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engineered incompatibility
Thursday, January 9 2025
I started using DECT 6.0 phones soon after they first appeared. I liked that they use frequencies outside those used by WiFi and cellphones. Since we have a big house, I got the maximum number of handsets, which is six. The first set I got was from Panasonic and had faux silver KX-TGA101S handsets. I later replaced the whole set with black KX-TGA641 handsets and a compatible base station only because they had greater range. In those days, the handsets from the old system would work on the new system and vice-versa, though the chargers were incompatible (the charging prongs were spaced differently, perhaps as a first stab at version incompatibility).
After about ten years, the keypads on some of the KX-TGA641s started becoming unreliable, so I bought a KX-TGEA20 handset for use in the laboratory. It was compatible with the DECT 6.0 network, but, infuriatingly, required a third type of recharging station, meaning that this handset could only be recharged on one I modified to fit it. (I hadn't gotten a charging station with it.)
A few days ago, the keypad issue had become so bad that I decided to replace three more of the handsets. I was leery of buying used or old KX-TGA641s due to that keypad issue, so I bought a more modern variety of Panasonic DECT 6.0 phone, one with KX-TGDA83 handsets. Today these arrived and I quickly set them up. But in doing this, I discovered that they could not be charged on any of the old recharging stations, and, worse yet, handsets from the old system could not be registered on this new system. That means that all my old DECT 6.0 phones are eWaste (unless I can figure out some unusual application for them).
Admittedly, the phones have a working life of ten or so years, which is great, but the engineered incompatibility of the different handsets has soured me on the brand, much as GreenWorks did with its incompatible tool chargers for batteries of the same voltage. (I've been much happier with Ryobi 18v tools, which have completely interchangeable batteries.)
Gretchen delayed walking Charlotte until early this afternoon so that she would be gone when it was time to take Neville to his nail grinding appointment at Pretty Pet Parlor. Without Charlotte there to demand all the things she demands, the errand would be easy. Just before that appointment, I had time to duck into HarborFreight to get a variety of imperial nuts & bolts, sheet metal screws, copper washers, and zip ties, all of which will help me with getting things at the cabin properly organized the next time I visit. I also went to the branch headquarters of our bank to get some cash using a brand new ATM card (which I first had to activate).
When I took Neville into Pretty Pet Parlor, there was a woman there waiting to pick up two of her dogs who had just racked up a three-figure grooming bill. They got a chance to quickly exchange sniffs with Neville and then were gone. Today the groomer opted to do Neville's nails right there in the waiting area while I held him. "He'd bite me if I tried to do this," I said as she first clipped and then ground his nails. Amazingly, Neville didn't really seem to care.
Gretchen had thawed out a bag of injera, which we ate using the frijoles borrachos, refried beans, and sauerkraut as wats. When Gretchen eventually went off to her pilates class, I took a nice hot bath using water somewhat heated by the sun.
Throughout the day, I made another push at implementing the device_column_map functionality in my ESP8266 Remote Control system. Among the things I implemented was a way to specify the color of the plots of all the weather data graphs. (The built-in HTML5 color editor makes this super easy.) I even implemented the processing of data through a specified algorithm, though in so doing I realized I should probably be able to specify both a pre-data-storage function as well as one that acts only on the stored data.
A collection of all my old Panasonic DECT 6.0 phones that Panasonic wants me to put in a landfill.
Click to enlarge.
Four different styles of handset charging prongs, all on Panasonic DECT 6.0 phones. This makes me fucking hate the Panasonic brand.
Click to enlarge.
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