Hacker News: fmajid

New comment by fmajid in "Ask HN: What are tools you have made for yourself since the advent of AI?"

fmajid — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 11:25:05 +0000

I vibe-debug 10x more than I vibe-code, but here goes:

- a daemon to properly set the LEDs on my Lincstation N2 NAS (even early Claude was great at reverse-engineering): https://blog.majid.info/lincstation/

- most consequential, Thufir, a task manager to replace Cultured Code's Things as I am leaving massa Tim Apple's plantation: https://github.com/fazalmajid/Thufir Still very janky, but usable enough for my purposes

- most recently, a TRML dashboard for my Seeed Studio reTerminal E1002 smart e-ink display, and I also had to have Claude fix the firmware for full 6-color input: https://blog.majid.info/e-ink/

- a tool using DINOv2 image fingerprinting and usearch vector database to find visual duplicates in a large collection of images

New comment by fmajid in "Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore Story (2023)"

fmajid — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 19:22:39 +0000

Lee not only turned Singapore from a country poorer than India into one of the richest in the world, but he was also the one who convinced Deng Xiaoping to adopt market reforms, thereby pulling hundreds of millions of Chinese out of abject poverty. Truly one of the greatest statesmen of the last century.

New comment by fmajid in "Delacroix's Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople Restored"

fmajid — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 18:16:57 +0000

Exactly, "Entry of Crusaders in Constantinople" is very milquetoast and does not begin the describe the horrendous massacres committed then.

New comment by fmajid in "GrapheneOS user reported to authorities for using GrapheneOS"

fmajid — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 09:41:02 +0000

That's in countries that have a constitution, a Bill of Rights that can't be revoked by a simple vote of the legislature, separation of powers and the rule of law. None of which applies to the UK.

New comment by fmajid in "Delacroix's Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople Restored"

fmajid — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 08:46:04 +0000

The original French title "La Prise de Constantinople par les croisés" is harsher, "The taking/capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders"

New comment by fmajid in "NLAB: The worlds smallest electronics lab"

fmajid — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 23:29:54 +0000

You’d be much better off getting a Saleae Logic 8 (or one of the many knockoffs).

New comment by fmajid in "Amazon Has Axed Its New Stargate Series"

fmajid — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 20:27:56 +0000

Yes, the TV show had massive departures from the books, but I was actually referring to the acting skill or lack thereof of most of the cast.

New comment by fmajid in "MAI-Code-1-Flash"

fmajid — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 13:32:46 +0000

If their model was trained purely on properly licensed data, the reduced legal liability could be a selling point

New comment by fmajid in "Microsoft builds MacBook Pro rival with NVIDIA-powered Surface Laptop Ultra"

fmajid — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 11:47:18 +0000

For an amusing take on the life of a systems programmer, James Mickens' "The Night Watch":

https://www.usenix.org/system/files/1311_05-08_mickens.pdf

New comment by fmajid in "Microsoft builds MacBook Pro rival with NVIDIA-powered Surface Laptop Ultra"

fmajid — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 11:26:17 +0000

I ordered a ThinkPad about a year ago, and removing Windows 11 Pro from the configurator saved me a cool £110 ($150). Despite this ridiculous overpricing, the surprising thing is, Windows isn't even in the top 5 businesses at Microsoft any more, even Xbox makes more money.

New comment by fmajid in "Amazon Has Axed Its New Stargate Series"

fmajid — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 02:33:23 +0000

TBH, it was a train wreck apart from the actresses who played Moiraine and Lanfear.

New comment by fmajid in "HP re-releases classic computer science calculator: The HP-16C"

fmajid — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 21:22:31 +0000

HP hasn’t manufactured its calculators in decades, thanks to Carly Fiorina.

New comment by fmajid in "HP re-releases classic computer science calculator: The HP-16C"

fmajid — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 21:16:35 +0000

The originals (I still have my 1987 HP-15C) used silicon-on-sapphire technology, normally used for space, that ensured the amazing battery life. The keyboard domes had a complicated fabrication process to ensure optimum feel. The keycaps were double shot for durability. No modern calculator is going to be made to that standard, it would cost at least $1000.

New comment by fmajid in "The Website Specification"

fmajid — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 11:50:53 +0000

It probably has the email on form autofill, as opposed to password manager login/email+password autofill, but I use a different email for each site and that doesn't help me. On which.co.uk or AliExpress I have to laboriously type which@example.com or al1express@example.com on page 1. Some form autofill is getting smarter and is scoped to the site.

New comment by fmajid in "Nvidia RTX Spark"

fmajid — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 11:47:54 +0000

Yes, ConnectX-7 itself is capable of 32x PCIe5 lanes, but the lane limitations of the GB10 SoC/chipset throttle it:

https://www.nvidia.com/content/dam/en-zz/Solutions/networkin....

New comment by fmajid in "Nvidia RTX Spark"

fmajid — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 11:45:13 +0000

Your lap cooking. They generate enough to noticeably heat a room.

New comment by fmajid in "Nvidia RTX Spark"

fmajid — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 08:00:12 +0000

My DGX Sparks are the first and only devices I have with 200W USB-C PD. Low power by AI workstation standards, but intolerable in a laptop.

New comment by fmajid in "Nvidia RTX Spark"

fmajid — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 07:58:12 +0000

The ConnectX 7 2x200 Gbps networking card in the DGX Spark alone is worth $700

New comment by fmajid in "What if remote working, not AI, is to blame for weak junior hiring?"

fmajid — Sun, 31 May 2026 23:45:45 +0000

There’s some research that suggests WFH is less efficient per hour worked, but people work more hours that they would have otherwise wasted commuting so it’s a wash.

That said, the motivations of managers are seldom aligned with the interests of the business. There is such a thing as ego trips. Also, mediocre or insecure managers will rely more on the crutch of face time.

New comment by fmajid in "The Website Specification"

fmajid — Sun, 31 May 2026 23:30:32 +0000

Some requirements have force of law, e.g. complying with GPC in California or Colorado. So do accessibility features in many jurisdictions. Some are just basic decency, like providing alt txt for images.

The approach of marking items as required/recommended/optional addresses your concern. Too bad this specific checklist is LLM-generated.