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kbaker

1,412 karma · joined February 9, 2012

Embedded systems engineer + software developer... My 'full stack' means PCB design and layout, RF + RFID, components + sourcing + product design (even some mechanical), kernel dev + bare metal embedded OS distros, add more layers of C, Python, Java, or .NET to tie it all together, then a nice-looking web frontend to top it off. Lots of fun to be had at every level!

send me email! username at gmail. [ my public key: https://keybase.io/kbaker; my proof: https://keybase.io/kbaker/sigs/sGOx8W59UuZWbo2z0B_5fbOKqvu0qyn42orx8wi2x_I ]

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kbaker··on Two-minute battery changes push India’s delivery riders to switch to e-scooters
From the comments it seems like there are no fully charged batteries ready to go, and you will be taking some other mostly-charged ones.
kbaker··on Don't make me think, or why I switched to Rails from JavaScript SPAs
You can use either or both... server-side comes out of the box, and is used by the getting started tutorial. API-based is also very common using django-rest-framework.

I'd say it is still a mix of both and both paths are well-supported and well-maintained.

kbaker··on U.S. FAA clears 45% of commercial plane fleet after 5G deployed
"Passengers should check with their airlines if weather is forecast at a destination where 5G interference is possible," the FAA said Sunday.

It only affects landing in bad weather.

kbaker··on A key inflation measure rose to a 39-year high last month
That M1 discontinuity at least has an explanation:

https://fredblog.stlouisfed.org/2021/05/savings-are-now-more...

Still a lot of money being printed, but not 10s of Trillions.

kbaker··on Raspberry Pi Trading plans £370m+ stock market IPO
They are reduced ones showing just the pins of the external connectors. None of the processor interconnects or any of the on-board power management peripherals.

Compare with the BeagleBone Black, which contains the complete design:

https://github.com/beagleboard/beaglebone-black/blob/master/...

kbaker··on Chip shortage leads carmaker Opel to shut German plant until 2022
One important part of the chip shortage is the massive amount of price gouging going on.

Every IC is being bought up by new 3rd party distributors to scalp to desperate electronics manufacturers.

Take a look at this chip we are just now crossing as an example, click on 'Non-authorized stocking distributors':

https://octopart.com/tps2052bdgnr-texas+instruments-699312?r...

Win Source has a bunch, but you will pay 6x the cost. We have been quoted even 100x the list price for some ICs on our boards.

Luckily as a small company we are nimble and can mostly cross to similar components, and have been for months now, but a whole board assembly run can be stopped with a single component being impossible to find out of hundreds on the BOM.

Having scalpers in the mix raising the price for all components worries me that the chip shortage might not end for many years, as they can self-fund by raising their prices to stock up on new supply. Not to mention the higher number of random failures as counterfeits easily find their way into the supply chain without 'authorized' distributors.

kbaker··on Rolling your own minimal embedded Linux for the Raspberry Pi
If you can fit it in your image, systemd is amazing for embedded. Dependency tracking, auto service restarts on crash, unified start/stop and enable/disable, even journald is nice with per-unit unified logging.

It is miles better than SysV or monit. I haven't needed to try the 'suggested' replacements like runit or openrc.

kbaker··on Rolling your own minimal embedded Linux for the Raspberry Pi
You should really try out Yocto. There is a lot to learn but you can configure it from super-minimal tiny distros to mega kitchen-sink-included distros.

Everything is customizable, every file, every compiler flag and option of every package, with easy overrides in your own layer which only 'appends' to the original instructions, or adding and removing packages as you see fit in the base install.

kbaker··on Rolling your own minimal embedded Linux for the Raspberry Pi
Uh, with Yocto at least, it's also pretty simple for a basic bootable disk image/packages... downloading all the source and compiling the cross toolchain along the way...

    git clone git://git.yoctoproject.org/poky
    cd poky
    git checkout -b hardknott -t origin/hardknott
    source oe-init-build-env
    MACHINE=qemuarm64 bitbake core-image-sato
But after the first build you may want more - bringing in other functional layers for different features (maybe you want docker?), support for different boards (same OS distro for x86_64 and ARM, or your own custom board... plus it can build a whole SDK for you for local development/debugging?), customization of target files, pulling from updated upstreams, support in deployment and throughout the device lifecycle, custom package feeds, etc.

There's a lot going for Yocto, it has a deep learning curve but does a pretty good job of taming the complexity of managing an entire OS distro.

kbaker··on GAN Prior Embedded Network for Blind Face Restoration in the Wild
Would really like to see some original pictures, blur, then the model output. Pretty impressive results but it seems like it might suffer heavily from overfitting. Or maybe that's the point.

I always come back to this article: https://petapixel.com/2020/08/17/gigapixel-ai-accidentally-a...

kbaker··on Zsync: Differential file downloading over HTTP using the rsync algorithm (2010)
Unfortunately zsync is a bit old and needs some updates for modern HTTP (doesn't support HTTPS, hand-written C HTTP client. We had to patch the header parsing and mime handling to get it to be compatible with our test server...)

If it swapped to libcurl as a backend, it would be much more flexible and stay up-to-date, since the idea is solid. That being said there are many spiritual successors to look into:

- zchunk

- casync

- desync

- bita

kbaker··on Inflammation, but Not Telomere Length, Predicts Ageing at Extreme Old Age
I mean, they did qualify it in the same sentence with "different foods, processed stuff, fast food, alcohol, harsh additives, fried/burned food etc. on occasion".

Although I don't know any diet that would be "clean" compared with a water fast...

kbaker··on Backblaze Hard Drive Stats
Write up here. Accidentally added the Facebook pixel to all pages instead of the marketing pages.

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/privacy-update-third-party-tr...

kbaker··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (April 2021)
Venture Research Inc. | Software Engineer | Plano, TX (Dallas, TX, DFW) | Onsite Only | http://www.ventureresearch.com

Interested in RFID? In improving inventory and replenishment processes in hospitals, labs, and clinics? In automatically tracking pallets, containers, and other assets around a facility? Come join us!

Venture Research is a leader in the RFID industry and is consistently pushing the leading edge of what is possible using RFID technologies. We have a variety of opportunities available for both fast-paced new product design and development as well as for development on some of our long-term stable products. 20 year old small but growing company, privately held, with excellent benefits, 401K matching, paid health insurance and highly competitive salary and bonus structure.

We are hiring for the following positions:

* Frontend Web Developer: HTML/CSS/JS, Vue. Django experience a plus.

* Embedded platforms engineer: C, Linux, Android NDK. Our team is trying out Rust! Experience with hardware co-design a plus.

* Senior .NET / Backend developer: C#, ASP.NET, MSSQL, Oracle, Postgres.

Please email resumes to hr@ventureresearch.com, or use the email in my profile. Thanks!

kbaker··on Ask HN: Has Google search been worse at finding information lately?
Are you logged in? I searched for that phrase 'rust vector drain' (without the quotes) and the entire page is filled with Rust documentation. Although the broader point stands, I have noticed Google search getting worse.
kbaker··on Perseverance rover’s descent and touchdown on Mars [video]
Maybe that's what Elon has planned for the back side of the Starlink v2.0 satellites - to create an Earth-sized massively distributed phased array and get a super-high-bandwidth downlink from Mars.
kbaker··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (February 2021)
Venture Research Inc. | Software Engineer | Plano, TX (Dallas, TX, DFW) | Onsite Only | http://www.ventureresearch.com

Interested in RFID? In improving inventory and replenishment processes in hospitals, labs, and clinics? In automatically tracking pallets, containers, and other assets around a facility? Come join us!

Venture Research is a leader in the RFID industry and is consistently pushing the leading edge of what is possible using RFID technologies. We have a variety of opportunities available for both fast-paced new product design and development as well as for development on some of our long-term stable products. 20 year old small but growing company, privately held, with excellent benefits, 401K matching, paid health insurance and highly competitive salary and bonus structure.

We are hiring for the following positions:

* Frontend Web Developer: HTML/CSS/JS, Vue. Django experience a plus.

* Embedded platforms engineer: C, Linux, Android NDK. Our team is trying out Rust! Experience with hardware co-design a plus.

* Senior .NET / Backend developer: C#, ASP.NET, MSSQL, Oracle, Postgres.

Please email resumes to hr@ventureresearch.com, or use the email in my profile. Thanks!

kbaker··on Tesla’s charging stations left other manufacturers in the dust
Although you are correct in general, there is a trick - buy a NEMA 14-50 RV adapter and stay overnight at an RV campground or state park, wake up to a fully charged car in the morning.
kbaker··on Heap-based buffer overflow in Sudo

    sudo unattended-upgrade --dry-run
Looks like I get a new sudo!
kbaker··on SpaceX sends laser-linked Starlinks to the polar orbit
I don't think it is quite that high. Maybe on the order of 20 Gb/s.

> Each satellite in the SpaceX System provides aggregate downlink capacity to users ranging from 17 to 23 Gbps, depending on the gain of the user terminal involved. Assuming an average of 20 Gbps, the 1600 satellites in the Initial Deployment would have a total aggregate capacity of 32 Tbps.

https://fcc.report/IBFS/SAT-LOA-20161115-00118/1158349

They have a couple of GHz of bandwidth on the satellites for each of the user downlinks/ground station uplinks, and maybe a GHz for the user uplinks/ground station downlinks, operating in the Ku (12-18 GHz) and Ku (27-40 GHz) bands (requested frequencies on page 8 of the linked paper.)

kbaker··on Ensuring a transparent, thorough investigation of Covid-19’s origin
Great! Thank you!
kbaker··on Ensuring a transparent, thorough investigation of Covid-19’s origin
Thank you for writing this, I was just about to start writing up something similar. The linked paper might be 'serious' in tone but the claims are not convincing.

One of the best articles I have seen on the lab-made hypothesis is here:

https://yurideigin.medium.com/lab-made-cov2-genealogy-throug...

If you want to go down a more skeptical route, closer into conspiracy theories and Chinese politics, you can read some of the writings on this site:

https://nerdhaspower.weebly.com/blog/scientific-evidence-and...

Please, when reading these, keep your scientist hat on and evaluate the claims with an open mind.

That being said, if anyone has links to rebuttals of some of the key ideas behind these articles, or further evidence of natural origin beyond the Andersen et al Nature paper, please link it, I'd very much like to change my mind.

kbaker··on The Lab Leak Hypothesis
This is a good one as well with some more explanation.

https://yurideigin.medium.com/lab-made-cov2-genealogy-throug...

kbaker··on The Lab Leak Hypothesis
For any skeptics out there, take an open-minded look at this article:

https://nerdhaspower.weebly.com/blog/scientific-evidence-and...

It goes quite deep into the genetic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 relative to existing bat coronaviruses, laying out the case that it is definitely of a non-natural origin.

I am not anywhere near knowledgeable enough to fully evaluate the claims, but I would really enjoy seeing a rebuttal that is as clearly written to make the case for a natural cause. To me the Nature article just says 'nah, evolution is random, therefore SARS-CoV-2 randomly happened.' but it would be nice to see more detail. Especially with the closest ancestor of RaTG13 being decades of evolution away. (not to mention the questions around the origin of RaTG13 on the author's site...)

kbaker··on Do You Love Me? [video]
I don't know... watch the people walking in around 1:00 in the top left. Looks pretty much real time.

https://youtu.be/fn3KWM1kuAw?t=58

kbaker··on The future of electricity is local
From the same author, last year. https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2019/08/20/space-based-so...
kbaker··on Show HN: Create a QR code with text in the code pattern
Just a note, instead of encoding the picture in the full destination URL, you can encode the picture into the padding section between the URL and the Reed-Solomon section, thus permitting the use of any URL.

I used this technique a long time ago on qrpixel.com but forgot to renew the domain, oops...

http://web.archive.org/web/20160423015339/http://www.qrpixel...

Also for information about how this works, Russ Cox did a good article on it, calculating using the R-S section as well: https://research.swtch.com/qart

kbaker··on Show HN: Base32H, a human-friendly duotrigesimal number system
At least they document the tradeoffs with comparisons to other encodings.

https://base32h.github.io/comparisons

kbaker··on The 10,000 Year Clock
Don't forget this one:

Bet 9 (https://longbets.org/9/) - A bioterror or bioerror will lead to one million casualties in a single event within a six month period starting no later than Dec 31 02020.

If it was truly an accidental lab release, it could be a winning bet...

kbaker··on The joys of owning an ‘OG’ email account
Sorry to hear that. As a fellow 'OG' gmail user, I feel your pain, but between the constant 2-3 daily unsubscribe hits and many many Gmail filters it is actually manageable and usable.

Google's "targeted-journalist-level" Advanced Protection Program means I don't have to worry about password resets or account recovery stuff on the account.

Though I have lost track of the number of services I didn't have immediate access to since someone signed up using my email address, and reclaiming it can be a battle sometimes. The Apple ID was interesting - but luckily everyone's "first pet's name" was "Fido"... (Seriously... Please validate your emails everyone!!!)

Often, whenever a real mailing address is included I print out the email and send it in a real letter with a friendly (if just a tad passive-aggressive) note inside. But overall I try to do the right thing for important documents and correspondence.

I do shudder to think how many random accounts are just an email-password-reset away from having access though...

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