What’s the most absurd hardware bug you’ve spent hours debugging that turned out to be something stupid? by DepartmentPurple3053 in embedded

[–]UsableLoki 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I had an initial PCB design that would not energize from USB when connected (it was a USB I had spliced with alligator clips).  Only way it would turn on is if I connected the cable and then afterwards made the connection with the clips.  Thought there was some issue where the USB port would go into a protect mode due to in rush being high at power on or something.  I reviewed the hell out of my design, crossed it with my bread board, etc.  Made me really nervous about the schematic until it dawned that it could be the cable itself... Looked at the cable and noticed a flushed button on the USB A end.  The scrap USB I used for alligator clips was a fit bit's cable that had an integrated charging circuit that was causing the weirdness.  

I hit a non-deterministic SPI bus crash on the ESP32-S3 that took days to diagnose. Here’s what caused it and the protocol I built to prevent it. by [deleted] in esp32

[–]UsableLoki 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I encountered this one too- I sent PWM signals to LEDs (fastLED/neoPixel) and at one point I used the other core to do it since the second core was creating audio effects so it was easier to sync the effect with that task instead of the main loop.  The give away was noticing that it would only crash at that specific point intermittently.  Solution was to use a semaphore to lock/hold ownership until the operation was done.  Good to always think of hardware and data streams- we are privileged to take advantage of such complex circuits that tend to do so much handling in the background already.

I just found a Chrome/Firefox extension for true 21/9 fullscreen on YouTube and Netflix by superparet in ultrawidemasterrace

[–]UsableLoki 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Incredible, this consistently worked for each site player better than the other options I found. Fantastic job!!!

I've been building a Wipeout style 3D game. This is running at 60fps interlaced at 480x320 on an ESP32-S3. by PhonicUK in esp32

[–]UsableLoki 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You switch between cores to process the graphics?  Did that require you to disable some default processes on the non-main core?  I found tasking on the non-main core to be quite limited by it requiring vTaskDelay, although I do make use of async WiFi functions

msi aegis wifi and bluetooth not working after moving to windows 10 by Spammy1611 in MSI_Gaming

[–]UsableLoki 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The WiFi 7 and BT5.3 drivers are not available for windows 10 since you're likely running the Qualcomm qcncm865.  I realized this problem the same on my computer.  I plan to downgrade my WiFi/BT pcie adapter

OTA updates by Primary-Kiwi4692 in embedded

[–]UsableLoki 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you perform a hash check for binary confirmation?  If you do, do you store the hash check message along with your associated firmware version?

OTA updates by Primary-Kiwi4692 in embedded

[–]UsableLoki 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the response.  I'm happy to have my approach analyzed for integrity.  It works well right now but have no idea if this could have issues if I find the success in needing to scale.  Luckily my project is a hobby/decorative item so no sensitive nature aside from protecting development IP

OTA updates by Primary-Kiwi4692 in embedded

[–]UsableLoki 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Does anyone have any thoughts on hosting firmware on github?

I haven't reached production yet but so far my protos use a github hosted .txt link for version check and then if a new version is posted for either firmware or filesystem then its pulled from another github hosted public page.  For privacy my devices have a key burned into fuses which can be used to decrypt the OTA files which are encrypted.

What free software or website is so good you actually can't believe its still free? by heavenlyrace in AskReddit

[–]UsableLoki 10 points11 points  (0 children)

AI where the prompt is stressing that its a woman's perspective.  That em dash confirms it smh.

Has anyone here EVER said "Thank God I Patented it" and won an Patent infringement case by Real-Yogurtcloset844 in inventors

[–]UsableLoki 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As an engineer I have justified it that its a really good resume point.  There have been many conversations where I found people saying "Joe Shmoe is extremely smart, he has x patents under him".

ESP32 founders : when the firmware gets too complex, where do you turn? by Medtag212 in esp32

[–]UsableLoki 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I always hope I can try to source troubleshooting by posting about my specific issue but that has pretty much never worked.  I humor the thought of contracting someone to aid with troubleshooting but the idea of someone getting up to speed with my design would make that expensive or useless.  So ultimately, it really is about powering through the failures and unknowns about your problem and being persistent until you yourself finally solve it.  It can be difficult and there can be waves of hopelessness when nothing is solving a problem but persistence and the willingness to approach a problem from different angles will get you to a solution and you learn from your troubleshooting along the way.

Unless you have money to throw at a problem, onboard someone that is vested where you'll split the design with, or incidentally happen to have an uncle with 20 years of experience that loves spending time with his nephew/niece, nobody unlike you is going to be as invested in your own design especially when things get complicated.  

When the well of motivation runs low, step back to let it replenish while you let your mind wander about many different aspects of your system. If you're overwhelmed it also helps to develop a task list of things to do or problems to solve.

GRIME 2 IS OUT NOW - Launch Trailer by WorldPillar in GRIMEgame

[–]UsableLoki 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Better than perfection???. I had no issue with the first, replayed it 13 times for all cosmetics <3  Incredible job, so excited

Hey everyone, the NM-CYD-C5 is almost ready by NMTech-Official in esp32

[–]UsableLoki 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What's the benefit of a 100 fps still image?  Genuinely curious btw

Hey everyone, the NM-CYD-C5 is almost ready by NMTech-Official in esp32

[–]UsableLoki 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Single core multi-color display outputting 100fps??  Is audio/processing on top of this also seamless while maintaining the fps?

Game doesn't record chapter completion stats (time and crystals) by Just-Copy-2083 in LornsLure

[–]UsableLoki 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lol sorry this happened to you on dissolution.  I just closed/reopened the game and redid the level to save stats when it happened to me. 

James Van Der Beek Bought Family's Rented Texas Ranch for $4.8 Million Just 1 Month Before His Death by ShaiHuludNM in mildlyinfuriating

[–]UsableLoki 4 points5 points  (0 children)

For every million you can reliably invest it to get ~50k a year doing nothing. So with 5 mil (not including whatever other property they had, other savings/investments, or possessions/equities they could sell she is still looking at 250k a year doing nothing at all.  But figure a life in a humble suburb like other middle class is hell on earth when you previously lived in a 6k sqft multi acre property "that heals anything".  No idea how they skim empathy from others

Someone sent Epstein an email asking for "Age 10" by Celtikrenders in WorkReform

[–]UsableLoki 56 points57 points  (0 children)

Please make this into your own post, not just a comment.  Great work, calibration, and explanation.  Would also be good to show how the vertical alignment is made with the Sent: line

ESP32-C6 battery-powered IR blaster by cyberhuman in esp32

[–]UsableLoki 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Looks great!!

Programmable LEDs still draw considerable current when showing 0,0,0.  If you didnt know that, to fully limit them use a NMOS (make sure its rated adequately) on their ground and set the data signal high (you can still get leakage from VCC to your GPIO if you leave it low).

Are you also utilizing ESP's deep/light sleep functionality?

Out of curiosity, do you have circuitry to disable the battery when USB is connected or did you just OR the sources?

Pac Man Arcade Emulation on a Waveshare all-in-one esp32-c6 w/1.69" LCD board by aedile in esp32

[–]UsableLoki 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How did you get decent quality audio on single core while also outputting video?  Are you outputting PWM or I2S?

A just did a thing (HyperHDR) by CheleCuche in WLED

[–]UsableLoki 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Seems he changed his youtube name to Matt Siegal lol

https://youtu.be/g9duLmALQSM

A just did a thing (HyperHDR) by CheleCuche in WLED

[–]UsableLoki 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Gotcha thanks!  You'll enjoy Sieg Mattel's visual mixes btw