kelbot ◖⎚∠⎚◗ @kelbot@fosstodon.org

cherry msx

a raspberry pi cyberdeck, inspired by the cherry msx upthread via hackaday https://hackaday.com/2019/07/16/raspberry-pi-cyberdeck-inspired-by-rare-msx/

Yes, cybrehaven.bbs is the alias I'm using for the BBSs onion address.

Yes, it is in The Sprawl, USA.

Yes my name is ZeroCool.

Yes I am deriving some perverse pleasure out of how c y b e r p u n k this all is.

Speedpainting 22092019. #art #illustration #mastoart

Okay, the cookout ended up being like 6 or 7 hours long, and then we just hung out at the park by the water.

So progress has been sparse, but here we go:

Note that for these ideas, I’m talking about stuff within reasonable limits. Let’s not go full Endless Sphere (a forum where a lot of people like to build illegal motorcycles out of oversized e-bike parts, but there’s also quite a bit of DIY electric vehicle knowledge) here.

Class 2 (in the People for Bikes model legislation that US states are adopting - so, throttle and PAS up to 20 MPH) is quite enough, and detuning to European EPAC regs (PAS up to 25 km/h) will work too. (So, size the motor for something like 500-750 W peak, run it at 250-500 W continuous depending on region.)

Interestingly, I’m seeing where companies are actually starting to make bikes in this sort of territory for the US market… but none of them are quite what I want:

Rad Power Bikes RadRunner: Relatively cheap, and the passenger seat option is neat, but… heavy (65 lbs), single-speed (which implies the pedals are almost compliance pedals), geared hub motor (no regen… and IIRC that particular motor even has interior permanent magnets!), cadence-sensing PAS, and the rack really could be longer, there’s no reason to cut it off before the rear wheel ends.
Ariel Rider M-Class: Not terrible price, 7-speed IGH (nice!), torque-sensing (nice) mid-drive (bleh). The rack is rather small and tucked under the seat, though, and worse, the company has a rather mixed reputation re: support…
Tern HSD: Your choice of derailleur (nah), 8-speed IGH (nice), or Enviolo CVP (dreadful efficiency, I’d pass), and an extremely utilitarian design. The 8-speed IGH model is 55.9 lbs, definitely better than the RadRunner. But, it’s a Bosch mid-drive. And, it’s expensive AF - $3100-$5000 depending on model…

I’m not sure of much specifically in the European market that specifically does this (actually I think there’s Euro versions of the RadRunner and HSD?), but the Japanese-market, OTOH, has a lot of bikes that hit at least part of this sweet spot that I described in my first post. Torque sensing is mandated by law (because they need to know rider input power, due to a power limit of 2x rider input power up to 10 km/h, ramping linearly down to 0x rider input power at 24 km/h), though, and they tend to be on the weak end of power. I’ll pick one example, though, that comes the closest.

Bridgestone Frontia Rakutto: Under $1100(!), 3-speed IGH, front motor with regenerative braking(!), torque sensing (mandated by law in Japan), and 23.3 kg (51.4 lbs). And it’s already built up with all sorts of utilitarian features. This is basically the closest to what I want, although it seems like front motors with regen are going out of fashion (only Bridgestone is still making them I believe). And, I suspect it’s, um, sized for Japanese people (and IIRC this model is specifically sized for Japanese women, whereas the Western small-wheel utility bikes tend to go for adjustability to work for everyone).

(There are a fair amount of these Japanese designs that come with child seats attached already, if that’s what you want to transport, too. That is very much not what I want to transport.)

@kelbot They're all on Itch.io now.

The goal is to end the evening with new zines on the following topics:

- What is encryption and how do I leverage it?
- Secure communication and You
- Discovering the Hidden Internet
- Host it yourself
- DIY MEDIA
- Roll your own media server
- probably some other stuff too? I have a bunch of finished or half finished 4 - 16 page zines from when we were running the record store that I need to start distributing.

Spent three-ish days camping with the SolarHome 620 and it did the job. I used it to charge my phone and watch overnight, and used two of the lights (one hanging and the built-in light) and came home with almost half the battery left.

I should probably write a more detailed post soon.