@buzzyrobin@chaos.social
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buzzyrobin

@buzzyrobin@chaos.social

Buzzy-brained birb 𓅫 | they/she 🏳‍⚧ | aspec | minis, swords, cats, electronics and web dev

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buzzyrobin, to random
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[thinks a bit]
actually I think computers have been shit for a long time, and I much prefer computing of the present.

I think the only reason I enjoy retro tech is that it’s like medieval reenactment; I can have my fun, but then pack my gear and go back to my microcontrollers, a laptop with 3D modelling and video playing, and a desktop PC with a kinda-old VR headset that lets me fucking fly convincingly-real planes. I don’t have to go back to leeches and uploading files via cPanel or whatever.

buzzyrobin,
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… But also things like running your own fedi node, vs running a BBS with multiple phone lines, or hosting a forum (where from? how are you convincing your ISP to open up port 80, or paying for the bandwidth?) and keeping said forum from becoming a hacked and spammed hellscape, or running IRC (ditto). Inevitably with one or more of these being done by ‘yeah, we borrowed the university’s net connection’.

buzzyrobin,
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Today’s computing still isn’t great; we still gotta keep breaking out of walled gardens, and boy there are some big economic problems and unaccounted-for externalities, and maybe all of this [waves arms at thread] is only possible because of The Horrors. I don’t know. I’m not sure how to proceed other than using + repairing what we have, trying to minimise harm, and turning systems back on themselves where possible.

uh. insert your own galvanising?conclusion here, grandma’s going back to bed

buzzyrobin,
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There’s a bunch of proprietary shit baked into computing these days, and tightening lock-in, but I feel like the possibilities for escaping that are a lot better too.

I mostly think in terms of hardware; computing power (that something like the mnt pocket reform is even possible and hand-assemble-able still makes me :U), storage (I can host jellyfin and a pile of media in a lil box), and connectivity (a friend and I dreamed of a multiplayer x-wing game in primary school; look at XWAU now), …

buzzyrobin, to random
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I roughly use "number of browser tabs open" as a lagging indicator for my stress / burnout / how on top of things I am.

uhhhhh okay, so, umm,

buzzyrobin, to random
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The new Tangara prototype case showed up! Like the last one, it’s translucent polycarbonate that’s been CNC’d and bead-blasted.

(This one is the @ErinRose special; she’s pulled the case sides in further, fixed the button reliability, done a bunch of CNC optimisation work, and overall made it look nice.)

Same, but the cases are now standing up to show the difference in length as well.
The case halves, showing the insides, on a desk. They’re translucent, as the post-CNC bead-blasted finish leaves a lightly-textured surface

buzzyrobin, to random
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A little project while I wait to see if I picked up the roni from a friend who didn’t know they had it (oops 😰):

Restoring my old CH Flightstick Pro. The second button was a problem before it stored it away. I know (and am confident) enough now to fix it, ~25 years later😅

Another angle of same, except you can see the edge of the slim red trigger around the front.
The stick part opened up, showing the simple wiring. There’s a few Omron B3F-4050 tact switches seated in the molding, with press-fit cylindrical button caps / tubes that fit on top. There’s a 4-way hat assembly that’s made up of a four tact switches mounted in plastic attached to a PCB. Five black screws held together the stick casing halves.
A close-up of the B3F-4050, out of its little spot in the stick casing, still wired in. The cylindrical grey button cap lies on its face nearby, showing the circular bit that press-fits onto the square stem of the tact switch.

jacqueline, to random
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hey can anyone recommend me a computer i’m in the market. any kind of computer should be fine!

buzzyrobin,
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@jacqueline try IBM Personal Computer XT 5160. you will certainly not regret IBM Personal Computer XT 5160

jacqueline, to random
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laptops are very convenient. but they are also, ergonomically, an unmitigated fucking disaster.

buzzyrobin,
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@jacqueline [waves in ~17 years of RSI] yeeeaaah. sorry you had to find this out

buzzyrobin, to random
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still feels kinda wild to just will stuff into existence

My little ThinkCentre, underneath a desk, with the clip attaching it to the side of desk drawer unit; the clip is 3D-printed in white PLA.

buzzyrobin,
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see also

Me holding two of those parts, printed in white PLA, next to a wobbly / unsupported metal stalk that sticks out of a metal cone, forming part of a floor lamp.
The printed parts, inserted into the cone, keeping the metal stalk stabilised and upright.
The lamp reassembled, with its paper shade rolled up and inserted into one of the cone parts. It is glowing softly.

buzzyrobin,
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and this

(This is version 2; I use some of the extra buttons underneath the sliding cover a lot, so wanted to mount the controller so they peek out. The bottom of the controller sits on the big nub, and the bottom of the sliding cover is captured by the little retainer.)

The holder, printed in beige PLA, screwed into a window frame.
The controller put into the holder, the slider peeking open a bit.

buzzyrobin, to random
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wow

jacqueline, to random
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gender available upon request

buzzyrobin,
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@jacqueline minimum gender quantity

jacqueline, to random
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next year i will develop a cd player. then a tape player. you can't stop me. nobody can.

buzzyrobin,
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@jacqueline ctz gramophone

buzzyrobin, to random
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doing a little bluetooth testing on my tea break

(sorry for the wobbly cam and/or my grubby bench. took a quick vid for uhhh internal testing + feedback, eg. needing a pairing-in-progress UI state)

A little dark-blue Bose bluetooth puck and a Tangara. I'm pairing the former with the latter, it showing up as Deep Blue. The puck announces it as T-A-N-G-A-R-A-7-0-B-8 and says it's connected (接続済みです). I switch back to the main menu, and resume playing an Ednaswap album, as Jojo (a cat) screams in the background demanding food.

buzzyrobin, to random
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doing some silly shit with tiny computer bits

Close-up of the screen; it has the Lenovo and Energy Star logos, but the entire screen is sideways.
Same screen, showing a sideways Linux desktop.
The back of the screen, showing a little DIY HDMI cable connector setup, and approximately seven wires just to hook up power and ground to a USB-C port. It’s kind of comedic actually.

buzzyrobin,
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update: my mini screen didn’t work for the Debian installer, so I used its TTS mode and stumbled through the install steps (I would anti-recommend doing complicated partitioning schemes this way 😰)

works now

Same, but I’m editing the boot config to add “fbcon=rotate:1” to the linux boot line.
Login screen (for ‘LCARS’) displaying now, in landscape orientation.

buzzyrobin,
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Further tiny-monitor update:

(Next up: a little internal screen mounting shim, fix for how it goes together at the bottom, a mounting plate for the ports at the back, and some stuff to do with the little power button on the front.)

The inside of that same shell, showing the inner connection points, with a pile of removed tree supports nearby.
The mostly-assembled mini monitor, USB and HDMI ports sticking out the back through the gap the mounting plate will go. Blutak is keeping the front half together.
The same, viewed from the front, with the screen in place.

buzzyrobin,
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(Context: I’ve been gradually modifying + fixing + printing parts from this model: https://www.printables.com/model/654635-retro-desktop-pc-raspberry-pi-case)

buzzyrobin,
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alright, good enough for now

The inside, showing the ports mounted uhhhh kinda messily with a combination of plastic shelf and bracket supports and hot glue gun sludge.
The front of the tiny monitor, small enough to sit in my hand.

buzzyrobin, to random
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environmental storytelling

A DisplayPort plug, with a little USB plug next to it, crossed out in red, "Not USB" written underneath it.

buzzyrobin, to random
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finally got the m625q out of the box, and even though I’ve seen one irl it still strikes me how comically teeny they are. just look at it!

(mouse and my ramshackle prototype tangara for scale)

buzzyrobin,
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One downside: I went to test my little HDMI screen, but the M625q is 'only' DisplayPort; guess someone didn't wanna pay the licence fee. 💁‍♀️

Serious question: the port is marked as DP++, but I can find nothing that'll tell me what version of DisplayPort this is (an accordingly whether I need to buy an active DP-to-HDMI adapter or if I can get away with a passive one). The box is an M625q 10UY ThinkCentre. Uh. Help? 😅

jacqueline, to random
@jacqueline@chaos.social avatar

people email me questions about tangara. i am angry i cannot just end all my responses with "hope this helps!" bc of how strongly that phrase is linked in my mind with passive aggression. i do hope it helps!!!

buzzyrobin,
@buzzyrobin@chaos.social avatar

@jacqueline HTH HAND /gen

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