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Silveira Neto Posts

3 keys and knob keyboard

Published by Silveira on 2025-12-26

A very useful and also inexpensive mini keyboard found on AliExpress. Mine is the specifically this one. I have added the notes myself using a Brother P-touch label maker.

Here is the drivers and configuration application in a Google Drive. Note to myself: if this share is deleted, search for “3 key keyboard software-20251226T192116Z-3-001.zip” in your own Google Drive.

This is how the “MINI KeyBoard.exe” looks like:

It should display “Connected”. To modify each key, click the green keys (left top corner), it will become red. Then select the operations then click “Download”.

This is my configuration as of today:

  • KEY1: Win L (Go to “KEY”, then select the keys. This locks the computer).
  • KEY2: Win Ctrl V (Go to “KEY”, then select the keys. This is the Windows sound output selector.)
  • KEY3: Mute (Click “Multimedia” then mute)
  • K1 Left (Knob scroll left): Volume- (Click “Multimedia” then “Volume-“)
  • K1 Right (Knob scroll right): Volume + (Click “Multimedia” then “Volume+”)

Notes on Python venv

Published by Silveira on 2025-11-27

Python 3.3 or later comes with venv. For Python 3.* < 3.3 with apt:

$ sudo apt install python3-venv

To create, activate and pip install packages:

$ python -m venv my_venv
$ source my_venv/bin/activate
(my_venv)$ pip install gimpformats

To deactivate the venv:

(my_venv)$ deactivate

This allows to have Python virtual environments with isolation. It’s particularly useful when using systems that don’t allow to use pip directly as WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux).

Horses and datacenters

Published by Silveira on 2025-10-27

I used to see horses while driving by. By then it was already an oddity to see horses around there. It was a nice pleasure to see horses running a green field when I was casually driving to Costco. Around Loudoun County, Virginia. Close to Sterling, Herndon, Dulles. Circa 2014.

In the winter they would put these “coats” in the horses to they could keep warm.

Images from Google Maps


Around 2016, the green field was reduced to make space for a truck parking lot. It was like that for a few years and then very quickly a data center was built.

Definitely not the first data center in that region, but it was incredible how quickly and how many more came. Another one. Another one. This feeling of “hey, there is a data center here now” like they were dropped from the sky. I would miss an entrance, take another road, and whatever I was expecting, it was not there. There was another data center.

Image from datacentermap.com