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samc

@ samc @feddit.uk

Posts
1
Comments
70
Joined
3 yr. ago

  • Secure Operating Systems (Microkernels seems to be the future)

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  • Iirc microkernels have been the future since before Linux existed. There was a bit of a flame war between Linus and the guy who wrote the MINIX kernel about how being monolithic would be the death of Linux.

    GNU Hurd also wanted to show the world how good microkernels could be, but sadly never got off the ground.

    I'm not saying microkernels are bad, but I do wonder if there's some reason we don't see them out in the wild much.

  • This week in KDE: a deluge of new features

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  • By default, XWayland apps are now allowed to listen for non-alphanumeric keypresses, and shortcuts using modifier keys. This lets any global shortcut features they may have work with no user intervention required, while still not allowing arbitrary listening for alphanumeric keypresses which could potentially be used maliciously

    This is... very smart actually. Any reason this is limited to Xwayland? (Is that XDG portal a thing yet?)

  • which linux phone is the most promising?

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  • The point of Linux on phones isn't to have a phone that requires you to constantly fix it with CLI tools. The point is to have a free and open software platform for a device that is increasingly necessary for daily life.

    As a side effect, developing Linux for phones would probably help us eliminate the need to reach for the terminal on desktop Linux as well. I believe snaps (which laid the groundwork for flatpaks) were originally developed for Linux on "smart" devices. The whole ecosystem improves when we try to bring Linux into a new domain.

    P.S. I use termux (a terminal for android complete with its own tiny Linux environment) from time to time when I need to access my server over SSH. It's a bit clumsy, but super handy!

  • Is there a downside to Flatpak?

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  • Best I've ever had was like 60mbps down. Might be a budget thing though, I refuse to pay more than £30/month for internet

  • Is there a downside to Flatpak?

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  • I wish there was an option for an android style system where, when an application wants to use a permission for the first time, you get a pop up asking you to grant that permission.

    Or, more generally, just some way to ensure that (a) a flatpak isn't granted the permissions it wants automatically and (b) I can then manually grant those permissions as conveniently as possible

  • Forgetting the history of Unix is coding us into a corner [The Register]

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  • permission denied: /dev/display/3/349/1045

  • Forgetting the history of Unix is coding us into a corner [The Register]

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  • At the end there's a little jab towards Wayland:

    Today, the Wayland enthusiasts like to talk about how they are modernizing the Linux graphics stack. But Linux is a Unix, and in Unix, everything is meant to be a file. So any Wayland evangelists out there, tell us: where in the file system can I find the files describing a window on the screen under the Wayland protocol? What file holds the coordinates of the window, its place in the Z-order, its colour depth, its contents?

    As far as I'm aware nobody has even considered extending the file metaphor to the graphics stack, and it sounds a bit ridiculous to me.

    It also reminds me of this talk that suggests maybe trying to express everything as a file might not be the best idea...

  • Passive OCR and other 'AI' tools on the Linux desktop

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  • I'd argue that ML is the more general term (that could even apply to computing a line of best fit, if you're an extremist). But yeah, it's just semantics at this point

  • What Imperative Programming Feels Like

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  • Functional bros rise up!

  • Copilot is starting to feel like a real programmer.

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  • It's a bit repetitive, but it's not too bad.