Unhappy with existing receiver options, I decided to build my own digital-audio receiver. I used IN-13 nixie bar graphs, a MiniDSP/MiniAmp stack, and an airport express. I even added an Alps MotorPot controller by a parallax propeller microcontroller so the volume can be changed from a web browser. Eventually modified this project to play Pandora using a raspberry pi.
Read MoreBlog post list
Why Health Savings Accounts are Not a Good Idea
Today I did some research on Health Savings Accounts. It’s difficult to get decent real-world insurance information for self-employed persons so I thought I’d share some of my conclusions in the hopes that someone can educate me as to why these HSAs are a good thing. To me, they seem like a pretty raw deal. …
Read MoreInsteon Home Automation
This post covers some installation tips about setting up automation products that use the popular Insteon technology marketed by a company called Smarthome. One of the reason for this tutorial is that I plan on creating some Insteon-related software products, and it makes sense to document a typical Insteon home installation that can be used …
Read MoreInterfacing Dekatron Tubes to a Microcontroller
Everything you ever wanted to know about interfacing an old soviet dekatron tube to a microcontroller. I use a parallax propeller and some MPSA42 transistors.
Read MoreThe Packetron 9000
My favorite dekatron project. Using a parallax propeller to query my cisco router, I visualize my Internet throughput using old Russian dekatron tubes.
Read MoreSandrail conversion to Bus 002 Transaxle
This article describes how to convert a Sandrail from an swingaxle suspension to an IRS bug suspension. There are several reasons for doing this. First of all, let’s look at how the camber of the tires changes from a swingaxle to an IRS: The excessive camber of the swingaxle can lead to a number of …
Read More002 VW Transaxle Rebuild
This post describes my experiences rebuilding an 002 transaxle. I’m going to document the effort as a trial attempt to produce a video that show the rebuild. Everything in this video is from a fresh perspective of someone who has never rebuilt a transaxle before (me!), so if it seems like I don’t know what …
Read MoreAuto-dimming Chumby hack
While my chumby has long since died, this page describes my efforts to modify it to add automatic dimming, because the thing was just too damn bright at night.
Read More