Jacen's Blog

My thoughts that I think other people deserve to read

Migrating from WriteFreely to 11ty

January 8, 2025

For someone who doesn't blog regularly, I change blog platforms a lot. I've used WordPress, Jekyll, WriteFreely, and now 11ty. We'll see how long this lasts for, but let me dive into why I made the change and how I have everything set up.

Pocket Gaming Time Machine: 3DS vs. Vita in 2025

January 4, 2025

The New Nintendo 2DS XL has been my daily driver handheld for at least a year at this point, and I still love it. I wrote a full review on it a while back, but the main takeaway is that it has a good enough library of games and homebrew to make it usable 14 years after it was released.

However, I've also heard PlayStation Vita users talking about how good their handheld was. As a portable tech enthusiast, I felt like I needed to get hands-on with the Vita to find out if it was really as good as people say it is.

After experiencing both devices, here's how they stack up years after their end-of-life.

The Nintendo 3DS: A Review in 2024

June 14, 2024

A while back, a coworker of mine challenged me to a starter shiny hunt in Pokémon HeartGold. This led to me dusting off my old Nintendo 2DS XL and my copy of HeartGold to work on the hunt.

Since then, it's become a regular staple in my pocket, going everywhere I go, and it has gotten more use than it probably did when I actually bought it. Despite Nintendo's best efforts to finish killing it off, I hold that it's still one of the best handhelds you can own. Let's review the 3DS family and break down why I've fallen in love with it all over again.

Pi-hole: The Ad Blocker That Falls Short

June 9, 2024

With the sunsetting of Manifest V2 well underway, ad block users must decide between switching to a Manifest V2 supported browser like Firefox, or finding an alternative ad blocker that doesn't rely on browser extensions. DNS-based solutions like Pi-hole are among the more popular alternatives I've seen recommended.

Unfortunately, as far as ad blockers go, DNS-based ad blockers don't really live up to some of the promises they make. In fact, I'd argue that DNS ad blocking really is the worst way to handle blocking ads. Let's talk about some issues with it.

Why I Dropped Qubes OS After Four Hours

May 24, 2024

Qubes is a project that has always intrigued me. Although I don't have a threat model that necessitates the level of compartmentalization it provides, the idea of organizing my computer usage into containers is appealing from an organizational standpoint.

All my previous attempts to daily drive Qubes were cut short for one simple reason: performance. I simply didn't have a device that could run Qubes at an acceptable level of performance.

However, now armed with a shiny new Framework 16, I was hopeful that I could actually run Qubes to a degree that I was happy with. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as smooth as I would have hoped.

Jacen's Framework 16 Review

February 22, 2024

A few years ago when I first heard of Framework and their 13" laptop, there were a couple notable dealbreakers for me. First, I had fairly recently purchased a laptop, and it was still running well enough that I wasn't in the market for a replacement. Second, it was missing two features that I really need in my laptops: a dedicated GPU and a number pad.

Fast-forward about two years later, when Framework announced the Framework 16, a laptop that checked basically every box I could imagine. The only question is, did it actually live up to my hype?

S3 Media Storage For Matrix Synapse

May 11, 2023

I noticed recently on my Matrix Synapse homeserver that my storage was starting to get a little bit full. I hadn't considered it in the past since the server sees very little use, but I decided the best way to solve the issue would be to move my media storage onto an S3-compatible service.

Unfortunately, I overestimated the number of useful resources that would exist to help me configure that, and underestimated how difficult it would be. Here's a quick rundown of what I learned after a full day of hair pulling and how to set things up for your own server.

Should You Give An Anime Girl Your SSN?

March 27, 2023

Tax Heaven 3000 has taken over the Internet, partly by continuing the ever-present trend of weird visual novels, and partly due to the ever-present meme of giving an anime girl your personal information.

At the same time, as a tax preparation program, it does need some of your personal information in order to properly fill out the forms. So, should you trust Iris with your Social Security number? There's only one way to find out.

Project Sekai Stamina Efficiency

January 31, 2023

Project Sekai, or Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage as it's called in English, is one of the plethora of rhythm games chasing after the success of franchises such as Love Live! and BanG Dream!, and is also one of the few to gain that same success. Like those other games, it features an event system, where players earn points for playing the game and compete on a leaderboard for the top spot. Unsurprisingly, it's attracted a number of diehard players who compete for those top spots and the bragging rights that come with it. Like most diehard gamers, playing the game as efficiently as possible is important to those players and their quest to the the very best. So, in the interest of hyperfixation, let's take a look at one of the resources those players use as they climb the ladder and aim for the top.

JumpStart/Reader Rabbit Disk Bypass

October 31, 2022

The company I work for has a program where we take old computers and load them with Windows XP and various educational games to send to schools in other countries. They aren't top-of-the-line workstations, but it's enough for basic computer literacy, as well as any lessons taught by the educational software.

Low-budget education endeavors tend to lead to sketchy and unorthodox solutions, so I felt it would be a good idea to document the various problems we rant into and the solutions we used to get around them. Maybe one day someone else will find them useful.

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