John Alexander's Blog

Purple Haze -Tantalum Cap must Die For my Pleasure!!

Problemchild

I admit it ain't too creative but I really wanted to know if the purple flames from my accidental destruction of a Tantalum cap was a fluke.I saw in Wikipedia that the flame test for tantalum is in deed blue so fancied a go at it and also it was an e...
- 29 Dec 2014
XMOS Christmas competition

Problemchild

Had an email from XMOS yesterday advertising their latest competition.Rules are simple.. Create a Christmas orientated project using the XMOS device get it video'd and up on Youtube/Vimeo and do it before the19th of December. Short notice...
- 2 Dec 2014
Hacking IP cameras

Problemchild

Just had a read of this guys post who has some good advice and basic information on hacking those Linux in a can IP cameras which all seem to have the same design I think? Any way he gets to the serial port on the PCB and uses a USB-Serial adapt...
- 12 Nov 2014
Holograms and how to make them

Problemchild

Well unfortunately he didn't get down and dirty on the details of his optical table Jason Sapan gives a good feel on how and what a Hologram is and what you can do with them.www.youtube.com/watchYou can go to the site http://www.holographer.com/ and ...
- 11 Nov 2014
OSCAR Catchup

Problemchild

Just thought I would catch up with you all with the OSCAR Display port Board and Panel. Still not perfect but a lot better. everything lines up at the front: Rear now gives access to the board to allow you to get to the Controls The s...
- 9 Nov 2014
E-Bike Overclocking and Custom Battery Packs

Problemchild

Jim goes into his Electric Bike collection and how he's pimped them up with some interesting mods and exotic chemistry battery packs! www.youtube.com/watch I can't believe it's been nearly 5 years since we were going on about these devices ...
- 1 Nov 2014
OSCAR Enclosure 1st prototype

Problemchild

OK.. I can't take any kudos for the design as my friend John2 ( ) did this himself with minimum interaction from me.Any way figured you would like to have a look at work so far! A few faults that need to be worked on but other wise ex...
- 27 Oct 2014
OSCAR The iPad Screen for the Rest of Us!!

Problemchild

A few months ago on Kickstarter I spotted OSCAR a device which allowed you to put an iPad screen on to a conventional PC with a Displayport adapter.Rather than some proprietary signalling the iPad panel supports Displayport directly and you could jus...
- 26 Oct 2014
ESP8266 WIFI device now has SDK and dedicated VM

Problemchild

The little WIFI device that can is certainly causing a stir amongst those folk including the IOT intelligentsia. A new SDK has been released as well as a Lubuntu based VM so you don't have to go through the bother of compiling the envi...
- 25 Oct 2014
ESP8266 Wifi Range/Distance Tests

Problemchild

The ESP8266 is an exciting new WIFI device. It's suddenly become so popular because of an influx of cheap (£3) modules been made available on EBAY.So obviously you have been able to get USB WIFI devices for this price for a while but now they even ha...
- 29 Sep 2014
What shall we do with a broken toaster - Acrylic line bender & hot wire polystyrene cutter

Problemchild

OK I'm ripping off my mate Jim again, sure he won't mind as he really can't be bothered to do the Blog posts This week he's taken the nichrome wire out of a toaster and making a couple of nice new toys namely an Acrylic Bender and Hot wir...
- 27 Sep 2014
DIY Hydroponic Pump Cycle Timer

Problemchild

Ok Just another quick one. My mate Jim has been hacking away building switch gear for his Hydroponic set up.Anyway cheap ebay timers and a nice box to mount them in and some basic mechanical building to make them safe. Take a look an...
- 20 Sep 2014
SLUGs @ TDARS Radio Rally

Problemchild

Shropshire Linux User Group(Yeah SLUG!!) had a stand at the local Radio Rally(TDARS) on the 1st.We had a 3D printer,QSSTV decoding images from our visitor operated "SSTV Selfie Cam" running on a Raspberry Pi and FLDIGI busily decoding...
- 17 Sep 2014
Wuthering Bytes '14 the videos

Problemchild

www.youtube.com/watchWell a few weeks ago now I actually got down to Wuthering Bytes Open Hardware Meetup @ Hebden Bridge, UK once again.The meet up was excellent as usual and now extends over 3 days including the Sunday Workshop. Having a single tra...
- 17 Sep 2014
PIP the robot loves Apples!!!

Problemchild

Still with Jim and his Vids around 4 years ago we purchased an old carriage for use as a robot base.Jim had over a period of a few weeks reverse engineered the control protocol for the attendant pendant which allows for a carer to completely control ...
- 24 Aug 2014
Technology to grow Vegetables!... or is that Apples??

Problemchild

More quickies a friend of mine had started blogging about his Hydroponic Garden.The hydroponics in them selves are very interesting but at the moment largely electronics free. We are hoping to sort out automated dosing of nutrients as well as re...
- 24 Aug 2014
Burn Baby Burn-PC Inferno!!

Problemchild

Just a quicky here. For the last couple of weeks I could smell an acrid burning smell in my office on occasion but since I'd had a cold and my sense of smell was stuffed I was putting it down to the high roast coffee. This week and a better nose repe...
- 12 Aug 2014
Wuthering Bytes 15th-17th August '14

Problemchild

I'm all booked up to go to this year's Wuthering Bytes this year's Festival has stretched over 3 days and has botha bigger and wider focus than previous years with 10 + speakers and the same again for the OSHUG OSHcampHere&#39...
- 13 Jul 2014
Stubby the Hexapod

Problemchild

I'm liking this home built Hexapod he's on rev' 3 now so things are getting sweeter lighter and dancier https://static.hackaday.io/images/8947681404082264161.jpg He's made the whole thing from MDF and only uses a scroll saw to cut out the parts...
- 1 Jul 2014
Discovery Wall – Weill Cornell Medical College

Problemchild

Just been checking out the 'Tubes again and I've just watched Mike's (Of Mikeselectricstuff fame ) latest post, showing what's happenedto all his playing around with Ipod Nano displays. Looks like they have been integrated into an art installation at...
- 12 Jun 2014
The astounding athletic power of quadcopters

Problemchild

Found this nice little video on the TED channel of da 'Tube. Raffaello D'Andrea demonstrating the abilities ofQuadracopters balancing,carrying,catching & throwing both as individuals and as an organised unit.www.youtube.com/watchEventually ...
- 9 Jun 2014
Goodbye, IPv4 Hello IPv6 try The GOGO6 video collection

Problemchild

I was reminded by a member of our local LUG (Thanks Stuart) that IANA is now allocating the last set of IPV4 address blocks. This is as good a time as ever to jump ship to IPv6 problem is that many are just not confident with v6 technology...
- 4 Jun 2014
Nvidia Jetson TK1 Development Kit -Super computer for $192 !!

Problemchild

Looks like the big push is out with multiple News sources releasing the specs to the Nvidia Jetson TK1.It certainly looks like a beast but at a significant price point of $192 but at least it has a SATA portand a Kepler core(Same as in the Titan vide...
- 2 Jun 2014
In 1983 Computers were Sexy!!

Problemchild

Comments below
- 30 May 2014
Parallella from Adapteva Arrives at last

Problemchild

After been warned by a customs fee payment I knew this was coming at last so I've been waiting quite excited for the last few days for my Parallella from Adapteva. This has literally just come through the door so I've not done anything with it ...
- 21 May 2014