Snake on an FPGA
S1axter's Tech Log of Crazy Stuff
Check out this video of the game snake being played on what looks like an Altera FPGA.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-2c5fiaQwY
And wouldn't you know it, there is a Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_%28video_game%29
T-Hunting in San Diego
S1axter's Tech Log of Crazy Stuff
Saturday I had the opportunity to ride along on a T-Hunt held here in San Diego by one of the local radio clubs. Transmitter Hunting, also called T-Hunting, Radio Orienteering or Fox Hunting, involves finding a hidden radio transmitter within a designated area. The El Cajon ARC runs a T-Hunt the 1st and 3rd Saturday of every month in the area north-east of San Diego. Teams include two people in a vehicle with a set of radio equipment and antennas who search the designated area taking bearings on the direction of the signal they hear.
The two guys I rode with had a custom made unit sitting on the dash that used a couple of LED bar graphs to indicate signal strength. The unit also had an s-meter and a piezo-electric element for redundant audio should it be dark and the LED circuit goes. I don't have a picture of that little DIY piece but I got some shots of the vehicles with their antennas. The picture of the yellow disc is actually the output of a Doppler system mounted on the back of the Suburban! (I think it's a Suburban). These guys are serious t-hunters with some serious vehicle additions. I am definitely going to go to another hunt and might cough up some cash for a receiver and some equipment.
For your reading pleasure, here's the Wikipedia link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmitter_hunting
Stick it to The Man; how to destroy a car
S1axter's Tech Log of Crazy Stuff
This week I got into a discussion with a co-worker about auto manufactures and vehicles. The discussion was mostly about the automotive industry promoting SUVs rather than more fuel efficient vehicles since they can make more money per vehicle. I guess it is just good timing this was posted on hackedgadgets.com :-P.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE_JIRx9sik
While the video isn't tech, I thought it was cool. Come on... who doesn't like watching a car get smashed right in front of the dealership
Ubuntu 7.04
Doomerz Tech Log
Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn), one of the anticipated Linux distribution releases ever, has officially been relased today. Feisty is very feature rich and includes such things as: a ground-breaking Windows migration assistant, excellent wireless networking support and improved multimedia support.
I have been using this since herd 3 and it is a great distro. The release comes with all the standard OpenSource software to get you started, including support for many graphics and wireless cards.
If you have been thinking about trying a new distro or want to try something other than Windows, I highly recommend this one!
Intel closing Colorado Springs Plant
S1axter's Tech Log of Crazy Stuff
The Gazette is reporting on and announcement from Intel that they will be closing their plan in Colorado Springs, CO in August.
I didn't really expect Intel to be closing their plant, but it seems the processor market is not as strong I thought either.
Here is the link:
http://www.gazette.com/articles/intel_21328___article.html/plant_cents.html
RaceGuage - Custom Car Dashboard
S1axter's Tech Log of Crazy Stuff
Here is a cool project for a custom car dashboard that was done back in 1999. The guys replaced the entire dashboard of a 1989 Chevrolet Celebrity and put in two backlit 240x128 graphic LCDs for speedometer, Odometer, temperature, fuel remaining, time from 0-60 MPH and even quarter mile time. The system used a 68HC11 microcontroller and the assembly is hosted on the site and free under the GNU GPL.
For all you analog people out there they also have info on the power circuits that saves the odometer and powers down the system.
Take a look and send in a link if you have a cool dashboard mod, or any thing else cool you want to see on Geeksinside.com
http://www.fascinationsoftware.com/FS/html/RaceGuage.html
Fun with Google Maps
Firewire's Tech log
Have any of you ever tried to use google maps to go to a destination that was over seas? My guess is that you haven't. Give it a shot and look at the section where it gives you directions on how to cross the ocean. It is one of the most hilarious things that I have ever seen. Even the time estimated is great. If your to lazy to do the direction search yourself here is a link that will bring you to some directions.
San Diego to Dublin Ireland
Have some fun, its Friday everyone.
Traceroute on Drugs
Firewire's Tech log
Many people overlook the fact that windows does actually have some useful utilities built into its systems. The other day I came across a utility called "pathping". Pathping is a utility that runs just like traceroute, but provides much more information to the user; such as percentage of packets lost on a given hop and specific host information.
This built in utility is command line based and is great for determining where there is packet loss inside a network. If you get some time play around with it. It is much more powerful than it seams.
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