I wanted to drop a quick note here in case any future travellers are asking the questions I did when I first started my journey so many moons ago. My first radios were a pair of Baofeng's and an Alinco DJ-MD5x. After a while, I started working with a small outfit that was using Motorola radios, and I ended up picking up an XPR 7550e UHF version.

Some time and effort later, and I got everything working properly, updated, and all the rest. I learned a lot along the way, and I'm hoping that my experience will help someone who might be considering picking up a professional series radio for Amateur use.

The biggest weakness of this radio, in my opinion, is that it is UHF only. You can get VHF XPR 7550 models, even the 7500e, but you can't get one that will do both. In my case, the UHF wasn't my choice, it was the group I was working with (I no longer work with them but that's an entirely different story). The first thing you need to understand if you're considering a Motorola "professional" radio, is that you're going to have a hell of a time working with Motorola to try to get access to programming software. You might be able to find it bootlegged on the internet, but for continual, reliable access to it, you need to go to the source. The process looks a bit like this: Create an account, start a support request for access to the customer hub. They email you a survey thing, which you can't really fill out because it's mostly asking about the company and/or organization that employs you, which, you don't have one. Save yourself a lot of hassle here and assume that your "company" is you as an individual, and answer in kind.

This process can take weeks, so be prepared for that. After they give you access, you have to go to the downloads and "buy" the free software. Once you do that, it can still take HOURS before they actually publish the software in your account so that you can actually download it. The whole process sucks, but you can come out the other side, just be clear with them from the start that you're an amateur operator, and you need to get the software to program your radio. They should eventually get around to giving you access.

After you get through that mess, the programming software is a beast. There's a lot of stuff in there you won't ever use. Capacity plus calling systems and other Motorola specific proprietary stuff that isn't really anything you'll have access to, unless you have a big pile of money you don't like, and want to buy their repeaters and build out such a system.

The radio itself is absolutely excellent. I got the e version because it has WiFi/Bluetooth, and I managed to get a bluetooth enablement for my radio. It works really well on my firmware version. The firmware that was on the radio when I initially got it, not so much, but the newer version yes. It pairs to my bluetooth headset and I can use it as an earpiece and mic. I just have to reach over for the PTT button.

A big reason why I got the XPR 7550 and not something else, is because it supports conventional DMR; just like my Alinco. I ran into a big caveat here that I didn't see coming, there's only capacity for about 1000 digital contacts in the radio. With worldwide DMR contacts being closer to 150,000, that's a problem. Either you don't put anybody on, or you have to severely limit the list you add.

So let me address the elephant in the room. This is not a radio designed for Amateurs. It's a "professional" radio. It's entirely unlocked in the band it supports. I can go way outside of the amateur range if I choose, as long as it's in range of what's supported by the transceiver. This wasn't designed for us, so the limits on contact lists makes a lot more sense. This radio was designed to be used in a licensed band in the UHF space, among a much smaller group of radio users, mainly those that aren't exactly knowledgeable with their kit. Most of the programming features are completely absent from the front panel, and a lot of the 'channels' are severely limited when you're using the radio. This is great for non-radio people. they pick a channel and go. Not so great for someone who might want to do some reconfiguration on the fly. You're going to be constantly tethered to your computer whenever you need to make changes. If you're always using the same frequencies, like you would in a licensed professional setting, this isn't really a problem.

These are GREAT radios, don't get me wrong. I really like mine, but they are EXTREMELY limiting. If you're thinking about getting one, I can't recommend it. Go out and get yourself an Anytone or something, it'll cost less, you'll get more, and the radio will have been built for your use specifically. If you already have a "professional" radio, and haven't yet put it to use, then I hope the information here helps.

TL;DR: Don't buy a "professional" Motorola radio if you can help it. They're excellent radios that are not made for amateurs, and so there's a lot of compromises you'll have to make if you use one. They sound great, work really well, they're reliable as all heck, and totally wrong for anyone intending to operate as an amateur.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

This is probably more of a Lemmy specific thing than what's normal on this community, but I posted on a community from lemmy.ml and the mods there banned me from the community.

They didn't remove my post or message me about it. I only found out because when I was going through replies, I couldn't reply and I noted that my account is banned from that community.

I wasn't saying anything untoward or encouraging anyone to do anything illegal or anything like that. It was a comment about systems of government. I don't believe I put any emphasis on whether one was better than another, but the post was in a non-political community; so it should not lean one way or the other on the matter, and the post I was replying to introduced the political discussion, so I was on-topic.

The specifics aren't super important. What I want to know is whether there's a built-in system to inquire with the mods or something to try to get an official reply as to what rules they believe I had broken to deserve a ban, and whether that ban is permanent or not. I tried simply messaging one of the mods, but it's been hours with no reply.

Is there any way to find the information? Previously on Reddit, I would almost always get a message from the subreddit about what happened, what violation caused it, and allowed me to message the mods to try to argue my case, though, me getting banned on that platform was quite rare. This is my first time knowingly being removed like this and I don't understand the process here.

Can anyone enlighten me about how these things are supposed to work on Lemmy?

The 1.0 release date was officially announced as September 10th!

Also something about a toilet.

Mark your calendars!

So, I just need to rant for a minute about what's just happened. It's made me feel fairly disposable as a worker. I work in I.T. support. I help people who can't operate technology with highly complicated issues. I am highly skilled, well trained and I have a diverse set of understanding for technical issues.

Last year I took a new job. The old job was an MSP, or Managed Service Provider; if you don't know what that is; an MSP is the IT department for companies too small to have an IT department. That's the summary. The new company is both an MSP and an ISP as well as just about everything else you can imagine for IT.... hosting webpages, and all the associated nonsense, phones/VoIP, colocation (Datacenter stuff).... everything. Basically, when someone was signed onboard with this employer, we did it all.

Starting out, everything seemed fairly normal, a bit more involved, since we do more than the last company, but nothing too crazy. The part that irked me, is that as MSP, we own a client, we do everything for them, including, but not limited to all their computer/server/network work (which I expected), but also their phones, internet service, hosting, email, etc. everything.... which is a bit more than I expected, but I was managing okay.

In March/April, things changed in my personal life, where I was having to drive my SO to work (she doesn't have her license, and we don't live in a place where she can reliably get a taxi/bus/other transportation), the problem is that her work is 3-11, where I work 9-5, in another city. So I tried to work with my workplace but they wouldn't let go of working from the office, so I ended up on an insane schedule of commuting to the office (over an hour drive each way), then leaving the office at 1PM, to be home for 2PM, to get her to work for 3PM, then GOING BACK TO WORK. I wasn't able to keep up with my workload.... in addition, I'm driving her home at 11, getting home at midnight, then getting up at 5-6AM to get a shower and do it all over again. I couldn't sustain that for any reasonable length of time, and I burned out. My doctor issued a notice to my workplace that I am unable to continue working for the time being, they accepted it and I went on disability as of early may, until now.

Currently, I feel much better, compared to when I was burning out in April, and I feel a lot better about going back. The SO has also been working on getting her license and her own car, so within a few months I won't have to even think about whether she can get to work or not, since she will have a car and her license to drive herself there. A week or two ago, I contacted my workplace to let them know I was ready to return. We had a few emails back and forth to resolve the matter of the doctors recommendation and disability diagnosis. Once all that was completed, I thought I was ready to go. Big nope.

I got word yesterday that instead of bringing me back, they're laying me off.

So not only did they have the callous attitude to force me to drive to the office and back several times a day to try to maintain a poor life scenario (I asked to WFH, which they absolutely could do, since they did it over COVID without significant issues).... but when I burned out as a result of their ridiculous demands, and took some time off, instead of welcoming me back and holding my position, they filled in the gap while I was out on disability, and laid me off when I was able to return.

I feel so abandoned. I won't complain about "where's the loyalty" because there's never been a time in my career where "loyalty" has ever been something I've felt that my workplace ever gave me; and all evidence I've seen says that companies have zero loyalty to anyone. Maybe one day in the past that was true, but it's definitely not been true for the entirety of my working career; but here I am, a highly skilled individual, with specific skills that will absolutely help the company succeed, that they know I have, that they're just going to throw away... and for what?

The excuse they gave me was financial downsizing, but it's a company of about 12-18 people, so it's not like my job was part of a larger dismissal of people, they've lost, laid off, or otherwise shed employees at a very slow rate. Some of my (now former) coworkers have said that several people who have voluntarily left their positions, have been replaced during my time away; but me? no. Apparently my knowledge isn't worth enough to them.

I'm currently on the hunt for a new employer. IMO, these guys are fools to throw away everything I know. The only challenge I face right now is finding someone who will see my value. IT support jobs are usually underpaid in my local area, and too many companies are going return to office and I'm not easily able to find remote (WFH) type employment. The jobs are there, but it's hard to find one that's worth my time. The core issue IMO, with the low pay, is that it's a non-union position, but if I can find a union job, I'm all in.

Wish me luck!

Looking for some advice here, I'm out to complete two things:

1. restore saves from the games I played using the stock firmware to GarlicOS
2. get two player/two controllers working for couch gaming over HDMI

Specifics: I picked up a 16G microSD for the OS, and a 64G for ROMs, pulled the original (kinda garbage) SD and replaced it with the 16G that I loaded with GarlicOS. I copied the relevant roms that I loaded onto the original SD to the new set and moved the save files ( .sav) over to the saves folder in the relevant subfolder. Launching the game results in a blank save. I can't continue the save.

For dual controller/two player, I haven't tested HDMI yet (on the list) I'm just trying to get controllers working at the moment; I have an Anker USB 3 hub. What works right now, is if I plug my Stadia controller in, it gets picked up, no problem. but my xbox controller will mess everything up. If I just do my OTG adapter to the stadia controller, it works, OTG to hub to stadia, no problem. If I either go OTG to the xbox controller, or OTG to hub to controller, it does not come up in GarlicOS. If I plug OTG to hub to both controller, neither shows up. I added waitForUSB (I also tried waitforUSB) file to the OS SD card, with no effect (the file still exists).

With stock, I was able to use a controller (just the stadia controller), over USB OTG with HDMI, so I know that works, and it should still work. The Xbox Controller I'm using is almost brand new, it's an XBOX One controller, connected by a USB A to C cable, I picked up 10ft cables from Anker for the purpose. I'm fine with wired, but I also have a USB xbox wireless dongle for PC that I can't seem to find right now, and I'm wondering if that would do any better (and I would prefer this since it would be wireless).

Does anyone have any hits or tricks or information related to this that I can use to push this along? is the new series of xbox controllers not compatible? do I need to change the drivers or something to make it work better? I'm new to retroArch, and GarlicOS, and the 35xx is my first dedicated retro handheld. I'm refreshingly not new to linux or SBC's, so I'm very comfortable with making changes and taking chances. All my saves are archived on that original SD card, and I have a backup on my laptop, so I'm not worried about losing saves or data at all. If the controllers are not viable, I'm sure I can find something that works and pick that up, maybe something from 8bitdo.

Thanks in advance.

Two subreddits I used to be very active in were for techsupport and networking/home networking. Anyone know if there's Lemmy communities for the same?

Also, related, is there a way to list communities available from a specific instance? Like if I wanted to see all communities local to Lemmy.world or something (that's not my local instance), can I do that? If so, how?

I'm still getting used to the fediverse way of doing things, I love it here, I'm just having trouble getting myself up to speed relative to all that I was subscribed to on Reddit.

TIA

Hello Lemmings.

This is something I've been thinking about for a while; basically, I want to move my zwave node away from my main HomeAssistant system.

I'll try to be brief; my current config is a single mini/micro system (Dell, I believe), Core i5, 8G RAM and an SSD, it's a ton of power for HA and massive overkill, I know. The problem is that the system is located in a remote room of the house, so the signal isn't exactly the best and I have some nodes that are linked through 2-3 other devices; I'd like to move the USB Z-stick to a more central location, and I don't think a USB extension is going to cut it. I have ethernet wire which is far more viable to get a connection across to the HA computer. I don't want to move the HA computer away from where it is, since there's backup power where it is; so my idea would be to use something like a Raspberry Pi (now that availability seems to be improving), connected by Ethernet using PoE (for power availability from the UPS). Provided I can get a Raspberry Pi, and all the related and required parts together, which should be fairly trivial; how would I connect the zwave dongle on the Raspberry Pi to the computer running homeassistant?

I haven't considered this before due to the pi being so difficult to get since I put together the homeassistant system. Ideally, I would want several of these systems placed at key points around the house so that I wouldn't need any of the zwave nodes to relay communications, but that's future plans more than anything - I would need to source several zwave dongles and get them all on raspberry pi's and get them working together.... So going about it towards that end would be a bonus; but at least I want to do some research on it and figure out if I can even relocate the dongle at all first. Any infromation to that end is appreciated.

I'm currently using ZWaveJS UI.

Hello Lemmings! I've been thinking about testing CEPH in my homelab, but to do it right I kinda want to build a cluster of systems, preferrably using SBCs to handle a CEPH storage drive each. Specifically, a single SATA disk would be preferred.

A while back I came across the ODROID HC1, which was perfect but I wasn't ready to pull the trigger at the time; the only thing I'd want above and beyond what the HC1 was capable of, is PoE to simplify power delivery. Unfortunately the HC1 is discontinued (and rather dated at this point), and I have yet to come across anything remotely similar. There are other boards along the same lines, like the HC4 from odroid, and others (often involving adding a SATA HAT to the SBC), but I'm not keen on that.

Essentially, I just want one drive per SBC, and build them into external drive-like enclosures with a single HDD each (3.5" is most likely), and just have a fleet of them. The idea would be to have a pair of "gateway" systems that are more robust, that can pull from the CEPH and portray that data as CIFS or NFS or iSCSI or whatever. Each SBC wouldn't need to be more than 1Gbps linked, but the gateway systems would likely be 10G linked off the same switch to take advantage of the bandwidth of the cluster.

Does anyone know of an SBC that's newer and similar in design to the HC1? Something newer/faster would be important, and something with PoE to power itself and the drive would be a nice-to-have (otherwise I'll rig up a high amperage DC rail for all the nodes so I can use a single "PSU" thing for it. If someone knows a better community to place this question, let me know.... still getting used to lemmy.