Hacker News Reader

usagisushion ESP32-S31: Dual-Core RISC-V SoC with Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, and Advanced HMI

For those using PlatformIO, the folks at pioarduino[0] are doing a great job keeping up with Arduino Core 3.x support.

    ```
    # platformio.ini
    platform = https://github.com/pioarduino/platform-espressif32.git#55.03.37
    framework = arduino
    ```

[0]: https://github.com/pioarduino/platform-espressif32

usagisushion Qwen3.6-Plus: Towards real world agents

A bit off-topic but I’m on the legacy Lite plan (now discontinued), and it’s more than enough for hobby projects. The main draw is the generous request-based quota (18k requests/month) rather than a token-based one.

This means a 100k token request counts the same as a 100-token one. I’ve made about 8000 requests in the last two weeks, averaging around 80k tokens per request. It feels like they’re subsidizing this just to gather data on agentic workflows.

On the downside, the speed is mediocre (15–30 tg/s for GLM-5), and I’ve seen the model glitch or produce broken output about 10 times out of those 8k requests.

usagisushion $500 GPU outperforms Claude Sonnet on coding benchmarks

Interesting benchmark. It is notable that Gemini-3-Flash outperforms 3.1 Pro. My experience using Flash via Opencode over the past month suggests it is quite underrated.

Needless to say, benchmarks are limited and impressions vary widely by problem domain, harness, written language, and personal preference (simplicity vs detail, tone, etc.). If personal experience is the only true measure, as with wine, solving this discovery gap is an interesting challenge (LLM sommelier!), even if model evolution eventually makes the choice trivial. (I prefer Gemini 3 for its wide knowledge, Sonnet 4.6 for balance, and GLM-5 for simplicity.)

usagisushion A Japanese glossary of chopsticks faux pas (2022)

Native here. I'd say only about 6 out of the 47 listed actually matter (Awasebashi, Urabashi, Kamibashi, Jikabashi, Tatebashi, and Neburibashi).

Most of these are only for formal settings. Honestly, I haven't even heard of some of them. Aside from Tatebashi (sticking chopsticks in rice), they’re mostly avoided for hygiene reasons. As for Nigiribashi (clutching them in a fist), it just looks a bit strange for an adult to do.

usagisushion OpenCode – Open source AI coding agent

I’ve heard the "S" in IoT stands for Security.

usagisushion MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and M5 Max

Qwen 3.5 35B-A3B and 27B have changed the game for me. I expect we'll see something comparable to Sonnet 4.6 running locally sometime this year.

usagisushion MacBook Air with M5

Same here. If the rumored A18 Pro MacBook stays under 1kg, it would be very compelling.

Regarding lightweight laptops, the Fujitsu FMV Note U series (14-inch) weighs only 634g-917g with Arrow Lake 255H and a replaceable battery.

usagisushion [dead]

OSR ― Open Source README.

usagisushion Female Asian Elephant Calf Born at the Smithsonian National Zoo

There is room for the elephant.

usagisushion Reliable 25 Gigabit Ethernet via Thunderbolt

Thanks for the measurements! 15W under load definitely justifies those massive heatsinks.

I’m looking forward to your writeup on the RTL8127AF as well. Your blog is awesome!

usagisushion Reliable 25 Gigabit Ethernet via Thunderbolt

Speaking of hardware, the RTL8159 (10Gbps) hit the market late last year and is said to consume only about 2–3W. It apparently runs very cool compared to older chips. (Though it would need to be bonded to reach 25Gbps ;-)

usagisushion Reliable 25 Gigabit Ethernet via Thunderbolt

JFYI, for measuring power draw, you might be able to use `macmon`[0] to see the total system power consumption. The values reported by the internal current sensor seem to be quite accurate.

[0] https://github.com/vladkens/macmon

usagisushion Netbird – Open Source Zero Trust Networking

Just for future reference, you can disable DNS management for specific groups [0].

You can find the option under "DNS > DNS Settings > Disable DNS management for these groups". Netbird will stop modifying the resolv.conf on those groups.

[0] https://docs.netbird.io/manage/dns#4-dns-management-modes

usagisushion Netbird – Open Source Zero Trust Networking

You’re from the dev team, right? Thanks for the amazing OSS!

Regarding the containers, AFAIK it's 5 for the core setup (dashboard/signal/management/relay/coturn) plus Traefik in my case. It feels like a bit much, but the services are almost stateless and not resource intensive even on my little VPS. The setup script (bash + envsubst) is so straightforward and thanks to good documentation, I’ve never found the setup confusing. (I use Renovate to keep things updated, but I’d love to know if there's a recommended update path.)

A couple of minor things I noticed: 1. the dashboard image isn't on ghcr.io. 2. the generated compose.yaml contains hardcoded values. It could be even better if it referenced values from a .env file instead.

By the way, are there any ways to support NetBird other than GitHub Sponsors?

usagisushion Netbird – Open Source Zero Trust Networking

Pangolin recently added desktop clients for win/mac/linux[0] and the Private Resource feature (similar to Netbird's Network Routes/DNS), so it's starting to overlap with Netbird more and more.

That said, it seems focused on client-to-site (newt) connections, and I don't see support for client-to-client connections like Netbird’s SSH access. Also, their Private Resources don't seem to support TLS termination yet. (Correct me if I’m wrong!)

In my case, I have a k3s cluster running on Netbird with a Traefik ingress for TLS termination inside my home network. Thanks to netbird's P2P nature, traffic stays entirely local as long as I'm on my home WiFi. (I suppose one could achieve the same with a Netbird + Caddy + DNS-01 setup, too.)

[0] https://docs.pangolin.net/manage/clients/understanding-clien...

usagisushion Netbird – Open Source Zero Trust Networking

Netbird's flexibility with IdPs is really nice. I recently switched mine to Pocket ID. Overall, it's perfectly sufficient and lightweight for homelab use.

usagisushion Android’s desktop interface leaks

Actually, it's the Android 16 Linux Terminal (pKVM) [1], so it's 100% on-device. Since this is a full VM, unlike Termux, you can run Docker too! (Though Termux is more stable and lightweight for daily use.)

[1]: https://www.androidauthority.com/android-16-linux-terminal-d...

usagisushion Android’s desktop interface leaks

Tried the desktop mode on my Pixel 8 running GrapheneOS. It's getting very close to being usable.

https://imgur.com/a/Wfv6Hmt

usagisushion Raspberry Pi Drag Race: Pi 1 to Pi 5 – Performance Comparison

I recently got a junk M2 MacBook Air (16GB/512GB) with a broken screen for $250. It idles at just 0.2W (!) when accessed via SSH. While it offers zero expandability, lacks wired LAN, and runs on a non-free OS, it's an interesting candidate for an ultra-low-power inference server.

usagisushion Xfce is great

Can I pin a specific window to the front?

- macOS (Quartz): No, you'll need a third-party app.

- Windows (dwm): No, you'll need PowerToys.

- xfwm4: Yes, you can do it out-of-the-box.

usagisushion OLED, Not for Me

> Meanwhile I’ve got an MSI OLED 32” 240Hz @ 4k monitor

Off topic, but JFYI, with last year's firmware update (OLED CARE 2.0), you can now delay the refresh notification for up to 24 hours. I haven't seen the notification pop up since updating.

usagisushion Intel Core Ultra Series 3 Debut as First Built on Intel 18A

No, it's more like a power-efficient Arrow Lake, with fewer P-cores and more LE-cores. (e.g. P+E+LE: AL 6+8+2 vs. PL 4+8+4)

edit: fix typo

usagisushion CSS-in-JS: The Great Betrayal of Front End Sanity

The Great Betrayal of Front End Sanity 2: JS-in-CSS

usagisushion Nokia N900 Necromancy

N810, N900, N9 owner here.

Good read. I did the exact same modification to my N900; it was my internet router for several years. In those days, a mobile carrier in my country offered a relatively cheap data plan for dumb phones: unlimited data, but restricted internet connectivity with a WAP proxy. Fortunately, thanks to curl and busybox utils, I figured out that the proxy allowed CONNECT requests, and a tiny C program on my N900 was able to transparently tunnel all TCP connections to the internet.

BTW, my N900 had another mod: it featured a Type-A female port :)

usagisushion North Korea executing more people for watching foreign films and TV, UN finds

I wonder why NK doesn't pay "fake" defectors to create counter-propaganda. Well, that's a silly joke. Yet, the fact is that regime has implemented new laws to strictly regulate citizens' access to SK/Western TV shows. Nor does it make any effort to present its own narrative to the world by allowing people to freely share some TikTok clips showing them enjoying domestic content about their supreme commander over shitty foreign Netflix videos. Why? Because no way it is possible.

usagisushion The MiniPC Revolution

https://www.reddit.com/r/Proxmox/comments/s92fk7/my_wife_is_...

A man can turn the means into the purpose.

usagisushion The first non-opoid painkiller

And then the story begins when the creator announces that everyone who took it will die within a month...

usagisushion Web Translator API

Tip: You might want to use `uv tool install llm --with llm-ollama`.

ref: https://github.com/simonw/llm/issues/575

usagisushion A maths proof that is only true in Japan

Yeah, in Japan, it's well known that Pi is divisible.

https://kyoko--np-net.translate.goog/2005020901.html?_x_tr_s...

usagisushion Android 16 lets the Linux Terminal use your phone's entire storage

My nerdy guess is they might be planning to integrate Android and Chrome OS to make something like Samsung DeX, especially given the recent, somewhat half-baked Type-C Alt mode support on the Pixel 8 and later models.

BTW, Termux is awesome, but it has its downsides, like no proper thumb drive support due to Android SAF limitations. Yesterday, I went down the rabbit hole trying to access a CircuitPython virtual flash drive via SSH using Termux. (I actually opened this post hoping for something on that, but nope.)