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alphabetter

235 karma · joined August 5, 2015

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alphabetter··on Show HN: NextDNS Adds "Bypass Age Verification"
Thanks for answering the one thing I wanted to know about this. It wasn't at all obvious to me how this might be possible using DNS only.

I guess it will work for some sites, but it would be interesting to know what fraction.

alphabetter··on Can you block it? A simple Ad Block Tester
Relevant previous topic: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43120186

"Test your adblocker" websites can harm users and the adblocker ecosystem (brave.com)

alphabetter··on Privacy Pass Authentication for Kagi Search
Honestly, I think what TFA calls "Kagi’s implementation of Privacy Pass" is the integration of the feature into their server and clients, not the RFC (which they acknowledge), or the protocol implementation.
alphabetter··on If you need the money, don't take the job
Exactly this. As a British English speaker that works a lot with the US it was an early learning.

In British English a "scheme" has no negative connotations. It's commonly used in all kinds of legitimate places - for example the company you work at will have a "pension scheme".

In U.S. English it has a connotation that it is nefarious in some way.

alphabetter··on Tell HN: GitHub locked me out for not using 2FA
Not the OP, but I am opposed to the forced use of 2FA by GitHub for three reasons:

1) They are my repos. I should get to decide the appropriate level of security.

2) 2FA is often used as a pretext for identity harvesting which are then abused for other purposes.

3) If there is account recovery via email then the whole thing is a charade anyway.

alphabetter··on Baking Pi – Operating Systems Development (2012)
[2012] based on the copyright.

Note the disclaimer: "This course has not yet been updated to work with the Raspberry Pi models B+ and A+. Some elements may not work, in particular the first few lessons about the LED. It has also not been updated for Raspberry Pi v2."

And presumably not updated for the Pi 3,4,5 too!

alphabetter··on What's that touchscreen in my room?
The 3A fuse is due to the way the UK wiring system works rather than what is optimal for this device.

All appliances in the UK have a fuse where they connect to the building wiring, normally in the plug, but can be in a fixed fuse-holder like this device. Somewhere in the process it was recognized that having lots of different fuse values would be confusing and awkward for users, so these fuses are the same size and always one of three standard values: 13A, 5A, and 3A. As noted elsewhere, you can buy these particular fuses in UK supermarkets and convenience stores.

If 3A is too high for the appliance then what the designer has to do is to fit it with a flex rated at 3A so that is protected by the fuse at the plug-end and then add additional, lower current, protection at the device end.

The UK system is clever and has subtle details like the standard fuse values which were good at the time it was introduced. But, it is also rather over-engineered, and not optimized for modern homes that have a lot of low-current appliances.

alphabetter··on BBC BASIC raytracer in 432 characters
Yes, the REM is the lookup table used in line 70.

Because BBC Basic had a built-in assembler it was pretty uncommon for BBC programs to inline machine code as raw data (unlike some other computers from BITD).

alphabetter··on Ask HN: What's the coolest physical thing you've made?
It is software-related, but also physical: pong with the bats moved by exercise bikes: http://lushprojects.com/cyclepong2/

It's been around more than 15 years in various forms now, but people still love playing it. If you're in London it is at https://www.novelty-automation.com/

alphabetter··on User In Yer Face, a worst-practise UI experiment (2018)
4'17 mostly because I was laughing so hard.

The captcha with the hononyms and the selection boxes where you don't expect them is genius.

alphabetter··on Circuit.js – Electronic circuit simulator on the web
I posted that rather quickly, so a bit more information for those who are interested (inspired by some of the comments on the thread).

I found Paul's sim by chance and really liked it because it was the first electronics sim that I had seen that was properly interactive and visual in its approach. I thought it was a great tool for building intuition about circuits. However, at a certain point it became clear that Java in the browser was on its way out, and this really needed to become a plug-in free experience if it was going to continue to be useful.

This was about the time that V8 was coming along and revoluationizing the performance of JS. Originally there was no license attached to the project, so I asked Paul if he was OK in me trying to port it to run on JS using the GWT framework. He was fine, but said he'd done old experiments with some of his other sims and found that JS wasn't performant enough, but with the strides in JS performance I was more optimistic.

I took the Jave code and commented just about everything out to get a minimal implementation of the standard LRC circuit just to see the performance. Once I was comfortable with that working I started adding every feature and every component back. Most of the work was replacing the Java graphics primitives with the equivalents from GWT.

Once the initial version JS version was out I did quite a lot of work mostly on UI features, especially the 'scopes. They were rather weak in the original and still not as good as I would really like, but much improved.

I have thought about monetizing and extending with EDA features, socials, etc. but its never been enough of a priority to do it. I kind of like its simplicity as it is.

It has been used a lot in education and a couple of teachers have contributed to the code to support their uses in classrooms.

It's kind-of amazing that it still has a very distinctive niche that nobody else has really gone after in quite the same way. I think a lot of that is because Paul's original vision and work on the Java version was so good.

There is a bit more context and some tutorials here: http://lushprojects.com/circuitjs/

alphabetter··on Circuit.js – Electronic circuit simulator on the web
Yes, Paul did the original as a Java Applet. I did the port to run in the x-compile to allow it to run in the browser. After that we cooperated on it for a while. I stepped back a few years ago to focus on other things, but he's kept up with improvements. Kudos.
alphabetter··on Is the Living Computer Museum dead?
And other home computer museums in Cambridge, Leicester, Derby, RMC (near Gloucester) to name a few.
alphabetter··on A circuit simulator that doesn't look like it was made in 2003
I've contributed quite a lot to Paul's simulator, including doing the port so it runs natively in the browser.

The photoresistor is just controlled by the slider in the side-bar. It doesn't respond to lights in the circuit. There is an "optocoupler" under "active building blocks" that does connect optically.

I've seen a few requests to add feedback that occurs outside the electrical domain - light is one, but also for mechanical movement (motors that turn generators). But, I pesonally think it's hard to know how to model all these non-electrical interactions in a way that is visually clear and effective.

alphabetter··on A circuit simulator that doesn't look like it was made in 2003
I did the port of Paul's sim so that it runs natively in the browser instead of needing a Java plug-in (remember them) and made various other contributions.

I haven't contributed for a couple of years, but Paul still actively maintains it.

Do you have specific ideas on what would be changed to "revitalize" it? I agree the UI is kind of basic (it could do with a pallet of common components), but I still like the productivity of it.

alphabetter··on The Graphing Calculator Story
... and (2004) should be in the title...
alphabetter··on Instagram Is Facebook Now
Thanks for the tip which I will try. I agree with the OP and parent, IG used to be an enjoyable experience if you were careful about who you follow, but it seems that it's now in the process of being destroyed by bad ideas borrowed from FB.

My explore page used to be hit-and-miss, but generally somewhat relevent. Over the last few days it has been filled with revolting photos of fake-tanned idiots. No amount of attempting to swat then with "Not Interested" seems to work.

alphabetter··on Jury awards Optis $300M in second patent trial against Apple
It is more subtle that that. Patent holders who contributed to the 3G/4G/5G standards agree to make their standards essential patents available under FRAND terms. However, this does not apply to patent holders who have not contributed to the 3G/4G/5G standards (because they are not part of any agreement about patent licensing terms for the standard).
alphabetter··on Microsoft exec: “Summary of meeting with Steve Jobs"
As a classic MacOS developer back in the day, "publish and subscribe" doesn't mean what you probably think it does. It isn't like "publish and subscribe" in Javascript or similar.

In classic MacOs "publish and subscribe" was a kind of real-time clipboard which allowed you to paste contents from one application in to another and have it updated in real-time if you edited the source file. The idea was interesting, but it created odd interactions and corner cases that weren't nice. It was also very slow and buggy in practice. Not many applications supported it, and those that did didn't support it well in my opinion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publish_and_Subscribe_(Mac_OS)

alphabetter··on The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free
In reddit /r/piano there are a lot of similar questions, and as someone learning piano in their 50s is always amuses me.

I self-tought to about an ABRSM grade 1 level before getting a teacher, but I had done a little bit (less than a year) as a small kid.

Particularly the early stages are very hard and it takes a lot of practice to do seemlingly trivial things. It is a differnet skill from touch typing. I find the "Dozen a Day" books of studies really good for training your fingers to do what you want them to, instead of what they want to do.

alphabetter··on HP-28S Battery Compartment Door
I am intrigued by the support for the 28S these days. I still have my 28S (with working battery door) from when I was at University. But, while I was impressed by it's potential, I never loved it as a device to use and I've stuck with my older FX-7000G as the calculator on my desk.

As explained here (edit - not my site, but I agree with the POV): http://www.ganjatron.net/retrocomputing/hp-28s/index.html

"I must say I have mixed feelings about this calculator. All this sophistication comes at the expense of ease of use. I find the HP-28S aggravatingly clumsy to use, and it's not because of RPN. For starters, the clamshell design, while ideal protection, is awkward -- you'll find yourself constantly flipping back and forth because keys on both sides are frequently used in typical operation.

Another major problem is that the HP-28 is, for the most part, not keystroke programmable; most commands are indirectly accessible through menus (over 20 of them)."

Not having the ability to import from exteral storage (the IR link is out-only) is also a big minus.

alphabetter··on Linux PinePhone has physical kill switches for its cameras, mic, data, BT, Wi-Fi
I don't have the reference, but I am pretty sure that in order to meet requirements for type-approval (e.g. FCC approval in the US) phones have to show they are resistant to IMEI modification.
alphabetter··on MuseScore 4: Moving from notation software to composition software
The thing the most frustrates me about Musescore is the core dev-teams irrational refusal to add scroll-bars to the score panel (even as an option). Requests in the past have always been met with a “you are doing it wrong” response https://musescore.org/en/node/268908

Has new input on the design changed this approach?

alphabetter··on I made my own PCBs with a 3D printer
It's not unknown for people to hand-draw PCBs with permanent markers in much the way you describe. It's not a new idea, but with 3D printers being common these days, it's nice to remind people of this approach to PCB manufacture.

Having made a few PCBs at home, my experience is the etching if the weak link. It's hard to get consistent, high quality traces - particularly if there is any kind of high density layout.

With some effort you can to double sided PCBs using this kind of technique, but any kind of through-plating has to be done manually.

alphabetter··on Understanding STIR/SHAKEN – New Anti-Robocalling Protocol
1) The FCC is threatening all kinds of hell for service providers that don't implement shaken/stir. AFAIK all the major US carriers are already committed to implement it.

2) Robocalling is probably not net profitable for the carriers. Much of it originates from abroad and much of it is associated with other kinds of fraud. Never mind the secondary impacts due to users deciding not to get phone lines if they are just going to receive spam.

alphabetter··on Understanding STIR/SHAKEN – New Anti-Robocalling Protocol
Several people have asked about the management of certificates for this solution. There is indeed a seperate certificate management body created called the Secure Telephone Identity Governance Authority (https://sites.atis.org/insights/secure-telephone-identity-go...).

The Governance Authority will define policies on how certificates are to be issued.

Any old certificate from a web CA won't be accepted by the system.

alphabetter··on The first ‘real world’ 5G test was a dud
...or, in other words, wireless services require radio spectrum shock.

Was it bad planning to demo 5G without adequate spectrum - yes. Does it tell you anything about how well 5G will work when deployed in a real system - no.

For sure, 5G is overhyped but if you have spectrum (big if) and if you are willing to pay the costs to deploy 5G (another big if) it is technically capable of excellent performance.

alphabetter··on Electronic Circuit Simulator in the Browser
Paul Falstad did (and does) all the heavy lifting for this project, but the co-host of the JS version at lushprojects.com is my site and I did the original port from a Java applet to a GWT application that complies to JS.

Glad to know so many people find it useful. I always thought it was a great visualisation tool which I why I wanted to put the effort in to do the port.

Off to bed now, but if people have questions I'll take a look at the discussion again in the morning.

alphabetter··on The unsolved secret of David Jones' perpetual motion machine [video]
I missed David Jones' work when he was alive. Does anyone know of online resources about his inventions and writing? His books are out of print and hard to get hold off.
alphabetter··on Circuit simulator and schematic capture tool
I wouldn't say it has anything like proper support for RF, but our sim does have some transmission line examples which illusrate some of the principles. See for example: http://lushprojects.com/circuitjs/circuitjs.html?cct=$+1+5e-...

(More under Circuits->Transmission lines)

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