One can take things for granted, like playing with simple childhood toys. Some children with disabilities do not have the fine motor skills to manipulate toys with non trivial buttons. Toys like a light ball, or a stuffed animal with an internal sound module is not easy for all children.

I have a family member with a disability that prevents them from using electronic toys like this. Thier parents directed me to a charity Santa’s Little Hackers where they had received a toy modified with an external button that is easier to press for their child. This charity modifies and distributes “Switch Adapted Toys” to children with disabilities.

So Windows 10 is now end of life, and my desktop PC I use for gaming, Fusion, and Cricut software is not compatible with Windows 11. I found the reason was my motherboard does not have a TPM module required for Windows 11. TPM stands for Trusted Platform Module, and is a hardware based security feature. It allows for keys to be stored in a dedicated chip, allowing for the hardware to be verified at boot time, and for features like BitLocker disk encryption to be used.

Video games are awesome, but lately there are too many games require micro-transactions, paid downloadable content, and season passes to even feel like you are making progress. I remember a time where you purchased a game, and then you owned it, forever. It never required an internet connection, updates, or any other nonsense preventing you from sitting down, and gaming. Recapturing that magic is possible today with reto gaming emulation.

I developed a video game for the pico-8 fantasy console! pico-8, designed by Lexaloffle, is software that boots up a virtual computer. The computer has a terminal, a code editor, and a sprite editor, which are geared for developing 8-bit video games.

I love playing golfing games, like Mario Golf (game cube version is the best), Golf Story, Tiger Woods, Hot Shots Golf, etc. Fitting a full golf game like these into the pico-8 is a challenge. The console only has 16 colors, 128x128 resolution, and a 32k code limit.

I wanted to try out something unique with my RTL-SDR on my cruise around the Azores Islands. The Azores are an archipelago about 500 miles off the coast of Portugal in the Atlantic Ocean. They were an important stop for trans-Atlantic sailors, as it was a convenient rest between Europe and the new world. Many sailors including Christopher Columbus and Henry the Navigator used the Azores resupply point. After the advent of engines, the Azores have been bypassed, much like Route 66. Now they serve only for destination for trans-atlantic sport sailing, and tourists.

On my home server I backup my photos from my phone to a self-hosted photo management system called Immich. Immich is alot like Google Photos but self-hosted. It can organize the photos by date, location, and even faces. It also has a web interface and mobile apps for viewing the photos.

Hardware

I wanted to have a photo frame that would display the photos from Immich. pimoroni had a view options using the RPi Pico, but they were always out of stock, and I wanted a bit more processing power for the photo frame. I decided to use a Raspberry Pi 2W and a 7.3" e-ink display from Waveshare. I used a Waveshare hat for my Pwnagotchi, so I was confident that the Waveshare display would work.

Happy new year folks. Here is a review of a 3D printable boardgame Hextraction. It is how I spent some of my free time over the holidays. I hope you enjoy it!

Hextraction is a exciting 3D printable boardgame created by Zack Freedman. It’s as fun to play as it is to make! The objective of the game is to create a path for a 10mm ball bearing to travel by placing hexagonal tiles on a game board. The tiles have different paths, obstacles, and special effects. On their turn the player slots in a tile and rolls a ball. First player to roll a ball from beginning to end wins! The game is open source, and Zack encourages anyone to try their hand in designing their own tiles, and boards for the game.

Today I managed to collect some images from the Meteor M2-4 satellite. This was after a few attempts, so I hope this helps folks get starting with these Russian satellites.

I used my tried and true V dipole and my RTL-SDR dongle. I used spaceboi to predict the pass and track the satellite. The 137.9 MHz signal is marked as the “Primary” frequency for the VHF downlink. I found this signal was working well for me.

Satellite data collection without a permanent antenna requires some planning. I usually find when the best passes are for the week, and see if I have free time in my schedule to run out and collect data. Programs like gPredict and websites like https://satnogs.org/, or apps like Heavens Above can use TLE data to calculate when the satellites are going to pass overhead.

TLE or Two Line Element data is a format for describing the orbits of satellites. NASA and NORAD developed a data format in the 70s to describe the orbits of satellites that can fit on a punch card. Long gone are punch cards, but the TLE format is still used today.

Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) is a digital mode used by HAM radio operators to send small packets of data on the radio waves. The format was invented by Bob Bruniga in the 1990s and is still popular today. Common uses of APRS are to transmit location data, send messages, weather, and even emails.

Handheld APRS enabled radios like the Yaesu VX-8DR can go for over $400 these days. I needed a different, cheaper solution to dip my toes into APRS. I purchased a BTECH APRS-K1 Pro v1.2 for about $30. It has a Kenwood connector at one end and a USB-C on the other. I can plug one end into my Quansheng UV-K5, and the other into my phone running aprsdroid, or my laptop running direwolf.