Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Announcing Blueberry-Pi FLOSS & POSH spin-off

Raspberry-Pi looks like a great platform but if it is not .......   We will reverse engineer the RPi and see if we can't provide the missing pieces.  We will at least supply some  missing information....  parts , add-ons

FLOSS  <====  Free Liberated Open Source Software
POSH  <==== Projects ; Open Source Hardware

99guspuppet  99BlueberryPi


OrangeberryPi
MauveberryPi
VioletberryPi

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Daryl Kuchay Super Tech Geek and nice guy ( don't take advantage )

I have been doing projects with Daryl and he is fabulous.  Really technically astute ...... and generous and loveable.   Sort ... of ... like ... Doug , the orange puppet.


So far he has ....................
helped me get some video applications running under Linux.......
helped me with BlueRay.........
helped me with some hardened computer tablets.......
helped me make USB flash bootable ISOs
( what I mean by "help" is he mostly did it for me )

Hey  .........   Hire or contract with this guy before I do

check out video on youtube     tagged as 88resumeKuchay
His resume does not do him justice  .... he is definitely more than an entry level guy.....

99guspuppet

Yard Sale for Cannabis Therapy Institute Sept 17th

There will be a sale for Cannabis Therapy Institute
Now September 17th ( was August 20th )  9am to 3pm   at 4337 Raleigh Street   Denver, CO
You can drop stuff off or arrange to help by calling 720 222 1309

Cannabis Yard Sale  as a
fundraiser for Legalize2012.com, the Cannabis Therapy Institute, and the
Patient and Caregiver Rights Litigation Project.

Cannabis Therapy Institute
P.O. Box 19084, Boulder, CO 80308
Phone: 877-420-4205
Web: http://www.CannabisTherapyInstitute.com
Email: info@cannabistherapyinstitute.com

99guspuppet    Sept17Cannabis

Sunday, August 7, 2011

How super-charge a toilet 99toilet 99supertoilet

One of my toilets was clogging every 3 to 4 days.   It was a water saving design and it was wimpy.  I suspect the curves in the toilet trap were too extreme.  I had several "flooding" adventures.  So I was very annoyed.

The solution that worked for me is shown below.
The most difficult part of this modification was finding a long flexible water supply line.  I ended up splicing two together.  The pipe seal to the bowl has to be a good one.
There is a Youtube video ( google 99toilet ) and Picasa photos  ( google 99toilet )

99guspuppet  99supertoilet  99toilet

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Hack Deconstruct Teardown the C910 LogiTech WebCam photos add features

I took apart a LogiTech C910 webcam to look at the insides and determine what additional features I could add to it.  The C910 has auto-focus and it appears there is a motor drive in the camera module.
I was able to use gUVCview to adjust the focus and I saw the lens move in and out about 2mm.

Here are some photos

Swivel base ( easy to explode )
Removing the swivel base requires peeling off a rubber pad ( colored black on this unit ) this revealed 7 screws which are easily removed and then with a little jiggling the swivel base comes apart.

Camera Section ( hard to dis-assemble )
Disassembling the camera section requires removing the two microphone screens. There is one at each end of the camera. I did not see an easy way to remove them , so I hacked them off. You may be able to pry them off since they use snaps to hold themselves on. Once the screens are off..... there are four screws to remove. These are very hard to turn and unscrew. The microphones are press-fit and are very easy to remove. It is not necessary to remove the microphones. By prying up the 4 corners of the front cover , it is possible to pop the front cover off. The USB cord has a strain relief which I hacked off but perhaps a better method is possible. The USB cable does lug onto the camera assembly ( a set of PCBs ).


The C910 is UVC ( USB Video Class ) compatible which makes it very nice to support.  UVC compatible cameras work with OS X , Windows and Linux.


Software that has worked for me............
gUVCview    ( under Ubuntu )   this is the one I am using at present
lUVCview     ( under Ubuntu )
Cheese           ( under Ubuntu )  this app is under constant development and upgrading

I have been told that the C910 will not focus to infinity .... 6 to 10 feet is the best it will do ( it is said )  According to the LogiTech specs the C910 has 2M pixels.


USB CABLE repair
People have asked me about replacing a USB cable that have been chewed by puppies or cats.  Here is my answer.
First thing to do is get a replacement USB 2.0 cable with a type A end. ( Actually .....  other kinds of USB cable ends will work )  You can get one off a broken piece of equipment or buy a cable at the store. I do not know where your puppy chewed the cable.  If you have enough cable left on each side of the chewing …... just connect the two good parts of the cable together.  ( You can always buy an extender cable to make a longer cable.  Ask at a computer store. ) There are 4 wires ( red , green, black & white )  ….. you will have to do some soldering or use wire crimps.  ( Get a friend to do it if you cannot do this  … or contact a hacker club or DIY club … they are usually very friendly and will do it for free.  If you tell me where you live I will help you find a club )  The standard color code is black = ground , red = positive VCC , white = Data+ , green = Data-.  Since my C910 is not disassembled , I cannot verify those connections.  If you have the end of the cable , you can use a continuity tester to verify which color corresponds to each signal.

If it does not work out ……. please send me the camera. Email me anytime you want.
Gus in Denver

Mounting the camera
My favourite method of mounting lite weight stuff is to use magnets and steel washers.  See my photos for examples.  Neodymium magnets are the best.  You can get them out of dead hard drives.  These magnets are very strong so sometimes I put a piece of paper or plastic between magnet and steel to reduce holding force.

Hacks to the camera
On an Apple MacIntosh I use this app to control the C910.    It is called WebCam Settings.   Seller: Liang-Hsin Chen  © 2013 Mactaris

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