This was an experiment to decode the SPI data sent from a Pico to a TFT display from Pimoroni, using my recent purchase - the Siglent SDS1104X-E oscilloscope.

To generate some test data, I modified the sample program supplied with the display to place four blocks of colour in the corners. These colour blocks are rotated every 10 seconds.

I finally gave in and bought an oscilloscope, the Siglent SDS1104X-E.

Well January was busy.

The Raspberry Pi Pico announcement was very interesting, not least for the price of $4. I ordered one the next day, and here is the Pico running a demo on Pimoroni’s cute 1.14" IPS display.

In the area of New Year resolutions, this seemed like a good opportunity to update my personal site, which has offered just a single page for the last few years. The intention is to post more updates on more subjects, but we’ll see how normal life interferes with that goal.

2020 was a weird and difficult year, and we are not out of the woods yet. Today also marks the completion of the UK’s withdrawal from Europe. Speaking personally, as someone who has travelled and worked across Europe, I find this sad, damaging and retrograde. Obviously those contacts can continue, but the theatre of a political divorce, not to mention the economic impact, seems ridiculous given the global issues we all face.

I’ve been lucky to travel extensively throughout my career. This almost completely stopped in 2020 and is unlikely to return to previous levels, which has prompted me to look back over the photos taken in some of these countries. Hopefully some of these will make it onto the site.

The site still uses Hugo, but with a new theme. See the credits page for more details on how the site is built. There’s obviously more work to do - the mobile version is broken, and I’d like to remove external dependencies.