macOS and miniforge#

  • On macOS, if you install miniforge, by default it always updates bash_profile for conda init, even if your shell is zsh.
  • To fix and use conda/miniforge properly, run conda init zsh after installing miniforge.
  • miniforge / conda change the prompt to add the currently active env name to the shell which is not needed if you already use something like oh-my-zsh/startship etc
  • To remove this, run conda config –set changeps1 false

Learnt about Snapblocks as a better alternative to scratch#

https://x.com/nileshtrivedi/status/2002634236319134008

Learnt about PPS/PTP/SyncE and how they are used in data centers instead of/in addition to NTP#

https://x.com/shantanugoel/status/2002629170292244860

Obsidian tweaks#

  • Image view size in obsidian can be controlled by mentioning the width e.g. ![Alt Text|150](image.png) limits the image width to 150 px

Found a few options for sensors to use for building a DIY Air Quality Monitor#

  • SEN55: Good all in one except CO2 which is algo based in this sensor
  • SCD40/41: For real CO2 measurements. SCD40 should be good enough for home use

ESP32 power info#

  • Waveshare ESP32 S3 Matrix board can work even with 3.7v (from a LIPO battery, e.g.) applied to it’s 5V input pin as well
    • This works because they use a LDO (Low Dropout) regulator which is high efficiency and drops only about 0.1-0.2v. So even after dropping voltage from 3.7v, it remains sufficiently above 3v+ for the ESP32 to work well
    • For many other ESP32 boards, including some of the offical dev kits, the regulator drops 1.1-1.3v which makes using a regular 3.7v battery at the 5v unusable.