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162 recent entries. Last built 8 Jun 2026, 20:36 UTC. RSS
And writing software feels like being Marge in that go-kart race. Work slow and steady for a year writing something neat that had never been brought to a platform before, but someone can hear about it and use Claude to whiz by you in a week and make something with 10 times the functionality.
I have lost all enthusiasm for reading about new software projects, especially dealing with vintage computing. What would have sounded amazing a year or two ago and made me want to engage with the author, I now just assume was something AI spit out and feels hollow and boring so I skim past it.
we all directly and indirectly live in the shade, but not the shadow, of colossus
Franco . . . . . . Ordoñez, NPR News
Another Pomera DM250 special release: the DM250XYZ in a translucent purple color Interesting that the keys aren't translucent like on the DM250X and DM250XY https://kingjim.com/products/dm250xyz
What good is a laptop that can't go to sleep Your browser doesn't seem to support HTML video. You can download the video instead.
well that's gonna cost some money
has AI figured out how to put toothpaste back in the tube yet
🚫 root ✅ privilegemaxxing
they're good barrels brent
CRT friends: how would you describe what is happening with the image on this?
wow, has apple used their old rainbow logo on anything else since they switched to the flat one? https://www.motorsport.com/imsa/news/porsche-penske-motorsport-running-throwback-apple-computer-livery-at-laguna-seca/10816610/
does anyone remember this
me: hey bank can you move some of this money to my savings account over at that bank? you've done it hundreds of times bank: sure, it'll get there in 2 days me: oh, can i pretend i'm sending a zelle payment to myself? bank: sure, it'll be there in 2 seconds why is ach still so slow
hello, cyberpals what are you working on lately?
hello past me where does the time go
Once a device can boot multiuser, compile its kernel, and has display and keyboard drivers, all further development for it must be done on the device itself Sorry, it's the law
Eternal November https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2026/apr/15/eternal-november-generative-ai-llm/ (November 2025 was when Claude Opus 4.5 was released)
I over-use parentheses because I don't like having to think about the order of operations every time I glance at my code but from now on I'm going to use this as my justification so I don't seem so dumb
These are my notes and pre-built images for getting OpenBSD-current installed on the Pomera DM250, DM250X, DM250XY, and DM250US. Table of Contents Top Throat-clearing Making a backup Some DM250 hardware notes Making an OpenBSD installation SD card Installing OpenBSD Post-Installation Building a custom installation ramdisk Recovery Throat-clearing Much of my work has not yet been committed upstream so installation currently requires a custom kernel and U-Boot images which are provided here. OpenB…
A new release of my Wallops IRC client is available: wallops-2.2.sit (StuffIt 3 archive) SHA256: adc2b473664ec096 0b5b028335566831 dd69f4a1de40f79e 22bf1337292cca88 SHA1: 603c5080c41a0d57 52cae49a08376db4 e18628b1 This update includes a number of new features and bugfixes: Auto-connect with the last saved settings on startup, if they are available, unless the Command key is held down Add support for sending Pushover notifications when the user's nick is mentioned or directly messaged, when a scr…
beyond the green owl, from streaks and potions to pedagogy and politics
Python appears to be everywhere nowadays! How did it happen, that a language that almost died in the Python 2 to 3 process is now the lingua franca a default choice when people talk about programming? There must be some secret superpower and I think I found it!
BlueSCSI Wi-Fi Desk Accessory 1.4 has been released: wifi_da-1.4.sit (StuffIt 3 archive) SHA256: aed32aced3fc2cff 301a61930df654fc a641cd830aa21d8a 824dafde1b17e671 SHA1: 13f5c624598d9956 4922eb807d7231a3 631c995c This update fixes a bug that was breaking hidden SSID entry.
I found a neat THINK C extension that I wanted to share, and I'm going to have a table at the Vintage Computer Festival Midwest next month. Your browser doesn't seem to support HTML video. You can download the video (H.264/AAC format) instead. Video notes: Vintage Computer Festival Midwest THINK C 5.0.4 CMaster (I'm using 1.2.5) Please contact me with any feedback or questions, view past videos in this series , and subscribe to my RSS feed to be notified about future videos and other posts. Join…
Ever had this weird gut feeling that something is off in your code, but couldn’t put the finger on why? Are you starting your projects with the best intentions, following all best practices, and still feel like your architecture turns weird eventually?
some colleges keep students confined, in the name of safety
The KING JIM Pomera DM250 "digital typewriter" is a small Linux-powered ARM computer that boots up into a custom word processor application. I've been tinkering with it to try to get OpenBSD booted on it. I'd normally wait until the end and write up a proper article explaining everything, but this process is taking a lot longer than I expected so I figured I'd document it all as I go. Background KING JIM has made a number of portable word processors starting with the DM5 , the DM10 and DM20 with…
A year ago I tried using an M1 iMac for work duty but its 21" screen took up too much room on my desk. After seeing Sean's video on Action Retro about putting an M4 Mac Mini inside an iMac G4 , I thought I'd give it a try. Table of Contents Top Trying the Juicy Crumb DockLite G4 Color Banding iMac Screen Resolution Exposed Ports Screen Blanking Upgrading the Screen iMac Neck Mac Mini Mouting Remaining Issues Update: Speakers Trying the Juicy Crumb DockLite G4 The Juicy Crumb DockLite G4 replaces…
Last year I upgraded my Kindle Paperwhite to a Kindle Scribe to be able to write notes and draw diagrams while programming to help visualize things. One thing that bothered me about the Scribe was that its sleep screen images were pretty boring and because I'm now often reading PDFs or writing in a notebook, I couldn't benefit from the Kindle OS's new functionality that uses the cover of the book being read as the sleep screen image (which previously required a jailbreak and custom software). Si…
BlueSCSI Wi-Fi Desk Accessory 1.3 has been released: wifi_da-1.3.sit (StuffIt 3 archive) SHA256: 40b49ef83b6512bd e571171aa42e9041 9a8577efa895cfae b19bf18a0c82d4de SHA1: b8fa941eb104c0f9 25436cc8fbc3018a 3ded5b96 This update brings internationalization support for Macs running non-English installations, and a number of bug fixes. Changes in this version: Fix a handful of bugs Add a log window that can be toggled by clicking on the signal icon Add localization for strings shown in the UI for Mac…
my experience of living in Houston without a car, and the North American obsession with them
Another update to Wallops building on the 2.0 release is available: wallops-2.1.sit (StuffIt 3 archive) SHA256: 7cb16046e076488e 1997e1232631cf2d c9737bac0a94f034 8caf5d183927f4a9 SHA1: fd1d7145aa4baaf5 322175f348644d10 57267a65 This update includes a number of new features and bugfixes: Implement tab completion in channels; by typing part of a user's nick and pressing tab, the input bar will show their completed nick with ":" after it Do UTF-8 to MacRoman conversion of incoming text, where poss…
BlueSCSI Wi-Fi Desk Accessory 1.2 has been released: wifi_da-1.2.sit (StuffIt 3 archive) SHA256: 984935cc5e3e2510 2849cd41c52764cb 08060d183d48cfb4 9f9da3eead49aea8 SHA1: 980b17f58babb839 977b7d714f8556a8 2bf33c7e Changes in this version: Added an "(Other Network)" option to the SSID list to manually enter a hidden SSID
Another large update to my Wallops IRC client is available: wallops-2.0.sit (StuffIt 3 archive, includes source code and THINK C 5 project file) SHA256: 532f6c72eadbb9e7 ce74dded1bfcd713 69a61d818f7c7716 0bb8a66d6f1ccf9c SHA1: c375a24e00900378 e84745c1e11d3d69 76ef749c This release features an overhaul of the interface bringing tabs allowing multiple channels and private message queries, including a number of other new features and bugfixes: Support window resizing, using an initial window size …
Whenever I publish something about my Python Docker workflows, I invariably get challenged about whether it makes sense to use virtual environments in Docker containers. As always, it’s a trade-off, and I err on the side of standards and predictability.
Starting with 0.3.0 , Astral’s uv brought many great features, including support for cross-platform lock files uv.lock . Together with subsequent fixes, it has become Python’s finest workflow tool for my (non-scientific) use cases. Here’s how I build production-ready containers, as fast as possible.
in an era where tech giants increasingly control our digital experiences, the Steam Deck stands as a beacon of user freedom
I wanted to add an internal USB port to my ThinkPad X1 Nano which should have been a fairly easy thing to do, but it wasn't. Of course, if I were still using my Framework Laptop it would be as easy as plugging in a custom module but I've been using my X1 Nano as my primary laptop for quite some time now. Table of Contents Top Logitech Mouse M.2 Firmware Hacking? Fingerprint Reader USB Power Designing a PCB 3D-Printed Shim Logitech Mouse As convenient as the TrackPoint is on my ThinkPad, having a…
One of my first TIL entries was about how you can imitate Node’s node_modules semantics in Python on UNIX-like operating systems. A lot has happened since then (to the better!) and it’s time for an update. direnv still rocks, though.
I've been working on Carl, my IMAP e-mail client, for the past few months. Your browser doesn't seem to support HTML video. You can download the video (H.264/AAC format) instead. I need to work on not saying "like" so much. Video notes: Remaining PowerBook 1xx Batteries Subtext 4 Kludge BBS on Mastodon IMAP4rev2 rev2 RFC Encoded-word RFC MicroBug and SM 0 A9F4 and G 0 MacsBug My stack walking code Stack layout showing A6 links: Please contact me with any feedback or questions, view past videos i…
Subtext 4.0 has been released: subtext-4.0.sit (StuffIt 3 archive, includes source code and THINK C 5 project file) SHA256: c33a6abe15e7f071 59a18d936dce7c43 5d9619f80d6c53d1 cdd26fabf06712f7 SHA1: 0f4bdcd08b57b568 125d8ddcab5ad97f 1f5dd586 ipdb-2023-11.db (Free IP Geolocation from DB-IP , converted to Subtext IPdb format) Changes in this version: Move views out of database to flat files in a "views" directory, allowing them to be edited by other text editors and backed up; views are cached at s…
When contributing to other users’ repositories, always start a new branch in your fork.
No, it’s not (just) run-parallel – let’s cut the local tox runtime by 75%!
Ever seen a code base where understanding a simple method meant jumping through tangled class hierarchies? We all have! And while “Favor composition over inheritance!” is almost as old as object-oriented programming, strictly avoiding all types of subclassing leads to verbose, un-Pythonic code. So, what to do?