💾 Archived View for soviet.circumlunar.space › insom › 2020-12-29-Now.gmi captured on 2022-01-08 at 15:21:20. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2021-12-03)
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Boy, I am having a hard time actually settling down to write. It's frustrating because a couple of times I've been inspired to, but I'm in the wrong place (no laptop, out of the house) and when I get back I get distracted, do something else or just don't feel like it any more. Oh, well.
So: what's up?
I decided to create a colour lookup-table by photographing a test card / calibration graphic with a Polaroid, scanning it, and then writing out a LUT.
I tried writing it out in a standard format (CUBE) but when I used it in Photoshop the image came out basically 100% white and I couldn't figure out why.
I made my Python program take an average of the change introduced for each value of red, of green and of blue. The results are "okay". Because it wasn't a resounding success, I feel much less like writing it up. I know the structure and what needs to be written but: meh. Perhaps I'll push myself to finish.
I've started two new projects. I'd like to document these as I go, which not what I usually do. (I don't know if that's because I only want to write about successful things, or just because I don't want the act of documenting things to take from the fun of the project "in the moment").
One project is a 12V DC distribution board. I run a bunch of things from 12V in my electronics lab and it would be great to cut down on the number of inefficient power bricks. Instead, I'll use an ATX PSU, which is pretty common. What makes it a project is using a proper enclosure and using a fuse board.
An ATX PSU is a _great_ source of 12V (and other voltages), but it can definitely deliver enough current to start a fire, so using a proper set of automative fuses is the only way to do things properly. I'm going to use pairs of binding posts / banana sockets as the interface and make up leads for whatever devices I need to power. Most things use 5x2.1mm barrel jacks with positive tip, so I'll probably end up with a bunch of those, but it's good to have flexibility.
Rather than an Intel PC running OSX, I want to build a portable computer in the Mac SE/30 form factor.
My son designed and 3D printed a little Mac Classic for me -- it's lovely and I need to upload a good photo of it -- and he knows that it's my favouite computer of all time, even though I only owned one after it was obsolete (1999, I think?). Technically, mine was an SE/30 -- not rounded at the front and it was more powerful, but with details that don't suit a miniature 3D print very well.
I wanted to put a mini-PC motherboard I have, from a Vorke V1, into the case, and get an 8" 4:3 LCD. I'm going to power the whole thing from a lead acid battery -- this is going to be a luggable cyberdeck, so I don't mind it weighing a few pounds. Like the Mac Classic, it'll have a carry handle integrated. The battery I have is 9Ah at 12V (so 108Wh).
This part of the plan was a write off because I fried the motherboard connecting the power. RIP. I should be more careful, although I've put this particular board through a lot and it owes me nothing. I'll probably replace it with a Pi 4 -- the best chance I have of getting something with reasonable "desktop-like" performance while still being reasonable to run from batteries for a long time.
I want it to look punk-as-fuck -- custom paint job, decals, extra (almost cosplay like) features, like an LED display showing the current .beat Internet time. GPIO & the ability to power external things from the 12V battery bank seem desirable. I kind of have it in mind that this could be a great computer to remotely do amateur radio from. The Pi 4 is probably underpowered for serious software-defined radio work, but with a classic receiver hooked p with a soundcard, it could be cool.
I want to put rails on the side (maybe 2020 extrusions?) so I can bolt extras on -- mounting a radio on the side with a quick release sounds bad-ass.
The PC I had in 1997ish was such a battlestation -- pink and red sprayed and I brought it to friends' houses and to my Mum's when my parents separated. (This was in the era of CRTs, too -- I'm going to save so much weight by using an LCD). I want to go back to a time when my computing device was personal, and didn't feel generic or disposable. Cool stickers and a nice X11 theme only goes so far.