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April 01 2012
Gmail Tap: Google Brings Back Morse Code, at Least for a Day
Google brought back the groundbreaking, anti-Retina display 8-bit technology to their Maps service. But that’s not all that the company has in store for us. Introducing Gmail Tap. Put simply, it replaces the cramped virtual keyboard on Android devices and replaces it with something much, much, simpler: two keys, a dot and a dash.
It is truly another revolutionary old-new technology by Google.
Check out the Gmail Tap page for more hilarious features, such as “Double-black diamond mode,” which allows users to type 8 messages at once. Beat that, keyboard!
[via Reddit]
February 23 2012
Doing it right with a morse code keyboard
Hackaday has seen dozens of Morse code keyboards over the years, but [Hudson] at NYC Resistor finally managed to give that idea the justice it deserves. He built a USB Morse code keyboard with the same type of telegraph key the pros use.
For his project, [Hudson] got his hands on a wonderful iambic paddle that is usually hooked up to CW rigs. Unlike previous Morse keyboards we’ve seen, [Hudson] used iambic paddles, a telegraph key with one lever for dits and another for dahs. Because the dits and dahs are separate electrical connections, it’s extremely easy for the microcontroller – a Teensy - to parse the Morse code and send the correct letter to the computer.
[Hudson] also added some audio feedback for the dits and dahs, and designed a laser-cut enclosure for the Teensy and speaker. Check out the video of the iambic keyer keyboard in action after the break.
Filed under: peripherals hacks
February 01 2012
Tworse Telegraph Key Lets You Tweet in Morse Code
Want to get all turn-of-last-century on your Twitter friends? The Tworse Key is Arduino-powered and while it may not be the most effective way to tweet, it does allow you to do it in old time style.
All you need to do to tweet with it is plug it into an Ethernet port and you are good to go. You also have to know morse code, of course. Either that or just type nonsense.
Martin Kaltenbrunner is responsible for this backwards technology. He enjoys “hooking up cool old things to cool new things because it’s cool.” I agree. If you want to try your hand at making one, you can find some instructions here. Maybe you can open up your own Twitter telegraph office.
[via Hack a Day via Geekosystem]
January 31 2012
Telegraph key makes for a fantastic Twitter input
In the interests of interface archaeology, [Martin] sent in the Tworse Key, a telegraph key that posts to Twitter using Morse code. It’s a fantastic build that nearly looks like something out of the 1900s.
We’ve seen a ton of Morse keyboards over the years, but never one so well-engineered for a single purpose. The guts and brains of the Tworse Key is an Arduino Ethernet that connect to Twitter over the API. The Tworse Key automagically posts all the Morse messages to Twitter. The Tworse Key may have fallen off the table a few times in the past 24 hours, but we do see a few purposeful messages like ‘sos’ and [Bell]‘s preferred telephone salutation.
We could say that nobody uses straight telegraph keys anymore, but outside a few hardcore CW HAM radio guys nobody uses Morse anymore. This isn’t meant to be used as an everyday input device, though. It’s more of an exercise in interface archaeology. That being said, an iambic key would be a far more ergonomic solution. Check out the video of the Tworse Key after the break.
[Martin] got bonus points for the cloth-covered Ethernet cable. Anyone have a source for this?
Filed under: arduino hacks, peripherals hacks
June 23 2011
Tiny Morse code trainer
[Eric] wanted to teach his kids Morse code, so he built a tiny Morse code trainer.
[Eric] built the trainer around an ATtiny85, and the rest of the circuit follows this minimalist idea. After connecting a piezo beeper and 6-pin ISP header, the only thing left to do was write a little code and start teaching his kids Morse. The Morse trainer is programmed to repeat the message, “SOS the moon rover has broken down and I am stuck in the trash can in the garden shed,” [Eric] planted a Lego moon rover in his shed as a prize for learning Morse, making him one of the coolest dads ever.
Although learning Morse isn’t required for an amateur radio license anymore, it’s a requirement for continuous wave radio. We think this is a great way to learn Morse the right way – actually hearing the characters – instead of memorizing the Huffman tree of Morse characters.
Filed under: classic hacks, Microcontrollers
March 07 2011
Lilypad bicycle computer reads back distance in beeps
[Mark Fickett] finished his own interesting take on a bicycle computer. These wristwatch-sized devices normally mount to the handlebars and give feedback for current speed, trip distance, and many have options like cadence and heart rate. [Mark's] has fewer features but it’s clean, simple, and does more than you’d think.
He used some denim to house the electronics which you can see mounted inside the frame of the bike. He’s chosen to use Lilypad components which are Arduino bits meant to be sewn into textiles. We’ve seen a Morse Code keyer using these components and this project is along the same lines. It reads wheel revolutions from a magnetic sensor mounted on the front fork. It has no LCD readout, but when you want to know how far you’ve traveled just press one button and the computer reads it back to in Morse Code played on a tiny piezo buzzer. This package hides one more nice option. Once you arrive home the trip data can be dumped onto a computer for easy graphing. Check out the video after the break to see these features in action.
[via Dangerous Prototypes]
Filed under: arduino hacks
February 11 2011
Launchpad serial Morse code transmitter
LaunchPad dev boards from Texas Instruments are cheap and easy to program, making them a great Arduino alternative if you can do without some of the bells and whistles. [ech0s] put his to good use by constructing a Morse code transmitter with dual operating modes. The transmitter can not only encode and transmit messages entered in a terminal client, it also allows the user to send messages by manually operating the key switch. Inspired by the high altitude balloon transmitter we featured last summer, this project uses similar components for signal amplification and transmission. Text can be entered in a Putty terminal window, which then is encoded into Morse by the MCU before transmission. At the moment, the speed of the radio transmission is about 15 WPM, which is reasonably quick. Even though his system performs quite well [ech0s] has some improvements planned, including having a proper PCB built as well as some software tweaks to improve buffering and bandwidth. Be sure to check out his video of the transmitter in action after the jump.
Filed under: Microcontrollers, radio hacks
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