Pyssel

Updated 2026-08-06 ! I have got some questions installing, just,  Signal K (SK) so will do a summary with links. Signal K is the hub to receive data, from different devices in different data formats, and send it on to different equipment, or databases, in different formats. Most common for standard marine equipment are the old NMEA 0183 and the newer NMEA 2000 protocol which is also handled.  Besides the SK "hub" function developers  have  created  plugins  for different purposes. This is due to that  SK is open-source ! Sharing is caring ! In this post you can check the devices I'm using connected to the SK server and also my setup.

 Updated 2026-07-05 !  After testing Home Assistant (HA) for a while, I’ve realised it could improve my home automation, despite that I'm mainly using Apple HomeKit. When I tested HA with Node-RED and some other "Add-ons", on a Raspberry Pi 3 (RPi), I found that its resources wasn’t enough. The following setup could be any computer but I recently bought an Apple Mac Mini M4, replacing my 2018 (M18) model, so the M18 was really a great candidate for my HA setup. I have converted to HA running on Proxmox !   😀

 Updated 2026-07-09 ! I have done several posts Blogging about how to keep an old MacBook Air(MBA), mid 2011(A1369), with SSD disk "alive". I have used the fantastic software package OpenCore Legacy patcher to upgrade the Mac to the latest Mac OS.  A while ago i tested Mac OS  Sequoia (15.3), on the mentioned Mac, but I had to admit that it was to much for the 14 year old companion. I really like the Mac and everything works, after a battery change , so it ended up with installing   Ubuntu latest LTS (UOS) ! (Above link is now UOS 26 LTS which I have not tested) Ubuntu on  Mac Mini (2018) and MacBookAir (2010)  ?

Updated 2025-01-23 ! With my project to keep a MacBook Air 2011(MBA) alive , Ubuntu installed, i searched for a solution where my iCloud drive(iCD) was  continuous synced with my MBA. This must work both ways so even a file change made on MBA should be replicated to iCD. rclone now, 2025-01, works with iCloud !! Setup below !! Before "rclone" was working with iCloud I solved my sync between iCD and MBA with Syncthing (ST). Check below. ST doesn't sync with iCloud so the work around here was to use my MacMini, Mac OS, as the "Middle man". It's always on and synced with iCD.

Updated 2025-10-02 ! I like the Raspberry Pi(RPi), with Raspberry Pi OS Lite (no Desktop is included), headless operation, and then adding the software You need. Until now I haven't had a use case where I needed a Desktop but now was time.  Why don't use the Raspberry Pi OS with Desktop ?? In that package there is a lot of software I don't need and I really want to optimize the RPi. I think that the less software You install the happier RPi will be... 😉

Updated 2023-10-12 ! In a former post I shared some thoughts about how to start using NetworkManager (NM), on a Raspberry, and here I will continue with additional examples that can help with network setup. NMTUI is NetworkManager text UI which can handle the most common tasks in a easy way. An access point or hotspot will be configured. " sudo nmcli connection edit xxxx " is a command that guides you throw a change of parameters.

Updated 2024-08-30 !  !! Another SW solution is available for RPi 5 here !  using the same HW. Thanks to Thomas, (the guy with the nice marine interface board ) ,  it's now possible  to decode, one way, the SeaTalk1(ST1) sentences in a pretty simple way. You just  use OpenPlotter(OP) and/or SignalK(SK) and an  Optocoupler . The thing that made it, is that Thomas   has released a "how to" and  Python source code , that will read the data from a GPIO pin on the Raspberry Pi, (RPi), and format it so the standard parser in SignalK can translate it to SignalK delta format. It is then  available as NMEA 0183. It's even possible to send the data in to a NMEA 2000 network, with a proper hardware interface.

Updated 2026-06-30 I found this amazing application,   AIS-catcher , just scrolling around on Youtube and  it includes "all" you need for an AIS receiver staying ashore or installed on a boat. It is compatible with a wide range of Software Defined Radios (SDRs). These include RTL-SDR dongles (such as the ShipXplorer AIS dongle and RTL SDR Blog v4), AirSpy (Mini/R2/HF+), HackRF, SDRPlay, SoapySDR, and file/network input (ZMQ/RTL-TCP/SpyServer). 

Updated 2025-01-10 ! Dimming not dimmable LED, IKEA Bäve, produced before 2019-11 and a new idea for later products ! In former post I used a  Fibaro Z-Wave RGBW controller  but in this post I will use an IKEA original or an external dimmer ?!

It's almost become a sport to revive old Macs..... 😉 This short post will address some obstacles found during install of a new OS. The Mac Mini:s WiFi controller wasn't found ! The MacBook Air didn't manage to do a USB boot with Ubuntu !