Skip Navigation

InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)PE
Posts
2
Comments
413
Joined
2 yr. ago

  • My bash scripts. They are saving me lots of time at work, performing screen scraping, filling reports and monitoring old servers.

    At home they are making backups and automating repetitive tasks.

    I just love shell scripting in general. I should probably own a shirt that says "go away or I will replace you with a very small shell script".

  • Setting up an ad blocker for a whole device often requires root. I gave up with my new phone and just have ublock origin on Firefox but that's the point. I can't easily install something that will modify the DNS because I have no admin access on my phone.

    That's why I also do give up on certain apps. For example I don't like the ads in Boost so I stopped using it. Sometimes I pay for the version of an app without ads. This doesn't happen on Linux.

    Also being heavily pushed towards apps for websites like YouTube, Twitter, Reddit, Facebook... Lemmy, Mastodon... They are all "best experienced" in apps, and most of them will probably try to push you ads or make you pay.

    Again, I'm relatively tech savvy so I can find other ways, but it's still annoying and disappointing to have to constantly find ways around the system. It doesn't happen in Linux.

    Android is the enshittification of Linux.

  • Free software. Try to use apt on Android, or run software that you can use on a desktop. And no ads in every app.

    Root access, that is, being admim of your own device.

    Being able to access the file system and support for different types. For example Android doesn't support NTFS and needs FAT. Plugging a simple USB drive has mixed results.

    This is from the top of my head. I use both but I really don't like how Android is locked down and so limited, even for power users. I really wish I could have a real "pocket computer" instead of this thing that feeds me ads.

  • That's excellent for their clients. I'm guessing it set a precedent and the industry stopped trying anything else.

    I didn't follow the most recent developments here in Canada but AFAIK, a decade ago the industry tried to sue individuals that were "pirating", and lost because they couldn't proof that an IP could be associated with a single person, or something like that. Then the industry pretty much stopped trying to sue individuals from that point. They still send the threatening letters, but they don't do anything else because past experiences with our courts didn't go well for them.

    Of course, there is a very very slim chance that the industry will try to sue a few individuals to scare others and create a new precedent, but it's going to be a civil suit because it's not even criminal here.

  • Meh. I don't know about OP but where I live ISPs are forced to relay the legal notice, but nothing more happens. There is no prosecution and nobody will knock on my door.

    I have been torrenting on and off since the protocol exists and never once hid my IP. My ISP relays me the threats from the industry, I ignore them, and continue what I was doing before. Same for everyone in my country. Those that end up paying for a VPN and hiding their IP are just intimidated onto doing so, because of the threats. But again, aside from getting that threatening email, nobody will knock on your door for torrenting here.

  • I never realized this but it seems logical. I grew up in a French speaking area of Canada, English is the second language, but the provincial TV was broadcasting Spanish lessons. From the earliest moment that I can remember watching TV, there was Spanish lessons on it.

  • Have you already tried to use VIA Rail to go somewhere once in a while? It's absolutely not a commuter service. Tickets have to be booked days in advance, and the cheapest ones are non-refundable and non-changeable. So a person commuting to and fro would need two very specific tickets every day, or pay more to have "flexible" ones that can be used with any departure. Otherwise if a person has a cheap ticket and misses their train, that ticket is now useless.

    The argument of living in a suburb where housing is cheaper can be understood if there are real commuter services, like trains from GO or Exo, but otherwise, commuting regularly with VIA Rail sounds like a real nightmare. They are rarely on time, there are even fewer departures than commuter trains, and their ticketing system is totally inappropriate for every day users.

    I had to make a similar choice many years ago, with a job in Montreal and me living 60 km away. There were commuter buses in the suburb but it was taking nearly 2 hours to go to work, and 2 hours to come back. To each their own but I most certainly prefer paying more to live closer to work, than having to deal with commuting with Exo or heavens forbid, VIA Rail.

    Seriously, I want to reiterate/ask again, do you use VIA Rail often? Because as someone that has to use it a few times a year, the idea of commuting with them, even just a few times a month, is horrifying.

  • Commuting:

    travel some distance between one's home and place of work on a regular basis.

    If we're comparing the price and convenience of "commuting" by plane versus VIA Rail... erh... do people regularly take a plane to work?

    I mean, yes, it can be in competition with planes for this kind of distance but... commuters?! Like, going to work a few times a week using VIA Rail, and we're comparing it to taking a plane... to work?! And even if we compare driving the whole road instead of driving to a station; who is going to bother booking tickets days in advance for a few times a week in order to be able to drive to a train station? If you just buy the cheapest ticket for going to work one morning and miss your train, you can't even use that ticket for the next train! Gotta pay extra for that privilege!

    I really, really can't understand the "commuting" part. Maybe if someone goes to the office once a week and doesn't mind having like, 2 or 3 departures to come back home, it can be a nice addition... but... relying on VIA Rail to go to work, on a regular basis?! What kind of mad person would do that?

  • Someone on Twitter (I know) said this was mainly for commuters, but as someone using VIA Rail in the Corridor, I can't imagine commuting to work with their services. Unless it's for wealthy commuters...

    AFAIK VIA doesn't have monthly passes or any kind of rebates on tickets for regular users (aside from accumulating points and "preference") and it's necessary to book multiple days in advance. Otherwise it costs way more if trying to buy last minute tickets. I really don't know who would commute this way.

    I asked the person that said this but never got a reply. Maybe we have a different definition of commuting.

    Anyway, one nore departure is good news. It obviously cannot hurt and only add more options, even if limited or slow.

  • If I need to choose, I'll go with Android but to be quite frank, I would really prefer to have a "real" computer operating system on those devices. For 10+ years I've been waiting for a device that I can put in my pocket, use it on the go, with a data connection, and have the possibility to dock it and continue using it as a full fledged computer, with Linux if possible.

    I know some high end Android devices can be "docked" and connected to a monitor, but they are far too expensive and/or too rare. Also, you still have to use apps instead of proper computer software. I don't like the "everything is an app" model, where they all have to have ads and/or paid versions. Android and "mobile" operating systems are a pain to use. I want to have control over my device.

    And I also know there are some devices that can to this, but with the level of technology that we have, a device like this should be easy to find. Yet, it's all niche stuff that isn't really polished nor working really well. It's all damn phones and tablets with "mobile" operating systems that locks users. I wonder if phone/tablet manufacturers keep it that way because there's no demand for this, or if they simply want to continue the milking of the mobile users.

  • I don't like the idea of wasting energy on inefficient things so I don't use "AI".

    A.I. use is directly responsible for carbon emissions from non-renewable electricity and for the consumption of millions of gallons of fresh water, and it indirectly boosts impacts from building and maintaining the power-hungry equipment on which A.I. runs.

    As Use of A.I. Soars, So Does the Energy and Water It Requires

  • Also, VGA cables have no damn DHCP integrated, so you can pass anything you want with them, contrary to HDMI and DP which both have "anti piracy" protection integrated directly into the cable, for your inconvenience.

    In order to make a device that plays HDCP-enabled content, the manufacturer must obtain a license for the patent from Intel subsidiary Digital Content Protection LLC, pay an annual fee, and submit to various conditions. For example, the device cannot be designed to copy; it must "frustrate attempts to defeat the content protection requirements"; it must not transmit high definition protected video to non-HDCP receivers; and DVD-Audio works can be played only at CD-audio quality by non-HDCP digital audio outputs (analog audio outputs have no quality limits).

  • Nope. I don't have a car and consider it a money pit in the first place. A car costs a driving license. It also costs insurance. And fuel to move it. And it will break down at some point. Plus, winters are pretty brutal where I live and heating this thing/myself would be a nightmare. To me, a car is an anchor; a heavy ball attached to your foot.

    If I had a car, and it was for a few weeks in summer, I may consider it. But I prefer have a proper place instead, and save money by not having a car.

  • Ah yes, winter! I live in a wintery place (Quebec) and cars in winter need very much care to work properly. They need plowed and salted streets or they get stuck or can't go uphill. If that level of care was the same for pedestrians and cyclists, it would be much easier to move around without a car.

    Also, you may need a car because of chronic pain but surely not everyone driving a car needs one for chronic pain? And wouldn't it be nicer for people that really need a car if there were fewer cars around?

    I'm in my early 40ies and lived all those winters without a car and I still think it's silly to say they are "adapted" or "working well" in winter. Every winter there are multi car collisions/pile-ups on highways. They slip and slide easily. Multiple times in a year cars can't climb the little hill in front of my place. It takes even more space to park them as there are snowbanks everywhere. Sometimes they get covered in ice.

    I really can't see the appeal of a car in winter.