url stringlengths 37 208 | title stringlengths 4 148 | author stringclasses 173 values | publish_date stringclasses 1 value | categories listlengths 0 12 | tags listlengths 0 27 | featured_image stringlengths 0 272 | content stringlengths 0 56.1k | comments_count int64 0 900 | scraped_comments_count int64 0 50 | comments listlengths 0 50 | scraped_at float64 1.76B 1.76B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
https://hackaday.com/2006/02/05/backtrack-live-cd/ | BackTrack Live CD | Eliot | [
"computer hacks"
] | [] | First Whoppix and Auditor then Whax and now finally everything has come together to form remote-exploit’s latest Live CD project
BackTrack
. The very first beta of the new system was released today. I downloaded it and tested it on my 600m. It had a nice uncluttered feeling right from the beginning by not offering the scads of boot options found in Knoppix. The system came up really quick and stopped at the command prompt instead of going to a GUI which is another nice touch. The CD also doesn’t automatically bring up the network interfaces since you may have something special in mind. The default windowing environment is KDE, but Fluxbox is included if you’re on a diet. Kismet started up and set up my Intel 2200 card without any assistance. I really think the team has put together a great product and I look forward to future releases.
Try it out for yourself
.
[thanks
steve
]
permalink | 30 | 30 | [
{
"comment_id": "16905",
"author": "Cleaner",
"timestamp": "2006-02-05T17:39:50",
"content": "The toolkits are cool but se HDD installation is rally buggy.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "16904",
"author": "winphreak",
"timestamp": "2006... | 1,760,377,943.501059 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/02/04/pov-pendant/ | POV Pendant | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [] | Reader [Franz Gabel] purchased a POV kit from ladyada and started modifying it for his own application. He assembled the POV without a PCB so it could fit inside a small metal pipe and attached a leather lanyard. He’s still in the early stages of the project. It is fully assembled, but he’s working on additions like a docking station to recharge and download new messages. He’s also developed a Flash based system for generating new .c files based on text input.
Here is his forum post about his project
(Coral CDN, so ladyada doesn’t break my arm). | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "16880",
"author": "mat",
"timestamp": "2006-02-04T19:34:18",
"content": "super cool have seen alot of these pov projects popping up",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "16879",
"author": "Alan",
"timestamp": "2006-02-04T23:12... | 1,760,377,943.91151 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/02/04/shmoocon-2006-wrap-up/ | Shmoocon 2006: Wrap-up | Eliot | [
"Uncategorized"
] | [] | Well, we’ve come to the end of my
Shmoocon 2006 coverage
. The conference wasn’t all presentations though, there were a lot of other fun activities:
The
Hacker Arcade
featured arcade games that had been modified to generate USB tokens that you could later redeem for prizes. The folks at
757.org modified a skill crane
so that it could be controlled from the web. Of course, toys like this at a hacker convention spawned some creative solutions. David Rhodes scripted the skill crane’s web interface so that it would try every possible coordinate pair and ended up with an armful of prizes. Another attendee discovered that the USB tokens weren’t case sensitive and generated a couple hundred thousand prize tokens.
Hack or Halo was different from your standard tournament. You could take the other team on in either Halo 2 or drag race hacking. From what I heard it’s pretty easy to get up to speed and be competitive, just know your way around a sniffer,
Metasploit
, and an energy sword and you’ll be good to go.
Grey Frequency managed to find all twenty different conference badge outlines needed to make a
fully interlocking set
.
Shmooballs
were handed out to attendees so that they could physically manifest their disagreement with the speaker; speakers were given paddles. During the closing ceremony a
t-shirt cannon
was brought out to help distribute swag.
I’d like to thank
The Shmoo Group
for putting together an excellent conference, the boys from
Midnight Research Labs
for keeping things interesting when I wasn’t in talks, and
atlas
,
RenderMan
,
Jason Scott
,
Abend
and all the other speakers who have stopped by to leave comments on Hack-A-Day. | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "16870",
"author": "gurpal singh",
"timestamp": "2006-02-05T11:33:39",
"content": "nice site.have u ever hacked a website ?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "16869",
"author": "Dr. Gonzo",
"timestamp": "2006-02-05T19:37:54"... | 1,760,377,943.732073 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/02/03/clientserver-door-opener/ | Client/server Door Opener | Eliot | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [] | You can thank reader [Alexandre Novello]’s laziness for generating this hack. Actually, as a self-proclaimed “software guy” he would have never approached this project if it wasn’t for the situation he was in: having to walk across the room to open the door for people, a door which has an electric opener right next to it. He’s got a thorough write-up on how he built the client and server portions of his software in Delphi. He also covers the hardware switch which is attached to the server via parallel port.
permalink | 23 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "16865",
"author": "Jesse Gunderson",
"timestamp": "2006-02-03T20:03:21",
"content": "This just seems about a thousand times more complicated than it should be. Honestly, wouldn’t it be much simpler to have a switch installed behind the button installed to complete the connection (bu... | 1,760,377,943.828471 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/02/03/shmoocon-2006-cardbus-bus-mastering-0wning-the-laptop/ | Shmoocon 2006: Cardbus Bus-Mastering: 0wning The Laptop | Eliot | [
"Uncategorized"
] | [] | David Hulton (h1kari) talked about the implications of cardbus bus-mastering. It goes pretty much hand-in-hand with
David Maynor’s USB direct memory access
work. The idea is using bus-mastering to take over other PCI devices, download passwords and keys from memory, unlock screensavers, and plant memory-based or firmware-based trojans. So, what kind of device could do all this? David works for
Pico Computing
which is developing cardbus based FPGAs. They’re pretty cool little devices and for dedicated tasks like brute force cracking they’re really efficient. Check out
OpenCiphers
for details on using FPGAs with modern cryptography. Unfortunately h1kari didn’t have a demo, but David Maynor was there to talk about his USB stuff. An interesting tidbit was what USB device he used for his exploration: a
Motorola MPx200
. It was released before the USB 2.0 spec was finalized so the phone was designed to have its USB firmware upgraded, handy for hacking. | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "16843",
"author": "digitallysick",
"timestamp": "2006-02-04T06:38:26",
"content": "this is to the “first post” guy, that says w00t, well guess what, first post, w00t!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "16842",
"author": "winphr... | 1,760,377,943.868713 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/02/02/usb-interface-for-parallel-lcds/ | USB Interface For Parallel LCDs | Eliot | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [] | Pontus Frönder
has put together a really simple
USB interface for any LCD
that uses the HD44780 controller. He used a USB chip from FTDI that creates a virtual COM port on the host computer. This is connected to an Atmel ATtiny2313 which controls the LCD. The AVR has two PWM outputs that are used to control the backlight and contrast. If the current draw of the backlight is low enough it can be driven directly from the USB and since it looks like a standard serial display you can talk to it using programs like
LCD Smartie
.
permalink | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "16839",
"author": "Unomi",
"timestamp": "2006-02-02T19:19:16",
"content": "I think now some people are getting really happy….– Unomi –",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "16840",
"author": "burndup",
"timestamp": "2006-02-02... | 1,760,377,943.436197 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/02/02/shmoocon-2006-voip-wifi-phone-security-analysis/ | Shmoocon 2006: VoIP WiFi Phone Security Analysis | Eliot | [
"Uncategorized"
] | [] | Shawn Merdinger gave a presentation on his personal research project covering the security of VoIP WiFi phones. For his initial investigation he is employing a “level one” methodology. These would be attacks from a low to medium skilled hacker, a hacker’s “first look” at the device: looking for open ports, finding developer left-overs, and misusing features. One thing that was common across all phones is how easily they succumb to DOS attacks. He talked about the issues with several specific phones. Many left open port 17185, which is the VxWorks database debug port. The favorite was the Clipcomm CPW-100E which provides
unauthenticated access to debugging accounts
letting you read call logs and even place calls, turning it into a remote listening device. You can hear Shawn talk about his project on
Blue Box Podcast #13
. Blue Box also has a copy of Shawn’s
detailed slides
. Here’s a list of the new
phone security threats released a Shmoocon
.
permalink | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "16828",
"author": "trevor harris",
"timestamp": "2006-02-03T06:12:21",
"content": "dose any one know how to hack past a privacy code on the t-mobile side kick 2. It’s only a 3 digt code. Get back to me atrevor97220@aol.com",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
... | 1,760,377,943.772719 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/02/01/shmoocon-2006-anonymos-security-and-privacy-everywhere-you-go/ | Shmoocon 2006: Anonym.OS: Security And Privacy, Everywhere You Go | Eliot | [
"Uncategorized"
] | [] | kaos.theory’s
Anonym.OS
was probably the most widely covered project to come out of this year’s
Shmoocon
. This was spurred by
Wired’s article
which was picked up by
Slashdot
,
Ars
, and
others
. Anonym.OS is a live CD based on OpenBSD 3.8 that provides anonymous internet access and aims to be usable by anyone. On the network it appears as a Windows machine to hide among the majority of internet users. The CD does several things to protect the user, starting with secure operating system. The main component is
Tor
, which we’ve
covered before
, All traffic is sent through Tor and since the disk uses local DNS look-up you don’t have to worry about DNS requests leaking. I really like this project because kaos.theory has done all of the dirty work like setting up really strict packet filter rules and forcing everything through Tor. Of course, I would have liked it even if it was just an OpenBSD live CD that used
Fluxbox
. The only two apps it has now are Firefox and GAIM. They are taking suggestions for what to add in the future and will probably be adding cryptographic filesystem support so that users can save safely. If they added Gimp and a hard drive install script I would be using this at every con I attended.
permalink | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "16825",
"author": "Hal Hockersmith",
"timestamp": "2006-02-02T06:06:17",
"content": "there a firefox extension that will switch proxys that could be included in case you did not want to use the tor network. It would how ever show you out on the net.http://www.roundtwo.com/product/sw... | 1,760,377,943.631384 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/24/playstation-2-serial-port/ | Playstation 2 Serial Port | Eliot | [
"Playstation Hacks"
] | [] | As odd as it might sound, I never paid attention to the Playstation 2 homebrew scene because I own a
Playstation 2 Linux kit
. The Linux kit hides the hardware behind a software layer while the
PS2Dev
project was an attempt to run code natively on the hardware. So the two projects didn’t really have a lot in common. Of course ignoring that part of the scene means I missed out on this
serial port mod
. The Playstation’s Emotion Engine core has a serial debugging interface and by wiring up a MAX3323EEPE you can watch the processor as it is running. That’s an interesting hidden feature and I hope Sony is a little more supportive of the developer community when the Playstation 3 comes out than they have been lately with the PSP scene.
[thanks fbz via
Pixel
]
permalink | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "16532",
"author": "peter",
"timestamp": "2006-01-24T20:24:13",
"content": "I hope that when the Playstation 3 comes out, people remember that Sony was the same company that put rootkits on unsuspecting user’s computers. Apparantly, protecting their intellectual property is more impo... | 1,760,377,943.387849 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/23/full-motion-video-on-an-8088/ | Full Motion Video On An 8088 | Eliot | [
"computer hacks"
] | [] | Trixter pulled off this
awesome hack
, proving that the
demoscene
is alive and well. It started as a silly joke “well, I can display video on my XT!” , but Trixter thought about it and came up with a way to do it on his Model 5150. The production needs 10MB of disk space, a Soundblaster Pro, a CGA card and monitor. Trixter notes at the end of the page that he’s had to use text mode to get 16 colors out of the CGA instead of the standard 4. Check out the video of the XT being pushed to its limits at his site. (
video on Google Video
)
[thanks
ex-parrot
]
permalink | 27 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "16524",
"author": "joel",
"timestamp": "2006-01-23T19:35:46",
"content": "interesting.. quite good mod",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "16525",
"author": "Hal Hockersmith",
"timestamp": "2006-01-23T19:49:28",
"content... | 1,760,377,943.695345 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/22/bluetooth-playstation-controller-for-axim-pda/ | Bluetooth Playstation Controller For Axim PDA | Eliot | [
"handhelds hacks"
] | [] | Reader [Jakeh] wanted a Bluetooth based game controller for his Axim. Unfortunately, the only
commercial option
didn’t fit very well. He decided to chop up the Bluetooth controller and wire it into an original Playstation controller. Wiring was slightly annoying because half the buttons in the Bluetooth controller don’t have a common ground. The final touch was modifying two mechanical pencils to provide clamping pressure on the outside of the PDA. Here’s [Jakeh]’s
original post about the project
and
his Flickr photo set
.
permalink | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "16498",
"author": "m00n3r",
"timestamp": "2006-01-22T08:58:50",
"content": "that original bluetooth controller is really ugly and looks uncomfortable. the modded version is very impressive",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "16497",... | 1,760,377,944.106424 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/21/motorized-projector-screen/ | Motorized Projector Screen | Eliot | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [] | [Brad O’Connor] has completed his
motorized projector screen
that we mentioned last month while covering his
Lumenlab projector build
. The screen is driven by a windshield washer motor using the low speed connection. The 126″ screen is supported by a copper pipe and is attached using Velcro. Brad says the wrinkles aren’t visible during playback, but he plans on adding more weight to remove them. He’s also planning on wireless control in the future.
permalink | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "16483",
"author": "joelanders",
"timestamp": "2006-01-21T21:15:32",
"content": "From the site:Screen material: $35.00 LumenlabBlack Material: $25.00 fabric shopFlock Tape: Free DonationMotor: $19.00 MPJADPDT Switch: $2.00 MPJAWood: $12.00 MenardsCopper pipe: $10.00 Home DepoCopper f... | 1,760,377,944.053752 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/20/e-reader-for-nintendo-ds/ | E-Reader For Nintendo DS | Eliot | [
"Nintendo DS Hacks",
"Nintendo Game Boy Hacks",
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [] | 7
The
e-Reader
is an add-on product for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance. It has a simple optical card swipe for loading programs off of specially encoded cards. The location of the link port adapter keeps the device from being used with the Nintendo DS. Reader [Caitsith2] has posted instructions for
modifying the reader for use with the DS
. If you don’t plan on using it with your GBA you can pull the entire board. Once you’ve got the e-Reader switched you can do fun stuff like printing out your own
homebrew e-Reader cards
.
permalink | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "16465",
"author": "matt",
"timestamp": "2006-01-20T19:12:17",
"content": "i wasn’t aware of e-reader homebrew, but seeing it and the mod to make it fit my ds makes me want to start modding",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "16460",... | 1,760,377,944.577217 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/19/walk-your-robot-dog-with-lego/ | Walk Your Robot Dog With LEGO | Eliot | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [] | Since he spends way too much time programming robots, Pavel Petrovic, felt he should
delegate the task of walking his robot dog
… to his other robot. No, that isn’t the real story, but there isn’t a lot of justification for the project besides it being a neat trick. LEGO IR tower support for
WowWee
bots had already been developed, but Pavel decided to try controlling the bots using the LEGO RCX.
BrickOS
provides direct control of the RCX’s IR port. Pavel’s program lets the simple LEGO bot issues commands to the RoboPet to lead it around the room. It works, but isn’t too reliable because there is no way for the RCX to determine the absolute position of the dog. Have a look at Pavel’s site to see videos of it in action.
[thanks
Robert Oschler
]
permalink | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "16449",
"author": "compuforums - friendly computer forums",
"timestamp": "2006-01-19T19:24:32",
"content": "That’d save having to walk those damn robodogs. They make a noise every two minutes if you dare ignore them.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
... | 1,760,377,944.663546 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/18/ipod-integration-for-factory-radios/ | IPod Integration For Factory Radios | Eliot | [
"ipod hacks"
] | [] | Most factory radios in cars don’t include a line in. alfaGato decided he wanted to integrate an iPod into his system, but wanted to maintain the factory functions. His Saab 9-3 came with GM’s OnStar system (not activated) which he thought would make a decent in road into the radio. His instructions should work for most radios with a factory cellphone integration option. He opened the radio and cut the traces for the phone input to get separate left and right channels. These were wired to the external CD changer input. He didn’t have the factory changer and the phone input also had amplification on the line that would interfere with the iPod. He designed a circuit with two possible inputs: iPod connector or AUX. The circuit is designed to mute the inputs if OnStar is activated. The circuitry is contained within a Saab factory phone mount with an iPod holder attached to it. Check out alfaGato’s
blog dedicated to the project
and our previous
auxiliary input projects
.
permalink | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "16444",
"author": "fucter",
"timestamp": "2006-01-18T19:11:15",
"content": "I did this over a year ago. But I connected the line level output directly to where the cd fed into the amp, so that if I wasnt playing a cd, i could use the ipod(maily, because I dont like external switches... | 1,760,377,944.623042 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/17/cellphone-controlled-door-opener/ | Cellphone Controlled Door Opener | Eliot | [
"Cellphone Hacks"
] | [] | Looking for a way to demonstrate his
AutoIt
script that allows Windows control using a cellphone, zerocool60544 put together this
automatic door opener/closer
. It uses two water bottles as counterweights and two LEGO motors to drive the door. The motor control is a parallel port connected relay board. It’s a pretty simple demo, but I’ll definitely be looking into AutoIt in the future.
[thanks emdy]
permalink | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "16430",
"author": "Alan",
"timestamp": "2006-01-17T19:10:38",
"content": "Looks interesting got the beginnings of a cool Rube Goldberg machine.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "16431",
"author": "Alan",
"timestamp": "2006... | 1,760,377,944.82727 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/16/rogue-server-in-a-ups/ | Rogue Server In A UPS | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [] | InventGeek
‘s newest contributor, Dan Williams, has just posted his first project:
hiding a server in a UPS surge protector
. Dan found himself with a dead UPS surge protector and decided to do something fun. The brick has two built in RJ-45 connectors and power so he figured he could easily hide a server in it. There are three main components involved: a 4-port router, an
NSLU
, and a USB enclosure for a laptop hard drive. The router and the NSLU were both stripped of their cases to save space. The wall warts were stripped of their cases as well. There aren’t a lot legitimate reasons to make one of these. It is still a fun project and if a burglar runs off with your laptop, but not your disguised file server, you might feel a little better.
[thanks
Jared
]
permalink | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "16416",
"author": "Steve",
"timestamp": "2006-01-16T08:52:05",
"content": "awesome idea! would be nice if it still worked (at least superficially) as a ups with a low battery – you know, to complete the illusion.i have plans in the works for a similar sort of device that hides in a ... | 1,760,377,944.71532 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/15/diy-fig-rig/ | DIY Fig Rig | Eliot | [
"Portable Video Hacks"
] | [] | The
Fig Rig
is the brain child of director
Mike Figgis
. The Rig is designed to provide stability while using a handheld camera. If you’ve seen the continuous 90 minute takes in Figgis’s
Timecode
you know what prompted him to come up with this contraption. Like most digital video camera accessories the Rig comes with a premium price. KingVidiot has a forum post detailing his attempt at
creating a homemade Fig Rig
. He used an old steering wheel, a piece of aluminum plate and a wooden dowel. It isn’t that pretty to look at, but it definitely didn’t cost him $300 and it works pretty well too.
[thanks
DVguru
]
permalink | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "16395",
"author": "carpespasm",
"timestamp": "2006-01-15T19:16:25",
"content": "cool, but no pics on the forum post",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "16396",
"author": "tamzarian",
"timestamp": "2006-01-15T19:51:58",
"... | 1,760,377,944.52676 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/14/amiga-in-an-fpga/ | Amiga In An FPGA | Eliot | [
"computer hacks"
] | [] | Dennis had been working on this project for over a year before recently
releasing it in the Amiga.org forums
(
photos
). The Amiga was notable for its use of unique, dedicated processor chips for tasks like real time video effects. Dennis has recreated these chips in a Xilinx Spartan-3 400K gate FPGA. His development board also features a MC68000 processor and an MMC card for storage. He’s got everything, but sound and keyboard support working. He is able to run Lemmings though, and isn’t that what’s really important?
[thanks Seantech]
permalink | 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "16384",
"author": "pocketbrain",
"timestamp": "2006-01-14T20:00:28",
"content": "Is this a precursor to an Amiga SOAC? Does one already exist?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "16385",
"author": "Speed phreak",
"timestamp... | 1,760,377,944.47992 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/13/lightweight-eye-tracker/ | Lightweight Eye Tracker | Eliot | [
"digital cameras hacks",
"Portable Video Hacks"
] | [
"camera",
"eye",
"eye track",
"eye tracker",
"pdf"
] | [Jason S. Babcock] and [Jeff B. Pelz] put together this paper on
building a simple, lightweight eyetracker
(PDF) to foster the creation of open source eyetracking software. All of the components are mounted to a cheap pair of safety glasses. The eyetracker uses a technique called “dark-pupil” illumination. An IR LED is used to illuminate the eye. The pupil appears as a dark spot because it doesn’t reflect the light. A bright spot also appears on the cornea where the IR is directly reflected. An eye camera is mounted next to the IR LED to record the image of eye with these two spots. Software tracks the difference between the two spots to determine the eye orientation. A laser mounted to the frame helps with the initial calibration process. A scene camera placed above the eye records what the eye is viewing. The video from these two cameras can be compared in real time or after the experiment is concluded.
[thanks austin y.]
permalink | 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "16365",
"author": "AllenKll",
"timestamp": "2006-01-13T19:28:27",
"content": "This is really cool, I remember someone asking for this not too long ago, I hoep he/she is still reading.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "16366",
... | 1,760,377,944.773233 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/12/8gb-ipod-nano-hack/ | 8GB IPod Nano Hack | Eliot | [
"ipod hacks"
] | [] | 2,000 songs. Impossibly small. Reeks of fish.
There is something very fishy going on with this
conversion of a 4GB iPod nano to an 8GB nano
. To start, the obligatory “new capacity” screenshot isn’t provided. Next, it is almost too simple: just piggyback the flash chips on top of each other. Wait, weren’t the chips in the 4GB nano
mounted on a daughter card
? ([Omikron]’s photos of the
daughter card in his 4GB nano
) The 2G version had flash chips on the main board, but
those were Toshibas
not these Samsung chips. There are really basic instructions provided that encourage you to buy a broken nano on eBay and salvage the necessary chips. If that seems a little hard, the author has plenty of the correct memory chips on hand and is willing to upgrade your nano, for a fee. This page is
mirrored in an auction
. What kind of person has a pile of 2GB iPod flash chips on hand? I don’t know, but they seem to have
sold a lot of 4GB iPods in the last month
. I wonder what capacity the iPods really were
permalink | 102 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "16356",
"author": "DCGrendel",
"timestamp": "2006-01-12T13:54:56",
"content": "http://www.samsung.com/Products/Semiconductor/NANDFlash/SLC_LargeBlock/32Gbit/K9NBG08U5M/K9NBG08U5M.htmis the correct link for the 4GB/32Gbit chipthe one linked from the article is wrong (2GB/16Gbit), and... | 1,760,377,944.994359 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/11/hack-a-day-extra-3/ | Hack-A-Day Extra | Eliot | [
"Uncategorized"
] | [] | ShmooCon
starts in two days and? uh? I’m sure I’ll be caught up with work by then. (
UPDATE:
[Tom] has an
interview with Bruce and Beetle
from the ShmooGroup) On a more important note: Yehoshua’s borg seems to have gotten lost on its way home from a New Year’s party and our
Folding team has taken a hit
. We’ve got
sitemeter
stats now in case you’ve ever wondered. It has only been active for two days, so the math is a little off.
More links after the jump (you should grab a beverage).
Instead of getting my work back on track, I’ve been
making motivational posters
using
Motivator
. [via
Screenhead
]
If you frequent
mini-itx.com
you’ve seen a lot of motherboards stuffed into
model car chassis. A company is now selling
Compucars
commercially. [via
TRFJ
]
Linux distribution chooser
, I tested positive for Gentoo after
answering “yes” to “Do you hate your free time?” [via
Download Squad
]
DVDJon has
already parked DeAACS.com
in preparation for the
new, sure to be annoying technology.
BoingBoing has a really interesting
thread/request about bone conduction
technology
.
How to program a bootloader
[
Steve
]
Palm T|X hacks:
making a voice recorder
and
adding a vibration alarm
[
t3h
]
Converting an optical mouse to IR
[brad]
[
Rlanctot
]’s guide for
building a
cord organizer
[snorkle256] upgraded his m:robe using [matt defenthaler]’s
guide
.
Then he was able to load it up using Adrian Stutz’s
m:robe loader
.
If you thought the original PSP hotswap trick was silly,
you haven’t seen this Xbox 360 video
.
[autotoxic]
You could laugh at [Tom Allred]’s
cordless phone mod
too, but he says the reception is great.
[
Giantkillerrobot
] got some Mini Cooper slot cars for Christmas and has
started
adding some non-factory
options
.
[401] added the Hack-A-Day logo
to his flash drive
. [Derwin]
had it on his OLED Network Walkman, but his site seems to be down.
Older iMacs have an IDE controller, but use SCSI connectors for the CDROM drive.
[
Abbie Gonzalez
] came up against this when installing 10.3, but
it didn’t prove much trouble
.
How to
free up hotel bandwidth
, It isn’t that nice, but some of us have to get work done.
[
Steve
]
[
Oliver Wittwer
]’s
quick fix for bad remote buttons
Michael Naimark’s guide to blinding cameras
[David]
It may be patched now, but
IronGeek’s guide to the
WMF vulnrability
is still interesting. [
Steve
]
Modding Aussie pay-tv antennas for WiFi
[masked]
Nintendo DS homebrew development tutorials
[
leadingzero
]
Hombrew for JAMMA arcade cabinets
[Caveman Joe]
[
miknix
] added an
external
antenna adapter to his PCMCIA wireless card
. It’s in Portuguese but the pictures are decent.
[
epooch
] has been playing around with external
character displays and found out that
switch plates make really
good housings
.
[
darkmoon
]’s
experience with initng
, the next
generation init system for Linux.
[Stefano Palazzo]’s
LEGO iPod nano dock
[
derJan
] has been
abusing the
German McDonald’s kids play pcs
.
[Frogz] sent in this
overclocking guide
with a joke about drilling holes in your skull to increase oxygen flow. You mean
trepanning
?
Use a floppy stepper motor to pan your webcam
.
[Michael Wagner]
The LDBD has been experimenting with
paintballs and high speed
photography
. They got the
instructions from MAKE
.
I’m sure you’ve seen [jared]’s
vibrating
lockpick
by now, it was everywhere today (at least in my inbox).
I’ve completely lost track of the PSP scene, I guess
Tetris on 2.50 is new
, wait,
no,
they just broke 2.60
.
[
Clay
]
[thoughtfix] has picked up a Nokia 770 and is
blogging the
experience
.
[
pillowcase
] continues to repurpose old tech as wall art. His latest
is the
emate clock
.
Android World
looks creepy despite its technicolor. [Richard Johnson]
[
Tod E. Kurt
] cleaned of the color wheel and sensor in his DLP projector and
thought we would like to
see the internals
.
Computer generated holograms
[DogHouse]
Thank you for all of the tips
. | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "16251",
"author": "hackmo",
"timestamp": "2006-01-12T16:23:16",
"content": "As always nice list of hacks. Too bad I don’t speak German though, that hacking mcdonalds site would have made an interesting read :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
... | 1,760,377,945.050757 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/02/01/robomaid-robot/ | RoboMaid Robot | Eliot | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [] | The
RoboMaid
(warning sound) really has nothing robotic about it. The website proclaims “smart sensor technology” and “programmable”. It’s actually just a
Weasel Ball
in a cage. Reader [Perry Cain] decided to keep the cage and
add some real electronic brains
if the form of a Prallax kit. The robot has 5 IR pairs: 2 in front, 2 on the side and one in the back. He says it works pretty well, but he hasn’t added detection to keep it from going down the basement steps yet.
permalink | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "16812",
"author": "Crash2108",
"timestamp": "2006-02-01T21:01:38",
"content": "But is it still $19.95(Plus S&H)?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "16813",
"author": "Pocketbrain",
"timestamp": "2006-02-01T22:02:19",
"c... | 1,760,377,945.161575 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/31/how-to-psp-200-260-homebrew-with-eloader/ | How-to: PSP 2.00-2.60 Homebrew With ELoader | Eliot | [
"Playstation Hacks",
"PSP Hacks"
] | [
"psp"
] | Thanks go to sometimes hacker, C.K. Sample, III, author of
PSP Hacks
for contributing this how-to.
So you’ve heard about this homebrew thing that all the cool kids have been doing, but you have already upgraded to version 2.6 of the firmware so that you could play all the latest and greatest games on the PSP. Fortunately for you, some very diligent hackers have been working round the clock to discover ways to get around the limitations put in place by the latest firmware.
The solution isn’t in the form of a downgrader, but rather in the form of an eLoader (EBOOT loader) that lets you use
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
to run homebrew on a PSP with version 2.0, 2.01, 2.5, and 2.6 of the firmware. Not
all
homebrew will run via this method, but there is a rather easy to read
compatibility chart
and I’m sure more things will begin working in future releases of the eLoader.
To help you along in your quest to homebrew, here’s a step by step (with pictures!) guide to using the eLoader:
Get your hands on a PSP running firmware 2.0-2.6 and a copy of
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
.
Download and decompress
the eLoader
[via
PSP Updates
].
Connect your PSP to your computer or mount your Memory Stick on your computer via a card reader.
When you open up your Memory Stick on your computer you will see a variety of folders including MP_ROOT and PSP. PSP is the one we will be using.
Drag your PSP folder on your Memory Stick to a local hard drive as a backup (it’s always good to backup).
Open the PSP folder on the Memory Stick.
Open up the PSP folder contained in the eLoader folder. You will see two folders: GAME and SAVEDATA. If you look inside the PSP folder on your Memory Stick, you will see the same two folders. We don’t want to replace those folders, but rather add the contents of the two together.
Open up the GAME folder of the eLoader and drag the contents of that folder into the GAME folder on your Memory Stick.
Open the SAVEDATA folder of the eLoader and drag the contents of that folder over to the SAVEDATA folder on your Memory Stick. If one of the files pops up with a “Replace existing file” or some such error, then this means that you already had a GTA save file in slot 5. Click replace (as you backed up the file in step 5).
Unmount the Memory Stick / your PSP.
Start up
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
. After it loads, select Load Game and choose the eLoader savegame.
The eLoader will launch. Use the directional pad to select a homebrew app and hit the X button to attempt launching it. As noted before, not all homebrew apps currently work, so some will crash your PSP and you will have to restart it. Enjoy your homebrew!
Unfortunately, none of the homebrew apps that are my favorites currently run via this exploit (fortunately, I have another PSP rocking firmware version 1.5), so make sure you grab
one of the compatible ones before you start this exploit.
As always, this exploit *shouldn’t* risk harming your PSP, as it doesn’t mess with your firmware at all, however, use at your own risk.
Once you are done homebrewing, if you want to play GTA and it keeps autoloading the eLoader, simply delete the eLoader from your Memory Stick. You can do this from your PSP by hitting the Start button in the eLoader, which Quits the game and returns you to the PSP’s game menu. Navigate to the Saved Data Utility, select each of the eLoader GTA beta files (there should be three of them), hit the Triangle button, select Delete from the side menu that pops up, and hit the X button to delete. Do this for each of the files. Have fun! | 149 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "16805",
"author": "Madd_matt",
"timestamp": "2006-01-31T18:36:40",
"content": "I don’t have a PSP but I was wondering how the firmware updates are enforced. Do certain PSP games force you to update your firmware?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
... | 1,760,377,945.561976 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/31/shmoocon-2006-a-young-gentlemans-primer-on-the-reading-and-emulation-of-magnetic-cards/ | Shmoocon 2006: A Young Gentleman’s Primer On The Reading And Emulation Of Magnetic Cards | Eliot | [
"Uncategorized"
] | [] | If you payed attention to the comments on our story about a
Magnetic stripe card emulator
you would have seen
Abend announce his Shmoocon talk
. It was a pretty interesting talk about the basics of mag cards and some of the tricks employed by companies to obfuscate the data. To get the feel for the talk I suggest you listen to
SploitCast #004
which features Abend as a guest. That combined with his
slides
and
tools
should give you a fine crash course in the technology. He also recommend’s Count Zero’s “
A Day in the Life of a Flux Reversal
“. Billy Hoffman, who did the
Covert Crawler
, has also worked with mag stripes and developed the program
Stripe Snoop
.
permalink | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "16658",
"author": "Bigbro69",
"timestamp": "2006-02-01T06:13:19",
"content": "I definately recommend listening to the sploitcast episode(s), those guys are really well informed about this stuff, and they explain it all great.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [... | 1,760,377,945.429176 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/30/rc-paintball-tank-built-from-printer-parts/ | RC Paintball Tank Built From Printer Parts | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [] | You could spend hours exploring the
R/C Tank Combat
website, so we will highlight one project to get you started. Steve Tyng built this
awesome model based on the Russian T34-85 tank
. The body is all wood an uses stainless steel axles salvaged from a printer. The original drive system used 24-volt DC motors from dot-matrix printers, but they’ve since been replaced. The most tedious part of this build appears to be the tracks which are made from a treadmill belt sandwiched between wooden blocks. The turret rotates and the barrel can elevate as well. The entire turret package can be easily removed. Inside is a cheap paintball gun that has been lightened and has a small RC servo bolted on to depress the trigger. Definitely have a look at the Maryland Attack Group’s other projects like their field artillery and armoured cars.
[thanks
Jason
]
permalink | 16 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "16654",
"author": "KurtRoedeger",
"timestamp": "2006-01-30T19:12:24",
"content": "perfect timing. I was just getting ready to play around with some RC paintballing this coming weekend.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "16655",
... | 1,760,377,945.480818 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/30/shmoocon-2006-wi-fi-trickery-or-how-to-secure-break-and-have-fun-with-wi-fi/ | Shmoocon 2006: Wi-Fi Trickery Or How To Secure, Break And Have Fun With Wi-Fi | Eliot | [
"Uncategorized"
] | [] | Franck Veysset and Laurent Butti, both from France Telecom R&D, presented several proof-of-concept tools at
Shmoocon
that use 802.11 raw injection. The first is
Raw Fake AP
. The original
Fake AP
is a script that generates thousands of fake access points. It is easy to spot because of tell-tale signs like the BSSID showing the AP has only been up for a couple milliseconds. Raw Fake AP tries to generate legitimate access points by modifying BSSIDs and sending beacon frames at coherent time intervals.
Raw Glue AP
is designed catch probe requests from clients scanning for a preferred ESSID. It then tries to generate the appropriate probe responses to keep the client occupied.
Raw Covert
was the final tool. It creates a covert channel inside of valid ACK frames. ACK frames are usually considered harmless and ignored by wireless IDS. The tool is really basic right now, there is no encryption and it doesn’t handle dropped frames.
permalink | 2 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "16641",
"author": "Hal Hockersmith",
"timestamp": "2006-01-31T05:44:34",
"content": "Hmm. That raw glue looks like it would be good for pulling virus infected computers from an access node and then shutting them down.Or if you more evil then simply pull them off and begin attacking ... | 1,760,377,945.392693 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/29/robotic-motion-sensing-using-an-optical-mouse/ | Robotic Motion Sensing Using An Optical Mouse | Eliot | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [] | We’ve had fun with the sensors in optical mice
before
, but [Mac Cody] wrote in to tell us about his
legitimate application of the technology
. First, he disassembled the mouse and bypassed the on-board controller. He then wired the clock and data lines to a Harris RTXEB single board computer. It’s based around a Harris RTX2001A microcontroller which he programmed in Forth to talk to the Agilent optical mouse sensor. Documented code is provided in case you want to implement it in a different language. His future plans for the system are to roll it into some robot projects for
dead reckoning
navigation.
permalink | 19 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "16638",
"author": "weirdguy0101",
"timestamp": "2006-01-29T19:40:08",
"content": "first post!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "16637",
"author": "Eliot Phillips",
"timestamp": "2006-01-29T22:08:19",
"content": "damnit... | 1,760,377,945.614581 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/29/shmoocon-2006-the-church-of-wi-fi-presents-an-evil-bastard-a-rainbow-and-a-great-dane/ | Shmoocon 2006: The Church Of Wi-Fi Presents: An Evil Bastard, A Rainbow And A Great Dane! | Eliot | [
"Uncategorized"
] | [] | The
Church of WiFi
gave a presentation on some of their recent projects. The first was
coWPAtty
, a program for brute forcing WPA-PSK. To speed up the process they created a table for pre-hashed WPA-PSK. WPA-PSK is seeded using the SSID of the router, so they grabbed the top 1000 SSIDs from
Wigle.net
and calculated the hashes when using a 170,000 word dictionary. Now they are able to check 18,000 keys/sec instead of just 12 keys/sec.
The next project was Evil Bastard, a custom WRT firmware. It is similar to
Rogue Squadron
which is a firmware designed to spoof an access point and collect user information by phishing. Evil Bastard has even more tools like Aircrack and Driftnet. It even features a “Point ‘n 0wn” interface that lets you just click on the target you want to automatically spoof.
The CoWF is also responsible for
Kiswin
, Kismet for Windows, which saves you from having to install Cygwin.
permalink | 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "16621",
"author": "XGM",
"timestamp": "2006-01-30T03:33:35",
"content": "w00t first post",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "16620",
"author": "Hal Hockersmith",
"timestamp": "2006-01-30T09:13:24",
"content": "F***in’ fi... | 1,760,377,945.745886 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/30/simon-christmas-wreath/ | Simon Christmas Wreath | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [] | Alright, one last holiday hack before we finish out the year. Every Christmas Eve [ryan rose]’s family has a contest with a new theme. The challenge this year was to construct a Christmas wreath. Ryan decided to make a
Simon
Christmas wreath. He cut up a string of lights to produce the four separate color regions. He triggered the lights using an opti-isolator circuit and built buttons that look like presents. You can view his
construction photos
at Flickr and watch a
video of it in action
at YouTube. | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "15850",
"author": "Sheldon",
"timestamp": "2005-12-30T19:32:33",
"content": "Elegant hack (my g0d, he used a c-c-c-case!) but missing one minor item, did ryan win?!?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15849",
"author": "bird603... | 1,760,377,945.652778 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/29/couch-bike/ | Couch Bike | Eliot | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [] | Brent Curry had been planning on taking a trip and with previous adventures testing both his endurance and comfort, he decided to construct a new vehicle to for his travels. The
couch bike
has two independent gear trains and uses a tiller handle to control the front wheels. Brent and his Norwegian cohort Eivind used the bike to explore Maritime Canada. They only drew attention from the cops 3 times during their journey. They did have a little trouble with the couch being 7 inches wider than a Lincoln Navigator; when riding on paved bike trails they had to disassemble the bike to get around gates designed to prevent motor vehicles. The travelogue also mentions being forcibly dismounted only once, when Brent failed to grab both brakes at the same time.
[via
Treehugger
]
permalink | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "15843",
"author": "muhkuh",
"timestamp": "2005-12-29T19:26:34",
"content": "i want one!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15844",
"author": "Dave",
"timestamp": "2005-12-29T20:34:50",
"content": "That brings so much jo... | 1,760,377,945.793415 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/29/hack-a-day-extra-4/ | Hack-A-Day Extra | Eliot | [
"Uncategorized"
] | [] | From the photo above you can see the holidays have been treating me pretty well. [bugloaf] brought a bottle of
pisco
back from Peru for me. My parents mounted the laser-cut logo that [
smouldering-dog
] had sent me. They also gave me a copy of
The Radioactive Boy Scout: The Frightening True Story of a Whiz Kid and His Homemade Nuclear Reactor
. I should have it finished by
Shmoocon
, so if you see me there and ask for it, I’ll gladly give it up (since I don’t have any swag right now).
Team Hack-A-Day
is still cranking away; turning in over 8 million points in 3.5 months. If you’re tired of your family you can always come idle in the #hackaday channel on Efnet.
More links after the jump.
Mikey Sklar will be presenting his latest project at
Dorkbot
in NYC Jan. 4th:
Implanting an RFID chip in his hand
. I should have seen this coming when he sent me his last project:
Making RFID proof pants pockets
. BoingBoing has been compiling
related links
(I had said the pants were for Dorkbot, but was mistaken, they were for
Swap-O-Rama-Rama
). I’m torn between the futurism of this and the reality that I’d have security weaker than a garage door opener.
The second part of my
Xbox 360 iPod dock
how-to was posted this week on Engadget. I’m still reviewing the writer applications.
It seems Microsoft pushed their Xbox 360 kiosks out the door so quickly that they didn’t lock down the media disk. You can’t mess around with the executable code, but you can replace other files. If you download the kiosk ISO you can unpack it and build your own discs that work on the 360. You can replace the videos with your own and there is a group working on
porting flash games
since the Live Arcade games are flash based. If you strip enough files out you can make the ISO small enough to be burned on a CDR and it will still work. Xbox-Scene has been
keeping up with the developments
.
The latest version of
TwonkyVision MediaServer
will let you stream music and photos to your Xbox 360 using a Mac, Linux or other system. It worked on my Gentoo box, but is unfortunately commercial software. I did get a chuckle seeing the Xbox display “Connecting to Windows PC | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "15835",
"author": "Orwell84",
"timestamp": "2005-12-30T03:25:01",
"content": "Ah, That zen micro fix was a week or two late. My friend just sent her’s back…oh well",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15834",
"author": "cliff mil... | 1,760,377,945.699518 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/28/22c3-day-00-and-01-round-up/ | 22C3 Day 00 And 01 Round Up | fabienneserriere | [
"Uncategorized"
] | [] | Today and yesterday’s
22C3
included tons of fun hacker stuff. Highlights from day 00 and 01 included a slew of topics from politics to hardcore geekery. We toured the
CCC
‘s annual hackfest to bring you the best of the new hacks.
We commence our tour with
Hack-A-Day’s
friend
Dan
“I Like Big Graphs and I Cannot Lie”
Kaminsky
. Dan
presented
yummy OpenGL graphics and DNS cache proof of the Sony Rootkit around the world. He also released
Xovi
, a tool which allows you to do
network visualizations
in realtime. Realtime: we dig it.
Next on to fun scanning of 3G wireless networks! The team of
btk
and
ahzf
presented a rather thorough intro to GPRS/UMTS packet theory (we use the term
theory
rather concretely here because packet loss and lag are rampant on cellphone based data networks all over the world).
Slides for the talk in PDF format are here
. They showed how to circumvent packet filtering / port filtering / data type filtering on data networks. This can be extremely useful when trying to run VoIP applications over a cellphone network since they are usually blocked.
Also of note was the talk on
IrDA hotel system hacking
presented by Major Malfunction. Which we mentioned when we
were at Toorcon
.
permalink | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "15811",
"author": "ravuya",
"timestamp": "2005-12-29T10:20:16",
"content": "Those are neat visualizations, and using SDL to boot. I can only assume that they animate. Hopefully videos of the talk will come out soon.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{... | 1,760,377,945.832586 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/28/chaos-computer-clubs-22c3-congress/ | Chaos Computer Club’s 22C3 Congress | fabienneserriere | [
"Uncategorized"
] | [] | Hack-A-Day is here at
22C3: Private Investigations
, the
Chaos Computer Club
‘s annual hacker conference in snow covered Berlin, Germany. The CCC’s annual Congress is the European answer to Las Vegas located
DEFCON
. This 22nd annual conference has been lengthened from three days to four to be able to accommodate more talks.
We’ll be here all week reporting on the coolest hardware hack topics at the conference from talks to
Blinkenlights
. If you’re here, drop us a line in the comments!
permalink | 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "15797",
"author": "grayskies",
"timestamp": "2005-12-29T00:34:57",
"content": "how does Fabienne get to go to all these fun events? she must have a hella bankroll to get to travel to Berlin (which is an awesome city, btw).Apologies for the usage of “hella”",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,377,945.997379 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/28/open-source-motor-controller/ | Open Source Motor Controller | Eliot | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [] | The
OSMC project
was started in 1998 to provide a high quality H-bridge speed control to hobbyists and professionals. The original design was intended to be used by people who were building Battle Bots and other competition robots, but the line has expanded since then. The project embraces the open source spirit by making the plans freely available and encouraging modification. This is the same controller that Trevor Blackwell used in his
Electric Unicycle
.
[thanks monster]
permalink | 7 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "15796",
"author": "typo",
"timestamp": "2005-12-28T21:01:37",
"content": "typo: “The original design was intended to be used by people who we",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15795",
"author": "Eliot Phillips",
"timestamp... | 1,760,377,945.947945 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/27/magellan-explorist-upgrade/ | Magellan EXplorist Upgrade | Eliot | [
"gps hacks"
] | [] | This Russian site has all the details needed to
upload new maps to a Magellan eXplorist
300, 200, or 100. Inside the battery case are four pads that can be used for serial communication. You will have to use a MAX232 to shift the voltage levels. Since this occupies the battery space you’ll need to provide power as well. This can be tapped from a USB port. Once the cable is built you can download waypoints using
OziExplorer
.
[thanks
Chris
, Cary for corretion]
permalink | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "15787",
"author": "carpespasm",
"timestamp": "2005-12-27T21:26:22",
"content": "babelfish translationhttp://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?lp=ru_en&url=http%3A%2F%2Frhamphorinkx.newmail.ru%2Fconnect.htm",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
... | 1,760,377,946.161929 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/04/stirling-engine-from-aluminum-cans/ | Stirling Engine From Aluminum Cans | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [] | The
Stirling engine
seems like an odd-ball design when you’ve only encountered gas and Diesel engines. Even though the Stirling engine is piston based it doesn’t use valves. It has a sealed working fluid and no exhaust gas. Stirling engines aren’t very common, but are being produced commercially as cryocoolers and for use in solar farms. Here are some thorough plans for constructing a
model Stirling engine from aluminum cans
.
[thanks haq]
permalink | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "15968",
"author": "steve",
"timestamp": "2006-01-04T20:17:50",
"content": "Looks interesting. I think I’m going to try and build this one.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15967",
"author": "kURTROEDEGER",
"timestamp": "2... | 1,760,377,946.411267 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/04/22c3-day-10-and-11-round-up/ | 22C3 Day 10 And 11 Round Up | fabienneserriere | [
"blackberry hacks",
"Cellphone Hacks",
"cons"
] | [
"22c3",
"blackberry",
"ccc",
"con",
"hacker conference",
"hackercon"
] | Now that the
CCC is over
, we finally dug ourselves out of a ginormous pile of cables (Kabelsalat ist gesund!) to bring you this round up post about the best stuff from the last two days of the con.
First up on day 10 was
I See Airplanes!
,
Eric Blossom’s excellent speech
on creating hardware for making homebrew radars and software using the
GnuRadio
project. He uses bistatic passive receivers in the 100 MHz range doing object detection using other peoples’ transmitters. The project has a lot yet to accomplish including the use of helical filters (if there are any antenna freaks reading this,
contact Eric
, he’s looking for a bit of help).
Next on the third day we attended
Ilja van Sprundel
‘s huge
fuzzing extravaganza
. Fuzzers generate bad data that is designed to look like good data and will hopefully break something in an interesting way. Our fav part? When the list of irc clients broken by his
ircfuzz
tool was so long he had to use 10pt font to get it all on one slide (
see slide 53
)! His
paper can be found here
and the
slides here
.
We then wandered to
Harald Welte
‘s
talk
on hacking the Motorola EZX series phones (which
we’ve reported
on here
before
). In case you forgot, the EZX series has a linux kernel. Incidentally the phone runs lots of stuff it really doesn’t need (like glibc, 6 threads for just sound processes, and even inetd). He presented
the project
for the first time in an official context since we saw him at
0Sec
in October. Apparently lots of kinks have been worked out and there’s an official
code source tree here
.
The clincher for day 11 was FX and FtR of
Phenoelit
‘s semi-controversial
talk on Blackberry security
(covering both
handheld devices
and server based RIM products). This talk was a bit of a wake up call for RIM and thus the
slides are still not available online
so keep a sharp eye out for the video when it’s released by the
CCC
.
Also available from the CCC are the full
proceedings in a downloadable pdf
(also available in
paper format
for you physical-space-doodle-in-the-margin freaks).
permalink | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "15950",
"author": "mewse",
"timestamp": "2006-01-05T02:12:29",
"content": "the irc fuzz seemed really interesting (MAN it broke a lot of irc clients!!), the source code is available here:http://ilja.netric.org/files/fuzzers/ircfuzz.c",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"rep... | 1,760,377,946.254015 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/03/snake-robots/ | Snake Robots | Eliot | [
"cnc hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [] | Dr. Gavin Miller has been investigating
snake robots
for over ten years. His first models,
S1
and
S2
, use one servo at each joint.
S3
used a pair of servos to create a sidewinding motion along with the more common horizontal undulations.
S4
was an attempt to power the snake with just one motor, but ran into problems because of high torque in the u-joints.
S5
was the first to have all CNC parts, which made for a more compact package. The larger snake did require the use of a second microprocessor.
S6
was another attempt at a single motor snake, this time using a complicated gear train. It still had problems.
S7
is the most recent prototype and is an attempt at rectilinear motion like that of a python (undulations in the direction of movement).
[thanks
joeboy
]
permalink | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "15949",
"author": "Sprite_tm",
"timestamp": "2006-01-03T19:35:08",
"content": "snakebots are cool. i made one with a group at the end of the first year of my ee-study at the university here. it used one engine per joint, and all the segments were the same (one uC, one motor, connect... | 1,760,377,946.213161 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/02/magnetic-stripe-card-emulator/ | Magnetic Stripe Card Emulator | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [] | This is a proof of concept magnetic stripe card emulator. Adron embedded a thin strip of metal into track 2 of the magnetic stripe. The ends of that strip are wrapped with thin copper wire to create a solenoid. The solenoid is driven by a PIC microprocessor and some transistors to boost the signal. The software provided can pulse a test pattern and any additional card numbers you supply.
permalink | 54 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "15920",
"author": "Tired2",
"timestamp": "2006-01-02T19:25:48",
"content": "thats dangerous, sounds fun though…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6522856",
"author": "Edward Hance",
"timestamp": "2022-10-19T05:31... | 1,760,377,946.49559 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/01/colecovision-portable/ | Colecovision Portable | Eliot | [
"Portable Video Hacks"
] | [] | Ben Heckendorn has been busy this holiday season. His latest project is cramming the guts of a Colecovision into a portable case. The project was commissioned, otherwise he probably wouldn’t have tackled it. The first bit of weirdness he found was the use of +12V, +5V, -5V lines to power the console. To get the board to fit in a smaller space he “flattened” it, remounting the components so they have a lower profile. The screen and case are standard issue Ben Heck, which he admits he can pretty much build with his eyes closed now. All told, it still looks great, but Ben says he isn’t going to be repeating this project any time soon because of the complexity involved.
[thanks HK-47]
permalink | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "15897",
"author": "bumsk",
"timestamp": "2006-01-01T08:12:56",
"content": "good mod! well done.I THINK THIS IS THE FIRST COMMENT FOR 2006!!!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15896",
"author": "bumsk",
"timestamp": "2006-0... | 1,760,377,947.085904 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/31/tesla-coil-built-from-trash/ | Tesla Coil Built From Trash | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [] | Greg Miller prides himself on his dumpster-diving ability. To encourage others to take up the terrestrial sport he developed this
Tesla coil built entirely from trash
(Coral cache link). The power supply is from a neon sign he found behind a frat house. The capacitor bank is constructed from high voltage caps found in televisions. The spark gap is a pair of 1/4 inch bolts. The primary coil is formed on a lamp shade using a cord from a humidifier. The secondary coil is made from the wire of a microwave fan and a cardboard tube. The toroid, pictured above, is constructed from two stove eyes. The chokes are wire wrapped around ballpoint pens. He’s got some nice pictures of it in action plus a guide to what goodies you should
salvage from consumer electronics
.
[thanks
Victor
] | 21 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "15885",
"author": "ASIMO",
"timestamp": "2005-12-31T19:05:20",
"content": "sweet, first post here. i am a robot called asimo.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15886",
"author": "alex",
"timestamp": "2005-12-31T19:20:50",
... | 1,760,377,946.5535 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/31/happy-new-year/ | Happy New Year | Eliot | [
"Uncategorized"
] | [] | We hope you have a happy and safe holiday. Thanks for reading! | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "15866",
"author": "Orwell84",
"timestamp": "2006-01-01T04:40:55",
"content": "Hey Eliot,What’s your new year’s resolution?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15864",
"author": "pretorious",
"timestamp": "2006-01-01T04:45:23... | 1,760,377,946.720587 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/11/laptop-keyboard-conversion/ | Laptop Keyboard Conversion | Eliot | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [] | [Leechar] liked the compactness of notebook keyboards and
wanted one for his desktop
. A friend provided a 486 notebook keyboard and Leechar found an old AT keyboard controller in a junk box. Instead of taking the time to decode the key matrix and make sure that every key was generating the proper scancode he just wired it so that each key generated a unique code. Then using
KeyTweak
he was able to build a registry key for the correct mapping. Still having fun abusing input devices he decided to marry his Toshiba laptop track ball with the guts of a Microsoft mouse by
soldering directly to the photosensor connections
.
UPDATE:
It looks like we “H-bombed” the 5gigs server within 4 minutes of this being posted.
Grynx has a mirror
.
UPDATE:
Leechar has gotten better hosting, links should be fine now.
permalink | 24 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "16236",
"author": "billytheimpaler",
"timestamp": "2006-01-11T19:11:11",
"content": "The link is dead, Eliot. Please fix it for us.I’d like to see the opposite of this hack; somebody modding a real keyboard (akin to the IBM Model M) to be used in a laptop. I detest the shallow key... | 1,760,377,946.612174 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/10/video-card-used-as-a-digital-tv-modulator/ | Video Card Used As A Digital TV Modulator | Eliot | [
"computer hacks"
] | [] | DVB
-T is a standard for broadcasting digital television over the air and is found in many countries outside of North America. This hack involves
using a video card to generate the DVB-T signal
. This project was inspired by
Tempest for Eliza
, which we
covered recently
. To pull this off you have to add some custom settings for an additional screen in your X server configuration. When you start up the server and switch to the new screen it will generate the proper signal. The signal strength is pretty weak though and the card has to be wired directly to the DVB-T set-top box. The box will display two different channels, each with a test image. The signal isn’t actually generated directly, but is a product of the VGA card’s DAC’s harmonics.
[thanks james]
permalink | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "16217",
"author": "Arthur",
"timestamp": "2006-01-10T19:12:38",
"content": "Wait, what? you can use a video card to transmit over the air?surely there cant be all that good of a range on it?*shakes head* i must be confused.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
... | 1,760,377,946.666966 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/09/gumbrix-gumstix-lego-controller/ | Gumbrix: Gumstix LEGO Controller | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [] | Derek Anderson enjoys building robot prototypes using the LEGO Mindstorms kit, but he found his progress hampered by the RCX’s minimal processing power and connections. He decided to build a
custom LEGO style housing
for a
Gumstix waysmall computer
. He has experience milling
custom LEGO parts
so this was an easy first step; he does wish he would have used a material more rigid than Delrin though. Derek has several future articles planned to cover how to integrate and interact with the system. I’d prefer to wait for the new
Mindstorms NXT
coming out in August or
March if I’m lucky
.
[thanks William Cox of
GoRobotics.net
]
permalink | 3 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "16201",
"author": "What",
"timestamp": "2006-01-09T20:14:54",
"content": "i wsh i had that ammount of milling skill!that is a god way of interfacing it would seem.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "16199",
"author": "Loquax",
... | 1,760,377,946.756874 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/08/scanner-music/ | Scanner Music | Eliot | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [] | Continuing our trend of peripherals modified to perform functions that aren’t actually useful: here’s
how to play music on your scanner
. The HP ScanJet 3c/4c have a variable speed scan head that is driven by a stepper motor. The Play Tune command can be used to move the head at different frequencies. Here’s a
video of a scanner playing F?Elise
. The site we’re linking to has the source code to do this, but newer HP scanners may have hardware activation built-in, according to these two
Easter
eggs
.
permalink | 37 | 37 | [
{
"comment_id": "16197",
"author": "mrdelayer",
"timestamp": "2006-01-08T19:06:52",
"content": "first post.in all seriousness, however, that’s pretty cool; don’t have a scanner or i’d try it out myself.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "16198",
... | 1,760,377,946.830612 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/07/optical-mouse-based-scanner/ | Optical Mouse Based Scanner | Eliot | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"camera",
"CCD",
"mouse",
"sprite_tm"
] | Ever wonder what your desk surface looks like up close? No. No one has. Not even [Sprite_tm], but upon disassembling his optical mouse and discovering its 18×18 CCD
he decided to put it to use
(well, a different use). The optical chip outputs serial information to the USB chip in the mouse. [Sprite_tm] wired the optical chip to a parallel port and wrote a simple program to interpret the data. Not really useful, but it does generate some interesting pictures. Program provided, natch.
permalink | 41 | 39 | [
{
"comment_id": "16158",
"author": "steve diraddo",
"timestamp": "2006-01-07T19:15:52",
"content": "Very nice.. Very nice. I had always been wondering if this was possible, and now it is. Maybe someone can mod up a little robot that can drive around and scan a whole page.",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,377,947.25042 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/06/5-foot-long-pata-cable-from-cat5e/ | 5 Foot Long PATA Cable From Cat5e | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [] | Not one to be constrained by specifications, Montac decided to construct an ATA cable that was well over the 18 inch maximum length. PATA cables use 80 conductor wire, even though they only have 40 pin connectors. The extra 40 lines are all tied to ground. The cable was constructed from 10 pieces of Cat5e with one line from each twisted pair going to ground. The construction is as tedious as it sounds and at each end there are a few signal lines that also need to be pulled to ground. Once the cable was finished with heat-shrink tubing it was tested. The cable performed as well as, if not slightly better than the standard cables.
[thanks Luke Skaff]
permalink | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "16111",
"author": "dococ",
"timestamp": "2006-01-06T21:39:38",
"content": "Nice. Here is a link to making high quality speaker wire out of cat5:http://www.venhaus1.com/diycatfivecables.html",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "16112... | 1,760,377,947.034979 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/05/xbox-360-atx-power-supply/ | Xbox 360 ATX Power Supply | Eliot | [
"Xbox Hacks"
] | [] | Reader Ran Mokady took a pretty big gamble with this project, but didn’t really have any other choice: his power supply was broken and he couldn’t get a replacement. He ended up replacing it with a standard ATX power supply. Follow along for all of the details.
For anyone who is having problems with their
Xbox 360
power supply, or who (like me) have managed to end up with a burnt out PSU and can’t get a replacement, here’s how I managed to run the console off a standard ATX computer power supply.
The added advantage for me, living in a 220V country and having bought a 110V console from Japan is that I no longer need a huge stepdown transformer to run my console.
I have been running my console off a 250W computer PSU for a week now with no problems
Related:
Xbox 360 Hacks
,
Xbox Hacks | 144 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "16070",
"author": "duffman3030",
"timestamp": "2006-01-05T22:47:58",
"content": "intresting. but you might want to use a different rail for each power connection since power supplys are not designed for or capable of sending all of its power across one rail.",
"parent_id": null,... | 1,760,377,947.174249 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/26/printed-circuit-board-etching/ | Printed Circuit Board Etching | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [] | This isn’t meant to be the definitive PCB etching post. I don’t have any experience etching boards and was hoping readers could contribute their best/favorite methods for etching boards in the comments.
We’re linking to Tom Gootee’s page on
toner transfer etching
. The first step is to print the design on glossy paper using a laser printer. An iron is then used to transfer the toner to a prepped copper board. The board is then soaked in etchant to remove the exposed copper. The printer toner is mostly plastic and resists the etchant. Once the board is etched, Acetone is used to remove the toner. Tom has been keeping his site up to date and as his research progresses.
permalink | 53 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "15757",
"author": "Don",
"timestamp": "2005-12-26T20:32:23",
"content": "I’ve been trying to find some information on building a PCB spray etcher. Although transfers and board preparation are important i’ve found that that only way to get really sharp clean lines is to use a spray e... | 1,760,377,949.55275 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/25/tempest-for-eliza/ | Tempest For Eliza | Eliot | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [] | “
Tempest for Eliza
” is a program written by Erik Thiele to demonstrate the RF transmission properties of CRT monitors. The program is capable of transmitting sound over AM frequencies just by the unique way it drives the monitor. The electromagnetic emissions of CRTs can be a security problem as demonstrated by
Van Eck phreaking
, watching someone’s screen just by collecting RF transmissions. In the late ’90s
Ross Anderson
developed software to help reduce the RF transmissions of monitors. These specialized fonts combined with shielding can greatly reduce the risk of attack and is something the NSA has been
researching for many years
.
[thanks
gsham
]
permalink | 27 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "15705",
"author": "Jacob",
"timestamp": "2005-12-25T19:16:21",
"content": "this is awesome! i wonder what the range on something like this is",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15706",
"author": "Jacob",
"timestamp": "2005-... | 1,760,377,949.276664 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/24/disco-dance-floor-roundup/ | Disco Dance Floor Roundup | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [] | Probably the most popular project this summer was the
MIT Disco Dance Floor
. The build team eventually released the controller schematics and software. Several other projects spun off as a result of this.
We’ll start with the
Disco Bar
(since it has the most pictures). David has been actively building the bar and is nearing the finish line. He built a bar instead of a floor because as a white guy from Wisconsin, he’s a far better drinker than dancer. I tend to feel one leads to the other.
David’s project is driven by software that Washington University students developed while building their
Vertigo Dance Floor
. The software includes a cool utility for building animations.
Also:
Monkey see, monkey build
and
Tom’s Blog
(in German)
[Update: We forgot to include the
DECT phone system controllable Disco Dance Floor
by
Blinkenlights
at 2005’s best hacker camping extravaganza,
What the Hack
. Another pic by an attendee of wth is
here
.] | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "15687",
"author": "Hal Hockersmith",
"timestamp": "2005-12-24T19:23:11",
"content": "RSS Feed is broken. This isnt in it and it is stuck at the GB Synth.In other news ….HELL YEA! I want one for my room that i am building. I dont care which i gonna do it. That way we can save on carp... | 1,760,377,949.319408 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/23/arcade-game-chair/ | Arcade Game Chair | Eliot | [
"Playstation Hacks"
] | [] | [Chuck Cage] and friends have been building a variety of arcade racing platforms. The third version, pictured above, has a real racing seat and can support a 32″ television. They’ve got advice for navigating the local “you-pull-it” when buying seats. There are material and paint selection tips on the site as well along with pictures of their three different versions.
permalink | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "15678",
"author": "phycon",
"timestamp": "2005-12-23T19:13:05",
"content": "awsome, it would be realllyyyy cool if they could add a little hydrolic or air powered thing that could tilt the whole frame and shake it, example (turning reallyyy fast, bumps, crashing) but well assume the... | 1,760,377,949.373099 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/22/ipod-breakout-dock/ | IPod Breakout Dock | Eliot | [
"ipod hacks"
] | [] | Since the time it was first
featured on MAKE
, Steve Chapman has continued to develop his
iPod breakout dock
. The dock provides all of the possible connections that could be made through the 30-pin connector. Of interest is the iPod’s serial interface. I had seen a break down of the control codes before, but Steve has taken the time to
develop a serial application
that he can use to test the different commands. Now that he knows a little more about the interface he’s started
programming a microcontroller to use it
.
permalink | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "15660",
"author": "the dentist",
"timestamp": "2005-12-22T19:39:25",
"content": "first post alrightthis is very interesting… hope to see more hacking projects soon utilizing this",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15661",
"auth... | 1,760,377,949.422699 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/21/hack-a-day-extra-5/ | Hack-A-Day Extra | Eliot | [
"cnc hacks",
"Uncategorized"
] | [] | I posted the first part of my
Xbox 360 iPod dock
build on Engadget yesterday. Unfortunately commenting was still off when it went up due to maintenance so I haven’t gotten any feedback yet. Just
three
Digg
stories
that aren’t going anywhere.
The response to my
job posting
has been pretty incredible. I was only expecting to to get one qualified person but this decision is going to end up being really tough.
Team Hack-A-Day
has completed another million points bringing the total up to 7M. We’ve also managed to shake loose our previous overtake threats. Spotted on the forum: [omniboggle]’s
vertical rackmount case
, [PocketLnt]’s
THaD flash intro
.
More links after the jump.
Have you seen the
fake 360 hacking vid
yet? [via
Digg
]
I mentioned
Diana Eng
‘s inflatable dress last week, but failed to say that it was a collaboration with
Emily Albinski
.
Michael Steil will be presenting his paper “
17 mistakes Microsoft made in the Xbox security system
” next week at
CCC
.
Recent upgrades to the Honda Asimo have enabled it to
steal your girl
and
run circles around you
in the process. I’m still betting on Sony’s QRIO which recently
added a third eye
… that sees through time. [via
Core77
]
BlogFS
is based on
FUSE
and lets you mount your
WordPress
blog as a filesystem.
When Judge Gwin ruled that source code is not protected by the first amendment, Leevi Marttila wrote the program
c2txt2c
to translate blowfish’s C source code into readable English, making it first amendment compatible.
Download Squad has a tip for using
Google’s language tools as a proxy
.
X-DSL
v0.5 was recently released. It’s a a Linux distro for the Xbox based on
Damn Small Linux
. [via
Xbox-Scene
]
I get some silly hack requests in the mail, but it looks like the ones sent to DVDJon have
a little more effort put into them
.
Tim Berners-Lee
started a blog recently. I hope you know
who that is
. [via
Waxy
]
[
Liquid Khaos
] recommends using “gun bluing” if you want to stain you white iPod headphones black.
MAME cabinet built in 24 hours
. [
THERINGMASTA
via
Joystiq
]
Open DMX USB interface
I love when
MAKE unearths
things I’ve always wondered about.
[
eecue
] picked up a new generation Furby to hack. They’ve got a guide for
how to skin one
.
iRobot released their long awaited
serial control interface for the Roomba
. Recently produced Roombas have the necessary bits built in already. It’s nice to see a manufacturer adding hacker features with each generation instead of crippling them. [
leadingzero
and rotzog]
Ramsinks
Nvidia overclocking guide
and
BIOS reset switch
. [default]
Bracelets from guitar strings
[Spud the Ferret]
Reality Hacking
interesting art installations [
exparrot
]
Disassembling the HTC Blue Angel
in Arabic [Moses]
[N] seems to be
having problems with his Nintendo DS
.
[
Adam
]’s company had a Christmas ornament competition.
His didn’t win though
.
Someone suggest
this Sharper Image product
should be made into an auto turret. “What’s that they’re flinging at us?!”
[KIWIDOGGOE] I don’t know why you keep sending your site in on the tip line. All I see is
text stolen from us
.
This
internal UPS
looks familiar for some reason. [abshnasko]
Build your own fallout meter
. [joe]
Accord car computer install
[Kyle Dewald]
[TomTheGeek]
added Bluetooth to his laptop
using [tnkgrl]’s
guide
.
Keep sending us tips
. | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "15651",
"author": "Spenc",
"timestamp": "2005-12-22T11:09:29",
"content": "I always enjoy reading the extras, even at 2 in the morning.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15649",
"author": "brad",
"timestamp": "2005-12-22T1... | 1,760,377,949.215582 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/21/gameboy-linked-hardware-sequencer/ | Gameboy Linked Hardware Sequencer | Eliot | [
"Nintendo Game Boy Hacks",
"Nintendo Hacks"
] | [] | Thanks to
Create Digital Music
for pointing me to the awesome work of
Gijs Geikes
. This is his
latest sequencer creation
. It is designed to get its clock signal from
Little Sound Dj running
on a Gameboy. The sequencer controls plugin modules that are attached to a parallel port.
Here’s a great sample of the output
. He’s got schematics on his site, which are easy to comprehend when compared to his bizarro board etching. One of the plugins is an earlier project:
The Tape Sequencer
.
Have a listen to that too
.
permalink | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "15642",
"author": "anon",
"timestamp": "2005-12-21T19:09:03",
"content": "Dead already.. looks hackalicious though",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15631",
"author": "carpespasm",
"timestamp": "2005-12-21T20:23:21",
"... | 1,760,377,948.920785 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/28/shmoocon-2006-covert-crawling-a-wolf-among-lambs/ | Shmoocon 2006: Covert Crawling: A Wolf Among Lambs | Eliot | [
"Uncategorized"
] | [] | Billy Hoffman has built a site crawler that can hide its activity within normal web traffic. Crawling a website is one of the easiest ways to find exploitable pages, but the systematic nature of the crawl makes it stand out in logs. Billy set out to design a crawler that would behave like a normal web browser. It follows more popular links first (think “news”, not “legal notice”) and it doesn’t hit deep linked pages directly without first creating an appropriate Google referrer. There are tons of other tricks involved in making the crawler look “human” which you’ll find in Billy’s
slides over at SPI Labs
. You can also
read about the talk on Wired News
.
permalink | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "16606",
"author": "jared",
"timestamp": "2006-01-29T02:32:52",
"content": "looks to me like the “most commented on (past 60 days) isn’t working properly. as of today, it’s been 4 months since the psp 2.0 to 1.5 downgrade was posted, and no one has commented on it since Oct 16th, 200... | 1,760,377,949.462778 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/28/windows-95-on-a-gp2x/ | Windows 95 On A GP2X | Eliot | [
"Portable Video Hacks"
] | [] | The
GP2X
is a portable game console that runs Linux and was released in November last year. This is a console that encourages you to hack its open platform and has a
dev wiki
to document those projects. Mandleman has recently gotten
Bochs
, the x86 emulator, running on the platform. He then
booted Windows 95
(
Internet Archive
) on top of that; It takes six and a half minutes. He’s also built emulators for the NES, NeoGeo pocket, and Wonderswan. Recently released Linux based devices like the GP2X and the
Nokia 770
are interesting because they encourage development. I hope in the future we’ll see an open device that has the market penetration of the PSP.
[thanks togi]
permalink | 14 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "16600",
"author": "ihate56k",
"timestamp": "2006-01-28T20:46:05",
"content": "This is all a bit theoretical, as the emulator has no mouse support, and key support for cursors, enter and space only.most of the people on gp32x forum can’t get this emulator to actually boot a disk imag... | 1,760,377,949.032203 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/27/using-mologogo-with-google-earth/ | Using Mologogo With Google Earth | Eliot | [
"google hacks"
] | [] | [
yug1taht
] wrote in to tell us about his lastest addition to
Mologogo
. You may remember Mologogo from its launch last fall. It lets you track GPS enabled phones using Google maps. It works with most Nextel phones and the inexpensive pay-as-you-go Boost Mobile phones; which is what our friend PT used
when he tried it out
. This latest addition to Mologogo lets you
output the data as .kml file
which you can then play with in Google Earth.
permalink | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "16582",
"author": "sean s.",
"timestamp": "2006-01-27T21:04:28",
"content": "I think we hackaday’d the server for gogo",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "16583",
"author": "gehan g",
"timestamp": "2006-01-27T21:14:17",
... | 1,760,377,948.97517 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/27/shmoocon-2006-behavioral-malware-analysis-using-sandnets/ | Shmoocon 2006: Behavioral Malware Analysis Using Sandnets | Eliot | [
"Uncategorized"
] | [] | A common approach to analyzing malware is to turn it loose inside of a
VMware
session, but some malware have methods for detecting virtual machines and will refuse to run if they encounters one. Joe Stewart has developed a tool called
Truman
that can be used to construct a sandnet. The sandnet expands on the idea of using VMware as a sandbox. The malware runs inside of a normal OS environment not a virtual one and it interacts with what it thinks is an entire network.
This is how the setup works: You have two machines connected using a crossover network cable. Machine 1 is the server and machine 2 is the client that the malware will be run on. Machine 2 is booted via
PXE
into a clean Windows install (or whatever OS your malware is for). Once booted it begins watching a directory on the server for the malware’s exe. Once you copy the executable into the directory the Windows machine copies the file and executes it. After 10 minutes the Windows machine dumps its physical memory to disk and then shuts down. An image of the newly infected Windows file system is then saved. The client machine then boots into Linux for analysis of the new Windows image. Truman improves analysis speed because you don’t have to constantly reimage the client machine by hand.
The PXE server also acts as a fauxinternet for the client machine. By watching tcpdump you can see what outbound connections the malware is trying to make. To aid in this process, Truman includes several fauxservers which are just simple Perl scripts designed to act like servers. The fauxservers tell the malware exactly what it wants to hear in hopes that it will cough up logins, passwords and other useful information.
permalink | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "16574",
"author": "wraezor",
"timestamp": "2006-01-28T01:37:12",
"content": "One of the coolest security ideas in a while. Very nice.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "16572",
"author": "william",
"timestamp": "2006-01-28... | 1,760,377,949.598346 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/26/standalone-microcontroller-based-lua-development-platform/ | Standalone Microcontroller Based LUA Development Platform | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [] | Hack-A-Day reader Bogdan Marinescu does a better job summarizing his project than I ever could. You can get his source code, schematics and more details by following the “read” link.
This project is a truly stand-alone development platform. What does that mean? Well, you plug-in a PS/2 keyboard, a 320×240 LCD, and start typing code. The code is written in
LUA
. The compiler and interpreter for LUA run from the microcontroller. The code also contains a small editor (for the code), support for FAT12/FAT16 on MMC/SD cards, support for remote connections and a new FLASH-friendly embedded file system. The platform is ‘self-reproducible’, i.e. you can transfer code from one platform to another. The LCD/keyboard/MMC are optional, so you can have a big ‘development’ platform with everything in it and a lot of bare ‘production’ platforms that ‘reproduce’ their code directly from the development platform. A M16C microcontroller and an external 512K SRAM chip are all that is required to build the bare platform, the other components are just for interfacing different peripherals. Hope you’ll like the idea. The code is 95% functional, but it needs some more work and a lot more testing.
permalink | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "16568",
"author": "tim",
"timestamp": "2006-01-26T20:51:46",
"content": "reminds me of good ‘ol Timex Sinclair, circa 1982",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "16566",
"author": "tiuk",
"timestamp": "2006-01-26T21:03:07",
... | 1,760,377,949.643704 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/26/shmoocon-2006-dan-geer-keynote/ | Shmoocon 2006: Dan Geer Keynote | Eliot | [
"Uncategorized"
] | [] | I attended
ShmooCon
2006 Jan. 13-15th. I had been waiting for the video and slides from the con to be posted, but I figured I should start posting before I completely forget what went on. Over the next few days I’ll be posting about the various talks I attended.
Dan Geer
‘s keynote was one of my favorite talks from the con. He believes that “if people respect you enough to have you deliver a keynote, respect your audience enough to write it out”. Thanks to that he’s provided the
full text
and a
pdf of the slides
from his talk. My summary won’t do it justice, but you can at least know what you are getting yourself into. Read on.
Dan started by acknowledging that, like most people in the audience, he wasn’t trained in security. His formal schooling is as a biostatistician. Things are changing though, soon the security industry will be filling up with people that are trained solely in security. Dan feels that we should leverage our diversity while we still can. Specifically to solve the problem of how to measure security.
The ultimate goal is “Quantitative information risk that is on a par with quantitative financial risk management”. The problem with the internet is that it is an aggregated risk because of its interconnected nature. Aggregated risk is why the same insurance company doesn’t sell policies to houses next door to each other; if one burns, the other one likely will resulting in double the loss for the company. In 2003 Dan and six coauthors
described Microsoft’s monopoly as a monoculture threatening national security
. (he was then fired from @stake via press release) This monoculture is a huge aggregated risk. There are other problems as well. Modern insurance policies are based on history, but the internet has no measurable risk history, unlike a 24 year old, non-smoking, white male.
Dan feels that security is a subset of reliability and that complexity will often hamper reliability. At this point in the speech Dan starts approaching the problem from his background as a biostatistician. He begins by showing a chart with two lines: one is an estimate of vulnerable hosts that clearly exceeds the second line, which is the number of incidents. The gap probably represents security working, but also vulnerable hosts that aren’t being attacked. He admits that these numbers are biased, but they can still give an accurate picture. The final segment of his talk deals with code complexity and its connection with incidents.
In closing Dan is careful to point out that this is just one man’s numbers and that we are still far away from a final packaged measurement solution. He encourages everyone to apply their own viewpoints, backgrounds and question what they’ve seen while we still have time. Of course, this is just a summary and I encourage you to check out the
full text
and
slides
. | 4 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "16557",
"author": "Isajeep",
"timestamp": "2006-01-27T06:34:00",
"content": "Plz hang me",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "16556",
"author": "Xeonon",
"timestamp": "2006-01-27T07:06:39",
"content": "I for one, really w... | 1,760,377,949.687264 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2006/01/25/interfacing-the-isa-bus/ | Interfacing The ISA Bus | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [] | Sometimes you need a lot more data lines than are available in a parallel port. Hack-A-Day reader [abhishek dutta] has written a guide for
building projects connected to the ISA bus
. The guide gives you 32 general purpose I/O lines that you can use for complex project like a digital oscilloscope. To make things easier, some tips on debugging are included as well. Now to unearth a motherboard with an ISA slot
permalink | 22 | 21 | [
{
"comment_id": "16553",
"author": "Drew",
"timestamp": "2006-01-25T19:05:52",
"content": "hmm, I may actually try this. I was thinking of setting up some various sensors to an old computer (temp, both air and computer, fan speeds, etc.)luckily i have an old 400 mhz machine with two ISA slots!",
... | 1,760,377,950.44381 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/14/hack-a-day-extra-6/ | Hack-A-Day Extra | Eliot | [
"Uncategorized"
] | [] | I’ve been having some serious static build up in my office so dad suggested dragging a chain? nah, I’ll just turn up the humidifier. It has been really bad though; one lightning bolt from a mislaid finger forced me to reset my iPod. It got so bad that I actually bought a static strap before assembling my latest machine. Something I should have bought 10 years ago.
My
PVR-500
dual TV tuner card came in the mail yesterday. The driver and
MythTV
install went pretty well and didn’t require too much forum crawling. They won’t tune anything above channel 59 for some reason. Hopefully I get that figured out soon.
Team Hack-A-Day
continues to dominate; we completed 6 million pints this week. Saying [yehoshua] got off to a great start would be an
understatement
. At last count he had 104 active processors in a completely legitimate borg. [scottpdotnet] entered his
thin client cluster
into the fray as well.
Did you watch the
Project Runway season 2
premier
? I can’t find a torrent for it. I want to see it because
Diana Eng
is one of the designers and
loves incorporating tech into here work. Her inflatable dress was featured on the cover of I.D. and can be seen at
WMMNA
. She’s also developing a
SWITCH
a fashion/tech vodcast.
How-to install the Google Safe
Browsing plugin
if you don’t live in the US.
The
Jackass! project
released
Rockhopper!
last week. It is a processor specific
Gentoo stage compiled using GCC 4.0. My Jackass install has been rock solid so far (I have been trying to use as many
stable packages as possible).
CDM has had some cool posts this week:
Using LabVIEW as a
synthesizer
and
Robot
drummer responds to human playing
.
We covered Hack-A-Day reader [
Jordan
]’s
web based iTunes control
on Engadget yesterday. He’d be
happy if someone made it better.
People always ask me why we are still in beta. It is simply a ploy to get listed in the
Museum of Modern Betas
. [via
Waxy
]
Mac Minis have appeared in cars since the first day they were sold. Now there is a company selling a
car Mini dock
.
When the iPod Mini was first released people were pulling the 4GB CF cards and selling them for a markup on eBay.
That lasted for about two hours then everyone heard what was going on and the bottom fell out of the market. Well now
people are
upgrading the internals to 8GB
. [borre]
WeaKnees is offering $25,000 (and hopefully legal protection) to first person to
hack a
DirecTV DVR
.
Hackers are exploiting a flaw in GTA:LCS save games to
run code under PSP firmware 2.5
. I guess
the only way to build a “hack-proof” console is to
never release it
.
Most people saw
The Million Dollar Homepage
when it was first
getting started, but you should really look at it now… for searing eye pain. A lot of the ads are for sites offering
cheaper per pixel pricing. [via
BlogCadre
]
Graffiti Hackers
I really wish these
alternative printers were documented better on the web.
Bleach Eating Freaks
Office Bircolage 3
weapons from
office supplies.
If you were a true fan, you’d
read Hack-A-Day on
vacation
too. [thanks
Rich Willis
]
[socketeer]’s
Si-Link FM Transmitter Mod
[warning:
Geocities] Shouldn’t Yahoo have bandwidth to spare?
iTMS album art search
currently broken, it was
sweet [tristan]
Using IR modules from VCRs
[h-tech]
[j4undone] has been using the cellphones at mall kiosks to send free picture and text messages, since they have
service.
Mac on a USB stick using Mini vMac
[h-tech]
Here is a thread about a
case designed from forum
responses
. It looks now like it might have been
attempted fraud
.
[neg2led]
Web controlled paintball tank
This is
one user’s experience
. [CYRIX]
[
ray and cape
] tested a couple
different methods for
making shotglasses
out of ice
. Have a look at their other projects too.
[Borre] sent some pictures of his iPod dock built out of the packaging:
one
,
two
,
three
,
four
.
Related forum thread
[
zilli0n
]’s got a nicely
modded Xbox 360 case
and
faceplate
.
[
shadymilkman
]’s
air duster gun
[warning: tripod and thumbnails are full size
images]
From the people who brought you the
Telecrapper 2000
:
Record Every Waking Moment
. I’m sure in the future we will be
recording every second of our daily lives, but it is going to depend entirely on our ability to manage that data once
storage becomes trivial.
[Jim]’s guide to
using
Skype as a remote listening device
.
[nick carneiro] shows you
how-to build a server using
Slackware
.
Spanish guide for building the FisiRadio
, an AM radio
receiver. [morfo]
How-to modify Netstumbler to
work with Wireless ZeroConfig
[Israel Torres and
Steve
]
[brett]’s
cheap kitchen PC
[matthijs heeren] and Pieter Jolen have been
working on a
project
similar to Jason Striegel’s
sex bots
. Theirs
features a fitness function to better simulate genetic algorithms.
[sega01] covered his laptop in duct tape.
Here is the first
picture
. The rest are
on his server
, but it is kinda
slow.
USB christmas lights
Free software list
[warning: Geocities]
[mycroes] had a bios flash fail, but was able to boot a different board swap the bios and then flash it using
UniFlash
.
[jason] made some
skins for the CVS camera
.
[
tom
] has a guide to
dissecting the SmarTrip
RFID fare
card over at DCist.
Finally, a note from [john rutherford]:
If you have Cablevision/OptimumOnline and have a new cable box (Scientific Atlanta, Explorer 4200) you can access
28 hidden information pages. Press the Diamond button in the middle of the arrow and then press the info button. Use
the right/left arrow keys to scroll through the pages. You can press the diamond key again so that you can watch TV and
look at the settings. Press EXIT to close it out.
*Also, you can Reset the box by press the Vol+/Vol- keys at the same time and pressing the INFO button
Keep sending us tips
. If it’s really good and you don’t see it here, it
means I’m probably writing a feature on it. | 24 | 24 | [
{
"comment_id": "15532",
"author": "Jeff",
"timestamp": "2005-12-15T12:07:03",
"content": "My PVR 500 and Mythtv work awesome. Although, i did have to do a bunch of forum crawling at the time, cause the PVR 500 wasn’t supported very well. Don’t you love having PiP from it? its great",
"parent_... | 1,760,377,950.000114 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/14/line-following-robot/ | Line Following Robot | Eliot | [
"Robots Hacks"
] | [] | [Greg] has been doing a great job updating
DIY Live
. The latest entry details a
line following robot
. These bots are quite common, but Greg provides really thorough coverage of all of the details involved. His particular design features two separate sensors and when the robot reaches the end of the line it will reverse, retracing its steps. He’s got wiring schematics for the h-bridge and other components. He admits that PIC programming is a topic too broad for one post, but he does discuss a few of the necessary logic chunks involved.
permalink | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "15507",
"author": "digitalmaddog",
"timestamp": "2005-12-14T19:21:53",
"content": "great find alway wanted to build this type of bot!!!dm",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15508",
"author": "grayskies",
"timestamp": "2005-... | 1,760,377,950.052004 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/13/micro-railgun/ | Micro Railgun | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [] | While some railgun projects are attempting to be the biggest and baddest, this one just wants to be functional. It’s not efficient or powerful, but it is really easy to put together. The barrel is constructed from two 3″ long pieces of aluminum weld bar with heavy duty Lucite sandwiched in between. The gap is only 1/16″. A disposable camera charging circuit plus 4 capacitors salvaged from other cameras provide the power supply. The projectile is a tiny piece of aluminum foil. It may not be the greatest gun ever made, but it looks like it would definitely be a good demo unit.
Here is a coral cache of the site
.
[thanks luke]
permalink | 48 | 48 | [
{
"comment_id": "15492",
"author": "spaceout",
"timestamp": "2005-12-13T19:01:19",
"content": "my cat better be hiding from this one",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15490",
"author": "Jonathan de beir",
"timestamp": "2005-12-13T19:08:06"... | 1,760,377,950.190226 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/12/fast-serial-lcd-interface/ | Fast Serial LCD Interface | Eliot | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [] | This is a serial interface for any LCD using the incredibly common 44780 controller. There are a couple different serial interfaces like this on the market, but this project aims to be a superior version. It can use 5 – 30V with an included regulator. It has ESD protection. True RS232 levels mean you can use really long cables. Up to 8 buttons are also supported. This would work great with a car computer. All of the software and schematics are provided. Have a look around the madhacker site for a lot of other cool projects.
[thanks Stuart]
permalink | 13 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "15444",
"author": "kURTROEDEGER",
"timestamp": "2005-12-12T19:20:11",
"content": "I just love LCD hacks.–Kurt Roedeger",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15441",
"author": "jaguarrrr",
"timestamp": "2005-12-12T19:38:13",
... | 1,760,377,950.103219 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/11/24ghz-field-strength-meter/ | 2.4Ghz Field Strength Meter | Eliot | [
"Wireless Hacks"
] | [] | This is a really simple way to measure WiFi strength. Actually, it will measure anything in the 2.4Ghz range, like your microwave. The device consists of a two element quad antenna, a Ghz sensitive diode and a variable capacitor for tuning. The sensor is plugged into a voltmeter for measurement. The page has links for locating the specialized diodes.
permalink | 20 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "15431",
"author": "joelanders",
"timestamp": "2005-12-11T19:25:21",
"content": "this thing is cool. i wonder if he could build three of them and pinpoint the source of the emr. like if they were spaced out enough and he had some software that interprets the differences in strength... | 1,760,377,950.387407 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/10/powerbook-compact-flash-drive/ | Powerbook Compact Flash Drive | Eliot | [
"Mac Hacks"
] | [] | This Powerbook 150 was purchased as a simple media reader. Once the hard drive failed the owner decided to replace it with a compact flash card since IDE adapters were available. There was a problem: the ATA device driver would probe the device and then immediately shutdown because the “identify device” bit wasn’t the expected value. The device driver had been written before more recent changes to the ATA spec. Greg solved the problem by constructing a daughter card that plugs into the adapter board’s 40-pin header and then flips the identifying bit when the device is initially probed.
[thanks iamdigitalman]
permalink | 27 | 27 | [
{
"comment_id": "15414",
"author": "CYRIX",
"timestamp": "2005-12-10T20:42:15",
"content": "how many people are going to use this????",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15413",
"author": "BitSlash",
"timestamp": "2005-12-10T20:47:43",
"... | 1,760,377,950.257013 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/09/lumenlab-projector-build/ | Lumenlab Projector Build | Eliot | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [] | A couple days ago we mentioned that Lumenlab had released their top secret plans for building an LCD based projector. Hack-A-Day reader [Brad O’Connor] sent along his experiences
using the Lumenlab plans
. Like most people, he says that the $20 price of admission is worth it. The system uses a 400Watt metal halide lamp as a light source. A fresnel lens straightens the light before it passes through a consumer LCD panel. A second fresnel lens directs the light to the final focusing lens. You can grab a torrent of the plans
here
. Brad is currently working on motorizing his 120″ screen.
permalink | 38 | 35 | [
{
"comment_id": "15367",
"author": "billytheimpaler",
"timestamp": "2005-12-09T19:14:00",
"content": "I wanted to do this wicked bad until it occurred to me that I don’t have an LCD to tear apart. Rats. Maybe I can do it in 10 years when LCDs with busted backlights are getting chucked in the dumps... | 1,760,377,950.52097 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/11/27/xbox-360-first-impressions/ | Xbox 360 First Impressions | Eliot | [
"Reviews",
"Xbox Hacks"
] | [
"review",
"xbox",
"xbox 360"
] | I feel the need to include a disclaimer before getting into this: I don’t own an original Xbox, I own a Playstation 2, I consider myself a casual gamer, I’m a fan of Open Source and not Microsoft.
I purchased this box on the first day because early versions of consoles are generally easier to modify. With the PSP ver. 1.0 it was easy to run homebrew code, but with each successive firmware version, Sony makes it harder. The original Xboxes that are being sold now make it almost impossible to run
Xbox Linux
because of a hardware change.
Before we get to my experiences, here are some links that you might find interesting.
Chipworks de-capps and photographs Xbox silicon
. Chipworks is a leading silicon reverse engineering company. [via
bunnie
, who still needs a 360]
Anandtech’s photo tour of the 360 internals,
one
and
two
batlogic’s
VGA cable pinout
and article on the
original Xbox’s security model
Free60.org
, the Xbox 360 Linux project
Crashes
This is the current hot topic (puns are always intended), so I’ll start with it. As you can see from the photo above, I have experienced problems with my 360. You can see more photos on the
Flickr Hack-A-Day photo pool
. While observing a race that
Joystiq
was in, I brought up the sidebar to play music from my iPod. This resulted in severe graphic glitches (the music wasn’t playing right either) and I had to reboot. Another time while playing PGR3 I brought up the sidebar and the system froze; I could still chat, but the system would not respond to any button presses, so I rebooted. I feel that both of these issues are Dashboard problems and not heat related. I’m guessing these problems will probably be cured in a future Dashboard upgrade. When you access Live for the first time the dashboard upgrades from ver. 2.0.1888.0 to 2.0.2241.0.
I haven’t experienced any problems that I would consider heat related. That being said: This console is extremely hot. Heat pours out of the back out the machine even when doing menial tasks like playing MP3s. If you place a hand across the right side of the box you can feel the suction from fans. This is the largest intake and because of that I think standing the box up on carpet would be a really bad idea. The feet are short enough that I wouldn’t feel good about standing it up on a hard surface either. The power supply has been blamed for most overheating problems. It has intake and exhaust ports that consist of two rows of holes in a 2×1/4 inch space. The power supply doesn’t get too hot; I’m sitting with my feet on top of it right now using it a foot warmer.
HiDef
From the top photo you can see I’ve got the 360 plugged into my
Dell 2405FP
using the included component cable. The component cable also has a composite video connection so you don’t need a different cable when connecting to an SDTV. Yes, 720p looks amazing and I’m glad that Microsoft has required support for it in all games. It looks a lot better than the jaggie 480p from my Playstation 2. The clarity of the HD is a little lost on me since I use this as my regular computer monitor which can support resolutions up to 1920×1200. I did buy this monitor specifically for the HD support and it should be able to handle 1080p, if the Playstation 3 manages to support it. It’s also nice being able to work while monitoring Live using the picture in picture.
Controller
Following the trend set by Nintendo, the Xbox’s OEM wireless controller is great. They added two shoulder buttons, but unlike the Playstation, placing four fingers on the shoulder buttons doesn’t feel natural. This is fine because the upper buttons are used for occasional tasks like switching view points; you spend most of your time with index fingers on the triggers. The light on top of the controller indicates which number 1-4 the controller is assigned to, a nice touch. It would be nice to see the possibility of more players supported on a single console though. The wired USB controllers can be used with Windows, but not the wireless controllers when connected with the “play &charge”. The obvious conclusion is that: the play & charge is just a power cable and doesn’t add any sort of USB functionality. I think the headset connector is identical to the original Xbox: 2.5mm jack like cellphone headsets, I also have a 2.5mm RCA cable from my digicam that would work. There are two slots next to the headphone jack that have two metal contacts each which aren’t used by the headset.
USB
One of the first things I did was plug every USB device I had into the Xbox to see how it behaved. My keyboard worked fine whenever there was an on-screen keyboard (It’s the keyboard from the
Playstation 2 Linux kit
). The system really hated the mouse; none of the other peripherals would work when it was plugged in. My video iPod came up almost immediately and was identified by its name “pwn3d by hackaday”. Plugging in the camera, card reader and flash drive all worked, but not at the same time. It also doesn’t like the card reader built into the monitor, but the flash drive and keyboard both work when connected through the monitor’s hub. My Prism2 based WiFi adapters were not recognized by the box.
Media
One of the main reasons I purchased the Xbox was its media streaming ability. Using the
Windows Media Connect
you can access music and photos stored on your Windows XP machine. The software will also stream video, but not to the Xbox 360 because Microsoft has decided to
cripple
it. This is an attempt to sell more Windows Media Center PCs since you can stream video using them. Media Connect uses the
UPnP AV
protocol to stream media, but the Xbox won’t recognize other UPnP servers like
uShare
. If it did, it would be easy to stream from a Mac or a Linux machine. The Xbox also doesn’t appear as a media renderer when using
Cidero
UPnP control Point software.
Here is a good overview of the media center features
. [via
Xbox360Fanboy
]
Playing music is easy enough. It was a lot more enjoyable navigating music stored on the iPod than on my roommate’s XP machine. The iPod is neatly organized while Media Connect scrapes every directory you give it, listing every random music file and playlist it comes across. The interface is pretty easy to use, but I have a couple complaints. Adding a song to a playlist takes at least three button pushes. When you click “add to playlist” it takes you to the playlist and then you have back up to get back to where you were before. They should dedicate one button on the controller for adding the song and not make you jump back and forth. Also, you can’t save playlists that include music not stored on the hard drive. The easiest way to manage playlists is building them on your PC or in iTunes for your iPod instead of using the Xbox interface. The Xbox does work really well if you want to play by album, artist, or genre though.
Live
I’ve enjoyed playing on Xbox live. Being able to jump easily into a game with friends is great. Delivering free demos to consoles is a wonderful idea: I’m much more likely to buy games I’ve already played just like buying DVDs of movies I’ve already seen. It would be nice to receive videos from videogame review sites too. The downloads from Live are extremely slow, they should really use a distributed system since they have a huge network of identical consoles. I wish Live had a way to organize friends into groups like I can on IM: coworkers, readers, random.
Money, money, money
This is what I hate the most about the new Xbox 360.
Sure, you can buy a Core bundle for $299, which isn’t anymore than the last version, but it doesn’t come with a hard drive. The hard drive is a $30 SATA drive, but since it is for the Xbox it costs $99.
The free Media Connect software is fully capable of streaming video, but you have to buy a Media Center PC to do it.
Media Connect is using the open UPnP AV protocol, but you can’t use other UPnP software to stream to the Xbox
Xbox Live costs extra – Didn’t I pay a huge entry fee by buying the console? Why do I have to pay a monthly fee just to use it?
Micropayments – Sure, these little bits of content aren’t worth much, but we are still going to make you pay for it.
The bottom line
Is the Xbox 360 worth buying? If you have prerequisites like an HDTV and a Media Center PC the Xbox 360’s support for these items will make it well worth your time. If you want to just use it as gaming system, it’s hard to justify the expense right now. Like most console launches, the titles aren’t that revolutionary. I think the best plan would be to wait till next year to make the purchase: the console will be cheaper, the selection of games will be broader, used games will be available, you’ll know the Playstation 3’s features, the Xbox 360 games will be making better use of the console’s power, Microsoft will have most of the bugs ironed out and you might be able to run Linux. | 110 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "15057",
"author": "hunter",
"timestamp": "2005-11-27T10:38:41",
"content": "xbox 360 sounds good but i acree it is very cripled and for no reson",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15056",
"author": "justin wong",
"timestamp... | 1,760,377,950.610554 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/11/26/cooking-with-processors/ | Cooking With Processors | Eliot | [
"computer hacks"
] | [] | While contemplating how to turn my new heat pumping Xbox into a foot cozy, I remembered some links that [h-tech] had sent in.
The first is
cooking an egg on a processor
in a functional PC. The proc in question is an AMD Athlon XP1500+. The tray is supported by a stack of 1p and 2p sterling coins. After approx. 4 minutes of warm up it took 11 minutes to cook the egg.
The second is a
hotplate constructed from 7 Cyrix chips
. The chips are wired in parallel to an AT power supply. A piece of cookie sheet is attached to the surface with thermal paste and the power supply is enhanced with | 30 | 30 | [
{
"comment_id": "14953",
"author": "flaunt_dzx",
"timestamp": "2005-11-26T19:03:46",
"content": "EZ-Bake 360!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "14954",
"author": "weirdguy",
"timestamp": "2005-11-26T19:49:13",
"content": "woha! Didn’t ... | 1,760,377,950.677198 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/11/25/gamecube-linux/ | GameCube Linux | Eliot | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [] | I know this week belongs to the Xbox 360, but sometimes you need a break from all of the hype. Once the
Xbox Linux
team got a mature system established they decided to move on to
GameCube Linux
. They’ve made a lot of progress:
The GameCube Linux kernel has working drivers for PAL and NTSC framebuffers, the Broadband Adapter (network card), audio, ARAM, Real Time Clock, gamepad, keyboard, DVD, MMC/SD cards (through the SD card adapter) and reset button. It has also preliminary support for memory cards.
Just last month they released instructions on how to
build your own bootable disc
.
[thanks h-tech]
permalink | 17 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "14923",
"author": "matt pist",
"timestamp": "2005-11-25T19:55:02",
"content": "first post? :Pthis looks kinda cool. maybe people will make something more useful out of the gamecube now…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "14922",
... | 1,760,377,950.732529 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/11/24/total-christmas-light-control/ | Total Christmas Light Control | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [] | Now that Thanksgiving is in full swing, I think I can safely mention Christmas without receiving the beat down. In this project, Christmas is just an excuse to build a parallel port connected
control box capable of switching 320 individual circuits
. The interface is constructed out of two types of chips: the 138 decoder and the 374 flip-flop. Each flip-flop is attached to an individual serial port that is connected to an 8 outlet switch box. Along with this system the site features lots of other home built and modified controls.
[thanks
yo_tyler
]
permalink | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "14906",
"author": "steve",
"timestamp": "2005-11-24T19:14:07",
"content": "reminds me of this [http://metacafe.com/watch/45390/wizards_of_winter/] ridiculously fun movie clip.direct link:http://content-mixed.metacafe.com/tmp670073258530.708/%5BFrom%20www.metacafe.com%5D%2045390.1539... | 1,760,377,950.779094 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/11/23/hack-a-day-extra-9/ | Hack-A-Day Extra | Eliot | [
"Uncategorized"
] | [] | Yes, I was able to get an Xbox 360 on launch day. No, it wasn’t actually hard for me to get one either so I’ll spare you my story. I’ll probably sell it for a Playstation 3 when that is released, but I felt it was necessary to buy one on the first day since I’ve been missing out on all of the PSP homebrew fun. I’ll be doing a separate Xbox 360 post (with crash pictures), but if you’ve got specific questions you’d like me to answer put them in the comments.
Put your gamertag here too.
The Folding@HOME team is still plowing ahead. They recently
completed 4 million points
and will become a top 100 team in less than a week.
Find out more at the team forum
. If you are going to be back at your parents’ house for Thanksgiving, don’t forget to
start their machine folding
.
We’ve moved from #96 to #86 on the
Feedster Top 500
I don’t know why everyone is getting excited about MacDevCenter figuring out
how to use a generic AV cable with an
iPod video
. Hack-A-Day reader [Mark Question] figured out how to
use an iBook cable
and I mentioned how to
use a generic
cable
weeks ago.
Bruce Schneier wonders why antivirus companies have been so
slow in response to the Sony DRM rootkit
. I find it
especially odd since they responded quickly to the
PSP
downgrader
which doesn’t even affect PCs. The Microsoft Anti-Malware Engineering Team added the
rootkit signatures to Microsoft
AntiSpyware last Thursday
.
Ladyada
has started selling
SpokePOV kits
.
Second Amendment
launched a pumpkin 4331.72 feet at this year’s
Punkin Chunkin World Championship
[via
WMMNA
]
Also from WMMNA: Old photo of treadle powered
bicycle rollerskates
and
Sony QRIOs dancing to Beck’s
Hell Yes
.
They’ve been seen dancing before, but this is to music you’ve heard of.
[grayskies] was concerned about
Digg ripping off stories from
us
. It doesn’t bother me if you
link to the
daily story
since you saw the link here first. Digg is a great source of traffic (and hopefully new readers), but
if you’re taking the link and using our text for the description,
gamer31
, that’s wrong.
[
Bill Meara
] and a couple other HAMs have started the
Soldersmoke podcast
to talk about their homebrew radio projects.
[sparr] says that KB Toys will have a
JuiceBox bundle for $25
on Black
Friday. It includes the MP3 player, which you will need to
run Linux
or
other projects
.
[Wildoman]’s
PSP speaker mod
Was the power horn
really needed?
[mike] is hoping to do
homebrew galvanic vestibular
stimulation
and is collecting links on his site. GVS is used to
remotely control humans
.
[Walter Schreppers]’s
MythTV LCD display
We covered
how-to resurrect a hard drive
, but you
should check out [Barry]’s videos if you want to
really
destroy a drive
.
[Ben Jackson] built a
PCI interface for a Xilinx CPLD
[Nick Lott]’s
AVR Butterfly based MP3 player
[
Jason
] Has written a series of articles on
integrating Google Maps into web services
.
[
Clay
]’s
corrugated ghetto blaster
was built for mixed
media sculpture class. It contains a Discman, some cheap speakers and an auxiliary input jack; the buttons are
functional.
[Jeffery Alan] has a good method for
mounting a Christmas
tree securely
.
[
ad
] has a quick list for
how to keep
your pages from getting axed by content filters
. He forgot “Don’t put the word ‘hack’ in your URL”. I’m sure a lot
of people that read my resume can’t reach Hack-A-Day.
[Andrew] has extensive notes on
Perl, SQL, and Web Publishing
Security
.
[h-tech] sent in links for connecting
Gamecube
,
Playstation
,
N64
,
SNES
, and
Genesis
controllers to your PC.
[Andrew]’s
review of Microsoft BOB
for those of
you who never encountered the fabled resource gobbling beast in person.
[Clinton Mann] builds a
picture frame from a hard
drive
.
[
Steve
] sent in an interesting site on
breaking CAPTCHAs
. Here is their
OCR research blog
.
[Isaac Huang] pointed out a utility for finding out
what’s eating up your
iPod disk space
. Excluding videos I think KMFDM is taking up the largest chunk on mine.
Bug-A-Day
Seems like bug every 5 seconds to me. [Gert]
An overkill method for
keeping your router from
overheating
[steve]
Javier Sanchez Merina’s transformable four-seat sculpture
.
[
edgar
] says the BMW seats were cheap at the junkyard because of limited
demand.
[brady]’s
homemade flamethrower
uses argon to pressurize
the fuel supply.
[Brent Riley] put a
full sized desktop in his Neon
.
Controlling lights using .NET
It’s
on MSDN, but it’s nice to know they consider us an
essential link
. [Mike]
[Sam Krupa] has a guide for installing
Linux on the iPod
Nano
.
Keyboard + skateboard = [DarkJimmy]’s
Skeytboard
The
Soft Robot
uses a deformable body
to move [xev]
Using sound for an
archery chronograph
[Liam]
[Nick] stuffed his
broken clamshell into an Altoid’s
tin
. Freeweb’s ads won’t let me cache the page; goodbye bandwidth.
[krome]’s
wide angle sector
antenna
Links are always appreciated | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "14896",
"author": "hermit",
"timestamp": "2005-11-24T10:46:01",
"content": "Jesus, I’d say “extra.” This is the biggest list I have seen yet.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "14895",
"author": "ad",
"timestamp": "2005-11-... | 1,760,377,950.846416 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/11/23/thermal-keypad-combo-snooping/ | Thermal Keypad Combo Snooping | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [] | This is interesting demo of how residual heat in a safe keypad could expose the key sequence. Using a hand-held thermal imaging device (not cheap) you can read which buttons on a keypad were pressed 5 to 10 minutes after the event from up to 10 meters away. Even though each key press is momentary there is enough heat transfer to distinguish the button in a thermal image. The sequence can be determined since the first button pressed has the least heat. This method break s when buttons are reused in the sequence, but being able to see the unused keys cuts down the number of possible permutations.
[thanks Mr. Mistoffolees]
permalink | 32 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "14873",
"author": "weirdguy",
"timestamp": "2005-11-23T19:03:09",
"content": "splinter cell!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "14872",
"author": "Mojo Jojo",
"timestamp": "2005-11-23T19:17:49",
"content": "So just heat... | 1,760,377,950.912016 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/11/22/bluetooth-stereo-bridge/ | Bluetooth Stereo Bridge | Eliot | [
"Portable Audio Hacks"
] | [] | [Chris] had made a sturdy mount in his car for his iPAQ. He uses the iPAQ for directions and playing mp3s. After nearly ripping apart his line-in cable every time he took the iPAQ out of its cradle he decided to create a wireless solution. He chopped up a pair of HP FA303A Bluetooth headphones to extract the receiver portion. The headphone’s band is prone to breaking so it might be possible to find a damaged pair for cheap. The receiver was placed into an old mouse. Once the buttons were hooked up to the mouse buttons and a voltage regulator added the unit was ready to start streaming audio directly to the stereo.
permalink | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "14842",
"author": "KuRTROedeger",
"timestamp": "2005-11-22T19:08:31",
"content": "This has some usefullness to me. Thank yoU!–KurtRoedeger",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "14841",
"author": "Singularis",
"timestamp": "20... | 1,760,377,951.513467 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/20/nes-controller-for-pocket-pc/ | NES Controller For Pocket PC | Eliot | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [] | As an emulator enthusiast Oscar was frustrated by the button placement on his Pocket PC. He decided to
adapt an NES controller to the PDA
. The iPAQ had four buttons plus a D-pad like the controller so he just needed to find a way to translate between the two. The answer came from a Belkin IR keyboard. In addition to the regular QWERTY keys it had the hardware buttons too. He stripped out the necessary board from the keyboard and connected the NES buttons. He left the battery and an IR extension outside of the case because the signal was too weak from a distance. I wonder if it would be possible to use something like [leadingzero]’s
NES remote
and just translate the button presses since the signal would be stronger. I know it would work with LIRC in Linux, but I’m not sure if there is something similar for Pocket PC.
permalink | 9 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "15625",
"author": "colin brown",
"timestamp": "2005-12-20T19:06:10",
"content": "Nice, I have two of these plus the old console. I’m inspired by some of the things you can do with them, I’ll maybe give it a go!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
... | 1,760,377,951.257098 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/20/want-to-write-how-tos-for-engadget/ | Want To Write How-tos For Engadget? | Eliot | [
"Uncategorized"
] | [] | I’m hiring a new ‘How-to’ editor for
Engadget
. We’re looking for someone who can contribute at least 2 how-tos a month. Original how-tos can cover hardware, software, and anything in between. We’ve covered software how-tos like
streaming with VLC
and
setting up Synergy
. We definitely want someone who isn’t afraid of a soldering iron and can do things like
building WiFi antennas
and
embedding sensors in clothing
.
To apply for the position you need to:
Post a ‘fresh’ how-to article in the style of Engadget with pictures/screenshots somewhere on the internet (like a free blog from
Blogger
).
Write a sample post for a ‘found’ hack (like the Hack-A-Day daily feature).
Send both links, a little info about yourself, and 5 additional how-to ideas through the
tip form
before 1PM EST Dec. 27th. Use the subject ‘Engadget writer’.
For inspiration:
here are how-tos we’ve done in the past
. For additional inspiration: this is a paid position. | 7 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "15616",
"author": "tns",
"timestamp": "2005-12-21T02:09:09",
"content": "#13: And it’s also clearly unrelated to the fact that he has yet to master the complexities of adding a comment.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15617",
... | 1,760,377,951.351298 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/19/rfid-based-spatial-address-book/ | RFID Based Spatial Address Book | Eliot | [
"Cellphone Hacks"
] | [] | The march of reader hacks continues and I couldn’t be happier. [Timo] has been experimenting with a prototype
Nokia 3220 Near Field Communication
phone. The phone features an RFID reader/writer (and an odd logo that seems to combine a Dreamcast with RSS). The phone’s Service Discovery application reads RFID tags that it encounters. The read data can trigger a variety of actions: dial a number, send a pre-defined SMS, or load a URL. Timo placed an
array of RFID tags under the surface of his desk
. He then recorded different actions to each tag and placed a corresponding Post-It note liable on the desk surface above each tag. So, by resting the phone on “call Jack” the phone would load the number. When he walks into the office he can set the phone down on “I’m in the office” and a text message will be sent. He’s got some interesting thoughts on this system. It made him very aware of where he had to set the phone when he didn’t want it to do anything. Timo also wonders how your acquaintances would feel if they found themselves ranked across your desktop.
permalink | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "15610",
"author": "steel maverick",
"timestamp": "2005-12-19T19:19:00",
"content": "w00t!!! f1rs7 p0s7!!!Nice. Might try this hack,",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15601",
"author": "mr dan",
"timestamp": "2005-12-19T20:... | 1,760,377,951.63417 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/18/playstation-2-controller-adc/ | Playstation 2 Controller ADC | Eliot | [
"Playstation Hacks"
] | [] | [Paul Skinner] sent in an interesting project that he has been working on. The goal is to use biofeedback (heart rate, skin temperature) for sound control. The Playstation controller offers multiple analog inputs so Paul decided to modify one to use as an analog to digital converter. Before tearing the controller down he connected the controller to Max/MSP to make sure he could read the inputs. The majority of the project was spent building amplifiers for the skin temperature and other sensors. Once the amplifier circuit was constructed Paul built several Max/MSP patches to use the data.
permalink | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "15599",
"author": "chris",
"timestamp": "2005-12-18T19:14:04",
"content": "very cool and intresting. It’s funny too because at my nasa bioengineering mentorship last year i prototyped somthing very similar to this and then adapted it to optimize pilot aircraft interface. We ended up... | 1,760,377,951.307328 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/17/count-accumulator-for-radiation-levels/ | Count Accumulator For Radiation Levels | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [] | This hack was put together by reader [Forrest Cook]. He was wondering if there were any radioactive materials in his rock collection. This is an add-on box for a 60s era Victoreen CDV700 Geiger counter. Vintage gieger counters don’t actually count; they use an analog meter with an integrator circuit to do short term averages. Forrest’s box plugs into the headphone jack of the Geiger counter and does true digital counting with a Motorola microprocessor. The signal could also be sent to a computer with a little modification. He did find a handful of radioactive rocks, but nothing that was serious enough to worry about.
permalink | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "15588",
"author": "colonel_panic",
"timestamp": "2005-12-17T19:10:02",
"content": "Wow…That could be useful for my physical science class…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15587",
"author": "Rob",
"timestamp": "2005-12-17... | 1,760,377,951.210232 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/16/linux-running-on-palmones-lifedrive/ | Linux Running On PalmOne’s LifeDrive | Eliot | [
"handhelds hacks"
] | [] | I am amazed at how quickly Alex from
hackndev
was able to get
Linux running on the LifeDrive
. It looks like the majority of the work only spanned 2 weeks. The Linux system is started using
Garux
a bootloader that you run in the Palm OS. Garux unloads Palm OS from memory and boots the Linux kernel in its place. Alex has published
GPE
binaries of Familiar Linux that should be really simple to use. The touchscreen works, but since suspend isn’t working yet it’s still not practical as a stand alone environment.
[thanks andy]
permalink | 25 | 25 | [
{
"comment_id": "15576",
"author": "kURTROEDEGER",
"timestamp": "2005-12-16T19:04:59",
"content": "i WISH I KNEW LINUX, SO MANY HACKS OUT THERE AND CUSTOMIZATION.–kURTROEDEGER",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15577",
"author": "cantsleepcatsw... | 1,760,377,951.470552 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/15/drunk-animatronic-santa/ | Drunk Animatronic Santa | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [] | Reader [Josh McCormick] hacked this
awesomely drunk animatronic Santa
.
Here’s a cached video link
. He purchased the 5 foot tall singing and dancing Santa Claus at Walmart for $50 with the intention of modifying it for an art show. Once he got it home he began tearing it down. He found the brains of the device in the left foot (just like Santa!). The motion control is all analog and there is a hidden potentiometer that controls the dancing rate (jigginess). Josh used a BS2P40 Parallax BASIC Stamp for the digital control of the device and the sound samples were stored on a Quadravox QV306M4. To get the movements in sync, Josh recorded the performance as the sound clip was being played back. The movements were stored on a 24LC515 EEPROM. With some last minute work he got it to the show on time, but it unfortunately broke during exhibition and he did not win. There should be some consolation in the fact that it is on the internet now and will be seen by thousands of people instead of a handful.
permalink | 23 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "15553",
"author": "Unomi",
"timestamp": "2005-12-15T13:56:26",
"content": "And? Did he also put Rudolf’s nose on Santa? I mean, you’re drunk or totally wasted/trashed. The difference is the nose or is that only a myth just like the whole Santa story?– Unomi –",
"parent_id": null... | 1,760,377,951.410667 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/08/rotary-pinhole-camera/ | Rotary Pinhole Camera | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [] | Pinhole cameras use a tiny pinhole as their aperture instead of a lens. Fran?s Besson designed this camera to take a 240 degree panoramic picture. The camera aperture slot rotates on one axis while the film rotates on a separate axis. The 8×20″ film is attached to a large drum mounted to the second spindle. The exposure length can be 18, 6, or 3 minutes depending on the voltage supplied to the drive motor.
permalink | 10 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "15351",
"author": ".:prophecy:.",
"timestamp": "2005-12-09T03:17:20",
"content": "French – Booooo.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15352",
"author": "Midna",
"timestamp": "2005-12-09T03:43:37",
"content": "FIRST POST... | 1,760,377,951.681035 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/07/hack-a-day-extra-7/ | Hack-A-Day Extra | Eliot | [
"Uncategorized"
] | [] | I’ve got my new box up and running. I assembled it on Monday afternoon and started looking into
OSx86
since I wanted to triple boot the box with XP MCE and Linux. After walking into several dead ends I decided to quit for the day. Tuesday came and I decided instead of messing with OSx86 and getting a MCE bootleg I would take the easy route: install
Gentoo
. First, I grabbed a tarball from the
Jackass! Project
which offers optimized toolkits (I’ve built them by hand before). I had laid out my partition scheme the night before, so most of the install preparation was done. I made sure to leave two 20GB primary partitions for OSx86 and XP if I decide to install them in the future. The only change I made from the Jackass default was using the “-march=nocona” compiler flag for Pentium 4 EM64T. After the base install, I installed X.org,
fluxbox
, and firefox. Then I immediately began folding!
Team Hack-A-Day
continues to improve:
Lazy_Folder
started on Dec. 1st and has already moved into the top 10 for daily production. The forum is growing as well:
yesterday we saw a woman
.
Lumenlab has released their LCD projector
plans
. I only mention this because the site comes up every time we mention the words lcd and projector
around here
. I haven’t had a look yet, but the
instructions are apparently chock full of “more details in our forums”, which you have to pay for.
Linksys has started selling the
WRT54GL
as their
Linux model since they’ve switched to vxware on their main product line. It’s nice knowing you won’t have to guess what
is inside the box when purchasing a new router. It’s good timing too, since
OpenWRT
has a new, sexy GUI.
Check out
the developer’s screencast
.
[bugloaf] remembered my affinity for living in shipping containers and sent along Adam Kalkin’s Push Button House:
first seen on
Future Feeder
and then, with more pictures, on
Inhabitat
.
Usually I pass on stories with sensational headlines like “Fed wiretaps defeated by intermittent beeping”. Luckily,
Dan has the full details of how this attack works
.
Cracker Jack has been finding some
hardware
design weirdness in the new 360
. Things like EEPROM not being found on the premium even though it appears on the
core. I’m guessing this was a running change in production, but why?
Anina is a fashion model/Unix hacker trying to
push fashion towards high tech
. She was
interviewed for
NerdTV #9
.
QuickSynergy
is a GUI for easily configuring Synergy2, a seamless
keyboard mouse switch. I never thought the original was that hard to set up, but if this gets more people to use
Synergy, more power to them. [via
TUAW
]
With a little soldering you can
use any headset you want with the
Xbox 360
. Mine has been crackling since day one. [via
Xbox360fanboy
]
Extremetech has a
guide
on case painting
.
The Red Ferret Journal has details on the
Pedgen I
pedal powered
generator.
Try ruby! (in your browser)
was a little too popular when I first tried it.
Also,
free programming video tutorials
[via
Lifehacker
]
Upgrade your Dell 700m to DVDRW for just $80
.
The drives look different, but that’s because Dell has added some extra cladding.
[
Alex
]
DIY USB Lassen SQ GPS receiver
[kerry s]
Did you happen to catch our buddy [
Matt Gilbert
]’s
scroll bar scarf
as it made the rounds earlier in the
week?
The guys from DVguru admitted that their
external SATA RAID
array how-to
isn’t a hack, but they sent it in anyway knowing that we wouldn’t be able to contain our hardware
lust.
I saw links to
Linux Journal’s terabyte backup server
in a
couple different places. The “terabyte” in the title is just fluff. The article is really only useful to see how you
can use rsync or samba to backup your network.
MenuetOS
is an OS written entirely in 64bit assembly. [Steve]
Russian
hard drive clock
No, it isn’t
that
incredibly cool one
. Turning a hard
drive into a clock seems to be
very common
. [Fred
dasp]
[
Robert Oschler
] has a demo video of using
voice commands with a Robopet robot dog
.
Adding a 3.5mm audio
jack to a Treo 650
[
anonimo
]
I don’t think Google has admitted it yet, but others have
determined that
Google’s antivirus is being provided by Sophos
.
If you are planning on getting some heavy rack gear off of eBay you should
search for items near your zip code
and do local pickup.
[andrew]
Shufflephones 3.0
raphnet built a
controller for a single Nixie
tube
. Look around; they’ve got some
old console hacks
too. [h-tech]
[adrenalin] commented on
racking stuff in IKEA
furniture
. I have looked into this before: the
OPPLI TV bench
will fit 17″ wide audio components, but you’ll have to use the
OPPLI single unit
if you want to mount 19″ rails.
I have a “WTF” label in GMail that I use specifically for tips like this:
Name: BunnyRanch Dennis
Email:
dennis@bunnyranch.com
URL:
Subject: Unlock Blackberry 8700C
HACK Site:
http://www.hackaday.com/
Help the stars of HBO’s Cathouse. I was given a cingular 8700C at the
american Music awards and want to use it on my T Mobile ACC.
How do I unlock it?
Help!!!!!
I’m sorry. We don’t do that kind of work here.
Thanks for all of the tips
! | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "15341",
"author": "Mojo Jojo",
"timestamp": "2005-12-08T11:34:58",
"content": "I live for these Hack a Day Extras thanks Elliot",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15342",
"author": "geeker",
"timestamp": "2005-12-08T12:31:2... | 1,760,377,951.731619 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/07/excel-based-drum-machine/ | Excel Based Drum Machine | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [] | [Thomas] just wanted a simple, free drum machine to play with. He decided to build one himself using MS Excel. To get it up and running you need to download a .zip file that contains the .xls and .dll files. Grab some drum samples and you are ready to go. Each drum is mapped to a key and can be used with a game pad. Don’t worry he’s got some simple, Meg White, patterns to get you started. Not impressed? Well, tear it down and build your own machine.
permalink | 22 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "15331",
"author": "F13Nd",
"timestamp": "2005-12-07T19:05:49",
"content": "this is a lot like the ijam widget. rockout in your lunch break.http://www.widgetgallery.com/view.php?widget=37305/F13ND",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "... | 1,760,377,951.895292 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/06/supercap-9v-battery/ | SuperCap 9V Battery | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [] | 9V batteries are often found in devices that aren’t used very often. If you use a NiCd rechargeable battery you may find it completely discharged by the time you need it. Capacitors on the other hand can maintain their charge for years. This circuit uses a 10F cap with a switching voltage regulator to increase the voltage from 2.3V to 9V. With a light load the cap will last up to 3 hours and once discharged it can be recharged in less than 20 seconds. Warning: PDF link.
[thanks nullset]
permalink | 97 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "15304",
"author": "Joel",
"timestamp": "2005-12-06T19:50:20",
"content": "interesting… i might try this!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "1049740",
"author": "sfdf",
"timestamp": "2013-08-29T21:56:18",
"... | 1,760,377,951.984296 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/05/6502-driven-nixie-tube-clock/ | 6502 Driven Nixie Tube Clock | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [] | I love Cold War chic like [ryan brooks]’s great looking nixie tube clock. There have been other microcontroller based nixie tube clocks so Ryan decided to base his on the venerable MOS Technology 6502. The 6502 is the same 8-bit processor used in the Apple II and Commodore 64. He’s got a couple interesting notes from the construction:
Be very organized with your digit wiring; use lots of cable ties or something. 6 digits is 120 solder joints on 60 wires.
Don’t be afraid to make your own Nixie sockets. I stood my tubes up on my flatbed scanner, arranged them with a ruler and then scanned. Imported to Photoshop, did a levels to make the pins contrasty and printed the output 1:1. Glued the paper onto my plexi, drilled all the holes, dropped in pin-sockets w/CA glue and bam! Instant Nixie Tube Clock Socket!
permalink | 20 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "15240",
"author": "The Tech Department",
"timestamp": "2005-12-05T19:26:19",
"content": "Sorry, couldn’t help myself. That’s sorta cool. Very retro. Makes me want to pull my 1970’s EE Desk reference and build something out of it. If only they would have built a giant retro bell(I’m ... | 1,760,377,952.093264 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/04/electrostatic-headphones/ | Electrostatic Headphones | Eliot | [
"Portable Audio Hacks"
] | [] | Most headphones and speakers use electromagnetic force to drive speaker coils. Electrostatic speakers use electrostatic force to modulate a diaphragm. Mylar is used as the diaphragm in these headphones. Two insulating rings sandwich the mylar and a perforated stator is placed on either side. Ideally these stators would be acoustically transparent, but sheets of metal with 2mm (or smaller) holes that make up at least 25% of the area work. Construction problems can arise from glue not sticking to the mylar and the mylar having not enough or too much tension. A special amp has to be built for the headphones to generate a 450V difference between the stators.
[thanks mrdelayer]
permalink | 18 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "15220",
"author": "Joel",
"timestamp": "2005-12-04T20:09:13",
"content": "quite well done there!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15221",
"author": "winphreak",
"timestamp": "2005-12-04T20:41:43",
"content": "Wow. I w... | 1,760,377,952.040335 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/03/depth-of-field-machine-for-dv/ | Depth Of Field Machine For DV | Eliot | [
"Portable Video Hacks"
] | [] | The small footprint of a CCD makes it hard for digital video cameras to emulate the short depth of field of film cameras. You’ll notice depth of field in movies when they have one actor close to the camera and you see the second actor over the shoulder; the actors will alternate being in focus because of the short depth of field.
Here are some examples
. To emulate this using a DV camera you have to change the size of the target area. A smaller image is projected on a clear screen in front of the camera which is then recorded.
This project
uses a clear CD blank for the screen. The CD is rotated using an old CD player; otherwise the camera would pick up the grain of the plastic. Pretty easy, right? I haven’t even mentioned that the resulting image is upside down.
[thanks Angstrom]
permalink | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "15203",
"author": "josh",
"timestamp": "2005-12-03T20:07:54",
"content": "first post!!!i never even noticed that with DV cams. Will look and see if i can do that for mine.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15202",
"author": "b... | 1,760,377,952.147732 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/02/build-your-own-computer-rack/ | Build Your Own Computer Rack | Eliot | [
"computer hacks"
] | [] | Most geeks dream of rackmounting their gear. The fact that most rack equipment is purchased by companies means it’s way too overpriced. Seriously, $60 for a drawer? The best solution for us is to build our own. Here’s a build from the ground up. It starts with the basic 19″ rack. Then adds fileservers and other components. Make sure you check out the homemade power rails.
permalink | 32 | 32 | [
{
"comment_id": "15188",
"author": "mc",
"timestamp": "2005-12-02T19:18:21",
"content": "i don’t dream of rackmounting anything, for now a regular utility shelf in a closet serves my needs. however if i ever acquire enough 19″ equipment, i’ve seen “racks” made from two 2×4’s with appropriately space... | 1,760,377,952.216364 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/12/01/snes-super-fx-overclocking/ | SNES Super FX Overclocking | Eliot | [
"home entertainment hacks"
] | [] | marshallh from the benheck.com forums has managed to overclock a Super FX chip. The Super FX was an extra graphics processor included in some Super Nintendo games. Using this chip, games like Star Fox were able to handle polygons and intensive sprite scaling. marshallh removed the 21.4Mhz ceramic resonator from a Vortex cartridge and replaced it with a 24Mhz oscillator and a couple caps. The result is a smoother frame rate and minimal slow down with multiple enemies.
[thanks vb_master]
permalink | 12 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "15160",
"author": "genome",
"timestamp": "2005-12-01T19:12:14",
"content": "This is neat, just wish someone figured this out a decade or so ago!Extra cool points for solving a 8 year old problem!!!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id":... | 1,760,377,952.265475 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/11/30/hack-a-day-extra-8/ | Hack-A-Day Extra | Eliot | [
"Uncategorized"
] | [] | We’re a Top 100 Folding@HOME team
! Take that Tom’s Hardware Community! No, seriously, we are that
freakin
‘ huge now. I celebrated by buying some more hardware to fold with. You can find out more at the
Team Hack-A-Day Forum
. If you don’t know what this folding thing is all about, check the
team
wiki
. You could always drop by our long standing
IRC
channel, #
hackaday
on
EFnet
.
On the topic of distributed projects. Did you see that someone was suggesting we could get
hacked by aliens through
SETI
@HOME
? Sure, first
SETI
would have to actually find something and by that point someone would have hacked it locally. Aliens’ computers are unfortunately
very similar to ours
though.
I wrote up
How-To: Stream almost anything using
VLC
for
Engadget
. I know I used the most basic method for streaming, but a lot of people really enjoyed it. Anybody else in love with this program? [Brent Norris] has some
Linux related
VLC
info
.
Slashdot
(and others) picked up our
XBox
360 post
. I had begun to think they had forgotten about us.
bunnie
is going to wait till 360s are easily available before buying one, but if you’
ve
got one that’s broken and not covered by warranty
he’ll buy it from you
.
Did you see
Llama
‘s entry
for
Joystiq
‘s faceplate contest
? His prep advice:
Painting tip, clean with alcohol before painting plastic. There are other sensitizers but alcohol works fine and is cheap and readily available. Disassemble everything completely, this means cutting plastic in some cases like the little doors on the face.
Kismet for Windows
It’s been bundled with all of the necessary
Cygwin
DLLs
so you don’t have to install
Cygwin
separately. [
steve
]
Podtropolis
HAS
RSS
feeds
. Maybe they’
ve
been there all along and I just missed it the first time around. [
yuro
]
Prince Rupert’s Drop
is created by dripping molten glass into water. The rapid cooling of the outside of the drop sets an
enormous
tensile stress in in the droplet. Hit the droplet with a hammer and it won’t break, but if you break a little bit of the tail the droplet will explode.
Here’s a video of Prince Rupert’s Drops
. [
Frogz
]
[Underwater
Spiderman
] noticed some weirdness while
playing with magnets around his Sony
Ericsson
Z600
.
FreeMAC
is an ambitious project to write
GPL
firmware for
Conexant
chipsets
. [
lekernel
]
Another
Christmas light controller
. Unfortunately lacking plans. [
sabre
]
[Sean
Shrum
]
upgraded the drive in
Iomega
‘s cheap
NAS
-100d
.
Tis’ the season to
harvest cheap LEDs from
Christmas
lights
. [
nate
]
Quick leather
RAZR
case
The engine used by
Lucasart
‘s adventure games has been ported for the
DS
:
ScummVM DS
. [
elg
0
nz
]
Robosapien
V2 mods
[
Manion
]
Simple
Skype
VoIP
adapter
[
lordofheat
]
Disassembly of a Dell DJ Ditty
[Auger
Duval
]
Office gun built from binder clips
[
tutejszy
]
Adding rubber grips to a
Treo
650
[
anonyomouse
]
It’s the time of year to give and [
Matt
Westervelt
] told us about
SeattleWireless
.net’s
Towertop
Node
fundraiser
. They are off to a great start. I am personally going to be
donating to the
EFF
this year.
Donate tips to us
. | 30 | 30 | [
{
"comment_id": "15148",
"author": "jeanphe",
"timestamp": "2005-12-01T09:52:33",
"content": "on that article about the scientist who claimed aliens could hack seti:how can this guy be a physicist and claim that this is remotely possible.section ‘.dataseg’ data writeable readablesection ‘.codeseg’ c... | 1,760,377,952.340605 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/11/30/homemade-heat-pipes/ | Homemade Heat Pipes | Eliot | [
"computer hacks"
] | [] | Heat pipes are used to passively transfer heat from one area to another. On pcs they’re usually found moving heat from the processor to large heatsinks on the case exterior. Heat pipes contain liquids that vaporize when heated. The vapor moves up the pipe and is cooled by the external heatsink. This transfer of heat cools the vapor and returns it to liquid form. The liquid then returns to the processor end of the pipe. This project involved building a heat pipe and charging it with R134a. While testing the pipe in a water bath the refrigerant is bled off till the pipe maintains a steady state of phase change. Even though performance could not match that of manufactured heat pipes, it’s still impressive.
permalink | 23 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "15110",
"author": "grayskies",
"timestamp": "2005-11-30T19:24:53",
"content": "In other news, Team Hack-a-Day broke into the top 100 Folding @ Home teams yesterday. Come check us out athttp://www.teamhackaday.com",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
... | 1,760,377,952.449176 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/11/29/floppy-drive-heliostat/ | Floppy Drive Heliostat | Eliot | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [] | This is an ongoing project to build a heliostat from a floppy drive. Heliostats are used by solar arrays to track the sun. This mod uses the main logic board to control the head stepper motor. The board will power up with 5V and consumes 1Watt when the motor is running. There are a couple quirks to the motor operation since this a floppy drive; large head movements require a backtrack every so often. Luckily, this device doesn’t move too far or fast. Two sets of LEDs are wired on opposite sides of a reflective strip. They’re wired opposite each other so that the device will track back if it overshoots.
permalink | 16 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "15098",
"author": "Simon",
"timestamp": "2005-11-29T20:02:19",
"content": "W00t! First post!Cool hack, btw.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15097",
"author": "Tired2",
"timestamp": "2005-11-29T20:08:12",
"content": "... | 1,760,377,952.390256 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/11/28/manual-focus-screen-for-a-digital-slr/ | Manual Focus Screen For A Digital SLR | Eliot | [
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [] | Most modern digital SLR cameras use matte focus screens with their autofocus systems instead of the split circle manual focus screens found in non-digital SLR cameras. Although not factory endorsed, there are replacement manual focus screens which can be very expensive. Reader [Jan-Erik Skata] decided to save some money by salvaging the focus screen from a Miranda dx-3 film camera. Removing the screen proved extremely difficult and the Miranda would have been a total loss if it had been functional. Once out, the screen was sanded down, cleaned and then placed in a Canon EOS 300D. It’s hard to take a picture of the screen through the view finder to prove that it works, but I’m sure Jan-Erik is taking some great photographs having completed this upgrade.
permalink | 11 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "15082",
"author": "furtim",
"timestamp": "2005-11-28T19:18:35",
"content": "Actually, my (film) N65 also leaves out the split-circle focus ring in favour of showing the AF sensor zones. I might try this hack, except that I couldn’t afford to replace my Nikon if I screwed it up.",
... | 1,760,377,952.499708 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2005/11/27/optical-adb-mouse/ | Optical ADB Mouse | Eliot | [
"Mac Hacks",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [] | Here’s an easy hack compared to our usual craziness. Reader [Alex Dawson] was having issues with his Apple Pro Optical mouse. The new mouse had broken its USB cable connection internally due to insufficient strain relief. Cases for these mice are epoxied together and working on them is a one-way trip, never to return to their original state. He salvaged an ADB mouse and disassembled it with ease. The optical circuit board fit into the ADB case without any trouble. The button switch on both mice is exactly the same and almost in the same position. The optical sensor does not line up with the hole though. Once the ball ring was fused in place, Alex cut a new slot for the sensor. That’s all it took to end up with modern performance and old school flavor.
permalink | 15 | 15 | [
{
"comment_id": "15074",
"author": "weirdguy",
"timestamp": "2005-11-27T19:38:47",
"content": "off-topic but: di anyone notice that psp linux site is down?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "15073",
"author": "Wafermouse",
"timestamp": "200... | 1,760,377,952.551174 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.