Thom Holwerda

osnews.com managing editor. Dutchman living in Sweden. Dumb fuck.

You can support OSNews and my work through our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/osnews), Ko-Fi (https://ko-fi.com/thomholwerda), and now also our merch store (https://www.bonfire.com/store/osnews/).

Trans rights are human rights. He/him.

Public Key

npub1upy42talzd746vzazg5uyzy8du9q56rdukjy9vjlttld964xqzjqk8qwk0

NIP-05 Address

thomholwerda_at_exquisite.social@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqswqj2497l3xl2axpw3y2wzpzrk7zs2dpk7tfzzkf044lkja2nqpfqpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0wd68ytnsw43qyl7fj5

Publishing to

relay.mostr.pub

Author Public Key

npub1upy42talzd746vzazg5uyzy8du9q56rdukjy9vjlttld964xqzjqk8qwk0

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Last Notes

2024-09-03 18:00:09

I hate SMB with a passion.
I want NFS to be properly integrated into KDE/Dolphin. I have so much less issues with it.

2024-08-19 18:34:35

The local hospital here where our children were born uses Macs. We just got an e-mail from Apple that 30% of whatever our children will earn during their lifetime will go to Apple. 😐

2024-08-11 14:41:39

Ooof man, searching for images on DuckDuckGo is a nightmare... So, so much AI-generated crap, much of which is entirely unlabeled.

2024-08-10 12:31:41

TIL Swift uses a private, closed fork of llvm.
I though Swift was open source?

2024-08-09 13:35:04

Ukraine's daring counter-invasion of Russia is wild. They're holding territory, national emergencies declared in Russia, thousands of Russians on the run, lots of Russian equipment destroyed... So, so good.

2024-08-09 07:09:21

The DMA isn't complicated. If you think it is, it's only because you've been falling for the anti-EU, pro-Apple corporatist propaganda.
Tim Cook is crying like a little bitch because someone with more power than him told him "no" for once, and he's not liking it one bit.

2024-08-08 20:15:17

So is the story really that Ukraine is basically occupying a part of Russia now, including one of the largest oil/gas depots and pipeline intersections in Russia?
wat

2024-08-05 22:48:10

My concerns about the future of Firefox keep becoming reality and yet nobody who relies on Firefox - Canonical, Fedora, KDE, GNOME, etc. - seem to give a shit.
Y'all realise Mozilla is about to lose 80% of its revenue, right? And y'all do understand what this will mean for Firefox, right? Why aren't you taking any steps or making any plans to prepare for what this will inevitably mean for the most important and crucial desktop Linux application?
I feel like Kassandra over here.

2024-08-05 07:32:25

Linux distributions should not be installing GRUB on systems where Linux is the only operating system. Default to systemd-boot in such cases instead.
GRUB serves no purpose on a single-boot system. Linux isn't second fiddle anymore; time to lose that mentality.

2024-07-31 11:29:05

the idea of people using multiple languages in their day-to-day lives confuses the silicon valley techbro
one day i will write a massive articles detailing all the broken things you run into when trying to use computers as a daily multilingual user

2024-07-29 15:03:14

I love how everyone in Europe is reflexively blaming Americans for the nonsense outrage at the opening of the Games, when it all started with French Catholics, followed by European fascists like Wilders and the like.
¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

2024-07-28 00:39:58

- reply

Or Russian bots. That's always an option.

2024-07-28 00:32:44

People are still screaming that Sanders is a racist and a misogynist?
Jesus fuck. Nobody worked harder to get Clinton elected than he did. Not even Clinton herself did.

2024-07-26 21:18:42

Since the instance linuxrocks.online is openly, knowingly, and willingly hosting nazis, I'm going to block the whole instance. If you're a follower on said nazi instance, I suggest you reconsider your choice of instance.
No quarter for nazis. The only good nazi is a dead nazi. :fuckNazis:

2024-07-26 11:52:35

Hey linuxrocks.online, you have a nazi infestation. Considering your instance seems to use only approved registrations, this surely raises about a million red flags.
@npub1wd9…9jrd
https://exquisite.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/852/638/829/322/660/original/4b99d858ef26d7ef.png

2024-07-25 09:02:50

This is a bad take and you should feel really bad for putting someone like me on the same footing as nazi Lunduke. How fucking dare you.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
https://www.spacebar.news/mozilla-firefox-privacy-preserving-attribution/

2024-07-24 11:28:20

Good on GNOME for not allowing anyone to link to nazis on their forums, even if the person doing it is the maintainer of GNOME on Manjaro. The immediate deletion is an excellent response.
...especially since the dude then went on to the nazi in question to complain and whine about it.

2024-07-24 05:16:10

Jesus Christ this sure was a read.
https://discourse.gnome.org/t/updates-to-the-gnome-foundation-board-of-directors-roster/22201/21
It gets to the point where the maintainer of GNOME on Manjaro was utterly deleted for sharing articles from nazi Lunduke? I mean, good decision of course, but absolutely wild.

2024-07-23 19:10:59

- reply

@npub16u7…uend You'd think the eð would give it away.

2024-07-23 14:01:28

No, Southwest Airlines is not still using Windows 3.1.
https://www.osnews.com/story/140301/no-southwest-airlines-is-not-still-using-windows-3-1/

2024-07-22 19:10:35

yo anybody in culemborg, netherlands, need their laundry done?
their payment terminal has a vnc server open so
https://exquisite.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/831/719/578/282/257/original/e52c87235918d13a.png

2024-07-22 10:51:41

I'm actually finally writing the /e/OS review. If anyone has any questions about degoogled Android, built by the amazing people at @npub1vts…9jkh, hit me up! If you have some favorite app or whatever you want me to test with microG, for instance, I can do that.
Murena sent me a Fairphone 5, so we can talk about that too!

2024-07-21 11:47:46

No-fly zone over Ukraine should be the bare fucking minimum we should be doing.
Jesus fucking Christ I hate this fucking timeline so fucking much. We're all fucking cowards.

2024-07-20 14:11:35

Jesus fuck American media are really already starting to eat Trump's ass, aren't they?
Corporatists and fascists are two sides of the same coin, and US media most definitely are corporations.

2024-07-19 09:29:55

Told you OS/2 is the only right answer.

2024-07-18 14:46:04

As an EU citizen, I can confidently say nobody here gives a single flying fucking shit about Facebook not releasing their plagiarism machine here.
We're too busy enjoying our large number of vacation days, free healthcare, and not having to put Disney-themed bulletproof vests on our kids when sending them to elementary school.

2024-07-18 12:01:14

Cows are awesome.
That's it. That's the toot.

2024-07-18 11:29:00

I try to be tolerant and accepting and all, but if you watch anime you get an automatic -10 to charisma.
I don't make the rules.

2024-07-17 15:11:36

Airconditioning: we rent, too expensive, loud.
Fans: shitty quality, often also loud, don't cool properly.
what's the solution fedi

2024-07-17 08:21:12

Exactly ten years ago, Russia declared war on The Netherlands by slaughtering almost 200 innocent Dutch civilians, and more than 100 people of other nationalities. Per capita, this was a larger loss of life than 9/11. The murderers are still free in Russia.
It's minute compared to what Ukraine goes through, but it does create a bond between our two nations. Putin and his nazi war criminals will face justice in The Hague.

2024-07-16 18:08:02

Whelp good luck, Safari has the same ad tracking thing Firefox has now, and Safari is even making it work in private browsing mode.
Apple cares about your privacy, folks.
https://webkit.org/blog/15697/private-browsing-2-0/
https://exquisite.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/797/493/329/287/905/original/cc181126e73a2f6d.png

2024-07-16 09:21:02

In case you're using Firefox on mobile - so myself and like four others - disabling Firefox' new Facebook data collection feature is quite a bit harder than on desktop, but it can be done:
Go to chrome://geckoview/content/config.xhtml
Use the search field to find the entry for aboutConfig and enable it
Go to about:config
Search for dom.private-attribution.submission.enabled and set it to false
Done. This only works on Android, because Firefox on iOS is just a Safari skin.

2024-07-14 18:54:16

Just a random thank you to all the #KDE contributors for resisting the urge to dumb down KDE or chase the touch dream at the expense of everything else. KDE is still mouse/keyboard first, and I hope it stays that way for as long as possible.

2024-07-14 11:07:39

The only browser I have left is Falkon and considering how shit Falkon is, that's really sad.

2024-07-11 20:35:45

It's happening. We found an amazing team to make the next version of @npub1wyu…58gh a reality, and we've ironed out the administrative details, and have settled on my design that smart, capable people are now going to mold into something usable.
I'm beyond excited. So, so excited.

2024-07-11 18:50:27

Auto Shenanigans is the single-best way to get to know the UK without actually going to the UK. His dry British humour makes my week, every time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgbe3YtALRw

2024-07-11 12:49:03

As much as I respect the LibreOffice team and contributors... The UI is still shit.

2024-07-09 19:29:53

KDE's most important feature to me is the ability it gives me to edit virtually every single toolbar to my exact specifications - from hiding them, all the way to adding whatever buttons I want, whether I want labels or not, and so on. All my KDE applications look very different from the default because of it, and it really allows me to tailor KDE and my applications to be a perfect fit for my experience.
It's such an godsend, and I just can't live without it. Whomever thought "one toolbar to fit everyone" is even an attainable goal has never dealt with users.

2024-07-04 23:18:39

As always, the right wing fucks up the economy, the left needs to fix it, but also gets the blame, while the right keeps claiming to be fiscally responsible.
The political right is the cause of virtually every single problem in the world.

2024-07-04 22:23:00

Unpopular opinion: the tech media's focus on battery life for laptops is entirely misguided and disconnected from reality. The vast majority of laptops spend 95% of their lifetime plugged in. The other 5% is when they're moved from one room to the next.
Don't @ me.

2024-07-04 16:01:16

Jesus fucking Christ the total collapse of the country is complete. What a fucking shitshow. A clown car full of fascists, driven by the modern-day Franz von Papen, our new prime-minister.
I'm so fucking embarassed to be Dutch right now.

2024-07-02 14:05:51

- reply

@npub183n…tahh My instance admin added a systemd logo. It's the trashfire in my name. 😂
I actually like systemd, but that's just funny as hell.

2024-07-02 14:05:00

Whelp unless we get some sort of apology and change of mind from Kling, I guess that's the end of @npub1wyu…58gh reporting on Ladybird.

2024-07-02 13:13:31

I use the KDE logo emoji in my username now, because I use KDE. Is that perhaps bad form since such logos are also used to let people know you work on KDE?

2024-07-02 11:55:31

Well this surely didn't age well.
Makes me wonder about Kling preferring and staying on Twitter.
https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity/pull/6814

2024-07-01 23:09:47

Fedi just isn't doom scrolling for me. It's mostly just cool tech stuff and fun weird people that I don't understand but am happy for.
Fedi's what you make of it. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

2024-07-01 15:24:44

Retracting car door handles seem like a suboptimal idea in my Arctic climate where entire cars just... Freeze. Like, doors hard frozen shut, car won't even think about starting unless plugged into the external heater, etc.
I don't know man.

2024-07-01 15:07:51

Burn down the SCOTUS building.
Literally. Burn it down.

2024-06-29 11:15:28

If your response to Flatpak applications regularly requiring arcane, obscure terminal commands to make them usable is "it's just a terminal command, way less bad than systemd so who cares", you're basically admitting Flatpak was never designed for users to begin with.

2024-06-26 18:39:37

Is there a website where I can select a specific Lego set, and mark some of the individual parts for order?
I have the big Lego Technic space shuttle set, but the electric cables deteriorated - so I want to order the exact same ones without manual hassle.

2024-06-25 12:19:50

Apropos of nothing, I'd like to once again mention that I've been writing about my worries regarding the future of Firefox for a long time now, and that I've been advocating a fork of either Firefox or one of the browser engines, maintained by KDE and GNOME people, focused entirely on Linux, with proper Qt and GTK frontends.
The lack of worry about this is irresponsible. Firefox is either going away or becoming deeply shit, and there's zero plan B for the Linux world.

2024-06-25 11:49:26

- reply

@npub183n…tahh Their comment sections are atrocious.

2024-06-25 08:49:43

I urge anyone who only saw the angry toots and haters - i.e., everyone - to actually read the comments on the bug report regarding systemd deleting /home.
Aside from that first reply which was trash, virtually everything after that was super reasonable and honest about how dumb this issue was, discussing countless solutions to make sure this never happens again.
https://github.com/systemd/systemd/issues/33349

2024-06-23 18:00:55

How do I even go about finding a person who can design a WordPress theme for @npub1wyu…58gh? Not for free of course - "exposure" don't feed nobody.

2024-06-23 15:23:49

Wait, let me get this straight - Apple is willing to partner with Facebook on AI, but not make their products privacy compliant in the EU?
Kind of makes sense though, doesn't it? Privacy compliance and Facebook don't exactly go well together.
I'm glad that after more than ten years, people are finally opening their eyes to just how much of a scam Apple's privacy talk has been.
https://www.neowin.net/news/apple-and-meta-have-discussed-an-ai-partnership-according-to-reports/

2024-06-21 18:52:31

I'm going to wallow in my free healthcare and lack of school shootings now that I can't have Apple AI :(

2024-06-21 18:38:22

- reply

I also think I'm the only one using an accurate headline for this one:
"Apple’s won’t release its new AI features in the EU because they don’t comply with EU privacy and competition laws"

2024-06-21 18:35:24

"Apple is throwing its users under the bus because Tim Cook is big mad that someone told him no. As I keep reiterating, consent is something Silicon Valley simply does not understand."
https://www.osnews.com/story/140034/apples-wont-release-its-new-ai-features-in-the-eu-because-they-dont-comply-with-eu-privacy-and-competition-laws/

2024-06-21 15:57:11

👀
@npub1wyu…58gh
https://exquisite.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/655/427/483/206/995/original/7288a13e641d43d2.png

2024-06-20 21:53:55

i can finally go back to a normal operating system
the things i do for you fuckers
https://www.osnews.com/story/139987/is-2024-the-year-of-windows-on-the-desktop/

2024-06-17 10:24:58

Wait, Trump is leading in the polls?!

2024-06-16 21:39:06

Valve exists in that weird superposition where I'm supposed to dislike them for their monopolistic power, shitty client, DRM, and just general fuck capitalism, but at the same time, they're the only thing standing between us and the end of PC gaming as we know it because they actually seem to give a gram of shit about us.
Like, how's an anti-corp dude supposed to feel, man?

2024-06-13 17:01:10

we did it fedi
my doing a journalism paid off
https://www.osnews.com/story/139943/exclusive-mozilla-reverses-course-re-lists-extensions-it-removed-in-russia/

2024-06-13 12:39:18

- reply

@npub1mpw…4h3u Northwest of Luleå!

2024-06-13 06:37:58

And here's my occasional Fedi outreach about my dream retrocomputer - does anyone have a Sun Ultra 45 they are willing to part with? I'm just a sad, pathetic person living in Arctic Sweden who has been trying for more than two decades (!!) to get his hands on one.
Boosts are definitely love.
#retrocomputing #unix #sun #solaris

2024-06-13 05:56:06

- reply

@npub1wyu…58gh As far as I know, I was the only one reporting this story, so they must've discovered this through my work... And yet, no mention.
That's just shitty.

2024-06-13 05:38:11

And now the big publications are starting to pick up the Mozilla/Russia story, long after I broke the story. Sadly, @npub1wyu…58gh is too small so we don't even get a mention.
It is what it is.

2024-06-10 18:37:15

Every day these megacorps show off more of their plagiarism and theft machines I feel vindicated in my choice to go full Linux years ago.

2024-06-04 17:51:39

Oh lord the BBC website automatically redirects non-UK visitors to bbc.com now instead of allowing you to go to .co.uk. I see a quick glimpse of the milksake before the redirect happens.
The BBC is so embarrassed of the state of the UK they're like "let's not show them the real BBC news".

2024-06-04 13:59:44

My 4K workstation monitor is only 60Hz and it fucking kills me.
I wish 4K/144Hz was affordable.

2024-06-04 11:08:10

OpenBSD has one glaring problem that's starting to annoy me enough I'm replacing it.
Lag. Input lag. UI lag. Random lag. Stutter lag.
It's what happens when you shoehorn a hardened server operating system into a desktop.

2024-06-03 22:17:59

well im out of ideas
https://exquisite.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/554/997/910/991/961/original/56f96be14830d11b.png

2024-06-02 21:14:59

- reply

@npub1t7d…pqpp Brave is shady crypto trash run by a homophobe.
Never, ever use Brave.
https://www.spacebar.news/stop-using-brave-browser/

2024-06-02 21:11:21

- reply

@npub1t7d…pqpp Don't use Brave.

2024-06-02 21:07:22

I mean, Vivaldi on Android seems quite nice. I haven't used desktop Vivaldi in ages, but I can be convinced to take a peek again, see how Vivaldi integrates with KDE - if at all.

2024-06-01 23:37:03

Being trans and voting for "conservatives" is like drowning and asking for a parachute.

2024-05-31 23:11:07

This is it. This is the workstation case I'm looking for. This is the industrial look I want.
...pricing though. Oof.
https://estore.in-win.com/products/dubili

2024-05-31 17:30:22

I think I threw up in my mouth a little.
https://blog.kagi.com/what-is-next-for-kagi

2024-05-30 21:29:31

This is what Dell's FreeBSD first-run experience is like. Dell has a product called ThinOS that's FreeBSD with a proprietary GUI on top, used exclusively for some of its thin clients.
I decided to buy one. The installation looks like an automated FreeBSD install, and upon reboot it loads this OOBE.
This is wild.
https://exquisite.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/532/160/967/674/466/original/a772d3d30942abcc.jpg

2024-05-27 17:25:41

With Qualcomm taking Linux support for its new Snapdragon X Elite/Pro chips very seriously, I really, really need a laptop with one of these chips.
I've got some serious desires here, boys and girls.

2024-05-27 14:23:03

Rate my homelab. 🥴
https://exquisite.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/513/496/972/126/584/original/8e540361aeea1791.jpg

2024-05-25 13:12:00

Attention all #Linux, #Wayland, Intel graphics driver, and #Fedora experts - if you have any free time, please take a look at this issue we're facing:
https://github.com/sonnyp/linux-minibook-x/issues/7
Loading the edid should've worked in enabling 90Hz, but it did not. Any help or insight would be so, so appreciated.

2024-05-23 07:40:21

More like DuckDuckDon't

2024-05-22 10:25:19

Let me make it very clear that any American on my timeline who does not go out and vote for Biden in November (barring legitimate reasons like sickness etc.) will be instantly blocked. This includes people who don't vote, and people who vote third party or who do similar things that help fascist Trump get elected.
Anyone who does not vote for Biden is complicit in more dead Palestinians, more dead Ukrainians, more dead LGBTQ people, more dead pregnant women, more dead babies.

2024-05-22 07:31:17

Me when Linux on Apple M chips comes up.
https://exquisite.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/483/569/685/971/489/original/353121dd84cb1ae9.mp4

2024-05-20 21:26:52

Holy smokes does this website bring Firefox on #OpenBSD to its knees. Even two Xeons and Radeon Pro w5700 can't carry this.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/devices/surface-pro-11th-edition

2024-05-20 16:50:13

Firefox removing PWA support is and forever will be one of the dumbest decisions Mozilla has ever made.

2024-05-19 20:23:05

Is OSNews down for anyone else?

2024-05-15 17:51:54

Many of the major, popular distributions will move to OSTree/systemd-sysupdate in the coming ~5 years and if you thought the anti-Wayland and anti-systemd trolls were bad... Boy, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

2024-05-13 22:39:48

Do any #IBM employees follow me here on Fedi? I will do pretty much anything - anything... - to be able to use and possibly review the new IBM Power S1012 in its tower configuration. I even have two POWER9 machines to compare it to!
Please. I will do anything.
https://www.osnews.com/story/139669/ibm-introduces-entry-level-power10-server-and-tower/

2024-05-08 23:54:34

if github copilot is not industrialised copyright and license infringement
why wont microsoft train copilot on its own closed code?
we all know the fucking answer
https://www.osnews.com/story/139622/did-github-copilot-really-increase-my-productivity/

2024-03-22 19:42:50

Two pieces of personal news: first, after 14 years, I've effectively quite my job as a translator. The industry is in the process of collapsing - you know why - and I've been feeling the squeeze for a while now, and I like going out on my own terms. I've known this day would come, and I'm not sad about it. My motto: it is what it is.
Second: I have decided to focus all my work attention on @npub1wyu…58gh from here on out. This is risky, scary, and I'm absolutely terrified of what this will mean. Right now, my OSNews income does not even come close to what I earned as a translator, so I've got work ahead of me to increase readership, give y'all more reasons to sign up for our Patreon, and hopefully find sponsors for the site to generate more income. End goal: rely entirely on reader and sponsor support, to remove ads altogether.
If all this fails, I'll have to find another line of work, which would mean the end of OSNews. Not trying to scare you - just being honest.
Anyway, this is a big deal for me - I've only ever been a translator (aside for the one 8-year teenage job I had), and I do not like taking risks.
Anyway, want to become a Patreon? Or a sponsor? Pretty please? 😰

2024-03-19 19:36:06

🥰
https://exquisite.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/124/029/218/041/446/original/108db8fb2f2eb809.png

2024-03-13 17:02:46

I reviewed the MNT Reform, and it's one of the most unique and amazing laptops I've ever used. There's nothing else like it out there.
https://www.osnews.com/story/138608/mnt-reform-review-brutalist-hardware-familiar-software/
@npub1xzp…x4fk

2023-12-11 15:49:41

Following people like @npub1t7d…pqpp is really helping me find more BSD stories to post on @npub1wyu…58gh. 👌