


I like computers, trains, space, radio-related everything and a bunch of other tech related stuff. User of GNU+Linux.
I am also dumb and worthless.
My laptop is HP 255 G7 running Manjaro and Linux Mint.
I own RTL-SDRv3 and RSP1 clone.
SDF Unix shell username: user224

It could rather be more accurate in a dense area thanks to more cell towers. And it seems mmWave 5G can get below 1 meter in accuracy.

A cheap dumbphone could come in handy at almost any age* (calls, short SMS, especially in emergency situations). Though there is a possibility they wouldn't want to be seen with that. Kids will bully each other for whatever isn't a norm.
Anyway, preferably a simpler one. I used to spend hours each day on Java games. Really, the only thing that stopped me was headaches.
Almost any - you don't want a 3 year old calling 911 for fun

Oh, the other replies didn't load for me at first. There's also this:
Well, I'm sorry you guys are fighting about this. However, it has been my experience that if you don't want him tracking you it's because you're going or doing something that makes him uncomfortable or there has been shadiness in the past. My question is why do you care if he knows where you are? If you're not hiding anything or going against the boundaries set forth in your relationship what does it matter if he knows where you are? Yes i believe that by turning on your location and giving full access you will help with the location that it will show. It is not about being treated like a child but maybe more so of a safety or security reason. I promise you if you give into it and simply answer his questions without attitude and get him to understand that it's not always accurate things will be better. When you're in the car together have it on so he can see how accurate it is and maybe that'll get him to realise how the system works. I promise you if you give into it for a little while he'll not want to check it as much and will get bored and trust more. The arguing about it makes it look sketchy and there won't be trust, which sounds like what you guys need. I am speaking from experience.

Czech T-Mobile also has this. It's pretty cool they let you track the devices using their towers. Just the cost is different. There's no location history, and it only does a location query on demand. Each query costs CZK 4.84 ($0.22).
Also, it needs "LPIN" which has to be set for the SIM card.
Well anyway, just looked up the FamilyWhere and this is the first result (excluding advertising):
https://www.t-mobile.com/community/discussions/accounts-services/familywhere-is-ruining-my-life/95189
so im a 34 year old woman who has a spouse that constantly uses the FamilyWhere app to track my location. That alone is extremely annoying. But what’s worse is that it’s oftern not accurate and tells him I’m at places that I am not. I’m not a child that needs to be tracked. does anyone know of an outside app that can completely block my gps signa? Turning off my location services on my iPhone doesn’t work. Please I’m so sick of fighting over the results it gives him. I called tomobile to ask them for help all the rep said was that he could disable my short codes, which would block the app. But since my spouse is the account holder all he had to do was call T-Mobile and reverse what I did. This is hell!!! Please someone any help is appreciated.

Aaah, I took it too literally.
I thought it was going to say "Psoriasis".

Often has cam videos too, which are recorded from theaters before being released outside. The quality is not necessarily as bad as it sounds.
For the case of better quality: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telesync
While the other end of the spectrum may be a shaky smartphone footage.

I've seen something similar in middle school. Except that the teacher shown us the exact exams we were about to have. And also the answers. He was pretty desperate, but it didn't work either.

Functional ones. Like this case for an RSP1 clone that used to be sold on AliExpress: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5507066
Might be good idea to tape it over with aluminum tape for shielding.
Or this for a Ulefone uSmart adapter to make it into a USB-C: https://www.printables.com/model/493211-ulefone-usmart-usb-c-adaptor
This connector is basically just pins from USB-C, but in a way that can only be used with their own accessories. Honestly this should be sold by them. I'd be willing to buy it even if it was like €15 (just better quality than a 3D print, of course).

I use https://am.i.mullvad.net/ as a reminder of being disconnected if I am.

Remember that most people only respond when there is something they don't like occuring, but remain silent otherwise. For every dissatisfied user, there's probably many satisfied ones. Were.

It probably makes sense to use it as a homepage in many cases.

I use a laptop, so I iust put it to sleep. I only restart it when I do updates or when the system crashes. I also turn it off (when I remember to do so...) if I leave it unattended in untrustworthy environment due to encryption.
I also have a mini PC, but I only turn it on when needed, which isn't often since I haven't really figured out what to use it for. It's running Linux Mint headless, because Mint fits my laziness. I can use it via Tailscale, but I don't really know what to do with it. So far it's been mostly useful with OpenWebRX, SDR++ server which also offers compression unlike RTL_TCP as well as being able to use any SDR++ supported SDR, and I also intended to use Navidrome on it as well. My intention was to just download full albums on there, rather than picking out individual songs, but I still have the urge to put all of it on my phone.

Well, probably my mistake calling it a plan, but it seems all of them are subscriptions at least. Even "pay as you go" cards I found have monthly payments.
It seems the cheapest was T-Mobile PayGo, but that got sold to Ultra Mobile. I don't know what they offer though because there's an infinite captcha on their website for me. But from Google preview it seems they still offer the $3/month PayGo.

Well, I did. And I am in one. Most teachers don't care about it. Technically the current principal banned them, but only one teacher told us, and it was a pretty sarcastic "I am supposed to tell you that you aren't allowed to use phones during classes anymore."
Anyway, they got partially integrated. There's an online school system we are supposed to use, and teachers often send us study materials there, including during classes. At one point we even took online exams (physically at school) and most used phones for that too (I prefer a desktop if I can use that).
Basically it became an expectation. "Look this up, take a picture of this, open what I sent you, send me this, confirm that,..."
But yeah, anyway, most exams are probably AI-written nowadays. This is known, and not particularly discouraged. Well, one teacher even told us we'll be given computers with internet access on (part of the) graduation exams, and shown us how we can just copy-paste it to and from ChatGPT. And that was true.
But hey, we also often have classes of absolutely nothing that you just have to wait out.
The level of Slovakian education is setting the bar so low it clipped through the ground.

Already included.

- SMS and classic calls are dying. Things moved to Discord, Instagram, Snapchat, or whatever else for the most part
- Burner SIM, or better yet, burner eSIM. Maybe VoIP would suffice.
And the original SIM could still be used in some cheap older phone.
Although it seems everything in the US is a plan, meaning monthly payments. But perhaps I haven't looked far enough.

I transferred some files that would have taken windows about 5min, it only took 20sec.
If we're talking about storage devices, this may just be lots of caching, which in my opinion sucks for slow removable devices, because the transfer stays in background and you still can't unplug the damn USB.
Though there can also be some difference with filesystems. I can get pretty fast and stable RW with F2FS compared to exFAT on these devices.

I am too lazy to look it up, is that the actual lyrics?

pay bills
I don't trust the phone browser anymore after I had it crash during a payment. The money was sent, but the token wasn't sent back to the website.
Thankfully we now have instant bank transfers, so the state of the browser doesn't matter.
Anyway, I still prefer to take out the laptop for serious stuff like payments.

The year of Linux desktop?

Random stuff I watch at 2AM instead of sleeping rule


Who needs sleep anyway?
Edit: Replaced Catbox with Imgur as it didn't embed

I hate reachability of smartphones
There's an expectation that you can receive calls anytime, reply to messages quickly, it's like having people in your pocket, always with you.
And I don't even use most social media, which others often find weird. I don't understand how people put up with and manage so many messages when it's multiple per minute. Snapchat, Instagram, Discord, Messenger, every few seconds responding to something is what I see most others doing.
Oh, funnily, it's often the people who constantly say "Back in my good ole times we had no smartphones like you, and we lived just fine." who expect a prompt reply, or get mad when you don't pick up the phone.
People can and will just message you during the day and suddenly expect you to change your plans.
And why have a smartphone then? Its evolved from being just a communicator. It's a computer, flashlight, camera, modem, access point, storage device, music player, radio receiver, remote control, portable server if you're weird enough, but simply, a lot m

Is there a way to disable audio post-processing (without root access)? Perhaps in ADB. - Borderline unusable audio quality for anything more than voice by default (incl. example)
Device: Ulefone Armor 24 (cheap-ish Chinese brand)
The default audio quality is absolutely awful. It's like this everywhere, including the default camera app.
The issue shows up with external microphone as well.
Basically it sounds like over-compressed audio that gets easily beaten with 22.5kHz 64kbps MP3 (comparing to what I listened to recently).
I've found this audio recorder app that allows selecting audio source manually, including "unprocessed" audio: https://gitlab.com/axet/android-audio-recorder
The result is far better.
Audio recording samples
I just recorded music playing from my laptop, so yeah, the audio source isn't that great either, but you can hear the artifacts there.
Both were recorded lossless.
Default
https://files.catbox.moe/e33ufc.wav [2.7MiB]
https://files.catbox.moe/d2n7sg.flac [1.4MiB] - converted to FLAC for in-browser playback


What is stopping RSP1 (clone) and SDRPlay API from working on Linux Mint (22)
Couldn't find the answer online and spent unnecessary hours trying to solve it, so I'll plop the answer here.
Problem
Software like SDR++ can't find any devices
systemctl status sdrplay
shows following errors/warnings:
<>
[3943]: sdrplay_apiService: UpdateDevicesL: ERROR: libusb_claim_interface() -6 [3943]: sdrplay_apiService: sdrplay_apiServiceWorkerThread: ERROR: UpdateDevices() failed 1 libusb: warning [libusb_exit] device 1.5 still referenced libusb: warning [libusb_exit] device 1.1 still referenced libusb: warning [libusb_exit] application left some devices open
Based on what I found, -6
corresponds to LIBUSB_ERROR_BUSY
. The device has been claimed by something else.
Specific problem
I found this blog post on using RSP1 clone without the proprietary software: https://blog.marxy.org/2023/05/using-sdrplay-rsp1-clone-with-cubicsdr.html
It mentions blocklisting some kernel modules which capture the device.
Comparing lsmod | grep msi
with known good

Chonky phone rule (not OC - image source in post


Image source: https://www.telepolis.pl/tech/sprzet/ulefone-armor-34-pro-armor-33-pro-armor-mini-4-mwc-2025
Just another ridiculous device from Ulefone.
Unfortunately, I can only find its dimensions, but not weight. The thickness is whopping 3.4 cm (1.34 inch).
Currently I own a smaller one, Armor 24, which is still 2.75 cm (1.08 inch), but even that weights 647g (1.43 lbs).
I wonder if these brands like Ulefone, Doogee, Unihertz will reach the 1kg mark at some point.
Be ready to dial 911 if it falls on your face.

How can I find out what exactly LightDM does (and reproduce it manually) to use VNC server? (broken XFCE Mint customization, missing audio, lack of privileges)
Edit: Found answer here: https://groups.google.com/g/tigervnc-users/c/c4mihwmz_bI
Apparently only local sessions have access to certain HW. Audio devices are also in group audio
, so I added my main user to that. Might be the fix for other stuff if I figure out the exact issues.
So I have a Mini PC running Linux Mint (headless) that I want to (sometimes) access over VNC remotely.
Using just TigerVNC has issues. First, XFCE got reset to its defaults. I don't mind this too much. There are some password prompts and all power options other than "Log Out" are inaccessible (DBus seems to be running if that's related. But also, more just annoying than an issue.)
The biggest problem is with audio. There appear to be no audio devices with aplay -l
when run as regular user, but they do show up for root.
I tried running a session as root, but...

If you use Mullvad, do you use the "Quantum-resistant" option in official client?
I've always had it on, but it's kind of a pain in the ass. Especially on worse (not necessarily slower) networks.
On laptop it's fine for the most part since the use-case is a bit different, but on a phone it's causing me some annoyances/issues.
With my carrier indoors it takes on average 62 seconds to connect. This is pretty annoying if toggling/switching VPN servers more often.
But when travelling (e.g.: in a train) it can make the difference from slightly spotty signal to almost never being connected successfully, impacting usability.
As such, I often find myself not even using VPN in such cases in the first place.
For comparison, plain Wireguard is done before I can pull away my finger from the "connect" button, usually even on 2G EDGE.
Do you keep this (perhaps a bit paranoid-level) option on?
Even if actually useful in the future, it would only protect traffic recorded from User to VPN anyway.

It seems I almost had a DVD shatter due to drive spinning too fast (probably thanks to low 5V power on external SATA adapter)


TL;DR: My particular 5.25" drive started spinning probably a bit too fast when used externally on cheap USB + 12V to SATA adapter.
So I got a 5.25" drive from an old PC that I wanted to use as external with USB SATA adapter. I mean, I have a slim portable one, but 5.25" is cooler, you know.
It seems the controller, laser and tray motor are powered from 5V rail while spindle and laser assembly motors are powered from 12V rail.
In my case, 5V source was USB on laptop and 12V an external power supply with the cheap SATA adapter.
Reading worked, so I tried burning a DVD+RW. Brand new undamaged disc. Unfortunately, it seems the higher power required caused too much voltage drop and it kept failing. The drive states 5V@2A and 12@2.5A max. USB tester looked fine on source side, so probably the cheap SATA adapter's resistance was to blame.
Clearly, looking at the burned area, there wasn't enough power (or something else failed):

Fountain pen ink in printer at 3AM rule (more stuff in post) (I don't know where to post this, so 196 it is)


So yeah, 3AM it was and what would I be doing, sleeping? Nah. Oof, I wake up in 2 hours...
Nevermind that, here's per color test page:

I filled the CMY cartridge with blue FP ink. All three colors.

But first I flushed it with tap water. I just filled it with water and sucked it out repeatedly. I did not get all out, but enough. Then I shot in around 3ml of FP ink that I sucked out, and put in like 6ml of it in and sucked out 1ml to get it flowing.

The cartridge was partially dry for like a year. I thought all the nozzles would be burnt out by now.
Basically I did all that shouldn't be done.
And here's a test the other way around:

You're finally awrule


Top text: Oh good, you're finally awake
Bottom text: Humans? Fursuits? What are u talking about? Lets cuddle
Description: (Text background) Drawing of a furry - dobermann named Copain (she). Anthro, longer dark hair, orange to brown fur, cyan eyes, black colar with buckle around neck, black short-sleeved shirt. Hands off-screen towards viewer, smiling with open mouth with toungue (inside mouth) and upper teeth visible, blushing, ears perked up - outside darker brown, inside lighter orange-brown. 5 pink hearts drawn around the character.
If the description is badly written, blame me. I wrote it.
Sources
Lower resolution:
https://bsky.app/profile/helicopterfood.bsky.social/post/3lihmwjesrs2f
https://www.deviantart.com/kurutyan/art/wake-up-1161156897
Higher resolution:
https://sfw.furaffinity.net/view/59929967/
https://e926.net/posts/5384868
Disclaimer: There may be NSFW (18+) content on these sites

I just had something like "she's standing right behind me, isn't she" moment with my boss... Also it seems I am 0.3 of a worker (based on statistics)
So, after end of shift, which was too early for being a minimum wage hourly paid job (3 hours, bruh) I spoke with a coworker.
I basically said I rather take my time, since working longer means more money, and that I even take the time to double or triple check the counts of things since I prefer to do it accurately rather than fast.
After saying something along the lines of "If I don't get a negative point for low speed, it's probably good enough." I heard a familiar voice:
"Come look at your speed -"
Aaaaæäãæâåæuuæaâä, my throat tightened, my eyes looking for source of the voice somewhere on my left. They find a gap between boxes, just large enough to see the eyes of flaming doom. My doom.
My legs, almost on their own, start making coordinated movements that move the upper part of my body around the boxes towards my boss who's staring at a laptop screen, all while my brain resonates "I done fucked up".
My body now standing at the destination, few steps away from where I was,

Tired rule


Why waste time by sleeping, right?
Ignore "REM", Mi band 4 doesn't measure that.

Don't forget your Tactical C4 Explosive on your next flight!



Blahaj? I'd be curious what led to this decision.



Stupid volume rule


Why not give finer level of control?
Also a bit unrelated, but the lowest volume earphone output on many devices I had was just too damn loud. My current phone included, at least I can fix it with the music player's EQ.
Edit: Probably shouldn't have used "and/or" in this case, but just "or". Oh well...
Edit 2: Fixed. Hopefully the new image gets loaded too.

Election rule


Transcription for accessibility:
FOR THE LOVE OF SHINKI-
I WANT TO GO 5 MINUTES
ONE FUCKING WEBSITE
WITHOUT BEING REMINDED OF THIS FUCKING ELECTION is that seriously too much to ask oh my god I just came here for dragon porn.