Author Archives: Steve

About Steve

When it comes to the desktop, Steve is a former Amiga, Windows, and Linux user, and as of six years ago, a die-hard Mac head (who, for once, isn't thinking of changing platforms again any time soon). When it comes to the server, Linux is pretty much the only game he plays. He also enjoys hardware hacking, and shouldn't be allowed near a keyboard after the sun sets (or for that matter, after it rises. Don't say I didn't warn you).

Solar Harvesting & Supercapacitors

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Steve

I happened to go spelunking on google today for some information on super capacitors, and I stumbled upon a gem. Seems that someone over at CAP-XX gave a presentation at some conference somewhere some time ago, and this is the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Guide To Blocks & Grand Central Dispatch

Posted on May 26, 2012 by Steve

I needed extremely simplistic concurrency support for an application I’m working on, and that led me to stumble over a 2009 article on Grand Central Dispatch. I have to say, it’s one of the cleaner implementations I’ve seen, and I’m … Continue reading →

Posted in Mac Hacking | Comments Off

Free USB Product IDs

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Steve

Have an open hardware project that uses USB? Now you can get a VID/PID pair for free from openmoko.org. Note that your project must be open source to qualify. Not a bad deal considering it eliminates the $2,000 cost of … Continue reading →

Posted in Hardware Hacking, USB | Comments Off

Microchip XC8: Much Ado About Nothing

Posted on May 19, 2012 by Steve

If you’ve followed the TuneConsole project, then you know that I’m not at all enamored of Microchip’s development tools for PIC18. So when I saw that Microchip released a new line of compilers, I was kinda excited. I mean, hey, … Continue reading →

Posted in Hardware Hacking, PIC | Comments Off

Facebook Facepalm

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Steve

I’m not exactly a savvy investor, and I usually don’t publicly comment on this sort of thing, but Facebook’s IPO is just begging for it. I mean, really, how did anyone think this was a good deal? They valued the company … Continue reading →

Posted in News, Rants | Comments Off

Samba & Bonjour with Avahi

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Steve

Okay, so you have a shiny new Linux box, and it’s running Samba, all nice and configured to share your files. You have a Mac, and you want to use it with your nifty new Windows shares. You can connect … Continue reading →

Posted in Bonjour, Linux | 11 Comments

Generate Any Microchip PIC Footprint For EAGLE

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Steve

While EAGLE includes a fair number of PIC microcontroller footprints in their standard libraries, the selection is limited compared to Microchip’s full catalog. If you’re looking for a more obscure part (like the PIC16F1947, for example), you’re on your own. … Continue reading →

Posted in EAGLE, Hardware Hacking, PIC | 5 Comments

TC: Microchip USB Stack Isn’t Redistributable. Bah!

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Steve

For the three people waiting on me to turn TuneConsole into an OSHW project, I’m afraid to say you’ll be waiting for a while longer. I’ve noted before that I’m concerned about the licensing on the Microchip Application Library (from … Continue reading →

Posted in Hardware Hacking, PIC, TuneConsole | 1 Comment

Xcode 4.3 Command Line Tools Missing By Default

Posted on April 15, 2012 by Steve

If you’ve installed Xcode 4.3, then you may have discovered that the command line compilers are no longer available by default. I’m not sure why Apple decided to exclude them from the standard install, but they did. Fortunately, they’re easy … Continue reading →

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TC: Final Hardware

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Steve

I submitted the enclosure for TuneConsole to Ponoko on March 13, and that only proves that their service is distressingly slow. The acrylic panels arrived here on March 27, exactly two weeks later. I was out of town for an … Continue reading →

Posted in Hardware Hacking, TuneConsole | 13 Comments