A little guide for running forscan on Linux. This assumes you have a linux pc already setup with wine. Download and run the forscan setup file. Ensure the application can run then close it. Create a symbolic link to the virtual device /dev/ttyUSB0 (ln -s /dev/ttyUSB0 ~/.wine/devices/COM33) Plug in your OBD2 scanner to a usb port. Launch forscan then adjust the settings for what serial device it connects to. Verify connectivity to vehicle.

I made a thing last night cause I was bored. it’s pretty much useless but it works. hard part was getting the i2c bit working. Basically what I have here is, a raspberry pi nano running esphome to connect 12 buttons and 32 leds to home assistant. the leds run thru 2n2222a transistors to take the current load off the mcp23017 gpio extenders. 1k ohm resistors for each led because that’s just what I have on a bulk roll and use a lot on leds.

A few months ago I started using Home Assistant for my room. Adding lights, fans, sensors, and other things via esp8266 modules. I can turn things on and off with location tracking of my phone. I have temp sensors in the kitchen and living room to track that and figure the difference from my room and the rest of the house. It’s running on a proxmox server in a VM using this helper script.

I have a set of external disks I use for backup purposes for my Plex box. In their next to second final state, where I setup something to turn them on and off with a script, I have them wired to a xbox 360 power supply and a 10 port powered usb hub. The hard drives connect to the hub, the hub to the server. As you do. The fun part, the hub isolates power to the devices from the host pc so I can simply turn off power to the hub and the usb things disconnect.

My projects involving ESP8266 Microcontrollers. To Be Updated as needed.

Picked up a Raspberry Pi 5. Ordered it the day it went on sale and after some shipping delays with Fedex, it arrived. A pi, red and white case, and the power supply. So far, I’m impressed. Got it running Raspbien on a 1TB Samsung SSD attached to a sata to usb enclosure with both 1080p monitors and kb and mouse. Basic setup, really. + the 2nd monitor, where I’d assume most would just use one.

Adding an aftermarket amp and sub to my 2015 Ford F-150, trials and tribulations.

My New adventures into Ham Radios using SDR and my computer

A week ago I purchased a SDR dongle for some radio experiments. With the idea to maybe receive weather data or maybe plot airplanes. I got this little guy. A SDR made by adafruit. It was sold out on their website but linked to digikey who happened to have it. So far, I’ve been able to pick up regular local FM radio stations and the local NWS using CubicSDR on Linux.

So I don’t really use my big Dell Poweredge R710 much anymore aside from just using it for heating the room in the winter. It’s just too slow, data transfer wise, for me to enjoy it anymore. maybe it’s my config but idk. I don’t want to put any more money in it if it’s not gonna help with that. Maybe if I can get a few TB worth of SSDs for a low price and replace the two Sun F40 SSDs in the rear as they run too hot for what speeds I get out of them.