Notices by 🇳🇴 Thor — backup account (thorthenorseman@octodon.social), page 98

I need to find some kind of all-in-one schematic capture, SPICE simulation and PCB design package so I don't have to deal with worrying issues like components ending up with the wrong polarity because LTspice and DipTrace use different pin numbering conventions. The challenge is that it needs to be as good as LTspice when it comes to simulation. It's a shame that open standards don't exist for things like schematics and PCB layouts. It's the same problem as with 3D modeling software.

Still working on my PCB layout. I wouldn't mind doing this for a living, but I'm sure I'd change my mind about that as soon as I have to design a product I don't care about, and then it'll probably be just like software development.

If you don't want to be an employee and you don't want to start your own business, your options are suddenly very limited. There's no room for "I just want to concentrate on doing what I want within <area of expertise> and not starve or be cold."

@tmy Oh, they typically do that here too.

Huh. No tiny graphic equaliser for headphones seems to exist. I could need one right about now.

Dentist fixed two cavities in a molar and a wisdom tooth, plus a filling that had fallen out. It cost me €280.

The inside of this tramway wagon kind of smells like what the stuff they took out at the dentist tasted like...

Yay, time to go to the dentist...

Buffet Overflow
Colonel Panic
NO CARRY HER
MAC UNLOAD PARCEL
Connection reset by Pierce
Naughty command or file name
404 Beige Not Fun
500 Infernal Servant Error
200 Mostly Acceptable

Surface-mount components have a couple of disadvantages. For hobbyists, the most obvious one is that they're harder to solder. Another disadvantage is that, since components legs don't pass through the board anymore, you need more vias. On a through-hole board, every component leg basically doubles as a via, and that's convenient. Vias aren't a problem. I just happen to find them less elegant than quietly taking the elevator using a leg that's already there.

In a perfect world, this would be a 3-layer board so I could have a plane for each power rail. Not because I lack space, but because power rails go everywhere and are inconvenient to route. In a circuit with a single supply, I'd use a layer for V+ and GND each. On this board I have GND and +2.5V (virtual ground) on a plane each, because I'm using those a lot, and the +5V is routed with wide traces.

Finally found a PCB tool that imports a few of the same netlist formats that LTspice exports: DipTrace. It's free for non-professional use. I am now designing the PCB for the 2-to-1 5.1 surround summing box I'm building for my roommate.

Sigh. FreePCB was so much easier to deal with than these other programs. I found one named DipTrace that will import my netlist, but the footprint library is bewildering. There's a hell of a lot of choice, but very little information about what components the different footprints are for.

If people were always kind and rational, just about any system you could impose on them would work perfectly. Capitalism, communism, anarchy, you name it.

"Capitalism" is merely what happens when there is a certain lack of restrictions. I'm not saying that such restrictions are bad or good. I'm just saying that some people are opportunists and players. There is no such thing as a society free of violence, exploitation and oppression, and there never will be, given our genetic makeup. Dig beneath the surface of the most isolated tribe on the planet, and I promise that you will find it there too. It may be smaller in scale, but it will be there.

What the hell is a data scientist, what's the difference between that and a data analyst, and why does everyone suddenly want them? Also, what the hell does a "key account manager" do? Are these the "bullshit jobs" I've been hearing so much about lately?

Damn it. FreePCB no longer works on Windows 10. I know that the author is no longer maintaining it, but it's the only PCB design tool I've been able to find that can import netlists from 3rd party software. More specifically, it can import netlists from LTspice so I don't have to redraw my diagrams after I'm done simulating them. FreePCB is seemingly the only program out there that lets you do such a simple thing. KiCad doesn't import a damned thing. Very closed for being open source.

I can't seem to get past this error in Boot Camp Assistant. I have tried everything I can find on Google about it, which unfortunately isn't much:

- Try unmounting the ISO (it isn't mounted)
- Try getting using the Windows 10 Anniversary Edition ISO (I already did)

It doesn't tell you *what kind* of error occurred during the formatting, of course.

Strange thing is that I've been able to install Windows 10 on this system before.

Maybe I should just install it in a VM.