Archive for the ‘DIY’ Category

The hinge on my old ass laptop is loose and frequently slams either shut or completely open and flat.   After about 30 slams, I got irritated and decided I needed to do something about it.

On eBay, hinges for this old Dell Latitude c610 are running around $20, which I think is kind of expensive for little pieces of metal for an ancient laptop that I probably wont get much more use out of.

I took a few things I had laying around and some stuff I picked up from Home Depot and made an external support for the LCD.

I figured I’ll never use the parallel port on the back for anything, so it makes a good mount point.  I took a parallel cable and cut off the cabling down to the connector.  Next I put one of those right-angled-metal-support thingies and bolted it to the parallel connector with a screw and super glued around it.  Then I modified a metal support brace that I guess is supposed to be for the lid of a hope chest or something and mounted it to the right-angle piece on the parallel connector.  To finish it off, I painted the whole thing stylishly beautiful gloss black and stuck a felt furniture pad on the end that the lid rests on.

That outta keep things straight for a while.  This probably could be made smaller and more discreet, but whatever, I like it.

refundpolicy@flyninja.net

I was going through some papers laying around my desk and I found a diagram I scribbled up while I was building my USB HDD box

I looked all over the Internet to find a simple diagram just like this but came up empty handed… I found a diagram from Wikipedia which listed the wiring configuration in numerical form, not color coded which I needed. I ended up having to resort to trial and error, systematically hooking up each wire until my computer recognized my device, which isn’t a very good technique to use with some home brew applications because it could end with damaged equipment.

So here it is, the only known (to me) copy of a USB-B Wiring Diagram in existance on the Internet. Brought to you FIRST by Flyninja.net.  Yes, it’s kinda crappy, but it’s the best looking MSPaint graphic made from Sharpie on Post-it note that 2 minutes can offer.

(If you need a USB-A Diagram, you’re screwed)

If you’re like me, you like to sometimes leave the house.  Sometimes you leave the house and want to bring your gear with you, which can prove cumbersome.  I used to have a couple of external hard drive USB 2.0 enclosures that looked like this:

These hard drive enclosures you can buy are pretty neat at first, but having to lug around the cables to go with them is annoying.  I had two of them, so it was really a pain in the rear to take places.  So in the name of portability, I made this:

I made this out of a photography case: It houses the interfaces for the two USB enclosures, two hard drives (250GB & 500GB), a USB hub, and a powerstrip (I didn’t take any pictures of the inside because in contrast, it doesn’t look very nice.. more like a rats nest of wires).  Outside, I mounted jacks for connecting the devices with just a USB cable and an AC cable without opening the box, plus a handy illuminated switch for easily powering everything up or down.  I bought cabinet fan mounting kits from coolerguys.com and two 80mm blue led fans to blow air straight through to keep everything cool.   I made a separate switch on the side to turn the fans on and off as needed (it doesn’t run very hot, but I’d imagine if I ran it hard on a hot day without those fans, they’d have a meltdown).  There is also enough room left inside to carry the USB and AC cables, so unlike the off-the-shelf USB enclosures, this can be completely self-contained when traveling.

This enclosure features two security elements:  The first is just it’s size, it’s the perfect balance between being easy to carry but hard to conceal.  The second is how I can lock the lid and turn off the powerstrip inside, making it unusable unless you break the lock, which would not only let me know that somebody broke into it but it would look less desirable.

There are those passport devices out now that are as big as an iPod that hold 500+GB, but if you already have most of this stuff, this is a project for you.  PLUS in my opinion, the passport storage devices do not in any way compete with this monster in looks.  This sucker is pretty cool looking and was fairly easy (and fun) to make, all you’d need is what I mentioned above and some skill at wiring/soldering/hotglueing and you too can have a multiple device USB storage unit.

Well, well, well, its that time of year when you hang up your stockings on the mantle, put up the christmas tree and wrap gifts for everyone you got gifts for.  It’s so much fun going out and spending money on other people.  Riiight. Anyways enjoy this photo for a minute while you scroll down, I will meet you there in a minute.

Ok, so how merry was that?  So what do all us geeks and hackers do to get in the holiday spirit?  Other than cache up with some new jQuery flavor or merge all our computers into one big case that looks like it could contain the armaments for the upcoming world war, some of us make things to give to others.  I usually draw up a card for family members and stuff, usually with a crayon.  But some others have found it a good idea to share their experiences of making things to help spread holiday cheer, and you can find them at Instructables.com.

I am aw inspired by the person making gift bags from cereal boxes.

As well these could be a fun experiment for those of you who enjoy electronic and robotic projects, help your mom hook up that ultimate toy train guest greeter.

Got an idea or good example of something hacked for the holidays? LET US KNOW!

A lot of people are asking if there is going to be a Fallout 3 construction set released.  The answer is convoluted at best.  It would be best assumed that Bethesda will release the Fallout 3 toolkit after major bug fixes and after they produce premium content modules for the game.  There are some pretty good hints that there will be a construction set released, such as the data files option when the game is launched, as well as there being a Fallout3.esm file located in the data directory, similar to Oblivion and Morrowind and how they use the TES Construction Set.

I even attempted to load the fallout3.esm file into the TES construction kit, however the application simply terminated, much like the game, LOL.

I think Bethesda would be really stupid if they did not release a toolkit for modders, the game is set in such a distinctive fucked up world, it would be awesome to see what comes from the public to add to it.  Plus I would like to have a clean house, instead of the trashed one I got in Megaton, if there is already a clean one somewhere, I haven’t got it yet.

As for Bethesda’s comments about a toolkit being released they simply remarked that even though its something theyve done for Oblivion and other games, preparing a construction set takes a lot of time and would cut into production time, yet theyre discussing it.

I say fix those huge release bugs first, release the toolset, and then release premium content.  I’ll keep you all updated on this issue as well as the big fixes. Stay tuned.

I’m sure everyone that uses Linux knows that wireless is a pure pain in the ass.  Well, I’ve been trying to get my AR5007EG to work with Ubuntu Gutsy ever since I installed Linux on my Acer Aspire lappy.  I tried everything… ndiswrapper, USB wireless cards that were unsatisfactory for large downloads or long periods of time.  It was seriously turning my primary boot of Gibbon into a de facto secondary boot.  Well, I downloaded Heron and started bothering people at Best Buy and Circuit City about installing another wireless card (I don’t like messing with laptops, even though I am a hardware geek).  They told me that it was a pain in the backside, but that I’d have to do it myself.  So much for Geek Squad.

Well, I finally found the perfect website for getting my Atheros Piece of S#*$ wireless adapter to work with Heron perfectly (long periods of time, long downloads). Maybe it will work for some of you.  http://www.ubuntugeek.com/atheros-5007eg-with-madwifi-on-i386-platform.html This is great.  It worked perfectly the first time around and ended some of the manual configuration of my USB linksys wireless card.  Linux, wireless nightmare that it is, doesn’t have to be plugged in all the time. And it saved my laptop from becoming a desktop or my Linux boot from being deserted.

I agree, in part, with Grym on some stances he takes with regards to the ‘white hat’ hacker ethic. However, one can draw a parallel between the saying “All a good man must do for evil to previal, is nothing” (or one of the various other forms, of the same meaning) and the aforementioned, hacker ethic.

What I am getting at is, if you play by the straight – the “White Hat” creed, evil will indeed prevail. I think it is not only right, but also necessary that these same ‘white hats’ do NOT always play by the law. You are indeed right, if the white hat hacker does not stand for himself, no one will..that is exactly my point. You cannot play white hat, bake the cake and eat it too – you must change colors and protect the domain that is yours, the internet. Do not sell out for money, do not give up because the man says you ‘cannot do that’ – learn and prosper, do what it takes. The internet is ours, we must keep it.

Do what is necessary, if you must break a law to bring justice to someone – do it. Law is only a constraint of freedom and one must only give up the freedom that is necessary for their own protection. Must I give up my privacy for my own protection? No!

The root of my rant is that one must not be passive to what is around them, if one is, one has already lost.

Be free, break the law that constrains your freedom for your own ‘protection’ (ahem!) and then prosper!

OK so, this update could have come a little earlier, and I apologize for the delay, I’m just wore the fuck out, so after getting home, cleaning the house and setting up my control center, I went to bed and dreamed of the demo scene. So let me tell you my thoughts on Notacon5. If you have the opportunity to goto this event, go. There were so many things to check out and take in that you really wish that you could sit in for all of it. The hotel it was hosted at wasn’t really that bad, once we got into our rooms and got some sleep. Here is a look into the world we lounged, smoked and slept in during our weekend.

Sitting on the foot rest there is my DVR as well as two Nortel Networks 24 port Ethernet Switches that I picked up from some guys across the hall from us for whatever reason. I’m sure I will find a use for these things eventually.

Jeremy Anderson who’s personal website can be found here presented a very interesting albeit humorous talk on DIY construction and how you can save money by doing things like adding a 2nd story to your garage yourself. There was a lot of chat on safety and tools of the trade which Jeremy went to point out that the basic tools you’ll need have not changed in the last 2000 years. I work in home maintenance and carpentry, and he’s right, the basic tools haven’t changed. However you would be very surprised how much LESS you would spend, by building or doing something of that nature yourself, compared to hiring a company to do it. Check out Jeremy’s website to keep updated on his various projects.

So as I mentioned the other day Dual Core had a great set. I managed to pick up a couple of their albums at their table and got the chance to talk with Int 80 a few time, who is just a hell of a talented person, I give props to those out there who have the ability to juggle as much as this guy seems to, keep up the good work guys.

Below is a character that popped into the room to do some dancing. I don’t know who it is, but I thought you’d like to see a picture.

Going on. If you’ve ever wondered how people on television pick locks, well, in all honesty they probably can’t. But you can learn how to. And yes it can be a difficult and frustrating ability to learn and be real good at, but let me tell you what, lock picking is a survival trait as we all learned from the Gringo Warrior contest at the lock picking pagoda. I didn’t participate in the contest because I know I utterly suck at lock picking, but watching some of the other people do it and succeed in picking a bunch of locks within a certain time frame was pretty cool. To add to that note Dosman from the Packetsniffers had a great presentation on lock picking where he also went into lock types, some history as well as gave us all a look into some of the new age locks coming out.

Flyninja.net and Veryangrytoad.com got some really great video as well from the event, I know I could of taken more pictures, but I didn’t. We got some interviews with people from HacDC and Packetsniffers, as well as Int 80 and some general non crowd goers from our wandering. Stay tuned for more posts soon when we make the videos available!!!!