overview for MouldyCat

This Week in Plasma: Finishing Touches on 6.8 in c/linux@lemmy.ml

[–] MouldyCat@feddit.uk 4 points 9 hours ago

That blog post is *really* light on details. Maybe they assume readers will already know what to expect?

This page appears to be the official list of everything that's coming with 6.8 next week: https://community.kde.org/Plasma/Plasma_6

Things that stood out to me include removal of X11 as a default option at login, triple buffering enabled for Nvidia, Remote Desktop improvements including 2-way clipboard, improvements to screen recording including recording audio and better screen casting performance.

And finally "Shadows and rounded corners for Steam". Steam has always been visually quirky to say the least, so I'm intrigued to find out if this will be an improvement or not.

Why does Linux have such a terrible sleep? in c/linux@programming.dev

[–] MouldyCat@feddit.uk 7 points 5 days ago

full shutdown and subsequent boot up on my current Bazzite setup takes less time than hibernate

maybe, but a full shutdown and reboot does not restore all your apps, open documents, terminals etc exactly as they were.

Why does Linux have such a terrible sleep? in c/linux@programming.dev

[–] MouldyCat@feddit.uk 10 points 5 days ago (1 children)

suspend to RAM (aka sleep) means the computer stays powered on in a very low-power state. Everything in memory is kept as-is, and it consequently draws a little power to keep the RAM active. This makes it very quick to enter this state and to wake up from it.

suspend to disk (aka hibernate) dumps the RAM to disk, and then powers down fully. It takes a little while to dump all RAM to disk and also to restore it.

So "the better one" depends on what works best for your particular circumstances. If you don't know and want a big corporate entity to make those decisions for you, stick with Microsoft and Apple products. If you would rather take the time to find out what's best for you, then go FOSS.

DeSantis Administration Votes to Designate Major Muslim American Group as “Terrorist” Organization in c/news@lemmy.world

[–] MouldyCat@feddit.uk 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I'd say they're all supremacist, to a greater or lesser degree. How can they not be, when the whole point of following any religion is to win favour with the holy spooky in the sky?

Several vulnerabilities discovered in the Linux kernel in c/linux@lemmy.ml

[–] MouldyCat@feddit.uk 16 points 1 week ago

This is actually a list of resolved CVEs. The sender has an email address at debian.org so they're clearly not just some random script kiddie with an LLM subscription.

Several vulnerabilities discovered in the Linux kernel in c/linux@lemmy.ml

[–] MouldyCat@feddit.uk 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I was curious too, so I did a quick search & replace to view them on the NIST CVE database. There are so many that I can only post about a quarter before exceeding lemmy's comment limit. I put the full list here: https://paste.page/debianalertdsa-6528-1-clickable

Iran court upholds flogging sentence for singer who performed without hijab in c/news@lemmy.world

[–] MouldyCat@feddit.uk 5 points 1 week ago

Can you define conservative? What are they trying to conserve? The old ways, traditions, right? What even is religion if not tradition? They are the same.

It makes no sense to try to absolve religion of any responsibility for this kind of shitty behaviour, just because there are some young people who are still in its thrall.

Part 3: They said a phone can’t run without a battery. Unfortunately, Pettyl didn’t get the memo. in c/selfhosted@lemmy.world

[–] MouldyCat@feddit.uk 4 points 2 weeks ago

AFAIK it depends on the device. I believe it's simpler to have a battery management system which keeps the battery charged when power is attached, and then a second separate system which powers the phone from the battery. That does lead to more wear on the battery though, so the better solution is to have a power management system which monitors the battery and keeps it within a set charge range, and additionally can supply the voltage needed to run the phone. Only when power is not connected does the battery power the phone.

From a quick google though, it seems that's only part of the picture. High-end modern phones will often require a battery present, as they use it to smooth out the power coming from the adapter, even though most of the power for the phone when the charger is attached comes from a direct power path.

Looking for a durable and repairable Linux laptop for business use in c/linux@lemmy.ml

[–] MouldyCat@feddit.uk 2 points 3 weeks ago

Got you, makes sense! If you took worse care of your devices, then it wouldn't be such an issue if a capacitor fails after just a few years. A company such as Apple is not going to be using bargain-bin components from random no-name manufacturers, and that should be reflected in better longevity even with heavy use.

Good luck in your search, and I hope you find the perfect beast for you!

Looking for a durable and repairable Linux laptop for business use in c/linux@lemmy.ml

[–] MouldyCat@feddit.uk 7 points 3 weeks ago (9 children)

What do you mean durable? As long as you are careful, and don't use it as a frisbee, any laptop can last for 10 years. If you travel about with it, get a proper laptop shoulder bag that fits it well and has a soft padded interior. Then keep the laptop in that when you travel, and don't squash it into a bag or suitcase.

Beyond that, simply look for the laptop that you like best. The Thinkpad is a meme laptop IMO. I had one for work, and yes it worked fine with Linux, but so did both the laptops I bought for myself, neither of which were Thinkpads. If you like the look of the Thinkpad, then go for it. Personally I don't really dig that clunky 90s aesthetic, I prefer laptops with a sleek minimalist aluminium look.

My advice is to make a checklist of everything you need and/or want in your laptop. How long do you want it to run on battery? What size screen do you want? What connectivity does it need - USB-C ports, a couple of USB-A as well? Do you want it to use a USB-C charger (this is very convenient when travelling)? What kind of touchpad, keyboard layout, how much RAM, what speed WiFi etc etc

Then simply start looking, and build a shortlist of laptops that appeal. Create a spreadsheet, with a column for each of the features you identified as being important in the last step.

Regarding Linux support, the best thing you can do is check reviews. Even if you buy elsewhere, Amazon reviews are great for this - you can search reviews for keywords, so when you see a laptop you like the look of, search for reviews that mention Linux, and check that everyone's happy and not complaining about unsupported devices. This is not the lucky dip that it used to be, but there are still problematic components like network adapters that may not work out of the box.

I have only had two laptops, the first of which I bought in 2018. It was an Asus, very midrange at £600. I prepared a live USB, booted on to it and checked everything worked OK, which it did, and then without further ado I installed Linux. The sensible thing to do would be to have left the "Windows rescue partition" intact for a couple of weeks until I was sure I was happy with the machine, but I just wanted all trace of Microshit purged from my shiny new machine, so I deleted it and set the entire disk as my single Linux partition (plus of course a small boot partition), and I never looked back.

The computer worked great, did everything I needed from it and was still going strong last year when I finally got a replacement. The laptop I have now is a Lenovo IdeaPad 5. It was also £600, and its performance is way better than expected, being way faster and more pleasant to use than my old Asus. it has an integrated Intel Arc graphics card, which is surprisingly capable. While my old laptop could only run vintage games, such as KOTOR, this new one is able to run current games on medium-low settings. I've currently got addicted to ARC Raiders, and it runs perfectly acceptably. Nothing like as smooth and pretty as it runs on my desktop PC at home, but perfectly good enough for me.

Your Computer Might Demand Your Age Soon, No Matter Where You Live in c/privacy@lemmy.ml

[–] MouldyCat@feddit.uk 15 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

take my children out of school if they are forced to do face scans or give any ID

don't know where you live, but here in the ol' U of K, schools have been doing that sort of thing for over 20 years! I was appalled when I first heard about it, and I think it was from a friend whose kids had to give fingerprints. "Oh yes I know - big brother, but it's so convenient" was their attitude.

Half-Life: Alyx ported to ARM64 for Steam Frame - update out now in c/pcgaming@lemmy.ca

[–] MouldyCat@feddit.uk 15 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

the double negative tripped you up - wasn’t unexpected == was expected