Posts by jzb@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #Aw7sDZMHnMynHrLvQ8 by jzb@mastodon.social
2025-07-12T20:05:52Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
We should stop calling them “ad blockers”. If a site serves up a few banner ads as images like the old days, that’s fine. I don’t object to a site paying the bills, or seeing a banner ad. They’re malware blockers and privacy protections. I don’t want a site popping up bullshit and trying to track me across the net. If that’s what a site is serving, it’s more than an ad, and I absolutely want to block it.
(DIR) Post #AwOV18fphCNYJuaQhk by jzb@mastodon.social
2025-07-22T13:55:38Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
I say this every time I come back from a trip, but... it feels like absolute luxury to be at my desk with my widescreen monitor, ergonomic keyboard, and proper mouse after having to work off a laptop for more than a few hours.For me, using a laptop undocked is more of a "in case of emergency, break glass" type thing. How people get work done on a laptop is a mystery to me. (And then there's my daughter, who likes to compose long texts on her phone. *shudder*)
(DIR) Post #AwOYLYGUYcSLLP9u0u by jzb@mastodon.social
2025-07-22T14:58:48Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@shironeko Oh, I agree with that. I have one of the @frameworkcomputer cases for just the motherboard and use that as a mini-PC -- it's fantastic. I just wish they would make one that also accepts a battery. That would be my desktop of choice forever after.
(DIR) Post #AxINk6JVajJ9FceDWC by jzb@mastodon.social
2025-08-18T13:04:54Z
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@jorge @kyle Makes sense -- I was just hoping that *somewhere* the project actually had a document of some sort that articulated what they thought it meant, so you could measure it against that to see "is Debian successful?"(Like, I would say "usability" is needed for "universal" but I'm not sure that is a target.)
(DIR) Post #AxWLazhJLC8cQikYOO by jzb@mastodon.social
2025-08-24T21:30:13Z
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Curious if anyone with the #Framework 12” laptop has found a stylus that works with the machine on Linux? I tried a generic one with USI 2.0 support, but no response. Not sure if that’s a stylus issue, mismatch, missing driver… any recommendations? #Lazyweb #linux
(DIR) Post #Axd70f3Aajh4iTTUAq by jzb@mastodon.social
2025-08-28T13:04:43Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
I see there's now a petition asking Google not to block sideloading apps on Android. I'm not optimistic that's going to work, especially since Google is so close to its apparent end goal of preventing people from circumventing its Play store. (I wonder if the timing has something to do with the rumors I'm seeing that Amazon is going to go stock Android.)We need a mobile OS that is not controlled by a single entity. Not an Android fork, something 100% not controlled by big tech.
(DIR) Post #Axd70gjOLF3rviEici by jzb@mastodon.social
2025-08-28T13:09:29Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
I don't know if that's possible, it's certainly a hard problem to solve. But reliance on big tech to remain non-hostile to the needs of the FOSS community -- or even just the needs of people who want control of their devices -- is foolish. What that really means is that we need to solve the business problems ourselves, which is something that the FOSS community has generally avoided. By that I mean, we need to dig into our pockets and pay for goods and services. 2/?
(DIR) Post #Axd70i6TEv7IBa2fEe by jzb@mastodon.social
2025-08-28T13:12:41Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
We need financial entities that hire people to do the things volunteers don't want to do, to maintain software, to support hardware, to write documentation, etc. We need to source hardware and sell hardware, and people need to deal with the fact that it won't be as convenient or full-featured as what big tech can provide -- at least not right away. And it will be more expensive because it's not subsidized by preying on the users. Lobbying big tech to pretty please play nice doesn't work.
(DIR) Post #Axd70nHI07k2Ea8sIC by jzb@mastodon.social
2025-08-28T13:16:38Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
It is, of course, easy for me to say all this because saying it is the easy part. Doing it is another. But I've seen example after example after example of the problems with hoping that big companies will "do the right thing" or lobbying them to do the right thing, or just hoping that things will stay status quo.For example, Sun carried a lot of the a11y work for the Linux desktop, until it was devoured by Oracle. That was nice, but it was a failure waiting to happen.
(DIR) Post #Axd70s6q2PLvDcI6CG by jzb@mastodon.social
2025-08-28T13:20:04Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
A bunch of hardware is now losing maintainers because Intel is laying people off because of its financial woes. Fewer people are being paid to package software as priorities change with other vendors. Half of Red Hat's QA team moved to other things, and there's at least a temporary gap in Fedora testing due to it. Etc.The corollary to the random person in Nebraska is the person employed by $bigco that eventually retires, quits, or is laid off and another hole needs to be filled.
(DIR) Post #Axd70xa5h4isBn11zE by jzb@mastodon.social
2025-08-28T13:24:15Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
Go ahead and petition Google, I guess. It might, temporarily, work. Or read the writing on the wall--the uneasy relationship between Google/Android and people who want general computing capabilities on their phone is not sustainable. If people want computing devices and operating systems they control, and that they can trust, and that are sustainable, it will have to be done by a non-profit entity that only exists to serve users and is funded by users.
(DIR) Post #Axd7Ws8BUbHsYKBBk8 by jzb@mastodon.social
2025-08-28T13:34:44Z
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@kyle Yeah, I'm not optimistic about it any more than I am optimistic we'll solve our current governance crisis and such in the U.S. (or worldwide...). Not without a complete collapse. But it's the only way. It's one of those "we've tried everything else, perhaps we should try doing the right thing" sort of situations.You definitely know better than most the challenges that await.
(DIR) Post #AxdL4hxx5iBYHBrFvE by jzb@mastodon.social
2025-08-15T19:05:32Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
Received the #Framework 12" laptop yesterday, opened it right after lunch today. Got the DIY model and it took all of maybe 5 minutes to assemble. Another 10 minutes or so to install #Debian 13 ("trixie") from the #GNOME live CD.Quick impressions: keyboard is good, touchscreen works, GNOME auto-rotates when I flip the screen so that it's in tablet mode and if I flip it from landscape to portrait mode.Promising. Very promising. I daresay this is my new tablet computer & ebook reader.
(DIR) Post #AxfWqmxbJTEHTgk6fg by jzb@mastodon.social
2025-08-25T14:54:26Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
Sigh. Another person complaining about "Linux doesn't support laptops," which is completely, 1000%, backwards. This irks me to no end.If your laptop doesn't work well with Linux, point the finger at the laptop vendor -- not "Linux". I get that it's frustrating to want to use Linux and find that this or that piece of hardware doesn't work. You know why it works w/Windows and not Linux? *Because the _vendor_ hasn't gone to the trouble of supporting Linux.*
(DIR) Post #AxfWqsWAeMqwiLxHkW by jzb@mastodon.social
2025-08-25T14:57:12Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Here's an operating system that is provided for free, a result of the work of hundreds of companies and thousands of individuals -- and then, someone complains because it doesn't work 100% with some rando hardware that isn't certified to work with Linux and the OEM/vendor does not give two effs if it works with anything except Windows. Again - I sympathize, but point the finger in the right direction FFS.
(DIR) Post #AxvyRMsz1hO6cDbnFo by jzb@mastodon.social
2025-09-06T13:35:25Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
Current status #caturday #CatsOfMastodon
(DIR) Post #Axw8F9Vrv4TfCtbvRA by jzb@mastodon.social
2025-09-06T13:22:10Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
Sir Wobbles and Sam are not afraid to embrace cat stereotypes. Sir hopped into the Chewy box almost as soon as it touched the floor. Sam had to check it out after in case he was missing out. Bonus Willow picture. She really loves her cat bed. #caturday #CatsOfMastodon #Tortitude
(DIR) Post #Axwb23jL0PrcB71HRg by jzb@mastodon.social
2025-09-06T22:05:04Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@jae I love Tuxies. I had a tuxedo cat, Lilah, for about 13 years, she was an amazing little friend.
(DIR) Post #Ay2YRN4B7LekTQuBXM by jzb@mastodon.social
2025-09-09T20:03:07Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@bugaevc This is a casual reminder that most people get really, really, really tired of tedious and pedantic "reminders" like this when everybody knows what was meant in the first place. @alilly
(DIR) Post #Ay46yi6tUObgtbCjc8 by jzb@mastodon.social
2025-09-10T14:05:47Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@kyle That's cool. Hope she has a good experience -- any idea which distro she'll go with?