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Archive: Computers

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September 24, 2009

Don't phage me, bro!

Apologies to Jason Morrison for stealing his macro for the title, there, but I just wasn't going to be able to live with myself if I went with one of the obvious "computer virus" gags. Because these are viruses, you know. Made from old computer parts. By sculptor Forrest McCluer. [via Neatorama]

Review: MAKE Controller Kit v2

My friend Thomas Edwards, who was the founder of Dorkbot DC, and is now involved in Dorkbot SoCal, told me that he'd gotten a MAKE Controller Kit v2 to work with some of his networked physical computing projects. I asked him if he'd like to write a no-holds-barred review of the kit. Here's what he had to say. - Gareth Branwyn

I've programmed a lot of microcontrollers in my day: PICs, BASIC Stamps, Comfile CUBLOCs, and of course, Arduinos. But recently I've been working on networked physical computing projects that require Ethernet, motor drivers, and servo drivers. Rather than try to stack up a bunch of Arduino shields, I decided to take the plunge and try the MAKE Controller v2, which integrates all those capabilities.

What is the MAKE Controller Kit?
The MAKE Controller Board ($60 separate) is built on the Atmel AT91SAM7X256 microcontroller. This chip incorporates the ARM7TDMI ARM Thumb Processor, which has a 32-bit RISC architecture and a 16-bit instruction set. The chip has 256 Kbytes of internal high-speed flash memory for programs and 64 Kbytes of static RAM. It packs a lot of power.

In order to do anything interesting with the MAKE Controller Board, it needs a power supply and other support circuitry, so the board must be plugged into a support board. One support option is the Interface Board ($32.50, or $85 with MAKE Controller Board), which provides 35 digital input/outputs, 2 serial ports, TWI, CAN, SPI, Ethernet, and USB interfaces.,The other option is the Application Board ($52). The MAKE Controller Kit ($120 altogether) from Making Things is a combination of MAKE Controller Board and the MAKE Application Board.

The Application Board is about 3-¼" long by 4" wide, and when combined with the Controller Board, comes to about 5/8" tall. There are six screw holes for mounting.

Ins and Outs
The MAKE Controller Kit has eight analog inputs with 10 bits of resolution. The Kit can read input voltages from 0-3.3V, but is protected from damage if higher voltages are applied to the analog inputs.

The Kit also has eight high-current (1A) digital outputs. These are driven from two SN754410NE quad H-driver chips, and can be configured to drive eight individual digital outputs, drive four DC motors in forward or reverse using the H-drivers, control two stepper motors, or a combination of these options. These digital outputs can also be controlled with pulse-width modulation (PWM), for controlling DC motor speed, for example. There are four PWM signal generators available on the board, each one driving two of the digital outputs.

The analog in and digital outs utilize screw-down terminal connectors. You need to get a small (jeweler-size) screwdriver to effectively use these, but they're very convenient compared with having to solder header pins on wires to connect to an Arduino.

The Kit also has four connections to drive standard servos. Jumpers allow the V+ voltages for the digital and servo outputs to come either from the regulated 5V supply, or from an external DC power supply, if you need more current or a different V+ voltage.

The external supply for the servos is separate from the external V+ "main power supply" for the board. So, for example, you might want to drive your servos with an external 6V supply, but provide your digital outputs with 12V from the main board power to drive a DC motor. To add flexibility, each bank of four digital outputs has its own 5V/V+ jumper. Obviously, Making Things has been thinking deeply about real-world uses of this board.

The Kit has both mini USB and Ethernet interfaces. The USB connection can also power the Kit (although with a limited amount of output DC current). Other data interfaces include a hardware serial port and a Two-Wire Interface (TWI, aka I2C) bus. Four status LEDs are found on the Application Board, and a single status LED is located on the Controller Board.

The Kit can be powered with an external DC supply with voltage in a range of 5V to 24V. I ran it with a 12V supply and did not find any "hot spots" on the board (unlike my experience with the Arduino).

It should be noted that v2 of the Application Board has changed significantly from v1. No longer present is the 8-position DIP switch and trimpot, and the JTAG (used for on-chip debugging) and CAN bus connectors on the v1 Application Board are now just solder pads, available if you want to add connectors to them.

Read full story

September 22, 2009

SPARK Project #2, Post #2

In a previous post, I covered several of the available SPARK computing systems, so I won't revisit SPARK hardware too extensively in this series. I will share any interesting discoveries I make working with the Create, iRobot's very simple yet comprehensive robot base. In addition, I'll try to include useful technical details. Of course, as much as the mechanical engineer in me loves to spend time designing and building robot parts, the Create is a nicely developed and well documented platform, so this project is primarily focused on software.

I don't have to worry or think about how the parts I machined might or might not fit together, or whether the motor control board I built will overheat and turn into a pile of smoldering mosfets. The Create takes that worry away, and gives me a mobile platform which I can control via a standard RS-232 serial port.

There is a small catch. iRobot designed the Create with an 8-pin mini-din connector and 0-5v serial port voltages. To connect my Create to my iCop computer, I require an adapter. Fortunately, one can be purchased from iRobot at a reasonable price, or you can make your own.

So now I have the cabling to talk to my Create, but I need to know how to configure messages and what to send in order to control the robot.

Continue on to read the full post here.

September 18, 2009

ILoveSketch, a gesture-based 3D sketchpad

Researches at the Univerity of Toronto's Dynamics Graphics Project are developing this gesture based 3D sketching program. By interpreting a sketch in 3D, the software allows one to adjust the perspective of the drawing while it is being made. [via core77]

Processing script makes Mona's eyes move

Bitartist has written and posted a Processing script that causes the eyes of an onscreen portrait to follow your face as you move past a camera. Primo haunted house material. Thanks man!

September 15, 2009

SPARK Project #2, Post #1

My second SPARK project is going to be slightly different than my first. I've learned a lot about Windows Embedded CE 6.0R2, and have a better idea of it's strengths and weaknesses. It is a sophisticated tool with a lot of capabilities. I continue to explore those capabilities, but from a much simpler starting point. I've also been working closely with Bill Mar of Special Computing to help navigate the tools and training, and hopefully create a clean roadmap for others to explore these tools. I invite you to join me in a lively discussion about Windows Embedded and real-time operating systems!

Continue on to read the full post here.

Halloween mirror in Processing

Instructables user Lighttamer presents this awesome software to turn your monitor and webcam into an augmented-reality scary face machine. Masks, which you can design, are overlaid on human faces in the video feed in real time.

September 14, 2009

Physical storage vs. digital storage

Physical-Storage-Vs-Digital-Storage
Physical Storage vs. Digital Storage @ The Mozy Blog... Click on through to see the massive image...

Eee PC kitchen cabinet mod

Maker Sidekickx91 disassembled an Eee PC 4G 701 netbook, added a 7" USB touchscreen, some extra RAM, and mounted it in a custom-built cabinet enclosure to create this very functional and attractive case mod.

[via jkkmobile]

September 9, 2009

Hand-carved Xenomorph USB drive

Etsy user MikaEle offers this 4 GB thumb drive and original handmade wooden housing, which, as of this writing, is still available for $155 US.

September 8, 2009

RIP Robert Spinrad

We are saddened to report that Robert Spinrad, father of MAKE Projects Editor Paul Spinrad, has died. From John Markoff's NYTimes obit:

Robert J. Spinrad, a computer designer who carried out pioneering work in scientific automation at Brookhaven National Laboratory and who later was director of Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center while the personal computing technology invented there in the 1970s was commercialized, died on Wednesday in Palo Alto, Calif. He was 77.

Trained in electrical engineering before computer science was a widely taught discipline, Dr. Spinrad built his own computer from discarded telephone switching equipment while he was a student at Columbia.

He said that while he was proud of his creation, at the time most people had no interest in the machines. "I may as well have been talking about the study of Kwakiutl Indians, for all my friends knew," he told a reporter for The New York Times in 1983.

[...]

At Brookhaven he would design a room-size, tube-based computer he named Merlin, as part of an early generation of computer systems used to automate scientific experimentation. He referred to the machine, which was built before transistors were widely used in computers, as "the last of the dinosaurs."

Our best and our condolences to Paul and his family.

Robert Spinrad, a Pioneer in Computing, Dies at 77 [annoying login required]

Re-Make: Simple, elegant, handy steering wheel desk

OK, stop. Before you read any further, we need to come to a legal understanding.

I, the author, and we, the MAKE blogging staff, as well as all of you, the readers, understand that this widget is only to be used in a car that is stationary, out of gear, and well clear of traffic. It is not designed, marketed, or sold for use in a moving vehicle, and indeed anyone who would do so is manifestly irresponsible and dumb as a post. Everyone with the sense to operate a car or a laptop, or, indeed, even to read this blog, understands that. THEREFORE: Commenters griping about how hyping this product is tantamount to genocide will be summarily vaporized by our orbital lasers.

And now that we've reached an understanding, I can talk about why I think this is cool.

It's incredibly useful, as anyone who's ever had to use a laptop in a car for more than a few seconds will recognize.
It's inexpensive and easy to manufacture, and could be easily remade in the material and style of your choice, for your own use or as an easy, thoughtful, and useful handmade gift.
It's clever! It does a lot with a little. Whoever thought up that curvy-slot-with-ears shape deserves a lollipop, at the very least.

I rest my case. If you're still mad, well, remember those lasers.

August 31, 2009

Thermite-based data security

These days, companies are losing hard drives and other storage media packed with tons of recoverable data. Well, here's one way to keep that from happening: nuke 'em. Concord, NC maker Brian Little and some friends stacked up hard drives recovered from Davidson College machines and melted them with thermite. Brian described the project:

Four guys and one intrepid GF use roughly 40lbs of thermite to incinerate (most of) a stack of used hard drives. The results weren't quite what we hoped for in terms of destruction, but for sheer pyrotechnic effect, a big bucket o' thermite is hard to beat.

Note: Thermite "recipes" are available online for the googling. I'm lazy, and also not stupid, so I just bought mine. Again, Google is your pal here. Also note: Thermite is relatively dangerous. It is intensely energetic and burns out around 2500°F. Once it starts burning, it is going to finish, and will laugh wickedly at your pitiful attempts to extinguish it. I can play with it because I am an adult with insurance and a healthy sense of self-preservation. If you elect to play with this stuff and burn down your parents' home, land yourself in the hospital with third-degree burns or incinerate your grandmother's car, that's your own lookout. I'm not responsible for you.

Here's a fun video of the burn:

As well as more pix.

What is the most radical data security measures you've ever used to protect your own or someone else's data?

Controlling a light with your mobile via XMPP

Using a couple computers, a PhidgetInterfaceKit with RelayBoard, and a bevy of client/server software, Matthias Wagler and friends from Intuity Media Lab built a Rube Goldberg XMPP messaging system to frob a light using an Andorid-powered mobile device. Check out this behind-the-scenes video detailing set-up.

[via hackaday]

Speaking of 'Making Things Talk"...

August 27, 2009

Newspaper looks much cheaper than laptop

From the mitemite unnecessary objects lab comes an item that seems potentially quite helpful, and likely remake-able. The anti-crime macbook case is basically just a laptop sleeve with plasti-fabric newsprint camouflage exterior. Hmmm ... getting a convincing print on sufficiently sturdy material might prove a bit tough to DIY - hey, there's always actual newspaper (avoid rain).

Yeah I know what you're thinking, but don't try using a pizza box. Everybody loves pizza (especially thieves). Plus you'd have to carry it horizontally & pretend you're hungry all the time ... yah, anyway ... [via BBG]

Related:

Jimmie's uglified camera

August 26, 2009

How-To: Build a CNC hot wire foam cutter

8linx.com features a 5-part tutorial on building a CNC hot wire cutter for polystyrene foam, using parts that come from the hardware store. The original market for these CNC foam cutters was R/C airplane modelers, who use them to cut wing profiles, but in combination with lost foam metal casting techniques they could be much more versatile.

August 25, 2009

Monome's 64 (video) fingers

Modded from the 64 Fingers Monome sequencing software, Charlie Visnic's 64 (Video) Fingers, adds video manipulation to the popular controller's open-source arsenal - download here. [via Matrixsynth]

More:
Open-source grid controller - the monome

August 14, 2009

Dumpster diving + computer = 100 trees

Art.Ndambuki.Dumpster.Cnn
Nice story at CNN.... Dumpster diving + computer = 100 trees-

Jude Ndambuki teaches high school chemistry, but when he's not in class, you might find him Dumpster diving for discarded computers. For the past eight years, the Kenya native has been refurbishing computers, printers and other electronic educational resources otherwise headed for landfills, then sending them to grateful students back home. "The children in Kenya have very few resources; even a pencil is very hard to get," said Ndambuki, 51, who lives in the New York City suburb of Dobbs Ferry. "Being one of the kids who actually experienced very dire poverty in Kenya, I feel any part that I can play to make the life of kids better, I better do it."

In NYC alone I see at least a dozen+ computers *per day* in the trash when I go on long walks.

DIY wrist brace looks funny, works great in a pinch

From the MAKE Flickr pool

Many out there are all too familiar with sharp pain resulting from extended keyboard/etc usage. Though rest and improved ergonomics are the ideal response, when I absolutely must keep my hands going, a basic wrist brace can do wonders.

Well, I recently found myself with a bad case of angry tendons and sadly my trusty brace was nowhere to be found. Pain being such a great motivator, after a quick survey of the apartment, I managed to fashion a surprisingly effective brace from household stuff. Just a rice ladle, some velcro strap (from an old sleep mask) + a little fabric cushioning and I was back @ my desk clacking away. Gotta love those cheap and satisfyingly simple little fixes.

August 12, 2009

Automatic Mario could go on forever ...

What happens when automatic level generating software meets skilled Mario-bot software? - the above effortless automation apparently. Hmm, not so quite as exciting to watch without the possibility of tripping up. Though, there was a classic wall-jump save near the midpoint.

Update: In the comments, Ian points out this higher qual youtube version and clarifies that the project is an entry from the Mario AI Competition.

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