Make a LEDMeter

Make a LEDMeter

ledmeter.jpgJohn writes in with a handy link from his bookmarks- this site shows you how to create a LED display to show all sorts of information about your PC like CPU utilization, memory utilization, network bandwidth, hard drive usage, OS information, program information to monitor CPU, memory, and other resources used by individual threads or processes. I have an old PC with a parallel port and extra drive bay that this would look very sci-fi prop-ish blinking away.

Building An Effects Pedal Board

Building An Effects Pedal Board

guitar.jpgChicago guitarist and blogger Kevin Skomsvold built himself a guitar effects pedal board for $27 in parts, saving himself a couple hundred dollars! Here’s how. I really like how this project started out…“Last week I built a board that would allow me to access my guitar effects easily along with some other enhancements. I Googled my face off looking for some schematics to go by but found nothing”. If it’s not on Google, it’s time to build it!

Running Linux and BSD on the Mac Mini

Running Linux and BSD on the Mac Mini

mini.jpgI’m waiting a few month to pick up a cheap Mac Mini off eBay for some projects- Peter Seebach on IBM’s Developer Works site outlines the latest on getting Linux or BSD on the Mini. This article looks at the current state of Linux and NetBSD support on the Mini. If you need all the hardware and options fully supported, these open source options won’t do it for you … yet. But, if all you need is a stable kernel, a C compiler, and network support, the code is high-quality and the price is unbeatable.