galacticstudios.org

My Brother’s New Business

admin — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 01:49:42 +0000

My brother Steve got tired of working in the computer business, so he opened an indoor playground with a difference – this one’s for babies and toddlers. He’s been talking about doing this for years, ever since his own kids were babies. He noticed that the problem with indoor playgrounds is that they’re all for

The Black Knight Development Platform

admin — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 17:26:16 +0000

I wanted to switch to a microcontroller that I could program in C++, prototype with on a breadboard, had every peripheral I would ever need (including USB), would cost less than $10, and would keep working even after I hacked it to pieces. The result is the Black Knight board. I’ve been using 8 bit

Pizza-Inspired Printer Stand

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:48:49 +0000

I needed more room at my desk. A pizza restaurant gave me the inspiration I needed. I have a computer that’s too pretty to hide out of sight. So I keep it prominently displayed on my desk. But that doesn’t leave much room for anything else. Many times, especially when I’m developing software, I would

An Oscilloscope from the Trash

admin — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 20:34:24 +0000

My neighbor put a working Heathkit oscilloscope out in his trash. Naturally, I rescued it. Time to make another clock! Acquisition Trash day is a wonderful time in my neighborhood. I once saved a working Mac Classic from the local sanitation engineers, and I’ve found computers that I harvested for parts in my mini

Sexy Computer Calendar 2012

admin — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 20:22:50 +0000

It’s that time of year again: time to make a calender that appeals to geeks as nothing in the stores can! The last two years, 2011 and 2010, I made calendars of vintage computers to adorn my wall. I titled the articles “Sexy Computer Calendars”. I was amused to see in January and February that

A Deadly Toxic Souvenier

admin — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 19:52:19 +0000

My mother is selling my childhood home. I knew the one souvenir I wanted to keep. The only problem was, it could kill me. Sadly, the time has come for my mother to sell the house she lived in for over 50 years – the home I grew up in. Despite my affection for it,

Web Data on an LED Display

admin — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 20:35:13 +0000

I built an alphanumeric LED display that connects via USB to my PC and can display RSS feeds, the weather (like wind chill, above), the time, or just about anything. When I built my Homemade Digital Clock, I shamelessly overdesigned it. It had an eight character alphanumeric display (plus two discrete LEDs for a colon),

Congenital Tremor vs. SMD

admin — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 20:21:30 +0000

See that little rectangle the size of Lincoln’s nose? That’s an electronic component – a smaller version of the big red thing in the picture. I have a congenital tremor in my hands, so I assumed that I would never be able to work with components that small. Turns out I was wrong. I have

The Formation of the Galaxy

admin — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 19:16:38 +0000

So where’s the art? Why is Galactic Studios a studio? Here’s the movie that (re-)started it all. “Galactic Studios” is certainly a grandiose, pretentious name. And the slogan “The Artistic Wanderings of a Technical Mind” doesn’t seem well supported by the overwhelmingly technical content of this site (the slogan is partially ironic and partially justified;

Sexy Computer Calendar 2011

admin — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 00:41:03 +0000

According to Google, the search term “sexy calendar” frequently resulted in hits for galacticstudios.org. So to satisfy all you vintage computer pr0n fiends out there, here’s 12 more lovelies for 2011. And you can print them out to make your own calendar! Last year, I assembled a calendar of vintage computers. I titled the article