User:Paul

From Hive13 Wiki

Contents 1 About Me 1.1 Skills 2 Hive13 Projects 2.1 Active 2.2 Inactive 2.3 Finished 2.4 Examples 3 Hive13 Contests 4 Part Write-ups 5 Wiki Pages 6 Personal Projects 6.1 Mouse LED Swap 6.2 Workbench PSU 6.3 48 Port Switch Mod

[edit] About Me

I am 24 years old and recently graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a degree in Computer Science. I enjoy programming, working on computers (both software and hardware), modding hardware, and I am learning about electronics and microcontrollers.

The aspect of programming that I enjoy the most is the process of learning how to write some new piece of code. One of my latest projects was building a digital thermometer out of an Arduino and then writing a program on my computer that could communicate with it over a Comm port. It was a simple project but the part that I really enjoyed was learning how to use new tools, both software and hardware, in order to achieve my goal.

[edit] Skills

• Java
• C/C++
• Python
• .Net
• Arduino
• PCB Etching
• Table saw
• Band saw
• Soldering

[edit] Hive13 Projects

[edit] Active

• Hive13 IRC Bot
• Dell PowerEdge 4200 Mod

[edit] Inactive

• Kiosk Computer Setup - Screen died, problem has not been identified.
• Modified RC Vehicle - Fried the motor control board, waiting to order more chips.
• Tube Radio Restoration - I am lazy, and honestly forgot about this project.
• Glass Block LED Matrix - LED issues, lots of soldering, currently looking for an easier method.

[edit] Finished

• Vending Machine - Finished, but it needs a new florescent tube.

[edit] Examples

• TestProject
• A Link

[edit] Hive13 Contests

• Paul's Passcode Contest Entry

[edit] Part Write-ups

• itron FG95H1 VFD
• GoldenTee Display
• Pro-Lite Display
• 3v Analog Meter
• Stepper Motors

[edit] Wiki Pages

• Template:Infobox Project
• Template:Infobox Component

[edit] Personal Projects

All of the following projects were done prior to joining the hackerspace.

As I said in the above, what I like the most about the projects I work on is the learning process involved with them. Each of the following projects had some aspect that I had not done before or had tried before but was not happy with the result so I was trying again.

[edit] Mouse LED Swap

This was one of my first hardware projects, and it was fairly easy and I think the outcome was pretty cool looking.

[edit] Workbench PSU

I really like to work on computers, whether it be assembling them, salvaging parts, fixing a system or just playing video games. However, one annoyance that I continually ran into was the fact that I would have something like a fan or a hard drive that I was not sure worked, or I just wanted to test but I would have no easily accessible computer to test it in. Also, through my various hardware modding I wanted something I could plug into a breadboard to have an easy supply of 3.4v, 5v, or 12v. So when through my computer salvaging I ended up with an extra computer PSU I decided to turn it into a workbench PSU.

Here is an older picture of the PSU shortly after I had finished it:

A couple weeks after this picture the wireing board developed a short and i decided that it might not be the smartest thing to use an aluminum sheet of metal for the connector board. So I cut out and etched a plexiglass board that labels the voltages of each of the connector points, unfortunately I have yet to take a picture of it since I updated it.

[edit] 48 Port Switch Mod

My cousin and I occasionally organize LAN parties, however when your group gets past 3-4 people, hooking everyone into the network becomes a nightmare of switches and routers daisy chained together. So we started looking for a 24 or 48 port switch on ebay. Tom found this a beautiful 48 port enterprise switch for $60 (including shipping). It had some problems, it had clearly been dropped at some point, the fan grills were bent in to the point that one of the fans had broken, and for some reason it was only running at 10 mb/s instead of 10/100 mb/s. Tom was able to get a hold of the companies tech support who walked him through flashing the firmware, which fixed the speed issue. Then we turned to the physical parts of the switch and decided it would be much more fun to personalize the switch. After dismantling it and fixing the fan grills, we sandblasted the old paint off. I then took it home and cut the window out of the top with a dremel, then primed and painted it. After that was finished Tom came over and set up the LED lighting for the case.

Unfortunately through various website moves I have lost the pictures that showed the work in progress, but I found a couple pictures from one of our last LAN parties: