Beerkeg's grimdark workshop of low effort content (Journal 1/2)

Luffynatsu87 · Post by **Luffynatsu87** » 26 Nov 2019, 01:24

I love to have your skills [mention=100737]Beerkeg[/mention]

unoduetre · Post by **unoduetre** » 28 Nov 2019, 00:45

[mention=100737]Beerkeg[/mention]

How did you connect to the router?

Post by **Beerkeg** » 02 Dec 2019, 08:03

// ToDo: Anything... do anything... Something that contains some amount of content.... you lazy shit...

PortgasDAce, I know right? Hobbies are great.

Luffynatsu87, Well. Get yourself some basic and cheap tools and start expending low effort in large quantities.

unoduetre, Lots of devices have I2C, UART, JTAG or some other serial communication for debugging and servicing purposes. Often they have connectors on the board so when you send our device in for warranty or repairs, they don't have to solder wires to the board, they can just plug in and start debugging. Luckily for me, they very very often have shell. In this case the board had UART (the white plug with 4 pins, image in spoiler). Sometimes the pins are marked on the board so you know what wire to connect where, this one didn't. Its not too hard to figure it out tho. First get a multimeter and set it to diode mode so when you touch them together, it beeps. Start by finding GND, touch one probe to ground somewhere on the board. That shiny metal casing above the connector will do, then touch all the 4 pins of the UART connector. The one that beeps is GND. Now for the other pins, you want to power up the device and measure the voltage between the pin and ground. One of the remaining pins will most likely be nearly 0V, but not connected to ground. This is the RX pin. Now you have 2 pins left, VCC and TX. You want to find TX cause you don't have to power the board through the serial. Both pins will probably show the same voltage. In this case 3.3V. To find out which one is TX, simply reset the device while measuring one of the pins. If you see a voltage drop when booting, then thats the TX pin. You might not always see this voltage drop depending on the baud rate of the device and the quality of your multimeter so in this case you'd want an oscilloscope or a data analyser like a buspirate. Now get a USBtty device. Connect GND to GND, RX to TX and TX to RX. And so the only thing left to do is connect the USBtty to your PC and open a serial connection. The baud rate is unknown at this time, but thats not a problem. I usually just go through the common UART baud rates until I find one that has legible text spat out into the terminal.

Spoiler:

Now as for what I've been doing lately.... nothing... Haven't had the time, the robot annoyed me beyond belief. I'll get a gif of that up when I figure out how to make gifs. I was concerned about how it performed due to yet more mechanical issues popping up last minute. And the fact that it was at a tech industries expo where snobby pants people sniff around. BUT! All that concern went away when I saw how bad the competition was... same kind of robots waving flags and working without actual products.... I mean sure, I could have done the same. Gotten rid of the beer and just show in theory what the machine did, but I'm not some peasant. So yes, it didn't work flawlessly, but at least it showed a practical example, not theory... or wave flags around for some reason... Like seriously it had 2 waypoints: go left, go right, GOTO 10...

Also messed around with my printer a bit. Usually people have problems that the prints don't stick to the bed, mine stuck way too well. I couldn't get them off. Any time you hear 3d printing people talk about glass beds they always say "Well its easy to remove prints, just let it cool down and they just pop off" No no no. I bent my scraper trying to pry things off. And since its a glass bed, you don't want to scrape much cause... well... glass... shards, dust and brittle. So someone recommended coating it with hairspray, which worked great.

Still haven't gotten around to CAD for the watch, but the holidays are coming up soon so I'm sure I'll have the time then.

Luffynatsu87 · Post by **Luffynatsu87** » 25 Dec 2019, 13:12

Merry Christmas

Post by **Beerkeg** » 01 Jun 2020, 05:09

Bumping this in hopes that I'll remember to fix it over the weekend

Post by **Beerkeg** » 02 Jul 2020, 08:31

//ToDo: Nothing... you don't have to do anything... except for all the things...

Right... so finally started doing things again. Been putting off this simple upgrade to make things more comfortable for myself.
So, the problem: 2nd keyboard (for the machine I use the forums on) is uncomfortable to use because I have it off to the side.

Spoiler:

The solution: Spend 2 minutes taking measurements of the keyboard. Then Spend 5 minutes doing the CAD and 6 hours printing 1 of the 2 stands.

Spoiler:

The result: Realize your measurements were a bit off, just as you expected, but the stands work as intended.

Spoiler:

As for other things I've been failing to do.... well... all of them... Been too lazy to do the CAD for my watch. Still haven't done the CAD for my TV-Go-BoomV2. Haven't ordered my BUSPirate to get the bios password form my IBM laptop. Haven't bought the materials to make my collapsing weather antenna. And have forgotten what else I was working on.

Further updates may or may not come soon.

DragonOfDojima · Post by **DragonOfDojima** » 02 Jul 2020, 09:00

Hey not bad at all !

Post by **Beerkeg** » 21 Dec 2023, 12:56

//ToDo: Felt cute, might update later

Oh my I've forgotten how many cobwebs inhabit this place. Oh well, nothing a few tornados can't fix. I can't be bothered to look for the old images to fix the older posts... adds character to the place, you know?

Figured I might as well start posting again, been putting it off since so much has happened. Far too much to remember or document so heres a quick fire rundown!

In an arbitrary order I've:

Grown my hair out! And well... cut it all off again...

Spoiler:

Tried my hand at music... and gave all of it up...

Spoiler:

Bought some cool mechanical stuff from the 1900s and fixed them...

Spoiler:

Ate toast

Spoiler:

Got a 2nd printer cause I'm impatient

Spoiler:

Had to hack open a Xiaomi Redmi 8T cause Xiaomi is a terrible company and hates customers

Spoiler:

Argued with a few hackers about HDD bus speeds and had to do a bit of terrible soldering to prove that it isn't that strict

Spoiler:

Bought a project car and regretted it....

Spoiler:

Did some testing with my Sega Mega Drive II. Got video working, but sound is pretty garbage, I think one of the audio mux opamps is broken...

Spoiler:

I'm bored making the list so... got a bacon sniffer, listened to satellites in the middle of a field, built a spider, played around in firmware, hacked my 3DS to play diablo 1...

Spoiler:

Right... thats some of the shenanigans I've been up to. I'm not a picture guy so I don't have shots for most things... Like the DVR I had to break into because their customer support said "You'll have to buy a new one"... Don't buy EZviz stuff.....

Anyway, hopefully my next post wont take another 3 years...

Post by **PharaohAtem** » 21 Dec 2023, 13:18

I see you've kept yourself busy. The only thing I can play is the piano, I did violin many years ago but wasn't thst great but wasn't that bad.

Post by **Beex** » 21 Dec 2023, 15:00

You got skills.

You didn't like music?

Post by **Beerkeg** » 21 Dec 2023, 16:03

Yeah I like staying busy, keeps me from getting bored :P

I love music, what I lack is the discipline to learn how to play. I've had that guitar for over 10 years, still can't play much :P

Post by **PharaohAtem** » 21 Dec 2023, 17:42

Yeah, I gotta do stuff or I'll get bored and fidgety. I like the guitar.

Post by **Beex** » 22 Dec 2023, 14:36

Well you are holding a proper G chord in the pic. That's better than some do.

Post by **LilMissLarBear** » 03 Jan 2024, 13:22

I will be the first to say this here... Having a toaster by your computer is goals hahaha

Post by **Beerkeg** » 03 Jan 2024, 13:36

LilMissLarBear wrote: ↑
03 Jan 2024, 13:22
I will be the first to say this here... Having a toaster by your computer is goals hahaha

Raiding is hard work, I got hungry :P