• 1 Post
  • 48 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
cake
Cake day: July 2nd, 2023

help-circle

  • I see Github as a mere tool. As I could use a proprietary operating system like Windows on my development computer, I can use Github to distribute the code. It doesn’t have that severe consequence to the open source project itself and works well. And it’s relatively transparent. Users can view issues etc without submitting to Microsoft. And it’s been the standard for quite some time.

    I’m far more concerned with FLOSS projects using platforms like Discord, which forces their users to surrender their privacy and that actively contribute to the enshittification of the internet. I wouldn’t want to be part of that.


  • Hmm. They’re dirt cheap so that is a pro. I don’t think they’re made to withstand mechanical load. So good for internal connections but less so if you’re moving around the wires constantly. There are beefier and more elaborate connectors available for that. But in my experience the JST connectors do their job well for normal electronics projects.

    One thing to consider is the current rating. A quick googling tells me a common JST connector is rated for 3 Amps. That’s not a lot. About 75 LEDs per connector to stay within the limit. (Given 5V WS2812 RGB at full brightness. Or ~220 if it’s 12 Volt strips) So if your led strips aren’t longer than that, I’d say you’re fine.

    But I’m not an expert on those things. I can’t tell you whether to choose the SM family or another one… But:

    The Wikipedia article says JST SM connectors are used in some LED strips…

    (So. I’d use them. But they’re not “the best solution”. They’re the minimum to do an alright job, make sure you can’t connect them backwards etc and apart from that, made to be as cheap as possible. The best would probably be some high quality german engineered products or sth like that (the country doesn’t really matter…))



  • I think the more important file is the fontforge one. As this is the thing people can edit and build upon. (the “source”)

    The otf, ttf and woff are just a bonus for people who don’t want to install fontforge and and go through the process of exporting it themselves.

    Ultimately it’s your decision what you release. It’s a similar concept whether you share a cake, or a recipe for a cake. The free software / open-source movement is concerned with sharing the recipes. That’s why they share source code and files in the format they’ve edited it in. (And often include instructions on how to build it, since that is usually a bit more complicated with software.) It enables people to also load it in their editors and customize it, adapt it to their use-cases and fix issues.

    You can also just publish the end-result, which are the otf and ttf files in your case. But people can’t really modify or customize those. It’d be called a freeware font, then. It’d help people who just want to use it, but doesn’t provide much more.

    I’d invite you to upload both the sfd and the resulting otf and ttf. Usually that’s how people do it. Distributing digital files comes at practically no cost. On the internet you can share a recipe and the actual cake alongside at no extra cost.


  • I think the most important step is to get it out there. So:

    1. Choose a license. These resources might help:

    I’d stick with the licenses made for fonts or in use by other font projects, as there are some specifics to fonts licensing.

    1. Choose a name

    2. Sign up and create a repo. Upload your project.

    That is the “get it out there” step. If you want to be open, generally speaking you want to include a LICENSE file, your creation in the format you’re editing it and other people can load and edit it, too. And the exported file in case of something like this, so people can directly use it without learning how to convert a font into a format that is usable. It’s also good practice to include a README.md with explanations and a summary of what this is.


    I think that’s a sound approach for open source. And it’s generally alright to learn as you go. Even if you don’t get everything perfect at once, the most important thing is that it’s available. People might pick up on it. And they will file bug reports and issues if they like it some other way. So you’ll be directed into the right direction anyways. And once you have something to show off, you can start talking about it or make people aware of its existence.

    (And maybe skip all the boilerplate and complicated extra stuff at first. You don’t need an AUTHORS file, no code of conduct, no documentation if there isn’t anything complicated to explain… Just stick to the important stuff and don’t make it unnecessarily complicated and distracting for your users.)





  • h3ndrik@feddit.de
    cake
    tohomeassistant@lemmy.worldkind of Smart Kitchen Hood
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    4 months ago

    Yes, it’s probobly not worth it. I wouldn’t know how to wire it to a 3 position switch, that’s not easy.

    I just included the idea because it could be a cleaner solution. I mean there are edge-cases. For example with your setup, you can’t cook while the Wifi is down. That might or might not be a concern.


  • h3ndrik@feddit.de
    cake
    tohomeassistant@lemmy.worldkind of Smart Kitchen Hood
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    4 months ago

    No, I mean for the input sensing. To see if someone pushed the switch for the hood… The shelly 2.5 has 2 outputs and 2 additional inputs for switches. You cant’t control a third device. But you can measure if there’s mains voltage on 2 additional inputs. If wired correctly to the switch of the hood… You can detect if it’s on and control the 2 damper channels all with one shelly 2.5

    I think the 2 outputs are like controlling blinds. That’s a fairly common use-case for something like a shelly 2.5 and should work fine.


  • h3ndrik@feddit.de
    cake
    tohomeassistant@lemmy.worldkind of Smart Kitchen Hood
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    edit-2
    4 months ago

    Your Shelly 2.5 also has 2 inputs: SW1 and SW2. You could also wire one of those in to the hood so it can directly detect if it’s powered. If that’s possible… Idk, it needs to be after its switch. likely the hood isn’t made for this and you’d need to mess with the internal wiring. Your setup is a bit easier.

    I’m not sure what happens if both channels are active simultaneously… Some devices handle this and prefer one direction, but not all of them. I can’t tell from the eBay page.


  • Hehe. Yeah I meant per default, everything is copyrighted. So it’d fall back to being restricted and thus “not allowing anything”… If the wording doesn’t hold up… I’m not really in the position to judge this. Could be very well the case that once somebody touches it, it’s not “this” product anymore and it’s no longer covered. Or taking just parts of it is also not “this product”. Or a copy. I can imagine that something like that is the reason why other licenses go on and on talking about modified versions and copies etc… But I’m really not a lawyer and you’re right with being creative with things. I did not intend to be too negative 🤗


  • I think it’s the other way around, however… You need to word it so your users can enforce it against you even if you yourself become malicious. Otherwise you’re not really allowing them anything. And for that you’d need to word it so it doesn’t depend on your interpretation, but on theirs. And it’d need to hold up in court for them. So the language needs to be specific and with well-defined words. Every bit of vagueness it the user’s problem and limits/restricts them.


  • I thought the main problem was that it’s debatable whether you can enforce it. So it harms users and distributions because they can’t really rely on it.

    But the liability would definitely be another issue. I think the law is different here in Europe, so the liability might already be included for my hobby tinkering per default and I don’t need to worry.

    And something else is: I’d include trademark… force people to choose a different name for their project if they take my code so there is no confusion and people can’t upload versions with advertisements on some software store.