Dr Footleg (he/him)

Maker (Robots, SMD electronics, 3D printing, CAD:Solidworks, Interactive LED projects). Caver (surveyor, explorer, photographer, film maker). STEM Ambassador. Coding club host (for children+parents in my rural area). Dad (2 teens). Member of Cambridge Makespace.

Blog: https://adventures-with-pi.blogspot.com/
Github: https://github.com/Footleg

Public Key

npub1egmew2fas783rvhsz4pe8zvazyt6q4mcs3pf3n49qd6n64wqsldsp9u6zk

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsv5duh9y7c0rc3ktcp2sun3xw3z9aq2auggs5ce6jsxafa2hqg0kcprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0d4hhxarj9ecxjmntszgvck

Publishing to

relay.momostr.pink

Author Public Key

npub1egmew2fas783rvhsz4pe8zvazyt6q4mcs3pf3n49qd6n64wqsldsp9u6zk

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Last Notes

2026-06-03 19:26:25 UTC

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I didn’t have the energy to play games with him. They clearly had a lot of information about me and I had cards to cancel with the bank. Took 35 minutes of hold time to get to talk to someone from the real fraud department. Several £8000 attempted transactions on my card already. All failed. The OTP code looked like it was to authorise my card on a PayPal account which would have enabled them to make unlimited numbers of transactions.

2026-06-03 18:24:52 UTC

Well that's the closest I've come to being scammed to date. A phone call claiming to be from my banks fraud department. Knew my name address and phone number and credit card number which they said they needed to check some recent transactions against. It was all totally plausible right up to the point they told me they would send me a code to block the transactions, and asked me to give them a OTP from an SMS I received. Then I knew it was a scam. Very slick operator.

2026-04-26 15:36:20 UTC

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I think there are huge gaps in what people see as IP and what is just knowledge. You generally cannot trademark a common word from the language, or a well used phrase. When code stops being just basic language and starts to be IP is really not clear. If AI corrects a typo in my code, or generates a loop to iterate over an array that is not someone's private code. Somewhere a threshold of complexity is reached where it does encapsulate some real design.

2026-04-26 13:55:25 UTC

Fuck this hostile crap. I made the mistake of expressing an opinion about AI coding tools which did not conform to the Fediverse expectations of 'all AI is inherently evil'. I was called out as completely unethical and a thief. After 2 decades of sharing my code and projects freely for others to learn from I am serious considering just making everything I produce all rights reserved and to stop talking about them in public forums.

2026-04-25 21:49:15 UTC

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The code generated by the AI agent is not stolen any more than code copied from a post on stack overflow or other forums where we used to look for help. I write code which the AI agent helps debug, fixing errors like variable overflows or failing to declare a variable global. Sure you can ask an AI to write an application from scratch and publish the code without testing or understanding it. But that is not how everyone is working here. (2/2)

2026-04-25 21:45:40 UTC

I am seeing increasing numbers of posts on here pushing for banning of all AI in FOSS projects on the grounds that it is stealing code. It feels to me that many people do not really understand the AI assisted coding workflow. Not all AI assisted code is slop. An experienced developer can use these tools to save hours of typing to realised ideas they are designing. (1/2)

2026-03-20 12:16:39 UTC

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Nat and I plan to bring our cloud chamber project to #EMFcamp. We need interesting things to play with it.

2026-03-20 10:09:52 UTC

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I am holding you 100% responsible for my purchase of some Uranium glass just now.

2026-02-28 18:47:48 UTC

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Was great to see so may folks. Sorry I never got to have a good look at your project Mike. The day ran out!

2026-02-24 20:53:59 UTC

The cloud chamber is assembled with a proper display installed. Now testing how cold we can get the temperature plate. Nat and I will be showing this project at the #RaspberryPi Birthday this coming Saturday at #Makespace in Cambridge.
#CloudChamber
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/127/572/169/317/670/original/9d9c0ed6f173ab52.png

2026-01-05 00:09:34 UTC

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We are placing terracotta plant pots upturned over some 12 hour candles overnight in the greenhouse to try and counter the subzero temperatures at night. It looks so nice glowing in the dark I had to capture a photo of it when I lit them tonight. #gardening
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/115/839/579/328/586/974/original/156bab9a519e0786.png

2026-01-05 00:01:00 UTC

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Seeing such a temperature difference between the outside sensor and the one in the polytunnel I decided the position of the magnetic attached sensor on a large steel bolt on a truss up near the polytunnel roof was resulting in too low readings for what the plants on the ground are experiencing. So today I moved the polytunnel sensor to a wooden stake near the ground in the polytunnel. I also placed the ‘outside’ sensor close by to confirm they are reporting similar values in the same location.

2026-01-03 23:05:36 UTC

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Pleased with progress today on my first e-ink dashboard project for my home assistant data. Not sure why the sensor outside is reading warmer than those in the greenhouse and polytunnel, but this is the data the sensors are sending. #ha
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/115/833/661/070/402/150/original/5e62c82e709823ba.png

2026-01-02 22:25:58 UTC

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Built my first automation, and then fixed my first bug in my automations. Linked a presence detector to a smart plug so the fairy lights come on when someone is in the room when the sun is down. They switch off 60 seconds after nobody is present. The bug was they didn't switch off if the sun was up by the time people left the room. #HA

2026-01-02 14:18:40 UTC

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Yes, my go to reference every Pico project, and Pi projects in the past too.

2025-12-29 21:57:37 UTC

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Finished the day setting up my first automation, to turn on WLED strip when presence sensor is triggered. That was so easy to do! I am going to have fun with this. My wife is probably not going to be impressed!

2025-12-29 21:54:29 UTC

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Spent much of the day getting to grips with #zigbee and #HA setup. Took me a while to realise that the battery powered devices do not act as network repeaters, so all my garden located devices were not visible. Then I learned that they go to sleep after a while of not seeing the network. Finally got a chain of repeaters set up so the zigbee network extends up the garden, and now greenhouse and polytunnel sensors are showing up. #smarthome

2025-12-25 16:16:21 UTC

This Christmas I will be getting Home Assistant set up with this lot of goodies from #pimoroni #HomeAssistant #HA
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/115/781/086/597/480/648/original/6f9bed76150f3692.png

2025-11-23 17:02:46 UTC

Mrs. F returns from the garden with tonight’s veg. #gardening #homegrown
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/115/600/083/802/515/259/original/a303f05943062304.png

2025-09-24 15:10:55 UTC

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They really are tiny. Here are some front cover views. #minibooks
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/115/259/905/494/806/300/original/ec20fcecffdecb28.png

2025-09-24 13:16:32 UTC

Over the weekend I spent some time teaching my daughter CAD. They designed a miniature wooden bookcase which I laser cut last night at Makespace and today they filled it with the miniature books they have been hand painting. #maker #makespacecambridge #books #MiniaturePainting #laser
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/115/259/441/267/251/315/original/f0cf1313b164de1e.png

2025-08-26 09:14:31 UTC

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Using the Pi primarily to teach children and hobbyist adults about computers and programming I do find that venvs are a big barrier for people to get over. They just want to play with python and control some electronics but now need to learn some complex concepts first. We’ve lost the simple first steps experience of running pip to install some libs, then write a few lines of code and see cool stuff working.

2025-06-21 13:13:01 UTC

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I bought a USB pass through dongle from Pimoroni which measures power consumption of any USB device plugged into it.

2025-05-11 18:04:22 UTC

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If you have any tips for attaining a deep low power sleep, I really need one after the weekend I’ve just had.

2025-05-10 18:32:31 UTC

Just as I was dealing with the shit hitting my life fan in a big way recently, a much bigger shit has hit an even bigger personal fan. Life is currently extraordinarily testing. Unable to share details in order to protect the privacy of those concerned. Normal maker content likely to be deferred for a while yet. #life

2025-03-19 17:14:40 UTC

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From the tracking page there was no option to given any additional information. Just status. I had to find a 'secret url' link in the other SMS which didn't tell me the tracking information but asked me for it instead, and once entered allowed me to see the address and choose options for delivery.

2025-03-19 16:57:30 UTC

A step forward with my mystery FedEx parcel. SMS said unable to deliver as nobody at premises (I was sat working by the front window all morning, so nobody tried to deliver). Link asked for number from the card 'left at the address' which I didn't have as nobody came here. I managed to find a tracking link in an older 'expect your delivery' SMS. Status of parcel was 'incorrect address', so sat at depot for a week. 1/n

2025-02-06 09:50:59 UTC

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Calm and strong!

2025-02-01 23:07:42 UTC

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Oh man, sorry to hear that. I hope better times (and better beers) lie ahead.

2025-01-29 15:49:10 UTC

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I’m slowly building up to sending @npub1jjf…jh0u a pull request to merge my enhancements into his Pico libraries!

2025-01-29 15:36:39 UTC

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Of course now I finally got my code to compile and link, it doesn't actually work. #devlife

2025-01-29 14:54:28 UTC

Some days you end up spending 2 hours trying to resolve a C++ linker error to eventually realise you saved the cpp file for your class into a different folder to the header.

2025-01-24 21:02:11 UTC

I got my 3 body problem simulation running on the RP2350. So much better with a floating point unit and faster CPU. #pico2 #pimoroni #RaspberryPi
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/113/885/330/549/986/261/original/8cfa8a952dcd3ad2.mp4

2025-01-10 19:56:10 UTC

It's done. My time on the former birdsite is ended for good. No looking back now. #Fediverse
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/113/805/809/354/666/398/original/f5162bda9135c8a4.jpg

2024-12-26 18:00:09 UTC

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How it’s going. This looks right, doesn’t it? #Voron #3dprinting
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/113/720/418/717/269/151/original/8ce777008e24efc8.jpg

2024-12-26 15:33:56 UTC

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It took some thinking, but I have found pins for both my filament sensors, the PZ Revo probe, X end-stop and made a custom lead so I can plug the Revo heater core and thermistor in to the CAN bus BTT EBB tool head board. Lots of crimping connectors and now the rest of my problems will be in the software config. #Voron #3dprinting #Revo
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/113/719/803/109/534/596/original/b5611047345ea91f.jpg

2024-12-25 17:05:09 UTC

Progress with my custom Trident hot-end build. Piezo Revo cold side mounted and filament cutter mod fully assembled. #voron #3dprinting #Revo #ERCFv2
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/113/714/537/708/657/525/original/b0d4bf4f2d486619.jpg

2024-12-18 19:44:34 UTC

Realising that AliExpress O-ring sizing refers to diameter and not circumference. #Maker #Fail
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/113/675/534/105/289/776/original/2cb1fb709f30c349.jpg

2024-12-02 09:54:25 UTC

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I have a CM4 on a Waveshare base board which provides this. I've not tested it with the new CM5 yet, but if it is compatible it gives a Pi size form factor with all the ports including full size HDMI on one end of the board. https://thepihut.com/products/mini-base-board-c-for-raspberry-pi-compute-module-4

2024-11-28 22:02:06 UTC

I may have accidentally gone into the #RaspberryPi store today.
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/113/562/825/922/831/025/original/8677cf210b36544f.jpg

2024-11-05 09:30:02 UTC

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Thankfully all I’ve done with mine is light up some LEDs so far.

2024-10-12 19:28:00 UTC

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I had thought I was looking at a very steep sloping roof. But after reading your comment and viewing the picture again I have a new appreciation of the orientation of the viewpoint!

2024-10-12 17:49:48 UTC

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Nice vertical garden though.

2024-10-10 08:50:38 UTC

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Mosquitoes like static water, but ours is constantly falling from the sky and flowing places. The wrong kind of wet.

2024-10-03 12:23:06 UTC

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A nice clear article, but I thought @npub1jjf…jh0u found there was more to it than just the internal pull-downs causing the pins to latch at 2.1V? Any update on your findings Phil?

2024-09-10 12:57:58 UTC

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Mostly was just left with stuff I put on the table myself in the hope somebody else would take it!

2024-09-10 08:51:08 UTC

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Some really neat stuff came and went at this table over the weekend. Will 100% do this again.

2024-09-07 11:31:53 UTC

#FootFest Tech Swap table. We’ve learned a few things from #EMFCamp
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/113/096/040/139/698/692/original/23a612d0895c7d9a.jpg

2024-09-01 14:23:31 UTC

Some variety from the garden. #gardening
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/113/062/741/005/804/813/original/2552d4e0930772c0.jpg

2024-08-28 18:16:22 UTC

The compost heap is hot! #compost #gardening
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/113/041/007/537/358/239/original/ddc9d99046a0ef7a.jpg
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/113/041/007/643/165/531/original/b595e0a2d00e3a8a.jpg

2024-08-26 09:49:32 UTC

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I’ve never seen a website load so fast on my phone!

2024-08-25 18:05:49 UTC

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There were places on today’s trip where I would have been glad to be greased up and pulled through on a rope.

2024-08-25 16:09:32 UTC

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We came out pretty clean considering we just spent 4 hours crawling and squirming down a stream. We were excited by a place you could just about stand up, about an hour in. But on the way out as we passed the same place we realised this was the last standing room for the next hour!

2024-08-25 15:21:35 UTC

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Survivors selfie! That was a tough caving trip. Nat did amazingly considering they have never done a prolonged wet and constricted cave as today’s trip. Tired but triumphant.
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/113/023/286/576/417/171/original/5e14995963f38b2a.jpg

2024-08-25 08:28:28 UTC

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Adventure awaits!
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/113/021/706/780/832/923/original/7778a051155d14f7.jpg

2024-08-24 21:26:21 UTC

A couple of days after GCSE results, we are going to bed for the night in a caving depot ready for our most challenging father and daughter trip yet. Daughter asks me to tuck them in and say goodnight. Then adds “Don’t squeeze me too hard, I’m full of beer!”. Parenting done right.

2024-08-20 20:23:48 UTC

Assembly begins! This is the #Pimoroni #Picade Max we are building in Pi Club at #Makespace.
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/112/996/208/110/743/622/original/ff8e1ea49873516a.jpg

2024-08-17 13:27:23 UTC

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You are tester 134. Tester 133 got a different deal (well a different code).

2024-08-16 08:01:08 UTC

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Looking forward to starting our build at Makespace next week.