• 34 Posts
  • 72 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: September 13th, 2023

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  • Huh, that shouldn’t happen. Whilst Samsung gatekeep certain features for its models only (like ECG for instance though one can bypass it by sideloading the SHM Monitor app from XDA), basic features do work fine with most models. I have a non Samsung device as well.

    The watch getting too hot is a problem. I have seen it slowing down it’s charging speed (if not outright refusing to charge) in summers here.





  • While Void isn’t exactly under rated ( it is very highly rated on distro watch for one ), for someone looking for a systemd free distro or a light weight one in general, it is a decent choice. The repos aren’t as broad based as Arch but they do have newer versions of the software that they host.

    I could be wrong, but aren’t Linux Mint and Pop OS ultimately based on Debian? (Mint is based on Ubuntu which in return has a Debian base). Debian was my main entry way to the Linux world and there is a reason why so many distros are built on it. Very old as well (not as old as Slack ware but Slack ware isn’t exactly noob friendly).


  • I gave Brave a try back in the early days. The Brave wallet was useless and something I didn’t wanted. There wasn’t much to differentiate it from Chrome back then on desktop. On mobile, it has built in Adblock but that’s it. Vivaldi, IMO, bundles in more features for a Chromium based browser.

    Either case, I have been on Firefox for multiple years now despite it’s own issues. uBlock Origin is properly supported on it (both desktop and mobile). I think FF(nightly version or Iceraven, a FF fork) is the only browser that allows sideloading of extensions on mobile. Chromium based browsers are way behind in this regard.





  • I hate the official YouTube app. I have YouTube Premium but that’s because I use YT Music mostly (have been using on and off since GPM days). But shorts shoved in your face, subscription page jumbled with updates, comments and videos (I only want videos) ; no way to choose a system wide video quality (app only has High or Data Saver option; one needs to manually toggle for each video ; contrary, NewPipe has this basic feature).

    There is also the donate button on multiple YouTube videos (Atleast give me the option to remove/customize that button/other buttons on that ribbon). Why are paying users subject to worse UI?

    Oh, and these people throttle stuff on Firefox and have probably been doing since times immemorial.

    I have been wondering if I should let YT Premium lapse and not renew it. I tried Spotify Premium once and whilst it’s 3rd party support is phenomenal, it has its own bugs (and they are similarly slow despite their forums being full with bug reports as well). Almost like I should hoard my own music from ahem, sources.






  • Indian newspapers have launched partially automated YouTube channels, some with AI avatar presenters. Nearly a fifth of Indian readers said they use chatbots like ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini (including AI Overviews) weekly to access news. In the U.K., that number was only 3%.

    I knew YouTube channels were popular as a news source in my country (with their over the top hysterical style) but didn’t knew that Gemini/GPT was also getting big here.

    I still read a digital version of a proper newspaper. I find it slightly more informative and factual. In the good old days, I used to get a physical newspaper because nothing beats the touch of paper.






  • I mean I guess there are more noob friendly distros than Debian [ there was a time when all I saw was Ubuntu around me and it’s ubiquitous Unity DE was instantly recognizable to my eye] but chances are many of them are ultimately based on Debian itself. Mint’s main ISO is based on Ubuntu [and indirectly Debian] whilst they also release a LMDE [Linux Mint Debian Edition] as a fallback variant directly based on Debian. I guess Zorin OS or elementary OS are also decent but they also seem more like heavy reskins to me than anything else.[Zorin has a Windows like feel to it].


  • Void is rolling release IIRC. The package manager is quite fast and gets the job done. The pain point is that Void has a lower selection of package in its repos compared to say, Arch. Some good stuff is there (for example I was looking for a third party Spotify client ncspot? Back in the day and it was packaged in Void’s repos) but if someone uses niche stuff a lot, there can be issues.

    Of course there is Flatpak support. And the system itself is comparatively lean and fast. I don’t think my installation of Void came with plenty of pre-installed apps.

    It ships in two builds : glibc or musl. The latter one is less favored because it only makes life tougher honestly. Runit support is a strong point of it though personally I don’t have any anti systemd qualms.

    The documentation is basic and okayish. I still often go to Arch Wiki since that’s honestly the most detailed. Also, I just found that it’s the highest rated distro on Distro Watch. I have distro hopped a long time and Void is decent. I still hold Debian in higher regard since it’s slightly easier for a novice to get used to (though it’s repos can be hold often old versions of software) and also because it was my main entry point to the Linux world.