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?
I've set up a jitsi terminal on the wall in Sudoroom!
It's a big TV made by Hitachi, and it has a feature where it can go into "power
saving" mode when the HDMI signal is lost. That means the screen can power
down when DPMS puts the monitor to "sleep". It has a webcam that's clearly
labeled, and on a hinge so it can easily be aimed down at the floor if people
are shy, and it has a Jabra USB speaker/microphone thing which should hopefully
provide good speakerphone functionality. I have the computer setup to start
firefox, and i have firefox set to open the jitsi page, where permissions are
already enabled for webcam/audio. The only remaining need is to automatically
wake the monitor from sleep (using "DISPLAY=:0 xset force dpms on") whenever
there is anyone else detected in the jitsi "room"
This feature is important so that people can see (on the screen) whenever
someone is in the screen/camera/microphone with them. For now the monitor is
either left on a lot, or blanks out due to a timeout.
I've determined that the most direct ways to make the monitor turn on when
anyone joins the jitsi channel are:
1. make an XMPP client in python or something, which connects to the server and
finds out how many people are in the room (and whether there's anyone other
than the telescreen in there) and sets the monitor on/off state accordingly
2. make a browser extension to find the element containing the number of
"Meeting participants" and copy the number to the window title, where it can be
observed from the shell with a command like wmctrl -l
<div class="jss52">Meeting participants (2)</div>
unfortunately the div class is not always jss52 but the innertext is always
Meeting Participans(#) so it should be able to be found.
The idea is that with this setup, people can go on jitsi and talk to whomever
is in sudoroom, as well as each other.
presently i'm using this link but that can change if we find something better:
https://meet.waag.org/turtlesturtlesturtles
note: the telescreen in sudoroom is not signed in right now, not sure why but
i'll fix it asap
OK hear me out -- this idea is super cheesy but as I become middle aged
(have been) I've been going to a lot of interior design spaces as I
populate my yuppie apartment.
what do you guys think of making an experimental interior design/ museum
display section at SudoRoom. It could be someone practicing the craft of
interior design alongside a bookcase with "member recommended" books or a
weird ancient electronics equipment where someone writes a cool history.
surely there are people who do interior design that are creative but don't
want to make stuff that's mass market. Usually the folks who do something
creative have to design stuff for rich people. This is the kind of stuff
cool rich people would order:
https://www.roche-bobois.com/en-US/mag/bubble-design-sacha-lakic.html
surely there must be a way to make fun spaces in a cheap way.
This could even be a space for set designers, the kind of people who work
in theater. Hmm... I mean ok this idea is very labor intensive but maybe I
can try to give a spin at it. It would maybe not even be about interior
design but more about designing museum installation art.
=============================
Romy Ilano
romy(a)snowyla.com
Hey all!
I will be hosting JavaScript Thursdays tonight! Come on down for some JS
fun. See the blurb below:
You are invited to attend JavaScript Thursdays at Sudoroom! We will gather
online/in-person from 6pm to 9pm every thursday!
JavaScript Thursdays at Sudoroom is a space where people can come and
receive individualized help with learning JavaScript in whatever way best
serves them. We can pair program on a new project, fix a bug together, talk
about different aspects of the language or its associated
libraries/frameworks, or whatever else.
Your host is Charles Hughes. I have been a full time JS developer in the
bay area for over eight years. I have expertise in many JS technologies
including React, Redux, Angular, Node, Ramda, Apollo, D3, TypeScript, and
more. I am a white, assigned male at birth, non-binary person with class
privilege. I welcome and encourage people to call me in.
Javascript Thursdays strives to be a welcoming, inclusive, anti-racist
space for people of all races, genders, orientations, and abilities. The
safety of marginalized people will be prioritized.
Remember that Omni Commons and Sudoroom policy is presently that
EVERYONE MUST WEAR A MASK AT ALL TIMES INSIDE THE BUILDING.
(if you want to eat something you should go outside)
if you get to the door (at the corner of 48th and shattuck) and you can't
get
in, call me or someone else who's there to let you in! We don’t always hear
the doorbell. Email me if you don't have my phone number. Actually a great
way to get our attention is to join the
video chat link at the end of this email!
To keep up to date with sudoroom, join the mailinglist!
https://sudoroom.org/lists/postorius/lists/sudo-discuss.sudoroom.org/
donate to sudoroom monthly by signing up here:
https://sudoroom.org/humans
If you want to make a one-time donation:
https://sudoroom.org/donate
Join us virtually here:
https://meet.waag.org/turtlesturtlesturtles
There is a TV with a camera in Sudoroom that will turn on automatically
when you join!
Hope to see you there! ~Charles
I was at Noisebridge recently pondering if I'll participate in the
Noisebridge anniversary party with the light projections. We have a big old
light projector - I'm trying to figure out if something is worth doing that
makes sense, I think the entire experimentation aspect would be the most
fun part of it!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/miromi/51941087886/in/dateposted/
Anyway I hung out with some cool people from Boston (we really need to
connect with New England more) and we started discussing the history of
light projectors and all the different standards.
I also use a discontinued light projector that is one of the best of its
kind in the small range,
but it was stopped because I guess the price point was too high, the
software sucked (it's a Korean company SK Telecom , why do they often make
the best hardware but the worst software? quite tragic. maybe ux and
software engineering is undervalued at large engineering companies all over
the world????)
Thought that this would be a good side discussion on different video
standards.
- why did some standards fail
- why did some standards succeed
- which products were great but became (maybe unfairly) failed products
due to market timing, evil forces (monopolies bad software)
I guess this would go under a general computer history talk at sudoroom
some evenings
=============================
Romy Ilano
romy(a)snowyla.com