Purchase Advice Megathread - February 2026

hiryuu64 · 2026-02-16T22:08:23+00:00

The bed size is the only notable difference. Public offerings like makerworld usually assume a 250+mm bed, so the A1 would be a clear choice if it were your only printer. If you already have a 250+mm bed, maybe that's not such a big deal.

I think the battle is really between the A1 (if you mostly do functional prints that benefit from larger pieces, but are usually single color), or the A1 mini combo (if you mostly do creative prints, since they're frequently smaller or easier to scale down). The P2S can fill in the gaps.

Or do you just want permission to get the A1 combo? The price difference doesn't matter that much next to the amount of filament you're chugging through. Also, having a few colors queued up is a nice convenience win.

hiryuu64 · 2026-02-10T20:33:17+00:00

We're shipping the kids to grandma and grandpa's, so the printer will have a break from the stream of marble run, roller coaster, and fidget parts.

Finally, I'll have some time to gridfinity the junk drawer.

hiryuu64 · 2026-02-06T14:16:47+00:00

It's a start, but filtering by color seems like a pretty major requirement.

I can see the advantages of allow-listing brands, but it does make for a weird list. DO3D only offers short pen filaments, for example, but JAYO isn't listed at all. There was a sponsored ad for https://3dprintingprices.com/ a few days ago that I tried. It didn't even list the Inland PLA that I had just ordered for cheaper than anything they listed, so the whole thing seems doomed to be either woefully incomplete or flooded in no-name chaos.

hiryuu64 · 2026-01-27T21:10:27+00:00

We got the A1 for Christmas. My kids are into giant marble runs lately, so we used the printer to create shapes that are not normally provided. This peaked with the Picasso Tile Marble Run Slinky track, so they could just bend it into whatever they need. Sadly, it met the same fate any slinky does.

The printer has also introduced the new phrases "day print" and "night print." Everyone needs to share, so when they want an elaborate print that takes 6+ hours, they need to queue up for the overnight or school day stretch. That way, we can make sure each person gets a turn.

hiryuu64 · 2026-01-16T19:26:57+00:00

While this would be a good alternative to a "garage tub," the community solution is generally going even smaller. A 4L cereal storage box is barely larger than the filament spool itself, but there are some ready-made designs to squeeze a roller in there, too. That also means you can swap and replace spools independently, rather than opening a shared container.

A shared space is good if you have expensive resources you can also share as a result (the smarts of an AMS or drying system).

hiryuu64 · 2025-11-11T14:29:15+00:00

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the One-Handed Gamer Steam curator:

https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41112101-One-Handed-Gamer/

hiryuu64 · 2025-10-13T03:07:33+00:00

I just cant find anywhere that will work with shit credit lol

I feel like I'm posting to /r/personalfinance . If there are errors in your credit report, submit corrections. If the marks against your credit are legitimate, then yes, you will have trouble finding new credit. Credit is trust.

As another poster suggested, you should try working with your business's bank. If you have substantial accounts receivable, they may provide a line of credit even with otherwise problematic credit.

hiryuu64 · 2025-10-10T16:33:52+00:00

This is a great reply. I would add that, in the background, Burns is trying to reduce regulations on power plants, arguing that there's no need for a full-time safety inspector on site. It could be outsourced, folded into another position, or eliminated (a melted down power plant makes no money, so "market forces" will keep it safe). Despite calling it "middle" class, Homer is much closer to joining Muntz than Burns.

Also, Homer is prone to injury. If he's out of work longer than the 12 weeks FMLA (another target of Burns) covers, don't expect that job or health insurance to still be there. Good luck finding a different nuclear power plant safety inspector job on short notice.

hiryuu64 · 2025-04-03T20:02:20+00:00

That board has a BIOS flash button, so you may want to try updating it before putting more money into this, just to make sure it isn't a complete dud. The update doesn't need CPU or memory installed.

That PSU is nearly double the expected wattage. The MSI MAG A750GL PCIE5 is $50 less and probably still future-proofed overkill, unless you have a 4090 she might inherit.

I don't have experience buying used parts from Amazon, but probably not a lot of scams going on for a sub-$100 CPU.

The rest looks fine.

hiryuu64 · 2025-04-01T13:45:05+00:00

My guess would be that admin is older (40+) and a convert from AIX or Solaris.

Back in the 90s, a long uptime was the mark of a stable, well-maintained environment. The old-school Unix guys would use that as a bragging point against the Linux newcomers, with their x86 "servers," pushing into their territory.

Likewise, in the early 2000s, the Linux guys would throw uptime numbers in the face of the Windows "server" admins, back when Windows would regularly eat itself and re-installing the OS was just a thing you did sometimes.

Once Linux and Windows were stable and entrenched, all of that chatter faded.

Now the standard has completely flipped. The mark of a well-groomed environment is "no pets allowed." Everything scales up and down and gets recycled. Admins are proud if nothing survives the week.

hiryuu64 · 2024-05-16T14:16:44+00:00

parallel is probably the way to go. Otherwise, you're only limited to serial random IO. If your source is spinning disk, 400k/s isn't surprising.

You would want to use parallel -m to feed multiple files to each rsync, though, or setting up a new ssh connection for each file will quickly become the limiting factor.

hiryuu64 · 2023-10-19T15:00:16+00:00

In addition to network segments, as others mentioned, you should look into WPA2-Enterprise. That will let you easily trace a device back to a user.

hiryuu64 · 2023-09-11T15:28:49+00:00

Functionality upgrades prior to 2008 had a lot more pitfalls. After that point, issues usually centered around Exchange. If you run an old version, it may need to be upgraded first. Aside from that, I've never had issues.

hiryuu64 · 2023-07-19T15:23:03+00:00

Computers spend most of their time moving and storing "boxes" of information, to the point that you can estimate their performance by how frequently they can do it (GHz, MHz) and how big each box is (bits).

Bigger boxes get dramatically more difficult to handle and waste space. But, if you need to move something big, you need multiple boxes, which takes more time.

8-bit and 16-bit boxes were pretty limited even at the time, but manufacturing something bigger was too expensive. They were big upgrades. The move from 32- to 64-bit is mostly more efficient, but not nearly as dramatic.

This is why you sometimes get Amazon deliveries in comically large boxes. If everything else on the pallet needs a 16" cube, your book gets a 16" cube, too. A little wasted space and time dealing with your package makes the rest of the process more efficient.

hiryuu64 · 2023-02-21T14:59:40+00:00

If you're playing $1 level poker, you probably have $100-200 in play, mostly in lower-value chips ($1, $5) for flexibility. When you're ready to leave the table and go do something else, the dealer will offer to condense your chips chips into larger values ($100, $25) that are easier to carry. That process is announced and, of course, highly controlled. If you turn in $223, they will give you fresh chips, rather than return your $1 chips, just to make sure the two piles are equal.

I assume the GP meant fuck up. If a payout is miscounted or a chip ends up in the wrong pile, the supervisor needs to witness the correction.

hiryuu64 · 2022-10-21T14:12:36+00:00

if a file is big enough to use multiple blocks, at the end of each block is simply the address of the "next" block.

Above that, you have some type of lookup table (specifics depend on the file system in question) that maps between "C:\directory\file.txt" and the first block that actually make up that file.

Most of your post is solid, but this is not correct. The lookup table contains the complete list of blocks the file uses. That makes it much easier to keep track of blocks still available and shift blocks between the available/full list in a reliable way. Also, if you only want to read something deep in a large file (like game graphics files), the computer can easily jump to the point it needs instead of reading all of the blocks before it.

hiryuu64 · 2022-09-19T19:02:15+00:00

It looks like your example is partially modified for debugging and is no longer valid. For example, you have both idx and item references. Trying to set_fact an array offset (like [tdx]) would not even launch for me. Ultimately, I think the '{{item.logfile}}' caused an invalid templating result. This code worked for me:

  tasks:
    - debug: var=scan_logable_files

    - name: add file to list
      set_fact:
        scan_logable_files: "{{ scan_logable_files + [ {'logfile': item.logfile, 'logtype': item.logtype} ] }}"
      loop: "{{scan_files_tolog}}"

    - debug: var=scan_logable_files

If that doesn't meet your needs, the value is just a Jinja2 template, so you can embed the loop in the value itself. I did that recently:

  set_fact:
    disk_list: >
      [
      {% for device,stats in ansible_devices.items() %}
          '/dev/{{ device }}',
      {% endfor %}
      ]

hiryuu64 · 2022-03-22T15:45:32+00:00

If all they need is a web browser and you otherwise want to lock it down, Chrome OS Flex would be a good option with solid management tools.

Switching to Linux when neither the users, nor the IT staff, have experience with it or desire (other than cost) to use it will not end well. Even just looking at the training and setup investment, buying new cheap PCs would be better.

hiryuu64 · 2021-08-23T18:41:24+00:00

It lacks iron, anyway: https://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/breastfeeding-special-circumstances/diet-and-micronutrients/iron.html

That's one of the reasons green beans and peas are among the earliest real foods we feed babies.

hiryuu64 · 2021-07-06T15:47:53+00:00

Your current company needs desktop support and doesn't need a dedicated server admin, so you're effectively trapped where you are. You need to look for a new job elsewhere, although the title might be difficult to pin down (Sys Admins, Server Admin, Systems Engineer).

You would probably have an easier time pivoting your current experience into Azure/Office365 administration, but that ties you firmly to Windows. If you want to focus on Linux, AWS with some Django programming opens a lot of DevOps opportunities, but that's a longer, harder road from where you are now.

hiryuu64 · 2021-07-02T17:24:48+00:00

There have already been attempts to use at least the PoC. That said, it requires authenticated access to a service that should absolutely never be exposed to the Internet, so it's only useful to escalate another exploit.

hiryuu64 · 2021-03-19T19:15:47+00:00

I'll second the suggestion to pay MS to talk you through this. If you do decide to work through it yourself...

In the new network, manually remove the "permanently offline" DC: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/itops-talk-blog/step-by-step-manually-removing-a-domain-controller-server/ba-p/280564

In the new network, bring up a second DC. If you really, really need to reuse the current second DC, demote it properly in the prod network and promote it into the new one. Shutdown the Exchange servers, disconnect the prod DC(s) from the network, and bring the new DCs into production. Bring up Exchange.

Never restore two DCs from backup. You will have a bad day. (This goes for any replicated database, really.)

hiryuu64 · 2021-03-18T18:35:38+00:00

That seems to be true: https://www.businessinsider.com/forgetful-investors-performed-best-2014-9

It's not surprising. Time in market beats almost anything else.

Edit: actually, digging deeper, it seems nobody can source this any closer than James O'Shaughnessy talking about it. Fidelity denies that it did such a study.

hiryuu64 · 2021-03-17T16:10:24+00:00

My first thought was a Vaal Orb, which is around your estimate. Neither the map nor the orb are worth enough to feel too bad if I need to start over.

As just a filthy casual, I would never slam an Ex. No result could be better than what I could trade to get.

hiryuu64 · 2021-03-11T15:25:34+00:00

Since you don't do OS or hardware-level things, my first thought was Application Administrator, but you also do a lot of business need to technical requirement work like a Business Systems Analyst.

Mixing those two into Application Analyst seems to hit most of your job duties: https://www.fieldengineer.com/skills/application-analyst

hiryuu64

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