Fifteen DIY coding/hacking projects won or tied as "Projects of the Month" on Cemetech in 2025: now it's time to choose the best of the best. Games, screensavers, utilities, and a calculator flamethrower await: www.cemetech.net/news/2026/3/...

Thanks to geekboy1011's laser engraving expertise and ablating powder coating, I now have a good way to add durable, attractive labels to my simulator panels.

Here's (almost) everything we know about the new TI-84 Evo calculator from Texas Instruments (3x faster CPU, more storage, new UI...): youtu.be/EsLICWjasoo

And because it continues to be such an unexpected item of interest, I made a video about my process of connecting a physical GSM-R driver's control panel to @trainsimworld.com's Train Sim World: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrSw...

New info on the upcoming TI-84 Plus Evo graphing calculator, thanks to MateoConLechuga: USB-C, 3.5MB Flash storage, a smoother font, wider graphing, and a possible change to the TI Innovator accessories making them incompatible with the TI-84 Plus CE. Discussion: www.cemetech.net/forum/viewto...

Eleven years after the TI-84 Plus CE, the color screen version of the immortal TI-84 Plus calculator, @ticalculators.bsky.social will likely be releasing the TI-84 Evo. Leaks point to UI upgrades mirroring Casio and HP calcs, 3x faster CPU, and rearranged buttons. www.cemetech.net/news/2026/1/...

The most common question I've gotten on my train simulator lately is how I managed to connect a GSM-R Driver's Control Panel (DCP) to my simulator. Although just a glorified display and keypad (no radio whatsoever is involved), it's popular for immersive simulation. Here's how: z80.me/blog/tsc-gsmr/

Some of that nighttime ambience from my Class 80x train simulator finally coming together. @trainsimworld.com

In a recent video by UK train company @lner.co.uk, a guest trying one of their simulators commented, "[you] could sell these [simulators ...] imagine going to my boyfriend saying, 'Hi, darling. I've got a new train simulator. This is taking up the entire bedroom, BTW.'" And I took that personally.

Do you like flying toasters, word games, crossword puzzles, or building operating systems for 8-bit CPUs? If so, November's Projects of the Month at Cemetech have you covered: www.cemetech.net/news/2025/12...

Another day, another phalanx of CAN bus controllers for my increasingly sprawling train simulator. #trains #simulator

Arcade games galore, and more: Projects of the Month for October 2025 is here, with calculator and computer games (and beyond): www.cemetech.net/news/2025/11...

Eeeeeeeee! I was never a huge Star Trek person, but Stargate SG-1 was *my* show. I'm really excited to see that they're not only doing a new series, but that it's apparently not a reboot / reimagining but a continuation. transfer-orbit.ghost.io/amazon-starg...

Last time, I showed one of the panels (TPWS) going into my train simulator; now, prototyping the complete dashboard section of my simulated UK Class 80x containing that panel: z80.me/blog/tsc-das... #trainsimulator

My UK Class 80x train simulator project continues, with a painstakingly recreated TPWS panel, simulating a key safety system: z80.me/blog/tsc-tpws/

I think it's that time again.

We woke up just before September ends: our August 2025 Projects of the Month is live. Tetrises, RPGs, hardware projects, for graphing calculators and beyond: see what our creative hobbyists have been making, and vote for the best: www.cemetech.net/news/2025/9/...

Another month, more progress towards constructing my full-scale train simulator, now with laser-cut hardboard to test out its 1:1 component layout: z80.me/blog/tsc-das...

Yeah, Acelabrate is pretty cool, but have you considered Acelabread? #amtrak #acela @amtrak.com

Native code programmability (C/ASM) vanished from my dearly beloved TI-84 Plus CE calculators with an OS update in April, after irresponsible developers showed off embedding an ESP32 with a camera in a calculator to use it to cheat. The community just released a jailbreak: youtu.be/6MeHya0LJX8

A Tail of Two Kitties.

A very accurate summary of my day today. #GreatestGathering #SoManyTrains

It may just be cardboard, but physical prototyping of my Class 80x train simulator at 1:1 scale has been very helpful in figuring out if I've gotten the size and layout right, not to mention reasonable for my desk: z80.me/blog/tsc-das...

Less than seven years late, Cemetech's calculator-hacking exhibits at World Maker Faire 2018 - and what the loss of the Faire in 2019 has meant for showing off DIY, making, and hacking, inside and outside the calculator community. www.cemetech.net/news/2025/7/...

In another project completed recently, I added UK-style horn controls to my burgeoning train simulator. 🔊 Thanks to my reusable CAN bus controller, it took an afternoon, mostly of soldering and crimping: z80.me/blog/tsc-hor...

I've been writing 3D graphing programs for assorted graphing calculators since at least 2003. Now, after starting a 3D grapher for the TI-84 Plus CE and then pausing for eight years (coincidentally roughly the time since @geopipe.ai was founded), I've released it: www.cemetech.net/forum/viewto...

When I next take the Caledonian Sleeper from London I'll be www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xgy.... 🚂🤘

@kermmartian.z80.me and I are hiring for a staff-level DevOps engineer! @spackpm.bsky.social expertise is particularly welcome.

Jerry did I ever tell ya I was high school buddies with the guy who made DoorsCS7? Used to go over to his house to watch Stargate on SSD and play with his sick TI-84+

Trying to figure out why my Osaris won't read CF cards formatted by Windows, but will when formatted by my digital camera. I think it's the partition ID that's the issue that can be fixed in DISKPART with SET ID=06 (Windows uses 0E by default). Can even get my 1GB card to show up now!

My Train Simulator controller project continues as time allows. This time around, moving my CAN controller out of my air pressure gauge to allow it to fit into my dashboard, and the tribulations of learning to use lead-free solder: z80.me/blog/can-air...

What do a dithered puppy, row-major LCD graphics routines, and an update to a 29-year-old black-and-white arcade game have in common? They're all projects in Cemetech's April Projects of the Month update: www.cemetech.net/news/2025/5/...

Achievement unlocked: realized I've actually been to today's Worldle, quite a few years ago for an academic conference.

Better late than never: March 2025's hobby STEM projects on Cemetech covered the usual gamut, from games to an emulator to a MIDI player. Check them out, and vote for the best! www.cemetech.net/news/2025/5/...

What do you do when you want to build a train dashboard, but you don't have a train to measure? You figure out how to parse an obscure 3D model format, derive the planes the buttons lie in, and build a papercraft prototype. z80.me/blog/tsc-das...

yes this is a Lego flex. IYKYK

Okay, that works, and the RS-422 interface spits out...something. Now how do I talk to you?

Your mission, should you choose to accept it: vote for your favorite Cemetech graphing calculator software project of 2024: www.cemetech.net/news/2025/1/... . You have plenty of options, including games, programming tools, math apps, and shells.

Am I taking crazy pills?

No thank you, we don't do that here.

Reverse-engineering, CAN bus sniffing, anticompetitive practices, and trains? How the whitehats who fixed Poland's broken trains as widely publicized earlier in the year did it: media.ccc.de/v/37c3-12142...

Caturday: the more shy of our two void kittens briefly being social (on a graphing calculator pillow).

It's quite flattering when one of the three "Godfathers of AI" (who also partially advised my Master's thesis) calls a graphing calculator project of mine "pointless-but-heroic": www.linkedin.com/posts/yann-l...

I recently finished documenting a project to identify handwritten digits directly on the TI-84 Plus CE. Draw digits with a mouse, and in 18 seconds, a CNN running on the ez80 CPU classifies them. Video (excuse the clickbait title): youtu.be/olcZdTRdnQg ; technical details: z80.me/blog/calcula...

My new monitor has arrived...

If you feel like we just posted a Projects of the Month, you're not wrong - but Cemetech's news editors were efficient with November 2024. Projects included games, math tools, a physics simulation, and even a shockingly powerful 3D renderer. November's projects: www.cemetech.net/news/2024/12...

Zephyr (left) and Acela have joined our lives and promptly made them significantly better. #cats

"Do you prefer metal or Java?" Nanowar of Steel: "Yes." github.com/NanowarOfSte...

Another Black Friday, another reminder to check camelcamelcamel.com to see that nothing is actually a deal any more.