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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: January 17th, 2022

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  • Because without privacy you can’t be a proper human being. You need privacy in order to have the safe space to develop, to dare try, to explore without the constant judgement of others. If you can’t be a proper human being, can you genuinely have democracy?

    It’s both a per-requisite for humanity and what the political system that is often considered as the most just.

    That’s why I care.


  • I’d clarify that the shear customizability of Linux is optional.

    Take a SteamDeck with SteamOS versus a RPi with e.g Debian.

    If you “just” play with the SteamDeck and you don’t tinker, well, it “just works”. In most, even though not all, normal situations, e.g plugging a screen, pairing a BT headphone, mouse, keyboard, etc it is solid. It has no problem even while using a compatibility layer like Proton for games themselves made for Windows. It even enable some tinkering thanks to its immutable OS and let the player switch to desktop mode. Not everything works but my personal experience since it’s been out has been pretty much flawless.

    Now, take a RPi, with just as stable hardware, with Debian, even stable, and put on it some IoT device, make some weird modifications for it, try a bunch of stuff, remove package, tinker more, chances are it will still work. Tinker more, make stranger modifications to the point it becomes unstable. Is it Linux itself? I’d argue it’s not. I’d argue that instead because we CAN tinker we sometimes do then forget that it’s not the same context as something expected to run without hiccup because it’s been limited to basically the same verified usage.

    So… IMHO Linux is even better than it is, we just shouldn’t confuse weird (and important) tinkering with how it can be actually used day to day.




  • never really gotten into the whole “Internet of Things” thing.

    Honestly… it’s not worth it. It’s fun, sometimes convenient, but nobody truly needs it except in some very specific situations. That being said it’s also now relatively easy and cheap to setup, e.g RPi4 then add a Zigbee dongle (30e) with a Zigbee lightbulb (20e) or switch (15e) or sensor (e.g temperature for 15e), install HomeAssistant in an hour … and voila, you have a setup you can play with and move from any home to any other in minutes. So it’s not a “big” deal to start but again, what for. I personally do it because I love tinkering and want to feel that I can be at the “state of the art” of technology WITHOUT surveillance capitalism, so it’s more an intellectual and more pursuit rather than a pragmatic approach. So I don’t recommend it but I also had to clarify it’s not that complex or expensive anymore.


  • Thanks a lot for taking the time to explain.

    I did notice CTF on the description so I imagine “escaping” it is “harder” than with containers. I recently participated to SplinterCon which included a “block-a-thon” (cf day 2 of https://splintercon.net/brussels/ ) to try to escape a limited environment, approximately simulating the limited Internet access of some political regime. It might be interesting in that context too.

    Could also be interesting then to distinguish which defaults are changed compared to Docker ones or examples for which nsjail is currently preferred.


  • No and to be honest without a clear comparison with the advantages AND disadvantages with the most popular solutions, e.g containers with implementations like Docker or Podman, I don’t think I ever will.

    Obviously it’s nice to have alternatives which I bet can be interesting in specific use cases but without a way to understand in which specific situations it would be worth investing to learn the tooling, principles, etc then I would, naively, stay with the status quo.

    TL;DR: any comparison vs Docker?


  • I love how you just assumed that I’m Chinese

    I bet most people reading “I live in Canada, my family moved here back when I was still in school. I’d like to move to China one day” would assume the same, especially “back” as I understood, but my English isn’t perfect, return FROM China. It has nothing to do with “race”, culture, politics or economy.

    Anyway, this makes it even more interesting, have you already been to China at all then? Worked there? Because I did but I don’t want to make assumptions so again feel free to clarify.

    PS: also want to make it clear, I didn’t say nor assumed that you were Chinese, but of Chinese heritage, a bit different.




  • So… I’m going to be that person, yes, you already where it’s going : how about no tech? How about a box, wooden, plastic, whatever, where you put the keys inside? Always.

    I know it doesn’t sound fancy, and as somebody who is turning the light on and off above his head with a keyboard shortcut I genuinely understand the challenge, but… in terms of privacy it is hard to beat.

    Now… assuming you have HomeAssistant (as I do) and still really want to still do that and are ready to setup an “infrastructure” (to be able to do the zoning) this https://www.linuxmo.com/how-to-create-a-bluetooth-tracker-with-home-assistant-and-esphome/ looks like a proper solution that does work and is fine in terms of privacy. It does look like a lot of work to be honest, and it would only work in your house (or office if it’s yours so you can do the zoning there too) rather than going through the network of mobile devices that Apple and Android do… but it would be a start.


  • Also interesting to note “The focus on mature nodes also positions Chinese companies to dominate markets where advanced nodes are not necessary, such as in automotive and industrial applications.” which is indeed very viable. Namely they focus on “old” processors used in “simpler” situations. The machinery from ASML to make such chips is actually purchasable (unlike the latest ones). China is already positioned on the lower end of the market.

    Still, even though going from the production of older chips is a step to higher end one, it is not the same, especially when machinery to do so can’t be purchased.




  • utopiah@lemmy.mltoLinux@lemmy.mlThis $149 RISC-V Tablet Runs Ubuntu 24.04
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    13 days ago

    Linux is not replacing Android tablets any time soon for casual use by non-techies.

    Meanwhile PineTab 2 is used nearly daily here, at home and while traveling, by non-techies.

    I’m not saying anybody is fine with a Linux tablet… but if the applications (not “apps”) one actually uses function properly on it, no reason that it would gather dust.

    PS: tinkered with a Banana Pi BPI-F3 with SpacemiT K1 8 core RISC-V and for that architecture specifically I would wait just a bit more, also why I didn’t get a PineTab V RISC.



  • Well I’m not. I have a different setup due to working in VR. I did use for myself and others a RPi as a desktop for few tools and as long as you stick within what’s acceptable for its performance, it’s really nice, such a compact setup. The RPi I use at home and at work are headless servers for e.g DLNA, IoT, backups.

    If I didn’t work in XR or play (BG3, EldenRing, etc) then I imagine I would find a RPi 4 sufficient for most of my tasks.




  • utopiah@lemmy.mltoLinux@lemmy.mlHow to quit VIM?
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    14 days ago

    The trick is do the opposite, namely bring vim everywhere, e.g using Tridactyl you can bring some behaviors to the browser and, in this very textarea from lemmy, if I press Ctrl+i I get gvim, when I exit it, the content is back in the textarea and I can reply. Vim everywhere.