Kyle Rankin @kyle@librem.one

This evening I'm cleaning, repairing and refurbishing a Comptometer model 3D11 from the 1950s. This was the last Comptometer the company made and has its final speed and accuracy improvements before the world moved to electronic calculators.

Check out this giant electric accounting machine! It's a combination typewriter and adding machine that is basically the electromechanical Excel of its day.

@Konqi It is a combination of local antique and thrift stores, local sellers, and eBay. It is surprising how much they show up when you start looking for them.

I'm speaking ⁨at LinuxFest Northwest⁩ this weekend on Saturday and Sunday:

https://lfnw.org/conferences/2022/program/proposals/652
https://lfnw.org/conferences/2022/program/proposals/653

It's being done virtually and I don't know if there will be video, but if so and you are wondering what all that stuff is in my background, here's a better picture.

@foolman Looks like a Jacquard loom! It was discovering the history of that loom while researching mechanical calculators that planted the seed for my weaving hobby.

I'm skeptical of backdoor hardware implants en masse not because they're impossible, but because backdoors in proprietary firmware are easier to implement, to hide, and to explain away when discovered.

I'm not saying this was malicious, but "debug version w/ backdoor added to prod by accident" is a great way to explain away a driver literally named SecureBackDoor. https:://www.welivesecurity.com/2022/04/19/when-secure-isnt-secure-uefi-vulnerabilities-lenovo-consumer-laptops/

I finished my handwoven overshot napkins! They are ready just in time to (maybe) use for Easter dinner. I learned a lot about weaving complex patterns and was able to make all of my mistakes in a project where they didn't matter much. We're wiping our mouths with these after all!

I've had a leg in both Twitter and Mastodon for years now and post simultaneously in both. I prefer Mastodon in basically every way. The main thing that keeps me on Twitter are folks who aren't (yet) on Mastodon.

My son needed help with a math problem so he came to my office. He came to the right place. Today I opted for the R.C. Allen 75 so I could tear off the paper tape demonstrating the calculations.

This weekend I finally started work on the mechanical calculator museum in my office! I plan on hanging more memorabilia on the walls and will type out placards for the calculators on display.

Estate sales are the way to go for quality yarn if you know what to look for. I just bought this collection of yarn (mostly wool and cotton) for the price of a single small skein of the yarn you see in front, if it were new. ⁨#weaving⁩ ⁨#yarn

The fabric is off the loom! The next step is to do a quick zigzag stitch across the end of each napkin to keep the ends from fraying when I separate them later. Then I'll wash/dry/iron the fabric, clean up loose threads, then separate and hem the napkins.

@kop316 I do know it underwent drop tests at one point early in the process, but I don't recall the details.

@wobin Eight 22" long x ~19" wide napkins in total, only one mistake-free one. I wove 1 1/2" of tabby on both ends of each napkin that I will tri-fold and hem. The first napkin has mistakes even the untrained eye will see, another 6 have mistakes only weavers will notice, and the last one may actually not have any mistakes!

Yesterday my Comptometer Model 3D11 arrived! This last Comptometer model was made in the 1950s-60s and has all the final refinements they made to what was the fastest calculator for accounting before digital calculators dominated. I'll clean and refurbish it this weekend.

Here you can see the yards of fabric as it wraps around the cloth beam. In between each napkin is two or more passes of another yarn so I can more easily separate them later.

Last night I finished ⁨#weaving⁩ the 8th (and final) overshot napkin! I *barely* had enough warp left for it. Now to take them off the loom and hem the edges.