Registration for Introduction to Android by Toby Kurien is closed.
Please contact toby@tobykurien.com for any queries or booking of future Android courses
We have launched a webcast called Let’s Talk Hack!
As the name suggests it is part of the Let’s Talk Network which has their studio at House4Hack. LTN allows us to use their equipment and provides technical support – for the first show, the Let’s Talk Geek mixer stepped up and we are much obliged!
Shows is recorded and streamed live and we will notify on the mailing list the dates, but aiming for roughly once a month.
The shows will focus on a main topic and in the first one, co-host Tom presents USB reverse engineering – starting with some background on USB and then digging into the hardware and software tools available.
To watch the show (low,med,high res) or listen to a podcast, go to the show’s homepage Let’s Talk Hack
Introduction to Arduino Course for February 2nd is fully booked! We will have another session in March so watch this space!
For those who have booked:
The course cost is R600 and includes the Arduino UNO, cable, breadboard and everything you would need to complete this course. You can pay either on the day in cash or EFT – the banking details is on our about page: www.house4hack.co.za/about
Important:
Please bring a laptop along and install the latest version of the Arduino IDE: http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Software prior to the training. If you are struggling please email me (schalk.heunis@gmail.com)
This antenna is designed to give you 3dB gain over a dipole and its omni-directional for use with your SDR receiver
Its so easy to make antennas with different lengths
I used Banana sockets so you can make many antennas of different lengths for the different bands giving you gain as well as a frequency range
This antenna consists of two wires: a long one connected to the Black Banana socket
and a short one in front of that connected to the red Banana socket
The Slim Jim is a variation of the JPole antenna and my designed is the “End-Fed variation” of that.
To calculate the lengths we will give you a link below
I bought the Banana Plugs and sockets and ribbon cable at an Electroning shop the rest of the parts from Builders warehouse in prepacked “Ellies TV cables and connectors” bags
We will make the antenna
Step 1 terminate your ribbon cable with a pair of Red and Black Banana Plugs
Step 2 At a quater wavelength above the Red Banana Plug (Length C in Calculator) cut a piece of the “Red line” to make a gap (Length E in Calculator)
Step 3 make the total length of the ribbon cable from the bottom of the Black Banana plug (Length A in Calculator) and join the “Red line” to the “Black line” at the top:
Do not do this step until you have completed the housing you may need to add the length
We will make the antenna housing
Step 4 Drill two holes on the top of the box one nearest to you put the Black Banana socket the other place the red Banana socket
Step 5 Drill a hole on the side of the box nearest to you and mount the Coax Female-Female Barrel connector
Step 6 Make a cable with Coax Plug on one side and to the banana sockets on the other side The inner conductor is soldered to the red banana socket
the outer shield is crimped to the black banana socket 
Step 7 connect a “Ellies” cable from the coax socket to input of the SDR receiver
I have a space in the middle of the box for a wooden dowel to act a support for hanging you antennas on it
The way I have made this box, you can build other types of antennas to plug on this box
The M0UKD Slim Jim Antenna Calculator:
http://www.m0ukd.com/
Peter has been working day and night to prepare for round 2 of the 3d printer builds. The first round saw most people completing PrintrBots and it seems that the Ecksbot has found some favour in this round. There is also a couple of custom builts and hackers were given these four options when enrolling:
1. Printrbot kit + course (same as first run but with version 2.0 parts. All printed) – price will be a bit higher, as we are not going to do casting again.
2. Prusa Mendel / Ecksbot kits + course: A bigger, more mature printer – with hotbed, support for ABS or PLA printing, and a sturdier frame which should yield faster and higher quality prints.
3. A bare-bones-kit option with Course/Consulting: A full set of motors, extruder, hotend, electronics, belts, pulleys (upgrade to leadscrew at own cost) with consulting/training provided to help you design and build your own printer.
4. A bare-bones-kit only: No training, no advice, just parts: Ideal if you have a bot and want to replica – gives you a chance to join the bulk-buy discounts.
In the end most people went with either 2 or 4, with some really interesting designs happening in the last category.
So, today is the start of the new builds and people posting on the list that it feels like christmas! Peter posted some photos of the packaging and parts – all lined up and ready to be assembled – ready, set ….
We ordered these Videomate U620F through PC Palace (ask for Pierre) in a group buy – 16 units for R180 per unit.
Inexpensive analog FM tuner stick
In order to receive Tuks FM 107.2 MHz using gnuradio, I followed these steps:
When I connect the tuner stick, I get these messages in dmesg:
[ 7949.960326] usb 2-2: new high-speed USB device number 4 using ehci_hcd [ 7950.105514] usb 2-2: New USB device found, idVendor=185b, idProduct=0620 [ 7950.105525] usb 2-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3 [ 7950.105532] usb 2-2: Product: VMU6xx [ 7950.105539] usb 2-2: Manufacturer: Compro [ 7950.105545] usb 2-2: SerialNumber: 0020
and lsusb gives me
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 185b:0620 Compro
Now running multimode.py, I changed the following settings to look like this:
Here is a screenshot of these settings:
Multimode.py tuned and listening to 107.2 MHz FM
Important you have to connect the antenna!
To get started here is some resources:
Videomate group buy
We had our first locksport meeting in Randburg last week and when I posted about it, a couple of people mentioned that they would enjoy something similar in Centurion.
So by popular demand, we will have our first locksport get together next week Tuesday 13 November.
If you are keen to get into this, check out some of the videos linked in my previous post: http://www.house4hack.co.za/locksport-sig
Also, you will probably want to make a practice lock, I can show you how at the meetup so purchase a lock (see photos below) – you should not pay more than R100. This is what it should look like, notice the nut that holds the cylinder in place.
The type of lock you will need
Notice the removable "nut" holding the cylinder in place
You want to get a lock that has removable (crimped) plate that covers the top of the cylinder
Also, it has a metal plate on the top of the outer cylinder
This plate is modified to be removable and allows for re-pinning of the lock.
The plate is modified to allow easy reconfiguration of the pins
Also bring along some material for making tools – things like hacksaw blades or the metal strip from windscreen wiper works great.
The first round of 3d printing is almost completed and almost ready to start with the next group.
Peter has started openhardware.co.za where he sells courses, kits and accessories. He has placed orders for the next group build and hope to start in the next couple of weeks.
Here are some photos of last night’s hacking:
If you are interested in 3d printing or want to order a kit, contact Peter at openhardware.co.za
Some clips combined into a short video of various small projects involving Android and Arduino. This shows off the power of open hardware when combined with Android.
In summary these
We are starting a Locksport SIG at H4H Jozi – the first meetup is planned for this Wednesday 31 October
If you are interested or has some experience, please join us and bring
Here is a nice video series to pique your interest:
Its relatively easy to make simple tools to get started
Made from a hack sawblade and hex key
