Jonathan Corbet
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
Ah the memories one finds at the bottom of a desk drawer... Once upon a time this was a really cool thing.
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
Just after my last post on solar power, I got a cheery email from "SunStrong", the company taking over from SunPower, which has gone bankrupt. It seems that if I want to get historical data or performance data for individual panels (which I own) out of the monitoring system (which I own) installed in my house, I will have to pay them $100/year.
...or perhaps I can just use the data I've collected into Home Assistant via the SunPower integration and tell them to take a hike ...
My one question is whether they have the ability to push a firmware load and enshittify things further; I think the time may be coming to take the monitoring box off the net.
...or perhaps I can just use the data I've collected into Home Assistant via the SunPower integration and tell them to take a hike ...
My one question is whether they have the ability to push a firmware load and enshittify things further; I think the time may be coming to take the monitoring box off the net.
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
A week ago we managed to get away for a few days to Capitol Reef National Park — definitely worth exploring. It's important to escape to a beautiful place with no network service every now and then.
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
So is there anybody out there who can explain this image?
I bought this card in Korea some years ago after having seen this theme - a tiger and a rabbit seemingly getting stoned together - in a number of places. There must be a story behind it, but my meager search skills have never managed to turn it up. I do still love the image, though...
I bought this card in Korea some years ago after having seen this theme - a tiger and a rabbit seemingly getting stoned together - in a number of places. There must be a story behind it, but my meager search skills have never managed to turn it up. I do still love the image, though...
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
Two years ago, I installed solar panels on the roof, and was rewarded with enough power to run the house, charge the car, and even run the heat pump for much of the year.
Another reward was the SunPower monitoring system that lets us track the performance of the system and see how each individual panel is working. Naturally, this system only delivers its data to some proprietary cloud system run by SunPower. Just as naturally, SunPower has gone bankrupt, and the monitoring system is now just a useless brick sitting on the wall.
...or at least it would be, had I not gone through the effort of integrating it with Home Assistant — a mildly difficult task involving hooking into a maintenance port on the device itself. So now I have the data out of the monitoring box stored on a local system, under my control, and I don't need to go scrambling for alternatives. I can obsess over my post-solstice data, waiting for production to reach decent levels again — that happens faster if I stare at it, I'm convinced.
Maybe there's something to this free software idea after all.
Another reward was the SunPower monitoring system that lets us track the performance of the system and see how each individual panel is working. Naturally, this system only delivers its data to some proprietary cloud system run by SunPower. Just as naturally, SunPower has gone bankrupt, and the monitoring system is now just a useless brick sitting on the wall.
...or at least it would be, had I not gone through the effort of integrating it with Home Assistant — a mildly difficult task involving hooking into a maintenance port on the device itself. So now I have the data out of the monitoring box stored on a local system, under my control, and I don't need to go scrambling for alternatives. I can obsess over my post-solstice data, waiting for production to reach decent levels again — that happens faster if I stare at it, I'm convinced.
Maybe there's something to this free software idea after all.
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
Not having a cat, I'm not given to posting cat pictures ... but my daughter's cat is here for a visit, so here's my chance.
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
I was digging through my bookshelves when I stumbled across this book, untouched for years.
I picked up Anybody's Bike Book sometime around the mid 1970s, after having discovered the freedom that a good bike gives to a kid who needs to move around in northern Wyoming. It taught me that there was nothing in my bike that I couldn't fix myself — an empowering lesson to learn. With a mixture of plain language, clear descriptions, and sharp humor, it was perhaps my first example of what technical documentation can be.
So, a belated "thank you" to Tom Cuthbertson for this outstanding book; there is no doubt it had a strong influence on all the words I have inflicted on the world.
I picked up Anybody's Bike Book sometime around the mid 1970s, after having discovered the freedom that a good bike gives to a kid who needs to move around in northern Wyoming. It taught me that there was nothing in my bike that I couldn't fix myself — an empowering lesson to learn. With a mixture of plain language, clear descriptions, and sharp humor, it was perhaps my first example of what technical documentation can be.
So, a belated "thank you" to Tom Cuthbertson for this outstanding book; there is no doubt it had a strong influence on all the words I have inflicted on the world.
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
I'll answer your email soon, honest, but first I have some important meetings to get through...
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
If you want to know where the action is in a wildfire, just follow the aircraft. I'm supposed to be getting work done, but its hard, especially when they keep flying over my house.
Hopefully they are starting to get a handle on some of these.
Hopefully they are starting to get a handle on some of these.
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
There are now two fires visible from my house... Slurry bombers overhead. Still a tiny problem compared to what some others are dealing with, but still... this sucks.
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
Finally managed to ride the Medicine Bow rail trail in Wyoming - definitely worth it!
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
It's rare to have a conference I can drive to - even if it takes all day. I took that opportunity for LSFMM and stopped at Dinosaur National Monument on the way there, totally worth it.
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
The view from my office... Back from OSS just in time to appreciate spring in Colorado.
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
Edited 11 months ago
The eclipse was only 64% here but the solar panels definitely noticed.
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Jonathan Corbet
corbet
Edited 1 year ago
Even in January, some days are just too nice to stay at the keyboard
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