Sure, you could make it into a web server, but [markie] sent me his Mac SE/30 visualizer. It was inspired by another’s mac mod, but he was kind enough to write up an entire how-to. The audio signal was run directly into the deflection coils on the macs tubes. The mod is so simple, I might have to pick one up just for CRT experimentation.
[The next regular podcast cometh, but It’s delayed by my cold.]
[Alan] sent me his simple rs-232 controlled power outlet. He built it to turn on his laser printer when a print job appeares in the queue. The relay is directly controlled by the DTR line on the serial port. Lots of espresso machine PID conversions use them to run boilers, so he could have avoided the extra mechanical relay. [I can’t pick on him too much, my old laserwriter is on all the time.]
He tied it together with some perl to turn on the printer and get the print job going once it’s had enough time to initialize.
Here’s part one of my interview with Ben Heckendorn. Because it’s so long, and I’ve got a cold, I’m breaking it up into a two parter. Check out part 1 here, add the RSS feed to your program of choice, or subscribe to the feed via iTunes.
Ben and I get into most of the questions you guys asked, along with a few tangents. Enjoy!
[The devs are working on the feeds for me, so they’re not quite perfect. yet.]
I was poking around spark fun electronics, and came across this interesting walk through showing spark fun’s solder stenciling technique. (I’d put on some gloves before handling that much lead paste) They top it off with some alternative ways of doing reflow work. My favorite has to be the target hotplate method. It’s a nice introduction if you’re interested in doing SMD work to save money and space on your projects [but not sanity. say goodbye to that] Me? I’ve used a 15 watt weller with a dremel modified small tip. It works great if you’ve got some one of those syringes of heat activated glue. Place, bake and solder.
[Jared] sent in inventgeek.com’s ion cooler 2.0. This time the ion cooler is pushing air out of the case to avoid charged air crossing the sensitive components. They kept the cost down and used easily acquired components.
[Ethan] sent in the online skill crane. It made it to shmoocon, but now it’s online for anyone to play. The machine is interfaced to the parallel port and controlled with a C program. It lacks a bit on the tech details, but you know you want one. Playing nets you a video of the results linked via email.
