Intel Nuc is a great Media Center Computer

Intel NUC Kit D34010WYK The Ultimate Media Center Device

Specifications:

• i3 Haswell Processor
• Intel HD 4400 GPU
• Micro HDMI
• 15W peak power usage

 What is required to get it working:

• TV or Monitor with HDMI
•  Laptop Ram
• Mini PCI express slot for a SSD based storage 

Total Cost:

• NUC - $300
• Ram 4GB - $60
• 256GB Corsair SSD - $150
• Total:
• ~$550 + TV/Monitor

Essentially the processor is an Ultrabook processor in a different form factor. So you get the performance of an Ultrabook, but for much much cheaper.

The Intel 4400 HD GPU is capable of playing most games on low-medium settings:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysDgUdQLvUk



So after setting up Netflix, ftp server, VLC media player, windows file sharing, snes/n64 emulator. You get a complete media center that is capable of playing movies, games, music off of a local network, while also being capable of playing most games on low-medium settings.

One big bonus for using such a power efficient device is that the peak power usage is 15W and standby is around 2-5W, so your electric bill will not go up by much -- even if you keep the device on all of the time.

Amazon Kindle 3.3 Sound Output FFMPEG

The following command is great for creating sound files for the Kindle:
ffmpeg -i 8bp027-04-nullsleep-playful_panda.mp3 -ar 8000 -ac 1 -acodec pcm_u8 panda.wav

Play the sound with the following:
aplay /tmp/panda.wav
 

Compiling Linux kindle 2.6.26-rt-lab126 armv6l for Kindle 3

Device Supported

These instructions are specifically for the Kindle 3, the kernel version on the original device must be exactly: Linux kindle 2.6.26-rt-lab126 after the 3.3 firmware update from Amazon.

ARM x64 Cross Compile Toolchain

I found and extracted the arm-2008q3 code sorcery tool-chain. (This one is older and most certainly compatible with the kernel verison)

Linux Kernel Source

Get and Extract the linux-2.6.26-lab126.tar.bz2  from Amazon sources (under Kindle 3) Kindle_src_3.3_611680021.tar.gz

Apply kindle-3.3-kernel-buildfix.patch

patch -p1 < ./kindle-3.3-kernel-buildfix.patch

Generate .config file

make imx35_luigi_defconfig

Modify the following config setting to the following

CONFIG_INITRAMFS_SOURCE=""

Setup Build ENV

export ARCH=arm
export CROSS_COMPILE=/home/thomas/workspace/arm-2008q3/bin/arm-none-linux-gnueabi-

Build Script

#!/bin/sh
echo "=============Making make"
make

echo "=============Making uImage"
make uImage

echo "=============Making modules"
make modules

echo "=============Making modules tar at linux-2.6.26-rt-lab126.tar.gz"
make targz-pkg

echo "=============Making modules.dep"
depmod -ae -F System.map -b tar-install -r 2.6.26-rt-lab126 -n > modules.dep

# replace /kernel with /lib/modules/2.6.26-rt-lab126/kernel/
echo "=============Applying /kernel directory remapping"
perl -pi -e 's/kernel\//\/lib\/modules\/2.6.26-rt-lab126\/kernel\//g' modules.dep

echo "=============Outputing uImage, modules.dep and tared modules into ./export directory"
mkdir ./export
cp arch/arm/boot/uImage ./export/.
cp modules.dep ./export/.
cp linux-2.6.26-rt-lab126.tar.gz ./export/. 

Flashing Kernel on Kindle

SCP the ./export folder contents to /tmp/. on your kindle
Extract linux-2.6.26-rt-lab126.tar.gz to /lib/modules
Extract modules.dep to /lib/modules/2.6.26-rt-lab126

chmod 644 /lib/modules/2.6.26-rt-lab126/modules.dep
/test/flashtools/luigi/update /tmp/uImage

How to Setup Perforce Merge p4merge with git in OSX

1. Download P4V.dmg (Perforce Client)

2. Copy the p4merge.app to your /Applications directory

3. Then run the following commands:

git config --global merge.tool p4merge
git config --global mergetool.p4merge.path /Applications/p4merge.app/Contents/Resources/launchp4merge

Linux Mount OSX NFS Share

OSX

/etc/nfsd.conf

nfs.server.nfsd_threads = 20

nfs.server.tcp = 1

nfs.server.mount.require_resv_port=0

/etc/exports

/MYVOLUME -alldirs -32bitclients -maproot=root:wheel

LINUX
/etc/fstab
192.168.0.100:/MYVOLUME /MNTPOINT nfs sync,noresvport 0 0 

Hackintosh OSX for GA-Z77X-UDH3H

Note: I am using an ATI6850 -- an Nvidia card will have different installation instructions.

Creating the Mountain Lion OSX Boot USB

1. Download OSX Mountain Lion 10.8.3
2. Partition Drive as MBR with case in-sensitive journaling HFS+
3. Install on 8GB+ USB drive with unibeast-1.7.0-gold.pkg (removes DMOS image checks)
4. Rename /System/Library/Extensions/ATI6000Controller.kext to ATI6000Controller.bak
5. Disable Virtualization in bios
6. Boot with no additional boot flags

Fixing OSX after installation

1. Boot with -x -f -v
2. Run Multi-beast
1. Chimera Bootloader v2.2
2. Atheros ALXEthernet v1.0.2
3. 10.8.3+ TRIM Patch
3. Unzip Kexts OSX10.8.3.zip (from OSX folder in dropbox)
1. Install all of the kexts (ATI, AppleHDA, USBXHCI) with kext utility
4. Unzip Extra.tgz  (from OSX folder in dropbox)
1. Copy custom.aml to /Extra
2. Copy org.chamelon.Boot.plist to /Extra

BAM PERFECT HACKINTOSH!

Note: If anyone is interested in obtained any of the files mentioned about, please make a post in the comments or send me an email.

nRF24L01 2.4GHz RF Linux-Joystick Controlled Arduino Based Plane

How Transmitter Works:

Joystick -> Linux OS -> ardjoy Program -> Arduino 1 with TX code -> Transmits Joystick Info

How Receiver Works:

Receives Joystick Info -> Arduino 2 with RX code -> Controls Plane Servos and ESC

What you need:

• 2 Arduino's

• 2 nRF24L01 2.4Ghz RF devices

• IDE cable (optional, to connect nRF24L01 to Arduino)

• Linux OS with joystick support

• USB/Serial Joystick that works with Linux

Downloading and Compiling Code

 mkdir -p ~/workspace
 cd ~/workspace
 git clone https://github.com/thomas41546/rc_plane_arduino_joystick.git
 make

 NOTE: the ardjoy code may need to be modified for joystick other than a ps2 controller.

Connect each nRF24L01 to each Arduino
Here is a  goodlink to help you do that:
http://arduino-info.wikispaces.com/Nrf24L01-2.4GHz-HowTo

Upload Arduino Code (Arduino Sketch files are found in the git repository above)

• Install NRF arduino libraries (https://github.com/thomas41546/RF24.git)
• Upload sketch ardJoyRX.ino on Arduino 1 
• Upload sketch ardJoyTX.ino on Arduino 2

Setting up the transmitter 

• Connect Joystick to Linux OS 
• Verify that you have a /dev/input/js0 joystick device file
• Connect the Arduino 1 to the Linux OS
• Verify that you have a /dev/ttyUSB0 arduino device file
• Run the following command "./ardjoy /dev/input/js0 /dev/ttyUSB0 115200"
• Your Arduino should now be transmitting joystick information

Setting up the receiver (TODO, THIS IS INCOMPLETE)

• Connect the Arduino 2 to the RC plane
• Power the Arduino 2
• You should now have the servo and ESC move in response to joystick inputs.