Hack a Day http://www.hackaday.com Hack a Day http://www.hackaday.com/media/feedlogo.gif Hack a Day http://www.hackaday.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://podcasts.hackaday.com/rss.xmlNES crammed into a light gunhttp://www.hackaday.com/2008/07/21/nes-crammed-into-a-light-gun/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/07/21/nes-crammed-into-a-light-gun/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/07/21/nes-crammed-into-a-light-gun/#commentsFiled under: ,


[GonzoMPM-1] Has gutted an NES knock off called Super Joy III and crammed it inside of a light gun. Inspired by a daughter that loves duck hunt, he wanted to consolidate the package and make it more portable. He's managed to pull off some nice finish, it look almost professional in the picture above. The unit is powered by 3 AAA batteries in the handle. The game system works just fine, and he claims that the controls are actually more responsive now. The light gun works as well if you have a CRT television around.

You many notice that there is no cartridge slot. There really isn't a need for one in this mod. The Super Joy III comes equipped with 76 games on the board. He notes that he can make an external cart at some point, but may leave it off in favor of the compact design.

While he acknowledges that this is not a completely self contained gaming device, we feel it earns honorable mention for being cool.

[via technabob]
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]]>duckhuntlightgunNESsuperjoyCaleb Kraft2008-07-21T14:30:00+00:00Cheap ARM color LCD platformhttp://www.hackaday.com/2008/07/18/cheap-avr-color-lcd-platform/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/07/18/cheap-avr-color-lcd-platform/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/07/18/cheap-avr-color-lcd-platform/#commentsFiled under: , , ,


Today, [sprite_tm] let us in on one of his pet projects. This is an inexpensive portable game platform runs about $50 and happens to use an ARM CPU and a 320x240 color LCD. Because it's so cheap, he's been working on reverse engineering the thing and there's already a proof of concept homebrew version of Pong out for it.
Update: Yeah, yeah - title's fixed.
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]]>cheapgamesportablepspishWill O'Brien2008-07-18T07:36:00+00:00Why we modhttp://www.hackaday.com/2008/07/17/why-we-mod/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/07/17/why-we-mod/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/07/17/why-we-mod/#commentsFiled under: ,


[Codejunkie] has written up a great explanation as to why we mod. He's specifically talking about the Sony PSP, but many of the points he makes carry over to any modding. Though the "why" question may seem like a no brainer to most of us, we do hear it a lot. We strongly suggest you take a few moments to read his article.

Who hasn't been asked this question? We all have different reasons to mod things. Some people do it to make improvements, some people do it just for the fun. He lists some of the more practical reasons and makes some insightful comparisons.

For example, he likens some modding to making personalizations to your car. Has anybody asked why you put a custom shifter knob on? No, because we are used to this, just as they are used to being locked out of their electronics. He also talks about products that are crippled from the factory. We've covered this situation on Hack a Day before. Is it wrong for you to want your product to function to its built in potential?

He covers a few thoughts on homebrewing software for the PSP as well. There's no reasonable explanation for why you shouldn't have full control over something you own.
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]]>homebrewpspsonysonypspCaleb Kraft2008-07-17T16:20:00+00:00PSPSeq 3.0, PSP sequencer release and interviewhttp://www.hackaday.com/2008/07/15/pspseq-3-0-psp-sequencer-release-and-interview/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/07/15/pspseq-3-0-psp-sequencer-release-and-interview/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/07/15/pspseq-3-0-psp-sequencer-release-and-interview/#commentsFiled under: , ,


DSPmusic.org has just released the latest version of its homebrew PSP music sequencer PSPSeq 3.0. With PSPSeq you can create songs with up to 16 independent audio tracks, use WAV audio clips of your own and then modify them with a number of settings, or even use some of the built in synthesizers to generate sounds. There are strong looping and recording features as well. If you are into homebrew music apps on the PSP, then this will give you a strong offering of features. We had a chance to catch up with the author, [Ethan Bordeaux], and ask a few questions. You can check out the short interview after the break.

Q: What inspired you to write a music sequencer for the PSP?

A: My inspiration started with my main music project I was working on before PSPSeq - myself and some friends designed custom DSP hardware to create autonomous generative music (the project was called Chiclet). I created the synthesis engine running on the DSP. I learned a lot from the project but wanted to make a tool that could contain some of my synthesis and sequencing ideas but in a more user friendly package. Around the same time a friend of mine from the Chiclet project (Noah Vawter) was working on a PSP music sequencer called PSPKick. He kept telling me what a great platform the PSP was for homebrew, and for my 30th birthday a bunch of my friends chipped in and bought me one.

I also considered using the GP2X however the PSP has a lot more horsepower and a larger installed base so I went with that. I like the GP2X quite a bit conceptually but wanted to pick the fastest system so I could make the best synthesizer and sequencer possible.

Q: How many people are involved in the project?

A: I'm the only developer for the project. I made everything from the synthesis engine to the GUI and the documentation. The one place that I have received help is with demo tunes. The PSPSeq community has been great for that. While I enjoy writing music I think I'm better at making things that make music rather than writing it myself, and really enjoy hearing the music created by users.

Q: What features do you hope to have in future releases?

A: For the moment I'm just enjoying having finished the latest release. I really feel like PSPSeq 3.00 is capable of making some great music and that the full potential has yet to be tapped. That said, the two big features I would like to add to PSPSeq are configurable LFOs and some sort of mixer stage with additional FX.
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]]>audiohomebrewinterviewpsppspseqsequencerJimmie Rodgers2008-07-15T22:50:00+00:00Portable NES in an NES cartridgehttp://www.hackaday.com/2008/07/03/portable-nes-in-a-nes-cartridge/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/07/03/portable-nes-in-a-nes-cartridge/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/07/03/portable-nes-in-a-nes-cartridge/#commentsFiled under: ,


Fresh off the tips line, [Jake] sent in his portable NES project. We've seen quite a few portables, but we love that the entire thing is built into an old NES cartridge. It's got 99 games and some clever control placement. Three N cells nestled in the former connector slot power the system. You can see more pic over at [Ben Heck]'s forum.
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]]>benheckcartridgegameboyhackNESnintendonintendonesportableWill O'Brien2008-07-03T16:15:00+00:00New Nintendo DS homebrew music appshttp://www.hackaday.com/2008/06/26/new-nintendo-ds-homebrew-music-apps/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/06/26/new-nintendo-ds-homebrew-music-apps/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/06/26/new-nintendo-ds-homebrew-music-apps/#commentsFiled under: ,


The Nintendo DS homebrew scene is heading into a heavily musical interlude with a few new apps. This is good news for anyone who liked Protein DScratch but wanted more options and functionality. More information after the break.

The first app is called GlitchDS. It's actually not new, but version 1.3 of GlitchDS was just released. It's an audio mixing program with various UI modes, per-sound volume control, and many other features. It can even mix samples and save snapshots of different compositions.


The second is a program called dsmcu; it doesn't make music itself, but is designed to control an external MIDI program or device via WiFi. As the name implies, it uses the mcu protocol to send and receive fader data, display live VU meters, control tracks and volume, and scrub. It is currently in beta and only works with Reaper and DSMI, but the developers are confident that they'll get Logic and Pro Tools working with it soon.

We don't expect you to use these as a substitute for Korg DS-10, the commercial Korg synth emulator for the DS. Rather, when used in along with it, these programs make the DS into a surprisingly potent tool for making and mixing music.
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]]>dsmcudsmusichomebrewkorgds-10midimusicnintendonintendodsproteindsproteindscratchreaperJuan Aguilar2008-06-26T22:15:00+00:00Midify now availablehttp://www.hackaday.com/2008/06/22/midify-now-available/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/06/22/midify-now-available/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/06/22/midify-now-available/#commentsFiled under:


The people at Division 6 have begun selling Midify, a board that add a MIDI port to an DS and many other Nintendo handhelds. The board has 12 outputs, plus two for power and two for the MIDI port. Configuration and mapping are also very simple. This is the same board that was used to add MIDI control to a microwave.

[via Matrixsynth]
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]]>division6gbamidimidifyndsnintendonintendodsJuan Aguilar2008-06-22T15:00:00+00:00Atari 7800 portablehttp://www.hackaday.com/2008/06/18/atari-7800-portable/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/06/18/atari-7800-portable/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/06/18/atari-7800-portable/#commentsFiled under:


Ben Heck has just wrapped up his latest project, a portable Atari 7800. He had meant to do this a long time ago, but lacking experience, the complex looking circuit board scared him off. It features a seven inch display, rechargeable batteries, combination driving and paddle controllers, plus AV out. The console was built by request and just like his other pojects: he's not shy about showing you how it's put together. Look for a making-of coming soon.
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]]>7800atariatari7800benheckconsoleportableEliot Phillips2008-06-18T22:15:00+00:00DIY TomTom docking stationhttp://www.hackaday.com/2008/06/08/diy-tomtom-docking-station/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/06/08/diy-tomtom-docking-station/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/06/08/diy-tomtom-docking-station/#commentsFiled under: , ,


TomToms have been getting pretty cheap. We like 'em because they're nice and hackable. This diy docking station was made from some etched PCBs, a bunch of male pin headers and a bit of hot glue.
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]]>diygpdpcbWill O'Brien2008-06-08T08:45:00+00:00Pocket Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy (Wikipedia style)http://www.hackaday.com/2008/05/13/pocket-hitchikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-wikipedia-style/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/05/13/pocket-hitchikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-wikipedia-style/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/05/13/pocket-hitchikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-wikipedia-style/#commentsFiled under: ,


[PKM] decided to breathe new life into a Psion 5mx handheld. He slapped linux on it, added a wikipedia dump to a CD card, and voila: pocket wikipedia. It's the closest thing to an actual hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy I've ever seen. So long and thanks for all the fish!
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]]>Will O'Brien2008-05-13T10:00:00+00:00Make your own PS3 laptop (part 1)http://www.hackaday.com/2008/04/24/make-your-own-ps3-laptop-part-1/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/04/24/make-your-own-ps3-laptop-part-1/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/04/24/make-your-own-ps3-laptop-part-1/#commentsFiled under: , ,


Let the how-to's begin: [Ben Heck] put up the first installment of his how-to series on making your own PS3 laptop. Since this one is all about the tear down, you might dig the PS3 design even if you're not interested in making your own portable.
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]]>ben heckBenHeckgaminglaptopps3sonyWill O'Brien2008-04-24T16:02:00+00:00Chumby hacking by Bunniehttp://www.hackaday.com/2008/04/08/chumby-hacking-by-bunnie/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/04/08/chumby-hacking-by-bunnie/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/04/08/chumby-hacking-by-bunnie/#commentsFiled under: ,


[bunnie] is one of the main people behind the Chumby, and even he can't resist modding the things. He decided to outfit one with a larger LCD - using a stereo microscope to do the really fine pitch work - and a laser cutter to create a custom bezel for the finished piece. The new LCD is still a touchscreen and allows the Chumby to display 640x480 resolution over the stock 320x240. The mod requires a few parts, but the ultimate difficulty is caused by the surface mount connectors. If you'd rather have some software fun, you might want to check out [bunnie]'s Chumby wifi sniffer.
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]]>bunniechumbylcdsnifferwifiWill O'Brien2008-04-08T22:36:00+00:00Spectrum ZX Laptophttp://www.hackaday.com/2008/03/19/spectrum-zx-laptop/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/03/19/spectrum-zx-laptop/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/03/19/spectrum-zx-laptop/#commentsFiled under: , ,


[Jim] sent in this interesting laptop modding project. He started with a Spectrum ZX and a Toshiba Libretto 110. The libretto kept its brains, but the lower case and keyboard was replaced with the ZX hardware. Since both machines use matrix style keyboards (but different matrix layouts) he was able to create a passive adapter circuit to match things up.
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]]>Will O'Brien2008-03-19T22:56:00+00:00Console on the Kindle (and more)http://www.hackaday.com/2008/02/20/console-on-the-kindle-and-more/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/02/20/console-on-the-kindle-and-more/http://www.hackaday.com/2008/02/20/console-on-the-kindle-and-more/#commentsFiled under: ,


[Dev] sent in an interesting blog series on hacking Amazon's kindle. [Igor] has documented getting a console, the bootloader and more. Even if you don't have a Kindle to hack on, it's a good overview of hacking similar devices. He used a cell phone cable to build his interface, but I suggest getting familiar with the MAX232 family of semiconductors for cheap rs-232 to ttl converters.
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]]>amazonkindleWill O'Brien2008-02-20T21:16:00+00:00Hack-upgrade your Magellan GPShttp://www.hackaday.com/2007/12/10/hack-upgrade-your-magellan-gps/http://www.hackaday.com/2007/12/10/hack-upgrade-your-magellan-gps/http://www.hackaday.com/2007/12/10/hack-upgrade-your-magellan-gps/#commentsFiled under: ,


[dgoeken] sent in his Magellan 3100 hack. The device runs Windows CE 5.0, and mounts as a standard flash drive. Since everything is easily accessible, it's just a matter of replacing and modifying the appropriate files. According to the GpsPassion message board, some are finding his guide useful for other models of Magellan GPS. So far he's added a file manager, media player and upgraded the Points of Interest file. The site is slightly bandwidth challenged, so I've mirrored his hack process here.
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]]>Will O'Brien2007-12-10T21:41:00+00:00Back from Belize extrahttp://www.hackaday.com/2007/10/06/back-from-belize-extra/http://www.hackaday.com/2007/10/06/back-from-belize-extra/http://www.hackaday.com/2007/10/06/back-from-belize-extra/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,


Yesterday, I was standing on a tropical island off the coast of Belize. Vacation rocked with lots of SCUBA diving, spearfishing and snorkeling. I'm back home, shaking off the jet lag and clearing up my inbox. Thanks to [fabienne] for filling in and letting me unplug for a while!

[Darkrom] has set a new standard for Hack-A-Day readers... I haven't seen it in person, but that looks like a legit Hack-A-Day tattoo.

[null] sent in a new use for a frequency generator, a spare car amp, a sub-woofer and a plastic coffee can - brass cartridge polishing.

[LoopyMind] sent in this Game Boy Advanced Movie Player IDE hack. It's pretty much a direct CF to laptop drive cable with an external battery supply.

[Dingolishious] sent in a POE UPS/remote power control solution. Could be handy if you're using many POE devices, or if you're having power issues. He added an inexpensive remote power monitor/switch solution behind his UPS. It senses power outages and kicks out an email - and allows remote power cycling of his POE devices. Of course, if you've got a linux box behind the UPS, it can monitor the output from the UPS and send notifications.

[William] added a preamp stage to his iKEY usb recorder. looks like an interesting toy - it'll record audio directly to a USB flash key. The pre-amp allows him to record in more challenging environments.

[Andrew] noted a simple mod to increase the deadly fire power of the ubiquitous airsoft pellet gun. It's just a matter of reducing some extra space in the spring compression area.

Last but not least, [VIPER] modded his projector to use a 12v halogen headlight bulb. Not a bad idea - at one point I was pondering a 550 watt source four halogen as a possible replacement.
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]]>audio recorderAudioRecordergameboyhackaday tatoohackaday tattooHackadayTatooHackadayTattoopreamptattoousb flashUsbFlashWill O'Brien2007-10-06T20:17:00+00:00Automatic JTAG Pinout Detectionhttp://www.hackaday.com/2007/09/29/automatic-jtag-pinout-detection/http://www.hackaday.com/2007/09/29/automatic-jtag-pinout-detection/http://www.hackaday.com/2007/09/29/automatic-jtag-pinout-detection/#commentsFiled under: , , ,



Figuring out the JTAG pinout on a device turns out to be the most time consuming hardware portion of many hacks. [hunz] started a project called JTAG Finder to automatically detect the JTAG pinouts on arbitrary devices using an 8bit AVR ATmega16/32L microcontroller. Check out the slides (PDF) from the talk as they break down how one finds JTAG ports on an arbitrary device, with or without a pinout detection tool. [hunz] is looking for people to pick up the project where he left off.

Once you determine the correct pinout, you will need a JTAG cable: there are two main types, buffered and unbuffered, both of which I have soldered up and tested from these circuit diagrams (image of completed buffered cable here). The software most hardware people use today are the openwince JTAG Tools. To get the JTAG Tools to compile, grab the latest source directly from their CVS repository.

The last time we featured JTAG was with regards to Linksys devices, but the tools listed above can be applied to any device with JTAG.
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]]>automaticfirmwarejtagjtag finderjtag toolsJtagFinderJtagToolspinoutFabienne Serriere2007-09-29T11:39:00+00:00Free your iPhonehttp://www.hackaday.com/2007/08/26/free-your-iphone/http://www.hackaday.com/2007/08/26/free-your-iphone/http://www.hackaday.com/2007/08/26/free-your-iphone/#commentsFiled under: , ,


I wasn't going to post this - it's a freakin phone after all. But I've gotten quite a few tips on it, and I'd like them to end. [George] made a concerted effort to hack the iPhone - and it paid off. After his crazy ebay auction that topped out at 99,999,999.99 last time I checked, he ended up trading his first phone for a Nissan 350z and a few more iPhones.
He documented his process, step by step - if you've got the skills, you can probably do it yourself. The soldering work is damn fine work - probably the hardest thing there is. The write up is a little hard to follow, so plan on taking some time to comprehend everything. (Blogging software isn't the best way to organize how-tos, trust me on this.) My hats off to [George], he did some great work. - So, why didn't I want to post it? All this work yielded one thing: carrier choice for the iPhone.
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]]>hackiphonejtagWill O'Brien2007-08-26T23:40:00+00:00Pandora's battery (unbrick your PSP)http://www.hackaday.com/2007/08/23/pandoras-battery-unbrick-your-psp/http://www.hackaday.com/2007/08/23/pandoras-battery-unbrick-your-psp/http://www.hackaday.com/2007/08/23/pandoras-battery-unbrick-your-psp/#commentsFiled under: ,


[krazywhiteguy310] let me know about the announcement of Pandora's battery. It'll cost you a Sony PSP battery to pull off the hack, but once you're done, you can use it to jump start your bricked PSP to load up a memory imaged designed to unbrick the PSP. (I haven't tested it, so I'm taking this on faith) Excellent news if you've bricked your PSP.
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]]>pandorapandoras batterypandoras boxPandorasBatteryPandorasBoxpsppsp unbrickPspUnbrickunbrickerWill O'Brien2007-08-23T23:40:00+00:00SIP for the SMC WSKP100http://www.hackaday.com/2007/07/31/sip-for-the-smc-wskp100/http://www.hackaday.com/2007/07/31/sip-for-the-smc-wskp100/http://www.hackaday.com/2007/07/31/sip-for-the-smc-wskp100/#commentsFiled under: , , ,


[sprite_tm] made my morning by sending in his latest work. After opening up his new SMC WSKP100 (Skype wifi phone) to identify the hardware differences, he managed to shrink a flash image from the SMCWSP100 to fit on his new toy. Then he spent some time hacking the kernel from the former to work on his phone. The result? A SIP operational phone that'll connect to his asterix server at half the price of SMC's official SIP phone.
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]]>Will O'Brien2007-07-31T13:01:00+00:00