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mat

@ mat @linux.community

8
180
3 yr. ago

  • PDF editor on Linux?

  • I'm using a reMarkable Linux tablet and it's been awesome. There's a bunch of apps ported to it if you're okay with using an older software release, and they give you full root access. Not FOSS or open hardware like Pine64 but really good experience and does not feel too limited.

  • Please recommend me some blogs about Linux or FOSS or similar that you follow through RSS.

  • Can't hurt to do a little self-promotion ey? I recently started writing https://blog.allpurposem.at/minecraft-qr about FOSS stuff I work on and ways I've managed to survive my gamedev degree on Linux. Aiming for one post per month, though my next one is taking a bit longer.

  • NixOS for gamedev

  • I set up Arch manually, following the ArchWiki guide. Over time using it though, I must have made some customizations that were incorrect and caused it to break.

  • I am thinking about hosting my own Mastodon server from home on a Raspberry Pi (Pi4 8GB)?

  • I ran my own Mastodon for a while. While it does work, it takes up a ton of storage (every image and video you see is cached by your own server). It also doesn't work great for viewing stuff like replies and older posts, since backfilling is still not a thing. I ended up just browsing on remote servers instead. A great blog post about this: https://jvns.ca/blog/2023/08/11/some-notes-on-mastodon/

  • For At Least One Game, Mesa's NVK Driver Can Outperform NVIDIA's Proprietary Driver

  • A Hat in Time!!! That's awesome, I remember having crashes with the proprietary drivers. Looking forward to playing this wonderful game on NVK.

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  • I use this and love it! I can't remember whether it was a "FairEmail Pro" feature though (one-time donation to unlock pro features). Regardless it works great.

  • TUXEDO Computers Launches First All-AMD Linux Gaming Laptop

  • Cool! Might make me reconsider the next laptop I get. The all-AMD Zephyrus G14 I currently run has been an awful experience (overheating after 15min of gaming, random iGPU freezes, fTPM stuttering, no video accel on Wayland, HDMI is broken, wifi randomly stops working, and mic disappears on 99% of boots), and I was looking to replace it with an Nvidia laptop, but maybe Tuxedo can fix these issues on their own hardware and make AMD viable.

  • A new home and license (AGPL) for Synapse and friends

  • I really, really hope this leads to development of data portability/server migration options. When I set my homeserver up, I chose Synapse as I didn't know about the other servers. Now that I do, and would like to switch away because of Synapse's performance problems and the new CLA stuff, I realize I and all my users are fully locked in, and would have to start from scratch (lose all chats, profiles, etc) to migrate.

  • Pebble Shuts Down...But Starts a Mastodon Instance?

  • I held on to my Time Steel for so long, but I finally switched to AsteroidOS on a Huawei Watch. No AOD, way too bright with lights off and unreadable in the sun, and have to charge it every night (barely lasts a day). I'm heavily considering going back.

  • Opinions on Swisscows?

  • I self host Whoogle and it's a really nice interface. However, recently is has started to take longer and longer to load, sometimes giving up and returning a 502 error. If you don't run into that however, it's super nice!

  • Is there a Fritter alternative?

  • If you just need to get updates from accounts, there are Mastodon services that auto-mirror Twitter accounts. I use bird.makeup to follow a few gamedevs that have yet to move.

  • Is Firefox browser's password manager safe? If not, Are there any other free safe alternatives?

  • I use Bitwarden and, though all the features are very nice (self hosted Vaultwarden), the clients are really bad. The autofill is super inconsistent on Android. The app takes 20s+ to load on my Pixel 3a. You can't trigger a sync from the quick autofill menu, you have to open the full app. The "desktop app" is just an embedded browser. I really want to like it, but it doesn't make it easy.

  • recommendations for selfhosted photo backup solution: folders vs albums?

  • I can highly recommend the nc-photos client for Nextcloud. It's so much better than the official client, and faster. It has support for the face recognition plugins. It's missing the file picker intent though, which is a shame. To share a photo, I have to find it in nc-photos then share to the app, rather than from.

  • What are your thoughts on the new EU Digital Services Act?

  • I don't understand where and how I need to file complaints. I live in France and Belgium, and have encountered several large and popular websites which enforce a "cookie wall". This does not appear to respect the cookie law.

  • Gaming laptop with good Linux support?

  • I'm seeing others recommend the G14 2022 all-AMD one. I have owned this model since it released and use it nearly every day. Despite the performance being pretty okay, it does have its share of deal-breakers which, if I knew them at the time, I would not have bought it:

    • random freezing, this affects some units most zen3 amd laptops and it seems I got unlucky. ASUS has been ignoring the issue for a year despite the crashes being reproducible on Windows (Windows recovers from it while Linux just freezes)
    • short stutters due to fTPM. Hopefully once Arch updates the kernel to include the recent patch that blacklists all AMD fTPMs fixes this, for now you have to email ASUS to get a secret BIOS that allows disabling it
    • nonfunctional vfio (code 43) without patching BIOS variables with a sketchy script (have to disable rebar), rebinding after shutting down the vm still does not work at all for me
    • overheating while gaming, even with fans forced to max
    • wifi constantly disconnects. I mostly fixed it by buying a AX210 card from Intel
    • bottom shell is super brittle and cracked when unscrewing it

    The laptop itself would be the best Linux experience I've had if not for these issues. The trackpad is excellent and great for Wayland 1:1 gestures, the display and speakers are great, and the battery lasts a good 2-3h with light web browsing.

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  • I've really enjoyed using PINE64 products. I use the excellent Pinecil soldering iron which is fully open source. I used a PineTime smartwatch until I got it water damaged (rip) which was a ton of fun to use. I have a pair of PineBuds wireless earbuds (default firmware is not open because of proprietary ANC, but last time I checked this is being worked on). I can't speak for their laptops or phones, but I can definitely recommend the devices I do use if you're willing to get involved in the community to work through and fix some of the existing issues.

  • What's the best privacy respecting android keyboard?

  • Any keyboard with no internet permission should be "privacy-respecting", as it can't (as I understand it) send any data back to the developers. I'm personally a big fan of Unexpected Keyboard, though it's definitely something to get used to.

  • Why tile?

  • I really enjoy it because everything is automatically maximized, but I can always easily put programs next to each other (f.e. my school uses Discord, so I have to have it open next to Matrix). The window rules are also very useful, as I can make Firefox always be on the first workspace, or my terminal always on the third. You can also make certain apps always float so password managers and such still work the same way.

  • Problems with firefox 116 and/or cloudflare

  • Good to know! I had it for data saving since I was on a metered connection, but that's no longer the case. Will get rid of it. Might still be useful on Android though, no? As for Privacy Badger, I mostly use it for getting rid of embedded widgets like those weird third-party comments on articles and such.

  • Problems with firefox 116 and/or cloudflare

  • I'm stuck in Cloudflare loops as well, been a week or two. It works in "Private" windows so I'm guessing it's an addon. I think it might be either uBO, Privacy Badger, IDCAC (fork), or DecentralEyes.