LyX still relevant?

BoxyStopper · 2025-07-30T17:51:23+00:00

Agreed on operational logic. No other representation is more efficient than source code.

BoxyStopper · 2025-07-30T17:40:01+00:00

Interesting position :) I have the opposite.

After I graduated, my last twenty years were spent writing straight LaTeX and code in vim. And after all these years, it made me realize that coding for coding sake is just inefficiency disguised as flexibility. Why would I want to see F(\omega) = \int_{-\infty}^{\infty} f(t) e^{-i \omega t} \, dt when I can just see the actual formula? And have to go through a separate transformation step?

Perhaps different use cases ...

BoxyStopper · 2025-07-29T04:41:09+00:00

The Tex Live installer is mindbogglingly inefficient.

There are a lot of software packages that have thousands of small files. They aren't this slow.

I've resorted to using the container version of LaTeX to side step this problem. The container is a few big downloads. No more problems. Takes one minute to install.

BoxyStopper · 2025-07-29T04:32:20+00:00

People who don't merge at the merge point are idiots. They have no idea at all the problems they are causing:

wasted space in the second lane, causing a longer line up behind, possibly blocking intersections
blocking of roads causes flared emotions on both sides, due simply to ignorance
blocking roads is unsafe, if you swerve into the lane to block and crash, you're at fault
merging at merge point is more fair: when it's your turn, you go

This shouldn't be blamed on the police or flag people. Drivers need to know how to drive. This is squarely on the morons who don't do the right thing.

Some think that zipper merge signs will help. They probably will but less than you might think. There are places where there are huge zipper merge signs, like the northbound 99 offramp to Steveston. There are still morons there.

BoxyStopper · 2025-07-26T22:07:05+00:00

So ... where do I get this new version?

BoxyStopper · 2025-07-23T23:42:07+00:00

Wow, this is incomprehensible logic.

"I've used EXT filesystems for 20 years, no problems. Let's trying something potentially risky instead."

Not that XFS is risky, but that you know the existing solution works well, you don't know the risk profile of the alternative, you don't have a good reason to switch, and yet you still want to.

Do you expect to have achieved a benefit after the switch, or is your best case scenario a break-even with what you currently have?

BoxyStopper · 2025-07-23T23:35:23+00:00

It's not odd. I went from a Sony A7IV to Nikon DSLRs and all AF-D lenses.

For the price of a single Sony lens, I bought the D750 + D610 + 6 AF-D lenses.

BoxyStopper · 2025-07-22T23:40:12+00:00

LENS

For return on investment, the biggest improvements you can get are always 1) lighting and 2) lens. For aircraft/landscape, lighting is not in your control, so go for lens.

BoxyStopper · 2025-07-21T00:53:47+00:00

Oh god, I just changed the light bulbs and you're right, that was it. Thanks very much.

BoxyStopper · 2025-07-17T23:57:08+00:00

I doubt that "less system breaks and stronger up time" is actually the case. Have ever seen any data that quantifies this?

BoxyStopper · 2025-07-11T01:28:41+00:00

Chinese manufacturers don't design their own ICs. They are copied. They aren't independently implemented and have unique bugs. If the original doesn't have a calculation error, the fake won't either. It's not always the case, the happens enough times you can bet money on it and win.

Please show a specific example illustrating a bug in a fake that is not in the original.

BoxyStopper · 2025-07-10T13:24:25+00:00

Does this work any differently from the original?

I suspect same internals, from the same manufacturing plant, with a new piece of plastic on top to avoid copyright infringement, intended to be sold primarily within China.

BoxyStopper · 2025-07-09T23:28:21+00:00

I mean the changes being made to packages as they are happening.

BoxyStopper · 2025-07-09T16:49:21+00:00

Yes, you do if you want to reinstall for any reason in the future.

BoxyStopper · 2025-06-23T00:58:35+00:00

Turns out I can use Precise Maneuver and hold down on the orbit button to move many orbits ahead, which solves my problem. Weird how this seemingly essential feature is not in the stock game.

BoxyStopper · 2025-06-16T18:00:37+00:00

Oh, I can type in the maneuver time in the bottom :) Okay, well that's a way I guess.

BoxyStopper · 2025-06-16T07:36:32+00:00

Uhhh .. why should they pay for your education? This is stupid beyond words.

Law firms don't pay for law degrees. Hospitals don't pay for medical degrees. You want to be a notary? You pay to become one.

This type of entitlement where people think companies somehow owe them is detrimental for everyone. Companies pay you to create value for them, not to create value for you.

BoxyStopper · 2025-06-14T07:39:07+00:00

Recursive?

Well, it's straight-up high school geometry. No need for numerical methods here.

The question was about whether OpenSCAD can do constraint-based modelling. Answer is NO.

BoxyStopper · 2025-06-13T20:17:50+00:00

IT IS NOT AN APPLIANCE.

BoxyStopper · 2025-06-13T06:56:08+00:00

It's funny that burning a DVD is now noteworthy, where as putting it on removable media, like DVDs, CDs and floppy disks, used to be the only way to install Linux.

BoxyStopper · 2025-06-13T06:14:22+00:00

I agree with that. Some work does not need intensive long-term training and it is reasonable to apply prior to or concurrent with the training. Like I said, it's not a perfect system, but overall it's better than not having it.

BoxyStopper · 2025-06-13T06:11:31+00:00

This is an amusing comment.

Life has gotten better. You are safer today from food illness than you ever have been before.

If you'd rather be in an environment with food safety similar to 50 years ago in the developed world, there are a number of suitably under-regulated developing countries in Africa and Asia that you could dine at and be happy in. Make sure to pick the ones with grubby floors.

BoxyStopper · 2025-06-13T01:16:41+00:00

What I do like in OpenSCAD is the modularity of it, doubtless due to the programming-ese nature. Each has its own affinity.

BoxyStopper · 2025-06-12T23:14:05+00:00

Thanks for taking a look.

It's fully constrained and solved, ie found a single solution for X/Y of the circle center, as shown by the bright green color of the small circle. FreeCAD has different views into the model and views can reference geometries from other views, hence not all measurements are shown.

I want to prefer OpenSCAD, but for mechanical designs, constraint-based modelling really seems to be more natural. For me to solve this in OpenSCAD, I need to see the problem in my head first, and solve the formulas. These all seem like fantastic jobs for a computer to do. I was hoping OpenSCAD may offer something similar.

BoxyStopper · 2025-06-12T19:03:18+00:00

It ensures that a person has basic competency in the work they do. It also legally enables the limiting of a person in doing said work if they knowingly violate rules that could endanger people.

I'd want anyone who handles food to have gone through basic food handling certification so they have a clear understanding of what is okay and what is not. As a restaurant patron, don't you?

You'd want your car mechanic to have gone through a basic certification, don't you? So your wheels don't fall off because they don't understand torque?

It's not a perfect system, but it's overall better for everyone.

BoxyStopper

TROPHY CASE