@alpenglow@mstdn.social

Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Jul 28, 2026

Replying to @straithe@infosec.exchange

@straithe@infosec.exchange goddammit Straithe you got me all excited only to find that Ireland restricts sales of .ie domains, because you KNOW if it didn’t, I would now have carr.ie 😂

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Jul 19, 2026

Just spent the evening:

Finding out that my friend’s husband proposed to her with some Radio Shack LED soldering kits
Making them find this gem
Hacking in a new power supply (12V) to replace the alkaline battery packs that long since leaked into oblivion

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Jul 08, 2026

Replying to @RueNahcMohr@infosec.exchange

@RueNahcMohr@infosec.exchange I’d love to see a video of this, do you have a link? Preferably off-X if possible. Also I’m interested to see how your build goes!

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Apr 27, 2026

I’m looking for a group that does electronics education including teaching soldering & outreach to predominantly Hispanic people - I have 89 of these Yo Voté soldering kits that I’d love to donate to a good home. It’s a transistor oscillator circuit that alternately flashes red and blue LEDs. CR2032 battery not included. More info on our website: https://www.alpenglowindustries.com/pages/i-voted-yo-vot-instructions

I’m also sending a bunch to @crashspaceLA@mastodon.social along with a giant pile of other soldering kits. :) I’ll also have some at SOAK.

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Apr 23, 2026

Boosted by

Greg Bell @ferrix@mastodon.online

Last weekend of selling shop stuff! We'll be open 10am-2pm Sat & Sun 4/25-26, 3485 Sacramento Dr Ste F inn SLO, and have added new stuff! Here's a big list with photos: https://slo.craigslist.org/gms/d/san-luis-obispo-electronics-mfg/7929675496.html

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Apr 18, 2026

Boosted by

Greg Bell @ferrix@mastodon.online

RE: https://mstdn.social/@alpenglow/116420942819713399 Tomorrow!

Quoting

Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social

Alpenglow supplies & fixtures & equipment closing garage sale this Sunday 04/19, 10-3! 3485 Sacramento Dr Ste F, San Luis Obispo, CA. It all needs to go, we've got a lot of good stuff! ESD benches, oscilloscopes, electronics parts, shelves shelves shelves, a bigger list with photos is on craigslist! Boosts are very much appreciated. #sanluisobispo #garagesale https://slo.craigslist.org/ele/d/san-luis-obispo-electronics-mfg/7928192606.html

Open quoted post

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Apr 17, 2026

Replying to @JoshuaACNewman@xeno.glyphpress.com

@JoshuaACNewman@xeno.glyphpress.com Thanks! That's honestly all that matters to me.

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Apr 17, 2026

Alpenglow supplies & fixtures & equipment closing garage sale this Sunday 04/19, 10-3! 3485 Sacramento Dr Ste F, San Luis Obispo, CA. It all needs to go, we've got a lot of good stuff! ESD benches, oscilloscopes, electronics parts, shelves shelves shelves, a bigger list with photos is on craigslist! Boosts are very much appreciated. #sanluisobispo #garagesale https://slo.craigslist.org/ele/d/san-luis-obispo-electronics-mfg/7928192606.html

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Apr 14, 2026

Replying to @mxmora@mastodon.social

@mxmora@mastodon.social Yes! TRS jacks, should have said that. I’m in San Luis Obispo, can easily ship to the Bay if that’s where you are. Probably under $10.

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Apr 13, 2026

Replying to @alpenglow@mstdn.social

and pix of the 10-pin ones

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Apr 13, 2026

Are you making a bunch of effects pedals and need 800 1/4” through-hole stereo jacks? Are you making a bunch of badges and need 800+ keyed 6-pin SMT SAO headers or 350+ 10-pin through-hole headers? I’ve got deals for you. $100 for the stereo jacks, $80 for the 6-pin headers, and $35 for the 10-pin headers. Only selling the ENTIRE qty of each connector.

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 30, 2026

Replying to @mayintoronto@beige.party

@mayintoronto@beige.party Thanks! I’m really stoked on them and want to make more things with scribbly traces.

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 30, 2026

Replying to @alpenglow@mstdn.social

OMG these just dropped on my doorstep, I cannot wait to solder one up tomorrow! They look so good. Just basic JLC service with black soldermask and gold plating.

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 26, 2026

Replying to @stargirl@hachyderm.io

Here's a direct link to the issue in case anyone else wants to upvote it. (Making pin 1 and polarity markings text fields in KiCad libs for ease of movement on PCB) https://gitlab.com/kicad/libraries/kicad-footprints/-/work_items/2738

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 25, 2026

Replying to @oscherler@tooting.ch

@oscherler@tooting.ch @ArchiteuthisFlux@leds.social Yep! That kind of text label is called a field, which is tied to footprint properties.

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 24, 2026

Replying to @stargirl@hachyderm.io

@stargirl@hachyderm.io Awesome, thank you, submitted!

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 24, 2026

Replying to @stargirl@hachyderm.io

@stargirl@hachyderm.io That would be amazing. I’m always hesitant to open a bug report for something that’s not a bug, tho, is that the right spot for it? Should I submit it as a feature request? (I haven’t done that so I don’t know the process, but can look it up).

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 23, 2026

Replying to @MisterHW@fosstodon.org

@MisterHW@fosstodon.org Preach. I used to be religious about checking gerbers, before board renderings were a thing. Now they're so good, I've gotten lazy about it.

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 23, 2026

Replying to @MisterHW@fosstodon.org

@MisterHW@fosstodon.org @ArchiteuthisFlux@leds.social Huh. That's interesting, like it didn't convert the text to a graphic in the the gerber process and was interpreted as a missing font? Was this with KiCad? I've used a bunch of weird fonts and never had that issue, but haven't used many glyph/symbols outside of good old ascii.

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 23, 2026

Replying to @alpenglow@mstdn.social

Also, I generated this thread using Splinter, which is a really excellent tool. It allows you to add images incl alt text to each individual post. Thank you @neiman@social.hastily.cc ! https://splinter.hastily.cc/

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 23, 2026

Replying to @alpenglow@mstdn.social

So you know all those footprints with a polarity or pin 1 indicator? And you know how on practically every board you make, you need to move it for at least one footprint? Like it's right on top of the neighboring footprint's pad, or it's over some other unmasked region, or it's too close to its neighbor making it unclear as to which component it's meant for, or it goes off the board edge, or any more of a dozen things that make you need to move the damned marking. (2/7)

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 23, 2026

Are you ready for a life-changing #kicad pro tip? I had a eureka moment yesterday and am simultaneously reveling in glorious freedom while also feeling really dumb for it having taken 25 years of PCB design over various software packages to figure this out. You ready? Storytime! 🧵

(1/7)

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 23, 2026

Replying to @alpenglow@mstdn.social

AND to top it all off, once you do this, you get those annoying DRC warnings about your footprint on the PCB not matching the footprint in the library. You continue on blithely ignoring these, relying on yourself to remember when you go back to this board in 6 months that they don't matter, but also thinking that one day you constantly ignoring this warning will most certainly bite you in the ass. The pain of all this is real, right? (4/7)

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 23, 2026

Replying to @alpenglow@mstdn.social

Again, I don't know why this didn't occur to me anytime over the past 10 years, but yesterday something in my brain went CLICK! and I was like - why the fuck don't these act like reference designators? Reference designators I can move all over in the PCB editor without changing the footprint, and DRC don't give a shit. So wait....maybe if I create a new footprint field for polarity markings, and just put "+" and "-" as text, I could be free of this bullshit? HOLY FUCKING SHIT. (5/7)

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 23, 2026

Replying to @alpenglow@mstdn.social

And you know how these are graphical elements tied to the footprint? So depending on software package, maybe you have to explode/unlock footprint primitives to move it. In #kicad, you have to edit the local copy of the footprint, which you can only do in the footprint editor which doesn't provide the visual context of the PCB, so it's back and forth a few times to just get the damned mark in the right spot and bob forbid you make a layout change and have to do all of this AGAIN. (3/7)

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 23, 2026

Replying to @alpenglow@mstdn.social

And now I'm like - why the hell don't all built-in libraries do it this way by default because then I wouldn't even need to make my own personal copy of a footprint, just to make the markings text fields, just so I can easily move them!? They've been grandfathered in as graphical objects for decades and it results in a terrible UX. Now you may all tell me how you've already been doing this for years, or how there's this other easy way of getting around the issue. :) (7/7)

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 23, 2026

Replying to @alpenglow@mstdn.social

I could use a degree symbol or a bullet for dot-style pin 1 markings. Is there a little filled-in triangle text symbol for that style? Indeed there is (ty @ArchiteuthisFlux@leds.social for quickly finding this as I was stream-of-consciousness figuring this out). Need a line for an SMT LED? Use an underscore or two or a pipe. So I present to you - freedom from bullshit local footprints that differ from libraries just because you needed the polarity or pin 1 marking in a different spot. (6/7)

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 23, 2026

Replying to @alpenglow@mstdn.social

@ArchiteuthisFlux@leds.social also I feel like this was purposeful Carrie bait. 😂

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 23, 2026

Replying to @ArchiteuthisFlux@leds.social

@ArchiteuthisFlux@leds.social Ok that is a seriously wack list of rocks. I have however touched the confusing why is this particular rock famous Twelve-Angled stone in Cusco and I have kissed the Blarney Stone when I was a wee lass. But WTF disappointing largest boulder in Maine and I can think of so many epically better rocks than half the ones on that list. I hereby register my objections.

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 22, 2026

Hey-o Alpenglow KiCad Library just dropped, get it while it's hot. It's where I put all my custom symbols and footprints, just made it public. https://github.com/AlpenglowIndustries/Alpenglow_KiCAD_Libs

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 22, 2026

Replying to @alpenglow@mstdn.social

Cleaned some stuff up, ran into a weird “missing positional argument” error with Fabrication Toolkit which setting everything to DNP solved, nbd since this isn’t an assembly order. Wonder if it’s a KiCad 10 compatibility thing? Prototypes ordered. Files are on Github, have at. https://github.com/AlpenglowIndustries/Alpenglow_FUterus_PCB #kicad #kicad10

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 22, 2026

Replying to @lx242@ruhr.social

@lx242@ruhr.social @vagina_museum@masto.ai @LaserMistress@mstdn.social @chipperdoodles@chaos.social @ArchiteuthisFlux@leds.social Thanks! It’s a soldering kit with red LEDs on the back that will shine thru the board and make the uterus light up red. It’ll be open-source, I’m getting out of the business of selling soldering kits.

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 22, 2026

Replying to @chipperdoodles@chaos.social

@chipperdoodles@chaos.social Ha! Whenever you want! You were absolutely in my mind and mentioned several times yesterday as we worked this out. ❤️ Good luck with your move!

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 22, 2026

Replying to @alpenglow@mstdn.social

@chipperdoodles@chaos.social also I feel like THE POWER OF THE SQUIGGLE should be one of those Elmo memes. 😆

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 22, 2026

Replying to @chipperdoodles@chaos.social

@chipperdoodles@chaos.social 💯! Initially I was just going to route this like a normal person and then your Khamsa popped into my head and I was like wait a minute….. Kevin and I figured out 2 not terrible ways to go from raster to svg and assign nets - would love to walk you thru it if you’re interested. It still amazes me that you YOLO’d your boards, so many props for that!

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 22, 2026

Replying to @ArchiteuthisFlux@leds.social

@ArchiteuthisFlux@leds.social what nerds do on a Saturday night 😂

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 22, 2026

I’m working on the most unhinged board I’ve ever made. The squiggles are functional traces that pass DRC. Major shout-outs to @LaserMistress@mstdn.social for giving me the itch to pick this project back up, @chipperdoodles@chaos.social for showing us all what’s possible with hand-drawn traces, and @ArchiteuthisFlux@leds.social for diving into polygons and net connections with me, and of course, for always egging on my 10-year-old sense of humor. #kicad #pcbdesign #futerus

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 22, 2026

Replying to @alpenglow@mstdn.social

And the biggest shout-out: It is absolutely WILD that this is possible with @kicad@fosstodon.org and I hope everyone who works on it knows that their hard work has culminated in crazy shit like this. The fact that I just dropped a group of those spaghetti polygons over the design and they auto-connected and assigned nets based on the pads they were touching was 👩‍🍳💋. The fact that the DRC even runs on this is nothing short of a miracle. #kicad #pcbdesign #futerus

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 12, 2026

Replying to @camless@m.ai6yr.org

@camless@m.ai6yr.org @carlmalamud@official.resource.org UL 4200A is (barely) not behind an actual paywall…. as long as you find the hidden link, create an account, and don’t want to print it out or have it as a pdf or any other type of convenient document format.

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 12, 2026

Replying to @alpenglow@mstdn.social

@camless@m.ai6yr.org @carlmalamud@official.resource.org which is here https://github.com/AlpenglowIndustries/Teardown2025BatteryTalk

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 12, 2026

Replying to @camless@m.ai6yr.org

@camless@m.ai6yr.org @carlmalamud@official.resource.org Yeah I talk about that in the talk. Also I will just say that you can find all sorts of handy information on my public non-paywalled github repo on this talk. 😬

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 12, 2026

Replying to @alpenglow@mstdn.social

and here's the one I did the previous year, on getting 3D printed parts made for production runs. Not everything needs to be injection-molded, fight me! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bThQoOQt3c

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Mar 12, 2026

Somehow I completely missed when #teardown2025 talks went live - here's mine on navigating battery regulations. Bonus butts in one of my slides. 😏 Also, the CFP for Teardown 2026 ends on the 15th so get your proposal in! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwUG_Hsgy1s&list=PLWI-vat9iWwelkCKx7yM97yTY0G4xne3Q&index=32&pp=iAQB

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Feb 28, 2026

Replying to @alpenglow@mstdn.social

And we’ve still got Glow Gauges in stock for the knitters needing a nice way to measure their swatches! https://www.alpenglowindustries.com/collections/textile-and-yarns-tools/products/glow-gauge

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Feb 28, 2026

Today starts the final week of our closing sale! 50% off the whole website, which means that my favorite product, the FUnicorn, is under $20. We’ve still got lots of our battery and LED helper boards, SwitchTrick breadboard power supplies, plenty of good stuff. Oh and we added assembled Krampuses too, which we were out of over the holidays. Grab some handy stuff or grab some art or both! Discounts are shown AFTER items are added to your cart!

https://www.alpenglowindustries.com/collections/closing-sale

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Feb 26, 2026

Replying to @mossmann@mastodon.social

@mossmann@mastodon.social Because tiny surface touch contacts are so reliable in the long term, esp for high current applications, I mean why is solder anyway? 🙄 This is so dumb.

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Feb 21, 2026

Boosted by

Greg Bell @ferrix@mastodon.online

Replying to on mstdn.social

We also added more colors and photos of star and raindrop Glowies, all 35% off the prices shown. Check them out! https://www.alpenglowindustries.com/collections/glowies

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Feb 16, 2026

Fuck yeah, congrats @LaserMistress@mstdn.social on getting the lion’s share of the quote space in this Wired article! I’m so proud of you, you do so much hard work to make tech accessible to people and 1000% deserve this recognition. https://www.wired.com/story/makers-are-building-back-against-ice/

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Feb 16, 2026

RE: @ghalfacree@mastodon.social

This write-up was a nice surprise! Thanks, Hackster!

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow) @alpenglow@mstdn.social · Oct 09, 2025

Got an ugly-ass nonfunctional fireplace that someone painted black? I’ve got the solution! I’ve had the parts and custom flex boards for a while for this and just no time. Tonight’s the night! Powered by a @wizard@leds.social Pixelblaze and their HDR strips. It’s gonna go all the way up the fireplace!

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Carrie (prev of Alpenglow)

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