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September 05, 2026

Local Model Qwen 3.8 Places But Doesn't Win Benchmark

If you work developing with AI you'll be familiar with this pain - what's the best model to use? More importantly, for a given task, what is the most cost effective model to use that can successfully meet the needs of the task?

In a world where new models appear almost every week - the ability to answer this question with data - your data - is vital. Companies making years long commitments to a particular LLM vendor should reconsider to unlock most cost savings than a signing discount may give.

I break my work into three roles: planner, reviewer and coder. Pulled from my actual work, scenarios were created to exercise models AND their harnesses. A lot of material is out there that the same model performs quite differently in intelligence and cost depending on the harness.

I'm at the beginning of this effort. So far GLM 5.3 Flash is the coding model to use based on it's OpenRouter.ai price. Luna Max, Gemini 3.8 Flash, and Qwen 3.8 27B also achieved a perfect score on MY tasks. I'm still working on how to account for the subscription cost vs the api cost. Gemini 3.8 Flash performs the fastest by a good amount, and via subscription is cheaper than GLM 5.3 Flash. All the subscriptions are very cagey with how much usage you get. 5x the $20/mo usage for $100. 20x the $20/mo usage for $200. I know it's crazy subsidized for now, but it does make actual cost comparisons difficult.

Right now, the brand new GPT 6 Astra on Low is taking the prize for both planner and reviewer.Looking at my chart, I might go for GPT 5.6 Sol low which isn't quite as successful but a good deal cheaper. Astra Max had the best score. Considerably more than Fable 5.1 and less expensive.

You can not take these results and apply them to yourself. The whole point is to use your actual work, to find out how the models meet your needs. Plus, I'm very early in the development of this benchmark.

GLM 5.3 Flash via OpenCode and Sonnet 5 via Claude Code both scored horribly. Which I know from experience is not correct. Still, I'd already concluded that - at this moment - Anthropic models are not top of the heap on cost per completed task. Anthropic ruled for quite awhile.

Qwen 3.8 27B was my "what about local models" check. I did not run it locally because I simply don't have a setup to give me the performance I'd need. But, running on OpenRouter.ai (or the hosting providers routed too) was able to establish that this small, open weights model succeeded 100% at my coder level tasks. I was pleasantly surprised. Seems that some things shouted on the internet turn out to be true. Interestingly, it was more expensive than Luna Max and GLM 5.3 Flash. The cheapest was DeepSeek V4 Flash which completed 75% of the coder tasks. Learning how to distinguish which tasks DeepSeek V4 Flash can do, will save a good deal of money.

Will I go buy a local rig to run Qwen "for free" (after thousands spent on new hardware)? No. I respect those that do. Absolute privacy is a real need for some, and Qwen can do good work as a coder. I don't have that level of privacy need and the economics don't work out - for me - and the way I code. We haven't talked much about speed but my benchmark tracks it. Speed is important when you are producing a lot.

I built my AI Employee Factory platform to be plug-n-play for any model or harness for this very reason.Now with a benchmark custom developed from my own actual work loads, I can optimize spend.

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September 05, 2026
Lunduke Computer Operating System 0.3 Adds New Paint Software, Moves Towards Beta

The "No Age Verification", "No Weird Politics", "No Systemd" Linux distribution marches towards a Beta release.

The Lunduke Computer Operating System:
https://github.com/BryanLunduke/LCOS

LCOS 0.3 ISO download:
https://github.com/BryanLunduke/LCOS/releases

More from The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.com/

00:29:15
September 03, 2026
BlueSky Users Bully Paint.NET Dev Into Dropping AI Coded Feature

Harass. Attack. Vilify. Bully. That is the tactic of the Leftist Activists of Open Source. Now they're using it to abuse and manipulate Al users.

More from The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.com/

00:15:58
September 02, 2026
Omarchy Linux is "Ethnic Cleansing" Says Trans Elementary OS Founder

Plus: Leftist Activist publishes hit list of "weird" guys in Open Source, and it's a who's who of people worth following.

More from The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.com/

00:15:54
November 22, 2023
The futility of Ad-Blockers

Ads are filling the entirety of the Web -- websites, podcasts, YouTube videos, etc. -- at an increasing rate. Prices for those ad placements are plummeting. Consumers are desperate to use ad-blockers to make the web palatable. Google (and others) are desperate to break and block ad-blockers. All of which results in... more ads and lower pay for creators.

It's a fascinatingly annoying cycle. And there's only one viable way out of it.

Looking for the Podcast RSS feed or other links? Check here:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4619051/lunduke-journal-link-central-tm

Give the gift of The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4898317/give-the-gift-of-the-lunduke-journal

The futility of Ad-Blockers
November 21, 2023
openSUSE says "No Lunduke allowed!"

Those in power with openSUSE make it clear they will not allow me anywhere near anything related to the openSUSE project. Ever. For any reason.

Well, that settles that, then! Guess I won't be contributing to openSUSE! 🤣

Looking for the Podcast RSS feed or other links?
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4619051/lunduke-journal-link-central-tm

Give the gift of The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4898317/give-the-gift-of-the-lunduke-journal

openSUSE says "No Lunduke allowed!"
September 13, 2023
"Andreas Kling creator of Serenity OS & Ladybird Web Browser" - Lunduke’s Big Tech Show - September 13th, 2023 - Ep 044

This episode is free for all to enjoy and share.

Be sure to subscribe here at Lunduke.Locals.com to get all shows & articles (including interviews with other amazing nerds).

"Andreas Kling creator of Serenity OS & Ladybird Web Browser" - Lunduke’s Big Tech Show - September 13th, 2023 - Ep 044

Free Yourself of the Coming Subsidy Apocalypse

Click baity headline? I sure tried. I promise real content, though. Here's the concern - what happens when OpenAI and Anthropic turn off the ridiculous subsidy they currently provide. You pay them $200/mo and you get $8,000 to $14,000 of tokens if you had paid the API price. Truly shocking. And truly wonderful.

Or is it? What happens if you build your business on this subscription model and later the rug is pulled out? I know - now it's not so wonderful. And frankly, I've been ignoring this. I still don't think it's a problem for this year or next year. And I'm LOVING the current subsidized plans. So I've put off until tomorrow planning for this.

Fortunately, somebody else has taken on the challenge. Jordan Urbs has quit his $200/mo Claude Code subscription and is replacing it with a subscription to Venice, a provider of access to hosted open weights models like Kimi K3 and Qwen 3.8. Many more, ...

September 06, 2026

Free, Cheap Pay as you Go, Subscribe – OpenCode Zen and Go

OpenCode - the open source coding harness - has Zen and Go as ways to get connected to llms.

Zen - that's pay as you go. Think of it as a competitor to OpenRouter.ai. Only instead of "every llm out there with routing to lots of hosting services" - it's a curated experience. These models, from these hosts are guaranteed optimized to work with OpenCode for excellent coding results. There is no cost penalty either way to chose between OpenRouter and Zen.

Zen also has free models. So use them to your hearts content...until the free limit is hit.

Some of the pay as you go models (like DeepSeek V4 Flash and GLM 5.3 Flash) are so cheap they might as well be free. Once I use up the money I've already put on account at OpenRouter, I'm going to move to Zen.

Go - is the subscription. Pay $10/mo ($5 for first month) and you have all the same models of Zen but you get about 6 to 1 for your money. Pay $10, use up to $60.

So, just ...

September 06, 2026

The CyberThreat is Real.... Maybe every Refrigerator OS should have AGE VERIFICATION BY LAW.

Pentagon Refuses to Speculate Why Smart Fridges Across Several Military Bases Stopped Working at the Same Time
https://notthebee.com/article/pentagon-refuses-to-speculate-why-smart-fridges-across-several-military-bases-stopped-working-at-the-same-time?from_social=twitter

Lunduke Lifetime Discount Ends in 1 Day; Zelda, Larry, SQ, & Keen Walls Available

TL;DR: Lifetime Subscription discount ends in one day. There are currently 4 “Lifetime Walls” with space available for more names (the Oregon Trail Wall is now full).

We’ve been running a massive discount on Lunduke Journal Lifetime Subscriptions for the entire months of June and July. And it has been an absolute blast. There are now 21 (twenty-one!) retro computer walls overflowing with your names.

Pure insanity. Huge thank you to everyone who has supported The Lunduke Journal.

But the discounted price only runs through July 31st… and that moment is just about here.

When the calendar ticks over into August (just a hair over 24 hours from now), the Lunduke Journal Lifetime Subscription price goes back to normal.

  • If the calendar still says it’s July, the Lifetime price is still discounted to $125.

  • If the calendar says August… the price returns to $300.

There are, as of this exact moment, 4 retro game themed “Lifetime Walls” which still have some space for more names (check Lunduke.com for the full list):

  1. Legend of Zelda

  2. Commander Keen 4

  3. Space Quest 4

  4. Leisure Suit Larry

Grab a discounted Lifetime Subscription (scroll down for the details), then email Lunduke (bryan at lunduke.com) with which Wall you’d like to appear on.

 

First come, first served. Once a Wall is full, it’s full. So if there’s a specific Wall you’d like to be on, don’t dilly dally.

How to Grab a Discounted Lifetime Subscription:

There are 3 different ways to pick up a Lunduke Journal Lifetime sub. All of them work great. Choose whichever works best for you!

Remember: These discounted prices go back up to normal ($300) on August 1st.

Get a Lifetime Subscription via Locals:

  1. Go to Lunduke.Locals.com/support.

  2. Select “Give Once“.

  3. Enter “125“ into the amount field.

  4. After checking out, Lunduke will toss you an email once your account is set to full lifetime status. (This usually happens within a few hours.)

Get a Lifetime Subscription via Substack:

  1. Go to Lunduke.Substack.com/subscribe.

  2. Select the “Lifetime Subscription” option.

  3. After checking out, Lunduke will toss you an email once your account is set to full lifetime status. (This usually happens within a few hours.)

If you would also like full, Lifetime access to Lunduke.Locals.com (which is included):

  1. Make a free account on Lunduke.Locals.com.

  2. Email “bryan at lunduke.com” with the email address you use on both Substack and Locals (can be different email addresses).

  3. Lunduke will toss you an email once your account is set to full lifetime status on Locals.

Get a Lifetime Subscription with Bitcoin:

Bonus: Save an extra $10 with the Bitcoin option, as Bitcoin processing has fewer fees associated with it.

bc1qyjakve8fywm8pz2v99v57yhjj0vzr2vjze6fcq

  • Email “bryan at lunduke.com” with the following information: What time you made the transaction, how much was sent (in Bitcoin), and the email address you use (or plan to use) on Locals.com or Substack.com.

-Lunduke

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Oregon Trail, Keen, & Leisure Suit Larry Lifetime Walls

Holy frijoles! There are now 20 (twenty!) Lifetime Subscriber Walls, filled with the names of roughly one bazillion Lunduke Journal supporters.

Just amazing.

Two super quick updates:

  1. The “Desqview/X”, “NeXTSetp”, & “TRS-80 Model 100” Walls are now full! (Check them out on Lunduke.com and at the end of new shows.)

  2. There are 3 new Walls available to put your John Hancock on… and, just for kicks, these ones aren’t from Classic Operating Systems… they’re Classic Games:

    1. Oregon Trail

    2. Commander Keen 4

    3. Leisure Suit Larry

 

I don’t expect space on these Walls to last long. First come first served.

A huge thank you to all of The Lunduke Journal subscribers. Your support is deeply appreciated. You make this possible.

-Lunduke

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TRS-80 Model 100 joins The Lunduke Journal Lifetime Wall party!

Buckle up, Buttercup. Because The Lunduke Journal is about to blow your mind.

  1. The “BeOS” Wall Lifetime Subscriber Wall is now full (see all of them on Lunduke.com)!

  2. We’ve added a new “TRS-80 Model 100” Wall (because we can)! That’s the 19th Lifetime Subscriber Wall! 19!

  3. The discounted Lifetime Lunduke Journal Subscriptions are still available through to the end of this month (July).

Which means there are, as of this exact moment, 4 Walls with space available (see Lunduke.com for the full list of Walls). But these fill up wicked fast.

  1. Emacs (only a few spots left)

  2. Desqview/X (a little less than 2/3rd’s full)

  3. NeXTStep (still plenty of space)

  4. TRS-80 Model 100 (just launched)

 

Nice, right?

Worth noting: The “TRS-80 Model 100” has very limited screen resolution (240 x 64), which means only a small number of names can fit on that wall. If you want on it, I’d let me know right away.

Grab a discounted Lifetime Subscription (if you don’t already have one), then let me know (email “bryan at lunduke.com”) which Wall you’d like to see your name on.

Huge high five to everyone who has already added their name to a Wall. At the current rate, we’ll have over 20 retro computer themed walls, filled with all of your names, by the end of the month.

And, doggone it, that’s amazing.

-Lunduke

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