Slashdot Mirror

step 1: take a $100 digi-cam
step 2: break off the shutter button
step 3: attach a motion sensor (about $10 each from sites like http://www.hvwtech.com/products_list.asp?CatID=114&SubCatD=186
(I don't work for them, but i've had good experiences, and i got free stuff when a shipment was late and i complained)
step 4: send a constant voltage to the connector that detects when you have pushed the shutter half way down.
step 5: hook up the motion sensor to the shutter button.
step 6: you how have a cheep motion sensing digital camera for cheep.
step 7: ???
step 8: profit

Here's a link to their site with low cost RFID:
http://www.hvwtech.com/products_list.asp?CatID=112 &SubCatID=192&SubSubCatID=0

Even cooler than barcodes is RFID. You don't even have to aim to get it to scan correctly. The only problem is the printers that you let you arbitrarily mark the tags are expensive; about $1000, whereas barcodes can be printed on anything with black ink.

BUT!!... optical scanners are expenive ($250 and up). Yet you can get a RFID USB reader for about $60. It comes with a few premade tags. You can buy pre-signed RFID tags for less than $1.00 each, and a sheet of them can usually be run through a printer; then you could have barcodes AND RFID.

We're considering using such a system to do inventory control. Fun!

About 19 months ago, I decided to get an LCD display for my monitorless 486... its primary job is NAT (previously using a 56k modem w/PPP, now using the cable modem w/ethernet). Matrix Orbital displays connect to the serial port and have a really simple interface (it displays a character for every character you send, commands are prefixed by 0xFE, then a code for the command).

I went looking around, and it seems there aren't too many places to get the displays from in Canada. I ordered from HVW Technologies, which even has a student discount if you provide a scanned image of your student card. Their displays section includes units both with and without drive bay mounting kits. Their prices are reasonable, and their response time was great. I've got a picture of my (custom-written) uptime program here.

When I wrote the software, LCDproc was about the only program that was any good, and it kept flickering because it'd send a "clear screen" code before every update. I have no idea if that's been fixed in the interim, but I took the opportunity to write my API for a Grade 11 project (got 100%!).

About 19 months ago, I decided to get an LCD display for my monitorless 486... its primary job is NAT (previously using a 56k modem w/PPP, now using the cable modem w/ethernet). Matrix Orbital displays connect to the serial port and have a really simple interface (it displays a character for every character you send, commands are prefixed by 0xFE, then a code for the command).

I went looking around, and it seems there aren't too many places to get the displays from in Canada. I ordered from HVW Technologies, which even has a student discount if you provide a scanned image of your student card. Their displays section includes units both with and without drive bay mounting kits. Their prices are reasonable, and their response time was great. I've got a picture of my (custom-written) uptime program here.

When I wrote the software, LCDproc was about the only program that was any good, and it kept flickering because it'd send a "clear screen" code before every update. I have no idea if that's been fixed in the interim, but I took the opportunity to write my API for a Grade 11 project (got 100%!).

It looks as if these cars use may a
Microcontroller, perhaps not, but definitely an H-Bridge. And H-Bridge is a specialized push pull amplifier that can be used as a Motor controller. You can order this as Quad 2 Channel Drivers,
In a DIP Package.
Gee I'd love to
Hack one of these babies like
this fella
did.

But, it's really tough to find chips at those sizes.

On, the short battery life. I'm reminded of BEAM Devices which charge up a capacitor from a solar cell, then release the energy in a spurt, then go back to charging the capacitor. Here's a cool one

Design your own USB coffee maker or animitronic toy. Put a real robot in robot wars instead of a glorified remote control car. Break in by doing not begging

Other Sources