Alfonso Gómez-Arzola
R Tyler Croy 🦀Hey developers!
YEAH?
Do you like solving problems?
YEAH!
Do you like reverse engineering?
...YEah..
Do you like having zero documentation?
..uhm..
Buy a house! Enjoy a lifetime of fixing other people's undocumented hacks while introducing your own!
Les Orchard@rtyler Absorbing Vernor Vinge's concept of "programmer–archaeologist" prepared me well to become a homeowner
sunshine@lmorchard @rtyler Okay listen where am I supposed to start with Vernor Vinge? What I've heard at this point is irresistibly intriguing.
the Stripey Goodness@lmorchard @sunshine @rtyler yeah you don't really have to know the Fire Upon the Deep happenings to understand Deepness in the Sky
AlexanderMars@stripey @lmorchard @sunshine @rtyler not disagreeing, but a fire upon the deep is a great book and as good a place to start as any.
Roadskater, Ph.D.@AlexanderMars @stripey @lmorchard @sunshine @rtyler There's sufficient gap between Fire and Deepness, you could read those in either order. Children of the Sky, on the other hand, makes much less sense if you have't read Fire.
I confess to greatly enjoying Across Realtime, seeing as The Peace War was the first Vinge I ever read. Tech nerds of that era and the next decade or more will swear by "True Names".
Nelson@stripey @lmorchard @sunshine @rtyler I agree. In fact I'd argue you should read "A Deepness in the Sky" first.
- I think it's the stronger book of the two, and therefore a better introduction to Vinge
- In-universe, it takes place first, even though it was published last as a sort of prequel. I think reading in chronological order improves the emotional impact.
- And of course it's the book with the relevant quote & concept, which may provide motivation to read it
@skyfaller @lmorchard @sunshine @rtyler I think I agree with you, especially because in the chronological order, the reader gets to discover the zones of thought along with the protagonists, rather than having them introduced and then removed
Karl Katzke@lmorchard @rtyler I often refer to the first steps in a project as "residential archaeology."
Wilfried Klaebe@lmorchard Sounds like I should read that. I have read "Rainbows End" and liked it.
Greg Albrecht W2GMD@rtyler the basic unit of measurement in the "HomeOS" is $10k.
dingodog@ampledata @rtyler everything is measured in kilobucks
Samantaz Fox@ampledata @rtyler If it's in freedom dollars, it can't be a round number. It has to be $9,156 or something xD
Tim Lavoie@rtyler Oh, I see that you, too, have bought a house from my father in law.
Christopher Neugebauer@rtyler oh no, you're reminding me I have to go into the crawl space to tidy up the ethernet cabling I did before water starts leaking in there again
Tanquist@rtyler
Good luck finding an #inspector whose job it is to find all of the undocumented hacks rather than simply facilitate the sale.
#RealEstate
Good luck finding an #inspector whose job it is to find all of the undocumented hacks rather than simply facilitate the sale.
#RealEstate
Alex Hyett@rtyler I had to fix one recently.
The waste pipe for the washing machine was a bit blocked so it was starting to leak. The previous owners managed to solve this by….. putting sealant around the top of the pipe so the water didn’t leak out.
LisPi
Jessamyn@rtyler I am in this toot and I don't like it.
Uwe Küchler
conor.
Syd@rtyler just imagine having a "well documented house" aka, you open the door the first time and there is a 300 pages big folder with all the quirks the house has. It still has the quirks, but they are all written down there ^^
Luke Kanies@Sythelux @rtyler I basically have that - parts of the house are 100 years old, but the previous homeowners did a studs-out remodel, so we have full plans for everything, new electrical, and decent wiring for Ethernet and sound. None of it like I would do it, but all better than my previous 100 year old house, with plaster, knob and tube, and a funky basement.
It has made some kinds of troubleshooting and planning way easier.
But others… you know exactly who to blame, and come to hate him
Over There
Siderea, Sibylla Bostoniensis
your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦@oftencalledcathy @rtyler that is very nice of you and improving the world bit by bit. ^^
The_Turtle_Moves@oftencalledcathy @Sythelux @rtyler they will, sadly, come to hate you too... It is the inevitable endpoint.
David Cantrell 🏏
GreenDotGuy@Sythelux @rtyler I had the next best thing... 120 year old house that the previous owners had occupied for 40+ years. One small room in the basement had every product booklet for every add-on, from the boiler to the garage opener. There were also mason jars of things like roof nails, spares of gutter straps and light bulbs, and a shelf of all the paints and varnishes.
I intend to keep this place just as long, and have been adding to and editing that room as things change.
@DarcMoughty @rtyler this is really cool! Also very useful we have a couple of extra tiles in the basement for the bathroom in case one breaks, because of course they are not produced anymore. Whoever has to replace them will be very thankful.
Nirro@Sythelux @rtyler at least you don't get burnt by the shower the first time you use it while discovering that the cold water tap functions only if you provide it with something called a "shower context manager" that you have to build yourself and spin it in reverse in counts of three full revolutions per every turn of the hot one because that's how some old proprietary of a different home used theirs, I guess...
Peski
pedestrian cyclist@rtyler It's a very different philosophy though.
For houses one in a million is not next Tuesday, more like the year 2151. 🙂
For houses one in a million is not next Tuesday, more like the year 2151. 🙂
Xymon@rtyler my house is twice the size it was when built. I have so many questions about the decisions made along the journey to today. And 3 mystery switches.
Ethan Blanton@funkaspuck @rtyler I feel that. The last house I owned was originally built without electricity or water (as far as we can tell) in 1921. It was retrofitted with power some time before WWII, then expanded (2x the size and power & water) in the 60s or so, then added onto again in the early 80s, a porch enclosed along the way ... and it's not clear that anyone who ever worked on it had any previous construction experience. Every project was a string of unpleasant surprises.
Joshua Iz@rtyler so much this. The previous owner was an IT guy who wired the house to support his sound setup with IR repeaters everywhere. I’ve tried 3 different IR A/V receivers and none work with his setup. So we have wires and built-in-to-the-wall surround speakers in every room that don’t work. So that’s nice.
@lispi314 @rtyler Yup. Every room's setup in the house was connected to a single A/V receiver. Not how I would do it.
There is an entire closet off the garage with masses of cables (both Cat-5 and speaker) with labels like: "Front L" or "Right" but no indication of which room. Sweet.
We would have to break through the wallboards to see the back of the speakers to see which cables were which and from where.
I ended up buying a sound bar so I don't have to worry about it anymore.
Benjohn
Eli the Bearded@rtyler For added fun, houses of a certain age teach you all sorts of things like 16" studs are a modern convention, tube and knob means even the box isn't grounded, gravity furnaces don't use air filters, gas light fixtures in ceilings can be used to hang electric lights, but it's tricky, homes plumbed for gas lighting often have abandoned gas pipes in walls.
@elithebearded Do those pipes still have gas? 😳 @rtyler
NMS@rtyler or a boat
Sir_Osis_of_LiverMy last house was well built, except for the basement. One of the previous owners had finished it themselves.
None of the walls were plumb, nor square. Stud spacing varied from 14" to 19" depending on whether you were measuring at the top or bottom. Door openings, just weren't.
What finally caused me to flip, was one of the ceiling fixtures ended up with two hots (240v) from the panel after they'd crossed a white and black in a tangled JB
I gutted the basement for a complete reno
Joseph Crail@rtyler My first house was very much in this same vein. I’ve been fortunate that my second house came with a huge binder with the original architectural plans, photos, and other renovations undertaken by subsequent owners. I will continue this tradition and would love to see this tradition spread around.
Sean Murthy@rtyler the ultimate "no docs" project: https://hachyderm.io/@smurthys/111274987783837557
Sean Murthy (@[email protected])
Human healthcare is the ultimate "reverse engineering" project. And the system comes with no documentation whatsoever. Just notes from the ongoing project. #health #healthcare #medicine
kira :3@rtyler idk if i ever expect to be able to buy a house but i know i'd be fucking that up all kinds of ways
@rtyler or have a child. Or better still do both at the same time!!!
fedward 
@rtyler @genehack The most ominous bug report I’ve ever seen was the single disclosure for our house: “microwave sometimes over functions.” Sometimes it would turn itself on when you closed the door. It took me a couple years to replicate reliably, but it was a problem with the door latch. You could pull down on the handle and make it stop.
Ziggy the Hamster ☎️ 4ZTH@rtyler somehow this is still preferable to having to use this application, which is maintained by a person who has an incentive to choose the cheapest option in all cases, because you’re renting
Pusher Of Pixels (old account)@rtyler Words you don't want to hear from your plumber working on your 'new to you' house.
"In 25 years I've never seen that..."
Had 3 FEET of copper supply pipe...stuffed with aluminum foil??? This was moving a washer back to it's original location. The previous owner had also held up the washer return..with a coat hanger in the wall. 🤦