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Build Your Own Electric Etch-A-Sketch

Posted by michael on from the reboot-by-shaking dept.

mhaisley writes "Ok, case mods are cool, monitor mods are nifty... but an Electric Etch-a-Sketch beats either. Students at Cornell University built an electronically controlled etch-a-sketch, controllable by a PC mouse. This was part of a group of class final projects featured by their instructor."

7 of 104 comments (clear)

  1. Reminds me of those EtchASketch tech support calls by AliasTheRoot · · Score: 4, Funny

    User: My Etch A Sketch has crashed what should I do?
    Support: Shake it.

  2. Has been done before by GarbanzoBean · · Score: 5, Funny

    It is called photoshop.

  3. wow... by nuggetman · · Score: 5, Funny

    maybe now i could actually draw a circle on the freaking thing

    i always saw kids in the commercials w/ these elaborate trucks drawn, i couldn't even make a damn circle

    not that im bitter...

    --
    ...and that's all there is to it.
    1. Re:wow... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      "i couldn't even make a damn circle"

      It's quite easy. You simply rotate the knobs either clockwise or counter-clockwise depending on whether the sine wave sample is above the x axis or below it and at a speed indicated by the value of the y axis. Obviously, the x axis represents time.

      The only tricky part is remembering that the left and right knobs aren't ever at the same point in the sine wave so you have to remember that your left hand and right hand might be moving in different directions and at different speeds. At first I founnd that it helped to use a precalculated lookup table but now I can just do the trig calculations on the fly.

      Hope that helps!

  4. If only... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    They could hook the thing up to my video card and have it redraw 60 times a second, I'd have a cheap monitor!

  5. Re:Final Year Project?!? by castlec · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well.... In the poor guy's defense, I know I couldn't have built an LED that counted in binary at the end of my second year of school. I assume that his community college only counts to 10 like most others.

    --
    When I tell an object to delete this, am I killing it or telling it to kill me?
  6. Direct X support? by adeyadey · · Score: 2, Funny

    Imagine, a 3d engine which can render 20 polygons a minute!

    --
    "You lied to me! There is a Swansea!"