Emisar D2 first impressions

[xevious (Gary)]

Wow. Just ran the command. Install was very fast. It informed me Ubuntu was installed.

Do you know offhand if there’s a way to disable it? I just want to leave it disabled when not in use, to avert any hacking dangers. Or maybe I’m overthinking things and that the WSL only runs for an active session when you invoke it and you can just kill the session whenever you want.

[sb56637]

I’m pretty sure that it’s only active while you’re using it. I’m rather biased, but I’d personally be more concerned about security issues directly from Windows than from having a Linux subsystem available.

[xevious (Gary)]

Windows 11 seems very solid. Supposedly when you’re running the primary account, there is extra shielding in place such that any commands to do silent/background updates or changes to the system will trigger an admin approval alert.

I’m still looking for an app that can monitor all processes and provide an “ownership” trail back to an originator, so “Service Host” isn’t some unidentified process. Allegedly MS Defender is supposed to be really good about alerting for any malicious processes that attempt to start, but I like to placate my mind by actually seeing what’s running.

Anyway, I agree – Linux is a tighter, cleaner system where security is concerned.

[xevious (Gary)]

@Toy Keeper

  #  ^ 
  #,_:@ 
  BEGIN{$l="ub";$_='KN($){$d=$_[0]}KL(){$B[$R][$C]}KM{$a=@{$B[$R]};
  $d==0&&($C++,$C>=$a&&($C=0));$d==2&&($C||($C=$a),$C--);
  $d==3&&($R++,$R>=@B&&($R=0));$d==1&&($R||($R=@B),$R--);}
  KP($){push@S,shift}KJ(){pop@S||0}KX(){@S[-1,-2]=@S[-2,-1]}KR() 
  {push@S,$S[-1]}KW($$){"Z".$_[0]."Z,K{".$_[1]."},"}KG($){($_)=($a)=@_;
  y/\`/>/;W$a," X;P(J$_ J)"}KD($){($a)=@_;W$a,ZP Z.$a}KE($){($_)=($a)
  =@_;y/0123/>^<v/;W $_,"N $a"}';y/Z/\'/;s/K/s$l /g;my($R,$C,@S);
  eval$_;}$_=$x=W '_','N(J?2:0)';y/_02/|31/;$x.=$_ 
  #r^>\"J eg"1+T,,,,l# 
  ; $u=W '"','@T[0,1]=@T[1,0]';$_=$x.$u.W('!','P!J').W('?','P int 
  rand(4)').W(':','R').W('\\\\','X').W("\$",'J').W(' ',"").W('#','M')
  .W('.',"pIJ,chr(32)").W(',',"pIchr J").W('@',"pI'\n';exit").W('g','X 
  ;P ord$B[J][J]').W('p','X;$a=\\$B[J][J];$$a =chr J;');s/I/rint /g;@T=eval 
  join"\n",'({',(map{D$_}(0..9)),(map{E$_}(0..3)) 
  ,(map{G$_}split//,'+-*%/`'),$_,'},{',$u,'})';for(@B=<>){$_= 
  [split/\n*/]}while(1){$_=L;$_=" "if!defined$_;~y/\s/ /;exists$T[0]{$_}?$T[0]
  {$_}->():P ord$_;M;} 

You’ve got to be kidding. That’s an “award winning” Perl script? Looks cryptic as all get out!

[sb56637]

@xevious

@Toy Keeper

Summary

^

#,:@
BEGIN{$l=“ub”;$=‘KN(:money_mouth_face:{$d=$[0]}KL(){$B[$R][$C]}KM{$a=@{$B[$R]};
$d==0&&($C++,$C>=$a&&($C=0));$d==2&&($C||($C=$a),$C–);
$d==3&&($R++,$R>=@B&&($R=0));$d==1&&($R||($R=@B),$R–);}
KP(:money_mouth_face:{push@S,shift}KJ(){pop@S||0}KX(){@S[-1,-2]=@S[-2,-1]}KR()
{push@S,$S[-1]}KW($:money_mouth_face:{“Z”.$[0].“Z,K{”.$[1].“},”}KG(:money_mouth_face:{($)=($a)=@;
y/`/>/;W$a," X;P(J$ J)"}KD(:money_mouth_face:{($a)=@;W$a,ZP Z.$a}KE(:money_mouth_face:{($)=($a)
=@;y/0123/>^<v/;W $,“N $a”}’;y/Z/'/;s/K/s$l /g;my($R,$C,@S);
eval$;}$=$x=W ‘‘,‘N(J?2:0)’;y/02/|31/;$x.=$
#r^>"J eg"1+T,l#
; $u=W ‘"’,’@T[0,1]=@T[1,0]';$=$x.$u.W(’!‘,‘P!J’).W(’?‘,‘P int
rand(4)’).W(’:‘,‘R’).W(’\\‘,‘X’).W(“$”,‘J’).W(’ ‘,“”).W(’#‘,‘M’)
.W(’.‘,“pIJ,chr(32)”).W(’,‘,“pIchr J”).W(’@‘,"pI’\n’;exit").W(‘g’,‘X
ord$B[J][J]’).W(‘p’,‘X;$a=\$B[J][J];$$a =chr J;’);s/I/rint /g;@T=eval
join"\n",‘({’,(map{D$:rage:0…9)),(map{E$:rage:0…3))
,(map{G$}split//,‘±*%/`’),$,‘},{’,$u,‘:smiling_imp:’;for(@B=<>){$=
[split/\n*/]}while(1){$=L;$=" "if!defined$;~y/\s/ /;exists$T[0]{$}?$T[0]
{$}->() ord$_;M;}

You’ve got to be kidding. That’s an “award winning” Perl script? Looks cryptic as all get out!

“Award winning” in a Rube Goldberg kind of way is how I understand it.

[sb56637]

@xevious

Windows 11 seems very solid. Supposedly when you’re running the primary account, there is extra shielding in place such that any commands to do silent/background updates or changes to the system will trigger an admin approval alert.

I’m still looking for an app that can monitor all processes and provide an “ownership” trail back to an originator, so “Service Host” isn’t some unidentified process. Allegedly MS Defender is supposed to be really good about alerting for any malicious processes that attempt to start, but I like to placate my mind by actually seeing what’s running.

Maybe something like Windows AppLocker or Smart App Control? I just heard about them in this video:

I Seriously Almost Just Got Hacked...

[jon_slider]

imo, The Emisar D2 is a great little light, straight out of the box.

There is no real need to reflash, the stock firmware works great!

[raccoon]

virus.exe is pretty bad.
formatsystemdrive.exe might be worse.

[ToyKeeper]

@xevious

That’s an “award winning” Perl script?

It won the 4th annual Obfuscated Perl Contest.

Most Perl code isn’t like that… but even normal Perl is really heavy on punctuation and tends to omit variable names, which has given it a reputation as a “write-only language”. I.e. the sort of thing the programmer understands while writing it, but if the same person goes back to it 6 months later, they probably won’t understand their own code… and neither would anyone else. The contest exists specifically because Perl is so notoriously hard to read. They just lean into that even further, and try to make the most incomprehensible programs possible. It’s also common for people to practice “Perl golf”, wherein they try to make their source code use as few bytes as possible.

It doesn’t get used much any more, aside from one-liners. It has a particularly powerful regular expression engine built in and deeply integrated, plus the ability to put several operations together into a very dense single line or single expression… so it’s popularly used in the middle of a pipe as a replacement for sed and awk. But usually, for things longer than one line, other languages are a better choice.

Perl iterated quickly up to version 5, but widespread criticism led to a massive overhaul, basically a complete rewrite and redesign, for Perl 6 – which was announced 23 years ago in the year 2000. As the author said:

In Perl 6, we decided it would be better to fix the language than fix the user.

Thus began the Perl “Apocalypse”(s). (not an exaggeration; that’s what the author himself called it)

So people mostly stopped starting new projects in Perl 5, because Perl 6 was just around the corner and promised to be massively better. But Perl 6 didn’t happen. It remained just-around-the-corner ever since, with several people trying to implement the language only to abandon it later. The only version still being developed is one by Rakudo which started in 2015, and in 2019, Perl 6 got renamed to “Raku” and Perl 5 is now just “Perl” again.

Now they’re planning to maybe someday create Perl 7, which is the second attempt at a successor to Perl 5… but there’s no ambitious plan this time, and the people in charge officially cancelled Perl 7 until/unless Perl 5 organically grows enough new features to warrant a new major version. But there’s a pretty high chance that will never happen, since Perl in general has been trending downward for a quarter of a century.

I just find this sort of thing interesting. Perl is a fascinating study on how not to design a language, how to make it popular despite (or even because of) its flaws, and then how to kill something popular.

[ToyKeeper]

@jon_slider

The Emisar D2 is a great little light, straight out of the box.

There is no real need to reflash

I didn’t expect to like it, but I do. It’s my favorite headlamp so far… with a great-looking neutral flood beam for up-close, plus a really throwy beam when things aren’t so close. And it’s really small and light and I think it looks nice.

But I’d still recommend updating the firmware to something recent, if it shipped with anything older than mid-2023. Changing channels is easier, and the new battery display makes it easier to check the charge while wearing it (after turning it off, keep your hand in front of it for a couple seconds to see what color it shines).

I think it would be a bit nicer with the button on the side instead of the end. Easier to squeeze the button with one hand that way, while wearing it, without blocking the beam. And it’d be helpful if the battery tube was 1-2mm longer.

[jon_slider]

I’d still recommend updating the firmware to something recent, if it shipped with anything older than mid-2023. Changing channels is easier

respectfully disagree… The D2 ships w 2021-12-13-0135
I like the consistency of changing from stepped to smooth ramping by using 3C on all my Anduril lights.

I think it would be a bit nicer with the button on the side instead of the end. Easier to squeeze the button with one hand that way.

I agree

it’d be helpful if the battery tube was 1-2mm longer.

Totally agree! atm the light only works w my 49mm (spec) unprotected flat top cells such as the Vapcel L10, and F12. I would really like to be able to use the USB rechargeable Lumintop 14500 that is 50.5mm (spec).

atm I have to use a 0.6mm shim to make the Lumintop 14500 work, and that increases the gap of the tailcap, so the O ring is slightly exposed.

these pics show my actual measurements, which are slightly different than the official specs:

the tailcap gap shown is w the Lumintop 14500 USB rechargeable button top, and the 0.6mm shim (not ideal, it pushes the spring in the head slightly off center)

even with the shorter battery, I occasionally get a blip of output change… not sure why… Ive been making the head and tailcap extra tight, which seems to help, but not completely. At first I thought the problem was excess lube, as delivered, but even after removing all the lube w alcohol,

I still get brief moments of output change, (even with a fully charged battery), as if the light is stepping down… But Im only using 20-60 lumens when that is happening… Im trying to ignore it, hoping it will go away… lol

btw, the MAO white is very nice, much thicker and smoother than on the TS10…

I dont love the D2 pocket clip… I wish it did not have proud ends where it slides onto the body of the light. And the blade of the clip rides on top of some ridges, so attaching and removing from a pocket is a bit more abrasive than I would prefer…

I do really like the Spicy3D headband… although even w the floody optic, the beam is quite narrow at close range (arms length tasks).

Im really enjoying the low carry weight, 58 grams w clip and tailmagnet… And I find the Red LED I chose to be very useful for sublumen use when waking in the dark.

Its basically two lights in one… and I like using 3H (not 3C as in the newer firmware) to switch from white to red…

Im especially happy with the Regulated output and No PWM of the D2. That is the primary reason I bought the light, and it works great for me. Im a huge fan of Anduril UI. Thanks for all you do to make that possible.

[ToyKeeper]

@jon_slider

I like the consistency of changing from stepped to smooth ramping by using 3C on all my Anduril lights.
…
I like using 3H (not 3C as in the newer firmware) to switch from white to red

It takes a bit more configuring, but you can get that on the newer firmware too:

• Use Ramp 9H to turn off every channel mode except the tint-ramping mode. Afterward, 3C switches between smooth and stepped ramping.
• Use Off 9H to enable stepped tint ramping. This makes 3H switch immediately from one channel to the other, instead of ramping between.

Basically, the old 3H “tint toggle” is still available in newer versions. It’s just buried a bit.

[jon_slider]

@ToyKeeper

the old 3H “tint toggle” is still available in newer versions. It’s just buried a bit.

thanks for your thoughts… that seems unnecessarily complicated. The stock firmware already works fine to switch channels w 3H.

Unless there is some other desireable feature of the 2023 firmware, I see no benefit to changing from the stock 2021 firmware that seems to work fine as is.

[ToyKeeper]

@jon_slider

Unless there is some other desireable feature …

The firmware is a moving target. Things get added / changed over time. It’s also designed to be customized, and I hope to make that process easier and more accessible.

You definitely don’t have to update, of course. I just wanted to let you know the part you like still exists, so you don’t have to sacrifice it if you decide to update.

[jon_slider]

I would update IF it would make the light stop blinking occasionally, for no apparent reason…

Im not very well versed in all the changes you made since 2021, but looking thru the change log, most of the changes seem to be related to the K1… nothing about the D2… though I may have missed something important.

Part of my reluctance to update is due to the fact that I would have to redo all my eeprom settings… its not a trivial task, as you can see from my green marks on this flow chart:

I do not have the skills to build my own custom Hex files, to automate that process.

Plus I actually like that with my manual changes to the eeprom settings, I can go back to stock eeprom settings, simply by doing a factory reset.

I do have the ability to save my present eeprom settings, but Im guessing they would not work w 2023 hex files… or, would they?

thank you very much for your thoughts and help

[jon_slider]

Bug Report

My D2 has a tendency to change output unexpectedly. Sometimes it steps up slightly, other times it steps down a little and then steps back up again.

I just turned it on and it stepped itself up one mode after just a few seconds, from 50 lumens (step 8), to 80 lumens (step 9), on my meter. I turned the light off, waited about 5 seconds, and turned it back on, it came back on at 50 lumens. Its as if the light cant decide whether to be in step 8 or 9.

What could be causing the light to change modes? Is it a hardware issue, or an Anduril issue?

I suspected bad contact between the body tube ends and the tailcap and head.

I have tried removing all the lubricant, that seemed to help, but not completely. Before the lube removal, the light would step down and then back up, frequently. It was aggravating.

I have tried making the head and body tube extra tight, also seemed to help, but not completely. It still occasionally changes output while in use, even with a fully charged battery.

I would like help getting rid of the Output Change Bug.

I am using the light as a headlamp, at outputs below 100 lumens, to do home maintenance such as installing a light bulb, painting a wall, grouting shower tiles…

could the issue be eliminated with a Firmware update?

fwiw, the D2 has a dedomed 4500K 519a. I have it set up to 12 steps, of which step 7 is 30 lumens, step 8 is 50 lumens and step 9 is 80 lumens.

I am using a Vapcel L10 flat top. I have ordered new batteries, to eliminate the possibility that the battery is the source of the problem…

[xevious (Gary)]

Fascinating. It’s tragic when you see a good language ending up taken into an undesirable direction for most users, especially if the progression had been more conventional, resulting in an even superior language to the pre-apocalypse version.

It’s always interesting for me to understand the backstory of things, so thanks for sharing this.

I’ve been wanting to rekindle my old programming skills… especially since there have been so many advances in language capabilities, simplification of previously arduous tasks, and rich reference libraries. Is there any particular language skill in high demand today that is also well implemented as well as not terribly hard to learn? I’d once put Python on my list of languages to learn, but never got around to it. Would that be worthwhile to explore?

[xevious (Gary)]

My favorite low intensity headlamp is a Thrunite TH20. It is modded with a Nichia 219B R9080 sw35. Not driven very hard, so the brightest setting isn’t terribly strong, but this makes the headlamp ideal for close range tasks. Nice warm emitter.

I have two FF PL47mu’s, which are headlamp mules. But I never wear them as a headlamp. They’re great for portable photography, though.

The Emisar D2 intrigued me, but I wasn’t too sure about it up until now. Seeing a number of enthusiastic responses, including yours, is pushing me to get one. Do you have a frosted 519A 5700k dedome and W1 setup?

[Reader9]

Python is still very popular and has grown much more so in some fields such as data analysis and machine learning. I think it counts as easy to learn since it’s often used as an introductory language.

And there’s always javascript (and it’s modern helper, typescript) which will be popular for a long time due to it’s role in web browsers. It might not be the easiest to learn but there is a lot of educational material out there.

[ToyKeeper]

@jon_slider

could the issue be eliminated with a Firmware update?

Maybe.

It sounds like more of a hardware issue, but firmware is relatively quick and easy to test. With only one piece of hardware to test, you can’t easily swap the hardware to see if the behavior is different… but you could swap the firmware. That should help identify whether it’s a hardware or firmware issue.

The main cost is the time to configure your settings again. It does not keep settings during a reflash, and it does not attempt to keep the same eeprom layout in different versions… so it needs manual setup after a reflash. I wrote down my settings in a plain text file, to make sure I don’t forget anything while setting up each light.