general-chat

[wanton thistle]

the animation looked familiar but I couldnt place it.

[delicate stream]

It's sorta Rick and Morty style

[wanton thistle]

yea thats what it looked like

[delicate stream]

It also shares some of the humor style, but without straying too far from the Star Trek we know and love

[wanton thistle]

sweet 😄 I'll have to find it some place 👀

[delicate stream]

Paramount+ is where it lives, along with all the other Trek shows!

The other current animated show is Prodigy, which is a children's show in collaboration with Nickelodeon, but I highly recommend it for all

[wanton thistle]

interesting. Never heard of that one either

[delicate stream]

You have soooo much to catch up on!

[wanton thistle]

it looks more sci-fi ish than star trek related

[delicate stream]

Live action currently includes Discovery, Strange New Worlds, and Picard

Prodigy? It's not focused on a Starfleet crew the way the other shows are -- it follows a group of kids from the Delta quadrant who dream to join Starfleet

[wanton thistle]

does Q make an appearance?

he was always interesting

[delicate stream]

Q is a big part of Picard S2, and shows up in LDS S1E8

[wanton thistle]

He wasnt exactly a bad guy in my eyes, I mean, I never did get too far along in TNG (I think season 2 or 3?), he just was trying to understand humanity but had an odd way of doing it.

He would be Michael from the good place pretty much, during the trolley problem episode.

[delicate stream]

He was a bit antagonistic sometimes, but yeah, he wasn't evil

[wanton thistle]

I could totally see Q doing that lol

[delicate stream]

You haven't finished TNG?!?! GO FINISH

[wanton thistle]

its like so long lol

more time I spend watching TV, the less i have for projects 😛

[delicate stream]

You can watch TV while doing projects

Altho that works better for reruns...

[wanton thistle]

to some extent yes

but coding? Nah. I need all my brain cells

[delicate stream]

Actually yeah, I just realized I know all the episodes well enough that I can watch in the background and know what's going on because I've watched them 20-30 times each XD

[wanton thistle]

haha yea.

[delicate stream]

You'll get there eventually :P but having watched all the previous series helps a lot with LDS, they make a LOT of references

[the LDS production code itself is a reference!]

[wanton thistle]

kind of like with Dr who

[delicate stream]

Everything is a reference

I think I shall make a tiny game with my NeoBFF

I wonder if 5x5 is enough for Space Invaders…

[fierce prawn]

Plain spaghetti

For breakfast lol

[delicate stream]

Wait, that's illegal

[lusty fossil]

No butter/margarine?

[delicate stream]

Never had spaghetti with butter, but that sounds better than plain...

[vague coyote]

Which channel is for discussing adding support for a new microcontroller board?

[delicate stream]

For CircuitPython?

[vague coyote]

Yes

[delicate stream]

I think it would be #circuitpython-dev

[vague coyote]

Thanks

[delicate stream]

np

[late fulcrum]

Heh, in Elf they had it with maple syrup

[delicate stream]

https://tenor.com/view/spaghetti-elf-lunch-gif-12842311

[wispy bane]

Do or don't 💀

I wanna try😂

[umbral phoenix]

my spidey senses are tingling

[delicate stream]

https://tenor.com/view/gandalf-trap-hobbit-gif-18715035

[wispy bane]

Hehehhehejeh💀

[delicate stream]

Uhoh... I just realized the one protoboard I got is 2mm pitch...

Glad I didn't get it for a project and it was just a random thing I threw in my cart

[dusty citrus]

what colour is this solder mask, blue or green?

[fierce prawn]

Is common ground for direct pins keyboard ok

[fierce prawn]

@delicate stream

[blissful roost]

Quite possibly the worst film ever made...

If not, definitely in the top 10 worst.

[wanton thistle]

blue green lol.

[delicate stream]

Yes

[delicate stream]

Yeah, it’s somewhere between green and blue… blue green, green blue… I think more on the green side

[wanton thistle]

Someone asked the same question on reddit today so I wonder if its OP here 🤔

[delicate stream]

Lol

It’s like The Dress, but for electronics

[wanton thistle]

https://blog.arduino.cc/2014/11/14/the-perfect-teal/

answer is teal

[delicate stream]

Teal is a green-blue, so we’re technically correct XD

[ruby pendant]

I will tell you working in the industry elevators have an insane number of safety devices, are checked regularly and are incredibly safe. Almost every death or major injury that results from an elevator, is someone outside the elevator (a technician working on top, or stupid people who sneak on top) However on your fear of stairs... since I got into this industry, I will not set foot on an escalator, those things are dangerous.

[delicate stream]

Yeah, I'd only be concerned with an elevator if it were in a country where they don't require maintenance the way it's required in the US, or if it was an ancient building that seemed seedy and like they probably don't bother with safety at all...

[rain cradle]

no idea why i didn't try this earlier, just tried using the RST pin to clear my screen(https://www.adafruit.com/product/4098), based on the CPP's HardwareReset function(https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_EPD/blob/master/src/Adafruit_EPD.cpp#L198-L213), but it's still showing the snake image....

• checked both ends of each of my wires with the multimeter, none is broken
• soldering seems OK on both the RP Pico and the display
  any ideas?

[delicate stream]

Is the HardwareReset meant to clear the screen? Or just reset the controller?

[rain cradle]

according to the tutorial linked by the product page: ```
RST - this is the E-Ink ReSeT pin, you may be able to share this with your microcontroller reset pin but if you can, connect it to a digital pin.

[delicate stream]

Not sure... "clearing" the screen would actually be the same as writing an image -- telling all the elements to go white

[rain cradle]

well, my test code (trying to make entire screen red) doesnt' work

[delicate stream]

Hmm

[rain cradle]

so, doing to same with white pixels wont work either, i guess

[delicate stream]

I had issues with wiring

Triple check your wiring and assignments in code

[rain cradle]

i've checked connections, several times...

[delicate stream]

Are you using the code from the tutorial?

[rain cradle]

i made a minimal version on micropython

sending SPI messages by hand to see what is needed to use the screen

[delicate stream]

Ahh... maybe there's a library disconnect or something

[rain cradle]

so i can later port to QMK

[delicate stream]

I've only used them with CP

[rain cradle]

lets try CP directly, but i wanted to use SPI so i can get some idea of what i need to drive it

[delicate stream]

Good to test with a simple known good script... if that doesn't work, you know either there's some wiring issue or hardware issue

[rain cradle]

hmmm it worked

time to take a look at what the show method does

[delicate stream]

So you know the display is good, yay!

[rain cradle]

which means i have no idea of the SPI messages im missing/have copied wrong

🤡

[delicate stream]

Better than broken hardware, lol

[rain cradle]

of course

and i also have a hint to follow

[rain cradle]

getting completely lost jumping through files tho 🤣

the binding for the showmethod (https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/blob/main/shared-bindings/displayio/EPaperDisplay.c#L221) calls this HAL function (https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/blob/main/shared-module/displayio/EPaperDisplay.c#L105) which calls a core function (https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/blob/main/shared-module/displayio/display_core.c#L165) to make some transformations on the group (image?) -- from here code gets hard to follow. im not sure about the format in which images are stored, but based on my readings of the CPP version of this code i think it is just a framebuffer for black/white and another one for red (cant use black+red at same time)

the refresh method (https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/blob/main/shared-bindings/displayio/EPaperDisplay.c#L266) calls HAL function (https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/blob/main/shared-module/displayio/EPaperDisplay.c#L369), but i dont really understand how the data is sent + refresh is made here (https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/blob/main/shared-module/displayio/EPaperDisplay.c#L256)

[delicate stream]

hmmm

[rain cradle]

note: as far as i've read there is no support for partial refresh on this particular screen, so all data should be being sent at the same time, and then a single SPI command triggers the refresh of the whole display

if anyone is familiar with the code or can make any sense out of it, please @ me 🙏

[analog wyvern]

I’m happy to help explore with ya ahaha

[rain cradle]

i've already explored it the best i could, it apparently makes 2 iterations, one for black and one for red and sends the corresponding buffer over SPI, however i can't find any relevant difference with my minimal code where i manually send data over SPI 😕

tho this version does of course contain a ton more stuff to abstract a lot of configuration steps, and i probably missed something

[late fulcrum]

I can think of three kinds of approaches: 1) continue on your current path of analyzing what the code does, 2) start grafting the working and non-working code together to see which combination makes it work, 3a) monitor the SPI transactions with an analyzer to see what's actually being sent, 3b) add a debug wrapper to the SPI interface to log what's going on if you don't have an analyzer.

[rain cradle]

i do have a basic analyzer, was thinking about using it next, but since it would be a little pain looking through that, i was hoping maybe someone could spot something i didn't catch 🙃

[rain cradle]

time for some work

[rain cradle]

only different thing i could spot on that capture is that im not using the POWER_OFF command after the REFRESH one, lets try making that change

i wouldn't expect it to have anything with drawing, but who knows

[barren zinc]

Does anyone have code for CPX neopixel light strips without any extra imports/modules

[rain cradle]

didnt work either 😭
perhaps this is not the correct amount of data to be sent, cant think of anything else https://gist.github.com/elpekenin/acb334807dd82f7368233eed3e7477eb#file-eink-py-L113

[late fulcrum]

You mean just generating the properly timed signals directly?

[ancient rivet]

what do you mean by "extra"? there's a minimal example here:
https://learn.adafruit.com/circuitpython-essentials/circuitpython-neopixel

[severe gale]

what would you expect the value of this to be?

one I have is open, but the other two with the same marking (confirmed working in circuit) are measuring 196.00 ohms dead on
to me that looks like 224 but...

[rain cradle]

i'd say it is a 9, just because the line isn't straight

[severe gale]

This one measures 4.9k??

[delicate stream]

Maybe the manufacturer has some weird code

[severe gale]

It's possible

i got incredibly lucky that the ones that failed WERE the failures, and that they didn't fail to open across the body.

I'm replacing all of them because I'm not taking apart this CRT assembly again lol

found it, bourns 3306K
seemes like the codes have just deteriorated considering these have been in hard environments for 30years

[late fulcrum]

Should be able to get the correct values from the service manual

[severe gale]

Well, that's the problem... this Tek function generator only has a module-level service manual available

It will tell you how to troubleshoot to find out what board it is, and how to get it out, but after that you're on your own

[late fulcrum]

Tektronix is usually better than that

[severe gale]

...usually. My power supply from them around the same time has a FULL service manual. Maybe they were cautious about the CRT part

Opening your phone up won't kill you, but I could see erring on the side of caution for this if anything

Credit where credit is due though, I can't think of another arb that seems like its built on a scope chassis. And they implemented a bunch of nonstandard 488.2 commands for data download/upload, so I don't even have to convert the floppy drive!

I think these pots failed because they're unsealed. This unit had the rackmount option and was covered in thick black dust when I got it, plenty of burn in and yellowing to go with. "Property of Motorola"... didn't know they owned coal mines

works like a champ, other than a dead cal battery and the display issue. I think once I replace these adj pots she'll be right

[viral spruce]

iirc they use a dataset valid up til 2021

and the data it produces depends on what the AI "knows" (ref: https://www.alignmentforum.org/posts/BgoKdAzogxmgkuuAt/behavior-cloning-is-miscalibrated)

[delicate stream]

Ah, forgot the Pico W was released this year, and I think the dataset goes to after the original Pico was released, but it probably assumed that I meant a regular Pi since I mentioned HTTP, and even if it knew of the Pico, it probably defaulted to a Pi it knew had networking…

[fierce prawn]

https://chat.openai.com/chat

[delicate stream]

Yup that’s the one

[fierce prawn]

When is rasp pico realeased

[fierce prawn]

I BROKE IT
I BROKE IT

Yes

[delicate stream]

Some time in 2022

[delicate stream]

That happens a lot

If it says "too many requests", you'll need to refresh

[weary fiber]

It’s so fun to see random signals/noise with a loose oscilloscope probe

[delicate stream]

hehe

[weary fiber]

Found this whenever my soldering iron uses its heater

[delicate stream]

My tiny baby scope doesn't show anything that fun

WAIT IT DOES

[weary fiber]

Or my phone’s NFC looking for a reader

[rain cradle]

close enough to a sinc function 🤣

[delicate stream]

Poking my cheek

Connected to positive of a lipo

Actually I get that for any ungrounded metal

Or conductive thing

Connected to a lamp’s housing — 60Hz resonance?

[delicate stream]

y'know what would be cool? If on Adafruit product pages, in addition to telling you the last time you bought something, if it told you how many you've purchased

[olive dome]

I got my Christmas present! free upgrade to Pico W? /s

[delicate stream]

Gutting vapes I found on the street — the big one is 1500mAh!

It’s insane that these rechargeable batteries just get tossed…

[wanton thistle]

Has anyone gotten the Arduino make your own Uno kit yet? It looks pretty awesome

[late fulcrum]

Wow, I hadn't even known about that, it looks like a really nice design!

[wanton thistle]

https://store-usa.arduino.cc/products/make-your-uno-kit
Link for those who dont know

https://store-usa.arduino.cc/pages/make-your-uno-kit?selectedStore=us
posting the main page would probably help lol.

I have no need for it, but part of me wants it because its a kit and it looks cool.

even though :stares at the boards and boxes from digikey of things that need to be built😅

[delicate stream]

I had a clone UNO kit called the Diavolino from Evil Mad Scientists... it had optional FTDI header or DC power jack!

[fierce prawn]

Can I get a pic?

[delicate stream]

https://shop.evilmadscientist.com/productsmenu/180

Fun little build. I had one with both a DC jack and USB power, and put a switch in instead of the 0 ohm link

[late fulcrum]

I've built a few of those, and the AdaFruit Boarduinos.

[delicate stream]

Part of why I bought the Diavolino was the red board with flames XD

[delicate stream]

Wow, is that now? I see a few vintage Radio Shack packages...

[late fulcrum]

That picture is from a while back, I don't use a lot of Boarduinos any more, but they were a great product, and AdaFruit offered the blank boards, so I bought several of them and grabbed most of the parts from my local Radio Shack (my back room).

[delicate stream]

Nice

I miss Radio Shack so much T.T

I couldn't afford to stock up like that... I got parts as I could afford and needed them

And then when they were closing I spent like $200 and got almost $4000 worth of stuff

[late fulcrum]

I bought all that stuff for pennies on the dollar when my local Radio Shack was closing.

[delicate stream]

Nice

I have sooooo much stuff I haven't used yet

[fierce prawn]

Good practice?
One to 12 lol

@delicate stream

[late fulcrum]

Heh, I have a couple like that with different plugs for my battery charger

[fierce prawn]

So it's ok?

[delicate stream]

Depends on what you’re using it for. Ground for a bunch of signal wires? Sure. Power for high current applications like a bunch of motors? No

[fierce prawn]

Ground

[delicate stream]

But ground got what

[fierce prawn]

One of the connection
GP0 - keyswitch - ground

[delicate stream]

Yeah, that’s fine then

[fierce prawn]

Is a uf2 flash tool a good idea
uf2flash --device E: --firmware circuitpython

[late fulcrum]

It depends on what you're doing. Normally you don't need it, you just drag an image to the device and it installs it.

[fierce prawn]

Do circuit python have a content Api
Like most ci

?

[crystal ore]

It's not completely clear what you're asking, so you might want to expand the question a bit.

[fierce prawn]

Like
https://downloads.circuitpython.org

Wait

Holy

With the root I get all files

@crystal ore is it ok to use this in my app?

[crystal ore]

No idea, I'm afraid.

[fierce prawn]

https://downloads.circuitpython.org/bin/42keebs_frood/ID/adafruit-circuitpython-42keebs_frood-ID-20221129-8a9d841.uf2

One of the uf2

@sonic prism is it ok to query the circuitpython download bucket directly

Why all is 42keebs

[late fulcrum]

Which board do you want the CircuitPython UF2 for?

You can choose your board here https://circuitpython.org/downloads

[delicate stream]

I'm very confused

[late fulcrum]

You're not the only one!

[delicate stream]

Also I found an old OLED in my junk and have no idea what controller it uses... and apparently it can do SPI or I2C, but it says IIC

[late fulcrum]

IIC is another name for I2C (which is also known as I²C)

[delicate stream]

It's set for SPI and I'm afraid to move the resistor XD

I think this thing is like 10 years old, I haven't seen IIC in ages

Is there a way to figure out what controller it has, outside of trying a bunch of libraries?

[late fulcrum]

Also TWI for extra bonus confusion

[delicate stream]

lol

[late fulcrum]

Eyeballing the chip might work, otherwise maybe a scan (if it's in I2C mode)

[delicate stream]

I don't see a chip...

[late fulcrum]

Hrm. It could be hidden under the display or somesuch. OLEDs from that long ago didn't have a lot of options

[delicate stream]

I think it’s hidden

[late fulcrum]

Probably an SH1106 board

[delicate stream]

What's the most common one? SSD1106?

I'll start with that I guess

The displayio learnguide hasn't been touched in a while... mentions CP 4.0 introducing it as a new native library XD

https://learn.adafruit.com/circuitpython-display-support-using-displayio

[late fulcrum]

Looks like the driver itself was last touched on September 3 https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_CircuitPython_DisplayIO_SH1106

[delicate stream]

I know it's still in common use, a couple I got recently are 1106, and there's the FeatherWing OLED that uses it

[late fulcrum]

It's still a popular chip

[delicate stream]

mhmm

[fierce prawn]

I want the whole selection of download urls from a api

[delicate stream]

por que

[fierce prawn]

https://downloads.circuitpython.org/bin/raspberry_pi_pico/en_US/adafruit-circuitpython-raspberry_pi_pico-en_US-7.3.3.uf2

Why when I scan the thing it's all 42keebs

But there's a url of it

[late fulcrum]

I got an email from an AdaFruit mailing list saying "The LM741 is useful for many beginner circuits but if you are having a lot of trouble getting it to behave try upgrading to a more modern TL072." Let's see, the LM741 is 54 years old, and the TL072 is a veritable spring chicken, only 47 years old. These days, I normally use the 5532 (which hails from 1977).

[delicate stream]

... what exactly are you trying to do?

[late fulcrum]

Looks like the XML catalog, smushed into JSON or somesuch. Not really an API, but machine readable

[fierce prawn]

Get all uf2 download urls

[delicate stream]

For what?

[fierce prawn]

Circuitpython python

[fierce prawn]

Ikn
But why there's only 42keebs
Not all the uf2s

[delicate stream]

Why do you need all the download URLs? You don't have every board ever, and you wouldn't need every version

[fierce prawn]

Making a flash tool

[delicate stream]

Why do you need a flash tool?

[late fulcrum]

For all 353 boards? Doesn't Mu already do that?

[fierce prawn]

Wait
Should I copy how mu do it?

[late fulcrum]

I'm unsure why you want to re-invent the wheel

Oh wait, 353 boards times several versions times a couple of dozen languages. That's gonna be a lot of URLs.

[fierce prawn]

I just want to have a nice cli tool

[late fulcrum]

I suppose you could start with the RSS feed.

[delicate stream]

Why don't you just download the UF2 you need and use CLI to copy to the board?

[late fulcrum]

Like, if you wanted the CP UF2 for the Feather M4 Express, version 6.2.0, beta 1, in Korean, that would be https://adafruit-circuit-python.s3.amazonaws.com/bin/feather_m4_express/ko/adafruit-circuitpython-feather_m4_express-ko-6.2.0-beta.1.uf2

[delicate stream]

Considering there are over 350 boards, 8 versions of CP, and each version probably has 5 betas, that would be at least like 14,000 per language

Plus there's the nightly builds

[late fulcrum]

You could try to crawl the S3 bucket, but I'm guessing AWS would block you sooner or later

I suspect there's a backing store used to generate the downloads page, but I'm unsure where you would get that.

[delicate stream]

I find doing some things the hard way to be fun, but this seems like extra work for no benefit

[fierce prawn]

download.js
https://circuitpython.org/assets/javascript/download.js

Finally
Just needed to convert this to python

[fierce prawn]

In the end
Just let the user download it

[delicate stream]

That's... the whole point of the site. To just let you download it

You just type in the name of the board, go to the board's page, and either download the latest beta or latest stable [or dig into the S3 directory for a particular old version]

[fierce prawn]

Just copy and paste lol
What my cli needs to do

[delicate stream]

I'm still very confused

[fierce prawn]

I could make a update tool
Reset the microcontroller to flash mode via repl
Then detect new usb and copy to it

[delicate stream]

You'd still need to put it in boot select to mount the drive to place the UF2

With the button

I don't think you can tell it to reboot to flashing mode

Oh wow, this PyBadge has CP 5 Beta 5...

[fierce prawn]

So I need to instruct user to do it
Then detect newly added drive for either boot or uf2

Then copy?

[delicate stream]

Yeah, copying to the CP drive won't do anything useful

Are you going to have it just grab the latest stable? Or give a choice?

Also, if you were thinking about automating it... I wouldn't recommend automatic upgrades -- it might break things

[fierce prawn]

You get the thing yourself

Might be useful to mass flash

[delicate stream]

I think you're adding extra steps...

[fierce prawn]

Like plug all board then click flash

[delicate stream]

This sounds more complicated than actually copying the file yourself

[fierce prawn]

No
It's automatic

[delicate stream]

You said you get the file yourself, and you have to run this tool, which you either need to tell it where the file is or put the file in a particular place...

[fierce prawn]

It scans the list of drives first
Then add the current list to the list to ignore
Then add any newly added disk to flash list
Then flash them one by one

True but flashing multiple board at once is useful

[delicate stream]

Are you planning on putting CP on like 50 drives at once?

50 identical boards?

[fierce prawn]

Yeah

Useful for next year

[delicate stream]

Guess you have a big big project then

[fierce prawn]

If I can convince my school entrepreneur club to sell customizable mechanical keyboard as one of our product

[delicate stream]

Personally I think it might be better worth your time developing the product -- you might spend an hour to save you 5 minutes with this

[fierce prawn]

Well the prob is
If the project is cheap
My teacher is gonna top up the amount to more than 50+
I ain't going to spend time waiting them to copy unplug then repeat right?

[delicate stream]

I don't think you'll really save any time -- if you download the UF2, in your file manager you can just right-click your drive, paste, unplug and plug in next board in bootloader, right click and paste, continue ad absurdium

If your tool would just copy to a drive when it detects, it might save you seconds per board -- but you've spent hours tonight working on the tool. So you're spending a lot of time now to save a teeny tiny amount of time later

[fierce prawn]

True
But python haves all the libs alr

I am not using c or rust lol

[delicate stream]

CircuitPython does NOT include all libraries by default -- many need to be added to your CP drive's lib folder after you flash CP

[fierce prawn]

I mean python have all the libs to detect filesystem alr

[delicate stream]

Ah. Well, still, you've spent a lot of time already... and I don't think there's really any value to be had from this

[fierce prawn]

Isn't that how they flash it in the factory?

[delicate stream]

Factories will be flashing many many many thousands of boards, and they have a special interface to do it

[fierce prawn]

Yeah but the same way right?

[delicate stream]

Not really

[fierce prawn]

How they do it then?

[delicate stream]

They wouldn't just be connecting the board to a PC and copying like we do, they usually have special interfaces that flash directly, not by mounting as a drive

[fierce prawn]

Oh

[delicate stream]

Yeah, it's a lot different. But time savings when you're doing tens of thousands is different than when you're doing 50

[fierce prawn]

But should I still make it?

[delicate stream]

Again, I don't think you'll save enough time to make it worthwhile

If you're going to start a business selling many thousands of boards, sure, it'll save you enough time to be worth it. But for a small batch like 10-100, no

[fierce prawn]

got drive detection done alr

M:\OneDrive>python circuitpyautoflash.py 1 dgdssgs
Plug In The Drives
[INFO] New Drive Detected (E:)1/1
['E:']

[delicate stream]

I mean… you can keep going if you want. But I think you’ve spent WAY more time on it already than you’ll save

[fierce prawn]

its done

the bot doesn't let me send code here

[delicate stream]

You’ll still need to test it and make sure it works

Regardless, I don’t think you’ll really save any time for a small number of boards

And you’ve spent hours doing this

[fierce prawn]

first up

PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'E:'

[delicate stream]

So not working

I’m going to bed. You decide if you want to waste more time to save a few seconds later

[fierce prawn]

DONE

[fierce prawn]

1 hour

@late fulcrum

[harsh harbor]

Anyone who knows of a good enough mcu emulator so that i can test circuit python code without connecting that mcu to my workstation?

Like emulating pinging a network device, flashing lights and consol outputs?

Ive tried checking my code in MU but i want a visual result.

from at least an emulated run.

[analog tusk]

Hi I'm not entirely sure where to put this but:
https://www.adafruit.com/product/1439 for this button, which one is the LED contacts and which ones are the button ones

[wanton thistle]

the ones labeled plus and minus are for the indicator

[analog tusk]

Thanks

as in the LED?

[wanton thistle]

yes

[analog tusk]

oki ty

[analog tusk]

why is it not working @wanton thistle

do i need to code it to turn on?

[wanton thistle]

No, you could have the leads reversed, and make sure you are using a current limiting resistor

[analog tusk]

It's limiting

It's a 220 omz

i have wire from ground to + on breadboard

wire from + to row 21

then resistor from row 21 to pin 16

what did i do wrong @wanton thistle

[wanton thistle]

Why not use - for ground? Sounds to me like you are shorting out your power supply

[analog tusk]

wait do i need + and - to the led?

[analog tusk]

im comfused

[wanton thistle]

yes

positive to your positive rail and then negative (with a resistor) to your switch

[barren zinc]

How do you code this without importing “color wheel”

[barren zinc]

Yeah

Like it can have import board,time, neopixel and I think digitalio but other than that no other imports

It’s for a final exam and I’m so terrible at coding

[analog tusk]

ok

[rain cradle]

Got the screen working (no idea why part of it didn't change tho) 🥳

Issue was sending data in a single transaction: ```py
dc.on()
cs.off()
spi.write(bytes(list(data)))
cs.on()

```py
dc.on()
for d in data:
    cs.off()
    spi.write(bytes([d]))
    cs.on()
``` 🤣🤦

[barren zinc]

Can someone help

[delicate stream]

Is that the exam condition, that you can't import color wheel?

[thick wind]

Remove anything that references colorwheel, then remove anything that references anything you removed

The other half of the remaining code should work fine without it

[delicate stream]

That's the easy way

[thick wind]

The only part of that code that uses colorwheel is the rainbow cycle, after all.

[delicate stream]

Unless they for some reason want you to have the color wheel function without the import... then you need to rebuild color wheel, but I don't know why they would want that

[thick wind]

Alternatively, reference the neopixel library here: https://docs.circuitpython.org/projects/neopixel/en/latest/

[delicate stream]

Some teacher's "tests" are just why

[thick wind]

Closed book coding is miserable, but otherwise it’s a perfectly valid criteria IMO

[delicate stream]

It just seems so unrealistic, especially these days

[thick wind]

Back in my embedded class, our project was built on an arduino, but we had to write all our code in ANSI-C

[delicate stream]

oof

[thick wind]

So all the direct register reads and writes

[tardy badger]

Geez

[thick wind]

Compared to that, anything in Python is an easy ride haha

[delicate stream]

That's a whyyyy test

[tardy badger]

We used the TI MSP432 launchpad

[delicate stream]

I have one of those I never did anything with >~>

[tardy badger]

And some game pad hat they had for it which we use

[thick wind]

Granted, this was a 3000-level course.

[tardy badger]

Like the analog joysticks, pwm an led based on joystick inputs, pwm a piezo buzzer

[thick wind]

Oh that sounds fun

[analog tusk]

Anyone know of a potentiometer usable as a throttle?

That springs back to center?

wai

tthiss looks god

who ping me

[thick wind]

Most joystick applications will have a pot and spring. If you’re browsing raw potentiometers, you’ll find most don’t have springs, because the expectation with those is you add your own spring.

[barren zinc]

Yes

[barren zinc]

Yes yes how do you do this

Yes he doesn’t want extra modules used

Can anyone rebuild it?

[thick wind]

Specifically the colorwheel function? Where you map a single hue value to a tuple?

It’s not hard to write it yourself if you know the conversion formula

Do you know how to define functions in python?

[barren zinc]

I mean I know how to write “def …” but what to actually put in the functions noooo

[barren zinc]

Yes

[thick wind]

Yeah, that would be the hard part. Most implementations simply use some sort of hsv to rgb function, but if you’re not allowed any additional imports, you’ll have to do the math the hard way…

[barren zinc]

Yeah how do you do that

😭

Could something like this replace it

[thick wind]

What are you being graded on haha

Not something I can answer without knowing that

[thick wind]

If it hasn’t been covered in class already, it certainly classifies as a mathematically-based algorithm…

Not sure how well it’ll score in other fields.

[barren zinc]

I just need to replace the import and a friend said the gradient function can but I don’t know how

[thick wind]

Not sure what “ficker” is but everything else looks like it’ll basically work as-is

It’ll just fade a whole strip from color1 to color2 over the course of one second?

Certainly doesn’t address the “individual pixel access” aspect of the assignment, but I’m sure you can do something with that later

[barren zinc]

Oh sorry let me uh fix all of that

[delicate stream]

Heaven coding looks like that

[barren zinc]

But yes when I add that it says function 2 takes 2 positional arguments but 1 we’re given

For the rainbow cycle function

Ended up changing the range to 30 too since it’s the strip

[thick wind]

Yeah, the function is doing something with two colors. Not the same as the color wheel function, if that was what you were looking for.

[barren zinc]

Oh

How do I make the same

It*

[thick wind]

Um

For a good mathematical generation of values, you would ideally look into the HSV to RGB conversion formula. H would be your input, while S and V are fixed constants.

Hue traditionally goes from 0-360, so you may have to map that to 0-255 if you want to remain faithful to the original colorwheel.

[barren zinc]

Wanna use those

[thick wind]

Alternatively, you can look into the rainbow io source files on GitHub to see how cpy does it, but their core modules are written in c so you’ll need to convert it to python…

[thick wind]

Use those for what?

[barren zinc]

Color wheel

[thick wind]

What do those do for color wheel

[barren zinc]

It’s the colors for the wheel🥳 lmfao is that not how it works😭

[thick wind]

No haha

[analog tusk]

What could i google for

[thick wind]

Springs?

Or joysticks?

[barren zinc]

😵‍💫 any way someone can code any of what you just said for me

[thick wind]

@barren zinc sorry if it makes it seem like I’m giving you a hard time, but I’m trying really hard to not just do it for you…

Because this is, after all, a graded assignment, so it really should be your own work

[barren zinc]

Lol I promise I have 0 clue how to code but I appreciate you trying to have me do it myself , I would love if I knew how to code properly 😭

Can you pls 🙏

[thick wind]

I’m sorry, it’s against my personal policy to do that. Not knowing how is no excuse to give someone a free pass haha

[analog tusk]

this

[thick wind]

I do my best to guide people putting in the effort, but I’m not into the whole academic dishonesty thing.

[barren zinc]

I mean even the words you used “hsv” I’m not sure what that means or really any of this stuff but I can’t fail😭

[thick wind]

All joysticks have spring return. Just search for the number of axes you need?

[barren zinc]

I’m not even in college yet thoooough I can’t be dishonest in highschool for one day😔

[thick wind]

If you don’t know, feel free to ask haha

[barren zinc]

Okay how do I start the function for the new color wheel function

[thick wind]

HSV stands for hue-saturation-value. It’s just a different way to define colors with 3 numbers.

[barren zinc]

Ohhh

What do I put inside the function

How do I unbreak any of the code that the function breaks

Boommmmmmm

Can you make it for me now😭

[thick wind]

Essentially, the color wheel input is just the Hue in HSV. S and V are fixed to some number, and you use that to generate RGB.

[analog tusk]

It should be compatible with RPI pico. How do I know that?

[barren zinc]

Literal jibberish to my brain😭

[solar kindle]

If you're looking for a pedal-style potentiometer (as opposed to a handlebar-style), searching for "golf cart potentiometer" might get you something.

[barren zinc]

Imagine telling a 3 year old that

Can we start on that level

[thick wind]

Potentiometers are just variable resistors, what is compatibility haha

As long as you can connect wires you’ll be fine

[thick wind]

Oh boy, this might take a while then.

[wooden valley]

MY PI IS STUCK RED
no my poor pi4

[barren zinc]

I only have an hr left😭

I’m beggingggg

[thick wind]

An hour…?

[barren zinc]

Yes

You can teach me later I have still write doc strings on how it all works

Is there any way you can make an exception

[thick wind]

Sure, if you can explain why you only have an hour left to do what looks like a final project for a semester-long course

[analog tusk]

No it's a handlebar

I'l just google 1 axis joystick potentionmeter

[barren zinc]

Okay

I have an hour left because we had about a week for the final but today is the last day and there is an hour left of this class and after it ends it’s over. But for that week I was doing missing assignments for this same class getting help from other classmates. But those people exempted the exam so they aren’t here today to help me.

I am disappointed in myself believe me! Next semester I will ask questions

[wooden valley]

cough cough github cough cough

[barren zinc]

Literally can’t find anything that doesn’t import modules

[wooden valley]

what exactly do you need

[barren zinc]

https://learn.adafruit.com/circuitpython-essentials/circuitpython-neopixel

Trying to use this code

But without the color wheel import

So hem was trying to help me reconstruct the code

So that it still functions without the import

[barren zinc]

@thick wind

Oh okay I’ll just um

[tardy badger]

It’s been snowing for the better part of the last 7-8 hours, but the weather channel app sends notifications like “a snow shower will begin around 8:30am and continue for the next hour”

[ancient rivet]

import board
import neopixel

pixels = neopixel.NeoPixel(board.PIN, NUM)

pixels.fill(0xADAF00)

@barren zinc there's a very minimal example. replace board.PIN and NUM with pin and number for your setup

[wanton thistle]

what course is this and where? I kind of want to take it lol

[delicate stream]

"I see you're struggling... my turn!"

[wanton thistle]

lol

[tardy badger]

It is absolutely wild to me that there were 100+ RPi 4 model b 1GB units in stock 10 minutes ago and they were out of stock in less than 5 minutes

At this point I’m just going to put a back order in with mouser for a compute module, at least I know i get one eventually

[fallen current]

now i gotta update my blog post to say "hi adafruit folk this image has the drive power connector mounted wrong don't do this or 12v will go where 5v wants to be and you'll hvae a bad day"

chuckles

[delicate stream]

Could you order one for me too? 👉 👈

[fallen current]

aaand updated. phew

[dusty citrus]

If you got to sit on a vendor site and 'snipe auctions' what's that about. ;)

[wooden schooner]

What does "12V / 24V" mean here? Given that it's a simple car accessory, I don't think they're talking about a negotiation protocol like USB-C PD?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08F2D8TSS/

[thick wind]

Nope looks like a dumb 12v with nothing to do with 24v…

Are you feeling sick, or worried about getting sick?

[dusty citrus]

both?
now not so much as before, but I feel my throat and releted vias irritated

[whole jacinth]

are you thoroughly ventilating the area now?

[dusty citrus]

all windows are open

[thick wind]

Make sure your resin printer fumes are properly vented out. If you’re feeling fine now you should be okay, but do ensure you don’t depend on whatever cheap o filters came with the printer.

[whole jacinth]

yeah, you need a properly fitting respirator that's rated for organic vapors, which isn't N95

[wooden schooner]

That's so strange. And there are a bunch of white-labels of it that all say the same thing...

Thanks for clearing that up

[analog tusk]

Wait, could this work for my purpose?

https://www.4qd.co.uk/product/bell-throttle-pot/

I was planning to 3d print a custom handle anyways

Oh awit

It's not both ways

Never mind

I guess I could use this: https://thepihut.com/products/mini-analog-joystick-10k-potentiometers

And 3d print a box that makes it only usable 1 axis

[thick wind]

If you’re using a larger handle, you probably should consider sourcing your own springs. The springs in those joysticks are not stiff enough to handle too much more than their own stick…

[analog tusk]

Oh

[analog tusk]

Would the turning force be too high>

[thick wind]

Depends on how your handle is designed

[analog tusk]

Want a photo?

[thick wind]

Bigger joystick probably wants bigger spring for a consistent spring return

[analog tusk]

something like this

[thick wind]

If it’s significantly larger than the joystick itself, probably going to feel too floppy…

[dusty citrus]

If you make a phone call, the usual protocol is to insist you come in to be seen in person, for 'these kinds of things'.

So for example, in CO poisoning, it's really a problem what happens chemically in your system (it's a form of asphyxia, iirc).

[dusty citrus]

there aren't non toxic/dangerous resins type of thing right?
actually I see many odorless thing on amazon but I idk if they can be trusted
although some fake tooths are made by uv resin...

[barren zinc]

So hem your going to be my tutor ?😀

[thick wind]

I’m not paid enough to offer free tutoring, nor free enough to offer paid tutoring

Nice try though

[dusty citrus]

If you insist on self-diagnosis there's lots better places to make inquiry than a Discord. ;)

[dusty citrus]

yeah... I'm sorry I got somewhat excited

[thick wind]

We’re engineers, not doctors. We can tell you what is potentially hazardous, but we’re not qualified to be giving medical advice of any capacity…

[dusty citrus]

indeed my hypochondriasis does daily make me act like a fool
I'm sorry 😅

[barren zinc]

😂😂😂

[analog tusk]

ok

Bruh literally 0 for
"single axis spring return to center potentiometer"

I need something like this:https://www.runntech.com/runntech-single-axis-spring-return-to-center-dual-10v-analog-output-joystick/

But without the actual handle

just the pot

Do they exist?

Guess I'm going to have to DIY /

I need something like in an RC car

[late fulcrum]

They exist, they're used in various places (such as synthesizers). http://www.precisionsales.com/joystick/SAJ2515-spring-return-potentiometer.htm You can also make your own mechanism if you like

Things like "rocker potentiometer" "spring neutral gimbal" and similar phrases yield useful results

[thorn flax]

I got bored so I made myself rich by editing a photo

There is only 1 😐

(Irl)

They are all fake except for one on the bottom

[dusty citrus]

seeing on the net to not pour ipa and resin discarts in the drain
thinking about thats bs because at school we used to dump all sorts of chemicals out of the drain
the drain now smells like resin

dunning Kruger effect at it's best

watterott had a good sticker
"rtfm"
I should tattoo it somewhere

[blissful roost]

Yes.... Pouring crap down the drain is bad.

[dusty citrus]

tomorrow I'll try pouring other crap like hot water and soap and see if it gets away

[wanton thistle]

you might have to take your drain trap apart. Its probably all there. Better there, than at the end of your sewer line

[bitter viper]

This is the most “general” chat I have ever seen.

[delicate stream]

This chat can be anything and everything with a bunch of geeks XD

[dusty citrus]

I just did so
now I don't know if I adapted to the smell or I did successfully removed it to be honest

[static flare]

Unrelated, but oooh!

[tardy badger]

I’ve officially left Twitter. Wooo

Freedom lol

[delicate stream]

I just haven't gone on because I forgot it existed for a bit XD

Checks Twitter

[tardy badger]

Lol

[ebon dew]

Only reason I’m on twitter is trying to get that digiwish. 😋 I’ve moved to mastodon and far as I can tell most others have too.

[frigid tiger]

Free Christmas PCB?

[ebon dew]

Unsure what that question means. DigiWish is something digikey does during December. My wish is for a fume extractor.

[delicate stream]

I forgot about social media because nobody was talking to me >~>

[ebon dew]

I don’t think DigiWish is on mastodon so have to enter daily via twitter.

[waxen wasp]

I've got a bot that's been running since 2015 on twitter, it'll be sad when I finally have to shut it down

[ebon dew]

Duplicate it for mastodon?

[blissful roost]

I forgot about anti-social media because it's garbage.

[ebon dew]

Kattni wrote up a great guide for mastodon posting, kinda like a bot since it reads and writes posts.

[waxen wasp]

Maybe, it's been in need of a massive overhaul. But I don't know if mastodon will support it's design.

[delicate stream]

about what now?

[ebon dew]

Mastodon api still relatively new but easy to work with. Get a lot more freedom. Unless your bot is analytical I’d like to think porting any bot to mastodon would be a pretty straightforward thing.

[waxen wasp]

My bot is an event tracking bot--it's got a keyword list, and it searches twitter for those keywords (like 'Tornado'). It then grabs up to 50 of the most recent results, checks the distribution of time when they were tweeted, then compares it to it's historical usage on twitter that it's recorded. Then if there's enough folks tweeting about it at the same time it determines the event has occurred, and it searches the text of the tweets to find where the event is. So it relies on a bunch of edge cases to how twitter works, and might not be possible to port

[delicate stream]

That does sound like it wouldn’t have enough data on mastodon unless everyone everywhere interacted with it to get it into their instances…

[waxen wasp]

yeah, it really relies on a critical mass, and it also weirdly relies on tweets being really short so it doesn't have difficulty finding the location information

it'll be sad when it goes, but that's how these things are. It was fun while it lasted and we'll see how much longer to makes it

[ebon dew]

Yeah that’s analytics. Mastodon does have hashtags and trending topics but it’s more diverse per server. Would be more like scraping forums, collating data, and then extracting sets you want. In some ways worse, in some ways far better since some servers specialize in certain topics.

[waxen wasp]

It just means there's a window to find new fun bots to build. That kind of scraping probably won't be worth trying to get working, but new projects will fit the space nicely

[warm crypt]

Sad to see what is happening with Twitter and deletions of inactive accounts. Just weird that in those accounts are the words and statements of possibly deceased people not sure how I feel about that should those accounts be archived somewhere. Sort of a global archive of the past.

[dusty citrus]

A friend used to publish directly to archive.org iirc. ;)

Most BBS systems I've been on had a limited time when content was available, then just gone (after the BBS closed 'forever').
On others, sysops made errors they didn't recover from, and wiped some/all the database 'by mistake' and that was that.

[tardy badger]

I love artisan electronics

“hand crafted for a brilliant user experience”

4 down, 6 to go

[barren zinc]

Hem hem hem

[tardy badger]

Hand crafted for quality

[barren zinc]

Skerr skerr

[delicate stream]

Nevada replicates

[thick wind]

Rp2040 oled boards?

[tardy badger]

TFT, but yeah basically the same concept

[delicate stream]

Nevada shows all

[tardy badger]

They go in these here https://www.etsy.com/listing/672533571/mad-eye-moodys-magical-eye-animated

Another maker commissioned me last year to make these

The hardware anyway

[delicate stream]

Nice

Nevada sees all

[tardy badger]

Mad eye moody sees all 😉

[delicate stream]

Powered by Nevada!

[thick wind]

Huh, Etsy images look like those are built with the hallowings…

[tardy badger]

Old images

I don’t think he’s updated the listing with pictures that use the new boards

[fierce prawn]

Should I cut arcliyc with penknife

[delicate stream]

I wouldn't recommend it -- might be hard to cut the way you want it

If it's really think it might work fine

[fierce prawn]

2mm

[delicate stream]

Might work. I'd cut against something to keep your cuts straight

[fierce prawn]

Then 3mm?

[delicate stream]

The thicker it is, the harder it'll be to cut and the more likely you'll mess it up with a knife. A Dremel or saw would be better

[fierce prawn]

But is it still cuttable

[delicate stream]

You could cut thru a meter of acrylic, but with a pen knife anything thick will be, as I said, difficult to cut and you're more likely to mess it up

[tardy badger]

All 10 Mad Eye Moody boards assembled, tested, and packed. Shipping purchases and now just waiting for the last bit of the invoice to be paid.

Progress photo from when I was at 7/10 completed

[delicate stream]

I need to design a PCB again… like I’ve been eating for the last year >~>

[delicate stream]

My cart won't sync between my phone and computer DX

[weary fiber]

as a private pilot, this twitter "doxxing" drama is so frustrating

like people can't do basic research on ADS-B

[blissful roost]

Easy answer;

Get off Twitter.

[weary fiber]

it's not about twitter itself

more the fact that millions of people are being mislead on fundamental aspects of aviation

[blissful roost]

Ahh, yes.... The plainly obvious publication of publicly available information.

[weary fiber]

Not just publicly available-- they're legally REQUIRED to broadcast it (provided they have ADS-B equipment, which is required on jets)

[blissful roost]

Yarp

Civil aviation

[lusty fossil]

No you see they are coordinates for evil doers

[blissful roost]

Sure... Tracking evil people helps us all to avoid them.

[weary fiber]

I survived finals!

As a 3.9GPA engineering student, my grades this semester are…

Two Cs and an F.

It’s whatever though, I had a rough time and can rebound

[frigid tiger]

Fs get degrees

[weary fiber]

That username + PFP combo is powerful

[frigid tiger]

Thx it's an aura I strive to cultivate

[analog tusk]

Would something like this work with a PI pico?

It's for lawnmowers 🤦‍♂️

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B077YGSBK4

On another note, does anyone know where to buy one of these: http://www.precisionsales.com/joystick/SAJ2515-spring-return-potentiometer.htm

There's literally no information (are they not being sold?)

[analog tusk]

Oh

It's been discontinued

COME ON

That's the only place it's getting sold

[analog tusk]

Or could I order a joystick and pull off the handle

[frigid tiger]

That's a good idea

[analog tusk]

NOone makes single axis joysticks anyway

this is so annoyinh

[frigid tiger]

ye true

Those old RC planes used to have a single axis but I think they mightve been physically limited

Like the stick could only move along a slot

[dusty citrus]

Probably unrelated: music synths in the late 1970's sometimes had a ribbon controller.

[analog tusk]

RC cars still have that

[quaint swan]

My jlcpcb boards arrived today (USB Type-C and ESP32-Wroom-32E with 16 MB Flash)

[static flare]

Niiice

[delicate stream]

Yes, they’re physically limited to that axis — the potentiometer is the pivot point

[late fulcrum]

They do, but they're specialty parts (here's one https://www.aliexpress.com/i/2251832573750115.html). It's one of those cases that it may be easier to disassemble old RC remotes (there are a ton of the old 72MHz ones on the surplus market), or just use a stock pot and make (sheet metal, 3D printing, etc.) the center detent mechanism.

[analog tusk]

Ok I'll look around my house

[tardy badger]

Which classes?

[delicate stream]

I wish my GPA had been near 3.9

[tardy badger]

My undergrad gpa was 3.29, graduated CumLaude

Had to put the last two words together in that sentence because it was flagged for obvious reasons for not being together.. lol

Society has ruined Latin words lol

[delicate stream]

RIP in pieces Latin

I think mine ended up being like 2.89... They really did me dirty -- advisors telling me to take courses in semesters they weren't offered, had a language disability issue and didn't realize it and it took 2 years and 3 failed courses to suggest I get tested, and then another year to get me accomadations [world culture courses instead of world language].... I graduated like 2 years late and ended up not even walking because while they said I could, but then I couldn't but they said they'd try and I just didn't care any more and gave up

[tardy badger]

I didn’t walk because of covid

[delicate stream]

That sucks

[tardy badger]

I realized after I transferred to university that I had dyscalculia

I struggled to get good grades because of that. Engineering is math heavy so…

[delicate stream]

Oh jeez... discovering these sorts of issues DURING school really sucks. It would be nice if we could know beforehand

[tardy badger]

The American public school system is primo

Great at churning out factory workers

[delicate stream]

I have severe anxiety and part of that manifested in a general inability to do tests well -- I'd get so anxious that my brain would go blank, and even if I KNEW how to do the things on the test or the answers, I'd sit there panicking the whole time and get a bad grade... but my homeworks were A+ most of the time.

I was in private schools and the system still sorta failed me

[tardy badger]

Yeah, the system fails neurodivergent people even though they suspect that a solid 30% of people are

I think high school I had a 2.75

College the first time around was okay at first, but I couldn’t pass static analysis or Calc 2

Or engineering physics

[delicate stream]

At least for kids now, neurodivergence and many of the specific issues are recognized, so there's more of a chance they'll get help -- nobody talked about things like language disabilities, dyscalculia, and other less common issues at all when I was in school for the most part. Things have changed a lot in the last decade

Not great yet, but better

[tardy badger]

It’s sad that it changed after I graduated high school

[dusty citrus]

unless you have crazy parents that are unwilling to get you to diagnostic centers

[tardy badger]

I could have graduated university the first time around

Instead I failed university, then failed at community college. Lol

[delicate stream]

THIS is a huge, huge problem, and unfortunately that's harder to address than the systemic blindness to neurodivergent issues

I barely got thru, but took longer

[tardy badger]

And then I started all over again at community college, took Calc 1 again, got an associates degree to pump myself up, and then transferred to university again.

Which let me tell you, doing a bulk of my math at community college was a huge help because of class sizes being smaller and professors being more accessible

I took Calc 1, Calc 2, and Linear Algebra at community college, had a great instructor for Physics 1 as well.

[dusty citrus]

I failed school partially because of that. then it was also about mobbing, but then apparently it was because I'm lazy, and that I wanted to damage her narcisistic ego, like if I was doing it to damage her. I grown with a crazy family. now this time around I also found out that they got like basic income for 3/4 years in my name while I was starving. I'm so mad

[tardy badger]

Oof

My wife’s family is in a similar vein of crazy

Mostly her mother, did a lot of damage this time last year into the first half of this year

[delicate stream]

I was in a small maths class... but the teacher was INSANE. He was definitely neurodivergent himself -- he was brilliant, and I think if you peaked into his brain you'd just see a bunch of complex maths floating around... but he had an incredible struggle communicating. There was a barrier to him understanding our struggles, and trying to help us. He was so kind, and WANTED to help... but most of the class failed because he just couldn't reach our level, and many of us didn't understand, and he had trouble understanding why we didn't understand and couldn't formulate a way to make us understand. I talked to the dean about it, and he ended up going on a sabbatical for a couple years... and then he came back super chill and had a big beard and was apparently WAY better. Guess he traveled the world and learned some secrets to better communication

[dusty citrus]

I told them to separate stuff, otherwise I was going to report them, they started with threats and drama. yeah sure if you have nothing to fear, what's the reaction? I reported them anyway today

[delicate stream]

Parents can be so hard to deal with... I dealt with teachers who thought I was just lazy when I was in gradeschool. Thankfully my parents backed me up, and knew something wasn't "normal" about me, and tried to help as much as they could... I'm sorry your parents sucked

[dusty citrus]

I've was bad with languages and purely memoric stuff, like it took me years, and only recently I could memorize the names of the months , I still fail them in english though

[delicate stream]

I'm a native English speaker and I have to think about the names of the months XD

I can't language at all, sadly -- I can memorize vocab and phrases, but I can't memorize syntax rules and whatnot

[dusty citrus]

same, although with usage it got easier (thanks internet), but my grammar is atrocious I think

[delicate stream]

Eh, I can understand you, that's the important part

Aside from some "important" phrases in a few languages, I wouldn't be able to communicate with a non-English speaker without help from a translator [person or app]

[hasty quarry]

Is an egg's structure mathematically optimized to evenly distribute pressure at the cost of weakness against precise shock?

Like, an egg in nature can withstand being sat on, but not being pecked by a beak. I wonder if it can be mathematically shown why the egg's shape is optimal

[split light]

How safe would you say it is to buy an IC on AliExpress? It's not available on Mouser or Digikey

[tardy badger]

It’s a gamble.

You could get a working IC, you could get a suboptimal clone, or a fake that doesn’t do anything

[split light]

I've been unable to find in anywhere else. That said, I can find a product on Amazon that uses it for ~$10. Is it a better bet just to buy that and desolder the chip? I've never desoldered a SMD chip, so I'm worried I might damage it, but at least I'd know it's legit

Also, the "most reputable" I could find on Ali is this one: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2251832656292948.html

(Amazon order also ships like 3 weeks faster)

[tardy badger]

Which chip? The part number in the listing doesn’t bring anything up on DigiKey

[split light]

UIC4102CP

[tardy badger]

Doesn’t bring anything up on DigiKey

[split light]

Ye ik, that's why I'm on Ali at all

Seems to be a farily simple/cheap IC originally from '06

^ datasheet

[tardy badger]

What are you attempting to do?

In terms of usage

[split light]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003L14ZTC this is the Amazon product that uses it. I pretty much need to recreate it w/ a few extra features. I was gonna try to sick some components on it and hardware hack it, but after talking w/ someone in a different Discord server for a few hours yesterday, we pretty much determined it would be easier to just quickly copy the circuit onto a new PCB and add the features that way

I could either buy the chip for Ali or just order and disassemble another Monoprice extender

(I wanna keep the one I have since I know it works)

[tardy badger]

This feels similar enough https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/SI2493-C-FS/1059125

But if you’re looking for specific chip, Aliexpress might be the best bet

Or you could use a USB-ETH IC https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/LAN9512-JZX/2166038

Either way, good luck! I’m looking forward to seeing the results

[split light]

@tardy badger unfortunately neither of those chips will work for my purpose 😦
I'll start w/ removing the monoprice IC off Amazon

(I mean, I think just sticking it on a hotplate w/ flux & teasers will work?)

and/or heatgun

[tardy badger]

Probably

[acoustic pawn]

I've removed ICs with my hot air gun. Not sure if they work though

[split light]

Would this be useful for testing the IC before I order the PCB? https://www.digikey.com/short/whz77r9b

(I could probably use it in the PCB too IG)

[tardy badger]

Probably yeah

[analog tusk]

i suck

[lusty fossil]

Got this sick hat

Ft. My low level of rice

[split light]

Ok, so the physical board I have uses this layout for it's RJ45 connection

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/710084652798312518/1053418806011252786/rn_image_picker_lib_temp_37327270-7672-4718-8359-212624d75be6.jpg?width=313&height=676

But the schematics for the chip suggests this

a) does it matter
b) the schematic one makes more sense to me from a twister pair stand point

(ok wow that top image is unreadable, gimme a sec)

pin 1 - VCC
pin 2 - VCC
pin 3 - VCC
pin 4 - GND
pin 5 - GND
pin 6 - GND
pin 7 - D-
pin 8 - D+```

[delicate stream]

If you're connecting 2 things with RJ45 and the socket pinouts match on both sides, and your ethernet cable matches on both ends, it doesn't really matter -- but you do ideally want to pair ground with a non-ground for each conductor pair to help prevent interference [part of the point of twisted pair]

But if you've got one board with one pinout and another with a different pinout on the RJ45 socket, you just want to rearrange the ends on the ethernet cable's ends to match the side it's plugging into... non-standard stuff is hard

[split light]

So the physical board prob did this for ease of trace routing and cost savings I'm assuming

Should it matter that the physical used 3 pins for VCC vs just 1?

It's just 5v, but it's running 40ft

over the CAT6 cable

[delicate stream]

They might have just did it that way from lack of experience, or maybe for the application it doesn't matter -- the Ethernet protocol is fairly picky about frequencies, voltages, distances, etc., so not following spec can be a big performance problem, either reduced speeds or reliability or non-function of the devices. For power and non-ethernet signals, some things are more tolerant. But having 3x VCC and GND might be to allow delivering higher current/spread over more conductors

[split light]

for context, this is a little active USB extender

[delicate stream]

Ahh... For that, you really definitely want to match D+ and D- to a pair, and I'd recommend matching up a VCC and GND each for the remaining pairs. Also, if you're actually trying to pass data, it might not work, as I think the USB spec only allows for like 30ft without a repeater chip

[repeater chips get the data and re-transmit for a longer run]

[split light]

Ik, I have a chip made for exactly this

[delicate stream]

Gotcha, awesome

[split light]

So, the T568A and T568B standards twists the follwing pins: 1 and 2 3 and 6 4 and 5 7 and 8I plan on hijacking one of the pins to use as a mode-swtch line (just 5v or 0 based on a little switch on the device), so I should do: pin 1 - VCC pin 2 - VCC pin 3 - mode switch pin 4 - GND pin 5 - GND pin 6 - GND/VCC??? (prob GND) pin 7 - D- pin 8 - D+

[delicate stream]

Yeah, that makes sense

[delicate stream]

Anybody know what the 2-pin JST cables Adafruit sells [like PID 261] are rated for? 'cuz I just was using a charger drawing ~1.7A and one got pretty toasty...

They do sell them with chargers that do 1.5A, so maybe I was just a wee bit over the max...

[tardy badger]

It’s generally recommended to not do more that 1-1.5A

[delicate stream]

Ok, noted XD I wonder if there's a way to do current limiting on this board...

[split light]

Does anyone know if there are multiplexers with an output "switching" pin? As in, the pin goes high, the multiplexer switches states, and then the pin goes low. I have another chip which I need to disable while the switching is occurring

[crystal ore]

Haven't run across that offhand. Usually muxes switch in like less than 10ns, so the transients look like any other signal edge.

[split light]

Do you know of a way to accomplish that? Or at the very least remove power and then repower the chip after the switch?

To force it to reset

[crystal ore]

You could maybe use an edge-triggered pulse generator circuit to make a reset pulse whenever the mux input changes state?

[split light]

Do you think any of this is necessary? The diagram shows how the chip needs different resistors depending if it's the host or device side. I'm adding a switch to the circuit so you can toggle if it's the host or device. It's a super cheap chip, so I doubt it's constantly polling the port_mode pin. The plan was to use a mux to change the resistor values based on the switch position

And then quickly remove and then repower the chip so it boots in the right new mode

Docs are only 8 pages so this isn't exactly defined behavior

[crystal ore]

Yeah, I'd generally assume, if it doesn't specify otherwise, that it checks the port_mode pin at power-up to choose the mode, and then doesn't monitor it any more.

So you probably don't need to protect it from switching transients, but you probably will need to reboot it after a change. Caveat: just a guess.

[split light]

aight

So, I'll do the edge-triggered pulse like you said, but how do I make sure it doesn't fire until after the mux? Just adding a small delay

Nvm, google got me covered

simple resistor into capacitor shunted to ground

In general, if you have something you want to do, how do you find an IC capable of it? Because if I didn't see one on a physical board and look up the part number, I'd have no idea the UIC4102CP even existed

[crystal ore]

Often a key step is just knowing the right vocabulary to search with. "I want a chip that can run simple programs to set some pins the way I want." --> You need a microcontroller.

[fossil gust]

@night crescent Wanted to suggest doing an update on adafruit learn (using circuit playground express makecode circuitpython on a chromebook) I don't think either of the 2 aps that you recommend to be able to work with CP on Chrome OS are even available anymore. Couldn't find either.

[tardy badger]

It’s best to use the feedback link on the learn guides. The Adafruit handle isn’t regularly monitored so it’s not recommended to message/ping it. Learn guides are also maintained by another team so using the feedback link is the best way to advise of any issues, inconsistencies, or other feedback you have.

[fossil gust]

Thank u. 🙂 I didn't even realize there was a feed back on the site like that. I thought everything was run through Discord, like this. I just never knew who to @.... it to cuz I do it so rarely, so I just guess & use the Adafruit one cuz I guessed it was Limor's, & she would obviously know what to do with the suggestion.

[tardy badger]

Not a problem 🙂 just want to make sure the right people see it 🙂

[proven olive]

So a lot of stuff isn't actually handled through Discord. Moderators, community helpers, etc are largely volunteers that don't actually have any backdoor access to these things.

Generally speaking, we recommend https://www.adafruit.com/contact_us for general contact stuff. It covers most things.

As Skerr said, though, the learn guides have a feedback link on the left. That appears to be specific for a given tutorial, so if, say, a link is broken or in this case an app no longer exists, that'd be the place to go

[stable vapor]

Has anyone been able to control these? Or know the pinout on the back?

[late fulcrum]

Yes, I've been able to operate one from an Arduino.

Here's the pinout (from the maintenance manual, which also includes schematics and loads of other useful information)

[stable vapor]

Thank you!

[late fulcrum]

Connector is an Amphenol AN3106A, 20-27 insert

[stable vapor]

@late fulcrum thank you so much! Were you able to control that middle read out and the outer numbers ?

I’’m going to have to come back later in the week, there was no price on it yet.

[late fulcrum]

I think the outer numbers are entirely mechanical and controlled by the knob on the front. I was able to control the pointer, and one of the indicators.

[rain shell]

Hello! I have a Circuit Playground Bluefruit where I would like to receive the sensor data and control led's/buzzer similar to the way the BLE Web Dashboard works, but instead of chrome, using an esp32. I'm having the hardest time trying to understand how the sensor data is sent and how to decode it into useful data from the hex that is sent over BLE. Is there a better thread to ask this?

[coarse notch]

Try #help-with-projects first overall help or #help-with-circuitpython if this is related to coding.

[random saddle]

I got a riddle for y’all want to hear it

I am not alive, but I grow; I don't have lungs, but I need air; I don't have a mouth, but water kills me. What am I?

[delicate stream]

fire

[random saddle]

Yup

[delicate stream]

🔥

[serene gate]

is there a way to differentiate pressure from bending in a velostat-based sensor?

like how would I design something so the resistance went down when pressed but went up when bent

hopefully so that the bent state is even more resistive than when the sensor is straight with no pressure on it

or vice versa

[random saddle]

Probably would get a more help in a different channel then this

Sorry I can't really help tho because I'm not that vast in the category

[delicate stream]

Making a Christmas present for my mom… this guy will get a NeoPixel BFF for a face, an ItsyBitsy RP2040 backpack, and will hold up some blinkenlights

I christened my 80W $10 soldering iron on this XD

Also very glad I ordered a filter to put on my fan… the thing smoked like the dickens when I first turned it on!

[late fulcrum]

I would probably stack two sensors to accomplish that.

[delicate stream]

Actually, thinking about it... I shall use a Pico since the Pico W is replacing ALL my Pico projects right now

[tardy badger]

Downside of multi factor authentication is that if you’re using an RSA token app, it doesn’t transfer and you have to call your IT service desk to set it up

[delicate stream]

MFA life is hard

I dream of the passwordless future

I wish I could decide what project I really want to do and just do one thing and not try doing 289452 things at once

[and subsequently do nothing]

[late fulcrum]

I know that feeling all too well

[delicate stream]

This is my greatest challenge...

Also not having things literally pile up

Oh, random question... do you know what parts were used in creating the Enterprise bridge for TOS? The kinds of bulbs and switches and whatnot I mean

[tardy badger]

I’m torn between ordering parts to finish an RP2040 E-Ink badge or ordering a round TFT display with capacitive touch.

[delicate stream]

Order the badge parts, you can get the round TFT later

Finish the project!

[tardy badger]

Doing a watch with a touch display would mean I could avoid trying to coordinate a bunch of buttons

[delicate stream]

Ohh, so part of another in-progress project...

Coin flip?

[tardy badger]

I haven’t even designed the new watch, it’ll be probably nrf52840 based

[delicate stream]

If the badge is nearly done, I'd say finish that up, then move on

[tardy badger]

With maybe nRF7002 for WiFi 👀

Yeah, I’m gonna finish the badge and get a few other parts I need for other things

[delicate stream]

I really need to get this door latch project finished...

[tardy badger]

I have so many projects to finish lol

[delicate stream]

I think we all do

[dusty citrus]

what is this 'finish' word? In my country we do not have 'finish' ;)

[late fulcrum]

Many of them were simply clear acrylic pieces backlit with ordinary bulbs (#47 perhaps). Some of the switches were chonky rocker switches (common at the time, and made a good clunk when operated), but generally the switch sound effects were added afterward (the actors were told not to push more switches than necessary).

[delicate stream]

I wonder if I can source the same acrylic pieces... I want to build replica panels

[late fulcrum]

I figure it would be easy enough to laser cut them from 6mm stock in various colors

The originals were probably bandsawed and then smoothed with a flame. The bigger ones were sanded for a diffusing matte finish (like the parallelograms atop the transporter control console).

This is a nice shot of a replica https://www.flickr.com/photos/28221085@N03/4270368836

The first ones had lots of tiny switches, but Roddenberry said he wanted fewer and brighter ones, leading to the design seen here.

It may make sense to use LED lighting, as it's cooler, more durable, and efficient (there are some warm white LEDs available that have a pretty similar look to incandescents) but if you want that particular look, I'm guessing #47 or #44 bulbs. Some of the round displays (far left) are likely commercially available indicators: those are still manufactured (Wamco 1050A1 is one possibility).

[static flare]

I kinda wanna do a cassette futurism spaceship style, like... Space Race aesthetics, with sci-fi tech

[tardy badger]

Managed to order parts for two projects 😬

Next round of RP Watchy (PCB in fab) and my E-Ink badge

All keeping it under $50 lol

Ordered a two coils and two Qi receiver chips from mouser, and then all the bean components for my badge and the qi receiver from Digi-Key

[delicate stream]

I definitely would do LED... My power bill is high enough XD I thought the indicators were special lamps

[delicate stream]

Mmmm, I love retrofuturism

[late fulcrum]

When I see "cassette futurism", I think of Captain Kremmen's spaceship, which was a cassette deck, and in some scenes, it ejected the cassette to "launch the shuttle".

[delicate stream]

lol

[delicate stream]

That's beautiful

[late fulcrum]

I think they used that gag in the "Hardware Wars" short too

[delicate stream]

I need to watch this show XD

[late fulcrum]

Captain Kremmen was a recurring animated short that was an occasional part of the Kenny Everett Video Show, which one of the local stations would air late at night after Saturday Night Live and Second City TV and before Benny Hill. It was hard to find for a while, but eventually all of the Kenny Everett show was released on DVD. There's also "Kremmen: The Movie"

[tardy badger]

There was a movie about shrinking down to the atomic world in the 80s/90s where they surfed along circuit cards

I don’t recall the name or plot though

[delicate stream]

I remember a number of things from the 80s and 90s that involved shrinking and going into computers and the atomic realm and junk XD

[tardy badger]

It was a popular genre

[delicate stream]

Indeed

And exploring cyberspace and whatnot

[frigid tiger]

What a terrible time

[tardy badger]

Who could have predicted that exactly that would happen. Lol

[manic tide]

I'd like to discuss some floppy music here

More importantly the tech side behind it

[blissful roost]

It's a shame James Garner isn't here... He could saw through the bars with one of his Rockford Files.

[late fulcrum]

Floppy music is reasonably straightforward, just generating pulses to step the heads at the frequency of the note you want to play, along with some simple logic to count steps and reverse the direction when it reaches the end of travel.

[manic tide]

do motors reverse when a negative current is applied?

I haven't looked far trough how 3.5" floppy drives work

[late fulcrum]

They normally use stepper motors, which are controlled by switching voltage across various windings. Happily, the floppy drive includes the stepper motor driver circuitry, so all you have to is send it pulses and it will produce the proper driving waveforms for you. I think there's another "direction" input to tell it which way you want it to go.

[manic tide]

oh, alright

[late fulcrum]

There's a nice writeup and instructions on getting started here https://makezine.com/projects/how-to-create-floppy-drive-music/

[manic tide]

Most of the orchestra instruments apart from floppies are... I think wired to the motors directly <- ignore this

Or isn't

[late fulcrum]

Yeah, for other things (printers, scanners, electric toothbrushes, etc.) the motors are often driven directly with motor driver boards. Many of those motors are steppers as well, but some are DC motors (brushless or brushed). Happily, many motor driver boards can operate both (brushed) DC motors and steppers.

[manic tide]

I think most of the tech like printers have motors controlled from outside, like floppies.

The HDD drums are really cool, but I think I don't have any spare disks to toy with them

[late fulcrum]

Floppies are handy because they're small, common, and have the driver circuitry built in.

[manic tide]

And they're cheap

[late fulcrum]

Ask around, lots of people have stacks of old disk drives lying around.

[manic tide]

My friend too

I want to make it as plug & play as possible though

[late fulcrum]

For plug and play, floppy drives are probably the way to go

[manic tide]

I have a Raspberry PI, which pins are egligible for driving the FDDs?

[late fulcrum]

That I don't know, I usually use low-level controllers (like Arduino) for timing-sensitive jobs like floppy music.

[manic tide]

Well-

Yeah, user-interruptions kinda ruin the time-sensitive jobs

I've had an LED matrix animation at boot, and every time I've logged in over ssh it would freak out (ws281x)

I might get around by making a duet of arduino and raspberry pi

but it's like even more far out of my scope

[late fulcrum]

It does take some doing, but is a very powerful and versatile technique

There's some good info on it here https://roboticsbackend.com/raspberry-pi-arduino-serial-communication/

[delicate stream]

This is pretty common for when you need the processing power and capabilities of something like a regular Pi, but the timing sensitive things an MCU is good at

Bonus points if you use a Pi 2/3/4 and a Pi Pico

lol

[late fulcrum]

A fancier version is using an FPGA to do all the timing and control it with a Pi, but that's next-level difficulty (but great when you want to control hundreds of floppy drives at once)

[manic tide]

I have PI B+ 💀

[delicate stream]

Well that's still a Pi XD

most people only use the 2 or later these days is why I said 2/3/4

[late fulcrum]

It would be cool to have a Pi tell the Pico what to do, and the Pico in turn programs its own PIO engines to execute the requested operation

[delicate stream]

[also we don't usually call the original the Pi 1?]

[manic tide]

There used to be a stock of old pies, just before the shortage. And I even considered one

[late fulcrum]

Now I'm imagining a cute CPU sandwich of a Pi Zero and a Pi Pico doing cool stuff

Then again, I love this idea I saw on AdaFruit https://learn.adafruit.com/assets/28774 of just putting a Pi Zero directly onto a breadboard

[manic tide]

lol

[delicate stream]

I shall make a Pico Hat

[manic tide]

I haven't had a chance to hold a pi zero in my hands, it totally flew past my region without any trace. And the price was far from advertised.

[late fulcrum]

A local electronics shop had them as a way to get customers in the store, a Zero was $5 if you picked it up in person, but only 1 per visit (the second Zero was much more expensive if you wanted more)

[manic tide]

I think a Pi-stem would be my go-to first, as I would love to ssh into a pi at new place without asking "where is your router"

[delicate stream]

I have a single regular Pi Zero, but many of the W because I worked at Micro Center and would buy one on my lunch and one after work every day XD

[blissful roost]

... sorry. Had to. 😁

[delicate stream]

lol

[manic tide]

also, is there like 3 versions of 1st generation pi zero?

Like regular, w and 1.3

I remember asking this question some time ago in here

[late fulcrum]

The new Pi Imager is great for ssh access to the wireless ones, you tell it to enable WiFi and ssh access and give it a machine name and by the magic of ZeroConf/Bonjour, you put the SD card in, power it up, and ssh to your new Pi. I love it.

[delicate stream]

I think 1.3 was the only version of the original we actually saw in the wild

[manic tide]

There is also some pi 0 "killer"

Radxa Zero I think yh

[delicate stream]

I want a Pi 4 in Zero formfactor

[manic tide]

And I want pants with infinite money

[delicate stream]

I mean at least my want is possible XD

[late fulcrum]

Wish Granted. The Compute Module 4S is approximately that.

[delicate stream]

4S

when did that come out

[manic tide]

When I saw a modern phone's logic board, I was shocked a little at how small they are

[delicate stream]

Computers getting very smol

[late fulcrum]

Yeah, phones and laptops tend to be a little L-shaped board wrapped around a battery that occupies most of the available space.

[manic tide]

the laptop ones even bend around the coolers

[delicate stream]

Motherboards can be so funky these days

[manic tide]

I remember seeing some gaming laptop motherboard that looked like underpants

[delicate stream]

Sometimes the motherboard is two pieces, lol

[late fulcrum]

Ah, the old "snap and stack" multi form factor ones

[delicate stream]

Or ribbon across the case XD

[manic tide]

Some "laptop" motherboards are square and used in small PCs

I've seen some tiny AMD gaming "PC"

[delicate stream]

Some desktop PCs are just repurposed laptop motherboards with SATA breakouts, lol

[manic tide]

Yh, DIY Perks saves the planet

[delicate stream]

I'm talking about commercially available products

[manic tide]

I think this guy is in the sweet spot between function and aesthetics

Well, yeah, they also make these

[delicate stream]

HP had a line of business desktops that they used the same motherboard as one line of laptops because it was cheaper and easier to make a desktop case and a SATA breakout and power breakout vs. different desktop motherboard

And the desktops were still chonky towers, despite the fact they could have been compact, lol

I think because business non-IT people think bigger towers are better

[manic tide]

Improvise, adapt, overcome

[delicate stream]

I hunger

I want work to not happen anymore

[manic tide]

Yeah, they miss the smallness of laptops and phone, and they miss the modularity of desktops

[delicate stream]

And then they buy those and get neither XD

[manic tide]

I think people like full sized PCs(including me) is because of their long lifespan and their repair-ability

[late fulcrum]

I find it hard to take HP seriously after the Compaq merger

[tardy badger]

Designing wearable electronics is interesting when trying to do smöl compact designs

[manic tide]

because people associate mini PCs (not mini ITX) with lower reliability, as they're mostly prebuilt or proprietary

Framework is going the right way in terms of this, but they're not so much expandable yet

[tardy badger]

I have a minisforum mini PC that I bought for my wife. It was a champ for her doing her associates degree

[delicate stream]

Unless it's a hyper-proprietary Dell with a design flaw... then you're screwed and it won't last long

[manic tide]

Yeah, corporates spooked all of the people

[tardy badger]

So to speak

This is my preferred desktop lol.. custom built

[late fulcrum]

Yeah, "Dell" and "reliability" do not go together

[dusty citrus]

;) I usually buy Dell stuff

[tardy badger]

I’ve never had good luck with dell consumer products, their business class stuff is usually better from my experience

[delicate stream]

Custom best

[manic tide]

"Dellette" this pc

[late fulcrum]

I used to buy Sun stuff (20 year design life, yo), now I mostly buy Apple stuff.

[delicate stream]

Dell Enterprise isn't bad, but consumer stuff is generally trash anymore

[tardy badger]

I use Apple for my Laptop and phone. Custom PC for my windows environment

[dusty citrus]

Well the Dell I ran was on 2/3 of a day 7 days a week for 'years' (did not count) and cost me $60 at a ham flea market (it was very clean).
This new Dell I paid retail for.

[late fulcrum]

Dell also has a "government" line, which is crappy consumer-grade stuff with custom part numbers and an enormous markup.

[manic tide]

Yeah, and small PCs aren't standardised, so making them custom is a huge deal, and probably won't last for long

[dusty citrus]

Literally never had a computer go bad. Ever that I can remember.
Very rare for a hard disk to 'fail'.

[tardy badger]

And usually a crypto board for classified stuffs 😛

Because government

Lol

[manic tide]

At least apple have a reason to keep your devices working as long, just to keep you in their ecosystem

[late fulcrum]

Yup. Generic cheap desktop PC, about US$6000 (yes, SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS) but since it's on the GSA schedule, it's the default computer and the government buys them by the trainload.

[dusty citrus]

The Apple iMac G4 bought in 2002 developed permanent high-pitched whine after six months of ownership. That's the last time they got my money. ;)

[tardy badger]

Yeah, a phone lasting 2+ years is pretty good these days and Apple devices usually run longer than that if you get the battery serviced/replaced yourself

[delicate stream]

Most of the time if you buy a desktop from any manufacturer, it isn't standard -- Especially for Dell and HP, they have a habit of making proprietary power, I/O card, and other interfaces, motherboards with non-ATX layouts/mounting, cases with permanent I/O shields... things like that. Doesn't matter what size it is, they just like doing that. They also like making every one of their systems different, so you can't even use the same parts between two lines most of the time

[late fulcrum]

I can buy a cheap Apple Mini for $600, put BSD, Linux, or even windoze on it if I don't want the Apple ecosystem. As it is, OSX is BSD based, so I normally just stick with that. As for the rest of the ecosystem, I'm an Android user.

[delicate stream]

I have an iPhone 4S that still works with the original battery XD

[manic tide]

Last year I used borrowed an SE (OG) and felt myself like a first-class internet citizen. Sad that they're discontinuing such a nugget.

[tardy badger]

I have a mid 2017 MacBook Pro that I bought feb 2018 that is running like a champ even with an i5, 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD

[delicate stream]

I have a 2018 MacBook Pro that wants to catch fire, but it runs fine, lol

[tardy badger]

Battery life is waning but it still lasts a few hours doing cad work

[late fulcrum]

I still have one of the old white plastic Macbooks. It's handy for connecting to older equipment (like the original AdaFruit Trinket with the bit-bang USB, strange webcams, printers, etc.)

[delicate stream]

I have a 3rd gen iPad that still gets like 70% of the original battery life... it's only worthless because it can't run any apps anymore

[obsolete]

I have a black MacBook that I put linux on! I love it

[manic tide]

Ah yes, compatibility. a whole Rube Goldberg machine to connect devices together :D

I haven't had any of the apple desktop stuff

[dusty citrus]

Just did a door dash - 50 bux for burger fries shake delivered
vendor 'Five Guys' burger chain
(32.xx food 6.50 tip the rest unavoidable fees 48.09 actual total to the penny)

[manic tide]

Although I want to buy some 2000s mac

I mostly have iPods

[late fulcrum]

I do have an iPod Nano 4. Its battery doesn't have a lot of capacity but that doesn't really matter because it's basically an appendage of my car stereo now. I do respect electronics that can take the vibration, dirty power, and temperature extremes of automotive duty.

[delicate stream]

I have an original iPod Nano... I haven't used it in ages, my iPhone servers as my iPod now, lol

[manic tide]

Yeah. Better service(yourself, not apple) the battery before it expands tho

[delicate stream]

And I don't use my car stereo, I just use my AirPods Pro all the time XD

In my experience, Apple batteries tend not to swell and just... stop taking charge

Not sure why

Apple most definitely won't service an iPod Nano anymore, but I don't know if you can even get the batteries anymore