The other week a professor gave me ”Omega multidimensional effect” Christmas lights and challenged me to figure them out to control them. Under the impression that each LED was individually controllable, I took up the challenge looking to convert them into an LED matrix/display. Unfortunately, the lights aren’t as complex as I’d hoped. But in reverse engineering the lights, I came up with a very useful serial pin controller that I have used a few times since, and want to share with you all. It allowed me to type a string of bits such as “00011110″, turning pins 2,3,4,8 on and 5,6,7 off.
$1 Photo-Theremin and More Fun With Reversed LEDs
A little known fact about LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) is that when hooked up backwards, they act as photodiodes. I have manipulated this property to make a few fun and cheap Arduino projects, including a musical instrument I call a photo-theremin. Continue reading
Arduino 5×7 Matrix Display Controller: HDSP-4403
I was given this HDSP-4403 LED matrix with no data sheet, so I reverse engineered it to find out how the pins work, and wrote an Arduino script to control it.
Continue reading
PHP & Python Webcam Viewer
I just remembered a small project I had in 2011 that I wanted to share with you guys. I had just bought a webcam, and also gotten a cat, and decided to combine the two with programming to make this, a webcam viewer. This way, I could see what my cat was doing while I wasn’t home, by checking the website on my phone. Continue reading
Setting up a Headless Raspberry Pi: no Monitor, Keyboard, or Mouse (optional: WiFi)
Things you will need:
- A Raspberry Pi. They should sell as low as $35 on some websites, but if you need it quickly, it will be in stock at amazon. Make sure to have a Micro-USB cable and USB power adapter handy as well.
- An SD Card. I recommend getting a Class 10 SD Card for the fastest speeds. The small ones go for as little as 5 dollars.
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SSH. If you are using Windows, I recommend using PuTTy. You can also SSH using apps on your smartphone or tablet.
- A VNC viewer/client. I recommend TightVNC for your PC. You can also find VNC clients for your smartphone or tablet
- Ethernet connection.
- (optional) WiFi adapter. I bought the Edimax Wireless Nano USB Adapter and have had no issues.
Hello world!
This blog is hosted on a Raspberry Pi