I don’t expect newer VCRs to be made, there’s a lot of precise mechanical engineering and the R&D that would need to go into making a professional-grade VCR today does not make financial sense. However, there is an option to refurbish existing ones and capture the magnetic signal as directly as possible. On media such as VHS or LaserDisc, the signal is not quite composite video, as that would require some 6 MHz of bandwidth. Instead, the color subcarrier is remodulated to a way lower frequency and then back to normal for playback. The folks behind ld-decode (a project that takes raw signal from a LaserDisc’s laser pickup and translates it into composite video) and its fork vhs-decode have made software that captures everything the head picks up into a raw file, and then does TBC and chroma decoding to create the best possible video. They also documented what hardware can be used for the capture (usually a firmware-modded Conexant video capture card or a beefy FPGA) and how to connect it to some VCRs’ circuitry.

Of course, this is quite an over-the-top effort for home tapes, I’d just go with a generic composite capture card that does not deinterlace nor upscale and not bother with TBC.

Why a separate VCR for cleaning tapes? It’s enough to clean the heads AFAIK.

Also, you should definitely not use default deinterlacing techniques for the video, especially not ones built into these generic dongles. Capture it interlaced, preferrably as losslessly as possible, then use deinterlacing software where you can fine-tune the settings if you need to.

No, TBC most likely cannot be done in software, unless the video features a prominent vertical bar (such as a black border). It depends on the quality you want to reach, look closely and decide if the jitter is acceptable.

Edit: TBC can obviously be done in software if you have the raw composite or head signal but that is not possible with the capture cards you have.

They cannot just make a passive, universal device that presses places on the touchscreen, as Nintendo has filed a patent for a Game Boy case for phones, likely without actual interest in making this cheap hardware device themselves.

It was advertised as “2 TB (64 GB Extended)” at a local clearance sale (not AliExpress), which was basically correct though I would prefer “64 GB but misprogrammed so everything can get corrupted at any time”. When buying it, I didn’t yet know if I could reprogram the chip but the low price was justified for the pretty aluminum case with a USB-C port and place for a custom PCB. I decided to buy it also to prevent another, less technical person from using it and losing their data. The store was getting rid of inventory for very cheap and would close soon so no more fake drives would be ordered.

Well, depends on how much you’re OK with some problems. I knowingly bought a “2 TB (64 GB Extended)” flash drive, tested its sectors and reprogrammed it to 32-in-64-GB for wear leveling and bad sector avoidance because it was still a cheap 32GB USB drive. I made sure to label it for “non-critical use” such as movies.

As for camping lanterns, ones charged from mains might have a nasty habit of shocking their users. (The YouTube channel contains a huge number of cheap Chinese charger teardowns and most don’t meet safety criteria. Usually, there is just 1 or 2 layers of thin tape between mains and the output you can touch.)

Sometimes, counterfeits or unknown brands are so similar to the real deal that it barely matters. I’d say that basic electronics (alarm clocks, kitchen scales, calculators, SD security cams) or even RAM is fine. With appropriate expectations, parts like video or USB cables, hubs etc., small home improvement items (hooks, screws) are fine too. Avoid categories where a lot of items have fake specs (storage devices, LED bulbs, anything that claims a runtime on a Li-Ion battery). Power electronics (especially if using mains or non-tiny Li-Ion batteries) can be downright dangerous. For novelty items and electronics modules, it’s usually easy to find text or video reviews on other websites because they’re easy to uniquely describe. Remember to consider ways in which the product can be utter crap despite high reviews citing good first impressions; it also helps to have practical knowledge of testing the properties of the items and fixing common issues.

Well, then you’re going to hear

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most of the time, much like Spotify.
(Last time I was in a Spotify-“enhanced” waiting room was 6 years ago so no idea if that still holds.)

The Ion launcher for TI-83 calculators has existed since 1999. Why did the Android port take so long? /s

Input devices almost never use USB 3.0. In fact, most manufacturers save money and don’t shield the cable, forcing half-speed USB 1.1, which is enough for all mice and keyboards - less than 50 kb/s of the available 6 Mb/s is required even for 240Hz polling. High-end mice might have USB 3.0 (9 pins instead of 4 in the plug) but there should be no practical difference between 3.0 and 2.0 speeds. The polling rate will most likely be identical and the microsecond difference between how long each takes to transfer the data is likely way lower than lag from the mouse’s wireless connection.

Just use any USB 2.0 hub, even $2 ones from AliExpress will work the same as high-end ones. Most are sold with 4 ports because that’s what their standard generic chip does. You probably have one lying around or built into the monitor. You’re unlikely to cause interference so just choose any spot with strong signal to the desk area, not necessarily line-of-sight: if the mouse works everywhere within 2 meters from the intended area, then the intended area will have good signal and minimal chance of dropout. The lag or polling rate does not decrease with signal strength unless you count extra nanoseconds the radio waves need to travel.

The only difference is when you need another port for high-speed applications such as mass storage devices or MTP with your phone, at which point just plug them directly into the PC for max speed.

Finally implementing something pirates have taken for granted since the first digital cross-platform audio file format (1983?)

…Like MS-DOS getting open sourced. It’s pretty much worthless unless you need to use some really old device.

It’s a minix clone, so… mimix?

We should make a donation campaign, pretty sure somebody has a spare SATA drive around. This minix clone sounds good

I’m glad someone was able to donate a non-AT drive because Linus could not afford it :-(

Looks like a texture bug… Why would they bother modeling them if they’d end up using an obviously wrong texture?

I have Bluetooth earbuds that crack open when they hit a hard surface (have surviveed so far) and the battery is a little Li-Ion pouch on soldered wires. They probably don’t last as long as sealed ones of the same size but it’s very easy to find and install a replacement battery. Just check disassembly guides before buying.

They seriously thought doubling the CD’s read speed was going to bring it close to ROM cartridges?

In the Czech Republic, BILLA uses them and they respond to the RFID reader on my phone. It’s a different kind though, most have black-white-red displays.

Can’t wait for somebody to hack them, the displays are certainly neat. Especially if they manage to add it to an existing Home Automation network without extra hardware.

AFAIK, they use RFID now so they must be changed manually but maybe someday, they will devise a price-gouging scheme involving face detection and tracking people with security cameras.

“Here comes this lady that always buys four cans of dog food despite the last price increase! Let’s notch it up it by another 20%!”