j2i.net

My First Experience using Claude Code I've just had my first experience using Claud for software development. I've used other AI tools, but not Claude specifically. My use of AI tools is constrained by the need to ensure that I do not grant third parties custody of any confidential client information. Generic components of a project can be generated on a machine that does not have access to confidential information.

My First Experience using Claude Code

I've just had my first experience using Claud for software development. I've used other AI tools, but not Claude specifically. My use of AI tools is constrained by the need to ensure that I do not grant third parties custody of any confidential client…

Shorter Maximum Life for Code Signing Certificates Code signing certificates are used to attest that a binary is unmodified and came from a specific party. Computer systems can be set to give more trust to code signed by specific entities. The maximum length of validity for a code signing certificate, as of 2026 March 1, is being reduced from 39 months to 15 months (being reduced from a little over 3 years to a little over 1 year).

Do you sign your code? As of March 1, 2026, the maximum life of a code signing certificate is now a little over a year. This is down from a previous length of a little over 3 years.

Where is D3DX12? Every so often, I may have to create a new DirectX 12 program. The DirectX headers and libraries are part of the Windows headers and are generally present with the installation of the desktop development components of Visual Studio. There are some common or popular DirectX 12 related libraries that are not part of that. D3Dx12.h is one such header. I sometimes forget that this isn't part of the Windows headers.

Every so often, I forget headers like D3DX12.h are not part of the header files included with Visual Studio. I'm making a note for myself (or anyone else that might do the same) on where these headers can be found.

uConsole::The Best Pi Mini Console You Won’t Have Any Time Soon I often carry a Pi with me when I go out to deployments. They have the tools that I need for certain diagnostic purposes and are easy to travel with. Usually, I need to just bring a keyboard and network cable along and it is ready to be used. The latest Pi based system that I got my hands on is the uConsole from Clockwork Pi.

uConsole::The Best Pi Mini Console You Won’t Have Any Time Soon

I often carry a Pi with me when I go out to deployments. They have the tools that I need for certain diagnostic purposes and are easy to travel with. Usually, I need to just bring a keyboard and network cable along and it is ready to…

Photography Has Always Had its Tricksters A new exhibition at the Rijksmuseum examines.

A look at photo-manipulation from 1860 to 1940. Thankfully, in modern society we don't have to worry about people faking photographs any more (sarcasm).

petapixel.com/2026/02/10/p...

#Photography #Manipulation #lies

Cold Fusion - The Full Story YouTube video by BobbyBroccoli

I love Bobby Broccoli 's videos. He dropped a new one on Cold Fusion. This video breaks the 3 hour mark. It is hard to believe he uses Google Earth for his video transitions.

youtu.be/jkAw87ZIwQA?...

#coldfusiin #nuclear

Use Convolutions, Not Randomness | Opinion Random functions can be useful. There is even specialized hardware in many processors for generating random numbers. That said, there are some situations where the requirements as written from a user perspective call for randomness, but I've learned to have an inclination to avoid it. Thinking about projects I've worked on over the past decade, there are instances where the requirements called for a program to make a random selection from a pool of possible selections and present it to the user.

Use Convolutions, Not Randomness | Opinion

Random functions can be useful. There is even specialized hardware in many processors for generating random numbers. That said, there are some situations where the requirements as written from a user perspective call for randomness, but I've learned to…

Mixing Rendering Technologies on Windows | DirectX Windows has many methods of rendering images to the screens. Those include GDI, Direct3D, Direct2D, DirectWrite, XAML, Windows Forms, Win2D, and WinUI. Windows 10 brought support for mixing some of these rendering technologies. through XAML islands. There are other ways of mixing the rendering technologies. I was interested in mixing Direct3D with GDI and Direct2D. The rendering technologies were going to be used to generate what can be viewed as different layers of my UI.

Mixing Rendering Technologies on Windows | DirectX

Windows has many methods of rendering images to the screens. Those include GDI, Direct3D, Direct2D, DirectWrite, XAML, Windows Forms, Win2D, and WinUI. Windows 10 brought support for mixing some of these rendering technologies. through XAML…

Programmatically Turning Off the Screen I sometimes work on systems that control displays that run for most of the day. But there are "quiet hours" during which those screens show no content, and we would rather them be turned off. Having some downtime saves on resources, including the life of the display. The way this is handled differs from one solution to another. Sometimes we use third-party hardware to control the screens according to a schedule.

Programmatically Turning Off the Screen

I sometimes work on systems that control displays that run for most of the day. But there are "quiet hours" during which those screens show no content, and we would rather them be turned off. Having some downtime saves on resources, including the life of the…

Cool. I didnt know you had a channel. Subscribed.

tidus

Z-fighting - Wikipedia

No, when I talk about Z-fighting, I am not making a reference to Dragon Ball.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-fight...

#computer #graphics

Avoiding eSIM | Opinion eSIMs, or embedded SIM, is integration of the SIM hardware into a phone. Instead of installing a physical SIM card a phone has similar hardware integrated into itself with rewritable memory. To update the SIM a new byte stream containing the updated program or data can be transferred to the embedded SIM hardware. Most material I come across about them characterize them as providing a way to manage phones with more ease and an overall improvement.

Avoiding eSIM | Opinion

eSIMs, or embedded SIM, is integration of the SIM hardware into a phone. Instead of installing a physical SIM card a phone has similar hardware integrated into itself with rewritable memory. To update the SIM a new byte stream containing the updated program or data can be…

Building Chromium & V8 with Visual Studio 2026: December 2025

I don't have to build Chrome (or v8) regularly. But I've had a recent occasion to look in the source code to explain an odd behaviour that I was seeing. In doing so, I revisited the steps for how to build Chrome on Windows. The steps…

I needed a copy of TOPOEDIT (Windows Media Foundation Topology Editor) to test something. It was initially released with the Windows Vista SDK and can also be found in the Windows 7 SDK. I ended up extracting and building from the 7 SDK

github.com/j2inet/topoe...

#windows #sdk #programming

Remote Access Hardware (PiKVM) Remote Desktop tends to work well for me provided that the computer is turned on, booted up, and not locked up. If those conditions are not met, physical interaction is needed. There have been a few times when my computer is hibernating, but I realize I need to access. Today, I'm writing about one of the solutions that I'm using for this.

Remote Access Hardware (PiKVM)

Remote Desktop tends to work well for me provided that the computer is turned on, booted up, and not locked up. If those conditions are not met, physical interaction is needed. There have been a few times when my computer is hibernating, but I realize I need to…

Got an error while building Chromium. I just copied the allegedly missing DLL from another Windows SDK folder. Let's hope this works.

["C:/Program Files (x86)/Windows Kits/10/bin/10.0.26100.0/x64/dxil.dll", needed by "dxil.dll", missing and no known rule to make it]

Seriously, the size of this repository is epic!

I started to clone the Chromium repository. Then I had several meetings, phone calls, and lunch. Forgot I had started the clone. I came back much later to find it was still cloning.

#chromium #git #programming

Multiple Hardware Nintendo 64 compatible consoles in a rainbow of colors.

I got mine a couple of weeks ago. It works pretty well.

Installing KVM Hardware Ibto my Computer YouTube video by Joel Johnson (j2i.net)

Imagine being in the office and realizing you need files on a computer at home that went to sleep. There is someone there, but they say they are too busy to touch the keyboard to wake up the computer.

I installed an IP KVM as a solution!
www.youtube.com/shorts/qHNne...

#pi #kvm #network #rdp

I was today years old when I discovered a lot of my files have an alternative data stream named "Zone.Identifier" that identify the file path or URL from which I got the file.

#Windows #Files

Starting a new .Net project. I get to choose the IDE. .Net 10 and VS 2026 it is!

#dotnet #visualstudio

Master the art of one-handed typing.

#videogames #controllers

Running Code in the Pre-Boot Environment Before your operating system loads, the UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) runs. The code in the UEFI is responsible for getting the initial bits of your operating system loaded and then …

I think i might try out the EFI Development Kit to try C++ development for the pre-OS environment.

blog.j2i.net/2025/10/07/r...

#x86 #programming #uefi #efi

Age Verification on Android and iOS, Sideloading for Verified Apps Only Google is making some changes to Android that make it more restrictive than I've previously thought of it. Age verification for apps is coming to Android, and side loading is being restricted to apps that have been "verified" by Google. This is something that is coming to conform to new laws. Apple is also making some changes to conform and…

Age Verification on Android and iOS, Sideloading for Verified Apps Only

Google is making some changes to Android that make it more restrictive than I've previously thought of it. Age verification for apps is coming to Android, and side loading is being restricted to apps that have been "verified"…

Looks that Android is going Age Verification now. And app developers are going to have a duty in it, too.

#Android #Google #AgeVerification

I was helping a developer perform some setup. I had her type a command to perform an action. She asked what the commands name stood for.

"I don't know. It was from before my time."

She thought I was making a joke. I looked up the origin. AT&T added the command to Unix in 1971.

#unix

I've read too many liability lawsuits. I look at think and only thing "They applied CYA to a failure to warn claim."

I've modified the code so that it compiles in ViaualnStudio. The original code was for an ESP32. There were some data types that had to be changed. I also replaced some of the raw pointers to character buffers to STL types.

#CPP #Minecraft