Author: Bryan Cockfield

1513 Articles

Custom Fan Controller For Otherwise Fanless PCs

October 29, 2024 by No comments

Most of us using desktop computers, and plenty of us on laptops, have some sort of fan or pump installed in our computer to remove heat and keep our machines running at the most optimum temperature. That’s generally a good thing for performance, but comes with a noise pollution cost. It’s possible to build fanless computers, though, which are passively cooled by using larger heat sinks with greater thermal mass, or by building more efficient computers, or both. But sometimes even fanless designs can benefit from some forced air, so [Sasa] built this system for cooling fanless systems with fans.

The main advantage of a system like this is that the fans on an otherwise fanless system remain off when not absolutely necessary, keeping ambient noise levels to a minimum. [Sasa] does have a few computers with fans, and this system helps there as well. Each fan module is WiFi-enabled, allowing for control of each fan on the system to be set up and controlled from a web page. It also can control 5V and 12V fans automatically with no user input, and can run from any USB power source, so it’s not necessary to find a USB-PD-compatible source just to run a small fan.

Like his previous project, this version is built to easily integrate with scripting and other third-party software, making it fairly straightforward to configure in a home automation setup or with any other system that is monitoring a temperature. It doesn’t have to be limited to a computer, either; [Sasa] runs one inside a server cabinet that monitors the ambient temperature in the cabinet, but it could be put to use anywhere else a fan is needed. Perhaps even a hydroponic setup.

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Custom Drone Software Searches, Rescues

October 24, 2024 by 17 Comments

When a new technology first arrives in people’s hands, it often takes a bit of time before the full capabilities of that technology are realized. In much the same way that many early Internet users simply used it to replace snail mail, or early smartphones were used as more convenient methods for messaging and calling than their flip-phone cousins, autonomous drones also took a little bit of time before their capabilities became fully realized. While some initially used them as a drop-in replacement for things like aerial photography, a group of mountain rescue volunteers in the United Kingdom realized that they could be put to work in more efficient ways suited to their unique abilities and have been behind a bit of a revolution in the search-and-rescue community.

The first search-and-rescue groups using drones to help in their efforts generally used them to search in the same way a helicopter would have been used in the past, only with less expense. But the effort involved is still the same; a human still needed to do the searching themselves. The group in the UK devised an improved system to take the human effort out of the equation by sending a drone to fly autonomously over piece of mountainous terrain and take images of the ground in such a way that any one thing would be present in many individual images. From there, the drone would fly back to its base station where an operator could download the images and run them through a computer program which would analyse the images and look for outliers in the colors of the individual pixels. Generally, humans tend to stand out against their backgrounds in ways that computers are good at spotting while humans themselves might not notice at all, and in the group’s first efforts to locate a missing person they were able to locate them almost immediately using this technology.

Although the system is built on a mapping system somewhat unique to the UK, the group has not attempted to commercialize the system. MR Maps, the software underpinning this new feature, has been free to use for anyone who wants to use it. And for those just starting out in this field, it’s also worth pointing out that location services offered by modern technologies in rugged terrain like this can often be misleading, and won’t be as straightforward of a solution to the problem as one might think.

Artificial Intelligence Runs On Arduino

October 24, 2024 by 23 Comments

Fundamentally, an artificial intelligence (AI) is nothing more than a system that takes a series of inputs, makes some prediction, and then outputs that information. Of course, the types of AI in the news right now can handle a huge number of inputs and need server farms’ worth of compute to generate outputs of various forms, but at a basic level, there’s no reason a purpose-built AI can’t run on much less powerful hardware. As a demonstration, and to win a bet with a friend, [mondal3011] got an artificial intelligence up and running on an Arduino.

This AI isn’t going to do anything as complex as generate images or write clunky preambles to every recipe on the Internet, but it is still a functional and useful piece of software. This one specifically handles the brightness of a single lamp, taking user input on acceptable brightness ranges in the room and outputting what it thinks the brightness of the lamp should be to match the user’s preferences. [mondal3011] also builds a set of training data for the AI to learn from, taking the lamp to various places around the house and letting it figure out where to set the brightness on its own. The training data is run through a linear regression model in Python which generates the function that the Arduino needs to automatically operate the lamp.

Although this isn’t the most complex model, it does go a long way to demonstrating the basic principles of using artificial intelligence to build a useful and working model, and then taking that model into the real world. Note also that the model is generated on a more powerful computer before being ported over to the microcontroller platform. But that’s all par for the course in AI and machine learning. If you’re looking to take a step up from here, we’d recommend this robot that uses neural networks to learn how to walk.

A Modern PC With A Retro OS

October 22, 2024 by 24 Comments

Despite the rise of ARM processors in more and more computers from embedded systems to daily driver PCs, the x86 architecture maintains a stronghold in the computing space that won’t be going away anytime soon. One of the main drivers of this is its beachhead in industrial systems; the x86 architecture is backwards-compatible farther back than many of us have been alive and in situations where machines need to run for years with minimum downtime it’s good to know you can grab any x86 system off the shelf and it’ll largely work. This is also true for gaming, so if you’re like [Yeo Kheng Meng] and want to run games like DOOM natively on modern hardware it’s certainly possible, although there are a few catches.

This build goes into the design of a modern AMD Ryzen 5 desktop computer, with all of the components selected specifically for their use running software more than three decades old now. [Yeo Kheng Meng] is targeting DOS 6.22 as his operating system of choice, meaning that modern EFI motherboards won’t necessarily work. He’s turned to business class products as a solution for many of these issues, as motherboards targeting business and industrial customers often contain more support for antiquated hardware like PS/2 and parallel ports while still having modern amenities like DDR5 memory slots. PS/2 ports additionally are an indicator that the motherboard will supports older non-EFI boot modes (BIOS) and can potentially run DOS natively. Everything here can also run modern operating systems, since he isn’t building this system only to run DOS and retro games.

Beyond the motherboard choice, he’s also using a Soundblaster card for audio which is a design choice generally relegated to history, but still used in modern gaming by a dedicated group. There’s also a floppy drive running via a USB header adapter cable. Of course, there are a few problems running DOS and other era-appropriate software natively on such incomprehensibly fast hardware (by early 90s standards). Some video games were hard coded to the processor clock of the x86 process of the era, so increasing the clock speed orders of magnitude results in several playability issues. In emulators it’s easier to provide an artificially slow clock speed, but on real hardware this isn’t always possible. But [Yeo Kheng Meng] has done a lot to get this modern computer running older software like this. Another take we’ve seen for retro gaming on original hardware is this system which uses a brand-new 486 processor meant for use in industrial settings as well.

Libre Space Foundation Aims To Improve Satellite Tech

October 22, 2024 by 27 Comments

There’s no shortage of movies, TV shows, and books that show a dystopian future with corporations run amok in outer space with little or no effective oversight. Dune, The Expanse, and The Dispossessed spring to mind as predicting different aspects of this idea, but there are plenty of other warnings throughout sci-fi depicting this potential future. One possible way of preventing this outcome is by ensuring that space is as open-sourced as possible and one group, the Libre Space Foundation (LSF), is working towards this end. Their latest is a project with Ondsel to develop and model a satellite deploying mechanism using almost entirely open source software.

The LSF had already designed the PICOBUS satellite launcher system that flew to space in 2022 and deployed a number of CubeSats, but the group needed more information about how the system would perform. They turned to Ondsel to help develop a multi-body dynamics (MBD) solver, managing simulations with mass-spring-damper models. The satellite launcher includes a large constant-force spring that pushes the CubeSats out of the device once the door is opened, and the model can now simulate their paths in space without gravity. The team will launch their next set of satellites sometime next year on an RFA-ONE rocket.

The LSF maintains a huge database of their open source space projects, including this one, on their GitLab page. Although it might seem like small potatoes now, the adoption of open source software and hardware by space-fairing entities can help further the democratization of low Earth orbit.

Thanks to [johnad] for the tip!

Pac-Man Ghost Helps With Air Quality Sensing

October 21, 2024 by 13 Comments

In the past, building construction methods generally didn’t worry much about air quality. There were enough gaps around windows, doors, siding, and flooring that a house could naturally “breathe” and do a decent enough job of making sure the occupants didn’t suffocate. Modern buildings, on the other hand, are extremely concerned with efficiency and go to great lengths to ensure that no air leaks in or out. This can be a problem for occupants though and generally requires some sort of mechanical ventilation, but to be on the safe side and keep an eye on it a CO2 sensor like this unique Pac-Man-inspired monitor can be helpful.

Although there are some ways to approximate indoor air quality with inexpensive sensors, [Tobias] decided on a dedicated CO2 sensor for accuracy and effectiveness, despite its relatively large cost of around $30. An ESP32 handles the data from the sensor and then outputs the results to an array of LEDs hidden inside a ghost modeled after the ones from the classic arcade game Pac-Man. There are 17 WS2812B LEDs in total installed on a custom PCB, with everything held together in the custom 3D printed ghost-shaped case. The LEDs change from green to red as the air quality gets worse, although a few preserve the ghost’s white eyes even as the colors change.

For anyone looking to recreate this project and keep an eye on their own air quality, [Tobias] has made everything from the code, the PCB, and the 3D printer files open source, and has used accessible hardware in the build as well. Although the CO2 sensors can indeed be pricey, there are a few less expensive ways of keeping an eye on indoor air quality. Some of these methods attempt to approximate CO2 levels indirectly, but current consensus is that there’s no real substitute for taking this measurement directly if that’s the metric targeted for your own air quality.

Open-Source, 3D Printed Trackpad

October 21, 2024 by 22 Comments

Touchpads, or trackpads, have been around since the 1980s. Today, you can often find them in laptops and notebook computers as pointing devices. With no moving parts, a trackpad are easy to integrate into the body of a portable computer.  they’re much smaller than the traditional mouse. Until the advent of multitouch and gestures over the past two decades, though, they were generally poor substitutes for an actual mouse. These days, trackpads have enough features that some users prefer them even on their desktop computers. If you’re that type of person and don’t want to shell out a big pile of money for an Apple, Logitech, or other off-the-shelf trackpad you can always build your own.

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