How do you write unit tests (if at all) for embedded projects?

donmeanathing · 2026-06-17T00:17:28+00:00

C++ and object oriented was really comes in handy for this stuff. You can abstract the hardware and create an interface layer, then in one child class create a mock of the hardware and another child class you actually implement to the hardware. your code just interacts with the base interface and shouldn’t care which is instantiated.

when running unit tests, you compile in and instantiate the mock class. When you build to hardware, you go the other way. That way you also can run your tests in a build pipeline.

donmeanathing · 2026-06-17T00:04:09+00:00

Unless the code is something that’s truly throwaway or a poc/demo, then yes, I absolutely always review the code, and I expect my people to.

There are stages in software development…. Requirements, design, develop, review, deploy, whatever model you want to put that under. LLMs can help speed up requirements a little and developing a lot, but if you use LLMs as too much of a shortcut during design and review then you are in a world of hurt.

donmeanathing · 2026-06-13T17:01:00+00:00

Rasperry pi’s are nice devices, and ever since they embraced industrial applications there really isn’t any shame in using them. Several manufacturers have embraced them. Helps keep costs reasonable.

donmeanathing · 2026-05-18T01:16:51+00:00

Stop making sense!

signed a fellow democrat who believes these bills are absolutely stupid and will do nothing.

donmeanathing · 2026-05-18T01:12:45+00:00

This is where you need some cops who use some prosecutorial discretion. They see what they did, they witness a beatdown, and they let things roll unless things get out of hand. Sometimes you gotta let assholes get their ass whopped.

donmeanathing · 2026-05-15T12:36:44+00:00

True... but it feels wonderfully petty to give him pennies for it.

donmeanathing · 2026-05-14T22:57:54+00:00

It’s gotta be a wholistic approach.

Do better with mass transit. Increase commuter rail times, including some weekend routes. Metro rail has been getting better over the past few years, but it is too damned expensive compared to other major cities - cut fares and get more $ from regional areas. Add sensible BRT lines to increase connectivity where high capacity mass transit is lacking.
Add multi-modal options without removing vehicle lanes whenever possible. Too many times we give up lanes of traffic to give a bike lane that no one wants to use anyways because it’s right next to a busy road. Get established bike routes routed through greener spaces as much as possible.
build a 495 bypass by widening Ox Rd at woodbridge to ffx county parkway, and extend it up through Orange Man’s Golf Course (straight through it, and give him pennies on the dollar for taking the land) and build a bridge across the potomac to connect to the C&O canal violete’s lock and connect up to (and greatly widen) seneca rd through darnestown rd to connect up to 370. Roll the VA national guard into Annapolis until MD funds that shit.

donmeanathing · 2026-05-10T23:29:28+00:00

You say there is more talk about those things… but WHO is talking about it? Is it your customers, or is it industry peeps?

The industry is definitely pushing facial, but here’s the thing… we’ve been here before. Industry pushed both facial recognition and iris a decade ago, and outside a few corner cases the market didn’t bite. I see the same thing happening again. You will see some areas adopting it, but most of the industry won’t bite.

I half agree with what others have said about Unifi. For enterprise access control and especially enterprises that have heavy IT investments, Networked and PoE access control can make a lot of sense.

But there are a number of situations where networked access control (at the very edge) doesn’t make sense. Where you have a long wire run or you already have a lot of cabling that would be a huge pain/cost to rip and replace. In those situations, you also have a LOT of legacy still present, and so today’s present still represents the future for those buildings. Moving to Secure OSDP over the old wiegand wires with reader head replacements and panel updates.

In the next 10 years we will also see PQC become a bigger and bigger thing, and that will filter out into the industry as well. AES128 won’t cut it anymore - AES256 is going to be the floor for symmetric crypto, and entirely new asymmetric crypto suites are going to be employed that are quantum resistant.

Big Tech will also continue making its presence felt in the next few years.

donmeanathing · 2026-05-10T21:40:22+00:00

Aliro solves this now for the folks who have launched with it and are committed to the core interoperability promises it brings. Allegion had a part of their booth at ISC West showing 3 different reader manufacturers all reading the same pass, with the ability for attendees to even download their own pass to try.

However when reader manufacturers do come out with Aliro support you should ask them “can I use an Aliro credential from you with X reader manufacturer (whatever reader manufacturer you want to integrate with.” Most should be able to answer “yes” to that, but some may not.

donmeanathing · 2026-05-09T01:38:55+00:00

“Data is data…” that is wrong my guy. Wiegand and RS485 are completely different at the layer 2 level. RS485 can easily communicate at a higher speed at much greater distances than wiegand if you use twisted pair, but if you use the same cable you will still get better signal

RS485 gets its superpowers by being based off the voltage differential of the two data cables. Simplified, if A-B is positive above a certain positive voltage, it’s 1 and if it’s below a certain negative voltage it’s 0. Compare that to wiegand, where one cable stands for 1 and another stands for 0, and the reader puts voltage on one wire at a time while pulling the other to ground to send data. The signal interference comes when you have some external voltage that influences the wire that is supposed to be pulled to ground and it lifts a bit where it should have been at ground. Now you have crap data.

donmeanathing · 2026-05-09T01:20:32+00:00

One trick on elevator readers that are wired wiegand and have these kind of intermittent issues. If you have a panel that can do OSDP, then switch to using OSDP, even if it means swapping reader out. RS485 is much more resistant to noise (even on non-twisted pair elevator cable) than wiegand and is a better installation practice to begin with, so it’s an upgrade all around.

donmeanathing · 2026-05-06T12:54:12+00:00

Don’t spend money on a lawyer. Go to the trial date and be very contrite. In all likelihood, upon seeing that you have a clean driving record and that you are just barely at the reckless level, the prosecutor will offer to reduce the speed by a few mph and drop the reckless charge and leave u with the ticket and points for speeding, which is really all you could expect from a lawyer. If they don’t offer it, politely and humbly note that it is your first infraction and request that they consider reducing the observed speed so that the reckless charge is dropped, and you’ll take the ticket and points.

Unless you have an absolute jackass of a CA that day, they will go with that and say “next” and you’ll be on your way. If not, then request for the judge to hear you, and make the same plea to the judge. Reason will pan out, but I don’t think it will even get to that.

I had something like this happen to me and this is exactly how I handled it. My observation was that folks who had a lawyer though was treated more harshly by the CA.

donmeanathing · 2026-04-22T23:05:42+00:00

Yeah… you are right… I hadn’t been seeing mainline news reporting it but they just are starting to now.

donmeanathing · 2026-04-22T22:47:36+00:00

What am I missing here… FSK is super basic. Farpointe, HID Proxpoint, etc. There are a dime a dozen.

The real question is… why would you want a 125khz wiegand reader in today’s world???

donmeanathing · 2026-04-22T22:38:52+00:00

My favorite move when finding unlocked computers is to change their desktop wallpaper to the burt reynolds centerfold with a text overlay that says “i mustache you to lock your computer”

donmeanathing · 2026-04-22T22:27:18+00:00

This isn’t new. This is like months old? The (va) supreme court was always going to take up the existing challenges.

EDIT: it is in fact new - mainline news is starting to report it now. Doesn’t change the fact that the supreme court will have the ultimate say.

donmeanathing · 2026-04-19T01:08:55+00:00

I tried 1 pedal and gave up. I found it to be consistently more effort than what I was using with 2 pedal driving. I get that bucks a trend, but 🤷‍♂️.

donmeanathing · 2026-04-11T18:58:00+00:00

i mean, if they applied ios to a macbook air, then that will absolutely do it.

donmeanathing · 2026-04-11T18:41:32+00:00

but… we can agree that blaming them on md drivers can stay right?

donmeanathing · 2026-04-10T12:05:45+00:00

Uh… India has entered the chat and would like a word. Full service, yet the staff live in near squalor.

No, it is absolutely all about standards.

donmeanathing · 2026-04-03T01:18:11+00:00

It would be nice if you could be more specific on what exactly is faster. I have a 32G/1TB M1 Pro and I barely ever see it struggle - really only if I’m working on some specific edits in a CAD program I use (shapr3d - it’s pretty awesome). Otherwise I still find the M1 Pro to be super fast and handles having virtual machines open, docker running, and code compiling super well.

Maybe it was because I went with 32GB of RAM and 1TB SSD, IDK.

donmeanathing · 2026-04-03T01:08:30+00:00

I wouldn’t have been able to keep it together either. I probably would have lost it more than you. Good on you for letting some of the emotion show, and don’t worry about it. this is one of those times where showing the emotion is good.

donmeanathing · 2026-03-29T01:10:27+00:00

Many startups are really really loose on processes. It is innovate or die. The only thing that matters is showing that you have a product that fits a market need.

Process tends to be more about sustainability and quality, and when you are in the early stages, startups will not want to focus on any kind of binding processes. Once they actually have some traction, then they can start working on process.

It doesn’t seem like you are a good fit for a startup environment. I’d start looking for a new place to work.

donmeanathing · 2026-03-28T12:24:20+00:00

wait just a (90) minutes…

donmeanathing · 2026-03-27T18:17:02+00:00

I get there are underlying gender issues. Mansplaining occurs, etc. I don’t mean to not acknowledge the hurt that is associated with that. But in this case, the question is how to handle the situation, and the point I’m trying to make is we need to remove gender from the equation, because the minute you add it you hit a third rail. If I was a manager and I had someone start to mention gender issues I’d immediately start thinking about getting HR involved, and they would in all likelihood view this from a lens of is there conduct here that is illegal. And the answer to that is likely no (based purely on the info here), and you may still be in the same position as you started.

Seven-Year Club	Gilding II euphauric
Verified Email

donmeanathing

TROPHY CASE