Today In The Lab With Jay Jay just had a good binary milestone. We now have 256 subscribers, which is more than you can count in one byte!
Next stop is 357 when I catch up with my mate Craig!
In The Lab With Jay Jay growth milestone
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Author Archives: Jay Jay
My day at ElectroneX with my friend
Well. Wow. What a day!
Today was the opening day of ElectroneX in Sydney.
I had the great privilege of spending the day with my very good friend Aleksei. Between us I think we managed to talk to every single exhibitor. By the time I got home my legs were sore and my lips were parched, so much walking, standing, and talking!
I turned up in character. I wore my costume. A lot of people thought that was fun, as did I. :)
I met Dave Jones of EEVblog fame, which really made my day. I knew he would be there and I was really hoping to see him, and I did! He was nice enough to plug my channel, what an excellent human being! <3
And as if things couldn’t get better they went on and did! It was an honour and a privilege to meet Nicholas Vinen, the editor of Silicon Chip magazine. I had hoped that he would be there and I would run into him… and then he was and I did!
All round a super great day. I had a lot of fun, learned a few things about the state of the art, and I even netted a few new subscriptions on the channel. :)
Today was Spring cleaning day
I had to get new batteries in four of my UPS devices which involved a lot of plugging and unplugging. Since I was down there under my desk I took some time to vacuum and do a better job of my cable labeling.
While I was sorting cables I found one with a frayed end which I decided to keep for spare parts. In makes me nervous just looking at this thing. That’s a mains power lead with bare ends, it’s a death sentence waiting to happen! But that bit of cable with that attachment might very well come in handy some time so I will file it in its relevant drawer.
Tag cloud June 2024
Just for fun I took a screenshot of my latest tag cloud:
As you can see the new tag In The Lab With Jay Jay is quite prominent now. And ChatGPT is fairly new as well.
Ah the times how they are a’changing.
Homework
This is a part of the homework feature of my blog, which is an ongoing conversation with my mate S.F.
Hey mate. Lovely to see you again, as always.
I ended up getting these cards printed at clickmedia.com.au to take with me on Wednesday to ElectroneX:
I mentioned Iain McGilchrist, he’s a psychiatrist who dabbles in philosophy. I think he has a really excellent and interesting view of things. It’s hard to summarise his position but he is very interested in the difference in perceptive capabilities of the left and right hemispheres of the brain. He has a YouTube channel over here: @DrIainMcGilchrist and if you search for him you will find many a fascinating interview.
You told me to check out Succession (TV series).
I found the Four Corners video you mentioned, over here: Self-defence or genocide? Asking Israel’s powerful voices about Gaza | Four Corners.
I mentioned Eben Moglen, who has a website over here: moglen.law.columbia.edu. I find Eben inspirational. He’s always talking in grandiose eloquence about the importance of free software, if you search for him on YouTube you are bound to find something of interest.
I mentioned Annie Jacobsen, she’s a pretty interesting cat. She has written a number of books on conspiracy-theory-like topics. I recently read her book Nuclear War: A Scenario.
I have a note here that says “positive view on nihilism” but I forget what that was about. Something I wanted to tell you, now lost to time. But searching for ‘positive view on nihilism’ turns up a bunch of interesting results! (Oh. Wait. Found it! It’s a video I wanted you to see: Optimistic Nihilism.)
Oh, another note I don’t remember: “void of ‘huh'”. I assume we were being hilarious.
There is an urban myth that the first human projectile that made it into space was a manhole cover from nuclear testing facilities for Operation Plumbbob in 1957. I dunno if it’s true, but it’s a good story!
Announcing new website for In The Lab With Jay Jay
Good news everyone!
The In The Lab With Jay Jay website has been freeloading off jj5.net for a while now, over here: https://www.inthelabwithjayjay.com/in-the-lab/
But I am pleased to announce that it has now been moved into its new and permanent home, over here: InTheLabWithJayJay.com
There is also a short-link domain which will redirect you to the new site which I put into production to keep the links on my business cards short: jjlab.net
Speaking of business cards I had some made to take with me to ElectroneX on Wednesday:
I’m planning to show up in costume and hand out business cards, because I am a *genuine* nerd.
As part of the migration to the new domain I improved the content of the site a bit. There is now an about page with contact info and such and also a support the show page with some ideas about how people can support the show!
Channel News #3: Announcing Mini Projects | Learning Electronics In The Lab With Jay Jay
This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video on this show’s homepage which is here.
You can support this channel on Patreon: patreon.com/JohnElliotV
Silly Job Title: Amp Alchemist
In this video I announce the new Mini Projects. These are a new feature of Silicon Chip magazine sponsored by Jaycar. Each month two or three Mini Projects get published in Silicon Chip, and we will be building those projects together on the channel each month!
If you’re interested in Silicon Chip magazine (it’s really good!) then I would certainly encourage you to subscribe.
In this video I misspoke and said this was the “May 2004” issue of the magazine, but of course it is the “May 2024” issue of the magazine! Unfortunately I missed that errata during editing and didn’t include a title clip correction.
I don’t understand what happened that caused that video corruption we saw earlier in the video. I suspect the workstation I was using to record the video had some other processing task which interfered with its recording speed or something? Hopefully this is not an ongoing problem. It’s not a problem I have seen before.
Update: ElectroneX has now been and gone and my write up about the day is over here: My day at ElectroneX with my friend. I got my photo with Dave Jones!
Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe!
Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!
Kaisi Soldering Tools With Desoldering Pump notes |
Let’s go shopping!
Fixing compile_commands.json for VS Code and Linux kernel sources
I have my Linux kernel sources setup like this:
-------------------
Fri Jun 14 00:35:24 [bash:5.2.15 jobs:0 error:0 time:2449]
jj5@virtuoso:/home/jj5/repo/git/git.kernel.org/torvalds-linux
$ git remote show origin
* remote origin
Fetch URL: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git
Push URL: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git
HEAD branch: master
Remote branch:
master tracked
Local branch configured for 'git pull':
master merges with remote master
Local ref configured for 'git push':
master pushes to master (local out of date)
-------------------
The scripts/clang-tools/gen_compile_commands.py runs just fine:
------------------- Fri Jun 14 00:35:28 [bash:5.2.15 jobs:0 error:0 time:2453] jj5@virtuoso:/home/jj5/repo/git/git.kernel.org/torvalds-linux $ scripts/clang-tools/gen_compile_commands.py -------------------
But there is a problem with some unknown clang options, as you can see here:
So I wrote this collection of sed scripts to delete the problematic options:
-------------------
Fri Jun 14 00:11:28 [bash:5.2.15 jobs:0 error:0 time:1013]
jj5@virtuoso:/home/jj5/repo/git/git.kernel.org/torvalds-linux
$ cat jj5/fix-commands.sh
#!/bin/bash
main() {
set -euo pipefail;
cd "$( dirname "$0" )";
cd ..;
local file="compile_commands.json";
sed -i 's/-mpreferred-stack-boundary=3//g' "$file"
sed -i 's/-mfunction-return=thunk-extern//g' "$file"
sed -i 's/-mindirect-branch=thunk-extern//g' "$file"
sed -i 's/-mindirect-branch-register//g' "$file"
sed -i 's/-fno-allow-store-data-races//g' "$file"
sed -i 's/-fconserve-stack//g' "$file"
sed -i 's/-mrecord-mcount//g' "$file"
}
main "$@";
-------------------
Bug fixed! Thanks to my mates on IRC for helping me fix this one. This clangd extension for VS Code seems to work really well.
p.s. another possible solution is here.
ELF and ABI Standards
More than you ever wanted to know about the ELF format: ELF and ABI Standards.
Spiral
My friend sent me this:
It pretty much forced me to write spiral.php and spiral.sh to generate this:
print('1')
print('7 8 9')
print('6 1 2')
print('5 4 3')
print('21 22 23 24 25')
print('20 7 8 9 10')
print('19 6 1 2 11')
print('18 5 4 3 12')
print('17 16 15 14 13')
print('43 44 45 46 47 48 49')
print('42 21 22 23 24 25 26')
print('41 20 7 8 9 10 27')
print('40 19 6 1 2 11 28')
print('39 18 5 4 3 12 29')
print('38 17 16 15 14 13 30')
print('37 36 35 34 33 32 31')
print('73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81')
print('72 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50')
print('71 42 21 22 23 24 25 26 51')
print('70 41 20 7 8 9 10 27 52')
print('69 40 19 6 1 2 11 28 53')
print('68 39 18 5 4 3 12 29 54')
print('67 38 17 16 15 14 13 30 55')
print('66 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 56')
print('65 64 63 62 61 60 59 58 57')
print('111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121')
print('110 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82')
print('109 72 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 83')
print('108 71 42 21 22 23 24 25 26 51 84')
print('107 70 41 20 7 8 9 10 27 52 85')
print('106 69 40 19 6 1 2 11 28 53 86')
print('105 68 39 18 5 4 3 12 29 54 87')
print('104 67 38 17 16 15 14 13 30 55 88')
print('103 66 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 56 89')
print('102 65 64 63 62 61 60 59 58 57 90')
print('101 100 99 98 97 96 95 94 93 92 91')
print('157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169')
print('156 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122')
print('155 110 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 123')
print('154 109 72 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 83 124')
print('153 108 71 42 21 22 23 24 25 26 51 84 125')
print('152 107 70 41 20 7 8 9 10 27 52 85 126')
print('151 106 69 40 19 6 1 2 11 28 53 86 127')
print('150 105 68 39 18 5 4 3 12 29 54 87 128')
print('149 104 67 38 17 16 15 14 13 30 55 88 129')
print('148 103 66 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 56 89 130')
print('147 102 65 64 63 62 61 60 59 58 57 90 131')
print('146 101 100 99 98 97 96 95 94 93 92 91 132')
print('145 144 143 142 141 140 139 138 137 136 135 134 133')
print('211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225')
print('210 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170')
print('209 156 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 171')
print('208 155 110 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 123 172')
print('207 154 109 72 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 83 124 173')
print('206 153 108 71 42 21 22 23 24 25 26 51 84 125 174')
print('205 152 107 70 41 20 7 8 9 10 27 52 85 126 175')
print('204 151 106 69 40 19 6 1 2 11 28 53 86 127 176')
print('203 150 105 68 39 18 5 4 3 12 29 54 87 128 177')
print('202 149 104 67 38 17 16 15 14 13 30 55 88 129 178')
print('201 148 103 66 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 56 89 130 179')
print('200 147 102 65 64 63 62 61 60 59 58 57 90 131 180')
print('199 146 101 100 99 98 97 96 95 94 93 92 91 132 181')
print('198 145 144 143 142 141 140 139 138 137 136 135 134 133 182')
print('197 196 195 194 193 192 191 190 189 188 187 186 185 184 183')