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Aleutia E1: 8-watt Linux box

aleutia_20071130.jpg

After so many years of successively bigger, faster, hotter, less reliable, power hungry computer hardware, I’m really tickled to see that a lot of manufacturers are testing the waters with something altogether different. There’s the OLPC, the Asus EeePC, and now the Aleutia E1, a little mini desktop that sips 8 watts and is packaged with a flexible solar panel.

200Mhz might hurt a bit for crunching a kernel, but with a lightweight linux distro and window manager, you can still have a really responsive interface for general PC use. The big deal is that it has no moving parts, including a CF card for a hard drive and zero fans due to its low power consumption.

It might be a fun exercise to use these recent devices as a reference model and attempt to source the cheapest configuration for a DIY low-power, small footprint, zero noise, solid storage system. If you add a mirrored raid configuration, you’d have the ideal desktop system for the majority of PC users.

Tiny Linux PC uses just 8 watts of power, can be solar powered – Link

Posted by | Friday November 30th, 2007 8:43 PM

Categories: hacks | 1 Comment

Make a Repstrap (Part 2) – Weekend Projects Podcast

MP4 | Hi-Def | Blip | Youtube | PDF | Subscribe

In this Weekend Projects podcast I’ll walk you through the different parts of the hardware on the reprap. You’ll want to take a look at the pdf for parts lists and more detailed info to get started on the hardware for this project. The software is still in development and until then you should be able to get your reprap working as a McWire Mill until the code gets done. Remember this is an experimental research community project! I really like this design. It’s solid, easy to take apart and put together. It’s also relatively transportable.

Sponsored by Ponoko: Ponoko is a new concept that’s perfect for Makeziners. Use it to make and promote your product ideas. Ponoko supplies the digital manufacturing technology and the materials, you supply the creativity. Plus you can sell your product ideas in their showroom. Ponoko is this week’s sponsor of our weekend video podcast.

Make a design, upload it – have it cut on laser cutter and delivered to you.

If you’re one of the first 10 Makeziners to make a product using Ponoko you’ll get shipping for free.

Now *before* you grab up all the free shipping requests please please upload your designs and consider *making a product* a lot of folks out there uploaded designs but didn’t get a product made (yet) that’s ok – but ideally Ponoko would like to see more folks getting something made to take advantage of the free shipping, thanks.

Ok, click here to get going!

Posted by | Friday November 30th, 2007 11:02 AM

Categories: MAKE Podcast, Robotics, Weekend Projects | 14 Comments

Bicycles that carry powerful beats

Bikes600
Great NY Times article about bike stereos, photo Tyler Hicks/The New York Times -

A new biker gang is roaming the streets of Richmond Hill, Queens. This crew of mostly teenagers can be seen riding along 103rd Avenue just west of the Van Wyck Expressway. The bikes roar, but the booming sound has nothing to do with engines — because there are no engines. They are ordinary bicycles, not motorcycles, although these contraptions look and sound more like rolling D.J. booths. They are outfitted with elaborate stereo systems installed by the youths.

Bicycles That Carry Powerful Beats, and Even a Rider or Two – New York Times – [via] Link.

Thump:
Fv5Bg221Knep280Gyz.Medium
DIY Bike stereo – Link.

218024516 62B510D6D0
Ultra-light/ultra-efficient pimped-out bike stereo system – Link.

Posted by | Friday November 30th, 2007 11:00 AM

Categories: Bicycles | 1 Comment

Make a Repstrap (Part 2) – Weekend Projects PDFcast

Repstrap Screen Shots

Here’s what the underside of the bot looks like. You can see the iron pipes that work as a base, the lasercut platforms, and the skate bearings that make it move silky smooth.

Zach of the Reprap foundation has done a lot of work to get ordering the Repstrap’s parts organized. He’s put together a really easy way to order the stuff from McMaster Carr. I chose regular shipping and it arrived the next day in NYC and then I brought everything to Europe to work on in a Pelican case. – Link

Jay's Making a Reprap photo set
Photo Credit: Jay

In the PDF you can read about some of the obstacles overcome in making this bot, but those aside, the best part of this project was the awesome team that pulled together to work on it. The folks at Metalab, GRL Vienna, and Monochrom came together to make this project happen. At one time there were about 12 people all working on the project at 3 in the morning and the focus and excitement in the air was tangible. This project is on the same level as the drawbot and the near-space balloon. In all three of these projects, I’ve made great new friends out of sheer necessary and desperate collaboration. It’s been super fun! I recommend doing ambitious projects as a team!

I got my steppers donated to me from Marius at the metalab. They were sourced from 2 broken printers and a scanner. The important thing when you are looking for bipolar steppers is that they have 4 wires coming out of them. This indicates that they are bipolar steppers.

There is more information about steppers for you to check out here. – Link

Dowload the PDF and start ordering up your parts to get your Repstrap robot hardware going! – PDF Link

Posted by | Friday November 30th, 2007 10:05 AM

Categories: MAKE PDF, MAKE Podcast, Weekend Projects | 6 Comments

LED Christmas Lights and how to fix them

Ledbulbs
David writes in -

Here’s page & description of how LED Christmas lights work. I found this site while searching for a way to repair a string of LED lights. This answered a lot of questions I had, like why the LED lights flicker, and why there is no obvious transformer or voltage converter in the string.
They also have a page on incandescent Christmas lights and how to troubleshoot/repair them.

LED Christmas Lights and how to fix them – Link.

Posted by | Friday November 30th, 2007 9:00 AM

Categories: DIY Projects, Electronics, Holiday projects | 3 Comments

DIY "Dirt-E" bike conversion

Rolling Chassis
Bike Assembled
Play In Snow
FrankG the prolific e-modder writes in -

This page details the initial mods and configuration of a low power Dirt-E Bike (electric powered). The central idea was to resurrect a trashed Kawasaki KE-175 that I salvaged from a scrap yard into a more modern ride.

DIY “Dirt-E” bike conversion – Link.

Posted by | Friday November 30th, 2007 5:00 AM

Categories: DIY Projects, Green, Transportation | No Comments

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From the Maker Shed

MSBUN36
Launch Price: $75.99

RedPark TTL iOS Cable Breakout Pack

Exclusively in the Maker Shed, this updated Redpark Breakout Pack for Arduino and iOS makes interfacing your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with the real world easy! This bundle includes the new RedPark TTL Cable for iOS so a TTL adapter (and soldering) is no longer required.

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Important please read