No, it's not really easier to buy a Wi-Fi dongle. My target device is the Spotify Car Thing and SuperBird doesn't have Wi-Fi components. My Claude Code Pro subscription was idle, so it cost me nothing. Also, according to an article from Tom's Hardware from two years ago, four million Picos have already shipped, so I've unlocked this ability for let's say 500,000 devices. Finally, my day job is in the Wi-Fi industry... this wasn't a learning exercise.
replyThe author's tone when they discuss the cost of the project is self-deprecating. They know it would have been simpler to just buy one.
replyBut also, the author has given the community a great gift, both directly (the blog post and the project!) and indirectly (the idea: what else can be implemented in similar ways).
It’s nice that it doesn’t need the WiFi stack or host side configuration though. This would be great for headless machines.
replyFinally hacker news on .. Hacker News. No need for it to be economical cheap.
replyIs it truly hacking in the traditional sense if everything was done with AI?
replyis it truly hacking in the traditional sense if you don't use punch cards?
reply> The project is cool thought to learn about networks, NAT, Proxys, ect...
replyThe author learned nothing though...
Eh maybe a few tidbits. But the world gained a new WiFi adapter!
replyexcept now we don't need to spend that $5
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