Weekly Update 491

Summary: Troy Hunt discusses the ESP32 BLE bridge experiment, Yale locks, Wi-Fi reliability, and potential Aqara U400 alternatives.

troyhunt.com

Serial Monitoring In The Field

Summary: Hand-held serial terminal setup for ESP32 projects using a phone, USB-C OTG, and the Serial USB Terminal app.

mountainofcode.co.uk

Building Transit Tracker

Summary: Open-source DIY public transit arrivals board, hardware firmware, ESPHome, CAD, build parties, and global community adaptations.

blog.horner.tj

PicoClaw: A Leaner AI Assistant That Actually Fits on Cheap Hardware

Summary: PicoClaw runs on cheap hardware, offloads AI to external APIs, and uses Go with OpenRouter support for versatile LLM access.

emsi.me

How I built Timeframe, our family e-paper dashboard

Summary: A decade-long build of a family dashboard using Ruby on Rails, Home Assistant, e-paper displays (Visionect, Boox Mira Pro), IMGKit, and Docker

hawksley.org

Dice2

Summary: Dice2 assembled is ready; LPGate audio upgrade and SPDT LPGate clock input bypass included.

gieskes.nl

We have birds!

Summary: BirdNET-Pi on a Pi 4B with better wifi and power efficiency for nocturnal migrants and dawn chorus detection

jeremycherfas.net

KIM-1 Rev D White

Summary: KIM-1 Rev D White restoration: a hands-on look at repairing and preserving a vintage single-board computer using manuals, connectors, and vintage components.

retro.hansotten.nl

Frigate with Hailo for object detection on a Raspberry Pi

Summary: Using Frigate with Hailo-8/8L on Raspberry Pi 5/CM4 for low-power object detection with PCIe, Docker, and modprobe fixes

jeffgeerling.com

Hardware in the Loop Continuous Integration for FPGA tools

Summary: Hardware in the Loop CI for FPGA tools using Raspberry Pi, Home Assistant, OpenFPGALoader, and UART verification

pepijndevos.nl

Problems Caused By “transition: 0”

Summary: A Home Assistant user discovers that disabling animation with transition: 0 on off automations causes odd device behavior with mixed light types.

nuxx.net

My childhood motherboard arrived

Summary: Childhood motherboard arrival from Ukraine sparks nostalgia, unboxing, hardware repair aims, and reflections on 1998-era PC history.

rubenerd.com

A Braun clock for a $30 handheld

Summary: Homaging a Dieter Rams design on a $30 handheld with SDL geometry and fractional time rendering.

eliseomartelli.it

M17 Project CC1200 Hotspot

Summary: Guide to setting up M17 Project CC1200 Hotspot with a Raspberry Pi, new browser dashboard, and auto-updating firmware via a streamlined installer.

hagensieker.com

A busted Athlon-ara motherboard BIOS

Summary: Old Athlon-64 motherboard BIOS issues: BIOS checksum failures, recovery prompts, and a SST 39SF040 flash chip cure attempt with an Asus K8V SE Deluxe

rubenerd.com

How to display sensor information

Summary: Step-by-step guide using lm-sensors on Linux to install, configure, and read hardware health data with JSON output.

sleeplessbeastie.eu

How I made my physical mailbox send me real-time push notifications

Summary: Turned a mailbox into a real-time push system using Zigbee, MQTT, Home Assistant, and a battery-powered router

jonathas.com

What dreams are made of

Summary: Dreams of interfacing a BBC Micro B monitor port with ESP32 using quad SPI to clock RGB and sync, mapping PNGs via WiFi for browser display.

revk.uk

I have no need for a 3D printer (cough)

Summary: Casual riff on 3D printing temptations, retrocomputing projects, and a few specific printables and designs.

rubenerd.com

LT6502: A 6502-based homebrew laptop

Summary: A 6502-based laptop design exploring PC6502, EhBASIC, memory map, and PCB hardware in progress with BASIC code on a retro-inspired system.

github.com

More childhood Melbourne i486 progress

Summary: Melbourne i486 rebuild, RAM upgrade, PicoPSU/PicoRC usage, and nostalgic hardware hunt in a personal tech blog.

rubenerd.com

Still no birds

Summary: BirdNET-Pi workflow tweaks, RAM drive, and 15-second recordings amid webmentions and weather

jeremycherfas.net

Resetting the LE75CW aircon controller

Summary: How to reset a LE75CW aircon controller using a specific button sequence to fix a stuck temperature

rubenerd.com

Sharp PC-5000, Vintage Laptop with Bubble Memory Cartridge System

Summary: Restoration of Sharp PC-5000 bubble memory laptop, power supply fixes, keyboard quirks, and display issues

smbaker.com

RP2040 MIDI Soundboard Player for Live Streaming

Summary: RP2040 MIDI soundboard for live streaming using USB MIDI, FatFS, I2S audio on Pico with two enclosure variants

bikerglen.com

Building a FOSS live streaming camera

Summary: FOSS live streaming camera with Raspberry Pi 4B, HQ Camera, picamera2, libcamera, DRM/KMS, Python UI, RTSP streaming, and DIY enclosure ideas.

blog.brixit.nl

Make your Wyze camera useful again with Thingino and Telegram

Summary: Wyze camera hacks with Thingino and Telegram for remote alerts, photos, and clips using Bot Tokens and Telegram services

developer.run

Battery powered board

Summary: Battery powered ESP32-S3 board using TP4054, TPS22916, and low-power design to run on LiPo for extended periods

revk.uk

Testing Reachy Mini - Hugging Face's Pi powered robot

Summary: Hands-on review of Reachy Mini with Raspberry Pi CM4, exploring setup, privacy, apps, and local vs cloud AI demos in Hugging Face and Seeed Seeed Seeed

jeffgeerling.com

Piping the Web to My E-Reader

Summary: Piping the Web to an Open‑Source CrossPoint e‑reader with a Bash script using pandoc and readability-cli

solberg.is