The world as I see it

Background So, this summer I attended a local Retro-Computer festival, Boat-Fest ,where i picked up a selection of ICs from the free table.  When I got home, I realized I had no easy way of figuring out what I had.  This is the impetus for the ChipInventory project. The Project I wanted to do a small project with node.js and this seemed like a good time to start it.  I looked around to see what was already out there in the way of chip identification databases and I found the ChipDB project and its related GitHub Repository and thought that this was a good start.  The YAML file allows for a description of the component, a list of aliases, pin definitions, notes and specifications.  It also has a link to the datasheet for the component.  Unfortunately the datasheet sources used for the original data seems to have moved.  I am slowly updating the links to newer locations. I started by creating a MySQL database that could hold the definition data that w...

It has been a busy few weeks:   Multiple outages at work A new roof on the house  My other personal projects kicking into high gear So that means I have not gotten a lot done on the new home page. I think I have settled on a layout and theme for it that is related to the current placeholder page I have up. The first thing I will put up is some project summary pages for my Arduino hardware and software projects.

 Well, Earthlink has stopped supporting the old Mindspring free web hosting so my old site is gone.  Soon you will be able to find me at my new domain marshallgates.com . In the meantime, I have finished removing all the old, dead, defunct quiz results from my blog history.  There were quizes hosted on geocities , that's how old some of them were. Now I just have to get in the habit of posting something every once in a while.

I am sorry that some of the other tests on this blog have been taken down. Seems the publisher didn't expect them to do as well as they did and all the hits he was getting got him in trouble with his ISP. Oh well. Edit: added title and that brought this post up to the top.

 Back in the early days, I did a lot of on-line polls and personality tests.  I recorded the results here as blog entries.   Turns out that a lot of them were not 'well supported' and the resources they referenced have gone away.  So, I am cleaning out those posts from my history.  I hope this will tighten up my blog as I start to post to it regularly again. Wish me luck.

The first thing I notice is that it is dark, very dark. The next thing I notice is a beeping in the dark. It is incessant, not loud, just constantly sounding again and again. There may be four or five different sounds. I try to stir, but I am restrained across my chest. I feel like I am sitting. My knees and hips are bent like I am in a chair, but it does not feel quite right. Then it hits me, I am weightless. That can't be good. It is still dark, even after I open my eyes. My arms seem to be free so I swing my left arm up to my face, but it hits something hard, a helmet; and the visor is turned up to block all light. The control should be right here by the seam. How does that mnemonic go? “LUDD - Light Up, Dark Down” My fingers seem to know this instinctively as I dial the visor down a click or two. Still nothing. Another click down and the room starts to show. It looks like a single ship cockpit. That would fit with the weightlessness and the restraints. I...