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  • Review: Framework Laptop

    Review: Framework Laptop

    For many years I have been known as the “ThinkPad guy”. I’ve always used IBM / Lenovo ThinkPad laptops where possible. To the extent that a few years ago I had a lengthy chat with JFK airport security about why I had four ThinkPads in my hand luggage. I’ve been using a high-spec ThinkPad T495… Read more

  • An Experiment in Drying Washed PCBs

    An Experiment in Drying Washed PCBs

    When assembling PCBs they get quite dirty, a majority of this dirt is flux, it can be sticky and can caramelise onto the board. This is especially true when drag soldering through-hole with a knife tip, it can get very messy. There are several ways of cleaning it off, including scrubbing with sprays and some… Read more

  • Coding an MSP430 From the Linux Command Line

    Coding an MSP430 From the Linux Command Line

    The MSP430 is a 16bit microcontroller made by Texas Instruments. As with many other embedded platforms I’ve been doing some work with it recently. In particular I started with the MSP-EXP430F5529LP development board which is what this blog post will be about. Read more

  • Emulating PPC32 Linux in x86_64 Linux

    Emulating PPC32 Linux in x86_64 Linux

    I’ve recently needed to do some porting work for a PPC32 CPU running Linux. At the time I didn’t have any PPC hardware (I’ve since acquired a PowerMac G5). Of course when we don’t have hardware, we can normally emulate it. Here is how I set up the emulation so I can remember for next… Read more

  • Soldering Workbench Tour

    Soldering Workbench Tour

    Over the past couple of years I have been upgrading the soldering equipment that I used to mostly repair Amigas and build new Amiga parts. Today I’m going to go through what I use and why I decided to purchase each one. The hope is that will help people trying to make similar purchasing decisions… Read more

  • Amiga RGBtoHDMI Boards Update – January 2022

    Amiga RGBtoHDMI Boards Update – January 2022

    Back in May of 2021 I posted an update of the current state of the RGBtoHDMI boards I design. There have been many changes over the last few months. So, I figure it is time for an update. Read more