{"@attributes":{"version":"2.0"},"channel":{"title":"cdwilson.dev","link":"https:\/\/cdwilson.dev\/","description":"Recent content on cdwilson.dev","generator":"Hugo","language":"en","item":[{"title":"I bet you can't RE this receipt","link":"https:\/\/cdwilson.dev\/articles\/i-bet-you-cant-re-this-receipt\/","pubDate":"Wed, 21 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000","guid":"https:\/\/cdwilson.dev\/articles\/i-bet-you-cant-re-this-receipt\/","description":"

I will send $100 to the first person who can reverse engineer how Target<\/a> calculated the $162.10 total amount on this receipt.<\/p>\n

This is not a joke. I’m totally serious.<\/p>\n

\n Rules\n \n <\/i>\n Link to heading<\/span>\n <\/a>\n<\/h2>\n

The first person to build me a spreadsheet showing exactly how the $162.10 total amount is calculated (step-by-step with explanation, including how to calculate the $64.67 taxable amount in the red box), will be sent $100 via Venmo, PayPal, etc.<\/p>"},{"title":"Hackaday Supercon 2024","link":"https:\/\/cdwilson.dev\/articles\/hackaday-supercon-2024\/","pubDate":"Thu, 07 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000","guid":"https:\/\/cdwilson.dev\/articles\/hackaday-supercon-2024\/","description":"

\n\n\n\n\n \"\"\n<\/a>\n\n<\/p>\n

I finally got a chance to sit down and reflect on this past weekend at Hackaday Supercon 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You might expect that a post about Supercon would be all about epic badge hacks<\/a>, or a recap of interesting talks<\/a>, or photos of the (surprisingly good for a conference) food that I ate \ud83c\udf2e<\/p>\n

But what I really want to do is tell you a story of how the kindness<\/strong> and generosity<\/strong> of a bunch of random people made my first Supercon… well… SuperFUN!<\/p>"},{"title":"2024 mid-year update","link":"https:\/\/cdwilson.dev\/articles\/2024-mid-year-update\/","pubDate":"Wed, 26 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000","guid":"https:\/\/cdwilson.dev\/articles\/2024-mid-year-update\/","description":"

It’s been a little while since I’ve posted anything new here, but that doesn’t mean I’ve been resting on my laurels!<\/p>\n

Here’s what (and where) I’ve been writing recently \ud83d\udc68\ud83c\udffb\u200d\ud83d\udcbb<\/p>\n

\n Content for clients\n \n <\/i>\n Link to heading<\/span>\n <\/a>\n<\/h1>\n

Over the last year, I’ve been doing some Zephyr-related technical writing for the Golioth blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can see the full list of articles I’ve contributed at https:\/\/blog.golioth.io\/author\/cdwilson\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\n Common Ground Electronics\n \n <\/i>\n Link to heading<\/span>\n <\/a>\n<\/h1>\n

In addition to authoring technical content for clients, I’m also starting to write about embedded systems and IoT-related topics on the Common Ground Electronics blog<\/a>. So far, I’ve written about how to enforce Zephyr code quality with pre-commit<\/a> and my experience prototyping a WiFi serial logger with Golioth<\/a>. I also just posted a mid-year retrospective<\/a> where I talk about how the business was started and what I\u2019ve been working on over the last year.<\/p>"},{"title":"A better difftool for KiCad","link":"https:\/\/cdwilson.dev\/articles\/a-better-difftool-for-kicad\/","pubDate":"Mon, 06 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000","guid":"https:\/\/cdwilson.dev\/articles\/a-better-difftool-for-kicad\/","description":"

It can be difficult to tell what has actually changed when running git difftool<\/code> on a .kicad_pcb<\/code> file because KiCad embeds timestamps into the file that change when the file is modified:<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n \"difftool_timestamp_changes\"\n<\/a>\n\n<\/p>\n

Luckly, we can tell git<\/code> to use a custom difftool<\/a> using the --tool=<tool><\/code> argument.<\/p>\n

First, we need to create a custom shell script to pass to git difftool --tool=<tool><\/code>. I use Kaleidoscope.app<\/a> as my git difftool on macOS, so I named this script kicad-ksdiff<\/code> and put it a directory on my $PATH<\/code>:<\/p>"},{"title":"KiCad database libraries on macOS","link":"https:\/\/cdwilson.dev\/articles\/kicad-database-libraries-on-macos\/","pubDate":"Wed, 14 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000","guid":"https:\/\/cdwilson.dev\/articles\/kicad-database-libraries-on-macos\/","description":"

\n
\n <\/i>Info\n <\/div>\n

On December 11, 2022 the KiCad team announced<\/a> support for macOS universal builds in the 6.99 nightly releases<\/a>. Using a universal build greatly simplifies the process of setting up database libraries and is strongly recommended<\/em>. If you are using an older x86_64<\/code> nightly build released before December 12, 2022 on a Mac with Apple Silicon (i.e. the file does NOT<\/em> start with kicad-unified-universal<\/code>), make sure to follow the old instructions found here:<\/p>"},{"title":"Set KICAD_DOCUMENTS_HOME on macOS","link":"https:\/\/cdwilson.dev\/articles\/set-kicad-documents-home-on-macos\/","pubDate":"Tue, 06 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000","guid":"https:\/\/cdwilson.dev\/articles\/set-kicad-documents-home-on-macos\/","description":"

\n KiCad Documents Home\n \n <\/i>\n Link to heading<\/span>\n <\/a>\n<\/h1>\n

KiCad 6.x introduced the concept of the “KiCad Documents Home” base directory, described as the:<\/p>\n

\n

Base path of KiCad user-modifiable documents, such as projects, templates, Python scripts, libraries, etc. Subdirectories will be created within this directory for each KiCad minor version. This directory is provided as a suggested user data location, but does not need to be used.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

By default, KiCad creates this folder in ~\/Documents\/KiCad\/<\/code>:<\/p>"},{"title":"KiCad database libraries on Apple Silicon","link":"https:\/\/cdwilson.dev\/articles\/kicad-database-libraries-on-apple-silicon\/","pubDate":"Fri, 04 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000","guid":"https:\/\/cdwilson.dev\/articles\/kicad-database-libraries-on-apple-silicon\/","description":"

\n
\n <\/i>Warning\n <\/div>\n

On December 11, 2022 the KiCad team announced<\/a> support for macOS universal builds in the 6.99 nightly releases<\/a>. Using a universal build greatly simplifies the process of setting up database libraries and is strongly recommended<\/em>. If you are using a universal nightly build released after December 12, 2022 (the file starts with kicad-unified-universal<\/code>), make sure to follow the updated instructions found here:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/cdwilson.dev\/articles\/kicad-database-libraries-on-macos\/<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n Overview\n \n <\/i>\n Link to heading<\/span>\n <\/a>\n<\/h1>\n

A new “Database Libraries” feature was recently added<\/a> to the KiCad macOS Nightlies<\/a> (6.99) and is scheduled to be officially released in KiCad 7. Here’s an overview from the documentation<\/a>:<\/p>"},{"title":"40% keymap for Keyboardio Model 100","link":"https:\/\/cdwilson.dev\/articles\/40-percent-keymap-for-keyboardio-model-100\/","pubDate":"Sun, 30 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000","guid":"https:\/\/cdwilson.dev\/articles\/40-percent-keymap-for-keyboardio-model-100\/","description":"

After backing the wildly successful Keyboardio Model 100<\/a> Kickstarter campaign<\/a> last year, I finally received my keyboard in the mail \ud83e\udd73<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n \"Model\n<\/a>\n\n<\/p>\n

The keyboard is \u2728beautiful\u2728 and the custom-sculpted keycaps feel really great to type on. After using the Model 100 for a couple weeks now, I’ve finally settled on a 40%-ish (3 rows of keys) keymap that feels really natural for me.<\/p>\n

Although this keymap works really well for me personally, it’s probably not the right keymap for everyone. The Model 100 is a roughly 60%-ish (4 rows of keys) keyboard, so it may seem odd that I’m only using 44 of the 64 available keys on the keyboard<\/strong>. I thought it might be interesting to walk through my thought process step-by-step and discuss some of the requirements that drove the decisions about where to map each key.<\/p>"},{"title":"USB over IP with VirtualHere","link":"https:\/\/cdwilson.dev\/articles\/usb-over-ip-with-virtualhere\/","pubDate":"Tue, 05 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000","guid":"https:\/\/cdwilson.dev\/articles\/usb-over-ip-with-virtualhere\/","description":"

Raise your hand if you’re tired of having a spaghetti mess of USB hubs and dongles hanging off your laptop? \ud83d\ude4b\ud83c\udffb\u200d\u2642\ufe0f<\/p>\n

I’m going to show you how to leave all those USB devices behind and remotely connect to them over the network instead. Yup, you heard right\u2013you’ll finally<\/em> be able to work from a laptop tied to a tree<\/a>! (or at least from the comfort of your own couch\u2026)<\/p>\n

\n VirtualHere\n \n <\/i>\n Link to heading<\/span>\n <\/a>\n<\/h1>\n

A while back, I was looking for a way to fire up the debugger on a STM32 NUCLEO development board<\/a> without having the board directly connected to one of my laptop’s USB ports.<\/p>"},{"title":"DIY home office electronics workspace","link":"https:\/\/cdwilson.dev\/articles\/diy-home-office-electronics-workspace\/","pubDate":"Tue, 28 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000","guid":"https:\/\/cdwilson.dev\/articles\/diy-home-office-electronics-workspace\/","description":"

\n The idea\n \n <\/i>\n Link to heading<\/span>\n <\/a>\n<\/h1>\n

I’ve been wanting to set up a small electronics workspace in my home office for a while now. The main goal was to have an ESD-safe area in the office where I could do bring-up and testing for projects that require a connection to a computer and test equipment. I already have a separate full size electronics workbench in the garage (SMT reflow oven, hot air rework, microscope, etc), so this was intended as a more focused compliment to that space, rather than a replacement for it.<\/p>"},{"title":"Using giscus for comments in Hugo","link":"https:\/\/cdwilson.dev\/articles\/using-giscus-for-comments-in-hugo\/","pubDate":"Sun, 26 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000","guid":"https:\/\/cdwilson.dev\/articles\/using-giscus-for-comments-in-hugo\/","description":"

After looking into a couple<\/a> different<\/a> hosted<\/a> options<\/a> for enabling comments on this site, I decided to give giscus<\/a> a try.<\/p>\n

This article describes why I chose giscus and how to set it up in a Hugo site.<\/p>\n

\n First: why giscus?\n \n <\/i>\n Link to heading<\/span>\n <\/a>\n<\/h1>\n

It’s worth talking through the thought process for how I landed on giscus, as it’s probably not the right option for everybody.<\/p>\n

Derek Kay has an excellent article<\/a> which explores various ways to include comments on a static site. After reviewing many of the options he mentioned in the article, I found that I mostly agree with his conclusion:<\/p>"},{"title":"Bash shell startup files","link":"https:\/\/cdwilson.dev\/articles\/bash-shell-startup-files\/","pubDate":"Fri, 24 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000","guid":"https:\/\/cdwilson.dev\/articles\/bash-shell-startup-files\/","description":"

\n\n\n\n\n \"\"\n<\/a>\n\n<\/p>\n

This article is an attempt to answer the following questions1<\/a><\/sup>:<\/p>\n