Make: Online: March 2007 Archives

« February 2007 | Main | April 2007 »

Archives: March 2007

March 2007 Home | Next >

March 31, 2007

HOW TO - Back Up and Restore the AppleTV Hard Disk

Before you start playing with the software on the AppleTV, it's prodent to make a bit-level copy of the internal disk. That way, if something goes wrong during your experimentation, you can restore the disk to its original state.

To do this, you'll be removing the AppleTV's disk, putting it in another machine (Linux or OS X), and copying the contents to a file on another hard drive. Note that you'll need a minimum of about 40gig on the other drive to store the disk image. You'll also need a 2.5inch external drive enclosure, or a 2.5inch to 3.5inch IDE adapter for attaching the drive to your other machine. Finally, there's a good chance that opening the case will void your warrantee... but it's for a good cause right?

Back up:

First, remove the hard disk from your AppleTV. Check out Makezine's instructions to dissect your new toy -Link.
Connect the drive to your computer as if you were adding a second disk. On Linux, it will be available as /dev/hdb or /dev/hdc depending on whether you slaved it to the first drive or put it on the second channel (we'll assume hdc). In OS X, use the diskutil list command to list the partition tables on your drives. The AppleTV disk will have HFS partitions named Media and OSBoot. We'll assume /dev/disk2 for this article.
Copy the disk's entire contents to your hard drive. In Linux, run:

dd if=/dev/hdc of=/home/[username]/appletvdump.img bs=1024k

For OS X users, it's the same thing, just a different device:

dd if=/dev/disk2 of=/Users/[username]/appletvdump.img bs=1024k

This should take a while, and you'll see/hear both hard drives being accessed. When it's finished, you should have a 40gig (approximately) file on your other computer. On a new AppleTV disk, a lot of this is unused, zeroed out space, so you can gzip it to save some space on your backup machine.

How To Restore:
To restore, we just go through the same process as above, but instead of writing the disk's contents to a file, we write the backup file's contents back to the disk:

In Linux:
dd if=/home/[username]/appletvdump.img of=/dev/hdc bs=1024k
In OS X:
dd if=/Users/[username]/appletvdump.img of=/dev/disk2 bs=1024k

That's all there is to it. With your backup in place, you're now free to monkey around and try some of the other tricks we're posting on this AppleTV weekend (or concoct a hack or two of your own)!

AVR controlled clock

Avr Clock1
Daqq made a really simple The AVR controlled clock, source and schematic included -

A friend of mine needed a clock into his amplifier as an extra function. So I made him one. It consists only of one AVR processor and one BQ-M512RD (or compatible, with common anodes) LED display.

Daqqs homepage - [via] Link.

Related:

Getting started with AVR microprocessors on the cheap - Link.
Getting started with 8 bit AVR microcontrollers - Link.
Open source Atmel AVR microcontroller kits... - Link.
More AVR projects @ MAKE - Link.

HOW TO - Boot AppleTV From USB

The above video describes how to put the AppleTV into recovery mode, where it will boot from an attached USB drive. It's a matter of attaching a usb drive, holding down the menu and minus buttons to enable recovery mode and rebooting.

The ultimate goal is to be able to get to a point where people can hack their AppleTVs without needing to open the case. To do this, work is being done to prepare a suitable recovery image for the USB drive that will enable SSH on the internal disk -Link.

Star Trek apartment

Make 460

In MAKE 07 we had a "Made on Earth" about Tony Alleyne's apartment turned-Star Trek starship renovation project and here's a BBC video about it too!

Trekkie Recreates Awesome Set of Star Trek: Voyager in a Studio Apartment - Link.

Stop motion paper art

Amazing stop motion paper art by Jen Stark - [via] Link.

HOW TO - Make a light bulb shrimp aquarium

Fe6613A625Eztbauji.Medium
Sgt.Waffles shows you how to make a light bulb shrimp aquarium - Link.

Lemon-Powered AVR Tiny

Dhananjay V. Gadre wrote in with this awesome project:

We have been itching to try running an AVR micro on fruit power. I do have the latest Picopower AVR samples, but it was too much of an effort to solder a 64 pin TQFP and so we decided to give a try with Tiny13V chip instead. The chip was setup to operate at an internal clock of 128KHz with a divide by 8 setting. A program to toggle an LED on pin 3 of the micro was set up with a series resistance of 4.7KOhm. The fruit cell was made out of a bare PCB partitioned in 4 sections. The copper of the PCB made up one electrode and for the other we used zinc strips from new batteries :) Two lemons cut in half were used.
The setup works well and the LED light didnt seem to diminish at all.

MintyBoost! Kit V1.1

Fd0Mqyvew5Ez7Bhe7O.Medium
Here's another one of our kits with instructions, up on Instructables -

This is an updated version of the detailed instructable by this device's inventor, Ladyada. The updated version has some extra components. Also if you're having trouble be sure to read the extra section in step 4 about modifying the MintyBoost to work with some newer MP3 players. (It's quite simple).

MintyBoost! Kit V1.1 - Link & get on @ the Maker store.

Snap cups

Make 444
These cups are pretty neat, they have snaps and you can put your own handles or snap them all together for easy storage... Another fun one to (re)make if you have old cups and snaps laying around... - [via] Link.

HOW TO - Make a thumb piano

Fsuxqzwz46Excfeyt4.Medium
BobsDogHouseon writes -

I saw one of these somewhere a while back and always thought it would be fun to play with. A quick Google came up with several including the one in this picture. It's available online for about $33. I'm no kind of musician and I've never built a musical instrument before but this looks simple enough. I'd rather just make one.

Thumb Piano - Link.

AppleTV Running On a PC

bikedude880 from the hackint0sh forums posted this video of the AppleTV OS booting on PC hardware. It looks like this is a proof of concept - it's possible that this isn't fully functional yet. Anyone know more about this? Link.

Previously:

HOW TO - Run AppleTV on a Mac Mini

March 30, 2007

DIY Coffee - MAKE PDF

Make 453
We have a caffeinated collection of coffee related projects from the pages of MAKE in PDF form, if you have every MAKE you likely don't need this, but if you don't - we've collected 5 great projects and have them available for $4.99 (if you're a Tips-N-Tools newsletter subscriber there's a discount code coming for that so hang tight)...

Make 457
I'm going to have a post about each project, today's is: Perfect Espresso temperature hack. Get consistent shots by adding precise temperature control to your espresso maker.

DIY Coffee collects five hot MAKE magazine projects to supercharge your java:
Home-Build Coffee Roaster
Bottomless Espresso Portafilter
Toaster Tea Popper
Perfect Espresso Temperature Hack
Web-Fired Coffee with X10 Automation

Got a jones for caffeine and technology? Mod your espresso machine to dial in the perfect shot, with precise temperature control and a filter hack that kicks out maximum tasty crema. Roast your own with a hand-built custom coffee roaster. Hack a toaster timer to perfect-brew your tea every time. And fire up your coffee pot from the internet using X10 automation. Using home-grown techniques and off-the-shelf parts, caffeine junkies will find everything they need to overclock the fix from their favorite shade-grown beverage.

DIY Coffee - a MAKE PDF - Link.

Call For Hacks: It's an AppleTV Weekend!

The Internet tubes have been chock full of AppleTV hacks this last week. This weekend, I'll be collecting links and posting everything on the subject I can find, hopefully recapping at least a portion of all the cool things that are happening with this new platform.

If you've got a good AppleTV hack that hasn't been posted yet, please send it in and I'll make sure it gets included.

Recording The Beatles

Rtb-Big2
If you're an audio engineer or record your own music, this seems like a pretty interesting book - it's all about how the Beatles were actually recorded, looks like a lot of gear info too -

Never before has there been such an absolutely thorough and definitive look at how the Beatles' albums were recorded. Years of research and extensive interviews with the group's former engineers and technicians shed new light on those classic sessions. With a detailed look at every piece of studio gear used, full explanations of effects and recording processes, and an inside look at how specific songs were recorded, Recording The Beatles is a must-have for any Beatles fan or recording engineer.

Recording The Beatles - [via] Link.

Living interfaces

Li011
Check it out, this project uses an old Intel digital microscope!

The topic of the project works between interactiondesign and the biology. It concerns the communication between animal and the machine. The animal represents the user of a system and has the possibility to intervene. The User of the System are the so-called „Daphnien". These organisms are placed under a microscope and form an interface in the system cycle. Thus they have access to all processes in the computer and are able to manipulate them. The animal communicates with the computer and the borders between technology and the animal world blurs.
The system consists thereby of the animal, a microscope, an apperatur with LED`s, the computer and a digital aquarium.

Experimentelle Interfaces WS 06 » Blog Archive » Living Interface - [via] Link.

The unfinished balltrack

1039

12345678910 11 12! Check out Nate's balltrack! - Link.

Game of Life Kit - Make: Video Podcast

mp4|mov|3gp|3g2|itunes

In this podcast I show how to make this little kit which is a hardware version of a computer program. In this game, little lights die if they are crowded or lonely and new ones come to life if there is the right amount of parents around it!

Game of Life Kit - PDF Cast

Gol

Here are some photos of the kit and instructions of the game of life all wrapped up in a pdf. Link

You can buy the kit here: Link
Check it out on wikipedia here: Link
Try out a fun software version here: Link

Solder your own wine charms

437341179 853Ab56Ffd
Windell writes -

Here is how you can put together your own extra-snazzy wine charms out of electronic components. They look great, are easy to make, cost next to nothing, and make great conversation pieces. For an added bonus, you can solder them in place, making them semi-permanent yet easily removable.

Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories - Solder your own wine charms - Link.

Surprising tests with household ammonia

Make 454
Some fun experiments to extend your knowledge with your home laboratory, from Popular Science 1933 -

Simple Experiments and Home-made Apparatus Extend Your Knowledge and Speed the Work You Can Accomplish in Your Own Laboratory
It is surprising what the amateur chemist can do with a fifteen-cent bottle of ordinary household ammonia.

Being a mixture of ammonia dissolved in water, this pungent-smelling liquid offers an ever-ready supply of ammonia gas for the home laboratory. Even at room temperature, the gas is released from the liquid. By heating it, the experimenter can obtain the gas in larger quantities.

Strictly speaking, household ammonia is not ammonia at all, but ammonia water or ammonium hydroxide. Although ammonia can be liquefied, it is a colorless gas at normal temperatures. The fact that it dissolves readily in water makes the manufacture of ammonia water possible.

Modern Mechanix » Surprising Tests WITH Household AMMONIA - Link.