I’m happy to say I have now a battery powered IGEPv2

1. Main Platform
    
   I scored an IGEPv2 some time ago and been playing with it (a lot!)
   Working:
   • Gentoo (100% updated, running ISEE’s kernel)
   • Bluetooth
     This allows me to connect to my BT GPS module (rfcomm), BT keyboard (with regular HID support) and WiiMote (with libcwiid)
   • Wireless
     Although there is no Monitor mode it seems So i’m using a USB ZD1211 module for kismet
   • Sound (perfectly supported by ALSA)

   Not Working :

   • Video Output
     I’ve added the SVideo connector as by direction of ISEE but their kernel has no support for this.
     My current efforts have been unfruitful, but the future looks bright

    

2. Power Platform
    
   Still building this but ordered some parts already :
   • Cells
     Going to (probably) be 6 18650 3.7V 2500mAh protected cells run in a 3S2P setup to give me 11.1V at 5000mAh
   • Charger
     I’ve been playing with the MAX1811 that I sampled some time ago, and am now able to use this to charge one cell reliably.
     Looking into making a true BMS around an Arduino and some PWM switched Buck convertor to charge these 3 cells.
     (Also looking at just skipping this step and buying some premade 3 cell charger)
   • 5V DC-DC
     After joining ##electronics again, I quickly got some help finding the supreme  part for this  platform.
     DPCAV has this excellent module which will fit my purpose perfectly.

    

3. Interfaces
    
   I would like to use my HMD for this project, but as video is not working I’ve ordered a Nokia 3310 LCD on PCB from nuelectronics. This screen has a simple SPI interface, which I can directly interface with the IGEPv2 through a level shifter.
   The PCB also has some buttons, but I’ll probably end up using the wiimote as buttons for this display.
    
4. Case
    
   I really need to start looking at packaging all this….

Feel free to post any comments/questions

• IGEPv2 Platform
  This is a proper replacement for devkit8000. Albeit it has no svideo or other analog video output, it does have BT2.0 and 802.11bg on board with integrated antennas. Also, it comes in a 720mhz version <3
• SVideo to Composite
  A small howto on adding composite

I’m sure there will be more links later

So now I have dd-wrt running (for its webgui ) and running in repeater mode. Very sexy!

Soon you can expect some more posts from me

Nerdmeet #1

See the google group for less info than this picture could ever give you

As my recent linkdump shows, i’ve been looking into cortex boards as a platform and am lured in by the featureset, overall speed, power usage and of course price.

So based on that platform I’ve been clicking around some sites and talking to my main man in EE, xSmurf. Together with his remarks I’ve come to the following list:

1. Main platform:
   • Get a ARM Cortex board (probably the devkit8000 one, as it has svideo output already)

     This would get to run a simple linux install (probably gentoo as neuvoo) with Xorg and some freaky tweaked WM for low-res usage (my HMD is <320×240 and black&white)

   ~150 euros

2. Subsidiary platform:
   • A simple Arduino clone run from the TTL uart on devkit8000 (but maybe use an atmega with >1 uarts?)

     Probably I’d like this for some stupid hacks while walking around
     Also, this could be very good for the switchable power interface for some of the devices (HMD, Wlan, Powered HUB) aswell as monitoring the Power platform (voltage, temperature, charging state)

   • (If I can figure out the overlay support on my HMD) A TellyMate

     This could output all the system information, powerlevels etc

   ~10-20 euros

3. Power platform:
   • MAX1811 chip for charging Li+ single cells from USB

     No idea how this would work when charging multiple cells, maybe I need more than one

   • (as they are hella cheap) Trustfire 18650 3.7V 2500mAh cells or maybe the protected variant

     This would get me ~2hr per cell on just the main platform,  so I’ll start with 2 and will try to get it to work with more than 1 before adding more cells
     Besides USB charging, I think I’d like the cells to be removable, so I can charge them outside the device. (while wearing it, for instance)

   ~ 10-15 euros

4. Interfaces:
   • HMD for output

     This will be my current HMD for starters, a really cheap toy part that was recommended by hackaday.com
     Shown would be the current application in fullscreen mode, as anything else on this resolution is just insane (although Q3 looked nice )

     ~20 euros (but I already have it)

   • Audio

     Probably wired, as the devkit8000 has connections for this, but could move to A2DP (through a USB BT stick)
     Would be used for playing notfications and general sound from applications, but could also be an A2DP and/or Headset relay to a mobile phone for mid-firefox calls.

     ~10 euros (but I already have it)

   • Wireless

     Will use some USB wlan stick, maybe two
     General connecivity of course, the second one would just be for wardriving

     ~20 euros (but I already have it)

   • USB

     Will need a powered hub, so thats another ~2A for the batteries, sigh
     This will be quite usefull for random USB harddrives , usbsticks , and I guess a cardreader

     ~10-15 euros

   • HID

     Probably my current bluetooth keyboard, together with a PS2 mouse (that funky logitech netbrowse thing I have stored away)~80-100 euros (but I already have it)

5. Case:
   • Hahahahaha

Total costs : 180-200 for my situation, 310-360 for ground up building

I’ll have to put this on hold until I find another pot of gold some day, but these prices are really quite decent imho.
Also, I will be experimenting with small parts of this, maybe I’ll collect all the parts reaaaaally sloooooow.

Quake Live screenshot

If anyone wants to add me as friend, my ingame nickname is ‘buZztiaan’, enjoy!

We are moving towards VJ-ing with more and more open tools, linux only, free&open software, like FreeJ and avidemux.

Feel free to send us any requests for VJ gigs, video installations etc!

• http://www.newpartisan.com/home/balzac-the-pleasures-and-pains-of-coffee.html
  Cute article about someones love for coffee.
• http://dvice.com/archives/2009/08/tiny-bicycle-to.php
  Cool custom house someone built to be dragged behind a bike like a trailer.
• http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3175883
  This article tells what I’ve always known, Tetris works!
• http://wikileaks.org/wiki/EUISS:_What_ambitions_for_European_defence_in_2020%2C_Jul_2009
  Spooky stuff …
• http://keithschofield.com/
  Cool videos from Keith Schofield
• http://filenetworks.blogspot.com/2009/08/openbittorrent-publicbt-and-hidden.html
  Some new open torrent trackers

So, I picked up my new tires today, and, while i was walking back, went by to take a picture of the trailer i’ll be dragging on my way to HAR2009.

Tomorrow I’ll go get some moar supplies for my bike and continue fixing it up. Great fun

This year I will not be traveling by car, nor public transport. Instead, I will try to travel the ~40km by bike! For this purpose I now possess a city-bike which I’m (under xSmurf’s remote supervision) ‘adjusting’ to a touring bike.

I’ve found a ‘bike trolley’ by pure accident, which I’m bringing Tnx Wout \o/ That will surely bring over quite some hardware and big things

Swapping the tires is the first of my tasks in this wild process. Currently the bike has run down tires of the 26×1.95 size, which I’m going to swap for 26×1 3/8 size for less traction.

Whatever the future hold for me after that, I do not know, but I’m liking this summer already Hope to party with you all later \o/

• https://wiki.har2009.org/page/HackersonaBike
• https://har2009.org/

i take picture now, ok?

lyrics

So, time for some updates.

The EEE is still running Fedora 9, kinda out of laziness, also out of curiosity to ‘what are these click GUI distributions all about’.

I have upgraded the memory to 2GB yesterday, I’m having a hard time filling the cache to the rim, but it simply flies in FF3 and other memory intensive applications

As you can see by the picture, I have stripped and prepared some devices to become built-in soon.

The 8GB drive broke it’s own case (just dangling on my keychain turned out to be very hard on the plastic), and the BT stick is hardly anything beside the USB plug (you are looking at the backside of the USB plug).

Woot! Thanks to Fedora, I now have an Asus EEE to gentoo-fy!

The 8gb usb stick will be used first for installation, and later for added storage sweet stuff, moar later.

Last Saturday we had our first gig @ Unitas which went great! Read all about it, see some photos, watch some video, over on our website on puikheid.nl

Over on http://wesphive.spreadshirt.net/ you can see all the amazing work I have publicized on this cotton canvas. Feel free to order (i’m not making any money on this)

Ok, I just ordered the following:

• Intel Core2 Duo E2200 LGA775 1MB FSB800
• ASRock CONROE1333-D667 R1.0
• Kingston 2GB DDR2 (2×1GB) PC5300 667Mhz CL5 Dual Channel Kit
• PC Remote USB Wireless IR Receiver Wireless Controller

These will form the basis of my new mediapc. All the other parts will follow later (maybe much later).

Update 10-03-2008:

Received motherboard and processor today, memory last thursday. Gonna start building tonight, i guess.

Update 11-03-2008:

So, with 2 sata disks, a burner and a pci firewire card inside, the box uses ~60watt on idle, and makes nearly no noise Nice…

Update 25-03-2008:

Over the weekend I’ve swapped servers around, had some blog&wiki downtime, but nobody (that bugged me) noticed Yay \o/

Also, i sold an old motherboard + mem + proc for 50 euros, which helped a bit in the budget area of this system.

This morning, i ordered the following :

• ICIDU Soundcard 7.1 Channels PCI
• NOX HTPC Media mATX No PSU (black)
• Western Digital 500GB SATA300 16MB, WD5000AACS

Hopefully, this order wont take the full 12 days which they have put up for that NOX case ..

Total costs for the system is about 300 euros now, excluding the 50 euros i got back for some old parts. Still need a second 500gb someday …

Update 21-05-2008:

So, ok, basically I had my server up-and-running for the past 2 months (seeing the previous update).

Some problems occurred with some of the hardware, for which I’d like to warn people.

1. If you have a very cheap PSU, and it tends to run ‘hot’, and it’s ~28 degrees outside; your PSU will die.
2. If you buy a WD5000AACS, do not expect it to survive 24/7 usage.
3. If you buy a very cheap HTPC case, expect to run into some errors.

Solutions for this problems are quite easy luckily.

1. Bought a Sweex PS030 (about 25 euros, way too much watt, but fits the purpose and runs cool)
2. Going to buy a WD5001ABYS (maybe even 2, but I assume just 1) (and jump through the whole ‘i want encryption’ loop)
3. REALLY THINK ABOUT AND FIX airflow. (sounds stupid, it _really_ isn’t)

That’s all for now

I’ve been looking into building a HTPC today.
With the current prices, i came to the following setup:

• Nox Media case - 54 euros
• Core 2 Duo 1.8ghz - 56 euros
• Random Socket 775 motherboard - ~30 euros
• MSI RX1550-TD128EH videocard - ~30 euros

I will need to add 2x 500gb harddrive, psu, IR receiver, a soundcard with spdif output and ~1gb ram to this, but basically this will get me a mediapc for about 200-250 euros …

This setup will allow me to run 720p x264 videos on 720p output, and possibly more.

It will also serve as the new home for my mysql, mpd, irssi and random stuff.

This is a small log, mainly for myself, on how to setup the E220 for use on Gentoo.

emerge ppp

get kernel modules for ppp_async, ppp_generic, usbserial and option (CONFIG_USB_SERIAL_OPTION)

modprobe option and ppp_async

Put tty speed to 460800 , use ttyUSB0 , dail ATD*99***1# (use google for full chat scripts)

Enjoy HSDPA speed!

I also just update the gentoo-wiki with these updated instructions : http://gentoo-wiki.com/HARDWARE_HUAWEI_E220_HSDPA_USB_MODEM

So, some time ago I realized my Acer 19″ TFT is wider than my current Sony CRT TV (of unknown size), and since that day, I have been searching for the proper VGA box because the Acer screen has an aspect-ratio of 16:10 and most video-output is either 4:3 or 16:9.

Thus I needed one that was aware of the fact that there is a difference between 16:10 and 16:9 For quite some time there did not seem to be anything available, until I browsed some random site last night, and found this magic product!

The site actually does not have a lot of information on this product, but some random google queries gave me the following insight:

• It does 16:9 -> 16:10 conversion
• It supports up to 1080p input
• It supports up to 1920×1200 output (as well as the 1440×900 my 19″ TFT has)

Clearly this product will become my new HDTV very soon.

Update 2008/02/15:

So, i’ve been using this as my current screen for my Xbox, Wii and PS2 and must say I’m really pleased. The screen is sharp, with proper cable routing I don’t get any distorted banding and it’s really a ‘calm’ display.

The PS2 has issues, but thats because the games aren’t really ment for HDTV. Some games look the shit (God of War 1&2 look _GREAT_) and some games look like crap (GT4 has framerate issues, according to puckie, I hardly play it).

Wii shows everything ubersweet, and the Xbox also is really happy to output 480p (xvid on 720p looks like p00p).

I really recommend this solution to anyone that is looking for something to make a HDTV out of a VGA screen.

Arthur C. Clarke

Well known for nonfiction science writing and for early promotion of the effort toward space travel, his fiction was often grand and visionary.

My manager luckily didn’t know either, and all the administration is such a mess that nobody actually knows. w00h00.

I will be leaving 26-12-2007 for the congress, and arrive back in .nl on 02-01-2008.
So, see you all @ 24c3! (or actually outside smoking , or partying randomly)

So, finally had a windows box to do this on (somehow the site doesn’t work on linux’ firefox)
It kinda looks like me, what do you think?

If you want to make yourself one : http://www.simpsonizeme.com/

Then: OMG! Fatboy read my mind! I suddenly hear about the Fatboy Outdoor! They made a product I need! My love is growing again… until I read the price… 250 euros :/

So, time for a wallhack, read on!

W000h000, they arrived

Now I have all the hardware for 7.1, but not the room yet (just for 5.1)
After some DIY i’ll have a ‘new’ livingroom, and i’ll go all the way to 7.1! w0000t