Next up: "Porting Doom to run on an LED candle".
General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker
31–40 of 191 posts
Re: General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker
#32If you'd like to see this and more in software for flashlights please visit toykeeper's projects!
https://github.com/ToyKeeper/anduril
I loved this feature on my flashlight and used it exclusively on candle mode. There's a lot of thought that goes into it like PWM speed or direct drive for LEDs that may or may not cause flickering and a tradeoff between battery life and the electronics available.
Re: General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker
#33I really hate these fake LED candles with a passion. Either put an actual candle on the table, or just put a small cosy light that doesn't flicker.
Why? Ive known several people that died from candles including the actions of other people's usage of candles.
Re: General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
That happened way before. RFID cards for disposable public transportation tickets or those music greeting cards.
At a certain point it's more about the semantics of what a "computer" is. I don't know if I'd count an ASIC from a musical greeting card, though; and even within general purpose devices, microcontrollers vs microprocessors are typically delineated by the presence of an MMU.
If I can program it to execute a sequence of arithmetic and logical operations that approximate a Turing machine (with a finite band), and reprogram it at a later date to execute a different sequence of such operations, that's a computer to me. I wouldn't count ASICs, but the PIC12F508 or the 3-cent microcontroller referenced in the post definitely count.
Though by my definition of requiring reprogrammability and Turing completeness I am purposefully excluding many things that have historically been considered computers, like the many mechanical computers of the 19th and 20th century. From that standpoint I can see how some people might count ASICs as computers, even if I don't think that fits modern usage.
Re: General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
The rechargeable lithium batteries in those really doesn't fit the "lithium shortage" and "we don't have enough battery capacity to build an EV for everyone" narrative
The lithium in those cheap disposable things are less "lithium" and more "metallic powder/paste that theoretically contains elements of lithium." It's not something you'd want to actually use in anything important like a car battery
Not true. "Disposable" vapes use commodity li-ion cells, of the same basic type that you'd find in a cellphone, a laptop or an EV. They probably aren't the best quality, but there's nothing unusual about the chemistry or packaging. Li-ion cells are the preferred chemistry because of the very high discharge rate - alkaline or primary lithium cells just can't deliver enough current. The cell is perfectly capable of being recharged, but some people prefer the convenience of a disposable device and manufacturers are quite happy to respond to that demand.
It's wasteful, I don't particularly approve of it, I expect to see a lot of jurisdiction ban disposable vapes, but nor do I think it's particularly egregious or meaningfully impacting on the commodity price of lithium carbonate.
https://hackaday.com/2022/05/05/2022-hackaday-prize-disposab...
Re: General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker
#36Once upon a time, on USENET, someone had a .sig that predicted one day computers would be cheap enough they'd come in cereal boxes and we'd throw them away. That day appears to have arrived.
The worst offenders right now might be disposable vapes. I saw some sold with effing lcd screens built-in. For a disposable piece of crap.
I'm waiting for the EU to ban these fucking things already. That and disposable power banks. Yes, you read that right.
Selling consumer devices with Li-Ion batteries that are designed to not be rechargeable, should be banned altogether.
Re: General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker
#37Once upon a time, on USENET, someone had a .sig that predicted one day computers would be cheap enough they'd come in cereal boxes and we'd throw them away. That day appears to have arrived.
I searched Google for this recently and could not find it. I tried it again on Google Groups just now and found one reference to it:
https://groups.google.com/g/comp.arch/c/Y4C_Zjkb9VM/m/scDk_0...
> Killer micros of today are a lot like flourescent lights -- cheap to operate, prevalent, and expensive to turn off. To see a machine standing idle, when you were raised as a child to "use cycles efficiently" is a gut-wrenching experience. Just remember Alan Kay's prediction: In the future, computers will come in cereal boxes and we will throw them away.
March 20, 1990. I haven't found a source for Alan Kay's prediction.
Re: General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker
#38Wait till you have to wait for your candle to boot an off the shelf Linux and download security updates before it starts flickering.
Re: General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker
#39It might be a myth, but I seem to remember the ASICs used to flicker older LED designs were often repurposed from audio greeting cards. The light was actually just Happy Birthday playing through an LED or bulb rather than a speaker.
Not a myth. I clearly remember watching a YouTube video where this was discovered, only a few years ago, but of course the uselessness of search engines these days has made it impossible to find now.
Yeah I think I saw that too, bigclive maybe?
Re: General purpose MCUs built in to LEDs emulate candle flicker
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
The worst offenders right now might be disposable vapes. I saw some sold with effing lcd screens built-in. For a disposable piece of crap.
The rechargeable lithium batteries in those really doesn't fit the "lithium shortage" and "we don't have enough battery capacity to build an EV for everyone" narrative
It takes around 850g of lithium carbonate to produce one kWh of lithium batteries. The current market price for lithium carbonate is about $14/kg. The base spec Tesla Model 3 has a 57.5kWh battery pack, so the lithium in the pack represents a cost of ~$685, or just under 2% of the list price of the vehicle.
A typical disposable vape contains about five cents worth of lithium.
https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Technical-P...