ARGVMI~1.PIF

https://mastodon.sdf.org/@argv_minus_one

Public Key

npub1k6ykawdchynr4qhzka4wk3qpj09g0p2kgcprd4y20mgrnlxxmucq5mm3fx

NIP-05 Address

Profile Code

nprofile1qqstdztwhxutjf36st3tw6htgsqe8j58s4tyvq3k6j98a5pelnrd7vqpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsg9mmj7

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1k6ykawdchynr4qhzka4wk3qpj09g0p2kgcprd4y20mgrnlxxmucq5mm3fx

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Last Notes

2026-08-06 20:25:49 GMT

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I've heard that even the banks that do offer other options are planning to phase them out in favor of proprietary phone apps only.
@npub1afm…5gp4

2026-08-06 18:28:22 GMT

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Yes, and that is an abomination. But those laws do not require the use of a proprietary device. You're still in control of what you reveal, when, and to who.
A proprietary device could be recording and reporting everything you say within range of its microphone, and you'd never know because the public can't see the code. As horrible as US social media age verification is, that's even worse.

2026-08-06 18:19:25 GMT

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It's my understanding that the EC also intends to impose age verification on most of the Internet, also to be conducted through a phone app (EUDI Wallet) that requires an unmodified proprietary operating system.
This would make open-source phones effectively illegal. You can have one, but it can't access anything.
Without open source, there is no privacy.

2026-08-06 18:11:57 GMT

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One of the main complaints about open-source phone operating systems is that banking apps don't work. I always found this confusing, because I just ignore the app and use the bank's website, but I learned recently that most Europeans aren't allowed to do that. The app is mandatory.
I too had been under the impression that privacy was a big deal in Europe. I've been repeatedly shocked and horrified over the past few months by revelations like this.

2026-08-06 15:30:57 GMT

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At least in the USA I can *use* my bank without needing a creepy proprietary phone app. I just need a browser, a password, and either an email or a phone, and if I choose the phone option then even a 50-year-old land phone will suffice.
I don't need a proprietary app to ride a bus, either. Cash or a bank card will do. I think there's a city or two where you don't even need that.
Don't act superior. You've got bigger problems than we do. We still have some privacy; you have none.

2026-08-05 18:30:22 GMT

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> Firmware anti-rollback is an industry standard practice.
Oh for goodness' sake, stop talking like that. All you're basically saying is, “You vill buy ze new phone ven ve say so. You vill run ze proprietary OS. You have no choice. It is ze industry standard.”
> Laptops and desktops generally have absolutely atrocious firmware security
They also don't self-destruct!
@npub1ze4…0y3x [@collective_truth](https://mastodon.social/@collective_truth ) @npub19cp…6and @npub1h54…c9uf

2026-08-05 18:25:10 GMT

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> Breaking the device with firmware anti-rollback requires unlocking it and bricking it with unsafe use of fastboot commands.
So you've said, but are you sure you aren't assuming that the SSD doesn't flip any bits? Because they do flip bits sometimes, and as far as I know, the flash cells storing the bootloader aren't special magic bit-flip-proof ones.
@npub1ze4…0y3x [@collective_truth](https://mastodon.social/@collective_truth ) @npub19cp…6and @npub1h54…c9uf

2026-08-05 18:19:30 GMT

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I guess so, but it's not so simple with the anti-rollback feature we were originally discussing. Concerns about its security efficacy aside, anti-rollback also potentially destroys the device and frustrates the device's owner's software freedom. That's crossing the line.
@npub1ze4…0y3x [@collective_truth](https://mastodon.social/@collective_truth ) @npub19cp…6and @npub1h54…c9uf

2026-08-05 17:50:54 GMT

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If keys are not stored in the “secure element”, and it is merely being used to derive keys based on some input (e.g. user's PIN) with a rate limit, then what's stopping the CPU (or some other device's CPU) from doing the same thing without rate limiting?
@npub1ze4…0y3x [@collective_truth](https://mastodon.social/@collective_truth ) @npub19cp…6and @npub1h54…c9uf

2026-08-05 17:38:46 GMT

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> GrapheneOS and iOS both quite successfully protect against data extraction by state actors
By storing the key in a “secure element” designed by a company that is under the thumb of those same state actors? Surely you can't be serious.
@npub1ze4…0y3x [@collective_truth](https://mastodon.social/@collective_truth ) @npub19cp…6and @npub1h54…c9uf

2026-08-05 17:27:02 GMT

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Because it's futile.
Well-resourced attackers with physical access should be assumed to be able to extract any bit from any memory cell anywhere in the device. Most such attackers are in contact with hardware manufacturers, after all.
Those who can't do that—common criminals and pranksters—can't dump the RAM in my laptop while it's powered, either.
If physical attack is likely, powering the device off is the only way to be sure.
@npub1ze4…0y3x [@collective_truth](https://mastodon.social/@collective_truth ) @npub19cp…6and @npub1h54…c9uf

2026-08-05 15:14:05 GMT

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If a remote attack can trigger my phone to self-destruct beyond repair, then…I'm not sure why you think that's a feature, because that sounds like a catastrophic, lawsuit-worthy design defect to me.
As for physical access, no device an attacker had physical access to can be trusted to be secure any longer. Hardware fuses don't change that. The attacker could've replaced the entire motherboard, and what good would the fuses do then?
@npub1ze4…0y3x [@collective_truth](https://mastodon.social/@collective_truth ) @npub19cp…6and @npub1h54…c9uf

2026-08-05 05:59:35 GMT

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I'm not sure it *was* a Google update that bricked my phone. @npub1kwa…e0nj thought it was a hardware failure.
I still find the anti-rollback feature's existence disturbing, though.
@npub1ze4…0y3x @npub19cp…6and @npub1h54…c9uf

2026-08-04 04:48:54 GMT

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I have my old Pixel 3a working until I can afford a new phone, but I'm feeling rather naked running a phone this old…
I see that GrapheneOS no longer supports this phone for lack of firmware updates, but the GOS website is pretty vague, so I'm hoping you can fill in some details for me.
If I were to install LineageOS or something on this old 3a, what kind of attacks will I still be vulnerable to?
@npub1h54…c9uf @npub1ze4…0y3x

2026-08-03 21:25:44 GMT

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If that were to happen, would I still be able to do the power+volume-down thing to get into fastboot? Because that isn't working; the screen remains black.
@npub1h54…c9uf @npub1ze4…0y3x

2026-08-03 21:23:55 GMT

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The only early symptom I saw was that, the first time I tried installing Android 16, just before I could tap the reboot button, it said there was a problem. Didn't specify what was wrong.
I told it to start installing the update again, and that time it seemingly succeeded…but died at some point after attempting to boot.
I suppose the SSD might have died, but in that case, wouldn't I have seen more severe symptoms before rebooting, like apps freezing?
@npub1h54…c9uf @npub1ze4…0y3x

2026-08-03 21:22:48 GMT

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This was stock Android, not GrapheneOS, just so you know.
I wasn't watching the phone while it was booting, so I'm not sure if it ever made it to the home screen. I do know that the boot-time Google logo showed up, which is when I took my eyes off it.
And that was the last time I saw my phone alive. 🪦
@npub1h54…c9uf @npub1ze4…0y3x

2026-08-03 21:11:44 GMT

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I don't know for sure, but that's what Google AI says, and I saw a bunch of articles warning people that it would hard-brick their phones.
Super not amused that the phone I paid good money for is literally designed to destroy itself if an update goes sufficiently sideways.
@npub19cp…6and @npub1h54…c9uf

2026-08-03 18:24:44 GMT

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I've also learned that #Google #GooglePixel phones have an “anti-rollback” feature that will permanently hard-brick the device if tripped. Which it can be, if the bootloader gets corrupted. Nothing anyone can do.
In other words, I was sold a self-destructing #phone.
Fantastic.
https://share.google/aimode/O8eWGurPxT7kNG8s4
@npub1ze4…0y3x

2026-08-03 18:24:03 GMT

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Google official tool doesn't work. Usbdl asks for my specific model, and Pixel 6 isn't one of them. Looks like it needs some kind of ROM images or something.
Apparently Google keeps the necessary files behind lock and key, and thousands of phones have been bricked by updates like mine was. <https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/507968853?pli=1> <https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/402455330#comment119>
@npub1ze4…0y3x

2026-08-03 06:10:05 GMT

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…Or do you disagree? You seem to know more about this than I do, so…
@npub1ze4…0y3x

2026-08-03 06:09:19 GMT

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That too. I figure I should try Google's official tools first, though, yeah?
@npub1ze4…0y3x

2026-08-03 06:08:05 GMT

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Not out of the woods yet! That post mentions a program called tensor-usbdl, but it apparently doesn't work on the Pixel 6. https://github.com/JoshuaDoes/tensor-usbdl/releases
I wonder if Google's “Pixel Update and Software Repair” site can work with the phone in this Pixel ROM Recovery mode? https://pixelrepair.withgoogle.com/ Guess I'll find out tomorrow.
@npub1ze4…0y3x

2026-08-03 04:03:49 GMT

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Holy shit! Sign of life!
If I plug it into my PC while holding down all three buttons, it *does* show up on the bus!
@npub1h54…c9uf graciously provided a link https://social.highenergymagic.net/@freya/117029554424881416 to a post explaining how I might get this phone back up and running from this point.
Tomorrow I will investigate!
[@collective_truth](https://mastodon.social/@collective_truth ) @npub1ze4…0y3x @npub15gl…flgs @npub12l0…85j6 @npub1pmk…k8up @npub15r3…r92k @npub1m95…ehng

2026-08-03 03:44:40 GMT

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Just for completeness' sake, I asked Google's AI to help troubleshoot, seeing as it's a Google phone. Same outcome: phone pronounced dead.
The bot says it's a hardware failure that the operating system upgrade exposed. Seems unlikely, but it's as good a guess as any.
I wonder if the upgrade installation process trashed the bootloader. It's my vague understanding that phones don't have actual ROM like PCs?
[@collective_truth](https://mastodon.social/@collective_truth ) @npub1ze4…0y3x @npub15gl…flgs @npub12l0…85j6 @npub1pmk…k8up @npub15r3…r92k @npub1m95…ehng

2026-08-03 01:36:44 GMT

Welp, I took my #Pixel 6 #phone to a repair shop, where it was pronounced dead.
Cause of death: fatal complications of a botched software update.
It will be missed. 🪦
I don't have the budget for a new phone right now, so this forces me to use my old Pixel 3a, which still works. But the stock OS insecure af now, so…what OS should I install on it? Preferably something that Just Works™ once installed.
[@collective_truth](https://mastodon.social/@collective_truth ) @npub1ze4…0y3x @npub15gl…flgs @npub12l0…85j6 @npub1pmk…k8up @npub15r3…r92k @npub1m95…ehng

2026-06-16 17:00:15 GMT

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Did you have an alternative in mind?
My org may or may not need something like this soon, so I'd very much like to know what we should be using instead.
@npub1evj…970v

2026-05-07 21:08:30 GMT

Oh good, another high-severity #Linux #security vulnerability that somebody botched the disclosure of, turning it into a high-severity zero-day.
Because #CopyFail wasn't bad enough. Now we've got #DirtyFrag too.
Can #cybersecurity people please stop botching vulnerability disclosure? Thanks.
https://github.com/V4bel/dirtyfrag/blob/master/README.md
#security

2026-04-10 18:37:32 GMT

My cat is a cat who cats because she is a cat.

2026-03-28 05:14:42 GMT

I miss #rageComics so much.
Source: https://imgur.com/genie-rage-be-careful-what-you-wish-naBiU
#rageComic
https://mastodon.sdf.org/system/media_attachments/files/116/305/086/869/940/233/original/b8697c8c33292fc2.png

2026-03-26 05:35:47 GMT

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Bear in mind, by the way, that Starfleet has at least one weapon that destroys planets in one shot: the Genesis device.
The Federation treaty that prohibits it from developing cloaking devices exists for a reason: a ship with a Genesis torpedo and a cloak could destroy any other power's homeworld at will with no warning.
That is terrifying.
If not for the treaty, every power in the galaxy would start a desperate all-out war against the Federation to stop it from doing that.
#StarTrek

2026-03-26 05:18:23 GMT

They say humans' love of replicators and root beer makes them weak and soft.
Nah. As Quark once observed, replicators and root beer is what keeps humans docile and agreeable. Take away their creature comforts and back them into a corner, and they get mad and start blowing up planets, and nobody wants that.
So whatever you do, don't break the replicators!
#StarTrek #StarTrekDS9

2026-03-04 20:09:16 GMT

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Also consider LibreWolf, a privacy-focused Firefox variant that strips out the ad and AI features.
Unlike Vivaldi, it can still run uBlock Origin, uMatrix, and other Manifest V2 extensions.
Also unlike Vivaldi, it's free and open source software.

2026-03-04 04:16:29 GMT

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Wouldn't a bot be able to generate those sentences?
@npub1as0…mnuu @npub1ud4…r8df

2026-02-02 23:38:42 GMT

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I have a string of LED Christmas lights that flicker pretty hard. I assume they're just wired in series directly to mains, with no rectifier. So, it could use that!
@npub1e8t…n3ds

2026-02-02 23:25:42 GMT

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That won't work with LED lighting though.
But I guess nobody thought people would be crazy enough to stuff a rectifier into every lightbulb.

2026-01-08 03:00:52 GMT

A few years ago, #Rust people were all asking “are we #GUI yet?” https://areweguiyet.com/
In a peculiar twist of fate, Rust people have gone hog-wild on #TUI instead!
They've got full-blown TUI window systems now! Last time I saw that was the old TUI #Borland #IDE s in the early 1990s, and with the rise of graphical window systems, I thought I'd never see such a thing again.
👏

2026-01-05 17:51:35 GMT

Just watched @npub1dml…x796 explain how to install #Linux on an #AppleSilicon #Mac.
Apparently it boots into a stripped-down #macOS and then boots Linux from there.
Seeing as the stripped-down macOS isn't getting security updates (especially once the early ARM Macs go EOL), that sounds like a huge security/privacy risk. 😬
Will it be possible in the future to run Linux on a machine like this with macOS completely gone? Or is this gonna be like the bad old days of Linux on an m68k Mac?

2026-01-05 03:39:22 GMT

We all know about #CED, an attempt to record an analog #video signal on a #vinyl #record.
I wonder. What about compressed digital video? How much of that could be reasonably encoded on a vinyl record without all of CED's reliability and usability issues?

2026-01-03 04:59:19 GMT

The fine is kinda moot though.
#shitpost #sign
https://mastodon.sdf.org/system/media_attachments/files/115/829/392/596/497/225/original/e98950a1d30b2053.jpeg

2025-12-23 08:46:26 GMT

Buttholes are like opinions: everybody's got one and most of them stink.
#shitpost

2025-12-21 06:29:59 GMT

The existence of #WholeFoods Market implies the existence of Fractional Foods Market.
#math #shitpost

2025-12-17 07:12:54 GMT

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Sorry, I should have said *new* printers. Old printers still require drivers, as always.

2025-12-17 02:47:21 GMT

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You can thank Apple for that. They're the ones who strong-armed all the printer manufacturers into implementing IPP and PWG Raster on the printer side. Now printers don't need drivers; just plug it in and it should work.

2025-12-15 22:24:34 GMT

Quality products from Acme. Accept no substitutes.
#LooneyTunes #joke #TrolleyProblem
https://mastodon.sdf.org/system/media_attachments/files/115/725/913/028/076/652/original/89cdb3bf5c213a10.jpeg

2025-12-15 22:00:14 GMT

Well, you can't say you weren't warned.
#cat
https://mastodon.sdf.org/system/media_attachments/files/115/725/826/183/313/788/original/80d1ceeae03ed1d2.jpg

2025-12-15 21:57:48 GMT

Good to have the clarification.
#joke #shitpost
https://mastodon.sdf.org/system/media_attachments/files/115/725/816/506/064/239/original/256ce2f12c173075.webp

2025-12-09 06:52:07 GMT

If the TRS-80 was so great, why didn't they make a TRS-81?
#retrocomputing #shitpost

2025-12-08 07:27:03 GMT

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Technically it was possible to copy across disks with only a single floppy drive by reading the original disk's contents into RAM, having the human swap disks, and then writing.
But this would involve a lot of disk swapping unless you have a ton of RAM, so it generally wasn't a thing. I think the original Macintosh could pull this off, though. Slowly.

2025-12-08 07:21:10 GMT

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Eventually, the 5¼ floppy disk fell out of fashion and computers started to come with only a 3½ floppy drive…and then no floppy drive at all. 💾

2025-12-08 07:21:00 GMT

It was fairly common in the 1980s to have two #floppy drives because, if you had no hard drive (they were expensive), then the only way to copy from one floppy disk to another was by having two floppy drives.
Having two floppy drives remained common-ish in the early 1990s, for a different reason: there were two different sizes of floppy disk (5¼ and 3½), and in order to read disks of either size, you needed two drives.
#retrocomputing

2025-12-05 05:11:21 GMT

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📱🪫🪦

2025-12-04 20:23:06 GMT

Discovered a combination of abilities in #StarTrekOnline that allows me to drop almost a dozen tractor mines.
Oof. That many tractor beams all at once is enough to crush a Borg Sphere like a tin can.

2025-11-14 23:03:41 GMT

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The webp-pixbuf-loader package also drops a file in `/usr/share/thumbnailers`. It tells file managers like Nautilus to use the `gdk-pixbuf-thumbnailer` program to generate thumbnails for WebP images.
Which of course works because there is now a gdk-pixbuf image loader for WebP.

2025-11-14 22:57:16 GMT

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The gdk-pixbuf library comes with a number of image loaders. These are kept in the folder `/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gdk-pixbuf-2.0/2.10.0/loaders`.
Gdk-pixbuf will apparently load anything it finds there, because the webp-pixbuf-loader package doesn't do any sort of registration. It just drops a .so in that folder and expects gdk-pixbuf to find it.
There are loaders for quite a few formats there, like GIF and ICO. There are no loaders for PNG and JPEG, though; I assume those are built in.

2025-11-14 22:51:33 GMT

Got #WebP to load in #Inkscape!
I thought for a long time that Inkscape simply doesn't support WebP, but that isn't true. The problem, rather, was that the gdk-pixbuf loader for WebP was not installed on my system.
People using #Debian or another distro based on it need to install the package named “webp-pixbuf-loader”. That's all you need to do; merely installing the package will enable WebP support in Inkscape.
This should also enable WebP thumbnails in #Nautilus, if you use #Gnome.
#Linux

2025-10-15 20:04:39 GMT

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I meant sqlx with no ORM. Never tried using sea_orm so I can't comment on that.

2025-10-15 19:59:44 GMT

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I like sqlx better, personally. I can use all the database's flashy features and still get compile-time checking. 👍

2025-10-10 04:12:57 GMT

If a toot is written in all caps is it called a honk?
#shitpost

2025-10-09 20:52:01 GMT

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Other than the mere passage of time, is there any other indicator that paste is old and needs replacing? Idle temperature, perhaps?

2025-10-07 05:30:24 GMT

There's gotta be someone somewhere that Rick Astley has let down.
#shitpost

2025-10-05 00:29:42 GMT

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Windows NT and 2000's installers were like that. Same as Linux: they used the same NT kernel, but did not use a GUI and left the display in character mode.
@npub1g8x…7wul

2025-10-04 23:21:14 GMT

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Windows XP Setup, by contrast, ran on the same Windows NT kernel and graphics system as Windows XP itself did. 🎉 But by this point, the operating system's core was already quite mature, and the distribution medium (CD-ROM) had plenty of space for a second copy of it.
Similar story with Linux installers: they started to go graphical after moving away from floppy to CD/DVD/USB.

2025-10-04 23:17:39 GMT

#Microsoft 's #RaymondChen posted an interesting explanation of why most of the #Windows 95 installer ran on Windows 3.1 and not on a stripped-down Windows 95 like you'd expect.
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20250926-00/?p=111629
Tl;dr: floppies are too small for a second copy of 95.
#Floppy based #Linux installers, unlike Windows, did use the same Linux kernel for the installer…but unlike Windows they didn't have a GUI with a pretty background picture. If they did, they'd have had the same problem!
#retrocomputing

2025-10-03 15:33:49 GMT

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I seem to recall reading that Robert Beltran demanded to do some steamy love scenes with Jeri Ryan because he desperately wanted her husband to fire him.
Which didn't work.
Although I guess it was a win-win for him. Either he gets fired or he gets to kiss Jeri Ryan. 😂

2025-09-27 03:31:44 GMT

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Agreed, the main problem with tablets is the operating system, not the hardware. The existence of convertible laptops running full-featured desktop operating systems proves it.
Some early Microsoft tablets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Tablet_PC came with a stylus, too, with which you could accurately tap even small UI elements.
4/end
@npub134j…jry0

2025-09-27 03:31:33 GMT

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The Steam Deck screen is phone-sized if I'm not mistaken, so yeah, you don't want to be using menu bars on that.
Possible solution: when running on a small screen, show a menu button instead, which when clicked shows the menu bar items in a full-screen window. File, Edit, and whatnot. Tapping those drills down with the swivel thing you mentioned earlier.
3/
@npub134j…jry0

2025-09-27 03:31:25 GMT

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Anyway, most of the apps that come with Windows 3.1 are pretty simple, and they still have menu bars. The only apps that don't are Character Map and SmartMon. And IMHO the only truly unnecessary menu bar in Windows 3.1 is the one in Control Panel.
For reference, here's a Windows 3.1 in-browser VM: https://www.pcjs.org/software/pcx86/sys/windows/3.10/
2/
@npub134j…jry0

2025-09-27 03:31:10 GMT

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Yeah, sorry, my instance is running Mastodon 4.1. 😅 I dunno if newer versions can render quotes, but this one doesn't.
Reusing the existing popup window would be fine too, but note that it may have to change size when going up/down a nesting level.
Can confirm, I am a KDE user and GNOME apps cause me dismay. 😋
I'm not a fan of “do one thing well.” Are we also going to remove the & command from less because you can do more-or-less the same thing with grep? Course not.
1/
@npub134j…jry0

2025-09-27 02:46:35 GMT

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Sadly that laptop was not convertible, so the only way to actually use that touchscreen was by holding up my arm to the laptop touchscreen sitting on the desk. My arm would get tired after a while.
I haven't used traditional UI on a tablet or convertible laptop. Definitely would give it a try if I had the opportunity.
@npub134j…jry0

2025-09-27 02:37:43 GMT

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By the way, I have used a touchscreen laptop before, and yeah, menu bars work fine with touch.
So do scroll bars! You can hold your thumb on the edge of the screen and move it up/down to rapidly and precisely scroll through the whole document. It's actually pretty neat and useful.
From what I've seen, most complaints to the effect of “it doesn't work with touch” actually mean “it doesn't work with phones.” On big touchscreens, traditional UI works mostly fine.
@npub134j…jry0

2025-09-27 02:31:37 GMT

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If Mastodon is dead, who the heck have I been talking to all this time? 😂 Nah, this place is doing great and I love it to bits. ❤️

2025-09-27 02:29:10 GMT

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The Office Ribbon is basically just a menu bar whose items produce a toolbar instead of a linear menu. Microsoft took the old Office 2003 menus and toolbars, and smooshed them together. The result isn't bad, but it also isn't really all that different from what it replaced.
4/end
@npub134j…jry0

2025-09-27 02:29:03 GMT

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Menu bars are perfectly usable on touchscreens large enough to fit them with fingertip-sized fonts. It's a screen-size problem, not a layout or input-method problem. Obviously this necessitates some other layout on small touchscreens (i.e. phones), but that doesn't mean we need to remove menu bars from screens that *are* big enough to accommodate them.
3/
@npub134j…jry0

2025-09-27 02:28:55 GMT

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Settings belongs in either a dedicated Settings menu (KDE) or the application menu (macOS). Easy peasy. Besides, apps without menu bars are worse: Settings is usually hidden behind an icon that has no textual label at all.
2/
@npub134j…jry0

2025-09-27 02:28:41 GMT

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There's an easy solution to the multiple-expandable-menu-items problem: expand and dismiss menus only on click/tap, not on hover.
“If your app only does a few things, which most modern apps do” is frankly a silly statement to make in 2025. Apps these days have far more functionality than what you'd find in a typical 1990s Mac or Windows app.
1/
@npub134j…jry0

2025-09-27 01:33:00 GMT

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All of which are significantly more difficult to learn and use.
In conventional menus, everything has a text label (not just an icon) and the keyboard shortcut (if any) is shown right next to it.
Apple and Microsoft got it right the first time.
@npub134j…jry0

2025-08-30 06:18:09 GMT

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I have #Debian #Linux running on my 15-year-old laptop, with the full #KDE Plasma 6 bells-and-whistles setup.
With the exception of web browsers and programming tools, this system's performance is about the same as #KDEPlasma 4 on similar hardware 15 years ago. All the fancy new features since then have had a performance cost of basically zero.
This platform is amazing. It is successfully defying the laws of software engineering. https://itlaw.fandom.com/wiki/Laws_of_Software

2025-08-25 21:48:39 GMT

Doctor Pulaski was right.
#StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #StarTrekDS9 #shitpost #meme
https://mastodon.sdf.org/system/media_attachments/files/115/091/601/226/404/821/original/2a0153257c1d1f43.jpg

2025-08-25 21:18:16 GMT

#USB keyboards can't interrupt the CPU themselves, but the USB controller continuously polls them and will interrupt it on their behalf. Loudly.
#keyboard #shitpost
https://mastodon.sdf.org/system/media_attachments/files/115/091/467/373/848/760/original/fb5f08efeb9bdcad.png

2025-08-18 06:26:00 GMT

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Induction lamps do exist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induction_lamp

2025-08-17 21:30:34 GMT

Everybody knows what a light-emitting diode is.
It's fairly common knowledge that incandescent lightbulbs are light-emitting resistors.
I briefly wondered if there's such a thing as a light-emitting capacitor. Then I remembered that yes, yes there is: a cathode ray tube.
#CRT

2025-08-16 02:23:31 GMT

I wonder if there are any places with a non-rectangular flag.

2025-08-15 18:12:19 GMT

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Sounds like the name of a comedy show about the dating lives of middle-aged rural women.
@npub1nf4…nqe4

2025-08-03 02:22:12 GMT

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I remember #Borland back then having a cool #installer too. It looked like you were driving down a highway. Road signs would tell you about the exciting features of the thing you were installing.
#retrocomputing

2025-08-03 02:20:07 GMT

I miss the experience of installing things from floppy disks.
Back then, you could *hear* the installation process!

2025-07-23 22:00:13 GMT

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Let's Encrypt is discontinuing TLS *client* certificates. Were you submitting a TLS client certificate to Google's SMTP server? I was under the impression that DKIM was used to authenticate the sending server, not a TLS client certificate.
@npub1sv8…7xja @npub14vu…9wlz @npub1wlc…qmf5

2025-07-15 20:00:17 GMT

For all its faults, copy-and-paste is still a pretty neat feature.
I just copied a funny picture I saw in my Mastodon feed and pasted it into a Gajim chat, and it worked, just like that.
To someone who'd been using a single-tasking computer like an IBM PC or Commodore 64 or something, moving an object from one app to another unrelated app like that must've been mind-blowing when it first appeared.
Who had it first, by the way? #MacOS via MultiFinder? #Amiga? #Windows?
#retrocomputing

2025-07-09 16:16:45 GMT

Well, this is odd. I'm on a new character, just got his first complement of duty officers, and somehow also got about 20 emergency R&D holograms! Must be a bug.
#StarTrekOnline

2025-07-06 19:03:44 GMT

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That won't work. Brains age too.
@npub1dd0…7z5l

2025-06-29 19:48:28 GMT

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I remember somebody running a blog and trying to get it to go viral on Fedi as a stress test. “Break me, you cowards!” were his exact words, as I recall. It was indeed boosted quite a lot. Probably every instance in the Fediverse hit his server to generate a preview, not to mention all the human visitors.
At no point in this experiment did his server ever get even remotely close to overload.
Modern computers are *incredibly* fast…as long as you program them with care.
@npub1huw…c5x7

2025-06-25 00:25:10 GMT

#PatrickStewart in 1987: “I'll just play a part on this lame starship show for a year, and then get back to Shakespeare. No problem. I got this.”
Patrick Stewart in 2025: world-famous as the captain on the starship show
#StarTrek #shitpost

2025-06-24 19:35:18 GMT

“Let's just store bits in a bunch of little capacitors. Capacitors are fast and cheap, right?“
“Yeah, but those bits would be stored for, what, a few milliseconds?”
“What if we recharge the capacitors?”
“Every few milliseconds?!”
“Yeah. Sure.”
“…It's just crazy enough to work.”
—the inventors of #DRAM, probably
#retrocomputing #shitpost

2025-06-03 04:25:37 GMT

Was out cruising around in a big, ponderous Ha'apax when I saw somebody darting all around me in a Defiant.
You'd think a ship that fast would have the hull strength of wet tissue paper, but you'd be wrong. It had no trouble blasting Undine right back into the portals they came out of.
Tough little ship.
#StarTrek #StarTrekOnline

2025-05-31 22:54:04 GMT

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In this thread: people who can read Elvish.

2025-05-30 02:16:28 GMT

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Two plasma, one tetryon.

2025-05-29 16:50:43 GMT

Sela talked tough about her fancy dreadnought and its full might and all, but it didn't last long with 3 pairs of rapid-fire heavy dual cannons pointed at it. Toodles!
#StarTrek #StarTrekOnline

2025-05-25 03:33:34 GMT

So, Reginald Barclay as a #StarTrekOnline duty officer. Good idea or great idea?
#StarTrek

2025-05-14 05:25:57 GMT

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No, Leck. He does the classic action-movie detonate-bomb-while-walking-away thing in a cutscene. It's hilarious.

2025-05-14 03:20:33 GMT

Cool Ferengi don't look at explosions! 😎
#StarTrek #StarTrekOnline