Arduino project: Acrylic 'N'' LED sculpture

This week's arduino project starts with the letter 'n'.  Well, and it ends with the letter 'n', as well.

While the image to the right doesn't do the end result justice, it is a fairly good representation of what you should get, when done.

It is unclear why a person would want the letter 'n', created as a "multi-layered, acrylic and LED sculpture, with variable lighting levels", hanging on the wall.  The instructables user slight does not appear to touch on the reasoning.

All we have as an explanation is, "This n is an art work and experimental and these instructions should be treated as such!"

But, one can imagine that if there was another letter, or perhaps even a word or something else that might be more appropriate, it can probably be made as an extension of this instructables.  So, let's look at it, closer.

Open Source Energy

So this post is going to delve into the highly controversial and emotionally volatile realm of so called "Free" energy.

For many hundreds...  nay, thousands of years, people have been conned into new ideas that simply turn out to be some form of snake oil.  For all intents and purposes, the con in itself is simple.  Use jargon and claims of expertise to promote and sell a product or invention that ultimately does not work as advertised.

When talking about energy, these types of claims are usually described as unity, over unity, free energy, etc.  In this article, we will be looking deeper into this realm and discuss something that is perhaps much more relevant to any impending energy revolution.  That a free energy revolution is more about Open Source freedom, than about breaking the laws of thermodynamics.

Software Sunday: Bare Metal Linux

In our Open Source Sunday articles, we will be doing our best to present Open Source software that works on all three major operating systems (Win/Mac/Lin).  In some cases, that's just not an option.  But there are ways to use Open Source software, even if your OS isn't supported.

One of the ways to use non-native, Open Source software is to use a virtual machine.  A piece of software that can emulate a piece of hardware that can then run a supported OS.  That is an option we will be covering in another article.

In this article, we will be discussing Bare Metal Linux.  That is a phrase that basically means that Linux runs on the physical hardware layer of the computer.  And of course, Linux runs on pretty much every piece of hardware out there, as we will touch on, as we present the Open Source software called Linux.

Raspberry Pi Operating Systems

The Raspberry Pi is a great, little computer.

Of course, with electronics you can create a circuit that will do...  something...  with a computer, you really need software, in order to do something.  And it all starts with an operating system.

The Raspberry Pi enlisted the GNU/Linux community to create a version for the Pi, and so far, there's already more than one, depending on your needs.

Raspberry Pi Project: Beetbox

Yes, Beetbox.

Take a Rasbperry Pi and some edible taproots and make yourself a musical instrument.

In this installation of our Raspberry Pi Projects, we'll take a look at making an interactive Pi by connecting up a Pi with beets a capacitive touch sensor which allows a person to play with their food.

This is the same technology as those light switches that one simply touches the base of a lamp, as an example, to turn the light on or off.  By touching the beets, the Pi will play a drum sample.

Open Source money: what is it?

It is often called Open Source Money.

Open Source generally means that a person can copy and share the process, product, service, etc.  Also, a person can make changes which are contributed back to the source.  And changes can be shared with others as can derivatives which potentially lead to a fork or alternative to the original.

Is that the case with Open Source Money?

In this article, we'll take a closer look at Open Source Money and hopefully lead people to consider possible pros and cons.

Software Sunday: Gimp

Maybe it's an unfortunate name, but it certainly isn't an unfortunate application.  GIMP actually stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program.  If there was ever an understatement, it is, "but it's much more than that".

This is one of those programs that, it is really unfair to compare it to commercial products, such as Photoshop.  The reason being, because GIMP really is as good, and better, than it's commercial counterpart.

In this week's Software Sunday, we will examine how that bold statement can actually be made.