Notices by ɗ𐐩ʃƕρʋ (deshipu@fosstodon.org)

@mntmn you can put anything in the from field anyways

@mntmn But wouldn't that increase the risk of someone coming up with some innovation that would threaten the established businesses?

@mntmn Doesn't look like there is... at least it doesn't appear in the search results on their website.

@mntmn Any rough estimate on when the purple ones start shipping?

@mntmn Would this also work with the pocket?

@raccoon @kaia @fzer0 @accretionist It's a great thing for old and disabled people who otherwise would have problems with it, and would simply avoid eating such things. Don't judge everything by your own ability.

@mntmn Is there an USB connector broken out?

I gave it a day of rest, and pulled the trigger, it's now being fabricated by the good JLCPCB people.

Apart from using a different PCB design program, there are a few differences from the previous prototype:
- sound is now done with an I2S amplifier, not a simple transistor connected to a PWM output
- there is a "perfect diode" circuit for switching power between the USB and battery
- no reset and boot jumpers, hold the X button while connecting to get to boot mode
- nice texture on the back.

Insomnia continues, so I made progress on the PCB. I think I'm happy with it, but I will look at it with fresh eyes in the morning.

I used tiny resistors this time, which I do not have at home, so I guess I will have to order the board with assembly. LCSC has everything except the display, but I can add that myself easily.

I have insomnia again, and that means I'm designing PCBs again. I decided to move my design for the µGame 22 handheld console from my original design in Fritzing to EasyEDA. Got most of the largest components placed, now I need to find all the caps, resistors, crystal and flash memory, and also redo the power switching and stabilization – those are actually the new things for me.

It works! I used the batteries that were dead for the previous version, and it seems to be working off them perfectly fine now! Still the backlight is flickering a little bit when playing the loudest sound, but it will be perfectly fine with fresher batteries. Now just waiting for the pull request to #circuitpython to merge, and for more displays to arrive, to attach them to the remaining prototypes, and I see a game programming workshop in my future.

Soo, after testing the sound, I have to conclude that... it works too well? I mean, it's much louder and clearer than with the transistor, and I can change the gain from 3dB to 15dB (at 15dB it starts crackling), and everything is great... as long as USB power is connected. When I switch to battery, any louder sound makes the backlight dim for a moment, and the loudest explosion sound makes the display reset and show the white screen of death.

So I added a boost circuit. It's getting tight.

Looks like it just works? I'm shocked. I just soldered on the display (LCSC didn't have it in their parts, of course). I still need to test the sound, but everything else looks fine.

@xhxa @mntmn same

@mntmn of course no Polish characters. It should be called romano-teutonic keyboard instead.

@mntmn the adapters needed for everything is a bit of a downer, I suppose now I will too see how it feels to own a mac laptop ;-)

@ekaitz_zarraga @mntmn I have a list of requirements for my perfect music player that is like four pages long. I even looked into designing and building it myself for a bit, but audio is scary and I know very little about it from the electronics side of it.

@esther to be honest, funding-driven ux is an exceedingly bad idea

@mntmn it boots too long

@mntmn like... a raspberry pi pico?