Links archives for 2025/10 - markjgsmith.com

2025/10/16 #

New Post: AI agents vs AI models markjgsmith.com #
Some movement on Ollama Vulkan support - However initially will require building from source - "Initially Vulkan support in Ollama will require building from source. Once it is more thoroughly tested and we have fixed any critical bugs, then we can bundle Vulkan into the official binary releases". This is great news. It’s almost like my compiling and blogging efforts made a difference. github.com #

New Post: Are my GPUs being used? markjgsmith.com #
Environment variables are a legacy mess: Let's dive deep into them - Some interesting context about environment variables, what they are, how the operating system implements them, and a comparison of how they are accessed in Bash, Python and C. They do feel a bit antiquated, but central to everything. allvpv.org #
AUTOMATIC1111/stable-diffusion-webui - "A web interface for Stable Diffusion, implemented using Gradio library." - It’s one of the UIs supported by Open WebUI to do image generation. Totally not obvious how you would get this working in Docker with vulkan, or if it’s even possible. github.com #
comfyanonymous/ComfyUI - The other image gen app supported in Open WebUI. I watched a tutorial on this which was pretty interesting, but ultimately seems like it wouldn’t work in containers with vulkan. github.com #
FluidInference/fluidtop - Installed this today, works great to view your realtime CPU and GPU utilization. github.com #
Apple unveils new 14‑inch MacBook Pro powered by the M5 chip, delivering the next big leap in AI for the Mac - Given that Apple never stops banging on about how incredibly super awesome their machines are at all things AI/LLM, it’s really very disapointing to discover that actually it only really is super awesome if you install the AI/LLMs super dangerously. www.apple.com #

Why did containers happen? - Some interesting background info about how we got to this crazy new world where everything is in containers, and where everyone is constantly blogging about pressing buttons. buttondown.com #
Crypto suffers record 5 billion crash as investors rush to hedge against another free fall - Altcoins particularly badly hit apparently. www.straitstimes.com #
New Post: Why do the AI/LLM folks hate people that run Macs so much? markjgsmith.com #
Bhutan migrates its national ID system to Ethereum - Everyone is talking about id cards at the minute. Apparently this is the 3rd blockchain they have implemented on. They were previously on Polygon and before that on Hyperledger Indy. Sound like they are the world experts at blockchain id system migrations. The old implement and move twice strategy, actually quite a smart way to go about it if you think about it. cointelegraph.com #

McSpaghetti to McAloo Tikki: Inside the world's local McDonald's - I tried the McPoutine in Vancouver, and it was pretty good. The Maharaja Mac sounds very exotic. www.bbc.com #
Tom Gauld on where writers really get their ideas – cartoon - Nice to see some light hearted humour. www.theguardian.com #
Modern Linux Tools - I've heard about quite a few of these the past several years. Thinking to try out a few, including bat, lsd, exa, ripgrep, fzf. ikrima.dev #

Vite: The Documentary - Definitely want to find some time to watch this. I have been using Vite a lot the past few months. So far no issues whatsoever. www.youtube.com #
1,000 Free Audio Books: Download Great Books for Free - I've been thinking a lot recently that I haven’t been consuming much long form content. Lots of classics on this list. www.openculture.com #
The turbulent history of the union jack - Flags are so weird. But fascinating. www.bbc.com #

New Post: The new container based project structure markjgsmith.com #
Evolution of english interrogatives - I thought this conversation I had with Grok about the origins of who, what, where, why, when and how was fascinating. grok.com #