DevZone rollout

First announced in the July community update, the DevZone is a project management system for PINE64 devices. It will allow us to have a better overview of ongoing software development, streamline the product prototyping processes and keep track of suggested hardware changes. It is also a way for us to get an up-to-date survey of our developer-pool, including each developer’s core competences and availability. We believe that the introduction of this system will facilitate cooperation and accelerate the process of bringing new devices to the market. 

Adventures using and repairing an X131e laptop from 2011

Replacing wifi coax, modifying bios to allow new wifi cards, unsticking tired clock chips, DIY custom power suppy plugs, de-flickering backlight and more. Somehow my best laptop yet.

AMA on CrowdSupply

Note: This is a crosspost of a Cynthion update on Crowd Supply: https://www.crowdsupply.com/great-scott-gadgets/luna/updates/ama-update

On August 18th we held an “Ask Me Anything” session where anyone interested in LUNA could ask us questions in real time. The full transcript of this AMA is available to view in the #luna-ama channel in the CrowdSupply Discord server.

Introducing the PineNote

This month brings news that many of you have been waiting years for - we’re introducing the PineNote, a high-end e-ink device based on the powerful Quartz64 single board computer. But the good news doesn’t end here, the PinePhone keyboard has entered production, developers have begun work on PinePhone’s back cases, PineDio development is moving forward and we’ve seen a new firmware release for Pinebook Pro’s touchpad. There’s a lot of ground to cover this month, so let’s get to it.

OsmoDevCall: "GSM-R and how it differs from GSM"

I've presented on GSM-R and how it differs from GSM as part of the OsmoDevCall talk series on Osmocom and related technology.

You can find the video recording at https://media.ccc.de/v/osmodevcall-20210813-laforge-gsm-r

The History of LUNA

Note: This is a crosspost of a Cynthion update on Crowd Supply: https://www.crowdsupply.com/great-scott-gadgets/luna/updates/the-history-of-luna

Ten years ago this summer I quit my day job at a radio research lab and made Great Scott Gadgets (GSG) my full-time job. I dedicated myself and the company to our mission: to put open source tools into the hands of innovative people. One of the first things I did at that time was to make a list of products I was interested in making. That list included “USB swiss army knife”. I didn’t know how to make such a thing at the time,...

Open Source Clair de Lune

Note: This is a crosspost of a Cynthion update on Crowd Supply: https://www.crowdsupply.com/great-scott-gadgets/luna/updates/open-source-moon-music

Open source is at the heart of everything Great Scott Gadgets does. When we design hardware, we publish the KiCad design files, firmware, and software under open source licenses. We try to ensure the documentation, tutorials, research papers, and videos we publish are openly licensed as well. It is the GSG way. While preparing for this Crowd Supply campaign, we took our commitment to open source even further by ensuring the music used in our campaign video is openly available too.

As we started thinking about our campaign video,...

Метеостанция на Banana Pi M64 (Linux, C#, Docker, RabbitMQ, AvaloniaUI)

Статей о создании метеостанции на базе Arduino не счесть. Можно сказать, если статья про метеостанцию, то это про микроконтроллеры Arduino, ESP32 или STM32. Но только не в этот раз. Будем запускать метеостанцию на Banana Pi BPI-M64 под Linux, без использования Arduino-подобных оберток в виде WiringPi, на C# .NET5. Пример метеостанции является демонстрацией встраиваемого решения работы с GPIO, датчиками и вывода пользовательского интерфейса напрямую на LCD. В решении используется: Linux (Armbian) — основная ОС, .NET и C# — платформа для создания прикладного ПО, AvaloniaUI — графической интерфейс с интерактивными графиками и анимацией, Docker — инструмент для развертывания, управления, доставки приложений, RabbitMQ...

LUNA's USB-C Connectors

Note: This is a crosspost of a Cynthion update on Crowd Supply: https://www.crowdsupply.com/great-scott-gadgets/cynthion/updates/q-and-a-session-on-luna-hardware-connectivity

Hi, friends!

As community manager for Great Scott Gadgets, one of my favourite tasks is finding answers to questions that come in through email, Twitter, GitHub, and Discord. Thankfully you all are great at asking questions, especially about the USB Type-C connectors on LUNA! In this blog post Michael Ossmann responds to most of the USB Type-C queries I’ve received (and asked) about LUNA in the last few weeks.

Kate’s original...

Домашняя Звезда Смерти — это возможно

И снова здравствуйте. Честно говоря, я планировал писать эту статью в самую последнюю очередь, планируя сначала рассказать о более «приземленных» вещах, тянул время. Но вот наступил критический момент, когда тянуть уже дальше некуда.
Бывало, задавали вопросы, а можно ли построить самостоятельно Звезду Смерти в домашних условиях, обладая знаниями лазерной техники. При всей абсурдности и глупости этого вопроса ответ на самом деле – «можно». По крайней мере, действующий макет в уменьшенном масштабе. Который даже стрелять лазерным излучением будет.