Yep. I didn't get into it in the article, but in reality the previous owner had already (accidentally) thrown the SD card in the trash, and was pretty much asking me if they want me for them to go digging through their trash to find it, and I told them not to worry about it.
reply“No worries, I’ll hit HN’s front page instead” - much more fun!
replyWhy did the previous owner ever remove the card in the first place if they knew it broke things?
replyBecause if OP didn't want the card, then the card could be sold on ebay for 60 euros.
replyThat's kind of you :-)
replyNice writeup. But IIUC you can change it so that it automatically updates the time every 6 months?
replyI’m a little confused by the description of that interaction - why wouldn’t you take the SD card? Did they want to charge extra for it? Seems like even a 10 year old map (plus apparently other functionality) is something you’d want.
replyIn any case, glad it took you on the wild goose chase that led to the write up!
> And good thing you documented it, since in half a year you'll need it again.
replyMan this is too real for personal projects. I really need to write down my findings and thoughts more for future me.
I started using an "engineering notebook" for things like that. They are called other things in other lines of work or school (lab notebook, captain's log, ...). In an actual engineering notebook, you would use a sewn binding where you can't add or remove pages, the pages are numbered, you have an index in the front, entries are made in strictly chronological order, you'd have someone else witness and sign pages, draw a diagonal line across empty areas so you can't remove things, only cross things out with a single line, etc. All that because you might need to prove you invented something and other legal CYA reasons. Most of these requirements, you don't need for personal projects, though. But the things that are useful: keeping track of projects, what settings you've tried, what the results were, and so on. That way you don't have to reproduce it from scratch again later. "What settings did I need use to create the gerber files in kicad for manufacturing? How did I set ___ in the oscilloscope? What parts did I use to make that thing? What things did I wish I had checked last time? Where did I put those files?" You can also print things out and tape them in for reference.
replyI love the ergonomics of hard bound engineering notebooks. The cost is more than I'm willing to pay for the pedestrian kind of notes I take, though.
replyI got a few of them, partially-used, from a canceled project and I really enjoyed using and carrying them.
I just use composition notebooks which are like $1-$5 depending on the quality, store, sales, etc. That's also what we used as a lab notebook in chemistry class when I was in high school, which follows a similar discipline, so to me it's fitting.
replyMEMORY.md is your friend.
replyI’d rather read my own internal wiki tbh
replyThat’s the part I don’t get: just take the damned card, you never know. Worst case: hey, free SD card!
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