WLOG - blog something different

tags: ai arduino bass games godot i2c linux plan9 random rv web werc zig
A Kind of Computer
link | random | Sat Jul 27 19:46:33 CET 2024 No.37

Did you know computers don’t have to be digital? Of course, you did, but I needed an intro, so here we are.

It starts with a fascination and an idea. Astronomical rings in this case. Of course, today you can buy almost anything, but never quite the way you want it.

So why not take some “junk”, or let’s call them “half products,” off the internet and make something really nice! A proper sun ring with a real “sun stone” for the gnomon.

Not to bore too much with details, since most of the work is in detailed sanding, but the whole process can be broken down into these parts.

Material acquisition:

Ring and Amber from the Internet

Detailed work:

Stage One Sanding - Get it Level

Stage Two Sanding - Get it Thin

Stage Three Sanding - Get it Hollow

Inspection:

Finished and polished

Testing:

In the Sun Telling Time


Technology Follows Nature
link | random | Sat Jun 08 09:25:51 CET 2024 No.36

There is a lot to unpack here.

We all know the meme of “What the customer wants vs. What was implemented”.

Well, insert some nature inspired development algorithms, which are dependent on a bunch of environmental factors, and you get a real live version of the meme.

Design vs Implementation


Ideas all around
link | random, zig | Sun May 26 21:22:10 CET 2024 No.35

Not much to say, accept the Software You Can Love conference was wonderful.

Conference loot


The importance of pruning and balancig trees
link | random | Sun Apr 07 21:48:27 CET 2024 No.34

What about this weather we’re having?

Ah well, at least the laws of equal exchange agree with exchanging screen time with fresh air.

But let’s discuss balancing tree structures.

Adding new nodes and branches is usually quite a straightforward operation. Most of the time you don’t have to do anything, the structure grows on its own. But without any kind of supervision or maintenance, it will grow into a random, hard to traverse mess that just wastes resources.

Before picture

So it is important to either implement proper growing algorithems into the structure itself or do some manual pruning manualy.

After picture

Now, whether it be databases or file system structures, it is best practice to do the balancing operations at off peak activity times.

And if you’re developing custom algorithms, document them! Take good snapshots of before and after states for studying.


Blink from boot0 over FEL
link | rv | Sun Mar 10 15:35:26 CET 2024 No.33

These are definitely words in the title, but what do they mean? A long-awaited adventure!

By now, the probably obsolete and forgotten RiscV version of MangoPi has been on my TODO list for a while. Fashionable late, but sometimes you have to let things take their time.

What we have here is bare bone blinking of an LED on the MangoPi SBC with Allwinner D1 RiscV chip.

Trace on the analyzer goes up and down

Quite a few steps to get to this point, from figuring out the boot procedure, architecture, pin-out, tool chains, itd…

The condensed version of the steps and code is here.

And there might be some notes as well.


Bump
link | random | Thu Feb 29 20:47:12 CET 2024 No.32

Just because nothing worth writing about is happening, doesn’t mean nothing is happening. Sometimes you just have to bear through the grind to reach a new point.

That does not mean you should completely abandon everything. Repetition keeps things in memory. So a post for the sake of the process of creating a post on this system.

So what have You done on this additional day of the year?