iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by James L

Jason Coon @evilgeniuslabs.org · 26/09/2026

Inspired by Mitxela's latest project, I added a FLIP fluid sim pattern to this little motion sensitive Fibonacci256, using code adapted from Ten Minute Physics: matthias-research.github.io/pages

13010

James L @baldengineer.com · 01/09/2026

One benefit of the AI era is that it'll soon be acceptable to say, "... oh, the AI made that [mistake]." The benefit is that I'm going to say it when *I* am the one who did it.

000

James L @baldengineer.com · 26/08/2026

Had a Star Trek II moment with a random word generator...

000

James L @baldengineer.com · 22/08/2026

I may or may not have used AI to generate this infographic warning you about AI-generated infographics.

280

James L @baldengineer.com · 15/08/2026

Is there air? You don't know!

010

James L @baldengineer.com · 10/06/2026

A foodie friend came to visit. She wanted to try "Chicago food." She was not happy with these options. I shrugged. Chicago is the only place I'll get an Italian Beef or hotdog.

020

Reposted by James L

Cabel Sasser @cabel.panic.com · 07/06/2026

Here's an easter egg in the new Lego Batman that I think all of you will REALLY appreciate. It's so good, I had to make a video.

116123463970

Reposted by James L

CosmoQuest @cosmoquest.org · 02/04/2026

There are now 10 toilets in Space International Space Station: 4 Crew Dragon Docked at ISS: 1 Soyuz Docked at ISS: 1 Tiangong Space Station: 2 Shenzhou Docked at TSS: 1 Artemis II on way around Moon: 1 This will be the first time a toilet has left low earth orbit!

15456731596

James L @baldengineer.com · 14/10/2025

Why and how to replace electrolytic capacitors in vintage computers -- my VCF Midwest 2025 talk www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMRC...

youtube.com

Replacing Ticking Time Bombs: Electrolytic Capacitors | VCFMW 20 (2025)

YouTube video by VCF Midwest

192

Reposted by James L

adafruit @adafruit.com · 29/09/2025

Build an MP3 audio player with #CircuitPython and parts from #Adafruit ! This personal music player features a tft display and mechanical key switches. Learn guide: learn.adafruit.com/walkmp3rson-... youtu.be/fgalBx2QSJ0 #3DPrinting

1505

Reposted by James L

Cyber City Circuits @handle.invalid · 31/07/2025

Before there were multimeters, there was the galvanometer. Born from Ørsted’s magnetic needle experiment, the galvanometer became the 19th century’s essential instrument for detecting and measuring electricity. This is the story of the Galvanometer. emedia.digikey.com/eMagazine-Vo...

001

James L @baldengineer.com · 09/07/2025

I love modern smartphones, but I really do miss the Palm Pilots.

010

James L @baldengineer.com · 08/07/2025

Just came across Visashot - A Python tool to create beautiful screenshots from vintage test equipment. Up to 120 instruments supported. damien.douxchamps.net/elec/visashot/

181

James L @baldengineer.com · 07/07/2025

TDK introduced a 1uF, 100V capacitance in an EIA 0603-sized case. The press release suggests it targets 48V systems (like data centers.) At 50V, the effective capacitance isn't even 200 nF. product.tdk.com/en/search/ca... That DC bias effect is real.

0132

James L @baldengineer.com · 07/07/2025

Before PDFs, you could order a Microfiche version of test equipment manuals to stay up-to-date.

Also listed on the title page of this manual is a Microfiche part number. This number can be used to order 4 x 6-inch microfilm transparencies of the manual. Each microfiche contains up to 60 photo-duplicates of the manual pages. The microfiche package also includes the latest Manual Changes supplement as well as all pertinent Service Notes.

040

James L @baldengineer.com · 07/07/2025

A fully open-source alternative to the Analogue Pocket is coming to a Crowd Supply campaign. Game Bub targets GB, GBC, and GBA games. It's an FPGA-based emulation platform. And it looks pretty slick. www.crowdsupply.com/second-bedro...

crowdsupply.com

Game Bub

An open-source FPGA retro-emulation handheld

0142

James L @baldengineer.com · 01/07/2025

Definitely a similar idea. Agreed that the Fruitjam is far more refined, and I'm sure its CircuitPython support will make it a more interesting device.

000

James L @baldengineer.com · 01/07/2025

Maker News June 2025 Update. Lots of cool stuff to check out from great makers: Kayaks on treadmills, rogue sparks in shielded boxes, and a payment terminal that gives up root in 30 seconds makernews.substack.com/p/maker-news...

020

James L @baldengineer.com · 01/07/2025

It's giving me retro-computing vibes with USB-Host, DVI/HDMI, and an Audio codec. Plus 8 MB of RAM. My first 386 PC only had 2.

100

James L @baldengineer.com · 01/07/2025

GuitarML on Github created an ESP32/Arduino-based Space Station Tracker. Add 2.8" LCD and watch its path around the world. github.com/GuitarML/Spa...

$20 "Yellow" LCD showing path of Space Station powered by an ESP32

030

James L @baldengineer.com · 16/06/2025

CT Scan of Switch 2 (Animated GIF), including the Tegra SoC via Reddit: www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/com...

CT Scan of Switch 2 with callouts for the 5220mAh Li-Ion battery, Realtek audience codec, SK Hynix 256GB UFS, Meditek WiFi/BT, 2x6GB RAM, and Nvidia Tegra SoC

010

James L @baldengineer.com · 03/06/2025

If there were a real-life Undo button... mine would have broken by now.

090

Reposted by James L

Ken Shirriff @righto.com · 30/05/2025

This photo of magnetic core memory popped up, taken by Ansel Adams. I investigated a bit: this memory holds 4000 bits, each stored in a tiny magnetized ferrite ring. It may be from an IBM 705 vacuum-tube business computer. 1/N

A photo with the caption "'Hands weaving magnetic-core memory, IBM, Poughkeepsie, New York', 1956. Photograph by Ansel Adams. This photograph was made on a commercial assignment for IBM."

This black-and-white photo shows a core memory plane being assembled. It consists of an 80 by 50 grid of wires in a frame with tiny toroids on the wire intersections. Each wire is attached to metal terminals on the frame. Someone is using tweezers to thread the tiny cores onto the wires. The plane is about 4/5 completed. One hand is below the plane, palm-up, visible through the wires. The other hand (with nail polish) is above the plane, holding tweezers.

1127682

James L @baldengineer.com · 22/05/2025

Found an LLM for the Commodore 64 (with 2MB REU). It isn't a chat bot, but it will tell you a story... like a 3 year old. github.com/ytmytm/llama...

C64 Screenshot. Prompt: Zoo, Output: Zoo was a little girl named Lily. She loved to play outside in the park. One day, she saw a big, red ball. She wanted to play with it, but she didn't want to play with

140

James L @baldengineer.com · 20/05/2025

Thinking of 3d printer hubs, I know of Thingiverse and Printables. What other ones are popular?

220

Reposted by James L

johndmcmaster.bsky.social @johndmcmaster.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Mountain View Reverse Engineering (mtvre) meetup Wed the 14th at Wagon Wheel BBQ, 7:00. Talks pending. See you there! www.meetup.com/mountain-vi...

024

Reposted by James L

Bradán Lane @bradanlane.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

For any given PCB design, I have a few ideas of what might fail. I add a legend along the break off rail so I just circle any issue detected by the smoketest. This makes test and rework quicker. (Ideally there would be no issues and no rework but I'm not THAT good 🫣)

161

Reposted by James L

Echoskope @echoskope.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

First time playing with a linear actuator. Controlling it with a UM FeatherS3 and an Adafruit Motor Featherwing.

081

Reposted by James L

Kavrous Tech @kavrous.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

I’m really stepping up with this LSM6DSV CircuitPython driver *rim shot* @anneb.bsky.social (hopefully publishing the driver soon, potentially contributing to the official LSM6DS driver 👀)

RP Watchy display showing 19 steps taken as calculated by the LSM6DSV on the watch board.

2121

Reposted by James L

Anne @anneb.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

I'm scouring the interwebs to find the best content relating to Python on hardware. Please consider signing up so I can show you one of the best resources on the galactic internet.

1124

James L @baldengineer.com · 27/03/2025

oh yeah. I add it to almost every query.

010

James L @baldengineer.com · 27/03/2025

Really? I'll ask chatGPT how. /s

000

James L @baldengineer.com · 27/03/2025

Is there a browser plugin that will add "-ai" to google searches?

220

Reposted by James L

Paul Stoffregen @paulstoffregen.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

PJRC is partnering with @sparkfun.bsky.social for manufacturing of all Teensy products. We’re taking step with 2 main goals. 1: SparkFun has the manufacturing needed for Teensy's growth. 2: PJRC can renew focus on software & community. pjrc.com/sparkfun-to-... news.sparkfun.com/13308

pjrc.com

SparkFun To Manufacture Teensy

5579

Reposted by James L

OSHWA @oshwassociation.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

There's lots to look forward to at #OHS2025 like Alessia Romani's talk on RepMat, an Open Source Materials Library designed to share circular sustainable practices on new materials and technologies, especially 3D printing!

151

Reposted by James L

petur 😶🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼 @peturdainn.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 10/03/2025

A coworker had the idea of making this resistance decade, then somebody decided to make a whole bunch of them and hand them out at different locations (and at customers). And now the gerber files are available for download! […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

picture of a PCB panel on the right and the assembled resistance decade on the left, in the form of a rectangular base plate with connection holes, and three gear-shaped discs with scales on, cone-shaped

57637

Reposted by James L

Solder Party @solder.party · 03/03/2025

Come and see us at @oshwassociation.bsky.social Summit in Edinburgh May 30-31! We’ll have a stand, showcasing products past, present, and future! 🎉

4229

Reposted by James L

Tomb💀Time @tubetime.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

what uhh exactly is this thing for?

bright red instrument with a round crt display. a label on the side says Snap-On Anal-O-Scope

1916125

Reposted by James L

Pingu, The plague penguin🐧 😷 @zanfr.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

A nice write up about the so called ESP32 backdoor Of course it is a nothingburger... but eh anything to raise FUD about chinese chips.... and let's just keep ignoring the blatant security issues in Intel's ME and AMD's ST... darkmentor.com/blog/esp32_n...

darkmentor.com

The ESP32

This post refutes the claim that researchers found a

173

James L @baldengineer.com · 09/03/2025

Interesting. Of course there is a standard! This one is related to electrical systems. I find it hard to believe most engineers would call 1,000 volts "Low Voltage." Of course, voltage is relative. ;)

010

Reposted by James L

Steph Piper @sjpiper145.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

New achievement stickers are now available! Excited that these have arrived and I had a great time adding these into my Skill Seeker book.

0143

James L @baldengineer.com · 07/03/2025

I can 3D print a bracket for that.

020

James L @baldengineer.com · 05/03/2025

lol yeah. I was hoping to get people to respond with numbers. At multiple points in my career, I have discussed "high voltage." And I must continually remind myself to state what that means in my context. Because it may not be the same as the others'.

110

Reposted by James L

Unexpected Maker @seonr.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

So this just happened... #TinyWATCHS3 Revision P10 - First panel paste and final assembly after reflow. I still have to finalise the new case, but this will be back in stock VERY SOON! #maker #manufacturing #opensource #esp32s3 #watch

0132

James L @baldengineer.com · 04/03/2025

I watched this weekend's SNL cold open and thought, "Wow, it must be a bad time to be a writer there. They can't make up stuff that is this funny."

000

Reposted by James L

Ron’s Computer Videos 🧍‍♂️🖥️📼 @ronscompvids.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Leave me some greeting on my "/Uploads/- Put Greetings Here!" share out on RonsCompVids zone on #GlobalTalk! Happy #MARCHintosh!

1143

James L @baldengineer.com · 27/02/2025

At least you can highlight the net names at this point to visually see where they are connected... one at a time.

100