Veronica Explains

I make dorky YouTube/PeerTube videos about Linux and vintage tech, and occasionally write about stuff. I'm also a geeky musician and used to be a COBOL dev. Pronouns are she/her.

Proudly supported by viewers like you via Patreon and Ko-Fi. Thank you for your consideration!

Mutes/blocks rude folks and reply guys. No offense, just not interested.

(This is my new account, I used to post at vkc // Veronica Explains (npub1x93…qs7q).)

💻 Web: https://vkc.sh
📺 Peertube: https://tinkerbetter.tube/c/veronicaexplains/
📼 YouTube: https://youtube.com/veronicaexplains
💸 Patreon: https://patreon.com/VeronicaExplains

Public Key

npub1dmlzf6x428vxd8vht2skcelgd6a8p8zy8ug8hxe6gg5hcrv0fn8sycx796

NIP-05 Address

vkc_at_linuxmom.net@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsxal3yar24rkrxnkt44gtvvl5xawnsn3zr7yrmnvayy2tupk85encprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wdmksetjv5hxxmmdqyt8wumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnswf5k6ctv9ehx2aq3rr4hx

Publishing to

relay.noswhere.com

relay.primal.net

Author Public Key

npub1dmlzf6x428vxd8vht2skcelgd6a8p8zy8ug8hxe6gg5hcrv0fn8sycx796

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Last Notes

2024-08-15 20:48:27

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first one that comes to mind is installing GrapheneOS- needs a Chromium browser to connect over USB.
(Yes, I can do that over adb but don't want to)

2024-08-15 20:47:21

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they have their own Flatpak if I remember correctly. Nothing against Flatpak, I am known as a supporter of it, but I'm hesitant to recommend a browser that isn't already packaged up for the popular distros natively. For some, flatpak can be complicated to get started and I try to respect that.

2024-08-15 20:22:19

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honest and sincere question: was your post directed at me? Or my readers?
Because to me, it absolutely read as though you wanted to tell *me* something you thought *I* didn't know, and then added hashtags to encourage others to participate in that behavior.

2024-08-15 20:05:38

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Didn't we have a singalong performance of Purple Rain (the song) literally in the state House once? Did I dream that?

2024-08-15 20:02:00

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You're talking down to a Linux expert about privacy and then adding hashtags to her post to increase your own discoverability while making her look bad.
So, like, I dunno, maybe don't?

2024-08-15 19:35:48

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you're encouraging me to leave the Fediverse because I'm too popular.
That's... not helpful

2024-08-15 19:32:28

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you may not know this, but you're basically telling me not to post because I'm popular enough to get death threats for the otherwise boring topics I talk about. "Engagement" comes at a price when there's a bigger audience, and that's something I need to consider.
If that's not how you intended it to sound, I just want you to know that it's how it comes off.

2024-08-15 19:29:57

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To the folks arguing that "the purpose of social media is to be seen", therefore "amplifying content" can't be aggressive:
Clearly you've never been threatened because you talked about the wrong kind of boot media tool. 🤦‍♀️
Please please please don't add visibility without talking with the OP first.

2024-08-15 19:17:33

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"how could that even be considered criticism or harmful?"
Because it takes away control over discoverability. Hashtags increase discoverability surface here on Mastodon. I for one value being able to control parts of my visibility and don't want every word I said getting picked apart through hashtags I didn't put there.

2024-08-15 18:26:24

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FOLLOWUP POLL: if you answered "no", and ONLY if you answered "no", are you on a big instance with 1000+ users?

2024-08-15 18:12:10

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right, but you didn't say "subjectively there's an argument to be made".
You got on my post and felt like you "wanted to remind people", which *absolutely* comes across as arguing down to me, a literal professional, about the benefits of hosting your wares.
And if that's not how you intended it, please rethink your word choices and hop off this thread.

2024-08-15 18:09:02

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yeah, but that's not what you said. What you said is that you "wanted to remind people" that the time spent on self-hosting your services well was "unreasonable". And what I'm saying is that your assertion lacks citation, plus ignores the fact that uptime isn't all that important to a lot of us.

2024-08-15 18:01:42

POLL: so if you post a post without hashtags here on Mastodon, and someone comes in and replies to your post and adds hashtags, does that feel aggressive to you?

2024-08-15 17:55:36

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I know this, I don't know why you felt like it needed to be mentioned?

2024-08-15 17:54:17

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"self-hosted services have lower uptime than centralized ones"
1. Citation needed, and
2. Uptime is only as important as the access need. I shut down servers when I don't need the services, another joy of self-hosting.

2024-08-15 17:32:59

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Can't speak for everyone, but for me it's just habit at this point. I run across lots of unsavory links in my work and it's probably better for my mental health to not have bad stuff suggested back at me.

2024-08-14 17:37:56

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No need to switch if you are happy with the services, at least from what I can tell. But Patreon has added a lot of "features" recently which are driving folks away, and I just want to make sure folks know there's an option if they'd like to continue supporting me.
(And thanks btw!!!)

2024-08-14 17:36:52

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same. Genuinely don't get it.

2024-07-23 02:28:53

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(Sees that it's KDE Plasma, immediately starts tweaking things)

2024-07-23 02:28:18

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Oooo do you have dotfiles for this? I'd love to see how you did this.

2024-07-18 21:32:23

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what I want to know is how to search for an address in US postal format. As in "1234 Cheese Ave, Cheddarville, CH 99999". I can never figure out how to search for an address in Organic Maps, so it becomes challenging to use unless I know a nearby named business that shows up.
If there's some magic order those items need to go in, I don't know it yet, and would love help clarifying that.

2024-07-09 03:09:04

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For those who were too young to experience it- before DVRs and on-demand media via the internet, there was a wonderful time when we could record television shows on VHS tape via our VCRs.
We could set timers according to TV Guide, and because encrypted television wasn't a factor, we could pretty much record anything we could watch.
I had an awesome VCR which did a really good job of pausing while recording, so I could easily edit out commercials if I was watching it live.

2024-07-09 03:05:22

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It's not exciting- a bunch of documentaries, MST3K, and The Simpsons, as well as bands I enjoyed when they were performing on late night TV.
Plenty of Star Trek as well.

2024-07-09 03:03:03

Currently digitizing some old VHS tapes I recorded off the TV as a teenager.
Observation 1: commercials haven't changed much.
Observation 2: I was an insufferable nerd as a teenager based on what I wanted to tape.

2024-07-06 03:21:34

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This week, I'm thankful for supporters both on Patreon/Ko-Fi as well as folks buying merch. It's been an expensive and hectic few weeks and the support has meant a lot.

2024-07-06 03:09:18

We made it through another week, folks. You've earned a break. Good job!

2024-07-04 16:49:32

One downside of hosting my own Mastodon account is that I have to, you know, *do stuff* just to post silly things on this service.
Another reason to pick, or create, a small instance based on your likes or locality.

2024-07-01 17:15:13

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I should also mention that I typically remote from a static IP provided by my wireless carrier. So, in my case, the firewall knew where I'd be coming from and I could block most of the internet from getting in.

2024-07-01 17:13:05

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"safer" is relative to the threat, of course.
In my typical case, OpenVPN is handled itself by my firewall appliance. While it opens a port it also knows what bad traffic to scan for, without me telling it what to do. Again, I'm not a security researcher, but I tend to trust pfSense/OPNsense/etc more than myself when it comes to opening a port and watching for baddies.
And nowadays I don't even do that, because I just don't need it badly enough anymore.

2024-07-01 16:09:54

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awesome! Some VPS providers do really cool things with firewalls and virtual networking. Combining that with pre-defined SSH keys for initial setup and a lot of SSH security steps becomes simply a few clicks!

2024-07-01 16:07:47

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Tailscale is fun, I haven't deployed it personally but have played around on it a bit. I'm also not a fan of port knocking and tend to VPN when away from home.
I'm ancient so I've typically used OpenVPN but I rarely use it anymore anyway, since nowadays if I'm leaving home I don't need to bring my homelab with me. :)

2024-07-01 14:22:17

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This is a friendly reminder to put a firewall in between your server and the wider internet, and no, I'm not talking about fail2ban. Which is good for lots of things, but I wouldn't rely on it alone.
Don't open SSH ports up to the entire world. Put a firewall in between your server and those who would do you harm. Lots of providers have network-based access controls, cloud firewalls, etc: use them.
Friends don't let friends run sshd out in the open. :P

2024-07-01 14:06:53

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I am not a security researcher, and I don't want to sound authoritative on stuff I'm *not* an authority on.
If you run Debian like I do, this page might be useful. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2024-6387

2024-07-01 13:53:05

Happy "quickly updating all of the servers" day to those who celebrate.

2024-06-25 15:12:04

RSS

2024-06-24 17:54:38

To be clear, since many folks seem to not understand it:
I am NOT saying Linux and FOSS software is perfect for all workflows. I am NOT saying you aren't "trying hard enough" if you can't switch or don't want to. I am NOT saying my way is better and your way is worse. I am NOT calling you lazy.
What I am saying, emphatically, is that telling people that #Linux and #FOSS are *incapable* of professional work is fundamentally incorrect.
It's my profession, I do it, and it works.

2024-06-18 22:06:47

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[changes name to GNU-plus-Linux-Cast]

2024-06-17 17:38:10

Limiting replies doesn't stifle speech send toot

2024-06-11 03:03:06

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Notably not a "no".

2024-06-11 02:58:49

Creepy answer Microsoft.
https://mastomedia.linuxmom.net/media_attachments/files/112/595/732/591/695/685/original/5dcc9b755c536ed8.png

2024-06-10 22:10:01

I get snarky sometimes, but it does grind my gears a bit when folks say "desktop Linux isn't for professional work" when I've been predominantly using desktop Linux for all of my professional work for more than a decade.
Like, your assumption isn't everyone's reality, and if you reply at me suggesting otherwise, I'm likely to call you out or ignore you.

2024-06-10 18:36:20

OK folks, you've seen Apple do the AI thing now. You've seen Microsoft do the AI thing now.
Maybe *now* Linux on the desktop, even with the warts and flaws, starts to feel a little more comfortable?