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Archive: Computers
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January 15, 2008
Apple gear you'll see taken apart in 2 weeks or less
Apple announced some new gear today, the teardowns and dissections will appear here in a couple weeks or less! Apple Macbook air - Link.
Apple Time Capsule. Wireless base station and back up drive, just asking to be hacked... Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 15, 2008 11:09 AM
Computers |
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| Comments (3)
DIY laptop stand from an Ikea paper towel holder
Lazymonster writes -
This was made from some plexi and an Ikea paper towel holder that I had laying around. I drilled some holes in the stainless steel crosspiece (don't try this without a drill press and graduated high speed bits). I counterbored 4 screws into the plexi and bolted it together. It works and looks good. There is some bounce due to the springiness of the thin steel. This setup allows me to use a keyboard, tablet and maintain proper ergonomics. I also strap a miniature bungee cord just below the keyboard, mostly for peace of mind.DIY laptop stand from an Ikea paper towel holder - [via] Link.
Related:
PVC laptop stand - Link.
DIY angle bracket laptop stand - Link.
Simple Laptop Stand - Link.
Letter holder laptop stand - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 15, 2008 07:00 AM
Computers, DIY Projects |
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| Comments (2)
Micropolis: Sim City open sourced
Jason @ Hackszine writes -
Don Hopkins has released a GPLed version of the original Sim City, cleaned up and renamed to the original title, Micropolis:
The "MicropolisCore" project includes the latest Micropolis (SimCity) source code, cleaned up and recast into C++ classes, integrated into Python, using the wonderful SWIG interface generator tool. It also includes a Cairo based TileEngine, and a cellular automata machine CellEngine, which are independent but can be plugged together, so the tile engine can display cellular automata cells as well as SimCity tiles, or any other application's tiles.The key thing here is to peek inside the mind of the original Maxis programmers when they built it. Remember, this was back in the day when games had to fit inside of 640k so some "creative" programming techniques were employed. SimCity has been long a model used for urban planning and while it's just a game, there are a lot of business rules, ecosystem modeling, social dependencies, and other cool stuff going on in this codebase. It may not be pretty code but it's content sure is interesting to see.
The source will compile for X86/Linux systems, and we;re betting we'll see ports to other platforms at some point. If you're on a Mac and just want to play the game, just run a copy of Ubuntu in an emulator like QEMU and install the binary there.
More:
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 15, 2008 12:00 AM
Computers |
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| Comments (3)
January 14, 2008
OS X in a Mac 512 for 24th Anniverary
You knew somebody was going to do it.
This is a Macintosh 512k which I upgraded to run OS X by replacing the innards with a modern Mac Mini and various supporting components, including a grayscale CRT monitor, an LS-120 floppy disk drive, and a microcontroller-based USB device that interfaces the Mini to the original keyboard and mouse. Why? Mainly because I wanted to experiment with creating a custom USB device. Also I guess I wanted to waste hundreds of dollars and countless hours building a semi-useless computer with a 9 inch black and white screen and no arrow keys.
24th Anniversary Macintosh - [via] Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Jan 14, 2008 06:00 PM
Computers, Retro |
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| Comments (1)
Stainless steel mouse
Thecontaminated writes -
With a bit of free time at your disposal you can redesign all your computer accessories from scratch. And I ain't talking about some crappy modifications - adding switches here and lights there. I'm talking real hard core stuff.Stainless steel mouse - [via] Link.It is stainless steel (stainless steel 18/10 to be precise) right down to its interiors! Even the connector has been cast from steel. This mouse mod is based on Microsoft's IntelliMouse Optical and is USB+PS/2 compatible.
It took the creator nearly 8 months to make this thing. It would be really tough to top that. And as far as its workability is concerned, creator claims that it is ergonomic and fully functional. With all the steel this thing is obviously heavy but its novelty and bling is sure going to add a glint to all the eye cast on it.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 14, 2008 07:00 AM
Computers, DIY Projects, Electronics |
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January 12, 2008
HOW TO - Make your own XO laptop bag
Drakemj writes -
The finished product is a custom laptop bag for an OLPC XO laptop computer, but these instructions could probably be modified for many portable electronic devices. The bag core is made of high density foam, reinforced with paperboard. The bag is trimmed in polyester belting, has an adjustable strap, and a parachute buckle closure.HOW TO - Make your own XO laptop bag - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 12, 2008 11:30 AM
Computers, Crafts, DIY Projects, Instructables |
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January 7, 2008
HOW TO - Noise-reduce your HDD
Instrucatble with techniques for quieting that wood chipper inside your PC tower.
Noise Free HDD - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Jan 7, 2008 04:00 PM
Computers, Instructables |
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Bunnie inside the XO
Hacker hacking wunderkind Bunnie Huang deconstructs an XO laptop and details his findings:
Thanks in part to the low power of the Geode CPU, the design mounts the motherboard against the LCD, unlike most laptops where the motherboard is under the keyboard. This configuration has some simplicity advantages, especially considering the flexibility required by the display unit that can be flipped 180 degrees in either direction. The heatsink for the CPU consists simply of a thin metal heat spreader, which is in close proximity to the plastic casing: no cooling holes, fins, or fans to collect dust and break (notice how the Intel Classmate PC features prominent cooling holes for its under-keyboard CPU module). It also doesn't burn your lap up while you are using it (although the display still does get quite warm when you use it-I tucked it into my jacket once to keep me warm while running around outside in the cold).
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Jan 7, 2008 12:00 PM
Computers, Electronics |
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January 3, 2008
Hack an alarm clock into the body of your G5 tower
This very cool hack shows you how to turn the boring face of your G5 desktop machine into a digital alarm clock without drilling any holes in its exterior. We wonder what happens when the alarm goes off.. spinning beach ball?
Apple G5 LED Hack - Link, [via]
Posted by Jonah Brucker-Cohen |
Jan 3, 2008 03:00 AM
Computers |
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| Comments (1)
January 1, 2008
Apple II rocks the tv game show world
Make your own version of the audience polling system used in such game shows as "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" and "Power of 10" with your old Apple II. Although this hack is old, it still rings true to our heart about resurrecting old technology and putting it to good use such as in the high powered world of television game shows.
Gameshow System - Link
Posted by Jonah Brucker-Cohen |
Jan 1, 2008 03:00 AM
Computers |
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| Comments (0)
December 29, 2007
MCU for desktop plasma globe
A German hacker dusts off his plasma globe from the '80s and hooks it up to an ATMega8 MCU and serial PC interface so that he can tune it.
Large plasma Globe Tuning - [via] Link
Build site (in German) - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Dec 29, 2007 02:00 PM
Computers, Electronics |
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| Comments (2)
PVC laptop stand
Cheap and easy laptop stand made from PVC - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Dec 29, 2007 12:00 AM
Computers, DIY Projects |
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| Comments (2)
December 27, 2007
Head tracking with the Wiimote
Really well-done basic introduction to how a Wiimote and Wii sensor bar can be used to create a head tracking system for VR worlds and games. Pretty impressive.
Head Tracking for Desktop VR Displays using the WiiRemote - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Dec 27, 2007 02:00 PM
Computers, Gaming |
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| Comments (6)
December 25, 2007
Soviet TV PC mod
Bidding is over, but check out this PC mod - it's a TV receiver REKORD (Alexander Radio Factory 1961 - "a victory for soviet union - 12 channels, 16 lamps unseen image quality for the working class folks") - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Dec 25, 2007 03:00 AM
Computers, Retro |
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| Comments (2)
December 20, 2007
Detern - Geschwindigkeitsmessung per WebCam (measure speed by web cam?)
Site is in German, but with the software there it appears you can measure the speed of vehicles with a web cam (We didn't test this out, please be careful, etc..) - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Dec 20, 2007 12:00 PM
Computers, Imaging |
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| Comments (3)
Record more than 45 seconds of audio or video on the XO - OPLC laptop
Brian has a new OLPC, so that means he's going to be hacking it a lot... He writes -
Hackszine.com: Record more than 45 seconds of audio or video on the XO laptop - Link.
If you go into the Record activity on the XO laptop, you'll find that you can only record a maximum of 45 seconds of video and audio. But since almost everything in this little green wonder is written in Python, it's very easy to fix this. Open up the Terminal activity, cd to /usr/share/activities/Record.activity, and then use su to become root:
$ cd /usr/share/activities/Record.activity
$ su
#
Now, make a backup copy of constants.py:
# cp constants.py constants.py.orig
Open constants.py in vi, and look for these lines:
DURATION_15 = 15
DURATION_30 = 30
DURATION_45 = 45
Add the following line right after the DURATION_45 line (you can put whatever you want instead of 240--this is the number of seconds):
DURATION_240 =240
Next, find these lines:
DURATIONS.append(DURATION_15)
DURATIONS.append(DURATION_30)
DURATIONS.append(DURATION_45)
And add the following line right after the DURATION_45 line:
DURATIONS.append(DURATION_240)
Stop the Record activity if it's already running, restart it, and you'll now have an option to record for more than 45 seconds.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Dec 20, 2007 06:00 AM
Computers, DIY Projects |
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December 19, 2007
Magic 8-Ball meets an MCU in a vinyl toy
Here's a fascinating project over at SparkFun where they took one of the Munny "DIY" vinyl toys and embedded a Logomatic datalogger (with its LPC2138 MCU), a Nokia screen clone, and an accelerometer inside. The idea is to use the device as a sort of 21st century Magic 8-Ball, dubbed the Sinister 7. Pete, the builder, is not just playing games here, tho. He wants to explore whether technology can be used to communicate with the unseen forces, vis a vis Ouija Boards and the like. He writes:
I'm an engineer. I've been trained to think logically and employ scientific method pretty much all of the time with whatever's presented before me (though my wife may argue that point). And yet, I believe in all manner of kooky fringe stuff. Or at least I'm willing to entertain possibilities based on what I don't know. UFO's? Absolutely. Ghosts? I eat'em up. Well, why not? I'll never be running for political office. I can examine evidence with the best of them and I certainly don't need an "expert" to interpret what I'm seeing for me. I can look at these things and I draw my own conclusions.
And here's what he has working so far:
Right now, the code starts out with a simple splash screen, then it goes to a menu. The menu contains 3 items currently: Fortune Teller, Powerball Numbers and I Ching. Why Powerball? Hey, somebody's gotta win. This seems like as reasonable of a way to pick the numbers as any. And I Ching? Yeah...I don't have that working yet. I wanted something else for the menu and that seemed a likely thing to have, especially since it's basically just a 1 to 64 random number thing. Right up the Sinister 7's alley. Anyway, one of the buttons is to scroll through the menu and the other is to select. The tri-color LED tells me when the random number generator is operating. I was using it for debugging, but I have no reason to remove it, so there you are.
Detecting Æther - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Dec 19, 2007 07:00 PM
Computers, Electronics, Toys and Games |
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| Comments (1)
December 18, 2007
LED multitouch input device
An 8 x 8 LED-based multitouch input device using an ARM7 microcontroller with USB 2.0 with a >25Hz capture rate.
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Dec 18, 2007 04:00 PM
Computers, Electronics |
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December 10, 2007
HOW TO - Use an Indy as a diskless network MP3 player
MAKE pal Mark writes in -
This weekend I finished a project concerning one of my all time favourite machines. The SGI Indy and I made a diskless network MP3 player out of it. This marvelous little machine still has life left in it! *^_^* Can you believe these now 15 year old machines have a digital out? The sound quality is truly amazing and the machine itself is now (after some modifications, also in the link) dead quiet.HOW TO - Use an Indy as a diskless network MP3 player - Link.Now this is a project I wanted to do for a long time, I'm not sure how many people are going to try this though. Netbooting a machine from a BSD fileserver including a root filesystem on NFS isn't everyone's idea of a fun weekend project I guess :-)
I think it still is an enjoyable read even for people not having an Indy lying around, it's also about having a second look at old stuff going to the garbage and such.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Dec 10, 2007 05:00 AM
Computers, DIY Projects, Retro |
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| Comments (3)
December 7, 2007
Super Computing photos
Drool worthy photos from Dave Bullock / eecue @ Super Computing 2007 - [via] Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Dec 7, 2007 12:00 AM
Computers |
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