robbytheautomaton

[robbytheautomaton]

"If you were gonna buy all this stuff to make all this video the way they do it on networks, it would cost you, uh...$378,000. With the Toaster, when you’re done, it’s gonna be a few grand.” --Penn Jilette

[robbytheautomaton]

Quick Hack to switch between multiple RGB/YPbPr Component Video sources

​​Some monitors (or video scalers) like my Sony PVM 20M4U will accept both RGB and YPbPr component video input:

If you have multiple systems hooked up to the same monitor, an inexpensive way to save wear and tear on your connectors and time spent changing cables is to use component or SCART switchboxes like this:

Or this:

But what if you have a mix of component and RGB cables for your consoles? Do you have one of each switchbox? I used to.

With that setup I had tons of cables and splitters running to the back of my monitor. It worked well but I had a problem with the Playstation 2. Games would boot in RGB just fine, but DVDs would only display correctly in YPbPr component mode--the image would be green if I attempted to play a DVD with RGB mode selected. Further, 480p games only worked in YPbPr component mode. I’d have to switch between SCART RGB and YPbPr PS2 component cables on two different switchboxes for one mode or the other to display correctly.

Then I came across this useful videogameperfection.com article. It describes using a simple component-to-SCART adapter to route YPbPr component through a SCART switchbox!

If you have a monitor that will take composite sync from video (or have a sync stripper circuit in line), you can use some inexpensive adapters, connectors and cables to rig together a solution for using SCART RGB and component YPbPr with just one switchbox. Here’s how I did it.

Get a third-party component YPbPr component cable with composite video (in the US, we have these generic cables available at GameStop):

Plug the red, blue, and green ends of the component cable into a component-to-SCART adapter (from eBay):

Then plug that into a a free input of your SCART RGB switchbox. You can run the red and white audio cables into a separate audio switcher or existing speaker setup you have.

And a female-to-male mono RCA cable to extend the length of the yellow composite cable, because otherwise the yellow composite cable will be too short to position comfortably anwhere but right behind your monitor:

Then, add an RCA-to-BNC connector to the yellow compsite video cable:

If you have a monitor with two or more RGB/YPbPr inputs, connect this to a free SYNC input of your monitor, and a SCART-to-BNC cable from the output on your switchbox to a free set of corresponding BNC inputs. My SCART-to-BNC cable came from eBay, specifically from seller wookiewin:

My monitor only has one set of RGB/YPrPb and sync inputs, however. If this is true of your monitor as well, add a BNC “T” adapter  to the “sync” so you can connect composite sync from the component cable, as well as sync from your RGB SCART cable to the same BNC connector:

With this setup, you should be able to use a single SCART switchbox to route RGB and YPbPr signals to the same monitor. Just press the appropriate button on your switchbox and chose COMPONENT or RGB on your monitor input.

[robbytheautomaton]

Hori Fighting Stick Wii Mod - Playstation 1/2/3 Compatibility

This is a controller mod for the Hori Wii Fighting Stick: Compatibility with Playstation 1, 2, 3 and PC via a Zero Delay encoder.

Parts: Hori  Wii fighting stick ($40 used) Zero Delay USB encoder ($20) PS2  to Wii adapter ($6) Three bags of bb's ($12)

I picked this the Wii Fighting Stick because it is relatively cheap and has all the buttons I need for Playstation 3 games, including a Home button that corresponds nicely to the PlayStation logo button. I also liked the plain white-and-blue color scheme.  

This was a fairly simple joystick hack for a beginner: first, I opened the controller up and de-soldered the existing circuit board. It's not used at all in this mod, so I put it aside for a future project. Then I wired up the Zero Delay Encoder I got off a seller on eBay.

The encoder eliminates the need to hack apart an existing controller, and is usable on PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and PC via USB. It also supports hands-free auto fire,  turbo, and slow buttons, if you care to connect them. I also got a cheap PS2 to Wii adapter so I can use it for that system again too.

Every button was labeled on the encoder, so it was easy to identify the correct buttons with a quick gameplay test. 

I kept the original joystick and buttons because adding authentic Sanwa and Seimitsu parts requires more drilling than I care to do right now. The stock stick and buttons are good enough for me, and a definite improvement over a joypad.

The last step was weighing the controller down. Many reviewers of other arcade-style joysticks I read mention how a weighted controller enhances gameplay--by reducing any sliding around of the controller on a tabletop. I noticed some reviewers gave low marks to arcade sticks without enough weight to them, but it occurred to me that this was an easy fix. If the controller comes apart easily, you can install weights yourself. 

I did this with bags of BB's I bought at the hardware store. Any small weights will do--tire balancing weights, fishing weights etc. I chose BB's in plastic bags because I could tuck them into corners and around screw posts. They rattle a bit, but at $12 for three bags it was an easy way to add a satisfyingly solid six pounds of weight to the stick.

The independent auto-fire switches don't work anymore, since I removed the original circuit board, but I never used those anyway. The buttons and joystick, while not Sanwa quality, are still a huge improvement over a control pad for me. I'd be pickier if I were playing fighting games with this, but for shooters, it is more than adequate. I spent less than $100 and just a couple of hours of work. I recommend this mod to anyone who wants an improved joystick for multiple systems cheaply and isn't to picky about playing games with non-Sanwa or Seimitsu parts.

[robbytheautomaton]

Upcycled Radio

Photos by Caroline Voagen Nelson

This 1936 Silvertone 6124 tabletop tube radio was found inoperable and beyond restoration. Created in an age when appliances were chosen to complement a household's decor, its durable wooden frame survived, although the radio tube assembly corroded and the mechanical buttons rusted beyond repair in the seventy-seven years since it was manufactured. The nonfunctioning faceplate and tube assembly were removed. A replacement faceplate was created from a photograph of the vacuum tubes and heat sink. The photograph is intended to recall the device's vacuum tube legacy, and meant to be an homage to the device's electro-mechanical engineering legacy as well as recall its age. It is mounted on stiff particle board and set as the new faceplate. After sanding, staining, and refinishing the wooden exterior, the inside was equipped with solid state electronics: an amplitude/frequency modulation tuner, solid state amplifier, 4" permanent magnetic speaker, mobile phone chargers, and Bluetooth audio adapter, all of which occupy less than 1/10th the space of the original vacuum radio tubes and heat sink. This radio is a learning project in solid state electronics, with the intent of repurposing and reintroducing a multi-functional, durable and aesthetically pleasing home appliance to the modern household. The end result is an AM/FM radio as well as external audio speaker and mobile device charger. Future upgrades will include a Chi near-field inductive capacitance device for wireless charging and a Rasberry Pi-based networked media server.

See the full project tumblr: 

http://upcycledradio.tumblr.com/

[robbytheautomaton]

Audio Boost Mod -- Regular Show Walkie Talkies

My roommate just got the third most awesome thing I've seen come through our mailbox this year: a pair of Regular Show walkie talkies shaped like Zack Morris cell phones.

The keypads don't do anything, but the form factor and little design details are fun. There's label that reads "Pops suggests making cone-shaped helmets out of tin foil before using" molded into the case. Not stickered. Not decal-ed. But molded. Into the plastic.

Unfortunately, they're not very loud--you can barely hear anything unless you mash the earpiece to your face and your friend shouts into the other one.

I think the designers of these bucked the volume output on purpose--to the point that they are almost useless. Without deliberately pressing the Talk button, holding the two talkies close to each other, thus creating deafening feedback, what's the point of playing with walkie talkies for more than two minutes?

Fortunately, a simple mod is all you need to boost the audio and restore the parent-annoying functionality.

Do this at your own risk.

MOD

Open the Mordecai walkie talkie up with a Phillips-head screwdriver. 

Find the board with the volume knob/power switch on it. Fire up your soldering iron and solder a jumper wire to the points on either side of the surface-mount resistor labeled R2.

That's it. The max volume should be loud enough so when you press the Talk button, the other person can actually hear you.

Alternately, you can probably warm up R2 and pull it off with some pliers, then put a glob of solder across the two points where R2 used to be. This should have the same effect.

Repeat the process on the Rigby walkie talkie. It is important that you do the Mordecai walkie talkie first, because height order.

YIIIIIEEEEEYAAAAAA!!!

[robbytheautomaton]

Some of the vintage tables at the Asheville Pinball Museum.

[robbytheautomaton]

Mystery 120mm film--revealed

I bought a Pentax ME Super 32mm SLR and set of lenses at a yard sale in Queens last August. Actually, it was a straight trade across for a DVD player--asking price was $20.

It was a pretty good deal, and I've had lots of fun with the camera. What's interesting is that the case it came in had a couple of rolls of 120mm film. These couldn't have been taken with this camera--why were they in the bag? 

I finally got around to developing the two rolls. The first contained photos of a dapper gent in a white suit and Uncle Sam hat walking a tiny dog with an equally patriotic, tiny hat and cigar. Walking through what looks like...New Orleans?

The second roll had some shots of a live chicken coop in what looks like Bushwick, Brooklyn, and a young man shopping for paint.

[robbytheautomaton]

Update! You can follow the progress of our radio on its very own Tumblr page:

http://upcycledradio.tumblr.com

Improving a 1936 tube radio.

The exterior was in very poor shape, so we stripped and sanded off the finish--when it is done, it will be re-stained and finished with a high-quality photograph of the tubes as the faceplate.

The innards were rusted beyond repair, so we added a solid state amplifier, a new speaker, Bluetooth receiver, iPhone charger, Android charger, and oh yes, FM radio tuner. 

[robbytheautomaton]

Easter Egg Magic in Print Books: Indexes

If you've ever typed "Do a Barrel Roll" into Google, then you've discovered an "Easter egg," even if you've didn't know that it was called that. 

Oh, you haven't? Well, go on then. I'll wait.

Welcome back! This cute--if nausea-inducing--bit of fun for fans of Starfox64 is an example of an Easter egg, or hidden "anti-prank", within a computer program.��For a very tame example, have a look at the world's first Easter egg: a secret room with the words "Created by Warren Robinett" spelled out in the game Adventure for the Atari 2600. It blew minds in the 70s but is just a trifle in comparison to the Easter eggs programmers hide in everything nowadays, from the breakdancing Yoda in a Star Wars DVD menu to Ninjas in Google Chrome's Web browser. 

Some Easter eggs are harmless OS worship, although not all get the official stamp of approval from the parent company, despite being born of corporate rivalry, My favorites Easter eggs, however, are put there by the people who work behind the scenes and use them to opine on the work, or give their insight into real life events, like the Minecraft-inspired "Notched Pickaxe" in Skyrim.

Now how about a language Easter egg? Do a search for "anagram" on Google. You'll get the tongue-in-cheek response:  Did you mean "nag a ram"? 

This is what I was reminded of while reading this post from Carol Saller's excellent Subversive Copyeditor blog. In part three of her series on creating a good index for one's book, she cautions against, among other things, accidentally creating "prank" index entries—by giving examples of intentional ones in computer science textbooks:

"Recursion: see recursion or Infinite Loop: see Loop, Infinite Loop, Infinite: see Infinite Loop"

  Ha! Professional indexers have the difficult work of actually creating an index. That is, carefully reading an entire soon-to-be-published book (or research paper, etc), note any topics a reader might want to look up, and list all the pages where the topic appears, usually in the short time from when page count is finalized until the work goes to press--usually less than two weeks! 

It's a tough job, so it's great to know that indexers sometimes like get wild and crazy and bury a little Easter egg fun within an index! Justin Cooper shares a few gems in the post's comments section from Jan C. Wright's index to Real World Adobe InDesign 1.5--not surprisingly, a computer software training book:

bald-faced lies about walking miles to school, 271 (*are not!*) Cthulhu, 166 elves, use of in trapping, 401 indexers, upsetting, 191 jerks who bump your arm, 272

  Okay, so more "weird and crotchety" than "wild and crazy" but still fun!

[robbytheautomaton]

I can't believe Vincent Price would lend his name to such a shoddy product.

“Hello this is Vincent Price. You should know the grave could never tame me, if you are calling about the missing feet leave your address and the replacement feet will be rushed to you by my grandson Jody. Now I must return to the sweet embrace of the crypt, but I’ll be back.” Bwahahaha.