Benjamin Citren


Hello!!! I created this site to keep a record of the projects I have been working on over the years. 

  
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I have backgrounds in both Electronics and Computer Programming.

I do my best to keep up with and learn new technologies, and am always working on projects in my spare time to achieve this. I spent several years developing an Android Application, "MyHealthSheets". In order to get more familiar with other programming languages and frameworks, I have redeveloped this Android App and used it as a skeleton for other projects.

I continue working on a variety Electronics projects, and with the advent of IoT technologies have been able to combine my two passions of Electronics and Software Development. I have an arsenal of Electronics (thanks Ebay), some including; Arduino, ESP32, SBC's, and Electronics Components to work with.

My other projects revolve around Web Servers, both on the Cloud and utilizing Raspberry Pi's.

  • I have built a fairly extensive Android Application from scratch.
  • I mostly used Google's Android Documentation to learn how to program an Android Application using best practices.
  • This was before Google switched to Kotlin, so it was built with Java, using a SQL Database
  • Although I used the Android Developer Portal for Alpha and Beta testing, I never actually released it publicly. My mistake in early development was deciding to use a local database. In retrospect, I realized in order to sell the app with a paid monthly subscription I needed to use a cloud database implementation, but by this time I started working on forks of this project for Web Applications and haven't gone back to update the app.
  • I have been working with Web Application Technologies for over 5 years. However my experience working at Acquia has allowed me to have a much deeper grasp of how Web Applications and Cloud Technologies work.
  • I now understand how a Web Site propogates across the Internet, using DNS, CDN's, Load Balancers, Web/DB Servers.
  • As practice, I have setup many websites using CDN, SSL, redirects, using local and Cloud Servers, running on Apache, Nginx and Kubernetes
  • I have worked with many different Web Application Technologies and and languages. My most recent work has been with PHP and Javascript.
  • OpenHAB (Smart Home Server)

    Open Source PHP Web Application is a tool to setup and control Smart Home devices from a Web Browser.
    Click this link to learn more about OpenHAB

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  • PHP Web site projects

    I have been developing a couple PHP based Web sites/applications for practice. This site is a simple PHP application, however I also have a demo Web Application for myhealthsheets.com. I do most of my dev work on my Raspberry Pi, then push this to a Web Server when ready for production.

  • Personal Ebook Server using Calibre

    Browse, Download, Upload my book library and read direct from Web Browser

  • Owncloud Server

    Personal File Server similar to Dropbox and other Applications. This allows me to share files with family and friends without any free tier storage size limitations.

  • Drupal Web Application

    Created some basic Drupal Applications for practice. Visit Drupal.org for more details.

  • SMB, MiniDLNA, Plex and Kodi Media Servers

    I worked various technologies like this in order to share media content across my home network. These applications allow any TV or monitor attached to the network to browse and watch any type of Media Content. This link will take you to a great doc on how to setup miniDLNA more details.

  • RetroPIE - Game Emulator for Raspberry Pi

    This turns any Raspi into a retro-gaming machine. Allows you to play just about all retro gaming consoles through your raspberry Pi.This is a fun project that you can also setup with NES or other type cases and utilize BT joysticks that look like retro controllers. Start here for more details.

  • Python Scripts and other General Command Line Tools

    I have worked and am working on many other Projects I just haven't named here yet. I also like to use Raspberry Pi as I work with Python. I have created various Pyton Scripts as practice. Some examples are scripts to automated photos from a Raspi Camera, Simple Remote Control Car (using a car kit with 4 wheels/motors), and still various examples. Start here for more details.