Short

_{and why you should feel bad for defending it}

First off, go read the law.

Right, you read it, cool.

Lemme break this down for you.

This bill moves to add a “signal” to the operating system that any application developer can request to verify a user's age within a few buckets.

Currently the buckets are as follows: – Whether a user is under 13 years of age. – Whether the user is at least 13 years of age and under 16 years of age. – Whether the user is at least 16 years of age and under 18 years of age. – Whether the user is at least 18 years of age.

Depending on the bucket that the user's age resides in, the application developer can control what is shown or allowed (or even prevent the launching of) in their application.

Pratical example being this:

Karen bought a new computer for her son Timmy.

She sets up his account setting his age to the second bucket (at least 13 and under 16).

Now whenever Timmy attempts to launch an application that respects this “signal”, it'll lock features (say a private chat system) until Timmy reaches the correct age.

Sound perfect right? Karen doesn't need to worry about Timmy talking to people he shouldn't be.

I want you to keep this example in mind while we cover a few more things.

Let's review the existing operating systems out there and how they handle account creation.

Apple

Apple's new computer flow allows for Local users. In laymans terms this is an account that doesn't have iCloud tied to it, unique to that one computer.

In that sense, we can expect Apple to embed this “age value” somewhere within it's local users database (potentally encrypted but I doubt this).

What happens if that computer gets a virus or some IT helpdesk scams the parent and installs some backdoor to the computer? Whoops you just let leak your child's age (and potentally how many childern you have) alongside all the personal data on that computer!

Now someone is gonna have data to sell to the next child stalker (or god forbid some advertiser) that Karen has a young kid!

So wait, what if you link the computer to iCloud?

Well, we can expect Apple to store this age within iCloud, allowing the value to sync across all devices that Timmy owns, like his iPhone or iPad.

Hey, remeber that iCloud photo leak from 2014?

Do you really trust Apple to store your child's age in iCloud when their track record is shit?

This is assuming Karen doesn't get phished into sharing their login details with a malicious third-party.

Speaking of iPhones, what about those apps? This bill applies to more than just computers, it also covers phones!

Imagine Timmy downloading the next cool app™ that everyone at their school is playing. Developers have unfettered access to this age bucket value, and nothing is saying they can't just keep track of that.

Windows

Microsoft removed the builtin ability to use local accounts to install the OS, you can bypass this with custom builds or workarounds requiring custom installers but let's be fair here, Karen isn't going to bother with that or even care.

We know Microsoft is going to store this age in their cloud accounts, hell they already ask for your age for Xbox. Most people wouldn't even see the requirement pop up as they already filled this out years ago.

I don't need to tell you about the history of Microsoft and how little they care about you and your data.

Linux

Well, all distros operate via local accounts. Ubuntu is exploring their options but there is no offical annoucement yet. Chances are it'll look like Apple's solution for local accounts.

That being said most distros do not have the developer bandwidth to implement what this law is asking them to do, so instead they'll be writting in a clause in their end user agreement that states the software is not be used in California.

This doesn't seem like much but from my interpretation of the law, it doesn't differentiate between desktop and server usage.

If distros start writting out usage in California then most every new server starting January 1, 2027 will be violating both the law and the end user agreement of the distro.

---

So we reviewed how the three operating systems handle account creation.

If we ignore Linux, because let's face it, the Linux desktop userbase is tiny compared to Apple and Windows and most people using Linux will happily violate this law because fuck laws.

We now have a law that forces major companies into collecting a generalized age of all their userbase. These very same companies that have horrid track records of ensuring their customer's data is secure, who are also some of the largest targets for hackers because of this very data.

If you are of the kind that believes you have “Nothing to Hide”, then buddy I'm sorry to tell you this but that's just an excuse to further violate your privacy.

This companies do not care about you or your privacy, all they care about is a bottom line. You don't have anything to hide but that doesn't mean you should be willing to show everything to anyone that asks under the guise of “Child Protection”.

If you have a child then you really need to think about this, regardless of what you believe that child is their own person. Do you really have the right to violate their privacy by sharing this information to faceless corporations who operate with the understanding that all they have to do is say sorry and pay a fine?

Karen willingly entered their child's age into the new computer and that data is forever stored on a server somewhere. Any application running on that computer, be it installed or online, will access that information to do what they believe is correct with that information.

If you don't care about Apple or Microsoft then care about the millions of developers who now have the right to know an aproximate age of your child.

---

Gavin Newsom signed this law into affect.

He is a Republican maskerating as a Democratic. Using Republican talking points to convince people into allowing this law to pass.

He has signed anti-trans bills into laws and is generally a bad vibe within his own party.

Fuck him and anyone who defends him, this law is one of many he pushed in “for the sake of the kids”.

---

End

So, how could this be better handled?

Well, for one not storing your kid's age on anything.

If you are a parent, control your kids usage of these devices.

Enable Parental Controls on their devices, most all systems already have some level of parental controls built-in.

If you are thinking about installed one of the many “Child Protection” apps that record and track everything your child does on their phone?

Hey, where do you think that data is stored?

How do they know when to alert you?

That's right, those apps sends all that data to their own servers, potentally storing it for years :)

If you really can't do that, then don't give your child access to these devices.

Or atleast be an adult and talk to your kids, teach them how to identify bad actors and how to protect themselfs from them.

As a parent, you can not depend on the law, or developers, to protect your child, that is your own responsibility.

Step up to the fucking plate and stop making everyone else take care of them for you.

^{The Berliner Fersehturn Building – January 2024}

The plan was to visit part of the wall and take photos.

We left the flat around 9pm, later than what I wanted.

I remember how damp it felt outside, a light misting. Cold and foggy, a normal winter day in Berlin.

We took the subway station who's station, contrary to the name, was above ground.

Our stop was Potsdamer Platz.

There are three standing wall parts right outside that station.

They were somewhat impatient, I think. I remember them asking how long it'd take to get some photos. Didn't think much of that.

There was some small talk about what to do next, my mind thought of that big TV tower.

We started walking to this tower, it's kind of hard to miss to be honest. I can't remember if we took a train to it or if it was within walking distance, it doesn't really matter really.

We had to loop around the back of the tower, the main entrance to the tower was there, didn't really think there would only be one entrance.

When we got around to the back, I saw a line and someone taking cash before allowing a group in the tower.

I felt a bit let down by this, I wasn't planning on spending money.

A little part of me didn't want them to deny me access because I was clearly showing my Camera.

We talked about the issue a bit, I chose to not go up the tower.

I didn't want to seem helpless.

During all this, I kept feeling out of place. I'm an American in the center of Berlin. The noises and smells seemed off. The people different.

Even with them next to me, I didn't think I could stand being there.

I didn't tell them about this feeling, I pretended it was due to me only visiting.

I didn't want that feeling, some part of me thought if I endure it enough with them that I'd come to like the feeling.

I was close to believing that too.

It’s cold.

That feeling of taking a deep breath.

Walking, I’m walking.

The street curbs are filled with parked cars. They are at an angle, I think the street is a one-way.

I’m counting the brands that I know, a sad number so far it seems.

Some of the windows are foggy, as if someone is sleeping in them, or I guess recently parked.

The sidewalk and parts of the street are cobblestone, surprisingly slippery with these shoes.

I bought them as my first pair of female shoes. I had wanted Converse but they were too pricey.

Guess I get what I pay for.

It’s hard to focus on details while walking, my glasses fogging up.

Because of the mask, I’m not sure why I don’t just remove it, we are going to eat ramen.

It doesn’t matter either way, they are holding my hand. Leading me to the place.

It’s cold everywhere but my hand.

It guess I was still cold.

So I picked up a CFS and K1 upgrade kit for my K1SE, so far I like it-ish.

The biggest issue I have so far is how black-box it is. Creailty is violating GPL by distributing compiled C code alongside Klipper without providing sources for the plugins. So yeah, have fun attempting to understand the macros Creailty wrote.

Anyway, if you want to load filament from the Klipper console, you can use the gcode T# with the number zero-indexed to the filament slots starting from the left of the CFS.

So if I wanted to load the first slot, I'd run T0.

If you wanted to unload filament, run BOX_QUIT_MATERIAL.

With these two macros, I can override the nozzle wipe macro (because, shocker shocker, Creailty is a shitter and didn't write a good nozzle cleaning macro for the K1SE).

Setting more profiles on the CFS

With the stock screen software, you can set the filament type, colour, and heater settings when you configure the CFS. As you can imagine the options are filtered based on the printer model.

So if you are like me and own a K1SE that is modded for enclosed printing, this poses a problem. How in the hell do you set the filament type to ABS/ASA?

Well, you can attempt to set it to just PLA and edit the heat settings, but that becomes problematic when you attempt to start a print job from the screen.

The new print flow in stock software will force you to match the filament slots in GCODE to the filaments currently loaded in the CFS. You can't assign an embeded filament slot with the type of ABS to a filament slot in the CFS that is configured as PLA, even if the temps are correctly set.

So now what? You could always start a job from the Klipper Web Panel. Means you can't use the screen either (Guppy doesn't have support for the CFS yet).

Well, if you SSH into the printer and cd to /usr/data/creality/userdata/box you'll see some interesting JSON files.

material_database.json: Seems like a filament profile exported from Creailty_Print. material_options.json: The config file that the screen reads for filament parameters.

So we run a jq filter on the database file and:

jq '.result.list[] | .base.name' ./material_database.json
"Hyper PLA"
"Hyper PLA-CF"
"Hyper PETG"
"Hyper ABS"
"CR-PLA"
"CR-Silk"
"CR-PETG"
"CR-ABS"
"Generic PLA"
"Generic PLA-Silk"
"Generic PETG"
"Generic ABS"
"Generic TPU"
"Generic PLA-CF"
"Generic ASA"
"HP-TPU"

Oh hey, the names of the filament options on the screen!

So let's do the same with the options file:

jq '.' material_option.json
{
  "Creality": {
    "PLA": "Hyper PLA\nCR-PLA\nCR-Silk\nEnder-PLA\nEN-PLA+\nCR-PLA Matte\nCR-PLA Fluo\nCR-Wood\nHP Ultra PLA",
    "PETG": "Hyper PETG\nCR-PETG",
    "TPU": "HP-TPU\nCR-TPU"
  },
  "Generic": {
    "PLA": "Generic PLA\nGeneric PLA-Silk",
    "PETG": "Generic PETG",
    "TPU": "Generic TPU"
  }
}

Huh.

So let's attempt something, Let's add a “Generic ABS” option in this.

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
   "Generic":{
     "PLA":"Generic PLA\nGeneric PLA-Silk",
     "PETG":"Generic PETG",
-    "TPU":"Generic TPU"
+    "TPU":"Generic TPU",
+    "ABS":"Generic ABS"
   }
-}
+}

After a power cycle of the printer (or reboot command) and all of a sudden I can set ABS as a type on my CFS.

So yeah. Doing this would allow you to set unoffical filament types on the CFS.

neat.

Oh yeah, I guess if you really wanted to you could add your own filament profiles into the database file. I saw a field in that file that was related to filament ramming, I'm not sure if they are currently used (guess we'll see when it's reversed engineered), so you might incounter some issues if you blindly edit shit.

Make a backup and have fun.

During my times of using Octoprint and my Ender printers, I have found the LCD on them very lacking especially so while doing bed tramming.

In Octoprint you can actually define custom controls that show up under the “Control” tab in the web interface.

There is a plugin but it is sadly no longer being developed (mind you there is a patched fork, however why depend on a plugin to do something that takes a few minutes in Vim to do?)

Below you'll find my current controls entry for both my printers, the “Corner” positions are directly above the bed level screws on most Ender Printers who's bed size is 220x220.

controls:
- children:
  layout: horizontal
  name: Leveling Help
  - command: G1 X30 Y30 Z5 F5000
    name: Left Front Corner
  - command: G1 X30 Y200 Z5 F5000
    name: Left Rear Corner
  - command: G1 X200 Y200 Z5 F5000
    name: Right Rear Corner
  - command: G1 X200 Y30 Z5 F5000
    name: Right Front Corner
  - command: G1 Z0 F200
    name: Drop Z
  - command: G1 Z5 F5000
    name: Raise Z

There's also this snippet if you want to have some control over the CLTouch, if your printer has one. This can be useful for finding the probe offset and ensuring your bed clips don't interfere with your ABL.

- children:
  layout: horizontal
  name: CLTouch
  - command: M280 P0 S90
    name: Probe Up
  - command: M280 P0 S10
    name: Probe Down
  - command: M280 P0 S120
    name: Self Test
  - command: G29 D
    name: Probe Bed Dry-Run

The One with a Rant

Recently (as in the last few years) I have picked back up flight simulators.

Way back when I was a kid in middle school, I had a simulator streak. I discovered my love for Truck sims, Soft Body Physics, Train Sims, and Aircraft sims. Starting with Microsoft Flight Simulator X, I used it's built in “Flight School” to take to the skies.

There was a stint of time where I just didn't do flight sim but one day back in 2022 after taking a trip to Berlin I picked up the flight sim bug. Right after returning home I bought X-Plane 11, X-Plane 12, and MSFS2020 in that order though (it'll come to a shock to pretty much no one) I regretted that last one.

Since then I have racked up hundreds of hours in many different aircraft within the sims, ranging from the typical Boeing 747-600 to the Airbus A330-600 and even to smaller GA planes like the Aerostar 601p. I have even had my interest for holding a private pilots certificate reignited (but after seeing the costs, oh god).

Since owning a real aircraft would cost me an arm, leg, and half my hand, I instead picked to build a virtual cockpit.

It'll never be the real thing, of course, however I intend to make it as close to the real thing as possible, right down to simulation of the physical bezels and switch placement. A stretch goal would be a 6dof motion platform as a base. For now I'll just stick to making a dashboard, afterwards I can investigate the time (and money) needed to give the setup 6dof.

The current status of the project is eh “fucked”, probably the best way to put it.

Originally I wanted to make mrusk's “Six Pack” which uses an Arduino library called XPLDirect.

There were three issues with this however: 1. Zero Clearance on the STLs and no STEP/Source file to edit it (god damnit) 2. Makes use of cheap 28BYJ-48 stepper motors. Easy to use but really slow and won't respond in time for fast changes (say timewarp or diving in a jet) 3. XPLDirect is Windows only, despite X-Plane being natively cross-platform

I have already bitched about the first point, seriously fuck you if you don't post the source of your STL.

The 28BYJ-48 stepper motors, while not a bad thing, are just not cut out for this job. A NEMA 8 would be the best replacement mainly due to it's speed and package. But I'm not about to drop money on this for the third point.

XPLDirect is Windows only.

I'd like to take a minute here to bitch about lazy developers. It costs nothing to install Linux on a old desktop. You can't even say that you don't have one laying around. The very hobby you are in normally dictates newer hardware, you are bound to have enough parts laying around to get something working for development.

The argument that “devs just don't have the hardware” is stupid and you should feel bad for using it.

You can't even argue that X-Plane users aren't using Linux. It's a common enough topic in the forums that listing OS version compatibly is a must.

And besides all that, all this library is doing is opening a serial port to the Arudino and dumping ASCII text into it, that's it.

Like, come on. At least put some effort into it.

So the six pack idea is out the door, what next?

X-Plane 12 Beta adds a web API for accessing DataRefs and provides a websocket based update system so I could write something that is crossplatform that just processes the websocket payloads and shits out ASCII into a serial port.

Another option is pseudo-steam gauges, where it's a LCD panel displaying the texture and/or HTML rendered gauges with rotary encoders and buttons handling physical input.

I'm honestly leaning toward the latter, mainly because Arudino's are resource limited and having them parse out useful data from something that shits out data every 10Hz doesn't sound like a fun task.

My other parallel project is a Garmin G1000 stack which includes the PFD, Radio stack, and MDF. Granted the aircraft that I based the cockpit off of doesn't have a G1000 nor is it commonly upgraded with one, it would still be nice to have for the ones that do have a G1000.

So wait, why do I have two different projects for this idea running at the same time?

Well, cause I can't focus on one project at a time, I need several things to keep my brain happi.

Anyway, the goal of this post is to provide a means for me to document my build attempts, complete with source code, schematics, (archived) links to 3D STL files, instructions, fuckups, small electrical fires, and (hopefully) the final product.

I do have to warn you though, I'm by no means a professional with anything I show here. My day job is a Systems Administrator. So my code/soldering/craftsmanship/spelling/literally anything shown here should not be attempted and any advice should be taken with several mouthfuls of salt.

I'm a dumbass with too much time and money to figuratively (and maybe literally) to burn.

Once I start publishing the pages related to this I'll link them at the bottom of this post.

Come join me in what could end up being a very horrible idea :3

Or the better title: “Random internet creature complains about hobbyists”

The accessibility of FDM 3D printing is a great thing, it means anyone can just print “useful” items without having to pay outrageous amounts of money to some print house. It also means a lot of what I'm going to call “CNC & Friends” (CNC, laser engraving, wood burning, etc) have become more accessible. You can take the cheapest 3D printer on the market and turn it into a eye and fire safety hazard for really nothing.

This large influx of cheap hardware means learning the trade is easier to do, meaning someone like myself, who starts having cold sweats when blender is mentioned, can just shit out a basic spacer or useful item for my wife within a few hours.

I'm not going to claim that I'm the best at everything, I fuck up constantly with everything. I'd be rich if fucking up was a job.

That being said, it seems that learning from said fuck-ups is not a universal thing. Nor is really any kind of research before said fuck-up happens.

People who don't know anything about the trade will strive for perfect and their sense of perfect is zero clearance. This fundamental issue is probably the most irritating to me. It's a tie with people who upload STL files and never the STEP or TinkerCAD link, editing a mesh is a fucking pain and fuck you if you don't share that source file.

Clearances, oh god please think about the clearances!

No one thinks about the clearances and in return I have to either:

• Attempt my luck at editing the mesh to add the clearances (see point above)
• Sandpaper my beloved (pain in the ass (and fingers))

Your 3D printer is not perfect no matter how much it costs nor how much work you put into it.

It's just not.

FDM printing, or fused deposition modeling, is basically just laying a bit of hot plastic on some predetermined path. People see that and go “Oh that's neat, lemme do it again but with this model instead” but theres a lot going on under the hood and dealing thermoplastic polymers on top of that is just bound to cause issues. As much as Bamboo Labs or Creality want to sell the idea of “Plug and Play”, it's not.

These desktops machines are not built for repeatability, they are built down to a price. Even the plastics you use with them are “luck of the draw” depending on what printer you have.

You could have the best fucking printer out there with thousands of hours put into calibrating and prep and still have bed adhesion issues or warping, it's just the nature of the game.

For example, in my time with my Ender 3 V2, I learned:

• How to Slice a STL
• How to Correctly Slice a STL (by not abusing rafts and supports)
• How to Manually level a print bed
• How to Eyeball the first layer
• Octoprint
• That manual bed leveling is shit and buy a Auto Bed Leveling Probe
• How much I hate Creality's Firmware update procedure
• To always buy spare parts for when you brick a control board, twice :(
• Printing generates several pounds of plastic scrap that I can't just throw out
• That while PLA is sold as the recyclable plastic, it's far from that and no-one in my town recycles it
• That DIY recycling is still very new and very very expensive
• How to hate glass beds
• How to love magnetic beds
• How to fuck up a magnetic bed
• How to love glass beds again
• How to Eyeball the first layer but this time with Babysteps
• Give in and buy another printer that had everything my old one didn't for cheaper (this one hurted)
• Octoprint but this time we running it twice because “it's easier than adding support for multiple printers”
• PlatformIO and how fucking slow it can be
• Marlin's build system
• How much I hate Creality's Firmware update procedure, again :(

And I only now learned that most of the issues I was having with first layer adhesion was the brand of plastic I was using. That took two fucking years to learn.

I have come to learn that my printer, while fun, is a fucking pain to use correctly. I spent more time attempting to fix some issue with it than I did learning the tooling or creating something useful.

That being said, I don't regret it. In it's current state with Marlin2 and a older Ender 3 control board, it's a pretty solid work horse. Still peeved that the Ender 3 V3 SE comes with auto bed leveling, direct extruder, and auto z offset for far less than what I paid for the 3V2 (fucking ow).

It works, I guess.

But what this wall of text is suppose to showcase is, FDM 3D printing is not “Plug and Play”, in fact it's very much like getting a new pet. Yeah it's fun for the first few weeks but now you have to clean up shit and feed it. It's fucking annoying sometimes.

So, why do I really fucking hate mod developers and how does this even play into 3D printing?

Well, kind reader (or shit bot), it is because I do :3

But really, it's because the kind of people that would buy a 3D printer, then design their own models to release either for money or free, are the same kind of people that are more likely to make a minecraft mod or something similar.

That is to say, there's a shit-ton of people out there who don't really know what their are doing but whatever it is it's working (to an extent).

This is everyone's “feet wet” moment with the maker field as a whole, it's fun to be in that mindset.

I feel like an old woman bitching about the kids in my lawn but really, I just want well thought out designs. If I have to sand the part after printing, that's fine, but it better not be because you, the model creator, thought that having zero space for clearance was OK.

Print the same part twice and measure the difference. Attempt to put the two parts together, do they snap together or do they get stuck and become useless?

Make sure that you at least add a few mms of clearance to tight fitting parts because trust me, not everyone that is going to be printing your model will have their printer dialed into +-0.01mm of accuracy.

Just give us some space.

Yeah, shocking isn't it?

First, a little bit of history.

Back when Musk bought Twitter, I had already started to withdraw from social media has a whole. At the time I had a partner who ended up moving to Mastodon and convinced me to join.

At first I had an account on hachyderm.io, after learning of some “fedi drama” regarding the operation of that instance, I though it would be best to move.

Up next was girldick.gay, not the best instance name to have on my website but at the time I didn't really care much.

I ended up hosting my own instance on a server in my garage using NixOS and a custom flake, this is where I stayed on the Fediverse until today.

“Why?”

Well, I'm going to pin the want on what I was feeling back when Twitter was my main addiction. I just didn't want to continue to use social media, it started to affect my mental health really.

“OK so why did I end up on the Fediverse?”

Because of a partner, one who is no longer in my life.

It's just taken since May for me to finally just cut it all out.

In the end, I think this will be for the better. In moving to a blog format, I can think through my thoughts more and also not be subjected to the hell that is social media.

I don't really care if what I put out on the internet is even seen, I have other more important life matters to focus on.

Welcome to my lil' corner of the internet, now in blog format.

I hope you stay around for the “once-a-few-months”.