Hacks and assorted projects
Hacking is an art form that uses something in a way in which it was not originally intended. This highly creative activity can be highly technical, simply clever, or both. Hackers bask in the glory of building it instead of buying it, repairing it rather than trashing it, and raiding their junk bins for new projects every time they can steal a few moments away. - Hackaday
A hacker is someone who tries to find a way to use a coffeemachine to make toast. - Wau Holland pdf
Hacking is the term we reach for when trying to describe an intelligent, but rough-handed and expedient behavior aimed at manipulating a complicated reality locally for immediate gain. Two connotations of the word hack, rough-hewing and mediocrity, apply to some extent. - Venkatesh Rao
See also:
Sadly, the word is increasingly a target for language killers using it instead of crack. It would be fine probably to find a new word or euphenism, but there just doesn't seem to be one.
For a good (and non-computer centric) use, and lots of interesting related stuff, see "The Art and Science of Analog Circuit Design" edited by Jim Williams.
Also, the etymology is sound.
Projects
The old, the new, and the imaginary. Some may be related to Tarlab.
Machining stuff around My Emco Compact 5 lathe/mill/drill page and my Taig page.
Also, blog posts.
Local pages
This is possibly the most useful list/index to content on this site. :)
- Forth stuff, for uc exploring and poking
- Orange Pi Zero, NanoPi, Raspberry Pi
- igor the Chumby
- Thin Clients
- ESP8266 modules
- Phono preamp from an old stereo amp
- RGB 7-segment display
- Automated (plant) water sprayer
- Have a car window washer set, need motor drive and logic
- Remote control node or standalone timer
- Needs a battery, must test voltage and drain for the pump first
- Characterize the pump; water output vs pulse length vs nozzle type
- Design a water gauge or limit switch for refill warning and motor disable
- Deploy (outside)
- Directional spray (servo/stepper/crank/solenoid)?
- Subminiature valves
- Document Rabbit, AVR, msp430, Stellaris,
STM8, STM32, propeller, LPC, PIC32 etc kits and tools
- Mention Visual guide to arm kits
- Fix ELM327 BT OBD reader
- Olinuxino
- Old Archos 101 tablet could be put to some use
- MIDI keyboard and other MIDI stuff
- scope and logic analyzer first, then UART?
- key scanning and maybe beep + arp from the other end
- Debian NSA310
- JTAG testing
- Could this revive the UBW32?
- There's a possible openocd conf file for ubw32 (460)
- dwelch pic32 repo
- Could this revive the UBW32?
- NRF24 radios
- DS2251 motherboard
- Regulators
- collections
Other projects/ideas
- Inductor saturation measuring
- BT A2DP/HF experiments
- Car audio unit would be a useful project, though I don't need one
- Helvar Celeston Cadet tube radio
- Working fine, but I'd like to find the schematic
- Make a composite video capture system
- Capture and record video to a nice format
- Stereo/Mono/M2S audio in sync
- Must allow easy editing without re-encoding, even if coarse
- Typical inputs VHS media, composite and security cameras, retrocomputing and gaming
- BW/Color options, maybe
- Possible initial calibration, then zero settings for recording
- Hardware accelerate compression if platform allows
- Possibly a hi-z input amp for tap recording
- Option in digital cameras if it's easy
- Heatsink tester
- I thought about making something like this years ago and forgot completely.
- Probably need to make a solid temp/voltage/current logger first.
- Make a USB OTG host on the Stellaris that can read IDs off devices (like HF).
- 1-2 AA boost regulators
- Have parts, need PCB
- VSPS
- Okaya GLCDs
- Nokia 3310 GLCD
- Extron box
- Needs brains
- Also several other small enclosures
- Data capture and logging (analog/digital)
- PCB making
- Propeller
- I have a few Parallax Propeller chips I should set up
- I lack program ROMs, but might be able to test something with CP2104
- dwelch propeller repo
- Propeller Tool Suite
- Timer driven dual kibble dispenser for cats on a diet
- Mechanism essentially done
- Some motors and drives ready
- Needs to be put together and firmware/UI
- Frozen, since there's only one cat now
- Fonly style lathe?
- Half-duplex soft UART on one pin
- Andy's workshop contains a lot of cellphone screen info
- IR remotes
- I have a pile, probably some receivers as well
- Smart card recycling
- Info page
- some specs
- Python modules exist
- Source for readers; UART + socket (+ clock?), ready USB reader, mcu?
- Uses?
- HDMI CEC
- Item photography spot
- Stationary flashes and model lights
- Light tent, background
- Camera mount and focus rail, maybe
- Tethered shooting (works with gphoto2 and D7000)
- More automation for sessions, logging, itemizing, etc
- Insert flat bed scanners into same workflow for special uses
- Insert USB webcams (or the like) into workflow for video
The C library from mspgcc (GCC for TI's MSP430 series) is a useful replacement for Newlib because it is really really small. I had little problem compiling it for ARM. source