Misc Hacks

4086 Articles

PIC Cluster Computing

March 15, 2007 by 10 Comments


[silic0re] sent in this uh, totally different take on micro-controller applications. The hardware is impressive. It’s built to carry up to 10 dsPICF3012 controllers (30 mips each), and has ethernet, SD, Serial and i2c thanks to an imsys SNAP module (similar to gumstix). This is, as far as I know, the first PIC controller cluster built. The software is still a work in progress- for now it’s just pretty, but he deserves points for originality. His site’s a bit slow, so try the coral cache.

(I woke up this morning thinking that I’d end up eating my words on my ‘first time’ statement.)

Digital Caliper Modding

March 11, 2007 by 6 Comments


This particular hack is actually used in a kit design, but it’s still pretty sweet. This is a digital read out unit that’s a kit sold by shumatech. I’ve even mentioned it in passing before. The design takes in the pulses from inexpensive chinese made digital scales/calipers, and allows one stop calibration and ouput of three axis’s of measurement. Using the interface and a usb enabled pic, and you could make your own usb digital calipers… (Hmm, I might have to make some.)

Cheap Balancing Skateboard

March 10, 2007 by 11 Comments


[Tony] submitted his site showing his recent projects. Besides his balancing scooter, and light creations, I thought his take on the balancing skateboard was interesting. The drive components came from a pair of $10 cordless drills, and the motor controller consists of a pair of relays and mosfets.(There’s a pic controller, gyro and accelerometer behind them) It’s not elegant, but these sorts of hacks are great for inspiring those on a budget.

Don’t forget, the new revised US daylight savings time is coming.

Friday Night Extra

March 9, 2007 by 9 Comments


I’ll be busy with my soldering iron tonight, but I thought it was time for an extra.

[Joe] notes that if you’d like to put up some graffiti you probably won’t get arrested for, you might light projection bombing.

[Emil] noted that [mark] successfully upgraded his ipod mini to run an eight GB CF card. (He’d previously put a 4GB flash card in.

[XanTium] notes that several patches have been released for the Linux 2.6.20 kernel specifically to support XBox 360 hardware. A Linux loader is soon expected to be released to exploit the Hypervisor vulnerability.

[CtrlAltDefeat] pointed out an interesting DIY camera card to hard drive memory dump device.

[Bobby] sent in a teaser of his DIY bluetooth Sony MDR 300 headphones.

World Weather Umbrella

March 9, 2007 by 3 Comments


[Peter] brings us the oddest hack of the week. It’s a little esoteric, but interesting. This modified umbrella is used in conjunction with a giant world map outline. A camera takes note of the umbrella position and correlates the location. The user walks around and ‘experiences’ the weather in that location of the world. If you’d prefer to have everyone think you’re nuts, you could just interface it with your ipod.