Steven Roberts
@nomadness.bsky.social
Paleo-technomad living aboard in the San Juan Islands with a mobile digitizing lab, working on a book about 17,000 miles on a computerized recumbent bicycle in the '80s.
My dad was on the maiden voyage of the liner America in August 1940 and did some beautiful 8mm film of this part of the world... Including shore time in Port-au-Prince, Havana, and St Thomas. That's what started my digitizing business. This is a postcard that was in the collection of memorabilia
October 30, 2025 at 2:07 PM
My dad was on the maiden voyage of the liner America in August 1940 and did some beautiful 8mm film of this part of the world... Including shore time in Port-au-Prince, Havana, and St Thomas. That's what started my digitizing business. This is a postcard that was in the collection of memorabilia
Bionodal branding, using a beautiful artifact from about 30 years ago -- something that began life as quarter inch stainless steel plate and was cut with wire EDM at a friend's machine shop in Chicago, attached with 3M High Bond to the soundbar.
June 22, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Bionodal branding, using a beautiful artifact from about 30 years ago -- something that began life as quarter inch stainless steel plate and was cut with wire EDM at a friend's machine shop in Chicago, attached with 3M High Bond to the soundbar.
I know I haven't talked about the big picture of this project yet, but here's another close up... The PiKVM is great at some things but not so much at local console. Fixed this with series connected cheapie for "manual and auto" modes, selecting local console devices or complex network stuff.
June 6, 2025 at 7:46 PM
I know I haven't talked about the big picture of this project yet, but here's another close up... The PiKVM is great at some things but not so much at local console. Fixed this with series connected cheapie for "manual and auto" modes, selecting local console devices or complex network stuff.
More blinkies! Third Pi in the cluster now alive - installed to SD and then cloned image to 1 TB SSD and changed boot order. And the KVM is working after lots of hair pulling.
May 19, 2025 at 6:36 AM
More blinkies! Third Pi in the cluster now alive - installed to SD and then cloned image to 1 TB SSD and changed boot order. And the KVM is working after lots of hair pulling.
PiKVM headbutting this weekend, complex and counterintuitive. But it is well clamped to a rack shelf and now blinking.
May 18, 2025 at 7:55 PM
PiKVM headbutting this weekend, complex and counterintuitive. But it is well clamped to a rack shelf and now blinking.
A random moment from 40 years ago, east Texas, on the road with the Winnebiko
April 2, 2025 at 9:14 PM
A random moment from 40 years ago, east Texas, on the road with the Winnebiko
Current state of the Winnebiko 2 console, which I moved into the shop yesterday while clearing a workspace for the new project. I've always really liked this version, which covered about 6,000 mi on both coasts of the US.
April 2, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Current state of the Winnebiko 2 console, which I moved into the shop yesterday while clearing a workspace for the new project. I've always really liked this version, which covered about 6,000 mi on both coasts of the US.
Making things with 20/20 t-slot extrusion... Geek Tinker Toys!
March 19, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Making things with 20/20 t-slot extrusion... Geek Tinker Toys!
Hope it goes smoothly! Alice weighed in with this lovely graphic....
March 13, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Hope it goes smoothly! Alice weighed in with this lovely graphic....
1984. Cold, cold, snow on the banks, tires rushing, trucks changing lanes, ears popping. Deep chill, violent shivers, insane grins, teeth frozen, all lost in the blast of wind. Headlight off to save the battery. If I’m going to kill myself, it might as well be with dramatic intensity...
February 11, 2025 at 3:26 AM
1984. Cold, cold, snow on the banks, tires rushing, trucks changing lanes, ears popping. Deep chill, violent shivers, insane grins, teeth frozen, all lost in the blast of wind. Headlight off to save the battery. If I’m going to kill myself, it might as well be with dramatic intensity...
Fun digitizing some of my own photos for a change... old slide binders and carousels are turning up treasures from those halcyon days. This one is from sometime in 1987, during the Winnebiko 2 era.
February 10, 2025 at 5:15 AM
Fun digitizing some of my own photos for a change... old slide binders and carousels are turning up treasures from those halcyon days. This one is from sometime in 1987, during the Winnebiko 2 era.
A moment on the road in 1991 with Macintosh Portable in the BEHEMOTH bicycle console (controlled by ultrasonic head mouse and handlebar keyboard).
February 4, 2025 at 10:03 PM
A moment on the road in 1991 with Macintosh Portable in the BEHEMOTH bicycle console (controlled by ultrasonic head mouse and handlebar keyboard).
It was a treat getting off the rock for a day in America... I have gotten jaded about ferry trips over the past decade. I took a break from working on system design to play tourist. (In the looming darkness of the age in which we find ourselves, the little moments count... I must do more of them.)
January 31, 2025 at 4:56 AM
It was a treat getting off the rock for a day in America... I have gotten jaded about ferry trips over the past decade. I took a break from working on system design to play tourist. (In the looming darkness of the age in which we find ourselves, the little moments count... I must do more of them.)
This is Isabelle, who's now 15. She helps with everything, including lab overload, pain, the dread of imminent autocracy, existential angst, procrastination followed by despair, unkempt adulting, and the annoyance of being biological and finite.
January 29, 2025 at 4:00 AM
This is Isabelle, who's now 15. She helps with everything, including lab overload, pain, the dread of imminent autocracy, existential angst, procrastination followed by despair, unkempt adulting, and the annoyance of being biological and finite.
I made the Sunday funnies on September 30th, 1984... With more details in their monthly Enter magazine. Good times.
January 24, 2025 at 2:33 AM
I made the Sunday funnies on September 30th, 1984... With more details in their monthly Enter magazine. Good times.
Another shipment of home movies trundling up I-5 for digitizing...
January 22, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Another shipment of home movies trundling up I-5 for digitizing...
Roberts Law of Non-Triviality: “There is an inverse relationship between the number of words required to describe a task and the amount of time required to complete it.” Something to do with the What-How spectrum…
January 20, 2025 at 7:50 AM
Roberts Law of Non-Triviality: “There is an inverse relationship between the number of words required to describe a task and the amount of time required to complete it.” Something to do with the What-How spectrum…
The Roberts Law of Fractal To-Do List Complexity: “Each item on a list is merely the title of another list.”
January 19, 2025 at 8:02 PM
The Roberts Law of Fractal To-Do List Complexity: “Each item on a list is merely the title of another list.”
The Apollo AIR-1 keeps an eye on air quality in the mobile lab, with the VOC level (SEN55) spiking from film cleaner when I scan old movies. I'm adding an automation to turn on the new ventilation fan whenever it decides things are getting unreasonable. this amazing ESP32 box is about 2.5" across.
January 14, 2025 at 2:43 AM
The Apollo AIR-1 keeps an eye on air quality in the mobile lab, with the VOC level (SEN55) spiking from film cleaner when I scan old movies. I'm adding an automation to turn on the new ventilation fan whenever it decides things are getting unreasonable. this amazing ESP32 box is about 2.5" across.
I've been noticing how quickly CO2 levels build up in the lab, especially with more than one person in there... not uncommon to push 2000 ppm with visitors (450 is normal outdoor level). This fan retrofit replaces the original equipment piece of junk, and dropped 1700 to 700 in about 15 minutes.
January 13, 2025 at 8:00 AM
I've been noticing how quickly CO2 levels build up in the lab, especially with more than one person in there... not uncommon to push 2000 ppm with visitors (450 is normal outdoor level). This fan retrofit replaces the original equipment piece of junk, and dropped 1700 to 700 in about 15 minutes.
Just hung this in the mobile lab window for times when I'm recording. This 48 ft trailer is basically a big metal box that would be a Faraday cage if it weren't for this tiny window... and it already has a Zigbee hub, cellular antenna, and security camera. Time for a roof platform!
January 12, 2025 at 3:59 AM
Just hung this in the mobile lab window for times when I'm recording. This 48 ft trailer is basically a big metal box that would be a Faraday cage if it weren't for this tiny window... and it already has a Zigbee hub, cellular antenna, and security camera. Time for a roof platform!
I have naturally avoided the color orange for the past year or so, but that's not the fault of this Dirona pellucida who was hanging out on a piling here at the port. #nudibranchs #gardenslugsindrag
December 28, 2024 at 4:14 PM
I have naturally avoided the color orange for the past year or so, but that's not the fault of this Dirona pellucida who was hanging out on a piling here at the port. #nudibranchs #gardenslugsindrag
I've been thinking in terms of running Computing Across America chapters on Substack weekly, but that would take 2 years! No reason to not let them run asynchronously... life is short. As a teaser, this photo is from 1987 -- a demo of the bike while visiting GEnie in Rockville, Maryland.
December 22, 2024 at 6:17 PM
I've been thinking in terms of running Computing Across America chapters on Substack weekly, but that would take 2 years! No reason to not let them run asynchronously... life is short. As a teaser, this photo is from 1987 -- a demo of the bike while visiting GEnie in Rockville, Maryland.
Bird TV with Isabelle
December 22, 2024 at 5:53 PM
Bird TV with Isabelle
Photo processing across 50 years. Enlarger is from my apartment darkroom (with cheesy line printer art) in 1974-5; copy station with mirrorless Sony is in my current digitizing lab, capturing RAW for Lightroom. I remember dodging and burning in the olden days... versus AI and Photoshop magic now.
December 22, 2024 at 7:42 AM
Photo processing across 50 years. Enlarger is from my apartment darkroom (with cheesy line printer art) in 1974-5; copy station with mirrorless Sony is in my current digitizing lab, capturing RAW for Lightroom. I remember dodging and burning in the olden days... versus AI and Photoshop magic now.