Gareth Halfacree
@ghalfacree.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
#Technology, #science, and #computing #journalist and #photojournalist. #Author, #Microbit & #RaspberryPi User Guides. Custom PC columnist. Bylines Hackster.io […]
🌉 bridged from ⁂ https://mastodon.social/@ghalfacree, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact
🌉 bridged from ⁂ https://mastodon.social/@ghalfacree, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact
Spent the morning diagnosing compatibility issues with the Commodore SFX FM Sound Expander cartridge, for an upcoming article. The only reason I know I haven't fallen down a time hole to 1985 is because I'm complaining about it on Mastodon and not a local BBS.
My job's funny sometimes.
My job's funny sometimes.
December 13, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Spent the morning diagnosing compatibility issues with the Commodore SFX FM Sound Expander cartridge, for an upcoming article. The only reason I know I haven't fallen down a time hole to 1985 is because I'm complaining about it on Mastodon and not a local BBS.
My job's funny sometimes.
My job's funny sometimes.
Right, had a busy day at #hackster - and I'm not done yet, I've got to set the studio up for a photoshoot next...
First up, #qualcomm's flashing the cash again - this time picking up RISC-V specialist Ventana Micro Systems, but making noises about how it'll help with the development of its […]
First up, #qualcomm's flashing the cash again - this time picking up RISC-V specialist Ventana Micro Systems, but making noises about how it'll help with the development of its […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 11, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Pulling the last of the things I need from storage, including a Commodore Communications Modem. Only to discover... another Commodore Communications Modem.
I have no memory of ever getting a second.
I have no memory of ever getting a second.
December 11, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Pulling the last of the things I need from storage, including a Commodore Communications Modem. Only to discover... another Commodore Communications Modem.
I have no memory of ever getting a second.
I have no memory of ever getting a second.
This was actually announced a few days back, but I've been waiting to have one in-hand: the sixth edition of my Official Raspberry Pi Beginner's Guide is now out!
It's freshly expanded for the latest Trixie-based Raspberry Pi OS and for the Raspberry Pi 5 […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
It's freshly expanded for the latest Trixie-based Raspberry Pi OS and for the Raspberry Pi 5 […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
December 10, 2025 at 5:58 PM
This was actually announced a few days back, but I've been waiting to have one in-hand: the sixth edition of my Official Raspberry Pi Beginner's Guide is now out!
It's freshly expanded for the latest Trixie-based Raspberry Pi OS and for the Raspberry Pi 5 […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
It's freshly expanded for the latest Trixie-based Raspberry Pi OS and for the Raspberry Pi 5 […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
Just three pieces up on #hackster for me today, as I've been digging around the office for some stuff in storage and had a newsletter to write.
First up, a "proactive hearing assistant" which figures out who's involved in your conversation and mutes everyone else […]
First up, a "proactive hearing assistant" which figures out who's involved in your conversation and mutes everyone else […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 10, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Just three pieces up on #hackster for me today, as I've been digging around the office for some stuff in storage and had a newsletter to write.
First up, a "proactive hearing assistant" which figures out who's involved in your conversation and mutes everyone else […]
First up, a "proactive hearing assistant" which figures out who's involved in your conversation and mutes everyone else […]
@guffo Could you give the IRC bridge a kick when you get a chance? It left the channel last night and the luddites are getting lonely.
December 10, 2025 at 8:56 AM
@guffo Could you give the IRC bridge a kick when you get a chance? It left the channel last night and the luddites are getting lonely.
Digging out some Commodore stuff I haven't touched in a while, for Reasons.
There's a bee in my Simons' BASIC cartridge.
There's a bee in my Simons' BASIC cartridge.
December 9, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Digging out some Commodore stuff I haven't touched in a while, for Reasons.
There's a bee in my Simons' BASIC cartridge.
There's a bee in my Simons' BASIC cartridge.
Put a new battery in my aging laptop, and have been running it under load to drop it from 100% to empty for calibration. It got to 20-odd percent, dropped to 6%. Ran down to three, tried to hibernate but for some reason woke itself up.
It's now at 0%, and has been for about ten minutes. Still […]
It's now at 0%, and has been for about ten minutes. Still […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 9, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Put a new battery in my aging laptop, and have been running it under load to drop it from 100% to empty for calibration. It got to 20-odd percent, dropped to 6%. Ran down to three, tried to hibernate but for some reason woke itself up.
It's now at 0%, and has been for about ten minutes. Still […]
It's now at 0%, and has been for about ten minutes. Still […]
Not too busy a day for me, so I've only a few #hackster articles to share (plus one that's likely to appear tomorrow) - and I'll start with my favourite, the fantastic Diapasonix string-like synth and MIDI controller from @turi. Watch the video, it's great! […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 9, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Not too busy a day for me, so I've only a few #hackster articles to share (plus one that's likely to appear tomorrow) - and I'll start with my favourite, the fantastic Diapasonix string-like synth and MIDI controller from @turi. Watch the video, it's great! […]
There's still one in the queue (and one embargoed until tomorrow,) but here's my latest for #hackster - starting with one from last week I hadn't mentioned yet: a project to generate sound which can be picked up by smartphone microphones to help locate people (or, I guess, their phones) buried […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 8, 2025 at 4:57 PM
There's still one in the queue (and one embargoed until tomorrow,) but here's my latest for #hackster - starting with one from last week I hadn't mentioned yet: a project to generate sound which can be picked up by smartphone microphones to help locate people (or, I guess, their phones) buried […]
Gah, a piece of hardware I'm *very* excited to review was supposed to arrive tomorrow ahead of an embargo lift of the 15th, but is on a Customs bold because the factory it was shipped from messed up the paperwork. Wonder if it'll get sorted in time?
December 8, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Gah, a piece of hardware I'm *very* excited to review was supposed to arrive tomorrow ahead of an embargo lift of the 15th, but is on a Customs bold because the factory it was shipped from messed up the paperwork. Wonder if it'll get sorted in time?
Just had some dude message me to tell me I should "just stop," allegedly written using speech recognition and "still not got as many errors as your Linux? Platform capable of anything article."
Two typos. That's what got his knickers in a twist. Neither of which were caught by the spilling […]
Two typos. That's what got his knickers in a twist. Neither of which were caught by the spilling […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 7, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Just had some dude message me to tell me I should "just stop," allegedly written using speech recognition and "still not got as many errors as your Linux? Platform capable of anything article."
Two typos. That's what got his knickers in a twist. Neither of which were caught by the spilling […]
Two typos. That's what got his knickers in a twist. Neither of which were caught by the spilling […]
I see #calibre has added the ability to "talk" to an #llm bullshit machine about my books. That the company behind the LLM stole, along with everything else it could get its hands on, to blend into a statistical slurry it can feed back to me for profit.
Guess I'm looking for a new eBook manager […]
Guess I'm looking for a new eBook manager […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 6, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Right, last #hackster round-up of the week, and we're starting with an all-in-one development board from RT-Thread which comes running an on-board local large language model, because of course it does […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 5, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Right, last #hackster round-up of the week, and we're starting with an all-in-one development board from RT-Thread which comes running an on-board local large language model, because of course it does […]
I'm still waiting on a couple of pieces to filter through the publication queue over on #hackster, but it's getting late in the day so I'll start the round-up now - with the device32, a cute little smart display with a case that actually puts the screen at a viewable angle. (Seriously, so many […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 4, 2025 at 4:20 PM
I'm still waiting on a couple of pieces to filter through the publication queue over on #hackster, but it's getting late in the day so I'll start the round-up now - with the device32, a cute little smart display with a case that actually puts the screen at a viewable angle. (Seriously, so many […]
Well, there's another thing to thank the AI bubble for: the death of Crucial.
https://investors.micron.com/news-releases/news-release-details/micron-announces-exit-crucial-consumer-business
I upgraded my desktop to 64GB of DDR4 RAM in April for £110; same-spec upgrade now would be £430, and […]
https://investors.micron.com/news-releases/news-release-details/micron-announces-exit-crucial-consumer-business
I upgraded my desktop to 64GB of DDR4 RAM in April for £110; same-spec upgrade now would be £430, and […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 3, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Well, there's another thing to thank the AI bubble for: the death of Crucial.
https://investors.micron.com/news-releases/news-release-details/micron-announces-exit-crucial-consumer-business
I upgraded my desktop to 64GB of DDR4 RAM in April for £110; same-spec upgrade now would be £430, and […]
https://investors.micron.com/news-releases/news-release-details/micron-announces-exit-crucial-consumer-business
I upgraded my desktop to 64GB of DDR4 RAM in April for £110; same-spec upgrade now would be £430, and […]
Trying to make sense of the wiring in this house. A 32A breaker labelled "SHOWER" (no, we don't have a power shower) appears to be connected to nothing bar the single socket the fridge is plugged into. One labelled "SPARE" powers MY ENTIRE OFFICE.
Furrfu.
Furrfu.
December 3, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Trying to make sense of the wiring in this house. A 32A breaker labelled "SHOWER" (no, we don't have a power shower) appears to be connected to nothing bar the single socket the fridge is plugged into. One labelled "SPARE" powers MY ENTIRE OFFICE.
Furrfu.
Furrfu.
Another busy day over at #hackster for me - although there's one piece I wrote I can't share yet, as it's embargoed until the 5th.
I *can* share these, though - starting with a *brilliant* project which streams music from a nearby Bluetooth device onto a looped tape and plays it back from that […]
I *can* share these, though - starting with a *brilliant* project which streams music from a nearby Bluetooth device onto a looped tape and plays it back from that […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 3, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Another busy day over at #hackster for me - although there's one piece I wrote I can't share yet, as it's embargoed until the 5th.
I *can* share these, though - starting with a *brilliant* project which streams music from a nearby Bluetooth device onto a looped tape and plays it back from that […]
I *can* share these, though - starting with a *brilliant* project which streams music from a nearby Bluetooth device onto a looped tape and plays it back from that […]
Getting some interesting messages from Newswise this morning...
December 3, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Getting some interesting messages from Newswise this morning...
That's okay, cat, I didn't need to breathe right now...
December 2, 2025 at 8:58 PM
That's okay, cat, I didn't need to breathe right now...
Somehow managed to overachieve with another *10* articles for #hackster today, so let's start with the six that have already been published.
First up, another amazing 3D display project from @ancientjames - this time solid-state, so no terrifying LED panels whizzing past your face at a few […]
First up, another amazing 3D display project from @ancientjames - this time solid-state, so no terrifying LED panels whizzing past your face at a few […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 2, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Somehow managed to overachieve with another *10* articles for #hackster today, so let's start with the six that have already been published.
First up, another amazing 3D display project from @ancientjames - this time solid-state, so no terrifying LED panels whizzing past your face at a few […]
First up, another amazing 3D display project from @ancientjames - this time solid-state, so no terrifying LED panels whizzing past your face at a few […]
Found another great use for that old original-model Microsoft Surface Pro I threw Linux on: my e-book reader doesn't do Adobe Digital Editions, but Borrowbox - the service my library uses for e-books - works perfectly in Firefox. I don't have to squint at my […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
December 1, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Found another great use for that old original-model Microsoft Surface Pro I threw Linux on: my e-book reader doesn't do Adobe Digital Editions, but Borrowbox - the service my library uses for e-books - works perfectly in Firefox. I don't have to squint at my […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
Got a *lot* of stuff in the pipeline over on #hackster today, so I'll get a head-start on today's round-up thread with the four that have been published so far - starting with (as I mentioned earlier) the news that the #raspberrypi SBC range is getting a price hike across the board, balanced out […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 1, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Got a *lot* of stuff in the pipeline over on #hackster today, so I'll get a head-start on today's round-up thread with the four that have been published so far - starting with (as I mentioned earlier) the news that the #raspberrypi SBC range is getting a price hike across the board, balanced out […]
Well, called it: back on the 7th of November I predicted that demand from the AI bubble for RAM components and the subsequent explosion in spot pricing was going to mean price-hikes from #raspberrypi and other single-board computer makers […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 1, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Well, called it: back on the 7th of November I predicted that demand from the AI bubble for RAM components and the subsequent explosion in spot pricing was going to mean price-hikes from #raspberrypi and other single-board computer makers […]
Right, last #hackster articles of the month 'cos I'm taking Friday off - and it' a light load of three today, starting with a handy guide for #arduino UNO Q owners from @shawnhymel […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
November 27, 2025 at 4:02 PM