general-chat

[static flare]

Neat!

[tardy badger]

One thing I think of often is how novel microwaves are, but their discovery was purely accidental

https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a19567/how-the-microwave-was-invented-by-accident/

[static flare]

We just replaced our microwave funnily enough

[tardy badger]

No one would have guessed microwave tubes melting chocolate bars would have such an impact on the world

[dusty citrus]

is it common that digikey has wrong datasheets? in their page do say one thing, while the given datasheet does say something else, products are not the same, looking for datasheets on other websites, I don't have much luck, there's nothing

also altium student licensing doesnt look renovable

[crystal ore]

No, not common. Digi-Key is ordinarily pretty good, though they have also started to allow "marketplace" third-party sellers, so the data quality on those might not be as good as their first-party listings.

[dusty citrus]

it's not from the marketplace, I was confused, I was drawing the footprints and the pins werent the same number, I guess that it happens

[sick adder]

@dusty citrus after double checking I'm not just overlooking something I'd jab this button on the product page on digikey and take a few minutes in the hopes it'll help someone else

[dusty citrus]

I'll do it
but I contacted them anyway, because I'm failing to find documentions about it

[sick adder]

oof, hope you find what you need.

[wispy bay]

Hello! I'm implementing PDMIn for the STM32L4 family. The implementation needs to allocate between 10-50k for a low and high pass filter lookup table. gc.free() shows 500k free, but calling allocate_memory() or m_alloc() raises an error saying the allocation failed. Any pointers to how I should be allocating memory would be gratefully received!

[late fulcrum]

The memory allocator is probably looking for a contiguous block and the memory may be too fragmented to offer one. You may need to allocate that block earlier, before the memory becomes fragmented.

[wispy bay]

Thank you! The PDMIn object is one of the first things allocated in the script. The device has 640k of RAM, of which 590704 bytes are still free. Is it possible the heap could become so fragmented in that short space of time?

I'm unsure which allocator function I should be using. I guess the regular malloc() is not usable?

[open fog]

Ive heard that the first microwave was by James Lovelock in the 1950s who wanted to humanely warm up hamsters who had been cryogenically frozen. But that date is after the one in your article.

[late fulcrum]

Correct. Microwave heating was discovered by melting chocolate bars, that discovery was then implemented for warming up hamsters.

[open fog]

I want to say it was a Tom Scott video

probably was that guy is everywhere

he is in my walls

[tardy badger]

Don’t forget the chocolate bars were in their pockets 🙂

Also notable here is the person who discovered that microwaves heat things was an amateur radar technician. Shows that enthusiasm in a topic can lead to important discoveries

[dusty citrus]

Even in 1967 the Radar Range was scarce .. you never saw them in person. Maybe in a single restaurant in town. "But they were on TV" so you knew about 'em.

[tardy badger]

Yet we have microwave elements capable of electronic warfare in our kitchens now

🙂

Beware the electronics hobbyist during the next global conflict. Air superiority? Never heard of it lol

[dusty citrus]

;)

I maintain a recipe book for a 700 Watt microwave oven I have.
The 1100 Watt unit I had stopped working; timings are different enough to want to catalog them.

[tardy badger]

I’m not sure how powerful my microwave is

Haven’t bothered to look since it’s just mounted above the stove

[late fulcrum]

I was not aware that hamsters had pockets!

Now that CRTs are not the dominant display technology, I wouldn't be surprised if microwave ovens constituted the bulk of vacuum tube usage these days.

[tardy badger]

Very fashion forward hamsters. Lol I meant the pockets of the person who discovered microwaves cooked things

[night crescent]

WE ARE LIVE! SHOW AND TELL! https://youtu.be/ab4ffkWM-JQ

[night crescent]

ASK AN ENGINEER 11/2/2022 LIVE! https://youtu.be/Ur8MsnF7Eo0

[dusty citrus]

it looks like they can't give me a footprint scheme or something
what can I do? making a "random" footprint and then wishing that it will fit?
I can't use something else

[crystal ore]

The manufacturer doesn't have the info in their datasheet?

[dusty citrus]

they don't provide them
they provide only a product list sort of thing if you click on datashet/documentation
which is worthless

[crystal ore]

Write the manufacturer directly?

Personally I really avoid using parts I can't get a datasheet for.

[thick wind]

Is this a particular part you need looked up?

[thorn flax]

I got bored during math class so I started filling my paper with XOR logic gates to see if I could do it. I challenged myself to do this but it has given me nothing but a month a headache and frustration. I could really use help. I need to use PNP transistors (TTL) to make the XOR gate. I have everything but good instructions. I keep trying and trying but I get close just not close enough. Simple instructions would be very much appreciated!

I’m pretty sure I’m the youngest person in this server 🤷‍♂️

[thick wind]

Wait are you trying to build an XOR gate with PNP transistors, or building something else with XOR gates?

[thorn flax]

A XOR gate with PNP transistors

But I plan to make a half adder after I master this gate. (The others are easy)

[timid anvil]

Does anyone play The Elder Scrolls Online Collection: High Isle for XBOX ONE?

[thorn flax]

This is a failed attempt. It got to far and didn’t get anywhere. I don’t know what most of these wire do 🤷‍♂️

(4 transistors)

[tardy badger]

What are ya making?

[thick wind]

You mentioned you succeeded in creating all the other gates. Have you considered using other gates to create an XOR?

[dusty citrus]

https://preview.tinyurl.com/yjp7jum2

[thorn flax]

That’s probably a good idea

[tardy badger]

Also, if those are BJT you will want like 1K or larger resistors on the gate pins

[thorn flax]

The power rail is what I call “pre-resisted” because one power rail is at the maximum and the other is coming from the but with a 330 resistor

So I don’t need 500 resistors for LEDs

[thorn flax]

I don’t fully understand this.

This server is better than trying to find something on the internet

[thick wind]

Is that a NAND? It sure isn't an XOR.

[dusty citrus]

It's a NAND off the menu. ;) @thick wind
Circuits > Logic Families > TTL > TTL NAND

[thick wind]

While it certainly wasn't what you ordered, https://www.falstad.com/circuit/e-index.html is a great resource to check out for anyone interested in basic electronics. @thorn flax they don't have PNP logic gates, but their NPN gates and combinational logic could be a useful reference, and the simulator itself is one of the best online circuit visualizers I know of. Can't count the number of times this saved my lazy butt in college...

[late fulcrum]

I've built one out of NPN transistors, getting TTL logic out of PNP transistors would take some creative thinking. The central 2-transistor part of an XOR gate works by hooking one input to the emitter of one transistor and the base of the other, and vice versa with the other input. So either combination of one input high and one low will turn on one of the transistors.

[tardy badger]

Welp, chickenpox finally hit my household

Remember to vaccinate whenever you can folks

It won’t make things impossible, but it will make it manageable

[late fulcrum]

Yeah, I should schedule the Shingrix series

[rapid geode]

every tuesday?

i didnt know there was a chicken pox vaccine. i thought you just shoved all they neighbourhood kids in a room together

[tardy badger]

Varicella vaccine is for chickenpox

[rapid geode]

ah, 90's

neat

sigh. haha. censorbot gone wild again

weird

anyhow

🙂

getting closer

haha

[median viper]

You know it's weird I got varicella vaccine just to be legally complaint with university even though I have had chickenpox twice and I have scars from it

I had to take a plethora of vaccines to resume university but I am just an online student I didn't absolutely "have" to

[median viper]

This is a deep thinking statement, easily described but even harder to do!

[stable lion]

Hi everyone I'm new 😅 kinda joined to see if anyone knew when adafruit is gonna be stocking up on their raspberry pi zeros so I can get to work on the pigrrl zero

[late fulcrum]

I remember pulling out the old TTL data book with the schematics of the gates, expecting that because I'd been taught "you can build any logic circuit just out of NAND gates" that they were actually built that way, but it turns out that's not the case with a lot of logic. So I stared at the schematic for a while, trying to figure out how it worked and what those transistors were actually doing.

[thick wind]

Nope, those are pretty much at the mercy of Raspberry Foundation’s own stock…

[stable lion]

Oh 😅😭 guess I'm gonna have to wait in purgatory till then cause I ain't spending 100+ on Ebay for one

[dusty citrus]

I envy you americans at least you can do stuff
here you need a license even to wipe yourself after going to the bathroom

[rapid geode]

american!!!! im offended

and you need permits and inspections for everything

[tardy badger]

America is the poster child for “do you have a license”

[rapid geode]

not really, you seem to have so few regulations

[tardy badger]

It may seem like people do whatever they want here, but licensing boards are 800lb gorillas that send cease and desist letters to charitable folks trying to do simple things like provide free haircuts to homeless people

[rapid geode]

they come here and measure blades of grass and fine you

[tardy badger]

They do that too

It’s called home owners associations

[rapid geode]

no, this is the city

[tardy badger]

Left your bin too long on the curb? $25

HOAs are worse because they are private and you generally have very little discourse if you think they are being unreasonable

[rapid geode]

if they are private why do you even need to care?

[static flare]

Bureaucracy at its finest

[tardy badger]

Plus American HOAs are super corrupt. Tons of HOA boards get sent to jail for pilfering funds for personal expenses like lavish vacations

[rapid geode]

sounds like a mafia type protection scam

[tardy badger]

It is

HOAs are horrible and worsening water crisis in the western US where I live

Suing homeowners for putting in turf or drought tolerant grass.

Nope, gotta have that green American dream grass

Add in country clubs

[rapid geode]

i got rid of all my grass

now its stone walled garden ebds

noone complains anymore.

ha

[tardy badger]

HOAs have generally unlimited power to fine you for not “following the rules” and then being able to put a lien on your house for the fines, following by foreclosure for failing to meet HOA rules.

Come live a very specific version of the American dream or risk losing your ability to own your own home 🙂

[rapid geode]

closest thing we have to that is a condo board

[late fulcrum]

I really don't see this country as the poster child for needing licenses for everything. I can legally work on the electric wiring in my own house (unlike in the UK and Australia).

[rapid geode]

but even they cant do much other than try to dictate common area uses

[tardy badger]

Sure, many states let people do that. A few require licensed inspection though which can sometimes be as expensive as hiring someone to do it on the first place.

[rapid geode]

here i can do anything on MY house as the owner. with permits of course. but dont need to be licensed etc

[tardy badger]

Lots of places in the US require a permit for work on your home because it has the potential to change property values

Or can change the specific part of building code your home falls under

Like adding a bedroom, bathroom, etc..

[rapid geode]

everything needs a permit. but you are allowed to do the actual work yourself as the home owner

you need a permit here to fix drywall

[tardy badger]

Weird

[rapid geode]

indeed

you need an engineer to do certain structural things

[tardy badger]

There are a lot of permitting regulations in the US that most people don’t follow because whose gonna tell on you?

[rapid geode]

yeah, lots of people dont bother with permits

but that can get you in trouble at sale

[tardy badger]

Though you might get in trouble when assessors come and do property value analysis

Places you’ll go where people do illegal work a lot is the southern and southeastern US

Drive down any country road and see haphazard construction on the back of most doublewides

Extra bedrooms, outdoor kitchens, etc..

Garages

All of those additions usually amount for a bulk of storm damage in those areas.

Seeing what people get away with there is very entertaining

[rapid geode]

yeah. my house has at least 2 major renos in the past, neither of which were done to any sort of code or logic.

[late fulcrum]

I don't even have to have my work inspected, but if there's a fire and uninspected work exists, the insurance company could refuse to cover it.

[rapid geode]

there are literally 2 studs of the original interior left though, haha. only the ext shell remains as it was.

so all the bad work is gone

[wispy heron]

In Washington state I think you don’t need to be licensed to do wiring, but it must be inspected by someone with a license, and paying someone to inspect it costs about the same as paying a licensed person to do it.

[rapid geode]

(replace by my bad work) 😛

[tardy badger]

Kind of funny how the pricing works huh?

[tardy badger]

Bad work replaced with slightly less bad work

[wispy heron]

Ikr. In a way, it kinda makes sense. A licensed person can quickly do a wiring job, but it can take a lot of effort to try and understand and inspect and analyze someone else’s work. But still seems way too expensive to me.

[solar kindle]

We have an HOA but is seems to be completely ineffective, fortunately.

[dusty citrus]

I mean insurance companies are know to do everything in their power to avoid giving out money
so for whatever the cause might be, to get their service, you actually need to sue them
insanity

[rapid geode]

thats debatable. 😛

[rapid geode]

permit/inspection costs more for home owners, most likely cause the inspector has to check for a lot more dumb mistakes

its not too expensive here. way cheaper than paying a contractor

[wispy heron]

I don’t like my HOA, but they are better than most. They still send nasty letters about tall grass but they don’t complain about swapping grass out for other ground cover like clover. I wouldn’t dare paint my fence without asking them, but there’s a decent chance they would say yes.

[rapid geode]

see, thats nuts

you can lodge complaints here, for the tall grass, or disrepair, trash etc, but you wont get very far complaining about painted fences. unless the neighbourhoods has protected historical features

[static flare]

Now to try instead of just using examples, actually understand what I'm doing

[rapid geode]

thats a big step

haha

🙂

[tribal star]

any idea how can make stemma qt connector myself or what can I do if I dont have have stemma qt wire and my sensor has only stemma qt

[crystal ore]

It's a JST-SH connector, so Adafruit stocks a variety of cables, breakouts, and parts for it: https://www.adafruit.com/product/4401

[tribal star]

what about the length I am using a i2c extender and the length will be like 1 meter between the sensors i have

[tardy badger]

ARM is considering changing their licensing and royalty scheme to take a royalty off devices sold rather than the chips themselves. So rather than getting 3% of a $30 chip, they’d get 1% if the end device using their IP. Wild. This would definitely make end devices far more expensive. Imagine being a small maker business having to send a check to ARM for every sale of a board they make with an ARM based chip.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/01/qualcomm_arm_cpu/

[late fulcrum]

So if we make hobby devices and don't sell them, we can use the IP for free? A company could make a million chips for free and only pay when they sell them?

[tardy badger]

I don’t even think the company selling the chips would pay unless they make the end device

[late fulcrum]

Oh, devices, not chips? Whoo boy, that changes things! Big win for chip makers.

[tardy badger]

I wonder if Adafruit would end up having to pay on future designs under the new licensing scheme

Or if since they are technically evaluation devices if they would be exempt

[late fulcrum]

You're right, a lot could hinge on the definition of "device". Is this just finished, packaged, consumer-ready products, or do bare boards count?

[tardy badger]

And what about devices not sold but made by hobbyists. How do they account for IP used there

Personally, I think it presents a great opportunity for open source silicon IP to grow in adoption

[crystal ore]

I'm not sure if those would be available off the shelf, so you may need to get a shorter cable, cut it, and splice the wires to a longer distance.

[tribal star]

yes I think thats the only solution

[tardy badger]

If you use an i2c buffer, you can send over longer distances

There’s examples of sending I2C over Ethernet using an I2C buffer

[tribal star]

yes I am using a LTC4311

Can I set Adafruit TCA4307 Hot-Swap I2C Buffer and LTC4311 I2C Extender/Active Terminator near to each other.The idea is that the bus i long like 6.56 ft and the bus should also be hot-pluggable

[median viper]

There is a free ware program to make simple stuff but that gate software for commercial use I have no idea how much it cost

[hasty quarry]

I think I just realized something beautiful that can be done with multivariable calculus

[static flare]

That's a sentence that's definitely been said before but I've not heard it personally

[late fulcrum]

There are several free simulation packages (Falstad, Multisim, various versions of Spice, etc.), but I just get out a solderless breadboard and start building.

[hasty quarry]

I was watching this video about Quake III's fast inverse square root, and the constant mu came up that shifts y = x such that it's closest to being an approximation of that logarithm

Would this constant be found by taking a definite integral of the absolute value of the difference between the logarithm, and the y = x + mu line, from 0 to 1, and then minimizing that integral with respect to mu?

[static flare]

My brain somehow shifted sideways into Neural Nets while parsing that question

[median viper]

Right now the fab people make stuff so small I guess it's good for easy stuff but I think that the software if you can simulate I/O might save some use. Also I never have enough money for electronics my friend is making all his own Roland machines and I am really impressed with his work. Vintage electronic synthesizer manufacturing is really nice

You guys got me Into ARM systems

It was all I could do to save up enough to buy an apple computer for $1000 a brand new one I wish raspberry pi had a better portable system

But the apple has a lot of features that Pi doesn't right now like array microphone and 1080p camera, but I am very unsatisfied with the apple store

[late fulcrum]

Building synths is fun...

I just got a cheap $600 Apple Mac Mini, it does the job for me.

[static flare]

I hope to build some myself eventually

the synths that is, i guess i hit the wrong post

[late fulcrum]

Some of my synths are somewhat odd...

[static flare]

that's not a bad thing in the least!

[spice moss]

nice synths maker

[dusty citrus]

on kicad, can't I like move the 3d models parts, and have an automated update of the pcb design?

[crystal ore]

I'm not too familiar with Kicad, but I'd generally assume the 3D model is view-only.

[dusty citrus]

so it doesn't exist a magnet pipe like so? I know I can obtain the same effect with multile magnets, but it would be easier with one piece

[tardy badger]

Probably doesn’t exist as a single piece because of physics I would imagine

[crystal ore]

I think you pretty much have to create that from multiple pieces, since there's no obvious way to magnetize a material with an electromagnet in that pattern. But they do exist as assemblies: https://www.first4magnets.com/us/cylindrical-rod-c39/n42-neodymium-radially-magnetised-magnet-assembly-25mm-o-d-x-15mm-i-d-x-50mm-long-p11537#ps_0_12123|ps_1_11460

[tardy badger]

I was thinking if you could magnetize a hot wire into the N/S pattern and compress it together it might work. But heat and magnetism rarely work out well together

Or if you had a sheet of metal that was magnetized and then welded in a seam around a round core

Just ideas. I have no clue if it would actually work how I think it would

[crystal ore]

I don't know of any reason why it wouldn't offhand.

Though neodymium isn't malleable, I think, so you'd be limited to things like iron instead.

[tardy badger]

Wave physics wasn’t my strong suit and I didn’t take material science

[rapid geode]

stepper motors have effectively a cylinder magnet. they are magnetised after assembly though and of course bonded to a shaft.

[frigid tiger]

Wave physics is like 3 physics courses deep

Too hard for me

[tardy badger]

It was my second calculus based physics class

[odd heath]

can I wire up a couple (3) usb jacks to a 5v 3a buck converter with some decoupling caps on each jack to make a usb charger

or is there something else I need to do

[tardy badger]

Probably, any particular reason you would do this over buying like a 60W multiport usb supply?

If you’re doing it for the sake of doing it, yeah this is definitely doable

[odd heath]

I'm doing a diy usb battery pack that runs at kind of a weird voltage

[tardy badger]

Oh gotcha

[odd heath]

I can probably take apart a car charger but they're kinda expensive and I already have everything for what I mentioned

[tardy badger]

So you want to go 12V —> 5V —> USB ports?

Or battery (3.7V)—>5V—>USB ports

[odd heath]

21.5v, but yeah

[tardy badger]

Oh gotcha

Yeah, this is doable. Easy

But I definitely making a PCB to hold the 5V buck, USB ports, and ESD protection circuitry

[odd heath]

Cool

can I not use a protoboard?

[tardy badger]

You can but just from a safety perspective, it would be more safe to use a laid out PCB.

Plus you don’t have to worry about wires going everywhere

Just a cleaner overall setup

[thick wind]

Protoboard is fine for personal projects, though you probably get better longevity from a PCB

[tardy badger]

That too

[thick wind]

I’m sure safety is relative to how it’s laid out

[tardy badger]

Yeah

I would personally be worried about wires getting jostled and loose

[thick wind]

Protoboard projects that are properly soldered and enclosed are unlikely to come loose haha

Are you thinking breadboarding?

[tardy badger]

No, protoboards that you solder

I’m far more trusting of a custom PCB for permanent installations

Especially for connectors that are frequently used

[thick wind]

I imagine myself being that guy who submerges entire protoboards with hot glue or something haha

[tardy badger]

I use protoboards for making SWD jigs though

For when you put SWD pins in fun locations 🙂

[thick wind]

Tbh I worry more about wires breaking than I do falling out of a protoboard

But my designs tend to be on the smaller size and I encapsulate most fragile connection points with hot glue if I expect stress on my layout

[tardy badger]

I probably should make a better one but I’m lazy

[tardy badger]

Me: gets new website to render on a node.js server

https://tenor.com/view/kronk-oh-yeah-its-all-coming-together-the-emperorss-new-groove-gif-15204610

what better way to celebrate the impending end of twitter like making your own social media website lol

it's going to take a lot of work but definitely doable to get something launching on elastic beanstalk

[odd heath]

safety of the circuit?

[tardy badger]

I am not a fan of loose wires if it's easy enough to just make a PCB

which in your case should be relatively straight forward

[wispy heron]

My plan is to go back to old style blogging, and subscribe to everyone else’s rss. Maybe webrings too.

[tardy badger]

I used to run an IRC server back in the day

had nodes in the US, Canada, and Europe

[odd heath]

eh, I'm too impatient for that

[tardy badger]

which is fine, it's my personal preference. paranoia maybe

[static flare]

I move most things to PCBs relatively quickly because I can mock things up on breadboard, but moving them over to a proto board most of the time just makes my head hurt

[tardy badger]

I like the aesthetic of a PCB too

just makes it feel very polished

[static flare]

Oh, yeah definitely

Always makes me feel acomplished

[odd heath]

and uses less solder

[tardy badger]

I admire people who are content working with through hole components and protoboards

[odd heath]

hey, I like pth!

[static flare]

I've tried but I keep making mistakes

[tardy badger]

I like making things small and compact and pushing the limits of what I can make with PCBs

[static flare]

But I do mostly stick with THT

[odd heath]

plus equipment for smd is more expensive

[tardy badger]

through hole really is an art and I greatly admire people's patience to work with them

[static flare]

I'd love to try wire-wrapping some time

[tardy badger]

I'd love to make my own toroid's one of these days

[odd heath]

really?

I always thought smd soldering was way harder

[late fulcrum]

Not really going to tackle toroids yet, still getting the hang of bobbins and E cores

[tardy badger]

I think SMD is easier because I can stencil on paste and place components, place it on a hotplate for a few minutes and bam

I don't have to place a few, bend the leads, solder those in, place more, bend leads, solder those in, etc...

[wispy heron]

Same. I much prefer through hole and wires. Pcb & smd are so much harder, hard to get my caffeine levels perfect so my hands don’t shake from too much/little.

Plus I think it’s easier to tear through hole stuff apart and reuse it’s components. I feel like making a pcb you gotta kinda say the design is “done” and how does someone decide it’s completely and doesn’t need to be torn apart and rebuilt from scratch five more times? How do I know I want to commit to a component forever being attached to a board, would rather have it easily removable for when I change my mind.

[tardy badger]

I find it easy to reuse SMD parts

A little flux and hot air and it comes off

[static flare]

I absolutely do this myself, for the same reasons as well haha

[tardy badger]

I regularly transfer good parts between revisions to save money

Plus I have to because it’s the last of an out of stock part I have

Or because i can’t afford new stock

[late fulcrum]

It's fun to mix SMT and TH like the time I managed to hide the driver chip between the pins of the display

[thick wind]

I think it really does come down to what you’re accustomed to and what you’re equipped for. SMD is SUPER easy with the right tools for the job, while THT is less dependent on having a really good rework station.

[wispy heron]

Yeah that makes sense. I don’t have a good workstation, I do most of my soldering while sitting on the floor hunched over like some swamp goblin.

[late fulcrum]

It takes a while to get the hang of SMT, it's so easy to put too much solder and get bridges under stuff you can't fix

[thick wind]

SMT is a lot of finer pins and smaller parts, so there is sometimes an assumed need for magnification and a steady hand, but otherwise the challenges tend to be fairly similar, from my experience.

[late fulcrum]

You too, huh?

[wispy heron]

Yea that! Exactly like that!

[static flare]

I used to do that but I kept burning myself so I mostly do it at my workbench now

[late fulcrum]

I have gotten better since then, but I actually found the thing I built then, my soldering wasn't as pretty as it is these days

[static flare]

good ol point to point

[late fulcrum]

I still build a fair amount of point to point stuff but it is nice to be able to get nice PCBs fabricated (I didn't enjoy making my own, the etching was fine but I hated drilling all the holes: that's one place where SMT really does make things easier)

[static flare]

I found the etching to by my weak point

[late fulcrum]

I'll admit, my etching wasn't a work of art either...

[tardy badger]

Karen 7

Lol

[wispy heron]

My “workbench” is a chunk of wood I put on the floor to keep solder from getting in the carpet lol

[static flare]

My wife and girlfriend keep wanting to make me a better workbench cause right now mine is flimsy metal with some thin MDF

[wispy heron]

That’s style of the etching looks like something from an alien sci fi movie

[late fulcrum]

For a while, mine was a door on a couple of sawhorses. Now it's a piece of countertop on a metal frame.

At one place, I didn't have much room to spare, so the sewing machine did double duty as a workbench (those are genuine AdaFruit Boarduinos getting built)

[thick wind]

I have a weird appreciation to that small subset of people who kinda “free-space” solder THT components. The bending of leads to support other structures is quite the aesthetic, but all the exposed metal nets make me nervous…

[late fulcrum]

That is a special kind of artistic endeavor

[static flare]

I saw a TikTok of someone doing that, but the frame and all was ground

[wispy heron]

Me, at my “workstation”. This isn’t why I have bad joints, but it doesn’t help lol

[stray wind]

Ooof. Get a table! 😄

[dusty citrus]

today I found out that a local workshop was raided and forced to shut down because they didn't have licensing...
another business gone

[static flare]

oof

[tardy badger]

Progress

I can post to and fetch from a database

[wanton thistle]

so I get to wear this cool device that records my heart. What I cant figure out is what and how its powered by.

Theres no "lithium" warning on the box I have to send it back in. Nor is there a warning for NiMH

Heres the thing: It records for up to 14 days and constantly monitors my heart. It records the waves. There are no LEDs that are on. There are LEDs that flash if the device is in an error state, OR if I hold down the button to make sure it works.

Its also not big. Its almost the size of two 186500 batteries side by side. So what could be powering it?

Im thinking it might be solid state lithium, like a pace maker.

[wispy heron]

Ooh I had to wear one of those once but it was bigger and battery was obvious (but still small). I was pretty bummed when they told me the data was in a proprietary format and I wouldn’t get a copy of the data.

[static flare]

I had a similar experience when I had to get my heart checked

[wanton thistle]

Oh yea, the old school kind. This one is tiny and goes on your chest

Its just two leads.

I also see no obvious data ports lol. So that leads me to conclude a few things:

-Low power bluetooth is a possibility, maybe "slave" mode
-Some sort of NFC type communication? But theres probably a lot of data.
-Two wire comms through the EKG pads.
-Maybe they dissemble the unit and get data that way, so hidden pins inside.

DUH

Its an FCC device

I found pics lol

https://fccid.io/2AFBP-SR15P/Internal-Photos/internal-photos-2777081

theres a usb port

😂

[wispy heron]

Neat!

[wanton thistle]

🤔 FCC says Bluetooth

OK this is very interesting because my phone doesnt see it.

[crystal ore]

It could be pre-paired and not set to be discoverable any more.

[wanton thistle]

So only respond to a certain address/ID?

[dusty citrus]

I open up AliExpress and noticed that pcie connectors don't have the black mask all the way down to the gold contacts and part of the pcb that acts like a support (I guess?), why is it like that? what's the purpose?

[ebon dew]

to differentiate socket types so you don't try to force in the wrong type.

[late fulcrum]

Why would NiMH have a warning? They're pretty harmless.

[ebon dew]

just an example

[weary fiber]

fun achievement: this week in my circuits lab, the assignment was "make an RLC filter that restricts 1KHz, and passes 3KHz"

this is the output, given a 2Vpp sine wave :)

[bright veldt]

what part of the computing hierarchy can be most improved?
hardware, systems software, end user software?

[crystal ore]

Supply chain. 😉

[neat kernel]

Wow, nice work @weary fiber

[neat kernel]

The answer, of course, is "it depends", but off the top of my head I'd guess end user software. My theory is that the computing hierarchy is an upside down pyramid: Hardware at the pointy end at the bottom, then system SW, then end user. Back in the day I was a computer engineer. Then, because I wrote the low level drivers to test my hardware, I was asked to help with the software. It struck me that I could spend a finite amount of time designing the hardware, but that infinite new software could be written on that same hardware. As you go up the pyramid, each layer supports a much wider range of possibilities. So even on very old hardware, vast improvements can be made.

[bright veldt]

hmm I like that take. As you go up the compute layers you have more degrees of freedom in terms of building useful applications

[neat kernel]

Thanks @bright veldt . You put it much more succinctly 🙂

[lusty axle]

Some might argue that software is only possible because of Moore's law though

if it weren't for exponential growth on the hardware side of things, our software would be able to do a lot less exciting things

[neat kernel]

but look at how many applications are still being written for the old 8085 core, still being used

[turbid dock]

Anyone using a pokit pro with Android 13 (pixel 7 pro)? Can't find my device sadly. Works great with Android 12 and iphone se 2020 running latest ios.

[fierce prawn]

Where can I get Xiao ble for cheap

[wanton thistle]

I thought it would tbh but I didnt remember if it did or didnt.

[dusty citrus]

helllo where would be the best place to ask for help regarding picodev rfid module with circuit python

[dusty citrus]

what could I use to measure the level of a water tank? there are some pcb like things, but they tend to oxideze or something so they break down; then looking for something like capacitive proximity sensors, they detect stuff only within 30mm , which is way too small

[vivid lodge]

Are you wanting to DIY this? i mean you could just use a liquidlevel

[late fulcrum]

Another option is ultrasonic distance sensors, one mounted at the top could measure the distance to the surface of the water.

[tardy badger]

am master of modern design

lol

[spice moss]

my design so far of modern

[tardy badger]

i've got myself a proper timestamp now

[dusty citrus]

an encrypted alternative to github? I can't self host because I can't deal with server costs
what I'm basically doing is dumping some projects as private, and then later on I might release them public, but I also want to retain the date of the repo/file creation into the webhost

[tardy badger]

what's wrong with private repos on github?

they are not publically accessible

[dusty citrus]

it doesn't look like they are encrypted

[tardy badger]

why do they need to be encrypted?

[dusty citrus]

why they shouldn't?

[tardy badger]

I would imagine as long as you have 2FA enabled your private repos should be file

that's why they are private

[dusty citrus]

I mean they are not available to the publicl, but who assures me that they aren't readen?

[tardy badger]

well, you can only pull private repos you have permissions to and a person would need to add an SSH token to your github account to be able to pull those private repos

html pulling is depreciated and isn't really supported anymore. even then, read/write permissions of private repos are restricted to whoever owns the private repo.

[late fulcrum]

MICROS~1 runs github now and has no clue about security and no compunctions about "borrowing" other peoples' IP?

[tardy badger]

It’s the unfortunate price of free in our society

Gitlab has private repos

Free is a reminder that at the end of the day, unless the project is open source, you are the product

[static flare]

Someone super nearby is selling a Delorean and gods do I want it

[tardy badger]

Hearing about Delorean makes me think of a YTP video where they make Marty say “you made a Delorean out of a Delorean?”

[dusty citrus]

;)

[late fulcrum]

I have the perfect accessories

[split void]

I almost hate to throw packages from adafruit away, they're so cool!

[fierce prawn]

Any cheap alternative to Xiao ble

[crystal ore]

Heh, the Xiao is already the cheap alternative to other boards.

[fierce prawn]

It's still expensive to me
I don't need ble
I just need it's form factor and the ability to run circutpython

[crystal ore]

Maybe a small RP2040 board?

[fierce prawn]

This one?
https://www.adafruit.com/product/4900

[crystal ore]

Yeah, that's the Adafruit version. There may be cheaper equivalents out there, though I don't know a specific one off the top of my head.

[fierce prawn]

It's cheaper than Xiao ble
It's MYR30++ instead of MYR57++

Exchange rates lol

[tardy badger]

Welp, Covid is back. This time my son is positive. Woo..

Pretty sure he’s past the worst of it, fever broke yesterday.

[fierce prawn]

Take care
Just got positive last two weeks ago
It might be hard to sleep but drink lots of water

[tardy badger]

Luckily my wife, my other two kids, and I are well.

[proven olive]

Thanks Skerr

[tardy badger]

👍🏻

[timid anvil]

Idk if people remember who Aaron Carter the singer was from the 90s. He died at age 34. Nick Carter from the backstreet boys was Aaron's brother

[tardy badger]

Yeah, I had seen that

[fierce prawn]

I am terribly wrong

The shipping is higher

[bright veldt]

i almost got ripped off from this chinese site that had the best prices for the visionfive 2

I got to the paypal step but then turns out the shipping fee is calculated afterwards, and you had to paypal again

shipping fee was like $50

[tardy badger]

oh wow

that's pretty shady

in other news, i'm making progress on my twitter replacement hahaha

[obtuse jewel]

OwO
Hello

[silent shuttle]

What do think of that open source decentralized Twitter clone Mastodon? Twitter left me traumatized (people's bad behavior, not the politics) so I'm asking around before I try.

[tardy badger]

I’m on Mastodon, still getting use it it. Seems cool enough

It has some idiosyncrasies but not terrible

[rapid geode]

twitter needs to go away. it was an interesting experiment, but it has failed. time to physically go outside and talk to humans. 🙂

[dusty citrus]

they are all the same
you might have a nice convo when it's unpopular, then more people do come in, more probability of some sort of behaviors...
I mean just look at quora, once it was somewhat usefull, now it's full of crap

[tardy badger]

I tried doing the quora partner program but I ran out of patience for good answers getting good traction

As for Twitter, it has its issues but it was good for a while. It really helped me break into the maker business.l community and make great friends. It’s unfortunate the things happening to Twitter now.

[dusty citrus]

also idk what's all the commotion, and why musk is everywhere ; it was obvious that he was going to fire people and that the platform doesn't make money

[tardy badger]

Because of the kinds of people he emboldens

But I won’t have that discussion here because it isn’t appropriate for this community

[spice moss]

mastodon lost me when it mention server you need to pick

have you watched hackerday supercon?

[silent shuttle]

Twitter did have some good quarterly profits, but that's not why Elon is panicking. He kinda messed up with the stock purchase price. He had to borrow $13B. Now he must make Twitter profit a minimum $1B/yr just to cover the interests payments. He can't cover it himself, because if he sells anymore Tesla stocks he'll no longer have controlling shares. I was an Elon fan for the longest time, sadly even I must admit, this wasn't his brightest moment. Guess we all have moments like that. I don't expect Twitter to survive, he'll let it die before he gives up his controlling shares. So now I'm shopping around.

what;s a hackerday supercon? Hackerday sounds familiar though.

[neat kernel]

https://hackaday.io/superconference/

[frigid tiger]

Laymen will always avoid open source and decentralized solutions

If that's something you care about

[silent shuttle]

Nope, open to suggestions. Only brought it up because I recently learned of it existence.

[silent shuttle]

Oooh, that Hackaday. Thought it sounded familiar.

[tribal lodge]

will i break something if i try to unglue the lcd from the breakout pcb? i want to use the lcd with a custom breakout pcb
this is the screen: https://www.adafruit.com/product/2050

[tribal lodge]

i dont care if theres residues on the back of the screen, i just need it disconnected from the pcb without damaging the screen at all

i did it, i just pulled the screen slowly to not break it and the glue came off

[night crescent]

The Desk of Ladyada - RP2040 Tester bringup & LCD QT revisions https://youtu.be/3gakI1QBvXw

[tardy badger]

It doesn't look like a lot of progress was made, but the functionality and stuff is much better

[proper isle]

what's up my people

@everyone can my boyfriend join this chat?

you meanies

[static flare]

It's like, the middle of the night for the peeps in the US

[spice moss]

sker what you use?

[tardy badger]

Currently just JavaScript, NodeJS, express, MongoDB

[spice moss]

i have used blazor the wasm side as webassembly

[tardy badger]

I’ve never tried webassembly

I probably should one of these days

[spice moss]

currently visual studio have student zone from dotnetconf ifyou like to learn

[tardy badger]

Building a new social media platform for some reason is entertaining for me.

I’ve actually been making progress on it compared to other projects I have laying around

[spice moss]

nice

[ebon dew]

@proper isle please do not tag everyone. @stray wind possible to remove that ability from normal users? i can't think of a reason why anyone other than adafruit folks if not admins only should have access to that.

[stray wind]

It is already disabled. There is a user everyone on the server who usually ends up getting tagged when folks try to use the role tag.

[ebon dew]

lol ok, nice. that's kind of a brilliant sneaky workaround.

[stray wind]

We didn't create the user. At some point in time they would pop up every time they were tagged. We suggesting changing it, but they declined. It is mentioned in the CoC to not use that as a name, but it is not strictly prohibited.

[ebon dew]

kinda thinking about creating a discord bot named everyone now that will just act as a dev/null for anyone trying to use the tag. they'll never know why it's not working lol.

[frozen lava]

That’s devious/brilliant.

[frozen lava]

And also, it could keep track of how many times people do that, and how many times they do that after they are asked not to. Might be useful data for such a bot to gather. Hmm. I’ve never tried writing a discord bot…

[ebon dew]

well you need to have admin access to the server so usually your own server. it's not that difficult provided you have some programming experience.

because it's a bot could also just have it automatically respond telling people not to use the tag, that'll surprise more than a few people i'm sure since discord doesn't have an auto-reponder like that for tags built in, to my knowledge.

[wooden schooner]

The specs for LED lights that are retrofit to form factors that are typically for fluorescent lights (T8 etc.), often say they can be used in "ballast bypass mode." Does this just mean "can be plugged into the wall without a ballast," or is it something more complicated than that?

[oak abyss]

heay people 🙂 are there any non-programmer knowledge electronics out there I can check out ? i'd like to explore IFTTT more

[late fulcrum]

Yup, they run directly on mains. Some fed from one end, some from both, a few can be run either way.

[dapper hatch]

I've not played with the RPi Pico for a little while. Just came back to the SDK to try out some things and I discovered that there is now a way to reboot it into upload mode from the command line. "sudo ./picotool reboot -f -u"

You have to build the tool yourself, from what I could find is not part of the SDK. Also have to enable the stdio over usb with pico_enable_stdio_usb(${PROJECT_NAME} ENABLED) and call stdio_usb_init(); in main. After that, no more pressing buttons. 🙂

[tardy badger]

Neat

[tardy badger]

Yay, Adabox 21 coming March 2023!

https://tenor.com/view/dancing-unicorn-unicorn-chubbicorn-chubbiverse-rave-party-gif-25145066

[dusty citrus]

my attention span has become like a goldfish

[toxic mason]

Does anyone have a link for JP's pick of the week YouTube broadcast for today at 4pm EST?

[wooden schooner]

oh hey, it worked, thx 🙂

[ebon dew]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpBshB1evn0

[toxic mason]

Thank you!

[modest knot]

anybody any idea where i can get GOOD sg90 servos from? bought a pack of 10 from amazon, and 5 of the 10 were completely DOA, and 3 "work" but skip and arent... great... only 2 actually work as i expect

[late fulcrum]

One of many reasons I don't buy from amazon. I've had good luck with stuff from buddyrc.com myself but I haven't bought servos there. Maybe there's a hobby store near you?

[dusty citrus]

dunno if I already asked but
basically I contacted a manufacturer for a piece of equipment
they basically said that's too expensive for students work (thousands of dollars), but they looked interested at what I might do with it

so dunno, are they just trying to steal a project, are they just curious, or might I obtain a sample (I doubt it)?

[lusty fossil]

I'd be surprised if they were trying to steal the project, though it is possible

[wispy heron]

Got my adafruit order right on my birthday, absolutely perfect timing. Got stuff soldered up, great way to spend a birthday.

[crystal ore]

They might also be essentially doing market research, i.e. "What do people actually want to use our stuff for? Maybe we can tweak some features to make it more attractive for that use."

[static flare]

Happy Birthday

[neat kernel]

Order from Adafruit

[tardy badger]

Playing the game: “is a cold, flu, or Covid”

It isn’t Covid from what the test says.

So probably a bad cold. Kind of makes sense because it set in with the bad weather.

[static flare]

I play that game a lot

Apparently sometimes the answer is just allergies, which is fun because I didn't know I was allergic to anything

[late fulcrum]

There's a way to find out if it's COVID or 'flu with high accuracy (but only in countries where it's available)

[static flare]

Mostly it's a cold, the rest is usually the flu, and luckily it's never been COVID

[late fulcrum]

The technology in that test is pretty impressive. They have a video showing how it works, saying the unit contains 8 separate "bio reactors". I was dubious so I took one apart. Yup, they're actually there. Not cheap but pretty much the only option for (near) PCR accuracy quickly, at home.

[tardy badger]

I took a Covid test because I was exhibiting cold like symptoms but no true Covid symptoms. My son tested positive last week Thursday/Friday.

I’ve not run a fever or anything like my kids have. Just post nasal drip and a sore throat

I am vaxxed though so that probably helps a lot

My children’s pediatrician has recommended waiting on vaccination for my kids because they have cardiovascular related issues and they want to do them in office

[tardy badger]

Also turns out my kid’s pediatrician doesn’t do self pay for covid vaccinations which is great

[wooden schooner]

"Doesn't do self pay"? Meaning they deny care to people who don't have or don't want to go through insurance? In the US?

[tardy badger]

They make you go through the state DHC to make the vaccine appointment

[rapid geode]

O_o

[wooden schooner]

ah ok. So Kafkaesque but they're technically not denying you care under some definitions of the term

...bummer

[static flare]

Oh we have them free here

[wooden schooner]

Same. In my state you can go to a drugstore and just tell them you don't have insurance and they'll give it to you for free

[gusty torrent]

Here the government is proposing ending picking up costs on vaccination after roughly 300 million doses in arms (apparently spent about 30 billion USD on the program)

[static flare]

I should get a booster shot tbh

[gusty torrent]

I had my bivalent booster last week, wrecked me worse than any of the 3 prior jabs.

Was totally useless the next day

Need to go get an updated certificate reflecting it at some point in case some travel requires it.

[static flare]

Oh we also have digital certificates that automatically update

[gusty torrent]

We can do that, but I don't have the required digital ID card yet (2 month lead time on issuing them)

They're starting to tie everything health-related to the tax id smart card.

But I've been traveling a lot lately and haven't been able to commit to being in the country to pick up the card when the processing is complete.

[static flare]

We have ours linked to our government health card that we can also get digitally

[wispy heron]

I got my bivalent last week, got flu shot at the same time. It wiped me out the next day, but not as bad as an actual cold. Was fine after that. I was kinda surprised it was more brutal than it was, flu shots usually hit me pretty hard so I figured getting both at the same time would be bad but was pretty chill.

[rapid geode]

has no vaccines

😦

i have no immune system (almost died of the flu before), so im scared of everything haha. i never went to restaurants and concerts anyway

[dusty citrus]

I'm no doc, but some vaccines variations are suitable to immunocompromised people
but they might need some extra doses

anyway I wanted to go to a concert, but dunno if to go, there will be tons of people likely without masks, so idk
since putin did invade ukraine, apparently there's not anymore a pandemic

besides I would likely get stuck there untill 4 am or something because there are not trains at night

[rapid geode]

i dont go on trains

mostly cause i work at home and have no reason to 😛

[tardy badger]

My kids have to do vaccinations in office setting’s because of cardiovascular issues. My daughter for instance has a bicuspid aortic valve

There’s just extra risks associated with them getting the vaccine that normal kids don’t have to worry about

We’ll probably get them vaccinated after the first of the year when I have insurance again

[lusty fossil]

is there a way to do an arrow down, like ^ but down? windows

figure it out, more or less

[dusty citrus]

sqrt
just kidding maybe have a look to ascii chars, there's the Downwards Arrow which you might use

[lusty fossil]

yeah I can't get ALT+25 to work but I was able to just copy over the symbol

[crystal ore]

"v"? 😉

[solar kindle]

So I managed to get one of those Pinecil soldering pens. Pretty impressed so far. It'll run off a USB-C supply (not included), but only if it supports "power delivery". There's also a jack for using a 12V wall wart (also not included). User interface is a bit fiddly but workable. Very lightweight. Heats up fast. Overall, very nice.

[dusty citrus]

I feel so dumb

[obtuse jewel]

Don't feel so, that's the exact same kinda question I would 100% ask lol

[prime bobcat]

yeah they're really nice. runs off my old laptop adapter. just got mine a couple of weeks ago

[rapid geode]

there are no dumb questions, only dumb bells

yes... that totally makes sense....

:x

example: "is that header supposed to be on an angle like that?

[late fulcrum]

Heh, when I was rebuilding my first house, I decided to mount the bathtub parallel to the floor instead of level (this didn't work out well for me, as the floor was decidedly not level, and the water tended to leave a puddle in one corner). When I was building a wall mount for the TV, I used its built-in level to install it level, leaving a wedge shaped gap between the top of the TV and the ceiling (I guess I should have installed it parallel to the ceiling).

[rapid geode]

ha

in this case (i think) that entire wall has sagged down due to rotted joists

the new floor is level, that window is level. but now i have a fun shim/blocking job

[dusty citrus]

the solder mask here is green; but why are some parts like the board corners, and some traces outlines more darkish/blue?

[rapid geode]

anywhere there is copper, it is lighter

the darker areas are etched away

[thorn flax]

I want to do a little research project that will collect information. Please send this to everyone you think can spare a minute to fill out this small form! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScQ7EQzSaNS45j75o7Ma2T1MKJNie6WBJg4FEZh5ztPbg9Vuw/viewform?usp=sf_link

[rapid geode]

i only answer surveys about pizza

[thorn flax]

:/

[late fulcrum]

Huh, no option for "it depends" (which applies to several of the questions for me)

[dusty citrus]

how? is it automatically done in the fab, or you should for some reason take note of that?
also shouldn't it be possible to control it? so I can make extra colored logos with that?

[late fulcrum]

Yes, the board design specifies where to apply (or remove) copper, soldermask, and silkscreen. This theoretically gives you a palette of 8 combinations.

[modest knot]

So, I have an ultrasonic sensor, and it only seems to be able to sense that my hand is pretty much touching it, but nowhere any further away. Does that sound like a broken sensor, or would I be doing something wrong? Sending a 10us pulse btw

[late fulcrum]

An image search on "PCB art" will give many examples of what's possible

[rapid geode]

adafruit has used masks and etching to make a cat on one board. i forget which

[whole jacinth]

you could design some extra graphic etching in your ground plane pours, compromising your ground plane quality somewhat, if you have the room

[rapid geode]

cat was shiny copper

[late fulcrum]

That is a very short pulse for an ultrasonic sensor

[crystal ore]

That pulse sounds too short, since even at 100kHz, it would only be one cycle, and ultrasound chirps are often at like 40kHz.

[whole jacinth]

if you pay them enough money, some PCB shops will happily do multiple colors of soldermask on the same board

[rapid geode]

also gold plating

[dusty citrus]

(oshpark is a little bit cheaper)

[rapid geode]

theres a lot of things

[late fulcrum]

The speed of sound is about 343m/s, so a 10µs pulse would be 3.43mm worth

[modest knot]

Ah ok. All the examples I've seen send 10us pulses. Which is why I went for it. What would be a more appropriate pulse?

[dusty citrus]

jlc should soon (cit them) add that option

[crystal ore]

Maybe try 100usec and see if it makes a difference?

[late fulcrum]

Which sensor? Do you have a link to one of these examples?

[dusty citrus]

thanks to all
though the real reason is about as an exercise to learn

[modest knot]

Hc-sr04

[modest knot]

Are ultrasonic sensors that much of a conversation killer? 😁

[whole jacinth]

from the datasheet, it looks like that model takes a 10µs trigger pulse. actual ranging pulse is 8 cycles of 40kHz

[crystal ore]

Ah, gotcha, thanks for checking.

[night crescent]

ASK AN ENGINEER 11/9/2022 LIVE! https://youtu.be/457im3lV1wI

[thorn flax]

Please fill out this form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScQ7EQzSaNS45j75o7Ma2T1MKJNie6WBJg4FEZh5ztPbg9Vuw/viewform?usp=sf_link

[night crescent]

ASK AN ENGINEER 11/9/2022 LIVE! https://youtu.be/457im3lV1wI

[static flare]

i tend to answer this a lot to a lot of questions myself, to the ire to the question asker

[crystal ore]

I'm fond of the concept of using the zen term "mu" as an answer which "unasks the question", if it doesn't have a straightforward one. 😉

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_(negative)#Non-dualistic_meaning

[hot crane]

Hi all, what do you recommend for a kiosk slideshow display, given that the Pi is unobtainable? Is there a cheap and easy alternative?

[obtuse jewel]

so, I am really starting to get bummed out, I think my Raspberry pi pico came DOA

I am pretty sure that I didn't do anything stupid to it

hooked it up with a micro USB cable to my computer, with both regular boot and "BOOTSEL" depressed

no LED, dead, no sign of life whatsoever

continuing I went and used a computer powersupply breakout to apply 5v to the Vbus and gnd rails via the pins

still dead, no lights

I'm a little dejected and I am afraid I'll have either a dead device or have RMA headache

I know it's just a little pico, but it's a lot of money for me in the current economy 😹

any suggestions before I go and try to reach out to support?

I even changed the breadboard I socketed it into to test

[tame gazelle]

I don't own a pico but the instructions I found said you connect micro USB cable, then hold down the BOOTSEL until the drive appears

[obtuse jewel]

yeah, attempted that, and absolutely no signs of life

[tame gazelle]

Seems silly but Try holding down the button longer?

[obtuse jewel]

it has a onboard LED I would assume would flash or show some signs of activity, let me try cause last thing I wanna do is have to go through a RMA

[tame gazelle]

Yeah try that since it doesn't say how long. The other thing is you need micropython uf2 as well, check your computer has the file

[obtuse jewel]

soooo yeah

it just burned me

[obtuse jewel]

already had downloaded it in anticipation

when plugged in via 5V the IC to the left of the BOOTSEL button heats up BAD

[tame gazelle]

Check the USB cable type

[obtuse jewel]

further note, this is BRAND NEW, just opened the device today

[obtuse jewel]

I tried 3 micro USB's here at my bench

[tame gazelle]

They all heat up?

That definitely doesn't sound normal

[obtuse jewel]

99% sure it's cooked, I'll share a photo in a second

Give me a second to highlight the hot chip

The sucker actually burned my thumb, left a white mark like a soldering iron

[tame gazelle]

What os are you using again?

[obtuse jewel]

just a standard windows dell laptop

USB 3.0 and nothing fancy, 5v 1A as it's rated for

[tame gazelle]

Device manager to see if it's picking up anything in the USB port?

[obtuse jewel]

I don't dare to plug it in again, no windows notifications or drives showed up

[tame gazelle]

That's fine

[obtuse jewel]

I mean, to leave a white mark on my thumb that'd be ~300 F hot to my understanding

[tame gazelle]

Use eventvwr instead

[obtuse jewel]

I think it's cooked man, I appreciate it

[tame gazelle]

It logs errors on system, security, etc

👍

[obtuse jewel]

I'm familiar

[lusty axle]

if you live in seattle I'll give you a working one

(longshot of course)

[obtuse jewel]

sadly, alas, I'm from Rochester, NY

I'd offer the same if someone would be in true need of a knockoff arduino (nano? I think?)

if someone is looking for a cheap first arduino or has a particular project in mind i'd just ask to send me a shipping label

I intended to upgrade to a Rasp Pico and ended up here lol

I sent a message to cx support, waiting to hear back, but either way I'll probably end up buying another in the next few weeks, I can't ding adafruit for that, I love their stuff

[dapper hatch]

Just seen ask an engineer. Congratulations to you both. I wonder what the product ID will be for your little 9 month project. 🥳

[fair summit]

Did you buy this from Adafruit?

If so, please open a thread in https://forums.adafruit.com, and take more in-focus pictures of the top and bottom of the board.

[solar kindle]

Yikes! That's the flash memory, right? I wonder if it was mounted incorrectly. You'd think it wouldn't pass QC, though.

[obtuse jewel]

Yeah I was just watching a video about their QC

I'm unsure what chip it is

[obtuse jewel]

I plan on it

Good morning y'all, as you can tell I've been up pretty late

Yeah the quality of the photos wasn't great, it was 3:00 a.m. Lol

[solar kindle]

Can you get a sharp closeup image of it? Curious about orientation on the board. Most times when I've run into a chip running that hot, it's because it's installed backwards.

[obtuse jewel]

Yeah, just need a bit, I have a microscope at work that I can get a good snap of it all

On the bus

[solar kindle]

Well, the dot's in the right corner, so not installed backwards. Wonder what fried it, then.

[obtuse jewel]

Yeah, only if I had a flir thermal cam lol

[fierce prawn]

Do adafruit sell mechanical switches

[fair summit]

are the headers soldered?

[fair summit]

oh sure

[obtuse jewel]

Yeah, came predone

[fierce prawn]

Link pls

[fair summit]

what kind of mechanical switches? Toggle switches, tactile siwtches?

keyboard keys?

[fierce prawn]

Yes
Keyboard

[fair summit]

https://www.adafruit.com/category/1020

see subcategories at the top

[obtuse jewel]

I'm not quite sure which topic to choose for adafruit customer support forums for my pico

Maybe microcontrollers?

[fair summit]

yes, that's fine

those headers don't look very soldered, compared with the pre-soldered ones on the product page

[obtuse jewel]

Yeah I would agree. They're a little light on soilder
They look pretty connected though, and no shorts that I can tell of

[fierce prawn]

The shipping cost is high

[obtuse jewel]

Yeah, sadly welcome to electronics of 2022

[fair summit]

the shipping costs are actual cost; >$200 is free

what you see is what we pay UPS etc

it's not hidden in the price

[fierce prawn]

The prob is I don't have so many money
Exchange rates are the problem
1usd = 4myr

[fair summit]

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/filter/pushbutton-switches/199?s=N4IgTCBcDaIIYBM4DMBOBXAlgFwAQGsBTATwGcB3HAYwAtDSQBdAXyA Digikey also resells some of what we sell, shipping might be cheaper, because they get a big discount on shipping due to folume. But the switches we sell are probably available from many suppliers

I see a bunch of Kailh vendors with Malaysian internet stores

[fair summit]

is that good or bad? 🙂

[valid marsh]

don't suppose anyone knows if it's "ok" to route traces through a header area?

This would be so much easier if I could route the traces through hte header and KiCad will let me I just don't know if it's a good/bad idea

[fair summit]

suggest you ask in #help-with-hw-design ; lots of board designers there

[valid marsh]

ooh, didn't see that, apologies, I'll ask there!

[obtuse jewel]

I appreciate your advice, if you'd like to follow up please feel free to message me on the forum post
https://forums.adafruit.com/viewtopic.php?t=196012

[fair summit]

answered there

[fierce prawn]

Do normal key cap work in their weird connectors?

[fair summit]

I don't know; you could ask in #keyboards

[obtuse jewel]

is it just me or is adafruit being slow / down?

[solar kindle]

I got a 504 error a while ago. Seems a bit better now.

[obtuse jewel]

yeah I got through now

[obtuse jewel]

appreciated, things are moving forward, I'll update you with what I make with the replacement

so as I now have a RMA confirmed, and confirmation that I am free to dispose of the defective device as I see fit, I feel that it's only fair if I do a postmortem

[obtuse jewel]

yeah definitely a spicy IC

not the one I originally thought though

but just as hot

lemme upload to imgur to share

[thick wind]

Gaterons are a very common MX-compatible switch. You should be able to use any MX keycaps with them.

They’re not as stable as kailh box switches, but they’re great bang for the buck, and the blue ones have a pretty nice click if you’re into that.

[obtuse jewel]

https://imgur.com/a/4QGXKE4

definitely that black chip between the two capacitors

I definitely don't have the skill to replace that! lol

excuse my boss's messy desk

[modest knot]

found out what my problem was with my ultrasonic sensor 😁... i had a bad solder connection on the header pins on my rpi pico 😄

[agile thistle]

anybody know when raspberry pi price will drop

i’m so tired of this gouging

[late fulcrum]

I'm enjoying your possibly-unintended pun

[lusty fossil]

I don't think anyone can make a realistic estimation

It's an unknown

anyone here that is

[late fulcrum]

I don't see any price gouging, I just see them out of stock most places

[lusty fossil]

I think the ones that you can find are from scalpers? I'm not sure

[late fulcrum]

I don't shop at those sites

[lusty fossil]

same

[cunning frost]

I doubt the official prices themselves will drop anytime soon if ever, but if it's higher than the official price, those are definitely from scalpers.

[late fulcrum]

The official prices are the opposite of gouging

Although there are things like the Orange Pi, if you want even less expensive

[dusty citrus]

Pumpkin Pie which while tasty, has no GPIO pins although it is quite edible.

[late fulcrum]

Whereas the Electric Imp has a couple of GPIOs, but, um, it was just weird

[fading hare]

I still need three 8 GB RPi4s. Can't find them anywhere.

And that reminds me... I meant to order a USB/UART serial cable from Adafruit with my last order. And USPS is terrible where I live, so I have to use either UPS or FedEx, which is like at least $12-13 for shipping, so does anyone have any recommendations for something on Amazon (with Prime so I get free delivery)?

Something like this guy:
https://www.adafruit.com/product/954

[late fulcrum]

You can always buy AdaFruit stuff from DigiKey to save on shipping. Or you can get free shipping from Wal*Mart https://www.walmart.com/ip/PL2303TA-Debug-Console-Cable-1PC-PL2303TA-USB-to-TTL-Serial-Cable-Debug-Console-Cable-for-Raspberry-Pi/1037772728

You can also get free shipping from DigiKey, but you have to mail in your order with payment, so it's a bother and it's not quick, but it is an option.

[fair summit]

You can keep an eye on https://rpilocator.com/, which has various ways of alerting you.

[fading hare]

speaking of price gouging, haha, that Walmart link is charging an extra $10 (I guess to make up for shipping cost)

Amazon on the other hand seems to be full of the same 1-2 factories in China starting different stores every week to sell some poorly made version of this thing. 😄

that reminds me, I can export Excel of what I've purchased, I wonder if something is hidden in my many boxes?

nope

[celest meteor]

I've got a adfruit 7" and no matter what I do in the config. Txt I can't fix this black bored .

Anyone have insight it's on ever os I've tried

[ember vine]

Dump question... can you ad an adafruit chip on a patched and already hwfly chiped switch to get the same benefits as a unpatched one ?

[static flare]

I'm curious as to why the direction of the arrows on the TFT boards were chosen, I would have thought it would have been the other way around?

[late fulcrum]

Not sure what you're asking here: do you mean one of the power switch boards, or a Nintendo Switch, or something else?

[late fulcrum]

You may need to configure the video resolution differently. One thing I like to do is read off and decode the EDID data from the monitor to see what resolutions it supports, and choose one that's compatible with the video hardware of the device I'm connecting it to.

[fierce prawn]

Is a five key keyboard or a full layout easier to make

[thick wind]

Easier in what regard? In most regards, less keys is less work, but if you’re comparing hand wiring five keys vs assembling a keyboard kit, the skills required are very different haha

[dusty citrus]

so I'm trying to figure out how to make a conductive ink that sticks into plastic/resin
googling out I find out compusits of graphite or carbon, vinegar alcool, and clear glue
but clear glue which is pva, frok what I know doesn't stick to plastics

note: I need something that's liquid like an ink
not an acrylic like paste
maybe I could dilute the solution but dunno if it would work anyway

[late fulcrum]

It depends somewhat on which plastic/resin, some of them (like polyethylene) are particularly hard to stick to, but you can make a solvent bond with some others (although sometimes you need exotic solvents like MEK)

[dusty citrus]

You can lay out 5 buttons (keys) as 3x2 with a gap, or 5 in a row.
You might get away with one less pin using one config or the other (I don't know) but it probably won't be two pins difference.

[fair summit]

Maybe search for "conductive paint"; I see that more than "ink"

[vestal pier]

there are also such things as conductive epoxies

[dusty citrus]

I was trying to avoid epoxies because I live in apartment with not much ventilation

[late fulcrum]

Probably exotic solvents are out too, then

[vestal pier]

unless you're laying down a large area, a little run of epoxy shouldn't really cause a VOC problem

[fair summit]

During the epoxy setting time, you could put it near an open window or in the bathroom with the exhaust fan on.

[dusty citrus]

my windows are like so, there's barely any airflow, at summer you can't stay at home; I guess I'll have a trip outside to find a more adeguate space

[tardy badger]

Ya know, I didn’t have “Elon Musk destroying the economy by purchasing Twitter and letting anyone buy a blue checkmark” on my 2022 bingo card. But I’m here for it.

Eli Lilly and Lockheed Martin lost billions in market cap because people paid $8 for a checkmark. You can’t write comedy this good

It might be the most titanic downfalls of tech ever. And I’m riding the boat down like the orchestra on the titanic

[dusty citrus]

I have no idea of who those people are, nor I do feel any pity about milionars losing money

[tardy badger]

Eli Lilly is a huge pharmaceutical company that sells overpriced insulin among others

Lockheed Martin is a massive defense contractor

[vestal pier]

Twitter's rate of implosion is pretty spectacular

[tardy badger]

Anyway, it’s probably the most interesting decline of a tech company ever. Other than Meta having like 34 active users on a $20B spend on the metaverse

[vestal pier]

I was pretty surprised to find out they had ~90k employees working on Meta...that seemed a bit high.

[tardy badger]

Yeah, I was surprised they spent so much with no real proof of concept

Or indication that it’s what people wanted

[vestal pier]

yeah, more market research could have probably saved them a bundle

[tardy badger]

And 11k jobs

[dusty citrus]

I doubt it
probably they were using some gov bound or investors money

like in some states they incentivate electric cars with bounds, industries start to make dunnies, which then will discharged in some trash field

[vestal pier]

er, no, Meta was burning Facebook cash

and a lot of it

[dusty citrus]

isn't Facebook public?
I might be wronf anyway

[tardy badger]

Facebook became Meta, sort of.. and then also became the main product of Meta

[vestal pier]

facebook brings in revenue, they were burning that revenue on Meta

[dusty citrus]

Elon Musk's public utterances are a constant stream of challenges not just to the general public but to the thinking one.
If he's so smart why does he communicate that way with other people who are not Elon Musk.

I don't think he knows the rest of us exist. ;)

[tardy badger]

Considering his fathers enterprises and means of extracting the finally value, probably not

[dusty citrus]

Warren Buffet is a good example of a rich person who behaves comprehensibly on-camera, pretty consistently.

Musk looks in some way, terrified, at all times. ;)

[vestal pier]

the dude is in way over his head, but doesn't have the interpersonal skills or self-awareness to understand it or rely on other people who actually know what they're doing

[burnt tendon]

I mean, the great loss from capitalism is that, when you get down to it, he's an odd person with odd obsessions and the bulk of why he got so far with electric cars and rockets is because he's spent his entire life completely removed from any practical considerations of failure. There's a lot of odd people who have odd obsessions that could go just as far, potentially even farther, but they weren't so lucky as to be born the child of a South African emerald mine owner.

[dusty citrus]

wasn't he a poor student that couldn't afford to pay rent? /s

;) Musk lost my .. confidence in him .. through his use of Twitter. I read his posts there for a while.
Just like everything else: no the space aliens aren't going to rescue 'us' .. neither is Musk.
He's just a person.

[burnt tendon]

I have been burned way way way too often by either finding out from primary sources just how fake the Official Hagiography is and/or actually meeting some people and realizing just how well they are prepped for their on-camera personality.

[solar kindle]

I'm guessing Musk is gearing up to sell off Twitter for parts. Unfortunately, the most valuable part of Twitter is users' private data. I doubt he's going to honor any existing privacy policy in the process.

[dusty citrus]

My guess is he's going to rework it - lot of good hardware online ready to go. Maybe when it tanks someone makes big money on the upswing as it comes back to life.
For me, I can't burn an hour listening to 'an interview with Elon Musk' like I could even 18 months ago.

[burnt tendon]

When the Falcon 9, I kept getting weird vibes and understood the pattern of the bizarre industrialist personality, so I was figuring the whole time that he'd blow up his own business and go whacko somehow shortly before being able to get the Starship flying regularly. I may turn out to be right?

[dusty citrus]

Mars is clearly not Mars .. what he says is the goal there, isn't. So what is the goal itself? Can't be Mars. He's not even a little right about that.

[burnt tendon]

I went from applying to SpaceX when they were still blowing up Falcon 1's (but not following through because I'd have to move to LA) to rapt disinterest around the Thai cave silliness.

[dusty citrus]

You could possibly have a nasty ballistic trajectory earth-point-to-earth-point shuttle (Tokyo to NYC) using 'starship' .. at least that sort-of makes a little sense (until boom anyway)
Not really sure Our Own Personal Oort Cloud (aka starlink after the chain-collision accident) .. <finish this sentence>

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome#Potential_triggers

[burnt tendon]

Ooof yeah, like... the space cadet personality type has been going on about how cost per pound/kilo to orbit is the big thing to optimize for and wouldn't it be nice if we could scale that up and do interesting space things.... and yeah, nothing is actually simple.

[dusty citrus]

You don't often hear sober discourse on the Internet about anything. :) Selection bias at work, I'd guess. It's as if Entertainment Value (alone) decides if you even heard about it.

It seems obvious to me: somebody sometime is going to try to launch into space, something too dangerous to be placed on a rocket. I could speculate on 'what' that would be. Plutonium seems obvious to me.

My pilot friend points out that surveillance of the Moon for mineral deposits is far from a trivial undertaking. So he doesn't think we can establish self-support on the Moon in the conceivable near (300 year) future.

though with enough speed/mass you could as well avoid placing nukes

[crystal ore]

We have already detonated nuclear bombs in space, even.

[dusty citrus]

If you look very carefully at your own behavior when trying to control dangerous tech (driving a car comes to mind) and you're honest .. you may very well have to admit to having lost control and being very lucky that day.

I think that filter gets overlooked.

[tardy badger]

We’re all one bad science experiment from death

[dusty citrus]

;) haha .. yeah I won't go near a power saw for the most part.. I'm just not that lucky.

[rapid geode]

O_o

reminds me of this https://youtu.be/Q0Je9UdzK78?t=1546

make me vomit just watching it hahahah

[orchid zephyr]

The total, nerve wracking stress of filling “Hobbyist” into a “Company or Institution” section on a form.

[late fulcrum]

You can also use the somewhat less emotionally charged term "self"

[celest meteor]

Would you be able to post a example

[late fulcrum]

Apparently not. But my Atrix dock's data describes its standard resolution (1366x768 60Hz) along with the dot clock and timings, as well as 3 optional ones (640x480, 720x480, 720x576)

[celest meteor]

Yeh , I've already given that ago, I can't remember if I had this issues on my pi3

[late fulcrum]

I did have issues with that Atrix dock with my Pi4, apparently because it's pickier about having several individual separate ground leads (and my HDMI adapter apparently just lumps them all together)

[celest meteor]

I only have this issues with this screen , if I was to thought it on my TV works great

[late fulcrum]

It is a weird issue, usually I get a good display or none at all: that black bar on the right is a weird one. I would guess it's a synch polarity or "back porch" timing issue, but I'm totally guessing.

[celest meteor]

I should pick up a smaller screen and see if I still have this issues , just was hoping to use the 7" in my project, no matter how I configured the overview _ left right etc it just seems to move around

[late fulcrum]

Move around? That seems even more like a synch/timing issue

[weary fiber]

I go to a serious university, I swear

[tardy badger]

I get more frustrated every time my kids bring home a sickness from school.. turns out this time we got Covid and RSV in our house. My poor 8 month old has both and is miserable.. just got home from the ER

Not frustrated at my kids, but people (especially stay at home parents) who send their sick kids to school instead of keep them home.

I just wish people cared more about the impacts..

It’s made worse where I live because it’s very “homeopathic minded”

[tender viper]

Does Adafruit sell any WiFi modules that work in the 5GHz bands?

[fierce prawn]

Is this good?

[open fog]

apart from the fact you are using mx browns

also arduino pro micro 5v is like more commonly used for keyboards

[static flare]

I'm excited for the Maker Faire :3

[thick wind]

More common /= better

[thick wind]

Good is relative, hard to say unless you set an expectation

But it should suffice for a budget 5-key build

[fair summit]

not currently

[tender viper]

I guess I'll go PoE then.

[gusty torrent]

There are 2 types of those chinese rp2040 "pico clones". One is mostly pico pin-compatible, the other is entirely not.

Neither is 100%

[last token]

hello 😛

[wanton thistle]

celebrations are in order. Ive successfully communicated with a MAX31855 😄

I very much brute forced the code lol. I know theres a way to make it neater(that was just discussed in #help-with-arduino )but for right now, I can read two bytes from it 😄 Literally named them byte1 and byte two.

[slow carbon]

Hello all. kind of new here, I have an issue with trying to set a battery service for the bluefruit feather m0 . The bluefruit connect android app shows the battery service multiple times, is that normal?

[static flare]

I'm soon gonna be a cyborg!

[jovial rock]

Your own, or you getting medical-grade?

[storm abyss]

Hey all,

I have a cheap ring Light... it looks to use Neo Pixel's (WS2811), the controller board died. If I connect to a bench power supply, with the GND and 5v connected, nothing happens, until I touch the control/data to the ground they light up, fun brightness and draw around 1.3a at 5v. When I connect the control to GP0 on a PiCoW 2040, they are very dim, they aren't getting enough current. I'm still finding my way around electronics and have much to learn. Any help here would be very appreciated.

[crystal ore]

How sure are you that these are NeoPixels? That behavior doesn't really match how those should behave.

[thick wind]

Any pictures of the device?

[storm abyss]

I'll get images two mins

so it has warm led ring, cool led ring and rgb

I only want to control one.

[crystal ore]

You may want to check the cable continuity... I see a yellow wire on the cable end, but a black wire soldered to the ring side? So possibly what you were connecting to data was actually ground, or something like that.

[storm abyss]

ok

give me a sec

[ancient rivet]

green is DIN?

[storm abyss]

ahhh

[crystal ore]

Look like red is V+, yellow and white are ground for the warm and cool rings, green is data, and black would be RGB ground.

[ancient rivet]

^^yep. so can ignore the W- and Y- pins

[storm abyss]

so nothing happens with Green, you are correct its din for the RGB ring as there is 3, the yellow is for the warm LED

So I guess I need to turn off/on at full brightness

[ancient rivet]

you'll need to send a data signal. they won't light up with just power.

[storm abyss]

that's what I thought as well but the White LED ring does as pictured above

[ancient rivet]

those will

they're just regular LEDs

but the neopixel ones are different - need data

[storm abyss]

it's those I want to control via the 2040, on/off which works but very dim via the pico

[storm abyss]

yeah, I don't want to control them, just the white ring

[ancient rivet]

oh, you don't care about the neopixel ring?

[storm abyss]

so I connected the external power (bench psu) and the white lead to GP0 and it's very dim

no 😄

for a change 😄

[crystal ore]

For brightness control of the white ring, you'd want to have a MOSFET and PWM them on-off via the Pico.

[storm abyss]

thanks for helping 😄

[storm abyss]

ok, I thought as much but wasn't 100% sure, which is why I figured I would ask here.

I think I may have some

I have a irfz 34n, I think thats ok

[upbeat canopy]

Helllo everyone!!

I'm looking for some help in building a LoRa Geofence. I'm using a Dragino Pi Hat as a Gateway and a TTGO-Tbeam as the EndNode integrated with TTN.

I'm having issues with receiving data in Dragino LoRa Hat and looking further I saw that this hardware is depracted as is only a single channel communicator. Could you please help me in which is the best cost bennefit suggestion and fast to implement solution for a geofence?

[jovial rock]

Well, that's a thing I would not think about checking for. Appears the nrf52840 doesn't speak USB if 5V power is disabled at the cable but is running on 3V power. (either battery or QT) Well dang.

(RP2040, samd21 and printer all have USB communication without 5V power on USB)

[late fulcrum]

That is an oddball one! Good find.

[jovial rock]

Also helps if you replace the dummy value in a print statement with the actual sensor reading. Heh. Now I can chase down whatever the real issue is.

(UM's S3 feather also enumerates without 5V power) I wonder if it was mentioned in the datasheet.. Though again, doubt it's the kind of thing you would think of to check for.

[static flare]

Medical grade!

[wispy heron]

That’s awesome! Or at least, I assume it’s awesome, being disabled myself I tend to think of such things as a bit empowering.

[static flare]

It's bittersweet

It's a new disability of mine

but it's easily treatable here

[sharp grove]

a wonderful sight

[wraith river]

Hello. is adafruit wearables a suitable platform to teach coding to children?

[tardy badger]

Yeah, they are regularly used to teach kids to code.

I’d usually recommend the Gemma M0 since it’s small though it’s out of stock, but the Circuit Playground Express would be another great option.

[fierce prawn]

Vote
1️⃣ Cherry MX Brown
2️⃣ Cherry MX Blues

[static flare]

I feel that's a matter if personal preference between clicky and tactile

[fierce prawn]

I want the sound but not the clicky
Like just wood sound

[static flare]

I don't know too much about the switches and such other than the different types

[stuck moth]

I use browns in my keyboard

not official cherry

[wispy heron]

I like keyboards that are nearly silent, and very light press

[static flare]

im very sensory so the clicky is good for me

[tardy badger]

I also need clicky. Not sure why it feels like it helps with dyslexia and dyscalculia

¯_(ツ)_/¯

It used to be that I was better at controlling it on my smaller more silent MacBook keyboard, but most days when using my desktop I feel like I mess less words, sentences, and numbers up

[late fulcrum]

I learned on a manual typewriter, so I prefer a good spring, a nice tactile and audible click.

[raven tree]

hi all! i just bought some adafruit circuit python usb c adapters

but i was wondering if i can view the serial connection via bluetooth

especially my 6 axis info

instead of via usb, could that be an option?

[gusty torrent]

I just wore my first keeb with chinese mx clone keys out. Going real cherry for the replacement.

Keys only lasted about 8 months.

[raven tree]

which hardware is this?

[gusty torrent]

Was my own keypad board.

[wispy heron]

While I kinda learned to type on a manual typewriter, my typing speed is largely due to staying up way too late on IRC, so I had to type quiet since I was supposed to be sleeping, pretty sure that’s why I like silent keyboards lol

[late fulcrum]

Heh, my roommates like to tease me with "has the shelling stopped", as my Matias Tactile Pro and IBM Model M are pretty loud when I get going at 110WPM or so. However, I'm starting to get used to the Keychron keyboards with Gateron Blue switches, which are much quieter.

[static flare]

got my finger BGL/ketone tester

[dusty citrus]

does exist any sort of smd pad like connector that does not require solder?

I know that there are those spring like loaded thingies, but without considering those

[crystal ore]

There are "zebra" connectors that are conductive rubber, basically.

Similarly, there's anisotropic conductive tapes that you can stick down between boards.

[dusty citrus]

I had an 'atomic' clock with those zebra rubber blocks. I was astonished they work.

The LCD was pretty much a floating glass sandwich. (OEM so no bezel close fitted to it).
I still have it today and it still works even though I'd disassembled it that far. ;)

yeah they are usually used in calculators too, now that I think about it

[bitter shoal]

I was just getting caught up on last week's Ask an Engineer (I'm usually not this far behind, but have been busy since I returned from Iceland a couple weeks ago). Congratulations @viscid folio & pt on your expected new arrival! (And nice work keeping it Top Secret until now). 🎂

[severe gale]

Quick question
In general, which will be better for differential amplifier applications?

• two "matched pair" NPN ICs with the same date code
• one "general purpose" quad NPN IC

[whole jacinth]

it's hard to say without knowing more details. what kind of IC? there are certain subcircuits of op amps and differential amplifiers where matched pairs are critical, and it'll usually be obvious by inspection of the circuit diagram to someone with the right experience

[obtuse jewel]

I find it funny / annoying / ironic how many "Pi-Killer SBC" devices I've seen advertised

I've been seeing them for like, 5 years

Yet none match up to the dang good open source, highly applicable, and compatible hardware Raspberry pi makes

I have yet to see one where a Linux image can be installed on an SD card and just GO, and not to mention all of them trying to make a new "GPIO standard" when the market mainly consists of ONLY pi HATs

Reminds me of a xcqc comic

Or whatever their name is

[thick wind]

It’s actually an interesting topic. Arguably a lot of SBCs with competitive specs per dollar match or exceed that of the Raspberries. The only reason none of them have the same success is the sheer volume of stable software and community support, which is huge when Linux is such a finicky little s-

Squirt.

(family friendly, family friendly…)

[static flare]

XKCD number 927, Standards

[obtuse jewel]

Thanks! That's exactly the one I was thinking of

[static flare]

It's iconic

[obtuse jewel]

Yeah, my first message got taken down because I used the forbidden d-word

[obtuse jewel]

I absolutely love how they just are so truthfully a part of the community, there's a lot of fake posers out there, but xkcd just knows their stuff and knows a lot of different communities on a comedic level

[static flare]

Randall is good people, afaik

[thick wind]

I prefer to think of it less as a comparison of real vs fake, and more so who dives deeper into the pool.

Xkcd hasn’t been seen at the surface in over a decade.

[severe gale]

MQP3904 vs two BCM847BS

I have access to both, as well as their complements
We have to design the circuit for a class, so I don't have that yet. I just want to make sure I'm not starting off on the wrong foot, so to speak. Highest CMRR gets bonus points :)

[static flare]

my first was 138, Pointers, cause i asked my Python teacher for some pointers cause i didn't know what I was doing

[severe gale]

classic, i will send that to my friend learning python
not to flex but I found a copy of What If? for 25c at the local used bookstore last week

[whole jacinth]

if this is for a class, they should be teaching you about what situations call for matched pairs, so i would suggest checking your text or lecture notes

[static flare]

I wouldn't necessarily recommend it for Python specifically, moreso languages that more overtly use them

[severe gale]

They have been teaching us! I guess I could rephrase my question as: when matching is required, which would be preferable? My guess would be the matched pairs, but I'm unsure about using a general purpose quad instead of two matched pairs

[severe gale]

I left out that I'm trying to get him to learn cpp :)

[whole jacinth]

for amplifiers, emitter-coupled pairs are the main subcircuits that benefit from matched transistor pairs. if you've ever tried to build an op-amp out of discrete transistors and aren't using a matched pair in the right places, you'll definitely notice

a quad transistor array on a single die will get you good thermal tracking, which can be helpful. if they're not matched, they might not have suitable performance for an emitter-coupled pair

[severe gale]

That makes sense. So the correct solution, as usual, is both*
I can't make everything from quad arrays, but I'll experiment with using quad array where possible, making sure matching-critical applications use the actual paired chip
Thank you!

I don't know if you've checked matched quad prices recently, but let's just say there's a reason I'm asking

[bold frost]

Does anyone know what the stimulus of a time of flight sensor is?

[whole jacinth]

no i haven't checked recently, but i wouldn't be surprised. yeah, experimenting with both is probably good. if you have a circuit design that needs two matched pairs on the same die, yeah, you might have to compromise somehow. (this is why most such amplifier circuits are available as ICs, except for unusual use cases)

(it's kind of "fun" to build an op amp out of discrete unmatched transistors for an electronics lab class and watch the offset drift around due to air currents)

[late fulcrum]

The new Pi foundation SD imager comes pretty close to this ideal, I use it to preconfigure the host name, WiFi, zeroconf, and ssh access, put the card in, power it up, and then just ssh to the new Pi wirelessly.

[obtuse jewel]

I love it, this is kinda my flow too

[weary portal]

A general purpose quad NPN IC will be better

date code doesn't mean a ton. It does mean some aspects of the process are going to be closer

but "on the same chip" means that the transistors were patterned near each other -- and there can be variation in dopant concentration and stuff like that across a wafer

you can take a handful with the same date code and curve trace them. Maybe they're close enough

remember -- when it doubt, measure

[late fulcrum]

One popular technique to get (effectively) two matched transistors is to pattern 4 transistors on the die in a 2x2 array and parallel the diagonally opposite ones, to cancel out thermal and process gradients.

https://siliconvlsi.com/matching-technique-in-analog-layout/

[bold frost]

Does anyone know if transfer functions exists for Time of Flight sensors? The output signal in function of the distance stimulus. Ive been looking around and havent been able to find one

[late fulcrum]

I suspect it depends on the sensor, but since time is linear, I would expect the transfer function to be linear for most sensors

[whole jacinth]

if it's not on the datasheet, you might have to measure or characterize it yourself. for ultrasonic sensors, i'd imagine it depends a lot on the target material and geometry

[bold frost]

Well I am focussing on indirect ToF sensors. So they calculate the distance based on the phase difference

[late fulcrum]

Like interferometers?

[bold frost]

Im a bit confused about transfer functions.
The X-axis contains the stimulus, and the Y-axis the output signal. I am not sure what the stimulus / output signal is in the case of ToF sensors.

[late fulcrum]

Presumably the stimulus is the modulation of the outgoing signal, but it could also be a trigger signal to start the conversion, depending on what part of the process you're analyzing.

The usual lashup is a controller requests a distance reading, the sensor generates some internal signals and sends out a modulated wave of some sort and listens for the return. Then it computes timing and correlation between the signals it generated and the returns it got (outputs of its receiver), produces a result, and sends that output back to the controller.

The multiple steps, each with its own signals, timings, inputs, and outputs, yields a fair amount of confusion unless you nail down which ones you're referring to.

[bold frost]

Well what If you had to give the transferfunction of a ToF-sensor in general. So lets consider the sensor itself as a blackbox

[late fulcrum]

For most sensors, it's going to be basically linear, as time is linear. There will generally be some sort of offset so while it's linear, it's not strictly proportional.

[bold frost]

I have to give a presentation about ToF sensors. Discussing "the transferfunction of your sensor" is a big part of the presentation. Do you have any advice on how I should do it? You are right about the ToF sensor not being as simple as input->output.

I could say its linear but maybe thats a bit shortsighted

[thick wind]

You could say the correlation is linear over a certain range, that should cover the offset base?

[bold frost]

And what would be on the X and Y axis of the transfer function?

[thick wind]

Phase difference and distance? Unless I’m missing something here…

[late fulcrum]

The X axis is the independent variable, which would presumably be something like distance. The Y axis would be the dependent variable, which would be the output of your sensor, in whatever units your sensor provides

Due to the offset, I would expect the line not to pass through the origin

[bold frost]

So the Y axis would be voltage? or are there different types of output signal units?

[late fulcrum]

Lots of different types. Some sensors have a digital interface and provide numbers as output. Some provide pulses with width or timing representing the distance. Still others use an analog voltage like you describe. There may be others I'm not thinking of.

[bold frost]

Do you think ToF-sensors have multiple types aswell then?

[late fulcrum]

That's why I expressly didn't specify the Y axis units

[thick wind]

Oh, for sure.

The sensor and interface are essentially two separate functional blocks of which you can probably find most if not all combinations of them.

[bold frost]

Indirect ToF sensors measure the phase difference, could that be considered as stimulus (x asis) aswell?

Or is it distance

[late fulcrum]

Think of it as "what is the sensor measuring"

Your notion of treating the sensor as a black box can help here

It can be tricky to keep the "what" and the "how" separate, but it's a good idea to do so.

[bold frost]

Well the goal of the sensor is measuring distance

[thick wind]

Given an input of a certain phase shift, your transfer function should correlate that measureable quantity to your desired units of measure. In this case, probably some unit of distance.

[bold frost]

If i were to sketch a realistic transferfunction, from a non ideal ToF sensor. What would it look like?

[thick wind]

Though I can also see an argument made for the converse: when the sensor is presented with a distance, it measures a phase difference.

[thick wind]

Well, if you want non-ideal, easiest way is to pick a real, production iTOF sensor and pull some charts from its data sheet.

[bold frost]

Well there are 2 kind of ToF sensors:

1. Direct: measure the time difference directly, to calculate the distance
2. Indirect: measure the phase difference to calculate the time difference, and then the time is used to calculate the distance

[late fulcrum]

I suppose it would depend on how non-ideal it was. Instead of a straight line, it might be curved or wavy or something. It might even be nonmonotonic and would probably not pass through the origin either

[bold frost]

Ive checked the first 8 google pages and I dont think I found a single one

That gives voltage in function of distance for example

[late fulcrum]

Have you tried an image search on it? I saw one in the first line of results

[bold frost]

Whats the link?

[late fulcrum]

In the sense of "not doing your homework for you", I'm not going to give the link

[bold frost]

i checked tons of papers, I am not lazy

The search results must be different in your country

[thick wind]

Taken from the Vl53L0X data sheet from STM

First pick your sensor, then go find its charts. You’ll get better results much quicker that way.

[bold frost]

Ive got that datasheet on my pc, but the y axis is in mm

Im not sure how to interpret that

[thick wind]

You interpret that as mm. Sensor reads distances, sensor spits out distance haha

It’s a digital interface so there’s no voltage or pulses

[bold frost]

Is that a transfer function??

[thick wind]

Technically yes

[bold frost]

And this aswell?

[thick wind]

Stimulus is a distance presented to the sensor, response is the distance returned by the sensor.

Yep

[bold frost]

Well Ive had these graphs but I was trying to find a replacement because I thought they werent real transferfunctions

[thick wind]

Something tells me you had the answer this whole time, but you were asking all the wrong questions…

[bold frost]

Well ive made slides where i was comparing the real distance to the measured distance

[thick wind]

I mean, if you want something with an electrical output rather than a distance, try the HC-SR04?

[bold frost]

Thats ultrasonic

[thick wind]

It’ll be a delay as a function of distance…

[bold frost]

Where did u read that it uses a digital interface?

[thick wind]

Ah, woops. Thought too literal in time of flight