[FYP] fire & hazard SOP in lab or workshop

Today 16 aug 10, yours truly is vising the lab at 5.10pm to check out on the progress of the project. While moving around the the robot platform , explaining the requirements of the robot, fiddling around with the motors and gears mounted to the robot platform..... Yours truly's micro-fiber business pants came in contact with a hot solder iron that was left on a chair for an extended period of time.  Why is the SOLDER left on the chair!!!??!!!???!!? GRRRZZZZZ LUCKILY, no roast meat is served for dinner. Poor alan brooke, he did not made his business pants to be heat proof. An old saying=> You never came lucky, TWICE. SAFETY PRECAUTIONS  1. DO NOT LEAVE heated elements turn ON  for extended period of time. 2. Make sure all heated elements are inside their guard/holder. 3. Turn off any unattended heating/electrical elements. 4. Work on the workbench.  There is a reason why it is called a "work"bench

[DIY] android on a laptop (live CD)

my student (WS) from SPIC is exploring on how to put android on a laptop.
After some tinkering he manage to try live CD.
He had put up a very detailed step by step guide. Which you guys can check out from the link below

http://spic.cca.sg/2010/07/27/run-android-on-your-pc-or-laptop/

Since it is booting from a liveCD, no damages will be done on your computer logically.

After you take out the iso image, Your computer resumes as per normal.

Chromium OS, Cloud Computing

I had a dream.......

The computers at CSSC does not require a HDD, an optical drive (DVD/CD) nor a installed OS.

The TCO of the computers can be on the cheap.

We could juz load chromium OS on a USB drive, boot from USB and use our computer as if it is a super big web browser.

for docs processing, we could use docs.google.com

for multimedia, we could use youtube with the playlist feature.

for storing of images, i could use flickr , photobucket

for storing of code, i could use snipt

for IM, i could use e-buddy

for social networking, i could use facebook...

hhhmmmsss.... what i could do more on my computer?

but for software development.... it is a little bit tricky......

but.... it is still cool on my development computer.

but for scanning of  photos from a scanner... it is a little bit tricky

but for printing of from a conventional printer... it is a little bit tricky

OVERALL.... it is still cool, for using chromium in a CyberCafe type of deployment.

check out the how-to documents of running chromium OS from my young padawan yonglin.

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link: http://spic.cca.sg/2010/06/28/chromium-os/

Chromium is still breaking on computers that sports broadcomm wifi chip. Altheros is still cool. 

more info here

http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/getting-dev-hardware/dev-hardware-list

[DIY] the accidental human conductor

Usually I would take a break from intense studying by doing some non technical related activity such as cooking, baking etc. But in the office environment, en-suit kitchen is consider a luxury and way out of my reach. Instead, I make little toys (electronics) /handicraft (mastering the art of folding roses) to kill off the gloomy mood from studying non stop.

I wanted to make a Amplitude Modulated Laser Transmitter for Audio. There are many examples (successful ones) plastered all over the Internet.It originates from here ...
http://www.freeinfosociety.com/site.php?postnum=2310

What you will need
1. 1x laser pointer S$1.9 from $2shop.
2. 4.5v battery
3. Audio output transformer (8ohm and 1k ohm impedance)S$1, S$3. This is the tricky one, i shall elaborate later.
4. LDR
5. Speaker, USB powered preferred over passive ones.

Connect them up accordingly. The schematics are available from the link above. From left the laser pointer, the battery pack, the audio output transformer and audio out from the laptop.

Now, hook up the receiver part. The USB powered speaker, LDR.

Now, the tricky part. The "audio output transformer" (branded by the shop with no rating) which was sold to me for $3 does not work. After measuring the impedance using a Digital Multi Meter, it only have 2ohm and 600ohm impedance, a far cry from what I need. The output from laser pointer is very very very weak. The LDR cannot pick up the light intensity. I made another trip down SLT and one of the shop owner sold me a $1  "audio output transformer" . Tough luck I may say, the impedance does not match. The output from the laser pointer still as weak. Hunt around the labs for some spares......no luck at all.

I guess there will be another round of parts hunting, AFTER I finish my exam.

During the 30minutes of playing with the above mentioned toy, i noticed something.

When I am holding the LDR+USB powered speaker's mini stereo jack on my RHS and the laser pointer + messy wires at my LHS. The speaker output some music even though I DID NOT  press the "on" button on the laser pointer. Which it should not be the case. When I DID press the "on" button, the music is cut off! For a moment, I thought it is a very strange phenomena that doesn't make sense. But...after 2 seconds... HAHA.....

The first correct answer to that "strange" phenomena and why I press on the button of the laser pointer the music is off, shall get 1x muesli bar from me. Leave your answer on my post as a comment~


Nonetheless, it is still COOL to be the human conductor by touching both the receiver end and the transceiver end to produce some sound without using a physical wire. TRY IT AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! IF you or any parts thereof Got FRIED, I shall bear no liability nor responsibility.

Below is a video of it, still can WOW some crowd if it is packaged in a magic show. E.g, asking an audience come up to the stage to touch an exposed end (eg the receiver side), while holding at the magician's hand. The magician shall strut his/her stuff with the physics behind it.


now... back to the books..........

[news] Top 500 super computers!!!!

link : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10187248.stm