OldCoder

There's a lot to say. Code. Careers. Purpose. Pack behavior. What's real and what's pretend. There is too much pretend.

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relay.snort.social

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Last Notes

2026-09-04 05:15:04 UTC

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I won't pretend to be sage
But we are of an age
For you, what matters
Isn't in tatters
There is nothing to rue
A decent time will ensue
Hold the phones
Everybody will love the scones
It isn't the setting of the sun
Your race isn't yet run
If your family is right
The sun still shines bright
Happy Birthday.
#codersongs #rhymes #birthday

2026-09-04 00:47:58 UTC

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Hm. Is that directed at me, Professor? For what it's worth, I was the sole software architect for 50% of the U.S. Vote when you were still in grade school. There was nobody else for my half. It was just me. If you'd like to confirm that, DM me.
This was before Diebold. I had nothing to do with any of that. My employer **was** caught up in a situation a few years after my stint related to complications in West Virginia. Parties in govt. modified the rules for counting votes so as to require the code to delete the votes of Black people.
My point, if it wasn't directed at me, is regardless that Senator Slotkin's concerns [see the YouTube video that I linked] aren't a "fantasy".
I trust that I've spoken respectfully enough.

2026-09-03 23:42:53 UTC

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Sure. But perhaps the plan is to ultimately to try to use the military as well as the National Guard. The fact that this would be illegal would be of little interest to Trump or Hegseth.
Hegseth's moves suggest that the goal has been to eliminate the independence of the military and to transform it into a Trump election taskforce.
When Hegseth was pressed on May 1 to confirm that he wouldn't use the military to interfere in the election, he declined to answer.
I'm not saying that #Trump, #Hegseth, et. all will succeed in what's being attempted [whatever it might be]. However, the fact that January 6 theoretically couldn't succeed didn't stop the attempt.
The trope where the frog doesn't realize that the water is heating up is real sometimes. However, events have outpaced that. The past few years have been ludicrous. It's hardly in doubt that there is nothing these people aren't capable of.
**Q.** Secretary Hegseth, if the president asks you to seize ballots or voting machines in States during the 2026 election, will you stand up for the Constitution and say no, or will you salute and do his bidding?
**A.** It's yet another gotcha hypothetical, which is your specialty.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=AoXMSWSiMfo

2026-09-03 23:13:36 UTC

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The takeaway isn't that what #Trump is trying to mandate is impossible. The takeaway is that he'll declare, at the time, that mail-in votes don't count in the #election because the mandate wasn't met.

2026-08-31 03:32:20 UTC

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I didn't consider that part while writing the previous post. It's an issue, but I'll offer a few thoughts.
The claim is that no LLM code will go into the kernel without rigorous review. We all know that, if a typical corporation makes that claim, it's an empty promise. However, it's possible that Torvalds will keep to the commitment.
Another point is that, if #LLM code is used for kernel features that can be disabled at build time, a power user or developer is able to build a kernel that contains none of the code. The issue then becomes philosophical as opposed to concrete because the code isn't present any longer.
My advice is to wait and see what happens to the Linux kernel in practice. We should know next year.
Note, too, that the #AI mania is headed for an apocalypse. LLMs and GenAIs will still be used afterward, but the odds are that their presence in everything is going to be scaled back.

2026-08-31 03:06:16 UTC

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\*cough\* 😝
-- Linux distro and FOSS developer for 30 years.
Ego issue aside, I assure you that Linux distros which eschew AI will remain. Remember that something analogous happened with systemd. The corporate distros switched. But non-systemd distros are available.
Slackware, one of the first Linux distros and the one that I modeled my own distro after, is likely to skip #AI.
It's possible that Devuan and/or MX Linux will do so as well. Those two distros are Debian spoons. So, one of them might be a way to continue with #Debian.
I'm not familiar with AerynOS, but they've explicitly rejected LLMs.

2026-08-22 17:17:39 UTC

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1. Is that a MAME console?
2. I'm "from the generation" where our video #games were played on paper with hexagonal tiles.
You could also rent time on a public computer where the GUI was text printed on rolls of yellow paper. I'm sure that others remember #Trek73 and Lunar Lander.
An IRL friend and I did our own space combat #game on blank paper by using gravity charts to compute the paths of spaceships and missiles. This was roughly 55 years ago.
Compute the effects of gravity. Delta +1,-0.5 inches. Manually draw the paths. Repeat.
Note for my online associates who go back far enough: The IRL friend was Twisted Time.
https://dansu.org/media/744ed65a-78a3-40cd-bed8-f15d792f8b85/260822-trek73.jpg

2026-08-06 14:02:11 UTC

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A few months ago, somebody filed a complaint with my Fediverse instance. They said that I must be an AI because I seem different. Fortunately, it's my instance. I host and run it. So, the investigation didn't take too long. 😄
Similarly, I saw a post here in the Fediverse last night about how 1,000s of people had accused a genuine Monet painting of being AI "slop".
So, the answer to the question is that it's going to be a witch hunt.
I'm an engineer of half a century's standing. I consider so-called "AI" to be a mania that will end in a crash without precedent. However, witch hunts, hue and cry, this does nobody any good.
@npub16ys…sjae : On a related note, see your Fediverse direct messages.
#AI #LLM

2026-07-18 14:31:37 UTC

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Sure, you can [ link to the individual folders or PDFs ]. Here you go. The link provided below goes to the top-level folder. From there, you can get to each of the four category folders and the individual PDFs [ which can be linked to directly ].
https://dansu.org/images/about/trumpfun/index.html
If I missed anything, let me know. #FOSS is boss. I'm pleased to be a FOSS Hoss.
#election #voting #trump
https://dansu.org/media/727ed0aa-93ee-42ef-8534-d76a8a901973/260718-elections.png

2026-05-31 07:47:00 UTC

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Per the request to share these videos, this one is now hosted on a PeerTube instance located outside of YouTube and the U.S. The current link is:
https://peertube.dansu.org/w/cVR9oHbYHK1FvFhWA5DePa
I.e. It's now impossible for the video to disappear simply because a YouTube AI blinks at it. Additionally, the new copy includes a download button, so any visitor can make and distribute new copies. Further, as a bonus, there are no ads.
The new site is a proof-of-concept PeerTube instance. The instance may ultimately host 2,500 to 5,000 videos. One goal is to inspire other people to set up and/or contribute to public-interest PeerTube instances.
The #Fediverse home instance for the project is: https://dansu.org/
Explanatory webpages will be added there and/or to the PeerTube instance itself.
#ICE #PeerTube #Trump
@npub16v7…wv22 @npub1kxu…9fca @_L1vY_@mstdn.social
https://dansu.org/media/e5b896a2-eb34-4cfa-a65e-59604817e424/260527-Status_Coup_-_ICE_Goes_Wild_on_Protesters.jpg

2026-05-31 04:54:37 UTC

Subject: They Call Me *Mister* Salad.
On Saturday, May 30, 2026, I prepared an ridiculously large meal to see how much I could fit into a limit of 2,000 calories. If I've figured it correctly, the meal clocked in at 9 pounds and 1,975 calories total.
The meal was intended to cover the entire day. It did take me most of the day to eat. Note: I ended up skipping the apple shown in the photo. It's excluded from the numbers.
The main course is what I'd refer to as a Mighty Salad [no connection to the Food52 book]. It weighs 6 pounds by itself. The meat and fruit courses add 3 pounds total. The beverage is sparkling water that we'll exclude from the numbers.
We start with a 12 oz packaged garden salad. To that, we add 1 lb baby carrots, 0.75 lb grape tomatoes, 12 little potatoes, 3 oz tuna, and 3 chopped green onions. We pour 32 oz of beef broth onto that, stir to mix the salad, close the container, and shake it for a while.
Result: A salad that says, "They call me *Mister* Salad". However, it was a mistake to use a full pound of carrots. For future salads, I'll replace at least 1/2 to 3/4 of the carrots with other ingredients.
The meat course is a 0.5 lb [counting bone] turkey drumstick plus 0.5 lb of sliced ham. The fruit course is 4 apricots, 4 plums, a nectarine, 6 oz of blackberries, and 6 oz of raspberries. [We're skipping the apple, which will be eaten on another day.]
Estimated calories: 1,975. Calorie needs vary, but the 1,975 figure is below the 2,000 limit that applies to a large number of adult men.
Estimated cost: $20 USD. Note: The est. cost is only slightly more than the cost of a typical adult meal at most fast food chains or actual restaurants.
This meal offers enough protein, carbs, fiber, and potassium for my medical profile. Other nutrients may need adjustments.
This is encouraging. If I'm able to take 300 to 400 calories off of similar meals while maintaining nutrition, I'll have a diet that's enjoyable, that reduces weight, and that leaves one as satiated as possible.
To be clear, 9 pounds for this iteration was higher than I intended.
If I understand correctly, most vitamin supplements don't work well, though they work to a limited extent. You're supposed to get most of the vitamins that you need from a balanced diet. So, I'll take the supplements, but in moderation and primarily to fill in some of the gaps.
#calories #diet #food #health #salad
https://dansu.org/media/faac10f5-fbee-41ab-a3c4-bfd4d5a85636/260530-coder-diet.jpg

2026-04-29 00:40:20 UTC

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It's more specific than funding. Today, #Anthropic announced a set of #Claude "connectors" that permit Claude to plug-in to 9 tools, including #Blender and Photoshop.
https://www.unite.ai/anthropic-wires-claude-into-photoshop-blender-and-ableton/

2026-04-24 05:30:05 UTC

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I have a Motorola Edge Plus 2024 running Lineage OS 23, comparable to Android 16, omitting everything from Google except for Maps, and I continue to get 2 to 3 days despite the age of the phone.
Commercial Androids fall well below the lean Android forks on battery life. Third party bloatware and the Google components are battery vampires.
People will point out that if you replace the Android that comes with your phone, you might brick the phone and you'll void your warranty and lose support regardless.
The first point is true, but regarding the second, note that Motorola has had a very limited support period for the phone that I have and I've already taken the phone past the maximum Android level that it was expected to support. So, support isn't really an issue.
If a phone comes with Graphene OS pre-installed, of course, those last points aren't issues. It should be noted that Graphene OS is more secure then Lineage OS but at the same time is limited to Pixel hardware.

2026-03-17 04:00:10 UTC

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: I had no difficulty in building #GIMP 3.2.0 for my Linux distro. Additionally, in theory, my distro can [and ultimately will] include both GIMP 2.10 and GIMP 3.2 or above.
@npub140g…24hf : You're free to say whee for G'MIC three seven three in GIMP three. The illustration, see: This is #GMIC 3.7.3 and #GIMP3 3.2.0 running in Laclin [the 17th wonder of the world into which all that is fast and light is unfurled.] I did need to patch G'MIC, in my distro, to fix a FTBFS related to "gimptool" release detection.
@npub1jxd…txs3 : However, one issue that upstream isn't responsible for is unavoidable: The fact that most SCM scripts aren't expected to work in GIMP 3 for some time.
FX-Foundry seems to be one example. In fact, FX-Foundry has been partly ported to GIMP 2.8 but I gather that it hasn't made it to 2.10 yet. I see that one reviewer is holding off on an update to GIMP 3 specifically for this reason.
If it will help, I can get FX-Foundry, or most of it, to GIMP 2.10. I should have a draft set ready this Spring. The draft set will support, I think, about 85% of the scripts.
If there is an automated tool under development that will take scripts from GIMP 2.10 to 3.2 or above, this would be one way to get FX-Foundry into the new series.
FWIW: My new script set, to be named OC-Foundry, will include updated copies of other sets such as the GimpHelp set [as the latter website seems to have shut down].
To reduce confusion due to overlap with work by other developers -- and to ensure that authors receive credit -- most menu lines in OC-Foundry will indicate the original associated websites and/or authors.
@npub1kdt…ce4r : BTW yes. G'MIC s'exécute dans GIMP, comme le montre la capture d'écran ci-jointe.
I'd like to close with a GIMP build tip:
I presently recommend that distro developers build "libmypaint" 1.6.1 exactly, then "mypaint-brushes" 1.3.0 exactly, and finally "my-paint-brushes" git-current. git commit 08da4a48a should work for the latter package. The three "*mypaint*" packages should be configured and installed using the same prefix.
The preceding steps should permit developers to build and run both GIMP 2.10.38 and 3.2.0 on the same box. Note: The two GIMP packages need to be configured and installed using *different* prefixes.
https://dansu.org/media/04f6305d-61aa-4ad0-847e-799a816fdfd5/260316-gimp-gmic.jpg

2025-08-22 11:47:37 UTC

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#gmic 3.6.0 is out. I thought I'd mention that the G'MIC speech bubble feature, which is new in 3.6.0, is confirmed to work in both #GIMP 2.10 and 3.0. This opens up new options for #webcomics creators.
Illustration: Use of G'MIC 3.6.0 speech bubble in GIMP 2.10.
https://dansu.org/media/b1f20a6c-82a5-4a39-b534-d2a2cce0e8ca/250822-bubble.jpg

2025-06-21 02:24:42 UTC

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has commented as follows:
"We've heard your feedback on the Terms of Service updates for mastodon.social and mastodon.online, and we're pausing the implementation date (previously announced to users via email as 1st July 2025) so we can take further advice and make improvements."

2025-06-19 05:25:17 UTC

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Mr. Doctorow:
I see in the Github issue that, moving forward, the new language will be the default based on its inclusion in the Mastodon #ToS templates. This isn't ideal.
If #Pleroma is better in this regard, one option would be to encourage the adoption of Pleroma and its forks. Pleroma is much lighter anyway. FWIW: I've run my own Pleroma instance for 4 years and this is being posted from it.
However, realistically, Mastodon is likely to remain a dominant force in the Fediverse. The ToS issue is therefore significant.
I have nothing against the Mastodon core group's likely desire to be bought out for $1B due in part to its creation of "birdsites" that own piles of content. But the Fediverse might well be one of the few things that is still standing between the boot and the human face in "1984".
You're a "name" that's associated with rights. If you do the following, it might gain some traction. Work with your circle to set up a light automated fork of Mastodon. The fork could also be thought of as a spoon.
The fork or spoon would be identical to upstream except for changes made by automation scripts. Such as replacement of the ToS templates with versions that your group would select. It would be a simple matter.
Forks usually die quickly. However, there's little to prevent semi-automated spoons from lasting indefinitely. Sometimes, too, forks end up with both superior features and momentum. See: angie, a full fork of nginx.
Mastodon gGmbH has trademarked the term "Mastodon" as a software mark. However, a spoon could certainly refer to itself as Mastodon (tm) compatible. If "Xnet" isn't trademarked, that term could be trademarked and used as the repo name. Or perhaps "Little Brother" would work.
One nice thing about the spoon approach, aside from the fact that it might be relatively low effort, is that other people would have different concerns about Mastodon that could be addressed at the same time as the stated issue.
Creative Commons people would, for example, like to see increased promotion of Creative Commons in the default Mastodon setup.
So, you might be able to assemble a group of 5 to 10 people. That would be more than enough. Or the prospect of a spoon might offer some leverage in discussions with @Gargron.
Illustration: A #Mastodon is facing a fork by somebody who has a better known name than he does. The Mastodon reconsiders his position on intellectual property issues.
The illustration is partly LLM, though I have concerns related to LLM, and partly GIMP.
https://dansu.org/media/284f99c9-7ed9-4025-9580-3c38c1b099c1/mastofork.jpg

2025-04-05 01:39:57 UTC

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In theory, yes. GIMP-3 builds with the 'C' version of librsvg. In practice, I observe an "unknown error" [ or similar wording ] when I use the resulting copy of GIMP-3 to open SVG files. If I'm able to learn something more specific, I'll report it.

2025-04-04 10:14:43 UTC

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I've built GIMP-3 from source. It's nice. My #Linux distro will keep GIMP-2 and feature GIMP-3 as well. I'll comment that, for me, two features are missing from GIMP-3:
SVG support requires Rust now. Rust is a huge dependency to need to add just to get SVG. Additionally, Rust isn't available for some distros and/or architectures. So, for me, GIMP-3 will need to omit SVG. I think that some other distros will make the same decision.
The Create Logo command is gone as well.
Comment to @npub1jxd…txs3 : It shouldn't be difficult for "file-svg.c" to support the 'C' version of librsvg. In fact, the code is already there in an "#else" block. It looks like relatively minor changes are needed. However, I haven't been able to make it work yet.
On the other hand, Resynthesizer and #GMIC both build and work. The base GIMP-3 filters plus those two add-ons are most of what I need.
Note to distro admins: To build Resynthesizer for GIMP-3 from source, you presently need to use the "resynthesizer3" git branch.
@npub140g…24hf may be pleased to hear that GIMP 3.0.2 and GMIC 3.5.3 are confirmed to be simpatico. See the attached screenshot.
Note: The distro and desktop used here are my own 30-year-old project, Laclin. I'm as fond of it as the GIMP and GMIC teams are of their projects.
#FOSS #graphics
https://dansu.org/media/8e4fdc9d-ea1b-4d8f-8490-ad8c9fcb2796/gimp30-250404.jpg