Author: Bzzz

Theme Font & Size Changer for Thunderbird (#E6) [update 64.3 #2]

[You’re late to the party. This crap has been fixed and is now available as addon directly from Mozilla. Click here for the addon announcement, or read the comments on this page for a secondary fix (64.4) for TB58+.]

You know what really grinds my gears? MORONS that “maintain” a piece of software.

This guy called Baris Derin has quite a lot of Mozilla (FF/TB) addons out there. Great stuff. I’ve been using the font changer for quite some time, as my Thunderbird looks a bit odd with default settings. So, what’s wrong with it? […]

9th April 2018 6th May 2018 By Bzzz In 92 Comments

Waveshare 400×300 4.2″ three-color SPI E-Ink / E-Paper display module (WHL #38)

Bit of an upmarket item for today, not the usual Wan Hung Lo…had the honour to make that thing display some demo content for a side project at work. So…why not take some photos, publish the code, and get ahold of a similar unit for use at home?

So this is an e-Paper / e-Ink display, actually a module that consists of the display unit itself and a base PCB that takes the flimsy flat-flex connector, adds some passives and presents a more sturdy interface to the microcontroller that will be handling the thing. Also, the PCB is large enough to offer mount points on each corner. […]

2nd April 2018 3rd April 2018 By Bzzz In No Comment

Easter break (#E5)

Well, everybody – have a nice Easter holiday.

Thanks for the long weekend, dude! […]

1st April 2018 1st April 2018 By Bzzz In No Comment

3590S-2-103L 10K Ohm Rotary Wirewound Precision Potentiometer Pot 10 Turn vs genuine Bourns and Vishay pots (WHL #36F1)

Quick follow-up on the fake Bourns pots – only thing you get when reporting IP stuff is the following mail and a case ID:

尊敬的客户： 您好！

案件单号：<ID>

感谢您的反馈，请提供更多的证明主张被举报的商品涉嫌侵权他人的知识产权，比如鉴定报告、权利人申明等。

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25th March 2018 1st April 2018 By Bzzz In No Comment

Beetle Virtual Keyboard BadUSB Pro Micro ATMEGA32U4 Module Mini Development Expansion Board For Arduino Leonardo R3 DC 5V I2C (WHL #37)

Having no internet connection because your telephone provider screws up is bad enough – but this time, I screwed up. D’oh…
Well, I’m back, and now speeds have doubled. And cost has halved. Was that worth two weeks of heavily limited 2G/4G cellphone tethering interwebs? I don’t know, I don’t want to do that again… :???:

Today’s item is a small Arduino compatible board. I bought this mid-February for 3.52€ including shipping on AliExpress, and it arrived yesterday.

Why do I buy such a limited version instead of one of the larger (Pro Micro/Mini, etc.) […]

18th March 2018 18th March 2018 By Bzzz In 2 Comments

3590S-2-103L 10K Ohm Rotary Wirewound Precision Potentiometer Pot 10 Turn vs genuine Bourns and Vishay pots (WHL #36)

Visiting the dark side of China today – product piracy.

First things first, I actually bought this item twice from two different sellers on AliExpress. One back in September for 1.07€ and now two more for 0.95€ each in early January, just to be able to kill one during inspection. The seller may be the same (I’ve seen that recently from BME280 sensors, review to come), but the shop name is different. It is intended as replacement for the current adjustment knob on my electronic load, as I am an idiot and during build I set the voltage over the pot not to the two end pins, but to one pin and the wiper. […]

25th February 2018 24th February 2018 By Bzzz In 1 Comment

OJADE Mini Plastic 21-Cell Toolbox, Electronic Components IC Chip Storage Box Case (#R4)

I wonder if I should extend or split the “Rant” category? After all, there’s another thing to mock…this time on DX :mrgreen:

Haven’t bought it, but it appeared in my heavily filtered RSS. DX has a limited and apparently redactionally populated inventory, so somebody at DX has to have put this turd online.

What is it? Well, a plain storage box. SKU 504263. 21 cells. 7 per week (starting with Sunday), one for each evening, morning and noon. In that order. Whoever the fuck thought that was a proper arrangement.

“Gramps, did you take your four imperial screws and the one nut for breakfast yet?” […]

18th February 2018 4th February 2018 By Bzzz In No Comment

DC5V USB PORT 10X10CM El panel Electroluminescent BackLight panel el foil el paper el sheet Led Board Display with Inverter (WHL #35)

Here’s another random thing from a colleague: A small Electroluminescent panel!

I was asked for an area lighting thingy that is slightly flexible. So unless one wants to bend the stiff backing of a mobile phone backlight unit, EL foil seems to be the solution. I’m not sure if that fits his needs, but I’m confident he’ll tell me if it’s not ;) I bought this thing quite recently on AliExpress (mid-January 2018) for 5.22€ including shipping. Yes, shipping cost have increased by a bit, but shipping times have improved as well. […]

11th February 2018 4th February 2018 By Bzzz In 3 Comments

BenQ EX3501R 3440×1440 21:9 35″ Curved VA monitor – AMA modes revisited for response time measurements (WHL #33F3)

Finally got a photo diode for re-measuring the panel response time of the BenQ EX3501R. It’s a Vishay BPW34 type with 7.5mm² of active area, 70pF of capacitance at 0V, 600 to 1050 nm of spectral bandwidth (Reichelt claims quite a bit more?), peak sensitivity at 900nm and a relatively big half sensitivity angle of 65 degrees. Yeah, capacitance goes down when reverse biasing it, whatever, just slap it onto a probe and let’s go:

It’s not perfectly aligned at the screen, but that shouldn’t do much. I’m running GIFs with #000000, #7F7F7F and #FFFFFF frames, flickering at 20Hz. […]

28th January 2018 29th January 2018 By Bzzz In 1 Comment

KitchenPalz and the 24 hours of customer retention (#R3)

Here’s a lazy start in 2018: This isn’t from a Wan Hung Lo item, but aside from spelling, I could totally imagine this as one of those teeny tiny “rate us 5 stars!” notes that were quite common a few years ago.

Have a look:

:roll:

So…

First thing (which I realized last): Thanks for buying a Stainless Steel Colander Set? Well, technically, it is stainless steel bowls with plastic lids and a silicone (non-slip) coating around the bottom. If that was intended to be a set of sieves, well, good job QA, good job. Do I need to send them back, or can I just drill holes as I like? […]

14th January 2018 14th January 2018 By Bzzz In 1 Comment