Larry the optimizer
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fast-code-r-us.bsky.social
Larry the optimizer
@fast-code-r-us.bsky.social
190 followers 190 following 220 posts
I optimize code for a living. I'm also good with bits, bytes and pixels. I have been in this digital world since before the days of 8-bit home computers. See my FOSS projects on https://github.com/bitbank2
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fast-code-r-us.bsky.social
Larry the optimizer @fast-code-r-us.bsky.social · Feb 21
If you appreciate my open source efforts, please support me on Github sponsors or Kofi:

github.com/sponsors/bit...

ko-fi.com/bitbank
Sponsor @bitbank2 on GitHub Sponsors
I started programming in the early days of home computing (1979) and learned to make the best of humble resources. This directly impacted my career choice of being a software optimization specialist.
github.com
Reposted by Larry the optimizer
billylinehan.bsky.social
Inside Maker Faire Rome 2025: Europe’s Festival of Innovation and Creativity - reporting for Irish Tech News
@irish-tech-news.bsky.social
#makerfaire #makerfairerome #maker

irishtechnews.ie/maker-faire-...
Maker Faire Rome Festival of Innovation and Creativity
Maker Faire Rome is a family-friendly festival of invention, creativity and resourcefulness. It brings together creators, tinkerers, artists, scientists,
irishtechnews.ie
November 7, 2025 at 7:37 PM
fast-code-r-us.bsky.social
New - I added Linux support to my bb_captouch library:

github.com/bitbank2/bb_...

It auto-detects a bunch of common capacitive touch sensors and has a simple API.
bb_captouch/Linux at main · bitbank2/bb_captouch
An ESP32/Arduino library to talk to CST820, FT6x36 and GT911 capacitive touch sensors (auto-detects) - bitbank2/bb_captouch
github.com
November 2, 2025 at 7:56 PM
fast-code-r-us.bsky.social
I found a new SSD1306 OLED size a couple of weeks ago (88x48 0.50"). Now added to my OneBitDisplay library. It's even smaller than it appears in the video 😀

youtu.be/bWwEwg_2Bxw
New OLED size: 88*48
YouTube video by tdfsoftware
youtu.be
November 2, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Reposted by Larry the optimizer
fasani.bsky.social
Preparing tomorrow test of multi board PCB:
Feather, Nano or XIAO adapter to drive 24 pin SPI Einks with sensors connected with QWIIC to quickly prototype your next project
October 23, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Reposted by Larry the optimizer
alpenglow.bsky.social
If you’re a California resident, be sure to vote in the upcoming special election! If you need a little bling to get you motivated, we’ve got you covered with both ready-to-go small pins and solder-it-yourself kits! Kits are 50% off and assembled pins are 25% off. Happy voting!
Two white pins with blue text that says I Voted are held up in front of the State of CA website that has Nov 4 special election and Prop 50 info on it.
October 23, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Reposted by Larry the optimizer
fasani.bsky.social
Very nice to see my longtime friend and collaborator Larry @fast-code-r-us.bsky.social show some of our collaborative in the #MakerFaireRome Great Hardware must be coupled with great Code (Firmware) thanks a lot to @ElectromakerIO for the interview
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WduZ...
Drive a Kindle Display with Open-Source Hardware
YouTube video by Electromaker
www.youtube.com
October 23, 2025 at 10:09 AM
fast-code-r-us.bsky.social
Finally got some copper heat sinks to test the Radxa Cubie A7z. It still runs too hot, but is relatively stable now. It's basically a RPI0 sized RPI5. It runs code 2-3x faster than an RPI4. Too small an area to dissipate that much heat. Need to find a way to lower the CPU clock speed.
October 2, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Reposted by Larry the optimizer
pimoroni.com
20% off in store this weekend when you use code "CLICK" during checkout! (excludes Raspberry Pi computers and kits): shop.pimoroni.com
September 26, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Reposted by Larry the optimizer
fasani.bsky.social
Updated the repository of BBBadge to add main goals of the PCB and a 3D render
github.com/martinberlin...
This project done in team with @fast-code-r-us.bsky.social was the lowest consumption project I've ever designed
GitHub - martinberlin/H-C3-029-eink: This is a joint project between Larry Bank and Fasani Corp with the purpouse to make an easy and unexpensive nRF52 BLE badge with a SPI 2.9", a QWIIC connector, an...
This is a joint project between Larry Bank and Fasani Corp with the purpouse to make an easy and unexpensive nRF52 BLE badge with a SPI 2.9", a QWIIC connector, and on board RTC - martinberlin...
github.com
September 26, 2025 at 11:31 AM
fast-code-r-us.bsky.social
Teaser video of the open source HW/SW I call 'BBBadge'. A low power e-Paper badge that can run for months from a coin cell (running the clock display shown below):
youtu.be/_fxwk2cfY9U

nRF52840 MCU + my bb_epaper library doing the low power magic.
Non flickering, no ghosting updates
YouTube video by tdfsoftware
youtu.be
September 26, 2025 at 10:06 AM
fast-code-r-us.bsky.social
A proud moment for power efficiency yesterday. I was able to get my nRF52840 ePaper badge to run well just using light sleep. It displays a clock on a 2.9" 296x128 EPD which updates every 10 seconds. With an average of 200uA current draw, it will run for several months on a coin cell.
Screenshot from Nordic Semi's Power Profiler showing a 10 second capture with a small spike in the middle when the display update occurs.
September 21, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Reposted by Larry the optimizer
solder.party
Curious about our upcoming KeebDeck products (www.keebdeck.com)?

Find us at KiCon in Bochum, Germany later this week, we’ll be showing off those boards and more!
September 8, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Reposted by Larry the optimizer
gadgetoid.com
Anyone used my interactive Raspberry Pi RP2350B pinout for any serious tinkering yet? 🤣

rp2350b.pinout.xyz
Raspberry Pi RP2350B (QFN-80) GPIO Pinout
An interactive, accessible and beautiful QFN-80 GPIO pinout for the Raspberry Pi RP2350 microcontroller.
rp2350b.pinout.xyz
September 8, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Reposted by Larry the optimizer
fasani.bsky.social
Last unit of Kindle v7 RAW controller
www.tindie.com/products/fas...
Designed in team with @fast-code-r-us.bsky.social
epdiy V7 8bit Kindle 6"parallel epaper controller by Fasani Corporation on Tindie
EPDiy Kindle is a driver board for 6" 34 pin Eink displays w/touch and Front light driver
www.tindie.com
September 1, 2025 at 7:32 PM
fast-code-r-us.bsky.social
I've had this idea for a while - support for 3 and 4-color EPD images (compressed as G5 in 2 bit planes). Still in development, but you can try it (bb_epaper, dev branch). The tool converts PNG to G5 with color matching. Result - 8:1 lossless compression and easy to use the results.
Photo of a 4-color and 3-color epaper display panel showing smiley face images.
August 25, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Reposted by Larry the optimizer
tindie.com
epdiy v7 raw 5.2” parallel Eink controller FastEPD by Fasani Corporation
View on Tindie #NEW #esp32
April 29, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Reposted by Larry the optimizer
bitluni.bsky.social
Join today's livestream for cake and fondue (20:00 CEST)!
12 years of bitluni's lab!
YT: youtu.be/fWKi7ivB_I4
Twitch: www.twitch.tv/bitluni
LIVE: 12 years of bitluni's lab!
YouTube video by bitluni live
youtu.be
August 6, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Reposted by Larry the optimizer
usetrmnl.com
Just sponsored Larry, small thanks for everything done for open source

github.com/sponsors/bit...
July 8, 2025 at 2:00 AM
fast-code-r-us.bsky.social
@usetrmnl.com Any direct way to communicate with you?
July 7, 2025 at 7:24 PM
fast-code-r-us.bsky.social
I did a major rewrite of my OneBitDisplay library. I removed all support of e-paper displays since that's now in bb_epaper, and I added my updated compressed font+bitmap support. I'm still working on documentation and examples, but you can give it a try now if you like:
github.com/bitbank2/One...
GitHub - bitbank2/OneBitDisplay: A full featured Arduino display library for 1-bit per pixel OLED, LCD and e-paper displays
A full featured Arduino display library for 1-bit per pixel OLED, LCD and e-paper displays - bitbank2/OneBitDisplay
github.com
July 7, 2025 at 1:27 PM
fast-code-r-us.bsky.social
New blog post about my compressed bitmap font system:

bitbanksoftware.blogspot.com/2025/07/buil...
Building a Better Bitmap (font system)
Intro There is a common need in the computer world to display text on dot-addressable displays. As with everything else, there are many ways...
bitbanksoftware.blogspot.com
July 5, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Reposted by Larry the optimizer
reckless.bsky.social
America is a system and that system has crashed. @lopatto.bsky.social and @sarahjeong.bsky.social don’t mince words here www.theverge.com/policy/69730...
The People have rights against the powerful. That is what America is about It’s notable that these words keep getting repeated — almost like those “unalienable” rights of “life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness” are really important. The Reconstruction Amendments — the 13th, 14th, and 15th — weave together the threads of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence. They were a critical update, you might say, one that patched the Founders’ system-destroying error of perpetuating slavery while simultaneously declaring all men to be created equal. The 14th acknowledges that states, too, can be tyrants. Whether it is George III, the feds, or the slave-holding antebellum states, the People have rights against the powerful. That is what America is about.
July 4, 2025 at 1:18 PM
fast-code-r-us.bsky.social
This project brings together a lot of my work over the years (e.g. display+sensor libraries) into a frustration reduction tool. It allows you to create working starting points for your embedded projects based on your choice of hardware, and objective. For now it is only on MacOS and can only
June 23, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Reposted by Larry the optimizer
newyorker.com
In our attempts to curb crime in America, have we misunderstood the problem? Malcolm Gladwell explores the motivations behind violent acts.
What We Get Wrong About Violent Crime
A Chicago criminologist challenges our assumptions about why most shootings happen—and what really makes a city safe.
nyer.cm
June 20, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Reposted by Larry the optimizer
programmax.net
Oh baby!
PNG Third Edition is about to be published as a Recommendation!
Finally!
github.com/w3c/transiti...
REC Request for Portable Network Graphics (PNG) Specification (Third Edition) - png-3 · Issue #725 · w3c/transitions
Document title, URLs, estimated publication date Portable Network Graphics (PNG) Specification (Third Edition) https://www.w3.org/TR/png-3/ After approval Abstract https://www.w3.org/TR/png-3/#abst...
github.com
June 21, 2025 at 1:19 AM