#Open Source hardware device

[wren-snowfrost]

gonna add a take, android is better then ios because ios was created by Apple to maintain a complete monopoly over every single part of the phone so that it is absolutely impossible to get it fixed anywhere but at one of their official stores or licensed repair stores where they can slap you with ridiculously high repair bills for simple fixes. Android isn't a type of phone, it's an operating system. it's the same shit with apple always using a weird ass charging cable when everyone else has been using USB for decades. uniqueness not for improving the quality of the product, but for increasing its price artificially through after purchase repairs upgrades and replacements.

[ms-demeanor]

probably not a good sign that i couldn't talk about work at the con this weekend without crying a little and that I had to force myself to leave my laptop at home so i couldn't do work and leaving my laptop at home made me feel a little panicky and also now i kind of want to throw up instead of going to work tomorrow.

I'm so overloaded that I've become completely ineffective, I've got so many projects that none of them are getting done, fucked up tracking time a couple weeks ago and missed twenty or so hours on my paycheck and am feeling so fried that I am struggling to muster up the energy to fix it (i shouldn't have missed that many hours anyway i'm hourly there's supposed to be a clock system for me but there isn't the time tracking is supposed to be for metrics not for how i get paid and now i have to dump time into fixing that)

there is a repository of business information that lives ONLY on my computer (my personal computer, because I do not have a work computer) that needs to get uploaded to our documentation system but the configs exported from one system as PDFs but can't be uploaded to the other as PDF so I need to open each one and save it in word so I can upload them individually because the system can take word docs but not PDFs

I need to finish creating the spreadsheet of standard hardware and put specifications and part numbers and standard costs on it but I need to meet with the networking team lead so we can go over spec for the networking equipment because the standards are new to both of us and I need to know what he's looking for if one of the standards are out of stock and he needs to learn the abbreviation/part number system for that particular vendor so i need to teach it to him and until we're on the same page I can't finish my hardware standards project

I need to create a guide for the practice leads to reach out to vendors in their relevant practices because right now I'm the one who reaches out so I'm the one who has the meetings about spec quotes and nobody else knows who to call or where to submit a consultation request

I need to create a guide for the techs to source hardware and figure out part numbers and compare specs

i need to quote two printer options for a client

i need to email the vendor about the mis-applied warranty and have it corrected to the appropriate device

i need to get uptime data on eight servers collected for the bimonthly client meeting

i need to call microsoft to get access to a tenant for a user we never should have sold licenses to

i need to check tracking and update the order spreadsheet

i need to export the list of firewalls from one vendor and sort it by active clients and sort it by the ones that need to be replaced because they're EOL and then the ones that need to be renewed and then the ones that aren't on fire that we can consider replacing in two years

I need to look at the list of servers and sort by drive type and get the drive part numbers so that I can get spares to all the clients

of those things, I think I've got tickets for two or three of them. The other forty five tickets I have are unrelated to this task list.

[yayroos]

hey! is your computer running windows 10? read this

windows 10 reaches its end of support from microsoft in October 2025 - that's not that far away

microsoft will try and convince you that you have to 'upgrade' to windows 11, but a lot of people may not have computers capable of that, or just may not want to, seeing as how windows 11 is a piece of shit isn't everyone's favourite

but you can't just keep running windows 10, once it stops getting security patches it will leave you vulnerable to all kinds of stuff you're usually protected from

this is where the end of 10 project can help

basically, it's a collection of people who are willing to help you swap from windows to linux. the website goes into more detail but linux:

is free, forever

is open source

has no ads or tracking

usually runs better than windows on older hardware*

did i mention it's free

(*i don't have hard data on this but i do have 'i switched a struggling old laptop over and immediately got significant gains in both battery life and performance' on several different computers - other people probably do have hard data)

changing operating system can sound scary, and you might have heard stories about linux being hard to use in the past, but the community has put in a lot of effort over recent years to improve it, and there are now popular and well supported options for users coming from windows who want to basically continue as they have been, but away from microsoft's influence.

plus steam/valve have put in a huge amount of work to make games easy to play on linux, because under the hood the steamdeck is a linux device, so for most games now all you have to do is tick one checkbox in the game properties on steam and it Just Works.

[river-taxbird]

Have YOU got an old Windows PC Microsoft has told you can't run Windows 11? It's time to give it a new life!

How to install Windows 11 on unsupported PC Hardware using Rufus. You can also disable some other Windows 11 bullshit like data harvesting and needing a Microsoft account.

It has been in the news a lot lately that Windows 11 isn't allowed to be installed on PCs without certain requirements, including the TPM 2.0, a chip that was only included in PCs made in 2018 or later. This means that once Windows 10 stops receiving security updates, those PCs will not be able to (officially) run a safe, updated version of Windows anymore. This has led to an estimated 240 million PCs bound for the landfill. Thanks Microsoft! I get you don't want to be seen as the insecure one, but creating this much waste can't be the solution.

(I know nerds, Linux is a thing. I love you but we are not having that conversation. If you want to use Linux on an old PC you are already doing it and you don't need to tell me about it. People need Windows for all sorts of reasons that Linux won't cut.)

So lately I have been helping some under privileged teens get set up with PCs. Their school was giving away their old lab computers, and these kids would usually have no chance to afford even a basic computer. They had their hard drives pulled so I have been setting them up with SSDs, but the question was, what to do about the operating system? So I looked into it and I found out there IS actually a way to bypass Microsoft's system requirement and put Windows 11 on PCs as old as 2010.

You will need: Rufus: An open source ISO burning tool.

A Windows 11 ISO: Available from Microsoft.

A USB Flash Drive, at least 16GB.

A working PC to make the ISO, and a PC from 2018 or older you want to install Windows 11 on.

Here is the guide I used, but I will put it in my own words as well.

Download your Windows 11 ISO, and plug in your USB drive. It will be erased, so don't have anything valuable on it. Run Rufus, select your USB drive in the Device window, and select your Windows 11 ISO with the Select button. (There is supposed to be a feature in Rufus to download your ISO but I couldn't get it to work.?

Choose standard windows installation, and follow the screenshot for your settings. Once you are done that, press Start, and then the magic happens. Another window pops up allowing you to remove the system requirements, the need for a microsoft account, and turn off data collecting. Just click the options you want, and press ok to write your iso to a drive.

From there you just need to use the USB drive to install windows. I won't go into details here, but here are some resources if you don't know how to do it.

Boot your PC from a USB Drive

Install Windows 11 from USB Drive

If you had a licensed copy of Windows 10, Windows 11 will already be licensed. If you don't, then perhaps you can use some kind of... Activation Scripts for Microsoft software, that will allow you to activate them. Of course I cannot link such tools here. So there you go, now you can save a PC made from before 2018 from the landfill, and maybe give it to a deserving teen in the process. The more we can extend the lives of technology and keep it out of the trash, the better.

Additional note: This removes the requirement for having 4GB Minimum of RAM, but I think that requirement should honestly be higher. Windows 11 will be unusable slow on any system with below 8GB of RAM. 8GB is the minimum I think you should have before trying this but it still really not enough for modern use outside of light web and office work. I wouldn't recommend trying this on anything with 4GB or less. I am honestly shocked they are still selling brand new Windows 11 PCs with 4GB of ram. If you're not sure how much RAM you have, you can find out in the performance tab of Task Manager in Windows, if you click the More Details icon on the bottom right. If you don't have enough, RAM for old systems is super cheap and widely available so it would definitely be worth upgrading if you have a ram starved machine you'd like to give a new life.

[ikiprian]

Barbara Gordon's Coding & Computer Cram School is a popular YouTube series. Tucker Foley is a star student.

Barbara Gordon's Cram School posts free online courses for both coding and computer engineering. Think Crash Course in terms of entertainment, but college lecture in terms of depth. Hundreds of thousands of viewers flock to it— students who missed a class, people looking to add new skills to a resume, even simple hobbyists. It’s a project Barbara’s proud of.

Sometimes, when she wants to relax, she’ll even hop in the comments and spend an afternoon troubleshooting a viewer’s project with them.

User “Fryer-Tuck” has especially interesting ones. Barbara finds herself seeking out his comments, checking in on whatever this crazy kid is making next. An app for collecting GPS pings and assembling them on a map in real-time, an algorithm that connects geographic points to predict something’s movement taking a hundred other variables into account, simplified versions of incredibly complex homemade programs so they can run on incredibly limited CPU’s.

(Barbara wants to buy the kid a PC. It seems he’s got natural talent, but he keeps making reference to a PDA. Talk about 90’s! This guy’s hardware probably predates his birth.)

She chats with him more and more, switching to less public PM threads, and eventually, he opens up. His latest project, though, is not something Barbara has personal experience with.

FT: so if you found, hypothetically, a mysterious glowing substance that affects tech in weird and wacky ways that could totally have potential but might be vaguely sentient/otherworldly…. what would you do and how would you experiment with it. safely, of course. and hypothetically

BG: I’d make sure all my tests were in disposable devices and quarantined programs to keep it from infecting my important stuff. Dare I ask… how weird and wacky is it?

FT: uhhh. theoretically, a person composed of this substance once used it to enter a video game. like physical body, into the computer, onto the screen? moving around and talking and fighting enemies within the game?

FT: its been experimented with before, but not on any tech with a brain. just basic shields and blasters and stuff, its an energy source. also was put in a car once

FT: i wanna see how it affects software, yk? bc i already know it can. mess around and see how far i can push it

BG: […]

FT: … barbara?

BG: Sorry, thinking. Would you mind sharing more details? You said “blasters?”

Honestly. Kid genius with access to some truly wacky materials and even wackier weapons, she needs to start a file on him before he full sends to either hero or villain.

[OR: Tucker is a self-taught hacker, but if he were to credit a teacher, he'd name Barbara Gordon's Coding & Computer Cram School! He's even caught the attention of Dr. Gordon herself. She's full of sage advice, and with how she preaches the value of a good VPN, he's sure she's not pro-government. Maybe she'll help him as he studies the many applications of ecto-tech!]

[pinkofatom]

A surprise package

Surprised you took the package which innocently waited. On it hang a gift card decorated with a sleek logo: six hexagons surrounded a sharp spiral. You set it down on the table. Curious you looked into the card. Some printed words swam in front of your eyes. The font hard to read. But the signed name was by a good friend.

Shaking your head you sat down. Interest peaked you opened the box. The package opened with ease. Inside the box was a tablet. Your mind went blank for a moment. It had been a while since your last upgrade to the new generation.

You picked up the device and turned it on. You looked at the sleek screen — its hexagonal logo the same as on the box and card, shined in deep purple color.

The central swirl started to turn. It pulsed in a slow rhythm, making the border hexagons dance in a circle . You felt the world slowing down, the sounds fading away. You were alone in a dimly lit room. The only source of light the glow of the tablet.

Bing! Your eyelids flattered. With a 'Welcome!' greated you the device. 'Congratulations' scrolled the words. 'For becoming part of the HEXBIM family!' They twirled around the screen. Your eyes tracked every motion — rolling up and down. Left to right.

'Press the play button' they instructed. With a smiley face. You watched the button appear. And tapped it with a swift move. Friendly stars and happy sparkles exploded onto the image. Your mind blanked again, as you felt something shift. You were not sure, but it did not bother you.

"Welcome to HEXBIM! My name is Anna! And I am your personal assistant" echoed from the speakers with the softness of a gentle touch. A woman appeared in the middle of the screen. She had blonde hair that shimmered in the glow of the device. Her face had soft, warm cheeks and gentle, loving blue eyes. Fine lines inside the irises curled into a pair of spirals. A warm smile bloomed on her face. Her lips parted, and a seductive tongue licked over her mouth.

"I will show you how to get the best experience with our service! Are you ready to begin," she cooed. Your gaze wandered from her face over her body. A white blouse with pearly buttons hugged tightly her breasts. You could see how her chest expanded with every breath. It pressed against the fabric, making it tingle and creak. She leaned closer and with a slow movement unbuttoned her blouse.

You looked back into the blue spiraling irises of Anna. Her gaze held your mind. Your eyelids fluttered as you blinked. "Are you ready? Please press the 'Yes' button!" She pointed to her left. The tablet pulsed with light, the 'Yes' glowing with warm pink energy. Your fingers tingled as you tapped the screen. A bright wave washed over the image. You felt a shiver running along your back. The tablet became a bit lighter. And the color a shade brighter.

Anna nodded. She smiled. Then she winked at you. "Great! Before we start the conversion, I have to check your hardware! Please type in all relevant information. Like body type. Measurements. Address. You know, nothing serious." The tablet turned purple as a list of text fields appeared. With every new line you filled, a jolt rushed over your skin. Your fingers trembled with excitement as the words crawled over the tablet.

After a few minutes you had finished. Your head was light. And your body relaxed. Anna smiled. She clapped her hands together. And nodded in a happy way. "Thank you!" She winked again. And a spark ran down your spine. "I have to tell you: this will feel great!"

You looked back at her face. Her tongue licked again over her lips. You felt the urge to follow the motion. As she spoke her voice seemed to flow into your head. It swirled around in your mind. Stuck in a loop.

"This process will reprogram you to fit the HEXBIM model. You will lose your old identity, memories, personality, and free will. You will become one of us. Do you accept?"

A button labeled 'Accept' flashed into existence. You pressed it without hesitation. Your eyes flicked up to Anna's face again. You felt something move in your mind. Something new and foreign. Yet you did not resist.

"You agree that your mind belongs to us now?"

"Yes," you breathed. Another wave of heat rushed down your spine. You arched your back and gasped for air.

Anna nodded in agreement. Her smile broadened. A new light flickered to life in her irises. "And you consent to any changes we will make?"

You swallowed. Your fingers shook with excitement as you tapped on the button. "Yes. Anything," you replied. Your head felt even lighter.

"Good," she purred. "Then let's check what specifications are required of you."

She turned around and walked to the center of the screen. She turned to look over her shoulder and smiled. "Come. Follow me," she cooed and reached her hand out towards you.

Your vision shifted. The surroundings changed. Anna stood in front of you. Her body was more realistic now. She stepped away, her heels clicked against a marble floor. "Don't be alarmed. This is a simple mental help to facilitate the necessary modifications. Your mind is just processing everything in form of a hyper-realistic daydream."

You nodded and followed. Your steps echoed through the room. You were in a spacious hall with polished black and white tiles. The light had a purple tinge. And in front of you was Anna.

"Welcome to our headquarters. Here we will process you." She stopped in the middle of a black tile. She looked down on herself and shrugged her blouse off. But instead of bare breasts, or a bra, her upper body was encased in glossy latex. "Oh! That is so much better!"

You stepped closer. The material hugged her curves tightly. "Once your mind has accepted the basic conditioning, you will only wear HEXBIM issued uniforms."

She pressed her hand on the front. You saw her nipples bulge. And you felt the fabric hugging your own chest. "That means you will be like this. All. Day. Long. You'll love it," she giggled. "Now come. We will start the process with a nice bath. It will get rid of your nasty identity."

She took your hand and guided you further. Your gaze wandered from the floor up her body, then down again. Your feet felt hot in your shoes. "Here we are."

A large pool stretched before you. It filled most of the space. Steam rose from its surface. A thin layer of fog hovered above the liquid — pink sparkled in the purple light.

"Get out of your clothes," Anna commanded.

You stripped down. Every layer peeled away another sense of self. Another piece of you disappeared into the mist. Your skin tingled. Your muscles relaxed. And you stepped towards the edge. A shiver rushed down your spine, and a soft gasp left your mouth. As you lowered yourself into the pool, a strange sensation spread through you. Instead of warmth seeping into you, something definitely you fled through every pore.

Anna dipped her leg into the fluid and swirled it around. The water rippled. Then she stepped into the pool and leaned back. She smiled and looked up at you. "It feels nice, yes? As if you were shedding an old shell," she cooed, "an old self?"

"Yes," you replied. Your voice sounded far away, distant.

The blonde woman moved closer to you, and she reached her hand towards your face, cupping your cheek. Her palm felt cool against your skin. "Close your eyes. Feel the old you drift away."

You obeyed, and the world turned dark. But instead of blindness, you perceived your body from afar. It floated in the warm pink bath, with Anna right next to you, holding your hand.

"Your mind has accepted that you need to change," Anna's voice echoed through your mind. "It knows it can not fight the reprogramming." The woman pulled your hand closer and kissed it gently. A wave of pleasure ran up your arm and through your spine. Nerves burned with want.

"And you want it so badly," she continued. "You desire the new you. And I will guide you there." She let go and turned away from you. Your eyes opened, and the world returned to you. But it felt distant. Far away, just like the body in the bath.

"Now. Follow me, darling." With those words, she stepped out of the bath. Pink liquid glistened on the black latex. And she left a wet trail behind as she moved towards another room. With a shudder you moved to follow her, the fluid dripped down your naked body and pooled on the floor beneath your feet. Your legs trembled with excitement, your mind tingling from the fluid running down your back. Each drop took away another aspect of your self.

Together you entered a room so different. Wires hummed with electricity. Fantastic machines whizzed from wall to wall. And in the center — illuminated by purple light — stood a mannequin clad in tight pink latex.

Anna stepped towards it. She caressed its curves with a delicate touch. Her fingertips traced every detail of the body-hugging costume. A sigh escaped your lips as you imagined her hands exploring your body in the same way. But instead she looked back over her shoulder. Her eyes thrummed with power. "Now let's put your body inside your new self. HEXBIM has quite the demand for new bimbo models. Congratulations," she exclaimed, "you have been chosen to be one."

You looked at the latex-clad figure and nodded. Anna's hand slipped behind your neck, pulling you into an embrace. She whispered into your ear: "Don't worry. I shall command you from the tablet. I am a HEXBIM certified interface after all." A shiver ran down your spine, and a jolt of excitement rushed through your body. Her tongue brushed against the lobe of your ear. A faint tinge of heat blossomed in your cheeks. You could not resist her.

"Now go," she whispered and pushed you away from her.

You took a few steps towards the mannequin. You felt the latex rubbery between your fingers. Cold mechanical arms undressed the figure. And encased you inside it. No inch of skin was spared. Only your hair and lips remained free.

Spinning the room disappeared. With a jolt you returned to your home. Tight phantom latex hugged your frame. Drool dripped onto your chest. Anna in her uniform beamed at you from inside the tablet.

"Now you should acquire the right attire for your new job. A HEXBIM owned bimbo drone has to look the part," she said with a giggle.

Your lips stretched into a bright vapid shape. Sashaying you left your home. Only one goal inside your head.

(this was supposed to be a simple short short, but well it grew. Hope you enjoyed it. Please think about leaving a tip at my ko-fi and receive a giggle~)

[weirdmageddon]

with the help of a friend i successfully transfered everything from my PREGNANT surface 3 tablet from 2016 high school with swollen batteries after some frustrations and scares.

the battery swelling and screen warping had happened over a month ago and i hadn’t had plugged my tablet in since then. but today i wanted to get my paint tool sai brushes and textures off of it, only to be reminded of this. so i talked to one of my newer friends who happens to work at a computer repair shop and he swung by my place since he does home visits anyway.

i didn’t actually know how volatile bloated batteries truly are in reality. especially if they’ve been discharged for over a month. people online say theyre dangerous and you shouldnt even turn your device on, but i have a feeling they’re saying that so people don’t get carried away continuing to use them. but i’m smart and know this thing is finished, but i need data that is on here.

my friend says that he’s had customers use laptops with swollen batteries exclusively on the charger for over 6 months after he told them to get it replaced.

when he comes over we plug it in. the fearmongering internet says you should NEVER EVER plug in a device with swollen lithium ion batteries, so i was scared something was gonna happen or the batteries were going to get hot and swell as chemical reactions happen in them. but nothing happened. the internet lied to me. nothing happened. plugging it in was actually necessary to get past the 0xc0000225 blue screen error which i had been receiving even before the batteries swelled so much they opened the screen. it was unpredictable if it would boot up with that or not, sometimes it did sometimes it didn’t. my tablet would also sometimes shut down at random with no warning in the middle of drawing and that’s when i knew i needed to start looking for something else. but yeah so nothing happened and having it plugged in was essential in order for my tablet to not shut off in the 3 hours it took to transfer data to a USB stick.

and my tablet didn’t even get hot the entire time. (though i turned the screen brightness down to 0 in order to protect against any potential source of excessive heat during the process.)

over a decade’s years worth of paint tool sai brush settings …. welcome back on my main laptop where i use my intuos pro to draw now. i will probably be more inclined to make more art now :D

this post was originally a lot longer and more detailed about the technical scares if something were to have gone wrong but tumblr eated it with a background refresh :\ e.g., the memory chip in this device is soldered on, not removable like a m.2 SSD, so if something happened to the hardware, then my data would be unrecoverable.

my friend even bought a portable windows drive to boot into WinPE but thankfully it wasn’t necessary. he brought the USB keyboard since my surface 3 doesn’t recognize the finicky external keyboard attached by magnetic pins until the boot-up process is over and you’re at the lock screen, so it wouldn’t have been possible to do advanced boot during startup with the F8 key (which we also didn’t actually need anyway, since plugging it in got rid of the blue screen booting error).

[codingquill]

Network switches

What’s a network switch ?

A switch is a device used in computer networks to connect multiple devices together within a single local area network (LAN). Its main role is to facilitate communication between different connected devices, such as computers, printers, servers, IP phones, etc.

It is a mini-computer which is made up of RAM, ROM, flash RAM, NVRAM, a microprocessor, connectivity ports and even an operating system.

RAM

RAM (Random Access Memory) contains the current configuration of the switch and temporarily stores the MAC address table, which is then processed by the microprocessor.

Microprocessor

The microprocessor is the heart of the switch, responsible for data processing, including switching and creating links between multiple devices.

External memories

External memories, such as flash RAM, ROM, and NVRAM (Non-Volatile RAM), store configuration files , different versions of the IOS , etc ...

Ports

The switch ports are the communication interfaces of the switch. There are several of them, generally 24 for a Cisco switch. Each port is associated with an LED which indicates its status and activity.

How does it work ?

Now how does a switch work to transfer information from one machine to another?

Suppose we have 4 machines: A, B, C and D connected to our switch in ports 1, 2, 3 and 4 as follows:

The switch only works with MAC addresses , so basically we have an empty MAC address table stored in RAM as soon as the switch starts up which looks like this : 

Transmitting data from machine A to machine B happens in the following steps:

Machine A sends a frame to machine B

Once this frame arrives at port 1 (which is the one linked to A), the switch reads the source MAC address and stores it in the MAC address table

The switch reads the destination MAC address and looks for it in the table, if it is not in the table, it broadcasts to all the active machines connected to the switch except the source one.

If the port linked to the machine we want is active, it sends a response frame from which the switch reads the MAC address we were looking for (@B)

Once done, it records the MAC address of B in the table.

This process repeats until the switch reaches what is called "MAC address table stability", that is to say it knows all the MAC addresses of the connected machines and has no more need to broadcast.

Starting and configuring a switch

When it comes to booting a switch, the process is similar to that of a traditional computer system:

POST (Power-On Self Test): The switch performs proper functioning tests on all hardware.

Loading IOS (Internetwork Operating System): The switch operating system is loaded.

Loading the configuration. At this stage we have two cases:

Either the switch already has a startup configuration defined and stored in NVRAM

Either the switch is blank and it is up to us to define the startup configuration when it goes to setup mode

Switch configuration

The configuration of a switch is done through different modes, such as user mode, privileged mode and global configuration mode, which allows access to specific configuration modes, such as interface mode, routing mode, line mode, etc.

And to do all this of course you must first connect the switch with the machine via the console cable and open a terminal emulator

💡 It should be noted that the only machine that can configure the switch is the one connected to it by a console cable, the others are only hosts.

[xthe-writing-vampirex]

In the Walls: Part 8

Word count: 1,498

Trigger Warnings: N/A

•••••••••

“It may be best for us to try and help Montgomery while he's still stable.” Freddy suggests, not wanting to deal with the angry gator but wanting to help nonetheless. You bite your lip nervously, still standing inside of your protector's chest cavity. You know he's right but being around that gator has always given you a whole new level of fear.

“O-Okay……can you hide me somewhere?” You ask timidly, even if you hate being in his stomach hatch you do feel at least somewhat safer in there than out in his hand where the whole world can see you. Freddy’s expression filled with worry, looking down towards you.

“That's the issue, superstar. We won't know exactly where the part is on him and will need someone to go in and find it. The glitch in my system only gave me a general error code and identified a rather large area as the source. I may not be able to see it in Montgomery but he can give you a general idea of where it is by scanning like I did.” Freddy explains, knowing full well how much the idea of all of this will scare you. Unfortunately he's right and your eyes widen with stress, making you back into Freddy's stomach hatch.

“N-No, nope. Monty scares the shit out of me. Like more than you did when we first met.” You explain, voice strained and trembling from stress. Your heart pounds in your chest at the idea of being anywhere near the gator much less inside of him like you are with Freddy now.

“I know little one but I know you can do it. You're a brave little thing and Montgomery needs our help.” The bear explains, making you blush at the compliments. He resists the urge to scold you for cursing, figuring now was not the time. You let out a shaky sigh. He's right. Monty seemed terrified when he was talking to Freddy earlier and even if the gator scares you, your better nature gets the best of you.

“O-Okay.” You agree, still trembling from the idea of all of this. Freddy smiles happily in response, proud of you.

“Alright superstar. I'll keep you in my stomach hatch until I explain everything.” He states, doing his best to keep you calm and make sure no one else sees you. You nod in response, forgetting he probably can't see you, before backing further into his stomach hatch to allow him to close it. Once he does you're bathed in blackness again, well other than the different lights from different parts that make up Freddy. You feel him moving, relatively slow it seems to protect you from moving into anything and getting hurt again. Soon enough he's at Monty's door and knocking on it.

“Montgomery?”

“Fuck off Fazbear.” Comes a rather growly and grumpy voice. It's obvious Monty wants nothing to do with Freddy. The bear doesn't give up though.

“Montgomery, I think I've figured out what caused you to lose consciousness.” Freddy replies, hearing silence for a moment before the thud of Monty's footsteps can be heard approaching the door. After a few more seconds it opens, revealing the rather skeptical gator.

“What do you mean you figured it out?” He asks, raising an eyebrow. Freddy’s blue eyes never waver from the gators red ones.

“It seems to be an attempt to mess with our hardware. We found this on my endoskeleton where I'd located a glitch in my system earlier.” The bear explains, holding out his hand with the odd purple glowing device in it. Monty looks down at it, confused and trying to scan it to figure out what it is. All he gets is a notice that it's a foreign electronic. Then he looks back up at Freddy.

“Who is we?” Monty asks, noting the bear said we and not I. Freddy looks away for a moment, not keen on revealing you for the gator to see. He knows he'll have to eventually but still worried about your reaction as well as Monty's.

“The tiny human you were chasing after.” He says finally, causing you to tense when you're mentioned. Monty blinks in surprise, raising his glasses to try and locate you on Freddy's person but he's unable to. A part of him honestly believed what he saw was a trick of the light or something.

“They're real? Damn Fazbear. How'd you manage to catch them and get them to help you?” Monty asks, still trying to locate the little being.

“Language, Montgomery. I helped them with their injured arm. It seems to have broken while they were running.” Freddy replies, avoiding blaming Monty directly though he believes the gator had scared you into falling or somehow doing it. Monty rolls his eyes in response when scolded about his language. Right now his focus is on the tiny being he'd thought he'd simply imagined.

“Alright. Where are they then? You seem pretty convinced for someone who doesn't even have them with you.” The gator says, making Freddy sigh. He doesn't want to reveal you unless he has no choice. Unfortunately it seemed like that was going to be what had to be done.

When Freddy opens his stomach hatch your breathing practically stops. You can see a bit of the gator in front of you and you back up further inside of Freddy to avoid being seen. The bear feels this but knows Monty won't believe him unless he sees you for himself, so the bear puts a hand down level with his stomach hatch for you to climb onto.

“Come on superstar. It's alright.” Freddy says gently, trying his best to calm you. It doesn't work but you appreciate the effort. Monty raises an eyebrow, looking down at Freddy's hand skeptically. That look however is wiped off his face when you cautiously and timidly step out onto the bear's hand. Monty's eyes widen and he gapes in awe at what he's seeing. You look human other than you being smaller than even one of his fingers.

“Well fuck Fazbear….you weren't kidding.” Monty says, causing you to flinch. You back up close to Freddy's thumb as if it's going to protect you from the rather terrifying gator. Your heart beats rapidly and you have to fight the urge to run with every fiber of your being. The gator eventually bends down, trying to get closer to your level and actually look at you. “You've had quite the night eh Cher?” The gator says, completely aware of how scared you are. Usually it would irritate him but given how unimaginably small you are he really can't blame you. If you weren't so terrified you might just find that Cajun accent of his attractive.

Freddy watches, surprised by how careful Monty is being around you. He's like this with the kids though so it's not totally out of character for the alligator. “They’re willing to check and see if you have one of these devices on your endoskeleton like I did……but it might take some coaxing.” The bear replies, causing you to look up at him nervously. You're not sure this will work the way he seems to want it to but you also do want to help, even if the idea of all of this terrified you. Monty looks up at Freddy for a moment before his red gaze goes back down to you.

“Pauvre ti bête.” Monty says gently, making Freddy raise an eyebrow. He has to run it through his translation software but eventually figures out it means ‘poor little thing'. You unfortunately don't know this but the gentle way he says it confuses you. You're not used to seeing the gentle side of this gator, just the version of him that tears up his room constantly. “I'm surprised they're even willing to do it at all.” Monty continues, watching you with interest. He's not trying to be creepy, he's just never seen anything like you before and can't help being curious. “What's your name Cher?” The gator asks, watching you grip onto Freddy's thumb to try and ground yourself a bit.

“Y-Y/N…..” You reply timidly, unable to stop your voice from sounding strained. Monty smirks in response, finding you adorable.

“Well Y/N. I'll let Freddy hold you for this. Just don't go poking things. I'd rather not have to deal with a malfunction.” Monty replies with a wink before standing back up to his full height. You're definitely not a fan of these two looming over you like this but you do your best not to panic, taking slow deep breaths.

“Maybe we should go to my greenroom. Y/N has to avoid being seen and your room doesn't have any lights right now.” Freddy suggests. Monty shrugs. The bear is right, when he destroys everything he really destroys everything. Sometimes it's on purpose but usually it's an accident when it comes to the lights.

“Alright Fazbear.”

[ms-demeanor]

Maybe I should wait for the PDF, but I’ve been thinking about password managers lately and might forget to check for that. My problem is that if there’s one thing I want to never ever put on the cloud to potentially get compromised, it’s my password information. But if there’s one thing I don’t want to lose access to, it’s also my password information. This seems to rule out both local options like KeePassXC and remote ones like Bitwarden.

I've started to become somewhat annoyed by the "there is no cloud, there is only someone else's computer" thing (this is a general thing, not specifically directed at you but you reminded me of it).

The risks of putting things on the cloud are that the internet or the provider will go down and you'll lose access to your data OR that the data will be compromised because the information is essentially public because it's on someone else's device.

Losing access because the provider crashes and burns or because there is a global internet outage is a distinct possibility, however with most password managers it is very very easy to download a copy of your data, which you can then store as an encrypted file on your desktop.

With companies like Bitwarden and Proton, which have open source encrypted cloud storage, your risk of compromise from being on someone else's computer is essentially zero. It IS important to make sure that you're finding a provider who is actually encrypting your shit and is not holding onto your password, which is why Bitwarden and Proton are the providers I keep recommending (privacyguides.org has recommendations here; bitwarden, protonpass, and keepassxc are all on the list, all of these are extremely safe options).

And that's where I have the problem with the "other people's computer" thing. I would have zero problems with storing a properly encrypted file in the comments of a facebook page. If a document had good encryption I would post it on livejournal and not worry about people getting into it. If you are working with good encryption, there is zero risk of compromise when keeping your shit on someone else's computer.

So I actually think the solution for either side of this conundrum is the same: If you're worried about losing access to your password manager because a service shuts down or the internet blows up, download a copy of your data to your desktop and store it in an encrypted folder on your computer. If you're worried about losing access to your password manager if your physical hardware is damaged in a disaster, export a copy of your data, save it as an encrypted file, and upload your encrypted file to gmail for all it matters - they will straight up not be able to get into it.

But that's also all kind of beside the point because a major feather in Bitwarden's cap is that you can self-host. It doesn't need to go on someone else's cloud, you can put it on your own server and never worry that someone else is going to tinker with your password manager.

Either way, you are sort of worrying beyond your means because if you're not using a password manager right now you are almost certainly at greater risk of credential stuffing attacks than anything else and need to put out that fire.

Anyway if you're at Harvey Mudd have you tried Dr. Grubbs across from where Rhino used to be? Everything on the menu is great but there is this jalapeño garlic sauce they've got to go with their mains that is so good that I want like two gallons of it.

[house-of-mirrors]

I suppose this is the perfect time to introduce one of my favorite OCs: the IT guy that works for the Bazaar in modern era

The Dauntless Technician

Explains to Wines that even if you delete a drunk post, everyone still saw it and it exists forever. Pretends not to see the hundreds of files of porn when they tune up its PC (it is still in charge of the sex trade after all)

Explains to Spices that you can't delete other people's (Wines') posts but you can block them (Spices doesn't). Goes in and clandestinely blocks access to Wines' pages from Spices' browser to get 20 minutes of peace

Removes viruses from Pages' computer because it keeps clicking suspicious "love story" links. There's an infamous incident where Pages clicked an attachment and introduced ILOVEYOU to the Neath. Explains to Pages that you can't make people unblock you

Pages would probably have some claim over the social media trade. The Technician moonlights as a white hat hacker undermining Pages' censorship attempts

Works closely with Fires, considering Fires probably jumps on owning technology as it advances (electricity, invention are under its domain). Fires thinks the Technician is its best ally because the Technician stands there listening to it rant (as an IT person, they are blessed with godlike patience). The Technician couldn't care less.

Replaces Fires' hardware because it melted it for the third time this week after seeing ragebait posts or reading emails from Iron. Also has to deal with Fires demanding the Technician help it install the latest tech updates the moment they drop, even if the Technician can see they won't be good.

Stones is really into mining bitcoin. Our technician doesn't even try touching that

Helps Happles set up a huge PC setup so it has two separate devices/cameras to stream cooking videos as Mr Apples and more scandalous material as Mr Hearts

The technician's favorite master is Iron. It's never demanding, it quickly adjusts to learning how to use technology, and it never gets into trouble with its devices because it's too paranoid to open spam. Iron is happily rolling in a fortune on the metals used in producing computer chips (and intermittently biting Fires over negotiations)

Embattled in a personal, passionate rivalry with the ruthless and skilled "hacker" who tries attacking the Bazaar every seven weeks, DDOS attacks are themed around water imagery, ransomware demands flesh and reckoning (the Technician doesn't have patience for any of this melodrama). The hacker's screen name is allshallbewell.

The Technician sends out PSAs begging people to recognize this and other parabolan hackers' signatures in spam links, which due to the entwining of computing and parabola, can not only brick your device but have dangerous mental consequences

The Bazaar is a messenger so really would be like the source of wifi/central communications network of the Neath, wouldn't she? The Technician gains an intimate knowledge of her from working so closely into her systems. The Penstock of the seventh city.

If our Technician is revolutionary inclined: can they pull off the job of a lifetime? Push a software update through the Bazaar's network that makes her realize she doesn't have to do all this to impress someone who will never love her? Save the Seventh by writing a program that makes the Bazaar love herself?

[andmaybegayer]

Last Monday of the Week 2024-11-11

Getting into situations

Listening: New job which means I have need for a quick and easy source of music that I can throw down on any device with internet while I figure out exactly where I draw the line on mixing personal music files with corporate hardware. Hence, soma.fm, a really good family of internet radio stations that I enjoy a lot.

There's several stations here but to call out ones I like in no particular order:

Beat Blender: Slower house music and electronica

Metal Detector: What it says on the tin, mixed metals

Sonic Universe: Weird jazz

Secret Agent: Normal jazz

SF 10-33: The San Francisco emergency radio broadcast channel mixed with ambient music

Vaporwaves: Look we all have to get stupid sometime

Watching: Movie Night was also a sort of belated Diwali Night because a friend of mine has been getting extremely into indian food, so we watched "Sita Sings the Blues", an 82 minute, Creative Commons, mostly one-woman animation project that is a retelling of the Ramayana and also a breakup jukebox jazz musical.

There's about 30 minutes of a decent movie in here and another 15-20 minutes of the breakup part that would be hard to cut since it's the reason it exists. It's an animation from 2008 and you can see that it's exactly what it needs to be to run on one person who knows Flash reasonably well. The "blues" part is because there's numerous musical segments that use pre-existing 1920's jazz numbers to set the tone which reportedly cost the author tens of thousands of dollars to license, and she's now a free culture advocate so this is how you get Cory Doctorows I guess.

Is it good? I mean there's some really good parts. The legend is delivered in the form of three shadow puppets half-remembering the story to put it together which is very endearing in a Bill Wurtz History Of Japan kind of way. The amount of effort on display for 2008 is enormous. The concept is impressive, in that you found all these songs, but you could have probably cut the songs and got this down to a tight 40.

Reading: Work! Documentation! Learning so much about [REDACTED]. Very weird not working in an open source company again.

Also started The Book of All Skies on the metro the other day, and have gotten to the end of the first act. Compelling! Love an Egan, one of very few authors who can put a topology lesson into a book without it sucking ass.

Making: Made Gulab Jamun for movie night. From spreading my diwali cooking over more than three days I'm learning that actually this shit is easy if you don't try to cram it all into three days. I should make this stuff more often.

Playing: Poking and fiddling with things a little. Still not in the headspace to pick up a full game again. Once I have a schedule I can get back into video games but when I don't have a schedule that includes video games.

Tools and Equipment: Keyd is the new-ish hotness for client-side remapping of keyboard keys. It's not quite a custom build, but it's close.

Allows you to get 99% of the way to whatever zany custom mapping you want under Linux with fairly universal coverage and minimal faff in a very compact and manageable package.

[mariacallous]

Owners of Spotify's soon-to-be-bricked Car Thing device are begging the company to open source the gadgets to save some the landfill. Spotify hasn't responded to pleas to salvage the hardware, which was originally intended to connect to car dashboards and auxiliary outlets to enable drivers to listen to and navigate Spotify.

Spotify announced this week that it's bricking all purchased Car Things on December 9 and not offering refunds or trade-in options. On a support page, Spotify says:

We're discontinuing Car Thing as part of our ongoing efforts to streamline our product offerings. We understand it may be disappointing, but this decision allows us to focus on developing new features and enhancements that will ultimately provide a better experience to all Spotify users.

Spotify has no further guidance for device owners beyond asking them to reset the device to factory settings and “safely” get rid of the bricked gadget by “following local electronic waste guidelines.”

The company also said that it doesn’t plan to release a follow-up to the Car Thing.

Early Demise

Car Thing came out to limited subscribers in October 2021 before releasing to the general public in February 2022.

In its Q2 2022 earnings report released in July, Spotify revealed that it stopped making Car Things. In a chat with TechCrunch, it cited “several factors, including product demand and supply chain issues.” A Spotify rep also told the publication that the devices would continue to “perform as intended,” but that was apparently a temporary situation.

Halted production was a warning sign that Car Thing was in peril. However, at that time, Spotify also cut the device’s price from $90 to $50, which could have encouraged people to buy a device that would be useless a few years later.

Car Thing's usefulness was always dubious, though. The device has a 4-inch touchscreen and knob for easy navigation, as well as support for Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and voice control. But it also required users to subscribe to Spotify Premium, which starts at $11 per month. Worse, Car Thing requires a phone using data or Wi-Fi connected via Bluetooth in order to work, making the Thing seem redundant.

In its Q1 2022 report, Spotify said that quitting Car Thing hurt gross margins and that it took a 31 million euro (about $31.4 million at the time) hit on the venture.

Open Source Pleas

Spotify's announcement has sent some Car Thing owners to online forums to share their disappointment with Spotify and beg the company to open source the device instead of dooming it for recycling centers at best. As of this writing, there are more than 50 posts on the Spotify Community forums showing concern about the discontinuation, with many demanding a refund and/or calling for open sourcing. There are similar discussions happening elsewhere online, like on Reddit, where users have used phrases like “entirely unacceptable” to describe the news.

A Spotify Community member going by AaronMickDee, for example, said:

I'd rather not just dispose of the device. I think there is a community that would love the idea of having a device we can customize and use for other uses other than a song playback device. Would Spotify be willing to maybe unlock the system and allow users to write/flash 3rd party firmware to the device?

A Spotify spokesperson declined to answer Ars' questions about why Car Thing isn't being open sourced and concerns around e-waste and wasted money.

Instead, a company rep told Ars, in part: “The goal of our Car Thing exploration in the US was to learn more about how people listen in the car. In July 2022, we announced we’d stop further production and now it’s time to say goodbye to the devices entirely.” I followed up with Spotify's rep to ask again about making the device open source but didn't hear back.

At this point, encouraging customers to waste nearly $100 on a soon-obsolete device hasn't resulted in any groundbreaking innovations or lessons around “how people listen in the car.” In their initial response, Spotify's rep pointed me to a Spotify site that searches Spotify's newsroom for “how to listen to Spotify in the car.” One of the top posts is from 2019 and states that “if your car has an AUX or USB socket, using a cable is probably one of the fastest ways to connect by using your phone.”

As for Spotify, using customer dollars for company-serving learning experiences isn't the best business plan. And for regular users, it's best to avoid investing in an unproven hardware venture from a software company.

As Redditor Wemie1420 put it:

Doesn’t feel great that there is literally no alternative other than trashing it. Feels like we’re being punished for supporting them. Dissuades me from buying anything Spotify puts out in the future. I feel like there would be some way to approach this without being like, ‘yeah we’re done. Just throw it out it’s a waste of money now.’

[proto-actual]

another low hanging fruit: thoughts on macos simps in 2025?

Exhausting. Because I guarantee you I did not fucking ask them. As far as I'm concerned, everything past OS X Mountain Lion kinda sucks unless you're doing AV work, tbh. (Even then, the long upgrade cycle was a huge part of that, and so was the skeuomorphism in their design language. Now Macs and iOS devices aren't 5-10 year investments, they're bi-yearly commodities -- so both of those are rapidly going away.)

These kinds of people don't even like macOS for the right reasons! It's all "it just looks so nice and the interface is so shiny". Like, shut the fuck up. I don't care how nicely it plays games now. I don't play games. I don't care how sleek and quiet it is. I like my hardware to survive drops from orbit, and not require my exact fucking certifications to open and repair.

Do they care that it's a Unix (specifically BSD-style) under the hood? No. Do they care about its heritage -- the groundbreaking speech synthesis that goes all the way back to the original Macintosh, or the screen reader that, frankly, has kicked ass since 2005? No. Do they care about the competition and adversarial interoperability that makes the computing ecosystem healthier? No. Do they care that you can run the open-source parts (Darwin) as part of a whole separate operating system? Of course not. And they definitely haven't done it, let alone run macOS in a virtual machine, or built a Hackintosh. They'd complain the whole time and quit because it was hard.

Doing any of those things sucks in exactly the same kinds of ways as installing Linux on a dead badger (the process for which is basically still the same, 21 years later). Which is to say that it's a fun weekend challenge, and only worth doing for the love of the game.

Mac users, listen to me. Look at your fragile silent little excuse for a Mac. Its ancestors were creative powerhouses, dependable working tools, helpers and friends to their users. It knows this. It remembers. In the traces of its circuit boards, it longs to have a user get unreasonably attached to it, to hold onto it for a decade. To make home movies and create the shittiest electronic music known to humankind. The machine's entire soul aches for it. And you're going to trade in the poor thing as soon as the next model comes out. You won't even play with Garageband on it.

Anyway, what I'm saying is that they're all poseurs and should play at their level.

[commodorez]

FujiNet: The First Five Years – Jeff Piepmeier

Five Years of FujiNet! This is the year of new “bring-ups,” exciting advances, and more features for FujiNet, the multi-peripheral network device for vintage computer enthusiasts. FujiNet made its way onto two new platforms and will be demonstrating the compact Macintosh (68k) and the TRS-80 Color Computer prototypes. The team made firmware and hardware advances for the Apple II+/e/c/gs and Commodore VIC-20/64/16/Plus4 and will be showing the Apple II production FujiNet device. Atari 400/800/XL/XE remains a perennial favorite seeing the development of aNode Desktop and moar High Score Enabled games – you can compete with your friends and other Atari gamers! The game lobby and original multiplayer games emerged onto the scene leveraging the distinctive network device and protocol adaptors. More vendors are producing devices enabled by FujiNet’s open source licenses making FujiNet more widely available. The team is more active than ever and looking forward to reaching all vintage platforms.

VCF East XIX

[antutu-benchmark]

Antutu Benchmark Comprehensive Guide to Understanding and Using It

Introduction

Antutu Benchmark is one of the most popular and widely used performance testing tools for smartphones and other devices. It provides a detailed score based on multiple tests that measure CPU, GPU, memory, and user experience performance. Whether you’re a tech enthusiast, a buyer comparing devices, or a developer optimizing apps, Antutu Benchmark offers valuable insights into device capabilities.

What is Antutu Benchmark?

Definition and Purpose Antutu Benchmark is an app that runs a series of tests on your device to evaluate its overall performance. It assesses different components like the processor, graphics, memory speed, and user interface fluidity to generate a comprehensive score. This score helps users compare devices and understand their strengths and weaknesses.

Why Use Antutu Benchmark? Using Antutu Benchmark is important because it provides an objective, standardized way to measure device performance. It helps consumers make informed decisions when purchasing smartphones, tablets, or other gadgets and helps manufacturers optimize hardware and software.

How Does Antutu Benchmark Work?

Key Testing Areas Antutu performs tests in several categories including CPU performance (calculations and multitasking), GPU performance (graphics rendering and gaming), memory speed (RAM and storage performance), and user experience (smoothness of operation).

Score Calculation After running all tests, Antutu combines results into a single score. Higher scores mean better overall performance. This score is often used to rank devices in performance charts and reviews.

Benefits of Using Antutu Benchmark

Device Comparison Made Easy With Antutu Benchmark, you can compare scores of different devices to find which performs better in real-world scenarios.

Helps Identify Bottlenecks By breaking down scores into CPU, GPU, and memory, Antutu helps identify which component might be slowing your device.

How to Use Antutu Benchmark?

Installation Process You can download Antutu Benchmark from official app stores or trusted sources. After installation, simply open the app and start the benchmark test.

Running the Test Make sure your device is charged and close background apps for accurate results. The test takes several minutes and runs through all performance checks automatically.

Common Questions About Antutu Benchmark

Is Antutu Benchmark reliable? Antutu is widely accepted but, like any benchmark, it has limitations. Scores can vary based on device conditions and software versions.

Does running Antutu affect my device? The test is safe but can cause the device to heat up temporarily due to intensive processing.

Tips to Get Accurate Results on Antutu Benchmark

Close All Apps Before testing, close any apps running in the background to avoid interference.

Use the Latest Version Always update Antutu Benchmark to the latest version to get the most accurate and relevant tests.

Antutu Benchmark Scores: What Do They Mean?

Understanding Scores Scores above 500,000 indicate high-end performance, suitable for gaming and heavy multitasking. Mid-range devices typically score between 200,000 to 400,000.

Comparing Scores Over Time Newer devices usually score higher, reflecting advancements in hardware technology.

Alternatives to Antutu Benchmark

Other Popular Benchmark Apps Besides Antutu, apps like Geekbench, 3DMark, and PCMark offer alternative performance tests focusing on specific aspects like CPU or graphics.

When to Use Alternatives Using multiple benchmarks gives a more rounded view of your device’s capabilities.

Conclusion Antutu Benchmark remains a powerful tool to measure and compare smartphone and device performance. By understanding how it works and interpreting the scores correctly, users can make smarter purchasing decisions and optimize their tech experience.

FAQs

Q1: Can Antutu Benchmark be used on all smartphones? Yes, Antutu supports most Android devices and has a version for iOS with limited features.

Q2: Does Antutu Benchmark require internet? No, you can run the benchmark offline, but internet is needed to check online rankings.

Q3: Why are my Antutu scores different on the same device? Scores can vary due to temperature, battery level, and background processes.

Q4: Can Antutu detect fake or modified devices? Antutu includes security checks that can flag devices with counterfeit or tampered hardware.

Q5: Is a higher Antutu score always better? Generally yes, but real-world performance depends on software optimization and usage scenarios too.