Bitcoin mining: An expedition

I first heard of Bitcoins about a year ago but didn't think much of it at the time.
Recently I read an article on the BBC News that more and more places are accepting Bitcoins.

It seems to be a thing of the future, so naturally, I gave it a spin.

This will be a very basic walkthrough of my proceedings, I'll write up more information in a later post.

The miner I decided to use was guiminer, a simple but effective multi-mining tool with a graphical user interface.
There are many other mining programs out there for you to choose from.

How to connect a PS3 controller to a PC

A short guide on getting your PS3 controller to work on your computer.

What's needed:
- PS3 controller and cable
- a bluetooth dongle

Let's get started now then.

Download and install the MotioninJoy driver from here.

Have your bluetooth dongle plugged in and start the program.

Go to "Driver Manager" and make sure there's a tick next to your bluetooth device and then click "Load driver"

A window will pop up, asking to install the driver. Allow it.
Now connect your PS3 controller to your computer with the USB cable.

Go to Bluetooth Pair.

It should look similair.

Now click "Pair now". Your controller is now paired to your bluetooth adapter and connected to your computer!
Go to Profiles and select the Playstation 3 mode. You can map the buttons under options.

I recommend that you set the tilt sensors to "Non" as pictured below

And that's it! You can now use your PS3 controller to play games!

Watch films on your PS3 via PC with PS3 Media Server

Yo.

Soo, I wanted to see if it was possible to play big video files (over 4 GB in size) on the Playstation 3.

This, however, didn't really work out. The PS3 won't recognise any drive that's connected to it, if it is formatted with NTFS. It will recognise FAT32 though.

Naturally, this sucks though.
For those who don't know, the maximum size of a file on a FAT32 drive can only be 4 GB.
That file size limit is way too small for these days, where we have 1080p in most devices.

To watch that file, I would have to split the file into chunks that are under 4 GB in size. That's only time consuming, diminishes quality and annoying.
Thankfully, there is a way to watch and view your pictures and movies on your Playstation 3 with the help of a computer and some software!
Works with Linux/Mac OS and Windows!

Analogue Gauge Jitter with an Arduino

Heyho!

You know that classic movie moment when some pipe or other critical component is about to burst and explode? Most commonly used in submarine movies.

They normally show the impending doom with a gauge, with the needle WAY past the "Super Dangerous: Seek shelter if pointer is past this point!" mark.

Of course, the needle won't just stay in that position, it will bounce around (within the above mentioned mark) to give that extra edge of "shit's going down, yo!".

Imagine dramatic music playing

So, today, you will learn how to replicate this effect!

How to connect the analogue gauge:

You should have two wires coming out from the gauge. One positive and one negative.
Connect the positive end to Arduino's Pin 9 and the negative to Arduino's GND.

Now upload this code:

int gaugePin = 9;    

void setup(){}

void loop()
{

  analogWrite(gaugePin, random(7,10));
  delay(50);

}

 ...and you're set!

 This is a quick 'n' dirty solution, but I'm happy with it as it only needs one line of code to work!

How it works:

The code generates a random number and sends that to the gauge, changing it's position. The delay() determines the speed of the jitter. Change the speed (marked red) and random number range (marked in blue) for varying effects!

Keep in mind:
You will need to experiment around to see where your gauge's maximum range is.
Mine was around 11, so I used the range between 7 and 10 for a more pronounced jitter!

Conclusion:
It's awesome coolio.

Have fun and let me know if you build this into any of your projects!