#twatch Open Hardware Networked LCD Screen 52
An anonymous reader writes "Dangerous Prototype's #twatch is a DIY network appliance that displays real-time topic trends from Twitter. It can also show system statistics, RSS feeds, mail notifications, and more using a TCP server on port 1337 that accepts commands from LCD control programs like LCD Smartie (Windows) and LCDproc (Linux). Everything you need to build your own is on the project's page. We've covered this hardware hacker's work previously."
Been there, done that, too banal. (Score:5, Informative)
As a steampunk project, I've restored a Teletype Model 15 [animats.com], which, running uncased so you can see the insides, is an impressive piece of machinery. I have this connected to a program that polls any desired collection of RSS feeds and prints any new items that come in. Running off Reuters or the NPR news feed, it emulates a classic news ticker.
I've tried giving it a list of Twitter RSS feeds. Works fine, looks stupid. For each new twit, the motor winds up to speed, 50 pounds of machinery grinds into life, and with much clattering and banging, the machine hammers out some banal twit on a long roll of yellow paper. Twitter content is just too lame for this. Hooked to the Reuters feed, at least you get the feeling that you're keeping up with what's going on in the world. Not with Twitter.
(Incidentally, Twitter's server-side RSS implementation sucks. RSS feed servers are supposed to accept a query with a number obtained from the previous query, and if the numbers match, it means nothing changed and no new text is transmitted. Twitter implements that so badly that every poll results in transmitting the entire RSS content again, even if nothing changed. Most other RSS feeds, such as Reuters, more or less get this right.)
Re:Note to self (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Port 1337 (Score:3, Informative)
Gotta admit it is a bit of a marketing ploy. Too bad about picking a port that's likely to be blocked at the firewall or conflicting with p2p software.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_TCP_and_UDP_port_numbers [wikipedia.org]
1337/TCP PowerFolder P2P Encrypted File Synchronization Program Unofficial
1337/TCP WASTE Encrypted File Sharing Program Unofficial
From http://isc.sans.org/services.html [sans.org]
Shadyshell 1337/tcp #[trojan] Shadyshell
Re:Hmm. (Score:3, Informative)
1-Wire for the temp sensors.
A co-worker got the 8-relay I/O board over one wire. I went with a super4 relay board: http://www.emx.net.au/super4usbrelay.htm [emx.net.au]
Their software is a bit shaky so I rewrote it using the open source driver for the usbserial.
If you're starting out from scratch, Maxim will let you get a few 'samples' of each temp sensor.
http://thediysite.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=4 [thediysite.com]