Little Bits Electronics Kit

So as all parents tend to do, I project the things that I wish that I had done onto my child and have been very excited about the prospect of teaching someone very young about electronics.

I previously had been interested in the Snap Circuits series[?] or here[?] of educational toys, but I'm sort of afraid that they are too limited (though very safe for little hands).  The Little Bits electronics kit looks more polished and will give a more compact finished product, but I'm concerned about the tiny pieces ending up in kids mouths.  Snap Circuits advertises as for ages 8 and up, where as Little Bits doesn't specifically have an age group.

Both of these options have some great opportunities to teach not only responsibility (with somewhat dangerous parts), but hopefully pique my child's interest in electronics.

Source: Techcrunch

Dual temperature Logger

Oh you poor neglected blog, I really should be paying better attention to you.  Here is a project I have started to work on that I believe belongs on this blog and not really in my homelife.  I have a friend that has a unfinished crawlspace that is easily accessible (read walk in height) that I've mused about placing a barrel for aging weird beers in.  The trouble is it is unregulated temperature, and I want to have an idea of the ranges I can expect from it before I lay my precious beer down there.

I purchased a TI Launchpad a while ago, for the purpose of having a cheap and available development board to play with.  These are great at $4.30+shipping you don't need to worry about ruining them and they have the USB host for programming them built in.  It is quite a nice dev-board for the price and I know Texas Instruments is just trying to buy market share here, but if it drives down the Arduino and Phrallax devboard prices I'm all for it.  I need an experiment and want some long tail results about the temperature inside the crawlspace vs the outdoor temperature to get a feel for how stable the temperature is.  My hope is that it stays above 40°F (his furnace and hot water tank are down there so it should be above freezing) and stays below 70°F in the summer.  Below 60°F would be really ideal, but for free you can only hope for so much.

My general plan was to get two temperature probes and tweet the temps a few times a day, hack-a-day posted this little project that has me thinking that I may use WUnderground for a destination to store the data.  I could I suppose roll my own CGI script to take a post datastream and keep it in a text file, or use a wireless accessory to get things really interesting.  This will probably have to be an ongoing post because I haven't decided how I want to proceed.  I can work on interfacing directly with the network using the Devboard and a Wifi module.  That route has some benefits and runs around $50 for the wifi module.  Another route is to use a bluetooth module and interface with an Android phone to do the heavy lifting for me.  I could just log the data to the phone on an SD card, and using No-IP access a webserver to just check on it from time to time.  The beauty of using the Android device is it has built in WiFi, storage a built-in battery backup and is really pretty compact.  A final option is to use the Open ADK and plug in via the usb port.  The drawback is it was designed for Arduino boards, so I'll be inventing the wheel here to make it work with the TI board.  I'm not opposed to buying something like the IOIO, given the costs fall pretty much in line with the cost of the WiFi module, I had just hoped to pull this off with the TI boards.

Liquid cooling minor case mod

I put together a PC for a Vista build about 3 years ago, and every summer since then I have had concerns about its ability to survive the heat of our basement. I had been considering a water cooling rig for my Quad-Phenom machine because it idles at about 40c during the winter months.

I didn't want to have to build and leak test a system myself so I settled on Corsair H50 All in One CPU Cooler as an alternative.  I thought this would be a good compromise to the noise/heat dissipation as well as the overall build and test problems of normal water cooling systems.  The theory was really there, but it all fell apart when I realized that I didn't have a 120mm rear exhaust fans.  The only option that I had was the Acrylic side of the case had an 80mm hole.  After a little research I found that a 4" holesaw is ≈ 102mm and decided I would give that a try.  If you have ever tried to cut a hole in acrylic you probably know what was wrong with this plan, despite having 4 clamps holding the acrylic down, everytime I lowered the drill press down to the material it caused it to jump a few millimeters before I could get the drill head released.  The surface area of the hole saw allowed too much grip.  Plan b was to drill the hole in some particle board and use a trim router to finish the hole.  The key to this is going slowly enough that you don't heat the bit up too much and start melting the acrylic.  All things considered, for 45minutes of work it was a pretty successful project and I managed to not ugly up the acrylic too badly.

Softmoding Xbox original

Some links for my own use

The softmod route

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-softmod-your-xbox...for-FREE/ 

http://www.instructables.com/id/EZNKGJ9QJIES84IOMR/

The modchip route

http://www.biline.ca/xbox_ndure.htm

http://www.biline.ca/xbox_uxe_hd.htm

AC-DC Power Supplies - Using Wall Warts

An interesting series on how to pick a power supply.  This actually is interesting to me as I want to make a ad/dc power supply to replace the battery pack on a battery operated chop saw.  The beauty of the chop saw is how compact it is, but the thing is gutless if you have to run it for any length of time.

http://digital-diy.com.nyud.net/General-Electronics/ac-dc-power-supplies-using-wall-warts.html

http://digital-diy.com.nyud.net/General-Electronics/ac-dc-power-supplies-using-wall-warts/Page-2.html

http://digital-diy.com.nyud.net/General-Electronics/ac-dc-power-supplies-using-wall-warts/Page-3.html

http://digital-diy.com.nyud.net/General-Electronics/ac-dc-power-supplies-using-wall-warts/Page-4.html

http://digital-diy.com.nyud.net/General-Electronics/ac-dc-power-supplies-using-wall-warts/Page-5.html

http://digital-diy.com.nyud.net/General-Electronics/ac-dc-power-supplies-using-wall-warts/Page-6.html

http://digital-diy.com.nyud.net/General-Electronics/ac-dc-power-supplies-using-wall-warts/Page-7.html

http://digital-diy.com.nyud.net/General-Electronics/ac-dc-power-supplies-using-wall-warts/Page-8.html

http://digital-diy.com.nyud.net/General-Electronics/ac-dc-power-supplies-using-wall-warts/Page-9.html

http://digital-diy.com.nyud.net/General-Electronics/ac-dc-power-supplies-using-wall-warts/All-Pages.html

TI Valueline dev board links

I ordered some of the Texas Instruments value line microprocessors today, like most geeks on the internet I saw them yesterday on Hackaday and was interested. Unfortunately so was everyone else and the servers where unable to take it. Relying on the short attention span of other geeks I waited until today and was able to successfully place my order. Below are some links for my own reference when the darn things show up.

Wikipedia

Dev Wiki

MSP430 ValueLine product family page

I am an Amazon Associate

So I took the plunge and am now an Amazon Associate.  In the interest of full disclosure, when I post a link to Amazon it will be with an affiliate link embedded.  This is advertising, plain and simple and I should you follow that link and make a purchase I receive compensation for those purchases.

Why am I disclosing this?  Well the answer is really kind of clear, the FTC decided that failure to disclose the incentives you receive for "word of mouth" marketing is an actionable offense.  My traffic is really low, but I don't want to find out how actionable it is.  

Rooting Android Sprint HTC Hero

Oh shiny toys!  I have seriously been jonesing for the Android 2.1 rom for Sprint's HTC Hero to drop, only to be disappointed a couple of times.  Up until now I had not considered rooting my phone, but some of the Lag issues and multi-tasking bog down was getting to me.

I read that Damagecontrol had dropped 2.1 for some of the older models so I went looking and found this androidpolice article about updating his phone.  I followed the links that where in his article and am no rocking the DamageControlv2.07.2 rom without a hitch thus far.

The first step is to root the phone follow the instructions they are very clear.

The next step is to backup, androidpolice article worked very well for my Hero.

Finally get the Rom you want to install, DamageControlv2.07.2 link from xda-develop forum, copy that zip folder onto the sd card of your Hero, fire up Clockwork again and choose to restore from the Rom you just copied to your sd card and about 15ish minutes later, you get to setup your phone just like its new. 

I would just link to the Androidpolice article and call it good, but the last step wasn't specifically written out anywhere, and I didn't know that the Rom needed to stay zipped to restore it.

Is this the begining of anthro PC?'s

img via Vstone

In a move of life imitating art Robovie-PC from Vstone serves up PC's ala Questionable Content's AnthroPC's. Now granted these are not sentient, or crazy like the AnthroPC's in QC but it is baby steps towards Skynet my friends. As usual thanks Engadget for keeping your eyes peeled for this encroachment on our safety.

via Engadget

CNC interest

There seems to be a lot of interest in diy CNC machines on Hackaday, and the Make Blog that has really gotten my interest in these machines piqued. I would like the ability to work on metal with a higher degree of precision than my hand affords me. I think that some of the MDF CNC plans would likely be enough to get me started making pieces of aluminum to upgrade to a more sturdy machine. I am only looking for about 24" square working surface, so it would be pretty easy to keep put away. I have been looking at these plans from CNC zone, and think that this style of Gantry is probably workable for my needs. Like everything it will need to be modified for my needs, but it is a decent touch stone for working this process.

For some reason I really struggled to get this post written. It is not for the lack of choices, but rather lack of completed affordable choices. There are lots of build logs with photos and ideas, but few that are great start to finish how to build articles with BOM's and parts schematics. The ones that are complete with Build of Materials are in Kit form and range in the $1000+ range. It seems that cognitive leap from idea to implementation requires that you extend the effort in brain exercise or monetary form. I have the left over part of a Ikea birch counter top that was bought for my wife's craft corner that I believe is sufficiently rigid for the task of being a router table and is attractive to be a long term tool. The rest of the machine will have to be aluminum and MDF. In all, I don't want to be much more than $800 in this project so we will see where that budget takes us.

Some interesting sources for information that are helping guide me at this point.

http://www.cncroutersource.com/
This site looks like it will grow over time, at the time of writing the site is updated several times a week and has some good thoughts on design, and talks about options rather than focusing on a single design and build. I think it could be a great source ones the links get laid out properly (I get enough page cannot be found errors to make me think it is a work in progress)

http://solsylva.com/
This site sells router plans and seems like a good resource for people that are interested in building, but not engineering their solution.

http://www.xylotex.com/
Excellent source for drive system and step motors.

http://buildyourcnc.com/
A CNC kit site that I like, they have great looking designs that are pricey.

Home made injection molding

This is the coolest piece of home made machinery I have ever seen. A custom injection mold with heating a cooling for the materials is more than my feeble hands could ever build.


via Hackaday

Conductive Epoxy is brilliant

Toolmonger is at it again tempting me with crazy products that get my little wheels turning. I don't have a specific project in mind for this, but seems like it would be as useful as something like the Dura fix.

Another thought improving Blekin lapdesk

The hits keep coming from the wellspring of ideas known as the make blog! So in this installment it looks like there are magnetic valves activated by heat. I realize that these have to be purpose built for the application, but it may be helpful for my crazy plan to improve the Belkin Lap Desk.

Improving the Belkin Lap Desk

Ever since I saw the Belkin Lapdesk I thought that it needed improvement. It needed either passive or active cooling of some form, and I was hopping to not add another thing that needed to be plugged into a wall outlet. This mod adds two active fans that are plugged in to a 12v wall wart, and while I definitely it improves the overall usefulness of the stand it doesn't meet my other goal of not wanting another device sucking power.

I saw an article a few days ago about Icyballs that may be closer to what I am hopping to use. It would require electricity as I am fairly sure I need to have a microcontroller to engage the heat element to reverse the natural evaporation process. I have no experience with this type of work though so I think I am going to need to find a chemistry nerd and probably a welding nerd to pull the whole process.

Cellphone Unlock?

Here is a web enabled deadbolt locking system that was featured on Tool Monger a while back and you can pick up at your Lowe's for about $200.
I am just not sure if I can bring myself to implement this in my own home, but I do love the idea. I think the break down for me is that it has a number pad backup. I just don't want the number pad (no matter how secured they believe it to be) as I believe that it is crackable in a given time frame, and that makes me nervous. Unless this system logs bad attempts and then sends me an sms alert about the failed attempt, I just cannot support the number pad being on the outside of my house.

Dura fix you say?

I have been interesting for some time in getting my feet wet in the metal working and have started taking baby steps by purchasing a pair of nibblers, a set of files, and Dremel accessories for metal working. All of this is well and good, for cutting down/destroying large pieces of sheet metal and aluminum stock, but none of these tools work for creating new structures with the lightweight metals that I have access to (steel is a little unwieldy for the novice ok). I recently saw a video for Durafix on youtube (it was a related video to god knows what it was I was looking at on youtube) and think that this would be an great solution for people who are not quite ready to commit to purchasing a welding setup, but are interested in some lightweight fabrication.

Logitec comfort lapdesk needs to be remixed

I am sure most people have seen these little desks, I think Belkin makes something similar too but I think that this plastic is or leather design that everyone comes up with will only protect my legs not the laptop from the heat that baby is kicking off. I think that the Logitec one could be improved by replacing that plastic fin with an aluminum one. I am not sure how to pull off the rigid base for the fabric to be attached to, but I will post updated shots of a prototype.

Computers in Plain sight

The Sheeva plug got me thinking about the idea of computers that are innocuous enough to be left in plain sight, but still deliver significant enough computing power to potentially reshape daily life. The Sheeva is powerful but lacks one of the important things that makes computers useful, an interface for humans. The transformative nature of this type of technology comes from interaction, so lacking an included meaningful interaction method we have a computer. I rarely browse Think Geek, but a random link click brought me to their pages where I found the iGala digital photo frame. When I saw it I was posotive that it had to be running at least a little bit of embedded os, and that it had to have some potential for an always on general purpose computer with wi-fi and a touchscreen. One Google search later and I was proven correct that someone else thought the same thing and even went so far as to get shell access for you. When this go back on sale, I am pretty sure that I want one no all I need to know is if ucLinux supports webcams.

My current ideas are controllin a usb Webcam for survellance (or baby monitor), adding audio out for touch screen audio streamer, or using it as a touchscreen controller for home automation. I have to imagine that these are cheaper than anything Crestron has thought of building. Other thoughts include always on Torrent seeder (slow I know, but so low power) capped at 5 connections or something similar. I think that there is a lot of potential here for people with interface design experience.

Finally back to breaking things

After a long winter of not working on any projects, the house is finally mostly setup as I want it, and the job is settling into a productive routine; basically its time to start breaking (modifying them if you will).

First up getting that worthless La Fonera running DD-WRT.

For the last year this little toy has been sitting under my dresser as a testament to my lack of fixing ability (my poor delusional family thinks I am the savior of all things running on electricity, when I am little more than a middling hack(sic)).

Certainly it doesn't sound like a hardware hack, but as one of the magnanimous(sic) Fon shoved an update down on it that left it mostly not functional, and on a firmware revision that prevented me from following the instruction here on updating to DD-WRT. There are other guides, but this one had the most pretty pictures for wannabes like myself to follow. Anyway, since the software route didn't appear to be working(at least it wasn't the last time I tried it) I decided to follow this guide to adding a serial port to the Fonera and flashing it over the com port.

So quite some time ago, I ordered one of the Dallas DS275 line powered level converters, and started trying to wire it up using the instructions on the aforementioned page. Needless to say (because I suck) I was unable to get the router to display information over the com. Nearly ready to admit defeat I went back to the uselesshacks guide and notice that the page had been updated sometime since I first tried to upgrade the fon some 2 years ago, there was a hard reset option that took my firmware back to v0.7.1 r1. From there the instructions are very easy to follow, and worked perfectly.

Small success, but it was a project that was holding up the Server in a UPS case project.

Not Dead just slow

Well since I the last time I posted I have been a busy boy, unfortunately very little of it hacking up hardware. I have been making (slowly) a sweet charging and music playing dock for my Cellphone (Audiovox SMT-5600), the glue seems to always be drying, and always seems to just need one more coat.

Once completed this will let me set my cell phone in the doc for charging, and play music to a 3.5mm headphone jack. I cut down a seat of 2.5mm headphones for the prong and picked up the mini jack at Fry's. The plastic base station came from some cheapo usb camera from Radio Shack (Flat Foto) I picked up on closeout I bought it for a cheap camera to tear to pieces, but the dock so far is much more interesting.

The rest of my time has been dedicated to getting my parents new house up and running with cool gadgetry. The house is a huge 4500Sq Ft with nere a data cable to be seen, too far in the sticks for DSL, and Adelphia the Local Cable Co couldn't even find the house on a map (or with a driver even though we are 7 miles and four turns from their main campus.)

I have wired up the house for the satellite they apparently have to get, and brought a cluster of wires that looked like crap to the inside of the house where it can easily be worked on by yours truly. Run a few lines of data to the office, and set them up on a 3G card from Cingular getting 1.0mbs(reported) Less than 380k sustained (actual). I updated the driver that doesn't support server 2003 officially, copied registry settings from the xp machine, and moved dll's and sys files around until the card began to send a receive data using information gathered by watching the install with total uninstaller.

I was mostly annoyed by the driver telling me that it didn't support server03, when clearly they chose to limit the installer for an ideological reason other than a practical one. The card does not have the "Accelerated" mode, because I didn't get the application that is bundled to run on the server, (more because of time crunch than lack of ability). This is really sad for the parents though as with the accelerated profile, they pull at a reported 1.8m and 386k actual. I think that longterm the choice of server03 is the right one for them, as this box will have no benefit of a Nat firewall to protect them from misc. internet baddies.