I have a form like this I do regularly for work. I actually fax the form, I don’t even send it electronically. But I like to fill it electronically so I have my records on the computer. Because it is 2023. I had to use my home computer (linux) to generate a copy of the form, then use a floss editor I managed to get working on windows work computer to annotate on top of the form fields. For some reason it’s really hard to get the annotations to line up with the form fields. So sometimes I have to correct it by hand after printing to clarify.

It is a zero security form, there is no need to have all this rigamarole. The form is freely available on the internet and anyone with a fucking fax machine could fill it in and send it on behalf of anyone else. Fax machine is the biggest hurdle; who the hell has one of those.

Thanks!

I think I miiight have found an exact match: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005073296395.html Not sure what a waterproof USB port is used for but it should do the trick. I’ll buy a few other connectors of similar size to hedge my bets and do as you say if this one doesn’t quite fit.

Looks like I’ll be starting a new plastic compartment container…

The more exterior black wire is thicker than the other ones. You can’t really see it in the photos. I am thinking it is the same as the grey wire labeled as ground in the AE pic.

What am I measuring? The white box that clips in is exactly 1cm. All these connectors (which I believe are called JST) with 5 pins are labeled as being “1.25” but I can’t tell if that’s dimensional. But what else would it be? I can’t find any that are 1cm.

It’s so weird how different shipping/distribution can be for different kinds of things. Keyboard-type stuff seems to suffer from it a lot. Even my favorite brand keychron, which seems like a legit business selling at low/mid price, only lists a tiny number of their items on amazon.ca. Buying direct from their website or aliexpress adds a big shipping charge.

OK thanks! It sort of looks like it would be possible but I didn’t want to go too aggressively at the existing cable until I have a replacement.

The aliexpress seller linked above repeats “The Line Sequence Needs To Be Changed” several times in the description. Maybe this is what that means?

a long as the letters don’t type upside down

I mean if I’m going to buy component for the purpose, and there is a clip type thing on the board already, it seems like just obtaining the correct part would be the thing to do if possible. Rather than buying the wrong piece, dismantling the device further and possibly breaking it in the process. (It is really cheap and flimsy.) I’ve spliced things but that’s like more something to do when salvaging or putting something together from what’s on hand.

Neat little gizmos though I’ll file it away for another project perhaps.

Do you think so? the letters are the right way up on the USB-C end. Here is how my existing cable looks in comparison:

The description lists the letters as VCC, D -, D+, GND, SG.

ack shipping is >CA$30. maybe there is a local distributor.

Understood, thanks. I will keep in mind. Not in the US so sometimes shipping can be too much on these shopify stores for just 1 item but I will get from here if reasonable.

Do you think it matters that the wire colors are in the opposite order?

In either case, thanks this gets me closer.

why is it better?

Actually I just saw this: Zoom terms of use updated to allow AI training on user-generated data, no opt-out

Maybe if zoom is systematically collecting data on all users they would be able to build a reasonable model. Then it could be leaked or shared.

What do you think?

I wonder if he is friends with the guy who runs calibre and kitty terminal. I read somewhere that he was seriously planning to single-handedly maintain python 2 after it was EOLed because it was so integral to calibre. But was eventually talked into transitioning to python 3. The idea of that is totally nuts; the guy is a machine.

It sounds like it would have to be a very targeted attack. Like if the CIA is after you this might be a concern.

I agree. As soon as the update that disabled SMS was pushed to my phone, signal was effectively dead.

Integrating with SMS was so smart. The person who got me into it said “there is literally no reason not to do it” because it was seamless. And I used the same argument to get other people into it. But basically everyone stopped using it as soon as SMS was removed. I don’t have the brain space to remember who is on signal and who is not and go to the appropriate messenger.

I read the whole long thread on their website where the devs were arguing in favor of this and all the reasons were IMHO stupid. I think someone wanted to tank signal. Got tired of funding it probably. It was too good to be true with no obvious business model so always thought the day would come, and it did. Too bad, it was very good at what it did.

People who run printer companies should be incarcerated and forced to hand copy the source code of the linux kernel with a very small pencil.

Several years ago, I decided to finally buy an all-in-one so I could print my favorite photos and do some scanning. I did what I thought to be pretty adequate research to find a model where the ink wasn’t too expensive. It was Epson x-something.

Printed a few pictures but then, foolishly allowed to update software.

After that, it doesn’t scan (scan!!) if one of the inks is low. When I bought it I thought, if nothing else I will have a scanner. Wrong!

It turned out to be impossible to obtain the epson ink cartridges. No retail location near me sold them. Not on amazon. They sold it on the epson website. I ordered some. When the delivery came I was at work. So what this shipping company does is leaves a note saying “you can pick up your parcel at our facility” with an address that was miles away from my house in an industrial park hardly served by public transit. They were only open during business hours so I would have had to book a day off work and the google maps estimate was >3 hours round trip. I don’t even think I ever got a refund for the package which sat at the courier for 2 weeks and got returned to epson.

At the time I bought the printer, it was possible to use 3rd party ink. However their “security update” robustly protected against this. I had intended to buy the epson ink but I was never able to. So I tried 3rd party. It didn’t work, the printer wouldn’t use it because it could tell it was not epson brand.

There was no way to do a factory reset on the device, which IMHO is crazy for all kinds of reasons. The ink vendors had stuff up about how you could use some closed-source hack tool to force it to down grade. It primarily ran on windows which I don’t have. Also it seemed to me that the application could be doing literally anything to the printer, it was mysterious. I tried some things I read about how to force it to return to original hardware but it never worked.

I spent sooo much time researching, troubleshooting, reading on forums, shopping etc. And some money, I think about $100-150. What I got for it was a half dozen prints, mostly testing out how the printer worked. 2 of these were worth keeping in any respect so I have 2 photos that costed >$50 and many hours of work each. After a few years I gave up and threw it out.

The tiny bearing do not inspire confidence in me. I am always picturing something a bit more substantial.

I have the impression these are basically disposable. However logitec recently has created some relationship with ifixit so perhaps there is some chance to salvage them. Especially if you have a bunch of differently-broken devices hanging around.

Maybe you could get a transluscent replacement ball. To get the full rgb experience. I am pretty sure the tracking can work with that?