From: Petter Reinholdtsen Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2018 08:34:25 +0000 (+0200) Subject: Add new blog posts. X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/commitdiff_plain/629823433cb0df2f2752769abc9900a5b3cae997 Add new blog posts. --- diff --git a/blog/data/2018-06-26-kodi-projector.txt b/blog/data/2018-06-26-kodi-projector.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..f6d09c8fee --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/data/2018-06-26-kodi-projector.txt @@ -0,0 +1,57 @@ +Title: Add-on to control the projector from within Kodi +Tags: english, video, multimedia +Date: 2018-06-26 23:55 + +

My movie playing setup involve Kodi, +OpenELEC (probably soon to be +replaced with LibreELEC) and an +Infocus IN76 video projector. My projector can be controlled via both +a infrared remote controller, and a RS-232 serial line. The vendor of +my projector, InFocus, had been +sensible enough to document the serial protocol in its user manual, so +it is easily available, and I used it some years ago to write +a +small script to control the projector. For a while now, I longed +for a setup where the projector was controlled by Kodi, for example in +such a way that when the screen saver went on, the projector was +turned off, and when the screen saver exited, the projector was turned +on again.

+ +

A few days ago, with very good help from parts of my family, I +managed to find a Kodi Add-on for controlling a Epson projector, and +got in touch with its author to see if we could join forces and make a +Add-on with support for several projectors. To my pleasure, he was +positive to the idea, and we set out to add InFocus support to his +add-on, and make the add-on suitable for the official Kodi add-on +repository.

+ +

The Add-on is now working (for me, at least), with a few minor +adjustments. The most important change I do relative to the master +branch in the github repository is embedding the +pyserial module in +the add-on. The long term solution is to make a "script" type +pyserial module for Kodi, that can be pulled in as a dependency in +Kodi. But until that in place, I embed it.

+ +

The add-on can be configured to turn on the projector when Kodi +starts, off when Kodi stops as well as turn the projector off when the +screensaver start and on when the screesaver stops. It can also be +told to set the projector source when turning on the projector. + +

If this sound interesting to you, check out +the +project github repository. Perhaps you can send patches to +support your projector too? As soon as we find time to wrap up the +latest changes, it should be available for easy installation using any +Kodi instance.

+ +

For future improvements, I would like to add projector model +detection and the ability to adjust the brightness level of the +projector from within Kodi. We also need to figure out how to handle +the cooling period of the projector. My projector refuses to turn on +for 60 seconds after it was turned off. This is not handled well by +the add-on at the moment.

+ +

As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my +activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address +15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b.

diff --git a/blog/data/2018-06-30-stone-power.txt b/blog/data/2018-06-30-stone-power.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..d14bed5a8f --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/data/2018-06-30-stone-power.txt @@ -0,0 +1,19 @@ +Title: The worlds only stone power plant? +Tags: english +Date: 2018-06-30 10:35 + +

So far, at least hydro-electric power, coal power, wind power, +solar power, and wood power are well known. Until a few days ago, I +had never heard of a stone power. Then I learn about a quarry in a +mountain in +Bremanger i +Norway, where +the +Bremanger Quarry company is extracting stone and dumping the stone +into a shaft leading to its shipping harbour. This downward movement +in this shaft is used to produce electricity. In short, it is using +falling rocks instead of falling water to produce electricity, and +according to its own statements it is producing more power than it is +using, and selling the surplus electricity to the Norwegian power +grid. I find the concept truly amazing. Is this the worlds only +stone power plant?