Fluid.app (the paid version, or the free version starting with macOS Sierra) is a handy OS X solution to keep your social media and banking cookies separate from your regular Safari instance. It lets you create a new app specific to each web site (a site-specific browser).

I only ...

Putting the Raspberry Pi to sleep

As much as I wanted the SmartUPS to work for the OspreyCam project, I decided to take a look at the Spell Foundry Sleepy Pi instead. The Sleepy Pi is basically an Arduino board with regulators and switching transistors to control the power to ...

TL;DR: If you migrated system settings from a notebook Mac to a desktop, run sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0 autopoweroff 0 on the desktop machine.

In 2014, I replaced a MacBook Pro 17" with a refurbished late 2012 Mac Mini (Macmini6,2). One of these years I should probably ...

I have been experimenting with a Raspberry Pi Model B and a Pi camera board, and I wanted to make it slightly more portable. Issue 26 of The MagPi mentioned a new battery-powered UPS with a USB power output, so I decided to give that a try.

My main goals ...

Here are some notes for connecting a Digilent XC2-XL CPLD board to a standard 20-pin JTAG header.

Note that Pin 1 for J1 is at the bottom of the board, closest to the J1 label (also has a square pad on the solder side).

In OpenOCD 0.8.0, the ...

Note: nearly ten years after I sold the 944, I still get a fair number of web visitors. I ran across the original servo and its controller in the basement the other day, so I thought I'd post some updated commentary. The original technical content is from 2003.

Here ...

NUT is an open-source Uninterruptible Power Supply monitoring system. Many systems can monitor a single UPS over TCP, and shut down automatically when the battery runs low.

Fink packages for open-source Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software that runs under Mac OS X.

Why Fink?

It took a bit of arm-twisting for me to realize why anyone would want a packaging system on OS X. After all, it goes against the idea that we can just move app bundles wherever we want. Or, we could just compile from source, like people did for ...

I used to own an early '85 Porsche 944.

The cruise control was a little flaky, so I decided to take it apart.

Parallel Port Miscellany

Introduction

Parallel port documentation for IBM PC compatibles can be inconsistent. Most sources quote other sources, and little information is based on first-hand experience. This document is meant to remedy this shortfall.

Overview

The PC parallel port outputs TTL-compatible logic signals, although in most ...

944, '83-'85