Hacker News: bzzzt

New comment by bzzzt in "Renting a sewing machine from the library"

bzzzt — Sun, 21 Jun 2026 09:09:20 +0000

I think musical instruments, especially digital ones like synthesizers or effects but also guitars and other acoustic instruments, have become a lot more affordable the last decade without severely impacting quality. You don't really need the expensive stuff anymore when you can record a quality recording with a second hand iPad and a below $100 microphone.

Rental of expensive stuff will always be expensive too due to insurance, maintenance and fraud. It's not really helping to make stuff more accessible, more a convenience for the pro's that need stuff for a gig.

New comment by bzzzt in "Dutch Railways offers unlimited off-peak train travel nationwide for €49/month"

bzzzt — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 11:46:22 +0000

It would be more efficient for travelers, but not really from a systems point of view. The Netherlands is densely populated and its railways are amond the busiest in Europe. If twice as many people took the train it would be impossible to have enough trains running. Also, a money handling system functions as a gatekeeper. With some regularity there are stories in the media of people misbehaving on public transport. If everybody has the right to board it's more difficult to keep those people out.

New comment by bzzzt in "Running DOS on Behringers DDX3216 with a DIY x86-Bios from Scratch"

bzzzt — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 12:20:08 +0000

I know, but it's been discontinued 2 years ago. As far as I know only the Kronos is still available new.

New comment by bzzzt in "Linux 7.1"

bzzzt — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 19:58:51 +0000

Anubis bot protection: https://anubis.techaro.lol

New comment by bzzzt in "Elon Musk's role was 'instrumental' in the Belfast riots, researchers say"

bzzzt — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 14:29:07 +0000

That's like saying Gavrilo Princip started World war 1. Of course he played a part but the people owning media and influencing the public debate for their own political goals play a much bigger part.

New comment by bzzzt in "Running DOS on Behringers DDX3216 with a DIY x86-Bios from Scratch"

bzzzt — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 14:01:34 +0000

It's coming to an end due to the proliferation of cheap ARM boards. I think the Korg Kronos is the last holdout using a standard x86 PC mainboard now.

New comment by bzzzt in "The Road to the WASM Component Model 1.0"

bzzzt — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 07:25:33 +0000

> Programs written in Java require installation of a middleware called Java runtime. It's possible to link or embed a Java runtime in an existing application.

New comment by bzzzt in "The Road to the WASM Component Model 1.0"

bzzzt — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 07:24:09 +0000

We had that in the 90's with Java. Why would this approach succeed today?

New comment by bzzzt in "Motorola effectively bricked its entire line of WiFi routers without explanation"

bzzzt — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 10:06:00 +0000

> I haven't signed in to HP, haven't connected the printer to cloud.

HP fixed a remote exploit a few years back. Theoretically someone could use your local wifi printer to install a persistent backdoor on your network. In practice HP uses updates to patch leaks in their cartridge protection (the most complicated tech in the printers). And accidentally sometimes bricks printers...

New comment by bzzzt in "The intracies of modern camera lens repair (2024)"

bzzzt — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 11:20:38 +0000

If you're just filming a/your talking head autofocus with face recognition is very reliably and helps when people unintentionally go out of focus ;)

New comment by bzzzt in "Sagrada Família Lego set"

bzzzt — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 07:26:00 +0000

“My client is not in a hurry” – Gaudi

New comment by bzzzt in "DaVinci Resolve 21"

bzzzt — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 07:13:50 +0000

They didn't do that last time I looked. You can only trade in your perpetual license for a discounted 'upgrade' to the subscription version.

New comment by bzzzt in "CT scans of BYD car parts"

bzzzt — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 08:54:57 +0000

I'd be disappointed if it didn't. My Bosch is running for about 13 years right now and just as well as when I bought it. Maybe it helps I'm in the EU and there's a law stating you have right of compensation if it dies within a decade...

New comment by bzzzt in "Show HN: I reverse-engineered the world maps of Test Drive III (1990 DOS game)"

bzzzt — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 07:41:46 +0000

Test Drive 2 (and 1) used a pseudo-3D renderer with scaled sprites (see https://www.mobygames.com/game/2107/the-duel-test-drive-ii/s...) TD3 used a 'real' 3D engine, but as a result it needed a beefy machine for the day. Driving felt a lot slower too, I never found it as much fun as TD2.

New comment by bzzzt in "z386: An Open-Source 80386 Built Around Original Microcode"

bzzzt — Sat, 23 May 2026 18:41:09 +0000

Consequence of the 'if it works, why mess with it?' mindset. It will become a problem when those boards give out and spares are gone.

New comment by bzzzt in "Ten Signs of Fascism. America has all of them"

bzzzt — Sun, 17 May 2026 09:29:13 +0000

Seems like a needed rehash of Eco's article about "ur-fascism" https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/06/22/ur-fascism/

Also, don't get the [flagged]. For what it's worth: Rutger Bregman is a historian and best-selling writer from the Netherlands. While you don't have to agree with everything he says most is thought provoking at least.

New comment by bzzzt in "Nintendo announces price increases for Nintendo Switch 2"

bzzzt — Sat, 09 May 2026 08:14:14 +0000

Yeah, and still it's quite an enjoyable experience. I didn't lose a single fight because the rendering couldn't keep up.

I don't subscribe to the opinion games have to run a stable 60fps to be enjoyable.

New comment by bzzzt in "Nintendo announces price increases for Nintendo Switch 2"

bzzzt — Fri, 08 May 2026 14:17:14 +0000

I've played BotW on Switch 1 and the Switch 2 upgraded edition. While some scenes are a bit choppy on Switch 1 it's never in the way of gameplay and even on Switch 1 one of the best video games of the last decade.

Of course Switch 2 is faster and the better console (it should be), but if you're focussing on raw performance you're in the wrong crowd.

Even on PS5 you have load times and performance tradeoffs. There will be a time when we're wondering how we put up with the 'impossibly slow' current generation of consoles like we're doing with the 8-bits machines now.

New comment by bzzzt in "OpenBSD Stories: The closest thing to cute kittens (OpenBSD/zaurus)"

bzzzt — Fri, 08 May 2026 13:31:36 +0000

It was a hype in the Linux community at the time. Around that time I moved from study to job and had a bit of cash to spare. Couldn't resist a good deal for a second hand SL-5500, but I think it was ahead of its time and the potential not fully realized. It was also not really open source. You could compile your own distro, but nothing ever produced by the Zaurus community would ever offer as much functionality as the proprietary Linux desktop from Sharp on the 5500 at least.

New comment by bzzzt in "I completed 100 Days of Java over 5 years and mapped the journey as a graph"

bzzzt — Wed, 06 May 2026 13:04:12 +0000

A lot of de Java standard library is actually quite nice to program with. Of course there are less good parts, but Java is committed to compatibility so you can choose between dealing with an old design versus continually refactoring code to the standard of the day. I prefer having a choice.

As far as Java use in companies is an indicator, the horse is still running.