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homebrew posts

Quickdev16 SNES developers cart: now you too can make games no one will ever play

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Oct 26th 2009 at 11:13AM

If homebrew SNES development was an obscure affair in the days that the platform reigned supreme, undertaking such a project almost two decades later can be nothing left than a labor of true geek love. But if you've always dreamed of writing the next great first-person shooter for a retired game platform you're in luck: the Quickdev 16 is a cartridge that includes everything necessary for bringing your creations to the Super Nintendo, including the Atmel AVR ATmega644 with boot loader, USB connection for placing your code on the cart, 16 megabits of SRAM, and an RS232 converter for a debugging terminal. Works with Windows, Mac, and Linux systems as long as you know your way around a command line (and if you've read this far, you just might). Available now for $120 including shipping.

[Via Hack-A-Day]

Homemade GPS puzzle box puts a modern spin on treasure hunts

by Vladislav Savov posted Oct 20th 2009 at 7:43PM

We'll readily admit that most Arduino mods tend to be exercises in creativity (and eccentricity) with little real world utility, which is why this one piqued our interest. A wedding present conceived of and built by Mikal Hart, the box you see above is set to only open in one particular geographic location, and the puzzle of it is to find out where that might be. You're allowed 50 attempts at opening the box by hitting the button next to the LCD screen, which in turn gives you a distance from, but not direction to, your destination. What tickles us about this idea, aside from its ingenuity, is the potential to use it without the helpful hints in securing your own valuables. Check out the read link for a full shopping list of ingredients and the amusing reaction to the quirky gift.

[Via Slippery Brick]

SNES / Sega Genesis USB cartridge adapter now available for pre-order

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Oct 19th 2009 at 11:04AM

Looks like our old friend, Matthias -- the developer of the USB SNES cart reader -- is back on the scene, and this time he's going commercial. His newest project, Snega2USB, adds Sega Genesis, read and write for battery-backed SNES games, open source firmware, and up to four gamepads to the homebrew fave of classic gaming fanatics world o'er. This is a work-in-progress, but all the pieces are in place to have all orders met on the December, 2009 street date. Pre-orders will be taken until October 31 for $90 in the United States or €75 in Europe. Video after the break.

[Via Gadgetoid]

Continue reading SNES / Sega Genesis USB cartridge adapter now available for pre-order

Dell Mini 9 modded into an internet tablet

by Vladislav Savov posted Oct 14th 2009 at 8:11AM

MyDellMini forum member Rob928, take a bow. This honorable gentleman has only gone and transformed an aging 9-inch netbook into a new-fashioned internet tablet. it might still be a chubby little thing, but there's no denying the usefulness of using the entire screen to navigate instead of the usually cramped netbook touchpad. With a 16GB SSD upgrade alongside the venerable Atom N270 and 1GB of RAM, this device will even boot faster into Windows than your run-of-the-mill netbook. The read link will reveal all, including more shots of the hardware laid bare.

[Via SlashGear]

Gallery: Dell Mini 9 modded into an internet tablet

Video: PSP Go hacked, says 'hello world!'

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Oct 4th 2009 at 2:23PM

As you'd expect, as soon as the PSP Go hit the shelves the homebrew community came out in force, looking to see which of its fave hacks and exploits might have made the trip from the original PSP to its UMD-less brethren. And here we are, with two videos posted by YouTube member Freeplay offering us tantalizing proof that indeed, at least one has. Of course, the whole thing is pretty rudimentary, the result of exploiting a known bug in an existing PSP game (which this particular hacker is remaining tight-lipped about rather than see Sony patch the thing). Karl B., who helped us to this one, provides a caveat: "It's user-mode only, meaning no flash modification, no piracy, no advanced custom themes, no plug-ins -- none of that." All the same, it does our inner geek a sliver of hope, doesn't it? Videos after the break.

[Via PSP Updates, Exophase]

Continue reading Video: PSP Go hacked, says 'hello world!'

R2D2 turned into retro gaming shrine, includes head-mounted projector

by Vladislav Savov posted Sep 23rd 2009 at 5:30AM

We don't know exactly how to say this without overloading your nerd subsystem, but this R2D2 unit packs eight consoles, an integrated sound system and a projector for throwing your Jet Grind Radio sessions onto a wall. The only extras you'll need are the masses of controllers you see above and the steady constitution to not erupt into geek euphoria. Popular Science reader Brian De Vitis is the man you have to thank for this splicing of console goodness, and he's been kind enough to also provide a picture of the R2's mobo-laden innards. It awaits just past the break.

[Via Hack N Mod]

Continue reading R2D2 turned into retro gaming shrine, includes head-mounted projector

Video: EeePC modded into a WalleeePC

by Vladislav Savov posted Sep 11th 2009 at 12:36PM

We know how it is -- you were an early adopter of the netbook craze sweeping every nation from Austria to Australia, but now that 11-inches is looking like the new de facto standard, your old 7-incher just isn't cutting the mustard anymore. So what do you do? You mod that sucker into a kitchen cabinet door, of course. You'll need a 7-inch USB touchscreen to layer atop an EeePC 701, along with a few other bits and bobs, but the most important thing to remember is a spectacularly loony soundtrack. Or so the video after the break seems to instruct us.

[Via JKK Mobile]

Continue reading Video: EeePC modded into a WalleeePC

Third-party Google Voice client hits the webOS App Catalog

by Joshua Topolsky posted Sep 10th 2009 at 9:03PM

It looks like it isn't just bluster from Palm when it comes to thinking differently about its app approval policy. Besides taking a pretty healthy stance on applications that deviate from its current standards, today 10 new titles have shown up for download... a Google Voice app being one of them. gDial Pro, a piece of software which started its life as a homebrew application, is now an official part of the beta store. The program lets you access Google Voice's full feature set (including a dialer), and no one seems very bothered by it. Here's hoping Palm keeps up the flow of new software to the Catalog (they're eating for two now) and they keep a healthy distance from rejection letters.

[Via PreThinking]

Palm responds to NaNplayer rejection: "We are happy for it to continue life as homebrew" until APIs are complete

by Nilay Patel posted Sep 10th 2009 at 6:02PM

Well, how about that -- Palm Developer Community Manager Chuq Von Rospach has taken the time to respond to earlier reports of NaNplayer's rejection from the App Catalog, and he's surprisingly cool about it. As we'd heard, the underlying issue is that NaNplayer uses private APIs that will change in a future version of webOS, so Palm doesn't want apps built on them. That's understandable, but here's where Palm's doing it right: Chuq says that Palm is happy for NaNplayer "to continue life as a homebrew application until we get to the point where we can release public, supportable APIs for the functionality that it requires." That's the sort of hacker-friendly compromise we can get behind -- anyone in Cupertino taking notes?

[Thanks, Joe]

HP Mini 1000 hacked into touchscreen tablet

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Aug 20th 2009 at 1:39PM

As all you compulsive modders and gadget freaks know, there aren't too many devices that a well-applied touchscreen kit won't make even better. And while there's nothing really earth shattering about a homebrew HP Mini 1000 tablet, we don't see too many of them. As with many a similar hack, things are pretty straightforward: remove the keyboard, cram in some components (actually, the term this guy uses is "squeeze") and then fit the shell back together. Oh yeah, he'll need to cut a hole in the shell for the touchscreen itself, as soon as he gets the actual touchscreen in the mail. Did we mention that he'll be laser cutting the window for the display, the webcam, and the speakers at his school? Regardless, he gets into all that (and more) at the myHPmini forums -- be sure to hit the read link for some of that action. Who knows, maybe you'll even be inspired to embark on a similar project yourself. But first, check the video after the break.

[Via SlashGear]

Continue reading HP Mini 1000 hacked into touchscreen tablet

Arduino binary clock doesn't care to be useful, just wants to be admired

by Vladislav Savov posted Aug 20th 2009 at 5:38AM

If there's one thing we love about DIY projects, it's the feeling that the outcome is more than the mere sum of its parts. This here binary clock is a prime example, being composed of scrap plastic, some dirt-cheap parts and a homemade Arduino board. And yet, after a few licks of polish and the inevitable LEDs, it looks like a true monument to geekdom, which is only amplified by the fact you can't even use the thing without being familiar with binary code. But then again, if utility was a standard by which we judged homebrewed projects, we'd have a lot less to talk about.

[Via Make]

Xbox Micro makes the Wii look overweight

by Vladislav Savov posted Aug 15th 2009 at 4:08PM

Welcome to Micro Saturday at Engadget! In the absence of hard hitting stories and shocking exposés, we thought we'd turn to the lighter -- and thinner -- side of the news. Enter the Xbox Micro, a 1-inch thick celebration of all that is good and holy about the world of DIY mods. It took six months to make, with a few clever design decisions along the way, but it looks good enough to make even the ninja-black Wii suck its gut in. Comparison pics with the original behemoth are after the break, and hit the read link to see the exposed guts of this little beauty.

[Thanks, Matt and Jesse]

Continue reading Xbox Micro makes the Wii look overweight

Portable SNES mod is slick enough to hit retail

by Vladislav Savov posted Aug 14th 2009 at 11:44AM

Sometimes mods go to such lengths that words like 'homebrewed' and 'DIY' no longer do them justice. Presenting the Nintendo SNES Portable. Not the first, and probably not the last of its kind, this bad boy mobilizes Nintendo's venerable console with a few buttons from a PSOne controller and a ridiculously detailed skinning job -- yes, even the packaging gets a makeover. The sheer nostalgic overload at the sight of it must be worth something to Nintendo, no? There's not a person, with both a heart and a history of gaming, that can glance at that bulky unwieldy-looking thing and not break into a wistful smile. Really, we dare you. More snaps after the break.

Continue reading Portable SNES mod is slick enough to hit retail

T-Mobile's myTouch 3G gets rooted, Questlove unavailable for comment

by Tim Stevens posted Aug 13th 2009 at 9:41AM

Looking to run the latest and greatest homebrew wares on your myTouch? Just a week after release the Android handset has been set free of its corporate restrictions, the most private sections of its kernel unlocked for you to mess with. Full instructions (and we do mean full) are available at the read link, so proceed with caution -- and don't come crying to us if you wind up with a shiny merlot brick.

[Thanks, Scott]

Video: Arduino-powered touchpad mimics iPod volume control

by Vladislav Savov posted Jul 27th 2009 at 1:56PM

We've seen every manner of touchpad -- multitouch, gesture recognition, no touch, LCD trackpads -- if you can think of it, somebody has probably done a version of it. Take this particular one for example, which just might rank below even the touchscreen GBA in terms of practical usefulness -- though, it's not as if utility is a prerequisite of joviality, right? If you've been neglecting that DIY muscle of late, you owe it to yourself to check out the video beyond the break, which shows that a humble touchpad can learn new tricks. Oh, and if you feel extra inspired, the read link contains another video plus the necessary code for making the light show happen. Don't say we never gave you anything.

[Via Hack A Day]

Continue reading Video: Arduino-powered touchpad mimics iPod volume control