general-chat

[blissful roost]

I move a lot.

Besides getting up for breaks and such.

[ebon dew]

i yanked far too many cords out of my headsets getting stuck under the chair wheels before moving to wireless.

[violet parcel]

for me it's really for attaching an hotas on the side DYI style

[blissful roost]

I still use a corded headset, because I didn't have to pay for it. Lol

[violet parcel]

I accidently broke a usb port and my razer keyboard and lost 200$ because of a lack of retractable cable once 😦

[ebon dew]

ok i need to hear more about that one

[violet parcel]

while xbox had a usb converter in the middle built-in same thing happened and xbox controller just disconnected in the middle preventing my TV from crashing on the ground

[ebon dew]

ohhh ouch

xbox has wireless controllers these days, pretty sure.

[whole jacinth]

yeah, some gaming controllers have break-away connectors in their cables. though those apparently can degrade quickly after a small number of separations?

[ebon dew]

might be a good place to mod some of those magnetic connectors in

[violet parcel]

I don't like wireless

bluetooth is a fad that will go away soon that make things less reliable no ?

[violet parcel]

shrug only happened once or twice

[blissful roost]

Bluetooth is a fad that's been around for over 20 years. 😅

"By 2017, there were 3.6 billion Bluetooth devices being shipped annually and the shipments were expected to continue increasing at about 12% a year. In 2021, shipments reached 4.7 billion units, with 9% growth forecast."

Lel

[tropic urchin]

ugh. nope nope nope. Next they'll be IoTing the chair.

pats her Steelcase office chair this bad boy can fit so much butt in it.

protip: skip the gaming chair and call up your local used office furniture liquidation company. Buy a ridiculously expensive fully adjustable steelcase executive chair for cheap.

and I say that as someone with both a gaming chair and a steelcase

[rapid geode]

bluetooth is a fad. like iphones and pizza

[raven thunder]

Yeah, it should really have full Thunderbolt, though I guess its connectors are technically USB ones now

[raven thunder]

therefore it can also fit so much ESP32x in it too 😉

[urban pawn]

you guys bought all the noods <_<

[raven thunder]

You're surprised n00ds are popular on the internet?

[violet parcel]

I don't usually pay for n00ds except the ones sold by adafruit

[raven thunder]

Does anyone else often find the images on Adafruit's learn guides don't initially load and they need to refresh the page manually?

[whole jacinth]

i've noticed similar behavior, and haven't bothered to analyze it yet

[fleet rampart]

these are copming in soon im goign to try to make a haptic knob with them

[grave comet]

hello! does anyone use a laptop as their main pc? how can you extend 2 external monitors to a laptop?
this is my laptop model: https://www.acer.com/datasheets/2020/4876/AN515-55/NH.Q7NSP.002.html
I am already using the hdmi port for 1 external monitor 😦

[waxen canyon]

input card

they make hdmi splitters

oh you want from laptop to 3 mon?

either way if you are going in you need input if you are going out you need output

they make usb video output thingys

Oh the possibilities

I mean c to hdmi? who knew there was hdmi hiding inside that tiny thing?

[grave comet]

usually it works if its thunderbolt? or if there is a usb c to HDMI hub. but I am not really familiar with it.

[waxen canyon]

That cord on the left does it if your device is capable

Like samsung to monitor type thing

[whole jacinth]

This community is how humans should be
#help-with-circuitpython message

many thanks for the hard work of the admins and moderators for making and keeping it that way!

[grave comet]

ohhh! maybe I can find a similar one locally (hopefully its cheap T_T)
i do not really know how to know if my laptop is compatible of extending monitor display using its USB C port 😦
all I know is it has these listed on its product page

[waxen canyon]

I recommend usb to hdmi adapter unless you know the other way will work

as long as you know speed is not necessarily the fasted via usb

[tardy badger]

Imagine with me for a moment.. you’re about to turn in your homework and the internet goes down

[waxen canyon]

control s awwww

adp to the rescue...

oh sorry

[tardy badger]

Homework is saved butttt I can’t turn it in 🫠

[waxen canyon]

how comes?

[tardy badger]

Comcast outage I guess

[waxen canyon]

bummer

grab someone elses wifi?

hotspot from phone

you are on discord right now somehow...

[tardy badger]

Cell service

2 bars

Lol

[waxen canyon]

lol homework who needs it?

priorities and all

[tardy badger]

If it was undergrad I’d just take the late points

But grad school is brutal and I already struggled with this homework

I’m going to make a not so great grade on it lol…

[waxen canyon]

why exactly can you be here but not turn in your homework?

even notter of great if it's late

[tardy badger]

I did it in my desktop which doesn’t have WiFi

[waxen canyon]

you no dongle?

does your house have network

instead of you being hotspot you could join your home network

usb or sd card adapters?

thumb drive that to kinkos yo

lol

[tardy badger]

I have a great home network, thumb drive was not formatting because it was my windows boot stick lol…

[waxen canyon]

ftp

[tardy badger]

Okay it’s submitted

Desktop —> jump drive—>MacBook—> course website via sketchy hotspot

[waxen canyon]

yeay

[simple otter]

Hello folks,
Have you used Xamarin.Forms to connect to MQTT API of adafruit? I am new here and not sure where to ask about it.
Thanks in advance!

[tardy badger]

You might try #help-with-projects if you’re thinking project wide. If you’re more interested in a language approach like Arduino MQTT, you could try #help-with-arduino

[tardy badger]

It’s time to see the incremental changes apple is bringing to the table this year

[blissful roost]

That should be a good laugh...

I'm keen to see what's happening with Google's Tensor 2.

*G2... Because reasons..

[rapid geode]

apple will change all the ports and encase the device in epoxy so it cant be repaired ever

[blissful roost]

Hahahaa

[tardy badger]

New temperature tracking with Apple Watch series 8

Pretty cool. And new security features for your health data. A big focus on womens health which is great

Oh crash detection too

It detects car crashes and automatically alerts emergency services

[rapid geode]

ordered 2 things and has 3 tracking numbers....

odd

[tardy badger]

Weird

[rapid geode]

ah, i see. its only 2. just sent twice

weirdos

i still dont trust a company named skynet

[tardy badger]

Lol same

[tardy badger]

As we anticipated, iPhone will get satellite communication capabilities

And apple is getting rid of the notch on the pro models

Basically they shifted it down and incorporated its shape into notifications

Cool, A16 is done on a 4nm process.

[blissful roost]

There's some talk that the Tensor G2 will be 3nm, but.. we'll see.

I'd expect 4nm, but.. shrugs

[rapid geode]

i think a long time ago they said 2nm was the limit

and then they have to think ove a new concept on how chips work

2nm is like 1 or 2 atoms or something of that nature

[tardy badger]

There’s some interesting tech being developed to overcome the size wall in the semiconductor process. Rather than 2D semiconductors like we’re used to, 3D semiconductors are being developed like Intel’s RibbonFET process

2D vs 3D in semiconductors comes down to the number of gate layers you get. Traditional node processes like finFET only give us one gate layer so it’s considered 2D

Interesting enough there are some ways to achieve 3D semiconductors outside of ribbonFETs https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-dimensional_integrated_circuit

Fascinating

Though it looks like Intel in their RibbonFET process seek to overcome the costs and increased defect risk of current 3D processes, as well as shrink it down

[rapid geode]

i see

i just need a computer that has 1024 cores at 6ghz with 512tb ram

about 400 of those should do

[tardy badger]

Just spin a massive EC2 instance lol

[rapid geode]

i need 400 of them in one rack

with a pizza stone in the middle

[night crescent]

ASK AN ENGINEER 9/7/2022 LIVE! https://youtu.be/Ug24TQG8auQ

[raven thunder]

..is it bad that I’m pretty sure I had a dream last night that involved CircuitPython imports?

[crystal ore]

Obligatory: https://xkcd.com/353/

xkcd: Python

I wrote 20 short programs in Python yesterday. It was wonderful. Perl, I'm leaving you.

[raven thunder]

I did think of this

Then after I woke up with a migraine I did from medicine drawer import ibuprofen, paracetamol, codeine

[crystal ore]

For what it's worth, I'm a fan of Excedrin Migraine. The caffeine they add seems to help versus normal painkillers.

[raven thunder]

I guess considering I usually want/need to try to sleep through them, caffeine seems like a bad plan

[hollow crystal]

Oh cool!

What does that mean in terms of new features?

[violet parcel]

I'm kinda confused as to how I'd measure current on an energized enclosure that is powered from mains (like my alarm clock from yesterday and I'm not sure if it's energized) or the amp of a battery
voltage is easy, just put the probes on either end, but really not sure about current. Same for checking an USB plug etc ?

A first glance it seem I have to connect my multimeter in the circuit as if I was adding a resistor to a circuit but on an enclosure/usb plug/etc I don't actually see the circuit

Is it possible that my multimeter already handle this for me as long as I use the right holes in it ?

[whole jacinth]

can you explain a bit more of what you're trying to do? are you trying to measure the leakage current that you're feeling when touching the alarm clock?

[violet parcel]

yeah, want to be sure it's safe because if I'm feeling a vibration when I touch it. I measure the voltage at various point and it doesn't seem any higher than the normal 2mV from the probess sending electrons to each oother

so I guess if there is very little voltage like this no matter the amps it's not an issue. But would still like to know how to measure the amp running along an enclosure if I can't open it and modify the circuit

ie

[whole jacinth]

your meter probe is not a good simulation of a human fingertip. the contact area is smaller, and it isn't grounded in the same way as your body is

[violet parcel]

if I can't modify the red circuit inside I can't see a way to connect the multimeter in series with it

[whole jacinth]

voltage is measured between two points. current is measured along a conductive path, sometimes by temporarily breaking the circuit to insert a shunt or meter. which conductive path are you wanting to measure the current along? your body?

[late fulcrum]

Shorter battery life?

[whole jacinth]

"amp running along an enclosure" might not be the best way to think about this. what you're feeling might actually be line voltage, probably capacitively coupled, at some (hopefully) high impedance. what parts are you touching when you feel the buzzing? are they metal or plastic? is the line cord grounded or not?

[violet parcel]

the back with just one finger about an inch from where the power cord enter, seems more intensive when I pincer the front led panel and the back near where the cord is. It's a 2-prong cord where one side is longer so it can only goes one way in a socket. Seems to be plastic, enclosure is hard plastic and the led panel has a transparent plastic window.

I'm not sure if they are vacuum tubes type leds (forgot the scientific name for them) or regular big leds number things

[whole jacinth]

if it's only a 2-prong cord, i think it's supposed to be double-insulated. usually when i feel a tingle from like that, it's from the metal body of a laptop computer when the charger isn't grounded, because the isolation/decoupling capacitors on the AC mains side always leak a small amount of current to the "ground" of the charger output

[violet parcel]

the other symptom is that the alarm sounds very garbled, but the led display is fine.

normally if the led display was wacky I'd blame the capacitors. But this kinda has me puzzled and to fix it I'd have to leave it to sleep for a few weeks because I really don't want to discharge mains caps

[whole jacinth]

normally i think you shouldn't be able to feel a tingle from the plastic parts of the enclosure of a double-insulated appliance. unless maybe your body is very sensitive to small electric currents? so in conjunction with symptoms of malfunction, it's possible that one of the insulation systems in the appliance is at least partially compromised, which could turn into a more dangerous condition, depending on details like what caused that compromise

[violet parcel]

I have had it for a while (4 years I think) never punched it or pressed snoozed hard but I think it might have dropped once or twice while moving other things near it and getting stuck in the cord. There's no cracks or holes anywhere though

I might be sensitive to small currents though because I've had my hand go numb before from touching two sides of a badly grounded mouse before

[whole jacinth]

with mechanical impacts like being dropped, it's somewhat possible that there is internal mechanical damage that compromised some insulation. consumer products are supposed to tolerate some amount of this without creating unsafe conditions

[violet parcel]

I also often get a shock when touching a light switch to turn off a light so maybe I generate too much static or something 😦

well I guess I'll open it during my vacations in december or something to see what's going on

kinda weird if the insultation is gone and I can't measure any voltage though

this feel exactly like touching a tesla coil I think / the "force field vibration" feeling

[whole jacinth]

there are probably ways to measure the leakage, though you might not have the right equipment to do so. your improvising a measurement scheme using the equipment that you seem to currently have is risky

[whole jacinth]

if "getting stuck in the cord" includes accidentally yanking the clock off a piece of furniture by tripping on the cord, etc., it's quite possible that the mechanical stresses compromised the insulation on the mains cord by bending it too sharply and breaking internal conductor strands, which can poke through the insulation. strain reliefs are supposed to prevent that, but there's only so much they can do against shock-loading (as opposed to bending in normal use)

[violet parcel]

what should I do even when the multimeter doesn't show a voltage or continuity when probed at different points?

shop I stop using it, or start trying to find a replacement or just continue using it as normal ?

[whole jacinth]

i would suggest this as a cue to find a replacement. it's probably not actively dangerous, but might become dangerous in the future. alarm clocks seem inherently likely to receive mechanical shocks and stresses, so it could become worse. i am not a licensed electrician, etc. etc.

[violet parcel]

meh seems to be a 50mA circuit Power source 120V 60Hz 6W. Bah since I can't find a schematic I guess I'll replace it

[whole jacinth]

can you show a photo of the product nameplate? the one with the ratings and certifications on it? (i think you sent one earlier but i can't find it quickly)

[raven thunder]

Dumb question you might have already answered, but you are measuring voltage by touching one probe to ground and the other to the casing, right?

[whole jacinth]

that 50mA is probably for a physically intact device; otherwise the only thing limiting the current is the branch circuit breaker for the outlet you've plugged it into

[violet parcel]

no, I'm trying to see if it's safe to touch boutons on it without getting a shock so I ran the volt probes throught poking them in the spaces between button to the display, various point on the case, near the power cord etc

[whole jacinth]

what's on the right-hand side of the label out of frame? anything like a square-in-square logo, or "Class II"

[violet parcel]

sorry let me retake a picture that isn't rotated

[raven thunder]

There are volt probes that don't need a ground reference?

(I'm bad at this stuff so wouldn't surprise me if there is)

[violet parcel]

I'm probing to make sure my fingers won't serve as ground. If the probes don't detect voltage then my fingers shouldn't get one if I press the buttons either

[whole jacinth]

so only the UL/CSA/etc. standard numbers, which hopefully include double insulation, but i can't tell for sure because the standards are paywalled

[raven thunder]

I am reasonably confident that this isn't how multimeters work for measuring voltage?

[whole jacinth]

yeah if you're wanting to measure the voltage your skin would feel, you want to ground one probe of the multimeter. again, this isn't going to be accurate because the contact area and the capacitance of your body are greater than the meter's

and don't ground the meter via the ground conductor of an outlet! too easy to accidentally touch the hot conductor that way

[violet parcel]

shrug that's usually how I've seen it measured when trying to determine if a case is energized before you touch it or if touching a button would complete a circuit

if the multimeter don't get a voltage neither should you...

[raven thunder]

again I'm pretty sure multimeters work by measuring the difference between ground and the other probe, so if there's no ground reference, it can't do it

[whole jacinth]

that's not always true. the multimeter is a measuring device. it has limitations. it isn't necessarily measuring what you think it's measuring

[raven thunder]

I think there are dedicated voltage detectors that can do this without a ground reference

[whole jacinth]

voltages are measured between two points. if the other probe of the multimeter isn't touching anything else, you're measuring between the active probe and the air where the other probe is located

[raven thunder]

Or that have some other workaround for it

[violet parcel]

not sure you guys understand what I'm trying to measure

the normal situation is that there is no ground

because the case is protecting me

[whole jacinth]

there are no-contact voltage detectors you can buy in almost any hardware store. they work by measuring small amounts of capacitively or inductively coupled mains AC nearby

[whole jacinth]

assume that your body is ground, especially at high voltages and/or frequencies

[violet parcel]

I thought that the probes of my multimeter would be connected to the ground of the battery the same way than if I touched what is being measured my body would form a ground with the ground

[whole jacinth]

sorry, could you please try rewording that?

[raven thunder]

Wait, battery?

[whole jacinth]

it would be safe to assume that the case or other insulation is at least partially compromised, given what you've described. so it's probably not protecting you as much as it should

[vestal pier]

batteries don't have grounds, just positive and negative terminals

[violet parcel]

sorry but you guys really confuse me this morning and you are starting to make me think electricity laws have changed or something...

[raven thunder]

Well yeah, didn't you get the memo? It was part of the Inflation Reduction Act 😉

[violet parcel]

schematic with batteries always have a GND on the other side of battery and so do MCU, isn't that a ground ?

and I'm measuring the volts on the alarm clock while it's plugged in and powered, the ground is in the socket

[vestal pier]

you need to supply a ground to a circuit powered by a battery

[violet parcel]

I'm measuring if putting the probes will complete a circuit with the socket

if I see volts it's because something is wrong

[vestal pier]

you can measure the voltage across the positive and negative, but that doesn't make it ground

[whole jacinth]

there's "ground" as a reference point in schematic, and then there's "ground" as in the literal electrical potential at the surface of the earth

[violet parcel]

not sure how that's so different from touching it with my fingers and getting a shock

[raven thunder]

I'd assume in part because a multimeter isn't a living thing and it detects voltage differently than we experience it as humans

[whole jacinth]

where exactly were you putting both meter probes when you tried to measure voltages on your clock?

[violet parcel]

That is why I attempted to explain several time, the alarm clock is grounded

if I remove the case and plug the probes directly on the transformer it will detect voltage because the alarm clock IS grounded

[raven thunder]

In theory it should be, yes.

[whole jacinth]

yeah, i mentioned this earlier. human bodies have nontrivial capacitance, and are effectively grounded (at somewhat high impedance) to the earth and the surrounding air by various paths

[violet parcel]

I just want to make sure that when I put the probe inside a button and on the outer casing somewhere else that there is no ground (hence I'm protected)

[whole jacinth]

if it has a two-prong plug, it's not grounded, by electrical safety definitions. from an electrical measurement standpoint, assuming everything including your apartment mains wiring is wired correctly, the neutral conductor will be near earth ground potential, but that's not the same thing

[violet parcel]

so what do I do to know if it safe or not ? wait to get shocked by it for the first(and last) time ?

[whole jacinth]

so you poked one meter probe between a button and the case, and touched the other to the plastic of the case? that will further compromise the insulation (somewhat) and also not measure what you want to know

[whole jacinth]

like i mentioned earlier, it's probably safest to assume that the insulation is partially compromised, and start looking for a replacement for if/when it becomes compromised enough to become dangerous. i'm not willing to say unconditionally that it is safe, compared to its certified original condition

[raven thunder]

Or if you really like it, get a GFCI plug for it

[late fulcrum]

Hook a 10kΩ resistor between the point where you feel voltage and ground. Measure the voltage across the resistor on an AC scale. If it's more than a volt or two, it's a shock hazard.

You could attempt to measure the leakage current directly, but if it's too large, it could damage your multimeter, your equipment, you, and possibly blow a breaker or fuse. This is why I suggest using the resistor method instead.

[whole jacinth]

also probably not adequate to prevent feeling a tingle from leakage currents that are too small to trip the GFCI

[raven thunder]

No, though I assume it should still be fine from a safety standpoint

[violet parcel]

i usually touch it that way when setting timr

And I feel something at the back of the casing when doing that which I don't if I hold it near the screen in front with a button

[whole jacinth]

@violet parcel note that madbodger's measurement won't necessarily tell you if it's leaking enough current for you to feel a tingle (less contact area and capacitance than your body)

[late fulcrum]

It will tell you what the leakage current is, which is a useful thing to know.

[violet parcel]

so I decided to hold my probes the same as various combination of my finger (2^4 combinations in this case)

[whole jacinth]

ok that trim looks metallic… is it conductive metal, or just metallic paint, etc? can you measure continuity between two nearby points on the metallic-looking trim?

[violet parcel]

Like this is one of the way I tried to measure it on every mode on my multimeter. One probe inside the time button, one probe on the back of the clock

no it's not metallic just paint over plastic, you can see it flaking off near the button labelled N just on the top of one of my finger

[whole jacinth]

and you feel the tingle only on the finger that's touching the back of the case? are you touching the mains cord at all? or only the plastic at the back of the case?

the metallic paint might not conduct well enough to show continuity, but it might conduct well enough to increase capacitive loading enough to make the leakage current perceptible

[violet parcel]

seems to be everywhere, except when grabbing the sides, grabbing by the screen / power cord doesn't seem to make a difference

really seem to be a combination of back + somewhere else or front + somewhere else

I would just prefer to not throw something that still works fine and isn't a big issue especially with the chip shortage/trying to reduce waste unless it costs more to test it/solve the problem

If surface is an issue I could I'll wrap it in aluminum foil, and put a resistor like madbodger said and I'll know for sure

[whole jacinth]

let me review what we seem to know so far: you feel a tingle (possibly leakage current) that you didn't feel before. you're observing possible malfunctions that you didn't observe before. did these start around the same time? if so, it seems likely that there's some mechanical damage that at least partially compromised the insulation

[violet parcel]

hard to say if they started at the same time but I think it started shortly after and no there are no loose pieces when I shake it

[whole jacinth]

there don't have to be loose pieces for the insulation to be compromised

[violet parcel]

ifixit has a repair guide for it but since this is my first I'll bring it to the repair non-profit in my city where they have experts that can look at it

I think after an hour of discussion we have determined that it's very likely to be broken and possibly going to get more dangerous with time

[late fulcrum]

For a switching power supply, there are generally three components between you and the mains, the transformer, an optoisolator (used to communicate power regulation information between the low voltage and mains sides), and a noise suppression capacitor. There is also the possibility that some conductive grime has accumulated on the board.

[violet parcel]

oh yeah... also when I grab it whilie it's ringing the garbling of the alarm seems to get worse but that might just be a sort of doppler effect since I have to rotate it to find snooze/turn it off when it wakes me up

[late fulcrum]

The optoisolator is rarely a problem. The capacitor is normally responsible for the bulk of the leakage current in a correctly operating unit. Different values of capacitors allow different values of leakage. The transformer should not leak, but sometimes the insulation can break down and allow dangerous amounts of current to flow between the primary (mains) and secondary (low voltage) sides.

[whole jacinth]

probably not doppler effect if it wasn't doing it before, and assuming you haven't dramatically changed your habits so you're moving the clock much faster than before while trying to turn off the alarm

[late fulcrum]

Note that if your device doesn't have a switching power supply, there should only be a mains frequency transformer and maybe a noise suppression capacitor between the mains and low voltage sides, but the same sort of thinking applies.

[violet parcel]

I can see a metal plate throught one of the vent so I assume it's a clip to hold a step-down transformer

if the LEDs aren't nixie tubes they will be stepping down 120V to 3.3 or 5V or rarely 12V...

[whole jacinth]

could also be shielding of some sort

[dusty citrus]

does exist some sort of 3d rotary encoder?
like a ball partly covered in an enclusure, and when you kove it, you can passively get data

[whole jacinth]

nixie tubes would be an expensive specialty

[whole jacinth]

i think so? i think one or more brands have used words like "space ball"

[late fulcrum]

A trackball is normally a 2D encoder, but there are some 3D encoders like joysticks where you have X and Y motion for two axes, and press down, twist, or squeeze for more. There's also the "space ball" style controller like the PlayStation used for a while.

[dusty citrus]

thanks

[violet parcel]

I doubt that if there are no schematic online that even an expert can fix it though and I expect the device to be full of DRM-electronics as usual (removed markings/stuff stuck in epoxy/etc)

[whole jacinth]

you don't usually need a full schematic to fix a mains insulation leakage problem

and, probably not for an alarm clock, but you might be surprised at how many household appliances have a small wiring diagram or high-level schematic tucked away behind an access panel

[violet parcel]

yeah I saw that once but often it's for the electrical parts not the display/control board

[late fulcrum]

The power supply itself is where the leakage would occur, and the power supply is (notionally, at least) fairly simple. I've worked on many similar units and can normally quickly identify the relevant parts without a schematic.

[violet parcel]

so it wont help if you want to interface with the control board, but if you want to replace it with your own it help I guess

[late fulcrum]

For interfacing equipment with incompatible voltages, I normally use the same sorts of optoisolators that are used in power supplies, to communicate information over a voltage barrier safely using light.

[violet parcel]

I guess this is an example of what you mean madbodger

no worries that unit is dead/outlet disconnected

[late fulcrum]

I was referring to things like the power supply in the picture I posted, which clearly separates the mains circuitry (on the left) from the low voltage circuitry (on the right), making it clear that the three components in the middle are the ones between the two domains.

[violet parcel]

oh it's what argonblue said sorry "but you might be surprised at how many household appliances have a small wiring diagram or high-level schematic tucked away behind an access panel"

[late fulcrum]

It turns out most power supplies are fairly similar (they're all solving the same sorts of problems, and they're built by a fairly small group of companies that specialize in their manufacture, and other manufacturers normally just buy in the power supplies)

[violet parcel]

my dryer or washer have the same thing as well on the back

[whole jacinth]

also there's usually a mandated minimum clear area of the PCB of such an isolated switching power supply that you can see in the foil pattern

[violet parcel]

I've seen peoples opening very cheap chargers before though and they had no isolation or very little between the two coils. Where as one made by apple/samsung had like almost 0.5 inch of isolation between the two

is the mandated minimum the same everywhere ?

[whole jacinth]

i think the mandated clear area varies depending on the details of the device, but it would typically be national or international product safety standards that set that sort of thing

[late fulcrum]

Some cheaper equipment violates the mandated safety specifications

[violet parcel]

so if it has no cert/standards or fake ones they might not follow it right?

sometimes I wonder if those who make cheap/unsafe devices even know more than me about electrical safety...

or even more electronics knowledge...

[whole jacinth]

they know enough to make it really cheap while not violating the safety standards badly enough to go out of business…

[late fulcrum]

That's an interesting question. I consider something like a switching power supply to be fairly tricky to design, requiring a fair amount of knowledge, but I've seen some implementations with mind-bogglingly dumb choices that someone with a few weeks of experience would presumably know not to do. 🤷🏾

[violet parcel]

yeah sometimes when I see certain devices/their price I wonder if the only difference between them and me is easy access to a PCB company and lot of money

[late fulcrum]

Heh, I agree with you there

[violet parcel]

but in safety performance it's as bad as if I did a switching power supply myself for which I have zero knowledge about

[raven thunder]

This is one of the reasons why if you're buying any kind of vaguely high voltage power supply, only get one from a reputable brand

[violet parcel]

and someone who is good like the helpers it would find fault with it within the first 5 minutes

yeah but I always have these arguments here, I ask for hot plate recommendation and someone link a 50$ one without any sort of cert when they are normally 1000$...

[whole jacinth]

i understand that the usual failure mode of building switching power supplies with inadequate experience is it blowing up on the test bench well before it gets to production

[violet parcel]

same argument with my soldering iron a while ago etc...

[late fulcrum]

My opinions on such things are verbose and subtle, so I generally stay out of discussions like that.

[violet parcel]

I think I'm going to make an electronic device/app that generate a random pronounceable "brand" for companies that pop in and disappears after 2 weeks on amazon/walmart/aliexpresss/best buy etc. I'd probably get rich

[late fulcrum]

I'd avoid buying anything on amazon/dealextreme/wish and the like, but I like your idea for sellers at walmart/ali/best buy

[violet parcel]

bah I just buy branded stuff/those that seems to have actual certs like the UL charger that is on the way (since it's sold in snail stores as well)

It's rare for intertek/CSA/Ul to be fake certs usually it's mostly CE

[late fulcrum]

Unfortunately, the branded stuff is sometimes counterfeit except on trusted marketplaces

[whole jacinth]

yeah, customs tries to seize counterfeit imports at the border, but they can't stop everything

[violet parcel]

yeah... that's why I usually only buy sold sold and shipping by amazon.ca to minimize the odds of fake

and besides for non-fakes stuff a brick-and-mortar store or official resellers usually beat their price like for the hakko

was 100 USD on pishop.ca instead of 160usd on amazon

I guess I'll borrow the class 3 electrical gloves from the building superintendent when I test the USB on it 😄

in case it's not 5V1A

[raven thunder]

If I get Amazon I ensure it's actually them I'm buying from, unless it's Anker

[late fulcrum]

Even that may not work, due to their "equivalent merchandise" policy

[raven thunder]

I still love how one of the bigger Chinese power supply makers is called "Mean Well", like "well yes, it did cause a huge fire, but we Mean Well with our design"

and the amount of battery companies with "fire" in their names..

[violet parcel]

I did have great experience with chinese sellers before though, very happy about my woner hair clipper or my aescher bike lights

oh yeah chinese brands like that are just so funny it's sad

company that make platye for 3d printing is called one happy choice, which sounds both silly and creepy and unsafe to me

[late fulcrum]

Heh, I bought some cheap truck lights from China and use them as running lights on my trike

[violet parcel]

and I think the main manufacturer for those electronic smoking thing is called everfire and they actually their brand name on the batteries

*Ultrafire lol

[late fulcrum]

The place I bought my laser cutter from is a vendor called "Love Happy Shopping"

[violet parcel]

With us you doon't get a normal fire on your lithium you get an Ultrafire

Next best thing after a Superfire and a Supernova

and amazon reviewers rarely look inside the device

and often such a seller will include a "personalize letter/sob story" in the package

like ... I bought 10 op-ams for 2$...

what's with the ads...newsletter...

[whole jacinth]

yeah they were just talking about something like that on Ask an Engineer

[violet parcel]

then there is "I don't know what to make of this" category

like the canadian aliexpress reseller I buy from that seem to make their own PCBs under license

I don't see anything wrong on the board but can't figure out they cut costs and it bothers me

you can't pick up because it's just a workshop in a garage

[whole jacinth]

QA isn't cheap, if done correctly

[violet parcel]

they aren't easy to solder and don't include pullsups on their i2c stuff so I figure that's a way they cut costs

but they aren't big enough to have economy of scale like adafruit etc

so I'm puzzled

[whole jacinth]

are the pads like bare copper or something? or tin/solder/gold plated? that can make a big difference in how easy it is to solder

[violet parcel]

no they are just extremely small

and dont conduct heat well

[raven thunder]

I assume Adafruit might have purchasing economies of scale but with them you're arguably paying for design, NYC manufacture, and contributions to stuff like CP, plus obviously full ROHS

[violet parcel]

where as adafruit stuff is copper and are large (same for pis mcus)

[whole jacinth]

i think Adafruit actually tends to (thinly) gold-plate the pads that are meant for users to solder. cuts down on oxidation and corrosion to improve solder wetting, but might mildly weaken the finished solder joint

[violet parcel]

like on internet they says that clones cut on the regulator and make it 150mA but I don't even seem to have the same regulator/know where it is

[raven thunder]

Does this look vaguely like a sensible splash screen for a CO2 sensor? Having trouble coming up with conceptual things for this heh

[violet parcel]

CO or actually CO2 ?

[raven thunder]

CO2

No way I'm gonna even try to make my own CO sensor

[violet parcel]

I'm a bit puzzled personally when someone buy a co detector and don't test it outside with a test co can

like how do you know it work if you don't test it with actual CO ?

But in my family we used to test smoke alarm by lighting a cigarette under it so maybe it's me

[raven thunder]

Because if you've got a good brand from a proper retailer it's a highly regulated product

[raven thunder]

IIRC that's not a recommended thing to do to them, though you can get 'test smoke' for them

[late fulcrum]

I wouldn't even know where to buy a test CO can and I'm not sure I'd want it in my house

[violet parcel]

back

front

where even is the regulator ?

[violet parcel]

you do the test outside, the can has labels about it

also it's suspensed in liquid to make it spread around less and you spray it inside the detector and that's the standard way to test them like the manufacturer is supposed to do

the test button on it just does a simulation

doesn't actually test it fully

[late fulcrum]

I'm guessing the regulator is the 5-pin device near the "RST" silkscreen

Since one of the pins appears to be connected to the 3.3V pad, that would make sense

[raven thunder]

Hmm maybe this? The dots are low-key meant to represent covid

[late fulcrum]

Looks like you're blowing CO₂ onto a person infectious with COVID?

[raven thunder]

It's just a gust of wind though

blow the viral particles away

[late fulcrum]

Ah, the green represents fresh air, not CO₂

[static flare]

I don't particularly consider health to be green

green to me indicates the opposite

[violet parcel]

can looks like this

[raven thunder]

I hope that isn't actually real CO though

[violet parcel]

not sure what the problem is even if it is ?

it is to test outside

[static flare]

Because CO is deadly

hopefully it just responds to CO sensors the same, instead of being CO

[raven thunder]

I guess for me green = good, green for go, green for plants and stuff, red is danger etc.

though also yeah, red gets used in a medical context a lot

[violet parcel]

in enough concentration everything is deadly, pretty sure it's CO in low concentration

[raven thunder]

Hmm the one I've found so far really is CO as well, but 0.2% - 0.49%: https://www.farnell.com/datasheets/1865246.pdf

[violet parcel]

everything has an exposure limits such as they will show when checking the MSDS. I'm sure it's very diluted enough to trigger a detector but not be a threat unless you use 500 of them in a row in a small confined space

[raven thunder]

Yeah I think you're meant to use them inside a plastic bag etc.

[violet parcel]

well the manual I saw for another one said to spray it inside the tested measurement unit while outside and that one press wouldn't be continuous and would just spray the small quantity required for a test, came with a sort of straw as well possib.ly to put distance between user and device

[raven thunder]

Heh I just realised what'd happen if I did that, both of my mine are WiFi ones that are networked, so they'd both freak out and then send out notifications

[violet parcel]

In my case anyway I don't need one but I did get one to sample because I wasn't sure if the building heater in which I'm a tenant could release CO or not

[raven thunder]

Still remember being in a store (?) and getting a notification from my mother's ones and calling her going "err, is your house on fire?"

Does it burn gas (the actual gas kind, not the liquid petroleum Americans oddly call "gas")?

[violet parcel]

My mother call me when there is an event with casualties in the country despite me having little chance of being there (another province / city / no connection to my hobbies/me) and whine about me not visiting her often but when I try to visit her suddendly it's canceled and she never call me/visit me by her own

[raven thunder]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJg1zRgkbno

[violet parcel]

Like there is a forest fire 2000 miles away and don't understand what sort of connection she makes as to why I would I be there

I think she's getting confused with age or something

[whole jacinth]

people who hear about news in distant places don't always have the context to know whether it's actually a danger to the people they care about

[violet parcel]

I have to call like 1h before I show up to know it's suddenly canceled because it's not a normal thing for her to call me and tell me she cancelled it because she prefer going to the park

[raven thunder]

Yeah, and/or it reminded her of you and she wants to talk to her

[violet parcel]

or I drive 1h for nothing

[raven thunder]

Ah parents...

[violet parcel]

I don't understand peoples who know they are 1h drive from you and don't call back to say eh finally don't drive 1h for nothing since I prefer going to the park and there will be no one

[whole jacinth]

some people don't always understand the consequences of their actions. even if they're adults who should know better

[violet parcel]

yeah anyway... last time it happened it was the ubisoft swatting thing in montreal and I'm like 12h away and there's no way ubisoft would hire me as I have zero qualifications to work there

and she said maybe I showed up to ask for advice to pass a level or something

... you can't do that, they have online forums for that you can't just show up at a game company and asks for advice in the game

[raven thunder]

Getting a flashback to Season 3 of CXG..

I think a lot of folks also don't realise that games companies a huge companies either

[violet parcel]

anyway, the thing is she never touched electronics and when I explain it to her she get it in like 10 minutes while I spend a week understanding it

[raven thunder]

the economic size of gaming is something that is very much not obvious to a lot of people

[violet parcel]

so she's much smarter than me

[whole jacinth]

rational intelligence doesn't always correlate with emotional intelligence

[raven thunder]

Intelligence is a messy complex thing though, lots of different kinds etc., plus if you've spent that week understanding it, you might be better at then explaining it to someone in a way that's clearer

[violet parcel]

The specific thing I was explaining was PWM to drive a motor, pulse time, the square wave etc

but she's much better at abstract things than me I think

[raven thunder]

Aaand the queen is dead

[tardy badger]

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-61585886

[blissful roost]

Bless her soul.

[dusty citrus]

diana 2.0

[rapid geode]

im pretty sure she is 1.0

[ebon dew]

whew feels like a tropical storm out there, rain is coming down in sheets, tons of lighting. exactly right on time for florida this time of year.

[late fulcrum]

That's part of what I enjoyed, growing up in Florida

[violet parcel]

Sometimes I want to get an ozone sensor but then I realize my nose is very good at it

to detect rain shortly before it falls

[lusty fossil]

Got something sick.

[late fulcrum]

I also got something sick, but I was able to cure it

[lusty fossil]

Nice!

[whole jacinth]

why is it upside down? are you correcting a drooping cathode or something?

[late fulcrum]

Most of the guts are in the bottom, so it's easier to work on upside down.

[whole jacinth]

looks very old-school

[late fulcrum]

The rest of it is basically the tubes

Yeah, built in about 1952, so it's about 70 years old now. Mostly needed some old paper and electrolytic capacitors replaced.

Now it can display its own name!

[ebon dew]

Wow. It looks older on the inside than on the outside.

[lusty fossil]

Me too, tbh

[late fulcrum]

Even then, more engineering was expended on making things look "modern" than updating the actual innards that do the work.

[ebon dew]

The size of those resistors. 😮

[late fulcrum]

As primitive as it is, it's a pretty usable scope. And fairly easy to service (I've come to believe that oscilloscopes are one of the most-repaired appliances there are, as they're useful and expensive, and generally owned by people comfortable with digging around in electronics: those groups of film capacitors taped together are a sign that I wasn't the first person to repair that one)

[ebon dew]

Can you even find replacement tubes for those anymore?

[late fulcrum]

Tubes are surprisingly easy to find, even today. There are a few audiophile types that are pretty expensive, but the others were made in staggering numbers and there's little call for them today, so they're still around and affordable.

[ebon dew]

Pretty green cap looks like something from the future was thrown in there.

[late fulcrum]

I have many boxes like this

The green one amused me too: if you look at the "before" picture, you'll see the one it replaced was more than ten times the size.

[ebon dew]

Quite a collection

[late fulcrum]

I have an enduring fondness for tubes

[late fulcrum]

Just tripped over a particularly nutty price for audiophile tubes, over US$7000 for two Western Electric 205D tubes.

[gusty torrent]

Lots of valves

[static flare]

that looks upside down

[dusty citrus]

and yet another time
nothing really new, but new in that section of the market
maybe I should just dump stuff on github or something

[hollow crystal]

I like, I like

It reminds me of those old Snap Circuits kits

[stoic mesa]

quick question.
Anyone knows if R Pi Pico W is in stock anywhere? and if not, what are the expected lead times?

[hollow crystal]

Lol nope

Don't get your hopes up

[dusty citrus]

location?

I would check the perry site and then you can see their partners

[stoic mesa]

USA

[dusty citrus]

I can't find any in the usa
but in europe they are in stock

https://www.melopero.com/shop/raspberry-pi/boards/raspberry-pi-pico-w/

[static flare]

Here in Aus I haven't been able to find anywhere that stocks them

[blissful roost]

I might have to order a second Pico W this month

[shadow siren]

only two

[tardy badger]

Chinese PCB/PCBA emails have started hitting my day job email. Too bad they don’t know that the security office will follow up with them to figure out who they are..

It’s interesting because my role at my day job is sr associate software engineer. Nothing hardware about my role.

[raven thunder]

https://tenor.com/view/secret-service-gif-11599827

[tardy badger]

Also I work for a major defense contractor and China is the last place a defense company in the Us is going for PCBs and assembly

Which makes it all the more hilarious

Very bold move

[raven thunder]

Ah so your employer would go to NK ahead of them? Interesting 😉

[tardy badger]

Last globally accessible economy 😛

[dusty citrus]

;)

[shadow trellis]

Hi nis

Cn u help me?

[fiery glen]

Hello I have a question about the pink half height sdcard adapter on the store. I want to put it into a 2021 MBP but, it says it may not be flush. Does that mean it will protrude out or in? I wonder if it’ll get stuck in the socket if the latter

[stray wind]

If I recall correctly, those adapters have a lip on them that prevents it from fully inserting beyond the ability to remove it. I assume they are saying that it will protrude a bit more than with other laptops. I had one at some point but can't find it right this second to verify.

[crystal ore]

It will probably stick out. Note that BaseQi recently released an adapter which is exactly the right size for the new MBP.

[burnt tendon]

Oh yeah, at my last job I got a hardware supplier sending me emails.

Same story as @tardy badger, just Senior DevOps Manager instead of Software Eng.

Also, some jerk somehow found my home phone number and started calling me trying to place contractors.

[tardy badger]

Geez

[burnt tendon]

Also, I found out by a Digikey mailing that apparently one of the prior residents at my address also was ordering Digikey parts? Name seems like an actual local person with a LinkedIn and what looks like an office not very far.

[tardy badger]

Very interesting 🤔

I do find it interesting though getting the emails while working in defense. I wonder if they realize that we have to report those kinds of emails.

[late fulcrum]

I doubt they think about it very much, they just send them out in the hope they'll drum up some business.

[tardy badger]

That seems like the logical situation

[lusty fossil]

The cost is so low that one success makes up for 1000s of attempte

[hasty quarry]

How in the world do you solve this

[tardy badger]

log of both sides

[hasty quarry]

Nothing tells me how. Every math engine online just says "graph it" and tells me the numerical answer

[hasty quarry]

It doesn't seem to help

[waxen canyon]

@late fulcrum what is the domino? resistor?

[static flare]

I'd square it first myself

[hasty quarry]

Doesn't help either

[tardy badger]

sure, x = log(sqrt(x+3))

[crystal ore]

I'd be a little surprised if that had a friendly analytical solution.

[hasty quarry]

But then...?

That could be x = (1/2)log(x + 3), but...yeah no

[whole jacinth]

0.5 ln (x+3) = x, right?

[waxen canyon]

x+3 = e^x^2

[hasty quarry]

Nothing really "changes"

[hasty quarry]

No

Can't do that

[tardy badger]

yup

[waxen canyon]

looks cleanyes you can you square both sides

you can do anything that is equal

[hasty quarry]

Yes but that's equivalent, and I can't find where else to go

[hasty quarry]

You didn't write that

[waxen canyon]

everything is equivelent or it's wrong lol

[whole jacinth]

then i think you need to do a bit of simple calculus, or a numerical equivalent

[hasty quarry]

"e^x^2"

[waxen canyon]

i didn't write what?

[hasty quarry]

Is not e^2x

[tardy badger]

well, ln only has (x) range for x>-1

[waxen canyon]

i said e^x^2

[hasty quarry]

Oh as in (e^x)^2?

Sorry that wasn't clear

[waxen canyon]

ci

[whole jacinth]

the square of e^x is e^(2x)

[waxen canyon]

it is as clear as it can be

[hasty quarry]

Not really, mine is

[waxen canyon]

order of the opness

parenthesis are for those that can't follow along

[hasty quarry]

Okay 👍

@whole jacinth So how could some calculus do this?

[waxen canyon]

I kidding in case it is not too obvious

[late fulcrum]

It's a capacitor. The capacitors on that turret switch determine the sweep timing.

[waxen canyon]

I mean I'm not wrong but...

[whole jacinth]

because ln(x) can be defined as the integral of (dx/x)

[hasty quarry]

Yes

[waxen canyon]

I saw the others were obvious, but I have seen that package destroying things as a kid , but never had a reason to know what it represented.

[late fulcrum]

Come to think of it, I should measure the leakage of that capacitor: many of the six-dot ones like that were mica capacitors and are still fine 70 years later, but some of them were "micamold", which are paper capacitors in similar-looking packages, and like all paper capacitors, they degrade and become leaky over time.

[waxen canyon]

dang it, where did the d come from?

[hasty quarry]

It's not just d

It's dx

[static flare]

dx is the change in x in integration

[waxen canyon]

did you do a thing where dx is not d*x?

[hasty quarry]

Yes...calculus

[late fulcrum]

Sort of like Δx

[crystal ore]

Do you have any reason to believe that a simple solution exists? It might just be a problem that's only amenable to numerical solution or obscure elliptical functions that have to be evaluated like that anyway.

[waxen canyon]

i love to hear about how they derive the ints

[hasty quarry]

It seems so simple, it's frustrating

[tardy badger]

there's actually a trig identity in there. let me find it

[hasty quarry]

What in the world

[late fulcrum]

I saw the radical and thought "trig substitution", but that's usually for integrals. For an equation like that, I'd probably start by squaring both sides.

[crystal ore]

To my mathematical intuition, it screams "ugh, hard", since it's mixing multiple "types" of operations: powers, exponentials, and addition.

[waxen canyon]

Does anyone here do pid stuffs? for funzies?

[whole jacinth]

i'm not sure that there's a closed-form solution. but it's not completely obvious to me that there isn't one

[hasty quarry]

Yeah, I tried squaring both sides, and ln'ing both too, but they're just dead ends

[hasty quarry]

Yeah exactly, it just isn't immediately obvious, it looks so friendly

[crystal ore]

I'd toss it into WolframAlpha. If there's a friendly solution, it would know.

[hasty quarry]

I tossed it into everything, and everything did it numerically

[whole jacinth]

ugh i don't have sage installed, and i'm really rusty about using it, otherwise i'd try to feed it to sage

[hasty quarry]

I thought maybe, just maybe, this was another case where computers don't know but humans can

[waxen canyon]

what really blows your mind is when you get that x = e^x^2 - 3
and then you substitute for x on the right side lol

[hasty quarry]

What

[waxen canyon]

nevermind

[late fulcrum]

I get x + 3 = 𝑒²ˣ

[waxen canyon]

does e^2x = e^x^2? doesn't seem right

how do you super script?

[whole jacinth]

(e^x)^2 = e^x * e^x = e^(2x)

[hasty quarry]

Look, when you say e^x^2, most people will assume you mean this

[waxen canyon]

I hate carats but too dumb to copy pasta the exponents from the goog

that is correct technically

I do mean that

[hasty quarry]

Uh

It's not, sorry

[waxen canyon]

e^*e^x

oops

e^x * e^x

[tardy badger]

anyway, what are you attempting to get from sqrt(x+3)=e^x?

solving for x?

[hasty quarry]

Yes

[waxen canyon]

it is not about what you get

it is about how pretty it is

[tardy badger]

😛

[waxen canyon]

and all you do is move one thing from here to there

when algebra actually meets calc you get greek letters

[tardy badger]

okay, then you need to move all Xs to one side

[hasty quarry]

Yeah that's the issue, I got stuck on that

It just isn't properly separable

[waxen canyon]

all i did was square both sides of the original equation. I didn't do anything

why is everyone yelling at me?

lol

[hasty quarry]

Because you think this means e^x * e^x

[waxen canyon]

the magic is really e

[whole jacinth]

e^x^2 can be ambiguous; use parentheses or actual superscripts to disambiguate

[waxen canyon]

are you saying that e^x^2 does not mean e^x * e^x?

[hasty quarry]

I'm saying the image I sent does not mean that, and most people will assume e^x^2 means what is in that image

[whole jacinth]

e^(x^2) is not (e^x)^2 (edit: in the general case)

[late fulcrum]

𝑒²ˣ (or 𝑒^2x) is clearer and less ambiguous

[waxen canyon]

oh it could be? not if we actually followed "the rulez"

[hasty quarry]

No

What's in that image is e^(x^2)

[waxen canyon]

is e^2x = e^x * e^x?

[tardy badger]

anyway, notation aside.

solving for x in your equation..

[waxen canyon]

you have to do left to right. are you a monster?

[hasty quarry]

Doesn't seem plausible yeah

[tardy badger]

it is

graph each side of the equation

graph e^x

[hasty quarry]

I mean, yeah, sure

[tardy badger]

then graph sqrt(x+3)

there are two points where they are equal

anyway, roughly -3 and 0.64

[whole jacinth]

yes, and i think that's conceptually no better than a numerical solution

[waxen canyon]

is that y = sqrt(x+3)

[tardy badger]

there's not really a pretty way to do it

[late fulcrum]

Looks like 2 solutions

[whole jacinth]

yeah, i'm inclined to believe that there is no closed-form solution if all of the readily available software decides to evaluate it numerically

[late fulcrum]

Yeah, a log of a sum is ... wonky

[waxen canyon]

It would graph x = -4
i wanted to see i, but I didn't have enough axis

wouldn't

[late fulcrum]

Graphing Calculator rocks

[waxen canyon]

Also if I remember my algebra correctly, there are as many possible answers as there are exponents?

(inversely as well.. of course)

I so badly hate roots, but they really are inverse squares... Lol

Subtracting is the same as adding the opposites.
Multiplying is adding groups of the same base.
Dividing is subtracting until the numerator is less than the denominator. (Grr integrals, it sounds hard now) we already talked about what subtracting is.
So what's left? Nothing. 4 operations and they are all derivatives of adding. (Oh no, derivatives, it must be hard again.)

Order of operations. And logic. (da rules)

So all maths are just adding. Who says math is hard? If you can add, you can math.

Imagine if we had to have a list of rules and then lists of exceptions to each of those rules. How complicated. It would be like language.

Like is 0 neg or pos? Divide by 0...
If I was smarter, I would think that they just don't understand what dividing by 0 actually means. And of course 0 is even if you subtract an even number from an odd number you will always get an odd number and you will never get 0. (No matter how flawed those other people's ideas are. Hehehe)

We should have channels dedicated to maths!

[late fulcrum]

Multiplying and dividing are just adding and subtracting logarithms. And exponentiation is just multiplying logarithms (so it's just adding logs of logs). So just 2 operations: addition and logarithms.

[waxen canyon]

a log is a negative exponent of a certain base. exponents are multiplying...

fractional my bad

fractional exponent oh whatever. you know lol

[late fulcrum]

To quote A. J. Dessler and C. T. Russell's article "The Pending Disappearance of Pluto", "[...] we all know that a negative number raised to an irrational power is complex!"

[waxen canyon]

It will be back

[late fulcrum]

The article continues, stating "Pluto will reappear as a real planet in 2256."

[waxen canyon]

how dare they make exceptions. To reality. it's orbit is weird: (maybe it was knocked off course?)
it doesn't clear it's orbit: (maybe it was knocked off course? Maybe it's really slow and we don't have enough data to know if it is or not?)

I imagine it won't take long. I have heard some astrophysicists chattering.

It has plate techtonics.

[late fulcrum]

The article is based on the assumption that the various estimates of the mass of Pluto over the years are all correct, finding an equation that approximates them, and extending it into the (then) future. "That is, Pluto reappears, but with a complex mass. The real part of this complex number is negative. While this idea may seem repellant to some, Pluto will be repellant to everything at this point." 🙂

Ah, found a link: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/science/EO061i044p00690.pdf

[dusty citrus]

I basically want to make a projector
the light source is smaller, while the output is bigger
so I'll need some sort of lens, the problem is that I know nothing about lenses outside the general physics bookshelf
I tried to google opto engineering, but I did end up even more confused than before
somebody has any resources to share?

[crystal ore]

To a first approximation, the most important parameter is the focal length of the lens. For a projector, you'd generally place the lens about that distance away from your image source, and then adjust it slightly so that the projected image is in focus on whatever surface you're shining it on.

However, note that your light source will often need to be much brighter than you think in order to have a visible projected image... you can't just put a lens in front of a little OLED display and project it onto a wall.

[late fulcrum]

At a minimum, all you need is a single simple lens. Try taking an LED, light bulb, etc. and an ordinary magnifier into a dark room and try hold the lens near the light source to project it on the opposite wall. A larger lens will gather more light, as will a lens with a smaller focal length (because it will focus nearer the object and thereby capture more of the light from it. My LED projector is basically an 8x8 array of LEDs and a lens.

[orchid zephyr]

I got a free lathe

[proper umbra]

what is the current I should run the 3v noods?
https://www.adafruit.com/product/5503

[crystal ore]

From that page: "Since the LEDs are in parallel, you only need 3V to light 'em up - we recommend current limiting with a resistor to let max 50mA through."

[proper umbra]

I did not see that yesterday, derp

hmmm, I was testing with 100ma

I have found different values across net

50 seems dimmer than the demo vid

[waxen canyon]

How cute. It's a baby. Look at that little chuck. Is it a bridgeport?

[proper umbra]

should I ask in another channel?

[lethal spruce]

I have a QT2040 trinkey. does it support PlatformIO?

[dusty citrus]

doesn't exist any sort of hobbist liquid lens right?

[crystal ore]

Not exactly hobbyist, but they are available: https://www.edmundoptics.com/p/58-mm-ca-a-58n0-p19-corningr-variopticr-variable-focus-liquid-lens-development-kit/43645/

[hasty quarry]

So I looked into the exact solution of the undamped pendulum. The elliptic integral of the first kind. And in the end it's a solution for the period time

But I was wondering why they'd solve for the period time. Isn't the point of solving the differential equation to find the angle's function with respect to time?

Or is that not at all possible, even as an "incomplete" answer like that one for the period time

[tardy badger]

Given that it has no closed form solution, this is probably the best answer? Not completely sure

https://www.acs.psu.edu/drussell/Demos/Pendulum/Pendulum.html

This attempts to explain it fairly simply but perhaps not the answer you’re looking for

[dusty citrus]

thanks
then I guess that I can't like make diy lens for rapid prototyping?
I saw some guy doing them with resin but it looked like a pain

[crystal ore]

Oh, you mean a solid lens cast from liquid, not a lens that's still liquid? It's probably not worth the hassle versus just buying a cheap glass lens of the specs you want, since polishing them precisely isn't too easy.

[burnt tendon]

Well behaved optical scientists always end up buying a cheap glass lens. The poorly behaved ones... get grounded.

[dusty citrus]

no, no at first it was about that
I was just looking at options vs ordering a specific lens
since I might end up buying stuff that I don't need so it might become expensive

[crystal ore]

Yeah, you don't want to be too abrasive.

[blissful roost]

Yeah... That's my job. 😅

[whole jacinth]

yeah, it's generally a good idea to use progressively finer grits when grinding lenses

[late fulcrum]

Happily, the lens parameters aren't critical at all. I just grabbed a lightbulb and a random lens and was able to project the filament onto the wall easily.

[waxen canyon]

are these 5050 neopixels? how many? That is pretty bright

just a bulb? 😦

[late fulcrum]

The LED projector in the earlier picture uses this neopixel board https://www.adafruit.com/product/1487, the second one is a 40W incandescent bulb

[waxen canyon]

that was only 40w? ok I have seen way brighter neopixels

I could see through your hand lol

just the ones on the circuit playground are bright.

[tardy badger]

Brightness is an illusion determined by viewing angle and candela rating. So so weird how it works. How narrow viewing angles reduces brightness because the light is intensified to a smaller point rather than spread out

The difference between luminous intensity and luminous flux is fascinating and confusing

I had to learn a lot of about brightness and intensity for a VLC project

[waxen canyon]

i love comparing lights when their units are lux and candlepower and lumen and some are a measurement about total output, some are intensities, etc. But it is like they are not consistent. We need at least 1000 lux in our inspection areas for example.

like I should care how much comes out that doesn't point where I need it.

light bulb efficiency ratings...

[burnt tendon]

To understand it is one thing, but to explain it requires a luminary.

[waxen canyon]

in 2D we say 360, what do they say when it's 3D?

[crystal ore]

"4 pi"? 😉 That's the number of steradians on the surface of a sphere.

[waxen canyon]

i am fine with that we just multiply for volume right? let's call it two tau or not to tau

we really don't want volume or surface area. we want all vectors from a point

rounded though.

it doesn't matter if radians or degrees.

[crystal ore]

Not quite sure what you are looking for, but steradians is the unit of angular area. Or there are about 41253 square degrees total in all directions.

[waxen canyon]

i think it looks more impressive in degrees

no it is the steradian for sure. I forgot what it was named. however the conversion sounds more impressive.

it doesn't sound cool that I have gone half way around and it's barely over 3. all that effort. but 180? yeah. bigger. i don't mind being irrational

Also I watch viHart and she feels that Tau doesn't get enough attention and I don't disagree...

[rapid geode]

free lathes are the best lathes

[whole jacinth]

i thought they were like free puppies…

[late fulcrum]

You don't normally adopt additional dogs to use as tools/parts to possibly repair/upgrade your existing dogs

[rapid geode]

you do if it's a sony dog

[late fulcrum]

I knew there was an RCA dog (his name is "Nipper"), I didn't know there was a Sony variety. https://www.americanantiquities.com/Fall winter 2019/Fall 19 Journal/Features/Brooke/RCA Victor His Masters Voice wall clock.jpg

[tardy badger]

Guardian of the Garden

[late fulcrum]

Heh, mantises don't mind the smell, they'll chew right into stinkbugs

[tardy badger]

That’s actually a squash bug. Just as menacing to gardens as stink bugs

The squash bugs have been menacing my squash and pumpkin plants

[late fulcrum]

Mantises will eat pretty much anything they can catch. I've seen 'em snatch houseflies out of midair and even dispatch wasps. Squash bugs don't stand a chance.

[tardy badger]

I saw two the other day and hoped they would stay around to get the squash bugs

The squash bug on the bottom of the leaf there is one I attempted to feed the mantis

[late fulcrum]

If there's prey to eat, they'll tend to stick around.

[rapid geode]

if you saw 2, one is dead now.

[tardy badger]

Lol

[orchid zephyr]

It’s a Logan, 820 or 920 I think

[hollow crystal]

Thank you XCode, very helpful

[dusty citrus]

doesn't exist anything like
https://www.panelook.com/
but with viewable pricing?

[hasty wedge]

some platformio stuff

[spice moss]

https://tenor.com/view/live-long-and-prosper-spock-star-trek-70s-gif-12540280

[tardy badger]

Mini watermelon 🍉

Little watermelons like this helping me fight depression one tiny dopamine hit at a time

I’ve got 4 more watermelon that are not ready yet. One that is much bigger too 🙂

[dusty citrus]

christ
the wiring was alright it didn't work
then I do realize that the printed pinout on the pcb is wrong

[wooden schooner]

ok call me contrarian but i honestly don't think the tau thing warrants that much attention. Clearly the "basic" constant is 2pi, or maybe 2pi*i, but I am happy to just treat 2pi as an atomic symbol

I guess a little attention is ok, I just try to be careful about sending a message to the general public that "this is math" when it's really just conventions that are not conceptually significant. Math education in the US already teaches kids that "math" is a bunch of stupid stuff like whether to capitalize the A in arctan.

not exactly the same thing but reminds me of this lol: http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-04-08

[blissful roost]

I prefer maths.. more accurate. 😅

[wooden schooner]

idk man, i was only taught one mathematic in high school

[blissful roost]

Oof

I was taught home ec, electronics and woodwork, as well as IT.. So I'm good.

[wooden schooner]

um excuse me, do you mean home ecs, plural? that only seems accurate.

[blissful roost]

Close enough. 😁

[wooden schooner]

yeah maybe they only taught you one home economic

[blissful roost]

Yeah, cooking.

..for which my family were far superior teachers.

[waxen canyon]

i personally only use it for conversation hehe

oh I wasn't trying to mislead.

I like maths. Can you hear the UK accent?

[blissful roost]

Narp

[waxen canyon]

i got sewing cooking and carrying a bag of flour around. Whatever that was for...

[blissful roost]

Lol

[waxen canyon]

we made tootsie rolls it was awesome

[blissful roost]

I already knew how to sew.. textiles was just a stitch-up. 😐

[night crescent]

Desk of Ladyada - Samples Sunday & Replacement SPI FRAM https://youtu.be/U4nkThRpY3k

[static flare]

Should pick myself up a Macropad at some point

[gusty torrent]

Or build your own.

[static flare]

that's fair, might do both

[blissful roost]

I'm going to strip down a keyboard on my days off, to see if it's worth modifying.
Drop a Pi Pico in there as a controller. 😁

[static flare]

I have a keyboard i need to do that with

[blissful roost]

I could be tempted to use the IBM keeb, but.. ehh.. feels like heresy. 😅

[dusty citrus]

stupid question:
how do we know that x discoveries were made by x people? like calcolous by newton, relativity by Einstein and eccetera? or rather how did they put their name in it?

nowdays we have like what patents, but they are expensive, copyright it's a mess, logo/design trademark other corporate stuff

[blissful roost]

Books and stuff.

[ebon dew]

Yes, Academia has been around long before patents were a thing. Humanity embraced open source long before the printing press let alone patents. Clay tablets to electronic tablets. We’ve come a long way.

Open source is part of humanity’s natural state, yeah I said it.

[whole jacinth]

all those big names in science, math, and technology, who history tells us were lone geniuses… they were the ones who got the credit. history rarely mentions many of the shoulders they stood upon, some of whom deserve credit that they never properly got

[median tulip]

Hello, looking at getting a text message via button press in a location that does not have internet access. Power is available thankfully.

Could I use a feather plus the FONA board? Are there any recommendations or guides? I just need to be pointed in the right direction and can figure the rest out. Haven't worked with cell cards before so that is exciting 🙂

[dusty citrus]

well Newton from what I know was an hardcore paranoid

he often refused to talk about his work or publish it for the fear that it would be stolen

[ebon dew]

a wise man once said, "fear is the mind killer"

[median tulip]

didn't a woman say that?

[crystal ore]

Pretty sure Frank Herbert identified as a male. 😉

[median tulip]

I was just referencing that Lady Jessica says it

😄

[ebon dew]

yes but she was also taught by the bene gesserit so who knows who originally taught it to her.

but yeah saying Frank Herbert is actually the one saying it pretty much trumps all. i wouldn't have thought of that 😛

[blissful roost]

I'm reasonably sure Mr Herbert didn't identify as anything... Being something of an old fashioned guy.

I doubt the concept even entered his mind.

[burnt tendon]

Oh, I'm sure it probably entered his mind and he wanted nothing to do with it; he disowned his own gay son.

[blissful roost]

I wouldn't assert that would relate to gender identity, but... He's dead, so we can't exactly ask.

[narrow gulch]

Does anyone knows where I can get/download a STEP model for 3535 Neopixel LED (SK68XXMINI-HS) ? Basically, its the 3.5mmx3.5mm Neopixel (smaller version of the 5050).

[lusty fossil]

I assume you've looked at places like SnapEDA?

[narrow gulch]

yeah... I have checked the usual places, SnapEda, Octopart etc... even GrabCad

[blissful roost]

Shweet! I should have my OLED screen soon. 😁👍

[lament salmon]

My Discord account got hacked last night

i see, that guy sent invite links to all of my DM's and servers

Server's banned my account so i now created a new one

i got phished, just a tip, Never Scan the QR code without exactly knowing what would happen, So embarassing, Who ever did that, sent those inappropriate server invite link to every one in my dm's and there were some professional colleagues in dm's too who also receieved that link

[blissful roost]

I use a QR reader that just displays whatever the translated information is.

[lament salmon]

The discord mobile app has a feature to scan the Qr code, i tried to join a cryptocurrency server, in that server it was mentioned to verify myself by scanning the QR code using mobile app

[raven thunder]

Have you seen Adafruit's NFTs? https://www.adafruit.com/galleries/nft

[blissful roost]

I never touch a QR code without hitting it with a plain text reader first.

[ebon dew]

1990's public service announcement: never click on untrusted links

2020's: here's a blind qr code enjoy!

[rapid geode]

sometimes i feel like we just keep getting technologically dumber

(as in the more tech we get the less we as users understand it and just use it blindly)

i remember a story about strava publically plotting military movements cause the soldiers all had fitbits.

[tardy badger]

It becomes pretty hard to adapt to new technologies when they are changing so fast

It’s a problem with striving for continuous innovation

The human brain can barely keep up with a new phone model every year

[rapid geode]

i have no idea what my phone is doing though. its talking to my garmin, is it sending all my movements to the web?

i just assume no

but i really have no idea

ha

[tardy badger]

The pattern I personally see is continual abandonment. Something doesn’t work the way we want it so we abandon it to try something new rather than improving on something that mostly worked but needed a bit of help

[rapid geode]

i do sympathise with people who go all in on tin foil conspiracies

[tardy badger]

Oh 100%

I couldn’t imagine how mentally agonizing it is not understanding so much of the world and no one taking the time to simplify things. Until you find the one person who does but in a way that’s completely manipulative

My dad for a while there 2019-2020 was on the whole 5G train

[rapid geode]

Yeah. i have a degree of knowledge that lets me accept things i dont understand yet. But if i was more uneducated, i can see being just lost.

thats why you get adafruit kits for kids instead of barbies

😛

[spice moss]

skerr yeah

[rapid geode]

my niece just got chucked into a french school. muhaha

(shes 6)

[tardy badger]

Lol

[blissful roost]

At least she's old enough to drink alcohol.. in France.. 😅

[rapid geode]

haha

i dont think there is any law on that here. only serving and selling commercially

[tardy badger]

sees 6 year old smoking and drinking “that was a really long day”

[rapid geode]

smoking i think there is a law

[tardy badger]

It’s a French joke

The French don’t drink without smoking 😛

[rapid geode]

not my family

😛

[blissful roost]

Yeah.. Europe tends to be more liberal, so long as your kid ain't falling over drunk.

A little wine during a celebration is ok.

[tardy badger]

I’m just capitalizing on French stereotypes

[blissful roost]

I took my now wife to Paris in 2013.. seemed like everyone smokes. Lol

[rapid geode]

She is 1/4 french canadian, 1/4 german, 1/4 ukranian, 1/4 vietnamese.

a mutt

😛

[tardy badger]

In all seriousness, I aspired to learn French in college but I progressively got worse with each class I took lol

B->C->D

[rapid geode]

well thats why the school is good. much easier to learn multiple languages young

[tardy badger]

Yeah

I do plan to try and relearn French one of these days

[rapid geode]

no german lessons though. we dont have that til highschool.

[tardy badger]

I love that German sounds so angry

[rapid geode]

ha

[tardy badger]

It matches my usual facial expression

My wife asks me all the time if I’m upset

When I’m reality my natural expression is scornful

[blissful roost]

An old friend of mine would say.. "I love swearing in German.. it's like wiping your ### with sandpaper!"

[tardy badger]

Lol

[rapid geode]

ha

languages outside the romatic ones are so weird to me. some sound like yelling, some like singing.

her grandfather speaks to her in vietnamese, so hopefully she learns that too

[dusty citrus]

nah it depends were in europe
Italy is a mafia state

[blissful roost]

Well, of course it's subjective.

[dusty citrus]

yay I'm sorry
I think that you all now know how much I hate Italy lol

[rapid geode]

now now. without italy we wouldn't have pizzas

[dusty citrus]

it's a social construct

[rapid geode]

pizza is a social contruct?

socially constructs some pizza

[dusty citrus]

pizza being italian

[burnt tendon]

I am surprised how well living in California prepares you for touristing in Spain.

Meanwhile, my Mexican-American friend had a hard time because of dialect differences.

But, yeah, pizza is a consensual hallucination, really.

Life exists in the liminal space between pizzas.

[ebon dew]

Between eating them? Yes.

[burnt tendon]

Tomatoes and chili peppers and potatoes are not native to Eurasia, tho.

[rapid geode]

pizza is life

[ebon dew]

Got me hungry. I’m going to go make a pizza.

Digorno stuffed crust. So good.

[rapid geode]

pizza as we know it is american. i think flat beard with toppings is in many cultures going back thousands of years though

[burnt tendon]

Yeah, go to India and have a paneer kulcha.

[ebon dew]

It took an Italian mom to slap spaghetti sauce on it and say eat it or be hungry. Pizza was born.

[rapid geode]

ha

spaghetti is not italian either

[burnt tendon]

Oooh, let's get an argument about who invented noodles!

[rapid geode]

haha

reminds me of sushi. in canada, "japanese food" is sushi. My japanese friend was like "um, no, sushi is junk food in japan and it doesnt look anything like this crap you have here"

[tardy badger]

I’m convinced that xfinity/comcast is one of the worst internet providers

[rapid geode]

pizza is pretty universal though i think. every country serves some variation of pizza

rogers is the worst internet provide

r

[tardy badger]

I’m supposed to be working right now but my home Internet is down. I discord from my phone through cell service

[burnt tendon]

Apparently at least some actual Japanese sushi chefs will at least be amused if you show up as a California resident.

One of the popular bad-internet-connection-simulators is called Comcast not Rogers, so I think we can declare Comcast the worst.

Because, you know, California rolls.

[ebon dew]

looks normal

[tardy badger]

Yellow lines are times internet disconnected

Red is how long it’s been down

[ebon dew]

yeah, so, normal 😛

[rapid geode]

rogers went down for a whole day, taking out 911, debit, visa, interac, hospitals, phones, internet, schools.. and then RAISED rates

[burnt tendon]

One of my guys was at Comcast and I just started but he has stories about working there already.

I will decline, of course, to share them.

[tardy badger]

Spectrum gets a lot of bad wrap, but I never had issues when I had them.

I’m sure it’s area dependent

[ebon dew]

at least it's real coax instead of at&t dual phone lines

i'm sorry i meant ADSL

[tardy badger]

AT&T was my worst ISP experience

In 2016, the best I could get at the place I lived in just north of Nashville was 24Mbps DSL

Meanwhile one street over had fiber

[rapid geode]

24mbs from rogers costs $90/m

worst and worlds most expensive

[tardy badger]

I think I paid like $120/month and got direct Tv which almost never worked

[rapid geode]

anyhow. 😛

[ebon dew]

at&t for a while was trying to say their uverse stuff was gigabit but was just 768KB DSL.. i was like seriously this is the best in this area...

i bet i could setup a lora repeater network to like 100 miles away where there is fiber, have it hop back over 100 miles and still be faster than at&t.

[rapid geode]

mt bell service right now is 6.1mb cause they botched it and never bothered to come to fix it even when a service ticket was made

i need to yell at them again tomorrow

[tardy badger]

Imagine if providers were required to refund you a full days rate if service goes down for more than 30 minutes

[rapid geode]

ha. like i said, when rogers went down, they raised rates.

[tardy badger]

$2 a day for the service I have

[ebon dew]

i think qwest turned into century link, heard they have some bad low tier packages but also rolling out fiber to the home now too.

[tardy badger]

Comcast deliberately overbooks their infrastructure

They offer fiber where I’m at

[rapid geode]

canada has the most expensive internet in the world by a long way, and poor service to go with it.

[tardy badger]

$600 total installation

[rapid geode]

everything is fibre here. right into the house

[ebon dew]

their packages kinda depend on how many people you have in your house, how many 4K tv's etc.. they provide enough for like 2 people on mobile affordably but anything more than that and you'd better get unlimited.

[tardy badger]

Data caps on internet is kind of stupid

I have a 1.2TB/month cap

I’ve only ever hit it once

[rapid geode]

cap used to be 300gb here. not sure what it is now.

[tardy badger]

But I got close to it many months

[rapid geode]

they call it unlimited but lie

[ebon dew]

better than paying per call like with old dialup modems. depending on the bbs you dialed into if it was cross country a one hour session on a bbs added up quick.

[rapid geode]

basic internet and phone service should be free.

[ebon dew]

we get a lot more bang for the buck today but pc's also far more data hungry and websites are massive in comparison.

[tardy badger]

You could argue that we generate a lot of useless data

[rapid geode]

spam, scams, etc are a huge amount of traffic

the rest is cats

[dusty citrus]

thanks to iliad here I got 300gb on mobile network for about 13/14€
and it's top up so no contractual obligations

before iliad I had to pay like 10€ for 1gb

[rapid geode]

phone here is $90. 10gb data.

[dusty citrus]

holy moly

but since iliad got there, there are other operators such as tim or vodafone who bully it by making it pay fines or other legal daogs stuff

[rapid geode]

anyhow. my new shiny bike frame is on the truck for delivery

[dusty citrus]

so did you got the titanium parts?

[rapid geode]

O_o

[dusty citrus]

weren't you the guy who wanted a "cheap" metal 3d printing for titanium?
maybe I'm getting confused

[rapid geode]

yes, sure. that is completely unrelated

[late fulcrum]

Alas, I live in the United States, where I pay $67/m for 3Mbps DSL from Verizon. However, I usually don't get the advertised speed, as every time there's "noise" on the line, it "falls back" to a lower speed. It's supposed to resume the original speed if the noise goes away, but what really happens is it "falls back" more every time there's noise, getting slower and slower until I reboot the modem.

[umbral phoenix]

US also: DSL (which is grandfathered and you can't order it anymore) is $64/mo for the 3-6Mbps tier (AT&T). There is no cable or fiber or any [other] terrestrial option where I live.

Starlink (which I might grudgingly order if it was available) is also not offering capacity in my area until at least 2023.

That leaves cellular, with variable bandwidth, not good selection of data plans, data caps, throttling / "network management", streaming limitations, etc.

[reef bobcat]

Ouch, I pay only 40$/month for 1000/1000 fiber.

[tardy badger]

I pay $60 for 800/15 coax

Xfinity is weird in that you usually get close to 10:1 down/up ratio but nope

[reef bobcat]

sucks

[rapid geode]

50 or so peppers. theres at least 100 more on the plants

[blissful roost]

Ahhhh, good!!
My noisy neighbours are moving out. 😁👍

[rapid geode]

ha

[raven thunder]

Thanks for reminding me to bug my ISP to get back onto new customer pricing for my gigabit symmetrical, going door-to-door to get enough interest registered for it to be installed years ago, continues to be one of the smartest things I did.

[dusty citrus]

I'm not totally sure how can I remove the back metal shielding from my lcd panel without destroying the panel...

[ebon dew]

some of them are epoxied on, gl

[blissful roost]

Ooooohhh!!!

[dusty citrus]

Christ

[blissful roost]

You called?

[ebon dew]

He tagged me though. ✝️

[rapid geode]

nothing good happens on twitter after that icon

we have a new holiday though cause the landlady died

now her kid is in charge

we'll see how that goes

[raven thunder]

what is that?

[blissful roost]

It's a Mini rendition of the Sharp X68000

[raven thunder]

Took me way too long to realise what that meant

[blissful roost]

ME WANT!

[blissful roost]

Most likely ARM-based, Allwinner SOC.

[late fulcrum]

I have (unreliable) comcast/xfinity as a backup to my (unreliable) verizon. There's no fiber availability here (although there's a big fiber trunk running across the street from me) and no cellular coverage either.

[tardy badger]

My Verizon cell service is immensely more reliable

I’ve honestly considered getting a backup 5G home Internet package since I live like 500meters from a 5G tower

My xfinity internet has been going down at least once every two weeks it seems like

It’s gone down twice in the last week

[late fulcrum]

I had a friend with verizon cell service, it was full of holes, and they eventually switched to T-Mobile

[tardy badger]

I’ve had Verizon since 2014 and has been fine. Not amazing but consistent

I almost switched to sprint back in the day

[late fulcrum]

SPRint is pretty terrible. They force-downgraded their entire customer base from GSM to CDMA (and sold the GSM network to VoiceStream, which became T-Mobile, which then merged with SPRint again: I don't know what happened to NexTel)

[tardy badger]

I heard alltel was pretty reliable back before Verizon bought them out

Probably the biggest thing hurting internet and mobile telecom is the rapid consolidation over the last decade or two.

[tardy badger]

Still down

It’s going to be.. a long day working the next three days

[blissful roost]

😁👍

I doubt the humidity in here is 0.00%, but... Meh.. at least it's doing something.

[blissful roost]

My OLED screen should arrive on/by Friday, so that will be something to add.
I might need to buy another BME280 module, if the humidity sensor on this one is duff.

[tardy badger]

Finally

[blissful roost]

Yay! I can now see my monitor stats online. 😄
http://monitor.baked-pi.co.uk/

[tardy badger]

Spoke too soon. It’s down again

[blissful roost]

oof

[ebon dew]

https://tenor.com/view/south-park-its-gone-gone-disappeared-gif-3534575

[late fulcrum]

Whee!

[tardy badger]

I’ve been watching the new Bill Nye series on Peacock, pretty neat show

[honest jolt]

Arduino IDE 2.0 released! 🎉

can't wait to try it out some time!

[winged finch]

There's a new Bill Nye series? Guess I know what I'm watching later

[vagrant wolf]

Is there an easy way to access wifi networks without the password like any arduino modules that can articulate passswords?

Wanna see if my password is secure and works

[tardy badger]

There are a few websites that give you an indication on how strong a password might be given different parameters. Obviously don’t put the actual password in.

In general though, pass phrases of 15 characters or more with a few numbers sprinkled in are generally more secure, easier to remember, and harder to guess. Which seems counter intuitive

But I’m general, make your phrase unique enough that it can’t be cracked with a dictionary attack

And also use WPA2/WPA3 level encryption if you can

[ebon dew]

If you mean a brute forcing password cracker on a microcontroller yes it’s possible but it would be so much slower than a laptop that most hackers wouldn’t even bother unless it’s some kind of battery powered drop and retrieve device. an ESP32 is like 125 mhz vs modest laptop cpu running like 3 ghz. Microcontroller is too slow otherwise you’ll be sitting there all day.

I’d be more worried about the new flipper device making waves. That thing is a fuzzing dream toy.

[night crescent]

SHOW and TELL 9/14/2022 https://youtu.be/EhFHec76RkU

[night crescent]

ASK AN ENGINEER 9/14/2022 LIVE! https://youtu.be/4rak0Q-ncP8

[topaz juniper]

Thinking of changing my github username to something more professional (at last 🙂 ) Does anyone have experience with this? From what I can tell, they redirect repos, but not pages and mentions.

[tardy badger]

Helping with university recruiting is fun

I’m doing university 1:1 screening sessions and so far, no one has shown up lol

[tardy badger]

12 interviews and 2 no shows. not bad

[tardy badger]

I’ve never had envy for technical recruiters, but I definitely have a new appreciation for people who have to do technical phone screens

[ebon dew]

looks like i'll be taking a google certificate course through coursera. anyone have experience with it?

https://grow.google/certificates/it-support/

[lusty fossil]

Absolutely none. Hope it works out for you

[winged finch]

You're recruiting new grads or grad students? @tardy badger

Technical interviews are annoying. Both giving them and/or being the person who's undergoing the interview. Interviews in general are tough. It's always a probability that the person you talked to is actually the person in a professional environment.

[tardy badger]

I’m just helping the university recruiting team screen candidates

Which is hard because you want to give everyone a shot but you can’t do that because there are only so many roles open

[winged finch]

Yeah I understand

[burnt tendon]

So. Oof.

There are very very few things more annoying, as a manager, than a bad technical recruiting competency at one's employer.

Obviously the people who reach out to you on linkedin obnoxiously are just one facet of the larger machine.

However, having worked with a recruiting org who didn't actually have anybody doing the reaching-out-to-people-via-linkedin job, you really need those people.

I guess the nice side of things is that I'm at least asking myself what would happen if one of my favorite super-smart people who happen to be not-male and maybe struggle with anxiety were to go through the process to join my team and I can make adjustments as necessary.

[tardy badger]

I get lots of contact via LinkedIn

I’m not currently looking but I occasionally entertain recruiters if the position seems interesting

Especially if they want to pay me more in this economy

[burnt tendon]

Oh yeah, I've worked at several places who were diligent enough to reach out with an opportunity that matched my exact skill set.

And weren't doing something silly like cryptocurrencies or other such things.

Also I've got some spectacular doozies.

[tardy badger]

Two places who are very interested in my are a company called BlockChyp, and a smaller defense contractor that does computer vision/drone tech

Though I don’t think the role is defense focused

[burnt tendon]

There was one place that messaged me, I ignored, then they followed up with "I’m sure you have read about $company in the last couple weeks including news of some recent turnover at the executive level."

I didn't know who they were, but then I googled them and made popcorn because they blew up spectacularly in the following few weeks.

[tardy badger]

Lol

Honestly at this point I want interesting work and enough money to outpace inflation which I am currently failing at

I increased my base pay by nearly $21k this year yet I am still living paycheck to paycheck.

My wife is going back to school for her bachelors and I think once she gets a job making the big bucks we finally might be okay

[winged finch]

My gf is an executive recruiter and let me tell you, it helps to befriend recruiters. Certain industry’s are small so they float around from place to place and they’ll remember you if certain roles pop up and you left a good impression.

[tardy badger]

I try to keep a lot of recruiters in my network

I also post a lot about my projects on LinkedIn

What better way to enhance your resume than having a way to physically show you are:
A. A self learner
B. Capable of applying resume skills

I’m also constantly surprised the so many college students going into software engineering and the sort are not doing more personal projects

[burnt tendon]

I mean, on one hand, it's really quite abusive and exclusionary. On the other hand... ~ waves hands vaguely at pile of personal projects dating back to high school ~.

[crystal ore]

It's a tough balance. I tended to over-index on school and engineering and ended up with deficits in other areas of life, so if other people make different choices, more power to them...

[tardy badger]

True, I guess I see even simple projects as a way to help compensate for not having internship experience

[burnt tendon]

I'm happier when it's something fun but personal project, like a really good cosplay.

[tardy badger]

Doing projects hasn’t been something that’s regularly encouraged in academics

[tardy badger]

I guess that’s what I mean

[burnt tendon]

Oh, at my school when I went they were really big on encouraging people do a personal project or two.

[tardy badger]

Out of the 13 people I talked to today, only 2 had done a project outside of school or internship