AmpBenzScientist @AmpBenzScientist@qoto.org

@xorbit @rhempel @lupyuen It needs to be built to a standard. The standard being better than the competition, not cheaper.

@bonifartius @niclas @xorbit @rhempel @lupyuen It was built differently back then. The hardware for embedded systems was usually robust. I think WRT 54 routers are still working with mods. Remember JTAG and UART headers on circuit boards?

I'm not trying to revel in the past but there are certain features that should make a comeback. It just seems like modern electronics are made to turn into ewaste. The software or firmware is another issue but the hardware will usually prevent anything other than malware from making use of it.

@freemo @BernieDoesIt @jkxyz @scottsantens Poverty will lead to improved money management skills. Before I started college I bought around $400 dollars in hand tools and a laptop. It took a lot of saving up to buy but good hand tools are an investment that pay themselves off.

I still have those tools and that laptop. A Craftsman 354 piece Mechanics Tool Set and some Toshiba Satellite with an AMD C-50 "Ontario" APU.

Poverty is something that I've never been able to escape. It gets rough but I would like to think it will all pay off one day. I can only say stay sharp, say nawt. One needs every bit of leverage they can get.

@DanielaKEngert @daridrea Ah this reminds of a time when some people tried to get rid of C. Nothing will replace C. Looking at Cpp after the Rust Epidemic was nauseating. Is memory really safe if it can't be accessed?

I bought a book on Rust and intended to learn the language. I made it to the part where it got into memory management and stated that it was completely unnecessary. Pure hubris. Even if the language is magical, it could make its users horrible coders in another language.

It does have beautiful syntax. The Licensing and Foundation are pretty sketchy. MISRA Cpp and MISRA C already exist so what is the point in Rust? I'm not saying that C is without faults, something about the power of assembly with the usability of assembly. I despise Cpp unless it's embedded, it became bloated.

Rust has numerous faults and the heavy handed foundation might be its downfall. Hopefully it will escape the grips of the corporate overlords and evolve freely. I hope to see it again someday but in better condition.

@thor @alci That's not called penetration testing? That sounds a lot like penetration testing.

@rhempel @xorbit @lupyuen Embedded Systems need to evolve for product sales. A good Embedded System should operate without issue for many years.

I didn't see EEs or CS majors doing anything useful for embedded systems. It was only a group of hackers that dared to mess with the dark arts.

@freemo Don't worry, there will be more horrifying STIs coming soon. Perhaps some are already spreading silently. Maybe it will be similar to The Crazies but more subtle and slower.

Data is beautiful.

@freemo Maybe the solution is to eat the snake.

@thor That's perfectly reasonable. In my 20s I believed that doing the right things and playing by the rules would result in a decent life. Now in my 30s and having a good decade of my life being taken advantage of, I'm not bitter about it. I learned many things and that is priceless.

Friends of mine who went off the path are far more successful than I am. I'm not jealous of their success but I am relieved that they have good lives.

I've already tried challenging people or businesses that have belittled my work and me as a person. Surprisingly I was successful in besting most and in nontrivial ways. It resulted in me being seen as belligerent and irrational by many. It doesn't matter if I was correct, acted in good faith and saw it through at my own expense. The experts are always right but not always correct.

To defend what is correct against the powers that be is almost entirely futile. My efforts were praised in private and I was treated warmly. To quote a wise man who saw it play out, "You proved that you were better than the expert. They were thankful that you saved their ass but you are seen as a threat because of what you did in good faith. The threat that would have hit them got taken care of by you. NDA? Even if there was no NDA, whatever you presented would be dismissed. You worked hard and you did good work but you were disposable."

To summarize, experts tell no lies that stand out to normal eyes. Going against the tide is career suicide. Doing the right thing might very well cost one everything. I don't have any regrets, I just want to get over the result of that experience and other similar events. This is the reason why I want to work on equipment or something very different.

The damage is done. I can't forget what I know and love. I can do something else and do what I love in my free time. Once bitten, twice shy. I just repeated being bitten in the hopes that it would pay off.