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Koliakis

151 karma · joined October 27, 2020

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Koliakis··on “They introduce kernel bugs on purpose”
Then just go through the linked mailing list in the OP. It's in the quoted parts. Honestly, the people around here.
Koliakis··on Apple AirDrop shares more than files
I felt the title was too ambiguous. The only reason why I assumed it was about security is because I looked at the source URL.
Koliakis··on “They introduce kernel bugs on purpose”
https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/78ac6ee8-8e7c-bd4c-a3a7-5a90c7c...
Koliakis··on First GMO Mosquitoes to Be Released in the Florida Keys
Look, we simply can't accept any competition.
Koliakis··on The value of downvoting, or, how Hacker News gets it wrong (2009)
It's a pattern of behavior that affects a lot of online communities from what I've seen, not just HN, but it's particularly concerning when I see that kind of stance here.

There are a number of writers who I disagree with on an ideological level but whose writings and podcasts I'll read/listen to because of the insight these people can provide - even if often I don't agree with their conclusions. I think it's important to be able to consume opinions that don't match your own and be able to hold them in your head without throwing a fit.

Koliakis··on In Defense of Signal
Examples:

https://gitlab.com/libremonde-org/papers/research/privacy-ma...

https://gitlab.com/libremonde-org/papers/research/privacy-ma...

https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/8473

Synapse does a lot of logging, apparently. I'm not sure I'd touch Matrix with a ten foot pole.

Koliakis··on Playpulse ONE – The gaming bike that unlocks your fitness motivation
It feels like this would be the perfect application for something like Geforce Now or even just the Steam streaming service. Provide an interface for users to customize the controls and provide an API for advanced users. You could probably coast on people being creative with the games they want to play by pedaling an indoor bicycle and become a cult hit by being accessible and ... cheap? (I have no idea how much these things usually cost)
Koliakis··on In Defense of Signal
> Considering if Matrix wouldn't be a better choice as my next default messenger

From what I've seen, Matrix is far worse metadata-wise than Signal. If Signal is bad, Matrix is worse.

Koliakis··on Arch Linux's Install Media Adds “Archinstall” for Quick/Easy Installations
That would be the case if they hadn't thrown out the beginner's installation guide. What they have now is completely generic and largely useless for anybody who needs some amount of guidance or explanation. The current guide is basically throwing somebody into the deep-end and saying "here's this wiki page on how to swim, have fun". I pretty much gave up on Arch entirely after that fiasco.
Koliakis··on Lawsuit against TSA and DEA over airport seizures achieves first victory
> Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screeners will detain them and turn them over to law enforcement, who will take their money without any cause for suspicion and without filing any criminal charges

This is insanity.

Koliakis··on Do you really want Linux phones
Let me know how that goes.
Koliakis··on Do you really want Linux phones
I don't think it being Linux is too important for people. If somebody made a working FreeBSD for a phone and there was official support for that device, then people wouldn't be all "Well, it's not Linux". I don't think I've seen any interest from BSD maintainers to bring any form of it to phones though.

As it is now, the PinePhone is officially supported by Manjaro and that makes it the most obvious option. Also, all attempts thus far to bring open source to mobile has been some form of Linux, so it's natural that when people think "open source phone", it's probably going to be using Linux. PinePhone itself already has 18-ish different distros, including ports of Debian and Ubuntu, so it's certainly well on its way.

Koliakis··on Do you really want Linux phones
Is somebody working on one?
Koliakis··on Do you really want Linux phones
I don't understand this comment. Am I not allowed to use Linux if I haven't ever committed code to an open source project? I've been using Linux for 15 years. Are you taking away my Linux card and am I being banned from the platform?

Because your argument makes no sense at all as to why I might want a Linux phone. I want a Linux phone for the same reasons why I use a Linux laptop and PC. Freedom, control over my computing environment and my data, that sort of thing.

Taking a step back, there is no mobile OS out there that provides the things that I want. The closest that I've seen is Linux for the PinePhone. So, yeah, I want a Linux phone. It's not that my initial premise was "I want a Linux phone". It's "I want control and I want to have the freedom to do what I want with my device, so what system currently offers that kind of freedom while being feasible on technical and usability levels?"

Koliakis··on Do you really want Linux phones
Yes, my next phone will be a Linux phone. I'm just done with Android and iOS. They're terrible operating systems run by massive companies with entirely way too much control, money and power.
Koliakis··on Chip-starved automakers shudder at Renesas plant's 1-month halt
Is the bicycle at least AI-powered? Otherwise I don't see the point
Koliakis··on Flatpak – a security nightmare – 2 years later (2020)
Harder boundaries? From what I understand, a hypervisor is much harder to break out of than a FreeBSD jail and provides more isolation between the VMs.
Koliakis··on Flatpak – a security nightmare – 2 years later (2020)
I've been experimenting with Qubes and it's the only OS I'm aware of that adequately addresses this issue. It's not usable for non-technical users though without a lot of learning/training and it can be a bit tedious to use sometimes.

I have all my personal data in its own isolated VM (Qube). I do all my browsing in another VM, which has its own home folder and no access to my personal VM. All my sensitive stuff like banking is done in its own VM. Every proprietary application gets its own VM (mainly Teamviewer and VS Code).

So if I do happen to run some program that's malicious, it has effectively zero access to anything sensitive unless it's aware of Qubes and knows how to break out of the hypervisor (non-trivial).

Koliakis··on System Shock
I still can't play SS1/SS2. It's nuts what's possible even with limited graphics.
Koliakis··on A new moralism is gripping the literary world
> As long as you are able to do that, is it truly censoring? No ones burning books here. To say the publishing industry is especially censoring today than before is outrageous. The point is that it self censored in the ethnicity and gender of its authors instead of the material.

I've been trying to get the older Seuss books. They're impossible to get. And if one of them does happen to be available, the prices are astronomical. I do think there's some level of censorship happening here and I get inklings of book burning when I consider how difficult it is to get these books.

Koliakis··on French watchdog rejects request to suspend Apple's App Tracking Transparency
> I think for the sake of conversation we would have to draw a dividing line between the operating system Apple makes and the apps Apple makes, even when that line can be very, very blurry. (Pre-installed apps, the App Store itself, etc.)

There is no meaningful difference when Apple uses "We already have an app for this" as a justification to remove third-party apps from their platform.

Koliakis··on Let’s redesign the laptop for a work-from-home era
Funny, I work from home and I'm on my laptop 99% of the time instead of my more powerful desktop. The flexibility of being able to choose where at home I can work is unbeatable and has made the pandemic slightly more bearable.
Koliakis··on Let’s redesign the laptop for a work-from-home era
I loved my old Thinkpad. Thick, but it could run at full load without throttling for as long as I needed it to. But nowadays, even their T series keeps getting thinner and they've been soldering the RAM.
Koliakis··on EU seeks to supercharge computer chip production
Taiwan was quite successful with the policies they implemented to home-grow a semiconductor industry:

https://www.nap.edu/read/10677/chapter/9

The entire chapter is interesting, but it also mentions how TSMC came to be:

> The government came to realize that it did not yet have an industry—only one company. The private sector was still fearful of risk and could not raise enough money to start new firms. Once again the government put up money, this time to start TSMC. And this time it applied a condition: The government’s share would be less than 50 percent. Lacking enough funds from the private sector, the government made an offer to Philips, which put in almost 35 percent of the initial investment; this pushed the private sector’s share above 50 percent, and TSMC was born. Again, the technology and all the people came from ERSO, including about 130 engineers, the 2-micron CMOS developed at ERSO, and its latest 6-inch-wafer fab. TSMC had no product, only the fab technology, which matched well with the idea of a pure-play foundry.

I don't get why Europe is so bad at this kind of thing.

Koliakis··on EU seeks to supercharge computer chip production
> But he acknowledged at the report's launch that it was still unclear whether this would involve offering tax cuts to woo TSMC, Samsung or another major player to establish a new site within Europe.

Sounds like it'll be another half-assed EU project that won't amount to anything meaningful. They should be looking at home-growing talent (research labs, universities, programs) and rebuilding the European industry (joint partnerships, funding, subisidies, etc.), instead of relying on overseas companies for such a crucial and strategic issue.

Koliakis··on Anticipatory Procastrination [pdf]
It took me way too long to realize what I was looking at. Downloaded it twice wondering why there was only a single page.
Koliakis··on Ask HN: Are you depressed?
No social contacts with friends or strangers who could become friends (or even a partner). So loneliness and lack of intimacy. The latter is a killer.
Koliakis··on Biden wins White House, vowing new direction for divided U.S.
The UN only "works" because everybody understands that either you do what the US wants or you have a problem. Now? As terrible as the US is, I don't see how a country like China having the space to expand its influence is a good thing, considering the CCP's values compared to the West's values.
Koliakis··on Why do printers still suck?
I've been looking into this and couldn't find any studies or reports that showed any notable negative effect of particulate emissions by laser printers.
Koliakis··on Why do printers still suck?
I started up my laser printer after letting it gather dust for a good 4-5 years. It still works as good as new (and it was already 6 years old by then). This thing is unkillable and the toner lasts what feels like forever (while also being absurdly cheap).
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