add pcrowdoodle post

blog/index.rst

@@ -16,3 +16,4 @@ Blog
    systemantics
    STTTGTS
    archetypes
+   pcrowdoodle

blog/pcrowdoodle.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,126 @@
+.. _pcrowdoodle:
+
+===========================================================
+Not the laptop I need but the one I deserve (and also need)
+===========================================================
+
+*2024 Apr 26*
+
+.. _god of electronics: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/dendengu
+
+Next week Gabi and I head off to Japan for a 3-week vacation. The
+`god of electronics`_ has blessed me with the motivation to tinker
+during my flights. I'm in a bit of a pickle, though... what laptop
+should I bring?
+
+* I don't want to bring my work laptop. It's too big and I want to practice
+  some "healthy detachment" from work. And by "healthy detachment" I mean
+  "I need to put this computer into a barrel of sand because I somehow
+  programmed "Hello, world!" in Haskell so incorrectly that the battery
+  is about to explode."
+* I don't have a lightweight personal laptop that's enjoyable to goof around
+  on.
+
+The solution for me, naturally, was to spend too much money on a highly
+questionable Raspberry Pi "laptop".
+
+.. image:: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaycebasques/media/main/jpg/crowpi4.jpg
+
+.. _CrowPi-L: https://web.archive.org/web/20240426205124/https://www.elecrow.com/crowpi-l-real-raspberry-pi-laptop-for-learning-programming-and-hardware.html
+
+.. _pCrowDoodle my beloved: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaycebasques/media/main/gif/pcrowdoodle.gif
+
+--------
+"laptop"
+--------
+The official name of this product is `CrowPi-L`_ but mine only answers to the
+moniker of `pCrowDoodle my beloved`_.
+
+.. _Armadillo\: Opossum Heavy Armor: https://web.archive.org/web/20240426210415/https://timandraka.bigcartel.com/product/heavy-armor
+
+pCrowDoodle is best thought of as the computational equivalent of
+`Armadillo: Opossum Heavy Armor`_:
+
+.. image:: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaycebasques/media/main/jpg/armadillo.jpg
+
+You just lift the magnetically attached (??) back cover...
+
+.. image:: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaycebasques/media/main/jpg/crowpi7.jpg
+
+...and cram your RPi into the corner...
+
+.. image:: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaycebasques/media/main/jpg/crowpi10.jpg
+
+...and your basically ready to fire pCrowDoodle up and realize that the boot
+firmware is surely impossible to update and probably backdoor'd:
+
+.. image:: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaycebasques/media/main/jpg/crowpi5.jpg
+
+---------------------
+Form factor: wedgebot
+---------------------
+Cramming the RPi into the back results in a slope steep enough to downhill
+race on:
+
+.. raw:: html
+
+   <video style="width: 100%; height: auto; object-fit: cover;" controls>
+     <source type="video/mp4"
+         src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaycebasques/media/main/mp4/crowpi1.mp4"/>
+   </video>
+
+.. _Wheely Big Cheese: https://robotwars.fandom.com/wiki/Wheely_Big_Cheese
+
+`Wheely Big Cheese`_ is dead, long live Wheely Big Cheese!
+
+-----------------------------------
+Dual boot: quite pleasant, actually
+-----------------------------------
+pCrowDoodle came with a little SD expansion thingy that lets you switch
+between an "A" SD card and a "B" SD card quickly:
+
+.. image:: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaycebasques/media/main/jpg/crowpi8.jpg
+
+I'm tempted to flip it while my RPi is running just to learn how much or little
+damage that does...
+
+RPi OS booted up pretty much without a hitch:
+
+.. image:: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaycebasques/media/main/jpg/crowpi6.jpg
+
+And I even got OpenBSD working on the other SD!
+
+.. image:: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaycebasques/media/main/jpg/crowpi9.jpg
+
+Pretty excited about that. I'm going to leave it as a purely console-based
+experience.
+
+-----------------------------------------
+Unusable trackpad: a blessing in disguise
+-----------------------------------------
+The trackpad is comically small and has already started to freeze up on me:
+
+.. image:: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaycebasques/media/main/jpg/crowpi3.jpg
+
+But I knew this going into the purchase and didn't care. I've been meaning
+to get really good at keyboard-based navigation so I'm kinda excited to
+have something that takes away my crutch.
+
+`Lobsters <https://lobste.rs>`_ on ``lynx`` somehow looks better than the
+actual website??
+
+.. image:: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaycebasques/media/main/jpg/crowpi11.jpg
+
+------------------
+40-pin GPIO header
+------------------
+You need a connector (which was annoyingly not included with my purchase)
+but it's still possible to access all the pins:
+
+.. image:: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kaycebasques/media/main/jpg/crowpi2.jpg
+
+--------------------
+The laptop I deserve
+--------------------
+As an irrational simpleton I am oddly excited for my future struggles
+that arise from this decision. I will report back after the trip.