2x5W Amplifier for mp3 player or line output (MK190) (part2)

Having something that works is ok, having something that works AND looks good is better:

Here is the result of recycling Hercule XPS 2.0 10 Left channel box (the right speaker was dead so i simply swapped left/right speakers, removed right one and made a stereo>mono trick to get the whole signal toward left-that-became-right speaker)

This is based on the previously made MK190, slightly adapted to fit in the XPS speaker housing.

Additional stuff needed to complete the work : 

• 1 ON-ON switch
• 1 Four ports spring clip speaker wire connector block
• 1 Metal LED housing
• 1 Circular power connector
• Some wires took from out of order ATX-PSU
• Black plastic sheet hanging around
• 2 torx screws taken from the HP AiO used for the RGB LED project
• Hot glue

Unsoldering Needed-to-be-changed components

<=== Before

                                                After ===>

1. New switch
2. LED and its new housing + wires
3. Potentiometer "plugged" in a drilled hole
4. Line-in jack 3.5 plug
5. New power connector 
6. Kept the screw-able speaker ports for later modularity.

Assembling Trying to get the best of the available

Assembling the Four ports spring clip speaker wire connector block, the Black plastic sheet (to cover the removed Speaker space) and the main housing : 

No screw at the bottom-right of the plastic sheet since the PCB is there
The plastic sheet had been machined (both sides) so the PCB don't push much and prevent from closing the main housing. It is hidden by the cover.

Result giving trash a new life

From left-to-right :

• Speaker plug
• Line-in Jack
• Potentiometer knob and LED
• Power switch

The 6-14V input : 

What's next?

• Adding a Better 12Vcc compact PSU

Quick Review (part3) : Hybrid armor case for MotoG, The PINK one

The black armored case has fully proved itself capable of protecting against shocks. But it's black (i like black, but my girlfriend doesn't).

<<< Part one (unboxing the black case) >>>

<<< Part two (life tested) >>>

<<< Testing tempered glass protector >>>

For her Moto G XT1039 (peregrine), we got a girly Pink build of my own case : 

Is it for my Girlfriend's device or my device's girlfriend? Maybe both? #Falcon & #Peregrine pic.twitter.com/RonHbAeHNW
— matmutant (@matmutant) 6 Novembre 2014

Unboxing 1st overview

This one has been bought from the USA (mine was directly sent from China).

• Brand name : Asmyna (that's more a re-seller obviously)
• Declared to be "designed in USA" ==> hmmmm?
• "ISO 9001:2000 PASSED" ===> How can a product pass "Quality Management" ??? Quality Control is something a product can actually pass, not management.
• "Made in China" ==> Obviously true.

What's different with the Black Model?

• Costs the double of my black one (i suppose the travel from China to the USA to Europe is not for nothing there...).
• Has no screen cover with clip.

In-Hand Device protection

The case is well made, and fits perfectly the device
The Pink rubberized paint is nice to touch (Yes, you've just read PAINT.)

Pros & Cons Same as the Black one, plus a little thing...

Let's see :

"- Dafuk is that ?
- Looks like Pink rubber is painted on white plastic!, it will scratch with time and look weird."

The black case had a Black rubber paint on Black tinted plastic resulting in nearly invisible scratches [See Wear and Tear" Part of the previous post]

Recap More expensive than Black Model White plastic painted Pink (and not Pink tinted plastic.) Bad Wear resistant paint hence the white spot that appeared in the first days. No sliding cover to protect screen added to the package. Same other Pros&Cons as Black Model (minus the silicone flaw i had on mine) So, it is still a good case (if you forget paint wearing), it offers excellent shock protection and has a good quality feeling.  Though, if you don't really need a Pink or Colored case, prefer the Black one, it is cheaper (if bought from China, i couldn't find the Pink one from there), it also has a sliding cover and wear is hardly noticeable thanks to Black-on-Black Paint.

PWM controlled RGB lamp (part3)

Soldering wires to the RGB+ pins :  a better way. (than part 1)

This continues part 1 and 2.

The result had to be : 

• Modular (plug)
• Easy to use
• Not too big.

1/ making the plug:

Due to recycling, i don't have many colours in small wires so, Red == Red, Yellow == Green, Blue == Blue,  and White == Vcc. (this will get much more complicated soon ;-))

2/ Soldering to Pins:

On the Plug i want RGB in order so it is Red-Green-Blue-Vcc

But on the LED pins, the order is Vcc-Blue-Red-Green

3/ Drilling holes for the plug and writing RGB+:

"- What the hole!

- Hey, no one is perfect. >_<"

4/ Insulating and testing the plug:

"- Wait, what? you plugged White to Brown, and Red to Yellow ??

- Yes, i did, remember that's recycling, so... i'm using what i can!"

5/ Only and Arduino is needed to complete that project now :)

part 4 pending ....

PWM controlled RGB lamp (part2)

(2/?)

>>> Part one<<<
>>> Part Three <<<

I recently got another old/trashed HP all-in-one scanner-printer, and took the RGB lamp as well as a bunch of motors, gears, and stuff.


This time, there are pics of the scanner piece before complete take-apart : 

Now that i have a new lamp, it is time to disassemble the old one :

Wait, What ??? that's not a bunch LEDs like i thought first, but a single RGB LED and a clear plastic reflector!

The LED (only green isn't burnt on this old lamp):

The LED with green ON:

Same, but with f/11 and 1/80 sec.:

With the plastic piece that reflects an diffuses light all along (same pic settings):

Although, it is one LED, the use of recycling this part is keeping it as is : perfect to make an atmosphere lamp.

A PWM supply is now needed to correctly monitor all this :)

>>> Read Part 3 <<<

Master PDF Editor

Quick overview of Master PDF editor, another (user-friendly) PDF editor: 

>>> completing an old post about editing PDF on Linux <<<

This will only present the most basic features of MasterPDF editor 1.9.25.

Open the PDF you want to edit, here is a basic example of what teachers can give to students and say "simply print it, and you're done!" : 

Remove the Black Background, usually it is a picture, select it, and press suppr.

Ooooops, looks like text disappeared?

Use the "text selector tool" : 

Now Select with a long click the whole area (ctrl+a doesn't work : it will select both text and non-text objects)

Choose color to fill the selected text:

There is no way to invert colors in that software, but it is easy to export the image, edit it with your favorite image editor and then re-insert it.

As this software doesn't provide a tool to make arrows, make a pool of arrows with another one, and paste them there.

Now we have a Printer-friendly pdf :D

Intel : Pentium CPUs through time

Here is a story of Intel Pentium processors (desktop), based on the ones i own :

Pentium CPUs were first launched in 1993 (P5 @60MHz), but the following will start in 1995 with a P54CS @133MHz :

A large part of this collection was possible thanks to "donations" from friends that gave me their old hardware.

Pentium: A80502 @133MHz (released on June 1995)

• Codenames : P54CS, A80502
• Process size : 0.31µm
• Nb of transistors : 3.3 millions
• Socket : 7
• TDP : 12 W

Pentium II:  80522 @233MHz (released on May 1997)

• Codenames : Klamath, 80522 
• Process size : 0.35µm
• Nb of transistors : 7.5 millions [source]
• Socket : Slot 1
• TDP : 35 W [source]

Pentium!!!: 80526 @733MHz (released in 2000)

• Codenames : Coppermine, 80526
• Process size : 0.18µm
• Nb of transistors : 28 millions
• Socket : 370
• TDP : 23W

Pentium 4: 80531 @1700MHz (released on August 2001 [source])

• Codenames : Willamette, 80531
• Process size : 0.18µm
• Nb of transistors : 42 millions
• Socket : 478h
• TDP : 64W

Pentium D: 820 @2800MHz (released on May 2005)

• Codenames : Smithfield, 820
• Process size : 90nm
• Nb of transistors : 230 millions
• Socket : 755
• TDP : 95W [source] or 130W [source]

The Family:

Some Charts: 

Clock and TDP between 1995 and 2005 
The Core i3-3220 is there as a "modern reference" that shows TDP didn't continued to increase with clock speed : Modern CPU are more and more efficient.

With time, Clock speed and TDP increased : respectively from 133MHz to 2.8GHz and from 12W to 95W. Fortunately, this scheme has stopped and TDP is decreasing back (for Intel CPUs at least) while a few MHz are added with each new generation.

And what about AMD?

I cannot make a similar story with AMD CPUs yet: the time range isn't large enough (2001-2006): 

Desktop: 

• AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (ADA3000AEP4AX) @2GHz, socket 754
• AMD Athlon 64 3400+ (ADA3400DAA4BZ) @2.2GHz, socket 939
• AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (ADA3500IAA4CW) @2.2GHz, socket AM2
• AMD Sempron 2800+ (SDA2800IAA2CN) @1.6GHz, socket AM2
• AMD Athlon X2 64 3800+ (ADA3800IAA5CU) @2.0GHz, socket AM2
• AMD Athlon X2 64 4200+ (ADO4200IAA5CU) @2.2GHz, socket AM2
• AMD Athlon X2 64 5600+ (ADO5600DOBOX) @2.9GHz, socket AM2

Mobile: 

• AMD Athlon XP-M 1500+ (AXMH1500FQQ3C) @1.3GHz, socket A (462)
• AMD Turion 64 MT (TMSMT34BQX5LD) @1.8GHz, socket 753
• AMD Athlon XP 2800+ (AXDA2800DKV4D) @2.1HGz, socket A (462)

Credits:

Thanks to Ark, CPUworld, TechPowerUp, and Wikipedia that helped me to get all the documentation needed to set up this article.