A Geek Goes Flying

Just a few notes about some gadgets I found to pair with my MiniBook X : JLab JBuds Mini True Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds ($30). Not the greatest but tiny . Fits on the “ tablet Cocoon .” Ultra Small Bluetooth Wireless Mouse, Dual Mode - $25 for this generic piece of kit. It works. Hold the middle mouse button (wheel) and the right mouse button for a couple of seconds until the buried LEDs flash blue and Bluetooth pair it. Charges with USB C (comes with a small USB A to C cable). It definitely takes a bit of getting used to; it's tiny ! Literally about the size of my thumb: Size comparison, BT Mouse181 and Verbatim 70744 travel mouse But it works well enough, once you get used to it, for the sort of "whip out the Chuwi (or a tablet) and get something done real quick" use case I envision for it. For anything more substantial I'll probably have a laptop and at least a Pebble mouse with me, but for the MiniBook X or tablets, this thing is a welcome alternative to conto...

My “mid-2010” iMac is getting flaky, and with its HD 4760 GPU, wasn’t a great contender for a Big Sur update, even with OpenCore Patcher. The 2012 Mac Mini occupies a sweet spot on eBay, selling for around $100-150 (depending on configuration), and can run Big Sur quite well, patched. The GPU in the iMac can be upgraded, but it’s still an old, underpowered machine witth splotches on the screen, etc. Newer iMacs aren’t that expensive by themselves, but once you factor in shipping, they’re spendy. Still, for dragging out onto the balcony to enjoy our reliably nice SoCal weather, you can’t beat the form factor. I decided to hack together a machine that met my specifications (including relatively low cost). I started with the highest spec inexpensive Mac Mini I could find, a late-2012 Core i7 2.3 GHz with 16GB RAM and a 500GB hard drive ($150). I swapped the hard drive for a Crucial MX500 1TB SSD ($90). I got a VESA mount ($15) so I could bolt it to the back of a monitor; for that I we...