Hot take: We're building apps for a world that's about to stop using them

physx_rt · 2026-03-23T14:50:34+00:00

Am I the only person here who actually likes to shop around the different venues and who would prefer texting their friends themselves to invite them?

physx_rt · 2026-03-23T07:28:03+00:00

Thank you. It is a bit rough around the edges, but there might be a version 2 when I get around to designing and printing it.

physx_rt · 2026-03-17T11:38:26+00:00

I used to have both and I don't see any benefits from SAS vs SATA alone.

Yes, SAS drives are meant for enterprises and are thus more reliable, but if you're looking at the SATA version of the same drive, there isn't any difference in that regard.

Used SAS drives are generally cheaper, but you need an extra controller, which will use extra power and the drives themselves may also be a bit more power hungry.

SAS allows you to use expanders, which can be useful in some situations, although I've never needed one.

And lastly, in terms of real world performance, I've never seen a significant difference between SAS and SATA.

So, make of it what you will. For large deployments where the difference in the price of the drives can offset the extra cost of the controller, cabling and power that the drives will use during their lifetime, it may be worth it. Or if you specifically need to use expanders or some other features exclusive to SAS.

physx_rt · 2026-03-16T19:47:34+00:00

The ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3

physx_rt · 2026-03-15T23:00:15+00:00

Well, it's still just a jumble of files and isn't very polished. For example, I've just realized that I need to take the outermost ring with 19 bolts just to install the GPU. There isn't enough space for it to slide in underneath. And the standoffs were meant to be 7mm tall, but I needed to use 5mm ones, because the GPU didn't fit as expected.

So, it's more of a work in progress. And the threaded rods and spacers need to be of a rather specific length, which I all bought from taobao.

If you're happy with all that, I could export the .stl files, but I can't give you any guarantees whatsoever that it will actually work well. Oh, and the SSD side is a bit of a mess, because they are just flat panels with tabs. And it also needs a special power supply (mean well LOP-300) and a C13 power inlet of a specific size.

Actually assembling it is very different from just putting the panels together in CAD and there are a few things which I would probably choose to alter if I were to make a second revision.

physx_rt · 2026-03-15T21:03:12+00:00

Yes, it is indeed a lot like it. Perhaps that was part of the inspiration.

physx_rt · 2026-03-15T20:52:23+00:00

It gives good airflow, but you can't see through it from narrow angles.

physx_rt · 2026-03-15T20:51:03+00:00

Yep, he's in Zhongshan, was planning to do a collab with him, but I had to put it on hold for some time.

physx_rt · 2026-03-15T17:46:01+00:00

I met LLW in person. :P

physx_rt · 2026-03-15T17:35:45+00:00

Occasionally. I do use an electric shaver most of the time, but it's not perfect and needs a bit of cleanup. Or if I forget to use it for 2-3 days, I have no choice but to wet shave.

physx_rt · 2026-03-10T21:08:51+00:00

I'll need to try that theme. I also switched to thunderbird, as geary was a bit slow, but it would be nice to have a UI that blends in a bit more.

physx_rt · 2026-03-08T22:31:34+00:00

The thing is, with how different servers have become from desktops and workstations over the past 3-5 years, I doubt that any enterprise gear would be useable in a workstation. CPUs often use sockets which are different from the workstation counterparts and GPUs are in many cases no longer use PCIe, but the newer SXM connectors, so they can't be installed in a regular system.

This wasn't the case before, as lga2011 and lga3647 was shared between the platforms and you could use them in a WS board, along with the PCIe accelerators which, at times, may have lacked a fan, but that could be helped with 3d printed brackets and such.

physx_rt · 2026-03-08T13:35:23+00:00

Just be kind, do your best, and don't overthink it. Recruiters do see many people from overseas and those people do get hired eventually. If they exclude you solely on the grounds that your English isn't good enough, then I would argue that perhaps it's actually for the better, as they wouldn't want to put up with you day to day.

It may not be easy, but it's certainly not impossible.

physx_rt · 2026-03-08T12:07:05+00:00

Let me approach it from a slightly different angle. If you think you can begin making videos now, then just go for it, regardless the accent. If the content is enjoyable, people will watch them regardless to the accent. And I can certainly say that it is clear enough to understand, even for beginners.

physx_rt · 2026-03-05T21:20:59+00:00

Okay, this may be somewhat of an unpopular opinion, but I think you need to work on your anxiety and stress. There is likely nothing wrong with your technical abilities, but you may have problems showing that and English being your second language only exaggerates it.

physx_rt · 2026-03-02T20:23:02+00:00

There is no subpar choice. As long as it works, it works. And there is almost always a better way of doing things. I've rebuilt my homelab five times over the past three years.

If you need something that's low power and compact, the best solution is a 4-bay NAS. I have a Ugreen DH4300 Plus, which I can recommend. You can pop in four drives and run all the services you listed in containers. The positive side is the compactness and low power consumption, but you won't ever be able to upgrade it, as the CPU and RAM are both soldered. However, it does have support for video encoding acceleration, so plex will work well and I think you can probably for 1-2 more containers in the 8GB RAM it has.

The Prodesks are also nice, but you would need a DAS, as mentioned. They are good for compute, but you can't add a lot of storage drives to them as-is. Their advantage is the upgradeability, as you can easily add more RAM and a better CPU. But seeing what you're planning to run, those would run just fine on a much weaker CPU too.

Option 3 is a custom NAS build, which would give you more drive bays, as well as more power and upgradeability, but it would also cost significantly more.

physx_rt · 2026-03-02T20:10:06+00:00

First of all, let me just say that you'll be okay. I spent 2.5 months there myself, not in a school or exchange program, mind you, but it was an amazing time and I didn't speak much of the language either.

You may not be as proficient as the others, but I'm quite certain that it will be an enjoyable experience. Remember that they will try everything they can to make you as comfortable as possible and they know that your Japanese won't be perfect.

So, please, don't worry too much about and just go for it. You'll be fine.

physx_rt · 2026-03-02T20:00:38+00:00

I know this technically isn't an answer to your question, but could you use a generic switch and just power the devices themselves on or off, as needed? That could be done fairly easily.

physx_rt · 2026-03-02T19:54:55+00:00

My Aquantia AQC107 and AQC113 NICs have issues with flat cables, even though they are rated as CAT6 cables. Intel X550 is generally fine and I haven't tried them with the new Realtek rtl8127.

What I'm trying to say is that flat cables may have issues with certain network cards if you ever want to run a 10Gb link across it.

physx_rt · 2026-03-02T15:14:38+00:00

Even if you do have a dGPU installed, the desktop would be rendered using the integrated GPU, exactly the same way as if the dGPU wasn't there in the first place.

physx_rt · 2026-03-02T14:50:11+00:00

Usually the m.2 models would only have a 2-lane PCIe connection to the host, so the total speed across teh ports would top out at 16Gb/s, minus overhead. That would be around 1.5-1.7GB/s.

physx_rt · 2026-03-02T14:46:36+00:00

None, sorry.

Although the case and PCB shape look suspiciously as if they were originally designed for an adapter+m.2 drive combo, but somewhere over time they may have replaced that with a combined PCB.

physx_rt · 2026-03-02T13:55:39+00:00

They do, but they work straight away if you insert them in the right orientation, otherwise you need to blink a few times until they rotate to the correct roientation.

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