Month: January 2006

HOW TO – Make a homemade solar water heater

Screenshot 02-1Weber decided to start construction of his house by building a homemade solar water heater… “It took a lot of time and sifting, but I was finally able to devise a simple and inexpensive water warmer that I knew “us regular folks” would be able to build. In fact, my design involves only three steps: First, build a glass-covered wood “hot box” to catch the sun’s heat. Second, install a manifold of copper water pipes–inside this collector box–so the gathered warmth will heat water. Third, hook the outlets from the manifold to a storage tank (this container should be set above the heat collector) so the thermosiphon principle will move water from the collector to the tank.” Thanks Star! Link.

Building the Tux-Phone…

Patel 550X425Surj writes “Today I presented the Tux-Phone idea at the O’Reilly Emerging Telephony Conference in SFO. An open cell phone platform named tux-phone. Three important disclaimers: It is not a novel idea. People have thought and written about similar equipment. We just started building it. The engineering process is fairly straightforward except for finding the right parts and putting them together while keeping it small.” Link. See previous.

DIY PSP Stand

DIY PSP Stand

87090067 313Ec87C19 MUsing some plastic and a toaster you can make your own PSP stand, JavaMoose writes “I decided to make a simple little stand for the PSP. Handy when watching videos, and it lets me have it connected to external speakers and the charger – while on the stand. It is very simple to make, and only cost me about 20 minutes and 25 cents worth of plastic.” [via] Link.

Program on a PDP

Program on a PDP

PdpVia DiggPaul Allen has donated his collection of ancient DEC computers to this site. Program like its 1972! “PDPplanet.com offers users something unique–the ability to telnet to a DECsystem-10 or an XKL Toad-1, log in to a personal account, create or upload programs, and run them. We encourage enthusiasts at all levels of experience, beginners and old hands alike, to apply for accounts on the 2065 (running Tops-10 v7.04) and the Toad-1 (running Tops-20 v7.1) and to visit the PDP Planet Forums to share ideas and ask questions.” Link.

Automate Windows, with Macromaker…

Automate Windows, with Macromaker…

MacromakerI’m using lots of macros with my DIY VR set up, I’m going to try this tool out “MacroMaker allows you to create macros or recordings to automate most anything that you already do by hand. MacroMaker was written more for the use of people who regularly use computers and programmers rather than the casual PC user. Most anything you know how to do by hand can be translated into a macro or recording in MacroMaker. If you are having to perform repetitive tasks, this program will help you out tremendiously.” [via] Link.