--- title: My Anti AI computer | daily.dev description: A maker built a custom handheld computer using two RP2040 microcontrollers, a Forth OS, an MFM floppy drive, Artsey chord keyboard, and a PCB milled on a CNC... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/my-anti-ai-computer-vqs0dbnds twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: My Anti AI computer | daily.dev og:description: A maker built a custom handheld computer using two RP2040 microcontrollers, a Forth OS, an MFM floppy drive, Artsey chord keyboard, and a PCB milled on a CNC... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/my-anti-ai-computer-vqs0dbnds og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/vqs0dBndS.png og:image:alt: My Anti AI computer og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # My Anti AI computer **[Lobsters](https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A maker built a custom handheld computer using two RP2040 microcontrollers, a Forth OS, an MFM floppy drive, Artsey chord keyboard, and a PCB milled on a CNC machine. The device runs an Apple II emulator and a Zork bytecode interpreter, with a 24-hour battery life. Ironically, all the software — the OS, emulators, floppy controller, Forth interpreter, and CNC tooling — was vibe-coded using AI. The author reflects on the philosophical tension of using AI to build an escape from AI, comparing the loss of craft to the alienation of industrial food production. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How do I mill 0.2mm PCB traces on a CNC with FR2 copper clad that has surface height variation? FR2 copper clads can have 0.6–0.7mm variation between highest and lowest points, which makes fine traces very difficult. Using a heightmap with good interpolation compensates for the warp. Additionally, constraining CNC moves to only the X or Y axis at a time — never diagonal — prevents error accumulation. A 0.8mm fishtail endmill is suitable for 0.2mm traces with this approach. _Makers cutting their own PCBs track techniques like this on daily.dev alongside the software side of embedded projects._ ## Community take How the wider developer community reacted, aggregated from 2 discussions and 21 comments across lobsters, hackernews (as of 2026-08-12). **TL;DR:** Commenters largely resonate with the philosophical tension the author describes, sharing their own experiences of cognitive offloading and lost craft, though a few push back on whether AI engagement is inherently dulling versus a matter of how you use it. **Sentiment:** 20% positive · 50% mixed · 30% skeptical **The case for** - Delegating work to AI can free attention for higher-level thinking, similar to how researchers use interns for mundane tasks. - Using AI to realize ideas in real time can feel more rewarding than managing the cognitive overhead of switching between AI-assisted and manual work. **The pushback** - Repeated AI use triggers a mental reflex to skip the effortful parts of coding, eroding the intrinsic satisfaction of building things by hand. - The path from directing AI to do specific tasks slides quickly toward asking it what to do entirely, a form of cognitive surrender. - Like GPS dependency, habitual AI reliance may quietly degrade skills people don't realize they're losing until they need them. **By community** - lobsters (mixed): Commenters deeply relate to the craft-vs-convenience tension, trading personal anecdotes about lost joy in coding and debating whether AI use is an addiction, a Faustian bargain, or simply a tool that depends on how consciously you engage with it. - hackernews (mixed): No comments were available to assess sentiment. **Hottest debate:** Whether AI-assisted work inevitably causes cognitive atrophy or whether the outcome depends entirely on how deliberately the user engages with the technology. **Open questions** - Is there a sustainable way to use AI for speed without gradually surrendering the deeper thinking skills that make the work meaningful? - At what point does delegating cognitive labor to AI cross from productive offloading into genuine skill loss? **Highlights** > It is just so easy, I know exactly what I want, I know how to make it appear, even though I know how to write it myself and I know it is good for me to do so, as I start typing my brain just goes into 'why are you spending time doing this, you could be doing the next thing, lets get this quickly and move to the next thing' and all of a sudden there is nothing left, and I look back, and there was nothing to begin with. "the price of getting what you want is getting what you once wanted" -- Neil Gaiman > — [jackdoe on lobsters · 5 points, 4 comments](https://lobste.rs/s/unffzk/my_anti_ai_computer#c_vx8rf4) > In E Unibus Pluram, DFW says: > But something is malignantly addictive if (1) it causes real problems for the addict, and (2) it offers itself as relief from the very problems it causes. A malignant addiction is also distinguished for spreading the problems of the addiction out and in in interference patterns, creating difficulties for relationships, communities, and the addict’s very sense of self and soul. He's talking about television in the essay, but I think it also applies to agentic coding. The real problem it causes is a shrinking tolerance for thinking deeply about details, and the relief it provides is that it often, with enough tokens, quickly obviates having to do such thinking. Maybe the latter qualifications also apply. That said, I willingly use agents for coding and other cognitive work all the time. Like most useful technologies there's a bit of a (faustian?) bargain that's made with AI. My hope is that on balance I'm better off, like the way my GPS lets me more confidently explore new cities and trails even though I struggle with basic directions outside of my neighborhood (RIP hippocampus). > — [mbil on lobsters · 2 points, 2 comments](https://lobste.rs/s/unffzk/my_anti_ai_computer#c_p4iiij) > I think its interesting that a research professor can stay sharp when they delegate mundane, but necessary, labor to interns and graduate students, but delegating similar kinda of work to an LLM automatically makes you dull. I think it depends on *how* you engage with the process. People can use AI to turn of their brains, but it isn't the only way to engage with the technology. > — [xjix on lobsters · 4 points, 1 comments](https://lobste.rs/s/unffzk/my_anti_ai_computer#c_9ghbp7) > I am not even sure addictive is the right word to use. Addictive how exactly? Addictive would mean you want to be in some state more and more, but there is no state to be in. Cognitive offloading/surrender is when you ask the LLM 'tell me what to do', in contrast when you tell it 'make me 6502 emulator to run apple2 basic from this rom'. The problem is, the road from 'make me 6502 emulator' leads to 'please tell me what to do' very quickly. > — [jackdoe on lobsters · 2 points, 1 comments](https://lobste.rs/s/unffzk/my_anti_ai_computer#c_h77pbl) **Source threads** - [lobsters](https://lobste.rs/s/unffzk/my_anti_ai_computer) · 12 points · 21 comments - [hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49260181) · 1 points · 0 comments ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Who Had “New OS For The Z80” On Their 2026 Bingo Card?](https://daily.dev/posts/who-had-new-os-for-the-z80-on-their-2026-bingo-card--eb8lfemqw) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [My 1981 adventure game is now a multimedia extravaganza](https://daily.dev/posts/my-1981-adventure-game-is-now-a-multimedia-extravaganza-6kuphm9an) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Diving into Retro Computing with the Amstrad PCW 8256](https://daily.dev/posts/diving-into-retro-computing-with-the-amstrad-pcw-8256-yksnkio8j) · Scott Logic · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [I’m Tired of Being on the Network](https://daily.dev/posts/i-m-tired-of-being-on-the-network-tkehose00) · Mat Duggan · 24 upvotes · 4 comments - [I built a pint-sized Macintosh](https://daily.dev/posts/i-built-a-pint-sized-macintosh-jg4a8bv0k) · Jeff Geerling · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#embedded](https://daily.dev/tags/embedded), [#vibe-coding](https://daily.dev/tags/vibe-coding) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/my-anti-ai-computer-vqs0dbnds) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"My Anti AI computer","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/my-anti-ai-computer-vqs0dbnds","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/my-anti-ai-computer-vqs0dbnds"},"datePublished":"2026-08-11T23:04:38.769Z","dateModified":"2026-08-12T09:35:46.647Z","description":"A maker built a custom handheld computer using two RP2040 microcontrollers, a Forth OS, an MFM floppy drive, Artsey chord keyboard, and a PCB milled on a CNC...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/771d24e4fbe9c701d230da55f2f3ef98?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/771d24e4fbe9c701d230da55f2f3ef98?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Lobsters","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Lobsters","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--tl8v_Fku--/f_auto,t_logo/v1698841318/logos/lobste.jpg","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/my-anti-ai-computer-vqs0dbnds","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"embedded,vibe-coding","timeRequired":"PT3M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lobsters","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"My Anti AI computer"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/my-anti-ai-computer-vqs0dbnds#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How do I mill 0.2mm PCB traces on a CNC with FR2 copper clad that has surface height variation?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"FR2 copper clads can have 0.6–0.7mm variation between highest and lowest points, which makes fine traces very difficult. 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