Daniel made an amazing case mod / MAME cabinet for playing old games, I really like his design. He writes “This is may take on a MAME cabinet. I didn’t have the space for a full-blown cabinet but still wanted the joysticks and buttons so I made this panel. It connects to the tv and is perfect to play from the couch.” Link.
Robert Manner has built an amazing robot that looks and walks like a real Allosaurus – “The robot will be able to move almost exactly like the real dinosaur with its 13 servomotors, several balance systems, and dozens of sensors. The robot does not only recognise the position of its frame and joints, motions, fuse functions, and exterior lighting but also the inside and outside temperatures. Due to its mechanic-electronic spirit level with 8 positions the computer can sense even the slightest tilt angle in any direction. Hence, it is impossible for the robot to fall down under any circumstances.” Thanks Antti! Link.
Restoration of a HUGE AM/CW transmitter from the 50’s – “This article describes my restoration effort of a Globe King 500. I estimate that I expended about 100 hours on this project. It took a lot of tenacity, it was at times tedious and frustrating, but overall it was a very rewarding as well as an educational endeavor. I have included many pictures of the project at different stages. I hope you find it interesting but more importantly, I hope you can learn from my mistakes and newly gained experience.” Link.
Chris writes “Here is a quick list of ten mods for the NES controller. There are lots of cool, and even lots of pointless things that can be done. It is amazing to see all of the innovative ideas.” Included hacks – USB, mouse, Pocket PC control, Bluetooth, MP3 player, card reader and more… Link.
eReader for the DS hack! “As can be seen in the following pictures, the eReader will not fit into the Nintendo DS due to the way the linkport connector is arranged, for the original Gameboy advance system. You will need the following tools to disassemble and modify the eReader. Tri-Wing driver (It is also possible to use a precision slotted driver to remove the screws). #0 philips driver (Again, a precision slotted driver can be used here.). Some form of cutting tool. (xacto knife, rotary tool) (only if you need the eReader link port connector for the original gameboy advance.)” [via] Link.
Green is good! – “Network Operations Centers and Help Desks all over monitor their systems and networks with a somewhat open source product called Big Brother. Here’s how to add a traffic light to indicate network status. Big Brother provides a web interface that shows the status of the network, and systems. The web interface allows you to drill down and see the status of any device monitored. It does all this in a very simple and elegant way, by providing color indications, red, yellow, and green to tell you how things are going. Well all of this really can put the idea of traffic lights into your head if you like to “repurpose” consumer electronics like I do. So lets get to task and use our desktop computer, running Java to monitor a BigBrother web page and change a faux traffic light to match the color-status of our network.” Thanks Victor! Link.
A clever maker out there made his own robot pal – “My dream of a home-built robot was smolding since the early 80ies. The floor of the young boy’s room was covered with “fischertechnik” parts, and a robot which clears the mess seemed feasible… Well, it took some years until the project actually started. And this not only due to my personal capabilities as a mechanical engineer, but also in the environment of today’s technologies: Webcams, WLAN, and last but not least powerful yet power-saving PC-Mainboards.” Here’s how he made his robot! [via via] Link.
