Custom PC - UK (2020-01)

If you’rehappyusinganAmigaUI,youcan

simplyprintoutthisexample.If not,finda

screenshotofyourfavouritevintageoperating

systemandbuildyouown.Copythecornersof

thewindowbordersarounda centralmask

sizedtotheInkywHATdisplay,fillinthegaps

withclonedbordersandthenlabelit

appropriatelyusinga matchingtypeface.

5.Hardwareinstallation

Dismantletheboxframe.Printoutyourchosen

userinterfaceandcutoutthecentralportionto

makeroomfortheInkywHATdisplay.Placethe

paperfacedownontheglassoftheframe.

Next,taketheRaspberryPiandInkywHAT

andlineit upbehindthemask,soyoucansee

thefulldisplayfromthefront.Taketherear

Thisuses‘sed’toremovethewind-direction
arrows,notpresentin theTomThumbfontused
forthisproject,thenuses‘iconv’totransliterate
thetextfromUTF-8toISO-8859-1(Latin-1).

4.UImock-up
Tomakethewholeprojectprettierandmore
robust,youcanencloseit ina boxframe.The
troubleis thata boxframedeepenoughforthe
RaspberryPiandInkywHATis typicallybigger
thantheInkywHAT’sdisplay.Mysolutionis a
retrocomputinguserinterfacemock-up.
Theideais tomaketheInkywHATlooklike
it’srunningin a windowofa classiccomputer.
There’sanexampleincludedintheinkywhat-
writerdirectory:inkwhat-writer-amigamask.
xcf,basedonCommodore’sAmigaWorkbench.

cover off the frame and cut a corner off with

scissors to make room for the power cable, then

press the cover into place.

Depending on the size of your frame, it may

hold the Raspberry Pi and Inky wHAT in place

with no additional mounting hardware. If not,

you’ll need some nuts and bolts to hold the

Raspberry Pi into place on the rear cover.

6. Network data transfer
   Once it’s assembled, you’ll no longer have an
   easy way to connect a keyboard and mouse or
   monitor the Raspberry Pi. Thankfully, it’s easy to
   transfer data over the network using SSH. On a
   Linux desktop, macOS or Windows with the
   Windows Subsystem for Linux installed, type:
   ƖĕďɊƖȰʐȠʵʌȠʵʎȠʵʊȠʵʍȠʵʏȠʵʑȠʵʋ
   //g’ yourtextfile.txt | iconv -f
   UTF-8 -t ISO-8859-1//TRANSLIT |
   fold -w 72 -s | ssh pi@raspberrypi.
   local “cat - | /home/pi/inkywhat-
   writer/inkywhat-writer.py”
   This performs the arrow-replacement and
   codepage transliteration on an arbitrary local
   text file, wraps it at 72 characters, then transfers
   the result over SSH to the Raspberry Pi via the
   Wi-Finetwork.

Once assembled, the display takes its updates over

a wireless network connection

Using SSH, you can securely update the Inky wHAT over the network

A few minutes in The GIMP and you can slap together a

rough mask - in this case, Amiga Workbench

You’ll need

to turn on

the inter-

integrated

circuit (I2C)

bus to use the

Inky wHAT

Using ‘sed’ and ‘iconv’ lets you strip characters that otherwise wouldn’t print well

Sphero acquires

LittleBits

Toy robot company Sphero, still

recovering from a licensing deal with

Disney being cancelled last year, has

announced the acquisition of educational

electronics concern LittleBits for an

undisclosed sum. ‘Sphero and LittleBits

are on a mission to make hands-on

learning fun and memorable,’ says

Sphero chief executive Paul Berberian.

‘Together, we’re able to make an even

greater impact by delivering the best

possible solution – whether it is

programming a robot to solve a maze or

building an electronic music synthesiser.’

N EWS I N BRI EF

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Thissymbolmeansthecommand

shouldallbeononeline.