Author: Will O'Brien

805 Articles

Wii Laptop How-To (Part 2)

January 31, 2007 by 2 Comments


Part 2 of Ben Heck’s Wii laptop How-To is up. The first half is all about the little touches, wiring switches, extending connectors, etc. The second half delves into designing the actual unit. Some of the comment’s on Engadget seem to want a full bore step by step build, but fail to realize that he’s really giving them the gold. Very few designers give away their intermediate design steps – But I am reminded of some of the Star Wars movie extras…

PSP Downgrader For V3.03 Released

January 30, 2007 by 23 Comments


While I was on vacation, [Fanjita] and [Ditlew] released a downgrader for PSPs running v3.03 firmware. To get it to work, you’ll need an unpatched copy of the GTA:Liberty City Stories UMD. The hack should get you down to v1.5. It’s supposed to work on all current PSP hardware. Thanks to [wraggster], [Steve DiRaddo]. [Sean] submitted the same info [via noobz], but they don’t appear to have credited the authors. (Unless of course, the authors are part of noobz.)

Tripmate Gps Data Logger

January 26, 2007 by 7 Comments


This one is fitting – I was just checking out Suunto’s sweet gps data logging watches today. [Steve Cholewiak] sent in his diy GPS data logger. It uses an old DeLorme tripmate – these were serial gps units that ran off of internal batteries. A PIC controller reads the NMEA sentences from the tripmate. Then it stores the track data to an EEPROM. The same serial connection is used to retrieve the data later on. [Steve] did a great job writing this up, the circuit is pretty simple and he’s provided all the information you need to build your own.

Going Snowboarding Extra

January 25, 2007 by 14 Comments


I’m heading west to do some snowboarding, so I thought I’d clean out the stuff I’ve been saving for you guys.

[Nagi Punyamurthula] sent his notes on making PCBs. It’s a nice introduction if you’re new to it.

[Monster] sent in his how to on making a solder mask
He suggests using mcmaster-carr p/n 9709K61 (4 mil) or 9709K55 (3 mil) copper sheet.

[monster] and [uchobby] sent in using a scanner to take measurements on a PCB

[MoneyOx] sent in a DIY Wii sensor bar

[Tom] sent in Water cooling via swimming pool. This made slashdot, but worth a look if you missed it.

Meta is another DIY segway, similar to [Trevor Blackwells]. (I’ve actually ridden that one) Thanks [Peter]

[Zack] sent along details on using a Nintendo DS for VoIP.

[Bruce] sent in his shuffle in a hockey helmet hack. I like the pseudo-dock he created for it.

This was on engadget a while back, but we’ve been getting lots of tips. Check out the iPod in a gameboy mod.

Finally, [everyone on the planet] sent in this Xbox 360 tilt controller hack.

Thanks to everyone for their tips!