XDA

TrueNAS finally added the feature that let me retire the second mini PC next to my NAS

Jeff Butts — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 17:30:22 GMT

For a long time, my NAS had a little sidekick sitting next to it. The NAS handled storage, while a separate mini PC running Proxmox handled the small services I didn’t quite want to run directly on the storage box. It worked, but I never really loved it. I had two machines powered on, two systems to update, two sets of logs to check, and one growing feeling that I’d added extra hardware mostly because my NAS wasn’t quite ready to handle the whole job.

This $200 Ryzen 5 9600X deal comes with a free Cooler Master AIO, and it's perfect for a summer build

Timi Cantisano — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 17:06:26 GMT

We've talked about the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X before. It's a solid CPU that delivers impressive single and multi-core performance, while also being incredibly efficient. It's a good choice for general use PCs, along with gaming builds. While the pricing was good when it launched, it's gotten better over time, with nice reductions from third-party retailers.

I used Claude Fable 5 for zero-shot coding, and understood why Anthropic locked it down

Abhinav Raj — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 17:00:22 GMT

Claude Fable 5 got off to an unusually rocky start. Anthropic released the model to the public on June 9, and just three days later, the US Department of Commerce instructed the firm to pull it globally over national security concerns tied to export controls. Fable 5 was unavailable for the following three weeks before Anthropic redeployed it on July 1, and it remained accessible through usage credits through July 7.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 2026 Review

Alex Dobie — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 16:49:11 GMT

With dual screens and an RTX 5090 GPU, this laptop is truly insane.

CachyOS is Arch Linux for normal people, and that's why I switched

Ty Sherback — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 16:31:22 GMT

In my first real stint using Arch Linux, I, like many others, was under no illusion that it'd be a painless affair. I was ready for things to break, and for maintenance to be a constant battle. I was mostly fine with that, but I began to have a building resentment towards my Arch install. It never reached the point where it was unusable, but the constant wrestling finally brought me to a breaking point. Instead of reaching for a friendlier distro that checked more convenience boxes but left out the cutting-edge speed, I went for another Arch derivative in CachyOS, which is still what runs on my workstation today. Far fewer chores land on my plate day to day, I'm not constantly hitting walls of decision fatigue, and it's just as fast.

AM4 refuses to die, and AMD's $349 anniversary chip might be the best gaming value in 2026

Ty Sherback — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 16:00:23 GMT

CPU makers rarely keep a platform alive past its successor's launch, and AMD's AM4 was already the exception to that rule. What's basically unprecedented is a re-release of a discontinued chip with a brand-new production run, and that's exactly what AMD is doing with the wildly popular Ryzen 7 5800X3D. The chip that saved AM4's late years is back on shelves as of June 25 for $349, complete with commemorative packaging and a bundled Carbice Ice Pad. It's a four-year-old processor on a platform that debuted a decade ago, and yet for a huge swath of PC gamers, it might be the smartest purchase of 2026.

This 28-year-old open-source Windows alternative can finally run Half-Life 2

Patrick O'Rourke — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 15:54:14 GMT

Just a month ago, ReactOS, an open-source Windows effort, was able to get Half-life up and running, and now, just 30 days later, the operating system is running Half-Life 2 (via Phoronix).

I tried replacing Plex with Jellyfin, but the free, open-source app just can't compete

Dhruv Bhutani — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 15:30:22 GMT

Convenience is a big reason why I run a media server. While I enjoyed editing metadata when I was twenty, today I want all of my movies, TV shows, and music available whenever I need them without depending on streaming services. And I want them in the simplest way possible. Basically, I want Netflix but self-hosted. And I've been using Plex for years. But recently I decided to give Jellyfin a proper shot. Was it finally good enough to replace Plex for me?

I fixed my Pixel's Bluetooth issues by changing this one setting

Patrick O'Rourke — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 15:00:22 GMT

I'm one of those weird smartphone users that frequently switch between iOS and Android. It's partly because of my job as a tech reporter, but I also just really like smartphones and playing around with tech, so even if this wasn't my career, I'm sure I'd probably still constantly jump between a Pixel 10 Pro, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, and an iPhone 17 Pro.

I switched from Claude to Perplexity Computer for real workflows

Brian Burgess — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 14:30:22 GMT

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning started as advanced search capabilities but have quickly grown into technologies you can use in your workflows to increase productivity. I had attempted to avoid using AI in general when it was spitting out incorrect data. I recall how bad it was when it launched and how annoyed (and still am) that Microsoft forced it on Windows users. Then it started coming for writers' jobs. But when I began writing for a local newspaper, things changed.