Entropy

Relax in southern comfort on the east bank of the Mississippi. You're just around the corner from Beale Street and Sun Records. Watch the ducks, throw back a few and tell us what's on your mind.
billshurv
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Re: Entropy

Post by billshurv »

Always room for a bigger mower :D
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

Post by JR. »

at least mine has a roll bar...

JR

[edit] I am sad to admit I gave up trying to buy a replacement oring for my cheap sprayer... I bought a new replacement sprayer for <$7... I took it apart to get a good measurement on the O ring (1 7/8" ID x 2 1/8" OD)... knowing that I can buy repacements for around $2 each if I buy 5-100 + shipping so screw them...

This is why we need landfills. :oops: [/edit]

[edit2- I notice that the new improved sprayer despite looking almost identical has a new feature, a pressure relief valve. This actually makes sense since you need to release the pressure for storage after use, which is probably a major stressor on the o-ring to be constantly tightened to seal and then loosened to unseal. This way the o-ring can make a seal and stay undisturbed until the tank needs refilling. It is probably easier on the oring to unscrew with the pressure released.

I guess we'll see how long the new improved one lasts... the old one was maybe 2 seasons or less. [/edit]

JR
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billshurv
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Re: Entropy

Post by billshurv »

Well job was easier than I feared. Decrud and re-route a cable that was snagging the mech and it is doing its little nod again when you engage the clutches. Everything cleaned and blades sharpened, but grass is too wet to mow after last night's rain...Typical.

On a roll :)
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mediatechnology
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Re: Entropy

Post by mediatechnology »

JR. wrote: Wed May 15, 2019 10:49 pm
billshurv wrote: Wed May 15, 2019 5:07 pm In the early days of digital TV in UK we all had set top boxes to receive as decoders weren't built into the TVs yet. I had one that would slowly lose voice sync. Changing channel and back got it back again, but I never could work out how that could occur with a broadcast medium.

@JR: if you do discover a good surround decoder for not silly money please let me know. I keep getting close to getting a marantz as the cheapest with L/R/C on analog outputs. Having a digital crossover does make the preferred plumbing a little odd. But I accept I'm an edge case and won't find exactly what I want.
Image
So far, for only $27 I still like this one... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HRDK898/re ... il_6?psc=1

It's been rocking for 5+ hours tonight and hasn't lost sync yet

The sound is quite good, the surround algorithms excellent, the master volume control is a useful feature for my crude DIY system.

Looking at the unit, I think I know what is happening, but still not the why... It has a 2.1 mode which is stereo (no center or surround channels), so despite the switch being hard set to 5.1 it was getting stupid and playing 2.1 all by itself. Next time it gets stupid I will try switching that selector back and forth. Not that it resolves the rouge incorrect mode behavior.

Now that I see the 2.1/5.1 switch I am even more confused because it does not have to figure that out. But it claims to support all these formats ( MP3, AC3, DTS, WAV, WMA, AAC, ALAC, FLAC, APE, OGG, M4A), whatever they are.... :lol:

JR
JR: Wonder if this gizmo would make a nice D/A for the test bench. Have you done an FFT?
billshurv
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Re: Entropy

Post by billshurv »

Happiness is a tuned up lawnmower. It's back to its old self again for the first time in a couple of years. Interestingly the clogged vents I cleared thinking they were part of the cooling are vital to the grass collection as that's where the air gets in to help blow the clippings into the bag. as they are under the cylinder that airflow probably is dual purpose mind.

But the compost bin is full and my wheelbarrow has a flat tyre. Can't have it all :)
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

Post by JR. »

billshurv wrote: Sat May 18, 2019 9:16 am Happiness is a tuned up lawnmower. It's back to its old self again for the first time in a couple of years. Interestingly the clogged vents I cleared thinking they were part of the cooling are vital to the grass collection as that's where the air gets in to help blow the clippings into the bag. as they are under the cylinder that airflow probably is dual purpose mind.

But the compost bin is full and my wheelbarrow has a flat tyre. Can't have it all :)
happines is fresh cut grass... my yard went over two weeks before I mowed it yesterday.
==
After years of just re-inflating before each use, I bought a spray can of flat-fix to repair the very tired front tire of my recently refreshed wheelbarrow.

---
mediatechnology wrote: Sat May 18, 2019 6:03 am
JR. wrote: Wed May 15, 2019 10:49 pm
billshurv wrote: Wed May 15, 2019 5:07 pm In the early days of digital TV in UK we all had set top boxes to receive as decoders weren't built into the TVs yet. I had one that would slowly lose voice sync. Changing channel and back got it back again, but I never could work out how that could occur with a broadcast medium.

@JR: if you do discover a good surround decoder for not silly money please let me know. I keep getting close to getting a marantz as the cheapest with L/R/C on analog outputs. Having a digital crossover does make the preferred plumbing a little odd. But I accept I'm an edge case and won't find exactly what I want.

So far, for only $27 I still like this one... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HRDK898/re ... il_6?psc=1

It's been rocking for 5+ hours tonight and hasn't lost sync yet

The sound is quite good, the surround algorithms excellent, the master volume control is a useful feature for my crude DIY system.

Looking at the unit, I think I know what is happening, but still not the why... It has a 2.1 mode which is stereo (no center or surround channels), so despite the switch being hard set to 5.1 it was getting stupid and playing 2.1 all by itself. Next time it gets stupid I will try switching that selector back and forth. Not that it resolves the rouge incorrect mode behavior.

Now that I see the 2.1/5.1 switch I am even more confused because it does not have to figure that out. But it claims to support all these formats ( MP3, AC3, DTS, WAV, WMA, AAC, ALAC, FLAC, APE, OGG, M4A), whatever they are.... :lol:

JR
JR: Wonder if this gizmo would make a nice D/A for the test bench. Have you done an FFT?
I suspect they also make and sell a DAC, but I make no claims for that, or this, other than it doesn't suck.
---
The last FFT I did was inside my prototype DSP based drum tuner platorm...(actually a crude FFT to find resonances while shotgunning a drum with a spread of multiple notes simultaneously). I haven't fired up that prototype board for years. I had figured out how to extract levels with FFT, but then I wanted to also grab phase information from FFT and no paint by numbers how-to for that. I had to reverse engineer the FFT levels from C routines.
---
All I know is that my surround system sounds good, night and day better than my first (cheap chinese) decoder. Plenty of low bass coming from my real sub, now powered by 60W (plenty for my modest sized room). My favorite test track for low bass is the intro to movie "Lucy"..
woof.jpg
old picture, but same woof...

JR
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billshurv
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Re: Entropy

Post by billshurv »

yeah I did save some glorp from my last cycle tyre fixing round for this but didn't get around to it. Second job in the morning after coaxing the strimmer back to life after 14 months or so. I'll never learn...
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

Post by JR. »

I was past due to spray around my roof/eaves for termites and ants, so I mixed up a new batch of spray to fill my new spray bottle.

The spray bottle works better than I remember the last one doing when it was new...

the real test is how long it works that well.

JR
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

Post by JR. »

billshurv wrote: Sat May 18, 2019 3:08 pm yeah I did save some glorp from my last cycle tyre fixing round for this but didn't get around to it. Second job in the morning after coaxing the strimmer back to life after 14 months or so. I'll never learn...
The flat fix instructions said specifically not to use it for motorcycle tires, perhaps causing instability...

I don't think my wheelbarrow will crash.

JR
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billshurv
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Re: Entropy

Post by billshurv »

Makes sense. Round here there is a lot of flint so even with reinforced tyres and goop on the bicycle I get one total destruction puncture a year. This years mini arrow head put a 5mm gash in tyre and inner tube. The goop escaped. But I do cycle to work all year round.

Happy discovery of the day was postcrete. Not had to fix fence posts in a long time but did need to fix down the kids swing. Now growing up there was always a cement mixer around, but not had to make any since a teenager and really couldn't be ****d for 4 holes (and still remember the leaning clothes dryer from 1987). dig hole. half fill hole with water and pour the mix in. Job done :)

I should persuade wife to go away for the weekend with the kids more often...
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