computer hacks
Overclockers are always trying to come up with new, colder, and quieter ways to keep their PCs cool. [gigs] was so dedicated to this, he decided to lay 6 meters of copper pipe to use as a radiator in his new house’s foundation. As of now, the foundation is laid (copper pipes and all), and the forum posts come complete with finished slab pics, though there is no house to speak of yet.
[via Slashdot]
Every electronics workbench could benefit from having a bench power supply. Converting a PC power supply works, but often, it involves splicing wires and limits the supply to only bench use, and building one from scratch is definitely an undertaking. To counter this, [silic0re] and his father came up with a detachable adapter that simply plugs into the existing connectors. The adapter provides posts for four different voltages and can be built in no time. It’s nice to see a solution that will let you use any power supply laying around without having to worry about the dangers of opening it or cutting it up.
[Thanks silic0re]
Twitter has been used for lots of experiments, both useful and just for fun. [FIRESTORM_v1] sent in his project that falls under the useful category. When he wanted a way to monitor his server’s power statistics, Twitter was a logical choice. Similar to the Tweet-a-Watt, he wrote a script that posts messages from APCUPSd to a Twitter account that he follows, and gets the updates on his phone. [FIRESTORM_v1] documents all of the scripts he used and the steps to get your server up and tweeting.
Many of us heard the news of Marvell’s SheevaPlug plug-in PC being released alongside its consumer solution counterparts. One of the prominent products based on the SheevaPlug hardware is the Pogoplug. The Pogoplug is essentially a no-configuration media server that allows you to plug in a hard drive and network cable to make data readily available anywhere you have Internet access. It’s a great idea, but the underlying software is closed source, limiting the demographic of the device to consumers who are happy with an out-of-the-box solution. Enter OpenPogo, a solution for people who want a bit more control over their device. OpenPogo gives users more say over what their Pogoplug does; from running a torrent client to a web server to a Ruby on Rails server. The possibilities for the device are limitless, and OpenPogo makes turning our ideas into reality it just that much easier.
When [Jespersaur] purchased a Luxeed LED keyboard, he was disappointed to find that the drivers were not open source and didn’t support all the features he wanted. His solution? Hack the drivers that come with it, and implement his own. In his article, he gives a basic rundown of beginning reverse engineering by multiple methods and a brief introduction to libusb. For the Linux drivers, check out [Kurt Stephens]’s site, where he supplies a link to the source code, instructions on building it, and a tutorial on sending commands to the keyboard.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBFoFYhC9B4]
This is the Illuminato X Machina, a “cellular” style computing system. Each unit is a fully functioning computer with its own processor, storage and communications. You can watch above as a change in the operating software is propagated across the grid. You can see the LEDs in the video going nuts, there are actually LEDs on the sides too. [Justin] described it to us as a personal fireworks show on your desk. This system is fully open with the schematics and source code available on their site. You might recognize these guys too, we covered their Open Source GameBoy.
With all the recent talk of hackintoshes going around, we thought we should post this oldie. It is a writeup on how to build your own Apple 1 called Replica 1. If you’ve got the $149 laying around and think you can handle the construction of a mere 88 components, you can make one yourself. Not only can you order kits or complete units, they even have a download page with applications and games. It might be fun to have one of these sitting on the desk right next to our minimac. If you really don’t want to buy one, but maybe want to just play a little bit, there’s always virtual apple.
[via DVICE]
