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nic547

112 karma · joined May 5, 2021

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nic547··on CrankGPT
The "Low Tech Magazine" has a guide to building a DIY bike generator https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2022/03/how-to-build-a-pra...

Unfortunately even with the bike it seems like you really need to find one machine that can be repurposed, a rowing machine seems a bit of a stretch.

nic547··on Nvidia greenboost: transparently extend GPU VRAM using system RAM/NVMe
9950X is dual channel, running 4 DIMMs runs them interleaved, with two DIMMs sharing one physical connection, impacting signal integrity severely. AFAIK this has gotten worse with DDR5 to the point that it's generally recommended to avoid 4 DIMMs unless you really can't get enough RAM otherwise. For maximum bandwidth you need to avoid interleaving.

Strix Halo simply has more memory controllers. Threadrippers are also quad channel, and should be able to run 4 DIMMs at rated speeds, but the cheapest Zen 5 Threadripper seems to be almost double the price of a 9950X3D.

nic547··on Nvidia greenboost: transparently extend GPU VRAM using system RAM/NVMe
Strix Halo uses a 256bit memory interface, the normal desktop processors only have a 128bit interface, that's the biggest difference in bandwidth. For more bandwidth you need to go to a Threadripper.

Strix Halo seems to use LPDDR with 8000 MT/s, which is a bit faster than the usual 5600 MT/s-6400 MT/s "normal" DDR5-DIMMs (Albeit (expensive) faster ones seem to exist), so there's a slight edge towards soldered memory (not sure about LPCAMM2 and similar tech).

GDDR7 is a different league, a 5070 Ti also has a 256bit memory interface, but has 896GB/s bandwidth, compared to strix halo with 256GB/s

nic547··on Swiss vote places right to use cash in country's constitution
Switzerland can't join the EU without a referendum anyway, I don't think that's realistic anyway. The prevailing juristic opinion seems to be that changing away from the franc would have required a referendum because while it wasn't explicitly defined it was referenced a bunch of times.

The concern was about CBDC and "cashless", the original initiative comes from a conspiracy-adjecent group. They just kind of failed of doing anything major about it, the initiative was worded badly. The counter proposal was explicitly a symbolic copy paste with no real effect.

nic547··on Swiss vote places right to use cash in country's constitution
Politco makes it sound much bigger than it actually is. Only two things are now secured in the constitution:

- The franc is the national currency - The swiss national bank is responsible for the supply of cash.

This doesn't have any effect in practice, since this is straight up copy and paste from the law about currency. This change only means that a change requires a mandatory referendum rather than having to launch a referendum.

It does nothing about acceptance of cash, afaik that initiative failed to reach the neccesary support to be voted on.

nic547··on Al Lowe on model trains, funny deaths and working with Disney
Assuming you have the yellowish, metal tracks (M-Track) it should work more or less.

Electrically the tracks with the connectors for power might have capacitors for radio interference reasons, they're unnecessary for and cause problems with the digital signals.

With regards to the wheel-track geometry, Märklin hasn't changed that much and most modern rolling stock compatible with the "Märklin system" (commonly referred to as "3L"/"AC") should work on M-track. Only the small "industrial radius" tracks might be a bit problematic in general and longer cars can hit turnout signals (mostly a problem with long passenger cars that aren't shortened to 1/100 or 1/93.5 scale). Some manufacturers have created "universal" wheelsets, those might be prone to derailments.

Digital trains need clean rails for proper operation, m-track is more vulnerable to rust and really needs proper rust removal, especially after not being used for a while.|

AFAIK it's not that rare to use m-track for storage yards and "non-visible" track rather than throwing it away.

nic547··on Al Lowe on model trains, funny deaths and working with Disney
GP mentioned Märklin H0, so Y-Loops aren't a Problem anyway because both wheels have the same potential, it's a modified 3rail system with a bunch of studs in the middle as a 3rd rail.
nic547··on BMW's Newest "Innovation" Is a Logo-Shaped Middle Finger to Right to Repair
And that would violate both BMWs Trademark and Patent, which at least in Switzerland could mean having to pay BMW damages and get fined for importing counterfeit goods.
nic547··on Cloudflare Radar 2025 Year in Review
ASP.NET could mean a bunch of programming languages and I'm assuming that a ASP.NET Server doesn't disclose that. It's probably safe to guess mostly C#, but that requires a different metric.
nic547··on Developers are choosing older AI models
Doesn't Brave disable WebBluetooth by default via a flag?
nic547··on Spotlight on pdfly, the Swiss Army knife for PDF files
For me it's a bottle opener, a corkscrew and a knife that's good enough.

More picnic less camping in the wild.

nic547··on Qualcomm to acquire Arduino
STM32 MCUs are 3V3, not 5V right?

Arduino really isn't great with naming, a Uno can be an AVR or ARM based board, now either 3V3 or 5V based and also a SBC rather than just a MCU.

nic547··on CT scans of 1k lithium-ion batteries show quality risks in inexpensive cells
I'd like to argue that electric Rechauds are superior anyway. Fuel paste or gas always seems to run out just before you're finished, everything cools down while refilling and then you have to get the fluid up to temperature again. Safety around children or tipsy people is just the bonus on top.
nic547··on The Dollar Is Dead
Probably too small.

Also Switzerland is easy to bully, as can be seen by the current US tariff regime.

nic547··on .NET 10 Preview 6 brings JIT improvements, one-shot tool execution
MAUI is supposed to use native ui components, AvaloniaUI just uses Skia. I think going with a non-native approach would kinda make Linux a clear second class platform, especially with all the native features that need to be rebuilt?

Is there any multiplatform ui framework that's actually "native" for all the different linux ui toolkits?

nic547··on .NET 10 Preview 6 brings JIT improvements, one-shot tool execution
.NET LTS is on a 2-year cycle, isn't it?

I've worked in .NET shops with very niche WPF/WinForms applications where customers were years behind with our software/major .NET Framework releases.

I don't think it's a technical challenge, more a cultural one.

nic547··on Where's Firefox going next?
I don't think that's a fair summary of Mozillas Position on the WebBluetooth/WebSerial/WebUSB specs. Interacting with arbitary devices has arbitrary consequences, mozilla seems to assume users are not able to understand these consequences and therefore cannot consent to it.

No improvment to the spec can fix users.

nic547··on Show HN: FlopperZiro – A DIY open-source Flipper Zero clone
I've done the same thing for a few reasons.

- Certain things need good layouts - I think I can see a DC-DC Converter, you need to minimize certain loop areas, etc. You also need to ensure that you use the correct footprints for the chips. Way easier to just use a bunch of modules with a simple pcb.

- It reduces the components you need to aquire - you need to select a inductor with the correct specs for the dc-dc converter, a bunch of different resistors and capacitors for all sorts of uses or you just purchase a cheap module from china.

- It's easier to solder. Fancy chips with packages with no leads are not trivial to solder. LED's might be a bit sensitive to temperature and can get destroyed by a not-so-great solderer. Small pitches on IC make it easy to create solder bridges or bad connections.

nic547··on YouTube No Translation
Switching to a even more foreign language is a bit weird - in my experience the concern about English is much greater than about German. I'd expect people would just only speak swiss German (deciding between talking swiss German or standard German with a standard German speaker is a bit of a difficult question as well). Can I ask about your background? Switching to English is usually a tourist/clearly not german-speaking thing.

Disclosure: I do consider standard German a semi-foreign language.

nic547··on YouTube No Translation
But every speaker of swiss german is expected to also speak and write standard german. "swiss standard german over swiss german dialect" is enforced in school, sometimes even during breaks.

There's no formalized system for writing swiss german. (We even call swiss german "Mundart", literally translated "mouth type".) Only with sms and social media written swiss german has become a thing amongst younger people.

I don't think youtube not serving content badly translated to swiss german is a problem, quite frankly I'm happy swiss german is "ours".

I just wish google realized that "German (Switzerland)" means no need to auto-correct anything to 'ß'

nic547··on Show HN: Luna Rail – Treating night trains as a spatial optimization problem
I'm not sure if that's just my narrow view of europe, but most european railways seem to run double decker trains (albeit not on all lines). Switzerland, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Hungary are the countries I can recall using double deckers with only the UK being generally unable to use them.
nic547··on I will do anything to end homelessness except build more homes (2018)
it's nit-picky, but I think the swiss approach of "as fast as necessary, not as fast as possible" is worth separation from "train go fast", especially since it's mostly the later that shows up in comparisions/statistics because it's much easier to calculate.
nic547··on I will do anything to end homelessness except build more homes (2018)
> extremely fast

It's generally called "as fast as necessary", more focused on total journey lenght with the clock-face schedule across the whole country. Other countries certainly have faster trains.

nic547··on InventWood is about to mass-produce wood that's stronger than steel
Modern Panzerholz (Kunstharzpressholz, 'synthetic resin densified wood') is manufactured with resin - this new material doesn't seem to rely on resin, but only on the cellulose contained in the wood.
nic547··on 'Nobody has done this before': Britain's beloved steam trains trial technology
The complete system only controls the train insofar as it can apply the brakes (and probably cut the steam). What it can do depends on the lineside equipment. On newer routes it replaces the signals, keeps track of where the train is, where it has to stop and how fast it can go. It communicates with transponders mounted between the rails and depending on the route via GSM-R with a "Radio Block Center". It might communicate with older, uk-specific safety equipment. It contains a black box to monitor the driver and train. The screen is just a part (the so-called "Driver Machine Interface") of the whole system. And it needs to meet a high level of safety.
nic547··on 'Nobody has done this before': Britain's beloved steam trains trial technology
Route knowledge exists in Germany, it's called "Streckenkunde" and under normal circumstances drivers in germany can't just drive anywhere. I think it's a fairly common thing in europe, Switzerland and Austria also require aquisition of route knowledge.
nic547··on 'Nobody has done this before': Britain's beloved steam trains trial technology
In my understanding it's a complete ETCS L2 system, so it needs a "Euroradio" for GSM-R, a bunch of redudant sensors for Odometry, a balise transmission module, an interface to the train to interact with the brakes and a central computer with a black box. And I assume everything needs to be certified to reach some level of correctness.
nic547··on Choosing death penalty by firing squad because it's safer
We know even in a "not botched" lethal injection with the usual cocktail the sedation is often not effective and the paralyzing agent is only useful to hide that fact the sedation isn't working (and even counteracts the sedation).
nic547··on Jack Daniel's says Canada pulling US alcohol off shelves 'worse than tariff'
Would Canada get voting rights? I would assume that Canada (or any other aquisition) would get a status like the District of Columbia or Puerto Rico to prevent a political shift in the US.
nic547··on Intel shareholders file case asking ex CEO, CFO to return 3 years of salary
AMD and Apple have no Foundry
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