@bigzaphod@mastodon.social
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

bigzaphod

@bigzaphod@mastodon.social

You may know me from Twitterrific or Frenzic: Overtime or as the ex-galactic president. I'm just this guy, you know?

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

bigzaphod, to random
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

Tonight's movie night movie will be, "The Core (2003)." None of us have seen this one before, but it fits right in with our "turn of the century disaster movie" kick that we've been on. Can't wait to see how deep the plot goes!

(Yes, I said "turn of the century." It's technically true! No, I don't like this fact either!)

bigzaphod, to random
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like.

bigzaphod,
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

If I had known this was going to be as painful as it turned out to be, I may have seriously considered just trying to design a PCB and having it manufactured professionally. Cuz wow.. this was... well.. not fun, exactly.... More like yikes.

I don't think I've ever actually built anything on one of these prototyping boards before. Probably should have started with something a bit... simpler?

Oh well - it seems like this part of my idea is working anyway. Still a lot more to do/experiment with.

bigzaphod,
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

It seems like it should be possible to 3D print a PCB. I suppose it probably is, but it's likely some hacky process that requires a better printer than I have, special materials, more equipment, and hours of wrangling software tools that were probably never meant to work with each other.

bigzaphod,
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

Maybe I should get a CNC mill... that could do it, right? Should be able to mill out a PCB design on a copper coated plate, I'd think? Plus it could drill holes. This probably exists too but is probably too expensive.

bigzaphod,
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

@Luke omg I want it.

bigzaphod,
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

@sanguish I ran across an article that tapped a marker to a 3D printer and used it to draw the lines on a board and then did the etching the old fashioned way.

jackamick, to random
@jackamick@mastodon.social avatar

@gedeonm does this count as a twitterrific knock off? 😅

bigzaphod,
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

@gedeonm @jackamick @piraino lol

bigzaphod, to random
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

Was doing a little soldering today. Messed up, of course. Wanted some solder wick to try to fix it. Didn't have any.

It's times like this that I really hate that my town no longer has a single proper hobby/electronics store that I'm aware of. There's nowhere to go to grab stuff like this when you suddenly need it on a Saturday afternoon. There's nowhere to buy extra resistors, or LEDs, or microcontrollers, stepper motors, breadboards, etc.

I have to order everything.

bigzaphod, to Ds9
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

They should put seatbelts on the Defiant.

bigzaphod,
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

@gedeonm this episode has James Cromwell playing an alien.

gedeonm, to random
@gedeonm@mastodon.social avatar

Getting Five Guys for dinner. Right after I make a withdrawal from my savings account… 😳

bigzaphod,
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

@gedeonm yeeeeah. Can't afford to eat there with a family at all.

bigzaphod, to random
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

This https://www.macrumors.com/2024/05/17/ios-17-5-bug-wiped-devices-photos-resurfacing/ is kinda bad, but it's probably NOT actually a bug anymore - it's probably only happening now because they fixed the original bug that prevented the originals from actually being deleted in the first place.

At least... I hope so!

They really need to comment on this, though.

Edit: Okay, I mean, obviously it's still a bad bug, but maybe it's on the server side now. Which is especially bad. But they could fix without an update.

They need to comment on this.

bigzaphod,
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

That said, though, as far as I can tell, this latest version of the story - that photos reappeared on a wiped device seems to be sourced to just that one single Reddit user.

The earlier variation where iCloud photos reappeared seems quite plausible to me and apparently happened to a large number of people. This one, though, if true, would be... like... an epically colossal fuckup.

But considering it's seemingly just one person saying it at this point... I dunno.

bigzaphod, to random
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

There's a part of me that loves to see log messages flying up in the console. It's like... satisfying? Things are happening! Look at all that computing! The gears are grinding, the bits are flowing, stuff is getting done! Hell yeah!

Wait, what was that one? What did it say? I think that was wrong! COME BACK HERE! DAMMIT THERE ARE TOO MANY LOGS...NOOOOO!!!!

christianselig, to random
@christianselig@mastodon.social avatar

Dumb question, but if I bought one of those "MagSafe stickers" on Amazon, that are traditionally used to give an Android phone MagSafe-like-stickiness, could I instead use it in reverse, and stick it to a non-MagSafe accessory so it would stick to my iPhone?

For instance, say I want to stick it to a banana so the banana magnets to my phone

bigzaphod,
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

@christianselig I have nothing of substance to add to this conversation.

bigzaphod, to random
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

A picture of Teal'c from Stargate SG-1 saying, "Indeed."

bigzaphod, to random
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

Nobody: ...
Absolutely no one: ...
eBay:

bigzaphod, to random
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

Last night I was doing more scheming and planning for my next electronics project. I'm going to have some buttons/switches that will need debouncing. Possibly several. With the way I know to do it, I figured it would take around 14 components JUST to deal with all the inputs.

So.. got lazy... and searched around and found this company that makes chips for debouncing: https://logiswitch.com

Saw you can order direct from them. So I ordered a couple.

bigzaphod,
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

This morning I got an email from the CEO that was like, "Hey thanks for ordering, is this for a commercial or personal project?"

And maybe it's automated, but maybe it isn't, but I replied anyway because it seems kind of neat. I imagine most people just order from a place like DigiKey or something but I happened to find their website and they are happy to sell them individually - which was surprising.

bigzaphod,
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

It's one chip, Michael, how much could it cost? $5?

bigzaphod, to random
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

“Gowron’s Eyes” would be a good Klingon death metal band name.

bigzaphod, to random
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

Going to start a new conspiracy: The flat sun theory.

bigzaphod, to random
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

Which comes first… async or throws? try or await?

I always get these wrong no matter which order I attempt first.

It's like a USB-A plug!

Does this make Swift USB-compatible?

bigzaphod, to random
@bigzaphod@mastodon.social avatar

I got a real life loupe to use when trying to read some of the SUPER TINY print on integrated circuit packages, but after a quick test, I think it's too powerful. Or maybe the focus point is fixed in a bad spot for what I wanted to do because the chip has to be flat on the table with the loupe flat on the table over top of it to work.

So I'll probably have to get a less powerful one or maybe a basic magnifying glass or something like that.

But in the meantime I can see the pixels on my iPhone!

Extreme closeup of the Iconfactory logo with visible lines between columns of pixels.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • JUstTest
  • everett
  • rosin
  • Youngstown
  • ngwrru68w68
  • khanakhh
  • slotface
  • InstantRegret
  • mdbf
  • osvaldo12
  • kavyap
  • cisconetworking
  • DreamBathrooms
  • ethstaker
  • Leos
  • magazineikmin
  • thenastyranch
  • modclub
  • GTA5RPClips
  • tacticalgear
  • provamag3
  • normalnudes
  • cubers
  • Durango
  • tester
  • megavids
  • anitta
  • lostlight
  • All magazines
    •