Welcome to Arcana Labs
The best puzzles are those not intended to be solved.
-- Unknown
Providing Software, Hardware, and other Amusements, Arcana Labs is a small, independant technology exploration and development hobby shop operating out of Atlantic Canada. My past work has focused on security and disaster recovery, with present work focusing on creating toys and puzzles, such as through my flagship project, PETI. I’ve organized my projects into a few categories: hardware, software, and a blog.
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Latest News
Model 2, Part 5 - Building Back Better
2024-07-15 00:00:00 -0500
While I’ve been tinkering with the idea of design changes or rework for the Model II more or less since I “completed” it last year, I didn’t really feel strongly compelled to pursue it. The beat-up Dell OEM keyboard I’d been using as a daily driver worked more reliably, wasn’t a “bad” keyboard, per se, and wasn’t sorely missed from the computer where it was supposed to be - the salvageware multimedia/light-gaming PC hooked up to the TV in the livingroom. It wasn’t until my birthday began to approach in June, and I realized that nobody, including myself, had really planned anything, that I felt the need to deal with it.
Releasing Version 0.4.0: The Sleep and Growth Update
2024-06-02 00:00:00 -0500
Only half a year or so behind the original projected release date, I am absolutely thrilled to announce the release of version 0.4.0 of the firmware for PETI, which has been tested and validated against the very same Revision B/C development kits that sold out back in February. 0.4.0 is being billed as The Sleep and Growth update because of the features it comes packing, and also includes all the fixes needed for a few bugs introduced in 0.3.0, which was released last fall.
Dispelling Illusions: An Update on Arcana Labs
2024-05-06 00:00:00 -0500
Over the last few years, I’ve been blessed to have the support of many friends, family, and individuals in the maker and electronics communities who were interested in my projects, in order to help keep the Labs afloat. A key part of that blessing has come through scheduled donations through various “support” platforms I’ve used in the past. However, I feel that something has changed which I need to be honest and up-front about, and which means I will no longer offer Patreon as an avenue to provide the lab material support. I want to be clear, this isn’t about not appreciating your support - this is about appearances and ethics.
New Project Leak: A Game for Scribes
2024-04-22 00:00:00 -0500
In a previous post, I was pretty clear that new projects and new subject areas were coming to Arcana Labs. While part of that is going to be a bit of an overhaul to the site to support it and make it more portfolio than business, I do have one small announcement I wanted to make before I dig into that heavy lift.
Scope Creep: The Broadening of Arcana Labs
2024-04-07 00:00:00 -0500
This post is a long time in coming, but march was a bit of a trip. Things are changing and moving around in my personal and professional life, and that means the Lab’s nature is changing to. Welcome to reality, everyone - the only constant is change.