Pre-spun hard drives

spinmaster

This device is lovingly called the SPINmaster. [Linux-works] built it to spin up multiple hard drives before the motherboard starts up. It detects the power-up from the PSU and uses a relay to hold the motherboard in reset, indicated by the red LED. Each of four relays then spins up a hard drive and illuminates the green LED when ready. Once all green lights come on the reset relay shuts off and … [Read more...]

Pipe heating with an ATMega8

heat

[Viktor] wanted a system to keep his pipes from freezing.  The common method of using heat tape works pretty well, but can be wasteful. Many people just turn it on for the entire winter. [Viktor] wanted to automate the heat tape's power so that it only activated during times that the pipes could actually freeze. To do this, he rigged an ATMega8 to a temp probe and is using it to control an ATX … [Read more...]

Repurposing a click wheel

click-wheel-interface

We think the click wheel is the biggest contributor to the success of the original iPods. The devices were a brick with a monochrome screen but the user interface was slick and easy to use. [Jason] decided he wanted to add a click wheel to his own project. After using a logic analyzer he discovered that it doesn't implement a common protocol such as I2C, perhaps a deliberate move by Apple to keep … [Read more...]

Arduino to Nintendo DS interface

ds-arduino-interface

[Hounjini] was poking around at the Game Boy Advanced bus of his Nintendo DS lite and figured out how to use it to connect an Arduino to the DS. For testing he's soldered an IDC plug to the cartridge cover pin interface but this only requires four connections. The Arduino can both send and receive data from the DS lite as shown in the example videos after the break. The data access is made … [Read more...]

Antique Jukebox Audio Streamer

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Reader [Jimmy] sent us some info about his recently completed antique radio to audio streamer conversion. The electronics from the original radio were too far gone to repair, but he took the time to pull apart modern components to provide a polished looking finished project without losing the antique feel. We like it, but we are just suckers for that old time look. Check out his blog for more … [Read more...]

Ask a winner updates day 5: Answers

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Not too long ago we asked our readers what they would like to hear about from the PUSH N900 winners and their hacks. We got some silly questions, and some serious, we asked both and now the PUSH teams have answered. The day has passed, the party is gone, and all that's left is the final interview. The Light Hack Crew gave us a somewhat shorter response then what we were used to, but it turned … [Read more...]