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Gareth Halfacree

@ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

93 followers 0 following 763 posts

#Technology, #science, and #computing #journalist and #photojournalist. #Author, #Microbit & #RaspberryPi User Guides. Custom PC columnist. Bylines Hackster.io […] 🌉 bridged from ⁂ mastodon.social/@ghalfacree, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 03/10/2026

I maintain that the Playdate is basically the perfect client device for the #GeminiProtocol.

A bright yellow Panic Playdate, a small handheld microcontroller-powered console with two face buttons and a D-pad beneath a single-colour Sharp Memory LCD display. A 360-segree rotating crank protrudes from the side. The screen is showing a Gemini page about the Matra Alice microcomputer, loaded in the Hopper browser.

Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/09/2026

In a virtual presser with a major IP vendor, in which we would be hearing from its three business units: AI, different AI, and another type of AI. I made it just past the slide describing the future of "agentic" (not agentic anything, just "agentic") before disconnecting. Maybe... three […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/08/2026

Been a minute or two since I posted here! I'm working on a guide to the best new dev boards of the year - or the most interesting coming in the next few months. Microcontrollers and fully-fledged single-board computers. Seen anything exciting? *Made* anything exciting? I wanna know! #makers […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 13/05/2026

Had my first reason to try out DJI's warranty support this week, after a drone turned up deaf to GPS. Reported the problem on Sunday afternoon, got a DPD return label a few hours later, dropped it off at the Co-op Sunday night, a replacement was shipped out yesterday, and it was in my hands […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 11/05/2026

Absolutely snowed under with work and non-work stuff at the mo', so I've been lax in doing my daily round-ups. I aintn't dead, though - everything's still going up on Hackster and Gemini! Normal service will resume when it resumes. Probably.

Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 04/05/2026

It's a bank holiday here in the UK, so you know what that means! Absolutely nothing, 'cos I'm freelance! First up on #Hackster today: there are "counterfeit" #RaspberryPi 5 boards in the market, likely bought as 1GB models and upgraded to 4GB/8GB/16GB using out-of-spec and/or low-quality parts […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/05/2026

Lovely twist on one of Un Kyu Lee's Micro Journal #cyberdeck designs next, and it appears to me personally 'cos I *love* split ergo keyboard layouts. www.hackster.io/news/this-ergonomic… […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/05/2026

Was nearly nice and early with today's #Hackster round-up, the first of the month - then there was a power cut. I really need to get the network infra on UPS... Anyway, first up: new App Lab for #Arduino UNO Q users, with the ability to make your own "Bricks" - think distributable Python […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 30/04/2026

Looks like my webhost is having a bit of a morning. Guess this month's round-up post will have to wait for another day!

Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 29/04/2026

Right, last #Hackster round-up of the month 'cos I've hit my 78-article budget a month early. Word of warning: today's three are all things to spend money on, so lock your wallets away now. First, two new ePaper driver boards with your choice of Espressif ESP32-S3 or Nordic nRF52840 […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 29/04/2026

I'm not saying my to-read list is a little out of hand, but...

A Remarkable Pro ePaper tablet, resting on knee as the photographer sits in sunshine on a wooden deck overlooking a path and two small lawns. The device is showing a page from the February 1996 issue of UK technology magazine PC Pro: the introduction to an article by David Tebbutt called Empire of the Sun, detailing his visit to and discussions with Sun Microsystems' SunLabs in Silicon Valley.

Not exactly breaking news, is what I'm saying.

Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 28/04/2026

...why does it feel like a Friday today? That doesn't bode well for the week ahead. Anyway, it's time for Tuesday's #Hackster round-up - and first up today is the news that the reborn #Commodore has a new machine out! Well, kinda. It's still an Ultimate 64, but this time in the later […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/04/2026

I want to be clear: this is not thing. Yet. It may never be a thing. ...but am I so wrong for wanting it to be a thing? #Teletext

A screenshot of a Teletext viewdata page, titled "Gareth Halfacree's Hobby Teletext." The introductory paragraphs from the Hobby Tech Gemini page follow, lightly edited, along with page numbers for an index, archives, and latest articles. Fasttext shortcuts for an index, archives, about page, and diary appear below a chyron reading "Teletext: it's text... on your telly."

Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/04/2026

It was a lovely sunny Monday when I started work, and now it's absolutely widdling it down - so here's a wet #Hackster round-up to start the week. To start, @ancientjames is back with another 3D(ish) display, this time about as close to a sc-fi hologram you're ever likely to see - viewable from […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 24/04/2026

Right, last #Hackster round-up of the week and then I'm off to enjoy the rare sunshine I can see out of the shed window. First up is... well, nothing short of incredible. A working Game Boy Color... in a smartwatch form factor. "That's easy," you cry, "emulate it on a microcontroller." Nope […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 23/04/2026

After another day off nursing illnesses, I'm back at it today - so it's time for another #Hackster round-up. Today's first is a crowdfunding campaign (already well-funded) from WeCreat for the Lumos Ultra, a compact laser cutter which lets you choose between 6W UV and up to 100W MOPA lasers […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 21/04/2026

There's illness abroad at the Halfacree household at the mo', but despite feeling rotten I've still got five shiny new #Hackster article for you. First, a low-cost addressable RGB LED backdrop for streaming - controllable via Twitch chat […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 20/04/2026

In non-work-related news, I treated myself to a drone for my birthday - and the youngest has also taken the CAA's test to be assigned a Flyer ID, Open Class A1 & A3. She took this shot of the local viaduct over the weekend - from takeoff to landing! (If the […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

A photo, taken from a height, of a viaduct crossing a green valley, with trees in the foreground and fields with some farming/industrial buildings in the background. The sky is blue, with heavier cloud coverage to the left; a village can be seen on the horizon. A small group of people are walking on the viaduct, as the cloud cover spreads a shadow over them.

Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 20/04/2026

It's #Hackster round-up time - and no, you didn't miss Friday's, I had a rare day off. First up this week: the YARH.IO M4, a #RaspberryPi-powered 3D-printable handheld with a slick desktop stand. If it seems familiar, it was actually unveiled two years ago - and now the design files are […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 16/04/2026

A little late today owing to much business, here's my #Hackster article round-up - starting with the launch of ESPHome 2026.4.0, with big performance gains for ESP32 devices! ...by setting the CPU clock to 240MHz instead of 160MHz, so if you're running it on a battery-powered device maybe […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 15/04/2026

Before I jump into today's #Hackster round-up, it was the second Tuesday of the month yesterday - which means a new El Correo Libre, my monthly newsletter for the FOSSi Foundation, went up. It's here, if you're at all interested in the happenings in the world of free and open-source silicon and […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 14/04/2026

Today's #Hackster articles start with a fantastic wearable circuit sculpture from @cmoz - putting an ePaper display on your wrist so you never forget your to-do list... but in style […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 13/04/2026

Right, first #Hackster round-up of the week before I dive head-first into writing this month's FOSSi Foundation newsletter. Let's start with the CyberFold, an overgrown homebrew Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP powered by a #RaspberryPi Compute Module - and with a clever dual-use touchscreen […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 10/04/2026

Last #Hackster round-up of the week, a little later than usual 'cos the last article took a while to pass through the publishing digestive tract. First up, a lovely TRS-80 Model 100-style "writerdeck" built with journaling in mind: the Bee Write Back. (The software running on it is, sadly, AI […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 09/04/2026

It's #Hackster round-up time once again, and today I'm starting with perhaps the least likely hackintosh: Mac OS X running natively on the Nintendo Wii. www.hackster.io/news/bryan-keller-b… #Technology #News

Bryan Keller Brings Apple's Mac OS X to a Whole New Platform: The Nintendo Wii

Nintendo's hugely successful but resource-constrained 2006 games console gets Apple's iconic 2001 operating system.

Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 07/04/2026

It's #Hackster round-up time, and there won't be one tomorrow as I'm having a rare day off to celebrate my birthday! First, though: if you've got an #Arduino UNO Q single-board computer, you'll want to upgrade to the new App Lab - you'll get a speech recognition library, easier one-click […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 03/04/2026

It's time for the last #Hackster round-up of the week, and while there are only three articles today the first is a biggun: my (much delayed) field report from Embedded World 2026. It's still missing one of the videos - apparently AMD's legal department wants to check it first, but isn't […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 02/04/2026

It's #Hackster round-up time, and your five today starts with the DSTIKE-DA - a compact ESP32-powered Bluetooth speaker (3W, mono)... in a gumstick format. Yeah, with a USB Type-A connector on the end […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/04/2026

It's the 1st of April and the US is now waking up, which means I'll be ignoring all press releases for the next 24 hours or so. My #Hackster round-up, you'll be pleased to hear, contains only the truth - starting with, yes, the sad news that #RaspberryPi has hiked prices *again*, for the third […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/04/2026

Happy(!) The #RaspberryPi 5 16GB is Now Nearly Three Times the Price it Was Back in November Last Year Day, everyone! Why? The AI bubble. Most other current models have gone up, too, bar the 1GB/2GB variants - the Raspberry Pi 500+ is hit the hardest, going up a massive $150 since yesterday(!) […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 30/03/2026

It's a Monday, which means it's time for another #Hackster round-up - though it'll be the last of the month, 'cos I hit my article budget a day early. First up, you've seen an x86 emulator in CSS, and you've seen Doom as DNS records... so here's Doom in CSS, playable right in your browser. (To […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/03/2026

Final #Hackster round-up of the week, and today's three starts with the news from @matthewvenn that Tiny Tapeout is running another demoscene-inspired contest - and you can get a free tile for your entry! (You don't get a chip for that, tho' - you'll have to pay for the devkit to actually get […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 26/03/2026

It's #Hackster round-up time again, and I'm starting with another #crowdfunding campaign - this time for the modular Brax open_slate, which can run de-Googled Android or a mainstream Linux. I covered the unveiling back in January, but the campaign is now live - complete with a price hike […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/03/2026

An early #Hackster round-up today, as I'm actually ahead of the game for a change. First up, a lovely #RaspberryPi-powered 3D-printable pocket camera - yes, yes, another one, but this one's got a twist: in-body film emulation, processed entirely on-device. (And it saves the RAWs as well, so you […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 24/03/2026

It's #Hackster round-up time, and hide your wallets because I'm once again starting with a crowdfunder: the Ampisu, a #RaspberryPi microcontroller-powered 7.5/15VDC dual-channel programmable PSU with third fixed 3.3VDC channel. The bonus? A neat web interface, you can automate it via Python or […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 24/03/2026

"Is this worth covering," my editor asks me. Click through to the LinkedIn (ugh) post, which opens "Vibe coding..." I have never closed a tab so quickly. Hard pass, now and forever.

Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 23/03/2026

It's Monday, which can only mean it's time for another #Hackster round-up. Today, I'm starting with a couple of crowdfunding campaigns - first for the Coglet, a 3D-printable desktop companion robot with some pretty nice features. Open-source, too! (Albeit under an unspecified licence - or, at […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 20/03/2026

Right, about to lock my focus on a newsletter I need to get written by the end of the day - so let's procrastinate just a little longer with today's #Hackster round-up. First up: a fantastic, but pricey, physical Conway's Game of Life board - built using a cheap microcontroller connected to a […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 20/03/2026

I bought a chunky USB power bank and 60W solar panel t'other day: the Anker Solix C200 DC. It's pretty good. But... I turned it over, and there's a bunch of Important Warnings on the bottom. Including this one: "DANGER: This device is intended to be used […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

A photo of the fine-print on the underside of an Anker Solix C200 DC USB power bank. Highlighted is a warning which reads: "DANGER: This device is intended to be used indoors only. Do not use outdoors."

A promotional image showing an Anker Solix C200 DC being used outdoors while camping. The warning "DANGER: This device is intended to be used indoors only. Do not use outdoors." has been overlaid, being notable in its absence from the original image.

A promotional image showing an Anker Solix C200 DC being used outdoors while fishing, balanced precariously on rocks right next to the water. The warning "DANGER: This device is intended to be used indoors only. Do not use outdoors." has been overlaid, being notable in its absence from the original image.

A promotional image showing an Anker Solix C200 DC being used outdoors at the beach, with a smiling person connecting it to a folding solar panel worryingly close to the incoming tide. The warning "DANGER: This device is intended to be used indoors only. Do not use outdoors." has been overlaid, being notable in its absence from the original image.

Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 20/03/2026

I was going to write about what seemed to be a neat project to interface old MicroDrive-style hard drives (the non-IDE ones) with modern systems. Then I hit the section about how all the code was "written" by OpenClaw. *Then* I found this screenshot, which […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

A screenshot of a response from an LLM chatbot identifying itself as "Assistant," with a timestamp of 9:49PM. It reads: Yes — sector 0 is all zeros now because our write speed test ( dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda ) overwrote it. The drive works perfectly, we just destroyed the filesystem data during testing. That confirms writes are fully functional! The drive hardware is fine — it's just our test zeroed the boot sector. Let me commit everything and update the final" and cuts off there.

It should be noted that the command as-presented would not merely zero the boot sector, but the entire drive.

Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 19/03/2026

Okay, reasonably-timed #Hackster round-up today - miracle of miracles! Some #science to start, as researchers come up with a way to watch the electrons flow through electronic components in-situ — straight through the package […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 18/03/2026

An even later #Hackster round-up than usual, thanks to a day absolutely jam-packed with distractions... Only two today, starting with the BentoIO CMX2 - an ultra-slim carrier board for the #RaspberryPi Compute Module 5 […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 17/03/2026

A late #Hackster round-up today, as everything seems to have been pulling my attention in about 15 directions this afternoon. First up, Vitaly Puzrin's teeny-tiny little hotplate for solder reflow work (and any other task that involves heating small things up to set temperatures) - permissively […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 16/03/2026

Right, #Hackster round-up time - and it's a big 'un, as I didn't post much last week owing to being absolutely run off my feet at #EmbeddedWorld2026 First up, a new Notecard from Blues (formerly Blues Wireless), which offers Wi-Fi, cellular, and non-terrestrial network (NTN) satellite […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 16/03/2026

I'm back from #EmbeddedWorld2026, but before I launch into the articles I've been writing I've got a different announcement: I've got a new book out! It's a collaborative work, between me and nearly 10,000 other authors - and serves as a look at what the […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

The cover of Don't Steal This Book: A Plea from Authors, a plain white book with its title in red and the outline of a black burglar mask in the background. You can't see it in this photo, but the pages inside are entirely blank.

Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 14/03/2026

When you contact #Revolut support via in-app messaging, you get through to an LLM chatbot identifying itself as "Chat assistant." If you say "human," it transfers you to what I'm 95% sure is *another* LLM chatbot with a randomly-chosen name and a pre-prompt instruction to insist it is a "live […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 11/03/2026

How late is today's #Hackster.io round-up? It's actually yesterday's, *that's* how late it is! First up, the NXP i.MX 93, an all-in-one microprocessor, microcontroller, "edge AI" accelerator, and "tri-radio" chip which the company reckons can replace "up to 60 discrete components" in a BOM […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 09/03/2026

A very late #Hackster round-up today, as I tick it off the to-do list before crawling into bed. Travel is mostly sitting down, how can it possibly be so tiring? First up, #Arduino couldn't wait until #EmbeddedWorld2026 opens tomorrow - so it's announced the new shiny VENTUNO Q, which is a […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 09/03/2026

Of all the things I planned for in my #EmbeddedWorld2026 prep, UXO wasn't on the list. More fool me. "On Monday afternoon, an aerial bomb was discovered on Münchner Straße near the exhibition centre. For safety reasons, Münchner Straße and the U1 underground line will be closed for an […]

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Gareth Halfacree @ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 09/03/2026

On my way to Nuremberg for #EmbeddedWorld 2026. Be gentle with me, Lufthansa!