computoman

Notice: this article is for linux based users. see also: http://computoman.blogspot.com/2015/05/arduino-music-starter-update.html The Arduino is one of the neatest microcontrollers.  For something so simple, it can do an amazing amount of projects. One such project that interested me was the Digital melody project. If you have one the the Arduinos where the Atmel chip can be removed, you can make your own project without the board once the programming is done. For this project, all you will need is the Arduino, usb cable (for programming), computer, some wires, optional 100 ohm resistor, and an old eight ohm speaker. Usually the back of speakers on the magnet have what resistance they are. So grab the old dead radio or the like that has a speaker and see what it has. Old personal computers are likely to have one too that you can borrow for a minute. Now you need to build the circuit. It is minimal and you should be able to set it up quickly. Resistor adds safety for pr...

Old hardware can be used for doing electronics just like the Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and etc. Parallel port can be used for digital interfacing. You can use the joystick port for analog input just like the Arduino. (less accurate though). The serial port allows you to do communication.   Some vga cards even have i2c interfaces http://www.instructables.com/id/Electronic-Guides/

Had a tripod, but the digital camera did not have a place for the screw from the tripod. No problem. a bit of pvc and a nut now allows the camera to have new uses.

One of the big things now is to be able to record what is on tv. Most of your cable providers will rent you a DVR (Digital Video Recorder) so you can record the shows you like (with limitations). Of course your computer can me made to do that also. In fact we made our own DVR with open source software. It is know as Mythtv ( http://www.instructables.com/id/Setting-up-a-computer-based-DVR-with-Mythtv-for-l /). I actually have built two of them. One for the one analog (now defunct) tv reception methods and one for the new digital tv reception. Love being able to record a lot of PBS educational media either for later viewing, or just be able to look at again and again. Cable viewing is getting rather expensive. so we dumped the tv portion of cable. We now use what is know as OTA-TV or Over-the-air tv. It's free!! Your selection is not as great but, since so many people are dropping cable tv, more and more cable stuff is comping to over the air tv.  In fact, cable tv providers are drop...