Category: Uncategorized

  • Scout Power Savings

    Been working on power usage this week with excellent progress. Was able to get consumption low enough for 10ish days with a 6000 mah lithium battery.

    Tested with a paging app that displays .bmp files in order. I put a freely distributable first aid pdf that I converted on the sdcard to view. It works great. I’ll do some better processing of the pdf to bmp prices, but it’s going to be included on Scout. I’ll publish my conversion process and you can put your own stuff on there too

  • Scout Dev Update: What’s Working, What’s Left?

    Scout Dev Update: What’s Working, What’s Left?

    Scout is your mapping companion for hiking, biking, and exploring. Scout is readable in full sun; Sips battery power; and never needs an app, Wi-Fi signal, or login to work.

    So … what’s the current status on Scout?
    I’ve finalized the feature list and am on track to send prototypes to a few trusted beta testers in late August, with a launch on Indiegogo in late October. I’m aiming for 400–500 pre-orders, with a target ship date of March 2026.

    Stay in the loop!

    Join the newsletter for updates + preorder alerts.
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    Or follow here at TheOrangeGarage.com

    ✅ What’s Working

    • SD-card map tiles
    • Location Reticle & breadcrumb trail
    • Live clock overlay
    • Optimized partial-refresh logic
    • Solid and fast GPS
    • Saves zoom & last-known position on power loss
    • GPX route loading

    🔧 What’s Left to Build

    • GPX track recording of breadcrumbs
    • INI-file settings (refresh behavior, movement thresholds)
    • Power-management refinements
    • Mode-switch framework
    • Final case design
    • UI refinement
    • Custom, Optimized Map Tiles

    Feedback or Questions? Yes, please!

  • Testing partial refresh at Mogadore Reservoir

    The GPS location reticle now updates via distance traveled (3m atm). If the reticle will be drawn too close to the edge of the screen, the entire screen will be redrawn with the location in the center. Also it was a beautiful day 🙂

  • Saving location between power outages

    Scout can save your most recent location between power interruptions or off there is no gps signal. Scout displays your last known location centered on the map until you have gps signal again.

    There are new “Mobile Atlas” maps to test as well as the 1st case draft.

    More soon!

  • Refined breadcrumbs over a test map

    Making breadcrumbs with random motion. If the random trail gets too close to an edge, it resets in the center of the screen.

  • More partial refresh with breadcrumbs

    Testing what will become the breadcrumbs functionality over the map.

  • Testing partial refresh

    Doing some test code on the epaper display via Conrad’s Game of Life.