Category Archives: Toys In The Attic

Hacks Toys In The Attic

The Xiaomi Dafang, dafanghacks, and You

March 4, 2018 – 13:55

With the popularity of the Xiaofang camera from Xiaomi, I started my search in late 2017 when I stumbled upon the Xiaomi Dafang. This new model features pan and tilt functions at roughly the same price as the old model, so, I figured ‘why not’ and bought both to try out.

This camera is appealing because it’s a 1080p pan-tilt camera for $30, however the stock firmware does not have RTSP functionality for streaming video.

Ultimately, the Dafang arrived first, and trying to set it up with the official tools got me nowhere. Elias Kotlyar has developed a fork of the popular samtap/fang-hacks project on Github, called Xiaomi-Dafang-Hacks.  In this post I hope to explain how I’ve been able to use this camera here in Canada.

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Toys In The Attic

Subaru!

October 7, 2014 – 20:16

I bought a car!

So much room for activities!
Lots of room for activities!

A 2007 Subaru Outback 2.5i: it’s not diesel, but it’s all-wheel drive and it’s a wagon, so two out of three boxes ticked isn’t bad. Leather and sunroof for bonus, plus, it has a silly boxer engine!

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Construction Toys In The Attic

A DIY’d Eico 615 Adaptor

April 3, 2014 – 23:54

This is a quick one.

I’ve recently been looking into playing with directly heated triode single-ended triode (DHT SET) amps, particularly 45s, 2A3s, and their cousin, the 6B4. So I’ve been buying them piece by piece on eBay, as inexpensive parts pop up here and there. The upside is the low low price! The downside is that my ‘modern’ Eico 667 tester doesn’t have the old UX4 socket. Eico did make an adaptor, however–the 615:

Eico 615 Tube Tester Adapter
Eico 615 Tube Tester Adaptor

It isn’t a terribly easy thing to come by these days, nor cheap when you can find one.

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Toys In The Attic

FIRST Contortions

February 18, 2014 – 01:46

I’m a manufacturing/electronics/design/theory mentor on a FIRST Robotics team. The last six weeks have literally been a blur. This post is a sleep-deprived ramble.

You’ve been warned.

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Repair Restoration Toys In The Attic

Turkey and Solder –or– Busy Busy!

January 11, 2014 – 21:39

After a whirlwind of activity, a lot of which I need to document here, I’m back online!

First of all, I wish you a Merry New Year and for those that took time off this season. Hopefully you’re back with renewed vigor to tackle that project you’ve had on your mind, or an old project that’s on your workbench.

Me? I couldn’t stop working away. Time off feels is nice; I put my toys aside while working on projects at work, and having time off gives me the time to work on my personal projects. I can only describe it as a runner’s high.

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Construction Toys In The Attic

A PCOXO Calibration Source

November 13, 2013 – 15:49

I have a 1GHz universal counter and a 5MHz function generator as well as an ancient RF generator, but I don’t really do a lot of super accurate frequency stuff to warrant a Rubidium standard (yet). In early 2012 I threw down an offer of $10 on a Bulova PCOXO-HP02 oscillator, and accepted the counteroffer of $12.50.

The Bulova PCOXO-HP02 oscillator
The Bulova PCOXO-HP02 oscillator

Now I needed to figure out how I could use the thing.

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