You can thank reader [Alexandre Novello]’s laziness for generating this hack. Actually, as a self-proclaimed “software guy” he would have never approached this project if it wasn’t for the situation he was in: having to walk across the room to open the door for people, a door which has an electric opener right next to it. He’s got a thorough write-up on how he built the client and server portions of his software in Delphi. He also covers the hardware switch which is attached to the server via parallel port.

Continue reading “Client/server Door Opener” →

[Brad O’Connor] has completed his motorized projector screen that we mentioned last month while covering his Lumenlab projector build. The screen is driven by a windshield washer motor using the low speed connection. The 126″ screen is supported by a copper pipe and is attached using Velcro. Brad says the wrinkles aren’t visible during playback, but he plans on adding more weight to remove them. He’s also planning on wireless control in the future.

Continue reading “Motorized Projector Screen” →

A couple days ago we mentioned that Lumenlab had released their top secret plans for building an LCD based projector. Hack-A-Day reader [Brad O’Connor] sent along his experiences using the Lumenlab plans. Like most people, he says that the $20 price of admission is worth it. The system uses a 400Watt metal halide lamp as a light source. A fresnel lens straightens the light before it passes through a consumer LCD panel. A second fresnel lens directs the light to the final focusing lens. You can grab a torrent of the plans here. Brad is currently working on motorizing his 120″ screen.

Continue reading “Lumenlab Projector Build” →

marshallh from the benheck.com forums has managed to overclock a Super FX chip. The Super FX was an extra graphics processor included in some Super Nintendo games. Using this chip, games like Star Fox were able to handle polygons and intensive sprite scaling. marshallh removed the 21.4Mhz ceramic resonator from a Vortex cartridge and replaced it with a 24Mhz oscillator and a couple caps. The result is a smoother frame rate and minimal slow down with multiple enemies.

[thanks vb_master]

Continue reading “SNES Super FX Overclocking” →

I know this week belongs to the Xbox 360, but sometimes you need a break from all of the hype. Once the Xbox Linux team got a mature system established they decided to move on to GameCube Linux. They’ve made a lot of progress:

The GameCube Linux kernel has working drivers for PAL and NTSC framebuffers, the Broadband Adapter (network card), audio, ARAM, Real Time Clock, gamepad, keyboard, DVD, MMC/SD cards (through the SD card adapter) and reset button. It has also preliminary support for memory cards.

Just last month they released instructions on how to build your own bootable disc.

[thanks h-tech]

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Pasteler0 wanted to build an external control system for Winamp. Using the COM-port plugin he was able to wire up 4 control buttons directly to his serial port. The software also supports a 15 button mode. The switches are mounted in a clear plastic floppy disk box and connected to the computer serial port using CAT5. It’s a nice hardwired solution for control, but if you want just a simple remote, try WinLIRC.

[thanks geuis and ian]

Continue reading “Winamp Control With Serial Interface” →

Welcome back to A-DJ-Hack-Every-Other-Day. Maintaining clean vinyl will improve the sound quality and lifetime of your records and cartridges. It’s also a great first step when ripping the audio. This record cleaning system is built from the platter of an old turntable and a canister vacuum. The record clamp is constructed from MDF and is used to rotate the record and protect the label. The vacuum hose has a modified crevice attachment used for removing the excess cleaning fluid. The site includes a recipe for making your own cleaning fluid. Of course any money you save on this project will probably be spent on more vinyl.

Continue reading “Record Cleaner” →