Too Many Pixels | Hackaday
In some cases simpler is extra spectacular than complex, and element of this is undoubtedly owing to Arthur C. Clarke’s third legislation: “Any sufficiently advanced technological innovation is indistinguishable from magic.”. It’s counter-intuitive, nevertheless, that a high-tech undertaking would appear to be any significantly less wonderful than a simpler one, but hear me out.
I initially recognized this ages in the past, when we were being ripping out the blue laser diodes from Casio XJ-A130 laser projectors back when this was the only way to get a potent blue laser diode. Casio had bought up the world’s provide of the 1.5 W Nichias, and was placing 24 of them in each projector, producing them well worth much more dead than alive, if you know what I indicate. In any case, we ended up putting on a laser show, and the vivid blue diode laser was just what we required.
Color laser setups take three or a lot more diverse lasers, merge the beams, and then bounce them off of mirrors connected to galvos. Steer the mirrors all-around, and you can project vector illustrations or photos. It is rather cool tech, and requires some significant great-tuning, but the irony right here is that we were tearing aside a gadget with 788,736 microscopic DLP mirrors to place the lasers via just two. And but, a Diy laser clearly show is considerably cooler than just putting up your powerpoint on the business office wall.
The identical detail goes for 2D plotting equipment like the AxiDraw. The astonishing tech powering any aged laser printer is thoughts-numbing. Maybe pretty much. Why else would we think that art drawn out by a pen in the fingers of a stepper-run robotic is cooler than the output of a 1600 DPI unit coming from HP’s steady? I imply, as a substitute of jogging an hrs-extended task to put ink on paper with a pen, my Laserjet places out an picture in ten seconds. But it’s just not as considerably fun.
So here we are, in an age in which there’s so darn much magic all all over us, in the type of adequately highly developed engineering, that comprehensible products are actually extra outstanding. And my guess is that it’s partly since it’s not surprising when a system which is currently magic does a thing magical. I necessarily mean, which is just what it’s supposed to do. Duh!
But when something gorgeous emerges from a pair of mirrors epoxied to shafts on springs turned by copper coils, that is serious magic.
