According to the documentation on meshtastic.org, the T-Beam v0.7, although old, is a supported device. Every ESP32 firmware download should contain a file named “firmware-tbeam0.7-X.X.X.xxxxxxx.bin“.
However, if you download the latest Meshtastic stable/beta firmware release, v2.7.15.567b8ea at the time of writing, you will not find any file with that name. This means that at some point they silently dropped support for the T-Beam v0.7 and didn’t bother updating the documentation anywhere.
So I wrote a Python script that downloads all Meshtastic releases, unzips them, and looks for a file matching the expected pattern (which, by the way, turned out to be wrong: it’s “firmware-tbeam0_7...“, not “firmware-tbeam0.7...“, those pesky Meshtastic liars!).
Anyway, here it is, enjoy! The latest Meshtastic firmware release that supports the T-Beam v0.7:
You know how your neighbors sometimes set clever WiFi names on their networks? Something like “FBI Surveillance Van” or “It hurts when IP”.
I though there should be an application where we should be able to chat via WiFi network names, in a more convenient way.
Since the Gods of AI have blessed us with cursor, I (cough cough cursor) wrote the following Linux CLI application which does exactly that. Messages are sent as 802.11 beacons, and any beacons that match formatting are displayed.
I registered this domain name exactly 20 years ago! How time has passed, right?
Back then, this website was running on my good old “barracuda”, a closet web server at my parent’s apartment, behind a 24 Mbit/s ADSL Internet connection. Uptime was spotless, unless my mother decided to run the vacuum and couldn’t find a free wall socket.
Of course as any self-respected home-hoster from the early 2000s, I was running my own MRTG page for every NIC. (LWN, which stands for Ljungby Wireless Network, was my failed attempt to start something similar to AWMN (Athens Wireless Metropolitan Network) in my little town of Ljungby. Of course this endeavor never took off, as Sweden had the pleasures of “fast” and affordable ADSL Internet back then, which the lack of mostly motivated the creation of vast metropolitan wireless networks in Greece.)
Here is a snapshot of what this website looked like 20 years ago. I remember it being a little more orange, but I guess we should be thankful that the Internet Archive is still around at all. Btw, the CMS I was running back then, before switching to WordPress around 2007, was CMSimple which somehow is still around as well.
There is a high chance I did compile Apache before you were born.
Remember kids, there is no cloud, it’s just someone else’s computer…
Greetings, future me or anyone else who may stumble upon this message.
Have you encountered the unfortunate situation of being compelled to use a Sagemcom F@st 2404 ADSL modem? Perhaps you were daring enough to install OpenWRT on it, only to realize that you lack the necessary 3.3V serial cable to proceed past the “firstboot” screen.
Fear not, for Uncle Dimme once again comes to the rescue! No need to delve deep into the abyss of scouring Tunisian telecom-company forums in search of the original firmware.
Yes, I am alive. I know I haven’t posted anything in three years. There are many reasons behind this, but I will leave this for another time.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I got into this aviation thing back in 2015. Since then, I have taken it further and completed a commercial pilot’s license with multiple engine and instrument ratings and some other stuff. What does this all mean? I can now fly the big birds for money if an operator decides to hire me. But to the big question, how do you get an operator to hire you?
It is not a simple task; you have to submit countless applications and be prepared never to hear back from anyone. They say there is a pilot shortage, hmm…? If you are lucky, you might be called to an assessment. What? You don’t know what an assessment is? Don’t worry. I got you covered.
In the aviation industry, assessments are what job interviews are in any other field of work. But since pilots are rich (we are rich, right? somebody, please confirm?), assessments have to be complicated money and time-consuming processes. I was partially lucky and got called to an assessment for an operator called SunExpress. Spoiler alert: I didn’t get the job. I have nothing but good things to say about SunExpress. They are very professional in what they are doing and have high standards for their pilots. The reason I failed in my assessment is purely my own fault.
It basically works like this: You get a phone call, which is some kind of unofficial first interview. If they are happy with you after the phone call, you get invited to do an online ITEP English proficiency test. If you pass the ITEP test, you get invited to do some psychometric tests at SunExpress’s own premises. If you pass the psychometric tests, you get invited to do a simulator test-flight in a full-motion Boeing 737-800 simulator. The simulator was a lot of fun to fly, but this is as far as I got. If you pass the simulator test, you get invited to a formal interview, and if you pass the interview, you get the job! Phew…
Boeing 737-800 Full Motion Simulator
So what are the psychometric tests? They are the Mollymawk psychometric tests, also used by other operators like CargoLux and Pegasus Airlines. They are split into two categories: skill tests and aptitude tests. The skill tests test your knowledge in math, science, and English. Those were the easy ones for me. The aptitude tests test your memory, orientation skills, and ability to multitask, divided into three computer “games” named “Working Memory” “Spatial Orientation” and “Time Sharing”.
To do the Mollymawk tests, you have to purchase two packages: skill and aptitude tests. Each package costs 150€, and if you fail one subject or game in one package, you have to re-purchase the whole package to do the failed test again. The first time I did the Mollymawk tests, I passed the skill tests but failed the aptitude tests. Thus I had to re-purchase the aptitudes package to do the tests a second time. Luckily the second time, I passed. You only get one second chance. In total, I spent 450€, not counting travel expenses, as a part of what essentially is a job interview for a job that I didn’t get.
I felt that more practice would give me a better chance to pass the aptitude tests on the first go. The aptitude tests are essentially a form of primitive computer games. When you purchase the aptitudes package, they give you 10 practice runs in each game you can play at home. They argue that the learning curve is logarithmic and that after 10 practice runs, you have asymptotically reached your optimum ability in playing the games, but I doubt that. As anyone knows, practice makes perfect. So I decided to code my own version of the games and help other pilots truly reach the optimum before doing the final tests.
I have created a Mollymawk test practice website, where I have implemented my own version of the Mollymawk games. A user can register an account and purchase one of the three time-limited packages for playing the games. The games may be played unlimited times!
I have also implemented an interface for the users to track their progress as they are getting better:
Why do I ask for money and not put it out for free if I truly care about the other pilots? Somehow, I have to make back the money I lost during my earlier “job interviews”. After-all, pilots are rich. We rich guys, right? Do we have no problems paying 19€ instead of 150€ for doing the tests a second time?
Anyhow, if you are a pilot and in need of my services, I truly hope I helped and wish you the best of luck!
And remember, when in doubt, go around! (preferably above 1000 feet GND in IMC, unlike me).
So I haven’t written anything on this website for quite some time. Nothing much has happened since my last post, besides one little thing. I took my private pilot’s license (PPL), which I am very proud of. I am certified to fly small single-engine piston (SEP) airplanes up to 5700 kg and land them on land, not water. This happened at the end of June 2015, so it has actually been a while. Since then, I have logged a little more than 70 hours of flight time, mainly on Cessnas 172 and 152. In September 2015, I started working on my night rating (NQ) to fly during the night. I still have one hour of flight left before I get this rating, but the school, some school in south Sweden (ha!) that I went to, had their teaching permission revoked due to some administrative hurdles. Hopefully, they will get it back sometime in March, and I will finish my rating.
One more thing that I have been doing is studying ATPL theory at TFHS, the aviation school of Lund University (I can’t seem to detach myself from this university). I’m still at the stage where I’m doing my school exams before moving on to the EASA exams. I should complete those sometime in early summer (ha-ha summer in Sweden), and then I should attempt the EASA exams. A really nice tool for helping me in my ATPL studies is the aviation exam. They are not paying me anything for writing about them here, I really find them useful, and I want to share my experience with other students.
So long people, be happy and enjoy life!
Oh, and by the way, here is a video of the first flight of the year in snowy Sweden:
My 30th hour in the air is approaching. The required hours for a PPL license are 45. I really like flying. It’s something that grows on you. So far, I have performed a few hours of solo flight, which means that you are alone in the cockpit flying the airplane. The cross-country solo flight is a longer version of a longer flight to navigate to a nearby airport. Enjoy the videos!
Last year in September, I started taking lessons towards a private pilot’s license (PPL) for airplanes. There is an aviation club nearby (http://www.eslovsflygklubb.se/) that also functions as a pilot academy. It is a great feeling seeing the earth from above =)
Here are some videos from my first few flight lessons. More will come. Subscribe to my YouTube channel if you want to get updates immediately.
I just received 10 PCBs that I ordered from dirtypcbs.com a couple of weeks ago. I have to say that the quality is amazing. For $14, they are not dirty at all! They lack gold-plated pads, unlike PCBs from OSHpark, but if that is none of your concerns, then it’s a go! I don’t claim that OSHpark is obsolete now, but for simple prototyping, when you want to be allowed to make mistakes, dirtypcbs are filthy enough to allow you to do that.
