Tony is a Geek

Yep, I ordered it back in January 2024, it finally arrived...just before December 2024.  Apparently the 10-month delay wasn't a joke, it really does take that long.  Was it worth the wait? Yeah, I reckon so. The 32Gb SDCard that came with the device, I just stuck it into the device - it was Debian 11 Bullseye for Raspberry Pi 4.  It worked okay, for a day or so. I installed [node-red], it worked well, I downloaded [world-map] and got some markers appearing, it seemed to perform well.  I then started to think how I want to set this device up to use it.  I wanted [Arduino] too. That 4G adaptor - how do you get it to work? (using the Debian Bullseye install) Well, after putting in a SIM card, the instructions in this article worked a treat: https://github-wiki-see.page/m/clockworkpi/uConsole/wiki/How-to-use-the-4G-extension To summarise: $ uconsole--4g-cm4 enable This outputs that it is detecting the adaptor and then it says something like "success". Then what? Wel...

Well, the sun is out, the frost is melting, it actually snowed yesterday, it didn't snow anywhere else in the UK ( that I'm aware of ), but it did snow a LOT in California ( and still is )  Here's a photo of my garden from yesterday morning, I was very surprised as it meant I couldn't really continue with the landscape waterfall remodelling that I'd started the previous day: With such loveliness that Spring is coming and Winter is just making an attempt to show it is still a force to be reckoned with, I was pondering on how I spend my last couple of days of "freedom", ie. the as-before-mentioned-time-off.  I'll document below the tech. toys that I decided to setup & get working ready for next months "time off" where I can pull a lot of this technology together to actually start to "make something". Oh and then I noticed this headline in my fav. IT news website:  IBM announces European layoffs and for some uncontrollable reason,...

...and that is not THIS type of Lorra Lorra laughs : Cyla Black although, my laughs were more tears of woe and then tears of joy-ish What is LoRa and why is it spelt that way? well, you could DuckDuckGo and search for it, however, simple description: "Lo-ng Ra-nge comms" . [UPDATE: okay, I'll answer the question, "why bother? why not just use WiFi?" - that is such a non-Gen X question.  Right. WiFi sucks a LOT of power, I mean a LOT.  It also requires an AP (access point), one device will have to be a gateway router for one device to connect to the other... and also, well, the "LoRa" name says it all... can you move your laptop outside your house, walk down the street, keep walking, keep walking some more and still get a signal to that WiFi AP? no. no you cannot. Ah, ha, then you'll attempt to be smart and say, "4G" or "5G", well, yes, but that needs another device, such as your phone to be required, then you have to connect yo...

Small. [tick]  Not internet connected. [tick] Not slurping your data. [tick] Not owned by global Tech company selling your data. [tick]  Made by people you know and trust. [tick] Welcome to the NICLA VOICE : (and yes, of course I'm signed up to get one when they become available!) Funny thing - when I first ever went to the web-page I read that as [subscribe to the WANTING list] Now, NICLA VISION is what most people would have been aware of in the past, but this new board is amazing (potentially) I won't bother repeating more, however GO VISIT HERE for the latest information and to know more. UPDATE: I have just noticed this device for sale - SU-03T offline opensource voice recognition Official WEBSITE Amazon (yes, there are cheaper one's from £8-£13) Okay, so it might be a bit more RAW than the above device, it does however have a lower price entry, it's open and it can be used in a lot more flexible scenarios (according to things I've read). For (est)£10 it migh...

Okay, not that one.... How am I only finding out about this now? Yes, you can opt. for MicroPython, if that's your thing... and there are lots of "extra" IoT components that you can add too. I added the SDCard and ILI9341 components to the screen above - you can then link them up to the GPIO pins. You can then write the C code, as you would normally.... and then you can execute the code and DEBUG it normally. This is quite an interesting concept - I am not sure exactly how many times you can re-flash the actual PICO, but it will have a shelf life... and I reckon over the past 2 weeks, I've probably flashed mine about 500 times!  Obviously, this won't replace the need for actual device testing - but, it will help reduce the code / test / debug / get it right cycle and then once happy then extract out. Yes, it also won't cater for custom hardware either - but I do believe it does allow you to upload your existing code / libraries and will include them - I need t...

I just forced myself to do an initial inventory check of the "toys" I have in my current "to hand" tech-cave.  I need to draw a picture.  and I'm going to be a rebel and NOT use UML, just cos... (it'll probably end up looking very UML-like, but shush, don't tell the rebel part of my brain that)....so, where are you draw.io (oh it has a new name now, I must remember that) Not that I use the online version, I use the installed offline version - y'know, cos I'm old-skool and (insert lots of reasons here and move on). Okay, I've gone even more old skool and used a pen & paper (I missed a few, believe it or not!), I'll do a digital version later: What am I actually "doing" with these devices? Well a variety of things... okay, nothing really all that useful.  They were purchased / used for various tasks at a specific point in time.  For instance the Pi Zero was bought when it was the latest thing and I naturally bought two, I use...