Homesite News

At this page, I will put up information about changes and updates to my homepages (and important things in my life) - both the peronal one and the Delphi one. For any questions, programming or homepage ideas and tips or just simple chat, just send me a mail.


2004-03-14
Nice cars and bikes in Stockholm!
This weekend was the motor entusiast weekend of Stockholm. The Sollentuna Expo Center held the Stockholm Motor Show 2004. This event was a showcase for all car and bike modders of Sweden. All kind of vehicles was shown, from hot-rods and custom HD's to monster snowmobiles. See it for yourself!

2004-01-06
New project on the way
A new project have seen the light during this cristmas weekend. It is of course tube based, but it is not related to sound. Instead, it will show what the time is. Look here for the new Nixie-Clock.

2003-11-09
Delphi Homepage moved to a new host
I'm planning to close my Tele2-account for interet (old modem thing - no need for it when using cable), therefore I have to move the Delphi section from Swipnet (used by Tele2). Hopefully, it will be faster too - my new host have no "business"-load on it that slows things down.
I'm also moving all pictures to the same host. In case they aren't visible (specially when entering via Passagen), use the updated homepage entry: http://www.puffy.nu/~illuwatar/.

I have also updated my PC-section with info and pictures from my Mini-ITX router.

2003-10-01
Update of the PC modding page
I have now updated this page, showing my current PC setup and what have been modded. Also, the new blue VFD is shown at this page.

2003-09-22
Long time seen...
There was some time ago I was adding something to these pages, but it is time to do something now. I have been busy with lot of things related to the family part of life. That doesn't mean that I have been quit designing and modding. There are some projects in the pipe and I will try to finish them off one by one. I also slavaged a lot of scrap from my work when we was moving and in there I found several useful things that will help me in my future plans of a complete home network.
First out this time is a rather straight forward project - a stereo VU-meter using blue LED's. I got a nice tip from someone at 64bits.se of a shop in US that sells super bright LED's of different colors for a very low price. Of course, I tried them and the result is the VU-meter. You will find it in the usual place - the Electronics section. And the LED-shop? www.lsdiodes.com

2002-10-25
Turbo race tested
The turbo circuit got it's final test at the race circuit and it proved to work very good. It did improve the car's performance both at top speed and acceleration. It can withstand 20A of current, so trim motors are not a problem. The low internal resistance gives the extra push and keeps the heat from the transistors down.
I have also got a travel bag for the Mini-Z equipment so I can transport all neccessary accessories and parts together with the car and radio in a simple way.

2002-10-03
Second version of my Turbo finally did it!
I have finally produced a turbo circuit that works as intended. The first try failed due to wrong type of transistors. Second try - (hopefully) success. I have only bench-tested it yet, so it has to prove it in a real race situation. Stay tuned...

2002-09-14
Electronics inside the Mini-Z
I have added a few pictures to my Mini-Z section, showing the internal electronics of the car. I will start to experiment with "turbo"-circuits for it, so I had to disassemble it entirely. So, I took the chance to picture it's internals.

2002-09-09
More Mini-Z... and a tiny tank!
Changed the motor cables for thicker ones and added more interference supression - added two more pictures to the Mini-Z section.
Also, a Pocket Armour mini RC-tank from Kyosho have been added to my collection of RC-vehicles. Small, nice looking and fun to play with. Pictures at my RC-page of course.

2002-09-07
Mini-Z again...
More pictures have been added to my Mini-Z page.

2002-09-06
Mini-Z
My RC-section have been updated with a new section about my latest add-on to the RC-family: a Kyosho Mini-Z Ferrari F355.

2002-08-11
The boat was in the water...
The RC-boat finally speeded across the lake I have close by. That 6.49cc engine really made it fly - I was almost afraid that the boat was going to flip over. Dute to it's small size, any wave makes the ride very bumpy. Some more pictures have been addet to the boat section and I'm planning to provide a movie of the boat speeding (when I got someone to host it for me).

2002-08-09
Ready to take on the waves!
My RC-boat is now almost complete and is ready for it's maiden journey. Hopefully, this will be done this weekend. Too see more about the boat, go to my re-designed RC section of these pages.

Also, my new PC-case is completed and in use. I will put up more about it when the summer ends. Now it the weather so nice and warm, so I'm not really in to sit indoor and hack HTML...
I have also new plans for a chassi mod that I call Project IBM...

2002-06-19
Much have happened but the pages have been idle for a while.
I haven't updated this page for a while. The reason is that I have been busy with several things. It have been things within the family, lot of work and trips to USA. Also, I have been buildin several things and some of them will soon show up at this page.
An other reason to the low activity is www.64bits.se. I have been writig some articels and recensions for this site. I have also been active in their forum where I'm known as Illuwatar. Go there and I will see you.
One big thing that will make my life easier is the high-speed connection to internet that I have got now. Combined with wireless LAN will make internet avaiable everywhere in my apartment. I also working on a new case for my PC. It will be something special with style... pictures and info will come.

2002-02-03
Future plan list added
A new section have been added to the Electronics section. There You will be able to see what I have planned for and some pictures giving a clue to what I'm intend to do.

2002-01-27
6AS7 does the glow!
A new headphone amplifier have been completed - a simple design found at the HeadWize homepage using just two tubes. The amp was built just for testing two things: the sound of the 6AS7 (6080) power triode and to find a good electronic regulator that could replace the heavy, hard to obtain choke. The result was rather good - the regulator runs perfectly and the amp itself sound good, but I prefer the sound of the 6SN7. The amp will now be taken to my office, where it will light my day...
Edgar Audio have been added to the Links page.

2002-01-19
First update year 2002!
Welcome to the new year - 2002. This is the first update for this year and more will come.
Not much have happened, but work are going on. My headphone amplifier have been tweaked and now it is entirely hum and noise free. I also bought a pair of Sennheiser HD575 headphones to use with the amp. This is the ultimate music experience!
The work on a budget version of the headphone amp have started - I'm testing different circuit design, mainly based on the E88CC tube. I'm almost done with a more compact headphone amp based on a E88CC - 6AS7 combination, a design I found at the HeadWize homepage. This one shares the tubes (both are dual triodes) between the channels, taking the tube count down to two for the entire amp. Now I'm playing with the power supply to get a version that are simpler compared to my previous headphone amp, but still doesn't hum or creates noise. Stay tuned - I will update this page when new things appears...

2001-12-30
More tubes!
My first design that aren't just a plain copy have been completed. Go to my electronic workshop and enjoy pure tube OTL sound for home builders - at a low cost with this superb headphone amplifier!
The pre-amplifier have now been updated with schematics of both the amplifier stage and the power supply. Spekaing of the pre-amp, it's design have been updated due to some incidents with it: first, without warning, it started to hum loudly. The source showed to be the heater regulator. Nasty spikes showed up at the scope, causing this hum. A protection diode and better filtering before the regulator IC solved the problem. But still, I don't know why it happened - nothing was broken. At the same moment, I improved the power supply. By adding a additional 1k resistor after the diode bridge, before the first capacitor, I got both a smoother start for the diodes and a power supply that are 100% hum and noise free! Even a electronic regulator can't match it now.
The second problem showed up today - one channel just dropped dead. My first thougt was that I had to buy new tubes. The examination of the amp resulted in fine tubes but a broken resistor. This resistor was salvaged from a old power supply - this was the mistake. To avoid problems like this, always use new components!

Happy New Year everyone out there!

2001-12-03
Minor update
I found that the left side menu didn't work well at very small screens. Therefore, I have added a top menu too. Not that fancy, but it works and you don't need 1024x768 to read all pages.
Then I will thank the people at LH-Musik for their help and support during my design and building of the tube pre-amp - I showed them the result and they liked it.
LH-Musik is a small shop/reapir for mainly guitar amplifiers and other music equipment. Using tubes in guitar amps if very popular and is very common today. Therefore, LH-Ljud have good support with spare parts and that includes a lot of tubes. They sell brands like Ruby Tubes, Sovtek and Svetlana. Also, other more and less well-known brands are avaiable. Are You living in Sweden, specially in Stockholm and are experimenting with tube electronics, they are worth considering regarding both parts and knowledge.

2001-11-24
Hot Electronics!
A new project have been added to my list of electronic equipment that I have built: a tube pre-amplifier. This is a well-sounding design using electron tubes instead of OP-amplifiers or transistors. The glowing tubes also gives the design a different touch...
Planned (and under design) is a matching output power amplifier based at the KT88 power pentode, running in a single-ended ultra linear design for 2x10W pure class A. It will be build to fit the pre-amp (same cabinet) but in a classic way (tubes and transformers on top).
When completed, You will find description and pictures at this page!

The superb hardware site 64bits.se have been honored with a banner link at the first page. Reason? I have been honored with the grade of moderator for their hardware parts in their forum. Also, I have contributed with articels - the GeForce 2 cooling article can be found at that site! As a note - the site is in swedish.

2001-09-18
Long time seen...
Lot of things have happened during my time off at these pages. It includes both sad and fun things. Between this I have been working with different projects in my tiny lab. One by one, they will be presented at this pages...
This time out is my cooling-mod for the GeForce2-board I use. Just head on to read it! Other projects involve peltier-cooling, electronic loads and battery changers. Stay tuned - more will come...

2001-08-23
Cool down...
Cooling down PC's have no limits - this new project I'm working with is a electronic cooling device built around a peltier-module. Reaching temperatures below 0°C, it will be used to chill down CPU and graphic card in my PC, allowing even more overclocking. Go here if you want to look closer...

2001-06-15
More for overclockers...
A new design have been added to my list - a simple fanbus. It is useful if You want to connect more fans to Your motherboard but have run out of connectors. You can find it at my Tech Page.
Also, the work with my radio controlled boat are progressing. I will start to put up information and pictures from it when it closes to finish - now, I don't have that time to update these pages regulary during construction. The summer have arrived to Sweden - that is also a reason for me to not be indoor and making homepages - the time after the sun sets (about 22:00 / 10:00 pm) are mostly dedicated to Unreal Tournament...
An other thing that I will show at these pages (when I got time) is my modified PC-cooling, including a way to reduce heat from a GeForce 2 by using passive heatsinks at the card...

2001-05-06
Updates of designs...
The PowerAmp project is still alive - I have made some work at it during this weekend. Silent CPU-cooling and a lot of mechanical work. Also, the Fan Silencer section have been updated with pictures. Otherwise, there have been very nice spring weather here in Sweden...

2001-04-14
New desing have been added to the list
A new design have been added to my Tech page. It is a small but useful utility for all PC-overclocker who relies on their fans for CPU's and GeForce cards...

2001-04-14
Tech page updated with new projects...
I have added two new projects to my Tech page. Here You can see how to make a high-quality phono amplifier that could be used for making CD's out of old vinyl's. Also a small color video camera is shown. And more will come - a project where a nitro-powered RC-boat is built will show up at these pages. The PowerAmp project aren't closed - it will be continued now when I got the front panel prepared.
More to come... Happy Easter!

2001-03-04
Low on updates...
Not much have happened - not at least to put up at these pages. Some of the mechanic work at PowerAmp are proceeding - the project aren't dead, just little bit slow. It have been upgraded too with more memory.
Otherwise, I have been in US again - three weeks in California is always right, even if it was a worktrip. Trips like these always create chanses to find more fun stuff to the PC's and the RC stuff. This time, the PC got a new cooler, a Golden Orb from Thermaltake.
Trips to US also create opportunities to test new cars - this time, a Jeep Wrangler was given a run in the mud.
New projects are also on the way - more to come...

2000-07-23
Long time seen
Not much have been happening until now - I have been in USA/California again, one week in Italy. my vacation is almost over for this time, the shower room have been renovated and my PC have become a video editing workstation.
Mostly of my vacation have been spent on editing videos from my trip to California and Italy, learning Adobe Premiere and testing different MPEG-1 codecs to make VCD's out of my movies. Actually, the most time consuming part have been putting up wall tiles in this shower room...
The work at the PowerAMP have stopped totally during this time - it is working nice but all mechanical work have to be done. The work will resume during autum/winter and hopefully it will be completed. One issue in this design is the heat generated by the power supply, CPU and harddrive combined with a narrow space and a want for a silent desing (read - no fans). The machine have been fitted with at SCSI-controller to make it more easy to connect external devices like CD-ROMS, MO-units, ZIP-disks and harddrives.

2000-04-23
Long time seen
There have been a lot of things around me so I haven't got the time to update these pages for a while. One thing is the main PC I have replaced (my old Celeron 300A went away for a Athlon 550 with GeForce).
The work on PowerAMP have stalled a bit - it's time for the mechanical parts in the design. I have to make a custom designed box for it that fits in with the rest of my HIFI equipment. With this comes several mechanincal design tricks that have to be invented during work and thermal problems - the machine runs rather hot and the box is small - and I have to keep it silent with few fans in it.
Anyway - the summer seems to be here now in Sweden - and it is time to bring the mountainbike, put the summer wheels on the car and fix the garden - see You later...

2000-01-08
A new Millennium is here!
The work on PowerAMP is proceeding - the user interface is the most tricky one - it must work without the normal PC keyboard, mouse and screen. And it must be easy to use too.
A complete equalizer have nob been implemented, based on the built-in equalizer in WinAMP. It is fully graphical and have pre-defined settings. The current status of the MP3-player is a full working, usable machine without any home - it is still a rats nest on my table, without any box to reside in.

1999-12-08
PowerAmp up and running!
Finally I managed to get all parts together so I could start programming the PowerAmp MP3 player. Major problems was related to the LCD - Many hours later, one destroyed I/O-chip and with help from a kind person at Ericsson Component Distribution, I managed to get the graphics up. The step between a mess and a full, working MP3 player are getting bigger. Head for the Tech page to see more.

1999-10-15
Long time seen...
Did You thought that my pages was dead? They aren't - but it have been a long summer and things have changed in my family that created this long period of inactivity. But I haven't quit doing things - A complete description of a powerful battery charger have been presented under the Tech section, suitable for RC-drivers. LCDLabel is up to version 1.5a - a minor bug fix for those who like small displays. And I have bought a Nikon CoolPix 950 digital camera (sold my old Canon A5). What a wonderful piece of equipment - expensive but impressive.
I will try to update these pages more frequently, specially due to a new great project - the PowerAmp. Go to the Tech Pages for more...

1999-05-01
LCDLabel 1.5 - an update for some mistakes...
The TLCLabel V1.4 have been replaced with 1.5 due to a major change. There was some bugs that showed up in 1.4 that haven't been so notable in earlier versions.
The RC-part will soon be updated (as soon as I get my pictures developed) - both cars have almost reached the state of completeion - both have been test-raced.

1999-05-01
LCDLabel 1.4 out now!
The now famous LCDLabel have been improved even more - the size of the display pixels are now freely selectable (before it was only a few fixed sizes to select from). The pixels doesn't even have to be square.
Otherwise much have happened - but not at these pages. Plans are for a few new sections, describing my computer hardware and things around it. Also my electronic projects (like amplifiers, power supplies, chargers) will have a place at these pages.
More will come...

1999-01-24
LCDLabel V1.3 have been updated to work with Delphi 4 directly now!
Due to many requests from Delphi 4 users, I have finally got my LCDLabel compiled and tested with it. Just go to the Delphi page and grab it (if You use Delphi 4...).
More:
Since last time I made something with this page, many things has changed. The machine I'm using for most work have been upgraded to Celeron A-status (300A overclocked to 374MHz). With 384Mb RAM, a Riva TNT gfx-card (Canopus Spectra 2500) and dual Voodoo2, this machine mostly flies through the latests games. I have also made some comparisons between the TNT and Voodoo2 - SLI still rules, but the image quality of the TNT is better.
Digital photography have also been added to my line of cameras as a Canon PowerShot A5. This is a nice small camera capable of 1024x768 pictures - perfect for web and game usage (textures). The Pentax Auto 110 collection is almost complete now - I've got both the winder and the flash unit for. Only the pan-focus lens is still missing.
Talking about cameras - I have been on two more trips since last update - Orlando/Florida and Vienna/Austria. I will put up pictures when I got time (especially from Orlando).

1998-08-24
LCDLabel V1.3 is avaiable now!
The new LCDLabel are finished now - go and get it from my Delphi page. The new thing with this version are editable fonts - You can have Your own character set displayed with the LCDLabel. A easy to use editor are avaiable together with this release.
The Application page is up too - the font editor is anyway an application...

1998-08-22
Not much happens, but the weather are getting worse...
Everything just are a usual - work, bad weather and I just got a cold - the autum is here!
Anyway - to cheer things up, I've just got a new lens to my Pentax collection - the first Sigma. It is a long tele-zoom (135-400mm) of rather good quality (All Sigmas aren't bad...). I bought it via the Internet at Scandinavian Photo as they are much cheaper than local stores. They was also faster in delivery.
Also, I will try to get the version 1.3 of the LCDLabel soon out for everyone to try it out.

1998-07-22
Back from vacation in Germany
I'm back now after a 3-week vacation in Germany. It's time now to go back to some real stuff...
First, the RC project will continue with completeion of the roadracing car. The progress will be presented here at my pages. Then, LCDLabel are still alive - I have updated the Delphi Page with pricing information for those who are interested in commercial use of it. The version 1.3 will also soon arrive (I still have vacation...).

And look at this - whould You like to run Unreal with this one (I need a better CPU anyway...)? ;-)

Voodoo Info

1998-06-27
Progress with the RC
There was some time ago I made something with this homepage. But the reason for this are lot of new things. First of all, I have TWO Voodoo2 boards in my machine! They are running in SLI (Scan Line Interleave) mode, providing 1024x768 with Z-buffer. It looks beautiful with Unreal, wich I got directly from US (here in Sweden, the game appeared almost a month after it came in US).
Then I have also been working with my RC-car chassie project. The progress are positive and at my RC-page there are pictures showing the result. More will show up at these pages when project are closing to completeion.
Some more pictures have also been added to my pictures section.

1998-05-26
Project Chassi...
Now when the spring is here and the summer is getting closer - it's time to change to some more outdoor activity. One thing is to take the mountainbike on a ride... But sometimes the need for speed can be satisfied by less dangerous things - scale 1:10 radio controlled cars!
This summer will I and a friend start with a project where we re-design the chassi of our RC-cars. At my RC-page I will present the progress of the project.
At the other side, I'm planning to go SLI - by adding a second Voodoo2 I will be able to run 1024x768 without any perfomance hits. I have also heard rumors about using the Voodoo(2) boards as raytracers under 3D Studio MAX. I will present more when I know more about this.

1998-05-21
New Pictures and LCDLabel 1.2a
Finally I've got time to put up some pictures from my US-trip. I have also updated LCDLabel to 1.2a due to a small bug find by a user. The problem was a conflict between one of the properties of LCDLabel and the function 'round'. I used same name for one of the values of the pixel shape property. You can download the new one at my Delphi page.

1998-04-19
Minor updates - and a DVD-player...
After all trips I'm back at normal life again. The Pentax Auto 110 page has been updated with pictures of my equipment (one lens is missing at the picture) - could be iteresting, especially if You haven't seen a camera of that kind. I also bought that DVD-player - it was a sell-out during easter at Skribofont, one of the best on PC stuff in Stockholm. I went for the Creative Lab's Encore II and it works very well. Very nice picture quality (as good as NTSC gets), super sound and easy to use. It also doubles as an 20X CD-ROM reader.
I have got all my pictures from the last trip to US and some of them will soon appear at my pictures page. I will go more seriously about Flight Simulator 98 - I have collected more than 700 different aircrafts and hundred of scenerys, panels and other things to this one. Put everything on a CD and You have enough for a lifetime...
Sadly that Flight Unlimited 2 doesn't have that support - is it even possible to add own scenry or planes to it?

1998-03-29
Back again... Faster than ever!
Now I'm back from US and (hopefully) I will stay home for a while, giving more time to work at these pages. Anyway - during my trip in US I've got a lot of new things. First of all, a brand new Voodoo 2 board from Creative Labs. Alomst the first thing I made when I came home was to replace my old, thrusty Monster 3D with this new speed deamon and - you have to see it to believe it. And yes, it is the 12Mb version. I'm now waitning for some game that really uses the new things this board has to offer.
The next thing is a Cannondale mountain bike - not really computer related, but seriously fun anyway - high speed action in full 3D without any need of special hardware... ;-) By the way - as a tip for swedes that goes to US - bike prices are really low over there.
And third - my collection of Pentax Auto 110 lenses are almost complete now - I've got the 70mm tele lens and the only one that is missing is the 18mm Pan Focus (PF) lens. I've also got some close-up attachments for 18mm, 24mm and 50mm lenses.
Future plans: I will complete my Auto 110 page with pictures of my stuff when I've got the pictures developed. Also are a lot of pictures from US waiting and I will put up the best at the pictures section. And I will soon buy a DVD-player (I'm thinking of Creative's Encore II) so I can watch all movies I've found in US.

1998-03-01
There was a long time ageo...
There was a time ago I last made something with this page. That's due to a long trip I've made to US for doing some work (and some fun too). Recently I've made a short visit home (I'll go back again for a while) and now I've made some changes to these pages.
During the trip I've bought two new lenses for my Pentax collection. A 28-80mm Takumar for the 35mm cameras I have (I had before a Soligor, but the quality wasn't top really) and the 20-40mm zoom lens for Pentax Auto 110. When my trip are finished, I'll put up new pictures from the trip - I hope to get some especially from Arizona.
The Auto 110 section in Photo hardware has got it's Own page and more info has been added. Planned are to add pictures of the camera and it's lenses.

1998-01-17
Pentax Auto 110...
I have found a new add-on to my camera equipment - the Pentax Auto 110 with three lenses. You may think what kind of weird this camera is but it is really unique! It is a true SLR with interchangeable lenses and uses 110 film. That makes it look like a dwarf, but it works like a full size with program mode only (there are no possibilities to run it manually) - it uses both mirror and pentaprism, and the lensmount are of steel.
You can read more about it on the Photo hardware page.

1998-01-10
Member of Link Exchange!
Now are these pages a part of the Link Exchange project!
Links page now updated with more new links - 3DFx, Quake 2 and Flight sim's!

1998-01-06
Tricks'n Tips page are now operartive!
Go to the Delphi page to use this new feature to find or leave ideas and tips regarding Delphi/Pascal programming. C/C++ and C builder are also welcome but no BASIC! ;-)
Links to some friends are also added to the Links page.

1998-01-05
Welcome to the Homepage of Illuwatar!
Now, it is possible for everyone out there to follow what is happening here at my simple site. I will try to keep this (and the other pages) up to date, but sometimes it will not be possible due to trips or other events that keeps me busy. With this new service, there are at least a chance for me to notify if something is going on.

Until now, following has been done:
Homepage rebuilt (Main menu changed, Photo section splitted to pages for faster loads, this News section added). I will soon try to activate the tricks-and-tips section at the Delphi page. Othervise not much for now. The cristmas weekend ends finally tomorrow and the work awaits...


May the Force Be with You!