Hacker News Reader

jdboydon Ask HN: Seeeking help to reverse engineer a PCB

To jump on the bandwagon, I do that sort of work sometimes, but more details on the product to modify would be needed. Also, it may be more cost effective to design a replacement product (also noted by others), which I can also do. I would have reached out directly, but you didn't provide any contact information in your profile. You can find contact information for me in my profile. I wish you luck either way.

jdboydon Fun things to do with your VM/370 machine

It starts with the assumption that the VM/370 machine will be virtual.

Ignoring the XT/370 and P/370, where there any other System/370 systems that could run on a 15 amp 220v/240v outlet? If not, it would be difficult to put into the living room, in most parts of the world.

jdboydon I Built a 1 Petabyte Server from Scratch [video]

I do have an archive of Linux ISOs, but it is not anywhere near petabyte sized. Well I'm not trying to be comprehensive, everyone I download for many years now gets archived, and I am not sure that it is reached a terabyte yet.

jdboydon Creating a 48GB Nvidia RTX 4090 GPU – Brother Zhang's Repair Shop (Ft. 张哥) [video]

If the cards were legally acquired in the first place, I don't see how they (the shop) have any moral reason not to upgrade the cards however their customers want. It isn't their laws that prevent high memory cards. And the appeal of this is not just limited to sanctions limited countries. The prices for these modified cards are wildly cheaper than any vaguely equivalent card that and video will allow to be sold from an authorized OEM.

Five for one would love to be able to do that sort of upgrade work and offer it in the Continental US.

It is true that they did not entirely specified what happened to the waste boards here. Clearly somebody who is stripping parts is then reassembling cards and selling them on eBay or other places. I hope it is not this shop, but clearly they didn't even try to disclaim that behavior. I'm not saying they didn't disclaim it because they're guilty, it could just have not come up.

jdboydon Drawbot: Let's hack something cute (2025)

You just know the next version will probably get voice recognition and some connection to an LLM to generate line drawings for it too then place on paper.

I think it would be cool to have a variant built that included some sort of turtle graphic system. Or maybe a voice controlled logo language?

jdboydon Ask HN: Share your personal website

https://blog.jdboyd.net/

I will join the chorus of people saying that I need to write more often.

jdboydon Scott Adams has died

https://archive.is/ccbGQ

Since I get a paywall and it looks like no one has posted such a link yet.

FWIW, I think the Inc article is better: https://www.inc.com/jennifer-conrad/scott-adams-dilbert-dies...

But the link posted to HackerNews isn't the one getting the discussion traffic.

jdboydon Why Is Greenland Part of the Kingdom of Denmark? A Short History

In quite a few areas you mention (control of congresses, senates, president) the system has been optimized to allow less densely populated areas to have outsized control. Less densely populated areas historically were the ones that wanted slavery and currently are the areas dominated by Republicans for a number of reasons. The majority it the supreme Court reflects who was in power when people died it retired, not an actual reflection of the people. If a state has a Democrat governor it probably means most of the state is left wing. If that same state has a Republican Senate and a Democrat governor (like mine does) it means that more people are left, but the right has disproportionate control do to low population areas getting disproportionate control

I think for law enforcement and corporations, there is more money and power to be found in supporting the right, so it requires strong leadership to try to do what is best for the population instead of themselves. On the corporate side, this isn't helped by the view pushed into the legal system that corporations only social responsibility is to make the most money for their shareholders in the short term.

We seem to have a system of democracy that may be inferior to many other countries and the cracks are showing. On the not so positive other hand, countries that I would have said have a more robust system are also starting to show cracks, and I don't think it is only because of the influence of foreign big money.

jdboydon State of the Fin 2026-01-06

I paid for Plex, but then they broke the the downloading features from the server to the Android client, and never repaired it to work reliably.

Meanwhile most of their updates were about streaming support, and then they started cramming their streaming service into it, and pushing it, and I just got sick of all of that. Eventually I just switched to jellyfin. It is far from perfect. The music player isn't as good as plex's, there is no download feature. But at least it hasn't turned on me yet.

jdboydon NeXTSTEP on Pa-RISC

Is macOS in any recognizable way still a micro-kernal operating system or did that get removed as well?

jdboydon 'We need Greenland': Trump repeats threat to annex Danish territory

https://archive.is/g34IZ

jdboydon Tixl: Open-source realtime motion graphics

Default builds of ffmpeg are lgpl licensed, which shouldn't cause you GPL issues, but could still cause patent issues. Another option is to depend on ffmpeg as an external program communicated with via pipe. You can supply a "safe" ffmpeg and allow users to point to a better ffmpeg. Ultimately though, it seems that using whatever blender supports should be safe from a patent point of view.

jdboydon Making Google Sans Flex

My favorite phone of all time (based on hand feel and appearance) was the OnePlus One. It had its software problems, but every phone I've held since then has been a disappointment in the hand.

jdboydon Finland gave two groups identical payments – one saw better mental health

I think this is interesting, but on its own isn't that compelling. A UBI program that doesn't result in improving employment and education long term sounds both unsustainable and like a moral hazard.

What I think this does underscore the importance of not trying to make the program ensure personal accountability. That means we must find a way to ensure program accountability, and measure long-term results, without burdening the recipients with additional mental health burdens.

jdboydon OBS Studio Gets a New Renderer

Not all streamers are game streamers, and not all obs users are streamers. I installed on all of my workstations for its screen capture and virtual camera features.

jdboydon OBS Studio Gets a New Renderer

Metal does pre date Vulkan, and some people consider it easier to use.

jdboydon Jimmy Wales trusts the process

https://archive.is/UaOak

jdboydon Wikipedia earned $184M from donations, the servers cost less than $5M

Wikipedia IS supremely useful! However, when they are begging for just $2.75 with big banners while receiving that much is a bit frustrating, and while I won't say they can't do what they want, I do feel irritated, and when I'm reminded how much they get, it makes me less likely to donate because of that.

jdboydon After nearly 30 years, Crucial will stop selling RAM to consumers

Just like car people buy off the shelf cars the customize them, many of us will buy off the shelf computers and upgrade their RAM, SSD, GPU, or CPU. Maybe all 4, or more. For desktops that aren't Macs, I usually buy used and plan on bring my own SSD and GPU at a minimum. For laptops (again that aren't Macs), I also tend to buy used and plan on upgrading the RAM or SSD or both.

jdboydon Django 6.0 Released

That is what I hate the most about switching to Golang service development as well.

jdboydon EmacsConf 2025

Boo!

jdboydon Ask HN: What alternatives to Docker Desktop are people using?

Podman and podman desktop here.

jdboydon Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (December 2025)

  Location: Lancaster, PA
  Remote: Yes
  Willing to relocate: No
  Technologies: Embedded development, Full Stack RTOS, C++, Python, GoLang, Swift, Kotlin
  Résumé/CV: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdboyd/
  Email: jdboyd@boydtechnicalsolutions.com

Versatile developer with 20+ years of experience, specializing in bringing products from concept to market quickly with a focus on generating revenue and demonstrating value. Whether modernizing legacy systems or building new solutions, I create maintainable code that grows with your business. Core expertise:

Embedded Development: Linux, RTOS, and bare metal systems using C, C++, and MicroPython Network Engineering: Distributed systems, protocol design, and networked applications Backend Development: Python/Django and Go microservices Mobile Development: Native iOS and Android applications DevOps & Cloud: AWS, DigitalOcean, Docker, and Ansible deployments Media Systems: Audio/video processing and streaming solutions

Available for part-time or full-time contracts, I'm committed to building lasting partnerships through reliable delivery and clear communication. Looking to bring your product vision to life or need help with an existing system? Let's discuss how I can help drive your project forward.

jdboydon Ask HN: Freelancer? Seeking freelancer? (December 2025)

What I found particularly useful was the SEEKING FREELANCER posts. They seem to have been falling off though.

jdboydon Ask HN: Freelancer? Seeking freelancer? (December 2025)

SEEKING WORK | USA | REMOTE

Versatile developer with 20+ years of experience, specializing in bringing products from concept to market quickly with a focus on generating revenue and demonstrating value. Whether modernizing legacy systems or building new solutions, I create maintainable code that grows with your business. Core expertise:

Embedded Development: Linux, RTOS, and bare metal systems using C, C++, and MicroPython Network Engineering: Distributed systems, protocol design, and networked applications Backend Development: Python/Django and Go microservices Mobile Development: Native iOS and Android applications DevOps & Cloud: AWS, DigitalOcean, Docker, and Ansible deployments Media Systems: Audio/video processing and streaming solutions

Available for part-time or full-time contracts, I'm committed to building lasting partnerships through reliable delivery and clear communication. Looking to bring your product vision to life or need help with an existing system? Let's discuss how I can help drive your project forward.

Github: https://github.com/jd-boyd Website: https://boydtechnicalsolutions.com/ | https://blog.jdboyd.net/ Email: jdboyd@boydtechnicalsolutions.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdboyd/

jdboydon X210Ai is a new motherboard to upgrade ThinkPad X201/200

Currently $1,299.00 for the Ultra 7 and $1,449.00 for the Ultra 9. I won't say it isn't a fair price, but it is a really hard one.

It would be perhaps more interesting to start making ARM or maybe even RISC-V motherboard replacements for some of these beloved chassis.

jdboydon NVMe driver for Windows 2000, targeting both x86 and Alpha AXP platforms

I wonder how much further back he can take it. NT4 and NT3.51 would be really cool to see supported.

jdboydon Building road signs at home using a Cricut Machine

I would probably prefer the laser and the pen/knife machine to be separate, and for the price that seems like it would be reasonable to accommodate. However, this is a nice looking machine and the Hot Foil Pen is interesting.

jdboydon Building road signs at home using a Cricut Machine

I like my Silhouette Cameo, which I use from Linux and Windows with Inkscape + the silhouette plugin. However, the maximum thickness that the latest machine can cut is 2mm, and it seems that is also the maximum thickness that the Circuit Maker 3 can handle. So, you probably do want a laser if you want thicker eva than that. In my book, the best choice is probably both.

jdboydon State Department says visas can be denied over diabetes, obesity: reports

https://archive.is/sDTM4