Lab Notes
-
Semi-automated PDF download
Catching up on some admin tasks over the Christmas break, I found myself needing to download a bunch of PDF invoices from Vultr.com. I started off by checking their API, which will give me a list of all the invoice IDs, but no way of downloading a PDF. I was unenthusiastic about spending 10 minutes clicking through and downloading each file manually via the web interface, so obviously I decided to take the only sensible route and spend several hours playing around with automating it via Chrome and Puppeteer instead.
Read more... -
More Raku Readline fixes
This is a follow-up to the last post about Raku; I recommend reading that if you haven't already.
While I was making the necessary fixes for Raku’s Readline module to install on macOS, I also noticed another special case in the code for OpenBSD. Today I figured I might as well check that out and see if it still works, since OpenBSD has a habit of exposing assumptions and GNU-isms in code that hasn’t been specifically tested on it.
Read more... -
Fixing Raku’s Readline module to work on macOS
Due to a series of regrettable life choices that we don’t need to go into here, I find myself wanting to run Raku via Nix on macOS.
Read more... -
Building OpenStreetMap tiles
As part of my long-standing interest in all things offline and remote, I’ve been toying for a while with the idea of generating my own OpenStreetMap tiles so I can take an offline map with me on adventures.
While all the data and tools to do this are freely available, for a long time the process has sadly been far from straightforward.
Tilemaker changes all that.
Read more...
2023
-
Reconfiguring CapsLock on Debian
As part of setting up my new FrameWork laptop, I want to get capslock reconfigured to my preference.
My normal configuration is to have capslock act as control when held, and escape when tapped in isolation. On my desktop this is done in the firmware (QMK) on my keyboard.
Read more... -
Bypassing Kobo Registration
Today my shiny new Kobo Elipsa arrived. This is a 10.3" eReader that is in many ways similar to the reMarkable 2. I might do a more thorough comparison later, but the broad summary is that it’s less polished as a physical product, but much more readily hackable.
This little lab note is about bypassing the initial registration requirement when first setting up the device, and it’s so short it’s almost anti-climactic.
Read more... -
Multiple Co-operating Grammars in Raku
Recently I’ve been using Raku’s grammars to parse a custom language for a project I’m dealing with at work. Grammars are a very powerful tool for quickly iterating on parsers and exploring how a language might work.
In the process of this experimentation I bumped into a corner that doesn’t seem to be documented anywhere: calling grammars from each other.
Read more...
2022
-
Shared state with Terraform
Sharing Terraform state using S3 and DynamoDB.
Read more... -
Hello World on the Raspberry Pi Pico
The Raspberry Pi Foundation announced the new Pi Pico a few days ago; their first foray into the world of microcontrollers.
I have a few embedded projects in mind and the board has some very interesting specs (and certainly an interesting price, at £3.60!) so I picked one up to play with.
Read more...
2021
-
Flashing a Vampire V4 from Linux
The Vampire V4 from Apollo Accelerators is a modern continuation of the classic Commodore Amiga line of computers.
Since it is FPGA-based it’s possible to upgrade the board to fix bugs and add new features by flashing it with updated “cores”. Here’s how to do so using Linux.
Read more... -
Flashing a Colour Maximite 2 from Linux
The official method of updating the firmware on the CMM2 is detailed in the manual, and requires the use of STM’s 'STM32CubeProgrammer' software. I don’t really want to have to mess around with Windows if I can avoid it, and many of the steps listed in the manual assume the use of an earlier revision of the CMM2 with the processor on its own Waveshare daughterboard. With the model I have there’s only one board with the processor mounted directly onto it.
Read more... -
Logging the MikroTik LTE setup process
Today I used the setup I built in the previous lab to capture the setup process for the MikroTik R11e-LTE6 modem.
Very little configuration is required for this in RouterOS.
Read more... -
Running RouterOS on a PC Engines APU
This post is setup for a larger project; I’m trying to build a small homebrew router using OpenBSD and a MikroTik LTE card. Unfortunately documentation for this card is rather sparse; OpenBSD does recognise it on boot as a
Read more...urndisdevice and a couple of serial ports, but to get it working requires configuring the card with AT commands over the first serial port. This process is not documented.