Laser Engravers!

• Thought about buying a portable laser engraver, started with xTool F1 Lite and almost settled on xTool F2
• Seemed small enough to be portable so I can use it in my balcony to avoid venting complications
• F2 also has a higher power diode laser than F1 Lite, and a small IR laser for some acrylic/metal work too!
• But then decided against it finally. Unsure how much I’m going to use it for all the hassle. Maybe some day!

Some notes about electronics

• Pomodoro cube

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

iCloud sync exclusions

One can avoid syncing a file or folder in iCloud drive by adding a .nosync extension to it (for a file) or a .tmp extention to it (for a folder). Quite a bit backwards if you ask me, but it is what it is.

A few TILs and notes for Fnirsi FNB-C2

Got this USB power meter/tester a few weeks ago

Updating Fnirsi FNB-C2 Firmware

• Download the firmware from fnirsi website
• Press “OK” on FNB-C2 and connect a USB cable to the data port (USB sign) on C2 and to a PC
• A drive will appear on the PC with about 8 MB size
• Unzip the firmware and copy the bin file to the drive
• It’ll take a couple of minutes or a bit more, without appearing to move but when the copying is finished, the device will automatically reboot with the new firmware
• You can check the firmware version by going to Settings->About on the device

Running a capacity test on a device using Fnirsi FNB-C2

• This can be done directly on the FNB-C2 device itself but it has a limit of 9 hours max, which may be problematic if you are testing a large capacity battery/power bank etc. Hence, the need to do it on PC which doesn’t have such limits.
• Download the USB Tester Tool software from fnirsi’s website.
• This works only on windows or linux
• Open the software, and connect the FNB-c2 device to a USB port on host to the data port on c2
• Set the sampling rate (anything you want according to need), start cur (acc to need but non zero preferably), stop cur near 0 (but not exactly 0, something small. Otherwise there’s some minimal current always flowing even after the battery runs out), stop time to 5 seconds or so. Then click on create and then start
• Connect the input and output ports on the c2 to the device under test, and the load respectively
• Make sure the CAP and NRG items under Auxiliary Record are set to record/display as needed
• Now, sit back and let the capture happen

Testing Anker MagGo 633 Battery Capacity after 3 years of Usage

• Anker seems to hold up pretty well despite a lot of active usage across these 3 years
• Still maintaining 94%+ battery capacity
• Below are the results

Why?

Who doesn’t want to backup all their stuff, that is:

• Fast
• Reliable
• De-Duplicated
• Has all the encryption, scheduling, and tons of extra bells and whistles?

Well, Synology Synology Active Backup for Business (ABB) has all of it, that I use to back up all my Windows and Linux devices. However, on M-series MBPs, the ABB agent requires installing Rosetta. I don’t want to do that, and so far I’ve managed with Synology Drive Client and other approaches.

Sora 2 launch by Open AI, which many are terming as AI Tiktok made me think. Growing up in India during the 1980s, television was a simple ritual. Every evening, Doordarshan had our attention with its prime time shows. I’d sit cross-legged on the floor, eyes glued to whatever was airing. Sprawling family sagas of Buniyaad and Hum Log and the suspense with scares of Rahasyamayi Qila. Sundays were rare treat days with my favourite He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, but also epic journeys of Mahabharat and Chandrakanta whose opening theme songs I can still recite word to word, beat to beat. Byomkeysh Bakshi and Bharat Ek Khoj used to delight to no end.