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Geeboon HC24 GBN Maker software
After many years of loyal service, it finally came time to replace my beloved Metcal SP200 soldering iron. It had served me extremely well, but after a series of small failures and improvised repairs, it eventually gave up for good. At that point it was either time to hunt for parts and revive it once…
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Dell Wyse 5070 vs HAOS vs Me (part 1)
I will start off by saying that I have no plans to fully automate my home. I am not trying to create a smart home utopia where the kettle knows my sleep schedule and the curtains open themselves at sunrise. I do however own one or two devices that genuinely benefit from running through Home…
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Windows 11 USB Blaster drivers
I recently found myself needing to dust off my very old USB Blaster clone, a piece of hardware I had not used in a very long time. Predictably, things did not go quite as smoothly as I had hoped. The drivers supplied with the equally ancient Quartus 12 software simply refuse to work on Windows…
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Olivetti ORS 558 (part 1)
Background Way back in 1995, my parents bought me my very first PC: an Olivetti PCS 486. It sported a 25 MHz CPU and 4 MB of RAM, all housed in a compact desktop case. I absolutely loved that machine. This was a period when personal computing felt like it was advancing at breakneck speed.…
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MPPT charging module
Over the past few years, I’ve been gradually tinkering with the ever-expanding world of LoRa hardware, which has become increasingly affordable and accessible to hobbyists. Like many people, my first real exposure came through Meshtastic. While the project itself was impressive, I was initially quite underwhelmed by the lack of adoption in my local area.…
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Barcrest MPU4 Double Up / Centrepoint
Some time ago, I was sent a Barcrest Double Up fruit machine program cartridge to dump. At first glance, it seemed fairly straightforward, but it didn’t take long for things to get a little more interesting. The cartridge appeared to be running version 1.3, which immediately stood out. Every reference I could find online pointed…
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SEAT Ateca key hole cover
During the Christmas holidays, my car tends to spend more time parked up than actually being driven. Add in a run of bitterly cold nights, heavy frosts, and a battery that’s definitely seen better days, and it’s almost inevitable that sooner or later I’ll walk out to a completely lifeless car. This year was that…
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Atari Lynx 1 repair
I was asked to look at an Atari Lynx 1 console that had developed a graphics fault. Testing with my Zaku cartridge we see the fault straight away. Looking at the schematics you can see a number of lines to the LCD come from the MIKEY custom. On checking the signal at Pin 1 of…
