Toby Kurien

The secret to getting great performance out of a Raspberry Pi, even an older one like the model 3B+, is to use the lowest screen resolution possible (in addition to the obvious things like enabling hardware GPU acceleration).

In which I demo the #raspberrypi #handheld #portable #computer I built last year, espousing it's virtues.

Every device gets a cert.

Bought a new Android phone and want to remove the bloat, spyware and tracking?

Photos from a recent trip to Hartebeespoort Dam #photo

Podcast recommendation: Darknet Diaries.

How to Build a Small Solar Power System: an in-depth article that goes into all the details and nuances of running devices and small appliances off solar panels.

New birds spotted around my house: two Spotted thick-knee that laid eggs, and a Greater striped swallow.

I enjoyed reading this, a lot!

Podcast recommendation: Late Night Linux.

UPDATE 2025/08/26: Nextcloud Hosting is now known as PrivateHub Online Today I'm launching my new business called Nextcloud Hosting.

This is not a photo of an old CRT screen, it's cool-retro-term!

Neal.fun - a bunch of absolutely delightful interactive apps.

Mechanical Watch - an incredible interactive blog post detailing the mechanisms and workings of a mechanical pocket watch.

More photos from a recent trip to Kerala, India.

Photos from a recent trip to Kerala, India.

Podcast recommendation: The Art of Manliness.

Here is something I am working on: a solar powered UPS for routers (for my friends).

I wanted to find out what the minimum hardware for running a reasonably good Large Language Model at home would be, so I bought a refurbished ThinkCentre M715q with AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 2400GE CPU.

An inspiring talk by Kartik, like a TED talk for programmers.

I hacked together a prototype of the previously-mentioned handheld portable computer, using a Raspberry Pi 4 and 5 inch LCD touchscreen.

This DIY handheld computer build blows me away with how well it's done.

My DIY battery-powered wireless driveway visitor detector, take 3!

Some photos from a recent camping trip to the bushveld.

The hill in the background is shaped just like an Elephant's silhouette, hence the name Olifantsnek.

Recently spotted: Meerkat, Cape Glossy Starling sunbathing, African Hoopoe #birding #photo

Book recommendation: The power of fun by Catherine Price.

Since about 2015, smartphones have been getting increasingly user-hostile and locked down.

My house got struck by lightning again, taking out the alarm system again.

Bought this ESP32-based Esplay Micro V2, and it is sweet!

Shout-out to Podgrab, an excellent self-hosted podcast manager/downloader written in Go.

Today's project: #diy battery for my 2015 phone.

If you're part of the #TwitterMigration #TwitterExodus to #Mastodon then you can follow me there on @tobykurien@mastodon.social - I've been there since April 2017.

Introduction Let's say you want to self-host a Gemini capsule and a weblog.

Grey go-away-birds (AKA grey loerie) having a party in my bird bath!

I bought this comically tiny phone in June and it's been my daily driver since.

Made a distraction-free audiobook player using a Raspberry Pi 3A.

Book recommendation: THIS IS HOW THEY TELL ME THE WORLD ENDS, Nicole Perlroth.

Here's a pic of my fridge-top Smol Data Centre, which I previously blogged about on gemini at gemini://tobykurien.com/articles/2022-05-17-smol-data-centre.gmi #photo #diy

Everything you need to know about #happiness, distilled in one insightful #podcast episode Evidence-Based Strategies for Being Happy | Laurie Santos | Knowledge Project https://www.youtube.com/watch?

Made an extended battery pack for my aging MacBook that also acts as a comfortable base.

Computers were "good enough" 5 years ago, and we're still using them for the exact same purposes.

Everything that becomes popular turns to crap.

Birds photographed on a recent trip: Half-collared Kingfisher, Black Swan (in captivity), Giant Kingfisher .

Photos from a recent trip to Hartebeespoort #photo #holiday

After decades of Ubuntu use, I've replaced my desktop OS with antiX.

"Nearly all of modern computer engineers are working above so many layers that there’s no human way to understand what they are doing." gemini://rawtext.club/~ploum/2022-04-05-firefox-ubuntu.gmi #computing #philosophy #ubuntu #snaps The Theological Problem

Back in 2015, I predicted that once ad-blocking became common, we would be faced with server-side tracking: You know what will happen once most of us install ad-blockers?

Another one takes the red pill and wakes up from the Matrix - "I think the internet is broken - Chris Hawkes" Chris Hawkes https://youtube.com/watch?

These 3D printed computer terminals are simply gorgeous!