d3Xt3r @ d3Xt3r @beehaw.org

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15

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146

Joined

2 yr. ago

I guess I stand corrected-ish. I've always ignored Z-Wave because it was a closed ecosystem. But upon reading more into it, seems like it's only partially open. They only opened certain parts of the spec for interoperability in late 2016, the standard was ratified by the ITU in Dec 2019, and they formed the non-profit Z-Wave Alliance only in 2020. They apparently made the source code available end of last year, but it's only available to the Z-Wave Alliance members.

https://z-wavealliance.org/z-wave-alliance-completes-z-wave-source-code-project-for-alliance-members/

So, still not ideal IMO, but better than what it was a decade ago I guess.

All valid concerns, but if you really wanted to, you could roll your own home automation setup using something like a Raspberry Pi, and optionally Home Assistant, and keep it all offline so that it's safe from hackers.

So a couple of things. Z-Wave is a proprietary protocol (developed by a single company called Zensys) and is a closed ecosystem, so personally, I'm not a fan of it. And it's not great choice for interoperability either.

Zigbee on the other hand, is an open standard (IEEE 802.15.4), made by the Zigbee alliance, comprising of major tech companies. The Zigbee alliance later became the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), who are the ones behind Matter. Which is why it appears as if Matter is trying to resolve Zigbee issues.

In actuality though, Matter is trying to proposition itself as a generic standard for the modern IoT world, because things have changed significantly since the times when the Zigbee and Z-Wave protocols were conceived (late 90s - early '00s). The main thing that's changed is that low-power and cheap system-on-a-chip (SOCs) and single board computers (SBCs) have taken over the world by storm, which has enabled manufacturers to push out cheap home automation products quickly. Making home automation products is no longer a traditional embedded systems and specialized electronics play, where you had to invest a lot of RnD into designing complex circuits, pay for a Z-Wave license etc. Nowadays, even a kid could make their own system using a Raspberry Pi and say Python, without needing any knowledge of low-level protocols or languages.

As a result, the home automation world is filled with too many manufacturers and products, all trying to do their own thing and in-effect, building several closed ecosystems, even though they're all basically using the same protocols behind the scenes. Plus you also have the existing Zigbee and Z-Wave products.

So before Matter came into the picture, several manufacturers started making their own centralized hubs, as a means for interoperability, like Samsung's SmartThings, or Apple's HomeKit etc. Some even have their own closed hubs meant for their own ecosystem of devices, like the Philips Hue bridge. As a result, some homes may even have multiple hubs, with overlapping functionality.

Matter aims to unify all of that. So instead of Philips doing their own thing, instead of Samsung coaxing manufactures to make their systems compatible with SmartThings, instead of manufacturers kissing Apple's ass to support their products, instead of x company making some half-baked bridging app for y company because the specs haven't been fully documented or they simply don't care.. we have Matter. Matter aims to solve that mess, at least, on paper. It would still require manufacturers to actually buy into the idea and support the protocol, but at least it's better than working individually with Samsung and Apple and Amazon etc, or reinventing the wheel and doing their own thing.

The good thing is, older AMD cards tend to drop in value a lot more compared to nVidia. So now that these cards have been announced, expect a decent price drop in the near future for m the 6000 series cards (which are still pretty good, especially if you consider the price/performance ratio vs nVidia).

The drivers themselves are fine, but the problem is game compatibility. Several games require you to fake your card vendor so that the game thinks you're on nVidia or something, but even then, there may be some compatibility issues.

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Intel-Graphics-Hogwarts-Legacy

Pulumi looks cool but unfortunately I haven't seen a single company advertising Pulumi as a desirable skill, so if I wanted to land a job in this area, I'd still be forced to learn Terraform.

So what's cool or moe about this? The Github page doesn't list any details on how this is different from Telegram X, no screenshots either.

Looks interesting, but doesn't seem better than GPT-4. GPT-4 scored 67% on the Human Eval test, whereas Code Llama scored only a 53.7%, which isn't a trivial difference. Bit disingenuous of Meta to claim it to be "on par" with ChatGPT.

Would WINE and Proton's development rapidly accelerate?

Maybe, it would also depend on the license used. "opensource" doesn't necessarily mean GPL, so even if MS opensourced Windows, the license could prohibit the code from being used in Wine or other L/GPL'd projects.

And yes, Wine would still be necessary for people who use Linux mainly not because it's "free", but because of its architecture and ecosystem, and would like to retain compatibility with Windows applications.

Would Windows tools like their file explorer become dominant

Unlikely. File Explorer sucks, and so do most of tools built into Windows. Which is one of the reason why there are so many third-party utilities in the Windows world (like xplorer2, Notepad++, Paint .NET etc). The Task Manager is decent now I guess, but we already have a few clones that does the job. PowerShell is also decent, but it's already opensourced and cross-platform. Can't really think of any other built-in Windows tool that's better than Linux alternatives.

Would things like NTFS be installed by default in most distros?

It already is. The Linux kernel now includes the NTFS3 driver (developed by Paragon) and it does a pretty good job. exFAT also no longer has legal issues since 2019 and is also part of the kernel.

Do you think a lot of people and businesses would jump on a chimera distro that was half and half?

Probably not. The biggest roadblock to Linux getting mass adoption is the lack of a big hardware backer. Most people don't mess around with operating systems, they just use whatever OS is preloaded on their device, and it has very little to do with compatibility. Look how gimped Chromebooks are, yet people still buy them, and that's because you could just walk into a Best Buy or whatever and pick it up from the shelves. You can't do that with mainstream Linux distros. Companies like System76 are on the right track, but they're still far, far away from mass-market reach. It would take someone big like Google to package Linux nicely into shiny hardware, partner up with retailers and hardware makers, and market the hell out of it.

The issue is it also voids your warranty. So suppose your brand new, expensive Samsung phone develops a hardware fault, they could deny repair because your warranty is now technically void.

And it also affects the resale value. The person you're selling to in the future, might not want to use a custom ROM, and they might actually want to use those Samsung features.

No, Samsung's KNOX security system checks the eFuse state for various functions, and if the eFuse is blown, it'll disable several Samsung features, such as Secure Folder, Private Browsing in the Samsung browser, Samsung Pay, Samsung Pass etc. You cannot restore these features even if you flash the stock firmware and relock the bootloader.

That's highly unlikely. Samsung phones aren't very custom-ROM friendly, especially if you're going for a recent device like OP did. Also, Samsung devices use a hardware eFuse which is blown up the moment you unlock the bootloader, which permanently voids the warranty, and permanently disables some Samsung features, which also reduces the resale value of the phone.

So, I wouldn't advise rooting/ROMming a Samsung. Best to get something like a Pixel instead.

• Laptop: Framework. Modular hardware, easy to upgrade and repair.
• Smartphone: Pixel + GrapheneOS.

I don't really care about politics, so I don't watch/read mainstream news. For local news, I usually come across it it via local subs/chat groups/people, but I don't go actively looking for it. For everything else, I use various news reader apps, all tuned to deliver my main interests (none of which contain any anxiety inducing stuff).

As for dealing with anxiety in general, over the years I've found a combination of things work for me. I used to have bouts of anxiety in the past and used to blame it on external factors, but really, I was the one to blame for not taking care of my body.

You'll probably ignore this advice like most people do (I guess people hate to admit they don't have a healthy lifestyle, or they're are after a quick fix, or want to blame everyone/everything else but themselves)... But I'll post this regardless, just in case someone finds it useful:

Breathe: Anything from taking conscious, steady and calm breaths when you're feeling anxious, to having a daily morning breathing yoga exercise routine, helps immensely. Check out some articles or YouTube videos on pranayama to start off with.

Meditate: Meditating anywhere from 10-40 mins daily can reduce stress, boost your mood, improve emotional and mental health.

Exercise: Pretty self-explanatory, get at least 30 mins per day. Exercise is a massive stress-buster.

Foods to consume: Make sure you're eating a balanced diet, in particular, ensure you're getting enough Magnesium, Zinc, Folafe, Vitamin C and D, to combat anxiety. Bananas in particular are excellent at reducing anxiety because they're natural beta-blockers - they prevent adrenaline from binding to beta receptors. This slows nerve impulses to the heart and counteracts the effects of adrenaline to keep a lower heart rate and calmer state of mind. Other good foods to have include Asparagus (for Folafe), Berries (for Antioxidants and Vitamin C), and Chamomile tea for extra calming effect. As for Vitamin D, most people in the world are deficient in it, so you may need to take supplements. Check with your doctor or a nutritionist to see how much you need. In fact there's a ton more nutrients/foods you can (and should consume), all of which have an effect on reducing anxiety, but I won't list them all here. Eating right is one of the most effective ways to combat anxiety and everyone should spend some time into paying closer attention to what they're eating.

Foods to avoid: Avoid, or limit consumption of alcohol and caffeine. If you must consume caffeine, drink in moderation and do not consume any after lunchtime, as that affects your circadian rhythm. Also avoid junk food, sugary drinks, processed foods and excess consumption of salt in general.

Sleep: If you're following all of the above strictly, then you shouldn't have any issues getting quality sleep for 8 hours a day (unless you've got other medical issues like sleep apnea, or external disturbances like blue light or noise). Lack of sleep is a big contributor to anxiety (and other health issues), so use a sleep tracker on a fitness band/smartwatch, or an app such as Sleep As Android, to keep an eye on your quality of sleep.

This may all seem like obvious stuff so most folks will ignore this, but if you're succeptible to anxiety, I sincerely urge you to read the above and take a deep look at your lifestyle. You don't need pills, you don't need to block off all social media etc to combat anxiety, nature has given us all all the tools, it's up to you to use it, and learn to respect and pay attention to your body and mind.

It's not FOSS, but have you tried Join? It was basically created as a response to Pushbullet pulling their paywall stunt, so most disgruntled PB users switched to Join. It's made by the same guy who maintains Tasker btw, joaomgcd.

This is what your post looks like btw on Sync. ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

I assume you've already looked at specific tips for those plants, so skipping the obvious stuff. From my own experience as an apartment grower:

• Go for a pot that's at least 10-12 inches deep. Personally, I'd recommend going for a felt/fiber based cloth pots, as these naturally drain very well, encourage the roots to spread out more evenly, and also helps keep the soil areated and prevent root rot. Regular pots can cause the roots to bundle up, inhibiting their growth and can also lead to root rot.
• Don't use actual soil, as it may compact and hinder root growth. Use a high-quality potting mix instead. A mix designed specially for vegetables or one that's well-draining would be ideal.
• Make sure your plants get plenty of sunlight (6-8 hrs) . A south-facing window is ideal. If natural light is limited, consider using grow lights. If you're using grow lights, 12-14 hours might be required.
• Regularly check for pests like aphids. If detected, spray with a mix of water and a few drops of mild soap, or use an organic natural pesticide, like a neem-oil based spray (and don't go overboard).
• The key to avoiding pests and fungal diseases is to ensure a good airflow between plants, try and maintain a distance of 1ft between the pots, if possible.

I have an account on world, and I've not come across any fascist stuff. Then again, I've blocked several communities like politics, where such people may tend to congregate.

Personally, I treat Beehaw as a standalone community. I do not really see the point of Beehaw federating with others, when the rules, and feel of the community, is so different.

I prefer using a Beehaw account for Beehaw, even gave it a yellow colored theme so it's clear that I'm browsing Beehaw, and know that it's "safe" browsing Local/New.

Forget PFAS, a much more concerning issue is micro and nanoplastics, which are far more prevalent - and have even been detected in the air even in places far from civilisation, like polar regions. This shows how widespread they are. No place on earth is safe from micro/nanoplastics.

Nanoplastics permeate living cells and damage DNA, causing everything from minor inflammation to organ failure and cancer.

PFAS is nothing compared to micro/nanoplastics.

Also, the article doesn't mention anything about nanoplastics, which are far more dangerous. Nanoplastics have a larger surface area, which makes them more reactive - they can also penetrate cells, and cause damage to DNA, proteins, etc.