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I designed a cardboard cutter that turns boxes into free cat scratchers
  • That's a fair point, I guess I think of digital goods in a different context.

    They definitely deserve compensation for their work, and how they chose to do it is absolutely valid. I think I'm biased toward open source hardware where the labor of creating their digital files is subsidized by selling the physical product instead. I realize that's a risk and takes more effort though, so I totally understand why they didn't do that.

  • I designed a cardboard cutter that turns boxes into free cat scratchers
  • I replied to another response similar to yours so I won't bore you unless you want to read more, but I mostly agree with what you said and I totally agree that the work itself to create the file is worth compensation. I'm just a penny-pinching bastard who would rather find out if the print is actually good before paying lmao.

    Pay-what-you-want, donations, and subsidizing with a higher price for the final product makes more sense to me in terms of these kinds of digital goods, but that's besides the point, and I'm no expert on this kind of thing.

    Honestly I'd be willing to pay 5-8 bucks for the final product since it looks more polished than any of the free designs I've seen. But yes, fair points.

  • I designed a cardboard cutter that turns boxes into free cat scratchers
  • I don't disagree, never said people should work for free. I recognize there's a disjoint in believing good information should be free[ly accessible] and also that people deserve compensation for work, though. It's just one of those contradictions I haven't solved as far as my own beliefs.

    More than anything I was complaining, like I said it's a totally valid business choice, I'm just a penny-pincher lol.

  • I designed a cardboard cutter that turns boxes into free cat scratchers
  • Oh definitely, I just think it's easier to justify paying for a physical product than it is paying for a single file if you still need to manufacture it yourself. Still a valid business practice, I'm just biased toward "information should be free" and all that.

  • I designed a cardboard cutter that turns boxes into free cat scratchers
  • Looks like the specific design in this video is being sold here, but if you'd prefer something that isn't behind a pay wall there's a few options (like this one).

    Side rant: I'm all for people getting compensation for creative work but I feel like it's wrong to put the source file behind a waywall instead of simply selling the actual print directly to people that don't have access to a printer, that seems much more fair imo

  • I designed a cardboard cutter that turns boxes into free cat scratchers
  • I mean that's kinda the whole deal with 3d printing, it's useful for really niche applications where you can just add a small amount of convenience to your life.

    Someone else commented about this being good for school kids so they can safely make cat scratchers to donate to animal shelters, and as a cat owner with a constant pile of recycling I can see this being actually useful if I wanna avoid spending $20-$40 on one of those fancier cardboard cat scratchers from Target or whatever.

  • Google Play Store redesign adds Search tab, persistent bottom bar [U]
  • They could've so easily solved this by making it just immediately jump to the search bar on tap, or hide that feature behind a long press like some other apps do if they're really wanting to push people towards trending searches. I appreciate that it's within thumb's reach now but this is a pretty lackluster implementation

  • Update on 'Best "convertible" or 2-in-1 device to run Linux on?' (Minisforum V3 first impressions)
  • Yeah honestly if they could do a massive overhaul on performance and UX with the OSK then that'd solve the main complaint I've had with touch interfaces on Linux

  • Accent colors for GNOME has been merged as well!
  • I think it's based on the xdg-desktop-portal accent color support, but there were specific hooks added to libadwaita to handle that desktop standard, at least that's my guess based on this.

    Definitely glad we have the major desktops all natively supporting accent colors now, it's been a long time coming.

  • Accent colors for GNOME has been merged!
  • Not to be dramatic, but I think this means it's finally the year of the Linux desktop /s

    Glad GNOME finally got this finished, it's good to finally have most of the major desktops on the same page with the freedesktop accent color support.

  • Why in 2024 do people still believe in religion? (serious)
  • Thank you, I think people often overlook how faith and scientific thought can be complimentary. In any case, for questions of religious/spiritual matters, people are basically just running with a hypothesis that works for them. As long as they're capable of being self-critical and aren't pushing their beliefs on people who aren't interested, then it seems fine to me.

  • Why in 2024 do people still believe in religion? (serious)
  • I think that does answer the question - for a lot of people, the reason they're religious is because they find it personally beneficial for one reason or another.

  • Building a from-scratch IP-KVM/Pikvm board. Tips?

    I have a spare SBC (Pine A64 LTS) that I currently have no other use for, and recently I got the idea of turning it into an IP-KVM. However, the software support for this board is a little middling, and the board's been somewhat overlooked by the community. That leaves me with no ready-made solutions for turning this board into a little PiKVM-style device, so I wanted to ask around and see what people more knowledgeable in this realm had to say so that I can approach building this, uh, less stupid-ly. The main issue I've had is just the overwhelming amount of information relating to building a KVM setup like this, so I figured I'd ask what kind of software/packages are necessary or if anyone has any tips on resources I might have missed.

    Here's what I'm hoping to accomplish:

    • Connect the SBC to my homelab (a salvaged Optiplex 7050) to make it easier to manage/access BIOS without lugging it onto my desk
    • The board should be accessible on the local network via web browser, sending video with relatively low latency and capturing key/mouse input

    Here's some basic info about my setup:

    • The most stable system for this board (in my experience) is Fedora IoT. The other OSes on the Pine64 wiki have given me issues with booting and Ethernet stability, especially the Armbian builds, and Fedora's given me no such
      • Because of this OS constraint, some of the DIY Pi-KVM setup scripts I've seen won't work. This OS is immutable and relies on rpm-ostree, which does affect the logistics somewhat
      • I've considered Alpine Linux, since a lighter base would be nice, but it requires compiling arm-trusted-firmware & u-boot for the board, which were giving me problems earlier. I'm sure I could put more effort into this pathway, but I haven't bet on it yet since I have no reason to believe the Fedora setup wouldn't work
    • The board has two USB 2.0 ports and a single Ethernet port. From what I've seen, this should suffice for the connections needed (one for video-in and another to send key/mouse over USB)

    Hopefully this is enough relevant information, let me know if there's anything else I should add. Any advice is appreciated, thanks!

    4
    How can I easily and conveniently transfer files wirelessly between my linux computer and android phone?
  • I use a mix of GSConnect/KDEConnect, Warpinator, and Syncthing. I've got a shared "dropoff" folder on Syncthing that lets me easily drop files from one device to another. You're having issues with Warpinator but if you're able to figure out the issue there, that's my second go-to for one-time file transfers. KDEConnect is a bit more fiddly, but I use it mostly for sharing clipboard info and the occasional file when it's stable enough.

  • YouTube is experimenting with Notes, a crowdsourced feature that lets users add context to videos
  • Yeah but it's not that accurate, and it leaves most normal mobile users out of the picture. I know YouTube knew exactly what they were doing when they removed dislikes, but it still seems absolutely insane to remove such a useful tool for sifting through the bullshit.

  • Is the Proton (Mail, VPN, Password Manager) ecosystem any good?
  • They're referring to the quality of integrations with third-party systems, like the built-in CalDAV support basically every OS has. For some people, using just the calendar app is fine, but others want that deeper integration so they don't have to rely entirely on Proton to provide features in their frontends that OS apps might already handle.

    For example, on Android I might want to let other apps access information from my calendar (e.g. my launcher so it can show me events from within its built-in schedule widget). Same goes for my Thunderbird client on Linux, it'd be nice to have the calendar events be integrated there too. Unfortunately, they currently only support a mail bridge, but the official Proton account on Reddit has made a few comments stating that they're "looking into" adding CalDAV support to Bridge, but there's no official timeline on when or if that'll actually happen. I'm willing to bet it eventually will, but I'll say I'd definitely appreciate it if they did.

  • How to help grow this community?

    This seems to be one of the few communities focused on console hacking in general, and I'd love to see it get some more traction, but I'm not sure how best to help.

    I'm a pretty casual console hacking enjoyer, so I don't have much new I can bring to the table, but I figured the next best way to improve the health of this community would be just reposting some relevant and interesting videos and blogs I've seen. I wasn't able to find more detailed rules for this community though, so I wanted to make sure that kind of posting wasn't against the community rules.

    1
    Microsoft addresses Windows Recall backlash, promises to fix security issues and make it opt-in
  • MS really has always done this, what's the name for this kind of marketing maneuver? Manufactured consent? Manufactured begrudging tolerance?

  • Telegram founder and CEO alledges signal has backdoors, they don't provide reproduceible builds, etc.
  • EagerEagle posted a good comment under this post going over the client code stuff, pretty enlightening stuff.

  • Telegram founder and CEO alledges signal has backdoors, they don't provide reproduceible builds, etc.
  • Saw someone post that City Journal article on mastodon a couple days ago and I'm amazed that so few people picked up that the City Journal and the article's author are basically puppets of the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank. I know most people aren't tuned to look out for think tank propaganda but it came off as really obviously FUD-y and unsubstantiated.

  • Change the integrated music widget?
  • This isn't really a highly direct solution, but you could try increasing the screen zoom of the whole device by a notch or two. Somewhere in Settings > Display > Font Size/Screen Zoom or something like that may size up the UI enough that it's comfortable for you. I think you can mix and match font sizes and screen zooms, so you can keep text from getting too big but size up the UI buttons. This will naturally affect all android UI, not just the music widget, but maybe that's okay in your situation?

  • Did Fedora 40 break something for you?
  • Yeah, Gnome 46 has been a really solid, small upgrade in my experience. I swear it's made things smoother and more consistent, plus some of the minor visual tweaks and refinements are welcome. Turns out a lot of what they did is under-the-hood optimizations and improvements to accessibility, so the Gnome desktop update itself has been a small but welcome improvement.

    So far I haven't had any issues elsewhere I'm Fedora 40, but maybe that's because I've checked for new updates pretty frequently and done some restarts since the upgrade, that might be keeping things fresh.

  • Best external SSD for high-uptime use?

    I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of an external SSD that'd last me a while being plugged into my incredibly simple SBC home server. I've done a bit of research but haven't found much information about USB-connected SSDs and their longevity in terms of 24/7 use.

    Some More Specifics What I'm aiming to do is use this drive as NAS that I can access on my home network, it'd mostly be used for syncing backups from devices, but would also probably get use as a general-purpose file storage solution. Basically, it's going to be plugged into my little Raspberry Pi all the time, but will only be used sporadically and generally won't be writing huge amounts of data at a time.

    Given the above information, are there any external SSDs you could recommend for this application? Or am I worrying too much and should just buy your average Samsung/Kingston/WD/Seagate etc.?

    Edit:

    Thanks for the advice everyone, that was quick and helpful! The solution I'm gonna go with is a USB caddy/housing to hold a standard internal HDD, so hopefully this is helpful for anyone else in a similar place with a simple home server like mine.

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    kellenoffdagrid kellenoffdagrid❓️ @lemmy.sdf.org

    You're awfully curious, aren't you?

    Posts 4
    Comments 57