THP Hacker Bio: David Cook

[David Cook] has been on the front page with gnarly hacks many times. We’re happy to present his Hackaday Projects profile as this week’s Hacker Bio.

His entry for The Hackaday Prize is something of a one-wireless-pair-to-rule-them approach to connected devices which he calls LoFi. We were delighted by his first demo video which is exactly what we envisioned for preliminary entries; [David] explains the concept and how he plans to implement it using a few visual aids to drive the point home.

Join us after the break to find out more about [David]. Oh, if you’re wondering about the times he’s been featured on Hackaday, check out his capacitor/coin cell swap which is one of our favorites.

Robotics, machining, and electronics.

Writing commercial software.

Applied science. When are we going to get to Mars! What does Pluto look like close-up? Is there gold in them asteroids?

When my wife and I were young, naïve, and first married, we were duped by a plumbing company that redid all of the pipes in our first home and yard. Needless to say, there were leaks popping up everywhere whenever the weather changed. I know it doesn't seem like the right image, of a crazed man beating the copper pipes in his basement with a baseball bat, but there it is. Another leak!?! Are you kidding me??

Apple DOS 3.3. That's when I first learned to program. I have fond memories of Apple BASIC, Beagle Bros, and GPLE. One of my "I finally made it" moments was when Woz bought a copy of my game MacSki. Wherever you are, thanks Woz. [Image Source: Walker Sampson]

I have a beautiful Metcal soldering iron that my brother gave me. There is always a homemade current-controlled LED tester and ring-lit magnifying glass on my desk. However, I won't name my multimeter, oscilloscope, power supply, or digital camera, because I'm disappointed in them and they know why.

Atmel AVR 8-bit line. I prefer the old Motorola 68HC08 CISC von Neumann architecture, but Atmel really cares for their product line and the hobbyist community.

I love C#. The generic collections border on magic. Before that, I was a big fan of C, but now I'm spoiled.

At this point in the interview I need to provide you with a picture of my closets, basement, and boxes on my floor. Then you'll understand why I say "I can only pick three??? Do time-freezing, self-replication, or super-speed count?"

[David's] machining project to motorize a PCB shear.

Machining metal, without a doubt. You have no idea how satisfying it is to chip metal from a block to make something real that you had only imagined. Cut, sore, and greasy hands don't feel so bad when they're holding an unusual bracket you made for your robot. Runner up would be growing your own food. Both are very innate.

There are lots of things I'd like to measure or monitor, but I just don't have the time to make all of those projects. So, a compact universal reader (no programming, no custom boards) and transmitter allows me to satisfy most of those desires with a budget that my wife won't frown upon.

Probably the Javascript to read and set configurations using Chrome.Serial. I can do it, but I hate Javascript. God! I have a typo in there but you aren't going to tell me until someone tries to use it? And even then there won't be an error message? Sorry Javascript, it's not me, it's you.

I'd like a solid home router with better firmware. I hear hints of such things, but I'd like to see someone pull it together.

I'd love a private payload delivery system to the Moon. How many long weekends do you think would that take?

Family, programming, m&ms, writing, games

Hack A Day is cool.

Filed under: Hackaday Columns, The Hackaday Prize