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The driver supports alternate keycode mappings specifically for that reason, but before reading your comment I was unaware of the motivation behind reversing the pulse order. Thanks!


Nice one! Using an ESP32 is a much more economical choice these days, but well, I really wanted to write a Linux kernel driver ;-)


Understandable ;) In any case,the hardware is a fraction of the costs if you count the hours...

Would be interested to see a bit of your hardware setup!


Unfortunately only a handful of subystem APIs have Rust bindings right now, so I did not get far enough to write up anything meaningful. Maybe next year support has matured to make a reimplementation in Rust feasible; then I will happily write about my experiences :-)


The firmware is based on ESPHome, which integrates particularly well into Home Assistant, a popular home automation software; therefore I would recommend to implement such features on a higher layer than the firmware. See here how to e.g. implement a "sundial" function: https://gitlab.com/sephalon/deathstar_lamp#home-assistant-in...


Part of the reason for automating it was that I wanted to integrate the lamp into my home theater setup: When the movie starts, the lamp slowly closes and synchronously dims out (guests always react with a smile to this). Pressing the pause button dims it up again and gives one just enough light to find the bathroom ;-)


That sounds awesome. How much noise makes the motor during open/close cycle? I remember that the plastic had quite some friction on its own.


Yes, noise is a problem, which unfortunately makes the lamp quite unpopular with my girlfriend ;-) Some is indeed coming from the folding mechanism itself, but the majority of noise is actually caused by the stepper motor, despite limiting the current to the necessary minimum. One could try to switch to a more advanced (i.e. silent) stepper motor driver than the A4988 (I mainly picked that one because ESPHome already has a driver for it), or use a servo motor instead.


Thanks for letting me know about the video playback issue, I used the following script to create the timelapse:

  ffmpeg \
   -pattern_type glob \
   -framerate 30 \
   -i "img/*.JPG" \
   -i "star_wars_style_march.mp3" \
   -s:v 1920x1080 \
   -c:a libopus \
   -c:v vp9 \
   -shortest \
   deathstar_timelapse.webm
I actually thought that VP9 and Opus are well supported everywhere by now, but maybe that is not the case…

Regarding GitLab, as a general rule, I try to avoid products dominating the market, and I quite like their OSS policy…


I have converted the timelapse to H.264/AAC, hope this plays everywhere now.


Android Firefox says it won't play because it's corrupted.


VP9/WEBM should be supported by all modern browsers: https://caniuse.com/webm


You should have used mp4. Not all browsers support vp9.


A German film crew shot a documentary onboard a Typhoon class submarine (the TK-20 Severstal) in 2001, showing many aspects of daily life onboard, including the launch of a RSM-52 ICBM [1] (unfortunately awful video quality).

In hindsight, they catched a brief window in recent history where a western film crew would be allowed on board of a Russian ballistic missile submarine – remember that 2001 was the year when Putin gave a speech in the German parliament (in German language!) speculating about a new common safety architecture eventually succeeding NATO.

[1] https://youtu.be/cVWBhpjwXxo?si=IQkR6Pbx4dh86y0F&t=1172


I wish more of these government-baked payment systems would just use GNU Taler [1] instead of implementing their own walled gardens.

GNU Taler ensures that the paying customer is anonymous while the merchant is identified and taxable. This is great for privacy, but not very attractive for commercial companies as your revenue has to be fully based on fees instead of making extra money by selling your customers data. The Swiss National Bank showed interest in adopting it some years ago, but I haven't heard much anymore since…

[1] https://www.taler.net


> GNU Taler ensures that the paying customer is anonymous

This right here is the reason why governments won't use it. Governments want transactions to be traceable so that they can audit your taxes. I don't have any issues with that, I actually don't mind paying taxes, but I would never expect a government, no matter how progressive, to use a privacy-based protocol or solution.


It’s designed with taxes in mind. Total user cashflow is still apparent at the bank, just like if you withdrew cash. And the amounts received by vendors are visible as well. So taxable there too. That’s a big part of what’s so cool about it.


Governments all over the world generally want more surveillance, not less. Brazil in particular will never use it: anonymity is literally unconstitutional in Brazil.

There was a fun period where the brazilian government mandated the use of free and open source software in its computers. I remember lots of people who complained about the quality of OpenOffice. Microsoft managed to put an end to that at some point. After former president Dilma's impeachment, I think.


I have to admit, I’d be curious to visit one of these restaurants myself. However, one has to be aware of the fact that these restaurants are reportedly linked to the secretive North Korean party organization, Room 39 [1], which means that all revenue flows directly into the hands of the Kim dynasty, so in the best case you'll help financing their next BMW or much worse, the nuclear arms program—neither of these I'm very comfortable with…

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_39


After a quick search, I found there are North Korean restaurants in Seoul owned by escapees. Definitely a way to learn about the oppressed North Korean people shut away from the rest of the world without supporting their messed up leaders.


there are and some of them are great


Wonderful to know. I never even thought to look up North Korean restaurants during previous visits to South Korea. Will definitely one up next time.


Going by my dad's constant repair bills for his BMW, saddling the North Korean regime with those could be good for diverting funds away from their more unsavory endeavors.


This made me laugh :D


I didn’t see the price mentioned in the article, but given that most restaurants are barely getting by, are we sure they’re really making meaningful money off this place (much less weapons money)? I wonder if it’s more for covert activities.


The article also mentions that the staff is not payed, which surely helps the bottom line.


Sadly for a North Korean just having 2000 calories per day is considered a working class salary. 40% of the population is undernourished.


> so in the best case you'll help financing their next BMW or much worse, the nuclear arms program

That's for sure

tbo, dishes at the restaurant are very expensive , and the taste is just average(my personal opinion)

the primary reason I went to there is I hope the money I paid can help them build more Hwasong-18s, or if it could help their 20x10 plan

https://www.38north.org/2024/08/north-koreas-regional-develo...


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