vik

vik, 11 months ago to random

There's a review on a paper that's a great put-down of the concept of renewable aviation fuels here. TL;DR Hydrogen & batteries are too heavy for long distance, and biofuel would require the additional cultivation of land the size of Argentina. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUAaO3r_7Bc

Airships FTW!

vik, 3 months ago to linux

3D Design tool for needy kids, the search continues.

We have old laptops to loan out to kids from poor backgrounds. They don't have internet. 2D design we have covered with #inkscape, and the laptops run #linux well (but not Windows). What I need is a 3D design program. Suggestions welcome.

vik, 18 days ago to homeassistant

Configured an #ESPhome #HomeAssistant device up with two buttons on it, and an 18650 battery. Battery doesn't last overnight, which is a bit disappointing. I need something I can stick on a wall that runs forever off a CR2032 (used to have those with the ancient X10 system).

vik, 10 months ago to RaspberryPi

@scruss Found another problem with USB storage emulation on #CircuitPython on the #raspberrypi Pico. If you have the drive mounted and do suspend/resume on the PC, drive interactions on restart can stop the python code running!

vik, 7 months ago to linux

Ok #Linux bods, transferring files via wifi to/from an Android device. How?

KDE Connect, a corrupt-o-tron. Bluetooth, takes forever. Airdroid, fail a minute AND slow. SSH, very dependent on access permissions and needs setting up/starting/restarting in advance. All the populist touted ones, web GUI and offsite data transfers. My quickest reliable zero config solution is to send Note To Self through Signal, but can't do batches or specify the target location. Surely there is a better way by now?

vik, 1 year ago to random

It turns out that hydrogen isn't a benign gas when it comes to global warming. When it leaks (for which estimates vary from 0.1-10%) in manufacture, shipping, and use, it prevents methane from breaking down and increases low-level ozone, both significantly increasing the greenhouse effect.

vik, 8 months ago to random

SWMBO asked me to get the pool ready for the inevitable hot weather. All doing well until the winds. Blew in a lot of grass, tree, confused sparrow etc. which blocked the filter basket. Pump stops on timer, backlash blows the basket+crap out. Next day, pump starts, sucks in all aforesaid crap and much, much more, packs a sad.

Pump is clear. I am wet. Beer time.

vik, 10 months ago to random

The company EV saga is nearly over. We've found that EV's are good for 95% of travel, so we're dropping one of the PHEV's from the fleet (which will mostly run as EV anyway) and spending the money on a massive solar array.

vik, 1 year ago to random

Still waiting to see whether that Chinese "spy balloon" was actually spying or not. Presumably the US government has finished its analysis and produced some justification for all those sanctions and so forth, right?

Right?

vik, 2 days ago to homeassistant

#HomeAssistant is going well, but I need to move all the devices to another network SSID and password. Searching for how to do this is basically full of "why would you do that?" but no solutions that don't involve manually diving in to the config "secrets" - followed by replies saying "don't do that!" Well, security is one reason. I can't be alone here, right?

vik, 3 months ago to uk

Folks in the #UK, my old colleague Dr. Adrian Bowyer is running a petition:

"New rules for manufacturers of medical device implants

We believe it should be made illegal for manufacturers of medical devices implanted into patients to regularly charge the patient for upgrades or maintenance."

It also calls for "IP" to be released if a manufacturer fails. I feel this subject is important enough to ask you to disseminate the link. Thank you.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/656376

vik, 1 year ago to random

Hmm, appears Android does not support international USB keyboards.

vik, 6 months ago to random

Trying to submit a presentation to @everythingopen but can't seem to get anywhere in the website that lets me submit one. Got my speaker profile sorted and saved. Running short on time here...

vik, 4 months ago to random

Nothing quite demonstrates that your journalists are clueless about firearms than when they show lumps of wood used to display telescopic sights...
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/506745/100-000-guns-put-on-firearms-registry

vik, 18 days ago to homeassistant

Further adventures with #HomeAssistant and #ESPhome show that a Dallas 1-wire temperature sensor can be wired up via a 4K7 and it just works! Greenhouse temperature now monitored, option to send "It's bloody cold out here you know" messages enabled. NZ-compliant wifi socket for the heater on order...

vik, 7 months ago to random

Well, the fancy programmable kettle died faster than even I had anticipated, so that went back and we now have a more traditional cordless one with no bloody CPU.

vik, 1 year ago (edited 1 year ago) to random

Well, the #Arduino -triggered Paiute rat trap works.
I'll just get my scraper.

vik, 7 months ago to RaspberryPi

So the #Quirkey code for the #raspberrypi pico version has now been updated to trap USB errors and reset if detected.
https://github.com/VikOlliver/Quirkey/tree/main

vik, 10 months ago to Arduino

Anyone seen a small XY touchpad (~35mm sq) around? I'm after something to connect to an #Arduino or #raspberrypi. Got a million and one other things to do but...

vik, 10 months ago to random

So about these clean, pure mountain springs...

vik, 4 months ago to random

Breadmaking problems: The dough is way overprooving in the breadmaker at these temperatures.

vik, 3 months ago to random

Beloved Darling wishes me to be a plumber today and fit a new mixer tap.
I'm practicing the names of exotic male-female couplings, sucking air in through my teeth, and making up large numbers.

vik, 11 months ago to random

The US Navy picked up the sub implosion 1 3/4 hours into the dive. This is a zero survivability event. So why the 4 day media circus?

vik, 20 days ago to homeassistant

What they shouldn't tell you in the #HomeAssistant manual: Use the Supervisor Panel. It no longer exists. The Control Panel a quick web search tells you to use instead no longer exists either...

vik, 11 months ago (edited 11 months ago) to random

#EV users, do you usually charge up at home: