[{"content":" Blatantly Obvious Self-Aggrandisement # I created this site because if I don\u0026rsquo;t brag about myself, no one else will.\nI\u0026rsquo;m an internationally recognised, award-winning, qualified designer, maker and technologist from the beautiful but technologically sparse county of Devon. There isn\u0026rsquo;t exactly an abundance of opportunities to show off those skills around here, so I turned to the internet to satisfy that very human need for validation, and maybe make some money.\nI enjoy exploring ideas, solving problems and bringing things to life, whether that\u0026rsquo;s through practical craftsmanship, digital design or open-source technology.\nFrom CNC projects and 3D design to Linux, software and self-hosted infrastructure, Robin\u0026rsquo;s Lab is where I document my work, share what I learn and explore the possibilities of making things differently.\nI believe creativity shouldn\u0026rsquo;t be confined to a single discipline, and neither should the tools we use to express it.\nWelcome to my lab, where there\u0026rsquo;s always something brewing.\u0026mdash; title: \u0026ldquo;Welcome to Robin\u0026rsquo;s Lab! \u0026#x1f389;\u0026rdquo; description: \u0026ldquo;Designer, maker, and open-source enthusiast\u0026rdquo; # Welcome to Robin's Lab. This site is a late night, caffeine powered, self hosted, hand edited, Hugo project running on my own Ubuntu Server. As a result expect errors, snaps, outages and bad spellin'. --- Blatantly Obvious Self-Aggrandisement # I created this site because if I don\u0026rsquo;t brag about myself, no one else will.\nI\u0026rsquo;m an internationally recognised, award-winning, qualified designer, maker and technologist from the beautiful but technologically sparse county of Devon. There isn\u0026rsquo;t exactly an abundance of opportunities to show off those skills around here, so I turned to the internet to satisfy that very human need for validation, and maybe make some money.\nI enjoy exploring ideas, solving problems and bringing things to life, whether that\u0026rsquo;s through practical craftsmanship, digital design or open-source technology.\nFrom CNC projects and 3D design to Linux, software and self-hosted infrastructure, Robin\u0026rsquo;s Lab is where I document my work, share what I learn and explore the possibilities of making things differently.\nI believe creativity shouldn\u0026rsquo;t be confined to a single discipline, and neither should the tools we use to express it.\nWelcome to my lab, where there\u0026rsquo;s always something brewing.\nSo if you\u0026rsquo;d like to support me, please visit my store by clicking the image below! Because considering the amount of effort I put into setting this up, you might as well take a look!\n\u0026#xA; Where To Go Next # I split up my interests into useful sections, head to: Linux - The hardware and software systems I use. Craft - My tradecraft. brickwork, woodwork, physical projects, etc. Bonus - The section of the site where nothing else fits. I do this because I love it! # My workflow is built around Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). I use Linux every day, alongside tools such as Blender, Inkscape, and FabexCNC to design, prototype, and manufacture projects from scratch. My workshop includes a homemade CNC machine, 3D printers, and various tools for general building. When I was at university, open source software wasn\u0026rsquo;t exactly encouraged. There wasn\u0026rsquo;t much incentive to teach it when the software companies weren\u0026rsquo;t paying for the courses, and the commercial alternatives were considered the industry standard.\nFunny how things change.\nNow open source software is everywhere. Linux runs much of the infrastructure we depend on, open source tools power everything from development to design, and some of the most important technologies in the world are built openly and collaboratively.\nWhat Interests Me Most Is The Relationship Between Design, Technology, And Making. # Technology changes what we are able to make, but making influences the technology we need. Humans tend to build something, discover what it cannot do, change the tool to push the idea further, and then suddenly something new becomes possible. The cycle then repeats itself.\nI think of this as technopoietic reciprocity — a continual feedback loop between the tools we create and the things we want to create with them. It is an evolution we can see. For decades, technological progress was characterised by making things smaller, faster, and more efficient. But as the things we want to make become more ambitious, the technology itself must evolve in increasingly complex ways to keep up. We don\u0026rsquo;t simply shrink the tools anymore; sometimes we have to make them bigger, more capable, and more sophisticated. The same process applies equally to Linux and physical making: what we want to build drives the evolution of our tools, while the capabilities of those tools continually expand what we can imagine building.\nEnjoy the site.\n","date":"29 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/","section":"","summary":"Blatantly Obvious Self-Aggrandisement # I created this site because if I don’t brag about myself, no one else will.\n","title":"","type":"page"},{"content":"","date":"29 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/furniture/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Furniture","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"29 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tags","type":"tags"},{"content":" Professionally Upcycled Furniture # I love making things, and sometimes I get the chance to give great items a new lease of life. This time, I wanted to show some love to this water-damaged set of drawers. I bought some fancy tiles from B\u0026amp;Q to transform this dishevelled piece of storage furniture.\nAs you can see, I used what is known as a \u0026ldquo;brick bond\u0026rdquo; pattern to add more visual interest to the drawers than the original \u0026ldquo;stack bond\u0026rdquo; arrangement. This means the joints do not line up vertically, but are staggered instead.\nThe tiles were attached to the inner surfaces of the drawers using a flexible tile adhesive. It is also important to use proper grout between the tiles. This helps support the tiled surface and reduces the risk of the tiles being jolted loose when a drawer is closed too hard.\nI not only made the set of drawers more aesthetically pleasing, but also designed and built a matching shoe rack. If you look carefully at the bottom, you will see that I used wooden dowels to create feet and a lap joint to add further visual interest. The screw holes were concealed with wooden dowel caps, too.\nI stacked the furniture pieces on top of each other to dry in the sun.\nA few years later, the completed set remains a stylish addition to the home. It is a pleasure to look at rather than an embarrassing afterthought.\nIf you would like to read about the computer on top of the drawers follow this link.\n","date":"29 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/craft/projects/tiledfurniture/","section":"Tradecraft","summary":"Professionally Upcycled Furniture # I love making things, and sometimes I get the chance to give great items a new lease of life. This time, I wanted to show some love to this water-damaged set of drawers. I bought some fancy tiles from B\u0026Q to transform this dishevelled piece of storage furniture.\n","title":"Tiled Furniture","type":"craft"},{"content":"","date":"29 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/tiling/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tiling","type":"tags"},{"content":"Here’s a selection of trade-crafted projects I have completed for clients.\nEnjoy!\n","date":"29 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/craft/projects/","section":"Tradecraft","summary":"Here’s a selection of trade-crafted projects I have completed for clients.\nEnjoy!\n","title":"Trade-Crafted Projects","type":"craft"},{"content":"Craft-struction? By Craft-struction, I mean the construction skills I have acquired over many years of building, enabling me to become a craftsman.\nNot only have I crafted buildings, I have crafted myself along the way.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve never particularly liked the term builder for what I do. To me, it\u0026rsquo;s more precise and nuanced than that. I don\u0026rsquo;t simply build things; I use the skills, knowledge and experience I\u0026rsquo;ve acquired over many years to craft projects for my clients, helping them realise their dreams.\nHere you\u0026rsquo;ll find the construction projects I\u0026rsquo;ve created in my role as a erm\u0026hellip; Craft-structor, they are split into two sections: Projects and Tools.\nSimply because I think my tools deserve some acknowledgement too!\n","date":"29 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/craft/","section":"Tradecraft","summary":"Craft-struction? By Craft-struction, I mean the construction skills I have acquired over many years of building, enabling me to become a craftsman.\nNot only have I crafted buildings, I have crafted myself along the way.\n","title":"Tradecraft","type":"craft"},{"content":"#Opinions are like Bum\u0026rsquo;s, Everyone has one\u0026hellip;\nThis is where you can see mine!\n","date":"28 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/opinions/","section":"Solicited Opinions","summary":"#Opinions are like Bum’s, Everyone has one…\nThis is where you can see mine!\n","title":"Solicited Opinions","type":"opinions"},{"content":"","date":"25 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/ai/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Ai","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"25 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/blender/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Blender","type":"tags"},{"content":" Introduction. # Brickwork construction techniques haven\u0026rsquo;t changed significantly in perhaps a thousand years. Yes, the materials have changed, but the basic principles of building with bricks haven\u0026rsquo;t. The knowledge is well documented, and few examples demonstrate this better than the brickwork arch. So the massive AI training data centres have almost certainly absorbed knowledge from books and digital sources. Whether you call that learning from existing knowledge or \u0026lsquo;stealing\u0026rsquo; it is another question.\nWith that in mind, it seemed a relatively simple task for me, as a fully qualified bricklayer and knowledgeable AI \u0026lsquo;director\u0026rsquo;, to create my own software to revolutionise the design and creation of brick arches on a construction site.\nYou could create something like this yourself, but I reckon you\u0026rsquo;d need a rather unusual combination of skills. You\u0026rsquo;d need to understand Blender, FabexCNC, LinuxCNC and advanced brickwork, so you could write effective prompts, recognise errors and steer the AI towards a working solution.\nThe Software # I created A Blender plugin that generates a multitude of brick arches. Including;\nSemicircular Arch - A roman style simple curved Arch. Segmental Arch - 1/6th of a segment of a circle is used to create the former. Gothic Equilateral - A Gothic arch found commonly in churches. Lacent Arch - A variation on the Gothic arch. Drop Gothic Arch - A blunt version of the Gothic arch. Three Centred Arch - Instead of the radius drawn from 2 centers the radius is drawn from three centers. Four Centred Arch - A classic Tudor style Arch. Five Centred Arch - This creates a smooth curve with bull nosed ends. Flat Arch/ Jack Arch - A classic arch found in many northern town houses. usually made from rubbing bricks. This plugin is fantastic, not only does it do these arch types, it has many other features;\nGenerated accurate arch model incorporating different brick sizes, such as British, German and American sizes.\nVarious Construction Modes Including, Axed and Rough Ring.\nOptions to show only the former and coursing guides. Excellent for CNC machining and real world construction.\nLastly It generates cutting templates for bricks. Only creating ones that are not copy\u0026rsquo;s of others.\nDownload # You can download the script here: BrickworkArchDesigner.py.\nIf you find it useful, please consider buying me a coffee. It helps keep Robin\u0026rsquo;s Lab running and encourages me to keep making useful tools and content for you to explore.\nNeed an arch former? # If you\u0026rsquo;re in the UK and need an arch former for a project, I have a CNC router that can cut one to your specifications. Get in touch to discuss your requirements.\nConclusion # So, have I revolutionised brick arch construction? Perhaps that\u0026rsquo;s an over reach, but I have revolutionised the process for my own purposes.\nWhat I have done is create a tool that brings together traditional brickwork knowledge, parametric modeling and optimised it for CNC-assisted making. Instead of drawing an arch and working out every brick individually, I can generate a model, adjust it\u0026rsquo;s dimensions, examine the voussoirs and produce a schedule of the bricks and cutting templates required.\nThe interesting part isn\u0026rsquo;t simply that AI helped me write a Blender plugin. It\u0026rsquo;s that I could use my experience as a bricklayer to guide the development, know when the results weren\u0026rsquo;t right and keep refining the software until it did something correctly that I required it to do.\nFor me, this is where the potential lies. Combining practical trade skills with open-source software could give craftspeople access to tools that would previously have been expensive, difficult to develop or simply unavailable.\nThe result is a Blender plugin, built around my own open-source workflow, that I can continue to develop for my own projects.\nNot bad for a bit of code and a lifetime of knowing how bricks fit together.\n","date":"25 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/linux/software/blenderarchscript/","section":"Linux","summary":"Introduction. # Brickwork construction techniques haven’t changed significantly in perhaps a thousand years. Yes, the materials have changed, but the basic principles of building with bricks haven’t. The knowledge is well documented, and few examples demonstrate this better than the brickwork arch. So the massive AI training data centres have almost certainly absorbed knowledge from books and digital sources. Whether you call that learning from existing knowledge or ‘stealing’ it is another question.\n","title":"Blender Arch Designer","type":"linux"},{"content":"","date":"25 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/construction/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Construction","type":"tags"},{"content":"I have always had an affinity with Linux. As Linus Torvalds said: “Fairly cheap home computing was what changed my life.” The cost of computing hardware and software has always been a barrier to entry for me and that taught me to love Linux’s founding principles. Those principles have distilled into me allowing me feel freedom even when all around me I feel under pressure.\nUpcycled old office PCs turned into tiny servers, and over-ambitious networking ideas all come together here. This section is for homelab fanatics that use other peoples trash to experiment, break things, rebuild, and occasionally create something genuinely useful. After all, the creativity that created the internet we know didn’t start in data centres — it began in bedrooms, garages or even in the under stairs cupboard.\nHere I aim to document the hardware and software that powers my digital life, so I split the articles into sections so you can peruse at your pleasure!\n","date":"25 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/linux/","section":"Linux","summary":"I have always had an affinity with Linux. As Linus Torvalds said: “Fairly cheap home computing was what changed my life.” The cost of computing hardware and software has always been a barrier to entry for me and that taught me to love Linux’s founding principles. Those principles have distilled into me allowing me feel freedom even when all around me I feel under pressure.\n","title":"Linux","type":"linux"},{"content":"Do you ever feel like you\u0026rsquo;re responding to a copilot-generated letter with another copilot-generated reply?\nWith Linux, you can take back control of your hardware and free yourself from corporate monitoring. Here you\u0026rsquo;ll find writings about the setup I use — a place where I control my data and my machines, not the other way around.\nPlus remember — one does not simply exit Vim.\n","date":"25 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/linux/software/","section":"Linux","summary":"Do you ever feel like you’re responding to a copilot-generated letter with another copilot-generated reply?\nWith Linux, you can take back control of your hardware and free yourself from corporate monitoring. Here you’ll find writings about the setup I use — a place where I control my data and my machines, not the other way around.\n","title":"Software","type":"linux"},{"content":"","date":"23 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/fencing/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Fencing","type":"tags"},{"content":" Introduction # It\u0026rsquo;s that time of year again, where every self respecting home owner panics, when the \u0026ldquo;windy season starts\u0026rdquo;. This post should go quicker than your fence in a 80mph gale.\nI just want to show off some of the repairs I have done over the years.\nRepairs # Below is a fence I repaired, by digging out the original concreted post holes and then refilling them with a new post.\nAfter that I increased the height to create a privcy screen. Normaly I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t do this, but the fence was between 2 buildings, so I felt comfortable it would survive a bit of wind.\nThe next one is a picture of a greenhouse I built, but I also built the boundry fence behind it, using a fether-edge board technique on gravelboard.\nThe last one is hit and miss fencing I made out of old feather-edge boards, for a sustanability focused client.\nAll these fences were made using my Paslode first fix nail gun.\nPaslode First Fix Paslode First Fix Nail Gun\nSearch on eBay UK ","date":"23 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/craft/projects/fencing/","section":"Tradecraft","summary":"Introduction # It’s that time of year again, where every self respecting home owner panics, when the “windy season starts”. This post should go quicker than your fence in a 80mph gale.\n","title":"O-Fence-ive Weather","type":"craft"},{"content":" English Riviera Summer Open Exhibition Award, 2023 # Award-winning sculpture: The Old Way\nAfter completing my Foundation Degree (FdA), I continued my education independently, developing my knowledge of open-source technology, digital design and fabrication. That journey eventually led me to build my own 8 × 4 ft CNC router, bringing together traditional art, craftsmanship and digital manufacturing.\nI received the English Riviera Summer Open Exhibition Award 2023 from Artizan Gallery, Torbay, for The Old Way, a digitally designed and CNC-machined Sapele wood sculpture inspired by the architecture and heritage of Oldway Mansion.\nThe work brought together digital 3D design, photogrammetry, traditional hand-crafted techniques and CNC fabrication, all made possible through my own custom-built router.\nPlease note that the artwork is no longer for sale. View the artwork at Artizan Gallery\nTransmorphism Unleashed: Making Blender Make Things!, 2024 # In 2024, I had the opportunity to give a talk at Blender Conference in Amsterdam.\nMy talk, Transmorphism Unleashed: Making Blender Make Things!, is about the idea of Digital Transmorphism, using Blender to transform real-world objects and ideas into new physical things. It brings together a lot of the things I love: Blender, 3D design, making, photogrammetry and my home-built LinuxCNC router.\nThe talk takes you through my workflow, from capturing the real world digitally, through Blender, and ultimately into physical manufacturing.\nThe full talk is available below, courtesy of the Blender Foundation.\nDangerously Good Ideas, 2024 - NOW # Alongside my work at Robin\u0026rsquo;s Lab, I run the Dangerously Good Ideas YouTube channel, documenting projects, experiments and the occasional questionable idea.\nThe channel covers Linux, open-source technology, making, 3D design, self-hosting and digital fabrication. I\u0026rsquo;m also community-minded, so you\u0026rsquo;ll occasionally find videos and updates about my volunteering and community work detailed below.\nHere\u0026rsquo;s a look at some of my recent work:\nCommunity \u0026amp; Voluntary Work, Beach Hut (December 2025) # I believe in contributing to the communities around me, alongside my creative and technical work.\nI volunteer alongside Cllr John Fellows, the Deputy Civic Mayor of Torbay, and Gill Knight from Torbay Communities, helping to care for and maintain a historic community space: our local community orchard.\nOur work has also received some local press coverage. Admittedly, it was only a small article, but at least my face is becoming famous for all the right reasons. If nothing else, it\u0026rsquo;s proof a Technologist can touch grass!\n","date":"23 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/videos/","section":"","summary":" English Riviera Summer Open Exhibition Award, 2023 # Award-winning sculpture: The Old Way\nAfter completing my Foundation Degree (FdA), I continued my education independently, developing my knowledge of open-source technology, digital design and fabrication. That journey eventually led me to build my own 8 × 4 ft CNC router, bringing together traditional art, craftsmanship and digital manufacturing.\n","title":"Press \u0026 Recognition","type":"page"},{"content":"","date":"23 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/woodwork/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Woodwork","type":"tags"},{"content":" Introduction # Although seen by some as a cheap, unfinished method of construction, the humbly ubiquitous 4\u0026quot; concrete block wall has become a staple of British vernacular architecture. If you have ever travelled throughout Europe, you\u0026rsquo;ll know that nowhere screams \u0026rsquo;this is a British town\u0026rsquo; quite like a place built with this technique. In the UK, we use these 100 x 215 x 440mm chunks of concrete for almost every aspect of wall building. Today\u0026rsquo;s post is simple: it\u0026rsquo;s a showcase of some of the block walling I have done.\nOlden-days Blockwork. # Let\u0026rsquo;s start back in pre-history.. I call this pre-history, because the pictures were taken so long ago that ice ages have passed.\nCavity wall work with lintel. Constructed with an 11 inch trowel like the one below.\nOx Pro Brickwork Trowel Ox Tools Pro Brick Trowel Philadelphia Pattern 11 inch\nProduct on eBay UK A blockwork corner with decorative blocks along the right-hand edge.\nA Chimney built by me.\nA Wall-plate laid on intricate blockwork.\nA budget retaining wall.\nMixed Trades. # Here\u0026rsquo;s a blockwork wall with Concrete \u0026lsquo;Apex Cappings\u0026rsquo; on top and a custom designed z-frame gate. All of this work is my own. Note the gate hinged onto the old concrete post. this was exceptionally hard to accomplish.\nBloackwork with gate.\nPremium block walling. # This was an entire fence replacement. I even made custom fence panels, rendered the walls, and finished the wall with render.\nHere\u0026rsquo;s a boundry wall I finished.\nThe wall has a dogltg in it. This means it bends at a angle that\u0026rsquo;s not 90 degrees.\nThe wall is built on a stepped foundation. to follow the lay of the land.\nThe wall has custom built fence panels specially crafted for it.\nSTABILA 96-2 Spirit Level 180cm 120cm or 60cm The 120cm Level I use\nProduct on eBay UK Finishes # The garden wall was finished by adding cement based render, paint and trellis to the piers.\nI hope you liked these photos, I am really glad about how the last wall turned out. The client was really happy with the results. There is nothing better than bringing a client\u0026rsquo;s high standards to life and seeing the flawless finished results. This makes me happy too.\n","date":"18 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/craft/projects/blockwork/","section":"Tradecraft","summary":"Introduction # Although seen by some as a cheap, unfinished method of construction, the humbly ubiquitous 4\" concrete block wall has become a staple of British vernacular architecture. If you have ever travelled throughout Europe, you’ll know that nowhere screams ’this is a British town’ quite like a place built with this technique. In the UK, we use these 100 x 215 x 440mm chunks of concrete for almost every aspect of wall building. Today’s post is simple: it’s a showcase of some of the block walling I have done.\n","title":"Block Walling","type":"craft"},{"content":"","date":"18 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/blockwork/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Blockwork","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"11 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/bash/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Bash","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"11 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/gaming/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Gaming","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"11 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/linux/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Linux","type":"tags"},{"content":" Introduction # Ever found yourself staring at your Linux app store for twenty minutes, unable to decide what to play? Well, what if you let fate decide instead?\nRobin\u0026rsquo;s Roulette is a little Bash-powered experiment that turns your Linux gaming backlog into a game of chance. It fetches the Flathub game catalogue, checks what you\u0026rsquo;ve already installed or rejected, then spins the wheel of fortune, and presents you with a random game to try.\nWill it be a hidden gem, a glorious waste of time, or something you\u0026rsquo;ll uninstall before you\u0026rsquo;ve even worked out the controls? There\u0026rsquo;s only one way to find out!\nIf a game catches your eye, the script can install and launch it for you. Once you\u0026rsquo;ve finished playing, you can keep it or uninstall it and add it to your reject list, so it won\u0026rsquo;t come around again. Also before all of that you can reject a game you\u0026rsquo;ve been dealt.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s all powered by Bash and a handful of familiar Linux command-line utilities, with a little terminal colour magic, ASCII theatrics and random sentences thrown in for good measure. No elaborate launcher, no complicated database, just a script doing one job.\nSo, place your bets, summon the RNG gods, and remember: the house always wins, unless the game crashes first.\nDependencies # Every script depends on some sort of dependency. For instance Obviously this one needs Bash to work. Other than that, here is a list of the utilities used;\npython3 - Is used for the optional Ascii Art countdown script. If Python3 is missing you can install it by typing into your terminal:\nsudo apt install python3 python3-pip python3-venv The rest of these are ubiquitous for most Ubuntu systems, but may be missing:\ncurl - Fetches the Flathub catalogue and appstream metadata jq - Parses the JSON responses flatpak - Lists installed apps, installs, runs, and uninstalls games shuf - Picks the random game index sed - Strips ANSI codes, converts HTML to text fold - Wraps the description to terminal width tr - Builds the banner border, flattens newlines wc - Measures visible text width for centring tput - Terminal width fallback grep - Scans /proc/*/cgroup in wait_for_flatpak_exit There is nothing innocuous here, but always open scripts obtained of the internet and check them first.\nIf any of these packages are not installed, you can install them by typing the command below. Then replacing the application name.\nsudo apt install jq Installation # Installation of the script is easy. First you need to make a directory for it to live in. You can choose your own path, but below is a good example. Open up your terminal application and type;\nmkdir ~/scripts cd scripts/ Then you can get the files from this site by typing or pasting;\ncurl -fsSL https://robinslab.co.uk/downloads/roulette/robins_roulette.sh -o robins_roulette.sh curl -fsSL https://robinslab.co.uk/downloads/roulette/robins_countdown.sh -o robins_countdown.sh Remember to inspect anything downloaded from the internet before running it;\ncat robins_countdown.sh cat robins_roulette.sh Lastly the script won\u0026rsquo;t work until you change the permissions, the snippet below adds the execute permission to the files:\nchmod +x robins_roulette.sh robins_countdown.sh now you can run the script anytime by typing.\n./robins_roulette.sh Note; you can also run the countdown timer separately. You can treat this as a unnecessary plugin for the main script to work. that goes for python3 too.\n./robins_countdown.sh Outroduction - should be a word # I hope you have at least a couple of hours fun with this, and pick the script apart to learn from it, or play something fun. If you have any suggestions, please leave them on the YouTube video. If your feeling exceptionally flush, please consider using the buy me a coffee widget or visit my wishlist page.\n","date":"11 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/linux/software/robins_roulette/","section":"Linux","summary":"Introduction # Ever found yourself staring at your Linux app store for twenty minutes, unable to decide what to play? Well, what if you let fate decide instead?\n","title":"Robin's Roulette","type":"linux"},{"content":" Kate as a Markdown Editor # When you install KDE Plasma, one of the pieces of free software I love the most is Kate. This little-spoken-of text editor is a fantastic tool for many types of coding, thanks to its syntax highlighting. It underpins KDE development and has become a foundation stone for so much of the KDE ecosystem. It can also be installed on virtually any distro, so you never have to learn another text editor again.\nI think it\u0026rsquo;s so good that it forms the basis of my writing stack for this very website.\nConfiguration # To use Kate as a Markdown editor effectively, you should do a few things first.\nNavigate to Tools → Spelling and turn on Automatic Spell Checking. The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+Shift+O. That\u0026rsquo;s the letter O, not the number 0.\nIf the syntax highlighting isn\u0026rsquo;t detected automatically, navigate to Tools → Highlighting → Markup → Markdown.\nFinally, navigate to Settings → Configure Kate (Ctrl+Shift+,). When the pop-up opens, find Plugins. On the right-hand side of the pop-up window, activate Document Preview. Click Apply, then OK.\nUsing Kate as a Markdown editor # Those are the essentials. Now you have a very capable Markdown editor without leaving the KDE ecosystem, keeping your machine nice and bloat-free.\nTo use it properly, you should see that a new icon has appeared on the right-hand side of the screen. It looks like a piece of paper with a magnifying glass over it. Click that!\nYou can make the preview window bigger by left-clicking and dragging your mouse pointer over the vertical separator between the input and output windows.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s at this point that I would look for the Play button. The Play button turns on automatic updates, so you can type and see the result instantly. I can see why they added a convenient toggle. The constant updates can get distracting.\nSnippets # Kate has the fantastic ability to add code snippets directly into your files at the push of a button. That is really advantageous considering I work with Hugo daily.\nTo activate snippets, do the following:\nOpen Kate. Go to Settings, then click Configure Kate. Select Plugins. Check the box for Scripts \u0026amp; Snippets. Click Apply and OK. A new icon will appear on the right. It looks like a piece of paper with the corner folded, with a plus sign over the top. Click it!\nNext, add a repository by clicking on the folder icon with a plus sign over it. A new pop-up will appear.\nIn this pop-up, you can add your repo. Fill out Your Name, Namespace and Repo Name. Once you have entered those details, click the OK button. I don\u0026rsquo;t pick a file type because Hugo doesn\u0026rsquo;t build from standard Markdown.\nOnce you have created your repo, you can add snippets. Click the small paper with plus sign icon in the panel above where you just created your new repository. Here, you can add a code snippet simply by pasting it in. Remember to give it a name, then click OK.\nTo use your new snippet, simply position your text cursor where you want to add the line of code and double-click the snippet.\nConclusion # Kate is a fantastic tool, made even better by how easily it can be customised for your specific needs. I guarantee that if you spent a couple of hours exploring it, you would discover more uses for this excellent piece of software developed by KDE.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s so good that it even has Git integration built into it. So, if your site is stored in an online repo, you can edit the source from the comfort of your new favourite text editor.\nIf you enjoyed this article, the chances are you use Linux and are in desperate need of a new ThinkPad. OK, maybe not desperate. But if you use the link below to buy yourself a tasty new-to-you laptop, I\u0026rsquo;ll get a couple of quid at no extra cost to you.\nLenovo ThinkPad T480 The Legendary ThinkPad T480\nSearch on eBay UK ","date":"3 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/linux/software/kdekate/","section":"Linux","summary":"Kate as a Markdown Editor # When you install KDE Plasma, one of the pieces of free software I love the most is Kate. This little-spoken-of text editor is a fantastic tool for many types of coding, thanks to its syntax highlighting. It underpins KDE development and has become a foundation stone for so much of the KDE ecosystem. It can also be installed on virtually any distro, so you never have to learn another text editor again.\n","title":"'Kate' Supercharged My Markdown Editing","type":"linux"},{"content":"","date":"3 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/kate/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Kate","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"3 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/kubuntu/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Kubuntu","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"2 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/flooring/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Flooring","type":"tags"},{"content":" Introduction. # Over my 30+ years working in construction I have picked up many skills. Trades like plastering and block-work, don\u0026rsquo;t usually have the immediate satisfaction you get from looking at the complete finished room. I think that\u0026rsquo;s why I enjoy it. Although it can be harder due to the accuracy needed to supply and fit a finished product.\nPreparation # Before laying the floor you need a flat smooth surface. I would remove all furnishings from the room if it\u0026rsquo;s needed and take up the old covering, whether that be carpet or another laminate. Then I would inspect the sub-floor for damp or movement and correct as needed. This then gives you a good starting point to apply the new flooring. In the case below I decided to affix plywood to the floor. This was done for two reasons. One, it gave me a perfect base to lay the wooden flooring. Two, it raised up the floor to match the tiling in the hallway.\nStarting the job # Laying flooring is an art. For example, I will always try and have the direction of the planks perpendicular to where the light comes in. This creates an illusion of making the room look bigger. After that I will pick the longest uninterrupted side. By this I mean there isn\u0026rsquo;t a fireplace in the way or a flue stack etc.. If there was something in the way it creates a lot of problems.\nYou start by allowing cutouts for the door. This might mean that you have to rip the planks down, because you don\u0026rsquo;t want a small piece of wood in the doorway. This is liable to get damaged or move easily. You also need to pay attention to the span of the room, making sure your cuts are not so small that they will just splinter on the other side of the room.\nAfter you have made the cutout for the doorway with your jigsaw, and ripped the boards down, you can fix them in place by screwing them where they won\u0026rsquo;t be seen on the edge where the skirting will go. I use another plank half on the join to help align the boards in a perfectly straight line. Finally you cut off nails from your nail strips, then nail the first board by hand.\nFlooring Nails For Nailer Bostitch Fln-200 Flooring Cleat Nails 50Mm Pack Of 1000\nProduct on eBay Laying the boards # Once you have that nice straight line you can start laying the floor. Usually you have to lay the first two rows by nailing them by hand. Then you can use a flooring nailer. I have the excellent Bostitch MFN-201-E.\nFlooring Nailer Bostitch Manual Flooring Nailer MFN-201-E\nSearch on eBay This is where I would put multiple packs of flooring along the floor and pick randomly from them to batch the packs. This eliminates anything obvious like light coloured or bookmatched planks laid next to each other. I will then glue the boards along the groove before nailing each one of them in place.\nSometimes before you nail a board it pays to get an off cut of flooring and use that to butt up the planks securely. This eliminates the boards creeping apart creating unsightly gaps. I recommend tapping each one into place before you nail it.\nEstwing E3-16C Estwing E3-16C Curved Claw Hammer\nSearch on eBay Once you get half way you want to clear the sub-floor and put all your materials onto the floor you have just laid. Remember cardboard is slippery on this surface so refrain from using it to walk on.\nOnce you complete the floor around any obstacles, you can attach the cover-strips. I tend to make my own, because the manufactured ones are really expensive. I glue these using a little clear silicone to allow for movement. You can use the manufacturer-recommended product if you like.\nI Machined a threshold out of some Sapele Wood making sure to leave the manufacturers gap around the floor whilst I did it. Note that I also cut off the bottom of the door frame to slide the flooring under. You do this so you can\u0026rsquo;t see the gap when the door lining and skirting is applied.\nAfter I finished, all that was left to do was fit the skirting boards back onto the wall using construction adhesive and plasterboard props laid across the floor. I think the finished result is fantastic. It\u0026rsquo;s also in keeping with the brickwork and sleeper fireplace I made.\n","date":"2 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/craft/projects/flooring/","section":"Tradecraft","summary":" Introduction. # Over my 30+ years working in construction I have picked up many skills. Trades like plastering and block-work, don’t usually have the immediate satisfaction you get from looking at the complete finished room. I think that’s why I enjoy it. Although it can be harder due to the accuracy needed to supply and fit a finished product.\n","title":"Laying Wooden Flooring","type":"craft"},{"content":"","date":"2 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/renovation/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Renovation","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"2 October 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/woodworking/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Woodworking","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"29 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/3d-printing/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"3d Printing","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"29 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/experemental/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Experemental","type":"tags"},{"content":"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? If tech is the stuff that dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep… if we use AI for everything, are we the sheep Philip K. Dick was talking about? If you feel like a robot going through the motions of creation, like old William Shakespeare sat at a desk chewing his quill, thinking “what is done is done,” this little blog might be the antidote. Feel free to delve back into wonder through my technological ponderings and explorations. Who knows — we might even invent a few new things together.\n","date":"29 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/linux/hardware/","section":"Linux","summary":"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? If tech is the stuff that dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep… if we use AI for everything, are we the sheep Philip K. Dick was talking about? If you feel like a robot going through the motions of creation, like old William Shakespeare sat at a desk chewing his quill, thinking “what is done is done,” this little blog might be the antidote. Feel free to delve back into wonder through my technological ponderings and explorations. Who knows — we might even invent a few new things together.\n","title":"Hardware","type":"linux"},{"content":"","date":"29 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/instalation/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Instalation","type":"tags"},{"content":" Intro # It\u0026rsquo;s no secret that I love digital design and the seemingly magical digital pens that make the perfect companion to enabled devices really open up what you can do with these now fairly cheap products. I remember when they reached prominence in the 2010\u0026rsquo;s. Having the ability to draw directly on the screen in high detail changed how design companies worked and revolutionised workflows. I was particularly impressed on how you could draw with a light colour like yellow over a dark background and create a seamless blend the two tones together without any chemically induced mess interfering with the gradient.\nSince then I wanted a device that I could take out with me and draw, but they were prohibitively expensive until now. I say now because 15 years later some devices are almost classed as E-waste and are completely unsupported by Microsoft, or in this case we can call them Micro-shaft, because there is nothing wrong with the machine or the excellent pens, just the operating system.\nSpecifications # The Microsoft Surface Pro 1807 is the model number for the Surface Pro 5th Gen with LTE Advanced, released on 1 December 2017. This specific variant distinguishes itself from the standard Wi-Fi model (Model 1796) by including a 4G LTE Cat 9 modem and a physical Nano SIM tray. Processor: Intel Core i5-7300U (7th Gen). Display: 12.3-inch PixelSense Display with a resolution of 2736 x 1824 (267 PPI) and a 3:2 aspect ratio. Cellular Connectivity: 4G LTE Advanced with Nano SIM and eSIM support. Ports: 1 x Full-size USB 3.0, microSDXC card reader, Mini DisplayPort, and Surface Connect port. Battery Life: Up to 12.5 hours of local video playback over 4G LTE. Weight: Approximately 812g Prerequisites # The Linux Surface Project # Luckily we can do something about Microsoft abandoning its baby. It will come as no surprise to anyone that I am going to say we can install Linux to \u0026lsquo;fix\u0026rsquo; the broken operating system. The problem it cant be done the standard way. Microsoft invented new hardware and as such it needs a custom compiled kernel to get the pen input working properly. As always, listen to me ramble on or follow the link to the official repository.\nhttps://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface\nAcessories # The Microsoft Surface Pen Stylus 1776 is a 4th-generation active digital stylus released by Microsoft in 2017, It\u0026rsquo;s the reason why I put the Linux surface kernel on the device in the first place.\nMicrosoft Stylus 1776 The pen that makes the machine worthwhile\nProduct on eBay The \u0026lsquo;magnetic keyboard cover\u0026rsquo;. That\u0026rsquo;s the device that no one calls the \u0026ldquo;Surface Pro Signature Type Cover\u0026rdquo;. I chose the Burgundy Alcantara version and - you guessed it I found it on ebay.\nMicrosoft Surface Pro Type Cover UK 1725 The Keyboard Cover\nSearch on eBay Because the device has its own propitiatory keyboard interface you will need to connect a mouse and keyboard to the one USB port. This is easily done by using a USB HUB.\nWireless (USB) Keyboard with Touchpad A8 Keyboard\nProduct on eBay USB Hub USB A \u0026amp; C Hub with built in card reader\nProduct on eBay You will also need a USB thumb drive. If you don\u0026rsquo;t have one don\u0026rsquo;t skimp our on a cheap one. many Linux projects use these and as such should be a part of any modern Linux toolkit. I reccomend a 32gb drive. That way toy can partition the drive for storage too, or even have a live image on it.\nUSB Thumb Drive SanDisk Cruzer Blade 32GB Product on eBay Installation Procedure # Stage 1 # 1 First of all put the image onto a USB drive.\nBoot into the Surface UEFI:\nShut down your Surface. Press and hold the Volume Up button, then press and release the Power button. Release Volume Up when the Surface/Microsoft logo appears Adjust UEFI Settings:\nGo to Security and set Secure Boot to \u0026ldquo;Microsoft \u0026amp; 3rd party CA\u0026rdquo; (Alternatively, disable it entirely if you face issues, though the custom kernel supports it). Go to Boot configuration and drag USB Storage to the top of the list. Install Linux: Save changes, exit UEFI, and boot into your USB installer. Follow the on-screen steps to install your chosen distribution entirely, I highly recommend a Ubuntu family distro. Once done, reboot the device and remove the USB drive\nStage 2 # Add the repository GPG key wget -qO - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/linux-surface/linux-surface/master/pkg/keys/surface.asc \\ | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/linux-surface.gpg \u0026gt; /dev/null Add the repository echo \u0026#34;deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/linux-surface.gpg] https://surfacelinux.com release main\u0026#34; \\ | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/linux-surface.list Update packages and install the kernel + touch daemon sudo apt update sudo apt install linux-image-surface linux-headers-surface iptsd libwacom-surface secureboot-surface Update your bootloader sudo update-grub Drawing Experience # Because the screen uses a capacitive touch screen if your palm touches the screen you will move the pointer no matter what settings you enable. So I suggest buying a inexpensive glove, this is the main downside of these older devices. Once the bluetooth pen is connected you generally have a good experience unless there is a background task running, for example auto-saving a large document. This sometimes lags the screen causing a smear across your drawing. But you can just undo that with a on screen button.\nUSB Thumb Drive SanDisk Cruzer Blade 32GB Product on eBay Once you glove-up, I find that Krita works brilliantly with the newly installed operating system, with one caveat. Don\u0026rsquo;t download the code from the Apt repository or the Snap store though, get the image from Krita themselves. you can always find the latest packages that way.\nsudo apt remove krita sudo snap remove --purge krita Download from;Krita\u0026rsquo;s Website\nAnother package that I always install is Inkscape. Inkscape is a great piece of software and Adobe made a little known alternative that hardly anyone uses legally called Illustrator, but I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t use it, it costs a fortune for a program who\u0026rsquo;s main feature is to draw vector shapes.\nsudo apt remove inkscape sudo snap remove --purge inkscape Download from;Inkscape\u0026rsquo;s Website\nConclusion # Would I do this again? Yes without a doubt. Considering this cost me under £150 and a new surface pro costs upwards of £2000, I bagged a bargain. Even though sometimes the UI can bug out when opening the machine, I have the ability to draw digitally anywhere in the world now. That feels like freedom to me. That sense of freedom is exactly why the free software foundation was created.\n","date":"29 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/linux/hardware/surface/","section":"Linux","summary":"Intro # It’s no secret that I love digital design and the seemingly magical digital pens that make the perfect companion to enabled devices really open up what you can do with these now fairly cheap products. I remember when they reached prominence in the 2010’s. Having the ability to draw directly on the screen in high detail changed how design companies worked and revolutionised workflows. I was particularly impressed on how you could draw with a light colour like yellow over a dark background and create a seamless blend the two tones together without any chemically induced mess interfering with the gradient.\n","title":"Jail breaking A 'Microsoft' Surface Pro 5","type":"linux"},{"content":"","date":"29 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/lenovo/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Lenovo","type":"tags"},{"content":" Introduction # There’s a growing assumption that AI has to live in “the cloud.” The assumption that if you want \u0026lsquo;intelligence\u0026rsquo;, you rent it from someone else—much like the current US administration. In fact this psudo-intelligence usually hosted on a server farm owned by a multinational company who\u0026rsquo;s employees you’ll never meet who force you to hand over your data in order to use “industry standard” technology to remain complient !\nI don’t buy into that. First of “Industry Standard” is just a euphemism for locked into one of many ecosystems your expected to use and secondly I am the intelligent one in this relationship. Not a maschine that\u0026rsquo;s essentially just a probability engine strapped to an advanced autocomplete.\nSo I built my own AI node and cooling system not just to experiment with models, but to take back control over something that’s becoming fundamental – infrastructure and data. This isn’t about rejecting progress, it’s about deciding how I use that progress to my advantage without selling my digal soul to the “machine” of capitalism.\nIt’s at this point that I should mention I am gawd’damn awful at spellin\u0026rsquo; and need to correct most things I type, including this! That’s my main reason for this fun project – fancy autocomplete whilst maintaining privacy without compromising the modern technology we now need to stay competitive.\nThe Hardware # My AI server is a plucky little lenovo m720q with 32gb of ram and a nvme drive, that I bought when ram and storage was as cheap as chips, and not priced like a gold leaf encrusted kebab (that’s a real thing). So far I have managed to run Qwen 2.5, 7B and a Qwen 14b model, although the 14b model is a little slow. That\u0026rsquo;s the constraints of an older GPU like I have. I don\u0026rsquo;t want to delve deepe into what I am running in this article, because it will get too long. I am saving the software side of building this for another time.\nInside the cool little PC I managed to fit a 75w Nvidia P4. This card was perfect for my needs. It is an old server GPU especially designed for my use – Local affordable AI. With one caveat; being a server grade GPU it needs a separate fan. - Not a problem I do have a degree in design and thus managed to whip up a 3D printed manifold to direct the air across the cooling fins of the card in no time. The specs are below; Core Specifications\nGPU Architecture: Pascal GPU Chip: GP104 Process Size: 16 nm Transistors: 7.2 Billion CUDA Cores: 2,560 Tensor Cores: None RT Cores: None Clock Speeds Base Clock: 810 MHz Boost Clock: 1063 MHz Memory Clock: 1502 MHz (6 Gbps effective) Memory Configuration Memory Size: 8 GB Memory Type: GDDR5 Memory Bus: 256-bit Bandwidth: 192.3 GB/s ECC Support: Yes Performance \u0026amp; Compute FP32 (Float) Performance: 5.443 TFLOPS INT8 Performance: 22 TOPS FP64 (Double) Performance: 170.1 GFLOPS (1:32 ratio) Physical \u0026amp; Power Form Factor: Low-Profile (Half-Height, Half-Length), Single-Slot Bus Interface: PCIe 3.0 x16 TDP (Power Consumption): 75W External Power Connectors: None (Power drawn entirely from the PCIe slot) Cooling: Passive Heatsink (Requires host system forced airflow) Media \u0026amp; Display Features Display Outputs: None (Headless accelerator) NVENC (Video Encode): 2x 4th Generation Engines NVDEC (Video Decode): 1x 4th Generation Engine Nvidia P4 The Venrable Nvidia P4\nSearch on eBay I know you can get better cards, but nothing affordable was avalabke that will fit inside the original case of my tiny pc. I would love a Nvidia L4 but at over £3000 is way too expensive for my budget. so was the more resonable Nvidia P40. Nvidia L4 The Dreamlike Nvidia L4\nSearch on eBay Cooling # Another problem that needed solving (admittedly more of a personal grevance) was, with the lack of fan headers, the fans would always be on if i wired them directly to the USB. This irritated me, so I installed a special USB relay that switches power on and off depending on temperature. The device has three leads, USB power in, USB power out, and a thermometer. I simply plug the device into one of many USB ports on the back of the Lenovo and the fans into the output, I then feed the thermometer through the manifold I printed, down between the fins of the GPU to accurately measure the temperature. This provides a hacked-together looking but power efficient mini AI server for small office or home use that oonly sacrifices a little bit of air flow. Just remember If you buy one, get the 5v USB version. Adjustable USB 5V Digital Temperature Control The Fan On/Off Switch\nSearch on eBay GDPR Compliance by Design # Before I start investigating what AI to use there’s a big Elephant in the room – GDPR. The biggest issue at the moment with cloud-based AI is that you’re never entirely sure what happens to your data. Even when services claim privacy, you’re still sending prompts over the internet, relying on someone else’s storage, or trusting another countries interpenetration of compliance. In the UK the rules are, ‘I’m handling client data, I am the data controller.’ That means I’m legally responsible for how AI fed data is processed, where it is sent and who has access to it. Putting client data into a public AI service, especially a free one introduces real unmitigated risk introducing legal complexity most people want to ignore. The client’s data may be processed outside the UK or EU. The data may be kept for longer than required. Policies may be unclear or insufficient. - Remember “When your using a free service, you (or the data you input) are the product”, therefore third parties will probably gain access to the data used, simply by buying it. Causing a data breach In many cases, that could put companies in breach of GDPR—especially if there isn’t explicit, informed consent or a proper data processing agreement in place. By running everything locally on your own server, you remove many of the grey area or blatantly illegal breaches of UK law. I know where the data lives (on my own hardware). I know that it isn’t being transmitted externally and clients data isn’t being reused or stolen due to firewall settings. I am aiming to eventually educate small companies about the advantages of personal AI and that shoould help mittigate some of the problems with using external AI.\nDigital Sovereignty. # The other pachyderm this project addresses is Digital Sovereignty. Using cloud AI means you are depending on infrastructure you don’t control, you're governed by laws you didn’t vote for (or are illegal in your locale), and policies that can change overnight. That’s not fine in the slightest. Building a local AI node gives me full independence from external platforms, stability in my tooling and confidence that nothing will suddenly disappear behind a larger paywall or API restriction. It’s the same philosophy that drives people toward Linux, open-source software, and self-hosting in the first place. You stop renting your tools and start owning them, essentially as every good democratic socialist knows 'owning the means of production' gives your organisation power. So why can’t I provide this independence for others at a small cost.\nReducing Data Harvesting # A lot of modern services are built on data collection. Even when it’s anonymised, there’s still value in, usage patterns, prompt structures and behavioural signals. When you use cloud hosted AI, you’re contributing to that ecosystem whether you intend to or not. Running models locally changes that completely. The prompts never leave your system. There’s no telemetry unless you add it and surveillance is difficult. Meaning your IP stays your IP. It’s not about paranoia—it’s about eliminating unnecessary exposure by default and not giving away your companies edge to competitors.\nA Maker’s Approach to AI # Beyond all the serious stuff, there’s another mammoth reason I built this: Because I can. Running AI locally means I can document how I am using it. How I am modifying models, piping commands together and experimenting without worrying I am going to break a production server. It fits naturally into the way I already work - building machines, scripting workflows, and turning ideas into something tangible.\nClosing Thoughts # I fundamentally believe locally hosted LLMs are the future for small businesses and technically-minded individuals. They offer a balance that cloud services can’t: capability without dependency, and data handling without exposure. On reflection I think this project is about, proving to a wider audience, and prospective employers, once again that I can build, design and control my own infrastructure. It’s also about showing that I understand basic SysAdmin GDPR compliance tasks that pertain to storage and handling data. Also it shows that we need not rely on systems that are outside of our control. When you own your own node you have ultimate control of that data, and even if the internet was switched off, I could still check the spelling or edit the readability on my latest blog post. Look out for another post detailing how I put the AI models onto this tiny Ubuntu server. ","date":"29 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/linux/hardware/ai-node/","section":"Linux","summary":"Introduction # There’s a growing assumption that AI has to live in “the cloud.” The assumption that if you want ‘intelligence’, you rent it from someone else—much like the current US administration. In fact this psudo-intelligence usually hosted on a server farm owned by a multinational company who’s employees you’ll never meet who force you to hand over your data in order to use “industry standard” technology to remain complient !\n","title":"Local AI on a Budget","type":"linux"},{"content":"","date":"29 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/m720q/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"M720q","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"29 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/microsoft/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Microsoft","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"29 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/surface/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Surface","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"23 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/homelab/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Homelab","type":"tags"},{"content":" Lenovo Fanboi # Lenovo is a fantastic company. Not only do they make great computers, they look like they come straight out of an episode of Knight Rider, and to be honest, that\u0026rsquo;s not a bad thing. There is something timeless and futuristic about angular design with flashing lights and silver trim that really engages my inner kid.\nSpeaking of being a big kid, you may or may not know that I have some big love for the fantastic Lenovo M720q Tiny form-factor computers. It turns out that Lenovo made a touchscreen for the little PCs to live in! So, being a good lover, I bought my sweetheart a new home.\nThat home is the TIO22 Gen 4 monitor. It is a fantastic, crystal-clear touchscreen that I originally bought as a till (cash register) project, but now use as the kitchen hub.\nLenovo Tiny-In-One 22 Gen 4 The exact model of Tiny-In-One screen I bought for my M720q Tiny.\nSearch on eBay Kitt-chan Computer # In 2026, no self-respecting geek can call themselves a l33t-geek without some sort of tech in the kitchen. That\u0026rsquo;s where Kitt-chan comes in.\nKitt-chan is a mashup of KITT from Knight Rider and the Japanese suffix -chan, implying that Kitt is my little love.\nNot only has Kitt-chan got the perfect name, Kitt also has a flashy red light in the form of a barcode scanner.\nThis magical little device is used for barcode input into my Nextcloud pantry app. It\u0026rsquo;s also surprisingly convenient for scanning lottery tickets, because it can read 2D codes such as QR codes.\nYou can even turn off the annoying beeps by scanning a few special barcodes. You just have to RTFM.\nI went for the wired version because I really don\u0026rsquo;t need another device that needs charging, especially when it\u0026rsquo;s already taking up one of my USB ports.\nWired U2 Barcode Scanner Barcode Scanner Wired Wireless Bluetooth Bar Code Reader Omni 1D 2D\nBuy on eBay Unlike the 1980s car, Kitt-chan has a fast-charging point for our phones. Thanks to Lenovo\u0026rsquo;s foresight, I can even charge my phone while playing Bluetooth tunes. Just look for the little battery symbol on the front of the M720q and plug it into that USB-A port.\nI like the M720q so much that I have four of them, along with many of the original peripherals. But that\u0026rsquo;s a story for another time.\nLenovo m720q The infamous Lenovo M720q SFF PC\nSearch on eBay 80s Stereo Style # To complete Kitt-chan, I connected the \u0026ldquo;Tiny-In-One\u0026rdquo; 22 Gen 4 screen to a pair of great little DAC-enabled AZATOM CX-2 bookshelf speakers I got from Amazon, using a USB cable to the M720q I put inside. The audio is piped through EasyEffects\u0026rsquo; graphic equliser. The now legendary linux audio managment tool.\nI set the great looking speakers up by changing the soundcard to the CX2 usb device using alsamixer from the terminal. Just press F6 when your in the program.\nalsamixer The good thing about these speakers is that there are so many options for connectivity. You have your standard 3.5 mm jack, Bluetooth, optical and old-school RCA jacks, so you could even connect a turntable if you wanted to.\nBecause I wanted the remote to control the computer, I opted for the DAC connection. This lets the speakers send their control input to the computer as keyboard media keys, allowing me to play, pause, change the volume and skip tracks.\nIt works with Firefox and YouTube Music, although sometimes Firefox needs a little persuasion before it will respond to the media keys under KDE Plasma.\nIf you have the same problem, just do this:\nType about:config into the Firefox address bar and press Enter. Accept the warning if Firefox shows one. Search for media.hardwaremediakeys.enabled. Double-click it to toggle it off, then on again. That\u0026rsquo;s it. The media keys should now work properly with Firefox.\nFor some reason, Firefox seems to forget this setting when the computer is rebooted, so you may have to repeat this little ritual every time you turn the computer back on.\nAnd just to be clear, this isn\u0026rsquo;t the speakers\u0026rsquo; fault. It\u0026rsquo;s Linux being absolutely perfect in some obscure way that I don\u0026rsquo;t understand. Because apparently even penguin programmers haven\u0026rsquo;t got opposable thumbs.\nSo, if you find a permanent workaround, please contact me. I\u0026rsquo;d love to know what it is!\nAZATOM CX-2 Speakers Perfect for kitchen dancing\nProduct on eBay Final Polish. # I found a great deal on a Corsair K70 CORE TKL RGB Mechanical Tenkeyless Gaming Keyboard.\nI really like the tenkeyless format on this keyboard. Its a fantastic fit with lenovo\u0026rsquo;s asthetic and, considering nobody is doing accounting in the kitchen, I really don\u0026rsquo;t need a numpad. Losing those extra keys frees up just the right amount of space for a coffee and the mouse.\nAbove the keyboard you can see a little 3D-printed tray that I designed. It\u0026rsquo;s great for storing the keyboard upright against the tray when the machine isn\u0026rsquo;t in use.\nI also bought the desk mat from Temu, simply because I liked the pink digital cherry blossom design. Unfortunately, I can\u0026rsquo;t find the exact one I bought anymore, so I\u0026rsquo;ll link to a similar one instead.\nBehind the monitor I 3D printed a headphone stand for my Goji noise canceling headphones.\nWallpaper # I spent way too long on this project earlier and earlier this year I even made my own custom wallpaper. Feel free to \u0026lsquo;change your think\u0026rsquo; and download it for your own project, or look at the Blender file to see how I made it.\nOver all this project was a good one and I know it was a success because my partner actually uses it when she\u0026rsquo;s in the kitchen and it finaly feels good to listen to music on a decent speaker setup.\n","date":"23 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/linux/hardware/lenovo-aio/","section":"Linux","summary":"Lenovo Fanboi # Lenovo is a fantastic company. Not only do they make great computers, they look like they come straight out of an episode of Knight Rider, and to be honest, that’s not a bad thing. There is something timeless and futuristic about angular design with flashing lights and silver trim that really engages my inner kid.\n","title":"Lenovo Made An AIO","type":"linux"},{"content":"","date":"21 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/archway/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Archway","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"21 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/brickwork/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Brickwork","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"21 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/design/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Design","type":"tags"},{"content":"I think a few of you might like this one.\nIt was made a few years ago now, but it is still one of those projects that demonstrates why I enjoy building unusual things.\nHopefully, you can see my passion for unusual building technologies.\nFirst of all, I had to build two twisted piers. The bit of plywood above was used to plumb down and maintain the twist. I had to cut the square out of the middle.\nPlum Bob Plumb Bob\nProduct on eBay UK Marshalltown Philadelphia Pattern Trowel The Best Trowel Money Can Buy\nSearch on eBay UK Me posing in front of a job well done.\nI haven’t got much money, so I printed all the plans on my home printer. The above image shows the 1:1 scale plans for the brick boxes being stuck down ready for cutting.\nThen they get screwed together with my faithful Makita screwdriver.\nMakita DHP482Z A Modern Version Of My Trusty Drill Driver\nProduct on eBay UK The bricks then go into the brick boxes and are marked ready for cutting.\nYeah, it was messy!\nEvolution R300DCT A modern electric Disc Cutter that takes blades ment for petrol cutters\nProduct on eBay UK I put two screws in the board so the bricks didn’t slip.\nI had only cut about a third of the bricks needed at this point.\nA random picture of my plans.\nThe arch former I designed is assembled, with the brick boxes showing where the bricks will go.\nReady for the build.\nWhen building any arch, you need to build it up evenly from each side.\nNearly there.\nFinished.\nIt’s amazing what you can build with a cauliflower.\nHappy days!\n","date":"21 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/craft/projects/twistedarch/","section":"Tradecraft","summary":"I think a few of you might like this one.\nIt was made a few years ago now, but it is still one of those projects that demonstrates why I enjoy building unusual things.\n","title":"The O.G. Axed Twisted Arch","type":"craft"},{"content":"","date":"16 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/bonus/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Bonus","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"16 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/bonus/","section":"Bonuses","summary":"","title":"Bonuses","type":"bonus"},{"content":" How does my wishlist work? # If you enjoy what I make and want to convince a Linux user that trickle-down economics works, you can find some of the things on my wishlist below.\nYou don\u0026rsquo;t have to buy anything — reading, sharing, commenting, or simply following along is already appreciated. It also helps me build a career out of this. But if you fancy treating the workshop to something useful, this is where you can find the things I\u0026rsquo;m currently hoping to get my hands on.\nOne thing worth knowing: items may be kept, resold, passed on, or used as part of a giveaway after I\u0026rsquo;ve finished testing or reviewing them. That\u0026rsquo;s how I help keep the whole operation going without filling the workshop with stuff I no longer need.\nGot something you\u0026rsquo;d like me to try? # If you\u0026rsquo;re a manufacturer, retailer, maker, or just someone with an interesting bit of kit you\u0026rsquo;d like to see put through its paces, get in touch.\nI\u0026rsquo;m always interested in useful, interesting, or slightly ridiculous technology and equipment. Products supplied for review will be treated in the same way as anything else I test: I\u0026rsquo;ll give my honest opinion rather than promising a favourable review.\nIf the item isn\u0026rsquo;t something I need to keep afterwards, it may be resold, passed on, or given away so that it can continue to be useful — and help keep Robin\u0026rsquo;s Lab running.\nSo please don\u0026rsquo;t send anything you want returned unless you\u0026rsquo;ve explicitly arranged this with me beforehand and included suitable return postage.\nWhat am I looking for at the moment? # Leatherman ARC Multi-Tool with MagnaCut Blade As a left handed multitool user, I would like to compare the Wave+ to this model. I also want to design a 3D printed holster for it on a live stream.\nHeltec Meshtastic LoRa32 V3 Development Board 863-928MHZ SX1262 0.96 Inch8341\nI need the 863mhz one to use it in the UK legaly.\nOld Lenovo hardware Any strange lenovo things are always welcome\nLow-power server hardware such as the Cisco SG300-28 28-Port Gigabit Managed Switch.\nMakita tools. These help me build amazing projects.\nA decent office chair.\nA Modern PC that can handle recording from three hi definition cameras.\nPlease ask before you send anything # I might already have what you\u0026rsquo;re sending, have something similar waiting for review, or already be in the process of testing it.\nPlease get in touch first. It saves everyone time and means I can make sure the thing you\u0026rsquo;re thinking of sending is actually useful for an upcoming project or review.\n","date":"16 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/bonus/wishlist/","section":"Bonuses","summary":"How does my wishlist work? # If you enjoy what I make and want to convince a Linux user that trickle-down economics works, you can find some of the things on my wishlist below.\n","title":"My Wishlist","type":"bonus"},{"content":"","date":"16 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/wishlist/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Wishlist","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"13 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/3d-design/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"3d-Design\"","type":"tags"},{"content":" Introduction # Coming from a poor background, I couldn\u0026rsquo;t prove that I had the academic knowledge to design and run a CNC router. So I decided to build my own to prove to the world that I have the technical capacity.\nWhen starting a project like this, you need clear aims. My aims were as follows:\nA fully open-source workflow is needed, so my technology will never be paywalled, and anyone can help me fix problems;\nI want to design my own machine from scratch, so I can repair it using vernacular materials (materials and components that can be sourced locally rather than specialised proprietary parts), and alter it how I see fit;\nEverything must be Linux-compatible, so my whole pipeline is coherent and scalable;\nI want to understand every part of the machine, so that when something goes wrong I can diagnose, repair and improve it myself.\nFundamentally, building this machine showed me that my FdA in Design wasn\u0026rsquo;t wasted. It gave me a fantastic grasp of design and strong academic problem-solving skills that I could build upon, even if my career didn\u0026rsquo;t follow the conventional path I had originally expected. The CNC router became a practical demonstration of what I could do with that foundation and of my ability to teach myself the skills I needed along the way.\nDesigning From The Ground Up # When designing a CNC machine, I quickly discovered that I had to not only design for what I was cutting and what I was cutting it with, but also how the code was generated and how it got to the spindle. It\u0026rsquo;s a unified system, not a collection of individual parts.\nAfter realising at the time that FreeCAD was unstable for what I wanted and the interface wasn\u0026rsquo;t to my liking, I settled on using Blender as the back-end starting point. This gave me a home-field advantage. I am excellent at drawing in Blender, and it was by far my most advanced skill during my degree, which made this process much easier.\nAt the front end, I instantly knew what I wanted to cut. Plywood. Plywood is ubiquitous where I live, so it made sense to use a readily available material to determine the size of the CNC\u0026rsquo;s bed. I settled on a cutting area of just over 1220 × 2440 mm, with a depth of just over 200 mm with the right bit.\nAfter months\u0026rsquo; worth of reading technical documents and sometimes toxic forum posts, I decided to build a machine with raised side rails running the full length of the machine and a hollow aluminium beam gantry moving overhead. In fact, everything reasonable on the gantry structure is aluminium, while everything below it is steel, apart from the sacrificial cutting surface.\nFor the legs of the machine, I used 4 × 4 fence posts because it\u0026rsquo;s a lot cheaper than making steel legs where they aren\u0026rsquo;t needed.\nThis reduces weight while adding rigidity to the frame. It also allows the machine to move at higher speeds.\nElectromechanical Engineering # I\u0026rsquo;m not using electromechanical engineering to sound fancy. It\u0026rsquo;s exactly what\u0026rsquo;s needed to get the CNC machine moving in the right direction at the right speed.\nBelow is an image of my motor assembly. This geared setup reduces the speed of the motor but increases torque. That also affects your maximum cutting speeds and feeds, alongside other factors.\nFor example, every turn of a ball screw, pinion gear, or geared pulley transmits a mechanical load back to the electric motor powering it. Depending on what you\u0026rsquo;re cutting and how fast you\u0026rsquo;re cutting it, you may need larger motors to provide sufficient torque to compensate for the mechanical load. The image below shows how the motor (top) uses a pulley to drive the pinion gear that engages with the rack.\nThe torque required by the motors, combined with a 5:1 gear reduction, meant that I needed NEMA 34 closed-loop stepper motors. I also added one of these to the Z axis, which controls the spindle height, allowing the machine to maintain its position under load and resist the forces exerted on it by the moving spindle assembly.\nClosed-loop stepper motors simply mean that the motor can check its own position (not the position of the cutting head). If it moves too far, or not far enough, the encoder detects the position error and the motor drive can attempt to correct it. If the error exceeds the drive\u0026rsquo;s limits, it can halt the machine.\nThe Electronics # The four NEMA 34 stepper motors I used were StepperOnline 17HS19-2004S1 models. These were paired with StepperOnline CL86T (V3.0) closed-loop stepper motor drivers, creating my closed-loop system.\nThe drivers are fed in two directions. The first is power, which comes from a set of power supplies. The supplies are 350 W, 60 V, 5.9 A, 115/230 V switching power supplies, again from StepperOnline.\nSorting out these electronics was one of the hardest thing I have ever sone, but the most rewarding. Below is an image of me taking over the hallway, because at the time I needed an ethernet connection to set up the computer, whilst testing motors.\nI find StepperOnline a great company to deal with. They are fast at replying and, considering they are a Chinese company, their English is generally better than mine.\nThe second direction is the control signal. This comes from the MESA 7i96S FPGA Ethernet card, which acts as the interface between LinuxCNC and the motor drivers.\nLastly, the Ethernet port is connected to an old \u0026ldquo;AAEON TF-AEC-6635-A2M-1010, fanless industrial embedded PC\u0026rdquo; I bought second-hand especially for this project. This is when I moved everything from the test board to the CNC machine itself. CNC Controller PC # AAEON TF-AEC-6635-A2M-1010 Processor: Intel Core i5-520M, 2 cores / 4 threads, 2.40 GHz Chipset: Intel QM57 Graphics: Integrated Intel graphics, VGA, DVI-D and DisplayPort Networking: 2 × Gigabit Ethernet USB: 6 × USB Serial: 4 × COM ports, including RS-232/422/485 support Storage: SATA and CompactFlash Power: 9–30 V DC Cooling: Fanless passive cooling Dimensions: approximately 212 × 64 × 249 mm BIOS: American Megatrends This industrial PC runs the LinuxCNC control system for the CNC router, and I can use Wake-on-LAN and SSH to maintain and control it.\nThe Metal Frame # I welded up the CNC router with my own MIG welder. I used a selection of 50 × 50 mm box section and 100 × 50 mm box section, covered in some old sheet steel I had left over from a trailer project I finished.\nI added two planks of wood to mount the electronics.\nand painted it adding hidden pop culture refrences.\nMounting The Monitor # Because I wanted everything on the CNC to be self-contained, instead of having a separate trolley, I mounted the monitor and keyboard to the frame. I took the idea from a desk lamp I have. The two vertical pieces of metal are held that way by the weight of the CNC machine (originally the clamp on the desk), whilst it\u0026rsquo;s free to swing up and down on a spring-loaded arm, caught in place by a custom-made latch.\nGetting the weight right for the spring-loaded mechanism wasn\u0026rsquo;t complex. I simply added springs until it stopped moving after I let go.\nPainting and Decorating # After all the parts were bolted on, I took it apart and painted it. At the bottom left of the photo is a bit of box section where I will mount the monitor and keyboard stand. Also, on every corner there is a small piece of tube welded to the frame. This is to mount the proximity sensors/limit switches. The void with the rectangular section in the middle is where the electronics will go, complete with a front panel.\nAfter that, I applied a top coat of Hot Pink because someone on an internet forum said I should paint it a traditional machine colour to be taken seriously. That is when I came up with the name Galactus.\nGalactus is a Marvel character who was described as the \u0026ldquo;Destroyer of Worlds\u0026rdquo; and is a massive machine-like entity. So I covered it in Marvel stickers and painted \u0026ldquo;Destroyer Of Woods\u0026rdquo; on the side.\nTune in next time when I will be talking about the The Gantry.\n","date":"13 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/linux/hardware/cnc-01/","section":"Linux","summary":"Introduction # Coming from a poor background, I couldn’t prove that I had the academic knowledge to design and run a CNC router. So I decided to build my own to prove to the world that I have the technical capacity.\n","title":"Building A Custom CNC: Part 1","type":"linux"},{"content":"","date":"13 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/cnc/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"CNC","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"13 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/diy/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Diy","type":"tags"},{"content":" Look at that banner, just look! # This driveway was 15 years old by the time I got around to fixing it. It was uneven due to ants infesting it and plant roots moving the pavers. Heavy vehicles parking partly on the edge of the pavers had also caused the edges to sink. I had to do something. At this point, it was also bordering on a potential legal issue. Did you know that if someone visiting your property, such as the postman or a delivery driver, trips on a dangerous defect in your driveway and gets injured, you could potentially be liable? It isn\u0026rsquo;t as simple as there being a particular number of millimetres that makes a driveway illegal, but as the person responsible for the property, you have a duty to take reasonable care to keep visitors reasonably safe. The state of your entranceway can also have an impact on the value and desirability of your property.\nThis was in such a sorry state of repair I took action and fixed it.\nNew tools # To complete this project, I needed a plate compactor. That’s when I bought a Wacker Neuson BPS1030AW. This £1,000 machine was integral to my plan.\nI like this machine because it can be filled with water to make it heavier, because when you’re ‘wacking’ your substrate, weight is everything. It’s also just light enough for me to pick up and put in my truck.\nJet washing # First of all, I used my petrol-powered Parkside jet washer to clean the surface of all the pavers. This was powerful enough to unceremoniously slice the stems off the little plants, remove the moss, some roots and even ingrained dirt.\nI highly recommend a similar model for anyone with a driveway. These are great for for yearly maintenance.\nLifting Pavers # By far the grossest job is lifting pavers. I had to lift over 1,000 pavers and flick off worms, ants and other insects, wearing out a couple of pairs of thin work gloves in the process. I then put ant powder down to kill any remaining nests.\nThese were stacked in three piles: brindle (light brown), grey edging pavers and the cuts.\nCleaning # I spent two days cleaning over 1,000 pavers by hand. Luckily, I had my trusty Makita radio next to me the whole time.\nI basically grabbed a paver, dunked it into a bucket of water and then scrubbed it using a wire brush. That paver was then set aside in a new pile, ready to be relaid on the driveway.\nUnfortunately, this step can’t be skipped. You need to remove the old compressed sand and any remaining roots that cling to the surface.\nGround Preparation # This is where I would change my approach if I was starting a new driveway. Pavers should be laid on wearing grit or agricultural grit, not sand. This stops ants from being able to push the grains of sand up through the gaps in the pavers.\nThis driveway was a repair, and it would have been a bit pointless using the expensive grit, knowing the ants would just push out the smaller particles once everything was mixed together during the screeding process.\nI bought a dumpy bag of sand and threw it over the existing sand once I had raked out the last of the roots with my landscaping rake.\nThese rakes are great. They are like normal rakes, but a hell of a lot stronger.\nI then levelled this using my spazzle. A spazzle is essentially a blunt, stiff aluminium blade on a pole, used for jobs just like this or for levelling concrete.\nAfter that, I filled the front tank of my BPS1030AW Wacker with water. This extra weight allows the machine to firmly compact the sand, ready for setting out.\nRelaying # There are many ways to set out a driveway. This one was pretty straightforward.\nI started by cleaning the original edge of the sand that was up against the pavers I hadn’t lifted. Then, on the road side, I compressed and flattened a spot to about 10 mm above where I wanted the finished height. This allows for compression afterwards.\nI then positioned a paver on the new area and ran a string line between the two sections. This allowed me to use a paver as a float, slowly moving sand aside until the top of the paver met the bottom of the string line.\nOnce you create two of these, you can move on to creating a bay.\nUsing the wacker plate, I compacted the sand I had built up between the two channels I made with the string and paver.\nI then used a straightedge to draw back the sand to the height of the two channels, followed by a plastering trowel alongside a float to flatten it.\nOnce you do this, you can relay the pavers back onto the perfectly prepared sand, ignoring the obvious problem at the edge for the time being.\nYou have to repeat the screeding and laying-paver steps a few times. once you do you should have completed relaying the driveway.\nCutting Corners # You may have to lay the final edging pavers by placing the charcoal (grey) pavers onto the brindle (brown) pavers. Draw a line and cut along it to allow the charcoal (grey) ones to sit on the sand where you want them.\nNext, you empty the water out of your plate compactor and tamp the whole driveway to settle the pavers into position, making sure you don’t run off the edge.\nDo that then lift all the edging pavers you just laid that aren’t up against something solid, like a concrete path or a house. Dig the sand out and mix concrete to lay them back down.\nThis stops the substrate sand from getting washed out or a heavy vehicle from moving the whole lot.\nAfter that, I put a little clear silicone on the vertical perp joints (gaps) in the pavers to hold back the kiln-dried sand.\nKiln-dried sand is a very fine sand, almost like hourglass sand. It uses that viscous property to fall between the joints of the pavers and lock them into position.\nYou help this process along by using a plate compactor with a rubber mat attached. (I don’t have a mat.)\nThere you have it. You can optionally seal the driveway afterwards with special driveway sealers, but because this was a refurbishment of an old driveway, I opted against it.\nExtra Photos # Below is a few photos of the curve I added to the driveway. Note that I used pavers from a hidden section of the drive to make it.\nAnd that is how I repaired this driveway. I also bought two dumpy-bags of gravel to refresh the gravel part of the property.\n","date":"13 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/craft/projects/driveway/","section":"Tradecraft","summary":"Look at that banner, just look! # This driveway was 15 years old by the time I got around to fixing it. It was uneven due to ants infesting it and plant roots moving the pavers. Heavy vehicles parking partly on the edge of the pavers had also caused the edges to sink. I had to do something. At this point, it was also bordering on a potential legal issue. Did you know that if someone visiting your property, such as the postman or a delivery driver, trips on a dangerous defect in your driveway and gets injured, you could potentially be liable? It isn’t as simple as there being a particular number of millimetres that makes a driveway illegal, but as the person responsible for the property, you have a duty to take reasonable care to keep visitors reasonably safe. The state of your entranceway can also have an impact on the value and desirability of your property.\n","title":"Driveway Repair","type":"craft"},{"content":"","date":"13 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/engineering/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Engineering","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"13 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/ethernet/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Ethernet","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"13 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/fabrication/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Fabrication","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"13 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/linuxcnc/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Linuxcnc","type":"tags"},{"content":" Why don\u0026rsquo;t I use Wi-Fi? # When \u0026lsquo;playing\u0026rsquo; with networks, you\u0026rsquo;ll soon discover that everything just works better when it\u0026rsquo;s got a cable attached to it, and Wi-Fi is fine until you\u0026rsquo;re doing something remotely professional. It may seem old-fashioned, but making your own Ethernet cables, wall sockets and keystone jacks is the backbone of a great network. Plus, it keeps your gear looking tidy when you learn to cut them to the right length.\nThe main advantage of \u0026lsquo;going wired\u0026rsquo; is that your transfer speeds will increase dramatically. Ultra-modern Wi-Fi may advertise fantastic speeds, but you\u0026rsquo;ll have to be right next to your access point to get them, so Ethernet still beats Wi-Fi.\nThere are many types of cable to use, but CCA, or Copper-Clad Aluminium, is cheap and readily available. If I\u0026rsquo;m being honest, I can\u0026rsquo;t really afford to wire my homelab entirely with solid copper, so CCA is what I use. It does the job, and for my little network I\u0026rsquo;m happy with that compromise (for now).\nIf I were doing a permanent installation, particularly where PoE or long cable runs were involved, I\u0026rsquo;d use solid copper. But this is a small homelab where I\u0026rsquo;m running cables around the edge of my living-room carpet, not a corporate data centre. Sometimes you work with what you\u0026rsquo;ve got, within a reasonable budget, and the speeds are still much faster than my current Wi-Fi setup.\nMaking Cables # Tools of the Trade # Ethernet crimping and cutting tool RJ45 cable tester Known-good cable strain relief boots pass-through RJ45 connectors (in 2026 I don\u0026rsquo;t see any reason to have the non-passthrough type, these are just easier to use) Side cutters (optional) Ethernet Tool An ethernet making kit with everything you need\nSearch on eBay UK Side Cutters Useful tools for cable making\nSearch on eBay UK All the Colours of the Rainbow # Reverse Colour Order # Before you wire plugs, you need to know which colour wire goes where. This is where I asked AI to help me come up with a mnemonic to help me remember the order of the cables. I have to say, though, that I hold the cables in reverse order. It\u0026rsquo;s just easier for me to use the tool that way. It might be because I\u0026rsquo;m left-handed.\nSo instead of the standard T568B order, I use it in reverse:\nBrown – Brown/White – Green – Blue/White – Blue – Green/White – Orange – Orange/White If you look carefully at that sequence, the whites alternate between the colours:\nColour – White – Colour – White – Colour – White – Colour – White So after AI, in all its innocence, decided to come up with a mnemonic for remembering the colour order starting with \u0026ldquo;Brown Geeks\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo;, I stepped in and changed it to \u0026ldquo;Basement Geeks Build Git Ops\u0026rdquo;.\nBut I don\u0026rsquo;t think I\u0026rsquo;ll ever forget that LLM output.\nRemember, if you do mix the wires up, you may get crosstalk, limiting the cable\u0026rsquo;s performance, because the twisted pairs work together to reduce interference.\nMaking Cables # Before I start As i said before I can\u0026rsquo;t afford expensive cable, so this cable has non standard colouring. but it should be easy to make out what colour goes where.\nFirst, cut your cable to length, allowing for mistakes. Then slide on the \u0026lsquo;strain relief boot\u0026rsquo;. Forgetting the strain relief boot is a pain in the foot, you will do it at least once. Use the crimping tool to cut off around 2 inches (50 mm) of the plastic sheath by clamping the cable with the blade in the predefined slot, then twisting the tool. Once the sheath is removed, use the side cutters to remove the plastic stalk that\u0026rsquo;s in the centre of the cable and untwist the pairs. Order the cables in the correct order, using your forefinger and thumb to clamp them flat. Use the tool or side cutters to cut the wires flush with each other, still leaving plenty of wire exposed past your fingers. Wiggle the wires so they sit straight and flat. This makes it easier to attach the RJ45 connector. Push the RJ45 plug onto the wires, ensuring that all the wires come through the end in the right order. (This can be swear-word-inducing.) Make sure the plug is the right way around. From the latch side, the brown will be on the left; from the conductor side, the orange will be on the left. Gently twist the wires so they fit nicely through the body of the crimping tool until the RJ45 plug clips into place. Once your plug is in place, squeeze the tool hard to cut through the wires and clamp the conductors to the cable. Release the tool and remove your completed cable. slide on your strain relief boot. Did you forget it? Testing Cables # This is the part that frustrated me the most because I had a broken cable tester. So, the way I test cables is to carry a small patch cable with my tester. I test the tester before testing new cables, saving me from testing my patience.\nYou simply need to plug both ends of your completed RJ45-terminated cable into each side of the cheap device and switch it on.\nIf you use the T568B standard, the lights should flash in order, one through eight. If there is a break in the cable (or a broken tester), the light simply won\u0026rsquo;t come on.\nForeword Planning # The other reason for carrying a couple of small cables is that you can test your socket-terminated cables with the same tester. Simply slide the machine apart and plug each end into a wall socket or keystone jack before switching it on.\nFinal Thoughts # To me, making Ethernet cables is one of those practical skills that anyone with an interest in computers and networking can benefit from. The tools don\u0026rsquo;t cost a fortune, and once you\u0026rsquo;ve made a few cables, the process becomes surprisingly straightforward.\nThere is something satisfying about making a piece of your own infrastructure and then plugging it in and watching everything just work.\nI\u0026rsquo;m also quite happy with the inexpensive CCA cable I\u0026rsquo;m using in my little homelab. I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t choose it for a permanent installation, long cable runs or anything involving PoE, where I\u0026rsquo;d use proper solid-copper cable. But for my short, light-duty runs, it has proved perfectly adequate.\nI wanted to test that rather than simply assume it, so i found my network device name by typing;\nip link I first checked the negotiated Ethernet speed with ethtool (your device name will probably be diffrent):\nethtool enp113s0 The important part of the output was:\nSpeed: 1000Mb/s Duplex: Full Auto-negotiation: on Link detected: yes That tells me the Ethernet link has negotiated at 1 Gb/s full duplex.\nI then tested the actual network throughput using iperf3. On another remote machine, Machine B, I started the iperf3 server:\niperf3 -s Then I ran the test from my machine, Machine A:\niperf3 -c MACHINE_B_IP The connection between the two machines passes through the router\u0026rsquo;s built-in Ethernet switch, so the test actually crosses two Ethernet cables:\nMachine A --- CCA Cable --- Router --- CCA Cable --- Machine B The result was:\nInterval Transfer Bitrate Retr 0.00-8.92 sec 1003 MBytes 943 Mbits/sec 0 So the complete path achieved 943 Mbit/s of TCP throughput, with zero retransmissions.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s about as good as I could reasonably expect from a Gigabit Ethernet connection. A 1 Gb/s Ethernet link doesn\u0026rsquo;t normally deliver a full 1000 Mbit/s of TCP payload because of networking overhead (other things happening on the network). This test was also carried out on a machine that is doing other jobs on my network — my website is hosted on it, for instance — so I\u0026rsquo;m particularly happy with the result.\nOf course, this test doesn\u0026rsquo;t prove that every CCA cable will perform this well. Either cable could affect the result, and this test doesn\u0026rsquo;t isolate the two cables from each other. It also doesn\u0026rsquo;t test things such as PoE, long cable runs or operation under conditions where CCA\u0026rsquo;s limitations become more significant.\nFor my particular network, though, the results are pretty clear: these inexpensive cables are currently giving me a reliable Gigabit connection and aren\u0026rsquo;t showing any sign of limiting the network.\n","date":"13 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/linux/hardware/ethernet/","section":"Linux","summary":"Why don’t I use Wi-Fi? # When ‘playing’ with networks, you’ll soon discover that everything just works better when it’s got a cable attached to it, and Wi-Fi is fine until you’re doing something remotely professional. It may seem old-fashioned, but making your own Ethernet cables, wall sockets and keystone jacks is the backbone of a great network. Plus, it keeps your gear looking tidy when you learn to cut them to the right length.\n","title":"Making Cables","type":"linux"},{"content":" The Creed # This is my ThinkPad. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My ThinkPad is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my ThinkPad is useless. Without my ThinkPad, I am useless. My ThinkPad is as human, even as I [am human], because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, I will ever guard it against the ravages of weather and damage as I will ever guard my legs, my arms, my eyes and my heart against damage. I will keep my ThinkPad clean and ready. We will become part of each other. Am I Right? # It may seem silly altering the rifleman’s creed as an oath to a laptop, but if you stand back and think how war is shaped in the 2020’s, It’s no more as silly than a man paying fidelity to a gun. So without further ado, here is how have I added some much need lovin’ to my ThinkPad?\nGrade A Battery # Fixing Internal Wounds # When I first got my ThinkPad T480, I performed a little \u0026ldquo;open-heart surgery\u0026rdquo; on my \u0026lsquo;brother\u0026rsquo; to replace the internal battery. It was a surprisingly smooth operation—just a couple of screws and a tiny wiring loom standing between me and glory. The real highlight, though, was the kit: it came with its own precision screwdriver and pry tool, making me feel like a specialist installing legendary-tier weapon mods. Lenovo ThinkPad T480 Internal Battery A Compatable Internal Battery For The T480\nSearch on eBay UK Extended Mag # I added large capacity 6600mah 72wh external battery. The combination of 2 new battries keeps me running on juice all day. I only need to plug-in after a bit of image editing, or other intensive tasks. The majority of my work is in the command line. Lenovo ThinkPad T480 External Battery A Compatable External Battery For The T480\nSearch on eBay UK More Intel # I also upgraded the 8gig of ram to 16gig. Doubling my draw.. erm, I mean startup speed! I was lucky that I could find a cheap stick of DDR4 SODIMM 2133Mhz 260-pin memory to do this, because we all know the insane prices memory is fetching now.\nRoyaly Good Signals # I also replaced the wifi card with the Intel AX210 (Wi-Fi 6E). It is widely considered the best Wi-Fi card upgrade for the Lenovo ThinkPad T480, offering Wi-Fi 6E support, Bluetooth 5.2+, and 6GHz band access. This improves the range of my barrel.. I mean connection..\nIntel WiFi 6E Card with Bluetooth WiFi 6E AX210 NGW WiFi Card with Bluetooth 5.3\nSearch on eBay UK Future Proof Concept # These upgrades I want to add at a later date.\nGlass Cannon # This is my version of a NGSW (Next Generation Squad Weapon), so as such I want to make a few upgrades to this well designed machine. First is install the Glass Trackpad: Many T480 veterans swap the stock Mylar trackpad for the glass version from the ThinkPad X1 Extreme (Gen 1). It fits perfectly and transforms the \u0026ldquo;feel\u0026rdquo; from plastic to full metal jacket!\nSmoking Gun # Secondly is a dual Pipe Heatsink: If you find your \u0026ldquo;barrel\u0026rdquo; is running hot during intensive sessions, you can install the dual-pipe heatsink (originally meant for the dGPU models) to significantly lower temperatures on your integrated graphics setup, creating a battlefield ready low heat signature buddy, fit for the modern digital frontier.\nNo More Boot Camp # Finally the Passing-Out Parade, I’ve installed my OS of choice: Kubuntu. Unlike many Linux users, I don’t like distro hopping. Just as a rifleman learns to assemble their weapon blindfolded, I want to learn my machine inside out!\nIf you like what I have written here please show your support by buying yourself somthing new and shiny from the links provided. It really helps me out.\nLenovo ThinkPad T480 The Legendary ThinkPad T480\nSearch on eBay UK ","date":"13 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/linux/hardware/thinkpad-command-centre/","section":"Linux","summary":" The Creed # This is my ThinkPad. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My ThinkPad is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my ThinkPad is useless. Without my ThinkPad, I am useless. My ThinkPad is as human, even as I [am human], because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, I will ever guard it against the ravages of weather and damage as I will ever guard my legs, my arms, my eyes and my heart against damage. I will keep my ThinkPad clean and ready. We will become part of each other. ","title":"My ThunkPad","type":"linux"},{"content":"","date":"13 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/networking/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Networking","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"13 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/opensource/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Opensource","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"13 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/paving/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Paving","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"13 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/ssh/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Ssh","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"13 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/thinkpad/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Thinkpad","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"13 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/upgrading/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Upgrading","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"13 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/wet-trades/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Wet Trades","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"8 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/psp/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"PSP","type":"tags"},{"content":" Introduction # The PSP is arguably one of the best-looking handheld consoles ever made. Designed by a team led by Shinichi Ogasawara, it was never intended to be just a toy. Sony wanted to create a portable multimedia device, and I think they absolutely nailed it at the time.\nBut how does it hold up in 2026, especially now that physical media has all but disappeared and the UMD drives are starting to fail?\nSony PSP PSP: An Adult-Looking Portable Games Console\nSearch on eBay UK It is also worth remembering that comparing the PSP directly with modern retro handhelds, such as the R36S or Raspberry Pi-based machines, isn\u0026rsquo;t entirely fair. There is a 20-year technology gap between them.\nYou know the ones I mean: those little machines that look like a Game Boy and arrive from China with thousands of games advertised as included.\nDespite being comparable in size to the PSP, the R36S is considerably more powerful in raw hardware terms. However, emulating the PSP\u0026rsquo;s unique architecture requires additional processing overhead, so not all of that extra performance translates directly into a better PSP gaming experience.\nThat said, the PSP has something that many modern handhelds struggle with: ergonomics. Its shape and controls are much more comfortable for adult hands, and you can play for a decent amount of time without your hands cramping up.\nPersonally, I\u0026rsquo;d get both. They each have their own strengths, and both can do considerably more than just play games.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve included a link to the R36S below.\nR36S R36S: A Game Boy-Looking Portable Games Console\nSearch on eBay UK Softmodding? # Softmodding removes the need to use the UMD drive for games, but it doesn\u0026rsquo;t remove or replace the drive itself.\nIf you\u0026rsquo;re lucky enough to have a PSP with a working UMD drive and a collection of games or movies, you can still use them just as before.\nWhat softmodding adds is the ability to run ISO game images from a modern SD card, using a Memory Stick Duo to SD adapter.\nThis is a brilliant way to breathe new life into an ageing console, particularly when the original drives and discs are becoming increasingly difficult to find in good condition.\nMemory Stick Duo to SD Adapter SD Card Adapter\nProduct on eBay UK For me, this is a game changer. You can take your legally obtained games with you wherever you go, without carrying around those tiny UMD discs that are all too easy to lose.\nAnd, of course, you can run homebrew software, including fun projects such as the vibe-coded home assistant app.\nThe UMD format isn\u0026rsquo;t entirely dead, either. There are still some cheap movies floating around if you fancy building a collection of this rather unusual piece of physical media.\nFollow the link below to see what\u0026rsquo;s available in the UK.\nUMD Movies Retro Movie Format\nSearch on eBay UK Softmodding Guide # You can either follow the guide below or listen to me ramble on in the video.\nWhat you\u0026rsquo;ll need # You will need:\nA PSP. I\u0026rsquo;m using an E1003 and a 2003, but the process described here is intended for compatible PSP models. A Memory Stick Duo to SD adapter, as discussed above. A microSD card. The FasterARK softmod package. Before starting, make sure your PSP is running the latest official firmware supported by your model.\nYou can find the firmware update instructions here:\nPSP: Updating Your Firmware (OFW) on ConsoleMods\nThe process is fairly straightforward. Download the appropriate firmware update, place it in the required folder on your memory card, and run the update from the PSP itself.\nOnce that\u0026rsquo;s done, download FasterARK from the link below.\nFasterARK on GitHub\nNavigate to the Releases section on the right-hand side of the GitHub page and download the appropriate release.\nInstalling FasterARK # Insert your microSD card into the Memory Stick Duo adapter and put it into your PSP.\nNavigate to the Memory Stick format option in the PSP\u0026rsquo;s system settings and format the card.\nOnce formatted, connect your PSP to your PC using USB mode. Alternatively, for faster transfers, remove the card and use a USB 3 card reader.\nCopy the contents of the PSP folder from the FasterARK package to the root directory of your memory card. The PSP folder should sit directly on the card, not inside another folder.\nSafely eject the card from your computer.\nIn the root directory of the memory card, create a folder called ISO (in capital letters). This is where your game ISO files will go.\nPut the memory card back into the PSP and switch it on.\nNavigate to the Game section of the XMB (the PSP\u0026rsquo;s main menu), then open the Memory Stick directory.\nLaunch the PSP FasterARK application.\nYou should now be able to see and launch compatible games stored in your ISO folder.\nJust remember that, with the temporary setup I\u0026rsquo;m using, you need to run the hack again each time you reboot the console.\nThere are ways to make the custom firmware permanent, but I decided against doing that for now. I\u0026rsquo;d rather keep things reversible, just in case something else comes along in the future.\nCopying Your UMD Games on Linux # One of the most useful features of custom firmware is the ability to back up your own UMD games to ISO files.\nThis allows you to preserve your games and play them directly from your memory card, without relying on an ageing UMD drive.\nI\u0026rsquo;m using Kubuntu for this guide, but the process is much the same on most Linux distributions, including Ubuntu, Debian and Linux Mint. You may find that the way removable devices are displayed differs slightly depending on your desktop environment.\nBacking up your UMD # On your PSP, navigate to Extras → Custom Firmware Settings and change the USB device setting to UMD.\nConnect your PSP to your Linux computer using a USB cable.\nEnable USB mode on the PSP. Your Linux desktop should detect the device. Depending on your distribution and desktop environment, it may appear in your file manager as a removable drive.\nOpen the mounted device and copy the ISO image to a folder on your computer where you keep your game backups. In my case, I\u0026rsquo;m using Kubuntu\u0026rsquo;s file manager, Dolphin.\nOnce the transfer is complete, safely unmount the device. You can usually do this from your file manager by clicking the eject or unmount icon next to the device. Alternatively, use the umount command in a terminal, replacing the example device path with the actual mount point on your system.\nDisconnect the PSP and return to Extras → Custom Firmware Settings. Change the USB device setting back to Memory Stick.\nYou can rename the ISO file to whatever you like. The PSP doesn\u0026rsquo;t care what the filename is, as long as it retains the .iso file extension.\nCopying the new game to your memory card # Connect the PSP to your computer again and enable USB mode.\nOpen your file manager and access the mounted memory card.\nCopy your backed-up ISO file into the ISO folder in the root directory of the memory card. If the folder doesn\u0026rsquo;t exist, create it.\nOnce the transfer has finished, safely unmount the memory card and disconnect the PSP.\nOn the PSP, navigate to Game → Memory Stick and launch your game.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s it! You can now play your backed-up game directly from the memory card, without having to use the original UMD drive.\nThe initial backup takes around ten minutes in my experience, although this will depend on the game and your hardware.\nJust remember to safely unmount removable storage before disconnecting it. This helps prevent incomplete transfers and corrupted files.\nI hope this guide helps you get many more years of fun out of your PSP. These little machines deserve to be kept alive, and there\u0026rsquo;s something rather satisfying about taking old technology and making it useful again. Sony PSP PSP: An Adult-Looking Portable Games Console\nSearch on eBay UK ","date":"8 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/bonus/side-quests/psp/","section":"Bonuses","summary":"Introduction # The PSP is arguably one of the best-looking handheld consoles ever made. Designed by a team led by Shinichi Ogasawara, it was never intended to be just a toy. Sony wanted to create a portable multimedia device, and I think they absolutely nailed it at the time.\n","title":"PSP Refreshed for 2026","type":"bonus"},{"content":"Not everything I do fits neatly into Linux, Workbench, or Craft.\nSometimes I don’t want to rescue my children from the evil daemon. I’d rather collect sweet rolls.\nThese side quests are the projects, experiments, ideas and assorted rabbit holes that have wandered off on their own little adventures.\nSome may be useful. Some may be completely pointless. But they should showcase my interests nicely. After all, who wants to write about boring topics?\n","date":"8 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/bonus/side-quests/","section":"Bonuses","summary":"Not everything I do fits neatly into Linux, Workbench, or Craft.\nSometimes I don’t want to rescue my children from the evil daemon. I’d rather collect sweet rolls.\nThese side quests are the projects, experiments, ideas and assorted rabbit holes that have wandered off on their own little adventures.\n","title":"Side-Quests","type":"bonus"},{"content":"","date":"8 September 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/softmod/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Softmod","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"25 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/hardware/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Hardware","type":"tags"},{"content":" Playing With The Powerlines # Intro # There’s a part of any home network, especially in the UK, that not many people talk about. That’s Powerline adapters. Powerline adapters are little devices that use the existing power cables that zig-zag through your walls as network cables (admittedly inefficient ones). The great advantage about this is you don’t have to have trip hazards all over your home, just another wall-wart and a short Ethernet lead to your device!\nWake-On-Lan # The other reason to have these is you can then use Wake-On-Lan on any machine that supports it. Wake-On-Lan seems like magic. Your powered-off computer will power itself up when something known as a “Magic Packet” gets sent across your network to your waiting computer’s Ethernet port. Then that computer powers on as normal. This is incredibly useful when you’re up at two A.M. and want to access files on the living room computer; this is truly a lifesaver when you fear waking your partner.\nHardware # Whilst learning about these adapters, I found out that you don’t even need to stick to the same brand, just make sure they both support the same protocol. The protocol mine use is the “HomePlug standard”, developed by the HomePlug Powerline Alliance. For example, I have the TP-Link-PA4010 and a couple of TalkTalk PT200AV models, and they work great together for my needs. I simply connect one device into the home router and the rest into the devices I wish to wake.\nTP-Link PA4010 and a TalkTalk PT200AV comparison.\nTP-Link PA4010\nRated speed: AV600 Real-world: ~85 Mbps Power draw: ~3W idle / ~5W load TalkTalk PT200AV\nRated speed: AV200 Real-world: ~60 Mbps Power draw: ~2–4W In practice, they work together without issue, though the slower TalkTalk adapters do seem to cap overall throughput slightly. To be honest, this isn’t an issue, when the machine wakes, as the Wifi takes over. Just remember to connect one of the faster devices to your router so the system doesn’t bottleneck too much.\nWhat I Do # When I want to wake a computer from its deep slumber, I send a message using the terminal. Wakeonlan is the command I prefer to use, because of its simple syntax (you can use etherwake). Prefix it with sudo, and after that type the MAC address of the network device you’re trying to wake. Note that wakeonlan is an extensive application, and there are many things you can do with it, so the “man” pages are your bestie here!\nsudo wakeonlan 00:11:22:33:44:55 To find the MAC address, type the command below and look for the string of six double numbers separated by colons next to your device name. Ethernet devices usually start with “e”, but not always!\nip addr Have fun and remember, don’t stay up as late as me, it’s bad for your health.\n","date":"25 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/linux/hardware/rl-powerline-adapters/","section":"Linux","summary":"Playing With The Powerlines # Intro # There’s a part of any home network, especially in the UK, that not many people talk about. That’s Powerline adapters. Powerline adapters are little devices that use the existing power cables that zig-zag through your walls as network cables (admittedly inefficient ones). The great advantage about this is you don’t have to have trip hazards all over your home, just another wall-wart and a short Ethernet lead to your device!\n","title":"Playing With Powerlines","type":"linux"},{"content":"","date":"25 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/powerline/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Powerline","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"25 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/technology/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Technology","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"25 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/wol/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Wol","type":"tags"},{"content":" Robert \u0026ldquo;Robin\u0026rdquo; Forsyth FdA # Devon, United Kingdom\nEmail: fenywynn@proton.me Website: https://dangerouslygoodideas.online\nAbout Robin # Designer. Maker. Technologist. # I\u0026rsquo;m Robert \u0026lsquo;Robin\u0026rsquo; Forsyth, an independent designer, maker and technologist based in Devon, UK. My work sits at the intersection of traditional craftsmanship, digital design, engineering and open-source technology.\nI have more than 28 years of experience in the construction industry, alongside a Foundation Degree in 3D Design. That combination has given me a practical understanding of how things are designed, made and built, from the first idea through to the finished object.\nOver the years, I\u0026rsquo;ve increasingly brought digital tools into that practical world. I use Blender for 3D design and modelling, develop CNC fabrication workflows, experiment with 3D scanning and build hardware to make ideas physically possible.\nI\u0026rsquo;m particularly interested in the possibilities that open-source technology creates. I use Linux as the foundation for much of my creative and technical work, from running design and fabrication systems to managing my own self-hosted infrastructure.\nFrom construction to digital fabrication # My background is in the building trade. I\u0026rsquo;ve spent much of my working life making things, solving practical problems and working with materials. I\u0026rsquo;ve also spent years working independently.\nDesign and technology have always been important to me, even when they weren\u0026rsquo;t necessarily part of my day-to-day professional identity. Over time, I\u0026rsquo;ve found ways to bring those interests together with my practical experience.\nOne of the most significant examples is Galactus, my custom-built 8 × 4 ft CNC router. I designed and built the machine, integrating LinuxCNC and open-source hardware and software. It allows me to take ideas developed digitally and turn them into physical objects.\nI use this combination of practical experience and digital manufacturing to explore new ways of making things, including work that brings traditional materials and techniques together with modern technology.\nDesign, making and technology # My interests cover several connected areas:\nDigital design: 3D modelling, product design and creative ideation using Blender. Digital fabrication: CNC machining, toolpath development, prototyping and design for manufacture. Practical making: Construction, materials, traditional craftsmanship and turning designs into finished objects. Open-source technology: Linux, open-source software and tools that give people greater control over their technology. Systems and infrastructure: Self-hosted services, networking, Docker, automation and maintaining Linux-based systems. I don\u0026rsquo;t see these as separate disciplines. The interesting work often happens where they overlap.\nSelected projects # Custom-built CNC router # I designed and built my own large-format CNC router, bringing together mechanical design, electronics, LinuxCNC and digital fabrication. The machine is part of an ongoing exploration of accessible, open-source manufacturing.\nBlender and digital fabrication # I use Blender beyond conventional 3D modelling, exploring how digital models can become physical objects. This includes CNC workflows, 3D scanning and my concept of Digital Transmorphism: transforming real-world objects and ideas into new physical things.\nLinux and self-hosted infrastructure # My interest in Linux extends beyond the desktop. I maintain my own home server infrastructure and self-hosted services, exploring networking, automation, containerisation and digital independence.\nFabexCNC # I\u0026rsquo;m interested in the development and use of open-source CNC tools, including FabexCNC and Blender-based manufacturing workflows. I enjoy exploring how these tools can make digital fabrication more accessible.\nSpeaking and recognition # In 2023, my sculpture The Old Way received the English Riviera Summer Open Exhibition Award from Artizan Gallery, Torbay.\nIn 2024, I presented Transmorphism Unleashed: Making Blender Make Things! at the Blender Conference in Amsterdam, sharing my approach to using Blender as part of a real-world design and manufacturing workflow.\nAlongside my creative and technical work, I also take part in local community volunteering.\nYou can find more details, videos and examples of this work on my Press \u0026amp; Recognition page.\nEducation and continued learning # I hold a Foundation Degree (FdA) in 3D Design.\nMy education hasn\u0026rsquo;t stopped with formal qualifications. I\u0026rsquo;ve continued to develop my skills independently, particularly in Linux, open-source technology, digital fabrication and systems administration.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve also completed Linux Foundation training in Linux fundamentals, security and related subjects.\nI believe that learning by doing is valuable. Building a machine, solving a problem or developing a new workflow often teaches me as much as studying the theory behind it.\nRobin\u0026rsquo;s Lab # Robin\u0026rsquo;s Lab is where I document that ongoing journey. It\u0026rsquo;s part technical workshop, part portfolio and part record of ideas and projects.\nYou\u0026rsquo;ll find articles about Linux, open-source software, hardware, digital design, CNC fabrication, self-hosting and the occasional experiment that takes an idea somewhere unexpected.\nMy aim is to bring practical experience and creative technology together, explore what can be achieved with open tools, and share what I learn along the way.\nI\u0026rsquo;m a designer by education, a maker by experience and a technologist by curiosity.\n","date":"15 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/about_me/","section":"About","summary":"Robert “Robin” Forsyth FdA # Devon, United Kingdom\nEmail: fenywynn@proton.me Website: https://dangerouslygoodideas.online\nAbout Robin # Designer. Maker. Technologist. # I’m Robert ‘Robin’ Forsyth, an independent designer, maker and technologist based in Devon, UK. My work sits at the intersection of traditional craftsmanship, digital design, engineering and open-source technology.\n","title":"About","type":"about_me"},{"content":"","date":"13 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/brother/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Brother","type":"tags"},{"content":" It\u0026rsquo;s a printer. What do you want me to say? # How am I supposed to make a Brother toner printer sound interesting?\nIt prints.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s pretty much the job description.\nMine is even more boring; it\u0026rsquo;s a black-and-white laser printer, so it doesn\u0026rsquo;t even have the literary excitement of wasting half a cartridge because somebody asked it to print a blue hyperlink, and yet, for something as gloriously boring as a printer, it has turned out to be surprisingly useful.\nThe first thing I like about it is that it works seamlesly with linux. Thanks in no small part to the CUPS project. You can find out more at the link below;\nOpen Printing\nThe second thing I like about it is that it uses toner rather than ink. The standard TN-2510 cartridge is rated for around 1,200 pages, while the high-yield TN-2510XL is rated for up to 3,000.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s a lot of pages.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve occasionally wondered whether I should actually test that claim. Perhaps I could print 3,000 pages of Lorem Ipsum and make a pointless video about it.\nWould anyone watch that?\nProbably.\nIt would certainly be a very good demonstration of just how much toner 3,000 pages of printing actually represents.\nSubscription Service # It can also connect to Brother\u0026rsquo;s EcoPro subscription service, which can automatically arrange for replacement supplies to be delivered when you\u0026rsquo;re running low. Brother offers structured tiers for this depending on your typical monthly usage. If you do not use all of your pages, unused allowance rolls over into the next month.\nLight: Up to 50 pages per month for £2.99 Occasional: Up to 100 pages per month for £4.49 Everyday: Up to 300 pages per month for £9.99 Frequent: Up to 500 pages per month for £16.99 Not only that, but they recycle the old cartrages by allowing you to return them free of charge, and provide an extended warrenty.\nI\u0026rsquo;m not entirely convinced I need a subscription service to remind me that printers eventually run out of toner, but I can see why the toner service and the warrenty would be useful in an office.\nConnectivity is a little more interesting. # The printer supports both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi, which is handy for putting it somewhere convenient rather than wherever the nearest network cable happens to be.\nI\u0026rsquo;m disappointed that it doesn\u0026rsquo;t have an Ethernet port, though.\nFor a device that is quite happy to sit permanently on a network, I\u0026rsquo;d much rather plug it in and forget about it than rely on Wi-Fi.\nThat probably says more about my good homelab habits than it does about the modern printer.\nIt also supports email printing, which is one of those features that sounds odd until you find a reason to use it. You can send a document to the printer by email, potentially from anywhere in the world.\nI don\u0026rsquo;t know how often I\u0026rsquo;ll actually need to email a printer from the other side of the planet, but I have to admit that I like the idea of that kind of power at my fingertips.\nMy favourite feature, however, is much less exotic.\nDuplex printing.\nIt prints on both sides of the paper.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s it.\nNo subscription-based cloud-powered paper management platform.\nIt just turns the sheet over and prints on the other side.\nAnd honestly, that\u0026rsquo;s brilliant when your paying for your own paper.\nObviously it halves the amount of paper used for documents that don\u0026rsquo;t need to be single-sided, and it means I don\u0026rsquo;t have to stand there feeding sheets back into the printer like some sort of early 2000\u0026rsquo;s office intern.\nThen I looked at the security # Of course, once you\u0026rsquo;ve put something on your network, the question becomes:\nWhat else is this thing doing?\nThis is where my wonderfully boring printer becomes considerably more interesting.\nIn 2025, security researchers highlighted CVE-2024-51978, a serious vulnerability affecting hundreds of Brother printer models, including models in the HL-L2400 family.\nThe vulnerability was given a CVSS severity score of 9.8 out of 10.\nThe problem was related to the way some printers generated their factory administrator passwords.\nRather than giving every printer a genuinely random, unique password, the initial password was generated deterministically from information associated with the individual printer, including its serial number.\nThat creates an obvious problem.\nIf somebody can obtain the serial number, they can potentially calculate the factory password rather than having to guess it.\nAnd that\u0026rsquo;s where CVE-2024-51977 comes into the story.\nThe companion vulnerability could allow information, including the printer\u0026rsquo;s serial number, to be obtained over the network through interfaces and protocols used by the printer.\nPut those two things together and the attack becomes considerably more interesting:\nfind the printer → obtain the serial number → calculate the factory password → access the administration interface.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s a pretty nasty chain for a device whose primary purpose is putting toner on paper. considdering some models keep backups of previous print-jobs potentially exposing GDPR data to attackers.\nThe Solution # There is, however, an important distinction here.\nThis isn\u0026rsquo;t a case of \u0026ldquo;all Brother printers are now remotely hackable\u0026rdquo;.\nThe vulnerability relies on the factory credentials.\nOnce the administrator changes the default password, the predictable factory password is no longer useful to an attacker.\nBrother has also released firmware updates addressing the associated information-disclosure issues.\nThe awkward part is that the underlying factory password-generation mechanism cannot simply be removed from printers already manufactured, because that relationship between the serial number and initial password was built into the original manufacturing process.\nIn other words, the firmware can fix parts of the problem, but it can\u0026rsquo;t travel back in time and change how the hardware was originally manufactured.\nWhich is a rather good reminder that security isn\u0026rsquo;t just about software updates.\nThe lesson # This is probably the bit I find most interesting.\nWe tend to think about network security in terms of computers, servers, phones and routers.\nPrinters don\u0026rsquo;t always get the same attention.\nBut a modern printer is a networked computer with storage, firmware, network protocols, web administration, authentication and sometimes cloud services bolted onto a mechanism whose original purpose was basically:\nput black stuff on white paper.\nMy Brother printer is therefore a perfect little example of something I keep finding in the homelab.\nThe small boring things matter.\nThat cheap little box sitting quietly in the corner is still a computer on my network. It deserves the same basic security considerations as everything else.\nSo yes, my printer prints in black and white, It does duplex printing, It has Wi-Fi, It can apparently receive documents by email, and with a little imagination I have somehow managed to write an entire article about it.\nPerhaps the printer isn\u0026rsquo;t so boring after all.\nWould I buy It again. # Yes, I would buy it again if I found one cheap enough. As long as you\u0026rsquo;re sensible about it and keep your technology updated, it should be secure enough to do the job you bought it for in the first place.\nYou can also use switch or firewall rules to isolate it from the internet, so it can\u0026rsquo;t access the outside world and the outside world can\u0026rsquo;t access it.\n","date":"13 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/linux/hardware/brother-printer/","section":"Linux","summary":"It’s a printer. What do you want me to say? # How am I supposed to make a Brother toner printer sound interesting?\n","title":"Brother HL-L2400DWE","type":"linux"},{"content":"","date":"13 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/printer/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Printer","type":"tags"},{"content":" Intro # One of my earliest qualifications was an AMA (Advanced Modern Apprenticeship) in brickwork. My father used to tell me that computers were just a fad, and I was subsequently banned from having anything to do with them. In my family, coding was considered hacking, and anything involving accounts was supposed to be done on paper in my “books”.\nDespite that, I loved computers. I just had to hide that passion from my family.\nSometimes I wonder whether things would have been different if I had been encouraged to pursue computing earlier. Would I have always thought of myself as a Linux professional? Would I have discovered open source sooner? Perhaps I\u0026rsquo;d have considered myself an open-source technologist years before other people started describing me that way.\nBut being pushed towards the trades gave me something else: a rather useful set of skills. Brickwork taught me how to understand materials, structure, geometry and, perhaps most importantly, an income.\nCurved brickwork is a particularly good example of my other passion: 3D design.\nSetting Out # Setting out semi-circular brickwork is rather straightforward but time-consuming. First, you have to decide on the centre point of the curve. In this case, it was the corner of the building behind. To that, I drilled and inserted a screw. To the screw, I attached a cord that doesn\u0026rsquo;t stretch. That way, I can pull the rope out level and plumb down to the brickwork.\nTo finish the curved brickwork, I projected out from the building two brickwork piers. These piers were bonded into the \u0026lsquo;circular\u0026rsquo; work to create a nice transition from one to the other. After the first three courses are laid, I back up the brickwork with blocks to give me the finished thickness, making it easy to finish building up the wall.\nHere is a picture of the other side of the wall. Note that I will always cover the wall if rain is expected.\nBuilding Up Plumb # After the wall is set out, it\u0026rsquo;s built up plumb using a tape measure to make sure the blockwork behind doesn\u0026rsquo;t drift out. Just below ground level, the blockwork is replaced with brickwork. This makes sure the wall looks pretty on both sides, whilst saving money on blocks.\nWall Capping # After the wall is up to just below the height where it\u0026rsquo;s needed, you can continue by adding the capping using the same rope trick as before to gauge where the centre is.\nStarting the Patio # Once the wall is built, the patio can be laid. First, you have to backfill the wall and use a wacker to compress the infill. I use the Wacker Neuson BS45Y. I chose to work from the edge of the house as my starting point to keep the joints square.\nCappings # Once the cappings were brought to the client\u0026rsquo;s request, I finished the piers and pointed everything ready for the handover.\nFinal Photos # Here\u0026rsquo;s the finished front garden. The curved walls lead to central piers that are flanked by brickwork stairs finished with stone patio slabs.\n","date":"6 May 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/craft/projects/curved-brickwork/","section":"Tradecraft","summary":" Intro # One of my earliest qualifications was an AMA (Advanced Modern Apprenticeship) in brickwork. My father used to tell me that computers were just a fad, and I was subsequently banned from having anything to do with them. In my family, coding was considered hacking, and anything involving accounts was supposed to be done on paper in my “books”.\n","title":"Curved Brickwork","type":"craft"},{"content":"","date":"6 May 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/garden/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Garden","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"6 May 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/greenhouse/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Greenhouse","type":"tags"},{"content":" Fancy Greenhouse # I made this oak-built greenhouse because when you look after a large garden, you need somewhere to keep your baby plants.\nWhere I live, it\u0026rsquo;s extremely hard to find a timber supplier that specialises in hardwoods. Everywhere seems to sell CLS (Canadian Lumber Stock) and treated softwoods. There is nothing wrong with that, but when it comes to making a really pretty greenhouse, it\u0026rsquo;s the wrong timber.\nSo I decided to use the ubiquitous oak \u0026lsquo;railway\u0026rsquo; sleepers. I put the word railway in single quotes because these were never designed for railway use. They are used to make garden walls, benches and other features.\nLuckily, I have the tools to machine this difficult-to-use natural resource.\nMaking The Frame # I started by ripping the \u0026lsquo;railway sleepers\u0026rsquo; down to lengths of around 50mm square (2 x 2). These formed the frame and roof.\nAfter that, I used the offcuts to make the thicker and curved sections of the door. The curve was simply made by drawing it with a trammel — a piece of wood screwed at one end — and then cutting it out with my bandsaw.\nStained Glass Windows # The stained-glass windows were rescued from old, rotten doors. I fitted them by rebating the wood and then fitting a 10mm (¼ inch) bead in front of them.\nBelow that, I cut very thin strips to create a panel and fitted the panels all around the structure in the same way as the windows.\nThe Door # The door was attached with standard ornate ironmongery.\nFloor # Inside, I built a little diamond-shaped patio to keep with the whimsical theme of the structure. leaving soil each side for plants to be added later.\nBehind the greenhouse, I placed weed membrane and 50mm (2\u0026quot;) of gravel to keep the weeds at bay.\nShelving # The shelves were made from more of the same 50mm timber, cut in half through the middle.\nWindows # I built my own custom windows, hinged in the middle so they could be opened easily from the inside.\nPerspex # Instead of glass, I used clear Perspex for safety.\nCarved Oak # I finished the top off by removing the spike I had made and carving a custom tulip motif from some of the leftover timber.\nHanging Baskets # I added hanging basket brackets to support plastic guttering made from old downpipe and, of course, hanging baskets too.\nShiplap Wall # Here\u0026rsquo;s a photo of the inside. I covered the back wall with shiplap cladding because it was up against the fence and no light would get through anyway.\nBonus Project # This is a bonus photo. At the same time as making the greenhouse, I made a trellis for plants to grow against, using my old shed frame.\nThe Finished Greenhouse # Once it was oiled and filled with plants, my partner immediately fell in love with it.\nI hope you enjoyed this project. Feel free to read my other posts, and don\u0026rsquo;t forget to follow me on my socials.\n","date":"6 May 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/craft/projects/greenhouse/","section":"Tradecraft","summary":"Fancy Greenhouse # I made this oak-built greenhouse because when you look after a large garden, you need somewhere to keep your baby plants.\n","title":"Handmade Greenhouse","type":"craft"},{"content":"","date":"6 May 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/making/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Making","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"6 May 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/oak/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Oak","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"6 May 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/patio/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Patio","type":"tags"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/authors/","section":"Authors","summary":"","title":"Authors","type":"authors"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Categories","type":"categories"},{"content":"IRL Tools They are like GIFs of tools, but bigger, and not digital.\nlook, I know what I\u0026rsquo;m talking about. I just don\u0026rsquo;t feel the need to sound boring while I\u0026rsquo;m telling you.\nBesides, you\u0026rsquo;re just going to click around until you find an article you like anyway, so I can write anything here!\n_\nWhy are you still reading this? Click already!\n","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/craft/tools/","section":"Tradecraft","summary":"IRL Tools They are like GIFs of tools, but bigger, and not digital.\nlook, I know what I’m talking about. I just don’t feel the need to sound boring while I’m telling you.\n","title":"Construction Tools","type":"craft"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/series/","section":"Series","summary":"","title":"Series","type":"series"},{"content":"Workbench - Projects ","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/workbench/projects/","section":"Welcome to The Workbench! 🎉","summary":"Workbench - Projects","title":"Welcome to The Workbench_Projects! 🎉","type":"workbench"},{"content":"Workbench - tools ","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/workbench/tools/","section":"Welcome to The Workbench! 🎉","summary":"Workbench - tools","title":"Welcome to The Workbench_Tools Section!","type":"workbench"},{"content":"Workbench ","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/workbench/","section":"Welcome to The Workbench! 🎉","summary":"Workbench","title":"Welcome to The Workbench! 🎉","type":"workbench"}]