Tales of Rescuing Old Hardware

Tales of Rescuing Old Hardware

tosh.jpgOn the BSD DevCenter Mikhail Zakharov has an article about installing NetBSD on an old Toshiba T2130CS- Intel 486DX4 75MHz notebook. The challenge was, with a lot of old hardware many of us have, is to install without the benefit of using a CD-ROM drive. With only the floppy drive and the LPT/COM ports, it’s usually tough to get anything on old machines. Link.

Malibu Car PC

Malibu Car PC

car_pc.jpgVery cool in car PC project- Aydiosmio writes “So, for the longest time, putting a PC in the place I spend about 2 hours every day has been a goal of mine. I finally got up the gusto to do it. My 01′ Malibu presents, the Car PC…” The project uses Media Engine on the touch screen that can control audio, video, DVD, FM, XM, and GPS (via Destinator). Nice work! Link.

Controlling a Parallel Port with Perl

Controlling a Parallel Port with Perl

port.jpgI was looking for something else, but then found this and figured it might come in handy for something- here’s how to control the parallel port with Perl using a module called Device:ParallelPort. Device::ParallelPort is a Perl API that allows low level access to the parallel port of most computers. It does this by using a number of drivers, which can be customized and added to, including Linux (direct and parport), Win32, Script, Dummy, and more. It also contains a number of direct access devices including an example printer and a relay controller card. Link.

DIY DNA Explorer Kit

DIY DNA Explorer Kit

dna.jpgThis DNA kit is for kids, but might be fun for all ages (and for some potential projects). It says you can view and map real DNA, do experiments as well as extract DNA from vegetables. It comes with a Centrifuge, mixer, electrophoresis chamber and other parts to perform the tests. Some bad news for Canadians, two of the 10 experiments included in the kit require the “Lambda DNA” which does not ship to Canada. Link.