Still Failing

Yesterday I blogged briefly about reinstalling Windows on my gaming PC. Unfortunately, even after doing so, I’m still having random BSODs and other crashes on the system. Therefore, last night I made the executive decision to replace the system (almost) entirely.

This morning I did a little planning (using the excellent pcpartpicker tool), spec’d out a new machine, and placed an order for the components. I believe that my graphics card (a GTX 1070) is still good, so I only needed the rest of the system. It wasn’t super cheap, unfortunately. But I want to be able to play the occasional game that isn’t supported on Linux with good performance, and maintaining a functional Windows machine appears to be my best solution for that.

Windows 10 Updates

Every once in a while I fire up an older Windows 10 PC, mostly to play games. Unfortunately, because it doesn’t get used much, it normally needs to run updates. And I officially hate running updates on Windows machines.

At this point in my life, most of my work is done on Linux. I understand the operating system relatively well, and I generally understand what an update will do to my computer.

Timing Matters

Short post today. Been a busy day, with more to come…

Professionally, I do a lot of work with microcontrollers and real-time systems. I don’t normally need to focus much on the timing aspect, as the frameworks in place generally have been ironed out, and timing just works.

However, there are times, like today, when I find out that a system is failing to perform correctly because we are missing timing deadlines. When something like that occurs, it’s time to start digging through the code, looking for the point of failure. Sometimes it’s an easy fix; sometimes it’s a design flaw that requires a substantial amount of work to fix.

Musings on Life Habits

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Romans 7:15 (ESV)

Romans 7:15 has been on my mind a lot recently, though not necessarily for spiritual or religious reasons. Rather, it’s because I constantly find myself slacking in my habits and disciplines, and I want to know why.

I mean, I guess I know the general reasons. The human body and mind tend to shy away from discipline. It’s something one has to work on, constantly. And I know that, and have proven it over and over to myself.

Name That Tune

I wasn’t sure what to write about today. I didn’t want anything long, but I wanted an actual post as well. So, I decided to write up a little explanation of a game my family and I have been playing remotely!

For the past few weeks, at least once per week, my family and I have been playing Name That Tune via Zoom. The general setup and rules are simple:

A Quiet Night In

It’s Friday. Pre-COVID-19 that would normally mean a normal to slightly-longer than normal workday, followed by grocery shopping, and some down time. So what does it mean in a post-COVID-19 world?

Well, pretty much the same, just with a few tweaks. It’s still work most of the day, just from home instead of the office (most weeks). Then, mid- to late-afternoon, I head to the other side of town to do grocery shopping. And finally, down time at home, by myself.

Moving a Git Submodule

A coworker asked me a question this evening about how to move a Git submodule to a sub-directory, and as it’s something I’ve had to look up multiple times in the past, I decided it would be good to post it here for easy lookup in the future.

How to move a Git submodule to a sub-directory

1. Delete the submodule reference from .gitmodules (normally 3 lines)
2. Check .git/config for references to the submodule and remove them, if they exist
3. Run git rm --cached <submodule name> to remove the submodule reference from the repository
4. Remove the old submodule folder
5. Recreate your submodule reference with git submodule add <git repo url> <local path>

I’m publishing this as part of 100 Days To Offload (Day 20/100). You can join in yourself by visiting https://100DaysToOffload.com.