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ecliptik

14,586 karma · joined March 31, 2015

website: https://www.ecliptik.com capsule: gemini://rawtext.club/~ecliptik/

GPG Proofs ----------------------------

This is an OpenPGP proof that connects my OpenPGP key to this Hackernews account. For details check out https://keyoxide.org/guides/openpgp-proofs

[Verifying my OpenPGP key:openpgp4fpr:5F70F2ACBD58F580DF153D1F4FA270F5CD3671F9]

[ my public key: https://keybase.io/ecliptik; my proof: https://keybase.io/ecliptik/sigs/Qoe_QkXfE9Es5N3OsRDLBMaWxHMFt8l3JbegDmU8R20 ]

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ecliptik··on Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?
I've read 51 books this year (just finished Hyperion) which is 50 more than 2024.

I attribute this increase to a few things,

1. Borrowing from Libby puts a 21 day time limit to finish a book, encouraging me to read it before it's due.

2. Not discriminating from reading on my phone. Kindle app syncs between devices, and makes it easier to read a few pages here and there instead of waiting for uninterrupted sessions with my Kindle.

3. Continually updating a To Read list, mostly by going to Barnes and Noble, taking pictures of featured book tables, then adding the interesting ones to my Libby hold list.

4. Borrowing with Libby makes it easier to bail out of a book that doesn't intrigue me. Instead of forcing myself to finish something I spent $ on, I can just return it and move onto something else, feeling 0 guilt.

ecliptik··on Project Gemini
There are search engines, directories and feed aggregators [1].

Best means of discovery is like the original web, you surf it, bouncing from capsule to capsule finding what you like.

1. https://github.com/kr1sp1n/awesome-gemini?tab=readme-ov-file...

ecliptik··on Project Gemini
From what I remember about the name, it's derived from NASA space programs. Where Gopher is Mercury, Web is Apollo and Gemini is in between.

Gemini is a new internet protocol which:

- Is heavier than gopher

- Is lighter than the web

- Will not replace either

- Strives for maximum power to weight ratio

- Takes user privacy very seriously

ecliptik··on Laptops with Stickers
And a Gunship sticker. After looking at some of these I wish there was an optional field people could add so others with overlapping interests could follow a blog/socialmedia/etc.
ecliptik··on Six Years of Gemini
Are SpaceWalk [1] or Moku Pona[2] what you're looking for?

1. https://tildegit.org/sloum/spacewalk

2. https://github.com/kensanata/moku-pona

ecliptik··on Ask HN: What projects do you donate to?
In the past I've donated old hardware to OpenBSD [1] and would love to donate to them directly, but they aren't registered as a 501c3 in the US and can't claim the deduction on taxes (yes, I know, I am not 100% altruistic).

Instead I donate to FreeBSD and support OpenBSD in an ancillary way through OpenBSD Amsterdam [2]. Which yes, is also not tax exempt, but does comes with nice OpenBSD VM.

1. https://www.openbsd.org/want.html

2. https://openbsd.amsterdam/

ecliptik··on Joining Sun Microsystems – 40 years ago (2022)
I haven't read it, but High Noon[1] comes up in recommendations about Sun Microsystems history.

1. https://archive.org/details/highnoon00kare

ecliptik··on Fuck Run Club, Join Sit Club
5 years ago I blew out a knee running and we ended up getting a Peloton (coincidentally the end of Feb 2020) since the doctor said it would be less stress on my knees.

Used their service some, but I 3D printed a phone holder for the handlebars. Now instead of sitting in a chair watching videos and scrolling HN, I do it with an elevated heart rate for 30 minutes.

Sure it's not the "right" way to exercise, but I've lost weight (in combination with an improved diet), have more energy and I feel less guilty about screentime.

ecliptik··on A USB Interface to the "Mother of All Demos" Keyset
I've been reading The Innovators[1], which includes early computing history, just finished the section on The Mother of all Demos yesterday coincidentally.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innovators_(book)

ecliptik··on Backblaze Drive Stats for 2024
restic + rclone to cloud storage for data I care about, the majority of the data can easily be replaced if needed.
ecliptik··on Backblaze Drive Stats for 2024
It's not a best practice, but the last 10 years I've run my home server with a smaller faster drive for the OS and a single larger disk for bulk storage that I choose using Backblaze Drive Stats. None of have failed yet (fingers-crossed). I really trust their methodology and it's an extremely valuable resource for me as a consumer.

My most recent drive is a WDC WUH722222ALE6L4 22TiB, and looking at the stats (albeit only a few months of data), and overall trend of WDC, in this report gives me peace of mind that it should be fine for the next few years until it's time for the cycle to repeat.

ecliptik··on Lenovo has removed the TrackPoint nub from new ThinkPad laptops
I still miss my X61s daily.

The trackpoint was great simply because I didn't need to move my hands anywhere else when using it, could keep my fingers all on the home row and still move pointer.

ecliptik··on Nintendo announces the Switch 2 [video]
One of my favorite video essay's on this is "Nintendo - Putting Play First" by Game Makers Toolkit [1]. It goes into when making a game, Nintendo first determines the mechanic they want to focus on; jumping, throwing a hat, shooting paint, etc and finding out how to make it fun, then building and iterating on the idea.

It's how they can keep putting out essentially the same games but are completely different.

1. https://youtu.be/2u6HTG8LuXQ

ecliptik··on I will never need to buy a new computer again
"what Andy giveth, Bill taketh away"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_and_Bill's_law

ecliptik··on JG Ballard's Apocalyptic Art
Agree with everything here, not a day goes by that I don't think about something Ballard wrote.

I've always liked the phrase "Inner space, not outer space" when describing his particular version of science fiction.

ecliptik··on iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max
I've replaced the battery on my 2015 MacBook Pro with one from iFixit [1]. They're a huge pain though, since they're glued to the inside of the case and requires using a solvent to get the battery out.

It has held a charge for the last few years well. The other issue I had with a laptop this old was cooling. Ended up swapping out the fans and heatsink/heatpipe and am expecting to get another couple years out of it.

1. https://www.ifixit.com/products/macbook-pro-15-retina-late-2...

ecliptik··on HIDman Adapting USB devices to work on old computers
The usb4vc supports ADB [1].

I have one for my Macintosh 512ke and it works great for the non-adb mouse and keyboard.

I choose it over the HIDman since you can buy it assembled and it works with a RaspberryPi 3.

1. https://github.com/dekuNukem/USB4VC?tab=readme-ov-file#apple...

ecliptik··on Happy Macs Gopher Site Back Online
While promoted as a Gemini browser, LaGrange also works with gopher:// and is available on almost any platform, including mobile.

1. https://gmi.skyjake.fi/lagrange/

ecliptik··on From Linux to NetBSD, with SSH Only
OpenBSD Amsterdam [1] provides OpenBSD VMs running on vmm [2].

1. https://openbsd.amsterdam/

2. https://man.openbsd.org/vmm.4

ecliptik··on Tokyo's oldest train line – in pictures
I haven't played it, but want to after seeing the controllers for it and all the different versions.

https://youtu.be/gbjzXuXlZJw?t=145

ecliptik··on POV-Ray – The Persistence of Vision Raytracer (2021)
POV-Ray was my first introduction to HPC clusters. In the early aughts a few of us in college participated in a summer program at Wright Patterson Air-force Base to build a MPIPOV [1] cluster out of 10 old Sun SPARCStation 20s with "Happy Meal" NICs.

We documented the process of installing Linux (Debian), configuring the network, compiling MPIPOV from source and clustering them together.

It was a thing of beauty to watch the rendering speeds increase and the blinkenlights putting on a show in that lab when we were done.

If I remember correctly they planned to take what we documented and use for a much larger cluster they were building, but never found out the specifics.

1. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/648136.748781

ecliptik··on HN-text: an easy-to-use, text-first Hacker News terminal client
Reminds me of HN Gopher[1], which is also a great text-only way of reading, although not necessarily browsing, HN.

1. https://github.com/michael-lazar/hn-gopher

ecliptik··on Rockman / Mega Man source code (2013)
Do you have a link to the NES game you made? Always interested in checking these out.
ecliptik··on Overbite Project: Why still use Gopher? What makes Gopher relevant?
While it's focus is Gemini, the LaGrange Browser [1] supports Gopher too (as well as Finger and possibility FTP in the future) on almost all modern platforms. Bombadillo [2] is a great TUI gopher client as well.

Setting up a Gopherhole is relatively easy, as most pubnix/tilderverse communities offer Gopher hosting for free [3].

1. https://gmi.skyjake.fi/lagrange/

2. https://bombadillo.colorfield.space/

3. https://tilde.wiki/wiki/Gopher

ecliptik··on UniSuper members go a week with no account access after Google Cloud misconfig
Did they think it was leftover Google Reader infra?
ecliptik··on Blocky – a DNS proxy and ad-blocker for the local network
Yattee

https://github.com/yattee/yattee

it requires either public or private Piped or Invidious instaces [1][2].

1. https://github.com/TeamPiped/Piped/wiki/Instances

2. https://docs.invidious.io/instances/

ecliptik··on Show HN: Kyoo – Self-hosted media browser (Jellyfin/Plex alternative)
Plexamp is the one thing that keeps me on Plex.

I have Jellyfin setup in parallel for the day Plex enters an「enshittification」phase, but the lifetime membership I paid for in 2012 has served me well.

ecliptik··on Google Is Killing Retro Dodo and Other Independent Sites
I've been into retro gaming for a while (primarily consoles) and this is the first I've heard of this site. I've also not actively searched for "best ds games" or similar in the past 10 years as I just know to go to Racketboy [1] (which is currently down, so not a great look).

1. https://web.archive.org/web/20240320154449/https://www.racke...

ecliptik··on The Rise and Fall of 3M's Floppy Disk (2023)
Not only am I holding out too, but I'm just swerving hard back to physical media for music and buying new MDs while Sony is still selling them.

Be the future you want to see.

ecliptik··on Sudo-rs dependencies: when less is better
How does this compare to OpenBSD doas[1][2]?

1. https://man.openbsd.org/doas

2. https://cvsweb.openbsd.org/src/usr.bin/doas/

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