A One Third Scale Macintosh

August 28, 2013 by 75 Comments

minimac

Released in 1984, the original Macintosh was a wonder – not only did it have a GUI and a mouse, it was actually one of the smaller computers of the day. Now that we’re nearly 30 years past the release of the OG Mac, it follows that a smaller version should be possible. [John] did just that by creating a 1:3 scale replica of the original 128k Mac.

As you would expect, this tiny Mac is powered by a Raspberry Pi running Mini vMac, an emulator for these olde tymie 68k Macs. The display is a 3.5″ LCD with a resolution of 300×200, not quite up to the standard classic mac resolution of 512×342. At least this version has color, though.

Also inside the carefully crafted PVC case are a WiFi and Bluetooth dongle, along with an off-the-shelf phone charger. It’s a remarkable piece of craftsmanship, and given the games and applications (i.e. Photoshop 1.0) available for these old Macs, its possibly more useful for general computing than a stock Raspberry Pi.

You can check out the video walkthrough of everything this tiny little Mac can do below.

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Molding Flexible Links

August 28, 2013 by 9 Comments

Flexible Links

Need a custom link that’s strong and flexible? [RobotGrrl] came up with a method of molding flexible links using 3D printed parts and Sugru.

The link consists of two 3D printed hubs, connected by a flexible material cast in a 3D printed mold. [RobotGrrl] recommends using Sugru to create the link, but you can use homemade Oogoo as a low cost substitute. Dish soap is used as a release agent, and prevents the Sugru from sticking to the mold.

The tutorial includes a detailed guide to modeling the parts in Autodesk Inventor, which serves as a quick introduction to the CAD tool. If you just want to make some links, the STL files are available for immediate 3D printing.

Why would you want DIY flexible links? [RobotGrrl]’s Baitbot is a good example. This tentacle robot uses the links as its core. Check out a video of the Baitbot wiggling and jiggling after the break.

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A Facelift For The View Out Your Livingroom Window

August 27, 2013 by 22 Comments

livingroom-view-facelift

[Ken Kawamoto] turned the rather bland view from his livingroom into that of some high-priced real estate. It only works at night, which is going to seem odd since the image above shows a daytime scene. But it’s still a pretty sweet concept.

The video below shows the actual view from his window. We don’t think it’s all that bad (we once lived in a ground-level apartment looking out on a parking lot… yuck!). But the view of the Abbey of St. Étienne in Caen, France seen above is much better. He simply put a projector on his balcony and closed the light-colored blinds. So far he has to bring it in after each use, but we see this as more of a thing to use only when entertaining anyway.

We’ve seen a few other attempts over the years at hacking your view. Here’s one that adds fake windows using LCD screens. The thing that makes that one work is the ability of the system to track the viewer and change the perspective accordingly.

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Retrotechtacular: The 10-year Anniversary Of Plastic

August 27, 2013 by 36 Comments

retrotechtacular-plastic-ten-year-anniversary

This footage called Industry on Parade is a unique look back at the golden age of plastics. We also value the footage as a look at America’s manufacturing sector at its height.

We remember a middle-school teacher recalling his father — who was a research scientist working at Dow — bringing home a pair of discs for him to play with. His first ever encounter with plastic. Here we see a snapshot ten years after plastic manufacturing went mainstream. It starts off with a tour of an injection-molding factory. The screenshot seen above is from the second vignette which tours a production line for naval ship models which will be used to train Navy personnel and as props for strategic planning maps. The film wraps up with the production of plastic fabrics starting with raw materials and ending with synthetic bug screen.

Just to prove it’s an authentic blast from the past, hang in there for the last two minutes when you get an anti-communism PSA. Classic.

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Milled Water Bottle Rocket Launcher Pushes Plastic Containers To Their Limit

August 27, 2013 by 31 Comments

water-bottle-rocket-launcher

Building this launcher is simple if you already have a mill. It does a remarkable job of pressurizing and launching soda bottles which are partially filled with water. The main component of this is a triple-gasket stopper with a quick release.

The problem with a lot of these water bottle rocket projects is that they leak where the bottle meets the launcher. In most cases this is a good thing as it’s almost impossible to build up enough pressure to cause the bottle to fail. This system has no such built-in safety mechanism, which is why the test launch below is conducted from a safe distance. After seating the partially filled bottle on the launch platform it’s pressurized to around 100 PSI at which point a yank on the string lets it fly.

Most of the time we look on these as casual projects. But we figure this one is much more suited for a rocket club or hackerspace event.

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Building A ‘high-end’ USB Audio DAC

August 27, 2013 by 63 Comments

As [Jan-Erik] had already built a simple USB connected Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC), he decided to make the high-end version of it.

The prototype you see in the picture above is based on:

  • the PCM2707C from Texas Instruments which takes care of the USB communication and outputs I2S audio data
  • the PCM1794A, a 132dB SNR 24-bit 192kHz DAC which receives I2S protocol
  • the OPA4134, a high performance audio operational amplifier

The on-board +3.3V and -5V voltages are generated by inductor-less power supplies. As [Jan-Erik] mentions in his write-up, the ‘high-end’ was put between single quotes because the PCB is single sided and uses through hole passive components. The board was designed using Kicad, etched by himself and put in a machined enclosure. All the production files can be downloaded from his website so you may produce it within a day.

CC3000 WiFi Driver For .NET Micros

August 27, 2013 by 10 Comments

CC3000

The Netduino and other .NET Micro boards don’t seem to get much love, but that doesn’t mean they’re not able to use one of the coolest chips we’ve seen in a while. [Valkyrie] has written a driver for TI’s new CC3000 all-in-one WiFi chip, giving any .NET micro device a very small and very cheap WiFi connection.

A while back, [Chris Magagna] created a TI CC3000 library for the Arduino. [Valkyrie] fell out of his chair when he saw that post, as it meant the .NET Micro devices such as the Netduino could finally use this device. With a TI Launchpad and a logic analyzer, [Valkyrie] recorded all the SPI commands and responses eventually reconstructing the entire library.

As for how useful this is without any hardware, There’s already a CC3000 Gadgeteer module available from GHI Electronics.