HPR

Posted at 2026-03-07 20:10:08 relating to the show hpr4587 which was released on 2026-03-03 by Vance entitled UNIX Curio #1 - Shell Archives

I appreciate the positive comments!

Regarding Solaris (and SunOS and AIX), I don't recall exactly how I determined that uuencode wasn't included with the base OS. Probably a set of man pages online somewhere. Of course, it would be easy to compile and install uuencode from source and I'm sure it happened frequently. Similarly, it was common for GNU versions of some utilities to be installed by people using commercial UNIX systems because they often had additional capabilities.

More episodes are coming; hope you enjoy them!

Posted at 2026-03-07 18:42:23 relating to the show hpr4573 which was released on 2026-02-11 by Whiskeyjack entitled Nuclear Reactor Technology - Ep 6 Thorium Reactors

I will do a follow up episode on nuclear power technology and try to cover your questions and others.

I have a four part series on audio recording ready to go, but I will slot in the nuclear power follow up for after that and start working on it now.

Anyone else who would like me to address these or other points is welcome to add their questions or comments as well.

Posted at 2026-03-07 11:30:14 relating to the show hpr4573 which was released on 2026-02-11 by Whiskeyjack entitled Nuclear Reactor Technology - Ep 6 Thorium Reactors

I would like some commentary in the current situation, why has hinkley gone off the rails, the new american approach, the odd things done after fukushima, the new radiation rules in the states.

Posted at 2026-03-06 19:25:26 relating to the show hpr4565 which was released on 2026-01-30 by Kevie entitled HPR Beer Garden 9 - Barley Wine

I've had HPR in my feed for a long time - always hopeful something will spark with me. Then: you 2 come up with
Beer Garden! And: you like what I like! I'm writing from Oklahoma, where a state legislator funded her senate campaign with money from the liquor distributors in exchange for monopoly control over what we drink, but I think before the law changed I actually had some scotch silly. Anyway, RREally enjoy your show,

Posted at 2026-03-05 05:58:31 relating to the show hpr4597 which was released on 2026-03-17 by Vance entitled UNIX Curio #2 - fgrep

The length of my commute

Posted at 2026-03-05 01:47:53 relating to the show hpr4587 which was released on 2026-03-03 by Vance entitled UNIX Curio #1 - Shell Archives

I worked for the infamous Inference Corporation years ago when they still existed, and the corporate server ran Solaris (I don't recall which versions were running when I was there). That server had uuencode and uudecode on it. It may not have been installed with the OS, but it was there. Someone put it there. So I know it at least ran on Solaris, which wouldn't require much more than a compilation of the sources.

Anyway, great show! Thanks so much!

Posted at 2026-03-04 06:47:39 relating to the show hpr4509 which was released on 2025-11-13 by Kevie entitled HPR Beer Garden 5 - Heferweisen

The word "Heferweisen" does not exist in German. The correct composite noun is "Hefeweizen" from "Hefe" (yeast) and "Weizen" (wheat).

However, there are German words Hafer (oats) and Weisen (some homonyms like wise men, manners, to indicate), that do not have any relationship to beer. The word "Hefer" does not exist in German.

Posted at 2026-03-03 23:38:55 relating to the show hpr4583 which was released on 2026-02-25 by Whiskeyjack entitled Nuclear Reactor Technology - Ep 7 Small Modular Reactors

I can do a follow up episode on small modular reactors comparing some of the pros and cons of SMRs versus large reactors and what factors may favour either. I will also cover any other questions that may come up.

As for safety, that could possibly be a controversial subject and so probably not a good fit for HPR. There will be people who have strong politically based opinions either way, and I would like to stick to just explaining how the technology works and let other people in other forums address non-technical issues.

Posted at 2026-03-03 23:11:25 relating to the show hpr4586 which was released on 2026-03-02 by HPR Volunteers entitled HPR Community News for February 2026

In HPR4586 Community News for February at around the 50 minute mark, you talked about automating the audio process for HPR.

I have a 4 part series ready to go which may be relevant to some of this. Episode 2 covers basic filtering, de-essing, and normalizing using FFMPEG in a shell script. I was planning to release this as soon as my present series on nuclear reactor technology was done (there's one more episode in the schedule).

I'm definitely not an audio expert, as I only started learning about this in order to fix audio problems that were the first few HPR episodes that I did.

I listened to the Linux Matters podcast that you referred to with respect to their automated processing software, so I do have some idea of what they are talking about. I do have some concerns about the practical problems which may arise when dealing with episodes sent in by just anybody using all sorts of different hardware however.

I had assumed that you were already doing some sort of normalizing for HPR, as the volume levels are fairly consistent. In fact I emphasized to listeners in the series to send an non-normalized copy to HPR so as not to conflict with whatever processing you are doing.

Perhaps someone at HPR could do an episode or talk about it in the community news explaining what HPR actually does currently in terms of audio processing as that may help in generating some discussion as well as being interesting in its own right.

Posted at 2026-03-03 15:44:12 relating to the show hpr4571 which was released on 2026-02-09 by Lee entitled Data processing retrospective

Hi Lee,

I wish more people could record thoughts of the previous generations, not only about tech but about life outside this subject.

Cheers,
Archer72

Posted at 2026-03-03 15:15:19 relating to the show hpr4587 which was released on 2026-03-03 by Vance entitled UNIX Curio #1 - Shell Archives

Hi Vance,

I have kept this series the future feed so I can hear it sooner. :)

Oh and I have just now looked at your great show notes.

Cheers,
Archer72

Posted at 2026-03-03 15:08:13 relating to the show hpr4584 which was released on 2026-02-26 by Archer72 entitled Recording a show, and crappy audio

Hi Dave,

I wouldn't record with either earbud on a regular basis, but it works in a pinch.

My preference, if away from a proper mic, is to use the Axet Audio Recorder which mysteriously disappeared from the F-droid app.

Actually, this is not so mysterious considering the state of Google's current relationship against the developers of FOSS apps.

I have also heard the results of the android recorder with a lapel mic in a previous episode, which shows semi-decent quality.

Cheers,
Archer72

Posted at 2026-03-02 21:10:12 relating to the show hpr4583 which was released on 2026-02-25 by Whiskeyjack entitled Nuclear Reactor Technology - Ep 7 Small Modular Reactors

Loving this series. Maybe Whiskey Jack could give some cost comparisons between large and small reactors. He could also give us a realistic look at nuclear plant safety/accidents compared to conventional power production. Looking forward to the episode on FORTH generation reactors ;-)

Posted at 2026-03-01 23:39:18 relating to the show hpr4586 which was released on 2026-03-02 by HPR Volunteers entitled HPR Community News for February 2026

thanks for the well wishes! things got so much worse <3

Posted at 2026-03-01 22:35:38 relating to the show hpr4585 which was released on 2026-02-27 by candycanearter entitled mpv util scripts

local function resolve_missing_cover(domain)
print("looking for " .. (domain or "nil"))
local extico = {
["hub.hackerpublicradio.org"] = "https://hackerpublicradio.org/images/hpr_logo.png",
-- yes using a product picture is silly but so is not featuring your icon ANYWHERE else
["anonradio.net"] = "https://sdf.org/store/thumbs/anon3.jpg",
["archives.anonradio.net"] = "https://sdf.org/store/thumbs/anon3.jpg",
["hashnix.club"] = "default",
["radio.kingposs.com"] = "https://kingposs.com/assets/buttons/PossBadge.gif"
}

if domain then
local force = extico[domain]
if force == "default" then return resolve_missing_cover() end
if force and mp.commandv("video-add", force, "auto", "domainhardcode.png") then return end

local favico = "https://" .. domain .. "/favicon.ico"
print(favico)
if mp.commandv("video-add", favico, "auto", "favico.png") then return end
end

mp.command("video-add ~~/cover.png auto default.png")
end

Posted at 2026-03-01 19:21:46 relating to the show hpr4574 which was released on 2026-02-12 by Vance entitled UNIX Curio #0 - Introduction

Glad to see that you picked up the call and submitted. Very well done, too! Looking forward to more.

Posted at 2026-03-01 08:52:41 relating to the show hpr4585 which was released on 2026-02-27 by candycanearter entitled mpv util scripts

Hi Windigo,

My skill are lacking in this area, with only one improvement made to mplayer/mpv. I pretty much forgot about it, because it get copied to a new system in the form of .bash_aliases

alias mplayer="mplayer -af scaletempo"

which I borrowed from Ken

https://kenfallon.com/speeding-up-speech-with-mplayer

Cheers,
Archer72

Posted at 2026-03-01 05:07:24 relating to the show hpr4585 which was released on 2026-02-27 by candycanearter entitled mpv util scripts

If you do want to hook into mpv with external bash scripts, you can set up a socket with --input-ipc-server and pipe command line input/output through that. Unfortunately, it doesn't really work as well with multiple mpv windows, but its great if you only plan to have one window open at once

Posted at 2026-02-28 23:06:46 relating to the show hpr4573 which was released on 2026-02-11 by Whiskeyjack entitled Nuclear Reactor Technology - Ep 6 Thorium Reactors

Thank you for the feedback. The last episode in the series is coming up on the 11th of March in episode hpr4593. If anyone has any questions or related topics that they would like me to follow up on, I can make a follow up episode to address those topics.

I have another series ready on a completely unrelated topic that I will start posting after this one is done, but I will delay that if anyone wants a follow up episode to this series.

Posted at 2026-02-28 16:59:15 relating to the show hpr4573 which was released on 2026-02-11 by Whiskeyjack entitled Nuclear Reactor Technology - Ep 6 Thorium Reactors

Hi Whiskeyjack,

Thanks for this series, I have been listening with interest to each one.

Cheers,
Archer72

Posted at 2026-02-28 15:51:52 relating to the show hpr4575 which was released on 2026-02-13 by Ken Fallon entitled Making First Contact

Hello Ken,

I have gotten behind on comments, but did listen.
Did you get the idea for using the Baofeng UV-5R mini from the NYE show? Just curious.

Cheers,
73
Archer72 aka KD9VMW

Posted at 2026-02-28 01:55:28 relating to the show hpr4585 which was released on 2026-02-27 by candycanearter entitled mpv util scripts

I've been using mpv as my primary media player for years, but have only used bash scripting to extend its functionality - an approach that seems rough and uncivilized, compared to your lua examples.

Thanks for the informative and inspiring episode! I'm excited to give this a try.

Posted at 2026-02-27 17:29:43 relating to the show hpr4584 which was released on 2026-02-26 by Archer72 entitled Recording a show, and crappy audio

I thought the Zoom microphone was perfect. The other ones were OK, though. I'd accept a show recorded with either of them.

Posted at 2026-02-27 08:33:24 relating to the show hpr4584 which was released on 2026-02-26 by Archer72 entitled Recording a show, and crappy audio

Anyone who knows me knows my opinions on audio quality, and particularly as it relates to HPR.

Listening to the results of your three microphones:

* the Zoom H1 sounded utterly beautiful
* the Tozo earbuds were moderately awful
* the Soundcore earbuds were quite decent, but your voice sounded a bit robotic.

You'll never experience decent audio recording quality from devices that weren't intended for that purpose. Earbuds are notoriously bad for quality due to the audio processing needed to handle the distance between the bud and your mouth.

I'd always recommend an audio recorder or decent quality microphone first, a mobile phone recording app second, a laptop's built-in microphone third, and anything else as a last resort.

This sounds a bit snobby, I'll grant you, and I know that it conflicts with Ken's stance that quality doesn't matter, but you really do need to consider the audience. It's also worth mentioning that any difficulties experienced through bad audio quality get compounded when listening at higher playback speeds.

Posted at 2026-02-26 18:14:16 relating to the show hpr4577 which was released on 2026-02-17 by Kevie entitled HPR Beer Garden 10 - Scotch Ale/Wee Heavy

Just a wee update for the styles upcoming on the Beer Garden:
ep 11: Belgian Scotch Ale
ep 12: Baltic Porter

Posted at 2026-02-26 00:37:55 relating to the show hpr4579 which was released on 2026-02-19 by Antoine entitled Happy by shower

Hey, candycanearter07. Thanks for the support and comment.
What a deep situation there. =| May it come fine, with, in the end, love.
Hug.

Posted at 2026-02-25 00:29:08 relating to the show hpr4596 which was released on 2026-03-16 by Ken Fallon entitled Adding voice-over audio track created using text to speech on the movie subtitles

I love projects like this. I might even be doing it for KDramas.

But just as a whole one can recycle elements of your script for other projects.

Great stuff! Thanks!

Posted at 2026-02-23 23:22:58 relating to the show hpr4581 which was released on 2026-02-23 by not_toby entitled Sharp Intake of Breath City (A.K.A.) How I learnt to stop worrying about the fork bomb

Congratulations on finally contributing an episode! I enjoyed the acquainting ramble while giving my cat a little time outdoors. ^ ^

Posted at 2026-02-23 14:31:28 relating to the show hpr4581 which was released on 2026-02-23 by not_toby entitled Sharp Intake of Breath City (A.K.A.) How I learnt to stop worrying about the fork bomb

Fantastic first episode! It was a pleasure getting to know you in this episode. I look forward to your next episodes. :)

Posted at 2026-02-23 03:56:47 relating to the show hpr4567 which was released on 2026-02-03 by Deltaray entitled Movie Recommendations for Hackers

Added these all to my (re)watch list! Thought you might also want to add HCF (Halt and Catch Fire) to your list. The first couple seasons on HBO are classic Silicon Valley meets Mr. Robot. One of my favorite hacker/maker shows if all time.