So, I mentioned in an earlier (and probably unread) post that I would be embarking on a series of projects over the next few weeks/months/time units of my life. Well, it seems that I made good on that mention, maybe for once. What’s more shocking is that it’s also midterm season, so instead of studying (what is studying?) I found myself working on these potentially-useless-but-novel projects. In this case, a receipt printer that prints out tweets by the minute. It’s my own version of an occasionally done project, and an idea that I had (but never really pursued) several years ago. My roommate found a post about a similar project on Engadget that was made using an Arduino, and it re-kindled my desire to do it.
Okay, I am going to finally maybe officially start using this again because there are many projects that I want to work on in the coming months/free time.
I’m currently building an Arduino based interactive LED controller for a friend’s school project. Nothing super special, just some transistors on perf board and a sketch that listens for commands via serial. The plan is to build a PHP-based web site that then will forward commands (via serial with the PHPserial class) to the arduino. Essentially it’s a web based home automation project on a much much smaller scale.
Next on the list is a twitter-printing thermal printer. I won a super cheap thermal label printer on Ebay. That I plan to pair with a RS232-bluetooth radio and some clever scripting on my always-on computer. Next thing you know I’ll have a hard copy of all tweets with a certain hashtag printed on receipt paper as they are posted.
After that is a teleprinter. Think an old-school serial terminal on paper. I’m going to get an electric typewriter and put an arduino/atmega between the keyboard matrix and the control circuitry. All things typed on the keyboard will be forwarded over the Arduino’s serial port to the terminal server, and likewise, all things returned from the terminal server via serial will be hammered out by the typewriter. Pair it with a bluetooth-uart and you’ve got a typewriter that’s mysteriously a full-fledged command line.
Perhaps next would be a thermostat modification. Roommates always turn the thermostat up, so I’d like to throw together a sketch for an atmega that monitors two digital pins (the temperature up/down buttons on the thermostat) and when it detects that one is pressed, it digitally presses the opposite so that the temperature is functionally ‘locked’ in. Maybe it’ll let them turn it up, but then after they’ve walked away (10 seconds?) it’ll turn it back down again. That way the roomies don’t notice anything fishy. Again, plus a bluetooth-uart so it can be remotely changed by authorized users.
That’s all for today. I have to go write a program for my CPE lab.
XO, Scott
So I am considering taking this site in a new direction (rather than its current direction of nowhere), or maybe even launching a new site altogether. Since being at college I’ve been having all these thrilling technical ideas and I’d like a place to document and advertise them.
We’ll see how things work out.
I got an email today saying that the Apple TV I won at auction a week ago had been shipped. This morning. UPS estimates arrival at September 13th, or two days AFTER I move away. There is a reason I bought it earlier rather than later, but I guess that doesn’t matter to these people.
I started packing legit today. And by that I mean putting my life in boxes and putting it in the basement, and packing a few to take. I decided to take a phone, after all. Just one.
And nothing came in the mail today, which was kinda disappointing.
On another note, my roommate texted me; “I found this awesome website for cheap cables: Monoprice.com” to which I replied, “I’ve been ordering stuff from them forever. That’s where I got all the cables I’ve already ordered for the dorm. Highly recommended.” It was kinda funny to me. I’m bringing most of the stuff for the dorm; the television, the water kettle, stereo, etc.
I’m chilling at my grandparents’ house. My grandpa had a stroke a few days back, so I’m keeping my grandmother company. I’m eating frozen meals from their freezer, and someone mentioned my blog and it gave me the idea to write a post over my frozen mac and cheese.
Perhaps the most exciting will come first:
Patrick’s HP TouchPad is on my front porch, according to FedEX tracking. My Monoprice audio cables came yesterday. The 1/8″ to RCA is insanely huge. Like, obscene gauge. Like, Monster Cable status, only $7. I haven’t opened the box that the speaker cable came in, but I will when I get home. Now I just need that damn amp to come.
Here’s a list of the packages I’m awaiting:
Fast Ship From Hong Kong! stereo amplifier.
LCD television stand
Another AppleTV. Which I will elaborate on below.
I had mentioned that I had ordered a first gen AppleTV on Ebay. Yes, I did. It was a 160gb model, and it was an as-is listing. It had the blinking orange light of death, which can mean two things: Bad hard drive, or bad motherboard. I had gambled that it was a bad drive, and I lost. The drive was/is fine, the motherboard is not. So I relisted it on Ebay last night (as broken), and it just sold buy-it-now for $70. Which means profit. Oh, Ebay, you never fail me.
Currently, I’m the high bidder on a 40gb model. I decided to go cheap, because I don’t really need the hard drive space, and I found a 80gb hard drive laying around that I could replace it with anyway. I have a feeling that I will be winning this auction, you will know before this post is over. Oh, I just won. I had a gift card for Ebay (from my orthodontist), and combining that with my profit from my last AppleTV adventure, I’m out the door for $31. Which is $30 less than I paid (shipped) for my broken 160gb model. And this one works.
That’s all for now. I’ll write up more as it comes to me.
Got my touchpad. It was lame initially, but I have overclocked it and it is quite nice now. Waiting for Android.
I ordered the stand for my television last night. I had one watched that was going to be like $65, and then on a whim I did a search for the part number and found the one I ended up buying, buy-it-now with free shipping for $36. Which rocked.
I ordered more from monoprice.com today. 50′ of speaker cable and a 25′ 1/8″ to RCA audio cable. It was really inexpensive, I figure I work enough that I can spend $10 here or there. I figure I will somehow adhere (screws?) the mini-amp from Hong-Kong to my non-powered sub and then run the line-level cable to it directly from wherever my computer is. And, obviously, run the speaker cable from the sub to the Bose monitors. I also need to get an audio switch box so I can flip between audio sources (television and computer), as the amp only has one pair of RCA inputs, and it’d be nice to hear Glee and 30Rock through the amp. The built-ins in the television suck.
I think I’m going to end up writing a post detailing my projected dorm electronics setup. It’ll serve as a reminder to me as well as an informational to you guys.
Oh, Happy Day! When Jesus Walked!
So, I’m going to college. I might use this space as a blog to document my college experiences. Like, moving away, moving in, my social life, etc. I’ll need some sort of creative output or else I think I’ll just go crazy. This shit’s gonna be like Julie/Julia only instead of a cookbook to work through I’ll have a calendar of parties.
So I guess since I’m here I’ll give you an update. I’m moving away on September 11. Boom. That’s when I think I’ll start blogging here more. I’ve got some of my stuff packed, but only the stuff that I’ve bought specifically to take. I have to do more packing to put stuff in storage than I have to do packing of stuff to take. Which is kinda weird.
I’m still waiting on packages of stuff I’ve ordered for school. I’m expecting an HP TouchPad or two hopefully by Monday the 29th. If I’m lucky it’ll come tomorrow, the 26th. I also bought a first gen AppleTV on Ebay the other morning. I’m hoping to run OSX on it and leave it home as a ultra-low-power seed box and VPN server. I also have a two channel amplifier coming from Hong Kong that I will use with my Bose speakers in the dorm. I need to order a television stand yet; the stand to my flatscreen was discarded when we wall mounted the sucker. I think I’ll do that now, I have the right one “watched” on Ebay.
I think that’s it for tonight. I’m beat. I need a creative outlet, as I’ve said. If I had an idea, I’d get back into app development. For now I’ll save that for next year.
XOXO Scott