tail -f ZS64.log » hardware

TEMPer USB Thermometer

stb — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:45:35 +0000

Measuring temperature in a PC should be easy: after all, most mainboards have extensive monitoring capabilities for temperature and voltage levels built-in. Unfortunately, very few of these facilities are documented properly, and software support is lacking. Instead of trying to navigate the maze that is lm-sensors (which isn’t even available for FreeBSD), I decided to look for some USB-based solution.

There’s a reasonably cheap chinese USB thermometer called TEMPer. I got mine from Brando for 12 Euros. It’s a USB-to-serial chip from WinChipHead. It’s DTR, RTS, and CTS lines are used to connect a LM75 I²C temperature sensor. To talk to the LM75, you need some bit-banging driver.

I’ve put together a command line utility for the TEMPer that can program the built-in thermostat (TEMPer has a LED connected to that output) and print out temperature measurement data. It does it’s job, and might serve as an example on how to do I²C over a simple interface.

Asus barebone Pundit4 P5G41 (with pics!)

stb — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 07:28:14 +0000

We were in need of replacement hardware for our two Shuttle K45 we’re using as servers, since one of them developed a case of capacitor plague, and the Asus Pundit4 P5G41 turns out to be a nice choice. It’s compact, features a LGA 775 socket, two DDR2 sockets, space for one 3.5″ and one 5.25″ drive (SATA only), and even has a serial port built right into the case (we’re big fans of serial consoles).

This model seems to be relatively new (introduced apparently in the fall of ’09), and I couldn’t find any pics of the innards. I’ve added a couple of interior photos to our wiki. Enjoy!

Düsenrucksack

alfred — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 00:06:07 +0000

Ein Neuseeländer hat sich dem Thema Raketenrucksack genähert. Nachdem er viele Nachteile beseitigt hatte (z.B. die kurze Flugzeit von ca. einer halben Minute), hat er neue Nachteile eingebaut: Gigantische Größe und fantastischen Lärm, immerhin aber garniert mit halbstündiger Flugdauer. Hier kann man sich das Spektakel ansehen:

Düsenrucksack – Bericht und Videos