Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What rabbit hole(s) did you dive into recently?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

381–390 of 443 posts

Re: Ask HN: What rabbit hole(s) did you dive into recently?

#381

Post by rapjr9 »

mianos wrote: post #246

So many great rabbit holes in this list. There are several that have blown years of my spare time. My one, at the moment is precision time keeping. Time nuts. I have a pile of oven controlled crystal oscillators, GPSs (even the full Ublox time specific LEA M8). I got a BG7TBL counter and multiple cheap GPSDOs to test my own. I have a DAC1220 20 bit DAC on an ESP32 disciplining a TCXO from an old phone base station by…

You might explore clock hardware used in the film and music industries. Ranges from $200 temperature controlled audio clocks to very expensive video black generators. Some links to get started:

https://www.sweetwater.com/c953--Synchronizers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_and_burst

https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/black-burst/

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m...

Might be interesting to convert an audio precision word clock into a precision computer clock. Audio atomic clocks are available ($7000):

https://en.antelopeaudio.com/products/10mx/

Re: Ask HN: What rabbit hole(s) did you dive into recently?

#382

Post by seabass-labrax »

meter wrote: post #134
seabass-labrax wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Congratulations on learning Colemak! I made that journey myself and haven't regretted it once since. I did have to relearn QWERTY, frustratingly, but luckily it isn't nearly as difficult as learning a layout for the first time, and I can now switch between them relatively easily. (For me, a few years on, I now type at 100-120 WPM on Colemak; I was also at 70 WPM four weeks after starting.)

Thanks! That’s encouraging to hear that you can switch between the two. Awesome! I’m afraid to start practicing QWERTY too soon, and risk losing my progress with Colemak. Maybe I’ll attempt it in a few months.

I didn't go back to QWERTY until having had a couple of months of uninterrupted Colemak use, so I don't know what the effects of that would be. But yes, I can now switch between the two :) After a few minutes of 'warm up', I can type about 70 WPM in QWERTY and then go straight back to >100 WPM Colemak. Also, I always use QWERTY on my mobile phone, since 'swipe-typing' doesn't really benefit from having frequently-used letters close to each other nor from having them on the home row.

Re: Ask HN: What rabbit hole(s) did you dive into recently?

#383

Post by 3abiton »

jl6 wrote: post #35

So, I decided to install Linux on my formerly-Windows-only laptop, and thought it was cool enough to go full time and ditch Windows completely. The downside was the lack of access to top tier games. No problem though, my plan was to take a break from gaming, figuring that by the time Linux had caught up with compatibility, computers would also be much more powerful and I'd be able to resume gaming at some point in th…

Eerly similar story! Linux is the ultimate rabbit hole.

Re: Ask HN: What rabbit hole(s) did you dive into recently?

#384

Post by seabass-labrax »

bambax wrote: post #149

Was into cine drones for a while; then discovered FPV. Spent dozens of hours on simulators, now flying actual FPV drones in manual mode. Incredibly addictive. I'm having a hard time focusing on anything else right now.

Sounds very fun! I also spent many hours with simulators, but unfortunately never got to the real-life stage, as that was just about the same time as FPV flying was made effectively illegal here in the United Kingdom.

For those who are curious, it is not one single law that makes this the case, which is why many people will tell you that it's still allowed. However, with the combination of privacy laws forbidding the use of aerial cameras, UAV regulations limiting the locations you can fly, limitations on certain radio bands as well as specific rules about maintaining line-of-sight, it is not usually possible. How could it work? Perhaps if you live in a rural area with no nearby air traffic, have permission and access to use a large patch of land (such as a farm) from which to take off, a willing partner to maintain line of sight (which of course precludes many of the stunts often associated with competitive flying) and you have done the paperwork. Not really hobby territory for most people at that point :(

Re: Ask HN: What rabbit hole(s) did you dive into recently?

#385

Post by 3abiton »

user_7832 wrote: post #324
greensoap wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All that build up and not a link to be seen?!?! Where do I go to spend $ on a new hobby I didn't need?

The easiest "take my money" approach would be to look at some Troels Gravesen speakers on his website and/or find kits being sold on sites like parts express (if in the US). Jeff Bagby and Paul Carmody are two other well known designers, the latter having more budget-friendly builds. Additionally, sites like diyaudio.com are better when you want a specific thing built and are looking to learn more about techniques, n…

This is a rabbit hole worth jumping into when time allows it.

Re: Ask HN: What rabbit hole(s) did you dive into recently?

#386

Post by 3abiton »

steve_adams_86 wrote: post #265
StereoKavins wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is really interesting! Wondering if there’s any good reading/books about it you’d recommend?

I started with “Plants from Test Tubes: An Introduction to Micro-Propagation”. After reading that I’ve perused various sites, YouTube, and I find research papers are remarkably plentiful and useful when you’ve got a specific question. For example, I want to culture some plant. How do I get the best tissue from the plant and which media and hormones seem to work best? Should I use agar, gellan, multiply in a temporary…

Any online communities?

Re: Ask HN: What rabbit hole(s) did you dive into recently?

#387

Post by peteforde »

brcmthrowaway wrote: post #184
peteforde wrote: post #135

I did not realize that learning Fusion 360 was going to be such a huge chapter in my current journey. Looking back, I'm kind of stumped at how I avoided it as long as I did. I would now put learning CAD in the same category of mandatory life skill as learning to code. The ability to translate what you see in your mind to something that can be repeatably fabricated is an incredible power move, akin to learning how to…

Do NOT use this proprietary nonsense, learn FreeCAD

I'm not saying that Fusion is the best CAD software, but FreeCAD is worth less than you pay for it. The UI/UX is in the bottom three most user-hostile nightmares I've ever experienced.

Time spent thinking "I'm sure it's just me" in FreeCAD is time you will never get back.

Re: Ask HN: What rabbit hole(s) did you dive into recently?

#388

Post by gnarcoregrizz »

jpt4 wrote: post #209
gnarcoregrizz wrote: post #25

Metal-air batteries/fuel cells. Made a mini aluminum air battery (you can easily DIY one with household items). It seems that most people consider metal-air batteries to be a dead-end, since they aren't green and are generally non-rechargeable, and air cathodes are tricky (sluggish, exotic materials, expensive catalysts). I dove into "alternative" battery and fuel cell research after looking into how to extend the ra…

I would be interested in discussing your project further, for use on my e-bike.

It's still more of an idea/crude experiment than a project right now. There are some neat videos of DIYers with similar projects though - small homemade metal air batteries and materials experimentation. Aluminum air seems to attract the most attention. There is also a lot of available research.

Re: Ask HN: What rabbit hole(s) did you dive into recently?

#389

Post by peteforde »

all2 wrote: post #168
peteforde wrote: post #135

I did not realize that learning Fusion 360 was going to be such a huge chapter in my current journey. Looking back, I'm kind of stumped at how I avoided it as long as I did. I would now put learning CAD in the same category of mandatory life skill as learning to code. The ability to translate what you see in your mind to something that can be repeatably fabricated is an incredible power move, akin to learning how to…

If you don't know about Plasticity 3D, you should know about Plasticity 3D. It is different, but still parametric, and CADish.

Thank you for this! I was completely unaware that it was out there, and I really dig a lot of what the creator is going for. For example, I'm not a Blender user but lots of people are, so the idea that he created a WebSockets-powered real time bridge is the kind of innovation that makes the world better.

However, I do have two nits. The first is the overwhelming focus on pricing model as a feature. I get it; SaaS is frustrating AF. However, I also understand that it's very difficult to build a functioning business around tooling that is free. There's a huge number of people who just can't understand why we don't have free Fusion/Z-Brush equivalents. It's easy to fix... just set up a $5-10M/year donation schedule to a group of people currently working for Autodesk and you could definitely have an OSS competitor to Fusion in a year or two.

In reality, people using powerful tools are used to paying a bit of money for those tools, and I honestly feel like that's how it should be. The people screaming the loudest for free-as-in-beer CAD that doesn't suck are also likely the worst customers that you wish you didn't have. Anyone who has ever noticed that non-profit clients always want to argue about billing the most will be nodding.

Second nit is that as awesome as Plasticity is, it's really a modelling tool (like Z-Brush) that is influenced by CAD, not the other way around. And I believe that there's a huge market segment for this! Game asset creators come to mind.

But there are huge swathes of workflow functionality that Fusion nails which just don't seem to be present in Plasticity. There's no component hierarchy, no timeline. The whole relationship between sketches and operations is lost in favour of just slicing through stuff... which is cool until you need to change your primary enclosure dimensions and expect every aspect of your design to re-calculate and adapt.

There's more to "parametric" than being able to change parameters on a tool. I try to describe to friends that in a tool like Fusion, the geometry itself is a parameter, the operations are like lambda functions, and the timeline can be rolled backwards and forwards like git commits.

When you have the lightbulb moment for all of this, it's really hard not to be annoyed when people attempt to shame you for not using FreeCAD, as is happening elsewhere in this thread.

Re: Ask HN: What rabbit hole(s) did you dive into recently?

#390

Post by peteforde »

c_o_n_v_e_x wrote: post #379
peteforde wrote: post #135

I did not realize that learning Fusion 360 was going to be such a huge chapter in my current journey. Looking back, I'm kind of stumped at how I avoided it as long as I did. I would now put learning CAD in the same category of mandatory life skill as learning to code. The ability to translate what you see in your mind to something that can be repeatably fabricated is an incredible power move, akin to learning how to…

I learned CAD / fusion for both work and a burgeoning interest in 3d printing. I'm a product manager in my day job. Being proficient in CAD and do simple renderings has been extremely helpful with work. I'm now looking at going down the Blender / render rabbit hole as Fusion can only get you so far.

Cool! I keep telling my SO that she would be able to express things better at work, too.

What sort of problems do you hope Blender can address that aren't tackled by Fusion?

In a similar vein, I also recommend taking a long look at game development engines, as they are in the same category of tool that have many uses beyond making games:

- quick UI mockups - environment walk-throughs - product demos - VR environments - best way IMO to teach coding to kids

I use and generally like Unity, although if I was starting over today, I'd be taking a good look at Godot.

TL;DR if you need to do interactive renders/movies a gamedev engine might actually be more generally useful to a coder than Blender.

Post reply on HN