Using a card reader that was purchased for $1.50 Mondo Technology used a PIC12F675 to bring it to life. “The unit provides the magnetic head on a spring mechanism along with low level head signal amplifiers and data slicers. Three signal lines comming from the unit provide card presence, clock, and data. When actively reading a card, it draws about 50ma of current at 5 volts.”
If you want a unique pocket watch, you can’t beat this one. You will have to be patience though since it takes some time for the CRT to warm up and show you the time. “The time is displayed on a tiny 3/4” diameter screen at the press of a button. (Well, you do have to wait 10 seconds for the tube to warm up.) This watch is powered by
If you can’t afford to buy something, make it yourself. Full instructions and code are available to make your own computerized embroidery machine. “After seeing some computerized home embroidering/sewing machines in operation, we were intrigued. But they were priced in the range of a good multimedia PC system. We next happened upon a store where a large, costly embroidery system was in operation making large jacket designs. This was in
OK this is another Nixie clock right? WRONG! Ryan Brooks has gone old school, he built this clock around 31 year old processor technology! The controller chip is a MOS 6502, unlike modern microcontrollers this CPU requires a host of supporting circuitry and logic for it function. Ryan has all of the details you need to build your own on his site. “So, I wanted a Nixie clock and I
The Leaf is an interesting artificial intelligence and vision robotic system. It is open source, software and construction details are available on the Leaf Project Web site. There are three Leaf system developers: * Bruce Weimer who has made some other very interesting systems. * Robin Hewitt, she likes to see what makes robots tick. * Alex Brown who, no surprise, has also made some interesting robots. “From Left to
The guys over at Spark Fun are having a blast creating cool electronics and gadgets that use them. This Bluetooth controlled Roomba is a prime example. They are using their WiTilt module to send the Roomba direction information. Plans and code are available on their site so that you can build your own. I am looking forward to see what will come next. How will they top the roomba and
David Murray took the $20 Hummer Off Road Racing game and converted it into a working Commodore 64. Included on his site are instructions on how to hack the audio, video circuits to work better. “Inside, it contains the Commodore 64 DTV chip, designed by Jeri Ellsworth. It is the same chip being sold inside the Commodore 64 DTV Joystick currently being sold in Europe. (DTV = Direct to TV)
