In a recent newsletter, well known scientist Katherine Hayhoe mentioned a listing of the top most efficient computers – while efficiency is something to consider in your purchases, is there really a big difference in which laptop you buy and use?
Continue reading “Computer efficiency numbers – useful rating or greenwashing?”MakerFaire Central Oregon 2022
This year’s MakerFaire had some great additions and some new booths… Check out a few of the highlights:
Continue reading “MakerFaire Central Oregon 2022”Pinephone setup – the more stable version with Phosh
If you have purchased the Pinephone you may have noted the very buggy issues with the default install. Unfortunately the Manjaro Linux with Plasma mobile has some very odd issues, keeps requesting updates, and is quite buggy. The Phosh (GTK) system is much more usable and uses the same Phosh startup shell which makes it work in similar manner as the more expensive Librem5 phone, and can be flashed to the Pinephone quite easily:
Continue reading “Pinephone setup – the more stable version with Phosh”Re-flashing the Librem Phone with Byzantium
If you just received a Librem 5 you probably have the latest software – including the new software that has a (mostly) working photos app, gps and a basic maps app! Development has continued on these devices but if you have one of the previous preorders you probably have been waiting on new updates and only getting a few standard package updates and no new apps 🙁
If you want to upgrade the phone in this case you need to re-flash it and wipe it with the newer version. Note this deletes everything and starts anew!
Their instructions here should be fine for some, but only if you have a very very new Ubuntu based system. If you have an older one such as Ubuntu 20.04 then you can get set up as shown below.
Continue reading “Re-flashing the Librem Phone with Byzantium”GTK Choice box with Glade and Python
There may be times you have a simple choice or listing in a GTK list box – for this example, in choosing a serial connection or other device. Glade is a good way to build an application window easily with an interface to build in to your app on Linux desktop, Ubuntu or Librem phone or other Linux based phones. I was able to use this to create a Winlink user interface for the previous tutorial to call up the Pat interface.
Continue reading “GTK Choice box with Glade and Python”Pat + Winlink with handheld radio and handheld Mobilinkd TNC
A previous posting showed how to set up Winlink through basic internet (Telnet). Internet/Wifi may or may not be available in any emergency, however, so it is important to be able to work Winlink over a VHF/UHF radio – which is the main benefit of WINLINK over e-mail, after all. To get this working you will need a radio, a TNC, and computer with the Pat or Winlink program. For my test I use a Yaesu FT-70 handheld, Mobilinkd TNC3, and Pat on a Linux computer.
Continue reading “Pat + Winlink with handheld radio and handheld Mobilinkd TNC”How to Train a Bird Robot
A recent research project documented in Science shows a project they built to emulate the functionality of bird talon/grasping:
Continue reading “How to Train a Bird Robot”Treecard review – the card that plants trees
Treecard by Ecosia is a new debit card designed to reforest – and a card that is made of wood! Some previous app ratings suggested that this was “not real”, but it is in fact a real card – it has been delayed but the card production issues apparently were figured out, as they are shipping now.
Continue reading “Treecard review – the card that plants trees”Pi-Star MMDVM Setup and Setting Up Callsign listener with Hearham.live
Pi-start is a way to make a MMDVM (available from Newegg and other retailers) a DMR digital repeater node to talk with digital radio. If you have a Raspberry Pi, sd and reader, and a computer, you can set it up…
Continue reading “Pi-Star MMDVM Setup and Setting Up Callsign listener with Hearham.live”Pine64 PineTime review
PineTime is one inexpensive yet very useful “smart watch”. If you want one that is open source, unlike those from Apple or Google, you will be glad to see this watch which is not only inexpensive but has software you can change (if you buy a dev kit version and know some wiring…)
Continue reading “Pine64 PineTime review”