Posts by stjohn@jank.town
(DIR) Post #3073339 by stjohn@jank.town
2019-01-17T15:20:44.218961Z
0 likes, 2 repeats
God JavaScript is a plague. I know I've complained about how slow it is on low-end machines, but now I'm noticing sites take 10 seconds to load even on a quad-core 3.5 GHz desktop. What is the actual benefit of that? For users, I mean, not for site operators who are presumably getting away with offloading more of the processing onto their customers' computers.
(DIR) Post #3347344 by stjohn@jank.town
2019-01-25T04:12:25.289365Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@alcinnz @freakazoid @kurtm Oooh, yes indeed! I can't believe I didn't realize that's what you did. I don't know if we've ever said hi properly, but hello! I'm St John, writer and tinkerer. I'd love to hear more about what you're working on. What's your independent browser? And what sort of challenges are you trying to solve? It seems like the modern Web is so complicated (DRM, U2F, media plugns, getting JS to run decently fast) that I thought it was almost impossible to create an independent browser these days. I'm really glad to hear there are people out there trying to tackle that problem.
(DIR) Post #3365193 by stjohn@jank.town
2019-01-25T16:07:18.554191Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
I had a brainwave! I want a computer bookcase -- like a bookcase meets a server rack, designed for your home so it has to look nice. You put all your router and your desktop and your home servers on this rack and it has built-in power strips and USB hubs so you minimize the amount of cables. Want to plug in a USB drive? Just plug it into the bookcase! Need an extra power outlet? Don't go fumbling for a power strip, there's an outlet on your bookcase!And there'll be hookers, and cocktail shakers, and an Egyptian-style casino! No wait, that's too much, but the USB hubs are non-negotiable.
(DIR) Post #3486632 by stjohn@jank.town
2019-01-28T22:41:26.476458Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@lain @lambadalambda @lain Ah yeah, I tried that when I was searching for Pleroma slow DB queries (I think someone mentioned it in a ticket on GitLab), but I'm afraid it didn't do anything. I'm not intimately familiar with PostgreSQL or the Pleroma code, so I'm obliged to accept the advice of my search engine! The problem seems to have gone away on its own after I ran the latest upgrade migrations this morning. I remain mystified, but relieved all the same :P
(DIR) Post #3507345 by stjohn@jank.town
2019-01-29T10:30:17.535954Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@ajroach42 @kelbot Chat app woes are relentless! I still can't find anything that works right -- it seems impossible in 2019, but here we are.Let me know how you get on with delta.chat. It's a really interesting idea, but am I missing something or is it just an email client?
(DIR) Post #3509621 by stjohn@jank.town
2019-01-29T14:09:50.714410Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@Wolf480pl @jonw Systemd is a tricky case because who actually knows enough about init systems to make an informed decision? I sure as hell don't (and this is from someone who occasionally compiles his own kernels). You can't know everything, so at some point you have to take advice -- it's just hard to know whose to take when everyone is so polarized.Personally as long as systemd was invisible to me, I didn't give a damn. Init systems, who cares, right? One reason I decided to switch to a distro without systemd was because it took two extra minutes just to shut down the computer while (what I assume was) systemd was stuck waiting for some random process to end.
(DIR) Post #3510221 by stjohn@jank.town
2019-01-29T14:38:13.035232Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@Wolf480pl @jonw That's very true. I'm a fan of the Unix philosophy of keeping things simple and modular, and it makes systemd harder and harder to replace when it winds up doing everything. There's not much user choice unless you feel like hopping whole distros.
(DIR) Post #3511637 by stjohn@jank.town
2019-01-29T15:00:46.407590Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@ajroach42 @kelbot Whoops:> A JavaScript error occurred in the main process> Uncaught Exception:> Error: libsasl2.so.2: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directoryI guess not today, then :(
(DIR) Post #9fVMxyM1Kw5dc2EPxY by stjohn@jank.town
2019-02-04T20:40:46.582287Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
I keep looking for a new laptop, but I just can't part with my excruciatingly slow and short-battery-lifed Sony Vaio P. It may be shite in so many ways, but it's small and light like you wouldn't believe, and it has a full keyboard. It's fast enough to remote into my work machines. So… why do I need to spend a bunch of money on something new?I would kill for something faster or with better battery in the same form factor, but I will never lug around a full size laptop. Even 11" laptops just don't seem worth the money to me.
(DIR) Post #9fVP7e5DBLgW1o5Ue0 by stjohn@jank.town
2019-02-04T22:43:45.903461Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@izaya I feel like I only want a new laptop because I've been conditioned to buy new shit all the time, but if I ask myself whether I need one the answer is always no. I don't want to be That Guy who's always dropping $600 on a new iPhone because it's sooooo much different from the last model, right?
(DIR) Post #9fVQcZGPFaj00odHQ8 by stjohn@jank.town
2019-02-04T22:54:15.137099Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@izaya To be honest I don't even know if I need good battery life. Most of the places where I'd use it have power outlets now (meetings, airplanes, etc.) I'd love to get to brag about having a 13-hour battery, but do I really need one? I think if someone manufactured my perfect laptop I'd snap it up, but otherwise it's just too much money for something that's a compromise.What did you wind up getting to replace your S10e? How do you find it?
(DIR) Post #9g8LtvVcN6vMZCD8We by stjohn@jank.town
2019-02-23T12:57:01.184491Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
I've been wondering if I actually need/want streaming video services any more. Back in the day I used to torrent and buy DVDs. When I got more money I started paying for Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime because it felt good to support the people/services who were making cool stuff. I've since pruned Hulu and Netflix because I refuse to pay three companies for the exact same thing, and I realized I was spending hours combing their catalogues trying to find *one* good thing to watch.I'm reaching the same point with Amazon Prime. There's nothing good on, and when I do find something I pay $3 to rent it (on top of the yearly fee I'm already paying), and I *still* have to watch ads. And then on top of all that it won't run on Firefox 60 (the ESR release that's standard in a lot of Linux distros), and they won't play back if I'm using my privacy VPN. Now I'm apparently paying Amazon to dictate how I use my own computer.So I'm planning on cancelling my Prime subscription and going streaming-less. Or at least paid streaming-less. What are other people's experiences? Do you find out-of-copyright stuff on Archive.org or rent DVDs from the library? TBH it's probably a good thing not to have 1,000 episodes of old sitcoms a click away because I've heard from more than one person that they'll put an episode on at breakfast and when they're brushing their teeth just to have the background noise. When did we get that weird about it?
(DIR) Post #9hAZsd6Sqdcuo76gDo by stjohn@jank.town
2019-03-26T17:14:02.307946Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@lanodan Oh my god it's real.
(DIR) Post #9iGvf7OQ036qzcZHKy by stjohn@jank.town
2019-04-28T15:33:42.950101Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@DistroJunkie @poetgrant Yes! I've tried it as a hobby or to try and get a slightly faster or more optimized system. Neither of those ever went anywhere — the kernel that comes pre-compiled with your distro is already optimized more than I can accomplish with my level of experience. I've also done it because I had to patch the kernel source with various machine-specific drivers for my Cobalt Qube, and that was a whole bunch of fun but it worked. I still run a custom kernel on that machine.
(DIR) Post #9iGvf8l8v2shEOCwOe by stjohn@jank.town
2019-04-28T15:40:24.827979Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@DistroJunkie @poetgrant Most things are already compiled as modules, so you probably won't make it faster by excluding drivers you don't need (it will compile faster, but won't run faster). I thought I could get some extra performance by choosing a specific CPU architecture in the configuration and compiling it with the right flags, but for some reason that still feels slower than the pre-compiled kernel. If you figure out some magic compiler flags that make it run faster, please let me know! Maybe disable the Spectre mitigations :P
(DIR) Post #9iGvf9bxkf8FsCv7j6 by stjohn@jank.town
2019-04-28T16:09:10.254694Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@DistroJunkie @poetgrant Oh you cracked a BIOS password? Nicely done! How did you manage that?I'd be curious to find out how probable a Spectre exploit actually is. Like if I disable the Spectre mitigations, am I really going to get pwned?
(DIR) Post #9iNJjExxLeurUHRsIK by stjohn@jank.town
2019-05-01T18:07:26.325749Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@kemonine Thanks for the tip — I didn't know I could do this.
(DIR) Post #9iNlLHCFM31wGmUj56 by stjohn@jank.town
2019-05-01T23:51:14.972876Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@viciousviscosity If you can find something that shortens colds, I'd be forever grateful. I've had more of them in the last six months than in the last six years -- blech. But there's a surefire way to cure hiccups -- I drink a glass of water slowly for about 30 seconds. For some reason concentrating on slowly drinking and swallowing distracts your brain from the hiccups and SHAZAM, all is well again.
(DIR) Post #9iOz3u7xStWAJc3j7o by stjohn@jank.town
2019-05-02T13:54:39.511229Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Does anyone have any good chat client recommendations? A friend and I have a weekly video call, and Matrix/Riot just wouldn't let us talk last night. I don't know why it's so consistently hard to do video chat, but I'm having trouble finding *anything*. There's a ton of chat app advocates on the Fediverse, so I'm throwing this open to your infinite wisdom!Requirements:- Must support video chat.- Must have mobile and desktop clients.- Must not require a smart phone to register.- No Google or Facebook.Those requirements already knock most contenders out of the running, like Signal and Kik. I'd love to use XMPP, but desperately few clients implement video (and none on mobile, AFAIK). I guess Skype is still an option? I'm going to give Tox a try too.#chat #im #XMPP #Matrix #Skype #Tox
(DIR) Post #9jhzYUZDRH6TLqdEfo by stjohn@jank.town
2019-06-10T15:58:43.897908Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@poetgrant @mike It flies around the room at night granting wishes.