[Thumbgps-devel] Article -- Macx-1: GPS receiver with standard USB connector and PPS support

[Dave Hart]

On Wed, May 9, 2012 at 8:37 PM, Eric S. Raymond <esr at thyrsus.com> wrote:
> Dave Hart <davehart at gmail.com>:
>>  At the same time, I feebly admit I don't see the connection between
>> Eric Raymond and Dave Taht and the nickname Macx-1.  Perhaps the
>> meaning or thought behind the choice was explained in email I didn't
>> see?
>
> Lemme see if I can find it...ah, here it is
>
> https://lists.bufferbloat.net/pipermail/thumbgps-devel/2012-May/000194.html
>
> After that, Dave started calling the device the Macx-1.  Not my idea, honest!
>
> Navisys people: the context you may be missing is that I'm ridiculously
> famous among Internet geeks, and Charles Stross is a very capable and
> popular writer of science fiction who happends to have known me *before*
> I was famous.  The resemblences between myself and the fictional character
> Manfred Macx are sufficiently obvious that a lot of Internet geeks
> can easily pick up on them - it's what's called in English an "in-joke",
> a form of humor shared within a particular social group but opaque to
> outsiders.

Thanks, Manfred.  I had a creeping feeling I had missed the
connection, but didn't use the force (gmail search) with "macx" as I
should have.

Here's hoping wiring PPS to DCD in GPS pucks using 232-to-USB adapters
becomes the standard.  I would expect over time vendors would not see
any reason to continue making designs without the extra trace.

Cheers,
Dave Hart