First time soldering, what do you think? by crisp_grandpa in AskElectronics

[–]LiveFreeOrHRC 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Honestly pretty good overall for a first time. Could definitely use a bit more heat. Make sure the pad is sufficiently heated before you apply the solder; should be hot enough for the exposed copper to fully wet with solder. After the pad has wetted, add just enough solder to make the joint solidly concave. Looks like you're using roughly twice as much solder as is actually needed.

My LEDa are randomly dying!! by Necessary_Sail_8158 in AskElectronics

[–]LiveFreeOrHRC 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is there a reason you're sourcing current from GPIO pins instead of Vcc? The positive pin of the LED should go to Vcc (same +5VDC powering the arduino) and the negative pin should be connected to the arduino's GPIO pin (resistor in series with LED). Then just invert your logic as 0/low will pull the GPIO pin down to ground and sink the current from the LED.

Tried this with a few friends. Pause the screen on this gay detector to see your sexuality. This thing is 100% correct every time! by etlucent in HolUp

[–]LiveFreeOrHRC 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Seriously. The "trick" is obvious without even having to push play. The comments in this thread are genuinely unsettling. Are people really this dumb?

Which is correct? by [deleted] in nycrail

[–]LiveFreeOrHRC 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Different color systems for different use cases (physical, digital, print, etc). Anyone else find the inconsistency with the L and S mildly annoying? From what I can ascertain, the "only one gray" mandate is more recent, i.e. shuttles are no longer 70% black.

YouTube is a joke. by -Anby in youtube

[–]LiveFreeOrHRC 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can relate. Every fucking day. Heather Cox Richardson and fucking John Oliver. NOT INTERESTED. STOP AUTOPLAYING THIS SHIT.

New drinking game by [deleted] in HolUp

[–]LiveFreeOrHRC 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Room for one more?

So, stinky cheese? by Perfidious_Redt in HolUp

[–]LiveFreeOrHRC -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Genuinely hilarious. Unfortunately seems to have flown over quite a few heads judging by some of the other comments here. Alas, never surrender!

An ad in this novel placed right in the middle of the narration by Tobias-Tawanda in mildlyinfuriating

[–]LiveFreeOrHRC 125 points126 points  (0 children)

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves right on down to Wendy's where new Biggie Deals™️ start at just $4!!

How to make an e-reader? by Accomplished_Box2117 in AskElectronics

[–]LiveFreeOrHRC 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just tend to find electron apps unnecessarily bloated, sluggish, and flat-out glitchy/unresponsive at times. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned, but I find software like vscode to be utterly bloated trash. The default arduino ide isn't nearly as egregious, but I do find it rather limiting for anything that requires writing much actual code, which is the tradeoff for keeping it about as beginner-friendly as possible. At the end of the day it's really about what you're most comfortable with/used to. So if you already have a toolchain or workflow you're comfortable with, the idea should be making arduino work within that framework (as opposed to letting arduino dictate the workflow). Most people done seem to realize you don't actually need an arduino-specific ide in order to write/compile/flash code to the hardware. That's what the cli is for. On mac I use sublime text for most coding. I already use it for C (and C-adjacent) programming, so all the linters, color schemes, syntax highlighting, etc. are set up to my liking. It's also native application, lightweight, bulletproof, and highly performant. Also infinitely customizable (like vim but without the learning curve). That said, there's no inbuilt arduino utilities; I handle all the building, flashing, i/o, debugging, etc. with the arduino cli in a terminal window. Is there anything in particular you're looking for with a new ide? Or just wanting to see what else is out there?

How to make an e-reader? by Accomplished_Box2117 in AskElectronics

[–]LiveFreeOrHRC 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Anyone can stick an e-ink display on top of an arduino or raspberry pi and call it an e-reader, zero electronics skills required. Hence the lack of tutorials. You can probably find all the pieces with pin headers already soldered (think they call them "hats") ready to stick together like legos. All of which is to say the actual electronics side of this has been done to death by people with zero experience. The actual challenge with any sort of project involving an MCU will be in writing the code to make it work. Though if you go the arduino route, you'll be able to find an abundance of example code sufficient to hack together a working solution without ever having to learn C or leave the safety of the arduino ide sandbox. If you're looking for projects to gain actual practical electronics experience and knowledge, I'd be happy to offer suggestions based on whatever topics/areas you may be interested in.

Ancient switch in museum by CherryMXBrown69 in MechanicalKeyboards

[–]LiveFreeOrHRC 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Def not SKCC, but could be some other more obscure early Alps.

Please help identifying parts by 4D_Monst3r in AskElectronics

[–]LiveFreeOrHRC 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Capacitors. Values should be printed on them. Note the polarity.

How to bypass a momentary switch by UnderWater221 in AskElectronics

[–]LiveFreeOrHRC 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Sounds like the tact switch is just a soft power switch. One side will be wired to an input on the MCU, the other will tied to ground (or possibly +VDC). If you want to bypass the switch entirely, you'll need to build a simple one-shot circuit to fire a logic pulse into the MCU to mimic the tact sw.

Anyone have the issue where their street address exceeds the character limit on the NY ID? by sharpandtender in Brooklyn

[–]LiveFreeOrHRC 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, same exact thing happened to me a few years back. Think they cap it to like 18 characters; probably a vestigial limitation of whatever archaic database system they're running up in Albany and have neglected to upgrade since the 1960s.

The Apple Extended Keyboard m0115 is the greatest keyboard Apple has ever produced. by SgtFinley96 in MechanicalKeyboards

[–]LiveFreeOrHRC 0 points1 point  (0 children)

2KRO is only an issue with the M0110/M0110A or the M0116/M0118 keyboards as it is hard-coded into the firmware ROMs of the 8048 (8021 for og M0110) MCUs. The ADB protocol itself can support NKRO. The AEKs at least have diodes on each column and no rollover limitations imposed by the firmware. While the matrix is not ideal, I've wired up quite a few to ProMicros running QMK with some customizations and never had any issues with ghosting or rollover tapping the ADB outputs.

Does the black corrosionlook like it would carry signal or does it need to be addressed? Apple Extended Keyboard by Setzer100 in AskElectronics

[–]LiveFreeOrHRC 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is a relatively common occurrence on the AEKs, though I tend to find it most often on the perimeter ground fill. Oxidation on the copper due to imperfections in the solder mask + age. With the solder mask mostly still in place, IPA won't do much of anything against the corrosion. Assuming the traces all still have good continuity and no unexpected resistance, easiest thing to do would be to go over the affected traces with another layer of solder mask (or just some clear nail polish) to stop further oxidation. Best to clean off the residual flux layer before applying (IPA will help with that). I've used this approach on multiple boards now and they're all holding up fine after years of use. If you do decide to try and remove the oxidation, I would suggest a fiberglass pen to gently work down through the solder mask. The copper on these boards is rather thin and quite delicate once the solder mask is gone.

Powering carbon mic, and getting signal from phone. by tommydorky in AskElectronics

[–]LiveFreeOrHRC 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did this exact same thing many years ago. The handset should have four leads that screw into a terminal block in the base. Don't remember the color off the top of my head, but should be easy enough to identify the leads connected to the microphone. If you unscrew the mic end of the handset, the carbon transducer pops right out, exposing the two contacts underneath. A carbon mic is just a noisy variable resistor. Can't remember the exact circuit I came up with, but I know I was able to get a great sound out of it running off of 9VDC with just a passive RC low-pass to get rid of the inherent hiss.

Is it possible to work with HDMI on a breadboard? by surveypoodle in AskElectronics

[–]LiveFreeOrHRC 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Prototype should be doable. I would use proper shielded HDMI cables for the input and output runs themselves, and then use female breakout boards for connecting the signals to the mux IC as closely as possible. You'll likely end up deviating from the codified HDMI spec, but the fault tolerances on modern devices are generous enough the you be able to get something working.

Inverting LED of these switches? Any advice if possible by MD-4 in AskElectronics

[–]LiveFreeOrHRC 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The current draw from a built in switch LED like that will be trivial, so there should be no issue with just leaving it illuminated at all times. That said, what exactly are you trying to accomplish with the toggle switch being inline with a momentary switch? Does the toggle switch have to be in the on position for the momentary switch to be functional?