Electrical engineer building projects at the intersection of hardware and software.
Building a DIY Ambilight on a Raspberry Pi 3 with an Auvidea B101
A working log of getting Hyperion-NG capture validated on old hardware. Splitter arrives tomorrow, LEDs not yet wired, but the capture pipeline is fully proven end to end. The goal Build a Govee/Philips-Hue-Sync style TV backlight that mirrors on-screen colors to an LED strip behind the TV. Source-agnostic (works with anything plugged into HDMI, not just smart TV apps), running fully local, no cloud, no subscription. The architecture Apple TV (4K) → HDCP-stripping HDMI splitter ─┬→ Samsung TV (4K passthrough) └→ Auvidea B101 (1080p) → Pi 3 (Hyperion-NG) → Ethernet → ESP32 (WLED) → SK6812 LED strip Three things matter about this architecture: ...
IKEA Varmblixt as a Home Assistant Status Light
The IKEA Varmblixt is a $30 RGB+white Zigbee pendant. It pairs directly to ZHA in Home Assistant, has smooth color transitions, and a wide enough color gamut to be useful as a status indicator. I turned it into an ambient display for my apartment — weather during the day, a sunset script at night, a cycling green light at 6:30am, and a solid red door alarm when I forget to close the front door. ...
TRMNL X BYOS: Self-Hosting the Server Before the Device Arrives
This is a working log. The TRMNL X is ordered but hasn’t arrived yet. The server is running. What is TRMNL X TRMNL makes e-paper displays designed to sit on a desk and cycle through widgets — weather, calendar, news, whatever you build. The X model supports BYOS (Bring Your Own Server), which lets you point the device at your own backend instead of their cloud. That’s the only mode I’m interested in. ...