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Archive: Computers
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December 6, 2007
Spiral Star art made in Excel
Excel for artists... -
Sometimes, you don’t need complicated stuff to get beautiful images. Sometimes it’s easily done. Today’s Math Art was generated on Microsoft Excel. Yes, you read that right. Microsoft Excel.... Remember those spirographs that you played with when you were a kid? If you’ve ever drawn using a spirograph, you’ve drawn a hypocycloid. A hypocycloid is a roulette of two circles, where the one being drawn on is the one inside (think the spirograph). If the outer circle is the one being drawn it’s called a epicycloid. The variable that defines the shape of the hypocycloid is the radii of both circles.Math Art | Gallery of Mathematical Art » Spiral Star - [via] Link.
Related:
Excel drawings - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Dec 6, 2007 01:00 AM
Arts, Computers |
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| Comments (1)
December 4, 2007
WowWee's Robocommunity offering Java classes
From Robots.net:
Robocommunity, the official user community for WowWee robot owners, is offering classes in the Java programming language. The classes are based on the popular programming book "Head First Java" by Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates. They have also written some instructions for downloading and installing the Netbeans software too. The classes are open to all but they are meant to help Robosapien RS Media robot owners learn to develop Java programs on that robot. They have established a Java and the RS Media Central Command page where you can learn more and find a link to their related discussion forum.
Robocommunity Offering Java Classes - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Dec 4, 2007 08:00 PM
Computers, Robotics |
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ALEUTIA - 8W computing!
Designed for rural Africa the ALEUTIA is small 8W computer, here are some of the specs and info...
ALEUTIA - 8W computing - [via] Link.
- During peak performance, the E1 consumes just 8W of power, 4% of what a typical (200W) desktop uses. Runs off a car battery or a cheap solar panel.
- Keep Working During Power Cuts! A UPS that will keep a standard desktop running for 15 minutes will power an E1 for 6.5 hours!
- Everything is stored on a CF card, which can be instantly removed to ensure security of your information.
- Efficient web browser for slow Internet connections.
- Discounted 5-Pack for rural schools available, with low-power displays, solar panel, and battery.
Oops, Jonah posted this one. Well, re-enjoy it!
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Dec 4, 2007 04:00 AM
Computers, Green |
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December 3, 2007
Off-grid computer invites you to dream up charging methods
Here's a green idea. How about forgetting the high power consuming computers you use everyday and invest in something that will save you lots in utility cash. The "Aleutia E1" desktop, designed for use in rural Africa consumes only 8W of power, which is 4% of what your typical 600W desktop machine powers from. It even runs from a solar panel, and its internal drive is a standard CF card. See how inventive you can get with finding interesting ways to power it.
ALEUTIA - Low-Power Computers for Tough Places - Link, [via, via]
Posted by Jonah Brucker-Cohen |
Dec 3, 2007 06:15 AM
Computers |
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| Comments (4)
November 26, 2007
Understanding Arduino Interrupts
uC Hobby has a piece up on the use of interrupt routines in Ardunio programming:
Often when working on microcontroller projects you need a background function to run at regular intervals. This is often done by setting up a hardware timer to generate an interrupt. The interrupt triggers an Interrupt Service Routine (ISR) to handle the periodic interrupt. In this article I describe setting up the 8-Bit Timer2 to generate interrupts on an Arduino ATMega168. I walk through steps required for setup and inside the ISR function.
Arduino Interrupts - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Nov 26, 2007 01:21 PM
Arduino, Computers, Electronics |
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NXT programming solutions
The latest issue of Robot magazine is out. As always, they've posted an extended article from the mag online. This one's a run-down of all of the programming languages and development environments available for use with LEGO Mindstorms NXT.
Programming Solutions for the LEGO Mindstorms NXT - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Nov 26, 2007 05:00 AM
Computers, LEGO |
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| Comments (0)
November 16, 2007
Turn your walls into a desktop
This seems like a pretty easy way to make your real desktop clutter even worse than it is on your normal computer desktop. Still, it's a cool way of bringing the "virtual" into physical space in order to remind us exactly how much the desktop metaphor has become entrenched in our daily lives.
Move Your Desktop Folders to the wall - Link, via
Posted by Jonah Brucker-Cohen |
Nov 16, 2007 07:07 AM
Computers |
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November 15, 2007
Soviet TV casemod
Via Avi Abrams' most-excellent Dark Roasted Blends comes this gorgeous AMD Athlon 64x2 Dual Core PC w/ 400GB HD housed in a 1961 REKORD Soviet TV unit.
Soviet TV receiver PC case mod - [via] Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Nov 15, 2007 08:00 PM
Computers, Retro |
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| Comments (2)
Blowable computer interface
Students at Georgia Tech have created an audio analysis program that lets you blow at your computer as a way to control it. It only uses one microphone, and after a quick calibration, it's ready to go.
This is a way to support blowing at a laptop or computer screen to directly control certain interactive applications. Localization estimates are produced in real-time to determine where on the screen the person is blowing. You can do this by using a single microphone, such as those that are already embedded in a standard laptop or one placed near a computer monitor by using audio fingerprinting.Georgia Tech research paper on blowable interface - Link.
(Thanks, Chris!)
Posted by Becky Stern |
Nov 15, 2007 01:30 PM
Computers |
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Microcontroller design final projects from Cornell University
Jason Striegel @ Hackzine tells us about the Cornell Microcontroller Design class and their final projects this semester:
Pictured above is David Drew and Joanna Dai's autonomous neural robot, which is able to learn to navigate an enclosed space at the fastest possible speed without bumping into things. Another project, Guitar Legend Maker by Thidanun Saensuksopa and John Del Gaizo, is a real-instrument version of Guitar Hero. Instead of monkeying around with a 5 button faux guitar, you play a real instrument and the system detects the tone actually played, deciding whether or not it matches the riff that is being output.Cornell's microcontroller projects at Hackzine - Link.
What's really killer about all of these projects is that the are thoroughly documented, with full source, circuit diagrams, and a discussion of design decisions. If anything inspires you, you don't have to recreate the wheel to start working on your own ideas. ...And with the diversity and number of projects on the site, somthing's bound to inspire you.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Nov 15, 2007 12:31 PM
Computers, Electronics, Robotics |
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| Comments (1)
November 12, 2007
Making Arduino sing
On uC Hobby, they're beginning a series on bringing sound to Arduino:
This is the first in a series of articles about generating sound with an Arduino. The goals are to generate good quality sound which can be used to play simple tones, stored music, sampled sound, and even act as a MIDI synthesizer. I will cover the basic design, including code and hardware that anyone can use to add sound to Arduino microcontroller projects.The first step is to look what has already been done. I want to explore many possible options for sound generation and resolve which is best for given situations. I hope to spark some discussion so please comment with information links, advice, suggestions and general opinions.
Arduino Sound - Part 1 - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Nov 12, 2007 08:24 AM
Arduino, Computers, Music |
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| Comments (1)
November 10, 2007
Programming AVR MCUs on a Mac
On Tinkerlog, Alexander Weber has a short tutorial on the software toolchain and hardware (a USB programmer) required to get an AVR programming environment up and running on a Mac (in his case, the MacBook).
Programming AVR with a MacBook - Link
Related:
- Arduino AVR In System Programmer (ISP) - Link
- Getting started with 8 bit AVR microcontrollers - Link
- AVR Tutor - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Nov 10, 2007 03:12 PM
Computers |
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November 9, 2007
hField Wi-Fi adaptor
I picked up a hField wifi adaptor, the short review: it works great. On a Mac (Leopard) or PC (Vista support now) it greatly increasing the number and quality of Wi-Fi sites I am able to connect to, it's basically a better USB based directional Wi-Fi adaptor that can get you a signal up to 1,000 feet away. I'm heading out for a few trips and will likely need to weez some Wi-Fi here and there so in addition to an EVDO card I'm hoping in a foreign land this will work out - Link & a couple photos.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Nov 9, 2007 06:00 AM
Computers, Wireless |
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| Comments (6)
Giving the new Apple keyboard a lift
I have (and love) the Logitech DiNovo Edge keyboard. The only thing I don't like about it is that it sits a little too low/flat on my desktop. When I saw the new Apple Aluminum keyboard, it looked amazing, but even lower than the DiNovo. Apparently it is. This user gave his Apple board a needed lift by gluing on a pair of Leviton Blank QuickPort Inserts and some LRBs (little rubber feet).
Tilt your Aluminum Apple Keyboard - Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Nov 9, 2007 06:00 AM
Computers, DIY Projects, Instructables |
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| Comments (3)
Low-cost board runs Linux, Google apps...
Not bad for $60! -
For $60, developers and Linux hackers can now buy the guts of the recently unveiled $200 Everex TC2502 Linux PC. The compact, ultra-efficient, x86-compatible "gOS Dev Board" comes with "gOS," a lightweight Linux-based OS meant for use with Google Apps. The gOS operating system was initially created for use in Everex's TC2502, a $200 Linux-based PC available for $200 at Walmart.com and at select Walmart locations. The gOS Developer Board product lets developers and Linux hackers buy just the TC2502's motherboard, along with a CD of the gOS distribution.Low-cost board runs Linux, Google apps... Link, get one here & gOS.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Nov 9, 2007 02:00 AM
Computers, Online |
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| Comments (2)
November 8, 2007
DIY Enclosures
I haven't used these folks but their selection is really impressive. Might be worth checking out if you need to make or build an enclosure for a project... -
Over 600 unique combinations of options are possible when you choose the DIY-1712 chassis, our most universal chassis. These options include: three base styles, 6 front panels, 8 different knobs, ventilated or blank top panels, and blank, or IEC-cutout rear panels. Our chassis are designed to accommodate both solid state and tube-based equipment, by providing you with the option of a .050" (1.3mm) ventilated top panel, or a blank .080" (2mm) top panel.DIY Enclosures - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Nov 8, 2007 04:00 AM
Computers, DIY Projects, Electronics |
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| Comments (2)
Run Windows apps without Windows
Handy tip from the prolific Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories on running PC apps without using Windows...
One of the nice things about having an Intel-based Mac is that you can, in principle, run a variety of operating systems including Microsoft Windows. You can do this using Apple's Boot Camp utility, or through virtual machine programs such as Parallels.Run Windows apps without Windows - Link.I recently came across an esoteric "Windows only" electrical engineering program that I wanted to run on my Mac (LTspice/SwitcherCAD III -- more about that later). And, while contemplating the $200-$300 cost of a legitimate Windows license, it might occur to you that the goal in this case is to run a program that runs under Windows-- not actually to run Windows itself.
So why not look at Wine? Wine is a venerable software compatibility layer that allows unix-like operating systems to run programs designed for Windows. It turns out that there is even a Parallels-like virtualization environment so that you can run programs programs in Wine alongside Mac programs. It's called Crossover Mac, and it's $60 from Codeweavers.
And the verdict? It's not for everyone, but it's a great start.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Nov 8, 2007 03:00 AM
Computers |
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| Comments (4)
November 7, 2007
Webcam - DIY security cam
Skatter Tech writes -
Just about every new laptop purchased today is bundled with a built-in web cam. It's a great accessory for video conferencing, but there are also plenty of other useful things to do with them. This tutorial will demonstrate how to turn just about any web camera into a security camera which will capture any movement it sees using motion technology. No extra components or tools required!Webcam - DIY security cam, thanks Daniel - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Nov 7, 2007 09:00 AM
Computers, DIY Projects, Imaging |
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November 6, 2007
Colorization of photos using optimization
This is neat, colorization of black and white photos using optimization. The Matlab code of the algorithm is on the site too... -
Colorization is a computer-assisted process of adding color to a monochrome image or movie. The process typically involves segmenting images into regions and tracking these regions across image sequences. Neither of these tasks can be performed reliably in practice; consequently, colorization requires considerable user intervention and remains a tedious, time-consuming, and expensive task.Colorization of photos using optimization - Link.In this paper we present a simple colorization method that requires neither precise image segmentation, nor accurate region tracking. Our method is based on a simple premise: neighboring pixels in space-time that have similar intensities should have similar colors. We formalize this premise using a quadratic cost function and obtain an optimization problem that can be solved efficiently using standard techniques. In our approach an artist only needs to annotate the image with a few color scribbles, and the indicated colors are automatically propagated in both space and time to produce a fully colorized image or sequence. We demonstrate that high quality colorizations of stills and movie clips may be obtained from a relatively modest amount of user input.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Nov 6, 2007 07:00 PM
Computers, Imaging |
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| Comments (2)
EL soldering basics
This Instructable gives you the skinny on soldering electroluminescent (EL) wire.
How to Solder EL (Electroluminescent) Wire - Link
Related:
- Electroluminescent butterfly night-lights - Link
- Make a Glowing, Wearable, EL-Wire, Blinky Light... - Link.
- EL wire barbershop pole... - Link.
- The EL lamp project - Link.
- EL wire projects on MAKE - Link.
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Nov 6, 2007 06:00 PM
Computers, Electronics, Instructables |
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| Comments (0)
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