<rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><channel><title>Hacker News: heelix</title><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=heelix</link><description>Hacker News RSS</description><docs>https://hnrss.org/</docs><generator>hnrss v2.1.1</generator><lastBuildDate>Thu, 09 Apr 2026 10:55:41 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://hnrss.org/user?id=heelix" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"></atom:link><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by heelix in "Ubuntu now requires more RAM than Windows 11"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Consider a dedicated SSD for each OS.  You should have a couple M2 slots in the laptop.  What you can do is remove (or disable) the Windows SSD, install Linux on the second drive, and then add back the windows drive.  Select the drive at startup you want to be in on boot and default the drive you want to spend most of your time in.  I did that on my XPS and it was trouble free.  Linux can mount your NTFS just fine, without having to consider it from a boot/grub perspective.<p><a href="https://community.acer.com/en/kb/articles/16556-how-to-upgrade-the-ssd-on-nitro-v-15" rel="nofollow">https://community.acer.com/en/kb/articles/16556-how-to-upgra...</a><p>Looks like you got space for 2 drive.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 05 Apr 2026 13:14:46 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47649119</link><dc:creator>heelix</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47649119</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47649119</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by heelix in "Ubuntu now requires more RAM than Windows 11"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Ubuntu just raised the minimum RAM requirement from 4gb to 6.  While it might have been possible to run anything with a GUI on 4, I can't imagine that is a good experience.<p>When they turned Centos into streams, I cut my workstation over to Ubuntu.  It has been a reasonable replacement. Only real issues were when dual booting Win10 horked my grub and snap being unable to sort itself on occasion. When they release 26 as an LTS, I'm planning to update. You are spot on - the desktop itself is reasonably lean.  100+ tabs in Firefox... less so.  Mind you, the amount of RAM in the workstations I'm using could buy a used car these days.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 05 Apr 2026 13:04:07 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47649006</link><dc:creator>heelix</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47649006</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47649006</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by heelix in "My MacBook keyboard is broken and it's insanely expensive to fix"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Had a similar experience with the XPS series.  Was able to find a keyboard.  When taken apart, realized they had used plastic bits, tape, and other things to connect the keyboard to the top lid.  Seems they expected one to either be handy with epoxy or buy the combo.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 29 Mar 2026 21:29:08 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47567534</link><dc:creator>heelix</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47567534</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47567534</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by heelix in "People inside Microsoft are fighting to drop mandatory Microsoft Account"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I resemble that remark.  I've got to wonder how many people are starting to cut over to Linux/Mac or just stopped caring about being patched on Win10.<p>A couple weekends ago, I made the overdue call to kill my dual booting with Windows 10 and go full Linux.  I'd considered finding a copy of the embedded Win10 long term version or paying for the patching. The local account was one of the things holding me back from doing the update.  I knew I could muck with things to still have it, but figured it would be yoinked away later.  Similar thoughts to updating the old threadripper that no longer qualifies for Win11. The reinforcement came from all the blasted copilot integration -- notepad, paint... just looking like evasiveness was going to be everywhere.<p>For a long time my 'good' box was Linux, my old box was Windows.  So much just works. I still have an M2 with Windows 10 on it, but it is not in any machine right now.  Will see if I run out of space and need it before they actually provide something I'd want to even have on my desk.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 28 Mar 2026 18:56:54 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47557289</link><dc:creator>heelix</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47557289</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47557289</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by heelix in "Ask HN: What was it like for programmers when spreadsheets became ubiquitous?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>My Bride worked for a banking/credit card company.  Someone took the sample "northwinds" Microsoft Access sample app, changed the labels, and modified their business process to mimic a few of the existing queries.  At some point, there was a company mandate to port all of these types of apps to Oracle.  Oh, the huge manatee... The process/business was a non-trivial bit of cash flow.<p>There has always been a bit of back and forth.  Giving long deadlines and crazy costs, the business will always kruft something together.  Sometimes it works, sometimes folks get burned, sometimes you get a nice hand off.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 15 Mar 2026 00:30:17 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47382907</link><dc:creator>heelix</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47382907</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47382907</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by heelix in "YouTube Is Down"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Man... updated mozilla,toyed with my ad blocker, now updating the os.  Never crossed my mind this was a 'them' problem.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 18 Feb 2026 01:42:33 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47055998</link><dc:creator>heelix</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47055998</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47055998</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by heelix in "The Cray-1 Computer System (1977) [pdf]"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I was able to pick up recycled flourinert, which I used for an immersed dual celeron setup.  It was mind boggling to see the submerged motherboard chugging away and silence beyond the the soft whir/gurgle of the water pumps.  My first CRAYon machine was so messy.  I always hoped that it was coolant from our U of MN's Cray.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 14 Jan 2026 00:39:44 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46610768</link><dc:creator>heelix</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46610768</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46610768</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by heelix in "Dell admits it made a mistake when it abandoned XPS"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I had the 17" XPS, which was lovely.  A nice 16:10 screen, which was the main thing I was looking for.  Battery was easy to replace.  Easy memory and M2 drive replacement.  It was a pretty good laptop for x86.  Main issue was heat/sound.  Linux was pretty easy to get going on that hardware.  You could get at the internals - so cleaning out the fan was doable.  (order new screws, as they ship with silly soft metal on the orignals)<p><a href="https://i.imgur.com/4SdAQu9.jpeg" rel="nofollow">https://i.imgur.com/4SdAQu9.jpeg</a><p>When they released the 16" series, most of the updgrade features were gone.  Memory was tied to the CPU, which puts you in the same position that Apples does.  Not a fan.  I swapped out the 17" for a 16" macbook.  I doubt I'll look at an XPS again.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 11 Jan 2026 18:07:02 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46577964</link><dc:creator>heelix</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46577964</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46577964</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by heelix in "I can't upgrade to Windows 11, now leave me alone"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>What is the difference between software and car sales?  The car sales knows when they are lying.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 21 Dec 2025 20:20:55 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46348040</link><dc:creator>heelix</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46348040</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46348040</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by heelix in "VA Linux: The biggest dotcom IPO"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Likely reddit<p>Many folks left Dig for their primary feed when they did the UI update.  I think I switched over to Slashdot around that time.  The multi selector for karma, on the comments and them changing usernames so my original no longer worked drove me to reddit as that prime feed for me, for about 10 or so years.<p>As reddit exploded... that main home switched to here.  Not quite that same sense of community and always a grab bag of subject, so much closer to Digg/Slashdot feel.  I never ended up doing facebook or some of the other social media sites.  As reddit tried/tried to become that sort of space (with monetization!) it became something I was not looking for.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 17 Dec 2025 13:17:33 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46301628</link><dc:creator>heelix</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46301628</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46301628</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by heelix in "Japanese four-cylinder engine is so reliable still in production after 25 years"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Ah man, I owned a Jag XJS with the V12.  Nothing on that car was what I'd consider 'normal'.  Want to change the brake pads - down the rabbit hole I went.  That car was why I own a voltmeter.  I was a lot more knowledgeable after that car - smart enough to run, not walk from an XKE opportunity.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 04 Dec 2025 19:21:41 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46151629</link><dc:creator>heelix</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46151629</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46151629</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by heelix in "What's Hiding Inside Haribo's Power Bank and Headphones?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Well.. it was probably too good to be true.  I'm a hiker - and was in on that first wave of purchasers.  For $24, the 2000mAh battery was pretty light for what it is - 10.16oz. (more capacity for what I usually need) In comparison, I think my nitecore NB10000 is around 5.98oz for around $50, which is one of the better ones out there.  On the cheaper side, the INIU 1000mAh is around 5.96oz for about $26 which does OK.  I see amazon already pulled the page to order the haribo battery pack.<p>I also picked up their earbuds, which - for $11, sound and work far better than I expected.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 01 Dec 2025 02:50:18 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46102981</link><dc:creator>heelix</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46102981</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46102981</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by heelix in "Music eases surgery and speeds recovery, study finds"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>When covid hit, my wife showed stroke symptoms - half her face stopped working (bell's palsy).  She had an MRI as part of the diagnostic.  As part of it, the operator asked her if she wanted to have some music. Yes please, some soft 80's love songs.<p>"Welcome to the jungle, we got fun and games..."<p>It was not the calming music she was expecting.  She still jokes about it.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 27 Nov 2025 14:26:54 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46069558</link><dc:creator>heelix</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46069558</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46069558</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by heelix in "Java Decompiler"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Oracle is supporting Java 8 till 2030 as a paid binary if you download from them and free source code as part of the OpenJDK.  Other OpenJDK vendors, like Adoptium, are providing free binaries till 2030 as well.  Other folks may or may not provide free binaries.  RHEL builds of the OpenJKD are free till November 2026, part of extended life support till 2030.<p>For us, the biggest driver for getting off Java 8 was SpringBoot dropping support for anything older than 17.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 26 Nov 2025 15:49:25 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46058602</link><dc:creator>heelix</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46058602</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46058602</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by heelix in "TSA to charge $18 fee for travelers without Real ID or passport"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I've had problems getting one.  Taken a couple attempts at it when the drivers license renews.  Last attempt, it seems those adopted need both the biological as well as the legal birth certificate.  I've sorted my passport, so do have a passport card now - but I don't always travel with it.  (One of the gotchas with GA flying, some days you end up taking a commercial flight home) Guess that changes.  Previously, they would just wave you through and 'randomly' select you for fabric/skin swabs.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 23 Nov 2025 15:18:41 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46024190</link><dc:creator>heelix</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46024190</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46024190</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by heelix in "So Long, Firefox, Part One"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I made the jump back to Firefox when Chrome did the first 'we are messing with uBlock' the first time they threatened.  Honestly, it has been a really good experience.  Most things just work.  I'm also amazed how well the adblocking works as I suspect teams don't have the energy to deal with non-chrome + adblock on streaming services.  Always a shocker to use a work browser without adblock and see how rough the default internet actually is.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 21 Nov 2025 17:04:28 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46006300</link><dc:creator>heelix</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46006300</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46006300</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by heelix in "NPM flooded with malicious packages downloaded more than 86k times"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Is there a way to detect/filter dependencies that use HTTP URLs as dependency specifiers as part of an NPM install?  Since you can send specific requesters different payloads, I can see how this would bypass most of the normal scanning tools.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 31 Oct 2025 13:07:03 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45771570</link><dc:creator>heelix</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45771570</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45771570</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by heelix in "Ryanair flight landed at Manchester airport with six minutes of fuel left"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Suspect they were IFR. All your points stand.  First time flying things with a jet engine, I was shocked how much more fuel gets burned at low altitude.  It almost always works out better to max climb to altitude and descend than to fly low and level. On a small jet, things can get spicy fast when ATC route you around at 5000' for 15 minutes or so. Three aborted landings would gobble gas like crazy.<p>§ 91.167 Fuel requirements for flight in IFR conditions.<p>(a) No person may operate a civil aircraft in IFR conditions unless it carries enough fuel (considering weather reports and forecasts and weather conditions) to—<p>(1) Complete the flight to the first airport of intended landing;<p>(2) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, fly from that airport to the alternate airport; and<p>(3) Fly after that for 45 minutes at normal cruising speed</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 11 Oct 2025 01:22:50 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45545688</link><dc:creator>heelix</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45545688</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45545688</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by heelix in "Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Just having to deal with getting the wrong item - something more expensive shipped, though it was not the item I was actually after.  Did not take the wizard past the return instructions where they would charge me the amount, but no information on the return.  For a $15 item, I'll keep the $20 package they shipped me -- not going to deal with their mistake if it is going to cost me to help them fix the issue.<p>Biggest issue is the shipping.  The primary reason I had prime was the shipping - and I swear, only a small fraction of packages ship anywhere near the published date.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 05 Oct 2025 13:54:05 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45481498</link><dc:creator>heelix</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45481498</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45481498</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by heelix in "The Amazon Kindle War Against Piracy"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Not sure what they were thinking, but for a long time if you mixed side loaded books with kindle ones, the front cover would go missing from the side loaded when it synced.  I've never let my kindle hit the web after I converted by Amazon purchases.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 27 Sep 2025 13:27:13 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45395540</link><dc:creator>heelix</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45395540</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45395540</guid></item></channel></rss>