Notices by mhoye (mhoye@mastodon.social)

@mntmn At some point you wonder if the data really needs validation, or if it's actually the programmer who needs validation.

Has anyone torn down a Cisco Spark videoconferencing screen? There are some huge 4K and multitouch screens out there for pretty cheap these days, but they’re all softwired into Webex services and those things are all kinda junk. I’m tempted, but I would like to know if I can pop a hard drive out and do the work there of if I will need to solder anything.

@mntmn I have to admit, the idea of having _all of Windows XP_ as some sort of intermediary shim for a linux driver is both hilarious and horrifying.

@mntmn So, I mean no disrespect in this, and I don't want to tell you how to live your life, but didn't you start a whole new computer company specifically so you didn't need to subject yourself to this kind of thing?

@foone but isn’t “dd if=device” making a bit wise copy of all the data on that device? I mean, I didn’t think dd knows what an iso is…

@foone hold on, does that mean that if I took an “iso” with dd if=device of=file.iso that I can salvage the CD audio out of file.iso?

Ed Zitron, swinging for the fence:

https://www.wheresyoured.at/never-forgive-them/

@mntmn thanks for creating this thing, it is unreasonably good.

You don’t really appreciate how ham-fisted you are until you have to replace a burned out surface mount part that’s 1mmx2mm, worse when you pull up part of the trace with the part you’re removing. I’m sure that this looks like a clown with a squeaky mallet was responsible to some of you but for a first-time surface-mount repair effort, it has one important quality: it worked.

Gratitude to @mntmn for the BOM that came with this thing, with a 10 cent part we live to fight another day.

Having a normal one.

The answer to my problem turns out to be a ten cent surface-mount part.

I know exactly what part it is, because when @mntmn made this machine, one of the things that came with it was a complete bill of materials and specifications. I've already got the order in to Digikey, and this machine will live to see another day.

Everything should ship with a document like this. E-waste is some bullshit.

@nixCraft we disrespected bhalaj

@Gargron While I agree with this, it might also be time to move the work prioritizing federated safety and collective protection to the front of the queue.

Update! You just have to let it oxidize slightly, for a day! It works perfectly now that the shine has dulled just a bit. This is great.

Verdict: you should replace your trackball with a silicon nitride bearing machined to micron precision. You will definitely not regret replacing your trackball with a silicon nitride bearing machined to micron precision.

I am saddened to report that using a high precision silicon nitride bearing in a trackball is absolutely decadent to the touch, oil-on-glass smooth with the perfect slight hint of heft in the motion, looks absolutely amazing and does not work well at all.

@mntmn @andreasdotorg Have you seen what this guy can do with 256 _bytes_!? It's bonkers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWblpsLZ-O8

@Gargron clustered notifications are really great, as someone who periodically has a post grow legs and run, it makes the whole experience a lot better.

@arstechnica Never have I wanted more to be a secret third thing.

@mntmn That's what I get for sleeping on upgrades.

@mntmn Just two seconds ago I ran reform-display-config on this machine so I can use the projectors at matrixconf in two days so... just let us know how that goes, ok?