HPR

Posted at 2026-09-13 15:09:10 relating to the show hpr4722 which was released on 2026-09-08 by Trollercoaster entitled Show and tell: AI tropes

Brazilian here. One point to him: Claude.

But, apart from the cerebral veins of conveying vernacular — with varying vastity —, there was no real "logic" in the comment.

So, not a logic in sentences, only a listener that appeared and said something incomprehensible. Minus one point to Claude.

Posted at 2026-09-13 05:22:10 relating to the show hpr4723 which was released on 2026-09-09 by Kristoff entitled friedcamp interviews part 3: The fried telephone system

I had trouble differentiating from the foreground, midground and background noises in this episode.

What mic setup was in use?

Posted at 2026-09-13 05:19:58 relating to the show hpr4677 which was released on 2026-07-07 by Vance entitled UNIX Curio #10 - Checksums and Hashes

Hello all,

I am happy to talk on systemd, but would appreciate some guidance on topics that people are interested. I'm a bit too close to the trees to see the forest, so to speak.

Posted at 2026-09-12 22:45:17 relating to the show hpr4722 which was released on 2026-09-08 by Trollercoaster entitled Show and tell: AI tropes

Hello Antoine,

I had a little difficulty understanding your explanation - so I asked an AI to analyse it. Claude recognized Portugese (Brazilian) sentence logic, and with that out of the way, I think I understood your comment (and otherwise... haha! I'll just blame the AI for doing a bad job, it's never my fault)

You are right that those language models actually use whatever was fed to them by the companies behind them. The content they acquired (to not say "stole") from everywhere, formed a great baseline for the narrative part. And you're right again that the nasty part is that it sometimes begins to hallucinate.
When I start hallucinating, I just blame the alcohol - or maybe fatigue. Quite curious who Claude blames if is hallucinates. Maybe too much Lossy Semantic Decompression (LSD)?

Posted at 2026-09-12 08:25:13 relating to the show hpr4722 which was released on 2026-09-08 by Trollercoaster entitled Show and tell: AI tropes

Hey Ben,

you've got more in you than you thought. And nothing like English with a German accent to convey authority. I can't wait to hear your next episode (oh, and if you don't adhere to the cliché and actually have a flawless British accent when you speak English... please pretend to have a German accent)

Posted at 2026-09-12 08:10:11 relating to the show hpr4722 which was released on 2026-09-08 by Trollercoaster entitled Show and tell: AI tropes

Hi Trey,

Are you really trying to save the lost generation (see HPR 4705)? You are a true Don Quichote, my friend.

All joking aside, if you work with people (whatever their age, whatever their natural level of stupidity), you tend to get to know how a person writes and reacts.

We will be living in a sad world, if smart and stupid, eloquent and blunt all become sounding the same. So keep on the good work and elevate those kids to become the future generation of grumpy old geeks. By that time, they will probably have developed their own tropes (with our without the help of some word-regurgitating-machine in front of them)

P.S. To the other person replying to Trey: size doesn't matter, it's about the supercali-tokenised-semantic-ai-docious stuff you do with it.

P.S. (to the poor sould who will have to read this comment) Can't wait for you to read out loud "supercali-tokenised-semantic-ai-docious" (even the transcription tool made a mess of it)

Posted at 2026-09-11 00:11:36 relating to the show hpr4722 which was released on 2026-09-08 by Trollercoaster entitled Show and tell: AI tropes

Learned with us, picked up the best, added whatever the developers wanted to characterize the AI- style. Remove the AI-style, you have human language at the best level.

Not for prose, narratives, Human Communication, of course. We can catch the lifeless words of words not written, but generated, and it's not likable.

That said, to make a point to a simple answer, a silogism, judicial decisions, etc. etc., the point can be made by a machine. It may not sound human, or the responsible for the text may lose from not doing by himself, but, giving someone is legally and morally responsible for the pieces thrown away, nobody should care, it is what it is, no AI fault, as AI is not an entity of the journal, blog or judicial case. (Here in Brazil, there are stories of convictions for bad faith litigation of lawyers that use non-existent jurisprudence in their petitions. Maybe AI, but not because of AI use, much less justifiable because it was this or that tool used, but, simply because the lawyer proceeded with falsehood in their claims.)

That said (again), nice program and notes, as usual from you! =). Thank you.

Posted at 2026-09-10 21:08:25 relating to the show hpr4722 which was released on 2026-09-08 by Trollercoaster entitled Show and tell: AI tropes

I also appreciate this finde episode. Congrats to the author, I like your contributions very much! Seldom I find intellectual texts like that on a Podcast. 20 minutes of pure entertainment and wit. I can fully grasp what you wrote and spoke, but I could never find the words myself nor put them in such a clever format. Thank you very much. I am looking foward to hearing more of you.
Best regards from Germany

Posted at 2026-09-09 21:55:48 relating to the show hpr4702 which was released on 2026-08-11 by Ken Fallon entitled MakeACopy is an open-source document scanner app for Android

Hi Ken,

This is indeed a neat app on F-Droid.

It even detected low light and asked me if I wanted to turn on the flashlight LED.

What's not to like?

Cheers,
Archer72

Posted at 2026-09-09 16:27:10 relating to the show hpr4721 which was released on 2026-09-07 by HPR Volunteers entitled HPR Community News for August 2026

First, I hope I spelt that wrong, but if I did, I am sorry about that as well, and second again I would like to apologize to Kevie for getting his name wrong and calling him Kevin. Sometimes I do these comments like hours after I listen to them at work and the names and details get a bit foggy. Luckily I made this one during my lunch break.

Posted at 2026-09-08 20:13:53 relating to the show hpr4722 which was released on 2026-09-08 by Trollercoaster entitled Show and tell: AI tropes

Beautifully written reply, Trey. Ideal length, too.

Posted at 2026-09-08 10:57:10 relating to the show hpr4722 which was released on 2026-09-08 by Trollercoaster entitled Show and tell: AI tropes

Thank you Trollercoaster.

You have highlighted an issue I deal with daily in higher education. It used to be that my students' discussion posts would struggle to address the topic of a question. I could see progression over the course of the class as students would begin to grasp ideas. Poor grammar, missing citations, and incompletely presented ideas were all common. And I would grumble about it to myself.

But today, every post is near perfectly written. Every response is three paragraphs of virtually the same length, using language at or above college level. There are citations for the most obscure references.

And my students are not learning anything. The few times I get to speak with them, I can tell that they do not have a clue. They cannot think on their own, and they hide it well behind an AI generated mask of text.

Posted at 2026-09-08 08:15:24 relating to the show hpr4709 which was released on 2026-08-20 by Kevie entitled Peertube: my two penneth

The links that I forgot to include in the show notes are:
https://social.growyourown.services/@FediVideo
https://fedi.video/a/fedivideo/video-channels

Posted at 2026-09-07 21:15:48 relating to the show hpr4719 which was released on 2026-09-03 by number9 entitled How to use a multimeter, introduction and basic usage

I am not an EE, but have been using meters casually since the 70's and still own Radio Shack analog meter. While I avoid working with mains, I was unaware of the probe ratings. This alone was worth the listen, but not the only thing I learned. Thanks!

Posted at 2026-09-06 14:25:11 relating to the show hpr4719 which was released on 2026-09-03 by number9 entitled How to use a multimeter, introduction and basic usage

I just want to add my +1 to the comment by brian-in-ohio.

Posted at 2026-09-06 12:54:51 relating to the show hpr4719 which was released on 2026-09-03 by number9 entitled How to use a multimeter, introduction and basic usage

Welcome, good show. I think a show about your early years working in electronics repair would be quite interesting.

Posted at 2026-09-03 22:39:30 relating to the show hpr4719 which was released on 2026-09-03 by number9 entitled How to use a multimeter, introduction and basic usage

This was a very good episode, and I hope we hear more from you.

I have a Fluke 73 Series III multimeter. It is a bit old at this point, but it has what I need.

I still have the box that it came in, including the accessory brochures.

I don't know what is in their current product line up, but they have or had both "industrial" and "electronics" lines of test probes. The industrial probes are bigger and more heavy duty, while the electronics probes are smaller and with much finer tips that are only exposed at the very end.

They also have a variety of hook and alligator style leads. It is pretty common in industrial troubleshooting, or in check out and test of new equipment, to use a hook or clip lead on the negative or neutral side, and then probe around with a regular probe on the other side.

Some other types of probes in the brochure include high voltage probes, clamp-on AC current probes, AC/DC Hall Effect current probes, pressure sensor probes, and a variety of different temperature probes.

Simpsons were very highly regarded analogue meters in the days before digital. At one time industrial electricians would sometimes get their hands on an old Simpson analogue meter just so they could show off that they were driving a "classic" meter to the admiration of their friends, but they always used a Fluke DMM for anything practical.

Posted at 2026-09-03 19:14:51 relating to the show hpr4719 which was released on 2026-09-03 by number9 entitled How to use a multimeter, introduction and basic usage

Great show! As a fellow electrical engineer, I have a lot of experience with multi-meters, and I've been using electronics since I was a kid as well. Enjoyed the show! Thanks so much for sharing!

Posted at 2026-09-03 16:05:35 relating to the show hpr4718 which was released on 2026-09-02 by Whiskeyjack entitled Programmable Logic Controls - Episode 2

I actually cover OpenPLC and Beremiz, the latter of which is a fork of OpenPLC, very briefly in episode 8 of this series, which I have just uploaded today as soon as a slot opened up for it. This should go out as HPR4778 on the 25th of November.

I installed Beremiz as a snap package and very briefly give an overview of it as well as describing my opinion on it.

I then go on to describe what I thought a hypothetical ideal open source PLC or soft logic system that is suitable for use in industry would look like.

In that episode I talk about editing with OpenPLC and Beremiz only very briefly and didn't try to run the resulting program. I think it would make for a great episode or even several if you would like to talk about either or both of them yourself.

Posted at 2026-09-03 15:24:51 relating to the show hpr4708 which was released on 2026-08-19 by Whiskeyjack entitled Programmable Logic Controls - Episode 1

If you are familiar with IEC 62443 security, then I think that talking about it would make for an interesting episode or even more than one episode.

What would probably be a very good approach would be to contrast and compare industrial cyber security versus cyber security in the conventional IT industry in places such as offices or data centres. What is different in terms of the operating environment or the solutions used? What things are the same in terms of principles, approaches, and actual practice? If you are familiar with office IT cyber security, how would you prepare yourself if asked to help out with security in industry? Is IEC 62443 actually useful, or is it a box ticking exercise with little practical utility?

In episode 5 I don't actually cover how to provide cyber security for industry. Rather, I go over my reasoning as to why it isn't a safety concern in the context of the equipment safety systems that I describe in the same episode. I state that security is however a concern in terms of avoiding property damage and loss of money.

The preceding covers most situations in factories, but doesn't cover cases where a programmed shutdown is required for safety, such as may happen in the chemical or power generation industries. If anyone can provide some practical advice in these cases, it would I imagine prove to be very fascinating.


I don't think that I am able to answer these questions adequately, but I know that I at least would be very interested in hearing about it from someone who is and I imagine that other people would be as well.

Posted at 2026-09-03 12:52:57 relating to the show hpr4719 which was released on 2026-09-03 by number9 entitled How to use a multimeter, introduction and basic usage

Hello Number9,

Excellent episode. I have been playing with electricity and electronics since the '70s, and I still learned from your episode.

Do you follow Mr. Carlson's Lab (Youtube) at all? Very educational. I plan to build his capacitor leakage detector sometime in the future.

Keep up the great work.

Posted at 2026-09-03 09:49:32 relating to the show hpr4719 which was released on 2026-09-03 by number9 entitled How to use a multimeter, introduction and basic usage

Hello number9,

I see you are a first time host to HPR, and this was a great one to start out with. The detail of each type of meters' function was intriguing.

Looking forward to hearing more.

Cheers!
Archer72

Posted at 2026-09-03 07:43:52 relating to the show hpr4719 which was released on 2026-09-03 by number9 entitled How to use a multimeter, introduction and basic usage

This is great and will fit nicely into the HAREC HAM series !

Posted at 2026-09-02 22:40:23 relating to the show hpr4718 which was released on 2026-09-02 by Whiskeyjack entitled Programmable Logic Controls - Episode 2

Thank you for another amazing episode.

I don't know if you will be covering this in a future episode or not. If so, SPOILER ALERT!!

For those who are interested in playing with programming PLCs, there are tools available.

OpenPLC Editor (https://autonomylogic.com/download) is "The open-source PLC programming environment for industrial automation. Available for Windows, macOS, and Linux."


and OpenPLC Runtime (https://autonomylogic.com/runtime ) is "A headless industrial Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) runtime that transforms standard computing hardware into a powerful automation controller. It executes IEC 61131-3 programs created in OpenPLC Editor, supporting IEC 61131-3 languages (Ladder Logic, Structured Text, Function Block Diagram, etc) and also Python, C, and C++."

I have only played with these a little bit several years ago, but what I did was fun.

I am sure someone out there is just itching to download these tools, give them a try, and record an episode all about their experience!

Posted at 2026-09-02 22:31:51 relating to the show hpr4708 which was released on 2026-08-19 by Whiskeyjack entitled Programmable Logic Controls - Episode 1

Hello WhiskeyJack,

Thank you for your response. I will wait and listen to Ep 5 when it comes out. It feels like I am cheating if I do otherwise.

After which, I may consider recording an episode, though I am fairly certain that me blathering on about IEC 62443 and engineering grade solutions to cyber problems would probably put 90% of the audiance to sleep while the remaining 10% would be screaming into their media player how incredibly wrong I am.

Though... THAT might inspire some of them to record a rebuttal episode! Hmmmm.... :)

Posted at 2026-08-31 20:52:55 relating to the show hpr4716 which was released on 2026-08-31 by TrumpetJohn entitled PocketMod

its easy to forget the simplicity of paper :P thanks for sharing this!

Posted at 2026-08-31 17:35:43 relating to the show hpr4716 which was released on 2026-08-31 by TrumpetJohn entitled PocketMod

I was happy to see an episode covering PocketMods, today. I've used them for a couple of years for everything from day-to-day note taking, to trip itinerary planning, and as reference books.

Posted at 2026-08-30 20:15:40 relating to the show hpr4706 which was released on 2026-08-17 by Lee entitled Quirks and Customisations

its always super cool to hear about how other peoples systems are set up!

Posted at 2026-08-30 12:06:31 relating to the show hpr4707 which was released on 2026-08-18 by Vance entitled UNIX Curio #12 - expr

id argue that that is more of a internet thing than a command line thing at that point?

Posted at 2026-08-30 04:14:01 relating to the show hpr4707 which was released on 2026-08-18 by Vance entitled UNIX Curio #12 - expr

Vance - I have done two 8 part series and one 4 part series so far.

I find that researching, writing, and recording several closely related subjects at the same time is much less work than an equal number of unrelated episodes. To put it another way, my series are much less work on a per episode basis than the same number of unrelated episodes done sequentially.

I also try to target a length of about 20 minutes at most, although I find myself going over that sometimes. If it gets longer than that, then I look for ways to split it up.

By writing, editing, recording, and reviewing in batches, I can have several months worth of material recorded ahead of when it is released. For example, my current series runs until the end of November, which gives me plenty of time to research a couple of more related episodes that I have planned.

I'm not sure how it would work out with your Unix Curios, but if you can try to plan out working on related subjects together at once (e.g. X Window oddities) and then split the material into separate episodes, you may find that to be much less work than preparing and recording them one at a time.

Of course you are doing this for fun and so will do whatever you wish whenever you wish, but perhaps the above will give you some ideas that can help.