Introduction

As a “techie”, my interests have evolved over the years. Over half a century by now, in fact.

From discovering electronics as a kid (first audio, later digital logic), to Computer Science (which defined my “work” for several decades), back to electronics and “Physical Computing” (it all started with the Arduino). And finally here I am, interested in everything related to bits and electrons. Especially the cross-over of embedded vs OS-based and analog vs. digital.

Software is fascinating because it’s essentially complete fiction, in that just about anything can be invented and then implemented. Imagination is the main limit. The tricky part is that everything is also in constant flux, and that today’s hotness will be tomorrow’s legacy code.

Hardware is fascinating because it’s governed by the laws of physics. You have to discover what is possible and what is not, given today’s technology. And then tirelessly come up with workarounds for that obstinate real world, trying to get things done anyway.

Embedded computing brings it all together, so that anyone with enough curiosity and time on their hands can build “stuff”, as a hobby or career. Which is precisely what I’ve been doing for well over a decade now. In awe of (and inspired by) the engineering ingenuity that led to this.

The projects listed in the sidebar are bound to cover a wide range of topics, much of it focused on two main areas: analog & digital circuits on the hardware side, and dataflow computing & signal processing on the software side. The crossover point is fluid … that’s where all the fun is!

The overarching keyword for many of my projects is “less”. In many of these projects it’s about doing things with: less code, less hardware, and/or less power. Because … I’m tired of “more”.