feedbot: http://www.loper-os.org/?p=3742 << Loper OS -- "Finite Field Arithmetic." Chapter 21A-Bis: Fix for Lethal Flaw in Ch.15's Greatest Common Divisor.
    
    asciilifeform: ^ full postmortem and cure for this item .
    
    snsabot: Logged on 2020-05-07 15:14:35 asciilifeform: in other noose, when testing Ext.GCD against the regular ch.15 kind, found a catastrophic bug in... the latter.
    
    asciilifeform: !w poll
    
    watchglass: Polling 11 nodes...
    
    watchglass: 205.134.172.4:8333 : (172-4.core.ai.net) Alive: (0.088s) V=70001 (/therealbitcoin.org:0.7.0.1/) Jumpers=0x1 (TRB-Compat.) Blocks=629854
    
    watchglass: 205.134.172.6:8333 : (172-6.core.ai.net) Alive: (0.082s) V=99999 (/therealbitcoin.org:0.9.99.99/) Jumpers=0x1 (TRB-Compat.) Blocks=629854
    
    watchglass: 205.134.172.26:8333 : Alive: (0.082s) V=99999 (/therealbitcoin.org:0.9.99.99/) Jumpers=0x1 (TRB-Compat.) Blocks=629854
    
    watchglass: 108.31.170.3:8333 : (pool-108-31-170-3.washdc.fios.verizon.net) Alive: (0.098s) V=99999 (/therealbitcoin.org:0.9.99.99/) Jumpers=0x1 (TRB-Compat.) Blocks=629854 (Operator: asciilifeform)
    
    watchglass: 205.134.172.27:8333 : Alive: (0.145s) V=99999 (/therealbitcoin.org:0.9.99.99/) Jumpers=0x1 (TRB-Compat.) Blocks=629854 (Operator: asciilifeform)
    
    watchglass: 208.94.240.42:8333 : Alive: (0.106s) V=99999 (/therealbitcoin.org:0.9.99.99/) Jumpers=0x1 (TRB-Compat.) Blocks=629854
    
    watchglass: 143.202.160.10:8333 : Alive: (0.221s) V=70001 (/therealbitcoin.org:0.7.0.1/) Jumpers=0x1 (TRB-Compat.) Blocks=629854
    
    watchglass: 213.109.238.156:8333 : Alive: (0.341s) V=99999 (/therealbitcoin.org:0.9.99.99/) Jumpers=0x1 (TRB-Compat.) Blocks=629854
    
    watchglass: 188.121.168.69:8333 : (rev-188-121-168-69.radiolan.sk) Alive: (0.306s) V=99999 (/therealbitcoin.org:0.9.99.99/) Jumpers=0x1 (TRB-Compat.) Blocks=629854
    
    watchglass: 192.151.158.26:8333 : Busy? (No answer in 20 sec.)
    
    watchglass: 103.36.92.112:8333 : Busy? (No answer in 20 sec.)
    
    BingoBoingo: Less than 24 hours till halving if block production rate holds steady
    
    asciilifeform: ha
    
    asciilifeform: iirc last coupla these had ~0 visible to naked eye effect
    
    Vexual: so we're not watching bitcoinity for cool happening gifs?
    
    asciilifeform: bitcoinity ?
    
    Vexual: price chart website, they add gifs when all time high
    
    asciilifeform didn't give half a shit 10y ago, and doesn't now
    
    asciilifeform: all that interests asciilifeform re subj is the 'macroscopic'; i.e. the obv fact that exch rate aint gonna be 1e8 $ per suddenly. cuz the thing is controlled via the usual means .
    
    snsabot: Logged on 2020-05-05 19:56:14 asciilifeform: it worx because there's a neverending supply of a) dumb shits who see 'paper gold' as == to actual b) greedy shits who want 'leverage'
    
    asciilifeform: the 'omg111 it moved by 3%' i'ma leave to the speculator vermin
    
    asciilifeform: they -- can care, being paid to.
    
    Vexual: I'd forgotten block reward was halving
    
    
    
    asciilifeform: nSubsidy >>= (nHeight / 210000);
    
    asciilifeform: init was 50.
    
    Vexual: how many unspent 50's?
    
    asciilifeform: 'exercise for reader'
    
    asciilifeform: been a while since i bothered to sum'em
    
    asciilifeform ftr doesn't buy into the old 'unspent for Y yrs means keyz surely lost!11' mythology
    
    asciilifeform: i have coin from '11 i haven't spent. what of it.
    
    Vexual: wuflu must've sent a few coins to the deep
    
    asciilifeform: what reason to think this ?
    
    Vexual: statistically speaking. might have
    
    Vexual: not must have
    
    asciilifeform: 'statistically speaking' my arse could fall through the floor.
    
    asciilifeform: right
    
    asciilifeform: Vexual: helps to also remember that what can be misplaced, can also be found .
    
    asciilifeform: the 'finds' have sometimes visible effect. the losses (being unpublic) do not .
    
    Vexual: visible and real obviously not the same
    
    Vexual: block reward halving effects are not for the visible eye as you said
    
    
    
    asciilifeform: see also the well-known effect of the spanish new world gold on spain in 16th c.
    
    Vexual: dafaq is bitcoinp?
    
    asciilifeform: Vexual: old gedankenexperiment of mine. a hypothetical bitcoin noad which forks off if coins thought to be shitoshi's are ever spent.
    
    asciilifeform: not partic. relevant per se to this thrd.
    
    asciilifeform: re effects of 'losing' and 'finding', given that the exch rates are a figment of collective psychosis, the 'visibility' in principle matters.
    
    snsabot: Logged on 2020-05-05 20:03:43 asciilifeform: ( there is no contradiction here, incidentally -- the paper serves both to inflate the perceived value, and to depress, when necessary . the latter is very easy to do w/ a value that is artificial to begin with)
    
    Vexual: I'll read that later.
    
    Vexual: exchange rate aside, at some point fees will be greater than block reward
    
    asciilifeform: think of it this way -- if a nuke sub transporting 500 tonnes of au goes down w/ melted reactor, making the metal unrecoverable for 1e4 yrs, not only will you an' i not likely hear about it, but it will have 0 detectable effect on 'market'. the folx printing the 'paper gold' will carry on printing, the ones buying bars, will end up with tungsten cores a little more often, is all
    
    asciilifeform: Vexual: fees? maybe 20y from nao
    
    Vexual: well it's already happened on occassion
    
    Vexual: dya think satoshi would change the halving algo with time machine?
    
    asciilifeform: waiwat
    
    Vexual: some fuck sent 200 coin fee once i think i remember
    
    asciilifeform: and some unknown number of similar idjits dropped their privkeys into /dev/null , what of it
    
    Vexual: just a bit of trivia
    
    Vexual: i think the mine might've even returned it,
    
    Vexual: go figure
    
    asciilifeform: it was, what, 8x the standard block reward at the time ? possib. considered it worth the 'pr'
    
    mats: who knows if fees can even support mining without a block subsidy
    
    asciilifeform: ohai mats. wb.
    
    asciilifeform: mats: what means 'support mining' ?
    
    mats: the growth in hash rate recently has been pedestrian compared to previous years
    
    asciilifeform: mining will still happen.
    
    asciilifeform: whether is eats gigawatts or terawatts , yes, depends on reward. but worked ok when it summed to kilowatts.
    
    mats: presumably the miners will eventually try a new chain when this one is juiced
    
    asciilifeform: afaik they already 'try chains'
    
    Vexual: chains been pretty fuckin solid so far
    
    asciilifeform: what's that mean ?
    
    Vexual: there has been one chain since inception
    
    asciilifeform: Vexual: didja sleep through the '17-'18 fork warz or wat
    
    Vexual: mustve
    
    asciilifeform: tsk.
    
    Vexual: look, the shits still working, if that doesn't amaze you more than the imaginary coal fire that runs the mines, fuck me
    
    asciilifeform: Vexual: what would count to you as 'stopped working' ?
    
    Vexual: can you imagine sanding next to that?
    
    asciilifeform: i.e. has 'gopher' 'stopped working' ?
    
    Vexual: god question
    
    asciilifeform: i used it not long ago
    
    Vexual: let me think on it
    
    asciilifeform: by some defs, it will still 'work' in 3000 a.d. by others, 'never worked'...
    
    Vexual: oh shit...
    
    Vexual: what's the block reward in 3000? goes to 0 right?
    
    asciilifeform: do the maffs eh
    
    asciilifeform: not esp. interesting q tho, block counter is 32bit lol
    
    Vexual: I don't remember it halving indefinitely.
    
    
    
    snsabot: Logged on 2020-05-10 20:45:21 asciilifeform: nSubsidy >>= (nHeight / 210000);
    
    Vexual: an aside
    
    asciilifeform: naturally it can't half if already 0 eh
    
    mats: they havent made a serious effort since bcash
    
    asciilifeform: 50*100000000 is 33bit long.
    
    asciilifeform: that's 33 'halvings' from '09 to fin.
    
    asciilifeform: (i.e. to 0)
    
    asciilifeform: mats: i admit that after the 1st btc giveaway (aka 'bcash') i tuned out, 0 of the later attempts afaik were even worth the evening to set up nodes for to milk'em
    
    Vexual: presumable theres still unmilked things I haven't heard of
    
    asciilifeform: Vexual: some folx walk train stations to pick up loose change, too
    
    asciilifeform: it's, i imagine, a living, for some
    
    mats: the halving is a precarious time for holders
    
    asciilifeform: why?
    
    asciilifeform: i srsly dun recall ~anyffin interesting directly attributable to any of the prev. halvings.
    
    Vexual: halvings mark time tho
    
    asciilifeform: motion of moon also marks time, lol, what of it
    
    Vexual: it's interesting, like the moon
    
    mats: miner economics are challenged, their income collapses while operational costs are unchanged
    
    asciilifeform: mats: what's it to holder tho ?
    
    asciilifeform: if 9 of 10 miners goes to mars and doesn't come back, i won't notice
    
    mats: if they turn off enough hash it'll ruin network usability for hours or weeks
    
    asciilifeform: scarcely anyone actually uses it tho
    
    asciilifeform: so oughta have said 'txers', rather than 'holders'
    
    asciilifeform: holders ~don't tx.
    
    asciilifeform: i for instance send a tx maybe erry other yr.
    
    asciilifeform: re miners off -- not clear to me what, other than proverbial nuke war, would actually give you suddenly 'month of unusable'
    
    asciilifeform: say hash rate drops 2x. so what, 20min per block instead of 10, until next adjust.
    
    shinohai: Miners switch off, diff falls, can use fpga's again :D
    
    asciilifeform: shinohai: use old pentium again!1111
    
    asciilifeform won't complain...
    
    shinohai wouldn't either ...
    
    asciilifeform: it's entertaining, really, all these imaginary 'problems' that go away after 10sec of arithmetic
    
    asciilifeform: yet folx studiously avoid thinking about the actual ones. cuz too depressing, i suppose
    
    mats: i'm thinking about what happened to atc
    
    mats: i'm sure you remember that
    
    asciilifeform: mats: what would have to happen to turn btc into atc, lol
    
    asciilifeform: asteroid ?
    
    asciilifeform: a pill for sha1, i suppose, would do it
    
    asciilifeform: *sha2
    
    mats: miner cartel tries to pump a new chain and 99% of current btc mining quits
    
    asciilifeform: 99% quits, we're back to, when, 2014 ?
    
    asciilifeform: btc worked a++, far as i'm concerned, in '14.
    
    asciilifeform: certainly not 'atc it in garage' level.
    
    asciilifeform: the variant of mass suicide by miners is only interesting to the suiciders
    
    asciilifeform suspects that the 'bcash' incident put even the dumbest miners off the taste of 'pump new chain' for a good while, if not permanently
    
    mats: frankly i thought losing the first billion dollars wouldve done it, but then they went in for more
    
    asciilifeform: afaik you'd need a genuine cryptocalypse, i.e. hard break in the algos, for this scenario
    
    asciilifeform: mats: could be diff. set of 'theys'
    
    asciilifeform: impossible to say from my chair
    
    asciilifeform: that's the thing, miners -- disposable, like indiv. bees in hive.
    
    mats: who knows
    
    mats: in other current events, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tech-trump-idUSKBN22M0D0
    
    asciilifeform: mats: iirc even ibm's ppc factory in ny state sold to china some time in last coupla yrs
    
    asciilifeform: meanwhile.
    
    BingoBoingo: By this time next year US wages will probably be competitive with Asia even if the work ethic isn't
    
    asciilifeform: lulzy 'maga' tho.
    
    asciilifeform: BingoBoingo: if rents also on par w/ asia, who'll notice
    
    BingoBoingo: Money printer goes Brrrrrrr
    
    asciilifeform: surely.
    
    asciilifeform: BingoBoingo: whole thing is lulzy. if i hadn't caught the plague personally, might've hardly noticed it existed.
    
    asciilifeform: disappointing 'apocalypse', would like money back!11
    
    shinohai: Be patient and wait for the murder hornets to propagate in greater numbers.
    
    BingoBoingo: lol, in updates to local news http://mvdstandard.net/2020/05/anti-drug-brigade-headquarters-hit-by-molotov-bomb/#comment-45 << more serious bomb apparently than initial "molotov" designation suggested
    
    feedbot: http://mvdstandard.net/2020/05/mides-audit-shows-probably-fraud-on-the-part-of-local-ngos-more-than-9-million-usd-in-diverted-funds/ << The Montevideo Standard -- MIDES Audit Shows Probably Fraud On The Part Of Local NGOs, More Than 9 Million USD In Diverted Funds
    
    asciilifeform: shinohai: lol, waited for those since '98
    
    BingoBoingo: One local rag is reporting the possibility of using alpaca anti-bodies as an uncommon cold treatment
    
    BingoBoingo prepping to hop on cam in a bit
    
    asciilifeform: BingoBoingo: i imagine analogous to the folx in ru pushing (ancient stockpile of) 'anti-flu' pharma as ditto
    
    asciilifeform: who has what old garbage lying around, will push -- that.
    
    mats: i can only imagine the fireworks if usg sanctions biz partners of huawei like tsmc
    
    asciilifeform: mats: wai would it sanction taiwan co.?
    
    asciilifeform: as if it somehow weren't usg's very own 'unsinkable carrier'(tm)
    
    mats: dunno, big orange gets dumb ideas in his head and does something stupid
    
    mats: like allegedly threatening the us ksa security agreement over shale
    
    asciilifeform: mats: only thing poor fella 'does from own head' involve golf
    
    asciilifeform: errything else -- perma-bureaucracy
    
    asciilifeform: the folx who 'o
    
    asciilifeform: 'omfg, president X did xyz' remind me of teenage gurlz who think their 'beloved actor' ~is~ the $character he plays
    
    asciilifeform: last us prez who 'tried to do from own head' afaik was kennedy.
    
    asciilifeform: and that went to the obv place.
    
    mats: ah yes the famous lizard hitler hypothesis
    
    asciilifeform: doesn't even req. lizard
    
    asciilifeform: 0 lizard in ye olde su, but do you think it was marasmatic brezhnev who e.g. started afgan war ?
    
    mats: the ussr is a mystery to me
    
    asciilifeform: wasn't so diff from current day usa. just diff set of animated cadavers 'in charge'
    
    mats: anyway, im curious about it like you mightve been about a hypothetical invasion of crimea
    
    mats: even though i wasnt born in tw
    
    asciilifeform: invaded, what, 5x, since the turks? i imagine will be again at some pt. it's primo real estate.
    
    asciilifeform: germans offed, what, 98% of sevastopol .
    
    asciilifeform: re tw -- nfi. the 1 fella i knew in meatspace from there, i asked 'so, ready to fight for motherland?' -- looked at me like i had cock instead of nose.
    
    asciilifeform: 'fight? we have 'dun shot,iknow seekrits' rehearsed daily'
    
    mats: their military is definitionally unready
    
    asciilifeform: what would it mean for island to 'be ready'
    
    mats: like so much as 80% manning in personnel slots
    
    asciilifeform: approx on par w/ u.s. army's, last i knew, %
    
    asciilifeform: (what with'em 'double counting' national guard units as 'army' )
    
    mats: lots of pomp and fanfare about american tanks and jets going to taipei late last year, but no mention how they'll rust in a hole somewhere and even odds of being turned on
    
    asciilifeform: supposing even shipped, rather than 'money moved, tanks ???'
    
    asciilifeform: last i knew 0 tanks produced in usa since '12
    
    mats: arms are generally about tribute but this time is particularly egregious now that conscription is being wound down
    
    asciilifeform: oh was it ?
    
    asciilifeform had nfi
    
    asciilifeform: afaik south kr still conscripts
    
    mats: theyve abandoned all pretense to military readiness
    
    mats: https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/02/15/china-threat-invasion-conscription-taiwans-military-is-a-hollow-shell
    
    asciilifeform: догоним и перегоним америку (tm)(r)
    
    mats: all the more confusing considering separatist interests
    
    asciilifeform: it aint clear to me what the point was (other than graft) of maintaining the pretense of 'ready against china'
    
    mats: propping up the taipei govt, for starters
    
    asciilifeform: the chinese could take tw if armed with bows & arrows, dun matter what on other end
    
    asciilifeform: ( 'why' is separate q )
    
    asciilifeform: on asciilifeform's home world we had the joke, 'mao will arm china with... stools and radios' 'stool to stand on, radio to say when to jump from it'
    
    asciilifeform: (notion being, mega-earthquake)
    
    mats: on a similar note, theyre shuttering existing (and under construction) nuclear reactors, in favor of... more natural gas shipments from beijing
    
    asciilifeform: so similar to eu
    
    asciilifeform: w/ china in role of usa
    
    asciilifeform: i suppose they will at some pt sign a formal surrender, like hk
    
    asciilifeform: and the price of hard drives won't even change..
    
    Vexual still awaits alf's journey to the east
    
    Vexual: alf in hk
    
    asciilifeform: Vexual: dafuq did asciilifeform lose in the east
    
    Vexual: dev money? idk
    
    asciilifeform: i dun recall losing anyffing there..
    
    asciilifeform: so to go and look for.
    
    asciilifeform: iirc even mp didn't bother, and he goes to erry possible shithole for religious reasons
    
    Vexual: ah, i see
    
    Vexual: religious?
    
    asciilifeform: y'know, his religion, w/ self in role of muhamed
    
    Vexual: I hadn't made that connection
    
    Vexual: having a wee vodka alf?
    
    asciilifeform: lolno, why
    
    Vexual: you're more vibrant than usual
    
    asciilifeform: writing ch20b just nao
    
    Vexual: 15 rework mustve been a work
    
    asciilifeform: took ~4d
    
    Vexual: futher fuel for the vodka assumtion
    
    asciilifeform: lolk
    
    asciilifeform: believe or not, 0 vodka involved in 15 either
    
    Vexual: at least not the second iteration
    
    Vexual: i'm joking. I can't parse ch1
    
    asciilifeform: i've yet to hear of anybody actually attempting ch1 an' then choking,but there's always a 1st
    
    Vexual: not attempting is a valid method
    
    asciilifeform: i aint aboutta insist
    
    asciilifeform: if you dun think you have any biz reading these, you likely dont
    
    Vexual: I should prolly dl all lessons now
    
    asciilifeform: won't hurt
    
    Vexual: although alf seems particularly insusceptible to webrot
    
    asciilifeform intends to offer'em on dead tree at some pt
    
    Vexual: `nubbins to print?
    
    asciilifeform: lol
    
    asciilifeform: print costs pennies
    
    Vexual: not even joking
    
    asciilifeform: less than e.g. pcb
    
    asciilifeform routinely has apalling crud printed & hardbound , just to take to bed
    
    asciilifeform: if i had a stove, could prolly stoke it for a winter or 2 with just these
    
    asciilifeform: prolly w/ just the ffa-related junk , thinking about it.
    
    Vexual finds it stanglely appalling alf don't have a fire
    
    asciilifeform: Vexual: fireplaces aint standard equip here
    
    asciilifeform: matchstick, recall, 'houses'
    
    asciilifeform: some folx have'em (1970s and prior construction)
    
    asciilifeform in conv. w/ brother : he: 'book out yet?' 'mine? nope' 'no, not yours. the chinese fellow's' 'which fellow' 'the 1 who is making career from yer www. you haven't found him just yet?'
    
    Vexual: ch1 prolly more parsable than stan brother convo
    
    asciilifeform: whats yer beef w/ch1 anyway ? 'too many letters'(tm)(r) ?
    
    Vexual: just haven't had a good look yet
    
    asciilifeform: wb ben_vulpes
    
    Vexual: ayo ben
    
    ben_vulpes: i am unpredictably woefully behind on logs
    
    ben_vulpes: what is mp's "foundation mess"?
    
    asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: i can't speak for others, but my logs are pretty light
    
    ben_vulpes regrets the question immediately
    
    asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: i have nfi specifically. i imagine he expects some sorta instrument of surrender from jurov
    
    asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: i suspect jurov also 'regretted question', lol
    
    ben_vulpes: 'no ragrats', as we said when i was a bairn.
    
    Vexual: hows the wee bairns?
    
    ben_vulpes: i have a somewhat more prosaic question; i gather from questioning others in my wot that i should probably not consider mixing microcontrollers and NICs if i want something working in human time. asciilifeform; have ye commentary or insight to shed?
    
    asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: 'beefy' micros tend to come w/ internal nics
    
    asciilifeform: pic32mz for instance.
    
    asciilifeform: just needs pins brought out to transformer & jack
    
    asciilifeform: afaik they dun have a Gb/s variant just nao. but marvell made 'pogo', did
    
    asciilifeform: never was able to source the latter in bobbins tho
    
    asciilifeform: never found 1 that didn't rely on dma tho, in any micro variant
    
    Vexual: set the problem in clear human form if you please
    
    asciilifeform: ( at least, unlike the pc crapola, they do publish their init specs , tho..)
    
    ben_vulpes: frankly i'm so behind the curve on this aspect of my education that i think i'm better off snipping complexity aggressively and reintroducing it selectively as i find compelling cases
    
    asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: are you even 100% certain that you need ethernet ?
    
    ben_vulpes: asciilifeform: no!
    
    ben_vulpes: Vexual: well there's an effector, and i need to get it commands.
    
    asciilifeform: wainot e.g. rs485.
    
    asciilifeform: or ye olde rs232, a la fg.
    
    ben_vulpes: other nodes said 'uart'
    
    asciilifeform: there's yer uart.
    
    
    
    ben_vulpes: naively, "i'm going to have to network them eventually" "dummy, focus on making something first"
    
    asciilifeform: make 1st.
    
    Vexual: ie, hardware solution
    
    asciilifeform: then get bogged down in protocol sads.
    
    asciilifeform: could spend fucking ~year implementing e.g. even usb1. i did...
    
    ben_vulpes: which leads me to my second question for asciilifeform tonight; have you blessed a 'microcontroller board' for use with ada? what remains of my sense of honor from the first republic recoils at the notion of "simply compiling c or rust" for use with the common-or-garden boards on the market.
    
    asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: i'm partial to pic32 series , cuz simple instr set
    
    asciilifeform: have a half-done gnat for one of'em, even
    
    asciilifeform: fucking hate, otoh, arm
    
    asciilifeform: with, what , 700+ instrs & counting
    
    asciilifeform: try an' implement a working arm.
    
    asciilifeform: whereas mips fits in e.g. 'ice40' fpga & leaves room.
    
    asciilifeform: ( this for 'fits in head' + for say , when you can't source the ic anymoar.. )
    
    asciilifeform: before you laff, this ~happend~ to the mc68k aficionados
    
    asciilifeform: from 1 of world's most common cpu archs, to 'where do i buy even old one?'
    
    asciilifeform: iirc BingoBoingo personally was hit by this
    
    ben_vulpes: high level i need something that eats from uart and shits to same (albeit different pins) and that's ~it
    
    ben_vulpes: BingoBoingo: also smoked museum pieces generating rsa keys
    
    asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: crib from fg src then
    
    asciilifeform: see earlier link.
    
    asciilifeform: thing shits to uart all day, erry day...
    
    asciilifeform: gens own baud clock too
    
    asciilifeform realizes that his handmade proto-FG is possibly the longest contin.-powered piece of gear in his torture room...
    
    Vexual: not for sale any more tho
    
    ben_vulpes should know better. goes to castle alfenstein for advice on running ada on small chips of computronium; leaves with conundrum of 'should ams reorient face and mind and butt towards fpga?'
    
    asciilifeform: Vexual: the folx who bought up the junkyard still selling , last i knew
    
    asciilifeform: Vexual: if yer short 1, talk to'em
    
    asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: depends what yer doing!
    
    asciilifeform: if contin. to stay 'silent like partizan', will get shite advice, what can do
    
    asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: if yer in a dire hurry, ave1's gnat builds a raw-mips gcc w/ 1 ln of config change
    
    ben_vulpes: need to eat some amount of serial data defining a pair of coords and then shit those coords out on another serial port; it's nigh trivial. would like, however, to use this as an autodidactic and toolchain prototyping exercise for more devices in the  same vein.
    
    asciilifeform: you'll have to sit down w/ the datashit for yer chip and make defs of 'volatiles' for the particular registers etc tho
    
    asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: if that -- than straight to fpga.
    
    asciilifeform: is what e.g. FG does.
    
    Vexual: how far texas to dc?
    
    asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: ice40 demo for instance
    
    asciilifeform: ben_vulpes:  ~20 $  board .
    
    asciilifeform: fits small cpu. and maybe 35 FG's...
    
    ben_vulpes: heh this is ultimate 'rtos'
    
    asciilifeform: open ('opensores') toolchain, unlike xilinx's
    
    asciilifeform: iirc demands py3, but was the only headache there
    
    asciilifeform: indeed, it dun get anymore 'realtime'
    
    asciilifeform: can get deterministic delays pin to pin measured in nsec
    
    ben_vulpes: how would you start analyzing tradeoff of 'high level lang' a la ada vs i don't even know what the upside to biting off fpga toolchain is
    
    asciilifeform: there's an obv upside to fpga
    
    
    
    asciilifeform: -- that it aint a von neumann comp, no 'interrupts', 'crashes'
    
    asciilifeform: it either worx , approx., or doesn't
    
    asciilifeform: for 'box takes N bits, gives M other bits, in S millisec, in 30loc' it's straight to fpga.
    
    ben_vulpes: determinism and fistinhead the largest wins from fpga?
    
    asciilifeform: indeed
    
    asciilifeform: that + that you're cured of vendor dependence, in principle can go to tmsc an' get it siliconized, nao or in 2030
    
    asciilifeform: and it'll run
    
    asciilifeform: whether you can get away w/ fpgaism depends intimately on what yer thing needs to do to those N bits to make those M
    
    asciilifeform: if it's a coupla shifts, adds, xor's -- yes. if it's rsa, prolly not
    
    asciilifeform: ( i couldn't find fpga that'd hold a 4096b barrel shifter for any amt of money )
    
    asciilifeform: and prices go from penny to 100k$+
    
    ben_vulpes: thorny problem
    
    asciilifeform: depends on # of gates
    
    
    
    ben_vulpes: in what situations do 'microcontrollers' win?
    
    ben_vulpes: or put another way, what advantages do they have over fpga work?
    
    asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: when you have existing coad for conventional-style comp, for instance
    
    asciilifeform: e.g. ffa
    
    asciilifeform: when you dun care how many nsec from pin to pin
    
    asciilifeform: when you want item to cost 10cents rather than 10bux
    
    asciilifeform: (micros are vastly cheaper per 'horse')
    
    asciilifeform: when you want to plant linux on the box
    
    asciilifeform: most folx take micro over fpga, even when it dun make logical sense
    
    asciilifeform: lotsa 'programmer' types are phobic of circuit design
    
    asciilifeform: (even when req's 0 solder)
    
    asciilifeform: i've found flashlights w/ 8bit micros in'em.
    
    ben_vulpes: it's all just maffs, i dun understand the hesitation
    
    Vexual: time not important
    
    asciilifeform: well, if yer running at multiple Mhz, then have to care re gate delays, for instance
    
    ben_vulpes: i'm going to focus on the effector controller for now
    
    asciilifeform: have to open (gasp) a b00k, and find outwhat 'domain crossing' is. and so on
    
    Vexual: dead tree ftw
    
    asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: have a taste.
    
    ben_vulpes: i dunno that i'm necessarily phobic of 'circuit design', but i am certainly wary of getting ratholed in technological duck cunts. one of the compelling ideologies from the first republic was 'tear their arms off and beat them to death with 'em'
    
    ben_vulpes: there's no chip getting made sans a windows toolchain, neh? attempting else is tilting
    
    asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: 1 of the appeals is that's it's a shallow hole.
    
    asciilifeform: i've made 0 chip, but have fpgaisms on desk right nao w/ 0 winblowz in the loop anywhere.
    
    ben_vulpes: you say 'shallow hole' in one breath and 'book and domain crossing' in another
    
    Vexual: my word you cunts clack fast
    
    Vexual: smokin keyboards is it wot
    
    asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: e.g. FG's controller (albeit w/ evil turdware toolchain for linux, then, for xilinx) from mp's prodding to production in <8wks
    
    asciilifeform: there's ~0 concept of 'debug' tho, in fpgaism. you can simulate, or prod the chip w/ oscope, but very little in between
    
    asciilifeform: so most of work is to actually think when you write.
    
    ben_vulpes: yes yes
    
    ben_vulpes: asciilifeform: how much had you in your head before?
    
    asciilifeform: the serpent demo is good intro, there is link re what the c & ada proggies looked like, and then how it was simmed, and inputs/outputs
    
    asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: 0
    
    ben_vulpes: nfw
    
    ben_vulpes: i disberieve
    
    asciilifeform: i guess not quite 0, knew what iwanted the thing to do. but presumably you also know for yours
    
    asciilifeform: observe that you can simulate w/out buying any physicals
    
    asciilifeform: as pictured in linked piece.
    
    ben_vulpes: my physicals woes aren't 20 fpga chips, but good to know
    
    ben_vulpes: fuuuuuck but open source cad is bad.
    
    asciilifeform: right, presumably you already own whatever shits an' eats those signals
    
    
    
    ben_vulpes: right, servo libary grows day by day.
    
    ben_vulpes hopes to avoid 'silent like partizan', but mustest exercise a skosh of discretion.
    
    asciilifeform: this btw is another + of fpgaism. can simulate 'to nanosecond'. for afaik 0 micro is this avail. (tho some vendors offer turdware for $$$)
    
    ben_vulpes: notrly a design goal; not shooting for high speed cnc here
    
    Vexual: not cnc we get it. what is it?
    
    asciilifeform: for e.g. rocket vanes, need within mSec . for pu pit implosion detonator, within 100nsec. (hey it worked in '40s, they had no fpga..)
    
    ben_vulpes: and this is why i'm putting in the time to think and ask; i'm still putting bounds on the problems and what tools get me how far along which trajectories.
    
    asciilifeform: put, put
    
    Vexual: peek. poke
    
    asciilifeform: 1c of proper bounds is worth megabux of 'let's do!1111'
    
    ben_vulpes: http://www.loper-os.org/#selection-65.1-71.83 << fukkin triggered
    
    asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: you jinxed the selector kludge
    
    ben_vulpes: i lost my first-republic-era workstation to precisely "the minute you try `emerge --sync`..."
    
    asciilifeform: plox to regen that link
    
    asciilifeform: aa
    
    
    
    
    
    asciilifeform: got it
    
    ben_vulpes: fascinating
    
    asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: the js kludge loses the link if you click outside of the sel
    
    ben_vulpes: just saw same
    
    ben_vulpes: fucking www is the penultimate duck cunt. will eat entire humans alive effecting the most trivial shit.
    
    Vexual: seriously, i wanna sell benalf kbs.
    
    asciilifeform: ( mp, of all people, actually 1 time wrote a server-side selector thing , but it dun work w/ indiv. lines of coad in <pre>... so i cant use.. )
    
    ben_vulpes: Vexual: "ergodox ez"
    
    Vexual: really?
    
    asciilifeform: Vexual: 'model f'
    
    Vexual: fuck that
    
    Vexual goes to lok
    
    ben_vulpes: i have a reproduction of that on order
    
    asciilifeform: ugh the 1 w/out the f keys ?
    
    asciilifeform: no ty
    
    asciilifeform: i've the proper 122k.
    
    ben_vulpes: my generation is poor, we've done this thread to death in the old wankpublic, can skip this time
    
    asciilifeform: ( sadly can't buy'em anymoar, even heavily beaten ones. and mine i had to not only clean, but... paint, lol )
    
    asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: dunno, i spend ~100 $. and most of it was for paint.
    
    asciilifeform: in particular the conductive anti-rf paint aint cheap
    
    asciilifeform: prettysure yer 'ergo' cost > .
    
    ben_vulpes: i'll buy time
    
    asciilifeform: lolk
    
    ben_vulpes: ergo buys me time in pilot seat; without something of this shape i'm done with this line of work in another five years
    
    asciilifeform: strangely i never have this prob
    
    asciilifeform: lotsa folx for somereason do tho
    
    ben_vulpes: i envy you!
    
    ben_vulpes: rat is the sole point of pain; maginificently bad after a day of cad
    
    asciilifeform: ben_vulpes: i bought phf's sphere thing
    
    asciilifeform: worx wonderz for 'rat arm'
    
    ben_vulpes: "can you open this jar for me lover?" "i mean i can but i really don't want do" "what do you mean?" "well i'm entirely strong enough but the wrist is aflame and i don't need more accrued damage"
    
    
    
    
    
    ben_vulpes: the radius is so large that i found it caused just as much pain
    
    ben_vulpes: and the scroll ergonomics are utterly impossible
    
    ben_vulpes: drag and drop is pointless too
    
    asciilifeform: hm you tried that very ball ?
    
    asciilifeform: dunno, worx for me. even for cad.
    
    asciilifeform: ifyer wrist is this nuked, maybe try wacom.
    
    ben_vulpes: mine, i admit, does not have scroll
    
    ben_vulpes: so click, drag
    
    asciilifeform: aa i got the 1 phf recced, w/ the roller
    
    asciilifeform: smoothest scroll knob ever saw
    
    ben_vulpes: somehow missed memo on this
    
    asciilifeform: literally like vernier on leica microscope
    
    asciilifeform: will almost turn if you blow on it
    
    ben_vulpes: oh don't be ridiculous
    
    asciilifeform: the ball, similar
    
    Vexual: precision is invaluable
    
    asciilifeform: mine is set so that 360deg of ball goes across 4 lcd (~8000 pixel)
    
    
    
    asciilifeform: rec to turn off 'mouse acceleration' in x11
    
    asciilifeform: and holyfuq, i cant even picture trying to use 1 of these w/out the wheel
    
    asciilifeform: i think fingers would get gangrene
    
    ben_vulpes: this was my mistake, yes
    
    Vexual: best trackball hasnt been invented yet
    
    asciilifeform: try the proper item
    
    ben_vulpes: cst meanwhile out of business
    
    asciilifeform: no?!!
    
    asciilifeform takes off hat
    
    asciilifeform: i'd bet there's still on shelf somewhere tho.
    
    ben_vulpes: "pi engineering" now owns the brand, is out of stock on  everything interesting
    
    asciilifeform: 'ebay' then
    
    ben_vulpes: it was a brilliant piece of hardware, simply could not tolerate life without a scroll wheel
    
    ben_vulpes: thought placement was remarkably stupid on far side of ball, but asciilifeform attests otherwise?
    
    asciilifeform: mine's symmetric
    
    ben_vulpes: on far side from torso
    
    asciilifeform: the wheel turned w/ index or ring finger
    
    asciilifeform: i also like that (unlike in most mice) it doesn't double as 3rd button
    
    asciilifeform: (button -- physically separate)
    
    asciilifeform: also has 2 jacks for standard (3.5mm mono) pedals
    
    
    
    asciilifeform: Vexual: i gotta admit, i ~never look at these
    
    asciilifeform: ( typically i'm on a box w/out audio card, lol )
    
    Vexual: no new info alf
    
    Vexual: i'm quite content talking to myself
    
    ben_vulpes: @jur
    
    Vexual: right?
    
    ben_vulpes: jurov: please to report in re "tbf mess"; don't hold luls in abeyance
    
    ben_vulpes off to mull this fpga knot-cut
    
    Vexual: mullaway brother
    
    asciilifeform: nighty ben_vulpes
    
    asciilifeform also off soon