Linux in a Bit

https://infosec.exchange/@Linux_in_a_Bit

👋 Hi, I'm Aaron, nice to meet you!
🍿 Most of the time I just post about whatever I find interesting.
📸 I do various higher quality projects every once in a while.
🦣 I’ve been somewhere on Mastodon since April 8th, 2021 :)

⛵️ Alt: [@Linus_in_a_Bit](https://mstdn.social/@Linus_in_a_Bit )
🌵 Note: My account automatically deletes everything older than 2 weeks.

Older posts that I think should last longer are achieved on my website.

Website: https://linuxinabit.codeberg.page
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/linuxinabit
PeerTube: [@[email protected]](https://spectra.video/video-channels/linux_in_a_bit )

Public Key

npub1ud7npw2t3vaefp52p69qdtqlu3c9txer93hznxnxumtpcc5pkgdshe0kh4

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nprofile1qqswxlfsh99ckwu5s69qazsx4s07guz4nv3jcm3fnfnwd4suv2qmyxcpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsfghxjk

Publishing to

nostr.land

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nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1ud7npw2t3vaefp52p69qdtqlu3c9txer93hznxnxumtpcc5pkgdshe0kh4

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Last Notes

2026-05-19 04:04:51 GMT

> If you want to run a local model with adequate performance, the highest cost I’ve heard was $8,750 a month per user to replace ChatGPT Pro, on GPUs rented from Amazon. You might bodge something together for less. But that puts the unsubsidised price at a maximum of 40× to 45× OpenAI’s subsidised price.
- https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/05/18/github-copilot-ai-token-charges-to-go-up-10x-100x/
$8,750/month * 12 months = $105,000
Yup, that's right. You could give *every employee* their own college grad and it would *still* probably be cheaper than paying for LLMs to do the work.

2026-04-09 01:56:10 GMT

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Xbox Cloud Gaming

2026-03-15 01:27:10 GMT

Believe it or not, this isn't #Meshtastic or #Meshcore
It's #Reticulum :blobcattoot:
That's right, Reticulum is finally running on microcontrollers and there's so many ways to do it:
https://github.com/attermann/microReticulum (C++ implementation of Reticulum; finally getting close to 100% feature complete)
https://github.com/ratspeak/ratdeck (Pictured T-Deck firmware)
https://github.com/torlando-tech/pyxis (T-Deck firmware from the maker of Columba)
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/116/230/565/318/224/856/original/3efd925a44f41a2e.png

2026-02-14 04:08:23 GMT

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https://lib.rs/crates/iocaine
https://zadzmo.org/code/nepenthes/

2026-02-13 01:20:16 GMT

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Yeah, the look very specifically designed to do a swiping motion.
Presentation clickers might work better for some usecases....
Having one of those in ring form might actually be useful. :blobcatthink:

2026-02-13 00:20:54 GMT

It's over.
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/116/060/454/587/864/145/original/2e7da9043f405898.png

2026-02-12 23:46:32 GMT

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I may be giving Facebook more credit than it deserves though :blobcatthinking:

2026-02-12 23:41:42 GMT

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https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/116/060/301/967/258/972/original/dd24c0eb967d279b.png

2026-02-12 23:40:25 GMT

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I think it's because there's only four lines on the calendar, making a rectangle:
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/116/060/294/102/300/904/original/48697b429540e3ef.png

2026-02-11 02:46:18 GMT

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I remember their being some controversy, but it seems like a generally *fine* search engine.
I like checking the Controversies section on Wikipedia, just to make sure, for things like this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qwant#Controversies_and_disputes

2026-02-10 22:47:57 GMT

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It might be blocking on the server side, but from my admittedly very informal testing Cinny lets you do other stuff while you're joining a room.
If that isn't non-blocking, I don't know what is.
The only things that seem to have trouble is loading older messages (scrolling up in a chat window) etc. but I assume that's because it's busy loading the new room's recent content.
If you need a screen recording, I can get you one.

2026-02-10 14:12:43 GMT

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It *doesn't* use sliding sync, but it is slow friendly (from what I can tell) *and* faster than Element.
ElementX is the only one that's faster as far as I know, but it has half the features and only works on phones, so I don't know why anyone recommends it.

2026-02-10 02:25:29 GMT

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Or just a client that isn't slow.
Cinny is a my favorite (https://cinny.in/) but others like FluffyChat (https://fluffy.chat/en/) are also ok. No comment on the speed of those though; Cinny is just weirdly fast.
Basically just use anything but Matrix and it'll be better.

2026-02-10 02:22:43 GMT

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The best I've found is Cinny (https://cinny.in/)
No voice calls yet, and the desktop Tauri package is basically unmaintained, but that's about it.

2026-02-10 01:44:46 GMT

No matter how much you try to convince them otherwise, people generally can't care about very many things.

2026-02-08 19:40:51 GMT

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It's easy to justify that comment for basically any niche distro though.
My experience with the Solus's support has been really solid.
Of course I wouldn't recommend the distro for an absolute beginner (use Bazzite or something), but for what it is, the community is good.

2026-02-08 03:58:18 GMT

:blobcatadorable: Looks pretty
:blobcatthink: Fully independent
:blobcatreading: Rolling release
:blobcathyper2: Doesn't fall apart when you update
https://getsol.us
( #notSponsored , I just like the distro )

2026-02-03 04:08:02 GMT

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Ok, real quick and possibly slightly incorrect explanation:
You know how Intel controls and earns royalties from x86...
and AMD controls and earns royalties from x86-64...
and Arm Holdings controls and earns royalties from ARM?
What if there was an architecture that just... didn't do that?
But is still somewhat widely used.
That's the biggest thing RISC-V does differently.
Without that there wouldn't be a big reason to use it instead of something like ARM.

2026-02-01 00:12:52 GMT

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I am **not** blaming Linux users for not being helpful enough.
I am blaming certain Linux users for being *actively unhelpful*.
There's a very, very big difference.
The problem it causes is also not related to people *switching* to Linux.
The people it harms the most is actually people who've just *switched* to Linux, making it way harder for them to *keep using* Linux.
To put it another way, it's active, condescending gatekeeping. Pushing away new people because they aren't good enough.

2026-01-29 23:39:53 GMT

What's the most common complaint I've heard about Linux?
**Not** the installation process.
**Not** finding a distro.
**Not** getting programs to work.
**Not** troubleshooting.
**Not** hardware compatibility.
The most common complaint about Linux I've seen is this:
For a normal computer user, asking for help is just about impossible.
They ask a simple question and:
People respond "Did you Google it?"
People respond "RTFM"
People get mad??? at them for making an easy mistake.
**You can't expect people to know to, or even know *how* to deal with any of that stuff.** Either walk them through doing those things step by step, or actually try answer their question.
Search engines these days are awful, manuals are hard to read for *most people* (especially stuff [like this](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Main_page )), and normal people make mistakes we think are easily avoidable.
The solution to making Linux more popular is not ruthless promotion. The solution is to actually help people who are asking for it.
If you don't want to respond in a legitimately helpful way, it's ok to take a break.

2026-01-29 22:56:51 GMT

It will only be "the year of the Linux desktop" when people can use it without knowing what Linux is.

2026-01-26 22:17:39 GMT

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Mr Information

2026-01-25 04:08:55 GMT

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Full flight simulator

2026-01-23 19:08:21 GMT

:blobcatbusiness: Why aren't LLM programing workflows that much faster when we're trying to build something **well**?
Programming with LLMs switches the bottleneck from development to planning.
When building something well, planning has always been the bottleneck.
In normal development we have time to think over what we're making as we build it. We learn what we want because we take the time to program each small feature.
In LLM-'assisted' development we don't think over what we're making because we're not building it. We learn what we want through seeing the end result and repeatedly 'fixing' it.
It's like the difference between going to the basement to get the sledgehammer and using that smash through a wall vs. throwing various hammer-shaped objects at the wall until something works.
It's up in the air as to which will be faster, but I'd personally rather use the tool I know will work within a few swings.

2026-01-22 05:16:26 GMT

I've been using my phone with animations disabled in the accessibility settings and everything is just so fast and snappy.
I love it! :ablobcatheartsqueeze:
*Note: This is on Android; iOS's "Reduce Motion" settings doesn't disable most animations, it just replaces them with crossfades.*

2026-01-22 05:09:16 GMT

:blobballfetch: Just realized how good it would be to have an Android-like 'Bedtime Mode" on my desktop.
To tell me to "**Go to bed!**" and such.
Sad to see that KDE doesn't have the option, and Gnome requires an extension for the functionality. :blobcatnotlikethis:
KDE Feature Request: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=474826
Gnome Extension: https://www.omglinux.com/gnome-bedtime-extension-greyscale-mode/
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/115/937/011/465/220/137/original/10fefbee766db75e.png

2026-01-20 05:44:15 GMT

FOSS developers, hard at work saying "no excuses."
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/115/925/754/809/620/088/original/ea3f5169ce5042f1.png

2026-01-19 23:46:16 GMT

Mozilla Foundation:
"Make good tech the norm"
"Make good things together"
"Make good ideas matter""
What? LMAO
Y'all haven't done any of that in YEARS 💀
#Firefox #Mozilla
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/115/924/422/647/179/595/original/24ea59f3e0de5393.png
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/115/924/424/313/844/097/original/c3c74ae4b9de7b63.png
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/115/924/425/981/533/291/original/e85053a416cc0067.png

2026-01-19 23:37:23 GMT

re: Mozilla survey ( https://mozillafoundation.tfaforms.net/201 )
> I'm tired of Mozilla acting like every other "irresponsible tech corporation." Hold yourselves accountable, stop with the AI distraction, and fix what's actually broken.
> I want a vanilla Firefox experience good enough that I don't have to use a fork instead, but every day I hear some news about how it's actively getting worse. I'm sick of it.
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/115/924/384/006/144/131/original/005742416f42f261.png

2026-01-19 05:25:15 GMT

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Looks like https://www.printables.com/model/981111-dummy-13-version-10

2026-01-19 04:23:03 GMT

> If it's a bubble, why is it still growing?
- Some investor; during a bubble

2026-01-18 06:15:17 GMT

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That's a C418 esque masterpiece then it becomes a musical glitchy mess. I love it in a weird way... :ablobcatheartsqueeze:

2026-01-18 06:01:46 GMT

:ablobcatbongo: I really want to use https://flathub.org/en/apps/io.github.nozwock.Packet with my Android phone, but it's De-Googled so it doesn't have Quick Share.
Unfortunately I also can't find any alternative implementations, so I'm afraid I'm somewhat stuck and can't use it :/

2026-01-18 05:58:17 GMT

:blobcatbusiness: If a currency destroying disaster of some kind were to happen, I think it's a safe bet to say that almost nobody would be using cryptocurrency; they'd be bartering and gifting based on trust etc.
Money only does four things that bartering/gifting has trouble with: It serves as a medium of exchange, a measure of value, a standard of deferred payment, and a store of value (for more information take a macroeconomics course or read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money#Functions).
Even today cryptocurrency struggles, or outright fails at all four of those objectives. How am I supposed to believe that that situation will somehow get better in a disaster?

2025-07-01 05:19:33 GMT

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...except for https://www.urbandictionary.com/ - that doesn't count ;)

2024-11-24 01:43:36 GMT

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The cheap one is 2011 vs the expensive one being from 2013.
The cheap one is worse in almost every other way; video is 720p instead of 1080p, no manual control, etc. which is why I find it so crazy that it has a CCD sensor with actual global shutter...

2024-11-24 01:32:52 GMT

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Just tested, and the cheap one *does not* in fact have rolling shutter. :blobcattoot:
HOW???

2024-11-24 01:25:51 GMT

I have two Canon point and shoots, and I recently learned the cheap one has a CCD sensor while the more expensive of the two has a CMOS sensor...
This is actually kinda blowing my mind because that *might* mean **the cheap one** won't have rolling shutter :blobcatupsidedown:

2024-11-21 16:48:04 GMT

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The only real problem here is Adobe, but even that [isn’t as much of a problem anymore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Inc.#Criticisms ) 🙃

2024-11-21 15:07:37 GMT

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I know [somebody who would disagree](https://www.steamdeck.com/en/ )
But in all seriousness I actually do think distros like Zorin OS or Linux Mint are as ready as they’ll ever be for anyone who knows what an OS is.
With Windows doing everything short of war crimes to its users, I think more people than ever would benefit from the switch.

2024-11-21 05:39:54 GMT

Dear LibreOffice,
I believe it is time to change the default UI layout to a design that is much more intuitive, accessible, and easy to understand for those unfamiliar with LibreOffice.
I would like to suggest changing the default interface layout to “Contextual Single,” if only for the sake of those using LibreOffice for the first time.
Thank you! :ablobcatheartsqueeze:
#LibreOffice #UI
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/113/519/216/963/636/927/original/cd536138998f8911.png

2024-11-19 21:14:49 GMT

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True, but you would not be asking that question if you had no plans of doing it.

2024-11-19 17:33:49 GMT

Is it ethical to ship AI generated assets in a game like, say, [@speed_dreams_official](https://mastodon.social/@speed_dreams_official ) ?

2024-11-19 04:23:21 GMT

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I do it a bit too, but I don’t think Mastodon is just (or even primarily) for that. 😅

2024-11-19 03:47:37 GMT

I see so many posts lamenting the fact that people are moving from X/Twitter to Bluesky and (to a lesser extent) Threads instead of Mastodon and the Fediverse, but I think there’s something those posts miss.
People who want ‘just another platform’ will not find what they’re looking for here because Mastodon is not one.
By comparing Mastodon to other platforms specifically competing for X/Twitter’s user-base, we are trying to make Mastodon something it’s not; a platform for people to shout at the world.
That is a concept so fundamentally opposed to the philosophy of Mastodon and the greater Fediverse that I struggle to even make the comparison.
Mastodon is a tool to form communities where genuine conversations are actually given a chance, and I think that’s something worth holding on to. :blobcatheart:

2024-10-30 04:30:22 GMT

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Though I’ve never taken part in it, that seems to be the trend with open protocols like ActivityPub.
Once it works, it works, and nobody ever dares to change it after that :/

2024-09-11 16:59:20 GMT

:blobcatbusiness: Meshtastic and Reticulum are two popular LoRa mesh projects that, despite being compared to eachother frequently, are very, very different:
Reticulum is trying to build a mesh network capable of transporting anything, working over everything, and connecting everyone. More of a hyper-resiliant internet replacement if you want to look at it that way. :blobwizard:
Meshtastic is trying to be the best LoRa-specific mesh communication tool, and it has better overall LoRa support (more boards), and better group comms (the main advantage of flood routing), though it has limited scalability. :ablobcatwave:
Which one you choose depends on your needs and what each project can offer.
#Meshtastic #Reticulum #ReticulumNetwork

2024-09-09 02:29:41 GMT

@npub1nvf…cpws is creating a brand new browser engine *from scratch*. :blobcatboop:
:blobcatderpy: Servo actually started at Mozilla, but development effectively ended in 2020 and it was given to the Linux Foundation (you know it’s a good project when Mozilla stops caring about it :blobcat3c: ).
:blobcatbusiness: It was brought back to life through community donations because making a browser engine from scratch is pretty hard (who knew?).
Help them out here: https://servo.org/sponsorship :ablobcatrainbow:

2024-08-28 02:18:56 GMT

:blobcatbusiness: Should @npub163h…mv0n implement [STAR voting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STAR_voting ) to help curb poll fraud and respondent manipulation?
#poll #polls #vote #voting #mastodon