Hardware


We’ve been thinking about getting into 3D printing here at the Hammel household.  I’m looking at building small enclosures for the various embedded boards I work on.  My wife is looking at creating components for the designs she works on for Vindicated Vinyl, her small business.  After doing a bit […]

Getting started with the Robo3D printer and OctoPrint


The value of an over-exuberant penchant for experimentation and fiddling should never be underestimated, if only because it helps measure the onset of age-associated mental debilitation. In other words, everyone needs a hobby. Or two. Or ten.

What to do in 2017


Back in October I started work on a new app for PiBox: an XM radio player.  The hardware is an XMPCR, a device sold in the early 2000’s that connected over USB to a PC.  The device didn’t last long.  I think there was some concern that people would steal […]

PiBox: XM radio app (PiXM) and wifi scanning in PNC




So here’s my use case:  I need a camera that is easily positioned away from the Raspberry Pi and can stream via mjpeg-streamer.  Not huge requirements.  Here is why the Raspicam doesn’t fit that use case. I’ve received a camera with the wrong cable from a Chinese distributor via Amazon.  […]

Why a Raspicam isn’t better than a USB webcam.





One of the directions my PiBox project is headed is as a central hub for sensor management.  This implies the ability to communicate between the PiBox and the sensor node using BLE or Wifi.  PiBox can do that already over Wifi (and supports basic BLE communication though lacks a meaningful […]

Embedded project: 4 channel Arduino-based power controller


One of the longterm goals for PiBox is to integrate it into the home.  I want to see the PiBox Server provide centralized communication for an array of IoT devices.  One way to do this is with Bluetooth Low-Energy, aka BLE, aka Bluetooth 4.0.  This specification allows very low power […]

PiBox: bluetooth for video means no omxplayer



Networking in QEMU I’ve recently had a need to test UEFI booting for a disk image.  I stumbled upon OVMF, a bios that will handle UEFI booting.  It works pretty well but doesn’t remember its config sometimes.  But that’s not why I’m writing this. In my disk image I need […]

Networking with QEMU and KVM speedup


I’ve been working on PiBox now for a couple of years.  The immediate goal is a consumer-oriented device for video playback while not connected to the Internet.  In other words, play movies while camping.  I have longer term goals for it, but that’s where the project is aimed currently. At […]

Raspberry Pi: Kodi vs PiBox use case comparison