Here’s a pretty good overview and how to on setting up Linux on a Mac or PC. I usually carry a few Ubuntu “live CDs” when I travel – these CDs allow you to boot in to Linux, but it won’t mess up anything on the hard drive. More often than not, the folks I show it to start using Ubuntu, it’s a pretty nice system and this how to is really handy to get it up and running on that old computer gathering dust you might have. Link.
The most 30″ Apple Cinema displays, ever. Scientists at UC Irvine have completed the world’s highest-resolution grid-based display for visualizing and manipulating massive data sets. The Highly Interactive Parallelized Display Wall (HIPerWall) is a room-sized display that measures nearly 23 x 9 feet. The HIPerWall system, consisting of 50 flat-panel tiles, resides in the Calit2 Center of GRAVITY (Graphics, Visualization and Imaging Technology) at UCI, and provides a total resolution of 200 million pixels, bringing to life terabyte-sized data sets. HIPerWall’s resolution is nearly twice that of the world’s next-highest resolution display wall. [via] Link.
Interesting device built from a Sherline 5400 tabletop milling machine…information on a a portable, battery powered, electromechanical projectile launcher the author designed and built. It is a type of “centrifugal” launcher powered by a DC motor. The launcher fires primarily plastic spheres (or steel with some modifications) semi- or full- automatically that is more powerful than a typical airsoft gun. No compressed air or any other energy source besides the battery pack is needed to power the launcher, so it is capable of sustained full automatic fire. The device is called a “PEST”, or Portable Electromechanical Slug Thrower for short. *grin* The PEST has the following specifications… Link.
Make proto author David sent me a link to this interesting new service “Etchamac.com custom laser etches PowerBooks and iPods. A full PowerBook case (top or bottom) runs $200 while iPods are around $40. Pretty slick.” I think in the future the tattoo artist and their shops will add nice laser cutters to their businesses. You’ll go in with your ibook/powerbook/ipod/laptop thingie and either choose a design, or bring in your own. Perhaps they’ll even pierce that USB port too. [via] Link.
Here’s a simple HOW TO on adding a LED to an Apple keyboard. Arkku writes “I opened up the keyboard (three screws in the bottom), located the +5v and ground leads (red and black wire in my keyboard) and soldered a 3.3v/30mA 5mm bright blue LED to them, with a 68ohm resistor. To make the light reach the clear base of the keyboard, I also made a small hole in the white plastic that touches the clear acrylic at the bottom of the keyboard and taped the LED in that hole with electrical tape.” Link.
We’ve covered a lot of the R2-D2 droid building, in MAKE and Makezine.com – so, here’s a wonderful site with all you need to make your own Dalek. “We were the very first site devoted to the building of the Dalek, and it is still our intent to supply all the information you’ll need to produce an accurate full size working Dalek as seen in the long running BBC TV series Dr Who.” Thanks Rick! Link.
Redbluefire posted some photos on Flickr of his experiences riding out hurricane Wilma – his power went out and with the phones only working he used the phone line to charge up the Walkie Talkie watch gadgets “…the two lines in the phone that supply power, Red was positive, but to my suprise the ground was not black, but GREEN! After that, it was all a matter of opening the watch, checking the pinout, and twisting the wires to hold onto the jack inside. I need to communicate, and sometimes a laptop just isnt worth wasting for idle communication.” Link.
