Tom Granger Profile picture
Maker of random things, co-maker of one person, @googlearts engineer. I like pixels. 🦋@tomgranger.bsky. social 🐘@tomgranger@mastodon.social
Mar 16 6 tweets 3 min read
Whoops. Looks like I'm rebuilding the Jackal... The Sony Jackal's case with a mess of wires. There are a few things that annoyed me with the 2021 build. The sound was noisy. The cheap display had light bleed and poor viewing angles. The radio module never really worked. I never finished the code so I didn't release it.

So lets try to improve on this!

Jackal 2024🧵
Oct 3, 2022 24 tweets 9 min read
👐 Introducing Playwrite for @playdate

A dock and software combo that let you use the gorgeous screen of the Playdate for all your slow-tech typing needs, using a #teensy microcontroller and a bit of hackery.

🧵⤵️ The dock charges the Playdate – of course, and can also be used to play games with a keyboard or third party controller, so you can Executive Golf on your executive desk, using the input method that you're most comfortable with.

No bluetooth at the moment, but that's doable too.
Nov 29, 2021 21 tweets 11 min read
I retrofitted this 1978 radio with a Teensy microcontroller, 3.2" TFT LCD, amplifier, bluetooth and FM radio modules, and a working microphone. Almost all the buttons are useable, too.

Want to see how it was built? Let's rewind 🧵⤵️

The Sony FX-300 (aka "Jackal" in 🇯🇵) caught my eye in late 2019.

A 1978 technological wonder combining a miniature B&W TV, cassette recorder with microphone and AM/FM radio all in a compact, portable design that aged really well and was oozing cyberpunk.