Michael at Mitchtech has published a neat and simple method of creating physical gauges to show various operating parameters for his computer, for example CPU load and memory usage. He uses an Arduino board, two servos and some Python code which should take less than one hour to assemble. The results are shown in the following video:
This is another great example of how easy it is to visualise data using an Arduino board. You can read about the project and examine the code from Michael's post. To get started with your own Arduino-based projects, start with the Freetronics Eleven - the Arduino Uno-compatible with compact USB socket, onboard prototyping area and easy to read status LEDs:
