Danie van der Merwe

3 reasons magnetic switches are shaking up the keyboard scene

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 11:26:58 +0200

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

3 reasons magnetic switches are shaking up the keyboard scene

Mechanical keyboards have been responsible for a huge shift in user behaviour, owing to the superior typing experience they offer over traditional or membrane keyboards. Mechanical switches are at the core of that experience, offering a satisfying tactile and auditory response to users, which can't be replicated on conventional keyboards.

We are now witnessing what could be another radical shift in switch technology — magnetic switches. To be clear, magnetic switches didn't come up yesterday. The tech has existed since the 60s, and we've seen it in popular keyboards from brands like Wooting since late 2022. However, what's new is the bubbling interest in magnetic switches from consumers and manufacturers, with brands like Wooting and Razer fighting hard to come out on top.

What is interesting to me about this, is that I think of magnets as losing power over time and having imprecise points at when they trigger. It seems that I was very wrong on this.

The key thing here is these are permanent magnets and they use the Hall effect switches (like we use Hall effect sensors for measuring electrical current travelling through a wire). So this also means being able to have dynamic actuation and reset points. Also, there is no physical contact switch, so they could last a lot longer (and be silent).

See 3 reasons magnetic switches are shaking up the keyboard scene

Mechanical switches might be old news, as magnetic switches get increasingly popular due to their advantages for gamers and professionals alike.

#technology #keyboards

technology keyboards

Paperless-ngx is a privacy respecting open-source self-hosted document management solution

Thu, 01 Aug 2024 17:06:09 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

Paperless-ngx is a privacy respecting open-source self-hosted document management solution

This is a great solution for scanning or uploading any documents, images, e-mails, etc into your own self-hosted solution for home or business use. Nothing is shared out to other services, and being self-hosted, it's not going to get hacked in someone's cloud either.

All documents are OCR'd for full text searching, and separately saved into PDF/A format.

It's a great way to organise all your family, or business, receipts, contracts, images, equipment manuals, e-mails, etc so that anyone with the permissions in the family or team can find them later.

If being organised is not your thing, I also do a quick demo at the end of a good full-text desktop indexer/searcher, as an alternative, that will find your documents scattered across your drive.

Watch

YouTube

Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.

#technology #opensource #documentmanagement #paperlessngx #selfhosting

technology opensource privacy paperlessngx

Why Snap and Flatpak make Linux a better OS and how they're different

Wed, 31 Jul 2024 17:06:37 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

Why Snap and Flatpak make Linux a better OS and how they're different

One of the reasons why Snap and Flatpak were developed was to remove the dependency issues found with traditional package managers. Snap and Flatpak packages contain all the software necessary to install the package in question, including dependencies.

So, when you go to install a certain piece of software via either Snap or Flatpak, you don't have to worry about installing dependencies because the Snap or Flatpak package has taken care of that issue for you.

I've certainly found Flatpak's to be great when some software updates had been breaking due to dependencies which were at different versions to the one that the software wanted. Also, some devs are preferring to distribute Flatpaks or Snaps as it makes support so much easier, and installing on different distro's is also a "snap".

Yes it's true, I suppose, that proprietary software could also be packaged into a Snap or Flatpak, as the app is not being built from compiling the source code at all.

The linked article also gives a nice comparison between the two formats. Of course, as a user, you can use either, or you can use both if you wish.

See https://www.zdnet.com/article/why-snap-and-flatpak-make-linux-a-better-os-and-how-theyre-different

#technology #Linux #Flatpak #Snap #opensource

technology Linux opensource Flatpak Snap

Thu, 01 Aug 2024 01:40:52 +0200

Droppie [infosec] 🐨♀:archlinux: :kde: :floorp: :thunderbird:🦘:vegan:

MsDropbear425@infosec.exchange

@gadgeteer Though i would concede the following is probably less attractive, or even maybe completely beyond consideration, for less technical users, for the slightly [or more] geeky amongst us, IMO a project that massively downgrades any argument for #flatpak or #snap, is #Distrobox.

Thu, 01 Aug 2024 14:59:44 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

@Droppie [infosec] ?♀:archlinux: :kde: :floorp: :thunderbird:?:vegan: Distrobox though is not quite the same thing - that is more of a virtual OS on the CLI which does help run apps packaged for a different distro / package manager. I'd say it may make it a bit more complex where an average user may find the plain Flatpak install and run from the menu a bit easier. But yes, Distrobox has some useful functions.

Reading an electric meter with a SDR for use in Home Assistant

Tue, 30 Jul 2024 18:52:17 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

Reading an electric meter with a SDR for use in Home Assistant

My solar system also only reads its full power usage without seeing what power is going direct to the geysers. In my case I'm using a Hall sensor with an Efergy cloud based system to read the power that is still being drawn from the grid.

In the USA, most smart meters send data along the ISM band, in a protocol called Encoder Receiver Transmitter, by Itron corporation. This applies to electric, gas, and water meters. Said protocol has a variety of message formats, but they're all fairly easy to work with. The meters generally have a barcode or similar tag on them, usually near the word/logo for "Itron", with an 8 digit numeric ID.

A Software defined radio (SDR) can be put to good use though to read this data into Home Assistant though. This project explains how that can be done.

See Reading my electric meter with RTLSDR • pdx.su

The personal blog of software engineer Jeff Sandberg

#technology #homeassistant #smarthome

technology smarthome homeassistant

5 Excellent reasons you should try using open source software

Mon, 29 Jul 2024 19:06:26 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

5 Excellent reasons you should try using open source software

Open-source software has existed in some form or another since the early 1980s and is now used in almost every technology sector. Open-source tools and software are used in everything from TVs to ChatGPT, so the chances are high that you've already used it, even if you didn't realize it. It powers web browsers, operating systems, apps, and games, and is often licensed so other developers can modify it. There are many reasons to use open-source software instead of proprietary programs, from feeling part of a community to keeping your data more secure.

The linked article lists the following reasons and expands on each of them a bit further:
* Giving new life to old hardware
* Get out of vendor locks and other annoyances
* Everyone being able to read your code makes for better security practices
* Lower upfront costs
* Your data is yours, and not sold to others

You'd think with all the above, open source would be the absolute go-to software, but it does lack any form of marketing and lobbying (apart from enterprise level open source).

I can also add, though, for corporates needing support there are many companies that can be paid to provide support (without lock-in). Additionally, as open standards are usually used, the data survives into the future and can still be accessed and used even with other software applications. Many open source apps are also fully cross-platform.

See 5 reasons you should try using open source software

From privacy concerns to a sense of community, here's why open source software is great.

#technology #opensource

technology opensource

The Continent is a free (of cost, ads and trackers) news publication for Africans by Africans

Sat, 27 Jul 2024 16:56:45 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

The Continent is a free (of cost, ads and trackers) news publication for Africans by Africans

The Continent is a weekly newspaper produced by African reporters, photographers, illustrators and editors. It is designed to be read and shared on WhatsApp, Telegram channel, Signal or e-mail, and has become the continent's most widely distributed newspaper.

It is designed to be read on a mobile screen, with mostly short news pieces of 250 to 400 words, and a few longer pieces of about 900 words. Editions are sent out as a PDF on Fridays.

Led by a small team of nine (all working remotely) and having published contributions from nearly 200 journalists, writers, photographers and illustrators from across Africa in the past year, The Continent has covered numerous important and urgent stories, starting with reliable information from African researchers and public health experts on the Covid-19 pandemic, and on to other ground-breaking reporting: the injustice of “vaccine apartheid” with rich countries hoarding Covid-19 vaccines; the impact of Nigeria’s sudden and dramatic Twitter ban (applauded by none other than Donald Trump); a tender photo essay on being queer in Uganda, in a country where it is dangerous to be LGBTQ.

The Continent is published by the All Protocol Observed, a registered non-profit based in South Africa. It was initially funded by the editorial team, but has since attracted donor and commercial funding. So a refreshing difference is no adverts and also no tracking. You receive the PDF weekly via your channel of choice (or you can just download it from their website), and you can reshare this with anyone you wish to.

Credit to Jan Wildeboer @Jan Wildeboer ?:krulorange: for sharing this on the Fediverse.

See The Continent | Africa

The Continent is an award-winning African newspaper, designed to be read and shared on WhatsApp.

#news #Africa #TheContinent #journalism

news journalism Africa

How to test if your VPN is working

Sat, 27 Jul 2024 16:15:52 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

How to test if your VPN is working

Keeping your online activities and data private is a top priority nowadays. VPNs, or virtual private networks, are one of the best ways to do this. Not only do they encrypt your internet connection, but they reroute all of your traffic through a private tunnel to keep it safe from prying eyes. Even the best VPNs can have problems, though.

Maybe you’re not sure if your VPN is working properly. Or maybe you just want to test out the service for yourself to better understand how it safeguards your privacy.

I especially liked that the ipleak site also does a torrent address detection test. Happy to see my ProtonVPN service passed all the test with zero leaking of my actual IP address.

See How to test if your VPN is working

Not sure your VPN is working? Read this quick and easy guide to make sure you're data is staying private and secure online with a VPN.

#technology #VPN #privacy

technology VPN privacy

6 myths about mechanical keyboards that are no longer true

Thu, 25 Jul 2024 12:12:45 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

6 myths about mechanical keyboards that are no longer true

For better or worse, the "mech keeb" community is still a niche one, so there are many more people outside of it than the ones in the know. So, a regular PC user might still have some misconceptions about mechanical keyboards that are far from the truth.

These myths range across all aspects of mechanical keyboards, from the look and feel to the sound and price. Perhaps the only silver lining we have is that most of these myths are super easy to debunk, so people don't have an excuse to stay uninformed any longer.

It's always interesting to me, no matter what the technology, so many people tend to get hung up about issues that existed when it launched, and those perceptions stubbornly persist. Yes you can buy really cheap membrane keyboards, but the experience is not the same, and a better keyboard is going to last you a long time. Both a keyboard and mouse are intensively used with a computer, so you may as well be a bit more discerning when choosing them. I've realised over time too that RGB colour lights are not the biggest thing (unless you want to set certain shortcut keys in their own colours) but I really do value backlit keys to see them clearer (I do visual typing not touch typing).

See 6 myths about mechanical keyboards that are no longer true

Mechanical keyboards might be extremely popular, but many myths about them are still prevalent among those outside the community.

#technology #keyboards

technology keyboards

7 password rules to live by in 2024, according to security experts - No, frequent changes not one of the rules

Wed, 24 Jul 2024 22:31:43 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

7 password rules to live by in 2024, according to security experts - No, frequent changes not one of the rules

If you really want to get deep into the details of digital security, read the four-volume Digital Identity Guidelines from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). It's a massive document, and much of it is aimed at Federal agencies that need extremely robust security. There's plenty of practical, easy-to-read information there as well, such as the discussion of how long and complex passwords really need to be. You'll find those details in the short appendix titled "Strength of Memorized Secrets."

The folks at NIST have created a simple Cybersecurity Basics page that boils all that technical information down to a set of crisp guidelines for small business owners and managers.

Experts agree that changing passwords regularly isn't necessary, and that organizations requiring users to change their password for no reason are actually making their networks less secure.

Why? Because people who are forced to change passwords regularly are likely to choose a weak, easy-to-guess password. If you've done a solid job of choosing a strong and unique password, there's no need to change it under normal circumstances.

They're all very sensible rules, and changing a well-chosen unique password every month, is not one of the recommendations. I recall making a post about this a year or two back, where the originator of that idea of monthly changes had explained where he came up with that idea, and it had no basis on any fact at all. And yet to this day most IT departments still require such changes, and of course users just tack on a number they keep changing (defeating the whole objective of that idea anyway).

See https://www.zdnet.com/article/7-password-rules-to-live-by-in-2024-according-to-security-experts

#technology #passwords #security

technology passwords security

The Julia programming language: a missed opportunity for AI

Wed, 24 Jul 2024 11:10:40 +0200

Danie van der Merwe

gadgeteer@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

The Julia programming language: a missed opportunity for AI

Admittedly, it was the headline that caught my attention, and I've only briefly looked a bit into Julia. Of course, there is also more to a language than just speed, such as wealth of libraries, wealth of documentation and tutorials, cross-platform compatibility, etc.

Its creators, in a 2012 blog post, stated they aimed to combine the speed of C with the ease of use of Python, while adopting additional positive qualities from various other leading programming languages.

On the face of it, Julia is pretty easy to pick up if you know any high-level language well. Python users could quite easily adapt to using it once you know some of the minor differences such as indexing of arrays starting at 1 instead of 0, concatenation of strings is with a "*" and not a "+", etc. Julia’s syntax is straightforward and intuitive, similar to that of Python, meaning it can be used extensively for exploratory programming and data analysis. They have a good FAQ itemising the differences to many other common languages such as Python, Common Lisp, C/C++, MATLAB, and R.

A FAQ is often why they did not just plug a Matlab or Python front-end into a Julia back-end (or “transpile” code to Julia) in order to get all the performance benefits of Julia without requiring programmers to learn a new language. Julia's performance advantage derives almost entirely from its front-end: its language semantics allow a well-written Julia program to give more opportunities to the compiler to generate efficient code and memory layouts. If you tried to compile Matlab or Python code to Julia, the compiler would be limited by the semantics of Matlab or Python to producing code no better than that of existing compilers for those languages (and probably worse).

There is also a build_executable function, but it is noted that this compatible across Windows and macOS, but not on Linux. To increase the portability, they suggest you use an older "cpu_target" target as "core2" instead of "native".

Importantly, too, the language is open-source and not affiliated to any company. That said, one programmer who no longer recommends Julia, state it was because the community swept some problems under the rug.

It is already used in many areas, for example NASA has deployed Julia to calculate the courses of spacecraft. It excels is financial analysis, weather forecasting and car crash simulations, etc. Its creators, in a 2012 blog post, stated they aimed to combine the speed of C with the ease of use of Python, while adopting additional positive qualities from various other leading programming languages.

Given that Julia's big advantage over Python is where speed, becomes a primary factor, it would be well suited you'd think for AI. If you need to scale your workload, Julia should offer a strong basis to keep growing. But Python has a mass adoption and people don't change languages just for the sake of it, especially when there is such a wealth of documentation and assistance out there for Python. Still, if speed is a primary factor, then it may well be worth considering Julia, especially given that is also quite easy to learn.

See The Julia programming language: a missed opportunity for AI