Fun & Games

The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for bikes, rockets, R/C vehicles, toys and other diversions.

PC joystick interface circuits

PC joystick interface circuits

Joystick Adapter InsideHere are a ton of PC joystick interface circuits “Fake Joystick circuit, the wire between multi-IO card and joystick connector, adding second joystick to PC joystick interface, Y-cable problems with soundcards and how to solve them, soundcard joystick port problem solver, build your own joysticks and controllers , convert Atari-style joystick to PC joystick port, use PC joystick port to measure temperature and light levels, connect other circuits to PC joystick port , using the joystick port as general purpose input .” Link.

DIY Headcam…

DIY Headcam…

BackpakcamHere’s a how to on making a head mounted camera from a Neuros MPEG4 Recorder…“The AdventureCAM project started because we needed a way to hike and shoot video footage at the same time. We are constantly reworking this setup, but the basic configuration is pretty much the same (digital storage, remote camera, remote trigger, backpack). Our most recent update to this setup is to replace the tape-based DV Camcorder with a solid state recording mechanism.” [via] Link. I found a Tony Hawk low res camera on sale for $30 at Gamespot in Seattle, it’s not freat quality but I took it apart for a project, worked ok…

HOW TO – Fix your old NES

HOW TO – Fix your old NES

Nes FixDIY live has some good tips on fixing that old NES “I took apart my nintendo, and found the 72 pin connector. I took my smallest flat head screw-driver and pried every pin up a little. Over time, they had lost their springiness (I don’t know if that is a word, but it describes what I am talking about). This is a pretty good fix. It may not be the best, but it works. Another thing to help out is to clean the pins of your old cartridge. You can take a wooden pencil with the red eraser, and rub it on the pins of the cartridge. Make sure you get all of the eraser off of the cartridge.” Thanks Star! Link.

Bluetooth Accelerometer

Bluetooth Accelerometer

S TopA few folks emailed about this, so here’s one I spotted – “This is a small wireless sensor platform providing a bluetooth SPP link to three axes of accelerometer data. The accelerometers are sampled by a PIC microcontroller (onboard ADC) at roughly 100Hz (rate can be changed via firmware). Data from the ADC conversion is sent to a remote computer using the PIC’s UART in conjunction with a drop-in bluetooth serial part. Even with two dual-axis accelerometers onboard there are up to 17 free I/O lines and two additional ADC channels depending on the device configuration. Three sockets provide access to all PIC signals. Over-the-air programming allows for easy firmware updates and rapid prototyping without the need to have a PIC programmer or special cable. Schematics, parts lists, and firmware sources are available online.” Link.