[COLUG] Offtopic: Hardware Hacker List?

[Josh]

Howdy,

Does anyone know of a hardware hacker list?  For example: I need a circuit 
that will deliver exactly 16 pulses, each pulse being less than ten 
nanoseconds wide.  I know how to design such a beast using discrete 
components (i.e. 555 timer, decade counter, handful of gates) but it's 
probably not efficient and I don't know if I can get chips with tight 
enough timing to do this right.

This actually is somewhat Linux related.  I got a Chumby, which is a neat 
Linux-powered "toy", and I want to make it into a thermostat using Dallas 
OneWire components.  The component I have is actually a complete 
thermostat, but it requires the funky 16 pulse signaling to switch modes 
from Thermostat mode to 1-Wire communications mode.  (Of course I could 
always do something much simpler, a thermometer and a switch, but I don't 
like the idea of waking up to a frozen house if the program crashes.  The 
thermostat chip is a complete thermostat in hardware, reducing this 
risk...)

http://www.chumby.com

Cheers,
-J