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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: July 2nd, 2023

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  • Cognex Barcode Scanner is not open source but it is the best. It’s basically just a demo frontend for a commercial barcode programming library so they are not trying to monetize the app itself. It supports everything! Not just QR code but every kind of barcode. I used to work in logistics and I used it to scan all the different barcodes on shipping labels.

    When you scan a barcode you can choose to open, copy, share. Open launches your default web browser. If the barcode isn’t a URL, it all give a search option and you can configure your preferred search engine. It can scan images from your gallery or use your camera. But the important part is it won’t do anything with the scanned data until you tell it to.






  • Heliboard for normal communication (glide typing) and Hackers Keyboard for shell/remote desktop/programming type usage. Generally i find the keys too small and typing on a touch screen is slow and annoying, so i use a real computer to type whenever i can.

    My typing accuracy is much better with gboard, but I don’t use it because google…

    I have never used voice to text nor voice controlled assistant etc. as I have no interest in doing that. My phone is muted 99.9% of the time, I prefer to operate in silence…




  • I have a bunch of different old consoles and vintage computers (not “444” of course) and used to try to have them all hooked up, it was such a miserable rats nest of wires. I eventually settled on just using one at a time (I am only human, after all).

    Whatever I’m playing gets the prime hookup spot in front of the TV, everything else gets stored neatly on a shelf or in a box. Cables and controllers are in individually labelled zipper storage bags, in bin drawers, out of sight until they are needed…

    Of course, hooking them all up is a hobby itself… It’s easy to go down a rabbit hole of scalers and SCART switches and RGB mods and then you suddenly find yourself a couple thousand dollars poorer.







  • My “main” OS timeline was:

    • Apple II/C64
    • MS-DOS
    • OS/2
    • Linux

    Technically I used windows 3.1 at times in DOS and OS/2 for some specific piece of software, but it was never what I primarily used and I don’t consider Windows 3.1 a proper operating system, it’s just a desktop environment.

    Not sure exactly when, but I know by 2000 I was fully on board the Linux train.

    Started using Linux in the days of floppy boot and root diskettes. Lived through the days of hand-crafted SLIP scripts for dial up internet. The days of needing to pay for working sound drivers. Manually calculating modelines in Xfree86.

    I have primarily used Windows at work, probably been 99% windows and 1% Unix/Linux. I have had windows laptops and virtual machines for certain specific use cases but it has never been my main.






  • I have a Samsung 4K HDR 120hz TV and can’t really tell any difference between it and my ancient non-smart Phillips LCD TV that it replaced.

    I have an Xbox series x with 4k hdr enabled and everything still just looks “normal” to me.

    120hz is slightly noticeable compared to 60 in games that support it, but not a huge deal. 99%+ of what i do on my TV isn’t 4K, HDR, or 120hz, so it’s not extremely valuable. From “couch distance” anything above 720p is unnoticeable anyway.

    I also have a windows 11 laptop with 4k HDR screen and disabled HDR in settings because the colors were all horrible looking with it on. Honestly I run it in 1080 instead of 4k because it uses less battery, performs better, and many programs don’t work correctly at 4K, and i can’t tell the difference anyway. Tiny pixels are still tiny.

    I realize this whole comment may come off as old man “get off my lawn” fist-shaking. I’m not trying to downplay other people’s experiences who seem to be genuinely impressed by these features, and maybe I’m just “holding it wrong”, but for me, personally, I regret spending extra for the whole 4K HDR thing.