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Jeroen W. Pluimers on .NET, C#, Delphi, databases, and personal interests

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Archive for November 18th, 2021

One needs to actually fail in order to get a feel for reality

Posted by jpluimers on 2021/11/18

Failure is very important to understand about reality.

Software Development and DevOps should do this more often, as real world failures are always different from test cases.

This is especially true in the field of web sites, cloud development, kubernetes, microservices and other distributed “Stuff” (which starts with DNS!).

There was a great thread last year that ended with this quote:

“Error Budget”: How much infrastructure you’re allowed to set on fire to learn the meaning of the word “heiß”. Every organization has an error budget, but most don’t plan for it.

The start of the thread is around [Archive.is] Kristian Köhntopp on Twitter: “So the little one was a bit over 12 months old, and could already say “Mama” and “Papa”. It was around christmas, and there was a candle on the table, glowing interestingly, so he wanted to touch it. Of course I told him “Nein, heiß!”.”.

Then Kristian Köhntopp summarised the thread in this great blog post: [Wayback] On Touching Candles, And Error Budgets | Die wunderbare Welt von Isotopp.

Too bad ThreadReaderApp still is unable to archive trees of messages (not even single threaded trees with multiple participants) as this is possible with the Twitter v2 API: [Archive.is] twopcharts_nl on Twitter: “is wel eenvoudig mogelijk nu met api v2.… “

So I archived the thread in two Archive.is links:

In the thread, Kristian also mentions [Wayback] Code rant: The Configuration Complexity Clock

That article has a very important observation:

At a certain level of complexity, hard-coding a solution may be the least evil option.

–jeroen

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Cloud Development, Development, Micro Services, Software Development | Leave a Comment »

GitHub’s commitment to npm ecosystem security | The GitHub Blog – no npm package can historically ben tracked to be authentic

Posted by jpluimers on 2021/11/18

What started as [Wayback/Archive] GitHub’s commitment to npm ecosystem security | The GitHub Blog with this qoute:

on November 2 we received a report to our [Wayback/Archive] security bug bounty program of a vulnerability that would allow an attacker to publish new versions of any npm package using an account without proper authorization. …

This vulnerability existed in the npm registry beyond the timeframe for which we have telemetry to determine whether it has ever been exploited maliciously. … the timeframe for which we have available telemetry, which goes back to September 2020 …

This basically means you cannot trust the authenticity of any npm package published through the registry.

It sparked reactions like these:

–jeroen

Posted in Development, JavaScript/ECMAScript, Node.js, Scripting, Software Development | Leave a Comment »

GitHub – JanDerogee/TeleJukebox: A project based on the concepts of the Wonderfoon and Arduinofoon

Posted by jpluimers on 2021/11/18

[Wayback/Archive.is] GitHub – JanDerogee/TeleJukebox: A project based on the concepts of the Wonderfoon and Arduinofoon which simplfies the design of the Wonderfoon keeping the most important music playback feature down to

a simple PCB in a small case where you plug the phone in

…

The completed project works very simple:

  • Pick up the phone, you hear the “dial tone” MP3, Dial a number, you hear the MP3 0..9 playing (depending on the dialed number), When the song is over, you hear the “disconnected” MP3, You can dial another number and hear another song or hang up the phone.
  • Some phones also have a button on the front. When you press this button, the phone randomly playes one of the songe 0..9 and when that song is over, it automatically plays a new song, randomly. This will allow the person on the phone to continuously listen to the music. This may be of help to those who can’t figure out how it works but love to hear the songs over and over again.
  • You can configure the music folder from which the MP3s are played, you can use up to 10 different folders
  • You can configure the volume of the device
  • Configurations are done through the phone itself (dial 738 OR hold the button while picking up the handpiece), you hear a voice that guides you through a menu and all you need to do is dial in your settings value.

You can power this design through a USB port cable. This way the device can be fed using a simple mobilephone charger OR be connected to the PC. When connected to a PC, the TeleJukebox identifies itself like a USB-stick and you can easily modify the file without removing the card from the system. Meaning that you do no even need to open the case in order to change the collection of MP3 files. Keep in mind that when the device is in USB-stick mode, it cannot playback MP3 files meaning that in this mode it will not act like a TeleJukebox.

Music rights

Especially when using this in a professional environment. be sure the music that plays is rights free (there are music therapists for treating people with Alzheimer’s and dementia that can help you with that).

Steps, reasoning, and building instructions

A less in depth Dutch article (with 13 minute explaining video below) explaining most of the steps and all the reasoning is this multi-part one:

  1. [Wayback] .Build – Bouw een Wonderfoon – Bouw een Wonderfoon voor iemand anders – Achtergrond – Tweakers

    It works with these and younger phones as long as they can do pulse-dialing:

    De T65, W65 en T65 TDK

  2. [Wayback] .Build – Bouw een Wonderfoon – Wat is een Wonderfoon? – Achtergrond – Tweakers

    The small regular and debug boxes under the PTT/KPN phone connector box:

    .Build Wonderfoon - Twee keer TeleJukebox

  3. [Wayback] .Build – Bouw een Wonderfoon – Een goedkopere variant – Achtergrond – Tweakers
  4. [Wayback] .Build – Bouw een Wonderfoon – Slopen is zonde – Achtergrond – Tweakers

    Both boards with electronics soldered:

    .Build Wonderfoon - Beide varianten van de TeleJukebox

    The non-debug board with components to be soldered:

    .Build Wonderfoon - Onderdelen TeleJukebox

  5. [Wayback] .Build – Bouw een Wonderfoon – T65 bewerken – Achtergrond – Tweakers

    The small cleanup and modification steps (shorting the microphone) for the T65 phone:

    .Build Wonderfoon - Contact haakT65 schoonmaken.Build Wonderfoon - Contact haakT65 schoonmaken

    .Build Wonderfoon - Aansluitingen T65.Build Wonderfoon - Aansluitingen T65.Build Wonderfoon - Aansluitingen T65.Build Wonderfoon - Aansluitingen T65

  6. [Wayback] .Build – Bouw een Wonderfoon – Solderen maar! – Achtergrond – Tweakers

    Schematics:

    .Build Wonderfoon - Schema TeleJukebox

    Shopping list:

    – 1x Pcb of perf board (€ 1,01)
    – 1x Arduino Pro Micro (€ 7,95)
    – 1x DFPlayer mp3-speler(€ 0,73)
    – 1x TIL111 optocoupler (€ 0,41)
    – 2x Weerstand 4K7 Ohm (€ 0,16)
    – 7x Weerstand 2K7 Ohm (€ 0,56)
    – 1x Weerstand 560 Ohm (€ 0,08)
    – 1x Elco 1000 µF 6.3 V (€ 0,23)
    – 1x Condensator 330nF (€ 0,13)
    – 1x Condensator 100nF (€ 0,05)
    – 2x Led (€ 0,06)
    – 1x USB, type B, pcb (€ 0,67)
    – 1x Tactile switch (€ 0,09)
    – 1x Pinheader, male, 6 breed (€ 0,03)
    – 4x Jumper kabel, female (€ 1,95)
    – 1x Micro sd-kaart (€ 2,50)
    – 1x PTT-wandcontactdoos (€ 2,99)
    – 1x Behuizing (€ 1,22)
    Totaal € 20,82

    Voor de compacte pcb kun je de switch, een led, een weerstand van 2k7 Ohm en de twee weerstanden van 4k7 Ohm weglaten.

  7. [Wayback] .Build – Bouw een Wonderfoon – Voor wie gaat hij worden? – Achtergrond – Tweakers

    The inside of the non-debug box:

    .Build Wonderfoon - TeleJukebox

 

Wonderfoon got more versatile

Note that the most recent Wonderfoon products got more versatile allowing more songs, warnings for taking pills, and ring-reminders based on morse code.

[Wayback] Home | Wonderfoon

. De Wonderfoon-Centrale

–jeroen

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Arduino, Arduino, Development, ESP32, ESP8266, ESP8266X, Hardware, Hardware Development, Hardware Interfacing, Raspberry Pi, Software Development | Leave a Comment »

 
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