Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Vince]

Oh, then you have the "switch with a pilot light" thing... where it glows faintly (or brightly, as the one above) when off so you can find it in the dark. 

No, never saw there over here. I have just have regular unmarked switches. Two regular ones and the third internally has a special function, 4 poles, two lines going trough it, and when you flick it it permutes the two lines. But from the outside it looks jus like the two other switches, un marked, you just can"t tell.
I don't know how this arrangement is called in English.. "va et vient " in French. Anyway, nothing fancy.

Here is a wiring diagram for that. The two regular switches at either end, which makes a traditionnal two way va-et-vient, then to extend it to a 3 way like I have, then the third switch is the one in the middle, it permutes  the two lines linking the two outter switches. Simple, just works. I hear it's judged obsolete here now, but who cares, it's cheap simple and it works.

But at least over here, the light switches that have ON and OFF molded into the switch have ON in the UP position, so that kindof makes it pretty clear. They make it so we mere users don't have to think aboot such things; and when we do, there are always guys like Bob Vila to give even the most hopeless home-fixers among us the basics so we shouldn't be killing ourselves.

mnem
 

Yes Americans / Canadians need to be told not to stuff their fingers in the power outlets, as if it's not obvious.
Thank god no such shit here, at least for now. May it long continue that way...

Switches here are unmarked. There is no need to do so : if you enter a dark room, you can't see what would be written on it anyway ! Plus, if it's dark and you want light, who cares what position the switch is in ? You just flick it the other way and that's it, obvious !
Do you think I look at the marking on my Tek scopes power switch ? No ! If I want to power it up and it's not already doing so, I just flick it the other way that's all ! 

It's funny how people can drive a car at 16 and kill people on the streets, own guns and go shopping with them, yet somehow they are judged too stupid to figure out how to operate a light switch or that high voltages can be dangerous ?! 

[xrunner]

Haha 

Got to be honest I can’t stand clutter or more appropriately “kipple”.

Today’s efforts finally finished. Test gear away. This was about a foot deep in shit this morning 

Ah yea! That picture ... that's what I'm talkin' about! 

Anyway, my day in the barrel I guess. But I'm going back to fixing that hp mode switch. I need to make a few small parts on the 3D printer and test them.

I'll shoot another video of the repaired switch in action. Maybe I'll pile a whole shit load of crap I ain't using all around it to make these guys feel at home. 

[Specmaster]

As of about a week ago Apple are added to the vendor shitlist here. There another thread about that though.

They still produce the best hardware and software combo but now compromised privacy and a compliance nightmare means I can’t conscientiously continue using their platform without endorsing a downward spiral for my kids.

As you’ve heard me say: always have an exit plan and that has been played.

Reference in context: https://www.macrumors.com/2021/08/18/german-politician-letter-tim-cook-csam-scanning/

Saw you talking more on this in the Discord... You mean you're actually getting rid of the iPuds & iPwns for the kidzz, etc as well...?

mnem
all I can say is... hide the shovels so they can't make you dig your own hole... 

Wow, I must have missed the original posting of this. That truly sucks and while I certainly don't agree with any form of child abuse, Apple are taking it too far with this approach, it gives them Cart Blanche to do whatever they like to do with your property. The cynic in me says that there is more to this than what meets the eye when you consider that they refuse to remove the encryption and or unlock devices to allow the police and other authorities to interrogate a suspect's mobile phone messages for incriminating evidence of either a criminal or terrorist nature.

As far as I'm concerned, this just highlights yet another reason to distrustful of Apple, in addition to the other reasons already aired by myself and many others. To my mind, it is rather like the emergency powers that our government has awarded themselves, there are other intentions here beyond the stated ones, which to many would sound like a reasonable justification that the public would accept, in other words a trojan horse.

[Specmaster]

As of about a week ago Apple are added to the vendor shitlist here. There another thread about that though.

They still produce the best hardware and software combo but now compromised privacy and a compliance nightmare means I can’t conscientiously continue using their platform without endorsing a downward spiral for my kids.

As you’ve heard me say: always have an exit plan and that has been played.

Reference in context: https://www.macrumors.com/2021/08/18/german-politician-letter-tim-cook-csam-scanning/

Saw you talking more on this in the Discord... You mean you're actually getting rid of the iPuds & iPwns for the kidzz, etc as well...?

mnem
all I can say is... hide the shovels so they can't make you dig your own hole... 

Yep scrapping the whole lot. Have bounced all my personal devices other than iPhone as I’m waiting for a hardware token to turn up so I can still do MFA. Then that’s going. Youngest is keeping iPad for now as it’s heavily locked down anyway and all that shit disabled. Older two don’t use theirs much as they have laptops and desktops.

On a positive note I now have a fad wad of cash which is immediately going to be burned on something mirrorless with a decent amount of glass in front of it 

For anyone who doesn’t know, Apple accidentally introduced the first step of global totalitarian policing to their platform and everyone has shit the bed over it. Me included. When confronted about it they claimed misunderstanding and doubled down on it. So double bed shitting took place.

So, the big question now is, which Android phone will you be choosing?

[Neomys Sapiens]

I never gave your martial status a single thought, ....

The big difference that a little i can make - or not?
Although some very cynic people would maintain that 'engaged' is going to have a similar outcome between the two.

[bd139]

As of about a week ago Apple are added to the vendor shitlist here. There another thread about that though.

They still produce the best hardware and software combo but now compromised privacy and a compliance nightmare means I can’t conscientiously continue using their platform without endorsing a downward spiral for my kids.

As you’ve heard me say: always have an exit plan and that has been played.

Reference in context: https://www.macrumors.com/2021/08/18/german-politician-letter-tim-cook-csam-scanning/

Saw you talking more on this in the Discord... You mean you're actually getting rid of the iPuds & iPwns for the kidzz, etc as well...?

mnem
all I can say is... hide the shovels so they can't make you dig your own hole... 

Yep scrapping the whole lot. Have bounced all my personal devices other than iPhone as I’m waiting for a hardware token to turn up so I can still do MFA. Then that’s going. Youngest is keeping iPad for now as it’s heavily locked down anyway and all that shit disabled. Older two don’t use theirs much as they have laptops and desktops.

On a positive note I now have a fad wad of cash which is immediately going to be burned on something mirrorless with a decent amount of glass in front of it 

For anyone who doesn’t know, Apple accidentally introduced the first step of global totalitarian policing to their platform and everyone has shit the bed over it. Me included. When confronted about it they claimed misunderstanding and doubled down on it. So double bed shitting took place.

So, the big question now is, which Android phone will you be choosing?

I will not be using an android phone.  They are absolute garbage architecturally, hardware wise and privacy wise. Apple are still a better deal if you have to choose one.

I choose a Nokia 220 and Nikon Z5

[mansaxel]

As of about a week ago Apple are added to the vendor shitlist here. There another thread about that though.

They still produce the best hardware and software combo but now compromised privacy and a compliance nightmare means I can’t conscientiously continue using their platform without endorsing a downward spiral for my kids.

As you’ve heard me say: always have an exit plan and that has been played.

Reference in context: https://www.macrumors.com/2021/08/18/german-politician-letter-tim-cook-csam-scanning/

Saw you talking more on this in the Discord... You mean you're actually getting rid of the iPuds & iPwns for the kidzz, etc as well...?

mnem
all I can say is... hide the shovels so they can't make you dig your own hole... 

Wow, I must have missed the original posting of this. That truly sucks and while I certainly don't agree with any form of child abuse, Apple are taking it too far with this approach, it gives them Cart Blanche to do whatever they like to do with your property. The cynic in me says that there is more to this than what meets the eye when you consider that they refuse to remove the encryption and or unlock devices to allow the police and other authorities to interrogate a suspect's mobile phone messages for incriminating evidence of either a criminal or terrorist nature.

As far as I'm concerned, this just highlights yet another reason to distrustful of Apple, in addition to the other reasons already aired by myself and many others. To my mind, it is rather like the emergency powers that our government has awarded themselves, there are other intentions here beyond the stated ones, which to many would sound like a reasonable justification that the public would accept, in other words a trojan horse.

Honestly, it has very little -- in principle -- to do with Apple. It is about what happens when you have a bunch of megacos that have their fingers in your mind. Given how we trust a lot of our innermost feelings and ideas to computers, the lure of having a bit of help with running them was never risk free. We only sort of surfed along on the hope that our little perversions wouldn't be found enough interesting. Be they dragon-worshipping, TE collection, listening to pathetic goth music, or whatever.  Apple simply happened to slip first.

In the end you can only trust computers you have complete control of. I think that sort of ended with Pentium II, what with layers and layers of microcode and shit running outside your local control.

Pity it's such a hassle to run.

[Specmaster]

Oh, then you have the "switch with a pilot light" thing... where it glows faintly (or brightly, as the one above) when off so you can find it in the dark. 

No, never saw there over here. I have just have regular unmarked switches. Two regular ones and the third internally has a special function, 4 poles, two lines going trough it, and when you flick it it permutes the two lines. But from the outside it looks jus like the two other switches, un marked, you just can"t tell.
I don't know how this arrangement is called in English.. "va et vient " in French. Anyway, nothing fancy.

Here is a wiring diagram for that. The two regular switches at either end, which makes a traditionnal two way va-et-vient, then to extend it to a 3 way like I have, then the third switch is the one in the middle, it permutes  the two lines linking the two outter switches. Simple, just works. I hear it's judged obsolete here now, but who cares, it's cheap simple and it works.

But at least over here, the light switches that have ON and OFF molded into the switch have ON in the UP position, so that kindof makes it pretty clear. They make it so we mere users don't have to think aboot such things; and when we do, there are always guys like Bob Vila to give even the most hopeless home-fixers among us the basics so we shouldn't be killing ourselves.

mnem
 

Yes Americans / Canadians need to be told not to stuff their fingers in the power outlets, as if it's not obvious.
Thank god no such shit here, at least for now. May it long continue that way...

Switches here are unmarked. There is no need to do so : if you enter a dark room, you can't see what would be written on it anyway ! Plus, if it's dark and you want light, who cares what position the switch is in ? You just flick it the other way and that's it, obvious !
Do you think I look at the marking on my Tek scopes power switch ? No ! If I want to power it up and it's not already doing so, I just flick it the other way that's all ! 

It's funny how people can drive a car at 16 and kill people on the streets, own guns and go shopping with them, yet somehow they are judged too stupid to figure out how to operate a light switch or that high voltages can be dangerous ?! 

What you have there in your living room is just standard 2 way switching like you would have on a staircase, but with an intermediate switch inserted in the middle of the 2 strappers to provide a switching function on the third, fourth and any subsequent doors on that circuit. Where you would typically come across the use of 2 more intermediate switches would on a corridor which rooms of it, like a school for instance.

[bd139]

As of about a week ago Apple are added to the vendor shitlist here. There another thread about that though.

They still produce the best hardware and software combo but now compromised privacy and a compliance nightmare means I can’t conscientiously continue using their platform without endorsing a downward spiral for my kids.

As you’ve heard me say: always have an exit plan and that has been played.

Reference in context: https://www.macrumors.com/2021/08/18/german-politician-letter-tim-cook-csam-scanning/

Saw you talking more on this in the Discord... You mean you're actually getting rid of the iPuds & iPwns for the kidzz, etc as well...?

mnem
all I can say is... hide the shovels so they can't make you dig your own hole... 

Wow, I must have missed the original posting of this. That truly sucks and while I certainly don't agree with any form of child abuse, Apple are taking it too far with this approach, it gives them Cart Blanche to do whatever they like to do with your property. The cynic in me says that there is more to this than what meets the eye when you consider that they refuse to remove the encryption and or unlock devices to allow the police and other authorities to interrogate a suspect's mobile phone messages for incriminating evidence of either a criminal or terrorist nature.

As far as I'm concerned, this just highlights yet another reason to distrustful of Apple, in addition to the other reasons already aired by myself and many others. To my mind, it is rather like the emergency powers that our government has awarded themselves, there are other intentions here beyond the stated ones, which to many would sound like a reasonable justification that the public would accept, in other words a trojan horse.

Honestly, it has very little -- in principle -- to do with Apple. It is about what happens when you have a bunch of megacos that have their fingers in your mind. Given how we trust a lot of our innermost feelings and ideas to computers, the lure of having a bit of help with running them was never risk free. We only sort of surfed along on the hope that our little perversions wouldn't be found enough interesting. Be they dragon-worshipping, TE collection, listening to pathetic goth music, or whatever.  Apple simply happened to slip first.

In the end you can only trust computers you have complete control of. I think that sort of ended with Pentium II, what with layers and layers of microcode and shit running outside your local control.

Pity it's such a hassle to run.

That’s about it. Although Apple didn’t slip first. They slipped last but spectacularly. Microsoft and Google already do this.

I tried to follow the least shit option over the years which gives me some convenience but that fell through eventually as well. Been expecting it to always hence the utterings from me of “always have an exit plan”.

As for control of your computing hardware I think we’re fairly good on the PC front with that still. There are some UEFI shenanigans (Asus Armoury crate being a fine example) but overall you can configure all the stupid away still.

[tggzzz]

My house is not that big really. Have you seen the amount of stuff some of these people accumulate? I frankly need to stop buying much more gear because it's just piling up.

I don't need to look elsewhere to come to that conclusion

I've currently got the problem in two houses, one with between 8 and 16 rooms depending on your definition of "room". I've definitely excluded the servants' outside toilet from that, since it was used as a cupboard!

[tggzzz]

For anyone who doesn’t know, Apple accidentally introduced the first step of global totalitarian policing to their platform and everyone has shit the bed over it. Me included. When confronted about it they claimed misunderstanding and doubled down on it. So double bed shitting took place.

I doubt the Chinese government (and others) "shit their bed"; it is more likely they cr..... Oh never mind; this is a family forum.

[FransW]

Since all software is made by humans it follows the Pareto principles and Murphy's law.

And beware of self-appointed geniuses. Of the world population less than 1%.

Frans

[tggzzz]

Yes Americans / Canadians need to be told not to stuff their fingers in the power outlets, as if it's not obvious.
Thank god no such shit here, at least for now. May it long continue that way...

Germans (and presumably others) have to be told not to let their toddlers poke knitting needles in the holes.

[xrunner]

My house is not that big really. Have you seen the amount of stuff some of these people accumulate? I frankly need to stop buying much more gear because it's just piling up.

I don't need to look elsewhere to come to that conclusion

I just had a nightmarish thought.

What if we all had to work together for the same company?   

[tggzzz]

My house is not that big really. Have you seen the amount of stuff some of these people accumulate? I frankly need to stop buying much more gear because it's just piling up.

I don't need to look elsewhere to come to that conclusion

I just had a nightmarish thought.

What if we all had to work together for the same company?   

You would be "sorted" during interview into will/won't fit in with companny culture. Theory X companies => anal retentitive clean desks, theory Y companies => relaxed "whatever works". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_Theory_Y

[0culus]

A clean bench means you aren't being productive. 

[xrunner]

A clean bench means you aren't being productive. 

Yea! Let's do this all day! 

[0culus]

A clean bench means you aren't being productive. 

Yea! Let's do this all day! 

[xrunner]

That doesn't prove anything, because that's his style of working. Others produce with tidy work areas. The sign that you produce, is very simple -

If you produce a quality work product, then you produce. That' it.

[bd139]

Also quite frankly Jim Williams was a liability in two areas. One being the amount of crud falling or poking into the vents on his kit causing an electrocution hazard. Secondly licking the solder. 

Saying that about half way through a project my place looks like his 

[0culus]

That doesn't prove anything, because that's his style of working. Others produce with tidy work areas. The sign that you produce, is very simple -

If you produce a quality work product, then you produce. That' it.

Oh come on, I am just being silly. Not trying to "prove" anything.

[0culus]

Also quite frankly Jim Williams was a liability in two areas. One being the amount of crud falling or poking into the vents on his kit causing an electrocution hazard. Secondly licking the solder. 

Workbench Russian roulette!

[mnementh]

Seriously people... 3 and a half hours of Discord shenanigans that I need to review...? 

And we thought that we came out lucky, as with you present, that might have been more!

mnem
touche'...

[xrunner]

Also quite frankly Jim Williams was a liability in two areas. One being the amount of crud falling or poking into the vents on his kit causing an electrocution hazard. Secondly licking the solder. 

Workbench Russian roulette!

Maybe Jim Williams might have been even more productive if his desk was clean? Like I said, I could never work in that mess and I really have never seen any engineer where I worked have a pile like that and there were plenty of productive smart people there. But he's used to it.

I mean I'm thinking of a scenario ...

So you take your finished project to he boss. He/she says "Wow this looks really good and it's just what we needed to get back on schedule. But I'm afraid I have to do something first. I need to check you work area. If it's clean and organized, I'm afraid this project will be deemed "unacceptable" because it couldn't have actually come from a clean and organized area.

 

[Wolfgang]

A clean bench means you aren't being productive. 

Yea! Let's do this all day! 

Jim was a designer landmark, but they heydays of Bronx style hacking with THT components are now over. His style just does not work anymore with flyshit size SMD parts. Same for Bob Pease.

A lot of design tricks can still be learned from their appnotes. The building style is passé, however. Sniff.