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Prusa XL Review

The Prusa XL is a high-end Core-XY 3D printer from Prusa Research, the technical specifications of which you can find on their product page. I was recently looking add another printer to my home lab, alongside my trusty Voron 2.4R2, and the Prusa XL was one of several printers I considered - it is also ultimately the one I chose to purchase based on its unique set of trade-offs.

The biggest challenge I faced making this decision was the lack of any deep technical reviews of the Prusa XL, so I'm going to try and close that gap here by sharing my thoughts and experiences through the lens of someone who has spent the last couple of years diving into the guts of what makes for a reliable 3D printer.

2024-10-24#prusa-xl#reviewKeep Reading →

Technically Correct, but Universally Wrong

The tech world is filled with people who have strong views and are more than happy to share them. An unreasonable number of them are priviledged white males. Many of them see the world through the lens of their own personal experience and don't bother much with external perspectives. Far too many are eager to start a fight over their religion of choice (be that a language, a technology, a "thought leader" whose message they subscribe to, or a topic they have precious little familiarity with).

I'm many of those things, I'd really like to avoid being all of them. Let's talk perspective and trying to see the big picture. Let's talk about how to be wrong, and be okay with that.

2024-06-07#meta-commentaryKeep Reading →

Illusions as a Service

The world today strikes a particularly jarring contrast with the one I grew up in. Buzz-words and gimicks have taken center stage in an environment where a "cheap" alternative can be found for thruppence on the quart (or however that monetary system worked).

To compete in a sea of identical products, companies pitch differentiating features, many of which seem to have been crafted through a haphazard "Cards against Humanity" approach where every second card is the word "AI". Before that it was "Blockchain", and before that "The Cloud".

Thing is, for all that these products will try to convince you that they have the singular ability to magically solve whatever problem you face; the simple reality is that the laws of physics cannot be negotiated with.

There is no magic, you cannot beat the Shannon compression limit, you can't move information faster than the speed of light, and you must choose between consistency or availability.

2024-06-01#meta-commentaryKeep Reading →