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I posted to hackaday.com

Will this mouse get me kicked out of the coffee shop?

http://hackaday.com/2010/03/09/will-this-mouse-get-me-kicked-out-of-the-coffee-shop/

This [Dwight Shrute]-esque project will let you try out your taxidermy skills. Apparently you can acquire a ‘wetware’ mouse fresh or frozen from pet stores. We just need to wait until fall when our pantry is visited by the less-domesticated variety.

A travel-sized optical mouse acts as the replacement guts. Some creative dremeling brings the plastic housing down to a more acceptable shape. The furry bits need to be processed using the mouse taxidermy guide before they are fit over the electronics. What you end up with is a creepy peripheral that nobody wants to use.
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- mouse
- creepy
- taxidermy
9 Hours, 42 Minutes ago | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Fix 0LBA and BSY HDD errors

http://hackaday.com/2010/02/28/fix-0lba-and-bsy-hdd-errors/

One of the worst moments almost every hacker has experienced is a hard drive inexplicably dieing. And of course, its at the most inopportune time and you’ve had no chance to backup!

Recently there has been an influx of Seagate hard drives (specifically the 2700.11s) kicking the bucket with firmware errors 0LBA and BSY. The good news is [Gradius2] has made guides to unbrick your drive without having to match serials.

The procedure is lengthy, complicated, can easily become expensive, and there is the possibility of losing your data so it’s not recommended if you’re only getting those pictures of Mr.Fluffykins back. In such a case, Thermite might be a bit better solution.

[Thanks Calvin]
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- hard drive
- firmware
- Thermite
- 0lba
- 270011
- error
- seagate
February 28 2010, 2:26pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Lower productivity by using a rotary num pad

http://hackaday.com/2010/02/26/lower-productivity-by-using-a-rotary-num-pad/

[Maximilian Ernestus] sent us a quick little demo that shows him using a rotary phone dial as a num pad. We’re often frustrated when notebooks and netbooks prohibit us from using our mad 10-key skills (alternate key mapping doesn’t count). This makes coding and using GnuCash undesirable on small form factor portables.

Instead of fixing the problem, [Maximilian] made it worse by interfacing a rotary phone as a num pad. An Arduino counts the pulses and feeds them to the computer via a serial connection. From there it’s just a bit of software handling to issue a keypress. He mentions that a future version should register as a USB keyboard. This is a great opportunity to ditch the Arduino and use the V-USB library.

Want to dig a bit deeper into this old technology? Don’t miss out on the information available from the Magic Phone hack.
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- rotary
- phone
- 10-key
- num pad
February 26 2010, 4:33pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Python IR tracking for the handicapped

http://hackaday.com/2010/02/25/python-ir-tracking-for-the-handicapped/

[Techb] had a friend who was paralyzed after an accident and could no long use a computer. He rigged up an amazingly simple mouse interface using python to implement infrared tracking. The controller was built from an old hat by adding an IR LED and wireless mouse modified so that the button could be clicked by the user’s mouth. A webcam with exposed film used as a filter can track the IR LED and take input from the wireless mouse buttons.

This setup, which draws inspiration from Wii Remote white boards, is much simpler than the Eyewriter (and doesn’t shine an IR LED into your eye). Although [Techb] wants to add facial recognition to the system, there’s something to be said for such a simple implementation.

[Thanks Wolfmankurd]
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- ir
- mouse
- tracking
- handicapped
February 25 2010, 3:02pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Oscilloscope doubles as a serial terminal

http://hackaday.com/2010/02/24/oscilloscope-doubles-as-a-serial-terminal/

PC-based USB oscilloscopes are fast becoming all the rage. [Matt Sarnoff’s] Terminalscope takes the reverse approach, adapting an oscilloscope into a full serial terminal. You may have seen something similar before in the Dutchtronix/SparkFun O-Clock, but [Matt’s] project goes one further by adding a PS/2 keyboard port for full bidirectional serial communication, and with much sharper display resolution to boot.

The mostly VT-100 compatible Terminalscope is built around two AVR microcontrollers: an ATmega328P runs full-tilt to generate the video signal and handle serial I/O, while an ATtiny45 handles keyboard input to avoid interrupting the ’328’s duties. Rather than vector trace each character, a raster-scanning approach is used: the beam follows a fixed X/Y path (like a television), while modulating the Z input (beam intensity) to form an image. The device can be connected to a PC via serial port or USB-to-TTY adapter, or directly to another microcontroller to debug serial output.

We recently showed an oscilloscope being used as a multichannel digital logic display. The Terminalscope provides yet another use for this essential bench tool and could nicely round out a “poor man’s” testing setup. The schematic and full source code are available for download.
- Tags:
- attiny
- peripherals hacks
- atmega
- AVR
- hardware
- terminal
- serial
- oscilloscope
- vt100
- classic hacks
- oscope
- scope
- raster
- vector
- vt-100
February 24 2010, 6:10am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Flexi Knobs

http://hackaday.com/2010/02/19/flexi-knobs/

These boxes, called Flexi Knobs, work like a wireless Atari paddle and mouse rolled into one. Each has a rotary encoder that can also be clicked like a button. On the inside is a wireless optical mouse which controls an on-screen cursor which matches the color of the knob. In the video after the break you can see these are being used as midi controls. Each cursor can be locked onto a virtual knob, giving it a physical interface. Because there are several units being used on one machine this creates something of an abstract multi-touch system. This would make a nice interface for other applications with a plethora of settings, like Blender.
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- mouse
- multi touch
- multitouch hacks
- flexi knobs
- rotary encoder
February 19 2010, 10:55am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Glove mouse

http://hackaday.com/2010/02/19/glove-mouse/

[thetanktheory] sent us his glove mouse modification. He has gutted his mouse and mounted the parts on a glove. This is interesting, as he doesn’t have to place his hand on the mouse any more, he just plops it down on any surface and starts mousing. He claims that it is helping his twitch reactions in gaming as somehow it requires less force, but we still see the circuit and batteries mounted on the back of his hand, so we’re not sure how it is helping. Maybe if he moved the laser to his finger tips, he’d be more accurate.
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- mouse
- glove
February 19 2010, 9:02am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

HMD upgrade

http://hackaday.com/2010/02/15/hmd-upgrade/

[Banfield Design] has put together this instructable on how to upgrade or re build a head mounted display to be more immersive and add features. Though you can already buy glasses style viewers for your media devices, they can use some upgrades. For one, you have to supply your own sound, and putting headphones on, over bulky glasses can be painful on your ears. Another area that could use improvement is the light that comes in around the glasses. The current trend is to make them as small as possible, but that tends to let your peripheral vision see the outside world. [Banfield design] wanted to make them more immersive, so he built them into some ski goggles. This not only helped block the light, but allowed for an over the ear style headphone assembly which is much easier on the ears.

A functional improvement came next, by adding a webcam front and center. He could now switch between a live feed of his environment and whatever other inputs he wanted. This could be really fun with some augmented reality. He has a list of future improvements, but he doesn’t mention adding a second camera for stereoscopic viewing of his surroundings. Why would you do that? because it would make augmented reality much cooler.
- Tags:
- wearable hacks
- peripherals hacks
- hmd
- digital cameras hacks
- augmented reality
- hud
February 15 2010, 9:54am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Internet controlled scrolling numitron

http://hackaday.com/2010/02/12/internet-controlled-scrolling-numitron/

How’s this for a first microcontroller project: a ticker that pulls messages from the Internet and scrolls them on a set of numitrons. [David Barton] built this using an mbed microcontroller. Tapping an ethernet library he got this to pull data from his server by connecting directly to the cat5 cables. The display consists of three numitrons which are incandescent 7-segment displays. In the video after the break you can see him sending messages to it from his iPod touch. This is just a PHP form that writes the submitted message to a file for the mbed to read. As [David] points out, there’s obvious Twittering applications here, but we just like the way it looks!
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- ethernet
- iPod
- mbed
- numitron
February 12 2010, 4:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Teletype machine from an electric typewriter

http://hackaday.com/2010/02/11/teletype-machine-from-an-electric-typewriter/

This project, by an unknown hacker, patches into an electric typewriter and uses it as a Teletype. An AVR ATmega168 microcontroller patches into the key matrix of the typewriter which allows it to artificially type. Now, data can be sent over a serial connection to the AVR for output on the typewriter.

We’re not quite sure what this is going to be used for. We’ve seen hacks like this for Twitter reading in the past but he makes no mention of that type of use. Personally, we’d like to have this just to “print” out the occasional letter. Typewriters are so rarely used these days it would be a bit peculiar to get a letter that has the dimpled impressions associated with slamming a die into a piece of paper.
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- ATmega168
- AVR
- serial
- typewriter
- classic hacks
- teletype
February 11 2010, 4:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Keyboard Keepalive

http://hackaday.com/2010/02/11/keyboard-keepalive/

We’re not going to debate the necessity of this one. [Todd] plays online games that will log you out after a few minutes of inactivity. To resolve this, he has created a circuit that mimics keyboard activity at a preset interval. While he notes that there is software for this, he points out that many games block the software. They can’t block legitimate keyboard activity.

[via HacketGadgets]
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- keyboard
- keepalive
February 11 2010, 2:23pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Interfacing with an analog joystick

http://hackaday.com/2010/02/06/interfacing-with-an-analog-joystick/

[Firestorm_x1] put together a tutorial about interfacing an analog joystick with a microcontroller. These analog sticks are easy to find; he got his from Goodwill but we’ve got a couple in our junk box right now. The stick uses variable resistors to report its position so it’s just a matter of reading and interpreting that data. After explaining the concepts he demonstrates how to use the joystick to control a Basic Stamp 2 based robot, the Boe-Bot. This could easily be adapted for use with other robot platforms.
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- boe-bot
- analog
- Joystick
- bs2
- basic stamp 2
- variable resistor
February 6 2010, 1:10pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Game controllers using USB host shield

http://hackaday.com/2010/02/01/game-controllers-using-usb-host-shield/

Circuits@Home has put together some libraries that make it easy to use gaming controllers with an Arduino. They interface through the USB host shield. This means that PS3 controllers connect via USB through a cable or a dongle. With the Wii remote things get a little more interesting. A Bluetooth dongle is used to make the connection wirelessly. What we have here is a cheap and easy way to add Bluetooth connectivity to your projects either through the USB Host shield, or by building your own hardware with the schematics and code that are available from Circuits@Home. There are several pages that walk you through the protocols using as well as a demonstration video you can see after the break.
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- arduino
- wii
- bluetooth
- ps3
- playstation 3
- arduino hacks
- usb host shield
February 1 2010, 1:41pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Wii motion plus direct PC interface

http://hackaday.com/2010/02/01/wii-motion-plus-direct-pc-interface/

You can pick up a Wii Motion Plus module for under $20 and that’s not bad for an I2C gyroscope. This hack taps into the device through a PC parallel port. The connection calls for some level conversion to step down to the 3.3v needed by the module. The communication protocol borrows from the Wii on Arduino code examples that we saw last year. You can see the Wii Motion Plus controlling a virtual cube in the video after the break.

[Thanks Fhsr]
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- wii
- i2c
- parallel port
- motion plus
February 1 2010, 3:00am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Face tracking with x10

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/25/face-tracking-with-x10/

If you are looking to do some face tracking and don’t know where to start, this explanation of how to do it with X10 modules could be pretty helpful. Aside from having, what some could consider to be, the absolute most annoying website ever for a company, X10 also makes modular systems for home automation. X10 also refers to the industry standard for home automation, so sometimes just saying you did something with X10 can get confusing. He is using the SDK to write custom code for the tracking, which you can download from the project page.

[via HackedGadgets]
- Tags:
- home hacks
- peripherals hacks
- facial recognition
- x10
- face tracking
January 25 2010, 11:00am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Rotary encoding with your soundcard

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/25/rotary-encoding-with-your-soundcard/

[Stefan] sent in this project writeup to show us how he used a stepper motor as a rotary encoder. Using a stepper motor as an encoder isn’t really that new, as [Stefan] points out, we’ve seen it several times before. He wanted to use this in the quickest simplest way with his computer though. Instead of doing any decoding on a separate microprocessor, he’s connected the stepper directly to his sound card and written code to do the rest. You can download that code and see a video of some practical applications on his site.
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- rotary
- stepper
January 25 2010, 8:16am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

C64 interface for your computer

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/23/c64-interface-for-your-computer/

Before we get started, lets just point out that this C64 was broken. He did not take a functional C64 out of operation for this. What he did do, was to build a hardware interface for for his VICE system. For those unfamiliar, VICE is a cross platform C64 emulator. [Simon] points out that the old games just weren’t as much fun without the original hardware. Having a broken C64 lying around, he put it to good use. It now acts as the interface for all the original fun stuff.

If you are a fan of the hardware, but just want to interface it as a normal USB keyboard, that is possible as well.
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- pcs hacks
- c64
- commodore
- classic hacks
- comodore
January 23 2010, 10:06am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Bike controller for Xbox 360

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/13/bike-controller-for-xbox-360/

ProjectExciteBike is on its second iteration of an exercise bike controller for Xbox 360. The controller takes pedal input from the cranks of the exercise bike. The sensing is handled by a ring of five hall effect sensors that detect a passing magnet attached to the crank. The sensor data is collected and processed by an Arduino which connects to a wireless Xbox 360 controller for output.

This version of the gaming device includes a fine adjustment widget. It uses a row of LEDs to represent the speed of the pedals and has a slider to adjust how much of an effect this has on the game. This is what we envisioned for the trainer computer we saw yesterday. Take a look at some game play video after the break and dig through the code if you have an exercise bike waiting to be recommissioned.
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- xbox hacks
- bicycle
- xbox 360
- bike
- exercise
January 13 2010, 1:02pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Reverse engineering the Telly Terminator

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/06/reverse-engineering-the-telly-terminator/

[Oliver] received the Telly Terminator as a gift and decided to take a closer look at it. This key fob has two buttons; one shines an LED like a flashlight and the other turns off televisions. Sound familiar? Yeah, it made [Oliver] think of the TV-B-Gone as well.

He cracked open the case to find just a few components. The brain behind the IR signals is a Helios H5A02HP. Only a few pins are used for outputs so he connected a logic analyzer and recorded the signals. His writeup covers the process quite well. He takes a known IR transmitter protocol and compares it to the capture from the logic analyzer. It turns out that the fob generates 46 different signals and with further analysis concludes that there’s a chance the code used here is from an older version of the TV-B-Gone source.
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- logic analyzer
- tv-b-gone
- fob
- Helios
- Telly Terminator
January 6 2010, 3:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Arduino traffic light

http://hackaday.com/2010/01/05/arduino-traffic-light/

[Rockwell] sent us an update on his traffic light hacking. Dedicated readers will remember seeing this legally attained traffic signal controlled through a parallel port from back in 2005. The new update swaps the old port for USB and adds several autonomous functions which are demonstrated in the clip after the break. The update includes a nice UI and some notifications for things like email, IMs, Reddit posts, etc.

He’s given control of the hardware over to an Arduino. Instead of building the board into the project he’s included just the parts he needs; an AVR running the Arduino bootloader, a crystal and filtering caps, and an Arduino serial to USB module for connectivity. The AC load switching is handled by three relays. The relays he links to are 12VCD rated coils. We think this should have pointed to 5VDC coils as that’s the voltage that the logic circuit are running at. Be careful with switching these AC loads, this traffic light isn’t a toy.
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- ac
- relay
- signal
- traffic light
January 5 2010, 10:00am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Make your own 3d monitor

http://hackaday.com/2009/12/14/make-your-own-3d-monitor/

Don’t let this cruddy video fool you. [Sprite_tm] has done an amazing job here. He has put together a fairly simple way of creating your own 3d monitor at home. The basic principle is easy to get. You have to supply different angles of an object, on the screen, at the same time. [Sprite_tm] has done this by using transparency sheets, printed with a pattern to only show specific pixels. As you move your head, you see a different set of pixels, and therefore a different image. It’s simple, but it works. The system isn’t really new. Traditional 3d with polarized glasses uses a very similar setup. This system however seems like it is lacking in stereoscopic view however. When you move your head, you’re looking at a different angle, but still a 2d image of it. It would be really cool if he could somehow present each eye a different view, without polarizing filters and glasses. We’ve seen others do that with multiple screens, but that gets so clunky and can give most people a headache pretty quick. We also think we are about to see a flood of face tracking perspective modification, especially with project Natal and similar technology emerging.
- Tags:
- home entertainment hacks
- peripherals hacks
- 3d
- digital cameras hacks
- perspective
December 14 2009, 10:00am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

The Harlequin project

http://hackaday.com/2009/12/11/the-harlequin-project/

This impressive little mod is quite fantastic really. [pakkei] has constructed the Harlequin, a home-made version of the Microsoft courier. This was a stock Dell mini9. Now, coupled with a display link touch screen monitor that happens to be identical in size and resolution to the original, it has become a new device. He has loaded Windows7 and is currently working on a case that can hold all the bits a little more organized than what you see above. We can’t wait to see this finished.

[via engadget]
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- pcs hacks
- laptops hacks
- dell
- tablet
- mini 9
- multitouch hacks
- courier
December 11 2009, 4:13pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Pranav Mistry’s cool input devices

http://hackaday.com/2009/12/07/pranav-mistrys-cool-input-devices/

This new video about [Pranav Mistry's] SixthSense project doesn’t bring us much that we haven’t seen before. At least, not on that project. What really caught our eye was the device he shows off at the beginning of the video. Using two old ball mice, he constructed a grip style input device. It is simple and elegant and we can definitely see using this in future hacks. Not only is it cheap and apparently effective, it seems as though it could be constructed in a very short amount of time. all you need are the wheels that spin when the ball moves, 4 springs and some string. Why didn’t we think of that?

[thanks Sean]
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- pcs hacks
- gesture
- input
- ted
- sixthsense
December 7 2009, 9:07am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Tiny keyboard/touchpad has “hack” written all over it

http://hackaday.com/2009/11/26/tiny-keyboardtouchpad-has-hack-written-all-over-it/

Yes, we know, this is not a hack, yet it just has the vibe of something we’ll likely be seeing in many small form-factor systems and wearable hacks in the future.

The USB Wireless Handheld Keyboard is a diminutive keyboard and mouse replacement with a passing resemblance to a BlackBerry PDA — where the screen has been replaced with a laptop-style trackpad sensor. This seems a shoo-in for home theater PC use; it’s unobtrusive and won’t look out of place on the coffee table alongside the universal remote. But any tiny system requiring only occasional input could likely benefit.

The keyboard layout is funky as heck, though likely adequate for its intended use of couch web-surfing and interactive messaging (or whatever wild applications our readers will surely come up with). A USB wireless receiver and a charging cable are included in the $62 package. Video after the break…

[USB Geek via Engadget]
- Tags:
- wearable hacks
- peripherals hacks
- keyboard
- wireless
- pcs hacks
- wearable
- mouse
- usb
- trackpad
- htpc
November 26 2009, 9:52am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Building capacitive sensitive floor tiles

http://hackaday.com/2009/11/22/building-capacitive-sensitive-floor-tiles/

That title’s a mouthful but you’re already familiar with the technology and application of foot pads as sensors in games like Dance Dance Revolution. The usbddr project sought to make a USB connected DDR controller from scratch. The microcontroller used is an Atmel ATmega8 running the V-USB firmware for connectivity and uses the analog to digital converts to read in data from the capacitive sensors.

The physical implementation is cleaver. The base plate has a capacitor plate attached to the top of it and the tile has the other capacitor plate attached to the bottom of it. The two are separated by some weather-stripping which is spongy enough to allow compression, bringing the two capacitor plates together.

We’re not convinced of the long-term durability of the system. We certainly don’t think it will hold up to very much hard-core DDR playing. But we would love to see a Super Mario RPG style puzzle to unlock the door to the ‘castle’ at a child’s birthday party.

[Thanks Hans]
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- AVR
- Atmel
- atmega8
- sensor
- capacitive
- dance dance revolution
- ddr
November 22 2009, 12:49pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Remote uses no batteries

http://hackaday.com/2009/11/20/remote-uses-no-batteries/

How often do you change the batteries in your television remote control? Yeah, basically never. But that’s a tribute to how efficient the device is and not a reason to overlook this development. NEC is showing off a remote control that uses no batteries. Power is generated using the piezo effect that occurs when a button is pushed. That is to say, when a crystal is compressed it emits a tiny bit of electricity which is harnessed and used to power this device. This is the same principle that is used in the electricity producing sidewalks tested in Japan.

It’s pretty phenomenal that they can run the device using this method. Right now there’s only a handful of buttons but we’re sure there’ll be advances in the technology. There’s a ton of use for this if it can be miniaturized. It is using radio frequency instead of infrared, making it a useful development in wireless doorbells, garage door openers, key-less entry fobs for your car, and many more applications.

[Thanks das_coach]
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- remote
- RF
- battery
- no battery
- piezo effect
- piezoelectricity
November 20 2009, 10:52am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

USB accelerometer controller

http://hackaday.com/2009/11/20/usb-accelerometer-controller/

As you can see above, there is no wiimote in that accessory steering wheel. There is, instead, a home-made accelerometer controller that connects to the pc via USB. Based around a PIC 18F2550 and a 2 axis accelerometer, this device is detected by windows as a standard controller. The schematic and source code are available on his website. He says it can also be used as a “motion mouse”. You can see a video of that after the break.

When we first saw the video, we thought it might be the same person as the accelerometer controlled maze project, due to the wiimote steering wheel casing.

[via make]
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- pcs hacks
- pic
- game
- Joystick
- drive
- accelerometer
- RACE
November 20 2009, 8:31am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Look ma, no wires

http://hackaday.com/2009/11/18/look-ma-no-wires/

[Robotkid249] details how to build a wireless power transmission system. This is similar to the commercial applications we have seen in a TED talk as well is in a Sony prototype. Power is fed to a ring made of magnet wire. A smaller loop is attached to the system that you want to power and picked up from the base unit. In this case, he is powering some LEDs but the concept can be tailored for your purposes such as an inductive charging pad. We’d like to see a hack that incorporates the base into a mouse pad (or the desk itself) and the receiver into the body of a wireless mouse. We’ve seen a commercial solution along these lines but we want one that doesn’t require a physical connection for power transfer.

[Thanks Juan]
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- wireless electricity
- induction
- inductive coupling
November 18 2009, 11:06am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

USB to serial adapter

http://hackaday.com/2009/11/16/usb-to-serial-adapter/

[Spikenzie] is at it again. This time he’s posted a nice USB to serial converter. He points out that you can buy a USB to serial adapter pretty cheaply, but sometimes you want this functionality built into your project enough to justify the greater cost. In those cases where you want to integrate it, this is an elegant solution. This design was made to be fairly compact and still usable on a breadboard. As usual, you can download the files from his website. If his work looks familiar, it’s because we’ve covered his work several times before.

[via Flickr]
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- robots hacks
- usb
- serial
- classic hacks
November 16 2009, 4:17pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

[M]ouse: a PS/2 to c64 adapter

http://hackaday.com/2009/11/14/mouse-a-ps2-to-c64-adapter/

[svofski] has a friend who is a pixel artist. They really wanted to try out their skills on a c64, but were missing a mouse. The original mouse for the c64 was not only serial, but used a different method of communication than more modern mice. [svofski] built this adapter to translate the ps/2 data to something the c64 can use. The writeup describes the build in detail and even has the PCB and source code available for download.

[via flickr]
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- mouse
- c64
- commodore
- classic hacks
November 14 2009, 8:11am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Instruments as games – games as instruments

http://hackaday.com/2009/11/13/instruments-as-games-games-as-instruments/

Here’s a pair of diametrically opposed hacks. One makes use of a real instrument to play Rock Band, the other makes use of a game controller to play real music.

[Tim] lets us know that his friend figured out how to play Rock Band 2 on expert level by playing flute instead of singing. Of course this works because the game is just looking for the correct frequency for scoring. It makes sense that the vocal lines can be offset by an octave and still register correctly. We wouldn’t have thought of this ourselves but now that we’ve seen her success, we will try it (our instrumental skills far out pace our singing talents).

Seeing this sparks a correlation with Phone Phreaking, which started with a blind kid singing a tone into the receiver to make the remainder of his long distance call free. This was followed by Blue Boxes that allowed people without perfect pitch to play the tones electronically. It would be interesting to see what could have been done with a talented flute player (like the beat-boxing flutist) and one of those old phone networks.

On the other side of the coin, we have [Jordan's] project in which she creates midi controllers using Wii drums from Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band. The Guitar Hero drums are velocity sensitive, a feature she’s using in her setup. The MIDI data takes into account how hard the drums are struck and the resulting sound reflects that. This particular writeup outlines her use of Osculator for the velocity sensitive system, but you can also check out the tutorial she wrote covering the use of JunXion with the Rock Band controller that we covered in the past.

Video for both of these control schemes is included after the page break. We love to see people break the guise of “I’m creating music by playing a video game” and actually use their musical talents in a new and interesting way.

Flute plays Rock Band.

Beatboxing Flute.

Wii drums as midi controllers.
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- digital audio hacks
- guitar hero
- midi controller
- rock band
- beatboxing
- flute
- junxion
- osculatro
November 13 2009, 12:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Biking through Google street view

http://hackaday.com/2009/11/11/biking-through-google-street-view/

[Aki] wanted to do some stationary cycling to get in shape. Unfortunately, his stationary cycle is located in his garage which doesn’t supply much inspiration or amusement. His solution was to build a VR rig so that he could ride around inside google street view. He has rigged a simple sensor to his wheel to determine his speed and he’s using a vuzix VR 920 as a display and orientation sensor. While he notes that it isn’t perfect, or even reliable, we think it is pretty cool. He can go sight-seeing, while getting in shape from his own garage. We have to wonder if he gets a headache after a while though.
- Tags:
- google hacks
- wearable hacks
- home entertainment hacks
- peripherals hacks
- virtual reality
- street view
November 11 2009, 3:18pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

EyeWriter is the fruit of the KanEye project

http://hackaday.com/2009/11/11/eyewriter-is-the-fruit-of-the-kaneye-project/

The EyeWriter is an open source eye tracking initiative. This is the mature version of the KanEye project we covered in April. Collaboratively developed by Free Art and Technology (FAT), OpenFrameworks, and the Graffiti Research Lab, they seek to aid a friend of theirs who suffers from the degenerative muscle disease ALS.

They’ve come a long way since we last looked in on the progress. The hardware used is pretty much the same: a set of sunglasses sans lenses with the CCD from a Sony PlayStation 3 Eye mounted in front of one eye. IR LEDs surround the CCD and point at the eye to increase the contrast between pupil and the rest of the eye. The major improvement comes with the software. Eye tracking appears to be extremely precise and they’ve written a custom drawing program to take advantage of their interface. Check in on their developer page for source code and a video walk-through of the software.

After the break you can see video of [Tempt1] using the system to create some tags. We’re thankful for the success this project has seen as this guy can do a lot better with his eye than we can with our hands.

[Thanks Jessee]
- Tags:
- wearable hacks
- peripherals hacks
- sony
- playstation 3
- eye tracking
- kaneye
- eye
- eyewriter
- graffiti research lab
- tempt1
November 11 2009, 10:00am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

libTISCH 1.0 released

http://hackaday.com/2009/10/29/libtisch-1-0-released/

[Florian] is proud to announce libTISCH 1.0 is finally ready for release. We told you about libTISCH just under a year ago and how it is a multitouch framework that factors more on the software side of things, instead of hardware for multitouch interfaces. A lot has changed including more widgets, more gestures, more hardware support, and some other nice features. If you’re looking into making your own multitouch surface, or making your own widgets for a multitouch surface – libTISCH would be a great place to start.
- Tags:
- misc hacks
- peripherals hacks
- multitouch
- tisch
- tangible interface
- libtisch
October 29 2009, 8:58am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Football Hero

http://hackaday.com/2009/10/27/football-hero/

For Kasabian’s new single Underdog, they decided to do something original. After dreaming up a Guitar Hero style controller powered by soccer football players, they set out to make it happen. Using 5 wall mounted pressure sensors connected to a microcontroller, they hooked up the rig to a computer running Frets on Fire (an open source Guitar Hero clone) with a custom version of their single. After an afternoon of practice, the team was able to 5 star the song, and while this isnt the only or most complex Guitar Hero hack, we would love to have this in our house.

Video after the break.
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- arduino
- Toy Hacks
- guitar hero
- soccer
- football
- frets on fire
- kasabian
October 27 2009, 4:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Magic Mouse and MacBook teardowns

http://hackaday.com/2009/10/22/magic-mouse-and-macbook-teardowns/

The folks at iFixit must hold some kind of record for fastest-voided warranty. It’s been less than 48 hours since Apple unleashed a torrent of new computers and peripherals, and they’ve already set upon the new wares like a pack of ravenous, spudger-wielding Velociraptors, photoblogging the splayed entrails for our edutainment.

The refreshed MacBook holds few surprises, resembling a Star Trek teleportation mix-up between the prior 13″ white MacBook and the current 13″ MacBook Pro. It retains a white polycarbonate case much like its predecessor while adopting a subset of the Pro’s components — CPU and GPU, glass trackpad, Mini DisplayPort, and the long-lived but sealed battery. Internally the system is still a maze of different-sized Torx, Phillips and tri-wing screws, but they do report this latest revision to be easier to dismantle for repair.

More novel inside and out is the new Magic Mouse, which early reports suggest may finally redeem Apple’s eleven year train wreck of mice. There’s not much to see on the bottom half — it’s a typical wireless mouse consisting of batteries, laser tracker and a Bluetooth chip. The top is something to behold though, with nearly the entire surface encrusted in capacitive sensors capable of gestural input. It resembles a miniature version of this electrostatic interface we saw in April.

No teardowns of the new iMacs, Mac mini or Time Capsule have taken place yet, but it’s surely just a matter of time. Even Velociraptors need to eat and sleep.

Update: 27″ iMac teardown added. Rawr!
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- apple
- laptops hacks
- macs hacks
- teardown
- mac
- macbook
- mouse
- magic mouse
October 22 2009, 10:00am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

10gui: multi-touch for all ten digits

http://hackaday.com/2009/10/19/10gui-multi-touch-for-all-ten-digits/

The race for the next revolutionary input design is an ongoing event. [Clayton Miller's] newest offering in the contest is a multitouch concept that separates the display from the screen and is meant to utilize all fingers. His video explanation includes a description of the physical input device, a software implementation, and a demonstration of how a finished system will work. After the break we’ll look at the hardware, the software, and the concept video.

The implementation is pretty simple. A pressure sensitive and proximity sensitive pad is used as the interface. The hardware can tell when your fingers are resting on it and when there are pressure increases for “clicking” inputs. This is basically a very large laptop touch-pad that can also sense pressure. This removes the issue of hands obstructing the screen that you encounter with multi-touch displays.

[Clayton] goes further with his design. He’s come up with a Graphic User Interface concept that should be incredibly simple to implement. The example is a Linux-based system that modifies how, where, and when menus and windows are used. The multi-touch pad has zones to the left and right edges that control the menu system. A single finger acts in the same way a mouse cursor does. Two fingers work for click-and-drag as well as pinch zooming. Three fingers do the same for different windows.

The video is well made and the concept seems like it could be right around the corner. Possible caveats to widespread adoption include the learning curve for a transition from a mouse to this, as well as the dexterity necessary to use it well. We’d like to get our hands on one, and would be interested in working with something similar to the BumpTop to manage data and organize our digital storage in a more physical way.

[Thanks Tex©]
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- Linux
- gui
- multi touch
- touch pad
- pressure sensitive
- 10gui
- fingers
October 19 2009, 2:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

3D Magnetometer mouse in processing

http://hackaday.com/2009/10/18/3d-magnetometer-mouse-in-processing/

[etgalim] works in Solidworks extensively and wanted a more intuitive way of rotating objects onscreen. To do this, he created a mouse that responds to rotation. He put a 3D compass module inside an old mouse and wired it up to an Arduino. The Arduino then relays the I2C sensor data to the computer. So far, he has a Processing script that uses the mouse to rotate a cube, but eventually he wants to write a Solidworks plugin. It’s a bit shaky, and we think it would be a bit smoother (and cheaper) if he used gyros like the jedipad. Video after the jump.
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- arduino
- 3d
- cad
- gyro
- mouse
- processing
- arduino hacks
- accelerometer
- magneto
- magnetometer
- solidworks
October 18 2009, 5:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Easy touch capacitance

http://hackaday.com/2009/10/17/easy-touch-capacitance/

[Humberto] from NerdKits is one of our favorite tipsters. We like how he can take a concept that seems so extremely complicated, in this case touch capacitance sensing, and present it in a clear and concise manner thats impossible to not love. As previously mentioned the most recent NerdKits hack is on touch capacitance; by using a resistor capacitor pair and some clever switch timing, anyone is able to detect the presence of a human limb. Now who’s going to be the first to adapt this concept further in their own hack?
- Tags:
- news
- peripherals hacks
- touch
October 17 2009, 9:24am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com

Mouse runs through VR maze

http://hackaday.com/2009/10/16/mouse-runs-through-vr-maze/

In an effort to determine the brain of animals during movement, scientists have built this contraption. It is a VR pod for a mouse. While we’re pretty sure/hopeful that none of you need a mouse VR system, we think the rig is interesting enough to stand on its own. It appears to be a convex mirror setup, projected in a dome. The controller is interesting in that it looks like a giant trackball hack. They’re using an optical mouse rigged to a ball floating on a cushion of air. This makes it much easier for the mouse to move. There’s a video of the whole thing in action after the break.

Does that mouse look like he’s in control to you? he looks like he’s just instictually trying not to fall off of the giant ball. Notice that he never really stops or turns left. Just keeps running in that same general direction.

[via BoingBoing]
- Tags:
- peripherals hacks
- projection
- mouse
- vr
- dome
October 16 2009, 11:00am | More »

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