Comments on: Hackit: Community hacking project?

By: Kit

Kit — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 21:10:49 +0000

Since quite a few handheld devices now have very useable graphic displays on then, how about a device with a graphical display, using a smart-card to configure it? That way you could use it as an oscilloscope, logic analyser, etc. just by slipping in the apropriate card.

By: abass

abass — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 09:34:01 +0000

Another cool article!! u r so cool!!

By: mrlilrick

mrlilrick — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:38:59 +0000

This guy above me has way too much imagination.
i like that.
Thats what the world needs, really, dreams can become reality if you work hard to make them true.

I would help you, but im just a web developer and programer.
if anything needed halla at yo boy
mrlilrick@gmail.com

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 04:18:29 +0000

How about this, instead of thinking somewhat in the box as to what would be easy to concept the construction of, Think about the movie “paycheck”, when the guy thar sells his intelect and looses his memory afterwards builds the holographic monitor, well lack of monitor in that case, but if you think about it that would be a VERY possible thing, Combining the skills of hackers ANYWHERE, combine their knowledge of different OS/Computer components, then add the side dish of their “outside the box” thinking, the Holografic projecter comes in at a VERY possible angle. I mean think about it, You get a cilindrical computer setup, think hexigon, make it like a dog bowl, so that it dips in on the inside at set angles, you set all of the needed computer hardware on the inside, add some usb ports, if you wanted oldschool some Ps2 ports, A BAD ASS Nvidia Graphix card (Yes that may have to be modified to fit the peramiters of the hologram), then, because we are making it, some LED’s around the base just for some flash, (gotta have style with intellectual design). Now for the inner bowl, you set up mirrors, or some type of reflective Anything in the middle at the right angles, you set up lasers just like the ones in a TV at the right spots, and you set up the peramiters for the lasers I.E. the strength of the lightflow, the colors, the basics, the right way, set either a convex plane of glass over top, (or crystal), and BAM you have yourself one of the first Holographic computers in history, not only have you breached the lines into a new Era of technology, but think of the other advances that would come shortly after that.
You would get an amazing upgrade in the medical world, the monitors would not only be able to show WHAT is wrong with the person and WHERE but you would get that added sence of not having to use only the computer to measure the issue, see what was around the problems, the works.
Our militairy capabilities would be completely reworked, enhanced landscaping for the battlefields, things like that.
Last but not least, you would be breaking the water to a WHOLE new type of gaming, Can I hear anyone say virtual reality, not in the sence of a headset and confined area… in the sence of a ROOM with your own virtual world, with the right adjustments and advances of course.
I just want to hear what you think of all that I have said, if anyone will be reading this.

I am eagerly waiting to hear from you.
Instead of waiting for confirmation that you saw this by coming back to this site constantly, post your comments on this here, but also send some to my email address.
Wyspir3191@yahoo.com

Hope to hear from you all.
Tim

By: crosst

crosst — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 09:31:53 +0000

#15 agreed. Though with tuna cats are weak and helpless.

- I think the "Intro to Hardware Hacking" is a great idea, but more like a community oriented book from everything to the basics to very advanced ideas focusing more on theory and philosophy of Hardware Hacking then anything else.

- Or, A fleet of large, self sustaining, unmanned aerial vehicle with a radio receiver and encrypted transmitter as well as a pound of explosives rigged to a tamper detecting switch right above the loaded .50 caliber with laser guided tracking system. Hardware hackers could start a new world order!

- Less evil/maniacal though: Various design of custom IC,Processor,Memory chips built around the fucntion of various theories of AI. i.e Neural Networking, Genetic Algorithms. Then integrating them functionaly into a Controller board.

By: pown

pown — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:29:54 +0000

How about an ebook reader like the kindle and the eee pc custom built hardware and software with built in touchpad wireless for email and internet?

Shmoe

By: Tiak

Tiak — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 03:45:18 +0000

@whoever mentioned wiki.hackaday.com and forum.hackaday.com say "coming soon", all subdomains which don't currently exist say that... See p910N,hackaday.com

Anyway, ideas:
-A 3D printer, or throwing support behind reprap/fab@home would of course be cool...
-A hardware mediated reality interface... Set up a cheap (cellphone-style) and a head-mounted display such that one can see the world around them through the display, then set IO to output the camera, and to draw on top of what it already seen.
-A printer-style fast PCB mill.
-Extracting aluminum/plastics from recyclables one's self.
-Of course the o-scope and beginner docs would be nice... But I have a few misgivings about the oscilloscope (it seems that it would be a long, grueling process... Most would probably lose interest within a week)

-A Collaborative project where only one model of a particularly complex creation is created with multiple contributors shipping in parts/code. This would let us produce things where cost would otherwise be a barrier.
-An open competitive project a project where everyone releases their designs to everyone else to compete towards some goal. The ones with the most stolen from them, as well as the best in the competition would win prizes.

Example collaborative projects (as above):
-A solar car to compete in solar car (drag) races.
-A DARPA challenge style autonomous vehicle.
-A green car built from the ground up.
-An entry into any competition in which established companies/universities are traditionally the only competitors.
-A home-made Aibo.

Example open competitive projects (as above):
-Battlebots/any other sort of traditional robot sport.
-Some sort of general survival-based contest... (i.e. robots building fires that last the longest or obtaining the most hotdogs)
-competitive roomba-cleaning would be cool... (We could probably get some iRobot sponsorship)
-lego-building robot competition, robots shown a simple picture and must build the what is shown to the best of their ability.

By: Seth

Seth — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 04:50:56 +0000

I agree with an abstraction system for PIC and AVR, though it should also be designed from the beginning to be extensible to other processors as well. Both PIC and AVR have 32 bit processors so support for them is a must. Within 2 years if not less there will be 64 bit processors so we might as well future proof ourselves and plan for that. It would be great if we could make a tool set that would be able to interface with other compilers and support multiple existing languages so we could for instance have a program that uses libraries written in C and Basic. Also the compiler(or interpreter) should be able to take multiple different languages so that if one hacker wants to write in basic and another prefers C or Python it shouldn't be a problem.

I also agree that we should definitely set up a wiki and a forum, I like the idea of a hacking wiki but even before that we at least need a nice place to collaborate on choosing a project, or at least presenting our ideas nicely.

By: MikE

MikE — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:39:43 +0000

I haven’t been through all the comments but there’s one thing I’ve been dreaming of and will surely become everybody’s reality soon : a trash processing unit for households. The idea’s a bit unrealistic but waste management will soon be everyone’s concern and recycling is such a hassle… So the way I see it, is a centralized process wich accept any type of trash that sorts everything at the end, metals from organics, from plastics, etc. This prject involves many disciplines wich might be out of this site’s range but wouldn’t it be great to never have to worry about trashing anymore ?

By: Deepus

Deepus — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 22:54:34 +0000

A exoskeleton performance enhancment suit. If anyone wants to make one give me a shout at hairy_pot_head101@hotmail.com

By: Gee

Gee — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 20:41:02 +0000

A simple, upgradeable phone. Bio-friendly, recycled components as much as possible. It’s time we all stopped changing phones every 6 months and keep one for life, or as long as possible. Upgrades from a website, plug it in or update over wi-fi. All unnecessary junk stripped out.

By: russ

russ — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 23:37:52 +0000

A pocket sized video/audio/waveform test signal generator would be nice to test “out in the field” computer monitors, televisions, audio equipment, etc. before purchasing from used equipment stores.

By: Tony

Tony — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 10:24:51 +0000

I was recently employed at the local library as a page (someone who shelves the books) and pretty much everyday i spend 2 hours looking over the books people checked in the day before and putting them in proper order. When i was looking at the thousand and some odd books the other day, i began to think about it and i think that a giant rig for checking the books in and scrolling around the shelves (if they were all pushed together) putting the books in order would be a tremendous help in library’s across America, making the possibility of having one library for all of the books ever published a reality. I believe this process could be completely automated starting with scanning a barcode on the book (which would check the it in to the system), and ending with putting it in the correct order on the shelf. With enough work i think this would be feasable, and actually quite easy to make with enough of “Hack-a-days hacking community” working on it. Also im not sure that this has been done before, but im betting that it hasn’t on a commercial level but maybe a homebrew model is out there.

By: m7tics

m7tics — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 06:43:28 +0000

apparently, you have been listened to. http://wiki.hackaday.com and http://forum.hackaday.com both report "coming soon" messages.

hacking primer - amazing
Volume 1 teaches basic skills. Later 'volumes' could be released focusing on specifics: robotics 3, reverse engineering 1... allowing those with specific skills to teach others in the community and foster growth. the goal of finalized volumes being key i think.

modular development platforms -
setting a standard for interoperability between these may be a good idea. robotics plaform interfaces with communication plaform - robot txts me to say unauthorized entry to my home, breakfast is ready, etc.

fresh idea -
robotic bartender - chills liquids, dispenses ice, shakes and/or stirs, adds garnish. (vending machine style keypad code entry for drink creation) self cleaning would be sweet.

-m7stic

By: Jonathan Wilson

Jonathan Wilson — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 06:26:42 +0000

If it can be made road legal and built without requiring anything thats hard to obtain or really expensive, I vote for the "alternate energy source car".

The "guide to reverse engineering and component reuse" sounds very good too.

Something else that would be nice would be a universal video capture device that can take inputs from DVI, HDMI, Component, RGB, S-Video and Composite as well as being able to decode both analog NTSC and digital ATSC formats. Bonus points if it can decode PAL and/or DVB-T for those of us living in the other half of the world.

Could connect to the PC via USB for easy use and would be capable of removing/ignoring/talking HDCP, Macrovision, Broadcast Flags and any other DRM crap.

It should be built to be 100% open source (hardware and software) so that no matter what DRM Hollywood tries to ram down our throats, this card can always be adapted to defeat it and continue to capture raw video from whatever is available.

Or go one step further and reverse engineer CableCard and build the first (and only) device capable of supporting CableCard in a way that isn't locked down. (note that I am not suggesting trying to steal cable service, just access the service you paid for through a device capable of supporting the features YOU want, not the features the cable company have decided you can have)