Busy hands | Disquiet mind

Divoom Pixoo Slingbag is nice looking bag, with a 16x16 RGB LED screen in it. I was curious and wanted to look inside. (I must caution you if you buy one for yourself; there are always discounts, don't pay full price. And their after-sales marketing is often overwhelming.)

The bag is constructed well, of decent quality materials. The LED grid works very well. The app for it, on the other hand, is absolute hell. Other people have made alternative clients for them, like the DivoomClient for ESP32, Divoom Timebox Evo, but the only one I personally tried out was the Windows Diwoom client. Which worked pretty well, but made me realise the bluetooth communication isn't protected at all. If there isn't a client currently connected to the bag, there's nothing stopping anyone else from connecting and changing the displayed image. So clearly the hardware had to come out.

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Outside view of the bag, new display in place, running Rainbow example
Photo by chebe

This bag is quite eye-catching, and people have asked me questions about it whenever I've brought it out. I look forward to customising the animations, eventually. There are repos that will decode the actual animations from the app, but there doesn't seem to be a ready library for implementing them in MicroPython (I saw a promising one for CircuitPython, which alas is not MircroPython), but I'll keep investigating. Also, the original display is still functional, so that might find a use somewhere that isn't public.

Some time ago I got myself an Adafruit LED Glasses Starter Kit. But other than turning it on and running the example code I hadn't done much with it. Then with the return of Congress I, of course, wanted all the LEDs, so I dug it out. First things first, how am I going to wear this?

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Front panel and driver attached to my glasses
Photo by chebe

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The fabric choice in the top was driven by the fabrics I wanted to use in the trousers. The trousers in question being a soft tuxedo-style; BurdaStyle Smoking Trousers (Plus Size), March 2013, numbered 140B, (same pdf as the 'Marlene (as in Dietrich) Trousers'). The provided image doesn't really show anything, so let me describe them. These are a non-stretch straight-leg pattern to be made up in crepe. It closes with an invisble zipper in the centre-back, and there are back waist darts. The (front) pockets are curved, and the waistband has a two-overlapping-at-centre-front-curved-pieces detail, that is actually sewn together, with two buttons as just decoration. The pattern also has optional side stripes, which it suggests to use a sequin fabric with.

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Burda Smoking Trousers, finished, front view
Photo by chebe

Not too long ago I got my hands on a Purism Librem 5. I'm still trying to get to know this device, so I can't say much about it yet. Except that I love everything it's going for. I just don't know how to make it work for me. Mainly because, with a fully charged battery, and all the hardware switches in the off position, by morning there is hardly any charge left. *sad shrug*

But you know me; if it's a small piece of tech it needs a case! You cannot buy a case for this phone. You must make your own. Thankfully there is a whole case repo with options for you. I went with the slim phone case.

You might have noticed that these cases are meant to be printed in TPU. I've never tried TPU before, so let's give that a go! I ordered the TPU from my printer manufacturer in the hopes that it would work with less effort. I, um. Well, it's a case, that's for sure. But. This is stringy. When the print comes off the bed I had to pull/scrape away as much excess material as I could. I had to snip some blobs off. I tried to melt some problems away. But mostly that resulted in nearly creating holes. There are places where the layers didn't bond, and I had to cut some of them off. The inside corners of the case gathered a lot of extra material, and makes the case fit even tighter. But it does fit. So, mostly a success I guess. (If I try another print I'd pick a chonky case.) TPU is tricky y'all.

Librem5, in a black TPU case, front
Photo by chebe

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