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FreeBSD doesn't have Wi-Fi driver for my old MacBook, so AI built one for me

vladimir.varank.in

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Re: FreeBSD doesn't have Wi-Fi driver for my old MacBook, so AI built one for me

#361

Post by varankinv »

veunes wrote: post #344
irishcoffee wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Throwing myself to the sharks here, but sure. pcie.c /* * BAR0 register access */ uint32_t brcmf_reg_read(struct brcmf_softc *sc, uint32_t off) { return (bus_space_read_4(sc->reg_bst, sc->reg_bsh, off)); } Is sc null? Who knows! Was it memset anywhere? No! Were any structs memset anywhere? Barely! Does this codebase check for null? Maybe in 3% of the places it should! All throughout this codebase variables are declar…

To be fair if you open up driver source code from the vendors themselves, it's often the same hell with magic numbers and lack of checks because "we know what the hardware will return". But you're right on the main point: AI writes C like a very confident junior who skipped memory safety lectures - it copies the style, but not the discipline. It works as long as you're on the "happy path", but debugging a kernel pani…

I was personally surprised when the agent debugged kernel panics caused by its own code (many times by now). It just iterates from the stack traces and crash dumps. The nice part is that, when you do see that the code smells — you ask the agent to rework it, focusing on specific problems. This is just code, and you don't need to dance around, hoping that AI will spill some "magic" at you.

Re: FreeBSD doesn't have Wi-Fi driver for my old MacBook, so AI built one for me

#362

Post by 0xbadcafebee »

hnarn wrote: post #322
0xbadcafebee wrote: post #43

Had an experience like this recently. QEMU stopped compiling for old versions of MacOS (pre-13) w/M1 arch, due to it requiring newer SDKs which don't support older MacOS versions. I put Sonnet 4.6 on the case, and it wrote a small patch, compiled and installed it in a matter of minutes, without giving it any instructions other than to look at errors and apply a fix. I definitely would have just given up without the A…

Why would you solve an issue like this and then not supply a patch upstream, or at the very least contact someone that could? It seems to be like the FLOSS equivalent of posting about a problem on a forum and then replying "nvm, solved it".

1) The upstream only supports latest versions of SDK, they're not going to accept a patch to make the app work on an older SDK

2) I sent the patch to MacPorts which is what I was using and also had failed builds, and the maintainers closed my submission as a dupe (of a ticket which actually didn't have the full patch nor anyone testing it). I offered to do more investigation, no response

3) It's open source, I really don't owe anyone anything, nor they me

Re: FreeBSD doesn't have Wi-Fi driver for my old MacBook, so AI built one for me

#363

Post by 0xbadcafebee »

ranger_danger wrote: post #162
0xbadcafebee wrote: post #43

Had an experience like this recently. QEMU stopped compiling for old versions of MacOS (pre-13) w/M1 arch, due to it requiring newer SDKs which don't support older MacOS versions. I put Sonnet 4.6 on the case, and it wrote a small patch, compiled and installed it in a matter of minutes, without giving it any instructions other than to look at errors and apply a fix. I definitely would have just given up without the A…

Mind sharing that patch?

https://trac.macports.org/ticket/73519

Re: FreeBSD doesn't have Wi-Fi driver for my old MacBook, so AI built one for me

#364

Post by ztjio »

tasuki wrote: post #359
tehjoker wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

there was a whole pandemic

Not really whole. COVID was at best like a quarter pandemic.

Stow the propaganda. 1) it's not over, the pandemic continues and will likely continue for a long time 2) it's already the fifth deadliest pandemic in known history. "Quarter pandemic" is an insane thing to think let alone say out loud.

Re: FreeBSD doesn't have Wi-Fi driver for my old MacBook, so AI built one for me

#365

Post by nineteen999 »

tasuki wrote: post #359
tehjoker wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

there was a whole pandemic

Not really whole. COVID was at best like a quarter pandemic.

It depends where you lived. In my city (harshest/longest restrictions in the world), we were not allowed to leave the house for more than 30 minutes a day for 2.5 years unless we were out buying groceries. No large gatherings allowed at our homes. Mask usage enforced everywhere in public.

In the city in my country reknowned for having a much higher level of hypochrondria before the pandemic, imagine the mental health issues my city is going through now.

Re: FreeBSD doesn't have Wi-Fi driver for my old MacBook, so AI built one for me

#366

Post by nineteen999 »

nozzlegear wrote: post #292
majormajor wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The claim of the AI true-believers is that this time it will be different because of the "general" nature of it. Fire can't build a house. The wheel can't grow crops. Writing can't set a broken bone. Double entry bookkeeping can't write a novel. If you believe that this AI+robotics wave will be able to do anything a human can do with fewer complaints, what would the humans move on to?

Fighting the clankers, of course.

Perhaps you meant writing bad futuristic science fiction on HN rather than building something.

Re: FreeBSD doesn't have Wi-Fi driver for my old MacBook, so AI built one for me

#367

Post by nozzlegear »

nineteen999 wrote: post #366
nozzlegear wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fighting the clankers, of course.

Perhaps you meant writing bad futuristic science fiction on HN rather than building something.

I think it's a foregone conclusion that the clankers are the only ones building something in OP's scenario, leaving nothing left for us meatbags to do but fight the battery bloods and write bad science fiction.

Re: FreeBSD doesn't have Wi-Fi driver for my old MacBook, so AI built one for me

#368

Post by ssl-3 »

calmbonsai wrote: post #358
ssl-3 wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strictly speaking, I don't think we need a human to run repetitive tests. We just need the human to help with the physical parts of the testing jig. For instance: A microphone (optionally: a calibrated microphone; extra-optionally: in an isolated anechoic chamber) is a simple way to get feedback back into the machine about the performance of a speaker. (Or, you know: Just use a 50-cent audio transformer and electrica…

To your point, we already have testing jigs for these sorts of systems in the automotive world for steering and suspension. I can't find the video clip atm, but there's a neat (likely leaked) Foxxconn video that shows a really neat testing jig for Apple trackpads.

There's all kinds of automated testing in the world.

The fun part is that some of us (actually, in this particular crowd, many of us) already have a lot of what we need to get some automated testing done at home, and we may not even realize it. :)

Re: FreeBSD doesn't have Wi-Fi driver for my old MacBook, so AI built one for me

#369

Post by rayiner »

skydhash wrote: post #336
rayiner wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is that the metric? In my job, I get drafts from junior employees that requires major revisions, often rewriting significant parts. It’s still faster to have someone take the first pass. Why can’t AI coding be used the same way? Especially if AIs are capable of following your own style and design choices, as well as testing code against a test suite, why isn’t it easier to start from a kind of working baseline th…

Dis you hire juniors just to get drafts? That seems pretty inneficient.

I'm a lawyer, so a bunch of work--factual analysis, legal research, etc.--goes into the draft that isn't just the words on the page. At the same time, the work product is meant to persuade human readers, so a lot of work goes into making the words on the page perfect. (Perhaps past the point of diminishing returns, but companies are willing to pay for that incremental edge when the stakes are high.)

Programming is different in that you don't usually have senior engineers rewrite code written by junior engineers. On the other hand, look at how the Linux kernel is developed. You have Linus at the top, then subsystem maintainers vetting patches. The companies submitting patches presumably have layers of reviewers as well. Why couldn't you automate the lower layers of that process? Instead of having 5 junior people, maybe you have 2 somewhat more senior people leveraging AI.

This is probably not sustainable unless the AI can eventually do the work the more senior people are doing. But that probably doesn't matter in the short term for the market.

Re: FreeBSD doesn't have Wi-Fi driver for my old MacBook, so AI built one for me

#370

Post by tehjoker »

tasuki wrote: post #359
tehjoker wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

there was a whole pandemic

Not really whole. COVID was at best like a quarter pandemic.

How many dead bodies you need to see to even flinch? Millions not enough?
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