DIYbio activity

Has DIYbio activity decreased? That's what I wondered when I didn't see that large amount of emails from the DIYbio mailing list that I used to receive each month. So I decided to do some research. On the Google Groups About page for DIYbio, I found the amount of posts on the site per month. Using my trusty Google Spreadsheets, I made a simple line graph plotting posts vs month. It seems that the posts peaked at 975 on February 2, 2009. The trend seems to show a decline in posts after that period. We'll have to wait to see where this is going. The real question is the reason. Is it the frustration with the politics of DIYbio, equipment, etc.




Months | Posts
4 2008 | 70
5 2008 | 37
6 2008 | 91
7 2008 | 105
8 2008 | 30
9 2008 | 83
10 2008| 193
11 2008| 140
12 2008| 394
1 2009 | 595
2 2009 | 975
3 2009 | 543
4 2009 | 715
5 2009 | 331
6 2009 | 411
7 2009 | 501
8 2009 | 273
9 2009 | 70

Folding@Home

Yesterday, I set up F@H to so that my unused processes will go to do calculations for Stanford's protein folding problems. The program is so easy to set up. All I did was download the latest file and create a username. Then I joined the Maximum PC folding team (ID: 11108).
You can view the Instructables on this as a quick read on the setup.

Here's the other links:
Official Stanford Folding site

Maximum PC Folding Forum

Building the stereo mic Part 1

I attached and soldered the wires to the jack as the schematic showed. It worked and it picked up the sounds. I couldn't find a housing at first. I later found some clear tubing that could make a tight fit for the mics. Now I have to trim the wires and shove it all in a tube about 4 cm in length.

Finally: How to make stereo mics

It took a couple of hours in this world of instant information but I finally got some simple information on creating a stereo microphone for my voice recorder. Go here to get the full details including schematics:

http://www.hobby-hour.com/electronics/computer_microphone.php



The TRS connector has 3 sections on its tip: left and right channel signal input, and ground. To make the stereo mic, all one has to do is:
1) Join the ground wires on the electrets together and connect them both to the GND of the stereo plug.
2) Connect one positive electret wire to the left channel of the stereo plug and the other electrets positive terminal to the right channel of the plug.

Easy as pie. I haven't used it much but I will during lectures. It seems to be a good addition to the on board stereo mic of the recorder.

I got interested in building one after I saw this home built mic:
http://www.diycamera.com/audio/audioindex.htm



Only problem was, he didn't say how the wiring went. Well, now I know.