And then there was a bit of a pause as I regrouped, and around came another HackWimbledon - check out the lu.ma calendar. So what did I do this time round? And what did you miss on my big table.
PoE plus Pico Too
The newest thing in the agenda is the Wizznet EVB-6100 Pico 2 with Ethernet and its Power over Ethernet daughter board. This is a little idea around putting long term sensors around the ManLab at home. There’s PoE in there on the various network switches so I wanted to go to use that to hang some sensors around the room to be sure the sensors on the varius bits of heating were working off a better data set of ambient temperature. Winter is coming as they say. So seeing these Pico 2 boards and with a taste for the latest I went off and grabbed a couple from The Pi Hut.
So, first thing I’m noting is that the available ports of things like MicroPython and CircuitPython exist for its predecessor Pico boards, but not as such for the Pico 2 version. Dropping a UF2 from the older board supporting version got me nowhere. So it was off to the C/C++ SDK with some trepidation, to see if I could at least slap together a basic test.
The good news there is the C/C++ SDK is a much improved UX over the last time I was looking at it and bemoaning the weird directory sensitive Cmake files and other nonsenes. Now it’s all wrapped up nicely by a VS Code extension which seems to take you through the whole cycle of initialise, edit, build, flash and repeat without you ever leaving the editor.
But I’ve only got a test blink loaded up for now as the other bit of that tast was soldering on the PoE adapter. More on that soon.
The Pi5by4
The other other project ongoing is over on that Raspberry Pi 5 sitting behind the Waveshare 8" DSI panel. This is the core of what will be my Cyberduck, duck? deck… anyway. Currently it’s dubbed Pi5by4 for no other reason. It’s already loaded up with a Pineberry nvme hat. But that’s part of the problem, it has header pins and covers up the cooler fan. This might be an issue when cased up.
The solution is the PineBoards Nano Hat which should reduce the volume a bit. Ready for me to start working out how to wrap it in a case with accessible ports what stands up in landscape and portrait, has tripod mounting to let it sit up at eye level, and then fit a gyro sensor to autoline up the display. All while putting together something software wise which is closer to the Omakub project.
The Keys To Go Two
Which is where I’ve kinda been smitten by the Logitech Keys To Go 2. It’s a splendidly thin portable keyboard which has an integrated magnetic cover which wraps it up safe in your bag. It’s pretty good to type on, it’s no mecha beast but it works and is comfortable. The best part for me is there’s no recharging port. The entire keyboard runs off a coin cell screwed in in the back and its claimed to last a year. We shall see, but it feels power sippy and yet it still switches quickly between multiple bluetooth devices.
If you like the look of it, be warned there are two versions. One is an iPad oriented version which has a Home key where the escape key should be. It works with multiple devices but typing Escape is a matter of going for Ctrl [. The other universal version has an escape key where the escape key should be and is built to be multi-modal with different OSes. The latter version is the one I have now, sitting and switching between my iPad mini and the Pi5by4.
But the real best part of the Keys To Go 2 is what it doesn’t need or have. Logi’s godawful Options software. Seriously, buying something Logitech, avoid it with all your might. On the Mac for example, I use SteerMouse to get the best out of the MX Master 3S… but use anything. Don’t let Options land on your machines. Need to pair a dongle with a mouse? I break out Solaar on Linux, know an alternative, let me know. Anyway, that was it pretty much tod…
One more thin reboot
Oh yes, I played with my pair of T-Deck Plus. Thanks to Jeff Geerling’s Meshtastic blog post I was able to fast track getting the most recent software alpha on and it’s all super exciting to see nodes appear on the devices and pinging messages to the other device…. But it’s super alpha-y and crashy at the moment. We’ll get back to them soon though.