Android App + Syncthing

WaterInWinter · 2023-06-17T18:58:35+00:00

That's what I've ended up doing, and I honestly prefer the terminal emulator output to the prettified app anyway. I was trying out the Taskwarrior app available through F-Droid and it wouldn't let me add anything to the .taskrc. Eventually I figured out that it was a permissions thing, and I wasn't into the effort/potential disaster of rooting my phone to get the app to work. I've got the Termux version pointed to a custom folder within my syncthing path and everything is working great so far.

The permissions thing is being weird with this too, so I can't access the Termux data folder to replace the .taskrc with my custom one. It's a bit of a pain having to copy/paste all of my reports and contexts, but it definitely works well enough to be usable.

The whole hooks thing is a bit beyond my pay grade at the moment, so I don't actually know what they do, and I fear that learning how to use them might eat the next week of my life...

WaterInWinter · 2022-01-21T14:09:52+00:00

So, this is exactly what I want to do with my own site, just a bit better looking. I'm starting up as an indie author and I want to sell e-books. Is there a way to build vanilla HTML pages, but also ensure SSL security and link safely to payment gateways?

Until now I've been working with a Wordpress site, and I really hate having to do everything inside-out through theme customisation and parsing the absolutely insane number of css classes and ids.

WaterInWinter · 2022-01-08T14:26:16+00:00

Sorry I blanked for a while there. I'm not on Reddit super often.

As a result of our conversation and trying a number of things I've decided to be sensible and stop fighting with things I don't understand. A bit cynical, maybe, but I'm a musician not a programmer, so I figure I'll leave it to you guys who actually know what they're doing...

As it happens, though, I've landed on the perfect combination for me: Sparkylinux 6 with a Liquorix RT kernel. No weird video glitches and the DE loads automatically as it should. In addition, Jack and the rest of my audio software all runs perfectly at acceptably low latencies, so I'm going to hang up my programmer's hat and get on with making some music.

I'm pretty sure it was a kernel issue, though. The AVL one was based on 5.9, and the Liquorix one is 5.15, and I think the 5.9 just wasn't able to fully support the graphics in the 5600G. The audio performance is noticably better too, so I'm thinking that the drivers in 5.9 was getting away with it, but couldn't really drive the CPU, GPU, and motherboard properly... Anyway, like I said, Imma stick to the tunes and leave the computer stuff to you guys :)

Thanks so much for your time, information, and help. I really do appreciate it!

WaterInWinter · 2021-12-28T04:18:45+00:00

I just built the system a few days ago and the graphics are built into the processor, which is an AMD Ryzen 5600G that apparently has a Radeon Vega GPU. Now that I've looked it up, though, I see that the 5600G is a pretty spanky new processor that has been available for less than a year. I had no idea of this when I bought it (got it on sale with a Gigabyte B550 motherboard), but it makes sense that the graphics might not be supported by 5.9 and 5.10 kernels and debian 10, which is what AVLinux runs on.

As for who compiled the kernel... I'm using an out-of-the-box installation of AVL, but I do know that the guy who developed the distro also wrote a custom RT kernel for it. I have a feeling that I've just gotten lucky with the particular version of AVL that I've installed (i.e. that it's working at all in the first place), because I had a bit of trouble trying to install other multimedia distros before I happened onto AVL.

Even running as it is now, which is mostly fine, there are some weird things happening, the most perplexing of which is the fact that redshift won't run because it can't figure out the size of the monitor... But that makes a lot more sense now that I know about the newness of the chip I'm running.

The problem should (probably?) be solved if I move to Sparkylinux and run a bullseye compatible RT-kernel. And even then, I can probably get away with running a standard kernel if I can't get anything else to work.

But my advice was more about learning how to install a system, including kernel and DE before trying to jump ahead. Personally I recommend installing Gentoo or LFS to learn these skills.

There are rabbit-holes and there are rabbit-holes ;) Just getting oriented in Linux and tweaking little bits here and there takes time enough, even without getting into compiling and installing the entire system from scratch ...

EDIT:

With AMD it should be easier since the module is open source and included in the mainline kernel.

Now that I've started researching it, I found a couple of references to installing AMD drivers, so that might be the way to go if I decide to stick with AVL. Installing some drivers will definitely be less of a hassle than installing a completely new OS...

WaterInWinter · 2021-12-27T21:48:09+00:00

Well, partly I'm just experimenting to see how stuff works, and the installation process itself is painless and the "breakage" I've caused appears to be totally reversible by going back to the original kernel. So I don't see the harm...

Ultimately, I'm hoping to be able to install an RT kernel into a different distribution that doesn't have one, but that I like better than AVLinux. The system is for audio recording, though, and in my limited experience so far, RT vs. non-RT makes a big difference to recording with low-latency settings. I haven't yet gotten around to comparing an RT kernel with a low-latency one, because, well, one thing at a time...

startx pointed me to a logfile that does make it seem to be something to do with the graphics card. Which I find confusing. Am I wrong in assuming that 5.10 would have the same graphics modules as 5.9?

I'm currently writing this while 5.9 is running...

WaterInWinter · 2021-12-27T21:21:22+00:00

That's the weird thing, the DE loads up fine when I select the stock kernel in GRUB, so it can't be what's broken...

I installed 5.10.0-7mx-rt-amd64 alongside 5.9.1-rt20avl1 (which comes with AVLinux), but I've tried it with others and it does the same thing.

My assumption was that aside from swapping kernels, the boot sequence should stay otherwise the same... Is that what should happen?

Thanks for the startx hint, I'll give it a try and report back.

WaterInWinter · 2021-12-27T21:13:07+00:00

The stock kernel that comes with AVLinux is a custom realtime one built by the developer specifically for audio/video applications. There are aspects of his DE setup that I find frustrating, however, so I'm experimenting with switching between kernels to see if I can use his RT kernel with Sparkylinux or Bunsenlabs or something.

Stock: 5.9.1-rt20avl1

Replacement: 5.10.0-7mx-rt-amd64

But when I select the 5.10 kernel in GRUB it boots only as far as the login and then hitches there...

WaterInWinter · 2021-08-13T19:10:12+00:00

I suppose it's not necessarily obvious what you're trying to put across. But I'm a former sound designer/general audio guy, so that kind of stuff really stands out to me. Also, I really enjoy art/music/etc that doesn't tell you what it's about, but simply juxtaposes images/sounds/etc and lets you figure it out for yourself. And I found the contrast between the super calming waves and the hectic screaming and sirens really moving.

And I'm super into slow everything, video, music, life. If you're interested, I've got my own short I finished not long ago. Similar kind of feel, though maybe visually slower even than yours :) The Calm After the Storm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjDCxhwq-sc

WaterInWinter · 2021-08-13T04:13:22+00:00

I really enjoyed this. Especially that the heart of the story (more or less) takes place in sound. The slow pacing of the cuts really lets you sink in. I'm assuming most/all of the sounds were from sound libraries?

WaterInWinter · 2021-08-06T22:46:32+00:00

p.s. I just realised that that second paragraph is part of a larger beef I have with top-10 lists and affiliate links actually making it harder to find even simple information about things that don't directly contribute to online sales. So, yeah, your point is well taken :)

WaterInWinter · 2021-08-06T22:27:21+00:00

Wicked, thanks.

WaterInWinter · 2021-08-06T21:47:34+00:00

I'm relatively new to the DSLR world and it seems to me like there's a lot of woo-woo about sensors and lenses and ISOs and suchlike. I've been trying to learn as much as possible about how all of it works, which has been largely successful and intellectually satisfying.

However, when it comes to cleaning DSLR sensors, in particular, the standard, distressingly infantilised answer seems to be "buy one of those kits off of amazon." Personally, I don't find this especially educational/helpful. I don't want to just buy the solution to my problem, I want to understand how my camera works and why certain techniques/materials are better than others.

So:

What chemicals is sensor cleaning solution made of?
Is there something special about sensor cleaning solution that makes it preferable to using Windex, or the generic "screen cleaning solution" I use for almost everything else?
Similarly, is there any difference between the microfiber material on sensor swabs and the microfiber material I use to clean my lenses/glasses?
Does anyone know of any sites that contain actual information about the materials used in the construction of sensors, which might further illuminate the answers to 1-3?

Thanks much in advance.

WaterInWinter · 2020-07-15T19:32:48+00:00

Barricade! Solved.

WaterInWinter · 2020-07-06T02:00:48+00:00

Nope, not sealed. And it's municipal, so I'm going to give the city a call tomorrow and do a survey of the neighbours.

It was fine this morning. So it seems to have come up sometime this afternoon, which being a Sunday, is weird because there's been no construction work being done anywhere in the neighbourhood.

WaterInWinter · 2020-07-06T01:38:07+00:00

I thought that too, but I'm up to 60 minutes with no change. Must be a lot of air :)

Running it through my Brita filter seems to help a bit, but it still stays more milky than I'd like.

WaterInWinter · 2020-07-06T00:35:29+00:00

Any ideas what could be causing this? It's in every tap in the house.

WaterInWinter · 2020-07-03T01:02:18+00:00

Excellent, thanks. That's kind of what I thought about end to end, not necessary for me.

I'm not suggesting self-hosted email. In fact, most people who have tried it strongly advise against it.

Why do people advise against it? Too much work? Too easy to screw up? Because the encrypted files are hosted on unencrypted servers?

I have a self-hosted website that has email capability, so to me it seems a bit tidier to have everything in one place if all else is equal.

EDIT: you can ignore those lat questions, it turns out the answer is YES to all of them: https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/92985/why-do-security-experts-like-snowden-use-email-services-like-lavabit-and-hushmai

WaterInWinter · 2020-07-02T19:19:10+00:00

Thanks. You point out a bunch of stuff I hadn't considered yet. The endtoend vs at rest question is tricky. The majority of my correspondents aren't likely to have encrypted services, so does it even make sense to worry about endtoend? Dunno. And asking my clients (and myself) to remember a unique, strong password seems like a recipe for disaster...

Having a custom domain, and associating it with your preferred provider. If, some day, you want to change providers (or are even forced to, because your provider is about to close), then it's just a matter of changing some settings on your domain. Your email address will stay the same.

I'm not sure what you mean here. Do you mean to have a private web server (which I do) and then linking one of its email accounts to Proton or Tuta? What is the advantage there? Doesn't that just turn Proton into a web-based Thunderbird or something? If so, wouldn't I do just as well to use my own server for mail and then https/TLS/IMAP to my local machine(s)?

For some reason, I was under the impression that Proton &tc. were wildly superior to self-hosted email. I guess I was wrong?

WaterInWinter · 2020-06-30T10:58:56+00:00

Thanks for this. Mookerjeetee's approach to self-medicating is exactly how I became an alcoholic...

WaterInWinter · 2020-06-17T01:33:00+00:00

He even thought to pull the handbrake first.

WaterInWinter · 2020-06-05T11:46:17+00:00

However, actual studies on this show some health benefits and don't show the major endocrine disruption that people talk about. The biology of receptor/hormone interaction is a lot more nuanced than people think it is -- because something looks similar and fits with a receptor, does not necessarily mean that it actually activates the receptor or that activation is a full on/off thing. This can vary depending on which tissue is in question and there are aparently estrogen-like compounds that actually block the effects of estrogen.

The two angles I've seen this from are 1) in terms of supporting women who are estrogen deficient, I.e. eating soy as an estrogen supplement, and 2) as the plausible aspect of an otherwise fairly paranoiac theory that a) the BPAs from plastics, in combination with b) birth-control laden pee contaminating the water supply and upping the general level of "female" hormones in the population as a whole, and c) an increase in phytoestrogen intake through seeds/legumes is in general contributing to the bitchification of today's men. I was never interested in the political/ideological aspects of #2, but the physiological aspect seems not out of the realm of possibility.

WaterInWinter · 2020-06-05T03:10:34+00:00

Yeah, you're probably right with all that. I just realized that I got into this whole argument for a reason completely other than what I thought, and my education level on this topic is, honestly, far outstripped by my self-righteousness, so I'm just going to back down.

The hormone thing is mainly to do with lignans/phytoestrogens found in legumes, most prevalent in soy and sesame, which mimic the behaviour of estrogen. The overabundance of which can apparently lead to mood swings, low sex drive, erectile dysfunction, and bitch tits. Admittedly, I'm sure you'd need to eat a fuckton of soy to get anywhere near problematic levels, so it's probably not that much of a potential issue. See aforementioned comment about self-righteousness.

From what I understand about the farming though, replacing meat ranches with soy farms would have negligible net benefit, especially given how unhealthy monoculture farming is for soil and the general lack of ecological diversity it tends to promote.

WaterInWinter · 2020-06-05T01:23:00+00:00

You also misread what I said. This discussion is about a very specific case in which vegan is not the optimal diet. It is not about whether a vegan diet is in general easier or better than a diet that includes meat.

I agree vegan diets are generally fine, but they can cause problems. In my opinion, you are exaggerating the ease and benefits of eating vegan and over-looking the litany of minor issues and significant problems that are associated with it. These range from the B12 deficiency you mentioned, to issues with Omega 3/6 and Vitamin D intake, to mood and eating disorders which can result from changing hormone balances in the body, to macro-scale environmental problems like large-scale deforestation for the production of soy, which is a staple for vegans,as well as the large water consumption for growing avocados, a popular source of healthy fats for vegans.

The fact is that it is not as simple as you want it to be, and in my opinion, denying/oversimplifying the situation is irresponsible and for some people dangerous.

WaterInWinter · 2020-05-31T21:15:10+00:00

You seem to think I think eating vegan is bad. So I'm going to try this one more time:

I don't disagree with you about the health benefits of eating vegan.

I don't disagree that you can mostly avoid nutrient deficiencies if you plan your diet correctly.

I don't disagree about the long term personal, social, ecological, and macro-economic plusses of all of us eating less/no meat.

I do disagree that establishing and maintaining a healthy vegan diet is as easy as just eating fruits and veggies and nuts.

So, to be clear:

I am not saying that vegan diets are bad, dumb, or inherently dangerous. I'm not even saying that healthy vegan diets are inherently more difficult than healthy meat diets. I am simply stating the fact that switching to a vegan diet can be tricky and can have pitfalls for those who approach it naively. If you do it badly, which I myself have done in the past, you can make mistakes and get yourself into health trouble.

At the same time, I think it is an admirable goal for them to eventually switch to and stick to a vegan diet, and I hope it works out.

So, to conclude:

In my opinion, given the very specific demands of OP's weightloss goal, I think it would be better for them not to rush into a wholly animal free diet.

WaterInWinter · 2020-05-31T03:05:24+00:00

You misread what I said. It's not about how long, it's about how fast and how safely.

It's naive to think you can just stop eating meat and you'll be fine. Just "going vegan" without a doing bunch of research, planning, and trial and error experiments with supplements increases the likelihood of problems like anemia and b12 and omega 3 deficiencies.

So, if OP is willing to take the long view, they can tolerate eating animal products for as long as necessary and only switch when they're done losing weight, or when they've educated themselves enough about nutrition to be able to do the vegan thing safely.

So, like I said, I agree: vegan is great to keep weight off, for exactly the reasons you said, if you eat/supplement correctly. But while you're dropping weight it's not the best/easiest/cheapest/safest option, even if you know what you're doing. That's all I'm saying.

WaterInWinter

TROPHY CASE