TerminalBytes
A blog by a backend dev who keeps over-engineering things in the basement and writing them down. Solar-powered iPhone OCR servers, Kubernetes clusters on N100 mini PCs, Kindle 7th-gens turned into homelab status displays, an iOS audiobook client built from scratch because none of the existing ones do what I want. If you’ve ever asked “why would you even do this?” about a project, you’re in the right place.
Also: I absolutely love my iPod Classic. Still the best music player ever made.
The “best mini PC” posts are the ones I actually bought from. The setup guides include real electricity-bill numbers and real Amazon prices. Recent rabbit holes: Strix Halo mini PCs doubling in price in six months , the Mac Mini being the wrong default for OpenClaw , and running Minecraft servers on a $400 mini PC for two years .
Recent Posts
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Kimi K3 torrent: download the 2.8T open weights
Direct torrent and magnet link for Moonshot AI's Kimi K3 open weights, plus what's actually inside the 1.56 TB and why you can't run it at home.
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Best Frigate NVR hardware in 2026 (post-Coral edition)
Coral is unsupported and cloud cameras keep leaking data. The Frigate NVR hardware I'd buy in 2026 - N100 mini PC, Pi 5 with Hailo, PoE cameras.
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Reverse Engineering the iPod Classic's Undocumented Mikey Chip
How I reverse engineered the iPod Classic's undocumented Mikey chip to get Apple's inline earphone remote working in Rockbox, 15 years into the port.
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Sanctuary: the browser-based Kindle jailbreak
Sanctuary jailbreaks a Kindle from the device browser, no computer needed. Firmware 5.16.4 to 5.18.3, how it works, and installing KOReader.
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Steam Machine alternatives: mini PCs that game for less
Valve's Steam Machine is $1,049. Here are the mini PC alternatives that play the same games for less, and when the Steam Machine still wins.
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Oracle Cloud free tier 2026: 4 OCPU/24GB cut to 2 OCPU/12GB
Oracle quietly halved its Always Free Ampere A1 tier to 2 OCPU and 12GB RAM. What changed, whether you'll be billed, and how to resize your instance.
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Run Gemma 4 on a mini PC, no GPU required
Gemma 4 26B-A4B runs at usable speeds on CPU-only mini PCs. The RAM math, real community benchmarks, and which mini PC tier fits each model size.
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My Arduino spins faster when Claude burns more tokens
Repurposed a broken Stirling-engine chassis as a desk toy that spins when Claude Code is busy and dies when I lock my Mac. Arduino + Kasa + Python.
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Kindle dashboard: 3 ways to build one in 2026
Turn an old Kindle into a low-power e-ink dashboard. Compare DIY jailbreak, TRMNL, and Home Assistant approaches with real hardware picks.
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Best mini PC for local LLMs in 2026 (Strix Halo era)
Strix Halo mini PCs doubled in price in six months. Here's what's worth buying for local LLMs in 2026, what to skip, and the 120W gotcha nobody mentions.