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rossum says...


Gotta love the Uzebox. Good old fashinoned fun. But now that my main TV has nearly a dozen devices in the AV switch loop I need a stand alone version of my favorite homebrew videogame.


I picked up a Sunpak 5.6 inch digital photoframe from Fry's for $20 (online for < $25). Inside a resonably attractive case was a Sharp LQ056A3AG01 lcd, audio amp, speaker and power supply; just the thing to host a stripped down Uzebox parasite.

The parasite uses a ATMega644p but does not need the AD725 RGB to NTSC coverter as we will be driving the lcd directly. I opted for surface mount resisitor nets for the D to A ladder because
i) I had some lying around
ii) It needed to be small
iii) I hate drilling holes
iv) I hate soldering 805 resistors


I needed to cut 4 traces (RGB and SYNC) on the board near the lcd's FPC connector (note that this is a zif socket, pull out the dark brown bit rather than yanking on the cable) to get the video signal into the lcd.  There are 7 attach points - VCC,GND, Audio to the TDA2882 amp, RGB and SYNC.


I drilled a hole in the case between and inserted a SNES controller cable, knotted it for strain relief and soldered the 5 wires (VCC,GND, CLK, Latch and Data) to the parasite. Double sided tape holds the beasty in place.


Close case, enjoy. $20 for the photo frame, $7 for the ATMega644p,  $2 for crystal, caps and resistors, $3 for the controller, $1 for the homebrew board.

             
Click here to download:
parasite.zip (3560 KB)


simonfirth says...

Found this chap in the yard today. They really are my favorite local salamander. This one seemed to like Michael, too.


simonfirth says...

The living roof at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park is now pretty much grown in. And in the spring sunshine this last weekend it was abuzz with bees and looking quite splendid.

For some reason I was expecting it to consist mostly of succulents, but that's not at all the case. There were some dudleyas but otherwise it was a mass of thrifts, grasses, sages, daisies, and wild strawberries with the occasional California poppy dotted around.


simonfirth says...

The chef and her sous-chef present an entirely original creation, "Battercake."

The recipe: Gently fold melted chocolate into freshly-whipped organic cream. Layer cream between fine, hand-extruded chocolate pieces and top with crushed banana.
 
It's actually very good, but daily consumption of Battercake by the health-conscious is not recommended.


garry says...

It was a tough race, with two great candidates, but i think it's fair to say, the voters made the right choice:
--Pascal


simonfirth says...

It's slimy, forty foot long and super strong -- no wonder you can't beat kelp for hours of honest fun.


Peter says...


simonfirth says...

Hornpoke.

Courtesy, Michael (age 4)


simonfirth says...

A beautiful day at the beach. But then there's the back story.

The moment captured is the one immediately after the boy had lobbed a stone at the girl. He's running away, which is his current tactic immediately following the commission of any act he knows to be wrong.

I was poised to shoot as the stone was thrown and could have caught it, but in that split second found myself consciously deciding not to record it. I think I didn't want to deal with the dilemma of deciding between keeping it as a record of the intensity of sibling relationships, or erasing it out of a paternal duty to protect the child from that which might embarrass him in later years.

Luckily, the incident was isolated. They played together for another two hours before I finally dragged them home.

What I really wish I'd caught on camera was the grey whale that surfaced briefly only a hundred yards or so off the shore.