Timon 🛠

I work on embedded systems and other hardware hackery.

Fucking nerd. Likes birbs.

Hardware, software, manufacturing and art.
Open for freelance work.

he/him 🏳️‍🌈

Twitter: https://twitter.com/timonsku
Hackaday: https://hackaday.io/timonsku
BlueSky: @timonsku.zip
All the stuff: https://linktr.ee/timonsku

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timonsku_at_mastodon.social@momostr.pink

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npub1829nxujjjkurek5lqz88c7z897g80e8puhqa7ayq5p6mcdfwjzwqlts2fp

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Last Notes

2024-08-31 14:52:55

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Torvalds is the least of the problems these days. He gotten better and seems to be pro Rust in general, if anything the issue with him is more that he is not actively advocating for more substantial changes and lets his sub maintainers handle it.
The Kernel middle management that screams at people in talks because they grew up with a childish yelling Linus is the bigger issue.

2024-08-31 12:26:04

If not for the merrit of a safer and more suitable language, writing a compatible Kernel from scratch could be worth it just for the cultural reset.
There are so many problems with the way Linux Kernel development functions right now and what a massive uphill battle any progress has been even when just talking about the C code base. I just don't know how you could ever fix this in time.
This is not a technical battle, its a cultural one.

2024-08-29 23:30:43

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All the Rust infra for embedded looks very cool but unless it does it all its only of use for some very limited bare metal'ish things with simple peripheral use where support is likely there and less prone to being incomplete.
Classic chicken and egg problem and I don't see the dinosaur vendors getting heavy into Rust any time soon.

2024-08-29 23:28:29

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thats actually what I hear most of the time. If people use Rust its in a green field project thats Rust only. Which is by far the easiest place to start using it I think.
If I think about embedded the only place where I can see me starting to use it is in projects like the Linux Kernel if that ever wins the fight or in Zephyr potentially at some point where people are less weird about third language support.

2024-08-29 23:06:36

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Which I think is probably the biggest reason for the divide. I know extremely few people who regularly write both C and Rust. People are usually either Rust only or C only. So there is a divide in communities and you don't get that much exposure to practical Rust if you are not a Rust enthusiast.

2024-08-29 23:01:35

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Which is probably the main reason why Zig kinda seems attractive from a distance. It seems to be ridiculed a lot so not sure if its a *good* language but it tackles that issue head on and would make it far easier to just start with without needing to abandon my life and become a Crustacean full time.

2024-08-29 23:00:04

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People are so weird about languages.
Yes Rust does not seem easy to pick up but thats not the reason why I don't use it productively. If its worth the effort I'll suck it up and learn it.
The main reason I don't use it is because C inter-op is very cumbersome.
If I don't want a very hard life it seems either go full Rust or no Rust and I have no choice 99% of the time to have a massive amount of C code to interact with.

2024-08-22 21:44:48

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right yes, I mostly think of application layer part. The whole concept of USB classes was a huge success I think. The transfer parts that they build upon are certainly weird and could be saner.

2024-08-22 21:36:08

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Yea they seem off by around 1W, def. good enough to get an idea what standard is negotiated

2024-08-22 21:27:06

Today in weird stuff from AliExpress. USB-C cables with a tiny screen that tell you the power it charges with and if its using Power Delivery or not.
Even crazier that they cost like 3$?!
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/007/789/715/030/491/original/935d567d1380e746.jpg

2024-08-22 19:38:19

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yea USB as a protocol will and should not go away. USB2 just has an absolute awful PHY that we really do not need. Doing USB2 protocol layer over USB3 PHY at the same speed classes would have been nice but it didn't happen.

2024-08-22 19:19:41

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USB4 legitimately scares me, I can't imagine needing to actually implement that in a feature complete way.
I feel like there will be like one Intel implementation and one from Synopsis and thats it because who would do that to their brain and budget.

2024-08-22 19:09:36

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DisplayPort is already a packet based interface and is in many regards very similar to PCIe signaling wise.
At least on the PHY side of things everything will or is already looking like PCIe. On the protocol layer I think we will still see some differences for special purpose stuff like displays but yea, we are very close to that reality except that USB2 will never die lol

2024-08-21 19:58:22

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spots like these make me think HDPE because they look pretty eww with all that fringes. The inner pocket looks really nice though so yea hard to say if those are just from usage.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/001/774/927/731/539/original/2fadd12ea15b9251.png

2024-08-21 19:55:18

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could be HDPE, the holes look a bit gummed up in a way that I often have when I mill white HDPE. It looks super similar to Delrin/POM, I can usually only tell by scratching it.

2024-08-21 18:37:47

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Yea, you can never treat it as an answer. It can be useful to uncover the specific terms that you need to find the right results in a domain you know nothing about but that makes it dangerous for people who do treat it like a search engine that gives you the final answer.
Those AI snippets in search engines need to go ASAP.

2024-08-21 14:44:24

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yea the online general purpose chat bots are absolutely useless. I never use ChatGPT and what not, absolute waste of time every time I tried that. Even for stuff where it should in theory be pretty good at like schema less data conversion. I've only seen Copilot be actually good at this.

2024-08-21 13:01:59

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I do find the auto complete that copilot does very useful because it strictly does basic "boring repetitive structures" type stuff that I hate to write, can review in seconds and is correct 99% of the time.
Its rare that I engage with the "please write full functionality for me" chat type thing. I find it useful as a better documentation look up, in a sense what StackOverflow filled previously to some extent.
But not sure if thats worth the harm it can do. /2

2024-08-21 12:59:23

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there is definitely cost/benefit thing going on when looking at the industry at large. They are good enough to enable people to create much more code faster than before that they are unfit to review which creates tech debt and burden to others. /1

2024-08-18 13:37:39

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Apart from the silly term and all, companies like that tend to not pay 10x the salary either. Not sure if they realize that if someone can actually do the expected workload of several engineers that engineer has a better deal by just working multiple jobs/clients if they wanted a hustle life.

2024-08-17 15:30:15

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I think avoiding conflict at all cost also just leads to not learning how to handle conflict and how to have a productive conflict.
Conflict, especially in a professional context is actually valuable. How that conflict plays out is the important bit. That can happen in a productive and respectful way that leads to an overall better outcome for the thing you work on or a temper fit and hurling insults which festers a bad environment to work in.

2024-08-09 23:19:26

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very snuggly wanderer that somehow got into the house the other day
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/934/618/393/638/976/original/2201c911c39e0452.jpg

2024-08-09 00:05:11

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it is good to see that they are more open with their own silicon. Even the previous one is so much more open than most vendors out there, you don't normally get to see the source for the bootrom and stuff.
Gives some more weight to previous statements that the main hurdle is Broadcomm IP/contracts.

2024-08-03 23:47:49

Always put vias on all unused BGA pads. Future you will thank you
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/900/759/153/573/257/original/33550695a39ed18b.jpg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/900/759/157/014/554/original/6dfed56e52c8eb39.jpg

2024-05-12 17:26:52

Yo, if you live in Berlin and have a sunny balcony/garden/window. You can get a plug-in solar setup for basically free.
This city subsidy program gives you up to 500€ for a setup and most only cost you around 300-400€.
Its basically free electricity for your apartment/home.
https://www.berlin.de/sen/energie/beratung-foerderung/foerderprogramm-stromspeicher/
E: Actually a lot more citites and even some states offer similar programs: https://www.vattenfall.de/infowelt-energie/solar/balkonkraftwerk-foerderung
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/429/288/697/628/542/original/be11c6e0ca6821eb.jpg