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• Post #4211742

  Like the illustrated and animated watch website posted earlier, this is another beautiful exploration of some great #mechanical #engineering in everyday products. Mechanical Pencil https://mechanical-pencil.com/products/zippo

• Post #4211741

  After a year and a half of daily driving #GhostBSD (which I love and recommend), I moved to base #FreeBSD on a new desktop machine. I wanted a lightweight desktop with XLibre. I decided to try #lxqt but found the default pcmanfm-qt to be quite buggy and uncomfortable. I finally found my happy place with lxqt + QtFM. These are the packages I installed to get to a comfortable desktop: xlibre xlibre-slim lxqt lxqt-qtplugin oxygen-icons oxygen-fonts noto-emoji… https://tobykurien.com/post-17802...

• Post #4211740

  When it comes to #computer #programming I firmly believe that making it human readable is one of the most important things you could do. This video from Computerphile eloquently demonstrates exactly the kind of programming style I strive for and consider to be beautiful code. The satisfaction of writing a test that reads like an English sentence is peak programming for me. Computerphile https://youtube.com/watch?v=SJocPm2E8eQ

• Post #4211739

  Small weekend #3dPrinting #diy #maker project: adding corner protectors for my solar panel so I can take it camping. Whipped up the design using #FreeCAD then sliced it with #PrusaSlicer and printed it. It was a tight fit as I didn't leave enough clearance, but gently heating the printed part up with a flame torch and then sliding it into place worked well. https://tobykurien.com/images/microblog/post-1783851426-0.jpg https://tobykurien.com/images/microblog/post-1783851426-1.jpg https:...

• Post #3862798

  @bellegraylane@universeodon.com Definitely FreeBSD, I switched about a year ago and couldn't be happier. On a clean install of FreeBSD, and even after installing a desktop environment, I can type "ps aux" and account for every single process in the list! Clean, lean, fast, simple, and reliable.

• Post #3834618

  Over the years I got friends and family to install #Telegram to chat to me, as I refuse to use #WhatsApp (ever since Facebook bought them). Telegram was always a stop-gap until the proper solution came along, and now #DeltaChat is it, especially since calls are now implemented. Also their Telegram accounts are getting hacked, so now begins the process of getting them to delete Telegram and install DeltaChat. Don't @ me about Signal. #privacy #messenger

• Post #922390

  Besty gifted me his #diy #printrbot #3dprinter that he's honed to perfection over the years, and I've been having a lot of fun learning to use it! I've also been brushing up on my #freecad skills so that I can design more portable computers and #cyberdecks in future. https://tobykurien.com/images/microblog/post-1763362221-0.jpg https://tobykurien.com/images/microblog/post-1763362221-1.jpg https://tobykurien.com/images/microblog/post-1763362221-2.png

• Post #922389

  @ChrisWere if you like bash and self-hosting, you might like this self-hosting method I came up with that started as a way to host my Gemini capsule: https://fossil.tobykurien.com/bws

• Post #922388

  The new iteration of my #DIY #RaspberryPi #Linux #tablet looks great, in my opinion! Very happy with how it came out, and it feels much more comfortable to hold and use than the previous version. The back cover was designed using #FreeCAD. I added "fingers" over the screen buttons and engraved symbols into them, added air vent holes on one side with SD card access hole, and a button on the back for screen backlight brightness control. https://tobykurien.com/images/microblog/p...

• Post #922387

  The largest collection of free stuff on the internet! This is quite the rabbit hole... fmhy.net https://fmhy.net/

• Post #922386

  "It seems that my default consumption speeds for reading and eating (and maybe everything else) reduce the rewards of those things significantly, undermining the point of doing either." raptitude https://www.raptitude.com/2025/12/maybe-the-default-settings-are-too-high/

• Post #922385

  The Mastodon web interface is so sluggish on a #raspberrypi 4 that I decided to write a quick-and-dirty lightweight CGI script to display just the content and links to media (deliberately avoided embedding previews). Now I can read my Mastodon feeds anywhere in comfort, even on Netsurf or w3m. https://tobykurien.com/images/microblog/post-1767626310-0.png

• Post #922384

  I've written an "Ode to elinks" on my #Gemini capsule before, and I recently stumbled upon this great article that goes into more details and reasons why #elinks is one of the best text web browsers out there. Excellent for when you want to access information from a #RaspberryPi Zero or other low-powered device. Dion Moult https://thinkmoult.com/using-elinks-browse-web.html https://tobykurien.com/images/microblog/post-1768403680-0.png

• Post #922382

  Fun weekend #diy #maker project: Pi Zero Tiny computer! I was curious about how low power I could go with a #RaspberryPi Zero 2W with a super power-efficient (but puny) screen. I had a Waveshare 1.44 inch LCD HAT lying around, so I looked up it's chip and found an Adafruit driver that seemed close enough. I looked at the schematic of the LCD HAT to see which pins where connected where, and thought I'd give the following a try in config.txt (betting with myself that… https://tobyk...

• Post #922381

  First prototype of my #diy #handheld #cyberdeck powered by a #RaspberryPi Zero. Unlike my previous tablet designs, this one is aimed at low power for extended battery life, focussing on command-line use. It will be used mainly for reading ebooks/websites, e-mail, SSH, note-taking and some coding fun. It could work well as a #writerdeck too. It has a 2000mAh battery under the keyboard providing 13 hours of continuous reading time. Next I need to design and print a cover… https://tobykurien.com/po...

• Post #922380

  @Lydie I believe this is what you have in mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdcX1ghOkFM The slow refresh rate and poor visibility under dim lighting make me less enthusiastic about e-ink though.

• Post #922379

  Breaking the Spell of Vibe Coding - “People who go all in on AI agents now are guaranteeing their obsolescence." -- Jeremy Howard #ai fast.ai https://www.fast.ai/posts/2026-01-28-dark-flow/

• Post #922378

  I built a simple #DIY #oscilloscope and logic analyser using a #RaspberryPi Pico. It uses the pico-sigrok firmware, so I can capture and decode signals using sigrok on a laptop. Tested it by adding a basic analog frontend and then playing a guitar note through a tube overdive pedal and the results look quite good!

• Post #922377

  Printed a very basic quick-and-dirty 3D model of a guitar pickup cover that clips onto the pickup bobbin, to make it easy to swap out covers without needing to remove the strings or pickups. Got lucky with the first try. Looks pretty good, I think! #3dprinting #diy #maker #guitar https://tobykurien.com/images/microblog/post-1774357522-0.jpg https://tobykurien.com/images/microblog/post-1774357522-1.jpg https://tobykurien.com/images/microblog/post-1774357522-2.jpg