Hacker News: jeffchien

New comment by jeffchien in "Collapse OS"

jeffchien — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 17:33:43 +0000

Now I want a scavengers' guide to identify machines that might have a compatible microprocessor within them, because I haven't seen a Commodore or Apple II in a long time. Arcades with older cabinets obviously have them, but if most post-apocalyptic media are prophetic, they'll probably be occupied by a gang of young ne'er-do-wells. I suppose, thanks to the College Board, Ti-83s (Z80) are still quite common in the US. Are there toys, medical equipment, or vending machines that still use these chips?

I wonder if ESP32s and Arduinos might be more commonly found, though I could see the argument that places with those newfangled chips may be more likely to become radioactive craters in some scenarios.

New comment by jeffchien in "The curious surge of productivity in U.S. restaurants"

jeffchien — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 18:44:28 +0000

It's a little frustrating to me that the paper breaks out major chains as the big contributing factors, but doesn't analyze the remaining bucket. If possible I'd like to see the restaurants sliced by $/visit to see the effects on mid- or high-end restaurants.

New comment by jeffchien in "Show HN: I got laid off from Meta and created a minor hit on Steam"

jeffchien — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 01:07:30 +0000

Congratulations, that is a roaring success I daydream about all the time!

I think you've already answered a lot about your development journey, so I want to ask about the post-release experience.

- How were the weeks immediately after release? Hectically shipping out patches 3 times a day?

- Now that we're months out after release, what are you doing now? Are you still spending a lot of time on this game (ports, updates), or are you thinking of another game or returning to office work?

Frankly I bought it on release but couldn't get into it because the meta progression (unlocking triggers that dilute the trigger pool for little perceivable gain) didn't feel as good as Luck be a Landlord or Balatro. I hope later updates address that.

New comment by jeffchien in "Station of despair: What to do if you get stuck at end of Tokyo Chuo Rapid Line"

jeffchien — Sat, 08 Feb 2025 01:23:15 +0000

If you get stuck there between ~10PM (the last train back to Hachioji that could connect to Shinjuku) and 11PM (or midnight if you can spare the change for the limited express), you can also consider going west to Yamanashi and Kofu. Let's just say that I was almost in this exact scenario from a long day in Kawaguchiko, but I ended up making it back to central Tokyo.

New comment by jeffchien in "Gorhill pulls uBlock Origin Lite from Firefox store"

jeffchien — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 18:20:43 +0000

The reproducible build requirement seems to be a major blocker for many addons, including one I use for Twitch: https://github.com/FrankerFaceZ/FrankerFaceZ/issues/1495#iss...

New comment by jeffchien in "Anime is eating the world"

jeffchien — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 21:16:38 +0000

Anime has had no shortage of adaptations disrespectful of the original. Most of the time it's due to not having enough source material like HBO GoT, which somehow sent Fullmetal Alchemist to 1920s Germany in the first adaptation's movie. But sometimes you get people like Bokurano's director who straight up said he hated the manga.

New comment by jeffchien in "What's inside the QR code menu at this cafe?"

jeffchien — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 20:36:44 +0000

That's still a lot more predictable than my human cashier experience. I wish I didn't have to dread being held up by the only cashier in store holding a riveting conversation with 4 groups in front of me. Will the other groups hold up the line too? I guess we'll see!

New comment by jeffchien in "What's inside the QR code menu at this cafe?"

jeffchien — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 08:17:48 +0000

I will gladly do the work myself if it means not being stuck behind people chatting up the cashier or doing complicated coupon/return/exchange/gift card transactions. The value is in the consistency and predictability of time spent for someone who just wants a single bag of onions or a single T-shirt. If stores had no-BS lanes (more than just "X items or less" lanes) operated by human cashiers I would use that too, but I suppose we as a society consider it as impolite or bad service, so machine checkout it is.

New comment by jeffchien in "Show HN: Wealthfolio: Private, open-source investment tracker"

jeffchien — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 17:31:28 +0000

I wish this and Ghostfolio supported stock splits.

New comment by jeffchien in "America’s Transit Exceptionalism"

jeffchien — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 01:09:20 +0000

You can have surface or elevated heavy rail too. I never understood this fascination with modern light rail.

New comment by jeffchien in "CrowdStrike Update: Windows Bluescreen and Boot Loops"

jeffchien — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 11:09:28 +0000

Phenomenal timing: https://old.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/1e6ms9z/cro...

New comment by jeffchien in "Archipelago: Multiworld Multi-Game Randomizer"

jeffchien — Sun, 14 Jul 2024 02:56:44 +0000

That's definitely a concern. Players call getting stuck by others' checks "BK'd" because a player once went out to get Burger King and returned before they got unwalled. But I think sharing the challenge/frustration and randomness with other players is the fun part, and that's what makes this such an interesting way to play games.

The organizer can also kick inactive players out and release their checks. You could play solo with one or multiple games.

New comment by jeffchien in "Archipelago: Multiworld Multi-Game Randomizer"

jeffchien — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 23:38:12 +0000

TLDR context: a randomizer shuffles around game items/skills and even game areas such that the game is completed in a different order. Archipelago shuffles those things among different playthroughs. For example, I might pick up an item in my Pokemon playthrough that unlocks a gun in your Doom playthrough, and when you pick up a keycard it might unlock Ground Pound for a Mario player, and so on. It's like a giant collaborative puzzle game.

Here's an example with 114 playthroughs (includes some game spoilers in the latter half): https://youtu.be/YwUIfxF3ujo

New comment by jeffchien in "Review of Linux on Minisforum V3 AMD Ryzen Tablet"

jeffchien — Sun, 23 Jun 2024 21:11:44 +0000

It's too bad that the portable display mode doesn't support touch. That was what stopped me from getting one.

New comment by jeffchien in "USB disk as /dev/sda on a not-rooted smartphone using Termux, QEMU, Alpine Linux"

jeffchien — Wed, 29 May 2024 11:15:36 +0000

I think this stuff (Termux, Winlator, etc.) is a lot more developed and popular than you think. There's GPU acceleration through VirGL so some older games seem to work alright.

I've used Termux to run utilities like ffmpeg and imagemagick on the go. I think one of the limitations for graphical usage might be the limited memory space that it's sharing with Android. It's intriguing that this usbredirect setup allows swap space allocation without root.

New comment by jeffchien in "Apple apologizes for iPad 'Crush' ad that 'missed the mark'"

jeffchien — Fri, 10 May 2024 20:25:52 +0000

Apple isn't reading the room at a time when many older creatives (their customer base) feel threatened by generative AI.

New comment by jeffchien in "Work begins on a $12B high-speed rail line between Las Vegas and Los Angeles"

jeffchien — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 04:00:47 +0000

They're using the I-15 median which can be a little curvy and hilly, so they're probably considering passenger comfort: https://www.flattestroute.com/Las-Vegas-to-Los-Angeles

New comment by jeffchien in "Apple's risky bet on CarPlay"

jeffchien — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 01:17:51 +0000

You don't have to download a new podcast app because you could just play it through Bluetooth. CarPlay and AA probably wouldn't even exist if it weren't for car vent phone holders and 2.5mm/Bluetooth upending automakers' grip on navigation and entertainment.

New comment by jeffchien in "Influencers: Japan's secret weapon to promote niche tourism spots"

jeffchien — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 02:12:41 +0000

I wonder if they have stats that indicates repeat travelers (who are more likely to stop by those small villages) are less likely to purchase JR Pass, even when it was cheaper. Anecdotally, my friends and I stopped bothering, especially after most of us started flying to HND to save time, or switched to riding airport buses or the Keisei Skyliner, thus don't benefit from using JRP on the Narita Express. These remote villages may also be more accessible on non-JR modes; for the first destination mentioned (Ama Hut in Shima, Mie), Kintetsu seems to be faster than JR.

Also, Asian tourists like the Korean and Chinese influencers named in the article can fly directly KIX, NGO, FUK, CTS, etc. or ferry from Busan, so JRP might be an even worse deal for repeats from those countries.

New comment by jeffchien in "6.2 GHz Intel Core I9-14900KS Review"

jeffchien — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 09:39:49 +0000

Yep, the venerable de8auer channel has confirmed this does allow the P-cores to run 6GHz continuously at ~75C:

* DE: https://youtu.be/S_d74JB2ECY * EN: https://youtu.be/5AA2AsK2ewE