I've always been super into tech and how to make things. I was mining crypto and flying multirotors in 2012. Became a engineer. I learned how to make everything, anything. I can make anything.

I've been getting into being self sustainable off grid, with the least tech. The future with tech doesn't look like a good one to me. I hope I'm wrong. Trillionares won't be allowed to exist, AI will fix all human issues while allowing us to remain free, climate change doesn't destroy global agriculture, justice is served to those that committed crimes that got us where we are today. I hope, but I highly doubt it.

I have had this blog post about SDRs (Software Defined Radio) bookmarked for a couple of years now:

https://blinry.org/50-things-with-sdr/

Apparently the basic models only cost around 30-50 dollars. I've been thinking about getting one, but I haven't had the time to dive into it yet.

I just got into 1/24 scale mini RC crawlers. They're relatively cheap and so are the upgrade parts to them. You can get one that's ready to drive out of the box and it's quite enjoyable and gives you a good reason to go outside. Then you discover what a difference new tires make as well as better shocks and then you start adding brass parts to increase weight down low but now you've got to figure out how to install a stronger steering servo and next you want better crawl control so you start looking for a brushless motor but then the ESC needs to be replaced as well and so on. It truly is a rabbit hole you can go in as deep as you want.

If you are looking for new, I would recommend playing with proxmox. I was using docker containers to self host things like jellyfin, forgejo, and bookstack until a couple friends turned me onto proxmox. Really interesting tool. Now I can isolate my data and open ports to run little game servers for my friends.

If you want to play with something old, but likely new to you, picked up an e-waste laptop and started playing with OpenBSD. I am trying to build out a desktop environment and theme for myself. Its a bit of a learning curve since it's Unix, not Linux, but I have been learning a lot and enjoying my time shaping an OS.

Meshtastic is worth taking a peek and a play at. HAM radio-esque text messages, but without the license requirements.

I often find that once I get good at on old version of something I appreciate both the advances of the new thing and the simplicities of the old. Some things are so bleeding edge tech that the new is better in almost as ways, like drones. I got into flying during pandemic and would never prefer the old tech except maybe analog vs digital for specific use cases.

sorry im the same. open source so using linux if you don't already or such is the only things I would point to. im kinda over tinkering to as I tend to like things to work and just go.