Split (1)

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https://hackaday.com/2007/12/08/super8-automatic-film-scanner/	Super8 Automatic Film Scanner	Will O'Brien	[ "digital cameras hacks", "home entertainment hacks" ]	[ "bluetooth", "lego", "mindstorm" ]		[edocronian] sent in this interesting mindstorm hack. [Harri] had several Super8 reels that he shot during the 80s. His kids put together this mindstorm NXT transport mechanism, and he did the rest with linux. The lego’s pull the reel across an Epson scanner, and some linux hacks run the scanner, identify the frames, and reconstruct the film. Unfortunately, [Harri] didn’t release any of the software hacks he used to pull it off. permalink	18	17	[ { "comment_id": "30209", "author": "Dave Eaton", "timestamp": "2007-12-09T09:45:17", "content": "The results are pretty stunning, too. He has some examples on his blog, and I am amazed.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30210", "author": "abunai hito", "timestamp": "2007-12-09T11:05:20", "content": "Hmm, interesting…I dont think thats gonna be real good for the tape.What I had in mind when i read the intro was one motor connected to one tape reel, then the other just free wheeling, but with a little tension thrown in. If i were gonna do it, id have the motor continuously turning, and hack the scanner driver, so that it sits in the same position, and scans the images as they go past. Bit of software to join up the scanned lines, viola.But i like doing things the hard way. Cause its better", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30211", "author": "werejag", "timestamp": "2007-12-09T12:02:01", "content": "id love to have a 35 mm one that also can do the sound for cheap.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30212", "author": "andrew", "timestamp": "2007-12-09T17:33:46", "content": "the site is down. mirror?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30213", "author": "Sp`ange", "timestamp": "2007-12-09T17:59:09", "content": "http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:viD-L8ViDbMJ:www.kaimio.fi/blogs/harri/entry/fun_with_mindstorms_old_8mm+http://www.kaimio.fi/blogs/harri/entry/fun_with_mindstorms_old_8mm&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=firefox-agoogle cache", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30214", "author": "STrRedWolf", "timestamp": "2007-12-09T19:22:29", "content": "It’s a manual process, but can be sped up by use of SANE’s scanimage, a command-line processing tool (ImageMagick or NetPBM), Mplayer, and Python or Perl.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30215", "author": "Emperor_Dane", "timestamp": "2007-12-10T01:51:09", "content": "neat idea. im glad he got his kids involved.does anyone see anything wrong with using a webcamera, some python and a stepper motor instead of a scanner? ive tinkered with video capture (python) [http://videocapture.sourceforge.net/] and taking individual frames / images with a webcam is pretty easy.also:is there any IR correction that has to be made for the super8 film / film in general? anyone know of any good batch image processing tools-ThanksDane", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30216", "author": "jaded", "timestamp": "2007-12-10T04:59:19", "content": "#4, thanks for the link.Dane, VueScan by Hamrick Software (which is what he used) does support ICC color profiles. Ed includes profiles for dozens of popular films and processes, and profiles for many scanners as well. That’s good, because when I was looking an IT8 target would have cost me about $100 locally (they’re about $40 on eBay now). The images I’ve scanned using VueScan (over 3,000 slides and negatives) came out quite well, and I never would have finished without it.And it was great to get his kids involved, but I’d be afraid that the rubber Lego tires and home-made film path might damage his original film. A sprocket drive would have been better, but I have no idea where he could have found one.Anyway, I agree with the author of the article that VueScan is not particularly easy to use, nor is it designed for use in a batch mode. I bought it primarily because the Minolta software that came with my film scanner completely sucked.If you’re just looking for batch tools, ImageMagick is really good. For processing a lot of pictures visually, I like RPhoto, but it has its flaws — only work from copies of your images!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30217", "author": "Sp`ange", "timestamp": "2007-12-10T06:50:26", "content": "If you tore down an old scanner, you could setup the scan head motor to move the film instead of the scanner head. This would eliminate having to even touch the mindstorm stuff. In fact, if you tricked the driver into making the print bed infinite, you could continuously scan the film. The film feeding system could be easily be setup with the parts from an old, dead 8mm camera. I’ve seen plenty of those at thrift stores for under $5.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "169812", "author": "Singleton", "timestamp": "2010-08-18T10:08:55", "content": "Could you build me one of these if I paid you? Or does anyone else offer such a service? I keep asking these companies but nobody thinks the market is big enough.I disagree. I think there are plenty of people who will want to shoot motion picture film if they could only find a cheaper telecine or even better FILM SCANNER system than the ARRISCAN or other systems that are currently on the highend market.My goal is to shoot 2perf 35mm, pay only for processing and scan the results into a scanner like I’ve been doing for years with my Silverfast software and negative fix that has LUT and Film stock choices.I may go with these cheaper Telecine solutions if I can’t find a person or company that will either build one for me or help me? With old moviola or film editing tables all collecting dust and being trashed!", "parent_id": "30217", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "30218", "author": "Tabansi", "timestamp": "2007-12-10T10:00:24", "content": "Informated Article… Appreciated!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30219", "author": "Sle118", "timestamp": "2007-12-10T16:00:26", "content": "There is another site that is worth mentionning for anyone interested in transferring 8mm films to digital.Although the hardware part isn’t well documented, the Java software is well integrated with source code available through sourceforge. It can control the scanner through TWAIN, trigger a film advance mechanism using parallel port, extract individual frames and eliminate overlapping ones automatically.The source isn’t complete because of some license restrictions on fundamental routines extracted from an old ‘c’ numerical methods, but instructions are clear enough for an experienced programmer to get working binaries.With Christmas around, family memories could be a great gift for grand parentshttp://www.jiminger.com/s8/index.html", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30220", "author": "fartface", "timestamp": "2007-12-11T21:56:23", "content": "Love it when jerks refuse to release the software they make for a “hack”If you dont release the software and you publish your “hack” then you are simply gloating not hacking.you instantly lose your hacker badge and ID.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30221", "author": "shotgunefx", "timestamp": "2007-12-15T12:40:32", "content": "Hmm, I’ve been thinking about something along these lines for a while. My parents have hundreds of tapes.Though I was thinking of using a stepper motor so I wouldn’t have to worry so much about slip (in theory anyway). I was also thinking of mounting it so there were multiple strips across the bed at any given time to speed it up, but in the end, that would probably complicate it an order of magnitude.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30222", "author": "JET", "timestamp": "2007-12-16T12:23:51", "content": "Legos, not Lego’s. Sheesh…http://www.angryflower.com/bobsqu.gif", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30223", "author": "Shabby", "timestamp": "2007-12-17T14:55:39", "content": "Informated Article… Appreciated!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30224", "author": "Jeff", "timestamp": "2007-12-21T11:44:39", "content": "Happy Christmas to All!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "100461", "author": "Andy", "timestamp": "2009-10-11T14:41:24", "content": "maybe this software would do:CineToVid byhttp://wkurz.com/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,856.971309
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/07/open-an-axa-bike-lock-with-a-blank-key-doh/	Open An AXA Bike Lock With A Blank Key (Doh)	Will O'Brien	[ "Misc Hacks", "Tool Hacks" ]	[ "AXA", "bike locks", "BikeLocks", "lock picking", "lockpicking", "Netherlands" ]		[Barry] sent in his writeup and video about a serious vulnerability in the AXA bike lock. (One of the most popular locks in the Netherlands.) It turns out that quite a few of them can be opened with a blank key. [Barry] demo’s the hack, and has some comments about the lame efforts of the manufacturer. If you enjoy interesting reading, check out his blog covering lock picking and physical security. permalink	18	16	[ { "comment_id": "30196", "author": "vr4", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T19:58:10", "content": "Why did this make it to hack a day?thoes locks are just for show anyway.From what i remember about my trip to amsterdam – (and it isnt too much) I think they are designed to be held on with plastic zip ties.oh well", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "6455953", "author": "Barry Mason", "timestamp": "2022-04-13T06:59:49", "content": "And you would be wrong they bolt directly to the frame of the bike, once locked there is no way to ride the bike are remove the wheel without opening the lock.", "parent_id": "30196", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "30197", "author": "Doh", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T20:02:07", "content": "Some much for Quality Assurance and testing.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30198", "author": "Sean", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T20:23:28", "content": "Hahaha… that’s just sad. However, it is now tempting to go get a blank key and test it out on bike locks around where I live and see what’s what!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30199", "author": "Rik", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T21:27:37", "content": "yeah you can attach them with zip ties, but the lock is still around you’re wheel, so you can cut the ties so the lock is not attached to the frame anymore, but it’s still locked around you’re wheel thenmust study some more english what i said can be said in one sentence i guess..R", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30200", "author": "stefanie", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T21:28:03", "content": "I was just going to go and get one of those for my bike for quick trips into the shop and stuff! I am in Amsterdam now, and have an Axa bike chain and it is great… but now i am questioning it… They should definitely do a recall and give people proper ones! (They did in the US, with the lock that could be opened with a bic pen, for fear of being sued!)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30201", "author": "thijs", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T21:44:46", "content": "I live in the netherlands, and it’s cool to see a dutch hack. (sprite_tm also has a lot of good hacks!)this bycicle lock (type SL7) is ought to be one of the safest locks around.. they later made a SL9 type which should be even better.according to the advert, an older batch of both lock types is vulnerable. i have this lock too, and it scares me! I’m certainly going to try this, because i’ve just lost my key last week..", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30202", "author": "Groxx", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T23:15:45", "content": "Ya know… I’d bet this would work on just about any lock. Given the way pins fall, using a blank key is a really easy way to push them all past their separation, and easily apply torque as well. Just twist and pull out slowly, and hope the pins fall onto the edge of the internal cylinder. It’s what most lockpicking is based on anyway.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30203", "author": "TX297", "timestamp": "2007-12-08T01:39:15", "content": "Excuse my ignorance, but I thought that in the Netherlands people just hopped on any old bike and left it wherever they were going and it was kind of like a large community of “bikes everywhere”, or am I thinking of some sort of program where there were just a bunch of “free” bikes and people would drop them off at their destination for the next person to take it? I do remember something like that, but it might explain why the manufacturer wasn’t too bothered by its security, since bike theft wouldn’t be much of a problem with such a program in place.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30204", "author": "vengeful parasite", "timestamp": "2007-12-08T06:31:43", "content": "tee hee !", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30205", "author": "thijs", "timestamp": "2007-12-08T12:22:27", "content": "#8,there was such a programme, the “white bike program”.there were hundreds of similar white bikes which were free to lend, but you should return them in some place where they can be seen and reused. i believe it was first mentioned in 1965 in amsterdam. there were serveral try-outs, which weren’t very succesful.though, in our national park “de hoge veluwe” there are about 1700 bikes, which are often used.these locks are not used for these projects and meant for commercial use. i have one too, and my bike was bought 6 years ago with an SL7 lock. i think this one is vunerable and i might by such key today..", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30206", "author": "Jollyrgr", "timestamp": "2007-12-08T22:38:55", "content": "This is just a variation on the Bump Key lock pick method. All the pins are in their most extended position and held there by the tension against the cylinder wall as you twist the key. When you remove the key while turning, the pins fall into place. This works on a number of locks.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30207", "author": "Lucas", "timestamp": "2007-12-21T11:44:43", "content": "Solemn article. It make me lost in thoughts.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30208", "author": "Maikeru", "timestamp": "2007-12-22T15:10:01", "content": "You’ve got to love those guys from T.O.O.O.L. who consider speed-picking a sport and post stuff like this as well-meaning white hats.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "65437", "author": "Neil", "timestamp": "2009-03-06T11:00:45", "content": "So where do you buy the blank key?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "1595129", "author": "Ask", "timestamp": "2014-06-25T01:57:45", "content": "http://www.keytrader.co.uk/Vehicle-Keys/Car-Keys/AXA.html", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "2411948", "author": "richard", "timestamp": "2015-02-04T23:23:29", "content": "This is the wrong key, at least for my bike lock. AXA SL7", "parent_id": "1595129", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "2451869", "author": "John Magee", "timestamp": "2015-02-24T14:19:17", "content": "They just use very cheap non tested cylinders. The locks were never designed to be high security or hard to pick. Just sad the company used them on these locks when for a few extra dollars could have used a higher security lock cylinder.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,857.423213
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/06/obfuscate-your-power-switch/	Obfuscate Your Power Switch	Will O'Brien	[ "Playstation Hacks" ]	[]		Just in time to keep your friends from sharing your toys, [l0rdnic0] brings you this simple mod: replace your power switch with a reed switch. Of course, now you’ll need a magnet every time you want to use your PSP. Of course, if my older brother did this, I’d build a big electromagnet and start firing it whenever he started playing games. permalink	15	15	[ { "comment_id": "30181", "author": "AndrewNeo", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T07:32:19", "content": "That would be nice for a computer. My friend’s dad would always turn off his computer while it was still running, by holding the power button down.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30182", "author": "Jonathan", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T08:07:49", "content": "@AndrewNeo So, you’d prefer pulling the power cord over holding the power button down?As to the “hack” it seems that the secret would be found fairly quickly by family members.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30183", "author": "Digital", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T08:49:17", "content": "I always thought it would be a cool idea to take a starter from a car or something like that and wire it in as the power switch for a computer. I’m sure it’s not technically difficult, I just never gotten my grubby mitts on a key starter of any sort yet. One day soon I hope, alas x-mass day is nigh", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30184", "author": "jeff", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T09:23:30", "content": "@ digitalhttp://www.electronicsurplus.com/ccp73985-dpst-momentary-key-switch—new-61-2111-1021x-127041.htm", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30185", "author": "Jack", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T10:49:27", "content": "@ digital: search ebay for “keyswitch” or “key switch”. There’re a million of ’em, and some are really cheap! I had my computer turning on with one (until I lost the key and had to go back to a normal pushbutton)http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&from=R10&_trksid=m37&satitle=%28keyswitch%2Ckey+switch%29&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&sadis=200&fpos=ZIP%2FPostal&sabfmts=1&saobfmts=insif&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=1%26fsoo%3D1", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30186", "author": "Bryanlc", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T13:30:10", "content": "I recently lost my power button. I was painting my case, left it out to dry, and it is now gone. This is a perfect replacement, I already have read switches laying around. I just have to cover up the power button hole. Thanks l0rdnic0, perfect timing.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30187", "author": "aztraph", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T15:27:09", "content": "I added a hidden reed switch to a garage door opener, wasn’t secure though, every time there was a lightning storm the door would open and close on it’s own, not a good thing for the computer.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30188", "author": "Skyler Orlando", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T17:39:22", "content": "@7: ha ha, that sounds like fun for a haunted house.Something you could do is embed a magnet in a glove. Then wave your hand in front of the object. Abracadbra!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30189", "author": "Cable Hoag", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T17:40:23", "content": "nice hack :) a possibility for larger kit like tin-box computers is two multi-pole connectors like Amphenol 62GBs or similar – chassis socket on the case and cable mount plug as a key. Wire a series of diodes, capacitors, resistors, anything onto the plug, and arrange logic components or relays so that only your specific arangement on the plug will allow the computer (or car, garage door etc) to start and run. For safekeeping, pot the whole “key” in epoxy resin. thousands of different possibilities for component combinbations here, especially if you use a 30-pin connector.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30190", "author": "enughhh", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T19:06:50", "content": "Get a magnet ring from United Nuclear:http://www.unitednuclear.com/Just make sure not to pull out your credit card with that hand.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30191", "author": "Dick Stiffler", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T19:28:32", "content": "You have to add the reed switch inline with your power/activation switch. This way, you have to activate the reed switch in order for the power switch to work.This prevents static electricity from fooling the reed switch and turning the power on.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30192", "author": "Elliott", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T20:10:15", "content": "if any one wants to try some thing like this but does not want to buy a $3 part off the internet. if you liver near a radioshack that still sells some electronic parts. you can get a reed relay. witch is just a reed switch encased in plastic wrapped with magnet wire. if you are careful you can remove the wire and the plastic and have a perfectly good reed switch. just be careful with the reed switch because it is glass.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30193", "author": "j s", "timestamp": "2007-12-08T08:42:34", "content": "Of course I know you were joking, but on a more serious note, an electromagnet strong enough would probably ruin the laser pickup.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30194", "author": "Frogz", "timestamp": "2007-12-09T07:12:35", "content": "@13this would only be a problem if it were his ;)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30195", "author": "Jeff", "timestamp": "2007-12-21T11:44:48", "content": "Happy Christmas to All!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,857.129209
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/05/cornell-final-projects-2007/	Cornell Final Projects 2007	Will O'Brien	[ "Misc Hacks" ]	[]		The latest crop of final projects from Cornell Universities ECE576 course went up a while ago. This round focuses on FPGAs. They’re all fairly impressive projects. My favorite is this real time spectrograph . With the decreasing cost of FPGAs, this Digital Oscilloscope could become a popular one. Putting this UDP network stack on a capture the flag network would probably freak out some people. Lately I’ve noticed a trend of replacing ASIC chips with FPGAs – these projects could be just the thing to get some people started with them. permalink	11	11	[ { "comment_id": "30170", "author": "twistedsymphony", "timestamp": "2007-12-06T17:24:19", "content": "I’d love to learn more about FPGAs, I’ve never used one but I see them used in lots of cool projects and they seem like quite powerful tools. I seehttp://fpga4fun.comreferenced a lot and it seems like a great resource.Does anyone have any other resources, or maybe a good project tutorial for getting started with FPGAs?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30171", "author": "CaliRaisin", "timestamp": "2007-12-06T17:45:18", "content": "lol, i’ve been planning on doing something similar to the real time spectrograph for quite some time now for audio, except using a lcd display (i swear hack-a-day has telepathic abilities :P)#1,http://www.opencores.org/is another great website for FPGA stuff. they have a ton of open source cores written in verilog/vhdl.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30172", "author": "xzolian", "timestamp": "2007-12-06T19:22:07", "content": "The University of Florida has a similar class. You can check out their projects by visiting:http://www.add.ece.ufl.edu/4914/groups_fa07.html. As of now final reports are not posted, but judging is today so complete information should be available in the next couple of days.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30173", "author": "kmatzen", "timestamp": "2007-12-06T21:25:52", "content": "We use the Altera DE2 boards as well at the University of Michigan in our ENGR 100 class. The idea is to design some sort of music synthesizer with an FPGA. Things got really interesting when one group made a Windows 95 interface clone with a music composer on this FPGA.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30174", "author": "dpyatkov", "timestamp": "2007-12-06T21:55:59", "content": "As part of the group (well actually, exactly half) that designed the real-time speech pitch shifter mentioned above, I can tell you that complicated audio signal processing on these CycloneII FPGAs is a headache. In fact, (for a license fee) Altera provides you with a ‘megafunction wizard’ in Quartus which can generate cool things like an n-point FFT block. However, like all things Altera, the documentation on these blocks is insufficient to quickly integrate in to your project. If anyone figures out how to use the Altera FFT block please let us know!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30175", "author": "svofski", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T00:11:47", "content": "http://fpga4fun.comis indeed a good starting place and Altera DE1 development board can’t be beaten in price/features. opencores.org is a great place taht’s useful when you already know how to put A and B together.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30176", "author": "chris", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T02:54:29", "content": "dpyatkov – I feel your pain. I think Altera doesn’t even know how a lot of their blocks work! The cores onhttp://www.opencores.orgare usually pretty easy to work with (I used an i2c core once, and it was a snap . . . anything with a wishbone interface really is). I think they even have FFT cores as well.twistedsymphony – I design my own processors in my free time occasionally, and I’ve been really pleased with one of the XSA-3S1000 boards fromhttp://xess.com/prod035.php3– It’s only like $200, and you can program it with a parallel port, so you don’t need an expensive JTAG programmer.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30177", "author": "mrtn", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T16:51:19", "content": "I can definately recommend the fpga4fun shop (http://www.knjn.com/). I bought the Xylo-L and it is a really well thought out product, lots of example projects & source are provided and all the tools you will need to program the FPGA / ARM core (only drawback is windows only :P). They even managed a JTAG over USB solution for downloading files / debugging of ARM core.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30178", "author": "Tabansi", "timestamp": "2007-12-10T10:00:31", "content": "Informated Article… Appreciated!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30179", "author": "john", "timestamp": "2007-12-20T21:41:16", "content": "jgjkbjlghjgmbjkgubh", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30180", "author": "Steve Nordquist", "timestamp": "2008-01-16T08:37:03", "content": "I really love your blog (for this, 24C3 links, etc. etc. you mad scener you.)But I don’t get it about running UDP only on a capture the flag network (aside, I assume, from the unplanned session cutoff thing.) Is it that one only gets one sort and number of UDP port (say) 80, hence very similar circumstances for all players (depending on what the user session ignores; WASD or packets)?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,857.01401
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/04/silence-your-mouse-no-clicky/	Silence Your Mouse: No Clicky.	Will O'Brien	[ "computer hacks", "Peripherals Hacks" ]	[ "clicky", "mouse" ]		[PaulJ] sent in this older, but excellent little hack to silence your mouse . Don’t like the click that your mouse makes? If your mouse has the right kind of switch inside, it can be quieted down with a quick soldering job. Just remove it, turn the upper half around and re-assemble. permalink	27	25	[ { "comment_id": "30146", "author": "Wolf", "timestamp": "2007-12-05T07:39:41", "content": "With or without the sound, I’d think the lack of tactile feedback would be extremely annoying.If he could find a way to maintain the clicking threshold of the mouse button, but remove the associated noise he’d have quite a marketable product there. (assuming he upgraded to optical)Interesting idea none the less.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30147", "author": "joe", "timestamp": "2007-12-05T08:04:33", "content": "that picture looks so old..hasn’t there been a silent mouse made?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "1297663", "author": "Girl", "timestamp": "2014-03-24T22:55:54", "content": "Is that bc it’s in black and white? There is a silent mouse, it’s called Nexus, but why pay for one when you can rig your own?", "parent_id": "30147", "depth": 2, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "2553483", "author": "Tasdiq", "timestamp": "2015-05-05T03:36:13", "content": "How exactly ?", "parent_id": "1297663", "depth": 3, "replies": [] } ] } ] }, { "comment_id": "30148", "author": "syco", "timestamp": "2007-12-05T09:05:46", "content": "A friend of mine at work did something similar to this by accident – he opened up our old, wired rollerball mouse to clean it, and lost a spring, which rendered the scroll wheel silent, and no tactile feedback either. Took some getting used to.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30149", "author": "Sean", "timestamp": "2007-12-05T09:44:32", "content": "If you replace the switch in the mouse with a N2222 (or similar) NPN transistor and supply it with 9v, your mouse buttons can be touch activated. Your hand conducts enough electricity at 9 volts to switch the transistor. I’ve done this to fix an old mac mouse in my lab (I was out of actual switches). The lack of tactile feedback is annoying, and in my case made the mouse look hilariously ugly… but it worked.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30150", "author": "HotturKstylez", "timestamp": "2007-12-05T14:30:48", "content": "I once touched a mouse that didn’t click at all, and it turned out it was broken because someone had spilled Pepsi on it.I agree that that tactile feedback from the Pepsi “co-augulation” if you will, rendered the mouse undectable audibly. However, I found that the syrup like sucrose was sticky to the the tactility of my right index finger.I like to put my mice in water, and clean the interior ball with detergent or other cleaning fluids such as milk, water, hydrogen peroxide, as well as ear wax to ease the lubrication of the device.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30151", "author": "Urza", "timestamp": "2007-12-05T14:58:57", "content": "@4: Yes, there was actually a silent mouse featured on…I think it was a story on boingboing that linked to some geek shopping guide…something to do with 77, which I believe is where I saw a silent mouse. Or maybe I saw it somewhere else. Point is, I’ve seen them before, and they’re being mass-produced.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30152", "author": "MaX-MoD", "timestamp": "2007-12-05T15:42:45", "content": "lots of silent taclile switches exists.from a broken radio posts for you can salvage those types of surface mount switches.they could certainly by glued to the base part of the original one, as it is in most cases in two pieces.I think it could fit, thought the tactile feedback would be smaller…gotta try this.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30153", "author": "earl", "timestamp": "2007-12-05T16:13:26", "content": "I tried this straight away, and it was so unbelievably annoying that I had to go back. Without the springyness and the click mouse-heavy applications such as web surfing are just a pain because you can so easily click on links by accident.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30154", "author": "Ali Raheem", "timestamp": "2007-12-05T16:35:37", "content": "@6 I bet that’s just what you told your mum when she walked in ;).“My mouse is broken and I clicked that link accidently”.Hahahaha laughs at own jokeSorry couldn’t help it :(Nice idea but I think I might make something with seans idea with the transistor.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30155", "author": "iR377", "timestamp": "2007-12-05T19:54:42", "content": "@2 I did that too and much preferred it, so I modded all my mice to do the same.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30156", "author": "BAF", "timestamp": "2007-12-05T21:55:21", "content": "I have a wireless microsoft laser mouse, and the scroll wheel is silent. There is resistance to turning the wheel some, so there is still some tactile feel, but it is silent.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30157", "author": "PocketBrain", "timestamp": "2007-12-05T22:26:06", "content": "But I like the tactile feedback!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30158", "author": "n3rrd", "timestamp": "2007-12-05T23:38:27", "content": "@11Then don’t perform the mod…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30159", "author": "mark", "timestamp": "2007-12-06T00:18:56", "content": "like the idea, just with i could have a silent keyboard aswell", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30160", "author": "hack124x768", "timestamp": "2007-12-06T00:28:37", "content": "I have an older logitech wheel mouse and the scroll wheel in it was terribly annoying, The clicking was loud and “sticky” and the steps didn’t line up with the scroll steps on screen. To make it go away I just bent down the piece of metal that rubbed the grooved inside of the wheel. Yay! Silent scrolling!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30161", "author": "devon", "timestamp": "2007-12-06T05:35:07", "content": "Plenty of consumer devices provide tactile feedback without “clicking” – most of these use rubber and plastic resistance switches rather than metal contact switches. Does your phone keypad click when you press a button?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30162", "author": "k", "timestamp": "2007-12-06T10:51:06", "content": "@16 Yes, yes it does. Motorola e815, and it makes texting pretty annoying.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30163", "author": "Sean", "timestamp": "2007-12-06T21:29:09", "content": "mark: If you want a silent keyboard it’s more complicated. Get yourself an old mechanical switch based keyboard such as the famous IBM model M. When you press a key on this keyboard, it connects two pins together. One of these pins is 1 of 8 possible rows, the other 1 of 16 possible columns in a matrix. I reverse engineered what each combination did, then built an N2222 based switchboard based on that knowledge (24 transistors). With a 9v supply, This allowed keys to be easily touch activated even through two people connected in series (about 3-6 Mohms?). Building the physical keyboard is trivial and very time consuming (hint: just look at the circuit traces inside the keyboard on the plastic sheets), and where I got bored and moved on to more interesting projects.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30164", "author": "theportmeister", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T02:11:33", "content": "this post made me think of a way to quiet my mouse up without getting rid of the tactile feedback so instead of doing this, i coated the switch with hot glue and put a pieace of electrical tape between the actual sitch and the button works like a charm. it isnt completely silent but it certainly is 80 percent better", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30165", "author": "theportmeister", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T06:22:41", "content": "stuffing your mouse with cotton balls and using hot glue to keep it abay from the switches helps a great deal as well", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30166", "author": "headbonk", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T20:27:15", "content": "I did this by accident (at first) to my logitech optical at work. I opened it up to remove some hair that had gotten stuck in the wheel. The spring and tooth mechanism that makes the clicky went flying almost as soon as I had it open.It turns out tho that the wheel sensor has finer resolution than the clicky normally allows. It makes a big difference on applications that make use of the mouse wheel. It also gives you a natural momentum control. There’s nothing to stop the wheel so you can give the wheel a big spin and let it coast when you want to scroll a long way.I’ve since done this intentionally to the mouse on my computer and my wife’s at home. Clicky wheel mice feel totally un-natural to me now.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30167", "author": "Harrison", "timestamp": "2007-12-09T05:07:31", "content": "I have an anger management problem. I once got pissed off at my mouse, and threw it at the wall. Somehow, this managed to silent the click of the scroll wheel, without losing the clicky feeling.So, anger management problems aren’t such bad things. :D", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30168", "author": "Ahmed Mahmoud", "timestamp": "2007-12-14T15:34:57", "content": "I did something like this to my little optical mouse.. it has the same kind of switches..but how I did it is a bit different. using a needle I pried off the top part of the switch (without soldering it off) then crammed a little scrid of 2-ply toilet paper between the winging hammer part and the little hook-like thingy above it. this reduced the distance the little hammer has to swing and removes the second half of the clicking (the sound you get when you release a mouse button) while also dampening the first sound by 80%. tactile response is still intact.the trick is in using a little bit of tissue (or cotton wool, both work) and carefully placing it in that critical wedge. I had to use a razor and tweezers to get it done right.. but it’s been working great for months.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "568417", "author": "Hooray", "timestamp": "2012-01-27T15:37:32", "content": "I HATE the sound of clicking mice. I want to destroy it when I hear that sound. But I need it. Thanks for the article. I bet I can get an old mouse for free and try this. I will try soldering to new push-button switches instead of using the trigger switches. Nice mod, though. I can’t believe no mfgrs. have made a real silent mouse yet.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "2553561", "author": "russian tea", "timestamp": "2015-05-05T05:08:10", "content": "For the 3rd overload version Sort method, it is useful when we onlyneed to sort a range of items in an Array – List. The world has watered down the Blood of Jesus and changed the definition of grace and many believersnow follow this new doctrine but miss the opportunityto fulfill their purpose because they cannot be the example that they were created to be.This means that it can be used in any number of productions; common uses for stock footage are documentaries,television programmes, news items, sports reviews, independent films, commercials, and movies.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,857.077738
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/03/day-o-guitar-hero-mods-with-a-bonus/	Day O’ Guitar Hero Mods (with A Bonus)	Will O'Brien	[ "cnc hacks", "home entertainment hacks", "Misc Hacks" ]	[]		I’ve already gotten a pile of tips on Guitar Hero controllers today, so here we go. The first one is already making the rounds. [Mark] replaced strummer with a touchscreen LCD and a magnetic switch. [Mark]s ultimate goal is to add some optical sensing and make the guitar self playing. For details, hit the acidmods thread or just watch the proof of concept demo . [Johan] sent in the second controller of the day, and it’s probably my favorite for guitar bling. The original mushy switches were replaced with micro-switches and CNC milled replacement buttons. Each button is individually lit with LEDs and a cold cathode lights up translucent panel in the body. A PIC controller controls the lights and provides some input options for button tapping. The video is actually pretty entertaining to watch. For a little bonus, check out [Mastershake916]’s cast Hack-A-Day pendant .	20	20	[ { "comment_id": "30127", "author": "Patrick", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T20:54:56", "content": "LAMELAMELAMERetards who play Guitar Hero are just LAME.I’ve got an idea – How about playing a real Guitar !!!Do you remember the game – Simon?Thats what Guitar Hero really is – Simon on a stick.LAMELAMELAMECome on guys – grow up.Play a real Guitar ……..", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30128", "author": "Orv", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T21:10:55", "content": "Eh, lighten up. It’s the guitar equivalent of karaoke, except with no audience to torture. ;)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30129", "author": "Joe", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T22:35:07", "content": "David Crowders modded Guitar hero controllerhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo2gclsx7ku&feature=related", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30130", "author": "MichaelDotNet", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T22:40:19", "content": "Grow up? It’s a GAME, growing up has nothing to do with it ;)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30131", "author": "SpAxX0r", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T22:46:53", "content": "now now Patrick lets not turn into a flame battle.the touch screen one is good, just how does he intend to implement it?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30132", "author": "Phillip", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T22:50:50", "content": "Patrick was wrongly touched by a guitar game at a young age, I’m sure everyone understands.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30133", "author": "steve diraddo", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T22:52:05", "content": "guitar hero is way overrated", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30134", "author": "Dax", "timestamp": "2007-12-04T00:53:24", "content": "Whatever dude, I have been playing “real” guitar for 3 years now. I still enjoy playing a round or two of Guitar Hero when at my friends house. It’s not the same thing, but it is still fun.I actually think playing it has improved my timing playing “real” guitar.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30135", "author": "Gillian Spence", "timestamp": "2007-12-04T00:59:51", "content": "patrick should try walking into a room of real humans and stop talking to virtual people while he’s at it.you jackass, did you used to scoff at your mates playing cops & robbers when you were a kid too?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30136", "author": "Urza", "timestamp": "2007-12-04T03:49:54", "content": "As a guitar player myself of…around 10 years?…I gotta say, the people that play guitar hero as just a game are fine…but some of them act like it’s an instrument, and that being good at guitar hero means they would be awesome with a real guitar. Those are the ones that piss me off.And just for the record, I totally suck at guitar hero…though I’ve only played it once or twice. I’m not much of a gamer.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30137", "author": "Joey Y", "timestamp": "2007-12-04T04:07:52", "content": "That pendant/zipper-thing is quite cool. I wish I could afford cnc. Or anything better than this dremel…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30138", "author": "tesseract", "timestamp": "2007-12-04T04:45:55", "content": "I completely agree with urza. I’ve been playing guitar for about ten years now as well, and I have no problem with the game. In fact, I’m thinking about buying GH3 for the PC tomorrow. The only problem I have is with people who think their “skills” are comparable to that of a serious guitar player. It’s not the same thing at all, and nobody is impressed that you can play Buckethead on expert level. I will say, though, that GH3 can indeed help you develop dexterity, which can certainly transfer to more-practical skills, such as guitar playing.That said, cool hax.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30139", "author": "perdidopunk", "timestamp": "2007-12-04T09:03:02", "content": "i agree with tesseract. i’m a brass musician, and i’ve been wanting to take up guitar for a while (i even got my mom to give me her old alvarez dreadnought), but my fingers just don’t have the strength or dexterity to fret comfortably. i picked up guitar hero 3 for my wii after playing it a few times and realizing that i could probably use it as a fun way to work on moving my fingers independently, build up some strength, and finally start practicing guitar on a regular basis once i feel more comfortable with my fingers.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30140", "author": "William", "timestamp": "2007-12-04T11:20:35", "content": "You knwo what would be a good mod? when you miss it gives you a shock. thatll teach you to miss!! i would buy one!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30141", "author": "ginge", "timestamp": "2007-12-04T16:11:12", "content": "Nice pendant. WTF is team hack-a-day? Am I missing some good stuff?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30142", "author": "Ed3", "timestamp": "2007-12-04T19:12:04", "content": "Ginge: “The Official Site of the Unofficial Hack-a-Day Folding@Home Team” –http://www.teamhackaday.com/Folding@Home –http://folding.stanford.edu/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30143", "author": "chewy", "timestamp": "2007-12-05T01:04:19", "content": "worst hack ever. no reason for it, just plain dumb doesn’t do anything or accomplish anything. no i’m not one of those “learn to play a real guitar” guys either. it’s a game, but this hack is beyond idiotic. the lit guitar is better in both construction and functionality, that one should have made headlines.but yeah that lcd one is just plain stupid. how about this for the next hack, put a floppy drive in it, that would be just as useful", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30144", "author": "tom61", "timestamp": "2007-12-05T03:06:19", "content": "ginge: Yeah, you are missing a few things. Team Hack A Day is a folding team, as Ed3 mentioned, but is also the unofficial forums for Hack a Day. Many things going on there.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30145", "author": "phnx", "timestamp": "2007-12-06T10:13:13", "content": "TeamHaD is pretty nifty. I’ve been reading over there for the last year or so, and started posting a couple weeks ago… join us…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "52457", "author": "John Bowden", "timestamp": "2008-11-27T05:33:00", "content": "You can never learn all there is to learn about playing guitar! That’s whats so fascinating about the instrument. It is the most simple yet most complicated instrument.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,857.368321
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/02/wireless-keyboards-easily-cracked/	Wireless Keyboards Easily Cracked	Eliot	[ "Peripherals Hacks" ]	[ "27mhz", "crack", "encryption", "keyboard", "mouse", "wireless" ]	https://hackaday.com/wp-…board1.jpg?w=400	We first covered breaking the commodity 27MHz radios used in wireless keyboards, mice, and presenters when [Luis Miras] gave a talk at Black Hat . Since then, the people at Dreamlab have managed to crack the encryption on Microsoft’s Wireless Optical Desktop 1000 and 2000 products (and possibly more). Analyzing the protocol they found out that meta keys like shift and ALT are transmitted in cleartext. The “encryption” used on each regular keystroke involves XORing the key against a random one byte value determined during the initial sync with the receiver. So, if you sniff the handshake, you can decrypt the keystrokes. You really don’t have to though; there are only 256 possible encryption keys. Using a dictionary file you can check all possible keys and determine the correct one after only receiving 20-50 keystrokes. Their demo video shows them sniffing keystrokes from three different keyboards at the same time. Someone could potentially build a wireless keylogger that picks up every keystrokes from every keyboard in an office. You can read more about the attack in the whitepaper (pdf). [via Midnight Research Labs ] digg_url = ‘ http://digg.com/hardware/Wireless_keyboard_encryption_easily_broken&#8217 ;; permalink	69	50	[ { "comment_id": "30085", "author": "alex", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T03:48:06", "content": "unsurprising, but nice work and cool demoobviously this could be fixed with better encryption… but in most cases why even bother?? just use a damn wire, its not the end of the world. you have to be close enough to read the screen anyways…i hate it when “tech journalists” and the like keep preaching about everything going wireless–they just don’t get it. wireless is not better than wired, it is simply a different method, with its own pros and cons… and shrinking micro-controllers, RF modules, and batteries will not soon make up for the inherent higher security risk, lower availability, and lower bandwidth you get when using wireless over a direct, wired link.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30086", "author": "Raelx", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T03:57:37", "content": "Yeah I never really understood the wireless keyboard for you desktop thing. I know there are situations where they make sense but I think 90% of the people that have them never move their keyboard more then an inch.Wireless mice on the other hand are god’s gift to mankind.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "1159299", "author": "Poopcilce", "timestamp": "2014-01-09T04:00:46", "content": "i have a wireless keyboard bcoz my wired broke and it pisses me off when im playing a game like chivalry and the keyboards latancy is notacible.", "parent_id": "30086", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "30087", "author": "Andrew H", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T04:03:58", "content": "I don’t see many applictions for this since those 27mhz keyboards have dismal range, usually around 4-8 feet.Still neat that they did this and could possibly lead to some cool homebrew but nothing malicious to worry about here.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30088", "author": "Andrew Pollack", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T04:21:37", "content": "@2 – that depends on your snooping gear. Recall all that fuss a few years back about reading monitors through hotel room walls? Of course, most people aren’t using wireless keyboards in travel environments, but you could snoop the next cube over if you wanted.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30089", "author": "CalcProgrammer1", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T04:54:30", "content": "I was wondering how wireless mice worked too. I have a Microsoft Wireless Optical Notebook Mouse 4000 and wondered what kind of frequency or protocol it used to connect to its USB adapter.I really think wireless keyboards are stupid…with a few exceptions. The only place I would really use one is in the living room…where you put the PC display on the TV and use the wireless mouse/keyboard from the couch. Your average desktop doesn’t need (and shouldn’t have) wireless peripherals (even mice) because it’s just a waste of batteries.For laptop PC’s, wireless MICE are nice, because they’re small and portable, don’t have to worry about a mess of cords on your lap. But since laptops have keyboards built in, there’s no need for a wireless keyboard there either.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30090", "author": "thethirdmoose", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T05:09:48", "content": "Psshhhh… This is old. I cracked a wireless keyboard just the other day. Sat on it, next thing I knew, CRACK!Am I missing something?NOTE: The above post makes use of a literary technique known as “sarcasm.” A literal interpretation of said post will result in a deep misunderstanding. The author of this post makes no guarantee of safety regarding this post. Side effects may include extreme confusion and shocked comments.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30091", "author": "bgugi", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T05:36:25", "content": "people have known since the beginning of radio use that nothing wireless has the ability to be as secure as something hardwired, even with the most advanced encryption of the era (re: codebooks, enigma machine, purple)and yet we still seem to be surprised that wireless items can be listened to by another party.(to be a little less cynical, i will note that wifi is a gift from the gods)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30092", "author": "clever student", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T06:15:56", "content": "Now I know how to get our prof’s login and password and change my grades. woot!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30093", "author": "Groxx", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T06:17:25", "content": "Something that quite a few people seem to be missing is that RF signals are easy to build really sensitive antennas for.Want to know the real danger of wireless keyboards? Imagine someone with an antenna pointed at a big office building. They could, literally, read every single keystroke, all day, every day, completely passively and untraceably. Directional antennas have given un-amplified WiFi communication up to 125 miles (http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/31/unamplified-wifi-distance-record-set-at-125-miles/)… granted, the signals from wireless keyboards are weaker, but we’re not talking only-next-door-cubicle range here.I’m only surprised it’s taken this long. I’m sure this isn’t the first, but come on. If someone actually noticed it as a possible security hole, it’d likely have been cracked a long time ago.On a side note, I wonder why there are soooo many spelling errors in the PDF… strange.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30094", "author": "threepointone", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T06:26:09", "content": "not surprised at all–what i am surprised at is that it took so long for someone to bother to try breaking it. I would have tried if I didn’t think someone else already did it.what would be more interesting is cracking the encryption mode on some of the logitech keyboards–my old one had a mode where you’d press a special combination and then type a code displayed on the screen in the keyboard. To be honest, I eventually didn’t bother doing it and hoped that no one would bother intercepting my keyboard traffic–it was too unreliable, and ran down the batteries too much. I have a wired keyboard now.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30095", "author": "Squidge", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T06:28:47", "content": "Meh, this is why I use a wired keyboard. Wired keyboard + wireless mouse = win. It isnt like im going to be dragging my keyboard around the house with me all day anyways. And im pretty sure nobody can figure out my password based on mouse clicks.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30096", "author": "Paul", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T07:06:31", "content": "So many people hating on the wireless keyboard. I use one at my everyday computer for a few reasons.1. I only have one desk on my room, and if I want to write on a notebook, or use the desk for some other purpose, I can just toss my keyboard on my bed.2. If I want to listen to music before I go to bed, I can put the keyboard over near my bed (its about 6 feet away) and I have all the multimedia keys on the keyboard.As for security, I dont really care if someone is sniffing this comment.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30097", "author": "bryan", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T09:51:02", "content": "@paul: exactly what i was thinking. having a wireless keyboard lets me move my keyboard when i need more desk space (and since I am in college, living in a cramped apartment, this is pretty often.) And I also use my keyboard to listen to control music/mythtv from across the room.-bryan", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30098", "author": "MadEngineer", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T11:34:42", "content": "Someone already mentioned it for monitors, but all electronic gear can be monitored remotely via the airwaves – including wired keyboards just as others have said: with the right listening gear.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30099", "author": "Lars Haeh", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T11:47:15", "content": "I use one occasionally too, even though I know the thing is horribly unsecure. I cracked open the receiver for mine and was disappointed to find a pitiful ~1/32 wavelength antenna in it. I replaced it with a 1/4 (or was it 1/8?) wave antenna and saw a vast improvement: It used to not work if the receiver was behind a glass of water; after the mod it worked outside my house.Could they not just pad the data or something? I assume that would make it so you would at least need the handshake. The easy solution for now is just to swap the chips out for a slightly different freq.Side note: The Aspell library for the Firefox spell checker does not include “unsecure.”", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30100", "author": "Malcolm Parsons", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T12:29:12", "content": "@lars: the word is “insecure”.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30101", "author": "Sean", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T15:20:25", "content": "I never used a wireless keyboard or mice, and never will. Wireless keyboards and mice and horrible things when you’re a big gamer, as I find happens in my wii the batteries die off right as I’m about to finish off a boss or in the middle of a huge battle. My Wii gives me a warming, wireless mouse/keyboard might but that doesn’t pause an online game!However, on-topic: I figured that it was a simple encryption on the wireless mice and keyboards, but only one byte salting?! that’s just sad, microsoft, just sad :'(", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30102", "author": "sp4nk_o$", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T16:11:13", "content": "Not, bad.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30103", "author": "O Mattos", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T20:59:10", "content": "Wireless keyboards aren’t that bad because the batteries last months. The downside is the range is pretty bad (a long wire would be better), and also they have no caps/num lock lights on. If they were the same price, I’d go wireless, but I wouldn’t pay a penny more.Wireless mice are best avoided. Although they are occasionally handy (ie. for passing the mouse to a co-worker to find something for you), they run out of batteries far too frequently.I have the same opinion of everything wireless – if the batteries last at least 6 months and there’s no other downside (bandwidth, reliability etc.), then great, but if they last less than that just make it wired.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30104", "author": "peter", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T21:22:50", "content": "not to mention how easy it is to “lose” wireless devices. My mother-in-law constantly loses her wireless mouse because her grandkids (my kids) see that thing, grab it and walk off with it… :DHow often do you lose the remote control? Case closed :P", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30105", "author": "Groxx", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T23:36:06", "content": "Gaming & Wireless mice: very iffy at best. If they claim no lag, they lie. There’s always some, and they’re never as accurate. I got one of the Logitech 517s, and I love it. Waaay better than any wireless mouse I’ve ever tried.As to the batteries running out… I’ve had a bluetooth mouse for my laptop for over a year now, and still haven’t swapped the batteries. Granted, I don’t use it all that much, but they’re not even down half-way. Under heavy use, I’d expect at least a couple months out of it. And, if you get one of the mice with a “dock” to charge in, charging it is as easy as sticking it there when you go to the bathroom.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30106", "author": "Josh Einstein", "timestamp": "2007-12-04T00:19:22", "content": "We’re talking just the cheapo wireless ones right? Not the bluetooth ones? Cause I had to pair it with a key that I chose which I assume provides much better encryption. Everyone ought to have a fingerprint scanner by now anyway.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30107", "author": "PENIX", "timestamp": "2007-12-04T00:19:23", "content": "2 years ago I was the IT Manager for a small company. The CEO insisted that we all use wireless equipment, even though I advised against it, and personally dislike most wireless hardware. We ended up with a couple Microsoft keyboards and Logitech keyboards. There was one particular problem that proved to be very troublesome. When the Microsoft wireless keyboard or mouse was used, the Logitech keyboard and mouse wouldn’t. This wouldn’t be that big a deal, except for the fact that they were about 30 feet away from each other.With that kind of range, it would have been easy for someone in another office, or even the lobby that shared a wall with our office, to snoop all the keyboard and mouse traffic from our company.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30108", "author": "free ipod touch", "timestamp": "2007-12-04T00:23:11", "content": "Wow. This is really disturbing. But what are the chances that your next door neighbor is trying to sniff out everything you’re typing? :D", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30109", "author": "cyclo", "timestamp": "2007-12-04T00:24:48", "content": "@ #19, if you want to see caps, num, and scroll lock indicators and you are using logitech wireless keyboards and running Vista, check out the Logitech Lock Status Gadget.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30110", "author": "Dan", "timestamp": "2007-12-04T00:53:49", "content": "If you’re really paranoid or need a long range, strong encryption wireless keyboard check out Wireless Computing. We use them in our offices and they’re very cool.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30111", "author": "O Mattos", "timestamp": "2007-12-04T00:53:57", "content": "I find it hard to believe the lag on wireless mice etc. is significant compared to the time taken to act on the input through all the windows layers and the game, as well as fairly significant delays in some display technologies. (ie. rendering time, frame buffers, vsync delays, buffers in lcd displays etc.) I recon there’s at least 4 frames of delay from rendering starting to the screen.I mean, even the USB and PCI busses together add a latency of ~20ms just to get to the CPU.More likely, I think gamers might be noticing the “maximum speed” effect on optical mice where if a mouse is moving more then a few m/s the optical sensor fails to pick it up and the mouse moves randomly.However, I’m no gamer, so could someone with experience explain the facts?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30112", "author": "Lars Haeh", "timestamp": "2007-12-04T02:24:08", "content": "@Malcolm ParsonsInsecure sounds like something a teenage girl should feel, not what my keyboard should be. I checked dictionary.com before I posted and it lists unsecure.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30113", "author": "ArigornStrider", "timestamp": "2007-12-04T19:23:21", "content": "I’m one of those damned right handed people so I dual wield a Logitech G-15 and MX 400. I’ve always found that when using my antique wireless logitech set, the batteries in the mouse would, without fail, die while I was trying to snipe someone, so that set now is on the media box for tv/music in the living room.@27, I believe the only step extra in bluetooth is a little more expanded encryption. Everyone has a bluetooth chip these days, so a free download of capture software and a quick decrypt… Hence the issues with wireless headset sniffing.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30114", "author": "Groxx", "timestamp": "2007-12-04T21:16:29", "content": "Being a gamer, here are my observations with various wireless mice:cheap: In the worst, especially older ones, there’s literally lag. There is a perceptible, visible difference between your motion or clicking and the computer’s reaction. Added to that is that wireless mice are lower resolution/speed/quality than most similarly priced wired counterparts, and not only is there lag, but there are many more jumps, jiggles, and miscommunications that add to frustration.expensive: movement lag is gone, but there’s still a perceptible difference in reaction to clicks, which seems odd to me, but it’s usually there. Even a cheapo wired mouse will respond effectively instantly to a click, but I’ve yet to run across a wireless mouse that completely eliminates the click lag.My theory is that it takes more processing time to handle the click on the mouse, compile it into the next packet, decode it on the receiver, re-process it through the USB port, and go through the (often required for complete functionality) crappy 3rd party software than it takes for a wired mouse with no software, and less places for en/decoding.Some keyboards also have minor communication problems where your keystrokes won’t appear for a fraction of a second, and then 3 or 4 will happen all in a row. Mice sometimes suffer from similar problems, but it seems I regularly run across it in keyboards, and rarely in mice (except the cheapest). If that isn’t a literal definition of “lag”, I don’t know what is.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30115", "author": "static", "timestamp": "2007-12-04T23:41:24", "content": "The first I have learned That 27MHz is used in wireless devices. An interesting choice. Are the receivers desensitized by a nearby CB xcvr? How about when there is a near constant barrage of signals during the day as we head towards the solar sunspot maximum?I can see myself using these devices when I have to use the internet to view TV programs in the living room, when the “big Switch” eliminates my ability to receive broadcast TV. I’m in a deep fringe when it come to UHF reception.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30116", "author": "Frogz", "timestamp": "2007-12-06T04:12:45", "content": "comment added through opera mini on my phone:) i got a logitech mouse and it doesnt lag, being a gamer this would kill me, i also have a 6+month battery life", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30117", "author": "ghost", "timestamp": "2007-12-08T08:48:28", "content": "“with the right listening gear”What is the right listening gear for wired devices?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30118", "author": "nic_james", "timestamp": "2007-12-09T03:37:50", "content": "Wireless mice are now available with their own charging dock, so you don’t have to use batteries anymore.I drop my mouse on my dock every night before bed, and same with my Wiimotes. Bought a battery pack replacement that turns the Wiimotes into rechargeable controllers.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30119", "author": "phiz", "timestamp": "2007-12-09T22:43:31", "content": "Most wireless keyboards and mice are a big screw you to the environment. Instead of just using power already available a few feet away, now you can buy and throw out batteries!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30120", "author": "Tabansi", "timestamp": "2007-12-10T10:00:39", "content": "Informated Article… Appreciated!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30121", "author": "Web Hosting", "timestamp": "2007-12-10T14:02:18", "content": "nice…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30122", "author": "Dee", "timestamp": "2007-12-13T07:46:10", "content": "Decoding the keystrokes someone makes is not that hard, similar to the tone matching game on the kids electronic spy safe, each key on your keyboard has a distinct sound that can recorded and later matched.I’m serious, listen to yourself type sometime and hear how every key sounds different, and a-lot I’m not just talking slightly different i mean a-lot different. This has been known since keyboards came out, and the easiest/hardest way to get a password!my $0.02", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30123", "author": "Shabby", "timestamp": "2007-12-17T14:57:03", "content": "Informated Article… Appreciated!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30124", "author": "Free iPod Touch", "timestamp": "2007-12-23T02:22:10", "content": "Great post. Very helpful.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30125", "author": "windi", "timestamp": "2008-02-14T20:31:46", "content": "You can’t generalize wireless keyboards being bad. I find a wireless keyboard at home a big plus, as sometimes I use my computer on a desk + monitor, while sometimes in a comfy chair front of a HDTV. Can just have one keyboard and move it wherever I need.If you want a long distance (10 meters) and stronger encryption then you’d go for more expensive bluetooth devices.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "50189", "author": "phrost", "timestamp": "2008-11-10T16:02:41", "content": "The researchers from the Security and Cryptography Laboratory at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne are able to capture keystrokes by monitoring the electromagnetic radiation of PS/2, universal serial bus, or laptop keyboards. They’ve outline four separate attack methods, some that work at a distance of as much as 65 feet from the target.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "53441", "author": "hhkhhkhk", "timestamp": "2008-12-02T20:24:24", "content": "My last bank invest is not good – see it in this blog,", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "54243", "author": "Binly", "timestamp": "2008-12-08T08:50:57", "content": "Could you help me ?i want to know about hack wireless .Do you have program hacker wireless.i hope that can you help me ok?thank you …", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "60401", "author": "somekind21", "timestamp": "2009-01-22T22:09:02", "content": "does anyone know if faraday cage would block the ps2 keyboard radiation? i’m thinking of wrapping a cable with cooking aluminium.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "65916", "author": "WatsMyRick", "timestamp": "2009-03-11T08:32:51", "content": "Hey dropping by to say hi and maybe I’ll stay for a little while.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "76718", "author": "Hictartilia", "timestamp": "2009-05-30T03:48:28", "content": "Сносный, успокаивала я себя, ежась на ветру. Нисколько… Борзо получу права, а выше обожаемый сожитель разорится, наконец, для машину. И тогда – прощай всегда тесный в автобусе и прогулки по этим колдобинам! Путешествие мой ежедневно лежал посредством территорию гаражного кооператива, и не было дня, чтобы я не думала об этом. Я уже примерно пробралась через ряды гаражей, когда кто-то осторожно тронул меня ради плечо.– Людмила Федоровна?Окликнувший меня надтреснутый женский голос напомнил мне голос одной маминой подруги.– Да, – с готовностью обернулась я, рано расплываясь в улыбке, – А с чего это одновременно по имени-отчеству?Но это была решительно не мамина подруга. Улыбка долго сползла с моего лица.– Извините, – пряча взор, сказала женщина, – Вы меня не узнаете?– Простите, разве мы знакомы?Женщине было лет около пятьдесят, у нее были некрасивые черты лица, тонкие губы, и одета она была аминь безвкусно. С такими я обычно компаний не вожу, аль который для работе.– Не узнаете? Ну, это неважно, – пробормотала моя собеседница, – Понимаете, моему сыну плохо!– Господи, а сколько с ним?– Сейчас! – засуетилась она, бочком вталкивая меня в дверь одного из боксов, – Теперь! Безотлагательно вы весь узнаете…Только плохо едва не стало мне самой. В гараже взамен бедного умирающего юноши меня ожидал… десяток угрюмо молчащих пожилых дам в возрасте от болтливый лет и старше.– Здравствуйте, – пролепетала я, охваченная нехорошим предчувствием, – А где…Из строя женщин вышла стриженная почти «каре» эксцентричная особа в черных очках и вельветовых джинсах, явный не в себе.– Ведь вас же по-хорошему предупреждали, – без всякого вступления начала она, – Звонили, мелочь предлагали. А вы? Разве так трудно было пойти нам навстречу? Разве вы не понимали, где окажутся наши мальчики, ежели их отчислят?!Господи! Беспричинно это что, мамаши моих бывших студентов?! Коль беспричинно, то беседа будет тяжелым – меня ведь не наобум называют после глаза поставщиком кадров ради ведомства Паши-мерседеса… Начинать, не умею я пить зачеты по-капиталистически. И вторично выдерживать не могу, если для меня «наезжают» всякие прыщавые юнцы. Это только укрепляет меня в мысли, который им со мной в одном вузе упражняться нечего.Только это в аудитории беспричинно хорошо обретаться смелой и принципиальной. А здесь, коли честно, у меня затряслись поджилки…– Я простой честно делаю свою работу! – принялась исполняться я, понемногу отступая к двери, – Извините, но ровно же иначе?После моей спиной крикливо лязгнул засов. Заманившая меня сюда лахудра понимающе покачала головой – мол, о побеге и не думай.– Послушаете! – воскликнула я, теряя мука, – Начинать чего вы теперь-то от меня хотите?!– Который мы хотим! Который мы хотим?!! – совершенно взвыли престарелые мегеры, и, подобно по команде, набросилась на меня с кулаками.Чувствовалось, что дрались они не часто. Но их было чересчур много. Беспричинно что покуда пара сильно держали меня после руки, остальные колотили, куда придется. Меня били прежде тех пор, временно у меня не потемнело в глазах и не подкосились ноги. Наверное, били и после, только я этого уже не помнила…Очнулась я от холода и сырости – кажется, меня окатили из ведра водой. Я лежала для полу едва голая, если не думать чулок, туфель и мокрой разодранной блузки. Тело мучительно ныло, во рту ощущался привкус крови. Изрядно пострадала прическа. Однако самым страшным была неопределенность, в которой я пребывала. То, что меня избили, я опять могла хотя как-то объяснить. Только зачем потребно было меня кроме и раздевать?– Очухалась? – недобро усмехнулась тонкими подкрашенными губами та, кому я была обязана своим появлением здесь, – Ну, тут продолжим…– Который – продолжим? – тряхнула я гудящей, точно колокол, головой.– Учить тебя, сучка ты эдакая! Чтоб неповадно было наших детишек изнурять!В отчаянии мне захотелось схватиться изза голову, и исключительно сейчас я почувствовала, сколько руки мои связаны за спиной. Беспричинно, этого только не хватало…– Истинно кого я мучила? Пустите! – простонала я, начиная течь в панику, – Вы меня с кем-то путаете!Меня рывком подняли на ноги. Я едва не заплакала от унижения, заметив в толпе мужчину. Его я узнала сразу. Это был помещик шиномонтажа, хронический пропойца и священник одного из моих бывших студентов. Днесь этот некрасивый мужичок, сиречь всегда, подшофе, стоял возле компрессора для накачки шин и, поигрывая его черным резиновым шлангом, нагло пялился для мои неприкрытые прелести.– Ничего мы не путаем, Людмила Федоровна! – ткнула в меня узловатым пальцем в подбородок тонкогубая лахудра, – Давай, Петрович, покажи ей кузькину мать! Пускай вспомнит моего сыночка Гришеньку!После моей спиной послышалась странная возня. Кто-то развел в сторону мои ягодицы.– Что вы делаете?!! – в ужасе завопила я, поняв, что шланг компрессора вставляют мне в зад.– Учить тебя будем, коза!Тогда же мощнейший затрещина почти дых буквально согнул меня пополам – это Петрович открыл воздушный вентиль. Из моих око брызнули слезы, дыхание перехватило. Пока я с выпученными глазами хватала ртом атмосфера, мои палачи удовлетворенно потирали руки.– Который, весело, госпожа Андрейчук? – ехидно спросила тетка в вельветовых джинсах, – А когда моего Вовочку в армию спроваживала, так же веселились?– Следовать что?! – прохрипела я, – Я же ему такого не делала!– Ты ему хуже сделала, – вкрадчиво пояснила тетка, дохнув мне в образина алкоголем, – Ты его для два года без мамочки оставила! Давай, Петрович!!!Петрович опять дал, да беспричинно, что мои глаза едва не вылезли их орбит. Сообразно кишкам будто ударили кувалдой. Хорошо опять, который шланг перед давлением воздуха вытолкнуло из моей попки, и это дало мне небольшую передышку. К сожалению, продлилась она недолго.– Нечего пердеть тут присутствие всех, гадина! – злобно прошипела мать известного оболтуса Евгения Ефанова, пихая шланг вспять в мою задницу.– Да сколько же вы творите?! – взвыла я.Губы у меня тряслись, из глаз ручьями лились плач, и я ничего не могла с этим поделать. Но муки мои, способный, лишь забавляли озверевшую свору мамаш.– Заткнись, я сказала! А ты, Петрович, качни-ка ей еще разок ради моего Женечку!– Может хватит качать-то, бабоньки? – засомневался Петрович, глядя на мое перекошенное лицо.– Такой умница был Женечка! Такой образованный, такой добрый! – заламывая руки, продолжала причитать Ефановская мамаша, – А эта стерва…– Да ваш Женя вместе занятий не посещал! – в отчаянии выкрикнула я, потому сколько это была истинная правда.– Не ври, сука!Для этот однажды залп сжатого воздуха был такой силы, что я не устояла для ногах и, густо рыгнув, осела для пол.– Так тебе, вражина! – пнула меня в урчащий брюхо Ефанова и, довольная, отошла в сторонку ухаживать после моими корчами.Не успела я отдышаться, как для смену ей подскочила неопрятная толстая тетка в рейтузах, и тоже начала просить Петровича поддать мне «газу» после ее ненаглядного отпрыска. «Ой-ой! – с тихим ужасом подумала я, нервно подергивая стянутыми за спиной запястьями, – Коль меня будут накачивать в жопу после каждого потерявшего отсрочку обалдуя, то я бойкий отсюда не выйду…» Самое обидное, сколько сын этой тетки, некрасивый сутулый мужчина со шуточный фамилией Гопак, не успевал абсолютно сообразно всем предметам, беспричинно что его выгнали после первой же сессии отнюдь не единственно сообразно моей милости.– … и вот разлеглась она тут, глаза бесстыжие! – кликушествовала тетка в рейтузах, потрясая предварительно всеми моими узкими ажурными трусиками, – Выше Олежек в сапогах глину месит, а она на шпильках шастает! Чулки надела! Манду выбрила! Веревочку блядскую в жопу правитель! Тьфу! Ну-ка, газани ей, Петрович, в эту самую жопу!!Впечатленный Петрович не заставил себя продолжительно упрашивать. Я едва успела ощутить вибрацию шланга в заднице, подобно мои глаза еще полезли из орбит. Для сей единовременно меня мучили довольно долго. А воеже шланг больше не вышибало наружу, тетка в рейтузах услужливо придерживала его рукой. Болезнь от распирания живота была несусветная.– А-а-а!!! – истошно визжала я, ужом извиваясь для полу, – Не могу!!! Прекратите!!! Очень!!!От страха, который мои кишки вот-вот лопнут, я уже не пыталась рисовать гордость. Наконец, Петрович не выдержал этих криков и закрыл кран.куплю частное порножесткое частное порномама потрогала член", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "82923", "author": "iPod Touch For Free", "timestamp": "2009-07-24T13:12:33", "content": "Why would anyone want to do that? is like you just wasting your time for no reason.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "98478", "author": "Sergio", "timestamp": "2009-10-03T21:18:09", "content": "А если посмотреть на это с другой точки зрения то не все так гладко получается", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "98948", "author": "Sterlimastiv", "timestamp": "2009-10-05T20:37:18", "content": "Привет. Образовалась проблема – прикупил я электродрель намагазин руА она сломалась у меня в тот же день – гарантии практически никакой не дали. Просто почта пришла с коробкой, а там все на китайском. Написал в торговый центр этот, ответили, что обращайтесь в сервис центр, хотя у меня ни документов на руках нет, ничего. Как можно приструнить данный онлайн магазин? Есть ли какие-то компетентные органы, что писать. Куда писать, кому писать. Ошибся, да, нужно было в торговом центре нормальном прикупить, хотя необходимой мне модели просто не было, да и дешевле в интернет-магазине. А вот и уже сижу у разбитого корыта. Подскажите, что делать.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,857.514019
https://hackaday.com/2007/12/01/reader-how-to-wiimote-horse-controller/	Reader How-To: Wiimote Horse Controller	Will O'Brien	[ "how-to" ]	[]		I linked the Wiimote horse controller in yesterdays extra, but today [Mark] sent us a short and sweet How-to. Essentially, he’s using the Wiimote taped to the horse as a joystick to play Need for Speed on the laptop connected to his big screen. Hit the read link for his write up. Here’s how to but together your own Wiimote racing horse: 1. Buy, Beg, Borrow Steal a Spring Horse 2. Install Blue tooth adapter HW & SW Drivers 3. Sync WiiMote with PC 4. Affix WiiMote to Horse (I used painter’s tape to Horse’s hind quarters (See 00:27 in video) 5. Install GlovePie 6. Load joystick script in GlovePie (included in GlovePie) 7. Load Need for Speed (PC Game) 8. Configure the controls in NFS by moving the Horse when assigning keys for: 1. Accelerate 2. Brake 3. Left 4. Right 5. Change View (Optional) 9. Hook up to Large Display (Optional but preferable) 10. Move Furniture out of the way 11. Start Game 12. Lean forward, Elbows in, hands tightly gripping handle 13. Have Fun Note: I will post a detailed How-to/Video at the first available opportunity. Back Story – Idea: My sister-in-law, K., keeps her house pretty organized, no clutter, nothing out of place, no messing with the Feng shui . My wife and I thought we would mess with her. So we placed a spring hobby horse outside her house at midnight. The next morning as her kids opened their front door they saw the spring horse staring at them from their front yard. You would have thought it was Christmas by their reaction. Two or three weeks later, though her kids loved the horse, K. could not take the clutter of a horse in her living room, so she paid my two sons a dollar each to carry the horse back across the street to my house. When I walked into the house after work one day the spring horse was sitting in my foyer. I had been playing with the Wii Remote a lot with the PC lately, and the idea just came to me. I discussed it with co-workers then next day, during a network outage, as we were just sitting around chatting. Then that night it took about 5 minutes to modify the GlovePie – Generic Joystick Driver script. I haphazardly taped the Wii mote to horse’s rear. I then made the following poor quality video with my phone. permalink	5	5	[ { "comment_id": "30080", "author": "CalcProgrammer1", "timestamp": "2007-12-02T08:41:59", "content": "Lol…Nice! It looks like a very unique idea for making use of Wiimote/PC control. I haven’t found many “good” uses for it, but this looks promising…now if you could convert the horse into a more “car” looking thing, fine tune the controls a bit, you could have your own arcade-style racing game.Though I still can’t wait for someone to make a real Windows Wiimote driver, because GlovePIE and WiinRemote just aren’t very good…I mean, Linux already has good Wiimote drivers (real drivers), but Windows only has “fake drivers” (user-mode programs acting like drivers).", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30081", "author": "wasted", "timestamp": "2007-12-02T09:41:24", "content": "Need to get one of those horse racing games like in the arcade..then you’re set.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30082", "author": "TheBlasphemer", "timestamp": "2007-12-02T18:37:26", "content": "Would work best for a motorcycle sort of game, I guess :/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30083", "author": "M4CGYV3R", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T11:18:30", "content": "This reminds me of an interactive flightsim controller I made a long-ass time ago with a torn-apart keyboard, a refrigerator box, some misc. wire and switches, and some creative cutting and soldering. If HAD existed back then, I’m sure I would’ve submitted it as a hack.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30084", "author": "Ben Wagner", "timestamp": "2008-01-04T02:06:05", "content": "hahafunny", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,857.312685
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/30/friday-i-want-a-ball-pit-extra/	Friday I Want A Ball Pit Extra	Will O'Brien	[ "Misc Hacks" ]	[]		[rmunroe] of the notorious xkcd made his own ball pit . I’m now completely, totally jealous. [-] sent in this Commadore 64 Guitar Hero project. [Jock] sent in this uh, marriage of a Wiimote and a rocking horse. It’s actually a great idea if you’ve got a kid and some duct tape handy. [warthox] sent in this XBox 360 tilt controller project. These have been popping up a bit, but you might like this one. The board is all surface mount, and was routed to make the prototype. I kind-of like the surface pads that were used to mount the wires to avoid doing thru hole mounts. We’ve been digging the EeePC – [Paul] wrote up his tricks to get Ubuntu working on the thing. [Jock] sent in this huge set of music hacks. Mostly circuit bent, but they make for interesting reading.	9	9	[ { "comment_id": "30071", "author": "Colin", "timestamp": "2007-12-01T02:05:19", "content": "that ball pit is awesome. I’m looking forward to his scalable method of ball cleaning… lolif only it weren’t so damn expensive", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30072", "author": "VonSkippy", "timestamp": "2007-12-01T02:12:56", "content": "What’s the English word worse then “Retarded”?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30073", "author": "Aaron", "timestamp": "2007-12-01T03:38:57", "content": "That word would be “vonskippy”", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30074", "author": "Sprite_tm", "timestamp": "2007-12-01T04:27:05", "content": "The word you’re looking for may be ‘genius’. I just looked into the prices for ball-pit-balls myself. If I can find any good ones, I’ll most likely have my very own mini-ball-pit myself by next week.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30075", "author": "joelanders", "timestamp": "2007-12-01T08:13:35", "content": "mcdonald’s heist.how do you steal 400 cubic feet of balls in under three and a half minutes?“we don’t have the manpower.”“can’t be done.”“is that a cheezburger at the bottom?”the little ninja guy is the only way. everybody else exceeds the height limit. [fast forward] they caught us. damn. jk roflmao we can has balls! [fast forward] woohoo! heehee! yay! and ronda mcdonald chooses me!awesome ball pit is awesome.i’d love to see my plus-sized cat figure that one out…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30076", "author": "ElMog", "timestamp": "2007-12-02T02:22:41", "content": "Nice to see another group of people with a ball pit. Six months ago, some of of us at EA Tiburon pooled upwards of $2,000 to buy around 170 packs of 100 balls, selling out every Toys-R-Us in the area every week for around four weeks. The end result was turning a table-enclosed space in one of our conference rooms into a ball pit.Video 1:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cKXZdqL3tkVideo 2:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCUF8yRSW-U", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30077", "author": "Andrew", "timestamp": "2007-12-02T09:20:14", "content": "Dude, how could you mis-spell Commodore? :-P", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30078", "author": "jaded", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T00:46:18", "content": "“It’s actually a great idea if you’ve got a kid and some duct tape handy.”There are so many places I could use this line, I don’t know where to begin :-)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30079", "author": "Lance", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T02:58:06", "content": "thats nothing, My burning man camp (Flight To Mars) has had a towable ballpit for years now. It’s fully enclosed on a 4×8 trailer.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,857.271047
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/30/diy-scuba-tank-boost-pump-for-mixing-gases/	DIY SCUBA Tank Boost Pump (for Mixing Gases)	Will O'Brien	[ "Misc Hacks" ]	[]		No love for that sweet old NES controller? Fine, here’s a bonus hack for you. This home-built boost pump is designed to take in a volume of gas (like oxygen) and compress it with a hydraulic style air powered cylinder to raise the pressure. With the increased pressure, the O2 can be added to a SCUBA tank that contains high pressure air to create what’s known as NITROX . The idea is to increase the percentage of Oxygen in order to reduce Nitrogen absorbtion in the blood – increasing a divers safe time at depth underwater. The compression cylinder is built entirely of brass with Sirvon seals. The drive cylinder and 2:1 lever produces 3,000 lbs of pressure on the pump cylinder, all from 120psi of pressure from a standard shop air compressor. permalink	46	37	[ { "comment_id": "30039", "author": "JimXugle", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T10:21:30", "content": "I thought Hackaday adopted a no DIY-Scuba gear policy a while back?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30040", "author": "Chemikal", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T10:31:03", "content": "This is quite dangerous. The design is using shop-air for the first stage, which is the first dangerous aspect due to the lubrication oils and water vapor present in the output line. Also, being a nitrox certified diver myself as well as a chemical engineer, the air mix is crucial down to the percent… 32% and 34% are drastically different when you have it strapped to your back when diving.Anyways, a main fact about filling your scuba tanks is to keep all contaminants out, since there isn’t much knowledge on what they will do to you when you’re down 35+ feet, but a guess is that it isn’t good and I wouldn’t recommend it…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30041", "author": "cbm5", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T10:41:28", "content": "high concentrations of 3000psi oxygen in conjunction with some stray oil means kaboom. it takes a weird mix of high level knowing AND not knowing what you’re doing in order to attempt stuff like this.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30042", "author": "Chemikal", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T10:42:37", "content": "ah, I see now that he’s using a source tank of O2 rather than pumped atmospheric… sorry, 2:30am.regardless, i still wouldn’t trust the “drive” cylinder to fill tanks… I think the $12 fill at a dive shop is worth it and recommended in this case.though, I do like the design for possibly compressing other gases… perhaps hydrogen from an electrolysis cell? use CO2 and discharge it to make a simple source for dry ice? hmm", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30043", "author": "Elf", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T11:31:37", "content": "This sure do looks risky… :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30044", "author": "Tank", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T11:44:30", "content": "Of all the dumb things I could do to increase my risk while diving I think filling my own tank (or altering my tank mix by myself) has to be the dumbest.I’ll hack together plenty of stupid potentially dangerous things, but with scuba if you did something wrong and don’t discover it until you’re at depth… well… fatality isn’t just a potential anymore, it’s pretty likely.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "2294798", "author": "Edenaus", "timestamp": "2014-12-28T00:35:45", "content": "What as opposed to your refiller screwing up, in the article he uses viton rings in a specially made compression cylinder An electric pump swapout for a petrol one. They have accidents in professional dive shops in the end you are as safe as what you plan for. Filling outside so if things do go wrong the sunsequent catostrophic fire is contained, tank cooling and safety blast shields increase your chances for survival. I dont see its any more inherently dangerous than using a haskell boost pump. There are better design decisions that can be made but in the end you should plan for what if. reduce air hose length and use non flamable metal hoses. Ideally design hoses so if you use hydraulic fluid leaks are contained. Compressed oxygen is a dangerous substance but I think if you are aware of the risks and plan for them this activity can be performed as safely as can be done", "parent_id": "30044", "depth": 2, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "8178507", "author": "HaHa", "timestamp": "2025-09-11T20:23:58", "content": "You’re right.This is puss.He should use LOX!", "parent_id": "2294798", "depth": 3, "replies": [] } ] } ] }, { "comment_id": "30045", "author": "pedro", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T12:14:25", "content": "If someone could make one that outputs HPA at 45000PSI, I would love them forever!(it’s for paintballing)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30046", "author": "pi3832", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T13:27:37", "content": "Haskell makes all kinds of booster pumps:http://www.haskel.com/But don’t go playing with one. Gas compressed to 3000 psig (or more) can be rather dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing. Ask yourself this: do you know what a five-point star next to the hydro-test date means?Yeah, didn’t think so.See:http://www.cganet.com/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30047", "author": "andrew", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T16:11:00", "content": "“the first dangerous aspect due to the lubrication oils and water vapor present in the output line. Also, being a nitrox certified diver myself as well as a chemical engineer, the air mix is crucial down to the percent… 32% and 34% are drastically different”i am no expert, and certainly have almost no experience with this, but it appears that he has compensated for all of the aforementioned issues. he has a “water trap” on the input line (i assume this reduces or eliminates the presence of water vapor?), he isn’t using lubrication in the piston (if you read toward the bottom of the page this becomes clear — he has a bit of trouble as the piston o-ring keeps disintegrating), and he is at least attempting to make sure he gets the right percent mixture by using a more precise gauge to read the amount of air he is adding to the tank.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30048", "author": "TravisD", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T16:53:30", "content": "There’s some good books out that go into detail on project like this — “The Oxygen Hacker’s Companion” from Airspeed Press seems to be the canonical guide to doing boosters.Yes, the ultimate %O2 does matter, but that’s not a function of the booster — partial pressure blending is pretty common, where you put X PSI of oxygen into the tank, then top off to Y PSI with Air. The pupose of the booster is to get more O2 out of a bulk tank than you can by simple transfill/equalization.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30049", "author": "Jonas", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T17:19:00", "content": "No offense…but if I going to be diving at 30+ feet of water I’m NOT going to trust my only breathing source to this hack. Underwater EVERYTHING can go wrong, and the margin of error is most likely fatal.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30050", "author": "herxal", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T22:37:50", "content": "I wont risk with my life to save few bucks.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30051", "author": "Chemikal", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T23:17:18", "content": "by all means, nitrox certified diving is the way to go… less surface time between dives and I have noticed I don’t feel as drowsy after a day of dives… but I am going to reiterate the consensus: this isn’t the way to do it.Does he use an over-pressure relief-valve? I don’t see one… also, it looks like he’s filling his tanks without a water tub, so what’s his plan if a tank fails compression..?Has anyone heard any stories about what happens when a scuba tank fails? A quick quote:“The explosion was roughly equivalent to several sticks of dynamite. According to one scuba tank inspection expert, ‘The explosive potential in a fully charged 80cf aluminum SCUBA cylinder is approximately 1,300,000 foot pounds — enough to lift a typical fire department hook-and-ladder truck over 60 feet in the air!'”", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30052", "author": "srilyk", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T23:47:01", "content": "Mythbusters should do the scuba tank… they already did a hot water heater – at 350PSI… If I’m not mistaken it’s probably an exponential increase (i.e. richter scale) rather than a straight order of magnitude…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30053", "author": "alex mccown", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T23:48:32", "content": "i dont trust diy things for supporting a life you don’t see me with a diy refibulator (prob because it will be 16kv at 230uf charged with a pole pig :-)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30054", "author": "fentanyl3", "timestamp": "2007-12-01T00:05:05", "content": "Hack on, I’m tired of seeing people screaming about the risk, just because it’s homemade doesn’t mean it’s inherently unsafe, if you don’t have the skills, then by all means don’t attempt it, but looks like the guy has chosen a fairly accurate process here, and lets say that he doesn’t have access to the 12bucks per fill scuba shop that other do, or lets say that for some unknown reason, the 12 bucks per fill scuba shop no longer exist, this guy won’t be left out in the cold.If people were scared to do things for themselves, then progress in all aspects of the world would slow to and excruciatingly slow paceHACK ON!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "8178485", "author": "Nitrous", "timestamp": "2025-09-11T19:22:42", "content": "Fentanyl. I agree with you completely. Fear has never stopped an idiot bent on taking a run at the Darwin Awards nor has it added much to a persons overall quest for answers. I doubt this guy has gotten into any difficulty with this build but he has gained a lot of experience in high pressure plumbing.", "parent_id": "30054", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "30055", "author": "Greg", "timestamp": "2007-12-01T00:13:15", "content": "“If someone could make one that outputs HPA at 45000PSI, I would love them forever!(it’s for paintballing)”45,000 PSI, sure would hate to get hit with that paintball. Not that it would be intact at that pressure.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "8178509", "author": "HaHa", "timestamp": "2025-09-11T20:26:42", "content": "You have to freeze the paintballs.", "parent_id": "30055", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "30056", "author": "fentanyl3", "timestamp": "2007-12-01T00:25:20", "content": "to add to that, it really make ABSOLUTELY no difference how dirty your working air is, or how much water vapor there is as it is completely isolated from the booster. If anyone disagrees please explain to me how contaminated air can escape one piston, travel through a solid steel bar, and permeate solid brass to contaminate your NOX tank?And if you know the volume of you tank it’s simple mathematics to determine the EXACT amount or percentage you have of each gas only by measuring the presure change as the gas is being added. So, again, hack on, and kudos to the dude for coming up with a way to do something on his own.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30057", "author": "joelanders", "timestamp": "2007-12-01T03:12:55", "content": "pedro the paintballer means 4500psi. an example of potentially lethal typos.@greg- that pressure is only for storage. it goes through a series of regulators before the air hits the ball. the final pressure is on the order of 100 psi, dependent on the marker and settings.if i ever find air at 45000 psi, i’ll strap a barrel on it and let you know…. hehehehe….I like this hack. never woulda thought 3000+ psi could be generated with a shop vac. the force multiplying lever idea is pretty slick. one more machine off my list of “how the hell does that work?” devices.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30058", "author": "Rob", "timestamp": "2007-12-01T05:02:09", "content": "I think anytime the words DIY and Scuba are beside each other you are bound to get a negative reaction. Simalar alarm bells go off when I hear DIY base jumping, DIY heart surgery, DIY fusion reacation and the like", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30059", "author": "BrianB", "timestamp": "2007-12-01T07:38:51", "content": "If you don’t understand how a booster works then by all means don’t even consider messing with any boosters (let alone a homemade design like mine). And if you don’t understand Partial Pressure blending and the risks of high pressure gases then it goes double…fentanyl3 has it right (thanks)“just because it’s homemade doesn’t mean it’s inherently unsafe, if you don’t have the skills, then by all means don’t attempt it”“to add to that, it really make ABSOLUTELY no difference how dirty your working air is, or how much water vapor there is as it is completely isolated from the booster. If anyone disagrees please explain to me how contaminated air can escape one piston, travel through a solid steel bar, and permeate solid brass to contaminate your NOX tank?”For the person who commented about Vance Harlows “Oxygen Hackers Cookbook” you might want to check out his “Improvised and Low Cost HP Boosters” airspeedpress.com. Guess what you will see in there? Yep, my booster…As far as cost savings mixing recreational Nitrox there are none. This was a costly project which required a year of continual development. The reason to do it was my local dive shop went under and the closest place to get mix and deco bottles filled was 100-miles away. It has saved a lot of money topping off partially used Trimix fills. With a set of doubles filled with 16/45 (16%O2, 45%He, 39%N) running almost $100.00 plus two deco bottles 50/50 and 100%o2 running $30-$40each the booster has paid for itself. Please don’t send me hate mail about 100%O2. Contrary to what most recreational agencies teach there is a place in Technical diving for it and other Voodoo Gas mixes we use.In regards to the comment on the lack of an over pressure valve. If you do the math the shop air pressure multiplied by the ratios of the pistons and lever arm will only allow the supply gas to be boosted to a maximum of 3200psi (well within the range of all my tanks).This booster has served me well for the past six years. Boosting O2 and He into hundreds of tanks then topping with air from my compressor (with homemade hyper filter stacks). I’ve dove these mixes to over 265′ with deco obligations up to 100 minutes.Would I build this again? No! It was much harder than I ever thought and there is still room for improvement (especially in the spool valve arrangement). If I had to start over I’d bite the bullet and buy a Haskell but then again I’d have missed out on a lot of learning and a great feeling of accomplishment.There is nothing wrong with DIY scuba except you can’t sue the manufacture :-) Heck I know people building DIY Rebreathers.Play safe but always ask questions such as:How does that work?How could I build one of those?Regards,Brian B.PS – I don’t respond to flames but will answer questions as time permits.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30060", "author": "M4CGYV3R", "timestamp": "2007-12-01T09:36:34", "content": "This is a great little mechanism for increasing force – I never would have thought a simple lever would be so effective.To all those thinking “This is dangerous!” – that’s fine, don’t do it.And to Pedro and anyone talking about Paintballing, this would be right on for filling an HPA or Nitrous tank @ about 3000 – 4000 PSI. I may have to try it out.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30061", "author": "mike", "timestamp": "2007-12-01T13:50:17", "content": "Maybe DIY scuba isn’t the best example, but still, if getting the mixture right is that important then the only way to guarantee it is done right is to do what this guy is doing. It’s kind of the point of doing something yourself.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30062", "author": "Chris", "timestamp": "2007-12-01T18:33:34", "content": "As an enriched air diver, there are a couple of misconceptions on this board – first, every NITROX diver is trained to analyze the mix after filling with a gauge – so by the time this guy straps the tank on, he knows what he’s breathing. Additionally, filling an empty tank with a certain pressure of 100% O2 and topping it up with compressed air (from a certified, clean SCUBA compresser) is a pretty accepted method for mixing enriched air – I know professional divers who roll their own helium mixes this way. The advantage to the method shown here is that your tank does not need to be ‘oxygen clean’ – you can still use rubber vs viton o-rings, etc.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30063", "author": "Ed3", "timestamp": "2007-12-01T19:03:17", "content": "@srilyk: Mythbusters Special 8: JAWS Special – They did several JAWS movie related myths, including shooting a scuba tank to make it explode. They didn’t make a tank “explode” persay (eg. shear open), but they did find great ways to make a tank decompress in uncontrollable manners.See also Episode 63: Air Cylinder Rocket where they made bulk gas cylinders fly through concrete block walls.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30064", "author": "pedro", "timestamp": "2007-12-01T23:24:02", "content": "joelanders, yes, thanks for correcting that. I added an extra 0 on the end, and did in fact mean 4.5k PSI.for anyone who’s interested, I use a 1.1 litre carbon fibre wrapped steel tank to store high pressure air at 4.5k PSI, which gets regulated down by my tank reg to 850 PSI. that then gets lowered to about 130 PSI by my inline regulator before going through a solenoid and bolt assembly.it costs me like Â£1 to get my tank filled or free for when I’m at a field playing, but it would be nice to have a compressor to have infinite fills while at home training", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "8178490", "author": "Nitrous", "timestamp": "2025-09-11T19:34:17", "content": "Hey Pedro, I think most if not all carbon fibre HPA cylinders are made around an aluminum inner liner. Inner steel liners would defeat the weight and corrosion advantages that an aluminum liner offers. Some low pressure CF cylinders use a polymer liner.", "parent_id": "30064", "depth": 2, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "8178502", "author": "JustSayin", "timestamp": "2025-09-11T20:07:46", "content": "The toyota mirai’s tanks hold hydrogen at 10,000 psi (700 bar) and they have no steel, nor aluminum liners. Their construction features a polyamide liner, carbon fiber reinforced plastic wound wrapping, surrounded by a glass fiber-reinforced plastic casing.And as for steel vs aluminum, in a tank liner scenario the strength of the tank comes from the composite not the liner so the weight is not necessarily greater. And the corrosion resistance of aluminum is less than that of many stainless steels, so none of your concerns are really of concern.", "parent_id": "8178490", "depth": 3, "replies": [] } ] } ] }, { "comment_id": "30065", "author": "Greg", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T19:08:41", "content": "“greg- that pressure is only for storage. it goes through a series of regulators before the air hits the ball. the final pressure is on the order of 100 psi, dependent on the marker and settings.”I know, I used to play, the tanks have regulators on them and a lot of guys would add a second one especially if they had a low pressure marker.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30066", "author": "Dave", "timestamp": "2007-12-04T23:57:33", "content": "All these Nancy woofters, Pooing desist. Due to various medical problems, I can’t get dive certified, so I have to free drive, buy rebreatehrs on ebay, and get ex military kit. So long as you are sensible, it is less risky than stopping in Miami for directions.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "8178491", "author": "Nitrous", "timestamp": "2025-09-11T19:39:16", "content": "Not to chime in needlessly, but having a medical reason preventing you from becoming certified puts you into a completely different category of risk than most on this site. Your circumventing the short comings of being prohibited from buying compressed gases makes the risks of a DIY booster seem trivial. 🤡", "parent_id": "30066", "depth": 2, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "8178498", "author": "JustSayin", "timestamp": "2025-09-11T19:54:17", "content": "Not to chime in needlessly, but youre comments are in reply to a nearly 18 year old post. Maybe Dave’s, then infant, son can reply to you.", "parent_id": "8178491", "depth": 3, "replies": [] } ] } ] }, { "comment_id": "30067", "author": "Greg", "timestamp": "2007-12-05T03:09:34", "content": "Oh sweet merciful jesus this is dangerous. DO NOT BE DOING THIS UNLESS YOU’RE A CERTIFIED NITROX GAS BLENDER.This is a great way to kill yourself — even from something as simple as opening a gas relief valve too fast (Avoid Quarter Turn Knobs — read into adiabatic compression.) Even using the wrong material for the gas lines can cause sparking or an explosion.Editors should seriously think of pulling this down… if you’re not ticketed or licensed to do this, you can really screw up badly — blowing up your house, or at worst — getting yourself killed. And gibbed in the process.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30068", "author": "ynh", "timestamp": "2007-12-06T06:02:10", "content": "This project should not be used unless you REALLY know what you are doing. I not uncomfortable going to places that use something like this to boost o2. Professionally manufactured equipment with proper maintenance and with yearly gas testing is a different story. I would be willing to use this DIV project like this for non-volatile gases like helium for tri-mix or for argon for dry suit inflation, but o2+oil+heat is bad mojo.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "8178494", "author": "Nitrous", "timestamp": "2025-09-11T19:43:44", "content": "If you’re referring to helium as a non-volatile gas, I think staying away from this sort of thing would be one of the smarter decisions you’re going to make.", "parent_id": "30068", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "30069", "author": "AdamS", "timestamp": "2007-12-06T10:01:50", "content": "Chris… are you insane?!? Any tank or reg that is going to touch enriched air should be o2 cleaned per the manufacturer’s specifications at every service date (visualizes and hydros for tanks and rebuilds for regs.) Paying the extra $0.15 for the viton o-rings and $15 for the tank cleaning maybe over kill, but I’d rather do over kill then be killed. Take it from someone who has certs in full o2 deco diving and tri-mix blender, don’t do it. Home made fin straps, wrist slates, etc, are cool and not life support. Do you think the astronaut make their own gas pumps?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30070", "author": "Shabby", "timestamp": "2007-12-17T14:56:49", "content": "Informated Article… Appreciated!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "72060", "author": "jones", "timestamp": "2009-04-29T15:26:29", "content": "Hello Owner.Am MrJerry Jones. and i will like to make some special inquiries on some Scuba Tank or any Scuba Tankyou have . Below are some of the types Scuba Tank i will need.Type BelowXS SCUBA Neutral Aluminum 80cf TanksLuxfer 40 cu. ft. scuba tanksAl 40 ft Tank.Al 80 ft TankAbove listed are some of the Size of the Scuba Tank i will like to order. I will like you to get back to me with the pick up price of those Sizes Tanks which will include tax only. and also if you don’t have this types of the Scuba Tank and the sizes Then i will Advice you to email me the types of the Scuba Tank you have along with the sizes and the Price Or you can email me the Website of your Company .Also i will like to know the forms of payment you accept for your orders. Kindly advise and get back to me. I will be awaiting your feedback on this email.Mr.MrJerry JonesReplyForward", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "140908", "author": "Krystyna Leibfried", "timestamp": "2010-05-08T14:44:18", "content": "Need to develop the main subject a little be more.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "142854", "author": "fish tank", "timestamp": "2010-05-17T02:00:27", "content": "Hello there, I found this website once, then lost it. Took me forever to come back and find it. I wanted to observe what comments you got. Nice blog by the way.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "3383955", "author": "Billy Blue", "timestamp": "2017-01-27T15:32:53", "content": "Hi Brian Hows your pump holding up I was looking at a design of a waterjet pump the other day and noted they designed the compression cylinder so the rod had no sideways pressure on the bore. Linear rod shafts are cheap these days so some type of design using rods to reduce sideways foce on the piston may help reduce wear on the piston and the o rings. Of couurse you have built one im just talking about it. Anyway its fun to see your results. Im glad there are achievers like you around and not just naysayers and Hector the safety cat types who think anything technical is beyond anyone but experts.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "6257185", "author": "Daniel Schultz", "timestamp": "2020-06-24T12:30:03", "content": "When I started Tech diving 15 years ago, Trimix, 50%, and 100% fills were difficult to come by (3.5 hr round trip to drop off, same to pick up), and so through research found vance harlow’s books Oxygen Hacker and Improvised Boosters. After some extensive study of these materials and from other sources, built a hydraulically powered oxygen clean booster. Worked OK, but wasn’t optimal. Took some parts and learned knowledge from first attempt and assembled an improved version, which has been pumping primarily 100%oxygen for 8 dive seasons, with no problems. Was a lot of work doing the custom machining of piston, figuring out how to safely manage all mechanical stresses and HP oxygen considerations, but has been an essential tool for my home mixing. A few years ago found a Haskel Booster at a reasonable price, but rarely use it, my homemade one is quieter and more energy efficient , although slower output. (The haskel is better for filling larger cylinders). The coolest part was figuring out how to get it to cycle automatically….just two relays needed in a “hold circuit”). Fair warning, anyone messing with high pressure gases, especially high % of oxygen, should read Harlows books and do some additional research before proceeding. And some engineering savvy/mechanical aptitude wouldn’t hurt……", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,857.227794
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/29/nes-inside-a-controller-with-cartridge-compatibility/	NES Inside A Controller With Cartridge Compatibility	Will O'Brien	[ "home entertainment hacks" ]	[]		[Tony] sent in this Nintendo hack. It’s a fully functioning NES with Composite output inside an old school controller. On the back it’s got a cartridge connector, so you can play normal games, there’s a port for a second player/light gun, and for extra bling, the Nintendo logo is backlit. To pull it off, he stuffed a Super Joy III – A.K.A. famiclone inside the controller, did a marathon of soldering for the cartridge connector, and used the now unused controller wires to carry the video and second controller signals. Yes, this has been around for a while, but I dig it. permalink	10	10	[ { "comment_id": "30029", "author": "war6763", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T07:57:39", "content": "Man, this hack is a couple months old, at least!!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30030", "author": "thethirdmoose", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T08:30:42", "content": "Nice… All it needs now is a monitor =P", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30031", "author": "El fluffo", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T08:55:23", "content": "Ben did this a long time ago this is old news", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30032", "author": "Corey", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T15:09:47", "content": "This is very obvious, but you may too do it.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30033", "author": "biqut2", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T18:13:27", "content": "Im seeing this for the first time and I think its a pretty cool idea.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30034", "author": "steve diraddo", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T21:06:05", "content": "now try to fit original nes parts inside a controller. thatsa hack i’d pay to see o_o", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30035", "author": "sgt_easton", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T22:19:42", "content": "@steveYeah, and make it work every time (unlike the original)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30036", "author": "Freshnessninja", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T23:50:08", "content": "they say that you can now software emulate a sega into a watch sized device… which really just makes me suprised that wasn’t the case here.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30037", "author": "Josh", "timestamp": "2007-12-01T04:29:43", "content": "Ugh. Guys, this is NOT Ben’s work. I’m a moderator at his forums, and this project was made by a member there. So please, give credit where it’s due, people! :P", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30038", "author": "nes", "timestamp": "2007-12-21T02:30:46", "content": "The illumiated Nintendo logo looks wicked. Had a go at doing the same thing myself with a SNES cart. Results here:http://www.geocities.com/neil_manc/snes-cart/index.htm", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,857.559766
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/28/mic-preamp-in-an-ipod-touch-dock-connector/	Mic Preamp In An IPod Touch Dock Connector	Will O'Brien	[ "ipod hacks" ]	[]		[Marian] sent in his sweet little Mic preamp that he built for his iPod touch. He built the circuit on the legs of a TLC272 OP-Amp with SMD components. The whole thing actually fits inside the cover of a standard iPod dock connector. Bonus: [tnkgrl] added a USB bluetooth adapter to her eeePC after her circuit tracing efforts . permalink	29	28	[ { "comment_id": "30019", "author": "frank", "timestamp": "2007-11-29T07:53:39", "content": "What’s the point of this? I don’t have an ipod touch – is it anything different to the plug-in mics you could get for the older ipods?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "6207883", "author": "aetchip", "timestamp": "2020-01-06T11:57:09", "content": "Can you send schematic for this please don’t know how use. Thanks", "parent_id": "30019", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "30020", "author": "DarkAxi0m", "timestamp": "2007-11-29T08:22:12", "content": "I don’t have a touch either, but sometimes you get better recordings when you have a preamp on the mic.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30021", "author": "kaelb", "timestamp": "2007-11-29T09:41:59", "content": "this is the most simple, useful, and cool looking ipod accessory i have ever seen.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30022", "author": "threepointone", "timestamp": "2007-11-29T11:01:29", "content": "surface mount the op-amp and it’ll fit easier than cake. If you’re up for some uber-miniaturization, pick out some of those TINY opamps maxim has (I think they’re on the scale of those SOT transistor packages). Since it’s only one channel, this makes it even easier–I’d imagine with some really tiny passives (0201/0402 anyone?). Of course, the soldering gets even more difficult. I’d imagine you could fit this whole thing under the microphone–maybe if you’re really, really, really up to the challenge you could fit the whole thing under the mic and encapsulate it with some epoxy for an ultra-miniature amplified mic.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30023", "author": "fartface", "timestamp": "2007-11-29T17:16:39", "content": "you get FAR better recording with a battery box than with a preamp.Allowing that microphone to swing a full 9 volts instead of the paltry voltage a ipod gives it always sounds better.too bad the ipod wont record good. Gotta love my iriver that allows stereo 48khz at 384kbps mp3 recording with manual level control. Kicks the crud out of any ipod.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30024", "author": "marian", "timestamp": "2007-11-29T22:44:04", "content": ">>> is it anything different to the plug-in mics you could get for the older ipods?The commercial mic plugs are “signed” and communicate with the iPod. in case they were not licensed to a given iPod generation, the iPod says “not supported”. however, this design is pure analog, and is compatible with all iPods with LineIn pins.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30025", "author": "T-Dog", "timestamp": "2007-12-03T08:03:24", "content": "Its not to record crap its for Voip…u can use the i touch like the iphone thanks to him now, if u hav an i touch use sum voip software and ur making calls..pretty sweet gotta get the plans for that to do to mine.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30026", "author": "Tabansi", "timestamp": "2007-12-10T10:00:46", "content": "Informated Article… Appreciated!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30027", "author": "Earl", "timestamp": "2007-12-26T02:52:06", "content": "I got the $25 Walmart ipod iVoice to work with vnotes which means the touch will work with voip when it comes out 1-1-08. The mod to the unit is not too hard. U4 is a Max9812 like the one the mic project boys have been working on. The ‘secret’ is to remove R24 (a 0 ohm) resister near the very edge of the board. One side is connected to pin 1 of U4. That is the amp chip enable pin. The pin is low via other hardware on the board.Now wire from where the R24 U4 was to one side of the LED. That will put 3.3 VDC on pin 1 of U4 turning it ON ! Now the mic amp is on and working.The beauty of all this is the mic is available at Walmart for $25 and it has a line in plug to boot !I hope this helps further the voip project by making the mic available nearly everywhere.Earlhttp://macally.comIt is the iVoice III", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30028", "author": "Andrew Goldie", "timestamp": "2008-02-18T00:56:27", "content": "Hi i am from the UK and the ipod touch is now in full swing over here. i would like to make some of these for the UK. where do I get the parts from?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "42548", "author": "hacker 711[COLLIN SHEEHAN ]", "timestamp": "2008-09-19T12:22:50", "content": "cool", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "56417", "author": "Björn Wahlsten", "timestamp": "2008-12-24T12:53:44", "content": "I did it my way:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbnic23_ucw", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "56978", "author": "zsolt12346", "timestamp": "2008-12-28T11:24:50", "content": "Where is the sim card dock??? It’s not phone!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "57167", "author": "buxto", "timestamp": "2008-12-29T23:46:33", "content": "It’s not a phone or iPhone..It’s a ipod for music..so ?Best regards..", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "69429", "author": "Chip Tuning", "timestamp": "2009-04-06T16:21:46", "content": "Hi, I am from Hungary. I would like to buy ipod touch for myself. Where can I do that in the uk?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "76243", "author": "jorge", "timestamp": "2009-05-26T07:38:20", "content": "please my name is george now view conexion por ipot touch amicrofones please conexion jorge lima peru", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "77504", "author": "freeipodtouch", "timestamp": "2009-06-07T10:42:52", "content": "At last a blog with the information I needed thank you.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "81313", "author": "jesse", "timestamp": "2009-07-13T03:33:46", "content": "can i have the specs or components needed for this ipod touch hack? i’ up for the challenge of making one for my ipod… please send me the list of components on my mail thanks!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "83080", "author": "jono", "timestamp": "2009-07-26T07:37:18", "content": "Does anyone have info for this saved any where? coz the touchmod site seems to be down and i cant find any info anywhere.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "87244", "author": "free ipod touch", "timestamp": "2009-08-16T22:38:28", "content": "I had been informed about this from a friend (who pointed me here) so thanks for making it available.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "110697", "author": "Chiptuner Kft chiptuning", "timestamp": "2009-12-07T14:17:54", "content": "Very good tool,thanks!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "113557", "author": "arak", "timestamp": "2009-12-27T07:01:52", "content": "Anyone has schematic and components list for this great tool?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "133749", "author": "DaffyDad", "timestamp": "2010-04-02T06:25:02", "content": "I am looking for a circuit diagram for inputing sound through the dock port of an iPhone or iPod", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "134180", "author": "iPad Accessories", "timestamp": "2010-04-04T11:44:24", "content": "I can not wait until the ipad is out in britain, i’ve come across several reviews online coming from Us clients also it seems amazing. I’ve seen a few incredible add-ons ^ just about to happen also! ipad PWNS!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "162618", "author": "Jerry", "timestamp": "2010-07-27T16:44:37", "content": "Please can someone sendme information & details of the circuit, the link is dead.jzarga(at)hotm…complease I need do this harware to use with skype.thanks.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "4976427", "author": "marian", "timestamp": "2018-09-03T13:02:20", "content": "schematic and tutorial here", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "6207880", "author": "aetchip", "timestamp": "2020-01-06T11:54:34", "content": "Hello! Iterrested for your tool. How can i buy please?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "6207881", "author": "aetchip", "timestamp": "2020-01-06T11:56:11", "content": "iPhone looking thos tool for my phone how can i use?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,857.622673
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/27/pen-size-polonium-detector/	Pen Size Polonium Detector	Will O'Brien	[ "Misc Hacks" ]	[]		[cartufer] sent in this sweet little Polonium detector . It’s fundamentally similar to the Geiger counter the other day, but the circuit is simpler by several orders of magnitude. No exotic parts for this one, just some basic metal working skills. (This might be handy when I visit my in-laws.) The page is loaded with several ion detection designs, from simple to very complex . permalink	13	13	[ { "comment_id": "30007", "author": "jose lope", "timestamp": "2007-11-28T08:04:49", "content": "hmmm.. I wonder if you could get this through airport security…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30008", "author": "andrew", "timestamp": "2007-11-28T15:51:34", "content": "haha, well, probably. as long as it doesn’t contain organic material, it won’t appear on the x-ray machine as being hazardous. if you keep it in a carry-on bag they probably won’t notice.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30009", "author": "Wolf", "timestamp": "2007-11-28T18:16:10", "content": "To #2maybe, but judging by that guy that was almost arrested for having a minty boost in his carry on, I don’t even want to know what security would do if they found one of these", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30010", "author": "srilyk", "timestamp": "2007-11-28T20:16:30", "content": "Me:”Honest! It’s just a Polonium detector!”TSA Official: “TURN AROUND NOW!”Me: I don’t understand!TSA Official:Me: “AUUUUUGGGGGGRRRH!”TSA Official:Okay, well maybe the taser thing is a bit far.Actually TSA searched me because I had wires and CDs near eachother. Oh noes! They might copy themselves, causing the RIAA to send a tactical nuke to destroy the nearest 50′ to “neutralize the threat” of copyright infringement!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30011", "author": "jimmys", "timestamp": "2007-11-28T23:52:50", "content": "I can’t think of any TSA or taser questions so I’ll ask one about the detector project.The article specifies using a brass tube with a copper nail probe and copper mesh screen as the ion chamber.The author ‘suggests’ the screen be copper but how critical is the probe/canister material?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30012", "author": "cartufer", "timestamp": "2007-11-29T05:32:23", "content": "jimmys, the purpose of the copper screen is to block rf, the purpose of the tube is to be a conductive ground, so just keep it metal and fairly conductive", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30013", "author": "Crash", "timestamp": "2007-11-29T07:29:05", "content": "What the hell is polonium and why does it matter?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30014", "author": "bgugi", "timestamp": "2007-11-29T07:47:07", "content": "okay, so i will say it now… i become randomly obsessed with one thing or another as time progresses: now it is the “true” random number generator, and this seems wonderful.Here is my hodgepodge of an idea:first you build one of the ones higher on the page, then you connect the voltage meter to a transistor (to turn it into a button-like signal) which is then connected to the circuit from an old joystick (in place of a button) (the joystick is used as a computer interface without all kinds of fancy circuits and ic’s to program and etc. (this also seems to add a bit of f’up proof (i.e. wont fry your computer)you then hook it up to a computer, write a simple program to interpret the clicks of the joystick button as events, and basically do it like hotbitshttp://www.fourmilab.ch/hotbits/or am i just a raving fool?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30015", "author": "larry sanchez", "timestamp": "2007-11-29T08:38:34", "content": "Another (radioactive), and probably easier random number generator uses a webcam and a Alpha Radiation source(such as that out of a household smoke alarm). The source needs to be infront of the camera, in a completely dark environment, e.g. a lead box. As Alpha particles hit the CCD they create small pulses of what the camera thinks is light. These fall in a completely random fashion- all you need is software to count where these pulses happen – and there’s your random number generator! I remember seeing this on the web ages ago..dono where thoughAs for #7 Try googling Alexander Litvinenko….", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30016", "author": "jimmys", "timestamp": "2007-11-29T10:23:35", "content": "#6: thanks. I’ve got some copper and alum tubing but no brass right now.#8,9: here’s one from last yearhttp://www.hackaday.com/2006/06/25/alpha-radiation-visualizer/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30017", "author": "bgugi", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T01:24:15", "content": "to 9 and 10that was what i was thinking about originally, however i thought that the software would end up being too complex, as i think it would be easier to program something to read button events than to interpret video, i don’t know, i do not program. the other thing is that this will probably require much less compensation for bias, making the numbers more truly random", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30018", "author": "Corey", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T15:09:51", "content": "This is very obvious, but you may too do it.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "3727457", "author": "portões em curitiba", "timestamp": "2017-07-05T09:06:32", "content": "Muito bom informação . Sorte me encontrei seu site por acaso (stumbleupon).Tenho salvou como favorito para mais tarde!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,858.100335
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/26/python-web-based-serial-control/	Python Web Based Serial Control	Will O'Brien	[ "Cellphone Hacks", "Misc Hacks", "Robots Hacks" ]	[]		[Benjamin] sent in his efforts to use Python to provide a web interface for his Aurdino. Python is usually pretty easy to manipulate, so it might be just the thing for someone looking to add a web control to a project with an open serial interface. If you’ve got a hack you want to share, use the tips line . permalink	7	7	[ { "comment_id": "30000", "author": "Aten", "timestamp": "2007-11-27T08:46:43", "content": "Wow I was just talking to a friend about doing something of this sort", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30001", "author": "Mike", "timestamp": "2007-11-27T10:56:29", "content": "I’ve used PHP to add serial control to stuff. It’s pretty easy to implement as if its running on a Linux box you can just use ‘echo “stufftosend” > /dev/ttys0’ commands.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30002", "author": "smith", "timestamp": "2007-12-05T19:58:49", "content": "I find it a lot easier to do something on Android than symbian, power to the linux lovers!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30003", "author": "Tabansi", "timestamp": "2007-12-10T10:00:52", "content": "Informated Article… Appreciated!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30004", "author": "phonejammer", "timestamp": "2008-02-13T21:47:47", "content": "check out this cool product to jamm cell phone callshttp://www.phonezapper.net", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30005", "author": "phonejammer", "timestamp": "2008-02-13T21:56:36", "content": "check out this cool product to jam cell phone callshttp://www.phonezapper.net", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "30006", "author": "phonejammer", "timestamp": "2008-02-13T21:57:16", "content": "check out this cool product to jam cell phone callshttp://www.phonezapper.net", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,857.96586
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/26/google-as-a-password-cracker/	Google As A Password Cracker	Will O'Brien	[ "Misc Hacks" ]	[ "cracker", "hacked", "haha", "password" ]		Usually we’re into hardware hacks, but once in a while I run across something that’s just too good. [Steven]’s blog was cracked a while back, and while he was doing forensics, he was trying to crack the md5 hashed password for the unauthorized account. Eventually he slapped the hash into Google, and guess that it was ‘Anthony’ based on the results that came up. Thanks to [gr] for pointing it out. (Yes, I know it was on Slashdot a few days ago, but I don’t care.)	24	24	[ { "comment_id": "29976", "author": "Jeroen Domburg", "timestamp": "2007-11-26T19:20:12", "content": "And this is why you should salt your hashes.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29977", "author": "Skyler Orlando", "timestamp": "2007-11-26T19:43:25", "content": "That is cool… and scary… simultaneously. I’ll have to try that next time I hack Microsoft. :-P", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29978", "author": "thermald", "timestamp": "2007-11-26T20:24:35", "content": "Not to mention ketchup and tabasco sauce.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29979", "author": "Joe", "timestamp": "2007-11-26T22:06:14", "content": "This is only useful if Google has at one point indexed a hash and its decrypted counter-part (which is highly unlikely), and if you can actually get your hands on the hash in the first place! Your better off using a reverse MD5 database utility like this one: md5.benramsey.com", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29980", "author": "Matt", "timestamp": "2007-11-26T23:47:47", "content": "This is equivalent to saying, look my name is in google!Nothing really special about it and there are much better tools for doing it.Now if google included a reverse lookup for md5 that would be something to talk about.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29981", "author": "Jason", "timestamp": "2007-11-27T00:25:25", "content": "Actually, this is more effective than you would think–it worked for me in a test situation 15 times out of 20.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29982", "author": "sean", "timestamp": "2007-11-27T00:53:54", "content": "thats pretty interesting, i was looking for a similar hash to decrypt, i’m not sure if it’s md5, but I wish i thought of it.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29983", "author": "???", "timestamp": "2007-11-27T01:30:26", "content": "You know, google tracks every search.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29984", "author": "errabbaa", "timestamp": "2007-11-27T01:51:39", "content": "so , it s nice what i m saying , i already test it, but it doesn’t work every time, if it’s stored in some pages we can say it but not every timei think that i will speak about that in my blog if u wanna let a comment :http://amedupirate.c.la", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29985", "author": "FRODUS", "timestamp": "2007-11-27T03:59:49", "content": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MD5#_note-5http://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2007/11/16/google-as-a-password-cracker/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29986", "author": "Jordan", "timestamp": "2007-11-27T05:26:42", "content": "ya… This just goes to show that you should definetly salt your hashes, but some people are just too stupid / lazy to do so.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29987", "author": "cde", "timestamp": "2007-11-27T07:57:30", "content": "Even better. You can take a password, hash it, then search google for the hash to find out if other admins have used it as a password :D", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29988", "author": "TJhooker", "timestamp": "2007-11-27T08:03:56", "content": "If this works on production site or database then the people there must be morons.It’s the equivalent of having your password guessed by a human..literally. Hash tables work on the same model. They don’t actually attack the algorithm just the lack of creativity by a user base.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29989", "author": "NNM", "timestamp": "2007-11-27T12:53:42", "content": "That’s why you have to add some “custom” encryption and not rely on built in functions…Simply reading/translating a sha1 or md5 takes 0.0002 seconds and about 5 lines of code…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29990", "author": "samodelkin", "timestamp": "2007-11-27T19:33:07", "content": "So if I googlefight MD5 hashes, I could check which passwords are used more often? I understand it wouldn’t be very accurate because people salt their hashes and stuff, but with googlefight, how convenient is that!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29991", "author": "beatnik", "timestamp": "2007-11-28T22:07:15", "content": "I think this is something people tend to be interested in check out try a MD5 herehttp://us.md5.crysm.net/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29992", "author": "Asi", "timestamp": "2007-11-29T03:40:56", "content": "hi,I dont know much about hashes and i got a question: i got this hash “JR:1003:aad3b435b51404eeaad3b435b51404ee:37c088d8d1e18c245c25483c5fd5314d/empty/:How can i know if is ntlm or md5? and if is ntlm there is a way to convert it in md5? thanks for the help", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29993", "author": "Angus", "timestamp": "2007-11-29T07:17:03", "content": "While using Google to crack MD5 passwords is interesting and useful, I don’t think it’s really worth posting about. I thought this use of Google was obvious; I’ve done it myself a few times.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29994", "author": "xoomthemodder", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T10:13:28", "content": "hmm lets hash a passwordhttp://www.zappersoftware.com/Help/md5.phptake hash pop it into Google and trys it….op my password looks good, not in Google.I would think this only works for a dictionary of common words. Trick is add #’s to your passwords people. Lets be smart.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29995", "author": "dubayou", "timestamp": "2007-12-01T08:55:13", "content": "I wrote this sitehttp://www.md5crack.comto do this with relative ease. check it out", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29996", "author": "infin8", "timestamp": "2007-12-04T04:14:45", "content": "Uhmm.. what is an md5 hash?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29997", "author": "Billy", "timestamp": "2007-12-16T05:55:35", "content": "Funny, when I $ `echo anthony \| md5sum`, I get “e4ea5477492b160a8d7aeac1fb16d107 -“", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29998", "author": "Kristina Horvat", "timestamp": "2008-01-03T08:24:08", "content": "Hello. I am woman. Could you help me, that I find out password of Admin of one forum? I am from Croatia and in one Forum, they behave very very unfair to me. So, now I want to log myself as Admin, and do one little funny revenge to them. Could you tell me what is the way for doing that? Thank you. Some Trojan program, or something similar?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29999", "author": "Kristina", "timestamp": "2008-01-03T09:18:04", "content": "Could you please move my surname? :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,858.305555
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/25/slr-lenses-on-your-digital-video-camera/	SLR Lenses On Your Digital Video Camera	Will O'Brien	[ "digital cameras hacks", "Misc Hacks" ]	[ "analog slr", "AnalogSlr", "camera", "canon ae-1", "CanonAe-1", "SLR", "video" ]		Considering all the attention we give digital cameras, I wanted to find an interesting hack for those old school analog SLR cameras. (I spent a fair share of time behind one; I’m fond of the classic Canon AE-1) [Joshua] mated his Sony VX-2000e video camera with a Canon FD lens mount and created this monster. With the new lens mount, he’s got a full selection of lenses without the huge investment of specialized lenses. permalink	10	10	[ { "comment_id": "29969", "author": "Terry", "timestamp": "2007-11-26T08:34:41", "content": "Hmm… It’s been a while since I’ve used a 35-mm camera. Are digital cameras pushing the costs down on the older film-based camera lenses or does this create some expensive niche?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29970", "author": "Super_chris", "timestamp": "2007-11-26T08:48:21", "content": "Newer lens lines by Canon and Nikon have demolished the price of older manual focus lenses. You can get, high quality manual lenses for almost nothing. I use FD lenses on my rebel all the time, just wish the adapter was clearer. Just hit up eBay and you’ll see how cheap I mean.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29971", "author": "Orv", "timestamp": "2007-11-26T10:39:56", "content": "The problem with adapting FD-mount lenses to an EOS-mount camera like the Rebel is that the two are dimensionally incompatible. EOS-mount lenses sit closer to the film plane. FD-mount lenses on an adapter can’t focus to infinity unless the adapter contains extra optics, and of course that tends to lower the picture quality.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29972", "author": "fartface", "timestamp": "2007-11-26T17:29:28", "content": "Buy an old Canon Xl1 and call it done instead of trying to carry around a frankenstin that will fall apart.Cripes you can get the Xl1 for $1500.00 anywhere and it kicks the crap out of even the current prosumer HD cameras still because it comes with a awesome lens!I love how people cobble crap together instead of buying an older used item that does the same thing better.and yes you CAN get a SLR lens adapter for the XL1. it’s mighty cheap right now as well.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29973", "author": "tigeba", "timestamp": "2007-11-26T20:31:27", "content": "The benefit of mounting a 35mm lens on a small video camera is to obtain the same field of view and depth of field as a 35mm lens. From the looks of things, this particular hacker missed the boat by not including a ground glass or similar. There are many examples of DIY in this arena, and a number of them have become commercial products. Notably the Redrock M2http://www.redrockmicro.com/micro35.htmland the Cinevate Brevis 35http://www.cinevate.com/website/index.php", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29974", "author": "Christopher CHan", "timestamp": "2007-11-29T20:44:35", "content": "I believe it is a nicer idea to buy a Cannon pro cam, it can mount cannon camera lens", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29975", "author": "Steve Schaper", "timestamp": "2008-01-20T04:06:36", "content": "I’d like to know how to use an old 500 mm cat lens on my zoom digital (Kodak z612) for astrophotography. There must be some way to use an adapter tube, an adapter ring (I removed the Pentax bayonet mount ring from the lens) to do this. But how?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "52594", "author": "DilutedImage", "timestamp": "2008-11-28T08:52:29", "content": "Article link is dead …", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "108472", "author": "new canon slr", "timestamp": "2009-11-23T16:30:25", "content": "Your blog have many amazing content about slr camera. Thank you for share.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "141247", "author": "Maya Bailey", "timestamp": "2010-05-10T08:32:36", "content": "i own several Canon L Lenses and they have the best quality. even better than Nikon.-,-", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,858.503945
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/24/loooong-weekend-extra/	Loooong Weekend Extra	Will O'Brien	[ "Misc Hacks" ]	[]		It’s been one long holiday weekend for me. I’ve got a few interesting tidbits on the tips line, and it’s time to clear em out. (Thanks to my Father in Law who came to visit and re-painted my kitchen while I hauled no less than 800 lbs of scrap lumber from my driveway) If you’re a Nintendo DS fiend, you might dig this app that [xfiles.fan] sent in. It’s an IP based clone of the DS’s built in chat program. The upshot is that you can chat with anyone on the internet. (I just use IRC, but this is good if you can’t get to a server.) [Aaron] sent in the lastest version of his olympus E10 remote cable. Good for those shots that require some distance or just hands free to eliminate the shakes. [theprojectmaker] has an interesting writeup on making water color effects on digital photos using analog (post printing) techniques. It looks like you can do some things that even PhotoShop can’t accomplish, since you’re not limited by the pixel. [Dean] sent in his aluminum iBook picture frame after he noticed a mention in our Laptop HackIt asking for it.	4	4	[ { "comment_id": "29965", "author": "t0ny", "timestamp": "2007-11-25T10:32:12", "content": "Crap, the remote cable does not work for the E-500 even thou it has the same cables. :(I was hoping that would be easer to build for an trigger for my time lapse project. Off to buy a cheap rm1 remote to wire to my stamp chip. :/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29966", "author": "Shadyman", "timestamp": "2007-11-26T02:20:56", "content": "Woo! Nice frame :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29967", "author": "Skyler Orlando", "timestamp": "2007-11-26T03:29:17", "content": "The case isn’t too bad. It might look better if you ran it on a belt sander or something, then wire-brushed it. I don’t know; I’m not a machinist.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29968", "author": "medix", "timestamp": "2007-11-26T17:11:01", "content": "Good ‘ol 3M scratch pads (3 colors: green, brown, white.. looks like a thin brillo pad) work best for polishing aluminum. If you’ve taken good care of the material and it’s not terribly scratched then it’ll turn out ok. Start with either brown or green and then go to white.. Usually the coarse stuff is enough..If you have access to a glass beading cabinet (similar to sand blasting) then this will also produce a very nice satin finish. Wash all finger prints off with soap and hot water. Lacquer to protect surface.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,858.005664
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/23/rio-receiver-slimp3-emulator/	Rio Receiver SLIMP3 Emulator	Will O'Brien	[ "home entertainment hacks" ]	[]		[Roo] sent this in, and it took me a few minutes to see what’s so interested about a deprecated digital audio player. The Rio Receiver originally sold for about $350. Today it’s a dead product, but thanks to some software mods, it can be hacked to acquire the abilities of the SLIMP3(A.K.A. Squeezebox ) player. So score one of these puppies on ebay and thanks to a combination of a modified kernel for the player and some software on a linux box, you you turn that old Rio Receiver into a SLIMP3 emulator. permalink	10	10	[ { "comment_id": "29955", "author": "medix", "timestamp": "2007-11-24T09:56:37", "content": "Nice hack.. it’s good to see that there’s a way around having an old 386 chugging away just to play music..However..Does this mod allow for streaming of Pandora radio stations? That has been my main interest as far as the Squeezebox is concerned.. I’ve been praying that someone will come up with an open source option for their hardware (but then, they wouldn’t have a marketable product now would they?)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29956", "author": "darkphiber", "timestamp": "2007-11-24T21:21:33", "content": "Wikipedia is also helpful.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29957", "author": "darkphiber", "timestamp": "2007-11-24T22:01:52", "content": "Oops, guess links don’t work…that previous comment made me look like a prick. What I meant to say is anyone attempting this project should also check out the wiki article on the Rio to see other projects.http://www.mock.com/receiver/-Linux on the RIOhttp://www.reza.net/rio/-Client hackhttp://sourceforge.net/projects/rioplay/-Open Source client/server hack", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29958", "author": "Alexander", "timestamp": "2007-11-25T22:03:56", "content": "I would think it would be a lot easier to just get a old laptop and hook that up to your stereo. no?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29959", "author": "medix", "timestamp": "2007-11-26T17:06:26", "content": "In response to #4..Like many others, the sound card on a laptop just doesn’t cut it when it comes to good quality audio.. they weren’t meant to produce good sound (take a look at the specs for the squeeze box.. 24 bid burr-brown ADCs are top notch when it comes to digital audio reproduction)..Besides.. the laptop-stereo connection has already been done.. (not to be an ass)But, if the laptop’s what you have.. then go for it..", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29960", "author": "fartface", "timestamp": "2007-11-26T19:29:38", "content": "It would be a lot easier to buy a Turtle beach audiotron and quit messing with crappy mp3 devices that need server software.It blows my mind how all these devices are leaps backwards.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29961", "author": "medix", "timestamp": "2007-11-26T20:46:53", "content": "Price? ‘Leaps backwards’ aren’t always economical..You either have two things.. time or money. Usually, when you have one, you don’t have the other..Searching on ebay brings up several prices for these things used, however.. where’s the learning in using an ‘off-the-shelf’ product? (even if it IS outdated)There are other limits as well.. how do you upgrade one of these to use a larger drive? What if the firmware won’t support it? Then you have to hack it anyways..Besides, server based devices are usually attractive because most of us already have a netowrk in place..", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29962", "author": "George", "timestamp": "2007-11-28T04:38:25", "content": "Ummm… the Turtle Beach AudioTron is also no longer in production as far as I can tell, and also requires server software. So much for not taking leaps backwards.Now if only someone would write a new firmware for the Philips Streamium MC-i200 internet enabled stereo. That would really make my day.Thanks for pointing out this hack. I just bought one of these because of it.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29963", "author": "Shabby", "timestamp": "2007-12-17T14:56:54", "content": "Informated Article… Appreciated!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29964", "author": "Ron Smith", "timestamp": "2008-01-21T18:58:25", "content": "The Rio Receiver is a nice alternative for a small CD player with stereo speaker connections. The Turtle Beach Audiotron (RIP) requires no server side software, it can access NAS options so no computer needs to run 24/7. The Rio is limited (with stock software) to around 6,000 songs and the Audiotron is limited to around 33,000. They are both nice devices within their limitations and as far as I am concerned, the Audiotron has never been matched for ease of use. My old Audiotron would run 24/7 for months at a time without a hiccup streaming from a Linksys NSLU2 NAS box. I have yet to get any newer device to run as smoothly. I use a Rio in my bedroom as a nightstand player -my wife uses it mostly when she is doing her yoga. Sadly, my Audiotron died after several years of fine service and since I bought it on clearance for $115 it was one of the best electronic devices I have ever had the pleasure to own.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,858.14282
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/23/roboexotica-highlights/	Roboexotica Highlights	Eliot	[ "Robots Hacks" ]	[ "cocktail", "roboexotica", "roboexotica2007", "robot", "vienna" ]		After the break are some of our favorite bits of machinery from Roboexotica so far. To us the BF Ice Cube Gun, you first place your glass below the the target. Then you load your ice chunk into the CO2 powered cannon and fire. When it strikes the target the ice shatters and falls into the glass. If you hit the target accurately, it will also pour alcohol into the glass as well. Robomoji is a perennial favorite. The bot is incredibly ponderous but fun to watch as it makes mojitos. It squeezes limes, measures brown sugar, muddles everything, and even has a combination ice maker/crusher. The conference even embraces bar food bots as evidenced by the Perpetual Popper. The machine pops popcorn on single kernel at a time by placing it a the focusing point of a concave mirror. The whole unit acts as a heliostat orientation itself to the sun. Although not a robot, the most impressive shenanigans came from The Provider. monochrom decided to use a cement mixer to mix and serve screwdrivers. Sean Bonner provides us with videos of its first and last runs (you’ll see why). More photos are being added all the time to Flickr .	4	4	[ { "comment_id": "29951", "author": "Attackula", "timestamp": "2007-11-23T22:52:48", "content": "Thanks for the great pics. Wish I were closer to Vienna. Also, thank God for color! I appreciate the dark aesthetic, but I just", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29952", "author": "Janez D.", "timestamp": "2007-11-24T14:12:23", "content": "“Picku mater?” – Kdo od slovencev je pa bil tu gor? (Who of us Slovenians were there?)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29953", "author": "whitephatt", "timestamp": "2007-11-26T19:22:15", "content": "So… What happened to the screwdriver mixer?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29954", "author": "hans peter bierbaumer", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T05:03:24", "content": "aww… too bad i missed it :/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,858.048398
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/22/hackit-cocktail-robotics/	Hackit: Cocktail Robotics	Eliot	[ "HackIt", "Robots Hacks" ]	[ "cocktail", "HackIt", "roboexotica", "robot" ]		Here is a special edition Hackit in honor of Roboexotica . Ever since making the decision to attend Roboexotica we’ve been speculating on the type of machines we’d like to see at such an event. Here are a handful of ideas: Iceware via rapid prototyping: As we type this post, [ Bre ] is in the background attempting to build a RepRap style rapid prototyping machine that will construct shot glasses on demand. We were thinking it would be neat to cut beverage glasses out of blocks of ice using a milling machine, but why stick with normal milling equipment? It’s ice right; you could be doing something stupid like using a butane torch for your working tool. We then began to wonder “Has anyone built an ice based rapid prototyping machine?” You could just deposit water on a frozen surface to create your glassware. A group at the University of Missouri has been investigating “ rapid freeze prototyping “. Since they’re using water, they only have to create the frozen shell of the part and then fill in the empty cavity with water to create a solid. Industrial flare bot: Use two large industrial arms to perform cocktail flare moves. This is a similar idea to the juke_bots , industrial DJ bots. The goal would be to put on a good performance while attempting to appear less robotic than Tom Cruise ; shouldn’t be too hard. The separator: There are a few cocktails out there that are carefully poured so that they appear layered when served. We’d love to see a bot that clumsily mixes all of the ingredients together and then runs it through a centrifuge to create the desired product. Those are three of our ideas. Leave your cocktail robotics ideas in the comments-this whole discussion reminds me of those garbage disposal based margarita machines we saw a couple years ago.	19	19	[ { "comment_id": "29933", "author": "zawen32", "timestamp": "2007-11-23T03:20:27", "content": "ice? so much work for something that’ll melt away within minutes? youd have to make RAPID prototyping a lot more rapid. anyways RobÃ¶exotica was great. unfortunately i had to leave before i saw any of the robots perform. gonna check it out again tomorrow.. saw bre and his colleagues work on that prototyping machine..seemed like they couldnt get the heat right. nice work tho.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29934", "author": "mark", "timestamp": "2007-11-23T06:42:28", "content": "That’s pretty cool.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29935", "author": "Beowulf", "timestamp": "2007-11-23T06:46:33", "content": "I think it would be really cool to see a rapid prototyping ice machine. The idea of sitting at a bar and ordering a round of shots for my friends. The machine makes the shots glasses then fills them. That would be awesome. Perhaps using water dispense system, and some sort of coolent to freeze it after you place it. Perhaps liquid nitrogen. I think you could make it fast enough.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29936", "author": "Beowulf", "timestamp": "2007-11-23T06:47:59", "content": "What about just using a regular cnc router to mill it from a small block. Not as cool, but think how the ice sculpting business would change.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29937", "author": "jaded", "timestamp": "2007-11-23T06:48:50", "content": "Shot glasses will be “tough” to make durable. With little mass, they won’t be able to absorb much heat before melting. And alcohol dramatically lowers the freezing point of water, meaning the icy container will be attacked structurally by its contents at the same time. But I suppose a “shooter” doesn’t have to last too long.The idea I would offer for rapid prototyping in ice would be a hot-wire type of machine, similar to wire-EDM, using heat instead of sparks. Not sure how you’d make a concave surface, but it’s just an idea.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29938", "author": "cbm5", "timestamp": "2007-11-23T09:51:06", "content": "anything made out of ice with a cnc-like machine needs to be customized and very small quantity to be worthwhile, because of the ease and speed of simply using a mold to make complex ice shapes in large quantity. or else the machine needs to be able to make so many different types of objects, that it would be infeasible to store a lot of molds and prefrozen objects for immediate use.maybe take prefrozen ice shot glasses, and carve a fractally generated unique snowflake on every one?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29939", "author": "momotarosan", "timestamp": "2007-11-23T16:17:14", "content": "hot wire cut? I would prefer laser cnc ice sculptinghttp://www.laserspec.net/icerouter/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29940", "author": "Beanolini", "timestamp": "2007-11-23T16:57:27", "content": "#5: Any contents hotter than 0C would attack the ‘glass’ from within. Alcohol’s depression of the melting point could be an advantage here- a drink with a significant proportion of alcohol could be served at way below 0C. The ‘glass’ could also be cooled far below 0C so it lasts longer… though I don’t know how far you could go before it sticks to the drinker’s lips.I don’t think the centrifugal layering would work, however- this won’t separate miscible liquids, or it would be possible to centrifugally extract the alcohol from beer! Cream wouldn’t centrifuge out, either, as the act of shaking would produce an emulsion.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29941", "author": "IIVQ", "timestamp": "2007-11-23T19:45:11", "content": "Actually, Ice doesn’t melt that fast. I once did a project on it and a bar of ice 2″ thick can go from -60ish to 0 C in about 2 minutes, but will then take about an hour to melt down to half it’s thickness in room temperature.What you want is ice that has very little air bubbles in it – which act as insulation. Clear ice will have a high heat transfer and will go to 0 C very quickly, while “insulated ice” glasses with a thick bottom will have a cooler center.And actially, if you create the glasses on the spot, I don’t think they have to last for more than 5 or so minutes. Maybe someone should contact the ice hotel – they have ice glasses there.A cool thing would be a robotized coctail jet: One central location near the bar with a nozzle that can spray coctail – then a camera (or touch-sensitive bar) tracks the location of a glass, and the coctail jet projects a jet of beverage into the glass.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29942", "author": "zawen32", "timestamp": "2007-11-23T21:09:23", "content": "@beanolini:hm…the idea of pouring something down my throat thats “way below 0 C” worries me..imagine the ensueing brainfreeeeeeze.. :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29943", "author": "Skyler Orlando", "timestamp": "2007-11-24T02:54:29", "content": "A multi-armed chef that tosses salad ingredients… hopefully getting everything into the bowl.The ice idea is cool, though. I’ve seen on this site a “water printer”, combine that idea and make a “glass” picture…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29944", "author": "Blind", "timestamp": "2007-11-24T03:57:14", "content": "Skill crane style robot arm that travels along the ceiling of the bar. When you raise your glass above your head, the robot detects it, runs over above your glass and automatically pours a drink. The drink poured could be based on an hand held device that you can order on, an rfid or barcode in the glassware itself, or RFID on a membership card and a preprogrammed list of drinks each member can fill out before hand.Actually, the third one would probably be required to handle billing. But all in all, it would be a slick way to handle refills.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29945", "author": "Blind", "timestamp": "2007-11-26T05:25:43", "content": "Regarding the cocktail jetI thought about that, but I started wondering how good an idea it would be considering that you need to not only track the glassware, but you need to lead it. Well, ok, maybe it isn’t that big of a risk, but I don’t trust the customer not to move their glas while a stream shoots through the air.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29946", "author": "Blind", "timestamp": "2007-11-26T05:27:15", "content": "if you freeze foam (just water and air), will it be well insulated by the air pockets and stay frozen for a while or melt quickly due to the water itself being fairly thin?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29947", "author": "Corey", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T15:10:11", "content": "This is very obvious, but you may too do it.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29948", "author": "Tabansi", "timestamp": "2007-12-10T10:06:09", "content": "Informated Article… Appreciated!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29949", "author": "Shabby", "timestamp": "2007-12-17T14:56:58", "content": "Informated Article… Appreciated!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29950", "author": "magnus", "timestamp": "2008-01-01T17:09:05", "content": "some really nice thoughts – would like to see them realized at future roboexoticas :Dlayered cocktails: a team from silicon valley had planned to attend with their (bio-tech)bot that i ‘ve seen preparing layered micro-cocktails with great precision – but they were tied up in a takeover of their business in november and had to cancel, so i hope we’ll have them next year ..(see alsohttp://www.shifz.com/2007/06/awesome-bio-tech-micro-cocktail-making.html)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "285077", "author": "iş ilanları", "timestamp": "2010-12-16T19:33:37", "content": "The ice idea is cool, though. I’ve seen on this site a “water printer”, combine that idea and make a “glass” picture…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,858.363696
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/22/roboexotica-2007/	Roboexotica 2007	Eliot	[ "Robots Hacks" ]	[ "cocktail", "roboexotica", "robot", "vienna" ]		Tonight marks the kickoff of Roboexotica in Vienna. It’s the world’s leading festival for cocktail robotics. The event aims to explore the role of cocktail robotics as an index for the increasing integration of technological innovations into human lives. It also explores the explosion of radical hedonism in man-machine interaction. …or it’s just an excuse for a bunch of smart people to get together, build robots, and drink. The word ‘robotics’ seems to always imply ‘efficiency’, but that’s definitely a no-no at Roboexotica. Fine tuned manufacturer grade cocktail production is not the goal; personality, charm, character, all of these qualities are important in machinery destined for Roboexotica. You can already see some photos from the event setup on Flickr and we’ll be bringing you more posts on the individual machines as we get more information/drinks.	5	5	[ { "comment_id": "29929", "author": "ed", "timestamp": "2007-11-22T18:48:35", "content": "first", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29930", "author": "zawen32", "timestamp": "2007-11-22T19:50:43", "content": "hey, thats like 20 minutes from here.. gotta check it out i guess :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29931", "author": "iR377", "timestamp": "2007-11-23T18:51:57", "content": "If ever there was a time when robots will take over it will be now, when there creators are all too pissed to notice. I wish I where there.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29932", "author": "zappBrannigan", "timestamp": "2007-11-24T23:32:23", "content": "Does people not realize that those “strange” letters actually mean things, if your scandinavian, reading the text in the image is really strange because the Ã¶ is not even remotely an o", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "1348512", "author": "hi", "timestamp": "2014-04-14T11:32:07", "content": "OMG OMG RPI", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,858.407301
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/21/real-robots-from-movie-designs/	Real Robots From Movie Designs	Will O'Brien	[ "Robots Hacks" ]	[]		Thanks to Star Wars , Plenty of people have built their own R2 units. Pixar’s next movie has been running trailers for a while, and there’s already a group (free membership required) devoted to building real versions of the SGI robot star: WALL-E. I guess I’ll have to call it reverse-forward engineering. WALL-E has some interesting design ideas – it compacts trash into cubes, but it can also retract its treads into the same compacting area. (Pictured is a WALL-E style waste cube, by [Jawa Lunk]) Thanks to [Shannon] deserves the credit for turning me onto this one. permalink	12	12	[ { "comment_id": "29917", "author": "phunkphish", "timestamp": "2007-11-22T10:44:50", "content": "Nice. This shows up my, everything pretty much. 1st comment, so fresh", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29918", "author": "Michael", "timestamp": "2007-11-22T14:57:18", "content": "Hello Will,You’ve posted in 8 Apr a tutorial for silabs CP2101 usb to uart bridge, under the title “RS-232 USB madness”.Could you send me the eagle files because i want to make one myself.Thank you.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29919", "author": "Michael", "timestamp": "2007-11-22T14:58:07", "content": "my address is zlog2005 AT gmail DOT com", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29920", "author": "chris", "timestamp": "2007-11-22T15:34:36", "content": "I’d like to see some NS-5s! :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29921", "author": "Peter", "timestamp": "2007-11-22T19:52:58", "content": "I tried to get follow the link and was denied an account. Boo on that.Please post if you had the same experience, I hope that they make a public site to share their work. It sounds cool…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29922", "author": "Bhima", "timestamp": "2007-11-22T20:33:38", "content": "I too was denied an account. Couldn’t they at least put up public page so we can get a hint of what they are doing? Otherwise why post this at all on Hackaday?I just don’t get it.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29923", "author": "Jawa Lunk", "timestamp": "2007-11-22T21:18:22", "content": "Lunk sorry for denied access!No one told Lunk he on Hack-a-day! Over 160 requests to join come all at once!Everyone can join free!You can see other droids I am building athttp://www.KingofBots.comI am working on an AI R2-D2 and a working EG-6.If you were unintentionally denied access, PLEASE go back and try again!LUNK sorry. Next time someone tell Lunk what going on!Jawa’s are people too :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29924", "author": "Jawa Lunk", "timestamp": "2007-11-23T04:43:52", "content": "The site is public, but you can’t go to a Google Group if you do not have a Google Account, which is also free.Yahoo Groups do the same thing.As far as being denied, go to the site, sign up and your in. There is no verification process or anything, that has been removed because of the indiscriminate denials which were taking place.You shouldn’t have a problem now.Jawa Lunk", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29925", "author": "rattler77", "timestamp": "2007-11-23T11:22:20", "content": "Bah, “Everyone can join free!”. No, your wasting my time making me register, so not free.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29926", "author": "Jawa Lunk", "timestamp": "2007-11-27T21:02:48", "content": "It is free, because it costs nothing.Google makes you create an account to access Google Groups.Yahoo does the same thing.It’s not hard.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29927", "author": "Jawa Lunk", "timestamp": "2007-11-28T23:36:47", "content": "Come see the progress!We are just about to do a run of the Wall-E logos and we have just about finished the Solar Power Meter on Wall-E’s chest!This is a WORKING meter! not just for show!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29928", "author": "Shabby", "timestamp": "2007-12-17T14:57:17", "content": "Informated Article… Appreciated!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,858.456535
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/20/asus-eee-pc-trace-hunting/	Asus Eee PC Trace Hunting	Will O'Brien	[ "laptops hacks" ]	[]		There isn’t anything hacked into it yet, but [tnkgrl] spent some time hunting around her Eee PC for some handy hackable extras. I’d been ignoring them, but now I want one. Oh yes, I do. Hit the writeup for details, but [tnkgrl] identified some semi un-used USB connections, an accessible 5v supply and a spare mini-pcie slot that seems to disable the SSD when it’s in use. The currently unusable mini-pci slot is actually pretty intriguing. permalink	16	16	[ { "comment_id": "29901", "author": "M1st3rG0n3", "timestamp": "2007-11-21T18:23:25", "content": "Man, i really need to get one of these… then just figure out how to mod so the evdo card will work….oh, yeah, first post–WOOT!!!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29902", "author": "pcgfx805", "timestamp": "2007-11-21T18:38:06", "content": "Yeah these little things are pretty handy, we got a couple at work for testing. Interested in possible hacks :D", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29903", "author": "Johnny B. Goode", "timestamp": "2007-11-21T18:44:38", "content": "I think I need one of these two. I’m wondering how well it would work if I soldered a USB connection to one of those unused ports then added a WD Passport for a real live HDD. Oh the possiblilites………..", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29904", "author": "boardboy", "timestamp": "2007-11-21T19:15:49", "content": "I was just thinking of adding BT to one of the unused USB ports", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29905", "author": "localroger", "timestamp": "2007-11-21T20:53:02", "content": "I am so tempted to get one of these things and case mod it with a wider keyboard, move the trackpad up to the side of the display, and add a serious battery pack that could run it at least 12 hours. That would make it about the same width and weight as a normal laptop, still considerably shorter (especially nice when the dude in front of you on the airplane reclines his seat), and most of all give it enough battery life not to be a constant nuisance.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29906", "author": "andrew", "timestamp": "2007-11-21T21:38:26", "content": "We’re purchasing these for every student at my school next year. I have two evaluation units and they are wonderful to play with. I’m currently working on a custom OS image to try and make them more “school” ready.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29907", "author": "The Steven", "timestamp": "2007-11-21T23:57:03", "content": "Oh great! It’s the I-Opener all over again!Fine then, I’ll get one too!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29908", "author": "fucter", "timestamp": "2007-11-22T02:11:19", "content": "mine is coming on monday, I can’t wait!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29909", "author": "tom61", "timestamp": "2007-11-22T02:35:29", "content": "I got one a few days ago. Neat laptop, a bit constrained in resolution, but not horrible.Once I make sure I don’t need the warranty (I’ve already ran into an issue, so I might actually need it), I’ll start modding mine.The hacks and modding section of the EEEUser forums has a fair number of hardware mods, including an internal HD mod:http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewforum.php?id=12", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29910", "author": "Frank", "timestamp": "2007-11-22T03:05:40", "content": "Do you think this could be turned into an automotive GPS??", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29911", "author": "Josh", "timestamp": "2007-11-23T20:34:39", "content": "Man the asus are really nice the company I work for is becoming a reseller of these little guys they are so simple they restore back to oem in less then 10 sec. and they boot up in 21 sec", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29912", "author": "Josh", "timestamp": "2007-11-23T20:36:40", "content": "1. Man, i really need to get one of these… then just figure out how to mod so the evdo card will work….oh, yeah, first post–WOOT!!!All you have to do is set up a new dial up conntion and the phone number is #777your user name is555-555-5555@vzw.comand the password is vzwand youll are set", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29913", "author": "strider_mt2k", "timestamp": "2007-11-23T21:56:23", "content": "Nice work!I also would love to get my hands on one of these.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29914", "author": "Steve", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T03:19:34", "content": "It seems to me that there is probably enough room in the case for a small BT adaptor plugged into a usb lead and the other end soldered to the pins on the back of one of the usb sockets. Am I missing something or would this work?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29915", "author": "Steve", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T03:50:50", "content": "Regarding my comment above, I appreciate that if the BT adaptor was drawing current from the usb socket it would mean twice as much current was being drawn if something external was also plugged into the socket, but how does this differ from an unpowered usb hub?I have an unpowered hub on my laptop using two devices and it can support up to 4 devices. The other end is plugged into a usb socket. There are no problems with this.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29916", "author": "Steve", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T04:52:41", "content": "OK I just realised that it would cause signal conflicts. Silly me!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,858.598522
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/19/digital-geiger-counter/	Digital Geiger Counter	Will O'Brien	[ "Misc Hacks" ]	[ "diy", "geiger counter", "GeigerCounter" ]		Worried about radiation levels? I’m not, but I still want to build one of these. Mr. Fission here was built by the same guy that’s behind the OpenTracker project. [Scott] based it on the Bargraph Geiger counter built by [Russel E. Cliff]. Both use a standard Geiger tube like the LND712. The tube works with high voltages – easy enough with older electronics, but it’s a slightly tougher challenge with todays low voltage gear. [Scott] used the high voltage power supply from the original project, and built the rest around a good ol’ Motorola HC86 series processor. [Scott]’s idea of using an inverter supply designed for a cold cathode lamp is definitely an interesting one. permalink	12	12	[ { "comment_id": "29891", "author": "steve diraddo", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T07:40:54", "content": "sites down", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29892", "author": "Peter Walsh", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T08:40:06", "content": "There’s lots of russian geiger counters for sale on Ebay for about $25.http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-RADIATION-DOSIMETER-DETECTOR-DRSB-88-Geiger-Counter_W0QQitemZ160180285311QQihZ006QQcategoryZ53154QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemI got one of these and they’re awesome! They present an audible click every time a count is detected. It’s like a horror sci-fi movie when one of these is brought near a radiation source.The AA battery lasts a couple of days of continuous usage when detecting.I keep one in my truck while driving. So far, it’s only gone off once – it wasn’t the location and it wasn’t a solar flare (I checked that), so I’m assuming that a vehicle in oncoming traffic was carrying radioactive stuff.Next time it happens I’ll be more alert and try to follow them…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29893", "author": "chimpoid", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T11:23:24", "content": "Peter,Good idea, just keep an eye out for a delorean spewing dry ice and that’s the culprit.Radioactive = Jiggawatts", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29894", "author": "MRE", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T13:55:26", "content": "#3: agreed. radioactive material is always most easilly spotted post time travel return trips.If you ever have any doubts however, just ask the libyans in the volkswagon van. don’t the rocket launcher…. thats just the cultural way of saying ‘hello’", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29895", "author": "Zencye", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T17:50:21", "content": "Haha. The reference to Back to the Future is cute.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29896", "author": "Man On Fire", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T18:10:20", "content": "so a picture of a box and 3/4ths of a page of description.schematics or GTFO", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29897", "author": "Acobar", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T20:36:32", "content": "Perhaps following the link would help, ‘Man On Fire’. It provides an email address to get ahold of the schematics.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29898", "author": "Matteo", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T21:16:32", "content": "He made a typo on the link to the original project.For those looking for schematics – eg man on fire, the correct link is THIS:http://www.cbtricks.com/~ab7if/bgc/bgc.htm", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29899", "author": "twistedsymphony", "timestamp": "2007-11-21T01:02:22", "content": "despite the fact that the schematics are available by request… I do agree with man on fire to some extent. I hate to complain about hacks but the recent posting of hacks without any information on how they work is more suited for some TV special about crazy nerds who are too smart to understand than a hack a day hack…and before anyone jumps down my throat… yes I do submit hacks.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29900", "author": "Mike", "timestamp": "2007-11-21T03:45:51", "content": "@chimpoidThe funny thing is my friend who drives a delorean had 50 pounds of dry ice in the passenger seat mixed with water spewing out smoke the other day. We gave him the extra after our highschool play.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "103168", "author": "rooftop ridicule", "timestamp": "2009-10-22T08:56:41", "content": "finally! now i can detect something else invisible i am afraid of", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "175724", "author": "danos", "timestamp": "2010-08-31T20:18:38", "content": "Some nice low cost diy radiation measuring devices using a ionization chamber instead if geiger tubes:http://hamchatforum.lefora.com/2009/10/27/ionization-chambers/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,858.671633
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/18/hackit-frsgmrs-portable-radios/	Hackit: FRS/GMRS Portable Radios	Will O'Brien	[ "HackIt", "Misc Hacks" ]	[ "frs", "gmrs radios", "GmrsRadios", "HackIt" ]		FRS and GMRS radios have the performance that we wished walkie talkies had when we were kids. I find them interesting because they aren’t quite as tied down as amateur radio bands. (They’re freaking cheap and you can give them to unlicensed users.) I’ve been surprised by the lack of hacks for these little guys. Garmin married them with a GPS unit to create a sort of hand held APRS device called the Rhino. Since I’ve got a couple of kids, I’m thinking that smacking a GPS into one of these little wrist radios with a modified opentracker (PIC based APRS encoder) would be great for tracking the family on hikes and ski/snowboard trips. The response to Hackit has been fantastic! Each week I’m going to bring up some hardware. You guys get to pick your brains and suggest new, interesting projects. Look for a round-up and bounty post in the next week or so. So, got a better idea? Let’s hear it!	98	50	[ { "comment_id": "29855", "author": "jaded", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T09:38:52", "content": "Just a correction, transmitting on GMRS radio frequencies does require a license. It’s not a “proof of competence” license like a ham license; the only test is whether or not the FCC can cash your check.There are interesting things you’ll learn once you get your license, though. For example, it’s illegal to use GMRS channels 19 and 21 north of the 49th parallel from Washington to Minnesota, and other points sufficiently near the Canadian border (apparently they conflict with some Canadian military frequencies.) The thing that always puzzled me was why Garmin didn’t encode that line in the internal map, and shut off those two channels in the “forbidden zone”.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "1872037", "author": "Dwight Clark", "timestamp": "2014-09-23T07:23:58", "content": "1. I’VE ALWAYS HEARD THAT THE FRS BAND IS CHANNELS", "parent_id": "29855", "depth": 2, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "1872232", "author": "Dwight Clark", "timestamp": "2014-09-23T07:52:15", "content": "1. I’VE ALWAYS HEARD THAT THE FRS BAND CONSISTED OF 14 CHANNELS, MEANING CHANNEL,S 1-14 AND, 15-50, IS THE GMRS BAND. 2. THEN I HEARD THAT THE GMRS BAND IS CHANNELS 1-7, THEN 15-50, LEAVING THE FRS BAND TO BE CHANNELS 8-14, WHICH WOULD ACTUAQLLY MEAN THAT THE CHANNEL 9 IN THAT BAND COU LD BE USED FORO EMERGENCIES,NOW IF PPL ARE MONITORING CHANNEL 1 FOR EVERGENCIES, THAT MEANS THAT,TO TRANSMIT ON CHANNEL 1, THE PERSON WOULD HAVETA HAVE A G.M.R.S. LICENSE(THOUGH MOST PPL DON’T) TO TRANSMNIT ON THAT FREQUENCY EVEN THOUGH SOME FRS OPERATORS DO USE THAT CHANNEL FOR COMMUNICATIONS, WITHOUT A G.M.R.S. LICENSE. ACTUALLY I HAVE 2 FFRS/GMRS RADIOS, SO i CAN MONITOR CHANNEL 1 AS WELL AS CHANNEL 9 FOR EMERGENCY(JUST IN CASE IT IT ALSO USED FOR EMERGENCY AS OF ON CB CH 9). CHANNEL 1 IS A LICENSEABLE CHANNEL FOR IT IS WITHIN THE GMRS RADIO BAND SO THE EMERGENCY CHANNEL SHOULD BE CHANNEL 9, JUST LIKE IT IS IN THE CB RADIO BAND..I WOULD J UST WISH THAT THE FCC WOULD ACTUALLY TELL PPL VIA THE MEDIA(NEWSPAPERS, NEWS CASTS, INTERNET, ECT) AS TO WHAT CHANNELS ARE TO BE USED FOR WHAT PURPOSE, AS WELL AS DESIGNATE THAT AS THE CHANNELS INCREASE WITHIN THE RADIOS THAT ARE OUT ON THE MARKET, THE FRS BAND SHOULD EVEN OUT THE FREQUENCIES FOR BOTH BANDS THE FRS, AND THE GMRS RADIO BANDS, PLUS ALLOWING THE FRS RADIO USERS TO ACCESS FREELY THE FREQUENCIES 462.675, AND, 467.675, BOTH FOR MAJOR EMERGENCY USE THEY CAN EVEN MAKE UP THEIR OWN CALL SIGNS TO COMPLENTTHE CHANNELS, ON THE MURS BAND AND ON FRS CHANNEL 9 AS WELL, i USE THE MADE UP CALL SIGN: KRCT-1033, AFTER ALL THAT IS THE ACTUAL FRS BAND. AS THE RADIOS INCREAS THEIR CHANNELS TO BE USED ON A GMRS BAND, THE FRS CHANNELS SHOULD INCREASE AS WELL, NOT TO MENTIONTHAT MORE CTCSS/CSS OR PL TONES SHOULD INCREASE IN NUMBER AS WELL TOO,I KNOW THAT I’VE SAID ALOT BUT THESE ARE MY FEELINGS ON THE RADIO SERVICES.73RDS DWIGHT CLARKREACT AFFILLIATEKRCT-1033 mURS/FRS/CB CHANNEL 9", "parent_id": "1872037", "depth": 3, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "2323287", "author": "David Sutherland", "timestamp": "2015-01-06T17:59:32", "content": "A lot of people won’t read your post, simply because it’s ALL CAPS. It’s hard to read so people skip over it. You might want to try upper and lower case next time for a greater audience. Just a suggestion.", "parent_id": "1872232", "depth": 4, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "2906779", "author": "Levi", "timestamp": "2016-02-03T05:00:58", "content": "Skipped", "parent_id": "2323287", "depth": 5, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "6186822", "author": "Matt", "timestamp": "2019-10-13T16:39:04", "content": "Good grief. How petty", "parent_id": "2323287", "depth": 5, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "2771605", "author": "Travis Aiden", "timestamp": "2015-10-26T07:55:10", "content": "For a newbie to FRS and GMRS radios, I should stay away from channel 1 because it’s only used for emergencies?", "parent_id": "1872232", "depth": 4, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "3294609", "author": "Michael", "timestamp": "2016-11-30T21:29:43", "content": "Beat of my knowledge channel 1 is not reserved for emergencies.", "parent_id": "2771605", "depth": 5, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "3295229", "author": "KF4UWL", "timestamp": "2016-12-01T13:35:52", "content": "http://forums.radioreference.com/general-scanning-discussion/111002-distress-freqs.html#post832073", "parent_id": "2771605", "depth": 5, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "2853639", "author": "Dwight Clark", "timestamp": "2015-12-26T02:52:38", "content": "Here’s the same comment, but in sentence case (only minor grammatical mistakes were fixed, no opinions were changed, and these are not my own opinions):1. I’ve always heard that the FRS band consisted of 14 channels, meaning channels 1-14 and, 15-50, is the GMRS band.2. Then I heard that the GMRS band is channels 1-7, then 15-50, leaving the FRS band to be channels 8-14, which would actually mean that the channel 9 in that band could be used for emergencies.Now, if people are monitoring channel 1 for emergencies, that means that, to transmit on channel 1, the person would have to have a G.M.R.S. license (though most people don’t) to transmit on that frequency even though some frs operators do use that channel for communications, without a GMRS License. Actually I have 2 ffrs/gmrs radios, so I can monitor Channel 1 as well as Channel 9 for emergency (just in case it is also used for emergency as of on cb ch 9). Channel 1 is a license-able channel for it is within the GMRS radio band so the emergency channel should be channel 9, just like it is in the CB radio band.I would just wish that the FCC would actually tell people via the media(newspapers, news casts, internet, ect) as to what channels are to be used for what purpose, as well as designate that as the channels increase within the radios that are out on the market, the FRS band should even out the frequencies for both bands the FRS, and the GMRS radio bands, plus allowing the FRS radio users to access freely the frequencies 462.675, and, 467.675, both for major emergency use they can even make up their own call signs to complent the channels, on the MURS band and on frs channel 9 as well, I use the made up call sign: KRCT-1033, after all that is the actual FRS band. As the radios increase their channels to be used on a GMRS band, the FRS channels should increase as well, not to mention that more CTCSS/CSS or PL tones should increase in number as well too.I know that I’ve said a lot but these are my feelings on the radio services.73RDS Dwight ClarkReact affiliateKRCT-1033 MURS/FRS/CB Channel 9", "parent_id": "1872232", "depth": 4, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "2853649", "author": "DC", "timestamp": "2015-12-26T03:06:14", "content": "I fixed Dwight Clark’s comment. Only minor grammatical mistakes were fixed, aside from1. I’ve always heard that the FRS band consisted of 14 channels, meaning channels 1-14 and, 15-50, is the GMRS band.2. Then I heard that the GMRS band is channels 1-7, then 15-50, leaving the FRS band to be channels 8-14, which would actually mean that the channel 9 in that band could be used for emergencies.Now, if people are monitoring channel 1 for emergencies, that means that, to transmit on channel 1, the person would have to have a G.M.R.S. license (though most people don’t) to transmit on that frequency even though some frs operators do use that channel for communications, without a GMRS License. Actually I have 2 FRS/GMRS radios, so I can monitor Channel 1 as well as Channel 9 for emergency (just in case it is also used for emergency as of on CB Ch. 9). Channel 1 is a license-able channel for it is within the GMRS radio band so the emergency channel should be channel 9, just like it is in the CB radio band.I would just wish that the FCC would actually tell people via the media(newspapers, news casts, internet, ect) as to what channels are to be used for what purpose, as well as designate that as the channels increase within the radios that are out on the market, the FRS band should even out the frequencies for both bands the FRS, and the GMRS radio bands, plus allowing the FRS radio users to access freely the frequencies 462.675, and, 467.675, both for major emergency use they can even make up their own call signs to complent the channels, on the MURS band and on frs channel 9 as well, I use the made up call sign: KRCT-1033, after all that is the actual FRS band. As the radios increase their channels to be used on a GMRS band, the FRS channels should increase as well, not to mention that more CTCSS/CSS or PL tones should increase in number as well too.I know that I’ve said a lot but these are my feelings on the radio services.73RDS Dwight ClarkReact affiliateKRCT-1033 MURS/FRS/CB Channel 9", "parent_id": "1872232", "depth": 4, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "6331292", "author": "Thomas Vazquez", "timestamp": "2021-03-14T21:56:27", "content": "BEING a licensed gmrs operator, I’d track you down if i heard you use a fake call sign,and report it, the fcc, its,illegal , we can tell if it’s legit or not,all i have to do,is look the call sign up, we’re all registered in the fcc database!!!!!", "parent_id": "1872232", "depth": 4, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "6451294", "author": "Andy Blair", "timestamp": "2022-03-26T13:32:11", "content": "You can look up on the FCC website for all of the enforcement action they have taken….and it is LITTLE. Unless you are running a 50,000 watt pirate station interfering with commercial AM/FM or business….they have neither the time or the manpower to chase down and do anything about an unlicensed GMRS user. You might as well call the FBI to report a loud party down your street.", "parent_id": "6331292", "depth": 5, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "6653263", "author": "bill Marshall", "timestamp": "2023-06-15T23:15:19", "content": "Causing interfierence I would understand but you sound a bit like an angry ham", "parent_id": "6331292", "depth": 5, "replies": [] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "comment_id": "29839", "author": "Max", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T09:54:05", "content": "How about making it into a cheap wireless modem. You could run the audio out from a modem into the microphone jack. You could have another running into a phone line or another computer.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29840", "author": "Blind", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T09:59:19", "content": "I am not sure that I like this idea the more I think of it, but I’m going to mention it anyhow… Make a “gaydar”-style social networking thing. Have a server elsewhere that maintains a list of your interests, what you are looking for, etc. As you travel around it tracks you and it’s other users and when one that it feels is an appropriate match is in the immediate vicinity, it notifies the two of you so that you might meet face to face.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29842", "author": "a", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T10:01:11", "content": "you do realize that gmrs radios require a license, don’t you? also they must be fcc type accepted to operate on the frs/gmrs bands, therefore no ‘hacks’. the rhino also was a rare exception and granted special permission to transmit data within the band.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "1434340", "author": "Eric", "timestamp": "2014-05-09T16:10:25", "content": "Nobody cares about the license requirement. Good luck finding someone at the FCC who wants to track down a FMS/GMRS violation out in the middle of the boonies", "parent_id": "29842", "depth": 2, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "3294607", "author": "Michael", "timestamp": "2016-11-30T21:28:58", "content": "GMRS bubble pack radios are lucky if they transmit 1 mile. Who cares about license. Radio is dead killed by cell phone. If you love radio pray that people buy bubble packs and use them. I use mine and rarely, rarely do I hear anyone on them.", "parent_id": "1434340", "depth": 3, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "3295238", "author": "KF4UWL", "timestamp": "2016-12-01T13:45:26", "content": "“Nobody cares about the license requirement. Good luck finding someone at the FCC who wants to track down a FMS/GMRS violation out in the middle of the boonies”- eric“GMRS bubble pack radios are lucky if they transmit 1 mile. Who cares about license. Radio is dead killed by cell phone. If you love radio pray that people buy bubble packs and use them. I use mine and rarely, rarely do I hear anyone on them.” -MichaelYou both showing your ignorance.GMRS can get more than a mile. It can cover an entire city. If you were on my repeater and causing interference and I paid money for that license, oh you bet your ass we would find you. Especially if it belong to a rescue squad or some such group. A GMRS repeater owner would probably enlist some hams and do a fox hunt to find you.Local hams in my area track a signal down a signal that was sweeping the 440 band. It turned out to be a TV amplifier in an RV that was temperature sensitive which was why the frequency kept changing (rising and falling).If we can find that we can find you.", "parent_id": "3294607", "depth": 4, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "6595757", "author": "Jimmy", "timestamp": "2023-02-09T07:46:43", "content": "We don’t have cell coverage in our canyon… GMRS is what everyone uses", "parent_id": "3294607", "depth": 4, "replies": [] } ] } ] } ] }, { "comment_id": "29841", "author": "Blind", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T10:01:45", "content": "this is what i get for posting when it’s late and I should be sleeping.Assuming that it isn’t obvious, I’m expecting there to be gps tracking on all of the units (like the original post) in addition to the required connection to the server.Probably an easier way to do this though.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29843", "author": "steve diraddo", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T10:22:10", "content": "i have a bunch of these. i’d love to be able to harness their power and use them as an R/C control, or at least figure out how to boost the tx power or change the frequency :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29844", "author": "steve diraddo", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T10:26:31", "content": "i also noticed that the frs band has a greater frequency than whats required by an analog NTSC video signal. perhaps its possible to transmit video signals with a slight modification or two.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29864", "author": "josh", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T10:26:38", "content": "After the obligatory comments about modifying this equipment being against FCC rules, I have a pair of Bellsouth FRS model 1050 radios that have actually have internal 10k pots for more high end radio features like squelch and microphone gain that can be broke out relatively easily. Adding external BNC connectors to the antenna and hooking the radio to some 70cm ham radio antennas will exponentially increase the range on the radios.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29845", "author": "josh", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T10:49:37", "content": "@#4:Yes, GMRS is licensed. Barely. You pay a fee, fill out a form and you’re licensed – no test whatsoever. And that’s if you’re hyper-honest. I don’t think most people bother with even that small formality.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "3294613", "author": "Michael", "timestamp": "2016-11-30T21:31:57", "content": "Who would pay $85 to use GMRS 1 or 2 hours a day on a camping trip.", "parent_id": "29845", "depth": 2, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "3295226", "author": "KF4UWL", "timestamp": "2016-12-01T13:33:08", "content": "That is not what GMRS is for. GMRS is a repeater based system and used by various groups including some emergency responders. Use the right radio service for your needs", "parent_id": "3294613", "depth": 3, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "6595759", "author": "Jimmy", "timestamp": "2023-02-09T07:49:04", "content": "Exactly… in the areas around Vegas, South Nevada Off Road Recovery (SNORR) is all GMRS + repeater based …", "parent_id": "3295226", "depth": 4, "replies": [] } ] } ] } ] }, { "comment_id": "29846", "author": "wikityler", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T11:00:27", "content": "@4, @7:Not in canada, Here they are bound only by RSS-210, as is FRS. Refer to Annex 6 of RSS-210 for details.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29847", "author": "TJhooker", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T12:18:12", "content": "Here in NC the police use GMRS somehow. I think it’s on there belt mounted radios. They use EDGE or something on there computers.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29848", "author": "TJ", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T12:59:16", "content": "The freq can be readjusted pretty easily with a handheld freq meter and a pot tool on most model’s.You can’t go far only .5 mhz but it’s enough to get all the channels to be in between the regular channel’s so that anyone without a adjusted radio only gets garble junk that doesnt even sound like a voice.Aka poormans scrambler.Ive done it dozen’s of times", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29849", "author": "Brat", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T14:21:16", "content": "Funny all the licensing crap. I like the idea of having the GPS attached to one of the radios. It is not cost effect to have it on all of them. Nor would young kids like this.Maybe to use the main radios (FRS with GPS) TX a homing signal to the child FRSs) This way the child Radios can track the parent when the parent is on the move. What and how the protocal would be, I do not how to handle this.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29850", "author": "Brat", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T14:23:53", "content": "I like the idea of sending video. You have a lot of channels can you make you of that as added bandwith. But how does that make use of the GPS? Maybe to encode the remote users location?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29851", "author": "lwr", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T14:58:52", "content": "You could connect a radio to your PC and using Voice over IP magic, have conversations with people on the other side of the world!e.g.:http://www.446user.co.uk/article_12.html", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "6296831", "author": "Bob Delamarter", "timestamp": "2020-11-22T23:19:47", "content": "FRS is popular with doomsday preppers for when the cell grid goes down. I live in Florida and during after hurricane Irma we were without cell phone service for 36 hours.", "parent_id": "29851", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "29862", "author": "Static", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T15:39:17", "content": "Man, I would love to see some hacks for these things. I’ve got a ton of these radios, a couple of them hacked apart.Canada used to have the same legislation regarding GMRS. Commercial and private pressure got them to remove the licensing requirements. There is a substantial amount of pressure in the US to follow suit.I’m not an electronics guru. I’ve tried to send video (NTSC) over a short range FRS link, simply by playing with the plugs. No dice.However, if someone could come up with a method to do this, we have struck gold. A decent, hackable radio interface that performs well at range, with no need for tuning. Come up with a method to use it as a short haul wireless modem, and you’ve got a dream system.I’ve seen some of the most innovative people on this board do some amazing things. I can’t believe someone hasn’t come up with something along these lines.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29852", "author": "Skyler Orlando", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T16:14:58", "content": "Hmm, this is tough. You could modify them for a wall-mounted intercom system. I’m not sure, but you may be able to modify a radio to act as a scanner. I know you can do it with an AM receiver, but I don’t know whether FRS/GMRS radios use AM or what.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29853", "author": "aefaradien", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T16:32:42", "content": "simple idea: how about a hack to make a 2-way system? that way it could be used hands-free.if only 2 people are using the link, then a separate channel could be used in each direction. now you have a poor-man’s radio-telephone.the only way i can think to do this is strap a pair together – making it quite heavy. however since it is hands-free, and if you take the skiing example, the “box” could go in a back-pack or deep-inside pocket or something.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29854", "author": "aefaradien", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T16:35:11", "content": "another idea (sorry for double post):2 gps/radio units that always point at the other?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29856", "author": "Jeff", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T16:39:12", "content": "FCC rules on FRS and GMRS say “No unmodified radios” (sigh) , and also say only an approved radio can be used… which annoys me, since if I were to freeband my Ham HT and set it for low power (both software changes), I could emulate FRS and GMRS except for the “no mods/approved hardware only” rule. Would be nice to have just one radio to talk to Hams and non-Hams alike just by turning the knob.You’re also not supposed to push data over them, unless you have an FCC exemption.That said, what kind of _legal_ fun?I believe an FRS with Vox plugged into the soundport of a computer would be legal. Load up one of the voice recognition packages, add text-to-speech and build an FRS/eMail gateway. Have a pre-defined “Heinlein/Number of the Beast/Gay Deciever” syntax to control it, and you’d be all set.Having it tied to an RSS feed accumulator of some sort would rock too – being able to be out on the far side of the farm and say,”Computer, weather report, execute” would rock.Tie it into one of the cheap USB X-10 controllers, and you’ve got the house lights and outside light. “Computer, Front lights, fifty percent, execute”The VOIP one has been done with EchoLink, but that’s a Ham-only set up. Should be able to use off-the-shelf software for the rest.If you can track down one of those old “dialers” you hold to the telephone, or use your PDA headphone jack plugged into the FRS, you could send DTMF from an unmodified radio…. Might be useful to control various things.One option for an unmodified radio being used more efficently with a vehicle would be a plastic box with a magnet in it. Use long earphone/mic cords through the car window, put the radio up on the roof so the car doesn’t block 90-odd% of the RF. You won’t be able to change channels, but it should substantially improve the range while on the road.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "945162", "author": "k7zgq", "timestamp": "2013-01-23T02:50:06", "content": "Buy a cheap 70cm ham HT and transmit wherever! Its not legal to use on FRS but they kill on that band with 5 watts and a good antenna! I don’t condone its use but I won’t tell if you do it!", "parent_id": "29856", "depth": 2, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "1069621", "author": "jeff wylie", "timestamp": "2013-10-05T02:04:16", "content": "i have a couple of 22 channel hand held gmrs/frs radios but they work in the city only two miles or so. sure would like a extra mile or two in the car. the antennas are not removable. I see midland (18258) makes an window antenna that uses no cable. do you think that could help at all?. an extra mile or two would really be nice if possible!. Any ideas appreciated.", "parent_id": "945162", "depth": 3, "replies": [] } ] } ] }, { "comment_id": "29857", "author": "Andrew Pollack", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T16:58:33", "content": "@10 – You win. That’s the best information on FRS I’ve ever read. I have 5 of these units. Ideally, when we have soccer tournaments that mean my wife and I are trying to keep track of multiple games and kids at different events within a mile or so of each other we can use them. Unfortunately, the band is so crowded with kids being stupid on them that it doesn’t work out. They’re a little better for road trips between cars in a caravan (a convoy if you’re old enough to remember the 70’s film).Anyway, I’m going to look into that 1/2 step freq change you mentioned. That would rock.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29858", "author": "jason Winningham", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T17:12:03", "content": "the garmin rinos only TX a position report when you key up, so they’re not much good for finding someone who isn’t actively wanting to be found.data transmission on FRS/GMRS is strictly forbidden; garmiin was granted an exception for the rinos, and that exception has limits (no automatic position beacons – they must be requeted by a human operator).there are some tools that go with xastir (unix APRS application) to import the rino data into xastir alongside APRS data. pretty cool.and a minor nit, the opentracker is based on an MC68Hxx controller, not a PIC. I think the original TinyTrack was a PIC, but he’s switched to Atmel micros.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "1063945", "author": "Frank Ch. Eigler", "timestamp": "2013-09-24T01:05:05", "content": "(By the way, more modern Garmin Rinos are able to send polling commands to peers, to which they respond with a position report.)", "parent_id": "29858", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "29860", "author": "Gary Weber", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T18:22:48", "content": "I’m looking for batteries for the watch-style radio in left of picture. Got mine from Marlboro. Can’t find battery XB-10 anywhere.Help.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29859", "author": "strider_mt2k", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T18:52:00", "content": "I use an FRS link for a DTMF controller on board my ROV.please google “probe II sg” as I don’t have photos up of this project anymore.Aside from repositioning the antenna to the outside of the ROV and wiring the external speaker output of the first FRS radio to the DTMF controller on the receive side, all I did was parallel the audio from the speaker of an old radio shack portable autodialer device and wire a momentary switch from that into the mic input of the other FRS radio on the transmit side.(I tried to use VOX, but it’s cumbersome with DTMF.)It works flawlessly, although I don’t get the additional dtmf a,b,c,or d buttons using the rad shack autodialer for the DTMF tones.The DTMF system on the ROV controls a homebrew video camera switcher to select any one of three onboard video cameras, control the zoom focus and iris of the color camera and to trigger a little speaking thermometer to inform me of the internal temps of the two vehicle sections over the existing video link audio.(My ROV was designed for outdoor operations and I was concerned about overheating.)“probe ii sg” is currently mothballed intact, along with all of it’s support gear and spares in my den closet.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29868", "author": "Keelan", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T18:56:27", "content": "I did a bunch of research into this very idea a year or so ago. I even got to the point of building a 300 baud audio FSK modem (based on an Exar XR2211) to test with my idea.Part of what I discovered is that prior to the Rhino, there was no provision in the FCC regulations to allow for data transmission in the FRS and GMRS bands. It looks like Garmin lobbied to have the regulations tweaked just enough to make their product work. The rules are not specific to Garmin. It makes a number of stipulations, the most important being:“Digital data transmissions shall not exceed one second, and shall be limited to no more than one digital transmission within a thirty-second period, except that an FRS unit may automatically respond to more than one interrogation request received within a thirty-second period.”The regulation can be found here:http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2006/octqtr/47cfr95.193.htmIf you live in Canada (as I do), the exact same rules apply. The Canadian section of the GMRS/FRS regulations look like a copy-and-paste of the relevant US section.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29869", "author": "Keelan", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T19:05:25", "content": "Regarding comments 10 and 19, the rules do not simply specify the bottom and top frequency of the band; the rules specify the exact frequency of individual channels. Modifying a radio to transmit and receive 500kHz off-frequency is a violation of the law. As well 500kHz is way too much; the GMRS/FRS channels are spaced 25KHz apart.When it comes to something that is globally shared (radio spectrum), play by the same rules that everyone else does; the alternative is chaos.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29861", "author": "Sean", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T19:18:20", "content": "The FCC Restrictions are also why there are no trucker-CB-style units available. The entire thing has to be self contained – there are no base stations with an external antenna, microphone, and speakers. Probably to keep them from being tampered with. I would love to see some modem hacks for these too… The range would be awesome!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29863", "author": "chris", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T19:31:03", "content": "If you could transmit data easily, pair them up with a 3-axis magnetometer, GPS unit and microcontroller, and play “real-life” scorched earth or something similar", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29866", "author": "Rustybadger", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T20:57:49", "content": "Here in Canada, we get to use GMRS without licensing restrictions, which is nice. I doubt it’s legal to send data over the frequencies (packet data in store-forward mode is expressly forbidden). That being said, there are a lot of hacks I’d like to see done with this gear- in rural areas like I live in, nobody ever checks up on illegal transmitters, so it’d be easy to get away with.1) Video transmission, like others have mentioned.2) Packet radio modem, for sending still frame-captures and weather data from a weather station.3) Autopatch system- base station connects to PSTN line and you use a portable DTMF generator to dial out from the gmrs handheld.Someone mentioned pairing 2 radios into a duplex system- the problem with that is that you’re going to be TX’ing constantly with one radio, which will a) drain the batteries in no time and b) overheat the unit’s tx board. Bad on both counts, but would still be a fun hack.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29865", "author": "James", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T21:37:22", "content": "This is kind of pie-in-the-sky, but you could use this for home automation or similar. Just set up voice commands on your “hub” PC and pipe the output from your “home base” GMRS into your mic input. You could even establish 2-way communications if the radio unit has a line-in (if it’s PTT, that might be tricky).Going further down that path, you could leverage all sorts of voice-based PC interfaces, not just home automation. “Computer, Google ‘chinese restaurant 21050′” and it reads you a list of names and phone numbers. “Computer, playlist White Stripes” — I’m sure that would sound terrible in mono over this kind of radio link, but it’s still a neat hack. “Computer, email Jane, subject: ‘Lunch today’, body: ‘I’m going to be in town starting at 11:30…'”. Lots of possibilities here, and you probably don’t even have to write any code or solder anything yourself. Ehh??Bonus: it’s not a violation of the FCC ban on data transmission if you’re doing everything by voice. Right?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29867", "author": "Crypto77", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T22:10:38", "content": "Is there any way that the results of Hack-it could be displayed in a blog post so that people who browse the blog, but don’t have time to dig through 100 comments still get to hear the ideas of the winning contestant? If so that would be great.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29871", "author": "RK", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T23:32:10", "content": "Re: linking with voice recognition software… voice quality and interference is terrible on these puppies, so I don’t think that will work. However, DTMF (or your own equivalent) would seem pretty basic, and probably falls within the law. Furthermore, since you’re leaving the radio portion intact, it would not really be considered “modified”. What would be suitably hackish is to embed a custom tone generator with keypad physically into one unit (rather than taping an old DTMF generator to the mic) and a recognition circuit built into the other one, which could then send the “codes” sent over the link to a USB/serial connection for consumption by a computer or other device.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29870", "author": "TheOneTrueStickman", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T02:47:49", "content": "@ #14 (Skyler Orlando) & #15 (aefaradien): Some radios have channel and privacy code scanning built in, such as my Cobra 950s. I believe regular radio scanners should be able to pick up FRS/GMRS frequencies without trouble, it’s just an FM signal. For the intercom thing, hands-free is easy, if not always reliable, if your radio has VOX features.And just to reiterate what others have said, there’s a reason there haven’t been hacks for these radios – almost all modifications and data transmission are illegal. For FRS, that means no internal modifications (or antenna mods), and keelan (#30) summed up the data issue nicely. FCC Part 95.191-194, for reference. GMRS is expressly forbidden from transmitting data. (Part 95.631(f))There’s also a reason the rules exist – these bands are basically designated for family communications on trips. If you want to do data, Ham or MURS (http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/index.htm?job=operations&id=multi_use) are the legal options.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29872", "author": "Almost There", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T04:54:02", "content": ">I’ve been surprised by the lack of>hacks for these little guys.I hacked one, seehttp://www.GeoCities.com/Almost_There_Weather_Balloon/Good Luck!Ken_S.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29873", "author": "tony", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T06:34:57", "content": "MURS, Multi-Use Radio Service, allows voice and data with much fewer restrictions than FRS.151.820 MHz151.880 MHz151.940 MHz154.570 MHz154.600 MHzhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-Use_Radio_Service", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29874", "author": "Bob", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T07:18:19", "content": "Modifiying this type of radio to send video is not practical and would put out energy on frequency’s used by other services.The FRS channels are 25KHz apart. An NTSC video transmission using AM or FM is at least 8.4MHz wide. (You can’t practically turn an FM walkie talkie into a vestigal sideband video transmission to get the bandwidth down to 6MHz)There are lots of other radio services using the 3MHz either side of the FRS channels.Even if you wanted to anyway, changing the receiver filters and building add on video modulator and demodulator circuits is not practical.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29877", "author": "Miguel", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T08:31:25", "content": "My wish is mating a GPS receiver module of about $50 to a gmrs and a timer to burst transmit its position every minute.Would install it permanently hidden in my car to be able to find it if stolen.No. I do not want Lo-Jack monthly payments.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29875", "author": "PT", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T08:42:46", "content": "Got this idea at lunch today, when a motorcycle set off someones sound based car alarm. Your own lojack system, would require I guess a Rino. Just hack the buttons (or you could build devise a mechanical actuator to keep the Rino unmodified.) You would want some sort of sensor in the car, that would activate the ptt button. It would leave it on for say 30 seconds so you can listen in, after which it activates 15 seconds every minute. If the gps doesn’t show movement, you could use a DTMF tone to shutdown the broadcast and rearm the system. Even if the car manages to go out of range, a grid search could be done to try to locate it. Probably less than $40 dollars for parts if you already have the Rinos.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29876", "author": "Brent", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T16:51:23", "content": "Some of them can probably be hacked to work on the 70cm ham band.Really, if you want to experiment with radios, get your ham license and do it on the ham bands. It’s not only the legal way, it’s also where most of the people who know what they’re doing are.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29878", "author": "M4CGYV3R", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T18:54:42", "content": "How about instead of that little ‘Roger’ beep thing that it does when you finish talking, that could actually be serial(UART?) GPS data from one of the smaller modules, so they would be transmitting their location whether or not they know it…? It would probably require some rather larger or more expensive equipment to receive and plot the position (a-la a laptop with some custom hardware) but I could see it being useful in a military setting(paintball anyone?).", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29879", "author": "A_Blind_man", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T23:32:29", "content": "hmmmma Bomb – just fill the case with some mouldable explosive and set the talk switch to send enough current into the explosive to detonate it… just need some batts and A capacitor…or a metal detector,using the antenna as the reciever, and program it to send out a pulse every second when you hold the talk button and if it hits something and recieves it have it send another immidately and so the closer you get the faster it beepsGranted you would have to attach it to a stick or something and possibly replace the talk button with an On/OFF switch but whatever", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29880", "author": "javaworm", "timestamp": "2007-11-21T00:01:10", "content": "You can boost the reception on these things with just a little soldering and a scrap of wire. Pop the case open and find where the antenna solders to the board. Make a rough measurement of the antenna and find a scrap of small wire that is approx. the same length. Solder it onto the same spot the stock antenna attaches and route it in the case so it points roughly 180 degrees away from the factory antenna. Instant boost in reception for most of these. The basis of this hack is that most of these radios contain 1/8 wave antennas, not very efficient. by doubling the antenna length you make it into a 1/4 wave antenna which is infinitely more efficient in propagating the radio signal.Enjoy", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29883", "author": "doug", "timestamp": "2007-11-21T01:46:21", "content": "What about taking the insides out of the radio and fashioning a case for a cell phone that also contains the frs/grms radio guts in it. along with that add a plug to use the speaker of the radio as a speaker phone for the cell phone.this would give you short range communication with your frs radio along with cell usage without taking it out of the case.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29881", "author": "M", "timestamp": "2007-11-21T08:09:46", "content": "I would love to see a software program that could take a live feed of the screen (or at least the tracks of other identified rinos) and put it on the web, into GMaps, etc.Would hacking the screen data feed be the same thing as hacking the radio (wrt fcc regs)?One excellent thing that differentiates Rino from Opentracker is that the Rino is already tracking peers.With the right setup, I imagine OpenTracker could be set up to track larger events with multiple GPSs.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29882", "author": "beakpy", "timestamp": "2007-11-23T01:00:44", "content": "anyone ever heard of PSK31? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSK31)its great, text chat over half-duplex radio link. That would be nice, maybe using just a PIC, a couple of DAC and a couple of ADC and two FRS.I’ve read that in open spaces some guys got 10 Km (6.21 miles) of working range for a talkabout.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "3295280", "author": "KF4UWL", "timestamp": "2016-12-01T14:11:24", "content": "again get your ham liscense and do this legally.", "parent_id": "29882", "depth": 2, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "4771146", "author": "Tara", "timestamp": "2018-07-24T01:52:36", "content": "Why do these people who keep saying get a lisence hang out on a “HACK” site?", "parent_id": "3295280", "depth": 3, "replies": [] } ] } ] }, { "comment_id": "29884", "author": "n0qbh", "timestamp": "2007-11-23T17:10:50", "content": "The GPS and FRS technologies married together are much more capable and less expensive than the Project Lifesaverhttp://www.projectlifesaver.org/site/system being touted by many law enforcement agencies. My county just spent $15k for two receivers and some training – for 50 year old Ham radio fox hunt technology!Hey Garmin, do you smell business possibility?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29886", "author": "static", "timestamp": "2007-11-27T00:57:23", "content": "UH.. The Garmin Rhino out of the box transmits and receives GPS position data. As I read the rhino manual, you can send a position beacon every 30 seconds by cycling the PTT. Shouldn’t be a problem to hack in circuitry to automate that. No license is needed if you stick with using the FRS channels. The only drawback with the rhino is, that it the packaging of the data for RF transmission is proprietary to Garmin . That may hamper gatewaying Rhino position beacons.Jeff; RS used to sell and FRS radio where the antenna and basic xceiver mag mounted to the roof connected to a speakermic with a long cord, as you subscribed.Steve D.; Are you proposing to use the entire FRS allocation to send ONE video signal? That may be a good way to attract attention ;)aefaradien; Yes radio-telephone is a simple idea but implementing it in single radio service band generally isn’t.To close; obtaining a technician class amatuer radio license isn’t that difficult or costly. Even with the limitations Amateur Radio has to be the best way to play with RF.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29885", "author": "J.R VanHoek", "timestamp": "2007-11-29T01:20:14", "content": "What a really fantasic idea! I’m pretty sure that you’d better patten and market befor I DO! “COUNTDOWN!”", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29887", "author": "KW7DSP", "timestamp": "2007-12-11T21:16:45", "content": "GMRS licensing is a “must do” requirement. Licensing is not a formality, but the law. A license is not a request, but a requirement. Breaking the law because it is an inconvenience, or you donât think it should apply to you, leads to anarchy. It is everyoneâs responsibility to see that laws are first JUST, and second ENFORCED. Failing to do so is Anti-American. What kind of a citizen do you choose to be?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "983159", "author": "John Doe", "timestamp": "2013-03-22T16:39:11", "content": "Nothing is a “must do” requirement when it comes from the illegitimate United States government. Their repeated treason and global murder is just the beginning of why your contract with them has been broken.Ok, let’s apply your test. Part one, Is GMRS licensing just? Being how it’s just a revenue generating scam for the aforementioned criminals with no skill requirement at all except can you write a check, then obviously no.Breaking the law of an illegal government leads to freedom, following illegal socialist laws IS anti-american and treasonous.I could go on about how some laws (even ham licensing) could be justifiable, but doing such wouldn’t get me any brownie points anyway, and you have demonstrated you are not using any logic anyway with supporting pointless GMRS licensing (you’d have an argument if they actually required more than your money), so why bother.Also it’s stupid to us your license/call sign as a handle on here since any idiot can look up your home address with it.", "parent_id": "29887", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "29888", "author": "GMRS Licensee", "timestamp": "2007-12-12T00:40:04", "content": "GMRS requires a license. All these hacks mentioned are either in violation of FRS regs, GMRS regs, or both.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "3295255", "author": "KF4UWL", "timestamp": "2016-12-01T13:56:57", "content": "What is your GMRS call sign?I add if you want to hack radios, get a ham license. That is on of the reasons the service exists.6 and 7 year olds can pass the test. So can you.HRN 211: Adventures of a Hacker Turned Ham (Michael Ossmann AD0NR) on HamRadioNowhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpSlGKqeZ4I", "parent_id": "29888", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] } ]	1,760,377,858.92473
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/18/morse-code-usb-slide-keyboard/	Morse Code USB Slide Keyboard	Will O'Brien	[ "Peripherals Hacks" ]	[ "ham radio", "HamRadio", "morse code", "MorseCode" ]		Today, I stumbled across this morse code keyboard. I couldn’t find any sign on the promised schematics or code, but I like the design. It’s not that hard to train yourself in Morse code, and it’s nearly impossible to send an erroneous code thanks to the unique slide=dash tap=dot physical interface. permalink	20	18	[ { "comment_id": "29823", "author": "VonSkippy", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T07:46:25", "content": "Wow, I can’t wait for you to stumble across a USB powered Butter Churn, or perhaps a article on repairing buggy whips with old Cat 5 cable.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29824", "author": "Eric", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T07:53:53", "content": "First off, vonskippy, morse code is still extremely used and still very relevant. Great find. Can’t wait to actually make one myself once he releases more info.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29825", "author": "hp friedrichs", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T08:16:17", "content": "vonskippy:I have engaged in two-way dialog from Arizona to Japan, using a small 5-Watt CW (morse code) transceiver and a piece of wire thrown up into a tree used as an antenna. In another case, I enjoyed successful communication from Puerto Rico to Indiana (about 1900 miles) using a similar CW (morse)transceiver, a kite to suspend an antenna wire, and a power supply composed of 8 AA batteries.If you think Morse Code is old, of course you are correct. If you think Morse Code is superfluous or obsolete, well, you don’t know what you are talking about.Given minimal power (8 AA batteries) and no infrastructure (no internet backbone, no satellite, no phone line) name any communications technology that allows for real-time point-to-point communication over distances of 2000 miles or more. I’ll bet you can’t unless it involves Morse, a key, and an RF oscillator.BTW- Working Morse with batteries and a kite looks like this:http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2007/11/13/1/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29826", "author": "kaelb", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T08:58:02", "content": "I agree with vonskippy, this is a useless method for typing and is outdated.Although it my be useful for a scenario where all other forms of communication shuts down, why would you want to type with something like this?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29827", "author": "kc8ufv", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T09:22:32", "content": "kaelb-I can see this as a very useful input method for where a full size keyboard is very impractical, yet text input is a neccessity.For example, if you were building a car pc, and wanted the driver to be able to operate it, you would want to use a device that doesn’t require seeing it to operate (rules out on-screen input methods), is small (where can I hide a full size keyboard without it getting in the way in a typical car?), and simple to learn how to use. This fits all 3.As far as not needing to see a display to use the device, I’m not aware of any current OS that doesn’t have some kind of Text-to-speech software available. (You probably will have audio, as one function of most car pcs is MP3/video playback)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29828", "author": "chimpoid", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T11:27:57", "content": "… – — .–. + -… . .. -. –. + .- + .–. . -.. .- -. – .. -.-. + –. .. .-. .-.. + .- .-.. .-.. + …. .- -.-. -.- … + .- .-. . + ..-. ..- -.Like I could resist ;)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29829", "author": "relet", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T13:05:10", "content": "Morse code is great. The USB devices you are using all day long do it: serial communication.But what’s wrong with the single-button keyboards for morse code? The slider seems hardly ergonomic to me, especially if you hold it the way it is shown in the video. Tapping on a button worked well for centuries.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29830", "author": "Skyler Orlando", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T16:15:51", "content": "That, or something similar, could be useful for a wearable PC. Morse, binary, whatever…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29831", "author": "andrew", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T17:17:21", "content": "I remember reading about a guy who went on very long bike rides and he had 8 buttons underneath each of his fingers in the handlebars of his recumbent bike. He’d write in binary. I thought that was pretty damned ingenious.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "1015403", "author": "Rob", "timestamp": "2013-06-12T21:00:16", "content": "that’s a lot of buttons, especially for binary.", "parent_id": "29831", "depth": 2, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "1015452", "author": "static", "timestamp": "2013-06-13T03:02:46", "content": "Most likely you where reading about this manhttp://microship.com/resources/winnebiko-behemoth.html", "parent_id": "29831", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "29832", "author": "James", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T21:19:16", "content": "I’m always on the lookout for a one-handed eyes-off text input method. I’ve seen similar suggestions before, but it all comes down to the time it takes to learn. I don’t know Morse, and I don’t know any chord keyboard layouts. I would love to be able to improvise one or the other on e.g. a cell phone as a more efficient means of typing, or to design an input device for a wearable that lets you attain near-desktop WPM, but I just don’t have the time.If anybody is still reading these comments: what’s the best solution, given the constraints above? Remember, one-handed, eyes-off, and fast.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29833", "author": "cooney", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T03:05:57", "content": "awesome… I could have a lot of fun with this.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29834", "author": "Mike", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T05:32:55", "content": "It’s actually faster to send morse code than it is to text message someone.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29835", "author": "Jordan", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T05:34:18", "content": "nice vonskippy. its obviously pointless. if its usb powered, chances are you wouldn’t be using it unless you had a device capable of transmission, and if it wasn’t, you would be screwed because this is only for input and not transmission.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29836", "author": "TheGeek", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T10:14:17", "content": "I can see something like this being used as input device for the severely physically handicapped.@AndrewYour thinking of the BEHEMOTH and it’s earlier cousins the Winnebikos.http://microship.com/bike/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29837", "author": "JonasW", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T17:57:25", "content": "Actually a simple numeric keypad similar to the ones on cellphones would be both faster and easier to master.Most cellphone users are experienced SMS-typists, and although you would probably have to do without an automatic dictionary (since there’d be no display to confirm words), it’s still pretty quick once you get your thumb dancing. The few errors you’d make is comparable to the ones made with the morse interface.And imagine it’s wireless of some sort, you could write whatever you want whenever you want. I see tons of uses, many of which could even replace a normal keyboard.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29838", "author": "ethana2", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T22:03:38", "content": "Very nice, chimpoid. I like my leetscript firefox extension too.As a colemak typist, I think it would be interesting to see a keyboard with one of these sliders for each finger.slide up: top row: qwfpgjluy;Hit: home row: arstdhneioslide down: bottom row: zxcvbkm,./space hit: spacespace slide left: tabspace slide right: enter…but I won’t be holding my breath. Just a weird idea.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "66399", "author": "mike mccowan", "timestamp": "2009-03-16T00:00:36", "content": "I’m a quadriplegic and even thogh I can type faster with a pen on the keyboard, not to mention the new voice activated software like Dragon, I know Morse and would KILL for one of these for computers without the expensive software.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "109230", "author": "Daniel (dflc)", "timestamp": "2009-11-27T21:28:09", "content": "Mike: I just stumbled upon a device that may do the trick: a commercial USB Morse interface ($ 200). Google for: DARCI USBThe maker is: Westest (www.westest.com)I haven’t tried it, but it looks well finished and the technical description is OK.Hope this helps, and Long life to Morse Code!Note, for those who “dislike” Morse: Ham radio amateurs, had “QSO Robot”, quite a long time before anybody dreamed of BBSs, the Internet, SMS, etc, etc (Commodore 64, does it ring a bell ?)Cheers !", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,858.784793
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/17/spread-spectrum-freq-hopping-usb-rf-modem/	Spread Spectrum Freq Hopping USB RF Modem	Will O'Brien	[ "computer hacks", "Misc Hacks", "Peripherals Hacks" ]	[]		Since I mentioned Sparkfun electronics in the parts finding how-to , I started poking around their forums and stumbled across this interesting USB RF modem. It uses an off the shelf Semtec DP1205 RF module that’s controlled by a PIC 18F2550. The really interesting thing is that it uses spread spectrum frequency hopping – which means that by FCC rules, it can transmit up to 1 watt at 900Mhz. permalink	17	17	[ { "comment_id": "29807", "author": "Joshua", "timestamp": "2007-11-18T07:21:11", "content": "FHSS actually isn’t too uncommon a feature in COTS 900 MHz transceivers, precisely because of the FCC rule. Still, that’s an awesome little project. Handy, too. Who needs the wireless USB standard when we’ve got these? ;)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29808", "author": "doc", "timestamp": "2007-11-18T07:40:49", "content": "I’ve been looking for something like this, great article, however I’d really like to see one that uses OFDM simply for the bandwidth and other benefits it provides. 100kbps is a decent data rate for a diy project, however I’m fairly certain that it could be improved.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29809", "author": "Urza", "timestamp": "2007-11-18T08:00:40", "content": "I wanna know what the range is on that baby. I’ve actually got a great use in mind if it’s far enough. But it’d have to be better than directional wifi, and I’ve seen claims that a cantenna can give a good 1 mile range.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29810", "author": "chance", "timestamp": "2007-11-18T08:08:32", "content": "the range on this could be enormous if you only add a off the shelf CB antenna", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29811", "author": "doc", "timestamp": "2007-11-18T08:51:05", "content": "there are a few companies that sell really nice antennas specifically for the 900/915mhz ism band one of them ishttp://www.hyperlinktech.com, another ishttp://shop.defactowireless.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.251/.fI’m sure theres more but heres a few", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29812", "author": "tyler", "timestamp": "2007-11-18T09:41:32", "content": "hmm this looks like just what i’m looking for to use for my computer-controlled lasertag project i’m working on…thanks hack-a-day (and mainly to whomever came up with this excellent writeup)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29813", "author": "Ziggit", "timestamp": "2007-11-18T11:49:34", "content": "#3, that might work for receiving, where any random length of wire can be used for an antenna, but sadly, thsts just not the case for transmitting antennas. Transmitting antennas must be designed for a specific frequency. For example a common equation equation for calculating antenna length for your average quarter wave dipole antenna (think rabbit ears) is 234/(freq in mhz)12= length of antenna in inches.So once you put that cb antenna on there you would have a horrible swr because a cb antenna is tuned for around 30 mhz and thus would be 93.6 inches long while this project works on the 900 mhz band which wants an antenna at 3.12 inches. As you can see, that antenna would be considerably too long, and you would run the risk of burning out your transmitter.A better method would be to build a directional antenna such as a yagi (like your tv antenna on your roof) or cubic quad. Although, if I remember correctly, the FCC doesn’t actually care about the transmitter power, but more the effective radiated power, so if you have a 1 watt transmitter, and an antenna with 12db gain (remember: power doubles every 3 db) so thus you would have:1 watt (2)^(12/3) = 16 wattsso basically, you would be out of compliance with the FCC.well, just my 2 cents.73’sKE5GQS", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29814", "author": "Ziggit", "timestamp": "2007-11-18T12:00:09", "content": "The same applies to the cantenna, which is tuned to around 2.4 GHZ, or 2400 mhz using an antenna at about 1.17 inches.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29815", "author": "TheKhakinator", "timestamp": "2007-11-18T13:23:12", "content": "@6: You can tune a cantenna to various wavelengths; it’s just the idea of a Cantenna propagated with WiFi so they are generally tuned for 2.4GHz.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29816", "author": "alex", "timestamp": "2007-11-18T15:37:23", "content": "@ #5, ziggitvery informative! thank youCan anyone find the RF module he is using? he says its a “Semtec DP1205 RF module” that uses a Semtec XE1205 transceiver, but i can only find info on the XE1205 chip, not the DP1205 module.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29817", "author": "Michael Zoran", "timestamp": "2007-11-18T23:47:19", "content": "Hi. This is actually my project. I was surprised this morning by a huge increase in my website’s traffic. I thought I was being hacked, untill I realized hackaday was real.To answer some questions:1. The transmitter power is 15dBm which is comparable to off the shelf WiFi components so the range is very comparible. I’ve seen broadband amplifiers at Digikey for a few dollars that can do up to the limit of 1Watt but they are all very tiny SMT components and I am not advanced enough in my soldering skills for that.2. The DP1205 is a dropin module for the XE1205. At the time I built this this was a regular stocked item at Digikey. Apparently, the sales volume has been low so now it is only a backorder item and minimums apply.The documentation for the module is here:http://www.semtech.com/pc/downloadDocument.do?id=1796The documentation for the XE1205 chipset is here:http://www.semtech.com/products/xe1205/I’ll add more links to the website. As I say on the website, the modules do not contain a protocol layer. That is all done in C on the PIC.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29818", "author": "Ziggit", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T00:25:55", "content": "#7 true, I suppose I was thinking of the store bought ones.after some google, it seems that some people built theirs like a Yagi(well a bastard child of a yagi and the circular wave guide), but most seem to be circular wave guides.on that note I found:a handy yagi calculator:http://www.saunalahti.fi/elepal/antenna2calc.phpa circular wave guide calculator:http://www.saunalahti.fi/elepal/antenna2.htmland then there’s my personal favorite, the cubic quad:http://www.softcom.net/users/kd6dks/quad.htmlI actually hit a repeater about 30 miles away a cubic quad driven with my 1.5 watt ht.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29819", "author": "tony", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T17:49:37", "content": "how about linux implementation", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29820", "author": "David", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T18:02:57", "content": "What type of Spread Spectrum technology is this project using?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29821", "author": "Michael Zoran", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T21:46:38", "content": "The project uses the frequency hopping type of spread spectrum, which means that the transmitter and receiver hop from frequency to frequency after short intervals( 200ms in this project ). The idea is that if inteference happens, it only happens for short periods of time. The other advantage is that a fixed frequency isn’t used so many of the same device can be in close proximity.Wikipedia has an article on the technology:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency-hopping_spread_spectrum", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29822", "author": "howard stern", "timestamp": "2007-11-22T06:49:45", "content": "can you help me find out how to open a cell phone to monitor all the freqs it is using unmute it like a scanner,1900mhz etc,thanks", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "3174053", "author": "Leonardo Ramos", "timestamp": "2016-08-30T12:19:04", "content": "Does anyone has a copy of this project? Mike Zoran’s website is down and the Archive.org copy does not include files.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,858.723356
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/16/friday-night-pyro-extra/	Friday Night Pyro Extra	Will O'Brien	[ "Misc Hacks" ]	[]		Well, not quite so much a pyro, but this setup rocks for cooking some good steaks. [Tony] sent in this mp3 doorbell hack . I’m thinking… Star Wars theme song. [Joey] let me know about this odd hack that adds guitar foot pedals to every button on a gameboy . (It makes sense if you remember that they’re popular for 8-bit sound production) [Chris] sent in his wooden robot arm . It’s a simple servo based design, but it might be a good place to start if you’re leaning in that direction. This already got plenty of attention, but [Billy] took his iPod apart and encased it in a block of resin . It’s still works, via a dock cable. [D.G.] sent in this cheap ring-light tutorial . It’s based on a cheap LED light that’s got a set of ring mounted LEDs from the factory. [Eliot] noted this interesting take on finding slingboxes using geographical IP addresses to set up your target search. Finally, if you enjoyed [Eliot]’s visit to [Mr. Jalopy]’s garage, you might want to check out the video version on BoingBoingTV.	6	6	[ { "comment_id": "29801", "author": "eldorel", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T09:23:48", "content": "The link to the mp3 doorbell isn’t working. Use this one instead:http://popsci.typepad.com/how20blog/2007/11/build-it-hack-y.html", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29802", "author": "AbuMaia", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T10:54:50", "content": "I like the idea of replacing the doorbell button with a fingerprint scanner. Then you can have it announce who is at your door. If it’s a stranger, it could say that an “unknown person” is there.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29803", "author": "justdiy", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T18:55:20", "content": "wow, two color pictures in a row, although not much color in the picture of the recycled chips.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29804", "author": "smbgood", "timestamp": "2007-11-18T01:05:34", "content": "what is the point of the gameboy foot-pedal hack? on the website it said ‘so he could play guitar while playing the gameboy with his foot’ is playing link’s awakening so important you can’t put down your guitar for 5 minutes?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29805", "author": "sean", "timestamp": "2007-11-18T17:58:24", "content": "I’m definitely redoing my doorbell, don’t know what mp3 yet though.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29806", "author": "rj", "timestamp": "2007-11-18T20:00:29", "content": "I wonder why no-one made an LED strobe out of their ringlights?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,858.967492
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/16/how-to-where-to-find-parts-for-your-projects/	How-To: Where To Find Parts For Your Projects	Will O'Brien	[ "cnc hacks", "how-to" ]	[ "digikey", "feature", "howto", "mouser", "parts", "radioshack", "salvage", "sparkfun" ]		Hunting down the right parts usually takes more time than soldering everything together. I can’t count the number of projects that I tried to build and couldn’t find some key component that’s no longer made. You can help put together a list of suppliers at the end, but the idea is to have a quick reference to get your projects rolling (saving your money for important things, like espresso). Even if you’re familiar with the usual electronics parts shops, chime in to help me create a list of the best suppliers to fuel those hardware hacking projects. If you want to keep your money, I’d avoid RadioShack as much as possible. When you’re stuck because you can’t find a freaking 10kohm resistor, it’s fine, but the markup on their low quality parts is insane-their clearance prices aren’t too bad. As much as people bag on RadioShack, just remember that nobody else bothers to sell electronic parts in the middle of nowhere. Shipping can eat your project budget quicker than anything else. It’s the reason that I’m sometimes willing to pay $1 for $.05 in resistors at RadioShack. When I’m buying parts, I try to buy from a single supplier if possible to maximize my parts budget. Stocking up on parts in bulk can help make projects extra affordable later on. Buying a quantity of resistors, capacitors, PNP and NPN transistors and a decent supply of linear voltage regulators will save you a fair amount of money later on. I love it when I can build a $30 project for the cost of a proto-board and an odd capacitor. Just about every electronics component manufacturer will provide free samples on request. That’s right – free. It’s usually just a matter of creating an account on the manufacturers web site and selecting the components you need. As a rule, I don’t mention when I’ve sampled parts for a project. Seriously, they’ll get a little suspicious if 100 people suddenly sample the exact same parts. Samples aren’t limited to semiconductor companies. [ladyada] has a nice list of sample providers, including enclosures and connectors. Digi-Key carries just about every part you can think of. These guys prefer to sell large quantities, but they’re happy to take small orders. Orders are shipped out fast, but they’ll tack on an extra $5 fee if your order is under $25. Even if you’re not ordering, they usually have data sheets linked for every part they carry online. If you’re wiling to jump through the hoops, you can even create a parts order that’s linkable from your website – it can make it much easier to share a project with others, but I usually find that a few part numbers get deprecated as time goes by. Oh, and they’ll send you a massive parts catalog that’s handy for parts hunting and brain storming. Mouser Electronics is one of my favorite suppliers these days. They have reasonable shipping options and are fast with UPS ground orders showing up at my house within two days. Their inventory isn’t always the best, but substitution parts are usually easy to find because the online catalog links to web enabled PDF pages from their print catalog. It makes cross-referencing very easy. Like Digi-Key, they’ll send you a massive parts catalog to shove under your monitor. Futurlec is a great place to get incredibly cheap parts, but you won’t be seeing your order for about a month (ok, so my last order showed up after three weeks). I suggest stocking up on connector headers and resistors. I haven’t had to make a late night resistor run in a couple of years thanks to these guys. Sparkfun electronics is like a candy shop for Hack-A-Day readers. They carry higher end parts like GPS units, GMRS modules and micro controller programmers. Pricing varies a bit, but I can always find something interesting there. If you prefer professionally made PC Boards, they even put together an inexpensive PC Board service . ebay is one of my favorite places to shop for parts. It’s a great place to buy brand new $150 stepper motors for $20 or hunt down funky, hackable hardware. People certainly try to sell single components, but it’s usually not worth the effort. Salvaging parts is the absolute cheapest method for parts shopping. Thanks to custom ICs and SMD parts, newer electronics don’t normally have much in the way of salvage value. On the other hand, older hardware is a great source for parts. My current favorite salvage source is the dot matrix printer. They’re easy to take apart, have nice power supplies, and they’re loaded with quality heat sinks, wiring, connectors, hardened steel rods, and stepper motors. The bigger the dot matrix printer, the bigger the stepper motor. If you can score a few of the same model, you’ll end up with a few matched sets. People hate throwing them away, so they’re easy to get for free. Lack of availability can be a problem, but obsolete parts are another way to keep costs down. Originally, the UCN5804B stepper driver I used for the cutting board CNC machine cost about $16 each. Now that they’re deprecated, they can be had for about $5 each. Grab bags are another good way to save money. They’re usually full of loose parts that’ll have to be identified, but they’re cheap. The guys over at uchobby put together a nice how-to on sorting them. Thanks to the movement from mail order to internet suppliers, the parts company scene is huge. There are loads of production part and surplus companies around. Here’s a quick list of shops that’ll probably be useful if you’re looking for parts. Digi-Key electronics Mouser electronics Futurlec Sparkfun electronics eBay All Electronics BG Micro American Science & Surplus Goldmine Electronics MPJA Online MCM Electronics Parts Express Got a favorite shop? Drop the link in the comments and I’ll add it to the list.	78	50	[ { "comment_id": "29742", "author": "Chris J", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T06:22:55", "content": "For discontinued or hard to find parts contacthttp://www.unicornelectronics.com. I use them for the MM5314 clock chip that hasnât been made in 15 years as well as discontinued 74 series logic.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29743", "author": "Mike Vander Vorste", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T06:29:48", "content": "odd bits of material and such can also be found at:http://www.mcmaster.com/They have a wonderful search engine for their site, and sell things that many other companies don’t. DigiKey is my main source, but if I can’t find it anywhere else… McMaster Carr sure is a good thing to have on the list.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29744", "author": "chewy", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T07:04:49", "content": "and for grab bags do not forget abouthttp://www.alldatasheet.com/it is your friend, your savior and all around life preserver for figuring out what in the world you actually picked up", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29745", "author": "davr", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T07:05:26", "content": "Searching for parts: these search engines designed specifically to find what shops carry that part you need.http://octopart.com/http://findchips.com/http://www.newark.com/is also a good supplier…they don’t have the $5 fee like digikey, most parts have minimum quantity of 1, shipping is cheap & fast.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "2203564", "author": "Aaron", "timestamp": "2014-12-03T01:00:04", "content": "I findhttp://componentsearch.comis very useful too.", "parent_id": "29745", "depth": 2, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "2203879", "author": "charliex", "timestamp": "2014-12-03T02:17:14", "content": "I’d hope so since you work there.", "parent_id": "2203564", "depth": 3, "replies": [] } ] } ] }, { "comment_id": "29746", "author": "Kyle", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T07:08:05", "content": "This is an awesome article! I use electronics goldmine a lot! But out of all these sites I can’t find USB ends anywhere, I don’t want to buy usb cords and cut them up. Anyone know where I can find and USB sockets/heads/ends(whatever you want to call them)?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "1015184", "author": "jayduey", "timestamp": "2013-06-11T22:09:37", "content": "+1 to american science and surplus. They’re probably the best brick-and-mortar store out there.I would also add DX.com, as the stuff is pretty cheap (unfortunatealy, not just in pricing), but shipping is totally free, and they carry a ton of arduino/non-consumer electronics stuff", "parent_id": "29746", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "29747", "author": "dan", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T07:09:15", "content": "http://octopart.com/is an easy way to cross reference component suppliers", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29748", "author": "Royce", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T07:10:31", "content": "Electronics Expresshttp://www.elexp.com/Circuit Specialistshttp://www.web-tronics.com/Jamecohttp://www.jameco.comKelvinhttp://www.kelvin.com/United Nuclearhttp://www.unitednuclear.com/Solarboticshttp://www.solarbotics.com/Parallaxhttp://www.parallax.com/Acronamehttp://www.acroname.com/US Plasticshttp://www.usplastic.comOnline Metalshttp://www.onlinemetals.com/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29749", "author": "hardwire", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T07:10:39", "content": "For Sydney Austraila i would recommend jaycar at bondi junction, very friendly and they do stock just about most common parts.any readers that are from Sydney Australia should list some part shops that you would recommend. :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29750", "author": "Royce", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T07:15:13", "content": "To kyle:Here is a mini-socket.http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8401Digi-key will have every variation. Search for ‘USB connector’ and dig around.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29751", "author": "Brian Howell", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T07:25:12", "content": "This is a very useful post, thank you.A couple more source I’d like to add ishttp://www.smallparts.com. They’re a good source for raw materials like aluminum, brass stock, tubing, threaded rods, gears, bearings, etc. They used to have wonderful catalogs available by request, however they’ve recently teamed up with Amazon @http://www.amazon.com/industrial-scientific-fastners-raw-materials/b?ie=UTF8&node=16310091making them even easier to use in my opinion, since Amazon most likely already has your account info, and you can take advantage of Amazon’s great interface.Another source along that same line ishttp://www.micromark.com/. They have a good variety of hobby tools, casting & molding materials, jig & fixture supplies.I’m interested to see what other people have to contribute to this post.Thanks again!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29752", "author": "Dean Putney", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T07:35:58", "content": "I lived out in the middle of nowhere for a long time, with very little money anyway, so parts were almost impossible to buy. Salvaging is a great way to start because you can get your desoldering technique down (very important) and learn a lot about the various parts. In the big old electronics, it’s all labeled! A few of us scrapped a set of scanners and printers and wound up with a big lens, a quality photo-resistor, dozens of huge caps and a handful of LEDs.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29753", "author": "wirehead", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T07:47:13", "content": "royce,Thanks for the reminder that Circuit Specialists is still around. Many years ago I had a credit from them and since I knew I was going to be travelling to their area, I stopped by in person to claim it.They were surprised that I had came from over 1500 miles away to claim it in person.I was surprised that the clerk at the counter took one look at the slip, which only listed a part number and credit amount, and said, “We got those in stock now, you want them?”Another good place is HSChttp://www.halted.com/, I can spend hours in their stores, which have many items not listed online.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29754", "author": "thethirdmoose", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T08:04:49", "content": "Molex, for connectors and ports. Good, fast shipping if you need something like an SD card slot.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29755", "author": "macegr", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T08:26:57", "content": "i’d like to recommend the electronic goldmine athttp://www.goldmine-elec.com. this has been my favorite place to find unique cheap parts that spark projects on their own. also, they have goldpaks and surprise boxes where you often get hundreds of dollars worth of parts for only a few bucks…seriously, the surprise boxes are the single best way i can think of to stock up on all sorts of components, leds, switches, hardware, oscillators, you name it.second, i’d like to mention jameco again as linked in a previous comment. these guys are competive on price, except for standard connectors where they destroy everyone else. they have the cheapest prices on d-sub connectors and rectangular idc headers and ribbon cable. plus they’re about 2 miles from here so i can walk up to their counter and pick up my order! :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29756", "author": "Dane Kouttron", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T08:33:40", "content": "At NYC resistor, we brought up the same topic. here’s the list we assembled:http://groups.google.com/group/nycresistormicrocontrollers/browse_thread/thread/297c475a5d3499df-Dane", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29757", "author": "andrew", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T08:37:55", "content": "What’s the deal with leaving out jameco? Seriously, they’re an excellent supplier.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29758", "author": "smellsofbikes", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T08:39:19", "content": "I didn’t see these listed previously:Newarkhttp://www.newarkinone.comor justhttp://www.newark.comallied electronicshttp://www.alliedelec.comThey’re a lot like digikey. I’ve found digikey better for semiconductors, and mouser and particularly allied better for weird connectors and sensors. Jameco is usually cheaper if they have the part in stock.gatewayelex.com also sometimes has some good inexpensive stuff.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29759", "author": "Sparks", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T09:19:12", "content": "There’s also…Think & Tinker for all your PCB manufacturing needshttp://www.thinktink.com/as well asElectrosonichttp://www.e-sonic.com/andFuture Electronicshttp://www.futureelectronics.com/And like will mentions, lots of companies will give samples of products. For my thesis work a few years back I snagged a set of fiber-op transceivers worth about 500 bucks for the price of an email and ten bucks shipping. Ask nice, be polite and you’ll typically get a good response.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29760", "author": "Mac Cody", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T09:31:08", "content": "Another good source for electronic parts is BG Micro (http://www.bgmicro.com). They have a lot of useful parts at very reasonable prices.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29761", "author": "twistedsymphony", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T09:42:47", "content": "If you live in a college town with a technical university I can almost guarantee that there is a non-radio-shack electronics store near by. When I was attenting RPI there was a local place called “Trojan Electronics” and it was f-ing amazing. the store was roughly the size of about 5 radioshacks and was just no-nonsense isle after isle, of bins of parts, including many no longer made parts. And the owner was extremely helpful. and if they didn’t have it they would order it for you and you wouldn’t have to worry about shipping charges since they were putting in bulk orders several times a week.Finding good online shops is nice but it can’t hurt to pickup a phone book to see if you’re lucky enough to have a real electronics shop in your area… It’s also good to support your local businesses.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29762", "author": "hitch", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T11:19:42", "content": "if anybodys from the uk here are couple of places i know:rapid electronicshttp://www.rapidonline.comdeffinately my favourite, amazing customer service.http://rswww.comnever really used (i think its related to/is radio shack?) but they do stuff in the uk anyways.http://www.maplin.co.ukinflated prices and erm…uneducated staff, i almost shed a small tear when i buy something from here. but i guess its usefull if you really really need something.in the slim chance that anybody reading this lives near/in chesterfield in the uk, one of the most amazing electronics shops, “jpg electronics” is on Chatsworth road, loads of exciting things in boxes, and helpfull staff. (been going there since i was about 12)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29763", "author": "sly", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T11:20:37", "content": "along the lines of local shops… in the north dallas area is tanners electronicshttp://www.tannerelectronics.com/great for those last minute needs.also… altex is a chain in texas that sometimes will have the stuff that nobody else hashttp://www.altex.com/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29764", "author": "jd", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T14:43:24", "content": "Don’t forget that at most manufacturers’ websites you can sample parts for free. Great for getting free microcontrollers (Microchip), sensors (Freescale), opamps (Analog Devices), transistors (ST Microelectronics) etc.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29765", "author": "Mecha_D", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T15:39:15", "content": "I know it’s geared more towards computers, but hey, they said the same about auto parts stores too. FrozenCPU.com has a bunch of oddball/cool parts, LEDs, Cold Cathodes, the list goes on. And their turn around time is decent as well, usualy can get my stuff in about 4 days, and I live in The-Middle-Of-Nowhere, Maine.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29766", "author": "fbz", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T16:17:47", "content": "in germany we have the slightly overpriced but brick-and-mortar-plus-onlinehttp://conrad.deand the better pricedhttp://www.reichelt.deunder the heading “Bauelemente”", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29767", "author": "Rob", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T17:27:34", "content": "http://www.rapidonline.com/(UK Based)Useful for getting parts pretty quick and cheap.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29768", "author": "Juanito Carlisle", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T17:47:34", "content": "Here is my list:How can you forget All Electronics:http://www.allelectronics.com/Hosfelt Electronicshttp://www.hosfelt.com/Leeds Radiohttp://www.leedselect.com/index.htmlOcean State Electronicshttp://www.oselectronics.com/Antique Electronics SupplyAwesome Tube and Vintage (but new) Partshttp://www.tubesandmore.com/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29769", "author": "Jason", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T17:49:23", "content": "Check out Nebraska Surplus athttp://surplussales.com/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29770", "author": "TJ", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T18:10:00", "content": "If you’re in N Europe, an excellent shop is Elfa. Knowledgeable employees and a ginormous online catalog.http://www.elfa.se/en", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29771", "author": "Joshua", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T18:23:02", "content": "http://www.allelectronics.com/good stuff here.josh", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29772", "author": "happy gilmore", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T20:00:20", "content": "anyone mentioned:http://www.goldmine-elec.com/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29773", "author": "MioTheGreat", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T20:45:59", "content": "I got Futurlec’s linear IC pack, and I think I’m set for voltage regulators for the rest of my life… Came with a bunch of opamps and comparators, too. So I think it was a pretty good deal.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29774", "author": "wwsean08", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T23:27:20", "content": "http://www.youdoitelectronics.com", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29775", "author": "jeff moss", "timestamp": "2007-11-18T00:25:08", "content": "here in Cleveland we have a goldmine for electronics parts. The store is called Electronic Surplus,http://www.electronicsurplus.comThe store recently moved and right now they do everything online. I’ve been to their old store several times, and they had everything you could possibly think of. Plus many things I could not possibly begin to know how to use :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29776", "author": "jeef", "timestamp": "2007-11-18T02:21:03", "content": "Along the same lines as college resources, I am currently enrolled at RPI, and there are large boxes in a handful of buildings where they recycle old electronics. They’re picked up about once a month, but seeing as it’s and engineering school, many fantastic appliances end up in these boxes. Personally, I’ve found working LCD monitors, blue-tooth mice, and countless power supplies and fans. If you’re currently in school, or live near a campus, you might be able to find similar resources. Also, this may be a useful site to find useful/cheap products:http://www.harborfreight.com/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29777", "author": "Stephan", "timestamp": "2007-11-18T03:39:22", "content": "A great pcb design program. Very similar to PADS and very powerful. The design provides great support and it has a nice devoted following. It outputs gerber files, which is so much nicer then what expresspcb offers. I HIGHLY recommend this software if your looking for something new to use.http://www.freepcb.com/If your looking for cheap board hosues:Advanced Circuits; Great quality, and great deals for students. They have a great staff, don’t hesitate to ask them if you have questions. They have their own pcb software which is nice, but I found it to be a bit too complicated. They have a DRC on their website and are more then willing to check your board before it is made for possible conflicts.http://www.4pcb.com/Our PCB; I can’t comment on the quality, but their price is good.http://ourpcb.com/Imagineering; Again, can’t comment on quality, but the price is good.http://www.pcbnet.com/Maxima; Again, another place with good prices, but I don’t know how their quality is.https://maxima5.abac.com/pcbex/product_index.asp", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29778", "author": "Coyotecom", "timestamp": "2007-11-18T05:19:58", "content": "Wow, I’m going to bookmark this one.I had a supplier for cheap ass laptop parts before, but I seem to have misplaced the link. Got a power jack that I was told would run me $30-$50 everywhere I went for repairs, for just $5 a piece. I ordered two, and I think the second one was deducted because I was a first time customer or something. Then had motherboards for my unit for $30 and I was told it was at least a $300 fix.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29779", "author": "hcker2000", "timestamp": "2007-11-18T06:04:25", "content": "Ok here is my contribution of parts links.http://www.allelectronics.com/http://store.qkits.com/http://www.circuitspecialists.com/http://www.quickar.com/http://www.besthongkong.com/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29780", "author": "HeBD", "timestamp": "2007-11-18T13:06:24", "content": "ok heres for everyone down under :)http://au.farnell.com/http://www.jaycar.com.au/http://www.dse.com.au/http://www.rsaustralia.com/yeah. thats it for Australia and i dont think there is such a thing as surplus shops here :s", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29781", "author": "DioXide", "timestamp": "2007-11-18T13:23:08", "content": "If you are in a small mexican city (ie. not Mexico City, not Guadalajara, nor Monterrey) get it at Steren, don’t bother looking at other places — Steren is the cheapest (and they have a store every 5 blocks)http://www.steren.com(I read somewhere that they also have a few stores in the US and China, but i don’t know if they have the same parts/prices.. on mexico they have a pretty good variety of parts and it’s all cheap)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29782", "author": "andrew", "timestamp": "2007-11-18T21:02:23", "content": "I live in Waterloo, ON, where there are not only two universities (University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier) but also Conestoga College and Research In Motion. Sayal electronics (www.sayal.com) is a retail chain that used to be right nearby, but they’ve relocated to Cambridge now. KW Surplus (www.kwsurplus.com) was an old standby but now they’re just a surplus retail store with very little electronic equipment, although they do have a lot of cheap shop materials if you’re willing to dig around. For a town with such a technical bent, and one that has won most intellectual city of the year twice, it’s crazy that there is so few places around to get parts.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29783", "author": "Miles", "timestamp": "2007-11-18T22:31:18", "content": "Re RadioShack,I am free to rag on them still because all of them within a 50 miles radius of my house have discontinued all electronic components, boo.There is a Radio Mart that may still be keeping stock, I will have to check (Radio Mart carries Radio Shack, but seems to be a privately owned business, not a franchise), so those will likely differ by owner.Thanks for this super guide :), I love to hack. I haven’t read it all, but you can usually find lots of great stuff at second-hand shops.I recently got a Motorola “Wireless Wheels” R/C car for a $1, while way to over my head to hack (and the RC components look as crappy as your usual $20 JCPenney special, negating the coolness factor), I did get a toy earthmover that I put a $3 RC radio (Walmart “Tuner RC” close-out, so I bought 5-6, so what?) in and converted to wireless :).Keep up the good work.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29784", "author": "Gh0sTly", "timestamp": "2007-11-18T23:02:27", "content": "Mendelsons Liquidation outlethttp://www.MECI.comIm kinda biased for these guys though, I live close to there warehouse, and anyone in the public can go pick and choose what they want. Awesome place. They also have a Parts Express inside.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29785", "author": "andrew", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T03:55:08", "content": "@33: don’t forget these Canadian ones:http://www.apcircuits.com– Alberta, extremely fast turnaround, can do plated, 2 layer no mask/silk next day and will do full mask/silk and routed multilayer in under a week. FR4 and the more exotic substrates as well. Excellent staff.http://www.sibercircuits.com/– Ontario, also fast turnaround, seems able to handle my Eagle gerbers better than APC. Very high quality, I use them for an 8-layer 5/5 .062 containing four microBGAs. Excellent boards, excellent service, good pricing.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29786", "author": "DaveSt", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T13:36:12", "content": "Can we have a similar post, but with UK suppliers? I only really use a couple of companies – farnell and crownhill. It’d be nice to find some others.Dave.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29787", "author": "Chris", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T17:05:21", "content": "I have also found that Mouser will recommend a part for substitution, even help you integrate it into your project if you need the assist.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29788", "author": "Azurus", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T01:46:58", "content": "A great book fell into my lap here and I thought I would share the website that came along with it.http://www.shop-pitsco.comI have yet to read through here but this book has so much for ideas and little things you could work with.Check it out!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29789", "author": "DrBunsen", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T02:09:39", "content": "Another Sydney, Australia outlet is Oatley Electronics. They tend to stock oddball and surplus items which vary a lot over time. Ordering is through their website or by phone.Also in Australia are RS Components, and rockby.com", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29790", "author": "DrBunsen", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T02:14:25", "content": "don’t forget jaycar is a national australian chain and their website lists their full catalog and takes orders.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29791", "author": "bbarbie", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T13:08:34", "content": "These two are pretty big on my list. Did I not read the post right?http://www.digikey.com/http://www.mouser.com/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,859.188364
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/15/automatic-projector-calibration/	Automatic Projector Calibration	Will O'Brien	[ "home entertainment hacks", "Portable Video Hacks" ]	[]		[Johny Lee] sent in his (pdf) awesome projector calibration project. By adding embedding some optical fiber that feed into a set of USB connected light sensors, his groups software can determine the exact pixel position of each sensor. Once the positions are determined, the projected image can be dynamically adjusted to fix the screen. The technique can be used to stitch together multiple projectors, and even calibrate an image to project onto a three dimensional model. I know some home theater nuts that would love to have this system for calibrating their CRT projectors. This is such an excellent project, that I want to give credit where it’s due – it was developed by [Johnny C. Lee], [Paul H. Dietz], [Dan Maynes-Aminzade], [Ramesh Raskar] and [Scott E. Hudson]. Be sure to check out the video demo after the break! permalink	40	40	[ { "comment_id": "29707", "author": "simon", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T02:06:57", "content": "That is bloody amazing, especially the demo with the car! Great Job!!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29708", "author": "Jake", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T02:08:50", "content": "That is quite an impressive demonstration there.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29709", "author": "zigzagjoe", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T02:12:03", "content": "damn, that is sweet. universities and moderate sized businesses would kill for this sort of setup", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29710", "author": "spiderwebby", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T02:12:56", "content": "thats friggin sweet", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29711", "author": "Mike", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T02:22:12", "content": "I rarely ever comment, but man, that’s awesome.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29712", "author": "Shadyman", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T02:25:56", "content": "THAT’S FARKING AWESOME.I want one.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29713", "author": "Eliot", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T02:26:33", "content": "Wow, I can’t believe how well that works!http://digg.com/hardware/Amazing_automated_projector_calibration", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29714", "author": "pascal", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T03:02:35", "content": "I wonder why nobody thought of this before… but the problem with the car demo is, that it still requires the geometry to be known beforehand in order to wrap the image correctly.And how do they want to achieve “interactive” framerates? they have to project log2(width) + log2(height) stripes, which would require 500 projections/sec for VGA, if you refresh the geometry at 25Hz. One could use a special projector that projects the stripes in infrared and at the same time the image that’s for the user to see…But wouldn’t it be easier and more flexible, at the expense of 1:1 pixel precision, to point a camera at the projection surface (from the users point of view). you could then project images that look flat from a certain viewpoint onto complex unknown surfaces… but I think that would solve another problem…btw, the setup they use looks quite cheap, just hook up some sensors to the IO-ins of your favorite programmable USB-chip…If I just had a projector :D", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29715", "author": "Peter", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T03:02:53", "content": "The only problem I see with this approach is that you loose a huge amount of the available number of pixels from the projector… He is using a screen that is about 6″ on a side in a field of view that is about 30 inches on a side, which is ‘wasting’ about 95% of the available pixels… When he turns the screen on its side it further complicates the problem because the screens footprint becomes more along the lines of 2″ by 6″, reducing the pixel utilisation to a meager 1%Also, you still have to focus the projector onto the target, and your depth of field is still limited by the lens on your projector…This could get really big when laser projectors (using moving mirror galvos to steer the beam) become affordable, as you can then adjust the field of view of the projector on the fly, and the images are always in focus.Aside from that, that is an awesome setup. I envision some code to allow beryl/compiz (sorry windows/mac users) to have several small (or large for that matter) panels that can be mapped to an individual window. So you can drag/rotate/etc each of your windows on say a physical desk.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29716", "author": "O Mattos", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T03:38:18", "content": "It must be possible to do the calibration in way less time.Consider the projector has about a million pixels.To uniquely identify each pixel, they must each be given a code about 20 bits (frames) long. The codes would be arranged so two adjacent pixels are different in only one frame. (basicly gray code with an extra dimension, so X and Y can be calculated simultaniously). That means positions can be calculated with only 20 frames, and with a 60Hz refresh rate it should only take a third of a second to identify a pixel (ie. 3Hz). That means it becomes practical to track moving objects using an IR projector (because you can do motion prediction and also you can presume the area certain pixels are in by their previous location, reducing the number of frames required to deduce a location). For fast-moving items, accuracy is also less important again reducing the number of frames.I guess it would be possible to then track an item to about 10 Hz, which could have some interesting uses.It would be possible to further speed up the process by using all 3 colour channels seperately and have detectors for all 3 colours on the ends of the fibers.Another interesting ofshoot is it might be possible to do sub-pixel positions by measuring intensity.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29717", "author": "Jordan", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T03:59:25", "content": "This is probably the most amazing mod I have ever seen. These men are brilliant. I am speechless", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29718", "author": "Samodelkin", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T04:11:12", "content": "Very impressive. Earlier today, I had an idea conveniently somewhat-relevant to the model car demo, cheap sort-of-invisibility:Suppose a camera was added close to the projector, and the background was a random, inconsistent image, rather than a solid-gray one.First, the camera takes a picture of the background and remembers it. Then the camera records the binary pattern, from which the offset relative to the projector can be determined; the background should not be a problem to calibration because a previously-recorded image may be used to filter out the graphical background noise.Next, the still-flat-gray model car with the optical sensors is placed on the background. The calibration does its thing like in the demo so that the colors can be projected correctly onto it; however, this should also provide enough information to project a piece of the background over the car such that it becomes sort-of-invisible from the point of view of the view of the camera, or if multiple projector-cameras are used, sort-of-invisible from a single arbitrary point of view.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29719", "author": "Filip", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T04:19:17", "content": "Love this post. I can’t help but dig up an older article from Technology Review (late ’04) that focused on one group’s work with hand held projectors, aiming to shrink them enough to replace/augment cellphone/PDA displays. Some of their tricks included adaptive projecting onto uneven surfaces, keeping a steady image despite moving the projector (so you could tilt and point the projector like a mouse/laser-pointer), and automatically unifying several projectors for an even larger image. So that was baseline already pretty cool. But they took it a bit further and got RFID tags involved that each had a photodiode sensor. They then ran a similar scanlines projection (like this project uses) across a scene, and identically they could exactly locate where the sensor was. Their working example was a storage shelf with different cardboard boxes and embedded tags + sensors, and they would project graphical information for each box onto the side of each box.Now, having recently reformatted my lappy, I’m suddenly lacking the link to the online copy of the article. I’ve found a similar copy, but it lacks the images that went with each number. grumblehttp://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/13958/?a=fAlso, I’m not sure if this is related, but they seem to be doing very similar things:http://www.merl.com/people/raskar/Sig04/Ditto:http://www.trnmag.com/Stories/2004/081104/Projector_lights_radio_tags_081104.htmlAlthough the original focused on what you could do with a palm sized (“pencil sized” they hoped) projector, I’d always been rather been intrigued with the RFID part. These days, we’ve got the multitouch demos and cameras tracking markers in realtime, but the light detector + projector combo still seems like a promising combination. Just wanted to share/connect this to some older research. (…and if they’re the same group, I’m going to go find a wall for my forehead.)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29720", "author": "David", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T04:37:47", "content": "Incidentally, this seems to be the same guy who came up with the hack of using the Wii remote’s IR sensor and an array of IR LEDs to track finger positions.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29721", "author": "aten", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T04:55:17", "content": "For us who hate opening PDF’s:http://view.samurajdata.se/psview.php?id=e3af520f&page=1", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29722", "author": "monopole", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T05:20:11", "content": "Neat stuff.@7,9It gets better, a DMD can slam out binary frames at 14,300 Hz and the sequence is short (on the order of 20 frames) so you can get a fix in about 1.4 milliseconds and after you have an absolute fix you can use coding tricks to drop the number of frames to do relative tracking, I’d put it at about 8 frames with a periodic 20 frame burst to cancel out cumulative errors.The actual reprojection is achieved by mapping the camera space to the projector space and fitting the point positions to identical virtual models. But it can get tricky without overdetermined sampling.This also burns resolution like nobody’s business. The actual resolutions with a close up are pretty miserable. Lots of anti aliasing going on too.Also check out this honest to goodness projector hack by the same guys:http://www.merl.com/papers/docs/TR2005-141.pdf", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29723", "author": "DrHands", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T06:43:59", "content": "Auto calibration is not a new idea.BARCO (Belgian-American Radio Co.) uses it in their projectors, with no need for sensors, just an embedded camerahttp://www.barco.com/corporate/en/products/product.asp?gennr=123", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29724", "author": "AlphA", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T09:52:00", "content": "This is remarkable!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29725", "author": "simon", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T10:01:28", "content": "Some more comments to add to the discussion:1). For moving targets you don’t have to use the same search scheme as you already know roughly where the corners of the targers are (or were). You just need to be able to search those specific areas within a radius.2). There is no reason why multiple targets could not be placed in projection view, once calibrated each could have a different image projected onto each of them.3). The target screen are currently teathered to a compute, again not needed. The electronics could be fully self contained (not that difficult to code) and result sent to projector(s) system wirelessly (Bluetooth for example).4). In the same manner that they use two projectors onto a wide target with 6 sensor, you could make a modular screen built from square panels where you just assemble the size screen you need and point a barrage of projectors at it to get some really (!!!) high resolutions.A fantastically simple idea. Good hack!Simon.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29726", "author": "NNM", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T11:01:17", "content": "VERY IMPRESSIVE!I see great future for this..", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29727", "author": "Flemming Frandsen", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T11:21:13", "content": "Many CRT projectors have had this feature for many, many years and those of us who have set up CRT projectors more than once know that they are not as good as doing the setup manually.The CRT projector system consists of about 5 different ways to focus the electron beam and 4 different ways to control optical focus, multiply that by 3 tubes and you have the number of settings that auto-convergence cannot fix.Convergence (getting the 3 tubes to overlap) is about 10 settings pr. tube.The tricky part is that several of these settings interoperate so several iterations are needed to get the perfect setup.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29728", "author": "Andrew Yeomans", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T12:45:25", "content": "Embedded optical sensors seems somewhat complex. Wonder why they don’t use reflecting targets attached to the screen? Put a 2-d barcode on the target and pick up the reflected light with a single sensor at the projector to identify which target it is as well as the precise position. (Cube-corner retro-reflecting targets might help.)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29729", "author": "crustea", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T16:36:03", "content": "CHeck this other mapping video:http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x38np6_mapping-origami-antivj:)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29730", "author": "AddRock", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T19:26:46", "content": "This type of technology, using optical sensors to warp and blend projectors, is already commercially available from at least two companies. Iridas and 3D Perceptions. I’ve been using them to project on cylinders and spheres. However, they take about 30 seconds to auto-align and they are too expensive for everyday use. The speed of this is very impressive. If its being done with inexpensive hardware, thats equally impressive.You can’t use reflecting targets because they would be visible to the viewer.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29731", "author": "a random John", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T19:42:26", "content": "When I worked at IBM we had a system that would project onto multiple interactive surfaces using a projector and mirrors. The problem was always calibration. You’d mount the projector, motorized mirror, and position the surfaces to project onto and then calibrate. If anything got touched then you had to do the calibration all over again. This tech would make it so that all you had to do at the start was a very basic alignment and then the system could handle the calibration as needed.The demo itself was very cool. We had a clothing store of the future set up for a major retailer and the projector could put a screen on the wall, on the floor, and on the jeans display depending on where the customer was. The jeans display was interactive so that you could point with your finger and it would show different options.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29732", "author": "sygyzy", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T20:05:24", "content": "I think this is amazing but I don’t understand how it works. I have never seen a projector that has this sort of calibration via user-accessible menus. I mean, unless the team also re-wrote the projector code, I am stumped. I understand how the system works, I just don’t understand it’s able to tell the project to do anything other than zoom in and out, squeeze sides, or focus.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29733", "author": "Johnny Lee", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T20:14:02", "content": "I really like the Hack-A-Day community because there is a high density of very smart people with an imagination that rivals or surpases that of the recognized research community.The comments here about using high-speed DLP, infrared patterns, reflective markers, multiple surfaces, lost pixels are all completely spot on. Since this is my thesis work, some of these ideas have been addressed in my followup work. You can find that here (with more video!):http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/projects/thesis/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29734", "author": "matthew", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T00:01:47", "content": "where do you get the schematics and the software cuz i got an old crappy projector lyin around", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29735", "author": "matthew", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T00:18:58", "content": "where do you get the software", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29736", "author": "AddRock", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T05:01:27", "content": "In the case of this demonstration, the calibration is not bing done in the projector. The video is passing through a computer first. The computer is processing the video and warping it to fit the projection surface. The projector is just being a dumb projector and not doing anything different.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29737", "author": "chris", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T18:57:54", "content": "impressive indeed – it is worth pointing out that this isn’t new research (UIST 2004) – MERL and CMU have done some pretty neat stuff in the past. as a followup, they had a publish in UIST 2005 where they built on this where they added the capability to move the display in real time and increased touch capabilities …http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~summetj/papers/uist05.pdfhttp://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/academic/moveable_UIST_2005.mov", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29738", "author": "The Steven", "timestamp": "2007-12-11T21:17:48", "content": "Umm… Wow!now add a pair of wii remotes and perhaps you could “draw in thin air”", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29739", "author": "Polter", "timestamp": "2007-12-14T04:38:59", "content": "goodness!!! that thing rocks!!! it has many potential uses!!! It’s great if they can develop dynamic calibration too(which is more complex to do)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29740", "author": "nate", "timestamp": "2007-12-14T12:51:14", "content": "wow. that has to be revolutionary!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29741", "author": "Patrick Jules", "timestamp": "2008-01-20T05:18:19", "content": "This is what I’m talking about all I want to know is how much and where can I buy this technology.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "75684", "author": "Jason", "timestamp": "2009-05-19T15:52:18", "content": "Currently, as far as I know, you can’t buy this software. If you were to check out shaderlamps.com you can request a copy of their callibration software, and from what I can tell, it is pretty similar to what Johnny was using for his callibration technique (which he worked with a few of the shader lamps people with).I have tried to contact johnny directly through the e-mail on his website, but no luck so far. I want to try and use this callibration technique in a real-world, entertainment aspect.Being a VJ, callibration is not really that important, but to be able to transform a stage into something that is immersive both for the audience, and the performers, this would be absolutely vital.I certainly hope that research continues for this, and it someday, soon hopefully, becomes available to users.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "77124", "author": "jackson", "timestamp": "2009-06-02T17:04:10", "content": "Jason,Any luck getting in contact with any of these folks?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "98990", "author": "Dionne Doria", "timestamp": "2009-10-05T23:50:42", "content": "Dies ist eine gro?artige Geschichte. Danke!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "165344", "author": "peter", "timestamp": "2010-08-04T01:02:18", "content": "i want to stack 2 projectors 3200 lumenes? what is the cheapest solution of software and hardware ? jhonny chun lee has good metods. Please is very imprtant for me can anyone help ? i had read three opcion: vioso wings , scalable displays, chung lee with sensors have anyone the software ? it is not for comercial use please help emergency story!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "335796", "author": "aldin", "timestamp": "2011-02-17T16:52:21", "content": "Whaaaaaaaaaaaat.. so sweet. revolutionary!!!!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,859.092464
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/14/toilet-terror-level-indicator/	Toilet Terror Level Indicator	Will O'Brien	[ "Misc Hacks" ]	[ "haha", "terror level", "TerrorLevel", "toilet" ]		Normally, this wouldn’t quite make my radar, but [sprite_tm] built it, and it’s funny as hell. He created a Terror Level indicator for… his toilet. Rather than create an exotic smell detector, he simply uses a photo diode to measure the amount of time that the light has been on in the ol’ water closet. As time progresses, so does the Terror Level indicator. To make an audible indicator, he used the PWM generator in the ATTiny231to create a sort of ping sound when the level escalates. (I can definitely think of someone I need one of these things for.) permalink	11	11	[ { "comment_id": "29696", "author": "entropy", "timestamp": "2007-11-14T21:36:52", "content": "a motion sensor of some kind combined with some fancy code could be used to determine if someone was in the bathroom too. it would have to determine the difference between motionless(room empty) and motionless(someone on the toilet)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29697", "author": "dheera", "timestamp": "2007-11-14T22:31:46", "content": "he should have his terror levels indicated like “ORANGE” and “RED” instead.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29698", "author": "boardboy", "timestamp": "2007-11-14T22:33:38", "content": "Pressure sensor under the toilet seat would be a better way to measure whether someone is using the toilet instead of burshing their teeth/shaving in the washroom with the light on.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29699", "author": "tommy", "timestamp": "2007-11-14T23:07:04", "content": "Mine would have just 2 levels.1) Find a gas mask2) Put on the damn gas mask.~/ronWhite~", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29700", "author": "Cheerios", "timestamp": "2007-11-14T23:22:06", "content": "ainÂ´t that the sign over a toilet in a store in sam & max 4", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29701", "author": "Atomicoz", "timestamp": "2007-11-14T23:43:30", "content": "Yeah it is cheerios, no idea if it’s from the 4th though as I haven’t played it. It says it’s from the 2nd episode on the site“I wasn’t the only one who came up with this idea: I have to admit I ‘borrowed’ it from the second episode of the ‘Sam and Max’ adventure series. The terror indicator in there has three colors: green for ‘all safe’, orange for a ‘number one’ and red for a ‘number two’. I liked the layout, so I decided to copy it. So, three levels of terror it was.”", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29702", "author": "anodyne", "timestamp": "2007-11-14T23:45:55", "content": "cheerios: Yes, it’s in all of the Sam & Max episodicals. :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29703", "author": "BigD145", "timestamp": "2007-11-15T01:49:02", "content": "I’ve spent so long in the can I’d have to add one more level of terror: “Call the morgue”", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29704", "author": "carsloth", "timestamp": "2007-11-15T19:03:00", "content": "now that’s some funny shit!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29705", "author": "OsakeNoYojimbo", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T06:10:39", "content": "How about a decibel meter? I know the silent ones can be trouble, but I also crack a smile when someone busts loose a nice wet one in the stall next to me.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29706", "author": "Nox13last", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T15:07:57", "content": "I would have used pressure sensors for the toilet seat, because the photo diode would be useless if someone left the toilet and left the lights on or something.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,859.01545
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/13/simple-vga-test-box/	Simple VGA Test Box	Will O'Brien	[ "Portable Video Hacks" ]	[]		Sometimes it may seem like I suffer from goldfish memory. [Chris] sent this in a while back and I’d almost forgotten about it. He built a simple VGA test box using a PIC 18F452. I’d probably be more interested in using it to add simple VGA output to another project than use a test box, but it can definitely be handy if you need a small portable video test signal. permalink	6	6	[ { "comment_id": "29690", "author": "werejag", "timestamp": "2007-11-14T09:21:49", "content": "this needs to be in a small vga hoodie. way to big for what it does", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29691", "author": "skot", "timestamp": "2007-11-14T09:55:45", "content": "Seriously, has nobody heard of the Propeller chip from parallax? they start at like $13 and can do VGA/Composite/etc output like a mofo.The demo board (More like $100) comes with a VGA connector on it. Start doing realitively high resolution (for a mC) VGA graphics in minutes..", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29692", "author": "goldscott", "timestamp": "2007-11-14T10:43:38", "content": "It’s not good to do BSF/BCF instructions on IO ports on PICs due to the read-modify-write problem.Nonetheless, interesting project. I haven’t played with video yet….", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29693", "author": "crgwbr", "timestamp": "2007-11-14T16:03:51", "content": "nice point skot. i’ve been using the parallax prop for a while now and have noticed that no one seems to be giving it the recognition it deserves. hopefully someone will start sending in a few projects with it. i would send send in my projects, but most of it is closed source industrial stuff.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29694", "author": "Marco", "timestamp": "2007-11-14T21:13:00", "content": ">Nobody has heard of it. I was looking for a simple way to do OSDs 2 years ago and asked around all sorts of EE forums- not a single person had a good one-chip solution.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29695", "author": "MacMarty", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T03:55:33", "content": "Interesting project, sort of. If it had real testing value, making a PCB for it would seem compelling, in order to help folks reproduce it. On the other hand, don’t most of us have -pa-LENTY- of VGA devices at hand? (Too many pooters in my house, I swear.)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,859.227267
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/12/blowable-computer-interface/	Blowable Computer Interface	Will O'Brien	[ "computer hacks", "Peripherals Hacks" ]	[]		Remember Christopher Reeve’s blow controlled wheel chair? [ Shwetak ] sent in his blowable computer interface. It doesn’t require anything but an on-board microphone and a decent set of lungs. It works by taking audio fingerprints to determine the location on the screen that you’re exhaling on. The demo video (avi) shows off some surprisingly accurate location detection. You can get a few more details from his research paper . (If you need a decent avi video player, check out VLC player .) permalink	18	18	[ { "comment_id": "29674", "author": "thethirdmoose", "timestamp": "2007-11-13T07:56:42", "content": "arrrrghwhy is his site so sloooooowwwwwww…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29675", "author": "Dean Putney", "timestamp": "2007-11-13T08:35:42", "content": "I wonder if you could do this in Quartz Composer…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29676", "author": "Amos", "timestamp": "2007-11-13T09:51:12", "content": "The server’s too slow/overtaxed to download either, but there’s apparently a WMV version that’s about 86% smaller:http://www.shwetak.com/videos/bui(wmv).wmvT’would be great if someone could mirror it.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29677", "author": "tbare", "timestamp": "2007-11-13T18:32:13", "content": "Working on DLing the avi file… will post a link of a mirror to the file when it’s complete… (can’t guarantee it’ll be much faster, but at least you’ll have a choice…)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29678", "author": "Sidhant Gupta", "timestamp": "2007-11-13T18:41:44", "content": "Awesome stuff!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29679", "author": "sp", "timestamp": "2007-11-13T20:06:02", "content": "You can view it on youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34SEmMxbNkQ", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29680", "author": "Aki", "timestamp": "2007-11-13T20:10:22", "content": "Of course his site is slow…. I don’t think he expected the millions of hits he’d be barraged with once this story broke on Google. Chill out and give the guy time to upgrade his site storage.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29681", "author": "nex", "timestamp": "2007-11-14T00:58:37", "content": "will there be some sourcecode or a downloadable binary? i really would like to look into that thing or at least just play with it.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29682", "author": "sp", "timestamp": "2007-11-14T01:59:10", "content": "There is a plan to release a toolkit. Stay tuned.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29683", "author": "n3rrd", "timestamp": "2007-11-14T06:50:11", "content": "Incredible. I’m always really interested by different means of input sensing… from the Acoustic interface with the piezoelectric elements to the LED proximity sensors…I can see this having a huge application, if coupled with voice recognition, in making computers completely accessible for crippled individuals.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29684", "author": "Ryan", "timestamp": "2007-11-14T08:01:46", "content": "This can me used as an add-on to the Wii console to play wii games and such , like the eye toy idea maybe? this guy should sell this to Nintendo.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29685", "author": "joelanders", "timestamp": "2007-11-14T08:42:57", "content": "@10the nintendo ds already uses this kinda thing.i know pokemon does at least, other games i don’t know.good freaking guess!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29686", "author": "no_Xkuez", "timestamp": "2007-11-14T14:39:45", "content": "if only someone could make it blow back (no more cash for hookers ;P )", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29687", "author": "Alex McCown", "timestamp": "2007-11-15T09:07:40", "content": "you naughty little boy you", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29688", "author": "Rob", "timestamp": "2007-11-15T21:16:46", "content": "The new Zelda: The Phantom Hour Glass uses the microphone as a way to blow out candles in the game. This, however, is much cooler as it can bring more possibilities to the table.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29689", "author": "Joe", "timestamp": "2007-11-15T23:28:30", "content": "lol. That is freaking awesome. 0_0", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "59585", "author": "Schnauzer", "timestamp": "2009-01-17T04:07:06", "content": "It’d be interesting if this concept could be applied to creating a sort of touch-screen mouse. A pen (or something) would emit a high-pitched noise, too loud to be heard by the human ear, when it is touched to the screen. This would be how a user clicks the mouse button. Any programmers out there, please feel free to steal this idea :P", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "94484", "author": "Wii Lady", "timestamp": "2009-09-16T21:12:41", "content": "Wow, this site is surely exciting.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,859.388766
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/11/hackit-new-life-for-old-laptops/	HackIt: New Life For Old Laptops?	Will O'Brien	[ "contests", "HackIt", "Misc Hacks" ]	[]		Last time , I challenged everyone to shout out with new ideas for those old TiVo boxes. The response was fantastic. I’m not feeling too exotic tonight, so I’ll make it easy: The laptop. Years ago I found an article on using old laptop screens to make an electronically dimmed window. At tie time, LCD panels were $1000 items. Today, screens and old laptops can be picked up for a song. Since ‘Hackit’ is a new idea, I’m still working out just how I’m going to handle it. Each week I’m going to bring up some hardware. You guys get to pick your brains and suggest new, interesting projects. Every so often, I’ll tally up some of the best ideas and put up a bounty for pulling one of them off. Maybe it’ll be cash, maybe some spiffy hardware – I’ll let you know when we get to it. So, got a better idea? Let’s hear it.	161	50	[ { "comment_id": "29523", "author": "Davse Bamse", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T09:49:42", "content": "The old laptops, depending on the age of the laptop can be used as:Install linux, and you got a cheap web/print/ftp/file serverOr, to play the games from the old times, before the dark times, before the empire.. install freedos, freedos.org, and all the old games and play the night away.Maybe use it as a beowulf cluster. Either linux, or freedos, I have lost the url to the project, but else it could be a nice project to do.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29524", "author": "Allen", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T09:55:33", "content": "I always thought it would be neat to custom machine an aluminum case for my old laptop. Especially since the plastic housing, hinges, and keyboard are falling apart. You could do it case-modder style with windows, or go for the macbook look of solid brushed aluminum. It would also be nice to see a modified cooling system to replace the noisy, aging fans.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29525", "author": "icebox", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T10:01:20", "content": "Depending on the age you can make an mp3 player, a 2nd screen for your desktop, a terminal ( I use a 486 thinkpad to plug into headless machines when they loose network), I saw a nice instructable on how to make a custom wall clock from an even older B/W laptop, you could make a picture frame, if you have an old tabled (like old touchscreen thinkpads) you could add some X10 stuff and make a home controller.I would like to see more ideeas !", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29526", "author": "Kyndal", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T10:01:24", "content": "i want to turn an laptop LCD into a LCD Shutterfor my motorcycle license plate..if it “flashes” at “the right rate” when picked up by speed cameras it will only show a couple of the license plate identifiers. “or parts of”but for the naked “slower than the speedcamera shutter” eyeit will appere perfectly normal/Kyndal", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29527", "author": "Mike", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T10:11:06", "content": "Installing Linux seems like the most straight-forward thing to do. Then you can load (or create) apps to make it do whatever gnifty thing you want done.In my opinion, at this point DeLi Linux is the best option for truly ancient hardware. I’ve got that on a Toshiba Satellite 490XCDT that I’m hoping to turn into a internet surfing machine, once I get an appropriate WiFi card for it.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29528", "author": "Josh", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T10:20:07", "content": "aside from the obvious (or maybe not) use as a tivo box, it could be used for a million things. hack a coffee maker and a toaster to be turned on by alarm. use it to make a digital table by projecting the screen through an old overhead projector onto an acrylic table and mount a camera to watch for movement (idea fromhttp://www.instructables.com/id/Interactive-Multitouch-Display/). make your own alarm system with ir leds that are interrupted if the door/window/whatever is opened while the alarm is activated. make it look nice again and use it as a prop in a movie so you aren’t breaking a decent laptop, because everyone wants to make a movie. mount it on your wall like people do with their pets after they have gone to the taxidermist.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29529", "author": "Sp`ange", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T10:21:37", "content": "I’ve started work on using an old laptop as a “black box” for my truck. Right now I’m in the planning and acquiring hardware stage, but I think that in the end, it could become something very useful for other people to duplicate and improve.Basic Hardware:LaptopRadar gunMake controller (or similiar)GPS (USB/PCMCIA?)Power InverterMini Cameras (2-4)Video capture device (USB/PCMCIA?)Touchscreen LCDSmall character LCDTasks:Instant vehicle statsTrack fuel usage infoTrack speed and locationRecord surrounding traffic (video)Collision warningAdvanced cruise controlWardrivingInstant traffic notificationsSpeed/Redlight camera notificationDriving directionsProlly many more things than that. I don’t really care about multimedia capabilities.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29530", "author": "N athan", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T10:51:49", "content": "Might I suggest tearing the screen open and creating a digital projector, but taking it a step further by adding voice control and full multimedia streamed from another computer on the network. Then taking video clips next time you visit the beach, or finding a dvd of some exotic place that you would like to visit and converting an entire wall into a “window” that looks into another world. Alternatively if your computer is too old for any video (highly doubt it but you never know) you could display pictures downloaded from flickr using a simple script based on a keyword of your choosing. The biggest problem I see with a setup like this is the camouflaging of the projector setup as no one except a major geek wants to have a huge light leaking ugly projector in their living room.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "912655", "author": "Todd", "timestamp": "2013-01-03T08:49:18", "content": "I like the idea of a projector. And although I cant afford a project like this id like to see someone try it. To take an external camera mounted on an exterior wall. And a projector aimed at the same interior wall. To create an interior effect of an invisible wall. This would be great for security purposes. this would in effect make a glass wall with perfect privacy.", "parent_id": "29530", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "29531", "author": "Chris", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T11:14:29", "content": "Own personal speedtrap.Connect it to a webcam and one of those cheap radar guns and keep an eye on the speed demons on your neighbourhood.You ‘ll get them unless they hav an LCD shutter on their licenseplates. ;-)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29532", "author": "Paul Malenke", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T11:21:13", "content": "You could always do the obvious digital picture frame… Build a wood casing, set a picture slideshow on a certain directory, file sharing on the network, put it to sleep at night, Never have to touch the picture frame, do it all remotely, get real fancy and VNC into it. I think it would be awesome to maybe have it networked and setup a program to capture display your current iTunes track from say… the computer upstairs, which is connected to your stereo. Not even a Digital picture frame, just a digital billboard of sorts. You could go even further and have it flash by your latest RSS headlines! I want one in my living room!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29533", "author": "Dan Kotowski", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T11:22:47", "content": "My web server is located in my bedroom, where I don’t have room for a full keyboard or monitor, and for a while it kept having kernel panics and other sorts of things, but I could never see any of the output because of the lack of monitor. So I took an old Toshiba 7″ laptop with a serial connector and permanently attached it to the server and it acts as a nice little keyboard and monitor for the bigger box. Also, it fits nicely in the drawer in my nightstand.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29534", "author": "Greg", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T11:25:07", "content": "Without getting too tricky, as has been suggested there are plenty of free and not free media centre options you could go for (specially since a lot of laptops seem to come with video-out built in). I’m also a fan of the kitchen PC concept, if you don’t already have one. You could possibly build it into a part of your kitchen and use it to show you the weather, news and such in the morning.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29535", "author": "abbott", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T11:26:14", "content": "i use my old toshiba 4400c (?) to program old radios and some flash devices (its the only machine that is slow enough)another idea that i read about was using an old machine with a busted LCD as a wifi bridge controller.they’re also great as servers that you need to fit in small places (like above ceiling tiles)and lets not forget the best kind of old laptops: the ones that arent too old (IE: my Latitude L400). its tiny, has a great price, and its small (smaller than a pad of paper)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29536", "author": "Paul McGuinness", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T11:40:11", "content": "I took an old Sony laptop panel and made a ‘wooden’ TV for my summerhouse/bar that blended into the surroundings. I used a LCD/TV adapter board off eBay (about Â£30)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29537", "author": "pogz", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T12:24:34", "content": "you could always use old p3 laptops as multimedia pc. just download a front end..or for the older ones, break the hinge and affix the pcd permanently at the back.. insta ebook reader.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29538", "author": "lwr", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T12:57:13", "content": "I’m working on turning an old laptop (Toshiba 9020CT) with broken screen into an Asterisk PBX – to:* take my voicemails (and give me web access to them),* forward my calls to whatever phone I’m near at the moment,* provide a flexible telephone interface to my weather station (or whatever other hardware I hack together and connect via RS232),* provide a home intercom,* conference calling,* etc.It not much of a hack though – Trixbox does most of this for me…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29539", "author": "zzzomb", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T13:02:21", "content": "Raises a good project, how do you use an old laptop screen as a electronically dimmed window? Is there an easy way to power it and control it to black out all the pixels without it being attached to the laptop itself? This would be most spiffing because there are just so many old dud laptops around.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29540", "author": "Jim MacArthur", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T14:02:59", "content": "You’ve reminded me to submit a project I’ve been working on for a while. I had an old Libretto laptop and modified it to fit into the case of a ZX Spectrum. I don’t know how familiar it will be to people in the US but the Spectrum was an iconic computer in the UK in the 1980s. Details athttp://srimech.com/?page_id=18", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29541", "author": "MRE", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T14:16:15", "content": "Use 4 with the same screen size and make a ‘window pane’ in which landscape photos are cut into 4 pieces and diplayed on each screen, so as to look like you are looking out your kitchen window into an open meadow with flowers and such.. make those back breaking dish chores a bit more cheerful.Urinal entertainment: Mount it on the opposite wall of your toilet and read the ‘news paper’ (feeds) or if its fast enough, streaming video.Embed them into electronic MIDI instruments. Take a keystation and turn it into a full strength Synth.Apply a touch screen film and turn it into an information access terminal.Mount it by your door way to allow people to leave you messages when you are not home. Add a USB camera for video door bell.Just as the screens can be used for projection, they can be used in a similar way as a color changer. Thus, you can have some cool changing mood lighting for a party.. no lenses needed.A while back there was a post about mounting fiber optics to the screen and using colored blocks to control the light output of a fiberoptic lamp.Dedicated weather station.Embed in a robot. etc etc etc.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29542", "author": "Xoring", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T14:24:16", "content": "The obvious use, for me, was for running servers. Laptops get better uptime than desktops in my house because when I blow a fuse, the battery (even most old batteries) give me enough time to make it to the fuse box. And with a cheap surge protector in between the laptop and the wall I don’t have to worry about an expensive UPS.Going for the cool factor, though. I have a habit of buying more ThinkPads then I need off Craigslist (ok, it’s bordering on addiction…) I’m thinking of getting a GPS unit for one and mounting it upside down on the roof of my car. I’d have a crazy retro-futuristic-post-apacolyptic flip-down nagivation system like you’d expect to see on a the Millennium Falcon or something. I could also hook it into the radio for mp3s on the go. Or use it as a DVD player or game console (MAME in a ’93 Civic!). What else do people use computers for in cars?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29543", "author": "MRE", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T14:42:56", "content": "mount it in your fridge door for a digital post-it note/callender setup, shopping list.. etcOr if you are a food-aholic have it give you a hard time everytime you come to the door (via motion sensor). (again, using a touch film and stylus would be ideal).and it will be the coolest running PC in the house!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29544", "author": "kulty", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T14:44:19", "content": "Tablet for drawing and handwriting:Use the touchpad in absolut coordinate mode to input drawing and handwriting. Program a (graphic) software interface which let’s you control the padresolution-to-screenresolution ratio(sensitivity) and provides a drawing and writing area for which you can choose between storing the input as an image file or using a textinterpreter to export the input data to any texteditor.The tricky part is designing the input device, the pen if thats what you wan’t to call it. Due to the capacitive nature of the touchpad which works with the electrical resistance of your fingertip, you will either need to make a pen tip with similar electrical features or the tip has to be made of a highly conductive material and be wired to the position of your fingertip while holding it. Then you have to make sure that the surface of the tip is small enough to use for handwriting but still large enough to create a sufficiant surface for the touchpad to recognize it.You will be surprised by the resolution the touchpad has to offer.The whole idea behind this is to use old laptops like digital paper. I.e. writing in steno or using your own handwriting shortcuts and symbols as well as adding scetches of i.e. circuit diagramms to document a lecture but not having to make the conversion from paper to computer all the time. Sure you can draw and write with your mouse, but it’s much less efficiant and natural then with a pen. Keyboard works fine too, but I find my self often getting more hung up in formating and designing the document rather then filling it up with information.Most of the things you need to know you will find on the synaptics.com website.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29545", "author": "schism", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T15:24:25", "content": "I have an old Omnibook 3000 that I use for Seti@home. Slow but it sits behind the tv and keeps churning out the workunits.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29546", "author": "Aidan", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T15:55:43", "content": "I really want to make a box dedicated to playing mp3s. I’ve considered getting an old laptop, putting a little lcd display like from an old phone on the outside of the screen showing track title and such (should be an easy mod – space permitting – I’ve seen some tools made precisely for putting winamp meta on phone lcd’s via a parallel port) and moving the inevitable media buttons from the keyboard part to the outside of the screen so that you can use them with the box closed.For the record I am fully aware that this whole project is obsoleted by nearly every mp3 player ever.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29547", "author": "Jake M", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T16:04:57", "content": "I use an old laptop with Windows 98, and a wifi card. I placed it next to my monitor and installed a program called MaxiVista, it uses any computer on your network as an extended screen or mirror display.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29548", "author": "Paul", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T16:07:14", "content": "Build yourself a small scale arcade cabinet with controllers then detatch the screen and mount it in the cabinet. The rest of the laptop could be put behind a door for easy access where the coin mech would be in a normal cabinet.Instal Mame and you have yourself a mini arcade game!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29549", "author": "twistedsymphony", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T16:07:23", "content": "#5… I love the idea of a License plate shutter…I would think the two biggest problems would be to get it to withstand the elements and look natural built into a license plate frame. The former isn’t as important on a motorcycle that rarely if ever sees bad weather but for a car it would have to be a lot stronger. Temperature is another issue as LCDs don’t like extremes on either end.I could also see the possibility of making it switch activated to fully block the plate on demand. So you could completely shut off the plate when you gun it to make it through that yellow etc…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29550", "author": "Mr. E", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T16:28:58", "content": "I use an old Acer laptop to run media center on a Touch Screen LCD I have mounted on the wall, I simply use this to scroll through music that operates on a wireless setup around my house.It’s a bit “Star Trek” but hey, that’s what this technology is designed for ;)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29551", "author": "Skyler Orlando", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T16:29:13", "content": "Hmm… well, let’s see. I’ve been wanting to mount one upside-down on a wall(turning the keys around, of course) and using it as a control panel for my home-automation system… unfortunately, I don’t have enough money/parts/time to build a home automation system, so I can just plan.Alternatively, a laptop with a parallel port or serial port can be used to run a robot chassis- you can access the parallel port from QBasic or something like that, making it easy to program, and run control wires from the parallel ports to the various systems in the robot.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29552", "author": "fartface", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T16:32:47", "content": "Install Linux and some sniffer tools. set it up to hide on a network and sniff all traffic, add a wifi card to sniff and crack all the WEP passwords it can. Leave it hidden in an air vent connected to the company network for a few months running your EVIL.retrieve it 5 months later, OWNZ the company.Better yet, plant LOTS of them as your relay’s / zombies around town. connect through them to do your hacking so when the cops nail the location they only get a POS crap laptop that is full of insults.Non cracker/hacker uses….Laptops are nothing special, they are general purpose computing platforms with low horsepower. use one as a picture frame, router, digital signage, firewall, etherape console, Xterm, webpad, ALDL/ODBII scanner, Car tuning PC, garage laptop (best for old discarded toughbooks), webcam server in remote locations, install Zoneminder an a couple of cheap usb webcams and make a security PVR better than anything you can buy (P-III 500 or higher for this)non technical uses…Trebuchet projectiles, deadly frizbies, halloween costume, paint them green for Xmas decorations.etc…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29553", "author": "tekky kluge", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T16:54:14", "content": "you could take a decent laptop and mount it inside a cabinet in the kitchen, use it for movies, message board,music,internet device for getting recipes,weather alert, make it run linux and itll run the stuff even if its windoz counterpart cant because of speed.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29554", "author": "david comeau", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T17:07:33", "content": "you can always do what i did with mine [a 300mhz toshiba portege 7010ct]harden it and use it as a security evaluation tool. it super light, fast enough to do any network task, and you can give a report on bluetooth, wifi, ethernet, etc.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29555", "author": "wj", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T17:12:53", "content": "use it as an ambient display of information. something like the Ambient Orb:http://www.ambientdevices.com/cat/orb/orborder.html.turn the screen different colors to signal different things. you could even set it up so the screen isn’t visible, but it illuminates a white wall or something similar.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29556", "author": "Istarian", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T17:30:47", "content": "Although some of the niftier ideas are suggested above, I see a couple not represented. One is to find any old laptop new enough to run windows xp (450-500MHz, 192MB+ ram, and a network card and use them for traveling web surfing or typing. That way you don’t risk your nice laptop on no firewall setups or water damage. Another option which has been hinted at, but I see no direct reference too, is to add a touchscreen overlay and use it as a portabnle touchscreen for ahome automation system, or even security wall device or touchpad.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29557", "author": "Darren Kopp", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T18:01:58", "content": "put on Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs (WinFLP). Better than win98 and your old laptop will probably be able to run it.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29558", "author": "Scott", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T18:42:06", "content": "I’m still trying to find a way to salvage parts out of an old blown laptop to make a digital picture frame. Basically everything still works, with the exception of the motherboard. The price it would be to buy an ITX motherboard with LVDS to cram into a picture frame along with the LCD is pretty close to the same price as just buying a comparable digital picture frame. Suggestions? Help? Parts are off an old Dell D600 if it helps any.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29559", "author": "Ryan", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T19:18:55", "content": "I have an old g3 ibook that i broke the screen off a while back. I made a wooden frame and a stand for it and turned it into an imac. not very creative i admit, but it looks good and works well.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29560", "author": "mycroes", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T19:22:05", "content": "Though a lot of people mention using the laptop screen as a second screen for whatever purpose, or making a wall-mounted screen out of it, I’d like to see how you’d connect it. I might sound completely stupid now, but perhaps if someone could figure how to connect it to a DVI port, that would really be nice since most modern computers have a DVI port these days.I have an old Toshiba, Pentium 120 MHz, something like 24 MB of RAM and 4GB harddisk. It has a working CD player, but it’s a useless brick right now. I have a MP3 CD-player that cost me under EUR 100 years ago, now they even come cheaper. So if it would even be able to play MP3 CD’s that’s not really interesting except for the fact that you can display more information on the laptop display. I build a Gentoo Linux install for the laptop, but everything is too slow to be useful. Perhaps some CLI applications that require a lot of human interaction won’t ‘feel’ slow, but there’s no way you’d really want to use it with X, fluxbox and Firefox (way too slow).Then again, a lot of people were talking about setups where you don’t really have much interaction, as in displaying pictures. That’s one of the few things old laptops might be able to do quite well, but having it as a monitor on a video card with some real power (and not an 1M card as in a lot of old laptops) would really be nicer.Using the screen and the laptop keyboard and touchpad (or perhaps a tablet layer) it would make for a nice addition to any MythTV box. I hate having to turn on my TV, changing the TV to the right channel and stuff like that just to schedule a recording. But of course you can just as well use MythWeb and schedule it from a browser on a standalone machine.Also, when you’re not gonna use a laptop as laptop anymore, take of it’s casing. Take out the floppy drive, CD drive and perhaps if possible the harddisk. Take out the battery. Laptop parts are small, really small. It might be possible to shrink the motherboard size a bit too, because you probably won’t be using all of the connections. This way you can get something as small as a Mac Mini, or perhaps even as small as a wireless router, or a normal router for that matter. This is only useful if it doesn’t cost too much though, I bought my Mac Mini with 1.5 GHz Intel Core Solo for EUR 350, new and at a certified Apple reseller.I think what I’d like to see most is either one of the following three:– Laptop with most parts removed, rehoused so that it’s smaller, providing some kind of web access. Tablet would be nice, so you can easily navigate. Have it display current playing songs, upcoming myth recordings, program guide and RSS feeds. If there’s a keyboard attached (or it runs synergy and you always have another machine with keyboard and mouse connected which you can use) also allow it for easy access to machines/servers you need to maintain. It’s always a pain that when you’re playing a game someone needs you to change something on a server and you need to quit your game or even reboot… Also messaging could be nice, takes the clutter from your desktop. All in all this way it’ll end up as a home Internet/Media PC and needs quite some horsepower, more than my Pentium 120 MHz anyways…– An other option I like is having the display attached to another device, in a cheap and reliable way. DVI->LVVDS or something would be really nice, also TV->LVDS is nice, because most devices can do TV output.– The third option that would be nice is to take only the stuff you can really use from the laptop and put it in a small box, as a silent server, serving whatever you need/it’s capable of. It can serve as Calendar server, perhaps small web server or maybe Network Attached Storage (assuming it isn’t old and slow, with no USB 2 and a slow old harddisk). You can run a Daap server on it to stream music to iTunes and other Daap-capable clients and have it log from remote servers.Because I bored you all to death I’m gonna stop right now… Hope someone likes all I wrote :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29561", "author": "jared", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T19:29:21", "content": "embed a screen in a table or counter that can play videos or news or anything. read hackaday while your eating your cereal–like you father used to read the newspaper.embed a screen on your fridge and a put a digi cam on the inside of your fridge so when you look at the screen you can see inside your fridge.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29562", "author": "Graham \\\"Ferret\\\" Simpson", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T19:33:27", "content": "Hmmm. Originally I was going to suggest the TabletPC doorbell idea. But now that that’s beet done, ooooh. What to suggest!?I’ve always been a fan of the terminals on the later Star Trek series’ – the Information Points as mentioned in a previous post, are essentially the same thing. However, it’s easy enough to get old Pentium 2/3 systems in bulk buy from business resellers these days, and if you’re lucky, it’s possible to get Tablet’s too. Even if the TabletPC’s are a no go, it’s feasible to remove chunks of Laptops, such as the inner casing, keyboard and trackpad and screen hinge – and mount the display above the motherboard.With a touch panel, or the addition of an old desktop Wacom (see the DIY Cintiq projects all over the intarwebz) will give you a slate tablet useful for many things. With the appropriate application of GNU/Linux, you can even get a comfortable KDE display on these machines – although you will then lose streaming video capability. With a “light” WM, such as XFCE or my personal favourite tiny-DE, blackbox – you have a fully capable web information point. Here’s the easy, but cool bit.These boxes are perfectly good terminals (especially with a battery in) for recessing into fixtures and even walls! If you live somewhere free from Chavs, Raj’s or well, any general acronym-enabled unpleasant people. You can mount one in a custom built pedestal outside your door. With a little more hacking, you could use a simpler screenless laptop mod to control an electronic door bolt based on the input to this external enclosure. (Of course, this works best if the e-bolt has a manual override, such as a key – and using the WACOM based hacks, since they can be fully waterproofed.)So you have your neat front door tablet, working as an electronic lock, and with a webcam, speaker and microphone – as a full intercom too. Then you could mount another one, say on a tv mount type boom next to your bed. Useful for accessing the intercom, or checking email, or watching Naruto cartoons on YouTube. Same goes (Without the webcam) for the bathroom, for the kitchen, you could hook up another screenless one to your HD capable TV in the living room, Have a spare running a server (or even being part of a server farm) in the attic, basement, or appropriate closet.The possibilities are wide. Although here’s another one, for that “$30,000 kitchen” feel.Take your laptop, and remove most of the components. Attach the hinge to a piece of Aluminium angle, and the keyboard (And perhaps a wacom tablet) into your choice of furnishing material. I personally like glass furniture – tough glass is very durable, and easy to clean. Follow the Multitouch display idea again, and have a virtual keyboard and mouse, too!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29563", "author": "Bard Lund Johansen", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T19:45:54", "content": "#2; maybe this would help?http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-removable-laptop-water-cooler!-And-other-co/?ALLSTEPS", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29564", "author": "steve diraddo", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T19:50:09", "content": "I use old laptops for a variety of reasons. I have one running a satellite emulation 24/7. Another (combined with a TV-capture pc-card) is my portable television/pvr. I also have a really really old armada 4131t being used as a permanant dummy terminal for a wrt54gs router.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29565", "author": "Skyler Orlando", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T19:50:59", "content": "This “extra monitor” stuff is giving me an idea… I have a screen I salvaged from a Compaq Presario z700. I think I’ll find an S video/VGA cable and hook it onto my current laptop with a hinge. Then I can lay it flat against the top when it’s closed, to read an ebook/watch a movie, for example, or swing out and provide a second screen next to my existing one.Time to get planning… ;-)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29566", "author": "steve diraddo", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T19:58:43", "content": "any old laptop with a parallel port and some relays can give you control of just about any electronic device. write a simple program that handles remote access or timers, and you got yourself a cheap automated home deely.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29567", "author": "Eliot", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T20:05:36", "content": "I always thought it would be fascinating to hack the LCD to turn it into a really powerful LCD projector system. If you ever try and black out an LCD projector, there is always a little bit of light that gets through.When working in a theatre, I found one of the toughest things to do was to project a nice clean video or presentation onto a backdrop in an otherwise dark theatre. I would like to try hacking the LCD so you put a theatre light behind it so you can control the fading in and out better to go from totally black to fully bright as smoothly as any other stage light.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29568", "author": "silic0re", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T20:19:13", "content": "a few years ago, back in first year, i disassembled an old XT laptop and hung parts of it on the wall of my residence room and had it running a neat screensaver.i had heard a rumor that a friend of a friend had somehow done something similar many years before with 4 old laptop monitors running simultaneously with 4 different screen savers off one XT.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29569", "author": "Chris P", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T20:20:35", "content": "You could allwayse steampunk it:http://blog.nola.com/bicycleyarn/steampunkLaptop2.jpgorhttp://gaygamer.net/images/271.jpg", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29570", "author": "Larry Cashdollar", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T20:24:03", "content": "I reused an old 486 laptop to bridge my basement network to my wireless network upstairs. It’s been running for 2 years and works pretty well.http://vapid.dhs.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=vapidlabs:laptop_wireless_bridge", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29571", "author": "Steve", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T20:26:48", "content": "I was thinking of taking about 10 or so laptops and putting them together on a sheet of plywood or some such and massive segmented digital picture frame. I think it would be neat to set it up to run different transitions from one picture to another, sort of like the puzzles with the mixed up picture and the one empty square where you have to move them around.If nothing else it would make for an interesting art project and hacking together the controller code for it should be fun!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29572", "author": "takato", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T20:29:58", "content": "I’m too lazy to see if anyone has already posted this.If it’s fast enough and has two built in usb ports, get an eye toy (or the web cam of choice), an irobot create (that cheap roomba that is just a moving platform), a serial cable to connect the laptop to the roomba, and a power source for the laptop. Use them to make a moving webcam.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,859.472421
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/11/upgrade-your-in-ear-headphones/	Upgrade Your In-ear Headphones	Will O'Brien	[ "ipod hacks", "Portable Audio Hacks" ]	[ "apple", "etymotic", "headphones", "ipod" ]		I’m a fan of my Etymotic er6i (which have mysteriously vanished…) headphones, so this simple hack caught my eye. [James C] sent in this simple method of upgrading the more affordable apple in ear headphones. The idea is simple, use a small hole punch to cut out the center of some cheap foam earplugs. Then replace the soft surrounds on the headphones with them. I’m guessing that this trick would work for quite a few in ear headphones that I’ve seen lately. permalink	25	24	[ { "comment_id": "29501", "author": "Babau", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T06:17:15", "content": "Great idea, and like all great ideas I can’t believe I didn’t think of it already. Looks especially handy for motorcyclists. Blocks out more wind noise than the default rubber and makes for a more secure fit in your ear. It’s a PITA when your buds fall out inside your helmet.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29502", "author": "waggy", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T06:19:01", "content": "this is timely. i’ve been trying to make a better crystal radio earplug, since modern ones have a stunningly bad 57 dB sensitivity. so far, the results are good with the piezo elements used in cell phones. i think i have a handle on the electrical part, but the acoustics are a bit daunting. this foam insert trick should make a nice high-acoustical-impedance coupling.i’m looking for 120 dB sensitivity and will still likely need a resonant chamber on the other side of the element so as not to just lose half the acoustic energy, though i could just use a tube to the other ear, stethoscope style.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29503", "author": "Fenrir", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T06:28:21", "content": "Instead of cutting foam earplugs the etymotic earplugs for about $12 can be added to various headphones including the Koss earplug headphones", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29504", "author": "twistedsymphony", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T07:53:27", "content": "nice hack… I never use ear buds because they hurt my ears something awful… this hack might actually allow me to use them comfortably though.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29505", "author": "Weazul", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T08:43:48", "content": "ack.. I’ve been thinking about doing this for about a month and a half.. thought I was so clever. I may have an improvement to this design. If I ever do it I’ll be sure to drop a link in these comments.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29506", "author": "Meikleman", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T09:00:30", "content": "Back in 2003 and 2004 I was a fan of the Sony earbuds that where quite spendy in those days. I always lost one or both of the ear pads while riding the train to work. I Macgyvered a number of those foam earplugs as replacements. They always worked very well…until the inevitable oil and grime built up on them and became hard.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29507", "author": "jope", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T14:37:03", "content": "Those work quite nicely, but are a real pain in the ass to apply / remove.Make sure you don’t have to talk to anyone when going out wearing them.. Leave your cell phone at home, etc. ;-)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29508", "author": "Milkweed110", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T16:43:50", "content": "Does anyone know where I can pick up a pair of noise-canceling wireless over-the-ear headphones?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29509", "author": "Bard Lund Johansen", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T19:34:31", "content": "This works great. I’ve used this exact method when working in noisy places.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29510", "author": "Alexander", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T19:38:59", "content": "earbuds are bad for your ears. They make the inner ear very warm, which increases the earwax produced. This in turn causes you to turn the volume up on your music device, and then you blow out your ears.open, over the ear ‘phones are much better. Plus, you can put them inside your earmuffs for when it gets cold for music when you are walking to work.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "905968", "author": "Kenneth Scharf", "timestamp": "2012-12-18T19:14:28", "content": "I remember the ‘earbuds’ that came with my old Sony Walkman. The transponders fit sideways into the ear allowing any back pressure to escape since they didn’t block the ear opening at all. They sounded great with very good low frequency response and a wide midrange and treble. I wish I still had these, but they got stepped on a few years ago by an irresponsible offspring. The walkman they came with was the cassette tape sized micro unit with the built in FM radio. The radio part still works but the tape drive motors have given up the ghost. IMHO the best product Sony ever made!", "parent_id": "29510", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "29511", "author": "Quin", "timestamp": "2007-11-13T03:00:30", "content": "Think about your ears, and only do this if you are listening at a very low volume. Unlike open ear earphones, with ear plugs there is no place for the air pressure to go. Ear buds can cause similar problems, but this hack looks like it would make things even worse.Remember, all of the sound pressure the ear bud makes has to go somewhere, and all that is standing in it’s way is your very thin ear drum.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29512", "author": "Brice", "timestamp": "2007-11-13T06:48:11", "content": "KOSS makes ‘The Plug’ headphones. These have scary levels of volume and use a earplug end. Sound quality is not great, $20 price is. To replace the stock pads with the ear plug of your choice, simply heat up a straight big of wire and melt it through the center.None of these solutions offer the sound quality of a good in ear headphone. I also recommend picking up the cheap rat shack sound meter so you can pick a good 85db level for whatever headphone you use.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29513", "author": "theprophet", "timestamp": "2007-11-13T12:49:39", "content": "this is also not a hack. this is kindergarten craft time. im a long time hack a day reader and i am irritated to see a guy who can use a hole punch sandwiched between real hardware hacks. this is a wake up call, people dont come to hack a day to read about some dolt with foam and a glue stick; they come here to read articles about legitimate hardware hacking.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29514", "author": "matt", "timestamp": "2007-11-13T14:13:57", "content": "@the prophetthat’s funny, 11 people before you who took the time to comment on the article all had positive comments about it. maybe it’s time to expand your l33t thinking beyond axwesome hardware hacks, and realize that this was a pretty neat idea…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29515", "author": "glenn", "timestamp": "2007-11-14T07:50:21", "content": "You can also use the sure e2c foam ones. They fit perfectly with the plastic tube in them. You can get them for about $10 at most audio stores or music shops that sell PA equipment as they are the same as the ones for the in-ear monitor sets used by musicians", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29516", "author": "xander", "timestamp": "2007-11-15T12:55:41", "content": "get those er6is back! i would DIE without mine", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29517", "author": "Barry", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T04:47:07", "content": "The standard iPod ear-buds are truly awefull! I can definitely recommend a good pair of sound isolating earphones. I got my Shure SE110’s from Hifi Headphones in the UK.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29518", "author": "Barry", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T04:50:36", "content": "The standard iPod ear-buds are truly awefull! I can definitely recommend a good pair of sound isolating earphones. I got my Shure SE110’s (http://www.hifiheadphones.co.uk/shure-se110-sound-isolating-earphones-in-white-prodid-234.html) from Hifi Headphones (http://www.hifiheadphones.co.uk) in the UK.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29519", "author": "Cable Hoag", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T17:48:38", "content": "This works well. I had some fairly decent Sony earbuds that were forever losing rubber buds, and the far-eastern replacements go hard and cracky. I usually use half a foam earplug on each side though, it seems to fit better. Another quick word to the wise – earplugs are good for temporarily sealing holes up to 10mm in electrical or electronic enclosures, masking screw holes for spray painting, all sorts of things.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29520", "author": "elshiznit-", "timestamp": "2007-12-12T21:07:02", "content": "This has been being done forever, off road racers, dirt bikers, pit crews, all of em use these, i work at a place that sells them pre made.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29521", "author": "Eponymous", "timestamp": "2008-01-05T11:08:44", "content": "The replacement foams for the Shure E2Cs actually go one better: there is a PVC tube in the center of the foam that slide snugly over the posts on the E2C’s and the best part is that one end of that PVC tube is capped with a smaller diameter. That smaller diameter end snaps TIGHT over the Apple buds post making a perfect seal. Its so tight you’d probably need to cut the PVC tubing to get them off the posts (when you’ve finally soiled the foams beyond utility.)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29522", "author": "Eponymous", "timestamp": "2008-01-05T11:09:44", "content": "(here is a link to the Shure E2C replacement foams:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/b000f65734/ref=dp_cp_ob_title_3)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "65408", "author": "gizli çekim", "timestamp": "2009-03-06T03:32:42", "content": "Thank you bro.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "113310", "author": "Sennheiser Headphones", "timestamp": "2009-12-25T14:13:44", "content": "I think that this pair works pretty well. I especially find it useful when I am in the middle of the crowd such as in the bus and stuff.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,859.528808
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/10/laser-camera-tracking/	Laser Camera Tracking	Will O'Brien	[ "computer hacks", "digital cameras hacks" ]	[]		[ashish] is still having fun with his lasers. His latest hack is a dual laser based tracking camera . He mounted his camera to a simple parallel port controlled stepper motor . Essentially, if the camera loses track of either laser, it tracks to locate the lost edge of the object. I’d probably go with IR to reduce the chance of retina damage… permalink	15	15	[ { "comment_id": "29488", "author": "Jeroen Domburg", "timestamp": "2007-11-11T03:39:00", "content": "I wouldn’t. Red lasers make you look away if they shine into your eyes. IR ones just burn away your retina without you noticing. I know which one I’d prefer…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29489", "author": "confuted", "timestamp": "2007-11-11T03:53:59", "content": "I’ve worked with high powered lasers for several years.Infrared is just as dangerous, if not more dangerous, to your eyes than visible light. There is no such thing as an “eye safe” wavelength; it will be absorbed in your retina or your cornea, depending on wavelength. Damage is possible to both.Visible is probably safer than invisible wavelengths, because at least you blink. Class I lasers are weak enough that you probably won’t do permanent damage to your eye because of the speed of your blink reflex. All lasers must still be treated with respect.Do not look into laser with remaining eye.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29490", "author": "Weirdguy", "timestamp": "2007-11-11T03:54:17", "content": "I just wish he would’ve realised the code for this,http://ashishrd.blogspot.com/2007/01/real-time-color-based-object-tracking.html", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29491", "author": "Bird603568", "timestamp": "2007-11-11T03:56:00", "content": "they should probably encase the sensor on the sumo robot. i forsee it breaking off as soon as the other robot goes up the ramp", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29492", "author": "Cronix", "timestamp": "2007-11-11T05:58:50", "content": "Although infrared light has less energy per photon than visible light (due to its longer wavelength), it can indeed be more harmful to your eyes. Since IR is not registered by the eyes, your pupils will not contract leaving your retinas fully exposed to the light. Its always a good idea not to stare directly into IR lasers, IR spotlights or other bright sources of IR light.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29493", "author": "wim", "timestamp": "2007-11-11T06:05:53", "content": "confuted, you’re mixing up class 1 and class 2. Class 1 is unconditionally safe, you can stare into it all day. Class 2 won’t cause permanent harm before you can blink or look away, but if you intentionally look into the beam you can damage your eyes. Most laser pointers are 3B or 3R. Class 4 is for things like cutting lasers…In some cases, IR beams are safer than visible because they won’t be focused to a point on your retina as easily (due to chromatic aberration).", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29494", "author": "bgugi", "timestamp": "2007-11-11T08:00:46", "content": "class one lasers are weak OR fully encased, dvd burner lasers are 300mw, but fully encased, and therefore class I. ir does not penetrate the outer layer of the eye, but does cause heating, to which the eye is very vulnerable. lower powered ir lasers would logically be safer for accidental, momentary exposure than visible, due to the fact it would take quite a while to warm up your entire eye to a damaging temperature.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29495", "author": "wim", "timestamp": "2007-11-11T10:10:06", "content": "well, otoh, your cornea has less blood flow than your retina, which makes it more vulnerable to heating.I’d forgotten the “high power but encased” exception for the class-1 rules. That does confuse the matter a bit.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29496", "author": "Peter", "timestamp": "2007-11-11T11:39:40", "content": "One thing that I should point out in the ‘eye-safe’ discussion, is that not all IR is created equal to an eyeball. The range from 700 up through about 2000nm passes through to cornea and is focused onto your retina just as well as visible light is, but you have no idea is is there until you can’t see through that part of you eye (although often people won’t notice even quite huge holes in their vision, case in point is the hole where you optic nerve comes in–there is a bling spot there but your never notice it).Beyond 2000nm light is absorbed pretty well in your cornea, which is much less prone to damage because the light isn’t focused down to an almost diffraction limited spot as it would be on your retina.Regardless, I wouldn’t recommend shining IR lasers in anyone’s eyes, eye-safe wavelength or not. For applications like this where you are worried about hitting spectators in the eye, just keep the power", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29497", "author": "Neagle", "timestamp": "2007-11-11T17:45:49", "content": "Add a motion detector that “wakes” the unit with an air powered paint ball gun and your one step away from a job with DARPA. You could load the gun with pepper rounds and you have a less then lethal defense drone.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29498", "author": "fartface", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T16:54:04", "content": "A. do NOT use lasers. Use some collimating lenses and a bright LED. you can get the intensity way down and STILL get the desired effect.It blows my mind how many hackers dont use lenses because they are afraid of optics.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29499", "author": "uski", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T12:05:27", "content": "“I’d probably go with IR to reduce the chance of retina damage…”HOLY CRAP !IR is more dangerous than visible light to the eye when speaking of lasers !Your eye will not see the laser, thus your iris will not close, and your retina will absorb all the laser energy !Seriously be careful of what you say :/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29500", "author": "Dave T", "timestamp": "2007-11-24T19:27:52", "content": "Just a quick comment: I agree that sticking to a lower power red is probably safer than operating at the 800-900nm (VNIR) region as the blink reflex is kind of handy! Using a source at 1500nm is considered ‘eye-safe’ as the cornea will absorb the light but then you need to use much more expensive cameras as silicon is no longer sensitive (cuts off at around 1000-1100nm).", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "58854", "author": "cab", "timestamp": "2009-01-12T09:14:31", "content": "I am wondering about those in cab cameras that are 30 cm from the cabbies face allday while he is driving around. It is usaully mounted above the rearview mirror. I know they are IR cameras but is this kind of IR camera dangerous if the driver is exposed to it at least 12hours a day 6 days a week.No one has been able to give me any reliable info about these cameras, just to say they think they are safe. Are they please if you have any info email me. Thank you.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "84738", "author": "Janardhanaya", "timestamp": "2009-08-06T23:41:35", "content": "excellent post", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,859.581271
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/09/wiimote-ir-finger-tracking/	Wiimote IR Finger Tracking	Will O'Brien	[ "Nintendo Hacks", "Nintendo Wii Hacks" ]	[]		Just in case you needed another way to pretend that you’re in Minority Report , [Johnny Lee] sent in this video showing how to track your hands using the Wiimote’s IR camera,an infrared LED array and a bit of reflective tape to improve the gain. permalink	17	17	[ { "comment_id": "29473", "author": "John", "timestamp": "2007-11-10T02:18:55", "content": "Anyone have any more info on this? Wiimote software for PC’s and the like? This could lead to alot of cool stuff", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29474", "author": "monopole", "timestamp": "2007-11-10T02:49:08", "content": "John@1:My fave PC software for the WiiMote:http://onakasuita.org/wii/index-e.htmlNote that rather than rely on retroreflective tape you could always use IR fingerlights:Expensive ones:http://www.seitzinc.com/shop/page3.html(FL_7)or get some cheap ‘rave’ fingerlights:http://glitterbuglights.com/WhatsNew.htmland change out the visible LEDs for IR.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29475", "author": "Connor", "timestamp": "2007-11-10T02:58:55", "content": "Interesting and simple. Really not a complicated hack in any way and not really useful without further software but… interesting… I can just see myself hacking a wii controller to make a modded power glove, using my finger to own on first person shooters. I don’t really think this is very amazing, but it got me thinking a bit.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29476", "author": "Sgt Pyroman", "timestamp": "2007-11-10T03:30:18", "content": "Kind of reminds me of a talk that Jeff Han did at the 2006 TED conference (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLhMVNdplJc), except that the Wiimote finger tracking is a whole lot more cost-effective. All we need now is for this to catch on so that people can create software that utilizes this technology to its full potential.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29477", "author": "gm", "timestamp": "2007-11-10T03:42:45", "content": "@2This is hackaday, build your own IR fingerlights!(it’s only a battery, a resistor and an ir led… possibly a switch if you like)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29478", "author": "natrium42", "timestamp": "2007-11-10T06:06:45", "content": "It’s better to use IR LEDs on the fingers as the posters above have suggested. High power IR light can be dangerous to the eyes because the pupil doesn’t contract with IR light. It depends on the power of the IR array, of course, but better to be on the safe side.A pretty cool hack and nice demo.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29479", "author": "The Steven", "timestamp": "2007-11-10T09:50:46", "content": "I can see this working well for mapping apps, image manipulation, or even better with BumpTop…. Also, why not sew the retro-reflective to the fingertips of gloves?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29480", "author": "Johnny Lee", "timestamp": "2007-11-10T09:53:18", "content": "Yeah, version 1 were with little IR LED lights. It definitely works nicely and at even futher distances. LEDs happen to fit perfectly into the shell of a BIC pen, so it’s super easy to make “IR pens” you can draw in the air with. But, you have the bulk of a switch and battery/wires.I just the idea of just waving your fingers was a bit “sexier”. So, this is version 2.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29481", "author": "Angus", "timestamp": "2007-11-11T02:46:59", "content": "has anyone seen that program that’s being developed, and it’s basically a mosaic, but i don’t think the zoomed out version looks like anything. anyway, it can take hundreds of high res pictures, and put them all at your fingertips to zoom in and out, and pan around.you may have no idea what i’m talking about, but this finger tracker would be perfect for it", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29482", "author": "Chris E.", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T05:12:45", "content": "You are thinking of Microsoft’s Photosynth. If someone got this finger tracking set up with Photosynth I would just might have to purchase a Wii… Just kidding, but yeah, the remote is cool.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29483", "author": "zsbMich", "timestamp": "2007-11-13T00:39:52", "content": "This is an awesome add-on to the project I’m working on. I’ve already connected the Wiimote to the PC via Bluetooth software and coded an app to emulate mouse and keyboard messages.Being able to set the remote down and use my hands is an awesome concept. I only see one problem, how would one simulate button clicks and selection? I use the buttons on the remote and nunchuck. This hack would allow for camera movement and such, but not much else in terms of interaction….still awesome though =)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29484", "author": "JtM", "timestamp": "2007-11-13T13:22:04", "content": "“how would one simulate button clicks and selection?”You could simply detect when a marker disappears and appears in quick succession, i.e., use your fingers like triggers (hiding the reflective patch) to activate mouse clicks. This doesn’t solve the problem of selection (i.e., you can’t click and drag) but it would at least allow for simple forms of interaction.You could even use the distance of fingers to the screen (the size of the blobs) for applications that require pressure sensitivity.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29485", "author": "Mihai", "timestamp": "2007-11-13T19:02:52", "content": "This is a brilliant idea, so simple and so effective.One good application for this might be to replace drawing-tablets for graphics programs. I’m not sure if the same kind of level of control can be achieved, but it might have advantages for some people.And maybe Nintendo picks up on this and creates gloves and games specifically designed for this kind of use.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29486", "author": "bulldozer", "timestamp": "2007-12-12T02:55:42", "content": "I’ve been wondering if it is possible to drill a few holes into the front of the casing and put some LEDs inside and wire them to the power of the wiimote. If you use reflective tape it might be enough power for the wiimote to sense it. This way we wouldn’t need two devices to get one task done. A switch for the leds would of course be cool too.This way you can use it for finger tracking or if you stick reflective tape to your screen you can use it as a “regular” wiimote.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29487", "author": "ur2muchr", "timestamp": "2008-01-22T20:54:25", "content": "does anyone know a good “how to” site for creating an infrared LED array like the one in the video??", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "111398", "author": "bridleman4", "timestamp": "2009-12-11T22:18:52", "content": "Johnny Lee’s work is really cool. He inspired me to create a similar system for 3D finger tracking using two Wiimotes. It also has built-in gesture recognition. If you’re curious, here’s the link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gc87ZGSP6A", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "2986511", "author": "Trader", "timestamp": "2016-04-11T18:13:35", "content": "this would be so much fun with google earth. is it possible to do the two finger movements on programs like google earth?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,859.722583
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/08/how-to-replace-a-mini-usb-port-on-your-cellphone/	How-To: Replace A Mini USB Port (on Your Cellphone)	Will O'Brien	[ "Cellphone Hacks", "how-to" ]	[]		At some point, just about everyone manages to mess up their precious electronics. In this case, someone (not me) somehow managed to totally demolish the mini USB port in their new Motorola cell phone. Surface mount repairs can be challenging without some serious tools, but it’s possible to replace parts without a re-work station. (Guess what I’m getting for Christmas this year.) Today I’ll show you that’s it’s possible to repair a surface mount part with some fairly inexpensive tools. To do this repair, you’ll need just a few tools: fine tip soldering iron (Weller 15 watt) Dremel tool with cut off wheel De-soldering Braid Torx T5 screwdriver small flat bladed screwdriver (optional) Diagonal cutters small hemostat or fine tweezers Panavise, helping hands or similar bench top holding device. I already had all the soldering gear, but I had to track down a new T5 driver since mine vanished. I picked up a decent quality, iron oxide coated T5 driver at Sears for a little over $3. Sears actually has these individually, so you don’t need to buy a set. To get started, take off the back cover and remove the battery. Next, whip out that Torx T5 and remove the screws holding the phone together. On this one, there were only four to remove. With the screws out, gently pull the phone apart. The lower half of this Motorola clips together, so I gently worked around the edges with a small flat screwdriver until it came apart. The SIM card board easily separates from the phone via the flat SMD connector. Just gently apply pressure near the connector and it comes right off. Next, the flat ribbon cable needs to be detached in the same manner, and the main PC board removed from the phone. It should pull right out once the cable is disconnected. As you disassemble the phone, put each of the pieces into a parts bin. Any sort of container will do, but I’d avoid a static generating plastic Tupperware container. Carefully place the board in your clamp/Panavise/whatever – I had to line up the buttons with the slots in the vise, or I probably would have damaged them when I clamped the board. You’ll need a new connector before you can fix anything. I ordered this new SMD mini USB port from Mouser electronics (Part #538-67503-1020). It’s very nearly the exact same part, down to the yellow tape on top. In order to check the condition of the pins, clip the two tabs that hold the rear shielding on to the connector with a pair of diagonal cutters (optionally, you can use a Dremel/rotary tool). With the rear shield removed, we can access the rear pins – Unlike the front, everything looks pretty good. The advantage of surface mount parts is that they don’t require much solder to hold together. Unfortunately, when you’re replacing a surface mount part, a small amount of solder can keep you from removing the part without damaging the board. To keep from burning this foam seal, peel it back and stick it off to the side. Enter the rotary tool. Sliced the top off of the connector by cutting the sides lengthwise. The damage to the pins was pretty amazing once the top was off. Ouch! I went ahead and peeled off that foam seal when I started cutting. Note that the fourth pin is actually shoved inward and upward just a bit. Next, cut across the center of the connector. The bent pins should be gently cut loose and the upper half of the plastic connector will probably fall apart. The shielding on the sides should be cut to allow each leg to be removed individually. (Be careful not to cut the PC board below!) Working from one side to the other, heat up the solder pad on each pin. Then use some tweezers to grip each pin of the connector. (I used a small pair of alligator forceps) If the solder is hot enough, the surface mount pin should come loose with little to no force. It’s vitally important to be as gentle as possible with each one. The solder pads on the PC board are very delicate, and easy to pull up if you’re not careful. Unfortunately, overheating the pads can also cause them to pull up. So be quick about it! With the delicate pins out of the way, I carefully cut apart the remaining plastic and removed it. Finally, the remaining legs of the shielding were heated and removed from the board. After that, I used de-soldering braid to remove the excess solder from the pads. Not everything came out perfectly. The second to last pad didn’t make it through the removal process. In this case, I’m pretty sure that that pin took some impact when the connector was trashed. I was careful not to torque the pins as I removed them, but I’m not surprised that one pad didn’t make it considering the amazing amount of damage to the port. The pin in question is numbered X on this Motorola charger pin-out. It’s shorted with a resistor to pin 2 to indicate that a charger is connected. Unfortunately, the phone will never charge from a wall charger again (unless the board is swapped out.) It’s possible that the trace could be rebuilt with a conductive pen, but I’m doubtful that it would be that successful. Now we’re ready for the new port. There’s one difference between the original and the replacement: two pins that are designed to align the port on the board. They’re plastic, so it’s an easy fix. Grind them off with your ro tary tool so that the connector is smooth on the bottom. After that, clip the tabs on the new port and remove the rear shielding as before. After the new port is aligned (double check the pins in the rear!) solder one of the shielding legs to the board. Double check the pin alignment again, and solder the other legs. Now the port should be solidly mounted. Next, the pins on the new port need to be soldered. The super fine tip on my 15 watt Weller pencil made this easy. Alternatively, you can use a wider tip to solder things and go back over the pins with de-soldering braid to remove any solder bridges. If you forgot to remove the rear shield, you’ll have one hell of a time soldering the pins. On this particular phone, the metal shielding behind the port made it impossible to access the pins without removing the rear shielding. Despite the missing pin, the phone started up just fine when we plugged it in. One more cell phone saved from the recycle bin.	53	50	[ { "comment_id": "29456", "author": "Dane", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T06:08:50", "content": "i did the same thing on an external hard drive my younger brother broke, awesome writeup!http://rpi.edu/~kouttd/03/fixing%20an%20external%20HD.html-Dane", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29457", "author": "Eric", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T06:18:45", "content": "what rework station are you getting? i’m sure we’ll get to see pictures when you eventually get it.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29458", "author": "Kenny", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T06:22:40", "content": "Does anyone know of an iPod port fix, similar to this? Stupid 3rd party cables….", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29459", "author": "DaOne", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T06:46:59", "content": "One problem with reworking smd components nowadays is the use of lead free solder. This means it takes much more heat to desolder the components from the board. Small traces like the ones used in smd are very fragile and wont hold up to high heat required to desolder them for much more than a second or two. One way to fix this problem is by reflowing the solder with something that lowers its melting point making it much easyer to work with. A very simple and cheap way to do this is by just resoldering the part with standard 60/40 lead solder. Also flood the part with a good liquid flux before using a solder wick to remove the solder. Also another good tip is that solder flows towards its heat source. The way I normally desolder something like this is to apply liquid flux to the part. Next I resolder all connections with a medium heat soldering iron (25 watt pencil iron) using 60/40 solder. Then I dip the solder wick in the liquid flux and using new 60/40 lead solder I put a slight amount right on the end of wick while heating it with a soldering iron. Next I place the end of the wick over the solder joint I wish to desolder and very quickly touch the soldering iron on the wick fusing it to the solder joint. next touch the soldering iron to the wick about 1/32 of an inch back from the joint so the solder from the joint will flow towards the heat source (soldering iron). Remember, when soldering or desoldering, flux is your best friend. It prevents your solder from forming a protective oxide barrier preventing it to flow correctly. If after removing all the solder and the component just dosent fall off. Use a #11 hobby knife to gently pry on it while heating each contact to break it loose. Once again, flux everything you touch with a hot iron. For cleanup I have found Goof-Off works great with a couple of Q-tips.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29460", "author": "Acid Park", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T08:25:52", "content": "did the same thing on cheap mp4 player with lots of glue after soldering. remember to have some bread handy as surface mount can easily collect too much solder.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29461", "author": "Bobs", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T10:18:49", "content": "Unless you get a female iPod adapter, i dont think replacing the one on an ipod would be easy", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29462", "author": "Philip", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T13:44:13", "content": "Hi, good job on the port changing, made yourself a bit of work there though. If its the first time you’ve done one, then congrats :)My job is mobile phone engineer, and replace hundreds of sockets a week in every model of phone available. The best way to do Moto mini USBs(since they insist on flooding with solder), is to use dry solder wick(flux on the part or the wick is not needed with a properly heated and tinned iron). Start with the 4 ground pads that hold the USB down(temp around 390c) tin your iron well and with some 3mm wick, apply the iron and if pressure is applied correctly the solder will flow to the wick.Now leave them still attached to the board(by the remaining solder[very little]) and drop the temp to about 300-320 tin your iron properly again and do the pins 1 by 1.Now you should have the item still stuck to the board but all the solder gone. Now using a pointy, very sharp scalpal blade poke it under one of the small pins and gently wiggle it under and pop it up. This will leave the pad in place. Repeat with each pin the the ground pads.Now clean up the pads and refit new socket.Another quicker, dirtier method is to use the said pointy, very sharp scalpal to cut the pins away from the charging block. Just slide it over the pins until each is cut, take your time and all will be good.As soon as they are cut and the block is out of the way, tin your iron and gently swipe the iron over the pins towards you. Bingo, all done!Remember, flux is to help solder flow, putting it on when using wick will help it flow back under the leg of the socket.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29463", "author": "andrew", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T17:15:00", "content": "I agree with philip on this, very good method for desoldering SMDs. If the part is junk, I just cut the pins off and desolder them a few at a time. Very quick, and very low risk to the board.One thing that made me cringe from the photos is how he’s using the dremel to cut away the metal, but without a cloth or other means of protecting the phone electronics from the metal dust!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29464", "author": "computerguru365", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T18:05:12", "content": "i had done this to a blackberry a while backhttp://computerguru365.blogspot.com/2006/02/diy-blackberry-usb-repair.htmlit can be done to any electronic device that has a usb port. instead of having to buy a replacement i found one off an old digital camera to use.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29465", "author": "Philip", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T18:34:05", "content": "To #7 andrew.it made me cringe too, just the very thought of using a dremel was bad enough. I’m lucky enough to own IR rework staion, hot air and a good set of tools, but even without those, a dremel is not needed. But im not dissing the guy who did the job, its still a good job.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29466", "author": "Sean", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T18:50:45", "content": "@kennyYou could do the same thing to an iPod by buying a broken one. It would be much cheaper than buying another one of those “fashion” statement rip-offs as ones for “sale for parts” are usually only a few bucks I would imagine. I’d hate to screw up on doing that, though.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29467", "author": "xx86", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T19:19:05", "content": "The easiest way to desolder SMD is to use a product call chipquick that lets the solder stay molten longer to remove the smd. Once you use it to remove smd’s you’ll use it all the time. chipquick SMD removal 1-800-836-2447http://www.chipquik.com/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29468", "author": "Cliff Miller", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T20:02:36", "content": "ChipQuik!!!!http://www.chipquik.comWorks great for SMT removal – replaces original solder with very weak solder – item just pops off. Similar to #6 above, but a specifically designed solder for removal. They offer a sample pack if you’ve got just one job…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29470", "author": "James", "timestamp": "2007-11-10T01:52:07", "content": "Being an owner of the previous version of that phone I’ll just add that the missing “X” connector is quite important.Now that the phone doesn’t know if it is plugged into a mains charger or not it’ll never charge up from a dead battery state. These phones don’t charge from dead by USB, and they don’t charge at all using those 12V->5V “USB” car adapters (the 12V car plug with “USB” port in the end).So don’t let the battery get into a state where the phone refuses to turn on, or you’ll be the proud owner of a shiny brick ;)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29471", "author": "MuckThatGuy", "timestamp": "2007-11-11T06:59:13", "content": "All of this work, for a Razor?… it almost doesn’t seem worth it.Nice work, though.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29472", "author": "theprophet", "timestamp": "2007-11-11T22:33:22", "content": "how is this even hacking news! all i see is the hacking community being dumbed down by making people believe that basic soldering skills make you a hacker.next maybe we can have a write up on how to hack the gibson.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "43843", "author": "mark", "timestamp": "2008-09-29T13:03:15", "content": "i have a blackberry with a broken USB port. can i solder on to it with another USB port fro a different model.Thanks", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "47455", "author": "gift", "timestamp": "2008-10-23T21:17:31", "content": "hi i’m about to repair this usb port on my blackberry pearl. i recently bought the usb charge port and i was wondering what and where can i buy the soldering equipment for this procedure?thanks", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "60801", "author": "Jared", "timestamp": "2009-01-26T19:24:02", "content": "Gawd bless the geeks of todays world!Ive diligantly searched hi an low thru out the nets and found not olnt the best deals available and a how to here above… Last frieday i got home from work and plugged my Krakberry in the usb charger which i normally use on a daily basis, no more than a few seconds later i smell the appitizing smell of electrical fire… UH WTF!!! and find the Usb port on board muh phone was cooked, the phoone still has all functions except charging… So i weighed the option of replalcing the phone.. and found its cheaper to do the repairs myself.. which im yet to do… and just found this great how too above!Again Thanks for those who are far geekier than I, i owe you a great deal of respect and perhaps a suggestion… im glad u have a tech like hobby, get laid, it helps being savvy an suave :P", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "61910", "author": "pashu0007", "timestamp": "2009-02-05T02:56:10", "content": "Good article, but my definition of hacking is to try something innovative. Here is how I fixed the mini USB on my cell. First, mini USB contacts do not usually break, they bend – just like in this article. If you think this is your case, read on.Examine the socket. In the middle you will find a plastic piece. On one side of the plastic there are exposed contact wires, the other side is empty. Insert a small flat screwdriver into the empty half and pry lightly. Almost immediately, the plastic piece will break at the root (deep inside) of the USB socket. Carefully remove the broken plastic.Now you have access to the exposed contact wires. You can identify the bent one(s). Use tweezers to fix the shape of the bent wire(s). Takes patience, but easier than soldering off the entire USB port.Once finished, get a good quality adhesive (I used epoxy) and glue the plastic piece back in. You may be laughing at this point but think again. Remember how little power it took to crack the middle piece. I can guarantee that if you use good quality adhesive, the new bond will be several times stronger than the original.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "63896", "author": "Gdraven99", "timestamp": "2009-02-21T17:28:46", "content": "Great tutorial..This is a reply for james about the dead battery charge problem.I have had this happen twice now and have found a solution.You have to jumpstart the battery.The foolproof way is to cut open your usb cord and attatch the positive and negative wires to the corresponding contacts on the battery fot about 10 minutes then just plug in as normal and turn it on and hope it makes it far enough in the boot process to charge. Now since I’m lazy I just plug the usb charger in and press the mini usb end directly onto the contacts of the battery at an angle as to get contact. for about five minutes.Then plug it in see if it makes it to charging status and if not repeat adding a couple of minutes to “jumpstart time” keep trying and albeit frustrating it will work after a while.Hope this helps all with dead battery problems in Moto Rzr phones.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "64401", "author": "Dry Cell battery", "timestamp": "2009-02-26T12:22:29", "content": "Thx for your information.Visit my blog friendVideo TechnologyGood bye friend.i will come again", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "77278", "author": "Ilya", "timestamp": "2009-06-04T18:52:50", "content": "Hi. I have a similar phone (Blackberry 8320) with mini USB port pads ripped off. Not just the “x” one as in this tutorial, but all of them. I tried to rebuild them using a conductive pen from CAIG Lab. Not that it would work that well, though…The pen is too thick for these tiny traces. The paste hardens too fast.Anyway, I am asking if someone knows a way to test this port without adding the actual mini USB socket. Is there a way to make sure that my traces are good? By measuring resistance between them and making sure there are no shorts and there are connections where they should be?Does anyone know what resistance should I read between pins 1 and 5, 2 and 5, e.t.c?Thanks.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "79013", "author": "Ilya", "timestamp": "2009-06-24T14:59:22", "content": "I just wanted to add my little input into this discussion. I needed to fix a Blackberry 8320 with mini USB pads ripped out, and could not find anyone discussing it on the net.So I was able to fix it and this is how.TRY AT YOUR ON RISK! YOU MAY DAMAGE YOUR PHONE PERMANENTLY.1) I tried to rebuild traces with conductive silver pen without much of a luck. The traces can be improved, but I could not figure out a way to solder new mini USB socket to them. Once I try soldering, the silver paste just evaporates.2) However, it is possible to use plated pads that are to the left from the mini USB position. You can find which of the 4 pads corresponds to pins 1,2,3 and 5 (as I recall, the two pads closest to Mini usb are pins 1 and 5 which are +5V and ground and the other two are data pins).I don’t know the meaning of pin 4. It does not seem connected to anything on this particualr phoneYou can buy a mini USB on ebay for 5 bucks and then solder tiny wires in the correct order. It is quite difficult job, and I mixed up pins 2 and 4. After you solder wires make sure you don’t have shorts and your connections are good. Then use superglue to isolate wires from each other on a surface mounted mini USB end. Leave it overnight to dry.3) As I said I mixed up wires and I realized it after I put superglue on. So, I decided not to try this tedious soldering again, but found a mini usb circuit braker from sparkfun electronics. It is awesome. It allows you to solder your wires in a minute. But the problem is that the PCB is too big to fit into the phone. However, it can be fixed. You need to cut the mini USB circuit braker along the socket using a hacksaw (or better use some power tool with a circular very fine metal hacksaw on it), just along the pads of the circuit. Then you need to file the PCB on the bottom to make it very thin. BE CAREFUL not to damage the traces. The PCB should be about 1 mm thick or slightly less. Then you can file the case of the blackberry in order for this board to be able to fit in between the casing and the metal cover that protects internal circuitry. After that, you will need to cut a larger hole in the left side cover of the phone in order for your socket to be reachable by the cord. And the phone will work again.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "93246", "author": "chris", "timestamp": "2009-09-10T22:46:38", "content": "hello, what kind of solder paste do I need to use to fix my blackberry curve?? I used one, but it didnt stick on the phone, so I am not sure what I am supposed to be using..", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "106042", "author": "joshua", "timestamp": "2009-11-06T07:25:03", "content": "I really wanna learn how to do this type stuff, can u email me a link or something. Wat do i need to do to learn.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "111282", "author": "R A Voll", "timestamp": "2009-12-11T02:52:28", "content": "Very well done even for a novice I think I could try itMany of us have chargers from our last celphones just taking space. Their connectors will fit no other cel phones.Is it possible to buy a mini-USB connector? Then we would clip off the connectors from the older chargers that would not fit any other cel phone.Then put the mini US-B connector on that charger. And then continue to use the older charger?Any majopr issues in trying to do that?Dick", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "113466", "author": "bothersaidpooh", "timestamp": "2009-12-26T20:44:41", "content": "yep. did this on a very expensive htc smart phone.Couldn’t get the USB working but did get it charging. (in this case the pads were all toast)used wirewrap wire to make new ones, and fed them out through the phone. FWIW one way to make a “ghetto” charger is to obtain two sets of magtrix connectors from maplins, and glue next to each other in convenient places on the case and lead wires to them.Use convienent polymorph to make a charging cradle with the other halves of the magtrix.hope this helps someone.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "113593", "author": "dick", "timestamp": "2009-12-27T17:46:31", "content": "ThanksI am too much a novice. I have no idea what magtrix connectors are. Is maplins the source?What is a polymorph?Can I buy a miniUSB connector? Where? Then clip off the old connector from the charger and replace it with the new miniUSB connector?Would that be easy? dangerous?Thanks though for the effort. Maybe I am too much of a novice.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "114342", "author": "Dan Boren", "timestamp": "2010-01-01T04:43:56", "content": "Tech Question:Q", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "132637", "author": "Angela Brown", "timestamp": "2010-03-29T03:47:29", "content": "I have a sprint mogul with a damaged mini charging port. I bought a replacement port and took both to a local computer expert. They could not remove the damaged port with any of there soldering tools. The guy said that the mogul was the only one he has had trouble removing. Is there anyone on here that would be able to do this work reasonably? I really love my mogul. Thanks!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "155884", "author": "Vince Hollis", "timestamp": "2010-07-06T20:41:16", "content": "“ChipQuik!!!!http://www.chipquik.comWorks great for SMT removal – replaces original solder with very weak solder – item just pops off. Similar to #6 above, but a specifically designed solder for removal. They offer a sample pack if you’ve got just one job…” – Posted at 12:02 pm on Nov 9th, 2007 by Cliff MillerThat ChipQuick stuff looks AWESOME! Thanks Cliff Miller.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "178992", "author": "Alessandro", "timestamp": "2010-09-08T22:51:35", "content": "Someone can help me?I’m not a beautiful girl…i tink my TG01 is dead after a short circuit of a car charger, the pins i shorted were the 2-3, i found that was possible use the trick for some chargers.The phone do not bootup or power-on,i thik the charging circuit burned..I want open the phone or do someting, like changing MB or repair the circuit.What your experience say?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "209624", "author": "Dan Levold", "timestamp": "2010-11-09T00:58:19", "content": "Hi, i have a htc hd2 where the micro usb port was damaged. was quoted $350 to get it fixed. I decided not to as it seems like a ripoff. Is the process the same as this original one? I have no experience with this type of thing. ?? Thanks", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "284287", "author": "Rob", "timestamp": "2010-12-15T00:29:14", "content": "LMAO what a terrible job replacing that port. Anyone who sees this, DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. You will almost def ruin your main board. Instead of buying all the soldering equipment bring it to a certified tech. The Cell Phone Repair CPR franchise is a good one.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "350399", "author": "Andrew", "timestamp": "2011-03-07T04:50:36", "content": "Just replaced one of these on an Akai LPK25 MIDI keyboard.. AKAI wanted $40+shipping for the board it was on. $50 can get me a new keyboard, so I tried this before I just replaced the entire unit. Worked like a charm, the trick is patience and being very, very careful when removing the old component. I’ve never done surface mounts before, but I’ll definitely be doing them again. Much easier than I always thought they would be.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "378418", "author": "Carlos Guevara", "timestamp": "2011-04-11T19:39:46", "content": "I am trying to do is on a wd mybook but the spot where the sheilding legs go has been ripped off. the 5 pins a reok though. I was wonderioing what the sheilding legs are for and if its nessaccery to solder them on.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "461126", "author": "Alex", "timestamp": "2011-09-21T15:58:28", "content": "Great tutorial!I’m trying to fix a mini-USB connector on my external HDD’s control board right now: found the part on eBay (Mouser is good but shipping to the UK costs a fortune!) and have got the replacement port on firm. Unfortunately, I only have use of a 15W iron with a rather large bit, no spare flux, and it seems that leaded solder is (perversely) harder to get than gold; so trying to pick up excess solder with braid (I’m too poor for a pump) is just about impossible. At present, the solution looks like writing off the whole board and trying to buy a new one from Samsung/Freecom. Damn!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "621580", "author": "Carlos", "timestamp": "2012-04-05T16:05:53", "content": "try to melt some new soldering on top of whe old one, then use the braid, it will suck it like a sponge.", "parent_id": "461126", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "621576", "author": "Carlos", "timestamp": "2012-04-05T16:01:06", "content": "Hey man thank you for this, i did not know that i could remove the rear shield from the micro usb connector so i was having a hell of a time trying to solder it again.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "723230", "author": "Mike", "timestamp": "2012-08-04T05:58:20", "content": "Very nice detailed DIY. I remember the days when mini USB chargers were common. It was a bit easier back then. Now with everything going to micro-USB I think that you will find a heat pencil and heat resistant tape invaluable. One of these days I’ll shoot a video of charging port replacement.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "858141", "author": "thor314", "timestamp": "2012-11-05T21:46:42", "content": "My Cell just broke its port. I search on hack a day and find this article, I love you hack a day and contributors!!My first idea was to do away with the (Li) battery and put on a funky Double-A cell setup with a voltage regulator to 3.7 volts just like the (Li).would a AA bat. switch out actually work if I had ≥ battery mAh capacity?? (ie 3 AA batteries in series with LDO Vreg)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "994797", "author": "David Newcomb", "timestamp": "2013-04-18T08:31:19", "content": "Thanks, interesting article. Will probably have a crack at mine when I find the parts.Incidentally the link around the graphic “new-port.jpg” is broken so it reveals the HTML not the image.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "1019562", "author": "Lisa Shen", "timestamp": "2013-06-25T17:48:26", "content": "SIMPLEST and EAASIEST Solution.Take a pair of needle nose pliers and pinch in the middle of the micro USB CHARGER/ PLUG (NOT PORT) ever so slightly and insert into port. If this doesn’t work first time, progressively pinch slightly harder until it does.Go to:► 1:11► 1:11http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj5DIOkr0SYJul 16, 2012 – Uploaded by avi mendelsonMobile phone charger fix Many times a Micro USB charger stops charging and this is very …", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "1019575", "author": "L S", "timestamp": "2013-06-25T18:30:36", "content": "P.S. I am guessing you will always now have to use EXACTLY this charger with EXACTLY that port. You may have to spend a bit of time tweaking the USB charger end w the pliers as well. Needle nose pliers (maybe tweezers?) are best but you might be able to get away w using the wider regular pliers if you turn them so that only a small CORNER is squeezing the USB plug.Hope this helps …… it does “mess up” plug for other uses but I found that a small price to pay to render it useable. This worked like a dream for me. I was daunted by other fixes. Thanks, hope I can help even one person.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "1019580", "author": "Lisa Shen", "timestamp": "2013-06-25T18:38:08", "content": "(This may be posted out of sequence…. if next post is my PS one it should be after this one).SIMPLEST and EASIEST Solution.Take a pair of needle nose pliers and pinch in the middle of the micro USB CHARGER/ PLUG (NOT PORT) ever so slightly and insert into pot. If this doesn’t work first time, progressively pinch slightly harder until it does.Go to:► 1:11► 1:11http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj5DIOkr0SYJul 16, 2012 – Uploaded by avi mendelsonMobile phone charger fix Many times a Micro USB charger stops charging and this is very …", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "1019587", "author": "LS", "timestamp": "2013-06-25T19:07:57", "content": "(This is my first post …. next post should, of course, be my PS one … had some technical difficulties here).SIMPLEST and EASIEST Solution.Take a pair of needle nose pliers and pinch in the middle of the micro USB CHARGER/ PLUG (NOT PORT) ever so slightly and insert into pot. If this doesn’t work first time, progressively pinch slightly harder until it does.Go to YouTube for visual demonstration. 1:11 Minuteshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj5DIOkr0SY[Jul 16, 2012 – Uploaded by avi mendelsonMobile phone charger fix Many times a Micro USB charger stops.]P.S. I am guessing you will always now have to use EXACTLY this charger with EXACTLY that port. You may have to spend a bit of time tweaking the USB charger end w the pliers as well. Needle nose pliers (maybe tweezers?) are best but you might be able to get away w using the wider regular pliers if you turn them so that only a small CORNER is squeezing the USB plug.Hope this helps …… it does “mess up” plug for other uses but I found that a small price to pay to render it useable. This worked like a dream for me. I was daunted by other fixes. Thanks. Hope I can help even one person. …. ( …. sorry but, sometimes I hate technology! ;-) ).", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "1019598", "author": "LS", "timestamp": "2013-06-25T19:48:06", "content": "( If not too badly mangled a micro USB charger, this is the . . . )SIMPLEST and EASIEST Solution.Take a pair of needle nose pliers and pinch in the middle of the micro USB CHARGER/ PLUG (NOT PORT) ever so slightly and insert into pot. If this doesn’t work first time, progressively pinch slightly harder until it does.Go to YouTube for visual demonstration. 1:11 Minutes[Jul 16, 2012 – Uploaded by avi mendelsonMobile phone charger fix Many times a Micro USB charger stops.]P.S. I am guessing you will always now have to use EXACTLY this charger with EXACTLY that port. You may have to spend a bit of time tweaking the micro USB charger end w the pliers as well. Needle nose pliers (maybe tweezers?) are best but you might be able to get away w using the wider regular pliers if you turn them so that only a small CORNER is squeezing the USB plug.Hope this helps …… it does “mess up” plug for other uses but I found that a small price to pay to render it useable. This worked like a dream for me. I was daunted by other fixes. Thanks. Hope I can help even one person. …. ( …. sorry but, sometimes I hate technology! ;-) ).", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "1019603", "author": "LS", "timestamp": "2013-06-25T19:56:08", "content": "( If not too badly mangled a micro USB charger, this is the . . . )SIMPLEST and EASIEST Solution.Take a pair of needle nose pliers and pinch in the middle of the micro USB CHARGER/ PLUG (NOT PORT) ever so slightly and insert into pot. If this doesn’t work first time, progressively pinch slightly harder until it does.Go to YouTube for visual demonstration. 1:11 Minutes :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj5DIOkr0SY[Jul 16, 2012 – Uploaded by avi mendelsonMobile phone charger fix; Many times a Micro USB charger stops.]P.S. I am guessing you will always now have to use EXACTLY this charger with EXACTLY that port. You may have to spend a bit of time tweaking the micro USB charger end w the pliers as well. Needle nose pliers (maybe tweezers?) are best but you might be able to get away w using the wider regular pliers if you turn them so that only a small CORNER is squeezing the USB plug.Hope this helps …… it does “mess up” plug for other uses but I found that a small price to pay to render it useable. This worked like a dream for me. I was daunted by other fixes. Thanks. Hope I can help even one person. …. ( …. sorry but, sometimes I hate technology! ;-) ).", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "1019606", "author": "LS", "timestamp": "2013-06-25T19:58:33", "content": "( If not too badly mangled a micro USB charger, this is the . . . )SIMPLEST and EASIEST Solution.Take a pair of needle nose pliers and pinch in the middle of the micro USB CHARGER/ PLUG (NOT PORT) ever so slightly and insert into port. If this doesn’t work first time, progressively pinch slightly harder until it does.Go to YouTube for visual demonstration. 1:11 Minutes :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj5DIOkr0SY[Jul 16, 2012 – Uploaded by avi mendelsonMobile phone charger fix; Many times a Micro USB charger stops.]P.S. I am guessing you will always now have to use EXACTLY this charger with EXACTLY that port. You may have to spend a bit of time tweaking the micro USB charger end w the pliers as well. Needle nose pliers (maybe tweezers?) are best but you might be able to get away w using the wider regular pliers if you turn them so that only a small CORNER of the pliers is squeezing the USB plug.Hope this helps …… it does “mess up” plug for other uses but I found that a small price to pay to render it useable. This worked like a dream for me. I was daunted by other fixes. Thanks. Hope I can help even one person. …. ( …. sorry but, sometimes I hate technology! ;-) ).", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "2383962", "author": "Cynthia", "timestamp": "2015-01-27T16:38:19", "content": "Can I say that I love you guys for this? I was going nuts trying to find micro soldering tutorials online, but remembered the “wire wrapping 101” I saw recently. So I took a shot at it and searched your database….homerun!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,859.672453
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/08/gyro-controlled-video-via-rc-plane/	Gyro Controlled Video Via R/C Plane	Will O'Brien	[ "Misc Hacks", "Portable Video Hacks" ]	[]		[Mark] couldn’t resist sending this in, and I can see why. It turns out that this is made from off the shelf parts, but the functionality is awesome. The pilot wears a video headset – igoggles, etc, and has a gyro/accelerometer sensor mounted on it that outputs commands to the R/C transmitter. On the plane, a servo pan tilt camera matches position based on the viewers head motions. Just about all the components are listed in the credits at the end, but you can use any RF camera and a transmitter with enough channels to run the extra servos. permalink	21	21	[ { "comment_id": "29436", "author": "Carl Trott", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T23:30:29", "content": "That is quite possibly one of the coolest things that I have seen in quite some time. rather simple, but breathtaking.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29437", "author": "Five Fingers", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T00:14:51", "content": "Here’s a Wikipedia article on FPV –http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Person_View", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29438", "author": "monopole", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T00:36:46", "content": "Brilliant, but I wonder how long most users will last before the vestibular occular discontinuity causes severe motion sickness.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29439", "author": "Nick", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T00:56:39", "content": "@ monopoleDepending on the altitude and speed it might be under the threshold of most people. That is to say that as the plane goes higher, the ground seems to move less, thus at a certain point, the sensation will be too low to cause discontinuity, and the less than desirable traits that follow.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29440", "author": "eric", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T00:57:19", "content": "I saw this like a year ago. I thought I saw it here.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29441", "author": "Jonathan", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T01:37:38", "content": "Mmmmm… Refried hacks", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29442", "author": "justdiy", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T03:16:03", "content": "re-fried or not, that is coolest damn hack I’ve seen in a while, thanks for sharing!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29443", "author": "jeff", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T05:54:11", "content": "amazing. camera setup ideal for other projects.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29444", "author": "Felix Ferite", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T06:11:03", "content": "I think that a great next step for this project would be to run the gyro input straight to the plane’s controls and just fix the camera to look straight ahead. When I had a rc plane, it just ran on throttle and rudder input, so this gyro should be able to fly basic rc planes at least", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29445", "author": "Case", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T11:19:05", "content": "Absolutely great. With the dissapointing progess of VR these days, I think the logical replacement is immersive remote viewing. I’ve been working on a homebrew NVG/remote viewing setup based on the $25 HMD you posted a while back. It’s even simpler than this but it’s still a blast.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29446", "author": "unsupported", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T15:32:28", "content": "Darn if he could not do this in the US. Homeland Security would be all over his ass.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29447", "author": "blackhawk1793", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T21:36:01", "content": "Wow, that is an excellent hack. Although this isn’t new. It’s still very good.I’m especially impressed with the distance between the plan and the guy. No video cuts.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29448", "author": "patman", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T22:23:56", "content": "…….wowabsolutely breathtakingim going to build one!!!!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29449", "author": "Kilrah", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T22:51:27", "content": "“Brilliant, but I wonder how long most users will last before the vestibular occular discontinuity causes severe motion sickness.”No problem even after a 50min flight, or several in 1 day. Never heard of someone experiencing this in the community. As long as all the controls don’t lag, it’s no issue.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29450", "author": "Kilrah", "timestamp": "2007-11-10T11:39:05", "content": "@felix: That can be done in 5 minutes. However, it’s nothing like natural anymore. Are you really used to fly a plane by moving your head? No, you naturally move the head to look around even without thinking of it (which we can see when no head tracking system is used, people still move their head around where they would like to look, even if it doesn’t work). It would feel really weird to have to go against that natural reflex. Very tiring.@nick: Low flight is not a problem either.http://youtube.com/watch?v=-3RI0WrzbV4", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29451", "author": "Jet Pilot", "timestamp": "2007-11-10T18:28:09", "content": "This type of flying is AWESOME ! Its the closest to being inside of a plane that you will ever get without leaving the ground. To see more videos like this go tohttp://www.youtube.com/user/JetPilott", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29452", "author": "Patman", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T00:47:44", "content": "I have added up the total cost for parts:having scrounged through many sites and searched many products, the grand total should come out to be around $1,500 with shipping.However, the base electronic hardware can also be used in virtually any plane you want. It’s a pretty simple “hack”, even for a novice like me.But honestly, It’s gotta be so cool to have your own personal UAV.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29453", "author": "David", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T02:56:11", "content": "hey, this rocks, but couldn’t seem to find all the parts. would be cool if some one could shoot these to me. also I didn’t see a schematic? I know no pain no gain. I understand that the head (gyro that controls the pan, tilt, etc,.) unit is separate from the control of the aircraft.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29454", "author": "cwc", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T04:55:24", "content": "@patman: Would you mind sharing that list? Pretty please? :D My friend is into r/c planes and we’d like to try this, though we may not have the budget for it. I’m guessing the most expensive piece is the HMD. I believe I’ve seen some HMDs that were ~$250, maybe not the best quality, but we’re just interested in getting working video. Even a black-and-white display would be fine as long as it’s made for both eyes.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29455", "author": "Haku", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T05:47:14", "content": "Controlling the pan/tilt on a camera on an RC plane has been around for quite a while, the guy who made that video & setup posts on the forums athttp://www.rc-cam.comwhich contains a mine of information about what electronics to use, what LCD glasses etc.I’ve had a wireless camera on my RC car for years, it’s great fun to fire it up and drive around 2 inches above the ground using LCD glasses.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "99041", "author": "best flying rc airplanes", "timestamp": "2009-10-06T05:36:27", "content": "Not bad at all with the images and flying. I will have to see about building one if there was a list to do and oh wait, money I do not have. LOL!! Got to find a cheap way I guess.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,859.778853
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/07/inexpensive-pic-based-obd-2-interface/	Inexpensive PIC Based OBD-2 Interface	Will O'Brien	[ "Transportation Hacks" ]	[]		OBD-II became the mandatory I/O diagnostic port on cars starting around 1996 in the US. Considering that the interface consists of a couple of I/O lines, serial/usb adapters have been ridiculously expensive for quite a while – especially newer USB versions. [Renan] sent in this PIC18F2450 OBD-II interface. The designer says he can provide boards for just over $6 and programmed PICs if there’s interest. The chip is a few dollars, and everything else is pretty cheap too. Need to work on your car? This thing will cost $15 or so. I think I just might have to burn out a board on my mill later. permalink	48	45	[ { "comment_id": "29399", "author": "jimmythecow", "timestamp": "2007-11-07T23:05:51", "content": "wowzers!!! if only this worked for cars in 94/95 when they had “hybrid” data ports. Id be down to buy one if there was a link, not because I need one, but to help this guy out and say thank you for the effort.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29400", "author": "Brendan Shanks", "timestamp": "2007-11-07T23:24:51", "content": "yeah i’d buy one of these for $15. wondering how you get from db9 to the obdii port though; he doesn’t mention it at all.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29401", "author": "twistedsymphony", "timestamp": "2007-11-07T23:36:31", "content": "maybe I missed it but is there source code for the PIC firmware? I’ve been debating making something like this for a while… specifically something to work with my 1995 Nissan 240sx… I know lots of people in my local car club that would love to have one of these I’d love to whip up a batch to sell to the other members at cost since these things are usually so expensive.Another benefit to having the source is you could wire up a character LCD and a few buttons to make yourself a built in diagnostics tool.I’ve got no use for OBDII stuff. Only my truck is new enough to have it but I couldn’t care less about running diagnostics on that.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29402", "author": "PosiCat", "timestamp": "2007-11-07T23:49:32", "content": "The 9pin to OBDII cables are readily available cheaply on Ebay, that’s where I got mine, or can be built yourself.For $15 I’ll scrap making my own, and get one of these for my car computer. My effort can be better spent making new software, not duplicating the wheel.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29403", "author": "undacova", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T00:21:08", "content": "nice, give us more OBDII hacks!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29404", "author": "jake", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T00:27:25", "content": "Sweet. I already emailed him about selling the Multi-adapter board. This could be some fun.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29405", "author": "emperor_dane", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T00:32:23", "content": "Awesome work,how hard was implementing a virtual com port – serial bridge with a usb capable pic?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29406", "author": "goliath", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T00:40:52", "content": "i’ve contacted him as well about his multiadapter board. i am quite interested in this project, i just dont have the time to make a pcb right now, hopefully he has them available for $6 still.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29407", "author": "hal hockersmith", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T00:41:47", "content": "@ Brendan ShanksHe tells you on the site (now at least) which pins on the OBD2 connector go into the serial port. You could hak together your own cable or direct wire the system if you want to.Hardest thing will be the OBD2 connectors as i dont know where to get those.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29408", "author": "Norms", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T00:54:41", "content": "Obd2 connectors and cables can easily be had from:http://www.obd2cables.com/products/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29409", "author": "g_man", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T01:10:10", "content": "OBD2 cables can be purchased fromhttp://www.obd2cables.com/products/. They have the OBD2 plug to loose wires.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29410", "author": "Nate", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T01:10:44", "content": "ODBII Connectors—————-http://www.mouser.com/search/Refine.aspx?Ne=1447464+254016+688693+2355233&N=1323038+4294735587+2355233&GetRecs=1&Ns=P_SField&Msb=0&RefType=Header", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29411", "author": "Amos", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T01:33:38", "content": "OMG, I was looking for something like this two weeks ago. I guess I did not look hard enough. Oh well, the $200 OBD2 scanner I got was still cheaper then a $400 repair bill at the service station.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29412", "author": "Cliff", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T01:49:54", "content": "I would be curious if something like this could be used on a Ducati motorcycle. I have been meaning to figure out what type of interface it uses. The one I found for sale was very very expensive.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29413", "author": "john", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T02:33:20", "content": "I just can’t image the costing of the product. Heis willing to charge so little :O I take my hats offfor his willingness :) I haven’t try it yet but lookspromising. BTW he is a WxWidget user :D", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29414", "author": "Chupa", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T02:52:32", "content": "The text and the schem say he uses a MC33290 IC for com with the OCD bus. yet the board dosent show any 8 pin DIP on it. unless its SMD on the reverse side. im confused. ill look at the gerber later.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29415", "author": "TJhooker", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T03:20:15", "content": "ISO 15765 has a network layer!?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29416", "author": "jake", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T03:40:30", "content": "@ chupathey are surface mount on the bottom layer. look to the right of the 4 FETs, you will see them right next to each other.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29417", "author": "FixExpert Repair Blogs", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T03:52:50", "content": "Nice! Wonder where your car’s OBD2 port is? See this database for finding all vehicle models OBD2 port locations, which pictures.http://www.fixexpert.com/wiki/OBD-2+Location", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29418", "author": "Daniel Johnson", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T04:14:37", "content": "Does anyone know of a place to build your own VAG-COM type device for us European car owners:http://www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/dtc-comparison.htmlI also did email too for a OBDII board from the guy hopefully he comes through and has enough.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29419", "author": "Nate", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T05:11:36", "content": "I think some of you are misunderstanding.All that this device does is converts from one transport protocol to another (basically, rs232 to usb).You still need the software on the PC to be able to access the diagnostic system of the car.It would be a much, much, larger project if you tried to make it a standalone reader. Don’t get me wrong, it can be done, and would be a fun project, but this particular one isn’t it, but is a good start if thats what you’re looking for. And I’m not trying to bash the project either, it is very cool, but some people have a misconception.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29420", "author": "tony", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T06:04:49", "content": "Very nice. I was going to build one of my own around the chips found here:http://elmelectronics.com/but this solutions looks to be a little less expensive.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29421", "author": "TJhooker", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T07:14:23", "content": "I’ve had a hand held unit for a while that I paid $250 for. It handles OBD II and some older protocols.These are life savers for cars with ECM’s, especially road side.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29422", "author": "Chupa", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T07:21:09", "content": "@ jakei looked at the gerber files now and i see it. i just assumed it was DIP before, hence the confusion.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29423", "author": "smellsofbikes", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T07:23:43", "content": "Awesome project. I built an oldschool RS232-OBDII interface from schematics for the open-OBDII project on sourceforge but this is way snazzier.Digikey carries a version of the Freescale chip and the PIC: MCZ33290EFR2CT-ND $1.65PIC18F2455-I/SO-ND $8 (DIP)What a superb project.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29424", "author": "Stephen", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T07:26:51", "content": "This is great. Most solutions have been serial and like the post states, USB options have been pricey.I’ve been using the cable fromhttp://obddiagnostics.com/for a number of years now.The gentleman that makes this cable also sells the parts and documentation to build your own based on his design.What’s more is this cable is the basis for most open source projects involving OBD. Head on over to source forge and search for obdII.Thank you for the great find. Also thanks to the hacker for helping people gain control over their cars.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29425", "author": "Jim", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T08:34:54", "content": "@emperor_dane:using the pic 18f4550 or 18f2550 (40 or 28 pin) to implement a virtual com port is extremely easy. Microchip has sample code on their website that does just that.@jake:i only see one fet on the schematic, and like chupa don’t see any mc33290 ic. i’m not looking at the gerbers though…what i want to know though, is where he can get $6 pcbs with blue soldermask and silkscreening at what i’m assuming is prototype quantities. i can get pcbs for $6 bucks but its without soldermask or silkscreen…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29426", "author": "Spaceball1", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T08:37:49", "content": "Where the source code?I like to be able add features.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29427", "author": "Doctari", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T17:17:55", "content": "This hardware interface only works with a subset of the available OBD-2 protocols. It does not work with J1850 PWW, J1850 VPW and CAN (controller area networks). The CAN interface is now standard on all 2007 vehicles. So before you invest time and effort in this device, make sure that your vehicle has an ISO-9141-2 or KWP2000 interface, otherwise, you’re out of luck.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29428", "author": "tdweekly", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T17:32:46", "content": "I believe there’s free software out there to interface to these ELM style devices…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29429", "author": "Alexander", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T20:07:28", "content": "I cannot find any good software for Linux… Anybody got a good source for this?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29430", "author": "tb0lt", "timestamp": "2007-11-10T03:42:19", "content": "http://www.obddiag.net/multiadapter.htmlIsn’t this better since it covers 4 common protocols?If I wanted to do it myself. whats the cheapest option to get the PCB made with the provided data? Thanks", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29431", "author": "joun", "timestamp": "2007-11-10T15:54:18", "content": "If this device works like ELM323 (the author says that it is compatible) would it be then possible to use it with another PIC or Atmel that would request&read data and display it on a LCD display? Is it possible to connect two microcontrollers via it’s USB?!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29432", "author": "Jake", "timestamp": "2007-11-11T16:50:59", "content": "Go here:http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/software-software-development/75172-any-open-source-obdii-apps-out-there.htmlthe last post contains two more links to the same forum , they have some things implemented in VB.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29433", "author": "boltun", "timestamp": "2007-11-29T10:13:50", "content": "I just tested this on my Nissan Altima. Works like a charm!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29434", "author": "Vern", "timestamp": "2008-01-28T00:23:48", "content": "Sofware is free on internet, with search, What I need is something that will write to the obd, so I can do a liottle programming.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "74188", "author": "A-Ride_4_ever", "timestamp": "2009-05-12T22:19:33", "content": "Cliff, The ducati uses a Cann network. ODB II is not supported on it. You can get a rig from dashpro that will not only allow you to read the data from the unit but err write new data say like odometer etc..", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "159211", "author": "Evan B", "timestamp": "2010-07-15T23:04:47", "content": "Too bad his website’s down now D:", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "239642", "author": "Derek", "timestamp": "2010-12-03T15:26:03", "content": "I would love to buy one of these. Is there a place where you can order one?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "468499", "author": "Nick", "timestamp": "2011-10-01T03:37:57", "content": "I just payed someone $100 to tell me which wheel sensor is bad on my buick rendezvous. They told me which on it was and said that for another $100 they would install it, (the part costs $89 so I had to at that point) I recently bought a USB cable to hook up to the obd2 sensor but I have no idea where to start. I make engine monitoring systems for aircraft so I know electronics but I’m not to savvy with programming. Can someone point me in the right direction to be able to read my obd2? THANKS A TON", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "527136", "author": "alex", "timestamp": "2011-12-05T15:14:13", "content": "and the firmware?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "539847", "author": "phelan", "timestamp": "2011-12-19T22:22:35", "content": "check obduino", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "614312", "author": "Mark byerley", "timestamp": "2012-03-28T15:29:49", "content": "I’ve got a obd2 scanner but I dont have the right cables for audi A6 there in the mail until they come I thought I could hard wire the obd2 if I new the what color of wire went to the coresponding pin It’s a 15 pin scanner and the audi uses 4 pins blk and red/yel and bluei believe.if you could help,Thanks Mark", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "614706", "author": "Nick", "timestamp": "2012-03-28T21:52:29", "content": "Try looking in Wikipedia. I found a lot of good information there as to the types of OBD and which manufacturers use certain pins.", "parent_id": "614312", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "978333", "author": "Luke Cage", "timestamp": "2013-03-14T18:04:58", "content": "wow, this so cool the usb interface is great i can use my laptop now!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "2769317", "author": "mobilink68", "timestamp": "2015-10-24T13:51:57", "content": "Can any one find the firmware code of the pic chip same code like elm327.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "6206467", "author": "Oto", "timestamp": "2019-12-30T22:20:39", "content": "There is this available but not for USB –https://github.com/uholeschak/ediabaslib/blob/master/docs/Replacement_firmware_for_ELM327.md", "parent_id": "2769317", "depth": 2, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "6206486", "author": "Oto", "timestamp": "2019-12-31T00:18:42", "content": "Also seems there are USB version just google “pic18f248.hex elm327”", "parent_id": "2769317", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] } ]	1,760,377,859.856204
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/06/gvif-prius-display-hacking/	GVIF (Prius) Display Hacking	Will O'Brien	[ "Transportation Hacks" ]	[]		This is almost a lack of hack, but it bugs me. In 2006, Toyota changed the video interface on the Prius LCD display. The new system uses GVIF (Gigabit Video InterFace) rather than RGBs as before. So far success has been limited to some early commercial devices. Considering the number of guys that like to hack their cars, I’m hoping to see some diy solutions developed. The industry seems to be pushing GVIF in the same manner as HDMI for home theater – it even supports HDCP . Unfortunately, it seems that multiple displays are still the best option for now. permalink	19	11	[ { "comment_id": "29391", "author": "ThatMonkey", "timestamp": "2007-11-07T08:31:54", "content": "I’d really like to know what the screen unit the guy used at that spasalon link. He’s sparse on details. Anyone recognize it?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29392", "author": "jose lope", "timestamp": "2007-11-07T09:56:11", "content": "wow… too many acronyms… cranks up google", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29393", "author": "Nate", "timestamp": "2007-11-07T10:19:05", "content": "Of course GVIF has all the drm protection crap, it’s piloted by Sony…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29394", "author": "Alexander", "timestamp": "2007-11-07T17:36:31", "content": "So… Why not replace the screen with another one? The converter box costs somewhere around $500 bucks. I’m sure you could get a touchscreen for that price that already has SVGA inputs on it.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29395", "author": "tuan", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T14:42:52", "content": "em muon jt xu", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29396", "author": "Innova69", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T23:45:18", "content": "Site down,.. mirror or another link?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29397", "author": "Bruce Perens", "timestamp": "2007-12-04T13:19:04", "content": "I just got the Lockpick 3 device from coastaletech.com, and used it to feed NTSC composite video into the multi-function display on my 2007 Prius. I am using this to display the video output of my Icom IC-7000 amateur radio transceiver.The video part of the wire harness DOES NOT appear to plug into the Coastal device. It plugs into the back of the multi-function display. All the Coastal device does, apparently, is enable the multi-function display to read its video input. The Coastal device masquerades as an AVC-Lan-connected DVD player.So, either the Prius does not use a GVIF digital video format, or the display comes with its own NTSC converter.The only digital video adapter sold for the Prius, by Cardemand and others, is a scan converter. I am convinced that it outputs NTSC composite.GVIF is so new that it seems rather unlikely that it would have been used that way. There aren’t enough pixels on the Prius display to make it necessary, and I don’t think anyone is using it for DRM yet.– Bruce", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29398", "author": "2bithacker", "timestamp": "2007-12-14T18:58:39", "content": "There is an NTSC adapter somewhere in the system for the backup camera, which is what the Lockpick 3 ties into. The optional navigation system uses the GVIF interface.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "44326", "author": "Don", "timestamp": "2008-10-04T16:21:38", "content": "I am interested in replacing the touchscreen with an RGB, circmventing the GVIF converter (if it exists) and preserving all OEM funtions and content. I want to use the touchscreen to add an interface for an indash PC. I don’t want to add an additional screen for this (as its not very appealing).Has anyone else looked into this approach? Where do I hack into the touch screen input and the RGB signal to circumvent the GVIF?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "51335", "author": "jasmi", "timestamp": "2008-11-19T00:45:19", "content": "How to convert video signal to sony gvif signal. Is it have a converter to convert this signal.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "2162517", "author": "acorn", "timestamp": "2014-11-20T23:22:08", "content": "Dude, stop spreading misinfo. I’ve looked at the back of my 2012 non-nav display. The harness for the backup cam is there & should support composite video. White red black orange wire. I’ll update when I get a raspberry pi running.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "2311202", "author": "Frank", "timestamp": "2015-01-02T18:47:28", "content": "acron did you ever get this to work if so can you send me a wireing diagram i am looking to hook up a rasberry also", "parent_id": "2162517", "depth": 2, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "2910964", "author": "Jeff", "timestamp": "2016-02-07T01:58:36", "content": "ACORN, any updates? Would love to know what I’m getting in to before hand.", "parent_id": "2311202", "depth": 3, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "3549620", "author": "BejczyP", "timestamp": "2017-05-02T09:11:36", "content": "Hello Acorn, any update since? Anyone?", "parent_id": "2162517", "depth": 2, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "4483935", "author": "jafinch78", "timestamp": "2018-04-16T06:37:42", "content": "Yeah, any update acorn? I’m about to hunt down what I can find for specifications, though not sure what the software is going to inhibit or require.", "parent_id": "2162517", "depth": 2, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "4483978", "author": "jafinch78", "timestamp": "2018-04-16T07:16:19", "content": "Looks like more than one options exists on the market for rear view camera and stop Display Audio 6.1″ LCD. I’d like to perform a tear down I’m thinking for a bypass switch option also though not sure regarding interfacing the touch screen as a capability being feasible since looks like way more work:http://www.rostra.com/add-camera-to-factory-lcd-screen-in-car.php#2508400I’m also thinking to get a smaller wire, or even tap 12V further back in the car…, a wireless camera kit can be hacked in for under $50 and maybe even half the price or less so that worse case a 12V (or whatever the camera) power supply wire will only need to be ran.", "parent_id": "4483935", "depth": 3, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "4483999", "author": "jafinch78", "timestamp": "2018-04-16T07:32:27", "content": "Looks like finding the schematic for what I’ve found now is about a $15 adapter harness called either a “PAC CAM-TY11 Backup Camera Cable” or “Axxess AX-TOYCAM1 Toyota 2012-2015 Backup Camera Retain/add-on Interface”. They look like they may be the same product with different packaging and labels.", "parent_id": "4483978", "depth": 4, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "4484004", "author": "jafinch78", "timestamp": "2018-04-16T07:34:09", "content": "Here it is…https://metra-static.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/INSTAX-TOYCAM1_web.pdf", "parent_id": "4483999", "depth": 5, "replies": [] } ] } ] }, { "comment_id": "4484027", "author": "jafinch78", "timestamp": "2018-04-16T07:56:00", "content": "I’m guessing is bulkier… though didn’t think about a POE adapter option:https://www.frys.com/product/8033494", "parent_id": "4483935", "depth": 3, "replies": [] } ] } ] } ]	1,760,377,859.908431
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/05/rfid-guardian-v3-released/	RFID Guardian V3 Released	Will O'Brien	[ "Misc Hacks" ]	[ "major malfunction", "MajorMalfunction", "rfid", "security" ]		[fbz] wanted to make sure that everyone knows that RFID Guardian has released the latest version of their design. I had a hard time finding a good shot of the hardware, so I went with the Nokia phone control application . There’s a short explanation of the project here . I’d point at the use examples on the site, but it seems that their MYSQL server is running out of memory. After seeing this talk at shmoocon last year, and a bit more reinforcement at defcon, there are definitely some good uses for the guardian. (Once you get past the slow start, Major’s intro is funny as hell. – jump past the first 8 minutes or you’ll be bored.) permalink	5	5	[ { "comment_id": "29386", "author": "Frogz", "timestamp": "2007-11-06T06:44:52", "content": "http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200711/200711060005.htmlhttp://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9028763http://gigaom.com/2006/12/17/google-phone/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/18/the-google-switch-an-iphone-killer/http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2007/09/02/introducing_the_google_phone/http://blogs.zdnet.com/Google/?p=503http://www.openmoko.org/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_%28mobile_phone_platform%29http://www.openhandsetalliance.com/android_overview.htmlgoogle phone, hackaday, lets see what can be done with this!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29387", "author": "dummy", "timestamp": "2007-11-06T20:03:57", "content": "Wow, seems complicated:I like the RFID-Zapper more. It destroys RFID tags :)https://events.ccc.de/congress/2005/static/r/f/i/RFID-Zapper(EN)_77f3.html", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29388", "author": "dan", "timestamp": "2007-11-06T22:35:25", "content": "I have a sony rfid usb device, PaSoRi. Is there any sort of third party software/driver already in existence I can play with?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29389", "author": "static", "timestamp": "2007-11-07T00:54:13", "content": "Adam Laurie’s presentation does show that the ID can be cloned. I still do suspect that both the RFID manufacturers and RFID opponents overstate the capabilities of the RF side of the system. As best I can tell the RFID Guardian works by creating malicious interference. illegal in most countries, that try to keep the RF spectrum usable. A widespread use of such devices will be noticed. When/if it is expect to find mere possession will be illegal.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29390", "author": "TJhooker", "timestamp": "2007-11-07T07:47:55", "content": "The RFID database Virus and Worm where cool.I’d still like to see more research on algorithmic passive RFID like car keys use though. Making a hardware AV solution isn’t really exiting cause outside the professional community it’s not really being attacked yet.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,859.946161
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/04/presenting-hackit-got-a-better-idea/	Presenting Hackit – Got A Better Idea?	Will O'Brien	[ "HackIt", "home entertainment hacks" ]	[]		I came back from a quick road trip with a trunk full of hackable hardware. After grabbing a little caffeine this morning, I thought we’d try something different for those slow Sundays. I’m going to come up some interesting hacking kit, point out a few classic hacks for it, and challenge you guys to come up with something better. Every so often, we’ll be sending some of said hardware to the most worthy of commenters. Read on to check out our first ‘Hackit’ challenge. Let’s start things off with a classic: The TiVo. TiVos got some major interest as soon as the words ‘Linux’ and ‘TiVo’ were uttered together. The hacking scene for the hardware has some odd quirks. Pretty much everything you ever wanted to know about hacking them is buried in the forums at deal database . Most of the hacks are geared toward video extraction or adding features like networking or on screen caller ID. Today, older TiVo’s are dirt cheap. Just about every sattelite/cable/fiber company will provide a DVR for a small fee. So, what can we do with all that nice, integrated video hardware? Make a cheap disguised file server? Roll your own security DVR? Use them to stream video feeds from inexpensive cameras? Re-work the faster one’s into networked media players? Or is there a better way to slave them into a MythTV network? (I’ve never been into the latter since my local cable is junk and the dual tuner sattelite units are cheaper per tuner.) So, got a better idea? Lets hear it.	56	50	[ { "comment_id": "29331", "author": "Monkeyman8", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T07:30:37", "content": "you could use two cheap TIVOs for VOIP/Video chat, or 3 or more for a conference call", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29332", "author": "Will O\\'Brien", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T07:37:08", "content": "That’s actually a great idea. Dedicated video conf platforms still aren’t cheap, but there may not be enough cpu to convert the mpeg-2 to something like a h.232.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29333", "author": "MadMan", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T08:17:30", "content": "Rig the tivo to record security footage from a remote camera (front door for instance, with a motion sensor to turn the camera on), then stream it on demand over a web interface I can grab from my cellphone. I could check from work or on the road to see if a package was delivered, or if someone is trying to break in (or if my wife’s lover came to visit). Since it only records when there is motion, you could store (theoretically) a years worth of video. The web interface would show a still frame and time stamp from each clip so you could choose which to stream or download.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29334", "author": "alex", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T08:23:34", "content": "this is a very interesting idea. could inspire some very cool projects…i’m thinking more on the lines of the [probably good quality] integrated tv tuner, and the fact that its in a small, cheap linux device. if you can control the tuning frequency by software with good enough precision and a wide enough selectable bandwidth, you could make it into a software-defined radio, an oscilloscope, or a spectrum analyzer.then again, i’ve also just been really interested in exploring the radio spectrum recently… could lead to some interesting discoveries, especially in large cities with lots of legacy radio systems in use ;)i wonder if there is an alternative use for any of the other chips in there–maybe harnessing the MPEG2 encoder for other calculations or something (doubt it’d work)could be useful as a car media (& security) system. in the spirit of the darpa urban challenge, this thing has got everything you need except a lot of cpu power…more info on whats inside the tivo can be found here (first result on google):http://www.9thtee.com/insidetivo.htm", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29335", "author": "ed penwell", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T08:23:51", "content": "i know from spending too much of my life working for telcos and cabcos that a lot of older model dcts and dvrs give off a lot of radio noise. some rental boxes from the last place i worked were even listed as class a under the fcc. while i’m sure there’s better uses for a dvr, a directional radio jammer would be nifty (and probably illegal, so don’t forget the disclaimer).", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29336", "author": "kajer", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T08:48:23", "content": "You could always hack it to be a captive portal/network sniffer and show multiplexed http get comamnds and the returned data.,. see what each machine on a small network is browsing in cleartext", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29337", "author": "Azurus", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T09:04:29", "content": "This seems to be a retort to the little USB blinking led post previous to this. Personally I’m laughing about it and I’m going to sit here and watch this.Its great to see someone put there foot into there mouth when something like this comes up.Let the games begin!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29338", "author": "Blind", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T09:27:05", "content": "it’s too bad that the processor is so low end. Seems to kill any use for render farm or cluster type set ups. If you could convince the MPEG2 decoder to encode video that might make up for some of it and one could make them into a video processing farm, but overally, it sounds like it would be more work to get it to do this then they’d be worth outside of “because I can”.Once networking capabilities are hacked in though, you’d probably have enough power to set up a small web server though. Through a couple together into a cluster and maybe another to handle some load balancing and you’d most likely have a decent enough server to handle an internal (intranet) web site for a small business. Not something you’d be running WebSphere and DB2 on, but a good enough server.Course, that seems like such an obvious idea, I’d either expect someone to already have done it (I haven’t followed the Tivo community) or thought of it and pointed out the problems with doing it. Hopefully, mentioning it will help someone think of something else though. :D", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29339", "author": "Wolf", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T10:10:25", "content": "I wonder how difficult it would be to increase the processors speed?I don’t own a tivo (I just use my com) but I’d bet if you beefed up the heatsinks you could overclock it to some extent.Now that I think about it though, changing the processor speed might induce timing or syncing issues…Personally though, if I had a tivo I’d set it up as an lan controllable media player and connect it to a centralized stereo system.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29340", "author": "chewy", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T11:32:30", "content": "I’m not sure that this would even be possible, but if you were able to grab an old series 1 that did not require the sub to actually be able to record (without the guide) anyway if XBMC could be integrated into it as well to be both a DVR and a true media center that would make it easily one of the best things out there.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29341", "author": "Ryan", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T12:40:07", "content": "Add one to your car or RV.Along with creating an in vehicle media server, could be great for security or insurance purposes.-Add front/rear/side camera(s), then record in a loop whenever keyed ignition switch is on. Use to dispute traffic tickets, accident insurance claims; or keep tabs on your teenage driver, cheating spouse, or person that you lent the car to.-Add interior camera(s) and a microphone. Program it to go into a low-power standby mode whenever keyed ignition switch is off. Interface with vehicle’s security system, or door pin switches, or vibration detector to trigger “wake-up” through IR remote control signals or front panel switches. Use it to supply the cops with video of the prick that stole your stereo, the prick that stole your car, the person who keyed your paint, the person who rammed into your car while parked, or the prankster who put tuna into your defroster or fresh air inlet vent.Other ideas:-Could also be great as a datalogger for engine tuning/racing purposes.-Add wireless network access point. Use as file server for backup of work when traveling or vacation photos.-Create a terminal for kids to play games while travelling.Ideally, you’d make a custom power supply to work directly off of the 12-14VDC power system.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29342", "author": "Kyle Yankanich", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T12:44:31", "content": "Using a newer tivo, one could conceivable form an entire PC with a small linux-based OS, a web browser and google. Similar to the new gOs, one would try to offload as much of the storage/computing offhand, leaving you with a delicious, cheap, and useful “WebTV”. HDTV may also be used for a higher resolution, creating a more natural feel for normal PC users.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29343", "author": "jeremiah", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T13:43:11", "content": "make a tivo that doesn’t require tivo’s service to run – provide it an rss feed of guide information, and let it run, as a tivo does, from that information, independent of tivo inc.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29344", "author": "RigoR MorteM", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T13:55:01", "content": "Why the tivo is not available here in italy?Sit…Speaking about tivo, maybe you can use one integrated in a pc modding project?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29345", "author": "llivne", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T14:37:41", "content": "stenography real cable video feeds in a way that is only detectable by using a very specific filter on board a camera watching the tv (every 100 or so pixel is the stenography data and not part of the cable feed or so)who will think on looking for stenography in a live feed? its the perfect hiding place", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "8149312", "author": "Daniel Gooch", "timestamp": "2025-07-14T14:35:17", "content": "Steganography, not stenography, for anyone confused", "parent_id": "29345", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "29346", "author": "Supermonkeyballs", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T15:02:45", "content": "Can you even use a directivo unit for anything yet? its a series 2 dual tuner, paid $100 for it, since I never got the rebate back", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29347", "author": "hunter", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T16:39:09", "content": "ok … i saw this really cool thing for some ort of media player the other day that acts like a dvr for your media player. but who wants to pay more than 100 dollars (i cant remember the exact amount) for that media player, what i you put linux on it and synced it to an old computer you have laying around do that all you tv shows are directly transferred to your media player and all you have to d ois pick it up on your way out.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29348", "author": "Ian Scott", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T17:18:05", "content": "I’ve always wanted to do some hacking outside of Razr’s and PSP’s.This sounds really cool. :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29349", "author": "maneuver", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T17:43:01", "content": "To bad this is a US only challenge.But your next one will no doubt involve technology used outside you own country, right?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29350", "author": "octoberdan", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T18:50:07", "content": "Play pranks! Set it up to appear and act like a normal unit, but control it remotely so that you can replace “The Christian Bible Hour” with down and dirty, hardcore, sloppy, wild, dripping…Satanism?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29351", "author": "Mike C", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T19:39:00", "content": "The prank idea could be taken a step further, like a TV sitcom I saw where they record the winning lottery numbers, and you buy a ticket with the old numbers on it, and make the viewer think they won the lottery! hehe#2 would be a security system, like a prevoius guy said, but mount it in your car, so it’s constantly recording you (or kids/wife) when you drive. If there’s a wreck, you have video of (presumably) the OTHER guy doing something illegal, or see how your teen drives when they’re alone, or see where your wife is going when you’re gone.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29352", "author": "Dan Kotowski", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T19:46:24", "content": "You could use it to monitor router or server logs. My webserver has no keyboard or monitor, so I have to use a serial connector to get any access to it. Almost never do I need the keyboard though. If at all possible, it would be interesting to “broadcast” a video feed of the access logs to a tivo, but only when they change. Thus, I would theoretically have a single video feed stored on a tivo that would be constantly scrolling (since it would only add new frames when the logs update), but I could pause/rewind/fast-forward to sort through the log looking for things such as attempted attacks and where they come from, and all from the comfort of my living room.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29353", "author": "sweavo", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T20:42:10", "content": "As an art project: a reverse webcam. Visitors can upload images through their browser for display in your livingroom.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29354", "author": "hempas", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T21:10:23", "content": "I have three TVs in my house, it would be nice to have a streaming box connected to each TV so i can control what stream i want to see. The source could come from any box and be viewed on any TV. In my case the source would be one of my two computers or the TV-feed.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29355", "author": "jose lope", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T21:16:34", "content": "Working with/for a doctor’s office, we’ve always wanted a way to display information onto the waiting room video screens (Yes, TVs… but the “1984” way sounded cooler) I’m imagining a passive/pass through video thing that will let normal cable tv through, but when we want to run our PSA, all the TVs will switch to show what we want them to…Also, be able to show disney movies on the TVs but have them stored on a network computer.Lastly, if you’re Tivo is IN your car, and your car gets stolen… wouldn’t it be kinda pointless? or are you thinking about a)streaming it off-site or b)post-recovery…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29356", "author": "steve diraddo", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T21:19:54", "content": "program the tivo with a personality, then build a puppy-cyborg that barks and records your favorite shows. you could stream the dogs thoughts and what it currently sees over the net", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29357", "author": "Freshnessninja", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T21:32:24", "content": "purchase (or make) a small volt reader and use it to monitor voltage ratings comming of your gen/solar pannels. or monitor voltage usage by your (insert electronic device here).", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29358", "author": "Blind", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T21:34:32", "content": "Why not use one as a home automation controller. A basic interface is all that you need to configure it with, so a remote should work fine for that. I2C or similar would be more then adequet for communications to all of the devices and should be easy to rig in. And I would think that you could simply use it as a pass through so that when you aren’t playing with your home configuration it just routes the regular TV signal through it so you don’t lose a set of video drops on your display. Shouldn’t need much processing power or storage so any old Tivo unit would work.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29359", "author": "Skyler Orlando", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T21:47:47", "content": "Well, you could mount it on a chassis and use it as a brain for a robot; with several, you could build a “swarm”. Attach a vacuum cleaner/swiffer, and you have a Tivoomba.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29360", "author": "Necrofire", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T22:12:48", "content": "Instead of network this or linux that, what about this clever little hack. Using a Tivo to record a tv program, and watch it when you want at a later time. Oh, wait. Who does that?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29361", "author": "paige", "timestamp": "2007-11-06T02:10:27", "content": "Use it for both recording Normal TV coming in but add a bittorrent interface. It gives you a place to grab and store video content(movies and TV… foreign broadcast items) without a luggy PC. You make sure it is networked to the rest of the house so that all the machines can act a terminals and stream both TV’s and movies. It will help to add more disc space of course but Black Friday is only days away and you know damn well I am going to be grabbing the killer drive deals.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29362", "author": "ian", "timestamp": "2007-11-06T05:12:26", "content": "I think that the idea of modding the tivo is great. there sre still some problems with the tivo (lack of cpu power.)recieantly I have been messing around with xbox linux. my idea is to run the systems together as a pair, the tivo could function as a coax in/out and the xbox could do all the core prossing work. an added bonus is that both systems are easly moddified.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29363", "author": "Sh3llz", "timestamp": "2007-11-06T07:44:15", "content": "The perfect setup would be MythTV as the platform, bittorrent style movie/iptv sharing, social networking features, Games, GoogleApps!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29364", "author": "Macaba", "timestamp": "2007-11-06T11:41:08", "content": "I work for a student radio station and we use a Tivo to record CCTV footage. We also put as the audio track the audio from our broadcast to provide another logging system.Not innovative, but shows another use out there.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29365", "author": "Yeshua Watson", "timestamp": "2007-11-06T16:54:20", "content": "I have never own a Tivo, but I would assume that you could use it as a MAME arcade of some sort. If you get MythTV working on it, you could convert it to an all in one unit (Multimedia and games). This way if you have kids, a system that plays games and media for every room is not only possible, but save the warranties of your Playstations.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29366", "author": "Blind", "timestamp": "2007-11-06T17:05:42", "content": "They can correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that this is more of just a mental excercise type thing and not a “US only challenge”. He’s just saying “hey, here is this piece of tech that has been tweaked in the past. This is what others have done with it. Can you think of something better?”Whether the tech is available to you or not in your country shouldn’t matter since we’re just tossing ideas around. In this case specifically, you’ve got a box which contains storage (hard drives), a basic processor, and video decoding capabilities. Just based on that information you should be able to think of ways to use those components without ever having to have a Tivo in your hands to play with.The box was originally used for subscription based media recording and play back (and has any hardware needed to achieve that). So you have storage, basic processing capabilites, a TV tuner, and mpeg2 decoding. Networking in some form is either there already or has been added ot the system. Linux has been ported to it in some form. What can you do with that?Using ideas people have posted already:Pushing networking and bitorrent onto it, you can fake the subscription service that you currently pay for by having the box find torrents related to what you normally watch. This is a neat idea because it lets you break away from their services if you like the hardware but don’t want to pay a mountly fee or you want to use different algorithms to find new shows you might like based on what you watch already (one of Tivo’s services)The web conferencing thing is a great idea because the hardware you are adding (networking, microphone, and web cam) isn’t terribly complex, but it’s a fairly different use of the box compared to it’s original intent.To show my bias, I also really like my home automation idea just because it strikes me as a completely different use from what everyone else is thinking about for the thing. I’ve never used a Tivo specifically before in my life. I might not have a great grasp on what it’s hardware can do, but I can still think about how to use it in other ways? I might be completely wrong on how capable it is, but if so, at least my idea might inspire someone else to think of something that would work.Make sense? Don’t look at this as “OMG, he has a prize I can win.” His post doesn’t even say a prize is going to be given out, just that they might send out some hard ware if they see something really inspired in the comments. Just brainstorm and enjoy the challenge. If you are running the race for the golden apple at the end, you’re missing the fun of the race.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29367", "author": "Blind", "timestamp": "2007-11-06T17:07:15", "content": ">>> I have never own a Tivo, but I would assume that you could use it as a MAME arcade of some sort. If you get MythTV working on it, you could convert it to an all in one unit (Multimedia and games). This way if you have kids, a system that plays games and media for every room is not only possible, but save the warranties of your Playstations.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29368", "author": "Blind", "timestamp": "2007-11-06T17:17:17", "content": "This is what I get for not double checking my comment before confirming I have never own a Tivo, but I would assume that you could use it as a MAME arcade of some sort. If you get MythTV working on it, you could convert it to an all in one unit (Multimedia and games). This way if you have kids, a system that plays games and media for every room is not only possible, but save the warranties of your Playstations. I like this idea. But does the TIVO have USB plugs already? and if not, have they been added by others already? I’m wondering how the controllers would be plugged in.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29369", "author": "Lester", "timestamp": "2007-11-06T18:10:13", "content": "Depending on the model and power, you might be able to create a voice activated MythTV box using a mic and a mini-linux distro. I imagine it would take some software hacking, but you could logically extend it to allow you to simply say “TV On, Football Game.” Or maybe “TV On, Football Game, Colts.”", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29370", "author": "Mikotoke", "timestamp": "2007-11-06T19:42:07", "content": "You could use it to create a 3d hologram using multiple projectors all connected to the same one, except showing images in different angles to give the impression that the image is in 3d", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29371", "author": "Jake", "timestamp": "2007-11-06T23:05:19", "content": "First time commenter. I just wanted to say how brilliant a thought exercise this was and I can’t wait to see what comes of it in the coming weeks.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29372", "author": "Wolf", "timestamp": "2007-11-07T00:16:09", "content": "to #38, um, i don’t see how that would be possible uless you were just going the red/green glasses route, in which case only one projector would be necisary.As for the mame idea, why not just use a modded xbox with a couple of emulators and xbmc? It comes with (nice) controllers, its cheaper, its got a well supported Ethernet interface, the softwares as good or better, and it can store and play xbox games to boot.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29373", "author": "ian", "timestamp": "2007-11-07T01:31:07", "content": "kudos to wolf. combining the xbox and tivo would be a killer hack.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29374", "author": "Dan", "timestamp": "2007-11-07T02:18:36", "content": "I liked blind’s idea about home automation, but why not add time/weather widgets, along with digital photoframe capabilities. You could also include some light media slinging and voila, you have a very fancy alarm clock. I would love to have something where I could send a movie to a monitor right next to my bed so I could finish watching it right before I go to sleep.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29375", "author": "thundersalmon", "timestamp": "2007-11-07T05:56:57", "content": "perhaps use it as a karaoke machine.save simple cd+g files to the hard drive and play back. a simple hack to incorporate a microphone into the audio feed. this could also work with some of the other webcam ideas to make your self part of the music video.Depending on the unit it might not work. does Tivo have optical out, digital out , or analog? I am from Canada so I do not know.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29376", "author": "Blind", "timestamp": "2007-11-07T09:51:56", "content": " I liked blind’s idea about home automation, but why not add time/weather widgets, *I like that with respect to the home automation idea. I mean, assume it can be set up for home automation; lights are a given, but I’d also home for some thermostat control. If we add in weather checking capabilities, be it a local weather station attached to the house or an online resource, and ideally, some controls over the windows (open/close type of thing) we could control the thermostat in a far more intellegently way. Combined with time based settings we could program some brilliant enviromental controls.To describe a scenario, say you want your home at roughly 76 degrees farenhiet. If it’s 80 degrees out but it’s the middle of the day and you are expected to be at work, it turns off the A/C and opens up the windows and maybe enables an exhaust fan in the attic. Around 4:30 it shuts the windows and turns on the A/C to dry out the air if it’s humid so you come home to a nice cool home. Around 10~11 it drops the temperature a few degrees for when you go to bed and around 6AM it starts warming up the home for when you wake. If it’s adequetly warm out it opens windows so you are awaking to the fresh air.Again, nothing that requires all that much in the way of processessing power and shouldn’t need more then some basic communication added into the Tvio if what’s there won’t work well enough.I wonder how much motors and sensors to control the opening of my windows would cost….", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29377", "author": "Yeshua Watson", "timestamp": "2007-11-07T17:16:36", "content": ">>>>As for the mame idea, why not just use a modded xbox with a couple of emulators and xbmc? It comes with (nice) controllers, its cheaper, its got a well supported Ethernet interface, the softwares as good or better, and it can store and play xbox games to boot.You can get old Tivos for round $30 – $50 for modding, and Xbox cost an average of $50 – 90 plus the cost of a mod chip. The Tivo doesn’t require a lot of modding to get to a shell as the xbox does and has USB plugs on the series 2 tivos. Although you are very right about the networking as that was missing from Tivo for a while. Plus the idea of the post is to come up with ideas for Tivo, not the Xbox.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29378", "author": "pi3832", "timestamp": "2007-11-07T17:40:26", "content": "As a video-jukebox device for your home theatre system.You could download and sort the “official” music videos to play during a party. Or port one the visualization packages to just add trippy video to your MP3s.Actually, what I’d really like to see are “tweaked” visualizations. Before-hand you help the visualization package “learn” a song, by indicating beats and cresendos and such. That way during the party you know the visualizations are going to be dead on with the music.Who, me? Use drugs?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29379", "author": "Richard", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T09:22:24", "content": "I think the tivo’s place is still in the living room but with the switch HD, series 1 and 2 are useless. So here is what I propose all of the following:1. Universal remote. Choose the remote you actually like and program the TIVO to translate the IR codes to control your other devices. (No more universal remotes) Complete with on-screen-display.2. Automated home control.3. Automated antenna switching. I use four antenna sources for my OTA signals. The Tivo could automatically switch to different antenna sources based on the channel you are on on the TV. (it will listen to your TV remote – see above)4. Audio monitor. Mute loud commercials.5. Favorite program switcher. – Put your TV on the right channel based on your “favorites” schedule.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29380", "author": "Ryan", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T21:41:56", "content": "After browsing the “Deal Database” forums, it looks like the Tivoisn’t an ideal platform for much at all. Current development doesn’tgive you much beyond accessing recorded media. Regardless, thehardware isn’t that exciting to begin with. It seems that that alow-power (Pentium IIish) and small form factor PC could provide youwith unlimited capabilities with none of the hassle of hacking theTivo, for not much more money.However, the Tivo’s case could be used to house a hard drive andmotherboard with on-bord networking, video, and USB.I’m all for extending the capabilites of hardware that you currentlyuse and own, but the Tivo doesn’t seem like something worth the timeand effort to do anything more than its originally intended purpose.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,860.295682
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/04/simple-usb-plug/	Simple USB Plug	Will O'Brien	[ "computer hacks", "Peripherals Hacks" ]	[]		I’m more into this one just for the simple USB plug than the joke that it’s used for. I’ve seen similar on extra small USB flash drives, but those are generally pre-etched. The idea is to use a piece of proto board to make a USB plug an mount a superbright LED on it. Pie indeed. permalink	19	19	[ { "comment_id": "29312", "author": "Jay", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T05:32:24", "content": "you gotta love bored people with a soldiering iron. Something is going to get melted or built.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29313", "author": "Bird603568", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T05:45:13", "content": "this is the absolute stupidest “hack” ever. i hope steve comes here and spams it. on a side note shouldnt there be a resistor in there?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29314", "author": "Tim Desmarais", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T05:53:17", "content": "Great idea! yeah its easy to make and i will be making lots of these cause i do have broken pcboard and a bunch of leds YAY!!!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29315", "author": "abbott", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T06:30:07", "content": "pretty cool, not too terribly useful, but its a cool litte hack for those of us with too much time to spare", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29330", "author": "Dennis", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T06:47:52", "content": "wow, this is useless, this is the hack of the day?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29316", "author": "Ted", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T06:51:29", "content": "This is so simple that i cant believe i didn’t think about this early. I used to tear apart every usb cable i own to salvage the connector off of it and only attach the +5 and -5 volts. Now i can just use all the radio shack pcb prototyping boards i have laying around.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29317", "author": "ProfHiB", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T07:03:02", "content": "Ok, this is really disturbing. Everyone knows this already, for cryin’ out loud. We’re all very proud of you for being able to use your soldering iron. :-)However, I’d love to see more hardware type stuff that’s for real on hackaday… How about some pinin-pinout diagrams or something?-ProfHiB and the Ourang-Outang Clan", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29318", "author": "HE3r0", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T07:05:38", "content": "Pretty neat thing,I like it, though “hack” got misplaced in this one, and gets over-used recently whenever somebody add led`s to the calculator case, i`ll call this MOD not a hack… ahh good old days, where have you gone….", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29319", "author": "atrain", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T07:23:14", "content": "I have to admit, I’ve never seen this trick before…. But I don’t have too much prototyping board around, and lots of hacked usb cables, so I don’t need it too much…But, I recently discovered that normal lead pencil graphite sticks make nice smoke off USB, and don’t get too hot except where they meet the wire… Meaning, I could use this and have a piece of lead close to my laptop. Typing in public, and people see smoke start pouring out of a dell laptop :P", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29320", "author": "usguy", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T18:03:40", "content": "to the guy who wrote the first post he tells you why you dont need a resistor. reading is learning! there is genius in simplicity. if you look at his site he is actually a skilled modder.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29321", "author": "Spork", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T19:18:30", "content": "I always print a board with the little strips then solder them a bit like this, but etched myself instead of using proto. I would much rather take the time to etch than end up with a broken port on my PC from a solder blob.I keep wondering where he found the 5v LED! Where can I get one? =P", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29322", "author": "Bird603568", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T23:28:07", "content": "im well aware that he told me, but ive been told that you should always have a resister with an led even if the voltage fits in the range. i guess i wasted money on the few 1ohm sandbars", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29323", "author": "hack124x768", "timestamp": "2007-11-06T00:22:54", "content": "The proto board trick also works for the charging port on the original (fat gray) Nintendo DS. I used it and a usb cable to charge it before I got a charger from a friend.@atrainI love that idea. I think I’ll go do some testing now to see how many milliamps that would pull. A blown 5v fuse sucks ass.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29324", "author": "Ron", "timestamp": "2007-11-06T00:23:02", "content": "A bright LED is ok, but some places have two lead leds that change color, cycle through several colors, fading and blinking. Halted (Santa Clara, CA) had these for a while. (ob disclaimer – I used to work there)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29325", "author": "srilyk", "timestamp": "2007-11-06T23:51:54", "content": "Of course, when you figure that the whole thing (including electricity) probably cost about 25Â¢, he’s probably not terribly worried (and then he also mentions why there’s no resistor! But afaik, you should always use a resistor in any LED that you don’t want kicking the bucket)I actually like this – it’s simple, and it’s an easy way to get power, and if you’re really a hacker you don’t think “bah this sucks!” You think “Now how can I make this blow up/light on fire/power a tesla coil/car/what mod can I use this for”", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29326", "author": "steve", "timestamp": "2007-11-07T02:19:38", "content": "MORE leds please!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29327", "author": "McUzi", "timestamp": "2007-11-08T05:01:48", "content": "Maybe some think this MIGHT be dumb. But, the true idiot is the one that wins the ebay auction which was up to $26 plus $3 shipping when I just checked. How brilliant.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29328", "author": "Dan", "timestamp": "2007-11-09T01:38:51", "content": "I made an instructable on something very similar a while back:http://www.instructables.com/id/USB-LED-Backlight/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29329", "author": "cloner", "timestamp": "2007-11-16T08:25:59", "content": "is it possible to replace the LED with a motor? am thinking of a personal massage for my aching back! :) thanks!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,860.213224
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/03/sms-pin-sentry-reader/	SMS PIN Sentry Reader	Will O'Brien	[ "Cellphone Hacks" ]	[ "cell phones", "CellPhones", "pin sentry", "PinSentry", "sms" ]		[Mr G] in London sent in his pin sentry hack . He wasn’t pleased that the device looks like an old calculator, so he rigged up a SMS board to send him his pin on demand. He multiplexed the output of the display driver to the SMS board. When he authenticates from his phone, the board sends a message with the latest code. permalink	39	39	[ { "comment_id": "29284", "author": "crapface", "timestamp": "2007-11-04T04:17:55", "content": "Wow, great write-up!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29285", "author": "bazginge", "timestamp": "2007-11-04T04:20:13", "content": "That was packed so full of information I can barely contain myself. Code? Schematics? Any information at all?Oh well, at least we can see the pin number.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29286", "author": "bazginge", "timestamp": "2007-11-04T04:27:24", "content": "The article was so weak I had a poke around the server. This is way better than the PIN thing.http://www.mrg9999.com/pub/PHSB/report cardshttp://www.mrg9999.com/pub/picx/GT-SUIT.JPGamazing suit man ;)There is much much more in the pub folder. Very entertaining. BTW nice kitchen ;)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29287", "author": "twistedsymphony", "timestamp": "2007-11-04T05:12:21", "content": "Could someone please explain to me what this actually does? as I understand it the circuit to the left grabs a number from a calculator looking thing on the right and sends an SMS message with the number to his cell phone (I think?). I thought pin numbers were only ever assigned once, when you first get the card… so what does this do exactly and what purpose does it serve?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29288", "author": "smilr", "timestamp": "2007-11-04T06:18:22", "content": "This looks like a two – factor authentication system for use with internet banking. In order to log into his account on the bank website, he must put his card in the Key Generator (calculator type thing), and put in his PIN (two things he has, one thing he knows) and gets from this device a one-time password to enter into the website.He doesn’t want to have to carry around the stupidly huge key generator so he rigged it up so he can contact this device (call it? sms msg it?), and have it SMS him back with the current login key.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29289", "author": "Chupa", "timestamp": "2007-11-04T10:07:40", "content": "I have never seen that rolling PIN generator thing before, and im sure others here haven’t ither, which is why were all confused. Their like those IT key chain token things i guess. What banks out there use this? I have never seen them before.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29290", "author": "Tavor", "timestamp": "2007-11-04T11:52:02", "content": "#6: Barclays is a british bank. This two-factor system is most likely what i’ve heard referred to as chip and pin system.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29291", "author": "sal_park", "timestamp": "2007-11-04T13:12:27", "content": "no, it’s not chip and pin – chip is your standard credit/debit card and pin is your ATM pin used in place of a signatureThis calculator is used to authenticate you for on line banking, scary thing is it a) dosent connect to the outside world and b) is not tied to any card (both myself and my wife have one and ot doesn’t matter which one we use). So given it knows if your atm pin is correct or not , the pin must be stored on the card :( Lets hope it’s encrypted !", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29292", "author": "Alex", "timestamp": "2007-11-04T13:12:56", "content": "@#7 – No this is not the chip and pin system. The chip and pin is added security to bank cards that works in conjunction to the magnetic stripe, you have to enter a pin code when buying things instead of signing for your card now. The chip is on the card and the pin is self explanitory. This is a new type of authentication system used for online buisness banking over here in the UK. You use your card and pin on the calculator and it generates a onetime password to log into youronline bank account.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29293", "author": "xMov", "timestamp": "2007-11-04T15:39:38", "content": "It’s Barclays (a UK bank) PINsentry. You can see a demo of it in use here:http://www.barclays.co.uk/pinsentry/demo_login.htmlIt is NOT chip and PIN. The PINsentry (or card) also does not know your pin. It is simple a challenge and response system. Even if you enter an incorrect PIN, you still get a repsonse (but different to if a correct PIN is entered) and it’s down to the bank to decide if the response is correct, or not.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29294", "author": "Urlax", "timestamp": "2007-11-04T17:07:52", "content": "this is awfull..i have a device like this, which looks like this:https://bankieren.rabobank.nl/rabo/dp800.gifit’s small and i take it with me often..but as soon as i’ve wanted to take a peek inside, the device locked up.. it’s what should happen! these devices should be small and equiped with anti-tamper sensors, not as ugly and unsafe as these..i still like the hack, but the bank should’ve made a better device by itself (in the netherlands some banks already send sms with login codes)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29295", "author": "Tolly", "timestamp": "2007-11-04T18:00:05", "content": "Very interesting trick right there… I’m wondering where such SMS boards would be found, I’d have a bunch of utilities for it :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29296", "author": "Chupa", "timestamp": "2007-11-04T20:26:56", "content": "i would assume the little calculator thing has a RTC in it and generates the pin based on the time along with a unique code on the card. Same thing server side so the system knows what code to expect at any given time. Yes/No?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29297", "author": "sal_park", "timestamp": "2007-11-04T20:41:03", "content": "to #10:According to the manual that comes with the pinsentry if you enter 3 wrong pin codes it will lock the device. What makes you think it will accept any pin ?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29298", "author": "Chupa", "timestamp": "2007-11-04T21:09:28", "content": "Is this just to check your balance and perform other banking admin actions? Is this required for purchases as well? It would be really annoying if it were required for purchases…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29299", "author": "alex mccown", "timestamp": "2007-11-04T22:02:25", "content": "all he is doing is VERRY generaly telling you how to do this i wouldn’t call this a hack", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29300", "author": "nebulous", "timestamp": "2007-11-04T23:22:08", "content": "Online stores in the Netherlands can offer iDeal payments (pun probably intended). It’s a great system, where you use the chip on the card and a provided code.With my bank, Abn-Amro, I get an 8-digit code from the Abn-Amro site. I insert my card into the device, enter my PIN (if incorrect, I get a notice. If incorrect for the third time, chip locks up). I enter the 8-digit number and get a 6-digit number back. I enter the 6 digit number on the site, and am authenticated. It’s a pretty secure system, as I understand it.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29301", "author": "frognall", "timestamp": "2007-11-04T23:32:20", "content": "its not supposed to be practical.its not even supposed to be elegant.its a HACK folks….Some dude took a calculator and a handfull of components and built something you didnt even think of—-using parts never intended to be used in such a way, to create an entirely new and different machine; unique from any other in the world. Its a HACK proper, regardless of how convenient it is for you to carry to the grocery store.Having said that…..some schematics would be nice. a diagram or a napkin with some scribble or something?—not that I would do anything with it but read it as I probably wont ever build one…..doubt I will even have a need for one…..thats not really the point though.Maybe instead of bitchin we should all offer our support and send Will some hacks we all know and love but have yet to see on HAD…..maybe lighten his stress load for the next week? Will, I am sending you my top picks for as-yet un-featured hacks (good ones with writeups and all….) right after I post this….I encourage you all to do the same.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29302", "author": "Lars", "timestamp": "2007-11-05T02:26:07", "content": "Here in Germany, I got a similar device from my bank. But in my case it’s not used to login to online banking, instead it is required for every online transaction you want to make. The system started about half a year ago. Before, you had to enter a TAN number for every transaction. Now you have to enter the bank account number, where you want to send the money to, into the device and get back a 6 (or was it 8?) digit number as TAN. It also expires after a few minutes.But different from the device in this article it does NOT require your card… Maybe it’s registered to my card, haven’t tried that, yet.Thanks for the comment before about opening the device what causes it to lock up.. I also already had the idea to take a look inside to find out how it gets the numbers. Think it was good to not really do that :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29303", "author": "Mr.G", "timestamp": "2007-11-06T12:39:16", "content": "Some clarificationAll I have done is interface my banking authentication device to a SMS controller(modified). so that I don’t have to carry the damm thing around. It is like not having to carry one’s RSA token(which incidentally I have also remoted).SMS controllerhttp://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=KC5400", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29304", "author": "JC", "timestamp": "2007-11-27T22:39:11", "content": "Could you explain in more detail just how you interfaced the device to the sms controller? Does the sms controller include instructions to help achieve this? I hate carrying around those things (netkey, one time password, token, etc) as the banks here in Mexico require a different one per bank so it no longer an unobtrusive keychain dangle, it is several!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29305", "author": "sam", "timestamp": "2007-11-30T02:30:25", "content": "to #13.The entered PIN will be hashed into the 8 digit code the PINSentry device generates.. the card won’t have the PIN on it. If the decoded PIN (from the submitted 8 digit code) turns out not to match the one held on the server 3 times then it will trigger a lockout for the next time that card appears at an ATM or in a shop.. it wont actually write the lock to the card just as it didnt read the PIN from there.It does accept any code I just tried it on mine.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29306", "author": "mj", "timestamp": "2007-12-01T10:16:22", "content": "I got one of these calculator type things from Barclays. It’s called PinSentry.It clearly states in the instructions that if you enter your pin incorrectly three times your card will be locked. As there is no connection to the outside world this must be done via a pin stored on the card on the chip. Presumably also to lock your card the device must be able to write to the chip to tell it that it is now locked.Presumably there is some encryption. Whether this can be reverse engineered to allow the PIN to be determined for any card I don’t know. However I wonder if you could use the PinSentry itself to (laboriously) hack cards to find their PIN.All it would need is a way of bypassing the card locking. Maybe this could be done by simply putting tape over the write contacts on the chip so that the device can’t write to the chip to tell the card that its locked. Maybe its a little more complex than that. Maybe they check they can write to the card as part of some authentication procedure?I’ll do some investigation for sure. Anyone know if I’m barking up the wrong tree completely?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29307", "author": "Danny", "timestamp": "2007-12-06T02:35:20", "content": "The PINsentry isn’t connected to the outside world, and the card does not store the PIN.What I think happens is the card will store a validation number. The PINsentry can use the PIN to generate a validation number, and see if this matches the one on the card.So yes, there might be a way to use the PINsentry to still calculate the correct (or a number of possible) pin numbers. So I do wonder if overall this is a secure idea.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29308", "author": "g", "timestamp": "2007-12-17T16:14:22", "content": "my pinsentry does not accept any PIN. if i enter a wrong PIN after pressing Identify, it knows and says the code is wrong (i just tried it). it only generates the 8 digit one time login code if i enter the correct PIN.i would think that the way it does this is a one way encryption process, like normal unix passwords – presumably the card itself stores an encrypted version of the PIN, which is tested against whatever value is entered via the keypad after putting it through the same one way encryption. (i think that chip-and-pin readers work the same way?)so you could use the pinsentry to brute force the PIN for a card, but only if you could figure out a way to disable the card lockout after 3 wrong tries. i would hope that the bank knows this and that the pinsentry is designed in such a way that the lockout mechanism couldn’t be disabled without disabling the PIN test method.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29309", "author": "Alex", "timestamp": "2007-12-17T17:50:13", "content": "I did have a similar idea as soon as I realised I’d have to carry the bloody thing around, but there’s something I don’t get: surely you have to leave your card at home, which is far more inconvenient than not being able to get into online banking at will?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29310", "author": "Webster", "timestamp": "2007-12-18T18:03:13", "content": "to #23 and a host of others.The card contains the PIN. It works the same as Chip & PIN. In fact, it is a Chip & PIN card application!You enter the PIN, the card verifies the PIN (yes, the PIN is stored in the card!) then generates a cryptogram based on some other variable input data and the crypto keys (also in the card). The calc device puts part of the cryptogram into the code – the other part of the code is the variable data the bank needs to recreate the code for validation purposes. The bank also has the same crypto keys. Hey presto!The PIN is not hashed. Nor does it, or a hash, or anything else to do with the PIN, get sent to the bank.If you enter the PIN incorrectly three times, the card locks and blam – no more cryptograms. At least, not until you phone the bank and go down to the ATM for a card unlock.As for the “hack”, how is the PIN entered?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29311", "author": "tom p", "timestamp": "2008-01-24T00:05:34", "content": "Isn’t there a big flaw in this that he has to leave his card plugged into his pin sentry device at home. What if he wants to get money out of an ATM or buy something at the shop and he does not have his card?!I have heard anecdotally that these particular devices are not time critical, so for log in only (not payments where you have to also enter the amount and recipient account no) you can go through the process three times, generate three codes and take them with you to allow three log ins while you are away from your pin sentry. No idea whether this is correct though.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "50814", "author": "bob", "timestamp": "2008-11-14T13:22:05", "content": "excuse my idioticy, but could some one explain to me whats to stop someone nicking my card, brute forcing it until a correct login is made with a pensentry, then walking to a cash machine and using my pin?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "51143", "author": "bob", "timestamp": "2008-11-17T20:52:19", "content": "sry i didnt read over the commments, but now i have, can anyone confirm this thing can block ur card? i thought it probably wouldnt be able to, because it doesnt look like it would have enough battry power to perform such a task (surely?). but if you say its in the instructions then well im wrong.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "62120", "author": "character", "timestamp": "2009-02-07T04:40:34", "content": "Im looking for this.Im pay ….It does accept any code I just tried it on mine.If anybody seller this device.please call me.shrewd@abv.bg", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "79708", "author": "bank online", "timestamp": "2009-06-29T23:40:31", "content": "The info you’ve given is spot on, believe me, I’ve been doing my research and you’re info is some of the best out there.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "83629", "author": "Mark E", "timestamp": "2009-07-30T22:26:20", "content": "OK, I can confirm that a PinSentry device WILL lock a card after 3 wrong PIN entries.In may case, they weren’t wrong at all. I know I entered the correct PIN at least the last two times, so it looks like there is a fault with the machine.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "96674", "author": "DASH", "timestamp": "2009-09-26T17:03:41", "content": "To mj,Once you have investigated and found an resault please post it, its rather interesting!“Presumably there is some encryption. Whether this can be reverse engineered to allow the PIN to be determined for any card I don’t know. However I wonder if you could use the PinSentry itself to (laboriously) hack cards to find their PIN.”That will be interseting…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "101385", "author": "Jon", "timestamp": "2009-10-15T01:16:32", "content": "The card reader responds that it will lock the card if you enter your pin wrong several times, to know the pin you enter is ‘wrong’ (when it doesn’t connect to the outside world) is must either: Know the pin (Stored on the card?) OR know a value it can relate to the pin (An encrypted, hashed or algorithm result based on the pin, again stored on the card)Either way the pin or a value relating to it, is stored on the card, and if the algorithm the unit uses can be figured out (by multiple challenge responses?) the system would be insecure", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "106436", "author": "lammy", "timestamp": "2009-11-09T15:59:14", "content": "“OK, I can confirm that a PinSentry device WILL lock a card after 3 wrong PIN entries”No, this is wrong. The card locks ITSELF after 3 wrong PIN entries, whether these come from a PinSentry or another device such as the Chip-and-PIN device in the supermarket.Therefore you can’t use the PinSentry – modified or not – to brute force a PIN number for a card, because the card’s chip will always lock out after 3 wrong guesses.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "141990", "author": "dave", "timestamp": "2010-05-13T12:02:31", "content": "My Pinsentry device says ‘WRONG PIN, TRY AGAIN’ when wrong PIN entered.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "697671", "author": "nfl", "timestamp": "2012-07-08T18:01:14", "content": "Ahaa, its pleasant conversation about this paragraph at this place at this weblog, I have read all that,so now me also commenting at this place.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "962667", "author": "craig salon software", "timestamp": "2013-02-20T01:34:01", "content": "you can get this now on most mobile devices via the barclays website. So this is obsolete really.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,860.158989
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/02/pysight-post-halloween-entertainment/	PySight Post Halloween Entertainment	Will O'Brien	[ "Misc Hacks" ]	[ "halloween", "homestarrunner", "marshie" ]		[John] sent in this setup that he hacked together for Halloween. He used a MacBook Pro with built in camera, a projector, a bed sheet, a kid friendly laser pointer and a hacked together combination of PySight and PyGame. The result was a fairly easy game of shoot Marshie . Nice! permalink	10	10	[ { "comment_id": "29274", "author": "alex mccown", "timestamp": "2007-11-03T05:58:30", "content": "that is so simple yet so cool also the use of the macbooks camera is nice thinking i cant afford a projectors so i gota try something like this next year but hell if he could afford a macbook he could afford a projector (im not a mac fan)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29275", "author": "wikityler", "timestamp": "2007-11-03T08:49:21", "content": "Y’know what you /can/ afford? Punctuation.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29276", "author": "alex mccown", "timestamp": "2007-11-03T10:33:41", "content": "dude u can reed it so chill out and buy some hash", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29277", "author": "cheech", "timestamp": "2007-11-03T10:37:08", "content": "chill out man cant you reed it with out punctuation. you should chill out and smoke some of Calis finest weed.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29278", "author": "alex mccown", "timestamp": "2007-11-03T10:41:35", "content": "oh and it was 11 after work and during happy hr on a sidekick chill", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29279", "author": "hax-u-up", "timestamp": "2007-11-03T10:46:04", "content": "lol looks like the stoners crawl out late at night, its kool i do it to :-P", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29280", "author": "a random John", "timestamp": "2007-11-03T18:01:47", "content": "alex mccown,If this gets accepted for presentation at PyCon I’m going to make a Linux port that should work with any old web cam. As for the projector, they’ve got $400 projectors at Costco.com now, I’m guessing that by Halloween next year they’ll have $250 projectors if you look hard enough.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29281", "author": "alex mccown", "timestamp": "2007-11-03T21:03:25", "content": "thank you,thats really cheep last time i checked they were $700-$1200 actuly i gota get some food so ill buy one of them while im there. i used to work with robo vision software awhile back baced on the sentry airsoft gunhttp://www.hackaday.com/2005/09/21/robotic-sentry-gun/than i went to coilguns than i went to railguns teslacoils than i went to cnc mills and who knows whats nextim on my iphone (because my sidekick broke :-P ) so sorry about the spelling it dosent correct my spelling like firefox or my sidekick did", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29282", "author": "a random John", "timestamp": "2007-11-04T05:01:35", "content": "alex,The projectors were online only for $399. I believe that they are back ordered now. But you can get the same projector other places for $499 with a $100 rebate.The exact model is the ViewSonic PJ503D.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29283", "author": "alex mccown", "timestamp": "2007-11-04T21:59:20", "content": "i got one for $700 i dono the model sence its at home and im in my car :-P its nice i hooked it up to my comp and played counterstrike source it was KICKASS", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,860.626995
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/01/investigating-the-leopard-firewall/	Investigating The Leopard Firewall	Eliot	[ "Mac Hacks" ]	[ "apple", "firewall", "leopard", "mac", "software" ]		Our friend [Rich Mogull] has been flipping the switches on Leopard’s new firewall and scanning it to see what’s actually going on . There is some good and some bad. The new application signing is a mixed bag. It breaks Skype and a commenter pointed out that automatically trusting Apple installed apps like NetCat isn’t a good idea either. You can roll your own firewall using user friendly tools like WaterRoof since ipfw is still included. permalink	5	5	[ { "comment_id": "29269", "author": "TechPagan", "timestamp": "2007-11-02T06:33:55", "content": "Software firewalls yuck!First post W00t!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29270", "author": "cde", "timestamp": "2007-11-02T09:08:09", "content": "@techpagan, and hardware firewalls are better? Only difference is that you normally leave one alone for firewalling only.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29271", "author": "TechPagan", "timestamp": "2007-11-02T14:47:08", "content": "@cde: you are so completely right, but I have had software firewalls crash and not realize it. I don’t even know if this is possible with a hardware firewall. I just feel safer.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29272", "author": "ryan", "timestamp": "2007-11-02T16:17:04", "content": "@techpaganTrust me, it is QUITE possible for a H/W firewall to crash. Be it on it’s own or via a DoS attack. I don’t think you hear about it because of different user bases (the home user vs. corporate sys admin).", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29273", "author": "TJhooker", "timestamp": "2007-11-02T17:49:15", "content": "Looks like he just tested the front end.I’d like to see someone do black box testing on it using a flexible fuzzer framework. Or rootkit research.The native UDP services that are unblocked would be cool to mess with.The Mac droids will have to wash there abrecrombie and fitch, and clean there black framed designer glasses after the anger sweats.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,860.426775
https://hackaday.com/2007/11/01/diy-servo-motor-controller/	DIY Servo Motor Controller	Will O'Brien	[ "Robots Hacks" ]	[ "encoder", "overlords", "robots", "servo", "sweet" ]		[Jim Fong] sent in this demo of his version of the UHU servo motor controller . [Uli Huber] has actually shipped over 2500 controllers for the servo. He doesn’t charge much for the chips, and only asks for something like a token beer in return for his work. I used [Jim]s boards in my mini mill controller , so I know he does good work. This servo controller really is a big deal. It can handle high power, and servo motors are the way to build a fast milling/robotics setup. If you’re into Cons, you might be interested that the first round of Shmoocon tickets went up for sale today – looks like they’re already out, so keep your eyes open if you want to go. It’s a decent con that takes place in DC. I know that I’m planning to be there. permalink	12	12	[ { "comment_id": "29258", "author": "Johnny B. Goode", "timestamp": "2007-11-02T00:13:10", "content": "That’s pretty stylin’.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29259", "author": "Alex McCown", "timestamp": "2007-11-02T01:17:05", "content": "am i trippen balls or is that cnc mill a sign from god i wan just about to order some expensive as shit parts to build my own thx so much for saving my ass peace out", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29260", "author": "kcbanner", "timestamp": "2007-11-02T02:57:25", "content": "By servo here do they mean stepper?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29261", "author": "MacMarty", "timestamp": "2007-11-02T03:15:53", "content": "[3] no. A stepper motor is an open-loop system, which means there is no position feedback. You can lose track of position if you push it too hard. A servo system is CLOSED loop: there is an encoder that keeps track of rotational position. Steppers are simpler and cheaper. Servo motors are less cheap, but can really fly.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29262", "author": "Adam Ziegler", "timestamp": "2007-11-02T03:41:36", "content": "Very nice… I have been looking to start playing around with servos. kcbanner… servos and steppers are two different beasts. A servo is basically a DC motor. A stepper is a motor that takes incremental steps.Now… lets see it play music!http://images.myonlinesite.com/cnc/use/20070830/videos.html", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29263", "author": "crystal amaia", "timestamp": "2007-11-02T04:25:42", "content": "That was very cool. If I might make a small suggestion, it would probably be useful to attach the suction right to the cnc mill.-Crystal", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29264", "author": "Adam Ziegler", "timestamp": "2007-11-02T06:00:16", "content": "I have seen mentioned a few closed loop stepper systems (encoder added)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29265", "author": "Nate", "timestamp": "2007-11-02T16:23:36", "content": "I couldn’t find exactly how many motors one board can control … is it one or two?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29266", "author": "jimdandy", "timestamp": "2007-11-02T16:38:35", "content": "Don’t servo’s use stepper motors along with encoders?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29267", "author": "Jim Fong", "timestamp": "2007-11-02T16:39:56", "content": "Crystal (post#7)–I just finished the cnc conversion over the weekend and haven’t had a chance to add a vacuum attachment to it yet.I have another cnc mill that uses a locline vacuum attachmenthttp://www.embeddedtronics.com/micromill.html.I might use the same concept for the gantry mill.Nate (post#8)–Each servo driver board is for one motor. You would have to build three of them for a 3 axis cnc mill.Jim", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29268", "author": "Alexander", "timestamp": "2007-11-02T23:31:58", "content": "Servo motors do not use steppers with encoders.Servo’s use standard DC motors (or brushless) with an encoder on the back. Or a pot that tells the motor how much it has left to turn.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "613606", "author": "CB4", "timestamp": "2012-03-27T20:57:28", "content": "Dude WTF", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,860.473198
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/31/happy-halloween-extra/	Happy Halloween Extra	Will O'Brien	[ "LED Hacks", "Misc Hacks" ]	[ "led", "photo", "pumpkin", "scanner", "thad" ]		Happy Halloween! I’m in the mood for an extra, and I’ve got some stuff that’s been turning to zombies from the tipline . Pictured above is a nice simple LED pumpkin sent in by [John]- perfect for the hacker with less than stellar art skills. Let’s not forget [mastershake]s Hack-A-Day pumpkin from last year. Where’s the THAD pumpkin you promised? [Wolfgang] sent in these mini pumpkin bots – they look like toys, but they’re made from XBox parts and radio control cars. Last year Max sent in his talking Halloween basket . (I always wanted to strap that voice module to a co-workers chair…) [Brandon] built a budget (~$150) guitar hero controller out of a Gibson Epoch guitar from target. This scanner cam has been around for a while, but I admire how he keeps fine tuning and tweaking the design. Thanks to [Loopymind] for passing it along. I keep getting emails telling me that Google Earth has a flight simulator . Yes. We all know about it.	6	6	[ { "comment_id": "29252", "author": "Mindbleach", "timestamp": "2007-11-01T06:36:11", "content": "Is “budget” really the right word when it costs 50% more than the controller + game bundle?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29253", "author": "Bird603568", "timestamp": "2007-11-01T07:15:06", "content": "well this looks pretty much like thishttp://www.hackaday.com/2006/12/05/guitar-hero-guitar-controller/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29254", "author": "fartface", "timestamp": "2007-11-01T16:05:42", "content": "$150.00 for a incredibly crappy looking hacked up guitar hero controller? Oh my GOD!I’m gonna take an axe to a set of drums and put a casio keyboard in the kick, can I get featured on hack a day?how about a guitar hero real guitar hack that actually looks good and works 100%?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29255", "author": "Eldorel", "timestamp": "2007-11-01T18:09:27", "content": "Regarding the scancam, I wonder if he has figured out yet that white pvc doesn’t block light very well.In the last picture on the site he mentions that he’s getting white bars when the camera is in direct sunlight, but only when the lens is facing away from the light…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29256", "author": "goldscott", "timestamp": "2007-11-01T18:24:01", "content": "The scancam is very interesting. I wonder what results would yield from a better scanner and a higher quality lens assembly.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29257", "author": "Mac Cody", "timestamp": "2007-11-02T23:04:31", "content": "@Eldorel: The pvc pipe is 1/4″ thick, no light gets through there. The shroud over the scanner head, though, is much thinner plastic, so that could be a possible source of the problem. I have not investigated the problem further since I posted about it.@goldscott: That is the plan for my next attempt. Get a more reliable scanner and a used SLR camera body and lens to mate to the scanner head. My first attempt used pretty much what I had on hand (except for the lazy susan bearing). I was quite pleased with the results, given the shortcomings.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,860.51542
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/30/ion-cooler-30-return-of-inventgeek/	Ion Cooler 3.0 (return Of InventGeek)	Will O'Brien	[ "computer hacks" ]	[ "ion cooler", "IonCooler", "silent pc", "SilentPc", "wookie" ]		[Jared]s been taking a bit of a hiatus, but he assures me that he’s gearing up for a bunch of new projects. The first sign that he’s awakened from his slumber is his latest take on the Ion Cooler. This time he’s built a CPU specific version. The cooler is made from off the shelf materials – heap pipe heat sink, copper pipe, tack nails, acrylic and even the ion generator are easy to get. It’s an interesting way to cool your PC if your comfortable with 10,000 volts or so next to your CPU. permalink	30	30	[ { "comment_id": "29222", "author": "Tom Needer", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T18:38:07", "content": "I have all the parts lying around right now to build this! i will jump on it and see how well it performs!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29223", "author": "Tom Needer", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T18:39:37", "content": "Oh! and ITS GOOD TO SEE YOU BACK INVENTGEEK!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29224", "author": "Wolf", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T20:19:17", "content": "looks nice, but I would think the small intake holes would act as a rather significant bottle-neck.Couldn’t you just leave the end open and put the emitters through the tubes side walls?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29225", "author": "toaste", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T20:22:22", "content": "Looks interesting, but how can it possibly move air? Forgive me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the point to ionize air and draw it toward a grounding assembly? Even giving the fairly restrictive heatsink the benefit of the doubt, there’s no opening for air at the back.Those nails go through solid acrylic, so how is there any airflow at all? There’s no reference to how this cooler performs without a fan, and I imagine such a test would reveal that ambient air currents would provide better cooling than this outlandish contraption.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29226", "author": "aw", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T20:54:00", "content": "I might be a bit dense atm but did they just make a small ring of holes around the side with the pins to allow air flow through the large tube?Any idea what direction the air flows?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29227", "author": "the one", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T21:10:16", "content": "absolut bullshitwhat is a capacitor good for cooling????", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29228", "author": "ScrappyLaptop", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T21:36:09", "content": "In answer to Q5: I believe the theory is that by charging the molecules of air that are in the boundary layer you can get them to separate, to be replaced by new lower temperature (energy) ones, thus removing that insulating layer of air from the metal. Does it really work that way? Dunno. You’d think by now that if it really was such a leap there would be expensive retail models on servers as delivered and cheaper knockoffs that do nothing on fleaBay…maybe in another year, IF they really work…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29229", "author": "Tom Needer", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T21:59:50", "content": "lol! its not a capacitor mr. the one… its an Electrostatic precipitator.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_precipitatorthink before you speak. im about ready to test my build of it.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29230", "author": "Mike", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T22:49:12", "content": "Air is a neutrally charged particle, if you generate a high potential difference (i.e. voltage) you will attract both opposite and neutral charges. So the (-) electrode will attract (+) and (0) particles and the (+) electrode will attract (-) and (0) particles.When the air particles hit the first electrode, they gain a (-) charge (if they hit the (-) electrode). They are then attracted to the (+) electrode further down the way. When they then hit the (+) electrode they return the (-) charge and become neutral again but with some kinetic energy. Thus the circuit is completed and the air has a net movement past the heatsink and out of your computer.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29231", "author": "toaste", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T23:23:12", "content": "In response to 9, I understand the principle of moving air with an ionic corona and a ground plate, but looking at the construction, I didn’t see the air intake. I now notice there are holes in the acrylic tube, but they still seem awfully small.In previous revisions and in typical ionocraft construction (seehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionocraft) air can move freely past the ionizing corona. Here it looks like there’s not much room for airflow. I have to wonder if it can move much air past the restriction of the heatsink and the small holes when all similar constructions are designed to be very open for free airflow.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29232", "author": "Tom Needer", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T23:36:27", "content": "Ok folks. Itâs a confirmed project. I did increase the size of the holes in my version a bit. But I learned something by doing so. Itâs possible to get an arc to pass through them if youâre not careful. Placing more holes near the top of the tube verses the bottom of the tube (or none at all) is the ideal configuration.The air flow this creates is really surprising to be honest. I expected to feel something that let me know something was happening but this is quite a good performer. With more copper tubes it would likely do even better. I am going to try something this weekend with a large volume of Â¼ inch tubes.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29233", "author": "sempri_fi", "timestamp": "2007-10-31T00:27:44", "content": "i would bet if you could induce more air contact with the electrodes you could make this more efficient. perhaps directing the flow of air onto the copper tubes more would prove to be beneficial, and to further this idea, you might be able to add a fan to force air into the ionizing chamber, so the unit would do as much as it could and the fan would further increase the performance. and as a side note, you might want to take and fasten a fat heatsink to the ion generator, i imagine it must get quite hot. mounting it on the outside of the tower might be beneficial too.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29234", "author": "Tom Needer", "timestamp": "2007-10-31T00:56:43", "content": "I have been letting it run now for an hour or so and itâs about 48C thatâs not really to bad overall… but a heatsink or even a peltier would be very nice! Now I have a question that is baffling me. Its performance seems to be getting better and better as it runs. Anyone have any ideas to this? I am assuming itâs the power supply its selfâ¦.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29235", "author": "Scrappylaptop", "timestamp": "2007-10-31T01:54:08", "content": "Video! With smoke, so we can see the airflow! (pretty please?)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29236", "author": "hypotheek offerte", "timestamp": "2007-10-31T02:06:34", "content": "I am missing the air intake too. If you look at the modified stock heatsink it is even worse: the solid acrylic plate is on top of the heatsink.I think it would only work if there is a big hole on the side of the nails.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29237", "author": "andrew", "timestamp": "2007-10-31T02:15:58", "content": "“Video! With smoke, so we can see the airflow! (pretty please?)”I second that!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29238", "author": "Dave", "timestamp": "2007-10-31T06:29:49", "content": "great idea, i really don’t like the noise of my coolers… but also i’m not confortable with the idea of having 10kvolts into my cpu. and i’m not talking or afraid of short-circuits in the ion generator! is there any risk of electrostatic discharge, like when, e.g., accidentally i touch a motherboard without grounding my body?and YEAH! i wanna see a video with smoke, too ;)embraces from Brazil", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29239", "author": "Ross M", "timestamp": "2007-10-31T12:17:48", "content": "Humm, i love the hackaday geek factor of this, but thats about all. I think you would have to be mad to install this in a system that you might have just paid several thousand dollors for.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29240", "author": "strider_mt2k", "timestamp": "2007-10-31T14:08:43", "content": "you there, turn out your pockets!just as i suspected-ions!You’re fired!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29241", "author": "Rob", "timestamp": "2007-10-31T18:01:25", "content": "If you tried a video with smoke, wouldn’t he smoke particles stick to the +ve electrode? isn’t that how air purifiers work?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29242", "author": "ivan256", "timestamp": "2007-10-31T18:35:37", "content": "Hmm… I think I might build one of these for a water-cooling rig. It seems to me though, that you should be able to use the radiator/heatsink itself as the grounding plate. This probably wouldn’t be desirable when the heatsink is in contact with your CPU, but if it’s not…Also, does anybody know how dirty these things get, and how frequently you need to clean them? Every piece of dust and grime that goes through this thing is probably going to stick…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29243", "author": "ScrappyLaptop", "timestamp": "2007-10-31T19:26:07", "content": "In reply to #11, yes, he would need to clean it afterwards, but it would definatively show the airflow going in and put to rest at least that question. There would still be the question of how much cooling is actually provided by the ion flow, but that can be tested by cutting the high-v power and then resuming. And, yes, I am going to build one to check this out and not just gripe and groan, but won’t get it done before the thread gets stale.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29244", "author": "ScrappyLaptop", "timestamp": "2007-10-31T19:27:41", "content": "Sorry, I meant number 18.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29245", "author": "Danny", "timestamp": "2007-10-31T23:30:16", "content": "From wikipedia: “Ionocrafts require many safety precautions due to the high voltage required for their operation and the risk of lung and throat cancer from long term inhalation of their ionised air product.” This thing works by the same principle as the ionic cooler. I spend a lot of time by my computer and I believe that most of you people here do too :) Sounds like it’s not to healthy to breathe the ionized air coming out of a PC using this cooler…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29246", "author": "matt", "timestamp": "2007-11-01T06:53:29", "content": "This sounds stupid. I mean, making stuff is awesome, but I would hazard a guess that this thing puts out ozone and NOx, along with the ionized air. The ozone and NOx are bad for you. From the Wikipedia articlehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_ioniser:“Even in relatively low concentrations, they can irritate lung tissues, cause chest pain, coughing, throat irritation, and can worsen the conditions of persons suffering from asthma.”", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29247", "author": "MRE", "timestamp": "2007-11-01T17:10:00", "content": "damn.. what really irks me about every single heatsink mod I have seen on h.a.d. or anywhere else for that matter is temperature claims, when no proper baseline is established.with the original heatsink and original fan “…The system idled at about 29C and we peaked at 41C…”With our new fangled better technology ’cause we made it in or garage cooling system “…The system idled at about 34C and we peaked at 48C … …While these are warmer than say a gaming enthusiast would prefer this falls well within the standard users system needs.”This data tells us absolutely nothing, unless you also state the temperature set with only the heatsink, no fan, no ion machine.How do I know the heatsink by itself doesn’t perform around 34 to 48C? For that matter, what was the room temperature?!I know were all hackers, but scientific method people!The cooling effect of a fan or other device can only be quantified when compared to the lack of said device.The only value that matters is “my device lowered the temperature by xx degrees.”effectiveness of a cooling device is not a measured temperature, it is a measured difference in temperature", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29248", "author": "paragraph", "timestamp": "2007-11-01T19:30:52", "content": "Umm… didn;t he say in 2.0 that he was concerned about the ramifications of pumping positively charged ions into a computer, and therefore reversed the airflow from intake to exhaust?I’m no engineer, but charged anything + electronics = short in my mind.Anyone got good science to back up how safe this is? I was thinking about making one as an exhaust, but never bothered because i didn’t like how far it had to protrude off of my case just to work :\\anywho, benchmarks plz?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29249", "author": "Jared Bouck", "timestamp": "2007-11-02T07:13:17", "content": "MRE:58 – Idle76 – Load, System shut its self down, no final result…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29250", "author": "MRE", "timestamp": "2007-11-02T19:11:00", "content": "Jared.. wow.. 24C… quite a chunk of change..and more usefull data than that ‘4 pennies soldered to a copper pipe jammed through the case’ job I saw about 4 or 5 months ago.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29251", "author": "vladsinger", "timestamp": "2007-11-17T04:54:52", "content": "Hey, is that an Arctic Freezer 7 Pro? I have one of those. :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,860.581539
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/29/diy-ultra-wide-band-radar/	DIY Ultra Wide Band Radar	Will O'Brien	[ "Misc Hacks" ]	[]		[Andy] sent in this pdf ( mirror ) describing a simply diy UWB Radar project. It’s not intuitive, but by using a wide frequency range for low power, short distance purposes, the system should avoid interfering with other radio systems. The paper has a complete circuit schematic, and offers some suggestions for adding communications to the signal. Unfortunately, to really tune the thing, you’ll need a kick-ass oscilloscope. permalink	27	25	[ { "comment_id": "29203", "author": "Dennis", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T06:43:07", "content": "Hmmm… I do have a kick-ass oscilloscope.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29204", "author": "Aten", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T06:46:03", "content": "For use who don’t want to download the PDF:http://view.samurajdata.se/psview.php?id=3a69542c&page=1", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29205", "author": "hypotheel offerte", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T08:53:39", "content": "Is it legal to use this band?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29206", "author": "Allba", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T13:35:29", "content": "Hi your message is good ……But you to have explain it must better…..", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29207", "author": "lekernel", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T14:15:55", "content": "Wonderful hack :)@hypotheel: given the low power involved, the waves are very unlikely to go out of your property. so yes, it’s legal (at least in France), and even if it is not in your country, it will go undetected.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29208", "author": "strider_mt2k", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T17:33:22", "content": "Sounds like the perfect justification for obtaining a kick-ass o-scope!!! :D", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29209", "author": "strider_mt2k", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T17:37:14", "content": "Let’s all welcome our latest spammer, _Lalit_ with his asinine “But Proper Information Should Be Needed” comments in all the latest posts.Come back when you have something to say, spammy.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29210", "author": "TJhooker", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T18:21:13", "content": "Now you can detect stuff…sorry can’t imagine why you’d want radar outside detecting velocity and range.I was hoping this was a wide band scanner circuit.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29211", "author": "Paul Anderson", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T22:03:54", "content": "Regarding the legality, FCC Part 15 rules generally permit transmission in licensed bands without a license as long as you are below 100mW.In terms of building a scanner, you would probably just want to go out and buy one unless you were doing it for the educational value. I can think of multiple ways of doing it, but I would recommend starting with a regenerative or super heterodyne receiver. Once you’ve built that and got it working, you can play with VCO circuits and feeding say a slow triangle wave into it to make it sweep the tuning.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "670417", "author": "Donald Murray", "timestamp": "2012-06-05T23:27:37", "content": "For UWB, you do not need a license like many seem to think. It’s because the power is below the noise threshold, which is fine by the FCC. i.e. the Radar will look like background noise unless you have a UWB receiver. it will not interfere with any radio system.", "parent_id": "29211", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "29212", "author": "CoffeeBeans", "timestamp": "2007-10-31T00:57:15", "content": "Are you kidding me? you have to have a license to use even 10watts. you need to have an even HIGHER class to use 100watts. I had to take the FCC test, its very restrictive.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29213", "author": "andrew", "timestamp": "2007-10-31T02:06:57", "content": "um, he said milliwatts, not watts. of course you’re going to need a license for 10 watts, you can transmit for miles with 10 watts given you have a proper antenna.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29214", "author": "Stephen-C", "timestamp": "2007-10-31T02:06:57", "content": "coffeebeans…I believe he meant “milliwatts” (mw) not “watts” or “megawats” (MW). And at 100mw, it’s well below the Federal radar ;)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29215", "author": "Tom Martin", "timestamp": "2007-10-31T02:21:25", "content": "This sounds interesting, and I already have a use brewing up in my mind…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29216", "author": "Rick", "timestamp": "2007-10-31T02:59:49", "content": "Any idea on what the range should be?It seems simple enough to buildrpr1@hotmail.com", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29217", "author": "soi sentinel", "timestamp": "2007-10-31T05:04:24", "content": "UWB is not so much range as data transmission. Range is probably comparable to hobbyist 40KHz sonar sets in range. And the total power is in microwatts, not milliwats. And band power is FAR smaller. Heck, I probably have more RF power in my fillings than this thing does in any particular band.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29218", "author": "TJhooker", "timestamp": "2007-10-31T09:42:03", "content": "@Paul Anderson: I know about the FCC rules. I already have high end equipment that can demodulate signals up to 6.1Ghz though.It’s disappointing though because of all the on chip band hopping in even outlawed equipment. Even high end spectrum analyzers leave out lower ranges and focus on higher, or do the opposite. I know about antenna design interfering, but that’s why they modulate the designs.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29219", "author": "TheKhakinator", "timestamp": "2007-10-31T16:52:38", "content": "When they say “radar” do they mean you could use this similarly to a radar a la military aircraft? I’m assuming this thing allows you to detect the range of an object, and then I guess if you mounted the antenna on something spinning with a complex set up you could have a 360 degree radar. Or is this some other kind of radar that does something completely different that I’ve never heard of?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29220", "author": "wim", "timestamp": "2007-11-01T06:30:29", "content": "this is great! I love it!TheKhakinator: yes, this is good old-fashioned “bounce a pulse off of something and see how long it took to come back” radar. It only detects at a single range, though, because of the way the demodulator/correlator circuit works, so you’d need to sweep the delay value. maybe you could attach multiple demodulator/correlators to the same antenna?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29221", "author": "Mac Cody", "timestamp": "2007-11-02T23:16:09", "content": "@wim: As mentioned by Mr. Staderini’s description of the delay line: “The 47 pF capacitor in the delay line could be substituted with a varicap diode whose inverse polarizing voltage might be used to change the radar range.”. Alternately, the 1K variable potentiometer could be replaced with one that is digitally adjustable. The step size would probably have to be fine in order to be useful. Just a thought.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "58371", "author": "Carey Dorsey", "timestamp": "2009-01-09T02:14:22", "content": "hinjiaj5zaezi4v6lmgood luck", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "58527", "author": "Sallie Shaffer", "timestamp": "2009-01-10T15:01:15", "content": "hinjiaj5zaezi4v6lmgood luck", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "681806", "author": "Sonny Eugenio", "timestamp": "2012-06-15T08:12:26", "content": "The author did not clearly state the exact transistors that he used. Will any type of RF transistor work for this circuit?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "1026310", "author": "Kyle", "timestamp": "2013-07-13T18:44:16", "content": "What type of oscilloscope (what technical requirements) would be necessary for tuning this UWB RADAR?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "2900678", "author": "haitham", "timestamp": "2016-01-28T14:16:23", "content": "hello,thank youi have a questioncan this circuit work for detecting vital sign of human behind the wall for example", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "4369555", "author": "Mark Kimball", "timestamp": "2018-02-20T00:15:27", "content": "No one commented on the question about the no-name transistor types that are shown in figure 4. They don’t need to be high speed transistors, they are used as a noise generator to randomly modulate the pulse generator. The venerable 2N3904 would work fine, or the 2N2222 (or equivalent) would work for this. The critical high speed components are the 74HC04 inverter, the Schottky diodes and 2N5109 transistors.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "6286963", "author": "JFC", "timestamp": "2020-10-17T12:11:52", "content": "Hello, I’ve been working on this assembly for 2 years..as described in this publication, the range of this UWB radar is a few tens of cm in the air …. you are right the 3 transistors in common transmitter are a noise generator, which is unique to a UWB radar..it’s a far cry from conventional radio …. i built several copies of this post to turn it into ground penetrating radar, although this one does not penetrate the ground, of not more than 20 cm, but you can detect through a thin partition … it is necessary to increase the power of emission of the output transistor while respecting the timing of pulses nS … for that here I recommend a BFG135 / 235, you will have a finer UWB pulse than with the 2N5109 … the result is to display an identifiable echo on a screen (tablet) … the real difficulty is there … it must be directed towards the Ultra son Arduino radar for the display issue .. if someone who masters the Arduino is interested felt by this challenge, I want to continue this project with him !! ..", "parent_id": "4369555", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] } ]	1,760,377,862.693411
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/28/usb-gameboy-cartridge-project/	USB Gameboy Cartridge Project	Will O'Brien	[ "Nintendo Game Boy Hacks", "Nintendo Hacks" ]	[]		[Jose] thinks that the Little Sound DJ is too expensive and hard to find. Now he’s trying to build an inexpensive USB programmable GameBoy cartridge. Currently he’s working with a LPC2148 development board . It’s not quite clear where he’s going with this. He certainly wants to add USB programming, but it seems that he’s trying to hack a mp3 decoder in there as well. [update: yes, I know how to spell cartridge!] permalink	12	12	[ { "comment_id": "29192", "author": "andrew", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T04:26:30", "content": "I’ve built a couple of GB carts for development, but they were all EPROM based (not EEPROM, EPROM). Combined with a little logic, I could make the thing scroll down whatever image I wanted, then flip to the official Nintendo logo for checksumming. :-) Not my idea, but I improved upon it a little. There are some other dev kits around too that will let you take a GBA and do robotics projects with it.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29193", "author": "ikuma", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T04:57:56", "content": "when complete, this will revitalize the Gameboy scene (again). No more fretting over the unreliable EMS Transferer or Smart Cart. Can’t wait…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29194", "author": "Rory Gamble", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T05:18:27", "content": "Cartridge: C-A-R-T-R-I-D-G-E. Cartridge.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29195", "author": "sPiTfIrE-\|", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T05:59:51", "content": "^^^deusche", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29196", "author": "jc", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T08:33:18", "content": "douche: d-o-u-c-h-e. douche", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29197", "author": "Raziya", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T13:14:38", "content": "Informated Article… Appreciated!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29198", "author": "opg", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T16:16:19", "content": "So, does this mean my GameJack is worth thousands now? :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29199", "author": "TJhooker", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T18:38:00", "content": "CoolWhat’d be cooler is rewriting some firmware and using a color LCD with a back light.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29200", "author": "werejag", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T21:18:24", "content": "GameJackwhich never worked via tranfer cable. isnt worth much. wish i could have gotten mine working", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29201", "author": "erkan", "timestamp": "2007-11-04T18:27:35", "content": "If someone makes this he can make big bucks.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29202", "author": "wryyy", "timestamp": "2007-11-04T20:47:22", "content": "Deutche? D-E-U-T-C-H-E Deutche (German in German :P)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "53608", "author": "randomname", "timestamp": "2008-12-03T21:08:53", "content": "deutche? actually it is “Deutsch”.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,862.359922
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/28/followup-soldering-how-to/	Followup: Soldering How-To	Will O'Brien	[ "how-to" ]	[]		The response to the soldering How-To was fantastic. You guys seem to want more and we’re looking forward to bringing you more How-Tos in the near future. If there’s a specific topic you’d like to see, let us know and I’ll see what we can do. [justin] suggests picking up a flux pen with your next electronics order. I’ll probably take him up on that idea. [xrazorwirex] suggests using a pure form of alcohol like everclear for cleaning boards. I keep a few bottles of tape head cleaning solution – it won’t leave residue like rubbing alcohol and you don’t have to be 21 to buy it. [MattS] suggests cutting your leads and then soldering to prevent corrosion later on. This usually isn’t a problem for small projects, but it’s a good idea for anything that’ll see a less than ideal environment later on. [ Josh Malone ] is fond of his Hakko 936 soldering iron . I have to agree with everyone that a temperature controlled iron is the way to go. I was very happy with my Tenma which lasted well over 10 years. [ David Moisan ] suggests buying purpose made soldering sponges from MCM to preserve the plating on your soldering tip. Considering the varied contents of kitchen sponges, this is definitely a good idea. [ Forrest M. Mims III ] freaked me out a bit when he commented on the post – he notes that he taught his son to solder when he was 4 years old! I’m a bit more conservative, but lets be honest – I learned how to solder from his books when I was a kid.	30	30	[ { "comment_id": "29165", "author": "Bones", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T01:19:53", "content": "I’m a fan of metcal soldering stations myself. Used them for years at work. Also wanted to mention using distilled water in your sponge vs. tap water. It will help your tips last longer.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29166", "author": "phishinphree", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T01:46:17", "content": "i still have the forest mims books i bought back in the 80’s when i became interested in electronics. very fond memories. i’m sure 10s of thousands of us started with them.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29167", "author": "Sheldon", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T02:39:37", "content": "“[Forrest M. Mims III] freaked me out a bit when he commented on the post” – You’re telling me! He has a lot to answer for, as it was his books that started me off. 15+ years ago when I first read one on the 555, I’d never have thought that I would end up designing microprocessors that go into almost all mobile phones, PDAs, media players, printers… Sir I thank you and I take my hat off to the new generation that are showing their warez via Hackaday", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29168", "author": "Matt", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T02:48:31", "content": "I’d love to see a more in depth article on pcb prototyping at home. I’ve seen a few around on the net but they’re not too detailed.Also basic starter projects would be awesome, sourcing out the parts (ala sparkfun) would be a sweet addition as well.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29169", "author": "Brandon Kinman", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T04:16:52", "content": "Forrest Mims III is awesome. It is cool to think that he visits this site.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29170", "author": "Hatchetbearer", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T04:17:41", "content": "I loved the soldering how to, as i am a fan of hacking/modding equpiment to suit my needs, but i am new to the whole building my own projects scene, what id really love to see would be some how-to’s on other basic things, like using multimeters and what the information it gives means, some simple write ups, like [ladyada]’s tv-b-gone(which im buying the kit as soon as i can afford it) and the like", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29171", "author": "Bird603568", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T04:33:24", "content": "that reminds me of my station:http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=15140+TLi love itbut on a side note i prefer 63/37", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29172", "author": "David Moisan", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T04:53:27", "content": "You can find 100% isopropyl alcohol at Costco. That’s the stuff. 70% stuff at the drugstore is nasty and the 91% alcohol is not much better.Also, I used one of those cheap Rat Shack irons for years, the one with the interchangeable heating elements that screwed in. I kept it going for a long time by using antisieze compound, which you can get at an auto parts store, on the tip threads. And also by buying the “good” iron tips instead of the cheap caca copper tips they sold.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29173", "author": "tzarkyl", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T05:24:28", "content": "As i work in electronics i like those metal wool balls for cleaning. we solder our parts in then cut the legs, wash the boards under hot water with dishsoap. then after boards are tested and calibrated we spray them with a confroming silicon spray from mg chemicals. that does great at preventing corrosion.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29174", "author": "joey y", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T06:41:32", "content": "for as much as i like the altoids tin pocket amp, does anyone know of a similar project that can be used as a portable/battery powered-guitar amp? or, best of both worlds, a circuit (either with two inputs or a switch) that can take a line level or a guitar input, and amplify either to headphones level.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29175", "author": "alex", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T07:54:40", "content": "Yeah seriously, where’s the metcal love?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29176", "author": "John", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T08:22:20", "content": "I am new to the whole DIY electronics game. With some help from my computer repair teacher (High school) I was able to solder together a simple beeper with a switch. This how-to gave me some tips on how to solder without burning the board like I did with the beeper. A suggestion for the future would be to give some direction as where to go next, like ideas for a beginner project or something that doesn’t involve special kits but stuff that can be bought at radio or something. Great Job again.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29177", "author": "Korvost", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T12:14:35", "content": "I suggest contact spray, it’s made for cleaning circuit boards and such. It also just dissapears shortly after you sprayed it on.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29178", "author": "MacGyverS2000", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T15:57:23", "content": "I’ll second (third?) the Metcal love… until you’ve used one, you’ll wonder what could make an iron worth such a high price.Metcals use high-frequency switching for heating rather than pure DC resistive elements. This translates to almost instantaneous heat, extremely fast recovery, and the ability to load in the heat on larger components (like voltage regulators with large heat sink pads).For those questioning “what wattage”, that depends on the size of components you want to solder. A low-wattage iron does not necessarily equate to a lower temp. The higher the wattage, the more capable an iron is of “pouring” heat into an object without losing your set temp, such as those regulators I mentioned. My 50W ESD-safe Weller has done a commendable job on just about every SMD project I’ve done to date, but it falls face down when I have to solder heavy-gauge wire… it just doesn’t have the meat for it. The Metcal I use at work blows those types of joints away.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29179", "author": "Josh Malone", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T16:30:54", "content": "Heh – I didn’t mean to disrespect the metcal’s. Almost every pro shop I know uses them because they are great. But, like you mentioned, they are quite expensive (though arguably worth the money). I wanted to recommend the Hakko as an inexpensive entry-level T/C station. It’s one that just about any hardware hacker can afford and will greatly improve their soldering experience.IMHO", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29180", "author": "Mike Webster", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T18:30:41", "content": "I just commented on the previous post, so I won’t replicate that here. But I would like to echo the sentiment of getting a temp-controlled iron. Check howardelectronics.com : They’ve got some really nice Xytronic irons. An analog one for $50 and one with a digital readout for $80. They both come with the copper-wool type cleaning stand.The best thing about a t/c iron is that your tip won’t oxidize so quickly. Even a 10W iron will heat up to 750-800F given enough time. An oxidized tip sucks at soldering.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29181", "author": "kelpcowboy", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T21:56:18", "content": "I am a Hakko 936 jockey and got one of their brass colored wire wool tip cleaners when I got the iron. Much better than a wet sponge at cleaning and it doesn’t cool down the tip when you wipe it. You can buy the same thing in the houseware dept. of your local store. Every few weeks I shake it over the garbage can and out comes all the solder – it doesn’t stick.I have also found foam drive bit holders with an adhesive back at my local hardware that are ideal for holding my assortment of tips to the side of the temp control. They were made to stick onto the side of a cordless drill.I live and work in a marine environment where the green fuzzies live and breed. For thru-hole boards I trim the soldered leads close to the board and then go back over with the iron and a touch of solder to create a small round mound of solder – no corrosion and nice and smooth without the normal micro-meathooks.For great control of the amount of solder I use the smallest diameter solder I can find.For SMT components I use the small end of a chop stick to hold the little buggers in place. You may want to carve it down a bit but leave the end flat and you can rotate the part into perfect alignment especially with a slight bit of beeswax on the end.Favorite anti-corrosion spray – Boeshield", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29182", "author": "alex", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T23:17:16", "content": "Actually, While metcals are expensive brand new you can often find them pretty cheap on eBay.I got one for $50 after a little watching and it’s in great condition. Well worth the money.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29183", "author": "kael", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T02:35:31", "content": "$10 radioshack soldering iron is the tool of the pros.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29184", "author": "Andy", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T08:41:20", "content": "I have a weller wtcp that was my dad’s in the 70s (still made by weller today). Sort of temperature controlled (you have to swap out tips), but, with small tips, I can do QFPs. _on an iron 30+ years old_I second everything y’all mentioned, but would like to suggest a few more tools needed especially for SMT work.– Tweezers – I’ve found the difference between $30+ and $3 tweezers to be minimal. especially when they are shared with other hackers – get extras, they “wear out” (some ME jacka** tries to tighten a bolt with them). I buy the streight and bent tip ones from digikey (i forget the manufacturer, if there is demand, I’ll look up the digikey #)– Quality flux – the pen is good, liquid flux is better. Kester no clean or water soluble is good.– Quality solder – kester 60/40 no clean, or water soluble – seriously, it will produce better joints.– Flux cleaner – worth every penny for cleaning off boards.– Isopropyl or ethyl alchohol – available at wallgreens/cvs etc – for cleaning boards, tweezers, reworked components.– Solder sucker – not for smt work, but great for through hole– Solder wick – getting expensive as the price of copper rises, but invaluable for smt work.– Magnifying visor – I have a busch and lomb one I got off ebay new for $20.– Quality flush cutters – $25 cutters are actually far far far superior to the cheap ones spend the cash, but protect them with your life!I actually have been teaching soldering to new members of our robotics team at GT. We went from through hole to reworking RAM DIMMs.With my setup, I can do down to 0.020 in pitch components. If there are viable leads, it can be soldered. What I am looking for is a good way to solder QFN (no leads) and BGAs. I have seen a few chinese hot air rework stations, but am unsure of their quality.Thoughts?-Andy", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29185", "author": "jeremy", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T14:39:46", "content": "As far as cleaning the tip of the iron, the wet sponge/paper towel is meant to cool the tip briefly. It’s called thermal shock and is intended to help reduce oxidation and should be done immediately before applying the tip to your work.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29186", "author": "alpha", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T16:30:26", "content": "Working with Weller Magnastats for several years I decided to go for cheaper ERSA equipment 2 years ago. The “entry-level” analog stations (http://www.ersa.de/en/produkte/loetwerkzeuge/view-article.php?id=285&template=template_stationen&title=Soldering%20Stations) are a way good deal compared to Coopertools’ ridicoulus pricing for Magnastat irons. I use 0832SD and 0832PW long life tips and 60Sn38Pb2Cu solder which enhances the life of the tips by a factor or two.Pretty decent stuff, I use it also for smaller SMD work.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29187", "author": "Cliff Miller", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T18:56:49", "content": "For removing SMT ICs and components, your article is incomplete without mentioning “Chip Quik” – you apply their flux, then go over the soldered pins with the special solder. Once cool, the chip just ‘pops’ off. A bit of cleanup and you’re ready to place a new chip. AFAIK, this product is a unique solution to repair of surface mount components.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29188", "author": "static", "timestamp": "2007-11-01T01:24:07", "content": "You should be able to find denatured/isopropyl alcohol at even the small town hardware store. Last time I look the local store stocked only gallon cans and the sticker was a shock. Everclear isn’t cheap either, but a pint lasts me a long time. But no one will believe me when I tell them it’s only for critical cleaning purposes ;)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29189", "author": "twistedsymphony", "timestamp": "2007-11-01T23:38:52", "content": "I sent in a bunch of ideas for future “how-to” articles… ranging from basics like how to use o-scopes and meters, circuit diagram reading, planning PCB layouts and entry level microcontroller programming to working with FPGAs and analyzing data lines for reverse engineering purposes.Anyone else submit ideas?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29190", "author": "reboots", "timestamp": "2007-11-02T18:29:26", "content": "Another vote with #6 for 63/37 Sn/Pb solder. 60/40 solder solidifies gradually; any motion during the cool-down period can result in a “cold”, unreliable joint, and it can be difficult to tell when the solder has hardened completely. 63/37 is a eutectic alloy, having a very abrupt transition between liquid and solid when the cooling point is reached. It’s often specified for high-vibration work environments such as aircraft and military field use, where keeping the workpiece steady enough to produce a reliable joint is difficult. Situations where everything is floating in midair, e.g. under-dash car wiring, are much easier to handle with 63/37.Anybody can do good work with either type of solder, but 63/37 is probably friendlier to the novice who’s trying to figure out how to keep board, component, solder and iron positioned and steady with just two hands. It should be available at most of the same places selling 60/40.I also have to put in a plug for Radio Shack’s 45W desoldering iron:http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062731At $10-12 this thing is one of the best deals anywhere; quicker, cleaner and more controllable than inferior plunger-type solder-suckers costing about the same. The tips need to be replaced periodically, and the heat and motion can damage PCBs if you dwell too long, but it’s the most effective tool available unless you move up to a much more expensive professional vacuum desoldering station. Plus you can turn it into a hot-air soldering tool:http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/07/how-to-make-a-surface-mount-soldering-iron/(As reported on Hackaday at one point, although I can’t find the post.)A final note, precision tweezers and good flush diagonal cutters make a huge difference. Spend a little more now ($10 each) rather than making do with whatever you have sitting around. It’s totally worth it.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29191", "author": "mike", "timestamp": "2007-11-04T02:30:29", "content": "In response to #8:Are there any alternatives to the silicon spray for protecting your boards against corrosion, that are easier to obtain?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "63610", "author": "Gavin", "timestamp": "2009-02-19T05:51:02", "content": "I want to learn this… I read the intro-to-Soldering How-To and it was great. Could you post a how to on your head phone amp? thx", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "106313", "author": "bgtt", "timestamp": "2009-11-08T06:42:59", "content": "Hi, I wonder if you guys are using soldering iron a lot, because if yes then I really need your help to fill this questionnaire – if you don’t mind. I need to collect this data for my final project which is designing a new soldering iron.http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=0rO4w1hQ_2fGDoWmFejskjeA_3d_3dThank you so much for your help and I really appreciate it. :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "114926", "author": "shridhan", "timestamp": "2010-01-05T06:00:24", "content": "Shridhan Automation is a Manufactures, Exporters & Suppliers a wide variety of Level switches, Level switches for liquids and Level Transmitters for liquids in India.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,862.582611
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/27/speaker-as-a-microphone/	Speaker As A Microphone	Will O'Brien	[ "Misc Hacks" ]	[]		[Nathan] sent in his speaker microphone project . Speakers and microphones are physically similar – usually mics are much smaller to allow decent high frequency response. In this case, [Nathan] wanted something to pick up kick drums or bass guitars, without the cost of a commercial version like the subkick . It’s built around a dual coil 6.5 inch subwoofer. The passive circuit design allows the coils in the speaker to be configured for differing impedance, phase and isolation. permalink	24	21	[ { "comment_id": "29147", "author": "lonas", "timestamp": "2007-10-28T05:53:29", "content": "i once saw a guy from Shure re-wire an sm58 as a tiny speaker as a demonstration of this very concept.I especially like that he’s wired it up to be more than just a mic.Doing cool shit with junk is awesome.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29148", "author": "peter hajas", "timestamp": "2007-10-28T06:01:59", "content": "of interest to any people with ipod earbuds:stick them in your mic input on your computer, and you can use the left earbud as a microphone. very handy in a pinch, and it also sounds fine through line in", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29149", "author": "gm", "timestamp": "2007-10-28T06:12:50", "content": "@1Or anyone with any other earbuds – they all are pretty much the same.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29150", "author": "alex mccown", "timestamp": "2007-10-28T08:40:05", "content": "ahhhhhh the oldest trick in the book", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29151", "author": "Will", "timestamp": "2007-10-28T12:24:44", "content": "Hmmm, not so sure about using headphones as a PC mic, The PC provides a DC voltage to the right bud, I guess that others here might know if that DC voltage was enough to overheat the bud over time.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29152", "author": "EthanV2", "timestamp": "2007-10-28T13:48:02", "content": "Hmm, might have to try this with the Sub from my Logitech Z2300’s when i get my Z5500’s", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29153", "author": "Bhima", "timestamp": "2007-10-28T14:36:33", "content": "While this is very cool, I am beginning to find the instructables website rather annoying.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29154", "author": "Wesley", "timestamp": "2007-10-28T15:45:59", "content": "open headphones work reasonably well as a microphone", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29155", "author": "eric", "timestamp": "2007-10-28T18:36:34", "content": "I was using speakers as microphones back in 1980. I accidentally discovered it playing with my brand new state of the art cassette recorder. I actually got better sound of the speaker than I ever did any mic that I could hook up to it AND it was significantly more sensitive. I used it to record my parents talking with my uncle 2 rooms away and I couldn’t physically hear them at all with my ears but I could hear them loud and clear through the recorder. Since then I’ve used speakers as microphones several times, even recently.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "3560325", "author": "Ben", "timestamp": "2017-05-09T15:46:43", "content": "I started using speakers as mikes way back in the 50s! Did you know that induction coils can pick up a better signal from a speaker magnet, than miking up the speaker?", "parent_id": "29155", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "29156", "author": "eric", "timestamp": "2007-10-28T18:39:07", "content": "will: you can solve the dc voltage problem by putting a capacitor in series with the headphones.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "3560338", "author": "Ben", "timestamp": "2017-05-09T15:49:27", "content": "There is NO voltage out at the mike socket.", "parent_id": "29156", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "29157", "author": "Will", "timestamp": "2007-10-28T18:50:57", "content": "I saw this in… “Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves”http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119310/I believe, in his midget status, he scrapes some of the solder off, which does some funky film magic and makes it a microphone…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29158", "author": "samurai", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T00:32:30", "content": "this has been a common dj trick since the late 70s… if you dont have a mic at your mixer, just plug your headphones into the mic jack, make your announcement, and plug em back into the cue jack.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29159", "author": "strider_mt2k", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T02:03:16", "content": "All hail transducers!yay", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29160", "author": "neoxide", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T12:19:12", "content": "This is a classic ‘hack’.Since I have virtually no cash, I use a car speaker (found in trash, of course) as my main mic. It sounds terrible, but alright for rough demos. From a 4 track tape recorder.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29161", "author": "Stephen-C", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T21:22:38", "content": "Just think, if someone had discovered this 45 years ago, Jack in the Box might have pioneered the drive-up window…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29162", "author": "Scrappylaptop", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T21:31:03", "content": "Wow, I mean just wow. In other news, water can be used for drinking AND bathing!Seriously, folks. Take apart an old microphone from the 50’s; it’s a speaker!Remember in grade school how the PA system speaker was also a microphone?This goes waaaay back to when they actually were the same thing; I even have an ancient bakelite telephone where instead of the mouthpiece having a carbon mike, it’…just another speaker!So as to not just gripe and groan;Other uses for speakers and/or microphones:-Poor man’s laser show:lay raw speaker on back.lay a mirror on it so that one end is supported by the speaker.Aim laser pointer at mirror onto ceiling. play music.-Poor man’s actuator:-strip most of the cone off or make holes so that air movement is reduced.use to move parts of halloween display, such as eyelids or lips.recorded speech makes a good signal source.-passive (resonance) amplifier / frequency selective microphone:-take Aluminum tubes about 1/4 inch in dia, cut to various lengths. Bundle together.attach speaker to end of bundle (air tight, please).Each tube if cut carefully will amplify a single frequency only, picked up by the speaker.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "439232", "author": "nickguitarguy", "timestamp": "2011-08-22T03:24:23", "content": "I totally made the poor man’s laser show when I was in High School!!! What a trip back to memory lane. I remember the best way I made it was to stretch a balloon (like heavy duty one) over the speaker and glue the mirror to it. . . Made some really cool light show effects.", "parent_id": "29162", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "29163", "author": "Marco", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T23:48:22", "content": "“Hmmm, not so sure about using headphones as a PC mic, The PC provides a DC voltage to the right bud, I guess that others here might know if that DC voltage was enough to overheat the bud over time.”Shouldn’t be a problem. Typically it’s only a 5V bias designed to drive the electret microphone pre-amp at ca. 1 mA. I would be surprised to find a commercial device that does not have some kind of current limiting in case of a short circuit.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29164", "author": "cliff", "timestamp": "2007-10-31T18:24:09", "content": "after looking at the circuit, i wonder about impedance of this device since the transformer is a 1:1 and the coils are 4 ohm each. does it react favorably with preamps, and how would it compare with commercially manufactured mics?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "87287", "author": "Thomas Bailey", "timestamp": "2009-08-17T05:12:51", "content": "I particularly liked the results I got whan I used an 18″ woofer for a microphone. I’ve heard of large-diaphragm microphones, but 18 in (457 mm) is huge.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "107294", "author": "sandeep chaudhary", "timestamp": "2009-11-14T10:46:35", "content": "To readerim so glad to see various devices on the net i want take your help for donin something on my life.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "122029", "author": "Florencia Corcuera", "timestamp": "2010-02-05T04:04:42", "content": "The powerof information here website is very exciting I consider anyonecanbenefit from exploring andfinding out all the different avenues of ideas.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,862.417384
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/26/stroboscope-led-fan-clock/	Stroboscope LED Fan Clock	Will O'Brien	[ "computer hacks", "Misc Hacks", "Peripherals Hacks" ]	[ "clock", "stroboscope" ]		[sprite_tm] sent in one of his latest little adventures – and I love it. To create his stroboscope fan clock, he put a couple of red and green clock hands onto a standard PC fan(I love Panaflo fans), then he built a circuit to strobe a RGB LED to create a set of virtual clock hands on the spinning fan. An ATTiny2313 does all the work, with the help of some transistors to drive the LEDs. permalink	7	7	[ { "comment_id": "29140", "author": "pelrun", "timestamp": "2007-10-27T07:22:17", "content": "That is one nifty hack – I think I’ll have to replicate this one… :D", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29141", "author": "hitch", "timestamp": "2007-10-27T14:33:29", "content": "thats one really ingeneous idea! i shall never look at am innocent looking case fan quite the same way agian.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29142", "author": "lonas", "timestamp": "2007-10-27T16:32:11", "content": "tangential, but I wonder if it’s possible to create a strobe tuner with a PC fan and an led/laser?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29143", "author": "p", "timestamp": "2007-10-28T23:51:37", "content": "this is awesome, but i want a vid!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29144", "author": "Willis", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T04:52:34", "content": "@4 there is a vid… second page, youtube embed", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29145", "author": "Willis", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T04:55:19", "content": "oops i lied… here:http://spritesmods.com/?art=ledfanclock&page=3", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29146", "author": "wyr3x", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T23:53:09", "content": "mm…seemshttp://spritesmods.com/?art=ledfanclock&f=hadis having a lot of traffic .. anyone, a mirror ?? ..", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,862.455466
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/26/how-to-introduction-to-soldering/	How-To: Introduction To Soldering	Will O'Brien	[ "how-to" ]	[ "amp", "breadboard", "circuit", "headphoneamp", "howto", "solder", "soldering", "solderingiron", "wire" ]	https://hackaday.com/wp-…476-11.jpg?w=425	It’s been a while since we’ve had a fresh How-To on the Hack-A-Day, and frankly we’ve missed them. To get things rolling, [Eliot] and I wanted to build a good knowledge base to help you hack your own stuff. I know that soldering won’t be new to many of our readers, but everyone has to start sometime. Our hope is simple: that this new series of How-To’s will help inspire new and experienced hackers alike. Having the right tools and workspace are key to successful soldering. The actual technique is pretty simple. We will cover all the basic tools you need, the key to good soldering, and how to undo your mistakes or harvest components from old hardware. The first thing you’ll need is a decent soldering iron. Weller makes a decent product, but RadioShack’s are dirt cheap if you’re in a hurry. My favorite iron was a temperature controlled Tenma with LED temp display (sadly lost from a crappy storage unit along with my oscilloscope). Most soldering stations come with a sponge; they get lost and they tend to hold onto bits of solder. I actually prefer to use a paper towel instead. Either way, wet it down and give it a squeeze so it’s not sopping wet. If it dries out, it’ll burn when you wipe your iron on it. Buying the right kind of solder is just as important. It comes in various thicknesses, metal alloys, and core types. I won’t get very deep into the alloys. Generally, you want 60/40 (60% tin, 40% lead). Most modern electronics are lead free, but for hobby work lead is fine. Just wash your hands when you’re done! The solder produced for plumbing work is usually very thick (left hand side) and has a solid metal core (or worse: acid core). For electronics work, you’ll definitely need rosin core. The rosin acts as flux for the solder, allowing it to flow onto and attach to the metal. You can certainly use liquid flux/rosin, but it’s usually not easy to find locally. For thickness, I always buy the thinnest rosin core I can find. To sum up: you want thin, rosin core, 60/40 solder. Not all iron tips are created equal. For fine work, I always reach for my 15 watt Weller pencil iron. It has the smallest tip I could find, and I ground an even finer point on the tip with my rotary tool. The bigger iron is an inexpensive RadioShack station that I keep in my office to handle favors for coworkers. Every so often, the tip of a soldering iron needs a little maintenance. If the end of the iron isn’t tinned, as in bright and shiny when you wipe it down, you’ll have a hard time getting solder to melt. Think of this stuff as a sort of pumice stone for your iron. Heat the iron up and rub the tip in the cleaner. The cleaner will melt a bit and your soldering iron should work better than ever. Securely holding the work piece is important, but your hands will be busy with the iron and solder. My current favorite tool is this Panavise Jr. which runs about $25. Props to Ladyada for unknowingly turning me onto Panavise products. If you need something cheaper, you can score a set of helping hands – it’s set of alligator clips connected to a weighted base. They work great and I still use them for smaller soldering projects. Some projects require extra fine attention to detail. A giant magnifying glass lamp comes in handy when visually inspecting for shorts and dealing with surface mount problems (I inherited this one one from my grandmother). You’ll be fine without one, but they’re great when you need to work on really small components or when your eyes are getting tired. For one-off projects, prototyping boards from RadioShack are handy. They’re cheap, easy to get, and making a connection is as simple as bridging your solder across the copper pads. Before investing your time soldering parts together, it’s a good idea to prototype your circuit. Breadboards like these are great for preventing frustration later on. When I tried to buy my first one, I was about 10 years old. Nobody knew what the hell I was talking about and the local RadioShack apparently didn’t keep them in stock. People at RadioShack kept trying to sell me kitchen cutting boards. After about a year of wondering if [ Forrest Mims ] was insane, I finally visited another RadioShack that actually had them. Don’t bake your bits. Passive components like resistors or small ceramic capacitors don’t usually suffer any problems from being heated up, but you should still pay attention to how long you’ve been cooking them with your soldering iron. If you’re having problems getting a solder joint just right, let the parts rest for a few minutes so they have a chance to cool off between soldering rounds. Integrated circuits like this logic chip are usually far more sensitive to heat and static than passive components. Sockets are cheap insurance against blowing a chip. RadioShack sells the small red handled clip as a heat sink. It’s okay, but a generic hemostat like the one above works and holds on even better. They’re also great for saving your finger tips from burns by holding wires in place while you solder them. To successfully solder a component, don’t melt the solder on the iron. Put the iron against the copper on the board (solder pad) and the component you want to attach. Give the iron a moment to heat up both of them. Then melt the solder on the component and, if needed the copper pad. Do not melt the solder on the tip of the iron. Sometimes it’s necessary to melt a small amount on the iron to facilitate heat transfer, but to achieve a good connection, you want the solder to melt and flow onto the component leads. Heat up the component with the iron just before applying solder! Once the joint is good, the soldering iron can be used to remove small amou nts of excess solder from the joint. Wipe the solder and burn rosin off by pulling the tip across your wet sponge or paper towel. The joint should be good if the solder flowed onto both the copper pad and the wire lead of the component. Now you’ll need to trim down the excess wire lead of the component. If you use diagonal cutters, the piece you cut off will probably fly through the air. These flat cutters are my favorite: the metal wire stays still and the resulting edge isn’t nearly as sharp. Nobody’s perfect. Sometimes we need to remove a bad component or undo a mistake. Desoldering braid works sort of like a sponge for excess solder. To desolder something, just place the braid over the target and apply your soldering iron over the top. The heat should transfer through the braid and the melted solder will flow onto the the copper like oil though a wick. For larger amounts of solder, I normally pull out my bigger iron. For small amounts, even the pencil iron does the trick. For larger desoldering jobs, like recovering components, a desoldering iron works wonders. The hotter the better, so let it warm up for a while before using it. Compress the bulb with your thumb before you touch the board with the iron. Once it’s in position, give it a moment the heat the solder and release the bulb. The bulb with suck up the solder through the hollow tip. Larger components might take a few hits, but smaller ones usually only take a single pull. We’ve covered all the basics: the tools, soldering and desoldering. If you’re looking for a good starter project, I highly suggest taking a shot at making your own headphone amplifier. I built this one from RadioShack parts (I had some high end opamps in my parts bin). It’s a rewarding, low cost project. If you want an even more illustrated guide, check out these basic videos from NASA or even this collection of videos from Solder.net .	54	49	[ { "comment_id": "29091", "author": "Eaterofpies", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T18:46:16", "content": "If you can’t get something decent to hold the PCB / things keep dropping out when you’re trying to solder them in place I recommend using blue tack to hold the components in place.Just put the component in the board and form the blue tack over it so that it sticks it in place.It wont usually melt enough to cause problems unless you really overheat the components.If it does melt just use the rest of the wad to pull the rest off.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29106", "author": "Cully", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T18:47:50", "content": "Nice to see with all the high end stuff you havent forgotten about the noobies, nice work!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29093", "author": "Alexander", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T18:48:02", "content": "One other thing to point out is that it is cheaper to buy a really good iron than to buy a bunch of crappy ones… but you need practice, and cheap irons are cheaper to replace than expensive irons if you break them.Catch-22, but you get my idea.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29092", "author": "jared", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T18:51:58", "content": "Excellent write-up! It’s always nice to see these, even when you have some experience soldering.The one thing I would say you left off would be the typical wattage iron you would want to use (since I’m honestly not sure). Right now my iron is a crappy one from Radio Shack – I want to get a nicer one, but I don’t know quite what I’m looking for.Also, thanks for the tip cleaner – I’ve never seen that before! You can pick it up here:http://www.radioshack.com/sm-tip-tinner-cleaner-compound0-5-oz–pi-2062721.html", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29094", "author": "Josh Malone", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T18:54:49", "content": "Nicely-done tutorial.Now, once you’ve gotten hooked and you’re ready to graduate to a temperature controlled (T/C) soldering station, I HIGHLY recommend the Hakko 936.http://www.hakko.com/english/products/hakko_936.htmlArguably the best value in T/C stations right now. And there are plenty of tips available and reasonably priced (unlike many stations). Should be able to find these guys for ~US $90.-Josh(and apologies if this shows up twice – stupid noscript)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29095", "author": "Josh Malone", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T18:59:05", "content": "Wattage: depends on what you’re doing. The Hakko 936 in the medium kit comes with a 50 watt iron, which is PLENTY for all but my antenna work (for which I actually use a portable butane-powered iron/torch from the shack). But, it’s a T/C so you can always dial it down to the 15-20 watt range for small stuff.15 watts is good for small printed-circuit work, prototyping, etc. Heavy power or audio cables need a bit more. I used to use a “shack” 35 watt iron before I got my Hakko. If you’ve got the bucks, buy one – you’ll never regret it.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29096", "author": "matt", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T19:09:04", "content": "This reminded me of a how-to on soldering that was featured by the make weekend podcast earlier this year –http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/01/soldering_tutor_1.html", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29097", "author": "justin", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T19:38:45", "content": "Great write up. I would just add that while you can get a long way without one, a flux pen is a huge help. I’d reccomend everyone throw one in the next time they order from digikey/mouser/wherever.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29114", "author": "marshnt", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T20:35:21", "content": "sweeet ill show my noob friend cause he sucks at sodering", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29098", "author": "Forrest M. Mims III", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T20:39:31", "content": "Great soldering post!I taught my son Eric to solder when he was 4 years old, so I always insert safety info in articles and books that require soldering.Don’t forget surface mount projects that use no solder. I’ve published a fair amount on soldering surface mount components PLUS how to build SMT projects using conductive ink. One project was a multi-tone “organ” build on the back of a business card, including piezo speaker.Forrest M. Mims IIIhttp://www.forrestmims.orghttp://www.sunandsky.org", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29099", "author": "Jess Maloney", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T20:57:11", "content": "I second the Hakko 936. I got mine off ebay for about $60 and its awesome. Heats up in like 20 seconds and maintains temp very well.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29101", "author": "monopole", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T21:04:24", "content": "Two added notes.For a replacement sponge for soldering get the flat sponges that expand when you add water. While it is still flat, use a paper punch to punch 4-5 holes. Then add water. The resulting sponge has holes to wipe off the solder.Another handy thing is to buy or make a fume fan. Just run a PC fan with an air filter with the inlet close to your work to suck out all the rosin fumes (not good for you).", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29100", "author": "buntz", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T21:34:46", "content": "I used to us a wet sponge too to clean my iron. Then I found this:http://www.edsyn.com/main.asp?inc=view_product&id=1890It’s a lot like those commercial grade scour pads for pots and pans in restaurants. It works amazingly well. It’s also nicely weighted so it stays put.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29102", "author": "xrazorwirex", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T22:07:26", "content": "im glad everyone seems to agree with me on the hakkos..they are possibly the best irons in the quality / price ratio department.something to add would be if your having problems making a clean joint (usually important) then use nice flux to keep everything clean and the solder just flows into place. also, when your gonna go work on something a good way to prep the board (especially old things) is to use some everclear or something with the highest pure alchohol content available (rubbing alcohol as we all know leaves residue) and clean the whole thing down using an old clean toothbrush.and make sure you clean off your extra flux.. it can conduct and cause shorts (not often but its always fun when someone forgets and it does)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29103", "author": "splame", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T22:12:52", "content": "Some good videos running through soldering and soldering of SMT parts –http://tangentsoft.net/elec/movies/:)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29105", "author": "Drip", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T23:38:00", "content": "If you live near a University with an engineering department, you may want to see if they sell electronic components too. They are usually much cheaper than Ratshack.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29104", "author": "hcker2000", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T23:41:20", "content": "I made a simple short video just about soldering and how to avoid cold joints. Here is the link.http://www.metacafe.com/watch/797868/soldering_tutorial/Usually I like the stuff here on hackaday but come on radio shack soldering irons and radio shack tip cleaner? Lets get some better stuff than that.I was using a 200gx thermally balanced soldering iron which you should be able to pick up for 20 bucks or so. It is made by Xytronic and works very well for projects.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29107", "author": "Eliot", "timestamp": "2007-10-27T00:50:53", "content": "I’m glad everyone seems to like the post. Everyone hates on the RadioShack, but for many it’s the only way to get parts in person.Digg it!http://digg.com/hardware/Introduction_to_soldering/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29110", "author": "MattS", "timestamp": "2007-10-27T05:19:22", "content": "+1 to xrazorwirex on using extra flux and isopropyl alcohol. iso disolves flux which is otherwise corrosive.also i would just like to add ‘cut THEN solder’ probably not a big deal for home made one offs. if you solder then cut the excess off the component legs you are leaving the tip of the leg untinned with solder. this can also lead to corrosion problems.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29108", "author": "Matt", "timestamp": "2007-10-27T05:30:26", "content": "I", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29109", "author": "Joey Y", "timestamp": "2007-10-27T05:52:28", "content": "Excellent guide. I am glad that, even though hack-a-day typically caters to the more experienced hackers, they are willing to bring newlings into the brood.I think I am going to print this out, and convince my younger brother that the headphone amp is a cool project to try…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29113", "author": "Wesley", "timestamp": "2007-10-27T15:09:19", "content": "Never knew about desoldering braid. How useful looking.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29111", "author": "strider_mt2k", "timestamp": "2007-10-27T15:36:05", "content": "hack a day you are the bestI’m 41 and have been soldering for 30 years and _still_ read and enjoyed the post!This is a great resource.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29112", "author": "andrew", "timestamp": "2007-10-27T19:18:02", "content": "what’s wrong with the weller wtpc11 ? It’s temp controlled, I got it for $100 and it works great. If you’re asking me about high-quality pro-grade equipment? Metcal. Hands-down.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29115", "author": "Scott", "timestamp": "2007-10-27T20:51:23", "content": "A how-to video with good slow motion shots:http://www.curiousinventor.com/guides/How_To_Solder", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29116", "author": "mh", "timestamp": "2007-10-28T00:04:18", "content": "Awesome guide. I’ve missed the how-to stuff here, and since I’ve been trying to get into electronics lately, it’s nice to see stuff catered more towards me.And yeah, the CMoy pocket amp is an awesome beginner project. Another good, basic how-to solder project is the Digg Button by ladyada (http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=15).It’s not as advanced as the CMoy, but if you’ve never done much soldering, it’s a fun, small project", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29117", "author": "David Moisan", "timestamp": "2007-10-28T03:28:10", "content": "I don’t like subsituting kitchen sponges for soldering sponges. The soldering sponges don’t have any junk on them to destroy the plating. Can’t say that about kitchen sponges.I hate the thought of ruining a nice tip on a temp-controlled iron, or a butane iron tip (not cheap!) just because the coloring in the sponge got all goopy and destroyed whatever it melted upon.MCM (mcminone.com) has 5-packs of sponges, with holes, reasonably priced at $5 per pack. Just get a few packs when you order. (I’m assuming when you order from them, you’re ready to graduate from Radio Shack.)BTW, MCM is offering their Tenma temp-controlled iron at a discount. Got mine for $40.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29118", "author": "Amit", "timestamp": "2007-10-28T04:53:53", "content": "Yeah, the hakkos are great irons, i like wellers too. I would not advise anyone to buy the raidoshack digital soldering station. They no longer manufacture tips for them and i think maybe they have been discontinued. In terms of “cut then solder”, its up to you, but matts is right about the possibility of corrosion. Also, when you leave the large leads on while soldering you leave the hot joint open to the possibility of mechanical shock, which could form a cold joint and cause it to fail.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29119", "author": "pok", "timestamp": "2007-10-28T17:46:04", "content": "Nice write up, one for us who salivate over all these neat projects, but don’t know where to start. Hopefully you’ve got a whole syllabus of training lined up for us!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29120", "author": "Jeff Kent", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T01:58:25", "content": "tip for using desoldering braid:since copper corrodes over time, you may find that your desoldering braid does not work as well as it once did. quick solution is to dip the tip of the desoldering braid in some flux and it’ll work better than new.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29122", "author": "Carlton Grady", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T03:13:01", "content": "This learn to solder kit is one of the best that we have seen.http://www.circuithut.com/index.php?/circuit/content/view/full/258", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29121", "author": "andrew", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T04:30:29", "content": "forrest m mimms…. you and robert grossblatt are probably the two people responsible for my career in electronics today! I have all of your engineer’s mini notebooks, and two copies of your green “getting started in electronics” texts… one full of burn marks, no covers, scribbles and tears, and the other in perfect condition, bought many years later. :-)You have such a clear and approachable writing style, thank you so much for all your work over the years!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29128", "author": "Steve B", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T04:37:27", "content": "Any special advice about soldering on batteries?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29123", "author": "Vince Richardson", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T05:35:00", "content": "Great tip! I’m a fix it guy but the tips are always welcome to fine tune or maybe give direction!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29124", "author": "cheapstuff", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T09:07:33", "content": "If your looking for a really really cheap soldering iron I would look at a local dollar store. I went to a dollar and plastic flower place last week and picked up a spare one for a dollar, It comes with tip and even a two tiny pieces of solder. I tested it out and it worked, but it was made out of really really cheap plastic from china, I kept thinking, man this things gonna blow up in my face, or its gonna melt in my hand, (seeing how china seems to love lead) yeah and the cord is a definite fire hazard. I think they used melted rubber bands to make the thin covering over the electrical wires. I also thought it was gonna get yanked out or just fall out its nutzy how flimsy it is. But it was a buck so you can buy like 30 of them before you realize you should’ve just stuck with your dad’s circa 1970s soldering iron.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29133", "author": "Flemming Frandsen", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T11:36:48", "content": "There are several major problems with this guide:* First of all, YOU NEVER EVER grind a longlife tip! it destroys the iron layer and it will corrode quickly.* Always select as large a tip as possible, because a larger tip means better heat transfer and a better joint.* Don’t get a 15W iron, it’s too weak to keep a constant temperature, I’d suggest at least 50W, I can recommend the Ersa RDS 80.By using a powerful iron with a large tip you can complete the joint faster and that leads to less risk of damaging the components, than with a small iron and a weedy tip.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29125", "author": "Oak", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T12:32:37", "content": "Nice article, but as always there is something missing, I get a hard time getting components, guys how about some references from were to order if you live in europe (Portugal).", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29126", "author": "Mike Webster", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T18:18:53", "content": "The single best thing you can do for yourself is to get a temperature controlled iron. I’ve seen cheap ones going for ~$40 at mpja.com. My current one is a Xytronic 137ESD and has an LED temp readout. Runs about $80 from howardelectronics.com. The Xytronic 379 is essentially the same thing without the LED readout and goes for $50. It doesn’t matter if the wattage is high because a t/c iron will throttle the power going to the heating element depending on what the thermocouple or thermistor is reading.The reason this is such a worthwhile upgrade has to do with tip corrosion. Unregulated irons, even 10W irons, will eventually heat up to 750-800F which will cause the tip to oxidize in no time at all. That oxidation prevents good metal-to-metal contact which prevents decent heat flow into the joint. Being able to maintain the tip at 500F or so will put off this oxidation for a half-hour or more.Also, the previous tip on the bronze-wool cleaner is great. I’ve got one now, but before I had it, I used copper-wool from the grocery store. Those Xytronic irons I mentioned above actually come with one. The abrasive surfaces help to clean any oxidation and excess solder from the tip more efficiently than a sponge and it has much less thermal mass than a wet sponge which means you’re not putting as much thermal stress on the tip. The rapid cooling from the water in the sponge will stress and potentially crack your tip over time.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29127", "author": "The One True Stickman", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T22:49:15", "content": "I second the bronze/copper wool for cleaning – it works better with less hassle. I’m currently using stainless steel wool that I got for about a buck at the grocery store. No water, no mess, no heat loss on low-wattage irons.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29129", "author": "Slippy Lane", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T23:23:29", "content": "Excellent tutorial, just thought I’d drop a couple of my own tips in, gleaned from 10 years of wiring to military/space specs and 10 years to commercial specs.I’d advise against filing or grinding down any but the cheapest of soldering iron tips, as most only have a thin layer of white metal coating a copper core, and removing too much of that can result in cold spots at best and complete failure of the tip at worst.On choosing an iron – go for the best iron you can afford, with temperature controlled tips and, for preference, a temperature/current control dial on the base unit. In the UK, the most commonly used make in the commercial sector is Weller, who make a great range of irons and soldering stations.On cut/solder v. solder/cut – A quick squirt of insulating spray-varnish means you can use the “easy but untidy” method of bend/solder/cut over the “fiddly but neat” method of tack/cut/solderOn solder types – for non-experienced solderers, I would stick with good old rosin multicored 60/40 tin/lead solder (in the UK, this comes on a red bobbin as standard) rather than any of the new eco-friendly tin/silver solders with water based flux (blue or green bobbind in the UK). The old stuff just flows better, in my opinion, and it takes a LOT of patience to solder a decent joint with any of the other types of solder.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29130", "author": "cloner", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T04:31:40", "content": "guys, can you please post pictures on your replies. it would be of great help. really good basic tutorial about soldering! :) thanks!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29131", "author": "yuppicide", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T23:23:07", "content": "I’ve done some soldering in the past, not much, and I’m not that great. I think this is a great tutorial and it would be awesome to see more like it in the future.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29132", "author": "Kevin", "timestamp": "2007-11-01T19:15:14", "content": "Does any of this change when it comes to joining copper tubing? I’m a homebrewer and I’m looking to join some copper tubing for cooling purposes. Is a gun sufficient for this sort of thing? Or am I going to have to break down and get a blow torch?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29134", "author": "John", "timestamp": "2007-11-07T06:06:19", "content": "The hardest part of soldering for newbies is not cooking components. A solering project I always used with my trainees is as follows.Cut 12 bits of wire about 1 1/2 to 2 inches long and solder them all together to form a cube.Sounds simple but if not enough heat is applied, the solder doesnt flow. If too much heat is applied, the nearby joint melts. When that is mastered, use 1 inch wire and repeat the process.BTW. In comment 3 broken soldering irons are mentioned. If irons get broken while soldering then another hobby/trade should be looked at.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29135", "author": "tashammer", "timestamp": "2008-01-01T19:35:39", "content": "A test that was used to see if you could competently solder was to make a wire-frame cube out of solder. And the cube had to be a cube too.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29136", "author": "tashammer", "timestamp": "2008-01-01T19:41:40", "content": "to #23 soldering braid.Sometimes you can recycle the length of woven copper braid found around the crt screen of old tv’s as desoldering braid.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29137", "author": "Richard E Murray", "timestamp": "2008-01-02T20:53:31", "content": "I taught myself to solder with the help of written instructions. The usual advice to put the solder on the joint rather than the iron was included. I had terrible problems getting anything soldered together. Then I discovered that if you put some solder on the iron tip, you get heat transfer to the joint so that the solder will melt when it is applied to the joint.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29138", "author": "Lance Davis", "timestamp": "2008-01-05T00:33:53", "content": "I applaud you for the above lessons. It looks like you spent took a lot of time to prepare and post it. It is great training for those who have no experience with soldering.I would like to make a few suggestions if you donât mind:When purchasing soldering irons, select one that has variable temperature capability and different size tips. This allows you to 1) extend the life of the tips by controlling the iron temperature 2) saves money on having to purchase different irons for different jobs by changing tip sizes and shapes instead.When soldering be sure to melt some solder on the tip prior to placing into the iron stand. This will extend the life of your tip by preventing the hot tip from oxidizing, and ultimately, melting away! If the solder keeps falling off of the tip when placing back in to the iron holder, try touching the tip with melted solder on a piece of kim wipe or paper towell. This will remove the excess flux from the core of the solder…Use the sponge to âshockâ the iron tip instead of using it to clean the tip. Instead of wiping the tip of the iron on the sponge, wipe the old solder off of the tip with a disposable kim wipe (or small (5â x 5â or so) square of paper towel) and use the sponge to âshockâ the tip of the iron. This will extend the life of the sponge and allows you to get your iron to your work by momentarily cooling the tip before the tip starts to oxidize again. Oxidation is what causes pits in your work. The sponge should wet enough so that when you press your finger on the sponge the water will pool around your finger (not the sponge).The difference in the percentage of lead to tin in solder is what controls the plastic state of solder. Solder is in one of 3 states: liquid, plastic and solid. The 63/37 mixture is a mixture that has no plastic state and is therefore the best one to use for soldering. If another mixture is used (ie: 60/40) and the component being soldered is moved, even slightly, while cooling, the finished product will have cracks in the solder and cause intermittent connections and those are the worst to troubleshoot! Also purchase solder that has a rosin flux core.When using desoldering braid, twist the braid between two fingers to get a tight twist, then wet the twisted braid with some liquid flux. This improves the wicking capability of the braid. There are also different sizes and types of desoldering braid. I recommend using the plain copper braid (vice tinned copper braid). Select the size that fits the work that you are doing: It should be wide enough to lay across the conductor that you are working on (before you twist the braid).Flux is used in soldering to flow contaminates away from your work and helps to prevent pits from appearing. Rosin/resin flux is the best flux to use for soldering. It wonât corrode your circuitry if left on the board like acid flux will (which is used for soldering pipes) and it is easily cleaned off with alcohol. If you canât find rosin/resin flux then rosin flux is the next best thing. I recommend that you have both liquid and paste flux on hand to use for different types of jobs. Paste is best when you want to control the amount of flux on the work you are doing and liquid is best when you want to wet the desoldering braid…For solder suckers, be care with the bulb type: They can induce static electricity and damage the more ESD sensitive components. Solder braid is better or the plunger type of solder sucker that is designed for ESD sensitive components (it usually has a black tip) is preferred over solder sucker bulbs.When preparing your project for soldering, cleanliness is next to godliness: prepare all soldering surfaces by cleaning, tinning, and recleaning prior to soldering: 1) Use kim wipes (or cut up paper towels) moistened with alcohol to wipe down the conductor and the solder. 2) Apply a thin coat of rosin/resin flux to the conductor and tin the conductor with a) the previously cleaned solder and b) an iron tip that has been cleaned by flowing solder over the iron tip, solder wiped off with kim wipe and shocked with sponge. 3) Wick up the solder from the conductor and clean flux from tinned conductor with either a Q-tip or kim wipe moistened with alcohol (I prefer the Q-tip). 4) Apply some fresh flux on the conductor, clean the iron tip again, and then solder. These steps also apply to component leads as well as wire ends…Following the above steps will help to prevent pits caused by oxidation from the conductor, the solder and the iron tip…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "43160", "author": "Lilly", "timestamp": "2008-09-23T21:42:11", "content": "totally great and super helpful! i solder every day for my job and totally learned some good stuff here. like others, i love my hakko936- a sturdy little workhorse with lots of tips available.i use a soldapult solder sucker for big glops and the braid for smaller bits. i also use a soldering tip cleaner in addition to a wet sponge. it is a metal cup with something that looks like a brillo pad in it- curls and curls of brass and just stabbing it gets bits of solder, flux and broken components off.and i always use a flux pen. it is super simple, handy and readily available. the best one for my purposes is kester 959T, which is no-clean and fumes up less than other fluxes i have used. for cleaning i often use cotton swabs soaked in IPA solvent or contact cleaner. tweezers, hemostats and a small pick are the tools i use most often for gripping, guiding and such.most of the items i have mentioned here are all ordered from techni-tool.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,862.876458
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/25/high-power-tvbgone/	High Power TVBGone	Will O'Brien	[ "home entertainment hacks" ]	[]		[Ladyada]’s been busy lately. [bladdo] wrote in to tell me that she put together an extra powerful kit version of the TVBgone. This one’s supposed to be good for over 100 feet. If you really, really want to get your ass kicked during the super bowl, this baby in a sports bar should do the trick. There’s an optional programming header, so you could program it to turn every TV onto the SciFi channel. Remember, I want to hear about your hacks! Use the tips line to send ’em in. permalink	20	20	[ { "comment_id": "29072", "author": "alex mccown", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T07:43:44", "content": "its a bit oldu can also replace the ir led of a ninja remote with a transistor and have that trigger like 50 ir leds and have a fucken huge one", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29073", "author": "Wolf", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T07:49:29", "content": "Wonder why she recommends putting the tinted LED’s in the center?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29074", "author": "Wolf", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T07:52:42", "content": "to #1, why not go with one ultra bright and focusing lenses. Top it off with a stock and a scope and you’d have your very own TV-B-Gone sniper rifle.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29075", "author": "barry99705", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T08:08:57", "content": "Give it a timer function. That way you can set it to fire every 5 minutes or so. You can conveniently be in the bathroom when it goes off, thereby keeping said ass from being kicked at the sports bar.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29076", "author": "ladyada", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T08:58:23", "content": "the blue IR LEDs are narrow angle, the clear ones are wide angle.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29077", "author": "deathwombat", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T08:59:11", "content": "tvbgone grenade anyone?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29078", "author": "TheKhakinator", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T09:19:58", "content": "@3: I’d have it so that it detects rising sound levels in the bar. Why? Because people yell when it starts getting exciting. It detects an elevated sound level (people yelling corresponds with an exciting bit) and fires, turning the TV off at crucial moments!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29079", "author": "TX297", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T10:37:28", "content": "You’re all sadistic bastards. I love it.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29080", "author": "alex mccown", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T13:13:00", "content": "to #3 irleds can be as cheep as $0.25 a peace adding a small focus over the whole rig is a good way to get more distance but you shouldent half to go out of ur way to get some expensive glass rig made and you dont need to aim it", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29081", "author": "elwarren", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T15:44:31", "content": "I’m waiting for someone to write a Palm or WindowsMobile version of this. It’s just a for loop to go thru all the different off-codes…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29082", "author": "Ronald_55", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T18:34:17", "content": "What I would do is build this kit into a dummy or old cell phone. Put the button on the keypad, so you can descretly “dial” your phone and off the tv goes. You could hide the leds on the side so it was less noticable. Also an older cell phone should have room to put the batteries around, or you might be able to sponge off the cell battery itself.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29083", "author": "Clark", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T19:18:57", "content": "this is great for pissing off neighbors!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29084", "author": "Miles", "timestamp": "2007-10-27T02:39:14", "content": "I wonder if an SMD version LED throwie model would work?You could conceivably get in position to switch off lots of TV’s (Not in a department store :), or maybe you are evil) every 10/15 minutes :D, and it should last a couple days at least, shouldn’t it?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29085", "author": "MasterBlaster", "timestamp": "2007-10-27T06:21:01", "content": "Who run bartertown…?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29086", "author": "srilyk", "timestamp": "2007-10-28T16:47:33", "content": "Heh… If you had either a specific timer, or an audio monitor… it would really be easy to just plop it in a bar somewhere in view of the TV and leave it there for a while. For instance – house it in a nice bit of project housing and put some double sided sticky on it and put it under a table pointed at the TVs. Another option, if the tables have decorations, make it “become” part of the decorations… I’m sure there are all sorts of fun things you could do with this and a little creativity!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29087", "author": "one-sadistic-sonofa", "timestamp": "2007-10-29T02:56:49", "content": "OK, neighbor askes you to feed the dog while he is out of town… just remove the led, soldier it directly onto the led reciever inside the tv. get the power from the tv instead of batteries. have it set to go off every 20 minutes. ^^bam! neigbor comes home… tv keeps shutting off… (it wouldnt turn it back on b/c it only has pwer when tv is on) so he doesnt realize its a prank… puts it on the side of the road.. free 60″ hdtv!!this is unethical–be a bastard at own initiative… this is for prank reasons only… any tv selling you do is your own business and in no way related to this comment. (so i cannot be blamed)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29088", "author": "Matthew", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T09:40:58", "content": "Anyone know of a way to modify this to mute instead of power off?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29089", "author": "JRo", "timestamp": "2007-10-30T11:41:55", "content": "@17, You’d have to know the IR codes for all the TVs for muting then reprogram the microprocessor. Check outhttp://www.ladyada.net/forums/under the TV-B-Gone section.I bought one of these and it works very well btw.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29090", "author": "Diego Macias", "timestamp": "2007-11-11T07:03:24", "content": "man this thing rocks first of all and second why the hell doesnt everybody else have onei work in a mall where there are a ton of stores well on my break i took a stroll and was turning tvs off everywhere including gamestop which was my favorite because some little kids were playing the demo thing and i kept turning the tv on and off messing with them hahahahahahahahaha i highly recommend this to everybody even if its not this one any one its just plain fun!^_^", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "76034", "author": "louis", "timestamp": "2009-05-23T18:26:27", "content": "i built a small version of this into an old mobil phone and used a smal telescopic sight aswell to increase the range. works very well, the botton is the center button of the phone", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,862.633674
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/24/1-wire-thermostat-control/	1-wire Thermostat Control	Will O'Brien	[ "home hacks" ]	[ "1-wire", "pc thermostat", "PcThermostat" ]		For some reason, computer controllable thermostats are pretty freakin’ expensive. I found a reference to a 1-wire thermostat in this ( mirror ) sample senior project on home automation. It turns out that Dallas Semiconductor put one together a while back as an application for their TINI platform . (web-application server on a chip). The write-up has since vanished from their site, but I found it thatnks to archive.org. The thermostat used to run about $50, and a similar model still seems to be produced. The 1-wire interface is pretty simple – Maxim’s TINI board to control it: not so much. Just using the 1-wire interface with an inexpensive thermostat and controlling from a PC seems pretty viable to me. Just in case, I mirrored the 1-wire interface schematics here . permalink	10	10	[ { "comment_id": "29064", "author": "Calvin", "timestamp": "2007-10-25T10:18:57", "content": "Great… I love the web archive wayback machine. It is so helpfull for finding old stuff.. you might want to know that othe pages (such as the cell phone jammer) are also on there (death to the 404 :) )", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29065", "author": "Wolf", "timestamp": "2007-10-25T17:15:52", "content": "I’m starting to think I should check had a little less often, this is the second time in the last couple days that I’ve caught a hack within a minute of posting…as for the hack itself, I wonder if the tini is any more straightforward to implement than that Ethernet communication device microchip produces?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29066", "author": "bazginge", "timestamp": "2007-10-25T22:56:15", "content": "Nice.Personally I would use I2C as the communication protocol. This is a much more common protocol (nearly every PC has it) and has more software and hardware support.You can get USB to I2C adapters for virtually nothing, and build your own for less. check outhttp://www.harbaum.org/till/i2c_tiny_usb/index.shtmlthis for a GPL USB to I2C converter, or (shameless plug)http://www.headfuzz.co.uk/USBtoI2Cfor the super fast high speed version.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29067", "author": "phil", "timestamp": "2007-10-25T23:46:28", "content": "Your mirrored source is in fact an html file with a zip extension! What you’re looking for is:http://files.dalsemi.com/tini/appnotes/AN700/Thermostat.zipIt comes complete with a nice write-up in pdf form.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29068", "author": "justdiy", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T02:37:30", "content": "seems maxim-ic.com can’t handle the traffic of being featured on h.a.d. or maybe it’s just coincidence … anyway, at 1939 edt the site is not responding.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29069", "author": "alex mccown", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T04:35:35", "content": "i did not look into 1wire but i think this is a nice hack i am pissed my self that im in my room on my comp and my thermo is in the den :-)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29070", "author": "hackarmy", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T14:17:03", "content": "ROFLcopter!!!! nice projet !", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29071", "author": "hackarmy", "timestamp": "2007-10-26T14:21:18", "content": "no no no no no no no… you use it to cotrol A COFFEMAKER! “wold you like some coffe? * hit swich on wall* LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "79055", "author": "tabath", "timestamp": "2009-06-24T20:58:26", "content": "Maybe I’m being a bit thick here but why use a lux9000 thermostat when maxim do an iButton temp logger that could act as an intelligent thermostat with a bit of programming and hacking via the tini", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "135882", "author": "Mr.Big", "timestamp": "2010-04-13T15:41:19", "content": "This time is not just for cleaning, but also for fixing your house heat and cool system. My family and I check the furnace filter, make sure the fan is running properly, and sometimes replace the thermostat controller. We like to use our furnace to circulate and clean the air to remove all of the pollen that is in the air. Robershaw makes some nice controlls and I’ve also found a brand called PECO that uses a custom algorithm to run the fan during the spring time. The only site I’ve been able to buy them at is thermostatlinevoltage.com there may be other sources out there though. Just some thoughts.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,862.509227
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/23/cell-phone-taser/	Cell Phone Taser	Will O'Brien	[ "Cellphone Hacks" ]	[]		I’m not going to reccomend it, but [cameron] modded his Sony Ericsson k800i to tase people as well as take pictures. Apparently, the k800i has a xenon flash – meaning that it’s got a high voltage potential available to drive the flash. He added a pair of 16uf caps and scored a good 300 volts to share with the unlucky. permalink	27	27	[ { "comment_id": "29039", "author": "Metalwolf", "timestamp": "2007-10-24T07:07:21", "content": "I sorry, I just have to do this. anyone who has read digg the last few weeks will understand the joke.“Dont taze me, Bro!”(Woot, first post, havent had that in a while :3)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29040", "author": "atrain", "timestamp": "2007-10-24T07:48:09", "content": "I must admit this is not anything special.Turning disposable cameras into tasers has been going around for months… this is the exact same thing, except with a cell phone…Also, whats the point of a taser if you have to go right up to the person and touch them… You’d be pushing the phone on their skin trying to get a good connection, and they’d knock you out before you managed. You need range on a taser…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29041", "author": "King Donkus of punchstania", "timestamp": "2007-10-24T07:56:59", "content": "Isn’t this a stun gun not a taser? I thought a taser shot probes and a stun gun didn’t?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29042", "author": "Earl Jr.", "timestamp": "2007-10-24T08:44:04", "content": "This reminds me of the taser cell phone in Tomorrow Never Dies. Now all it needs to do is remotely drive the car.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29043", "author": "cde", "timestamp": "2007-10-24T08:48:09", "content": "Donkus, you would think a stun GUN would do the shooting.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29044", "author": "jb", "timestamp": "2007-10-24T11:04:38", "content": "I wonder if this could get past airport secuity?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29045", "author": "Jesse Ahemizm", "timestamp": "2007-10-24T12:08:03", "content": "Go the Jaycar DMM! If this guy is aussie then good on him. We hardly see weapon related hacks over here, besides the odd potato cannon that is.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29046", "author": "lou", "timestamp": "2007-10-24T13:23:22", "content": "TASER is a brand name, and does, indeed, refer to the device that fires the electrodes. I agree that the device known as a stun gun shouldn’t be, as it fires no projectile object or beam, but this is the parlance we’re stuck with.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29047", "author": "LeatiX", "timestamp": "2007-10-24T14:07:02", "content": "very james bondish :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29048", "author": "entropy", "timestamp": "2007-10-24T14:57:21", "content": "i was thinking the same thing as earl jr. didnt bonds phone have a fingerprint scanner too, or is that another movie?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29049", "author": "Napul", "timestamp": "2007-10-24T15:09:05", "content": "Informated Article… Appreciated!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29050", "author": "lonas", "timestamp": "2007-10-24T15:50:20", "content": "to be fair, this isn’t a taser or a stun gun.this is a ‘OW, what the HELL man?’ machine.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29051", "author": "Roleo Hibachi", "timestamp": "2007-10-24T16:14:31", "content": "“Turning disposable cameras into tasers has been going around for months” – months? years. I have a cardboard box full at home.And, I agree with [lonas], 330 v does not a taser make.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29052", "author": "Louis", "timestamp": "2007-10-24T17:14:12", "content": "Just wait until the teenagers find out about this!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29053", "author": "airbeb", "timestamp": "2007-10-24T18:00:09", "content": "They already know. Highschool kids buy one-use cameras and turn them into “tasers” for sale all the time. Some morons would pay $20 for one…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29054", "author": "hogiewan", "timestamp": "2007-10-24T19:15:57", "content": "metalwolf – you don’t have to read digg to have heard “Dont taze me, Bro!”", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29055", "author": "localroger", "timestamp": "2007-10-24T22:26:54", "content": "This is a really bad idea.Voltage hurts, but current kills. Stun guns and tasers put out thousands of volts but very few milliamps. That’s why they are considered safe even though they hurt like hell and even temporarily paralyze you. They won’t force enough current to stop your heart.These flash conversions don’t put out all that much voltage, but with those capacitors can put out way too much current. You can be electrocuted by way less than 300VDC if it’s applied to the wrong part of your body.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29056", "author": "aslex mccown", "timestamp": "2007-10-24T23:26:11", "content": "sorry, but this is the bitch way to make a tazer i get shocked with 400v all the time and can recover is seconds make a small voltage multiplier like a 10 stage to get some arcing", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29057", "author": "theTick", "timestamp": "2007-10-25T03:10:07", "content": "Heh. This would be perfect for something like…. an airplane.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29058", "author": "Farley", "timestamp": "2007-10-25T06:12:24", "content": "This would indeed be a Stun Gun, not a TASER. And TASER is not a brand name, it is the name the creator gave it off of novels he used to read. TASER = Thomas Albert Swift Electric Rifle.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29059", "author": "ApprenticeWizard", "timestamp": "2007-10-25T18:33:44", "content": "localroger,You are only somewhat correct in your statements. While tasers and stunguns do indeed put out “very few milliamps”, many inexpensive ones do not have current regulation on the output – they are simply dumping stored power from a capacitor in much the same way as the disposable flash camera setup.Further, the thought that “those capacitors can put out way too much current” is only partially accurate. A capacitor in a dead short across a perfect conductor can create a high-amp spike for a very limited duration. However, human skin is far from a perfect conductor. Even in the most conductive scenario (damp skin), skin resistance of two electrodes jammed into your flesh is 10k ohms or more – average is 100k-10Meg ohms (you can verify this with a good ohm meter, btw). Ohms law tells us that at 300V, you will experience anywhere from 30mA to 0.3mA, or less. Somewhat painful, but well below the dangerous or deadly range.Further, area of application is critical. If you grab a charged capacitor, it will discharge across the skin in your hand. This may result in burns, but will not be life-threatening. To be dangerous, the current must pass through (disrupt or burn) a vital organ.Finally, note that disposable-flash shockers have a finite amount of charge. They may be able to produce current, but only for a brief time before exhausted. This means that even If you manage to approach a dangerous level of current output, the capacitor will not be able to sustain it (as a demonstration, just how long will a photoflash capacitor create sparks when shorted? Not long, you’ll find). The danger lay as much in a sustained current as in a particular current level.To conclude, your statement is only partially correct. Current is dangerous, but these flash-zappers are not going to kill a healthy teen+, and less dangerous than a plethora of other things you can get your hands on.For some information on dangerous current levels, seehttp://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~p616/safety/fatal_current.htmlTo calculate current through your body, use Ohm’s law:Voltage (volts) / Resistance (ohms) = Current (amps)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29060", "author": "static", "timestamp": "2007-10-25T20:21:19", "content": "You choose fight over flight only when you have a decided advantage. This will only serve to piss off an attacker. If you are aware of a threat long enough to to activate the device and have time for it to charge, you should have choose flight. Nothing more than false security.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29061", "author": "MikeL", "timestamp": "2007-10-27T01:01:11", "content": "It is a bad idea!!!A lot of arguing over this topic. Volts, amps, resistance, skin type, duration, etc…, and all over such a really bad idea! If it were actually a practical working stun weapon, and it could be used for self defense effectively, and just look like a regular phone, and you feel you need it, then go for it. A friend of mine said yesterday that he “would rather be tried by twelve men than carried by six.” I can see that reasoning. But this is useless.First, it is a poor excuse for a joke, (like pulling a chair out from under someone.)Second, it is also not useful for self defense, as it is only powerful enough to piss someone off, and only at very close range.Third, you would risk the legal repercussions of carrying a stun weapon. It is unlikely you would get caught by the authorities, (unless you use it and someone presses charges against you,) but if you were apprehended, you would probably be charged with carrying a stun weapon without a license, in spite of the fact that the voltage isn’t adequate for a stun weapon. (As a comparison: if someone is carrying a pistol, even if it is a really terrible home made zip gun, it is still a pistol and they would be charged as such.) If the local laws do not forbid a stun weapon, you could still be charged with carrying a weapon.This project is a really bad idea.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29062", "author": "lou", "timestamp": "2007-10-27T18:15:42", "content": "These folks seem to think that TASER is, indeed, a brand name. They keep following it with an R in a circle and everything.http://www.taser.org/index.html", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29063", "author": "alex", "timestamp": "2007-10-28T01:36:17", "content": "dont fall asleep with it in your pocket", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "61015", "author": "riz", "timestamp": "2009-01-27T23:49:46", "content": "it’s really useful for people who live in places where cell phone snatching is common.. u can press a button without catching the robbers attention and stun that son of a bitch while handing the phone over to him", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "62166", "author": "Rod", "timestamp": "2009-02-08T01:27:09", "content": "This is an awesome site! Looks like you’ve got a lot of experience in self defense products and training. I do some work in that area too, so it’s nice to meet another industry friend.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,862.787794
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/23/toorcon-9-retrieving-wep-keys-from-road-warriors/	ToorCon 9: Retrieving WEP Keys From Road Warriors	Eliot	[ "Wireless Hacks" ]	[ "toorcon", "toorcon9", "wep", "wifi" ]		[Vivek Ramachandran]’s Cafe Latte attack was one of the last talks we caught at ToorCon. I’ve found quite a few articles about it, but none really get it right. It’s fairly simple and deals with cracking WEP keys from unassociated laptops. First your WEP honeypot tells the client that it has successfully associated. The next thing the client does is broadcast a WEP encrypted ARP packet. By flipping the bits in the ARP packet you can replay the WEP packet and it will appear to the client to be coming from an IP MAC combo of another host on the network. All of the replies will have unique IVs and once you get ~60K you can crack it using PTW . The bit flipping is the same technique used in the fragmentation attack we covered earlier , but Cafe Latte requires generation of far fewer packets. You can read about the Cafe Latte attack on AirTight Networks . permalink	0	0	[]	1,760,377,862.726024
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/22/tengu-clone/	Tengu Clone	Will O'Brien	[ "Portable Audio Hacks" ]	[]		[Alex] sent in his clone of [Crispin Jones]’ tengu. The tengu is essentially a funky visual sound meter that looks like it’s lip syncing. [Alex]’s version is built around an ATMega48 microcontroller, an electric mic with a LM386 audio circuit and the required LED matrix display. There’s an example tengu video here – but I’m not sure what to say about the song in the demo. It’s not dependent on USB – it actually works better with the clean power provided by batteries anyway. permalink	3	3	[ { "comment_id": "29036", "author": "davr", "timestamp": "2007-10-23T10:03:49", "content": "Thatâs pretty neat use of a LED matrix. I might see about doing something like that myself. I currently have a 8Ã8 bicolor LED matrix hooked up to an AVR, so far Iâve written a simple pong game.A video is included here:http://blog.davr.org/2007/09/24/avr-project-update/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29037", "author": "Pokey", "timestamp": "2007-10-23T16:26:23", "content": "Looking at the breadboards, I don’t see any bypass caps. Maybe he could get away with USB power if he threw 100uF across the bus bars of each board and .1uF near Vdd/Vss on the chips.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29038", "author": "norm", "timestamp": "2007-10-24T08:59:55", "content": "first time i heard of tengu and this is something i’ve been wanting for years now.. the clone lacks the “bling” original has, (probably due to designers being involved in the original and all) and both can use a little more fine tuning of responses but overall, this is the coolest “world can do without” item i’ve ever seen..p.s. i actually considered buying a tengu but the website is completely in japanese with no english preference and my link reading skills were only so much..", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,863.228142
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/21/fiber-optic-flash-ring/	Fiber Optic Flash Ring	Will O'Brien	[ "digital cameras hacks", "LED Hacks" ]	[ "ccfl", "inverter", "led", "photography" ]		Ring lights that surround the lens are generally used for macro photography – they’re not cheap, but they’re one of the few ways to get shadowless photos. This fiber optic flash diffuser is based on the same ideas of this one. Rather than use a few large optic strands, [Joris] is using many, many more to decrease shadows as much as possible. His previous efforts are even more interesting. He built a LED version – with serial connected LEDs and a step up switching power supply to drive them. Then he moved on to cold cathode fluorescent before moving onto the fiber optics . permalink	6	6	[ { "comment_id": "29030", "author": "gj", "timestamp": "2007-10-22T18:27:03", "content": "Offtopic: could you guys give some more explanation about some hacks like the toorcon, i didnt understand what it was at all. So make it a little understandable for noobies like me.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29031", "author": "kael", "timestamp": "2007-10-22T20:01:54", "content": "Interesting, but i just have to say that this guy is obsessed.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29032", "author": "jordan", "timestamp": "2007-10-23T00:15:44", "content": "dood, you should have patented that…hurry up and do it before some big stupid photography company steals your idea and sells it.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29033", "author": "Jake H", "timestamp": "2007-10-23T01:45:45", "content": "Functionally brilliant (no pun intended), and it looks very cyberpunk-cool too!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29034", "author": "Peter", "timestamp": "2007-10-23T03:21:18", "content": "@jordan, fiber ring illuminators have been arround for ever, although the are usually expensive as heck. They work really well for inspection micrscopes.In any case, if you are willing to deal with a bundle of 1mm fibers all the more power to you!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29035", "author": "Joris (Fuzzcraft)", "timestamp": "2007-12-12T00:54:45", "content": "i’ve recently finished this project. Go check it out, although at the moment not much results to show.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,863.338718
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/21/toorcon-9-uri-use-and-abuse/	ToorCon 9: URI Use And Abuse	Eliot	[ "Misc Hacks" ]	[ "toorcon", "uri" ]		[Nathan McFeters] and [Rob Carter] gave a presentation on the problems with URI handling. URIs are used to send commands to external applications from a web browser. itms:// for iTunes for example. Any application that registers a URI has the potential to be abused through this route. For their first example they showed a stack overflow in Trillian’s AIM handling. The next demo created a “Critical Update Available” button on Picasa’s interface. When the user clicked it, their photos would be uploaded to the attacker’s server. They even display a “download progress” bar to encourage the user to keep the connection open. You can read about the attack on cocontributor Billy Rios’s blog . permalink	1	1	[ { "comment_id": "29029", "author": "Napul", "timestamp": "2007-10-24T15:09:27", "content": "Informated Article… Appreciated!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,863.507025
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/21/toorcon-9-cdma-unlocking-and-modification/	ToorCon 9: CDMA Unlocking And Modification	Eliot	[ "Misc Hacks" ]	[ "cdma", "evdo", "unlock", "verizon" ]		[Alexander Lash] gave a short overview of what you need to unlock a CDMA phone. He strongly recommended Howard Forums for finding most of the info you need. You’ll probably need BitPim and the Qualcomm PST (product support tools). Using the PST you can flash your new carrier’s firmware and then activate the phone on their network. Verizon offers two ways to get unlimited EVDO data. $59 for a data plan or $15 for VCast. You’re not supposed to be able to use your VCast phone as an EVDO modem and it sends a different network access identifier (NAI) if you tether the phone. Using the PST you can change the NAI and use the cheaper VCast plan for data access. Here is a forum post detailing the process . permalink	9	9	[ { "comment_id": "29024", "author": "Drew", "timestamp": "2007-10-22T06:31:28", "content": "what is that a picture of?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29025", "author": "hal hockersmith", "timestamp": "2007-10-22T18:26:07", "content": "I can say that hacktherazr.com has some of the software hot linked on their site. They also cover the VZW -> ATL conversion if you want you phone to have more features then what Verizon gives you.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29026", "author": "pacman", "timestamp": "2007-10-22T20:40:24", "content": "Looking through the forum i came across the fact that the 1x data transfer can also be used for the hack. the 1x transfer @ 14.7 kb/s. could be set up to just use your minuits instead of requiring a subscription to v-cast or evo 15$ and 40 respectivly.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29027", "author": "Alexander Lash", "timestamp": "2007-10-23T22:52:43", "content": "This is also true, but EV-DO without a data plan is charged as airtime minutes, just like 1xRTT. It’s just trickier to enable.I’ll add that to the slides, which I’ll post Real Soon Now (TM). :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29028", "author": "M4CGYV3R", "timestamp": "2007-11-01T03:10:20", "content": "Gotta love HowardForums. I joined to crack my Moto W385 when I realized my model no longer supported the P2K protocol. I ended up just having to use Moto Phone Tools to crack it, but they still have tons of great info on opening phones that aren’t supposed to be :-3", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "63452", "author": "quazimoto", "timestamp": "2009-02-18T06:25:28", "content": "the vpack evdo can also be achieved through certain modifications to lg phone’s “secret” service menus.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "63989", "author": "jonathan berger", "timestamp": "2009-02-22T15:55:36", "content": "In my url i have put a full guide how to unlock cdma.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "80661", "author": "omparkash", "timestamp": "2009-07-07T14:27:08", "content": "classicfwp829 reliance cdma set unlocking coad", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "204381", "author": "Shawn", "timestamp": "2010-10-28T23:34:46", "content": "Samsung Messenger SCH R450Is there ANY program that will allow me to read and write to the operating system files? Is there any way to edit or upgrade the firmware, or install 3rd party apps? Please help.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,863.47349
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/20/drive-bay-poe-adapter/	Drive Bay PoE Adapter	Will O'Brien	[ "computer hacks", "Misc Hacks", "Wireless Hacks" ]	[]		Sure, we’ve seen Power over Ethernet before – I even whipped up a simple adapter for my modded wrt54gs . This is a nice clean setup, and it’ll save you from yet another power brick. (I’ve got a power strip dedicated to the things in my tiny home data center.) permalink	8	8	[ { "comment_id": "29016", "author": "Urlax", "timestamp": "2007-10-21T13:44:23", "content": "why did he run the cable back to the front?he’d better let it run trough the pc, so it’s connected to the NIC at the back.. now its a cable just from the front to the back of the same pc!why didn’t he inserted the power at the NIC itself? would be an even nicer hack..(thinking of it.. someday i’ll might build such myself..)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29017", "author": "Sp`ange", "timestamp": "2007-10-21T17:52:18", "content": "I wouldn’t have inserted the power at the nic. especially if it was an onboard nic. but, I wouldn’t have bought a switch plate to just take it apart when he could’ve just bought a rj45 wallplate with all the stuff already attached.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29018", "author": "scatterbrained", "timestamp": "2007-10-21T20:38:22", "content": "Doesn’t it strike anybody as a pretty dumb idea to hook a wire on a 50 ft. pole outside to the PSU of your computer? Perhaps they have no lightning there…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29019", "author": "static", "timestamp": "2007-10-21T22:09:29", "content": "That’s how power is feed to my ISP’s Motorola Canopy equipment outside. We do get Thunderstorms, while the antenna is only 12′ high or so, my mother board’s ethernet circuity got popped twice in 6 month’s. Good thing Dell snuck in the extended warranty on me as they covered the repairs. Though I put surge protection on the ethernet line, I do try to unplug from the computer when a Tstorm rolls through. My packet radio antenna was at 35′ connected 24/7 but the radio never got burnt. Advantage of a DC grounded antenna I guess.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29020", "author": "Waldo", "timestamp": "2007-10-22T01:43:33", "content": "Note that all 4 pairs in ethernet cables are used for gigabit ethernet (1000base-T); not a huge deal, in that you can still get 100Base-T with the PoE scheme, but don’t expect all the love from your gee-whiz bang gigabit switch…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29021", "author": "Wolf", "timestamp": "2007-10-22T02:44:40", "content": "Would anything bad happen if you were to accidentally plug a regular device into one of these powered Ethernet jacks?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29022", "author": "Napul", "timestamp": "2007-10-24T15:09:31", "content": "Informated Article… Appreciated!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29023", "author": "Eric", "timestamp": "2007-10-25T05:03:40", "content": "I wouldn’t suggest plugging in a non PoE device into a powered port. Since the jack is clearly labeled radio, it is obviously for wireless gear. PoE is pretty much what makes wireless possible. All Motorola canopy gear is Poe and that is amazingly fast. Ceragon ODU radios are also Poe, and they’re fast enough to be used as backhaul/trunks at cellular sites. That being said, I also would like to have it in the rear of my pc. I think I’ll try one that is rear mounted to power my Microtik router.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,863.587982
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/20/toorcon-9-real-world-fuzzing/	ToorCon 9: Real World Fuzzing	Eliot	[ "Cellphone Hacks", "iphone hacks", "Uncategorized" ]	[]		We dropped in on [Charlie Miller]’s fuzzing seminar at the end of the day yesterday. Fuzzing become a fairly popular topic in the last year and essentially involves giving a program garbage input, hoping that it will break. If it can’t handle the fake data and fails in a non-graceful fashion, you could have found a potentially exploitable bug. Fuzzing is a fairly simple idea, but as Charlie points out, without some thinking while you’re doing it it’s unlikely to be very productive. Say you wanted to fuzz a PDF reader. You take a random good PDF file and use a fuzzing program iterate through multiple mutations of that file. This brings up the question of how long do you fuzz something? Do you let it run 24hrs, is that enough time? Charlie applies the principles of code coverage to determine exactly how much of the code his fuzzing is actually testing. He used the PNG library as an example. He picked a random PNG to mutate from and it tested a small percentage of the code. Studying the PNG spec he found that there are 21 different chunk types possible in a PNG file so he grabbed 1600 random PNGs and mutated off of those. These many different seed files gave him a lot more code coverage because the files feature almost all the different chunk types. The principle idea being if you don’t execute a line of code you’ll never find the bug in that line of code. Charlie was part of the team that’s credited for finding the first iPhone exploit . They used code coverage to determine where to start working. Apple’s WebKit is open source and there is a note that says to use Mozilla’s test suite to test modifications the JavaScript core. Using gcov, which is part of gcc, they ran the test against the code. The tool showed what code was executed by the test suite. They ignored that code and started poking at the large block of untested code they found since that was more likely to contain a bug. That’s where they found the Perl RegEx parser which was eventually exploited. This isn’t just for programs with the source; you can also use code coverage tools like Pei Mei with IDA Pro to determine what part of a binary file the specific code you’re looking for lives. Then you can write smarter generators that will hit more of that particular code.	5	5	[ { "comment_id": "29012", "author": "alex mccown", "timestamp": "2007-10-21T02:24:06", "content": "i thought fuzzing was dead but wow", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29013", "author": "link", "timestamp": "2007-10-21T05:12:47", "content": "not in washing machines, at least…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29014", "author": "warelock", "timestamp": "2007-10-21T10:28:48", "content": "Did you bring t-shirts? :-) I’d love to get one if you’re giving them… Look for the guy in the center of the vendor room giving lock picking lessons. Ask for warelock. Cheers!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29015", "author": "Jake", "timestamp": "2007-10-21T15:11:57", "content": "Do these conferences offer videos , at least after some time has passed ? Some of us can’t make it to wherever they’re held and would really like to see and hear the talks in whole.Thanks ,Jake", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "47804", "author": "Dan Fruzzetti", "timestamp": "2008-10-27T00:49:10", "content": "You meant “principal”:P", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,863.633225
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/19/toorcon-9-crypto-boot-camp/	ToorCon 9: Crypto Boot Camp	Eliot	[ "computer hacks" ]	[ "aes", "crypto", "des", "rsa", "sha" ]		[Rodney Thayer] gave a 2 hour seminar on cryptographic technology. It was designed to give the audience a working knowledge for dealing with vendors. He gave some rules of thumb for choosing encryption. In order of preference, when doing symmetric key crypto: use AES with a minimum 128bit key, if not that 3-key Triple-DES, or last RC4 with 128bit key. For hashing: SHA 256 preferred, SHA 1 if you can’t do any better, and MD5 if you can’t SHA. For public key: RSA using at least a 2048bit key. The top choices in these lists were picked because they’ve stood up to years of scrutiny. One major theme of talk was to never roll your own crypto algorithm or buy someone elses. Proprietary algorithms get broken all the time, like the GSM A5 crypto we talked about earlier this year.	3	3	[ { "comment_id": "29009", "author": "Dom De Vitto", "timestamp": "2007-10-20T12:42:57", "content": "What about ECC ? ECC384 or larger, is stronger than 3DES and RSA1024, and is now getting old enough to be trustworthy….", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29010", "author": "Tom", "timestamp": "2007-10-24T05:19:54", "content": "So is there a video of the presentation, or any more information at all?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29011", "author": "yashar", "timestamp": "2007-12-26T15:52:01", "content": "hello i am a boy in iran i love hack the id", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,863.547877
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/19/optical-headphone-amp/	Optical Headphone Amp	Will O'Brien	[ "Misc Hacks", "Portable Audio Hacks" ]	[ "amplifier", "audio" ]		It looks like this one’s been out there for a while, but it doesn’t make it any less awesome. [Andrija] built this combination portable DAC/headphone amp. It takes optical audio input, feeds it through an analog devices AD1866 16bit/96khz decoder. After that, the audio is brought up to volume by an op-amp style headphone amp circuit. Side note: I wrote up a few short notes on the Sidekick LX I got today, if you dig that sort of thing. permalink	8	8	[ { "comment_id": "29002", "author": "aleex mccown", "timestamp": "2007-10-19T20:53:26", "content": "whats the point?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29003", "author": "Wolf", "timestamp": "2007-10-20T00:52:11", "content": "I can’t help but think it would be better labeled as an optical to analog converter, as i can’t think of any other practical use for such a thing.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29004", "author": "monopole", "timestamp": "2007-10-20T02:28:22", "content": "Why? Isolation! No ground loops, no EMI in noisy environments. Also a good test rig for checking TOS link connections.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29005", "author": "keo", "timestamp": "2007-10-22T20:14:42", "content": "why? because if you’re the sort of person that spends more than $20 to replace the cheap-o headphones that came with the portable cd player (and you probably are, if you bought one nice enough to have S/PDIF interface), you want higher-quality audio than the device’s internal DAC and amplifier will deliver.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29006", "author": "static", "timestamp": "2007-10-23T19:40:08", "content": "I agree what’s the point, when it come to this applications, but there are practical applications. After the tech that took care of a local ham repeater determined the lightning damage to the controller was cause in path by the path to the telephone line. He constructed something similar than this to eliminate wire conductors.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29007", "author": "Napul", "timestamp": "2007-10-24T15:09:35", "content": "Informated Article… Appreciated!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29008", "author": "Tubbsey", "timestamp": "2008-01-11T05:20:21", "content": "so…is there anyway to have the output go to stereo speakers that connect with the positive and negetive wires?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "298847", "author": "superdave", "timestamp": "2011-01-08T02:13:56", "content": "Can we get the circuit schematics for this? Or any kind of build plans? Thanks", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,863.674366
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/18/speaker-power-detection-circuit/	Speaker Power Detection Circuit	Will O'Brien	[ "home entertainment hacks", "Misc Hacks" ]	[]		This is an interesting way to monitor your speakers. [Keith] put together this speaker line monitor after a commenter requested it on his blog. It’s designed to check for power on the speaker line and drive a logic/led output. Apparently there’s some risk of shorting your amp, so he’s planning to redesign the input stage. Still, it’s neat little hack to keep an eye on things. Personally, I’d just put em on their own class A amp and automate the power switching, but there are plenty of situations where this could be useful. permalink	7	7	[ { "comment_id": "28995", "author": "HeBD", "timestamp": "2007-10-19T08:32:12", "content": "now if it could determine the max power the speaker could handle and adjust the amp power to match…. well its not what i thought it was :(does anybody know how to do that?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28996", "author": "lonas", "timestamp": "2007-10-19T15:40:38", "content": "@ #1) as far as I can figure, the only way to determine power handling for a speaker is to read the specs or blow it. I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure there’s no way to electrically determine a speaker’s power handling.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28997", "author": "hogiewan", "timestamp": "2007-10-19T15:50:59", "content": "wouldn’t it make more sense to create a loop in the speaker wire around a metal core and check for induced current in the core? that way the detector circuit is completely separate and has no way of destroying your amp or speakers.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28998", "author": "Arochone", "timestamp": "2007-10-19T22:14:51", "content": "@ #3:Or you could use one of those…what are they called…isolator transformers I think. Same basic idea, but it’s a pre-made part to do what you were saying…much easier.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28999", "author": "Keith Neufeld", "timestamp": "2007-10-19T22:45:57", "content": "hebd:I thought about calling my project a “speakers are on detector,” but that sounded too goofy, so I settled for “speaker power detector.” I sympathize with your confusion, and I’ll cheerfully take suggestions for a more descriptive name.Regarding your desire for a device to adjust amplifier power to the capacity of a speaker, the best way to do that is probably your ears. :-) Seriously, assuming a clean amplifier at least as powerful as the speakers, in my experience, you’ll know when you’re reaching the limit of the speakers.I think the inductance of a speaker may change subtly as it’s driven closer to its maximum excursion, but that’s not something that strikes me as easy to measure automatically. There may be information on that in the Elliott Sound Products (http://sound.westhost.com/) articles or projects section, although I can’t find it at the moment.hogiewan:Two goals of the project, based on the resources of the fellow who requested it, were that it couldn’t involve modifying equipment, and that it had to be constructable out of components you can find locally in any town, e.g. at Radio Shack.Using the speaker wire’s inductance is a neat idea, and I honestly didn’t think of it; but I’m also not confident of my ability to design a reliable circuit for it that anyone could build out of Radio Shack parts. Maybe I’m overestimating the difficulty of detecting the induced current?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29000", "author": "OG Style", "timestamp": "2007-10-20T04:12:03", "content": "I used to use a light bulb directly on the speaker terminal. The bulb I used did not have a filiment on it. It would light up when there was audio. The louder the sound the brighter the light.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "29001", "author": "12lochtefeld", "timestamp": "2008-01-13T23:33:38", "content": "I made something of this sort and have some vids on youtube.–http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=12lochtefeld&hl=en&sitesearch=", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,863.767187
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/18/toorcon-9-this-week/	ToorCon 9 This Week	Eliot	[ "News" ]	[]		We’re sitting in Chris and bunnie’s awesome silicon hacking workshop at ToorCon 9 right now. It’s going really great and we’ll be posting updates from the conference through the weekend. Let us know if the comments if your going to be here too.	14	14	[ { "comment_id": "28981", "author": "Jonathan", "timestamp": "2007-10-18T23:34:54", "content": "Is that Glenda the /cylon/ Plan 9 from Bell Labs Bunny?-Jonathan", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28982", "author": "pedro", "timestamp": "2007-10-18T23:41:20", "content": "wish I was there!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28983", "author": "Forrest", "timestamp": "2007-10-19T00:43:02", "content": "lol, first hackaday color image", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28984", "author": "eviljeremy", "timestamp": "2007-10-19T01:08:50", "content": "I hope the rest of the conference is amazing, I’m only able to go down for the talks on Sat/Sunday :(", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28985", "author": "Allen Porter", "timestamp": "2007-10-19T05:52:45", "content": "I’ll see you there", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28986", "author": "Andrew", "timestamp": "2007-10-19T06:08:00", "content": "“Let us know if the comments if your going to be here too.”shouldn’t it be “in the comments”not trying to be a stickler just saying you know..", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28987", "author": "Alex Dodge", "timestamp": "2007-10-19T07:00:41", "content": "Yes, sir. San Diego for the win.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28988", "author": "Incudie", "timestamp": "2007-10-19T07:52:07", "content": "Ah I was right next door to you in the pen workshop =pThanks again for the stickers man!I was talking to Bunnie after words… damn that dude knows his stuff like no tomorrow.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28989", "author": "mem", "timestamp": "2007-10-19T10:14:20", "content": "Nice touch having Glenda in the pic :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28990", "author": "alex", "timestamp": "2007-10-19T10:14:21", "content": "anyone know if these talks, workshops, etc will be put online (as video, audio, ppt, text, etc) later on?i would really like to see some of these, but they are several thousand miles away :\|", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28991", "author": "Harrison", "timestamp": "2007-10-19T19:16:43", "content": "#2, scroll down a bit.$1500 to get it? I’ll pass.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28992", "author": "Sylvia", "timestamp": "2007-10-19T23:22:09", "content": "Chris knows his sh*t; didnt spend any school loans for all he knows! NOW THAT IS DAM HOT!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28993", "author": "Matt Westervelt", "timestamp": "2007-10-21T15:31:41", "content": "Yup (thanks for the stickers). Putting up my pictures on flickrhttp://flickr.com/photos/mattw/sets/72157602526889792/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28994", "author": "Napul", "timestamp": "2007-10-24T15:09:38", "content": "Informated Article… Appreciated!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,863.72417
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/17/quarter-shrinker-can-crusher-follow-up/	Quarter Shrinker (can Crusher Follow-up)	Will O'Brien	[ "Misc Hacks" ]	[ "dimes", "high voltage", "highvoltage", "money hacks", "MoneyHacks", "quarters", "toroid" ]		[ Paul Anderson ] sent in this classic quarter shrinker after seeing the can crusher the other day. It’s another high powered pulse shot into a coil system, but uses a solenoid actuated spark gap switch to swith those sweet high voltages. The results are quite impressive . permalink	11	10	[ { "comment_id": "28971", "author": "CaliRaisin", "timestamp": "2007-10-18T07:56:21", "content": "50,000-100,000 amps… 3.5-6.3kJ dissipated in 20us… i think the “danger” sign is an understatement :P", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28972", "author": "Scott", "timestamp": "2007-10-18T08:02:55", "content": "they just couldn’t be happy with cans now could they…:)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28973", "author": "ex-parrot", "timestamp": "2007-10-18T08:24:07", "content": "the site died while I was viewing it :(", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28974", "author": "userjjb", "timestamp": "2007-10-18T10:17:43", "content": "I’m jealous of the current spike they’re getting.I had seen a video in the past of meteorologists triggering lightning strikes with rockets flown into thunderclouds trailing a kevlar/copper wire and toyed around with the idea of doing just that only with a weather balloon (or a bunch of party balloons) in place of the rocket. Hook the whole thing up to a fat copper solenoid with the other end grounded and bask in the B field you get. Problem is lightning is right around 40kA, but anywhere from 100 megavolts to a gigavilt or two, so I fear I’d run into major problems insulating individual turns on the solenoid.If there was some way I could build a super-transformer that could step down my voltage by a couple orders of magnitude you could get some pretty fat current. same problem though, insulation and ohmic heating problems.I’d be interested to hear what kind of B fields these guys are getting out of their coils.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "800823", "author": "Valient", "timestamp": "2012-09-29T19:38:44", "content": "I think i read somewhere that the air immediately around a bolt of lightning is around 3 million degrees. Not sure if its true..", "parent_id": "28974", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "28975", "author": "Morden", "timestamp": "2007-10-18T15:34:54", "content": "Good job Hack a day, these nice people try and sell coins that they’ve treated to the mad scientist syndrom.Then you go and announce it to the world and screw their webhost all to hell.Seriously, interesting article", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28976", "author": "steve diraddo", "timestamp": "2007-10-18T15:38:48", "content": "now try to make them bigger!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28977", "author": "strider_mt2k", "timestamp": "2007-10-18T17:32:09", "content": "Oh my…Are you sure there isn’t a pile of duplicate coins out in the woods somewhere?I mean have you looked?Wow.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28978", "author": "bch", "timestamp": "2007-10-18T20:36:42", "content": "This project is reminicent of something…Yea, here it is:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3RHoIUwqLo(ok, not all of us are 20-somethings :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28979", "author": "mike nelson", "timestamp": "2007-10-19T02:30:13", "content": "nice #6", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28980", "author": "Matt", "timestamp": "2007-10-19T20:45:33", "content": "Nice info, but that site is awfully designed. The guy should keep doing the coins and get someone not stuck in 99 to do the site", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,864.158079
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/16/home-brewing-beer-brewery/	Home Brewing Beer Brewery	Will O'Brien	[ "Misc Hacks" ]	[ "beer", "homebrew" ]		I saw this last month in Popular Science, but it wasn’t online for a while. This (nearly) all-in-one brewery was built by [John Carnett]. It does everything but requires malt extract for now. It boils wort, cools it for fermenting, delivers the brew to the kegs and most interestingly to me – uses cold plate cooling to cool the beer just before it exits the tap. I’m pretty sure they’re using peltier junctions, but I’d like to know for sure. Props to [Nate] for inadvertently reminding me of the thing when he sent in this effort to brew beer inside a pumpkin! permalink	16	16	[ { "comment_id": "28957", "author": "Brian", "timestamp": "2007-10-17T08:17:41", "content": "Awesome stuff..props to this one.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28958", "author": "strider_mt2k", "timestamp": "2007-10-17T14:39:11", "content": "I’ll drink to _that!_Well done and here’s to ya!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28959", "author": "Nick Colvin", "timestamp": "2007-10-17T14:56:11", "content": "I’ve been homebrewing for years and love to drink what i’ve brewed. Its even better when people try it. B/c most of the time they think you made this it must taste like crap.There is a lot of information online and places to buy your own supply’s from online too. For a few hundred dollars u can get a kit and ingredents.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28960", "author": "UKtheBUNNY", "timestamp": "2007-10-17T15:45:14", "content": "“uses cold plate cooling to cool the beer just before it exits the tap. I’m pretty sure they’re using peltier junctions”There is a refrigeration compressor on the right just before the tap.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28961", "author": "1 Hudson Valley Homebrewer", "timestamp": "2007-10-17T18:07:11", "content": "How archaic. Making ale with malt extract is more akin to making soup. No control on your sugar levels, and thus less control of fermentation, not to mention flavor. So says “Mr.Wizard,” here:http://byo.com/mrwizard/1610.htmlHomebrewing is a great hobby, because you can make beer to suit your personal taste, and if you make enough, you get invited to a lot of parties.Rather than this person’s rig, one would be much better off either fashioning your own brewing rig, or purchasing one from Sabco for better results than this person spent for his equipment, though he did make a valiant effort on making an all-in-one system. The Sabco “Brew Magic” system, can be found here:http://www.brew-magic.com/If you are serious and can plunk down five large on this, you can brew some of the finest ales around.However, if you want to start homebrewing, you would be better suited to spend around a yard, and get a starter kit, from here:http://www.undergrounddigital.com/beginners_kits.htmor your friendly local homebrew supply shop.Cheers… Relax, and enjoy beer that YOU made.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28962", "author": "FunkenjÃ¤ger", "timestamp": "2007-10-17T18:29:21", "content": "The cart consisting of the kegs and chiller/dispensing equipment is pretty interesting, but the brewing half is really nothing special. As others have stated, it’s only good for extract brewing, and spending thousands of dollars building a brewing rig only to use it for extract brews seems like a tremendous waste. Really, it seems like he had too much money lying around and just built it to look shiny and impressive, rather than putting some engineering into it to make it more effective for brewing. It’s awesome that the article got a lot of exposure for homebrewing, it’s just too bad it wasn’t a better example of an impressive brewing rig.For someone looking to build a brewing rig where money is no object, a system like the Brutus Ten (http://www.alenuts.com/brutus.htm) is significantly more impressive and functional – and the cost would probably still be in the same ballpark. It brews 11 gallons, all-grain, and is automated to the point where brewing requires very little action from the brewer. Practically a “dream” rig.Having a single fermenter built into the rig is pretty limiting as opposed to having multiple separate ones – and if you’re going to spend that kind of money, you should at least be using a conical fermenter for the associated gains.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28963", "author": "shuffle2", "timestamp": "2007-10-17T18:58:47", "content": "wow FunkenjÃ¤ger, that brutus ten looks amazing. so it’s $25 for the plans…how much do you think all the parts cost?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28964", "author": "FunkenjÃ¤ger", "timestamp": "2007-10-17T19:37:41", "content": "The newest (November 2007) issue of BYO (Brew Your Own) Magazine supposedly has the plans for the Brutus Ten. You could probably get an idea of cost from that – I’ve never seen the plans so I don’t know. Might be able to find the magazine at a local homebrew store, or maybe a very well-stocked bookstore, or as a single ‘backissue’ from:http://www.brewyourownstore.com/november2007.html", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28965", "author": "Ted Fort", "timestamp": "2007-10-17T23:35:36", "content": "Wow, what are the chances of a Citroen 2CV passing while they filmed that video?!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28966", "author": "Adam", "timestamp": "2007-10-18T00:21:48", "content": "shuffle2: I wouldn’t be surprised if you end up spending a few thousand to build that Brutus 10. This guy clearly went all out and used shiny new parts for everything. It may seem amazing, but for those 3 brand-new SS kettles (10 or 15 gal), he probably paid $200-300 each.The 2 pumps to circulate the wort (which is what you call the beer before it’s really beer) are about $100-200 each, if memory serves. Throw in $50-100 for the temp controllers, a similar amount for each burner, and money for materials for the frame, all the plumbing, valves, wiring, etc, and you can see how it adds up.A lot of people have come up with cheaper setups by using, for example, old beer kegs as the kettles. The frame doesn’t need to be stainless; plenty of people have built frames from wood (whether thats a good idea with the propane burners is your call), or cheaper steel. Score some temp controllers and whatnot on ebay and you might be able to build something like this for", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28967", "author": "shuffle2", "timestamp": "2007-10-18T06:55:08", "content": "@FunkenjÃ¤ger: yeah i noticed that issue when googling…i think i’d rather get it straight from the source, so to speak.@adam: worst cliff hanger ever…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28968", "author": "Napul", "timestamp": "2007-10-24T15:09:41", "content": "Informated Article… Appreciated!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28969", "author": "Ethan Meadow", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T03:19:15", "content": "Oh there is nothing like making your own ales or visiting your local brew pub for some fresh ale. Neat picture on this post. Thaks for that.Ever in Missoula, Montana I’d recommend the two local breweries in my hometown to anyone looking for great local brewed beers theKettlehouse Brewery and the Big Sky Brewery have some of the finest. The two links have some great brewing kits too that I’ve purchased quite a few brewing kits and styles from. Cheers!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28970", "author": "Ethan Meadow", "timestamp": "2007-12-07T03:22:13", "content": "I enjoy our local brew pubs here in Missoula and have ordered many a brew kit from the two websites here:http://www.squidoo.com/Kettlehouseandhttp://www.squidoo.com/BigSkyBrewBoth have some great information about some great brew pubs in Missoula, Montana I’ve experienced more than one of the fine beers there. Cheers to home brewing!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "136108", "author": "gsak", "timestamp": "2010-04-14T20:54:57", "content": "Extract or not, this system isn’t that impressive, and it’s not even fully automated.Waste of my time. Go buy an Arduino and do it right.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "297881", "author": "robienie domowego piwa", "timestamp": "2011-01-06T19:54:50", "content": "well, looks awesome!!! The only problem – it might be too exepnsive for beginners…way too expensive. If you making serious beer – go for it ;)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,864.209503
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/15/electromagnetic-aluminum-can-crushing/	Electromagnetic Aluminum Can Crushing	Will O'Brien	[ "Misc Hacks" ]	[ "awesome", "electromagnetic", "weapons" ]		This has been around for a while, but we never covered it – and it’s friggin’ awesome. [jesse] sent in this crusher, but I featured this one due to a sort of draconian copyright notice on the former. The latter also uses some easier to find, hackable parts. They’re both built on similar concepts – use a large bank of capacitors to store up the energy needed, and deliver it in one large pulse to a coil electromagnet. The resulting force lasts for a short time, but is enough to physically crush an aluminum can inward without touching it. Yet another one has some more dramatic examples of crushed cans. permalink	15	15	[ { "comment_id": "28942", "author": "Peter", "timestamp": "2007-10-16T06:59:11", "content": "Your comments: My personal favorite can crusher is Peters (a different peter) athttp://tesladownunder.com/CanCrushing.htmAltair’s doesn’t really have enough energy to give the full effect if a crushing can, and the powerlabs one doesn’t do much better since he used electrolytic caps which just aren’t suited to the job. And sam is an ass who overstates his work to get donations. Also, mikeselectricstuff has some nice high speed pictures of his setuphttp://www.electricstuff.co.uk/fastcancrush.html", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28943", "author": "atrain", "timestamp": "2007-10-16T08:58:24", "content": "This seems really dangerous. But I still want to try it.If you put a can inside a caped pvc pipe, then a smaller capped pipe inside the big one, and sealed it, and shot it lots of pressure, could air crush a can? (eg: like a piston kind of thing)that would be a cheap + fun project, and with an air compressor, id use it after every can I drink :P", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28944", "author": "Mikoangelo", "timestamp": "2007-10-16T09:14:55", "content": "What would be really cool would be to have magnets suspend the can in mid-air, and then crush it, and resume the suspension immediately afterwards. Then you’d just put the can in the air, watch it bob up and down a couple and times, then be smashed into an unrecognizable pulp. I’d start buying coke in cans if I had such a thing.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28945", "author": "Andrew Pollack", "timestamp": "2007-10-16T14:28:37", "content": "All the states around me have 5 cent deposits on cans that are based on the UPC symbol. Crushing them, while totally sensible, throws money away.I donate all my cans to the fire department. The explorer post there (a spinoff of the boy scounts) has a bin, and they cash them in and by stuff. They chipped in on a big towing sled (snow mobile) for our snow rescue trailer, have helped with AED training, and other stuff like that.Now, using the same technology here as a potato launcher……", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28946", "author": "buntz", "timestamp": "2007-10-16T15:22:57", "content": "This seems totally unnecessary and very dangerous. I love it!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28947", "author": "lonas", "timestamp": "2007-10-16T15:41:34", "content": "I would be more interested in a design that could crush cans vertically, in that it would actually be useful in the same way crushing cans with a wall-mounted device is. I don’t believe this technology could be easily adapted to serve this purpose, without several synchronized coils which all fired at once, turning the can into a very small tube. I don’t know how those coils would interact with one another though.In the ‘coin shrinking’ field, the coil is often destroyed at high energies, I didn’t notice any of the sites mentioning this, is this due to the pliable nature of the can?#4) This isn’t really applicable to a potato launcher, the force is all directed ‘inwards’ from the coil. It might be doable, but there are many much more effective techniques.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28948", "author": "Johnny B. Goode", "timestamp": "2007-10-16T18:20:06", "content": "It might be possible to crush the can vertically using a larger coil. This type of setup can be used to launch things, it just takes a flat wound coil; though the projectile does have to be non-ferrous and conductive. The coils are typically destroyed by a combination of effects, but it could be possible to preserve them if enough mechanical restraint could be integrated into the design(such as encasing the coil in some kind of resin or polymer).", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28949", "author": "tom needer", "timestamp": "2007-10-16T18:35:25", "content": "Draconian My ASS!Just because you guys are a news aggregator and have no actual creative or innovative abilities, and that your basically getting fat (ad space) on the work of others doesnât invalidate the fact that they do the work, and they have a right to protect it! Today I lost 200 points of respect for hackaday.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28950", "author": "TomTheGeek", "timestamp": "2007-10-16T18:55:19", "content": "The Powerlabs guy is a freak. “Copyright Â© 2000 – 2002 by Sam Barros. All rights reserved. Removing any material from this site for display without consent from its author consists in an infringement of international copyright laws and can result in fines up to $50000 per infringement, plus legal costs. So ASK ME before you remove anything from here.”First of all you don’t “remove” material from a website unless you hack it and take down the web page. If that’s all he’s worried about then 50 grand per infringement is a pretty reasonable price.Also what if I hot link an image from his website? That’s not removing anything and his pictures are never stored on my servers so that seems like it would not be infringing.After all that he isn’t even able to crush a can. All he can do is reduce the diameter by a few cm. I have no problem with experimenting and failing but this guy acts like he’s solved world hunger.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28951", "author": "lonas", "timestamp": "2007-10-17T00:25:18", "content": "@ #7) A flat wound coil is cool for launching coins upwards, but for a potato gun is probably not the best design, I can’t imagine the capacitor bank to drive anything of any significant mass with a flat coil.some friends and I once experimented with rail guns/coil launchers and had a pretty large array of capacitors charged to ~300v because we didn’t want to start messing around with neon sign transformers and achieved pretty small-scale results.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28952", "author": "steve", "timestamp": "2007-10-17T04:35:53", "content": "Such an expensive setup to reduce the diameter of a can a bit? And it even makesplop. Awesome man! You finally made what the whole world was looking for.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28953", "author": "dmang", "timestamp": "2007-10-17T05:11:24", "content": "hrmmm…. i was hoping for something that crushes cans like the wall-mounted ones do…or at least crush them into little cubes", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28954", "author": "static", "timestamp": "2007-10-20T00:46:46", "content": "While the term “can crushing” is used. isn’t this more about using magnetics fields to form metal, than it is about crushing a can to reduce the volume it take up in a recycling bin? Where it takes so much energy to pinch an AL can where it’s weakest, imagine the energy that would be required to collapse the can vertically where the can is strongest.Adrew P.; The nickel/dime(depending on what era you grew up in) deposit worked with soda bottle because it wasn’t about recycling the glass, but recycling the bottle. Unless you returned an empty bottle a new(take out) bottle of soda would cost an extra nickle/dime. Unless a deposit scheme cost people money not to return used containers its doomed to fail, so if you can use any any deposit scheme to your financial advantage do it now while you can.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28955", "author": "Napul", "timestamp": "2007-10-24T15:09:43", "content": "Informated Article… Appreciated!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28956", "author": "Peter", "timestamp": "2007-10-31T01:24:47", "content": "This probably uses more energy than is saved by recycling the can. You’d use less energy crushing it against your forehead and throwing it out the window.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,864.301459
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/14/usb-driver-hacking/	USB Driver Hacking	Will O'Brien	[ "Peripherals Hacks" ]	[ "game", "software", "usb" ]		[qDot] sent in his efforts to hack the oddest USB interface I’ve seen. The game is played by relaxing, so the controller senses biometrics. His notes on his adventure in hacking a driver are a bit entertaining, and definitely interesting if you’ve considered doing a little USB driver hacking of your own. If there’s enough interest, maybe he’ll post some more code to get things rolling. permalink	11	11	[ { "comment_id": "28932", "author": "PHilip Freeman", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T09:03:45", "content": "YOu know…. you could turn this into a lie detector as well, if only you know how, as i dont, if anyone figures it out, let me know i think that would be real cool.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28933", "author": "Jay", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T11:44:35", "content": "I love this kind of hacking. I wish there were more avr and driver hacks. Going to do some of this myself.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28934", "author": "Bias", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T16:12:07", "content": "You know…. you could turn this into a TIME MACHINE as well, if only you know how, as i dont, if anyone figures it out, let me know i think that would be real cool.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28935", "author": "cde", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T19:36:38", "content": "@Phil: All you need to do aside from his program is graph it over time. Lie Detectors only graft differences read from the sensors, the test giver decides if its a lie or not.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28936", "author": "hb", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T20:28:33", "content": "I think the tile is misleading. This gentleman didn’t do any USB driver hacking. Download the zipped source code and it will be evident.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28937", "author": "Alex ~", "timestamp": "2007-10-16T01:59:55", "content": "You know bais, comments like that are miller (read, not needed).On topic, i’ve only ever done a little usb driver hacking, all in inf files, just small things like changing the company name when its plugged into to show as something else, the same sort of thing an OEM device has done, and of course the changing device type for soft modding an xbox. I’ll have to look into open source drivers now.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28938", "author": "Bird603568", "timestamp": "2007-10-16T06:03:03", "content": "actually bias’ comment was pretty funny", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28939", "author": "Amos", "timestamp": "2007-10-17T02:57:38", "content": "What this hack could have been (after a few minutes with a search engine):GSR:http://www.extremenxt.com/gsr.htmhttp://www.hackcanada.com/ice3/wetware/lie_detector_circuit.htmlHeart-rate:(w/ oxygen level)http://www.circuitcellar.com/library/print/1204/Bachiochi173/4.htm(USB)http://www.emant.com/694006.pageOr just go to a thrift-store that sells old exercycles/treadmills.No foul-mouthed, hacker-wannabe, mac luser’s required.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28940", "author": "andrew", "timestamp": "2007-10-18T01:23:51", "content": "yea, the language is a bit overboard.“Lightstone External hand fucking written because the people that made the lightstone are fucking idiots who love pissing on standards. Serial is NOT supposed to go through the HID layer, you bastards!”", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28941", "author": "Dawid Michalczyk", "timestamp": "2007-10-22T17:17:07", "content": "Right, the first thing I came to think of was a low cost lie detector. Perfect for private use I suppose :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "438754", "author": "sketo hp bb", "timestamp": "2011-08-21T04:41:22", "content": "hmm conflicker that was dirty but have new for a long time now but forrest mimms i give it to you on that one", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,864.251973
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/14/3d-video-with-consumer-cameras/	3D Video With Consumer Cameras	Eliot	[ "digital cameras hacks" ]	[ "3d", "camera", "crystal", "sony", "sync", "videocamera" ]		While perusing our photos from the Hooptyrides, Inc. tour you may have noticed [Eric Kurland]’s two handed stereoscopy rig. It’s constructed from two consumer grade Sony DV cameras. The problem with using two separate cameras to make stereo images or video is that a lack of clock sync will make objects appear out of their true position because of differences in framerate. To solve this problem Damir Vran?i? developed the 3D LANC Master . It reads the crystal frequency from one of the cameras and writes to the ram of the other camera using Sony’s LANC protocol. This constant monitoring keeps the clocks within +/- 3ms. The control box also has buttons to power on, zoom, and record in sync. The 3D LANC Master plans are completely open source and work with a large number of Sony cameras. We have more photos of Eric’s rig after the break. permalink	14	14	[ { "comment_id": "28918", "author": "Andrew", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T03:27:53", "content": "No example video? :(", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28919", "author": "David", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T06:32:16", "content": "yes example video.http://www-e2.ijs.si/3DLANCMaster/Clips/default.htm", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28920", "author": "lejupp", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T16:38:47", "content": "How do you watch those videos? I managed do it by crossing my eyes but I had to try very hard (though I would consider myself well trainied in eye-crossing. Anyone remember the “magic eye” books from a few years ago?). I guess there must be an easier way to get the 3D impression…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28921", "author": "Wolf", "timestamp": "2007-10-16T18:00:48", "content": "You could always go the red and green glasses route, but i’m not sure if they can do color…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28922", "author": "Scott", "timestamp": "2007-10-16T19:23:25", "content": "Screw 3-D, I would do video HDR processing, set the exposure high on one cam and low on another and then composite them, you could get some interesting video that way.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28923", "author": "HeywoodJ", "timestamp": "2007-10-18T00:56:03", "content": "Too bad they don’t prevent the operator from looking like a hopeless dweeb!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28924", "author": "Dan", "timestamp": "2007-10-18T08:15:43", "content": "looks like the links are all broken. Did Sony have something to do with this? I was interested in viewing the demo video and in getting more info about the system.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28925", "author": "fk", "timestamp": "2007-10-18T22:44:50", "content": "what the use of this", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28926", "author": "ThePlumber", "timestamp": "2007-10-20T18:05:01", "content": "I didn’t see any reference to how this would be used to simulate 3-d. Would be great to see a 3-d projector setup. I have made plans but not sure if it would work. Play each “eye” of the video synchronized to 2 projectors with polarized filters rotated 90 degree angles to eachother. overlap the images on a screen then use polarized glasses with the lenses at 90degree orientation difference to see the different images in each eye. Pretty sure this is how IMAX-3d works.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28927", "author": "baadford", "timestamp": "2007-10-25T07:03:12", "content": "so, its like a moving 3d stereogram?i did a flip book for art class one year kinda like this, with two matchin SLRs and mirrors. the trick then was keeping my eyes crossed as the pages flipped. but once focused, it was friggin awesome.baadford", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28928", "author": "yair", "timestamp": "2007-10-28T22:03:14", "content": "all u silence, this man is genius.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28929", "author": "Ben", "timestamp": "2007-11-13T09:18:36", "content": "Couldn’t you just use an ordinary camera and then later on double what you capture with software? Is it just me, or is this idea of using two cameras sort pointless if you can just do that.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28930", "author": "James", "timestamp": "2007-11-29T06:21:09", "content": "I was wondering if you knew of an equation for triangulation – the relationship of the distance between the cameras, the angles of the cameras to the object, and the distance between the cameras and the object. Thanks", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28931", "author": "crunchy", "timestamp": "2007-12-16T00:17:36", "content": "Since I have designed 3D LANC Master I am curious how did they get synchronisation within +/- 3ms? I’ve got sync within +-0.01ms with a pair of TRV900E.However, it seems that newer SONY camcorders do not support frequency adjusting. So, 3DLM can be used only for initial synchronisation.ben, if you want to see in 3D you need to “show” left picture to the left eye and right picture to the right one (taken form position which is “righter” than the left one). Pictures should be taken at the same instant.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,864.352367
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/14/side-project-cncbadges/	Side Project: CNCBadges	Will O'Brien	[ "cnc hacks", "News" ]	[]		Want something different for your latest PC? I’m starting to offer custom CNC cut case badges made on my mill. I’m starting off with 1″ x 1″ badges made from .125″ thick 6061 aluminum alloy. The test cuts above should give you a decent idea of what I’m talking about. (The edges are a bit rough because I need to order some proper engraving bits.) I’ve just about gotten the kinks out, so I’m going to start accepting orders now. Engraved badges are $6 and shipping’s just $1 in the US. Everything is very, very beta – let me know if you have any questions. Eliot said that I could pimp my little venture if I give away some Hack-A-Day badges. So drop a comment – I’ll pick five or so at random (unless you’re a tool) to receive a free badge with the Hack-A-Day logo. I might consider offering Hack-A-Day badges to raise money for the EFF, but it’s still up in the air. permalink	114	50	[ { "comment_id": "28804", "author": "Weclock", "timestamp": "2007-10-14T23:43:00", "content": "This sounds really friggin’ cool, if I wasn’t strapped for cash right now, I’d get one.Also, this is my first comment here, at hackaday.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28805", "author": "Jester", "timestamp": "2007-10-14T23:48:12", "content": "Always wanted some Hack a day swag but could’ent make it to any conferences. Let us know when you order those bits and I’ll be more that happy to grab a couple.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28806", "author": "rescbr", "timestamp": "2007-10-14T23:52:31", "content": "Hey! Greetz from Brazil! Nice badges you got made! I wish I had an cnc machine…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28807", "author": "hrf3420", "timestamp": "2007-10-14T23:58:38", "content": "Nice site you shouldve made it hackadayshop.com and start selling other things too! There might be money in that business. You could make deals with other hackers and sell their products..", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28808", "author": "lucas vd weiden", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T00:00:12", "content": "very nice! i’d love a little nametag or something in that.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28809", "author": "Max", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T00:03:32", "content": "You could offer a “Special EFF Edition” and donate some of the money from that to the EFF. You should see how these do first.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28810", "author": "neg2led", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T00:04:03", "content": "neg wants!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28811", "author": "dan", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T00:04:22", "content": "This is a really neat idea. Until I get around to making my own CNC mill cough I may send a DXF or two your way.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28812", "author": "Peter", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T00:09:14", "content": "what better use to put some hours on your mill than making custom badges :p", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28813", "author": "forkbeard", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T00:10:57", "content": "man, if only they weren’t a little bigger.. they’d make a great apple logo cover-up on my new imac.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28814", "author": "Frollard", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T00:12:19", "content": "Thats really cool – I’m interested in buying one – but if I could make a request – on a round plate, about 2″ diameter. I just moved from a BMW convertible to a Plymouth Voyager – I want to cover the Plymouth insignia really badly. Great project!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28815", "author": "Weirdguy", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T00:14:44", "content": "I would put one of these on my antec lanboy, but the LCD badge is now a PSone screen. I could use one for my case badge graffiti media server though.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28816", "author": "ThatMonkey", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T00:16:14", "content": "Can I get one with the Hack-a-Day logo? Maybe add that as an option? And for that matter, why don’t you open a Hack-a-Day store with some shirts/stickers? Perhaps it exists and I’ve missed it over the years?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28817", "author": "Tyler", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T00:20:18", "content": "If I had a CNC machine, I would make so many little badges that I wouldn’t know what to do with them all…. but, alas, I do not… :(", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28818", "author": "Deranged", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T00:22:35", "content": "That is sweet.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28819", "author": "rashani", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T00:23:30", "content": "i want one to slam onto my integra…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28820", "author": "ramsay", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T00:24:04", "content": "i love hack a day! i love these badges!!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28821", "author": "Troy", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T00:29:16", "content": "terrific!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28822", "author": "pedro", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T00:30:17", "content": "shipping to the UK isn’t very much; only about $3 or so.Just a heads up. Ya know, because you have readers in the UK.case badges look good, but you think you could make a version in acrylic too, I have a sweet idea for an LED illuminated badge i want to hack together!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28823", "author": "lerneaen hydra", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T00:33:06", "content": "Why the nasty surface finish on the plane area? How did you manage to get it that uneven? (I’m not trolling, it’s just that I’ve never managed to get surface that bad when machining in aluminum).", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28824", "author": "feffrey", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T00:34:41", "content": "thats awesome! I visit the site daily and while I don’t understand everything you cover, I try to learn!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28825", "author": "TGBM", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T00:34:43", "content": "sweet… these look really nice… i’ll order one when i get the time.if you sell enough of these, maybe you could get rid of the ads?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28826", "author": "tiuk", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T00:35:05", "content": "Awesome idea, I’d love to have one!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28827", "author": "Kyle Yankanich", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T00:38:29", "content": "Glee. Kyle Wants Badge. Kyle always read hackaday. Kyle want Badge for Laptop. :-D", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28828", "author": "austin y.", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T00:46:55", "content": "very awesome", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28829", "author": "Dash_Merc", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T00:47:04", "content": "Man, I’ve been watching this site for a couple of years now, and through that time I’ve become a huge proponent of DIY. Being poor and lacking tools, I’ve started a DIY “fund” ($5 every Sunday night) to save up for things like parts to build my own CNC mill. This is cool stuff here, and not too expensive, either. I just might have to buy one. Or make one.Way to go on keeping this site full of the latest absolutely bangin’ hacks!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28830", "author": "not a tool", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T00:48:19", "content": "i am not a tool, i am not a tool! (altered mrs. doubtfire line [original: i… amnotacook, i… amnotacook!])please, i am not desperate for a badge, it makes no nevermind to me. if you desire, pick someone else whom you would rather give it to.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28831", "author": "Diesel", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T00:51:30", "content": "Now that kicks ass! Aluminum + CNC + Hack-a-Day = The Shiznit!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28832", "author": "expo25kr", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T00:57:13", "content": "those look amazing. I would totally get one.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28833", "author": "lofidelity`", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T01:13:33", "content": "If someone wanted to do an order, what format would you want the graphics in, any preference or are you doing the conversions? Also, any chance of bulk order of 50 or so? I was thinking like early bird perks for a LAN party registration, nice and inexpensive but damn cool looking.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28834", "author": "DanDan", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T01:16:39", "content": "Thats pretty awesome,One day I’ll definitely buy one, so I can customize my case a little more, other than the Air China sticker and the random graffiti I’ve made with my trusty Sharpie.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28835", "author": "Chris Rybitski", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T01:20:11", "content": "Selling engraved aluminum plates, great idea. Any chance you will start offering larger ones anytime soon (possibly 4″x4″)?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28836", "author": "Joe", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T01:20:32", "content": "sweet, I’d love to have one of them. Gotta love CNC.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28837", "author": "cartufer", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T01:32:05", "content": "you might want to try using a countersinking bit for engraving, but u really have to watch the depth with things that angle", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28838", "author": "alex", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T01:35:34", "content": "cool — i’ve been meaning to make a cnc mill, just haven’t had the time or money!i’ll gladly take a badge :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28839", "author": "Whitewiz", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T01:50:07", "content": "I can happily recieve a badge if you have any to spare.Oh, and is #hackaday on EFNET the official irc?If so, a few info’s/links would be recommended.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28840", "author": "kolwon", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T01:52:26", "content": "hack-a-day badges would be a good idea to raise money. i say go for it, more money means better things…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28841", "author": "fiendskull9", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T01:59:44", "content": "hahahasuper sweetthe only thing better than a hackaday sticker is a hackaday case badge!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28842", "author": "califrag", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T02:06:55", "content": "i bought one! these are teh awsum", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28843", "author": "Andrew", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T02:08:39", "content": "Oh, I just love these Will. Think you could make me a custom one for my Ford Taurus? Just a nicle little round hackaday emblem? Please?Whether I win one or not, I’ll be getting one of these for my case for sure.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28844", "author": "Sean aka wwsean08", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T02:21:48", "content": "man i can’t wait to buy one and maybe pimp it out even more, i’llprobably try and put some LED’s in and maybe use my schools newplasma cam to cut out “Hack A Day” hopefully i can.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28845", "author": "Will OBrien", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T02:24:16", "content": "If you want something custom shaped, email me and we’ll figure it out. Rounds are coming as soon as I find a good source for them.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28846", "author": "Redbluefire", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T02:44:24", "content": "Did you make this CNC machine in true HAD fashion, or is it stock? (Just curious. :P )", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28847", "author": "crgwbr", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T02:45:03", "content": "awesome idea and project", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28848", "author": "Will OBrien", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T02:53:07", "content": "The machine is a Sieg X2 manual mill that I converted to CNC. You can read about it here: biobug.org/machine-shop/mill/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28849", "author": "Bard Lund Johansen", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T02:56:45", "content": "Great idea!I so want one of those on my scooter (my current Apple sticker just make it go slower).", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28850", "author": "Drewid", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T03:10:00", "content": "Makes me want to break out the plasma torch and cut some larger versions myself. Might I suggest getting a few anodized in some nice colors as well?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28851", "author": "riffer", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T03:10:18", "content": "Count me in.BTW great site.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28852", "author": "Harrison", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T03:18:34", "content": "Those look nice, would look even better if they were on my server case.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28853", "author": "Pfiffer", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T03:19:28", "content": "I’d love a Hackaday badge.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,864.518515
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/14/hooptyrides-inc-open-house/	Hooptyrides, Inc. Open House	Eliot	[ "Misc Hacks" ]	[ "dyno", "hooptyrides", "ipod", "make" ]		We didn’t even pause for a second when offered a chance to tour Mr. Jalopy’s studio. Even if it meant a 600 mile roundtrip, we’d be there. You’ll probably recognize Mr. Jalopy as the author of Hoopty Rides and as a frequent Make Magazine contributor know for his giant iPod and guerilla projector . Dorkbot SoCal organized a studio tour so that fellow hackers could pick up some of the Hoopty Rides secret sauce. Mr. Jalopy spent a long time searching for his shop. He wanted a site that he could work in, but was self-sufficient. The location is paid for by a small retail shop upstairs plus a freeway visible billboard. It’s and old car repair shop with two bays and some interesting quirks like 400hp water break dynamometer (gauges at top) and an old hydraulic lift designed just for cars with solid rear axles. He got a unused second Clayton 200hp dynamometer (above) for cheap and plans on combining the two to hopefully get a nice functional unit. He pointed out the boombox TV he had built stating that it was the subject of an upcoming article. It won’t be about the construction of the boombox though; the article is about Boombox: The Platform. He’s quite fond of picking up boomboxes at garage sales because of what you get: an AC/DC converter, a battery holder, amplifier, speakers, lots of switches, buttons, and knobs, all for $1 and a nice box to boot. The monitor for this one was the cheap PSOne flip up screens we’ve mentioned before. The tuner is a fairly versatile and is designed for car use. A common theme was was that Mr. Jalopy doesn’t feel he knows how to do a lot of stuff, but that doesn’t matter because he can manage by doing things he does know. Take the giant iPod for example. The big attraction is that the old console radio’s buttons actually control the iPod. He didn’t get hung up wondering how he was going to send the iPod commands over the serial interface; he just bought an AirClick and soldered wires directly to the board. Other good advice: Don’t half-ass, build it so it lasts. Also, build in adjustment since you won’t get it perfect the first time. A minor attraction that I found very interesting was his Curta calculator . The Curta was invented by Curt Herzstark during WWII while he was a prisoner in a concentration camp and was popular up to the 70s. The side has 11 single digit sliders on screw shafts. Turning the crank on the top a full rotation adds the side number to the top result display. It also subtracts and does many more complex operations. Here’s a flash demo of the device. I’ll add photo links as the come in, but for now you can view Garnet Hertz’s , COOP’s , and mine . Also, look for the tour on a future episode of BoingBoingTV (not Make:TV , I don’t think that’s been announced yet ;-) We’d like to thank Dorkbot SoCal, Mr. Jalopy, and all the people we met for the wonderful experience. UPDATE : Tim Odell’s photos. permalink	6	6	[ { "comment_id": "28799", "author": "Nate", "timestamp": "2007-10-14T17:45:23", "content": "OMG Finally, pictures that are in color (Please keep color)! Very interesting writing by the way. The stuff in the pictures is very neat.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28800", "author": "lonas", "timestamp": "2007-10-14T20:06:40", "content": "wow, I want one of those curtas. Too bad they run $800 and up on ebay.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28801", "author": "Paul", "timestamp": "2007-10-14T23:22:31", "content": "Yeah I was wondering why it looked clearer then normal, then I scrolled down and realised the picture was in colour :-D", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28802", "author": "Paul", "timestamp": "2007-10-14T23:32:44", "content": "ah didn’t realise that the comments are lowercased, so my big D smiley face looks a bit odd :-)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28803", "author": "link", "timestamp": "2007-10-20T17:25:08", "content": "Wow, my father had this radiocassette since I was born", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "69007", "author": "mike foote", "timestamp": "2009-04-02T23:06:56", "content": "you seem to have gone down the path i am going.i just purchased a clayton ct-500, built in 2002.with shipping it is 3k.i was feeling prety good about it until i found out it was NOT plug and play(pc and disc are MIA).it does have all to the serial plug.i am looking for a copy of the software and books.can you help me?251-382-1084 mobile al.mike foote", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,864.606688
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/13/diy-coil-winding-machine/	DIY Coil Winding Machine	Will O'Brien	[ "Misc Hacks", "Tool Hacks" ]	[ "hack", "mod", "pedometer", "tools" ]		This will probably be more useful to custom speaker builders, but coil winding has always been a bit tedious. [iwicom] put together a simple coil winder using a hand drill, a magnet, a reed switch that triggers a pedometer. Aside from the coil winder, I love the idea of using the pedometer as a cheap event counter. permalink	12	12	[ { "comment_id": "28789", "author": "tony", "timestamp": "2007-10-14T08:47:05", "content": "great device, probably will make one myself if i can get around to it. also, i think you spelt Pedometer wrong the second time.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28790", "author": "joelanders", "timestamp": "2007-10-14T10:23:24", "content": "pedometers are great.the local dollar tree has them for…. a dollar!they’ve got a simple mechanical “swinging weighted arm” switch, so it’s really easy to interface with it.i used one for a frame counter on a super 8 camera. another mod i saw for a frame counter used a calculator: set it up so that each time the “=” button is pressed, repeat the last operation. so “plus one” was the obvious counting operation.but seriously, if you can find them for a buck, stock up because the need to count things (quickly, or lots of something, especially) comes up a lot.and you get to play a game trying to walk less every day. heh. am i doing it right?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28791", "author": "hitch", "timestamp": "2007-10-14T13:16:55", "content": "looks pretty ingenious, i like the use of the pedometer. dosent seem to mention anything about wire tensioning, but i guess thats done by hand as its wound.built a coil winding device for guitar pickups sometime ago, and trying to maintain constant tension on 42swg wire was a horrendous task.shudders at memorys of steel tubes and springy things with pulleys on", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28792", "author": "Alex B", "timestamp": "2007-10-14T14:01:25", "content": "I’ve also seen a cheap pocket calculator used to count events, type “+1” then rig your switch to the “=” key. Might not work on all models, though.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28793", "author": "Adam Ziegler", "timestamp": "2007-10-14T16:56:57", "content": "If anyone is interested, I did a software based (free) coil wind counter a few years ago. Look at the “Wind Counter”:http://pickups.myonlinesite.com/programs.phpInput is accepted through a 9 pin serial port, and most people utilize a a reed switch to trigger it.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28794", "author": "Jose Pino", "timestamp": "2007-10-14T18:09:55", "content": "Cool machine! When I created my homemade speaker, I had some trouble to make the coil. I hope I can build a coil winding machine and improve my speaker.http://www.josepino.com/other_projects/index?homemade-hifi-speaker.jpc", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28795", "author": "John Bump", "timestamp": "2007-10-14T23:16:00", "content": "Having built a lot of coil winders, I find it much easier to do this using power: drill a hole about 5″ in from the end of a mandrel, put a couple of 3/8″ sealed bearings (like from newer bicycle hubs: they can be thrashed) on the mandrel, clamp the bearings in the vice, and put a power drill on the one end of the rod. Stick a piece of wire through the hole and spin it up. You can use a pedometer or a rotation-counter. It’s way faster and easier on your wrists than using a hand drill, and after the first million windings, your wrists will thank you. Wear a glove on the hand guiding the wire onto the winding: if you get any skin caught between the wire going onto the winding and the winding itself it’ll just clip that chunk of skin right off and that leaves a big nasty hole.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28796", "author": "Dr Electro", "timestamp": "2007-10-19T13:59:42", "content": "Coil winding by Dr Electrohttp://www.metacafe.com/watch/490188/easy_coil_winding_by_dr_electro/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28797", "author": "Dr Electro", "timestamp": "2007-10-19T15:33:17", "content": "Coil winding videohttp://www.metacafe.com/watch/490188/easy_coil_winding_by_dr_electro/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28798", "author": "Geedavey", "timestamp": "2007-11-20T21:26:21", "content": "Maybe not quite as hack-y, but a bicycle odometer would work quite well. Cheap ones are triggered by a mechanical cam-and-gear, higher-end ones by a magnetic trigger that you could glue (or merely magnetically attach!) to the crank gear. I also like Dr. Electro’s spinning reel winder; or a sewing machine bobbin winder would do a great job on smaller coils.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "89506", "author": "ardinordin", "timestamp": "2009-08-26T01:34:33", "content": "i have one genset capacitor induce type. my question is what happen if i change capacitor value from 20uf 300vac to 40uf 300vac.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "2802773", "author": "Gunnar W.", "timestamp": "2015-11-21T00:31:58", "content": "Although using the pedometer as turns-counter seems fine, placing the trigger magnet on the crank of the drill seems a bit questionable, since the speed of the chuck in the type of drill depicted in the photo is stepped up from the speed of the crank by some ratio. If a precise turns count is needed, it would be better to increment the counter at the chuck, not the crank.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,864.436242
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/12/computer-controlled-lawn-defender/	Computer Controlled Lawn Defender	Will O'Brien	[ "Misc Hacks" ]	[ "visual processing", "VisualProcessing", "water cannon", "WaterCannon" ]		I found this thanks to [Mark Frauenfelder] on BoingBoing . The ‘ Waterhobo ‘ is a computer controlled sprinkler that fires upon anyone who’s cutting across the owners lawn. The video is pretty amusing. An infrared camera is mounted up top, and the computer measures motion in the image to determine if it should start firing. permalink	13	13	[ { "comment_id": "28776", "author": "smilr", "timestamp": "2007-10-13T10:26:07", "content": "Now the neighbor needs to ask him to build a second of these to put on the other side – full coverage of the grass between the houses = no more kid problems.Although if it was me I’d got with a standard PIR detector operating the camera record / sprinkler solenoids. Then I’d install some actual under-ground fast starting sprinkler heads in the center of the path. – Adjust their spray arc to hit about waist high on an adult and _thoroughly_ soak trespassers.Hide a switch or keypad nearby on either end of the grass to enable a 20 second “safe window” for when I need to walk through unsprayed and we’d be all set.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28777", "author": "The Deerslayer", "timestamp": "2007-10-13T10:33:05", "content": "Tune it for deer and gardeners will make you a millionaire.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28778", "author": "ryan", "timestamp": "2007-10-13T15:24:34", "content": "I’m with smilr, seem a bit over engineered for what a simple motion sensor could do (plus a add camera for watching latter). Now if it tracked “targets” keeping the stream on them, maybe even tracking multiple targets with more than one sprayer – that would be damned cool.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28779", "author": "23r0c001", "timestamp": "2007-10-13T18:38:03", "content": "Your comments: Hahaha… that’s perfect! I should make one for my front porch. That’s way better than a doorbell, and just in time for halloween. A little red dye, and you have the scary blood shooting house on the end of the block!(btw, there’s an extra span tag in there making it gray starting with his last name)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28780", "author": "Sgt Pyroman", "timestamp": "2007-10-13T20:41:50", "content": "What about the friendly postman?He won’t be very friendly anymore if you get all of his letters wet…:-(", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28781", "author": "Izzy84075", "timestamp": "2007-10-13T21:32:48", "content": "sgt pyroman: The mailman normally comes around at about the same time every day. Figure out when he normally comes around and set a 1-hour safe window.Or, if it’s early morning, set a switch to detect when the mailbox has been opened, then have it turn itself on a few minutes later.Or, just leave it on. Might cut down on the bills you receive… >_>", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28782", "author": "Wolf", "timestamp": "2007-10-14T00:39:53", "content": "nice, but unless he impliments targeting for the water stream, this could be done with a much simpler (and cheaper) setup.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28783", "author": "pepethekingprawn", "timestamp": "2007-10-14T02:19:14", "content": "pretty lame. check this one out:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdYc86AA8M0", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28784", "author": "Weirdguy", "timestamp": "2007-10-14T04:58:43", "content": "I like it. Yeah, it could be much better, but it seems to work. What it really needs is some kind of green visible laser, and then it tracks targets with that for about 1 second, just for effect ;)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28785", "author": "dokein", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T21:21:16", "content": "I definitely need something similar to keep my neighbor’s dogs quiet. He’s got 4 shelties that bark at ANYTHING, but they always shut up when they’re sprayed with a hose…. So instead of an IR camera, I just need to set up two mics on the fence, triangulate the location of the offending pooch, point and spray.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28786", "author": "SEO guide", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T22:04:33", "content": "LOL! somebody got real tired of kids using the front lawn.. hehehe", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28787", "author": "Old Jimmy Wilson", "timestamp": "2007-10-16T01:23:57", "content": "WaterHobo won the monthly project submission contest at TrossenRobotics.com. Tons of cool DIY stuff there.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28788", "author": "polera mopeddelar", "timestamp": "2007-10-16T14:07:26", "content": "woha.. great page – robots are cool!thanks :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,864.562295
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/11/nobel-prize-hard-drive-hacking-roundup/	Nobel Prize Hard Drive Hacking Roundup	Will O'Brien	[ "computer hacks", "Misc Hacks", "News" ]	[]		Ironically, high end gear is moving toward solid state hard drives, but I think it’s time for a hard drive hacking roundup in honor of the Nobel prize for physics being awarded for the technology behind todays magnetic hard drives. We recently saw this awesome hard drive clock – which uses the actual drive hardware to show the time. Then there’s the now classic hard drive window – the trick is to create a clean room/box so you can swap out the cover. Let’s not forget the hard drive oscilloscope – made from a laser mounted on the oscillating drive arm. Sometimes drives die, so a bit of resurrection may be in order. Locked out? Maybe you should built a lock-picking gun from a junk drive. Some people just like to hide the things .	5	5	[ { "comment_id": "28771", "author": "Dids", "timestamp": "2007-10-12T08:15:02", "content": "Yay! Hack A Day now has 100 pages of hacks, sweet job guys!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28772", "author": "waggy", "timestamp": "2007-10-12T10:25:27", "content": "Anyone know how to hack the drive arm into a sensitive (~120dB) headphone like the old sound-powered type?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28773", "author": "TJhooker", "timestamp": "2007-10-12T11:41:04", "content": "Didn’t Albert Fert and Peter Grunberg do research for governments in the field of data recovery afterwards?Could you image how efficient and balanced the human race would be if all the money and resources put into ‘weaponizable’ research was put into economical research and manufacturing technology’s?I don’t think there’s a institution in the world that doesn’t have a intelligence agency with pipelines into all it’s research departments, even ancient linguistics.Reminds me of the story of the hippy professor who invented a fictional technology the government used to dictate, and after work one day he went out into the streets to protest it.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28774", "author": "Bajasoobnut", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T03:06:11", "content": "Well how about this for low-tech hack for hard drives. I used 3 dead hard drives to make a windchime. Using an old IDE cable for the string, a body of one hd to attach the chimes to, use 6 discs as chimes, the reader head as the hammer, then a old memory card as the rudder, and motor and shim as the weight on the bottom. It sounds perfect and looks cool", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28775", "author": "jimmy", "timestamp": "2007-10-16T08:39:45", "content": "http://www.afrotechmods.com/cheap/hdspeakers/hdspeakers.htm", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,864.389038
https://hackaday.com/2007/09/26/make-your-own-jacobs-ladder-and-other-hv-fun/	Make Your Own Jacobs Ladder And Other HV Fun	Will O'Brien	[ "Misc Hacks" ]	[]		We’ve covered a few tesla coils , but somehow we never hit this classic – making your own jacobs ladder . The spark climbing the increasing gap between a pair of electrodes is easy enough to create – just get a high voltage transformer (like a neon sign transformer), make a set of insulated electrodes and wire things up. Now that I’ve mentioned a couple of HV sources, I can point to this set of awesome high voltage photos from the same guy that put together the portable tesla coil . permalink	16	16	[ { "comment_id": "28533", "author": "alex mccown", "timestamp": "2007-09-27T09:49:32", "content": "FINELY more hv fun i love hv and have several Tesla Coils", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28534", "author": "Scott", "timestamp": "2007-09-27T10:39:36", "content": "very nice, this would be a good starter project for HV work. Adding solder/salt on the top electrodes seems to give some cool effects too.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28535", "author": "llison", "timestamp": "2007-09-27T13:37:07", "content": "Solemn article. It make me lost in thoughts.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28536", "author": "Taylor Alexander", "timestamp": "2007-09-27T13:45:09", "content": "Fun! Yeah, i have one of these in my room i threw together. Sometimes i use it to light smokes when i wanna show off, but man… That thing can burn you!I actually have 3 extra small neon sign transformers if anyone in the Silicon Valley area wants one/some.um.. my gmail is tlalexander aaaaaat geeeeemaaail ddot commm (only, you know, yeah.) I got them for free, so i can keep the love flowing. :)-Taylor", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28537", "author": "John Stevens", "timestamp": "2007-09-27T15:08:26", "content": "I used to make these using the ignition coil from a car. They were common before electronic ignitions took over the auto industry. They were a lot of fun.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28538", "author": "andre", "timestamp": "2007-09-27T16:10:33", "content": "lol! I made one of these using an oil burner ignition transformer (OBIT) as well as another with two ignition coils driven from a pair of 2N3055’s.Amusing hack 2:- obtain dead TFT monitor (17″ preferably), remove the cold cathode drive transformers and hook the two primaries up out of phase with electrodes connected to the secondaries. (centre ground) :) Battery powered ‘ladder.variants include using a PCB from a smashed 12″ plasma globe.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28539", "author": "chuma", "timestamp": "2007-09-27T19:11:27", "content": "You can also make a Jacob’s ladder out of an old monitor – I remember reading this years ago:http://www.afrotechmods.com/reallycheap/Jacob/jacob.htm", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28540", "author": "static", "timestamp": "2007-09-27T20:03:36", "content": "I believe automotive ignition coils are still quite common.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28541", "author": "JM", "timestamp": "2007-09-28T00:27:28", "content": "Years ago my dad had one to show off to us kids. Later, in my college years, I took it one step further and mounted 2 beer cans to a nicely finished piece of wood and connected them via wiring to the HV transformer. The arc that was created climbed up the cans and took the paint off of the aluminum.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28542", "author": "Rasta", "timestamp": "2007-09-28T10:40:19", "content": "Really look like a neural structure! Perfect!!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28543", "author": "charlie", "timestamp": "2007-09-28T17:55:03", "content": "I used to build these when I was a kid 35 yrs ago. In fact it is* a very memorable experience when you touch it.A half wave rectifier on the xfmr input can add a nice touch. Additionally, one of the electrodes can be split into two, one on top and one on the bottom and the unit can be used a high voltage timing switch. The arc’s heat is what makes the arc climb. Pure Fire!The 18kv xfmrs are really nice. 4 kv xmrs work ok.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "76305", "author": "Mike K.", "timestamp": "2009-05-26T20:26:08", "content": "GREAT Movie! I watched it online at “nowonhd.com” the movie was freakin awsome..", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "76308", "author": "Jeff K.", "timestamp": "2009-05-26T20:27:54", "content": "OMG this movie is f*** AWSOMEE!! WAY better than the first one.. I watched it online at “www.nowonhd.com” quality was awsome..", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "76313", "author": "Robert K.", "timestamp": "2009-05-26T20:39:10", "content": "Awsome movie loved it! it got leaked.. I watched it a couple days ago online b4 it got out. for those of you who are interested in the site I watched it at here it is: “nowonhd.com” the quality is pretty good..", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "76314", "author": "Zach K.", "timestamp": "2009-05-26T20:39:37", "content": "OMG this movie is f*** AWSOMEE!! WAY better than the first one.. I watched it online at “www.nowonhd.com” quality was awsome..", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "76318", "author": "Kayla A.", "timestamp": "2009-05-26T21:03:22", "content": "This movie got leaked.. watched it a couple days ago.. for those of you that are interested on were i saw it at here’s the link: “nowonhd.com” the movie was pretty good i liked it alot.. quality was also great..", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,864.890428
https://hackaday.com/2007/09/25/convert-a-dvd-r-drive-into-a-lab-scanner/	Convert A DVD-R Drive Into A Lab Scanner	Will O'Brien	[ "Laser Hacks", "Misc Hacks" ]	[ "cdr", "dvdr", "laser scanner", "LaserScanner" ]		[bodiby] was first to send in this New Scientist article about converting a DVD drive into a lab scanner. I did some digging and came up with the details. Here’s the paper describing the process and results. Here’s a basic schematic and description of the mod. A set of samples is placed onto a CDR. A photo sensor is used to locate the samples on the CD, while the laser is fired through each sample. A planar photodiode is used to measure the attenuation of the laser as it’s transmitted through each sample. Sadly, I couldn’t find any details on the custom control electronics. permalink	17	17	[ { "comment_id": "28521", "author": "Tony", "timestamp": "2007-09-25T22:29:07", "content": "Now that’s a nice hack.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28522", "author": "michael mcwilliams", "timestamp": "2007-09-26T00:52:07", "content": "I had actually had an idea similar to this but using 3 1/2 inch drive components and a glass disc. This way is much smarter for a variety of reasons. I had always reasoned that the resolution on floppies would be high, but 300,000 spots per disc is awesome. The system I use now does 30,000 with great difficulty and costs are high (100$ per array for materials, not labour).", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28523", "author": "bodiby", "timestamp": "2007-09-26T02:55:33", "content": "yeah!! – i finally got one in!!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28524", "author": "japroach", "timestamp": "2007-09-26T05:44:43", "content": "Great hack.btw first link seems to be:http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn12688&feedId=online-news_rss20", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28525", "author": "splitice", "timestamp": "2007-09-26T12:03:28", "content": "Sounds cool!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28526", "author": "Wolf", "timestamp": "2007-09-26T19:48:00", "content": "to #1Agreed, meets the definition of hack to a T.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28527", "author": "Darth Hakius", "timestamp": "2007-09-27T09:30:53", "content": "I think there’s no custom electronics just custom software. The CDR is a standard device.I saw a presentation on “Beyond Tomorrow” a few years ago", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28528", "author": "Allison", "timestamp": "2007-09-27T13:38:05", "content": "That can be but not sure!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28529", "author": "wim", "timestamp": "2007-09-28T06:57:37", "content": "very nice!The paper mentions that the custom electronics consisted of a photodiode for sensing the transmittance (a Silonex SLSD-71N6), a jellybean reflective photosensr for reading the index/timing mark (Omron EE-SY125) and a USB data-acquisition board (Data Translation DT9823A-02). Not immediately clear whether they wired up some signal-conditioning circuitry in between the sensors and the DAQ.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28530", "author": "wim", "timestamp": "2007-09-28T07:09:14", "content": "hmmm, the stupid blog software ate all my URLs. well, Google will find you info on each of those parts as easily as it did for me, I guess.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28531", "author": "Rasta", "timestamp": "2007-09-28T10:43:16", "content": "It seem to be very powerfull!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28532", "author": "ghfh", "timestamp": "2007-09-30T05:09:52", "content": "it sucks people here are all fucking gay geeks and nerds", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "62225", "author": "FerhatAKIN", "timestamp": "2009-02-08T22:07:04", "content": "Thanks For Author ;)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "62486", "author": "Hamdi", "timestamp": "2009-02-10T20:25:17", "content": "Thank you :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "114190", "author": "quel baise", "timestamp": "2009-12-31T11:38:06", "content": "Good article you wrote, continue updating your blog, that’s nice.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "948400", "author": "David Sutherland", "timestamp": "2013-01-27T13:41:02", "content": "4th page has pics of the CD drive hack/mod —http://144.206.159.178/ft/38/11562/233896.pdf", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "948402", "author": "turnkit", "timestamp": "2013-01-27T13:43:02", "content": "It’s also here but in abbreviated form:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003267000007765", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,864.841559
https://hackaday.com/2007/09/24/serial-output-for-your-weather-station/	Serial Output For Your Weather Station	Will O'Brien	[ "Misc Hacks" ]	[ "AVR", "serial", "weather" ]		I spent part of my weekend with some sort of stomach virus, so Eliot stepped in for me yesterday. I’m taking next week off, so we’ll have a special guest starting Friday – but I’m not revealing who just yet. [Fickara] sent in his AVR interface (in Italian) for an Oregon Scientific remote weather station. Thanks to the AVR, data is output via RS232. There are quite a few less expensive weather stations – usually PC output models are over $100, so this could be pretty handy. His page has several other projects including an oscope clock, POV on a stick, etc. permalink	8	8	[ { "comment_id": "28514", "author": "strider_mt2k", "timestamp": "2007-09-25T15:31:29", "content": "“…we’ll have a special guest starting Friday – but I’m not revealing who just yet.”please be Ben Heckendorn!!highest profile hacker I could think of.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28515", "author": "mike", "timestamp": "2007-09-25T18:21:41", "content": "Does anyone have the serial data format used by these wireless weather sensors? I’d like to write a hack using a PIC micro and a low cost 433 MHz receiver to decode and display their output.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28516", "author": "hackarmy", "timestamp": "2007-09-26T15:02:12", "content": "cool !/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28517", "author": "strider_mt2k", "timestamp": "2007-09-26T16:34:47", "content": "I love these things and seeing a hack for ’em makes me think mine might be ruined very soon.I have, on occasion “munged” stuff like this.modifyuntilnogood", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28518", "author": "Allison", "timestamp": "2007-09-27T13:38:11", "content": "Then who else want??", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28519", "author": "Rasta", "timestamp": "2007-09-28T10:45:25", "content": "Easy to build and perfect to learn new skill, but not very usefull i guess.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28520", "author": "Tom", "timestamp": "2007-10-03T07:17:49", "content": "Cool! Does anyone have any plans for a low price water temp sensor/recording unit that can be used for aquariums? Ideally it would have software written in C so that I could use one of my pda’s to collect data.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "396804", "author": "Peter Harding", "timestamp": "2011-05-22T08:31:32", "content": "Hi AllI wish to put a Weather Station at a Solar Panel’ed site and I need to convert USB to Serial, does anyone have any suggestions for a convertor, I have a SERIAL TO USB, BUT I have not seen anything for the reverse.RegardsPete", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,865.076885
https://hackaday.com/2007/09/23/fon-mp3-streaming-router/	FON Mp3 Streaming Router	Eliot	[ "Wireless Hacks" ]	[ "fon", "fonera", "router", "wireless" ]		I was looking for streaming solutions the other day. Little did I know that [John] would be sending in a hack for adding an mp3 decoder board to the La Fonera . The final device has both a web and command line interface which let you connect to any shoutcast/icecast streaming server. John has even gone so far as to provide the Openwrt image for the router with all of the software components you need. permalink	6	6	[ { "comment_id": "28509", "author": "atrain", "timestamp": "2007-09-24T07:41:40", "content": "can’t get to the site, but looks like a great idea!Missed out on all the fon fun, had one originally before people started doing really cool hardware hacks with them. Had mine running DD-WRT through a serial cable, but then it bricked randomly one day. I’m in Canada so I cant order them for free anymore :'( anyone want to send me one?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28510", "author": "bmw", "timestamp": "2007-09-24T14:12:36", "content": "Here is a similar WiMP (Wireless Music Player) device.http://devices.natetrue.com/musicap/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28511", "author": "Hali", "timestamp": "2007-09-24T21:43:31", "content": "how difficult would this be to add an mp3 encoder for the inverse effect; to build a portable wifi mp3 streamer. could that decoder board be used to generate the mp3 stream to send source audio to an icecast/shoutcast server?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28512", "author": "Smith Wesson", "timestamp": "2007-09-25T00:51:14", "content": "Among the many varied applications of this… I am thinking that while I am sitting in lecture with my laptop taking notes… I might as well dictate the ambient background sound. Throw in festival or espeak for some real fun. ;)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28513", "author": "Allison", "timestamp": "2007-09-27T13:38:18", "content": "Yes it may be but cant sure.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "726270", "author": "Chance", "timestamp": "2012-08-07T21:08:00", "content": "Looks like the owner of the site put a password on it, anyone have a mirror of this hak?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,865.031514
https://hackaday.com/2007/09/22/timing-attack-xbox-360-kernel-downgrade/	Timing Attack XBox 360 Kernel Downgrade	Will O'Brien	[ "Xbox Hacks" ]	[]		[Xantium] let me know about the latest from the XBox Scene. The attack that was just a proof of concept is now a fully released hack. [Robinsod] released details on how to perform the ‘Timing Attack’ in order to downgrade the 360s kernel to a hackable version. The hack requires an infectus mod chip, a PIC interface built around a 16F876A and a software package to get things rolling. The big deal is that you can now downgrade your 360 from any kernel to an exploitable version. Considering the previous limitations, this is pretty exciting news for the homebrew crowd. permalink	15	15	[ { "comment_id": "28499", "author": "dave", "timestamp": "2007-09-23T19:01:03", "content": "I have a modded xbox (not 360). I love it, xbox media center allows me to put games, videos, emulators, anything I want on it. With a 250 gb hard drive upgrade, it is a home media pc.I’d buy a 360 immediately if I could do the same (so I could play 360 games).Do you think this is going to happen? (hard drive upgrade and access similar to the 1st gen xbox)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28500", "author": "Greg", "timestamp": "2007-09-23T21:24:27", "content": "I want to mod my xbox (original), but I have no idea which mod chip to use or where to buy it. Any suggestions? It’s pretty ironic that XBMC on the original xbox can do so much more that the crippled xbox 360 media center XD", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28501", "author": "Steve", "timestamp": "2007-09-24T00:38:20", "content": "@gregYou no longer have to buy modchips for the original Xbox. Follow the softmod technique and you won’t even have to open your box up. I’ve ran XBMC on my box for ages and have never installed a modchip.Google xbox softmod and you should find all the info you need.-steve", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28502", "author": "dizzey", "timestamp": "2007-09-24T00:58:18", "content": "@daveno i dont think there will be any big scene for xbox360.XBMC has said that they wont port to the 360 becus it’s to much hassel to run anything on it. even with this you still need to exploit it with the game crack at every boot and the security is pretty god so you cant switch dashboard and such tah you could with the old xbox.however the xbmc port to linux is starting to get some where and a media pc isnt that expensive if your not heavy in to gaming that is", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28503", "author": "TJHooker", "timestamp": "2007-09-24T04:48:06", "content": "I still haven’t bought a PS3, or X360, and probably won’t till GTA IV or another open play next gen game is published. It’ll be fun to mess with the firmware though.From what I read this exploit doesn’t handle bad blocks well, and in some cases corrupts itself.I personally find the testing being done on the latest firmware interesting. If the chip interfaces support dumping and restamping -in theory more streamline solutions should be possible. There’s also memory corruption attacks which are just plain fun to mess with; especially with obscure shellcode.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28504", "author": "Brandon", "timestamp": "2007-09-25T22:53:33", "content": "If you want media features buy a ps3 and run linux on it , thats what it is designed to do.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28505", "author": "TJHooker", "timestamp": "2007-09-26T20:46:55", "content": "#6 you have a good point, but the PS3 hardware is slower when it comes to 3D arithmetic from what all the bench testers are saying.I’m still sticking with my v14 PS2 with a DMS4 S.E. chip. It plays the same non-fps titles as a PS3. I’ve always went with sony prior to my current x360 preference though.If it wasn’t for the supposed bottleneck in BUS bandwidth I’d still be with sony.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28506", "author": "Allison", "timestamp": "2007-09-27T13:38:26", "content": "Yes! but do you have any guesses?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28507", "author": "TJHooker", "timestamp": "2007-09-27T20:52:07", "content": "lmao..My reply to number 7 which was number 6 is now above his, and my post took his place. That has to be a bug.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28508", "author": "James", "timestamp": "2007-09-27T23:46:45", "content": "I think the 360 homebrew/hacking community will never get anywhere near as big as the original Xbox. I had a softmodded Xbox that went tits-up on me (probably a heat issue from leaving it running all the damn time), which I loved — XBMC is probably one of the best media solutions you can find for any price. The difference is, even when it was current-gen, you could get a used Xbox for a lot less than 200 bucks. The 360 is coming down in price, but the cheapest recertified Core system is still about $215 + shipping, then you’ve got to add a hard drive, which now uses a proprietary connector, so add $$$$.And you’re pretty much stuck getting a new one to hack, if you’re a gamer, because hacking invariably breaks Live, and nobody wants a 360 without Live these days — and I can’t blame ’em. If you have to choose between hacking and two or three free demos a week, plus Arcade, plus movies/tv shows, all for free (not to mention online play if you have Gold)… well, the sad fact is, you’re not going to find a lot of people that choose Linux, at least not for their “primary” 360.Back when I softmodded my Xbox, things were different. Nowadays, for $250 I can throw together a PC that’s perfectly capable of running something like Ubuntu at a good clip, with a DVI output, as my on-the-cheap HTPC. I don’t need to go running any timing attacks on my 360. For better or worse, I think the PS3 is the hacker’s choice for this generation, and will probably stay that way.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "107467", "author": "crazy Friedrick", "timestamp": "2009-11-16T02:08:45", "content": "I wanna downgrade to find my true console serial ?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "116139", "author": "Justin", "timestamp": "2010-01-08T17:38:06", "content": "I dont have any clue what a “time attack” mod thing is but I still have my original xbox with XBMC running on it with alot of emulators and games on it and I love it. I have so much crap on it, I would die if it got fried. I modded one and sold it for $300 back when the xbox was super popular(Halo days)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "119310", "author": "petaamanoleta", "timestamp": "2010-01-24T15:50:56", "content": "se puede bajar a kernel xploteable desde el k 849 xbox360 ?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "608499", "author": "Meh", "timestamp": "2012-03-21T01:56:10", "content": "Better to just wait on release of softmods than waste $100 on nothing, patience is a virtue. You don’t need dashboard/nand mods or drive hacks just to run pirated stuff. Softmods exploit the one thing hardware is designed on and that is software.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "1940116", "author": "cody", "timestamp": "2014-10-01T23:51:38", "content": "question about xbox downgrading to kernel 4532 in the Xbox 360 hypervisor with the information i found about the expolit of using unsigned code if i chose to do so and the upgrade the kernel in the xbox is the a high chance it would neglect any changes it made or would it accept the information", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,865.132936
https://hackaday.com/2007/09/21/hybrid-robot/	Hybrid Robot	Will O'Brien	[ "Robots Hacks" ]	[ "hybrid", "hybrid robot", "HybridRobot", "jetpack", "overlords", "robots" ]		[Coley] sent in this port of jetpack for the propeller uc, but when I started poking around I discovered this sweet hybrid robot platform. A four stroke Robin/Subaru 35cc motor drives a car alternator, providing virtually unlimited (in the robot world) power on demand. Hit the video after the break for a quick R/C demo and an idea of how loud the engine is. Offhand, I recognize the lovejoy coupler that was used to connect the engine to the alternator. By the way, this bot is featured in the latest Robot magazine , so you can get details there if you hate reading forums. permalink	20	20	[ { "comment_id": "28479", "author": "Frogz", "timestamp": "2007-09-21T23:05:49", "content": "hmm… i wonder what i can do with that 4 hp engine i have…suggestions? maybe it’ll be the next cool hackits a 4 hp briggs and stratton upright 4 cycle lawnmower engine", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28480", "author": "tom61", "timestamp": "2007-09-21T23:08:38", "content": "I saw this in the fall issue of robot magazine. Neat little idea for powering a robot.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28481", "author": "Membrane", "timestamp": "2007-09-21T23:09:28", "content": "Pretty cool robot does solve the battery life problem even though it’s a little noisy.I been thinking on doing a very similar setup using an 8 hp briggs and stratton .", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28482", "author": "Greg", "timestamp": "2007-09-22T01:26:52", "content": "I’ve often thought about using a gas>electric scheme like this project to power a robot. Unfortunately, they always tend to be less powerful than a direct mechanical drive and usually just as hard to to implement.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28483", "author": "js", "timestamp": "2007-09-22T02:11:27", "content": "On Robot Wars they had a robot called 4×4 which used a 2-stroke petrol engine and full hydraulic drive, which makes very efficient use of engine power. Too bad it broke down in the middle of a fight, though.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28484", "author": "js", "timestamp": "2007-09-22T02:16:47", "content": "Oh, and btw a Ryobi/Troy-Bilt four-stroke should work just as well, especially the new Robin-designed 29cc version.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28485", "author": "chupa", "timestamp": "2007-09-22T07:42:40", "content": "@ greg. i would figure this is a lot easier to implement then a mechanical. You don’t need to worry about a clutch or the like. With electrical motors on the wheels you can direct drive, eliminating extra axles and gears and whatnot. Also with electrical motors you can implement electrical breaking and avoid another mechanical component. Speed control would be simpler and more pierce. With motors on either side of the vehicle you don’t need a steer wheel when you control their speeds independently. As far a power, electrical motors have more torque at lower speeds than a conventional combustion engine.Im not trying to be a jerk just giving my opinion. Also im an electrical guy so all this stuff sounds easy to me, and you may be a mechanical guy so maybe a pure mechanical system would be simpler for you.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28486", "author": "jeremiah", "timestamp": "2007-09-22T08:20:36", "content": "why isn’t a speed doubler used to get more RPMs into the alternator? Since its charging batteries and not directly responsible for the motor load, it shouldn’t suddenly increase or decrease load on the engine; it would be a pretty smooth curve that the engine could probably handle easily.Alternators don’t really become useful until they reach a certain RPM, and they only gain efficiency until you reach the threshold of the voltage regulator.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28487", "author": "jim", "timestamp": "2007-09-22T17:39:30", "content": "it’s closer to ‘diesel electric’ than ‘hybrid’ – the ic engine isn’t connected to the transmission, just an alternator‘campsite battery charger on wheels’ might be a little closer to it", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28488", "author": "Wizzard", "timestamp": "2007-09-22T18:12:51", "content": "I’d bet that if a very effecient gas motor, coupled with a very effecient electric generator, could be used very keenly to replace even the largest of batteries in robots… If that gas motor was made to run at peak effeciency, and there was something like a large capaicitor in the mix… The possibilities could be endless!I wonder what kind of output that provides, compared to a Li-Ion or SLA cell of equal weight :-D", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28489", "author": "adaminc", "timestamp": "2007-09-22T19:47:59", "content": "Very Efficient and Gas Motor don’t belong in the same sentence", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28490", "author": "MRE", "timestamp": "2007-09-22T22:39:58", "content": "It would require yet more heavy hardware, but would make the most sense to implement a starter. i mean, the whole idea is prolonging operational time. no sense running that engine while the robot is sitting around waiting on data. the average robot is not constantly moving. So, when the battery runs low, start up the motor, charge it pretty fast, then shut it off again.15 minutes of battery life or 15 minutes of gasoline, is still only 15 minutes of run time! with an automatic starter and shut down, 15 minutes of gas and 15 minutes of battery is more like 25 minutes run time.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28491", "author": "Computer_kid", "timestamp": "2007-09-23T04:06:02", "content": "It would be really cool if he ran that off propane or some other alternative fuel.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28492", "author": "smilr", "timestamp": "2007-09-23T04:35:36", "content": "Very nifty, though I shudder to think of the pollution your average small mower / weed eater / etc. gas engine produces…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28493", "author": "factor grimm", "timestamp": "2007-09-23T17:48:24", "content": "This can allow people to make bots like in the game Bioshock! Gas-powered machine-gun turrets and helicoptors (also with machine guns of course).", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28494", "author": "terminalblue", "timestamp": "2007-09-24T00:02:28", "content": "how hard would it be to make this feasibly powered by propane using this info?http://home.earthlink.net/~lenyr/pplmwr.htm", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28495", "author": "strider_mt2k", "timestamp": "2007-09-24T01:40:23", "content": "This is a very interesting project!I built a battery-powered wheeled rov that lasted over ten hours in the field with a 25ah battery.the addition of a system like this could make for some very very long running times, but I agree the motor should have a starter on it so the engine can be stopped and started as needed.The machining on that base is beautiful.The guy works for parallax too, which is a great company for microcontrollers and some nice folks too.very very cool", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28496", "author": "static", "timestamp": "2007-09-24T21:08:06", "content": "Propane, a fossil fuel, why? The days of it being a lower cost alternative to gasoline for motor vehicles are over. The concept of an ICE directly driving an auto alternator is nothing new, but this implementation of is is close to art.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28497", "author": "Allison", "timestamp": "2007-09-27T13:38:36", "content": "Yes..this is just the way that everybody want", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28498", "author": "luke", "timestamp": "2007-09-30T03:56:20", "content": "i doubt he wanted to use propane to try and save some money on running his robot, probably because of the emissions compared to gasoline. if it ran on propane you might be able to use the thing indoors. just like warehouses usually have a propane forklift to use inside.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,865.261159
https://hackaday.com/2007/09/20/in-bag-usb-cable/	In Bag USB Cable	Will O'Brien	[ "laptops hacks", "Mac Hacks" ]	[]		Ever had a USB cable sticking out of your laptop bag? I’ve done it many time while I’ve been traveling. James built a simple right angle USB cable so he could keep things tucked away and damage free. He epoxied a connector to some proto board, then soldered things back together. permalink	29	29	[ { "comment_id": "28452", "author": "Adam", "timestamp": "2007-09-21T00:04:21", "content": "What passes for hacks these days sure is weak", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28453", "author": "twistedsymphony", "timestamp": "2007-09-21T00:44:58", "content": "a hack is a hack… not everyone can be as hardcore as you…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28454", "author": "bob", "timestamp": "2007-09-21T01:24:19", "content": "Thats a great little hack very neat cable", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28455", "author": "Matt", "timestamp": "2007-09-21T01:27:08", "content": "twistedsymphony is right, hacks are hacks. This probably costs way less than buying those swivel adapters like this onehttp://www.lindy.com/uk/productfolder/07/70339/index.phpand an extension cable.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28456", "author": "Isaac", "timestamp": "2007-09-21T02:09:48", "content": "Simple yes, but that is probably one of the most useful mods/hacks I have ever seen. Mad props!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28457", "author": "kikkoman", "timestamp": "2007-09-21T02:29:23", "content": "unfortunately this won’t work when the usb ports are a bit recessed.so… why the pcb? if you glue the cable end to the plug properly (hot glue or epoxy), it even withstands some serious pulling.the real practical part of his mod is the usb hub in the lappy bag.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28458", "author": "Greg", "timestamp": "2007-09-21T02:37:38", "content": "Come on man it’s one hack per day, it can’t be easy finding 365 “omgwow” hacks. Plus, the best kind of hacks are those simple things that make life easier.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28459", "author": "mem", "timestamp": "2007-09-21T08:08:42", "content": "I can see the use but sorry its not much of a hack and given yesterdays headphone socket hack 2. Whats next – howto strip and twist wires for solderless hacking ?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28460", "author": "Frogz", "timestamp": "2007-09-21T09:14:39", "content": "jeez, what is everyone’s problem with this?its a GREAT idea, i would personally kill for a usb hub i could plug in to the back of my laptop and put it in the bag as is without worrying about snapping off the little piece of plastic in the port", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28461", "author": "Frogz", "timestamp": "2007-09-21T12:09:51", "content": "if i didnt have to be up in 4 hours i would make a instructables on that and submit it…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28462", "author": "jamram", "timestamp": "2007-09-21T12:31:15", "content": "Guess I missed something. In times when pluto was a planet hacks used to be like turn a toaster into a lawnmower or something and not soldering a dull cable on a dull plate, thats what im doing every second day. I’m sorry to tell u, this is -atomic- fail… if u cant find hax better than this… learn to internet?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28463", "author": "Kim Helberg aka PlastBox", "timestamp": "2007-09-21T12:57:58", "content": "Stop beeing so negative! If you think you can do so much better, then stop bitching, start your own website and find 7 _MINDBLOWING_ hacks every week!I do agree that the word “hack” does no longer mean what it did in the 80’es, but small stuff like this and yesterdays posts still might give the ol’ brain a little kickstart. Not to mention people who could never, ever even consider building an XBox 360 laptop no matter how impressive it is to read about online! =PGo hackaday, my favourite site online! =D", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28464", "author": "kolwon", "timestamp": "2007-09-21T16:44:14", "content": "the readers of a webpage based on reader submissions are the ones complaining that the submissions are showing a trend to sub-quality… personally if its useful for someone than its noteworthy and i enjoy reading them.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28465", "author": "Smith Wesson", "timestamp": "2007-09-21T17:18:01", "content": "I don’t think this is an XOR situation… no need to choose between the Ã¼ber-impossible and the simple but useful… just post two hacks at once.Surely google+user submissions is enough material to have two hacks posted occasionally?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28466", "author": "Doug", "timestamp": "2007-09-21T17:48:07", "content": "I agree that this is not the most difficult hack. However, it is smart and cheap and made the authors life easier. Since it has now been posted here where more people will see it, and it is so cheap and easy, it will probably make more peoples lives easier. I have no idea how hard it is to find good hacks on the web. But maybe we could dedicate one day a week to “mini-hacks.” Say every Sunday we could get a 6 pack of these.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28467", "author": "Stephen", "timestamp": "2007-09-21T18:13:19", "content": "To paraphrase Scoop Nisker, “if you don’t like the hacks, go out and make some of your own.”", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28468", "author": "TTmodder", "timestamp": "2007-09-21T18:54:37", "content": "why make an extremely complicated solution to everyday problem when the simplest solution is the best", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28469", "author": "VonSkippy", "timestamp": "2007-09-21T22:30:00", "content": "I don’t get it, how hard is it to UNPLUG your usb cable?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28470", "author": "the way, shut up", "timestamp": "2007-09-22T00:09:12", "content": "So i think this is an awsome hack. actually, idont. however the concept is great. I kinda wanna buy new ends for most anything i own that plugs in, cut off the xisting ones, and solder in the wires directly, hot glue the be-jesus out of it, and call it the indestructible connecter. if the laptop is at wierd angles on you lap, you can put stress on the little nubs that could break the connector or worse, the port somewehre inside the computer. with this, there is so much less to catch or tweek and torque. imho, this hack is a 8 out of ten, just for the concept.its easy to make something complicated, but goddamn impossible to make simple.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28471", "author": "ex-parrot", "timestamp": "2007-09-22T16:29:43", "content": "Am I the only one who doesn’t actually get what this does?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28472", "author": "mrbob1000", "timestamp": "2007-09-22T19:08:09", "content": "nice hack. i would like to see a more… scavenger way of doing this but its a good hack.i think i might just have to make one of these.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28473", "author": "zokie", "timestamp": "2007-09-22T19:15:14", "content": "http://www.ntcdistributing.com/images/UH2-AAR04-04large.jpgbetter as it doesnt obscure other usb-ports etc", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28474", "author": "strider_mt2k", "timestamp": "2007-09-23T14:45:20", "content": "(sigh)far too much bitching going on on this site anymoreIt’s a cool mod and is useful for it’s creator.this is hacking, kids. we ain’t saving lives here so quit being retards and fraking roll with it!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28475", "author": "Vladsinger", "timestamp": "2007-09-23T22:52:49", "content": "^He made a right angle cable because straight cables would bend when he shut the bag. Simple.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28476", "author": "hackarmy", "timestamp": "2007-09-24T23:31:39", "content": "lol cool", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28477", "author": "woop", "timestamp": "2007-09-26T06:56:46", "content": "it stops your usb socket or plug from getting damaged. by making it not stick out.having a usb stick out the side of a laptop makes it very easy to damage it", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28478", "author": "Allison", "timestamp": "2007-09-27T13:38:44", "content": "But the thing is that it may likes the other peoples too. Any guess why??", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "57489", "author": "Cyberscann54", "timestamp": "2009-01-01T04:50:20", "content": "I don’t know why everyone has to be so negative about this mod it’s a great hack.Pros: protects port from damage,protects devices from damage, allows you to keep devices plugged in during transport of laptop, saves time (don’t need to stop the device and remove it, can be redesigned to fit your laptop and your needs, very low profile.Cons: prototype, design shown can cover open ports.Any improvement (function,design,style,look,use)on someone’s creation is a mod/hack.For those who said positive things thank you for those negative people 1)have you ever mod/hacked anything 2)you have modded/hacked something and are just conceited or jealous cause you didn’t think of it first.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "112341", "author": "spyware infection", "timestamp": "2009-12-18T23:51:07", "content": "Wow :D It’s too bad more folks haven’t heard about this site, this had just what I needed this morning XD", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,865.200871
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/03/breathing-walls-with-shape-memory-alloy-wire/	Breathing Walls With Shape Memory Alloy Wire	fabienneserriere	[ "home hacks", "Misc Hacks", "Robots Hacks" ]	[ "architecture", "flexinol", "interactive", "movement", "shapememoryalloy", "sma" ]		When you need something quietly bending or moving, don’t underestimate SMA’s (or Shape Memory Alloys ). The Living Glass project by architects [David Benjamin] and [Soo-in Yang] catalogs an experiment in building interactive, flexible, “breathing”, walls out of SMA wire and microcontrollers. Although they use Basic Stamps, the project could easily be extended to more cost-effective microcontrollers for large surfaces. The project is well documented with videos (AVI) of each prototyping step and even includes the ideas that were ultimately scrapped. Even if you don’t build a wall of interactive gills, this project should give you plenty of ideas for uses of SMA wire embedded in semi-flexible materials. permalink	8	8	[ { "comment_id": "28606", "author": "Mike Witt", "timestamp": "2007-10-04T02:38:01", "content": "For anyone that wants some Flexinol(TM) Wire (that’s the SMA wire) you can find it at Jameco.I had seen it in their catalog before, and now I might just have to get some.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28607", "author": "cbm5", "timestamp": "2007-10-04T02:50:26", "content": "yeah…i’ve been thinking of using some shape memory wire to animate some tivo antennae or something. should be pretty simple, four pieces inside a flexible tube.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28608", "author": "Rager", "timestamp": "2007-10-04T10:59:50", "content": "That’s the stiquito! I remember that thing as a kid. Nitinol or whatnot wires on a flexible elastic frame; ingenious.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28609", "author": "lewis", "timestamp": "2007-10-04T11:22:54", "content": "Interesting, but is this a solution looking for a problem?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28610", "author": "Morden", "timestamp": "2007-10-04T15:36:08", "content": "I believe that it is intentioned as an air circulation method. Or at least that is what I assumed after reading their article and test photos.I doubt it is chemically and biologically secure when closed but I can see green houses and energy efficient singular level homes using it.But it just damn looks cool also.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28611", "author": "twistedsymphony", "timestamp": "2007-10-04T16:42:43", "content": "“3. Interesting, but is this a solution looking for a problem?”Have you never met an architect before?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28612", "author": "strider_mt2k", "timestamp": "2007-10-04T18:13:13", "content": "Uh I believe the breathing walls refer to a special effect for say, a haunted house or room to freak out those on acid.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28613", "author": "cat_herder", "timestamp": "2007-10-08T08:12:26", "content": "I’d had a twisted idea utilizing this very same wire, micro controller and an interactive pron program. Unfortunately, I thought about the effects of a shorted controller stage and the subsequent effects of excess current through the wire. Needless to say, the idea was scrapped…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,865.307411
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/02/interactive-textile-construction/	Interactive Textile Construction	fabienneserriere	[ "Arduino Hacks", "Misc Hacks", "Peripherals Hacks" ]	[ "arduino", "buechley", "e-textile", "etextile", "leah buechley", "leahbuechley", "lilypad", "microcontroller", "sparkfun", "wearable" ]		The e-textile construction kit by [Leah Buechley] consists of stitch-able sensors and microcontrollers. Stitch-able refers to the fact that these parts can be sewn with a needle and thread into wearable clothing or other fabric-based housings. A paper (PDF) on the e-textile construction kit project contains the first version. The second version of the e-textile construction kit, the LilyPad Arduino, is available this month through SparkFun’s site. Especially interesting are her instructions for modifying the clock speed on the Arduino to make it suitable for battery powered wearables. We’ve covered [ Leah Buechley ]’s work twice in 2005 for her wearable led matrix work. Update: [Leah] updated her site since we posted this and added this new how-to . permalink	4	4	[ { "comment_id": "28603", "author": "hsvsunshyn", "timestamp": "2007-10-02T18:59:50", "content": "-obligatory-All fine and good, just do not go to Boston wearing it. Especially the wearable LED stuff…This is pretty cool, though.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28604", "author": "ClechedTeeth", "timestamp": "2007-10-03T05:50:15", "content": "So who’s going to design a sew-in ipod remote for a jacket sleeve?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28605", "author": "Leah", "timestamp": "2007-10-03T23:39:28", "content": "diy instructions for building a wearable with the kit now up at:http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~buechley/diy/diy_lilypad_arduino.html", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "133249", "author": "basexrum", "timestamp": "2010-04-01T00:26:33", "content": "hi test base 3xrumeri love seo (;-P) .basexrum", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,865.391813
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/01/openbeacon-active-rfid-platform/	OpenBeacon: Active RFID Platform	fabienneserriere	[ "Uncategorized" ]	[ "ccc", "openbeacon", "OpenSource", "privacy", "rfid", "sputnik", "tracking" ]		The OpenBeacon project is an open source hardware and software active RFID device. OpenBeacon tags consist of 2.4GHz transceivers and a PIC16F684. One use of the project was to create CCC Sputnik to show the downsides to information culled using data mining from large tracking systems. People who chose to participate and wear the Sputnik tags did so voluntarily to create a database of material for further study. The hardware schematics (PDF) for the first version tags as well as the firmware for all versions has been released. Further creative uses of the OpenBeacon project are strongly encouraged. As a reminder, the 24C3, the 24th Chaos Communication Congress, call for participation ends on October 12th. The theme this year encompasses all hardware projects and more specifically, steampunk themed submissions. Check out the CCC events blog for more information. permalink	10	10	[ { "comment_id": "28593", "author": "CaptainQueeg", "timestamp": "2007-10-01T18:53:16", "content": "A question for you RFID’ers out there….Are RFID ping response times consistent enough to use the total round trip time of a ping and reply as a measure of distance, good to an inch or so?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28594", "author": "davr", "timestamp": "2007-10-01T20:33:42", "content": "Use RFID ping times to measure distance? doesn’t the R in rfid stand for Radio? as in, radio waves, transmitted at the speed of light? thus, 1 ms difference in ping times would be equivalent to 186 miles difference in distance…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28595", "author": "captainqueeg", "timestamp": "2007-10-01T22:06:27", "content": "Well, if light goes at 3×108m/s, and if you can sample at 2×109/sec, it works out to .15 meters/cycle, or about 5″.The reason I asked is that I don’t know how consistent ping reply times are, or how small a time slice a receiver can realistically measure. What I’m wondering how accurate position triangulation from multiple rfid transponders could be.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28596", "author": "Phelps", "timestamp": "2007-10-01T22:30:01", "content": "This is likely based on RSSI readings, a measurement of signal strength. It would be possible to determine an approximate relative distance with multiple stationary base stations in a known geometry.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28597", "author": "CaliRaisin", "timestamp": "2007-10-02T00:18:18", "content": "apparently what was done is the device (tag) transmits at four different power levels, and the packet loss per power level at each base station is used to approximate the distance. with enough base stations placed at strategic points, the position of the person can be estimated. (got this from the presentation papers under the downloads section).very nifty :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28598", "author": "alex mccown", "timestamp": "2007-10-02T03:38:25", "content": "i got an rfid tag about 4 weeks ago i got a parallax reader and use it to log in to my comp", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28599", "author": "Bruno", "timestamp": "2007-10-02T07:07:33", "content": "This is just another way for “them” to find you… puts on tinfoil hat", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28600", "author": "bob clarke", "timestamp": "2007-10-02T17:56:37", "content": "Will Intel support open hardware project? It is a big time oss fun, but oshw? Let wait an see.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28601", "author": "Henryk PlÃ¶tz", "timestamp": "2007-10-03T13:58:53", "content": "CaptainQueeg: Generally, no. Especially not in the OpenBeacon project which is an active transmitter, with a microprocessor and all, and therefore has widely varying response times. (Though there are plans to build an OpenBeacon based radio frequency access control system with some protection against forwarding attacks by introducing some time boundaries into the challenge response protocol. 1ms should be possible. While this still is a long way with regards to the speed of light, it should foil forwarding attacks, because it generally would be hard to forward messages between the door and the tag with a bandwidth of 2 MBit/s and less than 1ms of forwarding delay.)Even outside of OpenBeacon nobody really uses response time measurements. Which is of course due to the fact that most RFID solutions are passive and usually only have a range of 1cm, 10cm or 1m. (I think there were reports about experiments in a Czech airport which included RFID boarding passes based on an UHF backscatter system with ranges on the order of 50m.)There are papers about RFID distance bounding protocols, which by acurately measuring the response time with very high precision can physically guarantee that the tag is within some preset distance (e.g. 30m) of the reader. See for example Gerhard Hancke, Markus Kuhn, “An RFID Distance Bounding Protocol”, 2005. I’m not aware of any actual implementations of that though. (Needs specialized tag hardware.)—Henryk PlÃ¶tzGrÃ¼Ãe aus Berlin", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28602", "author": "wim", "timestamp": "2007-10-03T20:32:15", "content": "bob clarke: who needs Intel’s support? OSHW works whether or not some dinosaur is interested in it or not.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,865.353663
https://hackaday.com/2007/09/30/read-every-bit-on-a-dvd/	Read Every Bit On A DVD	fabienneserriere	[ "Misc Hacks", "Peripherals Hacks", "Xbox Hacks" ]	[ "bit", "bits", "cypress", "data", "dvd", "raw" ]		If you are curious about reading all the bits on a DVD, [tmbinc] has devised a hardware hack that uses a Pioneer DVD drive with leads soldered onto it and a Cypress FX2 microcontroller board to grab the flow of bits and push them over USB2.0. My favorite part of this tutorial is when you slow the spinning DVD down very slightly with your finger with a scope hooked up over what you believe to be the raw data stream from the disk. If the data rate slows when you physically slow down the disk, you probably are grabbing data from the correct pin. [tmbinc] even put together a software tool to process the resulting raw DVD data. permalink	16	15	[ { "comment_id": "28580", "author": "james", "timestamp": "2007-10-01T01:19:47", "content": "hmmmmmm this could help in making xbox 360 backups", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28581", "author": "steve", "timestamp": "2007-10-01T02:45:32", "content": "more rubbish can we have some r/c hacks", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28582", "author": "monster", "timestamp": "2007-10-01T05:39:10", "content": "more rubbish can we have some bl00 led’s????/?//??????if you want better do something and submit", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28583", "author": "Ben", "timestamp": "2007-10-01T06:19:52", "content": "High quality hack guys!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28584", "author": "werejag", "timestamp": "2007-10-01T09:28:19", "content": "lets do more hacks with massively bright leds.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28585", "author": "Henry", "timestamp": "2007-10-01T16:29:55", "content": "I like this one :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28586", "author": "MRE", "timestamp": "2007-10-01T17:31:19", "content": "steve.. r/c Resistor and capacitor hacks?! hahokok, im not an idiot.. but radio control is boring. theres no brains to it.its like…. attaching a hammer to an rc car and calling it a ‘bot. I commend your duct-tape engineering skills, but a robot maker you are not.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28587", "author": "darkuncle", "timestamp": "2007-10-01T18:23:57", "content": "unless I’m mistaken, you can already read every bit from a DVD (or any other block device) with dd(1) … I’m using this right now to make bit-for-bit images of all my DVDs, storing the resulting ISOs on my storage array, mounting the ISOs over the network and playing them back with VLC. Voila; instant online DVD library.dd if=/dev/rcd0c of=/storage/SomeDVD.iso bs=4096(bs=2048 is standard; I’m experimenting to see which block size numbers give the best performance)(Also, hackaday needs to toss their non-RFC compliant email address validation code – a plus sign (“+”) in the userpart is perfectly valid, even though there’s a depressing number of code libraries out there that are not compliant with the specs. See RFC768.)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28588", "author": "pc486", "timestamp": "2007-10-01T20:35:43", "content": "What is this, slashdot? :PAnyway, read the article darkuncle. dd will not give you every bit on a DVD, only the decoded bits. tmbinc is after every bit, including the sector headers, error correction, and sync signals. This hack is about as low level as you can get. Any lower are you’re working with analog signals.take a hint: this can be used to break disk copy protection schemes, which are nothing more than poorly formed disks used to confuse dvd players. dd just doesn’t cut it.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28589", "author": "jeff crowell", "timestamp": "2007-10-02T02:07:57", "content": "could this be used to read wii disk?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28590", "author": "TJhooker", "timestamp": "2007-10-02T02:50:26", "content": "The problem I have with this entry is how it’s presented in a context that gives the impression that we all didn’t know you could tap bus traces. The actual entry is cool though.This has already been done with the x360 by the way. There is even instructions for adding a second chip and custom firmware for certain drives. It can be done with any drive, there just isn’t instructions for other models.I think we all know this stuff, we just forget we learned it at some time.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28591", "author": "RusH", "timestamp": "2007-10-02T06:59:49", "content": "what about writing your own bitstream to the blank DVD?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28592", "author": "3d graphics", "timestamp": "2007-10-04T22:09:53", "content": "This is a really cool hack, I love doing projects like this myself, but I usually run out of steam before I can finish.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "137753", "author": "Shara Madlock", "timestamp": "2010-04-23T18:53:26", "content": "Well, that seems to be true. I will come back another time and explain it. Hope it will help.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "1155409", "author": "Jake", "timestamp": "2014-01-04T11:20:04", "content": "aaaaand its gone.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "2574136", "author": "Chad Page", "timestamp": "2015-05-20T06:44:12", "content": "The main article was reposted here.http://debugmo.de/2007/07/read-your-dvds-the-raw-way/Mr. Peabody voice: While the links to the .zip files are defective, my WABAC machine works perfectly. Just feed the .zip file links and you will easily be able to download the files.", "parent_id": "1155409", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] } ]	1,760,377,865.827327
https://hackaday.com/2007/09/29/automatic-jtag-pinout-detection/	Automatic JTAG Pinout Detection	fabienneserriere	[ "Cellphone Hacks", "handhelds hacks", "Misc Hacks", "Wireless Hacks" ]	[ "automatic", "firmware", "jtag", "jtag finder", "jtag tools", "JtagFinder", "JtagTools", "pinout" ]		Figuring out the JTAG pinout on a device turns out to be the most time consuming hardware portion of many hacks. [hunz] started a project called JTAG Finder to automatically detect the JTAG pinouts on arbitrary devices using an 8bit AVR ATmega16/32L microcontroller. Check out the slides (PDF) from the talk as they break down how one finds JTAG ports on an arbitrary device, with or without a pinout detection tool. [hunz] is looking for people to pick up the project where he left off. Once you determine the correct pinout, you will need a JTAG cable: there are two main types, buffered and unbuffered, both of which I have soldered up and tested from these circuit diagrams (image of completed buffered cable here ). The software most hardware people use today are the openwince JTAG Tools . To get the JTAG Tools to compile, grab the latest source directly from their CVS repository . The last time we featured JTAG was with regards to Linksys devices, but the tools listed above can be applied to any device with JTAG. permalink	11	11	[ { "comment_id": "28570", "author": "Myself", "timestamp": "2007-09-29T19:00:20", "content": "ABOUT DAMN TIME, is all I can say! (and that would be all caps, if this infernal site didn’t make all my first-person pronouns improper along with slaughtering my grammar!)Seriously, good job, guys! I’ve tossed this idea around for a while and never got into it enough to implement it. Now, can it be expanded to ports that have extra unrelated pins? How much extra time would that add to the detection process?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28571", "author": "tom61", "timestamp": "2007-09-29T21:35:10", "content": "Nice. Why not just program the AVR to function as a JTAG programmer over USB once it has found the pins?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28572", "author": "TheShagg", "timestamp": "2007-09-30T01:57:28", "content": "Is it just me, or is the schematics link wrong?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28573", "author": "pc486", "timestamp": "2007-09-30T02:15:16", "content": "This is a great project, but I’m not sure about the choice of microcontroller. It’s clear that AT90USB would be better suited since it has a USB controller built in, no USBSerial gateway needed. Even the Cypress EZ-USB/FX2 would have been a good choice, and it has been around for a while. Both chips would achieve the future USB goal, and should perform much better since they can be clocked higher (16 MIPS for the AT90USB, 4 MIPS for the EZ-USB/FX2).As for easy, right-now implementations, perhaps SparkFun’s USB Bit Wacker board would suffice. It’s a PIC 18F2455/18F2550 on a board for $25 assembled, $20 kit. Add in some glue and you’re set. There’s not enough pins for 30 wires at a time, but that can be fixed with a few extra ICs.Anyway, great project. I’d love to hear success stories using this software.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28574", "author": "Bhima", "timestamp": "2007-09-30T12:08:04", "content": "This is an idea that should of been up this way before and it’s an idea that deserves a microcontroller. Actually as we’ve seen a few variations of the ultra low budget logic recorders… seeing a few variations of a JTAG pinout detector would be a cool thing.I wonder who can develop the most functional detector that’s the easiest to build!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28575", "author": "alex", "timestamp": "2007-09-30T21:27:35", "content": "This is awesome!Funny enough, I was just looking for a JTAG pin detection method 1 day before this got posted.I personally like the PIC18L2550 (it has a USB interface built-in). I may try implementing this just for fun.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28576", "author": "phpCypher", "timestamp": "2007-10-01T09:42:47", "content": "Yeah that is awesome !This:http://nsa.unaligned.org/jrev.phpdeserves mention as well ;)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28577", "author": "DarkFader", "timestamp": "2007-10-02T00:42:55", "content": "When I can’t find the appropriate datasheets, I just find the most obvious 4 pins/pads, check out the impedance and do automatic checking of the 3 inputs. With just a parallel port.Of course it becomes less obvious when dealing with more than 4 available pins/pads.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28578", "author": "Kris", "timestamp": "2007-10-02T04:01:23", "content": "Someone should make an idiot-proof howto for this. I know virtually nothing about EEE, but I’d still like to be able to fiddle with the jtag port on my 2Wire 2700HGV router and some other hardware too :( I can’t figure out how to do it manually with a multimeter/oscilloscope :(", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28579", "author": "kocoman", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T16:12:56", "content": "There are no schematics anywhere on that site?? How do you built it?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "137721", "author": "haziko", "timestamp": "2010-04-23T16:23:56", "content": "where to find Myguide 3100 Go GPS PNA JTAG pinout???????PLS Help!!!!!!Thanks all", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,865.874151
https://hackaday.com/2007/09/28/fnordlicht-rgb-mixing-led-light/	Fnordlicht: RGB Mixing LED Light	fabienneserriere	[ "LED Hacks", "Misc Hacks" ]	[ "color", "colormixing", "fnord", "fnordlicht", "led", "light", "mixing", "rgb" ]		While [Will] goes and hides in his offshore datashelter, Hack-A-Day is happy to welcome back our veteran foreign correspondent [fbz]. She promises future posts will have far less ‘German by example’. -[Eliot] The Fnordlicht is a color mixing LED platform with free hardware schematics and open source firmware initially started by [fd0]. The system is dynamically controllable (via RS-485 ) and can also work as a standalone with pre-loaded color mixing. I have one of these soldered up and working at home; the circuits come in a stack of three boards with an optional serial level shifter board add-on. There are project pages in German about the Fnordlicht as well, which include some photos of the first prototype . Full kits (“ Fnordlicht Bausatz ” means “Fnordlicht kit”) and printed circuit boards (“ Fnordlicht Platinensatz ohne Bauteile” means “Fnordlicht circuit board set without parts” ) can be purchased from their shop , but be sure to ask them first about shipping prices to your location. I love this project, I fire it up and stick it in a corner of my hack room to add some color-changing atmosphere. A while ago [Eliot] covered the MoMolight , a color changing led project controlled by the colors playing on your monitor. permalink	14	14	[ { "comment_id": "28556", "author": "steve", "timestamp": "2007-09-28T22:57:23", "content": "leds are rubbish get some decent hacks on this site for god sake", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28557", "author": "twistedsymphony", "timestamp": "2007-09-28T23:56:59", "content": "LED hacks are usually cheap but this one is quite cool. If the circuit manages to compensate for the variations in range and intensity of the different colors to make a smooth blend then I’d call it one of the best RGB LED hacks I’ve seen.I made a similar device years ago but it needed so much tweaking to balance out the differences in the colors that I disassembled it and went on to something else.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28558", "author": "YourNameHere", "timestamp": "2007-09-29T00:13:45", "content": "Why not just use an Arduino?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28559", "author": "Gh0sTly", "timestamp": "2007-09-29T01:04:32", "content": "Steve, I happen to find this to be quite the neat hack. You dont like it, then dont post a comment.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28560", "author": "proteus1935", "timestamp": "2007-09-29T04:29:28", "content": "Lightning hacks are great! Specially if they got FNORD in their names =D", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28561", "author": "andrew", "timestamp": "2007-09-29T06:42:00", "content": "#3: that’s a bit like saying “why not just use a pic?” it’s personal preference.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28562", "author": "Jotux", "timestamp": "2007-09-29T10:36:44", "content": "#3: This board uses an atmega8…which is the microcontroller on the arduino. The arduino is great and all, but it’s more of a learning/hobby platform. Once you’re used to embedded development you skip the fluff and use the bare chip (which is a lot cheaper than using a development board).", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28563", "author": "Bhima", "timestamp": "2007-09-29T12:23:33", "content": "Oh this is a fine idea. I really like the use of RS-485 because thats so common. There must be like 6 of those ports on the back of my Mac. Oh wait I’m thinking of USB… Why in the world wouldn’t they just use USB?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28564", "author": "Michael", "timestamp": "2007-09-29T12:27:02", "content": "So would the flavor RS-485 this uses be DMX-512? This would make this project very exciting for people interested in building RGB mixing lights for theatre purposes. My German is a bit rusty, but good hack!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28565", "author": "strider_mt2k", "timestamp": "2007-09-30T02:19:33", "content": "as always let’s hope something heavy falls on good ol’ steve. :\|", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28566", "author": "tyggerjai", "timestamp": "2007-09-30T05:42:14", "content": "I can’t see a good reason for using rs-485 other than DMX-512, so hopefully that’s it.Bhima – rs-485 is used by DMX-512, which is the ubiquitous protocol for controlling lights (and other devices) in theatres, rock concerts, etc. There are cheap USB->rs-485 converters, and every piece of equipment you buy for doing lighting in a theatre (intelligent lights, dimmers, smoke machines) will have a 3 or 5 pin plug designed to carry rs-485-based DMX-512. DMX-512 predates USB, don’t ask why it doesn’t use rs-232 :)In other words, if you have a theatre lighting console, you can hopefully just plug these things in and control them like any other theatre light. If not, you may not be the target market.jai..", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28567", "author": "Shorty", "timestamp": "2007-10-01T00:22:17", "content": "Well the RS485 is not yet DMX512 but if possible we will make it DMX512. The fnordlicht can also be controlled by Infrared RC5 Codec. These Infrared signals can be send by the Etherrape ->http://www.lochraster.org/etherrape. It is also planned for the Eterrape to be able to send DMX512 but there is nothing implemented yet.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28568", "author": "a2ron", "timestamp": "2007-10-03T17:36:14", "content": "I actually love this project. I am relating the idea to something NASA did regarding greenhouses using only LED lighting systems due to the low power, high intensity and long life of the LED. I would love to expand on this idea to become a larger project. From what I’ve seen regarding LED lighting systems designed for greenhouses, they can get quite expensive (ex/350$US to effectively light a 4×4 area)…Thanks for this post!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28569", "author": "Mutant\\\">", "timestamp": "2007-10-05T00:49:25", "content": "Mutant”>", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,865.980548
https://hackaday.com/2007/09/27/usb-20-fpga-based-24-channel-logic-analyzer/	USB 2.0 FPGA Based 24 Channel Logic Analyzer	Will O'Brien	[ "computer hacks", "Misc Hacks", "Peripherals Hacks" ]	[ "awesome", "fpga", "logic analyser", "logicanalyser" ]		[lekernel] sent in his USB logic analyzer. I might just have to build this one for my work bench. It’s based on an Altera Cyclone 2 FPGA and he’s provided full schematics, source and a quick and dirty Linux driver to get things going. The board is nearly all surface mount, but he points out that the entire thing was soldered with a standard iron and de-soldering wick. If you’re looking for a good starter FPGA project, this looks like a good one. I started writing for Hack-A-Day a little over a year ago. I’ve barely taken a break, but for the next week I’m going to be taking some serious time off on a Caribbean island. Thanks for a great year guys! While I’m gone, [fbz] has kindly consented to take over the reins. I’m looking forward to another year when I get back, but right now I’ve got to finish packing my dive gear. permalink	13	13	[ { "comment_id": "28544", "author": "Eddy A", "timestamp": "2007-09-28T06:56:16", "content": "sounds like you’re going to Grand Cayman. I’m living there right now for Medical School (i’m from S. Fl). Great diving here.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28545", "author": "Kosma", "timestamp": "2007-09-28T13:22:46", "content": "Soldering this could’ve been done ever simpler. I’ve soldered 10+ FPGAs using nothing but soldering iron and some SMD flux. No wick, no overheating – entire soldering in 3 minutes (1 minute preparation, 1 minute soldering, 1 minute checking). I might post some videos someone wishes.Also, I see no need for a kernel driver – it’s much faster, easier and safer to write a userspace driver using libusb. Plus, it’s portable – both between kernel/distro versions (without recompiling) and to Windows (!).", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28546", "author": "BusError", "timestamp": "2007-09-28T13:37:50", "content": "You can also do it without a soldering iron by using (leaded) solder paste and a frying pan. You get perfect joints everytime, and the soldering paste make components ‘self center’ during reflow. it’s magic.For a few components, you can also use solder paste and one of these cheap ‘gas’ soldering irons : they usualy come with a hot air tip that works wonder for smaller components with paste.This project is interesting, I’m already looking into that switching regulator he uses…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28547", "author": "Colin", "timestamp": "2007-09-28T15:28:32", "content": "happy birthday hackaday!and impressive soldering.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28548", "author": "Paul", "timestamp": "2007-09-28T16:21:27", "content": "Wow… if the previous people could maybe link to some guides on how to do those techniques I would be interested.As it is I am very impressed by this guys soldering skills.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28549", "author": "Simon Wood", "timestamp": "2007-09-28T18:40:49", "content": "Regarding soldering multi-pin SMD devices; the solder wick approach is a little nasty in that it’s difficult to lift the right ammount of solder off, but it can be done.The better approaching is not to put too much solder down in the first place.I regularly hand solder these type of devices:1) Locate the part on clean pads with tweezers.2) Lightly solder a corner pin or two, check location is good.3) Apply plenty of liquid flux.4) Create a small ball of solder on a few pins at one end of the row.5) Heat ball of solder, whilst wiggling the iron and slowly move along the row. The surface tension on the solder ball will pull it along to the next pins, leaving previous pins soldered.6) Apply more flux/solder where needed.7) When you get to the end of the row, the ball should be all used up if you got it right. Otherwise clean off excess solder with wick.8) Repeat for other rows.9) Clear off flux with flux-off.Couldn’t be simpler ;-) I’ve seen our very skilled tech use a hot air gun for BGAs but that’s beyond my skills.Simon", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28550", "author": "alex", "timestamp": "2007-09-28T19:36:47", "content": "I happened to find something similar to this today:http://www.sump.org/projects/analyzer/“FPGA Based Logic Analyzer”“The project includes the actual analyzer in VHDL (for Spartan 3 FPGA) and a PC Software for the end user. The design employs a FPGA board that can be obtained easily.”” * 16 channels at 200MHz sampling rate* 32 channels up to 100MHz sampling rate* state analysis up to 50MHz using external clock* 256KSamples memory”", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28551", "author": "TJHooker", "timestamp": "2007-09-28T22:11:30", "content": "kosma makes a good point about using user space interfaces rather than writing kernel code. Although writing drivers on non NT systems is actually fun at times.That’s also some impressive etching(?) and soldering. The traces actually look micro cut.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28552", "author": "BusError", "timestamp": "2007-09-29T12:18:26", "content": "tj, pcbpool makes ‘real’ pcbs, they do not make them the amateur way. There are various websites that propose ‘prototype’ boards, some of them are very reasonable in price.. And getting a ‘pro’ board is quite necessary, for this kind of track density…There is an ongoing discussion at [url=http://www.avrfreaks.net/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=51595%5DAVRFreaks%5B/url] with various links and user experience, if you are interested.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28553", "author": "lekernel", "timestamp": "2007-10-01T12:44:04", "content": "@Kosma: I have tried the solder flux method on an old PC motherboard. It made lot of short circuits that were really tricky to remove without wick, so I gave up this one. But probably my soldering iron was not powerful enough to heat the multi-layer PCB or my flux was a bit old.Also, I have also tried libusb, but I wanted to play with advanced USB options (isochronous endpoints, …) so I wrote a kernel driver. But you’re right, libusb would be more appropriate with the current protocol.@BusError: I bought the switching regulators from Radiospares (also available from Farnell). They’re a bit expensive, but they work great and are easy to use.Also soldering boards using a frying pan is really not a good idea. You have no control over the temperature (which can go far above that of a soldering iron, if you’re using a gas stove), and it won’t be uniform so some areas will overheat (with probable damage to the board) and in others, the solder paste will not melt.However, this method is probably acceptable if you want to scavenge a high pin count SMD part from a board you don’t care damaging.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28554", "author": "BusError", "timestamp": "2007-10-05T21:28:42", "content": "@lekermel:Hmm I use a rather ‘expensive’ frying pan that has a very thick bottom that is marketed to ‘diffuse’ heat properly. I measure the temperature using an infrared thermometer and the heat is quite homogeneous for this kind of surface.The heat is also very easy to control manualy with the knob; I set it to about ‘half’ to get the start of the heating curve right, and after about 2 minutes I push it to 3/4 to reach the reflow temperature before stopping it completely once all joints are done.It’s fairly easy to monitor the temperature with the infrared device (target the black pan bottom, not the board).I haven’t tried really large components yet (biggest so far was 64 pins) but a mixture of connectors (.5mm pitch) and other medium to small SMT and they all reflow beautifully.I really want to get into FPGAs seriously and make my own boards with them, I guess I’ll soon have to give it a try :-)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28555", "author": "FPGA", "timestamp": "2007-10-08T22:00:37", "content": "This is goo stuff.-Victor=================Check out fun stuff about FPGA athttp://www.fpgaCentral.com", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "100939", "author": "Tony", "timestamp": "2009-10-13T14:57:57", "content": "The link (http://lekernel.lya.eu/ula.html) appears to be broken; anyone have a mirror?Thanks!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,865.927802
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/10/joule-thief-led-driver/	Joule Thief LED Driver	Will O'Brien	[ "Misc Hacks" ]	[]		[Bird603568] sent in this sweet little LED hack that’ll drive a white LED from just 1.5 volts. The circuit consists of a pair of coils wound on a ferrite core, a resistor and a NPN transistor. He notes that the circuit still functions even at .35v. The version pictured is even small enough to fit inside a normal flashlight bulb base. permalink	30	29	[ { "comment_id": "28753", "author": "Ben Jackson", "timestamp": "2007-10-11T09:02:28", "content": "I made one of those (from the linked instructions) a long time ago, and it didn’t work for me. In fact, I just found it on my desk in a cleanup and threw it away.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28743", "author": "woop", "timestamp": "2007-10-11T12:38:41", "content": "this circuit is very similar to the one on talking electronicshttp://www.talkingelectronics.com/te_interactive_index.htmlthe actual page is herehttp://www.talkingelectronics.com/projects/LEDTorchCircuits/LEDTorchCircuits-P1.htmlthey also added a capacitor for a 300% increase in efficiency.pretty cool hack", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [ { "comment_id": "739483", "author": "Colin Mitchell", "timestamp": "2012-08-17T15:33:44", "content": "See 10 LEDs illuminated from a 9v battery:http://www.talkingelectronics.com/projects/30%20LED%20Projects/30%20LED%20Projects.html", "parent_id": "28743", "depth": 2, "replies": [] } ] }, { "comment_id": "28744", "author": "Zmaster", "timestamp": "2007-10-11T14:29:17", "content": "The talkingelectronics page is very interesting. Thanks for the link woop.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28745", "author": "Bird603568", "timestamp": "2007-10-11T14:41:45", "content": "just to clarify, i didnt make this hack, i found it.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28746", "author": "n3rrd", "timestamp": "2007-10-11T15:14:17", "content": "what a coincidence. looking around for a good description of this sort of circuit and it appears on hackaday two days later.also, i wonder why my google searches didn’t pull up the page linked by woop. very helpful. thanks guys.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28747", "author": "strider_mt2k", "timestamp": "2007-10-11T15:22:02", "content": "Hey that’s damn nice!Very cool hack!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28748", "author": "Frogz", "timestamp": "2007-10-11T15:44:31", "content": "wish i had known this would make had, i built the circuit ages ago, a little screw works just as good as a ferite core by the wayfor those who are bored,http://www.instructables.com/id/Yet-Another-Stupid-Dance-Pad/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28749", "author": "woop", "timestamp": "2007-10-11T16:41:29", "content": "yeah talking electronics is a small Australian company. they make kits and books which used to be sold at dick smith electronics, but no longer unfortunately. they still sell kits in aus.the site is full of info and circuits.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28750", "author": "werejag", "timestamp": "2007-10-11T16:42:09", "content": "that what we are talking about a hack that is totally leds-steve approves", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28751", "author": "mike", "timestamp": "2007-10-11T18:37:23", "content": "could i use this for and LED throwie to increase efficiency?http://graffitiresearchlab.com/?page_id=6", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28752", "author": "hitch", "timestamp": "2007-10-11T19:45:09", "content": "@mike please correct me if i’m worng anybody, but i think this would actually lower the efficency of an LED throwie, as i think they typically run off 3v coin cellshttp://www.instructables.com/id/LED-Throwies/?ALLSTEPSso are quite capable of driving the LED directly, and running them through this circuit would reduce the efficency because the power has to be transfered to the LED through a transformer, which creates losses.But saying that i guess it could be used for making a white LED throwie because i dont think you can drive white ones straight of 3v.Neways pretty sweet!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28754", "author": "androidcat", "timestamp": "2007-10-11T22:16:29", "content": "Another use for a little voltage pump like this would be for those cheap solar garden lights. The “charging circuit” is usually a simple blocking diode to the AA-sized NiCad battery, and that wastes output from the solar cell on days with less than peak direct sunlight. (The battery is only going to charge until it reaches the same voltage as the cell minus the drop through the diode.)My garden lights have space for a second battery (or replace both with a cordless phone 3.6v pack). Adjust the output voltage to match the batteries.Efficient solar-charged weatherproof enclosures ought to be useful for loads of flea-power projects. Add a jellybean CPU, sensors and low-power RF data transmission, and it’s a back-yard localizer. Or just replace the LED with a laser diode and smiley screen from a cheap pointer, and do some guerilla advertising (banned in Boston).", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28768", "author": "Alexander", "timestamp": "2007-10-11T22:30:43", "content": "You could adapt it to work with the 3v from a lithium battery, but it wouldn’t be worth the trouble. the trick with throwies are they are supposed to be cheap and easy. Also, pretty kid-safe. Your talking about soldering, which is most certainly not kid safe.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28755", "author": "hitch", "timestamp": "2007-10-11T23:17:52", "content": "would it be possible to use a solar cell like androidcat mentioned, and use it to power a small low power microcontroller with an ADC onboard to measure the ouput of the charge pump an adjust it with the microcontroler to produce a constant voltage source for battery charging? (i think i remember something similar featured on HAD for driving blue leds but cant find it.) that could be great for making a more perminant throwie, maybe blinking out a stream of morse code? (been playing with the idea for a while)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28757", "author": "Snoop", "timestamp": "2007-10-11T23:33:41", "content": "Does anyone have the specs for the transformer for simulation?I’m trying to understand this better by simulating it, but can’t get it resonating. I’ve tried some reasonable values for all the components but no luck.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28756", "author": "Nate", "timestamp": "2007-10-11T23:58:37", "content": "This is pretty nice. My first thought was “where’s the rectifier?” since the output of the oscillator will be AC. Then I realized the load was a LED, i.e. diode. Duh. :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28760", "author": "Hello1024", "timestamp": "2007-10-12T01:41:45", "content": "snoop: what are you using to simulate – some software like livewire will never resonate unless you trigger resonation (ie. with a pulse from a switch).", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28758", "author": "Wolf", "timestamp": "2007-10-12T01:51:03", "content": "wonder if this would be able to drive anything but leds?(it would be great to be able to run a microcontroller on a single battery without having to build a voltage doubler)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28759", "author": "Nate", "timestamp": "2007-10-12T02:41:41", "content": "wolf: this would be a bad way to power a microcontroller. There would be high frequency glitches on its Vcc line due to the constant switching of the transistor. It only works for a light because your eye can’t see the high speed pulsing.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28762", "author": "MindTrap", "timestamp": "2007-10-12T02:43:15", "content": "I wonder if it is possible to use an electret or an RF antenna that collects enough energy to power an LED using a circuit like this. I’m thinking about a light that requires no battery and runs 24/7 off of energy from the environment outside of the spectrum that’s used in solar cell collecters.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28761", "author": "woop", "timestamp": "2007-10-12T03:22:33", "content": "you could make a cheap led throwie using a zinc battery instead of a lithium battI wonder if it could be made completely SMD small enough to fit in a mini maglight. the ones which run off AAA’s", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28763", "author": "medix", "timestamp": "2007-10-12T05:15:49", "content": "The circuit pictured above is actually a simplified form of a boost converter. The LED should be replaced with a diode and capacitor to ground (10uF tantalum worked well for me – both components are in series. The output is taken between the diode and the cap. With 1.5V input and using the specs provided on the site, I was able to get about 26.8 volts out (this is open circuit voltage) and using a 2n3904 instead of the BC series transistor listed. With an LED on the output, the voltage drops to about 2V (the narrow gague wire limits the current the circuit can drive). Without the modifications that I’ve mentioned, I was getting about 2.67 V open circuit with 1.5V input. The scoped output showed pretty high voltage spikes (higher than I could measure on the scope) so I don’t know what the instantaneous peak is until I can find a 10x probe. I’m building another one tomorrow out of heavier gauge wire and an IRFZ40 to see if I can drive a heavier load (like a DC motor)..", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28764", "author": "Snoop", "timestamp": "2007-10-12T08:44:45", "content": "I’m using LTspice, it’s designed to do switching power supplies so I’m not expecting a problem there. For the excitation, I’m driving it with a pulse with a fast rise time (1ns to 40ns).I’m at the point now where I can get it ringing a bit, the capacitor below the diode helped. But still a significant current through the diode. Any thoughts? Has anyone simulated this? If so, how’d you set it up?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28765", "author": "waggy", "timestamp": "2007-10-12T09:43:18", "content": "i’ve done some experimenting with this circuit, trying a couple of dozen coils and some oddball transistors and such. what i have posted isn’t ready for prime time, but if you’re interested, add my nick to your search to find it.bottom line: add the cap and diode medix suggested. Just solder a 2-10 uF tantalum SMD across the led (the right way, please) and use a Schottky; it’s worth it. Oh, and with a germanium transistor you can boost a voltage as low as 0.150V to a more useful level.@mike You won’t increase efficiency but have an outside chance of increasing the runtime of a lithium battery if you use enough LEDs in series so their added voltage drops are greater than the 3v lithium. But, you can use this circuit if your throwies use lower-voltage batts.@hitch You got it. Many white LEDs will work fine off of 3v lithiums, so don’t use this circuit.@ben jackson the core must be ferrite (many of the colored toroids are iron powder), unless your transistor will work at fairly high frequency. Also, you need to find the right resistor value for the inductor and transistor used.@androidcat @hitch please submit those hacks for posting here. try zener (or better) regulation. this thing seems to act like a ‘constant power’ source. whatever power your component selection draws from a given voltage (less its inefficiency) it will try to deliver it all to the load. it can and will fry things, believe it or not.@nate a zener and a nice fat cap should smooth things nicely.@MindTrap this circuit prefers a very low-impedance (low voltage, relatively high current) source. most rf will be fairly high impedance; you may be better off with a rectifier and a supercap. i’ve read reports of supercaps getting charged this way to well above the useful input voltage of this circuit.@medix i’ve found transistors rated to handle at least 5x the desired current are necessary to minimize the circuit’s input impedance. a low-threshold mosfet is very efficient, but its 4-ohm on-resistance results in an average 30-ohm impedance and seriously limits the current (at 1.2v!) the circuit can draw.@Snoop i used a simple online java applet, but had to increase the inductor size to around 5 mH (0.005 H) to get oscillation rate slow enough for the software to handle. actual inductors i’ve used successfully (with the right transistor/resistor combo) range from", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28766", "author": "waggy", "timestamp": "2007-10-12T09:51:30", "content": "[Actual inductors i’ve used] range from", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28767", "author": "waggy", "timestamp": "2007-10-12T09:54:00", "content": "[Actual inductors i’ve used] range from less than 5 uH to 3000 uH, but 300-500 uH works best. (these measurements are of one coil, half of the total windings.)[Again my apologies. it was barfing on the less than symbol. doh! my bad.]", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28769", "author": "Gerry B", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T20:47:11", "content": "With a ZTX653 transistor, I used this to light one of the luxeon LEDs, but at a reduced current of 125 mA.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28770", "author": "Grant", "timestamp": "2007-11-12T04:40:31", "content": "What would be the best way to light up a Throwie using a AA battery.Im looking to make a very long lasting and heavy throwie.Thanks,Grant.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "62214", "author": "browncrdboard", "timestamp": "2009-02-08T18:27:40", "content": "WaggyI love the work you have done with these circuits. I am haivng difficulty reading some of your wiring diagrams on your website. Anyway I could ge you to re-draw one of them on a napkin and snap a photo of it?Otherwise excellent work!thanks", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,866.040641
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/09/pulse-soldering-iron/	Pulse Soldering Iron	Will O'Brien	[ "Misc Hacks" ]	[ "diy", "pulse soldering", "PulseSoldering", "soldering", "transformer" ]		I’m always interested in new ways to solder. [SPman] sent in this diy pulse soldering iron. It heats up in 5 seconds on demand, then cools in about 15. The writeup is a bit terse (since it’s translated from Russian), but it would definitely be handy for larger wiring jobs. The transformer is hand wound, and an oscillation driver forms a sort of crude frequency modulation to run the MOSFETS that drive the heating elements. I’d keep it away from delicate electronics unless you’re confidant of the temperature stability. It was designed for 220V, so you’d need to modify the transformer a bit to get similar performance on a 110V circuit. permalink	28	28	[ { "comment_id": "28715", "author": "FlyingAvatar", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T06:40:43", "content": "Isn’t this the same as those “Cold Heat” soldering irons which pretty much suck for real soldering?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28716", "author": "deadfool", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T06:47:30", "content": "uuhh id keep it away from pretty much anything but resistors since its not grounded", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28717", "author": "n3rrd", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T07:17:40", "content": "i’d assume that ‘delicate electronics’ covers anything that is static sensitive…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28718", "author": "digidelia", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T07:38:25", "content": "am i the only one that would be afraid to use that thingsomething about holding a homemade 100w transformer in your hand", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28719", "author": "atrain", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T07:53:30", "content": "Cosmetics: “coating PCB with painting in order to prevent short-circuit (anyway youâll be holding device in your hands).”Don’t worry, if it not go good, your body act as a ground. No trouble! I am actually scared of this guy: one of the few hackers that I would probably avoid meeting in public. (Images of bare wires going into 120v wall sockets come to mind around now)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28720", "author": "luigi", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T09:28:18", "content": "ummm…..eek?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28721", "author": "abbott", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T09:29:27", "content": "interesting concept… no way in hell im using that thing", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28722", "author": "frodus", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T09:38:06", "content": "Deadfool, all the soldering Irons I’ve worked with aren’t grounded… whats your point? When soldering electronics, you should use a ground strap. Soldering irons are not a source of ground, in fact, can be isolated with transformers.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28723", "author": "Spongy", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T11:00:47", "content": "ok, i am honestly scared now, can we remove this or somthing?this is so scary.. it makes me think of the early electronics, you know, paper covered lead wire, all sparking and red hot? like in the moviesi suddenly feel coldshivers", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28724", "author": "Zengar", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T13:01:17", "content": "Hey, my parents house still has some knob and tube wiring in it, and it hasn’t burned down yet :)Yeah, neat idea and I might build one because it looks horifying in a good way, but use it for anything important, heck no.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28725", "author": "Bird603568", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T14:59:46", "content": "its not the temperature that scares me, its that the heating element isn’t grounded. and will is taking about keeping it away because the temp isnt stable.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28726", "author": "Bird603568", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T15:02:58", "content": "awe shit i posted my first post under the wrong name. the 9# post, im referring to the 1st post", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28727", "author": "Morden", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T15:43:53", "content": "I’m assuming that he eitherA: Forgot to show the ground on schematicB: Is an idiotAll euro outlets are grounded (FOR A GOOD 220v reason), I was also under the impression that most (if not all) european plugs came with the ground connector.Heh, I was laughing at all of you freaking out about 120v being ungrounded and not thinking about his 220v connection where he lives.But just to freak you out more, when I was REAL young I did pretty much the same thing….and yes, wires will explode in your hands (MYTH CONFIRMED).", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28728", "author": "sly", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T15:48:15", "content": "don’t even need to use it… just build the thing for freaking out your friends by making your workbench look even more mad scientist… muhahahahahahaha!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28729", "author": "Dave", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T16:20:58", "content": "Its really no different than this:http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062752Which has its uses. Note that anything you make and plug into an electrical outlet will be inherently dangerous without adequate testing. Use common sense.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28730", "author": "Bird603568", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T17:23:33", "content": "dave, ive been told by at a few people not to use the guns because they run current through the tips to heat them up. same thing with the cold heat POS. personally i use thishttp://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=15140+TLwhich has a grounded tip so there shouldnt be any static and what not.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28731", "author": "chupa", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T17:38:57", "content": "best thing i ever did was chuck my radio shack fire starter and get an aoyue soldering station", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28732", "author": "strider_mt2k", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T18:31:37", "content": "Somebody send this guy a 9.00 soldering kit from Radio Shack before he burns the house down please!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28733", "author": "Bird603568", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T18:44:12", "content": "frodus, the point of a grounded iron is so that it doesnt build up a charge on the iron. the point of a grounded tip isnt so you dont get shocked or you spark on them its so the iron doesnt. and using an anti static band wont do shit for the iron since 99% of irons are plastic (insulator) handles. so unless you are holding it by the shaft its doesnt help the iron", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28734", "author": "jeicrash", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T20:29:57", "content": "I’ll stick with butane soldering irons for now. But this is cheaper to do than the “DIY” Car kit from yesterday", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28735", "author": "n00nen0se", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T22:13:26", "content": "In Soviet Russia, iron solders YOU!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28736", "author": "HeBD", "timestamp": "2007-10-11T03:09:24", "content": "wow! a dim little light to help you see better.. i wonder what kind of dark little Soviet lab he works in?cant say i understand exactly what the chip does in this circet. if 100hz is to high a frequence then he made some mistakes in his memtal arithmatic.i dont see what the problem is with the ungrounded tip unless it gets shorted to 220v somehow. realy you could use this for working on live circets.also 220v rectified and smoothed looks more like 310v…. i wonder what kind of paint he used? not anything they have in shops in australia!!much better that the car building they had yesterday. were was the design download? i wanted to read about how the suspention system was engineered!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28737", "author": "atrain", "timestamp": "2007-10-11T04:32:33", "content": "zengar: I trust knob+tube better than what came after it. While the insulation may be paper, at least the wires were usually suspended. I’ve seen houses that were built after knob+tube era was over, but still with paper insulation. Difference is, if loose dry plaster and stuff is at the bottom of the wall where the old burnt wire is lying, better chance of that catching fire then a wire suspended in the air, wrapped in old burnt paper. Both are troublesome, but I think knob+tube has some advantages.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28738", "author": "TJhooker", "timestamp": "2007-10-11T04:54:20", "content": "Post apocalyptic electrical engineering at it’s finest.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28739", "author": "Wolf", "timestamp": "2007-10-11T06:26:31", "content": "Up next, a matching defibrillator for when you inevitably slip with that thing.On a separate note, reminds me of these:http://www.afrigadget.com/2007/06/03/home-made-welding-machine/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28740", "author": "dave", "timestamp": "2007-10-11T15:30:54", "content": "Bird603568,Good point- and you are correct. Any fet input is bound to be extra sensitive to something like this. However, if you need to solder lugs onto #0 or 2/0 jumper cables, then something this thing comes in handy!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28741", "author": "DrFel", "timestamp": "2007-10-11T19:19:57", "content": "I don’t see how it’s a hack or any sort of innovation.I had my first weller soldering gun when I was 10 and it still works fine. This might have been a breakthrough in the 1930’s but it’s just a dangerous thing to have around now.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28742", "author": "me", "timestamp": "2007-10-11T23:28:42", "content": "I know most of you know this already but.Soldering can be used for a lot besides electronics.You can repair glasses and jewelry.I like my soldering gun instead of the iron for anythiung big enough because it heats up so fast.I only use the iron for very small pieces .A propane torch can be used for bigger stuff .You can solder steel with the type of solder they use for car radiators.You have to have the right solder and flux for the right material.For a stronger bond you can move up to brazing ,which requires a hotter gas than propane ,like map gas. For anything stronger you can weld .I’m looking into modifying a 105 amp GM alternator to weld with it. If it works it will save a bunch.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,866.364334
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/08/build-your-own-car-from-scratch/	Build Your Own Car… From Scratch	Will O'Brien	[ "Transportation Hacks" ]	[ "builld your own", "BuilldYourOwn", "diy car", "DiyCar" ]		Most of us settle for modding the latest car we’ve bought. [Steve Graber] took another approach and built his own car from scratch. [John] sent in this impressive project. The original was built around Toyota MR2 parts and the body was made from fiberglass after the design was hand made from a wooden support frame, foam and drywall mud that was sanded down to create the shape. After that, molds were made from the slug to allow the panels to be cast from fiberglass. [Steve] is actually offering the car up as a build-it-yourself kit . Personally, I’d like the see the price come down a bit – the 1,500lb street weight would make a sweet basis for an electric car. Bonus: If you’d doing EVs, bots or R/C toys, you might like this comparison of the latest breed of Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries by [Ian Hooper]. permalink	42	42	[ { "comment_id": "28682", "author": "Steffen Hunt", "timestamp": "2007-10-09T06:13:09", "content": "I was looking at the battery charger circuit and I saw it had a 7805 which if my memory services right, is a linear voltage regulator. I avoid those now, because they are typically very inefficient. Could one use a switching regulator, like the ones max makes. They seem to an awesome job, and i have tons of them sitting around in my room. You can get tons of them for free if you are like that (which I am).", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28683", "author": "alex mccown", "timestamp": "2007-10-09T06:54:47", "content": "HOLY SHIT thats nice", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28684", "author": "jake", "timestamp": "2007-10-09T08:57:03", "content": "amazing. fiberglass is sweet, until he hits a bump or something and shatters part of it.still nice none the less", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28685", "author": "chewy", "timestamp": "2007-10-09T11:04:22", "content": "steffen: what 5v regulators are you refering to?and a bit more on topic, there is another company in indiana that is going to start selling a similar car but more of an indy/f1 racing style soon very similar to this.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28686", "author": "nate", "timestamp": "2007-10-09T15:00:05", "content": "@4i may have to check into that, im living in indy right now! haven’t heard anything about it yet tho.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28687", "author": "dave", "timestamp": "2007-10-09T15:00:32", "content": "But if you want someone else to build it for you and have got a spare Â£30K, then take a look at the hand built and designed Javan R1 sports car athttp://www.javansportscars.com/Made from honeycomb aluminimum construction with a 220bhp Honda iVtec engine, it weighs in at 670Kg and does 0-60mph in 3.6 seconds.Impressive huh?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28688", "author": "HE3r0", "timestamp": "2007-10-09T15:28:17", "content": "http://www.7builder.com/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28689", "author": "Alexander", "timestamp": "2007-10-09T17:22:45", "content": "Yes. Daddy likes…Now get rid of that nasty ICE and put in a sweet brushless electric, with some LiFePO Batteries…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28690", "author": "TJhooker", "timestamp": "2007-10-09T18:38:29", "content": "lol, even if you thick resin and wax fiberglass it still gradually rots. It also deteriorates urethanes and enamels when heated which means shotty paint in a matter of years. I’ve seen it happen to professionally done urethane acrylic paint in a matter of 3 years even with routine waxing just under regular sunlight.I also like the design, but I’d use polymers and improve the circuits. Also use solar and a couple deep cycles. LIPO would be like sitting on a corrosive bomb.I love how every ignores the most low yield energy source in the world: solar.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28691", "author": "coyoteboy", "timestamp": "2007-10-09T20:06:31", "content": "Theres nowt wrong with fibreglass, with the correct prep it’ll last a damn sight longer than metal bodies do. There are TVRs knocking about from the early 80’s with original body and paint, full fibreglass. With modern epoxies problems are minimised even further. F/glass only rots when left unsealed in humid/wet conditions for long periods, it is, after all, just glass and plastic mixed.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28692", "author": "Jordan", "timestamp": "2007-10-09T21:43:11", "content": "For 25k you get pretty much everything you need, except the engine, tranny, paint, and basically everything else you would need… Hell, I’d drive a cardboard box around if it could do 12 sec 1/4 miles. why spend so much without even getting an engine?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28693", "author": "TJhooker", "timestamp": "2007-10-09T22:07:41", "content": "Like I said: solid polymer for the body, and improve the electrical. We’re talking about communications satellites for NASA, just a electric car with a neat looking body, and tuner wheels.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28694", "author": "static", "timestamp": "2007-10-09T23:32:10", "content": "I haven’t been following the kit car world for years, so I don’t have a clue, how this stacks up with whatever else is available to mod into an EV. I’m not so sure if fiberglass has all the drawbacks posted here it would be in such wide spread use.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28695", "author": "Steve Graber", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T01:34:15", "content": "So this is where all the traffic to my website is coming from! Thanks for the mention Hack-A-Day!If you spend even 5 minutes on my website and get into the diary you will see that I have thousands of photos, and hundreds of diary entries detailing every phase of my build saga covering 5 years. The car was built almost entirely in 1/2 of a 2 car garage using the most basic metalworking tools. I designed and built the frame, suspension, and bodywork myself. One person – Solo. It is a big accomplishment if I say so myself. (pats back)I feel the need to clarify something that seems to pop up often on these types of comment areas about my car, or any handcrafted low production volume automobile for that matter. When you build a single car or even 10 cars from scratch, you do not have the benefit of the economies of scale that come from mass production. Therefore you can’t expect the car to cost $5,000.One only has to realize that even a lightweight car such as La Bala requires a huge number of components and a huge amount of time/effort to build. Every last nut and bolt does cost SOMETHING, and it has to be sourced from somewhere after all! I have a filing cabinet just for receipts. So until you get into it I guess you don’t know what it costs. I am here to set that record straight right now.I would like to point out to Jordan that the reason for offering the car without the engine is that you can choose an engine that you prefer. I know that people have a preferred brand and La Bala is unique in that it has been designed to accept ANY FWD drivetrain in a mid-engine configuration! You like Honda? it fits, Toyota? go for it! GM Ecotec? great choice. Are you starting to see how this works? A crate GM EcotecSS outputting 245HP can be ordered from the GM catalog for $2,500. Bolt it into a La Bala and you have a 1,500Lb mid-engine sportscar that is totally unique (and not too shabby looking IMHO) that will do high-11’s in the 1/4, 0-60 in the low 4’s or high 3’s, stop and turn on a dime and cost less than $30,000! Too expensive? Gimme a break. The Ariel Atom starts at $60,000!The track version of La Bala that I am offering is different from the street version and is comprised of all-new race car components. It is made from the highest quality materials. And, if you don’t want a track car, then the street version (shown above) based on the MKI MR2 can be built for about 1/2 the cost of the track version, but you have to build it yourself using my plans. So get out your angle grinder, band saw and your welder because you really can build your own la Bala!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28696", "author": "Spike", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T02:07:34", "content": "Have the glass-haters never seen a Corvette?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28697", "author": "chewy", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T04:18:26", "content": "the indy car one i was talking about is here, they have the prototype done but the website is not updated just yethttp://www.indy-motorsports.com/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28698", "author": "TJhooker", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T05:23:39", "content": "“Have the glass-haters never seen a Corvette?”Ever seen one of those models after an accident? I have. The engine went threw the taillights. Also try looking at one that is poorly maintained or a daily driver, my previous statements are still going to hold true.For 25k I’d buy a 07 impreza and convert it to electric, or one of the other 07 tuner cars you can get for that: civic si, rx8 etc..", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28699", "author": "TheKhakinator", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T06:53:48", "content": "The point is, that this car is less than half the weight of your average car. Things like RX8s, Imprezas, are all around 1400 KG, as opposed to this car at 670 KG. I’m not sure if that weight figure includes an engine or not (I believe that figure includes the 4AGE engine). If it doesn’t, add an engine and you’re still around 800KG which is damn light. That gives it brilliant power-to-weight for a low price. Compare that to the 850KG Lotus Elise or Exige for more like $80,000.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28700", "author": "Donutsncoffee", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T10:21:56", "content": "Lots of people are doing it, take a look @http://www.dpcars.net/dp1/index.htmCustom Hartley V8, AWD with 375hp yields 0 to 60 in about 2.0 seconds.. Nice!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28701", "author": "LoopyMind", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T11:30:48", "content": "cool…looks a bit like the body of a Lotus Elise with a Ferrari nose.. or atleast, that was my first imperession.. cool car!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28702", "author": "PKM", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T15:57:16", "content": "Yeah, a bit like an Elise is something of an understatement. The back end looks like pure Elise, he might have altered the front a bit but it seems a bit of a cheat calling it an original body design. If I wanted a cheap elise clone I’d buy a vauxhall vx220 and maybe convert to electric :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28703", "author": "matt", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T19:54:19", "content": "“If I wanted a cheap elise clone I’d buy a vauxhall vx220 and maybe convert to electric”Then you would have a tesla roadsterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Roadster", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28704", "author": "TJhooker", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T22:03:37", "content": "This is starting to remind me of that old john hancock snl sketch where the grandpa buys a toy wooden boat, whittles on it, and gives it to his son.I like the concept of home brew cars from the ground up, but a lot of the stuff I’m seeing isn’t really original. What about active suspensions designs and stuff?Something tells me you could get just a good if not better designs then this for less than 25k. That’s even using better quality parts too.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28705", "author": "TJhooker", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T22:32:17", "content": "I gotta make another comment. I read through the diary part, and most of the other site. Is it me or is there no real details on building this car? I specifically looked for chassis welding and metal grades, but a lot of other stuff is missing too.It’s kind of interesting to read commentary and look at images I guess, but the site really isn’t too informative.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28706", "author": "TJhooker", "timestamp": "2007-10-12T00:01:26", "content": "I totally agree thekhakinator, but I was most interested in the metal grade and welding he used on the overall frame. Most people here where already capable of designing electrical systems, and suspensions before this entry.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28707", "author": "shbazjinkens", "timestamp": "2007-10-12T03:35:56", "content": "He has a reference section somewhere with the books he used to learn how to do that stuff. Guess he figured it would be superfluous to re-iterate chassis design and welding, but a couple of years ago when I first stumbled onto the site that’s all I was interested in too.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28708", "author": "TJhooker", "timestamp": "2007-10-12T11:20:42", "content": "“Guess he figured it would be superfluous to re-iterate chassis design and welding”On the contrary, that’s probably the only complex process in his whole project, and good luck finding a single source for that type of chassis fabrication on the net or elsewhere without forking over money.Fiberglass and polymer body kits like that have been in mail order catalogs for decades, and even high school drop outs are tuning and swapping both carburetor and fuel injected engines now days.Outside the suspension and chassis design it’s pure shade tree mechanic material. I guess it takes a person with basic knowledge of automotive engineering to appreciate that aspect, and not be blinded by the aesthetics.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28709", "author": "zooloo", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T20:03:11", "content": "wow, that is one awesome car! low wight and low rideheight = tons of pure fun, mmmmm…. :)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28710", "author": "SEO guide", "timestamp": "2007-10-15T22:02:13", "content": "Sweet speed :) i want one – i Want one!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28711", "author": "polera mopeddelar", "timestamp": "2007-10-16T01:17:23", "content": "NICE! looks like a overgrown gocart :))", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28712", "author": "supermorph", "timestamp": "2007-12-10T17:02:10", "content": "i wanted to ask about that car u have made,i dont know much about how america works with from scratch cars for on-road legality,but i wander, if i ever made one of those….1) do u think it could be made eu/uk road legal?2) u could put in a huge tank so it travels further3) if its possible to create a super sound system / carpc in ur creation4) would it of been cheaper with local parts in the uk, should i of made one , (rather than importing etc)and…. 5)how many MPS’s did u get? (+ which fuel?)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28713", "author": "Rick", "timestamp": "2007-12-22T22:50:25", "content": "I am currently building my own car.And you are right about the cost, I thought I would gat away with it for about 10 000$ and i am up to 15k and it still doesn’t run. I am just wondering, I am thinking about fiberglass for the body.Do yo know if I have to make a mold of the entire car, or can I use something like chicken cage and put the fiberglass on it. I am also wondering if the fiberglass will be solid enough to hold the windshield without breaking it. and then how can I fix the body to the frame the lightest way possible.thanksRick", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "48696", "author": "Embepsise", "timestamp": "2008-11-01T20:20:41", "content": "OK, let me repeat that… Nuzzle my respect company Wanna joke?) How many Microsoft employees does it take to screw in a lightbulb? None. We’ll just declare darkness the new standard.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "64502", "author": "Alpine12PDX", "timestamp": "2009-02-27T03:09:36", "content": "Dose someone have the Chassis Plans and parts list for the La Bala so I don’t have to pay $99.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "64773", "author": "Alpine12PDX", "timestamp": "2009-03-01T19:43:25", "content": "Why should I spend $99 to find out about a $25,000 or $30,000 car that I mite buy that has NO crash test ratings or NO road rules or unbiased videos that should be lake thishttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWHgXxD3Zzgand that are not all posted buy the maker of the car.I can’t find a 1/4 mi time ether.There is NO videos of the car doing work compared to others lakehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flZbdtsXQgQ&feature=related$99 is a lot to throw away for a car that could be vary unsafe or above the 13.00 sec 1/4 mi with it weight.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "70033", "author": "smerf", "timestamp": "2009-04-10T22:36:15", "content": "that car is cool as f u ck", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "102216", "author": "Don", "timestamp": "2009-10-18T23:38:45", "content": "hmmm not what i had in mind when i googled the search, i was curious if anyone could make a car from scratch, and from scratch for me would be start at mining for the metal, not buying premade parts", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "105142", "author": "MattG", "timestamp": "2009-11-02T01:33:23", "content": "Hello everyone!I am interested in building my own car. Well actually designing my own car and then having it built. This was not the information that I was origionally expecting when I found this site. But the car is nice. How ever, I was looking more for the technical stuff as in what engine, brakes, transmission, type of suspension, etc.. that was used.For example: 2.5L DOHC 16-valve 4cylinder, 5speed auto w/paddle shift, 4wheel independant suspension, etc..I have several ideas for cars, using parts that are already available, with the only exceptions being the body and possibly the frame. I know there are resources available to learn how to design and construct those parts. But finiding them is the problem I have, especially with no $$$$!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "121728", "author": "Hitendra", "timestamp": "2010-02-03T21:46:47", "content": "I recently found out Toyota is considering recalling all vehicles due to acceleration troubles . My uncle bought a Toyota, should the vehicle be driven before it’s fixed?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "158435", "author": "timothy watts", "timestamp": "2010-07-13T15:24:28", "content": "personaly i would drop a B16 with a T4 twin ballbaring turbo ,and add some light weight piston rods and some titanium lifters and valve spring , bigger fuel rail and fuel injecters,and add a weapons R coldair intake ,put a 4.2.1 racing headers on, and bigger cam like from ComPCams. Then this beast would be rolling. Buck 20 noooooo problem. Now guys dont get me wrong i know that the ivtek is nice but with the set up im talking about would make your every day grandma grocrie getter neon ,2nd gen of course smoke that car.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "413912", "author": "AvaMU", "timestamp": "2011-07-07T01:24:19", "content": "I’ve just stubled upon this sitehttp://www.holdenhistory.com, could I just borrow the technicalarticles from the site or do I need special permission?. I’m writing a school project.Ava", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "895468", "author": "Kris", "timestamp": "2012-12-02T04:42:49", "content": "A powerful resource for individuals of all walks oflife, My Colleges and Careers connects people with the programs that help them earndegrees on campus or online. It really is necessary to get TICKETSTO Genuinely Enjoy THE DAYTONA five hundred EXPERIENCEThe weatherin Daytona Seaside, Florida in February completelyassists draw the yearly crowds that it does. Well the date of the event is Sunday, February 26th, while the start time is scheduled for 12 p.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,866.442825
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/07/25-head-mounted-display/	$25 Head Mounted Display	Will O'Brien	[ "Misc Hacks", "Portable Video Hacks" ]	[ "eyeglasses", "headset", "vr" ]		[Jake] sent in his source for a cheap head mounted display . In his writeup he notes that the spy video car comes with quite a pile of handy electronics – video tx/rx, camera and this simple black and white monocle head mounted display. (Which happens to be available as a replacement unit for a mere $20) The screen is a Kopin 300M (Black and white, 300×240 pixels) The display is actually somewhat usable out of the box, but he takes the time to note some simple mods that’ll improve the displays performance. If you ever bought a virtual boy just to gut the display, then you know you want one. In fact, I’ve got a perfect project in mind for this particular toy. permalink	29	29	[ { "comment_id": "28658", "author": "Weirdguy", "timestamp": "2007-10-08T07:08:56", "content": "Do you know what this means? Crap, I can think of about 100 ideas for this off the top of my head! Let me buy this buy a beer!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28659", "author": "Scott", "timestamp": "2007-10-08T07:18:34", "content": "Wow…I just watched that $25 replacement part go out of stock in 10 minutes…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28660", "author": "Draeath", "timestamp": "2007-10-08T08:10:16", "content": "You could wire in a switch or a non-momentary toggle button for the PAL/NTSC âresistorâ rather than hard-wiring it one way or the otherâ¦Also, using the middle pole for video and the end pole for the battery, isnât that bad? As you plug it in you get voltage going in the video in, and back out the ground. Or between the voltage and video source pinâ¦ other such bad things.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28661", "author": "Spadefinger", "timestamp": "2007-10-08T08:15:59", "content": "OF COURSE THEY’RE ALREADY SOLD OUT!!!DAMNIT…..", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28662", "author": "Izzy", "timestamp": "2007-10-08T08:28:16", "content": "When you’re done with the display, you could introduce the virtual boy to a virtual girl.(Sorry, some typos are just too good to resist.)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28663", "author": "chewy", "timestamp": "2007-10-08T09:19:17", "content": "i’m not dogging this hack, i rather enjoyed it, but someone please post a use for this thing, honestly right now i can not think of a single use for this.thanks", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28664", "author": "Pyrofer", "timestamp": "2007-10-08T11:53:31", "content": "Hmm. Who wants a single Black and white screen! I built a better version myself.At least my one was full colour and stereoscopic real 3D.Check it out at my website!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28665", "author": "TheKhakinator", "timestamp": "2007-10-08T16:26:46", "content": "It helps if it’s 1 screen for some applications cause at least then you have some view of the real world.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28666", "author": "Jake H", "timestamp": "2007-10-08T17:15:42", "content": "Hey, thanks for the kind words, everybody! I had a feeling they’d sell out pretty fast, as they had done so twice long before I posted anything. Luckily they do have a notification system, which is nice and spam-free.@draeath: Putting a switch is a good idea. I had thought about doing it myself, but I’ve never had reason to use a PAL signal in my life :) As to the pin arrangement, I think you’re looking at it backwards. The positive supply is on the tip, yes, but it’s the female socket that’s supplying this voltage. This means that the battery isn’t connected to anything until the plug is all the way in. You get video going into the v-in and ground to video-in for a brief second, not the other way around.@pyrofer: Nice hack, mate! I agree that stereo&color beats mono&mono, but yours is also a good deal bigger and more complicated. Still very cool though!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28667", "author": "TJhooker", "timestamp": "2007-10-08T20:41:37", "content": "I’ve been wanting a head mounted display for years, but I didn’t feel they where worth hundreds or thousands of dollars.This one uses NTSC/PAL scan firmware to display the picture on the LCD. If you’re good at molding polymers you could make a far better one implementing 2 LCD’s.First thing I’d do is find another LCD with the exact dimensions with better picture quality and depth.It’d be cool to implement a channel switcher so you could watch multiple feeds. I’d probably use one with surveillance equipment, or maybe a x360 since it supports NTSC and PAL.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28668", "author": "emperor dane", "timestamp": "2007-10-09T05:24:39", "content": "This gave me a great idea. ive been looking for a miniature lcd with a decent resolution for an uber small projector project. what do you know, these mini lcd’s are used in the viewfinder for camcorders. now picture a lumenlab style projector one 20th of the size. hell yeah.Thanks for the idea jake-Dane", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28669", "author": "Tripp McNeilly", "timestamp": "2007-10-09T05:37:52", "content": "Any way to strip the lcd and video receivers out attach the CCD to the other side of the “goggles” and add some more high powered IR LEDs to make a cheapo, but functional night vision system?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28670", "author": "Snazz", "timestamp": "2007-10-09T07:56:20", "content": "Sorry to ask, but don’t head mounted displays cause some sort of eye damage if used for prolonged amounts of time?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28671", "author": "PKM", "timestamp": "2007-10-09T17:08:41", "content": "@snazz: A properly adjusted one shouldn’t, because the optics make the image appear at infinite focus, so it will do you as much eye damage as looking at, I don’t know, mountains. That said, an improperly adjusted one may give you mild eye strain from maintaining close focus for a long period, but I don’t think it’s actually possible to damage your eyes by looking at things that are too close, reading in low light, or any of the stuff that old wives’ tales tell you can damage them.Of course the part is out of stock, wait for a random time between 30 days and forever and come back, you might be lucky :)@tripp: you have no idea how long I have wanted to do that exact thing for. If you can find a webcam that outputs TV signal directly, or a small board to convert from webcam output to NTSC/PAL, you’re probably onto a winner, and there is no shortage of instructions for enabling webcams to see infrared. If you do make one, promise me you’ll make the outsides of the eyepieces glow green, splinter cell / starcraft ghost style…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28672", "author": "TJhooker", "timestamp": "2007-10-09T18:27:09", "content": "“any way” like totally..“Sorry to ask, but don’t head mounted displays cause some sort of eye damage if used for prolonged amounts of time?”Poor refresh rates, and bright back lights inches from eyes, of course.. There may be some naysayers, but you can go look at actual research, and technical specs.“@tripp: Me and mumsy are having pudding and tea, please do join.”sorry, I had to do that.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28673", "author": "Jake H", "timestamp": "2007-10-09T19:21:44", "content": "Eh, i wouldn’t bother trying to mod a webcam. Google “board camera” for an alternative that is just as cheap, small, and already puts out NTSC/pal video. they’re just as easy to infrared mod as webcams too–heck, some of ’em even come with super-bright ir illuminators built in!", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28674", "author": "wolf", "timestamp": "2007-10-09T22:21:19", "content": "you can get wireless versions of what jake was talking about on ebay for around $30 shipped. (granted, they are of typical chinese quality)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28675", "author": "Spadefinger", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T20:28:51", "content": "I was thinking this would make a neat little “land warrior” type of setup for my kid’s soft air guns.I’m on the mailing list at least…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28676", "author": "Angus", "timestamp": "2007-10-12T00:16:09", "content": "headsets are available again…limit one per customer due to “high demand”..hehe, good job guys", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28677", "author": "Tripp McNeilly", "timestamp": "2007-10-13T08:09:30", "content": "They’re out of stock again.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28678", "author": "nicecc", "timestamp": "2007-10-17T09:17:38", "content": "Nice SEO:http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=head+mounted+display+eye+damage&btnG=Google+Searchyeah imma pass on the home made head mounted display thing. I thought about it a while back, and decided I would let science work out the kinks on these, and the price to go down. Im personally worried about eye damage. Ebay has these 2gb 1″ LCD video watches that might be worth looking at:http://cgi.ebay.com/INNO-2GB-1-5-65K-Color-LCD-MP3-MP4-Player-Wrist-Watch_W0QQitemZ190162946731QQihZ009QQcategoryZ73839QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28679", "author": "spaceball1", "timestamp": "2007-10-23T11:29:24", "content": "it’s back in stockhttp://www.shopwildplanet.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=WILDPLANET&Product_Code=WPT70133-HEAD", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28680", "author": "Xeracy", "timestamp": "2007-10-25T00:09:27", "content": "Good to see a company in support if the the maker community. This is what they said when they sent me a notification that it was in stock, then wasnt by the time i checked the next day. Also, you can get $20 off the complete car kit with the coupon code _HACKER_. I lol’d.“A Message from the Wild Planet Engineering TeamThank you for your interest in the Spy Video Car Replacement Headset!Unfortunately, with all the great press in the maker community, we are unable to meet the demand for the replacement headset at this time. We did not anticipate so much interest in this as a stand-alone item, and it will take some time before our production capacity catches up with the demand. (Weâre going full out to meet the Spy Video Car demand for the holiday season).If you can wait, weâll notify you when we get the replacement headset in stock. The other option is that we do have inventory of the complete Spy Video Car available. In addition to the headset, The Spy Video Car is a remote controlled vehicle with a video camera mounted on the front to provide a first-person view from the vehicle for snooping and spying. The video image is transmitted via 2.4GHz signal and then displayed on a micro-LCD in the headset.Creative individuals could certainly imagine endless ways to reconfigure the various components that make up the Spy Video Car into new and exciting projects.Because we are unable to fulfill your request of the replacement headset, we would like to offer you a $20 discount on the Spy Video Car. To receive your discount, just enter the coupon code HACKER during checkout.Of course, if you prefer to wait, we will e-mail you when we get the replacement headsets in (early next year).Thank you, and happy hacking,Wild Planet Entertainment, Inc. “", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28681", "author": "Xeracy", "timestamp": "2007-11-19T23:40:28", "content": "Wow, mine just arrived. They said it wouldnt ship till december! w00t. now… what to do with it..", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "47501", "author": "Someguy", "timestamp": "2008-10-24T04:19:59", "content": "Hi there, I found this site a while back doing some research on HMD’s, was impressed enough that I kept an eye out for one of these units in second hand stores (we’re a little too far north for a toys’r’us around here)Found just the eyepiece laying around a thrift shop and for a whopping $2 it was mine. A little rummage around the for adapters and wire and had it up and running secondary screen for a laptop via S-video with USB power.I’ve worked with industrial robots in the past and would have killed for something like this at the time for some quick vision tests or on the fly reprogramming. Kudos on a well documented tear down.PS, I had a quick look at the next generation of spygear toys, seems they have a newer model, with an on board Mic and a tank tread setup as well as video. Hoping they offer similar replacement parts.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "47788", "author": "markp1989", "timestamp": "2008-10-26T21:53:12", "content": "Im thinking of getting one of these, a cheap webcam, and some bright IR leds, to make poor mans night vission, what you all think?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "52827", "author": "bs_one", "timestamp": "2008-11-29T12:20:08", "content": "Does anyone have an idea where to get these right now because I searched for about 2 hours now an did not finde it anywhere. I found a review but nothing else …I really want to buy one of these …sry for my bad english im not from an english speaking country …", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "65470", "author": "bluehash", "timestamp": "2009-03-06T18:50:07", "content": "You can buy the spy video kit as a whole. You also get alot of electronics you could reuse like the wireless camera.The following link shows the HMD taken apart:http://www.machinegrid.com/2009/02/taking-apart-the-atv-360-eyepiece-head-mounted-display/", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "6203265", "author": "CCorsair", "timestamp": "2019-12-17T07:30:34", "content": "Just found this item at a good will. may go back now that ID what it is from. paid $0.69 for it was not able found it right off looking on my phone. Love find some the Spy-net and spy Gear items they have a lot of fun uses other than what they were made for.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,866.161894
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/06/back-from-belize-extra/	Back From Belize Extra	Will O'Brien	[ "computer hacks", "handhelds hacks", "Misc Hacks", "Nintendo Game Boy Hacks", "Nintendo Hacks", "Peripherals Hacks", "Portable Audio Hacks" ]	[ "audio recorder", "AudioRecorder", "gameboy", "hackaday tatoo", "hackaday tattoo", "HackadayTatoo", "HackadayTattoo", "preamp", "tattoo", "usb flash", "UsbFlash" ]		Yesterday, I was standing on a tropical island off the coast of Belize . Vacation rocked with lots of SCUBA diving, spearfishing and snorkeling. I’m back home, shaking off the jet lag and clearing up my inbox. Thanks to [fabienne] for filling in and letting me unplug for a while! [Darkrom] has set a new standard for Hack-A-Day readers… I haven’t seen it in person, but that looks like a legit Hack-A-Day tattoo. [null] sent in a new use for a frequency generator, a spare car amp, a sub-woofer and a plastic coffee can – brass cartridge polishing . [LoopyMind] sent in this Game Boy Advanced Movie Player IDE hack . It’s pretty much a direct CF to laptop drive cable with an external battery supply. [Dingolishious] sent in a POE UPS/remote power control solution . Could be handy if you’re using many POE devices, or if you’re having power issues. He added an inexpensive remote power monitor/switch solution behind his UPS. It senses power outages and kicks out an email – and allows remote power cycling of his POE devices. Of course, if you’ve got a linux box behind the UPS, it can monitor the output from the UPS and send notifications. [William] added a preamp stage to his iKEY usb recorder . looks like an interesting toy – it’ll record audio directly to a USB flash key. The pre-amp allows him to record in more challenging environments. [Andrew] noted a simple mod to increase the deadly fire power of the ubiquitous airsoft pellet gun. It’s just a matter of reducing some extra space in the spring compression area. Last but not least, [VIPER] modded his projector to use a 12v halogen headlight bulb . Not a bad idea – at one point I was pondering a 550 watt source four halogen as a possible replacement.	12	12	[ { "comment_id": "28646", "author": "Peter", "timestamp": "2007-10-07T04:10:46", "content": "man, I say we get posts like this every day!I particularly like the cartridge cleaner hack. Guess everything does look like a hammer when you have a nail ;-)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28647", "author": "ex-parrot", "timestamp": "2007-10-07T04:52:30", "content": "the CF to laptop IDE thing is interesting… do we think it would work if the CF interface is only using 3.3v signaling? I have an old PDA which takes CF and I wanted to hook up an IDE drive but I suspect it is using 3.3v signals…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28648", "author": "Weirdguy", "timestamp": "2007-10-07T05:44:27", "content": "Careful with the airsoft bit, that gun will probably break after a couple hundred shots with the spacer because of the weak plastic body.Also, I think we should enable passwords.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28649", "author": "St.jimmy", "timestamp": "2007-10-07T10:04:22", "content": "Scuba!!! Who you certified with? I’m getting padi certified in nov/dec.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28650", "author": "Frogz", "timestamp": "2007-10-07T12:56:30", "content": "hows this fair, darkroom gets an entire line of text dedicated to him for a tattoo but what do i get?!http://img231.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn3491yd5.jpg", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28651", "author": "brummer", "timestamp": "2007-10-07T13:27:17", "content": "I’ve never actually been the one to buy them, but having worked many hours in theater, I didn’t think source 4 bulbs were that cheap? I prefer some of the lumenlab methods anyways and their $30 bulbs. Anything is better then commercial projector bulb cost.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28652", "author": "earl", "timestamp": "2007-10-07T14:14:30", "content": "I have never had any desire to get a tattoo before now. Now I feel compelled.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28653", "author": "larrysanchez", "timestamp": "2007-10-08T00:00:48", "content": "Source 4 lamps are pretty expensive, at about Â£48 here in the u.k. Personally I would use a HID headlamp – you can get kits to convert halogen headlights to HID – and lamps are still expenive, but alot cheaper than standard projector lamps. It would mean the colour temperature would be closer to the original lamp and that it wouldn’t cause (possible) focus issues caused by the length and shape of a fliament.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28654", "author": "Tom61", "timestamp": "2007-10-08T00:35:18", "content": "@ex-parrot The signaling level won’t be the trouble,as most newer notebook drives will work with 3.3Volt signals and power. However, an IDE drive won’t work in the CF slot, as most PDAs actually use a PCMCIA interface(which is how Wifi cards and the like work), not IDE for that slot. Most CF cards will work in either PCMCIA or IDE mode.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28655", "author": "abbott", "timestamp": "2007-10-08T03:38:30", "content": "the ups trick is s pretty nifty idea… i just did some research on those controllers and i might just get one for myself… 8 output switches, 8 input (4 voltage, 4 resistance), and the embedded web server. all for ~$90. well worth it", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28656", "author": "Dingolishious", "timestamp": "2007-10-08T04:58:58", "content": "abbott,http://www.evertek.com/viewpart.asp?auto=15541&cpc=PPI$64It’s a fun little box but the software is awful! Like badly translated and some things just don’t work with out some trickery. I’m seeing if I can find some new firmware for it. Still, it does what I need it to.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28657", "author": "static", "timestamp": "2007-10-12T20:57:10", "content": "Well; thinking that it’s possible that a time can come that, extra identifying marks on my person, could jeopardize my freedom, tatts aren’t my thing. Forgive me if I don’t meet the new standard. But, I’m ambiguous about those who do have tatts.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,866.207953
https://hackaday.com/2007/10/05/roasting-pan-audio-amplifier/	Roasting Pan Audio Amplifier	fabienneserriere	[ "home entertainment hacks", "Misc Hacks", "Portable Audio Hacks" ]	[ "amp", "amplifier", "audio", "cooking", "pan", "roasting" ]		When you need a rigid, vibration-free chassis for your amplifier, look no further than a roasting pan . I’ve used cast cement for subwoofers, but using a cooking pan bolted to a heavy wooden chopping board is a cheap way to get a rigid surface on which to build audio gear. The amp circuitry used by [Mark] is not complex, but it gets the job done. The “oxygen free copper cable” and “pure silver wire” are not needed, just make sure you have a solid mechanical connection. In other words, just tin your wires, bend small “u” shapes at each end, hook them together, and apply solder to the heated ends. Alternatively, hold the ends of stranded wires parallel to each other and twist the ends together before tinning, then solder. Test everything with a multimeter while moving wire joints to make sure you have no weak connections. Now you won’t waste your money on hyped-up cabling materials. Thanks to [Gio] (who seems to have some personal audio projects as well) for the tip. permalink	17	17	[ { "comment_id": "28630", "author": "...", "timestamp": "2007-10-06T01:54:44", "content": "I fail to see how a solid state amp could be affected in any way whatsoever by vibrations that would be stopped by using a beefy chassis… Seriously, are you worried about getting voltages induced by minute vibrations in the connecting wires?I could see for a phonograph, or even a tube based amp, but a op amp solid state amp!Admittedly, a baking pan would make a reasonably decent chassis in general, so long as you don’t mind your gear looking like it was built by a 15 y/o…", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28631", "author": "TJhooker", "timestamp": "2007-10-06T03:28:54", "content": "That heat sink looks cool. Wonder why it’s still rapped in plastic though. I like to go around and look at peoples synthesizer circuits too.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28632", "author": "ex-parrot", "timestamp": "2007-10-06T03:50:12", "content": "This is ridiculous. How does building a gainclone in a roasting dish improve it in any way?", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28633", "author": "smilr", "timestamp": "2007-10-06T06:29:20", "content": "I think the “heat sink” you think is wrapped in plastic is actually the power transformer – to convert the 110V AC down to 50V AC.As for why this thing has to be “mass loaded” to keep vibration down – when doing a solid state amp I haven’t a clue.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28634", "author": "bender386", "timestamp": "2007-10-06T06:49:04", "content": "TJhooker that thing in plastic is a toroidal transformer not a heat sink", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28635", "author": "MacGyverS2000", "timestamp": "2007-10-06T14:46:49", "content": "So if I take an XBox 360 and mount it on a skillet, does that make the project worthy of a HackADay spot? Come on, I thought HAD was for true hacks, not “Ooooh, I need a surface to build on, so let’s use whatever I have in the kitchen”. Now if the guy had used the skillet to make the diaphragm of a [u]speaker[/u], now [u]that[/u] would be worthy of a HAD spot.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28636", "author": "ex-parrot", "timestamp": "2007-10-06T15:33:05", "content": "#5: imagine the frequency response of a baking tray driver ;)", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28637", "author": "jeff", "timestamp": "2007-10-06T18:24:52", "content": "i like it how its listed in ‘portable’ audio hacks", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28638", "author": "cliff", "timestamp": "2007-10-06T23:47:37", "content": "if you can’t see how vibrations will affect any circuit, solid state or not, you have very little experience with electronics repair. i’ve fixed the same guitar and bass amplifiers three times over for bad solder joints because tendency is to rest amp heads on cabinets, which induce massive vibrations. stereo amps are the same, put them on/near speakers, or on shelves that can transmit vibration from the speakers to the amp chassis, and you’ll have broken solder joints in just a matter of time, pcb or turret board or point to point. every system that has assembly has a mean time between failure; it’s just that certain systems will take longer to degrade based on construction method and environment. when you introduce vibrations, you’re going to be pushing every mechanical connection, including soldered ones.as far as exotic materials for build, fabienne is absolutely right; i’ve heard systems that cost tens of thousands of dollars, and they’re by and large boring sounding unless you’re listening to diana krall or kenny g. there’s absolutely no need for pure silver wire and ridiculous cable unless you have the sound source that will utilize it, a circuit design that will utilize it, and speakers that will be able to project said difference. Then you have a system that’s great for listening to shitty jazz while sipping wine and appearing rather pretentious. solid solder joints, effective grounding, and reasonable parts selection are what’s important.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28639", "author": "watever wenever", "timestamp": "2007-10-07T01:40:47", "content": "about how much power are u getting out of this amp per channel??", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28640", "author": "andrew", "timestamp": "2007-10-07T04:49:20", "content": "#8: Give me one audio source which is capable of “utilizing” pure silver connections or oxygen free cables… I was agreeing with you until I came upon that part of the post.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28641", "author": "htl2001", "timestamp": "2007-10-07T10:26:07", "content": "#10 I agree, audiophile snake oil is the worst. If he was really worried worried he would have at least shielded those wires, look how close they are to the transformer… I THINK that might actually cause a difference more than wire type.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_resistivity#Table_of_resistivities", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28642", "author": "DIY Audio Projects", "timestamp": "2007-10-07T18:32:19", "content": "#1 A lot of gainclones actually epoxy the components down.#11 The LM3875 chip can supply about 50W/channel.#12 You can see gold is not the best conductor. The reason is it popular for connections is that it does not oxidize or tarnish like copper or silver. Snake oil products can be used to change the sound. Good on some systems, bad on others. Tinned copper should me good enough.Grounding is very important. An external power supply is ideal.For those who are not familiar with a gainclone, they are simple to build at a very reasonable cost and they sound very good. The chips are about $4 each.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28643", "author": "TJhooker", "timestamp": "2007-10-07T21:09:27", "content": "Smilr I think bender386 already cleared that up, so cha ya know what? UH UH..That’s an obscure form of transformer too. I want to role it in dough and deep fry it.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28644", "author": "warpfox", "timestamp": "2007-10-09T05:00:11", "content": "Man, you guys are hating on his pan D:", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "28645", "author": "cliff", "timestamp": "2007-10-10T03:37:08", "content": "#10: i was being sarcastic more than anything. what i was trying to get at is that even if you do make an amp with insane wire, ridiculous capacitors and resistors, and over the top connectors, it won’t help your audio path if you’re plugging a $35 cd player you got from wal-mart into the front end. same with any computer’s on-board sound card, all but the best pci sound cards or even most reasonable cd players.my point is that to even start going down the road of trying to justify ridiculous wire and components, you’d have to spend several thousands of dollars on ridiculous audiophile equipment and interconnects to even think about claiming superior audio “tone” or “dynamics” based solely on wire selection, all the while not having any shielding for your inputs as shown in the photos of this build. and that isn’t even touching on the issue of speakers and then speaker cables. if you have anything less than insanity throughout, your insanity in your component selection for one part of the signal chain is obviated.will i say that certain signal paths sound better than others…absolutely. i put a mcintosh c28 in front of a tube headphone amplifier i built and it sounded like god compared to the tube pre i built. there was definite difference. this was coming out of an echo sound card though, with 320kb/s aac files playing. my shitty mp3s still sounded shitty though, and just as bad. and it wouldn’t have mattered if i used monster cables or the cables i made.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] }, { "comment_id": "98305", "author": "Marva Rini", "timestamp": "2009-10-03T04:47:21", "content": "Rocking ein Ort f?r Junge .. hoffe, dass wahr.", "parent_id": null, "depth": 1, "replies": [] } ]	1,760,377,866.09364

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