Posts by Yankee Doodle Doofus 396 publicly visible posts • joined 4 Apr 2023
"triggered by mention of a FOSS project"
The post you are replying to has been deleted so I can't tell who it's from, but I have a good guess: kmorwath?
They seem to think that FOSS is an evil plan/global conspiracy by corporations to get indentured servants to write software for them without even knowing they are being exploited.
Tip: Buy AMD when you get that used graphics card. Nvidia is getting better on linux, but for the least amount of headaches, AMD is still the way to go. As for those AAA game titles, unless they use a kernel level anti-cheat, they should all run just fine under proton in Steam.
> "I try to avoid mentioning Lunduke. He seems to hate my guts."
I need to try again to remove myself from his mailing list. He has some good articles/videos from time to time, but it seems that the majority lately are whining about how straight white men (of which I am one) are discriminated against in tech. He clearly took the red pill.
< "The internet is full of enterprising folks"
Indeed, my expressed hope is that some new ones will join the team at Asahi, as they have now lost the main people (person?) making linux on Apple silicon possible. Open Core Legacy Patcher is gonna need some serious help too, if they want to keep old Intel Macs like yours going much longer. Within one or two more major versions of macOS, Apple will almost certainly stop producing the x86-64 version entirely. You might have to throw linux on that iMac at that point.
OK, so you list maybe 30 million for executive pay, out of 500 million from Google. That leaves $470 million. You claim to have looked at expense sheets? And somehow concluded that 30 is near 100% of 500? The executives are quite likely overpaid, but obviously that's not where ALL the Google gravy goes.
I knew what they meant, but I'm getting (even more) pedantic as I get older. Get off my lawn.
I'm with you on supporting the machines of others. I will usually turn on (truly) automatic security updates for a non-technical user, but on my own machines? I *might* decide to allow automatic checking for updates, but they will not be downloaded or installed except on my schedule (generally once every 3 to 5 weeks on my servers and lesser used devices, and once per week on daily-driven kit).
< "The article's author seems to want an iPad as a more portable laptop."
My guess is it's more about the cost buying a new device compared to using something already owned. I don't see how having to carry an iPad, keyboard, and pointing device makes it "more portable" than a MacBook Air.
< "Pi-hole doesn't block YouTube ads..."
Thanks, I thought I had read somewhere in the past that this was the case, and was scrolling the comments looking for confirmation. I still may set up Pi-hole at some point, but am in no hurry if it can't do this.
I watch a decent amount of YouTube lately, and most of the time this is via the app in my Roku smart TV (I know, I know...) I am very close to subscribing to YouTube Premium, even though I have an aversion to giving Google any money. At least some of it would go to the content creators, who I do wish to support.
"...in servers, clouds, or other large-scale scenarios where the ability to run virtual machines is table stakes."
As a poker player, I found this confusing, but Google tells me that in business, this is indeed the common usage of the term "table stakes", where it means "the minimum expectation".
In poker though (where the business world stole the term from), this is nearly the opposite of what it means. It defines a maximum, not a minimum. In poker, "table stakes" means a person can not bet (or be compelled to call) more than they have on the table. For example, you can't pull out your wallet in the middle of a hand to place or call a bet, or take the watch off of your wrist and throw it in the pot. If two players are playing in a no-limit game, and find themselves the only 2 who are still in a pot, then if player A has $500 on the table, and player B only has $75, then player A can not bet more than it would take to put player B "all in", so $75 is the max bet.
Thank you for attending my pedantic TED talk.
< "On the whole, though, the threat of US military might isn't what it once was. The US seems to forget that the EU is much larger, in population terms..."
Much larger? I guess if 35% larger counts as "much larger" in your eyes, you are correct. On the other hand, the US has a GDP that is 80% larger than the EU. In the case of an all out war between the US and EU (hopefully not in the cards), both would suffer horrible losses but if I had to bet on a victor I would put my money on the side with more GDP, bases all over the world, and already existing massive military industrial complex.
Maybe I'll buy something from this gen... in 4 or 5 years, lol. Just 6 months ago I bought an RX 6800 new-in-box for only $360, to build a new system with a Ryzen 5600x. This is the most powerful gaming machine I have ever had (it replaced a Playstation 3, as I mostly quit gaming for a decade or so). I can't see myself ever buying current gen components, as the price/performance sweet spot always seems to be roughly 4 year old kit. I don't mind being a bit behind, as long as I can play all the current games, and the 6800 seems to handle everything I throw at it just fine.
< "How new is your hardware?"
This is a good question to ask for sure, but the vast majority of people who are looking to replace Windows are not on new enough hardware that this will be an issue.
That said, Debian Stable is great but I generally suggest Ubuntu or something based on it (most often Mint) for any who are looking to try ditching Windows. The ease of install, better hardware support, and the 5 years of OS support that many LTS versions give you, yield a better experience for those who just can't be arsed to fight with their OS.
+1 on cheap Ryzen NUC style boxes. I enjoy building PCs, but these days, depending on the use case, a cheap mini-pc can often get you more performance per dollar. You can sometimes get 8 cores 16 threads, with 32GB RAM and 1TB nvme, all for around $300, and if you don't need this much power, you can probably find something decent for under $200. As long as integrated graphics are good enough for the tasks at hand, this is the way to go for most who need a new "desktop" PC.
< "As a USian are you not aware of mid-term elections?"
Sure, but I don't see how their existence shortens the amount of time we will be dealing with Trump's madness, as I'm also aware of the horrible incompetence of the officials in the Democratic Party. We have a situation where it's the stupid and evil vs. the stupid and useless. The Democrats have no effective messaging and would rather blame certain blocks of voters than look inward to see how they might be part of the problem.
< "Just remind people... this is exactly what you voted for."
Most did it gleefully, and would do it again. I will be a little surprised if the Dems don't win back the House and the Senate in 2 years, but I don't see them winning a filibuster-proof or veto-proof majority. Much of the Republican base will believe whatever lies they are told about why inflation is out of control, and the culture war is more important to them than details of economic policy (few voters on the left or the right really understand even basic economics, sadly). No, there will be no mass exodus of voters going from team red to team blue. Instead the Democrats likely mid-term gains in congress will come from Republican voters who came out in 2024 getting complacent and staying home in 2026, combined with an opposite effect on turnout on the Democrat side, and there aren't enough "purple" seats in congress to shift the balance far enough left to really be able to oppose Trump.
I really hope that Trump will only have 2 years where advancing his stupid and criminal agenda is as easy as it is now, but he will still do plenty of damage in the second half of his term, regardless of which party has a slim lead in congress. The only thing that may stop him would be one too many cheeseburgers, and then we'd still be stuck with Vance, so I stand by the "47 months to go" comment.
< "The talk was that we were going to bid the project at a loss. Because access to taxpayer data would more than make up for the red ink..."
Assuming this was "the talk" at your former company, and not a story that you just invented, I'd wager it was just people spreading fun rumors with no evidence to entertain themselves while waiting for the clock to hit 5pm.
The other option is that you once worked for some extremely dumb criminals. I guess this is possible, but like I said, I'd put my money on option A.
< "Trump has one aim ... monitize the Presidency..."
This is definitely a primary aim, but he has others. He wants to be added to Mt. Rushmore and be written about in history books as the best President ever, for instance. Some of these aims will be easier to achieve than others, obviously.
Only 47 more months to go... I hope we can survive that long.
I don't recall how language and region settings are handled, but you may want to check out Microwin, which will produce a debloated Windows ISO that is a huge time saver for getting a clean install with no extra crap and no need to use a Microsoft account.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92SM8Az5QVM
https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutil
Liam,
I had to google SDIO, and I assume you are referring to Snappy Driver Installer Origin? I had never heard of this, but I generally find that Windows Update can find the drivers I need in the vast majority of cases. Perhaps I have just been lucky in this regard? Is this SDIO something I should consider adding to my toolkit?
I wasn't familiar with Ninite either, but I have used Chris Titus' Windows Utility, which can quickly perform a bunch of tweaks on Windows itself, as well as install and update software like Ninite apparently does. Even better perhaps is it's ability to take a fresh Windows ISO downloaded from Microsoft, and create a debloated ISO that streamlines the process of getting a clean debloated installation without needing a Microsoft account. It's a huge time saver. Have you had the opportunity to check it out? It is FOSS also, with a bunch of contributors. I'd be curious to hear your opinion on the project. My apologies if you've written about it already. I see most of your articles, but I'm sure I miss some, and my memory is far from perfect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92SM8Az5QVM
https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutil
Same. Even if it's software I have paid for, if it was an inexpensive one-time payment, I don't really feel any more entitled than if it was free. And with small one-person (or small team) projects, I still feel like the developers are usually more responsive than the Microsofts of the world. I just don't get angry with them when they can't/don't fix my issue like I would with Microsoft.
kmorwath has some, er... interesting, views.
They seem to think that FOSS is an evil plan/global conspiracy by corporations to get indentured servants to write software for them without even knowing they are being exploited.
They were spewing similar nonsense in the comments on this article from a few weeks ago: https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/04/windows_11_avoidance/
You ignore the important part of the comment you are replying to, that being the need to work with clients.
"Except for Outlook, Teams, OneDrive. I use and need all three to be able to work with my clients."
Substituting Zoom for Teams, or Dropbox for OneDrive, would require convincing all clients to stop using the Microsoft stuff they already paid for and use daily, and learn (and probably pay for) new software. Good luck with that.
< "I find autohide annoying as I often have multiple windows open..."
I sometimes find autohide annoying also, but only when it's buggy or poorly implemented. It's a requirement for me, regardless of OS. I like my taskbar to be present on all displays (I usually have 2), so putting it on the side doesn't really work, it stays on the bottom, and has to autohide to give me all of my vertical real estate.
< "Until Linux offers a unified desktop UI API, backwards compatibility, and ends its ideological hate for commercial software..."
Backwards compatibility? With what?
"Linux" does not hate commercial software. Any company is free to release linux versions of their software, and many do. Failure to do so is a choice by the developers of the software, and can not realistically be blamed on linux itself.
Around a dozen years ago I convinced my parents to try LibreOffice, as they didn't want to pay for a newer version of Microsoft Office (I think they were using Office 2000 or 2003 at that point). This turned out to be a great thing a few years ago, when I added some RAM and swapped their HD for an SSD to breathe some life into their aging kit. I realized at the time that every piece of software they use has a linux version available. I convinced them to let me put Mint on it (with the promise to swap them back to Windows if they didn't like it). Everything works to their satisfaction, and there was zero learning curve.
< "Oh, and MS need to really pull or fix 24H2."
I've not heard good things, but have yet to test it. The last few years at my org we do feature updates in May or June, once they've been able to cook a bit longer. What issues have you encountered with 24H2? If it's actually that bad, we may skip this one.
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