[jan-jaap]

An iRulu F20 from here: www.ebay.com/itm/383220863611

It's a high end for what it is, MP3 player that plays FLAC and has expandable storage. It's perfect for me.

It looks like a well-built unit. A little on the heavy side maybe (do intend to go running with it?). Not sure what the value proposition of a dedicated media player is in the age of the smartphone though.

I still have an iPod. It was engraved so it has sentimental value. This is why I ended up replacing the battery and the screen but still I don't use it anymore. I have a smartphone on me that can do the same thing plus streaming and internet radio.

So I bought a digital dock for it and connected it to an external DAC. I can even operate it using a Logitech Harmony. It's probably the best sounding iPod on the planet and still I don't use it because the music that's on it, plus all my other music, can also be streamed directly from my server to the DAC (Cambridge 851N, I'm super happy with that thing!).

Sentimental attachment is a bitch.

[Raion]

In the age of smartphones I don't like them, tbh. I use a Vita to play emulators and games portably because I like actual buttons, and the iRulu is just something for me to carry around and listen to music easily on.

I've considered returning to a dumb phone a few times, and may do so once I figure out a good alternative for mobile data that doesn't cost a fortune.

[Irinikus]

In the age of smartphones I don't like them, tbh. I use a Vita to play emulators and games portably because I like actual buttons, and the iRulu is just something for me to carry around and listen to music easily on.

I've considered returning to a dumb phone a few times, and may do so once I figure out a good alternative for mobile data that doesn't cost a fortune.

You've got a point there, that's why HP still makes their scientific and graphing calculators to this day!

In many cases it's better to make use of a purposely built device . (It's just better!)

[commodorejohn]

I've considered returning to a dumb phone a few times, and may do so once I figure out a good alternative for mobile data that doesn't cost a fortune.

For me the answer is "looking things up ahead of time." I never got into smartphones (I loathe touchscreens; I can cope with something like stylus tapping and Graffiti on the PalmPilot, more or less, but stubbing one's fingers blindly at virtual keys that are considerably smaller than my actual fingertips is only not my least favorite means of text entry in all of spacetime because those stupid arcade-style ring-around-the-alphabet UIs they use on "smart TVs" also exist,) and the transformation of half the people I knew into fondleslab zombies for about seven or eight years post-iPhone drove me absolutely bonkers and solidified my resolve to never touch the things.

(I vividly recall one time around 2013-2014 where a group of friends/acquaintances invited me to join them for lunch on a Sunday afternoon; we all sat down around the table in a little coffee shop, placed our orders, and then every single one of them proceeded to stare into their screens until I finally got fed up and left after eating my lunch in total isolation with four other people. It was quite an experience for an antisocial recluse like myself to somehow be the least antisocial person there.)

I still haven't found anything they offer that I'm really crippled by not having. If I need to go somewhere, I look it up and write down directions if necessary (this also gives me the opportunity to sanity-check Google Maps's directions, which are full of lies and hatred at least 30% of the time.) If anybody desperately needs to get ahold of me, or if I desperately need to get ahold of them, I have a normal cell phone. Everything else seems to be either stuff that I can do on my laptop while out and about, or stuff that can wait until I'm back home with Internet access.

[Irinikus]

It's not a computer, but it's computerised! (I received this in the mail today!)



Snuggly in place!



Now for the first test:







The result: (This thing's extremely fast)





It's slightly more done than I'd like, so I'll use level 4 as a default.

I would definitely recommend this product!

[Intuition]

Nice, a kitchen aid toaster!

I just added to the kitchen tools.

I bought one of those rotary cheese grater slicers.

Sure, it makes shredding cheese easy, but now I can grate some almonds,
some coconut, and some m&ms all together for some serious snack toppings.

Probably start with shredding onions, slicing tomatoes, and pickles for quick burger toppings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgG0aRS_6Gw

[nintendoeats]

I just discovered that buying a router is literally the hardest thing in the universe. Fended off people trying to convince me to buy a UDM I can't afford, finally ordered an Orbi RBK22 kit after spending way more time than I expected on this. Christ, it used to be so simple. Want faster router, buy faster router. Why do I have to specifically check whether there is a proper web interface for configuration? Who the hell wants to configure their network on a phone app? WHO THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA FOR MY ROUTER TO TALK TO THE LOCK ON MY DOOR?!

Ahem, I think this will suite my needs, possibly after buying another ethernet switch. /rant

[hamei]

WHO THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA FOR MY ROUTER TO TALK TO THE LOCK ON MY DOOR?!

Ahem, I think this will suite my needs, possibly after buying another ethernet switch. /rant

Cisco 3845 or 3945 ought to keep you occupied for a while

Plus you can stick an NM16ES switch module in it and kill two birds with one stone.  And a caching proxy in another slot and a VPN and a telephone system in another slot and all kinds of other interfaces. All kinds of good stuff you can do with those things ... much more fun than a dumb soho home device.

[nintendoeats]

Cisco 3845 or 3945 ought to keep you occupied for a while

Plus you can stick an NM16ES switch module in it and kill two birds with one stone.  And a caching proxy in another slot and a VPN and a telephone system in another slot and all kinds of other interfaces. All kinds of good stuff you can do with those things ... much more fun than a dumb soho home device.

But...I have no use for any of those things...I just need something to make the interwebs and the NAS available to the blinky boxes...

Interestingly, I originally misspelled NAS as NSA when I wrote that. Coincidence? I don't think so.

[jan-jaap]

Cisco 3845 or 3945 ought to keep you occupied for a while

Plus you can stick an NM16ES switch module in it and kill two birds with one stone.  And a caching proxy in another slot and a VPN and a telephone system in another slot and all kinds of other interfaces. All kinds of good stuff you can do with those things ... much more fun than a dumb soho home device.

Looks like that think is bigger, makes more noise and uses more electricity than my file server. Meh.

And they've been unsupported for > 3 years. There have been > 100 CVE's in Cisco IOS since. Cisco won't tell me which CVE's apply to these -- it's unsupported after all. :-/

Personally I use a small PCengines APU running pfSense as my router. I think it uses less than 5W and can keep up with my FTTH internet (750Mb/s up/down). If I wanted more power and more application services, I'd probably replace it with a NUC with ESXi and put everything in dedicated VMs.