2026-02-14 06:32:11
Our old apartment had one of those Leasam late 1990s air conditioning controllers that not only operated in a nonsensical way, but would constantly manage to lock itself to a specific temperature with no way to adjust it.
I grew up in Southeast Asia, and used dozens of controllers, remotes, thermostats, and other such devices for residential and industrial air conditioners. This was—and remains—the only class of controller to stymie me. Which is surprising, given how superficially simple it looks:
Anyway, we found ourselves faced with another of these electronic puzzles recently, and the temperature also managed to get stuck. Fortunately, we got some badly written instructions from the building, which I’ve cleaned up and referenced below:
Press and hold down the ZONES button.
While continuing to press ZONES, press the OFF button and release.
While continuing to press ZONES, press the ON button, then release both buttons together.
A permanent fix would be to rip this off the wall and replace it. If and where this isn’t feasible, this procedure will at least fix it until it breaks itself again.
By Ruben Schade in Sydney, 2026-02-14.
2026-02-14 04:27:44
Hey, how are you? I know you’re a busy person, on account of your use of certain tools. Therefore, I’ll cut to the chase. I’ll trim the fat. I’ll avoid the use of redundant language and superfluous prose. I’ll get to the point. I’ll ensure that my ideas are written succinctly, to ensure maximum consumption. Time is money.
I would like to ask you to please stop using “AI” tools to “summarise” my blog posts. I ask this for a few reasons, but the primary one is because they get things wrong. Then you post your “summaries” on sites like LinkedIn, and I’m inundated with people arguing over a point I didn’t make, or commenting on something I didn’t write.
The reason engineers put quotes around “summarise” is because these tools don’t. Likewise, “AI” is in quotes because it’s not intelligent. You need intelligence to summarise things. Read that sentence as many times as you need. The best an “AI” tool can do is shorten. You’re smart enough to understand the difference.
I expect this will be ignored. One can dream!
By Ruben Schade in Sydney, 2026-02-14.
2026-02-12 06:18:22
I have no need for a 3D printer. Funny, I just read that somewhere else, almost as though it was in the heading. 3D printers take up a lot of space, come with more consumables I’d need to purchase on a regular basis, would require me to learn 3D modelling, and the whole thing looks like a massive rabbithole that would feed into my obsessive side.
I also don’t need a 3D printer, because there’s nothing I “need” to 3D print. But there are some things that are quite nice.
A few of you pinged me directly with this computer expansion card stand, in response to a question from Mastodon. This looks great. I could have a stand for ISA, EISA, and VLB cards that face one direction, and another for PCI, and AGP cards.
Damien Payne designed an AT motherboard standoff for using older PC motherboards on a desk without the cards popping out. This would be super useful.
Damien Payne also designed an ATX motherboard standoff for the same reason.
ivtue designed Dan A4 H2O riser feet to let the case sit a bit taller for better airflow.
JenniferDigital designed a replacement Acorn Electron edge connector cover which I definitely don’t need. Cough, maybe.
Ryan Bosley took this a step further with an entire bottom fan shroud for the A4-H2O, permitting the installation of additional fans.
Nyar has reproduced that Darth Vader front panel that a lot of retrocomputer fans are obsessed with. Literally out first family PC had a similar case, so that’d be very tempting.
As I’ve previously shared, Liners World and Historical Ocean Liners both have some frankly jaw-dropping ocean liner models that would also be fun to paint. I feel like that would test the absolute limits of my 3D printing abilities.
But I don’t need a 3D printer. I really don’t. That’s a relief. Because if I needed a 3D printer, I’d have to get one.
By Ruben Schade in Sydney, 2026-02-12.
2026-02-12 05:10:40
Tasmania’s new Bridgewater Bridge in Tasmania opened in June last year in June, as reported by the Australian ABC Corporation at the time with Bridgewater Bridges over water as a Bridge:
The $786 million, four-lane Bridgewater Bridge has been opened to the public after more than two-and-a-half years of construction […] it has been spruiked by the state government as the largest transport infrastructure project in Tasmania, and replaces a steel lift bridge built more than 70 years ago.
Longstanding jokes about the name aside, it had a couple of major defects. The first of these was hinted at in the original article:
The bridge will open to vehicle traffic on Monday morning.
Okay, this is less of a defect than a massive, deliberate, and inexcusable oversight. The prior bridges had provision for rail, which this also omits. Spending more than 700 million dollars on a freeway crossing without any capacity or reservation for rail, in 2026, is frankly a baffling, short-sighted waste of taxpayer money, and my name isn’t even Frank.
This is the Tasmanian state government learning about induced demand the hard and expensive way. Road infrastructure is costly, both in construction and ongoing maintenance. Rail would have carried far more people between these population centres than two additional lanes of road traffic, and in a more sustainable (and dare I say, accessible, fun, and comfortable!) way. It would have offered a boost for regional tourism, too.
Whenever I hear an Australian claim that a state like Tasmania “is too small”, or has “too few people” to justify entry-level public transport, I remind them there are prefectures of Japan with smaller populations that have Shinkansen lines. Yes, these aren’t entirely comparable, but my point is that transport planning always comes down down to opportunity costs and priorities. Tasmania could have world class commuter rail, or even “light” rail today, if governments had the foresight and will.
This is what baffles me about Australia. Parts of the country have surprisingly excellent public transport; at least by Anglosphere standards. But then other places are actively setting their transport accessibility back, and touting it as a feature. But I digress.
Anyway, what about that second defect I eluded to earlier? This was also via the ABC:
A “non-minor defect” in the form of a “large crack” was found on one of the piers of the new Bridgewater Bridge, days before its official opening, right to information documents show.
The defect prompted a redesign and strengthening works over the following months, which the government described as “minor adjustments to meet long-term performance standards”.
If only cracks in government planning were as easy to patch! 🥁
As a complete aside, I’d love to go back to Tasmania. The last time I went there was with uni friends in the 2000s. Though I’d probably skip the Cadbury tour this time.
By Ruben Schade in Sydney, 2026-02-12.
2026-02-11 12:56:19
It had been at least five minutes since Clara’s father handed down an old computer. I kid, but it’s been amazing reminiscing with him over these old machines, and tinkering to get them all working again.
Our latest addition to the family is a slightly more modern box: an Athlon64 from 2005, built around an Asus K8V SE Deluxe motherboard and an amazing beige Antec case. Already I can see myself filling it up with all my spare optical and disk drives, and it becoming my primary Windows XP-era game tower.
There’s just one tiny problem. I’d go into more detail about the specifications of the machine and how it works, except it doesn’t. When you power on the machine, you’re greeted with an ominous error:
Bad BIOS checksum. Starting BIOS Recovery...
Checking for floppy...
Floppy not found!
Checking for CD-ROM...
It continues cycling between the floppy and (non-existent) CD-ROM with these error messages indefinitely, along with a shrill beep. One of the internal hard drives also sounded like a screeching bird, so I quickly disconnected that.
I tried booting from my usual DR DOS 6 recovery floppy disk, and I got a different error:
Floppy found.
Reading file "K8VSEDX.ROM"
File "K8VSEDX.ROM" not found on floppy disk!
Wow, so the machine clearly can’t even bootstrap itself. I guess it’s a good thing that it failed a checksum and even offers to do a restore. The only time I’ve well and truly bricked a desktop while performing a BIOS update was my original HP Brio when I was a kid, and no cajoling with my more limited knowledge at the time could convince it to boot.
Fortunately, at the time of writing both the ASUS support website and The Retro Web have live pages for downloading BIOS updates. So I downloaded the most recent version, renamed the extracted image to K8VSEDX.ROM, copied it onto a spare floppy, and tried booting again.
Looks encouraging:
Floppy found.
Reading file "K8VSEDX.ROM". Completed.
Start Erasing.../
Start Programing.../
Please turn off your system and power on again to get system back.
Alas, rebooting returned the same error.
I poked around the motherboard and documentation for any reference to read/write tab for the BIOS which some of my Pentium III boards have, but all I could find was a pin to short for resetting the clock.
I was about to call it quits on this board, as I don’t have the skill yet to remove surface-mount ICs, but then I noticed the BIOS chip was still in a socket for this generation of kit:
I peeled off the sticker, and saw a SST 39SF040 70-4C-NH IC. I went onto the usual auction sites and found a few for the princely sum of $10. I’ll drop one of these in and see if the onboard flashing utility works. If not, maybe I can flash a new one using my minipro and a suitable carrier.
An early Athlon64 board would be great! I didn’t know there were 64-bit machines with AGP; I thought they’d moved onto PCIe by that point.
By Ruben Schade in Sydney, 2026-02-11.
2026-02-11 06:52:40
I had so much fun talking indirectly with James and Zachary Kai about sandwiches yesterday, that I thought I’d do it again with some questions of my own.
At the risk of getting too sentimental, it was one of the last meals I had with my mum before she passed on. I’d made her a chicken sandwich with “the lot” as we say, and made one for myself too. The bread was a bit stale, the lettuce was more mushy than crisp, and we didn’t have our favourite Havarti cheese. But it was so good. I’d give a lot to have that with her again.
The best sandwich I think I ever bought was one at the former O’Brians outlet at Jelita, a tiny shopping centre near my old school in Singapore. I actually don’t even remember what it was; I just remember being exceptionally happy eating it as I stared out the window. It hit the spot. Forgive the 2010-era camera phone image!
A tiny bit of pepper and MSG in a tuna melt is incredible, as is dill on salmon. Otherwise I tend not to bother.
Everything bagels are wonderful, even with just a bit of cream cheese and that’s it. Alas, while there were some amazing bagels in Singapore, I’ve yet to find even a decent one in Australia. Maybe the kangaroos keep stealing them.
I’ll admit I’m not as much of a fan of burgers or hot dogs. I feel like the ratios are off. Behind every burger is a more convenient, tastier toasted sandwich waiting to be set free. This is not a hill upon which I’m willing to die, though I would certainly stand upon it. I think I’m mixing my metaphors again.
I think it has to be closed to really be considered a “sandwich”, but open melts under the grill in the evening are great too. Bit of cheese, some onion, and a dab of mustard; heaven.
Just be careful about dropping them, because you know for a fact the messy side will be what lands first.
Let me put it this way: go to a hot dog stand and ask for a sandwich, or go to a sandwich bar and ask for a hot dog, and see how far you get.
The only exception is if the “hot dog” is made with a plain slice of bread, like they have at Hammerbarn sausage sizzles in Australia. And even then, if you asked for a “hot dog” I expect you’d get odd looks.
BLTs, sadly. I can’t get over my visceral dislike of raw tomato. The consistency and texture remind me of having a gross cold, and I gag. Same for runny egg yolks.
Otherwise, I’m a bit of a sandwich maximalist. They’re almost always great, even the basic ones with a single ingredient like peanut butter. I draw the line at “jelly” though, it has to be either a proper jam or marmalade (did I mention texture is important to me?). We’re in the Commonwealth here, damn it!
“Finger sandwiches” also seem to be popular at industry events now too, perhaps because they come in their own wrapping and don’t require utensils. Even those taste pretty great after a day of meetings.
Watercres sandwiches are lovely. I’m one of those weird people who prefer the taste of margarine over butter, and it works a treat here.
I used to work down the road from a vegan bakery, and I swear their bread was utterly indistinguishable from “regular” bread made from butter. I guess it shows that technique, quality, and loving care are just as important.
When I was vegetarian I also got hooked on these “mock meat” bacon slices from the supermarket. They did not taste like bacon, but were super tasty in their own right on sandwiches. I still get them occasionally now, because they’re so damned crispy and light.
They didn’t for me, but they did for my sister. Provided the filling is generous enough, the crusts provide structural support and additional flavour. But there’s no judgement here if you’re a cutter. The correct way to eat a sandwich is the one that brings you the most joy.
Generally I don’t feel the need to supplement sandwiches with things, but a green salad and/or some salt and vinegar crisps are nice if I’m feeling fancy. Also corn chips, surprisingly.
I’ve also tried sandwiches dipped in soup. They’re not undelicious, but it ends up being a bit messier than I’d like.
Sandwiches aren’t boring! Or at least, they don’t need to be. They can be simple, complicated, familiar, exotic, or whatever you want. They’re all wonderful.
By Ruben Schade in Sydney, 2026-02-11.
