hi comrades update poooost

it’s been a bit. three months or so since the last post. this project is deeply near and dear to my heart and it’s not abandoned but there was a bit there where i fell off the face of the earth and i wanna fill in that gap.

i’ve been off and on for the past three months, but for the past two weeks in particular i’ve been on. i made a commitment to myself to spend time on this before work - this is my most valuable and reliable time slot in a day - and i’ve been reliably making updates every single day i haven’t had a prior obligation. it’s a habit now. i’ve been deeply personally turbulent lately, much more for better than for worse but in ways that really take most of my awake time - except this before work slot. wouldn’t want to spend it on anything else.

the posts dried up for two reasons - one, the development recently has been feeling like the last leg of a marathon. nothing new is really happening, there’s no news besides that i’m closer than i was last time, and there’s nothing notable to report until i actually dot the final i and cross the final t and then i buy one and i get it in my hand. two, writing the posts actually took a lot of time - i was finding a few hours per week for sphynx time, and post-writing became one or two of them, because i care a lot about documentation and presentation and communications. that’s kinda not sustainable. my fix for this has been taking things to matrix. sphynx has a matrix room now. i find it FAR more sustainable to bang out a couple quick 30 second messages when i finish up a work session than writing a post aggregating all of those every week or two. if you want know if/when/how i’m still working on the project, you can either check the git logs, which is where most of the work will live, or join the matrix room for more interactive and human readable updates (and even a place to hang out??). DM me your matrix handle for a link ✨

as for technicals, here’s a brief summary of what i’ve done since the last post:

• implement some additional safety features, including but not limited to top-level current limiting diode to prevent overcurrent, inline resistor to also prevent overcurrent, and a parallel bleeder resistor to prevent the probe being weird inbetween pulses
• replacing parts that i spec’d from the JLCPCB extended library with basic library parts - each time i do this the sphynx gets $3 cheaper.
• in general, getting all parts at least in the extended library so that you can order a sphynx, not even own a soldering iron, and get to using it. this has involved a lot of part swaps, some which are moving targets - spec a part, find it on JLCPCB, replace it, do other stuff, come back, it’s out of stock and you have to replace it again. very frustrating.
• updating PCB graphics - better knob indicators, better labeling, paring down unnecessary test points and jumpers and other junk, etc.
• probably more but i’m forgetting

realistically, this is the last post until i have the sphynx lite RC2 in my hand. as it stands this is likely my whole work sesh for the morning but i dearly love you all and you deserve to know what i’m up to and this was a good use of my morning. thank you for everyone who’s been following. let’s talk soon.