Getting my daily news from a dot matrix printer 2024
16 hours ago
- #Productivity
- #Tech Hacks
- #DIY Projects
- Author replaced morning phone scrolling with a custom printed 'front page' using a dot matrix printer.
- Used a Star NP-10 dot matrix printer from the mid-80s, connected via Raspberry Pi over WiFi and USB serial.
- Wrote PHP script to fetch data from free APIs (weather, stocks, news, Reddit) and format for the printer.
- Implemented text formatting to fit 80-character page width, including handling line breaks to avoid word splits.
- Set up a cron job to automatically print the front page every morning at 8am, reducing screen time.