[Robert] opened up his old alienware laptop and installed an Intel Pro 100 mini-pci ethernet card. Then He replaced the modem port with the second ethernet jack. The hardware side is pretty simple, but getting the port soldered to a new custom cable and fitted to the case was the hard part.
Author: Will O'Brien805 Articles
Go International With Your Zune
In a fit of apparent oddity, the Zune doesn’t support non-US characters. [Mike] sent in this how-to on modding the Zune software to speak other languages. We haven’t seen much on the Zunes, so it’s about time for something to come out.
Silvia PIC Controlled PID Looped Espresso Machine
Last night I rebuilt my ECM Giotto with a new boiler. I’ve seen PID controlled machines before, but today I stumbled across this modded Rancillo Silvia. [Tim] replaced the internal brain with a PIC controller, added a NES control pad for input, a VFD display and a custom laser cut acrylic top. He used the PIC to provide PID control and PWM heater control with the usual solid state relays. I was leaning towards using a PIC for PID control myself, but then I scored my Giotto. (The heat exchanger and larger boiler makes it a bit of a moot point, but I’m still tempted to add PID boiler controls.)
PosterBot – Hack A Roomba Into Poster Printer
(I’m in a robot mood this week, ok?) [Wyatt] sent in his posterbot. Lacking the gift of girly handwriting, he grafted an inkjet printer onto his Roomba to make posters for him. There have been other bots to do this, my favorite being the graffitiwriter. Of course, [Wyatt]’s bot is less likely to get you arrested.
Want a shirt?
By the way, I’ve got a spare Hack-A-Day shirt sitting here. Send in a link picture of your Hackspace to the tips line. The best/worst will get some attention and the best one gets an official Hack-A-Day shirt.
Roller-Walker (skating) Robot
[Max T] sent in this interesting robot design. I dig the combo motion design. The legs can walk, or the wheels flip out time machine style to roll the robot around. Rather than power the wheels, the legs are used to skate the robot around – like a human on skates.
A123 LiIon Battery Pseudo Extra
Every so often I have to slap myself in the head. I’m surprised that we haven’t covered these things by now. DeWalt’s been selling a LiIon 36 volt battery pack that’s full of the latest A123 cells. These are the same ones that were used in the Killacycle. (I think they’ve got a new batch of cells now).
A while back, [Jeff] sent in a circuit for using multiple packs, leaving the internal BMS in place. [The link is fixed now]
[Robert] sent in a scooter that’s been designed to run these same cells. The custom fabrication and machine work looks fantastic.
SMIP – Footpedal Keyboard Input
[iank] is tired of reaching for his mouse to use the scroll wheel, so he built SMIP. He modified a musical sustain pedal (momentary on switch) to output an unused key combination. Then he mapped the key combo in X-windows to let him be extra lazy. There are plenty of ways to map keys – usb keypads, etc, but this is the first time I’ve seen anyone try to replace a mouse command with a foot pedal.
