general-chat

[runic elbow]

OK, I give up with this OS.

[vestal phoenix]

@runic elbow Is there something to specify the type of monitor you are using? It looks like you have an old CRT monitor and brings back memories of having to select interlaced or non-interlaced display and refresh rate Hz. Good luck.

[tender nimbus]

Hello !

Anyone hearing me ?

[blazing pond]

Nope, dead quiet

:v

[tender nimbus]

https://youtu.be/2PXw7Ph6oYk

[spice moss]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxFiRlPyIt8 Happy N7 Day!

[runic elbow]

Will Ubuntu fit on an old CD? With 570 megabytes of storage? I can't find the size of the OS on the oggicial site. And I want to make a CD so I can just replace Windows on my PC when I get all my stuff moved onto an external drive.

[polar wraith]

@runic elbow I downloaded Ubuntu Mate (16.04 based) last night and it was 1.2 Gig.

[runic elbow]

OK, so I guess not.

[polar wraith]

I'm doubting it.... Sorry!

[runic elbow]

Oh well. I'm sure I can slap all my data onto the React OS machine using one of the external hard drives. My stuff shouldn't take more then about two gigs.

[polar wraith]

Okie dokie

[runic elbow]

Then I'll just use the same external drive for Ubuntu.

That is, if I can actually get the drive populated.

It's not letting me.

[polar wraith]

Format problem?

[runic elbow]

There's no options to format it.

My dad told me I needed to format it to FAT 32 or NTFS. But there are no format options. Is it because it's an Xbox 360 classic drive?

[polar wraith]

Oooh I have no idea what format those use!

[runic elbow]

Yeah. Which is why I want to get it formatted. But it's not letting me format it.

Because it isn't giving me the option to do so.

Why does everything I work with have to fight with me?

[polar wraith]

I dunno. That happens to me, too. 😦 Sorry you're having trouble.

[runic elbow]

I'm using Microsoft products to format Microsoft storage systems. I don't get what its problem is.

It's all Microsoft stuff, here.

[polar wraith]

What's the system on which you're trying to format it?

[runic elbow]

I'm using Windows 7. The machine is a Dell Dimension E521.

[polar wraith]

Does the disk utility see it?

Sometimes the UI will give up and not give you feedback, but the disk utility can still see and format it.

[gray aspen]

@runic elbow You need to make sure you have a partition on the drive you can format.

[polar wraith]

True. Disk Utility will (IIRC) allow you to delete existing partitions and make a new one that fills the disk.

[gray aspen]

either disk management in management console (mmc.exe) or diskpart (from cmd.exe)

[polar wraith]

There ya go. Thanks, @gray aspen !

[runic elbow]

Thanks. I'll try this later. It's getting a little late.

[blazing pond]

The magic command in diskpart is "clean". Be careful with it, read how to use it

It completely wipes all previously existing partitioning and formatting metadata, effectively wiping the drive except to forensic recovery

But also erasing any crazy schemes that were put on the drive

[runic elbow]

Including really tough Xbox360 encryption on drives?

[blazing pond]

Yep. The encryption is done before the data is written to the drive

The drive is just a drive

[runic elbow]

Alrighty then. Thank you.

[runic elbow]

Does this work with hard disks connected via the Xbox 360 transfer cable?

[runic elbow]

Because that's how the drive is connected to my PC.

[blazing pond]

Uh... No, I don't think so. I assumed you had taken the drive out of the enclosure. It's possible to make an adapter to get regular SATA power and data out of the drive enclosure's connector http://www.chlazza.net/xboxhdd.html

I may be wrong. You could just try it

[runic elbow]

I can't get anything from the internet. I guess I've found my answer to getting the drive to work.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[runic elbow]

Hey, anybody know any tutorials on how to make the Pi like a storage server? I want to back up all the data on my PC before replacing Windows with Ubuntu. And I have no external method of storing the data because I have no idea where any of my USB storage devices went.

[spice moss]

https://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Microsoft-Research/Hacking-The-Runway-Exploring-Fashion-Technology--Haute-Tech-Couture

@runic elbow not having second PC?

so in windows you could use ubuntu terminal and then command your linux machine from there

[runic elbow]

Nope. No second PC. At least, not one that plays nice with CD storage.

Oh cool. THanks for telling me that.

[spice moss]

windows 10 Fall creator update make easy that you just install ubuntu from windows store what now is microsoft store so you get that terminal there so WSL is in your use so you can command linux machine from ubuntu bash

[runic elbow]

I don't have Windows 10.

[spice moss]

what windows you have in your PC?

[runic elbow]

I'm using WIndows 7.

[polar wraith]

@runic elbow I built a 4TB NAS from a Raspberry Pi. Is that the kind of thing you need?

[runic elbow]

I don't know what NAS is.

[polar wraith]

Network Attached Storage. It gives you a filesystem you can mount remotely and store things on the drives....

So on Windows it would show up as D: with 4TB of storage.

[runic elbow]

That sounds like exactly what I need.

[polar wraith]

Cool! I'll go try to find my notes and send them to you!

[runic elbow]

Thank you!

[runic elbow]

So I give up trying to get the drivers with React OS. Until I can get any drivers for ethernet working on it, I'll just use it as a machine to get data off of hard drives that my main PC can't use.

So at least I can somehow use it.

[runic elbow]

Youtube tutorials for anything Pi related are really confusing, for me.

[gray aspen]

@runic elbow Why are they confusing?

[spice moss]

http://123kinect.com/triptiko-3d-mirror-kinect-app-beta-testers-wanted/55476/

[gray aspen]

but they stopped making the kinect

[runic elbow]

I never realised that there was an Internet of Things for pretty much everything.

[runic elbow]

Look at all these floppies!

[ancient rivet]

~55 * 1.44MB = 79.2MB

aka 0.079 gig, you're rich!

[runic elbow]

Awesome!

Just wondering, does Ubuntu have to be on external storage to be installed? I can't for the life of me find a USB storage device that isn't my parents. And I don't want to ask my father for one of his DVD RWs, because he has a headache and I don't want to bother him.

[lilac imp]

You can run it in a virtual machine but I am not sure if you want a permanent installation or just trying it out. How to Geek has a tutorial. @runic elbow

[runic elbow]

I do want to have a permanent installation. Also, thanks for telling me where to find a tutorial.

I don't see any Ubuntu tutorials on their channel.

[lilac imp]

@runic elbow here is the link:

https://www.howtogeek.com/128347/5-ways-to-try-out-and-install-ubuntu-on-your-computer/

[runic elbow]

Oh, I thought you were talking about a Youtube channel.

Thanks for the link.

[lilac imp]

@runic elbow hope it helps.

[runic elbow]

I'll get to it evenually. My Pi having a hard time.

Seems pretty helpful.

Oh nice, I didn't know I can have Ubuntu and Windows on the same drive.

[near eagle]

I will have to check out that video....I use VirtualBox to run Mint on my Windows 10 machine

[runic elbow]

Now to back my data. Somehow.

[near eagle]

how much data?

[runic elbow]

No idea. I never checked.

[near eagle]

earlier this year I needed to reinstall windows and didn't want to lose about 80 gb of data, so I repartitioned my 1 TB harddrive to have an extra 100 gb partition, then copied this data to that partition so when I did the fresh install, I could blow away c:\ drive without worry

I was then able to use this partition as the hard-drive for my virtual machine

[runic elbow]

Cool.

[near eagle]

just an idea, the best solution would be an actual second hard-drive....I had one of those but it developed a chirp and now that's all it wants to do...

[runic elbow]

I don't have any extra drives.

That are SATA.

[near eagle]

what operating system are you using? Windows 7/10?

[runic elbow]

Windows 7.

[near eagle]

that's what I was using when I created the partition.

I was surprised I could do it with Windows, used to be you needed a special app to repartition a drive without losing the data

[runic elbow]

Yep.

[runic elbow]

Maybe I'll look into doing that.

[runic elbow]

Every NAS storage tutorial for the Raspberry Pi tells me I need an external storage device for the Pi. Such as a USB storage device. Is there a way I can make an NAS server without using an external storage device connected to the Pi?

[elfin wave]

you can, but it won't be very big

you'll be limited to what's on your SD card

the tutorials probably assume you'll have a ~16 GB card in the pi and then a TB or more attached

[runic elbow]

Alrighty then. Is this the same process as the tutorials suggesting using a USB, just not including a USB, or is there another needed step to do that?

[elfin wave]

I don't know specifics, but probably? I assume you're creating and mounting a partition?

[runic elbow]

I already have a Raspberry Pi all set up with Raspbian.

[elfin wave]

well, you'll need to have a partition you're exposing through the NAS, right?

[runic elbow]

I don't know what that means.

[elfin wave]

is your tutorial on youtube or in text? if it's text I can take a look.

but essentially, your network attached storage needs to provide a place for the network to store things

I'm assuming, which is not guaranteed, that will be a separate partition

/dev/sda for your OS and /dev/sda1 for the NAS files (or something; it's been a bit)

[runic elbow]

If that's what I need, then I guess I'll be making another partition.

[elfin wave]

you could also possibly just have a directory on the main partition with certain permissions

I haven't set up a NAS before so I don't know how things generally work

a USB drive would be a separate "partition" though

[runic elbow]

I'm a little confused.

[plush musk]

@runic elbow , You don't necessarily need a separate partition. See https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi/samba-file-server/

[runic elbow]

Oh cool. Thank you.

[runic elbow]

Thank you guys for the help.

I didn't think an update a couple kilobytes big would take a wile to download.

[sand hamlet]

+1 for ubuntu

[runic elbow]

Wouldn't the Pi take even longer to download updates with Ubuntu?

[sand hamlet]

@dusty citrus compared to?

@runic elbow compaired to?

[runic elbow]

I just thought because Ubuntu seems a bit heavier then Raspbian.

[sand hamlet]

@runic elbow Shouldn't be much of a difference

[runic elbow]

Alrighty then.

[sand hamlet]

@runic elbow I thought you were speaking of running it on your PC when I originally commented +1

not the Pi

[proven olive]

https://twitter.com/dbader_org/status/928445538516852736

Dan Bader (@dbader_org)

"What's the most used language in programming?"

"Profanity."

Retweets

2345

Likes

4790

Twitter

Seems accurate

[runic elbow]

Pretty much.

It won't let me install Samba.

Wait, now it's good.

I don't get the Shared Directory step. It doesn't tell me how to set the directory anywhere I want. It only says that I can.

[plush musk]

@runic elbow , You edit the file /etc/samba/smb.conf to tell samba what directory you want to share.

[runic elbow]

I don't understand anything in the folder.

I mean text file. Not folder.

[plush musk]

The file smb.conf is the configuration file for Samba. Which directory to share, the name it appears on other computers, permissions, etc. Most things you will just keep at their default values and just change the path value to be the correct directory that you want to share.

[sage tree]

for a pi NAS, just install ubuntu mate and install caja share and select the folders you want to attatch to the network

then set permissions and settings

just allow the main user to modify all settings

and there you have it. notice it says samba at the top smb://

thats how i did it

i managed to get my 320gb hdd attached as nas which all my games are saved to

[runic elbow]

I need help. I went through with the password step of setting up samba and now my terminal isn't doing anything.

Wait, I figured it out.

Oh, thanks for the suggestion, Mundeep.

Ok. Got Samba set up. Although it won't tell me how much data I have left.

I can't put anything in it.

[sage tree]

kk

open the folder you want to share

[runic elbow]

On the Pi or on my PC?

[sage tree]

pi

[runic elbow]

OK. I have it open.

[sage tree]

eg

send me your foder

location

[runic elbow]

It's on the desktop. So I can remember where it is in case I need to access it on the Pi.

[sage tree]

your location you want to share is you desktop right?

[runic elbow]

The folder on the desktop, yes.

[sage tree]

okay

what is the folder location

[runic elbow]

It's on the desktop.

[sage tree]

open the folder on the desktop

[runic elbow]

/home/pi/Desktop/Shared File. THis is it.

[sage tree]

thanks okay

have you installed caja share

[runic elbow]

I don't know what that is.

Nope.

[sage tree]

ok

[runic elbow]

Do I need it to put things on my Samba server?

[sage tree]

yes

let me send u some instructions

wait a sec

right click on the top panel bar and click add to panel

[runic elbow]

On my Pi or the PC?

[sage tree]

pi

got it?

[runic elbow]

Nope.

[sage tree]

like this

[runic elbow]

Wait, I got it.

[sage tree]

okay

with me stilll

[runic elbow]

Wait, no. I thought you meant the panel applets on the task bar.

[sage tree]

click on add to panel

[runic elbow]

I have 'Add/remove panel applets'. Is that it?

[sage tree]

yes

[runic elbow]

OK. I'm there.

[sage tree]

did this kind of menu appear

[runic elbow]

No.

[sage tree]

send me a picture

[sage tree]

ahh

your running raspbian stretch. wait a sec

[hard rose]

hi

[sage tree]

let me find the relevant info

hi matthew

[runic elbow]

I'm sorry. I may have accidentally wasted your time. Because it works, now.

[sage tree]

well done go here for more information. https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-nas/

[runic elbow]

Thank you.

So I went to download Wubi from a Howtogeek article, but the link brings me to the Ubuntu download site. Is this the site that Hosts Wubi or is something going on?

[cerulean badge]

so hey

the long steven universe hiatus is over

get it while its hot

[hard rose]

hey guys

[lilac imp]

@hard rose what's up man.

[tame saddle]

just read about Lamborghini's new concept car. almost makes you forget about the Porshce 918, McClaren P1, and the LaFerraria... Summary: supercapacitors instead of batteries, "self healing" carbon fiber body, and they integrated the wheels into the motors (looks like the wheels are the coils). Partnered with MIT... Just amazaing.

https://www.lamborghini.com/en-en/brand/innovation-excellence/terzo-millennio

[runic elbow]

So I deleted the original Blender files and unzipped a new Blender copy, and the colours are still all black. I can't choose any.

[sage tree]

i have no idea on how to use blender. it seemed way too confusing so i just deleted it

[gray aspen]

Sounds like a graphics card driver problem

If you're using linux which is package managed, then use your package manager to install it rather than unzipping it.

If you're using windows. then use the installer rather than extracting zip files

[runic elbow]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaynOXm1X3Y&t=7s And I was told I needed to update and upgrade my machine!

[lilac imp]

Watching Walking Dead when I should be working on a project.

[graceful forge]

If anyone has been on the hunt for those empty snowglobes that @swift hatch showed on show & tell a few weeks back I was able to find them at Michaels yesterday and they have a lot of other empty ornament things

[runic elbow]

Oh my god, I feel like an idiot.

I know why my machine isn't working: I unlpugged one of the power cords inside the machine when I attempted to take the CMOS battery out.

Why didn't I check for that earlier?

[tame saddle]

hehe. its almost always that one connector that you just keep looking past. because you would "never" leave a connector disconnected. 😄

[runic elbow]

Yep.

So my dad let me use one of his USBs. Just waiting for that to format.

So now I can get the drivers on to the Retro Machine and put Ubuntu on my main PC.

I keep forgetting that the mouse I have for the Retro Machine doesn't have a scroll wheel. So I get really confused when I go to scroll down a page, and I don't feel the wheel.

[proven olive]

@graceful forge I try to avoid Michael's. It's bad for my wallet.

[patent ibex]

does anyone have a usb-c eagelcad file ?

[lilac imp]

It is awesome how programming blinking lights could bring me so much joy.

[stray wind]

@lilac imp So much! I know the feeling.

[lilac imp]

@stray wind sometimes at the end of trying to get one thing to work that hasn't, just playing with some LEDs and an Arduino changes my mood. Anyway off to watch some Stranger Things.

[stray wind]

@lilac imp Have a good one!

[runic elbow]

Hey, anyone here familiar with the Dimension E521 BIOS?

[sturdy oyster]

Just had my first 1 star review denied on Amazon. It's weird that three seconds later that company is offering me free product.

I don't want free filament. I want the filament that was supposed to be delivered three days ago

[tender nimbus]

hello evryone

[runic elbow]

Whats teh weccomended amount of deditated WAM fow a mincwaft server?

[keen hedge]

@sturdy oyster Were you reviewing the product or the service?

[plush musk]

@runic elbow , I think it depends on how many wabbits you expected to have (spawn-animals = true).

[sturdy oyster]

@keen hedge It was a bit of both. I don't usually do that, but the manufacturer is also the vendor. I just found it funny that immediately after they offer free product to write a better review.

[keen hedge]

@sturdy oyster Yeah, I get it. I feel like product reviews are meant to be product reviews, though, not service or vendor reviews. If you contact Amazon I think that's how the seller's reputation gets hit (93%, etc.), which can be more informational for folks who want to know if the vendor is reliable.

[plush musk]

Have you guys ever used fakespot.com to check the reliability of reviews for items on Amazon?

[gray aspen]

@runic elbow as much as you can afford.

[runic elbow]

Wow. Didn't think a meme woud spark some actual advice. Thanks for the advice, though.

[plush musk]

I like the extremely technical name of the new item added to the Adafruit store. 😀 https://www.adafruit.com/product/3671

[sage tree]

👌 @plush musk

wonder who called it that...🤔

[sleek urchin]

this is sure looking like a finished product https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgaO45SyaO4

[grave crest]

Been doing some rearranging on my day off -- assembled a bookcase and two wire shelving units. The tricky part was rearranging everything so 1) I had a spot to put them and 2) enough space to assemble them and 3) load them up [surprisingly easy]

Now I can walk between rooms without tripping on storage containers. Yay apartment living.

[tame saddle]

having just moved myself (and still setting up shop), i feel your pain on moving stuff to make room to move stuff to build stuff to move more stuff... 😩

[grave crest]

It's a physical game of tetris.

though i love wire metal shelving

Cheap (relative to other solutions), easy to assemble.

[elfin wave]

so, hi everybody! I haven't been around much because of a mix of work being the worst for basically all of last and this month (and probably continuing until january 😐 ) and, going forward, because I'm buying a house! (kermit flail)

so I can't really buy any new toys for a while, but I have a new canvas on which to unleash what I already have 😈

(which is, let's be honest, a lot)

[vestal phoenix]

@elfin wave Mr T. said it the best "I pity the fool!"

[proven olive]

@elfin wave I can feel your pain with work. I don't know about you, but I work in food retail. From late October through New Year is just crazy!

[elfin wave]

I'm in software, and it's not so much the time of year (though release blackouts exacerbate it) but multiple projects due now

[stray wind]

@elfin wave That's great about the new house! Congrats! Hope work settles down a bit for you.

[sleek urchin]

https://twitter.com/crt0_s/status/930624137596243968

Aaron J. Grier (@crt0_s)

help me find a new home in Portland, OR! (@dylanmc ?)

Twitter

Anyone in Portland, OR?

=p

[grave crest]

A Vax server? My college used one of these for course registration all the way through 2007 (and later)...

[sleek urchin]

there's a good reason why: who wants to try moving a VAX server?

it weighs a ton

[elfin wave]

https://blog.discordapp.com/how-discord-resizes-150-million-images-every-day-with-go-and-c-c9e98731c65d

[plush musk]

Interesting article, @elfin wave . Nice to see companies take optimization seriously and not just throw more hardware at the problem. I downloaded openCV yesterday to start to learn it.

[fringe burrow]

I started looking at openCV this past week too. It looks like it will be really useful for some of the things I want to do with it. The biggest frustration is that there is a lovely tutorial that goes over the basics of most of its modules was written about 5 years ago and the interface has changed just enough in that time to make things very difficult to follow along.

(using the python interface to the api)

[gray pilot]

@fringe burrow This book has a very good example of using OpenCV with Processing.

Processing 2: Creative Programming Cookbook Packt Publishing

[plush musk]

Thanks @gray pilot for the book recommendation.; I just checked it out from my library.

[gray pilot]

@plush musk Anytime. 😃

[runic elbow]

I found a way to get unlimited lives in World 1 in Super Mario Bros. 2 in Super Mario Allstars.

I found something even better: Infinite coins!

Nevermind. They turn the coins to vegetables after a few times.

[solar hamlet]

a struct is very different from a C++ class, because you get all those weird little details, like constructors, destructors, inheritance, dynamic dispatch, etc.

[cursive pike]

Now, in Go you just have structs, and you can "attach" functions to them.

[spice moss]

I go just talk elvish to boards

[cursive pike]

I'm thinking of looking into porting NewtonScript to the SAMD51. The original Newtons only had 4M ROM & 640K ram. And it had a ton of UI framework.

It's designed for RAM constrained environments. Interestingly Newtons were ARM based.

[solar hamlet]

everyone should write an interpreter at least once in their lives 😃

[cursive pike]

20ish MHz for all but the biggest/latest, which has loads of memory as well.

@solar hamlet I've lost count, including at least 3 Lisps.

[solar hamlet]

nice

[cursive pike]

@solar hamlet Yes, interpretors & compilers.

Things that a programmer should do at least once.

[solar hamlet]

it used to be obligatory in cs studies

[cursive pike]

A web server is another thing.

[solar hamlet]

no longer, sadly

[cursive pike]

Really?! That's a shame. The translators course was probably the most fun I had in my undergrad.

[solar hamlet]

I did a web browser once, complete with regex-based html parser 😛

it was horrible and buggy, but it made me appreciate web development a bit more

come to think of it, I never made a compiler

I was thinking about making a simple language with rpython one day

[simple edge]

hellows.

ah, the days of writing compilers with coco/r and just stringing together assembly.

[solar hamlet]

code generation always seemed to me to be suspiciously close to metaprogramming

whether it's assembly or not

[cursive pike]

Ha.. you should see some of the things I've done in Lisp 😃

[solar hamlet]

scary

[simple edge]

wait, how is code generation not metaprogramming?

[cursive pike]

@solar hamlet Scary maybe. But very cool.

[solar hamlet]

the word "metaprogramming" puts TeX and M4 from autotools before my eyes...

[cursive pike]

@solar hamlet json -> scheme -> optimized scheme -> run it

[simple edge]

i see. well, if i never see autotools again, it will be too soon.

(and i know i will, because... well)

[solar hamlet]

do you know how you make a for loop in tex?

you define a macro with a counter in it, which redefines itself with a smaller counter

kinda like a recurrent function, but impossible to debug

[cursive pike]

I stick with LaTeX

[solar hamlet]

and then there was that bash script which just piped additional command to the end of its own file...

[simple edge]

the deal with writing code generators is that they are actually easy to debug, and if you're going for a full blown compiler, it can be outright robust.

[solar hamlet]

@cursive pike conTeXt is nice

[cursive pike]

My kid the chef.

He’s in a cookbook.

[stray wind]

@cursive pike Congrats!

[proven olive]

@cursive pike You should get him on Show and Tell. I don't think it's technically required for it to be an electronics project...

[hoary dew]

women in engineering ,Sofie Wilson ..ARM ?

[abstract violet]

@cursive pike @snow snow this conversation immediately reminded me of this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISPnkVMxkcs

cooking + electronics

[cursive pike]

She's so awesome. Such wakiness.

[abstract violet]

Have you heard of the term Chindogu? @cursive pike -- all her things are totally chindogu
https://files.tofugu.com/articles/japan/2016-03-14-chindogu-japanese-inventions/noodle-cooler.jpg

[cursive pike]

@abstract violet Fun stuff! I've seen that sort of thing before, but hadn't heard that name for it.

[gray pilot]

@swift hatch Hi, do you have a webcast today? Would like to know the time if I may. Can't remember if it's at 3:30 or 4:30.

[thin canopy]

?showtimes

[solar ridge]

3D Hangouts - 11am ET Wednesdays
Show & Tell (YT only) - 7:30pm ET Wednesdays
Ask an Engineer - 8pm ET Wednesdays
Desk of Ladyada - Random hacker times
John Park's Workshop - 4pm EST Thursdays
Desk of Tony D - Evenings PST Fridays

[gray pilot]

@thin canopy Thank you.

3:00pm CST. Geeze Luize, I need to get my synapse checked for axiom detierioration of the dentils. My memory sucks.

[thin canopy]

1:00pm PST -- good time for a late lunch.

[gray pilot]

Ya, I can go rake some MORE leaves and then take a break with the Workshop. Thanks again eh?

[thin canopy]

NP. Can't miss JP's live stream. I always get new ideas and learn new stuff.

[grave crest]

Learned about parallel action pliers 😃

[gray pilot]

I learned about Key Lime Soda. One never knows what one will learn when one is at the Workshop. 😃

@swift hatch Ya did a great job with the recovery.

[abstract violet]

@ocean sigil was able to fit everything i want!

[runic elbow]

It's looking good.

[runic elbow]

I have accidentally locked myself out of the machine.

I shoud have gotten a clean ISO of Windows 2000.

Ok, I figured it out.

[proven olive]

@runic elbow I find it amusing that the XBOX and Wii both are probably more powerful computers than your retrobox there.

[runic elbow]

The Xbox yes, not sure about the Wii, thoigh.

[loud elm]

If you want, that mouse looks like it could do with some retro-brite or what ever method is out there

[runic elbow]

I'll get to that one day. Until then, I gotta get some stuff on this machine.

This is one program. Oh god, it hurts.

[sturdy oyster]

Hey, anybody know if there is a way to share a Fusion 360 project without having your real name attached?

[atomic viper]

anyone here have experience With these? : https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/KZ-ATE-Copper-Driver-Ear-Hook-HiFi-In-Ear-Earphone-Sport-Headphones-For-Running-With-Foam/1358152_32337313320.html

[grave crest]

If anyone knows of an AmScope sale for black friday, let me know. I'm debating getting an entry-level one if the price is right.

[plush musk]

@grave crest , A microscope? I wasn't sure what you were talking about so did a search for 'AmScope' and almost everything on their site seems to be ~half off. Is that normal for them (have an outrageous list price and everything is always on 'sale').

[tiny moat]

@grave crest Really? Optical? I mean come on...

[grave crest]

@tiny moat unless you know of someone who has a spare SEM.... 😉

[runic elbow]

Anyone think I should give the Windows 2000 machine a modern mouse and monitor? Make it look a little more new?

[runic elbow]

Behold, the slightly more modern Windows 2000 machine! Now with a laser mouse!

[runic elbow]

You think I should add to this?

[sleek urchin]

free game alert https://www.humblebundle.com/store/killer-is-dead-nightmare-edition

[runic elbow]

I kind of want to get a capture card for my Windows 2000 machine. I coud make videos with it, easier.

[gray pilot]

Just got my Make: magazine in the mail. More 3D Printer stuff. Nothing but one big product review issue again. Seems to me if there weren't a 3D industry, this magazine wouldn't have anything to write about. It used to have all kinds of cool projects with Arduino and other embedded micros. Now, it's just a product review medium. I got a feeling if this keeps up it will go the same way as TechShop. And we all know where that went last week don't we.

[proven olive]

@gray pilot We should start our own project magazine. With CircuitPython and Trinkets!

[gray pilot]

@proven olive As much as I would like to do something like that, it's too late in life for me. However, you could do it with others from this community and probably make a killing with it. Yes, I am working with CPX at the moment but I am still an Arduino guy. I don't even like the Raspberry Pi. Tried one. Left a bad taste in my mouth called Linux. Embedded is just that, embedded. No OS required. It's all about Arduino and has been for years and will continue to be. Ok, the CPX and micrppython or circuitpython is nice to learn but don't try to master it until your of age. Sorry for the rant. I just see Arduino losing attention and I don't like it.

[proven olive]

@gray pilot Out of curiosity, how old are you? I'm of the opinion it's never too late in life.

[gray pilot]

@proven olive 60

[proven olive]

Also, including Arduino would be a given. It's a huge, HUGE thing, and it makes no sense why MAKE wouldn't include much of it

[gray pilot]

I programmed the Z80 micro in machine code when I was 19. Kind of gives you an idea of how long I've been working with micros. I know them like the back of my hand.

[proven olive]

Just means you'd be an expert on projects!

[gray pilot]

It means I don't have many issues to deal with because I know what it takes to do it correctly. Things just seem to always work for me. I understand it all. Hardware and software. Saw it all grow from nothing to what it is today. But I'm done working with it and simply play with it as my hobby. It allows me to keep up-to-date with the latest and greatest technology. But getting patents, cutting code that's never been written before, handing TLV data of an audio stream, analyzing huge databases with structure queries that would confuse Babbage, testing prototypes like Skype and Twitter, and now with the internet of things going gangbusters, it's all for the young these days. Believe me, it will take a toll on you if you let it. And I mean a physical toll. Since I turned 40, my eyes have cateracted, my L4 has herniated twice and I've had 4 heartattacks. All because I had to get the code running and the boards working. Not any more. I'm done with that.

[proven olive]

That sounds... harsh.

Not easy working conditions, for sure

[gray pilot]

That's the way it was in my day. Get er done or else.

Do you enjoy HDTV? I was there in the room when the answer to making it work was discovered. You should have been there. It was a moment that I will never forget. The impossible made possible with a simple idea.

VSB

[proven olive]

That must have been amazing

[gray pilot]

I once has a project with a problem and Doctor Adler, the inventor of the remote control helped me with it and solved my issue. That was another moment for me. I also told Bill Gates in a telephone conversation with him in 1980 that I would have to turn down his job offer. Imagine that. Ground floor oprtunity at Microsoft. But nobody knew them back then.

Pre-PC

[proven olive]

Jesus.

You should call up Bill Gates and ask him about that job offer

[gray pilot]

Ya, or if I could have one of those thousands of millions of dollars he has due to Windows success due to guys like me who promoted and programmed for it.

Of all the millions of PC's made by IBM, mine has a serial number of 352. One of the 1st.

[proven olive]

Three digits.

[gray pilot]

Yup, the motherboard actually has a cassette interface for off line storage.

Hard drives didn't exist for PC's yet.

Heck CGA wasn't even working at that time.

In any case, yes, I have history, but I enjoy helping people get started in this realm of ours.

You either get it, or you don't. And if you don't, you'll have a heck of a time figuring things out until you do. That's why I'm here. Simply to help.

[proven olive]

It's always good to have someone with a, frankly, intimidating history such as yours going "You'll be fine"

[gray pilot]

Exactly, I'm ok, I just want a magazine dedicated to the embedded world of Arduino. Make: seems to be moving away from it and that's what promted me to mention the magazine.

[cursive pike]

@gray pilot I’m not quite as old as you, but I remember getting my ZX81 when I was in 11th grade... so that would have made me about 17 when I started on Z80 assembly. And with that machine, it was hand assembled using opcode charts.

1K ram for code & data. 8 bit. 1MHz. The trinketM0 is a supercomputer in comparison.

[spice moss]

https://twitter.com/chicagobulls/status/931704624108544000

Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls)

🔊 SOUND ON 🔊 and watch these guys try to speak Finnish with @MarkkanenLauri! 🇫🇮 https://t.co/CV9uEzZvpg

Retweets

833

Likes

2105

▶ Play video

Twitter

[cursive pike]

@gray pilot I agree about Make:, which is one reason I’ve not subscribed. I just want embedded stuff... some 3d printing, but not leatherworking. I’d rather a more focussed venue. learn.adafruit satisfies much of that but more low level content would be welcome.

[tender nimbus]

You know guys what is the best part of being able to design your own boards is that you can alter them add somethings and send them to the fab house and get 3x less price compared to Amazon

[thin canopy]

@gray pilot You have my greatest respect. I ran a similar path as yours and have reached a similar conclusion. I look closely at the fun versus work ratio and strive for the highest number possible.

[grave crest]

👏

[grave crest]

Normally I code in arduino and a little bit in python, but for the heck of it I dipped my toes into MakeCode. Phil and Limor weren't kidding, it's really really easy to use.

(I work in IT for a living and I make for a hobby -- so I'm never going to be an "average user") With that said, I loaded it up. I wanted to see how quick I could get anything pushed to the board with minimal effort possible. Reading as few of the prompts, not digging through the interface, etc. Just going on whatever the biggest, most noticeable UI elements presented to me.

Within like 3 minutes I had LEDs blinking on my CPE.

(didn't exactly time it with a stopwatch, but let's say it wasn't long at all. Certainly MUCH shorter than if I loaded up the Arduino IDE and wrote the equivalent code myself.)

I'm very impressed.

Also, THANK YOU VERY MUCH for not putting MakeCode behind a login wall. Reduces the barrier to entry tremendously.

[cursive pike]

@grave crest Yup. Makecode + micro/circuit-python = Micro:bit, sino:bit, CPX (and so on) are real game changers. They lower the barrier to entry incredibly. I compare what's available today to when I started... hand assembling Z80 code...trying to shoehorn stuff into 1K or ram.

[sleek urchin]

Seems like Elektor remains one of the few electronics hobbyist magazines left

Lots of detailed projects published in those

[gray pilot]

@cursive pike I still have my ZX80 somewhere in storage. That's the Sinclair device I believe.

Jan/Feb 1981

Volume 1 Number 1

[cursive pike]

@gray pilot I hacked mine .. blew the keyboard circuitry, reverse engineered it and built an external replacement (along with a mechanical keyboard). Hacked on the sound chip from a C64.

@gray pilot Well, I had a ZX81.

[gray aspen]

zx81 and spectrum 48k are sat upstairs

[gray pilot]

@cursive pike Nice. I know what you mean. I hacked the parallel port and hooked it up to a Digitalker and wrote the code to make it talk. Those were the days.

[spice moss]

I went to see Justice League and Thor Ragnarok

[gray aspen]

disappointment before the awesome?

[spice moss]

I got interesting observations from those 2

[tulip patrol]

Signs I'm getting old: I write requirements for my projects beforehand, because it reduces the amount of time spent thrashing.

[stray wind]

@tulip patrol Signs you're getting smart, you mean.

[grave crest]

Way back in college, I thought it was silly to pseudo-code everything. "So you want me to write out in plain english, how to print 'Hello World' to the screen? uh...huh...."

Now? I do it without question. I find serious logic issues long before I write the first line of real code.

[cursive pike]

Maybe even write some tests 😉

[sleek urchin]

write tests? for code? what sort of tomfoolery is this?

we all know it's better to bash your head against the code until it works

[grave crest]

I thought we were supposed to do that, but against the wall. Why didn't someone tell these essential nuggets?

[cursive pike]

Bang it against the keyboard long enough and something is sure to start working.

[grave crest]

And if it doesn't, you'll be in a state where you won't be capable of caring. 😵

SegFault + mild concussion!

[sleek urchin]

well, I just found a board I really want https://hackaday.com/2017/11/18/mister-upgrades-vintage-computer-recreations/

[runic elbow]

I need that.

[sleek urchin]

looks like it's just an open source project, no one is actively making it right now

[runic elbow]

I need the parts to make that

[sleek urchin]

which is a shame =p because the board that FPGA needs is 6 to 8 layers

which is $$$$$$$

not all that much per board. it's the NRE costs that add up fast

[runic elbow]

Imagine the DOS stuff I could do on that! Like, Doom. And BASIC. and... Maybe... ok, maybe I don't need it.

[sleek urchin]

looks like there's enough of a community that a modest kickstarter to do a produciton run would probably make sense

heh

get the ao486 softcore running

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQC1Wb-susU

looks like it's an enhanced version of the MIST

okay, I see what it is =p

it's a port, to the DE10-Nano

and then alternate cores and some IO boards

was confused why I couldn't see anyone making a mainboard

[runic elbow]

I wonder if it could handle Windows 2000.

[sleek urchin]

would windows 2000 run? absolutely

would it run fast?

...

...

...

. . . . . . . .

https://media.giphy.com/media/l3q2IYN87QjIg51kc/giphy.gif

No. =p

[cursive pike]

@sleek urchin so... like people are used to it running...

[sleek urchin]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d33rIWdgc_A

[cursive pike]

Oh wow

[sleek urchin]

it's slooooow

Apparently people HAVE done Pentium PCs on an FPGA implementations

but all the results I find are academic papers

with no actual source code/etc

[cursive pike]

A Trinket M0 should outperform that old 80486.

[sleek urchin]

in pure MIPS, sure

[cursive pike]

Yup not by much, but in terms of DMIPS/MHz it does.

[runic elbow]

This person is crazy!

[sleek urchin]

https://hackaday.com/2012/03/28/building-the-worst-linux-pc-ever/

[runic elbow]

Dear god

[cursive pike]

That's hillarious

[sleek urchin]

I bet you could use an ESP32 and do the same thing

only much faster

too bad the ESP32 doesn't have a page fault interrupt in its MMU

[cursive pike]

My first Linux install was on a 468 machine.

[sleek urchin]

early days

[cursive pike]

a dx2-50 I believe.

[sleek urchin]

Linus only started on a 386

[cursive pike]

That first install was with a stack of around 100 3.5" diskettes.

[runic elbow]

Good god

[sleek urchin]

yeah, pure floppy disks was before my time

but I remember the days when while CD ROM drives were super common, only way to transfer data was floppy disks

[runic elbow]

That makes this sound like nothing.

[sleek urchin]

3 disks? can install DOS off of that!

[runic elbow]

I think a Pi Zero W would be better suited as a Raspberry Pi storage Server.

[sleek urchin]

Frankly, none of the raspberry pi are horribly well suited.

since you're just dangling everything off one USB host

[gray aspen]

Compared to mhz for mhz available processors of the time of the desktop pc era of the 90s, the pi processor tends to fail to compare in performance in regards to FPU operations, if I remember the benchmarks correctly.

[runic elbow]

Now that I hear this, maybe I should not really keep the Pi as a storage server. A regular server should probably be used instead.

[sleek urchin]

Like, it can work, you just aren't getting amazing performance or reliability

problem is so few mobile processors actually have proper SATA interfaces

assumption being storage will be eMMC or SD card

[runic elbow]

That's what I got. The SD card as the server storage.

[sleek urchin]

SD cards are not the most resiliant of storage mediums either

common issue with the pi as well, if you don't safely shut down the file system (by issuing the halt command), it tends to corrupt the card requiring a fresh flash of the os

[runic elbow]

I've come close to needing to do that many times.

[sleek urchin]

It's probably fine, just keep it in mind

[runic elbow]

I will. Although when our actual server gets set up, I'll probably just shut down the Samba service on the Pi.

[gray aspen]

unless you mount the root filesystem read only

corruptions tend to happen on writes, not reads

[faint glacier]

@here Is the owner of GeekMomProjects in here by any chance?

[stuck moth]

@faint glacier not that I know of

[gray aspen]

free~~~ https://www.humblebundle.com/store/brutal-legend

[winged merlin]

hey guys, like i want to create a "quick translation" device to help out non native english speakers at my school; I want to 3d print the body and stuff (got that stuff covered-ish) but I don't know what would be better; a raspberry pi or arduino/equivalent?

[sleek urchin]

quick translation? so like tranlating languages?

Android device. So neither a RAspberry Pi or Arduino

seriously, Google Translate is magical

[winged merlin]

well, sort of

basically; I want to create something that isn't a phone, cause my school is picky with 'mobile devices'

I understand that google translate is a great bit of tech.. but I want to avoid that sort of stuff

[blazing pond]

MS Azure is the only decent translation Api with a free tier and a python wrapper right now

You could probably run it on a Feather M0 with wifi and CircuitPython but a Raspberry Pi would be more forgiving I think

But really, Android and apps are the way to go

If you have to do it disconnected... Then I'm not sure how to manage that offhand

[tame saddle]

@winged merlin what is the input/output? Audio or display?

[sleek urchin]

you can preload language packs off Google Translate so they can be used in offline mode

so constant wifi isn't needed (but it does seem to help)

[runic elbow]

Hey, anyone know any 3D modling software for Windows 2000? Blender on my main PC isn't really working too good.

[tame saddle]

Try an old copy of SketchUp, @runic elbow

[runic elbow]

OK. Thanks for the suggestion.

[faint glacier]

@winged merlin Sounds like you want simply a PC like device that can connect to WiFi and you can write something that will interface with Google's REST API for Translate. For that, definitely go with a Pi running Python.

At least I think Translate has a public REST API. I'm not sure. Google it. :)

[blazing pond]

It does! https://cloud.google.com/translate/quotas and https://cloud.google.com/translate/docs/translating-text

That's news to me. The legacy translate API is still heckin' restrictive. Like, it shuts down anonymous requests/automated web requests after 1000 characters or something like that

[tame saddle]

@faint glacier that's exactly the direction I was going. HTTP/REST. Great minds, I tell ya... 😋

[runic elbow]

Si I attempted to recreate a Ring from Sonic the Hedghog. I got about the middle of the process before everything on my PC started to slow down.

[winged merlin]

@faint glacier Yea that's pretty much it ahah thanks!

[short pulsar]

What do you guys think about the net neutrality debate? Does AdaFruit have a master plan to make devices for a shadow Internet network?

[gray aspen]

https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/405783/why-does-man-print-gimme-gimme-gimme-at-0030

@winged merlin You can probably use google's cloud api on a raspberry pi. What with the Project AIY kit being popular lately you can pretty much use their audio services easily

[tiny moat]

I have recently discovered that the SEM really hates starting up cold. Hates it enough that multiple power supplies just don't turn on. Time to figure out how to heat the shop...

[abstract violet]

@tiny moat Is there a way you could isolate the issue locally? Maybe you dont need to heat up the entire shop -- but then you'd be in the shop too !

[tiny moat]

@abstract violet the shop is already pretty small. I am going to be temporarily sealing off the garage door, as that is a pretty big source of leakage. The problem is I don't have enough power to run my new SEM and a heater at the same time, and I don't think I can afford propane. This is going to be an interesting one...

[abstract violet]

@tiny moat would it work if you heat up the shop to a certain temperature first then turn it off before turning SEM on? or would the SEM's performance be affected?

you could also build an enclosure around the SEM , xD but not sure how practical that would be

[spice moss]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbvxKX7gVO9/ morning what i had today

[abstract violet]

@spice moss first snow of the year? :o!

[spice moss]

not first

but more snow this time

[abstract violet]

@spice moss I see a doggie!

with jet trails?

xD

[spice moss]

the strap seems reflective neongreen

[tiny moat]

@abstract violet Once I warm the SEM up, I really need to keep it warm as not to form condensate when I vent. Also, I would like to spend more than 3 hours without freezing my feet off, and it's hard to stream with a mask on.

[spice moss]

@tiny moat think if you could SEM snowflake

[tiny moat]

The ironic part is once I solve shop heat I am going to spend a lot more time with liquid nitrogen.

[abstract violet]

@tiny moat you'll be a temperature/vacuum control master !

[spice moss]

Quantum Computers need to be in close to Zero Kelvin

[tiny moat]

Thankfully I don't need to go that cold. It's a pretty big pain to pull off.

[spice moss]

I bet @tiny moat you like this one https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/quantum/technology

if Adam have SEM with QuantumComputer it would be like SEM with superpowers

[gray pilot]

To all Adafruitians all around the world...
Happy Thankgiving 🦃

<>

Mama, I'm Commin' Home

[spice moss]

Blackfriday and cyberweekend

[thin canopy]

Safe travels to those on the road or in the air. For us, it'll be a 2-mile drive to the restaurant -- no prep, no dishes to wash, and no reason to find creative leftover turkey dishes. Cranberry-turkey milkshakes anyone?

[gray pilot]

@thin canopy Does that milkshake come with mashed potatoes and gravy on top???

[thin canopy]

Oh, so you've had one before, huh?

[gray pilot]

Yup, with a side of pumpkin...

[thin canopy]

😃 The restaurant makes a thing they call "pie shakes," but I prefer it pre-puree-ed.

[gray pilot]

We empty nester's have our three children coming home and then we all go to Grandma's. Very typical.

[thin canopy]

That's nice. We'd like that, but ours are too far away for that to happen. Best wishes to you and your fam, @gray pilot

[gray pilot]

@thin canopy Thanks eh! I know what you mean. When they fly the coup, they really fly away. Two can drive home but Johnny flies in from Seattle tonight. Working at Bungie with the Destiny 2 release has him ready for a little relaxation.

[thin canopy]

@gray pilot Indeed. My son is also in the game biz -- hectic but pretty rewarding career-wise. It's quite the "cats in the cradle" situation, if you get the Jim Croce song reference.

[gray pilot]

@thin canopy lol, I get it. Nice. They do have it quite made in the shade don't they....
Wow, just listened to A Hard Days Night.

[thin canopy]

@gray pilot Ha! That's my musical epoch, too. I'm in a classic rock band of retired guys that "lived, love, and still play it" -- our motto.

[gray pilot]

@thin canopy I played drums in a three piece rock band in high school. We played all the weddings and gigs that went on in town. I'm looking at my 10 piece Pearl kit right now.

Listened to AC/DC all last nightin honor of Malcom. The website has a video of The Foosfighters doing a tribute concert. Way Cool Stuff!!!

Thunderstruck just rocks my bones to no end... ><> 😃

[thin canopy]

@gray pilot Very cool! Our drummer swears by Pearl. I'm somewhat of a multi-instrumentalist 'cause the band needed a utility player. Keyboards, synths, guitar, bass, aux percussion, backing vocals, but I love playing harmonica the most.

Yeah. We're losing too many too quickly.

[gray pilot]

@thin canopy Ahhhh man, am I jealous or what? The harp eh? Remember Wammer Jammer???

I saw that concert. Unbelievable.

[thin canopy]

Oh yeah. I'm also a big Norton Buffalo and Howard Levy fan.

I played jazz harp for years before going back to blues and rock.

[gray pilot]

That is a great instrument. You must be one of those "Naturals" that have the knack to play anything.

[thin canopy]

... but the magic man is superb!

Perhaps, but I'm no expert at any 'cept perhaps the harp.

I'm lucky to have extreme curiosity and I learn quickly when motivated.

[gray pilot]

I'm heavy metal. Raised my kids on Led Zepplin.

At roughly 120dB SPL. 😃

Like I always say, "If it's too loud, Your too old."

[thin canopy]

Cool. Love Plant's harp playing. First song I learned on the guitar was Thank You.

[gray pilot]

Just listened to The Rain Song. One of my favs.

Bonham is my hero.

[thin canopy]

Yeah, sometimes ya just gotta feel it all over. Hard to get into LZ with just earphones.

Do you still get out for jam nights or anything like that?

[gray pilot]

Not anymore. Just rockin' at home with my Near-Field Monitors two feet in front of me at my desk.

Ah man, Where the Streets Have No Name. Gotta love U2

[thin canopy]

That works, too. It's much easier for me to grab a couple of harps and head out to a jam.

[gray pilot]

I'll bang on my kit when the wifes out.

Rocked to Mississippi Queen yesterday. I love hitting the cowbell for some reason. 😃

Never have enough cowbell.

[thin canopy]

My wife is also a musician and is uber tolerant of my "practicing" -- never an issue. I have a studio here, too. She came in when I was doing some post on a version of Can't Help Falling In Love yesterday and we sang an impromptu duet. Life is good.

[gray pilot]

Now THAT'S what I call jamming.

Good for you.

[thin canopy]

Yeah, I keep a cowbell and vibraslap handy for emergencies.

[gray pilot]

15 minutes to John's webcast.

What was that? ........ ><>

[keen hedge]

I'm envisioning the best use of cowbell with "Can't Help Falling in Love"... So many possibilities!

[gray pilot]

Use the back-beat.

Mix it with the snare.

[thin canopy]

Let's try again. I mentioned that I'm looking forward to JP's workshop.

And that I hope his project doesnt include Pumpkin Spice.

[grave crest]

Pumpkin Spice -- the newest edition to the Spice Girls

[gray pilot]

Well, just got my son's flight time. 7:30! No webcasts for me tonight.
Enjoy SnT and AnE everybody. And Happy Thanksgiving Discord!!! 🦃

[zinc lintel]

Hey all, new here. Is there a good spot on this server to shoot out general queries, like "has anyone tried using [thing X] with [thing Y]?" ?

(being general here, because it might be about software, mechanical hardware, digital logic etc)

[fair summit]

@magic current #help-with-projects

[zinc lintel]

@fair summit much obliged, thanks!

I tend to ask a lot of off-the-wall questions without an actual practical propose. For instance, is there such a thing as parallel SPI? Does it already exist but called something entirely different, or is it just something that nobody has ever wanted to do?

[sleek urchin]

QSPI

well, DSPI and QSPI

that's Dual and Quad SPI

commonly used in SPI Flash

[zinc lintel]

Nifty!

[sleek urchin]

basiaclly most chips will have WRITEPROTECT and LOCK lines

so, what it does is you go unidirectional transfers at a time, there's a whole protocol, but you use write protect and lock and MOSI and MISO at the same time

sort of like using an SD card with SDIO 4-bit mode

it's a pretty common SPI mode for current processors

[zinc lintel]

I'll read up on it; molasses-slow SD card access on all my embedded projects is annoying.

[sleek urchin]

Mmm, doesn't work for SD cards

not via SPI mode

[zinc lintel]

Ah.

[sleek urchin]

only SDIO.

it's annoying, but yeah..

[zinc lintel]

It ought to be useful for a project I'm planning with tons of dacs all on SPI

[sleek urchin]

it really depends if the device supports it

not everything supports D/QSPI

[zinc lintel]

It'd be hacky; say you want to write different data to registers in four identical chips. QSPI might be able to handle that without as much of a gpio/speed tradeoff

[sleek urchin]

eh, maybe

but then there's issue with the chip select lines

[zinc lintel]

You mean with fanout?

[sleek urchin]

and how many devices rely on that to set their SPI controllers for the incoming info

I mean, if you're just writing, you could probably do it fine

[zinc lintel]

In this case, yeah. I could also throw an fpga with zillions of outputs at the problem 😛

[sleek urchin]

I wonder if there are any decent ARM parts with DMA + 4 SPI capable peripherals

although at that cost po int, might be better off to get a small FPGA =p

[fair summit]

@sleek urchin samd21 and 51 (and more) have DMA and 6-8 SPI-capable SERCOMs

[sleek urchin]

heh, there ya go, and those aren't too expensive

[fair summit]

SAMD51 has QSPI support

[zinc lintel]

I've got an AtlasSoC board lying around just begging for a purpose

[sleek urchin]

I guess that's the trend these days. Serial Comm blocks, rather than UART/SPI/I2C dedicated peripeherals

transistors are cheap I guess

looks like the SAMD51 is brand new as well

https://www.adafruit.com/product/3382

so new Adafruit can't make boards yet

[zinc lintel]

opencores has a QSPI module written in verilog; I'll dig around inside that to see how it operates

[sleek urchin]

I hope adafruit makes a non-arduino form factor for the D51 boards

something breadboard friendly

[zinc lintel]

It's supported already in Atmel Studio, I presume?

[sleek urchin]

maybe a Feather (although I don't think that would really take advantage of all the pins)

I have no clue if it is or not

probably?

to help support preliminary customers who got engineering samples

[zinc lintel]

That might be something to wait a bit on. One thing I'll say for Atmel, is their free software libraries are usually pretty fantastic

[sleek urchin]

well, up to this point they were, for sure

and the fact that they used GCC for their 8 bit AVRs

which can't be said for any other 8 bit architectures

well, M68HC1X, maybe

never used one of those, though

[fair summit]

feather m4 is in the works: shh, top secret

[sleek urchin]

lol

Well, kind of figured...

sort of how I'm sure there will be a Feather nRF52840 board sooner or later (once modules get figuerd out)

Same as how the ESP32 Feather was inevitable as well

it makes sense!

(and the feather makes so much more sense than the Arduino with its oddly staggered headers)

[fair summit]

arduino shape is very roomy (e.g. for debug connectors) and still lots of stuff that will stack on it

[sleek urchin]

the ecosystem is the big thing about it

lots of roomy designs out there. I especially like the STM Disco boards

well, Discovery, but Disco sounds more fun

[zinc lintel]

And they're useful to duct tape onto other projects for added street cred

[grave crest]

Star Trek Disco, STM Disco. 😃

[spice moss]

so last weekend there was no new Discovery episode?

[abstract violet]

@spice moss no new ones until next year, for the second half

@spice moss have you seen the Orville?

[spice moss]

@abstract violet dont know where i can watch it

[abstract violet]

@spice moss aw, im enjoying it a lot more than the new startrek..

[grave crest]

@abstract violet I have to second you on that, The Orville is an amazingly good star trek. The character development is surprisingly solid, and serious morality/humanity elements take focus.

Yes, it's has seth mcfarland cheesy comedic elements...which some might say are corny. Rewatch some ST: Original Series....or even some episodes of TNG or DS9. But if they named it "Star Trek: Orville", it'd wouldn't be out of place.

[abstract violet]

@grave crest I was really critical of the show's first episode -- this was also when discovery was just starting up as well. But yeah totally agree. The silly stuff doesnt take away from the things I like from it like i thought it would!

[grave crest]

Yep, I remember saying "Nice teaser trailer. But we all know how they mis-advertise those! Look at it...it's going to be another McFarland stereotypical show. It'll last half a season then get cancelled, nice pet project for him."

I could not have been more wrong. And I'm happy I am wrong. 😃

[abstract violet]

Did you see Robert Picardo as alara's dad xD @grave crest

@grave crest also he's going to be in this yet-another-trek-like-show: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/58936338/space-command-redemption

and Discovery's Doug Jones x)

[grave crest]

Yep, I noticed that! The ship's doctor, played by Penny Johnson, also had the role of Captain Ben Sisko's wife in DS9. It's nice to see a familiar face.

[spice moss]

you guys remember Sea Quest

[grave crest]

DSV and the sequel that didn't quite measure up, with the unexplained cast changes

[abstract violet]

I recall Sea Quest

[rare skiff]

Sea Quest was awesome.

[sleek urchin]

I like to think of the Orville as the best funded Star Trek fan series ever

with the caveat that it can't actually be Star Trek

[grave crest]

I mean, they've hit serious topics, kept it lighthearted, and they have a prime directive + holodeck. It really is a reboot of TNG.

[gray aspen]

It's reasonably good

Though everything feels like it's at FULL BRIGHT LIGHTING POSSIBLE AT ALL TIMES where as TNG had some mood to it

[grave crest]

Episode 13: The Orville gets their electric bill. Hilarity ensues.

So, I'm out of town for the weekend, and I just discovered my entire apartment network is unreachable. Narrowed it down to either [failed cable modem, verizon loss of service, total of power to apartment for more than an hour, catastrophic event].

[abstract violet]

@grave crest I wasn't expecting any of the serious subject matter either! I also like the robot character that is like the 7 of 9/data in star trek

[abstract violet]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1XBb7kJJWg

[vestal phoenix]

@grave crest Did you code your apartment IoT setup to monitor asteroids and incoming meteors? There's probably an app for that.

[polar wraith]

Only kinda off-topic (lots of electronics involved): here is the National Radio Astronomy Observatory CASA data processing pipeline software, which is free and open source! https://casa.nrao.edu/casa_obtaining.shtml

Enables statements like, "my telescope is the Very Large Array." 😃

[grave crest]

@polar wraith That's when @tiny moat goes from the micro world to the macro world.

"Yeah, I just picked up another VLA today, needed a little bit of work." 😃 😃 😃

[tiny moat]

🔬 ➡ 🔭

[stuck moth]

<@&355854283410898955> PUBG anyone?

[blazing pond]

That sounds good. Give me 5 or 10 minutes?

[stuck moth]

sounds good! I gotta switch comps

[spice moss]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu7qsOYwAqg

[stuck moth]

@blazing pond hows it coming?

[blazing pond]

2 mins

[stuck moth]

kk

[polar wraith]

Not an Adafruit build, but I just finished building a new desktop system. UDOO x86 Ultra running the latest Ubuntu. Time from unboxing to running system - 46 minutes. And holy smokes is it fast. Not as fast as my Ubuntu server running in Azure (which is blindingly fast), but considerably faster than a Raspberry Pi. 😃

Now to configure my CircuitPython toolchain on it....

[abstract violet]

ooh ive heard of those sbcs @polar wraith , was looking at orange pi and such too

[grave crest]

Anyone here have a Saleae logic analyzer? I'm considering getting one...

[stray wind]

I do, yes.

@grave crest There are a number of others who do as well.

[grave crest]

@stray wind I've thought about playing around with one, debating if I'll be doing myself a disservice if I got the 4 channel one...

[stray wind]

@grave crest I only got mine recently, so I don't have enough experience with it to really say. It really depends on what you plan to do with it, which is the most obvious answer ever, I know, but it's relevant here. I have a friend who uses one at work and he's using the 16 and has run out of channels. Someone here who uses it for hobby stuff only said they probably could have gotten the 4 and been fine. I have the 8 - I suppose my suggestion is, if you have the extra money get the 8.

[grave crest]

That's what I'm thinking too. Then steps in the answer if I want the pro/non-pro. Biggest difference is the sampling rates. I mean, the Logic 8 Pro would be future proofed like crazy.

[stray wind]

Yes it would. And yes that's the only difference. It uses USB3. I know one person considering upgrading, everyone else has been happy with Logic 8. Seems like, again, though, if you have the money, go for it.

[grave crest]

Thanks @stray wind 😃

[stray wind]

@grave crest For sure! 😃

[grave crest]

One thing I'm thankful for is Adafruit selling good quality components with excellent documentation.

We're spoiled. So many other suppliers lack datasheets. And sometimes they have user-submitted reviews...that do not inspire me with confidence.

[polar wraith]

@abstract violet The UDOO X86 Ultra is considerably more expensive than an Orange Pi. The system is about 250, 275, something like that, and the SSD (512GB) is about 550. So by the time you get a case, fan, WiFi interface, SATA cables, and so on it's pushing 800 or 900 for the system. I've been configuring it for the past few hours and it's awesome! Very snappy. And it seems to run the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) Common Astronomy Software Applications (CASA) toolchain. I still need to work through the tutorials, but look for custom processed images ... sometime.

@grave crest I second that observation. Adafruit is, by far, the best supplier in the market.

[polar wraith]

Hmmmm. Two hours 20 minutes until Formula 1 Free Practice 3 starts. Do I set an alarm and grab a combat nap, or just muddle along and nap after qualifying? Decisions, decisions....

[sleek urchin]

If you need USB 3, the oDroid XU4 is pretty nice

[grave crest]

Just curious, what items does adafruit sell in uncut sheets from the pick n' place? So far I found the flora neopixels and the breadboard-friendly neopixels....

[abstract violet]

@polar wraith the power consumption is what id be more concerned with , since my aim tends to go the portable side of things :3

@grave crest couldnt agree with you more re: adafruit's curated items 😃 Waiting for my black friday adafruit order dances

[soft thicket]

Business cards!!!!

[cerulean badge]

ever wonder what it would look like if some dude made himself a robot band?
well wonder no longer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynP4JnKehOc

[runic elbow]

Input: 100-240V. 50/60 Hz. 150 mA. Output: 5.0V. 800mA. Would the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B be alright with this?

[blazing pond]

Probably not unless it were just the bare board

Irs recommended you use at least a high quality 2A or even 2.5A output supply for the pi 3

[runic elbow]

There is nothig connected to the Pi. Aside from a keyboard and mouse sometimes.

Thanjs for the info.

I swear to god, this tablet is about to be trown at a wall.

[runic elbow]

I just noticed that second typo. I hate touch screen keyboards.

[stray wind]

You can edit previous messages.

[runic elbow]

I know. But I hate not being able to type fast on touch screens without making a mistake.

[blazing pond]

Get a keyboard? You can do a wireless one or a USB OTG adapter to a wired one

[grave crest]

I'm looking for pre-made project boxes of various sizes and shapes and configurations. Doesn't need to be waterproof, but certainly fine if they are. Anyone have a favorite they enjoy using?

[stray wind]

@grave crest We just got this one: https://www.adafruit.com/product/905 There is also a smaller version of it. Seems solid, has some mounting points in the bottom. We haven't done anything with it yet but my first impression is solid.

The plan is to use it for an outdoor RPi camera setup.

[grave crest]

@stray wind I do the same thing, as a bird feeder camera for my mom (she loves watching them). I used an empty bullet-style security camera enclosure.

[stray wind]

Nice idea!

[grave crest]

But, it's not the most elegant enclosure for other things -- in the past I've used the sparkfun big red box. Not waterproof, but decent enough for a feather and whatnot.

as nice as the adafruit box is, it's very large (and somewhat costly) for smaller projects.

Even with that said, I'm probably going to get one just to have on hand. Thanks @stray wind 😃

(just saw adafruit sells a smaller version. excellent, just what I was looking for!)

[stray wind]

@grave crest Checkout the tinier version of it too!

Yeah! Nice

[grave crest]

haha, we're both on the same wavelength, excellent

[polar wraith]

Just an observation. I spent three days on and off trying to get my FONA808 to work correctly. It was failing more often than not in that it wouldn't make calls or send SMS. Talked to Ting support a couple of times, and tried a bunch of different configurations. Then, replaced the Adafruit stick-on GSM antenna with an Adafruit "rubber duck" SMA antenna and ... Everything is Awesome!

So if youse wants to use a FONA808, I suggest you use this: https://www.adafruit.com/product/1858

[abstract violet]

@polar wraith hm may be worth letting the adafruit folks know about your findings !

[polar wraith]

@abstract violet LOL! I thought I just did. 😃

[grave crest]

I'm goofy. Forgot to apply the coupon code to my order.

[polar wraith]

Oh NOOO! And that was a big order.

[grave crest]

oh yeah, i hit the freebie levels. That's around $40. Support has been very helpful in the past with flubs like this.

Last year, i forgot to add an essential item to an order (kinda need the robot chassis to um...you know...build a robot.) I instantly emailed them and they helped.

One of the reasons I really like buying from them. They're really awesome.

[polar wraith]

Yes they are! I just got done sending them detailed email explaining the FONA808 failure modes associated with a borderline network connection and the GSM stick-on antenna (at @abstract violet 's suggestion).

@grave crest And I almost replied with, "hold my beer," since my penultimate Adafruit order was 550 bucks, and my most recent was 280 (ordering hardware for the autonomous rover build)....

Speaking of dropping multiple hundreds of dollars.... Does anyone have experience/advice with the Siglent scopes vs. Rigol?

Or do I just save up for a Keysight and be done with it? 😃

[grave crest]

I have a rigol, and the little i've used it I'm happy with it. 1054Z.

Feature filled, 4 probes. And if you google around, you can find ways to hack it. I won't go into details here, and needless to say, it probably throws the warranty out the window.

I'm a firm believer having the freedom to hack hardware -- but with great power comes great responsibility. Or great replacement costs.

[polar wraith]

I have the same Rigol with ... extensions as mentioned. I'm just unsure of where I should go next. Another scope, or a function generator (which I don't think I'd use much), or a bench power supply that I didn't build myself....

I splurged a while back on the Keysight U1253B DMM and seriously love it....

[grave crest]

How so, compared to that Rigol? (dipping my toes into a bigger world, can't hurt to indulge the technolust of better gear)

[polar wraith]

Well, the Rigol is a scope and the Keysight is a multimeter, so kind of apples to oranges. The keysight has - fantastic construction - amazing OLED display - autoranging that is very forgiving - six digit accuracy - super easy user interface.

Rather than giving in to the technolust I suppose the responsible thing to do is spend time learning all the capabilities of the tools I have....

https://www.keysight.com/en/pd-1765026-pn-U1253B/handheld-digital-multimeter-45-digit-with-organic-led-display-oled?nid=-33167.920237.00&cc=US&lc=eng

[grave crest]

That doesn't look like it's kidding around 😃

You know, my most used multimeter is a cheap Harbor Freight. I mean, i use it a lot when I need a sanity check on readings that aren't precise -- or in situations where I don't want to burn out my flukes.

Plus, they were free (with coupon, no purchase required). Can't beat that.

[polar wraith]

Free is good! 😃

[grave crest]

Stuff like "I'm supposed to be getting 5v....it's around 2v. Huh. Interesting."

I somewhat considered a bench multimeter

[polar wraith]

I bought a cheap multimeter (that Dave Jones reviewed) to use on the rover's power systems. I don't want to risk blowing up the Keysight on the high current stuff....

I like the bench multimeters but I don't see the advantage over the Keysight....

[polar wraith]

Wow, time flies! A little Discord, a little Adafruit browsing, and a little project programming and bingo! it's almost time for Formula 1!

[polar wraith]

Aaargh! I love the CCS811 and I hate the CCS811. I love the data it collects. I hate that every so often it will start with "device generated an error! Try removing and reapplying power to the board." This makes it really inconvenient to have on an autonomous rover that will eventually be a four hour drive, and who knows how long of a hike, to fix. sigh I guess I'll add a transistor to Vin and tie gate to a GPIO pin....

[rare skiff]

Nothing really beats sitting at my desk watching the sky slowly brighten up as I tinker with projects while my girlfriend relaxes on the couch listening to the rat pack...I love this time of year so much...

[abstract violet]

@rare skiff that sounds lovely :)
@polar wraith with the CCS811 dont you also have to run it for "20 minutes in the desired mode every time the sensor is in use"?

[polar wraith]

@abstract violet Yes you do.

[runic elbow]

I have a problem with my Windows 2000 machine. It doesn't play the shutdown theme.

[stuck moth]

anybody around for PUBG? <@&355854283410898955>

[grave crest]

@polar wraith I got a reply back from support this morning. They will be crediting me what I would have saved if I didn't neglect to use the coupon code. That's wicked awesome, so many companies would have been "lol, too bad so sad".

[grave crest]

Holy smokes. I just got the refund @polar wraith. I can't believe it was that easy and devoid of hassle. Now I know why I prefer to shop here.

I once fought with Skype for over 2 months to get a $25 prepaid card refund that magically "expired" with no warning. Adafruit was merely 16 hours later. ❤ Adafruit.

[polar wraith]

I'm tellin' ya, second to none. Seriously!

[sleek urchin]

and on a sunday no less

[runic elbow]

Hey, anyone know any good Youtube video downloaders? I want to download a startup theme from Windows Vista.

[abstract violet]

@polar wraith @grave crest the experience is akin to (better than) a local shop in the neighbourhood.

[ancient rivet]

@runic elbow youtube-dl

[zinc lintel]

Sounds like someone's going to get pranked!

[runic elbow]

Ooh, is there a prank going on?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcgahfzMlmw Why didn't they use this it's perfect

[spice moss]

https://twitter.com/addamschloe/status/934572363311656961

Chloe Adams (@addamschloe)

you know, Black Friday in America might be crazy, but be grateful that you're not in Finland https://t.co/dkwRybiytn

Twitter

[spice moss]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0za98VMTPck

[gloomy pilot]

https://i.imgur.com/EL0TICG.gifv

[abstract violet]

@gloomy pilot just dance 2019

[dusty citrus]

@gloomy pilot me when I complete a game

[grave crest]

I think it's rather classy seeing Adafruit advertise other companies BF/CM sales. It's great for the community, gets more people involved and exposed to other sellers they might not have known about. And it speaks volumes for Adafruit's confidence, which is rightly justified.

[gray pilot]

Image Update... ><>

[vestal phoenix]

and don't forget the mom and pop stores, small businesses, and the good people that work there... https://youtu.be/_BOzcryJjPM

[runic elbow]

Just wondering, how do I properly download Youtube videos with VLC? Evertime I do it, I end up with files that can't be opened.

I'm trying to download some shutdown and startup themes from the beta releases of Windows Vista. To make the Windows 2000 machine feel a little more modern.

[sturdy oyster]

Just placed my first @night crescent order in quite a while (aside from adabox). I'm so glad they brought back postal shipping. From watching ask an engineer, it sounds like the difference in rates may be small for some poeple (regional difference?), but here it was right around $11 cheaper to go with USPS ($4 vs $15). That's not an insignificant amount on a $40 order. Thanks for bringing that back.

[vestal phoenix]

@runic elbow There's gotta be a Youtube video on that if you search for it. What video file type do you need?

@sturdy oyster I'm in NYC but still prefer to use USPS besides being cheaper, I know the mailperson stuffs the package in the box. With the "better" delivery, I have to wait all day for the truck to arrive to see where they drop off the package.

[runic elbow]

I need the audio clips to be .WAV

[vestal phoenix]

So you are just looking for the sound clips of the startup sounds? Search on Microsoft sounds for wav or mp3 files.

[runic elbow]

Oh, Discords having some bugs

Nevermind, I goofed and posted my message in the wrong server.

What I tried to ask was "Microsoft has a sounds section?"

[vestal phoenix]

The internet is full of resources for sound effects files. Those sounds are bound to be in some collection. You just need to use the force....wait, google.

[runic elbow]

I'm not a Jedi, I don't think using the Force is gonna do me any good.

[spice moss]

https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2017/11/28/coming-soon-flight-near/#27Z2qYllvlTwq4gy.97

[ancient rivet]

discord md test:
`code block`

```python
print("hello world")

backslash it is...

[gray aspen]

@runic elbow youtube-dl is the best tool for acquiring vids

[sleek urchin]

http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Autodesk-to-lay-off-1-150-as-company-restructures-12390210.php

[cerulean badge]

holy jeez

[tiny moat]

sigh Swollen caps and random gunk. This thing is going to need a minor rebuild before I use it.

[runic elbow]

Ew

What even is that black goopy-looking stuff?

[sturdy oyster]

Was watching GB on #show-and-tell and it made me curious. How many here are on LittleBigPlanet? I would love to see your machinations.

btw If you have a ps3/4, it is a really great tool. You have loads of logic gates and components to use. It's a surprisingly useful platform for prototyping basic logic

[runic elbow]

I've played a lot of the first game. Not much of the second game. I have barely even touched the third one.

[sturdy oyster]

@runic elbow LBP2 added the logic gates. Building AND gates was tough in LBP1, but they are included by default in 2. LBP3 adds a few more features (bit registers).

[runic elbow]

Yep. It was a fun tool to mess around with.

My favourite thing to do was building bouncepads in the first game as closely as they were in LBP2.

I would usually end up flinging the character so hard and fast they would end up outside the world box.

[sturdy oyster]

I built an entire binary to decimal scoreboard for a tower defense game.

[runic elbow]

Oh my

[sturdy oyster]

it's crazy how much you can do

[runic elbow]

Maybe this is a ittle more powerful then I htought.

I should break out my PS3 and load in some LBP.

Load up some LBP2.

[sturdy oyster]

If you do, I have a "chain reaction" level that uses that scoreboard.

It's actually a pretty fun game

[tiny moat]

@runic elbow Thats a really good question. Too bad this is the wrong type of mass spectrometer to find out.

[grave crest]

Random question -- I'm looking for a software tool (any OS, mobile or desktop, free or paid) does the following:
-document scanner (captured either via camera or existing JPEG.)
-multi-page support
-OCR support
-this is the big one -- the OCR is embedded in the resulting PDF. I can perform a text search and it'll highlight where the word is found (kinda like the OCR implementation in OneNote).

Most document scanner applications do all of that, minus the embedded searchable results. But onenote isn't as easy to use as a PDF.

[spice moss]

need existing software?

you can easily make your own there is http://microsoft.com/cognitive

office lens scan documents

with camera

[spice moss]

http://slush.org/live

[grave crest]

@spice moss I'd much rather not write it if I don't have to...given the projects I have are immense with this (digitzing cabinets worth of old records). No reason to reinvent the wheel.

I'll check out the office lens, but last time I used it, it didn't embed the OCR'ed text within the PDF...treated the PDF as a straight up 'dumb' image.

[spice moss]

well as you liked onenote

[grave crest]

Quite so, I do enjoy onenote. And the OCR inside of that is pretty solid. But it's not as flexible when you are going to have hundreds of pages of PDFs. Doesn't scale well with larger PDF outputs (it "prints" them to the screen as an image, and does OCR on the image). Also, it's a cloud-based storage solution now.

Most of the OCR searching for scanner apps are usually done within the app itself, but not embedded in the PDF. 😦 Comon' developers. Please? pretty please? 😃

[tiny moat]

@grave crest Check out Adobe x pro cc. It's really powerful and does batch work well.

It can replace or embed ocr text in documents

[blazing pond]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BIx2x-Q2fE

1963 electronic calculator with discrete transistor logic and acoustic delay memory

[thin canopy]

?showtimes

[solar ridge]

3D Hangouts - 11am ET Wednesdays
Show & Tell (YT only) - 7:30pm ET Wednesdays
Ask an Engineer - 8pm ET Wednesdays
Desk of Ladyada - Random hacker times
John Park's Workshop - 4pm EST Thursdays
Desk of Tony D - Evenings PST Fridays

[sleek urchin]

free game alert https://www.humblebundle.com/store/agecheck/the-bureau-xcom-declassified

[grave crest]

@tiny moat Thanks!

[tiny moat]

@grave crest Hopefully it works out for you. You can pretty much feed it a stack of anything and it will output a neatly ordered PDF that has been OCRd and compressed.

[tame saddle]

Adobe pro is pretty awesome. I didn't recommend b/c it sounded like you wanted scanning software vs PDF processing. I will say though, pro doesn't like grainy text; OCR result gets interesting sometimes.

[grave crest]

@tame saddle I don't mind if it's scanning software or not. If it is, even better. I'm going to be taking images of about an entire filing cabinet's worth of documents and material for PDF archival. It'd be --really nice-- if one could search through the PDFs for keywords. Doesn't have to be perfect, but it'd be nice.

I can acquire the images via any other means (DSLR, ipad pro camera, etc), and feed them as JPEGs or PDFs into Adobe.

Create the PDFs using Microsoft Lens or Scanbot or Scanner Pro....and let Adobe chew'em up.

[gray aspen]

@sleek urchin wouldn't be surprised if that was related to them buying cadsoft

[runic elbow]

Quick question: Does anyone know where Windows XP keeps it's default theme? I want to try something with the theme file.

[runic elbow]

Found it. Now I just gotta find where Windows 2000 keeps It's themes.

Plan failed. Ok. That's one thing off the list of thigs to try.

[tiny moat]

@grave crest If you are going to do a ton of scaning, I would look into finding something with a good ADF on it.

[grave crest]

@tiny moat Probably won't work, a lot of the stuff is bound and we wouldn't want to break the binding.

[tiny moat]

@grave crest Thats no fun... If you use a DSLR, be sure and set a narow apurture and try to get bright side lighting. It will help cut down glare and keep the entire page in foucus.

[grave crest]

Yeah, depth of field is lovely. Just not on readable documents 😉

In the past, I've used an iPad. It was a "good enough" solution, very flexible in terms of orientating and seeing what you're working on.

Wouldn't want to do a "professional ebook" that way, but for older documents and one-off guides, etc it's not that bad.

I probably should just setup a DSLR with a video out to a small TV, even if it's just for alignment.

[abstract violet]

New Orville features an alternate dimension that reminds me of pcbs

[hollow widget]

Hi everyone, I was looking for an arduino discord channel and came accross this one only. Does anyone knows if there-s an arduino specific one? im newbie so im not too sure

[indigo jetty]

Not that I know of @hollow widget ,but we can talk Arduino here (well maybe #help-with-projects makes more sense)

[hollow widget]

thank you!

[sleek urchin]

speaking of arduinos, that reminds me... need to make sure I get together a bunch of stuff for someone...

She wants to try embedded stuff, and I have too much crap from impulse ebay orders =p

[sturdy oyster]

Just picked up a fire tv stick yesterday. These things are pretty snazzy. Anyone else have one? Any app recommendations?
Hulu has fantastic voice controls on there btw...especially good if you have an Alexa device.

[dusty citrus]

Love the #general-chat .. always pertinent.

[indigo jetty]

@sturdy oyster kodi is a must if you have any local content

It also has plugins for less on the right side of the law stuff, it seemed to be decent when I tried it out, not using it anymore though)

If you have some friends over Jack box games is fun (although it's $20 or something)

[grave crest]

I am a huge fan of the Plex Media Server. It's a bit more overhead to get setup, but it's crazy good.

[elfin wave]

+1 for Plex. I love it.

also: as it's Dec 1, the Advent of Code has started! http://adventofcode.com/2017/

two daily programming puzzles. done by my friend/coworker who is just bonkers smart and talented.

[sturdy oyster]

Thanks @indigo jetty I'll have to look at kodi more. It looks like it takes some workarounds to get installed.

@grave crest funny you should say that. I was just looking at Plex. Do you know if it supports screencasting?

[indigo jetty]

plex supports chromecasting ok

but It plays media directly from the fire tv

(kinda)

it plays it from the server plex is running on

[gray aspen]

I like kodi

[sharp tartan]

@radiant mirage youre mining eth?

whats your rig

[radiant mirage]

Sadly just a 1070 :'( I'm hoping to get more shortly

@sharp tartan

[sharp tartan]

lol

me and my bro have 16 rx 480s

lmao

[radiant mirage]

I've been slowly been getting more parts to build a new dedicated rig

[sharp tartan]

http://gpushack.com

https://gpushack.com/collections/gpushack/products/mobo-cpu-ram-ssd-bundle-for-4-gpus

cheap and nice bundle

[radiant mirage]

Yup

[sharp tartan]

also comes with ethos

yeah cool

[radiant mirage]

I'll take a look at those again

[sharp tartan]

cool

[radiant mirage]

Are you running ethos?

If so, how is it

[indigo jetty]

Y'all got anymore of that cheap $300 Eth 😛

[gray aspen]

I just want to be able to afford one gpu...

[grave crest]

@sturdy oyster If you mean chromecast, yes it does support it. But...as @indigo jetty said, you need a server to host the media. It's a bit more involved to setup, I'll admit.

You can use the apple TV, amazon fire TV app, chromecast, Web client, iOS app, Roku app, Android app to access your media

And it's free.

There is a paid tier, yes. You don't need it really. I've been using Plex for several years now, and never once I felt I wanted to drop 100+ dollars on a lifetime subscription features.

Though it would be a nice gesture to support the devs.

[proven olive]

Mmm. Rocket Candy. Do Not Eat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUYxk-y-tU8

[sturdy oyster]

@grave crest I was thinking more along the lines of mirroring the screen on the device I am using.

[runic elbow]

I now store my hard drives in an empty box of Bounty dryer sheets. I don't need a lot of storage. I only have four drives. And two are usually being used. So it's pretty good for now..

[tender nimbus]

Its really good that the Adafruit community is growing.....

From 300s to 400s.......

[gray aspen]

Does plex do transcoding?

@runic elbow cool your drives...

[runic elbow]

These drives aren't being used. I just keep them in a box so they're not all over the place.

Oh god, the disc drive in the retro PC sounds so painful. I don't think it's very happy.

[dusty citrus]

@gray aspen Yes, as far as I know -- there are transcoding options in OpenPlexHomeTheatre.

[abstract violet]

@tender nimbus yay!

[spice moss]

soon those harddrives are inside 3D printed case

[runic elbow]

They sure will. As soon as I can afford one.

[wintry timber]

John Park did a nice laser cut project a week or two ago. Does anyone know what cutter he uses? Care to make a purchase recommendation of your own?

[proven olive]

You could always ask @swift hatch - I'm sure he knows what laser cutter he uses.

[wintry timber]

Thanks @proven olive I am a bit new to this.

[proven olive]

@wintry timber Discord is great, though. Just don't get overenthusiastic with pings

[gray pilot]

Guy's and gal's, just a heads-up but there is some fantastic college football on tv today. Goliath's vs Goliath's! ... ><>

[swift hatch]

Hi @wintry timber Thanks, I have an Epilog Zing 16 40watt laser cutter.

It's a great machine. I've also used Universal Lasers a bit, which a lot of people like, as well as Versalaser. There are also people who've done lots of great work getting generic Chinese laser cutters up and running smoothly.

[tender nimbus]

Hey Guys there is a Give Away Going On !
https://wn.nr/jhcJA4

[runic elbow]

What do you guys think would be the best course of action in the event that your Antivirus premium subsciption is about to expire, and you don't want to buy another one because it opens like, seven boxes in ten minutes telling you it's gonna expire in a few days every single day?

[gray pilot]

@runic elbow Bummer, I dumped those long ago and just use Windows Defender. Works fine for me. And its free.

Using Window 10 BTW. ><>

[runic elbow]

Thanks for the suggestion.

Say hello to the Box. Where all the things I don't need go.

[cerulean badge]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55fmNwCgf1M

[gray aspen]

@runic elbow install avast.

[tame saddle]

@gray aspen I'm pretty sure he uses Avast. Avast has been my goto for the longest, but they are bad about overloading on the renewal alerts (free and paid). Like @gray pilot, I have since dumped all secondary and only run Defender ATM. Its Windows...the best virus protection is being a smart user.

[runic elbow]

Avast IS the issue I'm having.

It keeps nagging me to purchase the Premium subscription. Seven windows at once, every day.

[gray aspen]

I can't say I've had that problem. The only nagging I've had from it is to create a user account and login with it, which I did.

Perhaps if you've once owned the premium subscription then they bother you to renew? If that's the case perhaps uninstall it completely and remove all trace, then reinstall and only say you want the free version.

I haven't owned the premium version.

Though I also agree with sommersoft.

[runic elbow]

I think I'm done with Avast, now. I hate the nagging. And it's never really helped me. The only time it did anything was when my install of Windows was on the brink of death. Before that, at best, it would say something MIGHT be wrong.

[gray aspen]

I used to really like norton anti virus, though it is very heavy on the overhead, however I found that later versions of the software purely quarantine exes rather than actually remove viruses from them.

[tame saddle]

I've had Avast grab some stuff, and the options it gave to quarantine/purge/repair were always the best IMO. Honestly, the reason I didn't reinstall after my last upgrade was the change in UI and options. In thier popularity growth, they jumped on the marketing bandwagon and went more for "the pretty" and less on "power user". I'm ok with pretty, but not ok with removing options and useability...

[runic elbow]

One time, Avast told me that unless I updated, it would be incapable of protecting me from anything.

All the update did was change the looks of a few things.

Maybe I missed something, but I did not see anything related to protection or the software itself.

[proven olive]

@runic elbow Often times, out-of-date antiviruses don't download the detection footprints for new viruses and malware.

So it wouldn't be able to protect against any new threats

[dusty citrus]

Rewarding aggressive marketing tactics with a subscription sends the wrong message to that vendor. 😉

In a hundred years, the Avast Corporation will be a lumberyard, or a swimming pool installation company, or a toga rental outfit -- but they will still be in business. Somebody more qualified will be in the anti-virus market, then.

(toga rental outfit is recursive, there)

Why isn't there a preference setting for nagging? Because nobody would check that box.

[abstract violet]

@runic elbow do you guys have a local tech donation place? something like this: http://www.freegeekvancouver.org/index.html

[runic elbow]

I don't have anything like that nearby. Why do you ask?

[abstract violet]

@runic elbow your box of unwanted made me think of places like it ;3

[runic elbow]

I welcome you, to the drawer of keyboards. All of which are PS/2.

[runic elbow]

One of which is broken. I wanna see if I can fix it.

It's n8t being cooperative.

Ok, I guess I'm not gonna be fixing the keyboard

[sleek urchin]

huh, now that's a keyboard

https://hackaday.io/project/13210-the-fsociety-keyboard

[cerulean badge]

I think I'm in love

[sleek urchin]

I see a few of the fetures I've debating in there

like NFC and a screen

(never considered joysticks though)

[gray aspen]

That keyboard isn't what I was hoping...

So it says about automating your good and bad computer activity, it's only referring to having macros for actions isn't it?

I was expecting something like this https://github.com/tjhorner/keyboard-heatmap

[sleek urchin]

https://twitter.com/BlakeNorthcott/status/937414217216462849

Blake Northcott ⭐️ (@BlakeNorthcott)

Someone took DIY Christmas ornaments to the next level.

Retweets

306

Likes

1029

Twitter

[blazing pond]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF18TlkDqIc

[runic elbow]

Just wondering, can ROM CD drives copy files from discs set to be used as USB devices? I just need to use the CD to get the drivers back on the Retro machine, since it has a fresh install of Windows 2000 on it.

But whenever I try, it just tells me D: is preforming an incorrect function on the retro machine.

[runic elbow]

Wait, I got it.

[wintry timber]

Thank you @swift hatch , these are super helpful suggestions. I study the Chinese economy for a living, but I’ll take a pass on improving their lasers! Cheers. Jeff

[ocean sigil]

Cool! This actually works! https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/gpio-expander/ I used a very old (white macbook) - booted it with Rasbian on a a USB drive then plugged in an RPiZero and it's magic. Now I just need to find a purpose for it 😉 Besides blinking LEDs.