Here’s a cool DIY on how to make your own serial port IR receiver.

What does it do you ask?

Well, IR receiver can be used for controlling any IR devices or reading from them such as TVs, DVDs, etc…etc…

The best part about this DIY is that it can be used for making your custom DIY media center.

This circuitry allows you to control your computer with a simple remote, like the one you already use for your TV-set. It’s very useful when you want to control a DVD or an mp3 player without having to stay at the keyboard. Please note that this circuit is NOT IrDA compatible and it won’t help you to connect to your mobile phone or whatever IrDA device; it’s only good to control your pc with a standard remote control. I use it for VDR and now my pc is a full featured set top box connected to the television, capable to digitally record and replay satellite television, DVDs and every kind of digital content (mp3, divx). There are many softwares you can install to control this ciruit; for Linux you can use Lirc and for Windows you can use either Winlirc, Girder, IR Assistant or uIRC.

via hackszine, DIY Page

Here’s a really cool Chumby hack that will allow you to use a bigger 640×480 pixel LCD on your favorite little gadget.

Chumby is different; it is open source, and designed to be hacked. For example, the serial port is spelled out on the silkscreen for you and there’s a backdoor to enable sshd, so it’s not big deal to bring up the console. Because of its hackability, you are enabled to do significant modifications due to the availability of all levels of design documentation—hardware, drivers, and application software. While it would be an enormous task to, for example, open up a Zune and put a larger screen on it, here, in this post, I will show you how to hack a chumby to have a larger, higher-resolution screen without too much effort. The native chumby screen is a 3.5” QVGA (320×240) display, but after you complete this hack, you will be treated to a 5.7” VGA (640×480) display.

via make

Here’s a cool DIY on how to make a pan tilt airsoft gun.  You can even buy one here if you want to skip making it yourself.

“The robot airsoft kit brings together a simple pan/tilt servo setup with an automatic airsoft gun. Everything is controlled from your computer’s serial port. Attaching a camera allows you to have completely autonomous control of the gun, which makes it an ideal platform to enter the Defcon Robot Contest or the Robot Airsoft event at RoboGames! Overview

* The base has a servo which controls the pan.
* That connects to the U structure, which is the tilt, and holds all the control electronics.
* The gun is attached to the tilt rod. It’s a generic connection so any light gun will work.
* The pan/tilt is controlled from the computer’s serial port.
* Firing is done through a relay via the servo controller.
* Power comes from 8 AA batteries (4 for the gun, 4 for everything else).”

via hackedgadgets

Here’s a really cool hack that let’s you use your optical mouse as a scanner.

Are you using an optical mouse right now? Ever wanted to see your desktop through the eye on the bottom of it? Me neither, I already know I have to clean my desktop

People get bored sometimes, and when I get bored I sometimes open up stuff to find out what makes it tick. One time, I did this with an old optical mouse. Well, a mouse only has 2 chips inside: the optical sensor and a chip for the usb/ps2-interfacing. I looked up the datasheet of the optical sensor (which is an ADNS2610) and it told me the sensor has a tiny 18×18 CCD, which can be read out using the serial port (the one which normally interfaces to the PS2/USB-chip).

So I start Visual Basic (I usually do my stuff under Linux, but I’m no star at using anything graphical like QT or GTK, so for this quick’n'dirty project I fell back in my old habits) and hack something up using a few wires to the trusty ole parallel port. The result: crisp lo-res b&w imaging

(Thanks Joe for the tip!)

[via] spritesmods

Wow, this little button controller is actually a powerful little device for your wall. It’s got a web server, 64MB of RAM, well it really is a small powerful embedded computer that you can plug into a wall…WOW!

Looking to hop into the home automation game, but don’t feel like installing a computer in your wall or throwing down for a snazzy remote? Aurora Multimedia feels your pain, and with its recently launched Dynamic Button Controller, can take over your domain(s) with minimal intrusion.

The WACI PAD-6 rocks a single-gang interface (like the JackPC) and boasts six dynamic LCD buttons which change based on which button you press first. For instance, tagging the “DVD” button can switch your six options to play / pause, stop, and volume, while choosing the “Lights” pad could lead to dimming controls. The device houses 64MB of RAM “supporting hundreds of unique instances,” an internal “250 MIPS web server” which triggers the macro switching, an IR port, one serial port, and a built-in Ethernet port. While there are currently no pricing or availability details to ponder over, we’re sure the WACI PAD-6 will be displacing plain ole electrical outlets real soon.

via engadget