2026-03-03 00:40:58 <KipIngram   > Progress bars are useless most of the time.  In my opinion the only valid progress bar is one that actually reflects elapsed and remaining TIME.  If you never know when it's going to just stop and spin with no reported progress for ten minutes, what good is it?
2026-03-03 00:41:30 <KipIngram   > It's good to have some indication that things are still progressing, but if you can't give a proper, meaningful progress bar then you may as well just settle for a spinny wheel.
2026-03-03 00:42:03 <KipIngram   > But if I have standards for that too - if that spinny wheel stops, it needs to mean a fatal problem.  If things are still ok, it needs to spin.
2026-03-03 00:47:29 <cleobuline  > this night  there will be a bloody moon KipIngram
2026-03-03 00:48:35 <cleobuline  > KipIngram:  On March 3, the moon will pass through Earth's shadow, turning a deep reddish hue—a phenomenon known as a "blood moon." The eclipse will last about six hours, with skywatchers in North America, Central America, western South America, Australia, New Zealand, and eastern Asia getting the best views.
2026-03-03 00:55:18 <cleobuline  > will begin at 6:04 a.m. EST (1104 GMT) on March 3 and peak at 6:33 a.m. EST (1133 GMT).
2026-03-03 00:56:43 <tp_         > thats also a good idea!
2026-03-03 00:57:05 <KipIngram   > Yes, in theory it will be visible here, but it will be in the 5am-ish time period and by the time the good part happens it will be quite low in my sky.
2026-03-03 00:57:25 <KipIngram   > I might be able to see if it I hike off a quarter of a mile or so from the house to get a clear horizon.
2026-03-03 00:57:45 <KipIngram   > It'll be like 10-20 degrees above the horizon for me.
2026-03-03 00:57:51 <tpbsd       > I was commenting on your spinny wheel
2026-03-03 00:58:19 <KipIngram   > Right - those comments ^^ were replying to cleobuline.
2026-03-03 00:58:31 <KipIngram   > But yes - if I do any progress bars they will be time-based.
2026-03-03 00:58:46 <KipIngram   > As much as possible, at least.
2026-03-03 00:58:51 <tpbsd       > now you have got me thinking about a spinny wheel for Mecrisp-Stellaris !
2026-03-03 00:58:57 <KipIngram   > :-)
2026-03-03 00:59:20 <KipIngram   > A spinny wheel shouldn't be too hard to manage; as long as your system is operational you probably could keeping it wheeling.
2026-03-03 00:59:23 <tpbsd       > probably waste too much memory just for bling as I only have 64K total
2026-03-03 01:00:16 <tpbsd       > I have written quite a few development aids so far, Ive been surprised whats possible
2026-03-03 01:01:30 <tpbsd       > one was a upload timer that prints out the elapsed time in microseconds at the end of the upload, using a mcu hardware timer thats reset at the the start of the upload from the PC
2026-03-03 01:01:56 <tpbsd       > another is a neat 4 column dictionary listing
2026-03-03 01:03:08 <tpbsd       > yet another highlights the first error in red and stops the upload
2026-03-03 01:03:25 <tpbsd       > little aids like those
2026-03-03 01:03:57 <tpbsd       > oh and another is a memory stats print
2026-03-03 01:04:14 <tpbsd       > free
2026-03-03 01:04:14 <tpbsd       > Memory stats in bytes:
2026-03-03 01:04:15 <tpbsd       >  Flash Total:65536  Used:60740  Free:4796
2026-03-03 01:05:13 <tpbsd       > thats from my always running thermometer on a STM32F051 that reads a LMT01 thermometer chip
2026-03-03 01:05:38 <tpbsd       > 31,8 C  89,3 F  in here atm
2026-03-03 01:21:05 <KipIngram   > That sort of thing is very useful.
2026-03-03 01:21:25 <KipIngram   > And I like the idea of doing it with the hardware itself - you can have pretty much total confidence in it.
2026-03-03 01:21:57 <KipIngram   > I've done timing measurements on a couple of my systems, but they were running under Linux so I had the OS between me and the timer.
2026-03-03 01:22:05 <KipIngram   > So... HOPEFULLY it's accurate.  :-)
2026-03-03 01:26:21 <tpbsd       > I do have total confidence in the MCU timers, within microsecond error caused by reading the data
2026-03-03 01:26:36 <tpbsd       > so even they are only good to a point
2026-03-03 01:27:02 <tpbsd       > but SWDCOM terminal has a superpower that aids me
2026-03-03 01:28:29 <tpbsd       > it has a syncronised ring buffer with the PC of 255 characters, and the whole thing only takes micro seconds from the cpu, in fact it's so fast, I havent been able to measure it yet
2026-03-03 01:29:17 <tpbsd       > this causes a mental disconnect in use that's kind of hard to work around
2026-03-03 01:30:51 <tpbsd       > for instance while I see the (super fast) terminal printout (at about 1mbps), whats hard to realise is that by the time I see the terminal response, it was long finished at the MCU end
2026-03-03 01:32:16 <tpbsd       > the practical effect is a 'printf' that the MCU never notices, in other words I can do 'printf's up to 255 characters with zweo effect on the running Forth program
2026-03-03 01:33:21 <tpbsd       > this is utterly different to using a UART terminal, which will crash the running forth program if a printf is used
2026-03-03 02:09:01 <KipIngram   > Yeah, if you can have some kind of a "capture" that you can then read at leisure, that would be perfect.
2026-03-03 02:09:15 <KipIngram   > Sort of like an A/D sample and hold.
2026-03-03 02:11:53 <tpbsd       > SWDCOM uses a RAM buffer in the MCU and syncronises that to the PC
2026-03-03 02:12:33 <tpbsd       > via the SWD/JTAG subsystem which is independent of the MCU
2026-03-03 02:13:18 <tpbsd       > so the 256 char ram buffer is filled in only microseconds and doesnt affect the mcu at all
2026-03-03 02:15:37 <tpbsd       > the STM32ADC however relies on the mcu to move data, the one mode I have used, measures and then transfers 18 channels of ADC at once, and even an attempt to print each channel to the terminal via usart crashes the ADC
2026-03-03 02:16:33 <tpbsd       > there is onlt time to save each value to an array and not affect the process
2026-03-03 02:46:33 <KipIngram   > Right.
2026-03-03 02:47:11 <KipIngram   > Same idea as keeping interrupt service routines as slim and fast as possible.  Just make some quick notes for later processing by lower priority threads.
2026-03-03 02:57:03 <tpbsd       > similar, except that the 256 byte ram cache is instantly filled and immediately transferered to the PC via the JTAG (cpu independent) subsystem that operates between cpu clock cycles
2026-03-03 02:57:38 <tpbsd       > unlike the interrupt system that requires cpu clock cycles to work
2026-03-03 02:59:13 <tpbsd       > I use both a lot and in a way, having a interrupt only perform some absolutely mininal ops for speed, while a larger and slower loop deals with that info later, makes for a slow interrupt response, overall
2026-03-03 03:00:04 <tpbsd       > Im convinced that SWDCOM is the fastest way to move information out of the cpu to the pc
2026-03-03 10:44:58 <veltas      > KipIngram: If you think progress bars are useless, I found out recently that docker API sends the ASCII progress bar updates in JSON over the network when you're downloading an image
2026-03-03 10:45:05 <veltas      > Why that's rendered server side I don't know
2026-03-03 13:47:45 <KipIngram   > For a file transfer it's fairly to see how it wouldn't be time-based; the immediately accessible progress indication is "received_data / total_size," and I guess there's no way to know what future network performance will be.  But in that case it ought to be labeled with size values.
2026-03-03 13:48:30 <KipIngram   > The particular case I was referring to is the installation of updates when you reboot after downloading the updates.  In that case supposedly there is a complete picture in hand of what has to be done, and it seems reasonable that a time estimate could be produced.
2026-03-03 13:50:29 <KipIngram   > Nothing else is running on your computer at that point, so there's no competition for resources.  And it doesn't even have to be time in seconds per se - I'd just like to see the bar progress uniformly across the whole 0% to 100% range.
2026-03-03 13:51:25 <KipIngram   > Typically on Fedora updates though there are "pause points" that seem repeatable.  33% is a major one, and so is 97%.  The 50%-100% half of the job usually zipes a long fairly quickly, and then just stops at 97% for some fairly significant length of time.
2026-03-03 13:52:51 <KipIngram   > And unless you tick to a new percent value, there's no indication of any activity at all.  I'm always nervous during updates, because in the early days of Linux they didn't always work - seeing SOMETHING on the screen change is comforting.
2026-03-03 13:53:22 <KipIngram   > Linux had some fairly significant "growing pains" in its early years.
2026-03-03 13:53:41 <KipIngram   > You definitely felt like you were doing something "experimental."
2026-03-03 13:54:13 <KipIngram   > I adopted it originally because I needed to do PCB layout, and I could get free software for that under Linux.
2026-03-03 13:57:40 <veltas      > I enjoy progress bars that go backwards
2026-03-03 13:57:41 <cleobuline  > did you seen the bloody moon KipIngram ?
2026-03-03 13:58:02 <KipIngram   > No, it's overcast here.
2026-03-03 13:58:10 <cleobuline  > ha...
2026-03-03 13:58:33 <KipIngram   > And I actually slept until nearly 6am today, which is unusual for me these days.
2026-03-03 13:58:41 <cleobuline  > we can't see it in France :(
2026-03-03 13:58:52 <KipIngram   > No, bad timing for you guys.
2026-03-03 13:59:37 <KipIngram   > I was more interested in the "lunar eclipse" aspect than the "bloody" aspect.  I did notice a couple of mornings ago while I was walking the dog that the moon looked particularly large - I think that's connected with the "bloody" aspect.
2026-03-03 14:01:38 <KipIngram   > We've just added a new dog.  One of my daughters took him in as a stray pup twelve years ago or so.  She just loved him to death, but the last couple of years work and children have started to make it stressful for her to give him enough attention.  I'm retired now and have plenty of time, so he's come to live with us.
2026-03-03 14:02:04 <KipIngram   > He's an "old man" dog at this point, but still gets around quite well.
2026-03-03 14:02:35 <KipIngram   > I'm working him gradually up to longer walks, and I hope to be able to take him with me when I jog once I have him up to good fitness.
2026-03-03 14:03:00 <KipIngram   > He's much larger than the two Yorkshire terriers we already had.
2026-03-03 14:04:00 <cleobuline  > https://x.com/GumryWX/status/2028795786033512880
2026-03-03 14:04:17 <KipIngram   > They're not pure Yorkie, so they're big compared to what you nromally expect for the breed.  They're brother and sister, but from different litters.  The boy (younger) is particularly large - he's around 15 pounds, which is quite huge for a Yorkie.
2026-03-03 14:04:27 <KipIngram   > They definitely LOOK like Yorkies though.
2026-03-03 14:06:56 <KipIngram   > Our new addition is no doubt mixed but looks to be some sort of sheep dog and must weight 60-70 pounds.
2026-03-03 14:07:02 <KipIngram   > weigh
2026-03-03 14:12:07 <KipIngram   > So, based on the last couple of years it should only be about two more weeks before the barn swallows show back up in our area.  Two years ago a pair built a nest up in the corner under our covered patio.  They hatched two chicks that year.  Last year they came back, added onto the nest, and had two broods - one with a single chick and then one with four.  We've really enjoyed watching their
2026-03-03 14:12:09 <KipIngram   > activities - I really do hope they come back again.  They almost feel like part of the family now.
2026-03-03 14:13:23 <KipIngram   > I have an IP camera mounted out there that can watch the nest.
2026-03-03 14:14:47 <KipIngram   > The really couldn't have picked a better place for that nest - it's extremely well-sheltered from bad weather and so on.  It may last for many years.
2026-03-03 14:16:07 <KipIngram   > https://imgur.com/a/bacc2D7
2026-03-03 14:20:01 <veltas      > I certainly hope there are no cameras watching my 'brood'
2026-03-03 14:27:41 <KipIngram   > :-)
2026-03-03 14:27:58 <KipIngram   > Well, it's a deep nest - can't see "everything."
2026-03-03 15:42:48 <veltas      > By the way I can't see imgur.com, UK is blocked
2026-03-03 16:03:30 <tpbsd       > I can see the nest from Australia !
2026-03-03 16:06:24 <tpbsd       > I live near a wetlands and have every kind of bird here, some in large numbers like magpies and gallahs, plovers, tiny deep irredscent blue finches, crows, swallows etc
2026-03-03 16:07:26 <tpbsd       > I trid feeding magpies for a year but they hassled me so much for food that I stopped
2026-03-03 16:13:11 <KipIngram   > imgur is blocked in the UK???  That seems awfully aggressive.
2026-03-03 16:13:25 <KipIngram   > What is an alternative you can see?
2026-03-03 16:13:28 <veltas      > Well to be fair the online safety act is considered aggressive
2026-03-03 16:13:46 <veltas      > Given we've been fining companies for not doing what we want
2026-03-03 16:14:43 <KipIngram   > I guess the internet created a whole new notion of "border."
2026-03-03 16:15:12 <veltas      > litterbox.catbox.moe
2026-03-03 16:15:12 <KipIngram   > It's an uphill struggle for them, though, to make it entirely non-porous.
2026-03-03 16:15:20 <veltas      > Was recommended by reddit
2026-03-03 16:15:29 <veltas      > I don't know if it's good though, I'm at work
2026-03-03 16:16:34 <KipIngram   > https://litter.catbox.moe/9yzgdwclscksagoz.png
2026-03-03 16:16:40 <KipIngram   > Good for 24 hours.
2026-03-03 16:18:08 <KipIngram   > I suspect the US would be just as aggressive as the UK, except they're encumbered by that pesky 1st Amendment.
2026-03-03 16:19:11 <KipIngram   > It's not actually at all uncommon for the Constitution to get somewhat ignored, but certain parts of it are harder to ignore than others.
2026-03-03 16:19:48 <KipIngram   > Just a "political culture" thing.
2026-03-03 16:20:26 <veltas      > Isn't a similar act being considered right now in the US?
2026-03-03 16:20:33 <veltas      > I think it's being pushed by democrats though
2026-03-03 16:20:40 <veltas      > act/bill
2026-03-03 16:20:54 <KipIngram   > I'm not caught up enough.
2026-03-03 16:21:14 <veltas      > I've got no time for politics, imgur has just dragged me in
2026-03-03 16:21:32 <KipIngram   > I don't pay it much attention these days either.
2026-03-03 16:21:58 <KipIngram   > There are more worthwhile things in life to spend my limited remaining time on.
2026-03-03 16:23:22 <KipIngram   > It's not completely cut and dried, though - plenty of things get passed by Congress and signed into law which later get struck down by the Supreme Court.
2026-03-03 16:23:52 <KipIngram   > They might even get enforced for a while in the interim, though sometimes the Court will stay enforcement pending their final decision.  It just depends on the issue.
2026-03-03 16:37:54 <KipIngram   > And it's not automatic - the Supreme Court can't act unless someone files a lawsuit and carries it through the process.  They can't just "wade in at their pleasure."
2026-03-03 16:38:27 <KipIngram   > Our whole "checks and balances" thing actually does work pretty well, though it can sometimes take a while.