1. I sent an Ethernet packet
Total comment counts : 32
Summary
The article details the author’s journey in starting a new series on the Low Byte Productions YouTube channel about building a TCP/IP stack from scratch on a microcontroller. The author uses an STM32F401 on a Nucleo development board and a W5100 Ethernet chip from Wiznet, originally designed for Arduino but modified for this project. Here are the key points:
Project Scope: The project involves creating a full TCP/IP stack, but this initial blog entry focuses on sending the first Ethernet packet and discusses debugging challenges.
Hardware Used: The microcontroller operates at up to 84MHz with 96KiB of RAM, sufficient for handling several packets. The W5100 chip simplifies Ethernet communication by handling lower-level details like CRC calculation and frame signaling.
Ethernet Complexity: Ethernet encompasses various technologies including hardware, signaling formats, collision management, and frame structure.
Implementation: The author uses the W5100 in MAC Raw mode, where he manually constructs Ethernet frames. A driver was coded to interact with the W5100 via SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface), which allows for full-duplex communication with specific protocols for data exchange.
Challenges and Insights: The process involved dealing with hardware issues like a malfunctioning Ethernet shield, requiring rework. The article also reflects on the broader themes of overcoming project challenges and the intricacies of debugging.
Data Communication: The SPI protocol used for communication with the W5100 involves commands to read or write data at specific addresses within the chip’s internal memory.
Overall, the article not only documents a technical endeavor but also serves as a narrative on the trials and tribulations of hardware-software integration in embedded systems development.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the value of spending time on creating tools and exploring debugging techniques, which the author believes is highly beneficial, though often undervalued in professional settings. The resistance to such activities is attributed to a focus on immediate deliverables and efficiency, as exemplified by the “JIRA-fication” of development processes where every task must directly contribute to a measurable outcome. The author laments that this mindset overlooks the exploratory aspect of development, which can lead to significant productivity gains, often seen in the practices of highly effective “10x programmers.”
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the initial steps in developing a custom TCP/IP and Ethernet framing stack for a microcontroller using the W5100 chip. This chip can manage TCP/IP independently but also allows for the input of pre-constructed Ethernet frames, with the chip itself handling the preamble and CRC. The majority of the article focuses on establishing communication with the W5100 chip and sending a test packet, which seems to be pre-set, though this isn’t explicitly mentioned. The author expresses a wish for content about bit-banging Ethernet on unconventional hardware, indicating the current focus is more on interfacing with the chip’s capabilities rather than building everything from the ground up.
2. Welcome to the Antarctic Fire Department
Total comment counts : 17
Summary
The article introduces the Antarctic Fire Department (AFD), which operates in Antarctica, the harshest environment on Earth, to support the United States Antarctic Program (USAP). Based on Ross Island, AFD provides emergency fire and rescue services at key locations like McMurdo Station, Amundsen-Scott Station, and US Air Force airfields. The AFD personnel are described as uniquely qualified, dealing with extreme conditions south of 60° latitude, and are characterized by their diversity, dedication, and resilience. The article highlights the unique opportunity for firefighters to work in an untouched, beautiful environment, learning skills that not only ensure their safety but also help in preserving Antarctica’s ecosystem. It also mentions various job opportunities within the AFD and invites interested individuals to explore more about the department, life in Antarctica, and potential employment.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article provided is not about the Antarctic Fire Department but instead discusses the experience of living and working at the South Pole. It references a website, “brr.fyi”, which features an account of life at the South Pole, a topic that has been highlighted multiple times on Hacker News (HN).
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article describes that the “opportunities > careers” section on a website only contains a link to an image of a shed, rather than providing actual career opportunities or information.
3. Show HN: Krita RGBA Tech – Bringing Realistic Metal to Life in Open-Source Art
Total comment counts : 10
Summary
The article announces the release of “Metallics by Draneria,” a free collection for Krita users, which includes:
- 32 Brushes: Various textures like glitter, gold leaf, and hammered metal.
- 13 Textures: Including verdigris grunge and metal foil.
- 3 Patterns: Inspired by Art Deco and Ukiyo-e styles.
- 1 Palette: Containing true-to-metal color tones.
- 23 Brushtips: With unique RGBA tips for custom brush creation.
- 1 PDF Guide: Includes installation instructions, reference sheets, and creative inspiration.
The collection is available for download from Ko-Fi and Github, with a suggestion to download the “.bundle” file if unsure. It operates under a CC-BY-SA license and some brushes incorporate resources from Memileo. The article encourages users to provide feedback and offers a link for further help and discussion.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article requests that in the README.md file, the first mention of “Krita” should be hyperlinked to either the Krita repository or its official website.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article expresses admiration for the wide variety of brushes available, highlighting the ease and intuitiveness of using a universal method to interface with different artistic mediums. The author plans to try it out.
4. MdBook – a command line tool to create books with Markdown
Total comment counts : 18
Summary
mdBook is a free, open-source command-line tool designed for creating documentation, tutorials, and books using Markdown. It offers customizable, clean, and navigable outputs, as demonstrated by its use in documenting the Rust programming language. The tool’s source code is available on GitHub, where users can also contribute by reporting issues or submitting pull requests. mdBook operates under the Mozilla Public License v2.0.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the author’s positive experience with Typst, a tool that compiles documents much faster than LaTeX. Typst has a syntax similar to Markdown (md), and it supports features like math, figures, and advanced settings.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the limitations of a tool, likely mdBook, which cannot render PDF or ePub formats. This limitation led the author to switch to Quarto as an alternative. Another mentioned alternative is Typst.
5. Adventures in Probability
Total comment counts : 9
Summary
The article discusses the author’s personal experiences and reflections on statistics and probability, particularly focusing on their regret for not studying these subjects more in school. The author describes a frustrating probability class where the teaching method obscured the material, leading to a late realization of the importance of statistics in dealing with uncertainty.
The narrative then shifts to the author’s later appreciation for probability distributions, specifically the exponential distribution, which frequently appears in fields like queueing theory and performance modeling. This appreciation came after engaging with various educational resources and discussions.
The author also mentions learning about the CoDel algorithm for network queue management, which isn’t deeply explained but is used as a segue to discuss simulation techniques. They explore how events can be modeled using a Poisson point process, where events occur independently over time, and the intervals between these events follow an exponential distribution. This method is used to simulate systems where jobs or customers arrive and are processed, like in a queueing system.
Overall, the article reflects on educational regrets, the practical applications of statistical concepts, and the author’s journey towards understanding and simulating these concepts.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses a frustrating experience in a college math class where the professor’s teaching method was ineffective. The professor, being left-handed, inadvertently blocked the view of his notes while writing on paper during a lecture projected in an auditorium. This, combined with teaching styles that emphasize memorization over understanding, made subjects like linear algebra, statistics, and algorithms tedious and difficult to grasp. The author reflects on how such teaching methods contribute to a widespread poor understanding of probability among students despite having taken statistics courses.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses an effective teaching strategy for explaining complex mathematical concepts like memorylessness and matrix determinants:
Memorylessness: The author suggests introducing the concept by first discussing its benefits and applications, creating a desire for such a property in distributions. Then, dramatically reveal that there is indeed one distribution that exhibits this property.
Matrix Determinants: Similarly, the determinant of a matrix has unique properties that make it valuable. The author explains how presenting the determinant as the only function with these properties helps students understand why various algorithms, despite their differences, compute the same result. This approach not only clarifies the concept but also proves that these algorithms must be calculating the determinant due to its unique defining properties.
The author advocates for this teaching method, confirming its effectiveness from personal experience, particularly for learners who appreciate understanding the underlying reasons for why mathematical concepts work the way they do.
6. Behaviors reveal sophisticated tool use and possible “pranking” among pachyderms
Total comment counts : 13
Summary
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Top 1 Comment Summary
The article describes the interactions between villagers in South India and wild elephants. Elephants often wander into towns, prompting residents to secure themselves indoors and notify forest officials. A local story highlights a man who once freed a baby elephant from a trap, after which the elephant herd annually visits his home, leaving gifts like bananas and coconuts as a sign of gratitude. This behavior underscores the elephants’ reputed memory and capacity for both gratitude and resentment, as taught by the community elders.
Top 2 Comment Summary
Anchali, an elephant, learned to interrupt her colleague’s showers by kinking the hose with her trunk to stop the water flow, showcasing a playful and mischievous use of her abilities.
7. Review of Vienna: How the City of Ideas Created the Modern World
Total comment counts : 12
Summary
The article discusses Richard Cockett’s book “Vienna: How the City of Ideas Created the Modern World,” which explores Vienna’s significant intellectual and cultural contributions to the modern era, particularly during the early 20th century. Cockett portrays Vienna not as a city of art or sensuality, but as a cerebral hub where critical rationalism and a collaborative spirit flourished, especially during the socialist period from 1919 to 1934.
The narrative highlights Vienna’s transformation from the last days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire under Emperor Franz Joseph, where despite his conservative reign, there were progressive reforms leading to constitutional changes and cultural diversity. This period was marked by a melting pot of migrants, fostering a vibrant, multiethnic environment and intellectual cross-pollination at the University of Vienna, which encouraged interdisciplinary studies and the integration of various fields under the umbrella of philosophy.
The book also delves into the darker aspects of Vienna’s history, including the rise of antisemitism and nationalist movements, which were influenced by figures like Hitler during his time in Vienna. These movements were characterized by xenophobia and a rejection of the liberal, inclusive policies of the past. Despite this, Vienna’s intellectual legacy continued to influence Western culture and politics, with many of its thinkers and artists becoming foundational figures in their respective fields.
Cockett’s work is rich with personalities and the intertwining of personal lives with intellectual endeavors, presenting a city where ideas were not just abstract concepts but were deeply embedded in the lives of its inhabitants.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article mentions a free book presentation by Richard Cockett at Vienna City Hall on November 21st.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the reader’s experience with the book “The World of Yesterday: Memoirs of a European” by Stefan Zweig, which was recommended on Hacker News (HN). The memoir provides an insightful yet melancholic perspective on the historical Vienna.
8. Desktop icons are surprisingly hard
Total comment counts : 17
Summary
The article discusses the author’s efforts to refactor and fix legacy code in the Plasma desktop environment, specifically focusing on the handling of icon positioning, saving, and loading. Here are the key points:
Legacy Code Refactoring: The author worked on code from as early as 2013, tackling issues like race conditions and the mixing of backend with frontend code.
Challenges in Open Source: The author notes how open source codebases can become complex due to multiple contributors with different coding styles, leading to a need for periodic cleanup.
Code Understanding: A significant portion of time was spent understanding the existing, poorly documented code to figure out how icon positioning and screen interactions worked.
Improvements Made:
- Renamed methods for clarity.
- Separated backend from frontend logic, particularly moving the saving of icon positions to the backend.
- Implemented checks to manage icon behavior when screens are disconnected or in sleep mode, preventing unnecessary removal or repositioning of icons.
Icon Positioning Algorithm: The system uses a “stripes” method to position icons, which adjusts based on screen resolution. Previously, when screens went into sleep mode or changed resolution, this could lead to icon positions being lost or incorrectly saved.
Saving Icon Positions: The old code saved icon positions frequently, even when screens were off or in an incorrect state, which was problematic. The new approach differentiates between user actions and system actions, saving positions only when necessary or when significant changes like resolution adjustments occur.
Overall, the refactoring aimed to enhance reliability, reduce confusion for users when managing desktop icons, and ensure that icon positions are preserved correctly across different screen states and resolutions.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the author’s experience with a major refactoring and rewrite of the xfdesktop component in Xfce, which manages the desktop background and icon positions. The author, who originally wrote parts of the code about 20 years ago, revisited and revamped the system for saving and restoring icon positions. Despite the familiarity with the codebase, the task was challenging due to modifications by others over time. The update will be included in Xfce 4.20, expected at the end of the following month, though the author anticipates that some issues might arise, necessitating additional tweaks and workarounds. The complexity of seemingly simple tasks in software development is highlighted.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses a common problem with wired earbuds getting tangled. It advises against winding the earbuds around your hand because this action introduces twists that lead to tangling due to a fundamental symmetry effect. Instead, it suggests gathering the wire into a flat, compressed, zigzag form to minimize tangling. The author then speculates if similar principles could be applied to coding to prevent complexity or “tangling” in software development.
9. Australia’s 3G Shutdown – Why your 4G/5G Phone is now Blocked
Total comment counts : 32
Summary
Summary of the Article:
Australia is undergoing a significant shift in its telecommunications infrastructure with the planned shutdown of the 3G mobile network to make way for enhanced 4G and 5G services. Initially announced by Telstra in 2019, the process has been plagued by delays, mismanagement, and lack of foresight:
Timeline Delays: Telstra’s 3G shutdown was initially set for June 30, 2024, but was delayed to August 31, 2024, and later to October 28, 2024, following issues highlighted by a Senate Inquiry and concerns about emergency service access.
Emergency Services Issue: It was discovered that around 740,000 phones with 4G capabilities would lose the ability to call emergency services post-3G shutdown due to lacking VoLTE support.
Industry Critique: The telecommunications sector has been criticized for poor planning, with companies like Telstra increasing service costs while reducing service value, and not adequately informing the public about the implications of the shutdown.
Technical Challenges: Unlike 2G and 3G, 4G and 5G do not inherently support voice calls without additional software (VoLTE), leading to compatibility issues with many devices.
Public Impact: On the day the shutdown began, many Australians, including parents, found themselves unexpectedly cut off from mobile services, unable to make calls or send texts, highlighting the lack of consumer awareness and preparation for the transition.
The article underscores the complexities and public inconvenience caused by the transition from 3G to newer network technologies, pointing out the industry’s focus on profit over service continuity and public welfare.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses how the UK’s regulatory approach to 4G/5G network rollout has mitigated some of the issues seen in other countries like Australia. Here are the key points:
Regulatory Requirement: UK carriers must ensure that if a phone shows signal coverage, it must be capable of making an emergency call (999/112). This means:
- The phone must either have access to 2G/3G for Circuit Switched Fallback (CSFB) calls, or
- The phone must support Voice over LTE (VoLTE) for emergency calls.
Spectrum Deployment: Newer LTE bands like Band 20 LTE (800MHz) are used for rural coverage, but these are only available to devices that support VoLTE, since these areas might lack 2G/3G coverage.
Older Phones: Phones that do not support VoLTE can only connect to 4G in areas with an overlapping 2G/3G network, pushing carriers to encourage the adoption of VoLTE-capable devices.
Incentives for Carriers: This regulation incentivizes carriers to ensure all devices support VoLTE, especially for emergency calls, which has helped avoid some of the connectivity problems experienced elsewhere.
Exemptions: Data-only devices and roaming devices are not subject to these requirements, and UK carriers facilitate VoLTE roaming in the USA where there are no 2G/3G fallback options.
Overall, the UK’s regulatory framework has led to a smoother transition to 4G/5G networks by ensuring emergency call capabilities, promoting newer technology adoption, and avoiding some of the pitfalls faced by other regions.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article criticizes a last-minute decision that allows mobile carriers to define a block list for handsets, which the author believes favors the carriers’ interests over consumer choice and value. The author prefers buying grey import handsets for their better value and mentions the importance of “band 28” support for Australian users, arguing that device support should be based on the capabilities of the device rather than carrier-controlled lists.
10. SST: Container Support
Total comment counts : 17
Summary
Summary:
SST, traditionally known for supporting serverless applications, has recently expanded its capabilities to include native support for container deployment on AWS. This expansion includes:
New Components for Containers: Introduction of components like Cluster and Service for deploying containerized applications using ECS and Fargate, with built-in service discovery. There’s also a Vpc component for easier network setup including options for a bastion host or NAT gateway.
Additional Support Components: Components like Postgres, Redis, and EFS are now optimized for use with containers, although they aren’t exclusive to containers. These have a more traditional pricing model compared to serverless, with efforts made to keep initial costs low while allowing for scalability.
CLI Enhancements: New features in the CLI include a
devproperty for local testing in the SST dev multiplexer and ansst tunnelcommand for connecting local machines to VPC-deployed resources.Console and Deployment Updates: The SST Console now displays logs for containers, and Autodeploy functionality has been updated to run within the same VPC as the application.
Documentation and Tutorials: Updated tutorials now cover both serverless and container deployments, with plans to extend support to various languages and frameworks like Rails, Laravel, Python, Elixir, Go, etc., in the coming weeks.
This shift aims to provide a seamless experience for developers deploying both serverless and containerized applications on AWS.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article critiques the marketing approach of modern developer tools, which are often presented with flashy, consumer-like marketing that the author finds unappealing and ineffective. Instead, the author prefers straightforward, detailed documentation that focuses on the technical merits and engineering behind the tools, rather than a marketing spectacle aimed at a younger audience.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses SST (Serverless Stack Toolkit), a project initially focused on serverless computing on AWS using AWS CDK (Cloud Development Kit). Here are the key points:
Evolution of SST: Initially, SST was centered around AWS serverless solutions with CDK, but faced challenges with speed and scalability of CDK. This led to:
- Transitioning from an AWS-only focus to supporting multiple cloud platforms.
- Moving from CDK to a Pulumi backend for better performance and flexibility.
Infra-as-Code Model: SST provides a model for infrastructure-as-code with:
- Sensible defaults for immediate usability.
- High flexibility to adapt as the application architecture evolves.
- Conventions that allow code to easily interact with environment details through bindings.
Current Direction: SST has now expanded to support container technologies, indicating a broadening of its scope beyond just serverless architectures.
The author expresses enthusiasm about exploring these new developments in SST.