Cluster build log: Moving to temporary cluster

As promised in the last month’s community update Housekeeping section, this is the first part of the cluster’s build log! This mini-series in which I will cover everything about upcoming changes our hosting cluster, and it begins with building a temporary cluster.

One of the latest photo of cluster

Let’s start from beginning. When we built the current hosting cluster a year ago, it was made in quite a hurry (some of the services needed to be migrated to the cluster on a moment’s notice). Also, it was the first time I (gamiee) and Matthew (fire219)...

OsmoDevCall: "osmo-remsim in practice"

I've presented on osmo-remsim in practice 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-20210827-laforge-osmo-remsim

Second LUNA Enclosure Update

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

We have an update on the enclosures! We have received 10 enclosures from our manufacturer and we are impressed.

A LUNA in a case measures 2 inches by 2.5 inches and weighs 103 g with the hardware and lightpipes installed. I’ve been carrying mine around constantly like a pet rock since it has such a comfortable weight. The case has held up really well, regardless of the wine, pesto, sesame oil, and other sauces I’ve gotten on it while cooking. The USB-C ports have a satisfying amount of...

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. 

Earlier this month we launched DevZone for testing in a very limited capacity. We made...

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.

You can watch the synopsis of this month’s community update on YouTube (embedded below) as well as on Odysee and...

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,...