Comments on: DIY AVR USB RGB LED notifier

By: me

me — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:57:14 +0000

This got covered by Engadget today…

By: Dennis

Dennis — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:49:03 +0000

to get back on track:
I usually just call it “the notifier”.

By: Dennis

Dennis — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:30:33 +0000

thanks folks,

Since credibility is shot anyways here’s my thoughts once more: :)

@ st.jimmy: thats true, I wish it hadn’t turned that direction. But I guess thats just how I am.. slightly choleric person I guess.

@andrew: you miss my point entirely. I really like Blairs hack and the fact that hes on hackaday with it! I just dislike me doing the work and others getting the props for “twitter,pidgin,thunderbird”, thats all – which most definitely is NOT blairs fault if you look @his site, btw.

@mem.namefix: OK that uzebox really IS a cool mod! Be lucky they didn’t write about it as if it was entirely someone else’s work.. ;)

@JustBlair: sorry for the load of comments on my behalf! Your hack alone wouldn’t deserve such kind of bad publicity..

By: St.Jimmy

St.Jimmy — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:10:05 +0000

@dennis: You have a very valid point about not getting recognition, but lots of people will ignore that because you had several posts in quick succession, which made it seem like you were whining, coupled with the fact that many of your comments were referencing non-posted comments, which were later posted.

By: Andrew Pollack

Andrew Pollack — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:59:34 +0000

@Dennis — from my point of view (and I’ve submitted and had one of my projects reviewed a couple years back, so I do know the work level) the whining and multiple comments like that very much works against your credibility.

I’d assume the editors at Hackaday pick projects based on their opinion of those projects they have time to review on any given day. Surely some truly awesome hack-fu has been missed, and we can all site posts here that we personally think qualify only for the lame-o bucket —

HOWEVER: none of that means anyone’s hack is entitled to anything. If it doesn’t get picked up, it doesn’t get picked up. The End. If you act is if you’re entitled it can’t help. I know if I was an editor, my silent response to this kind of childish whining would be to set the bar much higher on those things you submit that I’d be likely to want to post about.

By: mem.namefix

mem.namefix — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:41:48 +0000

@Dennis,
There have been many many good projects fall through the cracks on hackaday.

eg: http://belogic.com/uzebox/

I remember seeing an ear phone jack trimmed with a stanley knife (lamest hack ever) being posted a week after I (and presumably many others) had submitted the uzebox.

Go figure.

By: Miikebass

Miikebass — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:53:13 +0000

Other simple (expensive?) solution ready for noobs?

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.27062

Check the comments for mod instructions.

“I bought the one Dream Cheeky makes (it looks the same as this one) and controlling the 3 LEDs (RGB) that are inside is quite easy… they each have 64 levels of brightness and the colors mix quite nicely due. Use an USB sniffer application e.g. USBlyzer to get the commands…

My example:

Init:
…
hidDevice.Write(new byte[9] { 0×00, 0x1F, 0×01, 0×29, 0×00, 0xB8, 0×54, 0x2C, 0×03 });
hidDevice.Write(new byte[9] { 0×00, 0×00, 0×01, 0×29, 0×00, 0xB8, 0×54, 0x2C, 0×04 });
hidDevice.Write(new byte[9] { 0×00, 0×00, 0×00, 0×00, 0×00, 0×00, 0×54, 0x2C, 0×05 });
…

To change LED state:
…
hidDevice.Write(new byte[9] { 0×00, Byte.Parse(r), Byte.Parse(g), Byte.Parse(b), 0×00, 0×00, 0×54, 0x2C, 0×05 });
…

I used this library to do it:

http://hidlibrary.codeplex.com/ “

By: Dennis

Dennis — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:53:12 +0000

I get it. no more open source projects then..

By: farthead

farthead — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:06:17 +0000

@dennis you are not a part of the inner circle. until then you will be ignored.

Much like submitting a story to slashdot.

By: strider_mt2k

strider_mt2k — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:37:53 +0000

Point taken.

Sorry Dennis. Glad you got your props.

By: James

James — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:41:25 +0000

dennis had a point, a fair one. He was rather vocal about it, as most would be. Dont be childish about someones wish to have their work recognised.

By: strider_mt2k

strider_mt2k — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:35:24 +0000

Someone please give dennis his cookie and pat on the head so we can get on with the rest of our lives?

By: nimrod

nimrod — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:40:13 +0000

VBI – Visual Bit Indication

my 2 cents

By: nebulous

nebulous — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:18:12 +0000

Name? SUN. Simple User Notification. And, y’know, it’s a light.

By: davehillier

davehillier — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:27:35 +0000

diy avr usb rgb led ftw!