v81
@v81@lemmy.world
- Comment on Microsoft's Bitlocker & TPM encryption combo defeated with a $10 Raspberry Pi 8 months ago:
Sad thing is there is no way to securely communicate via ham radio.
But I’d be fully open to going pirate!
And with regard to unlocked bootloaders, I think it’s the manufactures wanting to lock away choice and options that is the issue more than the government.
- Comment on Microsoft's Bitlocker & TPM encryption combo defeated with a $10 Raspberry Pi 9 months ago:
Yeah, is a Pico… $5
- Comment on Microsoft's Bitlocker & TPM encryption combo defeated with a $10 Raspberry Pi 9 months ago:
This is already happening with smart phones.
- Comment on RaspberryPi becoming unresponsive at random intervals 9 months ago:
Have had this issue myself asking with other DD card related issues.
I can’t understand why the pi foundation persist with using SD as the only physically practical storage option.
They’re looking post the point of needing a way to snap on reliable EMMC storage, as a default, in a way that doesn’t leave a cable or something permanently plugged into a USB port.
Sure, USB is a fine option, but I hate that it’s only an option and not a designed default.
Most of us only need 8GB or so for the OS, 8GB or good quality durable EMMC should hardly cost anything.
Other tiny computers and even economy notebooks and Chromebooks already use this.
- Comment on Workplace 10 months ago:
Home ownership is 2024
- Comment on This console generation seems skippable 10 months ago:
What PC game broke your OS? That’s mad.
- Comment on Linode Alternative Suggestions for Small Projects 10 months ago:
I’d disagree with this.
VPS is opposed to a dedicated server, and actually is a kind of shared hosting because as a VPS user you a allocated a ‘share’ of resources on a machine where others also have a ‘share’ of resources.
Shared housing more typically refers to simpler web hosting where multiple users have their website servers from shared hardware.
- Comment on The EU common charger : USB-C 10 months ago:
So what is the standard fast charging solution they’ve choosen?
The site doesn’t say.
Are we going to see USB-PD in more phones now?
I’d love to see all the different manufacturers standards bugger off.
- Comment on The EU common charger : USB-C 10 months ago:
I know waterproof Type C ports exist as electrical components. So the test is up to the manufacturer to correctly implement it.
Ultimately, Type C is no worse an option to other ports.
- Comment on How to keep a man 10 months ago:
Run? WTF you on about? Dead men can’t run and no one is surviving that dish.
- Comment on Lemmy.world Should Defederate with Threads 10 months ago:
At this point I’m limiting what I access and where. I’m targeting a more 1990’s internet experience. I love learning and technical stuff and would miss it if I went off grid, no matter how tempting that is.
- Comment on Shitty deal 10 months ago:
Do not search for this.
Glass is glass, and glass breaks.
- Comment on Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. 10 months ago:
Sounds like she’s rarely out never noticed you use it either… Which makes it interesting both because of the uncommon UI and workflow, and she has not had regular observations to learn from.
For those of us that have operated both it’s a non issue.
But think of how you’d go about it with zero knowledge. I bet most would try dialling the number without lifting the receiver.
- Comment on Lemmy.world Should Defederate with Threads 11 months ago:
I’m actually really trying to play devils advocate… But I’m struggling.
I came to get away from the main stream socials.
I came to minimise my farmed data footprint.
I came to find other like minded people.
These principals alone are shared by quite a few I guess.
If we end up hooked up to the machine we were trying to escape from then coming here was near pointless.
- Comment on What DID Apple innovate? 11 months ago:
Hard disagree. Android user here. The number of times if had to show iPhone users how to use their shit is annoying.
Workflows agree no better on a fruit phone than an Android device half the price.
- Comment on Comment any opinion and I will disagree with it, no matter what. 11 months ago:
Cats are great pets and companions.
- Comment on Tesla driver who killed 2 people while using autopilot must pay $23,000 in restitution without having to serve any jail time 11 months ago:
That’s how we differ.
You’re focusing on being radical and using emotional buzz words (death of children), where as I’m actually interested in changing the status quo with regard to cars, and have been effective in doing so at a local level without making an ass of myself.
I share what I’ve achieved when practical and many good discussions come of it.
What have you done today?
Yell at the internet about ‘trucks’ that very few actually use and get a few pats in the back for it?
The difference is, fuck cars is an ineffective and damaging community when it comes to influencing positive change, and you think you’re part of the solution when in fact your part of the problem.
People are never going to take a community like that seriously while so critical and full of negativity.
- Comment on Tesla driver who killed 2 people while using autopilot must pay $23,000 in restitution without having to serve any jail time 11 months ago:
Lol… No one is going to join your little war when the see the brainless mindless posts that you lot like to circle jerk over.
I’d love to see a massive reduction in the dependence on cars, but you lot are doing more harm than good picking on non issues and making shit up.
- Comment on Ifixit gives fairphone 5 a 10/10 on repairability and maintanence 11 months ago:
I have already made that comparison, and still have found it double the price of other cases that you describe.
- Comment on Ifixit gives fairphone 5 a 10/10 on repairability and maintanence 11 months ago:
I like the Fairphone 5 but €40 for a case is unforgivable.
I’m feeling like it’s a gouge because they know not many (if any) 3rd party cases exist.
- Comment on Internode and Westnet shutdown: TPG moves customers to iiNet 11 months ago:
Yeah that sounds like modern Aussie.
They’re trading on the reputation they had years ago. So many people blindly recommend them it’s concerning.
- Comment on Internode and Westnet shutdown: TPG moves customers to iiNet 11 months ago:
It’s a feature for payment processing. Aussie began using it about 5 or so years ago.
I have nothing against it generally.
But what it did do is switch my payments from Visa debit to a type of cardless EFTPOS cash out type transaction that incurred a fee with my backward bank.
Had I known they intended to change how they charge I’d have taken the card off file with them and used another method.
- Comment on Internode and Westnet shutdown: TPG moves customers to iiNet 11 months ago:
Aussie are already headed down the toilet. They changed his they billed me without asking and then denied it for 6 months. TIO complaint ensued where my desired outcome was an apology and that they would notify others before changing billing parameters.
TIO eventually left it with Aussie to sort and they refused to help.
It was an unusual situation, their change to least cost routing incurred transaction fees on my (very) small business account, which lead to issues with my subscription accounting package on a basic plan that had limited line items it could reconcile (about 10 per month I think).
It’s a specifically shitty situation, but my setup at the time was reasonable given my circumstances.
Had Aussie told me they were switching I could have changed to direct debit, but remember, it took 6 months to figure out it was them while they denied it the whole time.
I do tech support on an occasional basis when I’m well, and even dismissing my past history with Aussie I still find them going down hill with regards to inflated pricing and slowing support.
Their support is still above average, but at the prices they’re adding it bloody should be.
- Comment on [deleted] 11 months ago:
I hear there are cases where people need TPM, but I don’t, and switching it off is a great way to avoid this crap.
- Comment on A gallon of milk is HOW MUCH? 11 months ago:
Lol… I wish.
No… it’s USD$4 per 1 gallon of you buy the cheapest nastiest stuff money can buy.
- Comment on A gallon of milk is HOW MUCH? 11 months ago:
AUD$6.10 for a gallon of the cheapest possible milk I can find within 30km/20 miles here in Australia.
USD$4.00 even… Again for the cheapest possible 12 pack 1L UHT generic milk.
If you want something from the supermarket fridge you’re gonna to need to start at multiplying that by 1.5 to 2x .
So USD$8 /gal might be fairly typical here.
- Comment on GTA 6’s Publisher Says Video Games Should Theoretically Be Priced At Dollars Per Hour 1 year ago:
Oh shit… I thought the $/hr was a good idea until you mentioned Factorio.
- Comment on Firefox lost users during “failed” Yahoo search deal, says Mozilla CEO 1 year ago:
You’d be surprised just how few search engines the are.
Google and Bing are about all there is.
Most other ‘search engines’ just offload the hard work onto existing search engines.
Very few people actually know DuckDuckGo sources their results from Bing for example.
The infrastructure Mozilla uses to serve their content is microscopic compared to what they’d need to operate a fully independent and capable modern search engine.
- Comment on Phones should have FM radio again 1 year ago:
s; most are limited to less than 1m. Even with aerial whip antennas
Wavelength varies from 2.7 to 3.4 metres. Just because that is the size of the wave doesn’t meant that a good antenna has to be that size. A very good basic antenna is a 1/4 wave vertical, and we see them pretty often as telescopic antennas on radios and cars. A 1/4 wave FM broadcast antenna will perform excellently, and will be 68cm to 85cm in length. More modern cars have antennas printed into a window similar to a demister strip. They are actually NOT smaller, some can be quite larve, but also very stealth. But the point remains is that they are NOT small as you suggest. Much shorter antennas exist, but there is a gain penalty, and that penalty gets more extreme the smaller the antenna gets. I have such a small antenna on my car and it IS an issue. In physics nothing is free, yes, you can make an antenna small and still have it be resonant, but you’ll pay a price on effective gain.
This is a problem that technology has not solved. Sure, clever designs have helped a little, but there is always a price to pay if you try to cheat the physics.
A compromised antenna can work in a very very stong signal area, but it will easily be the difference between a clear solid recieve and no recieve at all in a fringe area.
AM Broadcast is an example of this, with antennas sometimes 2 inches / 50mm long or even less and hidden inside the radio. Buy as a ham myself with a HF setup, even my HF setup, which is a poor compromise on MF broadcast gets me stations from all over Australia. That isn’t going to happen with a regular AM receiver.
Ultimately, sure you can have a mobile with no external antenna receive FM broadcast… but only in a VERY VERY strong signal area, within a few miles of the transmitter, while a propper antenna will work at 10x the distance.
Given that the proposal requires a minor redesign of the cellphones to incorporate the broadcast receiving radio, adding a small antenna, or simply using the chassis of the phone as an antenna, would not only be possible but it should be fairly trivial to accommodate for. by no means am I saying it would be the worlds greatest FM antenna system, most certainly it would not be, but it should be sufficient to differentiate the signal from the noise
This would work at very short distance only, it really would be that limited. Would it be useful for the people in those short distances? Maybe. Buy while a regular ordinary transistor radio with a telescopic antenna would work 10-30x further away, comparing those 2 really shows how much of a compromise is going on.
The point I’m dancing around is software-defined radios. The big cost of SDRs is mainly regarding transmission, since they don’t put out a very strong signal This is true for any radio type ever, it’s not an SDR specific thing. EVERY radio that puts out more than a few dbm needs some level of amplification. This is NOT and SDR specific thing. It might appear that way because fo how many affordable SDRs just come with a low output. This is just a normal Monday for any radio system from a $50 CB to a broadcast station, SDR or not.
SDR’s are not magic. In fact they actually have some drawbacks compared to conventional designs with regards dynamic rage, over loading etc… Pulling the ‘SDR’ card and not knowing this i think shows your lack of understanding of the topic (not trying to diss, just an observation). SDR’s are a great tool, i have 4 of them in front of me as i type this, so I’m no stranger. Icom IC-705, Icom IC-7300, HackRF and an RTL-SDR. You could also maybe count the University of Twente webSDR i have open in another tab, and an MMDVM at a stretch to make it 6. websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901
This is all exciting stuff… but none of it has revolutionised RF physics for human portable commodity radios, nor even come close to an adjacent technology that could be adopted / adapted.
My ~ AUD$1900 IC-705 can go from picking up stations all over the state of Victoria, Australia with it’s non optimal antenna tuned for 146MHz, to picking up literally nothing if i hook up a few hundred mm of wire to it’s antenna socket on the bench here. And I can engage pass band filtering, up to 2 pre-amp stages, and a variety of Digital Signal Processing features and sill get… nothing.
I appreciate your passiona nd interest, but… physics.
We can look at other technologies that are great… WiFi… it’s great, but the transmitter location is in your home and still struggles to cover some larger homes… from inside your home itself. Cellular… again, great, but again, as the name implies it;s made up of ‘cells’, physics is a massive issue with cellular, each individual cell tower consists of tens or sometimes hundreds of transceivers, each connected to phased arrays of hundreds to thousands of antenna elements… and that’s just a single site, many towns will need multiple of these for coverage. Cell is not immune to the limitations of physics, and it has to brute force the situation from the tower end so as we can have small devices in out pockets… and even with all that i get no coverage int he middle of my local supermarket. Do an image search for ‘cell panel antenna inside’ and see if you can find a picture fo the actual antenna elements, my results mostly got the rear so you might have to scroll a bit.
A lot of the modernisation you refer to is just that given the value we place on connectivity while remaining portable the effort has shifted to needing to bring the signals closer to the user. Looking at that broadly, while some gains have been made what’s really happened is that the signal has been bought closer to you, making you think magic has happened.
Yes, antennas are important, but not nearly as important as they were even 10-15 years ago. I couldn’t disagree more. The antenna is the single most significant component of any system. I think the best demonstration of this is modern cellular as it shows what has been needed to be done to bring connectivity top the masses and proves there is no way around.
- Submitted 1 year ago to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world | 5 comments