A negative travel advice didn’t stop us to visit Cuba.
A travel log will follow of this strange vacation we had.

A negative travel advice didn’t stop us to visit Cuba.
A travel log will follow of this strange vacation we had.

I found some of my old BBC Acorn basic programs a while ago.
And doing some research into 3D projections I ran some on a emulator.
Cleaned-up code for brandy basic
MODE 1 VDU 5 DIM X(7), Y(7), Z(7) DIM SX(7), SY(7) DATA -1,-1,-1, 1,-1,-1, 1,1,-1, -1,1,-1 DATA -1,-1,1, 1,-1,1, 1,1,1, -1,1,1 FOR I=0 TO 7 READ X(I), Y(I), Z(I) NEXT DIM E(11,1) DATA 0,1, 1,2, 2,3, 3,0 DATA 4,5, 5,6, 6,7, 7,4 DATA 0,4, 1,5, 2,6, 3,7 FOR I=0 TO 11 READ E(I,0), E(I,1) NEXT angleX=0 angleY=0 REPEAT CLS camera=5 scale=600 FOR I=0 TO 7 y1 = Y(I)*COS(angleX) - Z(I)*SIN(angleX) z1 = Y(I)*SIN(angleX) + Z(I)*COS(angleX) x2 = X(I)*COS(angleY) + z1*SIN(angleY) z2 = -X(I)*SIN(angleY) + z1*COS(angleY) zc = z2 + camera IF zc=0 zc=0.01 SX(I) = 640 + (x2 * scale) / zc SY(I) = 512 - (y1 * scale) / zc NEXT FOR I=0 TO 11 MOVE SX(E(I,0)), SY(E(I,0)) DRAW SX(E(I,1)), SY(E(I,1)) NEXT angleX = angleX + 0.03 angleY = angleY + 0.02 WAIT 2 UNTIL FALSE
Some old notes

Above a screenshot of a browser screen (Left and Right in fullscreen)
Colors are a little of (codec Red/Blue problem?)
But the setup works!
I used a android phone in above setup.
I tried a Quest 2 VR set, but I couldn’t get the browser in full screen mode. (YET)
Hardware setup


Two Raspberry Pi Camera Modules, connected via the two 4lane-MIPI DSI/CSI connectors.
Manually focussed and using some 3D printed stands on a piece of wood will do for now.
I build a RTSP NGinx proxy to test, which I previously used for OBS. But there was too much latency.
So I used below webrtc setup, with a latency below 80ms.
(I previously did some test using Janus)
CODE:
wget https://github.com/bluenviron/mediamtx/releases/download/v1.16.1/mediamtx_v1.16.1_linux_arm64.tar.gz tar xzvf media* cp mediamtx.yml mediamtx.org
NEW mediamtx.yml
webrtc: yes
webrtcAddress: :8889
rtmp: yes
rtmpAddress: :1935
paths:
dualcam:
source: publisher
run it
./mediamtx mediamtx.yml
Next make a streamer.
This Python script takes two square camera inputs, merge them side-by-side to one image and pushed the H264 frame to MediaMTX
import numpy as np
from picamera2 import Picamera2
import subprocess
import time
#WIDTH = 1280
WIDTH = 720
HEIGHT = 720
FPS = 30
BITRATE = "2500k"
RTMP_URL = "rtmp://127.0.0.1:1935/dualcam" # MediaMTX RTMP
# FFmpeg raw frames / H.264
ffmpeg_cmd = [
"ffmpeg",
"-y",
"-f", "rawvideo",
"-pix_fmt", "bgr24",
"-s", f"{WIDTH*2}x{HEIGHT}",
"-r", str(FPS),
"-i", "-",
"-c:v", "libx264",
"-preset", "ultrafast",
"-tune", "zerolatency",
"-b:v", BITRATE,
"-g", str(FPS), # keyframe every second
"-x264-params", "keyint=30:min-keyint=30:no-scenecut=1",
"-pix_fmt", "yuv420p",
"-f", "flv",
RTMP_URL
]
ffmpeg = subprocess.Popen(ffmpeg_cmd, stdin=subprocess.PIPE, bufsize=0)
picam0 = Picamera2(0)
picam1 = Picamera2(1)
cfg0 = picam0.create_video_configuration(
main={"size": (WIDTH, HEIGHT), "format": "BGR888"}, controls={"FrameRate": FPS}
)
cfg1 = picam1.create_video_configuration(
main={"size": (WIDTH, HEIGHT), "format": "BGR888"}, controls={"FrameRate": FPS}
)
picam0.configure(cfg0)
picam1.configure(cfg1)
picam0.start()
picam1.start()
print("Streaming to MediaMTX via RTMP...")
try:
while True:
f0 = picam1.capture_array()
f1 = picam0.capture_array()
combined = np.hstack((f0, f1))
ffmpeg.stdin.write(combined.tobytes())
time.sleep(1/FPS)
except KeyboardInterrupt:
print("Stopping...")
finally:
picam0.stop()
picam1.stop()
ffmpeg.stdin.close()
ffmpeg.wait()
Open using http://REMOTEIP:8889/dualcam
One moment playing with LoRa. Next, a Nintendo Switch controller to fixed.
LoRa Antenna measurements


Using my NanoVNA and a RF test Kit I learned something about measuring antenna.
Below a measurement of a unknown antenna, ITs off, I need to shorten the metal spring inside.



I’m running this Google Photos alternative for a week now, and I am pleasantly suprised.
UPDATE: Installed power-tools, python scripts to manipulate dates and immich-go
The face detection had only 1 mismatch in my library.
Negatives?
Well maybe album management, it could be better or more flexible
Some search tests:
Amazing results!
Features (some)
Lets copy the rest of my photo libary to this server.
(Storage is on a 10Gbit fiberoptic iSCSI device)
Again … out of SBCs
Where are all these things in my home. Someone is stealing Raspberry Pi’s, ESP32 and other sensors.
(Probably me)
So I’ve got multiple projects running on one RPi.
All of the above are partially working. Code follows.
INMP441 is a tricky thing. I needed to do some bitbanging to get it working.
Loads of INMP441 info will be posted
Last year I’ve made a led pole with digital fireworks.
Time to replace for something else ..
I’ve made a mqtt 1-D game in december.
I needed to change a lot to the javascript on the website to fix some stuff.
The XMAS/Fireworks controller was often used, and I got notifications via my TV. (see other posts)
Now I want to see when MQTT movement when I’m in the livingroom.
So I programmed a Wemos controller to blink the internal when MQTT messages are received.
CODE:
#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>
#include <PubSubClient.h>
const char* ssid = "WIFIAP";
const char* password = "WIFIPASS";
const char* mqtt_server = "MQTTBROKER"; // MQTT broker IP
const char* mqtt_topic = "game/tilt";
WiFiClient espClient;
PubSubClient client(espClient);
String lastPayload = "";
void setup_wifi() {
delay(10);
WiFi.begin(ssid, password);
while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) {
delay(500);
}
}
void blinkLED() {
digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, LOW); // LED ON
delay(200);
digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, HIGH); // LED OFF
delay(200);
}
void callback(char* topic, byte* payload, unsigned int length) {
String message;
for (unsigned int i = 0; i < length; i++) {
message += (char)payload[i];
}
// Blink only if topic value changed
if (message != lastPayload) {
blinkLED();
lastPayload = message;
}
}
void reconnect() {
while (!client.connected()) {
if (client.connect("WemosClientMqttBlink")) {
client.subscribe(mqtt_topic);
} else {
delay(2000);
}
}
}
void setup() {
pinMode(LED_BUILTIN, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(LED_BUILTIN, HIGH);
setup_wifi();
client.setServer(mqtt_server, 1883);
client.setCallback(callback);
}
void loop() {
if (!client.connected()) {
reconnect();
}
client.loop();
}
I’ve tested many opensource tools to have a personal own hosted spotify.
Now I have migrated to navidrome.
List of alternatives i’ve used:
I can access this with a browser or an android app named amcfy music.
Why?
I don´t have time posting other stuff, I’m balancing almost 10 projects at the same time ….
UPDATE : 20260126
I’ve been playing with LoRa for some time now, mostly with two adhoc LilyGO nodes.
After seeing a YT clip from Andreas Spiess I installed a meshtastic node on a Heltec V3.
Wanting more, I bought a Heltec V4 and an 8DBi (60cm) antenna.
Heltec V3 got a new home in Tyrone’s home.
Via meshtastic I communicated with a guy here in the neighbourhood.
I installed Meshcore and my LoRa playground grew!





A Nebra Helium Miner was bought, and repurposed !
There is a Raspberry CM3 in there (Compute module)
Some big antenna’s and a waterproof case.
Using POE to power the thing, the plan is to have this installation at a high point around my house. (LED pole?!? 🙂 )
Meanwhile I got these : Seeed Xiao Lora ESP32 modules


MeshTUI
My mobile Heltec V4, big antenna coming and battery operated, so I can add to https://mapme.sh