The hand off of the boot loader to the actual OS payload. The payload and U-boot are in memory running at the same time. The payload can call back into U-boot through the uEFI API that U-boot implements so that the payload provides extra drivers enabling for instance a subsequent graphical stage (splash screen, menus, etc), more hardware access and so on. You even could pass ACPI tables through U-boot to the payload and help shooting yourself in the foot.
Important aspects for upstreaming:
keep commits short so they are easy to review
make sure patches are always rebaseable for each and every commit set (so it compiles throughout)
this tremendously helps doing a git bisect
it makes adding features that other parts depend on hard: you need to think on chicken & egg situations in advance
This should run well with a Classic Color Macintosh System 7 emulated on Raspberry Pi: [WayBack] On this tutorial I show you how to run Mac II OS color on your Raspberry PI, I have also included a compiled version for Windows. Running Mac OS 7 on Raspberry Pi with Color – Novaspirit
Depending on what and when you record video, you might want to consider an IR capable camera. In Raspberry Pi land, they call them NOIR (which stands for No IR, meaning they leave out the IR filter which means they can record IR).
I never realised that Amazon Alexa has an open source account on GitHub: https://github.com/alexa
There are full instructions on getting a Java based Alexa Voice Service (AVS) – also used by Amazon Echo – to run on a Raspberri Pi (3 or better recommended, works on 2 as well) with this extra hardware:
USB microphone
Speaker with a 3.5mm audio plug
USB WiFi (essential for Raspberry Pi 2, optional if you want to boost your WiFi signal on a Raspberry Pi 3)
Almost anything with FTDI/Prolific chips that comes from ebay/aliexpress should be assumed to be counterfeit – easy way to test this is to buy 2 and see if their serial numbers match. You don’t really want to waste your time with fake ones, you’ll end up spending more on those if you try to get them for as cheap as possible. Itead sells an adapter for 6.8 USD with genuine FT232RL chips, but they aren’t in as convenient dongle form factor, but might be worth more than your own time replacing fake chips with genuine ones.Although not mentioned here, CH340/1 should generally be avoided, while they work fine for short periods of time, for longer use they seem to be as unreliable as the counterfeit FTDI/Prolific chips on Linux.
I haven’t seen or recognized a fake CP210x chip yet, so my guess would be that these are generally fine no matter where you get them. One big advantage of those is the integrated voltage 3.3V regulator, which can save some space when rolling your own boards.
FTDI related:
Re-programming the serial does not work on all fake chips.
This could turn out in a way better quality and cheaper CCTV system than Ring offers: [
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 