News! Battle bots! It’s happening!
Hey Folks, despite the lack of much going on here lately, we’ve actually got some exciting stuff coming up. Namely, we’ll be having a battle bots (not official, but in the spirit of) competition this summer with two other Massachusetts based Hackerspaces! TESLA in Worcester has offered to host the event (date to be decided) at their location. South Coast Innovator Labs out of Taunton will be participating as well.
Rules are being drafted so that we can ensure a fair, safe, and innovative competition in the spirit of the DIY and Maker movement!
In other shop news, we’re closer to opening than ever. We have only a couple things left to do for us to be in compliance with the Landlord’s requests. The RepRap is wired up and being calibrated, and parts for a CNC have been ordered! Start planning projects, because things will be happening soon!
Also, we have our Google Group where you can post discussion threads and begin posting potential projects. Just click the link to request an invitation (spam control). If you’re having issues finding the button to join it, just drop me an email: kdolanjr at g mail dot c om.
Winter projects
Just wanted to post some quick pictures of what some folks have been working on.
Dave over at PC Network Guys has spent some time this week working on the RepRap 3d Printer. It’s half wired now and with the new heatcore and updated extruder, it looks great!
Myself, I just finished soldering together Adafruit’s Arduino Motor Shield. Not sure what I want to do with it just yet. For now, probably a few tutorials and then I’d like to get it set up with some xbee radios and driven by remote. Battlebots anyone?
What are you all working on? Anything fun lined up?
Collin’s Lab: DIY Contact Mic
It’s no secret that I love Make’s Collin’s Lab series. They’re some of the best intros and tutorials out there. While there are plenty of videos out there showing the same thing, this one was just published, so up it goes.
Piezos are a cheap and non-permanent way to turn that acoustic guitar into an electric without any real invasive work. Every Radioshack has them.
NJARC Oscilloscope School a.k.a. “Scopes For Dopes”
The New Jersey Antique Radio Club put out this 2 hr course on using Oscilloscopes. I plan on investing some time watching this this weekend.
From the Youtube summary:
The program is presented in three parts:
Part 1: History of Oscilloscopes, by Al Klase, Technical Coordinator for NJARC
Part 2: Basics of Oscilloscopes, by Alan Wolke, Application Engineer at Tektronix Corporation (begins at 15 min. 42 sec. into the program)
Part 3: A Brief History of Oscilloscope Tubes, by Nevell Greenough (begins at 2 hr. 13 min. 35 sec. into the program.)
Source: Adafruit
Index is after the break.
Hackerspace Competition Northeast GNU/Linuxfest March 17, 2012
I received an email from Bruce at the Northeast GNU/Linuxfest today inviting us to take part in the upcoming hackerspace competition. Details are pasted below, please post a comment if you’re interested in going/competing in the competition!
Announcing a hackerspace competition!
The theme for the 2012 Northeast GNU/Linuxfest is accessibility. We have invited hackerspaces from around the Northeast and the object is to design an item or device that can help/assist a disabled person. There will be prizes awarded to the top three designs plus an appearance on WCCATV’s magazine show called “Soapbox”. Please be sure to register at the Northeast GNU/Linuxfest website so we can be sure we can accommodate everyone’s need for space. More information can be found on our website.
What: The Northeast GNU/Linuxfest
Where: Worcester State University
When: March 17, 2012
Last year we had just speakers at the event. This year we are stepping it up considerably. We are featuring a hackerspace competition where teams from across the Northeast will compete for prizes for best design. This years theme is accessibility. We will also hold LPI and BSD exams on the morning of the event. The folks from Open Street Map will hold workshops throughout the day. We also have tables from various sponsors. Among the keynote speakers this year will be the other organizer for the event Jonathan Nadeau. Jonathan is blind but this has not prevented him from working with Debian, Fedora and Triquel in hopes of making each distribution more accessible for vision impaired or physically disabled. This is an event that can also be used to meet other people in the linux world and make new contacts. This is an all day event. All events will be held in the main student center. There is also a cafeteria on the second floor which features a $5 all you can eat buffet. Last but not least, if you are 21 or older we have our very popular after party event at Jillians. We also have arranged to get special room rates at the Worcester Marriott. You must reserve your room before February 17, 2012 to get this rate. You can either use the link off the Northeastlinuxfest website or you can make reservations over the phone but be sure to mention the Northeast Linuxfest group to get the rate. You can get to Worcester by train or bus if you do not have a ride. You can find that information on the website as well. We hope you can attend and most most important, the admission is free! The website again is http://northeastlinuxfest.org Take back control of your software, take back control of your computer!
NPR: Libraries Make Room For High-Tech ‘Hackerspaces’
The Allen County Public Library, which serves the city of Fort Wayne, Ind., has a modest hackerspace inside a trailer in its parking lot. Library director Jeff Krull says hosting it is consistent with the library’s mission.
“We see the library as not being in the book business, but being in the learning business and the exploration business and the expand-your-mind business,” he says. “We feel this is really in that spirit, that we provide a resource to the community that individuals would not be able to have access to on their own.”
The 50-foot trailer is known as the Maker Station and belongs to TekVenture, an educational nonprofit that had struggled to find a building it could afford before it was approached by the library. TekVenture signed an agreement with the library to operate in its parking lot for a year. TekVenture President Greg Jacobs says this partnership made sense.
“The library is a well-established, respectable institution in the area. The library is used by everybody,” he says. “Regardless of your stripe in society, you’re going to use library facilities.”
It’s great to see libraries getting into the Maker movement. Much like a Creative Arts center, there should be one in every town.
Stanford to offer 7 Free Online Compsci courses
If you haven’t heard, Stanford offered a free online course on Artificial Intelligence this Fall. It was a huge success with over 58,000 students going through the course. Having seen the success and impact that this course garnered, they are planning to offer 7 new courses including:
Computer Science 101
Software Engineering for SaaS
Human Computer Interfaces
Natural Language Processing
Game Theory
Probabilistic Graphical Models
Machine Learning
This is a great opportunity to learn about these topics in your spare time and take part in this free educational revolution. OpenCulture.com, where this information is coming to me from has a great database of freely available courses that you can find here.
Siri Hack: Control your thermostat
This video is making the rounds in the makersphere. A custom built server intercepts and receives instructions from Siri which is then used to control a wifi thermostat.
Server code can be found here.
Make: Kit Reviews
Just a mini-update. Make Magazine’s online presence has released their new Kit Review page. There’s quite a bit of information there, and more coming. If you’re thinking about picking up some sort of kit, take a look!
Make’s Quick Schematics Primer
At first glance, electronics schematics can be a bit intimidating. But once you’ve familiarized yourself with the symbols used, it really isn’t difficult to interpret.
Make has a regular Youtube series from Collin Cunningham that explores different components and how to use them. This week he’s covering Schematics.
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