Parallel LCD On OSX

mac parallel lcd

Reader EPooch needed a USB attached display for a future project. From initial research it seemed that most available solutions involved using a “usb to serial” adapter followed by a “serial to parallel” adapter and finally connecting that to the parallel interface on the lcd; Far from elegant. Eric decided to try using a USB to parallel cable intended for use with a printer. His first cable didn’t work out to well because of poor documentation. He ended up finding an adapter from Belkin that would work. Oddly, it works even though the cable was supposed to be Windows only and the Mac version of it isn’t made for OSX. Keep up the good work Eric and we hope to see more from you soon.

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Hackaday Lazy Afternoons

Lazy Afternoons

ahh! it’s gorgeous out! I’m feeling better already! Now, yesterday I did my HOWTO on making a geeky Usb fan for your laptop and yes, it’s insanely ghetto, but creativity is up to you! Now because I’ll be having dinner of pretzels ala carte, I would appreciate a steak dinner, but this won’t happen. So I’ll discuss some links instead. Try these out for size:

[Matt] sends in this link to a redneck gentlemen who threw a full sized A/C unit into his pickup truck.

Harddrive stilts are the next big thing. We swear. [Amos]
Grapes in da hous-err, microwave. [je]
AWK webserver. Thats just not even funny. [barbobot]
if you don’t wanna shell out mad loot for das keyboard, build your own [jock]

Do you dare hack a magazine? Teehee.

So the next podcast will start to be in the works Im guessing next week. We love your ideas/rediculous suggestions so keep sending them in or leaving voicemails at 206-888-HACK. If you cant swing 60 seconds of talk time, then get a grip/cellphone.

Also, this summer my friend and I will be working on a Hackers-esque movie. Except with…more humor. So if you wanna echo 23 to see what’s up, lemme know. We’ll throw you in the movie.
OOOOH. And remember that flash-based wep cracking video? Eliot tried it out for himself and it worked….in an hour and 20 minutes. But nevertheless, give it a shot. This is obviously a great find if you’re poor as hell like me and need to leech some heroi-I mean wi-fi.

Now for your very-easy-to-do-hack for your lazy afternoon.

Matchstick Rockets sent in by [weirdguy0101]
Basically, get the following:
1. Matches.
2. Pins/Paper clips.
3. Foil.

Follow the instructions and have a ball. Friday I’ll probably be posting something with the illegal fireworks I picked up in Ohio. So that should be fun for people who have fireworks sold in their state!

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Dot Matrix Synth

dot matrix synth

This project initially started as an attempt to build a Mellotron, a tape based sampling synth. Paul Slocum recorded samples using a tape recorder and then taped the segments to the printer’s feed drum. The samples were then played back by varying drum speed and read head location. Later versions of the printer synth used a hacked EPROM and generated sound using the noise of the firing print head. The site features plenty of sound samples which are slightly more pleasant than my parent’s Panasonic “quiet” series dot-matrix printer.

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Hackaday Links

Links

Hi readers. I’m going to keep this short today and hope to make up with it tomorrow if I’m better. I’ve gotten very sick and typing is becoming hard. So thanks for bearing with me.

Also, the guy commenting on Cedar Point yesterday, priceless. And did my Guinness popsicle link get removed last night so it could go up as a feature article? Please let me know about that one…

the scooter with the office chair [trilly]
make chloroform responsibly (key word right there) [jason]

holy christ. someone turned a dead frog into a server (not for faint of heart or the dude complaining about furs) thanks [wetsmellydog]

very cool WEP cracking video done in linux. (flash based movie players suck though) [je]
throw half-life 2 characters into photos

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Ambient Traffic Light

traffic lighttraffic light

Seems reader [Bucky] is just as annoyed with those ambient orbs as we are. I fully support unique ways to present information, but this executive toy stuff is nothing to look forward to. Bucky legally acquired a traffic light and then developed a parallel interface to the traffic light to display different types of information. This project does require switching 120 volt AC, so you should make sure your comfortable with electrocuting yourself before proceeding. I hope someday lots of extra interfaces show up.  Until then I guess we’ve got people like Bucky to keep us sane.

P.S. Don’t forget to give us feedback on the hackaday podcast.

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