xero's b10g

LSDJ keyboard tutorial

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 08:23:31 -0600

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 octives, switching instruments, navigating the LSDJ screens, and more.
here's what the LSDJ wiki says about the keyboard.

things we'll need for the mod:
mini-din / ps2 keyboard
gameboy link cable
soldering iron
solder
flux
wire stripper
screw drivers
heat-srink tubling / electrical tape

finding the right gameboy link cable:
there are a few diffrent types of gameboy link cables, in the most general of sences there are "classic" gameboy cables and gameboy "advance" cables. obviously we will need a classic cable. for this mod to work we will need to power the keyboard, so you'll need a powered gameboy link cable. you can cut off the cable end from a gameboy 4-player link adapter (model# DMG-07), like i did, or you can use the correct powered cable. otherwise you will need to add a +5v external power source. nonfinite sells both powered link cables and 4 player adapters at his shop nonelectronics.com.

the first thing you need is an old keyboard. for this mod you need a mini-din, aka a ps2 (not playstation 2), keyboard. i used an old hp ibm keyboard i pulled out of a dumbster at work. step one is testing it. plug it into you computer, open a text editor, and press all the keys. try tapping them very fast and see how often they actually fire. the responsiveness of the keys in this setting will be realitive to their sensitivity in LSDJ.

step two is popping off all the keys. use a flat head screw driver and stick it in the ridge beside the key then push the screw driver up like a lever. the key should just pop right off. repeat this process for all the normal keys. when you get to the spacebar and some of the other odd shaped keys, like enter, you might find springs or metal wires pressing two points to the keyboard. try and take note of their posisoning, because you will need to put them back that way.

now you should have a piles of keys and a bare keyboard. throw all the keys in a bag, so you don't loose any, and flip the keyboard over. step three is unscrewing the keyboard, prying open and removing it's plasic covering.

carefully keep taking the keyboard apart. every model is slightly different, so pay attention so you can reassemble it. eventually you will see a small silicon daughter board with the cable attached. step four is removing the daughter board. unscrew the board from the inards of the keyboard and set it somewhere safe, like in an anti-static bag.

now that you have all the plastic removed, seperate all the diffrent parts and note how they were oriented in the casing.

step five is cleaning everything up. i just used air duster and some glass cleaner on a paper towel. clean out all the little dirty recesses between and in the keys. if your keyboard is old like mine was, this step can take a while ;D

some of the plasic circuits can get a little dirty or folded, clean them as well and make sure they will align correctly when you put everything back. if you have never taken apart a keyboard before, it's very interesting...

now take a look at the daughter board from the keyboard. if your lucky, like i was, each of the wires leading to the cables from the board will be labled. if they are not labled, your going to have to cut the end of the mini-din connector off and look at what color wire attaches to which pin number.

step six is painting they keyboard. this step is optional. i used regular spray paint on the exterior plastic casings. i painted it all one coat of green, then splattered it slightly with a darker green. for the keys i wanted to make sure they had a less tacky feel, so i painted them with paint-markers. you can get them at an art/craft store or at some office supply stores, i like the "painters" brand. i painted the piano keys white and black and the LSDJ interface keys i painted green.

step seven is preping your tools for soldering. clean your soldering iron with some steel wool, set it to medium/low heat. you'll need flux, wire strippes, and somthing to wrap your wiring with. you can use heat-scrink tubing, electrical, or duct-tape. step eight is cutting the wires from both your gameboy link cable and the keyboard. then peel apart each of the wires and strip about 1/8" off each wire. use an xacto knife to peel back the cable shielding.

step nine is reviewing the wiring diagram. click here to download it. you will be connecting data, clock, power, and ground wires from both the keyboard and the gameboy link cable.

step ten is soldering the wires. wrap the wires from each cable together and dip them in flux. then add a tiny dab of solder from your iron to connect them. after all your wires are attached, wrap each of them individually, then wrap the entire bundle of wires.

using the keyboard
step one is actually syncing the keyboard to LSDJ. insert the link cable you hacked onto the keyboard into the gameboy and load LSDJ. press SELECT+UP and go to the PROJECT screen. move the cursor down to the SYNC dialog, and press A+RIGHT until you selection is KEYBD. notice just to the right of PURGE SEQUENCER an integer prefixed by an "I" appears. if nothing is synced to LSDJ/the gameboy this will display I00. once a device is successfully synced, this will be a larger integer (e.g. I01, I02). my keyboard oddly enought syncs as I06.

making some noise
to get some sounds to play when pressing keys on the keyboard, the sequencer must already be running. (press START) the notes you play will be played back on the next step in the phrase sequencer. if you need to get faster responce timings, use a faster groove for the phrase you are playing.

an important feature of LSDJ, that is easly overlooked, is when the sequencer is running the notes and instruments playing for each channel are displayed on the top right of the SONG screen. this can help a lot when your playing around and press the octave or instrument buttons up and down a bunch of times looking for something, and you get lost in the menus. this brings me to the one negative about the LSDJ keyboard interface. every once in a while the instrument your playing will jump up or down like ten positions. i think the problem is related to pressing multiple keys too rapidly. i am not the only person to report this problem. technically the gameboy's z80i sound chip is playing each channel one note at a time in such a rapid succession it "tricks" the ear into thinking it's hearing them simultaniously. that's just how gameboy music works. and i think smashing keys on the keyboard can sometimes send multiple input messages per cycle in LSDJ and glitches it, but that diagnosis is purely conjecture. and that random issue happens so rarely it's not a big deal. the interface is not perfect, but it's an easy mod, hacky, fun, and adds a new twist to LSDJ.

key mapping
SPACE play using custom table
F1/F2 octave down/up
F3/F4 instrument down/up
F5/F6 select custom table to assign to SPACE
F8 change pulse instrument playback channels (PU1, PU2, PU1+2)
F9-F12 toggle channel mute (switches on key press)
CTRL + (F9-F12) tap channel mute (switches on key press and release)

demo video

SQL clone / copy and swap database tables

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 11:14:23 -0500

have you ever had a database table that you needed to clone? you can use any number of convoluted methods such as: manually coping and pasting rows in the database manager, running lots of queries/stored procedures, or writing a script to cycle though each row copying data from one table to the next. all of these methods are inferior and far more complex then the method im going to show you.

introducing the select into query...
this method should be used if the table you want to clone exists, but the new table douse not. the select into query will create the new table for you, copying all the column names, properties, and data. if you want to make an exact clone of the table you can select * into the new table. but if you only want a few specific columns, you can declare only the ones you want. the syntax is elegantly simple...

SQL procedure

SELECT *
INTO [new-table]
FROM [old-table]

this is a great solution for cloning a table. it's fast and lightweight since its all executed on the database end, not straddled between middleware.

now here's another situation...
let's say we have a simple web-form that is submitting 4 pieces of data: username, date, value1, and value2. this form has been collecting data for a long time, and all of a sudden you realize that somehow your save procedure has swapped the data for value1 and value2! some people might just dive into the table and start modifying rows. but im paranoid. i like to validate my SQL procedures before i destroy an entire table's worth of data. we can use the same clone table technique above to make a copy of the table, but we can go a step further and also swap the data in value1 and value2 in the same procedure.

SQL procedure

SELECT *
INTO [new-table]
FROM [old-table]
   
DECLARE @temp AS decimal
UPDATE [new-table]
SET @temp=value1, value1=value2, value2=@temp

basically we have 2 SQL statements in one here. the first will clone old-table into new-table. the second declares a temporary variable and uses the temp var to switch the data in value1 and value2 in the new-table.

if you only need to switch values for a smaller portion of the dataset, say all rows with an id value less than a certain number, you can simply add a where clause to the end of your statement.

SQL procedure

SELECT *
INTO [new-table]
FROM [old-table]
   
DECLARE @temp AS decimal
UPDATE [new-table]
SET @temp=value1, value1=value2, value2=@temp
WHERE id < 806

this will copy the entire table into the new one, but only swap the values for ids less than 806. all other values will be cloned exactly.

R4-DS - homebrew revolution

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:40:49 -0500

the nintendo ds is an awesome portipal 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 sholder 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. another thing i love about the ds lite is it's backwards compatable with gameboy advance. the new nintendo ds-i however is NOT backwards compatable, which i think is rediculious.

so the R4-DS is a revolution in homebrew/emulation/mod chip technology. the cart is what i like to call a "hack loader". basically during the normal boot sequence the data being read executes an exploit that allows the user to run any custom code they want. this affords many interesting possibilitys. for instance custom operating system and interface graphics, running homebrew applications, or running roms/archival copys of games. the official site is here. but i bought mine on amazon.

as yew can see, the r4-ds is the same size as a regular ds cartridge. the game shown is chrono trigger, which is a revamp of a classic super nintendo rpg, its one of my favorite games of all time. but the r4 has a tiny sd-micro slot on the back. the size of the sd card supported varies depending on which model of the r4 yew have. i have the r4-ds sd-hc version, which supports the maximum of 32 gigabytes. i suggest you get the sd-hc version, the R4-III only supports up to 2gb, which is a huge difference.

the main interface can be customized to look how ever you want. the developers of the r4 dont provide you with a tool to customize it with themeselves, but someone else has created a program called alice. its a freeware gui application that tells your all the necessarly file sizes and resolutions for each of the images, as well as help you create layover, transparency, and rollover effects for menus.

here's the theme i made for my r4-ds. i call it circuit board. download it here. the three buttons on the bottom left screen are the three main options of the r4. the first is ds emulations, this allows yew to play archival copies of games. the center icon is the media player moonshell. it can play mp3s and a custom ds video codec. the final option is to boot to slot-2 (gameboy advance slot). this however will not play regular gba games (you have to remove the r4 to do that) this option is for booting legacy gba hackloaders.

playback of emulated games is flawless! the speed, the sounds, the graphics, everything looks exactly the same. even games with multiplayer functionality work perfectly. whats great about the r4 is yew can grab an 0-day rom of a new game and check it out. if it sux, yew just delete the rom and forget about it. and if yew find out its awesome, then yew can buy the game and feel assured what its gonna be all about. i think if nintendo allowed yew to download demo roms directly to an sd card on the hardware to "try before yew buy" people would go crazy, and the ds scene would explode.

so now, yew might be asking...

"so xero, what can you play on this? and where can i get it???"

a very good question. first off the obvious answer is DS ROMs. and there are tons of sites out there to get them from. my favorite public site is the devil's shadow. but if you google it, there are tons more. the other main application type is homebrew. and this is a very broad area. so, homebrew apps can be anything from data organizers, media players, emulators or homemade games. some of my favorites are Lameboy (original gameboy/color emulator. *LSDJ anyone?*), jEnesisDS (a sega genesis emulator), DS Organize (calendar, address book, todo list, graphics app, file browser, calculator, irc client, webbrowser, rss feed reader.), MoonShell (a massive media player), SvSIP (VoIP/SIP client), and finally glitchDS/cellsDS (a fun suite of graphical music composing tools). and there are tons of other consoles emulated for the DS. zophar's domain has a great list here.

3 new chip-tune albums to rock out!

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:10:24 -0500

nectar by phlogiston – nectar is 2 EPs in one. part one, Croquel Adventure, continues in the chip-tune tradition of short, fun, pure NES songs. while part two, HEAT, transports you to an 80’s vision of the distant future. the album is a tour through a vast dystopian cityscape where high-tech low-life roam the streets. and the lines between man and machine have been washed out.

southbridge by nonfinite – southbridge combines triumphant melodies with though provoking harmony and infection head-rocking beats. like northbridge, each track has a unique feel to it. and will peak your interest to the last bleep! you can listen to the entire album online but it's not free. 25% of all proceeds will benefit "chip-in" a group of 8-bit people trying to help out.

future, and it doesn't work by starscream - in the not so distant future awaits the election of the first third party candidate to the white house- they will hail from the space party, a political coalition founded by astrophysicists, former democrats and ex-NASA employees. starscream tells a tale of victory, science, and potentially catastrophic foreign policy.

vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:57:31 -0500

start with a small container of margarine
(like 7.5oz of promise or smart balance)

blend in some sugar.
i use about 1/3 brown sugar, 1/3 white sugar, and 1/2 a cup of confection [powdered] sugar.

*optional*
you can also use 1 table spoon of honey and/or agave nectar.

stir until creamy.

add 1 tea spoon vanilla and stir.
add flour.
(i like to mix 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour and 1+1/2 cup of white flour.)

*NOTE*
if you used honey / agave nectar you'll need and extra 1/2 cup of flour.

add 1 tea spoon of salt.
add 1 tea spoon of baking soda.
add 1 tea spoon of baking powder.

you want the dough to be stiff not sticky. if necessary, add more flour.

then stir in a small bag of semi-sweet chips. (i use the dark chocolate minis.)

shape the dough into walnut sized balls.
put on a cookie sheet and flatten slightly.
bake at 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes.

getting the dough the right consistency is crucial. if your first batch is coming out too thin or flat, you need to add more flour. the dough shouldn't stick to your hands when rolling then into balls. just keep adding a small amount of flour at a time until they don't feel so sticky.

let cool.
enjoy!

2 new free video game fonts!

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 15:10:44 -0600

i have been wanting to make a metroid font for a long time now. NARPASSWORD00000 is made from the classic nintendo NES game metroid's password screen. the font also includes some dingbatz made from the games sprites. but i decided to go the extra mile and create the rest of the full international character set. the fonts name is a reference to a special backdoor password hidden in the game. click here to download.

my next new font is a capcom classic. ghouls ghosts and goblins made from sprites ripped directly from the NES rom chip. the game has had many incarnations over the years, like ghosts 'n goblins and ghouls 'n ghosts. so i named the font a combination of the two. this font contains the full set of A-Z, digits, special characters, and some 8bit dingbatz. click here to download.

TK and the Pens!

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:31:45 -0600

so the other day nina, will, and i went to a pittsburgh penguins hockey pratice. i got to meet TK! (aka #48 tyler kennedy) i couldnt belive that he was only a little bit taller then me, but he's carved out of solid rock! GO PENS!

gameboy prosound mod

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:12:29 -0600

today’s mod is for the original 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. trash80 was first credited with this technique, but i will be using a mix of tutorial's published by both lameboy and animalstyle. this mod adds a new line-level-out jack to the device, while keeping the headphone functionality intact.

things we'll need for the mod:

DMG-01 gameboy
1/8" (3.5mm) stereo phone jack
soldering iron
solder
flux
thin gauge wire
wire stripper
jewelers screw driver
triwing screw driver
awl
dremel or drill
pliers

the triwing screw-driver is an integral part of this mod. nintendo uses a nonstandard screw on the 6 found on the outside of the case. but all the screws on the inside of the gameboy are a normal mini-philips head. i got my triwing on ebay for like $2.00, but you can get them other places if you look.

step one is to remove the screws. like i said before, there are six triwings on the back of the DMG. four are visible, and two are hidden under the batter compartment. make sure you dont loose the screws, or you can just replace them with regular minis.

now you need to disconnect the display cable. BE VERY CAREFUL! the ribbon cable that connects the dot matrix display to the gamboys motherboard is very thin. the cable has minimal metal on the leads at the end. so if you scrape any of it off by pulling it out too hard you can expect some dead pixels. just pull it straight down.

now take a moment to check out the guts of the gameboy. pretty cool. in the image above you can see the 3 points on the board we're going to be soldering two. check out the wiring diagram.

the next step is optional. but its normally necessary. clean it up. all you need is the highest percent alcohol you can get (i use 98%) and some cue-tips. just get into those little recessed areas and get any dust or grime out of there. make sure you do the batter terminals also if they have any corrosion on them.

to fix the jack into the case you'll need to made a little more room. use a mini-philips head screw-driver to remove the audio daughter board with the headphone jack on it.

now take your screw driver an place it between the board and the capacitors. very carefully bend the leads so the capacitors lay flat against the board.

now screw the board back into place. make sure it still lays flush inside the case. dont force it to fit, just carefully rebend them until you get it correctly. if you accidently break one of the leads from bending them too much you'll have to resolder them.

now that we got the space in the case decide where your going to mount the 1/8" jack. you dont have a lot of room to work with, so get the jack as far on the edge of the case as you can.

now use your awl to mark where you are going to drill your hole. press the awl in the center of the jack, about where the cord will be inserted, until you have a deep dent in the plastic.

you dont have to actually break the plastic, but make a groove in it. this will help you a lot when drilling. the grove gives the drill or dremel a place to start at so all you need to do is press.

safty to humans! when drilling the hole in the gameboy lots of plastic chips will go flying. so make sure you wear goggles. unless you like hard, hot plastic in your eyes. i also like to wear a mask or a bandanna over my face when soldering. the hot flux and solder emit a nasty smell, and kill brain cells.

to keep the gameboy steady when dremeling i put it into a table mounted vice. it was a hard decision weather long or short way was the best position. but i decided long way was more stable, and gave me a bit more visibility to see what i was doing.

i used the dremel XLR with the sand grit cone bit. you can use a standard hand drill with a stepping bit, but i feel more comfortable with my dremel. use a medium speed and a little bit of force and you will go right through.

after your first pass you should have a small hole in the case of the DMG. the edges will be rough and uneven. but that's ok for now.

now stop the dremel. and unscrew the end of the 1/8" jack. try and fit it into the hole you just made. if its a little small, turn the dremel on a low setting and go over the edges again, and keep checking until the jack fits tightly in the hole. by going over the edges again you will also get a nice smooth finish.

now is a good time to plug in your soldering iron. it will start getting hot while your doing the prep work for the next stage.

get your three wires ready, and strip both ends of each wire. i left one end of the wire a little longer for the jack, and the other end very short for attaching to the board.

after that i suggest you tin the wires. dip you iron in a little flux to clean it off, then get a tiny drop of solder on the ends of each wire. this will make attaching them a lot easier.

now take the longer stripped ends of the wire and wrap them around the end of a flat head mini screw-driver. this will make a little "hook" at the end of the wire (thats why we made them a bit longer). then take the wires and hook one on the end of each of the prongs of the 1/8" jack.

now that the wires are hooked on the jack, take your screw-driver and flatten the hooks so they dont move as much. now just take a tiny dab of solder and attach the wires to the jack.

to avoid any cross talk that might possibly occur between the wires wrap them up. either use some heat shrink tubing or some electrical tape around the edges.

now mount the jack in the gameboy case. put the end of jack into the hole we drilled. then screw the end piece back on.

now take a pair of pliers and tighten the end of the jack as much as possible. just be careful not to scratch the exterior of the case's plastic when doing so.

the next step is very important. getting the wires ready to solder onto the board. lameboy suggested pushing the wires down into the crevasse under the main board, then pull it over to the three point we're soldering to.

but on my second try i actually made the wires a lot shorter. this made the process of closing the case at the end a lot easier. once you get the wires in the right place tape them down. just remember the old saying, measure twice solder once. i like to double that, just in case.

the wireing is pretty simple. there's 5 solder points that connect the potentiometer to the gameboys board. the top 2 we're gonna ignore. they are volume into the pot. the next 2 are the left and right audio out of the pot then finally the ground.

when it comes to solder, less is more. this is true for both heat and actual metal. the amount of solder to use varies from gameboy unit to unit. some have a moderate amount, so you can just heat up whats already there and use your pre-tinned wires. but some have a huge blob there already. in those cases i suggest you remove the existing solder with some desoldering braid then use a tiny amount to connect your wires.

when doing this take your time. make sure your connecting the correct prongs to the right pins on the board. the pinout diagram should be on the packaging for the actual jack.

now carefully reconnect the display cable. put your fingers under the edge on the ribbon cable and push it up into place. dont try and rock the cable back and forth to get it into place. this could rub off some of the metal on the leads. the photo is the cable fully inserted. notice how much metal is still showing.

the final step is closing the case. this can be tricky. make sure none of the prosound jack's wires are sticking out or stuck between the edges of the case when closing it.

now your gameboy is prosound modified! the added 1/8" jack should reduce background noise when recording and actually increase volume and give you added bass. now pop in your favorite 8bit music application and make some chip tunes!

inline SQL statements

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:48:58 -0500

the world of database programming can be a dark and treacherous journey. when you first set out, your quest seems manageable. but as time progresses your start to realize you need more queries, more tables, etc, etc, to achieve your goal. well today im going teach you a little trick that might help you need one less stored procedure then you thought...

sometimes its true, you actually do need two queries to get the job done. but other times you can circumvent this by using something like a "join" or "inner join" query to merge two tables together and pull your results from both.

but still, sometimes this isnt enough...

so lets say you need to first get an automatically generated ID number from a table and you need two parameters to get this data. then you need a subsequent query to update that record.

historically, i probally would have said that you need to run two separate SQL procedures to achieve this goal. but if i would say that now, id be a liar...

take a look at this:

SQL stored procedure

CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[TESTING-UPDATE]
   (@who            [nvarchar](50),
    @which          [nvarchar](50)) 
 
AS UPDATE [dbo].[table-name]
SET someValue = 'new value'
FROM (
        SELECT TOP 1 (autoid) as nuID 
        FROM [dbo].[table-name]
        WHERE name = @user AND num = @which
        ORDER BY autoid DESC
      ) as tested
WHERE autoid = tested.nuID
GO

as you can see, im actually running two queries in one!
the traditional FROM [table-name] statement has been replaced by an "inline SQL query". what happens is the database will see the FROM () parenthetical notation, and immediately execute the syntax between them. that statement then returns its result set into a named object (in this case its called "tested"). then the rest of the procedure will execute as normal, but with the additional data we got from our inline query.

this technique can be extremely powerful! i just learned about it this week and i have already removed 10 now unnecessary SQL queries from the database for a project at work. so keep that one in you SQL lexicon for later ;D

3DSM abstract render tutorial

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:34:00 -0500

this is a tutorial i posted on the igraphixz forums under my alias 0x000000

papervision3D - PQ torus

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:07:47 -0500

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...

calculus

r = .5 * (2 + sin(Q * Φ))
x = r * cos(P * Φ)
y = r * cos(Q * Φ)
z = r * sin(P * Φ)

simple right? lol.
so Φ (or phi in my code) is basically a variable that is definded by change. in this case, im simply incrementing phi + .02 every frame. this seeds the math and gives you the cool visual effect.

anyway, after getting a handle on the math, writing the demo code was a snap. i took the existing code i wrote from the 3D object tracer and the lorenz attractor and combined them. (i also found + fixed an error for computing the line gradient color) i started out by allowing the users to only select values for PQ and that actually made sense.

but after some experimentation i found that using some unorthodox values for P+Q could net some very interesting results. take a look at some of these...

click here to view the demo
click here for the source code

wave bubble - DIY portable RF jammer

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 16:12:44 -0500

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 - unlike any other design currently available! to reconfigure the RF bands, simply plug it into the USB port of your computer and type in the new frequencies when prompted. multiple frequency ranges can be programmed in, each time the device is power cycled it will advance to the next program in memory.

its capable of jamming a few different frequencies:

cellular bands:
GSM/PCS broadband 1900 downlink – (us standard)
GSM 850 downlink – (us rural areas)
GSM 900 downlink – (original and most common in Europe)
GSM 1800 downlink – (gaining popularity in Europe)

other Bands:
cordless phones – (900-930 mhz frequency)
blue tooth – (2400-2483 mhz frequency)
802.11b/g wifi - (2400-2483 mhz frequency)
zigbee – 868 (Europe) 915 (usa) & 2400-2483 mhz
GPS – 1575.42 (civilian) and 1227.6 (military)

WOW!
this thing can block just about anything you can come up with!
for more info, including circuit diagrams, schematics, building instructions, parts lists, and firmware available from the inventers website http://www.ladyada.net/make/wavebubble

NYC

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 08:29:46 -0500

i was just on vacation in NYC. the crew was myself, nina, and our friend nik. nina wanted to check out fordum university, and visit our friend john who lives in yonkers. not to mention that she had never been to the big apple before. we spent four days in the city, spending 75% of our time in museums, 15% in restaurants, and the remaining 10% walking/riding public transport. but when the sun went down we had a shofer. john (aka jaze juce) is a native new yorker, who nina met at school. jaze is a rapper, a life gaurd, and all around man about town. we saw a lot of the city from in the car at night, wich was awesome.

so day one we went to the guggenheim museum, they were camera-nazis so no photos from there. the place was filled with basically nothing but sexual art. lots of giant slabs of stone carved into mountains of phallises, boob caverns illuminated with red lights, and servered scrotums suspended from the ceiling. and then out of nowhere... the top floor had like 20 of these werid little rooms made out of old doors. some where blank, some had names of people, businesses, all with cracked paint and rusty hinges. you could peer in threw the few doors that had windows to view uber creepy scenes streight out of a serial killer's childhood memories. *shivers* the building architecture was cool parking garage meets modern adobe. but on the way there we stopped in front of a random office building and found these giant hello kitty metal sculptures!!!!

the next day we went to the museum of modern art (MOMA) witch was amazing! the place was 5 stories high, and was filled wall to wall with art! there was a lot of stuff i wasn't allowed to photograph, like the entire floor of picasso paintings/sculptures, or the HUGE salvador dali exhibit featured on the top floor! they had 250 of his painting, tons of props, backdrops and other stuff from his films. and they were playing ALL movies he made, including a DISNEY FILM he animated!

after that we went to a museum of modern architecture and design. you really weren't supposed to take any photos there, but there were a few i just couldn't resist!

the last museum that we went to was the museum of natural history. which was really cool, but very busy. a lot of my photos from here didn't turn out as i hoped, so here's a few of the good ones.

and they had a REDICULOUS amount of dinosaur bones!

so, they don't let you inside the statue of liberty anymore. so what's the point of going to that tiny super crowed island just to try and look up lady libery's dress. so instead, we went to liberty park in new jersey to check out the statue.

"lady liberty is just like any new yorker, she hates jersey!
just look at the statue, shes farting on us!"

jaze juce

as aforementioned, we saved a lot of money by walking places. at one point we took a shortcut through central park, and i took these photos along the way.

if you didn't hear, there was also a tornado while we were there. luckily we were in jersey when it hit manhattan, so we were ok. but we did get stuck in some "classic" NYC traffic.

right after i took this photo the traffic started to move again. john was freestyling to the beat about bustin' a nut like a glock shot, then there was an random gun shot sampled into the beat. we all laughted, then there was a huge *BANG!* a few seconds later we had a flat tire (on route 89, a really busy road). john states that we're screwed because he dousnt think he has a doughnut. i was like, "this is a honda dude, are yew sure theres not one in the secret compartment?" and he was like, "uhh... what secret compartment?"... *sigh* we took all the crap out of his trunk in the pouring rain, pulled up the carpet on the floor of the trunk, and revealed not a doughnut, but a new spare tire. the tire jack was diffrent from the one i had in my honda all those years ago, so we had some trouble with that. nik sarcastically asked me...

"xero, how come yew can build and program computers
but cant figgure out how to use a new tire jack?"

nik

eventually we figgured it out. and we got the old tire off and the new one on in just a few minutes. i told john the tire looked low, and we needed to put some air in it. we got to the gas station and he revealed to me that he didnt know how much air his tires needed. *sigh*

we had an awesome time. john was an great host. and we saw some sweet shit. and i think nik and i got double our yearly exercize on the trip ++LOL!

view all the photos

poultrygeist – a night with lloyd kaufman

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:24:42 -0500

to kick off the pittsburgh zombie film festival, lloyd kaufman and the troma crew, made the venture down to the iron city to premiere their new film poultrygeist at the andy warhol museum. my buddy smitty and his girlfriend amanda decided that they would accompany nina and i. we didnt want to miss the show, so i preordered our tickets on the internetz. ok, so the other reason i preordered the tix was because i love just walking into a venue, and saying "im on the guestlist..." ++lol. anyway, so the cats that run the warhol's website posted the time wrong :P we misses the first hour of the movie. but for anyone who as ever seen a troma film, we just missed one horrifically bloody death scene. after the movie, we got to listen to lloyd talk about the state of troma, and whats in the works for 2009. after that he just hung out in the hallway and signed autographs, took photos, chatted up the horde, and hit on all the ladies. man, mr. tromavision was a mach and a half! he almost got nina and amanda to make out! ok, im exaggerating... after getting these flix, we just walked around the warhol for a few hours. then met up with my main man mccarthy, and hit the bar. it was a blast!

we went to florida

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 08:31:06 -0500

i guess im a little late on this post. my grandparents moved to flordia a few years ago, and every since, the rest of my family have slowly been moving there. my uncle mark lived there already, then my aunt joan moved there shortly after. then my cousin, then her mom... yeah, so like that whole side of the fam. so needless to say, we were due for a visit. my dad is dr. paranoia, and couldn't fly down there. and i in no way wanted to ride with him, my mother, nina and his road rage. nor did i want to drive there myself with nina a my road rage. so we opted to hop with the jet set. the flight was so short i barely beat metroid fusion on the plane ride there and back with 98% completion. we had a party thrown for our arrival, at my cousin ashley's house. i got to see all my relatives and meet my cousin's new baby angelina. she's a lil cutie. for the next few days we just hung out and went to beaches.

"its not a vacation unless there's a beach right?"

xero

we spent one of the days in a town called jupiter. the beach was very nice, the sand smooth, the water warm. and my uncle knew about this cool lighthouse. there was a sweet banyan tree out side. the lighthouse was 7 stories and had a sweet spiral staircase. we saw some crazy stuff at the bass museum. weird stuff... after a few nights of sleeping at my cousin's house on an air mattress, we decided to spend our final night at a hotel. we stayed at a place in miami called the blue moon. it had this old 50's but still in good shape feel, but with a touch of modernism. the carpet was awesome. Good times were had by all.

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