The vending machine now provides some more feedback after money is put in.
Source code associated with my contribution is here. I haven't documented
the other components of the vending machine.
https://thomaslevine.com/scm/sudo-vending
Based on the implementation details, it appears to me that
the bill acceptor is in fact plugged into one board (Arduino Leonardo)
that is connected by serial to another board (Raspberry Pi). Why is
the former board used at all? That is, why is the bill acceptor not
plugged directly into the latter board?
Tuesday night around 10PM, two people came into Sudoroom while we were having
"Hardware Hacking Tuesdays" and one of them said he had been there before, and
he said his name was "El" or "Ellis". He was about 5'10" and had short black
dreadlocks and no glasses. I don't remember his friend's name, but he left
after not too long.
El asked for help with setting up speakers, asked if he could use the computer
for something, asked for various tools and seemed to be working on something
like hacking a piece of network gear that had been in the e-waste pile, which
seemed normal enough for someone coming to hardware hack night. We helped with
various requests but mostly he worked on it by himself.
He had his phone connected to the speakers near the laser cutter, and a few
times I had to ask him to turn down the music because it was making it harder
for us to talk to each other, but it wasn't a big deal.
He asked if he could smoke inside, which was one of several times the topic of
fire came up. Apparently at some point he said "I like to set things on fire"
but I didn't hear that. We told him that people don't smoke indoors and
someone took him outside and showed him the side doors so he could smoke out
there, and then he came back in. He went out and came back in a couple of
times.
Around 12:45 AM, I got up to go to the bathroom and when I got to the door to
the hallway next to CCL's entrance, it was closed, so I opened it and he was
standing there and said "there's a fire" and I turned and looked and there was
a paper shopping bag on the floor that was on fire. I yelled and stomped out
the fire and the others came to help. He said "You locked me out. You stole
my phone". I told him to gather his shit and we escorted him to get his phone
and other items, and I escorted him to the door and made sure he had all his
stuff with him and he left. I was unable to get a picture of him.
After he left I looked at the area where he was standing, and there had been a
sign or paper on the door that had been entirely burned, as well as the paper
bag set on fire. I poured water on everything and made sure there was no fire
left. Myself and the others present then went around the whole building to see
if there was anyone else inside the building.
The side doors (on 48th street) were not latched, although they were mostly
closed. We should probably try to make those doors close automatically.
If anyone else has information on "El" aka "Ellis" please speak up. One person
said "Well that's horrible. That guy has been to sudo many times before"
good night
-jake
Hi potential basement storage & media lab users, the following items, which
were previously stored unconnected (& under or behind other things etc),
are due to go out Monday:
- 1-2x large free-standing apparently-broken multifunction printers ~4’ high
- 1x heavy industrial sewing machine I’m told is broken. I believe this had
been sudo’s, but I’m not sure.
- 1x heavy piece of what I believe is motorized bookbinding equipment.
- Large mirror from basement kitchen, & plates / kitchen supplies from its
NW pantry
Removal of the basement items has been been noticed before, but I just
wanted to make sure y’all were aware
David
In case this hadn’t already been noticed, fyi I’m told Robb will come by
omni today at 530p to see if there’s more of his things he wants to take to
offsite storage.
As I understand it the plan will be for Robb to consolidate the gear
(including some more lighting from what I understand) that he wants to take
out of omni in a discrete area of the ballroom with a note, a picture will
then be taken and distributed to the lists to see if what all he is taking
out is okay with folks, and after a couple days if there is no objection or
concerns he will return with Toan to pick up that stuff.
Best,
David
Hi all,
Omni will have a large e-waste pickup probably within the next week.
Therefore, now would be a very good time to purge e-waste items throughout
Sudo & CCL.
If either group has e-waste, please concentrate / identify these items in a
place for easy removal, and let me know they are there?
Ps. Please don’t bring any items from home, only items presently on-site at
omni.
Thank you,
David
hi everyone and welcome to another edition of legacy information technology
hacking.
Here at sudoroom, we are having trouble getting on the internet because our
VT-320 terminal's keyboard cord is missing the RJ-9 end that connects it to the
rest of the terminal. Thus our internet experience is read-only and in that
sense, much like television.
this is what our terminal looks like, except that the connector on the end of
the keyboard cord is missing:
https://www.reddit.com/r/retrobattlestations/comments/bu50g1/dec_vt320_term…
I know we're all very familiar with the RJ45 connector, the venerable
transparent acrylic connector on the end of all of our ethernet cables, and the
aged among you also know the RJ11 connector, which joined our telephones to the
POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) but even most hackers are only slightly aware
of a third, smaller variant: RJ9
https://www.asomep.com/en/a-1-1313-29-0-0-0/PLUG-UTP-MALE-CONNECTOR-RJ9-C3e…
our terminal uses RJ11 for its serial ports, and we have no shortage of such
cords for that. But it uses an RJ9 connector for the keyboard, and while we
might be able to find a cord on an old telephone, it will not easily uncrimp,
and splicing and soldering those wires to the keyboard would result in oxidized
connections and slow switching transition waveforms and "third state" bits
between the keyboard and terminal. So what we really need is a brand new,
uncrimped RJ9 plug that we can put onto the keyboard cord (after figuring out
which way it goes on there) so that our terminal can function at full power.
yes i know, the internet allows for remote shopping experiences and i could
simply order a connector to be mailed to me, but I know at least ten of you
nerds out there have an uncrimped RJ9 plug or two in your electronics bins and
I want to reward your thoughtful preservation of materials by giving you a
chance to donate that connector to sudoroom (tax deductable of course)
bonus points if you have a crimper that works with RJ9 plugs.
We are having Hardware Hacking Tuesdays again every week (for now) but I am
available if you want a special access tour at a different time! Lets get this
terminal back in working order.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXaQn8txM9w
-jake
Dear Sudo Room,
Just a reminder that we have not received a payment for this invoice yet. Let us know if you have questions.
Thanks for your business!
Omni Commons
---------------------------------- Invoice ---------------------------------
4799 Shattuck Ave
Oakland, CA 94609 US
https://omnicommons.org
Invoice #: 2420
Date: 10/01/2021
Due Date: 10/25/2021
Terms: Net 25
Amount Due: $22,000.00
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill To:
Sudo Room
4799 Shattuck Ave
Oakland, CA 94607
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
****************************** Account Summary *****************************
09/01/2021 Balance Forward $20,000.00
Other payments and credits after 09/01/2021 0.00
New charges (details below) 2,000.00
Total Amount Due (activity through 10/01/202 22,000.00
****************************************************************************
<u> Date </u><u> Activity </u><u> Qty </u><u> Rate </u><u> Amount </u>
10/01/2021 Furnishing Fa 1 2,000.00 2,000.00
____________________________________________________________________________
--------------------------------------
Total Of New Charges: $2,000.00
Total Amount Due: $22,000.00
Greetings Sudo Room!
This is your monthly donation invoice. Thank you for stewarding the
commons!
Love and solidarity,
Omni Commons Finance Working Group
The skylight with the heavy duty exhaust fan is leaking quite profusely
with the recent rains, and was dripping down on a bunch of valuable looking
electronics equipment stashed on and next to the table closest to the
entrance.
I slit open a large garbage bag and draped it over the equipment to protect
it from further water damage, just as a stop-gap measure. If someone has a
bit of time today, it would be good to clear that entire area of equipment,
put a large bin under the leaks, and maybe try to dry off any valuable
equipment we'd like to keep with a heat gun...
Patrik
I hear with heavier rains, there are now many leaks, and especially in case
he ballroom. *Whomever may be at Omni right now, if you can, please mark
the floor location of where drips land with a big, taped ‘X’? Such as with
blue painters tape, masking tape, duct tape or similar - So we can better
locate the corresponding leaking areas on the roof after the rain stops.*
Thank you 🙏
David
