|
It’s a balmy -26C here in Calgary right now. Maybe you could visit and bring some of that warmth with you!
If you can't laugh at yourself - ask me and I will do it for you.
|
|
|
|
|
We are in the - probably most cold - part of the winter so not much warm just now... We as low as 10-12 C nowadays...
"The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012
|
|
|
|
|
You want to put marshmallows in wine? Perverts! 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
|
|
|
|
|
With marshmallows there are plenty of opportunities.
|
|
|
|
|
I've made an incredibly cool configuration system for my little smart connected gadget i'm building for a client.
When you turn it on for the first time you use it (and subsequent times until it finds what it's looking for), it scans bluetooth and wifi for potential access to a configuration gateway of sorts which can either be a WPS signal leading to internet access where it can fetch time+timezone and a friendly machine name from a couple of webservices, or it can see any nearby running apps on a bluetooth capable device before eventually giving up. When it finds one, the connected app on PC or phone pops a wizard (like google's sign in screens) that allow you to set the name, and optionally give it the wifi password. If you don't give it the wifi password it won't bother turning on the wifi radio anymore because it just wastes battery. At any rate, this configuration information is saved. It can be reset to factory by holding the "connect" button for 5 seconds on boot. The "connect" button works like a bluetooth pairing button except it advertises over WiFi too by publishing itself as a UPnP (universal plug and play) device.
The app(s) can connect with it through either mechanism. This way it works with computers that don't have bluetooth like many desktop PCs and some laptops and tablets.
It turns off the radios when they aren't in use to save battery. The connect button is basically how you turn them on again, but once connected it will stay connected for as long as it needs to. eventually, the app will stop sending keep alives and it will time out.
This was difficult code to write. There are a lot of cases and a lot of little hardware issues to manage, like controlling the radios and their power levels, and converting a 32bit ARGB color code into the necessary voltages for the RGB status LED so you can tell what the radios and the configuration system are doing - blue for bluetooth, yellow for wifi, pink for configuring, red while resetting to factory. Sometimes they cycle between colors to indicate multiple activities such as searching over bluetooth and wifi while fetching config info causing it to cycle blue,yellow, and pink.
Also the entire thing is cooperatively multithreaded so you can keep using the device while it's doing all of this.
Anyway, I'm pretty proud of it. It's my first bluetooth project and my second UPNP project. Not too shabby, IMO.
*pats self on back* 
Real programmers use butterflies
modified 7-Feb-21 1:29am.
|
|
|
|
|
Nice work! I just leveled up, too. Upgraded my Ham license from Technician to Extra class in one leap. That's just one of the "nice" things about this COVID-19 thing, being able to test online via Zoom, with 6 volunteer examiners watching on two active cameras focused on my desk and me. One of the others is being able to walk into a store wearing a mask and a gun, and not being arrested. That's a nice feature of living in a free state that considers the Constitution sacred. I'm loving it, even though I know that the next four years are going be hell for anyone with half a brain... 
Will Rogers never met me.
|
|
|
|
|
Roger Wright wrote: Upgraded my Ham license
... your what?  
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
|
|
|
|
|
Amateur Radio. People build radios and antennas and use them to talk to each other, or sometimes even send data.
People get really serious about. I've seen what must have been a 20 or 25 foot (not sure in metric but TALL!) radio antenna in someones back yard. The kind you can climb. I'm not even sure it was legal.
Real programmers use butterflies
|
|
|
|
|
I thought he had got excellent in the art of cutting this kind of Ham[^]  
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
|
|
|
|
|
Actually, we're allowed anything up to 200' without anyone's permission, unless the structure is near an airport, or presents a hazard to others. Few people build their own radios anymore - sadly - but our equipment is quite advanced. Google on the ICOM IC-7300 I just purchased and check its specs; quite impressive. And my handheld, a Kenwood TH-D74A, is capable of reaching anywhere in the world if there's a network path available, using digital modes invented by Hams. It's going to keep me entertained for years, just figuring out what all those buttons do, and what menus lie behind them.
Will Rogers never met me.
|
|
|
|
|
Woohoo!
Well played.
Real programmers use butterflies
|
|
|
|
|
Congrats, I have a friend that just made Tech and he said the Extra is a bitch.
|
|
|
|
|
I may have had a small edge, Mike. Your friend probably doesn't have 40+ years' experience as and electrical and electronics engineer.
Will Rogers never met me.
|
|
|
|
|
Nope, he has very little electronic experience.
|
|
|
|
|
Nice!
Did you do this with a State Machine, or something more complex?
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
|
|
|
|
|
It's unfortunately more complicated than that. It can be in several states at once so I couldn't use a state machine, though that was my initial idea
Real programmers use butterflies
|
|
|
|
|
and I thought this was interesting. So I thought I would post it as a CCC for the crazy people here who can figure them out (and create them).
It seems that twelve plus one equals thirteen is true. (6,4,3)
If you can't laugh at yourself - ask me and I will do it for you.
|
|
|
|
|
A good one! I met it a couple of years ago in a slightly different form, so I'll clam up for now. (Besides I have to dream up the real one for tomorrow.)
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
|
|
|
|
|
I have a feeling that was used as an actual CCC not so long ago. Or did I dream it?
|
|
|
|
|
Not that I recall but I could be wrong. (Don’t let my wife know I said that!)
If you can't laugh at yourself - ask me and I will do it for you.
|
|
|
|
|
Whether it was a CCC or not, it is certainly one that I have seen before in another context, and it is quite surprising.
|
|
|
|
|
That’s what I thought too!
If you can't laugh at yourself - ask me and I will do it for you.
|
|
|
|
|
Baby's first birthday party: 14 adults fined £800 each[^]
The UK is on lockdown, but that doesn't apply to my baby. How did the police know where to go? They hung party banners outside the house ... 
Truly, you can't fix stupid. But you can laugh at them! 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
|
|
|
|
|
The biggest threat seems to be from those infected that are asymptomatic ... and those numbers are huge (apparently).
I think most don't even know what asymptomatic means. And of course: "children are immune" (Not).
It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it.
― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food
|
|
|
|
|
Gerry Schmitz wrote: And of course: "children are immune nasty little disease factories"
FTFY! 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
