A developer venting out

Venting out time !
After more than 35 years being a software/firmware developer, one thing that did not improve in this line of work, is the complexity of the developing environments.
It become worse, not better.
If you are not a software developer, stop to read here :) Boring stuff ahead.

Arduino IDE settings for : Adafruit Trinket

The Adafruit Trinket is a small microcontroller from Adafruit and it can be programmed using Arduino IDE.

Arduino IDE settings for : Adalogger Feather M0

Feather M0 Adalogger.
This board can be programmed using Arduino IDE, here some settings.

Arduino IDE settings for : Huzzah32

The Huzzah32 Feather board can be programmed using the Arduino IDE.
Here some notes about that.

Huzzah32 - RFID base module

A basic circuit to play with RFID and the Huzzah32.
It can be used as base for other projects.
The idea is just to have a Huzzah32 connected to a MF RC522 board and a small display, reading an RFID card/tag and showing it on the display.
The RC522 reader uses tags at 13.56 Mhz.

Ancient history - Digicom

Around 1985 I was working in Digicom S.p.A. (still existing).
I worked on many projects, designing some firmware for modem or other TLC products.

Ancient history - Tresmec

Around the 1990 I did some work for a company called Tresmec (group Acquatechnik) via an intermediary.
I did use the ST6 as microcontroller for a tool and a PC to build up a test machine for such tool, interfacing with a custom interface.

Ancient history - SIPI

My first job I had after finish the military service was in SIPI.
There I did develop firmware for devices based on Z80 to control industrial machines, mainly scales.

Ancient history - Energo Project

I decided to put together some articles on some jobs I did in the past.
The first one is going back to the 1990 and is a code I developed to manage a solar powered heating on a company called Energo Project (today the company still exists but did change the business and its name is SolarSpot).

Video tests with Raspberry Pi

Tests to check quality and feasibility to use a Raspberry Pi to track objects in movement.
In order to create an object follower, is important to see if the quality of the video is good enough.

Recycling an old toy

For some tests for a project I needed a moving base.
The ideal would be a robot, many kits are available now.
But before to spend money I wanted to see if some results were achievable and the quality of a camera.
So I did find an old toy made years before with my daughter and ...

MacOS - duplicate an SD card

Very few notes about how to duplicate an SD card or micro SD card using a Mac.
All these operations are done via terminal.

Raspberry streaming audio

One of the future projects I decided to do is to retrofit an old radio with an IP radio.
Very probably I will start with Raspberry and one of the many many projects is possible to find.
To start, mostly to see what kind of quality I can expect, I decided to build the Pimoroni kit for a pirate radio.

HVAC connections

The "new" thermostat found in an antique mall

In an antique mall I did find a new (well, not really new) WiFi thermostat from Honeywell (Lyric T5), so I decided to change the current one I have at home ( a quite basic and simple one).


I think there is a "right way" to do things, so even for a trivial work like changing a thermostat, I find useful to document and explain what doing and why.

IoT - node-red tips

Playing with node-red I did hit a couple of problems.
This page collects some tips/suggestions/FAQ to easy deal with this great program.

fHelper - MQTT edition

Ok, time to sum up this version of fHelper project.

After a series of tests and experiments, the Huzzah32 client is quite stable and reliable to read the capacitive soil sensor.

After adding a ambient temperature and humidity sensor (AM2302 or DHT-22) and setting a dashboard using node-red, the project is ready for the final stage, using a PCB to hold the client.

fHelper - capacitive humidity sensor

Time ago I did use a traditional humidity soil sensor (from the Grove family) for the fHelper project and it ended up very badly.


After some search I decided to try a capacitive sensor.
There are many on the market, so I just did pick up one of the cheapest
and easy to have one, from Amazon.


This is a brief review of this sensor.

fHelper on Node-Red

If using Node-Red to handle fHelper an algorithm to handle the alarm is needed.


Here a brief description of the algorithm implemented in Node-Red.
The server is controlling a LED on the client to notify the plant need to be watered.

Set up a Huzzah32 IoT client - testing

Using an IoT approach for the fHelper can helps to evaluate the measurements done more easily, using the MQTT protocol.

We need a server capable to receive the measurements from the fHelper sensor (client) and eventually work on the received data.
And of course we need a client/sensor capable to send the humidity level to the server.

See the article about the MQTT/Node-Red server about the preparation of an IoT server on a Raspberry Pi.
This article is about how to quick set up an IoT client for fHelper in order to run some feasibility tests on the sensor and its response.
Basically the idea is to evaluate if the system is reliable enough for the purpose.

Set up a Raspberry IoT server

For some projects can be useful to have a place and mean where to collect and store data retrieved form some process.
IoT 101.


There are many IoT services out there, many free, but for some applications is better to have everything close.
Let set up a small and efficient IoT local server based on MQTT protocol running over a Raspberry Pi.

Happy Pi Day

Well, just a Happy Pi Day to everybody who care :)

Stay tuned for articles with the glorious Pi in the near future.

Huzzah32 - start to play with

Huzzah32

Adafruit has many nice platforms to start to create embedded devices.
This article would help to start to play with this platform.


One of them is called Huzzah32, member of the Feather family.
The Huzzah32 is based on a dual-core ESP32 chip, 4 MB of SPI Flash, and tuned antenna since it has both WiFi and Bluetooth Classic/LE support plus some GPIO ports, I2C and SPI capabilities.

How to save family info

Many years ago, in the 1999, I started with my brother in law, an ambitious project :

The Project APKH

The goal was (is) to document, store and preserve information about our families.

EasyEDA tips - edit components

EasyEDA like many other CAD allows to create your own components.
There are lot of documents and tutorials on the net, but still some information are often hidden or not easy to find.
Hopefully these tips can help.

Privacy anyone ?

I did find a project related to Amazon Echo or Google voice and is somehow interesting, under some points of view.
This project is basically a "piggy back" contraption  to be put over an Echo or Google device.
The gadget constantly send out noise to the "home assistant" until a specific word is said.
This supposedly should solve the allegedly privacy problem.

Storing projects - the idea

How to store a project to preserve it for the future ?
My project have up to three components.
A description/documentation. some code, schematics.

I like the idea to have my work not only stored in different servers like Bitbucket or EasyEDA or Blogger but also stored on my server, locally.

Radioactivity measurement - First hike of the year

Measurement done during the first hike of the year in the Flatside Wilderness area (AR).

Radioactivity measurements - Rattlesnake Ridge hike

Measurement done during a hike on the Rattlesnake Ridge area.

Radioactivity measurements - stationary test

The first measurement is a stationary test I did in the office (North Little Rock).
I left the geiger turned on for few hours in the same position.

Radioactivity measurements - introduction

Just for fun I started to collect some radioactivity measurements.
I did something similar 35 years ago in Italy with a DIY kit from Nuova Elettronica.
Why ? Well, as I said, just for fun and curiosity and don't forget we have a nuclear plant in Arkansas. Never hurt to monitor if something fishing is going on (and no, so far everything is fine for what I can say :) )