New Product Review: Wio Terminal

Recently, SeeedStudio sent me a Wio Terminal for review. The Wio Terminal is powered by Microchip’s ATSAMD51P19. I had no prior development experience with the core (ATSAMD51) or with the built-in network chip (Realtek RTL8720DN), so it took me some research to get familiar with this development board. In the …

USB Mini-B Socket – USB Type-A Plug Conversion on a USB-TTL Adapter

Introduction Earlier today I needed an extra of those USB-to-TTL-Serial adapters for a project I am currently working on. Among my spare parts I found an old one, based on the PL-2303HX chip, but when I attached it to my Windows 11 PC, it didn’t seem to work. I remember, …

Custom Development Boards To Speed up Development

(This article is updated regularly as I create new development boards. The new ones are towards the bottom of this page.) Over the years I have created several development boards and breakout boards. Despite their cost (time, effort, money) they are invaluable investments for development. They simplify and speed up …

WiFi – IR Gateway a.k.a. Give your Dumb (Old) Devices the Smarts!

Some time ago I also completed this project that I never got around to publish. This project is a WiFi-Infrared gateway. I am aware that such commercial products exist, but at the time I needed one for my home the available options all suffered from one or more shortcomings, such …

Tutorial: How to Install Home Assistant on a Generic Linux System

Are you as baffled as I am about Home Assistant installation? Got a generic Linux system and are not sure where to begin? Well, look no further, as i am setting out here the necessary steps, as i identified them through my recent research. Home Assistant is one of the …