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vaporary

60 karma · joined December 13, 2017

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vaporary··on Why does Debian change software?
I was extremely disappointed to recently learn that visidata(1) phones home, and that this functionality has not been disabled in the Debian package, despite many people requesting its removal:

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1001647

https://github.com/saulpw/visidata/discussions/940

vaporary··on “A calculator app? Anyone could make that”
Can you tell me which emulator you're using? I loved using the open source Wabbitemu on previous Android phones, but it seems to have been removed from the app store, so I can't install it on newer devices :-/
vaporary··on Tomato64: A port of Tomato Firmware to x86_64
I've been enjoying FreshTomato on my home router for a number of years now.

Sometimes, though, there are network environments I'd like to implement which are difficult to configure through the webUI, but which would be relatively trivial from a Linux CLI. For example, I'd like to create an ESSID which is bridged to a tagged VLAN, but on which the router has no layer3 presence. Or, maybe I'd like to setup a wireguard link, but only send selective traffic down it using firewall marks and policy routing.

What I'd really like is a way to use the webUI to setup my initial base configuration, and then flip a switch to turn off the webUI, and implement further changes myself by editing configuration files on the device and calling out to shell scripts when needed to run "ip" and "brctl" commands.

Does anyone know if such a thing is possible with FreshTomato, OpenWRT, or something similar? Am I just thinking about this wrong?

vaporary··on Learn in Public (2018)
Thanks!

I'm a senior developer. Every now and then I'll debug something challenging and think about doing a nice write up about it -- but I don't have any existing online presence. I could throw a simple blog up on a website, but after posting an article there, I'm honestly not sure what to do next. Presumably at some point search engines will scrape it, but it likely won't have any meaningful search rank. I don't use social media. I could submit links to HN after I write each post, but that feels spammy and pretentious.

Any thoughts on what to do with a blog post after writing it?

vaporary··on K8s Service Meshes: The Bill Comes Due
"Getting a SCSI chain working is perfectly simple if you remember that there must be exactly three terminations: one on one end of the cable, one on the far end, and the goat, terminated over the SCSI chain with a silver-handled knife whilst burning *black* candles."

-- Anthony DeBoer

"SCSI is *not* magic. There are *fundamental* *technical* *reasons* why you have to sacrifice a young goat to your SCSI chain every now and then."

-- John F. Woods

vaporary··on Gmail, Yahoo announce new 2024 authentication requirements for bulk senders
Agreed, it's curious! I wonder if they would still fuzz it if you changed the URL scheme to include the identifier as part of the URL path, rather than as a parameter? e.g., hxxp://example.com/unsubscribe/abcd1234

Please report back if you try it :-)

vaporary··on Sinead O’Connor has died
Perhaps it was only a thing at the Garden State Arts Center (now the PNC Bank Arts Center)? Here's a Washington Post story at the time: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1990/08/28/...

The Garden State Arts Center, which always starts its shows by playing the anthem, gave in to the singer's demand, fearing that a last-minute cancellation would enrage the audience of 9,000, but prohibited any future appearances by the hit singer.

vaporary··on Discovering that a Bluetooth car battery monitor is siphoning location data
One option is to use a voltmeter that plugs into the cigarette lighter outlet. There are a bunch of cheap options on Amazon.
vaporary··on Effective June 7, 2026, Autodesk will no longer sell nor support EAGLE
Love everyone.

<3

vaporary··on Rate The Landlord: Anonymously share information with tenants like you
What about legal/defamation issues?

In the U.S., Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects the operator of the website.

vaporary··on We need better support for SSH host certificates
SSH host certificates as somewhat of an abomination

Many would say x509 is the real abomination.

vaporary··on Launch HN: Neptyne (YC W23) – A programmable spreadsheet that runs Python
I didn't even get three minutes; as soon as the page opened, I couldn't do anything without signing into Google or creating an account. Closed the tab.
vaporary··on MythTV 33 Released – open-source all-in-one DVR
A common solution is to use an IR Blaster: https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Using_an_IR_Blaster_with_MythTV

I did something a little different. My cable box has a 3.5mm TRS jack to connect an external IR receiver to it. I connected the jack to an Arduino, and send serial commands to the Arduino from the MythTV box to change channels.

vaporary··on MythTV 33 Released – open-source all-in-one DVR
That's interesting. I setup a new MythTV box two years ago on a Mac mini running Ubuntu, using a Hauppauge HD PVR 1212 capture device connected over USB. I've been able to record HD cable without dealing with any DRM by using the RCA jacks of my Comcast box, which has worked great.
vaporary··on macOS Setup after 15 Years of Linux
I also recently moved back to running Linux (on a Thinkpad) after using macOS for a few years. One of the things I miss terribly from macOS is pinch-zoom in Chrome. Has anyone found a way to easily enable it? Thanks!
vaporary··on We will be retiring Alexa.com
According to the README in the parent directory, those were downloaded from archive.org. That's brilliant -- it didn't occur to me to check the Wayback Machine for a zip file, but it's totally there: https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://s3.amazonaws.com/alexa-...
vaporary··on We will be retiring Alexa.com
Does anyone know offhand if past versions of the top 1M are easily accessible?

Thanks!

vaporary··on Bumble claims IP rights on employee's open-source libs
I totally agree, but in the age of DocuSign, how do you modify a document, sign it, and send it back? I often feel like I'm stuck waiting for the other party to modify the document first so I can sign.
vaporary··on Ten Commandments of Salary Negotiation
> Unfortunately, most candidates these days have been taught (by guides like this and other internet wisdom) that salary negotiation must be played like an ultra-competitive game where the first move is to always force the company to name their price first

I have to say, it hardly seems to me like an applicant asking a potential employer to name a figure first is an ultra-competitive hard-core tactic.

May I ask if you're located in California? If so, how do you deal with AB 168, which requires companies to disclose salary ranges upon request?

vaporary··on DIY MacBook Stand
Nice, thank you for sharing!

I'm curious, which 3D printer did you use?