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Re: The Computer And General Tech Thread - Software, Hardware, Questions, etc.
Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2025 7:48 pm
by Man in Space
Raphael wrote: ↑Tue Oct 21, 2025 12:20 am
There are now, not one Google bot, but
two Google bots crawling the ZBB. Where will it all end?
2googles.jpg
Google bots, Google bots everywhere.
Raphael wrote: ↑Wed Oct 22, 2025 4:21 pm
Continued: How on Earth can the Google Adsense Bot view a User Control Panel?
itsdoingwhat.png
Maybe that’s its way of saying it’s checking robots.txt?
Re: The Computer And General Tech Thread - Software, Hardware, Questions, etc.
Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2025 3:48 pm
by alice
Lērisama wrote: ↑Thu Oct 30, 2025 6:53 pmI also have no idea what's going on in malloc's case.
In his case or in his phone's case?
Re: The Computer And General Tech Thread - Software, Hardware, Questions, etc.
Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2025 7:03 pm
by zompist
malloc wrote: ↑Thu Oct 30, 2025 6:46 pm
Raphael wrote: ↑Thu Oct 30, 2025 6:35 pmWell, how do you break a cellphone charging port? All the cellphones I can remember owning had charging ports that were simply openings in the surface! The idea sounds like an assault in which an orifice was cut off to me.
The charging port broke free from the exterior frame of the phone and slid inward, making the charging plug unable to reach the metal socket. If necessary, I could make a chart since admittedly this does sound rather odd.
FWIW I just looked at the two cell phones in our place, one Samsung and one Apple. Both have a hole in the case, and behind it a metal bracket surrounding the actual charging tab. If that bracket got forced out of its socket, you'd have the problem malloc is having.
Also FWIW, googling "phone charging slot loose" will suggest solutions, though it doesn't sound like DIY solutions are a good idea here. There are phone repair services.
Re: The Computer And General Tech Thread - Software, Hardware, Questions, etc.
Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2025 9:04 pm
by malloc
Thanks for the suggestions, although I already got a new phone. Aside from the broken charging port, it was showing its age in other ways so I figure it was time to upgrade. Despite some initial complications, I did manage to transfer my phone number.
Re: The Computer And General Tech Thread - Software, Hardware, Questions, etc.
Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2025 4:51 am
by Lērisama
alice wrote: ↑Fri Oct 31, 2025 3:48 pm
Lērisama wrote: ↑Thu Oct 30, 2025 6:53 pmI also have no idea what's going on in malloc's case.
In his case or in his phone's case?
It was the phones case. But zompist's explanation of how the tongue is fixed ton a bracket makes sense now.
Re: The Computer And General Tech Thread - Software, Hardware, Questions, etc.
Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2025 5:07 am
by Raphael
zompist wrote: ↑Fri Oct 31, 2025 7:03 pm
malloc wrote: ↑Thu Oct 30, 2025 6:46 pm
Raphael wrote: ↑Thu Oct 30, 2025 6:35 pmWell, how do you break a cellphone charging port? All the cellphones I can remember owning had charging ports that were simply openings in the surface! The idea sounds like an assault in which an orifice was cut off to me.
The charging port broke free from the exterior frame of the phone and slid inward, making the charging plug unable to reach the metal socket. If necessary, I could make a chart since admittedly this does sound rather odd.
FWIW I just looked at the two cell phones in our place, one Samsung and one Apple. Both have a hole in the case, and behind it a metal bracket surrounding the actual charging tab. If that bracket got forced out of its socket, you'd have the problem malloc is having.
Also FWIW, googling "phone charging slot loose" will suggest solutions, though it doesn't sound like DIY solutions are a good idea here. There are phone repair services.
Ah, thank you, now it makes sense.
Re: The Computer And General Tech Thread - Software, Hardware, Questions, etc.
Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2025 11:36 am
by Travis B.
I am mesmerized by a
version of 'Bubble Universe' sped up considerably by using a look-up table for sine and cosine functions that is running on my PicoCalc. I can't otherwise use my PicoCalc without exiting out of it, but I don't want to exit out of it.
Edit:
And here is a screenshot of it.

- Bubble Universe screenshot
- BUBBLE.PNG (10.65 KiB) Viewed 4008 times
Re: The Computer And General Tech Thread - Software, Hardware, Questions, etc.
Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2025 9:51 am
by Raphael
I just noticed that my mouse pointer seems to look differently big from my subjective perspective in different parts of the screen based on how its immediate surroundings look like. Weird.
Re: The Computer And General Tech Thread - Software, Hardware, Questions, etc.
Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2025 10:02 am
by Travis B.
Raphael wrote: ↑Sun Nov 09, 2025 9:51 am
I just noticed that my mouse pointer seems to look differently big from my subjective perspective in different parts of the screen based on how its immediate surroundings look like. Weird.
Is this related to how the moon looks bigger the closer to the horizon it is?
Re: The Computer And General Tech Thread - Software, Hardware, Questions, etc.
Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2025 10:11 am
by Raphael
Travis B. wrote: ↑Sun Nov 09, 2025 10:02 am
Raphael wrote: ↑Sun Nov 09, 2025 9:51 am
I just noticed that my mouse pointer seems to look differently big from my subjective perspective in different parts of the screen based on how its immediate surroundings look like. Weird.
Is this related to how the moon looks bigger the closer to the horizon it is?
Probably.
Re: The Computer And General Tech Thread - Software, Hardware, Questions, etc.
Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2025 2:21 pm
by alice
Raphael wrote: ↑Sun Nov 09, 2025 9:51 am
I just noticed that my mouse pointer seems to look differently big from my subjective perspective in different parts of the screen based on how its immediate surroundings look like. Weird.
Now I cannot unsee this.
Re: The Computer And General Tech Thread - Software, Hardware, Questions, etc.
Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2025 5:02 pm
by Raphael
alice wrote: ↑Sun Nov 09, 2025 2:21 pm
Raphael wrote: ↑Sun Nov 09, 2025 9:51 am
I just noticed that my mouse pointer seems to look differently big from my subjective perspective in different parts of the screen based on how its immediate surroundings look like. Weird.
Now I cannot unsee this.
Not sure I understand what you mean - you can't unsee my post, or you can't unsee the same effect on your own screen?
Re: The Computer And General Tech Thread - Software, Hardware, Questions, etc.
Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2025 3:02 pm
by alice
Raphael wrote: ↑Sun Nov 09, 2025 5:02 pm
alice wrote: ↑Sun Nov 09, 2025 2:21 pm
Raphael wrote: ↑Sun Nov 09, 2025 9:51 am
I just noticed that my mouse pointer seems to look differently big from my subjective perspective in different parts of the screen based on how its immediate surroundings look like. Weird.
Now I cannot unsee this.
Not sure I understand what you mean - you can't unsee my post, or you can't unsee the same effect on your own screen?
The latter. Ironically it was the same with the aforementioned effect with the Moon.
Re: The Computer And General Tech Thread - Software, Hardware, Questions, etc.
Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2025 8:13 pm
by Travis B.
I ported an old raytracing demo for the Tufty 2040 to the PicoCalc with the RP2350 using hardware single-precision floating point (the original program used S15.16 fixed point, which was non-ideal).
You can see the source code at
https://github.com/tabemann/zeptoforth/ ... d_light.fs.
And here is a screenshot:

- RAYTRACE.PNG (15.97 KiB) Viewed 3759 times
Re: The Computer And General Tech Thread - Software, Hardware, Questions, etc.
Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2025 4:10 am
by Raphael
alice wrote: ↑Mon Nov 10, 2025 3:02 pm
Raphael wrote: ↑Sun Nov 09, 2025 5:02 pm
alice wrote: ↑Sun Nov 09, 2025 2:21 pm
Now I cannot unsee this.
Not sure I understand what you mean - you can't unsee my post, or you can't unsee the same effect on your own screen?
The latter. Ironically it was the same with the aforementioned effect with the Moon.
Ah, thank you!
Re: The Computer And General Tech Thread - Software, Hardware, Questions, etc.
Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2025 9:13 am
by Travis B.
Someone wanted to run zeptoforth side-by-side with Meshtastic on different cores of the RP2040 or RP2350 so I created preliminary single-core versions of zeptoforth for the RP2040 and RP2350 to enable this. Of course, this was greatly simplified by the fact that my support for STM32 platforms was already single-core, so the amount of work needed to enable this was significantly reduced.
Re: The Computer And General Tech Thread - Software, Hardware, Questions, etc.
Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2025 4:24 pm
by Raphael
GIMP and/or Inkscape and/or whatever else might work question: Is there a way, in some Linux-compatible graphics software, to take a line of text, and turn it into some kind of
regular curve? That is, some kind of effect or method that would turn something like the top line in this poorly done drawing into something like the bottom line in this poorly done drawing? Or perhaps to write the text in a curved way in the first place?

- curvedwriting.jpg (38.85 KiB) Viewed 3579 times
Re: The Computer And General Tech Thread - Software, Hardware, Questions, etc.
Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2025 4:30 pm
by Raphael
OK, I found this link and am currently trying to read it:
https://goinkscape.com/how-to-curve-text-in-inkscape/
Re: The Computer And General Tech Thread - Software, Hardware, Questions, etc.
Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2025 5:18 pm
by Raphael
There seems to be something seriously wrong with my Inkscape settings. Whenever I try to use either the pen tool or the pencil tool to draw simple lines, I don't get lines at all, I just get filled-in geometric shapes. Any idea what might be wrong, and how I can fix it?
Re: The Computer And General Tech Thread - Software, Hardware, Questions, etc.
Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2025 5:26 pm
by bradrn
Raphael wrote: ↑Wed Nov 26, 2025 5:18 pm
There seems to be something seriously wrong with my Inkscape settings. Whenever I try to use either the pen tool or the pencil tool to draw simple lines, I don't get lines at all, I just get filled-in geometric shapes. Any idea what might be wrong, and how I can fix it?
Open the ‘Fill and Stroke’ panel (Shift+Ctrl+F, apparently), set the fill to none, set the stroke to whatever colour you want. Or the other way round if you want to draw filled-in shapes, of course.