[X] My Assistant

When the chinese-made Li-Ion cells were taken apart, it was seen that some brands used refurbished cells, used cells, or even word out cells obtained from recycle lots. Most of the cells also lacked spacer protections, shielding, or even the required protective circuitry to reduce the chance of the cells bloating and catching on fire.

That might be the reason for such cheap price for the many Chinese-branded power banks on sale. Sometimes I did wonder how they could sell a power bank with 30,000mAh capacity for less than RM100 (<US$30).

Rarely but yeah, usually due to manufacturing or damage in transport.

It's just that I cannot recall a single case in Malaysia where a cargo plane in actually went down or at least made an emergency landing due to a power bank.

I feel like I've got battered wife syndrome in relation to systemd. It causes so much headaches but I don't want to put in the effort to migrate everything over to Devuan or Artix.

With a little work you can get rid of Systemd-as-init on non-Devuan Debian.
The key is elogind (from stable/sid/whatever you want), and [packages.debian.org] libpam-elogind-compat (from experimental only). Also gconf-gsettings-backend, potentially. And sysvinit or similar, of course.
elogind is from gentoo, BTW. Basically a project to excavate logind out from under systemd. libpam-elogind-compat isn't guaranteed to work in all cases, which is why it's only in experimental, but for the little I needed it for it works. It also means you can keep non-systemd poetteringware if you so choose (I did not; I manage networks using shell scripts around wpa-supplicant and dhclient for instance, and audio via Alsa plugins like dmix).

I think I had to edit a systemd-related .prerm file (under /var/lib/dpkg/info/) to stop it from preventing me from uninstalling systemd while it was running (falsely claiming it "won't work"). If it didn't work for some reason, you could always just boot with init=/bin/sh and fix things yourself, anyway. I didn't have to do that though; it just worked.

I have four systems running Debian without Systemd init. Three amd64, one powerpc (32-bit).

I just got finished moving my daily driver(s) over to Arch and my servers to Debian from EoL Ubuntu installs and having to redo my configs on those made me remember just how nice it is when systemd doesn't respect small, unimportant things like limits.conf because it has its own values stuffed away somewhere and of course it won't respect any other config file. Oh well, hindsight is 2020 I guess.

If you'd asked first I'd have mentioned that before you did all that.
I think my favorite thing was when systemd incorporated a DNS resolution system that refused to actually resolve anything on my university network, no matter how I configured it.

This post has been edited by dragontamer8740: Jan 26 2021, 11:24

With a little work you can get rid of Systemd-as-init on non-Devuan Debian.
The key is elogind (from stable/sid/whatever you want), and [packages.debian.org] libpam-elogind-compat (from experimental only).

I'll give that a shot at some point, right now I'm pretty burnt out on taking a hammer to the installs trying to figure out why my settings weren't being respected. In the future I'm definitly avoiding systemd from the get-go. Should of been my attitude from the start but it's been a while since I had to directly interact with it and I forgot just how fucking obtuse and frustrating it is.

I think my favorite thing was when systemd incorporated a DNS resolution system that refused to actually resolve anything on my university network, no matter how I configured it.

I ran into something similar the first time I tried to use a VPN, no matter what I did systemd insisted on ignoring the the VPNs DNS settings, instead insisting on leaking requests all over the place. Fun times.

Troubleshooting a riser cable being bad, and the GPU and riser 90 being fine in an SFF chassis with motherboard mounted to a tray was fun. Had to pull the board off the tray and bracket off the card, and wedge things in ways that made me uncomfortable.
GX270 rebuild is complete pending a new riser cable arriving today, slow steady progress on iMac project. That chassis is toight.

Also, because I'm stupid I found a NOS reference Vega 64 for launch price, so upgrading my main rig's GPU to that. Already have some slightly noisey fans, and plenty of cooling and PSU to spare. Because ebay, I'll hang on to my RX 580 a while as a spare. RX 5600 XT, RX 5700, and RX 5700 XT are unobtanium: 150% of MSRP used, going north of 250% for new cards in higher trim levels.

That might be the reason for such cheap price for the many Chinese-branded power banks on sale. Sometimes

The chinese ones overstate their capacity.

Harbor Freight has a lot of retail stores in the USA. It sells cheap chinese-made items many of which are knock-offs. Amusingly, the power tools on Project Farm tests that spark, smoke, and stop working are usually the ones bought at Harbor Freight. As "power banks" go, another type of power bank are those Li-Ion packs used to start cars. They have bigger less-convenient cases than power banks because they can be tossed in a trunk to be scratched up, so they have a thicker more rugged case than power banks. Their batteries are also supposed to be the high-current drain type. Many of those car-starter power banks also have a built-in LED flashlight and a USB port so that you can use them as a power bank.

The picture is for the Harbor Freight Viking battery jump starter and power pack. It claims to be 12,000 mAH rated on both its box and the Harbor Freight catalog and online site literature. Someone that takes apart various products (youtube) and reviews them also took apart the Harbor Freight power pack jump starter. So, if the uniit is claimed to be 12,000 mAH, the battery pack inside should be robust.

[www.harborfreight.com] https://www.harborfreight.com/Lithium-Ion-J...Pack-62749.html

Opening up the case and breaking the warranty, the inside has a commercial LiPo 3 cell battery pack similar to the LiPO packs used with RC model planes and RC cars. So, the power bank jump starter is probably a repackage or repurpose of a battery pack used in remote control model cars/model planes/drones.

The battery pack inside is rated at 2900mAH which is far below the claimed 12,000 mAH claimed by Harbor Freight on their website.


Project Farm has tested Harbor Freight jump starters, and they have always failed to start the test car.

This post has been edited by Anime Janai: Jan 27 2021, 09:27

I'm convinced now. I'm holding off from purchasing a powerbank. Even the local PC chain stores only stock up the Chinese-branded ones.

I'm holding off from purchasing a powerbank. Even the local PC chain stores only stock up the Chinese-branded ones.

Think outside the box.

For example, you can make your own power bank using individual cells. There are pre-made low-cost plastic boxes that allow you to put in fully charged NiMH or Li-ION batteries. In the early days of cellphones before Li-Ion polymer became cheap, some places, including Frys Electronics, had sold small plastic boxes that allowed you to put batteries inside and then connect the box to your phone. Of course, the boxes had some additional circuitry.

Here is an example of a combination charger/power-bank sold via GearBest:
[www.gearbest.com] https://www.gearbest.com/chargers/pp_493560.html

Caveat: I have NOT purchased the above product. FYI.
-=---=-=-
FOLLOWUP: In case you were thinking about using a automobile battery Li-Ion jump starter power pack also as your cellphone power pack, this can be done and many of these jumper packs also have USB sockets for you to plug devices into them. However, some packs may be noisy because they obtain the 5VDC by DC-to-DC conversion. For example, the user in this youtube video (( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-bPMfOEBpM )) connected an MP3 player to the USB power output and the noisy DC power caused noise to appear in the MP3 player output. Different brands may have better filtering of the DC-to-DC conversion output.

This post has been edited by Anime Janai: Jan 27 2021, 09:53

People are pumping Gamestop shares to pwn Wall Street short sellers.

Investment Bankers: Is this a game to you?

Gamers: Yes, yes it is.

Re: gamestop


This post has been edited by dragontamer8740: Jan 28 2021, 00:33

today in pointless tech endeavors, found out you can use the i2c bus on any vga (or any other display protocol that uses i2c) port to do whatever.
just needed to grab the radeon firmware packages for the right i2c bus to show up.
finally a way for your vga port to drive a... display


This post has been edited by cate_chan: Jan 28 2021, 03:05

Re: gamestop

I think thats why they put a limit on how much you could put down on preorders. Originally I could pre-order 50 games and pay for them all upfront but then they put a cap of $10 deposit.

The system had a glitch where you could put down $999 on preorders that they did not have the retail price for yet.

I trust regular banking more, but my local shopping centre lost its bank branch years ago, though then they lost the gamestop branch...

Gamestonks. How high can this go?

1. Thoughts on GP-branded AA/AAA batteries? According to Wiki, Gold Peak is HK-based company established since 1964. Being in the business for so long, the brand must be as reliable as Panasonic, Energizer/Eveready & Duracell right?

2. I currently use Panasonic Evolta batteries to power my wireless mouse. Even when I always switch it off after finish using it, the wireless mouse could only last around a month of daily use before requiring battery replacement. Is the power drain due to the LED? My Logitech Bluetooth mouse on the other hand uses laser diode and it's batteries are still going strong after almost 2 months.

Gamestonks. How high can this go?

until people stop buying and start selling it, since a lot of the communities mass buying are getting banned now I'd imagine the party will be over within the week. though it might keep going till 500 or go through the roof somehow if this does keep going as it has.
that said I know nothing about economics

2. I currently use Panasonic Evolta batteries to power my wireless mouse. Even when I always switch it off after finish using it, the wireless mouse could only last around a month of daily use before requiring battery replacement. Is the power drain due to the LED? My Logitech Bluetooth mouse on the other hand uses laser diode and it's batteries are still going strong after almost 2 months.

interesting, wouldve guessed the laser to take more. but I guess in the grand scheme of a whole month what'll matter most is how well it goes into low power modes. like turning everything down to use minimal possible power until movement between short rests.
stuff like that is the main reason why cheap battery powered stuff tends to chew through battery, and why I cant be bothered to give up my cables.

would be interesting if you could measure the current of both while moving and in rest to see how well they try to preserve battery, should clear up whats going on.

another reason could be it deems the batteries 'empty' quicker than your other mouse. have you measured the 'empty' batteries of the one that goes through them in a month? is it just a low battery warning or does it refuse to work?
I have a camera that claims the batteries are empty as soon as they dip slightly under 1.2V, which is a real pain with rechargeables..

This post has been edited by cate_chan: Jan 28 2021, 06:04

How old is the wireless mouse?

Newer models have more low power state standby modes and can switch off / reconnect more aggressively.

wireless radio vs Bluetooth can make a difference too.

today in pointless tech endeavors, found out you can use the i2c bus on any vga (or any other display protocol that uses i2c) port to do whatever.

I think I figured that out around 2013; used it to disable SVM (Scan Velocity Modulation) on an old consumer Toshiba CRT TV. It's a fun thing to play with.

1. Thoughts on GP-branded AA/AAA batteries? According to Wiki, Gold Peak is HK-based company established since 1964. Being in the business for so long, the brand must be as reliable as Panasonic, Energizer/Eveready & Duracell right?

Age of a company means absolutely nothing. Feel free to try it, but being established doesn't mean much at all. RCA still ostensibly makes TV's, for instance.

2. I currently use Panasonic Evolta batteries to power my wireless mouse. Even when I always switch it off after finish using it, the wireless mouse could only last around a month of daily use before requiring battery replacement. Is the power drain due to the LED? My Logitech Bluetooth mouse on the other hand uses laser diode and it's batteries are still going strong after almost 2 months.

Why are you using alkalines, though? Pretty wasteful. Just use rechargeables; Eneloops are great and Panasonic makes really solid chargers for them, but generic energizers/duracells or whatever are fine, too. Pretty much any modern device I've used seems fine with the somewhat lower voltages, and I run original Game Boys and a Game Gear off them, too. I don't think I've bought any AA's in about 5 years.
one LED is likely not the (sole) cause of your drain; it could be any amount of other electronics in there. If you mean an LED illuminated mouse, though (not just optical sensor lighting), it could start to add up, especially if it's bright.
Another reason decorative LED's are stupid.

Additionally, higher frequency colors like white and blue take more power than red.

wireless radio vs Bluetooth can make a difference too.

I often forget that some people actually like Bluetooth and that devices are actually produced to use it. I've never had it work nicely myself and I go out of my way to avoid it. It definitely could impact power drain, too.

I have a camera that claims the batteries are empty as soon as they dip slightly under 1.2V, which is a real pain with rechargeables..

Funnily enough I have an old Canon camera that only seems to work for long periods when using rechargeables; Alkalines get maybe half an hour, versus maybe two plus hours with supermarket rechargeables.
Never was annoyed enough to put anything on a meter and find out, though; I use an old (~2006, CCD-based) Nikon DSLR more often these days anyway.

Currently running xz to compress a whole bunch of PSD's I have sitting on my hard drive. I exported PNG's from them ages ago so they were just sitting there and hogging a lot more space than necessary.

This post has been edited by dragontamer8740: Jan 28 2021, 08:33

I often forget that some people actually like Bluetooth and that devices are actually produced to use it.

It sounded like a good idea once.... I purchased expensive electrostatic speakers with bluetooth....


They sound good except for when Bluetooth is playing up and dropping out and dropping audio quality...

Which is always.

I try to forget that I bought them.

How old is the wireless mouse?

Newer models have more low power state standby modes and can switch off / reconnect more aggressively.

wireless radio vs Bluetooth can make a difference too.

This is the model: [www.a4tech.com] A4Tech 9300F

And it's old. Can't recall the exact year but I can say it's pre-2015. Product page says "12-months battery life guarantee". In practice, nowhere near that.

Why are you using alkalines, though? Pretty wasteful. Just use rechargeables; Eneloops are great and Panasonic makes really solid chargers for them, but generic energizers/duracells or whatever are fine, too. Pretty much any modern device I've used seems fine with the somewhat lower voltages, and I run original Game Boys and a Game Gear off them, too. I don't think I've bought any AA's in about 5 years.
one LED is likely not the (sole) cause of your drain; it could be any amount of other electronics in there. If you mean an LED illuminated mouse, though (not just optical sensor lighting), it could start to add up, especially if it's bright.
Another reason decorative LED's are stupid.

Additionally, higher frequency colors like white and blue take more power than red.

Availability is the issue. All the shops are selling non-rechargeables in the tiny town I'm located at right now.

As for the LED, I was referring to the mouse's sensor. The mouse is a cheap Taiwan product, bought long before the RGB craze took over.

I often forget that some people actually like Bluetooth

My wireless mouse often becomes unresponsive whenever my computer is using large bandwidth - e.g. Windows Update, downloads & bittorrent sessions. (I'm on 300Mbps broadband connection). The Bluetooth mouse which I started only using 2 months ago isn't affected by this issue. Not sure why. Maybe interference from my wifi router's transmission signal?

Yesterday, I wanted to start configuring my new laptop, but the backup ended up taking all day.
I wonder if I should restart today, or wait until I'm sure I've got a full day to invest in it.