Telecommuniations device for the deaf gets hitched to a rotary phone, hacked to run Zork

In today's episode of "But will it run Zork?" a chap named Ulysses got the vintage game to run on a TDD (telecommunications device for the deaf) -- a project he built to show off at the Bay Area Maker Faire last weekend. In a move we truly respect, he hunted down a rotary phone lifted straight out of the era when Zork was at its most popular (that would be the late '70s / early '80s). Then, he modified a modem so that the acoustically coupled TDD could be interfaced -- transmitting at a slow 45.5 baud to make it easy for even ponderous readers to keep up, one line at a time on the TDD's narrow display. Once this was sorted, things weren't exactly smooth sailing when Ulysses started fitting the compressed Zork story file into the system. At first, he tried using an Arduino Pro and an Arduino Mega, but found that neither had enough memory to accommodate the compressed Zork story file. Ultimately, he took a different tack and settled on an embeddable FitPC. We'd love nothing more than to see this thing in action, but in lieu of a video we highly suggest carving out a few minutes and perusing Ulysses' photo blog at the source link.

Hack A Day

Dial-A-Grue

Add GPS to your Viewsonic G-Tablet and test your soldering skills

If you picked up one of those G-Tablets, but are now suffering from buyer's remorse after realizing how much you miss GPS, there's a solution -- provided you have a strong DIY streak. It turns out Viewsonic set space aside on the Froyo-powered slate's motherboard to place a GPS receiver. Of course, if you even have to ask what flux is or what SMD stands for this is not the hack for you. And while apps that rely on 3G, such as Google Maps, won't work properly, offline navigators like Navigon and CoPilot should be just fine. If you're comfortable tearing open your device and poking at it with a hot iron, hit up the source link for a complete list of parts and some very detailed instructions... or, you could just buy a tablet that already has GPS.

XDA Developers Forum

Eee Pad Transformer gets overclocked to 1.4GHz, deemed less than stable

While many of you continue your quest for an Eee Pad Transformer, some folks, predictably, have already figured out how to overclock it. Netarchy over at the XDA forum posted a custom kernel allowing hackers to crank the tablet's clock speed to 1.4GHz, the same peak reached by the ViewSonic G Tablet. Beware, though, that performance at that speed has proven unreliable, so for now the dev recommends a more modest 1.2GHz to avoid data loss, a meltdown, and "injury of assorted puppies." Par for the course, really.

Lilliputing

xda-developers

Xi3 modular PC reborn as Chrome desktop, promises independence from local storage

Chromebooks a tad too mobile for you? Sensing the market is at last ready for Google's web-based OS, Xi3 decided to ship the ChromiumPC, an updated version of the modular, Chrome-based desktop it trotted out as a concept last year. The computer (also known as the 5 Series) has a processor module and two I/O ones -- a design whose promise is that installing a different operating system should be as easy as swapping out that first board. And, cheekily, the company expects it to go on sale July 4th, a day when Chromium owners can "declare their independence from the built-in obsolescence of other computers." Got that, folks? Your mature operating system and local storage are useless. No word yet on pricing, so here's hoping Chrome isn't a moot point or anything by the time we find out. Full PR after the break.

Maker Faire 2011, in pictures: Arduinos, Androids, and angry robots

The rapture has come and gone, but the Maker Faire powers on. Despite warnings of a May 21st doomsday, folks came out in droves for the annual celebration of all things DIY, and we were there to bring you the best in homespun inventions. This year's Maker Faire was light on robots and big on corporate sponsorship. Among the giants supporting the little guys were Google, ASUS, and HP, but El Goog's presence extended beyond its dedicated tents. The new Android ADK was big with at-home tinkerers this year, spawning a number of little robots and at least one DIY alternative.

Perhaps no other trend proved more pervasive than 3D printing, however -- every time we turned around there was another MakerBot or RapMan pumping out everything from statuettes of attendees to cutesy salt shakers. There were robotic building blocks, a Heineken-themed R2-D2, DIY drones, custom keyboards, and a ton of repurposed gadgets, but it was an arena of destructo-bots, tucked away in the farthest corner of the San Mateo County Event Center, that really blew us away. We came away sunburned and bedraggled, but lucky for you, we did all the dirty work so you don't have to.

Maker Faire 2011