MalReynolds

Well said, and you’re right, it’s not hopeless. Most people don’t need the latest superphone, personally I want to carry around a good music device, that I can read books on, and preferably have maps. Many like cameras, but I like the idea of a devoted one. The communications (/surveillance) device is a separate thing and perhaps we should think seriously about breaking these things apart, hotspot that you turn on when needed for example. How about a nice general purpose pocketable linux gadget and a secure simple telecom to give it a connection?

Rule of thumb.

Double the number, bump the units.

I like my qudelix-5k, does flawless 96Khz/32bit LDAC to my Pixel7 (not that I use media that high, but it works well). Balanced output, onboard equalizer, it’s a good usb DAC as well., been solid for 2 years+, goes great with IEMs. It’s a bit pricey and likely to be a pain when I have to go in to replace the battery, but I find myself charging ~ weekly, so Li-ion is good for ~ 1000 charges, perhaps 500 before significant degradation, which is 10 yrs or so. Worth it for my use case.

Unfortunately, gotta wonder how that all stacks up against bullying many countries into upping their %GDP devoted to defense, given that weapons are the US’s primary export.

Thanks people, we really needed more weapons in the world /s

Also it’s martial, not marshal, which is reasonably important as martial means pertaining to war, i.e. the army running things.

Thanks anyway, but my backlog of stuff that needs listening to is plenty big enough already.

Automated rotation of a large music library on a weekly basis via syncthing, I prefer an offline solution, (but navidrome is there if needed) ~150Gb containing all my playlists and a random selection of other albums keeps me well stocked with old and new. That leaves plenty for taking photos / video (which all gets backed to immich anyway). I don’t consume video on tiny screens. 256Gb is plenty for me with this system, 128 would probably do fine.

I am however thinking of hacking together a RasPi type device with a nvme drive, good audio and a backlit ePaper screen and perhaps GPS (music, books and maps covers 85+% of my use case, a standalone camera would get another 10+% ) which would reduce my need for a personal surveillance device being on significantly. Project suggestions gratefully received.

The price of liberty is eternal vigilance. Wise words, even tarnished by their descendants.

If you’re thinking like that, consider a second hand Pixel 8(a) GrapheneOS and 7 years of security updates… Zero crapware. I combine it with a Qudelix-5K which gets me back a very high fidelity (48/96 Khz 32bit) audio jack via bluetooth.

At that level (of age), choices come into play.

The usual paradigm for dev estimates is double the number, bump the units.

1 hour -> 2 days.

servicing your own car or modifying the exhaust on your motorcycle (teenagers here didn’t have cars in the first place, actually)

Today’s equivalent is building your own ebike, and it’s awesome and way easier than rebuilding an engine.

If it has lots of independent eyes on the code and provides a service I need and can’t find a superior solution to, sure, as I will not be needing any services that disagree with my political opinions and as long as I’m not financially supporting said developer.

or as it goes,

mice lie and monkeys exaggerate

It seems likely that simulated testing (in a computer) will be mature by 2050, it’s under development now.

I’ll second the framework if you’re keen on a new device, but second hand AMD thinkpads are probably flooding the market (they usually are, but 5000 series CPUs are well capable for roblox) and combine it with an eGPU and a monitor for heavier lifting. It’ll get them used to the desktop paradigm, alongside a school capable durable, repairable laptop with reasonable weight and battery life, and you’ll have a video card to get started on that desktop later. Worth considering…

Buut, it’s an even when you lose you win deal (for the employer), what are the odds they’re hiring back people at lower wages with no seniority. Customer base loss of confidence is a next quarter problem.

You should be fine on gOS for 6 yrs+, which is how long google promised to keep up with security updates. The device tree (think hardware drivers), which is what google removed with pixel 10 is what is causing grief, is already there for lower pixels. Unless, of course, google comes up with some new fuckery to invalidate the usability of the security updates (pray I don’t alter the deal further…)

Also, using demineralized water then baking @ 55C helps with avoiding corrosion, if you need it. If you can get away with just isopropyl alcohol, all the better.

Annual rentseeking incoming, 3.2.1…

It’s PCIe 4.0 :(

Boo! Silly me thinking DDR5 implied PCIe5, what a shame.

Feels like they’re testing the waters with Halo, hopefully a loud ‘waters great, dive in’ signal gets through and we get something a bit fitter for desktop use, maybe with more memory (and bandwidth) next gen. Still, gotta love the power usage, makes for one hell of a NAS / AI inference server (and inference isn’t that fussy about PCIe bandwidth, hell eGPU works fine as long as the model / expert fits in VRAM.