Bits && Bytes ...Because learning is fun!

10 May 2024

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15 Quick Bits About the Timex Sinclair 1000

As we continue the "15 Quick Bits About..." series, we take a look at a vintage computer that I saw advertised a LOT (for $99 USD!) in various electronics magazines when I was a kid. However, it wasn't until many years later that my dad gave me one that he had picked up for $5 at a thrift store - still in the original box. What piece of computing history might I be talking about? I'm talking about the Timex Sinclair 1000. In this post, we'll take a look at 15 facts about the Time Sinclair 1000. Let's take a…

11 Sep 2023

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15 Quick Bits About the Commodore SX-64

It's time for the next installment of "15 Quick Bits About..." In this set of Quick Bits, we'll take a look at 15 facts about the Commodore SX-64. While I've owned several Commodore 64's (and VIC-20's) over the years, I've never owned an SX-64. If I ever come across one for a reasonable price, I'll no doubt pick one up. However, not having what is essentially a portable Commodore 64 doesn't mean that I can't learn more about it (and share it here) in the meantime. So, let's take a look... Quick Bits on the Commodore SX-64 The Commodore SX-64…

05 Sep 2023

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15 Quick Bits About the TRS-80 PC-2

Continuing the series of “15 Quick Bits About…”, let’s take a look at some facts (Quick Bits) about the TRS-80 PC-2. This is a small, handheld computer put out by Radio Shack in the early 1980's. While it's not much bigger than typical handheld calculators of that era, the PC-2 packed some pretty good power into the small form factor. Add in an 8K RAM expansion cartridge and the portable, battery-powered printer/plotter, and you could get some serious work done! Let's take a look... Side Note: It's September, so we are officially celebrating the month of SepTandy! SepTandy is when…

15 Jun 2023

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15 Quick Bits About the Palm IIIe

Continuing the series of “15 Quick Bits About…”, let’s take a look at some facts (Quick Bits) about a personal digital assistant, or, PDA, I would see being proudly used a couple of decades ago — the Palm IIIe. I did not own one of these devices myself at the time having just recently picked one up from a thrift store a few years back. Quick Bits on the Palm IIIe The Palm IIIe was released in 1999 by Palm Computing, shortly after the more expensive and more advanced Palm IIIx. [1] [3] Shipping with Palm OS 3.1, the Palm IIIe…

06 Mar 2023

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15 Quick Bits About the TI-99/4 & TI-99/4A

Texas Instruments TI-99/4A Continuing the series of "15 Quick Bits About...", let's take a look at some facts (Quick Bits) about a computer I would see in Wal-Mart as a child, but only recently acquired --- the Texas Instruments TI-99/4 & TI-99/4A. Quick Bits on the Texas Instruments TI-99/4 & TI-99/4A Texas Instruments introduced the TI-99/4 Home Computer at the June 1979 CES show in Chicago. [7] After some delays, due to parts shortages, the TI-99/4 was released by Texas Instruments in November 1979 for $1,150 (USD). [8] The TI-99/4A was released by Texas Instruments in 1981, a few months…

11 Feb 2023

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Updating Node-RED, npm, and Node.js

Introduction If you're reading this, then there is a good chance you use Node-RED for creating dashboards for your internet of things (IoT) devices. Node-RED is a great solution for controlling various IoT devices as well as for displaying the current status of these devices. As an example, here is a screenshot of one of my Node-RED dashboards: Node-RED Dashboard Like any other software package that you make use of, new versions of Node-RED get released every so often with various bug fixes and feature improvements. This post will show how to update your Node-RED instance as well as npm…

10 Feb 2023

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Updating a Node-RED Certificate

Time Flies! It's been almost a year since I posted Exposing Node-RED to the Internet. In that post, I talk about how I exposed a Node-RED dashboard to the internet. As part of that process, I configured Node-RED to work with a TLS/SSL certificate. Having been a year since I initially obtained my certificate, it recently expired, so it's now time to renew the certificate for my Node-RED instance. As an aside, I purchased my .app domain through GoDaddy, which includes a free TLS/SSL certificate (not sure if GoDaddy will always have this deal). While it's not an overly complicated…

09 Feb 2023

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Exposing Node-RED to the Internet

Background Like many of you reading this, I run Node-RED on a Raspberry Pi. My primary reasons for selecting a Raspberry Pi over other solutions are primarily cost and convenience. For my latest project, I am using a Raspberry Pi 4 (that I purchased as part of the CanaKit Raspberry Pi 4 Starter Kit) that sits in my home office running 24/7. Recently, I decided to make use of a Node-RED Dashboard to display the status of various sensors around my house (e.g. garage door sensors, a sensor on our deep freeze, a temperature sensor where our water pipes come…

08 Feb 2023

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Installing EasyScopeX for Siglent Oscilloscopes

Like many electronics hobbyists, I wanted a basic oscilloscope to help me troubleshoot various electronics circuits. Being a hobbyist, I couldn't justify spending a ton of money on a scope, but I wanted something a little more capable than some of the sub $100 (USD) scopes available out there. I settled on the Siglent SDS 1202X-E Oscilloscope, which has been serving me very well for about a year now. One of the features of the SDS 1202X-E scope is the ability to connect it to a computer via USB. Once connected, you can use the EasyScopeX utility to interact with…

07 Feb 2023

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Connecting the Sonoff SNZB-02 and CC2531 Zigbee Coordinator

Can We Talk? If you're connecting a Sonoff SNZB-02 temperature and humidity sensor to a CC2531 Zigbee coordinator, you might run into the same issue that I first had - getting them to talk. When I first attempted this, my Zigbee2MQTT Bridge was not reporting anything from the SNZB-02 temperature and humidity sensor. After a bit of research and experimentation, I was finally able to get the SNZB-02, CC2531, and Zigbee2MQTT Bridge to all play nicely together. In this post, I will walk through the steps I took to make this work. So, What Are the Steps? The steps below…