We tried not using Office or Windows. Ended up needing a laptop with Windows and Office anyway.

Note to MS Product Manager: this should not be a success story. I was once your biggest cheerleader, now I am so desperate to get away from you that I am starting to look at Google as my savior.

Imagine my frustration when I learned that udev events don’t make it into containers unless networking is enabled.

Figured out a solution eventually. Was a combination of compiling certain packages from source and some kernel flags if i remember correctly.

While rolling the whole solution with an AI agent is not practical, taking a open source starting point and using AI to overcome specific workflow pain points as well as add features allows me to have a lower cost, specifically tailored solution to our needs.

Can’t recommend it enough. Faster startup. Repeatable builds. The abilty to save your image and then flash on many devices. Build time parameters. Also allows access to some functionality that is not possible using arduino build process due to how arduino compiles and processes sketches.

Ununtu (non root) and timekeeper plus. I work with them when they want to install something or do updates.

They have steam, minecraft, OpenRA for games and are happy.

They create music, program arduinos, edit videos they make with friends.

I hope they continue to support it. I originally bought it because I don’t trust Duke Energy. Now it will be in the meters owned by Duke. Seems like a perverse reversal.

Sure bases and high value assets will have great protection. They already do. Stinger missiles (1 example) have been able to hit quads since the day quads took to the air. The cost asymmetry (150k+ vs 1k) means they are rarely used so you have to let most drone threats go.

The opening days of the Ukraine war showed that all you need to do to stop an army is tale out its undefended logistics tail. Fuel trucks, water, ammo, food, etc. These need to be protected also, and exquisite system like Epirus wont be part of these convoys.

Another take away from Ukraine is the lay-in-wait tactic where drones sit near the road hidden and wait for you to come by. The Epirus system (and most of the other cUAS systems) are not able to help. You are probably over a slight hill, hidden by trees, or too close to the danger zone where a bigger system would also destroy you.

Basically everything and everyone has to have a means of engaging these threats. It must be cheap (cost per kill including the initial system purchase), easy to use, and widely available.

My day to day goto is the creality K1 line. I have 3x K1Cs and a K1 Max. The K1 Max is for you. It costs about $800. 300mm cubed build area. Runs every material I throw at it. PLA, PETG, TPU, Nylon, ASA, PC, etc.

It has a cloud option, but I don’t use. They all run on a separate vlan so no phoning home. Doesn’t cause any issues.

They run unlocked klipper firmware, so if you want to mess with it feel free. Also means most slicers work well with them. I typically use OrcaSlicer but the CrealityPrint and Cura work also.

I don’t recommend the K2, it has quite a few annoying bugs. The Enders are hobby machines for sure. Go with K1C or even K1 Max for the bigger bed. You won’t regret it.