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Well, I did some software work today so I can simulate arbitrary logic circuits using my tube logic gate now, at the blazing fast speed of 166 NORs per second and dump them to waveform files. I know logic operations are fungible and there's no way to detect the provenance of some bits, but I think it's cool that these bits were all, at some point in their lives, electrons on a ballistic trajectory through a vacuum-filled bulb on my desk.
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Jan 22, 2024 02:34
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 23:37 |
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fuckin sick
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Jan 22, 2024 03:05
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love this analog digital computer
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Jan 22, 2024 03:05
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Yeah that's pretty wild, right on
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Jan 22, 2024 07:44
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just admit that this is some sicko audiophile thing where you're going to do warmer richer digital sound
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Jan 22, 2024 11:12
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Jan 22, 2024 11:38
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Cybernetic Vermin posted:just admit that this is some sicko audiophile thing where you're going to do warmer richer digital sound I've been joking since I first thought to try this about running audio through it for that rich tube sound. Same vibe as audiophile grade S/PDIF cables. At 166 bits per second, though even a 3 meg 128kbit MP3 file from the stone age will take 40 hours so I'm not super eager to try just yet.
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Jan 22, 2024 13:44
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this might be overly specific but has anyone ordered pcb assembly from jlcpcb? how does it work if i want a component that's in their extended (not basic) library and isn't stocked? the component i'm looking at (a specific codec) has a minimum order quantity of 2, is it really reasonable to get like 4 or 6 boards made? and am i looking at weeks or months of turnaround for them to actually get the parts? I've used jlcpcb in the past but just for empty pcbs. this is just for goofing off, i will almost certainly never get more than single digits, so i don't need to preorder like 1000 parts or something
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Jan 23, 2024 02:22
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i've gotten a handful of pcba boards made by jlcpcb. a component in their extended library usually just means that it's something that takes a bit more work to put on the board, like they have to use a tray instead of a reel for the pick and place. the part being out of stock is a bigger issue - i have no idea what volume you'd need to order to convince them to buy a new reel/tray/tube. but they will absolutely do a small pcba run, from memory the minimum order is like five units if your special part is something that is reasonable to put on by hand just have them put the other 99% of the components on and do that last 1% yourself. i've gotten boards from them with all of the boring resistors/caps put on and just added the thru hole components and the one special low noise op-amp SOIC8 myself. usually turn around for manufacture is a couple of days, shipping is always the biggest delay time that extends actual receipt of the part to 2 or so weeks (USA here, YMMV).
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Jan 23, 2024 06:10
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cool, thanks. unfortunately the part i'm interested in is a tiny tqfn thing and the board wouldn't be much more than a breakout for it. though i have other projects that would be mostly basic parts
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Jan 23, 2024 06:52
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I did a small assembly run at pcbway a few years ago, with a new part that wasn't in their catalog (i don't remember if they even have a catalog) and it hardly cost anything. They did the sourcing and everything. You can even send them parts yourself and they'll assemble it I believe.
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Jan 24, 2024 22:11
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quadpus posted:I did a small assembly run at pcbway a few years ago, with a new part that wasn't in their catalog (i don't remember if they even have a catalog) and it hardly cost anything. They did the sourcing and everything. You can even send them parts yourself and they'll assemble it I believe. I couldn't find a catalog on their site with an admittedly cursory look, but good to know of options. I'll probably run a couple boards with more "standard" stuff on them first and see how it goes from there.
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Jan 25, 2024 03:09
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I started refurbing an old Selectric III I found at a thrift store for five bucks. Because I have masochistic tendencies, presumably.
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Jan 29, 2024 12:27
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some kinda jackal posted:I started refurbing an old Selectric III I found at a thrift store for five bucks. Because I have masochistic tendencies, presumably.
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Jan 29, 2024 23:40
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Yeah I should mention I'm starting with a mostly working unit. It has a few clicks and buzzes that are mostly just ancient grease that I have to get around to liquifying based on PT's videos but it already types and does everything I really need a typewriter to do in the year 2024 (which, I mean, is mainly just "exist"). It's just disgustingly filthy and it has that cursed IBM foam that disintegrates into literal tar when you touch it so I'm mainly going to be doing some cosmetics and sanity cleaning. I honestly have no real interest in typewriters but I found it in a thrift shop for a price just high enough to not qualify as "free" and I've always kind of wanted to see that mechanism up close. Because who doesn't love a big mechanical spectacle? Other than that it'll probably just be a cool little display piece that gathers dust. some kinda jackal fucked around with this message at 02:36 on Jan 30, 2024 |
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Jan 30, 2024 02:33
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some kinda jackal posted:Yeah I should mention I'm starting with a mostly working unit. We've all been there
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Jan 30, 2024 02:35
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I haven't excluded the possibility that I actually make this thing way way worse.
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Jan 30, 2024 02:37
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some kinda jackal posted:that cursed IBM foam that disintegrates into literal tar when you touch it uuuugh I'm praying nothing in the innards of the PS/2 that's arriving tomorrow has this crud in it. if I can get away with just replacing the bizarre 6V RTC battery and running the reference setup disk I'll be extremely happy
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Jan 30, 2024 04:53
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I installed Pihole on the Intel NUC I already had going for Jellyfin. Please welcome this newest point of failure in my network.
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Jan 30, 2024 23:35
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short project summary here, more of a neat side-effect of several different projects i made a weird shelf a while back, that runs from above another bookcase, to a large support beam i installed in the space. then i floated a display on an arm, and it just happened to be over near the shelf. making that shelf and installing it securely was a whole project, but it's neat now that it's there anyways now there's a nice light effect like that at night
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Jan 31, 2024 04:28
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I got these old soviet germanium PNP transistors almost a decade ago with the intent to make some little logic gates on circuit cards as a demo. I ordered some boards when I ordered my tube logic gate boards. So now I have a few of these resistor-transistor logic NAND gates.  With USB too, because why not?
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Jan 31, 2024 04:55
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minidracula posted:Selectrics in general are among the most complicated if not the most complicated to get working and keep working after simple disuse and neglect, let alone abuse. So I think I dodged a bullet here because literally every problem except one with this typewriter had been fixed over the past two nights by just liberally spraying lacquer thinner into various rods and pivots. And to be honest I think the other one problem I'm having is just because I haven't figured out where to spray more thinner. That seems to be the general theme of PT's videos too, he just happens to know where to spray to fix what. I don't want to say this is an anticlimactic project because I'm super happy to take an easy win that doesn't involve trying to piece together a massive mechanical puzzle. We're not going to talk about the loose spring I found in the case when I opened it up. I'm ignoring its very existence until I have a reason to believe it's absence is causing an issue 
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Feb 1, 2024 02:30
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they always include a few spares
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Feb 1, 2024 02:46
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Current idiot spare time project is a markdown browser. All the talk of enshitification and working 9-5 for a martech SaaS had me yearning for simpler times. Goal is a markup only surfing 'client' web app. I'm keen to use markdown, or more specifically common mark to allow rendering from MD to HTML, but also from 'rich' HTML to basic HTML to MD to display HTML. So far the MD <-> HTML conversion is pretty simple, and parsing DOM trees to extract readable nodes is easy. So far the issue is with CORS which I guess thank God that's all figured out, but hacks that worked years ago to request text resources cross domain aren't possible. Rightfully but annoyingly so that leaves me with a proxy server hosting the 'app' page and also proxying cross domain text streams. There is a novelty in being able to surf the web in basic text nodes, with no styles or scripts and an email-like image retrieval on-demand that's been fun to explore. End goal with big idea feature creep is some form of 'distributed' trust based hosting with curated MD hosting, surfing, and ability to save, host, or remix existing HTML or MD assets. root of all eval fucked around with this message at 04:27 on Feb 1, 2024 |
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Feb 1, 2024 04:24
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some kinda jackal posted:So I think I dodged a bullet here because literally every problem except one with this typewriter had been fixed over the past two nights by just liberally spraying lacquer thinner into various rods and pivots. And to be honest I think the other one problem I'm having is just because I haven't figured out where to spray more thinner. And, I should maybe hasten to add (for others reading along, not for you some kinda jackal), while Selectrics expect and take more oil than like every other typewriter (which typically need to run dry with only specific places oiled, and sparingly), by no means can you get away long term with the classic amateur fix-it-all solution of hosing down everything with more oil. I saw that a lot during my brief apprenticeship at the local shop, they see it all the time, every day. It seems every random typewriter put up on eBay or Etsy is more likely than not to either be or have been greased to the gills or bathed in oil within an inch of its life, probably in order to get it "working" to someone who didn't know what they were doing well enough to be sold. Enjoy the Selectric! Type on it! Let me know if you want some free typeballs! At the risk of repeating more stuff you've likely already heard a hundred times, Selectrics need to be run regularly to stay running, so if you're not gonna type on it regularly, turn it on at least once a month and type a page on it, then turn it back off. If you use it regularly or do that, it'll only need its typically scheduled yearly maintenance (yay IBM service contracts) to stay in good shape. Otherwise it'll revert to being a brick if left unused for too long. While you're in there, how's your tab pulley lookin'? The plastic on those is typically gonna crack/snap and give way soon enough, it was one of the things that always got replaced with a better aftermarket third-party metal pulley assembly anytime a Selectric came in for service. Soon I'll get to pick up my Selectric I from the shop and get to go ham on it!
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Feb 1, 2024 04:26
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i pick up typewriters in charity shops sometimes to flip on ebay, and have learned to avoid the bad ones by smell, because you just know someone has sprayed it full of WD40 - either a week ago to make it work enough to sell, or 40 years ago before they put it on a shelf in a dusty garage to gum itself solid.
Sweevo fucked around with this message at 12:51 on Feb 1, 2024 |
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Feb 1, 2024 12:45
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I know not targeted at me but I'm super glad you posted that since I was taking the "less is more" approach to oiling this thing, as the advice has been for every other mechanical thing I've ever worked on. It's good to know that I might need to be a little more liberal. I think the PT videos are super useful to someone like me, but he doesn't put an emphasis on on-screen lubrication so I think it's easy to mistake that for "just assuming he adds a dab of oil" and call it a day. I'm sure someone can cite a specific video where he goes into it in more detail, but I'm not desperate enough for content that I'm going to start watching a hundred videos My only remaining issue with the S3 is that the type seems to creep up for the first three characters when the carriage is pressed against the margin stop. It'll do a very slight weird (exaggerated here) creep up for the first three letters, whereas if I set the margin stop all the way to the left and just space over to the same spot on the next line it's perfectly parallel. I'm sure something is binding or jamming or gummed up, I just haven't figured out the right video to cross reference, and I found a nice "troubleshooting the selectric" PDF that I intend to browse through this weekend to see if it mentions anything similar. If you have anything lying around that's intended for the S3 I'm always happy to try out some fun ballz. Right now I have Prestige Elite, just made an offer on an ebay Manifold ball. Definitely intend to fire this up every now and then. I have no writing aspirations but I'll admit it was a fun change to sit down and just type up some thoughts as a test. Definitely showed me how much I rely on modern conveniences and sacrifice accuracy for autocorrect and seamless backspacing. The fact this is correcting has saved me on nearly every line I type; I really think this is a great first dip into typewriters for someone who's never really thought about one. If this were an S1 I wonder if I'd get too frustrated at throwing out my page after every line yes I know correction fluid exists  .Sweevo posted:i pick up typewriters in charity shops sometimes to flip on ebay, and have learned to avoid the bad ones by smell, because you just know someone has sprayed it full of WD40 - either a week ago to make it work enough to sell, or 40 years ago before they put it on a shelf in a dusty garage to gum itself solid. I was fully prepared for this to just be a quirky shelf "showpiece" but I made a spot for it on a desk instead. I'd probably have been OK if it was irreparable or untouchable for WD40 contamination, but there's such a basic pleasure that I got out of spraying something with a little bit of thinner and watching the whole mechanism revert to working before my eyes that I'm starting to worry this may not be my only typewriter. I'm not sure I can become a "typewriter guy" because I look poo poo in thick glasses and I can't grow a good moustache, but I can see the appeal of tinkering on these. If I did do a for-real resto I think I'd definitely work on something simpler than this Selectric though. some kinda jackal fucked around with this message at 12:56 on Feb 1, 2024 |
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Feb 1, 2024 12:51
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i made a list of cyber/vr/hacker/computer movies
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Feb 3, 2024 07:37
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 well that would explain why the PS/2 I bought won't recognize any floppy drives (but they do power on). tantalums usually short before they go bang so something real bad happened to that one. probably ought to replace all of them on that board -- they look to all be 4.7uF 35V so it should be easy to either buy a roll of them or just salvage working ones from machines I have laying around that have no use to me whatsoever
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Feb 4, 2024 07:38
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Needs Decoder added - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087129/ and New Rose Hotel - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133122/
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Feb 4, 2024 18:24
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added, thanks for the suggestions!
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Feb 4, 2024 21:27
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made a new module for decker called "puppeteer", which is for managing animated sprites. the main idea is to make it easier to orchestrate visual-novel-style cutscenes this sort of thing was possible previously, but combining puppeteer with dialogizer drastically reduces the amount of plumbing and one-off scripting necessary the interactive docs/demos are here: https://beyondloom.com/decker/puppeteer.html
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Feb 6, 2024 19:37
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minidracula posted:Enjoy the Selectric! Type on it! Let me know if you want some free typeballs! At the risk of repeating more stuff you've likely already heard a hundred times, Selectrics need to be run regularly to stay running, so if you're not gonna type on it regularly, turn it on at least once a month and type a page on it, then turn it back off. If you use it regularly or do that, it'll only need its typically scheduled yearly maintenance (yay IBM service contracts) to stay in good shape. Otherwise it'll revert to being a brick if left unused for too long. I’m not going to say that this particular typewriter project was unfulfilling, because I learned a lot, but I basically fixed everything I wanted to in like three days. The last issues I just fixed today and it types like a dream. I think this one had some service FAIRLY recently as the tab pulley still looks pristine, and the hub sprocket has the typical centre cracks but is nowhere near as bad as others I see online. I’m kind of looking around on FB marketplace for “for parts” or “seized” selectrics just so I can see if I can get one running from a little further “gone”. There’s a “needs repair” one for $40C ten minutes away, and nother few for about that around where I work. I don’t really want to start collecting these but I REALLY love the feel of this III and I wouldn’t mind a II just so I can use the older font elements. 
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Feb 7, 2024 00:25
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nice! also the Unfriended films could prolly go on the list, they literally take place inside some dudes computer: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3713166/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4761916/
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Feb 7, 2024 05:18
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wigglypaint drawings (which are contraptions) can directly be used as puppets: i also added a marker size picker thing to wigglypaint, which makes it extremely easy to define custom marker sizes/stamps: 
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Feb 7, 2024 07:07
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this mf creating the whole rear end Home Movies outside universe
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Feb 7, 2024 07:11
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Pile Of Garbage posted:nice! also the Unfriended films could prolly go on the list, they literally take place inside some dudes computer: oh yeah those are good. added!
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Feb 7, 2024 07:13
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just noticed you don't have Mr. Robot on there either, the most hackerman TV show of all (i know your list is cyber movies but i saw you've got Silicon Valley on there)
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Feb 7, 2024 11:10
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 world's shittiest radio the sound on this thing isn't working (i suspect i hooked it up wrong / poorly and need to reseat it), but the keyboard and mouse don't work when it's running on battery power. that last one is an infuriating thing because i sshed into it and reflashed the firmware which seems to kick it back into working again, like the keyboard firmware is crashing when it switches but there's no watchdog or system to reset it. i really want to like this thing but christ. what a piece of poo poo.
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Feb 7, 2024 22:09
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 23:37 |
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are you really all that shocked it's a pos? because i just had a look at their website and the red flags, they are everywhere
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Feb 7, 2024 23:01
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