PyPortal Event Countdown Clock Mods III
Some big updates to the software for the modified PyPortal Event Countdown Clock. The UI was changed and several features added. It also seems to be more stable as it does not lock-up randomly. Let’s get into the changes. Noticed that the temperature was several degrees too high. This was due to the ADT7410 being too close to devices generating heat. I removed the ADT7410 and placed it on a small board and added a PH2 JST connector so it may be plugged into the I2C socket. This resulted in much more usable temperature reading. Adafruit PyPortal Titano I just…
PyPortal Event Countdown Clock Mods II
I have implemented some of the items on my to do list from last week’s post and tested out a few more ideas. I have also published version 0.1 to GitHub. I want to provide a few details on version 0.1 of the code and what is being worked for version 1.0. The two releases are very different with 1.0 being the one that I recommend you use once it is available. Version 0.1 does automatically change the backlight brightness but it is not too dramatic therefore not very useful in my opinion. I’m disappointed by the way that turned…
PyPortal Event Countdown Clock Mods
I recently purchased an Adafruit PyPortal and looked at using John Park’s project PyPortal Event Countdown Clock project. It was fairly easy to get it up an running but switching from CircuitPython 4 to 8, proved to cause a bit of a challenge, not with the code, but with the libraries. Some were moved from one file to multiple files in one folder but eventually, I got it all sorted out. I plan to use the PyPortal on an upcoming cruise, which lead me to some ideas of how to change the code to make it a bit more useful…
Meshtastic Serial
I wanted to see about connecting a Raspberry Pi Pico to a LillyGo TTGO T-Beam v1.1 device. I noticed that Meshtastic supports serial communications, so I decided to give it a go to see how it worked. There are several serial modes but the ones that seem the most useful are TXTMSG and PROTO. First attempt will be with the TXTMSG Mode as that seems straight forward. Once the TXTMSG Mode is working, I will look into how to use the PROTO Mode. Wiring We need to connect the grounds between the two devices, then connect the transmit (TX) from…
Psion Sidecar Part II
I’m going to dive in a bit on the Psion Sidecar that I covered last week and add some details to explain the RS232 connections and the switches on the Sidecar. Male DB9 Connector PinFunctionI/O Direction1Data Carrier Detect (DCD)Input2Receive Data (RD)Input3Transmit Data (TD or SD)Output4Data Terminal Ready (DTR)Output5Signal Ground (SG)6Data Set Ready (DSR)Input7Request to Send (RTS)Output8Clear to Send (CTS)Input9Ring Indicator (RI)InputPC DB9 Pinout Sidecar DB9 Pinout The silkscreen and case markings were confusing me at first. It was a bit difficult to understand which switch position was for a straight Data Terminal Equipment (DTE) connection and which was for a…
Getting Psion 5mx on the Internet
I found a project that Kian Ryan put together to get his Psion 5mx on the internet. It will not run YouTube or provide the content that we are used to today but it can provide a 1990’s internet experience. Kian wrote up his build in a few of his blog posts. Below is a list of his blog posts. Please check them out for more details. When I saw the video of Kian on Tom’s hardware, I immediately went to his blog to see how he put it together. I had been thinking of doing something similar and seeing…
Soft Latching Power Switch Revisited
This week, I have some updates revolving around the Soft Latching Power Switch, that I last wrote about eight years ago. I finally returned to the project and now have it working as I intended. I also have made some changes to the Dual Volt Amp Meter’s Desktop software. I believe I may now have a stable usable version. Lastly, I’ve gotten started with Flux.ai and plan on using it to replace my old version of Eagle. Soft Latching Power Switch I resolved a few items that I encountered previously when I attempted to use the Soft Latching Power Switch…
Psion Nostalgia
QUOTE – NOSTALGIA IS HEROIN FOR OLD PEOPLE DARA O’BRIAIN It seems that my Psion collection has been taking most of my attention. I’ve been testing some CF, SD, and microSD cards in my Psion 5mx and Ericsson MC 218. I also came across Kian Ryan’s Sidecar for Psion devices to connect them to the internet. I had a similar idea to Kian’s Sidecar project but instead of an RS232 connection, I was thinking of an IrDA connection. I’ve purchased the items to build Kian’s Sidecar and plan to make one once all the parts arrive. Once I get that…
Updates for the week of 26 February 2023
There are many topics this week to cover, thus the reason for the non-descript title. Some of the things that have come up this week are Psion and Ericsson repairs, ChatGPT and DeepSource, and Agile2023. Psion and Ericsson repairs I was able to carryout another screen cable repair this week on the Ericsson MC 218. The MC 218 had the hooks in the back for the lid hinge so this repair resulted in a good as new repair. It did pose a challenge as the hinge is really not designed to be put in place while connected to the screen.…
Loading…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.