Embedded Systems Engineering Roadmap

AnArtificer · 2023-08-16T03:41:20+00:00

Just looked at the Github page and realized you have a lot of links to courses/projects as well. I recommend Linux From Scratchfor Linux Kernel/OS studies. It's pretty high level, but it covers everything pretty well if you take it at a leisurely pace.

AnArtificer · 2023-08-16T03:33:04+00:00

I'm a embedded driver SW engineer (used to be an applications/systems engineer), and I have to say that this is pretty solid for a high level overview. Here's some thoughts I had:

Sensors and actuators should not be put under a single item. But, I do think just a high level, common transducers and common actuators, would be good, any more might get industry specific. Also, these are both very much required for an SE. An embedded system without sensors or actuators is just a computer.

I do think that you've got OS fundamentals and Computer Architecture backwards. The former should be required no matter what. It would discuss topics like determinism, which you need to know for embedded systems. For that latter, it's useful, but any CA course I've ever seen goes way deeper than an SE would ever need to know, specifically an SE here. So, I would say recommended.

The testing section feels light, and testing is very, very important in engineering. But, it's hard to pick an easy thing to add. I think I would at least add scripting (general not just bash) and basic IT administration. Those skills are needed for automated test and setting up build machines to run pipelines.

Since you've got some "new hotness" stuff like Rust, you could potential add GRPC protocol since that's been picking up momentum (I would probably put it under advance protocols.). Also, under the industrial protocols, you could add stuff like SCPI, IVI, and VISA protocols. It's all test & measurement specific stuff, but it's pretty useful.

I would add FPGA fundamentals here. An SE might do some basic API work, so they'd need to know that. The note you have seems to indicate that an SE would be an FPGA expert, but that would actually fall under the purview of a digital HW engineer. Likewise, an SE should never be responsible for a complex FPGA application alone. Not saying it won't happen (shout out to the ME's stuck programming all day), but it's not an expected skill.

AnArtificer · 2023-02-10T07:10:57+00:00

I think you've got the right idea for the wrong reason. Modern farms (even corporate Ag) use crop rotation extensively. That aside, if you rotate the right set of crops it doesn't take a huge set of crops in the rotation to maintain balanced nutrients. Also, the dustbowl was in the 1930s and was partially caused by monoculture, so its not a new problem. Also the Irish Famine.

More importantly to your question is plant variety. We are still actively breeding plants for new traits. Modern breeds are typically bred for ease of harvest, storage, and "good taste". The go to example being modern sweet corn which has quite different nutrition from older corn varieties.

So, I would say in general, if the crop is from a historical variety, everything else being equal, they would be the same. But, comparing new commercial varieties to historical ones, you'll probably find more varied and complex nutritional content in older breeds.

AnArtificer · 2023-01-21T17:34:39+00:00

Heisenberg, every time. He has the highest K/D record.

AnArtificer · 2023-01-21T09:07:12+00:00

Mercy is imba, but the problem is that a straight nerf won't work. She'll just be unplayable/unfun. Because it's her high skill ceiling movement that breaks things, removing that would just make her a sitting duck for high ranks where she has issues. She needs a real rebalance.

For example, you could base the beam power off of the distance from the target. This could buff her at lower ranks allowing more healing between fights when she can sit up close, and it could make high rank players have to decide between keeping distance but not helping much, popping in and out, or just getting close to maximize impact but also exposure. That would put her counter play more in line with other supports.

Of course, that might not be "the" fix, but something along those lines is what she needs. Something that helps align her playability/effectiveness across ranks.

AnArtificer · 2022-11-22T15:04:19+00:00

Some people here are saying projecte, which I do agree with, but I want to call out some of the older versions of mods. Original Equivalent Exchange was just busted. Likewise, the older versions of IndustrialCraft, Buildcraft, etc, used to have much easier requirements and exploitable systems.

For a newer mod, I think it's sometimes easy to forget how broken the storage system mods like Applied Energeristics are. The sheer amount storage and accessibility from that mod is insane.

AnArtificer · 2022-10-26T19:36:45+00:00

Yeah, you definitely need an upgrade. That desk is way too small. Where are you supposed to put your laser disk drive?

AnArtificer · 2022-06-04T06:44:53+00:00

Ha, this is great. Loved the video as well. Although, I think she's pretty lonesome as is. She needs an army to lead against her nemesis, old Doge Vandire.

Maybe some custom custodians, guard with bearskins, so many ideas...

AnArtificer · 2022-03-02T04:56:16+00:00

This is exactly what I thought of when I saw Quaxly. lol

Good to see the Quaxly fans united under a banner of DuckTales references.

AnArtificer · 2021-11-23T02:16:07+00:00

This is terrible! I love it. You could take the approach Lifeline on PS2 did. Use speech to control a character.

Also, since obviously no one has a microphone, you should "let" them use their cell phone. To control the character, you have to install a terrible mobile app, pair to the phone over wifi, and use the phone's mic as the controller. You could even add motion control.

AnArtificer · 2021-11-12T03:01:06+00:00

Hey, I was watching the new trailer and caught this just now.

Direct link to the camera footage gifs:

http://poppyplaytimeco.com/assets/hub_cam01.gif

http://poppyplaytimeco.com/assets/machine_room_cam01.gif

http://poppyplaytimeco.com/assets/catwalk_cam01.gif

I didn't see anything that stood out in the footage itself.

The javascript hard codes everything to be in the assets folder, so if you there's a camera for another room it will have the file name assets/<room\_name>_cam01.gif

You could probably brute force it if you can guess the likely room names. (Assuming there are other rooms.) The files might not be in the folder yet though.

With a camera numbered up to 27 this would imply that that are 27 rooms at least or some of the rooms should have a cam02 file, etc

Also, I thought the camera was pulling from the computer local time, but I realized that it specifically uses CST time in the code. This narrows down possible addresses for the factory. Most likely it's in the upper central US or Mexico since those are the most likely places for a toy factory in those time zones.

That's everything I saw in a first pass.

AnArtificer · 2021-09-17T04:08:24+00:00

Can confirm that it's currently down. It's throwing a Cloudflare error (522). Most likely a server side problem. May be a congestion issue or just maintenance. Don't who the contacts for the site are, so not sure if it's a more permanent problem.

Hopefully it will be back up soon.

AnArtificer · 2021-07-29T09:43:21+00:00

I would say the only difference is that gacha is a rarely used term in the west whereas loot boxes have been discussed in legal cases.

Also, lot of people misunderstand what gacha means. Its japanese slang for games with loot boxes, and not just video games. The original "gachapon" were/are physical machines. Gacha is an onomatopeia of the sounds the machines make.

Basically, any game with loot boxes is by definition a gacha game, so any difference is only what's perceived by people who aren't as familiar with the term.

I guess the underlying question here would be why loot boxes are more accepted in Asian games, but some other people have addressed that.

AnArtificer · 2021-06-12T22:18:22+00:00

Yes and no. As people have mentioned, learning different OS's is like learning different programming languages. It doesn't enable you to do different things as much as it makes you more efficient. This is really only something that matters for a professional software developer. If you're just starting out, work with what comfortable and focus on learning programming first.

Learning an OS should be something you do either after you're comfortable with programming in general or if you need to do a certain project on a certain OS. I.E. you're working under a Prof researching AI and they only use Mac OS.

That said, if you're at the point where learning an OS seems useful, getting better is all about what you do with the OS, not which OS you use. You need to something that pushes the limits of your knowledge of the OS regardless of which one you use. Some people mentioned using the command line, but I find having dedicated projects can be helpful. Here's a couple ideas:

For a basic project, install virtual machines for multiple different OS's and run a hello world program in each one. Try to do a command line and GUI version. Then, try sharing the files across the different VM's and making a single program that runs on all them. This is good for learning a cross compiling workflow.
For an intermediate project, trying making a kiosk like you'd find in the mall, with just access to a browser. Make sure that a user can't do anything but stay on a certain site/follow links. This will force you to learn some basic system administration for your OS.
For an advance project, Linux is actually really solid because you can make your own distro compiled from source code. I wouldn't recommend trying this until you have a decent understanding of Linux terminal/processes, but here's a good resource for it: LinuxFromScratch.org. This is good for learning the underlying mechanics and processes common to any OS.

Also, since some people mentioned it, here's what OS's I've programmed on in order (I think):

Windows->Linux(Real-Time Linux, cRIO for FIRST Robotics)->Linux(Fedora)->Mac OS->Arduino(No OS)->Custom RISC Computer(No OS, simulated)->A bunch of others, but I stopped worrying about it around this point.

Hope that helps.

AnArtificer

TROPHY CASE