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       (Dad hobbies)
       October 07, 2020
       
       I've been engaged in what I think of as Dad hobbies, which I'm sure is an
       idiosyncrasy.  I remember my father spending hours on the computer doing
       computer things for the sake of computer things. I mean, he'd always be
       defragging the harddrive on the IBM XT, or running virus scans for pretty
       much no reason. I didn't understand it at the time, but I think I do now
       that I have my own brand of Dad computing. I think it's a Zen activity,
       like raking patterns in sand, or doing Tai Chi.
       
       I'm currently engaged in making an overly embellished KVM. It's less zen
       and more hotrodding, but without the flash, but arguably as pointless as
       running defrag every other day. I'm setting up a server cabinet, and I
       have 3 computers I want to be be able to switch between: A small server,
       my desktop, and my work laptop. The sensible way to do it is just to buy
       an off the shelf kvm that has HDMI and whatever USB 3.0 ports I need.
       
       But instead I thought it'd be cooler to buy a redriving industrial USB-C
       switch, and do it all with one cable. This switch is used for testing
       USB-C connections, so it needs to be controlled by a separate computer,
       which will be an OrangePi, the RaspberryPi's low-rent cousin. And I want
       it to be an API, so I can control it with different devices... because.
       And then I need a device to control the KVM, so I'll use a Raspberry Pi
       with a small IPS screen, and a tiny 40% mechanical keyboard, hitting that
       API via Flask served webpage. Help.