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Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

arstechnica.com

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Re: Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

#81

Post by TillE »

martin_ wrote: post #68
soumyadeb wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"BBC iPlayer only works in the UK. Sorry, it’s due to rights issues".

Note that the BBC is funded primarily by what's known as a "TV License"[0] in the UK - I think it's entirely possible they could probably increase ads or something for international viewers but understand why it isn't their area of focus [0] https://www.bbc.com/aboutthebbc/governance/licencefee

People - including politicians - have said for many years that the BBC should sell iPlayer subscriptions to international viewers, but they just...don't. They also have a massive archive of beloved content, enough to be a first-class streaming platform, but that stuff's not available even to UK residents.

Re: Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

#82

Post by tguvot »

mikestew wrote: post #12
silisili wrote: post #8

Stupid question, perhaps: was/it possible for this sub to have any kind of beaconing or communication system that works at depth? It seems like one of this first things I'd investigate before deciding to build a sub.

Summary: water attenuates radio signals, and a 4Km cable is going to be way heavy and subject to currents.

what about fiber ? <4kg per km. throw at end powered buoy. maybe inflatable to hold more of it. currents still will be mess, but with lower than copper weight you could have a few km slack

Re: Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

#83

Post by majjam »

martin_ wrote: post #68
soumyadeb wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"BBC iPlayer only works in the UK. Sorry, it’s due to rights issues".

Note that the BBC is funded primarily by what's known as a "TV License"[0] in the UK - I think it's entirely possible they could probably increase ads or something for international viewers but understand why it isn't their area of focus [0] https://www.bbc.com/aboutthebbc/governance/licencefee

I believe the bbc provides its shows internationally via other channels, for e.g. https://www.bbcselect.com/watch/take-me-to-titanic/

Re: Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

#84

Post by Drblessing »

srmarm wrote: post #36
tredre3 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally believe using mass market makes sense. I don't understand the criticism I've seen on this website for using off the shelf controllers or camping lights (what do you expect, an LED strip magically engineered by a large aeronautics firm specifically for the sub? and what would that change?). That being said, the difference between a Microsoft controller and a third party is that Microsoft very certainly di…

Hey at least it's not a madcatz controller!

Throwback! They were great for cheap controllers.

Re: Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

#85

Post by euroderf »

idop wrote: post #71
rwmj wrote: post #46

There's a BBC documentary from last year which I just watched: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0fpz9zw and honestly a lot of it seems quite amateur hour. One of the steering motors was fitted backwards. When they discovered this, at the bottom of the ocean and a few hundred feet from Titanic, the solution they used was to hold the gamepad at right angles to compensate. That time they proceeded with the tour and mad…

So apparently this OceanGate company is a VC-funded startup or some such founded "to make underwater exploration cheaper and accessible to private citizens" (Wikipedia quote). Tells me everything I need to know about how this all came to be.

The next test dive to max depth is reserved for the board of directors.

Re: Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

#86

Post by DanHulton »

Strom wrote: post #19
tredre3 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally believe using mass market makes sense. I don't understand the criticism I've seen on this website for using off the shelf controllers or camping lights (what do you expect, an LED strip magically engineered by a large aeronautics firm specifically for the sub? and what would that change?). That being said, the difference between a Microsoft controller and a third party is that Microsoft very certainly di…

Logitech has orders of magnitude more experience in manufacturing peripherals than Microsoft. That said, Logitech does make products in a wide price range and the low end isn't competitive with their own high end.

"Low end" and "high end" in the gaming market doesn't necessarily equate to "reliability," however. "Style" and "customizability" are very high on the differentiators between low/high for gaming peripherals, neither of which are necessary on a sub.

The reviews for the controller (mentioned by name in the article, so easy to look up) are generally great (4.2/5 with thousands of reviews), and the 1/2-star reviews are as frequently about ergonomic issues as they are about reliability. Every batch of controllers is going to have some unreliable ones, so the fact that that doesn't stand out as the common complaint dragging the reviews down says something.

A lot of the rest of the choices for the sub sound sus, but not bothering to splurge on a game controller that cycles RGB is not worthy of a headline, IMO.

Re: Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

#88

Post by limaoscarjuliet »

Solvency wrote: post #6
deadballcretin wrote: post #2

On one hand, 'if it ain't broke' etc. On the other, 'wait, what?'. The entire operation manages to somehow feel both incredibly sophisticated (it's not easy to get a sub to that depth) and simultaneously incredibly stupid.

There has to be a name for this kind of phenomenon. I am smart enough to know that I'm too dumb and ill-equipped to make a safe tourism business out of a homebrewed submarine. These people are smarter than me, but too stupid to know that they aren't smart enough to make a safe tourism business out of a homebrewed submarine.

Conditional Risk https://xkcd.com/795/

Re: Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

#89

Post by rurp »

vicktour wrote: post #59
sschueller wrote: post #29

From what I read it is also the first carbon fiber deep water vessel. I find that scary as carbon fiber does not start to bend before falure, it fails catastrophically.

I would honestly choose that over sitting on the bottom for 96 hours. Something about sitting there for 4 days with no hope is more terrifying to me.

That would be awful, but early failure signs give folks a chance to abort the dive and get out before it turns catastrophic.

Re: Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

#90

Post by cmiles74 »

David Pogue just referred to these kinds of submersibles as "janky" on NPR. He also wasn't impressed with the controller.

"All of these submersibles have been kind of janky," Pogue said.

https://www.npr.org/2023/06/19/1183057832/a-search-is-underw...

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