The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for digital gadgetry, open code, smart hacks, and more. Processing power to the people!
Attila writes “This is my first computer mod ever. I wanted to build a compact gaming PC using an old Mac SE case. For my case window mod I took the old built-in black and white monitor, cut it near the end using sand-blasting technology…I designed all my logos in Illustrator; I had vinyl stencils cut out. I used those stencils to spray-paint the logos on my case, PSU, after it dried I used clear-coat to finish the case off.” Link.
Great article on making iSync phone plugins from The Tao of Mac “Given that there seems to be a lot of misconceptions about exactly how iSync detects and understands the capabilities of mobile phones and pretty much no written documentation about the whole process, I thought it was about time I published my notes on the matter.” Brian reminded me that you can use’screen’ to talk to serial ports (for example, ‘screen /dev/tty.Bluetooth-Modem’), so you don’t need ZTerm to do this…Link.
“The original Minix was an educational operating system – that actually served as the inspiration for development of Linux. MINIX 3 is a new open-source operating system designed to be highly reliable and secure. It is based somewhat on previous versions of MINIX, but is fundamentally different in many key ways. MINIX 1 and 2 were intended as teaching tools; MINIX 3 adds the new goal of being usable as a serious system on resource-limited and embedded computers and for applications requiring high reliability.” One of the nice things about Minix 3.0 is that unlike previous versions of Minix – it installs and runs just fine inside of Virtual PC. Thanks Brian! Link.
“The ideal time to install a home network is while your home is being built. It is so much easier to run all the cabling throughout your home before the walls are finished. This web page will describe the network that I installed in my new home as it was being built with a focus on the ‘How To’ aspect.” [via] Link.
“Gold, silver or copper can be a great looking accent, but not all mod parts come in these colors. Having parts dipped and plated, like chroming, can be very pricey. So what do you do? A technique called Leafing, which is a process of applying a real metal onto wood, metal, or plastic.” Here’s how to metal leaf computer parts… Link.
Rbils writes “Release 7.0 of ColdFusion added several different IM Event Gateways that make creating IM based bots extremely simple. The developer version of ColdFusion is free and can be downloaded from macromedia.com. The ColdFusion community has already released several bots, including one for use in looking up ColdFusion documentation (try cflivedocs in Yahoo Messenger for example).” See our previous post about a MAKEbot…Has anyone made one of these? Let us know… Link.
Master modder Ben Heck has created a masterpiece “Of all the portable videogame devices I’ve ever built over the years one system has always been my “Holy Grail” to make – my “dream portable” if you will. (Yes, even more so than my Neo Geo arcade machine) And now after a couple years of tinkering it is complete! Without further ado – the Atari 800 XE Laptop!” Link.
