Posts

Updates to wordclock

A few years ago I made a MicroPython based word clock ( example). I’ve refreshed it to work with the latest version of MicroPython and added a MQTT based interface to Home Assistant.

OpenWrt as the first point in my network

I’d like to separate the primary and secondary services in my home network so, for example, a problem with Nginx doesn’t break the home automation. The current plan is to put the primary services including routing and basic automation onto one simple machine and see if that helps.

Toy 8 bit CPU

I decided to step back from the full 6502 and implement a toy 8 bit processor. I ended up implementing Soo-Ik Chae’s architecture from https://ocw.snu.ac.kr/sites/default/files/NOTE/6639.pdf. Zachary Yedidia’s SystemVerilog Guide was a useful guide to idiomatic SystemVerilog, and David Money Harris’s MIPS implementation from CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.

FPGA and blinking lights

Today I got the OrangeCrab blink example running on my board, yay! My daily driver is a Pixelbook, so I resurected an old laptop and put Debian stable on it so I could have a good set of USB ports.

WireGuard as a home VPN

I’ve just set up WireGuard on my home server and it’s pretty easy even without an UI. I’m now using it as a VPN from Android, Chrome OS, and Windows.

Learning FPGAs #1

I normally work at the system or electronic level, and one thing I’ve always wanted to learn is FPGAs and the corresponding HDLs. To pull this together, I plan to implement the 6502 using Verilog on an OrangeCrab board.

Faster posting

TL;DR: the minimal template is: --- title: "Faster posting" date: 2023-12-26 --- Content with no initial title Details: I’m using Hugo, which is a static site generator. Looks like it’s possible to post from gitea.

XT60 based charger

charger is a case for a no-name car charger that lets you use model aircraft batteries to charge your phone. The charger is quite nice. It’s panel mount and comes with a QC 3.

CH32V003 and Zephyr

CH32V003 and Zephyr I’ve picked up a CH32V003 development board. Their claim to fame is being a RISC-V 32 bit microcontroller with 16 KiB of flash for $0.10 in quantity. I’d like to port Zephyr to it - there’s no good reason as the default Zephyr configuration is too big for 16 KiB of flash and 2 KiB of RAM, but stripped down it fits quite well.

Gitjournal

GitJournal is very cool. It’s an Android app where you can write notes in Markdown and then sync up to your own Git repository. I was using NextCloud social for small private notes but that’s been abandoned.