Bob Robertson IX

That’s what FOSS is all about… the steady march to perfection.

While commercial applications must enshittify themselves in order to survive, open source is mostly immune. It isn’t fast, but it is inevitable that an open source product will eclipse the commercial one.

And this is why iOS gets progressive web apps from me. It isn’t that I can’t afford $100, it’s more fuck Apple for demanding tribute from my work.

What I’ve been seeing is the opposite: companies are replacing most senior devs with junior prompters. At least 3 places where I have friends working have let go several of their more expensive senior developers and replaced them with cheaper junior developers who can use AI.

It works in Europe too. It uses LoRa (A Long Range radio protocol) to be able to send messages out to other nodes, which can bounce them out to further nodes. A node can be configured to relay through the Internet to reach people in other areas.

I ordered the radio shown below from a kit on Amazon (it’s a Heltec v4 and came with a battery that isn’t pictured) and it took about 5 minutes to setup. Attaching the antenna to the board was the hardest part.

Great points, and there’s some amazing discussions going on here!

One thing I’d like to add is EVERYONE needs to start setting up some meshtastic nodes. It’s really easy to setup (just hook up a USB cable from your computer to a esp32 board, visit a website to get the configuration, and that’s pretty much it), it’s cheap (as little as $30) and it is secure. Build 2 nodes (one to leave at home, and another for your backpack). This way you’ll be able to communicate should the Internet become unavailable or unsafe. You can also use this at a protest so that you still have a means of communication without needing to bring your phone that the Feds will be able to track.

But… that costs money.

I’m not who you were replying to, and I’m by no means a beginner… but I just got the Framework Desktop with the AMD Strix Halo APU and I initially installed Fedora and could not get games to run through Steam. I eventually installed Nobara, and overall I don’t like it, but it played every game I tried without any fuss.

This was not a breach of iCloud, this was a breach of specific user accounts, as in the user’s passwords were guessed or the user gave the attackers their password through social engineering.

The kid is 1.5 months old and you don’t have time? Once that kid gets mobile you’ll really not have time! And I don’t mean crawling or walking, I mean rolling and scooting.

When my kid figured out how to get places by rolling I had gotten up with her early on a Saturday morning and was letting my wife sleep in… I went to the basement and turned on the Xbox to pay some Rocket League and in the middle of a game she started to roll out of the room. I put the controller down and went to pick her up… 4 years later that controller was exactly where I had put it. She’s now almost 9 and is a great gaming partner, and is getting into robotics, 3D printing, and is interested in programming, so I get to jump right back into my old hobbies, and pick up some new ones.

All that to say, Linux is only going to get better and Windows will continue to get worse, but there’s more important things for you to have to worry about in the very near future than troubleshooting an OS that you’re not familiar with, stick with Win 10 for as long as you can and some day you’ll sit down at your desk and realize you have time to look back in at Linux and you’ll find that it isn’t nearly as difficult to use as you remember. Congratulations on the kid, it can be an incredible journey watching, and helping, a person emerge.

When I first setup my Christmas tree lights on a smart switch I created an automation with Google Home where you’d tell Google to turn off the Christmas tree, Google would respond “Ho ho ho… ho”

Oooh, I’ll have to keep that in mind. I had to go on the hunt for a USB dock with Ethernet and my phone was right there the whole time.

I just installed Pop!OS on my 2012 MacBook Pro and it’s amazing. No matter which distro you go with, you will likely need to manually update and install the WiFi drivers. You’ll need an Ethernet connection, which might mean you’ll need an adapter.

Moo(u) juice!

Oh, it’ll be more than that!

I have had touchscreen laptops at work, and I’ve had touchscreen chromebooks for personal use and I love the option of the touchscreen, but it isn’t something I use exclusively. Sometimes, while typing it’s much easier and faster to ‘click’ on a link, or new field, by tapping my screen rather than grabbing my mouse or going to a touchpad. I agree that trying to use the screen on a laptop while it is in ‘laptop mode’ is difficult, but there is a use case where it’s preferred, and I end up with fingerprints on my non-touchscreen screens when I forget which computer I’m on.

I agree… I love my Macbooks for how well the hardware works, and I love how I can open up terminal and do pretty much anything I want. What I don’t like is how consumer hostile it is when it comes to being able to upgrade or repair. I also don’t like Apple’s insistence on telling me what I do and do not want in a product. According to Steve Jobs no one wants a touchscreen on their laptop, and even though he’s been dead for over a decade and the market has shown otherwise, they still don’t have a touchscreen Macbook (and if they ever do release one they’ll fawn over how innovative they are for doing so).

Same. I bought the lifetime pass on sale many years ago, my setup is still working fine without me having to have touched it for at least the past 3 years outside of applying an update from time to time. I don’t stream their free shows or movies and have those setup so that they don’t even show up as an option on my tv.

Do I wish it was still the same company it was a decade ago? Of course… but so far they haven’t impacted my experience to the point that I feel the need to replace it with something else. The second that happens I will be spinning up Jellyfin.

He’s going to dedupe the social security databases, thinking that he’s screwing over trans people because he thinks they are the only people who change their names… not realizing that the vast majority of married women have at least two names associated with their SSN.

Why the flying fuck would anyone want a home automation system that isn’t voice controlled?

I don’t want a voice assistant controlled by Google, Amazon, or Apple… but I value it so much I’m willing to compromise until there’s a better option. This is a huge step in the right direction.

I setup my voice activated lights when my daughter was an infant. It was great being able to sit in a chair and rock her to sleep and be able to say “Google, it’s nap time” and have the lights properly adjust, and the fan turn on. I also use it in my office when I have a video call to adjust the lights so my camera looks better. I can also lock my door, adjust my HVAC, and play music without needing to stop doing whatever I’m busy with.

It also needs people hosting instances. The majority of the time when I want to view a video that’s hosted on Peertube I find that it is no longer available. Hosting video is expensive and this is going to be the biggest hurdle for the platform to overcome.