attie

attie, 5 months ago to random

I'm getting more and more frustrated with the Stack Exchange policy of bringing old questions to the top.

A question that is 4 years old, with no resolution and no follow up doesn't need to surface in front of me like a big overly-fluffy yak - if it intrigues me or I feel I can help, I will try to shave it.

I'll often only spot it's old once it's too late. I need fewer distractions! 🙈

Perhaps I should slip further down the "participating less" slope, but that feels bad too.

#YakShaving

attie, 6 months ago to random

There are often times when I'd like to say "thanks for replying!"... but what to do?

Marking a toot as favourite isn't right... in part because larger accounts will almost certainly turn those notifications off - I did, and I'm small.

Replying "thanks" feels like clutter for the other person, who may be overwhelmed with notifications already.

Not doing anything feels rude / entitled to that response.

Any tips / preferences?

b0rk, 6 months ago (edited 6 months ago) to random

does anyone have tips for how to make sense of git merge histories like this? do you use git log --first-parent? git log --topo-order --no-merges? something else? how can you tell if commit A was merged before or after commit B? what if there are "backwards" merges like in the 3rd screenshot?

(no "just make the history linear” or "merges are bad" takes please)

mattblaze, 6 months ago to random

Ad networks are at least flirting with technologies that monitor microphones in devices to target ads, according to this story: https://www.404media.co/cmg-cox-media-actually-listening-to-phones-smartspeakers-for-ads-marketing/

It's unclear whether this is currently going on, but it's very clear it could.

What are the legalities here? In particular, is it wiretapping? Can the government get access to data collected this way? My colleagues @SteveBellovin, Susan Landau, Stephanie Pell, and I explored this and more a few years ago: https://jolt.law.harvard.edu/assets/articlePDFs/v30/30HarvJLTech1.pdf

attie, 6 months ago to random

Does anyone have particularly favourite methods for electronically marking PCB revisions? I've done a few things over the years, but I'm interested to hear if anyone else has shiny methods - perferably avoiding extra BOM line items where possible.

Some of my previously-used schemes and ideas below. 👇

attie, 6 months ago to random

Just go and watch it. A really great video about electricity flow and transmission lines and stuff. Watch to 3:30 and then place your bets! (A,B,C or D)

I wish ye olde name for voltage was mentioned, as it's very relevant:

> Historically, voltage has been referred to using terms like "tension" and "pressure".

(note to self: I really need to watch the others in the series)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AXv49dDQJw

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltage#Definition

attie, 6 months ago to random

I've just finished this design as a christmas gift for someone - it's a small (~50mm long) stamp used to place a signature mark on pottery / ceramics. The "nose" has their signature, reversed, and cut away, so that the final product will be a small rounded recangle with their signature mark embossed.

There are a few details that I'm especially proud of, like the curved and ridged finger grip, the orientation feature that extends forwards and backwards, and a loop to string it up.

A render of the same item, seen from the rear. From behind, two holes of a through-loop can be seen.

attie, 6 months ago to random

I can't tell you the number of times I've started writing an email to outline a problem (often to a vendor)... and while gathering information to support the report / request for help, I've spotted something else I could investigate... and that then leads to a solution.

Writing good issue reports isn't only helpful for the person on the receiving end, it often helps you resolve the problem yourself!

🦆 #rubberduck

attie, 6 months ago to random

Does anyone have recommendations for a good / robust USB CAN interface?

I've always just used a board I designed + candump, but I'd like to upgrade!

• CAN 2.0B, USB & Isolated
• Windows & Linux support
• "Good" software with decode, filter, etc...
• Capture function (including timing and errors)
• Ideally a "replay" function
• Ideally CAN-FD support
• Ideally Python or similar API

I've seen CANable (Isolated or CAN-FD, and sold out) and PCAN-USB FD / CL2000 (🤑).

attie, 6 months ago to random

Uhoh... what does this mean?

I found a couple of ATA errors in dmesg, and it then hung on soft reboot... a hard reboot later and it "seems to be fine" 😳

attie, 6 months ago to random

I got a couple of these "LCD Writing Tablet" things - on a whim, out of intrigue, and for kiddo to scribble on.

One 12", and one 6.5".

It's honestly very-not-terrible, and kiddo loves it.

The smaller one has a sharper / thinner line, but they're both pretty great.

Any sharp-ish pressure on the "screen" will leave a "mark" (fingernail, supplied stylus, etc...), and pressing the button cycles the panel back to blank / black again.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B098JHYJF7

azonenberg, 7 months ago to random

Starting to polish up the lecture for my probing class more and build out the lab as well.

Anyone want to give feedback? Here's the first of ten sections (introduction), which I think is pretty much done.

https://www.antikernel.net/temp/sec01-opener.pdf

attie, 7 months ago to random

I wish this trend would go away.

Discord will boot you off a call if you open a second tab.

Element will just fully refuse to operate in more than one tab.

attie, 7 months ago to random

I was intrigued, so I clicked... I found the result fairly entertaining.

... then, while typing this, I remembered we're not in the EU any more. 🤦‍♀️