Don’t be mistaken, the CleanJuice v1.1 or Retro Modding Rechargeable Battery Pack Game Boy Advance USB-C power supply are well-thought-out solutions. They’re almost “drop-in”, need minimal modifications to the GBA and keep the battery compartment intact so you can still use AAs. But they’re also relatively expensive, especially if you don’t live in the US.Continue reading “Simple Game Boy Advance micro USB / USB-C Li-ion battery power supply aka the “CheapJuice””
Category Archives: electronics
Coreboot for the Lenovo T420 / T420i with Ivy Bridge support
Usually I tend to decline offers for old laptops, because I have too many projects anyway, but when a friend offered me a broken T420, I thought “Hmm, good opportunity to try out Coreboot…”. Because, why not?! The laptop The device arrived in a sad state: It was dirty, had old stickers on it, itsContinue reading “Coreboot for the Lenovo T420 / T420i with Ivy Bridge support”
Properly (passive) cooling the Toshiba Z20t-C / the Intel m7-6Y75
The Toshiba Z20t-C is a really nice, silent convertible with a long battery runtime. It’s CPU is held back though by cooling issues. The Intel m7-6Y75 performs especially bad, running even slower than its cheaper m5-6Y57 / m5-6Y54 counterparts due to cooling. Though the CPU could clock at 2.9 GHz for two loaded cores, itContinue reading “Properly (passive) cooling the Toshiba Z20t-C / the Intel m7-6Y75”
Using a 24C256 / 24LC256 EEPROM on Raspberry Pi with device overlays
For my HappyPlayer project I needed non-volatile storage for some settings, but I wanted to make the RPIs SD card read-only to prevent data-loss or file system corruption in case of power loss of the whole device. So I used an EEPROM (Atmel 24C256) to store the settings in regular intervals to be able toContinue reading “Using a 24C256 / 24LC256 EEPROM on Raspberry Pi with device overlays”
Use a rotary encoder and button on Raspberry Pi with device overlays
For my HappyPlayer project I needed to control the audio volume using a rotary encoder and GPIOs. I used device tree overlays for this. The encoder used is a standard type with an additional momentary switch when you press it. It needs 4 pins: Common GND -> Pi GND Momentary switch -> GPIO 6 RotaryContinue reading “Use a rotary encoder and button on Raspberry Pi with device overlays”
Setting up the XYZ Da Vinci 1.0A 3D printer with RepetierHost and Slic3r on Ubuntu
I finally bought a 3D printer. It’s a used one and entry level, but printing parts is good fun. Here’s how to set it up on Ubuntu 14.04: Install Repetier firmware The new firmware will give you much more control over the printing process. Mine was already installed (v0.92), so I upgrading to the 0.92.10Continue reading “Setting up the XYZ Da Vinci 1.0A 3D printer with RepetierHost and Slic3r on Ubuntu”
Adding backlight control to a 5″ HDMI screen (and Kodi)
So the screen from here is working in Kodi now (LCD datasheet / pinout), but it draws a lot of power when the backlight is on (~200mA extra). We want to turn at least the backlight off, leaving the touchscreen active so we can interact and wake it up again. Buuut the LCD has noContinue reading “Adding backlight control to a 5″ HDMI screen (and Kodi)”
Building a mobile magnet lamp / flashlight from repurposed parts
I needed a mobile “flashlight” in my car you could simple attach somewhere to the chassis where you’d need it. The are plenty of offers on the interwebs, so could have simply bought one, but I (as usual) had some parts lying around…I had: A spare 12Wh Li-Ion battery left over from my Kodi carContinue reading “Building a mobile magnet lamp / flashlight from repurposed parts”
Building a Kodi in-car entertainment system using a Motorola Atrix Lapdock and an Odroid C0
Watching movies in the car is great fun. It is even better when you have a camper and lie in your comfy sleeping bag – I needed an in-car entertainment system.I have a stereo in the car already that can even play videos, but the screen is small, codec support is limited and it isContinue reading “Building a Kodi in-car entertainment system using a Motorola Atrix Lapdock and an Odroid C0”
Using the Easybox 803A (Arcadyan ARV752DPW22) with OpenWRT 14.07 / 15.05
The Vodafone Easybox 803A has nice router hardware. I found one on the trash recently and decided to put OpenWRT on it. Here’s how. This is based on the instructions found in the OpenWRT wiki, the OpenWRT forum and random bits on the net. UPDATE 2: I have updated the post to make it clearerContinue reading “Using the Easybox 803A (Arcadyan ARV752DPW22) with OpenWRT 14.07 / 15.05”
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