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CompuCat
Blog
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The machines, 2023The machines (updated)(Vaguepost) Friends, acquaintances, and
time, or: a recollection of what once was.The machinesPerspective, or the beauty
of an older Internet
About

TOOTS

by @compucat
Lana

1990 Internet: You gotta be a hacker to find anything on the web

2000 Internet: Literally all the information in the world accessible to everyone
so easy a toddler could do it

2020 Internet: You gotta be a hacker to find anything on the web


2024-05-24 19:06
[Boosts]:93[Favourites]:10
compucat

Interestingly enough, I think I took a photo almost every day in 2020. Never
done that before or since.


2024-04-22 1:57
[Boosts]:0[Favourites]:0
compucat

Finally reorganizing my digital photo archive - and incorporating all the random
DCIM directories scattered around my various disks.

There are some interesting trends over time - for instance, percentage of photos
shot on camera vs. iPhone.

I've also taken fewer photos since 2020 for some reason.


2024-04-19 18:49
[Boosts]:0[Favourites]:0
compucat

Current mammoth task: unifying the hodgepodge Downloads folders on my various
client devices into a single organized reference library.

Like I should've been doing all along, given how many datasheets and whatnot are
mixed in there.

Also turned on "ask where to download" in my browser - feels like IE6 again, but
forces me to think before just sending something to ~/Downloads.


2024-04-01 17:39
[Boosts]:0[Favourites]:0
compucat

Does anyone know if this exists? Looking for a Polaroid-esque camera that prints
to thermal paper. Major bonus points for simplicity of operation and lack of
network connectivity. It must have a reasonable telephoto lens, which pretty
much rules out the cheap Amazon/AliExpress units.

A cheap phone plus AliExpress Bluetooth thermal printer is a consideration, but
I don’t trust their bespoke ad-heavy apps.

Android POS hand terminal looks interesting, but again: I suspect the software
side will be a hurdle. Building a custom app isn’t worth the time cost.


2024-01-03 16:43
[Boosts]:1[Favourites]:0
compucat

Mildly interesting realization: it's easy to create a stack of conversational
tangents, but (for me at least, and I suspect others) it's an order of magnitude
harder to traverse that stack backwards. (You start forgetting things more than
2-3 tangents deep.)

That's a podcast idea, actually: idle conversation, but with some gimmick to
periodically force people to (fail to) remember the first thing on the stack.


2023-12-27 19:36
[Boosts]:0[Favourites]:0
Unixbigot

“The signal is repeating! We’ve got the whole thing.”

“How many bits?”

“Almost 500k. 454,957 bits”

“I got a hunch, factorize that number”

“Bingo, seven fifty seven times six oh one. Think it could be a rectangular
bitmap?”.

“It’s what we used to do back before those assholes let Arecibo fall down. Try
bm2png.pl in my bin dir.”

“That worked. Holy shit I know that image. It’s the Pioneer plaque. That diagram
from Pioneer 11 of human figures, and a map to Earth.”

“What, thats impossible, it’s only been, what, 70 odd years. That probe would
still be in our own Kuiper Belt.”

“Outside it, actually, it’d be about one sixty AU out. They lost contact in the
mid 90s. Still basically in our backyard but.”

“It’s too soon! If someone’s found it now, that would mean. Shit. They’re.
Already. Here. Inside the Solar system.”

“And all they’ve got to say, is ‘Hi, we liked ur meme’.?”

“Maybe not, can you bring up an image of the original plaque? Are the images
identical?”

“I’ll do a layer subtraction. Hey, there /is/ a difference. In the map of the
planets. They’ve omitted Pluto from their copy.”

“Fucking hell. Little green reply guys.”

#Tootfic #MicroFiction


2023-12-18 0:22
[Boosts]:82[Favourites]:5
mae

just discovered the tombola m4l device and its a literal adhd trap-

infinite boops anyone?
#music


2023-12-17 23:26

[Boosts]:5[Favourites]:1
phonner

I gave my geometry students some ChatGPT-generated "proofs" this week to review.
There were several examples, each designed to illustrate a different point. One
was a "proof" that the diagonals of a rectangle are congruent, which contained
several errors. I was proud that several students immediately identified how
dangerous it was: "It sounds like it is correct, until you look more closely at
it."

#Math #MathEd


2023-12-14 2:16
[Boosts]:26[Favourites]:1
compucat

tfw the uC module you're using is *one* pin short


2023-10-18 16:30
[Boosts]:0[Favourites]:0
jaseg

Here's a neat trick for SWD/JTAG-debugging boards that use scary voltages, when
you're afraid of toasting your computer: Some wonderful person on github has
ported the #blackmagic firmware to those dirt cheap ESP8266 wifi modules (the
cheaper old generation), so you can just plonk down an ESP-01 footprint and your
target shows up on your wifi with a GDB remote exposed on a TCP port.

It's hacky as hell, but I got it to build for a stock 1MB flash module.
#embedded #electronics


2023-09-23 23:59

[Boosts]:7[Favourites]:0
compucat

Man, language-learning is frustrating sometimes.

I studied music seriously up until I went to college - at which point my
engineering degrees took up too much of my time. (That, and figuring out how my
brain works.) Listening to music voraciously developed my ear quite a bit, but
my fingers are years out of practice.

More importantly, my sightreading has deteriorated horribly - which is the real
frustrating bit. That's going to take some time to build back up.


2023-09-21 20:51
[Boosts]:0[Favourites]:0
gsuberland

ADHD people: switching between things very quickly.

also ADHD people: tasks must be challenging enough to be engaging, but not so
challenging that it triggers frustration intolerance.

... this is literally impedance matching.


2023-09-12 6:53
[Boosts]:35[Favourites]:1
compucat

The joys of selfhosting mail: tried to fix an IPv4 routing issue and
inadvertently made my server into an open relay instead...because apparently
Postfix implicitly trusts 172.x.x.x addresses???

And I got blacklisted because of it, rightfully so.

Yaaaaaaaay.


2023-08-24 19:50
[Boosts]:0[Favourites]:0
compucat
re: Couple of workflow musingsShow more

Musing the second: I'd like to align my home and work workflows a bit more. Home
is almost 100% centered around a very Linuxy environment; work is unfortunately
heavily reliant on the MS suite. Linux on my work machine would honestly be
pretty feasible were it not for some SDKs I work with that are entirely reliant
on running within Windows. WINE won't work, and it doesn't entirely like VMs.


Sensitive2023-08-07 17:38
[Boosts]:0[Favourites]:0
compucat
re: Couple of workflow musingsShow more

I'd love to get back to a single consolidated note platform; I've floundered
between various scattered platforms in the decade since then. Obsidian feels
like the logical choice, though in my time using it I still haven't overcome
this not-quite-polished feeling. Mostly because I still maintain rich content in
Markdown sucks, and everything we do to make it work feels like a stack of
hacks.


Sensitive2023-08-07 17:35
[Boosts]:0[Favourites]:0
compucat
Couple of workflow musingsShow more

Many years ago, my notetaking workflow was pretty darn well solidified in two
places: OneNote for general notes, and OneDrive for my LaTeX math notes.

This was back in grade school, and this worked well until BYOD iPads were
introduced - which effectively enforced Notability as a notetaking system
alongside my existing note stack.


Sensitive2023-08-07 17:30
[Boosts]:0[Favourites]:0
compucat

Just tried @thaytan's Monado driver for the Rift S - works like a charm. Thanks
so much for writing that!

Looking forward to the day 6DOF inside-out controller tracking is
implemented...and an army of nerds will delightfully throw away the proprietary
Oculus stack for good :)


2023-07-06 5:49
[Boosts]:0[Favourites]:2
compucat

Multimeter confirms it behaves like one too. Forward voltage is a little low,
but hey.


2023-06-23 16:44
[Boosts]:0[Favourites]:0
compucat

Update: I think my first measurement was wrong. Measured it again and it seems
to match an SOT323. Guessing it might be a BZB784-C5V6 dual diode.


2023-06-23 16:42
[Boosts]:0[Favourites]:0
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Recent Posts
The machines, 2023 The machines (updated) Still here... (Vaguepost) Friends,
acquaintances, and time, or: a recollection of what once was. The machines
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GREETINGS, WANDERER!

You've found the homepage of CompuCat! Read more about me here.
This homepage is a combined blog and personal repository for projects of all
sorts.

Parts of this site are woefully out of date; I haven't had as much time to write
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You can view content by category using the navbar above; or, simply look below
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The machines, 2023
Alex blag hardware 05 October 2023

Hi, it’s been a year! I have far too many drafts and far too few blogposts, per
usual.

Read more
The machines (updated)
Alex blag hardware 02 June 2022

My machines have changed since we last spoke - here’s a brief update.

Read more
Still here...
Alex general personal meta 14 December 2021

Hi, I’m still alive. The last year was kinda rough - still is, rather - for me.
I’ll try to write a proper catch-up post at some point, but finals are killing
me right now.

Read more
(Vaguepost) Friends, acquaintances, and time, or: a recollection of what once
was.
Alex blag personal retrospective vague 28 December 2020

Years ago, I knew somebody once. Here’s to the discarded bits and pieces that
make up a mote of my memory.

Read more
The machines
Alex blag hardware 16 December 2020

I wouldn’t be a self-respecting nerd without a good couple of machines around,
now would I? Each has earned their name through our time together, one way or
another…

Read more
Perspective, or the beauty of an older Internet
Alex blag journaling retrospective exposition 10 December 2019

Moments spent reading through the online journals of Internet users before me
have led me to an admittedly obvious realization: this truly will be a snapshot
of my mindset like no retrospective could ever be.

Read more
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