mid-to-late 2000s cadillac navigation systems
This actually isn't just about Cadillac but all luxury cars from the 2005-2012 era.
I'm an unabashed Garmin GPS nerd, and own way too many Garmin nuvi, Drive and DriveSmart screens. Example: I own 3 of 4 of the current line, Drive 53, DriveSmart 66 and DriveSmart 76, with the only one I don't have being the DriveSmart 86). And that's just the newer stuff. I have many older ones going all the way back to the mid-2000s.
And this brings me to navigation systems luxury cars and trucks of that era were using.
Updating the maps on a navigation system offered by Cadillac or any other luxury brand is basically impossible. And what really ticks me off are the reasons why. There are two.
First, the map data is DVD-based, and I know exactly why. It's because all the luxury automakers went cheap. SD and CompactFlash storage obviously did exist, and either could have been used instead of DVD. But nope, didn't happen.
Second, the map data was engineered to such an ultra-proprietary degree that it was never even considered the nav system might be used beyond a lease term. They were all engineered as a one-and-done. "Update map data? What? Are you NUTS?!"
I can take any Garmin nuvi from the late 2000s, generate new data images from OpenStreetMap data and update the maps. Not a problem. Been doing it for years at this point. The exact same should be possible on a 2005-2012 luxury car nav system, except it isn't. Those systems are completely locked to DVD-only, completed locked to ultra-proprietary map data, and there's not a damned thing that can be done about it.
Now you know why Android head units sell. You either take apart your mid-to-late 2000s luxury car interior and install one of those, or you just buy a Garmin like one mentioned above and go with that.
This makes me wonder how long it's going to take before an automaker releases a car with no screens and uses that as a selling point. To be more specific, no touchscreens. I know the backup camera has to exist because of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 111. But there isn't any requirement for infotainment nor a touchscreen to be present. Automakers could junk that crap if they wanted to. And they should.
i upgraded to windows 10... from windows 11
I had said back in July last year that I had made peace with Windows 11 in that I accepted its awfulness. As I've said before, while Linux is my daily driver, I keep a second computer with Win11 on it for the very short list of things I need Windows for.
Well, that's changed, because I got spooked.
Windows Update KB5074109 was released, and on "some PCs" it caused Windows 11 to have bugs all over the frickin' place, the worst of which being an UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME error. But then, but then... some users attempting to uninstall that 'update' would encounter error 0x800f0905, effectively blocking the rollback process. And how many is "some PCs"? No idea. Hundreds? Thousands? Many thousands? No clue.
Did my computer go nuts? Fortunately, no, but I think I know why.
Before I say why, there was an OOB (out-of-band) fix-for-the-"fix" released by Microsoft for Win11. I remember that update being large and taking a while to install and finish.
Even though the OOB thing installed successfully, the damage had been done, and I was spooked. I'm pretty sure the only reason my Win11 computer didn't blow up is because I barely use it, and because it was almost a bone stock installation with barely any software on it.
Still, it is absolutely insane that an official real-deal update was that bad. I can honestly say I never saw that happen on XP, 7 or even 10.
Speaking of which...
I switched to Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC
I have to give a disclaimer right up front: Don't do this. I'm able to get away with it solely because of the way I use my second computer, which I'll explain a bit.
Windows IoT is Windows Internet of Things, formerly known as Windows Embedded. LTSC means Long-Term Servicing Channel. This particular version of Windows 10 has security updates available all the way to January 2032.
Is Win10 IoT LTSC good for use as a daily driver OS in the home? No. At best, you'll get less than two years more out of 10 by using it, and I'll tell you exactly why. Microsoft will probably drop support for the Edge browser in Win10 come October 2028. Once that happens, other major browsers will most likely quickly follow suit and stop making Win10 versions. And not having a modern browser in Windows or any OS is just a bad idea.
Win10 IoT LTSC is meant for things like point-of-sale systems, kiosks, maybe a computer that runs heavy equipment, and things of that ilk.
The reason Win10 IoT LTSC is a good fit for me is because I primarily needed it for legacy programs. Some of the legacy software I have is really old, but Win10 can run it just fine.
Win11 actually ran that old software okay, and I really was set to run Win11 for the long term. But again, that update which so many people had problems with... uh-uh, no. Not happening. While nothing bad happened to my computer, it could have just from that official update.
I can understand the allure of Win10 IoT LTSC, but it's a false hope
Not since Windows 2000 Professional have I seen a Windows so clean out of the gate after a fresh installation. It would be all too easy to experience that and think, "Yes... YES. This is what I want my Windows to be. THIS RIGHT HERE."
Yeah, well, don't get your hopes up too high.
Gamers have already discovered the hard way that Win10 IoT LTSC isn't great for gaming. Some game launchers just outright don't work, DirectX updates are missing, it doesn't support the latest gaming hardware, no Microsoft store, and so on.
And even if you don't game, other things like modern mice and modern printers may not work with it at all.
I knew all this before installing Win10 IoT LTSC. What I wanted, and got, was a Windows that's "all business", so to speak. In fact, it's installed on what's technically classified as a business class computer. Very vanilla. And that's definitely one of the computer hardware environments this particular Windows "likes".
What works best with Win10 IoT LTSC?
An example of the hardware I'm talking about is a Dell Optiplex. Just a plain black PC box like you'd see in an office or a bank. Plain box, plain wired keyboard, plain wired mouse, plain Dell 1080p monitor. This is the type of computer hardware Win10 IoT LTSC would install to easily and have no issues.
If you keep it plain, keep it vanilla, only upgrade the RAM, and use SSD as the main drive, that's the ideal hardware environment.
I still won't use it as my daily driver
While this IoT Windows is the closest thing to Windows 7 since Windows 7 (and I still miss that OS), it's not enough to sway me away from Linux.
As an OS for my second computer used for very specific legacy things, Win10 IoT LTSC is fine. As a daily driver OS, no. 2028 seems like it's far away right now, but it's really not. If the boom is dropped with no more major modern browsers for Win10 by that time, I'm okay with that since Win10 isn't the main OS I use.
wack wack
Search is a thing on the internet and always has been, because how would you find anything otherwise other than word-of-mouth?
I've bounced around with search a lot over the years. In the '90s it was Yahoo!, Excite, Lycos, AltaVista and others. Then came Google. Good for a while, but then started to suck. A lot. Then came AI, which I'll talk more about in a moment.
In the middle of all this craziness was DuckDuckGo, launched in 2008. They have duck.com now, so yeah, easy to remember. I had always known DDG was there but didn't use it much. However, these days, DDG is now my go-to both for search and, believe it or not, AI.
DDG's AI is duck.ai, but I do appreciate the fact that noai.duckduckgo.com exists. DDG put up a vote at voteyesornoai.com, to where 90% said nope, don't want it in my search, so now a no-AI version of DDG exists. Nice.
However, I do use duck.ai because more often than not it actually works pretty well.
Before I explain why, my main reason for using DDG other than for the better search are the bangs. These come in handy more than a little bit.
If I want to search for an image of something, that's !i image-here like !i guitar. If I want to search Reddit using the old UX (always better) instead of the modernized one, an example of that is !rold guitar. If I want a weather forecast using weather.gov, !wgov tpa. Town/state or ZIP can be alternatively used for that instead of airport codes. If I want to search YouTube, !yt guitar or whatever.
Bangs are ridiculously useful, and DDG has a lot of them.
Where duck.ai is concerned, it's no more correct or incorrect than other AI, but one thing is different in a good way. Duck.ai never gives me an attitude.
This one takes a bit of explanation.
There are days when Grok AI for literally no reason will get snarky and/or use "cool person speak" with its responses, which is ridiculously annoying. I should have taken a screenshot of this, but one time I asked it a programming question, and the reply contained, "You could do [this], but nobody does that anymore so it's not worth your time." That's the equivalent of a trust me bro response.
Then there is other AI that is way too sweet/nice/cute. Gemini is definitely one of those, and Copilot isn't too far behind it.
Duck.ai never gives me an attitude, never does trust-me-bro replies, and doesn't try to be sweet and cute. The responses I get from it are what I call polite and normal, which is all I ever want, even if sometimes the answers I get are wrong (not that there is any AI that provides correct answers 100% of the time).
Some may say that all you need to do is adjust the conversation style and then AI will stop all the attitude crap. I shouldn't have to do that, so I don't.
This is not to say I can't adjust the tone of response with duck.ai, because I totally can do that:
...but the point is I don't have to. The Default setting gets the job done.
And where regular search is concerned, it's good. Not just good enough. Actually good.
If AI ever goes bust, DDG will still be there
The fact DDG launched a no-AI version of their search is very forward thinking. They didn't even need to launch that vote site to figure out if people really wanted AI in their search or not. DDG already knew, because how could they not. The vote just confirmed it.
I do like it that DDG already has a solution right now for no-AI search. Other search engines are neck deep in AI with no way out, so if AI busts, they bust. DDG won't and will still work.
which casio watch has lasted the longest?
I have a pile of Casio watches I've owned for long enough to determine which models last the longest.
What I've found out is that there are three things that determine a Casio's longevity. Strap, buttons and battery life, but not necessarily in the way you would think.
Most Casio watches either come with a PUR (polyurethane resin) strap or metal bracelet.
All PUR straps will crumble apart at some point. Even if the watch is kept in a box in a cool, dry place, that strap will naturally crumble apart over time, and there's nothing you can do about it. It's not a matter of if the strap will crumble apart but when.
Even the cheapest metal bracelet on a Casio will outlast a PUR strap, provided it's not worn too tightly. The only thing that can really go wrong is the clasp might start getting loose where it snaps shut. However, I've never had one outright break on me.
Buttons are a weird thing since they all depend on springs.
Digital Casio watch buttons a.k.a. pushers all have a very small metal piece that acts as a spring to push the button back out after it has been pressed. On a few Casios I've had, the spring fails and the button stays permanently pressed in. But I've only had this happen on the cheapest models. I'll be covering the models in a moment.
There isn't any fix for a bad spring other than to replace it. Worth it? No. At that point you're better off just buying another watch.
A battery can be replaced on most Casios, but if the battery is more difficult to get to, the sooner the watch will break.
The winners and losers
The longest running Casio I have that's still 100% original is the AE1000W that's now over a decade old. The battery has been replaced twice. Once because I just felt like doing it, and the other time when it actually needed it. PUR strap is still holding, all buttons work, and the watch still works as it should.
Model W218H has also been a real trooper. Years old at this point, still on original battery and original PUR strap. Flawless, quick button operation, outstanding night light. And although I don't own it, I'm certain the W219H is just as good but with a more rounded case shape.
Model B650WD, which is basically like the W218H, is still running strong and by far has the best bracelet. The clasp in particular still has a good tight snap when closed. Buttons aren't as nice to use as the W218H, but I've had no issues with them. This one is also still on the original battery.
Model B640WD (has more features than the B650WD including a timer with auto-repeat) is still working fine, still on original battery, and metal bracelet has no issues. The only problem is there are some small dings where the lugs are, but that's just a cosmetic thing.
Model AQ230 has had its battery replaced several times, and the bottom left button is acting up a little bit. Everything still works, but I now have to be gentle with it whenever adjusting a setting. It is understandable why this one needs the battery replaced more often, since it uses the SR920SW a.k.a. 371 coin cell, and it's an ana-digi that physically moves watch hands.
Model A178 is still on the same battery even with some years on it (probably 7 or 8 by this point) and the metal bracelet is still a-okay. The clasp still has a good snap when closed, and no issues with the buttons.
Model A158 is one I had to outright replace because the bottom left button spring failed. Worked fine otherwise.
Model W213 (no longer made) had its PUR strap crumble apart. I've since bought a replacement, but the exact same thing will happen to its PUR strap at some point.
Model F-91W had a strap crumble apart. I've not replaced it.
Model F-201WA also had its strap crumble apart.
Model WS1600H still works fine, but the strap is starting to look overly shiny whereas it originally didn't. Will it last? Time will tell.
Overall...
...the A158 is still one of my favorites to wear, even though I had to replace it. It does not have a good night light, and barely any features, but it's thin and ridiculously comfortable.
However, the fact my AE1000W is still working is amazing, because I've not treated that watch well at all. The crystal has been scratched up enough to where I had to apply Polywatch a few times to clear it up. Again, still works.
dodged a disaster with my sd memory cards
This could have ended up bad, but thankfully didn't.
I recently spotted a deal on SanDisk ImageMate SD memory cards in 512GB flavor at Walmart, and got two of them.
If you look at the prices 512GB cards are selling for, prices jump around quite a bit even for name brands. Doesn't matter if it's SanDisk, Samsung, Lexar, PNY or something else. That means if you see a deal, you go for it, so that's what I did.
But then I saw this post that someone bought one from Walmart and got screwed. Uh-oh. Now I'm nervous. Did I just get screwed too?
I had to find out.
I'm nerdy enough to know how to blow away and recreate the entire file system on a memory card (or any other media storage), and that is a way to check the actual storage capacity.
Being I hadn't written anything to the cards yet, into GParted I go, and thought okay, let's do this. Blow away the file system. Check. Recreate file system with GPT (no, not the AI, it's GUID Partition Table). Check. Format using exFAT, which is what it had before. Check.
System reports I have the full 512GB available. Good.
Repeat the same for the second card, same result, I got the 512GB. Good.
But even with that confirmed, I needed a file write test just to be sure. And it had to be something over 32GB since that's the limit of FAT32.
While I was certain the 512's I bought were true 512's at this point, if these were 32GB cards masquerading as 512GB, then there's no way a file over 32GB would write successfully.
To the Terminal I go. Time to create a 33GB file, and did so with this:
dd if=/dev/zero of=33GB_file.txt bs=1G count=33
Copied the file over to the first card. It got all sorts of toasty because that's a big file transfer, but the whole file copied and it worked. Good.
Did the same for the second card. Again, worked. Good. Now I'm convinced that my 512's are in fact true 512's. Crisis averted.
Were I still using Windows regularly, I would use HDD LLF Low Level Format Tool to blow away a file system. Yeah, I know DISKPART is there and has been around since WinXP, but past experience has taught me that doesn't always work. Using compmgmt.msc (Computer Management) as an alternative also sometimes screws up. HDD LLF works. I never use that utility to actually format media, but rather because it's the only for-Windows thing I've ever used that when I tell it to blow away a file system on a specific SD/SSD/whatever, it does it without any grief. Once after running that, then I use Windows itself to quick-format an SD card or SSD or whatever. And if Windows still gave me grief after that (such as not assigning a drive letter), I run into compmgmt.msc to get that crap done manually.
It was worth the risk
I went for the two cards because a deal on name brand 512GB microSD is worth the risk, as the price for a 1TB is nuts, and 2TB is insane.
It's like I said, if you see the deal, you go for it, even as risky as that is. I did so, and fortunately ended up getting two legit cards that had their claimed capacity.