Ivor Hewitt

https://social.ivor.org/@ivor

🏊‍♂️🚴‍♂️🏃‍♂️ :betterpride_flag:
#nerd, #ultrarunner, #ironman
"Quite an accomplished runner" - David Hellard

Profile avatar courtesy of Yer Feff (npub1kq6…64er)

Tech: #hacker #developer #thinkpad #rpi #arduino #openSUSE #kde
Sport: #cycling #ultrarunning #running
Health: #migraine #TBI
Tags: #NoBot #NoBridge #NoBots #NoTagsPub #NoIndex #NoAI

Surrey, England

pronouns: he/him/they
blog: https://blog.ivor.org
codeberg: https://codeberg.org/ivor
github: https://github.com/ihewitt

Public Key

npub1lxxzptcx7waydshadz8llcrpy4j2dw5f0lrtp4rcvuy3q4nrukjqg7fy3m

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs0nrpq4ur08wjxct7k3rllupsj2e9xh2yhl34s63uxwzgs2e37tfqpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0ds4yzawt

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1lxxzptcx7waydshadz8llcrpy4j2dw5f0lrtp4rcvuy3q4nrukjqg7fy3m

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Published at

2026-08-24T17:10:50Z

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Last Notes

2026-08-28 08:58:08 UTC

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indeed👍. I wrote a kernel driver (for a video capture dongle) using an Acer netbook, on a train. My daily driver is a Thinkpad from 2012. I *do* have a decent desktop which is a nice to have and use for some stuff... but 90% of the time, it's a laptop on a sofa.

2026-08-05 18:21:51 UTC

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what?! Even if you have instructions file that says "you are an expert, do not make mistakes"
🤣

2026-06-29 07:10:13 UTC

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I *still* can't figure out what's causing the corruption on mine (I've tried checking/diagnosing *everything* and got nowhere) so:
1. if you do end up with any left I'd certainly be interested.
2. if you wanted to investigate what's gone wrong on this one, I'd happily send it over to you.

2026-06-17 08:09:41 UTC

I love the fact that I can buy and download @npub1fdr…lvhs ebooks direct from https://shop.craphound.com 👍 I wish more authors had the ability to use or setup non-amazon options.

2026-04-21 09:36:10 UTC

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ok I have no idea whats going wrong, it's *definitely* my builds. If I take the pristine checkout and use "vera-sentinel.bin" that works.
If I clean and rebuild that, *with no other changes*. I get corruption; clearly the binary diffs, but there are tons of differences in the "out/-nextpnr-/vera-sentinel/vera-sentinel.json" too, I've tried rolling back over multiple versions of oss-cad-suite (back to the yosys 0.52 of 202504) but with no differences at all. 😡 (tried on another machine too, although same linux) any ideas? I picked oss-cad-suite since it implied that was the "simple/recommended" way to get the right versions, what toolset are you building with.

2026-04-17 09:55:44 UTC

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sob. ok I have a *horrible* feeling there's something wrong with my FPGA toolchain then - I'm using current "oss-cad-suite" (https://github.com/YosysHQ/oss-cad-suite-build/releases)
I reflowed the chip (a couple more times, along with completely removing, pad cleaning and resoldering it)... and it's up and running.
with *exactly* the same artifacts as before. 😱
So I flashed back the stock ROM and got corrupt zeros.... re-downloaded the original FPGA bitstream and flashed that, and the zeros were all fine again. 🤦
I think when I tested the "back to original" before, I'd actually *re-built* it minus my change.
To test this current theory... can you upload/update the vera-sentinel.bin in https://codeberg.org/Sentinel-65X-Team/VERA/src/branch/sentinel/fpga/out with the latest build and I'll retest that. 🤞
If that is the case, then I need to figure out what on earth's the problem with my builds.
Then I'll sit in a corner and have a little cry that I didn't figure that out before resoldering a 7mm 48-QFN chip.

2026-04-15 18:31:46 UTC

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new FPGA soldered on...
Got excited - it flashed and verified firmware.👍
But. sh1t. Nope. No VGA, no sdcard. 😡
Will have a go at redoing tomorrow.
any validation/test tips?
https://ivorsocial.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/410/148/747/084/158/original/2c9f27b5c6fb4c38.jpg

2026-04-15 11:48:44 UTC

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FPGA removed. Phew. Time for a break before figuring out how to relow the new one. 🤞[@mos_8502](https://studio8502.ca/@mos_8502 )
https://ivorsocial.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/408/563/976/422/015/original/20dd8b3aed2eb8f4.jpg

2026-04-15 11:46:06 UTC

Yay backordered FPGA finally arrived... time to see if I can replace the sentinel 65x chip. 😬
https://ivorsocial.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/408/571/187/542/147/original/c6d1f55cb3709927.jpg

2026-04-11 18:25:50 UTC

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I need to go back home and hunt. I'm sure mine is in my parents attic somewhere....

2026-03-22 20:57:57 UTC

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one. step. at. a. time! 🤣 Will get the FPGAs ordered tomorrow too, didn't get around to it yet, been a bit busy.

2026-03-22 20:24:17 UTC

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I'm thinking - building a basic system/monitor interpreter rather than a full language interpreter, then an SD card could have an image file on it and something like an "autorun" script, e.g. LOAD "rom.img"; CALL 0xXXXX etc.
(albeit it *is* tempting to get BBC basic going for a nice interactive machine to play with, but also would open up an option to be able to script simple games and programs without making a ROM)

2026-03-22 20:10:25 UTC

Ok... So since my display is toast (exhibit a) I decided to hook up the uart3 for console IO with a few primitive commands. (exhibit b&c)
With the sdcard, I can list the directory (exfat) and view a file! This is SO MUCH FUN. #sentinel65x [@mos_8502](https://studio8502.ca/@mos_8502 )
https://ivorsocial.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/274/640/345/703/194/original/159b59d7852b7752.jpg
https://ivorsocial.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/274/639/883/544/683/original/a9dae936e6e00ebe.jpg
https://ivorsocial.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/274/640/879/286/295/original/cfb960744b6d55ef.jpg

2026-03-18 14:28:41 UTC

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I always say my superpower is being able to make mistakes really fast. 😁

2026-03-18 14:18:56 UTC

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I think so, I'll order one and give it a go. Hoping the QFP is easier to swap than a BGA. (I made a mess of swapping one of those last week. 🙄)

2026-03-18 07:30:33 UTC

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anyway.... It's a bit hard to see due to the image corruption... But. Yaaay 🎉 I've got the ROM burnt with fatfs reading off the sdcard here. The sdcard holds two files, "Readme.txt" and "example.bas"
#sentinel65x
https://ivorsocial.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/249/004/063/713/241/original/27e4d85f8ab8fd06.jpg

2026-03-18 00:10:39 UTC

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so. Good news, and bad news. 🙄
I added the pin mappings to the FPGA and reflashed.... and I can read data from the sdcard. Yay. But I think I might have somehow fried something in the FPGA in the flashing process. 🤦‍♂️
https://ivorsocial.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/247/274/194/505/352/original/eff272519cfa7f51.jpg

2026-03-17 21:07:41 UTC

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ok couldnt wait... I've got the vera image built, having trouble using an in-circuit clip on the flash though. (although I'm going to check the clip's definitely ok) did you flash with a clip or via the J11?

2026-03-17 18:35:10 UTC

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quick q... the VERA code in https://codeberg.org/Sentinel-65X-Team/VERA, "sentinel_top.v" has empty settings for the spi lines, shouldn't these be:
.spi_sck(spi_sck),
.spi_mosi(spi_mosi),
.spi_miso(spi_miso),
.spi_ssel_n_sd(spi_ssel_n_sd),
if I need to update them.... how hard is it to update the FPGA?
https://ivorsocial.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/245/955/150/361/040/original/0147c34958f7c8fa.png

2026-03-17 18:19:59 UTC

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many thanks, I'm going to take a break and take another look with fresh eyes later/tomorrow, I've been banging my head against this for hours!
just wanted to check I wasn't missing something obvious like a setup/init flag somewhere.

2026-03-17 18:00:17 UTC

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hmm nope, still can't get anything from the sdcard. 🙁 spi_data read is always zero.
[@mos_8502](https://studio8502.ca/@mos_8502 ) do I need to do any additional VERA init to setup/enable the SD lines? When I try to talk to the SD card, I can see a burst of data on the SCK and MISO lines but nothing on MOSI, which feels wrong.

2026-03-16 19:30:42 UTC

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Bah, can't get sdcard reading working. yet. will try again tomorrow.

2026-03-16 11:29:40 UTC

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right! sort of a basic "hello world" up and running. 👍
Will have a think about what to do next - as well as SD-card for code, I think hooking up a keyboard somehow will make experimenting a bit easier.
https://ivorsocial.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/238/619/684/565/219/original/0e9fda330a24597a.jpg

2026-03-15 20:35:50 UTC

Right. Finally got some code running on the #Sentinel65x (albeit random junk) phew.
Could have done without (finally) discovering my plcc32 to dip adapter was faulty. 🤦‍♂️🙄 so spent several hours fixing that £3.99 part first. 🤣
I weep for the life of the rom socket though, really need to get sdcard code launch working. [@mos_8502](https://studio8502.ca/@mos_8502 )
https://ivorsocial.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/235/104/540/068/025/original/f278d06809770d44.jpg

2026-03-09 21:53:24 UTC

[@mos_8502](https://studio8502.ca/@mos_8502 ) gorgeous.... time to tinker. 👍👌
https://ivorsocial.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/116/201/436/092/220/345/original/756ead91aae1ce4e.jpg

2026-01-06 20:50:48 UTC

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indeed...
https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/11/linus_torvalds_vaccine_smackdown/ 🙄

2025-08-19 13:47:52 UTC

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😱 I mean... we had a scruffy fox. 🤷‍♂️

2025-07-24 19:09:45 UTC

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"dogshit unit-economics." 👍

2025-06-03 00:02:44 UTC

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bah, I must be missing something... but it's late and I *really* need to get some sleep! Probably not the best state to start playing. 😴😁 Shall try again tomorrow. 👍
https://ivorsocial.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/114/616/497/807/795/847/original/17685e59229a411a.png

2025-06-02 06:35:13 UTC

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"I'm your huckleberry"
https://ivorsocial.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/114/612/378/779/088/993/original/b4cd1344ca5c71fa.mp4

2025-03-04 17:40:27 UTC

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I need to see this! 👍😁

2025-02-24 18:24:58 UTC

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just look at that window manager, what a work of beauty and practicality. 👌

2025-02-11 09:17:30 UTC

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opesource hardware monthly 'show and tell' -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPOOaPATvMc going to talk about my GPS board.

2025-02-11 07:35:38 UTC

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Better than yesterday where I spun around to hold open a door for someone and threw my latte everywhere.
But this morning, also trying to get my lighting sorted as a distraction for a talk I'm doing (first one) next week - so starting to worry/panic about that.
otherwise... all good! 👍😁

2025-02-01 11:14:42 UTC

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no Konqui!? 😱
https://ivorsocial.files.fedi.monster/media_attachments/files/113/928/338/230/830/782/original/6db30d91fe85c46d.jpg

2025-01-08 17:34:09 UTC

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indeed, although I expect anyone on threads unhappy with the choices will instead move to bluesky. 🤷‍♂️
The majority remaining just won't care.

2024-09-11 20:21:59 UTC

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i.e.tired, low on sugar and emotional... then throw in something like The Time Travellers Wife.

2024-09-11 20:19:06 UTC

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I got into the habit of listening to audiobooks when I was doing proper long training....
Although I quickly learnt the lesson to choose them more carefully after bursting into tears a few times! 😬🤣

2024-08-13 08:24:47 UTC

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uh oh, this idea didn't go so well in the three body problem. 😬