[scarylady] has posted this video about her setup. The skeleton was rigged up to a rotating base with a single pneumatic solenoid to jostle it. She then goes on to show how she has it all connected to her computer with an explanation of the software setup. Though some of us might feel she could have accomplished very similar results with a simple oscillating fan, this is a decent intro to DMX.
We also had several people submit this fantastic list of Halloween projects, The Halloween monster list. There is enough information there to keep you busy for quite a while. We were…
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Halloween props: DMX controlled skeleton
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Homemade UAV
[Terence Bordelon] sent in his impressive UAV (Unmanned Arial Vehicle). The hack is a culmination of his other projects. It can be turned to fully automatic at the flip of a switch. It will fly itself to gps way points, land, and take off. The UAV has a range of 100km thanks to his home built RF Unit which runs on ham bands. The brains of the setup is his custom IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit). The unit is controlled by his ground station which either allows him to fly it normally or toggle through the various modes. [Terrence] is…
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Open garage door indicator
How many times has this one happened to you? Just coming home from work, you walk in from the garage, settle down, and pick up the newspaper. But wait, did you remember to shut the garage door?
Presenting the open garage door indicator. [xjc2010] chose the simplest circuit possible, using only a switch to turn on and off the setup, an LED acting as the signal, and a transformer/resistor combo to drop the voltage to an acceptable LED friendly 2.8 volts. We don’t like how he strung wire all over his house to place the beacon, and would have…
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AVR Dragon wiring alternative
We love our AVR Dragon programmer. It is a small board with a lot of functionality: in-circuit serial programming, JTAG, debug wire, and high voltage serial programming. Unfortunately, out of the box it is not quite ready for action. The Dragon ships with an unpopulated prototyping area and missing a pin header for the HVSP. For most people this means soldering on pin headers and a ZIF socket then jumpering between the various programming headers and the header for the socket. Tired of working with jumper wires, [Jussi] designed a small PCB to make the connections (original link in…
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Six monitors, one video card
With most of us utilizing at least two monitors these days in our day to day operations, six monitors, while an awesome thought, might seem a little too excessive. After all, do we really have space for multiple video cards?
AMD has a new setup in their testing lab that is running six Dell 30inch displays at 7680×3200 through a video card holding six DisplayPort connectors.
Maximum PC has the scoop on the setup, and they say that this single GPU will be coming out on AMD’s DirectX 11 capable chips. Details are slim with the amount of video…
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Tweetidor, the tweeting humidor
As cigar aficionados will tell you, cigars should be stored in climate controlled humidors to keep them in best condition for smoking. Most of the time a humidor is just a simple air-tight box with a hygrometer attached, which measures the relative humidity inside the box. Feeling as though he needed more control over the environment he kept his cigars in, [Justin] created the Tweetidor, a humidor that tweets its current temperature and humidity. Yes, you guessed it; the project is built around an Arduino. It’s a simple, useful project that is well documented and would be fun to…
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High altitude balloons
We received quite a bit of tips, after posting about the 150$ high altitude balloon project, from communities and teams who had done similar tasks. There is more to these projects than simply filling a balloon and attaching a camera, so in order to allow everyone their 7 seconds of well deserved fame, we’ve compiled a quick list of similar high altitude balloons. Catch it after the break.
Do note, these are in no order or rank.
RPI Electronics club, sent in their Imaging Balloon of Science. Supposedly built in under 30 hours and runs Linux.
Bang Goes the…
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Enjoy Continuous IT Infrastructure Asset Support with RIM Services
Managing the IT infrastructure is a very critical activity for every organization. The issues and problems need immediate attention to prevent any major backlog in the operational efficiency. Able management of IT infrastructure can go a long way in enhancing throughput for all remotely handled systems and applications.
With IT infrastructure being a highly critical management activity, it is essential for every organization to setup a separate functional group to take care of its operations. There are many service providers of remote infrastructure management who can efficiently handle all activities related to IT infrastructure assets. There are four main services…
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Lack Of Flexibility Stalls Mid-market SAP Project
With six million dollars already invested, this commercial property company was being more than reasonable. Their SAP implementation had stalled in the blueprint phase due to a business requirement specific to their industry.
SAP was called in to review the design. They recommended a change that had the support of several key team members. But the system integrator was unwilling to embrace the proposed change. They were following a static work plan and the change would have required significant rework.
The problem with predefined implementation plans is that they are inherently inflexible, and they tend to keep users at a…
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Using MatchBox cars as a switch
[atduskgreg] posted this interesting setup to flickr. He’s using two toy cars as a switch. He has wired into their metal undercarriages so when they collide, the circuit closes. We’ve seen some pretty nifty home made interface items, but usually they are posted with a clear purpose or a project. This one is a little puzzling. Does he intend to keep using the cars or was he just fooling around? Is he working on a toy that does something when they crash? Was he merely bored and wanted to see what he could attach to his Arduino. We may…
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Modified RX7 dimmer control
We were a little surprised when we learned the Mazda RX7’s high beams were controlled by ECU, compared to typical cars using just a toggle switch. Ubermodder [Trent Bruce] realized how much of a pain in the rear end this can be if the ECU ever burns out, meaning no brights. By using a D-Flip Flop setup in a toggle configuration, he is able to control his once lost high beams. He also points out that if you plan to do any other electronic modifications to the RX7, you should be sure to pay attention to the unusual ground…
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Searching For A Fantastic Present? Try A Remote Controlled Toy
When you enjoy spoiling your son or nephew or cousin, you will want to get some wonderful radio controlled toys for his birthday. These are forever treasured gifts and are lots of fun. No matter what age the boy is, even if they are 18, they will always love a radio controlled toy.
When it comes to remote controlled toys, there are many things that you will be able to choose from. Now, we all know about remote controlled cars, but they have been around for many years, and almost every boy in the world has one of those.
This…
