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Steltek

3,868 karma · joined December 5, 2009

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Steltek··on Transfer files over an Ethernet patch cable
Oh. My. God. I thought you were just going to link a network dongle. "Yeah, I have a drawer of those". It never occurred to me that you could point it in the other direction.

I'm ordering a dozen. Okay, maybe 3. But still, those look amazing.

Steltek··on Transfer files over an Ethernet patch cable
ifconfig still probably works on Linux too but it's discouraged because, frankly, it sucks compared to ipconfig2. Most of macOS' CLI feels old and crusty. Which makes sense when you realize it's a fossilized niche BSD from the early 00's.
Steltek··on As Wisconsin cities flee Flock, its shared camera network loses value
The explanation there seems pretty obvious. Simplified:

Trump's disapproval is all Democrats.

DNC's disapproval is all Republicans plus many/most Democrats (for not opposing Trump hard enough).

Steltek··on Can I use my Outputs to train an AI model?
> It might depend on your jurisdiction, but LLM output is usually not copyrightable because it is not made by a human.

Compiler output isn't copyrightable? Is a compiler human?

Steltek··on Pixel Watch 5
BUTTONS! Real buttons!

I can dismiss/decline/silence popped up on my Pebble without breaking eye contact with the real life human I'm talking to.

In a car, I've handed my watch to my kids in the backseat so they can control music playback. There's no accidentally closing the media app because they fat fingered a stupid teeny tiny touchscreen. Nope. Just regular buttons that anyone with functioning hand-eye coordination can use.

And unlike the Garmin Instinct, the buttons are actually ergonomic. The Instinct was literally painful as you had to contort your hand. And on top of that, the UI was totally insane. I was never quite sure how to interact with it and frequently had to experiment to do basic actions. Nothing was consistent.

Steltek··on Plug-In Solar Panels Starting to Sprout in U.S. Backyards
This is basically how solar hot water heaters work today (I have one). They are superheated during the day (75C/170F) with a mixing valve to produce warm, but not scalding, water to the tap. The tanks are also oversized with a backup electric heater for the top half of the tank.

It works pretty well for my climate. I wonder how it compares to PV panels driving an electric heater though. Neither is going to work very well during the winter but the hydronic based system probably needs to get above some base level of solar input to meaningfully heat the water. Whereas PV will always produce some electricity in the winter which can always be converted to heat.

Steltek··on Google will expand age checks on Android worldwide till the end of the year
> The only acceptable solution would be for apps and websites to simply include a recommended age. Allowing parents to configure their children’s devices to block services that require users to be older than the specified age or that do not provide an age rating.

I'm afraid you'd get the cookie banner problem but way worse. Everyone that's not Meta/Google/Apple would immediately add a legal CYA "18+" age rating and stop thinking any more about it.

Steltek··on Flock Credibility Lost as It Repeatedly Lies to City Councils, Police, & Public
Not having so many rich people will go a lot farther in reducing crime, at this point.
Steltek··on Ask HN: Who is quitting? (July 2026)
"Here's my analysis" followed by a clearly copy pasted Claude session that they barely read, let alone understand.
Steltek··on European sunscreens are safer than American (2024)
Yeah, the article is contradiction with itself. US has higher standards, restricting what can be sold but then also states, "In fact, many U.S. sunscreens would fail European standards for UVA protection."

So which is it?

Steltek··on Cheap Iranian drone downed $25M US Army helicopter–maybe by chance
1) Threats from who? Canada? Mexico? For the past ~150 years, the US has really only had overseas conflicts with few threats to domestic territory. The best argument you could make it the Cuba Missile Crisis, I suppose? If your immediate plan is to stop fighting in far away places, then drones aren't really a worry.
Steltek··on Cheap Iranian drone downed $25M US Army helicopter–maybe by chance
You present two issues: 1) the US is slow to adapt to drone warfare and 2) the US is losing to Iran.

For 1), the US isn't in a hurry because there's no actual threat. The lack of drone warfare capabilities only impacts US action overseas and of the little bipartisan consensus left, one thing is clear: no new wars (Trump's Iran war is seen as betrayal from his own party but it's hard to oppose Dear Leader).

For 2), it's hard to win when you don't know what you're doing or declare victory when you don't know what your goals are. I'm not sure there's even domestic agreement that it's a war.

Steltek··on 'Backrooms' Stuns with $81M Debut
No, streaming services like iTunes and Amazon are absolutely not "Steam for movies". Those services take active steps to restrict access to my purchased content.

I can't watch my Amazon purchases in HD because I run Linux. I get downgraded garbage 480p instead.

I can't watch any of this while on an airplane because I'm not allowed to download it.

And I don't own any Apple hardware so iTunes is a bit of a nonstarter.

In contrast, Steam lets me play offline and bends over backwards to get games to run (e.g. Proton and many other compatibility tools). And my Steam Deck doesn't earn me any extra special privileges over anything else.

Steltek··on I'm Getting into Mesh Networks (Meshtastic, MeshCore, and Reticulum)
Off-grid messaging is helpful for my family (skiing, camping, hiking). They have zero interest in ham radio but a funny looking messaging app isn't a problem. Regular walkies talkies (FRS, GMRS) don't relay/hop, work asynchronously, or transmit GPS positions.
Steltek··on Declining America
I have regrets when I say something dumb or drive through an intersection on a not-quite-yellow light.

Innocent people, including children, are dead. Republicans have done irreparable harm to this country on every imaginable level: civil liberties, trade, global power, economics. Open and naked corruption is so off the charts it can only be described with comparisons to the post-Soviet era.

"Regret" is, quite frankly, insulting.

Steltek··on US bill proposes new national EV tax, while some push to slash gas tax to zero
Absolutely not. I'm in a deep blue state, in a dense urban area well served by charging infra. EV registration is like 10% here.
Steltek··on US bill proposes new national EV tax, while some push to slash gas tax to zero
Irrelevant to the fact that city roads are not Federal roads! State and municipal taxes are already doing the job here.
Steltek··on Restore full BambuNetwork support for Bambu Lab printers
Really? My 3D printer uses filament from any vendor. My slicer has profiles for all of these filaments and printer combinations. Hell, my 3D printer is more reliable than my 2D printer.
Steltek··on Louis Rossmann offers to pay legal fees for a threatened OrcaSlicer developer
My mk3s+ (circa 2020) had a bed sensor. It's still super reliable and I'm only upgrading it to a Core One L because of the upcoming INDX system. Prusa quality, ethics, and true multi-material (not multi-color) in a compact package? Yes please!
Steltek··on Your phone is about to stop being yours
How about instead: is an e-bike a bicycle? Is it a motorcycle?

The apparent user experience between a computer and a mobile are markedly different - especially if you were a Windows user circa 10 years ago. If you were a Windows user in the 90's to 00's, it's nearly unrecognizable in how much ownership you feel over your own device.

Steltek··on Android CLI: Build Android apps 3x faster using any agent
I can't be the only one with a severe aversion to language/platform specific IDEs. "Oh no, you can't write Python in Vim, you need to get Pycharm!" "iOS apps? Don't try anything except XCode."

IDEs are (were? :-/) a very personal choice. Maybe I'm an AI but I would have loved a CLI-centric workflow. It would have kept options open.

Steltek··on North American English Dialects
And right next door, the Maine accent is lumped in with Boston. The differences aren't worth correcting anybody unless you're talking about a project like this.

I'm not an expert on accents or anything but I think you can hear it in "dinner". Boston is the typical "R's don't exist" thing. Maine is more like "dinnyah" - your jaw kicks back a bit.

Steltek··on Filing the corners off my MacBooks
This is why I like cheaper tools. Yes, that means cheaper quality but it's far easier to approach taking a dremel to it. And the DIY look usually matches the stock materials better anyway.
Steltek··on LittleSnitch for Linux
WinAmp skins. Alternate shells for Windows(!). Cygwin because I still played too many games to go full Linux.

Yeah...

Steltek··on Are We Idiocracy Yet?
I thought it was just the opposite: people recognized it as satire but what they really wanted was the dumb action movie. Spare us the social commentary and show us some power armor with jump jets.
Steltek··on Iran War Live Updates: U.S. and Iran Send Conflicting Signals on Peace Prospects
I'll go one step further: I avoid all comedy and late night shows. Even The Daily Show, as much as that pains me.

My mental health wouldn't stand a chance if I actually stared into the abyss.

Steltek··on MoD sources warn Palantir role at heart of government is threat to UK security
It was a powerful tool made for good but trivially corrupted to serve evil. It's a perfect description of the real world thing, IMO.
Steltek··on Oil hits $100 a barrel despite deal to release record amount of reserves
That only works when there's time to adapt. This is like the insane tariff rollercoaster. There was no time to plan or adapt. It was a black swan event and wrecked everything for no appreciable benefit.
Steltek··on U.S. Troops Were Told Iran War Is for "Armageddon,"
ACA mandates that ~80% of insurance co. revenue must go back towards medical service. So not "non-profit" per se but there is some kind of restriction there.
Steltek··on What does " 2>&1 " mean?
For a while, there was a strong trend of "I want to do everything in one singular language". Your coding is in language XYZ. Your build tools will be configured/written in XYZ. Your UI frontend will be generated from XYZ. Everything will be defined in XYZ.

Shell is from a time when you had a huge selection of languages, each for different purposes, and you picked the right one for the job. For complex applications, you would have multiple languages working together.

People look at Bash and think, "I would never dare do $Task with that language!". And you'd be right, because you're thinking you only have one tool in the toolbox.

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