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Hardware Hacking Hardware Technology

DIY Warriors Saluted And Sought 190

Posted by timothy from the bending-brazing-booting dept.
WaveDave writes "I have found some really inspiring pages out there by folks who are hacking together amazingly cool low-cost hardware/software/etc projects (reminiscent of the old homebrew computer club days). With the cost of IC's, sensors, microcontrollers, and PC's falling through the floor, we've entered a time where the barriers to entry on hacking neat projects are lower than they've ever been. There are a lot of indicators of the excitement in these projects, including the recent announcement of the upcoming Make Magazine from O'Reilly. Initially blown away by Matthias Wandel's projects, I've begun to put together a small collection of links to other creative DIY-ers out there, as well as resources for finding parts, getting stuff made (like PCB's and machined stuff). My current list is here - what are some of your favorite creatives and resources?"
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DIY Warriors Saluted And Sought More

DIY Warriors Saluted And Sought

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  • Access to information (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Exter-C ( 310390 ) on Monday September 27, 2004 @05:56AM (#10360953) Homepage
    In the past the access to information on how to go about doing this was much more difficult and not all libaries or regeons had that information availible. Since the birth of the internet and it becoming amazingly popular the information has become much more accessible. That is also one the major reasons why there has been a fairly large explosion in the amount of "hackers" out there doing cool things with hardware/software and thier self esteem.

    • Re:Access to information (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Exter-C ( 310390 ) on Monday September 27, 2004 @06:26AM (#10361036) Homepage
      Its rather amusing to think about it. In the past when alot of people where poorer and the quality of life was lower we would DIY everything from our house to our garden, car and bicycle. Now we are lazy we sit in side and DIY only our computers in some cases. Lets hope that this can be a further trend to people doing things for themselves and innovation will surely be the real benefit from this. Not only will innovation be the key but also self satisfaction and a feeling of acomplishment that so many people lack in todays society.

      • Its rather amusing to think about it. In the past when alot of people where poorer and the quality of life was lower we would DIY everything from our house to our garden, car and bicycle. Now we are lazy we sit in side and DIY only our computers in some cases.

        Speak for yourself. I'm in the middle of installing electrical wiring in the ~1000 ft^2 of my second story.

        If you want to know why we don't all "homebrew" everything, it's because for some things, they cost less to have someone else do them than th
      • That's because you had to. And in those times those that were not experts at it (read: most everyone) ran risks: Starving, accidents, etc. Our social structure supports specialization so we can concentrate our time on things we enjoy or improve our own specialization. I like to tackle projects around the house, but I positively hate plumbing. It is to my benefit that I can call an expert if I'm over my head rather than being stuck with my shoddy plumbing efforts.

    • Internet-based tube amps (Score:4, Informative)

      by Roadkills-R-Us ( 122219 ) on Monday September 27, 2004 @10:12AM (#10362677) Homepage
      And an excellent use of new tech to further DIY old tech (with innovation, even!) is the AX84 tube amp guitar project. There are projects of all sizes, an excellent discussion board, and links to lots of goodies. http://www.ax84.com/ [ax84.com] Everything from raw schematics to kits.

  • DIY champ (Score:3, Informative)

    by AtomicBomb ( 173897 ) on Monday September 27, 2004 @05:58AM (#10360961) Homepage
    In terms of DIY, not many people can beat that guy [flashenabled.com]
    • i shot some photos last week in seattle, next project is to outfit the dog with a camera for a week.

      1: Attach camera to dog
      2: make crotchsniffingcam.com
      3: get /.'d
      4: Profit! :-) aaaaw man, I hope his dog doesn't snif around goatsy type people!

      I admit, his project are great, but why did he go sticking those shiney things on his PDA!?

      I was dissapointed he used VNC to make his PDA work...

      The kite pictures are cool though, I might try that with my $11 digicam! :-)

    • Re:DIY champ (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 27, 2004 @06:27AM (#10361040)
      that site is class but theres no way that guy is a genuine geek.

      the giveaway is he goes running!
      outside!

      for fun!!
      • "RUN for FUN? What the hell kind of fun is that?"
      • That, and his "ishower" idea. "Shower conferencing"???

        --Rob

    • And in terms of low-cost, you can't beat Afrotech [afrotechmods.com].
    • In terms of DIY, not many people can beat that guy
      not many but this one, surely, can:
      http://www.afrotechmods.com/ [afrotechmods.com],
      the amazing things this guy does with a computer using only, off the shelf, under a dollar items.
      see http://www.afrotechmods.com/reallycheap.htm [afrotechmods.com] for really great mods like the ghetto heatsinks or the paper cooled computer.....
      • I love this site! Really goes right at the heart of a DIY hacker, not just someone striving to get a few more FPS out of their LN2-cooled high end system.
        Favorite quote, from the section dealing with old monitors: Btw, if you do this wrong, say hi to Jesus for me alright?
    • The problem with this guy is he writes WHAT he does, but very rarely HOW he does it, which is a bummer and badly against the hacker nature.

      Take this "biofeedback" hack. Using your emotions to perform actions on the computer (think FPS games!) - Cool. But all the guy does is to leave a link to a photo of his uber-leet biofeedback device case.

      Anyone with links on DIY biofeedback?
  • Maybe I should submit my bookmarks too to slashdot for publications ?

    I mean, I got 2000 bookmarks, mostly sorted, I'm sure one can find some nice gadgets there too.

  • Other links (Score:5, Informative)

    by Prune ( 557140 ) on Monday September 27, 2004 @06:08AM (#10360984)
    you can add to your page include:

    Creative people and projects:
    - http://www.diyaudio.com/ (DIY audio equipment forum)
    - http://sound.westhost.com/projects.htm (audio stuff schematics)
    - http://headwize.com/projects/index.htm (DIY headphone stuff)
    - http://www.hauptwerk.co.uk/pedalboard.html (DIY MIDI pedalboards, just add keyboards and software and you have a MIDI organ)
    - http://www.diysubwoofers.org/ (what it says)
    - http://www.plasmatweeter.de/eng_plasma.htm (DIY ionic tweeter)

    Places to buy stuff:
    - http://www.newark.com/ (major electronics retailer)
    - http://www.mouser.com/ (major electronics retailer)
    - http://www.tubesandmore.com/ (components for vintage electronics)

    Getting stuff made:
    - http://www.olimex.com/ (cheap PCBs)

  • Frankly, (Score:5, Insightful)

    by DLR ( 18892 ) <.moc.liamg. .ta. .lahtnesorld.> on Monday September 27, 2004 @06:14AM (#10360996) Journal
    This is exactly what I was hoping for! The author shared a very nice resource and now other people are sharing links to cool sites and DIY info.

    Just remember people, there truely is no such thing as an Alpha Geek, so share 'em if you got 'em. But check your ego at the door for a more pleasant experience for everyone, yourself included. TIA for the links.

    • I agree. This is one of the most useful Slashdot articles in a long time. As someone who has just re-entered the world of basic electronics, I find myself bookmarking like crazy this morning.

    • Re:Frankly, (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Cyclotron_Boy ( 708254 )
      I couldn't agree more. My cyclotron [umich.edu] days were filled with searches (pre-internet) for equipment, surplus, parts, machining supplies, etc. I had to develop lots of stuff on my own. So, I'm writing a book about it. I'm a only 150 pages in, and have lots more to go. Basically, I'm aiming for something about like a "Building Scientific Apparatus [amazon.com]" for homebrew particle physics machines. There's a lot of info out there that's buried in 1920s-1960s books on building such machines in the lab that has been mor

  • Mini-ITX Madness (Score:4, Informative)

    by hedgehog2097 ( 688249 ) on Monday September 27, 2004 @06:16AM (#10361004)
    mini-itx.com [mini-itx.com] - many of the projects on there are very inventive...

    • Re:Mini-ITX Madness (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 27, 2004 @06:28AM (#10361042)
      Without looking at the site:

      - a musicplayer
      - a jukebox
      - a 'media center'
      - a music jukebox
      - a set-top musicplayer
      - a set-top jukebox
      - a set-top music jukebox
      - a set-top 'media center'
      - a 'networked' music player
      - a 'networked' jukebox
      - a 'networked' 'media center'
      - a 'networked' set-top music player
      - a 'networked' set-top jukebox
      - a 'networked' set-top 'media center'

      All for watching legal backup-copies of DVDs and CDs you bought.

  • Sharp Zaurus (Score:5, Interesting)

    by MountainMan101 ( 714389 ) on Monday September 27, 2004 @06:18AM (#10361009)
    There's a lot of DIY hacks that use Palms and iPAQs. Not seen so many using the Zaurus (which runs Linux). I have one, and would be interested in following someones example to learn myself.

    The Zaurus 5500 should be an excellent choice for hacking as it have CF socket (could be used to add a hacked PCMCIA card supplying USB host), IR port and Sharp I/O which can be a serial port or USB client.

    Then with the option of QT, Java or C (and even Python and Ruby). It would be easy to prototype on a laptop and then port to Zaurus.

    I built a Garmin GPS to Zaurus cable. But that wasn't exactly challenging!

    Anyone have any interesting links like this?
    • Ahh the palm!
      I'm buying defective palm OS devices on ebay from time to time. It's easy to build fully functional palms (m100/m105) from several scrap ones, at about 10EUR (incl. shipping). Not that you should start buying broken palms on ebay, though :-)

      And uCLinux runs on them!

  • Some of my favorites: (Score:5, Informative)

    by Solder Fumes ( 797270 ) on Monday September 27, 2004 @06:22AM (#10361020)
    For electronic parts, you just can't possibly leave out the Electronic Goldmine [goldmine-elec.com]. They've been around a long time, and in my experience offer the best surplus stuff you can find while charging the least they can get away with. Their bagged assortments are good, and their Electronic Surprise box is actually a good deal if you don't mind sorting through a box of jumbled parts. They also carry many standard components to round out whatever project you're doing.

    If you ever want to build a CNC machine, check out TurboCNC [dakeng.com]. It's "shareware" in the sense that you are free to download and use the fully-functional, nagless program...and what a program it is. TurboCNC 3 has been used by thousands of hobby CNC'ers, and just recently TurboCNC 4 was released with lots of rewritten code, vastly improved user interface, and better stepping rates. This program will pulse stepper motors up to 30KHz on a junker 486 computer with parallel port, depending on the timer hardware. Version 4 adds Pentium timer support, resulting in pulse rates beyond 100,000Hz. The price rose from $20 to $60 with the release of the new version, but that price is if you feel like supporting Dave and his team, and will get you the full sourcecode to the program.

    For cheap PCBs: nobody can beat Olimex [olimex.com]. Yeah, they're based out of Bulgaria, and the first setup of payment can be a little tricky. But you'll get a double-sided board with plated holes, solder mask, and silkscreen...about $25 for 6" x 4" board. What's even better is that you can send them a number of files, then give them a sketch of how you want the boards arranged and repeated in the 6"x4" area...and they will panelize and cut them out for you, free. That's impressive if you've ever checked out the costs of doing something similar with other PCB houses. Many of them give the impression that it's like cheating to try to get more than one board out of the standard board size, even if your design only requires a few square inches. With Olimex I've gotten up to ten boards for that cheap price. It kind of makes you wonder what other ways you can use outsourcing, instead of whining about it and trying to make the government give your old job back.

    By the way, this list has a long way to go before it's the most exhaustive I've seen. For the ultimate in DIY electronics articles and links, try ePanorama [epanorama.net], it's been around a long time.
    • Hey buddy.. how can you mention cnc without mentioning this one? [linuxcnc.org] I mean, turbocnc is alright and all, but it IS still "shareware" and, as such, not completely Free with the big F.

      And if you're gonna talk diy cnc, don't forget the most obvious one: ebay. Lots of bargains to be had for the careful shopper - just know your price and stick to it.

      • I tried EMC, I hate it. Plus, it requires either an expensive servo-driver card, or a fast PC (600MHz-1GHz) while TurboCNC runs fine on a 486.

        TurboCNC is free as in beer, you only pay if you want the source code or want to support Dave. As far as I know, no other CNC program comes close in terms of performing on extremely inexpensive hardware with excellent results, and no one else offers the option of looking at the source code and making your own tweaks. Some regular users of TurboCNC have made hundreds
    • Just as an example, here [cox.net] are some boards manufactured by Olimex.

      Four boards panelized on a single 4x6 order, double sided, with 2 non-standard drill sizes and over 500 holes (980 something holes for all four boards), came out to $9.50 each, including shipping.

  • There's building PCs and Building PCs (Score:5, Interesting)

    by KingDaveRa ( 620784 ) on Monday September 27, 2004 @06:22AM (#10361024) Homepage
    Back in the days of the Homebrew computer club, you literally did build a PC. These days, whacking a load of PCBs into a case isn't quite the same level of complexity. I remeber telling people I built PCs where I worked and they looked amazed. As far as I was concerned, it was nothing more complex than Lego with static. The hardest part was installing software.

    Things have definately changed.

    • check this out, then (Score:5, Interesting)

      by mattdm ( 1931 ) on Monday September 27, 2004 @06:35AM (#10361065) Homepage
      Back in the days of the Homebrew computer club, you literally did build a PC. These days, whacking a load of PCBs into a case isn't quite the same level of complexity. I remeber telling people I built PCs where I worked and they looked amazed. As far as I was concerned, it was nothing more complex than Lego with static. The hardest part was installing software.

      Things have definately changed.

      Yeah, totally. Which was why I was surprised when I heard that one of my co-workers has designed and built (well, is building -- it's a work in progress) one ompletely from scratch [arizona.edu]. Although he doesn't mention it on the page, he's written games for it and everything. (I said, "does it have games?" and the next week it did). It's pretty much the most amazingly geeky thing I've ever seen, and seriously deserves to get slashdotted. :)
      • Wow. That is really, really, really geeky. Quite possibly the geekiest thing I've ever seen on slashdot.

        As impressed as I am, and as much as I understand it's "cool project" and "educational value" and "because I can" aspects, I'm still puzzled as to why you'd do this, other than to keep you off the street and off IRC/crack/whatever...

        Seriously, though, what kind of game did he write for that display? Text adventure? Two-line pong? What?

        • Actually, since he's updated that page, he made a VGA-mode graphics board and connected it to a real monitor. So the game (which I haven't actually played yet) is a spaceship piloting thing played on that.
      • And there is this guy [mikrocontroller.net], who not only build his own computer but also build his own CPU (from TTL chips). The one you're mentioning in the article uses a 6502 (not that it dequalifies it as a "selfmade computer").

        And he also ported the uIP IP stack to it, i.e. it can be run as a webserver.
    • Building PCs from scratch was cool when there were no PCs at Walmart. But today...much like building a horseless carriage, or a vacuum-tube radio.

      This is the same way electric motors used to be cool. I remember when I was a wee lad that every handyman had a few electric motors lying about, one big one usually strapped to the workbench, with a bunch of belts to power a number of different devices. Motors were still fairly expensive and bulky, so they tended to dominate the workbench.

      Then electric motor

    • The homeBREW vs homeBUILT wars (Score:4, Insightful)

      by WebCowboy ( 196209 ) on Monday September 27, 2004 @12:57PM (#10364430)
      I'm not yet 30 and I remember the flame wars on Usenet. I regularly lurked the homebrew groups there about 8 to 10 years ago--just before and during the time I was putting together a simple wire-wrapped system consisting of an M68K and mostly 74LS series logic chips. There were two noteworthy camps:

      1. The Gods of the geek world--those who'd pat you on the head and say "nice beginner project--good luck and keep it up son" at the site of project like mine. These were the types who could've been founding members of the Homebrew club back in the day, and figured REAL men didn't need a stinkin' processor to make a PC--just a bunch of SSI TTL Logic. If you really wanted to test your mettle you built it using discrete transistors.

      2. The AOL generation of "home brewers" who fancied themselves experts becasue they could screw a 486 Motherboard and some cards into a PC case...they were the "home builders" and endlessly posted questions about BIOS configuration, jumper settings and IRQ conflicts.

      Sadly, despite the fact that it was stated loudly and clearly in the FAQ and repeatedly in flame posts what the group was intended for, AND despite a group being put together for bome built DOS PCs, the second group still drowned out the first--DRAM refresh circuitry and address decoding was beyond their comprehension, but cross-posting was not.

      Now homebrew seems to mean adding backlit LCD status panels, neon lights, cut-out windows and a coat of day-glo Tremclad. This is a fun hobby to be sure and I enjoy what comes out of it as much as I enjoy going to car shows. However, it isn't really homebrew to me. Cramming an ITX motherboard into as many odd containers as possible just doesn't have the same mystique...
      • Modders have also been around for ages - but you're not talking about homebrewing. Hit the audio forums, read old issues of The Audio Amateur and see the modders that came before ye.

        I think casemodding could be cool, but most of them I find seriously boring. Whoopee, we take a square case and add windows and lights! The mini-ITX stuff i find similarly drab with very few exceptions. The one where the guy made an anime girlfriend is cool but not because it's a computer, just because it's a good DIY if you wa

  • Diy Amplifier (Score:5, Interesting)

    by 2$ Crack Whore ( 813937 ) on Monday September 27, 2004 @06:24AM (#10361028) Homepage
    If you are interested in high quality audio, try making a gainclone amplifier - this website has more details:
    http://www.decdun.fsnet.co.uk/
    I made one and the sound quality is fantastic - better than any of the amps I have previously owned.
  • The guys on linux hacker: http://www.linux-hacker.net/ are doing great things with those CVS & dakota digital cameras

  • www.robotroom.com (Score:2, Informative)

    by OneDeeTenTee ( 780300 )
    http://www.robotroom.com/ [robotroom.com]

    Robot info, projects, and stuff.

    He writes books also, scroll down a bit for the free content.

  • This year's score (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 27, 2004 @06:37AM (#10361075)
    So, this year's score:
    - a bat detector
    - a 3kW dimmer to control the ceiling-lights (I'm living in an old classroom)
    - an iButton lock on the frontdoor
    - lights in my livingroom are controlled by every phone in the house (built from a caller-id box)
    - plants are beeping when soil is dry
    - can control all my IR with LIRC and by phone

    And almost everything is built with parts recovered from old equipment.

    So, does this make me a slashdot-approved DIY warrior or am I just another techno-geek?
    Niels.

    • So, does this make me a slashdot-approved DIY warrior or am I just another techno-geek?

      Only if you share the plans for making the plants beep when the soil is dry. What a unique project!

    • Re:This year's score (Score:3, Interesting)

      by slim ( 1652 )
      Since you're an AC and I can't message you privately, I'll just have to reply. Beeping soil moisture indicators -- sounds great. How'd you make them, and are they cheap enough to have *lots* in a home?

      • Re:This year's score (Score:2, Interesting)

        by legirons ( 809082 )
        "Since you're an AC and I can't message you privately, I'll just have to reply. Beeping soil moisture indicators -- sounds great. How'd you make them, and are they cheap enough to have *lots* in a home?"

        I'm not the AC you seek but you it's a typical high-school technology project. Pity that slashdot can't do sketches (well probably not really..)

        Sensor: double-sided PCB. Solder one connection to each side and stick it in the soil.

        Measurement: Connect a resistor (10K?) and the sensor in series across the p
  • How about some links/information on making your own cool cases? Is it possible to create your own plastic cases, or do shops exist where you can, say, drop your 3d-studio (or whatever) designs, which will then be fabricated into a nice shiny box? Can this be done cheaply? What kind of materials can be used?

    Of course, the electronic stuff inside is what really counts, but I can imagine a nice look and feel is also important to a lot of DIY artists out there.

    • Re:Cases (Score:2, Interesting)

      by B1ackDragon ( 543470 )
      Yeah, casing is the hardest part, in my opinion. (then again, I haven't done any home made cd changers or 3d scanners either...)

      I am currently learning to work with stained glass (should make some nice boxes), as well as looking for a local machinist. And don't forget about Front Panel Express [frontpanelexpress.com], even though I'd really like to find something cheaper...
      • If you can find a source for lots of cheap, double sided PC board, it makes great cases. Easy to cut, easy to put together. You can bolt it together using little angle brackets and then solder the edges. Makes great RF tight enclosures.

  • Alltronics (Score:5, Informative)

    by Smidge204 ( 605297 ) on Monday September 27, 2004 @06:38AM (#10361081) Journal
    Alltronics [alltronics.com] deals in surplus and salvaged components of all shapes and sizes. There was a US$15 minimum order when last I dealed with them.

    I had some issues ordering stuff, though... after waiting a week and nothing arrived, I e-mailed them about it and said one of the items wasn't in stock and they were waiting for it. Would be nice if they told me that ahead of time... but other than that I have no complaints. (Got my stuff about 5 days later)
    =Smidge=

    • For us Aussie geeks there's a similar place called Oatley Electronics [oatleyelectronics.com]. A mixture of surplus gear with new stuff and kits. I've never dealt with them but they always seem to have interesting gear.

      There's also Jaycar [jaycar.com.au], which has stuck to the hobbyist theme. It's a shame that Dick Smith sold Dick Smith Electronics [dse.com.au] all those years ago. Now it mostly focuses on consumer goods (stereos, TV's, CD/DVD players, etc) rather than on components and kits. My dad told me that back in the day, most stores had people th

    • By a similar name is AllElectronics [allelectronics.com] out of Van Nuys (CA). There is a $6 flat shipping fee, but they have a lot of good quality items. Like lead-acid gel-cell batteries for my UPS (saved about $80 doing it this way vs. through APC), tools, parts, gadgets, barcode scanners on the cheap ($8).

  • More hardware hackery, sources, and ideas. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Myself ( 57572 ) on Monday September 27, 2004 @06:40AM (#10361087) Journal
    I always love BG Micro [bgmicro.com]'s weird catalog. Don't let the yellow background throw you, it's a mimic of the colored paper they print the dead-tree version on. It's significantly less annoying in that form. Don't count on them for production quantities unless they say so, but some of the small lots of surplus stuff are super cool.

    American Science and Surplus, formerly known as Jerryco [sciplus.com] carries a broader spectrum of stuff, including plastic replicas of human organs, glow-in-the-dark everything, millitary surplus and yes, a variety of electrical and electronic weirdness. If the Edmund Scientific [edsci.com] catalog is too highbrow for you, Jerryco is sure to amuse.

    There are some hardware hackers over at Green Bay Professional Packet Radio [qsl.net] whose projects you might enjoy.

    I'm also going to suggest del.icio.us [del.icio.us] as a good way to collectively manage bookmarks like these. Just go play with it.

  • Arcade multi-game PCBs (Score:5, Informative)

    by AtariKee ( 455870 ) on Monday September 27, 2004 @06:40AM (#10361089)
    Double Donkey Kong: http://www.mikesarcade.com/cgi-bin/store.pl?action =link&sku=DDKUP [mikesarcade.com]

    Galaxian Multigame: http://www.btinternet.com/~mike.coates/multigame3. htm [btinternet.com]

    Atari Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back Multigame
    Tempest/Vortex/Aliens Multigame
    Sega Vector Multigame (Star Trek, Space Fury, Tac/Scan, Eliminator, Zektor)
    Williams Multigame (Robotron, Defender, Joust, Stargate, Splat!, Bubbles)
    Q*Bert Multigame (Q*Bert, FHMC Q*Bert, Q*Bert's Qubes): http://www.multigame.com/KITS.HTM [multigame.com]

    There's a multi-Pacman PCB out there somewhere, but I'm not sure who makes them anymore. I know twobits.com used to sell one, as did multigame.com. But there was some legal problems with Namco that led to them disappearing.

  • The Guru's Lair (Score:5, Informative)

    by jayrtfm ( 148260 ) <jslash.sophont@com> on Monday September 27, 2004 @06:46AM (#10361111) Homepage Journal
    Don Lancaster has an awsome site at The Guru's Lair [tinaja.com]
    He wrote the 555 and ttl cookbook, used to have a Computer Shopper column on writing raw postcript, and has thousands of links and articals on DIY.

  • The xgamestation? (Score:4, Informative)

    by FyRE666 ( 263011 ) * on Monday September 27, 2004 @07:12AM (#10361198) Homepage
    This site [xgamestation.com] was mentioned here a few months back. Basically a stripped down games console, which you can buy/build and then write games/whatever to run on the hardware. The software to program the thing is included. Programming it (using assembler) is very similar to coding for the old VCS console. Since there's no video RAM (unless you choose to add it to the hardware), your code directly controls the output as the raster scans across the screen - meaning you have to actually count the clock cycles in your code to ensure you don't end up with electric soup! I think it also has sound hardware, and there's nothing stopping you adding any other mods.

    There are some demos available for download on the site, with full source etc. I don't work for them or anything, but I'm seriously thinking of buying one so I can dive into some retro-coding ;-)

  • PCBs (Score:3, Informative)

    by Peter Simpson ( 112887 ) on Monday September 27, 2004 @07:12AM (#10361200)
    I'm partial to ExpressPCB (www.expresspcb.com) for quick-turn cheap 2-sided PCBs. They provide a rudimentary design tool for free (only works with them, though) and you can lay out a PCB one day and have 3 copies in your hands two days later for around $100.

    • Re:PCBs (Score:2)

      by hpa ( 7948 )
      If you want free design software, try out Eagle from Cadsoft [cadsoftusa.com]. They have a free-as-in-beer version for small boards (100x80, two layers), and a cheap license for nonprofit use. Native Linux and MacOS support (their software is written using Qt, so it's pretty easy for them to do.)

  • Here's two.... (Score:2, Informative)

    by zogger ( 617870 )
    I really enjoy both of these, some good inspiration (and a lot of perspiration), both are heavy into DIY.....

    You got to see some of the home made inventions, just too cool. You can see what having an itch to scratch, a pile of junk and a welder will bring you. A lot of it results in some practical applications, some decent inventions have been showcased. I get the dead trees version, every page I am going NEAT! I want one! etc...

    Farmshow magazine [farmshow.com]

    This one is for alternative power, a very good site, Home [homepower.com]

  • DIY LCD projector with white LED array (Score:4, Interesting)

    by kindofblue ( 308225 ) on Monday September 27, 2004 @07:29AM (#10361274)
    This would be fantastic. I've seen websites where people describe how to make projection screen TVs using LCD panels, mirrors, high lumen lamps, fresnel lenses, etc. They seem to be cheap and easy, but they are hot, and require fans and lots of ventilation.

    What would be better is a high brightness array of LED lights (white of course) to use as the white light source. Some DIY forums have noted that the problem is focusing the light from the array into a controllable direction and even intensity. This is hard because you need so many LEDs to get enough brightness. If this could be cheaply solved, then it would make a great DIY projector.

    Anybody have any luck with this or know any good websites for it?

    • I've built one of the DIY LCD projectors but used a 400W metal halide bulb. I love the thing but yeah it gets really hot and needs a lot of active cooling. I looked into LED bulbs as the light source but you need a lot of lumens to get a good picture. Something around 30,000- 40,000 lumens is what my bulb makes if I remember correctly.
      When I checked there were new LED coming out that held promise of making enough light if you used 100 or more of them but they also cost $15 each so I quickly scr
  • I'd think that this is obvious, but my fav DIY guy/group has got to be Burt Rutan and the guys at Scaled Composites. I'm dying to see what they do for a follow-up to SpaceShipOne.

  • The hardware was always cheap (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Alwin Henseler ( 640539 ) on Monday September 27, 2004 @07:35AM (#10361306)
    With the cost of IC's, sensors, microcontrollers, and PC's falling through the floor (..)

    If you were 'hardware hacking' a century ago, you might have used wood, rope, nails, old buckets or glass items. These days, it's often electric/electronic stuff like sensors, stepper motors or ucontrollers. Either way, the hardware is always cheap, like ripped out of old equipment. Tradition wants it that way. If you use all new stuff, you're not hacking, but developing new hardware.

    • If you use all new stuff, you're not hacking, but developing new hardware.

      No, I disagree. If you use "all new stuff" in unforseen, questionable, or previously-considered-impossible ways, then you are most definitely hacking.

      Hacking requires passion and looking beyond the limits of existing systems (in this case, hardware components). I don't believe it matters if those components are new or salvaged, if you're bolting them together in brilliant and bizarre ways.

  • Circuit Cellar (Score:5, Insightful)

    by seawolf315 ( 458577 ) on Monday September 27, 2004 @08:26AM (#10361623)
    One of my good Professors here at RIT introduced me and gets copies of the magazine Circuit Cellar. They are a complete computer hobbyist magazine -- very, very good. They have everything from radio controlled robots to how to add USB to your embedded project.

    Circuit Cellar [circuitcellar.com]

    They also host contests constantly which give out free hardware for those with good design ideas! Great for those student needs!
  • Make your own manometer [komar.org] for less than two bucks ... and how to convert your BBQ Grill from LP to NG [komar.org] without winning a Darwin Award.

    And after all that hard DIY work, sit back and enjoy a Hulk Drop Martini [komar.org] ;-)

  • Hell, just do a google search on "PIC" plus whatever device you are interested in.

    I keep finding more and more goodies to add to my Tricorder project. I found a ton of info on PWM just last night. DAC without a DAC!

    Has anybody found a source for solid state radiation detector modules? You can get complete detectors [nukalert.com], but I want the "Cadmium Sulfide Photoconductive cell viewing a Gadolinium OxySulfide scintillating phosphor" module itself.
    (Sounds like Star Trek techno-babble!)
  • In some ways, DIY electronics is getting harder. Lot's of logic parts are long out of production and getting harder to find. Those that are still in production are packaged in hobbyist-unfriendly ways (e.g. BGA). I know you can work with these packages with various gyrations, but it's a long way from the straightforward ease of DIPs and wire-wrap.
  • With the cost of IC's, sensors, microcontrollers, and PC's falling through the floor, we've entered a time where the barriers to entry on hacking neat projects are lower than they've ever been.

    Kind of...on the other hand, the way electronics are hidden in blackbox-chips now makes a lot of gadgets hard to tinker with, and that used to be a good entryway to more DIY...though maybe I'm just lazy and just need to force it so I can hookup a PC to real world hardware...
  • Parts are one thing, but I'm always stretched looking for test equipment. Scopes, probes, meters, function generators, etc. That's the stuff that really burns the budget, and takes up SPACE.

    Anyone have a good suggestion for test gear?

    • Anyone have a good suggestion for test gear?

      One word: eBay.

      Although I tried selling my Teltone Telephone Line Simulator ($200 and it has 2 lines and Caller ID!) without any luck :-(
  • One of the "silent revolutions" that has happened over the last 10-20 years is the tremendous drop in cost of programmable logic -- highly integrated microcontrollers, CPLDs, and FPGAs. It's really only in the last few years that FPGAs in particular has come down in price to the point where they're feasible to be used in amateur projects. In many ways these have brought back the freedoms that used to exist back when there were no application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs); today, with an FPGA costin

  • More serious sources (Score:4, Informative)

    by Animats ( 122034 ) on Monday September 27, 2004 @11:55AM (#10363802) Homepage
    Here are the sources anyone serious needs to know about.
    • Digi-Key and, to a lesser extent, Mouser. Digi-Key has become the standard source for electronic components. On-line order turnaround is really fast. Order today, receive tomorrow. Their web site has the data sheets for most of their parts, too.
    • Berg and Stock Drive Products. These are the standard sources for small gears, couplings, and other small moving parts.
    • Grainger and McMaster Carr Larger, general-purpose industrial products like pumps, valves, motors, and belting.

    These books are always useful:

    • The Art of Electronics by Horowitz and Hill. How to get stuff done with electronic parts. A bit dated, but very useful on the analog side.
    • Machinery's Handbook If you have any machine tools, you need this. If you have a mill, you probably have a copy already.

    Everybody accepts credit cards now. There's no problem ordering from real suppliers.

  • Microcontrollers (Score:2, Interesting)

    by glindsey ( 73730 )
    I have to point out the incredibly useful Atmel AVR [atmel.com] series of microcontrollers. Inexpensive ($2 to $8 each), easy to program (there's a GCC port readily available), entirely Flash-based, and pretty powerful for eight-bit microcontrollers. There's a large hobby development community over at AVRFreaks [avrfreaks.com]; if you're interested in homebrewing some great projects, check it out!

  • holy jesus, no one mentioned cockeyed.com yet! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by dea9 ( 783648 ) on Monday September 27, 2004 @12:16PM (#10364009) Homepage Journal
    seriously, it's run by Rob Cockerham who is my fookin hero. He's hardcore DIY, but not really on the tech side but more on installations for entertaining social engineering (read: pranks).

    Also, check his killer Halloween costumes, which are good enough to win at the ILM party!

    http://cockeyed.com [cockeyed.com]

  • Don't forget Circuit Cellar Magazine (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I first read articles from Steve Ciarcia in some early issues of Byte Magazine (I subscribed to Byte due to his and Jerry Pournelle's articles.) But those things are history. Go to http://circuitcellar.com/ [circuitcellar.com] for some interesting projects.
  • DIY grappling dummy [geocities.com] (Plus lot's of other homebrew equipment).

  • Phidgets? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by musicxml ( 746476 )
    I heard about Phidgets [phidgetsusa.com] - USB sensors, motor controllers, and the like - from the JMSL [algomusic.com] mailing list. They look cool - has anyone tried them out?

  • Computer Christmas [computerchristmas.com] is pretty much a two-trick pony, but both of those tricks are extremely exciting and have a lot of potential when it comes to interfacing your computer to the real world. One group of projects deals with multiplexing your 8-line parallel port into a 256- or 1000-line switching machine of wonder (think about being able to turn that many LEDs on and off!). The other group of projects deals with interfacing these boards to the mains in clever ways, using triacs and SSRs and the like.

    The fo

  • Not to toot my own horn or anything ;) Chris Negus and I wrote a book on just this topic called "Linux Toys". Check [amazon.com] it out if you're interested.
  • What's really cool these days is the amount of free software available for DIY electronics. I'm not talking about free as in GNU, but free as in beer. Want to design your own digital chips? Get your free WebPack FPGA [xilinx.com]design software. Want to do your own circuit boards? Get your free CAD software [pcbpool.com]... Want to program your embedded product? Most chip companies have free development tools.
  • One of the coolest DIY projects around is the MegaSquirt DIY EFI kit. Designed by Bruce Bowling and Al Grippo and supported by enthusiasts world-wide, they have created a cheap and highly effective fuel injection computer that you can easily assemble with a soddering iron and a little time.

    Check the MegaSquirt project out on the web at http://www.msefi.com/ [msefi.com] or check out the software at http://megasquirt.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net] (disclaimer: I am one of the Project Admins). A good resource for those interested in

  • Nuts And Volts (Score:2, Interesting)

    by gleman ( 625817 )
    Lots of DIY stuff here [nutsvolts.com].

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