Yaky's

Welcome to my corner of the internet!
I enjoy books, building electronics projects, tinkering with devices, writing PICO-8 games, various nerdy things, and good old household DIY.
Visit this site on Gemini (What is Gemini?)
Also visit my friend Dmytro who builds 3D printers and restores computers!

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2024-09-06 Broken Earth Trilogy
Thoughts on N. K. Jemisin's fantastic world.

2024-07-30 Maps and navigation apps for old iOS
Brief overview of map and navigation apps that still work on an old iPad 2 running iOS 6.1.3, iOS 8.4.1, and/or iOS 9.3.5.

2024-07-04 A trip to New River Gorge National Park, Green Bank Observatory, and Shenandoah National Park
Some photos and notes, for memories.

2024-06-17 JavaScript click-to-zoom function
Simple JavaScript function to enable click-to-zoom on all images on the page. Written as a solution for WISYWIG site editors without this feature and/or pages that have high-res images squashed to small size.

2024-05-16 Android: boot on plug, launch app after boot, shutdown on condition
(Updated 2024-10-12) Part of the Volty MIR project, but can be used for non-interactive applications.

2024-04-21 Older Spotify Android APK that works much better
Spotify app circa 2021 is more reliable on Android 11 and over bluetooth.

2024-04-08 North American Solar Eclipse
A truly awesome celestial event. Seeing the totality exceeded all of my expectations.

2024-04-04 Volty MIR - [M]ap + [I]intelligent [R]everse Camera (WIP)
Project to build a display capable of showing maps and reverse camera feed for my first-gen Chevy Volt.

2024-03-31 Volty Pi - more ideas
A few more ideas on integrating a carputer into my Chevy Volt.

2024-02-29 Dark Streets Tech Demo 1
Playable demo of a Wolfenstein-like FPS I have been developing on PICO-8.

2024-02-24 Spaceport
New capsule/site build script and small design update.

2024-01-31 Main bathroom update
A few updates in the main bathroom.

2024-01-25 PinePhone - Post daily driver review
Review of PinePhone after a month of daily driving.

2023-12-31 Books I read in 2023
Books that I read in 2023 and short reviews of them.

2023-12-18 "Banned" by reddit
Reddit makes another step in restricting access.

2023-12-15 PinePhone - ProtonMail
My setup for using ProtonMail on PinePhone.

2023-12-05 PinePhone - Setup
Setting up PinePhone for daily use.

2023-10-31 Spooky stories: My cat is radioactive
Measuring my cat's radiation levels after radioactive iodine (I-131) treatment.

2023-10-20 Coworkers you meet as a software developer
Just some cynical observations from a decade of work.

2023-08-10 Simple Synapse Admin Tool
Small, simple, single-page web tool for handling users, rooms, and registration tokens on your Matrix Synapse server.

2023-06-13 Последний программист (рассказ)
Автор Gerbert V. Franke, перевел с немецкого Ростислав Рыбкин. Опубликован в журнале Наука и Жизнь №7 1990.

2023-04-09 My tech room
Cleaned up and updated basement storage room repurposed for my 3D printers and electronics.

2023-03-14 Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein - my biased thoughts on the book
I finally read Starship Troopers, one of the sci-fi classics and subject of much criticism and political discussion, and these are my (biased) thoughts on it.

2023-02-21 PinePhone adapter for Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra accessories
3D-printed back cover for PinePhone that fits Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra accessories, such as battery cases.

2023-01-21 Synapse Room Cleaner
Simple web tool to clean up rooms on your Matrix Synapse server.

2022-12-31 Books I read in 2022
Books and stories I read in 2022 and their short reviews.

2022-12-28 In memory of Sasha P. Dog
In memory of our beloved dog who passed away so unexpectedly.

2022-12-10 Half-bathroom update
DIY update to the half-bathroom in our house.

2022-12-07 PICO-8 textured raycaster (Dark Streets devlog #2)
Adding wall textures, camera height, and fixing the fish-eye effect in the PICO-8 raycaster.

2022-11-30 PICO-8 raycaster basics (Dark Streets devlog #1)
First steps in writing a first-person shooter in PICO-8.

2022-11-21 Fun times with iOS development
A dive into the ridiculous world of mobile app development at my previous job.

2022-10-14 Considering a new daily driver
Comparison of several devices I am considering for everyday use.

2022-09-06 Smartphone without a battery
How to wire and run an old smartphone without a battery.

2022-08-18 PinePhone Hardware Fixes
Two DIY hardware fixes for PinePhone BraveHeart (rev v1.1) to address battery drain (VBUS) and USB OTG functionality (VCONN)

2022-08-01 Volty Pi - initial research
Shelved project to integrate Raspberry Pi into Chevy Volt's infotainment system.

2022-07-16 SMP (SimpleX Messaging Protocol) server setup
Short guide on how to install SMP server to be used with SimpleX Chat.

2022-07-15 Set up a server for a static Web site and a Gemini capsule
Short guide / walkthrough on how this site / capsule was set up.

2022-03-17 Spot on Raspberry Pi
Building Spot (GTK4 Spotify client) on a Raspberry Pi.

2021-12-25 Books I read in 2021
My goal for 2021 was to read more. These are the books I read this year, ordered by genre and author, my ratings and short reviews of them.

2021-11-15 Cosmodrome
Rust tool to build a static WWW site and a Gemini capsule from common source.

2021-10-20 EasyPave Grid Driveway
Replacing an eroded driveway entrance with interlocking plastic grid pavers.

2021-04-08 JavaSpace
Simple engine for planetary bodies and voxels, written in vanilla JavaScript.

2019-05-01 Weather Pi
Weather forecast display made from a salvaged LCD display, a Raspberry Pi and an old frame.