switching to linux

lab :: distrohoppers anonymous

linux screen shot

switching to from windows to linux is one of the best choices i have made in years. the freedom it provides is unparalleled. the fact that it's 100% free, the open nature of it's development, the community focus, and the abundance of free software was enough to convince me to give it a try.

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BLiSS Sim for ipad

lab :: my first itunes release

BLiSS Sim

the Bioregenerative Life Support System Simulator, BLiSS Sim, is an ipad app, built with titanium studio, based on investigations conducted by NASA scientists and engineers to explore how plants can be grown to provide air, water, and food for astronauts at a lunar base.

BLiSS uses a game format to engage youth and adults in the challenges of supporting humans in space or extreme environments on earth.

The app is free and available for download from the iTunes Store.
Visit the promotional website at: http://bliss-sim.cet.edu/

LSDj keyboard tutorial

lab :: DIY gameboy piano interface

LSDj keyboard

so, making music for LSDj is fun. but after a while you start to wish you could “play" the gameboy software as a musical instrument as opposed to composing music in its tracker style interface. that's where the LSDj keyboard comes in. the idea is, the keyboard sends messages though the gameboy linkport to LSDj. the commands that can be sent vary from playing/stopping notes or chains or tables, un/muting channels, in/decreasing octaves, switching instruments, navigating screens, and more. 
here's what the LSDj wiki says about the keyboard...

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R4-DS

entertainment :: the nintendo DS homebrew revolution

R4-DS the homebrew revolution

the nintendo ds is an awesome portable gaming system. i have the ds lite, its thin, weights under a pound, has two super bright backlit screens, pretty sweet integrated speakers, the classic nintendo plus d-pad, four front buttons, and two shoulder buttons. the bottom screen is touch sensitive, which makes for some awesome gameplay. the touch screen is sick, but a lot of people can be put off by it. so tons of games let your switch between the touch motion and d-pad motion.

the nintendo DS

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gameboy prosound mod

lab :: console modification for better sound recording

nintendo gameboy prosound mod

today’s mod is for the original nintendo gameboy. if you want to get serious about chip tunes, whether your using lsdj or nanoloop, the sound quality of your instrument is a priority. the stock nintendo gameboy is equipped with a single headphone jack. and if you have ever tried recording anything from that, it sounds pretty bad. thus the prosound modification was invented to add a line out jack to the gameboy.

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PQ torus knot

lab :: papervision3D math art

papervision3D PQ torus knot

here we go again, another papervision3D demo featuring math permeated lines. this time im working with a classic piece of code known as the PQ torus. the vague idea is that you have 2 numbers (P + Q) that are used in the algorithm to define the knot. in general, given P + Q mutually prime, the line wraps meridionally around the torus P times and wraps the longitudinally around it Q times. i was having some trouble grasping exactly how this was going to be achieved, until i read this article on blackpawn’s website. he really breaks down the algo to a very simplistic level...

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wavebubble

lab :: DIY portable RF jammer

NYC cityscape

i just got clued in on a new project from one of the members of the cDc (cult of the dead cow), a notorious hacker group from way back in the l0pht days. the wave bubble is a self-tuning, wide-bandwidth portable RF jammer. an internal lithium-ion battery provides up to 2 hours of jamming (two bands, such as cell) or 4 hours (single band, such as cordless phone, GPS, WiFi, bluetooth, etc). the battery is rechargeable via a mini-USB connector or 4mm DC jack (a common size). alternately, 3 AAA batteries may also be used. self-tuning is provided via dual PLL, therefore, no spectrum analyzer is necessary to build this jammer and a single wave bubble can jam many different frequency bands...

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