The Blog is Twenty Years Old
11 September 2026 3 min read
This year has two website anniversaries. It's twenty years since the first post went up on this blog, and thirty years since I built Virtual Swanage, the community site for my home town
All projects and posts
DIY Pick and Place software and hardware upgrades
17 August 2026 16 min read
It’s been nine years running our DIY pick and place machine using the same software and it’s time for some upgrades to the software as well as changes to the hardware with an Elgato Stream Deck and new picker nozzles
ModBus to MQTT Ethernet Bridge for a Solis 1.5kW Inverter
10 August 2026 13 min read
Using a Microchip/Atmel ATmega32U4 to create a ModBus to MQTT Ethernet Bridge for a Solis 1.5kW Solar PV Inverter to log data with Home Assistant
Building a custom network rack from steel box section
09 May 2026 10 min read
Upgrading Our Home Network Rack: Custom Steel Frame Build, 10Gb Switching & UniFi Setup
30 year Windows user switches to Mac
18 February 2026 14 min read
After using Windows as my primary computer operating system for over 30 years, I am finally switching to Apple Mac as my daily driver computer and operating system.
3D printed PCB assembly jig
16 February 2026 7 min read
Building an adjustable 3D printed PCB assembly jig to hold circuit boards when soldering
Shimano Di2 to Bluetooth Keyboard remote control mod
29 November 2025 14 min read
Modifying a Shimano Di2 road shifter to control virtual shifting in Rouvy and MyWhoosh and a smart trainer using Seeed Studio XIAO nRF52840 module as a Bluetooth Keyboard
Shimano Di2 to Zwift Click v2 remote control mod
15 November 2025 13 min read
Modifying a Shimano Di2 road shifter to control virtual shifting in Zwift and a smart trainer using Zwift Click v2 controllers
Building a DIY bike trainer rocker plate for Tacx Neo 2T trainer
25 September 2025 12 min read
Building a DIY bike rocker plate to use with a smart bike trainer to try to keep fit over the winter months
Zwift Cog and Zwift Click v2 Controllers with Tacx Neo 2T
11 September 2025 9 min read
New Zwift Click v2 Controllers upgrade on the smart cycle trainer and troubleshooting Bluetooth connection issues
ASP.Net Core Google Site Map Generator
24 July 2025 6 min read
How to Generate a Google Sitemap File Using ASP.NET Core and C#
AllotmentProgramming and CodeElectronics
Raspberry Pi Pico, LoRa & Home Assistant remote soil monitoring
17 May 2025 19 min read
How to monitor soil moisture levels on our allotment and view the data in Home Assistant using a pair of Raspberry Pi Picos & LoRa radio modules to send and receive the data