As part of preparing for the next project, I set up an area with synthetic grass mat.
It ended up being done in two stages — first, I leveled the ground, prepared the edge for a border strip, laid down geotextile, and just threw the mat on top without securing it.
But when I came back three weeks later, I found something unpleasant — I hadn’t removed all the plant roots, and bulb flowers along with some particularly strong remaining roots had sprouted just fine, even without sunlight. I had to peel everything back, dig it up, and re-lay it. At the same time, I also added some sand, because after the rains the soil had settled in places, and the area was no longer level.
Hopefully this time, I won’t have to redo the work so soon.
It ended up being done in two stages — first, I leveled the ground, prepared the edge for a border strip, laid down geotextile, and just threw the mat on top without securing it.
But when I came back three weeks later, I found something unpleasant — I hadn’t removed all the plant roots, and bulb flowers along with some particularly strong remaining roots had sprouted just fine, even without sunlight. I had to peel everything back, dig it up, and re-lay it. At the same time, I also added some sand, because after the rains the soil had settled in places, and the area was no longer level.
Hopefully this time, I won’t have to redo the work so soon.
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Today's blog post is about setting up Klipper (3d printer firmware) on a Raspberry Pi and connecting it to the Two Trees Sapphire Plus printer.
I also cover timelapse setup and share another 4K example on YouTube.
P.S. Tomorrow’s post will be about welding. The aesthetics are, of course, a disaster — but technically, everything worked out just fine.
I also cover timelapse setup and share another 4K example on YouTube.
P.S. Tomorrow’s post will be about welding. The aesthetics are, of course, a disaster — but technically, everything worked out just fine.
So, here's the promised post about welding.
As I mentioned before, I can't weld. And after 60 cm of welds, I still haven't learned.
Thankfully, any extra weld can be ground off, and the piece isn't aiming for aesthetics anyway.
As for filming, here are some quick notes:
1. Shooting through welding glass sucks (video 1) — you can’t see a damn thing.
2. GoPro has a really distant focus, which only gets “fixed” with macro lenses (already ordered), so I filmed the second welding clip on my phone (video 2).
3. I need to figure out how to protect the gear not just from light, but from molten metal too — the glass I used got filled with embedded bits of steel.
And video 3 shows the first welds — before and after cleanup (and slightly rusty after the rain).
I'll tell you what this thing is a bit later.
As I mentioned before, I can't weld. And after 60 cm of welds, I still haven't learned.
Thankfully, any extra weld can be ground off, and the piece isn't aiming for aesthetics anyway.
As for filming, here are some quick notes:
1. Shooting through welding glass sucks (video 1) — you can’t see a damn thing.
2. GoPro has a really distant focus, which only gets “fixed” with macro lenses (already ordered), so I filmed the second welding clip on my phone (video 2).
3. I need to figure out how to protect the gear not just from light, but from molten metal too — the glass I used got filled with embedded bits of steel.
And video 3 shows the first welds — before and after cleanup (and slightly rusty after the rain).
I'll tell you what this thing is a bit later.
Today I'm working on some Shorts — screen recordings, video footage, and editing.
Not really aiming for a finished product — this is more about improving my skills in editing, filming, lighting, adding audio, text overlays, and all that stuff.
It's not enough for a full video, but for short-form content — it works just fine.
Here's a quick teaser of the editing timeline. I still need to shoot two more clips (and try to show at least some acting skills), add the text, finish editing, and upload the model to Thingiverse.
Not really aiming for a finished product — this is more about improving my skills in editing, filming, lighting, adding audio, text overlays, and all that stuff.
It's not enough for a full video, but for short-form content — it works just fine.
Here's a quick teaser of the editing timeline. I still need to shoot two more clips (and try to show at least some acting skills), add the text, finish editing, and upload the model to Thingiverse.
For the video about the Caretaker, I’ve also been generating background music tracks in Suno.
And for one of the segments about the docking station, ChatGPT gave me a prompt that results in music sounding very similar to 8-bit soundtracks from classic Dendy-era games.
Almost every track that comes out of it is actually quite good.
Since it doesn’t quite fit as background music for me, but I think it would be a shame to just toss it and not share it with anyone — here is a few of the tracks I got.
P.S. The style prompt was:
And for one of the segments about the docking station, ChatGPT gave me a prompt that results in music sounding very similar to 8-bit soundtracks from classic Dendy-era games.
Almost every track that comes out of it is actually quite good.
Since it doesn’t quite fit as background music for me, but I think it would be a shame to just toss it and not share it with anyone — here is a few of the tracks I got.
P.S. The style prompt was:
Uplifting DIY-tech beat with hints of chiptune and optimistic synths. Friendly, warm, and slightly robotic.This media is not supported in your browser
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According to the weather forecast, there was supposed to be a thunderstorm here, but it's just raining.
In search of more accurate data, I came across a real-time lightning map. It shows every single lightning strike with precise coordinates. It's actually kind of mesmerizing to watch.
For example, something intense is going on right now near Dallas in the U.S.
Meanwhile, the storm completely bypassed me by about 150 kilometers. Disappointing.
P.S. The color of each dot shows when the strike occurred — white is right now, dark red is two hours ago. You can track the direction of the storm by following the gradient.
In search of more accurate data, I came across a real-time lightning map. It shows every single lightning strike with precise coordinates. It's actually kind of mesmerizing to watch.
For example, something intense is going on right now near Dallas in the U.S.
Meanwhile, the storm completely bypassed me by about 150 kilometers. Disappointing.
P.S. The color of each dot shows when the strike occurred — white is right now, dark red is two hours ago. You can track the direction of the storm by following the gradient.
I finally finished the Shorts video — you can watch it on my channel.
It shows the monitor shelf model along with the whole manufacturing process.
The STL file is on Thingiverse.
I skipped voice-over and subtitles; there really isn’t much to comment on.
If a 40-second clip took me a whole week to make, I’m afraid to imagine how long a 20-minute video about the Caretaker will take…
Here’s the short itself: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/y5xILtyiPig
It shows the monitor shelf model along with the whole manufacturing process.
The STL file is on Thingiverse.
I skipped voice-over and subtitles; there really isn’t much to comment on.
If a 40-second clip took me a whole week to make, I’m afraid to imagine how long a 20-minute video about the Caretaker will take…
Here’s the short itself: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/y5xILtyiPig
WASD / Arrow Key control is now available in the Caretaker web interface.
Interestingly, this feature wasn’t implemented by me — or even by Cursor — but by ChatGPT Codex, to which I simply submitted this GitHub issue. In response, it generated a working pull request.
Video 1: Codex coding process, 2× speed.
Video 2: Demonstration of keyboard control. Also shows latency when connecting via Wi-Fi through two thin concrete walls.
A blog post with full technical details will be published tomorrow.
Interestingly, this feature wasn’t implemented by me — or even by Cursor — but by ChatGPT Codex, to which I simply submitted this GitHub issue. In response, it generated a working pull request.
Video 1: Codex coding process, 2× speed.
Video 2: Demonstration of keyboard control. Also shows latency when connecting via Wi-Fi through two thin concrete walls.
A blog post with full technical details will be published tomorrow.
A bit more information about Codex from chatGPT in today's blog article.
How to set it up, what capabilities it provides, a bit about how it works, and a small comparison with Cursor.
How to set it up, what capabilities it provides, a bit about how it works, and a small comparison with Cursor.
I like space.
GoPro has a dedicated timelapse mode that captures the motion of stars across the sky.
The result — a 1.5-hour recording in a 5-second video — looks quite impressive.
I used to shoot astrophotos when I had the chance to get far away from light pollution.
One of my best examples is from Egypt — the White Desert.
That was the first time I managed to capture the Milky Way in such detail.
At first, I even thought it was just clouds or glow from nearby towns.
Actually, you can take a photo like that with almost any smartphone.
For the simplest case, a night mode is enough.
If you want better quality, switch to Pro mode and adjust a few settings:
Shutter speed (S) — start with 5 seconds and then adjust as needed
ISO — set it to the maximum your phone allows
Enable a timer to avoid shaking the camera at the start
Never shoot handheld — even leaning the phone on a rock works better
The Egypt photos were taken using an ordinary Android smartphone, leaned up against a rock in the desert.
GoPro has a dedicated timelapse mode that captures the motion of stars across the sky.
The result — a 1.5-hour recording in a 5-second video — looks quite impressive.
I used to shoot astrophotos when I had the chance to get far away from light pollution.
One of my best examples is from Egypt — the White Desert.
That was the first time I managed to capture the Milky Way in such detail.
At first, I even thought it was just clouds or glow from nearby towns.
Actually, you can take a photo like that with almost any smartphone.
For the simplest case, a night mode is enough.
If you want better quality, switch to Pro mode and adjust a few settings:
Shutter speed (S) — start with 5 seconds and then adjust as needed
ISO — set it to the maximum your phone allows
Enable a timer to avoid shaking the camera at the start
Never shoot handheld — even leaning the phone on a rock works better
The Egypt photos were taken using an ordinary Android smartphone, leaned up against a rock in the desert.