Category: hardware
All the articles in the "hardware" category.
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Mac mini alternatives for local LLMs: M6, M5 and Strix Halo
Apple's M6 Mac mini and M5 Ultra Mac Studio versus 128GB Strix Halo mini PCs for local LLMs, from a 256GB M3 Ultra owner. Bandwidth, price, measured t/s.
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SpiderCat: jailbreak a Kindle on firmware 5.19.5
SpiderCat jailbreaks almost any Kindle on firmware 5.16.3 to 5.19.5 by opening a book. Patched in 5.19.6. Which tool fits your firmware, and how to run it.
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Jellyfin 12 on a mini PC: the spy-free TV setup for 2026
LG TVs got caught logging audio and scanning your LAN. How I run Jellyfin 12 on a $280 N150 mini PC as an offline-TV media box, with real upgrade numbers.
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Run Qwen3.8 27B locally: real numbers from my Mac Studio
Qwen3.8 27B benchmarked on a Mac Studio M3 Ultra: Ollama and llama.cpp numbers, the 1-bit quant tested, RAM math, and the hardware that actually fits.
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How to run DeepSeek V4 Flash locally (Mac, Linux, Windows)
How to run DeepSeek V4 Flash locally on Mac, Linux, or Windows: hardware that fits 167GB, llama.cpp setup, and realistic speed expectations.
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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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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.