Ian – Page 24 – Dangerous Prototypes

Dangerous Prototypes t-shirts now available

Get your dangerous on with a Dangerous Prototypes t-shirt. T-shirts are black with a white Dangerous Prototypes logo on the front. Sizes available are small, medium, large and extra large. This is a test batch, we have no idea how this will work out. They’re available at cost ($7) from Seeed. A special thanks to […]

7400 competition entry: Lazarus-64

Here’s an entry in the Open 7400 Logic competition: Lazarus-64 I like the idea of a 74x logic competition! Here is my entry, a retro computer that generates all video using ONLY 74hc logic parts… The latest version even has a 4 voice sound system, including a white noise channel made using a linear shift […]

Week in (p)review: September 23, 2011

Facebook free PCB Friday is on the way. Don’t forget to share your current project in the comments or the forum. Here’s a summary of major developments over the last week: We had a great time at World Maker Faire New York 2011 Open Hardware Summit 2011 arhi added PID control to the DIY soldering […]

Understanding Verilog warnings

Big Mess o’ Wires has a review of Verilog warnings: Those of you who’ve followed the blog for a while know about my many frustrations with Verilog. Because it feels sort of a like a procedural programming language, but very definitely isn’t one, I keep expecting to be far more competent at Verilog design than […]

Universal soldering iron driver update

arhi added PID control to the DIY soldering station. This graph shows that the temperature stays solid even on a wet sponge and in a glass of water: As you can see 280sec into the test I pushed the soldering iron on the dump sponge and held it there until 320sec then I let it […]

A guide to reflow soldering

Arup shares his soldering technique: The below FM radio module is dismantled and re soldered by my method, and looks exactly as it was new product. Thanks Arup! Via the forum.

High power TV-B-Gone flashlight with mega range

megabug posted a TV B Gone with huge range: tvbgone firmware from Ian (irtoy) which works like a charm here. 10 IR LEDs from Vishay (some high power stuff afair) in parallel pulsed with up to 4.2V from the battery! I Think the only voltage drop or resistor is in the mosfet I used. ;) […]

Doing it right: webtronics open source web-based schematic entry

logical tipped us to Webtronics, an open source online schematic editor project Unlike Upverter, this project is MIT licensed and anyone can use it. Word.

Hackerspaces at Maker Faire (Day 2)

Local (and not-so-local) Hackerspaces had a great presence at Maker Faire. We picked up a ton of great stamps in our Hackerspace Diplomatic Passport. We ran into NYC Resistor, who used their robotic stamp on our passport, as well as Alpha One Labs, Artisans Asylum, Space Camp, Kansas City’s Hackerspace, and many others. Mitch Altman […]

Booths and Exhibits at Maker Faire (Day 2)

There was still plenty left to see at Day 2 of Maker Faire. Some of our favorites included the Matrix-style 3D Polaroid flip book, the Instructables booth, finding the IR Jammer v2 (from our friend Alan at Hacked Gadgets) in the Maker Shed, and a giant clothing area filled with plenty of unique, geeky T-shirts. […]

Editorial: Upverter, another closed source vampire exploits open hardware for ventrue capital, PR, and profit

Upverter is an online schematic layout program. Among several features, it allows a group to work on a project collaboratively. They were a big presence at the Open Hardware Summit, and have been marketing themselves as the ideal solution for open hardware collaboration. That sucks, here’s why: This is a new class of project we’re […]

Getting around at Maker Faire

There was slightly less ground to cover at the New York Maker Faire, compared to the one in the Bay Area. Nevertheless, your feet can get tired after a whole day of walking around. We saw plenty of creative alternatives to hoofing it, including a car covered entirely with Big Mouth Billy Bass signing fish […]

Big Talks at Maker Faire

Bre Pettis and Mitch Altman gave great talks on their latest projects in the Main Hall at Maker Faire.

Dangerous Prototypes Booth at Maker Faire (Day 2)

We had a great time at the DP booth on Day 2 of Maker Faire! Thanks to everyone who came by for your interest, and your tweets! More pictures below.

MMA7455L accelerometer free PCB build

Piotr built a free MMA7455L accelerometer breakout board. If you build a free PCB we’ll send you another one! Blog about it, post a picture on Flicker, whatever – we’ll send you a coupon code for the free PCB drawer. Get the MMA7455L breakout board for $15 at Seeed Studio.

#FreePCB via Twitter to 2 random RTs

Every Tuesday we give away two coupons for the free PCB drawer via Twitter. This post was announced on Twitter, and in 24 hours we’ll send coupon codes to two random retweeters. Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times a every week: Hate Twitter and Facebook? Free PCB Sunday is the classic PCB giveaway. Catch […]

Bus Blaster v2.1 free PCB build

Greeeg built a free Bus Blaster v2.1 PCB. If you build a free PCB we’ll send you another one! Blog about it, post a picture on Flicker, whatever – we’ll send you a coupon code for the free PCB drawer. You can get a Bus Blaster v2 for $34.95.

Maker Faire Day 1 – Weird Stuff

Here are some of the stranger booths and projects we say on Day 1 of Maker Faire, including a recycled water outhouse, an interactive mask designed after this year’s food poisoning outbreak in Germany, glasses that light up when you talk, and… well, we don’t really know what this thing with the big eyes is. […]