Gemini* and Gopher

• Personal/Opinions

  • Reality as is

    It's the 8th of September, 2025, and here is that guy who complains about everything complains about something yet again.

    "Look isn't this obvious" no it is not and there is no reason to pretend that it is.

    When it comes to communication the most important thing is probably to be able to communicate with one another, and to do that all parties must be able to understand all the other perspectives. That may not be true for you but this is the idea that this rant is going to be following.

• Technology and Free Software

  • ROOPHLOCH 2025 - 1100 meters LoRa transmission

    For this ROOPHLOCH'25 challenge (this is the second time I participate), I'm sending my transmission from the "Elvekumer Lindenplatz" (Elvekumer Limetree Place). It's a single, large lime tree (hence the name "Limetree Place") with a desk and a bench placed underneath for me to place my gear and work comfortably. The tree is in an open field near a small village called "Elvekum." The time is around 14:45, and this is a good place to do some outdoor computer work.

    I'll place some links to some pictures in this post which I'll upload later from home. A picture is far to big to clog up the limited LoRa frequencies. And it would take an hour to upload.

  • 2025-09-08

    Ten years ago I contributed code to the F-Droid app store. I was already using it on all my devices and saw the importance of the project. I am glad that it is still going strong, and it is still the primary app store on all my Android devices.

  • Op Amp Studies: Virtual Ground

    I've continued slowing working through Roberge's 2nd ed op amp book, taking another pass through the first chapter. The biggest take away so far has been the value of the "virtual ground" technique. It is possible to work out mathematically, e.g., the output of any inverting configuration using the amplification value of the amplifier, and a voltage divider equation, but the math gets rather tedious and complicated. With the "virtual ground" approach you are allowed — for inverting and non-inverting configurations, and under certain conditions — to assume that the non-grounded input terminal is kept at ground, and that there is zero current into the input terminal. This, in turn, allows you to separate the input circuit from the feedback circuit, and to assume (1) that the current of the input circuit is the same magnitude as the current of the feedback circuit and (2) that the voltage across the feedback circuit is the same as that of the op amp output. This greatly simplifies calculating the output for any given input circuit and feedback circuit, because all you have to do is (1) calculate the current of the input circuit, and then (2) plug that current into the voltage/current equation of the feedback circuit.

  • Internet/Gemini

    • How to setup wifi in 9front

      This assumes you have a machine with an existing 9front installation, some other network connection (presumably ethernet) already available, and a supported wifi card.

      In my case, this means my elderly ThinkPad Edge E130 (i3-3227U version, circa 2014).

    • I decided to write my own terminal bassed Gemini browser

      I decided to write my own terminal bassed Gemini browser in Python, purely for the fun of it and because "how hard can it be, really?". Turns out it's actually pretty hard. I'm having a lot of fun though.