Tux-ing your pod! Thursday March 16, 2006
Posted by Maco in Linux, Tech Bytes, Tech Projects.1 comment so far
Getting bored with your Ipod? After obsessively and compulsively arranging your music database, dressing each files with picture albums and meticulously labeled it with its proper artist and album. You now realized that it’s all what your ipod can do – play music (unless you have the ipod with video).
Here is the good news, open source linux people didn’t let the number one mp3 player to survive without a hack. Yup, it’s ipod with video linux style. As long as your ipod has a screen (sorry for shuffle users), it can play movies. Yes, you heard it right if you have the earlier generations of ipod up to the minis, ipod photo and nano you can play movies.
Now I can play movie clips on my 2 Gb Ipod Nano. Boots to Apple OS or IpodLinux.
If you want to risk your babies out you may want to check this site : http://ipodlinux.org
Please read the caveats in the website before installing linux to your pods. The Ipod linux OS is still under major development and still have a lot of promise to fulfill.
Here are some of the pics of my nano playing Black Eyed Peas’ My Humps (sorry for the low res cam!) :
Ipod Wall Charger Using Nokia Chargers Wednesday March 15, 2006
Posted by Maco in Tech Bytes, Tech Projects.2 comments
Wall chargers with USB outputs costs from P1500 to P2000. which is quite expensive for its purpose. For electronic hobbyists out there, here is a cheap solution of creating a charger that can be used for charging your Ipods and other USB connected devices.
Nokia charger (at least the ones used for most older cellphones) produce an output of 7.1V – 7.2V which is enough to drive the voltage regulator chip the we will be using – LM 7805 Voltage regulator chip (click link for the datasheet). The USB sources provides 5V voltage supply and supplies up to less than 1Ampere of current. The LM 7805 – 5 Volt regulator circuit can provide the same specs.
What we need :
- Multimeter
- 0.33 microFarad and 0.1 microFarad capacitors (mylar or ceramic)
- 7805 5-Volt regulator
- USB Female socket
- Soldering iron/gun, leads
- Power circuit board (PCB)
- Nokia cellphone charger
- DC socket
- Electrical tape (or shrink tubes)
You can buy some of electronic components in electronic shops (i.e. Alexan, Deeco or raon).
Circuit Diagram :
USB Pinouts :
Pin 1 : +5 Vcc (Connected to the red wire)
Pin 4 : Ground (Connected to the black wire)
DC Socket :
Outer pins are the positive terminals.
Center pin is the ground.
Assembly:
- Assemble the circuit in the PCB according to the given circuit diagram. (Proper pinouts of 7805 chip is in the datasheet. Capacitors are non polar). Use the multimeter to verify the soldered connections. Connect the Vi source to the positive terminal of DC socket, do also with the ground.
- Testing the circuit. Plug the Nokia charger and plug its output to the DC socket. Using the multimeter check that the voltage between Vo and Ground is +5V.
- Cut/Strip the female USB plug. Connect the red wire to Vo and the black (sometimes black-white stripe) wire to the ground. Using the multimeter again, check that the output voltage of the USB plug between pins 1 and 4 is also +5V.
- Before plugging your Ipod, you may want to check steps 2 and 3 again.
- If you plug your Ipod to your new charger, it should display that your ipod is charging.
Well that’s it. Simple and inexpensive charger for your ipod and other mobile devices. Good luck to your project!
Digital Photo Editing (Boracay Photos) Thursday March 9, 2006
Posted by Maco in Photoblog, Tech Bytes.add a comment
Agaw dilim.One of Boracay’s pride. The sunset.
Liwanag at Alikabok. An Experiment in the dark.
Low tide. Sand formations along the shores.
Boracay Pictures Thursday March 2, 2006
Posted by Maco in Destination, Photoblog.add a comment
See more pictures here.
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1 That is me and Tino taking candid shots.
2 Tino, Ron and Eden
3 Artistic? shots of Ron and Eden
4 Breakfast at Real Coffee
5 It’s meeee!!!
6 The Hobbit House in Boracay
7 Sailboats!
8 Sand formations during lowtide
9 Dinner along the shores
10 Pier one Boracay
Boracay [02.19.2006 - 02.22.2006] Wednesday March 1, 2006
Posted by Maco in Destination.1 comment so far
Boracay… here I go again!!!
It’s not officially summer yet, but the weather is starting to get humid, hot and the summer fever is spreading fast amdist the busy month of February.
Boracay is still on its off-peak season yet (unlike my previous visits to the island), but is starting to gain visitors until it officially opens for summer when the sun is at its hottest and schools closes for a break.
It’s actually my 5th time here, twice in 2005, once in 2004 and once when I was 13 years old. There is always something new in every visit to Boracay, this time I’ve seen the new D’Mall Plaza, a small narrow street of stores selling signature beach apparels and accesories, photo developing and internet services. There are also new restos in D’Mall which Manileños are quite familiar with.
Surprisingly, there were more foreigner tourist than Filipinos on the island during this time. I thought I have seen enough too many Koreans in telenovelas on TV… only to find them swarming the islands during this time of the year (uhmmm… Boracay is still a part of the Philippines? Isn’t it?) . Boracay is not only known for its white sand and clear blue waters (ok… sometimes green because of the algae), it is also known for great diving sites just around the perimeters of the island in which a lot of Koreans old and new to diving are fond of. Schools of fish are actually trying to learn the Korean language to communicate with these swarming sea visitors… just kidding… there were too many Koreans that you can’t help to make fun of them (evil grin!) . Other tourists other than Pinoys are mostly Europeans, distinguishable by the way they look and talk. See them frying their skins under the sun for almost the whole morning or in the afternoon and playing frisbees and beach volleyball with some locals.
Our nights in Boracay was spent mostly on choosing the best place for dinner. The Boracay night spots like Paraw, Coco Mangas and Summer Place surprisingly aren’t that crowded to get some party spirit started. I guess it has to wait until it is officially summer.
So that’s it, 4 days and 3 nights of a laid back vacation on the summer island of Boracay, it seems I just can’t get enough of this island. Sigh! I dunno if I can wait for another year to get another Boracay getaway.
I’ll be posting the pictures soon! (We almost lost those pics thank god technology allowed us to restore them).
On the side : Here is another Boracay Blog written by a foreign friend of mine who was with us during our vacation in Boracay. He blogged some of his experiences and observations on his blog… read on…
