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Open Hardware/Modding Leftovers
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CNX Software ☛ Pironman 5 Pro Max Review – A Raspberry Pi 5 Tower PC case with integrated video and audio capabilities, optional UPS kit
SunFounder has sent us a sample of the Pironman 5 Pro Max tower PC case for Raspberry Pi 5 for review alongside a PiPower 5 UPS board. The “Pro Max” builds upon the Pironman 5 Max we reviewed last year, but adds a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen display, a 5MP camera module, two speakers, a USB microphone, and a 3.5mm audio jack.
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Dan Langille ☛ My solution for copying backups around the homelab
I have database servers outside the homelab, as in not in my basement. They are in datacenters. I don’t let them push the backups into the basement. Instead, I let them call home asking for the backups to be picked up. I prefer it that way. As I describe it, it may seem complex to do multiple steps when one step will do.
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CNX Software ☛ DeskUp Pro smart standing desk controller integrates with Home Assistant and Homey Pro Smart Home hubs
Designed by SmartHomeGuys in the UK, the DeskUp Pro is an ESP32-based standing desk controller compatible with Home Assistant, Homey Pro, and other Smart Home hubs, using the desk’s standard RJ11/RJ12 connection. Many modern standing desks come with a controller from Jiecang or another company featuring an RJ12 port. The DeskUp Pro plugs directly into this port, draws power without an external USB supply, and bridges the desk’s controls to your 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network. This allows you to automate your desk height, set health-focused standing reminders, or use voice assistants like Surveillance Giant Google Home and Alexa, all while keeping the desk’s original physical keypad fully functional.
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Hackaday ☛ What Can You Run On A 1960s Univac? Anything You’re Willing To Wait For!
The UNIVAC is a seriously weird architecture by modern standards: it’s got eighteen-bit words — yeah, not even a power of two — and one’s compliment arithmatic with a weird signed zero thing going on. There’s one 36-bit and one 18-bit register, and only 40,960 words of memory. Eighteen-bit words. Yeah, it was the 1960s and they were making it up as they went along.
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Ken Shirriff ☛ The electromechanical angle computer inside the B-52 bomber's star tracker
Before GPS, how did aircraft navigate? One important technique was celestial navigation: navigating from the positions of the stars, planets, or the sun. While celestial navigation is accurate, cannot be jammed, and doesn't require any broadcast infrastructure, it is a difficult and time-consuming process to perform manually. In the early 1960s, an automated system was developed for the B-52 bomber to automatically track stars and compute navigation information. Digital computers weren't suitable at the time, so the star tracking system performed trigonometric calculations with an electromechanical analog computer called the Angle Computer.1