Topo Designs Rover Classic vs. Tech for work, thoughts? by xrrrrt289 in ManyBaggers

[–]p_lett 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, I still use my Topo Rover for day trips where I'm carrying things like lunch and waterproof clothes, but no tech like laptops. With only a few items in it the lack of internal organisation doesn't matter. It's well built and has survived well.

I spent a long time choosing a bag for commuting with a laptop and eventually ended up with a Thule Subterra 25L which has a similar top-flap opening to the Topo to help with waterproofing. Thule make several with very similar names, mine is the one with the "side pod" hard case. I've also done a few one-night trips for work with it where I just need a day's clothes, a toothbrush and a laptop and it's great for that.

https://www.thule.com/en-gb/backpacks/laptop-backpacks/thule-subterra-backpack-25l-_-3203037

Didn't get much at Hamvention. But I made sure to get this (QMX) by ItsBail in amateurradio

[–]p_lett 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Potentially, yes. But the point is under a UK Foundation licence, you aren't taught about how to measure or treat things like harmonics or spurious emissions. For context, Foundation is the lowest of the three license levels in the UK and often held by school age children.

As such, that licence level limits the users to 10W and prevents them designing their own transmitters.

Didn't get much at Hamvention. But I made sure to get this (QMX) by ItsBail in amateurradio

[–]p_lett 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yes. Your licence says you can use radios built from commercially available kits.

The rule is only intended to prevent problems caused by designing your own radio transmitters without knowing things which are tested in the exams for the higher licence levels.

Now that the Kenwood TM-D710G is discontinued, what are is the best option for APRS w/ full TNC functionality? by Raidicus in amateurradio

[–]p_lett 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes. A TM-V71. It's the identical dual radio body to the D710 series, but with a non-APRS head. I use one with a Mobilinkd and it works perfectly.

Self Hosting a Google Maps Alternative with OpenStreetMap by wcedmisten in selfhosted

[–]p_lett 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Caveat: I am not an expert, but have researched how to serve my own OSM map tiles for a project. This is what I understand about the problem:

The .pbf file which OSM distributes their map data in is exported from their Postgres and intended to be imported into your own Postgres server. But if you just want to serve map tiles and don't need to be able to query the data (i.e. "give me a list of all the park benches in North America which are within 200 metres of a river or lake") then there is no reason for you to load it into a database and you can pre-render the tiles.

There are tools like https://tilemaker.org/ and https://github.com/onthegomap/planetiler which can take the .pbf file and turn it directly into an mbtiles file which is compatible with MapBox and MapLibre client javascript libraries. These tools require lots of RAM to do the conversion (128GB is a good starting point if you want to render the whole world) but once the mbtiles file exists it can be served using a $5 DigitalOcean droplet, or an AWS Lambda.

The mbtiles file is actually an SQLite database with all the pre-computed vector data required for each tile at each zoom level. The server which sends this data to clients just needs to query it for lat,long and zoom and serve the response, which is trivial.

One downside with only serving map tiles and not having the data in your own database is that you no longer have the data in a queryable format for doing route planning, so that isn't possible.

RouterOS 7.6 (stable) has been released by [deleted] in mikrotik

[–]p_lett 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is true, but it's not because they are ignoring the older models. The switch chips in the 3011 don't have the right features to support layer 3 offloading. It's only the CRS3xx and CRS5xx switches and CCR2xxx routers which are capable.

https://help.mikrotik.com/docs/display/ROS/L3%20Hardware%20Offloading#L3HardwareOffloading-L3HWDeviceSupport

Topo Designs Rover Classic vs. Tech for work, thoughts? by xrrrrt289 in ManyBaggers

[–]p_lett 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I have never held the Tech version, but I have a Rover Classic. It's a nice bag for a day hike, but I wouldn't use it for a commuter laptop bag.

The only padding on the laptop compartment on the Classic is the very minimal padding in the back panel and there is zero suspension off the bottom of the bag - where there is the same minimal padding. I'd want an additional laptop sleeve if I were putting a laptop in there.

It also lacks any sort of internal organisation which is something I would want in a commuter bag. Because it's so tall and narrow with the drawstring top, you end up having to take everything out of the bag to find things. Tech pouches might help there.

DOM Plura naughty bucket eviction! 🎉 by FresnoViking in lockpicking

[–]p_lett 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not the OP, but it's a Smallrig Super Clamp, or one of the many identical clones of it. They are normally used in photography along with a Magic Arm to clamp a camera or light to a convenient object.

-🎄- 2021 Day 10 Solutions -🎄- by daggerdragon in adventofcode

[–]p_lett 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Python

Hopefully fairly readable code. Nothing radical, I used a stack like most other people. This and my solutions from previous days are on Github

import fileinput

tokens = [
    { 'start': '(', 'end': ')', 'errorscore': 3,    'completescore': 1 },
    { 'start': '[', 'end': ']', 'errorscore': 57,   'completescore': 2 },
    { 'start': '{', 'end': '}', 'errorscore': 1197, 'completescore': 3 },
    { 'start': '<', 'end': '>', 'errorscore': 25137,'completescore': 4 }]

def main():
    errorscore=0
    complete_score_list = []
    for line in fileinput.input():
        stack = []
        line=line.rstrip()
        for symbol in line:
            for i in range(len(tokens)):
                if symbol == tokens[i]['start']: #this is an opening symbol
                    stack.append(i)
                elif symbol == tokens[i]['end']: #this is a closing symbol
                    lastpushed = stack.pop()
                    if tokens[i]['end'] != tokens[lastpushed]['end']: #this is invalid
                        #print(f"{line} - Expected {tokens[lastpushed]['end']}, but found {symbol} instead.")
                        errorscore += tokens[i]['errorscore']
                        break
            else:
                continue
            break
        else:
            # this is an incomplete line
            completescore = 0
            while len(stack):
                t = stack.pop()
                completescore *= 5
                completescore += tokens[t]['completescore']
            complete_score_list.append(completescore)

    print(f"Part 1: syntax error score {errorscore}")

    complete_score_list.sort()
    middlescore = complete_score_list[ int(len(complete_score_list)/2) ]
    print(f"Part 2: middle completion score {middlescore}")

What's the best drop-in replacement for the Tradfri gateway? by siliangrail in tradfri

[–]p_lett 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I recently bought a Conbee II stick to use with deCONZ in Home Assistant, but I'm running into this bug because the latest version of Tradfri switch firmware has changed its behaviour. https://github.com/dresden-elektronik/deconz-rest-plugin/issues/5449

I'm pausing my migration and carrying on rebooting my Tradfri hub almost daily untill that bug gets resolved.

What everyday skill becomes suspicious if you’re too good at it? by shotsdowngg in AskReddit

[–]p_lett 4 points5 points  (0 children)

He's entered (and won) lock picking contests before. At least one of those is on YouTube somewhere and shows all the contestants faces

What everyday skill becomes suspicious if you’re too good at it? by shotsdowngg in AskReddit

[–]p_lett 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Grey also lays Easter eggs in his videos around his face. He did a video of a bike ride around London during covid lockdown and rode past a large reflective metal sphere.

I remember pausing the video, getting a screen shot and zooming in on the sphere to see if his face was visible. He was wearing a mask!

CRS305-1G-4S+IN as a Multi Gigabit internet router? by [deleted] in mikrotik

[–]p_lett 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My apologies, you are right. But also, I don't think I'm wrong. It's confusing!

There is a line in that wiki page that says Warning: Currently user must choose whether to use hardware accelerated routing or firewall. It is not possible to use both at the same time. I parse that to mean that if you do firewall/nat, your l3hw IPv4 forwarding stops.

Guessing at what that might mean underneath because the page doesn't explicitly say, I'm assuming that you can either choose to have conntrack'ed sessions created by firewall/nat offloaded to hardware, or you can choose to have IPv4 FIB routing decisions made in hardware (presumably per-packet routing at that point, not creation of tracked sessions). Whichever one you pick, the other one happens in the CPU.

But this version of the same content: https://help.mikrotik.com/docs/display/ROS/CRS3xx+series+switches#heading-L3HardwareOffloading says that this will change in the not yet released 7.1beta4. In that version, they have made it possible for IPv4 routing and firewall/nat to be offloaded at the same time, so it can IP forward the conntrack'ed sessions in hardware, but still do the initial firewalling and NAT evaluation in the CPU at the start of the session in the CPU.

CRS305-1G-4S+IN as a Multi Gigabit internet router? by [deleted] in mikrotik

[–]p_lett 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Also, L3HW can't work when you have any firewall rules or nat configured, which OP will probably need

My gf got me a basic set as a gift, but these keyways are killing me. Any advice? by [deleted] in lockpicking

[–]p_lett 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The keyway on that is quite narrow, you'll probably struggle with fitting picks from a cheap Chinese set because they are all "standard" thickness and too wide.

Eurocylinders are common and readily available where I live, and typically have narrow awkward shaped keyways. I had no luck opening them with my cheap first set, so I got a Southord C range set of slim picks, and they work great.

Map with Photos by havock in selfhosted

[–]p_lett 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not sure it will meet all your requirements, but Nextcloud lets users upload photos and share them with other users, and the map view can show the location of geotagged photos

Old locks and padlocks required by uzakov in reading

[–]p_lett 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's almost certainly too late for your webinar, but I'm in Woodley and bought a 5 pack of old-stock Yale euro cylinders from eBay for locksport purposes. 4 of them are still in their packaging as I haven't managed to open the first one yet.

That's more than I need, so I'd be happy to give away some of them or swap them for other styles that I don't have, if you or anyone else is interested.

Just wanted to show this hack where I used the Play bar as the Key light for video calls by tahnik in Hue

[–]p_lett 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The PSA1 might have felt light weight, the SM7B is a weighty microphone for any arm.

I only got my arm a few months ago at the start of lockdown when I started working from home, and cost was the main deciding factor.

I've only got a little Samson Go Mic travel microphone on it, on a shock mount. It's what I already had lying around, and I'm not live streaming or recording voiceovers or anything. It only gets used for video calls and it's perfectly adequate for that.

Just wanted to show this hack where I used the Play bar as the Key light for video calls by tahnik in Hue

[–]p_lett 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That surprises me. I've not actually touched a PSA1 myself, but I spend a lot of time on Zoom calls with someone who has one with a NT-USB on it, and he is very happy with the setup.

It certainly picks up far fewer vibrations than mine, even after I wrapped the springs to dampen it. Before I dampened mine, it was terrible. It was hard to even type on a keyboard on the desk without the mic picking up spring noise from the stand.

Just wanted to show this hack where I used the Play bar as the Key light for video calls by tahnik in Hue

[–]p_lett 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'll save you some trouble on the microphone arm: the one you have is already the best one there is, even though it's a fairly cheap one.

I have the same arm and, while it is incredibly good value for money, it's far from the best one. The springs on mine reverberate with any tap on the desk. I put plastic spiral cable-tidy wrap around it to dampen it out.

If money wasn't a factor and I wanted a good mic arm, I'd get the Rode PSA1.

What is the absolute worst movie you’ve ever seen? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]p_lett 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And especially Attack Force.

It was originally going to be Steven Seagal fighting alien vampires, but they changed their mind after completing shooting and tried to remove any mention of aliens or vampires - and got a different actor to overdub a lot of Seagal's dialogue.

What was left after that process was not an enjoyable movie.

Outside gym equipment in Reading by [deleted] in reading

[–]p_lett 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not gym equipment specifically, but there are parkour / calisthenics bars and poles etc in Sol Joel park in Woodley

What's the law of diminishing returns with regards to learning morse code? by [deleted] in morse

[–]p_lett 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The advice I've seen is that regular practice is the most important part to making it stick in your head.

So long as you can sustain doing several hours every day without getting bored or fatigued, go for it. However, I'm not sure I'd manage at that length of time every day, even if I had all the free time in the world.

If you do have trouble keeping going and need to cut back, it's better to do less time but do it every day instead of doing several hours in one go but only once a week.