One of the most common patterns I’ve run into while working on PiBox has been threads that process inbound data via a queue. The pattern is simple enough. Initialize a thread to acquire data When data arrives, put it into a data structure Place the data structure on a queue […] Thread Management with Mutexes and SemaphoresTue May 19, 2020 in Linux / Open Source / PiBox / Software Development tagged Linux / PiBox / piboxd / semaphores / threads
You are in a maze of twisty little configurations.... Migrating from HTTP to HTTPS with certbotThu April 06, 2017 in General / Linux / Wordpress tagged Apache HTTP Server / google / Linux / virtual hosts / web server / Wordpress (updated 2538 days ago)
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 OctoPrintSun January 29, 2017 in Art and Graphics / Education / Fedora / Hardware / Raspberry Pi tagged 3D printer / debian / Fedora / GIMP / graphics / Linux / printing / Raspberry Pi / sd card / USB camera (updated 28 days ago)
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 2017Thu December 29, 2016 in General / Hardware / Linux / PiBox / Raspberry Pi / Software Development tagged adafruit / Android / ARM / debian / IoT / Linux / PiBox / Raspberry Pi / technology / toolchain / web server / WebKit / xmpcr (updated 2358 days ago)
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 PNCWed December 14, 2016 in Audio / General / GTK+ / Hardware / Linux / PiBox / PiBox Network Config / PiClock / PiXM / Raspberry Pi / Software Development / XMPCR tagged Android / busybox / colorado springs / graphics / GTK+ / laptop / Linux / linux journal / Media Server / PiBox / Radio / Raspberry Pi / Roku / routers / signal / Sirius / ui components / video playback / video player / wifi / ximba / xm radio / xmpcr
It’s official: PiBox will be at the Colorado Springs Maker Faire on October 15th. The Maker Faire will be held at Library 21c which is just North of the Northeast corner of the Chapel Hills Mall. Last year saw around 6300 attendees and turnout is expected to be even better […] PiBox @ CS Maker Faire, Oct 15thTue October 04, 2016 in General / Linux / PiBox / Raspberry Pi / Software Development tagged colorado springs / Linux / Open Source / PBS / PiBox / projector / Raspberry Pi / system development / the Colorado Springs Maker Faire / X11
I’ve been fiddling with an ESP8266 this week that is being powered by an FTDIBasic board from SparkFun. The setup is simple enough and it’s easy enough to get a simple web server running on it but I don’t have a power switch so the whole thing is powered through […] udev rule for FTDIBasic from SparkFunMon February 15, 2016 in Arduino / Fedora / General / Linux tagged arduino / Fedora / FTDI / Future Technology Devices International / Linux / USB connector / usb port / web server / wifi
PiBox was built as a proof of concept for a variety of purposes. One of those was to serve media in my trailer when we go camping. I use omxplayer to play videos that are provided over SMB between a server and a player system. That works okay but the […] Streaming just got easier, with DLNA and RokuSat January 09, 2016 in General / Linux / Movies / PiBox / Raspberry Pi / Video tagged DLNA / DVD / Fedora / Linux / music / Open Source / PiBox / Raspberry Pi / Roku / Video
My first PCBs arrived in early December, but due to the holidays I haven’t done anything with them yet. I just wanted to show what they look like. There are 5 small boards attached to my PCB: An FTDI Basic from Sparkfun for connecting a USB cable to my Linux […] APC PCBsSun December 27, 2015 in Arduino / Hardware / Linux / PiBox / Raspberry Pi tagged arduino / cable / FTDI Basic / Linux / PCB / PCB layout / USB connector
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 controllerThu November 05, 2015 in Arduino / Hardware / Holiday lighting / Raspberry Pi tagged 4 channel relay / adafruit / arduino / Linux / PiBox / sda/scl / signals / timer / wifi (updated 3056 days ago)
When I was just getting started with embedded development I found many tutorials on how to perform cross compiles required setting up some shell functions and variables before working on builds. This is a necessity for embedded work because the embedded build for the target platform won’t use the same […] cdtools, because who has just one project?Mon April 06, 2015 in General / Linux / Raspberry Pi / Software Development tagged angstrom / ARM / buildroot / embedded development / Fedora / git / java / kernel / Linux / metabuild / Metabuilds / OpenEmbedded / packaging / PiBox / rpm / toolchain / yocto (updated 3204 days ago)
I’ve been working on building custom Debian and Ubuntu distributions for use under VirtualBox. One advantage that both have over Fedora is debootstrap. This tool allows you to create a default rootfs from pre-compiled packages inside a directory. You can then chroot into that directory to install the kernel image, […] Debian/Ubuntu debootstrap images for VirtualBoxFri February 27, 2015 in Fedora / Linux / Software Development / Ubuntu / virtualization tagged bootloader / Chroot / debian / debootstrap / Dpkg / Fedora / grub / kernel / kernel modules / kvm / Linux / qemu / raw disk image / ubuntu / VirtualBox / Xen