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disposedtrolley

359 karma · joined February 14, 2017

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disposedtrolley··on MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display and Touch
Windows 10 had a tablet mode. Windows 11 does not - it just appropriately scales up the padding and size of some UI controls to make them easier to tap.
disposedtrolley··on Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card
Agreed. It also requires that you unlock your phone.
disposedtrolley··on Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card
The Wallet app prompts you to set this up when you initially add the transit card too, IIRC.
disposedtrolley··on Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card
Same in Berlin. I think the reasoning is that it'd cost more money to fit ticket gates compared to loss of revenue from fare evaders.

Makes for such a smooth journey as most people are doing the right thing.

disposedtrolley··on An update on leaving Gmail for Fastmail
> This is thankfully mostly solved now by AI.

How did you solve this with AI?

disposedtrolley··on Note-Taking and Personal Knowledge Management
The premise of that article is neat, but it looks to be entirely LLM-generated (in addition to the header image) that it’s almost impossible to read.
disposedtrolley··on How X-Plane Works
I wrote a rudimentary autopilot in Go that used a Kalman filter to maintain straight and level flight. It was a fun exercise!
disposedtrolley··on Adventures in Advent of Code
Nice! I’m writing in C this year too, although I’m very much a beginner in C.

What kinds of optimisations have you had to do? Are you hosting your code anywhere?

disposedtrolley··on Information for foreign citizens in Longyearbyen [pdf]
I can recommend a podcast set there if you’re after more Svalbard-themed entertainment!

https://thewhitevault.com

disposedtrolley··on Strange Loop 2023 will be the last
I love browsing the Strange Loop channel on YouTube. So many interesting topics that you wouldn’t normally search for!
disposedtrolley··on PiBox: a tiny personal server for self-hosting
Yes, but you'll also need space for a rack and contend with noise, heat, and electricity usage.

Don't get me wrong -- I love my Dell R730xd but it's definitely a commitment.

disposedtrolley··on 4th Gen KDE Slimbook – Linux Ultrabook with an AMD Ryzen 7 5700U
I'm disappointed that the three photos in the Gallery with the laptop in use aren't actually showing what the screen would look like IRL; they've been cleverly doctored by overlaying screenshots on top of the display.
disposedtrolley··on Show HN: A short dystopian game I build last weekend
Thanks for posting! Gave me a good chuckle at the beginning of my day, and I miss tiny projects that don't need to aspire to be the next big thing.

Although, I'm not sure if the game or some of the comments here is more entertaining...

disposedtrolley··on Open Circuits – The Inner Beauty of Electronic Components
I found out about this book through the EmbeddedFM podcast [1]. Their latest episode is an interview with the authors of the book. Highly recommend the episode, and the podcast in general for folks that are into electronics.

[1] https://embedded.fm

disposedtrolley··on Dive into Systems: A free, online textbook for introducing computer systems
It’s cheap compared to other textbooks.
disposedtrolley··on Mygov is a ‘huge disappointment,’ key architect despairs
What kind of company were you working for? I've lived and worked in Melbourne my whole life and complacency is not a cultural attitude of the location, but of specific companies.
disposedtrolley··on Using Actual Code for IaC
Have a look at CDKTF [1]. It’s a wrapper around Terraform that lets you use CDK-style semantics that compiles down to a Terraform plan. Every Terraform provider can generated into a CDKTF library.

[1] https://learn.hashicorp.com/tutorials/terraform/cdktf

disposedtrolley··on Get familiar with workspaces
I'm looking forward to the improved editor experience as gopls is now workspace-aware.

There's a couple of repos at work which contain multiple Go modules (each in their own subdirectory, with their own go.mod files). It's a bit of a pain to get LSP working correctly for each individual module if I open the root directory of the repo in my editor.

disposedtrolley··on Go Fuzz Testing
You might be interested in reading about delta debugging: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_debugging

The algorithm has similar complexity as binary search, but is a bit smarter on deciding how to split the test input at each iteration.

I’ve been studying this in my masters, and we’ve recently had to write a Java implementation. I’m keen to start on a Go package soon that might work well with fuzz testing.

disposedtrolley··on Code review decision fatigue
> Ask them for a narrower review — e.g., a design review or an architecture review

I like this technique for PRs of any size (except very trivial changes). Code reviews can be a great learning opportunity, made even better if the author has specific aspects of the code they'd like feedback on.

For example, I opened a PR the other week with a bunch of refactoring work. One chunk of the refactor changed how a complex data transformation was being done by replacing some unnecessary local variables with a chain of map, filter, and forEach functions. I highlighted this as a particular point of interest, which spawned a good discussion on testability, how small our tests should be, and if there's any value testing specific bits of the transform vs. the chain as a whole.

disposedtrolley··on Inspecting Web Views in macOS
I wasn't surprised to see the Family Sharing pane in the first screenshot. It's easily the most janky part of System Preferences that I've had to struggle with:

- Loading indicators for several seconds when switching between categories in the left sidebar, on a very decent internet connection.

- Janky animations and transitions when opening modals, like clicking the "Details..." button on a family member.

- Within the "Invite people to your family" modal, clicking "Not Now" causes the "Invite People" button (the default, highlighted action) to blink before the modal closes.

Yes while these are absolutely nitpicks, I feel that Apple has lost some of the attention to detail that set them apart.

disposedtrolley··on Shade Map Pro
Just purchased 90 days of Pro. This will be incredibly useful for planning my landscape photography!
disposedtrolley··on Longbet: By 2027, software will be metered/sold by the second
We've gradually been having control of the software we use wrestled away from us.

The (unfortunate) idea is that network latency will be low enough, and rendered interfaces will be good enough, that companies can make "streaming software" a compelling enough experience for the masses, to the point where it becomes normalised.

disposedtrolley··on Longbet: By 2027, software will be metered/sold by the second
The hardware will probably have the capabilities to do so, but I can see consumer software reaching a point where much of the compute is performed remotely, and we're just being streamed a rendered interface.
disposedtrolley··on Completing a part-time Master's in computer science while working
I've just started my first semester of OMSCS and planning to stick with a single course per semester, and skipping the summer semester to give myself a break.

Not sure if I can manage more than that + work, and also being able to enjoy time with friends or away from the computer.

disposedtrolley··on Show HN: 3D map of shade around the world
This is really cool!

I've used an app called PhotoPills to plan landscape photo shoots in the past. It lets you drop a pin on a map and shows you the direction of sunlight at any given time of day.

Shade Map gives me so much more fidelity to play with. The pseudo-3D view with shadow rendering helps tremendously in previsualising a photo.

https://www.photopills.com

disposedtrolley··on Why Are Topre Keyboards So Expensive?
I have an original Topre Realforce and an HHKB. They’re both reliable, no-nonsense keyboards.
disposedtrolley··on Legacy Train Control System Stabilisation (2012) [pdf]
This appears to be quite an old document (2012 judging by some of the dates in the screenshots, and the network map) but fascinating nonetheless, thanks for posting!

I'd be interested in learning how the signalling tech has evolved over the years. There has always been a push by PTV (the government body responsible for public transport in Victoria) to establish a "turn up and go" timetable where trains depart often enough that you shouldn't need to plan ahead. One of the restrictions of the old signalling system was a fairly large minimum distance between trains that prevented frequent service. This caused some congestion, especially in the hub and spoke model of the Melbourne network where many lines converge to share tracks as they approach the CBD.

disposedtrolley··on macOS Monterey
The macOS Finder still displays Windows machines on the network as CRT monitors showing the BSOD I believe. I’m not in front of my Mac now so can’t check.
disposedtrolley··on Ask HN: What books would you recommend for learning about cars?
I've enjoyed the video course from How a Car Works [1]. They assemble a complete car from scratch, so you get to hear and learn about pretty much every component.

[1] https://www.howacarworks.com

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