, and will this just make me have to do the multitouch process again when that comes out?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,377,501.888681 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/25/foul-mouthed-game-will-get-you-in-trouble/ | Foul-mouthed Game Will Get You In Trouble | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"language",
"nsfw",
"simon",
"simon says",
"swears"
] | [Fridgehead] modified his Simon Says
game to include a dirty word for each lighted button
. This is a real good way to teach kids to swear and to get child protective services to pay you a visit all at the same time. The hardware has been modified to use an Arduino in tandem with an
ISD audio chip
. These chips can record and playback sound. Although [Fridgehead] could have made it say anything he, choose four words you won’t say in front of your mother. We should warn you not to play the video after the break if you’re at work or it’ll be your boss that comes after you, not your disappointed mom.
As we said before, these videos are Not Safe For Work due to foul language.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRV1e_cJ_c0]
Simon Swears in action
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4kd7ZqKCsg]
Simon Swears: the guts | 38 | 37 | [
{
"comment_id": "119548",
"author": "Odin84gk",
"timestamp": "2010-01-25T21:12:22",
"content": "I fucking hate those ISD audio chips. I made 2 designs using the winbonds ISD audio chips, and both designs failed because Winbond discontinued them. 1 year of wasted work because Winbond doesn’t know how... | 1,760,377,502.102049 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/25/things-that-kill-you-hacked-for-clean-energy/ | Things That Kill You, Hacked For Clean Energy | Mike Szczys | [
"green hacks"
] | [
"E coli",
"solar",
"solar cell",
"tobacco",
"virus"
] | Tobacco and E coli can wreak havoc on your body causing serious damage if not death. Some researchers from the University of California at Berkeley have found a way to take these potentially dangerous organisms and make them do our bidding. By genetically engineering a virus they have shown that
the two can be used to grow solar cells
. Well, they grow some of the important bits that go into solar cells, reducing the environmental impact of the manufacturing process.
Once a tobacco plant is infected with the altered virus it begins producing artificial
chromophores
that turn sunlight into electricity. Fully grown plants are ground up, suspending the chromophores in a liquid which is sprayed onto glass panels to create the solar cells. This types of
creative solar energy production
make us wonder if Thunderdome and
the apocalypse
are further off than we thought.
[Thanks Jon] | 26 | 26 | [
{
"comment_id": "119530",
"author": "Taylor",
"timestamp": "2010-01-25T20:22:11",
"content": "2 men enter…one man leaves…Good to see that even the worst things can be turned to good uses.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "119531",
"author": "B... | 1,760,377,502.275611 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/25/android-g1-serial-to-arduino/ | Android G1 Serial To Arduino | Caleb Kraft | [
"Android Hacks",
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"android",
"arduino",
"G1"
] | With the ability to get root access to some of these new powerful pieces of hardware we call cell phones, we’re a bit surprised we haven’t seen more interfacing with external hardware. Here’s
an example of some rudimentary connections between an Android G1 and an Arduino
. To do this, you must have your G1 rooted, have the Android SDK installed, and then a custom python program running. There is also a simple level shifter from 3.3v to 5v necessary for the connection to the Arduino. You can get all the details from the instructable. They’ve documented the process quite well adn we’re excited to see what kinds of stuff people come up with. | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "119517",
"author": "Taylor",
"timestamp": "2010-01-25T19:36:59",
"content": "FINALLY!I have been wanting to use the serial output and even have the little plug from sparkfun for it, but i found that android has ZERO libraries for using the serial!I can write android apps, but know n... | 1,760,377,502.160782 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/25/face-tracking-with-x10/ | Face Tracking With X10 | Caleb Kraft | [
"home hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"face tracking",
"facial recognition",
"x10"
] | If you are looking to do some face tracking and don’t know where to start, this explanation of
how to do it with X10 modules
could be pretty helpful. Aside from having, what some could consider to be, the absolute
most annoying website ever
for a company, X10 also makes modular systems for home automation.
X10 also refers to the industry standard for home automation
, so sometimes just saying you did something with X10 can get confusing. He is using the SDK to write custom code for the tracking, which you can download from the project page.
[via
HackedGadgets
] | 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "119500",
"author": "Chris",
"timestamp": "2010-01-25T18:12:47",
"content": "Jesus! At first I thought I had entered a p0rn site with all those flashing GIFs.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "119506",
"author": "Dave",
"ti... | 1,760,377,502.211933 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/25/automated-super8-film-scanning/ | Automated Super8 Film Scanning | Caleb Kraft | [
"home entertainment hacks",
"Video Hacks"
] | [
"digitize",
"film"
] | For those of you who have been dreading the day that you have to dig out those old family films in Super 8 format and take them to get digitized, dread no more. Now you could turn it into a cool project. [Photobsen] has
posted pictures of an automated system
for scanning and compiling the film into a digital movie. There was already software available, called
CineToVid
, which would take the scanned segments and create a video from them, but doing the actual scanning was quite laborious. [Photobsen] built a quick automated system using an old floppy drive connected to his computer via parallel port. He now scans about 80 seconds of film per hour, unattended. | 27 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "119491",
"author": "Rob",
"timestamp": "2010-01-25T17:13:12",
"content": "Dread the day? are you kidding me? half the fun of watching old home movies is setting up the projector, setting up the screen, threading the film through the projector, playing with the frame and speed knobs,... | 1,760,377,502.335284 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/25/rotary-encoding-with-your-soundcard/ | Rotary Encoding With Your Soundcard | Caleb Kraft | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"rotary",
"stepper"
] | [Stefan] sent in this project writeup to show us how he
used a stepper motor as a rotary encoder
. Using a stepper motor as an encoder isn’t really that new, as [Stefan] points out, we’ve seen it several times before. He wanted to use this in the quickest simplest way with his computer though. Instead of doing any decoding on a separate microprocessor, he’s connected the stepper directly to his sound card and written code to do the rest. You can download that code and see a video of some practical applications on his site. | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "119477",
"author": "Jay",
"timestamp": "2010-01-25T15:44:02",
"content": "You know… like 3 days ago I was just thinking of doing something like this. Perfect timing HackaDay!oh yeah, first post.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "... | 1,760,377,502.389769 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/28/adding-a-netbook-keyboard-light/ | Adding A Netbook Keyboard Light | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"dell",
"hackintosh",
"keyboard",
"light",
"mini 9",
"vostro a90"
] | [Vikash] was having trouble using his netbook in the dark so he
added a keyboard light
. He’s got a Dell Vostro A90 which is the same hardware as the popular Dell Mini 9. We agree that the condensed keyboard layout makes it hard to type without looking; just try to find the quotation mark, brackets, and tilde keys! He added an LED to the bezel around the LCD screen in order to shed light on the situation. Now the LED can be turned on using CTRL. An ATtiny13 microcontroller monitors pins 1 and 11 of the keyboard, waiting for the CTRL keypress, then turns on the light when it receives it. This hardware solution means it doesn’t matter if you’re running a
Hackintosh
(like he is), Ubuntu (like we are), or that other OS. | 33 | 33 | [
{
"comment_id": "120452",
"author": "James",
"timestamp": "2010-01-28T19:44:52",
"content": "One step up fromhttp://hackaday.com/2008/11/20/ti-84-led-mod/:)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "120453",
"author": "Gdogg",
"timestamp": "2010-0... | 1,760,377,502.463576 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/28/10000-watt-fluorescent-array/ | 10,000 Watt Fluorescent Array | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"16 segment",
"17 segment",
"arduino",
"fluorescent",
"optocoupler",
"TRIAC"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_t2jrSsVXs&NR]
This is an
array of flourescent tubes
that form a display. The video above is just two modules of a ten module installation that [Valentin] and his team are showing at an exhibition in Berlin tomorrow. The connected modules form something of a scrolling 16-segment display (similar to the 17 segment display modules of the
ninja party badges
but much larger). They’re using triacs, optocouplers, DMX, and an Arduino to interface a computer with the 182 fluorescent tubes of the display. Check out a second video after the break to see (or be blinded by) all ten modules pulling 10,000 watts.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz9p5WykIqc] | 43 | 40 | [
{
"comment_id": "120416",
"author": "Johannes Burgel",
"timestamp": "2010-01-28T16:49:11",
"content": "What amazes me the most:How much money and resources you can throw at an “art” project and still end up with something that looks like crap.If this is “art” then the giant LED advertisement screens... | 1,760,377,502.53677 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/27/5-legged-locomotion/ | 5 Legged Locomotion | Caleb Kraft | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"gait",
"hexapod",
"legged"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2Rxo6B4EQQ]
When designing legged robots, we generally see an even number of legs. Mainly, we think, it is due to us modelling things after nature. But with robotics, you’re free to do whatever you want. [Iketomu-san] has built this unsettling
5 legged robot
out of parts he had lying around. The gait is fairly interesting. He mentions that it could be used for robot fighting, where the odd leg would serve as a prop from behind and the two legs up front could be weapons. What kind of gait or use can you come up with for this thing? | 25 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "120213",
"author": "Spork",
"timestamp": "2010-01-27T21:08:55",
"content": "I prefer this to the 3 servo hexapod that was posted recently, which had 6 legs but much more limited motion. The zero turn radius on this robot is a major advantage in my book.",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,377,504.761858 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/27/nes-lovers-grew-up-and-now-theyre-coding-for-palm/ | NES Lovers Grew Up And Now They’re Coding For Palm | Mike Szczys | [
"Palm Pre Hacks"
] | [
"code",
"contra",
"konami",
"palm",
"pixi",
"pre",
"root"
] | In case you missed it back in June,
the Palm Pre was rooted
by extracting the Root ROM from a Palm tool used to reset a device with damaged software. A lot has been learned from examining the code inside that ROM but we’re most amused by one thing in particular. If you grew up in the 80’s there’s a pretty good chance you know the
Konami Code
by heart. So did the developers of WebOS, the firmware running on the Palm Pre. By inputting the familiar (UpUpDownDownLeftRightLeftRightBA) set of gestures
the handset enters Developer mode
for connection to the SDK which was
leaked last summer
but is
now in open release
. | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "120203",
"author": "John",
"timestamp": "2010-01-27T20:30:23",
"content": "yes, but does it give your Palm Pre 100 lives? (Well, in a way, it kind of does, I guess….. in a sort of “multiple personalities” kind of way)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},... | 1,760,377,504.129813 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/27/hdd-actuated-acoustical-instrument/ | HDD Actuated Acoustical Instrument | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"hard drive",
"hdd",
"mono filament",
"multichord",
"string"
] | This is the multichord,
a one-string musical instrument
built by [Christopher Mitchell]. The string is a 20 pound mono-filament thread stretched between a wooden bridge and the read/write head of a hard drive. The idea is that the vibrations of the string are picked up and amplified acoustically by the sounding box that serves as the body of the instrument. The frequency of vibration (pitch) is changed by adjusting the tension of the string through the application of various voltages to the HDD head. A relief spring has been added to the head to take the resting tension off of it, making it a lot easier to fine-tune the settings for each note. A keyboard made of twelve buttons selects each different pitch as the string is plucked.
[Christopher] is continuing to post great hacks; we’ve seen a
glove input
and a
giant VU meter
from him in the past. Take a look at the multichord in action after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6WP03ePFOo]
[via
Hacked Gadgets
] | 27 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "120174",
"author": "spork.",
"timestamp": "2010-01-27T18:17:59",
"content": "I am imagining a HD controlled Hurdy-Gurdy. Get one with 12 strings and a rotating Rosined Disc… holy crap.Note about this design, I noticed the beefyness of your bridge. if you made the bridge ALOT thin... | 1,760,377,504.411173 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/27/nanotouch-a-tiny-avr-media-thing/ | Nanotouch: A Tiny AVR Media Thing | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"handhelds hacks"
] | [
"atmega",
"AVR",
"media",
"yoomp"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLOQOTa4-aY]
[Rossum] is at it again. This time, he has created a
super tiny media device to get us drooling
. You might recall him from the
8-bit device
we showed you before. The Nanotouch is roughly the dimensions of a 96×64 OLED screen(slightly larger than a quarter), with about 1/3 to 1/2 of an inch of stuff packed behind it. The screen itself is mounted atop 4 buttons. This allows you to depress the screen edges for navigation. He does mention that this design needs a little work to prolong the life of the screen, but we really like the intuitive way of navigating. At its heart is an ATmega32u4.
We thought his last version was fantastic, but this one has us enamored. He states he’ll publish schematics and code, as he did before. We just didn’t want to wait to share.
[thanks Joakim] | 43 | 43 | [
{
"comment_id": "120157",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2010-01-27T17:06:00",
"content": "So it’s a tiny homemade version of the Iriver Lplayer? Mind you, that’s no criticism – it’s a tiny matchbox-sized music and video player and it works great (I use an Lplayer and it’s wonderful). It blows my... | 1,760,377,504.833112 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/27/ps3-exploit-released/ | PS3 Exploit Released | Mike Szczys | [
"Playstation Hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"exploit",
"hack",
"memory",
"playstation 3"
] | You can now
download the exploit package for the PlayStation 3
. [Geohot] just posted the code you need to pull off
the exploit we told you about
on Sunday, making it available on a “silver platter” with
just a bit of explanation
on how it works. He’s located a critical portion of the memory to attack. By allocating it, pointing a whole bunch of code at those addresses, then deallocating it he causes many calls to invalid addresses. At the same time as those invalid calls he “glitches” the memory bus using a button on his FPGA board to hold it low for 40ns. This trips up the hypervisor security and somehow allows read/write access to that section of memory. Gentleman and Ladies, start your hacking. We wish you the best of luck!
[Thanks Phileas] | 53 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "120136",
"author": "thecityspiders",
"timestamp": "2010-01-27T15:46:33",
"content": "Pwnage!!!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "120139",
"author": "Cody",
"timestamp": "2010-01-27T15:53:23",
"content": "That guy must ... | 1,760,377,504.64451 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/24/ps3-hacked/ | PS3 Hacked! | Jakob Griffith | [
"News",
"Playstation Hacks"
] | [
"hypervisor",
"ps3",
"ps3 hacked",
"read/write"
] | There is very little information out at the moment, but [geohot] has successfully
hacked the PS3
to have full read and write access, bypassing the Hypervisor. At the moment he’s not revealing the exploit, but with this knowledge it wont be long before the PS3 finally gets whats coming. Keep track of [geohot’s] progress on his twitter,
@geohot,
and
blog
.
[Thanks Jack, Julio, Jeremy, Squisso, and Vor] | 72 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "119366",
"author": "kirov",
"timestamp": "2010-01-24T23:07:36",
"content": "only to be patched within 5 minutes of him actually releasing the exploit by sony, ensuing a many year long game of cat and mouse before sony can’t really do anything",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,... | 1,760,377,504.497384 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/24/hackaday-links-106/ | Hackaday Links: Sunday January 24 | Jakob Griffith | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"arcade cabinet",
"arduino",
"binary",
"bus priate",
"clock",
"cnc",
"data over eithernet",
"diffraction",
"engrave",
"free day",
"glass",
"grating",
"link",
"links",
"music",
"projector",
"red button",
"stepper"
] | Everyone Remembers
Free day
right? [The Ideanator’s] Bus Pirate came in such a nice red box – he decided to make it his
permanent case
.
[Chico] is in the middle of making a CNC, but decided to
make some music
with the steppers in the mean time.
What looks like an old wooden box is actually [Ludvig’s] super sweet retro
arcade cabinet
. Complete with a giant emergency stop red button.
Who says Legos are dead? [Carl] used them to create a simple and cheap
diffraction grating projector
. Including
video
!
[Torchris] used an Ethernet shield exactly as it was designed, sending
data over Ethernet
. Still a nice hack for those needing help working with Ethernet shields and Arduino.
Finally [Robert] let us know about a friends
Arduino Binary Clock
. But we think his elegant use of tape and a sand blaster to
engrave glass
is cooler. | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "119358",
"author": "Going Digital",
"timestamp": "2010-01-24T21:51:42",
"content": "Its Lego, not Legos you numpty.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "119359",
"author": "The Ideanator",
"timestamp": "2010-01-24T22:01:17",
... | 1,760,377,504.5589 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/24/trashplane/ | Trashplane | Caleb Kraft | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"airoplane",
"airplane",
"radio controlled",
"rc"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-fY-eGZsdQ]
[Flyboy258]
shows us
that hobby R/C airplanes can be built from trash relatively easily. A bit of old tarp and a simple frame work as the body. The rudder is made from old foam packaging. It seems to fly pretty well considering the lack of official design, or aerodynamic features.
[via
Makezine
] | 33 | 33 | [
{
"comment_id": "119314",
"author": "Hopo28",
"timestamp": "2010-01-24T16:25:08",
"content": "fantastic, so simple and effective :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "119315",
"author": "Chris H",
"timestamp": "2010-01-24T16:32:35",
"co... | 1,760,377,504.70714 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/23/iphone-look-alike-on-your-kitchen-wall/ | IPhone Look-alike On Your Kitchen Wall | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"ikitchen",
"iphone",
"recipe",
"touchscreen"
] | [Ryan] and his wife wanted to have
a touchscreen interface in the kitchen
to store their recipes and for various music, video, and Internet entertainment. We know where they’re coming from, we’re quite tired or cleaning flour (or worse!) off of our palm pilot screen after baking. The display you see on the wall is just the interface, a computer is stored in the cabinet below the counter. He’s running Windows 7 and using a custom graphic interface which is intended to mimic the looks of the iPhone. He’s sharing the UI as open source and
has just started a forum
for those interested in trying it out and adding to the available features.
One thing we noticed in his writeup, he prototyped this with an old 2 GHz computer but upgraded the hardware because it was too slow. This pushed to total build price to about $1350 USD. We can’t help but mention that using a Linux based system may have saved him from the upgrade. We know there’s some
extremely powerful media software that runs on light hardware specs
.
[Thanks Hannah] | 37 | 37 | [
{
"comment_id": "119202",
"author": "robomonkey",
"timestamp": "2010-01-23T19:56:42",
"content": "Windows7 on an old 2 GHz frame…ouch, no wonder he upgraded….but some UNIX or UBUNTU would have done the job as well with the same frame",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
... | 1,760,377,504.291023 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/23/c64-interface-for-your-computer/ | C64 Interface For Your Computer | Caleb Kraft | [
"classic hacks",
"computer hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"c64",
"commodore",
"comodore"
] | Before we get started, lets just point out that this C64 was broken. He did not take a functional C64 out of operation for this. What he did do, was to
build a hardware interface for for his VICE system
. For those unfamiliar, VICE is a cross platform C64 emulator. [Simon] points out that the old games just weren’t as much fun without the original hardware. Having a broken C64 lying around, he put it to good use. It now acts as the interface for all the original fun stuff.
If you are a fan of the hardware, but just want to
interface it as a normal USB keyboard
, that is possible as well. | 24 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "119192",
"author": "Tom",
"timestamp": "2010-01-23T18:08:59",
"content": "Yeah, but how did he get it so clean?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "119193",
"author": "svofski",
"timestamp": "2010-01-23T18:29:35",
"conte... | 1,760,377,504.348516 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/23/ideas-based-on-photo-frame-clock/ | Ideas Based On Photo Frame Clock | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"home hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"bare bones",
"clock",
"digital frame",
"sd"
] | [Mahto] bought a digital picture frame but the image quality turned out to be terrible. He decided to
turn it into a clock in a unique way
. He loaded up 720 images, one for each minute in a twelve hour period. He then used an Arduino to simulate a button once a minute, cycling to the next image.
This is a simple solution and it works. Visions of hardcore hacks danced through our head when we first looked at this. We’re wondering if there is a way to inject image data into the frame’s memory? How about rewriting the SD card location where the image file that’s currently being displayed is stored, then having the frame reload the picture? Those are projects for a snowy weekend, but we’re sure that [Mahto] finished this hack long before we would have because he kept it simple.
Sooner or later we’re going to need a category for
all
of
these
clock
hacks
.
[Thanks Drone] | 28 | 28 | [
{
"comment_id": "119179",
"author": "r10pez10",
"timestamp": "2010-01-23T16:00:29",
"content": "and then, of course, he could use the photos fromhttp://humanclock.com/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "119181",
"author": "Gregg",
"timestam... | 1,760,377,505.140646 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/22/lcd-backlight-repair/ | LCD Backlight Repair | Mike Szczys | [
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"ccfl",
"inverter",
"lcd",
"tv"
] | Another broken LCD TV came [Steve DiRaddo’s] way. This one
had a broken backlight that he wanted to fix
. He scrapped his
LCD light table
in order use the inverter. The two televisions were not the same size, nor made by the main manufacturer, but backlights all operate under the same principles. Using an inverter from a bit larger model meant it would have enough power to illuminate the lamps but he knew there’d be a problem with connectors and pinouts. After a bit of testing and creative wiring he got the system back up and running.
He’s got some extra parts left over from each TV including a bunch of CCFL lamps. Sound like it’s
time to add some ground effects to his bike
. | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "119080",
"author": "Mikey",
"timestamp": "2010-01-22T22:36:02",
"content": "I don’t really understand what this is a picture of. Is this the connector? It looks to small to be the tv with a bunch of wires running across it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [... | 1,760,377,504.95606 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/22/hardware-store-follow-focus/ | Hardware Store Follow Focus | Mike Szczys | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"focus",
"follow focus",
"hose clamp"
] | Want to do quick and accurate focus change with your DSLR? Here’s a
discussion thread
covering dirt-cheap solutions. It starts with a
broccoli rubber-band and a couple of zip ties
. That being a bit chintzy,
the more popular build
seen above uses a hose clamp, rubber band for padding, a drawer pull, a nut, and some threaded rod. If you build it, be very careful not to over-tighten the clamp and crush your focus ring! After the break we’ve embedded a video of what follow focus looks like through the lens and what is happening with the camera during the shoot.
[vimeo=4241793]
Follow focus example video
[vimeo=4270555]
How to build a follow focus handle
[
Photo Credit
]
[via
Gizmodo
] | 31 | 30 | [
{
"comment_id": "119053",
"author": "Eloquent",
"timestamp": "2010-01-22T21:27:34",
"content": "Mike: lern 2 spelchek’Every article you have posted in recent memory has had an obvious mistake in it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "119054",
"... | 1,760,377,505.077513 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/22/hack-together-a-coffee-roaster/ | Hack Together A Coffee Roaster | James Munns | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"coffee",
"cooler",
"evil mad scientist laboratories",
"roaster"
] | For most people, making coffee entails taking a couple scoops out of a can of pre-ground coffee, adding water, and pressing “Go” on the drip machine. To others coffee brewing is an artform, and want as much control over the process as possible. For those without an overflowing bank account for a home roasting machine,
Evil Mad Scientist Labs
have put together a general guide for throwing together a Coffee Bean Roaster and cooler (which is apparently just as important as roasting) from a low cost hot air popcorn popper. The
home roasting scene
is even big enough to warrant its own
Wikipedia page
, which also mentions using a popcorn popper as a bean roaster.
The guide includes some great simple circuit diagrams to keep in mind when hacking your own, as well as a good explanation why you shouldn’t just clip out the heating coil for cooling mode. | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "119029",
"author": "kirov",
"timestamp": "2010-01-22T20:16:02",
"content": "so snipping a wire or two to disable the heater counts as a hack now?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "119034",
"author": "James Munns",
"timesta... | 1,760,377,505.010414 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/22/electric-go-cart-from-trash/ | Electric Go Cart From Trash | Caleb Kraft | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"electric",
"neglect",
"trash"
] | A quick lesson on being a good parent. If you make an
awesome electronic cart out of trash
that may not necessarily be stable, or even fully capable of stopping once it gets going, you MUST put your children on it and insist that they drive. Did we mention that the system is full acceleration or no acceleration? Indeed, it is. There isn’t a writeup, and one really isn’t needed. This is dead simple. The parts list will explain most of what is going on, but the look of doubt and fear on the kids face is what really makes this hack worth it. Or is that possibly a look that says “what are
you
looking at?”
[via
Flickr
] | 33 | 33 | [
{
"comment_id": "119002",
"author": "loans",
"timestamp": "2010-01-22T18:05:50",
"content": "“the system is full acceleration or no acceleration”Don’t forget full acceleration in the negative axis!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "119003",
"a... | 1,760,377,505.293914 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/22/simple-laptop-conversion/ | Simple Laptop Conversion | Caleb Kraft | [
"laptops hacks"
] | [
"hinge",
"laptop"
] | [Jakob] sent in his
method of dealing with broken laptop hinges
. Broken hinges are a plague. We have no less than 4 laptops lying around that are beyond repair with broken hinges. Some are just propped up against things,
some have had box hinges glued to them
and some are just waiting to die slowly from non use. [Jakob] has a nice neat conversion where he basically made a tablet. We’ve seen that before as well as picture frames. His version, while being quite possibly easier than most of the others, has a neat design aspect. An extended lip at the bottom fits in a groove in a plastic slab. All in one PC becomes a tablet in an instant. Not too shabby for a broken laptop. It looks like he needs to pop a touch screen kit on it though. | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "118999",
"author": "Ho0d0o/Heatgap",
"timestamp": "2010-01-22T17:32:16",
"content": "Very interesting. This would be a fun project with an Acer Aspire 1 netbook I have that has broken hinge mechanism. I tiny 8in tablet minus the keyboard.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,377,505.417342 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/22/arduino-programmer-for-arduino/ | Arduino Programmer For Arduino | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"atmega328",
"AVR",
"isp",
"programmer"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-sFQNIXde8]
Wow, that title is flamebait… but give us a chance to explain. [George] wrote some code for
the Arduino that allows it to program another Arduino
. You may be thinking to yourself “this has already been done”. In a way it has, with the
AVR ISP programming shield
. But once the code has been uploaded to the Arduino, you don’t need a computer to program the next chip. This concept turns an Arduino into an in-the-field programmer. Right now
his code
only programs the ATmega328 and it’s a little buggy, but the concept is solid. A fully functioning independent programmer is easy to image; [George] has laid the ground work, the AVR ISP programming firmware has proven this can work with several different chips, and if your AVR has an ATmega328 there should be plenty of room to store the code you plan to flash to the target microprocessors. It’s up to you to put all the pieces together. | 29 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "118982",
"author": "Ardruino",
"timestamp": "2010-01-22T15:05:39",
"content": "Now people can roll out large productions of LED circuits in no time..Yo dawg I heard you like Ardruinos :pApparently not liking your content over flooded with half finished circuits which are at least 80... | 1,760,377,506.355623 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/21/frustromantic-box-a-reverse-geocache/ | Frustromantic Box, A Reverse Geocache | Jakob Griffith | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"geocache",
"hd44780",
"location box",
"reverse",
"servo",
"tinygps"
] | One of the best feelings in the world is when one of our posts inspires a fellow hacker to plan, create, and execute his or her own project.
[Russ] let us know about his
Frustromantic Box
which he gained inspiration from the original
Reverse Geochache
we posted about
. For those out of the loop, the box is locked and will only open in a certain location. The current distance to the location is displayed on the screen when a button is pressed, and usually there is a limited number of button presses (3 presses for those that know geometry, 50 for everyone else). As soon as the box is at location, it will open.
The Frustromantic Box uses an Arduino, classic HD44780 display, a servo, and the pièce de résistance EM406 GPS. All built in time to frustrate his wife for Christmas. | 44 | 44 | [
{
"comment_id": "118795",
"author": "bencoder",
"timestamp": "2010-01-22T00:22:08",
"content": "Well, if you like going on long walks in big, neat circles, then you could do it with 1 press :PFun project.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "118801",... | 1,760,377,505.543552 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/21/spiderbot-prompts-laser-envy/ | SpiderBot Prompts Laser Envy | Mike Szczys | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"hexapod",
"laser",
"plywood",
"robot",
"spiderbot"
] | [Daniel’s]
horrifying hexapod
makes us wish we were sitting next to a laser cutter. The parts are cut from 4.9mm plywood and include laser-sculpted sections to allow the twenty servos to properly seat in their mounting spaces. We would suggest that you build it in secret so as not to ruin the surprise when your house mates come home to find this romping around their room.
Sadly, we couldn’t find video of this in action but
go look at this other hexapod
if the still shots aren’t good enough. Adding two legs to the party, you behold the video after the break of the
8-legged spider
milled from ABS.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNXuzhop-u8] | 14 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "118762",
"author": "Ned",
"timestamp": "2010-01-21T22:11:24",
"content": "Another hexapod that’s had a fair amount of development is the Chiara, made at CMU.http://chiara-robot.org/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "118773",
"... | 1,760,377,505.469796 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/27/building-a-bigger-better-laser-engraver/ | Building A Bigger, Better Laser Engraver | Mike Szczys | [
"cnc hacks",
"Laser Hacks"
] | [
"cnc",
"etch",
"etching",
"laser",
"mach3",
"xmos"
] | [Bart]
built a giant laser etcher from scratch
. One of his first test engravings included the Hackaday skull-and-wrenches on a polished granite floor tile (we love it when people do that). He used an
XMOS controller
and
Mach3 CNC software
to handle the device. With just two axes to worry about this seem like an easy project. The difficult bit is controlling, cooling, and focusing the laser. Oh, and if you screw up, you could be blinded, burned or horribly maimed. But if you
start from the beginning
you’ll see that [Bart] knows what he’s doing. | 14 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "120134",
"author": "markii",
"timestamp": "2010-01-27T15:25:46",
"content": "me want one!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "120138",
"author": "Jentulman",
"timestamp": "2010-01-27T15:50:12",
"content": "I’m confused, ... | 1,760,377,505.366712 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/26/powering-a-switch-via-poe/ | Powering A Switch Via PoE | Mike Szczys | [
"classic hacks"
] | [
"ip",
"phone",
"PoE",
"power over ethernet",
"switch"
] | [Kajer] was doing some work with IP phones that use Power over Ethernet. While trying to get this to work with a network switch he decided to
use PoE to power the switch itself
. The best thing about this is he managed to shoehorn all of the necessary bits into the stock case. Those bits include a bridge rectifier, transistor, resistor, and a 5v power supply. Along the way he discovered he can now power the switch off of USB if he wishes. | 34 | 34 | [
{
"comment_id": "119892",
"author": "Jared",
"timestamp": "2010-01-27T00:08:02",
"content": "Nice job Kajer!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "119898",
"author": "kirov",
"timestamp": "2010-01-27T00:16:40",
"content": "holy spellchecki... | 1,760,377,505.671221 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/26/palm-sized-atari-2600/ | Palm-sized Atari 2600 | Mike Szczys | [
"handhelds hacks"
] | [
"atari",
"handheld",
"portable"
] | [The Longhorn Engineer] is working on
a portable Atari 2600
. Instead of taking the old gaming system and cramming it into a portable form factor he’s designed his own circuit board in a new-hardware initiative he calls Project Unity. The handheld will include everything you need to play, including video, audio, controller buttons, paddle control, and a cartridge connector. For the demonstration, embedded after the break, he’s using the
Harmony Cartridge
to store his Atari ROMs but do note that the system is designed to use cartridges rather than work solely as a
game jukebox
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOqpHkKknq0] | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "119874",
"author": "wdfowty",
"timestamp": "2010-01-26T23:11:05",
"content": "reminds me of a gameboy. neat.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "119875",
"author": "arrangemonk",
"timestamp": "2010-01-26T23:15:18",
"cont... | 1,760,377,505.594541 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/26/why-arent-we-building-our-own-printers/ | Why Aren’t We Building Our Own Printers? | Mike Szczys | [
"HackIt"
] | [
"ink",
"open source",
"printer"
] | We’ll ask it again, why aren’t we building our own printers? We’re building
3d printers
,
CNC mills
, and
hacking the ink cartridges
on commercial printers. What does it really take to build say a 300 dpi black and white printer? Something that lets you clean and service the print head rather than throwing it out when the ink reservoir is empty?
Someone has set out to answer these question with the
Openprinter project
. If this interests you, join up and start the revolution.
RepRap
had simple beginnings and maybe it’s time to take the army of self-replicating 3D printers and use them to print parts for 2D printers that don’t
drive us crazy
.
[
Photo credit
]
[via
LostScrews
] | 59 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "119840",
"author": "TelePunk5",
"timestamp": "2010-01-26T22:15:51",
"content": "I am working with the project as a hardware person, and it is in the very early stages. Most of the organizing and discussion is done on our reddit, please check that out if you would like to help.http:/... | 1,760,377,505.852242 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/26/repair-or-improve-your-nes/ | Repair Or Improve Your NES | Mike Szczys | [
"Nintendo Hacks",
"Repair Hacks"
] | [
"hack",
"mod",
"nes",
"nintendo",
"repair"
] | There’s a warm place in our hearts for the original Nintendo Entertainment System. It’s too bad we don’t have that hardware sitting around anymore. But if you do there’s a chance it needs some TLC and there’s always room for a blue LED mod. [Raph] has a wonderful
collection of NES hardware repairs and hacks
that you should take a look at. These include replacing the power supply, fixing the cartridge connector, monkeying with
the CIC chip
, adding a reset button on the controller, converting the audio from mono to stereo, and yes, swapping in a blue LED. Oh, and as a side note, [Raph] gets a bit of extra hacker ‘cred for including “coded manually using VIM” at the bottom of his page. Classic. | 20 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "119810",
"author": "Ryan",
"timestamp": "2010-01-26T20:32:26",
"content": "What, no arduino powering that blue LED?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "119825",
"author": "TJ",
"timestamp": "2010-01-26T20:59:12",
"conten... | 1,760,377,505.756601 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/26/st-louis-hackerspace-arch-reactor/ | St. Louis Hackerspace: Arch Reactor | James Munns | [
"News"
] | [
"Grand Opening",
"hackerspace",
"St. Louis"
] | Here at HackaDay, we are always a fan of a group of hackers coming together to create a place to share ideas, tools, parts, and stories. A group from St. Louis called
Arch Reactor
have managed to secure a new location, and are having their grand opening this Saturday. From 4-10pm on the 30th, they will be hosting an open house, and showing off both the area as well as some personal projects. We plan on being there to cover it, as well as support a hackerspace that is close to home for a couple of us.
They are located on the second floor of:
904 Cherokee St.
St Louis, MO 63118
and feel free to check out their
location page
, as well as their
main web site
.
Edit: Thanks to [kamikazejoe] from the Arch Reactor forums for pointing out the logo issue. Whoops. | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "119774",
"author": "wolfy02",
"timestamp": "2010-01-26T17:07:42",
"content": "sweet, I might have to give them a visit sometime",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "119778",
"author": "baslisks",
"timestamp": "2010-01-26T17:3... | 1,760,377,505.90805 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/25/gorgeous-portable-n64-built-to-order/ | Gorgeous Portable N64 Built To Order | Mike Szczys | [
"handhelds hacks",
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [
"commission",
"custom",
"mod",
"n64",
"portable"
] | [Hailrazer] is at it again with
a new portable N64 build
. He’s done the impossible by improving upon
his last design
. The LCD screen is now mounted flush for a cleaner and smaller case. The controls draw from a lot of different sources; a gamecube stick for durability, a 3rd party N64 controller for buttons, and a PlayStation controller for the shoulder buttons that serve as L, R, and Z (either hand). There is a breakout box that allows two controllers to be plugged in. Combine this with the TV out feature and it acts as a console or a handheld. His in depth demonstration is embedded after the break.
The build log (linked above) details every part of the hack so that you can try to do this yourself. The relocation of the expansion slot requires patience and solid soldering skills. The case work is an art in itself. We speculate that this commission comes somewhere close to $1000 but it’s hard to put a price on quality craftsmanship. We’ve seen
smaller
, but these features and finished look can’t be beat.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv6MW94Xw2k]
[via
Engadget
] | 59 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "119592",
"author": "Michael L.",
"timestamp": "2010-01-25T23:22:03",
"content": "Very very nice. Makes me want to make one myself, but I don’t have the soldering skill or the patience to do it. The only thing I can think of is combine the wall jack and battery charger and just step ... | 1,760,377,505.99855 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/21/adafruit-eagle-library/ | Adafruit Eagle Library | Mike Szczys | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"adafruit",
"EagleCad",
"footprint",
"library"
] | We love it when a PCB comes out right the first time. We’re careful enough with our designs that if something is wrong it’s usually a footprint problem, like we picked the wrong package for the components. Adafruit is helping to make the design process easier by
sharing their Eagle library
. Like the
Eagle library version control
we saw earlier in the month,
this library
is housed on github making it easy to stay up-to-date. The library includes many components (switches, crystals, IC’s, etc.), and fixes some prolbem-footprints, like 0805 surface mount pads. | 15 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "118760",
"author": "sneakypoo",
"timestamp": "2010-01-21T21:57:44",
"content": "What do you mean by “like 0805 surface mount pads”? Reason I’m asking is that I’m an SMD newbie getting ready to etch my first board that includes quite a few 0805 components.",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,377,506.072771 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/21/turntable-light-sequencer/ | Turntable Light Sequencer | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks"
] | [
"lp",
"sequencer",
"turntable"
] | [Benjamin] built
a sequencer that uses a turntable and light sensors
to lay down a funky beat. If you like creepy videos with repeated gratuitous corderoy-clad rear-ends we’ve got you covered after the break. Art film aside, he’s got an interesting project. Four light sensors are mounted below the turning record with LEDs hovering above. His hatred for old LP records is apparent because holes must be drilled in a disc for the light to shine through. The four notes in the sequence can be altered in voice and color, along with controls for motor speed and direction. The project also has four manual inputs to add some variety to the repetitive beat sequence. It’s a bit less practical than
the penny sequencer
but fun none-the-less.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RScVAiUphvQ]
[Thanks Cole] | 31 | 31 | [
{
"comment_id": "118734",
"author": "Dielectric",
"timestamp": "2010-01-21T20:18:59",
"content": "Und now is ze time on sprokets ven ve dance!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "118737",
"author": "droolcup",
"timestamp": "2010-01-21T20:26:... | 1,760,377,506.138842 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/21/coded-entry-using-your-wristwatch/ | Coded Entry Using Your Wristwatch | Mike Szczys | [
"home hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"door",
"ez-430",
"lock",
"ti",
"watch",
"wristwatch"
] | [Ziyan] and [Zach] built a
door entry system that uses a code entered from your wristwatch
. They’re using the
TI eZ-430 Chronos
that we saw in November. There is a project box mounted over the deadbolt lever. Inside, the wireless fob waits for the watch to connect. When a watch has connected and the correct code is received (using 128 bit encryption) the fob actuates a servo to turn the lock. On the user side of things the code is entered by tapping the watch. The built-in accelerometer picks up these taps and relays them to the door unit.
It’s a heck of a project! Check out their demonstration video after the break. We’d like to see a mechanical option for escaping the apartment in case the door unit fails but otherwise we think this is perfectly executed. We’re looking forward to seeing more projects that tap into this TI hardware.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqMbdQptdfw] | 24 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "118713",
"author": "overengineer",
"timestamp": "2010-01-21T18:23:25",
"content": "Pretty awesome, it’s a little bit of two-factor authentication (something you have, something you know), and a pretty clean installation. The “have” factor makes it a bit better than the “knock to ent... | 1,760,377,506.288588 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/21/buzzle-a-morse-code-puzzle-box/ | Buzzle: A Morse Code Puzzle Box | Caleb Kraft | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"home hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"morse",
"puzzle"
] | [lucasfragomeni] built the
Buzzle
after being inspired by the
reverse geocache puzzle
. The Buzzle was built as a gift to a friend. It’s a tricky gift too. His friend can’t open it until he decodes the words being displayed in morse code via an LED. A word is chosen at random, so you would have to decode it each time you want to open the box. That’s a pretty neat security feature. Sure it’s not the most secure, but it would keep casual peepers out. Unfortunately, the box was empty when his friend received it. | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "118704",
"author": "svofski",
"timestamp": "2010-01-21T17:49:08",
"content": "Anyone who managed to learn to copy morse at decent WPM care to share their story? :) I tried Koch’s method many times but it’s hard not to grow bored while you’re still at some 3-5 characters.",
"pare... | 1,760,377,506.401474 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/21/robots-in-space/ | Robots In Space | Caleb Kraft | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"mit",
"space",
"sphere"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl6lZbyLkzs]
SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient Experimental Satellites)
are experimental robots made at MIT for the purpose of testing robot locomotion in space. As you can see in the video above, they are capable of maneuvering pretty well. They seem to hold formation fairly tightly. They are using compressed CO2, through 12 different thrusters for positioning. They should be capable of autonomously navigating around each other as well as docking to one another. | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "118667",
"author": "MS3FGX",
"timestamp": "2010-01-21T15:15:52",
"content": "Is the idea here for these to be used in open space at some point in the future? Otherwise, couldn’t they use ducted fans for propulsion instead of the CO2 jets?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,377,506.457767 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/21/live-high-altitude-balloon-launch/ | Live High Altitude Balloon Launch | Jakob Griffith | [
"Arduino Hacks",
"gps hacks",
"Misc Hacks",
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"camera",
"civil aviation safety approval",
"high altitude balloon",
"humidity",
"pressure",
"space",
"tempurature",
"uk high altitude society"
] | [Terry] is planning to launch his
high altitude balloon
within the next few days. As
we’ve seen before
he has gone for a general setup – GPS tracking, environment sensors including temperature and humidity and pressure, and 2 on board cameras – all with an expected height of about 100,000 feet. What makes this project unique is the transmission of live telemetry data to a Google Maps or Google Earth interface.
The planned launch date is Sunday the 24th about 00:00 UTC so long as the Civil Aviation Safety Approval for the launch is passed.
As a final note [Terry] wanted to let inspiring balloon launchers to check out the
UK High Altitude Society
– who have been an invaluable source of information. | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "118666",
"author": "kevin mcguigan",
"timestamp": "2010-01-21T14:50:27",
"content": "is there a club here in the states that does this? i would really like to be involved in something like this. where can i look for clubs in the las vegas nevada area?",
"parent_id": null,
"d... | 1,760,377,506.576941 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/20/billy-bass-with-selectable-clips/ | Billy Bass With Selectable Clips | Mike Szczys | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"16f452",
"billy bass",
"pic",
"secret santa",
"twitter"
] | [Will] enjoys giving hacked items as Secret Santa gifts and this year
he decided to augment a Billy Bass
. These gag items have become a popular hack to
use as a prop
or to
read your Twitter updates to you
. Right of the bat he scrapped the original PCB and sent it to the gift’s future recipient as if he were a kidnapper extorting a family. He then set to work replacing the guts with a pair of PIC 18F452 microcontrollers. One uses power transistors to control the movement, the other controls an MP3 that handles the sound clips. The interface has some LEDs for added effect and uses a dial to select each sound clip which is displayed on a 4×20 character LCD.
The project has several voltage headaches as the motors operate at 6v and 4v, the microcontrollers and LCD display at 5v, and the MP3 is looking for 1.5v. That’s for voltages supplying this Frankenstein’d
schematic
. But he pulled it off, as you can see in the video after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZXQrOQ1In0] | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "118564",
"author": "oNo",
"timestamp": "2010-01-20T23:13:52",
"content": "“That’s for voltages” Or as we like to say “Four” Interesting post and deff a headache with all those voltages.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "118567",
... | 1,760,377,506.516518 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/20/nes-console-to-cartridge-security-in-depth/ | NES Console To Cartridge Security In Depth | Mike Szczys | [
"Nintendo Hacks",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"cic",
"nes",
"nintendo",
"rom",
"security",
"snes"
] | [Segher] has reverse engineered the hardware and command set for the NES CIC chips. These chips make up the security hardware that validates a cartridge to make sure it has been licensed by Nintendo. Only after authentication will the console’s CIC chip stop reseting the hardware at 1 Hz. The was no hardware information available for these chips (go figure) so [Segher] had to do some sleuthing with the tools at hand which include some rom dumps from the chip pairs. He was nice enough to share
his findings
with us. We’re betting they’re not of much use to you but we found it an interesting read.
[Thank ppcasm]
[Photo credit:
Breaking Eggs and Making Omelets
] | 45 | 45 | [
{
"comment_id": "118539",
"author": "kirov",
"timestamp": "2010-01-20T21:56:45",
"content": "firstandwhat is the point of continuing to work on the nes, there are already like 30 different emulators for every single system and it doesn’t even have that many good gameswhy not work on the xbox 360 or ... | 1,760,377,506.663189 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/20/nxt-hacks-tanks-and-heaters/ | NXT Hacks: Tanks And Heaters | Mike Szczys | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"aquarium",
"heater",
"lego",
"mindstorms",
"nxt",
"robot",
"sea-monkeys",
"tank"
] | Here’s a double-dose of Lego NXT goodness;
a robotic tank
and an
automatic aquarium heater
.
The image to the left is a robotic tank powered by the popular Lego Mindstorms NXT kit. The brains rest inside of a tube, including the controller brick, ultrasonic range finder, a gyroscope, and a compass. Two sets of treads surround each edge of the tube making us wonder which end is up? We’ve embedded a video of this beast after the break. You’ll see that the tank is incredibly agile in this configuration.
To the right is an aquarium heater. [Dave’s] kid were growing some tiny water dwellers which we’ve always know as
Sea-Monkeys
. The problem is that the tank needs to be between 72-80 degrees Fahrenheit for the little shrimp to thrive. He dug out his NXT controller and paired it up with the Lego temperature sensor and a
dSwitch
relay. This setup monitors the Aquarium for temperatures between 72-78 degrees and switches a lamp on an off to regulate the temperature. This keeps his kids and the stagnant pool happy.
Now that we’ve whet your appetite for NXT check out the
wiimote operated NXT Segway
and the
NXT Sudoku solver
.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5_jnH-PvNA]
[TubeIt via
Make
] | 8 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "118554",
"author": "Icarus",
"timestamp": "2010-01-20T22:35:01",
"content": "Meh…I mean, it’s just lego. Not like he actually built something (am I wrong?)It’s kinda cool but I doubt the efficiency as a tank.On the other hand, the aquarium heater IS a hack so that’s pretty cool (and... | 1,760,377,506.713858 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/20/hey-man-ssh-to-my-guitar-and-setup-the-multitouch/ | Hey Man, SSH To My Guitar And Setup The Multitouch | Mike Szczys | [
"digital audio hacks",
"Linux Hacks"
] | [
"guitar",
"linux",
"multitouch"
] | The
Misa Digital Guitar is a digital music controller
like we haven’t seen before. The body, machined out of ABS, looks like a guitar. The player puts theirs hands in the same places you would on a guitar but the lack of strings make it something different.
The left had manipulates inputs in the form of 144 sensors, six in each of the twenty-four fret positions. The right hand doesn’t strum, but uses a multitouch screen to control the inputs. The UI looks solid, something you’ll have to see for yourself after the break. Tieing this all together is an AMD Geode processor running Gentoo Linux. That means this is open source and begging you to make it do your bidding.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2eiP12hQQY]
[Thanks Zerowizard] | 37 | 36 | [
{
"comment_id": "118510",
"author": "Benny M",
"timestamp": "2010-01-20T18:39:29",
"content": "Oh my god… That is AWESOME! I want one :DLooks like it has a lot of modding potential. Mad props to anyone who can build a FLStudio-like program that runs locally on it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth... | 1,760,377,506.783198 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/20/sheevaplug-pbx/ | SheevaPlug PBX | Caleb Kraft | [
"computer hacks",
"home hacks",
"Linux Hacks",
"Phone Hacks"
] | [
"linux",
"pbx",
"phone",
"sheevaplug"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIcTWya7TQA&feature=player_embedded]
[Greg] has been working on a version of Debian/ FreePBX/ Asterisk
for people to be able to drop onto a SheevaPlug. If you haven’t seen it, the SheevaPlug is a tiny computer housed in a wall plug. They made some waves when they were announced last year, and we’ve
spoken of
them
several
times
. [Greg] is offering up the operating system in a pre configured format for SD cards so you can just download it and drop it in your SheevaPlug. Yeah, there’s a little bit of work to do before it will boot, which you can see in the video above. Thanks for sending this in [Greg], keep up the good work. | 25 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "118492",
"author": "David",
"timestamp": "2010-01-20T15:17:03",
"content": "Is there basically only the producer of the SheevaPlug that distributes in the US? The number of distributors of the SheevaPlug seems to be very limited.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replie... | 1,760,377,507.16251 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/19/servo-hacked-linear-actuator/ | Servo Hacked Linear Actuator | Jakob Griffith | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"cheap",
"linear actuator",
"motor",
"powerful",
"servo"
] | [AntonB] has
modified a servo
into a powerful linear actuator (think: changing rotational motion into linear motion). The process is simple enough, modify a servo for continuous rotation and then add the custom built actuating shaft. You do of course lose the precision of the servo, but a small price to pay to be able to lift ~20 pounds straight up. Inspiration for such a cheap solution came from his
Planetary Surface Exploration Rover
. Check out a video of both after the break.
[Thanks Eric]
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fUwPSn32T8&feature=player_embedded%5D
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMmJtw0XYzk&feature=player_embedded%5D | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "118431",
"author": "EdZ",
"timestamp": "2010-01-20T02:15:44",
"content": "If you’re giving up the position sensing of a servo, why not just attach the leadscrew to a cheaper & faster/more powerful gear motor? If all you have lying around are servos it works, just don’t go our of you... | 1,760,377,507.221074 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/19/cell-phone-based-car-starter-another-take/ | Cell Phone Based Car Starter, Another Take | Caleb Kraft | [
"Cellphone Hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"cell",
"gsm",
"remote",
"start"
] | [Dave] Had been working on a
cell phone activated remote start
for his car for a while when we posted the
GSM car starter
. While both do carry out the same job, we feel that there is enough good information here to share. He’s gone a pretty simple way, by connecting the vibrator motor leads to a headphone jack. He’s using that signal to then activate the remote start by setting off an extra fob. Though it is amazingly simple, this version does have an advantage. As [Dave] points out, his cell phone has several features which could be utilized to automate some of his car starts. He can set alarms as well as recurring calendar events to get his car started without his interaction. Lets just hope he doesn’t forget and let his car run too long unattended, especially if it is in a garage attached to his house. | 56 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "118352",
"author": "Sean",
"timestamp": "2010-01-19T16:32:44",
"content": "most current remote start systems have an auto-cutoff time (usually 12-24min)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "118356",
"author": "Frogz",
"timest... | 1,760,377,507.055068 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/19/polymorph-in-practice/ | Polymorph In Practice | Caleb Kraft | [
"Repair Hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"polymorph"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxy22VfZq0E&feature=player_embedded]
[Leesam] tipped us off to this cool
tutorial for shaping Polymorph
. For those who haven’t, it is pretty cool stuff. It is a plastic that comes in little pellets. You can melt it down at relatively low temperatures and mold it to the shape you need. We’ve seen it used on several projects, most notably
CrabFu’s swashbot3
. Generally, we see it hand shaped, so it is fairly organic and imperfect. It can be used for more precise shapes though. This tutorial walks us through the easiest way to produce sheets of the stuff to be cut and bent into brackets as well as some helpful tips on getting the best results. | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "118344",
"author": "anon",
"timestamp": "2010-01-19T15:50:06",
"content": "Milkbottle glasses, a beard and carrying a bit of timber.True hackadayer.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "118354",
"author": "joao",
"timestamp":... | 1,760,377,507.409001 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/17/rgb-display-development/ | RGB Display Development | Mike Szczys | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"atmega8",
"display",
"i2c",
"led",
"light bulb",
"pca9635",
"rgb"
] | [SeBsZ] tipped us off that
he’s working on a display using RGB LEDs
. He’s etched some nice surface mount controller boards to carry the ATmega8 microcontroller and NXP PCA9635 drivers. This setup uses the I2C bus to address each expansion board of 5 LED modules. Theoretically this hardware would allow for 638 RGB modules but because of power and refresh rate issues he’s set his sights on reaching somewhere between 100-125, a total of about 25 expansion boards.
There’s not a ton to show off yet. But we expect big things from the project. Partly because one of his goals is to generate a display that can be rolled up and easily moved, and partly because his large-scale light bulb displays are so impressive. Take a look at the video of his 60-bulb unit after the break.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plrybXfJZkw] | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "118040",
"author": "medix",
"timestamp": "2010-01-17T23:41:26",
"content": "I recognize these chips. ;) Used them awhile back to also create a lighted sign, though no scrolling display. The sign consisted of 4 letters total (around 2 x 3 feet in size) populated with 20 – 30 RGB LED ... | 1,760,377,507.102363 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/17/guerilla-theater-hits-two-wheels/ | Guerilla Theater Hits Two Wheels | Mike Szczys | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"bicycle",
"bike",
"dmx",
"dmx512",
"guerilla theater",
"led"
] | [Tom] wanted to take the show on the road so
he added lights to his bike using theater grade control hardware
. The picture above shows three tail lights comprised of 195 LEDs. Built on perf-board, a
DMX512 controller
can display several patterns on each module. The lighting technician (bike pilot) controls the patterns through a series of switches on the handlebars. There’s several pages of details posted including schematics and firmware. This would bring a little extra fun the next time you ride in a
Critical Mass
event. | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "118034",
"author": "M4CGYV3R",
"timestamp": "2010-01-17T23:18:02",
"content": "This is so far from a hack…he’s using commercial hardware. What part of this is hacky? Putting it on a bike? I used to bike around with 4 LED PAR cans for headlights and taillights. It was run by a car ba... | 1,760,377,507.265552 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/17/cnc-brought-to-you-by-zip-ties/ | CNC Brought To You By Zip Ties | Jakob Griffith | [
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"cnc",
"dremel",
"drill",
"mill",
"parallel port",
"pc"
] | [lucassiglo21] let us know about his finished
3 axis CNC
(
Translation
via Google). While
home CNCs
are nothing new, we really liked this masterpiece. The CNC is entirely custom, from the electronic control boards (connected to a PC via parallel port) to the physical mill (with an end result of 30x30x15cm workable area). Our favorite part is the use of
screw/band clamp
zip ties to hold the Dremel – a true showing of hacker geekyness. For those who haven’t seen a CNC drill a circle before (and honestly, who hasn’t?), check a video after the break.
[youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52GxAz3rqcg&feature=player_embedded%5D | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "117999",
"author": "tehgringe",
"timestamp": "2010-01-17T21:15:34",
"content": "Yes…I am in the process of scavenging parts to make my own CNC machine…was hoping to usehttp://hackaday.com/2009/02/27/tools-proxxon-drill-press-tbm115tbm220/but missed out in the last 30 seconds on ebay... | 1,760,377,507.467491 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/17/editorial-fear-of-the-unusual/ | Editorial: Fear Of The Unusual | James Munns | [
"News"
] | [
"editorial",
"hacking"
] | As an engineer and as a writer for Hack a Day, I am used to seeing hardware in all kinds of states; from looking
professionally done
, to
artfully constructed
, to
downright hackish
. Unfortunately in today’s society of manufactured goods, most people just don’t have any experience with homemade electronics. Furthermore, because of a frenzied fear of terrorists, bombs, and IEDs, people who aren’t familiar with hacked or personally constructed hardware often assume the worst.
These assumptions can be inconvenient for some of us, when we have to explain that, “Yes, I made this myself. No, it isn’t dangerous”. The real tragedy is when fears like this are imposed onto children and students who have an interest in building something of their own. Recently there was
a story about a middle school student from San Diego
who built a motion detector into a bottle. He attended a technically-oriented school, and decided that he would bring in his project to show his friends. After a teacher spotted this “Suspicious looking bottle with wires coming out of it”, the device was confiscated, a bomb squad was called out, and the school was evacuated. After using a robot to X-ray and examine the bottle thoroughly the bomb squad finally declared the project safe. Instead of listening to the student from start, thousands of dollars were wasted bringing out the bomb squad and an entire day of school was interrupted because the administrators gave in to fear of something they didn’t know about. The worst part of all of this is that while the student wasn’t formally punished, the school district recommended that he should undergo counseling to correct his behavior.
This isn’t an isolated incident either.
Back in 2007
an engineer who had built one of Adafruit’s MintyBoost kits was stopped in airport security because the kit “Looked like an IED”. In that case the engineer in question stood his ground, calmly explained what it was he had, and why it wasn’t dangerous. Luckily, the police that were called in were of a more rational mind, and after proving that the kit performed as promised (lighting up a USB LED lamp), told the TSA to let him go, kit and all. While this does bring up questions towards the
arbitrary rules
used in TSA screening, that is not the point of this story. Airline troubles have even extended to our friends over at
MakerBot
, who had their luggage searched on the way to CES. The important message to get across is how important it is for makers, hackers, circuit benders, and anyone else who creates or modifies something to share their projects with friends, family, and the internet.
Until people start to realize that not all electronics come from a store, stories like these will keep happening. Education is the only effective tool against fear, and without people like our readers sharing their creations and taking time to talk to people about what the hardware hacking scene is, the general population can’t be expected to know any better. This responsibility to educate is even more important for people like parents, teachers, and organizations such as the TSA and the police because of the influential nature of who they are.
I want to thank anyone who has shared their projects with us, and urge all of you to continue. Our mission here at Hack a Day is to share the amazing projects that are out there, and to help spread the word and interest of hardware and software creation and modification. This mission extends both to experts as well as people who have never seen anything like this before. The knowledge you all share with us helps us spread the word of hacking to as many people as we can get to listen.
I can’t wait to see what else you all have in store for us.
[James]. | 93 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "117977",
"author": "Simonious",
"timestamp": "2010-01-17T20:29:23",
"content": "Very nice article, thank you.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "117979",
"author": "eNGINEER",
"timestamp": "2010-01-17T20:37:50",
"conten... | 1,760,377,507.603676 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/17/hackaday-links-january-17th-2010/ | Hackaday Links: January 17th, 2010 | Mike Szczys | [
"Hackaday links"
] | [
"beagleboard",
"circuit bending",
"jewelry",
"mouse"
] | Apple Magic Mouse on Windows
Looks like some folks snooped around the latest Bluetooth update from Apple and
managed to extract the Magic Mouse drivers
. Now you can use them to take this
complex peripheral
for a spin on Windows. [Thanks Juan]
Component jewelry: From geeky to gross
[Nikolaus] made
a pair of 300k Ohm earrings
for his wife. That’s three Brown-Black-Yellow resistors per ear. It’s geeky but in a subtle way. Much more refined than the gross outcome of this other guy’s
crass nipple experiments
. Need to get the image of nipple-jewelry out of your head? [Nikolaus] has you covered with some
3d printed earrings
.
GTK GPS
Need your GPS data to be accurate within a centimeter? We don’t either but if you ever do, Real Time Kinematic GPS is what you need. Now you can
build one yourself using the RTLIB package
. This is based around
the powerful and powerfully-inexpensive Beagleboard
. [Thanks Jan]
Messy music
It warmed up here a bit this week and things got slushy. Our Galoshes are nice and water-tight but [David’s] have a big hole in the side and are
filled with a mini-keyboard
. He’s chosen a rubber boot as the housing for a circuit-bending project. It’s a nice touch that
the hidden keys are still playable
through the flexible rubber. | 15 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "117956",
"author": "googfan",
"timestamp": "2010-01-17T18:29:07",
"content": "1st",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "117960",
"author": "eggman",
"timestamp": "2010-01-17T18:49:37",
"content": "last",
"parent_id": n... | 1,760,377,507.521642 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/17/free-day-recap-video-and-book-recommendation/ | Free Day Recap Video And Book Recommendation | Mike Szczys | [
"HackIt"
] | [
"books",
"chris anderson",
"free",
"free day",
"wired"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgFayRF4M2c]
SparkFun’s free day came and went as entertainment for some and an infuriating event for others. They filmed some video in their office during the madness to give us
a look at how it went on their end
. We find it amusing that
Solarbotics
, one of their competitors, sent them flowers with a card reading “Rest in Peace SparkFun”.
According to [Nate’s]
original post
, the concept of free day was inspired by reading [Chris Anderson’s]
book
“Free: The Future of a Radical Price”. We recently finished reading this wonderful work and we’re making it our next book recommendation. [
Chris
] is editor-in-chief of Wired and has had a ring-side seat as the digital world rose around us. He takes a historical look at what the price of free really means, defining cost by adding more terms like Gratis and Libre to the mix. If you have a good handle on the companies that have defined the 21st Century business model so far you wont’ be able to put this book down.
Now, we should mention something that is remotely related to hacking since we try to do
that sort of thing around here
. The SparkFun post also reminds those folks lucky enough to get a $100 credit to chronicle and share their projects. We’d love to see them too so get your projects written up and
send us the dirty details
. | 21 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "117943",
"author": "Jesus Christ",
"timestamp": "2010-01-17T16:49:52",
"content": "Free and in no cost and GNU free are nice, maybe one day bill collectors will see it too.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "117946",
"author": ... | 1,760,377,507.660133 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/16/developing-physical-controllers-for-the-uninitiated/ | Developing Physical Controllers For The Uninitiated | Mike Szczys | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"controller",
"firmata",
"flash",
"games",
"workshop"
] | [Dave] hosted a one day seminar at the Illinois Institute of Technology which focused on
rapid electronics prototyping for those with little prior experience
blinking those LEDs. As the defacto standard for novice prototypers it’s no surprise that he gave an Arduino to each team to use as the controller-computer interface. He started the day by getting the
Firmata package
up and running. Firmata is a set of libraries that make communications between software and a microcontrollers simple. In this case, each team developed a Flash game that used data from the Arduino as a control.
Several rudimentary games resulted from the day. We’ve embedded video of two of them after the break for your enjoyment. Lion Vs. Pig uses potentiometers, a distance sensor, and an arcade button to play a game of
cat-and-mouse
(well, Lion-and-Pig really). The other is Kick the Cat, a game that uses a flex sensor and force sensor combination as input. This is something of a virtual mini-basketball game that uses a springy material to launch a virtual feline at a target.
These teams already had a background in code, but the hardware was a new endeavor for them. Arduino helps to break down this cross-over barrier and we think this will result in more people to contribute to open source projects, and falling hardware prices due to a larger volume of demand.
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/8542167]
Lion vs. Pig
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/8542148]
Kick the Cat | 29 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "117851",
"author": "M4CGYV3R",
"timestamp": "2010-01-17T03:25:12",
"content": "Just what we need. The next generation of mc developers unable to develop without the hypersimplistic platform of the Arduino.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comm... | 1,760,377,507.726474 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/18/the-most-complicated-and-simplest-binary-clocks/ | The Most Complicated, And Simplest Binary Clocks. | Caleb Kraft | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"clock",
"mbed",
"PICAXE"
] | We were going to take a break from posting clocks. Really we were. This one came in the tip line today though, and we just couldn’t pass it up. [Alex] has built, what might be the most complicated clock we’ve seen. At least, it would appear that way initially. This
Binary clock
shows Hours, Minutes, Seconds, Days, and Months. He started with a picaxe, but eventually settled on an Mbed. Yes, he knows it is overkill, but it worked out pretty well.
As for the simplest, that came into our tip line as well. [Toby] sent this in, and agrees with us that it is hardly worthy of being called a hack. However, in light of the complicated one above, we didn’t see any harm in posting its opposite. Check it out after the break.
That’s right, he just printed a new face. Like we said, it doesn’t get much simpler. | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "118243",
"author": "Drone",
"timestamp": "2010-01-18T21:38:01",
"content": "What the heck is this. The target site is a bunch of pictures, motors and stuff. Am I missing something here?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "118244",
... | 1,760,377,507.786185 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/18/the-polulu-3-servo-hexapod/ | The Pololu 3 Servo Hexapod | Caleb Kraft | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"hexapod",
"polulu"
] | [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqI-sDJTyuo&w=470]
Here’s a great tutorial on how to make a
tiny hexapod
walker. While this was written specifically for a kit that is sold by pololu, we like the simple layout. You could implement your own electronics if you prefer something else. If you want to follow along with their components, you’ll end up with a fairly small and decently agile hexapod. Sure the legs aren’t articulated at every joint, but the effect is workable. This is probably the first 3 servo walking hexapod we’ve encountered and we’ve
seen
a
pretty
decent
amount
of
hexapods
.
[Via
HackedGadgets
] | 14 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "118237",
"author": "Addictronics",
"timestamp": "2010-01-18T20:55:34",
"content": "Ingenious! I’ve always wanted to build a hexapod but the cost of the required servos kept me away. This really is a fantastic idea for swarm bots. etc..",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"r... | 1,760,377,507.88933 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2010/01/18/wii-nunchuk-train-controls/ | Wii Nunchuk Train Controls | Jakob Griffith | [
"Arduino Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"control",
"nunchuk",
"set",
"train",
"wii"
] | While we’ve been told all of our lives Wiis and trains just don’t mix, they never said anything about Wii Nunchuks. One terribly abused joke later, [Ken] tipped us off about his
Wii Nunchuk controlled train set
.
By utilizing
Digital Command Control
(think pulse-width modulation) with an Arduino, he is able to have full control over the trains direction and speed. The other part of the equation is a Wii Nunchuk and
adapter
. The setup should be pretty self explanatory, but there is
an Instructable
for those that need more help. | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "118224",
"author": "SoDo120",
"timestamp": "2010-01-18T19:47:04",
"content": "lol yea the Military has made wii controlers work for there robots its awesome",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "118226",
"author": "napalm",
"t... | 1,760,377,507.834916 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.