Author Archives: pappp

XBMC 4.0 for the Original Xbox

Source: Hacker News

Article note: This is just fun that folks are maintaining the OG Xbox version. Back in the day I bought a used xbox 90% for XBMC duty, because XBMC was a piece of the future so visible even Microsoft had to change course (...to capture and ruin it).
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You are likely to be eaten by the MIT license: Microsoft frees Zork source

Source: The Register

Article note: Neat. Zork is, strangely, a significant piece of cultural heritage at this point.

Redmond dusts off Infocom's classic text adventures and puts the originals into public hands

Microsoft developer boss Scott Hanselman saved the company's Ignite shindig this week by unveiling the source code for Zork I-III, all available under the MIT license.…

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HP and Dell disable HEVC support built into their laptops’ CPUs

Source: Ars Technica

Article note: How is codec licensing always such a clusterfuck? I remember 20-25 years ago dealing with greyware "Codec Packs" that were maybe not laced with malware just to make basic media playback work on Windows, and somehow the industry keeps doing the same shit. And now there are like 3 patent pools, so it's somehow actually worse. At least it looks like AV1 is becoming the dominant species, and it avoids most of that shit. Plus, this is a "Removed functionality from already shipped product" situation, which is universally dirty.
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The Death of Arduino?

Source: Hacker News

Article note: Qualcomm gonna Qualcomm. It looks like it's just the cloud features and some of the stack of their new board that's closed down for now, but it's not a good sign. There has been plenty of drama in the Arduino world for a long time, hopefully the basic platform and community survives this round too.
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A Chinese firm bought an insurer for CIA agents

Source: Hacker News

Article note: American intelligence outsourced their insurance to a private third party, because American capitalism. One of the Chinese government's investment entities then purchased the insurance company and sucked all the information out of it, because modern Chinese pseudo-capitalist command economy.
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What happens when even college students can’t do math anymore?

Source: Hacker News

Article note: I consider myself pretty bad at arithmetic, but I had some shocks on the embedded systems midterm I gave a few weeks ago, where otherwise capable students had a hard time with basic arithmetic, and especially the idea that the joy of SI notation is that you can work the base and the exponent separately. Especially weird position to be in because I'm not generally a supporter of forcing kids to learn mental math tricks to perform like a circus pony, if you need precise answers to complicated expressions, use a computer. However, being able to do basic "is this reasonable" checks on orders of magnitude and eyeball ratios and the like is super valuable.
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Denx (a.k.a. U-Boot) Retires

Source: Hacker News

Article note: U-Boot is turning into an interesting (generally positive) study on maintenance of essential infrastructure. U-Boot is everywhere, and it seems likely it will continue to be everywhere. Wolfgang Denk (original author/company founder) passed in 2022, the company around it is wrapping up a graceful shutdown... and the community, including commercial maintenance, is still seeming pretty healthy.
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Google will allow users to sideload Android apps without verification

Source: Hacker News

Article note: I wonder why they backed down. I *assume* there were indications the mandatory notarization scheme would present a problem in some of their ongoing litigation. Still, good news.
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Steam Machines have returned: all the news about Valve’s new hardware universe

Source: The Verge - All Posts

Article note: This is broadly exciting even as someone not doing a lot of gaming of late. A real full-market SteamBox. A new, standalone VR w/AR features headset, following the previous most interesting VR platform. The SteamOS ARM device implies Valve has an ALARM build tree in decent shape, which is a project that could really use some support and would be good for the greater device ecosystem. Also evidence for the "AMD's new ARM parts are partly for a next gen mid-market SteamDeck" theory.
The Steam Frame, Steam Machine, Steam Deck, and Steam Controller. | Image: Valve

In 2012, The Verge broke the news that Valve was making a game console. Gabe Newell himself dished on the company’s grand plans. By 2015, the “Steam Machines” had utterly flopped. But Valve never stopped quietly working on the idea. The Steam Deck handheld became the seed for a grand reboot of Valve’s console and headset ambitions. And now, Steam Machines are back.

@verge

Hello from Valve headquarters! We just saw the Steam Machine, the PC game console that’s not much bigger than a box of Kleenex. It’s coming alongside the sequel to the Steam Controller, the most customizable gamepad ever made. It’s like a Steam Deck for your TV with far more performance — enough to replace an Xbox or PlayStation in your living room, perhaps? But might be priced more like a PC… #valve #steammachine #steamcontroller #gaming #gametok

♬ original sound – The Verge – The Verge

The new Steam Machine is for your TV, the Steam Controller is for your hands, and the Steam Frame is for your face— and they might just be the start. The company hinted there might be more SteamOS hardware later on.

We’re tracking Valve’s rebooted hardware plans in this Verge StoryStream. And if you want to know how we got here, it also contains our original Steam Machine coverage — going back over a decade.

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Bantam Tools no Longer Sells CNC Milling or PCB Machines

Source: ToolGuyd

Article note: Bre has been selling half-baked, mediocre machines on the dream of knowledge-and-skill-free making for ages now.
Bantam CNC Milling Machine

It seems that Bantam Tools, owned by Bre Pettis of MakerBot fame, no longer makes or sells desktop CNC milling machines.

Formerly called the Other Machine Co, Bantam Tools launched a revised version of the Othermill in 2020.

See: New Bantam Tools Desktop CNC Milling Machine is Aimed at Prototypers

But now, their metal-machining and PCB-prototyping CNC machine business seems to have disappeared.

Bantam’s website now exclusively features art machines, stemming from their acquisition of Evil Mad Scientist nearly 2 years ago.

The company, on their website, says “we offer the widest array of art machines.” Prices start at $949 and – from what I can see – go up to $9,999.

They also have a special edition “EggBot” that can be used to decorate Christmas ornaments. That machine is priced at $699.

Bantam Tools ArtFrame Panorama

Bantam’s CNC plotters look impressive at the high end, and at least polished at the entry price level

I can’t help but wonder what happened here.

Hopefully this pivot will help Bantam eventually return to CNC router, milling, and cutting technologies.

Bre Pettis sold MakerBot to Stratasys in 2013 and acquired the Other Machine Co in 2017. Hopefully he still has a couple of tricks up his sleeve.

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