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https://hackaday.com/2008/02/25/hackit-new-uses-for-old-crt-monitors/
HackIt: New Uses For Old CRT Monitors
Will O'Brien
[ "HackIt" ]
[]
https://hackaday.com/wp-…-dead1.jpg?w=425
[atrain] wants to know if we’ve got any thoughts on things to do with old CRT displays instead of giving them away or recycling them. We’ve seen pic programmers and oscilloscope projects , but even I’m curious to see what you guys have to say. So, got a better idea? Let’s hear it.
90
50
[ { "comment_id": "31919", "author": "Skyler Orlando", "timestamp": "2008-02-25T15:31:47", "content": "Well, with enough of them, you could build an array of them, with some appropriately high-tech buttons and keyboards, and call it a movie set.You might be able to (carefully) salvage the power supply...
1,760,377,846.714285
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/24/d200-hotshoe-gps-redux-el-cheapo-version/
D200 Hotshoe GPS Redux (el Cheapo Version)
Will O'Brien
[ "digital cameras hacks", "gps hacks", "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
It’s been a while since we talked about putting a GPS on top of a D200. [Rick] sent in his latest version. He used a nice 20 channel sirf III gps from spark-fun, a cheap D200 remote cable and a few parts to send the NMEA sentences down the wire. The biggest improvements include taking the $100 Nikon cable out of the mix and swiping power from the camera for the GPS board. All the info is there, but I had to seriously stare at his wiring instructions for a while despite the low parts count. I like to see actual circuit diagrams! permalink
5
5
[ { "comment_id": "31914", "author": "dax", "timestamp": "2008-02-25T10:23:54", "content": "that’s a pretty nifty little hack.As a sort of addendum, I recently bought a BU-353 (http://www.semsons.com/glbuusbgpsre.html), which is cheaper than the sparkfun GPS receiver. I haven’t had much time to play w...
1,760,377,846.58906
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/23/binary-pov-watch/
Binary POV Watch
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
I probably won’t be replacing my giant G-shock watch just yet, but this binary POV watch is pretty sweet. Sure, the POV clock is old hat by now, but it’s also a nice example of adding a Li-ionbattery to an embedded project. It uses a MAX1555 li-ion charger and throws caution to the wind and doesn’t bother with any external capacitors. Battery life is several days or several hours if the watch is put into flashlight mode. permalink
10
10
[ { "comment_id": "31904", "author": "Forrest Voight", "timestamp": "2008-02-24T08:00:56", "content": "Nice watch… I’m thinking of making one.Ha, bottom-left led blinks “because it is sad”.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "31905", "author": "Da...
1,760,377,846.628112
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/22/cheap-diy-acoustic-guitar-pickup/
Cheap DIY Acoustic Guitar Pickup
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[ "guitar", "pickup", "piezo" ]
I stumbled on this simple, but effective and cheap diy guitar pickup in my rounds for interesting hacks. Piezo elements haven’t failed to amaze me. They’re usable for electronic drum kit , underwater microphones, running shoes and musical greeting cards. (I’ve only found an old, out of print book on hydrophones, so if you’ve got a good reference, send it in .) permalink
10
10
[ { "comment_id": "31894", "author": "Nipponese", "timestamp": "2008-02-23T10:13:11", "content": "I have done pretty much the exact same thing back in the 80’s when I was a poor and couldn’t afford to buy a nice electric acoustic that I dreamed of at the time.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, ...
1,760,377,846.517916
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/22/hackit-better-project-documentation/
HackIt: Better Project Documentation
Will O'Brien
[ "HackIt" ]
[]
Today’s hackit is devoted to everyone who enjoys a good project write-up. I’m on the verge of upgrading my photo gear (Digital Rebel XTi) with some new lighting and a better lens to improve my work and found myself wondering what the community likes to see in a good how-to. What can be done to make them better for the community. Decent photography? Better parts lists? I prefer good photos and reproducible work. So, got a better idea? Lets hear it.
21
21
[ { "comment_id": "31873", "author": "Dean Putney", "timestamp": "2008-02-23T03:48:03", "content": "Clearly, something has to be said about Instructables. As awesome as the site is (I’ve been a member since only a few months after it started), one thing that bothers me is the manner in which picking p...
1,760,377,846.39373
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/22/sitescollide-podcast/
SitesCollide Podcast
Eliot
[ "News" ]
[]
A couple weeks ago Tyrel from SitesCollide interviewed me about Hack-A-Day . Have a listen to the 27 minute podcast if you’ve ever wondered how Hack-A-Day was founded or what the heck we do here. Topics include: MiniPOV3 , BrainMachine , Arduino , bowling ball catapult , DMX control , and FPGA crypto cracking . permalink
2
2
[ { "comment_id": "31871", "author": "jake", "timestamp": "2008-02-23T02:01:32", "content": "cool podcast, learned a lot about hack-a-day that i didn’t know…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "31872", "author": "michael", "timestamp": "2008-0...
1,760,377,846.550626
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/21/internal-bluetooth-for-5th-gen-ipods/
Internal Bluetooth For 5th Gen IPods
Will O'Brien
[ "ipod hacks" ]
[ "5th gen ipod", "5thGenIpod", "bluetooth", "ipod" ]
[Ed] sent in his latest iPod modding effort. Previously he did this on a 4th gen , and now he’s following that up with a 5th gen version. He found an even smaller bluetooth module for the mod, but it requires replacing the hard drive with a compact flash card to make room inside the case if you want to keep the original back cover. permalink
12
12
[ { "comment_id": "31862", "author": "jim", "timestamp": "2008-02-22T01:15:57", "content": "the bandwidth on bluetooth is really low, meaning sound quality suffers. so although it’s a useful hack, the benefits come with drawbacks.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { ...
1,760,377,846.7642
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/21/breaking-disk-encryption-with-ram-dumps/
Breaking Disk Encryption With RAM Dumps
Eliot
[ "computer hacks" ]
[ "bitlocker", "crypto", "decrypt", "diskencryption", "dram", "encryption", "harddrive", "ram", "unencrypt" ]
If you haven’t gotten a chance yet, do watch the video of this attack. It’s does a good job explaining the problem. Full drive encryption stores the key in RAM while the computer is powered on. The RAM’s stored data doesn’t immediately disappear when powered off, but fades over time. To recover the keys, they powered off the computer and booted from a USB disk that created an image of the RAM. You can read more about the attack here . How can you reduce this threat? You can turn off USB booting and then put a password on the BIOS to prevent the specific activity shown in the video. Also, you can encrypt your rarely used data in a folder on the disk. They could still decrypt the disk, but they won’t get everything. I don’t think this problem will truly be fixed unless there is a fundamental change in hardware design to erase the RAM and even then it would probably only help computers that are powered off, not suspended. The potential for this attack has always been talked about and I’m glad to see someone pull it off. I’m hoping to see future research into dumping RAM data using a USB/ExpressCard with DMA access. permalink
42
42
[ { "comment_id": "31830", "author": "Chris", "timestamp": "2008-02-21T23:53:41", "content": "I’m a lot less interested in finding out how to protect myself than getting my hands on that software. It sounds like it would be pretty neat to be able to get RAM dumps like that.", "parent_id": null, ...
1,760,377,846.887684
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/20/tin-hat-bonus-jetlag-got-me/
Tin Hat Bonus: Jetlag Got Me.
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
Update: Sorry guys. I hadn’t seen it before, but apparently this dell keylogger junk is a rather delicious hoax . To keep from confusing the RSS readers, I’m leaving a post stub up. If I wasn’t travel-beaten I would have paid attention to the fact that the supposed keylogger wasn’t on a flexible flat cable. I pulled the image since it was originally stolen. It’s probably totally BS, but supposedly this guy found what seems to be a keylogger inside his new dell 600m laptop. He submitted a FOIA request to the DHS, only to have his request denied. It’s a bit tin-hat, but the idea that a three letter agency might be adding extra hardware to your laptop is very disturbing indeed. I guess it’s time to start auditing any new hardware purchased for bonus parts. [ via ] permalink
16
16
[ { "comment_id": "31814", "author": "squidhat", "timestamp": "2008-02-21T06:46:49", "content": "hoax", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "31815", "author": "Daniel", "timestamp": "2008-02-21T06:52:56", "content": "Here’s the Snopes link fo...
1,760,377,846.814995
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/20/console-on-the-kindle-and-more/
Console On The Kindle (and More)
Will O'Brien
[ "handhelds hacks", "Misc Hacks" ]
[ "amazon", "kindle" ]
[Dev] sent in an interesting blog series on hacking Amazon’s kindle . [Igor] has documented getting a console, the bootloader and more. Even if you don’t have a Kindle to hack on, it’s a good overview of hacking similar devices. He used a cell phone cable to build his interface, but I suggest getting familiar with the MAX232 family of semiconductors for cheap rs-232 to ttl converters. permalink
4
4
[ { "comment_id": "31812", "author": "threepointone", "timestamp": "2008-02-21T12:13:23", "content": "WOW–this kindle thing has a whole lot of stuff in it. I guess it’s partly because Amazon’s new to all of this–I would have expected a simpler and more compact design for some of the components if it w...
1,760,377,846.339196
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/19/im-still-out-of-town-extra/
I’m Still Out Of Town Extra
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
I received some good stuff via the tips line while I’ve been making an extra stop after Shmoocon. I spent the day helping my less project endowed family run some new wiring (and made some awesome sparks in the process.) [Damian] sent in his customized version of the classic Atari 2600 adventure game. [iraqiGeek] sent in his efforts to use the six-axis controller. He used lib-usb and PPJoy to create his own app. [HP Friedrichs] sent in this interesting post on building military style power supplies. Good stuff if you’re into building your own gear and like interesting chassis designs. [John] sent in his version of the new KITT’s light bar. (You know you watched it.) Got something good to share? Use the tips line .
3
3
[ { "comment_id": "31809", "author": "Skyler Orlando", "timestamp": "2008-02-20T04:48:52", "content": "The power supply looks cool. Also, making sparks when wiring is fun, unless someone gets zapped… I assume no one did, or you’dve mentioned it, correct?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "r...
1,760,377,847.159875
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/18/do-math-to-turn-off-your-alarm-clock/
Do Math To Turn Off Your Alarm Clock
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
[nickjohnson] sent in what might just be the most incredibly evil alarm clock ever. It’s a fairly simple pic project with a PIC, LCD and input buttons. When the alarm goes off, you have to solve math problems before it will shut off. If you answer correctly, you make it stop. In my case, I’d probably add a mute button that can be held down while you do the math. Source, schematics and pcb layout are provided. permalink
35
35
[ { "comment_id": "31776", "author": "dioxide", "timestamp": "2008-02-19T07:23:01", "content": "Sweet. I might do one…I’d make that mute button timed, so that you have to solve it within 10 seconds or so and if you don’t, it un-mutes permanently (or gives you a second chance and then un-mutes permanen...
1,760,377,847.367783
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/17/the-2008-shmooball-gun/
The 2008 Shmooball Gun
Will O'Brien
[ "cons", "Misc Hacks" ]
[ "shmooball", "shmoocon", "spud gun", "SpudGun" ]
I caught up with [Larry] from pauldotcom.com and got a quick walk-through of his Shmooball gun. After several less successful attempts, this one worked pretty damn well and featured a distinctive sound that caused a notable glimmer of fear in the eyes of the speakers. *cough*[renderman]*cough*. Read on for the secrets of the Shmooball gun. The gun is pneumatic, so pressure was supplied from a 7-800psi CO2 paintball gun through this quick disconnect. [Larry] needed an adapter to connect to the 1/4″ regulator input. He made the small chamber, with each connection, and found that it acted as a helpful expansion chamber for the gas supply. The lower pressure storage chamber is fed about 100psi from the regulator. To release the pressure to the firing chamber, he used this electric water sprinkler solenoid. These take around 12VDC and slightly slow the pressure expansion into the firing chamber The trigger was built using a simple safety mechanism – two momentary push buttons have to be depressed to fire the sprinkler solenoid. The get a good seal on the Shmooball, he cut down a beer cozy to act as reusable wadding. The wadding fits quite well around the 2.75″ Shmooball. The twine keeps the wadding from going the way of the Shmooball. A velcro mounted laser pointer provides quick aim for chasing tricky speakers. Thanks to [Larry] for giving us the tour! permalink
23
23
[ { "comment_id": "31757", "author": "Babau", "timestamp": "2008-02-18T03:18:27", "content": "Were any modifications required for the solenoid to open quickly enough? I’ve done similar things on a smaller scale but have never been able to find a valve that opens quickly and cleanly enough for my likin...
1,760,377,847.298871
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/16/shmoocon-2008-hard-drive-highlights/
ShmooCon 2008: Hard Drive Highlights
Will O'Brien
[ "cons" ]
[ "hard drive recovery", "HardDriveRecovery", "shmoocon" ]
Today wrapped up with a talk on recovering data from solid state hard drives by [Scott Moulton]. The talk focused on the differences in data storage between SSD and platter technology. I did come away with a few interesting bits of knowledge. In an effort to extend device life, flash based drives store changed data to a new location, leaving the old data intact until a garbage removal subroutine gets around to clearing it out. Probably the best way to recover data from them will be altering or replacing the controller chip so you can access old data. Yesterday I caught an interesting talk on recovering passwords from drive images by [David Smith]. He found that he could take a system image, strip out all the strings that were stored by various programs and use them to build a dictionary of possible passwords. By limiting string lengths and matching for known password policies, he was able to further filter his dictionary for likely passwords. permalink
7
7
[ { "comment_id": "31750", "author": "Ali Raheem", "timestamp": "2008-02-17T03:31:38", "content": "Searching a HDD for passwords and seed words for dictionary-bruteforce hybrid attacks is how a lot of forensics is done on recovering data, and isn’t a very new tactic. But, I was shocked to find out tha...
1,760,377,847.240353
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/16/toaster-oven-reflow-controller/
Toaster Oven Reflow Controller
Will O'Brien
[ "Uncategorized" ]
[]
[Nathan] sent in his toaster oven reflow controller. He’s using a Triac to drive the heating elements, a thermocouple to monitor temperature and a PIC controller to run the show. I’m giving him extra points for style on the control pad. Hopefully he’ll have time to put out a complete write up when he’s got it finished. You can check out the project photos here . permalink
5
5
[ { "comment_id": "31745", "author": "chubs1646", "timestamp": "2008-02-16T21:10:45", "content": "Sparkfun.com has had a kit and tutorial on how to do a reflow controller for some time now.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "31746", "author": "Re...
1,760,377,847.196688
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/15/shmoocon-2008-unauthorized-phishing-awareness-exercise/
ShmooCon 2008: Unauthorized Phishing Awareness Exercise
Will O'Brien
[ "cons" ]
[]
[Syn Phishus] presented a pretty interesting talk. At $former_company he prepared and executed a rogue internal exercise designed to heighten awareness of phishing scams. (That is, attempts to gather personal information from users with trickery.) After noting a certain lack of effort on the part of security policy implementation, he put together an official looking email, set up a simple phishing site that didn’t actually store any collected information and set loose the dogs of war. OK, he actually sent it to a select group within the company without warning anyone else ahead of time. He purposely didn’t store any of the results to protect the foolish, but he estimates that maybe 10% of the recipients fell for it.
6
6
[ { "comment_id": "31739", "author": "macegr", "timestamp": "2008-02-16T08:23:54", "content": "why does he have to “estimate maybe 10%”, wouldn’t it be a simple calculation involving the number of emails he sent out versus the number of times the “submit” button was pressed?", "parent_id": null, ...
1,760,377,847.120591
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/15/shmoocon-2008-intercepting-gsm-traffic/
ShmooCon 2008: Intercepting GSM Traffic
Eliot
[ "cons" ]
[]
Back in August, [h1kari] presented an analysis of the A5 crypto spec used in GSM systems. Almost all GSM conversations in the US and Europe are encrypted using this standard. At the time they were still in the planning stages of building their rainbow table of shift register states. Today we heard an update on the progress. The whole space is 2^58 in size and would take a standard PC 33,235 years to calculate. Not being patient people they built a box containing 68 express card based FPGAs . Each one is capable of doing 72 billion operations per second. So far they’re one month into the 3 month process. Once the table is completed any person can crack a GSM conversation in 30 minutes using 1 FPGA and the 2TB table. They do have plans for building an optimal system that would be based on solid state drives and 16 FPGAs that should do the crack in just 30 seconds.
18
18
[ { "comment_id": "31727", "author": "Crusty Justy", "timestamp": "2008-02-16T03:36:30", "content": ":OI love when ShmooCon rolls around every year and there is usually an exploit or crack for something wildly popular. The last one i really remember was cracking WEP. good stuff!", "parent_id": nul...
1,760,377,847.505445
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/14/diy-24ghz-spectrum-analyser/
DIY 2.4ghz Spectrum Analyser
Will O'Brien
[ "Wireless Hacks" ]
[]
This project got some blog love last year, but it slipped past my radar. [jhecker] built a parallel port interfaced device based on a Cypress 2.4ghz transceiver module. The module is pretty complete, so as long as you can wield a soldering iron, you can pull this one off. The module is pretty cheap, so it could be just the thing for building your own signal detector. [Ed Note, Stardate 2018: There seems to be some linkrot. Try this link instead .] permalink
10
9
[ { "comment_id": "31720", "author": "Roadkill", "timestamp": "2008-02-15T11:38:06", "content": "Analyzer?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "31721", "author": "Rich", "timestamp": "2008-02-15T13:16:45", "content": "‘Analyser’ is the corr...
1,760,377,847.412133
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/14/shmoocons-coming/
Shmoocon’s Coming
Will O'Brien
[ "cons" ]
[]
Just prepping up a bit before this spring’s Shmoocon . Things will definitely be colder this round, so bring your cold weather gear if don’t want to arrive in the form of a human popsicle. I’m a fan of Shmoo’s organization tactics . Running several single session talks keeps me from missing one great talk to attend another. [h1kari]’s GSM talk promises to be interesting. Not to mention VOIP penetration testing and solid state hard drive recovery. [Eliot] and I will see you there. Don’t worry, we’ll be reporting back for the guys that have to miss out this year
7
7
[ { "comment_id": "31714", "author": "Eric", "timestamp": "2008-02-14T12:27:02", "content": "Will there be videos/documentation of these talks provided afterwards? There are at least two I really wish I could see.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "...
1,760,377,847.451181
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/13/swiss-army-knife-2-project-board/
Swiss Army Knife 2 Project Board
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
[Micheal] developed this board to be the heart of an even bigger sensor interface project. I think the design might come in handy for someone looking for more flexibility than even an Arduino or similar projects offer. The SAK2 uses a 40Mhz PIC 18F452, step down power regulation, RF transceiver and plenty of I/O ports. Firmware, schematics and BOM are all provided. permalink
8
8
[ { "comment_id": "31707", "author": "max", "timestamp": "2008-02-14T09:46:28", "content": "first yes awesome do want", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "31708", "author": "dax", "timestamp": "2008-02-14T11:04:06", "content": "jeez you’d t...
1,760,377,848.286578
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/12/scrying-em-fields/
Scrying EM Fields
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
I’m still trying to wrap my head around this one. The idea behind scrying is to reveal hidden data – i.e. electromagnetic fields within a structure. (Like those created by a metal building/computers/etc) It does have other uses besides artistic – it can be used to analyse the 2.4ghz spectrum among other things. It looks like an interesting project, despite the odd description. (Lets just say that it’s an eccentric bit of reading)
18
18
[ { "comment_id": "31689", "author": "emilio", "timestamp": "2008-02-13T02:34:52", "content": "lol, yeah, the reason we’re still trying to wrap our head around it is because the guy reads a little too much Thomas Pynchon (or not enough, he’s a lot less coherent than the Pynchon i’ve read – which was g...
1,760,377,848.00098
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/11/window-unit-turned-pc-water-cooler/
Window Unit Turned PC Water Cooler
Will O'Brien
[ "computer hacks", "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
I almost passed this one up because it was shotgunned across a few blogs, but it would be a shame to pass up on a good hack. [Mike] decided to use a standard window AC unit to cool the CPU in his rig. The A/C unit was modified to place the evaporation coil inside a fish tank filled with glycol/water antifreeze coolant. To cool the CPU, he used a normal water block, but insulated the coolant lines between the cooling unit and the machine. That should give you the idea. For more details, have fun deciphering his project in pictures . [ via ] Bonus: [Johnny] sent in the NASA workmenship guide. It’s pretty interesting to see what the space boys require for their electronics work. permalink
18
18
[ { "comment_id": "31671", "author": "marmot", "timestamp": "2008-02-12T08:11:43", "content": "i almost bought this very item on ebay about three weeks ago, but the bid never reached his reserve because i was the only one that bid on it, now i am building my own out of a dehumidifier and a liquid cool...
1,760,377,847.946861
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/10/eeepc-inverse-video-scaling/
EeePC Inverse Video Scaling
Will O'Brien
[ "computer hacks", "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
[Tracker] sent in this handy software hack for the eeePC. The idea is to scale higher resolutions like 1024×768 down to the native 800×480 screen resolution. His post tells you how (but requires windows) and helpfully provides the required downloadable driver. I wonder if he’s seen this video showing up 1600×900? (update: fixed the missing video link.) permalink
12
12
[ { "comment_id": "31660", "author": "Tracker", "timestamp": "2008-02-11T07:32:09", "content": "The download is listed on the website :D also it goes above 1024×768 but you can not read it very well", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "31661", "aut...
1,760,377,847.898133
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/09/cheap-360-degree-head-tracking/
Cheap 360 Degree Head Tracking
Will O'Brien
[ "home entertainment hacks", "Misc Hacks", "Playstation Hacks" ]
[]
[Joel] sent in his efforts to build an inexpensive 360 degree head tracking display. He’s using a Playstation six axis controller as the key to his helmet tracking system. The demo is short and to the point. He’s using the usual Glovepie driver to provide the software interface and what looks like off the shelf hardware on the helmet. What really grabs my attention is the low cost of getting into VR now. Assuming that you own a computer, you can build your own VR setup for the cost of a Playstation controller and a cheap heads up display. (Remember these ?) permalink
10
10
[ { "comment_id": "31650", "author": "biz", "timestamp": "2008-02-10T14:40:16", "content": "badass", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "31651", "author": "n3rrd", "timestamp": "2008-02-10T17:24:39", "content": "This is very similar to the W...
1,760,377,848.042005
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/08/personal-ir-radar/
Personal (IR) Radar
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
[chris] sent in this inexpensive personal radar project. It uses a servo mounted IR range finder to locate and display the distance to an object. (Lake a parked car as shown in the demo video) The project is destined for some robotics projects – and who doesn’t love LED display proximity sensors. It makes me think of the direction finders in every other 80’s action movie. It’s gotten some attention on Digg, but I like it for the inexpensive build and the excellent use of a PIC 18F452. permalink
12
12
[ { "comment_id": "31638", "author": "Lambda_drive", "timestamp": "2008-02-09T11:07:48", "content": "Since it doesn’t use radio waves you can’t really classify it as “radar”.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "31639", "author": "Skyler Orlando", ...
1,760,377,848.328605
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/07/pwm-audio-generation-with-an-avr/
PWM Audio Generation With An AVR
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
[Dane] sent in his sweet AVR hack. He used the PWM output to play pre-recorded audio output. It’s not very high quality, but it could be useful for adding low cost audio feedback to your projects. permalink
13
13
[ { "comment_id": "31627", "author": "Zach", "timestamp": "2008-02-08T08:56:27", "content": "Go Dane! You’re the man!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "31628", "author": "Gregtex", "timestamp": "2008-02-08T14:52:01", "content": "had the ...
1,760,377,848.205103
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/06/20-mini-dvd-player-lcd-hacking/
$20 Mini-dvd Player LCD Hacking
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
[Jeff] sent in this nice how-to on gutting the 2.5″ LCD from a $20 mini dvd player. After removing the player hardware, he shows where you’ll need to tap the circuit to feed it composite video. Looks like just the thing for those portable console projects. permalink
28
28
[ { "comment_id": "31602", "author": "Weird123", "timestamp": "2008-02-07T08:32:33", "content": "This is a straightforward, economical, and practical hardware hack. Well done.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "31603", "author": "FIRESTORM_v1", ...
1,760,377,848.105195
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/05/dmx-light-control-for-home-automation/
DMX Light Control For Home Automation
Will O'Brien
[ "home hacks" ]
[]
Generally, the only time I’ve ever seen DMX in use is for stage productions. [Dan] sent in his home light control project – he used a RS-232 to DMX interface and a bunch of commercial DMX dimmers. His light switches were replaced with potentiometers connected to the system via CAT5 cabling. The POTs send 0-10v up the line to the dimmers, and the manual control can override the automated(DMX) settings. The system is simple, robust and responsive – avoiding the delay pitfalls usually incurred by systems like X10. permalink
21
20
[ { "comment_id": "31583", "author": "tony", "timestamp": "2008-02-06T04:26:22", "content": "WOW. His place looks pretty sweet. He needs to automate his fridge to send him beers all over the house.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "31584", "auth...
1,760,377,848.158488
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/04/monday-retinal-extra/
Monday Retinal Extra
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
Look ma, it’s my retina. Here’s a short collection of hacks to make yours happy. [Brian] sent in this odd collection of information he calls the open source biohack kit. The info is interesting, but everything is inside a giant zip file. I think it could benefit from a better online presentation. [insomartin] sent in a simple design to create a USB piezo drum pad controller . The parts count is pretty low and the drum pads are created using the usual DIY piezo speaker sensor. [Emilio] sent in his Nokia phone turned SMS remote control project. [Ian] over at diylife put together a handy USB analog gauge interface. [Jock] sent in something similar , but this time the project uses gauges from a car for driving games. In order to continue mocking Boston, [doug] sent in his moononite project.
10
10
[ { "comment_id": "31573", "author": "TBare", "timestamp": "2008-02-05T17:20:53", "content": "I’ve wanted to set up an SMS remote control since i moved into my house about 6 months ago and found that the garage door opener is too old for a new remote :(i’m sure there’s an easier way, but i still think...
1,760,377,848.24524
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/03/diy-actuated-ball-valve/
DIY Actuated Ball Valve
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
[Derek] sent in this electric ball valve he built for his bio-diesel reactor. If you haven’t checked, the commercial versions are pretty expensive. His solution was to mate a salvaged saturn wiper motor (sans control board) with a polypropylene bolted ball valve. Oh, and happy birthday to me. permalink
38
38
[ { "comment_id": "31539", "author": "jimmythecow", "timestamp": "2008-02-04T09:01:37", "content": "Happy Birthday!!!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "31540", "author": "Dean", "timestamp": "2008-02-04T09:03:32", "content": "Happy birth...
1,760,377,848.509119
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/02/cellular-data-controlled-robot/
Cellular Data Controlled Robot
Will O'Brien
[ "Robots Hacks" ]
[]
[Jatinderjit] sent along the latest in LEGO robotics. The cell phone controlled robot. It’s based on a LEGO Excavator kit with a few spare parts via ebay. The controller is a Nokia phone running a small webserver. A PIC 24F microcontroller runs the show as it receives commands via the phones IR interface. The phone uploads images from the on-board camera as fast as it can update it. Think of it as a poor mans mars earth rover. FYI, This puppy made engadget while I was working it over, so the site might get a bit overloaded in the near future. permalink
6
6
[ { "comment_id": "31534", "author": "PocketBrain", "timestamp": "2008-02-03T14:37:16", "content": "Gotta love the Legos. Nice use of last year’s cell phone, too.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "31535", "author": "jetblack", "timestamp": ...
1,760,377,848.645107
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/01/voice-controlled-game-controller/
Voice Controlled Game Controller
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks", "Xbox Hacks" ]
[]
[] sent in this voice controlled video game project. The idea is simple and honorable: make gaming accessible to the physically limited. [Cyberpyrot] used a voice recognition kit and interfaced it with a bog standard XBox 360 controller. Looks like a fairly easy project if you’re familiar with the pointy end of a soldering iron. permalink
9
9
[ { "comment_id": "31526", "author": "Tyler", "timestamp": "2008-02-02T10:11:08", "content": "Show me something I haven’t seen on engadget.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "31527", "author": "Gadget Hacks", "timestamp": "2008-02-02T13:22:38...
1,760,377,848.685036
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/31/tengu-clone-redux/
Tengu Clone Redux
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
Remember the open source Tengo clone ? [jfmateos2] sent in his version, with a custom candles game designed for birthday giving. It’s a nice piece of work, and I love it when we inspire new projects! He sent in a nice write-up of the features he added, so I decided to post it in its entirety: [Hello, my nick is jfmateos2 and this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =MnFP4FNVE-I is a brief presentation about my last project devoted to PIC microcontrollers. The video is in Spanish but subtitled in english. When I first saw the cloned Tengu developed by Alex featured in Hackaday blog, I thought it was a proper project for learning the use of PIC microcontrollers´ specific functions like A/D converters, interrupts and timers. After studying the features of the original Tengu developed by Crispin Jones, I started to specify the requirements of my own clone. I decided to include a basic game intended to transform it into a personalized birthday gift; my sister´s birthday was near. Its usage is very easy. After connecting PIC-Tengu to a USB port, it will switch on in a sleep state. Blowing on its face he will wake up. Then PIC-Tengu yawns and, if and only if it is the first time we use it, it will start the candles game. The aim of this game is to blow out the candles one by one, so it can become quite boring if the person being honoured is over a certain age, although less painful than pulling his/her ears. Fortunately, my sister is only 25 years old. A personalized scrolling message appears when the game is over. Next, PIC-Tengu starts to imitate every noise it hears. There are four sets of faces available: aquiline-nose, snub-nose, no-nose and Luciano. The active set of faces changes blowing or with a strong noise. Pic-Tengu´s Auditive acuteness is configurable through the back potentiometer. Pressing this button toggles between the imitate mode and the scrolling message mode. If we keep the button pressed more than 2 seconds, PIC-Tengu will reset, recovering the same state as if it had never been used before; this implies that the candle games will appear again after awakening it. Last, if there is no activity in the imitate mode for more than 5 minutes, PIC-Tengu will fall slept. The brain of this project is a PIC18F2455, whose pins directly activate the LEDs matrix´s rows. There is only one LED column active at any given instant, also determined by the PIC18F2455´s pins, but this time using an intermediary ULN2803. The signal captured by the microphone is amplified using an LM358 before reaching an analog input in the PIC. The firmware is written in CCS C, and the PIC has been burned using the parallel port version of GTP Lite and WinPIC800. Electronic schematic, PCB artwork, source code and compiled firmware are available for download in www.villatic.org/carpetaJuanfe /pictengu.rar . Any further information will be published in www.todopic.com.ar/foros forum. All comments and suggestions are welcome in jfmateos@lycos.es permalink
12
12
[ { "comment_id": "31514", "author": "joe", "timestamp": "2008-02-01T08:36:16", "content": "neat project, but when you say extra usually one can expect tons of links to different projects. (not blaming you for lack of projects or anything, just saying the title might be kinda misleading)", "parent...
1,760,377,848.733369
https://hackaday.com/2008/03/04/hackit-a-better-homebrew-control-interface/
Hackit: A Better Homebrew Control Interface?
Will O'Brien
[ "cnc hacks", "HackIt" ]
[]
I’ve built a few CNC controllers, and I’ve been a bit disappointed by the state of the control interfaces. Most diy systems rely on a parallel port interface, while a few use a serial connection. Just one that I’ve seen has an actual USB interface, but it’s limited to use with the fab@home software for now. So what’s the hackit of the day? I think that the hardware hacking, home fabrication community could really benefit from a standardized I/O interface for driving CNC machines, robotics or anything else along those lines. For CNC work, it’ll need a serial or parallel port emulation scheme to allow existing software to take advantage of it. For quicker home development, some simple API’s for controlling the device would be excellent. Imagine using perl to develop robot logic with just a few easy function calls… Hackit is really your show, so lets hear your ideas .
15
15
[ { "comment_id": "32051", "author": "matt", "timestamp": "2008-03-04T09:31:19", "content": "I’m a fan of the PIC series with USB (I use the 18f4550 extensively, though I’ve used the 2550 for its smaller form-factor). When configured right, you can use a relatively small and simple circuit, run it off...
1,760,377,849.24101
https://hackaday.com/2008/03/03/bootable-usb-ram-capture/
Bootable USB RAM Capture
Will O'Brien
[ "computer hacks" ]
[]
Inspired by some research done at princeton (looks like the original site is down), [Wesley] sent in his version of a bootable RAM dumping USB drive, complete with a how-to on rolling your own. He put together a utility that runs under syslinux to capture the data, installed it to a USB thumb drive and managed to create a device that will boot on a machine and copy the contents of the RAM before it’s overwritten by another utility. permalink
20
20
[ { "comment_id": "32041", "author": "martin", "timestamp": "2008-03-04T14:05:19", "content": "That is cool.Might try it out.See what you can get from peoples ram", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "32042", "author": "Skyler Orlando", "timesta...
1,760,377,849.155008
https://hackaday.com/2008/03/02/diy-cd-changer/
DIY CD Changer
Will O'Brien
[ "Robots Hacks" ]
[ "cd changer", "CdChanger", "diy", "motorola", "robot" ]
[nophead] put this creation down to its final resting place, but it still deserves some attention. A Motorola MC6809 ran the show while a stepper driven robotic arm tipped with a suction cup fetched the selected disc. [nophead] has an interesting blog covering his work on building a 3d prototyping machine. The goal is to use it to produce a reprap, but he does a nice job of covering design problems and his attempts to solve them. permalink
6
6
[ { "comment_id": "32035", "author": "MRE", "timestamp": "2008-03-03T08:06:46", "content": "Well documented, well executed.The overall construction and design rivals that of many a machine seen in the arcade industry. Either that is saying a *lot* about his construction and documentation skills, or sa...
1,760,377,848.94458
https://hackaday.com/2008/03/01/9v-battery-as-a-project-case/
9V Battery As A Project Case
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
I stumbled on [Carlos]’ blog while I was hunting for Arduino ideas. This simple IR detector caught my eye – not for the project, but for the project case. He stuffed his IR detector inside an old 9V battery case. The TSA probably won’t like it, but it’s a fantastic idea for those smaller projects. permalink
10
10
[ { "comment_id": "32025", "author": "Moolc", "timestamp": "2008-03-02T08:42:36", "content": "hmm, arduino stamp+9v battery+???=profit", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "32026", "author": "Dane", "timestamp": "2008-03-02T12:41:59", "conte...
1,760,377,848.903819
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/29/urban-sound-experience/
Urban Sound Experience
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
[Christiane] sent in a project prepared at the University of Applied Sciences in Würzburg/Germany. The idea is to experience urban sounds at various heights in a variety of cities. As feet are detected on a step, the experience changes to simulate an increase in altitude. A pair of surround sound headphones, some proximity sensors, an Arduino and instantaudio make everything work. permalink
7
7
[ { "comment_id": "32018", "author": "Ray", "timestamp": "2008-03-01T08:50:36", "content": "this is the weirdest thing I’ve seen all week .", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "32019", "author": "Christian", "timestamp": "2008-03-01T13:33:38", ...
1,760,377,849.027285
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/28/simple-digital-camera-spectroscope/
Simple Digital Camera Spectroscope
Will O'Brien
[ "digital cameras hacks", "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
[JC Doré] sent in this [ english ] interesting optics hack. The rubber grips are made from an old mouse pad, the springs for the clip were salvaged from zip drive floppy discs. A pair of old photo slide frames sandwich a diffraction grating slide. (Like this one) This simple mod allows the slide to be mounted to most cell phones, turning them into digital spectrometers . permalink
11
11
[ { "comment_id": "32010", "author": "atrain", "timestamp": "2008-02-29T10:43:25", "content": "Wow, I Always find myself in situations where I’m like “If only I had a portable spectroscope now!”. Thank you, Jc Dore!I cant imagine to many practical applications for this, but its still a cool/fun idea."...
1,760,377,848.989649
https://hackaday.com/2008/02/27/add-on-board-light-metering-to-your-nikon-d40/
Add On-board Light Metering To Your Nikon D40
Will O'Brien
[ "digital cameras hacks" ]
[]
Nikon didn’t build a light metering chip into the D40. That’s fine if you’re using one of their auto lenses with the on-board chip. [Matt] decided to add a sensor to his camera and try it out with his manual lenses. His writeup is a bit challenging to get through, but if you’re really into Nikons, you’ll make it. He had to tap into the ribbon cable inside the body, mount the extra hardware, and add an additional switch outside the body to allow the chip to be turned on and off. The extra sensor adds a bit of a step to taking the shot, but it’s the sort of thing that’ll become second nature pretty quickly. permalink
5
5
[ { "comment_id": "32004", "author": "haxxorfreak", "timestamp": "2008-02-27T20:35:57", "content": "Nikon makes some lovely lenses but I have never really cared for their bodies. I have been thinking of getting an EF adapter to mount some of the old manual Nikkors I have on my Canon 5D, anybody know o...
1,760,377,849.191442
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/30/smd-component-strip-cutter/
SMD Component Strip Cutter
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
[ErikH] sent in this sweet little device that he and a studymate put together from some spare parts to measure and cut strips of SMD resistors for one of their student organizations . The stepper motor and LCD were salvaged from a printer, an ATMega8 drives it, and a servo drives the cutting mechanism. The video’s not very exciting, but it shows a decent demo of the device.
14
14
[ { "comment_id": "31501", "author": "Alan", "timestamp": "2008-01-31T08:54:39", "content": "What a great idea! I have been thinking of making something similar (not as high tech though) for cutting lengths of wire from a large spool when making stair lights.http://alan-parekh.vstore.ca/index.php/cPat...
1,760,377,849.492186
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/29/grid-enabled-usb-microscope/
Grid Enabled USB Microscope
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks", "Peripherals Hacks" ]
[]
[Jock] sent in this photo gallery showing a Lego Mindstorm automated microscope. I dug up the paper that was published about this hack to find out just what the idea was. It’s a proof of concept showing off automated data collection – the Mindstorms are used to allow the intel QX3 microscope to take data over a grid area. It’s an interesting idea for collecting time series data. The computer interface is a bit overly complex, but the Lego’s make this sort of project accessible to the amateur roboticist. permalink
13
13
[ { "comment_id": "31491", "author": "Jordan Mogerman", "timestamp": "2008-01-30T18:39:28", "content": "This seems like a great idea all by itself — but I seem to remember, several weeks ago, a hack someone did which allowed scanning of 8mm and Super8 film for conversion to DVD.Blending these two proj...
1,760,377,849.287919
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/28/parallel-port-logic-analyzer/
Parallel Port Logic Analyzer
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
After reading the latest hackit post, [Ben] sent in this older, but simple logic analyzer. The software was written in windows, but the circuit is simple enough, and most hackers I know have more computers than immediate family members. The circuit uses a HC245 octal bus transceiver to feed the 8 data lines on the parallel port. (You can use a variety of chips for this application, most CMOS buffers will probably be fine.) permalink
13
12
[ { "comment_id": "31482", "author": "atrain", "timestamp": "2008-01-29T08:53:01", "content": "In other words, this just connects stuff directly to your parallel port. Should be very easy to make a Linux driver for this. Too bad my printer is parallel… time to upgrade :DI think it would be nice to add...
1,760,377,849.443792
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/27/hackit-community-hacking-project/
Hackit: Community Hacking Project?
Will O'Brien
[ "HackIt" ]
[]
By popular request, I’ve added a hackit category. Today’s hackit is one of my coffee shop creations. Considering the quality of work we’ve seen, I can’t help but wonder… If the Hack-A-Day community were to come together and produce a joint collaborative hardware project, what could it build? A modular robotics platform? A digital I/O platform for other projects? If you could harness the power of thousands of hardware hacking geeks, what would you ask them to do? Got a better idea? Let’s hear it.
154
50
[ { "comment_id": "31332", "author": "Nabeel", "timestamp": "2008-01-28T01:03:26", "content": "1 how about a hardware platform that has a nice amount of memory and can be used to actually hack other hardwares do do multiple other things2. A nice ground up build of a computer that can support many plat...
1,760,377,849.57221
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/27/replace-your-lcd-power-supply/
Replace Your LCD Power Supply
Will O'Brien
[ "computer hacks", "Peripherals Hacks" ]
[]
[Computer Guru]’s LCD power supply went out, making it a useless pile of plastic. He used an old computer PSU to replace the defective one. After he identified the outputs on the built-in supply (The one’s I’ve pulled apart were labelled) he stripped down the replacement PSU to provide the necessary voltages. permalink
34
32
[ { "comment_id": "31307", "author": "Matthew", "timestamp": "2008-01-27T09:21:08", "content": "I love how Hack A Day is on the screen. Priceless.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "551732", "author": "dukey12345", "timestamp": "20...
1,760,377,849.703856
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/26/rgb-pic-color-changer/
RGB PIC Color Changer
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
[Ian] put up his RGB LED color changer project over at diylife . It’s a pretty simple project, but well designed and flexible for combining with other projects. He used a PIC18F2550 to drive everything, and some FETs to drive the LEDs. When you connect a USB cable, the color cycling project stops and the PIC responds to simple hex based color commands. permalink
8
8
[ { "comment_id": "31299", "author": "Darth Hackius", "timestamp": "2008-01-27T12:52:32", "content": "How the hell did he interface to USB so easy?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "31300", "author": "somebody somewhere", "timestamp": "2008-...
1,760,377,849.746275
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/25/cesar-geek-out-your-powerwheels/
Cesar: Geek Out Your Powerwheels
Will O'Brien
[ "Robots Hacks" ]
[]
[Zack Anderson] built this computer controlled autonomous robot (back in 2003) out of an old, ugly powerwheels Jeep. It’s got a full onboard computer with wifi, video camera, SONAR sensors, a robotic arm and it can self-navigate. He’s provided server and client code (I haven’t tried it yet), and The project shouldn’t be a surprise, since he’s been working on entries for the DARPA challenge for a while. permalink
8
8
[ { "comment_id": "31291", "author": "Robbie", "timestamp": "2008-01-26T02:55:13", "content": "I used to have a Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet Power Wheels. I have regretted getting rid of it many times. Yeah, I’m a young one…still only 17, so this is probably 12-13 years ago. Had lots of fun in that ...
1,760,377,849.612741
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/18/modding-old-organ-bits-into-a-guitar-amps/
Modding Old Organ Bits Into A Guitar Amps
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
[Forrest] sent in his Hammonator Organ that he resurrected into a guitar amp. He re-used several of the original parts, and designed the amplifier around them. Tubes were chosen to fit the sockets, and the original transformer was adapted to run on the 120V usually found today. permalink
12
12
[ { "comment_id": "31146", "author": "theblunderbuss", "timestamp": "2008-01-19T07:32:28", "content": "I have an old Hammond right here.I wonder how much the parts are worth to someone who wants to try this kind of hack?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_...
1,760,377,849.790702
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/17/wine-cellar-monitoring/
Wine Cellar Monitoring
Will O'Brien
[ "Uncategorized" ]
[]
I’ve been getting back into wine, and ran across this handy one wire wine cellar monitor. Aside from the usual iButton air temp sensor, they built a simple immersed 18S20 sensor to monitor liquid temperature as well. (I’d toss some sulfites in the water to prevent mold) To keep an eye on air conditions, they used a TAI8540A humidity probe. Looks like just the thing for the geek wine cellar. permalink
6
6
[ { "comment_id": "31141", "author": "Ryan", "timestamp": "2008-01-18T11:28:27", "content": "Yeah, that is pretty nifty. My dad builds things like that for his customers all the time for the custom wine cellars he makes.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment...
1,760,377,849.831062
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/16/bowling-industrial-robot-style/
Bowling, Industrial Robot Style
Will O'Brien
[ "Robots Hacks" ]
[]
If you like things like coil gun armed robosapiens, then you’ll thank [Aaron] for sharing his teams quest for the ultimate in stupid robot tricks . They hauled a 2800 pound industrial robot to the desert and used it to toss bowling balls… at an innocent RV. To top things off, they even lit one on fire. He even had to call the manufacturer up and sweet talk them into telling him how to speed up the robot so they could throw the balls even harder. The fire I can understand, but I’ve got no explanation for the roman gladiator or the bunny suit. Videos embedded after the break. permalink
26
26
[ { "comment_id": "31117", "author": "andrew", "timestamp": "2008-01-17T06:56:01", "content": "uh… link please?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "31118", "author": "aperson", "timestamp": "2008-01-17T06:59:30", "content": "ditto. link?",...
1,760,377,849.888241
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/15/bluetooth-headset-for-pspps2/
Bluetooth Headset For PSP/PS2
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks", "Playstation Hacks" ]
[]
[Shane] put together this funky bluetooth headset hack so he could use his headset with both his PSP and his PS/2. It starts with a Cardo Bluetooth adapter. He added both a PSP headset style connector and a standard 2.5mm plug to a custom pigtail. Then he can use it with either a PSP headset remote or a modified USB PS/2 headset adapter. permalink
10
10
[ { "comment_id": "31109", "author": "tg", "timestamp": "2008-01-16T14:25:42", "content": "Its the PS3 that uses bluetooth, in fact hes talking about playing a ps2 game on ps3, thats where this mod might be useful, since the game isnt coded to support bluetooth", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1,...
1,760,377,852.065256
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/14/uv-light-table/
UV Light Table
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
[Jared]’s back in action over at Inventgeek. Now he’s got an odd use for an old LCD: creating an ultraviolet light polarizing table. He gutted the LCD and swapped out the CCFL lams for some UV versions. The result isn’t much more than an interesting conversation piece, but it’s nice to see a use for screens that would otherwise end up in the recycle bin. permalink
14
14
[ { "comment_id": "31095", "author": "Chris", "timestamp": "2008-01-15T08:38:39", "content": "Simple, but still pretty neat. I quite enjoy UV lights, and the colours that they bring out.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "31096", "author": "tom",...
1,760,377,851.951031
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/13/24th-anniversary-macintosh/
24th Anniversary Macintosh
Will O'Brien
[ "computer hacks", "Mac Hacks", "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
[Dave] sent in his retro Mac project. Putting new guts into an old mac isn’t really unheard of, but I liked his solution to use the original Mac 512k keyboard and mouse. He used an Atmel AT90USB162 to create his own standard USB HID device. The keyboard and mouse appear as a standard USB device, so the mac (or any modern USB PC) can identify use the keyboard and mouse without any additional software. permalink
12
12
[ { "comment_id": "31083", "author": "Dr. UNIX", "timestamp": "2008-01-14T09:30:09", "content": "What about the cooling?I remember that overheating the 512k was a huge problem back in the day. There was a smokestack like device you could buy to help improve heat dissipation. I cobbled together a 120V ...
1,760,377,851.538935
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/12/ntp-alarm-clock/
NTP Alarm Clock
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
[bifferos] just found us, but he sent in his NTP alarm clock . It’s actually a Sweex LB200021 router with a custom display driver to display 24 hour time. Given my love of NTP, I couldn’t resist posting this one. permalink
6
6
[ { "comment_id": "31077", "author": "atrain", "timestamp": "2008-01-13T09:07:37", "content": "I like the clock not having the extra part on the 6 or 9.BTW: Clocks based off the LM8560 chip (many are) can be made into 24h clocks by connecting 2 pins together.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, ...
1,760,377,851.580109
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/24/make-your-own-roll-up-keyboard/
Make Your Own Roll Up Keyboard
Will O'Brien
[ "Peripherals Hacks" ]
[]
[Auger] sent in this nice little hack. The instructable says to get a USB keyboard (it looks like a Dell USB keyboard to me), gut it and label the flexible membranes inside after you join them together. If you’ve got a supply of this style of keyboard, it could be a cheap source… or better yet, maybe you can use the guts to produce high quality custom keybads. permalink
13
13
[ { "comment_id": "31278", "author": "dbzfanatic", "timestamp": "2008-01-25T08:04:46", "content": "Nice little trick. I thought about doing something like this not long back but decided not to simply because I think they would break too easily in cold weather. Still pretty fun to look at though.", ...
1,760,377,851.808827
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/23/vexplorer-computer-control/
Vexplorer Computer Control
Will O'Brien
[ "Robots Hacks" ]
[]
[kernsy] sent in this nice little PICAXE based hack to provide computer control of a VExpolorer kit robot. The PICAXE takes serial commands and outputs the pulse commands normally generated by the controls directly to the RF chipset in the remote. permalink
6
6
[ { "comment_id": "31273", "author": "Casey Banner", "timestamp": "2008-01-24T10:02:30", "content": "I did something similar to this. I hacked an RC controller transmitter/reciever pair to transmit rs232 signals at low baud rates. Basically just useing the rf chip, cutting it out of the circuit. It wa...
1,760,377,852.025598
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/22/another-high-altitude-project/
Another High Altitude Project
Will O'Brien
[ "Robots Hacks" ]
[]
[Jock] sent in HALO , a nice diy high altitude recon project. Taking a page from the Kite Arial Photography guys, they mounted the camera on a servo tilt mechanism, had radio modem control and SMS gps position updates. I’m waiting for someone to put together a similar package that glides back to home base after the balloon is released. By the way, if you’ve got a newer CRT RPTV, you might be interested how I fixed mine . permalink
13
13
[ { "comment_id": "31260", "author": "False", "timestamp": "2008-01-23T09:30:43", "content": "high altitude glider:http://www.hackaday.com/2005/01/12/homebrew-autonomous-high-altitude-glider/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "31261", "author": "...
1,760,377,851.623378
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/21/embedding-apps-in-wifi-finders/
Embedding Apps In Wifi Finders
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
[Matt] sent in this excellent wifi finder reverse engineering project. The goal is to enable custom embedded apps that take advantage of the independent operating mode of the wireless adapter. One of the chips lacked any useful manufacturer markings, so he got some guys at a lab to etch the top of the chip off and get a partial chip id. So far he’s got boot-loader access, so now it’s just a matter of some development. permalink
15
15
[ { "comment_id": "31245", "author": "jimmythecow", "timestamp": "2008-01-22T09:29:28", "content": "so this is a lot of effort to make a cheap device sniff wifi signals? seems a round about… cool. but from what im reading, pretty useless on a grand scale. cool, but nothing.", "parent_id": null, ...
1,760,377,851.673034
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/20/backlight-your-lcds/
Backlight Your LCDs
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
[Artur] sent in this instructable showing how to make your own back-lighting for LCD displays. It’s a simple process, but I thought it deserved some attention given the cost difference for back-lit LCDs. It’s also a good exercise if you’re building your own projector and considering removing the polarizing film. permalink
6
6
[ { "comment_id": "31240", "author": "James", "timestamp": "2008-01-21T17:19:29", "content": "You can also improve the performance of the backlight by painting the edges of the plastic light pipe with white paint. Just don’t do it where the LED’s are glued in.A similar modification could be done on a ...
1,760,377,851.986932
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/20/hackit-your-ultimate-hacking-workbench/
Hackit: Your Ultimate Hacking Workbench
Will O'Brien
[ "contests", "HackIt", "Misc Hacks" ]
[ "HackIt" ]
This isn’t quite a traditional Hackit, but I think you guys will dig it. Here’s the challenge: Given a budget of $600, put together the best hacking workbench you can. Don’t include computers or the actual bench in your budget. Oh, and you have to spend it all. By the way, the best five submissions will get a chance to win a secret prize that I’ll be announcing around the end of next month.
61
50
[ { "comment_id": "31182", "author": "Mike Witt", "timestamp": "2008-01-21T02:25:41", "content": "Here’s my list:Oscilloscope, 20MHz Dual Trace $400, Jameco P/N: 68531135 Watt Soldering Iron, $3.49, Jameco P/N:2089876.7″x6.5″ Breadboard, $28.69, Jameco P/N:319214100′ Rolls Assorted Wire, 4x$6, Jameco ...
1,760,377,851.905315
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/19/add-everything-to-your-eeepc/
Add Everything To Your EeePC
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
[C.K.] passed along this impressive writeup on modding an eeePC for just about everything you can think to add. This one’s got two four port USB hubs, internal GPS, bluetooth, 56k modem, FM audio transmitter, 4gb USB flash drive and a 801.11a/b/g/n card with a spare antenna for full 802.11n support. The wiring job looks excellent – very clean and well done. The only thing missing is a touchscreen. permalink
30
29
[ { "comment_id": "31158", "author": "thethirdmoose", "timestamp": "2008-01-20T02:58:31", "content": "I want a eee with wimaxa wiii", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "31159", "author": "jim", "timestamp": "2008-01-20T03:26:53", "content":...
1,760,377,852.461758
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/11/friday-night-double-cap-extra/
Friday Night Double Cap Extra
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[ "24c3", "ccc", "extra" ]
[scott] sent along his lego ipod dock . The letter [M] brings us the oscilloscope terminal (AVR based text displayed via oscope). [Max] sent in his funky alarm clock mod . [Chad] sent in a question, but I dig his custom camera housings . [sprite_tm] sent in his new use for a cheap photo display. UPDATE: Torrents for all the talks at the Chaos Communication Congress have been posted .
15
15
[ { "comment_id": "31062", "author": "Tony", "timestamp": "2008-01-12T06:51:29", "content": "Will have to try the lego base on my new ipod i got for christmas, also is that a sticker on your laptop or a screen printed type image ?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { ...
1,760,377,852.400227
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/10/usb-transferer-aka-usb-gameboy-card-interface/
USB Transferer (AKA USB Gameboy Card Interface)
Will O'Brien
[ "Nintendo Game Boy Hacks", "Nintendo Hacks" ]
[]
[Jose] sent in his efforts to build his USB Transferer . I’m pretty sure it’s a gameboy flash cartridge interface based on the Atmel AT90USB647 AVR microcontroller. Once the prototype board came in, he soldered the controller, gutted an old gameboy for the cartridge connector and had the device showing up on his PC by the end of the day. Oddly, the card he’s interfacing with is a USB device on it’s own. Until a few more details are published, I’d assume that the interface would be useful for connecting to more than just that particular card. permalink
7
7
[ { "comment_id": "31056", "author": "Eric", "timestamp": "2008-01-11T08:15:46", "content": "I apologize, as I haven’t really been in the homebrew gameboy loop since the the gameboy color. How is this any different from just using a cart player that reads off an sd card which can then be plugged into...
1,760,377,852.293956
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/09/electric-roach-motel/
Electric Roach Motel
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
[Luhan] built this PIC controlled roach motel. It’s the first micro-controller project that I’ve seen devoted to exterminating a member of the insect world. A PIC 16F675 is used to generate 10 pulses at 400 volts per second. Crispy. permalink
24
23
[ { "comment_id": "31035", "author": "tony", "timestamp": "2008-01-10T07:08:28", "content": "haha, thats so cool. not only is high voltage involved, but you get to kill something with it", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "31036", "author": "The S...
1,760,377,852.353657
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/08/great-intro-to-surface-mount-soldering/
Great Intro To Surface Mount Soldering
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks", "Tool Hacks" ]
[]
[Scott] sent in his video how-to on surface mount soldering . The macro video quality is excellent, and the demo is great even if you’re already into SMD work. Everything can be done with fine solder, a decent soldering station, tweezers, a 10x loupe and a good selection of flux. I’ve managed quite a bit of SMD work without external flux, but this sort of demo shows just how effective it is. permalink
35
35
[ { "comment_id": "31000", "author": "The Steven", "timestamp": "2008-01-09T08:06:22", "content": "Oh yeah, I drink WAY too much coffee to be able to do this!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "31001", "author": "ed", "timestamp": "2008-01-09...
1,760,377,852.744274
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/07/how-to-make-a-vacuum-tube/
How To Make A Vacuum Tube
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
[marco] sent in this video (scroll down) showing how to make a vacuum tube by hand. The page and captions are in french, but it’s pretty interesting to watch. A small spot welder, some fairly basic glass working tools and a vacuum generator are required, but the technology is definitely within reach for the dedicated hardware hacker. permalink
48
44
[ { "comment_id": "30958", "author": "Syl", "timestamp": "2008-01-08T07:25:23", "content": "Very relaxing video to watch, strangely.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30959", "author": "atrain", "timestamp": "2008-01-08T07:47:40", "conte...
1,760,377,852.827069
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/06/sound-input-for-cheap-video-cams/
Sound Input For Cheap Video Cams
Will O'Brien
[ "home entertainment hacks", "Portable Video Hacks" ]
[ "hd video", "HdVideo" ]
I’ve been trying to find an excuse to pick up one of the HD Aiptek cams for a while now. [windowlikker] posted his simple pre-amp + external audio input mod for his Aiptek AHD videocam. Unfortunately, the mod is limited to mono input unless there’s an un-used stereo input on the encoder board. permalink
6
6
[ { "comment_id": "30954", "author": "Will O\\'Brien", "timestamp": "2008-01-07T18:39:59", "content": "test.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30955", "author": "chad", "timestamp": "2008-01-07T19:27:12", "content": "ha ha i was looking ...
1,760,377,852.603933
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/05/nixie-counter-clock/
Nixie Counter Clock
Will O'Brien
[ "cnc hacks", "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
[lerneaen hydra] sent in his version of the ubiquitous nixie clock. Rather than gut his counter for the tubes, he used an Atmel Mega88 to pulse the clock to display the time. Additionally, the LED matrix on the case outputs the time in binary. His past projects are worth checking out. He milled the case on his converted CNC mill , retrofitted an old CNC lathe and seems to enjoy putting supercaps in everything (including his clock). permalink
4
4
[ { "comment_id": "30950", "author": "O Mattos", "timestamp": "2008-01-06T14:32:17", "content": "I don’t understand his circuit here:http://www.lerneaenhydra.net/images/rsgallery/original/scematic.pngIt seems there’s lots of things there which waste significant power, especially the design of the circ...
1,760,377,852.639292
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/05/24c3-hacking-dna/
24C3 Hacking DNA
Eliot
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[ "24c3", "bio", "biohacking", "ccc", "dna", "video" ]
[ Drew Endy ]’s Programming DNA talk was by far the most interesting talk we saw at Chaos Communication Congress . No, DNA doesn’t have much to do with computers, but he points out that hacking principles can be applied just the same. Right now engineers are reversing genetic code and compiling building blocks for creating completely arbitrary organisms. This talk was designed to bootstrap the hacking community so that we can start using and contributing standard biological parts to an open source collection of genetic functions. You should definitely watch the video to get a good idea of where biohacking is at today. You can find a higher quality version of the video in the archives . permalink
28
28
[ { "comment_id": "30925", "author": "Gilbert Garcia", "timestamp": "2008-01-05T10:26:15", "content": "Making farts smell like mint?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30926", "author": "}{itch", "timestamp": "2008-01-05T12:00:10", "conte...
1,760,377,852.890051
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/04/sdi-mod-your-dvd-player/
SDI Mod Your DVD Player
Will O'Brien
[ "home entertainment hacks" ]
[]
I’m not usually into products, but I like this one. Remember this diy SDI DVD video out mod which lets you send high quality digital video over coax? Thanks to Pixel Magic , you can mod a variety of DVD players to add SDI thanks to the kit they’re offering. At a glance, bt.656 and bt.601 appear pretty similar, but the eval kit from the original only claims to be compatible with bt.601 while the Pixel Magic version is for bt.656. permalink
7
7
[ { "comment_id": "30918", "author": "dan", "timestamp": "2008-01-05T16:48:16", "content": "Looks great, but can it use the audio from the MPEG stream and embed it into the SDI stream as AES?Not much use if it can’t?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id":...
1,760,377,852.679839
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/03/psp-internal-hard-drive-mod/
PSP Internal Hard Drive Mod
Will O'Brien
[ "Playstation Hacks", "Portable Video Hacks" ]
[]
[Robin] over at acidmods sent in this interesting PSP mod. [PvP] added an internal hard drive (with the exception of a mini-usb cable sticking out the top) to his PSP. The advantage? Laptop hard drives are dirt cheap while sony memory sticks are still pretty pricy. More details should be along soon, but [Robin] assures me that this means up to 200GB of storage is possible for the PSP. permalink
53
50
[ { "comment_id": "30884", "author": "strider_mt2k", "timestamp": "2008-01-04T07:56:08", "content": "I read where the plug was necessary, but I would still try to find a right angle if possible to lower the profile a wee bit and reduce damage potential.regardless it’s an awesome mod.Storage like that ...
1,760,377,853.064756
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/03/got-spam-let-us-know/
Got Spam? Let Us Know
Will O'Brien
[ "News" ]
[]
I’ve been getting a few sporadic reports of SPAM that’s supposedly from hackaday.com on it. It’s a bit surprising, considering that the only email we send out automatically consists of comment confirmation requests to prevent comment SPAM. So do me a favor… if you’ve gotten any, send it along with the email headers so I can track down the source and destroy er make it stop.
19
19
[ { "comment_id": "30865", "author": "kaelb", "timestamp": "2008-01-03T19:30:18", "content": "just checked my spam folder. nada.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30866", "author": "Kevin", "timestamp": "2008-01-03T19:55:31", "content": ...
1,760,377,853.11745
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/02/inexpensive-mpg-modding/
Inexpensive MPG Modding
Will O'Brien
[ "Transportation Hacks" ]
[]
[basjoos] modded [ via ] the body of his ’92 Honda Civic – and managed to improve his fuel efficiency from 50-60MPG up to 95MPG for about $400. Even more interesting is the SuperMID ( Translated ) that he added to the car to monitor his fuel efficiency. It’s based on an ATMega8 that reads the CAN bus and displays realtime MPG information an a character LCD. The SuperMID is popular for Prius modders because the on-board display maxes out at a paultry 99MPG. If micro-controller’s aren’t your thing, [Atilla] put together his own CAN bus decoder and ported his code to a Zaurus SL-C700. He even added voice feedback notification for certain data events.
70
50
[ { "comment_id": "30803", "author": "William Munns", "timestamp": "2008-01-02T20:15:29", "content": "Although 95MPG is impressive, this is the visual equivalent to free trade coffee.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30804", "author": "Orv", ...
1,760,377,853.199951
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/01/diy-rotomolding/
DIY Rotomolding
Will O'Brien
[ "cnc hacks", "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
Rotomolding is used to create hollow forms by slowing rotating a mold while the material covers and hardens to the shape of the mold. [ds] built this version using a stepper motor to drive the assembly and a belt drive link An extreme version is used to form whitewater kayaks and other plastics. This thread over at cnczone has a rotisserie oven version that looks ideal for small plastic or wax molding. permalink
2
2
[ { "comment_id": "30801", "author": "Emperor", "timestamp": "2008-01-04T02:54:32", "content": "there was a history channel documentary about chocolates or something, they use the same technique to make hollow chocolate rabbits and stuff,A clean and neat presentation, awesome work!im kinda surprised 4...
1,760,377,853.236339
https://hackaday.com/2008/01/01/24c3-mifare-crypto1-rfid-completely-broken/
24C3 Mifare Crypto1 RFID Completely Broken
Eliot
[ "Wireless Hacks" ]
[ "24c3", "ccc", "crypto", "mifare", "rfid" ]
Another highlight for us at CCC was [Karsten Nohl] and [Henryk Plötz] presenting how they reversed Philips crypto-1 “classic” Mifare RFID chips which are used in car keys, among other things. They analyzed both the silicon and the actual handshaking over RF. Looking at the silicon they found about 10K gates. Analyzing with Matlab turned up 70 unique functions. Then they started looking “crypto-like” parts: long strings of flip-flops used for registers, XORs, things near the edge that were heavily interconnected. Only 10% of the gates ended up being crypto. They now know the crypto algorithm based on this analysis and will be releasing later in the year. The random number generator ended up being only 16-bit. It generates this number based on how long since the card has been powered up. They controlled the reader (an OpenPCD ) which lets them generate the same “random” seed number over and over again. This was actually happening on accident before they discovered the flaw. One more broken security-through-obscurity system to add to the list. For more fun, watch the video of the presentation. permalink
22
22
[ { "comment_id": "30785", "author": "Tom", "timestamp": "2008-01-02T09:00:46", "content": "Now this is a real hack! I am so glad people like this are making sure that our technology is not being abused or misused. RFID is a controversial topic, and the fact that implementing proper crypto is very c...
1,760,377,853.459398
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/31/happy-new-year-extra/
Happy New Year Extra
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
Goodbye 1167627600 – 1199167140 1199163540. [Justin] is having fun telling everyone that an exploit has been found for the Archos 605 media player. The hack gets you remote root access on the player… need I say more? [Gene] sent in his polar coordinate based LEGO 3d printer. He’s still working on the driver end, but it’s an interesting project. [Kyle] sent in the gutting of his flip video camera. Need some new storage? [forrest] sent in his price/GB price comparison script . It scrapes New Egg and graphs out the results. Despite the link on our old post being dead, [Txoof] built his own CCFL macro light from a dead laptop LCD. [Dan] sent in his LED cube matrix . The LEDs are wired in a matrix, so he can actually address them individually.
11
11
[ { "comment_id": "30774", "author": "HaX80r", "timestamp": "2008-01-01T08:41:56", "content": "happy new year. May 2008 be a good hacking year.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30775", "author": "Jordan Horwich", "timestamp": "2008-01-01T08...
1,760,377,853.27822
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/30/frostbot-cnc-cookie-frosting/
Frostbot: CNC Cookie Frosting
Will O'Brien
[ "cnc hacks", "Misc Hacks", "Tool Hacks" ]
[]
[Brian Schmalz] sent in his Frostbot . It’s a fun CNC bot project that he built to frost cookies for his latest holiday party. He (wussed out a bit) and started with a kit based CNC machine, but he made up for it by driving it with his own control hardware (that sparkfun happens to have for sale). His USB bit wacker interface certainly looks interesting – I might consider adding it in front of the stepper controllers on my cnc mill . Especially interesting is the HPGL interpreter software that converts graphics to stepper commands via the bit whacker interface. permalink
10
10
[ { "comment_id": "30766", "author": "Wolf", "timestamp": "2007-12-31T07:01:48", "content": "I wonder if anyones tried using 3 primary colors of frosting and a mixing dispenser to make a full color decorator…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30767"...
1,760,377,853.321281
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/30/24c3-toying-with-barcodes/
24C3 Toying With Barcodes
Eliot
[ "Laser Hacks" ]
[ "24c3", "barcode", "ccc", "scanner" ]
[FX] from Phenoelit gave an entertaining talk about barcode security. He covered both how the systems are implemented and how they’ve been exploited. The first example was a parking garage in Dresden that issues non unique barcodes for the unlimited passes that hotels give out. Anyone code print out an image of that particular code and park for free. German grocery stores have automated machines that refund you for your empty beer bottles. The barcode generated just states the refund amount (5 digits) that you’ll get at the register. Just stick the barcode under something like a six pack and it’ll scan even without the cashier seeing it. Check out the video to find out more silliness involving DVD rentals, boarding passes, asset management, and SQL injection via the scanner. You can even find higher res versions in the 24C3 media archives . permalink
24
24
[ { "comment_id": "30748", "author": "jojmoj", "timestamp": "2007-12-30T21:11:11", "content": "cool article… :)i would have thought that such a widely used system would have been more secure tbh :)even the magnetic bar-codes used in some clothing stores (the ones that set the alarms off at the door) c...
1,760,377,853.596633
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/29/raid-your-network-file-shares/
Raid Your Network File Shares
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[ "ftp", "linux", "nfs", "raid", "smb", "software raid", "SoftwareRaid" ]
[Motoma] sent in his take on the virtual RAID 5 post . He didn’t like the layered system requirements, so he put together a proof of concept that only requires a Linux box. For his proof, he used a NFS share, a SMB share and did everything from the command line. He didn’t cover FTP, but the Gentoo wiki has a nice cheat sheet for mounting FTP and folders over SSH if you want some alternatives. He uses some very interesting partition tricks to make things happen. If you need some help to get things rolling, the Ubuntu forums software raid how-to is a good place to start. permalink
6
6
[ { "comment_id": "30742", "author": "sphynx", "timestamp": "2007-12-30T14:10:19", "content": "Hm, I think doing this in zfs might be a lot easier. You could skip the formatting and just run after creating the images:sudo zpool create mirrorAnd you’re done! Though I wouldn’t use it for backups etc., ...
1,760,377,853.404688
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/28/diy-wakeboarding-winch/
DIY Wakeboarding Winch
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
[exhaltingidiotz] is just one of the guys who’s built his own wakeboard winch. These things are pretty low tech, but using a winch to wakeboard has to be one of the most original ideas that I’ve seen in a while. Winches have some interesting advantages over boats: less fuel, no licensing and shallow water that no boat or jet ski would ever work in suddenly becomes usable. Here’s a basic design that’s typical and a simple demo video . The forums are a bit annoying to search for info, so here’s a fantastic winch build writeup. permalink
11
11
[ { "comment_id": "30732", "author": "Orv", "timestamp": "2007-12-29T11:19:21", "content": "Sailplane pilots use huge versions of these to snatch gliders into the air. This is especially common in Europe where fuel is expensive. The basic principle is much like running with a kite. With a few thous...
1,760,377,853.543135
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/27/diy-home-theater-preamplifier/
DIY Home Theater Preamplifier
Will O'Brien
[ "home entertainment hacks" ]
[ "5.1", "7.1", "audio", "diy", "home theater", "hometheater" ]
[Dane] built this excellent home theater pre-amplifier. He used [Mark Hennesy]’s pre-amp design to start with, and added selectable XLR, RCA, SPDIF and even USB audio inputs. Discrete inputs from his DVD player provide surround input, and an analog matrix creates 7.1 surround from the 5.1 input. The design is very elegant, and even uses a VFD display that appears blue with some filters. I usually just buy my HT gear, but projects like this make me seriously consider re-building my entire HT from scratch. permalink
8
8
[ { "comment_id": "30725", "author": "ex-parrot", "timestamp": "2007-12-28T09:15:16", "content": "I am having trouble understanding it… has it been translated?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30726", "author": "wikityler", "timestamp": "20...
1,760,377,853.720359
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/27/24c3-build-your-own-uav/
24C3 Build Your Own UAV
Eliot
[ "Robots Hacks" ]
[ "24c3", "aerial", "ccc", "paparazzi", "robot", "uav" ]
The 24th annual Chaos Communications Congress in Berlin is already off to a great start. The first talk we attended was [Antoine Drouin] and [Martin Müller] presenting Paparazzi – The Free Autopilot . Paparazzi is an open source hardware and software project for building autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles. The main hardware board has an ARM processor and GPS. It uses inertial and infrared sensors to determine orientation and altitude. The four infrared thermopiles measure the air temperature. The ground is warmer than the sky and if you compare the temperature in the direction of each wing tip your can tell what angle the airplane is at. It’s really that simple. They did a pretty amazing live demo. Using the network connection they controlled a UAV flying in France and another in Germany. Both planes were streaming live video from belly mounted cameras. One relaying through a home DSL connection and the other through a UMTS cellphone. They were able to change way-points on the fly and issue flight pattern commands. There is a ground crew at each location with a security pilot that will switch the controls to manual if things get out of hand. permalink
18
18
[ { "comment_id": "30709", "author": "bloodwrath", "timestamp": "2007-12-28T02:03:41", "content": "It is a shame Christmas is already over, I just added a new item to my wish list.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30710", "author": "Almost_Ther...
1,760,377,853.863923
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/26/arduino-controlled-espresso-machine/
Arduino Controlled Espresso Machine
Will O'Brien
[ "Arduino Hacks", "home hacks", "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
The arduino is really starting to become prevalent for hardware hacking. [Nash] used one to take control of his Gaggia espresso machine. (They’re really decent little machines) He popped in a LCD display, some solid state relays to control the pump and the heating element, and an AD595 to interface a K type thermocouple . It looks like an excellent hack, but for the love of god man – get a better grinder! He describes the original mod here , and added a small gallery of internal shots here . From the latest comments, it looks like the guys are RepRap project are even interested in the thermocouple PID control that [Nash] implemented. permalink
5
5
[ { "comment_id": "30704", "author": "M4CGYV3R", "timestamp": "2007-12-27T10:01:52", "content": "It’s been done to death, but….I, for one, welcome our new caffienated overlords.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30705", "author": "recycle", ...
1,760,377,853.987
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/25/holiday-hackit-automated-hard-drive-destruction/
Holiday Hackit: Automated Hard Drive Destruction
Will O'Brien
[ "computer hacks", "HackIt", "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
One of our recent posts took an interesting tangent: physical hard drive destruction. First, [wolf] wanted to use a 20ga shotgun shell on his hard drive. [brk] suggests an electromagnet applied to the drive while it’s still spinning. Everyone thought thermite might be interesting… Finally, [wolf] noted this commercial auto destruction drive that floods itself with an acid mist. I’ll suggest a few ideas and let you guys take it from there. I’d suggest pneumatic injection of two part epoxy into the drive mechanism. Remove the top of the casing using the diy clean room method, add a port for the epoxy and use a cheap CO2 bike injector to force the liquid into the drive on demand. So, got a better idea? Let’s hear it.
163
50
[ { "comment_id": "30579", "author": "ryan", "timestamp": "2007-12-25T22:43:55", "content": "well, you could always go the ‘will it blend’ route.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30557", "author": "Matt", "timestamp": "2007-12-25T22:58:06",...
1,760,377,853.949688
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/24/diy-ipod-dac-modding/
DIY IPod DAC Modding
Will O'Brien
[ "ipod hacks" ]
[]
Red Wine audio offers the iMod – a service that modifies the DAC in 4th, 5th and 5.5th generation iPods. Despite requiring some fine work, the mod isn’t that difficult. [joneeboi] sent in his DIY DAC mod how-to, and even better, it’s suitable for 3rd gen and 1st gen Nanos. The audio signal is tapped directly after the DAC, and the SMD capacitors in the iPod are replaced with high end Black Gate capacitors. This is just the mod feed the best possible signal to your headphone amp permalink
17
15
[ { "comment_id": "30546", "author": "epicelite", "timestamp": "2007-12-25T08:35:46", "content": "First comment FTW!Also, Christmas.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30547", "author": "emilio", "timestamp": "2007-12-25T09:08:25", "conte...
1,760,377,854.038329
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/23/the-jedipad-aka-uber-gyro-mouse/
The JediPad AKA Uber-gyro-mouse
Will O'Brien
[ "Peripherals Hacks" ]
[]
[Samu] sent in his freaking awesome JediPad mouse creation. It’s got seven touch-point style mouse buttions, as well as a pair of gryroscope sensors. Each touch-point has it’s own micro-controller and the signals are input to the computer via USB. He’s looking for help, so shoot him an email if you’re interested. Check out his demo video after the break. permalink
30
30
[ { "comment_id": "30516", "author": "digitalFX", "timestamp": "2007-12-24T08:09:26", "content": "Seems a little over-complicated, but a good start none the less. I’d be interested to see what becomes of this.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "3051...
1,760,377,854.179095
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/22/virtual-raid-5-internet-storage/
Virtual Raid 5 Internet Storage
Will O'Brien
[ "computer hacks" ]
[]
[wonder] sent in an interesting proof of concept how-to on setting up a virtual raid 5 drive that uses free ftp servers to store data. The technique is a bit round-about, but he says it works pretty decently. The shares are mounted under windows with netdrive, then raided by FreeNAS under VMware. I haven’t tried it myself, but I’d probably try to do the same thing, but use LUFS and do everything under one operating system. permalink
35
35
[ { "comment_id": "30483", "author": "ex-parrot", "timestamp": "2007-12-23T07:28:19", "content": "lufs died a /long/ time ago. fuse is what you should use for user-space filesystems under linux.Note that this whole idea is fairly badly flawed…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": []...
1,760,377,854.245127
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/21/wiimote-head-tracking-desktop-vr-display/
Wiimote Head Tracking Desktop VR Display
Will O'Brien
[ "computer hacks", "Nintendo Hacks", "Nintendo Wii Hacks" ]
[ "virtual reality", "VirtualReality", "vr", "wii", "wiimote" ]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw&rel=1] If you thought [Johnny Lee] was done making us all buy Wiimotes, you were wrong. Now he’s back showing off a simple, but incredibly effective VR head tracker. He swapped out the LED’s on a pair of LED light safety glasses with a set of IR LEDs and used his PC/Wiimote combo to do the work. The demo is just fantastic. As usual, you can download the software from his project page . permalink
93
50
[ { "comment_id": "30438", "author": "Bryan Ribas", "timestamp": "2007-12-21T20:17:23", "content": "Way to go Johnny Leehttp://TheSundayBong.com", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30439", "author": "barry99705", "timestamp": "2007-12-21T20:19...
1,760,377,854.471012
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/20/talcum-powder-print-bot/
Talcum Powder Print Bot
Will O'Brien
[ "Robots Hacks" ]
[]
It’s been a while since we’ve seen a new print bot idea. [Kyle] sent in his groups final project at Georgia Tech. An ever so handy iRobot chassis, a dot matrix printer carriage and motorized drill bit in a funnel strategically dispenses talcum powder to print messages or images on the floor. Just think, one robot can write all over the floor and the other one can clean up afterward. How long until some sports geeks build a bigger one to deface a football before a big game? permalink
17
17
[ { "comment_id": "30421", "author": "monopole", "timestamp": "2007-12-21T01:42:18", "content": "A color version of this would be an ideal automatic mandala printer. The second bot erasing it indicating the transience of the world.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { ...
1,760,377,854.292415
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/19/silent-x10-mod-cheap-ssr/
Silent X10 Mod (cheap SSR)
Will O'Brien
[ "home hacks", "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
I’m feeling a bit retro for the holidays, so here’s another classic: If you’ve got a non-dimming X10 switch, you’ve experienced the incredibly loud, obnoxious sound that it makes when you switch it on or off. (Mine’s in my stairwell) There’s a simple mod to silence the thing: remove the triac relay and replace it with a solid state relay. SSRs are a bit expensive, running at least $10 each last time I checked. [Willis Dair] realized that he could build his own , inexpensive SSR with an optoisolator and an alternistor (AKA Triac). The resulting circuit runs about $3 in parts. permalink
21
21
[ { "comment_id": "30401", "author": "Chupa", "timestamp": "2007-12-20T07:27:49", "content": "shoudlent it say remove the relay and replace it with a SSR?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30402", "author": "Chupa", "timestamp": "2007-12-20T...
1,760,377,854.345585
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/18/pid-controlled-popcorn-popper-coffee-roaster/
PID Controlled Popcorn Popper Coffee Roaster
Will O'Brien
[ "Uncategorized" ]
[]
In honor of my espresso machine being fully plumbed in (water supply and drain line!) it’s time for another coffee hack. When I wrote my basic coffee roaster how-to , I seriously thought that I’d never see anyone do this, but [] installed a programmable PID controller on his popper coffee roaster setup. This particular PID can be programmed to ramp the temperature over time to create an actual roasting profile, rather than manually adjusting the set points. The original page was here , but I had to pull it out of the internet archive . permalink
12
12
[ { "comment_id": "30392", "author": "Tom Martin", "timestamp": "2007-12-19T10:47:07", "content": "I am going to have to give that a whirl.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30393", "author": "Jm", "timestamp": "2007-12-19T12:14:37", "co...
1,760,377,854.390208
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/17/nightvision-car-heads-up-display/
Nightvision Car Heads Up Display
Will O'Brien
[ "Transportation Hacks" ]
[]
[alti] wants night vision for his car, so he picked up a nightmax night vision camera that has a built in LCD. The plan is to mount the display so that it will reflect off the windshield of his car to create a simple HUD. Unfortunately the image gets reflected from the inside and outside of the windshield. The discussion in the forum is getting pretty lengthy, but it’s an interesting project. permalink
18
18
[ { "comment_id": "30376", "author": "Dok", "timestamp": "2007-12-18T09:37:53", "content": "This reminds me of that drugrunner with the blacked out high performance sports car that drove to the coast and back with all of the lights off and he wore just a pair of nighvision goggles to see.", "paren...
1,760,377,854.519925
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/16/diy-led-multi-touch-panel/
DIY LED Multi-touch Panel
Will O'Brien
[ "Peripherals Hacks" ]
[]
We mentioned the original IR LED multitouch array a while back, but I ran across this DIY version built by [Thomas Pototschnig]. It features an ARM7 controller with USB 2.0 with a 25hz+ capture rate. He’s promised to put up code and schematics when he builds the next version. permalink
22
22
[ { "comment_id": "30354", "author": "Wolf", "timestamp": "2007-12-17T10:16:37", "content": "I wonder if you could use this method to hook up a project interface on which the indicator lights are also the buttons…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "3...
1,760,377,854.633536
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/15/ddr-pacman-aka-ddr-pad-rewiring/
DDR Pacman (AKA DDR Pad Rewiring)
Will O'Brien
[ "home entertainment hacks" ]
[]
[Jason] sent in his low-tech, but interesting hack to allow the use of a DDR pad with his Gameboy advance to play PacMan. He took a $15 DDR pad, gutted it and wired directly to each of the foil pads that he wanted to use as buttons. For his project, he simply wired each pad directly to the DPad buttons on his Gameboy. It’s really a pre-manufactured version of [fbz] zone switches that she built for her backpack strap wifi detector . By the way, [matt] over at Instructables wanted me to let you guys know that they’re giving away a $15k Versalaser. permalink
7
7
[ { "comment_id": "30347", "author": "epicelite", "timestamp": "2007-12-16T09:25:28", "content": "First post!Also, why would you want to play packman like that? Looks hard, but I guess it is good exercise.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30348", ...
1,760,377,854.561033
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/14/iphone-gps-module/
IPhone GPS Module
Will O'Brien
[ "Cellphone Hacks", "iphone hacks", "ipod hacks" ]
[]
The boys over at engadget put this up while I was working it over, but I’m still gonna hit it. [Curt] sent in the iPhone GPS he put together. He’s using a micro-controller to send the ground toggle handshake we mentioned in the iPhone serial tutorial, along with a small NMEA serial GPS module. After the handshake is completed, the controller hands over the serial port to the GPS output. (Since the handshake only needs the ground toggle, I’d guess that the module is connected to the TX/RX lines all the time.) By the way, the GPS looks like this SiRF II board sold by spark fun electronics . permalink
22
22
[ { "comment_id": "30336", "author": "greg", "timestamp": "2007-12-15T08:27:55", "content": "does this work with the Ipod touch? if so I might have to go buy one and wait till this comes out.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30337", "author": "...
1,760,377,854.756445
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/13/ipod-transmitter-radio-modem/
IPod Transmitter Radio Modem
Will O'Brien
[ "computer hacks", "Peripherals Hacks" ]
[]
https://hackaday.com/wp-…modem1.jpg?w=400
[Eric] sent in his iPod transmitter radio modem hack ( Internet Archive ). Given the short range of these FM modulators (and FCC rules) I’d call this an academic exercise. Combined with a few mods, it could be useful for bursting data from a micro-controller. (Think APRS) Asus EeePC Bonus:About a week ago, [johnx] added ( Internet Archive ) a 16GB flash drive and a bluetooth adapter to his. Yesterday, [ta2cba] showed off how he squeezed ( Internet Archive ) a four port hub inside his – allowing a pair of devices to live in the extra min-ipcie bay and leave two ports to spare for later add-ons. permalink
14
13
[ { "comment_id": "30323", "author": "t0ny", "timestamp": "2007-12-14T06:06:27", "content": "Neat, now can you hook up a family radio and transmit data? The old ones I have have about a mile range. Is it legal?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "3032...
1,760,377,854.804072
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/12/autonomous-foosball-plus/
Autonomous Foosball! (plus)
Will O'Brien
[ "Misc Hacks" ]
[]
[Shane ] sent in GATech’s senior design final projects , but his Autonomous single player foosball table is awesome. A Java app tracks player and ball via webcam. Then it acts as the opposite player by controlling servo actuated paddles. He’s copied his project to his personal server , just in case the class files get pulled next semester. The course page is pretty ugly, but the project pages aren’t. It’s worth some time to check out the rest of the projects. The 2d iRobot based mapping system looks interesting, but lets be honest, the hand washing detector should be mandatory federal equipment at every fast food restaurant. permalink
15
15
[ { "comment_id": "30308", "author": "Crash", "timestamp": "2007-12-13T08:42:11", "content": "This is a nice hack. More like this.It would be greatly improved if he were to use faster/stronger stepper motors instead of small servos, and build the control into the table rather than doubling the size."...
1,760,377,854.851324
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/11/iphone-serial-access-tutorial/
IPhone Serial Access Tutorial
Will O'Brien
[ "Cellphone Hacks", "iphone hacks" ]
[]
[TheRain] sent in his tutorial on using the iPhone’s serial port. Apparently there’s a hardware trick required to enable two way communication. Whatever device is attached to the iPhone needs a secret handshake to get things talking both ways. Once the serial ground has been strobed high to low in the proper order, things will work like normal. permalink
17
17
[ { "comment_id": "30294", "author": "treegezer", "timestamp": "2007-12-12T18:29:56", "content": "Bluetooth/extended battery sled with built in mic would be the next logical step. No?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30295", "author": "Nick", ...
1,760,377,855.102204
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/10/hack-upgrade-your-magellan-gps/
Hack-upgrade Your Magellan GPS
Will O'Brien
[ "gps hacks", "handhelds hacks" ]
[ "gps", "Magellan GPS" ]
[dgoeken] sent in his Magellan 3100 hack . The device runs Windows CE 5.0, and mounts as a standard flash drive. Since everything is easily accessible, it’s just a matter of replacing and modifying the appropriate files. According to the GpsPassion message board , some are finding his guide useful for other models of Magellan GPS . So far he’s added a file manager, media player and upgraded the Points of Interest file. The site is slightly bandwidth challenged, so I’ve mirrored his hack process here . permalink
11
11
[ { "comment_id": "30283", "author": "mike", "timestamp": "2007-12-11T07:29:10", "content": "if only there was something like this for the explorist line….", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30284", "author": "Grizzly Adams", "timestamp": "20...
1,760,377,855.01414
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/09/wiimote-projector-whiteboard/
Wiimote Projector Whiteboard
Will O'Brien
[ "Nintendo Hacks", "Nintendo Wii Hacks" ]
[]
https://hackaday.com/wp-…board1.jpg?w=400
[Johnny Lee]’s back again with his Wiimote interactive whiteboard. Commercial versions of these things are expensive and heavy. His technique doesn’t even need a projector, just a computer, a Wiimote and a simple IR emitting pen. The pen is just a stylus with an infrared LED in the tip. Hit the video after the break, and you can grab the software from his site here . permalink
74
50
[ { "comment_id": "30229", "author": "Garret", "timestamp": "2007-12-10T08:46:20", "content": "This is friggin cool. How did he connect the wii remote to the PC? Did I miss that part?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30225", "author": "binome",...
1,760,377,855.189792