A word on microchip Counterfeiting

I’m a geek, you’re a geek, we’re all geeks.

And geeks purchase components to work on projects.

Sometimes the order is too small to use known, reliable resellers. Or the components aren’t manufactured anymore and the big suppliers just don’t have what’s needed.

Sadly, there are unscrupulous sellers out there that sells non-working microchips, or chips that has nothing to do with what they sell it for. Rebadged chips, unrelated chips, name it.

Today’s article will discuss the topic of chip counterfeiting

2023/06/012024/03/25 by wereallgeeks Categories: 100% Geek, Commodore 64, Computers and technology, Geekyness, Projects, RetrocomputingTags: 100% Geek, counterfeit, detecting, DIY, Electronic, electronics, fake, Geek, microchip, retrocomputer, retrogaming, video games, wereallgeeks 1 Comment

Simplest Tasmota IoT

I’m a geek, you’re a geek, we’re all geeks.

And geeks enjoy building smart objects.

And sometimes they like to do it in the simplest manner possible.

What is the simplest smart object out there? How about a simple set of buttons, not even connected to relays, lights or anything, just buttons to send buttonpresses to the server.

Today’s article will look at building a very, very simple IoT device.

2023/05/252023/06/23 by wereallgeeks Categories: 100% Geek, Computers and technology, Geek lounge, Geekyness, Home Automation, HomeAssistant, ProjectsTags: arduino, DIY, Electronic, electronics, ESP-01, ESP01, ESP8266, esp8266-01, GIT, Home Assistant, Home Automation, IoT, minimalist design, simple IoT, soldering, Tasmota, Theo Arends, tiny IoT, tiny-iot

Commodore 64 debuging – Diagnostic tools

I’m a geek, you’re a geek, we’re all geeks.

For a geek to repair an old, broken Commodore 64, or to build a brand new one, the best tools are needed when it comes to figuring out defective old chips, broken traces or bad sockets.

Today’s article will discuss the what/how/why’s in diagnosing a defective commodore 64.

2023/05/162024/04/22 by wereallgeeks Categories: 100% Geek, C64Diag, Commodore 64, Computers and technology, Geekyness, Projects, RetrocomputingTags: 1541, C64, cartridge, Commodore 1541, Commodore 64, datasette, Dead test, debugging, Diagnostic, DIY, Electronic, electronics, Peter Schepers, programs, SID, SID chip, soldering, Sven Petersen, tools, utility software, VIC-II 5 Comments

Using IR Receiver as a central remote control utility for home automation

Last time we worked on retrofitting a battery-operated remote-controlled RGB+W light to use it’s PCB as a development board with an ESP8266 to make a Tasmota device.

Today we will exploit it’s IR Receiving capability within our home automation gaming lounge.

2021/04/222023/06/19 by wereallgeeks Categories: 100% Geek, Computers and technology, Geekyness, Home Automation, HomeAssistant, Projects, Remote Receiver IoT smart deviceTags: 100% Geek, arduino, automation, d1 mini, development board, DIY, Electronic, ESP8266, Geekyness, Home Assistant, Home Automation, Home Theater, infrared, ir receiver, JSON, MQTT, pcb, Tasmota, tasmota-ir

Building a home automation switch controller “thing” – adding IR to Tasmota and controlling it trough Home Assistant

When we began work on the Lounge Controller smart device, one of the planned purpose was to control the gaming lounge’s amplifier head for volume, but also for source. Different activities requires different hardware actions, and audio amplification of various sources is one of it.

Using Tasmota as a makeshift universal IR remote isn’t problematic as infrared remote support is present in most Tasmota configurations, including the sensor version we installed on our nodeMCU, so we began work on integrating infrared on our home assistant/tasmota setup. Tasmota documentation for IR is present on their Tasmota IR remote page.

2021/02/252023/06/12 by wereallgeeks Categories: 100% Geek, Computers and technology, Geekyness, Home Automation, Home Theater, HomeAssistant, Lounge Controller IoT smart device, ProjectsTags: DIY, Electronic, electronics, Home Assistant, Home Automation, Home Theater, nodeMCU, Tasmota, tasmota-ir, tasmota-sensor 4 Comments