February 2011
13 posts
From the Days When Towers Towered
Of course the sad thing is that even when this box was new it wasn’t exactly impressive, but some yahoo at my first job thought that if you got the same hardware in a tower vs. a desktop that somehow made it better.
I did however have FreeBSD running on it at some point and used it as a auto-dialing router which I even hauled to a LAN party once.
Thank the FSM for wi-fi and nearly...
January 2011
5 posts
PingduinoM
I never appreciated my internet connection enough when I lived in the city. Now that I’m a country mouse I think it really IS a series of tubes. Reliable it’s not. So I thought it would be fun to use an Arduino, my BlinkM and a bit of python to create a visual network monitor.
Here are the steps:
1. Plug your BlinkM into analog ports 2-5 (the standard way instructed by ThingM).
...
Launch Controller Links
I’m still researching the details for building a rocket launch controller, the major part of that so far has been figuring out the best relay.
For the launch controller I’m looking at 12-24V and potentially high current before the igniter fires. The minimum resistance for igniters seems to be around .5 ohm which at 12 volts would be 24 amps. The first link below also discusses...
Simple Diet Coke and Mentos Nozzles
There are various plans for nozzles online but I wanted something simple and a bit more elegant (if that’s possible with PVC) than what I was seeing. I also wanted my nozzles to use as few parts as possible.
Here’s what I came up with:
Parts:
1” PVC threaded to smooth adapter
3/4” PVC end cap that fits inside the smooth end of the adapter
12, 16 or 20 ounce plastic...
FET Buffer Links
I’m working on building a FET Buffer for piezo mics, following are a couple relevant links. A post concerning my success or failure will be forthcoming once I do the work.
DIY Contact Microphone
Piezo contact mic amplifier
Get Better Sound from Piezo Mics
