It was by no means the first OS that captured my attention as I’d been an Amiga user for quite a few years at that point, but at the moment I can’t start with AmigaOS as I don’t have nay up-to-date Amiga-compatible hardware. Slackware was the first Linux-based distribution I tried back in 1995, I’m not sure which version it was, but it came to me via a magazine coverdisk. When deciding where to start on this road, there was an obvious choice. A Distro From The 1990s, Today The Hackaday test PC gets its first outing. Join me then, as I try all the operating systems. Historical systems such as CP/M are probably out of the question as are extremely esoteric ones such as the famous TempleOS, but this still leaves plenty of choice for an operating system tourist. In addition to using the OS every day though, I’ll also be taking a look at what makes it different from all the others, what its direction and history is, and how user-friendly it is as an experience. Hence this is the start of what I hope will be a long-running series, in which I try different operating systems in my everyday life as a Hackaday writer, to find out about them and then to see whether they can deliver on the promise of giving me a stable platform on which to earn a living.įor that they need an internet connection and a web browser up-to-date enough to author Hackaday stories, as well as a decent graphics package. Now if you are building an insect…Ĭontinue reading “Gas-Powered Fly Swatter Slightly Over-Engineered” → Posted in Misc Hacks Tagged dyneema, Fly Swatter, flyswatter, gas cylinder, pneumatic, steelĪs a recent emigre from the Ubuntu Linux distribution to Manjaro, I’ve had the chance to survey the field as I chose a new distro, and I realised that there’s a whole world of operating systems out there that we all know about, but which few of us really know. In all likelihood, this is the largest insect-control device we’ve seen since this microwave-powered bug zapper. It also eventually received some other upgrades as well including extra weights to prevent the flyswatter from bouncing after firing and a reinforced metal rod to hold the flyswatter after its demonstrations on various dimensional lumber destroyed it. With the addition of a few safety features, like a spring-assisted bumper to keep the flyswatter from swinging too far and hitting its operator, the machine is ready for use. At the other end of the rope is a long metal lever with the flyswatter on the end, in this case, made out of a sheet of laser-cut plate steel. After this initial testing of the gas cylinder, a cam mechanism is installed on the top, and the gas cylinder is slightly modified to pull on a piece of Dyneema rope attached to the cam. As a bit of a tangent, first tests this part by using it to shoot lemons at pieces of plywood. The build comes to us in two parts, with the first part documenting the construction of some of the parts of the flyswatter, including the piston-driven gas cylinder. Although we don’t know if everyone needs as robust a machine as this to deal with a minor annoyance like a house fly, we can certainly appreciate the over-engineered, extremely powerful (and dangerous) machine that can swat flies but also break through a two-by-four with ease. At least, that is how explains the design philosophy behind this enormous, overpowered flyswatter. Any good flyswatter ought to be able to break through a hefty piece of wood.
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