cyberboys journal

well my plan to journal daily really did fizzle out already lol.

10 days have past since i last did a recap... time is flying by at the moment... im having to use my calender to remind me what happened these days since theres no way i would remember what i did 10 days ago haha.

• fri 12 - our friend marc from wellington is staying with us this weekend. he arrived in the avo and we caught up over some tea. that evening we biked to a pub in brunswick for a few drinks. i dont remember what i was working on this day.

• sat 13 - lucy was running a garage sale with some friends today. i helped her put up some signs for this and also made coffees and breakfast burritos for everyone who came through. it was a fun community activity - they met some nice neighbors and sold a little bit of stuff. that evening we went with her cousin to watch his daughter perform in a Pride and Prejudice play. it was really good! quite by chance there was a free non-working k40 laser cutter on market place nearby where the play was so her cousin helped me pick this up and take it home - im going to try get it working again so i can use it for prototyping panels and circuits for underscores. we also ended up going to a small rave in basement beneath a club in collingwood. the music and energy was fun and ended up having a good time despite being very tired

sun 14 - our friend marc was leaving this avo so we spent the morning hanging out with him. we walked into ascot vale and back through flemington to try a place that does vegan croissants which were very good. it was a nice day and we all sat in the park - including our flatmates cat who came out on a leash.

mon 15 - i dont remember what i worked on today. its possible i was preparing and assembling the units for the perfect circuit order that came in a few weeks ago - it was mainly for a few more recurboys both standalone and eurorack enclosed. i needed to order a few parts (did a recurboy restock for my own shop also) so as these came in i would have been working on them... that evening lucy and i walked to brunswick to pick up some stuff from my old studio. had a drink and nice burger on the way

tues 16 - i taught the last session of my online class this morning. it went quite well even though i did go overtime because there was a lot of loose ends to tie up. seems like the people who were following along did enjoy the class and some people sounded interested in a follow up class which is one idea... that evening we had the closing night of the filmclub TRASHPALACE also. we watched an indonesian folk horror/action film called LADY TERMINATOR which was very silly and a lot of fun. i ordered cheap pizza and a good number of people came through to see off the weekly screenings (19 in total that got us through the winter!)

wed 17 - i was considering going for an overnight bike ride today (to clear my head a bit after closing some things and starting others etc) but weather wasnt quite right so ended up working from studio instead. was quite focused finishing up the soldering and assembling for the perfect circuit order when the final parts arrived this day.

thurs 18th - i tried to test the prototype of my updated sync_ope eurorack revision (this was a single pcb in 4hp with parts on front and back...) the idea will be for it to be 4layer so both sides have their own dedicated ground plane but for prototyping im doing 2layer and weaving gnd throughout (whivh is not ideal but hopfully enough to prove the circuit works) i was having multiple issues debugging this circuit and getting a bit frustrated with it all. in hindsight i think my studio was too messy and i wasnt in the right mood to do the difficult job of debugging a circuit... i will come back to this next week and see how it goes... i think i was feeling a bit stressed in general about the business and how long it takes me to finish projects... in the afternoon we went to the zoo which is nearby our place and did some work from the cafe there. i was working on a new module (an adaption of the cadet c2 with my rp2040 sync) which i hoped to add to my current jlcpcb order. that evening we went to dinner at my cousins place which was really fun - rode the bikes there and back in the night...

fri 19 - lucy and i worked from a cafe and then the flemmington library. i was laying out and routing the first prototype of the c2 adaption circuit which i did finsih and ordered pcb and stencil to test from... in the afternoon i wanted to work on CYPHER code stuff but didnt quite had the energy. instead i brainstormed abit the series and naming of the eurorack modules i was working on... plus had some more ideas for other modules in this series too.. it is quite a lot of ideas kicking around but i think it could end up being quite interesting... had a quiet night in..

sat 20 - lucy and i walked into the city to run some errands. we picked up a trolley thing from marketplace and ate at an indoneasan place near southern cross. our flatmate was having his birthday party that evening where we had rented a boat to drive 24 people around the harbour/port phillop. this was very fun saw lots of industrious parts of melbourne i hadnt seen before. the party came back to our place and we stayed up late listening to music and hanging with friends

sun 21 - spent the day recovering from a big night. cleaning the house (my parents are staying here next week) and just relaxing... feeling pretty ready for the next week - i hope its a good one!

ooo whoops just went ahead and skipped 5 days writing here lol. the weekend is less important for underscores journal. although did end up going on a successful bike ride on saturday while also ticking off an end-of-train-line visit:

• sat 6th: we took the train to mernda and had some lunch there - then rode the bikes down a path and into the plenty gorge. unfortunately there is only one road that crosses the plenty stream so although we only needed to take this road for aprox 5 mins to cross its a state highway that connects two major strips so not a fun road to bike on. we needed to cross the road to get to the side street but we were between two corners and a passing lane (where cars go extra fast) so this ended up being a bit more stressful than i planned. after this it was nice dirt roads all the way to the blue lake which was a great spot... ended up taking a different route back (to another train line) that was better and overall a great ride that pushed our limits a bit lol...
• sun 7th: planned to go to the gaza rally in morning but lucy was recovering from a migraine and decided to skip this week. we met with lucys cousins and his children at a board game bar in the city which was a cool spot. played a game called galaxy trucker which went down well
• mon 8th: went to the gym in the morning. then spent some time unsuccessfully trying to fix my flatmates bike. i want to get it going again since it was damaged when we crashed into each other. its frustrating when you end up out of your depth but i needed to call it. spent the afternoon opshoping in western suburbs and found some clothes and books i liked.. made a curry pizza for dinner
• tues 9th: had the 5th lesson of my online class - which went well - still a good turnout and people pretty engaged. then ordered some parts for an upcoming perfect circuit order and jlcpcb order... had trashpalace film club screening in the evening - a small turnout but the film we watched (NEPTUNE FROST) was a hit
• wed 10th: went to the gym again. spent most of the morning preparing for the next weeks trashpalace screening which will also be the last of this season. i like to make a little edit with clips from each film we watched for the final screening so it took a bit longer to prepare. had a great dinner out a laksa king a restaurant close to us that we like. tried to layout a restock for some circuits in the shop but didnt finish before clocking off for the night...
• thurs 11th: today lucy and i rode to the north fitzroy library again to work remotely. im trying to fix up some bugs on the cypher codebase. made some progress but also got a but stuck down a rabbit hole. also replied to a lot of messages and emails...

took a walk this morning with lucy exploring some deep corners of Royal Park - the large park land near our house. then was quite a chill morning working from home

orginized a package to be sent to the us - using easyship which is a third party logistics service. usually i just use auspost but since they are not shipping to the US at the moment, i had an order placed before i realised and updated the shop - so after offering to refund them so they could shop at perfect circuit state side instead but didnt hear back - the package is sent today. ups world wide saver through easyship was by far the cheapest option - by about a half of any others i saw... (including directly through ups weirdly.. ) but its still more than twice what i was paying with aus post... good to atleast have tested this alternative incase i need it again in the future...

then i moved the 3d printer inside the closest by my studio, did a test print and then printed the ANKHEG design requested for the dnd campaign... we scaled the module by 70% to fit the desired size.. and it did print no problem but the model shape meant lots of supports to build small overhanging bits.. so trying to remove supports seems to have damaged bits of the model... this could be due to the scaling. but also this model may be best suited for resin printing... anyway.. will try another model of ANKHEG we have that doesnt require scaling and see how that turns out... was happy with the reduced noise from the printer... i put some bubblewrap under the door of the cubbord and that really seems to have done it...

my next task for the day was to finish testing the hardware for CYPHER_EURO - to my surprise it mostly worked. i used the wrong usb-a footprint to attach the keyboard. and also forgot to wire 5v power line to the keyboard so needed to fix this... and then also forgot to wire a trace to a multiplexer but besides these few things everything else that i tested was looking pretty good.. atleast at first glance.. (forgot to test the output overlaid on external video yet) but that is very promising... now will just be small tweaks and checking some of the values sit where expected... but no big obvious errors...

i was thinking of trying to test the hardware for the SYNC_OPE_EURO while at it today but might leave this for another day. it always takes a lot of brainpower to do these testings and for a friday avo think should leave it on a pretty good note. i have a meeting at 4pm with the other artists showing at this play_station exhibition so will jump on this soon...

been a pretty good week - feels nice to be focusing on some of my own projects again. and the journaling so far has been positive!

went to the gym this morning for the first time in weeks since iv finally recovered enough from two overlapping colds. then lucy and i cycled to the Bargoonga Nganjin - north fitzroy library where we have been working from today. i brought the bits needed to write code for CYPHER project:

the bits:

• my laptop and charger
• a prototype circuitboard with the rp2040-zero attached
• usb-c cable to program the rp2040 from my laptop
• usb-c-dongle for my laptop
• composite-usb dongle and a composite cable to monitior the output of the circuit

the idea is that users can update the font set by connecting the circuit to a computer - where it will mount as a small FAT12 removable drive (64Kb) and they can drag in the binary .font objects (around 5kb each)

my main task for today was to create a bunch of 'bad' font files - basically corrupting a working font file in different ways and then testing and fixing whichever ones break the code.. i made a good start in the morning however quite quickly hit a few tricky issues.

the first one i found while testing these bad fonts - deleting a file on my computer from the removable device caused an error with the font loading.. this error remained even after restarting and reflashing the code.. so it must be in the flash itself. erasing this and rebuilding the partition was only way around but this takes some time so its a pain to debug...

then the other issue was after copying 5 fonts onto the drive it was reporting an error that memory was full - even tho only 20kb of 64kb was used...

after most of the day digging into these (and feeling a bit in over my depth to be honest - this project has quite a lot of moving parts and code examples stuck together when i dont understand everything) i finally found some solutions :

the delete problem is directly related to my os soft delete - it moves it to a folder .trash-1000/files on the drive... and i dont know why but this caused the problem. a full delete is fine. and going back and removing these trash folders resolved the issue. so its not perfect solution and i dont know yet why this causes the issue but atleast there is a workaround to move forward for the mvp..

the other issue proved to be hitting some kind of limit to the number of files or data in the root partition. when i switched to putting everything into a FONTS folder this is no longer an issue. may be some limititon to the FAT12 system - didnt go too deep into it since its an obvious and easy fix!

so after working through these i finally got to test my bad fonts.. and some did cause crashes.. and some others just caused the output to glitch in really interesting ways! i fixed the crashes (and also had to fix one of the interesting visual glitches but the other remains) so feeling pretty ok with how this went. tomorrow will be back in the studio testing hardware prototype i think. going to meet a friend for dinner at a mexican place in carlton on way home

I always find it difficult to context shift back to a project I havnt worked on in a while. Even more so when it's a coding project...

Today I wanted to get back into writing some code for the CYPHER project. It is a rp2040 based text overlay for composite video. It can take a usb keyboard and add text over a video signal. It can also be connected to a computer where it shows up as mass storage so you can add new fonts to it.

This is an exciting project. I recently also build a EURORACK prototype that can interact with rgb 1vpp systems..

Today's task was first to update the sync timing because the clock was running at 135mhz which divides by 5 to 27mhz which I'd common clock for composite sync gen but then high speed usb needs clock multiple of 12mhz. Which is close 132mhz would work so it was only sometimes failing.. 108mhz is a multiple of both but I found this not to quite work. Ended up setting to 135 and adjusting the timing values to fit thud. It's not perfect sync but for now I think it's good enough.

Then I wanted to ensure that when flash filesysrem was mounted to a computer the micro did not also access it.

There's some more code things to do for the mvp but I want to wait till I'm working away from studio to do them. Instead I started testing the hardware. Spent a while tracking down a strange issue where two pins on the rp2040 were shorting. After many tests and desoldering parts and cutting traces and rewiring things I found it was a fault with the microcontroller board.. so that's weird. Will pop another board in and continue testing tomorrow or Friday. Debugging issues on first prototypes is one of the hardest parts of this job I think. I'm proud of myself for figuring this out while remaining calm and even enjoying the challenge.

Later in the evening I rewarded my self with the fun job of curating the trailers/ preshow for next week's trashpalace screening. I also needed to reencode the film with subtitles hard-coded and preshow added to start so it can be uploaded and watched online.

Oh another thing I did during the day was test some new filament for my 3d printer. I friend has asked me to print somr squid monster figures for his dnd campaign. I switched the filament and did a test print of happy Buddha which failed near the top. I found the issue was the filament got knotted. Not sure how that happens or if it comes like this.. but cutting this out and re adding it seems to have solved it printed a nice test benchy. I did decide to move the printer from under my desk to in thr cupboard since the fan noise is a big distracting for me and these squids eill be longer prints than the usual small parts I use the printer for... I'm happy to be getting more comfortable in freecad and with 3d printing in general. Feels like a nice super powerp

spent 2 hours today teaching my online class about making art with electronics. its the 4th out of 6 lessons. was surprised to see around 6 people tuned in for it (out of around 12 tickets sold) which is quite a lot for this stage since many people follow along asynchronously. everyone gets a kit in the mail with breadboards and the parts and a custom interface module that takes vga signals to and from the breadboards...

today we modulated some of the oscillator modules from last week using LDRs and LEDs and then built the LOGIC_GATE module that combines signals from HORIZONTAL and VERTICAL OSCILLATORS...

everything went pretty smoothly. last week i spent some time trying to update our element chatroom so images would display correctly. which i thought i had solved but discovered today that videos do not display correctly (not sure if they did before making these changes or not) feeling a bit frustrated with matrix/element for not being able to do even the most basic features of a chatroom...

then rest of the afternoon i spent curating a 12hour movie marathon for the filmclub TRASHPALACE - we have a screening tonight that i will start preparing the lounge for after this (we rearrange the furniture every week so all the couches face a wall which is projected onto).. tonights film SPIRITS OF THE SKY, GREMLINS OF THE CLOUDS (1987) is a low budget australian outback/arthouse... i havnt seen it so keen to check out...

this TRASHPALACE season is coming to an end - i think will do 2 more weekly screenings (conveniently timing with when my other tuesday commitment of online class also finishes) but have also hosted an annual 12 hour movie marathon special event for the last 4 years i think... and felt inspired today to plan this when i had the idea for the theme. last years theme was BUGS and year before was WITCHES.. before that was TIMESLIPS and before that was MADNESS... for a while been wanting to do a PLANT themed one but just didnt have the inspiration right now to put this together... however a recent rewatching of eXistenZ (1999) while sick last week gave me the idea of doing VIDEO GAMES this year... so now i have the full program worked out for this (opening w eXistenZ!) and 5/7 of the films planned i havnt seen.. so thats very exciting... not sure when it will be yet... maybe beginning of oct ? or could be end to allign with halloween ... ???

still taking it easy as i recover from my cold.

morning spent replying to some emails, helping troubleshoot modules from my class.. and also planning some bike trips for when the weather gets nicer!

then in the afternoon i found that missing pcb and finished the soldering for the new prototypes im testing.. my phones back camera is broken but took some photos (awkwardly with the front camera)

the high level is that i have been prioritizing a new phase of circuit designs for underscores. most projects i have put out recently have been in the DIY category. these use mostly through hole components and focus on creating low cost entry points to exploring video circuits..

i still have some more ideas for this category (including an adaption of the vga based modules from my online class) but im wanting now to release some EURORACK modules - these will cut less corners, use all smd parts (still choosing hand-solderable footprints tho) and will be mostly assembled in house through jlcpcb once the designs are finalized. i have decided to place smd parts on both sides of these pcbs when needed and also will make these 4 layer boards with the middle ground planes.

looking at the price difference of these additional features when ordering 10+ boards is not much more, but for smaller batches for prototyping it is quite significant. therefore im prototyping with 2 layered pcbs that i will solder myself. and then upgrade it to 4layer when ready to batch order... it only adds around 10aud to add a stencil to a jlc order so i will be using these even for prototypes on more complex boards. i use a combination of a small hot plate and hot air gun to solder the parts i place by hand

no work on sunday for me

. still feeling a bit sicky but needed to get out of the house a bit. there was a Wattle festival in Hurstbridge which is a small town at the end of the Metro Hurstbridge Line. I had previously resolved to try visit all the places at the end of the Metro lines (and eventually also the regional Vline trains) so decided to head out there with some friends who were going.. (this is the 4th iv been to now but theres a dremel i might pick up from marketplace in Craigeburn this week) was a wholesome energy but i didnt stay long as i was still pretty tired. saw some fascists from an anti-immigration protest at flinders st as i was changing there which was a bit confronting. would have been nice to have attended the gaza protest which also was counter-protesting this today but was too run down and needed to be back home in bed.

made a nice dinner and watched a trashy montreal crime movie with angelina jolie

hello world

i just set up this digital journal / diary based on the code shared from my friend paloma

i felt inspired reading their journal entries and decided that documenting some of my own journey could help holding a wider perceptive..

my intention is to share my day to day tasks and accomplishments mainly related to my art practice designing and building video circuits for underscores.shop

in the last few years i have felt increasingly repelled from sharing my life on social media - even on the decentralized and ethical mastodon network where i tend to exclusively scroll these days.. i hope this journal could act as a substitute for some of the positive sides of posting life updates..

i havent yet decided whether i will make this public facing - maybe it will be private at first with the option to work up to making it public. atleast i will write with the assumption that others could see it one day, compared to my extensive local markdown note-taking in joplin - which is as chaotic and unstructured as my thoughts lol

todays tasks

its a saturday and i dont usually work on the weekend. however iv been fighting a cold on and off for over a week now and still not feeling up to leaving the house much. most of august has been dedicated to:

1. teaching my 6 week online class which is once a week on a tuesday and any followups or preparations related to that

2. working on an art commission for a group show at play_station gallery in Te Whanganui-a-Tara that opens beginning of october

this has meant taking a wee break from my usual research & development into video circuits for underscores which has been nice. but also nice to come back to them with some fresh energy.

i have some prototype pcbs for new designs that needed to be built and tested and wanted to get all of them done in one go while all the parts are spread out and messy... two of the builds went well yesterday considering it is my first time working with two_sided smd designs (will outline more info on this in a future post i hope) but still had two more to do before putting everything away...

so my plan was to just get the soldering done today while im staying in anyway. however after spending maybe 20 minutes searching my studio (in a slight headcold haze) for the pcb i needed to solder i finally discovered i never ordered this pcb in the first place! i had ordered the stencil and all the parts... so no luck there. decided to put in a jlcpcb order right now and happy to find out that they have discounts on the standard global line shipping for small orders that makes a single pcb order very affordable (came to around 10AUD all up for 5x pcb and shipping!)

then i figured i would make the other board atleast - which i confirmed i definitely did order! but also couldnt find it anywhere... i guess it got put in the wrong place when i did a big studio clean at end of the art commission project (often i find a tidy studio just as hard to find what i need as a messy one...) so i decided it was a sign to not try to work today and get back to bed (where im writing this) oh i also added another order of that pcb to the jlcorder (love you can add to an order after the fact by the way - so useful for my scatterbrain) just in-case those other pcbs never do show up...

anyway its a lot to dump on the first entry - since i have some bringing up to speed to do i guess. and still finding my tone/expression for this journal. currently my phone has both a broken camera and around 1/3rd of broken screen so it isnt much good for photos or writing this from... but i look forward to sharing images and writing entries by phone when i get a new one