[X] My Assistant

highly underappreciated and forgotten. not sure why it went ever out of fashion.

Specialized commercial Unix hardware is (almost) dead, everything runs on commodity PC hardware now. And I don't think IBM AIX or SGI IRIX machines ever even had a compose key.
Apple's """"unix"""" never did, either. It just cloned the PC layout even back in the A/UX days, and didn't have a special layout for Unix-running macs. They just called it the "extended keyboard," similar to IBM's terminology for the modern age 10[1-5] key layouts ("enhanced keyboard"). I have such an apple board, it feels excellent but control is in the wrong place (and no compose key).

DEC VT220 had it; Sun machines had it.

TL;DR: Microsoft and Apple never cared about it, and instead of giving us a compose key in the Windows 95 days when M$ strong-armed everyone but IBM into including more keys on their boards, they gave us a context menu key and an extra redundant windows key.

The only commercial vendors that had hardware and software support for it are (essentially) dead. And people apparently decided alt-codes for everything is acceptable despite it being a clear-cut case of the inferior technology being chosen again.

I really wonder about the legality of this, I've had it happen with a number of services before where for random reasons they force you to give them your phone number to get access to your account back

Legally, I think they can, especially if it's in the ToS.
Morally, I think it's reprehensible.

--

I ported some OSS audio code to native ALSA today. First time I've ever done that. Went pretty smoothly actually. Working fine, although so far I've only tried it on my Audigy 2 ZS. I'm pretty sure dmix is handling resampling and the like behind the scenes for me in software, since my card likes to hardware-resample non-48khz sources and the PSX runs at 44100 hz. I don't think not driving the hardware "directly" will actually radically change behavior though.

This post has been edited by dragontamer8740: Aug 24 2020, 11:39

TL;DR: Microsoft and Apple never cared about it, and instead of giving us a compose key in the Windows 95 days when M$ strong-armed everyone but IBM into including more keys on their boards, they gave us a context menu key and an extra redundant windows key.

The only commercial vendors that had hardware and software support for it are (essentially) dead. And people apparently decided alt-codes for everything is acceptable despite it being a clear-cut case of the inferior technology being chosen again.

Ah that explains it, I got into using the compose key after getting into linux, long after it was already claimed dead. These days its not even mapped correctly by default (actual compose keys becomes windows menu), luckily after getting around that all the sweet compose key goodness still works.

Legally, I think they can, especially if it's in the ToS.
Morally, I think it's reprehensible.

terrible reality

alt code master race.

alt code master race.

Your naïvité is quite impressive, if what you are saying is not in jest.

This post has been edited by dragontamer8740: Aug 26 2020, 10:25

av6╔Θ¼☺A<9◘9•

Honda doesn't make an electric starter for their GX120 engines. China doesn't make one either, I am disappoint. My example is in an EU2200i generator. did find somebody offering a kit, but for entirely too much and of inferior tech for their price. It's basically a brushed motor ofthe same exact sort used in battery scooters for kids, and an SLA battery bracket that sit where the fuel tank should be.
Somebody posited I could easily do it with a tiny brushless RC motor, especially given the motor's compression release and short duty cycle to start it, and a belt drive to a gutted pull start mechanism's spool.
Quite neat idea, but I feel the mechanical fabrication is beyond what I can do, and I have enough projects going on.



Speaking of dumb projects, how asshole would it be to install a (dummy) charger socket and a couple of plug in hybrid stickers on a vehicle to get better parking?

This post has been edited by Wayward_Vagabond: Aug 26 2020, 16:11

Honda doesn't make an electric starter for their GX120 engines. China doesn't make one either, I am disappoint. My example is in an EU2200i generator. did find somebody offering a kit, but for entirely too much and of inferior tech for their price. It's basically a brushed motor ofthe same exact sort used in battery scooters for kids, and an SLA battery bracket that sit where the fuel tank should be.
Somebody posited I could easily do it with a tiny brushless RC motor, especially given the motor's compression release and short duty cycle to start it, and a belt drive to a gutted pull start mechanism's spool.
Quite neat idea, but I feel the mechanical fabrication is beyond what I can do, and I have enough projects going on.

they seem to pull start very easily, do you really need to?

Speaking of dumb projects, how asshole would it be to install a (dummy) charger socket and a couple of plug in hybrid stickers on a vehicle to get better parking?

I feel like this'd get you the same kind of fines and parking in handicapped spots unofficially, if you think you can get away with it I'd do it tbh. I used to park on the one electric spots with campervan to keep the fridge running

Your naïvité is quite impressive, if what you are saying is not in jest.

lol, I don't actually care for either. Some people at my work used to argue about it for hours.

The argument used to boil down to ease of remembering the codes vs speed of use with the numpad.

lol, I don't actually care for either. Some people at my work used to argue about it for hours.

The argument used to boil down to ease of remembering the codes vs speed of use with the numpad.

But compose key is both faster and easier to remember in most cases. Think of it like overlaying characters on a typewriter.

Its primary drawback is that not all possible characters have compose key associations.
Most of note do though.

This post has been edited by dragontamer8740: Aug 27 2020, 08:22

Thinking I'll get a cheapo C-Media CM6206-based USB sound card thing for my laptop, primarily because I need a line input for it (stereo).

Should I? or is there a better product under the $20 mark? I really am not too interested in a high-fidelity "USB DAC" or whatever, I just want a line input and any additional features are just nice bonuses.

And not that it matters at all, but if anyone here has used one, how good/bad is the audio output on those boxes? I really don't need higher than 48KHz, so I'm not worried by the lack of higher sampling rates.

This little kit looks kind of fun, actually, and I could do some SMT soldering on it.
And it uses RCA jacks instead of dumb TRS, and has S/PDIF in/output.

Hope I can do the soldering on that PCM2096, though… One way to find out, I guess.


[www.paleoserver.com] https://www.paleoserver.com/aberco/abercousbaudiokit.pdf
[www.ebay.com] https://www.ebay.com/itm/112817850594
That guy also has an ebay listing for 23 PAL playstation PSU's and several listing for decapped IC dies. I think I might like him, if we ever met.
Looks like whoever fabbed his board messed up though on the lettering.

The PCM2906 is a very old Burr-Brown design, and it's only up to 48khz/16-bit, but that's all I really need anyway.

This post has been edited by dragontamer8740: Aug 27 2020, 09:55

lol, I don't actually care for either.

what do you do when you need €/¥/™/ⓒ/ⓡ or some other somewhat common symbol that isnt on your keyboard?

what do you do when you need €/¥/™/ⓒ/ⓡ or some other somewhat common symbol that isnt on your keyboard?

Question not towards me but hey:

\usepackage{textcomp}
\usepackage{listings}

\texteuro
\textyen
\textcopyright
\texttrademark

Question not towards me but hey:

\usepackage{textcomp}
\usepackage{listings}

\texteuro
\textyen
\textcopyright
\texttrademark

very outlandish scenario, but what if you're writing some piece of text that isnt LaTeX™?

This post has been edited by cate_chan: Aug 27 2020, 18:25

Thinking I'll get a cheapo C-Media CM6206-based USB sound card thing for my laptop, primarily because I need a line input for it (stereo).

Should I? or is there a better product under the $20 mark? I really am not too interested in a high-fidelity "USB DAC" or whatever, I just want a line input and any additional features are just nice bonuses.

And not that it matters at all, but if anyone here has used one, how good/bad is the audio output on those boxes? I really don't need higher than 48KHz, so I'm not worried by the lack of higher sampling rates.

This little kit looks kind of fun, actually, and I could do some SMT soldering on it.
And it uses RCA jacks instead of dumb TRS, and has S/PDIF in/output.

at that price for just a pcb and some parts you could also consider ordering the pcb at a pcb fab place, if the design is public that is. it'd give you the option to have them assemble and test it, spare pcbs and a stylish black/gold pcb to impress friends and family.

not that it speaks for the quality of all of these devices but based on my experience with cheap audio capture in general (these awful things):(IMG:[ae01.alicdn.com] https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1Tx2KsEOWBKNjSZKzq6xfWFXah.jpg)
it ranges from "I guess its okay for tv", to it not working correctly on linux. my place is also one giant collection of noise generation so anything analog with a cable longer than 1m will get static and noise on it, which doesnt help these in the slightest. that said though these are the only alternative I can even think of around(well under) the $20 mark that I actually used besides built in stereo in of desktops.
honestly for 20 bux that seems like some good entertainment to assemble and mess about with, it'll probably do for whatever usecase since you mentioned the quality not being critical.

Hope I can do the soldering on that PCM2096, though… One way to find out, I guess.

nothing is impossible to solder given enough flux and desolder wick

This post has been edited by cate_chan: Aug 27 2020, 18:27

very outlandish scenario, but what if you're writing some piece of text that isnt LaTeX™?

Write the entire thing in LaTeX and then copy paste to the required place. (under \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} so i get proper characters that is)

You may be surprised how often I do that.

Write the entire thing in LaTeX and then copy paste to the required place. (under \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} so i get proper characters that is)

You may be surprised how often I do that.

workflows like this are why we cant have nice things

you google it nab

at that price for just a pcb and some parts you could also consider ordering the pcb at a pcb fab place, if the design is public that is. it'd give you the option to have them assemble and test it, spare pcbs and a stylish black/gold pcb to impress friends and family.

not that it speaks for the quality of all of these devices but based on my experience with cheap audio capture in general (these awful things):(IMG:[ae01.alicdn.com] https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1Tx2KsEOWBKNjSZKzq6xfWFXah.jpg)
it ranges from "I guess its okay for tv", to it not working correctly on linux. my place is also one giant collection of noise generation so anything analog with a cable longer than 1m will get static and noise on it, which doesnt help these in the slightest. that said though these are the only alternative I can even think of around(well under) the $20 mark that I actually used besides built in stereo in of desktops.
honestly for 20 bux that seems like some good entertainment to assemble and mess about with, it'll probably do for whatever usecase since you mentioned the quality not being critical.

I have one of those, assuming that's got an em286x chip in it. Mine's Roxio branded but it's the same thing. Also like the Ezcap DC60+.

Apparently there are four entirely different variants of this device, [linuxtv.org] https://linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Easycap. The last version of windows that supported my card was Windows 7, but I remember finding some other generic driver that made it work in Win8. It's always worked "out of the box" for me in Linux distros.

Works in linux, and it's actually pretty good for capturing 60FPS 240p video when I run it through a couple ffmpeg filters to separate the fields into frames and correct the aspect ratio. It is annoying to configure for the first use, though.

I don't usually use it for audio capturing, just for video, but I suppose I could use it for audio on my laptop, actually. Thanks. I forgot about mine.

And the use case is mixing sound with my PC's audio for my USB headset so I can play Mega Drive games while appearing to be in class on zoom.

And I kinda am thinking about buying it just to help him out because he's a pretty good guy for publishing everything you'd need to fab one yourself, and because he seems like a generally cool guy. Also I am sad I never got to experience heathkits.

Write the entire thing in LaTeX and then copy paste to the required place. (under \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} so i get proper characters that is)

You may be surprised how often I do that.

I mean, do what works for you, but you're missing out if you've not tried the compose key.

This post has been edited by dragontamer8740: Aug 28 2020, 08:55

I still wish laptops had a removable plastic heat shield on the bottom and that the location of the opening was impromptu standardized just like the kensington lock hole was. Removal of the shield (which normally protects your leg) would expose a sturdy and hot piece of copper metal. The laptop cooling pad would have a thermal pad section that touches this hot copper to draw heat away from it. Eventually, the laptop might even become supported by these cooling contact pads if there are enough of them.

Additional cooling like this would allow laptops to have more advanced graphics cards in them. Such cards generate a lot more heat, so some other type of cooling is going to be needed.

The PC will continue to pull away from laptops now that the nVidia 3090 series is coming out in the fall. Some of these cards are rated for 320 watts. That's an amazing amount of heat (and cooling fan noise) in just a tiny location.
[www.techpowerup.com] https://www.techpowerup.com/271497/nvidia-g...ications-leaked

I still wish laptops had a removable plastic heat shield on the bottom and that the location of the opening was impromptu standardized just like the kensington lock hole was. Removal of the shield (which normally protects your leg) would expose a sturdy and hot piece of copper metal. The laptop cooling pad would have a thermal pad section that touches this hot copper to draw heat away from it. Eventually, the laptop might even become supported by these cooling contact pads if there are enough of them.

Few problems with that

1. That's a cost-prohibitively large amount of copper
2. If you generate that much heat (320W) you're gonna be plugged into the wall anyway (batteries will drain in minutes and the charging brick will be massive), so why not get a desktop at that point. And that leads to a sub-point: those 320W max chips are not going to be in laptops and should not be.
3. Just wait for someone to lose the bottom "shield" piece and make himself impotent. Lawsuit in 3,2…
4. Innovation is dead in the laptop market and has been for some time. Profit margins are razor thin, too, so that'd be an awful risk.
5. There are already laptops that do that (use their bottoms as heat sinks); they're called Apple Macbooks and Apple Powerbooks.

(IMG:[photos.smugmug.com] https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/464547641_7NixC-L-2.jpg)

This post has been edited by dragontamer8740: Aug 29 2020, 05:47