Sunsets, synths and pinball!
Welcome
Welcome to the latest issue! Our hearts go out to everyone affected by the fires in Southern California. Tod lives in the Greater Los Angeles area and is safe and sound.
Show Highlights
In the latest episode, Tod and Paul discuss the sunsetting of the Mu code editor and RadioFreeFedi; Tod's favorite synth, the Synthstrom Deluge and its community firmware; 3D printing news roundup; one of Tod's favorite pastimes in pinball; and more.
Listen to the show
Leftover Links
- Need to keep an eye on fires in your area? Watch Duty has been an indispensable app to Tod for tracking fire progression, satellite-based infrared hotspots, neighborhood-based evacuation notices, official fire department statements, and up-to-the-minute recovery efforts. And they're a 501(c)3 non-profit, only asking for payment if you want some extra optional features like being able to watch the flight patterns of the tanker aircraft (Tod did!)
- For quick & cheap air purification, a Corsi–Rosenthal Box is hard to beat. You can build one in about 30 minutes from a 20" box fan and four furnace filters. They even have instructions for different countries/languages.
- In our Supercon 2024 episode, we shared that our favorite talk was by Charles Lohr. Well, he's back doing what he does, this time with LCDs.
- Tod shared his love of pinball in the latest episode. Meet the man keeping hope and pinball alive.
- We covered Manyfold in an earlier episode and they've received a second round of funding from NLNet and shared their roadmap.
- Simon Repp, the maintainer of Faircamp, the static site generator for musicians which we covered back in episode 9, announced they too have another grant from NLNet to add podcast support and track level metadata such as lyrics, transcripts, and cover art.
- Paul mentioned in the latest episode that RadioFreeFedi has shut down, but there is an archive.
- Do you design PCBs? Check out this handy PCB Checklist.
- YouTuber Bay Mud did a deep dive into the latest community firmware 1.2 for the Synthstrom Deluge
From the hosts
Paul
What I'm working on: I shared earlier this month that I was bringing back The CircuitPython Show after a one year hiatus. I've been hard at work recording and editing episodes and am happy to say that the first episode debuted January 13th with CircuitPython community member Aaron Pendley. I'm mixing it up this season with topic based episodes in addition to community interviews.
What I'm watching: Like Tod last month, I've been watching the latest Star Wars show, Skeleton Crew. I also enjoyed The Day of The Jackal on Peacock. I just finished Dune: Prophecy and it was much better than I expected. The movies were so good I wasn't sure how a TV show set in the same universe would be, but both the story and special effects were better than I thought they would be. I've only read the original Dune trilogy, so the prequel stories are all new to me.
Tod
What I'm working on: I've not been working on much Bootloader-worthy this past week as we've had to evacuate from the Eaton wildfire that ate much of the larger neighborhood. Luckily our home was spared but now there's lots of cleanup, and not just woodsmoke like previous fires but dangerous ash from those homes that weren't so lucky.
What I'm watching: I just finished the BBC series "Ludwig", about a reclusive puzzle designer who inadvertently takes on his twin brother's identity as a police detective, incidentally solving murders along the way. Great fun, regularly touching, starring David Mitchell (Mitchell & Webb, "Are we the baddies?", etc).
We're now on Bluesky!
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You made it to the end! Here's a picture of Paul's black lab, who, no matter how cold it is, always wants to play frisbee.
