Sylvia

Linux and Open Source engineer/consultant

Full-time nerd

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npub1nrldqqdp2l587z63rckfnnx8na8y9qdqfe8a6kfkyrx06vp89x0s25qrfk

NIP-05 Address

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nprofile1qqsf3lksqxs406rlpdg3utyeenre7njzsxsyun7atymzpn8axqnjn8cpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsfkqgha

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relay.damus.io

nos.lol

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npub1nrldqqdp2l587z63rckfnnx8na8y9qdqfe8a6kfkyrx06vp89x0s25qrfk

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Last Notes

2024-08-24 14:20:00

#Catima 2.31.1 is out!
This is a very minor release, containing a community-contributed fix for the back gesture on the home screen dismissing both the keyboard and clearing the search. Long story short, you can now hide the keyboard without clearing the search, allowing for easier browsing of your cards.
It also contains some minor community-contributed cleanups.
Available now on #GitHub, very soon on #IzzyOnDroid and hopefully soon on other supported app stores.
#Android #FOSS

2024-08-16 00:15:49

So I found out my IKEA Tradfri bridge is no longer supported for some of the newer IKEA smart home hardware. Kinda frustrating!
So I was considering maybe upgrading to the new Dirigera bridge but someone helpfully pointed me towards Zigbee2MQTT. So I got myself a compatible stick to try and... hey, this is actually pretty cool!
I'm still quite new with it, but moving my lights from the IKEA hub to Zigbee2MQTT took... less then half an hour, including rebuilding my Home Assistant automations.

2024-08-03 14:44:49

Hey everyone,
I'm trying to take another stab at implementing #Passbook (#pkpass) support in #Catima.
It's going okay but I'm having trouble hunting down test cases, especially test cases with localized strings.
Do you have any .pkpass file you're willing to share with me? If so, please send them to me and tell me if you're okay with me including them in Catima unit tests. Feel free to censor things before sending (but please tell me what you censored).
Thanks!

2024-07-26 18:23:10

#Catima 2.31.0 is out!
This release will better display long store names (while still trying to keep store names on a single line whenever possible for easier reading), has an option to quickly set the front/back image as the card's thumbnail (for display in the main screen) and some minor bugfixes.
As always, it's out on #GitHub as we speak and will soon be available on #IzzyOnDroid. It's also been sent to review for #GooglePlay's Open testing track.
https://catima.app

2024-06-30 12:41:20

I bought my first e-reader recently (Kobo Clara Colour) and it was quite a strong reminder of how the community is always what makes things great.
First things first, I boot the thing up and it insists on being connected to Wi-Fi and me making an account, ugh. Luckily someone documented a workaround, yay!
So, I use it in offline mode with Calibre and... it works okay but it's a bit slow, format support is limited and it is not that manga-friendly. So I install KOReader and all issues solved.

2024-06-12 17:26:54

Can someone tell me if #Catima is a #GooglePay or #GoogleWallet replacement? I'm not sure anymore...
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/112/604/332/809/050/500/original/e158afa76792ad38.png

2024-06-06 09:33:39

I voted today in the European election.
Against hateful right-wing rhetoric.
Against the rise of fascism.
Against hate.
For queer rights.
For human rights.
For democracy.
For Europe.
#EUVote #VoteEU #VoteForEU

2024-05-21 23:26:15

I started off playing it and thinking "Eh, it's okay, it's just basically 1 but a continuation of the story which is nice given I basically finished Hades 1's story"
And the dialogue was okay. It was witty at times, charming just like the first game.
And then I met Cerberus in the field and I screamed out "Cerberus!" without thinking, worrying about the poor thing. And then it hit me: the game captured me in its story.
I'm convinced now, this game is a good sequel.

2024-04-26 12:03:43

It's so frustrating to see Microsoft copy inventions from the Linux world and act like they're new. Ads in the start menu? Come on, we had that in Ubuntu back in 2012 already, you're late to the party *again*.

2024-04-20 10:37:03

I really don't understand Lite apps.
Your app is slow and way too big because you never cared about usability on slower devices or saving storage. Clearly you do not have a methodology to develop thoughtfully.
So, instead of starting to clean up your app and ensure more care in the future you... write a second app? Now you have 2 codebases to maintain, effectively doubling the maintenance costs. And if you still have no methodology the Lite app will eventually meet the same fate too.
Why?

2024-03-22 12:28:06

It's really telling how little trust people have of developers.
"At least <sketchy piracy forum> has old versions of the app before you ruined it"
Ignoring the "you ruined it" anger: I provide old versions too. Right on the website. I even provide downgrade instructions in the FAQ if you dislike an update.
It's sad users don't look, but I think the real sadness is that users don't think to look because they expect devs to always force things they don't want upon them. Users feel powerless.

2024-03-08 18:26:02

Catima 2.28.0 is out!
This release mostly focuses on small polish here and there. Some of the bigger changes are that you can now "quick receive" instead of just "quick spend" right from the card screen and Catima will warn you that scanning is more reliable when you try to enter a barcode manually (don't worry, the option isn't going away, it's just a nudge to guide users to use the more reliable scan feature when possible).
This release also targets Android 14.
#Catima #Android #OpenSource

2024-03-02 22:26:39

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@npub12ze…hunm It really reached the helpful nerd side of fedi :D

2024-03-02 11:26:28

TIL: HDMI is actually quite a closed system and the HDMI Forum has successfully blocked AMD from supporting 120Hz @ 4K in their Open Source drivers because they disallow Open Source implementations of (that part of) the standard.
I see a lot of people talk about "just use DisplayPort" because it is supposedly more open, but I can't find much about that when searching the web. Does anyone here know more about that? Got some good sources? Should I ensure all new stuff I buy has DisplayPort?

2024-02-29 18:29:14

Nice, #Catima is popular enough for cloned versions with the copyright info illegally stripped and advertisement and tracking added to start appearing on the "well-moderated" #GooglePlay store.
It's kinda hilarious to me, because the About screen also contains the privacy policy. Which means that these apps removing the About screen are already breaking Google Play policy by not having a clear privacy policy inside the app.

2024-02-03 16:28:09

I'm very happy to see how far the #IzzyOnDroid repository has come. Especially with all the recent scanner updates it has become so much more than "a secondary repo to get more FOSS app from".
I'd argue at this point it may very well be the most secure and well-maintained repository of #FOSS apps on #Android.
https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/

2024-01-30 19:18:51

#Catima 2.27.0 is out!
Honestly a fairly small release, mostly small UI tweaks and a minor bugfix. But that's fine, it's great when software updates are boring without major changes so there is nothing new to learn :)
Available on #GitHub right now, on #IzzyOnDroid within 24 hours and on other stores when they update (see the FAQ on https://catima.app for details).
Hope y'all enjoy it :)

2024-01-19 09:23:44

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I am willing to bet that one of the reasons indie game Lethal Company outsold Call of Duty is mods.
People yearn to being able to play games their way, mess with it, experience things not made by the original developers, share cool things they made, etc.
Your intended experience will never be for everyone. That is not an insult, you can never make everyone happy. Modders are like people remixing a song: they make the song available for a new audience. And you even get to keep the profit!

2024-01-19 08:47:15

I don't get why so many publishers are so hostile to modding communities.
Modders are customers who are choosing to spend many hours to try to make your game more accessible and fun for more people. They may not have the exact same vision on what the game should be as you do but they elevate your games to a new level and extend its reach.
Modding is a sign of a community that cares tremendously about your game and will promote it restlessly. It's free labour and more sales.
Let modders mod!

2024-01-12 19:08:50

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@npub1yrl…8gpm Ah, that explains why he covered the feature where you put your phone upside-down to decline a call 😉

2024-01-12 19:03:31

Interesting, one of my apps ended up on YouTube Shorts land.
It's quite interesting to see a quick hobby project be covered with pretty professional feeling editing. Kinda... uncanny valley, almost.
Neat though.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5euHZ93USNA

2023-11-28 23:35:58

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@npub1yrl…8gpm @npub12rs…el26 I mean that sounds pretty realistic actually. I'm used to people screaming stuff is "high priority" and then you ask for the info you need to fix it and they never get back to you.

2023-09-13 08:46:54

Credit where it's due, Unity managed to really get all game developers to come together in unity... to talk about how absurdly abusive these license changes are.

2023-09-01 08:48:53

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@npub1llz…08cq You know, a link to those guidelines here would've been really nice ;)

2023-08-25 18:29:27

#Catima 2.25.3 is out!
This release focuses mostly on minor bugfixes.
For more details, see https://github.com/CatimaLoyalty/Android/releases/tag/v2.25.3.
Please note that, due to Google Play Policies, I am no longer able to keep distributing Catima 2.6.1 (the last version for Android 4.4) on Google Play.
If you have a device that doesn't support Android 5 and want to download the last version supporting Android 4.4, please download from the F-Droid Archive or GitHub instead.

2023-08-23 23:33:58

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@npub1yrl…8gpm Probably good for the author to be aware that you'd be okay with a lack of push notifications (alternatively, UnifiedPush could be used probably, but that is probably more work than simple removal)

2023-08-23 23:31:06

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@npub1yrl…8gpm Seems it won't be possible as-is, see https://github.com/Clon1998/mobileraker/issues/20. Don't know how required the proprietary stuff is though, might be removable or possible to turn into a build flavor.

2023-08-21 21:39:06

So, Raise To Answer is dead. Google killed the APIs it needs to function so it cannot target a newer Android SDK.
Due to the "low" targetSdk, Google will prevent me from releasing updates to it on Google Play starting August 31st.
As far as I'm concerned, the app is pretty much done. Sure, it has some room for improvement, but it does the job.
For future updates, please refer to F-Droid (https://f-droid.org/en/packages/me.hackerchick.raisetoanswer/) or GitHub (https://github.com/TheLastProject/RaiseToAnswer/releases).
#Android #RaiseToAnswer #GooglePlay #FDroid

2023-08-18 20:49:29

I love accessibility. Make UI elements big and readable by a screen reader. Support translations and internationalization.
Software freedom is about empowering users. If only technical English speakers with good vision and a steady hand can use a tool, it is not empowering anyone except those privileged enough to be in that group.
Making our tools accessible is how we make sure our tools help those who need it most, those who capitalism "has no budget for".
Accessibility is a human right.

2023-08-03 21:22:45

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@npub1w0h…uwua As stated in the first screenshot: "Developers with existing Play Console accounts will also be required to provide this information soon."
It's definitely yet another thing that disproportionally affects those poorer and/or queer and that the rich can easily avoid accountability for, yeah. It shows the importance of us all standing together to protect ourselves, no matter which of us is being attacked specifically.

2023-08-03 20:46:14

Bad news
#Google finally released more info about their new #GooglePlayPolicies:
Personal accounts must give Google legal name, legal address, email and phone number.
Google will publish legal name, country and email for developers.
Organization accounts must give the above info and a D-U-N-S number.
Google will publish legal name, address, email and phone number for organization accounts.
Google is effectively going to dox every single trans dev on #GooglePlay.
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/13628312
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/110/827/136/235/583/403/original/dcd6a5ee93770165.png
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/110/827/137/357/222/814/original/c430029f0fe25737.png
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/110/827/138/238/464/268/original/f95add439808a836.png

2023-07-29 14:08:55

> Thanks for contacting Google Play Android Developer Support.
>
> Please take a minute to answer this short survey about your satisfaction with our support, as we'd like to know your thoughts about what we're doing well and how we can improve
Google, just stop lying. If you cared about improving the quality of your support you would've literally done... anything in the past... forever.
You don't care. You see customer support as "an annoying legal requirement that costs money".

2023-07-29 12:35:39

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@npub1caz…0nqp "Be so happy billionaires can't sell you useless junk" seems like a great life goal

2023-06-03 20:00:21

Someone mind reminding me why I bother writing FOSS when people are going to just yell at me anyway?
Really, why do I bother. Maybe it's better to just not spend any time on this and let proprietary privacy-invading junk be the only game in town because at least those workers get paid for being yelled at, I get nothing.
Constructive feedback, sure, very welcome. Yelling at me isn't.

2023-05-08 19:48:21

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@npub1z2j…r69f For context: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon-android/issues/539
tl;dr: Mastodon added an in-app updater that would move users from the F-Droid version to the GitHub version and was unwilling to provide an .apk file for a version with the updater either disabled or with a note added explaining users that if they used it they would start getting their updates from them directly instead of from F-Droid. And without an .apk file from the developers to compare to, reproducible builds are simply not possible.