What training methods are you using?

Don’t use work resources (company network, computer system, tools, etc.) for this. If the project happens to make money the company will have a good basis for owning the IP.

Many label printers (especially the older ones) use a proprietary text-based language, and accept plain vanilla text input via their serial port. They don’t use a printer driver as such. To use one of them you have to learn their command language (usually pretty simple) and write a text file describing what you want to print using that language, and upload the file to the printer.

Start with the printer documentation and go from there.

Newer printers need linux drivers. Support varies.

The Comms Channel on YouTube is a good start. However, you might want to consider just running a node off the car battery instead of solar. The node will need very little current and won’t bother the battery unless you leave your car parked without running for quite a long time.

I was standing at a window when lighting struck an outside shower pipe about 10 feet away.

Toki Pona has 14 letters (and less than 200 words).

An extended car warranty. In 2000 years he’ll thank me.

When faced with an issue, I classify it according to one or more of these “buckets”:

Bucket #1: Not actually a problem at all (usually just unnecessary drama).

Bucket #2: A genuine problem, but not my problem (none of my business).

Bucket #3: A genuine problem, but I can’t do anything about it (it is not within my sphere of influence, or is beyond my capability to solve).

Bucket #4: A real problem that I can do something about (basically everything that isn’t in one of the other buckets).

If an issue may be categorized into buckets 1, 2, or 3, I don’t waste time or energy on it. If it’s in bucket 4, I get to work on it. I think this approach has saved me much stress.

What modem preset are you using?

Antennas achieve “gain” by sacrificing radiated power in some directions to favor others. For omnidirectional antennas, this means flattening the pattern: less radiated energy off the end, and more perpendicular to the antenna. If you are mobile it is possible to take this too far.

In my experience, it is hard to beat a simple quarter wave ground plane or whip antenna in typical applications. It’s not hard to make one, but if you are buying one you shouldn’t need to spend much money on it.

GMRS has mostly replaced CB now. Cheap and works better than CB at short range. Adoption has been slow, however.

You know, I’m not sure there isn’t a commercially viable product idea here.

Most working people have their estimated taxes deducted from their pay before they receive it. They don’t have an option to not pay.

I have an Eufy named Goofy. He’s an early model but works fine, except sometimes he locks himself in the bathroom.

Oh yeah, I bought a cheap machine pre-2000 and it’s paid for itself several times over just making boat canvas and doing sail repairs.

I bought a cheap 3d printer years ago and I’m pretty sure it’s paid for itself just making replacement parts for our dishwasher. Probably paid for itself several times over if I add up the price+shipping of all the other miscellaneous repair parts it’s made.

Next time I go to the beach I’m bringing a shovel, and will dig a hole just past where my feet get wet.

I’m doing my part.

I don’t know about “ethical”, but I have used a color laser printer (Brother L3270CDW) for a few years and it’s cheap to run and works fine for everything except photos.

Photo printers seem to need inkjet tech, and ink is absurdly expensive and throwing away the whole printhead (HP) is just wasteful. I have an inkjet but don’t use it anymore. For the rare instances that require photo quality I take it to a service bureau.

I read the article. It sounds like the auto makers concern is that they don’t think they have been given enough time to solve the problem (the problem being one which may kill people while we wait for a solution).

I think we should give them all the time they want, as long as they stop selling cars without safe door handles RIGHT NOW.

I’m in a similar situation, but not about gaming. I have two programs that will only run on windows that I need to maintain some specific , unusual hardware that has no network connection, only USB for external control. I’ve tried running it under WINE with no luck. I’ve successfully moved everything else I need to Linux.

The problematic hardware and software will never be updated and will reach end of life in a few years, so I moved the SW onto an old laptop running Windows 7 that has no wifi or Ethernet connection. I see that as the best and safest solution for now.