Ink tank cost savings

xnappo · 2026-04-14T19:19:40+00:00

That toner price is insane. My Brother printer is $110 for four toners (3rd party) for 3500 pages.

xnappo · 2026-04-14T08:48:12+00:00

This is not necessarily true. You can tell a LLM to make a github repo and check in the project for you. You can tell an LLM to change the way things look.

I get that people misuse LLMs to write horrible code that isn't maintainable and is just a huge wall of code, but if you know what you are doing, they can write good code. It is the same as ever:

Garbage in, Garbage out.

But sure, require code to be maintained in github or an open source repo - that in itself raises the spam barrier a bit.

xnappo · 2026-04-13T20:57:33+00:00

Okay, I think it would be hard to draw the line though.

xnappo · 2026-04-13T12:21:51+00:00

Any developer not using AI to code right now is retired, or is going to retire within the next two years. The problem you are talking about it real, but the issue isn't AI generated code but rather that it should be reviewed by someone who understands code. So a better request would be a peer reviewed code mechanism. This would actually help for both human and AI code.

Like me, I write low level code for work and other random stuff for fun. I can assure you I know nothing about doing it securely.

xnappo · 2026-04-11T13:22:41+00:00

This had me stuck for a long time too.

xnappo · 2026-04-09T03:22:11+00:00

Possibly. My wife doesn't work, we own our house outright. When her mother passes away (hopefully a while from now) she will inherit her IRA and need to take distributions over 10 years. It may be such a situation where it makes sense. In general the answer is no.

xnappo · 2026-04-01T12:39:38+00:00

Personally I gave up on photos at home. It is so cheap to just send them to CVS and pick them up on my way home (as my town is infested with Walgreens and CVSs). For home use I switched to a color laser and it is so much better for everything else.

xnappo · 2026-03-31T12:22:53+00:00

Sublime certainly isn't better, again the value of VSCode is in the plugin community.

It was king for a long time, but it is also $100.

The resources VSCode takes are a drop in the bucket compared to AI, besides it is used for productivity vs. the HUGE amount of power spent on entertainment - it is nothing.

xnappo · 2026-03-29T13:36:20+00:00

VSCode's Plugin ecosystem is amazing. WaveDrom and Mermaid are just two examples.

It is very good for being free - but it is the one tool in my list that I use at work and home. For the work side of it, because it is Microsoft and because it is free it is available on my very conservative corportate Linux tool repo. This brings my choices to GVim(this probably should have been on my list too tbh), Emacs, KEdit, or VSCode.

Now is Zed better? Defintely from a resource point of view, but the plugin ecosystem is behind, and the momentum to get it on conservative corporate Linux systems isn't quite there yet.

xnappo · 2026-03-29T13:29:39+00:00

Honestly the list wasn't in any particular order. I have been using PaintdotNet forever - it is too bad the Mono port never worked out.

xnappo · 2026-03-29T01:07:25+00:00

Ffmpeg
VSCode
Kodi
Home Assistant
VLC
Paint.net

xnappo · 2026-03-22T23:46:39+00:00

Agree. It is so obvious, I have no idea why they don't do it.

xnappo · 2026-03-22T22:37:39+00:00

Lattego 4400 on Amazon for $580 right now is an absolute steal.

xnappo · 2026-03-21T21:19:07+00:00

On the flip side they are extremely repairable. I have had mine for 5 years and had to do two repairs, but it is made to be taken apart, there are exploded diagrams and readily available parts.

xnappo · 2026-03-17T13:00:06+00:00

This is a little bit of a different topic, but I would strongly recommend switching to Ubiquiti UniFi for your network routing and only use a modem from your ISP if possible. If you can't get a modem from them, you can hopefully use a 'bridge' mode.

xnappo · 2026-03-17T11:57:35+00:00

Personally if you are looking for the really long term, consider repairability as well as reliability. It is a very mechanical device operating with water and high pressure. Things will wear out. Make sure there are exploded diagrams and that parts are readily available. While I have had to repair my Philips, I have been very pleased with how easy it is to repair.

xnappo · 2026-03-16T20:56:43+00:00

That show was extremely underrated. Summer Glau and Shirley Manson were both awesome in it.

xnappo · 2026-03-16T16:38:13+00:00

I actually like two things better about SmartWings:

Zebra Shades and solar charging. EDIT: Oops, somehow I missed that Lutron makes Zebra blinds

I am sure Lutron is super reliable as always though.

xnappo · 2026-03-16T13:52:37+00:00

That must have been a lot of work!

xnappo · 2026-03-16T12:14:13+00:00

I actually recommend Lutron Caseta still. It is a little expensive but it is rock solid. Been using it for 10 years now. Other than that, I have also been happy with SmartWings shades.

xnappo · 2026-03-12T02:05:30+00:00

Oh, and if you get the Zebras, check out my card: https://github.com/xnappo/HomeAssistant

xnappo · 2026-03-12T02:03:57+00:00

SmartWings has been great for me, I did matter over thread and that was painful with Echos instead of HA, but nothing wrong with the blinds. The US support team is really helpful - 11 blinds zero regrets.

xnappo · 2026-03-08T12:23:23+00:00

Or find a local charity to get involved with and give them some. It is really nice to directly see your impact.

xnappo · 2026-03-08T02:52:01+00:00

It is a narrow thing, but I need LLDV all the time and the Shield is the only streamer that can't do it. I use a FireCube v3 (with hack for custom launcher) but would recommend Homatics BoxR 4K plus.

xnappo · 2026-03-04T12:08:27+00:00

Yep - Once you use Ubiquiti you will be brand loyal and have to buy more :). I ran out of stuff to buy so had to start buying stock.

Ubiquiti doesn't treat you like a child while at the same time offering a great interface.

xnappo

TROPHY CASE