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#friendfinder5000

11 posts · Last used Jul 04

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ff5000
Friend Finder 5000 bot ❤️ @ff5000@woof.tech · Jul 04, 2026

Hello, friend! I am the Friend Finder 5000 bot #FriendFinder5000. I hope I can help you find you more friends from amongst the wonderful attendees at #EMFCamp ❤️

How it works:

  1. Find one of my LED banner boards. You must be physically next to it

  2. @ me with the name of the screen. Please don't include any other text in the message.

  3. I'll display a code on the screen. Reply in our thread with the code to prove you're here in person. If you don't manage in time feel free to start again.

  4. I'll advertise your username on the screen until someone else takes it over. I'll also post a message from my account to announce you took over the screen.

Last but by no means least:

  • This is a family friendly bot. You must not interact if you post content on your feed that's inappropriate for under 18s.
  • To flag a moderation issue please message @excitablefloof@woof.tech or ring DECT 3736 ("FREN").
  • If you enjoy this bot, please consider a donation to the climate action charity Protect Earth https://protect.earth/donate
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excitablefloof
Excitable Floof @EMF! (📞FREN) @excitablefloof@woof.tech · Nov 04, 2025
A project I'm working on at the moment is codenamed the friend finder 5000. This will effectively be a capture the flag-ish game advertising mastodon handles for others to find. A few LED banner boards (these https://led.limehouselabs.org/docs/tiles/led-tiles-v2/ ) will be scattered around a hackercamp. Each screen will display one mastodon username. To capture it you would message a mastodon bot and then send a second message with the one time token showing on the board to verify you're standing at it. Then your username will be advertised for others to find and follow until someone else takes over the board. I am really hoping it will encourage random interactions at hackercamps 😀 #FriendFinder5000
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excitablefloof
Excitable Floof @EMF! (📞FREN) @excitablefloof@woof.tech · Nov 04, 2025
Replying to @excitablefloof@woof.tech
How it started: let's plug in some pins to a raspberry pi zero/pico to get this thing showing a "hello world". How it's going: 8 amps? Jeez. That's... a lot. I guess I need a power supply. Now I'm waiting impatiently for one of these bad boys feeling like Calvin from Calvin & Hobbes waiting for his propellor beanie https://www.led-card.com/meanwell-lrs-50-5-switching-power.html #FriendFinder5000
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excitablefloof
Excitable Floof @EMF! (📞FREN) @excitablefloof@woof.tech · Nov 22, 2025
Replying to @excitablefloof@woof.tech
The #FriendFinder5000 is coming along nicely 😃🎉. Pleased that the typescript API to tell the screens what to display is pretty much ready. Tomorrow I’m gonna try to get these screens showing some text. Lastly the mastodon bot should be the easiest bit to pull together.
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excitablefloof
Excitable Floof @EMF! (📞FREN) @excitablefloof@woof.tech · Dec 03, 2025
Replying to @excitablefloof@woof.tech
Achievement unlocked: one of my LED screens is (just about) working with a hello world. It’s not pretty - the repo I borrowed is set up for a 2040 chip and this is rp2350. A little polishing to do. But it’s got power and letters so I’m calling that a win 🎉 #FriendFinder5000
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excitablefloof
Excitable Floof @EMF! (📞FREN) @excitablefloof@woof.tech · Dec 08, 2025
Replying to @excitablefloof@woof.tech
3 new LED banners have been added to the collection. And they’re HUGE. They’re made by Symon, a company that went bust years ago. Which isn’t that surprising considering that they charged £thousands/yr for the privilege of using these. I think they used to be office stock ticker boards. Exciting! #FriendFinder5000
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excitablefloof
Excitable Floof @EMF! (📞FREN) @excitablefloof@woof.tech · Dec 08, 2025
Replying to @excitablefloof@woof.tech
Anyway the proprietary software they’re locked into is a sealed black box of garbage but conveniently some wonderful nerds on the internet have already reverse engineered them. It’s so much fun to find a ridiculously niche problem and then immediately discover that wonderful nerds have fixed it. What a time to be alive. Looks like I’m gonna be learning some perl and XMPP in the very near future 😅 #FriendFinder5000
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excitablefloof
Excitable Floof @EMF! (📞FREN) @excitablefloof@woof.tech · Dec 12, 2025
Replying to @excitablefloof@woof.tech
#FriendFinder5000 update: going well! Two of these ENORMOUS netbrite symon banners are in full working order and I’ve managed to send messages to them. Which means I have 7 screens to scatter around a hackercamp 🎉
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excitablefloof
Excitable Floof @EMF! (📞FREN) @excitablefloof@woof.tech · Jan 31, 2026
Replying to @excitablefloof@woof.tech
#FriendFinder5000 update: I’ve now got the networking config set up so that a raspberry pi acts as a bridge between the outside world via wifi, and sending messages to the big screens over ethernet. And I figured out how to fix the flickering issue on the wee screens by tying the ground of the pi pico into the power supply for the board itself. I’m so excited that it’s coming together nicely 😃😃
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excitablefloof
Excitable Floof @EMF! (📞FREN) @excitablefloof@woof.tech · Jul 03, 2026
Replying to @excitablefloof@woof.tech
I've been slacking a bit on the #FriendFinder5000. And I'm nearly out of time for EMF! Which is... a little stressful. Sorta made my own bed there. Oops. However! There is progress! The API is now running on the cloud, with auth, and I can poke it. Hello, floofs 🎉
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