The joys of computing and modding
Ok, my stepson has his birthday in september, and I have been building a custom modded computer for him as you have read below. well I wanted to add some things that none of his rich friends have or can have... you know to give him a way to "one up" them that they can not match.
Well I think there is a way, I am looking at building a "System Status LED bargraph display. Basically, a row of 8 led's that are controlled by a 16f84 pic processor that talks to the main computer via the seiral port that is sitting unused on the motherboard. I can write a simple VB app (for windows.. I'd have it done in linux without writing software) that ever half a second check's the processor load and then sends a single byte out the port to the display to change the level. I might add a couple more LED's for status information. Like have a red blinking one above the bargraph to show that system resources are getting low, new email is in your email account, etc...
i searched all over for such a device, you can spend $80.00 to $100.00 for a LCD display but that is nothing special, ANYONE can get a lcd display.
Anyhoo. I'm planning on releasing all the schematics and software sourcecode here for all the world to enjoy.
we start shooting the first Acting scenes of Whisper of War this monday. I bought a AT835b shotgun mic in hopes of getting really good audio... but it requires a mixer for the audio levels to be high enough! ARRGH! i dont have the time or money to get a proper XLR portable mixer. nobody told me that the XLR adapter for the XL-1 was a LINE LEVEL input.... I swore it was a mic level input.
anyhoo... I have to lose the advantages of having balanced audio so I can get the levels up.
a fricking $3000.00 camera and it cant handle a real microphone input.
Well I think there is a way, I am looking at building a "System Status LED bargraph display. Basically, a row of 8 led's that are controlled by a 16f84 pic processor that talks to the main computer via the seiral port that is sitting unused on the motherboard. I can write a simple VB app (for windows.. I'd have it done in linux without writing software) that ever half a second check's the processor load and then sends a single byte out the port to the display to change the level. I might add a couple more LED's for status information. Like have a red blinking one above the bargraph to show that system resources are getting low, new email is in your email account, etc...
i searched all over for such a device, you can spend $80.00 to $100.00 for a LCD display but that is nothing special, ANYONE can get a lcd display.
Anyhoo. I'm planning on releasing all the schematics and software sourcecode here for all the world to enjoy.
we start shooting the first Acting scenes of Whisper of War this monday. I bought a AT835b shotgun mic in hopes of getting really good audio... but it requires a mixer for the audio levels to be high enough! ARRGH! i dont have the time or money to get a proper XLR portable mixer. nobody told me that the XLR adapter for the XL-1 was a LINE LEVEL input.... I swore it was a mic level input.
anyhoo... I have to lose the advantages of having balanced audio so I can get the levels up.
a fricking $3000.00 camera and it cant handle a real microphone input.
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