Uncategorized – Yifan Gu's Blog

Fixing Analog Stick Input in PPSSPP

PPSSPP is one of my favorite emulators. First introduced to me when I was still in high school, it is my go-to (or, only?) choice if I want to revisit some old PSP games. Though I ran into an issue that I was not able to run, only walk, diagonally in Metal Gear Solid: Peace…… Continue reading Fixing Analog Stick Input in PPSSPP

Home Automation – Kubernetes Style

I’ve been using Smartthings as my smart home hub for a while. And I’d like to migrate to something that’s open source (or more importantly, self-hosted). There’s been a few horror stories out there that make me worry about the potential “hostage” situation. (e.g. manufacturers charging a monthly price for the service, or flat-out discontinuing…… Continue reading Home Automation – Kubernetes Style

Upgrading K40 Cooling System with RGB and Peltier Cooler

The K40 laser cutter, if you know about it, comes with absolutely the bare minimum to get you started. Fortunately, it does comes with a cooling solution: You supply your own water bucket, fill it with distilled water, and drop in the supplied water pump. Failure to do that will probably result in a burnt…… Continue reading Upgrading K40 Cooling System with RGB and Peltier Cooler

Etch-A-Sketch Pro – Rotary Encoders as Mouse(s)

I recently got a few of those rotary encoders – I was planning to make them into a follow-focus system. It’s a two part process: 1 – make a USB interface for them; 2 – make software that uses Canon’s EDSDK to interface with my camera. So I decided to start on 1, then I…… Continue reading Etch-A-Sketch Pro – Rotary Encoders as Mouse(s)

Split Flap Display – Part 1

I recently came by this Technology Connection Video, and I am intrigued by the mechanism of a split flap mechanical clock. I then ran across this GitHub project for a split flap display and I decide to make my own. I made one tweak to the design: I made the letters laser engraved and cut…… Continue reading Split Flap Display – Part 1

Using Makefile for Non-programming Tasks

Make is traditionally used to build artifacts from program source code. It can also be used for other tasks, where you need to “build” something out of a “source-of-truth”. For example: video-editing. I personally find ffmpeg able to generate better quality compressed videos than FCPX or Premiere Pro, which is especially important if the desired…… Continue reading Using Makefile for Non-programming Tasks

Mining Ethereum on M1 Mac GPU

TL;DR: It’s possible to mine Ethereum on a M1 Mac GPU. Hashrate is about 2Mh/s. Mining on a M1 Mac I’ve had my M1 MacBook Air for a bit of time now, and I also recently started mining Ethereum. I can’t help asking myself: What’s Ethereum mining performance like on a M1 Mac? The obvious…… Continue reading Mining Ethereum on M1 Mac GPU

LAN Party VPN – My experience with WinTun, Windows Firewall, NSIS and Windows Defender

I’ve recently made LAN Party VPN. It makes playing LAN games with friends on Discord effortless. LPVPN is written in C++, mostly because Discord SDK is only available in C, C++ and C#. So I didn’t have much of an option here. The idea of LPVPN is rather simple, get IP packets from WinTun (the…… Continue reading LAN Party VPN – My experience with WinTun, Windows Firewall, NSIS and Windows Defender

Wasmino = WASM + Arduino (Running Arduino code in browser)

Wasmino Running the “Fade” example Wasmino is an Arduino core fully compatible with the Arduino IDE. It allows you to compile your Arduino sketch to WebAssembly and run it in a browser, all using the Arduino IDE. Showcase This is the off-the-shelf “Fade” example in the Arduino IDE. /* Fade This example shows how to…… Continue reading Wasmino = WASM + Arduino (Running Arduino code in browser)

R5 Thermal Mod, take 2

Pretty much the same idea as the previous attempt, but with graphite sheets to conduct heat better (I’m using Panasonic PGS sheets). This is 100% not recommended because the graphite sheets are conductive, and are more likely to cause damage.