spaghettiwestern @ spaghettiwestern @sh.itjust.works

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119

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565

Joined

2 yr. ago

I'm in the U.S. and it's $4-$5. Free shipping with a $10 purchase. Surprised it's so much more in the E.U.

A friend just had her Windows 11 PC hijacked and used to drain money from her bank account. Not too much of a worry with Linux of any flavor.

It took 5x as long to wipe the disk and reload Windows as it would have to load Linux, plus another hour to change the settings to turn off as much of of Window's advertising and spyware as possible. Microsoft will no doubt change the settings back when Windows update runs, or maybe they'll just pile on more ads.

I'd much rather deal with some hardware incompatibilities than Microsoft's bullshit.

It's this one: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805942369090.html?gatewayAdapt=glo2usa

One of my main goals when setting up home automation was making sure the devices I'm using do not need cloud access. The only exception is an old Honeywell thermostat that I'll replace eventually. Everything else, including security camera occupancy detection continues to work if the Internet goes down.

My router only has one open port and that's for Wireguard. It's set to a random port number and appears closed to external scanners so I believe my network security is reasonably good. Devices that like to connect to external servers like TP-Link cameras and bulbs are blocked by the router's firewall.

For occasional external access I use Tasker to detect what network I'm on and then automatically connect to Wireguard when away from home. After the WG tunnel's up it starts Home Assistant Companion. It's not as seamless as Home Assistant Cloud, but for occasional use it's fine.

Warning about Home Assistant: It's ridiculously addictive. It is also so flexible that I've been able to implement almost anything that comes to mind and ended up with more sensors and automations than I ever thought I'd use.

Linux Mint is an excellent choice for both new and experienced users. After distro-hopping for years I went back to Mint because it works on my hardware with very few problems and I was tired of troubleshooting other distros odd problems. I haven't used Mint on a Go 2, but I have used the full version with Cinnamon Desktop on a Dell Venue with similar hardware restrictions and currently run Mint on a Surface Laptop 4.

As to whether the Go 2 will work for your uses, the Venue had 4GB of memory and a 128GB SSD and worked fine for simple spreadsheets, word processing, web browsing, email and as an ebook reader. It was used daily for 1-3 hours for 7 years. Even after cracking the screen I was able to run Debian 12 and Home Assistant on it for almost a year more. A Micro SD was great for extra storage, but was far too slow for running an OS IMO. Despite the daily use and running a Swap file, I did not have any SSD problems in almost 8 years of use. It still works and if it weren't for the cracked screen I'd probably still be using it.

Because of the limited memory I used Zram. Once set up it's completely transparent and Mint is noticeably faster when running multiple apps. The 128GB SSD was big enough as long as I was careful with downloads and moved large, little used files to the Micro SD. No problems 99% of the time with the processing power.

I now use a Surface Laptop 4 with Mint. The Linux Surface Github page provided the info and procedures needed to set it up. An external USB keyboard and mouse were required for installation because the keyboard and trackpad would not work until the Surface kernel was installed. It works perfectly after installation and configuration.

Libreoffice Draw works as a PDF editor and does what you're looking for. No experience with Linux note taking apps or a stylus.

Seems to be. It reads within 1 degree of a digital refrigerator thermometer.

I use the round version of the same Tuya temperature sensor in my refrigerator and with Home Assistant. For $4 I wouldn't hesitate trying one in a protected area outside. As long as it's not directly exposed to rain or sun it'll probably work fine.

Musk is a malignant narcissist Nazi who believes himself to be nearly a god. He is so absolutely amazing that he just knows what it takes us mere humans decades to learn.

Disaster Capitalism used to just mean assholes taking financial advantage of disasters. Now these fascists have started actually creating the disasters. The draining of California reservoirs should accomplish that nicely this coming summer. Trump's tariffs, Musk's take over of the Treasury systems and the coming interruption of Obamacare, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security should be VERY profitable for all of them.

Mint's default desktop is Cinnamon. The default file manager is Nemo.

Distro hopped for years and got to a point I just wanted to use an OS and not screw around with it. I also didn't want to spend time troubleshooting odd problems. Mint's been installed on my machines for years and it almost always works flawlessly. Family members have far more problems with Windows.

"All of you peasants will suffer and some of you will die, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make."

Why is it when fascists talk of "pain" to come it's for everyone else? I'm sure tax cuts are in the works for his Nazi backers to make sure they don't have to cut back on the number of vacation homes.

CVS and their deliberate, hostile business practices chased me away years ago when I was unable to stop them from auto-refilling prescriptions I did not need. California finally took action against CVS in 2020 after many years of their carefully engineered abuses.

Good to see the company's crappy behavior continues unabated and there's no reason to give them another try.

This one: https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/devices/TS0210.html

It very accurately senses when the dryer's running, but required some tweaking to the automation to ignore the washer's spin cycle. What kind of sensitivity issues are you running into?

I've used both a DD-WRT wireless bridge and a wireline adapter and much prefer the wireline adapter. Data speeds are much higher without the potential for wifi issues and without the complexity of setting up a wireless bridge.

If all you want to know is when the cycles are complete, it's easy to do without trying to decipher Samsung's wifi output.

The end of cycle signals on my LG washer and dryer can't be heard in my living areas and LG smart app requires precise location permissions enabled all the time to function. Not gonna happen.

A power monitoring Zigbee plug was an easy solution for the washer but I could find nothing like that for a 220V dryer. A ZigBee vibration sensor did the trick even though the units are stacked.

Hmm, every distro I've tried (and I've tried a few) required a interface bounce. Maybe I just missed the ones that don't.

That'd be something I'd do if this were an occasional issue, but for just this single company OpenStreetMap shows only 4 of the 20+ nationwide locations. I try OpenStreetMap every year or so and still find that it isn't useful for me as it stands.

Lessons learned when switching:

Some things I didn't expect just work differently on Linux and it took time to figure out those differences. For instance, a change to a network interface config on Windows usually takes effect when you hit the "OK" button. Linux requires toggling the interface for that change to take effect. That one took me a couple of frustrating hours to figure out. There are lots of other examples like this so keep it in mind if things aren't working as you expect.

Trying to do absolutely everything on Linux right away was a mistake. I started switching back to Windows for quick tasks and then learning how to do those tasks on Linux when I could spend a few minutes figuring them out. Over time I spent more and more time running Linux and one day realized I hadn't started Windows in months.

In addition to (or instead of) dual booting, create a virtual machine to allow you to use what you need in either OS without rebooting.

Lastly, if you find that you're spending a lot of time fixing OS problems don't be afraid to try something else. Haven't spent much time with Fedora, but I use Mint daily because I don't have to fuss with the OS much. Others in my household have more problems with Windows 11.

Organic maps can't find a business that's 15 miles from my location and has been there for years, but it can find another branch that's 90 miles away. Not a useful option.