Quick thoughts about the new (at the time of writing) Raspberry Pi 5
Wifi 2.4g vs 5G – a Very short Rebuke
My wife just pointed me to a YouTube video – on the surface, innocent advice about doubling your WiFi speed. It took me 30 seconds to realise just how bad that could turn out in the wrong hands. I won’t name names and I don’t know the fellow (he’s not…
New Sonoff BASICR4 and Battery-Powered S-MATE 2
Remember the original Sonoff BASIC? – the cheapest mains controller on the planet (if a bit rough around the edges) – that was YEARS ago. I reviewed and messed around with them and I still use the original as you;ll see in another recent blog entry… along with most other…
Orein Smart Bulbs E14 RGBTW 4-Pack
Just a quick one. I received these “Elves E14” candle-style bulbs as samples to test. Good, bright white from cold to warm. Work with Alexa and Google Home. Took me seconds to link the free Orien account with my Google Home account. Nice soft-start and stop. Easy to setup thanks…
The All-New ZIMABOARD Single-Board Server Update
The Zimaboard (my original post was August 2022) is a “Single-board Server”, from IceWhale – based on The Intel N3350 or N3450 Processor. Actually there are three units in the range – the Zimaboard 216, 432 and 832 models. Which model? I’m inclined to suggest sticking with the 432 or…
Beryl-AX (GL-MT3000) WiFi 6 Router and MORE
Not GL-iNET’s most powerful or largest router, but it is NEW and features WiFi 6. The BERYL-AX router from GL-iNET looks promising and I have one in my hands at last! The naming is interesting – do you call it Beryl AX, MT3000 or AX3000? All of these names feature…
SUNLU Photopolymer Resin for 3D Resin Printing
Some time ago I had several 3D resin printers – today I have but one. Due to shortage of space I passed on all but my AnyCubic Photon Mono printer. I started this blog in Apeil 2023 and here I am printing out buddhas in September (see end). And there…
“New” Digital Camera and a Good Learning Experience
No, not a review and certainly NOT a new camera. My last “proper” camera was the Nikon P900 – which after taking countless moon photos I sold off (you can only take so many photos of the moon) in favour of my then favourite phone – Pocophone X3 (4K video…
The Script
Regular readers may be aware of The Script, created and developed over many, MANY months to simplify the otherwise often torturous job of taking a basic Raspberry Pi complete with Raspberry Pi OS and installing a bunch of tools and utilities including Node-Red, Mosquitto MQTT broker, graphing tool Grafana along…
New Router + Powerline + Tethering Story
I’ve never been a great fan of TP-Link but recently at my home in Spain I fitted an Archer MR600 V3 as I needed a fast source of 4G to feed my GL-iNET router. It’s been working a treat so when it came to getting a second router here in…
And now – the Holidays – and an Elegoo Resin mention
Some time ago, Elegoo offered to send me some of their 3D Resin printer resin. Thanks to various delays I was expecting this to arrive on my return from holiday in August – but it just turned up so I’ll just briefly mention this – obviously can’t test it as…
Tasmota and the Humble ESP8266 – Update
I’ve not written about Tasmota basics for some time and I noted this morning, when struggling with PC serial programming of an old ESP8266 board, that there is still such a lot of outdated information on the web on the subject. That led me to this quick blog entry. I…
GEEETECH Low-Cost 3D Resin Printer
Over the years I’ve reviewed lots of resin 3D printers in here but nothing recently (2023) – so I was rather excited when I was offered a Geeetech (model Alkaid – and yes, three EEEs) and even more excited when it turned up around June 19, 2023, just a few…
Zigbee Garden Moisture Sensor Quicky
I just received a Zigbee garden moisture sensor – you might be interested – the short video gives more info – there is no branding on this device – but it works – uses a couple of AA batteries – is huge and works with Zigbee2MQTT – that’s a good…
Sinilink XY-WFMS ESP8266 MOSFET Board Pool Heating
I originally did a simple writeup about this cheap board back in July 2020 without actually having a use for it. I have a couple of cheap Sinilink 30mm by 46mm boards based on ESP-12 modules which take variable voltage ranging 5v-36v DC and can supply several amps out. The…
The All-New Sonoff TX Ultimate and Wall Switch Cover
I have in front of me the new TX Ultimate Smart Touch Wall Switch from Sonoff as well as the equally impressive dark replacement cover. This recent trend worries me a little, the packaging on this wallswitch is just stunning – but are we paying for the aesthetics – Sonoff…
This morning’s mail – the ReoLink 4K DUO + Floodlight Camera
I’m referring of course to the Reolink Duo (2 lenses for ultra-wide-angle monitoring) Floodlight WiFi outdoor security camera that came in a large box for me this morning – just in time for more storms. Over the years I’ve said a lot of nice things about Imou cameras and my…
June Tech Goodness from Shelly
I LOVE getting stuff from Shelly (Alterco Robotics of Bulgaria) – my all-time favourite is their WiFi “Shelly Button 1” which sits on my desk and turns my office lights on and off if I don’t have the phone handy. So, today I received a new Shelly Blu Button1 and…
More Sonoff Zigbee Goodness
Around christmas 2022 I did a writeup on some new Sonoff equipment including the brand new NSPanel Pro WHITE. See Mini Extreme June 2023 Update at the end. Then I received two more Sonoff products (new to me at least) -the Sonoff ZBMINI Extreme (ZBMINIL2) and a very large Sonoff…
FriendlyElec NanoPi R6S Combo SBC
FriendlyElec just sent me their latest SBC – strangely I’m currently working on the R5S with FriendlyWrt (OpenWrt) and struggling a little with our brilliant idea of converting one LAN port into a second WAN port – worked for 2 weeks then stopped – my friend Antonio and I have…