@neilzone.co.uk@rss-parrot.net
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Recent content on Neil's blog
Site URL: neilzone.co.uk/
Feed URL: neilzone.co.uk/feed/rss
Posts: 301
Followers: 1
Creating a partition larger than 2TB on an SSD on Linux
https://neilzone.co.uk/2024/03/creating-a-partition-larger-than-2tb-on-an-ssd-on-linux/
Published: March 18, 2024 19:06
I didnāt realise that one couldnāt use fdisk to create a partition larger than 2TB on Linux, until I was banging my head wondering why commands that Iāve used before did not work. *Update&: apparently, fdisk does support GPT, using g. Oh wellā¦ It seemsā¦
Saving money via AliExpress v Amazon
https://neilzone.co.uk/2024/03/saving-money-via-aliexpress-v-amazon/
Published: March 11, 2024 09:40
I wrote recently about a working wireless plug-and-play display solution for Linux laptops (and others OSs). I paid about Ā£55 ex VAT for this dongle-based set from Amazon and, as usual, it arrived next day. (Ā£70ish, before 25% discount) I thought that Ā£55ā¦
In memoriam: A&A's SIP2SIM service
https://neilzone.co.uk/2024/03/in-memoriam-aas-sip2sim-service/
Published: March 9, 2024 16:39
At the end of April 2024, multi-talented UK ISP A&A - Andrews & Arnold - is shutting down its SIP2SIM service. Hereās the official announcement. If youāre not familiar with the service, hereās how A&A described it: Our SIP2SIMĀ® service consists of a SIMā¦
Multiplayer Quake III Arena on Linux (client and server)
https://neilzone.co.uk/2024/03/multiplayer-quake-iii-arena-on-linux-client-and-server/
Published: March 9, 2024 10:37
I made a sort-of-joke the other day about using Quake III Arena as a form of metaverse for decoded.legal meetings. After all, you can move about, group together with people, talk (admittedly to the whole group, AFAIK) via text chat, and frag people whoā¦
EE data SIM expiry
https://neilzone.co.uk/2024/03/ee-data-sim-expiry/
Published: March 6, 2024 08:21
Future Neil: if, on 6 March 2025, you wonder why the cellular connectivity in your laptop is not working, you put in a 12 month data SIM today. It has probably expired.
Storing config options for yt-dlp in a config file
https://neilzone.co.uk/2024/03/storing-config-options-for-yt-dlp-in-a-config-file/
Published: March 3, 2024 14:10
I should probably file this under āread the fantastic man pageā. I am using yt-dlp and jellyfin as a media server setup. I recently added ytdl-sub to automate downloads from YouTube, from pre-defined channels. And it all works well. Really well. Except forā¦
The fediverse and (small?) businesses
https://neilzone.co.uk/2024/02/the-fediverse-and-small-businesses/
Published: February 27, 2024 09:18
Last updated 2024-02-27 I thought it would be interesting to look at business-specific accounts in the fediverse. What follows is a self-selected, clearly incomplete, list. It only displays accounts of people/businesses who asked/agreed to be includedā¦
A working wireless plug-and-play display solution for Linux laptops (and others OSs)
Published: February 26, 2024 16:40
I wanted a way to wirelessly display / ācastā the output of my laptop, running Linux, to a remote display. Basically, an HDMI cable without the cable. Over the weekend, I bought a device described as Wireless HDMI Transmitter and Receiver, 1080P Wirelessā¦
Switching to Mastodon 'unlisted'
https://neilzone.co.uk/2024/02/switching-to-mastodon-unlisted/
Published: February 25, 2024 16:55
Thereās not really a blogpost here. More a note of when I did it, for a future blogpost. Perhaps. Today, I switched my default posting visibility from āpublicā to āunlistedā. According to the documentation, the difference between the two is slight: ā¦
Replacing the thermal paste on my laptop
https://neilzone.co.uk/2024/02/replacing-the-thermal-paste-on-my-laptop/
Published: February 21, 2024 21:06
When I was getting the Sierra Wireless EM7455 LTE modem working in a ThinkPad with Debian 12 Linux, I had to remove the cooling system from my laptop. And, in doing so, I noticed that the thermal paste was crusty and falling away. It didnāt surprise me, asā¦
Reflections on six years in the fediverse
https://neilzone.co.uk/2024/02/reflections-on-six-years-in-the-fediverse/
Published: February 20, 2024 18:47
I originally joined the fediverse a long time ago now, with diaspora. But that didnāt last for too long, and I donāt really count it. I properly joined the fediverse six years ago, when I span up my first Mastodon instance. And, well, here I am, six yearsā¦
Downloading YouTube subscriptions and channels automatically
https://neilzone.co.uk/2024/02/downloading-youtube-subscriptions-and-channels-automatically/
Published: February 19, 2024 19:18
Iāve written before about my media player setup, including Jellyfin (as the media server), and yt-dlp for downloading from YouTube. What Iāve wanted for a while is a tool for downloading subscriptions, or simply the content of channels, from YouTube. Thatā¦
A rant about the pollution which is advertising
https://neilzone.co.uk/2024/02/a-rant-about-the-pollution-which-is-advertising/
Published: February 18, 2024 18:39
If you donāt want a rant, for this is assuredly just that, look away nowā¦ I hate adverts, and advertising. Not people promoting their own businesses in social media posts or on their own websites or shop windows, to be clear, but the kind of advertisingā¦
Suppressing posts containing images with no alt text in the Mastodon advanced web UI via uBlock Origin
Published: February 15, 2024 19:21
I am a happy fediverse user, and one of the things I really like about it is that many people add high quality alt text to their posts, to make them accessible. I donāt tend to boost posts containing images with no alt text (I appreciate that not everyoneā¦
How public is 'public'?
https://neilzone.co.uk/2024/02/how-public-is-public/
Published: February 13, 2024 16:48
Or, perhaps, which public? public, adj. & n. Of or relating to the people as a whole; that belongs to, affects, or concerns the community or the nation. (OED, 2024-02-13) A couple of conversations in the fediverse recently have made me think about theā¦
Improving my laptop's battery with TLP
https://neilzone.co.uk/2024/02/improving-my-laptops-battery-with-tlp/
Published: February 11, 2024 09:18
I saw a tip on the fediverse which, annoyingly, I cannot now find. If I do find it, I will link it here. Basically, it said: Have a look at TLP for improving your laptopās battery life TLP According to its documentation TLP is a feature-rich commandā¦
Alternatives to the term 'enshittification'
https://neilzone.co.uk/2024/02/alternatives-to-the-term-enshittification/
Published: February 11, 2024 09:14
tl;dr: lots of suggestions, but none which I feel work for me. The term āenshittificationā - popularised (and, perhaps, originated?) by Cory Doctorow - is getting a lot of usage at the moment. As a way of describing, in a single word, an approach of makingā¦
Stopping music in my office automatically when I get a phone call or join an audio/video call
Published: February 2, 2024 13:25
I have an Intel NUC in my office, using mpd, to play music on some speakers. I control this via either mpc or ncmpcpp, depending on what I want to do. Since I worked out how to add Internet radio streams to mpd, Iām rather enjoying that. But if I get aā¦
Will I ever buy a new laptop again? Why would I?
https://neilzone.co.uk/2024/01/will-i-ever-buy-a-new-laptop-again-why-would-i/
Published: January 30, 2024 12:42
A random musing, which occurred to me as I was browsing some posts in the fediverse about people buying, or seeking recommendations for, laptops. (The MNT Reform comes up quite a bit, as do the Framework machines.) Iām sure that, at some point, Iāll buyā¦
Adding an Internet radio stream (such as RadioFreeFedi) to mpd
https://neilzone.co.uk/2024/01/adding-an-internet-radio-stream-such-as-radiofreefedi-to-mpd/
Published: January 29, 2024 08:34
I am using mpd, running on an Intel NUC, connected to some old speakers, for playing music in my office, controlled by ncmpcpp on my laptop, or an app on my phone. This means I can easily control and play music from my own media library, but Iāve only justā¦
Getting the Sierra Wireless EM7455 LTE modem working in a ThinkPad with Debian 12 Linux (with GPS)
Published: January 26, 2024 07:37
tl;dr I wonder if just running sudo ln -sft /etc/ModemManager/fcc-unlock.d /usr/share/ModemManager/fcc-unlock.available.d/* would have done the trick? Anywayā¦ Background I have a Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (Gen 2). I set it up with Debian and it works reallyā¦
Fixing dropbear-initramfs '/scripts/init-premount/dropbear: cat: not found' error
Published: January 21, 2024 18:34
Hereās an irritating one. I use dropbear to remotely unlock LUKS-encrypted volumes. It works well. I can reboot a machine, and then use dropbearās ssh to login, unlock the LUKS volumes, and then finish booting the machine. Yesterday, I rebooted a machine,ā¦
Why I don't care about website/blog stats
https://neilzone.co.uk/2024/01/why-i-dont-care-about-websiteblog-stats/
Published: January 21, 2024 13:41
Every so often, someone says to me āhow many readers does your blog/website have, Neil?ā And I donāt know. In truth, I donāt care.1 My personal blog The main reason I run my personal blog - this site - is to keep a record of what Iāve done and how Iāveā¦
A week of not using a search engine
https://neilzone.co.uk/2024/01/a-week-of-not-using-a-search-engine/
Published: January 16, 2024 16:34
A week or so ago, I wondered if I actually needed to use a search engine as much as I did. So I stopped. And I fared better than I had thought. Realistically, Iām not going to avoid search engines forever, and Iām still tempted to run my own (limited)ā¦
RevK's privacy-friendly GPS logger
https://neilzone.co.uk/2024/01/revks-privacy-friendly-gps-logger/
Published: January 16, 2024 08:52
I sometimes ponder getting an electric car, but I have concerns about range. Iām pretty sure that most - the vast majority - of journeys would be fine, but Iām less convinced about some of the journeys we do regularly. What Iād like is some actual data, onā¦
Keeping bash history in sync using atuin and a self-hosted sync server
Published: January 9, 2024 18:28
I read an interesting blogpost today, entitled āI quit my job to work full time on my open source projectā. Iām full of respect for someone who does this - I know what itās like to quit employment and set up on your own, as I did this eight years ago now,ā¦
Very initial thoughts on the Xreal companion 'Beam' device
https://neilzone.co.uk/2024/01/very-initial-thoughts-on-the-xreal-companion-beam-device/
Published: January 8, 2024 13:34
Very initial thoughts on the Xreal companion āBeamā device I bought a pair of Xrealās āwearable displayā glasses a few weeks back, and Iāve been testing them out. Here are my initial thoughts, with more detailed thoughts to follow. I also bought the āBeamāā¦
From DuckDuckGo back to DuckDuckGo via Mojeek and Kagi
https://neilzone.co.uk/2024/01/from-kagi-back-to-duckduckgo/
Published: January 5, 2024 17:19
For years, I was happy using DuckDuckGo as a search engine. Right up until I wanted to exclude a particular site - LinkedIn - from my search results, and I found that I could not, without resorting to a browser extension approach which caused me some otherā¦
Keyboard shortcut for adding random albums to the playlist in ncmpcpp
Published: January 5, 2024 08:42
To clear the current playlist, add three random albums to the playlist, and start playing, in ncmpcpp: Clear the current playlist: cy Add three random albums: `b3 enter Start playing: 1 enter
Dark mode for the FireBrick network contraption's web UI
https://neilzone.co.uk/2024/01/dark-mode-for-the-firebrick-network-contraptions-web-ui/
Published: January 4, 2024 21:40
I like my FireBrick network contraption. I also like a dark UI. The FireBrickās web UI does not have a dark mode option, but it does have the ability to load a remote css file. This is the css-url parameter. If you are using the web editor, it is Edit /ā¦
This is a test post
https://neilzone.co.uk/2024/01/this-is-a-test-post/
Published: January 1, 2024 18:33
This is a test of an improved publication workflow. Ignore it.
A 'thank you' table for people making deliveries
https://neilzone.co.uk/2024/01/a-thank-you-table-for-people-making-deliveries/
Published: January 1, 2024 14:44
In early December, we put a small table by our door, with some bits and pieces for people making deliveries to the house. It was meant as a pre-Christmas āthank youā, recognising that delivery people work bloody hard, and may not have time to stop forā¦
Fixing Mastodon 'Error processing thumbnail for uploaded media' video uploading
Published: December 31, 2023 11:35
For a while now, I have been unable to upload video files to Mastodon. This wasnāt a big deal for me, but it annoys me when something doesnāt work properly. The error When I tried to upload a video file, whatever client I used, the client showed me: Errorā¦
Upgrading the glitch-soc fork of Mastodon
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/12/upgrading-the-glitch-soc-fork-of-mastodon/
Published: December 30, 2023 18:25
Iāve run Mastodon for a few years now, and upgrading has always been fine: it uses a release-based approach, and one just upgrades to the latest release. In November, I switched to the glitch-soc fork (for Markdown support), and while the initialā¦
Very, very initial thoughts of the Xreal Air 2 Pro glasses and Debian 12
Published: December 30, 2023 13:59
A year or so ago, I saw a post on The Register about glasses - Samsung, I think - which functioned as an external monitor. I thought that they looked really coolā¦ and then forgot about them. When I saw the Xreal āwearable displayā glasses a few weeks ago,ā¦
Subscriptions mount up quickly!
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/12/subscriptions-mount-up-quickly/
Published: December 27, 2023 16:42
Iāve been idly pondering the number of services to which I am subscribed / Sandra and I am subscribed together, wondering whether I could, and should, cut down. Iām thinking here about media and so on, not utilities. tl;dr: we have more than I thought, andā¦
#FreeSoftwareAdvent: all my 2023 Free software suggestion posts in one place
Published: December 24, 2023 09:31
(2022ās #FreeSoftwareAdvent posts are here.) shellcheck shellcheck checks your shell scripts for you, to help find and fix errors. Thereās a hosted version (https://www.shellcheck.net/), or you can install it locally. LinkChecker LinkChecker scans yourā¦
If I don't apply, I won't get it: my approach to interesting 'bits on the side'
Published: December 20, 2023 08:37
I am happily and busily self-employed and not job-hunting, but I do like to supplement my day job with other interesting bits and pieces, typically on a voluntary basis. Where I look I keep an eye out on the UKās āPublic Appointmentsā website and, ifā¦
Using Bitwarden as an AppImage on Debian with GNOME
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/12/using-bitwarden-as-an-appimage-on-debian-with-gnome/
Published: December 12, 2023 18:22
Another one really to help me remember what I have done. Iām using Bitwarden on my Debian desktop, which runs GNOME. Iām storing the AppImage file in /home/neil/.local/bin/. I also have an icon file (just the Bitwarden logo, found from somewhere), storedā¦
Improving the readability of the new design of legislation.gov.uk in Firefox with custom CSS
Published: December 7, 2023 08:55
I love legislation.gov.uk. Itās an amazing resource, and Iām very grateful to the team behind it. I also like - mostly - the new, cleaner, design. But I am not a fan of the changes to readability. Whatās changed It used to look like this: Now it looksā¦
Fixing SOGO error NSDataMalloc(instance) does not recognize stringByTrimmingSpaces
Published: December 6, 2023 16:17
My SOGo (calDAV) server stopped syncing recently. Digging into the logs, I saw an error, which was also replicated when running sogo-tool: <0x0x556f05e09480[SOGoCache]> Using host(s) '127.0.0.1' as server(s) 2023-12-05 14:53:58.230ā¦
A web UI for label creation and printing on a Brother QL-710W on Linux
Published: November 24, 2023 16:48
I posted recently about getting my Brother QL-710W working correctly on an Intel NUC running Debian 12. This works fine for printing via CUPS, but I couldnāt get printing working from my phone (Android) or Sandraās phone (iOS). But now I have a solution:ā¦
Mastodon for Dummies: a book review
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/11/mastodon-for-dummies-a-book-review/
Published: November 21, 2023 20:37
Cards on the table: I was not expecting to like it, but I was impressed by the breadth of content, as well as the style of writing. If you know someone who is not on the fediverse but wants to be, or someone who wants to use it more confidently, this wouldā¦
Getting a Brother QL-710W label printer working via CUPS on Debian
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/11/getting-a-brother-ql-710w-label-printer-working-via-cups-on-debian/
Published: November 17, 2023 17:53
I have a old-ish Brother QL-710W label printer. It has a Wi-Fi function, but I donāt really want it connecting to the network itself. Instead, I wanted to connect it to a box (either a Raspberry Pi or an Intel NUC) running Linux, which will expose theā¦
Desktop Linux: the software I'm currently using
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/11/desktop-linux-the-software-im-currently-using/
Published: November 13, 2023 08:48
I moved from macOS to Linux for my desktop computing about two years ago now. I wrote about it a year in. Stephen Newey said that he is looking to do the same, so I though Iād write up some of the software I am using currently for desktop Linux. Iāve usedā¦
Attempting to prohibit(?) code contributions which might have used an LLM such as Copilot?
Published: November 12, 2023 13:30
Someone asked me this question in the fediverse: I wrote this: https://github.com/gophercloud/gopherkube/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md#licensing Does it make sense from a legal perspective? As usual, nothing in this blogpost is legal advice. Treat this asā¦
Fixing apt yarn key deprecation warning in Debian 12
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/11/fixing-apt-yarn-key-deprecation-warning-in-debian-12/
Published: November 8, 2023 08:29
Iāve been getting this warning when using apt recently: W: https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian/dists/stable/InRelease: Key is stored in legacy trusted.gpg keyring (/etc/apt/trusted.gpg), see the DEPRECATION section in apt-key(8) for details. Hereās what Iāveā¦
Mounting LUKS-encrypted disks by UUID
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/11/mounting-luks-encrypted-disks-by-uuid/
Published: November 7, 2023 19:54
I have a machine with two external storage disks attached to it - one an SSD, and one an HDD. Both are LUKS-encrypted. On a reboot of the machine, I want them unlocked and mounted to specific mount points. They are not consistent with their /dev partitionā¦
Initial thoughts on storing TOTP seeds on YubiKeys instead of in Bitwarden
Published: November 6, 2023 16:49
I wrote last week about woes with a bug in a recent update of Bitwarden, which locked me out of my TOTP codes. I decided that, while I was comfortable storing my TOTP1 codes in my password manager (itself requiring MFA for new devices), I was no longerā¦
I went to the cinema. It sucked
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/11/i-went-to-the-cinema-it-sucked/
Published: November 5, 2023 15:25
Against my better judgment, Sandra and I went to the cinema recently. It was the first time in years - perhaps 6? - that weād been to the cinema. It sucked. Or, at least, my expectations were inconsistent with those of the cinema operator. Thirty soddingā¦
Improving our business, with Open Ideas
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/11/improving-our-business/
Published: November 4, 2023 14:10
My friend Terence Eden has recently opened his new consultancy, Open Ideas. So I was keen to get an appointment in the diary with him. Sandra and I have run our business - a small law firm, decoded.legal - for coming up 8 years now. Itās just the two of usā¦
Making my ThinkPad LED flash 'decoded.legal' in morse code
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/11/making-my-thinkpad-led-flash-decodedlegal-in-morse-code/
Published: November 3, 2023 12:47
I āwastedā my lunch break today. Controlling your ThinkPadās lid LED This morning, Lennart Poettering posted a rather cool piece of information: Did you know you could control brightness of the red dot on the i of the āThinkPadā on the top-side of yourā¦
I'm not sure that I can trust Bitwarden with my TOTP codes anymore
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/11/im-not-sure-that-i-can-trust-bitwarden-with-my-totp-codes-anymore/
Published: November 2, 2023 17:19
Iāve used Bitwarden as my password manager for a while now. And Iāve been very happy with it. I use a self-hosted instance, kept up to date. And I use it daily, multiple times a day. It is Just. So. Convenient. I paid for an individual licence, mainly forā¦
hugo, cron, publishdate, and auto-publishing blogposts
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/11/hugo-cron-publishdate-and-auto-publishing-blogposts/
Published: November 1, 2023 15:34
If you see this - and it is an āifā at this point - then Iāve understood how to use hugoās publishdate function correctly. I think that, as long as I set a publishdate for some point in the future, and that I do not set the draft parameter, hugo willā¦
Moving from htmly to hugo for a static site blog
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/10/moving-from-html-to-hugo-for-a-static-site-blog/
Published: October 29, 2023 09:00
For years, Iāve used htmly for both my personal and work blogs. And it was fine. A flat-file based blogging system, that met my needs. But it has not been updated in a long time, and the sudden influx of hits when a post rolls around the fediverse meansā¦
Fixing an Intel NUC with unknown supervisor or user BIOS password and a Secure Boot error
Published: October 21, 2023 09:00
An aide memoire for me. Removing the unknown supervisor or user BIOS password Open the machine up, and remove the yellow jumper. Boot the machine, and it should boot into the BIOS. Press ā2ā to wipe the passwords. Reboot the machine. Remedying 0x1aā¦
Intel NUC with no display output
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/10/intel-nuc-with-no-display-output/
Published: October 11, 2023 09:00
Try Shift + FN + F10.
Should I feel bad for buying second hand?
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/10/should-i-feel-bad-for-buying-second-hand/
Published: October 8, 2023 09:00
I buy quite a lot of stuff second hand. Particularly electronics, and CDs, DVDs, and (non-electronic, of course) books. For a lot of stuff, I really donāt mind that it is not new and, in some cases, I prefer it. I bought my eBike second hand, and becauseā¦
Switching to the glitch-soc fork of Mastodon
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/10/switching-to-the-glitch-soc-fork-of-mastodon/
Published: October 2, 2023 09:00
Iām a fan of Mastodon, but one of the features that Iād really like has not made it into the mainstream release yet: Markdown support. Sure, I can type any post in Markdown, and Markdown (by design) doesnāt look too bad even if not rendered as Markdown,ā¦
Setting default View options for folders and sub-folders in Thunderbird
Published: September 28, 2023 09:00
I want to be able to browse to a folder in Thunderbird, and, when I open it, view the email in that folder filtered by date order (newest at the top), by thread (oldest at the end of the chain), with threads expanded. Using Thunderbirdās View menu, I canā¦
Triggering a remote lamp automatically when I am on a call
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/09/triggering-a-remote-lamp-automatically-when-i-am-on-a-call/
Published: September 26, 2023 09:00
Iāve been pondering having some kind of visual-but-not-too-intrusive notification, so that Sandra can see when I am on a call, for some time now. Moving to an office in the garden gave me the final impetus that I needed. I wanted a simple visualā¦
Disabling my ThinkPad's internal camera on boot
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/09/disabling-my-thinkpads-internal-camera-on-boot/
Published: September 22, 2023 09:00
Most of the time, I use my ThinkPad connected to a dock, with a couple of monitors, and an external USB webcam. This webcam is better than the internal webcam yet the internal webcam comes up first in some video conferencing menus, forcing me to manuallyā¦
A month using XMPP (using Snikket) for every call and chat
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/08/a-month-using-xmpp-using-snikket-for-every-call-and-chat/
Published: August 31, 2023 09:00
For the last month, Iāve been using XMPP (using Snikket) for every call and chat between me and my wife Sandra, at least. Sandra and I switched from using Matrix to using XMPP a while back. Matrix was pretty good for messaging, although quite a fewā¦
Fixing dropbear ssh Permission denied (publickey) error
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/08/fixing-dropbear-ssh-permission-denied-publickey-error/
Published: August 25, 2023 09:00
Remote unlocking of full disk encryption via dropbear-ssh stopped worked on one machine. I still donāt know why, as it continues to work on numerous other machines, despite all being built from the same image. But oh well. Itās an ssh issue: Permissionā¦
Bodging a web-controlled garage door opener with a Raspberry Pi
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/08/bodging-a-web-controlled-garage-door-opener-with-a-raspberry-pi/
Published: August 9, 2023 09:00
Now, this is definitely a bodge, but it is a working bodge, and so I am quite pleased with myself. What I wanted: to be able to open my garage doors from my phone, so that I donāt have to carry the garage door wireless control fob with me. No third partyā¦
This is a test post
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/07/this-is-a-test-post/
Published: July 31, 2023 09:00
One of the less desirable things about Mastodon is the sheer volume of traffic it generates, via its link preview system, when someone posts a URL. With the recent (and seemingly ongoing) growth of the fediverse, this initial and rapid traffic hit seems toā¦
You know you don't have to reply, right?
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/07/you-know-you-dont-have-to-reply-right/
Published: July 27, 2023 09:00
In writing this, thereās a strong chance that Iām going to come across as ungrateful. Heck, thereās a strong chance that I am ungrateful. But I canāt think of a more sensitive way of putting this: If someone asks a question online that isnāt directed atā¦
Snikket, a self-contained XMPP distribution
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/07/snikket-a-self-contained-xmpp-distribution/
Published: July 25, 2023 09:00
Sandra and I have been using matrix (a synapse server) for a few years, but Sandra didnāt find it the easiest thing to use, and I never got audio and video calls working reliably. So we switched to XMPP, using ejabberd, and that was better, but audio andā¦
Unpicking 'The fediverse needs to do [x]' posts
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/07/unpicking-the-fediverse-needs-to-do-[x]-posts/
Published: July 2, 2023 09:00
Every so often (and, in my timeline, thatās seemingly āquite oftenā), I see a post in the fediverse along the lines of: To survive, Mastodon mustā¦ or The fediverse needs to do [x] to [attract specific users] I often wonder exactly what the people whoā¦
Removing LinkedIn from DuckDuckGo searches in Firefox
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/06/removing-linkedin-from-duckduckgo-searches-in-firefox/
Published: June 13, 2023 09:00
I am using Firefox as my browser, and DuckDuckGo as a search engine. I donāt want LinkedIn results in my searches. On a case by case basis, I can added -site:linkedin.com to the search, but I donāt want to do that each time. There doesnāt appear to be aā¦
Can I have a cable... please?
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/06/can-i-have-a-cable-please/
Published: June 7, 2023 09:00
I must be getting old, because Iāve found recently that I quite like cables. I needed a new headset for voice/video calls and, rather than faff around with a Bluetooth or other wireless system which would need charging, I went with - and am very happyā¦
Barclays is closing its Contactless Mobile payment services on 30 June
Published: June 6, 2023 09:00
Grrrā¦ I got this message from Barclays a few days ago: Hi Neil, we need to let you know weāll be closing our Contactless Mobile payment service on 30 June. After that, you wonāt be able to use it, but you can still use Google Pay instead, if youād likeā¦
Why I suspended my LinkedIn account
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/06/why-i-suspended-my-linkedin-account/
Published: June 3, 2023 09:00
I have been on LinkedIn for ages. More years than I can remember. A month or so ago, I suspended my account. Why? Wellā¦ Iām not sure I get any benefit from LinkedIn I donāt think that having a profile on LinkedIn confers any benefit on me. I know a fairā¦
GSConnect (KDE Connect), WireGuard, and Debian 12 Bookworm
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/06/gsconnect-kde-connect-wireguard-and-debian-12-bookworm/
Published: June 1, 2023 09:00
Iāve been trying to get GSConnect - the GNOME implementation of KDE Connect, which is software to control some of your phoneās functionality from your computer - working with my laptop for ages. I run a couple of WireGuard servers so that, when Iām notā¦
Book review: Cory Doctorow's 'Red Team Blues'
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/05/book-review-cory-doctorows-red-team-blues/
Published: May 28, 2023 09:00
I joined the Kickstarter campaign for Coryās āRed Team Bluesā, buying both the audiobook and eBook versions. Iām not really sure why I bought the audiobook, as I am not really a fan of non-dramatised audiobooks, but I was happy to receive the DRM-freeā¦
A reminder of useful Thunderbird keyboard bindings and add-ons
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/05/a-reminder-of-useful-thunderbird-keyboard-bindings-and-add-ons/
Published: May 21, 2023 09:00
Iām experimenting with moving to Thunderbird (from Evolution). I like Evolution, but I want to be able to view an entire thread of a conversation in one view - i.e. all messages in a thread, irrespective of what folder they are in - and I havenāt found aā¦
Unlocking a LUKS-encrypted partition via ssh on Debian 12 Bookworm
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/05/unlocking-a-luks-encrypted-partition-via-ssh-on-debian-12-bookworm/
Published: May 6, 2023 09:00
Iāve written before - for Debian 10 and 11, and for RaspberryPi OS - about remotely unlocking a LUKS-encrypted partition via ssh. The principles are the same on Debian Bookworm, but the path of some of the dropbear-initramfs config has changed. This isā¦
NetworkManager: automatically switch between Ethernet and Wi-Fi
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/04/networkmanager-automatically-switch-between-ethernet-and-wi-fi/
Published: April 28, 2023 09:00
When Iām at home, I mostly use my laptop at my desk, connected to a dock, which has Ethernet to it. But when I move to my taxi, I donāt have Ethernet there, so I need Wi-Fi. So I would like to have Wi-Fi turn off when I connect to Ethernet, and Wi-Fiā¦
Fixing sogo's 'incorrect string value' error
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/04/fixing-sogos-incorrect-string-value-error/
Published: April 27, 2023 09:00
When trying to accept a calendar invitation from people at a particular domain, sogo threw an error: ERROR: Incorrect string value: 'xF0x9Fx93xB6Tu...' for column `sogo`.`sogo_quick_appointment`.`c_description` at row 1 This prevented me from acceptingā¦
Updating the LUKS key derivation function on Debian
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/04/updating-the-luks-key-derivation-function-on-debian/
Published: April 24, 2023 09:00
Someone posted a link in the fediverse to this piece, āPSA: upgrade your LUKS key derivation functionā. Although Iām sceptical that, in the situation mentioned - the āFrench anarchistā - the most likely answer was that his LUKS partition was brute-forced,ā¦
Backing up to a USB stick automatically via udev
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/04/backing-up-to-a-usb-stick-automatically-via-udev/
Published: April 20, 2023 09:00
There was some interesting discussion on the fediverse about tools for backing up to USB devices on Linux. Hereās what I use, in case it helps anyone. This is just one of my backups, of course. This is a backup to a USB device, which mounts toā¦
Fixing espanso incomplete text replacement
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/04/fixing-espanso-incomplete-text-replacement/
Published: April 19, 2023 09:00
I use espanso as a text expander. I specify ātriggersā - think, shortcuts - and, when I type those triggers, the trigger word is replaced automatically with whatever I have defined. In some applications - notable, LibreOffice, and sometimes Firefox - itā¦
Flatpak Firefox 112 not showing (some? bitmap?) fonts in Debian
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/04/flatpak-firefox-112-not-showing-some-bitmap-fonts-in-debian/
Published: April 16, 2023 09:00
I donāt know why Iām struggling with flatpakād software so much. The problem Today, itās flatpak-installed Firefox 112, not loading some (bitmap?) fonts, meaning I get a text-free page: Yes, I can make it work but this bug has seemingly been around for 3ā¦
Automating actions in Nautilus (GNOME's file manager) with scripts
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/04/automating-actions-in-nautilus-gnomes-file-manager-with-scripts/
Published: April 11, 2023 09:00
I often want to add todayās date to the beginning of a documentās name. This is a simple way of keeping documents in temporal order, without resorting to a file management system, or using the āmodificationā view in Nautilus, GNOMEās file manager. Itāsā¦
Jabra Evolve2 40 and Debian Linux
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/04/jabra-evolve2-40-and-debian-linux/
Published: April 8, 2023 09:00
I asked in the fediverse for recommendations for wired (so I donāt have to worry about battery life / charging), stereo, headsets with a boom microphone, for using with Linux. A few people recommended the Jabra Evolve2 40. Theyāre about Ā£80 on Amazon, butā¦
Giving up Twitter, and the impact on my business
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/04/giving-up-twitter-and-the-impact-on-my-business/
Published: April 8, 2023 09:00
My wife and I have run our business - an English law firm, offering advice on Internet, telecoms, and tech law - for seven years now. Word of mouth In that time, we have spent very little on marketing. Very little. Perhaps three small conferenceā¦
Debian on a Ā£190 Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 2
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/04/debian-on-a-%C2%A3190-lenovo-thinkpad-x1-yoga-gen-2/
Published: April 7, 2023 09:00
Iāve wanted a ThinkPad X1 Yoga for a while, and I found one on eBay for a price I was willing to pay: Ā£190. It even came with a chargerā¦ Back in 2017, it was - since it has some upgrades - somewhere in the region of $2000. For my Ā£190, I got an i5 laptopā¦
Enabling Webauthn in Firefox via snap
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/04/enabling-webauthn-in-firefox-via-snap/
Published: April 6, 2023 09:00
I am struggling with snap and flatpak at the moment. Today, I couldnāt get screensharing to work in flatpak-installed Firefox. So I switched to snap-installed Firefox, and found I couldnāt use Webauthn there. Fortunately, there was a simple fix: snapā¦
Decrapifying (mostly) an Amazon Fire 8 HD Kids tablet via Linux
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/04/decrapifying-mostly-an-amazon-fire-8-hd-kids-tablet-via-linux/
Published: April 5, 2023 09:00
As usual, these are mostly notes for me, in case I need to do this again or remind myself what I did. The disappointing Amazon out-of-box experience A friend bought an Amazon Fire 8 HD Kids tablet for their children. It was (ostensibly) a good price,ā¦
Solved: LibreOffice Writer PDF exports have the template name
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/03/solved-libreoffice-writer-pdf-exports-have-the-template-name/
Published: March 28, 2023 09:00
A somewhat niche one (again). I use a template in LibreOfficeās Writer program, so that I have styles etc. set up to my liking. It is the default template, meaning that, when I create a new document in Writer, it automatically uses this template. It worksā¦
Microsoft SurfaceBook 2 running Debian Linux working with two 4K screens
Published: March 23, 2023 09:00
Iāve been struggling to find a way of connecting my SurfaceBook 2, running Debian, to two 4K monitors at the same time. I have tried lots of docks which did not work, to the point where I had almost given up. But I decided to give it one last try and,ā¦
Internet Time, in a watch!
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/03/internet-time-in-a-watch!/
Published: March 21, 2023 09:00
Did you know there was such a thing as āInternet Timeā? I didnāt - not until a few weeks ago, anyway. Organising meetings across time zones I was going through the usual palava of trying to arrange a meeting with two people in different timezones, one ofā¦
Back to Firefox again!
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/03/back-to-firefox-again!/
Published: March 16, 2023 09:00
Iāve used Firefox as my primary browser pretty much exclusively since it was first released to the world in 2004. I like it. So I was a bit gutted when I struggled to make Firefox work for my needs. Iām a pragmatist, first and foremost, and so I will useā¦
Turning a Raspberry Pi Zero W into a travel media centre
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/03/turning-a-raspberry-pi-zero-w-into-a-travel-media-centre/
Published: March 12, 2023 09:00
tl;dr I installed and configured Kodi on a Raspberry Pi Zero W. Whatās this about I am going to be travelling a bit more in the coming months, and that probably means a few more hotel stays. Most hotels have a TV with an HDMI connection, and Iād like to beā¦
Firefox, flatpak, reveal.js, and local file system permissions
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/03/firefox-flatpak-reveal.js-and-local-file-system-permissions
Published: March 5, 2023 09:00
I have installed the flatpak version of Firefox, which is far more up to date than the ESR version in Debianās repos. To load a file from a local directory (e.g. a .html file created using reveal.js), I needed to give it permission to access the directory.ā¦
'How Sex Changed the Internet, and the Internet Changed Sex': a review of Sam Lee Cole's new book
Published: February 28, 2023 09:00
tl;dr: Superb. Buy it, if you are interested in either or both sex and the Internet. Iāve long been a fan of Sam Lee Coleās writing. Sheās funny, erudite, tech savvy, and just so darned readable. And her book - āHow Sex Changed the Internet, and theā¦
I taught the law and the law won
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/02/i-taught-the-law-and-the-law-won/
Published: February 24, 2023 09:00
Fedizen @PublicChaffinch - a āmasto certified hot wifeā - posted: my husband is trying to think of āall the different laws you getā. so far he has offered martial law and jude law Now, this is a good start. Here are my (admittedly far less amusing than Iā¦
My cellular data usage and ponderings
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/02/my-cellular-data-usage-and-ponderings/
Published: February 23, 2023 09:00
I have a data SIM in my phone, with a 5GB / month allowance. I also have a Wi-Fi hotspot, in which I have an EE SIM which offered 120GB of data for Ā£50. My SIM-only phone contract is up for renewal, and the data on my data SIM in my Wi-Fi hotspot is due toā¦
Removing the password from a PDF file
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/02/removing-the-password-from-a-pdf-file/
Published: February 20, 2023 09:00
These all assume that you know the password. ghostscript gs -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -q -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sPDFPassword=PASSWORD -sOutputFile=OUTPUT.pdf -f INPUT.pdf qpdf qpdf -PASSWORD -decrypt INPUT.pdf OUTPUT.pdf pdftk pdftk INPUT.pdf input_pw PASSWORDā¦
Using a Garmin Edge 705 with OpenStreetMap for a cheap bike computer
https://neilzone.co.uk/2023/02/using-a-garmin-edge-705-with-openstreetmap-for-a-cheap-bike-computer/
Published: February 12, 2023 09:00
Now that I am cycling in London a bit more regularly, and on roads with which Iām less familiar, I was looking around for a system for turn-by-turn navigation, and which, ideally: is cheap. I donāt cycle that much, and I donāt need anything fancy. isā¦
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