Blog update
7 April 2010Hi,
For some reason my web hosting provider is going to shut down as of May 1st 2010.
This is a very bad news because I will not be able to pay for another provider offering the same services.
I might as well shut everything down rather than use some cheap lower quality provider.
be advised that if i can't find a viable alternative, this website will shut down as of May 1st 2010.
Update 04/25/2010 : Found a new cheap (temporary) web hoster
It'll be okay for now…
Kevin
Breeding Terrarium Thermostat
30 January 2010warning: work in progress
I'm building a thermostat system for our turtle's breeding terrarium.
Basicaly, it'll control the temperatures in two zones of the terrarium, giving me the ability to set up the temperature I want for each zone per time period (e.g. 26°c from 10:00 to 18:30 and at least 20°c the rest of the time in Zone1 and 31°c from 11:00 to 17h30 and at least 21°c the rest of the time in Zone2)
I'm using an atmega168 (not an atmega8 like the schematics says, but it's pin compatible), a 32.768khz xtal for the time, two 5v relays, and two p-channel mosfets to drive those relays, and an 2×16 LCD.
Here's what i think the board will look like (design not tested yet)
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Cheap DIY servo tester
19 October 2009I have some cheap servos lying around, with no datasheet available… since I want to use them for a future robotics project I had to get the information I need one way or another…
Control your Windows computer using your Sony Playstation 3
25 May 2009
Ok, let me introduce my new project: It's called PS3ReCon (which stands for Playstation 3 Remote Control), it allows you to use your Sony Playstation 3 Bluetooth Remote to control your computer.
It's fully writen in c# and supports external plugins (.dll files)
Oh, and also, it's free !
Laser + Webcam = 3D… maybe!
22 February 2008So here the new project i'm planning to work on: a 3D scanner!
Since a picture is worth a thousand words, lets start with them:
What I think is pretty simple (maybe too simple): the distance between the y axis and the edge of the object where the laser is beaming on, can be calculated using the delta value and some sines and cosines!
I'm not much of a math guy, but this sounds really easy!
x=delta/sin 60
Waaaaait… this may actually work!!!!
Oh and i've made some huge progress with my realtime webcam tracking program!
here's an example tracking my external harddrive blue led:
Microsoft Scripting Guys failed at Perl… big time
2 February 2008So don't get me wrong, I'm still a great MS fan and everything… but come on… they could have tested their script before publishing it!
the failure: (source microsoft.com)
ppm install failed the ppd does not provide code to install for this platform
11 January 2008So you just installed the brand new activeperl 5.10 and now you're having the "ppm install failed the ppd does not provide code to install for this platform" issue when you're trying to install a new package via ppm?
The solution is quite easy: uninstall and reinstall the latest "legacy" version (ActivePerl 5.8.8.822) which is fully functional and you'll have more luck installing those packages!
Of course you won't have those fancy new features like say(), given() {when(){…}…}, etc but still it'll work like a 5.8.x does!!!
The easiest, fastest, and most effective way to detect defective pixels on your LCD screen
26 December 2007
Defective pixels are uncool, and you usually find them when it's to late to give your damn LCD screen back… here's the solution to find them in no time!
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Vbscript CGI (No… not ASP)
15 November 2007Yesterday, I don't know how, but while doing nothing I suddenly got the best idea ever: Using vbscript scripts with apache… and guess what… after some coding/debugging hours, it actually works like a charm!
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Patching Smokeping for Windows so you don't have to.
14 October 2007I'm releasing this today, but it's still in beta (Everything that used to work with my old 2.0.8 patch works with that version, but not all new features have been tested yet)
What you'll need:
-Perl (latest version if you can)
-A web server (wamp is good, but others should work fine as well)
What the script will do and what it won't:
it will: download smokeping, rrdtool, and fping, help you configure smokeping (owner, mail, etc), patch what's needed to be patched, install a new feature that is not included in smokeping's official package (zoom in/out with pageup|pagedown)
it won't: install/configure your webserver, install perl, add targets in your configuration file
what's working and what's untested yet:
working: everything that used to work with the 2.0.8 version, Ajax based ineractive graph zooming (+ my exclusive zoom with pageup/pagedown feature), Multi Target Graphs, using drives different than "c:"
not tested yet: Master/Slave setup for multi source smokeping deployments.
How to configure wamp, or apache:
edit httpd.conf (C:\wamp\Apache2\conf\httpd.conf with wamp)
change: ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "C:/wamp/Apache2/cgi-bin/" into ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ "c:/wamp/cgi/" *
change: <Directory "C:/wamp/Apache2/cgi-bin/"> into <Directory "c:/wamp/cgi"> *
(* you don't _have_ to do that, and of course you can change every paths, you just have to provide every paths to the install script)
create a folder in your www root folder (c:\wamp\www if you're runing wamp) and name it "simg"
The install script will ask you the www root folder and the image folder
WWW root folder [Default: C:\wamp\www] (must already exist)
image folder from C:\wamp\www [Default: simg]
that's it! if something is not self explanatory enough, or if you have questions feel free to leave a comment
for testing, and autostart take a look at steps 7,8, and 10 here http://dev.pulsed.net/wp/?p=3
Download the Smokeping Installer for Windows, unzip it and launch "install n patch.pl"
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