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geerlingguy

25,062 karma · joined June 27, 2012

Author and developer from St. Louis, MO. I'm online at: https://www.jeffgeerling.com/
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geerlingguy··on QuadRF can spot drones and see WiFi through my wall
If you ever want to go into the KHz range, you could build a ship-scale platform to carry the antennas :D
geerlingguy··on QuadRF can spot drones and see WiFi through my wall
Heh, welcome to RF; there are more rabbit holes to go down in domain specialty than I think there are grains of sand on a beach. I've gone down like... two. And I'm pretty overwhelmed.

I think that's why a lot of EEs and developers wind up getting an amateur radio license, or at least running a few fun RF projects.

geerlingguy··on QuadRF can spot drones and see WiFi through my wall
There are a few knockoff options too, which are not quite as nicely calibrated, but get the job done for much less than Fluke-level prices. Like the FOTRIC TD2.

I think a few people have made homebrew versions too, like this one mentioned on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45137584

geerlingguy··on Restoring an Xserve G5
Apple actually is making M-series servers for their own internal use now—but it doesn't seem like they're intended for direct sales at all, disappointingly.

https://www.tomshardware.com/desktops/servers/apples-houston...

geerlingguy··on Delta flight hit by firework while landing at Midway Airport on Fourth of July
As another STL resident, fireworks are illegal everywhere in the County (not sure if St. Charles as well, but probably), and our local muni PD even sent out multiple warnings about prosecution.

But our inner ring suburb was similarly full of smoke last night and the smell of many amateur fireworks shows.

Only a few in my neighborhood, but they were quite the production. I remember firing a few bottle rockets as a kid, but these were definitely a few steps above that! Sounded like mini mortars, maybe those boxes with a bunch of shells timed to go after each other.

geerlingguy··on Gun Mistakes in Fiction Writing: Handgun Edition
A modern author who's fairly good in this regard is Andy Weir; the main thing is you have to do a ton of research while writing and have trusted sources (I think Clancy had many) to rely on when mulling over the details.

The tough thing is, once you get "above average" in terms of accuracy, those of us who like to be a little more pedantic will grade on a curve!

geerlingguy··on PeerTube is a free, decentralized and federated video platform
Nebula's value proposition for invited creators is dubious at best, too.

They also require an off-YouTube exclusivity contract, which was especially no bueno for me.

geerlingguy··on Qualcomm Linux 2.0
$4,300-$6,000+, wow you're not wrong. And that's just 32 or 64 GB of RAM.
geerlingguy··on Sony erases digital content from libraries
I buy physical media, and immediately rip it to my Jellyfin library.

The disc goes into a big case logic cd case, and the digital file gets backed up to two other places so there's almost an infinitesimally small chance I lose access to the content.

geerlingguy··on A stray "j" ruined my evening
Seemed to be a common occurrence from Microsoft Outlook users.
geerlingguy··on Framework's 10G Ethernet module exposes USB-C's complexity
If the whole thing were metal, the outer casing would transfer heat to skin too quickly, probably, for safety.
geerlingguy··on Framework's 10G Ethernet module exposes USB-C's complexity
Especially on the Pi 5, which has no hardware encoder to save on power consumption for that task. It's entirely in the CPU.

(Technically the Pi 4's hw encoder doesn't go up to 4K either, though, so I guess moot point).

geerlingguy··on Framework's 10G Ethernet module exposes USB-C's complexity
I do wish there were something like Oculink, but with power available over the connector. USB-C does almost everything, but it seems the chips to break out PCIe lanes for USB4/Thunderbolt for higher speed devices are still a significant cost for accessories.
geerlingguy··on Framework's 10G Ethernet module exposes USB-C's complexity
Thunderbolt hubs are rather amazing now; in the past they'd either get super hot and have reliability issues, or had severe bandwidth limitations (especially if using larger displays).

The current crop has been great for my needs — a couple models have 10G Ethernet built in (CalDigit is the one I'm using now), and most now have more than one Thunderbolt port that allows a high speed storage device to be used as well (in addition to a 5K or 4K display or two!).

geerlingguy··on PowerFox Browser
Thank you for your work on it! I love that I can browse most of the modern web on G4 and G5 Macs still.
geerlingguy··on SMPTE Makes Its Standards Freely Accessible
If your entire goal is to create a standard... it seems like giving anyone access to the materials needed to _adhere_ to said standard is prerequisite.

Unless the goal is not to create standards, but instead to control access to said standard.

geerlingguy··on SMPTE Makes Its Standards Freely Accessible
I don't understand why any standards body would consider not doing this as a default.
geerlingguy··on Satellite reveals immense scale of GPS signal tampering
The US invested $8 billion into upgrades... and then killed off the program due to tons of problems with the upgrades[1]:

> However, the program was unable to deliver needed capabilities on an operationally relevant timeline at an acceptable level of risk to meet the GPS constellation modernization needs.

Hopefully the newer equipment and incremental improvements can bridge over to whatever's next.

[1] https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4465...

geerlingguy··on Satellite reveals immense scale of GPS signal tampering
GPS uses atomic clocks, not sure why we'd need something more precise for a timing reference on any other satellite system, unless you wanted to get like millimeter-level accuracy using nothing but satellites (and that would require a lot more than just a better clock on the sats).
geerlingguy··on U.S. science is in chaos
"The grass is always greener", "the enemy you know", etc. etc.
geerlingguy··on Only 16 Percent of Americans Think AI Will Have a Positive Impact on Society
I think that's an optimistic take; the load bearing portion hasn't permeated traditional development.

Like so many things popular on HN, the tools that are here are great aids for good development processes and practitioners... but they are not actually replacing them in applications that will exist after the AI bubble deflates.

geerlingguy··on Mechanical Watch (2022)
Yes, I remember the GPS post, but somehow missed this one the first go-round. I love how HN can resurface an old post deserving of a few re-posts.
geerlingguy··on You can power on a Mac remotely
No this is power on after clean shutdown ("Always" is the new option Apple added, in addition to "never" and "after power failure")
geerlingguy··on You can power on a Mac remotely
I care about paying for my mortgage, sustaining my work, supporting my family... it's how I make a living.

Again, my blog is made for the more technical audience.

With Google diverting search traffic away, there's about a 1:1,000 ratio of blog visitor to YouTube viewer now.

If you don't like my YT channel, please subscribe to the blog. I write a separate and more detailed blog post for almost every video, and the titles are more technically accurate. (I also post videos on Floatplane with the more accurate titles, for direct channel supporters.)

And I care about all eyeballs, not just technical ones :)

geerlingguy··on You can power on a Mac remotely
To be fair, the number of users who ever touched an Intel Xserve is infinitesimally small in comparison to other Macs.
geerlingguy··on You can power on a Mac remotely
Oh nice—and a true classic, that's the one from Jurassic Park, right?
geerlingguy··on You can power on a Mac remotely
I publish the blog posts for the technical audience, and the YouTube videos for a living.

And unfortunately, I and all the other YT creators I've talked to have experienced the same thing: a more technical title will give you half or worse in terms of views. You have to play YouTube's game if you want to have any kind of audience.

I find a ton of channels that are buried not because they don't have great content, but more because they don't 'package' it well.

It's something I learned in my programming career: no matter how much I despise marketing, marketing is necessary. And on YouTube marketing is almost entirely the thumbnail and title.

I always take real pictures, show the exact subject and topic covered in the video, etc. — but I stretch the title a bit because that's an immediate way to get 2x-3x the views (and they're not click-away views, either, it's a large portion of the audience who would simply not click at all otherwise).

geerlingguy··on You can power on a Mac remotely
Only on the Xeon models. The G4 and G5 didn't have any kind of LOM :(
geerlingguy··on You can power on a Mac remotely
Tape gets weaker, mechanical wedge would stay a bit longer.
geerlingguy··on You can power on a Mac remotely
This was a neat hack in many of the early Macs between the 'big switch' ones (like the Mac Plus and SE) and the 'pushbutton' ones (like the Performas and Quadras).

You could even do it with your fingernail; just push in and twist the power button, and it would stay in forever, and the Mac would automatically boot when you plug it in.

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