 Recently I've found myself working on more and more projects/hacks that I want to share. I'm disorganized and my interests go here and there, which might mean this blog format will be a good match for me, since blogs are like that too. Follow the links at the left to visit the more persistent parts of the site; the content below will change.
Old programmer lore tells us that the last 20% of a project takes 80% of the time. This problem, combined with my tendency to stop working on a project as soon as it does what I want, has led me in the past to never share any of my unpolished work. I've decided to try to overcome that, not by changing my personality or work habits, but by sharing my 80%-finished projects anyway. I think they're useful as-is, and if you do too, that's great. If you don't think they're quite useful yet, please add on what you need.
| OpenWRT on a WRT350N | 23 December 2011, 20:33 UTC |
The OpenWRT project has packages for the Linksys WRT350Nv1 (they call it v1, but on my device there is no v number) but they do not work. However, if you build your own custom Backfire image, it can be made to work.
Attached here is the .config file I used to build Backfire (10.03.1, r29599) for this device.
Files attached to this page:
[permalink]
| TV Clock | 8 October 2011, 1:51 UTC |
 I turned a 1980 model "portable" TV from Goodwill into a little clock. I removed the now-useless broadcast tuner and deciphered the remaining circuitry well enough to determine where to inject sync and luminance signals. These signals are generated and bit-banged by an ATmega8 AVR.
The clock also contains an old wifi router running OpenWRT in client mode, so it can attach to my wireless network and sync to the 'net using NTP. The wifi hardware then continuously sets the AVR. The clock displays local time on top, and UTC on the bottom. So to set the timezone, you just log in to its web interface over the wireless...
[permalink]
| Truetype Tracer now has a public git repository. | 2 September 2011, 17:53 UTC |
The truetype-tracer repository I use is now available at git://timeguy.com/truetype-tracer.git
It is read-only.
[permalink]
| "Eight More Miles to Louisville" | 19 August 2011, 14:12 UTC |
This is another tune that came up in a basement jam session. After we puzzled it out, I went home and watched several Grandpa Jones performances and I think this is a fair representation of how he sings it. Sometimes he'd skip the last verse (maybe for time limitations, or maybe he thought it was a little corny?), and he rarely sang the same rhythm (or notes) twice. It is a good chord-changing workout. He really does play it that way, and the lyrics/chords I found on other sites online are nowhere close to what he did. Sorry about the hand scribbling and phone photo...
Files attached to this page:
[permalink]
| "Bill Mason" | 20 June 2011, 16:38 UTC |
At the Banjo Workshop at CGS Music last Thursday, Jerry Spahn shared this banjo tune. I typeset my interpretation of it using cmn.
Files attached to this page:
[permalink]
Older entries: All older entries...
| 
I turned a 1980 model "portable" TV from Goodwill into a little clock. I removed the now-useless broadcast tuner and deciphered the remaining circuitry well enough to determine where to inject sync and luminance signals. These signals are generated and bit-banged by an ATmega8 AVR.
