general-chat

[quartz wren]

But yeah about my first 200 landing attempts in simulators failed

[dusty citrus]

maps basically show airspaces and frequencies for tower and landing aids etc

[quartz wren]

Learning when to flare is an art

Funny thing is before I watched any instructional videos my instinct was battle tactics

[dusty citrus]

Instructor was even impressed with me because he went into a cloud which is an emergency situation for a VFR licensed pilot and it didnt' faze me since I learned to trust instruments in flight simulator

[quartz wren]

Dive right before the runway and pull up last second

Probably why I crashed so much

[dusty citrus]

But eh nothing to be impressed about since all my landings ended with the whole airport on fire 🤣

[quartz wren]

Trusting the instruments is key

And knowing when they can't be trusted is another key

Because malfunctions do happen

[dusty citrus]

also my electronics background helped, I know sensors can detect things much more faster than me and at much better sensitivity

[quartz wren]

And they can detect things your sensory inputs aren't directly tuned to

Such as air speed

[dusty citrus]

In this flight school history one pilot died because they got disoriented and refused to trust their instruments

they thought up was down and down was up which is the main cause of accidents on smaller planes along with stalls

[quartz wren]

Yeah it's the reason why when I eventually have the means to go out to the Nevada desert to do experimental aircraft development I'm not flying anything with less than double redundant independent telemetry systems. Triple if I can afford it.

(and a voting system using the triple redundancy since it doesn't work with less than 3 sensors and works best with odd numbers)

[dusty citrus]

I'm not that worried about crashing bby high impact on the ground. I mean we all die one day and some peoples spend months suffering in hospital

and some others die in a couple of seconds/minutes in a plane crash so...

[quartz wren]

See, I'm not worried about dying I'm worried about leaving a hole in the lives of those who care about me

[dusty citrus]

It's more because it's very costly and the main component of that cost is expensive gas

[quartz wren]

Which is actually my main motivation in pressing on against the odds that are stacked against me from birth.

People like having me around so I'll keep being here for the people who appreciate me

And to that end I'll do whatever it takes to triumph over my stumbling blocks

[dusty citrus]

I'm still afraid of flying though but it's mostly the fire/drowning thing...

[quartz wren]

I smile when I'm in a plane that hits turbulence

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Gets me giddy

A plane ride with no turbulence is as boring as a life with no risk

[dusty citrus]

I never flew on a passenger jet, I just can't tolerate the customs and being jailed with other passengers for hours on a flying bomb

And everything I hear about the airline industry it make me want to fly even less

[quartz wren]

But that doesn't mean you jump head first into risk with no precautions. That is silliness. Instead you jump head first into risk after taking every angle you can into account to maintain safety. If it works out you achieve something great. If not then you tried. Either way the only true failure that exists is letting what should be a setback make you quit entirely

[dusty citrus]

you ever got a so-called rpi or arduino kit?

[quartz wren]

Never could afford any of the kits, just got individual modules that were applicable to projects at the time, but I've got a few of both kicking around

Actually correction

I've bought a few arduino kits for 3D printer controllers

[dusty citrus]

back then peoples were strongly encourage to buy the official arduino starter kit and a pi kit since it included the sd card, wifi dongle etc

but knowing electronics like I do now I realize I was badly scammed 🤣

best hint that a kit is bad: contains DHT-11

[quartz wren]

I mean I would have loved to get the kit

[dusty citrus]

all of the components are basically the cheapest of the cheap and mouser/digikey are too proud to even carry them 🤣

[quartz wren]

But alas, the microcontroller on its own was barely in budget for me

And then when I has budget to get kits I decided to buy more specific things that I had uses for every piece of

And now I'm back to no budget for kits but I've got a good backlog of supplies

[dusty citrus]

yeah, noawadays with my experience I fritz first before I buy anything

And I won't even look at an IC if it doesn't have a datasheet/picture and if it's not I2C or a similar that autocorrect sensor noise etc

[quartz wren]

I inherited a large repository of scrap electronics components my dad removed from boards over the years as a meditation exercise

So most of my projects start there

Can't beat free

[dusty citrus]

yeah, I bought a brand new dvd last week just for the enclosure was 15$

most parts couldn't even be found on the internet besides ebay at 1$ for a pack of 10 of the chips

Just like I expected, and peoples actually turn that thing on...

[quartz wren]

People want lower prices and they don't care they're paying more long term because they've been convinced they're saving money even though it's designed to fail as soon as warranty is over

[dusty citrus]

I have the pcb and dvd I disassembled but I admire peoples who can desolder high pins SMD or BGA...

well at 15$ it's like a single use dvd

that particular brand assemble kits from china for sale as new in flea markets and the like

[quartz wren]

Okay so.... Desoldering BGA requires hot air, patience, and a nat 100 on a hundred sided die to work

[dusty citrus]

so the cases and assembly are usually good/local but not the components

A similar enclosure would have cost me much more, also had ribbon cables I can reuse and a detachable power cord

I"ve taken to look at flea market for used throwaway electronics for their enclosures

[quartz wren]

Also requires a level 20 in dexterity and a skill check

[dusty citrus]

because what usually stop my projects is the lack of enclosure

I did a serious test once and I have 3 in dexterity hence why I'm scared of soldering

I'm that guy who played that doctor toy that ring when you touch the contact trying to grab the plastic bone inside with tweezers who never got a bone

fine motor dexterity isn't my strength

[quartz wren]

I'm okay at soldering

https://i.imgur.com/tOkQjft.jpg

[dusty citrus]

Last time I did there was 4 fire trucks

[quartz wren]

To be fair I've been doing it for some 18 years

(started when I was 9, am 27 now)

Don't get me wrong my first projects were terrible

[dusty citrus]

Most youtubers I see have the oil barrel technique when soldering as well which doesn't help me much....

[quartz wren]

I made an LED flasher using an op amp as my first project and it looked like someone was just flinging solder at it

It's a miracle it worked

[dusty citrus]

like they dump tons of liquid flux on the pcb in case they mess up the solder so it won't stick to the pcb...

[quartz wren]

That's a method...

I have no flux besides what's in my solder

[dusty citrus]

I know but when I soldered I tried to be precise with the tip

wish someone had told to mask/stencil/flux dumping existed

[quartz wren]

It's something most people figure out on their own so it doesn't occur to them someone may not

[dusty citrus]

and I didn't know you press the wire next to the part than press part of the wire and part of the part

My technique my basically like when they drop molten steel from a bucket

I was trying to get the molten solder to drop at the correct place 🤣

[quartz wren]

Uff

[dusty citrus]

Nobody taught me anything hence the 4 fire trucks 🤣

[quartz wren]

I was lucky enough to at least get a basic tutorial from my dad

[fading hare]

@dusty citrus and @quartz wren, y'all are going five hundred miles an hour here 😄 I leave for like 20 minutes and there's like hundreds of messages to read. LOL

[dusty citrus]

I was supposed to improve my stove alarm with an lcd but I can't remember my linux password and how to prevent it from going into sleep mode 😦

so I can't code my arduino

I mean I can from my desktop, but want to get used to the setup I'll have at a fablab

I described my stove alarm before but for context I often forget that I am boiling water and my stove only have an oven timer

lost two pans already to a thick layer of carbon when it has been boiling air overnight

so I used a DS18B20 and timer and a buzzer so when it's been over 50oC for over 30 mins it screams

but with an lcd and a start/reset switch it would be better especially in an heat-proof enclosure (since I know eventually the heat will destroy my uno or a wire)

[fading hare]

🤣

so, how much have you spent on pots so far?

[dusty citrus]

lost about 5-6 in my life so far

but the latest ones haven't been as expensive because I found some cheap ones that are really good for the money, have a spout for liquids and pasta strainer on the lid and graduated marks inside

I mean I know I could just buy a medieval tech-level egg timer

But I'm trying to standardize simple sensors in simple inexpensive enclosures so I can buy the same proto-board 20 times, 20 qt py etc and save a bit and have some standard wifi sensors box around my apartment

[quartz wren]

And then I went silent because someone sent me a DM and it had to be addressed

[fading hare]

haha

[quartz wren]

But it has been dealt with and I honestly don't remember where we were so I have to read some scrollback

Right, introductory electronics stuff

[dusty citrus]

atm I 'm trying to unmix a ball of various adapters cords and various cords-like objects stuck in a soccer sized ball

[fading hare]

So, with as many pots as you destroy, why don't you just buy the cheapest Alexa/Google Assistant there is, put it in the kitchen and just firewall it off so it can't do dumb things, then just use it as an egg timer? I have a Google Nest Hub MAX in the kitchen... I don't even know what those cost? Like $300 or something ridic? I only ever use it as an egg timer.

But one of the little thingies are like $20-30.

And then you can save money and get you some Hexclad.

[dusty citrus]

:(

[wary herald]

XD yeah, nice conversation 🙂

[dusty citrus]

well two reasons, one is that this uno has been operating for 3 years to warn me about me forgetting the boiling water and works well

and 2nd if I take the easy way I will soon be out of ideas of what to do with electronics

[wary herald]

Lol

I love that

[dusty citrus]

I'm going to need some sensor box to check my bath water level and kitchen sink

since I once forgot they were on at the same time (interfering sound waves) and they flooded 😦

[fading hare]

Are you at all interested in voice recognition?

[dusty citrus]

I am but it's not interested in me

[fading hare]

Depends.

[dusty citrus]

It keep saying it can't understand my English

[fading hare]

hahahaha

what accent do you speak English with?

[dusty citrus]

You'd be surprised what search result vs what I said google does when I use google voice search...

[fading hare]

(remember, it was trained by a bunch of dudes from India, for a bunch of white dudes)

[dusty citrus]

thick french accent

[fading hare]

LOL

at this point, just teach something French instead

hhahhahahaaa

[dusty citrus]

to add insult to the injury I can't even study english as a second language because I got perfect mark of my last standardized english test...

so I can't get better at pronunciation...

[fading hare]

Have you ever considered something like Omegle or whatever? Just to talk to people in American English and try to hone your accent?

I watched a lot of American TV growing up, because I wanted to have an American accent, not a British one.

Obviously my teacher hated me for this. She tried to give me a 3/5 because of this, even though I tested in the top 1 percentile for English standards tests in all of Sweden at the time.

It's about the only time girls ever stood up for me in grade school, but those young ladies marched into our teachers office and came back out with a 5 on my grade sheet.

Now I test at American levels, with some Swedish kinks in the grammar. Which makes me feel pretty good. I can talk to the natives in their own tongue. Well, if they had an official one, that is. Also, learning Spanish is hard if all you've known are Germanic languages.

Unlike that one kid from French Canada, somewhere, that was an exchange student in our high school in Sweden... That wild child adopted a perfect (I mean no trace) Swedish accent and a complete grasp of the very, very complicated Swedish grammar. In 8 months. Swedish is harder to learn than basically a whole slew of languages. People are like, but, I can know all these words, and sort of pronounce them! But, yeah, can you do that in a fluent conversation without sounding like a dumb person? No? Then you obviously did not learn Swedish real fast.

(not trying to brag about Swedish, btw, we hated the grammar too)

[tardy badger]

Language learning is fascinating

I tried learning French and for a while I could read it okay. Speaking, not so much

Took Spanish in high school

[dusty citrus]

My main problem is "language fatigue" it drains me out to really concentrate to listen and if there is any noise I might have to ask them to repeat

same for speaking. When I had that perfect mark I asked to see the dean of the language course and had a 30 mins conversation with her in English which didn't help my case 🤣

Longest I did was 2h at a welcome party for a bunch of university students who wanted to learn French

But when I was just waking out and getting a coffee in english canada I'd be told to come back with a translator when I next visit...

TL,DR: So my english is like AC circuits

When i went to medieval times it was difficult because of the loud crowd and the announcer so I wrote on my phone to make things easier for both of it (it comes with a meal)

Sometimes I have to turn on subtitles when watching movies because I can barely understand some accents

Got lost when I was 11 in New York and I couldn't explain anything to police/ems because my English was really bad so I really worked on it since then. Neither could I interact with US customs

[edgy apex]

I'm planning a trip in a couple months and I will be bringing about half a dozen electronics projects, most are bigger than a cell phone. I'm not sure how that will go with TSA so my question is should I be proactive and just plan on/ask for a manual inspection and explain myself rather than send it through the x-ray machine?

[crystal ore]

You should plan on some extra time, since you're likely to be stopped, but I wouldn't bother asking for a manual inspection ahead of time. They'll be more comfortable X-raying it AND then manually inspecting it rather than looking like you're wanting to bypass the X-ray.

[edgy apex]

That makes sense. I'll have to pack everything in a way that they can see it and touch it but not break it. I'm thinking storage bags or Tupperware

[late fulcrum]

It helps to pack things so they can be quickly, easily, and safely opened for inspection. I was flying with an antique X-ray tube once, and sure enough, it looked odd on an X-ray (a big hunk of tungsten will do that). But I had anticipated their curiosity and made it easy for them to examine, and was ready to explain that an X-ray tube with no power supply was basically a light bulb and presented no danger. I also had the letter from the museum asking me to hand-carry the delicate tube to them.

[edgy apex]

So I just have to make it easy for them and I should be good?

[late fulcrum]

Yes, make it easy for them, and be ready to answer questions.

Their main questions will be fairly predictable ones like "is this dangerous"

Note that there are some special rules concerning lithium batteries, so if you're bringing any, be sure you are complying with them.

[edgy apex]

I may just take the bus lol

[late fulcrum]

Note that shipping things to yourself can be a useful option, but buses and trains are also pleasant ways to travel (I generally bring some books to read, whatever mode* of travel I'm using)

*unless I'm driving myself, I don't recommend trying to read and drive at the same time

In the case of the antique X-ray tube, the museum did not want it shipped as they'd had another one break in shipping, so they asked me to hand-carry it.

[edgy apex]

I guess it will come down to how well I can pack things. If I can do a really good job I can ship it otherwise I'll have to transport it.

[proven olive]

Yeah, please don't.

I've taken a pile of electronics as a carry-on, but they were all nicely packaged in a box and it was quite a few of the same thing so it wasn't a variety. Ran it through the xray machine, they opened it and took a peak but didn't really ask any questions.

[orchid zephyr]

I’m using a solenoid and this pzt crystal to make ionizing pulses

Instead of a pulse transformer

[honest moth]

Ik, still trying to decide regardless.

ty though

[honest moth]

WELP, GUESS WHO JUST SUFFERED THEIR FIRST SSD FAILURE.

inhale Ｆ！＠＃－

...

so how is everyone today?

[late fulcrum]

I found my heater filter was leaking heating oil onto the boxes where I store 3D printing filament.

[wooden schooner]

Good thanks

[honest moth]

oooooofffff... @late fulcrum

WAS THE FILAMENT OK?

[honest moth]

glad to hear it. what're you up to rn?

[late fulcrum]

The filament is okay, but to get the oil off the boxes, I'll probably have to wash them with soap and water, and then somehow insure that they're good and dry before I put the filament back into them.

[orchid zephyr]

oh boy

[honest moth]

Welp, do what you have to, even if that means leaving them out in the sun to dry for x number of days.

or in some kind of special container in the sun, because, you know, insects, leaves, plants and pollen

[late fulcrum]

I'll probably put them over the heater vents, they should dry thoroughly in a couple of hours each

Probably a good time to regenerate all my dessicant packs too

[honest moth]

Sounds like a plan. 👍

[honest moth]

waving.wav

[quartz wren]

I had some PLA get coconut oil on it and it uh... Didn't last long

Depending on the oil's vapor pressure it may be fine

Having gotten on just the box

[late fulcrum]

Yeah, they're weathertight boxes, so I'm not expecting any oil to have gotten inside

[quartz wren]

Turns out coconut oil likes to creep

[honest moth]

when warm, yes.

[quartz wren]

Ahh

Yeah I got it on cardboard boxes when i had issues

And it was a warm summer

[honest moth]

RIP

that sucks...

[quartz wren]

It uh... Made its way into the rolls and they eventually just shattered

[honest moth]

huh, guess whatever material those things are made of does not like coconuts

[late fulcrum]

Yeah, I've come to distrust cardboard boxes, they aren't very protective

[honest moth]

yyyeeeeaaaaaaahhhhh I wouldn't either.

[quartz wren]

Was the boxes they came in

[honest moth]

Good for some things, like for when you're broke af and don't have a lot. Other than that though...

[quartz wren]

I kept them in the boxes so they stacked easier

Spilled the coconut oil on my desk

[honest moth]

Oh boy, speaking of spilling things...

[quartz wren]

Luckily it only got the bottom two rolls

[late fulcrum]

I use these gasketed plastic bins, they stack nicely and help keep the filament dry

[honest moth]

Very nice.

[quartz wren]

I'm still working in acquiring a dry box

Can't print in nylon until I have one

[honest moth]

Promptly searches gasketed plastic bins-

[honest moth]

Welp, good luck with that and your endeavors.

for both of you

[late fulcrum]

If you're curious, the ones I'm using are "IRIS® Letter/Legal Size Weather-Tight File Box", part number 772146 – I get them from Office Depot

[dusty citrus]

would using dessicant packs in there be overkill; ?

[quartz wren]

Did you know you can reuse silica beads by baking them in an electric oven? (not sure if a gas oven would work because of the water vapor from combustion)

[late fulcrum]

I do use reuseable indicating dessicant packs in there.

You can see the silver boxes in the picture

[quartz wren]

Ahhhh the kind with like cobalt chloride in it?

[honest moth]

ooooooo nice

WAIT, 30 DOLLARS FOR ONE?

sigh

[late fulcrum]

30 bucks? Ouch, they've gone up since I bought mine

[quartz wren]

You could also make one

That's probably what I'm going to do

I can make cobalt chloride if I need to for the indicator

[honest moth]

true...if i had the time.

[late fulcrum]

These are the dessicant packs I'm using https://www.theruststore.com/40-Gram-Rechargeable-Silica-Gel-Canister-P46.aspx

[honest moth]

cool

[quartz wren]

Ah not cobalt chloride

Indicator colors would be pink and blue

[honest moth]

hey, quick word of advice while we're still on the topic of spilling things

[wooden schooner]

Eating a big salad for late breakfast while planning linner. Hungry boi

[honest moth]

make sure you have some sort of surface that holds onto your beverage like a coaster or something, because tea mixed with honey is a nightmare to clean out of a keyboard, and the same might apply for everything else. don't ask me how I know. qwq

[quartz wren]

Actually pink and blue can be made orange and green with a yellow light filter over it

[honest moth]

nice

[quartz wren]

So maybe

[honest moth]

hang on what are these things even for?

...nvm

[quartz wren]

Reducing moisture content in the air

[late fulcrum]

I'd take the keyboard apart and throw it in the dishwasher

[honest moth]

yep just read the description.

[orchid zephyr]

no, not unless its full spectrum light, you are using emmison so it will just block it out

[honest moth]

If only I had one that worked.

[quartz wren]

Right right, and because it's a color from a molecule it'll be banded not broad spectrum

[honest moth]

Have to hand-wash everything over here.

[honest moth]

but yeah, good idea.

...wait, wouldn't that water-log the components or are those being taken out first?

[quartz wren]

It's not hard to pull the electronics from a keeb

And put them back in

[honest moth]

ik, just trying to clarify for those who might see this and think it's ok to just throw it in the dishwasher no disassembly required.

[dusty citrus]

eh some dessicants are so powerful it doesn't matter if you actually spill liquid in something as long as you have something like a sheet of towel to slow things down and they can absorb 900 times their weight in water...

[honest moth]

also, I apologize for my crummy grammar, brain is still mega-cooked from last night.

[dusty citrus]

Like those dessicant can kill from dehydridation if you accidently swallow them...

[quartz wren]

My brain has been clawing its way back from a depressive episode for a couple weeks so I'm in a similar boat

[honest moth]

welp, don't forget that we're all here for you should you ever need someone to talk to about that.

[dusty citrus]

sodium polyacrylate

[quartz wren]

Much appreciated, however I'd rather use the spaces I have which are more specific to that type of discussion. I've uh... Made people upset here before by talking about my experience and understandably so. This is an electronics server, not a therapy server

[honest moth]

Ah, ok. Well, there are always direct messages too, but that's fine, as long as you are getting the help you need.

[quartz wren]

Oh definitely, I've been supported for the better part of a decade by the same group of people who formed a task force to make sure I'm okay

I only bring up the depressive episode as an explanation for why my brain is wonky atm

(rapid cycling bipolar type 1 is rough)

(but I'm making it through)

[honest moth]

I know that one all too well, having a best friend with that opened my eyes quite a bit to it.

[quartz wren]

It's one of those diseases that one gets upset with themselves for having until they learn not to.

I've only recently learned not to be upset for being upset

[honest moth]

You're strong.

Don't ever forget that.

[quartz wren]

So I'm told, though that's one of the areas I still struggle with accepting

[honest moth]

Take your time with it. I'm not you so I don't know what your current situation and circumstances are, but if I could offer you any advice, it would be to never stop using any resources available to you.

At least, not until you believe you are ready.

But again, I'm not you.

I'm just some rando online that is rooting for you.

:P

[honest moth]

But hey, you've made it this far.

That in itself is quite the feat.

[quartz wren]

Statistically my survival to the current point in time is no less than a miracle

[honest moth]

If there is one thing I've learned, it's to never listen to the odds.

[quartz wren]

https://tenor.com/view/never-tell-me-the-odds-star-wars-odds-never-gif-14280242

[honest moth]

Exactly! <3

[quartz wren]

Best way I can describe the constant battle in my brain is legitimately the dynamic between these two

And which one represents the depression versus the mania switches between them

Sometimes it's my manic side calculating every little detail and sometimes the manic side is the hotshot

And vice versa

[honest moth]

saaaaaaame...except it's two completely different disabilities over here.

but i know what you mean

[quartz wren]

Let's just say I'm an adrenaline junkie so when I say this it's not just the statistics of my mental illness

Based on the number of nearly fatal incidents I've incurred during the pursuit of that, by all accounts I shouldn't be here, but fortunately I am.

Not only that

I've never broken a bone except lashing out at inanimate objects in anger

Which is weird given my history

And the worst I've gotten with those is hairline and buckle fractures

[late fulcrum]

I haven't broken any of my own personal bones, but other people have managed to break their bones on my body (not violence, but various accidental situations)

[quartz wren]

Yeah if I were someone else knowing the history of impacts with hard objects resulting in no fractures I wouldn't risk a bone collision

[honest moth]

I wish I could relate...but in my opinion, the rush isn't worth it. Each time I have had that feeling, I fear for my life the next moment and collapse into a pile of anxiety followed by rapid breathing.

...if it's not wrong of me to ask, how did it happen first?

sorry, you don't have to answer if you don't want to. I don't mean to pry.

[quartz wren]

How did what happen first? Near death incidents?

[honest moth]

well, you mentioned being an adrenaline junkie.

[quartz wren]

Not appropriate to discuss here

[honest moth]

ah, ok, then nevermind.

sorry

[quartz wren]

But I can talk deeper in DM if you'd like

I don't mind sharing I just know that things get a bit touchy here

[dusty citrus]

Worst I did is shatter a vein because I slapped a wall hard after losing 50$ on a single hand in limit poker online

[honest moth]

I would rather not as to not risk incurring any bad memories and/or experiences. I appreciate it, but I would rather not negatively impact your well-being.

[dusty citrus]

After that I cashed out and never played again because despite having the bankroll and making 100x what I put in my nerves couldn't handle hands where the money was higher than an half-day of work at minimum wage back then

[quartz wren]

Nah that's all in the past, plus discussing it helps me process stuff

[dusty citrus]

And there was nothing wrong with the hand, I just had the 2nd best hand and the odds were low the opponent had the best hand and higher they were bluffing. But they weren't

[honest moth]

alright, well could you hit me up at around two hours from now please? Supposed to be getting back to work in a few, unfortunately.

[quartz wren]

I once punched a desk because I managed to make an accidental PC destroying Rube Goldberg machine while trying to kill a wasp

And by "destroying" I mean the final step was a wave of table salt mixing with spilling water right into the open case

[honest moth]

[quartz wren]

Magic smoke was definitely released

[dusty citrus]

Not punching but I can't play golf games on console. Costs me more in gamepads than actuall IRL golf lessons and full premium golf sets + bag 🤣

I get extremely angry when I miss by an inch and I'm at -30 instead of -31 and everyone else is at -20

Even thought in real-life I'd be a millionaire and eventually a billionaire if I could do that

I just can't help it 😦

[quartz wren]

I used to have anger issues. Still do, but I used to as well.

It has gotten much better over the years but it took a lot of effort

And some bad paths

Due to misdirection from therapists as a teenager

Well, one in particular. I was mandated anger management counseling in middle school but the therapist I ended up with told me to turn it inward instead of towards others

Sure, it technically solved the problem I was sent to therapy to solve. Outbursts. Instead I've been fighting the mental turbulence it has caused since

[orchid zephyr]

Same, I made this thing that gives me haptic feedback when I clench my fists

[dusty citrus]

I have tons of cardboard boxes from prime & mealboxes so when I'm angry I just stab one 😄

[orchid zephyr]

To warn me that I’m angry before I explode, also because when people warn me it makes me angrier

[dusty citrus]

accidently ordered this.. :(

wire is so small my fingers can probably melt it 🤣

[proven olive]

I regularly use 0.5mm solder wire for smt stuff. But you do end up shoving quite a lot of it at through-hole components

[dusty citrus]

Was using cart to budget solder setup in excel and accidently forgot to remove it

what would be the correct solder wire size for through-hole since installing headers and soldering wires together will be my main use

and I prefer leaded solder since I''m nervous of higher temperatures

[proven olive]

I've used 750 for my lead-free solder, haven't had any issues yet (But sometimes brain don't care about logic, so there's that)

[dusty citrus]

Also going to be drill-enabled in 2 days (but no bits yet since I'll buy those from the hardware store next door).

[proven olive]

1mm solder just feels gigantic to me after using 0.5mm for so long, but it's one I've also used a bit of.

[dusty citrus]

I'm scared of getting burned, solder setup also include heat-proof gloves ... so yeah irrational brain fear I guess 😦

[proven olive]

Honestly I like the smaller solder even for through-hole parts. Have a little bit more control for how much solder goes on

[dusty citrus]

also got a magnification helmet with 2 leds to light stuff up

Still can't believe my VR headset didn't come with that and only a low MP b&w camera...

[lusty fossil]

You might be overthinkinging. I have never used heat proof gloves and I didn't need a helmet until I got into really small parts.

It's not a trivial task, soldering, but it's not obscenely complicated either.

[dusty citrus]

oh the helmet has nothing to do with soldering

just with my eyes not being as good when tired and sometime chip model are written so small

[lusty fossil]

Ah ok

[dusty citrus]

If I may I bought my duino and pi 2+ in 2015, should I consider tossing out the adapter in the garbage? Do these ages well or not ?

They just form into a soccer ball in the adapter bin and I'm getting sick of it and some of them don't even have a brand and seems completely generic

I also doubt that are of any quality and a variable quality adapter could probably replace them all

[lusty fossil]

The power brick? I don't think it ages badly, at least not in that time frame

[dusty citrus]

we are talking 30 years for some of them thought like the OEM 9V 1A one

[late fulcrum]

You can learn to coil up the cables so they don't tangle, or use twist-ties, rubber bands, or hook and loop strips to keep them neatly bundled.

[lusty fossil]

It seems that new and used cars are still over priced, does that sound untrue?

I really don't need new car, at all, I just kinda want a hybrid

So I'm looking into it

[dusty citrus]

Yeah they can't help but put chips for no reason in cars, so chip shortage, cars need them so endless inflation on car prices

[late fulcrum]

Heh, me too.

[dusty citrus]

I mean electromechanics worked for nearly 150 years...

[late fulcrum]

The chips help with efficiency, reducing air pollution, maintenance, and longevity. Hardly "no reason". Even if they were still electromechanical, car prices would be controlled by market forces and corporate greed. Granted, the chip shortage has reduced supply, which increases prices, but if there were no chip shortage, I suspect other supply line issues would then become the bottleneck and the effects would be similar.

[tardy badger]

I am going to attempt to port the Adafruit DAP arduino library to the nRF5281x devices. you can currently DAP nRF52840 so in general, it shouldn't be too hard to port. I think.

i've been wrong before but we'll see lol

[wooden schooner]

Know any resources for how to coil? (Also, do you happen to know of a velcro based reusable cable tie that doesn't constantly fall off?)

[late fulcrum]

Hmm, I learned it from fellow theater people. I suspect there are youtube videos about it. As for Velcro, I'm fond of these: https://www.homedepot.com/p/VELCRO-Brand-8-in-x-1-2-in-Reusable-Ties-50-Pack-90924HD/202261940

[wooden schooner]

ah yeah there was an A/V volunteer at one of my orgs a while back who taught us how to pack up the mic cables. Alternating sides to not torque the cable

and nice, I might head to Home Dêpot and grab some of those. I have two no-name ones (came with cables I like) and the thin bit that goes through itself is constantly unsticking

thanks

[dusty citrus]

problem with cable ties is they are hard to remove

but anyway since I haven't been in this box for years after I'm done spring cleaning they are getting recycled

The over-under method doesn't keep the cable runs parallel in the coil.

They get tangled. Rolling the cable works better and is just as fast.

Secure 2-3 turns with velcro to keep a form/shape when you start.

Unroll the same way you roll, in reverse. ;)

The point is to keep from twisting the cable as much as you can.

It's better to keep building sideways - that ensures that the cable will unspool properly when it's time to deploy it.

I watched three videos just now and each had it wrong. ;)

Closest to correct (under-over method demonstration) I've seen so far:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Qngim6zuAM

[dusty citrus]

got a monitor that isn't VESA without any screws in the back to mount it and the desk stand broke apart

Any way I still could use it under 30$ or I should just recycle it even thought it's perfectly fine ?

this is the bracket on it for desk stand

[late fulcrum]

It should be possible to make an adapter with anything flat that has enough strength to it (MDF, luan, sheet metal, probably not cardboard). You may have to take the back off the monitor to get access to the mounting points, but usually something's available. You may need to use standoffs to get stuff to reach/line up. Failing that, you can remove the LCD panel (I'm guessing this is an LCD monitor) and electronics and mount them anyway you like.

[dusty citrus]

yeah it's a del lcd viewsonic vx2253-mh

I really need surplus wood for stuff like that.....

It would probably hold if angled at max and glue to a piece of wood with some strong glue

I mean it does hold if I put it over two books, if those two books were woods I could try to find a support steel thing above an 1 high behind and in front so support it vertically

[proven olive]

I've seen some adapters on amazon for monitors like that. It's a vesa mount that goes way down and plugs into where the stand does, so. Might not be the most secure thing

[dusty geyser]

Hi

[dusty citrus]

It got cancelled I guess, I mounted it on some spare wood and put screws upside down but I accidently knocked it and front plate broke

so I put in back into the box in archive storage... probably going to have it recycled

and the next one will have sure have vesa holes in the back 😠

it was very obsolete anyway, and I have a couple of screens like oled, pi display etc... it's more the computers for them that I lack

also I have a military operation against my bicycle in less than 3 hours

[dusty citrus]

I don't like that phase when you order something and have no news and wonder if it will take 2-3 days as promised, or 3 weeks, or 3 months or 3 years

The other rule is sometimes you have no news and all your orders arrive at once ?

The best I ever had was 2 delivery peoples from 2 different companies arrives at the same time at my door then another one 5 minutes later (like they opened the building door for the 3rd one) 🤣

[edgy apex]

Got my carsifi in, it works as advertised. I'm going to use it to conveniently help myself avoid summer traffic around here.

[late fulcrum]

I have trouble discarding working LCD panels, I just seem to keep reboxing them.

[dusty citrus]

yeah that annoy me too, but it come down to an economic opportunity cost decision

It would probably cost more than a cheap new one to make it "work" again without falling

so at some point I have to cut my losses...

Been looking at hole saw kits and it's a bit more expensive than what I expected 🤣

[late fulcrum]

I thought the case was just broken and the panel and electronics were okay, so the cost to rehouse it would be small. Granted, you can drive just the panel with a converter, but that involves spending some money.

[dusty citrus]

I have no idea if the electronics are okay after falling

[late fulcrum]

Meh, I rarely use hole saws, I usually use a rotary tool or jigsaw to cut larger openings.

[dusty citrus]

My long-term plan is to get better with wood and make an humidity resistant enclosure for it

so I could maybe put it in the bathroom

For my joystick project it's mostly 0.5" holes to hammer a pushbutton in and fix it solidly with a nut

[late fulcrum]

For the bathroom, I might make it into a "magic mirror"

[dusty citrus]

Also, I won (well we with the employees running the bike shop rental place) against that freewheel

We greased the bearings and on my new rim as well etc

The expensive project I would attempt as an e-bike but it lacks maturity

Mirror / fridge / scale are kinda off-limits for me though because I don't want them to communicate and conspire against me 😦 🤣

For mine it would be mostly to listen to music in the bathroom and watch a movie

also couldn't find a satisfactory solution to prevent my TV from falling off the stand, might have to pay to have it mounted on the wall 😦

Moved it yesterday and been worried it will tip over ever since...

Most strips screw into the tv stand but mine is glass

[dusty citrus]

do you think a magic mirror would work with TAP plastics black led acrylic ?

[burnt tendon]

Maintaining bike hubs can be a wheel problem.

[dusty citrus]

I changed my wheel so I had to transfer my freewheel

the tire/tube will need to be transfered too but I haven't gotten my rim tape yet

and since I don't want to have two different wheel I'm changing the front wheel too

Windows IoT Core would be great on a magic mirror 🤣 ducks

Kinda had to schedule my week over my deliveries...

[dusty citrus]

Is it true that rotary tools such as dremel 4000 are better for thin metal rather than wood ? Do you know the max thickness of wood it can work with ?

[late fulcrum]

I have no idea. I just carve stuff up.

[wooden schooner]

I doubt there is an exact max thickness, it's more like the dremel will do whatever you can get it to do. As a friend says, wrong tool for every job, but it does do every job.

The bits I have used to cut stuff are wheels like this https://www.lowes.com/pd/Dremel/5003444467
The limit on thickness there is just however far in I can fit the wheel in (including flipping the piece over in the clamp). Never got a straight cut with it in my life, even when I was trying.

Granted, I have absolutely no skill, but my impression is that people who do have skill move to other tools when they need a precise cut.

[dusty citrus]

I see, I thought it could only do like circle hole and nothing squarish because it kinda dig a hole by rotating. Sommeone at my fablab told me that you have to wood file it to a square

[wooden schooner]

I basically agree with that. If you need a real square, use a saw; if you want a quick kind-of square via dremel, you can make a rough cut and then use a conical grinding bit and/or sanding bit.

[dusty citrus]

I can't really have a dremel anyway, fablabs have one, but I don't have the vertical stand with lift thing

even with my future drill I'll be limited since I can't hold a piece

[wooden schooner]

Oh yeah I don't have anything like a drill press either, I'm working with the $23 Harbor Freight rotary hand tool and a Workmate 125 portable workbench

Dremel brand bits though; the off-brand bits are bad

[dusty citrus]

I don't see the portable part of the product name 🤣 Can't really fit that in a backpack right ?

Is it heavy enough for a vise ?

[wooden schooner]

I don't do serious work, so yes it is a serviceable vise for most of my modest needs

I'm mostly grinding little plastic bits for gizmos

Your point stands of course

[dusty citrus]

yeah that's what I plan to do, with wood for weight (for my joystick project for instance) as I'm going to put metal tractor/industrial switches in there

Is that the one you have? Maybe this one doesn't come with a vise ?

[wooden schooner]

Oh I just meant clamping the piece between those two pieces of wood (they screw in, independently on each side so they can clamp straight or on a slight angle)

[dusty citrus]

Only problem with the APEM led button switches is that since I'm not ordering 100000 of them they don't come with etching and at 20$ each I feel kinda scammed by this

[wooden schooner]

Or just use them as an anchoring surface for another clamp

[dusty citrus]

so I'm trying to find another supplier.

I know that they are probably easy to etch myself, but If I pay full price and the datasheet mention icons I should have that option tooo....

[weary fiber]

I know people like to dunk on javascript, but I LOVE how easy this stuff is in js

Like... I want a function that takes an array of objects, compares a specified parameter, and returns an array of the objects that pass the check

maybe I'm inexperienced in other languages, but the built-in callback syntax & nested-attribute-renaming features just make things so much cleaner

[honest jolt]

I do snake case in JavaScript lol

What editor?

[weary fiber]

VS Code, Halcyon theme

[dusty citrus]

For me it's not really a dunk thing, more that JS/CSS are the only web standards

[honest jolt]

JavaScript is fine, only the fact that it tries it hardest not to throw an exception can be pretty annoying

[weary fiber]

Yeah actually gonna ammend my stance

For any production app, I always prefer typescript

purely for the above reason-- javascript typing is a little too wishy-washy for me to feel comfy

[wooden schooner]

Yep, associative destructuring for the argument list of an anonymous function. It's a nice feature that JavaScript was definitely not the first to get, but it's still good 😄

[honest jolt]

associative destructuring for the argument list of an anonymous function
pro talk ✨ lol

[wooden schooner]

I'm a sucker for an elegant language lol

haven't jumped on the Haskell train yet though. Haskell's pattern matching (algebraic data types) is destructuring on steroids

[honest jolt]

Doesn't seem that elegant to me 🤪
Definitely not my fault (sarcasm)

[wooden schooner]

oh hah, I was definitely not saying that JavaScript is elegant. I haven't actually looked at ES6, I'm just working under the assumption that it's a technically-backward-compatible complete overhaul of ES5 that actually has a chance of being good.

this is based loosely on what I hear from friends who use it.

[honest jolt]

const and let are nice 🙂

(Pretty sure they were introduced in ES6 lol)

[wooden schooner]

yes, definitely a big improvement

[honest moth]

dang i need to dust off my javascript again...

[lapis bluff]

Always liked those, ever since I first used them in MAClisp in the 1970s!

[wooden schooner]

MAClisp has const?

[tardy badger]

I did it, I signed the offer letter for my second professional engineering role 🙂

[wooden schooner]

woooooo congrats!!!

[tardy badger]

Thanks! I’m super excited to be an embedded engineer 🙂

[wary herald]

Nice job, man. You deserve it

[tardy badger]

Thanks 😊

[lavish hare]

First part of the 5 part docu-series on Makers was released this Saturday. Here's the link

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/watch/league-extraordinary-makers/rise-makers-2669411

[dusty citrus]

I was looking at european cities for fun today and I was shocked that the width of the most populous one are smaller than the bus distance to get from home to my job that is in the same city

and it seems that generally canadian/american generally are much larger than european ones (besides capital)

In belgium, a suburb in my city is literally another populous city for instance

[dusk oracle]

that was fun piced up the pico-8 fantasy console

it's got a few small issue's

but really fun to play with

[hoary loom]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTB5XhjbgZA A nice video I came across about segmented display designs.

[subtle fable]

The sweetening power of 760 pounds of sugar, all in the palm of my hand

[wooden schooner]

Starbucks matcha powder!?

[subtle fable]

No it’s neotame, a sweetener 13,000 times sweeter than sugar

[wooden schooner]

Oh so not quite as sweet as a Starbucks matcha

(I'm kidding)

[tardy badger]

First big tax payment sent… ugh…

I hate the US tax system

[dusty citrus]

Finally got a coffee machine after almost 20 years of suffering instant coffee

[weary fiber]

VFDs for the win

[dusty citrus]

got my new electronics storage box but didnt expect it to not be empty :rofl:

guess I could use the bobber as casing...

[hoary loom]

Looks like your IC's are gone fishin' 🎣

[dusty citrus]

was on special and it ended so the 15$ storage box is now 40$

But very satisfied, will keep an eye for another special out for I can get a storage version instead of this one which is for portability

[fossil scaffold]

Friend gave me his old HP 54112D that recently broke. May try to fix at some point, throws BUS ERROR: so I suspect memory has gone bad.

Beautiful bit of vintage though.

[dusty citrus]

How do you figure out how to repair such thing and if it works if it's good enough to works for its purpose since it's a sensitive test equipment and a worn component could easily affect it ?

[fossil scaffold]

No idea, hahaha.
I had the space and figured I'd hold onto it, and recycle it through the proper channels if nothing comes of it.

[late fulcrum]

I would guess a loose connection or bad electrolytic capacitor.

[dusty citrus]

Looks like a space shuttle to me, doubt I could ever repair something like that even if I had unlimited time due to orbiting a black hole

I hope to reach that point though that I could repair old electronic test hardware because I really like the looks of the 1990s ones

[fossil scaffold]

It's about as old as the space shuttle. ~1987

Definitely wish I had the time too, hahaha

[dusty citrus]

I mean these seems sort of repairable but I expect 1990s digital ones to have huge NSA encrypted programs on their chips and nothing looks testable with a multimeter

[real falcon]

in least its not sucuide batteries type lol

(old arcade consoles had excrupted and randomized opcodes, which is corrected by chip that forgets proper sort if battery dies)

[dusty citrus]

If it helps (also you avoid the adwall)

[dusty citrus]

That's why if I bought an old electronics like that I'd show up and would have researched it and would know from the service manual how to do self-diagnostics on it

If it doesn't power up, pass, same if major tests fails like the one in @fossil scaffold case

[static flare]

gods im so jealous that looks really nice

[dusty citrus]

?

[static flare]

the HP 54112D

[dusty citrus]

oh yah, personally I'll wait until I have enough $ for a 4-channels 50mhz digital rigol

[dusty citrus]

oof almost had a fire

but apparently my long curtains have a bad smell chemical that get released with heat. Thermostat was at low temp but apparently not enough for the a/c unit so the heater started like crazy

[drowsy zephyr]

guys, question
if i were to ask what's the urgency of learning electronics engineering, what would be a good answer?
because i swear, the more i think about it, the more i thought that electrical engineering, at least electronics engineering, is like the least important subject compared to other big shots like architecture, pure science, or health
are we tho? like when we look at the situation of our world today, do you think that we're now less significant than what we're used to?

[lusty fossil]

I mean

Do you like the internet? Logistics? Heating? Cooling? 1000 other things? They all rely on electrical/electronic engineers

[drowsy zephyr]

internet -> IT guys?
Heating and Cooling -> non existent other than AC guys and repairmen
Logistics -> business management guys perhaps?

i mean, yes it is true, but idk if it's urgent ya know

i can't say internet because there's a huge assumption that it's mostly the IT Guys turn to thrive in that field

besides this question is for a scholarship interview test

i'd bet they'd prioritize more doctors than electronic engineers

[lusty fossil]

Who designs the servers?
Who designs the heaters? The control boards? The PID code?
Logistics, PCBs all over the place.

[drowsy zephyr]

i guess

[late fulcrum]

Which saves more people? Who designs EKG machines? X rays? MRI?

[drowsy zephyr]

i see

[lusty fossil]

Like...this is the silicon age. Electronics engineers have never been more vital.

[drowsy zephyr]

not for a third world country imo

[lusty fossil]

This isn't to say other professions aren't important and valuable

[drowsy zephyr]

especially a corrupt one

[lusty fossil]

especially for a developing nation

They need to build their infrastructure

[drowsy zephyr]

i feel like my country would need more honest politicians, smart and benevolent ones, and then from that, architectures to build infrastructures

after the whole part of my country gets equal progression comes the technological era

that's where the EE people comes in

because what use of a phone in a village with no electricity

[lusty fossil]

Any infrastructure that's worth much is going to incorporate Electronics and electricity in general. It's just got to

[drowsy zephyr]

well that'd be the jobs for people that studies high power application

[lusty fossil]

You need Electronics to make a grid function. It's not just pylons and cable

Then to use the electricity for more than basic heating and light, you need electronics

[drowsy zephyr]

hmm, okay

still doubting those reasons but, i'll keep that in mind

hmm, but is there some truth in my notion tho? like is EE becoming less significant?

i feel like IT is now the new super star

[lusty fossil]

There's a trap to fall into

To think there's one killer career

There are dozens

[dusty citrus]

Not sure if you are from a third world country but I helped foreign student I went to uni with during covid and a common issue is brownout is the very high cost of electricity. They make do with what they have and often use tiger-type generators that are really noisy. A cheap microcontroller like a duino with a relay can really help optimize things when power is at a big premium

The usual thinking is buy the cheapest thing they can find on alibaba, put money together to order 100 of them (like those generators) then "rent" it and try to fix the problems that come with the cheapest things. I've never seen better reverse-engineering skills in my life and the amount of resourcefulness

a brand new one on a large bulk order is around 70 USD$

and can put up to 4kv

[drowsy zephyr]

i see

then what about scholarship priorities

most of the programs that i saw prioritizes majors relating to healthcare, infrastructure, environment, and social problems

not engineering

[late fulcrum]

I can understand the healthcare one: that education is particularly expensive.

[drowsy zephyr]

See?

I dont understand why social studies gets more prioritized

Shouldnt engineering be more expensive than social studies

[tardy badger]

Public education since we need teachers

Most people going to college for social studies likely will end up teaching

Oh wait

Wrong social studies lmao

Social problems is important because things like depression and unaliving yourself due to depression and social issues is on the rise. We should be working to end those things. So I can see why we fund those programs

[drowsy zephyr]

I see

[dusty citrus]

surfing the hype

[tardy badger]

I will note that infrastructure is pretty broad so that would likely include at least a few engineering topics like mechanical, electrical, civil, and architectural engineering.

[dusty citrus]

another step done so I can do better projects: got my drill

[stray wind]

Please do not disparage others on this server. We expect you to be welcoming and inclusive to everyone who joins us, and we expect the same of them.

[lusty fossil]

Quick question: Why were all the infinity stones in OUR galaxy?

[lapis bluff]

Well, it wasn't exactly the same meaning, but a variant. Since LISP is intrinsicly call-by-value the literally same meaning was sort of intrinsic, although you could pass variable names to get the effect of call-by-reference, and you could declare variables to be constant, to get the same effect.

[dusty citrus]

easier for filming on location I guess 🤣

[wooden schooner]

IIUC you're saying that a binding could be declared const and this meant that set! would no longer be allowed for that binding?

[lapis bluff]

set! is not LISP, that'd be setq, but yes, that was the effect.

[wooden schooner]

ah whoops, you caught me, Scheme-head here 😄

[lapis bluff]

Scheme is OK, too. But it wasn't invented until several decades after LISP made it into my microcode.

[wooden schooner]

1975 was several decades after LISP had made it into your microcode?

[lapis bluff]

Oops, memory fault. I thought it was later in the 80's. oops. I guess that's when I was exposed to it. Sussman was actually one of the people whom I learned LISP from.

[wooden schooner]

IIRC, the OCW lectures from that course are from the '80s

[dusty citrus]

what would be a good alternative to pi for industrial use that can be coded in C/C++ or C# ?

PICs ?

[wooden schooner]

I appreciate how small and simple Scheme is. It's not a coincidence that PL papers frequently use it as the basis for their toy languages.

@lapis bluff Gerry Sussman is great. Have you seen the recently published Software Design for Flexibility by him and Chris Hanson? It's a sort of sequel to SICP that came out of another course he taught

[dusty citrus]

I feel the same way about oCAML, would never use it because I find it hard to comprehend but it's used on military embedded system and it's surprisingly fast and elegant once you understand the syntax

[lapis bluff]

Oh, I knew Chris (when he was a student?), but I'm having a hard time remembering details (other than his middle initial, his login was CPH) from back then.

[blissful roost]

Holy wingnuts...

https://www.nvidia.co.uk/Download/driverResults.aspx/187837/en-uk

[lusty fossil]

I saw!

[blissful roost]

Published the source code to a variant of the NVIDIA Linux kernel modules dual-licensed as MIT/GPLv2. The source is available here:
https ://github.com/NVIDIA/open-gpu-kernel-modules
and will be updated each driver release. Please see the "Open Linux Kernel Modules" chapter in the README for details.

Err... Might have to give that a try tomorrow.

[fossil scaffold]

Another o-scope y'all might find interesting

• "portable" battery powered spectrum analyzer

Both work. Very cool

[late fulcrum]

Those are quite nice

[static flare]

oooh nice

[dusty citrus]

Hi, I'm sorry but I had no luck on reddit, and this server has proven to be helpful...

anyway, how do you calculate the sum of different wavelengths? like green+red=yellow

red is 650nm
green is 550nm
yellow is 580nm

650+550 ≠ 580nm
so just adding numerically in that way, won't work

also I'm not asking on why we do associate those wavelength as colours, but rather how does the sum between wavelengths work

[late fulcrum]

As it happens, that hinges directly on how those wavelengths are perceived as colors. Green light plus red light is still green light and red light: no yellow is created. But it's perceived as yellow, because yellow light stimulates both red and green photoreceptors.

[wooden schooner]

Wao

[blissful roost]

Yeah..... Finally.

[wooden schooner]

Does this mean Canonical (Ubuntu) will have less of a monopoly on deep learning infrastructure?

[blissful roost]

Who? Lol

[late fulcrum]

Now if only there could be a truce in the Apple-nVidia feud so I can use my nVidia chips for AI again.

[wooden schooner]

The company that puts out the Ubuntu Linux distribution

[blissful roost]

/s

[wooden schooner]

Better safe than sorry

[lapis bluff]

The way the eye does color (and thus how you percieve the mix) is a very complex function of receptors which (more or less, although mostly less) turns into three values of certain percieved values. Your brain then analyzes those and creates the concept "Yellow". And I know this because my brain does it differently than most and my results therefore differ. I had it explained to me by an expert once.

[blissful roost]

I prefer my distro more Minty.

[wooden schooner]

Hope they stay pure...

[blissful roost]

Which, of course, is *buntu

[wooden schooner]

Delet snap34

[blissful roost]

I believe that's all disabled anyway

[dusty citrus]

oh thanks. but how does for example an rgb led "accurately" display a colour that you do give to it? I mean using a library you could say to it to display a secondary colour, but there can be variances, between primary and secondary colours, how does it exactly calculate what sort of primary colors to give off that specific secondary colour?

[blissful roost]

Yeah, snapd is disabled by default with Mint.

[wooden schooner]

My understanding is that Mint was largely a reaction to Ubuntu pushing Snap, at least at first

[blissful roost]

I believe it was due to Gnome3 initially being utter crud.

[wooden schooner]

Oh TIL

[late fulcrum]

The short answer is it calculates the relative response of the various color receptors for a given color, then sets the LEDs to the result.

[sick adder]

https://eventhorizontelescope.org/blog/astronomers-reveal-first-image-black-hole-heart-our-galaxy

[sick adder]

a friend notes it looks a bit like the Ubuntu logo

[burnt tendon]

Not only is the universe a simulation, but it's running atop Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

[dusty citrus]

so that's where the plastic o-ring bottom of my blender went that I dropped in a wardrobe and never found despite extensive archeological searchs

[honest jolt]

Veritasium did a nice video on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1bSDnuIPbo

[sick adder]

Thanks for the link, it was a good video. Also, very quick work by the creator.

[nova minnow]

yeah fr

I was surprised to see it come out so quick lmao

[edgy apex]

I love being able to plug some boards into my laptop with usbc to usbc cables. I'm gonna get some of these too for micro usb boards
https://www.adafruit.com/product/3879

[stray wind]

They're super handy.

[edgy apex]

I love all the unique cables that don't cost much

[edgy apex]

I got one of these to try out in the computer museum. Intended to go home assistant -> mqtt -> hid -> adb to turn on/off an old apple computer. If it's works then it will probably be our go to board for the rest of the things we need to make for the computer museum, which is turning on and off the computers that take a bit to boot up. The plan is to find ways to turn those computers on and off from home assistant using the metro. They will be turned on at the start of the tour due to the boot time and then when you press the button at the computer it will do keyboard stuff/mouse stuff like open a game or text editor/type or something.
https://www.adafruit.com/product/4775

[fossil scaffold]

:(

[wary herald]

That's interesting

[pallid summit]

Should i read this book ?? Trilogy of Magnetics: Design Guide for EMI Filter Design, SMPS & RF Circuits https://g.co/kgs/WwkoyX

[pallid summit]

Or their is better book for magnetics ???

[tardy badger]

Probably a book on electromagnetic wave propagation

[late fulcrum]

That's a good book if you want to learn about transformers and inductors and how they're used in filters, power supplies, and RF circuits. If you're looking for more general knowledge, there are other books.

[edgy apex]

I got Twitter pictures and Instagram pictures working on PiGlass. You just select Twitter Pic or Insta Pic from the menu, you see the preview for 5 seconds and then it gets uploaded to one or the other.

[honest moth]

ssd failure imminent. bad sectors are already appearing.

...

im done.

i'm flipping done

I'M SICK AND TIRED OF NEARLY EVERY PIECE OF TECH DECIDING TO YEET ITSELF OFF INTO THE VOID WITHOUT MY CONSENT.

bad day.

hope you all are well.

[sick adder]

https://archive.org/details/things-of-science-329-computer/mode/2up "Things Of Science #329 Computer" (1968) Sadly, the referenced punch cards don't seem to be included 😦

[fair summit]

I had a subscription to Things of Science for years as a child. One of the best was a tiny blurry hologram.

[drowsy zephyr]

eyyo, how do you identify which part is shorting on your pcb?

do i have to multimeter everything? smoke is coming out but i don't know from which part

[crystal ore]

If smoke is coming out, you can probably just look for the scorch mark on the failing chip, and trace the short from there.

(Though this kind of sounds like a doctor saying, "Darn it, I'm trying to examine this patient, but there's so much blood everywhere I can't see anything!")

[drowsy zephyr]

true, but does that mean i have to break my pcb to fix it?

Well, what about this? I suspect that L1 is the shorted component because of the scuff white marks around it because that it's also present when pcbs are heated up

But idk

[crystal ore]

If you suspect L1, then I'd just start checking for shorts in the circuitry involving it.

[drowsy zephyr]

okay, so, multimeter the hecc out of it?

@crystal ore a friend in another server also suggested using isopropanol alcohol, what does that mean?

drench the pcb then plug it in to see where it fumes?

[crystal ore]

I'd assume so, yeah. It evaporates at a low temperature, so you'll see where it dries up before chips start to genuinely smoke with any luck.

[drowsy zephyr]

apparently it's not L1

but it's near an inductor

or at least what i think

a coil of copper, inductor right?

bah, i couldn't locate the spot where it fumes

the circuit got a pretty smart circuit breaker

which one would be the most likely to fume?

Alright, so, here's the general vicinity of where the fumes originated from, i suspect that it's from one of the components inside the red circle

there's a diode (that's a diode right?), a copper coil (inductor?) and a regulator i think

[dusty citrus]

couldn't you take a pic with a good phone camera, then invert negative it ?

should show the smoke with some filters in gimp letting you see more easily where it's coming from

[drowsy zephyr]

ah, yeah, that could work

[crystal ore]

You can also (carefully!!!) use your fingertip as a temperature probe.

[drowsy zephyr]

alright, guys, can anyone tell me what are the q chips?

[crystal ore]

Typically "Q" is used for transistors.

[drowsy zephyr]

ah yeah

i think that's the part

hmm

how do you check if a chip is broken?

Any idea on what kind of q chips or transistors they use?

[crystal ore]

If there are any chip markings you might be able to make a guess, but other than that it'd be tricky.

[drowsy zephyr]

alright, got em

mosfets

how do you even check if a transistor is broken?

[crystal ore]

If it's shorted through some of its pins, that's probably a bad sign.

[drowsy zephyr]

well, it does short

but im still not sure where

can't pin point the origins of the fuming

[crystal ore]

You can also compare it to one of the other transistors, assuming they're the same part.

[drowsy zephyr]

compare it how?

[crystal ore]

Like if pins 2 and 3 are shorted on one part, but not shorted on all of the others, then that would be a sign that the first one might be fried.

[drowsy zephyr]

how do i even know if it's shorted on that part?

so i just check it with the multimeter?

[crystal ore]

It might not be, if those pins are shorted elsewhere in the circuit connected to the transistor, but it's at least a data point.

[drowsy zephyr]

hmm

[crystal ore]

Sorry, there's no "tell me what's wrong with this board" button on your multimeter. 😉

[drowsy zephyr]

assume that this is the shape of the chip

is the top and one of the bottom chip should be connected/shorted?

if it's a mosfet

[crystal ore]

Hard to say without knowing the type and pinout, I'm afraid.

[drowsy zephyr]

hmm

ok

S and D, it should've act like a diode right?

so if i were to put the red probe onto the S and the black one onto the D, it should've shorted but not the other way around, correct?

[crystal ore]

I'm not sure whether your multimeter will count a diode drop as a short or not.

[drowsy zephyr]

dang

[tardy badger]

I’m considering torturing myself and designing a board that uses 0201 components… lol..

[lusty fossil]

Model train fans, what kind of glue do I need to glue buildings together?

[blissful roost]

Well, that's entirely down to the materials you're using....
PVA tends to be a solid contender for most materials.

If it's plastics, then poly cement is an obvious pick.

[lusty fossil]

Hm ok, I would have included the material if i were sure

But the listing doesn't say

I think it's wood?

Could conceivably be cardboard

[fair summit]

wood glue, if wood, like Titebond, Elmer's wood glue, or use CA (cyanoacrylate), "superglue"

e.g. https://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/p/274510/3128296.aspx

[lusty fossil]

I'm learning about CA + Accelerators

[fair summit]

i built model railroad structures, but that was 50 years ago

i probably just used Elmer's white glue at the time

[lusty fossil]

I'm realizing that 1) I don't have clamps/holding mechanisms and 2) this is going to be an expensive present

[fair summit]

painter's tape might be enough for holding

[lusty fossil]

Good idea

Thx

[fair summit]

do you need to paint it afterwards?

[lusty fossil]

I don't believe so

I think it comes painted

Just have to glue it together

[fair summit]

it might be molded styrene if it's pre-painted

[tardy badger]

Has anyone made a massive keyboard or macro MacroPad with the massive kailh keys Adafruit sells?

I’m thinking about doing it lol

[blissful roost]

I always thought CA would soak into the wood too much to be useful.. ??

[lusty fossil]

I can get wood glue as well

[fair summit]

CA comes in different consistencies; ther are formulations that are thicker

[lusty fossil]

I got medium

[river wasp]

hey im thinking of soldering also soldering the rp20409

[tardy badger]

Hey

[river wasp]

do you know what temperature I should stay under to not damage the chip?

[tardy badger]

Keep within the solder profile range for the paste you use

[tardy badger]

Ugh… I hate this formula shortage

[lusty fossil]

Yeah it has me worried

[honest moth]

Update: I have decided what distro I will be using.

some of y'all will hate me for this, buuuuuut...

I'm going with Arch.

[tardy badger]

Lol

Arch is a solid choice

As are most stable linux distros

[tardy badger]

My wife went to 4 stores and only found 2 small cans 🥲

[honest moth]

Agreed, and I can say without a doubt that Ubuntu long-term stability is difficult to maintain for me.

[lusty fossil]

It's rough. Could get really bad

[honest moth]

nevermind, that's my pessimism talking. for long-term stability, it just takes a bit of tinkering.

[tardy badger]

Our issue is people who don’t need hypoallergenic formula are buying it in lieu of their regular formula, usually not wanting to go to another store that would have their preferred type.. leaving people like me hunting six ways to Sunday for even a single can

[lusty fossil]

Ahhh

[tardy badger]

We have to use hypoallergenic

My son can’t eat anything else

[lusty fossil]

My heart goes out to you, I am an allergic adult who was an allergic infant

It was hard for everyone involved

[tardy badger]

My children were all burned with a milk lactose and protein allergy

My oldest son up chucked violently, my daughter became so constipated and sick from it, and my third child who is currently on it breaks out in hives on his face

[lusty fossil]

If it helps, there's a good chance it will make them more empathetic

[tardy badger]

My wife ended up chewing someone out for buying all the hypoallergenic formula at a store, the only reason for doing so was because they didn’t want to drive to another store that had what they needed.

[lusty fossil]

What brand do you use?

[tardy badger]

Whatever brand hypoallergenic we can find that is similar to nutramagen or Alimentum

[lusty fossil]

How do you tell if it's similar?

[tardy badger]

Usually the Walmart or Target store brands

[lusty fossil]

I can see if my store has it if you want

I'm not that far from you

[tardy badger]

It says “compare to similac Alimentum/Enfamil Nutramagen”

I’m in Utah, are you near?

I used to be in NC

[lusty fossil]

Not driving distance but reasonable shipping distance

[tardy badger]

We have to get us through a week and a half. Hopefully we can find some locally

I’ve got like friends and family looking all over for it

I’m glad that Amazon and EBay are taking down listings for scalpers trying to make a quick buck on the shortage

[dusty citrus]

what other shortage there is again?

[tardy badger]

The baby formula shortage

There’s other shortages but I’m just talking about baby formula

[dusty citrus]

how much do you pay it usually for kg vs now?
I'm not from us, I'm just curious

nvm I checked ebay lol

[tardy badger]

In the US we have two sized cans: 12.4ounce and 19.8ounce. For hypoallergenic formula, it can cost anywhere from $25 for the smaller can you to $40+ for the bigger cans

[dusty citrus]

can't you just import it from other countries? here lime 30 oz do cost 10~20 euros

[tardy badger]

Formulations are different and it’s not recommended

Especially for hypoallergenic formula

[dusty citrus]

bah usually are just excuses to monopolize the market
but I can understand that you don't wanna risk

[dusty citrus]

hey guys

I have question

[crystal ore]

The rule of thumb is to just ask it.

[lusty fossil]

<@&327289013561982976> I'm...not sure? Maybe needs a look

Apologies if over reaction

[dusty citrus]

Well maybe I'm having an overreaction too but I'd have pinged moderators, you beat me by 2-3 seconds

[idle lion]

No need for apologies. Thank you.

[proven olive]

Agreed, thanks for the ping. Even if it wasn't something that we had to deal with, we appreciate people being cautious

[lusty fossil]

Sure thing

[dusty citrus]

well of course the reflectors on my bike wheels were one-time use with a screw that auto-destroys itself when removed 😦

Another surprise expense...

[late fulcrum]

I got a pile of little nylon screws cheap from a surplus outfit once, now I use them for lots of things like that.

[dusty citrus]

Look like that but wont let it by rescrewed in by doing 2 turns just like I remove them

plastic is super flimsy and just get destroyed when turning, so I suspect they were manufactured directly on the old wheel. Can only find ones with these kind of screws on amazon

Behind it is some sort of adapter to attach to the spoke

[late fulcrum]

That seems like the sort of problem that would be addressed by some creativity. Maybe zip ties, or fabricate clips from paper clips or something like that?

[dusty citrus]

my bicycle isn't road legal without these.... guess I'll give them a try

Did a quick search and it seems nobody make the screw out of metal

[real falcon]

if you have 3d oprinter, would you be able to design something to hold it different way?

[dusty citrus]

honestly the only idea I have atm is that I wish I had a soldering gun to melt it in forever

I think the vibration from rolling etc, will quickly eject it and/or clips/zipties (zip tip along the y axis??)

[dusk oracle]

anyone know a discord for electronics in the field of agriculture?

been working on garden automation, i have a set of moisture sensors i built and planted acrross the garden, i put s esp32 on each one with a 500ma solar and a 18600 cell.
12 in total.
and i can grab a reading,.. now i'm planning on machine learning

or some math

to be able to take those numbers and be useful

but basically i am building a model based on soil quality, water evaporation at temperatures

ect

and i'm stuck

so i started thinking... more expensive

to only water area instead of the whole garden

meaning more pumps

actually

i'm doing this wrong

i need a electronic water valve

[late fulcrum]

AdaFruit offers a couple of them (product numbers 996 and 997)

[dusty citrus]

question: when there was the chip shortage, as when there was with stm32, why didn't industries just use other chips?
I don't think that redesigning would had been more expensive than waiting for months

[late fulcrum]

I don't know, but have some some guesses. 1) the engineers who wrote the software were contractors and are no longer with the project. 2) The factory has a huge stock of the support components for the original CPU. 3) If they change the CPU, all the support (firmware updates, contract line items, part numbers, etc.) would make it a different product, and contracts would have to be re-negotiated. 4) Products that have some sort of certifications would have to be re-tested and re-certified. 5) There could be pre-existing agreements with manufacturers that limit options. 6) The programming staff has experience, the development environment, test pods and gear for one architecture and it would be prohibitive to re-create all of it for another one.

[quartz wren]

I have some thoughts about pricing my game consoles and I was hoping to get some input

The materials cost estimate I ran was ~$10, I was estimating about a $30 normal retail cost, but I'm thinking I want to make part of the purchase helping to fund the donation of a free device to children in low income households.

If I donate assembly time for the free units as well, I can give one free console away for each $10 added to the price, the question is what kind of top price would be good because that works out to $60 getting you a console and giving 3 free ones to people who can't afford them

Actually $50 is a nice round number and gives a nice 1:2 ratio so that may be the price point I target

[tardy badger]

From my limited understanding, it is a bit painful going from programming STM32 bare metal to other platforms so likely a good mix of all you’ve mentioned here plus the spin up time and uncertainty if other chips would actually be delivered before STM32 chips.

Plus it was probably cheaper to idle production waiting for chips than redesigning a whole product

[edgy apex]

Now PiGlass v2 can voice tweet (not that great) Bluetooth keyboard typed tweet, picture tweet and video tweet. I could go live on Twitter if I had a higher level of access.

[dusty citrus]

ok, what should I solder/make

[crystal ore]

There's a huge variety of potential projects out there depending on your skills and interests. Anything from "make a LED blink" to "retrofit your car with full self-driving capabilities". Browsing through the Adafruit products and Learn tutorials might spark some ideas that appeal to you.

[dusty citrus]

oh

well ok

I soldered this anyway cause I was bored

wanna see it?

#show-and-tell

[honest moth]

kids these days may never know what it is like to squeeze more out of less, as in working with whatever hardware you are given no matter how crappy.

[blissful roost]

Give them a Z80...

[honest moth]

True. XD

[late fulcrum]

Or the ancestor of the Z80, the 8088/8080/8008

[blissful roost]

Indeed...

[honest moth]

dang, even I didn't know about those three...

[blissful roost]

I really must start ordering parts, either for the Z80.. or my Russian 8086.

[honest moth]

im curious...what can you use those things for?

in this day and age?

[late fulcrum]

This is the great grandpappy of the X86 line, housed in an 18-pin DIP. They're CPUs (albeit primitive ones), so you can do the same things you can do with CPUs in general.

[honest moth]

but what specifically? I mean, yeah they're primitive CPU's, but they're just that; primitive CPU's. I don't mean to offend, everyone has their hobbies, I'm only curious considering that the normal stuff we do with modern CPU's would probably be nearly impossible to pull off with these, unless you have a lot of them.

[dusk oracle]

that's why you use a modern cpu

[honest moth]

I was only around when Floppies were still in use, which wasn't that long ago, so I really have no idea.

[late fulcrum]

The only modern CPUs I know of are ARM and PowerPC, both of which are derivatives of designs from the 1900s.

[honest moth]

There's also x86-64

...blimey, I have a lot of old tech to read up on

[late fulcrum]

That's hardly a modern design IMHO

The current implementations are actually a fairly modern RISC CPU emulating the archaic X86 instruction set on the fly.

[honest moth]

So you're basically telling me that I can pull off what I do on my ThinkPad with these old things given enough tinkering?

[late fulcrum]

Right. Any "Turing complete" CPU should be able to do any task any other Turing complete CPU can do, but it may take more or less time to accomplish it.

[orchid zephyr]

https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkx1HTTiu3TIi5WVzlmHkiyRwv-8Oyr2fey

[honest moth]

Fascinating...

[late fulcrum]

If you wanted to get extreme, you could use the oddball 1-bit MC14500 CPU

[honest moth]

yeah no thanks, just learning the basics with the ones you mentioned above will be enough to get my brain ticking and whirring XD

thank you though

[late fulcrum]

Note that the breadboard I pictured is another old CPU, the 1802, which was ahead of its time in several ways. I'm trying to get it to run useful stuff.

[blissful roost]

I think the main point is "because we can".. 😁

[honest moth]

i love you all

[blissful roost]

Especially when you can build a modular Z80.. and turn it into an MSX, an Amstrad CPC or a Sega Master System..

[honest moth]

cool

[blissful roost]

I've actually got a Master System 2, which I'm going to rip down for parts.

[crystal ore]

On the plus side, now you can use this as an excuse for next time. "You want me to do X? Oh, no, I'd better not... remember the last time that I screwed up the SD Card? It'd be safer for me not to touch your computer again."

[lusty fossil]

I really, really want my job to buy me one of these global industrial workbenches

I'm supposed to be getting a new desk, and I'm going to argue as hard as I can for a technical workbench. It's wildly expensive but....it's so nice

[late fulcrum]

Ikea used to sell a really nice modular workbench but I think they discontinued that model. Industrial auctions can be gold mines if you have access to a truck. Failing that, you can DIY stuff out of extruded aluminum and pegboard.

[lusty fossil]

Yeah the aluminum stuff gets expensive

[late fulcrum]

Or you could just pay list for one of the Global Industrial ones.

[lusty fossil]

Pay list?

Oh list price

Yeah

I won't get what I want, I'm just dreaming

[burnt tendon]

Or just go mad with Misumi extrusions. You can get 'em pre-cut.

[edgy apex]

I finally fixed my 3d printers. The mk3s needed a new hotend and the ender 3 just needed some maintenance. It's good to be able to print again... If I had filament 😆

[honest moth]

relatable.

So, I got my hands on a GeForce 9500 GT from my friends recently...

can't get a pic on here rn, but i have no idea what to use it for.

any ideas?

(This thing is older than my Sapphire 7870 GHz Edition, so I honestly have no flipping clue.)

[blissful roost]

An age-appropriate retro machine?

2008-ish, so... Q6600?

[honest moth]

so a processor roughly the same price of the modern and improved equivalent, despite it being older.

[blissful roost]

Less than £10, for the CPU alone.

Just so happens... I've got a spare CPU, board and RAM.

[honest moth]

wait what

[blissful roost]

😁

I've got a pair of Q6600s and some DDR2 laying around.

..and a SATA RAMdrive.

Intel P945 motherboard... I think.

[honest moth]

how

[blissful roost]

Just old junk I've kept.

I'm still running a Xeon X5470.

Straight outta 2008.

[honest moth]

ayyo!

sick

[blissful roost]

Lol

I need £600 for a reasonable upgrade, but... It's tough.

[honest moth]

i feel you all too well my friend

[blissful roost]

Yeah... Debts suck.

[honest moth]

aye

what's your most up-to-date machine rn, if not that one?

[blissful roost]

Probably the ThinkPad X220t

i5-2520M.

Then there's the dual Xeon X5670.. in the PowerEdge T410.

Those are both DDR3.

2011/10 respectively.

[honest moth]

blimey, that is actually pretty amazing

Lenovo ThinkPad T450s over here, with a Core i7-5600U

[blissful roost]

🙂

[blissful roost]

I only buy machines I know will last. lol

[honest moth]

i'm a bit of a newbie at this, so idk if this will last or not, but given the history of thinkpads...

if I treat it nicely, it should.

[blissful roost]

I want a top-spec X230, so I can mod it.

[honest moth]

nice choice!

For me, next laptop/PC: Framework.

and you can* guarentee that I am putting Linux on it.

[blissful roost]

👍

[honest moth]

can't guarantee that it will be Arch though. it'll probably be something I build from scratch. :P

anyways, back to getting things sorted out in preparing this machine for transcendence beyond it's physical shell.

have a good one!

[blissful roost]

👋

[honest moth]

P.S.

TLP is overpowered.

[wary herald]

Cryptomining lol

[blissful roost]

Lel

[late fulcrum]

Neural net training

[honest moth]

yeah good luck with that, especially since the crypto crash.

...actually, how about no luck at all? Let it all burn.

[late fulcrum]

Oh, it finally happened?

[edgy apex]

I am working on a project with a ESP32 Feather V2. I wanted a case for it so I printed one of these. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2209964 After I printed it I realized that the usb plug hole was too small (for micro) so I used tinkercad to modify the case slightly so it would fit a usb c plug. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5388303 Now I have a decent case for my project.

[static flare]

I keep thinking how cool the Pi400 actually is

[blissful roost]

Huuummm

[static flare]

Oh what's that?

[blissful roost]

Pi Zero 2W and an IBM keyboard.

[kind knoll]

Anyone worked with Arduino here? Thinking of getting a pro micro

[thick wind]

I wouldn't be surprised if most of us have at least touched it at some point. What seems to be the question?

[kind knoll]

Well, I'm thinking of getting a pro micro for prenks, and I've been recommended to get one with a atmega328p but can only find ones with the atmega32U4

Or is that the same thing

Oops nevermind

Got it solved

[thick wind]

Those are very different haha

[kind knoll]

the guy who recommended it made a mistake

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32840365436.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.705d4705Kyjw06&algo_pvid=8033fe64-206b-400f-adb6-840cc2e95eda&algo_exp_id=8033fe64-206b-400f-adb6-840cc2e95eda-1&pdp_ext_f={"sku_id"%3A"12000024749657051"}&pdp_npi=2%40dis!AUD!!10.47!!!5.33!!%400b0a555916528812765624290e2abb!12000024749657051!sea

I'm thinking something like this

[thick wind]

For USB devices, that should be a good choice. Considering people have built actual keyboards with those guys, spoofing one should be a piece of cake.

[kind knoll]

Wooooooo

solid

I just have to think of some funny stuff to do

To mess with a computer

stealthily

and petty

so it doesn't cause damage

[thick wind]

Oh, I see you've already dipped your toes into it with the Pi Pico. Any reason you're buying Arduinos now?

[kind knoll]

Hahahahahaha

Made the rick roll code

slowly

and painfully

caps_lock + macs = hell

[kind knoll]

idk it's scarily addictive

at least i'm learning something with this

and also the C++ experience is something i should at least try

[thick wind]

Oh, you can do that with a Pi Pico as well. If you install the RP2040 Arduino core on the Arduino IDE, you should be able to use what you already have for pretty much the same experience.

[kind knoll]

Ahhh ok

I feel like I need to gain traction on code in general

I still don't understand half of it

[blissful roost]

If you understand the other half, you're doing better than me.. lol

[thick wind]

Switching between CircuitPython and Arduino can be a bit confusing at first, since they're pretty different from each other, both in terms of syntax and upload. However, it's pretty easy to switch back to CircuitPython at any point if you feel Arduino isn't for you, so worth a try before you start buying and hoarding more microcontrollers than you need.

[kind knoll]

ok then about a 100th

true

[thick wind]

I've been there, and done that, so that's just me speaking from my experience.

[kind knoll]

that's good advice

[blissful roost]

My understanding amounts to "code is a thing".

[kind knoll]

Say I wanted to wirelessly connect my pico to another device and run commands from my computer, how would I go about doing that?

[thick wind]

Oh, the Pi Pico has no wireless radio for such a thing. You would either have to look into using a different board that does have wireless capabilities, or attach a separate wireless module/board to your Pico.

[kind knoll]

I see

What board would support that kind of thing?

[blissful roost]

You could use a Raspberry Pi, of any kind... SSH onto it, or remote desktop.

[kind knoll]

Basically, I want to do exactly what I did in this video, but using a wireless adapter instead and running the command from my computer

[thick wind]

If you're connecting with your computer, you have a couple of options to choose from. For addon modules, the most common option would be an ESP-01 WiFi serial transmitter?
For separate boards, a Pi Zero is indeed an option, though that's pretty much attaching a small computer to another computer. There is a way to have it appear as a USB keyboard, but I've never tried it. If you don't need to have all of that, you could also consider an ESP32-S2 board, like the QtPy ESP32-S2 https://www.adafruit.com/product/5325. This one's nice because it's CircuitPython-compatible, so getting a USB keyboard going is exactly the same code as you already had with your PI Pico, but with the addition of WiFi radio, you can set it up as an access point or connect it to the local network and communicate over wifi.

[kind knoll]

hmmm ok

[thick wind]

I think the QtPy is perfect since it's tiny and you really don't need many GPIO, but it's functional and can even handle a mini webserver to let you access it from a web browser on the same network, if you configure it as such.

[kind knoll]

My brain is toasting

[thick wind]

Oops, maybe too much info at once.

[blissful roost]

I'm actually tempted to set up my old Model B, 512MB, to work on Arduino stuff.

[kind knoll]

Hahahah all good I appreciate it

[blissful roost]

Get another Zero 2W for Pico stuff.

[thick wind]

tl;dr ESP32-S2 is great, native USB + WiFi = lots of potential for cool stuff.

[kind knoll]

Was about to say I should consider getting that

So it's a single board? Or would I hook it up with the pico

[thick wind]

Single board