Month: March 2012

Twiddling An LED Using The BeagleBone’s Embedded Linux

March 15, 2012 by 18 Comments

If you comfortable working with 8-bit microcontrollers, the thought of moving to a hardware platform running embedded Linux may be a bit daunting. After all, there’s a lot going on between you and the chips on a board like the BeagleBone seen above. But [Matt Richardson] shows how easy it can be to get at the pins on this device. He put together a primer on hardware control from the embedded shell.

You will remember that the BeagleBone is the newest generation of the BeagleBoard. The ARM processor and other goodies make it a powerful tool, and those already familiar with Linux will be able to get up and running in no time. Just connect the board to your network and SSH into it to get started. [Matt] outlines this setup process in the clip after the break. He then hits the reference manual to find the pinout of the female headers on either side of the board. Each available I/O pin is mapped to the /sys directory and can easily be controlled by echoing your commands to the appropriate files. But [Matt] went a step further than that, writing his own Python library that implements Arduino-style syntax like the digitalWrite() function.

This example should give you enough of a shove to start porting your own libraries over for use with the device. Don’t forget to document your projects and tip us off about them. Continue reading “Twiddling An LED Using The BeagleBone’s Embedded Linux” →

RFID Playlists Plus A QR Code Concept

March 15, 2012 by 15 Comments

Here’s another audio playback hack that uses physical tokens to choose what you’re listening to. It uses Touchatag RFID hardware to control iTunes. The concept is very similar to the standalone Arduino jukebox we saw on Wednesday except this one interfaces with your computer and the tags select entire albums instead of just one song. A shell script processes the incoming tag ID from the reader, populates a playlist with all the tracks from the associated album, then executes an AppleScript to launch that playlist. Check out the short demo after the break.

But what really caught our eye is the QR-code reader concept which [Janis] hopes to implement at some point in the future. The computer side of things doesn’t need to be changed, but we love the challenge of putting together an FPGA-based camera to recognize and decode the QR image. Looks like a perfect use for that $10 camera module and it’s FPGA driver!

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Gamelatron, A Fully Robotic Indonesian Gamelan Orchestra.

March 15, 2012 by 7 Comments

Last summer we got to have a little chat with [Aaron Taylor] about his automated Gamelan orchestra, Gamelatron. The robotic orchestra features a large collection of Indonesian gongs,  metallophones, xylophones and cymbals actuated using simple pull solenoids attached to mallets.  Gamelatron’s custom controller activates the various 24V solenoids using MIDI,  the whole thing is essentially a gigantic MIDI instrument that can be played by whatever sequencing device you so please.

[Aaron] has a variety of ways to pump MIDI into the controller including the “Padma Bhuwana”, a wooden box with 16 arcade buttons wired to an Arduino. The Arduino can either activate sequences on a computer running Ableton live or the MIDI sequence can be pumped directly out of the Arduino for a computer free interactive installation. [Aaron] also plugs his Akai MPD32 to the computer for live shows or he can just let the laptop do all the work for non-interactive installations.

The really interesting thing about having 170 or so simply actuated instruments is the ability to spread them out and fill every facet of a space. A great example of this was the Temple of Transition at Burning man 2011 where the gongs and what not else would span multiple floors. Here is a recent Wired magazine video published where [Aaron] gives a quick overview of the setup, or if you are too impatient for the ads check out a few videos of Gamelatron in at burning man and PEX summer festival after the jump. We also included [Aaron]’s kickstarter video which has a few more details on the setup (as well as irrelevant stuff about the kickstarter project that has since expired). With all the crazy midi instrument hacks we get around here it is not stretch of the imagination to see this has lots of interactive potential.

Continue reading “Gamelatron, A Fully Robotic Indonesian Gamelan Orchestra.” →

Solar Charging A Buddha Machine

March 15, 2012 by 6 Comments

While having ambient music playing in the background can lead to a more relaxed state of mind, we can’t imagine the annoyance of having to replace the batteries constantly. Thankfully, [Phil] added solar charging to his Buddha Machine so he won’t have to worry about batteries anymore.

If you’re not familiar, the Buddha Machine is a small plastic box that loops nine tracks of ambient music inspired the Buddhist temples of south-east Asia. There’s not much to these little boxes; they’re just a plastic box with a speaker, on/off knob and an EEPROM loaded up with samples of music.

A year or so ago, the people behind the Buddha Machine posted a prototype of a solar-powered meditative noise box that was unfortunately never made. Thankfully, [Phil Stearns] stepped in posted a guide on how to convert a AA-powered Buddha Machine to solar power.

The modification is incredibly simple: after replacing the disposable AA batteries with NiMH rechargeable, two wires are swapped connecting the battery compartment with the main PCB and the box is sealed up again. Now, whenever one of [Phil]’s solar panels is connected to the power jack the batteries begin charging. [Phil] says he can get two days worth of runtime with a full 8-hour charge, so he shouldn’t need any batteries for his Buddha Machine anytime soon.

A Simple Touch Interface For Music Player Daemon And More

March 15, 2012 by 6 Comments

mpd-controller

[Andrew] recently got the authorization to install Linux on his work PC, and he was looking for a way to control his music without relying on keyboard shortcuts to do so. Additionally, he wanted an unmistakable visual cue when he received messages in Pidgin, so he decided to build an external input/notification box.

The control box, quite literally, is a cardboard box in which [Andrew] crammed some components he got way back when from the crew at Seeed Studio. A Seeeduino serves as the brains of his control panel, interfacing with his PC over USB. He uses a set of 4 touch sensors and a potentiometer to control the MPD, allowing him to easily switch tracks, pause his music, control the volume, and lock his computer with a simple touch. A side-mounted RGB LED lights green to show that the system has received his commands successfully, pulsing a bright blue whenever a message arrives via Pidgin.

While the case isn’t exactly pretty, it is small, recycled, and takes up very little desk space. [Andrew] says that it works great, and he has made his code available on github if anyone is interested in using it.

Bringing A 19th Century Stock Ticker Into The 21st Century

March 15, 2012 by 20 Comments

[Ames]’s father has had an old stock ticker sitting on a shelf for some time. He may have become quite listless over his spring break, because he decided connect a century-old stock ticker to his laptop.

When stock tickers were in use, they were all connected to a stock ticker circuit that would broadcast stock prices as a sequence of pulses. For each of these pulses, the letter wheel would advance by one character and finally print the letter with a great ca-thunk. Because stock tickers are incredibly simple devices – just a few solenoids and a couple of gears – [Ames] knew it would be relatively easy to connect one to his laptop.

[Ames]’ tool of choice for moving electrons back and forth in a wire is an Arduino, with none handy he needed to rig up something with the tools available on hand. [Ames] took a USB FTDI serial port connected the flow control lines to his ticker. A pair of MOSFETS and a tiny Python script advances the letter wheel and prints on the paper tape, a success by any measure.

After the break, you can see [Ames]’ stock ticker going about its antique machinations for the first time in possibly a hundred years. Not bad for a something put together over spring break.

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RFID Jukebox For The Kids

March 14, 2012 by 12 Comments

[Dominik] built a fun musical toy for his daughter [Anna]. It’s a jukebox that lets her play her favorite tunes using RFID tags to select between them.

The project is simple, yet robust. The enclosure is a wooden craft box that you can pick up for a couple of bucks. Inside there’s an Arduino with a Wave Shield which handles the audio playback. An RFID reader takes input from the set of card-tags he procured. An internal Lithium battery powers the device, with a USB port for charging.

Sure, those guts have some cost involved in them. But there’s no LCD which can be broken, and we thing the boards will hold up well to abuse if mounted correctly. Plus there’s a lot of future potential here. When we saw the cards we thought of those toys which make the animal sounds (“what does the cow say… mooo”). This could be used for that with really young children. Then repurposed into this jukebox as they get a bit older. If you put the guts in a new enclosure it will appear to be a brand-new toy, right?

See a demo of the project in the clip after the break.

Continue reading “RFID Jukebox For The Kids” →