[18:37] <chilts> morning
[18:37] <ibeardslee> morning
[18:38] <hads> morning
[18:38] <ibeardslee> shit .. opened up the wrong irc screen session first ;)
[18:40] <ajmitch> morning
[19:12] <ibeardslee> hmm Evolution in Quantal is a POS.
[19:18] <ajmitch> I suspect it's not getting a lot of love upstream these days
[19:20] <ibeardslee> which is sad, because Ubuntu still hasn't completed the switch to Thunderbird
[19:51] <ojwb> morning
[20:01] <mwhudson> morning
[20:01] <mwhudson> hads: ping
[21:50] <hads> mwhudson: pong
[22:21] <mwhudson> hads: hi, sorry about the delay
[22:22] <mwhudson> hads: i have a couple of electronics gadgets i want to build, was wondering if you could supply the parts
[22:22] <mwhudson> or even the prebuilt gadgets :)
[22:23] <hads> mwhudson: Sure, probably the former, possibly the latter.
[22:23] <mwhudson> hads: one is a way of powering on and off this 5v device i have from software
[22:23] <lifeless> mwhudson: do you want to build, or to have ;)
[22:23] <mwhudson> lifeless: well, i want to have
[22:24] <mwhudson> hads: it's got a 5.5 mm OD 2.1 mm ID dc jack so i'm thinking a dc plug -> bare wire -> usb controlled relay -> bare wire -> dc connector type assembly
[22:25] <hads> Yup sounds about right.
[22:25] <mwhudson> hads: the other is a way of completely unplugging a usb device from software, which i guess is a similar hack, although i don't know if you need relay on each wire or if one on the +5v wire is enough
[22:26] <hads> I've wanted to do the same myself actually.
[22:26] <hads> Let me think about it.
[22:28] <mwhudson> for the former task in our lab we have a bunch of 240v pdus on the upside of the 5v power supplies
[22:28] <mwhudson> but that's kinda ridiculous
[22:28] <hads> It's more than one?
[22:29] <mwhudson> well
[22:29] <mwhudson> we have a lab with 50 odd devices that need to be power controlled
[22:29] <mwhudson> for development on my desk i have 1
[22:29] <hads> Ah right. Can I ask what they are?
[22:30] <mwhudson> hads: sure, they're arm developer boards
[22:30] <mwhudson> a panda in my case
[22:30] <hads> Cool.
[22:30] <mwhudson> (actually i have three boards, but one is a broken panda and another is a beagle xm and noone seems to care about omap3 any more in linaro)
[22:30] <hads> I just bought in an XM for someone yesterday.
[22:31]  * ajmitch wants to do something slightly simpler, a lap counter/timer for a slot car track :)
[22:32] <mwhudson> i found a place you could buy usb to bare wire cables, of course ironically it costs a lot more than a regular usb cable :)
[22:32] <hads> ajmitch: You need lasers :)
[22:32] <mwhudson> i would like to avoid soldering if i can, but even i can manage wire strippers
[22:33] <ajmitch> hads: obviously
[22:33] <ajmitch> though I think I may keep it a *little* simpler than that
[22:33] <hads> Yeah, people ask about custom cables occastionally. 90% of the time it's cheaper and quicker to get a normal one and cut it in half.
[22:33] <hads> Hmm new word.
[22:34] <hads> mwhudson: Are you in a rush? I could probably whip something up but it might take a while.
[22:34] <mwhudson> hads: no not really
[22:34] <mwhudson> hads: define "a while"?  weeks, months?
[22:35] <hads> I would say weeks but then it's not too many weeks until Christmas :/
[22:35] <mwhudson> heh
[22:36] <mwhudson> early ish 2013 would be fine
[22:36] <hads> Okay cool, let me add it to my list :)
[22:36] <mwhudson> heh
[22:38] <hads> Every time I try and start working on something for myself I get more work for someone else :)
[22:41] <hads> mwhudson: ~$50 https://www.yoctopuce.com/EN/products/usb-actuators/yocto-relay
[22:42] <mwhudson> hads: panda requires 3a :(
[22:42] <mwhudson> hads: i had found these: http://www.sedonia.co.nz/TCTEC-Super4-USB-relay-module.htm
[22:44] <hads> Seems cheap enough. You'd need to figure out if you can talk to it easily.
[22:45] <mwhudson> they have some demo c code
[22:45] <mwhudson> it's some ftdi chip
[22:45] <hads> http://www.sigma-shop.com/product/7/usb-relay-controller-one-channel-box.html
[22:46] <mwhudson> i wonder if they just show up as /dev/ttySOMETHING when you plug them in
[22:47] <mwhudson> oh heh
[22:47] <mwhudson> the manual has as sample code:
[22:47] <mwhudson> stty -F /dev/ttyUSB0 9600 // the relay 1 go ON.
[22:47] <mwhudson> echo $'\xff\x01\x01' > ttyUSB0
[22:48] <hads> Yeah that last one shows up as a USB serial port.
[22:48] <hads> So that would be super easy.
[22:48] <hads> That's how I'd build it too.
[22:48] <mwhudson> or /dev/serial/by-path/$foo for added sanity
[22:49] <mwhudson> i guess the one with 4 relays would mean you could build more stuff for less $$
[22:54] <hads> There probably isn't much point me reinventing those wheels.
[22:57] <mwhudson> i guess not, i should probably just buy a dc cable and a relay and get the wire strippers out
[23:00] <ojwb> so i complain to air nz about them using poli which is windows only
[23:00] <ojwb> and they assume I'm a mac user
[23:00] <ojwb> I feel insulted!
[23:00] <hads> mwhudson: In the next week or so I'll have some 5.5/2.1mm DC cable pigtails :)
[23:00] <hads> ojwb: AirNZ are terrible.
[23:01] <mwhudson> but all other airlines are worse
[23:01] <ojwb> sadly there aren't great alternatives much of the time
[23:01] <mwhudson> hads: oh cool!
[23:01] <hads> ojwb: Extortionate CC fees that aren't reflective of what they actually cost.
[23:01] <ojwb> charging for actually paying is such a budget airline tactic too
[23:01] <ojwb> i can't really see why they're trying to position themselves in that area of the market
[23:02] <hads> The are a budget airline now as much as they don't like to admit it.
[23:02] <mwhudson> hads: do you have terminal blocks (i think that's the right word?) appropriate for connecting the ends that won't go into the relay?
[23:02] <mwhudson> jaycar only seem to have hilariously huge ones in stock
[23:02] <hads> ojwb: They must be charged around 1.5% CC fees from the bank, on cheaper flights with AirNZ you can be paying 10-20%
[23:03] <G> ojwb: wasn't it at one point that AirNZ would waive the fee if you couldn't pay with POLi because you didn't use Windows?
[23:03] <hads> I think they still may.
[23:03] <ojwb> they certainly don't automatically now
[23:03] <G> ojwb: I think you had to call up and moan at them
[23:03] <hads> No you have to ring and try and get someone to understand.
[23:04] <ojwb> hmm, the email reply said I could phone, but "not all fares may be available through reservations"
[23:04] <hads> mwhudson: Not sure what type of thing you mean sorry, link?
[23:04] <G> personally dare I say it, I've had better service from Qantas lately compared to AirNZ (online checkin certainly is a plus too)
[23:05] <mwhudson> hads: http://www.jaycar.co.nz/productView.asp?ID=HM3196&keywords=hm3194&form=KEYWORD
[23:05] <mwhudson> hads: except only one of them, and smaller than the 10a rated one
[23:14] <hads> I always fly Emirates when I have the option.
[23:15] <hads> mwhudson: Ah right, sorry I don't stock those. The local electrical wholesaler will have them, 6A is the smallest.
[23:16] <mwhudson> oh right
[23:16] <mwhudson> so like bunnings or equivalent?
[23:41] <ojwb> sadly there doesn't seem to be any alternative airline for wellington to dunedin
[23:41] <ojwb> perhaps I could fly via auckland with jetstar, though it doesn't let me book it without 26 hours in auckland
[23:44] <ajmitch> flying via auckland on jetstar is getting pretty desperate
[23:45] <ojwb> indeed
[23:45] <ojwb> auckland airport is even further from dunedin than dunedin airport is
[23:50] <ajmitch> why would you want to visit dunedin anyway?
[23:51] <ajmitch> it's a bit damp down here today
[23:53] <ojwb> conference thing in december
[23:54] <ajmitch> I see
[23:54] <chilts> it's a bit damp down there in December
[23:54]  * chilts speculates
[23:54] <ajmitch> might be
[23:56] <ojwb> hopefully they're holding it indoors
[23:57] <ojwb> if anyone fancies meeting for lunch on 4th or 7th, let me know
[23:58] <ajmitch> are you available on the evening of the 4th? that's when we have our monthly codecraft meeting on campus
[23:58] <ajmitch> 5:30 on the tuesday afternoon if you are around for it
[23:59] <ojwb> might be
[23:59] <ojwb> there's stuff on the 5th and 6th evenings, but I don't know of anything on 4th yet