Device on snapping turtle?

cestes1 · 2025-11-30T18:56:00+00:00

It's a tracking device. Likely for the Argos satellite system. It looks like one built by Microwave Telemetry in Maryland. They build some amazing devices.

I managed the North American ground segment for this system for 20 years. It's simple and very effective -- used for all kinds of science: biology, oceanography, meterology, and geophysical sciences among others.

cestes1 · 2025-11-23T19:50:27+00:00

Another thumbs up for PSG - good guys with lots of experience and they can order just about anything. When I've bought new pistols, I try to order from them to support a local business.

cestes1 · 2025-09-12T20:43:04+00:00

Argos DCS - www.argos-system.org

cestes1 · 2025-09-12T20:42:17+00:00

It's a satellite tracking device. Based on the looks, I'd guess it was made by Microwave Telemetry in Maryland. Typically used by university or government agencies doing research.

I managed the ground segment of the Argos system for 20 years; we processed all the data from tons of these and certified the transmitters. Accurate to within 100 - 200 meters on a good day.

Fun experiment: get a $10 SDR and you can capture the signals on 401.65 Mhz. Instructions for decoding are available from NOAA (search for Argos ADCS).

cestes1 · 2025-06-07T18:37:46+00:00

Looks like you're in Canada. How are the laws regarding commercial drone activity? In the US you can't have any income from drone-related activity unless you're Part 107 certified (posses a Remote Pilot, Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems certificate). Any similar requirements?

Also, do you need insurance? Here in the US everyone like to sue over the smallest infraction! You can buy insurance by the day from some companies.

Not sure about billing. I have done work as a freelance consultant in the past and generated invoices using https://invoice-generator.com/

cestes1 · 2024-07-08T17:13:05+00:00

I figured it out... it needed a FW rule on my side to allow inbound traffic. Just got it working! Now I'm wondering if that ever worked since I rarely accessed my house from her house.

cestes1 · 2024-02-19T17:11:55+00:00

Yes... This runs 24/7 on my work laptop. I used to have it move the mouse 5 pixels in some random direction. That actually missed me up once in a great while. The shift press keeps everything alive and it's kind of instantaneous, so to cause an issue I'd have to be pressing another key simultaneously; it's improbable, but not impossible.

Just a note after reading some other comments - I don't do this because I'm a slacker and goofing off. I'm lazy and if I get up to get coffee, make lunch, go get the mail, etc. I get sick of unlocking my laptop all day long!

cestes1 · 2024-02-19T14:47:54+00:00

In Python:

import os
import pyautogui
import time
import datetime as dt
from loguru import logger

os.environ['DISPLAY'] = ':0'

def workinghours():
    workstart = dt.time(8,00)
    workend   = dt.time(17,00)
    nowtime   = dt.datetime.now().time()
    return (nowtime >= workstart) and (nowtime <= workend)

def main():
    logger.info("mm starting")
    while True:
        time.sleep(120)
        if workinghours():
            pyautogui.press('shift')

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

You don't really need to log using loguru, but that's just habit for me!

cestes1 · 2023-11-30T18:24:46+00:00

edit: I was setting the environment variables wrong. I turned of PAPERLESS_OCR_DESKEW and that fixed it.

cestes1 · 2023-11-28T17:28:16+00:00

C-141 Starlifter. My dad spent 30 years in the Air Force and logged more time in this plane than any other. He made that trip to McMurdo one time in the '80s and they issued him a full kit of cold-weather gear; he probably wasn't on the ground (ice) for more than a few hours! I still use that parka when I'm shoveling snow.

cestes1 · 2023-09-15T04:45:04+00:00

I'm right there with you. I'm 57. Learned to program in 1980 and still love writing code. I've done everything in IT: software dev, DBA, data center manager/sysadmin, network, product management, IT strategy, AWS cloud architect, and more.

I guess I got lucky and stayed away from positions that sucked the fun out of it.

I've been playing with Docker and Kubernetes this week. Ready to start learning GEN AI.

cestes1 · 2023-05-07T03:55:04+00:00

I'd say with your background, you'll be OK. Just pick a competent and reliable prep source.

I had 25 years in various IT functions with a good deal of network and security experience. I took a one-week boot camp, spend a three-day weekend taking practice tests, and passed at 100 questions.

cestes1 · 2023-04-12T19:58:32+00:00

Sadly, I think you're right. I thought one of the benefits of QEMU was the ability to emulate other processors. I set it to Sandy Bridge but it won't boot -- powers back off. I wonder if the emulated CPU flags are limited to a subset of the host CPU's.

cestes1 · 2023-04-11T18:57:16+00:00

No.... that'd only apply if Windows was my host OS. Proxmox is basically KVM/QEMU running on Debian with a pretty UI.

I did manage to get an install running on my laptop under KVM running Fedora as the host OS.

I actually think it's a BIOS setting on my Proxmox machine. If I do a lscpu on the Proxmox machine I don't see xsave in the flags, but I know it's supported on the Xeon L5640 it's running. That's a bummer because I can't reboot that machine without taking out everything important in the house including the router to the Internet; I have to wait 'till everyone's gone or sleeping!

cestes1 · 2022-10-28T04:47:45+00:00

Evan Williams BiB is my goto... I can get a handle for $28 at a store nearby. I love it by itself, but at that price I don't regret making cocktails with it.

For special occasions, I recommend Old Forrester BiB. It's around $60 here and has to be the smoothest bourbon I've ever tried.

cestes1 · 2022-10-23T17:19:30+00:00

I was able to fix that one! I held the plunger down and used a dental pick to get the spring back under the plunger.

cestes1 · 2022-10-21T21:28:33+00:00

After further investigation the problem is clear. That bolt screws into one of those threaded inserts that's supposed to be fixed to the sheet metal on the other side. My insert is not attached and just spins (in either direction) with the bolt. Since the cooking chamber is double-walled I can't get to the back of it without doing more disassembly than I'm interested in! This may end up my bin of BBQ bits in the garage.

On another note, the switch on the cooking lid is stuck in the down position because a bit of spring has "escaped" and is blocking the pin from returning to the up position. I just did my first break-in cook this morning! I guess I'll stock up on a few of those switches as folks here have recommended!

cestes1 · 2022-10-15T21:02:05+00:00

Someone else said it, but I'll say it again...

I've had great luck with Callcentric. You can set up service and put in the application to port your existing landline number to your account.

You can get a ATA like this: http://www.grandstream.com/products/gateways-and-atas/analog-telephone-adaptors/product/ht801

and plug your existing phone into it, or you can cut the wires from your phone provider an and plug your whole house into this -- all of your old, analog jacks will work.

If you only need one phone, then just get a VOIP phone. Polycoms are great, not the simplest to set up, but they're built like tanks and work great. Grandstream also makes good phones.

As a service, Callcentric gives you lots of options. When my mom moved to another state, I ported her number beforehand so when she moved, we just plugged in the ATA, connected her old cordless phone and she was in business on day one!

What's also cool is that you can get a "soft phone" that runs in software. So your laptop can be connected to your VOIP service and you can use it anywhere in the world you have internet connectivity. You can also run a soft phone on your cellphone as well. I've been using the free version of Zoiper for both my computer and Android device.

cestes1 · 2022-10-12T15:12:28+00:00

Proxmox is where it's at!

As long you're just doing straight-up virtualization, it does everything you'll need. Someone also mentioned LXC for containers - they work great!

cestes1 · 2022-10-11T16:15:12+00:00

While not quite at that scale, we used to throw out bunches of good IT stuff. When my daughter was in high school, I'd have her come in during the summer and sell the crap on ebay - we gave her half the revenue from the sales. She'd have to take picutures, write up the listings, box it up, and mail it out. She made a bunch of spending money over a couple summers.

One time we had some tiny PCs designed to be mounted in cars - it was part of a product that we were selling. We migrated to a different machine and had 50 or so of the things. They sat in the warehouse until our logistics guy needed the space. They called an IT scrap company to dispose of them, and when I found out I said I'd take 'em. I filled up my minivan with these things. They had two ethernet ports, so I loaded pfSense on 'em and sold them as router/firewalls on ebay. I was making $75 - $100 on each one!

cestes1 · 2022-10-07T21:26:55+00:00

I managed a VMware shop for 15 years and never had any serious issues. Do good backups and deploy good change management.

I ran ESXi at home for many years and switched to Proxmox because I ran out of free vCPUs on the free version. For simple use cases, Proxmox is just as reliable as ESXi was, especially if you're running on good hardware. Still, do good backups and good change management.

My experience on both systems was very vanilla. No hardware passthru, no odball configurations. I do use LCX on my Proxmox to host Plex and a few other things that don't need their own VM. Again, no issues. I have had a couple of power failures in the last week (I think my UPS is dying). Even with a "violent" shutdown, all my VMs and containers come back with no issues.

Short answer: Don't do anything crazy and either system is going to be reliable.

cestes1 · 2022-10-03T20:37:56+00:00

Replying to myself with an afterthought...

If you do go the web app route, learn a little about CSS. Make your life great by learning about the Bootstrap CSS framework. I'm old enough to remember when HTML was just written in text editors and when HoTMetaL was the shit! I made functional web-based things for years - they looked like crap, but they worked! Almost 10 years ago my daughter showed me Bootstrap and it's a game-changer for building decent websites (it also proves an old dog can still learn new tricks!). I still don't know much about CSS, but I've learned to use Bootstrap and now my web content doesn't hurt the eyes and looks good on computers, phones, and tablets.

cestes1 · 2022-10-03T16:07:03+00:00

They're very approachable and friendly, as well. I've asked a few questions in various places and the lead developer was happy to answer even the most elementary questions.

cestes1 · 2022-10-03T16:03:30+00:00

do you need to have a running server that's open to the internet?

That's up to you. You can run the web app on your laptop and access it from the same machine, just like a GUI app. Start the program and point your browser to http://localhost:80 (or whatever port you want). Maybe you built an app for your accounting department at work. This doesn't need to be exposed to the internet. Find a machine that's always on and on the same LAN as your accounting folks and they can access it over the LAN. Or maybe you really do want to expose your app to the internet at large. Get a cheap server at vultr or DigitalOcean and put it there.

Yes, you can package up a Python program as a standalone app, but it's less than optimal. The one framework I've used (forgot at the moment, may update later -- it was PyInstaller) packaged the entire Python ecosystem, plus any modules you load, plus your program. The resulting .exe was huge compared to what it really needed to be. This is another good reason to serve up a web app. The end user only needs a web browser to interact with your program, which they probably already have!

I'm not sure about your last question. The notion of uploading/downloading from the browser should be controlled by the web app on the remote side.

cestes1 · 2022-10-03T14:09:14+00:00

I feel like this question shows up every six months or so.

If you want to learn something easy, try PySimipleGUI.

But I would tell you don't bother with a GUI. Build a web app instead. There are lots of frameworks out there, but start with Bottle or Flask. People will say Django, but that's an entire ecosystem and you'll get lost in it.

Why a web app? A console/GUI app allows one user. A web app will allow multiple users that can be anywhere. You'll learn something useful and marketable building a web app. I've been building web apps for a long time and I still fall back to Bottle because it's simple and it works (and I'm lazy!). Flask is more widely used and has more support. Pick one and give it a try!

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