Notices by George Dorn (gdorn@social.coop), page 2

@sean I brought this to the attention of somebody I know at Creative Commons, and she suggests mentioning it in the CC Slack (https://slack-signup.creativecommons.org/). They don't currently host any content, but you might be able to explain the benefits of PeerTube and whatnot and see if they're interested in taking it over.

Fediverse tip: want to comment on a #PeerTube video without creating yet another account? Paste the URL to the video into the search bar in Mastodon, then reply to the post that comes up. The reply will federate back to the PeerTube instance as a comment.

@grtyvr I picked up an Ender 3 shortly after launch, and it is a solid printer for the money. There's room for a ton of small upgrades and tinkering (of course), but the most noteworthy ones I've made are: replacing the main board with a silent one (much better stepper drivers); using a cheap direct drive kit (Basaraba) to get rid of the bowden tube; replacing the stock cooling fan with a pair of 5015s; and applied upgraded firmware for anti-thermal-runaway and quieter fans (and other options).

@technomancy Ah, I see, you're still updating it. The tutorial didn't exist when I first tried it, and I don't think the arrow keys did anything at the time.

@technomancy
I couldn't figure out what to do after hitting spacebar. Backspace was the only other key that did something, and it just seemed to reset everything...

I ordered a sampler of Gateron switches just to get a feel for their size, shape, and clickiness. I'm not married to Gateron, but I haven't touched a keyboard that actually made use of MX switches since... the early 90s? And the direct-from-China Gaterons are a dirt-cheap way to find out if MX is even feasible for what I want to do (shrink keycaps to about 90% and 3d print them myself).

@technomancy It looks like those are still MX-sized, for use with 1u keycaps. But some research suggests 1u is 18mm x 18mm, whereas the switches are 14mm x 17.2mm, which might leave me a little wiggle room for keycap size. More if I can clip off a little bit of the wings without losing too much structural integrity. Those look like clips to socket into a retaining plate that I won't be using anyway.

I'm still in discovery, but I'll consider those.

Ah hah! Any clone board that uses the 32U4 does USB from within the microcontroller, and doesn't have the issue most clones have where they don't have the license for the proper FTDI USB UART and have to use a cheap knockoff that can't do HID (or if it can, finding docs for it is nearly impossible).

And "Arduino Leonardo" clones are <$6 each.

For my next heresy, I'm thinking about non-MX switches. I'm not stoked about SMD soldering, but there are some decent membrane switches with sockets for keycaps, which would let me shrink keycaps (3d-printed) to whatever size felt right...

(I asked about this in some "DIY" keyboard discord yesterday and got a lot of confused responses. "Not Cherry-MX? Heathen!")

@emsenn @technomancy Yeah, we've already been talking about it privately.

@technomancy Yeah, I found those when searching for the A-Star, linked from your build docs. It remains a possibility, but the Proton C is in that same price range and well-supported.

Basically anything 32U4 should work, it's just that the 328*s are sooo cheap.

I haven't decided the layout yet, but 15 pins is enough to do 56 keys, unless I also need to do V-USB. I should probably just spring for a board that can re-use the USB port for both serial and HID.

As usual, docs for this sort of project are great for well-travelled paths, but as soon as I start thinking of doing something weird, I'm stuck trawling 8-year-old forum posts with links to 404s that the wayback machine only sometimes has copies of...

Down a rabbit hole really fast on a DIY custom computer keyboard project.

I could use an arduino nano clone, which are like $4 each, but then would need to do V-USB and I have no idea if that can be done with QMK at the same time or if I'd have to write my own firmware (stealing liberally from QMK).

Or I could just go simple and use a Proton-C, which are mostly sold out but are purpose-built for this and only cost four times as much...

@emsenn And New Englanders trying to pronounce "troca de cordões" was spot-on.

@emsenn Heh. Yeah, it wasn't entirely wrong, either, though their animation budget didn't really cover full-body ginga at the time.

#PDX locals!

My #capoeira group is starting a beginners-only 10-class series on Saturdays, 12:30-2pm, starting 10/19.

We're a very welcoming group for anybody of any race, gender, orientation, age, body type, etc. No experience necessary, and no high-level students to be intimidated by during this series (at least until you're ready), but after 10 weeks you'll be ready to train with the regular group.

If you or someone you know might be interested, DM me for details or with questions.

Every time I set foot back on twitter (because somebody links me there, not because I read it regularly) I am reminded how nice it is that reaction gifs don't appear to be a common thing on mastodon, at least within my circle.

Makes me think the performative outrage has become so performative you might as well enlist performers to do it for you...

@polyguo Most nutrient blends have pro-flowering (Bloom) versions and pro-growth versions. I have no idea how much of this is legit botany and how much is marketing... I used to grow cherry tomatoes in nothing but water and dissolved plant food sticks and that worked fine.

For rooting, cuttings will just grow roots in plain water, but I did add some generic house plant food drops just to keep them happy. There's also rooting hormone, and I've heard a willow tree twig promots root growth, too.

@polyguo Hydroponic growing nutrients. There's different blends for different needs, like vegetative growth vs fruiting, but I'm not sure how much that actually matters. Fortunately I'm trying to avoid triggering flowering with the basil.

I will, of course, just be using some of the many leftover containers I've saved up, rather than buying (or even 3d-printing) any new components.