@@ 15,49 15,60 @@ dedicated page](/cloudy-day.html).
> that history may be useful or entertaining or both.
> </span>
-Most recent update: `2023-07-06`
+Most recent update: `2024-02-13`
## Primary Desktop Setup
-> For those curious, the hostname is `woods`, after [the Bon Iver
-> song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUGKbuWMqgU).
+> <span class="tangential">
+> For those curious, the hostname is `snowcone`, after [the deadmau5
+> song](https://songwhip.com/deadmau5/snowcone).
+> </span>
+
+- A custom desktop build optimized mostly for largely-parallelized development
+ work and running RAM-intensive development tools, but also for light (eg.
+ Factorio, Oxygen Not Included, Dorfromantik, etc.) gaming (even at the crazy
+ resolution I push - see displays bullet point below).
-- [Beelink
- GTR6](https://www.bee-link.net/products/pre-order-beelink-gtr6-6900hx-first-quad-8k-mini-pc)
- (AMD 6900HX, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD). It's not perfect by any means - the fans are
- loud as hell and there's a really bizarre USB-induced stutter every so often
- that causes audio and input device dropouts. Speaking of USB, there's not
- nearly enough ports, either. But it gets the job done, and draws a relatively
- modest 30-50W under typical loads, compared with 120W+ at idle on the ITX rig
- this mini-PC replaced (though compared to 28W at full tilt for modern ARM
- machines, it's still hefty). I will likely, some day, look to replace this to
- resolve the noise and power draw concerns, but I'm not in a huge rush.
+ * AMD 7900 gently overclocked to about 5.6GHz
+ * 96GB RAM (2x Crucial 48GB DDR5 5600MT/s sticks)
+ * 2TB Samsung 990 Pro SSD
+ * AMD 7600 GPU (8GB)
+ * Cooling is handled by a huge array of BeQuiet products, including a Dark
+ Rock Pro 5 CPU cooler (it's nearly silent, indeed)
+ * Cased in a Thermaltake Tower 200
This machine runs Void Linux x86\_64-glibc (for now) on a ZFS root.
<details>
<summary>My dream device in this category...</summary>
I'm not even sure any more - I guess give me an ARM64 or RISC-V rig with
- 32-64GB of RAM and a GPU capable of playing things no more intensive than
+ 32-128GB of RAM and a GPU capable of playing things no more intensive than
Minecraft, and make it draw less than 30W at full tilt. Now make it run Linux
and/or FreeBSD and/or OpenBSD well, and let it be powered off DC easily to
- avoid AC inversion costs in DC-native environments. At this point, the only
- currently-available devices that would fit the bill are probably the
+ avoid AC inversion costs in DC-native environments (although I currently no
+ longer live in one, I intend to some day again in the future). At this point,
+ the only currently-available devices that would fit the bill are probably the
Qualcomm-based Windows Dev Kit 2023 ("Volterra"), which until very recently
had nightmarish problems booting Linux, and a Mac Mini with a modded power
supply (which still requires tons of work from the Asahi crew to be usable,
- so it's a bold bet). Or maybe one of those mythical RK3588-based SBCs that
- all seem to be vaporware...
+ so it's a bold bet). Or maybe something in the RK3588 family.
</details>
-- [LG DualUp](https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-28mq750-c-dualup-monitor)
- Monitor. I have the one with the less-fancy stand because the "normal" stand
- works better on the boat currently - though some day, I'd love to have that
- Ergo Stand and somewhere to mount it. Anyway, the 8:9 aspect ratio took some
- getting used to, but it's absolutely incredible. Think of this monitor as 2x
- 21.5" 2560x1440 monitors stacked vertically with no bezel between. I can fit
- an obscene amount of stuff onto the screen at a time, but it takes up *tons*
- less physical space than the 34" 21:9 monitors I used to use.
+- [2x LG DualUp](https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-28mq750-c-dualup-monitor)
+ Monitors with the LG Ergo Stands. Turned landscape and angled into somewhat
+ of a "curved field of view", this setup functionally resembles the ultrawides
+ I once used, but with a significantly better vertical aspect. The bezels in
+ the middle of my field of view are annoying, but the upshot is that I now
+ have two physical monitors, which can be window managed independently.
+ Keeping chats and other distractions (or documentation, or whatever) on one
+ monitor, and the primary task at hand (editors, games, whatever) on the other
+ is an excellent workflow, and something I didn't really get to do during my
+ 6+ year stint with ultrawide monitors previously.
+
+ These DualUps have more than exceeded expectations so far (so much so that
+ after 6 months on a single one, I bought a second), and the near-square
+ aspect ratio is <em>significantly</em> better than any widescreen aspect
+ ratio for my uses.
<details>
<summary>My dream device in this category...</summary>
@@ 67,36 78,50 @@ Most recent update: `2023-07-06`
this, but every time I poke at Dasung and Boox's offerings in the standalone
e-ink monitor space, they're just so horribly expensive that I can't justify
the things, especially with enough physical screen space to be useful to me
- for dev work (2x 13" or one 21" or bigger panel). This DualUp has more than
- exceeded expectations so far, so for as long as I'm on the IPS/LCD screen
- train, I think this DualUp (and maybe a second one in the future) actually
- already meets the bill for a dream setup.
+ for dev work (2x 13" or one 21" or bigger panel).
+
+ Honestly though, for as long as I'm on the IPS/LCD screen train, I think I
+ already have my dream setup. Thanks, LG, for thinking way outside the box!
</details>
-- My input devices are a [Keebio Iris
- keyboard](https://keeb.io/collections/iris-split-ergonomic-keyboard) running
- my own [KMK firmware](https://github.com/KMKfw/kmk_firmware) (this Iris was
- built in 2018 and has survived mostly unmodified since then, still using the
- original Hako Royal Clear switches; only the microcontroller has been
- upgraded, to a ItsyBitsy nRF52840), and a [Ploopy Classic
- trackball](https://ploopy.co/classic-trackball/) (which runs whatever the
- default firmware was). Occasionally I'll also pull out my [Apple Magic
- Trackpad 2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Trackpad_2) in space gray.
-
- This category is probably the most likely to change soon: the keyboard is
- likely to get replaced by either a [Corne
- LP](https://boardsource.xyz/store/5f2efc462902de7151495057) or a [MoErgo
- Glove80](https://www.moergo.com/). Both use low-profile switches, which I'd
- like to give a whirl to reduce typing fatigue. Those "Choc" switches are also
- used in the MNT Reform laptop (see below).
+- For keyboard input, I primarily use a [Unicorne
+ LP](https://www.boardsource.xyz/products/unicorne-LP) running a Dvorak-based
+ layout you can find [in my QMK config
+ repo](https://github.com/klardotsh/qmk_firmware/blob/klardotsh/main/layouts/community/split_3x6_3/klardotsh/keymap.c).
+ This was a huge change after about 5 years running the same [Keebio Iris
+ keyboard](https://keeb.io/collections/iris-split-ergonomic-keyboard) with my
+ own [KMK firmware](https://github.com/KMKfw/kmk_firmware), but it was time
+ for some lighter, shorter switches and a change of layout.
+
+ I'm starting to dabble with even-smaller keyboards: I'm starting to put
+ together a layout for an [Osprette MX](https://sammohr.dev/keyboards), and
+ have a custom board mostly based on Sam's Clog V3 coming soon.
+
+ > <span class="tangential">
+ > Trivia: I barely know how to type QWERTY on a desktop/laptop keyboard at
+ > this point. I've been using Dvorak for somewhere near 14 years that I can
+ > remember, meaning I'm now in the "half+ of my life on Dvorak" club. I've
+ > recently started considering some other layouts, perhaps [Hands
+ > Down](https://sites.google.com/alanreiser.com/handsdown/home), but the
+ > prospect of moving punctuation out of the top left at this point frankly
+ > terrifies me. This is also why a brief attempt to learn Colemak-DH didn't
+ > stick. I do, however, still use QWERTY on touchscreen phones, and believe
+ > it's excellently suited there.
+ > </span>
+
+- For pointer input, I recently brought my [Elecom
+ Huge](https://elecomusa.com/products/b07353dbp9) back into the fray after
+ many years in storage. Other devices in the rotation include a [Ploopy
+ Classic trackball](https://ploopy.co/classic-trackball/) and a [space gray
+ Apple Magic Trackpad 2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Trackpad_2).
- My webcam is [some Aluratek "4K"
thing](https://aluratek.com/products/live-pro-4k-hd-webcam-with-5x-digital-zoom-and-dual-stereo-noise-cancelling-mics)
I bought for about 7 billion dollars during the lockdowns when there was a
run on webcams, my microphone is an [Elgato Wave
- 3](https://www.elgato.com/us/en/p/wave-3-black), my desk lamp is [just
- horribly named but works
- great](https://www.amazon.com/Quntis-Computer-Reading-Auto-Dimming-Adjustment/dp/B08DKQ3JG1).
+ 3](https://www.elgato.com/us/en/p/wave-3-black), and for on-camera lighting,
+ I use two [RaLeno RGB key
+ lights](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BJD1GXCW).
- Bulk storage is on three [Samsung T7
Shield](https://semiconductor.samsung.com/us/consumer-storage/portable-ssd/t7-shield/)
@@ 104,37 129,67 @@ Most recent update: `2023-07-06`
## Laptops
-I technically have three of these, all in various states of dysfunction:
+My primary laptop is a [Lenovo Thinkpad X13S Gen4
+AMD](https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadx/thinkpad-x13-gen-4-13-inch-amd/len101t0081)
+with an AMD 7840U and 32GB of RAM. My only complaints about it in general are
+that it's a bit too big (11-12" is my ideal, the X13S is very close to 14") and
+the battery life is truly awful (~5hrs on a good day). It's otherwise
+excellent: plenty of port selection, fast USB-C charging, matte 16:10 aspect
+ratio screen, a fairly decent keyboard (I've used better, but almost never on a
+laptop), and a huge, smooth trackpad. (Unlike many Thinkpad fans, I couldn't
+care less about the trackpoint).
+
+> <span class="tangential">
+> For those curious, the hostname is `nocturnes`, after [the Silicone Soul
+> song](https://songwhip.com/silicone-soul/les-nocturnes).
+> </span>
+
+I also own an MNT Reform (the original thiqq version). If I'm being honest,
+this is more of a project car I get to take around the block a couple times
+every few months before something else about it breaks (or I just run out of
+RAM - 4GB on the stock model - to handle my workflows), whereas the Thinkpad is
+more of the trusty Honda Civic I can drive to work daily. This Reform has been
+plagued with countless problems and has honestly spent most of its life in
+storage bins or closets, which makes me deeply sad, because I really, really
+want a sturdy, repairable laptop with a mechanical keyboard and commodity
+battery cells to be reality. It's just not currently *my* reality.
+
+Elsewhere in my arsenal of portable machines, I still own two barely-usable machines:
- A [Samsung Chromebook
Pro](https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/chromebooks/12-14/samsung-chromebook-pro-xe510c24-k01us/)
- from 2017, which was bootloader-unlocked, made to run Coreboot, and runs Void
- Linux x86\_64-musl. While the 3:2 aspect ratio has always been incredible,
- the keyboard has always been unbearable in both size/layout and feel, and at
- this point, the 4GB of RAM and extremely slow Skylake m3 processor make the
- system largely unusable for "real work". It can run one or two tabs in
- Firefox before some start getting OOM-killed. Despite this, it's been my
- primary portable machine since the death of my XPS 13 some time in 2021, and
- was briefly my primary portable machine in 2017-18 prior to that XPS.
-
-- A [MNT Reform](https://shop.mntre.com/products/mnt-reform) which has had a
- rather perilous life so far (first, having the display chip fried shortly
- after assembly, and second, fully discharging its battery cells due to lack
- of use for a month or two and predating the protected battery boards that
- prevent such discharge). It's never actually been used outside the house yet,
- and I wish I had the time to change that right now, but I don't. Most
- recently it ran 9front so I could play with that. (I'm not smart enough to
- understand Plan9, I think. Or it doesn't fit my ideals of UX. Or maybe both.)
+ from 2017, which was bootloader-unlocked, made to run Coreboot, and still
+ barely runs Void Linux x86\_64-musl. While the 3:2 aspect ratio has always
+ been incredible, the keyboard has always been unbearable in both size/layout
+ and feel, and at this point, the 4GB of RAM and extremely slow Skylake m3
+ processor make the system largely unusable for any "real work". I'm not sure
+ what its future is.
- A [Lenovo
C630](https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/yoga/yoga-2-in-1-series/yoga-c630-13q50/88ygc601090)
fold-back Qualcomm-based ARM laptop. It has at various points run Gentoo and
Void Linux, but it's never been usable in any state that wasn't plugged into
a USB-C dock with ethernet. It's been completely unused since late 2020, so
- at this point I doubt the battery works, and the OS will need fully
+ at this point I doubt the battery works for long, and the OS will need fully
re-imaged. (If you, dear reader, can put this thing to better use, it's yours
for the price of shipping anywhere in the US).
+
+## Servers
+
+Most of my services are hosted on a small fleet of Linode (er, "Akamai Cloud" -
+whatever, corporate) VPSes, all running Alpine Linux and [managed with
+Terraform](https://git.sr.ht/~klardotsh/klar.sh/tree/master/item/terraform),
+though all config and state management is currently manual (no Nix, Kubernetes,
+etc. here - I use those when I'm paid to. Ever hear about how [cobblers'
+children have no
+shoes](https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/159004/the-cobblers-children-have-no-shoes)?).
+
+A few things run on a [Raspberry Pi
+4B](https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/) here at home,
+notably, [Home Assistant](https://www.home-assistant.io/) to control a litany
+of Zigbee devices (light bulbs, plugs, temperature/humidity sensors, etc).
+
## Phones
> <span class="tangential">
@@ 145,60 200,95 @@ I technically have three of these, all in various states of dysfunction:
> FUCK SMARTPHONES.
> </span>
-Okay, now with that out of my system... I currently use a [Moto G Stylus
-2022](https://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_moto_g_stylus_(2022)-11282.php) because
-it's what I could reasonably source locally on short notice (that would have an
-unlockable bootloader) when my old Pixel 4a's GSM radio kicked the bucket and
-refused to stay connected to towers anymore (the USB-C port was pretty shot,
-too). Ironically, I've never had time to bother with de-Googling this phone so
-the unlockable bootloader became moot anyway. This is the first phone I've used
-the stock Google Creepware ROM on since 2017, and it comes with some serious
-ups and downs. It brings two Nolan Lawson articles [^1][^2] to front of mind,
-for sure.
+Okay, now with that out of my system... I currently use a [Pixel
+7a](https://store.google.com/us/product/pixel_7a) which runs
+[crDroid](https://crdroid.net) with [MicroG](https://microg.org) and no Google
+services. It perpetually brings two Nolan Lawson articles [^1][^2] to front of
+mind, for sure... especially since I actually have to keep my prior phone, a
+Moto G Stylus running stock Googled Android, around to log into certain systems
+at work. Sigh. (yes, YubiKeys exist, yes, I used to use them at every startup
+job I held between 2018-23, no, the enterprise org I now work for doesn't allow
+them as replacements for the closed-source auth stack we use. Sigh again.)
[^1]: [Living With An Open Source Phone, 2017](https://nolanlawson.com/2017/11/27/living-with-an-open-source-phone/)
[^2]: [Tech Veganism, 2019](https://nolanlawson.com/2019/05/31/tech-veganism/)
-Also somewhere in my piles of rotting tech shit are the old Pixel 4a (I thought
-I'd want to pull files off of it, in almost a year now I never have bothered),
-three PinePhones (they're all slow, fragile, horrible shit, on both the
-hardware and much of the software sides, don't buy them), some other old Moto
-phone I killed, and... probably other stuff. Cell phones are by far the most
-fragile tech gear I've ever encountered: I've probably killed a dozen or so in
-the past decade, and at this point I buy the cheap shit I know is only designed
-to last a year or two anyway, because I know from experience that _not even the
-more expensive stuff outlives it anyway_.
+Also somewhere in my piles of rotting tech shit are three PinePhones. They're
+all slow, fragile, horrible shit, on both the hardware and much of the software
+sides, don't buy them.
+
+## Other Gadgets
+
+- I am still frequently found wearing a [Pebble 2 smartwatch from
+ 2016](https://www.wareable.com/smartwatches/pebble-2-review), before
+ smartwatches pivoted to being health trackers (I don't care about this) with
+ LCD/OLED displays (I actively don't want this) and short battery life (this
+ Pebble 2 which has been abused to hell and back, including spending 2 years
+ in a box with zero charge whatsoever, still gets 3-5 days on a charge). At
+ one point I tried moving to a [Watchy](https://watchy.sqfmi.com/) as a
+ replacement, but at the time, the device was far too fragile and the software
+ too buggy. I no longer own the Watchy, and frankly, would happily buy a
+ new-old-stock Pebble 2 at its original list price even today. It, and the
+ Pebble Steel I owned before it, is still the gold standard in smartwatches to
+ me.
+
+ Alas, my next watch purchase will almost certainly not be a smart one given
+ the Watchy's fragility (portable devices in my life often get tortured
+ mercilessly) and Pebble being a long-gone company: it will be a dumb watch,
+ possibly a [mechanical
+ watch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_watch).
+
+- I still own a [reMarkable v1 tablet](https://remarkable.com/). It gets very
+ little use these days other than as an occasional EPUB reader. Bloated
+ software updates have made this usecase unbearably slow and bug-ridden on
+ this device; it's pretty clear this v1 is bound to become e-waste unless I
+ can figure out an alternative OS situation for it. If you know of ways to
+ turn a reMarkable v1 into a better e-reader (and ideally not *completely*
+ nuke the stylus, though I use it fairly rarely), please [get in
+ touch](/contact.html)!
+
+- I still own a Kindle Paperwhite from about 2015. At this point I have no idea
+ if it even boots: about once a year, I get it out of storage and charge it,
+ and then promptly decide to read on some other device (or no device... I'm
+ bad about reading, y'all). If you know of good uses for a nearly-decade-old
+ Kindle Paperwhite (maybe they're rootable now and can be made to run
+ alternative firmwares?), please [get in touch](/contact.html)!
## Audio
-Ahhhhh this rabbit hole. I've dabbled with everything from onboard headphone
-jacks on terrible PC motherboards to headphones that retail for $4k USD. These
-days my stack sits between those extremes, and is a series of compromises
-mandated by cost, space, and power usage (the latter two particularly being
-functions of my living space on a sailboat).
-
-I use four IEMs:
-
-- [Symphonium Meteor](https://www.symphoniumaudio.com/pages/meteor)
-- [Unique Melody MEST MkII](https://www.uniquemelody.org/products/mest-mkii)
-- [Raptgo Hook-X](https://www.linsoul.com/products/raptgo-hook-x)
-- [Truthear Zero](https://truthear.com/products/zero)
-
-... through two dongle-style DAC/amps:
-
-- [Lotoo Paw S2](https://www.lotoo.cn/english/Hi_Fi_Player/PAW_S2/)
-- [Cayin RU6](https://en.cayin.cn/features/7/124/488.html)
+> <span class="tangential">
+> Beware the rabbit hole that is ["audiophile"
+> culture](https://klar.sh/living_thoughts/audio_gear_audiophilia.html). I own
+> what I own because it performs well and otherwise scored well on my personal
+> rubric in every category I cared about, including repairability. I don't
+> necessarily endorse _you_ buying the hardware I use, and if you do snag any
+> of this stuff, I definitely endorse finding used deals on one of the many
+> audio gear marketplaces. You can save hundreds to thousands of dollars.
+> </span>
-It does the job given the circumstances. I've grown to miss over-ear
-headphones, though - I still own [HifiMan
-Sundaras](https://store.hifiman.com/index.php/sundara.html) and might get back
-into them soon.
+When at my home office, I listen to either my [Edifier R1280T
+speakers](https://edifier-online.com/us/en/speakers/studio-r1280t-2.0-powered-bookshelf-speakers)
+or one of a few [ZMF over-ear headphones](https://www.zmfheadphones.com/) I
+own, with digital-to-analogue translation and headphone amplification handled
+by an [RME ADI-2 DAC FS](https://www.rme-usa.com/adi-2-dac.html). At this
+point, barring an upgrade to the speakers (I'm eyeing some KEF Q150s or Polk
+ES10/ES20s some day), my home office audio stack is considered "complete
+enough". I'm mostly done trialing too much new gear and happy with where I've
+landed.
+
+On the go, I listen to [Truthear Zero IEMs](https://truthear.com/products/zero)
+via a [Qudelix 5K](https://www.qudelix.com/products/qudelix-5k) DAC/amp (which
+works as both a USB-C device and a Bluetooth sink). I may consider adding
+another IEM or two to this list eventually, but otherwise am, again, largely
+happy with where I've landed.
-I had a "my dream setup" section written here, but (1) my markdown processor
-chokes on handling markdown inside a `<details>` element (presuming, I guess,
-that it's not markdown inside an HTML element), and (2) it was half as long as
-this entire page, so I'll kick that to its own article at some point. tl;dr:
-Over-ear headphones, but not those that break the bank - or my neck.
+> <span class="tangential">
+> I've also crowdfunded the [Tangara portable media
+> player](https://www.crowdsupply.com/cool-tech-zone/tangara), which I hope
+> will help me use my phone for fewer tasks, and use open-source task-dedicated
+> hardware for listening to music on the go. Also, it was just nice to support
+> an internet pal's OSHW venture :)
+> </span>
## Software