__ __ __ ___ / // /__ _____/ /__ ___ _ / _ \___ ___ __ / _ / _ `/ __/ '_/ / _ `/ / // / _ `/ // / /_//_/\_,_/\__/_/\_\ \_,_/ /____/\_,_/\_, / retro edition /___/Now optimized for embedded devices!!
| About | Successes | Retrocomputing guide | Email Hackaday |
This handy printer interface started out as a request on our very own forums when forum member [victorf] needed some output via thermal printers. He had scored a number of HP82240B thermal printers intended for use with HP calculators, but of course they used the somewhat arcane HP protocol first drafted in the 1960′s and needed some help.
Fellow forum member [wireb] started to look into it, found out it uses a standard 32KHz carrier signal, and started asking questions about its use. Grabbing a pdf of the manual he was able to find out all the details to what the printer was expecting in the form of communications.
After a few weeks, [wireb] was able to make a convenient, logic level serial to HP-IR adapter based around a PIC16F1824 who’s firmware supports 9600 8N1 or 2400 8N1 speeds, ASCII text, and the printer’s “advanced” graphical modes via escape sequences.
If you have not checked out our forums yet we suggest you do!
RFID seems to have invaded every part of our lives. Sure, the technology has been primarily used in government and industry, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have consumer applications. Recently, we posted about [max's] RFID dorm room lock, that he built to provide a safe, convenient way to access his room. A while back, we talked about an RFID spatially aware address book that used a combination of rfid tags and post-it notes to control the NFC enabled Nokia 3220 cell phone. Both of these projects highlight unique applications where RFID is used. We bash on RFID from time to time, mostly due to its security (or lack there of). That said, there is an interesting consumer solution out there for people who want to voluntarily use RFID called Touchatag (formerly known as Tikitag). The cool thing about Touchatag is that it uses a combination of RFID and QR (2-D barcode) tags to trigger applications on the Touchatag website. The starter kit, which includes 10 tags and a USB RFID reader, goes for about $40; a decent price considering the hacking potential for the RFID reader. In addition to using the reader, you can also use any NFC enabled phone to read the tags. While NFC enabled phones are currently few and far between, the technology will likely be implemented in many of the new phones released in the coming year.
We’re curious, what do you think is next for consumer RFID? What kind of innovative project ideas do you have?
In an effort to simplify his interface, [danwagoner] cobbled together this push potentiometer. It utilizes a potentiometer mounted directly above a push button with a spring mounted around it. This way the user has only one item to deal with. They can twist the knob and press down on it to push the button. We love seeing people come up with ways of creating their own items instead of buying something. This was fairly inventive and reminds us of the LED buttons we saw back in January. Great job [danwagoner].
An unemployed electrical engineer can be a very dangerous thing. [Cybrown] has turned his skills toward darker, more awesome applications by building an armed unmanned aerial vehicle. This is a remote control airplane that has a movable camera mounted in the cockpit. Video and GPS data are sent back to the pilot who views the picture via a wearable display. We’re betting this doesn’t have the range that the 100km UAV did, but that’s good because this one brings doom from the skies. Check the wings in the picture above, this RC is fireworks-enable. We’ve embedded flight footage and attack video after the break.
Update: Here is a forum post covering this nugget of awesome. There are just a few details but the entire thread is interesting. Someone pointed this out in the comments but they don’t get credit because they didn’t leave a link.
Flight demo
Launching fireworks
[Thanks Jonathan]
[Roo] seems to think we’ve been neglecting the NSLU2 or “slug”. It’s true we have spent a lot of time fawning over the Linksys WRT54G instead. The slug is definitely worthy of attention though. It is a small network appliance with two USB ports that you are supposed to attach disk drives to for simple network storage. Add a little custom firmware and you’re free to use the USB ports for whatever you want.
The XScale processor in the slug comes underclocked from the factory. Following the instructions on the NSLU2-Linux wiki you can pop one resistor off of the circuit board to restore the full 266Mhz. Benchmarks, temperature, and power consumption after the change are covered.