GEOCA.UK // IMPROBABLE ENGINEERING LABORATORY

geoca.ukHardware · Linux · drivers · embedded experiments

I make hardware do things it was absolutely not designed to do.
A home for strange machines, stubborn drivers, embedded systems, Linux experiments and the occasional idea that should probably have remained a thought.
BENCH-01 // LIVE
> probing mystery hardware...
> documentation: optimistic
> kernel: awake
> smoke detected: probably decorative
> status: continue anyway
CPU moodconcerned
Fanheroic
Confidence73%

The lab.

This is where sensible hardware receives unreasonable requests. The serious bit is real engineering. The questionable bit is deciding to try it in the first place.
01 // DRIVERS

Make it talk.

Drivers, reverse engineering, operating-system plumbing and persuading undocumented hardware to explain itself.

02 // EMBEDDED

Make it useful.

Old devices, small computers, weird interfaces and hardware that still has one more life left in it.

03 // EXPERIMENTS

Make it regret meeting me.

The projects that begin with “I wonder if…” and end with a fan spinning much faster than expected.

TomTom unit showing an interactive shell interface with an on-screen keyboard.
Interactive shell
TomTom unit showing a four-panel main menu with calibrate, terminal, explorer and Bluetooth sections.
Main control menu
TomTom unit showing the Bluetooth manager and audio sink interface.
Bluetooth & audio sink
BENCH SPECIMEN 001 // ACTUAL HARDWARE

TomTom.
Three exhibits.

Expected occupation: tell a car where to go.
Current occupation: shell access, a custom control menu, and Bluetooth audio duties. Retirement was apparently declined.

ORIGINAL PURPOSE ........ navigation
CURRENT PURPOSE ......... because we can
WARRANTY STATUS ......... please don't ask
“If it boots, we can probably make it do something worse.”