Arquitectura de Computadores 10º Ano

Droide M.L.P.

2009-07-25T11:37:00.000-07:00

Droide M.L.P.

Plataforma Multi Linguagens para o Kit Lego® Mindstorms® NXT

Robot Fácil com Arduino

2009-07-25T11:35:00.000-07:00

Bob's Arduino electronics projects

2009-07-25T11:31:00.000-07:00

Bob's Arduino electronics projects

Aarduino Projects

2009-07-25T11:29:00.000-07:00

arduinoprojects.com

Cool Circuits Collection

2009-07-25T11:25:00.000-07:00

Inscrições On-Line

2009-07-11T11:45:00.001-07:00

Inscrições On-Line
Escola Secundária Augusto Cabrita
Matricula Provisória
(Clica aqui)

2009-2010

Cursos Profissionais de Informática

Inscrições On-Line

2009-07-11T11:44:00.001-07:00

Inscrições On-Line
Escola Secundária Augusto Cabrita
Matricula Provisória
(Clica aqui)

2009-2010

Cursos Profissionais de Informática

Lançamento do OpenOffice.org 3.1.0

2009-05-08T14:02:00.000-07:00

A Comunidade Portuguesa do OpenOffice.org anuncia hoje a disponibilidade da versão portuguesa do OpenOffice.org 3.1, em simultâneo com as outras versões oficiais. Graças a uma colaboração entre a Sun Microsystems Portugal e a Escola Secundária Augusto Cabrita, e no âmbito de um protocolo de colaboração entre o Ministério da Educação, esta versão portuguesa foi sujeita antecipadamente a todos os testes de qualidade e está disponível para download em todo o mundo, quer no site oficial htttp://www.openoffice.org quer no site português http://pt.openoffice.org
.
Este facto demonstra o crescente empenhamento da sociedade portuguesa numa alternativa credível e de qualidade para uma ferramenta de tratamento de texto, folha de cálculo, apresentações, desenho, e base de dados para utilização pessoal e empresarial.

A versão 3.1 do OpenOffice.org é uma actualização significativa para a aplicação líder mundial em produtividade de escritório (Office) de código aberto. Desde que a versão 3.0 do OpenOffice.org foi lançada em Outubro passado, mais de 50 milhões de downloads foram registadas a partir do site oficial do OpenOffice.org. Lançado em mais de 90 línguas e disponível gratuitamente em todas as principais plataformas de computadores, o OpenOffice.org 3.1 parece destinado a bater este recorde.

A Comunidade do OpenOffice.org tem estado a ouvir os seus utilizadores. Estes foram convidados a votar nas características "mais desejadas", e o resultado já ajudou a moldar este novo lançamento. Esta nova versão inclui também um mecanismo opcional que permite que os utilizadores informem a equipa de desenvolvimento sobre como é utilizado o OpenOffice.org

A maior mudança (meio milhão de linhas de código!) e a mais visível é a renovação da qualidade gráfica do OpenOffice.org . Os mais técnicos denominam-na de "anti-aliasing" - os utilizadores normais apreciarão a melhor qualidade gráfica de todas as imagens. As melhorias estendem-se a outras mudanças mais subtis, como a forma como as imagens são mantidas enquanto estão a ser arrastadas, a forma de destacar as selecções de texto, e a adição da capacidade de sobrepor linhas a texto ("sobrelinhar"..) .

As características principais desta versão incluem:

Processamento de texto
* Melhorias nos comentários: os comentários respondidos são apresentados como "conversas"
* Maior integração do verificador gramatical
* Numeração de destaques dentro de parágrafos para documentos complexos

Folha de cálculo
* Dicas para fórmulas, com novas e melhores fórmulas disponíveis
* Melhoria nos ordenamentos
* Remoção de estrangulamentos ao desempenho
* Cursor deslizante de tamanho de imagem adicionado à barra de estado
* Mudança de nome de folhas com clique duplo

Gráficos
* Posicionamento flexível dos eixos para os utilizadores científicos e educativos
* Gestão flexível dos pontos de dados "não existentes"

Apresentação
* Botão de tamanho dos caracteres

Base de Dados
* Destaque da sintaxe SQL
* Implementação mais fácil de aplicações macro

Internacionalização e Localização
* Melhor suporte para escrita bidireccional
* Suporte a novas línguas

O OpenOffice.org também tem agora um melhor dispositivo de controlo de acesso em simultâneo a ficheiros , permitindo aos utilizadores partilhar arquivos com segurança em ambientes multi-plataforma.

"O OpenOffice.org 3.1 demonstra que estamos a ouvir os nossos utilizadores, e que graças ao empenho de longo prazo dos nossos apoiantes, podemos investir o tempo e esforço necessários para fazer mudanças significativas no software, "disse John McCreesh, líder de Marketing do OpenOffice.org. "O OpenOffice.org tem todas as características que os utilizadores querem, é fácil de usar e gratuito. Apelamos a todos para que o descarregam e o experimentem ainda hoje."

Download
O OpenOffice.org 3.1 está disponivel para download gratuito a partir de
http://pt.openoffice.org ou de http://download.openoffice.org

Guia de novas funcionalidades
http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/features/3.1/index.html

Corrector ortográfico e dicionário de sinónimos português
http://pt.openoffice.org/download/dics.htm

Sobre o OpenOffice.org
A Comunidade OpenOffice.org é uma equipa internacional de voluntários e empresas, incluindo a fundadora Sun Microsystems, a Novell, a Red Hat, a IBM, a Google e a Red Flag, que desenvolvem, traduzem, apoiam e promovem a suite de produtividade de código aberto OpenOffice.org.
O OpenOffice.org usa o OpenDocument Format, uma norma internacional (ISO/IEC 26300 ), bem como os formatos de arquivos clássicos, como os do Microsoft Office. Está disponível nas principais plataformas de computação em mais de 90 idiomas.
O software OpenOffice.org é fornecido sob a licença “Lesser GNU Public Licence” (LGPL), e pode ser utilizado gratuitamente, para qualquer propósito, privado ou comercial.

O OpenOffice.org em Portugal
A Comunidade Portuguesa do OpenOffice.org conta com a colaboração de vários voluntários, e das empresas Caixa Mágica Software, Intraneia e Sun Microsystems.
Mantém um sítio em língua portuguesa: http://pt.openoffice.org
Pode ser contactada através do e-mail: marketing@pt.openoffice.org
ou através do seguinte endereço:
Edifício Espanha, Rua Soeiro Pereira Gomes, lote 1, 8º F, 1600-196 Lisboa

casemods-que-sao-obras-de-arte

2009-05-05T14:28:00.002-07:00

Mundo Tecno

Casemod são modificações no gabinete, feito por pessoas que gostam de personalizar seu computador para ficar mais bonito, atraente. Às vezes pode ser feito também em periféricos, como mouse, teclado, monitor… O fato é que alguns exageram na dose, criando verdadeiras obras de arte.

O site Computer Plus reuniu 60 modelos bem diferentes, que se destacam dos Casemods que costumamos ver. Vejamos alguns exemplos:

Esse realmente é fã do Digg

Cuidado aonde pisa!

O Bender (não o do futurama, o do blog) deve adorar este

O melhor de todos, na minha opinião

Que nojeira!

Confira todos o modelos no Computer Plus. É diversão garantida!

Gostou do assunto? Alguns links legais:
Aprenda a fazer seu casemod
Tutorial casemod
Casemod BR
Spon (loja especializada em vender acessórios para casemod)

PC em forma de bola desperta curiosidade na web

2009-05-05T14:28:00.001-07:00

Uma das fotos exibidas no site mostra o "Pc mundo"

Um microcomputador no formato de uma esfera - nome mais chique da conhecida bola - despertou atenção de usuários de listas de discussão na Internet. Seria um lançamento? Onde poderia ser comprado? A equipe da Magnet intensificou buscas por repositórios japoneses e descobriu que a engenhoca, criada pela empresa "Zero Eight O´Nine" (www.0809.jp) era de fato um lançamento em... 2002.

» Mais fotos do "PC bola"
» Veja casemods inusitados
» Dez gabinetes modificados
» PCs imitam Doom III e moto

O processo de fabricação da esfera era artesanal e os consumidores poderiam optar por diferentes cores e padrões: desde um "discreto" verde-limão até uma reprodução do mapa-múndi. Havia também uma opção de revestimento em alumínio.

O fabricante oferecia quatro opções diferentes de configuração de hardware. As placas-mãe eram as VIA EPIA Mini ITX, de baixo consumo de energia e com dimensões reduzidas, o que facilitou a fabricação do curioso computador. Os processadores também eram fabricados pela VIA Technologies com clocks de 800, 933 e 1.000 MHz, com barramento de placa de vídeo AGP e opções de micros com CD-ROM ou até gravadores de DVD.

Os micros da Zero Eight O´Nine podem ser considerados os precursores dos casemods - a arte de personalizar as máquinas. No Brasil existe um site especializado no assunto (http://www.casemodbr.com/) e até profissionais que trabalham exclusivamente na customização de gabinetes, os "casemodders".

Magnet

2009-04-21T02:07:00.001-07:00

Goth is Back, Goth is Good, Goth is the Way! Mouse, Mousepad and Goth Keyboard.

Not long ago we talked about a Goth like set of skull speakers and a Gothish PC Web-camera. This morning Evergreen came back to us with a rather strange combo consisting of a mouse, mousepad and Goth keyboard.

I'm personally not too crazy about this stuff, but I am sure someone, somewhere, would be interested in this combo.

Making a glowpad

2009-04-19T16:39:00.000-07:00

.bit-tech.net

.. or, how I learned to stop worrying and love the router

After finishing off my case mod (see sig), I found that stopping my modder's reflex is a little harder than I expected it would be. Long story short, I figured I'd use some of the leftover parts from my case, to make one of those fancy glowing mousepads.

Now, you've all seen them, and mine's nothing different or special. Nonetheless, I feel I should contribute to the Mod Guides section with a pictorial guide.

First of all, it's important to know that I'll be using the router heavily throughout this project. Most people would suggest a dremel or jigsaw for doing this sortof thing, but if you have a router, now's a great time to use it. Using tools like the router and tablesaw can bring a much higher level of accuracy to the project, and make you feel better about your work.

Anyways, start by cutting out a plywood mockup of the mousepad, whatever dimensions you like (I used 8.5*10", since it's about the biggest that could fit on my desk. I'd suggest one a little higher)

Aim for a high level of precision, because the outcome of the pad depends on it
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Next, cut out (using any tool) an oversized piece of plexi (the thicker the better)

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Using countersinking wood screws, attach the plywood mockup to a workbench or another, bigger piece of plywood. Then, drill two holes and fit yet another two countersinking wood screws through them, and screw the plexi to the plywood mockup. Clamps would be inconvenient at this point, because it's easiest to do the cutout all at once, and the clamps wouldn't allow that (they'd block the router, and have to be periodically moved)

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As you can see, we'll be using a standard router, with a 1/2 trim bit. The roller bearing keeps the movement of the blade exactly aligned with the plywood mockup. This allows us to create a perfect duplicate. Another advantage is that the router will usually leave you with a very nice looking edge, requiring little to no finish work

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Begin cutting, making sure to follow along the path the board makes, and maintain a reletivly fast feed rate. Going too slow causes melting, because the blade isn't so much cutting the material, but rather chipping away at it.

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Even thougn the cut is complete, we're going to leave the plexi attached to the guide just a little longer. It makes it easier to do finish sanding.
Now, most people would be happy with a sanding block and a lot of time. Not me, however. Today we'll be using a belt sander to finish up the edges and make them all pretty.

Simply follow along the wooden guide with the belt sander turned sideways. The wood should stop you from removing more plexi than necessary.

Since the belt sander's paper may be fairly coarse, follow up with 600 and then 1000 grit wetordry sandpaper. It takes a while, but you get the edges to an almost see-thru level
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Time for the LEDs. I'll be using 5 superbright reds that I got from an LED cluster at Wal-Mart. You could use blue or whatever if you so desire.
First of all, find an un-used wall-wart and figure out the voltage it puts out. Then use Bit-Tech's own LED calculator to figure out the required resistor
http://www.bit-tech.net/article/68/

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The plexi I used wasn't too thick (only 3mm) it was necessary to trim down the LEDs. You could do it the safe and patient way and use a file or sheet of sandpaper, but I won't cover that. Instead, I'll show you the magic of the bench grinder. It managed to take the LEDs down to size in a few seconds

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Next up, we need to make grooves or channels for the wiring to fit through. Once again, we'll turn to our friend, the router for it's assistance. You can't really tell in the picture, but I carefully set the depth of cut so it's about 2mm deep. That way, I can safely cut a 2mm groove in the plexi, and use the other 1mm for support.

At this point I should mention that to mount the LEDs, I drilled 3/8" holes. Honest to goodness holes. Don't worry, they can't even be detected once the surface goes on.

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A film can is used to house the switchs and wiring. This holds many advantages, such as preventing electric shocks, and preventing 'fallapart'

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Finally, the mouse tracking surface was from an old school book. I can't really describe the material or give it a name. It was hard, yet bendy. It is also quite low in the friction department, and it lets my mouse glide around freely. It also tracks very well in the optical department. I cut it out so that it was 1cm inset on every edge, and attached it with double sided carpet tape.
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Finally, the result:

Light on ^^

Light off ^^

Hope this was semi-easy to follow and gave an even clearer understanding and insight into the process of making a mouse pad

HDD Activity Meter

2009-04-19T15:41:00.000-07:00

bit-tech.net

Author: Dave Williams
Published: 23rd June 2002

A Knight in Shining LEDs
Okay, this circuit is really part of the "Knight Rider" project. I have separated it purely for the benefit of web search engines looking for a "Hard Drive Activity Meter". It uses the same basic circuit, circuit board designs and construction as before, and therefore I am not going to repeat all that detail. I strongly suggest you refer to the "Knight Rider" project for construction details.

This circuit is designed as a replacement for the standard HDD activity LED and offers an indication of the amount of activity by lighting a row of LEDs. The higher the HDD activity, the more LEDs light. It does not give a reading of actual Mb/s, just how hard the drive is working.

The circuit is based around the "Classic" Knight Rider design and differs only with R3 being fitted in it's alternate position, the addition of IC4 and R6, and VR1 is replaced with a wire link.

The opto-isolator, IC4, connects to the HDD LED header on the motherboard and serves to isolate the circuit from the rest of the system whilst ensuring compatibility with just about every motherboard that has a HDD LED. As the HDD reads and writes it produces a stream of pulses which are fed to the circuit via the opto-isolator. These pulses are fed into IC1b, which buffers and shapes these pulses before feeding them into IC1a. IC1a is an integrator whose job it is to "smooth" these pulses into a voltage level. This voltage is reasonably proportional to the frequency and duration of the pulses generated by the HDDs activity. Hence, the busier the drive, the higher the voltage. This voltage is fed from the output of IC1a into IC2 which is an LED bargraph voltmeter. So in a nutshell, the busier the drive, the more LEDs light up. Similar to the previous circuits, the display can be operated in either DOT or BAR mode and has 10 and 20 LED variations.

VR3 sets the "zero" and is adjusted so that all the LEDs are just extinguished with no HDD activity. VR2 is the "span" and is adjusted so that all the LEDs are lit during heavy or constant drive activity. This span adjustment is somewhat subjective and is found by trial and error during HDD activity.

Parts List with order codes for UK and US suppliers

10 individual LED version

This board design like the others following, uses R3 in it's alternate position and has additional components IC4 and R6. VR1 is also replaced with a wire link. These changes to the layout are denoted in red. This board has two links, one of which replaces VR1.

Component layout - top view (left) and Track layout - Viewed from above (right)

The finished board.

Single LED array version

Note the two links on the circuit board and that R3 is fitted in it's "alternate" position.

Component layout - top view (left) and Track layout - Viewed from above (right)

The finished board and the detail of how the anodes are linked together and connected to the board using pad13, indicated by the red

20 LED versions

In this design the effect is of a pair of LEDs moving away from each other, (DOT mode), or, if using BAR mode, a row of LEDs expanding outwards away from each other.

Parts List with order codes for UK and US suppliers

20 individual LED version

As in all the board designs for the HDD meter, R3 is fitted in its alternate position and VR1 is replaced with a wire link. There is a total of three links on this board.

Component layout - top view.

Track layout - Viewed from above.

The finished board.

The PCB layout if using two 10 LED arrays

Again three links are used here.

Component layout - top view (left) and Track layout - Viewed from above (right)

The finished board.

Wiring detail between the LED arrays viewed from above.

Setting up

Setting up is simple but does involve a degree of trial and error. As before, I have included some resistance settings for VR2 and VR3 to give a reasonable starting point. Remember to set these measurements with the power disconnected from the circuit.

It helps to have the meter in BAR mode when setting up. With power connected and the HDD LED connection from the motherboard plugged in to the meter board, adjust VR3 so all the meter LEDs are just off. Then give the HDD something to do, I copied the pak0.pk3 file from the Quake 3 CD to my HDD. This file is 468MB and is big enough to allow sufficient time and constant HDD activity to set VR2. You can use any large file so long as it takes enough time to allow the setting of VR2. Whilst the file is copying adjust VR2 so all the LEDs are just fully lit.

Go back and check the VR3 setting and if needed readjust. If VR3 is readjusted then VR2 will also require tweaking. Keep repeating this fine tuning of the controls until no more adjustment is needed. The idea is to have no LEDs lit with no HDD activity and all LEDs lit, or the top LED in the case of using DOT mode, with constant drive activity. The in-between bits will look after themselves!

Adjust VR3 so all the LEDs are just extinguished.

VR2 is adjusted so that all LEDs are lit during constant drive activity.

The meter is an indication of the level of HDD activity, which can be influenced by operating system file caching, and as such, is somewhat subjective in how the display is interpreted. The component values used in the circuit produce excellent results with the motherboard/hard drive combinations tested but due to design variations between motherboards from different manufacturers, experimenting with the value of C2 may produce better/worse results. Values between 10uF - 100uF should be suitable.

The same comments about experimenting with the circuit made in the sister article here also apply to this design.

Knight Rider LED mod

2009-04-19T15:29:00.000-07:00

bit-tech.net

Author: Dave Williams
Published: 22nd June 2002

"A shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist..."

Knight Rider, a cult TV series from the 80's, starred a gallant crime fighting hero who didn't exist, (!), and a talking car with a mind of it's own called KITT. The car, a black Trans Am, had one cool visual feature, it's front sensor, a red scanning light panning back and forth. This effect has proven so popular, it appears in various guises in numerous TV shows and films. Of course, if it looks cool then it doesn't take long before the PC modding community starts to add it to their repertoire of eye candy. So without more ado let's move on to my version of the "Knight Rider" effect.

This circuit has proven to be so versatile that I decided to make several variations of it and hopefully you should find one that takes your fancy. Due to the numerous permutations of the circuit, I have stuck to building it on a PCB. Of course you can build it on stripboard if you prefer but I will leave the design of that layout up to you. If you have never made a PCB before or find the prospect too daunting, I will be producing a beginners guide to making PCBs soon. It is really easy and generally quicker than using stripboard. It took me less than 1 hour to produce all the PCBs in this article. Read on...

The different versions are:

The basic or classic effect. This uses 10 LEDs for the display.
The "gated" version. This is the the same thing but the LEDs only light when there is a control input. Intended for use with the motherboards HDD LED. The idea being that the display only operates during HDD activity. This uses the 10 LED display.
The basic circuit using 20 LEDs. This produces a dramatic visual variation by having the LEDs scanning in opposite directions simultaneously.
The "gated" version with 20 LEDs producing the same effect as number 3.
HDD activity meter. This produces an indication of the actual amount of HDD activity. I have produced this as a separate article to make it easier for web crawlers to find. This circuit also comes in four variations.

Reading through the article you will notice there are several circuit board designs. The reason being, I decided to use ready made LED arrays as well as individual LEDs, plus there are 10 and 20 LED versions of each. The ready made LED arrays allow for a more compact display and produce a slightly different visual effect. Using individual LEDs allows total freedom for choice of colour whereas the arrays are only available in red, green or yellow. (At the moment).

Each of the circuit boards have been designed to accommodate all of the circuit variations, classic, gated or HDD meter, the only differences between them being to accommodate which LED display and number of LEDs you choose to use. Don't be alarmed by the number of circuit designs and boards. You only have to make three easy choices to know which one to use. Firstly, decide if you want to use individual LEDs or the bargraph arrays, then choose either the 10 LED version or the 20 LED version. This will determine which of the four possible board designs to use. Once the choice of display is decided, then pick which circuit to use, the standard or the gated version. This will tell you which component layout to use. It may sound complicated, it's not. You will see how easy it is as you read the article.

One final note before I move on to the construction, I have repeated the circuit layouts on each page. I felt it was less confusing to see the board designs whilst reading the construction notes. To keep the tedium to a minimum I have not repeated construction notes throughout the article. Most of the detail is at the beginning, thinning out as the article progresses. Only comments relevant to each version will be made, so read the entire article carefully before starting any work. Components which are unique to each variation are shown in red on each layout diagram. At the end of the article is the setting up procedure and comments about some of the components used.

I intend to add real videos of each version when I can, but until then here are some digi-cam movies to keep you going...

Bargraph - DOT mode / Bargraph - BAR mode / Classic Knight Rider

The Classic Knight Rider

This circuit uses 10 LEDs to produce the effect of a single LED continuously moving back and forth in a line. The circuit comprises of two main parts, a triangle wave oscillator and an LED bargraph. Looking at the circuit below, IC1 is a dual op-amp configured as an oscillator, the output of which is a triangle wave. The oscillators frequency can be varied by adjusting VR3. The triangle output is fed into IC2, an LM3914 10 segment LED bargraph. This chip is basically a voltmeter which lights a series of LEDs, the number of LEDs lit is proportional the the voltage fed into the chip. Since the input to the chip is a triangle, (continuously rising and falling voltage), the LEDs light sequentially giving rise to the "scanning" effect. The chip can operate in either of two modes, "DOT" or "BAR". In DOT mode only one LED is lit at a time. This produces the classic Knight rider effect. By linking points "A" and "B" on the circuit "BAR" mode is selected. In this mode the LEDs progressively light until all the LEDs are lit producing a "bar" of light.

The circuit is designed to operate from the PC's +12V supply. VR1 adjusts the zero or start point of the meter. VR2 adjusts the meters span or end point and VR3 sets the oscillator frequency and hence the speed of the effect. Basically VR1 and VR2 determine how the effect looks. I will cover the setting up procedure in more detail later.

Linking points "A" and "B" switches the display into "BAR" mode which changes the effect into a continuously "growing and shrinking" line of LEDs.

Parts List with order codes for UK and US suppliers

The PCB layout if using individual LEDs.

NOTE: The PCB foil pattern shown, (and for all board versions), is not to scale. Clicking on the picture will open a 4x sized version which should be printed out at 25% of original size. This ensures an accurate and sharp print out for PCB exposure. Paint programs such as Paint Shop Pro allow for such reductions when printing. Do not rescale the picture and then print it, have the printer do it during printing. Don't forget to fit the small link shown in red on the layout. Also note the position of R3 which has two possible positions. You can see the two unused holes between R3 and R4 on the layout.

Component layout - top view (left) and Track layout - Viewed from above (right)

When assembling the components on the circuit board it is usually a good idea to fit the components with the least height first, working your way up to the tallest. It makes the board wobble less when trying to solder! For this project I recommend fitting the LEDs first as this will make aligning them accurately easier and will produce a nice even line of light. If your board has a decently flat edge then butting the LED base up to it will make it much easier to get all the LEDs in a straight line. The procedure to bend the LED legs to fit the board perfectly is discussed later under the 20 LED version.

The finished board. The unused holes are to accommodate components used in the alternate versions yet to be described.

The PCB layout if using a single LED array.

When building this version I suggest fitting the LED bargraph last to make the board assembly easier. This board has one small link marked in red. Again note the position of R3.

Component layout - top view (left) and Track layout - Viewed from above (right)

The bargraph has two rows of connection pins. A row of anodes and a row of cathodes. The bargraph I used had a bevelled corner, indicated by the red arrow below, to denote which row of pins were the anodes. If you use a different LED array check for correct polarity before soldering it to the board! The array is mounted by soldering the cathodes directly to the circuit board, unlike the anodes which are linked together and connected to PAD13 using wire. (See below).

The finished board and a detail of how the anodes are linked together and connected to the board using pad13, indicated by the red arrow.

20 LED versions

This version of the circuit uses 20 LEDs to produce the effect of two LEDs continuously moving towards each other, meeting and then moving away from each other in a line. Linking points "A" and "B" switches the display into "BAR" mode which changes the effect into a continuously"growing and shrinking" line of LEDs. The only difference between this circuit and the previous ones are the number of LEDs used.

Parts List with order codes for UK and US suppliers

The PCB layout if using individual LEDs.

NOTE: there are two links on this board layout. R3 has two possible positions, use the lower position as shown.

Component layout - top view.

Track layout - Viewed from above.

The easiest way to bend the LED legs to fit the circuit board is to first butt the base of the LED up to the edge of the PCB, note which way the LED is with the cathode towards the top of the picture. It is vitally important to have the LED this way round. Get it wrong and the LED will be reverse connected and won't work and you will have to do it again, of course you won't know that until you complete the board and come to test it!!!! So make doubly sure to get it right first time.

With the LED aligned, clamp it in place using a straight edge along the line of holes as shown, and bend the LED upwards. I used a bit of off cut circuit board as the straight edge.

This picture should explain it all. Prepare all 20 LEDs before assembling the circuit board.

A couple of pictures showing the LEDs being fitted. A bit of care will produce a professional looking display.

The finished board.

The PCB layout if using two 10 LED arrays

This board uses two 10 LED bargraphs to make up the display. 20 LED arrays are available but are not suitable for this design. This board layout has two links. Again R3 is fitted in the lower of it's two possible positions.

Component layout - top view (left) and Track layout - Viewed from above (right)

IMPORTANT - Notice that the left hand array, (as you look at the picture), is mounted as before in the single unit version by soldering the cathodes to the circuit board, BUT the right hand display is upside down and has it's anodes soldered to the board. The red and blue arrows indicate the bevelled edges denoting which row of pins are the anodes. Also take care to align the arrays accurately when soldering, this gives the finished display a "professional" look.

Each array LED is wired in series with it's opposite number in the other array. The picture above shows how the arrays are connected to each other.

Wiring detail between the LED arrays viewed from above.

HDD Gated Display

This is identical to the "Classic" version above except the LEDs only light during hard disk activity. Essentially it is an elaborate replacement for the standard HDD LED. Again, there are four variations similar to the "classic" previously shown. The circuit uses an opto-isolator to block or "gate" the current to the LEDs, preventing them from lighting. The input to the opto-isolator is connected to the motherboards HDD LED header. During HDD activity the opto-isolator switches on allowing the LEDs to light. The capacitor C3 helps to "smooth" the effect. You can experiment using different values such as 470uF or 1000uf for a subtle change in effect.

Construction wise, these circuit boards are identical to the standard "classic" versions with just the addition of IC3,C3 and HDD connection fitted. C3 actually replaces the small link on the classic boards. The differences are shown in red on the layout diagrams.

Parts List with order codes for UK and US suppliers

10 individual LED version

Construction is as before but with no link, (replaced with C3), and the added components IC3,C3 and the connection pins for the HDD. This board has no links. Note the position of R3 which uses the same holes as the classic version previously.

Component layout - top view (left) and Track layout - Viewed from above (right)

The finished board.

Single LED array version

This board has no links. Note the R3 position.

Component layout - top view (left) and Track layout - Viewed from above (right)

The finished board and a detail of how the anodes are linked together and connected to the board using pad13, indicated by the red arrow.

20 LED versions

Again, the only difference here is in the number of LEDs used.

Parts List with order codes for UK and US suppliers

20 individual LED version

There is one link fitted on this board layout. C3 replaces the small link used in the classic version. Again R3 uses the lower position.

Component layout - top view.

Track layout - Viewed from above.

Assembled board. Here I used wires instead of a 2 pin header to connect the supply.

The PCB layout if using two 10 LED arrays

This board layout uses one link. R3 is fitted in the lower position.

Component layout - top view (lefT) and Track layout - Viewed from above (right)

Finished board.

Wiring detail between the LED arrays viewed from above.

Setting up

Before we get to the setting up of the circuit, a few words about some of the components used.

You will notice that I have used sockets for the chips. This is purely for my convenience since I often "steal" parts from old projects when developing new ones. You can use sockets if you wish but they are by no means necessary.

Correct orientation of the chips is vital. Failure to do so will not only stop the circuits from working but may well result in the chips being destroyed. The first picture below shows how to identify which is pin 1 on the chips. Pin 1 is identified by a round dimple next to it, indicated by the arrows. Note there are sometimes other indentations on the chip, be careful not to get mixed up.

The second picture shows the LED array with the bevelled corner indicated by the arrow. This bevel indicates which of the two rows of pins are the anodes. If you use a different array be sure to check which row are the anodes in case it differs.

Moving on to the variable resistors, the PCB layout has been designed to accept either multiturn, (blue in picture), or cheap miniature single turn, (yellow), controls. I recommend using the multiturn type since it makes for much easier setting up of the circuit, especially with regard to fine tuning the display for a really "fluid" movement. The capacitors used are polarised, meaning they need to be connected the correct way round. The shorter of the two legs is the negative.

The two pin headers used for connecting to the board come in strips as shown below. Each header pair is snapped off the strip as required. I actually removed these headers from an old ISA modem card. (Check out old sound and VGA cards, recycling rules!). It is not necessary to use the headers, it just make connecting to the board convenient, especially switching between DOT and BAR modes. A switch could be used instead to switch modes if desired.

There are three controls to adjust. Starting with the easiest, VR1. This determines the speed of the animation and is adjusted purely to suit your taste.

VR2 sets the span or range of animation. In other words, at what point if and when the last LED lights. VR3 determines the start point or when the first LED lights. It sounds complicated, but all it means is that VR2 and VR3 are adjusted so the the animation moves smoothly between the first to last LEDs. E.G. setting VR2 too low will prevent the last LED(s) from lighting. Setting it too high will cause the last LED to stay lit for too long, making the animation "jerky". VR2 and VR3 interact to some extent, so adjusting one may require a small readjustment to the other.

If the "Gated" version is to be used, then replacing C3 with a temporary wire link will make setting up the circuit considerably easier. Once set up, the link is replaced with C3.

The following procedure should make it easy and give a good starting point for setting up the circuit, leaving only fine adjustments to be made. These "tweaks" can be made by adjusting VR2/VR3 whilst watching the display for the most pleasing animation. You will need a digital multimeter set to measure resistance. The values given below were arrived at by measuring each of the circuits after they had been fully set up. All of the measurements for all of the boards were within a few 10s of Ohms of each other indicating that this method of setting up would be repeatable.

With NO POWER connected to the circuit, measure the resistance across pins 2 and 4 of IC2. Adjust VR3 until the reading is about 3KOhms, (3000 Ohms).

Measure the resistance across pins 2 and 5 of IC2. Adjust VR2 until the reading is about 1.275KOhms, (1275 Ohms).

The above settings should give a good basis to work from for final tweaking should it be necessary. With the circuit running in DOT mode, set VR1 for a comfortable speed and adjust VR3 and VR2 for smooth animation at the display extremes. VR3 affects LED1 and VR2 adjusts LED 10. Correctly adjusted, the LED should "move" back and forth with a smooth flowing action.

Before moving on, some thoughts for experimenters.

Instead of soldering the LEDs directly to the board, they can be connected using wires. This will allow the LEDs to be arranged in different patterns or shapes. The wires should be kept reasonably short to prevent instability of the LM3914 chip. I would recommend keeping the wires to less than 12"/300mm although longer lengths may well work fine.

Try using different coloured LEDs.

An LM3915 can be used instead of the LM3914. The LM3915 is a logarithmic version of the '3914 and produces a display in which the LEDs "move" faster as more LEDs are lit up. This is quite a visually interesting variation especially when using the 20 LED versions of the circuit.

Power Supply LED Mod Guide

2009-04-19T15:19:00.000-07:00

Former staff writer - August 18, 2002
Category: Modding
Price: $3.60

2 LEDs Color of your Choice.
Wire (had around the house)
Wire Cutters (ditto)
Screw Driver (ditto)
Soldering Iron & Solder (ditto)
Electric Tape and Or Heat shrink Tubing (ditto)
Your Brain

Total Cost of this project: 3 bucks n' 60 cents and about an hour of time.

Disclaimer

Before we start I must tell you all, this was a first PSU mod for me.. and It was all trial and error, I intended to add 3 LEDs but 3 was to many for the 5volts to power, so in the middle of my guide I had to cut 1 LEDs out that is why you see 3 LEDs in the picture..

Disclaimer: Neither myself or OverclockersClub.com will be held reasonable if you hurt yourself in anyway or you blow your house up, by following this guide. Playing inside of a PSU is very dangerous - Even if the PSU has been shut off for a while there is always a deadly electrical charge in the capacitors!

Modding

Now on with the good stuff! Alright To start off we need to take the victim apart..

Here I have a Generic PSU, any PSU will work! Take out the screws (4 in my case) to get the cover off the PSU.

Take a look around locate the purple wire (this wire is the Standby wire) The Standby wire supplies 5 volts at all
times. As soon as you plug in your computer, power is ran though that wire which is were we will be installing our
LED's.

Next get your wire out and we will be hooking the LEDs up.

Cut off 1 short wire and 2 longer wires. Make sure to give yourself enough room on the small wire to work with, other words don't make it too small. Now connect your first long piece of wire to the positive leg (or wire) of the LED (remember the positive leg is always the longer leg). I would suggest you shorten the legs of the LEDs so you don't have to wrap them all the way to the bottom. Now that its connected, solder the wires together (this will give you the best connection) If you don't like to solder make sure you connect them tight. Once you have done that, usse heat shrink tubing on it and melt it down. If you don't have any heat shrink tubing then use some electrical tape. Make sure you cover all of the wires because you don't want them to touch anything.

Now take a short wire and connect it to the negative LED leg, and solder or tape it together. Then finally take the last long piece of wire and connect it to the negative leg on the 2nd led. It will look something like this:

Now on to the fun part! Cut the purple wire on the power supply in half and then strip the wires back.

Now connect the positive side of the LEDs to the purple wire. Solder and tape as needed.

Now find your favorite black wire (Black is the ground wires) and cut one of those in half, and take the second long wire on the negative leg of the 2nd led and hook it on as you did with the positive one. Tape and solder as needed.

Now take your LEDs and tape them to where u want them to stay in the PSU. (Now I would suggest a glue gun to keep them there, but mine is broke at the moment so tape is what I am using).

And then it will look like this! (this was my first try with 3 LEDs It wasn't very bright) Now plug in the PSU power cord and they should light up:

If they do not light up, then you need to check the connections to the LEDs, and make sure they are all secure. Also make sure none of the wires are touching anything else but there own wires. If they are touching anything else it could ground them out, which will make it not light.

Well I hope you enjoyed this guide, I hope it helped and I hope you give it a try! Stay tuned for Part 2 of this mod where I will be making a window for the PSU to see the lights in the case :)

Mouse Mod

2009-04-19T14:46:00.000-07:00

Mouse Mod

By Shane "Smurf" Lu

Total Cost: $5-$10
Difficulty: 2 out of 10
Risk Factor: 2 out of 10

Introduction

The mouse, the little rodent that sits next to our computer.
It makes our lives a million times easier.
The little rodent also gives us the ability to play games.
And, in this case, the little rodent is extremely ugly.
When modders want to mod something, the mouse usually doesn’t come to mind.
It’s always the case, the optical drives, or even the monitors.
Mice are often left out of the picture, however…

For me, a mouse mod seemed perfect for my system.
It blends well with the rest of my components.
I’m attempting to mod the mouse by drilling holes in it that will shine through with the light from the LED.
So obviously, this mod needs an optical mouse.
Next I will paint the mouse completely black.
The third step I added an LED to my existing one, so there were 2 LEDs inside my mouse.
And finally I will add a few glass rods inside to beam the light to the outside, as seen to the right.
This mouse mod is extremely easy and costs very little money.
It will look great at your next LAN party, and since it isn’t performed very often,
it may even get you a few compliments, or at least eyes ;-).
Well what are we waiting for?
Let’sget started!

Supplies

Here is a list of materials you will need to do the mod. However, what I have here may differ from you, based on the design of the mod, and the mouse itself.

	The Mouse itself, with a detachable top (I think just about every mouse has a screw or two you can take off to reveal the inside
	A Drill or some sort, to help cutting the holes in the mouse. I found an X-acto knife will work also when there is no drill available, but time wise, a drill is much easier, and makes a much better circle. (I would like to thank Lance Wilson for letting me use his drill.)
	Drill Bits. It’s best to have them vary in size so you can drill holes of different sizes. For my mod, I used one of the smallest bits
	Vinyl Dye Spray Paint, found at your local AutoZone or any automotive parts store.
	Also, a screwdriver is needed to open your mouse. I assume everyone knows what a screwdriver looks like, so I will not take a picture of one.
	A glass rod for making cool light effects, found at Home Depot.

I also bought a yellow LED to add to the mouse because I wanted it to give out different colors when I’m done.
RadioShack offers these for less than 3 dollars each.
When painting or drilling, an old piece of wood or platform may be helpful so you don’t drill or paint marks on the floor or table.

That’s all the supplies you need!

For me, this all added up to about less than 10 dollars US.

The Paint was 4.49, and the rods are about a dollar per foot, and LED are about 2-3 dollars each, but I already had some laying around the house.

Now we have supplies out of the way, let’s get ready to cut the mouse!

Cutting the Mouse

	Since a mouse is relatively cheap and small, be creative with this step. Draw some designs out on paper or in your mind. If you want to cut shapes rather than circles, a Dremel may be your tool. But a word of warning with a Dremel is that the mouse is small and will be hard to hold with your hands while cutting. Have a partner stand by and help you, and hold the mouse top while you dremel away. If you have no friends or aren’t too handy with a dremel, a small file will be more accurate and much easier to handle. Before you do anything however, separate the mouse cover from the actual PCB before you drill. Take the screwdriver and loosen all the screws (normally found under the mice feet), then wiggle the mouse cover from the PCB. Be careful of the wheel; it may fall out, and I’ve found it’s excruciatingly hard to put back in place because of all its springs and connections.
	I first started my mod with a bunch of circles. Very small circles, with a 1mm drill bit. I made many of them (hence what my friend calls “chicken pox”). Then I drilled to larger holes off to the side, where the glass rods will be inserted to. This step came later; these pictures are just the small holes. That is a picture of the drill bit in the mouse. This particular mouse cover was rather thick, so I applied pressure when I drilled. Drill as many holes/shapes as you like, then if you need to, sand the mouse. In my case, I had no need to do so, so I left it the way it was.
	Here are a few pictures of the mouse after it was drilled
	That’s the whole cutting process! It is an easy process but makes a huge statement about the outcome of the mouse. Next, we get ready to paint the mouse.

Painting

Before I started to paint the mouse, I washed my mouse cover with water and soap and dried it with a paper towel. This was necessary because the mouse is very greasy with fingerprints, and oil doesn’t mix well with black paint. There will be blotches on the mouse after you apply the paint. This paint here was specially made for car interiors, such as seats and dashboards, so this paint is very hard to rub off. It also gives off a shine after the coats have being applied.

This is everything I really needed to paint; an old piece of wood, my garage, the mouse cover and the paint itself. Notice there is a piece of duct tape on the mouse. I originally planned to save the Logitech symbol, but somehow that didn’t work out, so I ditched the idea after I painted. If you want to preserve your logo, do these steps, some of which I didn’t do:
*Make an oval that is actually an oval, and cutting it with scissors don’t help.
*Use duct tape because it is very easy to peel off even after 5-6 coats of paint.
*Be careful when you rip the duct tape off; don’t peel the coat of paint already on the mouse.

If you want to be extra safe, like me, and don’t want lung cancer, go ahead and get a mask to protect yourself from the fumes. These fumes are very, very dangerous in terms of inhaling and contact with skin.

Let’s paint! Muahahaha…

Here is my first coat of paint. It doesn’t coat the mouse all the way, because I only did 2 passes. These passes must be quick and light, because the paint spreads very fast, even though it may not cover every single side of the mouse.

I waited for about 5 minutes between each coat. The nice thing about vinyl dye is that it dries extremely fast and will work on most if not all surfaces. On the second pass, I made it even lighter, which is pictured below.

Now it may be harder to tell the mouse from the board, because it is completely black. I waited for maybe 5 minutes this time, because I want the top of the coat to dry completely before applying another. The picture below was the 6th layer of paint.

Notice how shiny the paint is. That was no camera flash; that was the ceiling fluorescent light! The coats matched well and I was really impressed on how clear and reflective they were. A tip on painting is to be patient, and that paid off. After those 6 coats I realized the underside looked too bland, so I painted a coat there too. Now the mouse is completely black! One main reason I chose black paint is that the red really shines through those holes, and makes a huge statement when people walk past my computer. Now the painting is finished. What else must we do? Well I did some miscellaneous stuff to make it look even cooler. I added an LED, and put some glass rods in, which is displayed on the next page.

Light it Up!

You could leave the mouse as it is now, and it would look amazing. But I went one step further, and added an extra yellow LED in there, and also 2 glass rods to really diffuse the light. First the LED; I didn’t solder like many people do, even though it is a great option. I simply connected the metal contacts together from the red existing LED to the yellow one, and super glued the LED to the rod where the screw holds the bottom part of the mouse together with the top. It worked flawlessly. Since I don’t have much soldering experience, this did the trick. Now every time I move mouse, the two LEDs shine extremely bright, and cam be seen across the room with the mouse cover on. Here’s a picture of the LED positioning:

The yellow LED is to the right of the red LED. The red LED is covered by a plastic covering, and that’s why it isn’t showing up; the yellow color is reflected off of that plastic.

So now the LED is in place, how about the glass rods? That’s also very easy to do. Since the glass rod edges will diffuse the red and yellow together, there is no specific spot for where the rod has to be. So in those 2 huge holes I made on the cover, I simply cut the rod to a size where it meets the PCB and the moue top, blending it with the same kind of smoothness as the top itself.

See that light out of the end of the rod? That’s really something eh? I marked the edge of the rod with a sharpie, and I filed the edge of that mark, and simply broke it. It you don’t have a file, then you can take the long route by finding a butter knife, pressure the blade on the glass, and do a sawing motion for about a minute. By then the rod should be breakable. Use your shirt or a tissue to break, so particles of glass won’t cut you. After that, insert the rods in, and dip a little bit of super glue on the sides so it will stick to the top of the mouse. If you superglue it to the PCB, it may cause damage when you try to open it up again. After that, just put the cover back on and screw in the screw. Make sure the mouse is snug and tight. I had some problems where the screw wouldn’t go in properly. Here’s a picture with the mouse mod complete.

The ceiling light, the speaker light, everything is reflected off the top. It really looks different from the original beige mouse, and I think it really looks cool! The glass rods make a lovely shine on the outside of the mouse, and the yellow LED is clearly seen in this picture.

Conclusion

All in all, this mod was inexpensive, good looking, and a great experience. For the amount of time and money spent ($6.30 in my case), it was really worth it. There are endless possibilities to how to mod the mouse, and I have only taken one of them. The color of paint, design of holes, and the option of Lexan and Plexi are always present. I leave you here with a picture of before, middle, and after of the mouse I violated, and if you have any questions, go ahead and make a comment about it under the forums or drop me an email, found under Smurf (my handle) in the forums.
	Original Flavor
	Crispy
	Extra Crispy!

10 Incredible PC Case Mods

2009-04-19T14:11:00.001-07:00


1. Barbecue Grill PC	2. Battlestar Galactica Case Mod	3. Call of Duty Mod	4. The Great Pyramid
5. The Moo Cow Moo	6. Pink Floyd Computer Case Mod	7. Toaster Computer	8. Tumbler Batmobile PC
9. WALL-E Case Mod	10. Whiskey PC

The Craziest PC Case Mods of All Time

2009-04-19T14:08:00.000-07:00


1. CompuBeaver (Built April 2007)	2. GerbilPC (Built January 2007)	3. Leela Futurama (Built November 2006)	4. Stained Glass PC (Built September 2006)
5. Skeleton Case Mod (Built July 2006)	6. Unidyne Mic Case Mod (Built April 2006)	7. LEGO PC (Built February 2006)	8. Waffle Iron PC (Built August 2005)
9. PainMaster 5000 (Built June 2005)	10. ToiletPC (Built August 2001)

Making a custom PC enclosure with Protocase

2009-04-19T13:38:00.000-07:00

TOM'S HARDWARE

Introduction

PC customization has exploded in recent years, but it's important to remember that computer customization has always been around. It's just that today, it seems to be more for style's sake than it ever has been before.

Before style was much of an issue, in those long-forgotten days of the one-color-fits-all beige PC cases, there were still compelling reasons to customize a PC. For instance, let's say you wanted a PC enclosure to fit in the trunk of your car to host an elaborate MP3 playing system. There wasn't too much out there in terms of enclosures that you could buy "off the rack" to suit your needs. This is just one scenario, of course; there are an infinite number of other reasons people would need a specialized enclosure, and they still apply today.

So where do you turn to, when you need a PC case designed and machined for your specific requirements? You go to a company that specializes in custom manufacturing of PC enclosures. Enter Protocase, a custom PC enclosure designing and manufacturing company with multiple offices in North America.

Review Of Design Process

When I was asked to work with Protocase to design a completely unique PC enclosure, I was immediately intrigued by the idea. Here was an opportunity to truly create something different, to show a little creativity and watch something transform from an idea into the tangible. Once I came up with a unique idea for a THG-themed cylindrical case, I couldn't wait to take it to the next step!

Later, once I began to think about all of the variables that have to be taken into account when designing something that has to function properly, I began to feel a little intimidated by the project. Sure, I've been putting PCs together for over a decade, but what do I really know about the nuances of PC case design? What are the little things that I was bound to forget?

After my first glance at the Protocase website, I really started to sweat. Don't misunderstand me: the Protocase site offers excellent in-depth and informative articles on enclosure design, fasteners and silk screening. There are even links to a free download of Protocase's in-house design tool called Protocase Designer .

For an actual engineer, all of these tools must be wonderful; I can imagine that with the right skill set, a person could mold their brainchild conveniently on their desktop PC at home. But I'm no engineer, so I became even more intimidated. What had I gotten myself into? I have a background with a little CAD program experience, but mostly I'm a 3D visualization guy, not an engineer.

Not knowing even where to start, I decided to abandon my cylindrical THG dream case and go for something a little more realistic. The good people at Protocase provided me with a simple ATX case template, so I contented myself with creating a pattern for cutting the THG logo into the side and front of the case. I made a 3D model of the idea and rendered a prototype image in 3DStudio MAX; I thought, hey, this is no revolution in PC enclosures, but it's not so bad after all.

Our first not-so-lofty try at a custom PC design

Pretty nifty, huh? I thought so, and decided it was time to submit this humble case design to Christa, my contact at Protocase, for manufacturing.

Review Of Design Process, Continued

Christa's response was a bit sobering. She seemed surprised that I'd submitted something so simple and wanted me to reconsider the design, suggesting that the folks at Protocase could perhaps design something a little more exciting for our article if I gave them some input.

The Protocase team was willing to hold my hand through the process, and fill in the blanks that I could not. All I really had to do was submit my idea to them and they'd flesh it out. This is one of the strengths of working with a company like Protocase: if you can do it yourself they're happy to simply manufacture your well thought out plans - but if all you have is a rough idea and no experience making a PC case, they will help you from start to finish.

Excited at the prospect of resurrecting my original cylindrical design, I excitedly sketched it out on a scribbled piece of paper, and faxed it to Protocase.

Attempt number 2, the scrawlings of a madman

Christa thought this idea was pretty cool, and even more importantly, doable. Armed with the new design idea, she went to work to make it happen. It turns out that I had been experiencing anxiety about this project for no real reason, as all I had to do was send them a sketch of my idea and the folks at Protocase were happy to work out the rest.

A couple of days passed, and Christa sent me images showing how the design was coming along. I was impressed at how quickly it took shape, and was given the opportunity to make comments and give input every step of the way.

After a few iterations, when we finally thought we were finished the design process, Christa sent me files that could be viewed with Solidworks' eDrawings software, a freeware 2D and 3D CAD viewer. This is what it looked like.

The second design, translated to CAD by Protocase's staff

Looking good! I gave Christa the official stamp of approval, and go-ahead for the case to begin manufacturing. The Protocase team really came through for me as far as fleshing out the design, but then the question became: how close would the final, actual hardware come to the design?

Results

As you can see, not only was the final result faithful to the design, it was also extremely well made. The fit and finish of the case is excellent, and the powder-coated paint job top-notch and durable. Well done, Protocase!

Side view of the finished case

Front view of the finished case

Check out the detail they achieved with the intricate Tom's Hardware logos and fan cutouts.

The THG logo cutout on the front of the case, making the intake fan a little prettier.

The THG logo cutout on the side of the case, also masking an intake fan.

Results, Continued

In addition to being stylish, the case is also utilitarian. It's quite large and comfortable to work with, sturdy, and everything fits in it just like it should.

The case shown with the side panel removed and an installed motherboard.

The rear view of the case with a PSU installed.

Optical drive mounts on the inside of the case.

Handles on the top of the case (this touch was included by Protocase, by the way!)

The only thing I could possibly complain about here is that Protocase does not supply any electronics at all with the case. While this seems like common sense, it would have been nice if they had included a power button for the front; I'm sure other clients would value that service as well. But that's nit picking, really; what matters is that Protocase delivered an amazing physical realization of a simple sketch. The possibilities are endless, and I have no doubt that the folks at Protocase can deliver on whatever they promise.

Conclusion

To conclude, let's have a look at the financial costs of building a custom case like this one.

The actual manufacturing and painting of the case came to about $1130. In addition, there was about $330 of set-up fees, so the total invoice was about $1460.

Frankly, that sounds about right to me. Keep in mind that the staff spent quite a few hours with me designing and revising the case, and all of that was included in the set-up fee. I'd imagine that if I had been experienced enough to design it from the ground up in the format that they required, the fee would have been less.

As for the manufacturing, Protocase's pricing seems to be the going rate, if not a little low. It's hard to judge because I couldn't find a lot of competitors in this field, but from what I did see, you could spend a lot more than $1130 on manufacturing a completely custom case.

In the final analysis, Protocase provided a really well-built case, completely to my specifications, in a timely fashion, and at a reasonable price. I can say with absolute confidence that if you're considering getting a custom case manufactured, you owe it to yourself to consider Protocase for the job.

Author's Opinion

I wish all companies were as much of a pleasure to work with as Protocase was during the course of this review. Thanks to Sagar and Christa for their patience; it was a really interesting experience, and thanks for making that spiffy THG case for us to enjoy.

LED center

2009-03-25T08:57:00.001-07:00

LED center

PWM Fan controller

2009-03-25T08:44:00.000-07:00

Author: Dave Williams
Published: 3rd December 2001

Email to a friend Stumble

PWM or Pulse Width Modulation has generally been regarded as too complicated for PC fan speed control compared against using rheostats or linear voltage regulators such as the LM317. I present here a PWM circuit that is simple and cheap enough to be built by the casual electronics builder.

Why would you want to use PWM instead of a rheostat or voltage regulator? Well, like most things, each method has it's own strengths and disadvantages:

Rheostats

Pros: Cheap and easy to use.

Cons: Difficult to find suitable rheostats, introduces current limiting causing the fan to fail to start or stall at slow speed settings.

Linear voltage regulators

Pros: Does not have rheostat like current limiting, temperature control can be incorporated.

Cons: Regulator can generate considerable heat which limits the maximum fan power. (The more powerful the fan, the more heat is generated), maximum output voltage to the fan can be several volts less than the supply limiting the maximum cooling from the fan. (A by-pass switch can be fitted to eliminate this problem, but this adds to the complexity of the circuit).

PWM

Pros: As linear voltage regulator, plus comparatively little heat is generated by the circuit allowing higher powered fans to be used, output is virtually 0-100%, eliminating the need for a bypass switch, fans do not stall or fail to start at minimum fan speed.

Cons: The fan speed sensing is disabled, can cause "growling" noises at very low speed settings with some fans.

What is PWM? In simple terms, PWM involves rapidly switching the supply to the fan on and off, in this case 30 times a second, (30Hz). By altering the relative on to off times the average voltage "seen" by the fan is also altered. E.G. Assuming a 12V supply, when the on/off ratio = 50%/50% the fan will "see" 6V, likewise when the on/off ratio is 75%/25% the fan "sees" 9V. Obviously 100% output is achieved by having the output on continuously and at 0% the output is off. It is this on/off switching that makes the fan speed sensor inoperative.

The circuit uses a purpose made chip, MIC502 made by MICREL. Fan speed is adjusted by varying VR1. With the component values shown the output is 40%-100%. ( 4.8 - 12V). So far every fan I have tested runs at 4.8V. To guarantee the fan starts when the computer is switched on, the chip automatically runs the fan at full output for approximately 2 seconds before dropping to the preset speed. Changing the value of R1 and R2 to 7K5 ohms will give an output range of 0% - 100%.

If desired, R1 and R2 can be replaced with 22K variable preset resistors to allow exact tailoring of the control range. Varying R1 will alter the maximum output, whilst R2 controls the minimum. Note these adjustments are interactive with each other and will require some trial and error to achieve the desired range. The diode, D1 is to protect the transistor from reverse voltage spikes when switching the fan off. Using modern DC axial fans should not be a problem and D1 may be considered optional. Since I cannot test every possible device people may connect to the circuit I have included D1 for completeness.

On the other hand, the decoupling capacitor, C2 is NOT optional. During testing it became apparent that the chip does not like "noisy" supplies. E.G. My 350W " Enermax has very long leads and poor quality connectors. This does not help maintain a clean supply. Things may be different for you but I consider C2 to be necessary. C1 sets the pulse frequency, in this case 30Hz.

During testing "growl" noise at low speeds was not a problem. If "growl" is a problem with your specific fan then changing the value of C1 should help. Use the formula C = 3/f where C is in microfarad (uF) and f is the desired frequency in hertz (Hz). Try frequencies in the range 30-100 Hz. R4 limits the base current to the transistor T1. T1 is rated at 5A which equates to 60W of fan!! In practise the circuit should be capable of running any reasonable number of case fans. With several powerful fans connected the transistor may get warm so a small heatsink may be required.

Several channels can be made to make a multi channel fan bus. Only one "C2" is required if all the channels are built on the same board. Looking at the circuit diagram, the "+12V" and "0V" terminals connect to the respective connections on the PSU Molex connector. The "FAN+" and "FAN-" connect to the corresponding +v and -v terminals on the fan.

Adding Temperature control.

Here the resistor R1 has been replaced with a thermistor to give temperature control. The fan speed is set by VR1 and as the temperature rises, so the fan speed will increase to compensate.

This version is identical to the temperature control above, except for the addition of a "sleep" setting. The idea is to turn the fan off when the temperature falls below the value set by VR2.

Building the circuit.

Here is an example of the built circuit on a small piece of stripboard. The 2p coin gives an indication of size. I have not included the diode D1 in this example.

Side view.

General layout of components.

Under side of the board showing the breaks in the stripboard tracks. Note the use of solder bridges to link leads on IC1.

Underside of the board showing component locations.

Component List: figures in brackets are Rapid Electronics stock codes.
IC1 = MIC502BN (82-4026)
T1 = TIP122 (81-0172)
D1 = 1N4001 (47-3420)
R1 = 10K (62-2146)
R2 = 15K (62-2154)
R4 = 270R (62-2070)
VR1 = 10K Linear (65-0715)
VR2 = 47K Linear (65-0725)
Thermistor = (61-0515)
C1 = 0.1uF (10-3220)
C2 = 220uF 25V (11-0265)

Matrix Orbital MX610 LCD display

2009-03-25T08:39:00.000-07:00

Author: Geoff Richards
Published: 18th October 2005

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When most think of drivebay LCD displays, they think of just one company: Matrix Orbital. With good reason too - they make some of the best programmable LCD displays on the market, and have been doing so for the past decade. It is nearly 4 years now since bit-tech reviewed Matrix Orbital's first PC-based products, and we have closely followed their progress ever since.

Matrix Orbital displays have featured in a number of our big case mod projects over the years: most people would instantly recognise Orac³ and Vesperdeco (pictured) and resident Grand-daddy of modding, Dave 'Macroman' Williams, is a fan, employing them for both Project 3G Clear and Macro Black. Over the years, there has been no finer LCD display than a Matrix Orbital.

What the modders innovate, the mainstream imitate

While the hardcore modders live on the bleeding edge, blowing up various components at their own expense in the pursuit of their latest mad invention, there is an entire industry of mainstream manufacturers trawling the internet trying to spot the next must-have product in waiting.

Take LEDs fans and window-modded cases. To modders, they are so 2001, but walk into any mainstream computer store these days and you will see that both concepts are now truly mainstream. Blowholes? Rounded cables? Watercooling? All have the modding community to thank for daring to wonder 'What If?', one rainy Saturday afternoon, years ago.

Naturally, the idea of front-mounted LCD displays aren't immune to this process, and Shuttle have recently incorporated a VFD to the front of their Media Center-ready SB85G5M barebones, set to display song titles, DVD timecodes and other useful information. Naturally, we found a couple of hidden uses when the case was shown to us at Computex 2005. Shuttle have also used the same VFD in their just-announced XP Media Center.

Of course, such displays are becoming quite commonplace, thanks to the explosion in the Home Theatre PC market. beblu's Media Center has a neat, four line LCD which displays all the information you need in clear, white text on a blue background. Information like track title and duration are automatically output to the LCD by Media Center.

With front-mounted LCD displays now firmly in the mainstream, are the days of the discrete, programmable LCD display numbered? We grabbed the most recent model from Matrix Orbital, th MX6, to find out.

he Bundle

First impressions are good. The display comes packed securely in a very sturdy box, so wherever you live on this blue planet of ours, you can be sure your MX6 will arrive in one piece. Sadly, the same cannot be said of every sample we receive. Everything comes neatly bagged, and the display itself has an extra layer of bubble wrap just to be safe.

The model we received dispenses with the old RS232 serial interface for the more modern USB. As standard, the MX6 comes with a USB cable which loops out the back and into a rear USB port (see installation). If you have internal, on-board USB headers on your motherboard, you can order the optional internal USB cable. This gives a neater result, and saves you a rear port. Both cables are sleeved in sexy silver braiding. Also from the options list is a pair of external temperature probes.

Straight out of the box, the MX6 displays the usual Matrix Orbital quality. Solidly built, it weighs a purposeful 180g or so with USB cable - this is certainly no cheap, flimsy Made In China plastic garbage. The chassis is made from 2mm steel and doesn't bend under stress. This model - the MX610 - has the multi-function keypad, but you can also buy the same display with a plain bezel for a cleaner look (MX620 / 630).

All displays in the MX6 series are 20 x 2, meaning there are two rows of 20 characters. Unlike many other Matrix Orbital displays, which use a Vacuum fluorescent display (VFD), the MX6 uses a Polymer LED screen. PLED has the advantage of lower power consumption, a very wide viewing angle (160 degrees) and a fast response time / pixel refresh rate.

Moving around to the rear reveals the inner workings. The PCB is in two layers: the first is dedicated to driving the display, while the outer layer handles I/O. On the left are three channels for the temperature probes, while next to it are three General Purpose Outputs (GPOs) which can be used for fans. There is also a floppy drive power connector if more power is required than the USB port can provide - 150mA for an unpowered hub; 500mA from a high powered USB port.

Hardware installation

The physical installation, at least in theory, couldn't be easier - just plug it into a USB port, and you're done. In reality, the quirks of our test rig made things a little more challenging.

The first obvious issue is that we have an Antec Sonata - an all round great case by all means - however, it has a door that stealths the drive bays. Fortunately, it can be removed, but in truth, any front-mounted LCD like the MX6 is far better suited to doorless cases like the Lian Li PC60 we used for Project Synapse.

The second issue is more serious. The Sonata, and many other cases, employs quick release rails for its 5.25" drive bays: screw them to your DVD drive, and you can slide it in / out just by pinching the tabs. This means none of the usual mucking around with mounting screws, and wondering if you put any on the far side that you can never reach. This is a problem because the mounting tabs on the MX6 are only only 60mm long - long enough to line up with the first row of mounting holes on a conventional case.

The solution was only partially successful: mount the rails as normal, using only the first set of holes, and just tighten the screw really tightly. The display slides into place and the tabs lock into place, but not securely enough to press the keypad buttons without the whole assembly sliding back inside the case. Prospective buyers with quick release cases like the Sonata might want to consider their mounting options carefully.

As mentioned earlier, the standard design uses a loop-through USB cable, passing out through an empty PCI backplate and into a rear USB port. If your computer room is as dusty as ours, we'd strongly recommend opting for the internal USB cable and keep that rear PCI plate screwed in place. With power applied, we are greeted by a funky welcome message.

Software installation

The software installation was far easier, thanks to USB.

Just pop the mini CD into the drive (slot-loading users beware!) and participate in the familiar Next - Next - Next - Finish ritutal. The MX6 was detected first time, and the drivers on the CD worked like a charm. Now that Windows knows it's there, it was time to install some software to make it display something useful.

Matrix Orbital bundle LCDC, which would otherwise cost US$19.50 +VAT. LCDC is what you use to program the MX6 (and all other Matrix Orbital displays) to display information on the screen. 'Program' is the operative word - as we will discover, this is no fluffy, Wizard-driven application. Gone are the days when such displays required Visual Basic skills to program your own interface, but users expecting a friendly GUI with simple menu options will very quickly break into a nervous sweat and start reaching for the PDF manual.

Let the fun begin...

LCDC Tutorial

The heart of LCDC revolves around the Screen Builder. Here you can define one, or several, screens to display on your MX6. The can be pure text or you can design your own logos. Using plugins available for common programs such as Winamp, you can import variable such as Track Name and Time Remaining to design your own interface. Here is a simple, plain text example:

click for full size

Having created a blank screen, we can name it, set its duration, frame rate and decide on the transition between this screen and any subsequent one. The Fade in/out is particularly sexy. Moving to the Lines screen, we simply type into the text box for Line 1 and Line 2 respectively and set variables like Alignment and Scroll. The text appears on the display as you type it:

Moving on to something more useful, we created a quick Winamp screen to display our music information. There are a few pre-defined screens included with the software - to display the time for example - but we preferred to make a custom Winamp screen.

click for full size

Again, using Screen Builder, it was a case of selecting the desired information and inserting it into the location on either line. This is where things start to get a little crazy: the line text becomes a series of barely intelligable codes, and the madness doesn't stop there. We thought it would be fun to convert the new bit-tech logo into the right format to display on the MX6.

After much frustrating research, we discovered we were missing a program: Char Mapper. Rather than a nice bitmap conversion program, to display a graphic or logo using LCDC, you have to create a Custom Character set with the image chopped up into the appropriate 5x8 pixel chunks per character.

To build the logo, the letters 'bit-tech' were entered on Line 2 in plain text. We then imported the Custom Character set created using Char Mapper, which features the round logo and 'dot net' text using 5x2 blocks. The end result is far from perfect, and the creation process was arduous: filling in each pixel in Char Mapper using Photoshop as a guide, having overlayed a grid on our logo JPG in the image editing software. After lots of edits and resaving the character set, we discovered a new-found respect for the people who contributed many of the pre-defined screens available for download from the LCDC gallery.

While there is a Motherboard Monitor plugin, and can directly support three temperature probes, we found the work required to build the necessary screens and programming the GPOs using LCDC to be more work than it should be. Anyone just wanting to know the temperature of their PC's innards would be better buying a cheap LCD probe for a quarter of the price.

We got there in the end, but the experience raises an interesting question: would you rather total control or ease of use?

LCDC will allow you to output virtually anything to the MX6, but Matrix Orbital themselves admit that 'the learning curve is steep'. For many enthusiasts, programming innovative new screens is part of the experience - many feature clever animations and other advanced tricks. However, for the part-time geek just wanting to put a cool LCD on the front of his HTPC, having to program things themselves will be daunting.

There is, of course, an active LCDC Community on hand to help out new users, but we would have preferred to see more pre-defined work included on the CD, and an easier-to-use way to display the most common functions than using the overly complicated LCDC.

Alternatives

There are now a number of options available for users wanting to display information on the front of the computer; options that didn't exist 4 years ago when Matrix Orbital first became popular with modders. Before we can pass judgement on the MX6, we need to look at the alternatives.

Option A: PSOne LCD mod

Cost: £26.99 / US$34.99
From: eBay
Difficulty: Moderate

bit-tech regular Brian Walker aka bEE2643 was one of the first people to perform this mod, way back in July 2004. Essentially, it involves buying a cheap Sony PSOne LCD from eBay, stripping it down, mounting the display somewhere cool, and hooking it up to the TV-Out of your graphics card. We have a detailed article titled PSOne LCD in a PC and the related Forum Thread has become a central meeting point for many modders to ask questions and help each other.

4 hours later, and you have your own 5-inch, 640x480 TFT capable of displaying anything your heart desires. You just set it as your secondary display, and you can use an extended desktop to position any window into place. Winamp is naturally a popular option. Alternatively, you can use Samurize to display some seriously funky stuff, like Nexxo's Project Metaversa (right), detailing crucial temperature and waterflow information.

Option B: In-car LCD mod

Cost: £60-150 / US$120
From: eBay or various stores
Difficulty: Moderate

This mod is very similar to the PSOne mod above, but uses more sophisticated LCDs designed for in-car DVD systems. Most are 7-8 inches across and many are 16:9 widescreen. The more expensive ones even have touchscreens. Specifications vary wildly, with resolutions as low as 320x240, but KustomPCs sell a one capable of 800x480. eBay is a good source, though most sellers ship directly from Hong Kong or China, so it isn't for the timid.

Mounting options are similar to the PSOne mod. One cool option would be to buy a motorised in-dash screen and mount it in a drive bay under your DVD writer. One touch of the button, and out pops the LCD - the ultimate LAN party showboating feature. Abbas Jaffarali at Tbreak.com gets a special mention for creating a really nice example using a Shuttle SB86i and a 5-inch car LCD.

Option C: 14"-17" TFT monitor mod

Cost: from £100 / US$170
From: NewEgg or various stores
Difficulty: Moderate

Now that desktop LCD prices have fallen through the floor, turning an entire [/i]side[/i] of your PC into a display is now within the budget of many modders. bit-tech forum regular, CharlieCat, is a veteran at this one - he has now created three systems using this technique.

Depending on the size of your case, and the size of your budget, you can pick up a bargain 15" LCD for around £100; NewEgg has several models for US$170. The resolution will be 1024x768 and the viewing angle will be pretty rubbish, so you might be better off saving up a few extra pennies and plumping for a 17" model. Just £125 / $200 will net 17 inches, 1280x1024 and a 12ms refresh rate.

Option D: New case with LCD

Cost: from £188 to £500
From: Kustom PCs or Scan
Difficulty: Easy

There are off-the-shelf options, including the Shuttle and beblu systems already mentioned, the latter available in a case-only option. Another leading manufacturer in this field is Silverstone - they make several cases that feature bezel-mounted VFD displays similar to the Matrix Orbital's range.

Most of the range have a stylish A/V receiver-look to their appearance, like the LC14BM (left). Truthfully, they are all available without VFD also, for considerably less. The most famous Silverstone case of them all is the LC18 (right), which sports a 7" touchscreen LCD on the front bezel as standard. However, at £500 from Scan, you certainly pay a premium for not doing the work yourself.

Conclusions

Back when this trend began, your choice was simple: Matrix Orbital or Crystal Fontz. The concept was new, so high prices, small sizes and DIY software was part of the adventure. However, that was four years ago now and in 2005, our expectations are vastly different.

Matrix Orbital displays have always been extremely well made but also expensive, and this extends to the MX6. US customers will pay US$109.99 for the display plus accessories. KustomPCs sell them in the UK, but with the extra shipping and VAT, the price blows out to £76. However, the 20 x 2 configuration of the MX6 is somewhat limiting: it occupies a full 5.25" drive bay, yet you can only display 2 lines of text at a time.

We found most of the community-made screens and animations aimed at the larger 20 x 4 models, showing that most customers (quite rightly) prefer the extra real estate of the four-line displays. Matrix Orbital don't offer a four-line PLED display, so by the time you switch to the more expensive VFD technology and supersize an extra 2 lines, you're looking at an MX5 for US$149.99 / £98.99.

At that price, you're looking at three times the price of a PSOne LCD mod, and rapidly approaching the budget required for a 15" LCD monitor mod. Even the cheaper two-line MX6 is twice the price of a PSOne project.

You would hope then that Matrix Orbital's software bundle would rescue the situation, but sadly, it too is stuck in a time bubble. There is no denying that LCDC is very powerful. All credit to the LCDC team: for what is essentially a homebrew application, it offers fine control over every facet of the MX6's feature set. Without it, people would probably be left to code their own software.

However, it is far from polished and while we didn't experience any bugs per se, the hoops the user is required to jump through to output information to the screen leave much to be desired. From a usability point of view, it is arguably software designed by programmers, for programmers - code-shy novice users beware.

Considering that HTPC enthusiasts would be a large part of the MX6's target market, it is positively criminal that it is not Media Center compatible. Again, if one had the determination and skill, one could use LCDC to produce your own custom screens to display various HTPC activities. If you were seriously hardcore, you might even code your own Media Center plug-in for LCDC. However, having forked out big bucks for this display, this functionality should be a mere installation wizard away - it should not be down the community to write their own software.

If the MX6 was £20, you might be more forgiving, considering the additional sensor inputs, fan headers and general potential to make it do whatever you want it to do. At four times that price, functionality should be delivered on a silver platter, not be a box full of Lego. Faced with cheaper alternatives with far greater abilities, it is hard to recommend the MX6 to anyone but the most hardcore fanatic.

Case Engraving: Star Wars

2009-03-25T08:28:00.000-07:00

Author: bit-tech Staff
Published: 1st August 2005

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This article is all about me engraving a Lian Li PCV1000B, to turn it into a Star Wars tribute case. Doing engravings with a Dremel is something that just becomes more and more popular, so after a successful Hellraiser mod, I'm back for another go. I'll be giving some tips and pointers in this article that will hopefully be of some help, and maybe will inspire you to start doing some Dremel-work yourself.

(Editor's Note: If you're interested, you might also like to check out our Engraving - A Modder's How To article.)

This is the raw canvas for this project, the Lian Li PCV1000B.

Choosing the image

Choosing the right picture to etch is very important. If you are a beginner try and choose images without any shadows and too much detail - a simple, clean line is a lot easier to get right, so stick to clear, line-based designs. If you want to do something a little more difficult, try adding in some very fine detail. A good way to play with an image is to use Photoshop - you will be able to use the various tools to trace over a very complicated image on a new layer and create a simple line drawing from it.

How do I get my sketch onto the chassis?

When you've got your image printed and ready to engrave, you'll need to apply it to the case so that you have some lines to follow - the easiest way to do this is by using carbon paper. It's a simple technique: put the carbon paper where you want your etch, take the line drawing, and use a (tough) pen to trace over it. This will transfer it to the carbon paper, which is very thin and should transfer the tracing to the case's surface. If you've got some major artistic talent you could do it by freehand, but that is much harder.

Other things to Consider

Make sure that you have a good working position - a kitchen table or something like that works fine for me.
Don't rush, take it slow and be careful, because one mistake can be the difference between a great engraving and a poor one.
If you have some pieces of left-over plexi or even an old chassis, use that for practice before you attack your main case.

Right Side Engraving

I came up with the idea of doing the Dark Side on the right of the case and the Light Side on the left. On the right, I decided to have Boba Fett.

Here you can see the clean and clear lines that the carbon paper makes on the case. A good sketch makes it much easier to work with the Dremel on top.

With Boba Fett done, an evil dude named Darth appears...

Here's the final result. As you can see engraving on black aluminum gives incredible sharp and crisp lines. This also means that mistakes show too - be careful not to make any big ones! Whilst the engraving might look weird up close, it looks great when seen as a whole.

Left Side Engraving

The original sketch of Yoda on carbon paper had quite a lot of tight detail.

Unfortunately, I had to tone down the detail a little when doing the engraving, since the design looked a little too 'busy'. However, with that done, the left side needed something more - another Star Wars logo did the trick. This made Yoda appear more clear and helped to get the right balance in the design.

Time for another coffee break, and then on to the top of the case.

Top Etch

This was by far the easiest engraving to do, but it turned out quite well. With an hour's work, an angry Stormtrooper was giving me the evil eye from the top of the case.

The Final result

Here are some candyshots of the finished case:

You can click the thumbs below for 800px large versions...

So this was my latest project... I'm sure I'll be busting out the Dremel for some more action very soon!

If you're interested in the tools I used to complete this project, here's the run-down.

Dremel Multi Professional.
Dremel Flexible shaft.
Dremel Diamond engraving bits 7144 and 7134.
Pelikan Plenticopy 200h carbon paper.
Time, patience and coffee!

A big thanks to Gtek.se for providing the case and making this project possible, you guys rock!

To everyone else i will just say.. Grab your Dremels and make some art!

[i]This article can be found in its original Swedish version at SweClockers.com.

USB hotplate cooks dinner

2009-03-25T08:27:00.002-07:00

Author: Brett Thomas
Published: 18th September 2006

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Six 5-port USB add-in cards plus coffee warmer = USB hotplate to cook dinner on. Only In Japan

Have you ever been excited about some new hardware you've bought, only to have a non-techie parent / friend / co-worker scoff dismissing your new toy? My favorite is that age-old rhetorical question, "Ah, but can it cook me dinner? Because at that price, it should..."

To one enterprising Japanese blogger, that answer is "Why yes, it can!"

He posts, following the humiliation of the failed USB Fried Egg experiment, that he needed to take a leaf out of the Tim "The Toolman" Taylor Cookbook and go for...MORE POWER. 30 times more power to be precise - six PCI USB cards with five ports per card, for a total of 30 ports.

Take a regular USB coffee warmer (now pathetically tame in comparison), wire everything up with a bunch of resistors under the hotplate and we're cooking with ~~gas~~ USB!

The proof is in the ~~pudding~~ beef, as they say (Stop it! -Ed)... and by all accounts, it works a treat. He has even posted two videos where you can actually hear the beef sizzling! Naturally, it's a rather complex solution to a problem that doesn't actually exist...but as a "hey, why not?" project, it's definitely hot property. And it could be a handy pizza warmer at your next LAN event.

You can read the original blog, or take your chances with Google Translate beta. Usually the image hosting for blogs like this fall over at the mere mention of a Digg or Slashdot so we have preserved the highlights below just in case.

Do you feel like Chicken Tonight? Discuss this in our forums.

Charge your AAs over USB

2009-03-25T08:27:00.001-07:00

Author: Gordon Kelly
Published: 21st September 2006

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USBCell AA batteries charge over USB!

I love innovation – who doesn’t? That said, my tastes lie specifically in the kind which make my life simpler and easier. We’re talking email over post, wireless over wired, LCD over CRT and potentially now ‘USBCell’ batteries over your traditional AAs.

Released as a teaser to the IT press over a week ago with the tagline ‘Time to recharge the battery market’, the details are finally out and they are oh so logical yet very cool.

Produced by Moixa Energy, USBCell batteries are simply batteries that recharge from any USB port. They require no separate recharging devices, cradles or cables and can be used exactly like a normal battery. The design itself is rather like a typical memory stick with its flip top lid and they could be set to deliver the same killer blow to the battery market that memory sticks did to floppy discs.

USBCell batteries have a capacity of 1300mAH which is in line with most NiCd and NiMH batteries though some do go all the way up to 2500mAH. It takes five hours to charge a completely flat battery and an LED on the side will light up to indicate charging, flash for 10 minutes after charging is complete as an alert and switch off after that.

Available now and costing just £12.99 for two AA USBCell batteries (including VAT and delivery from the company’s website) I’m forced to say something I never thought would pass my lips: I’m quite excited about batteries!

You can grab the batteries from the USBCell website. Let us know your thoughts over in the forums!

Project Enter the USB

2009-03-25T08:16:00.000-07:00

bit-tech.net

Author: Kurtis Kronk
Published: 1st August 2007

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Foreword by Joe Martin

Mods are great things and, here at bit-tech HQ, we can’t get enough of them. We scour the Internets all day, everyday looking for mods great and small. Some of the ones we find are truly great, whilst others are truly bizarre.

We know that there are a lot of people in the bit-tech community that don’t have the ability to make some of the more fantastic modifications though or who are lacking the confidence to plunge straight into the deep end of the modding world. Those people want something smaller than a full case mod which they can pop their modding cherry with. So to speak.

Over the years we have seen a number of cool USB key mods, from Pez dispensers and plastic sushi to thumb drives inside realistic-looking human thumbs! USB key mods are great because the part are cheap, and the possibilities almost endless.

The latest is this, Project Enter the USB. It’s small enough that anybody can do it and it doesn’t require much in the way of tools, but at the same time it’ll leave you with a quirky little conversation piece for your next LAN party. So, whether you’re an engraver with Dremels for fingertips, or a n00b who doesn’t even know what the hell a Dremel is, the Enter The USB mod is a good one to try.

The only thing left for me to do is to hand you over to Kurtis Kronk, who originally wrote the guide for The Tech Lounge but who has agreed to be our guest modder on this occasion.

Introduction

Back in March I posted about a Customized USB Drive that I thought was pretty cool. Someone took an el-cheapo USB drive and stuck it inside a Lego brick. In the same post I talked about a quick-and-dirty USB drive mod of my own, the Electrical Tape USB Drive. Basically, it was a clunker I picked up at CES that fell apart, so I removed what was left of the casing and wrapped it all up in electrical tape. Funny thing is, it's so fugly that when I recently forgot it in a school lab it was still there a few days later. Things might have been different had it been a SanDisk Cruzer or Corsair Voyager... or if it didn't have "62.4MB" written on it.

The USB drive in question, sans cover. Click to enlarge

As simple as my electrical tape USB drive mod was, I had a good time making it and decided to come up with another, different USB drive mod. Luckily, I had another USB drive, which I'd also received from CES, but this one was a whopping 512MB - yeah, they make 'em that big these days... Unfortunately, as it were, this one wasn't quite so fragile, and I actually had to punish it thoroughly before I could get the casing off. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

In this article I will walk you through Project: Enter the USB Key from conception to finished product. Step by embarrassing step. No detail spared. So in-depth you'll need a snorkel.

Let's get on with it...

Getting Started

Once I had successfully freed the USB drive from its lame shell, it was time to think. Whatever am I going to put this little thing inside? And so the search began. I thought about doing a better Lego mod - unoriginal; ChapStick - too thin (I've been informed that somebody else has made a ChapStick USB drive); film canister - too fat; USB cable shell - too short; gutted iPod - too spendy. Hmm... nothing on my desk was really striking me as a great idea. So the search continued. To the closet! As I rummaged through piles of miscellaneous electronics, cables, and computer accessories, I paused as I held an old keyboard in my hand.

Removing the key, click to enlarge.

What to do with a keyboard, though? The PS/2 connection isn't large enough to accommodate the USB drive, and the keyboard is a bit bulky to be useful as a USB drive. Think, Kurtis, think.

As I stared at the keyboard, I noticed some tasty treats (well, they used to be tasty) peeking at me from between the keys. Gross. Ah, wait a second, the keys! Oh sweet, blessed keys.

Yuck, it can get quite dirty down there! Click to enlarge, if you must.

There are a decent number of keys on the keyboard which look like they could be just big enough to squeeze a USB drive inside: Tab, Shift, Backspace, Enter, Delete, and +. After careful consideration and a quick coin toss, I decided the Enter key would make the best case for my custom USB drive. It sort of makes sense, after all; "Enter" your USB drive into the USB port, with an arrow to help the less technically inclined. Tab is just plain confusing, with the two arrows pointing in either direction, Backspace and Shift don't sound cool, and +... well, + isn't even a word.

Stupid +.

Remove the bracket and you can see how the mod is going to work. Click to enlarge.

Removing keys from the keyboard is easy enough. Using a small screwdriver you can gently pry them off. In my case, the Enter key had a bar stretched across its width to ensure uniform key presses - I just ripped it off. Enter key removed, I check to see if the USB drive fit... and it did - with a little room to spare.

Before hacking away at the Enter key, I decided to perform a practice run on the Backspace key (I only had one old keyboard to work with and didn't want to ruin it, after all). And I'm glad I did.

The Practice Run

As I mentioned, I started with the Backspace key for a test-run. My plan of attack was as follows:

Dremel a notch into the side of the key.
Sand edges smooth.
Place the USB drive into the key.
Pour clear silicone into the key to secure USB drive into place and to allow the back side to be see-thru. However, for the practice run, I actually skipped steps 1 thru 3 because I was mainly concerned with how well the silicone would work as a filler material.

Debrief

I was really glad I did a practice run. The day after I finished applying it, I was not happy with the clarity of the silicone; it was too cloudy. It was also a bit softer than I wanted.

So, I decided to use something else for the real thing: an industrial strength adhesive called E6000, which my friend Brian has used in the past and recommended. That being said, about a week later I checked the silicone again and found it to be much harder. Apparently, it just needed more time to set. Still, the clarity wasn't quite as good as I wanted, so I still planned to use E6000 in place of the silicone for the real thing.

The Real Run

After the practice run, my plan of attack remained mostly the same, except for the first and last steps:

1. Remove clutter from inside the Enter key.
2. Dremel a notch into the side of the key.
3. Sand edges smooth.
4. Place the USB drive into the key.
5. Pour E6000 industrial strength epoxy into the key to secure USB drive into place and allow the back side to be see-thru.

Standard attire for any serious modder. Click to enlarge.

Before pulling out the Dremel, I donned my protective gear. Kids, don't try this at home. I'm a trained, erm... heh... professional. Yeah.

Step 1:

The first thing I needed to do was get the little stub in the middle of the enter key out of my way, as well as the little pieces of plastic jutting out that supported that bar I removed earlier. For the stub, I bashed the key with a large stone. No... why would I do that? Safety in mind, I proceeded with my Dremel and fingerless gloves.

This is where the USB drive will sit. Click to enlarge

The cutting wheel was used to cut in some notches first and then the grinding stone was used to actually remove pieces. Using only the grinding stone on plastic tends to melt it all into one big sticky mess. By cutting notches first, I was able to use the grinding stone pretty much exclusively to remove the little plastic pieces that supported the bar.

Step 2:

Before cutting a notch into the side of the Enter key, I grabbed a pencil and the USB drive to mark approximately how far I needed to cut.
Once again I used the notch-then-grind method with the cutting wheel and grinding stone for the side of the Enter key.

Step 3:

I was able to clean it up pretty well with the Dremel, and then put on the finishing touches with some fine grit sandpaper. Care had to be taken with the sandpaper to not round any corners or edges, though.

Step 4:

With all the necessary cuts having been made, it was time to place the USB drive inside the Enter key. The fit was perfect, with a little bit of wiggle room.

Step 5:

Now for the fun: pouring in the epoxy. The tricky thing was that this part had to be done a bit at a time, rather than all at once, to keep the epoxy from flowing out of the notch we just cut.

A plan comes together. Click to enlarge

So I started by filling the key up to the notch and then setting the USB drive back in place on top of it. I let it set for 24 hours, then added a bit more, and so on, until silicone was up to the top. Once I was completely finished, I let it set for another few days before messing with it, since I used a good bit more epoxy than your typical application.

Conclusion

One extra finishing touch that I didn't anticipate was that, when the epoxy had finished setting, it was a little higher than necessary around the edges and wasn't totally flat. To correct this, I got the Dremel back out and used the grinding stone to get the edges roughly level. Then I grabbed some sandpaper of various grits (from 400 ~ 2,000) and got the epoxy surface flat and smooth to my satisfaction.

It isn't perfect and, if I had it to do again, I would have thought of a better way to make the epoxy nice and level without having to take any corrective measures after the fact. I've also thought about whether I should have chosen an opaque filler material, but then there is the matter of painting it to match the key. Overall, I feel Project: Enter the USB was a success.

If you've got a great idea for a USB drive mod, I encourage you to give it a shot. It's cheap, relatively simple, and lots of fun. Feel free to share your mods in our forums, or even submit your project log to go on the front page of bit-tech.

Enter the USB - Photoshoot

The finished article, check out the sweet pictures below!

This article was originally printed at The Tech Lounge and has been republished with permission.

Adding Fan Speed Control

2009-03-25T08:14:00.000-07:00

Author: Dave Williams
Published: 10th December 2001

Simple Fan Speed Control
Here is a simple mod to allow the speed of any 12V fan to be varied.

All we need to do is insert a rheostat or variable resistor in the 12V wire to the fan. The rheostat should be rated at least 3 Watt, (for fans up to 10Watt), and have a resistance of 20 – 50 Ohms. If you are using this mod on your CPU fan then use the 20 ohm rheostat to prevent fan stall at the slowest speed setting.

Maplin Stock codes

20 ohm = FX40T

50 ohm = FX97F

In the procedure below I have used a 4way Molex extender cable, (the type used to extend PSU leads), but you can just as easily connect the rheostat directly to the fan wires if you prefer. If you choose to apply this mod directly to the fan wires, make sure you connect the rheostat to the 12V wire. (Red) You can double check by plugging the fan into the PSU and note which wire connects to the Yellow wire from the PSU. This will be the 12V wire. (Of course, do this with it turned off!).

BE VERY CAREFUL when fixing the rheostat to the case that there is no possibility of it shorting to the metalwork. If it does you will be directly shorting out the 12V supply…..Be safe, double check your work before switching on.

Right, let’s get on with it………

Step 1.

The rheostat, extender lead and some heat-shrink sleeving for insulation.

Step 2.

Cut and strip the ends of the 12V wire, (Yellow in this case, Red if fitting rheostat directly to the fan wire). NOT the red wire in the picture, the one on the fan.

Step 3.

Slide some heat-shrink sleeving over the wire ends.

Step 4.

Solder the wires to the rheostat. Note which 2 out of the 3 rheostat terminals are used. This way, turning the rheostat clockwise will increase fan speed. Don’t get the heat-shrink Sleeving too close when soldering or it will shrink and not fit over the terminals when you are done.

Step5.

Slide the heat-shrink over the soldered terminals and heat with a hairdryer to shrink it !

Gratuitous behind shot of the soldered rheostat

Nearly finished.

Step 6.

Fit some heat-shrink over the unused rheostat terminal to help prevent any short circuits when fitted in the case.

Step 7.

Decide on a suitable location for the rheostat and drill a hole in the case for it. Surround the area with a layer of insulation tape for added protection against short circuits.

Step 8.

Fit the rheostat and plug it in. Here it is controlling an 80mm Delta “Screamer” on the CPU cooler.

Step 9.

This is what it looks like from outside the case.

Happy Moddin\'.

LANESAC 2009

2009-03-21T08:48:00.000-07:00

O inicio

FIL Adamastor
--------------------------------------------
2008

LanESAC
Antes, durante e depois!

Clique para ver.
http://worldtv.com/lanesac/

Portal de Recursos Educativos e Software Livre

2009-03-17T15:43:00.000-07:00

Clique para visitar

Sistemas e programas livres no Ensino e Formação

2009-03-17T15:39:00.000-07:00

Sistemas e programas livres no Ensino e Formação

Muitos Links Uteis

2009-03-17T15:36:00.000-07:00

Manuais e Apostilas em Português (Brasil)

2009-03-17T15:35:00.000-07:00

Monitor mod (lots of pics)

2009-01-30T14:35:00.000-08:00

Steampunk Keyboard Mod

2009-01-30T14:31:00.000-08:00

Michael R. Barrick

Overclock.net

2009-01-30T14:19:00.000-08:00

Keyboard Modding Guide:

IRONMODS

2009-01-30T14:15:00.000-08:00

IRON MAN Mark 1 PC Case

Making a custom PC enclosure with Protocase

2009-01-30T13:54:00.000-08:00

TOM'S HARDWARE

Caixas Originais para Computadores

2009-01-30T13:49:00.000-08:00

Caixas Originais para Computadores

Computer Case Creations

2009-01-30T13:33:00.000-08:00

Casemod com Caixa em Aluminio Polido

2009-01-30T13:29:00.000-08:00

Sinclair-ZX81-Casemod

2009-01-30T13:25:00.000-08:00

Sinclair ZX81 casemod

Casemods follow a pretty simple equation: take a non-standard, preferably unusual container, add PC components, and voilà. Of course, then the interest comes from fitting a PC where previously it simply wouldn’t fit. Enter modder Unravelled, and his Sinclair ZX81 casemod: a VIA EPIA Pico-ITX based computer stuffed inside this compact chunk of 80s memorabilia.

The ZX81 casing measures around 6.6 x 6.9 x 1.6 inches, which makes for a tight squeeze inside. Nonetheless, you’re looking at a full motherboard, with separate hard-drive (no CF cop-out here) and multiple ports, capable of running either Windows or Linux.

It’s not clear whether the wretched keyboard has been wired up to actually work with the new components. I’m thinking no, as it’s pictured with a separate keyboard.

[via technabob]

MyPCMod.com

2009-01-30T13:13:00.000-08:00

MyPCMod.com
Galeria

Tecnologia Weblog - modding

2009-01-30T13:03:00.000-08:00

Tecnologia Weblog

The Art Of Computers

2009-01-30T13:01:00.000-08:00

Nifty-Stuff.com

2009-01-29T23:40:00.000-08:00

Nifty-Stuff.com

LED PROJECTS

Absolutely Stunning LED Light Projects

2009-01-29T23:35:00.000-08:00

Absolutely Stunning LED Light Projects

The Best Microcontroller Projects And Resources

2009-01-29T23:17:00.000-08:00

Hacked Gadgets Forum Index -> LED Projects

2009-01-29T16:49:00.000-08:00

LED Projects

Hobby of Electronic Circuit Engineering

2009-01-29T16:39:00.000-08:00

Welcome
to the Hobby of Electronic Circuit Engineering.

If you are in the USA or if this site is not working,
please try my mirror site at http://hobby_elec.piclist.com/e_menu.htm .

Electronics Infoline

2009-01-29T16:28:00.000-08:00

coolcircuit

2009-01-29T16:24:00.001-08:00

http://imakeprojects.com/

2009-01-29T16:23:00.000-08:00

I Make Projects . com

Welcome to Talking Electronics!

2009-01-29T15:26:00.000-08:00

Bons esquemas para montagem.

Electronic Loisir

2009-01-24T16:32:00.000-08:00

Clique na imagem para vitar o site

Electronique et Loisirs Magazine

2009-01-24T16:25:00.000-08:00

Clique na Imagem para visitar o site

Electronics basics

2009-01-24T16:13:00.000-08:00

Clique na imagem paravisitar o site

Electronics projects/ Electronic circuits

2009-01-24T16:11:00.000-08:00

BuildingGadgets.com

Electronic Zone

2009-01-24T16:10:00.000-08:00

Clique na imagem para visitar o site

The electronic hobbyist corner

2009-01-24T16:05:00.000-08:00

Clique na Imagem para visitar o site

Bowden's Hobby Circuits

2009-01-24T16:03:00.000-08:00

Bowden's Hobby Circuits

Clique para entrar

Electronics Tips, Tutorials and Projects

2009-01-24T16:00:00.000-08:00

Clique na imagem para visitar o site

How to Use Schematics to Build Electronic Circuits

2009-01-24T15:58:00.000-08:00

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REVISTA SABER ELECTRONICA

2009-01-24T15:49:00.000-08:00

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MAKE MAGAZINE

2009-01-24T15:44:00.000-08:00

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SERVO MAGAZINE

2009-01-24T14:48:00.000-08:00

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Dancing lights

2009-01-15T15:17:00.000-08:00

In troDancing lights

In response to music. Use a LED light removed from a pen, lighter or similiar device and a few other components to build it. No soldering involved. This is a simplified version of the blinking LEDs instructable posted here earlier. I shall try to elaborately describe each step so that a person with little experience can successfully build one.

The emphasis shall be on the methods of wiring and testing a simple circuit. The product of this instructable is not the blinking light you build - it is the knowledge that you gain as you build this extremely simple circuit, with materials that are commonly available, with simple tools and very little specialised skills.

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step 1Take the lamp apart

Parts: Now that many gadgets come with an LED torch (flashlight) built in, it's easy to just buy one and take apart for the batteries and LED. You have to liberate the torch part from the pen, cigarette lighter or keychain or whatever. You should get three button cells, one LED and some sort of switch for completing the circuit.

The picture shows a pen with built in LED flashlight.

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step 2Three button cells

The LED torch (flashlight) consists of three button cells and an LED.

The three button cells are visible in this picture.

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step 3And an LED

The LED is inside the white plastic sleeve in this picture.

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step 4Battery holder, LED and switch

These three components form a module. The switch is a springy piece of metal which makes contact with one leg of the LED when the button is pressed.

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step 5The switch

Here is a closeup shot of that switch.

The second picture is that of a similiar module removed from an empty cigarette lighter tossed in my path by an unknown benevolent wellwisher. Many thanks to that magnanimous person.

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step 6Connect wires

Connect two wires across that switch. The movie shows how you can test it.

The idea is that you connect an electronic switch to these wires and connect the music to it so that it closes in time with the beat of the music.

Then you will have a white lamp which flashes in time to music.

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C:\upld\bpen08.avi 202 KB

step 7Making connections: strip

You have to know how you can reliably connect components together using wire. This is an essential skill you need to acquire.

First, strip the insulation off the end of the wire. Cut the covering without nicking the wires inside. This takes some practice, and the best method I have found useful is to scribe a line around the insulation with a very sharp blade. The end can then be pulled off.

Trying to cut entirely through the insulation usually scratches the wires inside as well, leaving them fragile. Subsequent operations will cause the wires to break at this point, and you will have to do the stripping again. Leave plenty of slack in the wires in your early projects in order to allow for this sort of thing.

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step 8Making connections: Twist

If you are using stranded wire, ie, wire that consists of a number of small wires bunched together inside a plastic covering, the previous operation will have you looking at something that looks like the business end of a witch's broom about to take off into the blue yonder.

So twist them. Hold the frayed end between thumb and forefinger of one hand, and rotate the (larger) part of the wire with the other hand, and the strands will wrap themselves around themselves and present a very nice and respectable appearance, as in the picture.

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step 9Making connections: join

Wrap the wire around the lead of the LED to make a neat joint. If you look at that picture again, one wire has been wrapped around the free lead of the LED, and the other wire has been jammed into the battery holder against the piece of metal serving as one pole of the switch.

I did that by pulling that metal piece out, and reinserting it with the wire wrapped around it.

Now when you touch the free ends of those wires together, the LED should light.

Next, we shall command a demon to sit there and touch the wires together in time to music.

Off we go, to get such a demon.

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step 10Transistors

Here be Demons. A whole bunch of them.

This is a selection from my collection of transistors. Some of them might even be undamaged and work as new.

We shall use a transistor to switch on the LED according to the music. You can find transistors inside virtually every electronic gadget. Try to scrounge some really old gadgets because the transistors inside modern ones are likely to be too small to be seen without a microscope.

I shall use the BD135 from the collection in the picture. It is said to be a medium power silicon NPN transistor.

If you have to buy one, get the BD135 or an equivalent. Or try any transistor you pull off some electronic gadget. It has to be NPN, otherwise the type, make, size etc does not matter much.

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step 11LED to Collector

Transistors have three terminals called the collector, emitter and base. These names originated long ago from the age when transistors were two sharp points pressed into a block of germanium.

For the BD135, the center lead is the collector. The other two are the base and collector, obviously. But I get confused, and have to refer to the datasheet to get the correct info.

If you are using the BD135 the pins are labelled in the picture. If you are using some other device try searching for the data on the web (use google).

The wire from the LED has to connect to the collector of the transistor, and is here shown stripped in readiness for connecting.

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step 12Battery negative to emitter

The small exposed face of the button cell is its negative terminal. It has to be connected to the emitter terminal of the transistor. That wire has been shown stripped prior to connecting it.

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step 13The wet finger test

When the collector and emitter of the transistor are connected in place of the switch, it can control the lighting of the LED. A small current into the base (the free terminal of the transistor in the picture) will cause a much larger current to flow through its collector, both currents sharing the emitter lead.

When the transistor has been connected up as in the picture, the LED must remain off. At least it should, if the transistor is not faulty and it has been connected the right way around.

Now bridging the collector and base leads of the transistor will cause the LED to light. This is the classic Wet Finger Test.

Watch the video. I am holding the battery positive (one lead of the LED) in one hand, and touching the base of the transistor with the other. When the base lead hits the wet part of my finger, the LED lights up.

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step 14Connect to emitter and base

If you have successfully applied the wet finger test, the next step would be the conncections to apply the music signal.

The transistor will conduct, causing the LED to light, whenever the voltage on its base is more than about half a volt (500 millivolts) with respect to its emitter. We apply the music signal between the base and emitter of this transistor, so that the LED will light in sympathy with the music.

The picture shows two wires connected to the base and emitter of the transistor.

When you have finished this step, the base and collector will have one wire each wrapped around them. In complete contrast, the emitter lead will have two wires wrapped around it.

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step 15Connect a resistor

Next, we need a resistor. Anything between 47 ohms and 1,000 ohms will do, it is not that critical. A 470 ohm resistor was what I used, as shown in the picture.

If you open up an old portable radio most likely you will get a collection of them. Try a few, any one of them might work.

Depending upon the source of your audio (music) signal, this resistor might not even be required.

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step 16Earphone jack

Next, we need to have something that plugs into a music signal source. The plug end of a pair of stereo headphones will do. Get the plug off a pair of broken old headphones or earphones if you cannot find the plug by itself.

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step 17Cut ends and strip

You need to get the signal off the plug. Cut the wires somewhere and strip them. This earphone lead from a pair of really cheap earphones had bare copper braid and an enamelled wire inside the plastic insulation.

If you get such a lead, scrape off the enamel with a sharp blade - use gentle pressure to avoid nicking the wire.

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step 18The project is complete.

Connect it up, and the project is complete. Here in the picture, I have used a length of wire between the circuit and the earphone lead, but that was just for convenience.

Insert the plug into your tape player, MP3 player or computer sound card and try playing some music. The LED will light up in time to music.

But then there is a problem - you can see the LED light, but you cannot hear the music play. Some powered speakers have a socket for the other speaker, and you might try plugging this into that.

The video shows my test of my prototype.

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