nickwitha_k

joined 2 years ago
[–] nickwitha_k 4 points 1 hour ago

I think that tunnel magneto-resistance (TMR) are more favored for 3rd-party sticks. They've significant advantages over Hall Effect sensors in latency, power consumption, and, apparently, resolution. Plus, they operate on more similar electrical principles to the traditional pot-based sticks, so, they require less effort to design around.

[–] nickwitha_k 4 points 2 hours ago

More importantly, are there any laws banning outsourcing American incarceration?

Yes. The US Constitution:

  • Fifth Amendment (prohibits imprisonment without due process and indictment by a grand jury)
  • Sixth Amendment (enumerates rights entailed in due process for any criminal facing prosecution)
  • Eighth Amendment ("Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.")

The Eighth is the most clearly in play, supposing the courts actually follow the US Constitution, which they've been flagrantly ignoring for several decades (ex. there is no good faith interpretation of the Fourth Amendment that allows civil asset forfeiture or compelling anyone in the US to unlock a smartphone or surrender it for cloning, nor for the Fifth and Sixth which allow removing individuals to a military base to be held without trial).

[–] nickwitha_k 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

A good USB chip can go a long way on an MCU. The old Arduino boards did indeed have a lot of problems. Despite that, the Pro Micro is pretty popular for mech kbs. Personally, I'm not a fan. Not because of its USB (the ATmega32U4 chip has an integrated USB 2.0 peripheral) but because it uses an 8-bit AVR chip. To me, 8-bit is a bit dated for a beginner, when 32-bit MCUs are so cheap.

To your point, the Adafruit KB2040, an MCU using the same footprint as a Pro Micro but with an RP2040, only has a USB 1.1 PHY (much lower bandwidth). It is generally a better choice though because it both has a USB PHY and is 32-bit with a much higher clock frequency. The keyboard HID information doesn't take much bandwidth and isn't much different from when it was first released in 1995 as a standard. So, as long as the MCU supports acting as a USB HID device, you're good to go.

An RPi Pico is a great and cheap board but, I'm less of a fan due to its lack of USB type C. That's why I'd recommend just about any other third-party board based on the RP2040 (or RP2350). For anyone who is not unreasonably annoyed by the connector type, the Pico/Pico 2 is great. For wireless, probably something based on an ESP32S3 or Nordic nRF series (Nordic is more proprietary but much better on power efficiency - a Nice!NanoV2 is a great wireless keyboard MCU).

[–] nickwitha_k 2 points 1 day ago

I like your take as well. My "disagreement" is mainly contrarian silliness as I felt it was rather implicit in your post :)

[–] nickwitha_k 2 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I would definitely not go with an Arduino.

Arduino MCU? Probably not. There's better choices that are easier to use. Like the RP2040 (and RP2350) based boards.

Arduino firmware tools and language? Definitely recommended. There are lots of libraries and a great community that one can turn to for help. Most common 32-bit MCUs (RP2xxx, ESP32, STM32, nRF, etc) have Arduino support.

[–] nickwitha_k 9 points 1 day ago

If you don't know much about Palantir... Well, its founder would definitely side with Sauron, too put it lightly.

[–] nickwitha_k -5 points 1 day ago

Is "slightly corrupt" the new euphemism for "aiding and abetting an ongoing genocide"?

I don't think it sounds right to call non-voters "slightly corrupt".

[–] nickwitha_k 2 points 1 day ago

Tankies want Hitler to win and the country to collapse. They are like evangelicals deeply wanting the apocalypse to happen to punish all the people who didn't agree with them.

Your analogy is even more apt than that. A lot of them are accelerationists/anti-electoralists too, who hold the faith-based belief that making the world worse will magically cause the working class to unite and overthrow their oppressors. The belief is based upon the words of a dead authoritarian and has no historical data to suggest that it is remotely accurate. They are happy to give vulnerable populations as blood sacrifices because of their faith in it somehow resulting in a better world.

[–] nickwitha_k 57 points 1 day ago (4 children)

I disagree with your premise.

It should be "The best thing that you can do for humanity is to be kind".

Seriously. We're living in a time when fascism is in an upswing and at least one religious leader has publicly called empathy a sin. Kindness and empathy are rebellious acts.

[–] nickwitha_k 4 points 1 day ago

It's rare and I'm looking for it

Unfortunately not that rare of a POV to find. They just generally don't do the young account thing. Some are true believers. Others likely state actors. Don't see as many bots but the greater levels of transparency and lower active population probably makes it less worthwhile of an investment.

[–] nickwitha_k 2 points 1 day ago (5 children)

I have access to a 3D printer and i can make models in Blender,

You will probably want to learn some basics of a parametric CAD program as well. I recommend FreeCAD because I'm a big fan of open-source and guaranteed long-term free access. However, Fusion360 and OnShape are also solid choices. Knowing how to make printable 3D models already puts you in a good place.

but i have no idea where to start with the electronics.

You already know the hard part.

Should i look into Arduino?

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: It depends. If you don't know anything about programming (or are very comfortable with Python), I'd start with CircuitPython. This will allow you to concentrate more on how microcontrollers and firmwares for keyboards work, as opposed to learning the C/C++ Arduino syntax, which can seem a bit arcane at times.

If you're already comfortable with C-like languages, it might be worth trying out Arduino first to see if it is intuitive for you.

Whichever you do with, I would also recommend getting a bit of comfort with the other to increase your personal embedded toolkit. Personally, I prefer CircuitPython for proofs-of-concept and ad-hoc use cases (like when I woke in the middle of the night and hallucinated the smell of fire - I was able to setup a particle detector board in about 5 mins to prove to myself that there was actually no smoke).

Contact electronics manufacturers?

Unless you are already running a business that deals with electronics manufacturers, I wouldn't. At best, you'll likely get recommended reading lists, at worst, they might try to pull one over on you and/or steal your idea.

How do i get from an idea on paper to a physical prototype?

That will depend on the complexity of the electronics required and whether you need custom parts or off-the-shelf will work (and your comfort with soldering).

If you do end up needing a custom PCB, KiCAD is pretty simple to learn and will likely handle your needs for board design.

So, where to start?

I'd first learn how keyboards work. QMK, an open-source keyboard firmware, is probably a good place to start learning that side of things: https://docs.qmk.fm/how_keyboards_work

If you're familiar with Python, you might have an easier time learning and prototyping with KMK. Adding custom matrices is simpler than with QMK or ZMK.

For electronics hardware for prototyping I heavily suggest Adafruit. They have a ton of microcontrollers and learning resources. They have a while category dedicated to mechanical keyboards, including kits and some that allow learning without even soldering: https://www.adafruit.com/category/1020

Here's some suggestions for getting started:

Zero soldering

Super simple soldering (two pins) with no wires

[–] nickwitha_k 1 points 1 day ago

I'm AuADHD, myself, but do not experience synthesisia so that certainly colors my perspective. People with sensory sensitivities would definitely be more prone to experiencing challenges with synthesisia and sensory overload but anyone can potentially be impacted under the right circumstances. Particularly intense sensory stimuli can be stressful. Make it multi-sensory and the intensity level is effectively increased.

Children who are otherwise neurotypical can sometimes have a little bit of a harder time with stress and intense sensations, which can manifest as meltdowns and the like.

 

A thought occurred to me that it would be nice to build a little webcam type thing onto a whiteboard. I recently became aware that Ultra-Short Throw video projectors, which are able to project a 254cm (100") diagonal image from only about 8cm (3") away are a thing that exists.

My question is: What sort of lenses come to mind to do the opposite? That is, take a rectangular surface that is very close and accurately capture it, with minimal distortion.

 

Calling professional and hobby artists:

I'm commissioning a small bit of line art from a friend for non-commercial use and want to make sure that they are fairly compensated for it. My friend has a habit of trying to offer "mate rates" and under-valuing their work.

For something like voice over, I can refer to SAG rates sheet to quantify that I can't afford projects with voice acting. Are there any similar things for line art/simple drawings that I can refer to, or at least guidelines that people can offer, so that I can force them to take fair pay?

Context: The drawing in question is a medium-sized cartoon/fan-art of an existing character. It is limited to 3 colors so that it can be used to create stencils to airbrush onto a DIY greeting card.

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submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by nickwitha_k to c/sdfpubnix
 

There's a transphobic troll and self-identifying fascist who is posting on our instance and went so far as to create communities, including one dedicated to being transphobic. Could we get some action on this guy?

Edit to add: The user in question is "ashton1593" and the communities that they have created.

 

I have slow-healing/chronic injuries to both wrists and an ankle. Prior to my wrist injuries, I had been working to do some yoga to try to establish something resembling a routine but, that's not possible to continue any time soon.

Nearly every site that I've found has advice on exercises to do if an arm OR a leg OR one's back is injured but none that I've found so far address multiple injuries.

Right now, the only things coming to my mind are:

  • crunches
  • forearm planks
  • bicycle kicks

Anyone have any suggestions for others or resources to dig into?

Update: Thank you all for the advice. To be clear, I have already seen specialists and am waiting on an appointment with a hand and wrist specialist. Just impatient when the slow rate of healing and the timing of the wrist injuries.

 

I have a question for folks here, mainly around English linguistics but would love to hear of parallels in other languages. If you're not big on cats, just skip the next paragraph, which I've include for the context to be clear and show why I have provided the picture.

This morning, one of my cats was acting up a bit, hopping on the table where I have an electronics project, and searching for something to pilfer. In order to halt this behavior, I distracted him with a good deal of play with his toys (he is very athletic, so, lots of tossing a toy mouse for him to chase, then walking over to where he's left it because he doesn't fetch anymore). The image is of the culprit now that he's worn out.

While trying to achieve this state, I had a modified aphorism occur to me:

Idle cats are the Devil's playground.

It occurred to me then that I'm not sure if there is an extant term to describe taking an existing aphorism and modifying it while still conveying the same or similar meaning. For those not familiar, the original aphorism is "Idle hands are the Devil's playground" (apparently of biblical origin), meaning roughly that busy people don't often get into trouble or conversely that bored people will get into mischief.

There is a term, if informal, to describe, often intentional, mismatch of parts of aphorisms (ex. "Not the sharpest egg in the attic"), malaphor. Can anyone think of a similar extant term for a modified aphorism? If not, after trying multiple prefixes, I think that the least clunky seems to be "transaphor" (trans- meaning to change).

Anyone have thoughts on the matter?

 

Hello folks!

I'm still rather in the "shallows" as of yet, I have a handful of pens (Lamy, Platinum Preppy, Donegal Pens) and only a couple of bottles of ink (I rather like Noodler's 54th Mass.). One of the areas in the hobby that I'm least knowledgeable in is paper. So, I'm hoping that you folks have some recommendations, both for myself and my sibling who is a bit of a fountain pen enthusiast but has sensory sensitivities.

What are you favorite papers, both loose leaf and bound, for texture, color, and any other properties? Preferably, nothing too bright/with fluorescent pigment.

Bonus question: I really like muted colors (desaturated in digital-speak but I think that doesn't write mean the same with inks). Any suggestions for good inks on that category?

 

Lads, ladettes, and enbies, I come to you seeking advice. My wife and I are just back to County America after visiting her family in the North. Upon discovering that our tea jar was empty, she proceeded to order some Barry's. Am I now legally required to file for divorce?

More seriously, what is everyone's favorite tea (and why is it Lyon's)? And favorite thing to go along with it?

 

I'm ridiculously excited. After being held up in customs for a few days, my FW16 DIY Edition (no GPU) has finally arrived. Unfortunately, I've got the rest of the workday to finish before I can get started.

For "vitamins", I grabbed a 1TB SK Hynix P31 Gold m.2 2280 (still deciding what 2230 to get) and 32GB (2x16GB) of G.Skill Ripjaws DDR5 CL40@5600. I haven't had anything so modern in decades and am incredibly excited to see what fun I can get up to with so much RAM.

First order of business, after doing hardware tests to ensure that nothing needs an RMA, and updating any firmware, is to install my NixOS base system and get it setup as a QEMU/KVM hypervisor so that the real fun of trying out the list of recommended and esoteric distros that the Linux community suggested can start. Once I get bored of that, it'll be time to start designing the parts to transform the machine into a hardware hacking/tinkering cyberdeck.

What are you folks doing or planning to do with yours?

 

Hello folks!

I'm finally close to finishing up some home projects and am going to try breaking out the old Singer 99k for some summer clothing as it's starting to warm up here in California. Something that I've wanted for ages but haven't found reasonably priced is a summer weight robe for around the house.

I'm leaning towards a linen or cotton-linen blend for airiness and cost-effectiveness but am open to other recommendations. I'm generally not a huge fan of waffle weave but could see utility in the back and seat to promote airflow.

So, the main question is: Anyone have recommendations for a good pattern (doesn't need to be free - professional pattern designers deserve to make a living) for a men's or unisex robe that would fit the bill and be possible with a straight stitch machine (I didn't yet have a zigzagger)?

 

Hey folks! I think this request is right up this comm's alley. I'm sure that we all know bogo sort but, what other terrible/terribly inefficient algorithms, software architecture, or design choices have you been horrified/amused by?

I, sadly, lost a great page of competing terrible sorting algorithms, but I'll lead with JDSL as a terrible (and terribly inefficient) software architecture and design. The TL;DR is that a fresh CS guy got an internship at a company that based its software offering around a custom, DSL based on JSON that used a svn repo to store all functions in different commits. The poor intern had a bad time due to attempting to add comments to the code, resulting in customer data loss.

 

Hello historians!

I have a question, specifically intended for those who are academic experts in US history. It is a bit of a "hot-button" topic, so I understand if you folks wouldn't want to touch it with a ten-foot pole. I did study early US history briefly in undergrad but would defer to those who have dedicated far more energy and study on the topic.

The issue of contention here is this: To my knowledge the Founding Fathers (writers of the US Constitution) were vehemently opposed to a professional, standing army, believing it to be a tool inevitably used for tyranny and oppression. Instead of this they envisioned a militia-based system for national and regional defense, as well as enforcement of laws, when force was required (ie forming a temporary posse to defend against brigands or bring violent criminals to justice).

My further contention is that this belief is clearly reflected in the wording of the US Constitution and its context. For example, the 2nd Amendment, which specifically mentions militia, bring intended to ensure that all citizens could be armed in case a militia needed to be raised, whether for defense against an external threat or an internal one. Or Article I, Section 8, Clause 12 being specifically introduced in an effort to prevent standing armies from bring raised.

The context around my questioning here is that anothet commentor has posed the assertion that the US Constitution was written TO enble a standing army. This seems rather contradictory to what I recall on the topic.

Could some scholars shed some light here?

(Please note: I am not intending to say whether or not the 2nd Amendment is valid, or call judgment upon ethics or morality of firearm ownership, or get a "gotcha". Just the context around its writing and wording.)

 

Contemplating getting a K1 or K1C in the nearish future as it looks to be the most cost-effective core-XY platform that allows open-source firmware. All I've found are compensated reviews so far so, figured I'd see if anyone on Lemmy has a less biased experience.

Any thoughts on these or suggestions for alternatives. Would like to move away from bed-slingers.

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