Wine, Windows apps on Linux, Raspberry

What is Wine ? 

The OpenSource project, themselves, explains it as; 

Wine (originally an acronym for "Wine Is Not an Emulator") is a compatibility layer capable of running Windows applications on several POSIX-compliant operating systems, such as Linux, macOS, & BSD

So why ? In my case, I'm just running macOS and Linux, I had and old gadget where I had to change the settings and this could only be made with a windows program.

Raspberry 4 USB SSD boot in 60 seconds !

Updated 2022-04-16 !

Yes, it's really true ! Thats the maximum time it takes to write the Raspberry Pi(RPi) OS to a bootable USB SSD and maybe read this post ?

If you have a RPi 4 and a USB SSD or other USB drive, that works as a boot media, just use the RPi imager which can write the image direct to the USB  storage. But check this first.

Having an older RPi ? Use this post instead.

If you already have a SD card with working applications and you want to "transfer", copy/clone, them to a bootable SSD use this post.

WeatherLink weather template, v2 API

I have written a post with the same subject before, also using NodeRed(NR), but this post is using the latest WeatherLink v2 API instead of the v1 API. 

The v2 API supports more devices and now also including the old ones.

If You want a more advanced weather site this is a very nice one coded in PHP also using the v2 API.

macOS Big Sur on unsupported Mac

Updated 2022-03-03 !

I'm having an old MacBook Air 4.2, (mid 2011, SSD, 4 Gb memory), which have been running Catalina for quite some time despite that the max OS is High Sierra. I have been using the great work by dosedudes1 and his Catalina patcher.

Unfortunately he didn't continue with patches for newer OS:s but have helped with a new patcher. This patcher even handles Macs with graphic cards from 2008 - 2011.

Using the patcher i got the mentioned Mac up and running with Big Sur after just over an hour.

 

New post !! Upgrade to Monterey.

Raspberry, edit config or add files before boot

The actual use case was that I have a Raspberry Pi(RPi) sourcing Vesselfinder with AIS data from nearby. I wanted to change/test a new configuration but on the other hand I didn't want to take the RPi down, during a longer period, since it's an online service.

So the solution was to make a bootable clone of the actual application and test with a second RPi. The major obstacle was that I then would have 2 hosts, with the same hostname, which will mess up the local network.

So how to change the host name on the cloned SD card before I'm using it in the second RPi ?

Another post on how to read and write Linux drives with Windows/MacOS

Davis weather station, WeatherLink, PHP

Updated 2021-12-05 !

In the harbour we are using a Davis weather station, Vantage Pro2, as our PWS(Private Weather Station).

If you like to display the data, online on the web, you can use the Davis service, Weatherlink(WL) where you register an account. 

Another way is to retrieve the weather data as XML or JSON, from the Weatherlink web-site, and use it in your own application (open source!).

Another approach with NodeRed could be find here.

Raspberry, restart network, or reboot, at ping failure

Using a Raspberry Pi Zero(RPi), with wifi, I sometimes have problem that the WiFi connection is lost. This is due to that, at our boat, we are using the Teltonika RUT 240 router. The router just have one receiver/transmitter, LAN and WAN WiFi are shared, and in some use cases the WiFi will temporarily be disconnected. To restart the WiFi quick the following solution is used.

This post will cover a solution, a bash script, with inspiration from this blogpost, but with some fine tuning. 😉
 

Another way could be using the watchdog function, described here, with reboot.

SIGNL4, automated alerting with free mobile app

I'm involved in several projects where you, as quick as possible, want to get an alert if anything fails. After a lot of Googling I found SIGNL4.

They have several ways to create an alert, can involve a team, have a nice app and is free, up to 5 users, if you use the "STARTER" option.

In this post, as an example, I will show how I detect if my AIS receiver/dispatcher stops receiving AIS targets, sent to Vesselfinder, and how an alert is forwarded to the SIGNL4 app.

I'm using NodeRed on a Raspberry Pi to realize the function

Ring doorbell install and relay

The electrical install instructions for the Ring Doorbell maybe could be a little easier to find  ? 

So will give some links where you are connecting to

1. Internal doorbells
2. No internal doorbell but charging the battery
3. External relay, triggering "anything"
4. Wireless relay

Ring Device manuals are found here.

Homebridge made simple, HOOBS

Updated 2021-08-08 !

I have written several post about the HomeKit Bridge, Homebridge(HB), but if You want another simple way, with GUI, to handle the server and plugins the guys at HOOBS have done a nice software package.

I personally prefer the Homebridge "native" install, which seems to be updated more frequently.

Raspberry fan control, Node-Red

Updated 2021-07-01 !

Do You want to have control over the Raspberry Pi(RPi) ? 

Functions

• CPU Temperature
• CPU Load %
• Free RAM %
• Disk Usage %
• Shutdown and Reboot buttons
• Fan PWM control via GPIO

Other NR posts on this site

HomeKit bridge with Z-Wave

Updated 2021-05-21 !

These devices are available for Apples HomeKit. The devices are Bluetooth, BLE, or WiFi connected so it could be a limited range in Your house.

The Z-Wave solution have a smarter setup running on a type of network called a "mesh network". One Z-Wave product will pass the signal along to another (“hop”) until the final destination is reached. Every device, not battery charged, acts as a messenger; the more devices you have, the more powerful and strong your network is.

Raspberry USB SSD boot made simple ? Check link 

IKEA Bäve dimmer hack II

Updated 2021-04-25 !

Dimming not dimmable LED, IKEA Bäve, produced before 2019-11 

In former post I used a Fibaro Z-Wave RGBW controller but in this post I will use an IKEA original !

Homekit, temperature with DS18B20

Updated 2021-04-15 !

A cheap and simple way to measure temperature, and have it displayed in the Home app, is to connect one wire (1W) DS18B20 (DS)temperature sensors direct to the Raspberry Pi(RPi) and install a DS plugin.

This assumes that You have Homebridge up and running on a Raspberry Pi 

Check this post !!  "ANY" temp source can be HomeKit enabled.

Wordpress with PHP Everywhere

Sometimes you have to handle things in Wordpress that you can't find any plugin for.

In our case I had to visualize a list from a MySQL database and in another case I had to fetch data from another website.

In both cases I solved it with inserted PHP code which is executing and getting the info.

Scanner GUI with NodeRed

In a former post I installed CUPS printer software for a Cannon printer. The scanning functionality is supported by the package SANE. But there is no nice GUI for the scanning function so I made one, with NodeRed(NR), which I really think is "wife" enabled.

Homebridge, retrieve accessories information & status

Having Homebridge(HB) up and running it's simple to retrieve and visualize status or measurements from accessories.

For example I'm using the Aeotec MultiSensor 6,(AM6), via the z-way plugin, where I'm sensing the light level. Since Im living in northern Europe it's not very accurate to switch the indoor lightning by sun-rise/set. So instead I'm using the AM6 together with the EVE app to switch the lightning. 

To visualize the measured values over time I'm using NodeRed(NR) and a HomeBridge plugin

Free Gmail mail merge with Sheets

There are several mail merges applications where you can merge information from Google:s "Sheets"(GS), but not so may free ones that are good.

The point using mail merge is that you can personalize your outgoing mails and you will fore sure get a better response rate.  

There should also be said that if you are having a free Gmail account you are limited to 100 outgoing mails per 24 hours.

The first application, free !, handles the merge via a GS with a built in JavaScript macro and in the second application, 25 free mails per 24 hours(limit in app), the merge is done via an installed GS add-on with many nice functions.

WeatherLink weather template

Updated 2022-02-21 !

If You are interested in building Your own weathersite with information from Davis Weatherlink(DWL), and don't are a skilled programmer I can really recommend Node-Red(NR). In this post I give an example how to start with the NR dashboard GUI and DWL V1 API.

!! Please note new version with the latest v2 API !!

If You want a more advanced weather site/template this is a very nice one coded in PHP.

Kamado gasket glue

The gasket on our Kamado Joe was falling off after a very hot pizza cooking project. After some Googling, search link here, I found several post where people, to my surprise, used 3M™ Super 77™ Multipurpose Spray Adhesive.

I'm surprised due to it's just specified to handle up to 65 °C, 150 °Fahrenheit. 

It was also not available in the nearest shops so searching a bit further I found ...