On Unix and gaming and SIGINFO
I used #Linux a bit in the days when Slackware was recent, then a friend of mine suggested #FreeBSD (4.7 at the time) and it was love at first sight. After that day, I used FreeBSD on all the servers I am the admin of, and also on my office desktop PC. Still very happy about my choice.
At home, on the other hand, I always needed to keep Windows to cater my gaming habit (no, I don't like dual booting at all, as I often game for a short time while keeping tens of other programs open and ready to use afterwards). Resorting to CygWin to have Unix tools, which I later substituted with WSL 1 (WSL 2 doesn't properly support IPv6 and also it occupies Hyper-V and thus forces VirtualBox in "turtle mode", so it is a no go for me), happily enough for a couple of decades.
Enter Steam creating Proton (out of Wine), making gaming on Linux a common and accessible thing almost overnight (of course it was possible for a long time already, but mostly retro-gaming and via emulators).
So, as an experiment, in the desktop PC I keep at my significant other's home I decided to try and avoid Windows… I tried FreeBSD for a couple of days, but running Proton on my nVidia 1070 card was very difficult (if at all possilble, I wonder) so, contrary to my convictions, I tried Arch Linux (mainly because it is the one Steam Deck is based on, and the fact that AUR is very similar to the FreeBSD Ports I love and use daily) and… even if #ZFS (I filesystem I cannot do without, ever) is not officially supported and using it via DKMS is a bit of an hack, that only took me 2 hours to conquer and from there it was all much smooth and easier that I dared dream. In only a couple more hours I had everything working at first try, all "by default" and with no need for extra configuration, including things like: nVidia with 3D and CUDA support, USB webcam, Wi-Fi printer/scanner, Bluetooth USB dongle.
I am impressed. 2024 might really be the "Linux on desktop year" as some say, for sure it was for me (at least in this PC, I'm still not migrating the existing Windows setup for now — but someday I will).
Now, ironically, the thing I feel absence mostly is control-T support in the terminal, which on BSD sends a SIGINFO which makes most programs print a status report on stderr. It is something that on Linux wasn't included "mostly out of laziness" as reported by Theodore Ts'o in 2014, but is still missing.
I am of course using FreeBSD on all the servers and hoping that FreeBSD will catch up on ease of use on the desktop to change to it again, but right now… I like using Linux better than Windows+WSL. 
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Pi in the Pentium: reverse-engineering the constants in its floating-point unit
Intel released the powerful Pentium processor in 1993, establishing a long-running brand of high-performance processors. 1 The Pentium incl...www.righto.com
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#SQLite is the most deployed and most used database. There are over one trillion SQLite databases in active use.
It is maintained by three people. They don’t allow outside contributions.
avi.im/blag/2024/sqlite-facts/
Collection of insane and fun facts about SQLite - blag
Some of the interesting and insane facts I learned about SQLiteavi.im
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Oh wow
From: @blainsmith
fosstodon.org/@blainsmith/1137…
Blain Smith (@blainsmith@fosstodon.org)
Collection of insane and fun facts about SQLite https://avi.im/blag/2024/sqlite-facts/ #SQLiteFosstodon
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"Lights Out: Covertly turning off the ThinkPad webcam LED indicator":
powerofcommunity.net/poc2024/A…
(A 150-slide PowerPoint presentation converted to PDF - but, seriously, folks, check it out. This is NSA-level shit.)
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Time-lapse of the Sun circling the horizon at the South Pole during early March.
Video credit: Robert Schwarz
Source: vimeo.com/208466944
What does the sun do at the Pole !?
Only at the Pole - the sun circles around the horizon in 24h here is a time-lapse of nearly 5 days from March 08-13, 2017. So only a few days until sunset so in…Vimeo
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How decentralized is Bluesky really? - by @cwebber
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Future of Mozilla (and) Firefox
… but I am also more and more worried each and every time a new article about #Mozilla hits the news. 😞
(I look forward to #Servo too, but that's a partly different issue)
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In my experience, most people model security issues as broken windows or loose locks, something easily fixed with some care and attention.
On the other hand, most security issues are better modelled as missing structural beams or sinking foundations, flaws that compromise the integrity of the entire structure and the safety people around and within.
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Security design sometimes seems like a "Unwinnable by Design" scenario in a game where an early incorrect choice leads to a situation where it's impossible to win or rectify conditions in order to win.
Having to start all over from the ground up is rarely favored by management
Investors favor just patches that build technical debt & postpone the inevitable pain of the next data breach, system crash, or ransomware hack.
rustls outperforms OpenSSL and BoringSSL.
Security and performance: pick two!
memorysafety.org/blog/rustls-p…
Rustls Outperforms OpenSSL and BoringSSL
ISRG has been investing heavily in the Rustls TLS library over the past few years. Our goal is to create a library that is both memory safe and a leader in performance.www.memorysafety.org
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The Archive is back! (In read only mode). Get to the things you love, and we will continue our quest to be dependable, clean up the mess left behind, and be there for you.
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LLMs can’t perform “genuine logical reasoning,” Apple researchers suggest
Irrelevant red herrings lead to "catastrophic" failure of logical inference.
arstechnica.com/ai/2024/10/llm…
LLMs can’t perform “genuine logical reasoning,” Apple researchers suggest
Irrelevant red herrings lead to “catastrophic” failure of logical inference.Kyle Orland (Ars Technica)
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There is a lot of alarmist stuff going around about .io ccTLD being "retired", fedi instances that use it having to move, etc. 👀
Keep calm. Here's the one thing you need to know about this right now:
👉 Even if .io ever gets "retired", it will take *years* for this to affect already delegated .io domains in any way at all.
I cannot stress this enough, we are talking years if not decades.
Soviet Union dissolved 33 years ago, but .su domains still resolve.
Deep breaths.
Carry on.
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@fasnix
When I decided to use a .tv domain, I investigated to find out where that is and where the money is going: Island nation of Tuvalu -- a good deal for an atoll in an age of sea level rise.
I wonder if, similarly, the just thing to do with io wouldn't be to transfer the entirety of the (very profitable?) domain ownership to the displaced/repatriated islanders. Sounds like they could use the money.
🤔
@fasnix the context was people freaking out in my timeline that their fedi instances might disappear any day because of that.
And the point was to calm people down and remove some stress, as this is going to take years.
Just in case you need a NodeJS script to sort extended #ZSH history which doesn't break on multi-line entries:
#! /usr/bin/env node
const fs = require('fs');
const lines = fs.readFileSync(process.argv[2], 'utf8').split(/(?<=[^\\])\n/);
lines.sort((a, b) => a.split(/:/)[1] - b.split(/:/)[1]);
fs.writeFileSync(process.argv[2], lines.join('\n'), 'utf8');
Sort extended ZSH history (works with multi-line entries)
Sort extended ZSH history (works with multi-line entries) - zsh_history_sort.jsGist
In principle I could even see myself supporting Mozilla's advertising thing.
It would not be a bad idea, in general, to have a privacy-preserving, ethical advertising network. It would serve as an alternative for vendors, and as an example to regulators that this is possible – and that banning targeted advertising can be done without hurting organizations that rely on ads to stay afloat.
Problem is, I don't trust Mozilla to hold up their side of this.
I used to, but not anymore.
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@BassRck5000 I'm not ignoring it, I just think that i prefer a lesser evil over more ones who've lost their moral compas decades ago.
Not agreeing with you, doesn't make me ignorant. It just means I evaluate it differently.
@dynom @BassRck5000 it's not about agreeing or not, it's about throwing around clichés like "running a profit is not a bad thing".
And I did not call you ignorant. I said you seem to be ignoring the context. That's a different thing, please don't twist my words like that.
OUTDATED⚠️
Mozilla bought the Android email app K-9 (which didn’t include any trackers) and integrated trackers as part of #Mozilla‘s rebranding under the #Thunderbird name.
They even made it opt-out instead of opt-in. Their defense for breaking the law: ”we wouldn’t have enough data if we obeyed the law.“
It doesn’t matter whether you ”anonymized“ the data or not: If you want to extract data from someone’s device to yours, you may do so only if they knowingly consented.
sigmoid.social/@davidculley/11…
Gibt sogar ein GitHub-Issue dazu. Money quote:»Unfortunately we cannot make this type of data collection opt-in because the limited data from voluntary reports wouldn’t provide enough insights to make informed product decisions. Opt-in data would come from a small, biased subset, leading to flawed conclusions.«
Datenschutz und Einwilligungen sind grundlegende Rechte der Nutzer, die respektiert werden müssen, selbst wenn dies die Datenerhebung erschwert.
github.com/thunderbird/thunder…
Expose the ability to mange Telemetry settings on first-time use · Issue #8199 · thunderbird/thunderbird-android
Checklist I have used the search function to see if someone else has already submitted the same bug report. I will describe the problem with as much detail as possible. App version 8.0b1 Where did ...GitHub
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Why laptop support, why now: FreeBSD’s strategic move toward broader adoption | FreeBSD Foundation
FreeBSD has long been a top choice for IT professionals and organizations focused on servers and networking, and it is known for its unmatched stability, performance, and security.Drew Gurkowski (FreeBSD Foundation)
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Around 2000, humankind split into two groups:
One who was convinced it needed expensive Content Management Systems to keep office documents.
And the other who had an unprecedented productive, global collaboration with repositories and text files.💁♂️
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I read that the official Mastodon instance of the Swiss government will be closing down.
They say there are few active users, low engagement, and minimal interaction, which seems quite plausible. Additionally, they claim that "on platforms like X or Instagram, the Federal Council and the Federal Administration have many more followers." I believe that too, of course.
However, I do not agree with their decision. I think a government shouldn’t be overly concerned about follower counts and interactions, but rather about providing free, autonomous communication that is independent of third-party companies. In my view, a government shouldn’t operate like a business focused on "numbers."
Still, I appreciate their experiment - many governments, like the Italian one, haven’t even tried.
Regarding costs and management effort: an instance with 5 users and 3,500 followers (numbers provided by them) can run on a VPS for €3 a month and doesn't require heavy moderation. The cost for them is nearly zero. Yet, the freedom of information and discussion, especially for a Neutral Country, should always be a priority.
I believe that maintaining control over one’s information channels is crucial, especially in today's world. But, I fear that decision-makers only consider the numbers, which often favor the flashiest - but worse - solutions.
Encouraging citizens to use closed platforms is, in my opinion, a wrong choice.
Thanks to the Swiss government for at least giving it a shot.
admin.ch/gov/it/pagina-inizial…
#Mastodon #FreedomOfSpeech #Switzerland #Fediverse #SocialNetworks
La Confederazione chiude la sua istanza su Mastodon
Aktuelle Informationen aus der Verwaltung. Alle Medienmitteilungen der Bundesverwaltung, der Departemente und Ämter.www.admin.ch
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«I think a government shouldn’t be overly concerned about follower counts and interactions, but rather about providing free, autonomous communication that is independent of third-party companies. In my view, a government shouldn’t operate like a business focused on "numbers."»
Absolutely 👏
Exactly this. A closed platform should never be supported; Facebook and Twitter are now severely limited of you don't hav an account, to thr point where most posts are not viewable. "But creating an account is free" is not the solution, obviously.
They missed the point there, I think, and as stated they didn't really push it in any form.
CC: @stefano@bsd.cafe
"What were you asked, and offered?" the dragon said.
"To drive you off, to receive the hand of the princess and half the kingdom," the knight replied.
"Very well, I'll go."
"Wait, what?"
"There once was a huge empire, that was halved..." The dragon laughed. "I'll go. For now."
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And they did it in TLS as well:
openssl s_client -connect signed.bad.horse:443 -servername signed.bad.horse
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JavaScript™
Oracle, it's time to free the JavaScript trademark. Join us in asking Oracle to release the trademark, and helping us file a Petition for Trademark Cancellation with the USPTO.JavaScript™
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Hey folks, so the Quantum Witch demo has been released :) It lets you explore a few locations from the beginning of the story, and even get up to the first big story event!
I hope you enjoy it, and all boosts and very appreciated :)
store.steampowered.com/app/310…
Quantum Witch on Steam
Wake up lovely, you've got things to do! First, find your lost flock of faer. Then find your wife, she'd look so cute wearing that flower you found. And if you have time, attack and dethrone god. Ok? Don't worry about that portal.store.steampowered.com
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Reading about the computer you made... On the computer you made.
How meta.
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ssh banner seems not to follow RFC · Issue #97 · rapier1/hpn-ssh
The current ssh banner defined in ssh_api.c:423 is this: sshbuf_putf(banner, "SSH-2.0-%.100s\r\n", SSH_RELEASE) and the constant is defined in version.h:3-7 as: #define SSH_VERSION "OpenSSH_9.7" #d...GitHub
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The Pentium as a Navajo weaving
Hurrying through the National Gallery of Art five minutes before closing, I passed a Navajo weaving with a complex abstract pattern. Suddenl...www.righto.com
Magitian
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