Wolfmans Howlings

Upgrading a Rails 3 app to the latest Rails 8.x

Posted by Jim Morris on 2026-01-20 17:37:59 +0000

I wrote the blog engine this blog is hosted on in 2009, that is 23 years ago as I write this.

It was running a very old version of Ruby (1.8 as I recall) running on a very old version of Ubuntu server, and was ported to Rails3 from merb. It ran all that time, but finally started to show its age (as we all do!).

Posted in Rails | Tags rails,upgrade | no comments

Building a SVD microchip documentation database

Posted by Jim Morris on 2026-01-20 15:33:58 +0000

Overview

While I was doing the baremetal RP2350 Risc-V project, and my attempts to write peripheral drivers for my Mecrisp-Forth projects I spent a lot of time searching through the various document for the chips I was using. Mainly the RP2350 and STM32H7xx, whose documents are pretty extensive and it really is time consuming to find what you need.

Posted in assembler,RISC-V,STM32,SVD | Tags risc-v,assembly,baremetal,stm32,svd | no comments

Getting started with FPV Drones

Posted by Jim Morris on 2026-01-09 22:22:00 +0000

Ok so I got a new obsession (not bad for my age), Drones or Quad copters to be more precise. It fits in well with my 3d Printing obsession and my Robotics obsession.

It started with me looking for a way to use the brushless motor and ESC I got off Amazon to play with. I stumbled upon an interesting design of a Monocopter, as it turns out a very advanced concept project of a Drone that uses a single motor and 4 servo controlled flaps.

Posted in Hobby,Drones | Tags quadcopter,drones,fpv | no comments

Bare metal gpio twiddling for RISC-V on rpi pico2

Posted by Jim Morris on 2025-05-19 03:55:53 +0000

UPDATE I got a little carried away with this and ended up writing low level code to access nearly all the main peripherals on the RP2350, with examples of how to use them. All written in 100% Risc-v assembly code. Find all the code here

Posted in pipico,assembler,RISC-V | Tags risc-v,pico2,RP2350,assembly,code,bare,metal | 2 comments

How to create a PCB with a K40 Laser cutter

Posted by Jim Morris on 2018-08-30 09:35:20 +0000

I have tried the various techniques for creating PCBs on a laser cutter (both a 3w led and K40 CO2). The issue was the paint would leave a residue on the PCB after being lasered, and removing it proved to be hard to impossible. Using the toothbrush approach it didn't touch it, and using IPA it took off the thinner traces too.

So I came up with an alternative.

Posted in Hobby,Electronics | Tags pcb,etching,k40 | 2 comments

A Makerslide based delta 3D printer

Posted by Jim Morris on 2012-12-16 16:47:33 +0000

UPDATE the project is currently hosted on Github

Posted in Robotics,3D Printing,Reprap | Tags makerslide,delta,kossel,rostock,reprap | 4 comments

Openbeam self balancing robot

Posted by Jim Morris on 2012-12-03 02:26:22 +0000

Having some time on my hands I have taken up several hobbies. One is 3D printing, and the other is restarting my robot hobby.

The 3D printing is a whole other story, and I'll probably blog about my adventures in modifying and building a Delta printer soon.

Posted in Robotics | Tags robot,balancing,openbeam | 3 comments

Groovy bean dialogs

Posted by Jim Morris on 2012-02-21 16:36:46 +0000

I really wanted to share this one as it is so cool.

I have been writing some database GUI admin tools using Groovy and I use SwingBuilder to build the UI as it tends to be easier than using Swing directly.

Posted in Java,Groovy,SwingBuilder | Tags groovy,swingbuilder | 1 comments

How to implement Polymorphic protocol buffers in Java

Posted by Jim Morris on 2011-11-23 00:08:34 +0000

I decided to use Googles Protocol Buffers for a new server. I have been writing custom binary protocols for over 15 years for my various servers, as well as using XML and JSON on occasions.

I prefer binary protocols as they tend to be lean and mean when it comes to bandwidth.

Posted in Java | Tags netty,protocolbuffers | 6 comments