The point is not just to mirror posts, it’s also to create a clear migration path for people who are still using reddit because the niche communities have not achieved critical mass here.
Besides, those who are on lemmy.world have nothing to worry about because the LW admins have defederated from alien.top.
Cross-post bots are not the way to build a community.
Imagine signing up and finding that all the posts are just cross-posts from reddit with barely any engagement.
One of the main things I despise about this concept is that it provides an implication that lemmy is some kind of budget-reddit. As though, all the good content is on reddit but we’re all camped out here on lemmy.
The way to build a community is to simply post more.
To respond to your other comment here also:
I’m working on two-way communication. Responses to a mirrored comment here will trigger a notification to the original reddit poster and a comment to the reddit thread linking to the lemmy conversation.
Would this even be allowed on reddit? Surely from the perspective of a reddit mod / admin this would just be spam?
the initial posts are enough to foster a discussion between people on Lemmy
That’s not my experience. I’ve only ever seen dozens of cross posts with no comments.
Cross-post bots are not the way to build a community.
The community already exists, it’s just that they are located in a place where we don’t want to be. The goal is to get the majority to switch and re-center in a place that is determined by the intolerant minority.
As though, all the good content is on reddit but we’re all camped out here on lemmy.
Which is true, if we are being honest. And if we are being even more honest with ourselves, most of the people that came to Lemmy are going back to Reddit because there is no content for the niche communities here. I mean, look at this community: last post is from 27 days ago. Do you really think that it is doing well by itself?
We had over 100k MAU in July. We are down to 35k and it keeps going down.
Our problem should not be with the people on reddit, but reddit itself. Instead of pretending that we don’t care about the people there, we should try to find ways to bring them here.
Would this even be allowed on reddit? Surely from the perspective of a reddit mod / admin this would just be spam?
The comment would not be coming from a bot account, it would come from the redditor who have used the “Fediverser portal” to connect the accounts (and given permission to send comments) so it would also be “organic”.
The community already exists, it’s just that they are located in a place where we don’t want to be.
Both of us are just going to have to acknowledge that our thoughts around online communities are very different.
Back in June I was thinking along the same lines as your good self, as in “what can we do to move /r/whatever to whateverinstance.tld/c/whatever”. I eventually realised that not only is that not possible, it’s antithetical to the idea of online communities.
An online community is not a set of users, it’s a combination of culture and momentum. Sure there might be a few key core personalities that everyone recognises from day to day, but if those users left the community would continue because it has an established culture and momentum - a collective recollection that this is the place to go for a certain flavor of content and engagement with that content.
The thing is, you can’t force it. You can’t create a culture because it’s a combined input from many people. All you can do is create the environment within which the right type of culture will coalesce. You can’t herd the swarm of bees that is /r/electronics to /c/electronics. All you can do is make /c/electronics the most favorable place to build a hive and have confidence that /r/electronics is becoming less favorable over time.
I mean, look at this community: last post is from 27 days ago. Do you really think that it is doing well by itself?
The solution I’m proposing is to post real actual content. Subscribe to some rss feeds, look at old magazines, ponder questions for discussion. Any single post like this has 100 times the value of something re-posted from reddit.
We had over 100k MAU in July. We are down to 35k and it keeps going down.
That’s one metric. It doesn’t feel like content and engagement has really reduced much in the last several months. Honestly I suspect that the orchestrators of the influx of bots in July have realised that other platforms are more fertile for scams and manipulation et cetera.
Besides which, even if valued users are leaving, that’s kind of disappointing but a re-post bot isn’t going to change that. The kinds of community builders you’re looking for are critical thinkers like your good self putting effort into building good communities.
The comment would not be coming from a bot account
Foregive me, I’m not familiar with alien.top - I’ll have to take a look.
Technically, such a bridge is going to be interesting I guess and I have to concede that in some cases it might facilitate discussion.
That said, it’s still based on the (IMO flawed) premise that mirroring content from reddit is the right move. From my impractical purist / idealist perspective. Lemmy should not seek to be new-reddit. Just let lemmy be lemmy - allow it’s culture and communities to emerge and coalesce in their own time.
An online community is not a set of users, it’s a combination of culture and momentum.
Agree, 100%.
The thing is, you can’t force it.
Agree, 100%.
The solution I’m proposing is to post real actual content. Subscribe to some rss feeds. Any single post like this has 100 times the value of something re-posted from reddit.
That’s where we disagree. Not because I don’t think there is value in what you are saying. There absolute is value and it is very important that we have real people doing. But I don’t think this is enough.
The problem is that we can not do that for all of the interests that we have. Do you know the rule of “1/9/90” of social media? I had about 40 subreddits I was subscribed to, and I would post to 1 or 2 (rarely), comment on about 5 (more frequently) and just lurk around the rest. /r/electronics is in the latter category.
I mean, go look at my profile history. I think I posted more than 300 posts with content from many different communities. My past time this summer was to find different content to post in the different communities I was subscribed to or even that I created myself. I would sometimes even go out of my way to make a post about something where I knew I wouldn’t get the answer, but I thought it would be better to write it down as a way to show some signs of life. And you still think that I should “go read some books so I can ask questions”?
No, I’m sorry. That is just too much. It is a lot easier (and effective) to just write a tool that can bring the content in the format that I want, and hope that it can be useful for others.
The thing is, this tool is definitely built for the 90%, and the reason that it is working it precisely because of that. I am closer to leave reddit altogether because this tool lets me read things here. The more people are able to do this, the more the network effects will kick in and the easier it will be for the communities to move. It won’t be “forced”, but we will get to the point where the majority will be able to say “it’s fine either way by me, so I might as well do it from lemmy”.
I think mirroring questions and requests for help is a terrible idea, no one is going to want to answer a question here if most of them are mirrored and the original asker is not here to get the answer.
It’s frustrating to put out a well thought out answer then realize that the person who asked will never see it.
Your points are valid, but turns out that the practice is showing different results:
the original asker is not here to get the answer.
I’m working on two-way communication. Responses to a mirrored comment here will trigger a notification to the original reddit poster and a comment to the reddit thread linking to the lemmy conversation.
It’s frustrating to put out a well thought out answer then realize that the person who asked will never see it.
This is not what is happening at the selfhosted communities. Turns out that a lot of the initial posts are enough to foster a discussion between people on Lemmy already.
Personally, I’ve blocked most repost bots (as I see them), because of the above stated reasons. I know I’m just one data point in a statistic, but I’m one that comments, as opposed to one that just lurks.
completely drop reddit without losing access to its content and the communities that are there.
create a migration path for the people who are on reddit and don’t want to give it away because there is no real alternative.
I’m also one that comments, I just don’t want to do that on reddit anymore. I want to be able to do that on Lemmy, and have the two-way bridge until the community here is self-sustainable. This is how I think this tool can be helpful.
This is the biggest flaw with usb c, though I seem to get downvoted and ridiculed whenever I point it out. The retaining pins are part of the port itself, not the cable plug as is the case with micro usb and lightning cables. So when the retaining system breaks, you can’t just go buy a new cable, you have to replace the port.
The pinouts are standardized so you should just be able to count the number of solder joints and find a connector that mounts to the pcb the same way as the one you’re replacing. Just eyeballing it I found one that looks pretty closed linked below, but I would advise you to do some more research on your own and not just take my word for it.
There’s a first time for everything. Maybe it’s because my previous conversations on this topic happened on Reddit and anyone that doesn’t join the USB C circlejerk there is immediately treated like a moron.
Could be, guess it’s my fault for thinking that a charging system should first and foremost be a robust connector and cable system capable of charging a phone, not a fragile “do it all” cable. The biggest drawback with any “do it all” system is that the “all” that is done is inevitably done poorly. You want to defend a connector system that requires going to a repair shop and waiting for hours or days instead of a 10 minute trip to the nearest gas station or convenience store to remedy, be my guest.
Haven’t had to have a repair shop deal with any of the 30+ usb-c devices I’ve had.
The funny thing here is you’re trying to say that lightning cables are just meant for charging and they weren’t. They were meant to make money by creating a proprietary licensable technology that mimics usb-c in almost every way
We are literally having this discussion in a post where the usb c port is broken so your choice of sharing your anecdotal experience is deliciously ironic.
I don’t care what it was designed to do, I care about what it does. And what it does is hold up better than usb c, not require a trip to a repair shop if the connection fails, and do a perfectly good job of charging a phone or any other device that it supplies sufficient current to charge.
I know this is just an anecdote, but I’d like to add that this is the second time this has happened to me with this model of device, and both times were after minimal usage
TIL if you post a picture of your anecdote, it becomes universally objective truth. If you describe it in a comment, it’s useless and “delicious irony”
I’m not disagreeing with you, I’m looking for better understanding of your opinion.
My understanding of the retention being part of the port is to make it less likely for the port to be damaged by use, requiring more difficult replacements compared to the added stress from on cable retention on older formats.
So far, that’s matched my personal experience, where my usb-c devices’ ports hold up better than my micro usb ports. The handful of micro usb devices I have left all have loose ports currently, and did after as little as a year of use. None of my usb-c do, with of of those approaching three years of use (iirc, might be a little less).
Isn’t that a good thing for long term device life?
It all depends on the user and the use case, really. My usb port on my Nintendo switch failed within 2 years and I had to get it replaced, but I have other devices where the usb c seems to work fine. I think the one on the switch broke because I tended to rest it on my stomach while I was playing undocked. On the other hand I have an iPhone 11 that I still charge using the lightning cable that came with my iPhone 6, cuz it just sits there on my bedside table and never really sees any mechanical stress.
USB C is great don’t get me wrong, but to me creating a situation where it is harder for the end user to deal with a failure does not seem like a good thing. Not everyone has the training or the tools to disassemble complex electronics and perform delicate soldering jobs, to say nothing of the e additional time required to make that kind of repair compared to just running to the nearest convenience store and grabbing a new cable or, more likely, just grabbing another one of the 6 you already have in your junk drawer.
I can see that being an issue for sure, what with repairability already being such a dismal thing in electronics. I kinda forget that not everyone is comfortable with opening things up as well. Just that barrier to entry is enough for plenty of people to just buy the next thing instead of repairing.
Eh? You’ve got your thoughts backwards on the pins.
The inside of a USB C socket is simply a central tang. The inside of a USB C plug has the flex pins that grip said tang and provide the electrical connection. The USB plug, on the cable, is designed to wear out before the socket and it’s easily replaced.
The issue however is that some manufacturers skimp on the mechanical mounting of the socket on their device and flexing of the connector + socket damages its connection to the board.
Funnily enough, lightning connectors are designed the other way around with the components that wear out inside the expensive device. How strange…But that’s coming from a company that doesn’t even want to make a robust covering for the wires in their cables.
People keep mentioning that lightings sockets are built to wear out, but I have iPhone 5S and 5C (the really old color) phones that are still working perfectly. Cleaning lint out occasionally is the only irritant I’ve had with these connectors.
I know it’s anecdotal, but between my family and our years of devices, and that my MacBook Pro with USB-C charging is the most finicky of all my devices, I’m a disappointed by the switch from Lightning connectors. Time will tell though I suppose.
You can find a lot of different dev boards with ESP32, like the one you mentioned. There is other with camera, e-paper screen drivers, smaller footprint (Xiao ESP32). The simplest way to program is using Arduino IDE, but I prefer using PlatformIO on VScode. GCC would work. The interface is with the USB port, which is used for COM port or for programming
The easiest way to program it would be using something like Esphome. I think Node Red is another tool that greatly simplifys things, but I haven’t had the time to mess with it yet.
In addition to what others have mentioned if you're using Home Assistant or an MQTT environment than using the ESPHome tools can make life much easier.
You can also install MicroPython, and with it's new and improved "mip" (pip for micropython) you can easily find drivers for most things. Micropython doesn't support "threads" on the esp8266 as such, but can use uasyncio, which achieves the same goal.
ESP32 or Raspberry Pico, if you want something easy to use, reasonably feature full, easy to interface, inexpensive, and medium form factor.
ATTiny, if you are strapped for physical space and don't have anything super complicated to interface with. Also, really inexpensive. I like it for basic electronics projects where even a Pico would be overkill.
On the other extreme, if you need more complex software, then a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 is a great option. Fortunately, the supply situation for Raspberry Pi has been improving a bit, at last. Sometimes, it's nice to be able to use all sorts of high-level software libraries, and then you hit a limit with the ESP32s and Picos of this world.
You can also mix and match. A PiZero talking to a Pico is a great combo. A ESP32 and an ATTiny can also sometimes turn out to be the more pragmatic choice.
Oh, and if you need even more oomph, then I really like the Raspberry CM4. Lots of nice carrier boards to choose from. But that's really not a microcontroller, so might not fit OP's question.
There are plenty of other boards out there. But they frequently have poor support, or are released only for the vendor to immediately abandon them. Maybe fine for one-off projects, but I generally prefer to stick with designs that last for a couple of years. Much easier to support, if I need to revisit my project down the line.
All the dimensions matter, if you don’t get the posts right, it won’t hold to the board well and you’ll be back here, possibly with worse problems.
If the pins aren’t right, you just won’t have anything. See if you can find a part number or manufacturer marking anywhere on the connector, as it would narrow your search down plenty.
Thank you so much for this post! I’ve been wanting a bench supply for years but never liked the fact they’re huge so I stuck with the same method as you.
Please give an update after a while, I’m really interested hows it goes!
The small supplies are nice for size, but tend to have more noise than the big linear supplies. If you’re working with low-precision DC circuits, or even stuff up to audio frequencies (basically still DC) it’s not likely to be an issue. If you’re working with RF circuits it’s more likely to be an issue, though of course if they’re not too close to the switching frequency it’s easy enough to filter the output.
The “isn’t huge” is the issue. Linear supplies need a rather big transformer to work with 60Hz mains instead of chopping it up at 20kHz or more like switchers do. I’ve got a Siglent SPD 3033X-E (decent, reasonably cheap) and a BK Precision 9201 (better, more expensive).
I’m slowly but surely working on making a phone with a RISC-V SBC. I installed Linux From Scratch on my Lichee RV board and am now taking a break to get some other stuff in my life taken care of. Once I have some more time I’m going to work on getting a tiny, physical keyboard set up for it.
… I’m sorry to say that was a joke, because well, capacitors like to go boom (MLCCs as in here not so much, but still).
What I do know though is that these MLCCs often dramatically change their actual capacitance with temperature, so maybe this is a sort of “temperature isolation” to keep the capacitor more stable? Honestly, no idea though.
I use a separate power supply mounted underneath my desk to drive it, so the presence on top of my desk is minimal. They have some rated for lower amps if you want to save a bit of money.
That thing looks awesome. $70 for just a head doesn’t look too bad as long as the signals relatively clean. I see the power supplies in that listing for the two lower amperage models is there a power supply that mates up with this guy or do you just have to come up with something?
You can give it anything up to 60v or something like that. I just used a spare 24v PSU, but that means it can’t output more than 23v.
I currently own the 6a model but need more and super happy with it, so I have the larger model linked above on order. I haven’t figured out what to power it with yet, I’ll probably just find some cheap PSU on amazon.
They give you data logging, and will even graph consumption on the display live.
Rather than mirror reddit posts here, you can set up a dedicated community for that so people that want that kind of thing can get it. No need to kill an existing community further.
That’s exactly what I am doing for lots of communities that have no reddit equivalent, and what I did for !main when it was clear that !selfhosted was already somewhat active. Regarding these, go take a look at the usage numbers for both, tell me which is going up and which is going down…
Setting up a server from scratch, exploring the possibility of making an LTE expansion card for the framework laptop (mostly an excuse to get some experience back in PCB design), and automating the creation of frequency lists for specific Japanese anime for language learning. Progress on all of them is slow :) Also trying to get into the habit of writing myself a privare blog to keep track on some of the progress and learnings in each of these.
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