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Charlie Schick

@greyandslate.bsky.social
95 followers 483 following 339 posts

Healthcare and life sciences professional by day, maker by night. Hardware hacking, 3D printing, circuit design. Creator of Grey and Slate™ - apparel for hardware enthusiasts. → greyandslate.com Images: tinyurl.com/GSHattributions

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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I like a bit of whimsy: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAn3... cc @guydupont.bsky.social via @theverge.com
youtube.com
Gboard くるくるバージョン
YouTube video by Google Japan
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Rollicking romp thru past 10 months of news in LLMs by @simonwillison.net I found this via @tidbits.com
youtube.com
WWC26-NA - 2026 in LLMs (so far)
YouTube video by WeAreDevelopers
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Just so cool. www.molecularist.com/2026/09/cool...
molecularist.com
Cool simulator to explore novel complex rules for Conway’s Game of Life | Molecularist
In the course of writing about rogue AI, I found this engaging and interactive site to explore variations on Conway's Game of Life
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This is not only soooo cool (gotta make!) the guy is such a funny story teller (well, at the 2x I watched it at). www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvLW...
youtube.com
We Built the Product Apple Gave Up On...
YouTube video by HTX Studio
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
A lot of interesting things in this latest newsletter: 4G phone, lab equipment and fly brain simulation (I'm a bio nerd), a Flipper-like hack-tool, and more. us10.campaign-archive.com?e=f34959fe1f... #circuitpython #python #micropython #micocontrollers
us10.campaign-archive.com
Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: CircuitPython Goes Turbo with New Versions, Pi Desktop Overhaul and More!
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Busy August: holidays (eclipse!), work travel, academics (learning and teaching), and this: a @hacksterio.bsky.social contest using the @officialarduino.bsky.social UNO Q (thank you for giving me one!). www.hackster.io/molecularist... BTW, #python and @circuitpython.org are a big part of this!
hackster.io
The Oracle: a kinetically augmented device for reflection
The Oracle is a physical cognitive tool to help you reflect on matters that occupy your thoughts By cschick.
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Last week, I posted on my personal blog about agents from OpenAI (and others) breaking out and hacking on their own (link below). Reminded me of the voodou spirit loa in Gibsons' cyberpunk novels. Further analysis shows things were even more loa-like with these agents (link in my post). 🤔
molecularist.com
Rogue AI agents are the Loa Gibson wrote 40 years ago | Molecularist
How soon before one of these replicate themselves somewhere so that they can't be shutdown?
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
No sooner do I post this, I see this: www.theverge.com/games/982575... It's an obsession!
theverge.com
Yes, a 16-year-old Canon DSLR plays Doom.
Runs beautifully on the Canon T2i / 550D, too. But a missed opportunity for the shutter button to shoot! Not sure why it’s making the rounds now, as Doom-playing Canon DSLRs are nothing new. And have ...
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
A ‘can it run doom?’ database! As if the Doom gods were listening to me, yesterday, I happened to stumble upon a site that is a database of all the things that can run Doom. greyandslate.com/blog/a-can-it-run-…
greyandslate.com
A ‘can it run doom?’ database!
As if the Doom gods were listening to me, yesterday, I happened to stumble upon a site that is a database of all the things that can run Doom.
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
I’ve been doing all sorts of schematics and symbols (hand-drawn, of course). So many cool ones. (My first was the classic 555 astable circuit) This one came up during Valentine’s Day, as in “You put the ‘darling’ in…’ haha Do you have a fave circuit you’d wear?
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Evergreen hacker question – Can it run Doom? The Verge reports that Microsoft Paint can, indeed, now run Doom. Answering that evergreen hacker question. greyandslate.com/blog/evergreen-hac…
greyandslate.com
Evergreen hacker question – Can it run Doom?
The Verge reports that Microsoft Paint can, indeed, now run Doom. Answering that evergreen hacker question.
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Thank you for sharing. This is the C4004 - an early ceramic version of this historical chip (the first commercially successful 4-bit CPU). Here's a build video of my illustration of the design. [Artwork adapted from CC-licensed works. Full attributions: tinyurl.com/GSHattributi...
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
I have a thing for MOS Technology - the logos, the chips. Here's the 'build' video of this illustration.
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Making designs is as much 'eye' as just illustrating a certain way. This #opamp, µA741, was the one that defined so many opamps that came after it. It's so cool looking. And I was doing a series with variations of the Signetics logos (the #maker) I thought this one looked really cool.
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
I did a wee write up as a Build Blog post on @smallrun.bsky.social (no code, tho) smallrun.net/blog/cschick...
smallrun.net
APIs rule - automating my SmallRun store ops
Have you checked out the SmallRun APIs ? I use a print provider, Printify, to fulfill my shirt and mug orders. My other store is on Etsy, which is integ...
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Seems like another famous chip has hit 50 this year. Saw a nice historical article mentioned by @anneb.bsky.social in the @adafruit.com blog. Reminded me of when I sorta encountered Z80 products as a teen in the early 80s. greyandslate.com/blog/fifty-y...
greyandslate.com
Fifty years of the Z80 - Grey and Slate, Haberdashers
The Z80 is 50 this July (2026). My history briefly crossed with this chip when I was young. But now it's a popular design of mine.
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Since @loudai.nl is now selling his creations on @smallrun.bsky.social, figured I'd add my USBSID-Pico designs there too: smallrun.net/products/sea...
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Thank you for promoting this design. Quite a fun one to do. For your viewing pleasure - the building of the design.
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
My shirts are not ONLY #maker-inspired designs. I do have a section of Left-Field Quirky designs that begged to be made, so I made them and included in the store. Here's one. "Don't forget your greens" greyandslate.etsy.com/listing/4332...
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
This and other hand-drawn maker-inspired designs for your geeky pleasure. Lemme know what you think! @smallrun.bsky.social - thanks for promoting!
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
At first I was doubtful of this UNO Q. But warming up to it fast. Pricey but so much in such a small package. App Lab is interesting, too. I see what they are getting at. But will it work? Is this a new version of original Arduino dream? And goodness to they pack components in. Details here.
Close up of Arduino UNO Q showing LED matrix and some other chips with heavily packed components. Close up of Arduino UNO Q showing components packed around chip. Close up of Arduino UNO Q showing components packed around specific patch of board.
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Etsy integrations with my print partner, Printify. But @smallrun.bsky.social doesn't, so Claude Code and I spent some time today building some glue scripts to move order info and tracking numbers between SmallRun and Printify (saves me from transcription errors). APIs rule! Cool?
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Looking lookie what showed up. Got it via this competion: www.hackster.io/contests/inv... Got some work to do this weekend! Components: The UNO Q, @seeedstudio.com XIAO Sense (mic and camera), @adafruit.com MAX amp, speaker, dice, and some enclosure. An LLM in the mix too. Just not sure where.
Photo of Arduino UNO Q and box
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Was checking Google visibility and was nice to see my designs show up. Ok, so was a bit specific. I was trying to see if my SmallRun listings would show up. But a thrill to see Google suggest a 'hand-drawn' category for the images. [Not to mention earlier searches revealing nicked designs...]
Google search images view of "hand drawn 555 timer schematic shirt"
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
End of month review post on store blog. Great month in many ways. greyandslate.com/blog/past-mo...
greyandslate.com
Past month review and new store - Grey and Slate, Haberdashers
In this post I review some top products, talk about a customer request, and tell more on my other new store.
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Feeling giddy - just ordered, for new projects, two of each: Seeed Sense (w/ camera), XIAO audio BFF and speaker, and the M5StickS3S. Been a while since I futzed with code and boards (today using Resident and ESP32 boards). Feels good. [hm, these might be some interesting things to illustrate...]
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Cool image and video, and Star Trek later-generations type music too, haha. www.theverge.com/science/9587... cc @genmon.fyi (your favorite spot in the galaxy)
theverge.com
This is the most detailed image of the Milky Way’s crowded heart yet.
The ESA’s Euclid telescope captured an enormous image containing some 60 million stars and nebulae. It took 26 hours to amass, starting March 23rd, 2025, and it’s undeniably stunning. You can download...
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Where do you get maker-themed merch? How do you find out about them? I sell #maker themed shirts on Etsy and SmallRun. Do some promo here and on Insta. But, maker pubs are not so commercial-friendly. I've not many in-person opportunities to be commercial. And no strong evidence of word-of-mouth. 🤔
smiling male model wearing navy shirt of minimalist hand-illustrated raspberry pi 5 in white with blaze highlights
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
One of the first #maker designs I tried, was a "Prepare to Meet Your Maker" design. For various reasons, I never got to do realize the design I wanted (post coming). In the past weeks, I've given it another go. So here's the #WiP. I need to print out a shirt to see if the details work.
white text on black background saying Prepare to Meet Your Maker. The word 'Maker' is transparent in a white box. In the transparent part of many maker related chips and components and symbols with blaze highlighting. Underneath is the URL of the store greyandslate.com.white text on black background saying Time to Meet Your Maker. The word 'Maker' is transparent in a white box. In the transparent part of many maker related chips and components and symbols with blaze highlighting. Underneath is the URL of the store greyandslate.com.
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Cool. Someone just favorited all my @raspberrypi.com illustrations in my Etsy store I one go. Must be a RasPi lover, haha. Granted, my RasPi5 illustration is one of my top performers.
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Not only do I have a store on @smallrun.bsky.social but those two shirts in the article image are mine! Thank you @hackadayofficial.bsky.social for the article! My #maker shirts are now on Etsy and SmallRun.
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
<vent>Taking commuter rail into Boston and there are so many dead spots for mobile data. Hard to get any work done. (Checks date) Still an issue in 2026 in major metro area? Boggles the mind.</vent> We return to our normally scheduled program.
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Reposted by Charlie Schick
Hackaday @hackadayofficial.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
SmallRun.net Enters the Marketplace Market
hackaday.com
SmallRun.net Enters the Marketplace Market
Hackaday Article
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
@genmon.fyi Not sure if you saw this: m5stack.com/global-innov... You'd definitely be a contender!
m5stack.com
M5Stack - Modular Rapid ESP32 IoT Development Board - ESP32 dev kits
Open-source modular toolkits for IoT devices based on ESP32-updated version of ESP8266. With stackable modules, user-friendly IDE, enabling rapid and high-quality prototyping, STEM education, engineer...
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
A customer, who bought my Ellen Eglin patent design, asked me to make another as a poster with page two of Eglin's patent, but still crossing out of the name on the patent. You can see all my Eglin designs here: greyandslate.etsy.com?search_query... #blackhistory #womenmakers #womeninventors
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Open to new ideas for designs. A few of my sales have been of designs suggested to me or commissioned. More here: greyandslate.com/blog/ideas-a...
greyandslate.com
Ideas always welcome - Grey and Slate, Haberdashers
Not all design ideas are mine. One source is direct requests. Do you have a chip, board, or component you'd like to see hand-illustrated on a shirt?
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Posted my first Build Log for my @smallrun.bsky.social store on my process for making the #maker-inspired hand-drawn stylized illustrations I put on my shirts. Shows #RaspberryPi 5 design video and image of progression of my vintage potentiometer collection design. smallrun.net/blog/cschick...
smallrun.net
About my process
Most of my most popular designs are illustrations, hand-drawn by me, of a dev board or chip or component. I was influenced towards hand-dawn designs by some ...
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Cool. Just hooked up my store blog to my Bluesky account via Atmosphere plug-in. (AT protocol) Does what is says on the tin! activitypub.blog/2026/05/20/a...
activitypub.blog
ATmosphere 1.0.0 — Liftoff
This post isn’t about the ActivityPub plugin. ATmosphere is a separate plugin from the same small team, for the other half of the open social web: the AT Protocol, the open network behind Blu…
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
New marketplace for us There's a new marketplace for makers and hackers called SmallRun. SmallRun exists to give independent makers a place to sell what they build with their hands. We believe small run... greyandslate.com/blog/new-marketpla…
greyandslate.com
New marketplace for us
There's a new marketplace for makers and hackers called SmallRun. SmallRun exists to give independent makers a place to sell what they build with their hands. We believe small run goods carry something commercially manufactured items can't - the hours of practice, the decisions made at the bench, the craft refined over years. Our job...
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Not surprising that the first product I make available on @smallrun.bsky.social is my #RaspberryPi design. smallrun.net/shop/grey-an... I'm slowly adding more. Right now, the hand-drawn Nixie Tube (w/ special number) and Field Guide for Adafruit Boards designs are also live in the new marketplace.
smallrun.net
Raspberry Pi 5 T-Shirt, Hand-Drawn - Grey and Slate, Haberdashers
Hand-drawn Raspberry Pi 5 board with blaze orange highlights. For makers who build projects on the world's most popular single-board computer.
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
OK, so seems I've been awarded an Arduino UNO Q. My project's based on some things brewing in my head and, for the contest, proposed to build around the Q. Very much the kind of 'spiritual hardware' I like to build. Just surprised it got selected, haha. My project: www.hackster.io/contests/inv...
hackster.io
Invent the Future with Arduino UNO Q and App Lab
Invent the Future with Arduino UNO Q and App Lab With Arduino, Qualcomm, and Edge Impulse.
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Hey, you folks know @smallrun.bsky.social, a new marketplace for #makers? The builder envisions "kind of a mashup of the former ThinkGeek, Tindie, and Hackaday." Exciting. I set up a shop there: smallrun.net/shop/grey-an... Follow my store there as I port over fave shirts from my Etsy store.
smallrun.net
Grey and Slate, Haberdashers
Expressive apparel for makers, engineers, and hackers
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
I'm in my last week of a sale (10% off) for Father's Day here in the US. The shirts on sale are my more popular hand-drawn stylized illustrations of chips, boards, and other #maker related designs (some below). greyandslate.com [alas, no easy Etsy link to show the items on sale]
hand-drawn stylized illustration of a AD570 DIP chip. white lines on black background with blaze orange highlight on cap and pins. URL to store below - greyandslate.comhand-drawn stylized illustration of white silhouettes of various popular Adafruit boards played out in 3x3 grid. URL to store below - greyandslate.comhand-drawn stylized illustration of a raspberry pi 5 board. white lines on black background with blaze orange highlight on logo and pins. URL to store below - greyandslate.compatent illustration for hedy lamarr patent. white on black background with blaze orange highlights of her signature and patent name.  URL to store below - greyandslate.com
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
@davidpierce.xyz Just listened to your first Vergecast Daily with Casey. 👍🏽 If you need an image of what the daily pace will feel like, think Audrey II from ‘Little Shop of Horrors’: ‘Feed me, Seymour!!!' Been there. Still alive. And no wiser. Haha. Best wishes. Looking forward to it all.
Image of a very large Audrey II from the musical Little Shop of Horrors, with mouth open and big teeth, looking down on her creator Seymour, asking for more food.
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Ha! I always like a good DOOM hack. This one is on cheap wifi walkie-talkies. Watch the video in the article for a fascinating look into how the hacker did it. hackaday.com/2026/05/24/h... Oh, think I’m gonna make this into a shirt design for my DOOM series.
hackaday.com
Hacking A Video Walkie Talkie’s TXW818 MCU And Running DOOM
Recently cheapo video walkie-talkies popped up on everyone’s favorite online retailers, which naturally lured in the usual gaggle of reverse-engineering enthusiasts of cheap tat to see what&#…
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
OK, so most of the stylized illustrations I make are #maker and #electronics #hacker related: chips, components, boards, and so forth. But sometimes something begs to be made, such as this I found myself saying to my wife. I have a whole "Left Field - Quirky" section in my store for such shirts.
Stylized brushed font with text saying "This aging thing. It's gonna kill me some day". The text is white on black background with "aging" and "kill me" highlighted in blaze orange. Underneath in white is URL of store "greyandslate.com"
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Hey, @somesal.bsky.social - THE Moto 68000 CDIP in my minimalist, hand-drawn style. What do you think? Design image below and link to shirt here: greyandslate.etsy.com/listing/4511... I also have a version with clear pins.
Hand-drawn stylized illustration of a ceramic Motorola 68000 DIP chip. Pins and central cap are in blaze, which white lettering.
Below, URL of store, greyandslate.com
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Peek at what I do by day: at #techweek Boston digital twin in healthcare panel
Panel of five people sitting on tall chairs. Panel on digital twins in healthcare.
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Ugh, I think I've hit the fourth stage of running an Etsy store. greyandslate.com/blog/the-fiv...
greyandslate.com
The five stages of running an Etsy store - Grey and Slate, Haberdashers
An Etsy store can feel like a slog. Here I talk about my journey and the Five Stages of running an Etsy store.
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Charlie Schick @greyandslate.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Cool stuff. Especially the skill for Claude. I've a Stick, so might need to try it out!
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