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HW Hacker Andrew "Bunnie" Huang on The Setup

63 points by shmichael 16y ago

thedjpetersen 16y ago
I like the fact that he focuses on protecting his hands. Kinesis keyboard+dvorak layout seems like a very good idea, and hopefully someday I will get to afford a kinesis keybard
- spudlyo 16y ago
  I just switched to a kinesis from my 1984 IBM AT keyboard, and I have to say I am quite liking it. After three weeks my typing speed is almost what it used to be though I still occasionally make mistakes with the enter/space thumb buttons. I can work hard all day and while my hands are tired at the end of it, they don't hurt.
- asimjalis 16y ago
  They have a full money back guarantee. Thing is, you'll never return it.
- stse 16y ago
  The Microsoft Natural keyboard is surprisingly good for its price. Despite being to wide I really enjoyed it before getting the Kinesis Advantage.
swah 16y ago
aka "bunnie", the guy who become famous for hacking Xbox, IIRC.
- _pius 16y ago
  yeah, OP should add "bunnie" to the title, as most people know him by that, I'd imagine.
  - shmichael 16y ago
    I'm probably clueless, but can't find any edit handle for this. Little help?
    - mrduncan 16y ago
      As far as I'm aware, only mods can edit titles once they're submitted.
    - pg 16y ago
      You can edit stuff you submit for some amount of time but eventually the edit link goes away. I changed it for you.
pvdm 16y ago
There. He pretty much summarize what's wrong with the iPhone. "I’m personally not a fan of the iPhone; the battery life sucks, it is too bandwidth inefficient and the virtual keyboard is pokey and requires you stay in dictionary words, which is terrible for typing borrowed-words in other languages and swear words in my own language. The iPhone is more of a toy for entertainment value and photo management, but that role is already filled by my Nintendo DSi and my camera."
- ableal 16y ago
  Also this part, for those not on unlimited data plans (most of the world, I believe): Blackberry is so bandwidth efficient [...] not exceed the allowance provided by a $25 fixed-rate international data plan. [...] iPhone [...] too bandwidth inefficient (I think that's the purpose of Opera-mini, very much misunderstood ...)
- CamperBob 16y ago
  He pretty much summarized what was wrong with the original 2G iPhone, except for the "requires you to stay in dictionary words" weirdness, which was never an issue to begin with. The point about foreign character sets may be valid, though. I also have no idea what "bandwidth inefficient" means. If the iPhone uses more bandwidth than most other smartphones, it's because it's actually being used, unlike most other smartphones. Battery life on the first model wasn't great, but I often run my 3GS for 2-3 days on a charge, which is fine by me. I'm not going to take it to the Moon, am I?
sachinag 16y ago
Sigh. "The most important aspect of this laptop is its display. It has a 1920 x 1200 15.4” TFT LCD." The new 15" MBPs max out 1680x1050 even with the additional option.
- jokull 16y ago
  He almost made me want to buy a Thinkpad. Why can't Apple do 15,4" with 1920x resolution? My dream laptop would be MBP unibody keyboard/frame, Intel 256GB SSD, 1920x1200, extra battery instead of SuperDrive.
ptn 16y ago
Pretty extensive, full of goodies.
Jun8 16y ago
"well-prepared" does not even start to describe this guy! He has links to all the devices and everything, so now I have to buy some of this stuff.
mey 16y ago
"my hands are too valuable to waste on a cheap keyboard."
ableal 16y ago
Well informed, full of good sense. Couple of points that stuck: an aftermarket Samsung 256 GB SSD I've seen a couple of sneers at those SSDs (which Apple also seems to use) as not the best performers. He may know better or just think they're good enough. (I can wait for the dust to settle.) The only Apple product I use is their tiny USB power adapter The one with the KindleDX looks even smaller - barely larger than a plug, my additional US-to-Euro plug adapter is about the same size. The small print says it's made by Flextronics. P.S. I was straining my eyes to figure if the scope in the photo was a Tektronix. The text says it is.
- jarek 16y ago
  He had a Crucial SSD which died on him, then ended up getting the Samsung part for its size, part for Samsung's vertical integration. http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=592 http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=592 http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=770 http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=770
  - initself 16y ago
    Same thing here. Got another Crucial for free and it's been going strong for about 4 months.
wyclif 16y ago
It seems strange to expend 80 MB of RAM just to play an MP3. I liked that bit a lot; iTunes is gigantic resource hog.
cdr 16y ago
Hard to believe the VX Nano is discontinued. I love mine, though not everyone loves the convertible scrollwheel. Hopefully the other models are somewhat comparable.
- mquander 16y ago
  You might want to check out the Anywhere MX. I have one and I can vouch for it being a very pleasant mouse. It looks extremely similar to the Nano in form factor, and has the same scroll wheel.
blasdel 16y ago
> I don’t personally use gmail, and I never will trust my email to a mail service that actively searches your email and tries to give you ads. Do the people still complaining about this six years later not use spam filters?
- spudlyo 16y ago
  I still complain about this, still refuse to use gmail, and SpamAssassin does a decent job of removing spam from my inbox.
statictype 16y ago
Nice. I like 'The Setup' and understand that he's looking for interesting people, not interesting setups, but all the same, I'm a little tired of seeing 'MacBook Pro with 30 inch cinema display'.
duck 16y ago
I also carry the ultraslim AC/DC combo adapter that works with every airplane power outlet I’ve seen to date. I only travel via plane a couple times a year and mostly try to sleep, but I had no clue that some seats offered power outlets. Now I do! That could come in handy one day. http://www.seatguru.com/articles/in-seat_laptop_power.php http://www.seatguru.com/articles/in-seat_laptop_power.php
- jarek 16y ago
  Heh. I've flown two times since 2001, both in 2008 on an A320 that had standard AC outlets nearly everywhere. Until I clicked that link and double checked, I had assumed the same was true of nearly every plane on every carrier in general -- I mean, it's 2010 -- and the 757 I will be taking in a month in particular. It isn't. Bummer.
initself 16y ago
I agree with almost everything Bunnie says, except: 1) I use Strawberry Perl instead of Cygwin. I'm scared of Cygwin. The only Unix utility I have on my Windows XP box is wget. http://strawberryperl.com http://strawberryperl.com 2) I can't get myself to jump to widescreen Thinkpad. I like reading everything as high up on the screen as I can. I'm worried about my neck!

63 points by shmichael 16y ago

I like the fact that he focuses on protecting his hands. Kinesis keyboard+dvorak layout seems like a very good idea, and hopefully someday I will get to afford a kinesis keybard

spudlyo 16y ago
I just switched to a kinesis from my 1984 IBM AT keyboard, and I have to say I am quite liking it. After three weeks my typing speed is almost what it used to be though I still occasionally make mistakes with the enter/space thumb buttons. I can work hard all day and while my hands are tired at the end of it, they don't hurt.
asimjalis 16y ago
They have a full money back guarantee. Thing is, you'll never return it.
stse 16y ago
The Microsoft Natural keyboard is surprisingly good for its price. Despite being to wide I really enjoyed it before getting the Kinesis Advantage.

swah 16y ago

aka "bunnie", the guy who become famous for hacking Xbox, IIRC.

_pius 16y ago
yeah, OP should add "bunnie" to the title, as most people know him by that, I'd imagine.
- shmichael 16y ago
  I'm probably clueless, but can't find any edit handle for this. Little help?
  - mrduncan 16y ago
    As far as I'm aware, only mods can edit titles once they're submitted.
  - pg 16y ago
    You can edit stuff you submit for some amount of time but eventually the edit link goes away. I changed it for you.

pvdm 16y ago

There. He pretty much summarize what's wrong with the iPhone. "I’m personally not a fan of the iPhone; the battery life sucks, it is too bandwidth inefficient and the virtual keyboard is pokey and requires you stay in dictionary words, which is terrible for typing borrowed-words in other languages and swear words in my own language. The iPhone is more of a toy for entertainment value and photo management, but that role is already filled by my Nintendo DSi and my camera."

ableal 16y ago
Also this part, for those not on unlimited data plans (most of the world, I believe): Blackberry is so bandwidth efficient [...] not exceed the allowance provided by a $25 fixed-rate international data plan. [...] iPhone [...] too bandwidth inefficient (I think that's the purpose of Opera-mini, very much misunderstood ...)
CamperBob 16y ago
He pretty much summarized what was wrong with the original 2G iPhone, except for the "requires you to stay in dictionary words" weirdness, which was never an issue to begin with. The point about foreign character sets may be valid, though. I also have no idea what "bandwidth inefficient" means. If the iPhone uses more bandwidth than most other smartphones, it's because it's actually being used, unlike most other smartphones. Battery life on the first model wasn't great, but I often run my 3GS for 2-3 days on a charge, which is fine by me. I'm not going to take it to the Moon, am I?

sachinag 16y ago

Sigh. "The most important aspect of this laptop is its display. It has a 1920 x 1200 15.4” TFT LCD." The new 15" MBPs max out 1680x1050 even with the additional option.

jokull 16y ago
He almost made me want to buy a Thinkpad. Why can't Apple do 15,4" with 1920x resolution? My dream laptop would be MBP unibody keyboard/frame, Intel 256GB SSD, 1920x1200, extra battery instead of SuperDrive.

ptn 16y ago

Pretty extensive, full of goodies.

Jun8 16y ago

"well-prepared" does not even start to describe this guy! He has links to all the devices and everything, so now I have to buy some of this stuff.

mey 16y ago

"my hands are too valuable to waste on a cheap keyboard."

ableal 16y ago

Well informed, full of good sense. Couple of points that stuck: an aftermarket Samsung 256 GB SSD I've seen a couple of sneers at those SSDs (which Apple also seems to use) as not the best performers. He may know better or just think they're good enough. (I can wait for the dust to settle.) The only Apple product I use is their tiny USB power adapter The one with the KindleDX looks even smaller - barely larger than a plug, my additional US-to-Euro plug adapter is about the same size. The small print says it's made by Flextronics. P.S. I was straining my eyes to figure if the scope in the photo was a Tektronix. The text says it is.

jarek 16y ago
He had a Crucial SSD which died on him, then ended up getting the Samsung part for its size, part for Samsung's vertical integration. http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=592 http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=592 http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=770 http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=770
- initself 16y ago
  Same thing here. Got another Crucial for free and it's been going strong for about 4 months.

wyclif 16y ago

It seems strange to expend 80 MB of RAM just to play an MP3. I liked that bit a lot; iTunes is gigantic resource hog.

cdr 16y ago

Hard to believe the VX Nano is discontinued. I love mine, though not everyone loves the convertible scrollwheel. Hopefully the other models are somewhat comparable.

mquander 16y ago
You might want to check out the Anywhere MX. I have one and I can vouch for it being a very pleasant mouse. It looks extremely similar to the Nano in form factor, and has the same scroll wheel.

blasdel 16y ago

> I don’t personally use gmail, and I never will trust my email to a mail service that actively searches your email and tries to give you ads. Do the people still complaining about this six years later not use spam filters?

spudlyo 16y ago
I still complain about this, still refuse to use gmail, and SpamAssassin does a decent job of removing spam from my inbox.

statictype 16y ago

Nice. I like 'The Setup' and understand that he's looking for interesting people, not interesting setups, but all the same, I'm a little tired of seeing 'MacBook Pro with 30 inch cinema display'.

duck 16y ago

I also carry the ultraslim AC/DC combo adapter that works with every airplane power outlet I’ve seen to date. I only travel via plane a couple times a year and mostly try to sleep, but I had no clue that some seats offered power outlets. Now I do! That could come in handy one day. http://www.seatguru.com/articles/in-seat_laptop_power.php http://www.seatguru.com/articles/in-seat_laptop_power.php

jarek 16y ago
Heh. I've flown two times since 2001, both in 2008 on an A320 that had standard AC outlets nearly everywhere. Until I clicked that link and double checked, I had assumed the same was true of nearly every plane on every carrier in general -- I mean, it's 2010 -- and the 757 I will be taking in a month in particular. It isn't. Bummer.

initself 16y ago

I agree with almost everything Bunnie says, except: 1) I use Strawberry Perl instead of Cygwin. I'm scared of Cygwin. The only Unix utility I have on my Windows XP box is wget. http://strawberryperl.com http://strawberryperl.com 2) I can't get myself to jump to widescreen Thinkpad. I like reading everything as high up on the screen as I can. I'm worried about my neck!