Keyboard Hero: A Barebones Alternative To The Guitar Version

Guitar Hero was all the rage for a few years, before the entire world apparently got sick of it overnight. Some diehards still remember the charms of rhythm games, though. Among them you might count [Joseph Valenti] and [Daniel Rodriguez], who built a Keyboard Hero game for their ECE 4760 class at Cornell.

Keyboard Hero differs quite fundamentally from Guitar Hero in one major way. Rather than having the player tackle a preset series of “notes,” the buttons to press are instead procedurally generated by the game based on incoming audio input. It only works with simple single-instrument piano music, but it does indeed work. A Raspberry Pi Pico is charged with analyzing incoming audio and assigning the proper notes. Another Pi Pico generates the VGA video output with the game graphics, which is kept in sync with the audio pumped out from the first Pico so the user can play the notes in time with the music. Rather than a guitar controller, Keyboard Hero instead relies on five plastic buttons assembled on a piece of wood. It works.

It’s obviously not as refined as the game that inspired it, but the procedural generation of “notes” reminds us of old-school rhythm game Audiosurf. Video after the break.

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Rebuilt Batteries For The Cutest Clamshell At The Cafe

Keeping retrocomputers going can be tricky enough, but when you’re talking retro laptops, the battery packs add an extra challenge. While one could simply live without the battery, that’s not going to give you the full retro experience. Replacement batteries are long out of stock, so what can one do? Well, one can check out this excellent tutorial by [lazd] on rebuilding an iBook G3 Clamshell battery.

Even if you don’t have this particular laptop, the general process is likely to be similar for PC laptops of similar vintage. (Which we still can’t believe is a whole quarter-century ago.) Luckily for retrocomputer enthusiasts, even Apple used standard 18650 cells in those bygone, halcyon days when computers were allowed to be more than a few atoms thick. They do need to be unprotected, flat-top cells, but that’s easy enough to source.

So it’s really a matter of carefully prying apart the casing (apparently it needs to be Apple-branded; aftermarket cases can’t survive being opened), removing the old batteries, and welding nickel tabs onto the new cells in the proper configuration. One thing that surprised us is that, apparently, Apple did not go in for balancing in those days — so make sure your cells are all in perfect condition and all equally charged before you start, or things won’t end nicely.

As always, battery orientation matters! The cells are welded into two sets in this Clamshell iBook battery.

Assuming you can pull it off (and your battery pack’s control chip has lasted the 300 moons since its manufacture), you’ll get a not-insignificant 5-hour battery run out of what’s sure to be the cutest clamshell computer at the cafe.

If you are repairing an iBook, while you’re at it, why not upgrade the RAM? You might even be able to fix the screen if it’s succumbing to the sadly-too-common vinegar syndrome.

A DIY Fermenter For Flavorful Brews

Fermentation is a culinary art where tiny organisms transform simple ingredients into complex flavors — but they’re finicky about temperature. To keep his brewing setup at the perfect conditions, [Ken] engineered the Fermenter, a DIY insulated chamber controlled by Home Assistant for precision and remote monitoring.

The Fermenter build starts with an insulated chamber constructed from thick, rigid foam board, foil tape, weather strips, and a clever use of magnets to secure the front and top panels, allowing quick access to monitor the fermentation process. The chamber is divided into two sections: a larger compartment housing the fermentation vessel and a smaller one containing frozen water bottles. A fan, triggered by the system, circulates cool air from the bottle chamber to regulate temperature when things get too warm.

The electronics are powered by an ESP8266 running ESPHome firmware, which exposes its GPIO pins for seamless integration with Home Assistant, an open-source home automation platform. A DS18B20 temperature sensor provides accurate readings from the fermentation chamber, while a relay controls the fan for cooling. By leveraging Home Assistant, [Ken] can monitor and adjust the Fermenter remotely, with the flexibility to integrate additional devices without rewiring. For instance, he added a heater using a heat mat and a smart outlet that operates independently of the ESP8266 but is still controlled via Home Assistant.

Thanks [Ken] for sending us the tip on this ingenious project he’s been brewing. If you’re using Home Assistant in a unique way, be sure to send in your project for us to share. Don’t forget to check out some of the other Home Assistant projects we’ve published over the years. Like a wind gauge, maybe. Or something Fallout-inspired.

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