My notebook for this evening’s work states “This fucking computer is insanity”. I’ve clearly picked up the term from tj. I’ve spent a lot of time fucking about with this wifi nonsense. Here’s the compressed overview of how far I’ve got: I’m loading every module related to ipw and wlan under the sun in /boot/loader.conf: if_ipw_load="YES" legal.intel_ipw.license_ack=1 ipw_bss_load="YES" ipw_ibss_load="YES" wlan_scan_ap_load="YES" wlan_scan_sta_load="YES" wlan_wep_load="YES" wlan_ccmp_load="YES" wlan_tkip_load="YES" No idea what half that wlan stuff does, maybe I should read up some… …

So, I’ve been slowly working on the lights in the hackerspace. I’ve rewired them using Weidmuller WDU2.5 terminals on DIN rail, as this is what I use in work. It’s a pretty great system and lets me have clean wiring, easy to read wiring and things will probably be safer. The next steps I’d like to take are to implement the Internet of Shit on our LED lamps above the main workspaces. Because these are lights and need to be used by real people, they cannot be solely internet connected, that would be ridiculous. This means I’ll need to consider per-LED-BANK physical buttons to compliment my software implementation. We’ve got 4 banks of LEDs, so 4 inputs and 4 outputs will be needed. …

So I’ve been curious about running more FreeBSD for a while, it’s kind of an interesting OS. I’ve been dipping my toes in the water by managing to install it on my hackbook (HP Compaq TC1100) with the intention of taking it to 32C3 as my main device. FreeBSD has some lovely architecture features that I really enjoy - the base system is more or less an immutable image between installs, bar a few files… At least it is in my use case. No fancy kernels for me, etc. Any tweaks you do make to the base system you can easily be reminded of by comparing yourself to it. …

Abroad’s going mostly well. Initially very busy, now things have slowed down and I’m waiting on others. I’ve been fiddling with this tablet a lot. It’s been, much to my surprise, really useful. A Tablet in Industry As I said previously I really like the size and shape of it. I’ve been using it in my industrial context extensively as a document viewer. 16GB is a large amount of documentation, and having it in the palm of my hand (or pocket) at all times is super useful. I can bring it out and show clients, or staff, drawings to describe something, zooming in on specific areas to highlight important details, or giving an overview of the whole system. The machine can be on all the time, with connectivity off, and afford me several days battery life, compared to my work-assigned laptop’s 1 hour. I can hang it from a rail or mount it somewhere and leave the screen on to use as a reference. …

I’m travelling again. It’s time for another Arabic Adventure, and to be honest I’m really looking forward to it. Hands on work, over a broad range of areas that will really stretch me. I absolutely thrive on the environment I’m forced into when I’m there. It’s terrifying, difficult, high pressure and unfamiliar and I every day is different and difficult for a whole set of reasons. Because I’m travelling, I’ve been looking at my tablet again - the original Nexus 7 from back in 2012. …