GadgeteerZA

GadgeteerZA, 13 days ago

They say it is less complex than Mastodon as well as lighter weight requirements. A Docker install is usually also easiest. So I’d say it is a better option to try for friends and family.

GadgeteerZA, 13 days ago

Yes not “new” per se, but it is still in early Alpha release and mostly unknown to everyone. Nextcloud and most of the others have been around many years and have had iterative stable releases. I was actually on Mastodon since 2016 so GoToSocial is a lot newer at around 3 years. But yes point taken, “new” is not the best description.

GadgeteerZA, 12 days ago

Yes, as there is full control over what is exposed or mapped for the app including network ports, and future updates don’t get broken by inconsistent dependencies. I suppose if you run only one service on a machine and stick to standard ports for reverse proxying then maybe a binary install can be simpler. But if you want to install multiple apps ona server containers does become easier to manage and update.

GadgeteerZA, 12 days ago

Let’s agree on newer. It is not even in stable release yet, and until this week I’d not even heard about it anywhere else.

GadgeteerZA, 12 days ago

From their site: “It is already deployable and useable, and it federates cleanly with many other Fediverse servers (not yet all). However, many things are not yet implemented, and there are plenty of bugs! We foresee entering beta around the beginning of 2024.”. I would say it should be described more as beta by now from that description.

Gmail was in beta for many years whilst it was in production, and Meshtastic only has alpha and beta releases, with no “stable” release. I think some projects feel if they are still adding features it says in beta and never reall is in stable until they stop adding features. But yes they should actually iterate through alpha, beta, RC, stable. Not everyone does, though.

GadgeteerZA, 12 days ago

Yes I think they’re meaning they’re still adding lots of new features possibly, but it is a bit confusing as I think of Alpha as raw and not production ready. Beta can be ready for testing with brand new features, and stable is usually production ready and all features already passed beta testing. I get it is for home use but still. Maybe they’re covering themselves legally, but then you can just say “use at your own risk”. It’s possible too they don’t have separate branches at all, and just add/update/fix the “alpha” version.

GadgeteerZA, 12 days ago

Yes, but it is a bit unusual for a “beta” to be the stable version, when there is a such a thing as “stable”. Beta is normally taken to be a testing version, between alpha and stable releases. But it shows we can’t just go on our own assumptions about what alpha and beta mean.

GadgeteerZA, 11 days ago

No they don’t have a central managed hosting, and that is the point they are making. It is intended for someone to host for their family and friends. There may be some hosting it at various places but no central list you can find them on. Those sites, of course, will federate with other Fediverse networks, but no-one will necessarily even know they are GoToSocial nodes.

GadgeteerZA, 17 days ago

I’d second that amateur radio is way more than just chatting. There are so many digital modes, SDR, etc that can be explored. May be worth getting a mobile rig that can be pulled out and used in the QTH as well.

As a ham I’m helping right now to establish a backbone of Meshtastic radios across our city. It’s not ham radio, but it is something I can use my ham experience to build out and support others.

Personally I’ve been enjoying VarAc on HF for long range comms on low power, but I see they just standardised on some 2m and 70cm frequencies too, which I still want to try out.

GadgeteerZA, 17 days ago

I’m hosting an OpenWebRx+ receiver using an SDR dongle. Quite a few of our local hams use it when travelling to listen in to our local bulletins. It even now has basic text chatting on it, for them to “call in”.

GadgeteerZA, 17 days ago

We’ve not actually seen for sure that TikTok data is being passed to the Chinese government - supposedly the USA data is being kept separately. But we have certainly seen US data brokers gathering data from all over in the US and selling that on to any 3rd party (domestic government, as well as anyone else). Facebook has been caught more than once being in the business of leaking private data. I’m just surprised that the US gov did not leave this choice up to its citizens to choose on - the ideas of freedom of choice and speech seem to be rather dictated here now.

I’m just wondering if it is not more a case of the US gov has no control itself over TikTok (think US CLOUD Act) and this is what is irking them. I’m not in the US so one way or the other I don’t really mind. What I do mind about though is that TikTok does not sell out to a US company. We really don’t need one single country controlling all the mainstream social media platforms. US laws after all do not represent all of mankind, so some diversity is a good thing.

So I guess I’m rather for a “ban” than a “sell out”.

GadgeteerZA, 1 month ago

I use Sleep as Android for:

1. Great softer sounds that can be adjusted to gently increase alarm audio. I use bird sounds.
2. It can control lighting too.
3. It’s smartwake looks at my sleep stage to choose the best time to wake on the window of time I allow. It uses my watch to measure sleep stages, but works with numerous other watches, chest straps, etc. or also has its own Sonar function using ultrasonic to detect stages from movement.

But chiefly it also has other stuff I use apart from the waking alarms such as sleep stats, warning for bedtime, lullabies when going to sleep, anti-snoring measures, noise recordings, 30 min power nap management, etc.

GadgeteerZA, 1 month ago

Sort of in a way, yes, if you count there is some increasing pressure from the spring. But in reality, no, it is really based on the travel distance that can be adjusted. But you raise an interesting point for a future innovation, being more around actual pressure/resistance per key setting.

GadgeteerZA, 1 month ago

Yes it is an excellent idea. I’d be interested to see tests done around how this travel distance maybe actually increases or decreases any key pressure at all.

GadgeteerZA, 1 month ago

Wow nice!! Yes my issue seems to be touching a key next to where I should be hitting. So if I could even increase travel to register, I’m wondering if that would at least make my typing a bit better. Of course, there is no easy cure for dyslexic typing ;-)

GadgeteerZA, 1 month ago

Hope I don’t have to pay for audiobooks I don’t listen to because that’s a waste. Spotify should just stick to what they do OK which is music. I’ll stick to music only.

GadgeteerZA, 1 month ago

Thanks, yes, I especially like the use of the titles and description from inside the photo’s EXIF data. Just makes it easier to import from a source that already has that info in.

GadgeteerZA, 1 month ago

It’s often not the cost of the software, but the hosting costs, especially on a growing platform.

GadgeteerZA, 1 month ago

I think it’s why many decentralised platforms don’t want very big instances, and prefer them to split off into smaller federated sites.