There was a time when I thought no ordeal could be as taxing as hearing Rebbecca Black singing (Justin Beiber came very close). I was naive.
My college loves its Humanities. The people here believe that making kids go through weird and complex moral science stuff, where most of them are - if not physically - mentally asleep is supposed to help them in later life. And at the end of first sem, you have a hardcore 4 day/36 hours Jeevan Vidya camp which is basically a crash course on the "weird and complex moral science course". One thing's for sure, the topics discussed, their absolute irrelevance, the mental exhaustion that accompanies them, the lack of sufficient time to have fun just after end-sems, seems like the type of thing Kingfisher would sponsor to get students drinking. (Well, you can't find Vijay Mallya for plotting evil schemes to get his babes, he already has a hard time maintaining his planes).
On a more relevant note, I have plans for two projects I hope to execute in near future. A portable USB charger, and a notebook cooler (both DIY, d-uh).
For the uninitiated, DIY means Do it Yourselves. DIYers believe in trying to do their stuff themselves before handing it over to professionals. If you can't figure out what's the fun in that, it's probably not for you.
None of the devices mentioned require any extreme engineering. Equipment, maybe. Lack of which may prevent me from actually implementing them.
The portable USB charger would run of batteries and charge any USB powered device. No biggie - just connect a 9V battery to a 7805 and connect the output to a female USB port. You could add capacitors to both the input and output to handle any spikes that may occur. Problem? A 9V battery can't deliver a lot of current - barely enough to keep the battery level constant. And I have a feeling that it won't be very sufficient - a 500 mAh battery would only charge 1/3rd of my phone and then drain itself. Still a handy accessory, I suppose.
The laptop cooler project is also pretty simple. I've been feeling the need for one when I put my lappy through heavy workload - gaming being one of them. I just need to get 2 fans that run off 5V and join them to an acrylic sheet. The power comes from USB ports. Lock and load. Problem? I don't have a Dremel. Again, for the noobs, Dremel is the god tool for any kind of DIY/modding. In one line:-
Grinder : Super Food Processor :: Drill : Dremel
It's expensive too. Last time I checked, it started from 4k, and has a lot of accessories available which seriously affect your wallet.
I also learned some things about game ripping from a friend of mine - Nehal. He created a game rip in Class 9! Beyond awesome. Turns out it just involves re-encoding the audio files to ogg and reducing the bit rates and compressing them. You create a batch file that automatically reverses the process which you call your setup file. And it produces pretty awesome compression results too. And I've been told that the difference between sound qualities of the original and compressed audio files is barely audible. Of course, this only works for games which do not use proprietary formats/advanced protection techniques. UHARC is the most popular and a very powerful compression tool. Command line version FTW. You also need to have a good understanding of Windows Command line scripting. I hope to try out a game in a day or two.
Hopefully, by the next, or the next-to-next post I'll have something more concrete than wild theories and plans. See ya around.
PS: Two days to train, and 4 days to home. Hurray!!! Can't wait to drive the PB**AE-5**6 (My Activa). I also plan to buy skates (confused between roller and inline). Any advice? Leave in the comments below.
My college loves its Humanities. The people here believe that making kids go through weird and complex moral science stuff, where most of them are - if not physically - mentally asleep is supposed to help them in later life. And at the end of first sem, you have a hardcore 4 day/36 hours Jeevan Vidya camp which is basically a crash course on the "weird and complex moral science course". One thing's for sure, the topics discussed, their absolute irrelevance, the mental exhaustion that accompanies them, the lack of sufficient time to have fun just after end-sems, seems like the type of thing Kingfisher would sponsor to get students drinking. (Well, you can't find Vijay Mallya for plotting evil schemes to get his babes, he already has a hard time maintaining his planes).
On a more relevant note, I have plans for two projects I hope to execute in near future. A portable USB charger, and a notebook cooler (both DIY, d-uh).
For the uninitiated, DIY means Do it Yourselves. DIYers believe in trying to do their stuff themselves before handing it over to professionals. If you can't figure out what's the fun in that, it's probably not for you.
None of the devices mentioned require any extreme engineering. Equipment, maybe. Lack of which may prevent me from actually implementing them.
The portable USB charger would run of batteries and charge any USB powered device. No biggie - just connect a 9V battery to a 7805 and connect the output to a female USB port. You could add capacitors to both the input and output to handle any spikes that may occur. Problem? A 9V battery can't deliver a lot of current - barely enough to keep the battery level constant. And I have a feeling that it won't be very sufficient - a 500 mAh battery would only charge 1/3rd of my phone and then drain itself. Still a handy accessory, I suppose.
The laptop cooler project is also pretty simple. I've been feeling the need for one when I put my lappy through heavy workload - gaming being one of them. I just need to get 2 fans that run off 5V and join them to an acrylic sheet. The power comes from USB ports. Lock and load. Problem? I don't have a Dremel. Again, for the noobs, Dremel is the god tool for any kind of DIY/modding. In one line:-
Grinder : Super Food Processor :: Drill : Dremel
It's expensive too. Last time I checked, it started from 4k, and has a lot of accessories available which seriously affect your wallet.
I also learned some things about game ripping from a friend of mine - Nehal. He created a game rip in Class 9! Beyond awesome. Turns out it just involves re-encoding the audio files to ogg and reducing the bit rates and compressing them. You create a batch file that automatically reverses the process which you call your setup file. And it produces pretty awesome compression results too. And I've been told that the difference between sound qualities of the original and compressed audio files is barely audible. Of course, this only works for games which do not use proprietary formats/advanced protection techniques. UHARC is the most popular and a very powerful compression tool. Command line version FTW. You also need to have a good understanding of Windows Command line scripting. I hope to try out a game in a day or two.
Hopefully, by the next, or the next-to-next post I'll have something more concrete than wild theories and plans. See ya around.
PS: Two days to train, and 4 days to home. Hurray!!! Can't wait to drive the PB**AE-5**6 (My Activa). I also plan to buy skates (confused between roller and inline). Any advice? Leave in the comments below.
