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johnwalkr

2,428 karma · joined November 4, 2018

Lunar rover designer
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johnwalkr··on Transfer files over an Ethernet patch cable
Inductance coils (usually inside the RJ45 jack itself) are what provides isolation. They are made from very thin wires so if something goes wrong this is the first and hopefully only thing that will break. If you apply enough voltage of course you can break things beyond this.
johnwalkr··on Transfer files over an Ethernet patch cable
What a clever idea. I carry an ethernet dongle but this one is just the male end and a female usb-c port, meaning your existing usb-c cable is useful and you don't need to carry an ethernet cable.
johnwalkr··on Transfer files over an Ethernet patch cable
Depends on the device, in principle if both have thunderbolt and you use a thunderbolt cable it should work. I've done it between 2 macbooks many times.
johnwalkr··on Transfer files over an Ethernet patch cable
Ethernet is electrically isolated at every port (unless you really go out of your way in to design it otherwise in an internal design). Your advice is still correct but it's more about lightning or something gone wrong, it's not an immediate risk.
johnwalkr··on Transfer files over an Ethernet patch cable
I've been doing this for years between MacBooks with a thunderbolt 4 cable. It's very fast and unlike 10Gbps ethernet, doesn't require a bulky, power-hungry[1] adapter. MacOS also will use thunderbolt automatically for Migration Assistant if available.

[1]Most people don't realise how much power ethernet consumes. Even 100Mbps ethernet consumes about 0.5W per port and it goes up with higher speeds.

johnwalkr··on Transfer files over an Ethernet patch cable
Yeah it's been about 20 years since there was a risk this didn't work.
johnwalkr··on Asus Bike Booster
In Europe a class 1 ebike can't have a throttle and assist must be limited to 25km/h (it's 32km/h in the US). They can be faster and have a throttle, but then they are more like scooters in terms of licensing and insurance. If you go to most bike shops in Western Europe they will only have class 1 e-bikes. A class 1 bike is generally allowed everywhere a bike is.

While there are a lot of people riding more powerful bikes in Europe illegally, at least some countries are trying to crack down on them. In the US, it seems easier to buy class 2 and 3 e-bikes, and there seems to be a higher proportion of illegal bikes. It's an open secret which "class 1" bikes you can buy and then overclock easily.

So in Europe you mostly have class 1 e-bikes and obviously illegal (as in you can tell just by looking at them), but in the US you have these plus a lot of class 2 and 3 e-bikes, and overclocked class 1 e-bikes. The end result is most mountain bike trails in Europe allow class 1 e-bikes only, but in the US it's impossible to enforce class 1 only, so a lot of regions are trending towards banning all e-bikes from all trails. So be careful about wishing for a more powerful e-bike you can drive in traffic and mountain bike trails.

johnwalkr··on Mars Bar from 1991 found – and it's 20g bigger than today's
A similar law in the US exists to prevent non-food being put inside food. It's why kinder surprise is banned in the US. It's not because Americans are "too stupid" to avoid choking, it's because the rule already existed and there's not really a good justification to change it for the sake of a foreign candy company.
johnwalkr··on Mars Bar from 1991 found – and it's 20g bigger than today's
I was surprised to see a real reference because I thought the 100% beef thing was a 100% myth.

But that article confirms in several places that independent testing finds no fillers at all, and what is left is just "Plaintiffs allege that undisclosed processing steps or agents applied during production or cooking could alter the accuracy of the “100%” claim." It's not a very convincing argument and it would be quite hard for McDonalds to cover up a secret process to add another ingredient.

johnwalkr··on Quake – 30th Anniversary Update
Quake came out just before I started high school and I played it a lot in those three years. I remember playing quake 1 in the LAN in university around 2002 because it was easy to share the 50MB of portable files. Things moved so fast back then that it already seemed like a retro game. I didn't realise at the time that it was a timeless classic and I would still be playing it 25 years later.
johnwalkr··on Quake – 30th Anniversary Update
At shop.nin.com you can buy a quake ammo box keychain. It makes the jump sound effect.
johnwalkr··on Decathlon Germany adds Wero payment option to decathlon.de website
It's a great store. It's similar to Ikea in that you can go in without doing any research or shopping around and be reasonably sure that whatever you buy from one of their own brands, at any price point, is better quality than the same price point somewhere else. For camping stuff especially, the value is very good. The higher end might be missing but that's almost a feature for the average person to go in and choose from a good or pretty good option.
johnwalkr··on Decathlon Germany adds Wero payment option to decathlon.de website
If you have a bike or something, staff will scan its barcode for you. They generally see you coming and you don't have to wait.
johnwalkr··on I'm a USB-C Maximalist
Resistor cost is irrelevant. It's way more likely the device was updated from micro-usb to usb-c by the most junior person and it was missed. Then, any change carries some cost so that design is not changed later.
johnwalkr··on I'm a USB-C Maximalist
5 years ago it was really hard to find usb-c shaver. I could only find cheap ones; I got an Enchen boost for about $10 and it has served me well.
johnwalkr··on I'm a USB-C Maximalist
I think your suggestion and also the author's are too big for my taste. I carry a US-style 45W GaN charger, a couple of usb-c cables, and an EU adapter (which, off the record, also works for UK outlets so it covers anywhere I normally travel to). I carry this daily and for travel even though I live in Europe as this combination is the same size as the EU version of my charger by itself.

For devices I have a work laptop, work phone, personal laptop, personal phone, headphones, usually a couple other small devices, and a mobile battery. I usually only heavily use my work laptop and personal phone. For phones and smaller stuff, I can charge them from the laptop while the laptop charges overnight so I don't typically wish for a second charger. If your laptop has decent battery life, charging at less than max speed is no big deal (I have two 16 inch MacBook Pros).

Additionally, I've converted most of my old favourite micro-usb devices like mouses to usb-c. A search for "usb-c 4.7kohm 5v female" will give you some options for replacing micro-usb with usb-c, with hobbyist soldering skills.

For a beard trimmer, I got an Enchen boost usb-c model for $10 for travel. It works well and even has ceramic blades but I had to add 4.7k resistors to work with a c-c cable[1].

[1] Cheap devices often omit some 4.7k resistors that tell a usb-c charger to output 5V, so it outputs nothing. This is why some devices work only with usb a to c cables, as usb-a outputs 5V by default. If you can manage to add the resistors to the correct pins or replace the connector with one that has them built-in, you can fix this problem. The difficulty of doing this varies a lot by device.

johnwalkr··on Designing and assembling my first PCB
Exactly. Even for this small board, the IC has 0.65mm spacing of the LGA pads. It would be pretty difficult to assemble it without solder mask.

Almost everyone who has the experience of etching a board, or even using a router to automate making one, and also has the experience of ordering a PCB, never makes one by hand again.

johnwalkr··on Asahi Linux 7.1 Progress Report
They forbid their use.

https://asahilinux.org/docs/project/policies/slop/

johnwalkr··on I built a 10 inch mini rack from aluminium extrusions
Misumi sells it, and they have an online tool to configure almost anything you want in 3D, including brackets of your choice, fasteners and accessories (like panels, hinges and handles). Then, you can order all of the parts to make your creation with 1 part number.

Makerbeam is also nice, they sell a 5x5mm, 10x10mm and 15x15mm version (normally the smallest cross section of t-slot is 20x20mm). The 5x5mm version is comically small when you hold it in your hand. When you order a set, it comes with tweezers to pick up the screws which are size M1.2.

johnwalkr··on I used Claude Code to get a second opinion on my MRI
Most of my "favorited" comments on here are by software people with confident yet incorrect statements (usually by way of vastly underestimating complexity) about one of my domains of expertise.

I can't find it but one of the greatest show HN was a blog post about someone who was annoyed by his inconsistent shower temperature control. From memory, he spent a full weekend adjusting it, taking measurements, making graphs, and proposed "next steps" about prototyping better temperature control with microcontrollers and servo and pontificated about developing a product, of course controlled by software. He skipped the part where a bit of research leads you to the already common "thermostatic mixing valve".

johnwalkr··on Making glass-to-metal seals for home­made vacuum tubes
In addition to the other comments, in general o-rings are actually very difficult to use for vacuum sealing. Unintuitively, at least until you have some experience in seal design, lower pressure differentials are much harder to seal than large ones. They depend on the pressure differential itself to form the seal, they don't work like a gasket between 2 faces. This is also why compressing in a v-groove doesn't make them perform better.

Even if you can get an o-ring to seal a vacuum, it will likely only work in the context of applying a vacuum to a system to a desired level, not as a permanent seal.

johnwalkr··on Ferrari shares fall after launch of first EV as Jony Ive design proves divisive
I don't think this looks bad but I think this will look dated very fast. The exterior looks like a continuation of the last 20 years of car designs in general, not an update to Ferrari design. An exception is the rear-end which is a good take on the F40's rear end. A larger nod to older designs, like the modern Dodge Challenger or Ford Bronco would be nice to see. I'm sure if you talk to Jony Ive he will explain the Ferrari inspiration behind each subtle curve but it is not obviously a Ferrari at a glance.

On the other hand, it's a five-seater and an attempt to make it look more like Ferrari's iconic cars could also end badly.

The interior and interfaces look great. Even if the roundness of interior is not your cup of tea, figuring out the right balance between tactile buttons and touchscreen is really important and they might have nailed it.

johnwalkr··on Flipper One Tech Specs
The flipper zero was already in a grey area because it easily enables one to do things in licensed bands and do things you’re not allowed to do in unlicensed bands. They can’t plausibly add even more functions in this area and still sell to the public. Presumably all of the interfaces they added are for users to add the functions under their own responsibility.
johnwalkr··on How Fast Does Claude, Acting as a User Space IP Stack, Respond to Pings?
I'll give you another one: In Japanese there is the (unserious) term "enbug" which is the opposite of debug.
johnwalkr··on The secrets of the Shinkansen
Tokyo is relatively dense but it's nothing like what you expect from movies or from visiting there for a few days. The majority of people live in buildings 3 storeys or less (above 3 storeys there are a lot more requirements). There's a ton of detached houses even. The overall density of the 23 wards is slightly less than Paris.

When visiting you tend to visit some of the busiest areas and also spend a lot of time on the train. It's tiring and it seems so busy. But since almost every neighbourhood has all amenities and there is no single CBD, when you live there, you realise how much of Tokyo is an endless sea of small apartment buildings with small islands of restaurants and businesses around train stations, plus a handful of larger islands.

The article talks about the railways developing areas around Tokyo. This is actually very interesting and the way it sprawled[1] outwards towards places like Yokohama. Railways made commuter towns with amenities and commuter lines to those towns at the same time, and rented and sold real estate in those towns. Over time the areas in between the terminus of each of these lines (usually Shibuya or Shinjuku) and each town filled in until what you see today.

[1] I think the debate about whether or not Tokyo is/has urban sprawl depends on your definition. If you take it to mean expanding with lower density on the outskirts, it definitely "sprawled", although today it's more filled in. If you take it to mean unplanned low-density, car-centric expansion, it didn't "sprawl" that much. I've seen the terms car-centric sprawl and train-centric sprawl used to discuss the differences.

johnwalkr··on Lunar Flyby
If you are on the near side of the moon[1], you will always see Earth see around Earth as it rotates and as the moon orbits it. You will also see it in different phases, like how we see lunar phases from Earth. If you are on the far side of the moon, you will not see Earth at all as you will always be facing away from it.

[1] The Earth does move in the moon's sky a bit. If you are on the near side but getting close to the far side, the Earth will be below the horizon sometimes.

johnwalkr··on A nearly perfect USB cable tester
At my workplace someone always orders the what they perceive to be the "best" cables. They aren't thunderbolt, they are just oversized with thick braiding. They are all so stiff and heavy you can barely handle a phone while charging without the cable pulling itself out.
johnwalkr··on Apple Business
Personally, I like Apple's iWork. Keynote is slightly less fiddly than Powerpoint. I like that in Numbers you can have multiple movable tables on one screen without constraining column widths etc to each other. I also like that Pages is simpler than word with much more manageable styles, especially when copy and pasting from multiple other documents. But lots of people don't have Macs or like iWork, and in most businesses you eventually need MS Office to work with outside parties so for work the choice is really iWork plus MS Office vs MS Office.

MS Office collaboration features work well these days but when you are using Office 365 for work, it's almost inevitable that different files get saved locally, on MS teams, Sharepoint, and OneDrive. It's a version control nightmare.

I really like google's suite for work because it nudges everyone towards using only one location for all files, without a other places to save a copy. And it's good enough with Office files that you might only need a few roles to also need MS Office.

johnwalkr··on PC Gamer recommends RSS readers in a 37mb article that just keeps downloading
15 years ago I had a 7GB mobile data plan (in Japan). After 7GB, it was throttled to 100kbps. If I tethered my PC and there was an update available, or browsed modern sites (especially while tethered), this could easily be wiped out in a few days. After 7GB, sites like hackernews, google search/maps worked fine, and most websites loaded after a minute at most.

10 years ago I still had a 7GB mobile data plan (in Japan). After 7GB, it was throttled to 100kbps. If I tethered my PC and there was an update available, or browsed modern sites (especially while tethered), this could easily be wiped out in a minutes. After 7GB, sites like hackernews, google search/maps worked fine, although most search results failed to load.

5 years ago I still had a 7GB mobile data plan (in Japan). After 7GB, it was throttled to 1Mbps. If I tethered my PC and there was an update available, or browsed modern sites (especially while tethered), this could easily (and usually was) wiped out in a few minutes. Browsing reddit easily consumed 1GB in a day. After 7GB, sites like hackernews, google search/maps worked fine, although most search results failed to load.

I currently live in Europe, I am too old for dealing with the above shit or dealing with wifi in a town/restaurant/hotel so I pay for unlimited data throughout EU. But, it's fairly common while driving or training around that I end up on 3G. I understand 3G is degraded these days, but it should provide 300-2000 kbps. Almost nothing internet-related works at these speeds today. WhatsApp is the exception, it works eventually. I bet hackernews could load if you could somehow disable all the background things happening. I've had a few experiences where I reached a timeout for a login on Apple, google or MS services, and been locked out of my account for a few days because trying to login with low datarate means trying to login 30x in 10 minutes which must look suspicious.

Yesterday I was skiing at a resort and my phone was dying at an incredible rate, like 25% per hour. I don't know for certain but I suspect some app or website was retrying a download of something while in a dodgy service area. I'm sure it's happened that someone has been slightly injured going off into the trees at 2pm at a ski resort (or had a fall on parking lot ice, or fell down stairs in their home, or been run off the road), and not been able to call for help because some app has been loading ads and killed their phone battery.

johnwalkr··on RAM kits are now sold with one fake RAM stick alongside a real one
That, and using old G4 or G5 Mac cases are very common projects.
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