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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 11th, 2023

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  • Zak@lemmy.worldtoLinux@lemmy.mlAntiviruses?
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    5 days ago

    No. ClamAV can, for example scan Linux ELF executables and its database contains signatures for malware that could affect desktop Linux. The most common use case is servers that are distributing files, but it can be used to scan local files.

    The local use case is fairly rare because malware targeting desktop Linux is rare. That’s partly because Linux users tend to have a better understanding of computers on average than Windows users, and partly because the sort of attack vectors that work well against Windows users don’t align with Linux workflows (e.g. if you want to execute a file sent as an email attachment, you’ll have to save it and set it executable first).



  • I put PostmarketOS on a spare device recently. PostmarketOS describes itself as currently being in a state suitable for Linux enthusiasts to try out, not for wider use. That seems about right to me.

    On the fun side, it’s proper desktop-style Linux. I can SSH to it from my laptop. I can compile software on it. I can run programs that have no business running on a phone. On the not so fun side, the cameras barely work, data over USB doesn’t work at all, and battery life is not good. Desktop Firefox on a phone screen is pretty bad. Rumor has it there’s some support for Android apps, but I’ve been looking at Waydroid’s splash screen for a long time now with no progress.



  • Zak@lemmy.worldtoSelfhosted@lemmy.worldTiny Tiny RSS is dead
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    15 days ago

    That’s true but not useful.

    It’s probably better to describe both ideologies as extreme-authoritarian or totalitarian. They’re about equally undesirable; when someone has a boot on your throat, it doesn’t matter much whether it’s the right boot or the left boot.


  • I recently picked up a Microsoft Surface Go 2 and installed Linux on it. Ebay is flooded with them in the USA, and I paid $90 for the tablet with the keyboard cover. The irony of Linux on a Microsoft branded tablet amuses me.

    Everything but the cameras just worked. There’s a kernel patch for the cameras, but I haven’t been motivated to patch and recompile.

    Anyone shopping for the same should keep in mind that the 8100Y CPU is twice as fast as the Pentium, and the 64gb storage option is slow eMMC while 128gb and 256gb are faster NVME.








  • I’m content without a lot of customization for this application when it gets things right. The tablet is a a tertiary device that doesn’t really get used for productivity.

    The OSK doesn’t get things right. I shouldn’t have to press layer switch keys six times to type ~/note2b. This is Linux. Linux users type things like that all the time.



  • When installing distributions generally regarded as user-friendly on hardware that’s well-supported, I usually do have pretty low-fuss experiences. It’s usually no more trouble than installing Windows, though the average Windows user has never actually done that.

    When installing Arch Linux ARM on an old Chromebook and trying to make tablet mode and rotation play well with various lightweight window managers, I did not, in fact have a flawless experience. Once I tried Gnome on it, the experience became much smoother, but that’s a little heavyweight on a 4gb machine.


  • Safely is always a bit iffy when you’re resizing partitions with data on them. Parted and various GUI tools built on top of it can resize partitions without losing data in most cases, but there is always a risk. I wouldn’t like doing this without fresh backups.

    You can unmount the home partition for resizing when you’re not using it, e.g. if you log in as root, which typically has its home directory in /root. This would allow resizing it while running from your installed OS rather than a flash drive.



  • My Rockchip 3399 powered former Chromebook (now running proper Linux) from 2017 runs Gnome smoothly with Wayland, not with Xorg.

    That’s reasonable to directly compare with phones from 2017; it’s slower than a Pixel 2. Mine actually benchmarks a little slower than the reference board linked here.

    It isn’t working as it should be if it doesn’t run smoothly on more powerful hardware, but it’s not necessarily a matter of the end user “doing something wrong”. Sometimes it takes effort to get a particular combination of hardware and software to run smoothly even though it should work.


  • Zak@lemmy.worldtoLinux@lemmy.mlLinux gave me a brand new laptop
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    4 months ago

    I’ve used Linux as my primary OS for many years, but I keep a copy of Windows on my current laptop for gaming. I know the gaming story on Linux is pretty good now, but having to hibernate and reboot is enough of a barrier to launching a game that it helps me stay more productive.

    At home, my laptop sits on a stand with great airflow, but when trying to play The Witcher 3 on a desk while traveling, it overheated and throttled to the point it wasn’t playable. On Linux, the thinkpad_acpi driver allows setting the fan level to “disengaged”, which sounds like “off” but actually means unregulated and results in a considerably higher speed and cooling performance than the usual maximum. Some research led to the conclusion that while manual fan control is possible with certain apps on Windows, there is no way to exceed the maximum automatic speed.

    It only took a couple minutes to set up Lutris and Proton to run the game, and as expected the mild abuse of my laptop’s fan does make it playable. What I didn’t expect is considerably faster load times, but I got those too.