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309Electronics’s blog
309Electronics’s blog

About Me

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Who am I
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Hello, I am Rikxian van Houten, Also known under the name “309Electronics”. I live in the Netherlands in Eindhoven. I am a passion driven young-adult (currently 18 years old, so old enough to drink :) boy who is into electronics, programming and some other fields in the technology world. I am primarily selftaught and have most of my knowledge from Youtube and by doing the things myself and learning from experiences and mistakes. As a kid i was born curious and technical and you can read more about my life and childhood (if you are interested) by clicking This (Curently a WIP) button. One thing to note is that i am quite a yapper and i like to talk about stuff in detail and talk about everything that’s going on inside my mind.

I dont mind which side of the political field you are on or what race/gender/religion you have/identify as and everyone is welcome here. Lets not fight and have a bit of peace and respect these days. I use He/Him pronouns but i dont really care how you pronounce my name or how you contact me. But i do prefer to be called “309Electronics” or “309Ele” (short name) for people who dont know me in person and or who are not my family or friends, but i wont fight you if you call me by my real name either. Its just a “please do this as its prefered by me” and not law.

What am i interested in?
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So my interests are as i said primarily in the technical field. Technology is a wide space of all sorts of things and there are things i am interested in less than others and vice versa. I am interested in the majority of technology stuff but to keep it a bit short (I’ll try my best), i will write down the ones i am most interested in down below. For now i only put words but i might eventually add a small dictionary or make it so when you click on them it expands them so you can read more about it and why i chose them.

  • Computers

    • Operating Systems - I like exploring and messing with different Operating systems like: (GNU/)Linux, Windows, *BSD, MacOS, UNIX. I am primarily interested in how they work, how they are built and their philosophy/design mindset behind them.
    • Software development - I enjoy programming, building tools and all sorts of (crazy) stuff and turning ideas into working code/prototypes and ideas. Can be anything from a small python script that runs a small game to a script in Linux bash/sh to a piece of code that interacts with the OS kernel or a library. My primary languages are python and C++ but i also don’t mind and can do a bit of Javascript or HTMl or C.
    • Networking - Understanding how systems communicate with each other and concepts that make that possible/happen like: DHCP, DNS, Mac-adresses, IP-addresses and the different protocols and ports.
    • Computer hardware - I am also interested in computer hardware. Primarily how it works and how it all makes a running computer. Critical components like: CPU, RAM, GPU, SSD/HDD, Motherboard, PSU (Powersupply). I am also interested in repairing and troubleshooting at this level.
    • Selfhosting/Homelab - I like selfhosting some stuff at home to get rid of subscriptions and to get full control and ownership over what i use/host. Selfhosting allows you to free yourself from bigtech and those unreliable random companies who you cant trust these days. I selfhost this website as apart form the hetzner cloud, i dont trust anyone who will have my data on their servers, so i host those servers that host this website myself at home from my bedroom. And then i don’t get any random stuff like raised prices and then i dont need to keep those companies friendly either. And then they cant just snoop on your data. I cant avoid bigtech completely (even though i want) but thats because the world depends on it and bigtech sadly has become one of the major pillars holding the modern world and society alive. But where i am comfortable and have the possibilities to leave bigtech, i will.

  • Embedded/Industrial Systems

    • Industrial automation - This includes working with stuff like PLC’s (Programmable Logic Controllers), industrial sensors and actuators to automate or make processes happen. especially in environments where safety and precision is needed and where its better to not let a human do the work.
    • System hardening - I am interested in how systems are made to fail in a safe way and or are made to do stuff in a specific (harsh) environment (mission critical systems). Safety and robustness are the primary concerns and you want any system malfunction to not cause any major devastating/dangerous events.
    • Mechanical engineering - Making it so a system operates perfectly and is in the bounds of the laws of physics. For example, you want to make sure that Your robot ARM can carry the chassis of a car on the assembly line and that you dont cause any breakage or tearing in the materials or at least limit that.
    • Rollercoasters and attractions - This fits perfectly in this category as they apply the 3 things i just mentioned. You want to make sure that the train of a rollercoaster wont crash into another train on the track or that the track does not snap or tear under the immense amount of pressure/weight. And rollercoasters use industrial automations and sensors to make operating them safe. If there is another train on the track and its X-meters away from the launchpoint of the other train, you want to program the PLC so it waits till the other train is safely a few distance away and then can start launching the other train. And this is just 1 of the many things you have to consider and engineer into the design.

  • Electronics & Hardware

    • Repair - Making stuff thats broken come back to life again. Instead of throwing it away, why not try and repair it first? Also prevents major E-waste.
    • Reverse engineering - Tearing things apart and understanding and finding out how they work/how they are designed. Can be both in hardware and software that runs on the device.
    • Creating electronic projects - Designing circuits and schematics that make products work and make it so your idea can be turned into a working prototype. A great example is now with my own MusicBox project that i want to design and create and turn this idea of mine into a real life functioning product.
    • Hardware hacking - Basically making a product do things it was not suposed to do or improving its function. This often requires messing with hardware or software that is running on the device. Also can be usefull if the manufacturer stoped support for the product and you want to make it useful again.

  • Gaming

    • Minecraft - I like building stuff either with blocks or with redstone or commandblocks. Also i can add mods to further increase the fun and expand the gameplay. I like the createmod as it adds mechanical stuff to minecraft and allows to build some wild industrial mechanical contraptions. Stampycat, DanTDm, mumbo jumbo and technoblade are some of the OG legends i grew up with and they made me love the game.
    • Stray - This is an indie game thats developed by an indie company called bluetwelve which was formed by 2 ex-ubisoft employees. Its a cyberpunk themed game where you play as a cat who got lost in a big locked down abandoned city and have to solve puzzles and uncover the story line. And at the end you open up the city and then the storyline ends and the game ends. Meanwhile you have to do puzzles to advance in the different levels and you get to interact with some of the NPC’s and objects and gradually uncover the story line of why the city was abandoned and taken over by robots and flesh eating bacteria that mutated and such and what happened to all the humans. It was released in 2023 and its my favorite game as other than some intense/less apealing moments, its pretty chill and the graphics, lighting and overall vibes are soothing. And there is a ton of interaction possibilities.
    • Other indie/story driven chill games
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309Electronics