[blip] let us know about this nice little project. The Alien DAC Project is basically a DIY USB sound card/interface. [Pictured is one built by cook on head-fi.org] It uses a TI PCM2702 at its core with some supporting chips for power regulation and virtual ground for the analog audio signal. It’s small and should do the job. If you’re really interesting in taking it to the next level, check out the DAC-3. It’s like the big mean older brother of the Alien DAC. That thing is rack mounted, has Optical, Coax and USB inputs.
[If you run across any more floating ads, let me know. They shouldn’t on the site, and we’re trying to take care of them.]
home entertainment hacks770 Articles
Rotary Subwoofer
We don’t usually go for commercial products, but this one (try the Internet Archive version) caught my eye. This fan is actualy a subwoofer. The blades spin at a constant rate and the blades are servo actuated to produce sound from 0Hz(don’t look at me like that) up to 40Hz according to the spec. I don’t know if I’d want one too badly, it might be dangerous in the wrong hands.
Rebuilding Tube Amps
I’ve been searching for a particular old school hack and ran across this little gem. I don’t know why I’m so intrigued by tube amps.. the high voltage, the glow, the power – oh yeah, never-mind. One of the most expensive parts of a tube amp is the transformer. They scored a pair of mono-block amps and walk us through replacing virtually every part except the transformers. My problem? I need at least 6.
SMS VCR Remote
You guys love those erricson phones. Mark sent in this SMS VCR remote control. I guess it’s an alternative to a TiVo, or handy for those one man sting operations. I started poking around the site and discovered a few more interesting projects. The toilet telemetry was a bit odd. I want the duck taped kitchen timer for my espresso bar.
XBox 360… Laptop
I’m posting this a little early because it’s gonna be popular. Ben Heckendorn has been up to his tricks again. This time he built a 14 pound, water cooled 17 inch XBox 360 aluminum cased laptop. It’s got all the outputs you could ever need. This one is very good. He was kind enough to write up the build and do a nice photo shoot. Oh, this is very, very nice.
[Update: Skyler] set up a mirror.]
Hd Mirror Projector Fix
John Sullivan’s projector suffered some unplanned damage. The mirror inside the projector that reflects light from the bulb was broken, rendering the unit useless. The mirror was an odd shape, so he cut up a platter from a sacrificial hard drive and made a replacement. If you’re looking for other projects for those old drives, I dug up a few. The hd motor anomemeter is interesting. The brushless motor can be used to generate AC current to calculate the speed.
[Hopefully comments will be back this week. I’ll get into the details when it’s fixed.]
Chumby
The biggest hacker news of the weekend has to be Chumby being revealed. We heard whisperings of this at Defcon, but the device has finally been seen in the flesh at Foo Camp. Chumby is an open hardware flash player. That’s just a starting point though. Chumby is designed to be hacked. Even though they aren’t selling hardware yet, they’ve already posted full schematics and software notes (create an account to view). The device comes with a dongle for further expansion. Christine.net, Dyl World, and ScottJanousek all have posts covering the device. Friend of Hack-A-Day, bunnie did the hardware design and posted shots of the board on his blog. We’re planning on getting a good look at the device when Fabienne, Will, and I are at Toorcon in San Diego next month.
