What are some (realistic) things you wanted to get for a while, just for fun?
I've got 3 on my list.
- BT-PAN Access Point - Kinda ridiculous, but I'd like to have one. I've also found a few BT-PAN-enabled dial-up modems, but I'd have no way to connect those up. Some of those could even be connected to USB printers for wireless printing. Not particularly useful anymore, I just find those devices interesting.
- Dot matrix printer - This one isn't even as ridiculous. I really love that sound and how the text they print looks. Sadly, if I am looking for new ones, a basic 9-pin Epson dot matrix is around €200. But the ribbons are cheap as chips. In fact, often even cheaper. Just imagine casually handing out a document printed on dot matrix to someone nowdays.
- Nano pocket drone - Something like FQ777-124. Maybe a toy like that is a bit childish, but it still can be fun. In fact I already tried to order this one. From 4 different sellers, twice on AliExpress, twice on Amazon. I never got it :(
A 3D Printer, I think I'd enjoy making small "functional" things.
I thought that, too but I mostly make small non-functional things, which is also nice
I like the idea, but I fear that I would quickly run out of things to print that I actually need. After then I'd start looking for applications. And the one thing I don't need in my life are more small (or large) plastic things.
Fixing and adapting things around the house is what I like most about having a 3d printer.
I'm pretty sure the first printer is now paid for itself by doing that. Just because of things I haven't had to pay to replace. As of this summer I'm up to 3 printers and I can't claim I've paid for all 3.
I have a CNC router for work, but I do use it for random things around the house occasionally. Building shelves is suddenly a lot easier...
Can you give some examples of things you've replaced? I'm just curious
Sure.
I'm about to design a new ceiling lamp nut for our kitchen, because the original has gone missing after a light bulb change. I'll use a spare metal nut then print a cover to go on it so it looks intentional.
That's amazing, thanks!
Me too until I had access to one through work. I've found PLA to be quite brittle and not very useful for anything other than items that sit on a shelf
A lot of it is just knowing how to design around the limitations. I 3D print practical parts all the time and usually don't have any issues with them. If PLA doesn't work for what you want to print PETG is pretty easy to print as well and is a bit more resilient.
Polymaker pla pro is a great pla. I have printed plenty of functional things with it and they all hold up really well. If you really need something more durable nylon 6 would be a good option to look at.
Same, but I would be picky and not want a small one. But still would end up as a decorative object, so...
I want one too but I'm scared I won't use it. I'm holding off until I meet someone with one and see it in person
somebody said try your local library (this is probably a US thing)
Do it! I recently purchased one and love it. Feel free to ask questions if you have any.
What are everyday uses for a 3D printer?
Great for fixing items around the house. Anything that is plastic or could be replaced with plastic can usually be printed. Also great for hardware and jigs. I've had mine for a bit over a month now and have been constantly running it. Check out printables or thingiverse to get an idea of what people are printing. Both are websites people upload models to.
it's not a priority right now, maybe when I get extra money.
I'm looking forward to it though
Check your library. Mine has one available to use at many of the branches in my area. If I ever come up with something to print instead of buying one I'm going to try that out. Then if I decide to get really into it, I'll have practical knowledge to know what I'd actually want to buy.
Instead, I've just never done any 3D printing, which is also fine.
is this a US thing? I don't think we have these in our country.
I don't think it's necessarily universal in US libraries either. I'm not in a big city, but overall our library system is pretty good. They have a number of branches with "maker labs" so there are things like Cricuts, sewing machines, laser cutters, audio recording/production equipment and 3D printers you can rent. I'd recommend at least checking around.
A Flipper Zero. I probably have the components to make something functionally equivalent, but that form factor, all-in-one nature, and simple UI look nice.
I have no need for it, I just want to tinker.
Same. Also a lockpicking learning set. Just seems fun.
A cnc laser cutter with enough watts so it could cut thin metal but also acrylic and wood and stuff.
I would love to make rc airplanes, and medieval armor, and fun stuff like that
It might sound dumb, but I thought for a long time if it was worth to buy a tablet or not. Because I suspected I wouldn't even use it if had it. Then I found a great sale that helped me confirm my suspicion.
I lounge around and browse Lemmy on mine.
If you don't use it, maybe you could mount it in the kitchen to pull up recipes on. That's what I would do, anyway
That and a music remote if you have some Bluetooth speakers about the place.
I bought a convertible Chromebook some time ago specifically to use as a sheet music reader, because the tablet I was using for that purpose was too small.
;)
Where do you live? I might have a kayak to sell.
They have folding kayaks if that would suffice. There's also some types that break into pieces and slide into each other like cups taking a 12 foot kayak down to like 3 feet.
I'd avoid inflatables in most cases though.
Aren’t the folding ones like super expensive?
$500 for an Oru Lake
$280 for a Tucktec 10'
There are other models but those seem to be the most popular.
They can absolutely get crazy expensive and started that way but have come down in price a lot.
That’s unexpected, thx
Same, I'm also currently looking for a kayak and it surprised me as well since when I last looked there wasn't one under 1k.
Now of course they are limited compared to a normal kayak but for someone in an apartment that has no other options it would at least get them something until their living arangement allowed them to get a proper one.
And if all you ever want to to is casually hang out on flat water it really doesn't limit you at all.
I know a guy who has one with stabilising air pockets on the side so it can actually be used along the coast for fishing but that one is super expensive
It would probably/possibly work without them but the issue with folding kayaks on the sea or rivers is more impacts, there's a lot of rocks in the fun rivers and in the ocean/sea there's reefs and other abrasives.
Whereas with a rotomolded kayak its durable enough to even be used for rentals in those conditions. You pretty much don't have to give a shit with a rotomold since they can take a lot of abuse.
So the thief climbed up to your balcony to steal your bike? What floor do you live on?
Yes. It's the second floor. I was surprised and not sure how they managed to get down with it. It wasn't a new or expensive bike by any means, actually an old used one I repaired with salvaged parts.
An electric bike.
Always wanted one. Will never, ever happen though. The thousands of dollars they cost will always be better spent on bills/food/meds/doctors appointments.
I felt the same, so I built one for around 5-600usd. If you have a bike, you can turn it into an e bike.
You can get kits to retro fit a standard push bike. I think you can do that for a few hundred.
every decent conversion kit I've seen has been around a grand, and still requires you to buy a decent bike to put it on, plus puts the onus on me to not fuck everything up.
Ah fair enough. I had second hand info from my partner who was looking into it. He already had a spare bike to convert and he didn't think it was too expensive to do - favoured the option over buying an actual E bike that he wasn't positive he'd use much.
saw a setup with a dewalt drill before
I said I didnt want to pay thousands. :p
E-bike. I'm faster than most of them on a road bike, and the limited range would drive me nuts, but I would like to have one for running errands
A hardcore ~$10k Xeon workstation with an Nvidia A100 GPU for AI stuff
A hidden shelf door, ie “Murphy Door”. No practical purpose for this other than maybe privacy/security for my master bedroom. I just think it’d look cool as hell to have a hidden door.
I have a stand mixer that I acutely never use. It’s decent and almost new.
Maybe I can get it somehow to you.
Thanks! I appreciate the intention but considering that I live in Mexico, probably with the shipping cost I could afford a new one, hahaha.
I’m with you on the iPad for Procreate. I also just want something I can take to bed or outside so I can draw, and the drawing tablet I have only works on desktop/laptop with too many wires running across, so I usually only use it for graphic work or cleaning up sketches
Indeed, having to carry only one screen to draw on sounds very tempting.
I love my stand mixer! I don't have room either, but I still carry it back and forth to and from the kitchen to use it all the time. It's pretty difficult to carry for me but still less work than kneading for ten minutes.
My list of tech that I plan to get eventually someday:
If you work hard, I’ll bet you could have the Pyra in Two Months™️
Thinking of getting the pine phone pro first since its the cheapest of the lot and it being shipped early is more certain than the pyra.
A small construction excavator. I hate having to move dirt and gravel around with a shovel by hand.
A trailer. Would also come in useful for the aforementioned item.
i bought myself a pink lava lamp. it arrives in 2 weeks. i am SO excited to stare mindlessly at it for hours.
lava lamps scare the shit out of me.. every one I've had has blown up. No I didnt futz with them or use the wrong wattage light bulb or anything.
whoa what happened?
I'unno. They just blew up. I assume they got to hot some how, blew the stopper like a geyser and had hot wax and whatever liquid all over the ceiling and floor and wall and everything.
3 differnet lava lamps. one actual, legitimate lava lamp, two different knockoff ones.
Thermal Camera.
They're just so cool. Super useful for checking the effectiveness of stuff like insulation or heat sinks, and can be used to find hot spots you didn't know existed.
I just have trouble justifying dropping $300 on something I would only get maybe an hour max of usefulness from before it sits in a box for years.
I got to use a thermal cam for research out in the desert for a summer photographing rattlesnake ambush sites, it was awesome.
(From what we could tell the snakes in fact did not use thermal cues for their ambush sites, just their eyes. But I got to play with a thermal cam)
I did this but with an infrared thermometer gun. As far as everyday use goes, it's super helpful for cooking.
Seems like the kind of thing that could be rented out like those carpet/sofa cleaners. Except it's probably too costly of a gadget to trust a layman to handle with care?
Steamdeck. My laptop is outdated and having hardware issue; I also can't justify buying a decent PC tower. I have consoles but I miss a lot of the PC only games like the wargame series and HOI4.
I've a deck and it's an amazing bit of kit. Valve hit it out of the park with it. I've found very little it can't run, and the controls are excellent. The fact it has a full Linux desktop available and lets you play around with things is just icing on the cake.
As a retro computing enthusiast, I have a lot of systems with little practical value.
Fun level through the roof though.
A cheap hot tub in the living room.
A pasta roller attachment for my mixer. Pasta is crazy easy to make and I think I can do that more often with the right tools
There is someone selling a bucyrus cable hoe (think antique excavator) not far from me but the price they want is outrageous.
A (mechanical) typewriter. I have a cork board next to my desk and I've fancied replacing my handwritten cheat sheets and notes with typewritten ones. There's just something about typewritten stuff that makes it "official" to me.
A scooter/bike (electric would be fine). Never learned how to ride one, but I'd love to just take it for a ride up/down quiet mountain roads. Sure, I'd need to ride for a long time to reach somewhere quiet, but I feel that it'd be worth it.
I've found myself wanting to get a typewriter for a while, but I wouldn't be able to justify it because I don't really have anywhere to put it, nor would I really have any use for it. And an electric bike would perhaps be nice as well, but I already have an acoustic bike that works perfectly well.
Same deal with the typewriter, tbh. It's always been one of the things that I want to buy if I get to have "a large amount of money." I used to have a fairly small one way back then, and it's small and portable enough to be stowed into some corner of my room when not in use, but it's a bit finicky to use. It's also one of those cheap ones that came out in the mid-90's, back when electric typewriters (and computers) started eating away at its niche.
As for the scooter, I think it'd be a lot more useful to me. I can use it for weekly errands (groceries and whatnot). For the leisure rides I really want it for though, I should probably want a beefier one (with more range etc.). Btw, what is an acoustic bike?
It's a joking term for a non-electric bike.
Ah~ Hahahahaha! Thanks! That one wooshed way over my head. Some of those can be pretty acoustic tho.
One of my favorite things living rural is the peace and quiet everywhere all the time
IKR! If it were only more convenient (getting necessities without having to go very far, or just have them easily delivered), I'd probably love to live in a rural place.
Right now though, I am way too used to living inside of a big city.
I've thought about a racing drone. I kept with the drone racing league for a while on YouTube and thought that would be a lot of fun.
I even priced out some options (not cheap), but haven't pulled the trigger.
If you're new to FPV flying and unsure I can recommend getting the controller first and practicing in a simulator. it will save you a lot of money since your first crashes won't cost anything.
Lol that's a good call. Would the headset/VR make sense too? I know nothing other than the Internet people make it look easy.
it's definitely harder than it may seem in videos. but I've seen people getting the hang of it in a few sessions in the sim. I'd say it you're okay at flying in the simulator and close to actually buying a real done you could get FPV goggles and practice some more with them. it all depends on how determined you are too get into the hobby.
Good point. Right now I'm mostly focused on reading a bunch this year and my car. But winter is coming and this car doesn't do well on snow or ice.
Just start learning line-of-sight before you go fpv. You need that to land in tight space when you bring it in. Fpv is easier than line of sight.
I'll look into that, thank you!
Ever since my father passed I've got his old motorcycle standing around. So first thing would be a driver's license for motorcycling. But I'm already taking classes so that's that. And the biggest lesson is what a money sink this hobby can be.
Then I'll need a motorcycle - either get the old thing working again or get a new one. Or why not both? Because the old one's 30 years old and doesn't have ABS.
And the third thing would be a Bambu Lab P1 3d printer. I don't need the speed but damn do they look good.
May not be too hard depending on the age. Could just need the carb jets cleaned and some fresh fuel/battery. Check out bikes and beards on YouTube.
It's a BMW K75 that's been standing around for about 10 years, an inline 3 with injection and shaft drive. I'm hoping it won't need much more than new tires, fluids and filters. But even if it turns out cheaper than a newer bike, I'm not sure if a resucitated old bike like that is the best choice starting out.
I suppose a newer supertelephoto lens for my camera. I don't use it enough to actively look for it, but if someone got me an RF 100-500 as a present I wouldn't say no. Or even a EF Tamron 150-600 G2.
A side by side ATV kind of thingy for going out on the trails in our woods.
A Teletype
I just like the sound and the oldschool vibe of these machines.
But the 'realistic' aspect shrinks as they are hard to get.
I have a non-functioning ASR-33, and an almost-functioning DECwriter III.
A lock picking set, just to play and see if I can do it
100% you can do it with some good instructional content and a smidge of patience!
A standard lock is disturbingly easy to pick... We used to run a booth at a maker event where we taught members of the public passing by including, like, 5 year olds to pick padlocks.
Unrelated, but BTW there are some jurisdictions if I'm not mistaken where having lock picking tools found on you is considered "criminal intent" or something, but on the other hand if you're already at the point where your bag is being searched you may already be boned...
for 20-25 bucks you can get started and it's a really fun activity that maybe you get into a little bit more
I ordered one from eBay for a couple of bucks. It was fun to play around with it but got bored with it rather quickly.
Yeah one of those little drones is definitely on my list. Also one of those big wide curvy computer monitors. I don't even know what I'd do with it, I just think they're neat lol
Edit: Oh yeah, also one of those giant Wacom tablets.
Unless you're into a wide stroke gestural drawing, large Wacoms may be unnecessary for you. My illustrator wife just sold hers in favor of an iPad with Procreate and Astropad.
Wacom pen displays have great screens and pens, but are unwieldy, loud (fans tend to break, too), finicky and run on weird drivers that may or may not just mess up your day.
Really bad experience for a product costing multiple thousands of dollars.
I have a little 13-inch one, but I literally just want to get a massive one because I think they're cool. But yeah probably super impractical, I don't think it'd even fit on my desk lol.
A tattoo on the inside of each forearm: On my left wrist, a wine key, all tools fanned out. On the right, a pocketknife, all tools fanned out. I'd specifically want my wine key and my (official BSA) pocketknife.
A mini pc for emulation. I've been following the emulation scene for years, particularly for Android over the last 5-6 years. I ride the bus to and from work, so it's always been nice to have them. For home, I have a Rasobery Pi 3B. It's nice. But it is a little outdated, and would like a boost in power. Thought about getting the RP5 if it ever comes out.
However, some companies are now starting to really go all in on mini PCs. For more modern PC gaming, it's not gonna get you the greatest experience. And I have a gaming PC right now. But I find that I prefer to run my emulators sitting on the couch. And now a lot of these minis are able to emulate up to PS3 and 360. Or at least as well as the emulators can work. However, for a model running the specs I want, I'm currently looking at anywhere from $700-900. So it might be a bit longer till I can afford one. Maybe with tax money if nothing else comes up.
Steam Deck + Dock! Definitely consider it!
That was one direction I considered going. On one hand, i have pretty much pretty much everything up to the PS2 and GameCube that can run on my phone, but it would be awesome to have the option for some PS3 games. However, it is a bit of a mixed bag. Some games it can handle perfectly fine. Some of them I would absolutely love to have mobile. But there's also a few others that it's not quite there for. I want to say someone tried on the ROG Ally, and it did test a little bit better, so that would be an option as well.
But I also just don't know how often I would use it. Like I got a Switch when it came out, and I feel like I mostly use it docked at home. It's big, it's awkward trying to get it out of its case and get comfortable while on the bus. On the other hand it's a lot easier to just have a smaller controller I can slap on my phone.
But I haven't written it off yet. Because like I said, some games would be awesome to have. And a lot of the ports I would like to take with my that they put on the Switch tend to be downgraded visually, so it would look better on a portable PC instead.
Right now, probably a Google tablet with a keyboard cover, but I'm broke and can't justify it when I have a perfectly good laptop.
An electric maxi-scooter, like the BMW CE 04. I don't want the BMW specifically, but the US market is extremely limited. It's really annoying, actually.
And the hardcore computer j4k3@lemmy.world also wants. But I'm not a developer (at least not yet...maybe later). I think it'd be cool to have a super powerful computer just 'cause.
We can do it! Or at least you can, I am too dumb.
A Wii. I'm not super big into emulating it but I have a few games on dolphin. It's just the console I remember having the most fun with as a kid and I wanna experience that again. Every time I walk into a video game store the shelves are lined with Wii games so it shouldn't be hard to get into it compared to other older consoles like a GameCube or something
A bunch of raspberry Pis to do cool stuff with. Like putting pihole/adguard home on one to set up a custom DNS server to block all ads, another one with some cool sensors, etc.
3D printer.
Cura Compatible.
Playdate (handheld console.)
I almost bought one, but I cancelled the order because my phone broke that evening.
What do you think of the arduboy?
Could be interesting in it's own right, I could certainly buy one right now if I wanted to, but also a huge reason Playdate interested me is because it's hardware is kinda anachronistic (Playdate's specs eclipse the original DS in a lot of ways, but it has a 1-bit monochrome screen) and because of an interest in radial controls (I've never had access to something like a Pong console or a 2600 with Paddle controllers.)
Is this for retro gaming? I thought about buying the RG 300 for this.
Nah. Retro-style gaming I guess, but it's new games (I don't see a good reason a retro gaming handheld would be Black and White.)
Perfect Grade RX-78-2 Gundam
I bet you could find a Dot Matrix font for your injet or laser if you looked around.
As someone who lived through the dot matrix era, I'm just as glad that they are no longer with us. I've gotten spoiled by being able to read what I print without eyestrain. :-)
Nah, font still won't have the real feel. Neither the sound. And if I want to print in high DPI with my printer (HP PSC1315), it takes 20 minutes per A4 page.
I suppose a newer supertelephoto lens for my camera. I don't use it enough to actively look for it, but if someone got me an RF 100-500 as a present I wouldn't say no. Or even a EF Tamron 150-600 G2.
A side by side ATV kind of thingy for going out on the trails in our woods.
A projector with surround sound speakers for my living room.
A custom gaming pc built by Digital Storm to replace my HP Omen laptop. I've done quite a bit of research. I looked at Digital Storm, AVA Direct, Maingear, Falcon Northwest, and System 76. For a while I was eyeing Maingear, then Falcon Northwest, but Digital Storm has most of the options that I'd want.
An 85 inch 8k tv for enthusiast purposes.
A three set bookcase for my room so that I can replace my old bookcase and to better store the books that I have and more.
A Purple queen-sized mattress with an adjustable base to replace my old bed and twin-sized mattress and also my incline pillow.
I'm curious, if you've done that much research into gaming PC prebuilts, what's keeping you from building your own?
I'd rather leave the actual building to the experts.
There are some pros to prebiilts. Having to deal with a single company for warranty instead of one for every component, for example.
Interesting question.
Tbh, the jump from upper mid tier to top of the line PC is present but not overwhelming.
From what I can tell, Zero does that shit that Tesla and BMW do, where you have to pay to unlock features that your car/motorcycle already has. Which is a shame, because the idea of owning an electric motorcycle, particularly a highway-capable one, intrigues me.