Oleg — My name is Oleg. I'm an engineer with over 10 years of...

I’ve gotten too many of them

July 18, 2026•965 words

I've been into a hobby of retro gaming on handhelds on and off for quite some time now if counting from the very first device. I bought my first emulation handheld 14 years ago-a JXD S601 (not in the photo; I broke it accidentally many years ago). Then I got a GPD XD in 2015 and somehow managed without buying more until 2024. In 2024 I got an RGB30, and something clicked, and the collection started growing rapidly; I'm sure some of you know what I mean. Now, 15 devices later, it's time to clear...

Read post

I moved from iPhone 17 Pro to Pixel 10a and GrapheneOS

April 26, 2026•5,272 words

After being an iPhone user for the last seven years, in 2026 I pulled the trigger and bought a Google Pixel 10a to finally try GrapheneOS and double-check for myself: do I really need a flagship smartphone? In this post I will share how the transition from iOS to GrapheneOS and from a flagship iPhone to a mid-range Pixel went. If you are here only to see a software experience - what worked, what didn’t, and which Android replacements I chose for iOS apps and services (including iCloud services...

Read post

Signal on Fedora

April 25, 2026•229 words

Signal for Linux officially supports only 64-bit, Debian-based Linux distributions, for example, Ubuntu. There are unofficial, community-maintained COPR repositories and a Flatpak, but it doesn’t feel right because you have to trust a third party. Luckily, distrobox makes installation of Ubuntu packages on Fedora dead simple. So here is how you install an official build of Signal Desktop on Fedora. Install distrobox sudo dnf install distrobox Create a container called “signal-ubuntu” and ...

Read post

Daily driving a soft-top convertible during a Nordic winter

April 21, 2026•1,905 words

I started writing this note on April 20th, a date when a "false spring" in Finland should already be mostly over and a comeback of winter is unlikely (not impossible, though). When I decided to buy a Mazda MX-5, also known as a Miata, in 2025, one of my concerns was a soft top versus the Finnish winter. While I did my search on the internet, I usually either saw posts from people using their Miatas as a second car for occasional winter events or posts from people who live in climate zones wher...

Read post

Does the Retroid Pocket Classic replace ARC-S and Mini v2 for me?

February 19, 2026•1,172 words

I collected a Retroid Pocket Classic (RPC) in the Classic 6 variant from the post office a month ago. The next day, I went on a business trip, took it with me, and played it a lot during my flights. I've enjoyed it at home and have been carrying it in my backpack daily since I came back. Many posts have already been written about it, but few focus purely on emulation of SEGA consoles, so at first I thought I would share my experience in case someone searches the internet for the RPC in the conte...

Read post