[Kyle] came across a project which he thinks is “simply elegant”. If you don’t already have a PCB vice, here’s an easy way to build one of your own.
This one’s so good but alas it’s not a hack. Check out the slideshow tour at UC Boulder’s Fiske Planetarium. You get a really cool look at the hardware that makes the dome and projector such a great experience. [via Reddit]
Here’s a schematic and a couple of snapshots of [Trax’s] CAN bus hacking rig. He plans on doing a tutorial but decided to share this link after reading the first part of our own CAN hacking series.
These strings of LEDs bump to the tunes. [Alex] is using GrooveShark as a frequency analyzer, then pushing commands via Node.js to the Arduino controlling the lights. It’s all planned for the back porch during his Halloween party.
We remember drilling holes in the 3.5″ floppy discs (we even made a wood jig for this) to double their capacity. A similar blast from the past was to punch a notch in the larger 5.25″ versions to make them double-sided.
If you’re trying to learn about FFT [Ronald] highly recommends this website. We didn’t do too much poking around because it’s kind of strange. But if you do get sucked in and have fun with it leave a comment to let others know it’s worth their attention.
We suppose that using 39 Raspberry Pi boards and their camera modules isn’t the worst way to build a huge 3D model capture rig. The results certainly are impressive. [Thanks Wouter]
Oh boy, if they only gave us the FFT site instead of several signal processing courses at university…
Complex To Real is another really great site for learning about digital communications.
http://complextoreal.com/tutorials/
I’d suggest these for FFT code:
http://www.jjj.de/fft/fftpage.html
http://www.fftw.org
learning the ins and outs of using them is more complicated. That can get very subtle at times. Which algorithm to use if very dependent upon what constraints you can accept. There’s also a lot more to signal processing than FFTs.
That’s not Final Fantasy Tactics
I remember reading something waaaay back about how using the “single-to-double-sided” trick (or the equivalent “double-to-high-density” trick for 3.5″ floppies) on cheap media can result in lost data due to (I think) cross-talk. Although, I guess only the better quality disks are still around, so it’s probably okay…
They said it would cause you to loose data but what disk company wouldn’t.
You could buy (and i had one) little hole-punchers for 5.25 floppydisks to do this (which i believe rips it right out of hack-territory to into everyday-skill, even if it is a lost skill these days :-)
I have never lost data and never heard of anyone losing data over this, and I suspect it is just a combination of the overly paranoid user and the overly money-hungry manufacture perpetuation this idea. You stand a better chance at losing data to bad sectors and/or low quality disks imho.
BTW this hack is called a “flippy”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floppy_disk_variants#Flippy_disks
and BTW RunnerPack, the rumor you heard is called “FUD”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_uncertainty_and_doubt
HTH
I remember fondly my 5.25″ notcher, probably the first computer related thing I bought with my own money.
Bought from the local Commodore dealer in Christchurch NZ at the time.
I then started re-copying my large collection of pirated C64 disks to use both sides.
*sniff* those were the days.
You were lucky, I had to make notches with a pair of scissors!
I still remember sound of bad floppy disc. Horror, horror.
^ sometimes it rains, sometimes it’s gray, sometimes it falls down on you?? =(