This simple and clever guide to installing an always on USB port comes from the Team Hack-a-Day forums (originally created for the team’s Folding@home efforts). [Cerberus] added a USB port to his computer case that always has power, even when the computer is off. The power comes from the +5VDC standby line in the motherboard connector. You can use this new port to charge any USB based device.
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EFiX Dongle Still Not Available
Well, it’s June 23rd, and still no dongle from EFiX. Despite a new product page on the company’s site, the OS X installing dongle is still not available for purchase. The USB dongle is supposed to facilitate the installation of Mac OS X by booting the Leopard install DVD on PCs, but so far no one has been able to verify this claim as no one has one of these in their hands yet. We’ve been covering this story since the beginning, and we’ll be sure to let you know when you can actually buy one of these.
[via Engadget]
Asus WL500GP Audio Hack
The Asus WL500GP wireless router runs Linux and has two USB ports. [equinoxfr] wanted to install audio support internally to the router though (translated). Luckily, it uses a VIA VT6212 4port USB controller. So, he was able to wire two more internal ports. A Brando USB soundcard is plugged into one of those ports and wired to an external headphone jack. He wanted dual RCA connectors, but they just wouldn’t fit. The router is running OpenWRT Kamikaze. MPD is used to serve music with the wymypy frontend since it has its own lightweight webserver.
Universal Joystick USB Interface
Building on his USB NES pad interface, [Raphaël] released a universal USB joystick interface. It presents a HID device with four directional buttons and eight general purpose buttons. The board uses an ATmega8 and implements USB entirely in software.
How-To: Scavenge A Mouse For Parts
Chris Kiick posted about swarm robotics earlier in the week and today publishes his first Hack-A-Day How-To.
Old computer mice are being abandoned in droves. They’re tossed out because of dirt, obsolescence, or for being entirely too beige. Anyone who has a computer usually has more than one mouse and you can get them for pennies, if not free just for asking. Fortunately for the discriminating (read: cheap) hacker, these little widgets are chock-full of project parts. Today’s How-To will dissect a computer mouse, extract the useful parts, and give some ideas about how to use them.
Random USB Caps Locker
This is one of the most original April fools gags I’ve seen. [Garrett] sent in his USB caps locker. It’s built from an ATTiny45 and puts out an intermittent signal to set the caps lock key. Considering what day it is, it appears to be legit. After you’re done screwing with your co-worker for the day, you might be even more interested in the easylogger project that it’s based on.
USB Gaming Arm Band O’ Pain
[Nuri] sent in his rather interesting gaming feedback device. The TrakonyaMutatorUSB is a USB based armband that’s designed to shock you when you get shot or killed in your game. I can’t comment on the safety of this thing, but I guess it could be a good gift for your enemy gamer.
Update: Just to clarify a bit, This is built by [Nuri]. He offers them for sale (via paypal I see), but it is his work. It would be nice to see the design, but I can see some reasons why he might not want to release it to the public.
