Catherine
@whitequark.org
catgirl shaped object
"A cat is valued for companionship and its ability to kill vermin."
"A cat is valued for companionship and its ability to kill vermin."
Pinned
Catherine
@whitequark.org
· Dec 23
this question is coming up a lot so i'll pin it
- replacement for github: codeberg.org
- replacement for github pages: grebedoc.dev
- easy ci runners for codeberg: codeberg.org/whitequark/n...
- replacement for github: codeberg.org
- replacement for github pages: grebedoc.dev
- easy ci runners for codeberg: codeberg.org/whitequark/n...
new episode of Crackhead Engineering crackhead.technology/contact-sale...
(although this entry is more "Crackhead Sales"... doesn't have the same ring to it, does it now?)
(although this entry is more "Crackhead Sales"... doesn't have the same ring to it, does it now?)
"Contact sales for complete package dimensions"
When the alternative to signing an NDA is
crackhead.technology
February 4, 2026 at 2:52 AM
new episode of Crackhead Engineering crackhead.technology/contact-sale...
(although this entry is more "Crackhead Sales"... doesn't have the same ring to it, does it now?)
(although this entry is more "Crackhead Sales"... doesn't have the same ring to it, does it now?)
Reposted by Catherine
for real, though. I'm looking for an affordable (definition flexible) place to live with these guys, starting march 1st. I can be normal. but I figure I might as well give the sales pitch of being weird and esoteric too. really any place that I can be reasonably comfortable with the cats works, tbh
any cat-friendly temples in the seattle area looking for an oracle
February 3, 2026 at 3:27 PM
for real, though. I'm looking for an affordable (definition flexible) place to live with these guys, starting march 1st. I can be normal. but I figure I might as well give the sales pitch of being weird and esoteric too. really any place that I can be reasonably comfortable with the cats works, tbh
Reposted by Catherine
Reposted by Catherine
TIL about Autoconf quadrigraphs and I'm screaming
![8.1.6 Quadrigraphs
When writing an Autoconf macro you may occasionally need to generate special characters that are difficult to express with the standard Autoconf quoting rules. For example, you may need to output the regular expression ‘[^[]’, which matches any character other than ‘[’. This expression contains unbalanced brackets so it cannot be put easily into an M4 macro.
Additionally, there are a few m4sugar macros (such as m4_split and m4_expand) which internally use special markers in addition to the regular quoting characters. If the arguments to these macros contain the literal strings ‘-=<{(’ or ‘)}>=-’, the macros might behave incorrectly.
You can work around these problems by using one of the following quadrigraphs:
‘@<:@’
‘[’
‘@:>@’
‘]’
‘@S|@’
‘$’
‘@%:@’
‘#’
‘@{:@’
‘(’
‘@:}@’
‘)’
‘@&t@’
Expands to nothing.
Quadrigraphs are replaced at a late stage of the translation process, after m4 is run, so they do not get in the way of M4 quoting. For example, the string ‘^@<:@’, independently of its quotation, appears as ‘^[’ in the output.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:g4kfvq6qttlpqiwfzmz2o73c/bafkreif2t6o6i6yyctzvhxzvhiufiyn6uwas6mgtsnvhi3xsnbel6umoue@jpeg)
February 3, 2026 at 12:42 AM
TIL about Autoconf quadrigraphs and I'm screaming
Reposted by Catherine
they should pipe hard boiled eggs into every home like water
February 3, 2026 at 7:33 AM
they should pipe hard boiled eggs into every home like water
it's been a few years since I tried
February 1, 2026 at 11:13 PM
it's been a few years since I tried
could be that, could be that I was using it on Linux and that's extra slow for some reason...
February 1, 2026 at 3:10 PM
could be that, could be that I was using it on Linux and that's extra slow for some reason...
Reposted by Catherine
zun’s words on being a chuunibyou are more mission critical than ever in big 2026
January 31, 2026 at 11:26 PM
zun’s words on being a chuunibyou are more mission critical than ever in big 2026
happy mailing list membership reminder day!
February 1, 2026 at 6:59 AM
happy mailing list membership reminder day!
going to submit a CrowdSupply application soon, stay tuned :3
January 30, 2026 at 5:23 PM
going to submit a CrowdSupply application soon, stay tuned :3
in the end, i really hoped that someone would build a nice and usable CAD i could be a simple user of rather than a maintainer. seems like someone did! i'm very pleased.
January 30, 2026 at 5:22 PM
in the end, i really hoped that someone would build a nice and usable CAD i could be a simple user of rather than a maintainer. seems like someone did! i'm very pleased.
no, i did it because i tried out FreeCAD, concluded that it is essentially unusable [this was a decade ago], and nearly every other FOSS CAD could not export STEP files with exact surfaces
January 30, 2026 at 5:22 PM
no, i did it because i tried out FreeCAD, concluded that it is essentially unusable [this was a decade ago], and nearly every other FOSS CAD could not export STEP files with exact surfaces
back when i started maintaining SolveSpace, eventually putting years of my life and thousands of USD out of my own pocket into it, i didn't do it because i loved the idea of maintaining a CAD.
January 30, 2026 at 5:22 PM
back when i started maintaining SolveSpace, eventually putting years of my life and thousands of USD out of my own pocket into it, i didn't do it because i loved the idea of maintaining a CAD.
SolveSpace still excels at being minimalist and polished (it will never use OpenCASCADE, for one), and it doesn't use rage-inducing GTK UI patterns, but other than that i can't think of reasons not to use Dune 3D instead
January 30, 2026 at 5:22 PM
SolveSpace still excels at being minimalist and polished (it will never use OpenCASCADE, for one), and it doesn't use rage-inducing GTK UI patterns, but other than that i can't think of reasons not to use Dune 3D instead
i tried Dune 3D dune3d.org earlier today.
as an ex-maintainer of SolveSpace solvespace.com, my conclusion is that Dune 3D is the spiritual successor to SolveSpace: same solver, similar (but more powerful) workflow, significantly more powerful geometric kernel
as an ex-maintainer of SolveSpace solvespace.com, my conclusion is that Dune 3D is the spiritual successor to SolveSpace: same solver, similar (but more powerful) workflow, significantly more powerful geometric kernel
January 30, 2026 at 5:22 PM
i tried Dune 3D dune3d.org earlier today.
as an ex-maintainer of SolveSpace solvespace.com, my conclusion is that Dune 3D is the spiritual successor to SolveSpace: same solver, similar (but more powerful) workflow, significantly more powerful geometric kernel
as an ex-maintainer of SolveSpace solvespace.com, my conclusion is that Dune 3D is the spiritual successor to SolveSpace: same solver, similar (but more powerful) workflow, significantly more powerful geometric kernel
Reposted by Catherine
my hit single The Proposal Is Simple And Inarguable: Every Dollar Over A Million Is Taxed In Literal Blood has been banned from radio for being too overtly sexual
January 28, 2026 at 4:05 AM
my hit single The Proposal Is Simple And Inarguable: Every Dollar Over A Million Is Taxed In Literal Blood has been banned from radio for being too overtly sexual
i had to do literally the opposite thing to spend less time in bed (if i can't pick up a phone i just fall asleep again, to have another nightmare usually)
January 27, 2026 at 3:54 PM
i had to do literally the opposite thing to spend less time in bed (if i can't pick up a phone i just fall asleep again, to have another nightmare usually)
Reposted by Catherine
I have a blog now! Like an old school long form one!
Been meaning to set one up forever and then never got around to it until now.
Starting with something small, a little teardown of a cheap Color E-Ink Android tablet: timonsku.zip/bigme-b6-e-i...
Been meaning to set one up forever and then never got around to it until now.
Starting with something small, a little teardown of a cheap Color E-Ink Android tablet: timonsku.zip/bigme-b6-e-i...
Bigme B6 E-Ink Tablet teardown
For another project I was interested in looking at cheap E-Ink Android tablets and landed on the Bigme B6 Color. A 6" color E-Ink tablet with a 1072x1448 resolution screen. The black and white portion...
timonsku.zip
January 27, 2026 at 4:27 AM
I have a blog now! Like an old school long form one!
Been meaning to set one up forever and then never got around to it until now.
Starting with something small, a little teardown of a cheap Color E-Ink Android tablet: timonsku.zip/bigme-b6-e-i...
Been meaning to set one up forever and then never got around to it until now.
Starting with something small, a little teardown of a cheap Color E-Ink Android tablet: timonsku.zip/bigme-b6-e-i...
Reposted by Catherine
today on Crackhead Engineering, we have Winbond W25N02KVxxIR/U
Winbond W25N02KVxxIR/U
The Winbond W25Nxx memory IC series uses NAND flash where the Winbond W25Qxx series (and many compatible devices from other vendors) uses NOR flash. Despite this, the W25Nxx series uses a command set that seems compatible with the W25Qxx NOR flash command set... until you look closer…
crackhead.technology
January 27, 2026 at 4:25 AM
today on Crackhead Engineering, we have Winbond W25N02KVxxIR/U
Reposted by Catherine
stuff like ice is the entire reason palantir exists, I have genuinely no idea how you go to work there and go "this isn't what I signed up for"
Palantir employees are pressing company leadership over its work for ICE in internal company Slacks obtained by @wired.com
"In my opinion ICE are the bad guys. I am not proud that the company I enjoy so much working for is part of this."
Scoop from @makenakelly.bsky.social
"In my opinion ICE are the bad guys. I am not proud that the company I enjoy so much working for is part of this."
Scoop from @makenakelly.bsky.social
Palantir Defends Work With ICE to Staff Following Killing of Alex Pretti
“In my opinion ICE are the bad guys. I am not proud that the company I enjoy so much working for is part of this,” one worker wrote on Slack.
www.wired.com
January 26, 2026 at 10:41 PM
stuff like ice is the entire reason palantir exists, I have genuinely no idea how you go to work there and go "this isn't what I signed up for"
Reposted by Catherine
there will be an official Glasgow 1GBASE-T PHY board for playing with Ethernet, soon, too :D
January 27, 2026 at 2:04 AM
there will be an official Glasgow 1GBASE-T PHY board for playing with Ethernet, soon, too :D