Gemini* and Gopher

• Technology and Free Software

  • Kris Slyka Builds a Working Analog TV Transmitter From an STM32 and "Almost No [Other] Parts"

    Maker Kris Slyka has designed a transmitter for analog TV signals using "almost no parts" — starting with nothing more than a spare STMicroelectronics STM32G431 development board and ending with a compact custom PCB dubbed the VideoThing.

    "So after looking around for a bit, realizing that CRT TVs have gotten stupidly expensive, and finally picking up this adorable thing for €50 [around $59] I found myself with a whole new technological rabbit hole to dive into," Slyka writes of the project. "Turns out that one of the reasons this TV was so cheap was because it doesn’t have any video input besides an antenna. And it’s black and white. Both of which are deeply disappointing to gamers. And since analogue video broadcasts around here have stopped like a decade ago I couldn’t even enjoy our high quality domestic TV programming, let alone connect any of my weird cameras. So, there’s two options here, basically: either mod the TV for composite video input (not too hard) or just get an RF modulator (easy)."

    Slyka decided, in true maker fashion, that both those options were too easy — so set about building a custom RF modulator, capable of outputting a video signal the TV's analog tuner could understand. The starting point: an STMicro NUCLEO-G431KB development board, built around the STM32G431 microcontroller "which, according to ST," Slyka notes, "features 'medium analog level integration.' That's just the amount of analog integration I was looking for!"

  • Josh Hendrickson's Old Under-Cabinet Radio Gets Replaced by a Raspberry Pi-Powered Weather Display

    Maker Josh Hendrickson has turned an ultrawide display into an under-cabinet multi-function smart clock with weather forecasting, by adding a Raspberry Pi single-board computer and a replacement 3D-printed housing.

    "When I bought my house, it came with one of those under-cabinet radio clocks that somehow survived the early 2000s. It technically worked… until power outages and daylight saving time reminded me it absolutely did not," Hendrickson explains. "So I replaced it with something better. This DIY smart home display runs on a Raspberry Pi, uses an affordable ultrawide screen, and is designed to live under a cabinet so it's always visible but never in the way. No touchscreen. No voice assistant. No app. Just the time and weather when you glance up."

  • Glen Akins Turns MIDI Control Surfaces into Quick-Boot Soundboards, With a Raspberry Pi RP2040

    Maker Glen Akins has released an open-source MIDI soundboard, designed with live streaming in mind — and capable of playing pre-recorded sound effects out through either an integrated or external speaker via instructions from a connected MIDI control surface.

    "This project is a follow on to my Lizard single-purpose soundboard project but supporting many more buttons and audio samples," Akins explains of the build. "That project already had the hardware to support tons of audio samples but the number of buttons was limited by the number of available microcontroller pins. After some research, I decided the most practical way to add lots of robust buttons to the project was to use an off-the-shelf MIDI controller like the Midi Fighter Spectra or Novation Launchpad Mini MK3."

  • Patrick Nelson's STM-01 Aims to Be a Highly-Expandable, Modular, Open-Source Record Player

    Software engineer and maker Patrick Nelson is working on building a fully-automatic turntable with a modular expansion system to add potential advanced features like a record-flipper or vintage computing connectivity — and is making it available as open hardware.

    "This is (going to be) a fully-automatic, modular turntable, called the Statimatic STM-01," Nelson says of the project. "The built-in features of this turntable will be kept to a minimum, so that development can go more quickly. These features will be able to be expanded using the 5 expansion ports on the back of the turntable. Built-in, the plan is to have two commands: play and pause."

  • Paula Maddox's LT6502 is the Compact MOS 6502-Powered Netbook From Your '80s Dreams

    Maker and self-described "electronics/synth nerd" Paula Maddox has built a laptop with a difference: it's based around the MOS Technology 6502 eight-bit microprocessor, as famously powering Commodore and Apple's early home computers among many other devices.

    "Yes, I know I'm crazy, but I figured why not," Maddox writes of the project, known as the LT6502. "I'm enjoying working the PC6502 project but having a little tower of PCBs on the sofa isn't the best. I've learned a lot about 3D printing and there is a lot I would change. But overall, I’m happy with it. It’s a bit of a chonker but that honestly doesn’t bother me."

  • The "SexyberDeck" Ditches Modern Production Methods for a Truly Cyberpunk Upcycling Approach

    Pseudonymous maker "Ok_Party_1645," hereafter simply "Party," has shown off a cyberdeck truly worthy of the name — built, as it is, by hand from reclaimed parts and a low-cost single-board computer: the SexyberDeck.

    "Here the idea," Party writes of the project, which takes its inspiration from classic cyberpunk literature like William Gibson's Neuromancer. "I wanted a truly handmade build to stick with the improvised-cyberpunk-recycled-trash feel, so there is no 3D-printed parts, no laser cutting, only hand tools."

  • Internet/Gemini

    • gopherproxy.sh back up; new mitigations

      I have successfully deplyed Anubis on this server to protect the HTTPS side of things and WOW is it effective against the particular bots that have been plaguing the site!! HTTPS traffic has dropped by around 99.8%!

      The downside to this is that the site now requires javascript and cookies, but the plus side is that I will actually be able to afford to continue running the site and will be able to keep the gopherproxy.sh up and running.