hi everyone and welcome to another edition of legacy information technology
hacking.
Here at sudoroom, we are having trouble getting on the internet because our
VT-320 terminal's keyboard cord is missing the RJ-9 end that connects it to the
rest of the terminal. Thus our internet experience is read-only and in that
sense, much like television.
this is what our terminal looks like, except that the connector on the end of
the keyboard cord is missing:
https://www.reddit.com/r/retrobattlestations/comments/bu50g1/dec_vt320_term…
I know we're all very familiar with the RJ45 connector, the venerable
transparent acrylic connector on the end of all of our ethernet cables, and the
aged among you also know the RJ11 connector, which joined our telephones to the
POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) but even most hackers are only slightly aware
of a third, smaller variant: RJ9
https://www.asomep.com/en/a-1-1313-29-0-0-0/PLUG-UTP-MALE-CONNECTOR-RJ9-C3e…
our terminal uses RJ11 for its serial ports, and we have no shortage of such
cords for that. But it uses an RJ9 connector for the keyboard, and while we
might be able to find a cord on an old telephone, it will not easily uncrimp,
and splicing and soldering those wires to the keyboard would result in oxidized
connections and slow switching transition waveforms and "third state" bits
between the keyboard and terminal. So what we really need is a brand new,
uncrimped RJ9 plug that we can put onto the keyboard cord (after figuring out
which way it goes on there) so that our terminal can function at full power.
yes i know, the internet allows for remote shopping experiences and i could
simply order a connector to be mailed to me, but I know at least ten of you
nerds out there have an uncrimped RJ9 plug or two in your electronics bins and
I want to reward your thoughtful preservation of materials by giving you a
chance to donate that connector to sudoroom (tax deductable of course)
bonus points if you have a crimper that works with RJ9 plugs.
We are having Hardware Hacking Tuesdays again every week (for now) but I am
available if you want a special access tour at a different time! Lets get this
terminal back in working order.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXaQn8txM9w
-jake
Dear Sudo Room,
Just a reminder that we have not received a payment for this invoice yet. Let us know if you have questions.
Thanks for your business!
Omni Commons
---------------------------------- Invoice ---------------------------------
4799 Shattuck Ave
Oakland, CA 94609 US
https://omnicommons.org
Invoice #: 2420
Date: 10/01/2021
Due Date: 10/25/2021
Terms: Net 25
Amount Due: $22,000.00
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill To:
Sudo Room
4799 Shattuck Ave
Oakland, CA 94607
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
****************************** Account Summary *****************************
09/01/2021 Balance Forward $20,000.00
Other payments and credits after 09/01/2021 0.00
New charges (details below) 2,000.00
Total Amount Due (activity through 10/01/202 22,000.00
****************************************************************************
<u> Date </u><u> Activity </u><u> Qty </u><u> Rate </u><u> Amount </u>
10/01/2021 Furnishing Fa 1 2,000.00 2,000.00
____________________________________________________________________________
--------------------------------------
Total Of New Charges: $2,000.00
Total Amount Due: $22,000.00
Greetings Sudo Room!
This is your monthly donation invoice. Thank you for stewarding the
commons!
Love and solidarity,
Omni Commons Finance Working Group
The skylight with the heavy duty exhaust fan is leaking quite profusely
with the recent rains, and was dripping down on a bunch of valuable looking
electronics equipment stashed on and next to the table closest to the
entrance.
I slit open a large garbage bag and draped it over the equipment to protect
it from further water damage, just as a stop-gap measure. If someone has a
bit of time today, it would be good to clear that entire area of equipment,
put a large bin under the leaks, and maybe try to dry off any valuable
equipment we'd like to keep with a heat gun...
Patrik
I hear with heavier rains, there are now many leaks, and especially in case
he ballroom. *Whomever may be at Omni right now, if you can, please mark
the floor location of where drips land with a big, taped ‘X’? Such as with
blue painters tape, masking tape, duct tape or similar - So we can better
locate the corresponding leaking areas on the roof after the rain stops.*
Thank you 🙏
David
Hi,
Tomorrow Monday 10/18, electrical maintenance will be conducted in Sudo
such that Sudo’s fridge will no longer need a super long and
non-code-compliant extension cord to be functional, and can just plug in
directly.
The fridge has been emptied of prior biohazard by some kind / selfless
soul, but it is not itself cleaned.. It is still extremely gross. Now would
be the time to bleach it, and perhaps deionize / bathe it in UVb light or
otherwise sanitize it to determine whether it can be truly rid of mold in
all the places we can’t see.
As jake pointed out, it is a really nice fridge, so it is in some important
respects worth saving. At the same time, we are coming up on our last
planned batch of dump runs.
It has been at least a couple months, and the fridge is still unsanitary
(not complaining at all just stating the facts). If the fridge is not
sanitized by the end of the week, unless there is any objection, I will
plan to have it taken to the dump.
Fairly soon we will have banks, insurance representatives et al walking the
building. In its current condition, I would not want any of these parties
them to randomly open the fridge placed right along the common path of
travel through the building, so imo, this fridge needs to either be hecka
cleaned, or gone.
If a sudoer plans to take on this challenge, please let me know?
Best,
David
Dear Sudo Room,
Here's your invoice! We appreciate your prompt payment.
Thank you for stewarding the commons.
Love and solidarity,
Omni Commons
---------------------------------- Invoice ---------------------------------
4799 Shattuck Ave
Oakland, CA 94609 US
https://omnicommons.org
Invoice #: 2435
Date: 11/01/2021
Due Date: 11/25/2021
Terms: Net 25
Amount Due: $24,000.00
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill To:
Sudo Room
4799 Shattuck Ave
Oakland, CA 94607
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
****************************** Account Summary *****************************
10/01/2021 Balance Forward $22,000.00
Other payments and credits after 10/01/2021 0.00
New charges (details below) 2,000.00
Total Amount Due (activity through 11/01/202 24,000.00
****************************************************************************
<u> Date </u><u> Activity </u><u> Qty </u><u> Rate </u><u> Amount </u>
11/01/2021 Furnishing Fa 1 2,000.00 2,000.00T
____________________________________________________________________________
SubTotal: $2,000.00
Tax: $0.00
--------------------------------------
Total Of New Charges: $2,000.00
Total Amount Due: $24,000.00
Greetings Sudo Room!
This is your monthly donation invoice. Thank you for stewarding the
commons!
Love and solidarity,
Omni Commons Finance Working Group
- Task: Replace short lengths of existing 2-wire thermostat cable, with
3-wire min.18 gauge (18/3, solid or stranded) thermostat cable, connecting
all basement furnaces with their thermostats (not needed for disco room
furnace). These furnaces serve basement, entrance hall, and ballroom.
- Reason: So we can have the option of running fans without heat - to help
filter air even when heat isn’t needed - in order to reduce COVID
risk/spread in the building (especially during events etc.)
Anyone who has done basic inside wiring for telco / internet should be able
to run this cable, which can be purchased by the door or in spools from HD
for cheap. I don’t think we’ll need more than about 75’ in length at most.
It is not necessary to attach the cable to thermostat or furnace, just run
the cable. I can come attach it to thermostats and furnaces.
One way to do this would be to:
- remove any staples / ties affixing old cable
- strongly tape new cable to ethe end of existing cable
- pull old cable (connected to the new cable) through
If anyone has spoons to take this on lmk. There are a lot of building
maintenance tasks rn, and I don’t know when I’ll get to this. Omni is
getting ballroom rental requests needed for omnis bottom line, and for
everyone’s safety we really should have this feature in place before
hosting public events. So, it is pressing, if there is a volunteer.
Best,
David
Hi, power is out to Omni’s block and beyond.
I called Pg&e. Outage is ‘storm related’ affecting over 3K customers with
no ETA to restore power as of yet. I signed up for text alerts relating to
the outage.
Best,
David
Of course folks are welcome to also welcome to show up in person but I
won't be there in person tonight.
Meeting link:
https://meet.jit.si/SudoRoomMeeting
--
marc/juul
Hardware hacknight is happening tonight at 7 pm!
The Omni door is currently undergoing upgrades so your keycard will not
work. Please use the doorbell and someone will let you in.
--
marc/juul
