Guides

Environments, library pins, and CI — when PlatformIO is worth the learning curve for ESP32 work.

Profiles, calibration flows, and when OrcaSlicer is the right daily driver for PETG brackets—not just vase-mode art.

Why a boring Mosquitto install on a Pi beats cloud IoT dashboards for a home lab full of ESP32 nodes.

Why a $20–40 caliper beats another roll of filament for functional parts — and how to use it in an AI CAD loop.

Klipper + Moonraker + Mainsail path on Pi 5: power, USB, cooling, and what not to cheap out on.

Where ChatGPT/Claude/local models shine for CAD scripts and firmware — and where they invent fasteners that don’t exist.

A practical pipeline from napkin sketch → parametric script → slice → first print, with prompts that don’t invent fake M3 holes.

How to use photos + slicer settings with an LLM without accepting “just increase temperature” as a religion.

What a Pi can actually run offline for code help and note Q&A — and when you should stop torturing a 8GB board.

A decision tree for real projects: power, realtime needs, networking, cost, and how many times you’ll reflash at midnight.

What actually sells, how to price filament and time, and the boring ops that keep a side hustle alive.

What still holds from the classic averyjparker.com security posts — least privilege, backups, and skepticism — with modern notes.