Just reporting back. I tried both a 5v 10a power supply via the hat and then separately a 5v 5a USB-C power supply to the Pi only and the LED panel was still dim. It seems like there might be a power limit going to and from the hat to the Pi? Anyone have any ideas?
I think the GPIO is limited in how much it can transfer. I am going to try to power both with a USB-C splitter so I still only need one plug. Will report back.
Sounds like it's time for a power distribution board. Maybe a spare 19v supply? I assume you have one. Then add a two or three buck-boost outputs? I would max out the LED voltage personally. So 5 or 6 volts? A quick google suggest that matrix needs 4 amps by itself. I would run the controller at it's lowest acceptable voltage. Then overvolt the Pi slightly, maybe 5.2 voltage to reduce the current draw.
Huge thank you to @JeffGeerling who helped me offline. Turns out that I need to add max_usb_current=1 to config.txt for the USB to be recognized when powering the Pi though the hat, even with the 5v/10a power supply! Updated power supply link and the notes on my blog. Thank you!
You guys are both amazing! Keep up the good work. I had a similar feeling back in the days when I used some geerlingguys ansible role for let's encrypt certbot, wondering how much incredible stuff this guy has in his github only to find out years later how big the content iceberg really was below the surface.
Youngster. I started with a 6502, very quickly went to 8088, then 386sx, skipped 386 to 486dx2, and many more after that. Of course, some will call me a youngster because I started with a microprocessor instead of discrete transistors… or tubes.
2:02 This piece speaks to the primacy of function over form, reminding us that in life, perfection and alignment are not prerequisites for achievement. The artist suggests that true power and productivity often arise from embracing imperfections and the unconventional. Always love your work Techno Tim
A little recommendation: When I build such "embedded" systems with my pi I enable "Overlay Filesystem" in the rpi-config in "Performance" after doing the initial setup (setting up all software and autostart). This basically makes the SD-Card read-only to the pi and all files written to it will be kept in RAM. Since I have started doing this I have not even corrupted a single SD-Card and this also makes the lifespan of the SD-Card nearly infinite since nothing gets written to it (It doesn't even corrupt when getting uplugged without shutdown everyday; it still works after 1 year or so). If I need persistent storage (e.g. files that are kept after reboot) I just use another partiton for it.
This! Most Micro SD cards don't have any sort of wear-leveling and can wear out very quickly from logs writing to them. Running something like DietPi or Log2Ram are also alternatives.
You know one other thing there is that doesn't get a lot of attention sadly enough? It is UFS memory cards. These are not the UFS memory that is soldered down inside some phones but a memory card that looks similar to a microSD card at first but is not compatible with an SD or microSD reader. Samsung helped someone else develop it and there are only a few devices that support it. Though it seems to be dying a similar fate to what almost happened to Thunderbolt I have read that it is royalty free. In the beginning of Thunderbolt's life it had a royalty and the extra cost nearly killed it because of no one wanting to pay that (it is passed on to you when you buy the device). I only mentioned Thunderbolt since it was once hanging by a thread in the number of devices that supported it. It didn't help it that it was hard to set up and thought to be proprietary because Apple used it a lot.
This is really neat. The API is cool. I have a slightly nerdy comment on API design. Having the image property take a keyword or a URI is easy but bends the HTTP principles a bit as it’s ’mixing protocols’. It’s a bit more effort to pass separate proprieties depending on protocol (image / imageUri) but it generally makes things simpler in the long run and much easier to secure and test. Hope that’s useful feedback. I’m excited to see what other projects you do in the future :)
Fun project idea. Instead of putting in storage, setup a NetBoot environment for your Pi's. They get their image from the network, and you can make your changes without having to open up the boxes to fish out the media. I mean NetBoot, as in a working environment for the device, btw, not NetInstall, so picture the equivalent to a livecd/usb environment that just does the work. It doesn't save changes to the disk, so you can set up external storage on your server for logs, and has the effect of centralizing your logging in one place as well.
The shots where your showing something on screen would probably work better recorded via OBS and overlayed over a video looking back at you. You’re the interesting part of the scene, being able to see you think, react to stuff and share your thoughts helps keep the audience with you. LTT have a few nice examples where they have footage of the host with the on screen part recorded and overlayed to one side or split screen. Level1Tech often use a similar technique. They also capture only the window which is relevant to the point being made or discussed. It’s a nit picky detail but it should help give this video a higher quality feel and reduce viewer drop off rates. All that said, this is a fab video. I’ve subscribed and i look forward to seeing your future projects :)
I’m telling on you Tim! To all of my technicians. I’m going to tell them about “Timception” and how we felt like we just saw you somewhere else on another channel we all love.
In terms of future videos, I’d love to see a video about your Linux-infused iMac. It looks like there might be an interesting back story on that one :)
I think the VideoCore does something evil to MicroSD cards causing them to lock to readonly mode. Because otherwise if you ran a purely readonly filesystem they should last forever and in other uses like that they actually do. But in a Pi they don't.
I have a Dexcom CGM (continuous glucose monitor) which gives me up to date real time blood glucose readings every 5 minutes, is it possible to tinker with this and set it up to display the readings from my CGM? Thanks
@@TechnoTimTinkers thanks a lot ,and I love your channel ,you and others home labers inspired me that I can start my own channel to do this content ,but I will do it in Arabic as it's a very niche that's almost zero in Arabic ❤️❤️
Were there not screw holes in the back of the drive? They can normally be mounted from the sides or the back. Of course, the screws might not have been long enough given the thickness of the backboard. Just might have been easier than the zip-ties and side screws. Still... nice project!
I should have consulted with you first, you are exactly right! I should have known that from all of my 2.5 -> 3.5 drive conversion kits. That's what happens when I wing part of it! That would have been much easier and might have saved my finger!
I want the same thing but I am poor, so I hacked my Kindle, wrote a go rest API + react so whatever I typed it will be ASCII art and Kindle just curl it.
Neat, I might have to do something like this. Along with the "screws from the bottom of the drive" comment below, or above, wherever it is from mine, you could remove the cover from the SSD to show the board to be more industrial like the Pi. :D
Tim! So many soft spots in a software guy tinkering exposed - but you were brave enough to publish it! You need some more tools - start with somehthing simple, like a silver or white sharpy to mark your cuts. But above all else real tinkerers don't use band-aids...super glue for the win!
Exactly the same stuff. So the liquid band aid is manufactured with medical grade processes and is probably more sterile than that bottle of Chinese super glue ;)
I have replaced all my sd cards with cheap bulk bought 64gb ssds which are like a few euros. Or with network boot. Pretty nice and no need to replace sd cards which at the end usually wastes more money. Sadly my pi zero 2w does not support non sd boot media because it has no bootrom, might have to try to hack in the boot rom so it can also fetch its software from my iot nas
Hey! Not dumb at all. It's hard to tell from the video, but the felt in the back of the shadow box is barely glued down so attaching anything to it would cause it to sag. Because of this, I decided to affix it with holes, screws, and zip-ties when I could.
@@TechnoTimTinkers - Gotcha. Thanks for responding. Another thing, BTW, I wasn't going to mention out of the blue. However, since you responded, I noticed something I felt made the result less compelling, but ONLY because you said it was an "art" project. As I know just enough about visual design to be dangerous, I asked ChatGPT to help explain what about it I noticed. ChatGPT: I really enjoyed your project, especially the way you referred to it as "in part an art project." The concept of combining technology with art is truly fascinating. However, I noticed that the addition of the extra item in the shadowbox seems to create a bit of visual imbalance. From what I understand about visual design, balance is crucial for creating a cohesive and pleasing arrangement. Imagine hanging a group of smaller framed photos on the wall; for it to look visually appealing, the frames should be arranged in a way that maintains a sense of balance, even if they are of different sizes. In your shadowbox, the additional item disrupts this balance, making the overall layout seem less harmonious. Perhaps rearranging the items to distribute visual weight more evenly could enhance the aesthetic appeal? I hope this feedback is helpful and constructive. Keep up the great work, and I look forward to seeing more of your innovative projects!
Really man, you could have done this video in < 5 minutes. "Replacing microSD with something MUCH FASTER!" Mention solution (USB to SATA) Summarize what you had to do to get it working, with steps like -> show users how transfer the image from sdcard to other device - in this case, the ssd Done It's great for others to optionally see how you worked everything out - but not everyone wants to watch through it. The Chapter time links help, but it was still a bit of a slosh for me. You make awesome videos and have given me some good ideas here and there. I know you'll take this as constructive criticism. Cheers.
Hey, thanks for the feedback. Many have asked what this is and how i made it. Also, this is the kind of content i want to make on this third channel. It performed really well for my first video too!
10 amps just for powering that small LED panel is crazy...!!! The Nature will it thanks to you...!!! Better you buy an 20 or 30 watt Solar panel and a cheap akku and power it up with green energy 😉!!! I like work like this but 10 amps is really crazy for such a little thing...
Let me know how it turns out! It's been super fun to play with over the years and I found that if I dedicated my Pi to something like this, it was more likely to keep my interest long term! Plus it looks cool too 😂
@@TechnoTimTinkers I have a pi 4 that hosts most of my services. It would be cool to put it on display, maybe even with my older pis that no longer get used
@@TechnoTimTinkers I started on an original then a 2 never had a 3 saddly. Love the 4. Had a 5 but sold it. And I use a pi 2 zero w for pikvm. And a couple knock off boards from covid! Love the pi family
Fun fact, SSDs, since they are made of the same flash as an SD card, just in a different arrangement, still require that time to safe shut down. The arrangement and over provisioning is what gives it better reliability than the SD card. Also fun fact, enterprise SD cards are overprovisioned in a similar fashion, and tend to use SLC instead of MLC, so are much more reliable than the consumer cheapo's. So, its a trade off for the lot.
I saw SABRENT on the USB adapter, and knew it wouldn't boot. Doesn't disabling UAS mean you aren't getting the best possible speeds? Do yourself a favour, ditch sabrent (or anything that uses the same JMicron Technology chipset) and go with a USB to SSD that uses maybe ASMedia Technology or anything other than JMicron - note: on a non-pi system, JMicron is 1/10th the speed of ASMedia based USB to SATA
@@TechnoTimTinkers It was! It was meant to be, you were doing all sorts of cool stuff that Martha would approve of! I have to admit though, I posted that before you drilled a hole in your finger! Lol. Thank you for releasing that, it proved the great TT is human and not immortal. You know I'm a fan, thank you!
Konami my favourite software games company, makes the best games for my first computer, MSX Canon V-20, MSX-Basic from Microsoft 1983. I am a great young boy 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Just reporting back. I tried both a 5v 10a power supply via the hat and then separately a 5v 5a USB-C power supply to the Pi only and the LED panel was still dim. It seems like there might be a power limit going to and from the hat to the Pi? Anyone have any ideas?
I think the GPIO is limited in how much it can transfer. I am going to try to power both with a USB-C splitter so I still only need one plug. Will report back.
Good one to PIN...
@@l0gic23 Done, thank you!
Sounds like it's time for a power distribution board. Maybe a spare 19v supply? I assume you have one. Then add a two or three buck-boost outputs?
I would max out the LED voltage personally. So 5 or 6 volts? A quick google suggest that matrix needs 4 amps by itself.
I would run the controller at it's lowest acceptable voltage. Then overvolt the Pi slightly, maybe 5.2 voltage to reduce the current draw.
Huge thank you to @JeffGeerling who helped me offline. Turns out that I need to add max_usb_current=1 to config.txt for the USB to be recognized when powering the Pi though the hat, even with the 5v/10a power supply! Updated power supply link and the notes on my blog. Thank you!
I am honored to be subscriber number 386. Same as the first CPU I ever owned.
Hey Jeff! thank you! x386 🚀
You guys are both amazing! Keep up the good work.
I had a similar feeling back in the days when I used some geerlingguys ansible role for let's encrypt certbot, wondering how much incredible stuff this guy has in his github only to find out years later how big the content iceberg really was below the surface.
Youngster.
I started with a 6502, very quickly went to 8088, then 386sx, skipped 386 to 486dx2, and many more after that.
Of course, some will call me a youngster because I started with a microprocessor instead of discrete transistors… or tubes.
woot the pie man all the cool kids are here
love your vids
2:02 This piece speaks to the primacy of function over form, reminding us that in life, perfection and alignment are not prerequisites for achievement. The artist suggests that true power and productivity often arise from embracing imperfections and the unconventional.
Always love your work Techno Tim
A little recommendation:
When I build such "embedded" systems with my pi I enable "Overlay Filesystem" in the rpi-config in "Performance" after doing the initial setup (setting up all software and autostart). This basically makes the SD-Card read-only to the pi and all files written to it will be kept in RAM. Since I have started doing this I have not even corrupted a single SD-Card and this also makes the lifespan of the SD-Card nearly infinite since nothing gets written to it (It doesn't even corrupt when getting uplugged without shutdown everyday; it still works after 1 year or so). If I need persistent storage (e.g. files that are kept after reboot) I just use another partiton for it.
This! Most Micro SD cards don't have any sort of wear-leveling and can wear out very quickly from logs writing to them. Running something like DietPi or Log2Ram are also alternatives.
“My plan is to come from the back”. PAUSE.
That's Elton John's plan too.
bro's living my dream life
You know one other thing there is that doesn't get a lot of attention sadly enough? It is UFS memory cards. These are not the UFS memory that is soldered down inside some phones but a memory card that looks similar to a microSD card at first but is not compatible with an SD or microSD reader. Samsung helped someone else develop it and there are only a few devices that support it. Though it seems to be dying a similar fate to what almost happened to Thunderbolt I have read that it is royalty free. In the beginning of Thunderbolt's life it had a royalty and the extra cost nearly killed it because of no one wanting to pay that (it is passed on to you when you buy the device). I only mentioned Thunderbolt since it was once hanging by a thread in the number of devices that supported it. It didn't help it that it was hard to set up and thought to be proprietary because Apple used it a lot.
needed some sticky back adhesive Velcro
I'd watch Techno Tim Tinkers all the time, love it!
Mounting the SSD, I was envisioning making small holes in the board and screwing in to the bottom of the drive to attach it to the board
That totally would have been a better choice!
This is really neat. The API is cool.
I have a slightly nerdy comment on API design. Having the image property take a keyword or a URI is easy but bends the HTTP principles a bit as it’s ’mixing protocols’.
It’s a bit more effort to pass separate proprieties depending on protocol (image / imageUri) but it generally makes things simpler in the long run and much easier to secure and test.
Hope that’s useful feedback.
I’m excited to see what other projects you do in the future :)
Alex from Amazon coming in clutch!
Seriously! I almost scratched this project for anther day! I will now search reviews before starting projects!
Holy crud! Lol go Alex!
Dude I would love you to make a smart mirror.
I made one a few years ago. It was too smart and eventually stopped wanting to reflect my stupid face.
Fun project idea. Instead of putting in storage, setup a NetBoot environment for your Pi's. They get their image from the network, and you can make your changes without having to open up the boxes to fish out the media.
I mean NetBoot, as in a working environment for the device, btw, not NetInstall, so picture the equivalent to a livecd/usb environment that just does the work. It doesn't save changes to the disk, so you can set up external storage on your server for logs, and has the effect of centralizing your logging in one place as well.
Use the microsds meant for dashcams, they last longer. Dietpi has more sd friendly defaults too
The shots where your showing something on screen would probably work better recorded via OBS and overlayed over a video looking back at you.
You’re the interesting part of the scene, being able to see you think, react to stuff and share your thoughts helps keep the audience with you.
LTT have a few nice examples where they have footage of the host with the on screen part recorded and overlayed to one side or split screen. Level1Tech often use a similar technique. They also capture only the window which is relevant to the point being made or discussed.
It’s a nit picky detail but it should help give this video a higher quality feel and reduce viewer drop off rates.
All that said, this is a fab video. I’ve subscribed and i look forward to seeing your future projects :)
Thanks for the suggestion! I usually do that on my main channel. I should have done it here but I was running out of cameras!
One thing you could do is take the case off the SSD and adapter to make it fit into the build a bit more
I’m telling on you Tim! To all of my technicians. I’m going to tell them about “Timception” and how we felt like we just saw you somewhere else on another channel we all love.
Love it!
Love your videos man keep up the good work
HERE BECAUSE YOU JUST TOLD ME ABOUT THIS CHANNEL WOOOOOOO
Those wires might look better if you could put the red cable on the bottom hole and feed the green and black under it to the top hole.
King of all homelab media.
In terms of future videos, I’d love to see a video about your Linux-infused iMac. It looks like there might be an interesting back story on that one :)
I think the VideoCore does something evil to MicroSD cards causing them to lock to readonly mode.
Because otherwise if you ran a purely readonly filesystem they should last forever and in other uses like that they actually do. But in a Pi they don't.
Can I get a link to the exact clone commands?
I have a Dexcom CGM (continuous glucose monitor) which gives me up to date real time blood glucose readings every 5 minutes, is it possible to tinker with this and set it up to display the readings from my CGM? Thanks
If there’s an API that you can ready from in code, the yes!
9:34 what is the name of that stand ? That hold the phone to record ?
Hey! It's a desk mount arm along with a phone mount adapter. I've updated the description with links!
@@TechnoTimTinkers thanks a lot ,and I love your channel ,you and others home labers inspired me that I can start my own channel to do this content ,but I will do it in Arabic as it's a very niche that's almost zero in Arabic ❤️❤️
@@mohamedbadawy9822 Thank you! That sounds awesome Mohamed! You can do it!!!
Were there not screw holes in the back of the drive? They can normally be mounted from the sides or the back. Of course, the screws might not have been long enough given the thickness of the backboard. Just might have been easier than the zip-ties and side screws. Still... nice project!
I should have consulted with you first, you are exactly right! I should have known that from all of my 2.5 -> 3.5 drive conversion kits. That's what happens when I wing part of it! That would have been much easier and might have saved my finger!
@@TechnoTimTinkers We all get tunnel-vision on occasion. 🙂 If it makes you feel better, I've pulled that drill-my-finger move myself.
@@TechnoTimTinkershehe, that’s a familiar feeling. Gotta love the monotropism sometimes :)
The names of the birds are Bill and Dickie.
Velcro?
I want the same thing but I am poor, so I hacked my Kindle, wrote a go rest API + react so whatever I typed it will be ASCII art and Kindle just curl it.
That is awesome! Congrats on coming up with the idea and following through! Sounds like a fun little project!
Neat, I might have to do something like this. Along with the "screws from the bottom of the drive" comment below, or above, wherever it is from mine, you could remove the cover from the SSD to show the board to be more industrial like the Pi. :D
This is a great idea!
if you want something to look pretty, frame it 👍 lesson learned
Tim! So many soft spots in a software guy tinkering exposed - but you were brave enough to publish it! You need some more tools - start with somehthing simple, like a silver or white sharpy to mark your cuts. But above all else real tinkerers don't use band-aids...super glue for the win!
Thanks! Haha! Just dab some super glue into a puncture wound????
@@TechnoTimTinkers yup! Fun fact: ca glue was invented for medical use stop close small wounds and stop bleeding.
@@PARitter TIL about CA Glue. Thank you! Sounds like the liquid bandaid stuff I've seen around!
Exactly the same stuff. So the liquid band aid is manufactured with medical grade processes and is probably more sterile than that bottle of Chinese super glue ;)
I have replaced all my sd cards with cheap bulk bought 64gb ssds which are like a few euros. Or with network boot. Pretty nice and no need to replace sd cards which at the end usually wastes more money. Sadly my pi zero 2w does not support non sd boot media because it has no bootrom, might have to try to hack in the boot rom so it can also fetch its software from my iot nas
Since the drives were the same size you could've used dd to directly if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb without the whole imaging step :)
Good call! I thought about that too, but then just decided to back up the file to my NAS since I have never backed up this Pi!
@@TechnoTimTinkers makes perfect sense when you put it that way!
Don't mean to ask a stupid question, but why not just use VELCRO? 🤔
Hey! Not dumb at all. It's hard to tell from the video, but the felt in the back of the shadow box is barely glued down so attaching anything to it would cause it to sag. Because of this, I decided to affix it with holes, screws, and zip-ties when I could.
@@TechnoTimTinkers - Gotcha. Thanks for responding.
Another thing, BTW, I wasn't going to mention out of the blue. However, since you responded, I noticed something I felt made the result less compelling, but ONLY because you said it was an "art" project. As I know just enough about visual design to be dangerous, I asked ChatGPT to help explain what about it I noticed.
ChatGPT:
I really enjoyed your project, especially the way you referred to it as "in part an art project." The concept of combining technology with art is truly fascinating.
However, I noticed that the addition of the extra item in the shadowbox seems to create a bit of visual imbalance. From what I understand about visual design, balance is crucial for creating a cohesive and pleasing arrangement. Imagine hanging a group of smaller framed photos on the wall; for it to look visually appealing, the frames should be arranged in a way that maintains a sense of balance, even if they are of different sizes.
In your shadowbox, the additional item disrupts this balance, making the overall layout seem less harmonious. Perhaps rearranging the items to distribute visual weight more evenly could enhance the aesthetic appeal?
I hope this feedback is helpful and constructive. Keep up the great work, and I look forward to seeing more of your innovative projects!
@@gearboxworks thanks! For sure! I need simmering on the right to balance it out. I using have many options for mounting the SSD due to space!
Really man, you could have done this video in < 5 minutes. "Replacing microSD with something MUCH FASTER!"
Mention solution (USB to SATA)
Summarize what you had to do to get it working, with steps like -> show users how transfer the image from sdcard to other device - in this case, the ssd
Done
It's great for others to optionally see how you worked everything out - but not everyone wants to watch through it. The Chapter time links help, but it was still a bit of a slosh for me.
You make awesome videos and have given me some good ideas here and there. I know you'll take this as constructive criticism. Cheers.
Hey, thanks for the feedback. Many have asked what this is and how i made it. Also, this is the kind of content i want to make on this third channel. It performed really well for my first video too!
I think I would have used Velcro to mount the SSD
10 amps just for powering that small LED panel is crazy...!!! The Nature will it thanks to you...!!! Better you buy an 20 or 30 watt Solar panel and a cheap akku and power it up with green energy 😉!!! I like work like this but 10 amps is really crazy for such a little thing...
My shadow box I've had for years is about to get a new life
Let me know how it turns out! It's been super fun to play with over the years and I found that if I dedicated my Pi to something like this, it was more likely to keep my interest long term! Plus it looks cool too 😂
@@TechnoTimTinkers I have a pi 4 that hosts most of my services. It would be cool to put it on display, maybe even with my older pis that no longer get used
@@aaro_n Sounds like a great use for them! It should even work with a Pi 2 ! That's what I started with then upgraded to 3, and then 4!
@@TechnoTimTinkers I started on an original then a 2 never had a 3 saddly. Love the 4. Had a 5 but sold it. And I use a pi 2 zero w for pikvm. And a couple knock off boards from covid! Love the pi family
@@aaro_n Nice! I've had 2,3,4 and Pi0 and few cm4 boards!
Two words: mounting tape
22:07 🙈🙈🙈 Spray the cloth !
Haha! I sprayed after the cloth and used paper towel. 👼
Subscribed👍🏻
Thank you!
Fun fact, SSDs, since they are made of the same flash as an SD card, just in a different arrangement, still require that time to safe shut down.
The arrangement and over provisioning is what gives it better reliability than the SD card.
Also fun fact, enterprise SD cards are overprovisioned in a similar fashion, and tend to use SLC instead of MLC, so are much more reliable than the consumer cheapo's.
So, its a trade off for the lot.
I saw SABRENT on the USB adapter, and knew it wouldn't boot. Doesn't disabling UAS mean you aren't getting the best possible speeds? Do yourself a favour, ditch sabrent (or anything that uses the same JMicron Technology chipset) and go with a USB to SSD that uses maybe ASMedia Technology or anything other than JMicron - note: on a non-pi system, JMicron is 1/10th the speed of ASMedia based USB to SATA
Why didn't you use an X-Fit USB thumb drive?
Martha Stewart can eat her heart out!
I'll take that as a compliment! 😂
@@TechnoTimTinkers It was! It was meant to be, you were doing all sorts of cool stuff that Martha would approve of! I have to admit though, I posted that before you drilled a hole in your finger! Lol. Thank you for releasing that, it proved the great TT is human and not immortal. You know I'm a fan, thank you!
Thank you!
No project is complete until you bleed on it, applies to everything from computers to auto mechanics.
Too true… building a kit car is like signing up to join a local blood bank!
Whooo top 8
Konami my favourite software games company, makes the best games for my first computer, MSX Canon V-20, MSX-Basic from Microsoft 1983. I am a great young boy 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Super cringe @ knowingly drilling into your finger.
Tim!!!
Tim! 👋