HPR

Posted at 2026-10-10 17:35:32 relating to the show hpr4742 which was released on 2026-10-06 by Ken Fallon entitled OLF Call for presentations open

There have been a few comments on background noise in the interview in HPR4742.

Background noise outdoors and in public spaces in general are probably inevitable unless you have a professional grade sound crew and equipment. I did not personally find the background noise in this episode to be a problem in terms of understanding it and I see nothing wrong with it.

If anyone has a similar sort of recording, do not let this sort of noise discourage you from posting it. We will listen to it and enjoy it if the content is good.

I don't know what sort of, if any, filtering was done for this episode. However, too much filtering can be worse than no filtering at all as it can distort the voice signal plus it can actually inject more background noise than it removes. I am not implying this is the case here, I am just pointing out that there are limits to what you can do when recording in a difficult location or in post-processing.

I address filtering in my series on Simple Podcasting, which are HPR4608, 4618, 4638, and 4648.

In HPR4658 - Audio Revisited, I collect and compare a series of sound samples under various conditions with various equipment and then apply various audio filters. This shows that filtering comes down to making a balanced judgment on reducing background noise versus introducing distortion in the voice signal.

However, I am not familiar with auphonic.com. Perhaps Ken Fallon could to an episode on his experience using that method and how well he felt it worked. That would perhaps help other contributors in similar circumstances.

Posted at 2026-10-10 17:12:52 relating to the show hpr4748 which was released on 2026-10-14 by Whiskeyjack entitled Programmable Logic Controls - Episode 5

Thank you for the comment, Archer72. I have added a note to my podcast TODO list to make an episode on Basic Modules and on the 8052AH Basic chip in general.

It should come out after episode 8 in the current series.

If you have any other PLC related topics that you would like me to address, please post a comment below one of the episodes. I have made several episodes on other topics in response to listener questions or comments.

Posted at 2026-10-10 09:59:46 relating to the show hpr4742 which was released on 2026-10-06 by Ken Fallon entitled OLF Call for presentations open

Hi,

I second Ken on the idea of taking the raw audio and processing out the fume extractor noise. This process would make a great episode, or even a few on how to filter out specific noise such as this.

Archer72

Posted at 2026-10-10 09:52:34 relating to the show hpr4748 which was released on 2026-10-14 by Whiskeyjack entitled Programmable Logic Controls - Episode 5

Hi Whiskeyjack,

In the community show comments, you mention knowledge of the 8052AH Basic chip, which would make a great follow-up show.

Archer72

Posted at 2026-10-09 22:41:06 relating to the show hpr4708 which was released on 2026-08-19 by Whiskeyjack entitled Programmable Logic Controls - Episode 1

If you like the series on PLCs, the best thing to do is to comment on each episode as it comes out. This will help to bring it to the attention of more listeners.

If there is something in particular in an episode that you would like to hear more about, then post a comment requesting a follow up on that subject. I will then do a follow up episode dealing with those questions if I am able to answer them.

In one of my previous series, I ended up doing an additional two follow up episodes dealing with listener questions.

Posted at 2026-10-09 22:34:02 relating to the show hpr4708 which was released on 2026-08-19 by Whiskeyjack entitled Programmable Logic Controls - Episode 1

I think that adding a tag at this point would be up to the HPR janitors, as the full 8 parts of the series is already uploaded.

Perhaps the community news presenters could offer their suggestions on this when they read the community news at the end of the month.

If you don't wish to wait that long, you may try raising the issue on the mailing list.

Posted at 2026-10-09 18:11:43 relating to the show hpr4708 which was released on 2026-08-19 by Whiskeyjack entitled Programmable Logic Controls - Episode 1

Hi mechatrocity,

I second adding a 'PLC' tag and also 'Programmable Logic Controls'. It wouldn't take up much in the data table. ;-)

Also, I believe there is still a place on the HPR Hub to add needed tags.

Archer72

Posted at 2026-10-09 15:34:00 relating to the show hpr4707 which was released on 2026-08-18 by Vance entitled UNIX Curio #12 - expr

Hi Vance,

I'm getting caught up on HPR shows, and just heard this one. Sorry I'm late!

I'd never come across 'dc' before, but in the 1970's I built a Sinclair Scientific calculator (from a kit), and it used RPN (and was very slow). I have installed 'dc' today in fact, and it feels a bit nostalgic using it.

I have encountered 'expr', but never found it all that useful. As you say, the later developments in shells like '$((42*2))' have made doing arithmetic a lot simpler. I'm primarily a Bash user to tend to prefer "Bashisms".

Thanks for the detailed analysis of the subject.

Dave

Posted at 2026-10-09 15:19:55 relating to the show hpr4708 which was released on 2026-08-19 by Whiskeyjack entitled Programmable Logic Controls - Episode 1

Love this episode as an intro, and I'd like to share it with other SW people who don't understand what PLCs are!
Can we create and add a 'PLC' tag to this series for easy searching?

Posted at 2026-10-09 01:47:38 relating to the show hpr4741 which was released on 2026-10-05 by HPR Volunteers entitled HPR Community News for September 2026

I don't have practical experience programming the Intel 8032 microcontroller and so can't really do a podcast on it. However, I would bet that one of our listeners does and could do an episode for us.

A variant of the 8032 was the 8052AH Basic chip, which had a Basic interpreter burned into ROM right on the chip. This was used in some older PLCs, and I do have first hand experience with those.

If you post a comment requesting it on hpr4748 Programmable Logic Controls - Episode 5, which comes out on the 14th of October, or on any subsequent episode in the series, I will do a follow up episode on 8052AH Basic, including an interesting variant that most people probably don't know about. I mention Basic modules in hpr4748, but I don't go into any detail on them.

The 8052AH Basic chip was also widely used on a number of single board computers (SBCs) used in embedded systems, so it has relevance outside of just PLCs.

Posted at 2026-10-09 01:37:32 relating to the show hpr4743 which was released on 2026-10-07 by Klaatu entitled wl-copy

I found this episode to be very interesting.

In the first podcast that I posted for HPR, which was HPR4503 on onetime passwords using oathtool, candycanearter07 posted a comment mentioning the possibility of using xclip to automatically copy the OTP to the clipboard.

Now that I know about wl-copy I should really get around to implementing that in my OTP script.

Posted at 2026-10-08 19:20:27 relating to the show hpr4703 which was released on 2026-08-12 by Ahuka entitled Ebooks and Audiobooks

Thanks for the brief overview; particularly for naming a few alternative repositories for books.

Posted at 2026-10-08 19:18:42 relating to the show hpr4705 which was released on 2026-08-14 by Trollercoaster entitled Free Software Is Wasted On You Teens

Thank you for this fine descent into oblivion. I'm afraid I can't furnish a replacement check in case that final solicitation fails, but I imagine I'd drop a few coins in a provided can if this whole situation were non-virtual.

Posted at 2026-10-08 07:00:30 relating to the show hpr4742 which was released on 2026-10-06 by Ken Fallon entitled OLF Call for presentations open

I processed the audio through https://auphonic.com but then it picked up the fume extractor.

That's the best I can get it but I can make the raw take available if you wish to have a go at cleaning it up yourself.

Posted at 2026-10-07 20:21:09 relating to the show hpr4741 which was released on 2026-10-05 by HPR Volunteers entitled HPR Community News for September 2026

Hi WhiskeyJack,

Are you volunteering a series on the 8032 and following? Because that would definitely be of interest to myself and other hackers. ?

Archer72

Posted at 2026-10-07 19:52:51 relating to the show hpr4743 which was released on 2026-10-07 by Klaatu entitled wl-copy

Just a note to those on arch or derivatives, the wl-copy (and wl-paste) commands are available in a package called wl-clipboard.

Posted at 2026-10-07 16:56:59 relating to the show hpr4706 which was released on 2026-08-17 by Lee entitled Quirks and Customisations

Hi Lee,

Sorry my comment is late. Life has been complicated lately.

I enjoyed your long list of hacks and tweaks, many of which I have done myself or tried to, and a good number that I'll have to think about doing!

Your initial message about not tweaking too much or you'll regret it when you have to change hardware is very relevant to me. I'm in the (slow) process of moving from an old PC I built 14 years ago, to a new one I bought from TUXEDO in Germany (before RAM and disk prices went crazy). I kept running the old machine until it unexpectedly died, then had to move everything across to the later one. A lot of my tweaks were documented and backed up, but not all - and this oversight has been biting me for weeks.

So, I very much agree with this message.

Thanks for the show,
Dave

Posted at 2026-10-07 13:55:16 relating to the show hpr4743 which was released on 2026-10-07 by Klaatu entitled wl-copy

while i personally dislike wayland, its nice theyre slowly porting useful programs over. i use xclip a lot in my disperate scripts

Posted at 2026-10-07 10:07:51 relating to the show hpr4742 which was released on 2026-10-06 by Ken Fallon entitled OLF Call for presentations open

Good to hear about more post-lockdown Linux/FOSS events coming up.

But, Ken, what on earth were those noises ?

Posted at 2026-10-07 04:15:42 relating to the show hpr4741 which was released on 2026-10-05 by HPR Volunteers entitled HPR Community News for September 2026

im also interested in hearing about fix_tags! i didnt fully understand the explanation in the episode and having it expanded more would be cool

Posted at 2026-10-06 06:06:16 relating to the show hpr4741 which was released on 2026-10-05 by HPR Volunteers entitled HPR Community News for September 2026

i enjoy getting a recap/skim over everything that happened since i often miss/skip a handful of shows.

also i am Not going to touch balatro for a while after some Community Situations so i need to find a new game to maybe make an episode about... i guess i can always pick a random game from my steam lib and try and make one on that lol

Posted at 2026-10-06 05:12:41 relating to the show hpr4741 which was released on 2026-10-05 by HPR Volunteers entitled HPR Community News for September 2026

One of the Community News presenters suggested that a listener make a series on systemd. I concur that this would make for an excellent series, as it is something that I would like to learn more about.

As I have done several series on other topics, I would like to offer a bit of advice on making series as opposed to single episodes. I have already covered this in my series on simple podcasting, but I think I can make a couple of simple points here.

The important things for the person doing this series are:

a) Set a very rough target length for each episode. If you find yourself going over that length by very much, that probably means you need to split it into separate episodes. I would suggest a target of about 15 to 20 minutes per episode.

b) Write down a list of major headings on subjects to be discussed. The Community News presenter gave a very good list that can provide a starting point.

When you have your list of topics, start filling in the details and expanding on each one. When any one topic starts getting too long, then split it up and make two or more topics out of it. I suspect that you could do at least 8 to 10 episodes on this subject even just covering it lightly.

Once you start writing things down, you will begin to feel more confidence about being able to actually do it.

c) We are interested in what you have to say, and the rest of us are all amateurs at podcasting as well.

Posted at 2026-10-06 04:40:31 relating to the show hpr4741 which was released on 2026-10-05 by HPR Volunteers entitled HPR Community News for September 2026

I found the email from Dave Morris about ID3 tags which was read out by you to be very fascinating.

Although I did an episode about ID3 tags and Vorbis comments, I suspect that he knows far more about them than I do.

I think it would very fascinating if he were to record an episode on this subject, including about the "fix-tags" program. In fact I suspect it would take several episodes to do the topic justice.

I am looking forward to hearing his series on this topic.

Posted at 2026-10-06 04:33:28 relating to the show hpr4741 which was released on 2026-10-05 by HPR Volunteers entitled HPR Community News for September 2026

When commenting on hpr4718 :: Programmable Logic Controls - Episode 2 A brief overview of industrial control systems, one of the Community news presenters mistakenly referred to PLCs as "microcontrollers".

I don't believe that I have ever referred to PLCs as microcontrollers. Microcontrollers are in fact something quite a bit different. They are microprocessors with additional functions, including I/O, built in. They are often referred to these days as an "SOC", or "System On Chip".

PLCs are a complete system built out of many chips, using microprocessors, microcontrollers, and in the early days sometimes included minicomputer chips known as "bit slice processors".

ARM seems to have eaten up most of the microcontroller chip market these days. However, at one time there were a great many different microcontrollers on the market, with Intel being one of the biggest vendors, especially with their 8032 series.

Posted at 2026-10-06 04:12:38 relating to the show hpr4741 which was released on 2026-10-05 by HPR Volunteers entitled HPR Community News for September 2026

One of the comments read out mentioned background noise in a friedcamp interview.

Personally I thought the audio was just fine, given that it was recorded in an open air venue in a crowd. I could make out what was being said quite clearly. As I was myself listening to it in a noisy environment, I didn't see the additional background noise as being a problem.

If the person who commented, "cli", knows how to get better audio under those circumstances, then I think the subject would be of great interest to the rest of us and definitely worth sending in an episode about.

Posted at 2026-10-05 20:43:24 relating to the show hpr4735 which was released on 2026-09-25 by Kristoff entitled hpr4715 :: friedcamp interviews part 5: Yvon Masyn

Thanks for sharing this project - you had me at zeppelin. :D

Posted at 2026-10-02 23:55:43 relating to the show hpr4739 which was released on 2026-10-01 by Antoine entitled Happy by shower # 3

these episodes somehow keep coming out when im Going Through Things so thanks it uh helps i think

i forgot to respond the other day because emotional and stuff but yea

Posted at 2026-10-02 16:15:38 relating to the show hpr4741 which was released on 2026-10-05 by HPR Volunteers entitled HPR Community News for September 2026

No, not India Pale Ale unfortunately, the International Phonetic Alphabet.

When reading comments for show hpr4724, the question arose of how to pronounce "Märzen". The IPA for this word is [ˈmɛʁt͡sn̩], but if you are like me, this is largely meaningless. However, a few years ago I found a website that can pronounce IPA sequences for you.

I recorded a show about this (and some other stuff), which is at https://hackerpublicradio.org/eps/hpr4002. You don't even have to listen to the audio, the show notes explain how to use the reader, which you can find at https://ipa-reader.com/.

Posted at 2026-09-29 20:24:03 relating to the show hpr4736 which was released on 2026-09-28 by Ken Fallon entitled How to replace the battery in a car key fob

My wife's key fob stopped working a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately the problem wasn't the little battery in the fob, it was the big one in her Prius and cost £240 to replace.

Posted at 2026-09-26 21:15:53 relating to the show hpr4723 which was released on 2026-09-09 by Kristoff entitled friedcamp interviews part 3: The fried telephone system

I found the part about young people not knowing how to operate a dial telephone to be rather amusing. I can find that do be very believable, given the reaction that I have seen from some young people to a "dumb phone" style cell phone with a keypad below the screen. "What wizardry is this!" was their reaction when they saw how much smaller it was than their smart phone.

On a somewhat different tack, if anyone has experience with old phone equipment, I think that would make a great series of episodes. The older the kit, the better as well, but even relatively new stuff would be interesting.