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Nogapps - A replacement for gapps

I recently discovered nogapps, and it’s working great! Here’s an intro and how to use it.

# Background

When installing Android on a phone, one first flashes the ROM, i.e. Cyanogenmod. Then a package called gapps, which contains Googles proprietary Apps. This is necessary to get Play, Youtube, GMail, Maps, etc. And lots of apps from Play requires Play and it’s services to function.

See also Androids privacy invasiveness and Android with as little closed source as possible.

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/blog/posts/nogapps___a_replacement_for_gapps/ map[name:Lars]

Cheap DIY babycam with night vision

# Overview

When I did this project in 2012 babycams cost from NOK 2000 and up, so I decided to see if I could build one using a Raspberry Pi, an IR light and a very cheap webcam.

This will of course only be a level 0 night vision (active).

# Parts

  • IR LEDs with a 12V PSU.
  • Raspberry Pi with a 5V PSU.
  • Webcam. I don’t have a link to it, but pretty much any webcam will do.

IR LED

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/blog/posts/cheap_diy_babycam_with_nightvision/ map[name:Lars]

Car-logger - part 2

# Overview

Read part one of Car-logger first, if you haven’t.

I chose to go with outdated Android phones in the previous article. Phones with CyanogenMod and no Google Play. This means that they run all free software, except for some firmware blobs and drivers. No background services driving up data or battery usage, no third party tracking my location.

I tried out Traccar. The app worked fine, but the backend was a big, horrible java thing. Poor UI, overkill for my purpose, and too much for me to get hacking on.

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/blog/posts/car_logger2/ map[name:Lars]

RadiOS part 1

# Overview

In my opinion most radios, especially internet radios, have horrible interfaces. Small buttons, small displays, often touch, often several functions for each button.

So Erik and I set out to design a new, better radio for ourselves. Our main requirements were ease of use and a very physical UI. Something you’d want to touch and play with.

# Platform

The Raspberry Pi is our platform of choice at the moment, so we have some physical restrictions and long boot time.

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/blog/posts/radios_part_1/ map[name:Lars]