@battlecoder

Mad Data Scientist, 8-bit enthusiast and part-time maker. Digital mind, analog heart. High chances of being a Replicant.

damnsoft.org
Joined July 2010
  • Tweets17.4K
  • Following487
  • Followers674
1KMedia
Today feels like a good day to remind you that I'm also at @battlecoder@techhub.social. 🐘
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Like a week ago I got a notification on my phone from the @amazon app with a 20% coupon for a book I had in my shopping cart. I can onlyassume I saw the notification a bit too late, 'cause when I clicked on it there was no coupon . I've been checking daily to see if it comes back
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This goes easily in the top 5 heartbreaks of 2024 for me :(
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I haven't been here in a while, but it feels like yet another great time to tell you all that you can find me on 🐘 (@battlecoder@techhub.social ) and
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This better become the top election issue. youtu.be/_cAl3FlQZ9Q Sign the petition and say yes to mathematically complicated footballs! mathsballs.com
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This is important. Please check this petition. @standupmaths has been fighting for what can only be described as a just cause. If you care about consistency, correct signage, geometry, soccer, or all of the above I'm sure you'll find yourself signing too mathsballs.com/
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I've shared this a few times already, but I STILL can't get over the fact that we could all have "Oops!" instead of "Undo" in our programs, but someone, somewhere, made the wrong call. (This is the manual for TI-Writer, but even earlier word processors like TJ-2 also had "Oops")
A screen capture of a scanned document. There's a table with shortcuts for different operations like "Del Char", "Ins Char", "Reformat". At the top of the table, highlighted in yellow, it shows the information for "Oops!". The description reads: "This can be a real lifesaver. It recovers or backs up a function that you didn't mean to hit, as when you hit Delete Line instead of Insert Character, hitting Oops! will bring the line back."

ALT A screen capture of a scanned document. There's a table with shortcuts for different operations like "Del Char", "Ins Char", "Reformat". At the top of the table, highlighted in yellow, it shows the information for "Oops!". The description reads: "This can be a real lifesaver. It recovers or backs up a function that you didn't mean to hit, as when you hit Delete Line instead of Insert Character, hitting Oops! will bring the line back."

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Lol, it's been almost 10 years since the first time I brought this up, and already posted about it 5 years later, so it seem like I'm doomed to think about this terrible mistake of mankind every 5 years of so. xitter.cf/battlecoder/status/665…
battlecoder@battlecoder15 Nov 2015
I was reading about TJ-2, the "1st word processor", yesterday. We could be using "Oops" instead of "Undo"! When did we make the wrong call?
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Excuse the crude PCB, but the etching was done in a hurry. This is my small signal interference playground and for this demo I had a 7 Mhz sine wave running next to a 10 Mhz square wave. I was surprised to see how distorted the sine wave looked on the oscilloscope at the output.
A poorly etched PCB with 4 big pads on each side. The left pads connect to traces that start very far from each other but come together in the center of the board. Then they go separate ways again to meet 4 output pads at the right side. Several clip connectors can be seen to the left, and two oscilloscope probes to the right, probing the output pads. A small Near field probe hovers over one of the output traces.

ALT A poorly etched PCB with 4 big pads on each side. The left pads connect to traces that start very far from each other but come together in the center of the board. Then they go separate ways again to meet 4 output pads at the right side. Several clip connectors can be seen to the left, and two oscilloscope probes to the right, probing the output pads. A small Near field probe hovers over one of the output traces.

An oscilloscope capture showing a very distorted and noisy sine wave. The scope can't even determine its frequency.

ALT An oscilloscope capture showing a very distorted and noisy sine wave. The scope can't even determine its frequency.

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I also wanted to determine whether it was possible to identify the frequency components of that signal without probing the traces, with a cheap non-invasive near field probe and a Spectrum Analyzer (in this case a TinySA Ultra), and the results were better than I expected.
A capture from the tinySA spectrum analyzer. Above the baseline noise two very clear peaks are present, and their frequency is shown up top: Peak 1: 6.996Mhz, Peak 2: 10.00 Mhz

ALT A capture from the tinySA spectrum analyzer. Above the baseline noise two very clear peaks are present, and their frequency is shown up top: Peak 1: 6.996Mhz, Peak 2: 10.00 Mhz

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I have developed this very unhealthy obsession with decimal places and precision beyond my actual needs. Look at this 10Mhz reference. This is ridiculous, even for my unnecessarily high standards, and yet, this makes me happy in ways I can't quite describe.
A small green FA-2 frequency counter sitting on top of a cardboard box. The screen reads 10000000.000 Hz. In the background, a Rigol function generator in frequency counter mode, measuring the same signal and showing 10.000,000,000,0 Mhz

ALT A small green FA-2 frequency counter sitting on top of a cardboard box. The screen reads 10000000.000 Hz. In the background, a Rigol function generator in frequency counter mode, measuring the same signal and showing 10.000,000,000,0 Mhz

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Built a Buffered Colpitts Oscillator (from @AlanAtTek 's YT video #123). This circuit makes a crystal oscillate to its tuned frequency, and the output can be observed on an oscilloscope or a freq. counter. This was my first time using HCL+H₂O₂ as etchant, and it worked great!
Closeup of a 4 Mhz crystal inserted on a single-row, 5 pin socket on a home-made PCB.

ALT Closeup of a 4 Mhz crystal inserted on a single-row, 5 pin socket on a home-made PCB.

The home-made Oscillator circuit held on a spring-loaded PCB vice with power connected and the output being monitored by a small handheld radio frequency counter. A Crystal is inserted in the black single row socket at the top, and the frequency counter screen reads 4.0033 Mhz

ALT The home-made Oscillator circuit held on a spring-loaded PCB vice with power connected and the output being monitored by a small handheld radio frequency counter. A Crystal is inserted in the black single row socket at the top, and the frequency counter screen reads 4.0033 Mhz

Similar setup; home-made board held by a vice, but this time a 20 Mhz crystal is inserted in the socket. The frequency counter reads 19.993 Mhz

ALT Similar setup; home-made board held by a vice, but this time a 20 Mhz crystal is inserted in the socket. The frequency counter reads 19.993 Mhz

The bottom side of the small PCB once etched, resting over a light blue towel

ALT The bottom side of the small PCB once etched, resting over a light blue towel

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I ran out of PCB etchant a couple of days ago. I've been using Ferric Chloride for like 20 years for my PCBs, but I decided to try Hydrochloric Acid + Hydrogen Peroxide this time because it's reusable. And HOLY HELL it's fast!. I'm quite happy with the results I'm getting.
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On a different note, Blue sky does no longer require an invite. I've been thinking on closing my account here and using that instead. A lot of the people I follow are still here, but I also get lots of bots and "verified" accounts pushed aggressively into my TL. Not a fan of that
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"Kids shouldn't learn to code" is a WILD take. I know the guy is just trying to hype AI, but he might as well tell people to stop wasting time learning math because we have calculators. Who is going to advance all of those crazy complicated AI systems, btw? Other AIs?
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Gripper prototype for a small robotic arm. A DC motor with a reduction gear box drives one side of the claw while the other side is connected to a potentiometer that gives positional feedback. Despite its simple design it can detect when it's grabbing something (yellow LED)
Closeup of the claw mechanism. The body and both parts of the claw are 3D printed. The left side is driven by a DC motor with a reduction box, while the right side follows the right side movement (thanks to the geared claw rotation axis), turning a potentiometer as the claw opens or closes, providing positional feedback to the control board.

ALT Closeup of the claw mechanism. The body and both parts of the claw are 3D printed. The left side is driven by a DC motor with a reduction box, while the right side follows the right side movement (thanks to the geared claw rotation axis), turning a potentiometer as the claw opens or closes, providing positional feedback to the control board.

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I finally put together this figure and I love it. Dygenguar has always been my favorite robot from Super Robot Wars. Here's already fighting with Skelegod; a cool figure I got for Christmas from a friend.
A fully assembled Dygenguar robot placed on top the assembly guide, with some electronics repair equipment in the background. The spent runners from the gunpla kit are next to it.

ALT A fully assembled Dygenguar robot placed on top the assembly guide, with some electronics repair equipment in the background. The spent runners from the gunpla kit are next to it.

A figure of a powered-up Skeletor (from He-Man) is ready to attack Dygenguar, who assumes a fighting stance wielding his sword Zankantou in its expanded form.

ALT A figure of a powered-up Skeletor (from He-Man) is ready to attack Dygenguar, who assumes a fighting stance wielding his sword Zankantou in its expanded form.

A close encounter between Skelegod (from He-Man) against Dygenguar, who is wielding his sword in its katana form.

ALT A close encounter between Skelegod (from He-Man) against Dygenguar, who is wielding his sword in its katana form.

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I've had this Component Tester for a couple of years now, and it always bothered me that it needed a 9V to run. So I converted it to 3.7V with this small charger+booster module and a 3D-Printed base. Now it's a lot more convenient to use ~
A 18650 battery holder connected to a small charger PCB, connected to a more complex module (a component tested) all roughly placed on top of a white 3D-printed plastic base.

ALT A 18650 battery holder connected to a small charger PCB, connected to a more complex module (a component tested) all roughly placed on top of a white 3D-printed plastic base.

All modules mounted on the plastic base. A small metal tin transistor is placed in the component tester, that is displaying its main characteristics

ALT All modules mounted on the plastic base. A small metal tin transistor is placed in the component tester, that is displaying its main characteristics

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I certainly don't need another hobby, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity of having my favorite robot from SRW, so I guess I'm doing gunpla now.
A rather big box on a black table. On the box there's a picture of Dygenguar, a very intricate robot in black, blue, red and white colors, holding a massive sword and ready to attack.

ALT A rather big box on a black table. On the box there's a picture of Dygenguar, a very intricate robot in black, blue, red and white colors, holding a massive sword and ready to attack.

With the lid removed, the box reveals its contents: A bunch of bags containing countless plastic pieces laid in sprue "sheets".

ALT With the lid removed, the box reveals its contents: A bunch of bags containing countless plastic pieces laid in sprue "sheets".

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Yesterday I received my @SweetheartAlyy special keychain and I love it.
Wooden keychain with the picture of a Final Fantasy moogle hugging a heart engraved, with the inscription "you are special" underneath

ALT Wooden keychain with the picture of a Final Fantasy moogle hugging a heart engraved, with the inscription "you are special" underneath

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I like what they did with Scott Pilgrim. I originally was expecting a straight adaptation from the comics, so I was confused when things went a different direction, but it was a great, clever show, full of unexpected but very enjoyable turns and twists.
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