Retired Hardcore Curious Techie/Nerd/Geek-types Question

[Ronstar]

Used to dabble in arduino and raspberry pi. Not designing and building parts on my 3d printer. Trying to master Fusion 360. Now building a new 3d printer from parts. Next up an RC boat.

 

[B-Guy]

Used to dabble in arduino and raspberry pi. Not designing and building parts on my 3d printer. Trying to master Fusion 360. Now building a new 3d printer from parts. Next up an RC boat.

I'm still on the struggle bus with Fusion, however I've been able to create what I want as long as it's not to complicated.

Hats off to those who are proficient with Fusion.

 

[pjigar]

I'm still on the struggle bus with Fusion, however I've been able to create what I want as long as it's not to complicated.

Hats off to those who are proficient with Fusion.

I have settled on SketchUp and I can model pretty fast. I tried learning another modeling software (Solid?) but it was hard so I went back to SketchUp.

 

[badatmath]

^^^^^^^

I feel much better now. I've never owned a GPS!

LOL me either but I get lost easily. Not sure that counts. . . I even lose my car in parking lots. . . but I always have so it isn't new.

 

[skyking1]

Throughout the majority of my career, I worked in IT. In my previous role, I primarily focused on virtualization with racks and racks of compute and storage. On the other end of the scale, I utilized Raspberry Pi’s for digital signage, controlling equipment, rudimentary tasks, among other applications. Their affordable and invaluable for non-critical applications. Currently, I spent a significant amount of time working on various "projects." One project, which I am about to start on, involves the use of an Arduino Uno a device I have no prior experience with, another learning opportunity. If you have not yet explored virtualization, you should check it out. There are some great options.

I would be interested in hearing more about DC lighting.

It is really pretty slick. You use 18 gauge wire. 18-5 between the switches and the main box and 18-2 to the actual fixtures.
There's a communication bus out to the switches that allow you to do all sorts of smart things.
N-Way switching.
The tired old methods of running 14-3 wire with a messenger to get a three-way switch going are gone.
One switch controls the light circuit, and whatever switch you assign simply talks to it over the data bus.
The smart switches are about $60 a pop.
They appear to be a standard decora switch with the slider dimmer, but they're a momentary. Tap the top to get your action.
But wait there's more LOL.
Hold that momentary switch and now the slider becomes the color for that circuit. You can adjust the warmth.
That's just the normal user interface with a switch action. There's all sorts of programming you get to do at the back end.
You can fade to warm.
You can have the color temperature change in the evening to a warmer hue, a sort of natural transition to your night circadian rhythm.
The same Smart switch provides 12 volts out to DC ventilation fans in bathrooms, ceiling fans.
It's fairly easy to set up motion fan and lighting in a bathroom, for example. I'll have that going in the guest half bath.
ATX LED Low Voltage DC Smart lighting

 

[B-Guy]

I have settled on SketchUp and I can model pretty fast. I tried learning another modeling software (Solid?) but it was hard so I went back to SketchUp.

I'll have to take a look at SketchUp.

 

[pjigar]

I'll have to take a look at SketchUp.

Most of my modeling is geometric shapes so it works out great (building, furniture, small part, etc.). I have never tried to model anything with curves, other than occasional arc and circle. YMMV.
Example: https://www.beesource.com/threads/small-cell-foundation-less-frame-design-using-2x-lumber.333413

PS: What makes sketchup fast for me? I use keyboard short cuts to switch the "tools/actions" and mouse to move/pan/zoom/draw. Additionally you can start a draw action with a single mouse click then enter dimensions using keyboard to get a perfectly sized shape. Replication/copy is invaluable as well. Watch some videos and you will understand what I mean.

 

[B-Guy]

It is really pretty slick.

That IS slick!

If that was available 20 years ago, I would have probably would have gone with it. I’ll bet the break-even point will be fairly short.

Before we moved from Colorado, I had gone out to National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden Colorado to get advice on building green. I wanted to make our home as energy efferent as possible, including ICF walls (R-50), 24” of insolation in the ceiling (R-80) geothermal heat pump and lighting to name a few. At the time florescent light bulbs was the most energy efficient, so that was what I started with.

I have since changed out almost all the light bulbs to LED, and have replaced most of the light switches to Kasa smart switches and a few outlets too. They are 2.4GHz Wi-Fi that works with Alexa and Google Home. They worked well for us as the walls are all enclosed.

You can have the color temperature change in the evening to a warmer hue, a sort of natural transition to your night circadian rhythm

I really like the features it has that I don't have, especially the transition in color.

 

[CTRetiree]

I have been working on the pictured (free) ham radio contesting application since 1998. It is updated weekly and about 10-20,000 downloads of each update.

I lead a team of 9 developers who maintain the app, adding new features and capabilities while maintaining the existing code base of about 300,000 lines. Each May, I go to the Dayton Hamvention, where 20-30,000 hams meet to visit, learn and see new equipment and technologies. Since the app is free, I and the other members of the team are recipients of many expressions of gratitude from the 5% or so of attendees that participate in ham radio contests. To say that is rewarding is to really understate the case.

Another rewarding part is being able to conceive of a capability and then roll it out more quickly than I ever did when I was working in the insurance industry.

Yet another reward is the comradery of the team. We have a permanent Skype channel that is open all day where we solve problems and discus new features.

Downsides? Yeah, silly questions people ask without reading any documentation or even the thread they are posting on, but that pales in comparison to the rewards.

I don't get bored. Currently I'm working on Stream Deck integration, various technical imrprovements and improving the look of the UI (the new "dark skin" is shown below.

My recommendation is find something you can do that others value, and organize to give it away.

Tom

 

[socca]

... That said, for those of you who retired do you find yourself keeping up with trends, do you maintain your curiosity for new ideas, are you stimulated to the point of studying new things in order to stay out of your comfort zone? The reason I ask is brain health issues run in my family. ...

(1) Keeping up with trends?

Well, accidentally. AI is hot now. I was fascinated by human and machine intelligence long before it was cool.

(2) Study new things to stay out of my comfort zone?

Studying new things IS my comfort zone. After seven months of administrative hell lately I've been able to get back to tech work. I've been only 1/4 of "me" these past months while grinding through seemingly endless paperwork.

(3) Tech work contributes to brain health?

There are many advantages to being intellectually engaged and challenged by *something* but I doubt that these activities reduce the probability of dementia. As others have suggested, I think paying attention to metabolic health is more useful.

Side note: right now I'm casually wielding computational power that would have been considered near-miraculous the year I was born. I consider myself lucky to be alive right now from a tech-dev standpoint.

 

[Route246]

I have been working on the pictured (free) ham radio contesting application since 1998. It is updated weekly and about 10-20,000 downloads of each update.

I lead a team of 9 developers who maintain the app, adding new features and capabilities while maintaining the existing code base of about 300,000 lines. Each May, I go to the Dayton Hamvention, where 20-30,000 hams meet to visit, learn and see new equipment and technologies. Since the app is free, I and the other members of the team are recipients of many expressions of gratitude from the 5% or so of attendees that participate in ham radio contests. To say that is rewarding is to really understate the case.

Another rewarding part is being able to conceive of a capability and then roll it out more quickly than I ever did when I was working in the insurance industry.

Yet another reward is the comradery of the team. We have a permanent Skype channel that is open all day where we solve problems and discus new features.

Downsides? Yeah, silly questions people ask without reading any documentation or even the thread they are posting on, but that pales in comparison to the rewards.

I don't get bored. Currently I'm working on Stream Deck integration, various technical imrprovements and improving the look of the UI (the new "dark skin" is shown below.

My recommendation is find something you can do that others value, and organize to give it away.

Tom


View attachment 54217

I use quite a few apps, including yours, and I'm grateful for all the work everyone puts into these products. The only real issue I have with amateur radio apps is you need Windows to run a suite of "everything" and since I became Mac-centric over 10 years ago I have a dedicated Windows machine for my ham radio activities. I've been off the air for over a year as my system died (i7 NUC clone connected to 2 4K displays with a lot of memory and 2TB NVME). I know I'm missing the solar cycle, too. I bought a replacement but haven't had time to port all of the various private databases and, config files and anything else required to make it all work seamlessly. Add to that the outage of Logbook of the World at the time I was going to build the new system configuration so I just decided to stand down until I had more time. Now we are planning to move in the next year or two so I'm planning my dream tower and new ham shack so everything else is in suspended animation. One of my masts blew down recently so I'm down to one wire right now. It is not worth trying to make any progress at the current time but being off the air is also a little worrysome.

One good thing is when we move we live down the street from the post office so I'm going to change my address to a PO Box. It is the last thing that I need to clean up my home address on the Internet. Since we are getting a new home address I plan to guard that like my first born. I've been a many years subscriber to Optery and they managed to cleanse the Internet of 95%+ of my public information exposure but the FCC licensing is always there. Once I get the PO Box there should be no reason for our address to be anywhere on the public Internet. Selling the current house and abandoning that home address will be the icing on the cake.

 

[audreyh1]

Sounds to me like you are going to be very busy regardless!