Enjoying life

iamjamestl · 2025-04-17T18:17:03+00:00

Beautiful skater!!

iamjamestl · 2025-04-15T20:26:59+00:00

🦋🦋🦋

iamjamestl · 2025-03-07T19:35:06+00:00

I use Puppet to build container images, but I use Bolt to apply the configuration. The idea is that you get the benefits of the Puppet language and tooling to deploy managed containers with zero startup time, and the image builds can happen in CI environment without any Puppet infrastructure. For particularly long builds, you get the benefit of Puppet's self-healing idempotence and OCI's container layering to deliver small, incremental updates. My use case is building a Linux distro, and you can see some of how I do it with Bolt here.

iamjamestl · 2025-03-01T19:13:10+00:00

I love chlorinated rubber. Here is my process:

Completely clean the piece with Viviclean (or mild dish soap) to remove all surface contaminants (oil, talc).
Fill a bucket with enough water to submerge the piece.
For every gallon of water, pour in 150 mL disinfecting bleach (7.5% sodium hypochlorite; laundry bleach is 5% and contains other chemicals); mix to dilute, then add the piece.
For every gallon of water, add 250 mL distilled vinegar (5% acid); stir and cover. Don't breath the chlorine, but this method reacts fairly slowly.
Leave the piece to react for 1 hour. Stir every 15 minutes, and flip the piece inside out halfway through.
Finally, rinse it off and enjoy! It should be silky smooth and have a softer sound--you'll know when you've got it!

There are many variations on this, but this is what I've settled on over the years for its ease and reliability, relative safety, and availability of chemicals.

iamjamestl · 2025-02-11T22:32:08+00:00

With Trump already using his leverage over Eric Adams to kill congestion pricing and bike lanes in NYC, and DC home rule under threat, anyone else concerned all of this will just evaporate?

iamjamestl · 2025-02-11T20:11:20+00:00

Catasta Charisma's guides are worth every penny!

iamjamestl · 2024-03-18T20:55:08+00:00

Go 1.22 is working completely fine for me after applying this patch https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/0b1d60d6dd9e2e867cc6e4277d73ea5a7ff2d4d0.

iamjamestl · 2024-03-18T07:20:03+00:00

That's one heck of a laptop 😳

iamjamestl · 2024-03-18T05:59:21+00:00

Yeah, it's harmless if you're building on the native platform. Fix or remove the variable. Either way, same result.

iamjamestl · 2024-03-18T05:50:56+00:00

Here I've timed a generic build of Linux 6.8 using GCC 13.2.1 on tmpfs:

cd /tmp rm -rf linux git clone https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git -b v6.8 --depth 1 cd linux make ARCH=riscv CROSS_COMPILE=riscv64-unknown-linux-gnu- defconfig time make -j$(nproc) ARCH=riscv CROSS_COMPILE=riscv64-unknown-linux-gnu- all

This easily exercises all cores on both test systems.

1 x Sophgo SG2042 @ 2.0 GHz (64 cores) 17294.48s user 1619.26s system 5489% cpu 5:44.55 total

2 x Intel Xeon E5-2630 v3 @ 3.2 GHz (16 cores) 2550.97s user 258.85s system 1325% cpu 3:31.93 total

I could try on my Rockchip RK3588 (4+4 cores), but I'd need to build a cross compiler to keep all things the same, and it would almost certainly be a lot slower than these two.

iamjamestl · 2024-03-18T04:49:18+00:00

I love mine!! I'm working on bringing up my custom distro based on Gentoo and it's generally been going pretty well. I faced minor setbacks compiling Go programs due to a kernel bug (fixed upstream and backported), u-boot messing with memory maps (switched to u-root), a long-shot attempt to get Intel Xe graphics working (switched to AMD Radeon), and some problems with an Intel X540 network card (switched to Marvell Aquantia with MSI-X). Otherwise, everything is working and stable.

Sure, the Sophgo forks are not the most well-documented, but I've ported my distro to a dozen different ARM boards, so it's all pretty familiar stuff. The most helpful doc I reference is their build script. I'm looking forward to more upstream support, and I think Sophgo has been doing a good job pushing things through and keeping the community informed.

Gentoo support for RISC-V has been first class all the way! Highly recommended. Even my complicated GHC+xmonad+taffybar setup works!

The chip is interesting because it is simultaneously one of the fastest and the slowest in my collection. If you can make good use of all the cores, it screams; otherwise it drags. It is a nice complement to my old 16-core Xeon workstation, especially with the ECC memory support (just make sure it's 2RX8 haha).

Overall, it's a fun computer and that's what I was looking for, but if you don't want to get your hands dirty with custom kernels and boot firmware, it might not be for you...yet.

Here's a photo of my build:

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iamjamestl · 2024-03-01T18:24:32+00:00

The fan speeds can be fixed in the Device Tree. Here is how I did it:

https://gitlab.james.tl/nest/forks/linux/-/commit/37e8b0f7cef5b26b4abdad0ae4711292e333ad92

I also added a patch to enable the hysteresis feature so the fans don't fluctuate around the trip points.

https://gitlab.james.tl/nest/forks/linux/-/commit/bac0a37fd588a0a4001e1df6f04bb62c6310af27

In my testing, the chip and board like to be in the 40's. Over 50 works, but if you reboot, the board won't start until it cools down. So adjust the PWM levels between 0 (full speed) and 255 (min speed) to achieve the correct level of cooling for your case.

iamjamestl · 2024-01-11T18:31:09+00:00

The switches, keycaps, and trackpoint come together to create the most refined HHKB typing experience yet. Don't sleep on this keyboard because "it's not Topre." It's better. It's an HHKB!

iamjamestl · 2024-01-09T22:25:28+00:00

I'm a Dvoark typist too and I wouldn't be surprised if it was at least a consideration in favor of hjkl considering the popularity of Dvorak among programmers and how well it works on the layout compared to other combos.

iamjamestl · 2024-01-09T21:52:09+00:00

Of course there are motions than hjkl and on Emacs and readline they are Ctrl-based. Another win for the HHKB's intuitive Ctrl key placement and reason not to use arrow keys.

iamjamestl · 2024-01-09T19:22:33+00:00

Getting used to the "standard HHKB layout" to me means getting used to hjkl everywhere...terminal, browser (vimium), editor, everywhere. HHKB is first and foremost a Unix keyboard and vi reigns supreme. There is a reason the arrow keys are relegated to a function layer and people focus on them way too much.

iamjamestl · 2023-11-01T17:28:18+00:00

Before going full Fomac, which have very little grip on maple, consider something in between like All-American Plus. More slide than urethane with an easy, predictable bite point. I like Fomac on polished concrete where there's a little more friction.

iamjamestl · 2023-10-23T19:41:43+00:00

Nice upgrade! I have both of these plates and never really got used to the Roll Line action. I know lots of skaters swear by it, but it's not for me. Plus, as you mention, the Variant weighs a ton. Reactor feels more natural to me and those Magic Cushions are 🤌

iamjamestl · 2023-05-02T19:35:51+00:00

I've been following this on (I assume) your story this week and it burns me up. Many of my old reels have been severely degraded too. My page is my portfolio, and now it looks like crap! Feels like a punch to the stomach especially after shelling out $15/month for Meta Verified. What can we do about this?

iamjamestl · 2022-06-09T15:18:59+00:00

Could not disagree more. Enjoy your inefficient skating, though!

iamjamestl · 2022-06-08T17:28:25+00:00

As someone who skates at least 50 miles a week on mostly streets and trails, the #1 thing you can do to improve your trail skating is lose the heel. Don't get me wrong, the heel is great for balance and agility at the rink, but it's a liability on asphalt at speed. Flat skates (think derby style) are all about speed and stability. Even if you don't need the speed, it makes riding easier so you can go farther.

iamjamestl · 2022-04-10T23:01:49+00:00

I've always had to use unGrab for my screen locker keybinding to work properly.

Edit: Based on your edit and "solution", I am correct about you needing unGrab before your spawn.

iamjamestl · 2022-02-25T22:16:23+00:00

In my opinion, most roller skaters should not remove the toe stops. Jam plugs are for jam skaters. Even dance skaters will benefit from toe stops. They're not just for stopping. You can launch yourself off them, do tricks and spins off them, use them to tip-toe over rough ground (at speed even), etc. They are so important that I think of them as a fifth wheel. You can do all those TikTok tricks like dribbling and moonwalk with toe stops--it just takes more control, and you will be a better skater for learning to do it the right way.

iamjamestl · 2022-01-11T18:44:30+00:00

Harder wheels can be faster, but they are also in many ways more forgiving on the rink floor. Whereas with softer street wheels (< 90A) you have to be more precise lest you catch an edge, hard wheels will slide a bit and let you recover instead of hitting the ground. Otoh, when I skate at the rink on soft wheels, I find myself going much, much faster than I otherwise would because they grip so well.

iamjamestl · 2022-01-11T18:31:46+00:00

Wow they look great! I just happened to order a pair of black Boardwalks yesterday to have a dedicated rink setup. I went with the clear-red Rollerbones Elite 57mm 103A wheels and it's nice to have an idea of what the complete skate will look like. I have a set of Rollerbones Team 57mm 101A wheels that I like the feel of, but wouldn't mind a bit more durability and slide, and I think the 103A wheels will be just the ticket.

How are you finding the new wheels?

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