[Dheera] sent in his electronic door lock. The current version is purely microcontroller based, but I loved this crazy iteration. Seeing something like this evolve is fantastic. I really wanted a keypad door lock when I was old enough to dream of electric sheep.
Month: October 2006
Pre Geek-o-ween Mini Extra
[Zodiac] sent in this pumpkin computer. Gutted laptop, dvd drive, need I say more?
[max] sent along this ‘flaming’ led modded pitchfork.
I ran across Woz lighting himself up.
[Jon] and [Shawn] sent along this freaky project. [Warning: Involves taxidermy] [Jon] suggests a bluetooth headset… Dude.
ZipIT Running Linux PDA Software
[karosium] sent in this one. He(?) put in alot of effort on this one. After flashing the EEPROM on the ZipIT he got the PIXIL embedded linux distro running on the ZipIT. It’s a work in progress, but the web browser works. Even if you don’t have a ZipIT, it’s worth checking out. There’s mention of building a PLCC32/DIP32 flasher built from an old PII. Great work!
Electric 7 EV
Yup, more EV stuff today. This car [Cache mirror]is just so impressive that I think it’s definitely worthy. The car is a Birkin S-3 reproduction kit. Instead of the 4 cylinder, he put in a 3 phase 100HP, yes, 100HP electric motor. That’s pretty kickin. The *really* interesting twist is the battery pack. Multiple hybrid car battery cells (think prius NiMH) were salvaged to provide the juice. It runs around on tires designed for the EV1.
TiVo External SATA Bypass
TiVo left the external SATA port on the series three disabled. [Lightrunner] bypassed this silly restriction by adding a sata to esata cable (AFAIK the only difference is the shape of the connector and shielding on the cable.) and a nice big SATA RAID array. Silly TiVo, massive recording storage is for everyone.
DIY Projector Redeux
My latest how-to is up over on engadget – I’m writing up my build of a HD projector – This one features DVI-D with HDCP support along with component, VGA and on board tuner. This is one of those projects where you can make all sorts of compromises, but I’ve gone all out on the hardware. Pro lenses, electronic ballast, 6500k lamp… If you’ve been considering building one of these, you should check it out. When it’s done I’ll give it a good going over – is the picture quality worth the effort? Peace of mind at using a $50 lamp instead of a $300 one?
Ipod Tube Dock
Kurtis Berry sent in his response to all the ipod speaker docks out there. Instead of buying one, he built one. It’s really a combination of several projects, and it looks great. He used a monoblock tube amp kit to provide 8 watts of excitement to a well known diy speaker design, all encased in oak. He’s hit that wall we all know – that point where we quit because it’s working so nicely as it is. Still, I’m not sure that adding a second channel would add too much to the sound experience with his speaker unless he wants to build a matched set. (I can’t give him too much grief, I’m jealous.)
