Christmas lights are something I really look forward to this time of year. Ideally with snow, which lately seems scarce. But changing weather aside it still stays darker this time of year in the Northern Hemisphere, and the extra light looks nice. One of the changes since I was younger is the proliferation of LED… Read more Xmas Lights
Solar Pi Thoughts
The Solar Pi is an idea I had for a project/concept art project: a Raspberry Pi powered directly from a solar panel, hosting a website. When the sun is down, the site isn’t available. There are other solar powered websites out there, but forgoing storage is an interesting idea. It wouldn’t have to be a… Read more Solar Pi Thoughts
The Fediverse
I’m an engineer. I enjoy working with technology, even when I find it frustrating. I enjoy solving problems using technology, and having it available for others to use and perhaps solve their own problems. I work primarily with hardware, but I have a foot in the software realm. I’ve been a Linux user going back… Read more The Fediverse
Winter Weather and a New Year
Where I am, it’s about 40° F (4.4°C) right now, on January 1st, 2023. A week ago it was in the single digits, and there was a blizzard. I’m in Western NY visiting family, and was stuck inside for most of that weekend. Luckily, we had power and heat, and enough food. So we just… Read more Winter Weather and a New Year
Email is Fine for What It is
In theory, you should be able to host your own email server. That, in turn, should allow you to exchange emails with other people with email servers. This is a form of federation, where users on each system can talk to users on another. A similar example of this on the web-side of things would… Read more Email is Fine for What It is
Keeping Track of Parts
I’ve touched upon Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems at work. The general idea makes sense, you have your thing, the subassemblies, and all the parts that go into them. And documents and whatever else. And while in big companies you end up with complex webs of objects within these systems which can sometimes feel offputing,… Read more Keeping Track of Parts
Diode-OR UPS
I recently put together what is basically a small UPS. It’s simple, made up of three diodes and some resistors, and lets you trickle charge a battery while power something and then seamlessly switch to the battery if the power source goes out. This was actually built just for charging a small lithium iron phosphate… Read more Diode-OR UPS
Switching Blogging Software
For whatever reason, I’ve been wanting to try an alternate way of composing this blog. Now, I’m not a frequent blogger, as you can see. I’ve daydreamed of putting more content at this site, but I tend to be slow at getting around to it. I’m not sure if switching to a different platform would… Read more Switching Blogging Software
A Solar Website
As if I needed another project, I had been tossing something around lately regarding renewable energy and the web. Low Tech Magazine, which showcases what it considers old and forgotten technology, has an edition of their website available served from a Raspberry Pi run entirely off-grid. Their setup consists of a Pi powered from a… Read more A Solar Website
Goings On
I wish I had some progress to post about, but I will take a few moments to just talk about some scraps of things. I’m seriously considering moving this blog to a static site, and have been looking at Hugo. I like the idea of composing posts in a text editor, and then regenerating the… Read more Goings On