Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Favorite Software

===== note to self - put in links ==== in the mean time use google

Windows XP - for my main desktop - still my favorite
Ubuntu Desktop - in a bunch of vmware virtual machines
Vmware - lets me test lots of stuff
Drop Box - dead easy way to transfer stuff around among machines and vms
Search Everything - Lets me find things in a multi terabyte storage space
keypass - In my dropbox so i can keep track of logins
ccleaner - helps keep detritus from laying around -
notepad++ - general text and source editing
synergy - shares one keyboard and mouse across many machines
google chrome - almost my favorite web browser
Firefox / Thunderbird - favorite web and mail clients
portable apps - lots of little things that don't need to be installed - just the thing for a thumbdrive - or a new vm
Winamp - listen to music - shoutcast radio mostly
VideoLAN - Will play just about everything and what it can't I use Mediaplayer clasic
truecrypt - for all my portable drives - just in case they get lost
nomp - to get the stuff from newsgroups
quickpar- to make sure I got it from the newsgroups
winrar - to unpack stuff from the newsgroups
eraser - to get rid of stuff from the newsgroups

Friday, January 9, 2009

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Anti burn coffer warmer - crazy idea

I have this insane idea to make one of those coffee warmers turn off after a while. So your coffee won't evaporate and the warmer cook the sludge to glass on the bottom of your cup.

Not having a lot of room in the innards of the warmer - parts count becomes the limiting factor. Should be doable with a surface mount tiny2313 running on its internal clock, driving a sensitive gate triac, and a transformerless power supply. No opto-isolators will be necessary since the whole circuit will be hot, literally. Wonder what the temperature specs are on the AVR?

I found a nice APP note @ Microchip -Transformerless Power Supplies: Resistive and Capacitive with a couple of suitable power supply circuits. The capacitor circuit looked a little more inviting - if a little pricier - 10w resistors tend to be BIG.


So the first hurdle surmounted. Now all I have to do is get the Microcontroller circuit found - Any ideas?

DISCLAIMER! Not advised for the first timer, if you mess up working with this kind of circuit your coffee cup won't be the only thing cooked - you'll just be dead. And your Mom will complain about that horrible stink from little Johny's shop. So don't blame me.