Intel NUC11

 Learning about proxmox and the like I decided to buy an Intel NUC. The NUC11TNHi3, sometimes labelled pro. Series 11 i31115G4@3GHz. Not a slouch. About twice the speed of a Raspberry pi 5. Prices are very variable. I got this one wwith 4GB or DDR4 and 128G SSD for 80€. I then spent another 40€ on used 16G of Samsung 3200 M471A2K43EB1-CWE RAM and 90€ on a used 1TB Samsung MZVL21T00 (PCIe 4.0 x4 Samsung 980 Pro) SSD (75%) which is fair for this year (August 2026) Bought similar 13 months ago new for 70€ each...

The mobo spec didnt call for DDR4/3200, but the existing 4G was so it seemed a good idea to match it. The manual was silent on whether the 16 + 4G would play nice, but they did. Now 20G. My RPI5 is 8G RAM and it's got 6G used. I felt 16G was the minimum and had I known the memory would stack, then I'd have gone for +8G to give 12G and saved ~20€.

The best find for me though, was the B-key 2242 slot. Marked SATA, the manual is a bit vague. I found 1 post for a NUC13 where someone had put a NVME PCIe3x2 key B+M. I already had an old WD SN520 256G 2280. I'd put proxmox on this and it was in the main (NVME) slot. 

B-key basically cuts out 2 lanes of PCI. The mobo manual says the sata socket has a single lane. I knew that my PI5 would not boot off this WD SN520 which has 1 lane too. In researching that I'd come across a post where someone had cut down a SN520 for their Thinkpad. I decided to give it a try and cut it down. Worst case I'd have a shorter working drive. 

I wrapped it up in masking tape, measured a line at 42mm, drilled a 3.5 mm hole, and did a good deep score each side. I gently snapped in and used a knife + file to remove the burrs. The edge was not clean PCB. It actually looked like one side was a thicker heatsink, but it wasn't. I put it into a usb to NVME adapter just in case it has some shorts, but it was fine. It shows as NVME, but I can't see how many lanes. Between 1 and 2. Proxmox booted as normal and I configured the 1TB.

Avosdims fly screens

Decided to buy the 'Luxe' screens as they can be provided cut to size. I reckon it takes an hour to cut down a blind, so the 10€ charge is reasonable. Sadly, it adds 2 weeks to an already too long 1 week time to send them. Seriously? It takes you a week to take a stock item off the shelf and put it in a box?? I could understand this at peak mosi season, but in spring??

Box arrived open with the blinds sloshing around. Very sturdy carboard, just not enough bands. Or packing material.

Swarf everywhere, and paint scratched and worn.

Insturction incorrect. Torx T27. WTF who was T27. Turns out they meant posi. 4.5mm HEX. Now that is bizzare. I've over 10 sets of allen keys, plus socket sets. None had that size. Imperial not close either. Jammed a screwdiver in. Must be a common size in China.

Instructions did not cover how to assemble a pre-cut blind. It assumed you were cutting it down.

Avosdims have clearly never fitted their blinds on a real window. Window sill slope. They have to slope else rain will invariably run towards the house. On this 'Luxe' design there is a shitty plastic clip to hold the blind down. This shitty clip is on the outer edge and relies on pressing hard onto the sill. This wont happen on a real window sill. Ended up putting a bold through.

1 window has a nearly flat plastic sill. The shitty clip is nicely compressed. However, the crap design means it's really really difficult to unclip. Arthritis anyone. Don't even try to open them.

The cheap blinds put a much better clip on the inside edge and are much easier to use.

Will I buy again. Probably. I'll order the drop length +5mm and re-cut it to suit the sill, or maybe the cheap one. Avodims are the cheapest by a long way, so take your pick.

Bosch Ixo

Pretty old, bought around 2009. Battery is a Sony 1.3Ah/20A. As of today it's at 0/6Ah.  Replaced with a 3Ah, 20A Pile Rechargeable 18650 INR18650-25P DMEGC Li-ion 3,7V 2500mAh 20A from Bestpiles.

All fall down

Capvern les Bains, 65130. The end wall of the old Salon de thé fell away. It had a tarp covering the roof for quite some time.

Rat on a wall

 I've seen a rat around the outside of the house, and on the shed roof, but it then disappeared. Turns out they have strong enough claws to walk on walls.

siplec enrouleur automatique

 Bought this a good few years ago when Leclerc had it on offer.

Good enough, but recently it's not been winding back the last metre.

Rip out all the screws on this side. You can leave the black cover in place.

Carefully remove the screw under the rear sticker about half way. Balance it on securely on some wood chocks. Working from the front, it should just come off. If not keep undoing the rear screw a turn at a time. 

With it now open, keep pressure on the black cable reel. Turn the case, ACW holding the reel a until the cable block gets to the case, then add a couple of turns. Reassemble.

It wont matter if the black reel does come away - the spring will just pop out quite safely. But now you'll need to rewind it all. It can be tricky holding the tensioned reel in place and refitting the top. In that case remove the black cover and small centre screw. Then feed the cables through, place the slip ring north/south and refit the cover, passing the cables back through and matching up the square peg of the slip rings.

Sold the bikes

 After over 20 years of riding, we sold the bikes. It's not that we'll stop riding, it's just that we've barely ridden them in 2 years. Too hot, too cold, too many other things to do that we are enjoying more.

Received the money 27/4/26

Last seen at the dealer 😘

New HIFI project

I have a JVC cross media system that I bought in the mid 80s. It's slowly less relevant, and being old-school there is no remote! I started modifying the tuner to control the rest, but most radio stations are now streamed....

Found an old satellite TV STB and gutted it. A good compact size.

Before (mains lead removed)

The finished item. A bit of filler in the holes, primer and black top coat. 2 rotary encoders for main volume and sub volume. A RGB LED is green for on and slow blue flash for 'off' 

Server software is Lyrion Music Server.

2.1 amp. TAS5805. There are 2 chips stacked on the right hand side purple boards. Small board is a 3V3 psu which uses about 0.1W standby. A relay turns on the amp supply/external subwoofer. 

Power supply is an old laptop 19V 3A / 60W Took the top off for cooling, plus I wanted it earth free output. It means the metal emissions cage is missing. There's a built in Y cap which the cage shorted out, so this supply would appear to be approved for use in countries with earth free outlets. It's plenty to drive both chips.

A separate mains output for a subwoofer. It's a 50W 8R amp and cone. The TAS wont drive it hard enough, but I use the TAS loudspeaker output to drive the sub pre-amp. It's a nice 150Hz LPF output from the TAS. I could have used the i2s output to drive another DAC at line level, but let's be honest. It's a bass driver and a bit of HF/PWM noise from the D class TAS ain't going to be noticeable in a domestic setting.

Separate IR receiver as this project will be in a cupboard, and the receiver can hang outside. The range is over 10m. The remote is a random Philips RC5 one I was given that does more or less what I want and is easily configured on the server.

Software is heavily modified squeezlite-esp32 to give control to both TAS. TAS control software comes from here https://github.com/sonocotta/esp32-tas5805m-dac/tree/main

Hail

 Hail storm today 28/4/26 at 16h30

Rain works out to around 48mm/hour