If at all possible, please put me down for 1 Q8.
Thanks!
Can I please be put in for a second item. I am 1066 on list. Thanks Miller.
Sign me up for a second one please! I’m #704.
GPS is tricky. It is, quite literally, the world’s biggest clock. It takes the form of a bunch of satellites orbiting in known paths, all going “TICK… TICK… TICK…” very loudly in perfect unison as they broadcast individually-identifiable pings with timestamps. If you know exactly what time it is and very precisely how much time elapsed between receiving each copy of a single “tick” due to the limited speed of light, you can figure out where you are.
But I wouldn’t expect anyone to do realtime orbital mechanics calculations on dozens of satellites simultaneously, with corrections for general relativity, on a cheap 8-bit integer-only single-core processor, and still remain responsive enough to measure microsecond differences in lag between the visible signals, and then use that lag measurement to triangulate the device’s location precisely.
Okay, maybe I knew a guy who once did exactly that (Lightman, funny how things always seem to revolve around light)… but most sane people instead buy a chip with all the relevant parts already implemented. Because GPS is almost as much of a pain as date math.
If anyone needs a reminder…
- The first rule of Date Math is: You don’t do your own date math.
- The second rule of Date Math is: YOU DON’T DO YOUR OWN DATE MATH.
See this video if you want to know why. Programmer Barbie says “Date math is hard!”
In any case, GPS is a similar story… especially on cheap, under-powered processors. You really don’t want to do your own realtime relativistic orbital mechanics and micro-lag triangulation calculations. It’s like that long lonely winter down at the South Pole when you got really drunk one night and decided to run around the pole wearing only boots in –75 C weather — it may seem like a good idea at the time, but after a few days of coughing up blood you realize you were horribly, disastrously wrong.
BTW, does anyone know where to get boots with built-in heaters? Asking for a friend.
Do you Does your friend prefer 26650s or 32650s?
GPS capabilities are similar to 3D graphics… they come in a nicely packaged specialized processor that does the job lightning fast - way faster then software on the cpu.
BTW: i’m still scratching my head about how much of a signal can be induced in a tiny antenna, 14.000Km away, inside a cell phone in a very noisy environment… The GPS satellites can’t broadcast that loud, do they? They are running on solar power…? Kind of puzzles me…
Have them check with the persons family of the person who ran around outside at –75°C. It’s much less expensive to just sell them than ship them home.
Check local snow machine dealers. That is where I found mine. 
I will see if I can find my picture of me at the north pole with the temp of negative 62 Degrees. 
Hmmmm, personally I have never found any that are worth a flip. But I have been checking out THESE , but at this point I know nothing more about them than what I have read.
But, I am thinking; put them in a pair of Boots Like This and your probably good to go pretty far into the negative Fahrenheit numbers. .
My experience with the boots have been positive. They are not much to look at, but they do keep my feet warm. :+1:
18 below zero F is the coldest I have been in and my feet stayed warm.
Mission accomplished. :+1: 
See post 7897 for more on that.
I’m not much of a fighter, and I’m not the least bit competitive; I’m more of a process junkie. I do things because I enjoy the road, not because I want to get to the destination. Those who don’t enjoy the process rarely survive past a couple centuries, so you can generally assume that those of us who remain are here because we’re having a good time.
That is to say… I’m not doing this for any particular goal. I enjoy it for its own sake.
As seen a couple pages ago, this doesn’t tend to go over well with people who are impatient to get where we’re going. So I apologize for that… but I hope I can at least make the ride a bit more interesting.
Interesting indeed! :+1:
Now… would it be considered off topic to complain about how hard it has become to follow the multiple off topics?
If it’ll make you feel better by all means go off topic and go ahead and complain about off topic posts.
Not at all patmurris, go for it.
This thread might set a record for both # of posts as well as for off topic sub topics in one thread.
This thread has taken on a life of it’s own for sure. But it has been interesting and educational. For instance TK has told some about her Ninja like skills. sparkyDK has posted about neat train stuff I had no idea existed , and several other detours (by others) I shall not take the time to mention.
In addition, as we patiently wait for the Q8 to be released; we have learned more about the firmware as well as many other aspects of it.
An index page would indeed be helpful…………
Post on ………… 
What you got today: 03/13/2011 - 5/30/2017 = 2271 days
The Q8, a BLF SRK: 04/06/2016 - 5/30/2017 = 420 days
What you got today: 9007 posts / 2271 days = 3.97 posts/day
The Q8, a BLF SRK: 8151 posts / 420 days = 19.41 posts/day
Good find & info Tom E. :+1:
Yep, I agree; that one is toast for sure!! And it has been going since …. Sun, 03/13/2011 - 01:35. … 
… Over 6 years.
The Q8 thread is an epic beast with a life of it own….
Trains, hot peppers, bruised arm pics, work place practical jokes, batteries, chargers, ninja like videos, a viking reenactment video of guys beating on each other, probably a few things I forgot, an argument here & there, and…. even good info on the Q8. :+1:
This is in all likelihood a once in a lifetime Dream Thread!!! ….
.
.
EDIT: Good info Mr.Scott…. :+1:
So, the Q8 thread should reach the length of the what-you-got-today thread in approximately 56 days when they’re both at about 9227 posts. ETA 2017-07-25, if things continue at the average rate.
Or much sooner if the Q8 goes live before then.
I could share my post count with this thread to get lumens up… shame I’ll be going AWOL soon…
1June isn’t it? Get Mrs. Custom to update us if that is possible. Good luck & best wishes Dale…
You really do customize everything in reach, don’t you? Even your own body…
Anyway, I hope the titanium implants will be everything you hope they’ll be, and while you heal you can ponder whether to change your name to RoboDale, CyberDale, or stick with the usual Dr. Frankendale.