@happyborg@fosstodon.org avatar

happyborg

@happyborg@fosstodon.org

Working on #decentralization, #p2p and #dWeb tech, online #privacy and #security, #CopyLeft, #FOSS, #Rust and #autonomi (find me on https://forum.autonomi.community as happybeing).

Note: autonomi was called #SafeNetwork.

Possibly still maintaining #vdash on github.

The #fediverse is a lifeboat, #p2p is the shore.

#nobridge #noaitraining #norobots

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happyborg, to BBC
@happyborg@fosstodon.org avatar

has gone down the pan.

At the start I thought this was a refreshing revamp of a beloved formula that was staying try to its essentials.

Lots to like in the first few minutes. But apparently it's now a way to force it into other tired, long exhausted formulas that assail us with discord.

👎

simon, to random
@simon@simonwillison.net avatar

Scraped a pass of my ham radio general exam this morning!

KM6PFR (I remember it as Pretty Fluffy Raccoon)

happyborg,
@happyborg@fosstodon.org avatar

@simon 👏

I've put mine off for two years.

One day!

hamishcampbell, to random
@hamishcampbell@mastodon.social avatar

In the 1980s we had a family computer company producing office applications, graphics packages and games.

happyborg,
@happyborg@fosstodon.org avatar

@hamishcampbell
Well hello Hamish!

I was 'Compware' during that period and as a hobby/sideline business wrote and sold QL software, resold software and hardware, and probably saw you at the early computer shows in London or Cambridge. I was friends with Futura Software (Paul) and Computer One (another Paul), and met Tony Tebby among others. Happy memories.

3D Slime rings a bell - why wouldn't it - though I can't claim to remember playing it.

happyborg,
@happyborg@fosstodon.org avatar

@hamishcampbell and did I read that you are also on a boat?!

happyborg, to ai
@happyborg@fosstodon.org avatar

The first thing we taught is how to lie convincingly.

WTF could go wrong and who TF decided this was a good way to start?

taylorlorenz, to random
@taylorlorenz@mastodon.social avatar

"Crushing the symbols of human creativity to produce a homogenized branded slab is pretty much where the tech industry is at in 2024" https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/05/08/apple-ipad-ad-tim-cook-backlash/

happyborg,
@happyborg@fosstodon.org avatar

@WorMP3
The irony of people complaining about people complaining about the wrong thing, or in the wrong way. 🤦‍♂️
@taylorlorenz

deadsuperhero, to mastodon
@deadsuperhero@social.wedistribute.org avatar

As a fun little experiment, @damon and I worked together to get a instance up and running that stores media on ! It was an interesting learning experience.

I don’t think we’re ready to announce anything yet, as this was in service of another project in development. But, there’s an increasing number of ways to host content on an IPFS node service, and tie it back to platforms like Mastodon using an S3-compatible API for Object Storage and some proxying.

This is all pretty rudimentary, but the big-brain realization is that a more robust version could be done by pairing Minio to s3x if we wanted to self-host an IPFS node with those specific features.

happyborg,
@happyborg@fosstodon.org avatar

@deadsuperhero
I expect more of this, not just re but as systems are happening, storage models will change for the better. is the project I'm most familiar with and they have already talked about this and have partners ready to upload their data. They are not yet revealed, but I wouldn't be surprised if replacing AWS was in there.

I'm working on a demo myself in the area of web publishing and browsing, and am very excited about this whole area, so I wish you luck.
@damon

molly0xfff, to random
@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io avatar

the team behind Critical Role just launched its own subscription membership service called "Beacon"

pretty cool to see a creative team trying out a new model to give them so much control over their own content/platform

happyborg,
@happyborg@fosstodon.org avatar

@molly0xfff
One answer to that perennial problem is: don't. Start building with p2p as soon as you can and support those who are building platforms you might use in future, such as .

cuchaz, to random
@cuchaz@gladtech.social avatar

Once again I get foiled by switching languages. :blobcatfacepalm2:

In Javascript, you have to compare strings with ===, not ==, or else you'll run into type coercion problems, because Javascript thinks 1 == "1" is a totally fine thing to be true. (it's not)

But in Kotlin, === compares identity not equality for strings. But in the JVM, string values are aggressively cached, so === actually does what you want most of the time. Unless your strings come from weird places, like JNI code. Then you get awful non-deterministic behavior that's incredibly hard to debug, but it totally goes away when you use the correct comparison operator == for strings.

sigh I'm not really as good at this whole programming thing as I should be by now.

happyborg,
@happyborg@fosstodon.org avatar

@cuchaz
Programming is hard.

A skill is choosing systems and tools that make it easier and making meta choices to enable you to maximise your agency in those choices.

I remember the pain I endured learning #nodeJS a decade ago, then looking at #Angular [shudder] and #React hmm.

Then the pleasure that followed learning to use #Svelte and #Rust. You'd have a hard time getting me to use anything else now. Not happening.

My debut Rust project is now part of debian / Ubuntu.

"===" 🤣
#RustLang

happyborg,
@happyborg@fosstodon.org avatar

@cuchaz
I've used it previously in the browser and found it worked well.

Since then it's much easier and my demo uses Tauri + Svelte + Rust to target desktop and mobile. My first dabbling with Android so it will be an interesting test.

What things are you waiting for or think aren't ready?

happyborg,
@happyborg@fosstodon.org avatar

@dngrs there you go, you didn't even last to the end of the sentence! 😆

Try Svelte and you'll never ask anyone that again.

happyborg,
@happyborg@fosstodon.org avatar

@cuchaz
Of course it depends on what you value and are trying to achieve, and if what you have works there's less need to change that.

I like new tech, and I like to both learn to use it and apply it, so that creates the opposite bias.

For what I was trying to do though, and indeed for my current demo, I did need WASM (Rust in browser), so it's not just about my preferences. WASM opens lots of possibilities so it is worth evaluating IMO.

Trying it out will help decide when/where to use it.

happyborg, to random
@happyborg@fosstodon.org avatar

Some pre alpha software borked my system yesterday so I'm installing an OS for the *&#"-+th time in a couple of weeks.

Even though this is just a stop-gap machine until I get a new laptop to setup on Monday. 🤷‍♂️

What I'm working on is just to exciting to pause.

nilesh, to ubuntu
@nilesh@fosstodon.org avatar

Has the #Enshittification of #Ubuntu begun?

.deb packages are no longer installable: https://news.itsfoss.com/ubuntu-24-04-disappointment/

happyborg,
@happyborg@fosstodon.org avatar

@nilesh I've been using Ubuntu since v16 and never knew I could install .deb packages with the GUI until, now when I can't 🤷‍♂️ (as I am on 24).

I guess before long I'll be back on Debian.

The good thing is that we can easily leave behind. Windows and Mac are much harder for people to leave.

I have a new laptop on the way and was forced to accept Windows on it. So maybe instead of Ubuntu I'll install Mint 🤔

happyborg, to random
@happyborg@fosstodon.org avatar

How quaint, an email about a delivery that is actually from UPS.

happyborg, to random
@happyborg@fosstodon.org avatar

Current status: writing bash scripts

There's a reason it was called bash and I'm not sure it was to do with 'sh'.

Kidding, scripts is actually fun because all the problems are solved with a quick web search. Well, not fun, but not indescribably painful as some coding process can be.

happyborg, to random
@happyborg@fosstodon.org avatar

I have an app in Debian and Ubuntu. 🥳

Ten years ago I thought I'd finished programming altogether, then I stumbled on (then called Safe Network, no actually just MaidSafe then).

That compelled me to learn NodeJS, and after they switched from C++ to Rust in 2015 (this project is lead by a visionary) eventually I had to try that. And my "learn Rust with a little project" app is now in the Debian repositories.

Unbelievable for an old guy. All you young folk have plenty of time. Enjoy!

mauve, to random
@mauve@mastodon.mauve.moe avatar

Anyone have suggestions for cheap ish oscilloscope / voltmeters? I'd like a two in kne if possible, it's okay if it's not super high resolution or whatever. I just need something to get started. Boosts appreciated.

happyborg,
@happyborg@fosstodon.org avatar

@mauve
I can't recommend particular kit but I think voltmeters are more commodity, so not a big deal, and for oscilloscope I would look at PC based oscilloscope i/f's if i was buying.

Back in about 1980 I asked my Physics tutor if I could borrow an oscilloscope and he took me to the stores, found a massive Tektronics scope and said here you are, it's yours. I couldn't believe it. A few years earlier I'd tried to build one from a magazine but wasn't quite up to it but learned a lot.

Good luck.

happyborg, to random
@happyborg@fosstodon.org avatar

@jjn1
I read your summary of the We Need to Re-wild the Internet and wonder if you might want to look into a long term project which aims to open it up again.

After eighteen years of work, ten of which I've voluntarily helped with daily, the autonomous internet is set to launch this year.

I'm hoping it will level the playing field and create opportunities for innovation way beyond the 80's and TBL's breakthrough in '94. I was excited then, but even moreso now.

Happy to help if interested.

kornel, to random
@kornel@mastodon.social avatar

When I want my mind blown, I compare former world's largest supercomputers to the tech I have around.

ASCI Red, the world's fastest supercomputer until the year 2000, was 150m² large, consumed 850,000W of power …and was slower than an iPhone 14 Pro, which uses ~6W.

ASCI Red had over 1TB of RAM, which may still sound impressive, except that RAM was 2× slower than the iPhone's 1TB SSD.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Asci_red_-_tflop4m.jpeg

happyborg,
@happyborg@fosstodon.org avatar

@kornel I don't do that, maybe because immediately after reading and going wow, I remember what people use their pocket supercomputers for. 🤦‍♂️

I literally built my own computer when I couldn't afford the TRS80, and through that created my career, so it is a bit annoying if I think about it.

So I don't, I carry on building (but now in software). 😁

robin, to random
@robin@mastodon.social avatar

Hey look, we're in The Guardian with @mariafarrell!
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/04/the-internet-is-in-decline-it-needs-rewilding

happyborg,
@happyborg@fosstodon.org avatar

@robin
I haven't read your essay so don't know if you go into how to rewild.

I have been aware of the issues for years, but as time passes my understanding of their number and nature has increased.

Partly because I've been part of a community that recognises this from different perspectives since 2014, brought together by a tenacious visionary who set out to change this in 2006, and 18 years later is about to launch the truly autonomous internet:

I am so excited!
@mariafarrell

happyborg, to Health
@happyborg@fosstodon.org avatar

A third of Americans had their data stolen in the hack.

A third.

A f*ing third.

happyborg, to random
@happyborg@fosstodon.org avatar

Not buying Apple for my new laptop was much easier this time, despite the innovative unified memory that would make playing with local LLMs interesting.

I'll get by with a a GPU and my freedom thanks.

I've never bought an Apple device. Every time I looked I saw through them.

happyborg, to random
@happyborg@fosstodon.org avatar

Revenge of the Laptops

I kept thinking I should really take a break for a day or three but was near to demo and couldn't let go.

So my laptop died and I'm waiting weeks for the replacement, limping along with my old system and Windows 10 as punishment.

I guess my laptop needed a break too!

Still, I pick up a new SSD today and I'll have Ubuntu 24 on it by this evening. And I did need to test the build on Windows anyway so now that's done, and I'm chilled out, ready for code!

molly0xfff, to web
@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io avatar

If you've ever found yourself missing the "good old days" of the , what is it that you miss? (Interpret "it" broadly: specific websites? types of activities? feelings? etc.) And approximately when were those good old days?

No wrong answers — I'm working on an article and wanted to get some outside thoughts.

happyborg,
@happyborg@fosstodon.org avatar

@molly0xfff
I've been though the whole period and look upon all of it with fondness and appreciation for my experiences.

I don't long for any good old days though, I've always been working to build new, better days, and I've never been so excited as I am right now with the upcoming launch of truly autonomous decentralised technology from Autonomi.

So not AI. Jury still out there, but I see massive change and hopefully benefits beginning later this year from a sea-change in peer-to-peer.

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