Kevin Boone
Kevin Boone
Kevin Boone
Musing on computing, math, electronics, de-Googling and the small web, from an old warhorse of the IT industry.
Latest Posts
This article describes how to do arithmetic in a small finite (prime) field. Being able to do this is essential for the implementation of cryptography, among other things. The arithmetic isn't particularly difficult -- particularly if we...
An explanation from first principles of the concepts of probability applied to two random discrete variables.
The official Raspberry Pi 7-inch touchscreen is a useful and well-designed piece of equipment but, if you're using it in a custom (hardware and/or software) build, you'll notice a lack of any relevant technical information. This article...
It's surprisingly difficult to detect switch actuations in a robust way, dealing with contact bounce and other quirks. This article describes one approach to the problem in C.
Using a single MOSFET transistor for power switching in microcontroller applications is simple and low-cost, but it often doesn't work as well as expected. Either the switched device doesn't run at full capacity, or the MOSFET gets hot....
Using the official Raspian repository to assist the construction of a custom Linux for embedded applications is quick and convenient, compared to building everything from source. However, this approach has certain hazards.
An explanation from first principles of this much-misunderstood principle of statical inference.
Using a simple application of Euler's method to estimate the solutions of non-linear differential equations, and work out your chances of surviving the zombie apocalypse. No, really.
An introduction to the science of exterior ballistics -- tracking the flight of a projectile under the influence of gravity and drag.
This article is about whether you can legally and openly buy a British noble title. Spoiler alert: no, you can't. People still keep asking, though.
Oh yes it's great to be an engine... But how did the driving force of the industrial revolution actually work?
Using high-density vinyl board to construct a practical prototype case without specialist tools or materials
Faster, more of everything, same price -- what's not to like?
Lua is an embeddable scripting language, which can be extended in a number of useful ways. This article describes in detail how to create a Lua extension in C (or, with a bit of fiddling, C++) as a loadable (.so) library.
The essentials of Lua programming in one page, for experienced Java programmers.