I need to at least try to pretend to keep up…
Part 3 in a near-infinite set of me discovering things that are really cool and for some reason I have only just noticed.
Today, I am mostly awed by the Pinecil.
I ordered some soldering bits for the Project (posts passim) and as it has been A Number Of Years since I last bought a soldering iron, many reviews recommended the Pinecil v2. I skimmed through them a bit, I will admit, went away and ordered one and it turned up along with the leaded solder that I thought was extinct (although in deference to modern attitudes I won’t deliberately inhale the vapour!).
The box was a bit plain, but the logo vaguely familiar.
The Pine64 Logo - a stylised pine cone, in black and white
The quick start guide was a small card, but it had links to Github, and talked about firmware.
“Hang on a minute…”
Turns out that things have moved on a hell of a way since my clunky yellow Maplin special I used to build audio cables! A hell of a long way, it seems. Colour LCD display, bluetooth, hackable firmware, USB C (and thus battery power-able) for not very much money at all.
Inevitably, there is a raft of 3D printable accessories (I see a case in the near future) and, at some point, I will try out some soldering! The most pressing use (once the bits arrive) is to add some inserts to The Case.