whs's recent activity
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Comment on Musings on "Developer Mode" in ~comp
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Comment on My guess and opinion on the common blockers to Linux adoption in ~tech
whs LinkMy work machine run Arch on WSL2. I'm happy now that I can simply pretend that I work in a Linux environment and I don't have to administrate Windows too much past winget. Nowadays I don't...My work machine run Arch on WSL2. I'm happy now that I can simply pretend that I work in a Linux environment and I don't have to administrate Windows too much past winget.
Nowadays I don't recommend people to run Linux desktop. Back when Compiz & Kiba Dock was a thing, people thought Linux interface was ahead of Windows, but I believe Microsoft didn't actually try. With Windows 7 and later I feel like they actually gave it a try and it surpassed Linux in many areas (while adding antifeatures in the process). Personally I run MATE - I feel like GNOME 2 was the best Linux experience I had, and MATE felt exactly like that, which also means it haven't improved much in the past decade.
I tried donating to MATE Patreon, which I think the entire amount I paid is more than a Windows license, but it doesn't feel like it mattered. Fractional HiDPI doesn't work, Xorg use the lowest refresh rate across monitors, Qt apps use white font on white UI because it didn't care that my GTK is dark themed, WebP/AVIF images not previewing. At this point I gave up - if there's a Linux desktop suite that is paid, yet freedom friendly and be as good as other commercial competitors I might have paid. I suppose that is what stopping people from Linux too - they don't have problem paying for Windows or Apple tax, why use an inferior operating system to cheap on cost and waste their time.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
whs (edited )LinkI think it was some comment on Tildes that got me hooked to FarmRPG about 2 months ago. With many RPG games with quests, I dreamt of making an auto solver for those games. I tried making one for...I think it was some comment on Tildes that got me hooked to FarmRPG about 2 months ago.
With many RPG games with quests, I dreamt of making an auto solver for those games. I tried making one for the second league of Old School RuneScape, but I don't like to build the dataset so it didn't work out.
Turns out for FarmRPG there's a site called Buddy.farm that has all the info I need. They even have an open GraphQL endpoint, but with how much I'm querying I'm avoiding that and I use the cached JSON instead.
The first solver I did when I started playing was an OpenWebUI tool that fetch data, so I can ask question about the game to LLM. It worked for really early game (before sawmill silver become online). As with any LLM, it lose context fast and OpenWebUI tool calling is either non-native or buggy.
Then I try n8n as it turns out quests and inventory list is important. I use Gemini 2.0 to extract quest list and item list from HTML (which I copy in by hand) to Google Sheet, then feed them to Gemini 2.5 Flash to help me solve them, with buddyfarm as tools. This approach is very unreliable and I think feeding the entire inventory to LLM doesn't work well.
The third version I wrote it in Go, which connect to the Sheets I made and try to solve it with hand written item cost. It worked really well and I made a lot of progress in game quickly. I then realize the bottleneck is now that game data is outdated very fast and Gemini is too slow and manual.
The fourth and current version is a Firefox extension. It runs a content script to parse the pages (it do not have UI or send any request to the game, only to buddyfarm). Then I rewrote the solver with recursion. For example, if a quest needs White Parchment, it will look into the crafting recipe and know that obtaining Feather slightly advances the quest. It does have limitations, but I'm satisfied of it knowing that I don't have immediate solution to many of them without exploding the search tree.
Currently I'm working on a void avoidance feature. The game has a per-item inventory cap, which the solver ignores and lots of items are permanently lost. The way I think to solve this is to find a way to remove those items from your inventory first, then retry the same action. Turns out balancing the item sink is very hard. Buddyfarm doesn't have item sell price (it does, but only in GraphQL and not json) and some actions do not generate any tracked resource - giving them to NPC for relationship XP, for example.
The code is on my GitHub by the way.
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Comment on What's your go-to hot sauce? in ~food
whs Link ParentI find the other Tabasco not up to my Thai taste bud. The garlic one too light (I add like 5% of the bottle and it is still not spicy), the Hanabero one taste exotic, I don't like the green one,...I find the other Tabasco not up to my Thai taste bud. The garlic one too light (I add like 5% of the bottle and it is still not spicy), the Hanabero one taste exotic, I don't like the green one, etc. Haven't try their Sriracha though - afterall why would I buy a non-Thai Sriracha.
I tried the original Tabasco with everything Thai-Chinese food I got bored of the original flavor. It's like an override button for flavor. Turns out it goes really well with egg fried rice that I can't live without it now the same way Uncle Roger can't live without MSG. Noodle soup - don't do it. Pad Thai & Pad See ew - it's ok but I think Sriracha is better. Stewed Pork Knuckles - it's really good, the dipping they serve in many shops are vinegar + chilli anyway so it's just the same thing but even better.
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Comment on CGA-2025-09 🕹️🚂 INSERT CARTRIDGE 🟢 The Last Express in ~games
whs Link ParentPersonally I played all Monkey games with walkthrough and find it very enjoyable (except for EMI), probably more than without it and getting lost in the game. It'd help too if I were told that the...Personally I played all Monkey games with walkthrough and find it very enjoyable (except for EMI), probably more than without it and getting lost in the game. It'd help too if I were told that the game is safe to randomly talk to people, but only on the ScummVM version as you could skip the walk to not waste time.
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Comment on CGA-2025-09 🕹️🚂 INSERT CARTRIDGE 🟢 The Last Express in ~games
whs LinkWould a walkthrough be recommended for first playthrough of this game? I don't like the "you've been eaten by a grue" or "use a literal monkey wrench on the pipe" in old games, and so for those...Would a walkthrough be recommended for first playthrough of this game? I don't like the "you've been eaten by a grue" or "use a literal monkey wrench on the pipe" in old games, and so for those types of game I'd say a walkthrough is required for enjoyment.
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Comment on Nantida Kaewbuasai - Wi Mahn Din (วิมานดิน) (1992) in ~music
whs LinkTry the live version with just a piano released this week. She still sounds amazing 34 years laterTry the live version with just a piano released this week. She still sounds amazing 34 years later
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Comment on What are some great actual comedies made in the last twenty years? in ~movies
whs LinkI recently watched Ted 1&2 on Netflix Comedies always perform well in Thai cinema - people outside large metros don't like complicated movies. I don't really watch them, but I ran into Bus Lane...I recently watched Ted 1&2 on Netflix
Comedies always perform well in Thai cinema - people outside large metros don't like complicated movies. I don't really watch them, but I ran into Bus Lane (2007) on YouTube (legally) and I already watched it twice. The movie is set entirely on a bus, which turns out with a colorful cast you could make it work.
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Comment on Question - how would you best explain how an LLM functions to someone who has never taken a statistics class? in ~tech
whs LinkNot exactly the same question, but I was reading on how Diffusion models work. Diffusion models generate text, but unlike traditional models they generate it in random order so you could...Not exactly the same question, but I was reading on how Diffusion models work.
Diffusion models generate text, but unlike traditional models they generate it in random order so you could parallelize it. Inception Mercury could reach 900 token/sec with this technique. I thought that was crazy, you can't write things from the middle.
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Comment on Tilde is kill? in ~tildes
whs (edited )Link ParentAWS Route53 allows for IAM policy that matches the name the user is allowed to write using conditional policy. I set it to _acme-challenge.* + type TXT Policy document { "Version": "2012-10-17",...AWS Route53 allows for IAM policy that matches the name the user is allowed to write using conditional policy. I set it to
_acme-challenge.*+ type TXTPolicy document
{ "Version": "2012-10-17", "Statement": [ { "Effect": "Allow", "Resource": [ "arn:aws:route53:::hostedzone/*", "arn:aws:route53:::change/*" ], "Action": [ "route53:ListResourceRecordSets", "route53:GetChange" ] }, { "Effect": "Allow", "Resource": [ "arn:aws:route53:::hostedzone/*" ], "Action": [ "route53:ChangeResourceRecordSets" ], "Condition": { "ForAllValues:StringLike": { "route53:ChangeResourceRecordSetsNormalizedRecordNames": [ "_acme-challenge.*" ] }, "ForAllValues:StringEquals": { "route53:ChangeResourceRecordSetsRecordTypes": [ "TXT" ] } } }, { "Effect": "Allow", "Resource": "*", "Action": [ "route53:ListHostedZonesByName", "route53:ListHostedZones" ] } ] } -
Comment on Recommendation Request: New Mouse in ~comp
whs Link ParentI'd second this. I'm using SteelSeries Prime Mini in its 3rd year, which is too small (but I bought it because MX Master 2s was too big). The mouse show almost no sign of wear except the shininess...I'd second this. I'm using SteelSeries Prime Mini in its 3rd year, which is too small (but I bought it because MX Master 2s was too big). The mouse show almost no sign of wear except the shininess and dust buildup in the side buttons.
The rubber (plastic?) feet doesn't seems to wear and it seems to have notch for removing the feet (although idk if they sell replacements). And the button use light sensor so it should be more resistant to double clicking.
The only two things I didn't like it are the size, and it's quite loud even though the mechanism is optical based.
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Comment on Brazil's publicly funded payment system is pretty cool in ~finance
whs LinkDuring the Fintech disruption, Thai banks were afraid of disruption from the Fintech startups, with how AliPay and WeChat Pay succeeded in China. They jointly launched PromptPay which, once a...During the Fintech disruption, Thai banks were afraid of disruption from the Fintech startups, with how AliPay and WeChat Pay succeeded in China. They jointly launched PromptPay which, once a major bank subsidized the transfer fee, all banks now do and so intraborder transfers are free up to 500k baht (but you can just do multiples)
The effect is now people go cashless with some shops also go cashfree (although credit card accepted with minimum 100-1500 baht - Thais don't like any fee).
The government uses this data to detect tax dodging and so some mom and pop shops that don't pay tax no longer accept QR payment.
As for tourism, you can now buy a prepaid card that is combined with an app you can pay like a local now. Thai people using some banks also can use PromptPay cross border with merchants accepting LAO PAY, Singapore's NETS and some Japanese merchants accept Thai QR. Some banks are also part of the AliPay+ or UnionPay QR payment network and their EDC does accept those payments. There are no fees, which are hidden into the exchange rate.
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Comment on Applying Chinese Wall Reverse Engineering to LLM Code Editing in ~comp
whs LinkHi Tildes! Last month skybrain posted The Common Pile - a LLM model that are trained from openly licensed data. I posted that it might not pass my threshold, as it may still output copyright code...Hi Tildes!
Last month skybrain posted The Common Pile - a LLM model that are trained from openly licensed data.
I posted that it might not pass my threshold, as it may still output copyright code without proper attribution, but at least it might be possible to attribute to the entire training dataset. However, as the training set is small you can't expect much quality from the model - it's a PoC not something you would actually use. I then realize that you could use another LLM to coach the weaker model.
So, instead of writing a comment on that thread, or a blog post, I set on figuring out how to write my first paper.
The short summary is in the benchmark, I managed to improve Comma by ~20% by asking Gemini 2.5 Pro to write a detailed task description.
Would I use this? I think there are two problems left to solve
- I need a better model than Comma. Right now it can't even get the Fast Inverse Square Root algorithm right. Maybe how Starcoder2:Instruct was made could be applied to make Comma:Instruct?
- Which tool to implement this? It is some work to implement a new mode in the AI coding tools, so I need a tool that works well with self-hosted models and open source. Maybe Aider/Roo Code? I tried Claude Code last night and it didn't write a single line of code with Gemma3:27b with 72k context window.
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Applying Chinese Wall Reverse Engineering to LLM Code Editing
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Comment on Home-lab set-up ... Docker vs native servers? Pros and cons of each? in ~comp
whs LinkBefore Docker every time I do a major OS upgrade it becomes an issue, especially if you try softwares that are not coming from the OS package manager. After Docker the OS is just the platform for...Before Docker every time I do a major OS upgrade it becomes an issue, especially if you try softwares that are not coming from the OS package manager. After Docker the OS is just the platform for running Docker itself and it become a lot safer to upgrade. The only problem is that by default when you
apt-get upgradeit upgrades Docker (as it is just another package) and all of your containers get forcefully terminated while the Docker daemon restarts. I'm not sure if persisting container is out of beta, but it is not currently on by default in latest Debian -
Comment on What are your AI-generated guilty pleasures? in ~tech
whs LinkAnything LLM is a guilty pleasure. Reddit and Twitter as we used to know died for this. The AI companies scrape every single thing on the internet that is not nailed down to build a massive...Anything LLM is a guilty pleasure. Reddit and Twitter as we used to know died for this.
The AI companies scrape every single thing on the internet that is not nailed down to build a massive training dataset and a new billion dollar industry. As a response, Reddit and Twitter were closing down ways people can get their data out without licensing them for a fee. Smaller players (who we can't figure out the names now) even scrape the internet at a very high rate that sites are putting up captcha to stop it or risk crashing the site themselves.
Every time I use LLM I'd think is it worth killing reddit for this? But if it already exists you can't singlehandedly stop the world's fastest growing product of all time anyway.
As someone who open source some of my code (that probably only a handful of folks will use) I'm also not happy that my code license only asks for one thing - give me credit - and get ignored and sucked into all the LLM anyway. But coding with LLM remove the boring part out of it so it's tempting to use it. My rule for now is nobody gets to see LLM generated code that doesn't 100% look the same way I'd write it or I'll just write it by hand, but I'm not happy that it would mean if that code is public I'm creating new training materials for LLM for free anyway.
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Comment on OpenAI to release web browser in challenge to Google Chrome in ~tech
whs Link ParentI can say the other side of that. I worked on enacting that policy two months ago, but it didn't end up going live as the primary reason to do that was deprioritized. In enterprise, Chrome is the...I can say the other side of that. I worked on enacting that policy two months ago, but it didn't end up going live as the primary reason to do that was deprioritized.
In enterprise, Chrome is the only browser that has "write once, run everywhere" policy enforcement. (Maybe Edge does too, but we aren't Microsoft shop so I didn't find out). You set policy in Google Workspace (doesn't cost money unless it is on ChromeOS) which is then enforced on all desktop and mobile platforms with Chrome. You don't even need a MDM to control some settings - users simply just log into their corp google account to be enforced (you'll need MDM to enforce it on other profiles and incognito).
Compare that to Firefox where you'd need to ship a group policy (we don't have AD), and translate that policy to whatever format Mac, Android and iOS uses by hand without a GUI. Now you can see why enterprises love Chrome.
I use Firefox myself, I was heartbroken but it had to be done in the name of enterprise security.
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Comment on OpenAI to release web browser in challenge to Google Chrome in ~tech
whs (edited )LinkWith all these browsers building on Chromium, I fear of the incoming proprietary-fication of Chrome, or worse, "this website works in Google Chrome" (which if you're using Firefox you might...With all these browsers building on Chromium, I fear of the incoming proprietary-fication of Chrome, or worse, "this website works in Google Chrome" (which if you're using Firefox you might already have seen Google Workspace products limit the use of some features, and on Firefox Android it use legacy Google Search mobile UI).
We saw that in Android, when Amazon started to build the Fire phones Androids are getting more and more close sourced. The default apps you see on the "pure" Android phones today are not the same as the AOSP version. Now Google is also moving to Cathedral model where they'd only do Android source drops instead of developing in the open.
We saw that in VSCode, where Cursor have used their code to build a competitor. Microsoft's proprietary extensions that used to work with open source builds now strictly enforce their TOS and only work in Microsoft's official builds. Sure it is Microsoft's right to do that, but if you were using VSCodium for privacy you're getting worse experience because Cursor exists.
And then there was Red Hat Enterprise Linux, that they hate what Oracle was doing with their RHEL clone and stopped the "open" source releases and killed CentOS.
And also many new open source software that already have changed their license (or start with newer license) just because otherwise the big clouds will just provide them as a service.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
whs Link ParentI replayed DS1 for 100% last month, and I'd say if you got the non-mule truck and you don't like the gameplay, you will not like the gameplay. The only reason to play is Mads Mikkelsen's and BB's...I replayed DS1 for 100% last month, and I'd say if you got the non-mule truck and you don't like the gameplay, you will not like the gameplay. The only reason to play is Mads Mikkelsen's and BB's story which even when I wanted to skip all the cutscenes I still think it is worth stopping to watch. I don't like Higgs' story either.
Spoiler for main quests in 2nd map (no story spoiler)
In 2nd map, the terrain get harder and harder. You're strongly suggested to farm materials to build roads as some cliffs & river is a long detour without road (although I completed the game without building most of it - the game cap the community contributions until you completed the game so you can't freeload. At points it make backtracking a lot harder). At some levels you'll notice that the game get easier and you no longer stumble when you kick stray rocks.
You also get mandatory quests to deliver things to several preppers before able to continue to the next distro center. Once the game send you northwest, things get harder as the MULE become terrorists and combat difficulty goes up (they wear helmets so no headshots, use real weapons and sometimes even mounted machine guns). Then you go to Mountain Knot city, which the preppers around are up high in snowy mountain including near the highest peak in the game, making traversal in vehicle impossible (there are actually routes, but you'll need to know as they're all not in straight line anymore. Battery power also become an issue)
At this point the game asks you to backtrack up and down the mountain, or you can just fast travel but you'll drop everything but your equipped shoes.
The game then send you south, which the snowy mountain get a lot more punishing with more defined vehicle routes that may not be obvious, with one quest carrying a sensitive explosive that when your bike bump into rock 5 times the game is over. BT also is back in this area while the game remove your BB so you can't detect them other than that you're in BT area and when they're chasing you. (If you hate BT, fighting the catcher may be easier as it get rid of all BTs in the area but there might be up to 3 lions, each requiring 4 hematic grenades in very easy. Some quests also reset the area so backtracking maybe annoying). And you'll have to backtrack once or twice. Finally, you're send to the furthest end of the map through a back-to-back area of BT and terrorists which take you to the last map.
The last map has two cities which is connected by an area with jellyfish BT and then normal BT. If you get caught here by normal BT the game is over and you'll have to restart the entire map (since you can't save in dangerous zone). By this point you can stealth kill BT though by just walking under them and press F.
Once you complete the final map, you get send back to where you came from in map 2 and the quest is to backtrack throughout the entire game to the very first map and very first city. This time, they removed all your structures (online ones is still available) and if you walk into BT zone you instantly get catcher fight without stealth. I planned my routes to avoid all the BT areas, but it seems that the bottom left BT area and the mountain area in 1st map is unavoidable.
After that, one last delivery and the game is over. Unless you want to deliver some pizzas...
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
whs (edited )Link ParentWhen I played the principal room section I think they captured how people feel about private school just right. The principal of my elementary school has a stretch limousine. Of course the student...When I played the principal room section I think they captured how people feel about private school just right. The principal of my elementary school has a stretch limousine. Of course the student would talk about the principal's spending compared to school lunch.
My high school is a public school, I haven't been to the principal's room but externally the principal's room and the rooms next to his room (meeting room and general affairs) are the only ones with wood wall panels.
Firefox has a Developer Edition which is actually the beta version.
The major difference is that the normal version of Firefox do not run extensions not signed by Mozilla. There is no "developer mode" - even if you go to about:config and disable it it does nothing. Presumably, this is due to how prevalent spyware installers in the past used to inject browser addons that add ads/toolbars to browser in early 2000 and now become extinct after browsers starting to block them and Chrome never supported toolbars. Some "antivirus" also injected browser extensions to do various things like adding trust meters to search engine result.