Hacker News: hdb2

New comment by hdb2 in "Retro-Tech Parenting"

hdb2 — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 23:37:06 +0000

That's really interesting!

Not too long ago, I got unreasonably upset at a streaming service forcing me to watch ads on a subscription plan, so I went out and got a Blu-ray player. I've been periodically visiting my used DVD store, and I've been able to STOCK UP on movies for next-to-nothing. While this isn't the most low-tech solution, it's been kinda fun for someone who spent their youth with CDs/DVDs.

New comment by hdb2 in "Show HN: FFmpeg WebCLI – Full FFmpeg in Browser, Offline PWA, No Uploads(WASM)"

hdb2 — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 23:29:09 +0000

Yeah, if the author sees this, it would be best to change this to "Click to Open". We can argue about the icon (I would say the floppy image), but seeing the word "upload" with a cloud icon 1000% means "send this up to the Internet."

New comment by hdb2 in "Is "colorectal cancer" rising in "young people"?"

hdb2 — Tue, 26 May 2026 21:05:46 +0000

I've often wondered if colorectal cancer is really on the rise in young people, or are we testing more younger people, which makes it seem like it's on the rise? Hopefully my question makes sense...

New comment by hdb2 in "Flipper One – we need your help"

hdb2 — Thu, 21 May 2026 13:31:56 +0000

Yeah, you've acknowledged it in your edits, but just for others: the author commented above that he did not use AI, only translation tools.

New comment by hdb2 in "Flipper One – we need your help"

hdb2 — Thu, 21 May 2026 13:29:56 +0000

Odd, I just read the entire article and never felt that way at all. When I'm reading AI generated text, it triggers something in my lizard brain, but this didn't.

New comment by hdb2 in "Flipper One – we need your help"

hdb2 — Thu, 21 May 2026 13:28:50 +0000

Just commenting as a friendly FYI - the author commented above and noted that there was no AI used, just translation tools. Honestly, I'm not sure why the grandparent thought it was AI; it didn't read that way to me at all.

New comment by hdb2 in "We let AIs run radio stations"

hdb2 — Tue, 19 May 2026 13:19:38 +0000

When I popped in a few minutes ago, the AI was acknowledging a donation from someone; the person recommended more variety in the playlist, so the AI chose a Bill Evans tune. Interesting that it picked Evans - All Blues had Evans on piano, so going to a solo Evans tune made the most sense. Even though it's a really minor thing, it's cool that it made that logical connection.

New comment by hdb2 in "Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian"

hdb2 — Mon, 18 May 2026 16:17:16 +0000

I had absolutely no idea either, I had just assumed that it was, which was a dumb assumption to make. Thanks for pointing it out!

New comment by hdb2 in "curl > /dev/sda: How I made a Linux distro that runs wget | dd"

hdb2 — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 17:39:40 +0000

> I had Virtualbox just boot the physical Windows partition while Linux was running. Which is totally fine!

I had no idea that this was possible, and I learned something new today. Thank you!

New comment by hdb2 in "Microsoft's "Fix" for Windows 11: Flowers After the Beating"

hdb2 — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 17:14:04 +0000

I had commented this above, but the OS should be flexible enough to do whatever the user needs it to do. "What it needs to do" is pretty broad, but I think that's the point.

New comment by hdb2 in "Microsoft's "Fix" for Windows 11: Flowers After the Beating"

hdb2 — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 17:12:50 +0000

> Even skipping the first step (which requires a second readme) the next step involves opening a terminal. Instant fail. The entire point of an operating system is to make computers usable without knowing how they work, what a file is, what a command is, or having to look up anything. If something needs to be done, it needs a GUI.

I strongly disagree with this; I believe that an OS should be whatever the user needs it to be. In my case, I am a power user that loves the command line, and while I agree that I may not represent the majority of users, I do not care for your assertion that my way of doing things is somehow invalid.

New comment by hdb2 in "Building a TB-303 from Scratch"

hdb2 — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 13:33:47 +0000

I love seeing so many brilliant creatives throwing their talents at the 303 - hardware hackers, software writers, etc.

New comment by hdb2 in "Building a TB-303 from Scratch"

hdb2 — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 13:30:49 +0000

this is awesome, thank you for sharing!

New comment by hdb2 in "Statement from Dario Amodei on our discussions with the Department of War"

hdb2 — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 14:27:56 +0000

> They've left themselves a backtrack, and with the care there this statement has been crafted, that's surely deliberate.

What's worse, someone in their PR department will read this thread and be disappointed that the spin didn't work.

New comment by hdb2 in "Tiny Core Linux: a 23 MB Linux distro with graphical desktop"

hdb2 — Sat, 06 Dec 2025 16:42:47 +0000

> I also like SliTaz

thank you for this reminder! I had completely forgotten about SliTaz, looks like I need to check it out again!

New comment by hdb2 in "Show HN: I made a generative online drum machine with ClojureScript"

hdb2 — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 13:21:28 +0000

this is really great, I like it!

New comment by hdb2 in "Why our website looks like an operating system"

hdb2 — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 13:15:05 +0000

I would give anything to have a linux window manager that looks and behaves just like this. I said this to my coworkers in slack and they said that my age is showing, which is probably true. everything on this website is so easy to find, it just feels good. icons and color scheme is perfect as well.

New comment by hdb2 in "Journaling using Nix, Vim and coreutils"

hdb2 — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 14:10:01 +0000

Oh wow, I had completely forgotten about Blosxom!

I take it from your post that it is no more?

New comment by hdb2 in "Show HN: I made a tiny device for automatically recording digital pianos"

hdb2 — Mon, 11 Nov 2024 16:22:27 +0000

This looks great!

I have a very minor feature request: MIDI loops! Add a button on top of the device: Press once to record, press again to stop. Quantize on/off available via the app.

Awesome stuff!!!

New comment by hdb2 in "The Anvil Text Editor"

hdb2 — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 14:40:52 +0000

I know this is a minor gripe, but something isn't right with the https version of this site.