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cyphax

427 karma · joined April 15, 2013

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cyphax··on Ask HN: Best Noise Canceling Headphones
I have an Anker Soundcore over-ears set that works pretty well, maybe not as good as other sets that cost three times as much, but for the money I'm very happy (they also sound good). They were some 90 euros.
cyphax··on Red Hat Expecting X.org to “Go into Hard Maintenance Mode Fairly Quickly”
If you want the most BSD-like distro, it's probably gotta be Slackware. It changes little between releases (just newer versions of the software it ships with mostly).
cyphax··on Why aren't figs considered vegan?
I think maybe there are different "kinds" of vegans. As in: maybe not all vegans are vegan because of the same ideology.

One vegan explained his motivations like this: he's against slavery, using animals is like a form of slavery and he's against that. Even if you treat the animal like a king; it's still not free to do its own thing. I really liked his reasoning, it seemed consistent and coming from a good place.

That logic would allow him to eat figs because it's a natural process, as you're no actor in the process of the fig forming itself.

cyphax··on I miss Facebook
I don't miss facebook, either. I deactivated/closed my account some 6 years ago (if not longer ago) and never missed it, ever. It was a good decision. :)
cyphax··on Valve discontinues the Steam Link
My gaming PC is in the attic, but sometimes it can be nice to play something on the TV in the living room, or maybe even the one in the bedroom. Instead of having to move the PC in some manner, the Steam Link instead streams the game over my LAN. It's a gaming-focused thin client. The only limitation is that it's limited to 1080p.
cyphax··on Has Chrome fully taken over yet?
I have been using it for years, I've never had any reason to use Chrome on Android at all. :)
cyphax··on Happy 25th Anniversary Slackware Linux
Out of the box, you do have to install dependencies manually, but you don't have to track them, which is the part I would dislike about dependency resolution. Assuming you have a full installation (where all dependencies will be met), and you find your package on slackbuilds, dependencies will be listed and can be installed with about the same ease as you would install a package on, say, Debian.
cyphax··on Happy 25th Anniversary Slackware Linux
Concrete advantages, I'm not sure there are any, unless it'd be its relative simplicity. It's my preferred Linux-based OS, and has been for 18 years (I also ran Ubuntu for a few years for a desktop, but went back to Slack). I really like that it adheres to the principles behind it, and it's super nice that it doesn't change between releases, so it always feels right at home, if it's a brand spankin' new release. And the combination of many official packages plus SBo means it's about as useful as other distributions.
cyphax··on Happy 25th Anniversary Slackware Linux
Congratulations to Patrick and all the package maintainers and contributors! I've been a happy Slackware user for like 18 years or so, and eagerly awaiting Slackware 15!
cyphax··on [dead]
Checked on archive.org, it goes back to 2013 and it was already taken down back then, so I dare guess it's been down since the date you mentioned. https://web.archive.org/web/20130609133414/https://github.co...
cyphax··on Keylogger in Hewlett-Packard Audio Driver
The article suggests that as well, the way I read it:

"Actually, the purpose of the software is to recognize whether a special key has been pressed or released. Instead, however, the developer has introduced a number of diagnostic and debugging features to ensure that all keystrokes are either broadcasted through a debugging interface or written to a log file in a public directory on the hard-drive.

This type of debugging turns the audio driver effectively into a keylogging spyware."

Carelessness sounds like a fairly reasonable explanation, simply applying Hanlon's razor. :)

cyphax··on Nintendo Discontinues the NES Classic Edition
I know right?! Either that, or they know something I don't. They could probably make a lot more from selling these. It's like they don't need it and want to keep it limited in numbers, which doesn't rhyme with how many original NES' were sold and how OK they were with that. :)

Or maybe they want to start selling NES titles on the Switch and they don't want to compete with themselves or something?

cyphax··on Given Choice, Patients Will Choose Cannabis Over Prescribed Opioids
> I cannot describe to you how much more effective it was than the opioids. The pain wasn't gone, but it was just an interesting sensation now

I had that experience too when I dropped something heavy on my toe, which sounds a lot funnier than it felt when the pressure under my toe went up (which I should have relieved by puncturing the nail, which I was not capable of doing to myself at that point)! But weed didn't make the pain go away, it just made it tolerable somehow. And I managed to puncture the nail after all. I also saw someone with chronic pain get prescribed oxycontin, which isn't only very addictive, it also didn't work for her the way weed did. And with the latter being not-so-addictive, it would only make sense to me to use it more often for pain relief. It can be such a relief for so many people.

cyphax··on Releases for XFCE
It's super objective for me, and hard to explain, if not impossible. I do recognize KFE's qualities and I have no real criticism of it, frankly, it's this difference between qt and gtk that I can't properly explain. :)
cyphax··on Releases for XFCE
> Only XFCE has given me back the joy of using Linux on the desktop that I used to feel with Gnome 2.x

I feel exactly the same way! I never really got used to KDE's looks; I've always had a preference for the look Gnome 2.x had, and when that ended, Xfce filled the gap brilliantly. So much so, that MATE hasn't replaced it since (eventhough I have it installed also), especially since I started using Whisker Menu. I have many nice things to say about Xfce, so I hope it stays. :)

cyphax··on Why do you use Firefox?
I genuinely just like it better than Chrome or Edge. I think Chrome is an excellent browser, and for about a year I used Chrome instead of Firefox (due to Firefox really not working anymore, having to restart the thing several times a day -- I also tried Opera, but it didn't fare any better) but I never liked using it as much as I liked Firefox. So at some point I tried Firefox again, and it has stuck so far. It's probably still not the most stable browser, or the fastest per se, but I generally like Mozilla's design decisions a bit better than Google's, and, well, it's super subjective but between Google and Mozilla, I have a bit more sympathy towards the latter (without hating the former or anything). I also use Firefox on my Android phone. I like that it can synchronize my profile, and it's also quite usable. Frankly I'm reasonably happy about the state of browsers (there have been times where, in my role as web developer, I wasn't quite so happy ;)) overall: seems like everybody's made at least a decent browser. I'm glad I can pick whichever browser I like best, not whichever one sucks the least. :P Also, I've been using it since 0.4, the first browser that could replace IE6 well for me, at that time (compatibility was still an issue -- am I old?)
cyphax··on Donald Trump could dismantle net neutrality
> 2. To provide a way for people with better information than the general public to choose the President [0].

Heheh, so the people chose Clinton, but the "people with better information" chose Trump? That just doesn't sound right. ;)

cyphax··on ICQ: 20 Years Is No Limit
Miranda was my go-to-client for quite a while, on Windows. I like it better Pidgin due to how lean it was. Thanks for writing it!
cyphax··on Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team
I don't understand why you've started throwing in words like "vitriol". See, I'm not an American, nor do I live there. I don't really watch American news, and what I say about Trump is based on his own words.

If this were about terrorism and not religion, he wouldn't want to close the border for muslims but for terrorists, I would presume?

Replacing Scalia with a less conservative judge would be a win for democrats but it's fair game to have a different opinion. For me, however, it is most certainly a reason not to like a Trump presidency (though it has absolutely zero influence on me personally, obviously).

Trump did support the Iraq-war, unless he was lying when he replied "Yeah I guess so" when he was asked the question. Furthermore, he proposed a war crime to solve terrorisme when he proposed to kill terrorist family members (again; in a phone interview) and engages in such anti-war speech as "We'll bomb the hell out of ISIS", which, I would say, is pretty much waging war (not that I think we should just let ISIS slide...). So I don't agree with the sentiment that he's anti-war. Hopefully he's only not pro-war, like Bush was.

I said "possibly rich businessman" -- which I cannot for the LIFE of me understand why you'd call those words "dripping in vitriol" -- because I personally find it very suspicious that on the one hand he boasts about how succesful and how rich he is, and on the other hand he keeps the evidence firmly hidden. You're free to not find that shady, obviously.

I'm sorry if you lost friends over your political preference; I would certainly not have been one of them, that I promise you. But I do think you're misreading me: I'm doing my very best to stay rational (indirectly at your own request) and polite, so it's really unnecessary to feel attacked or anything. You're very much _free_ to support Trump, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

cyphax··on Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team
> Such as?

Well, I'm thinking mostly same sex marriage, maybe the freedom of religion (which seems to be OK for most, unless you're a muslim). Trump promises a conservative SCOTUS nomination, so everything that comes out of that as a side effect has a risk of people's rights being take away, mostly the progress made under the Obama administration

> I'm not talking about Trump listening. I'm talking about liberals listening to trump supporters trying to explain to them why they lost, and why they feel they are taking away freedom of speech.

OK screw people who want to take away your freedom of speech (but I admit that I don't know exactly what the problem you mention is, because I don't live in the US) but the point still stands as far as I'm concerned: I understand that you're pissed off, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea to abuse the presidential elections, unless (of course you really agree with Trump's ideas, in which case I understand a vote for the man), obviously. I seriously doubt it'll lead to any improvement for this group of people, which would certainly make me wonder what the _next_ elections would look like.

>The past 15 years have been a disaster. War, humanitarian crises, terrorism.

I'm confused. There's a large group of white males that feel left behind, and that's because of war, humanitarian crises and terrorism? Not things like a very high unemployment rate (it's <5%, doesn't seem very high?) And if it's about war, humanitarian crises and terrorisme, you vote _Trump_, who has the tendency to throw oil on the fire, to fix that? How is this outcome REALLY going to make your life better? Do you honestly believe it will, and if so, how?

I mean, I hate irrationality as much as you do, but I'm still trying to understand the issue, and why exactly it's all Clinton's fault and how Trump is going to help? (I mean, a possibly rich businessman is not really part of the angry group so I don't see how it makes sense that Trump would represent a group he treats poorly)

cyphax··on Peter Thiel To Join Trump Transition Team
> Thankfully, freedom of speech is such an integral part of the US, that there is not one side trying to control what the other can say, and the other doing the same back.

Let's hope _other_ people's freedoms aren't being taken away thanks to your vote, though.

I also don't see why you would Trump will actually listen to you. Because he says so? You trust what he says?

I understand and will not debate that you feel like you haven't been heard by the American political system (I immediately take your word for it), but that just doesn't mean the alternative to staying on the same path isn't significantly worse. Or do you think your life couldn't be any worse? Worse is _also_ an alternative you may have voted for.

cyphax··on Dutch prison crisis: A shortage of prisoners
This might give some insight as to where the 40% comes from (the image shows numbers up to 40%, interestingly) but it's an aggregate number, not violent crimes per se (it's in Dutch but the infographic is about the numbers anyway):

https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2016/03/24/een-kaart-om-misdaad-te...

(I'm assuming that you were referring to the percentage given when you asked for data to back "that" up :)

cyphax··on Mike Rowe Shares His Wise Opinion on Voting
I think it's more about uneducated votes (which you could argue are unqualified), but I wouldn't want to impose voter suppression laws to fix this. Hopefully they can come up with a way to educate people enough that it raises the quality of the votes, without reducing them quantitatively. :)

We see this kind of thing in The Netherlands too (which I'm from); a referendum about a trade agreement between Europe and Ukraine. Large amounts of "no"-votes were based on the argument that Ukraine shouldn't become a member of the EU. Which is really not what the referendum was about. Although in this case it's maybe less uneducated and more fear-based.

cyphax··on Behind the Pixel: Google’s First Real Threat to Apple’s iPhone
I was very surprised to see Android lacking support for CalDav out-of-the-box. Seemed like an obvious feature for a calendar app, yet no provider. So while it might not be much; there are CardDav/CalDav-adapters on f-droid.org, they are free software and work very good in my experience. It integrates so it allows you to use the stock calendar app.

In the end, though, I think the idea with phones like these is that they work "best" if you use the services that the manufacturer supplies, be it Apple or Google. If you use Gmail, Google Drive, Google everything, it's got a lot to offer.

cyphax··on USB Killer 2.0
To test your USB-ports. For consumers, this isn't overly useful. This is what they write:

"Hardware designers of public machines should have a USB Kill to test their products: photo booths, copy machines, airline entertainment systems, ticket terminals, etc - anything with exposed USB ports should ensure that their systems resist electrical attacks."

Seems like a form of hardware pentesting to me, so for security experts and hardware designers, this looks like a pretty useful tool. :)

cyphax··on Ask HN: How do you view large JSON files?
Usually F12 opens these tools in most browsers (IE, Chrome, Firefox at least) on Linux and Windows, but I do not have a Mac to test Os X. Your tip also applies to Firefox, but I don't know about IE or Edge. :)

I've never really had to handle really large JSON files, as I'm not a big fan of those but for smaller files I tend to be lazy and paste it in jsonlint.com. It's usually just for reference or debugging purposes (like finding the name of a property or some strange value).

cyphax··on Slackware 14.2 released
Congrats to the Slackware team! I've been following the change logs so I was eager to see this release! Still my favorite operating system after many years. :)
cyphax··on Bluetooth 5 will quadruple the range, double the speed
I wonder what strength the radios broadcast on. I do have a 2.4GHz wifi-router both downstairs and in the attic so you would expect no signal at all, given the situation. I'll admit that by this point it's extremely sensitive to spectrum pollution; a nearby laptop with wifi on will mess with it enough that it starts stuttering. My only issue with bluetooth is with Android; it semi-randomly likes to change pitch and speed by a little [1]. Very noticeable if you listen to electronic music. Had it with my previous phone (Android M, CM) and now with my current phone (also Android M, stock) and different devices (headphones, car).

[1]https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=209473

cyphax··on Announcing .NET Core 1.0
I have a Slackware server, I have tried a few times to get started with .net core but I've given up every time because it's just so unclear what I have to do and where to find everything. Maybe if I have Debian or Fedora it's easy, but I don't, and I just cannot seem to find a simple article that says: here download this, run that, and you're good to go. So I guess I'll try again in a few months.
cyphax··on Bluetooth 5 will quadruple the range, double the speed
Is the bluetooth spec the limit though, or maybe the implementation? I can leave my phone on the table downstairs and my headphones still work fine in the attic, which is through 2 floors of reinforced concrete. I was very surprised to be able to do this, but kitchen-living room should be possible. Unless your kitchen is in the west wing, and your living room is a mile down the hall in the east wing in which case I'm envious of your living arrangement and understand the need for more range in the spec. ;)
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