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site iconJeff GeerlingModify

Creator, writer, and open-source contributor, specializes in application scalability and DevOps.
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Bambu Lab is abusing the open source social contract

2026-05-12 22:00:00

Last year I said I'd probably never recommend another Bambu Lab printer again.

I still use my P1S, but after Bambu Lab started pushing their always-connected cloud solution as the new default:

  • I blocked the printer from the Internet via my OPNsense Firewall
  • I stopped updating the firmware
  • I locked the printer into Developer mode
  • I deleted Bambu Studio and started using OrcaSlicer

I had to do that to keep it under my control, instead of Bambu's.

HomePod mini feels like magic, but it's just good timing

2026-05-08 22:00:00

HomePod mini stereo pair demonstration with iPhone

Apple introduced the HomePod mini six years ago, in 2020.

I'm not one into smart speakers, but the feature that made me take a closer look was their ability to form stereo pairs, without any direct wired connection.

I know there are other speaker manufacturers with wireless speakers, but to my knowledge, Apple was just using AirPlay over WiFi... so how does it work?

Through the magic of buying two HomePods mini (pictured above), I found out. A video detailing the process is embedded below:

SBC Clusters are a terrible value, but they're fun anyway

2026-05-01 22:00:00

DeskPi Super4C SBC Cluster Board in Waveshare HomeRack Mini Rack

Pictured above is the new DeskPi Super4C installed in an 8U mini rack. The Super4C is a 4-node Raspberry Pi CM5 cluster board that solves two pain points I had with the older Super6C.

I was testing this board around the same time I helped kick off the SBCC 2026, the Single Board Cluster Competition for students. A dozen or so university teams squared off to run the best mini HPC cluster with a budget of $6,000, and a couple days to benchmark six HPC workloads.

Raspberry Pi Connect may control Windows soon

2026-04-30 01:00:00

Support for remote controlling Windows PCs may be added to Raspberry Pi Connect, Raspberry Pi's free remote access service.

Raspberry Pi Connect controlling a Windows 11 PC

When they announced Pi Connect in 2024, I speculated the service was launched in response to RealVNC's sluggish adoption of Wayland, leading to Pi users lacking a solid remote access solution after Pi OS 12 'Bookworm' was launched.

The service was helpful for those who had one or more Raspberry Pis to access, but the Pi Connect daemon didn't run on Windows or macOS at the time, so a true competitor to RealVNC (at least for basic use cases) it was not.

New 10 GbE USB adapters are cooler, smaller, cheaper

2026-04-24 22:00:00

For years, the best way to get 10 gigabit networking on laptops was to buy an expensive, large, and hot 10 GbE Thunderbolt adapter. With new RTL8159-based 10G USB 3.2 adapters coming onto the market, the bulky adapters might be a thing of the past. Just look at the size of the thing in comparison to my Thunderbolt adapters:

10 Gbps Ethernet adapters for Thunderbolt and USB

2.5G and even 5G USB adapters have been out for a while, but sometimes you need more bandwidth.

An Arm Mainboard for the Framework Laptop

2026-04-15 22:49:00

Using the repair-friendly Framework 13 laptop chassis, I've tested the low-end x86 option (a Ryzen AI 5 340 Mainboard), the fastest RISC-V option (DC-ROMA II), and today I'm publishing results from the only Arm Mainboard, the MetaComputing AI PC, which has a 12-core Arm SoC and up to 32 GB of soldered-on RAM.

MetaComputing AI PC Mainboard next to Framework 13 laptop

My Framework 13 has run on x86, RISC-V, and now Arm, making it something of a 'Ship of Theseus'.