Adam Trickett :debian: :kde:

I do SAP #ABAP & PO, XML. I like #Linux & #Debian. I believe in openness and I'm passionate about fairness. I'm a pro-European Liberal Democrat.

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Last Notes

2026-05-04 16:21:28 UTC

Today I came across a weird #printer problem. From #Debian #Linux I could print to the #Canon PIXMA printer in simplex or #duplex.
BUT, in duplex mode it would print a side, eject the paper, re-load the paper, then eject it again without printing anything on it, and then start the second page on a separate sheet of paper.
This happened from my PC and a separate one using the stock #IPP driver in #CUPS
Annoyingly it works perfectly in Windows...

2026-04-30 19:49:25 UTC

Dear feediverse, work want to standardise on #Apple #Macs. I've never used a Mac but I do have decades of experience with #Windows and #Linux, so I'm not looking forward to the GUI change.
However the bigger problem is that essential software for my day job is only available as x86 Windows binaries, they are not available for ARM Windows or Mac OS at all.
How good is Windows under a VM on the Mac?

2026-04-02 10:13:48 UTC

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@nprofile…23nc I remember using an Apricot, it was running a medical records system on top of Xenix. The second screen and keyboard were on a serial connection. I think it was a 80386 CPU, but I've no idea how fast it was. I know everything was text based.

2026-04-01 08:39:48 UTC

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@nprofile…ju4e I've always found Ubuntu to be slower and more resource hungry than Debian, and GNOME always seems to be a greedy pig, so Canonical are probably being honest.
Microsoft are living in La-La land with their minimum...

2026-04-01 08:32:02 UTC

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@nprofile…ju4e 4 GiB is fine for Debian, even KDE runs okay, though personally I'd say 8 GiB is the real minimum for full-fat desktop.
Windows 11 barely moves with 8 GiB, 16 GiB is the sane minimum to get it to move sensibly and feel responsive.
Can't comment on GNOME as I avoid it like the plague.

2026-03-28 21:40:57 UTC

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@nprofile…93ce every one should just use UTC and work whatever hours are sensible for them. Who cares about time zones anyway...? Computers can convert everything for us.

2026-03-28 18:38:15 UTC

P678 Pluvier
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3484637908030197412
#blip of the French Navy fisheries Protection vessel Pluvier.
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #france #saint-malo #marinenational #shipSaturday

2026-03-27 20:01:02 UTC

Little flower
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3484293681173761991
#blip of a small purple #flowers
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #flowerfriday

2026-03-27 18:03:26 UTC

Another afternoon at the IT club helping people cope with the stupidity that is Windows 11 or mobile phones. Today it was a poor chap who had lost all his icons on his desktop, but in fact Windows had stacked them all on top of each other in the corner of the desktop... His eyesight wasn't good and trying to make things easier to see for him was painful in Windows compared with KDE on Linux. I did my best to help and he left happier than he arrived.

2026-03-26 19:41:03 UTC

Sunset
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3483929644602754711
#blip of the sun setting against the horizon in #France.
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #sunset

2026-03-26 18:33:39 UTC

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@nprofile…8myj I know the feeling. I'm okay for monitors, but our TV isn't 100% anymore and will eventually need replacing. Our problem with getting a new TV will be finding anything small enough!

2026-03-26 18:28:54 UTC

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@nprofile…8myj I'm currently watching a UK TV repair man who fixes TVs for a living. He picks up lots of free or near free ones that are "broken" or otherwise not in use and then fixes them and re-homes them. His YouTube channel is fascinating.
He recently said TVs and monitors are free at his local tip, they gave so many working ones they can't sell them so they give them away...

2026-03-26 18:22:58 UTC

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@nprofile…8myj yes, I don't specifically need it, but it was well made when new and most of it is fine, and it has good quality zips, which makes me want to repair it. I don't like throwing things away that can be repaired and saved from landfill for a bit longer.

2026-03-26 16:35:34 UTC

Just spent my afternoon-off sewing a new bottom panel into a 30 year old #LoweAlpine 15 litre rucksack that I could have replaced with something perfectly good one from #Decathlon for less than €30. A genuine Lowe Alpine would cost a bit more though...
I also gave it a thorough wash and the water wasn't very clean, though it's a lot cleaner now.

2026-03-26 11:57:04 UTC

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@nprofile…qnl0 not surprised. I keep meaning to build/buy a converter. In principle it's easy to do, the Sun serial protocol is straight forward, and there is code for the microcontroller already available. Strictly speaking you can also just write your own driver and use a serial port directly if you have one...
I currently just use a dull but reliable Filco Majestouch keyboard which isn't too clicky and uses Cherry MX brown switches.

2026-03-26 07:28:20 UTC

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@nprofile…qnl0 you want a real one, so you need an older Type 5. You will need an active converter to turn the serial signal into PS/2 or USB though.

2026-03-25 20:59:41 UTC

Wide, wild and windy
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3483586452271399577
#blip of plants bent over by the wind.
#blipfoto #gimp #photography #france #widewed

2026-03-25 07:06:01 UTC

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@nprofile…f38c Châteauneuf is a common place name in France and sadly doesn't mean nine castles/big houses but new castle/big house.
My wife insists French is more logical than English, but I'm not convinced... Obviously neuf means nine or new...

2026-03-24 19:53:53 UTC

Bursting into life
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3483206657939344450
#blip of a plant bursting into life in the #spring
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #france

2026-03-23 20:00:31 UTC

Colour reeds
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3482847163539523084
#blip of the sky with a setting sun and reeds in the foreground in #silhouette.
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #sunset #france

2026-03-22 17:50:34 UTC

Little rascal
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3482447492954456644
#blip of an apricot coloured #poodle wearing a red harness covered in sand looking away from the camera.
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #dog #caniche #france #beach #dogsofmastodon

2026-03-22 17:05:16 UTC

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@nprofile…gent on one level Trump has done more for Open Source software and renewable energy in a few months than the Democrats did in years. Nothing like being a clueless despot for making people think about what they buy and how they do things...

2026-03-22 12:09:18 UTC

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@nprofile…063n @nprofile…65q8 I agree that many shops that think you owe them your custom. There are still good shops that actually have stuff in stock, aren't stupidly expensive and have staff who know what they are talking about, but it's rare.
The rent and rates are big issues, which gives the big guys an unfair advantage, but a lot of shops don't help themselves.

2026-03-22 11:55:06 UTC

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@nprofile…65q8 high rents and businesses rates in town centres, combined with low rent and tiny business rates outside of towns killed the high street. The big chains under-cut the small shops, and then easy online ordering and delivering allowed them to expand further.
No government has the balls to address the root causes and it's all just lip service. The slide just continues.

2026-03-21 16:58:33 UTC

No. 29
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3482076256806112255
#blip of a ceramic house number plate in a typical #Breton style.
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #Photography #france #brittany #bretagne

2026-03-21 12:38:48 UTC

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@nprofile…t8c8 if the cat walks away from you with its tail up you can see the spot with very little insulation on its rear... Children usually find this very funny.

2026-03-21 12:34:53 UTC

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@nprofile…8myj it was. All done and the chap when shown #KDE chose it instantly over Gnome which he had used before.

2026-03-21 08:16:08 UTC

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@nprofile…8myj we have a Linux install party today.
I think only one installation though. Just swapping an old Ubuntu for a new #Debian.

2026-03-20 19:07:08 UTC

Cherry blossom
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3481745272164321663
#blip of #cherryblossom against a blue sky.
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #france #blossom #cherry #tree #spring

2026-03-20 07:43:24 UTC

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@nprofile…8myj the one I had before worked very well but caused my feet to swell on the warmest days. Not every day but often enough to be annoying in summer. The new medication doesn't have any side effects but isn't strong enough at the current dose.
We shall see what she says.

2026-03-20 07:21:00 UTC

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@nprofile…8myj off to the GP shortly for my blood pressure test on new medication. My own results aren't great, so I'll need a higher dose or a different one I think.

2026-03-20 07:15:03 UTC

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@nprofile…8myj it does seem to do that every day.
How are you getting on?

2026-03-19 21:07:54 UTC

Tried to use #gemini today to set up the #gemini_cli. Interestingly #gemini wasn't as helpful as I would hope about setting itself up!
I have it working, but it's strange and I'm not convinced yet...

2026-03-19 20:08:26 UTC

Setting sun
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3481399268307111443
#blip of the sun setting behind some trees.
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #sunset #france

2026-03-19 10:39:52 UTC

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@nprofile…zq99 had the same experience once going from Gare de Nord to Gare Montparnasse during COVID. I was going home and never been through a major station or taken a Metro at rush hour that was empty. It was very spooky...

2026-03-19 07:32:10 UTC

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@nprofile…axqm some one could maybe invent something and sell it to car manufacturers. I'm sure German car companies would love to sell the newfangled, let's call them indicators, as optional extras...

2026-03-19 07:28:39 UTC

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@nprofile…ecd6 when ads were small static text blocks I didn't mind. As soon as they started to move, pop-up or pop-under I started to block them. I've used an adblock of some sort for so long now I'd forgotten what some sites look like with ads.
Any site that says turn off your block gets ignored, and there are no exceptions.
If ads weren't annoying, were relevant to the site, legal, static, small, then I may consider unblocking them, it's their own fault they get blocked.

2026-03-16 20:31:03 UTC

Point of view
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3480314515160042549
#blip of a model of #Concorde in #ilford #monochrome
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #monochromeMonday #photography #monomonday #france

2026-03-14 17:33:06 UTC

Flying
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3479549430422569705
#blip of a #poodle/#caniche running towards the camera with all four paws in the air.
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #dog #france #dogsofmastodon #gait

2026-03-14 11:41:07 UTC

Going nuts!
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3479454117531747820
#blip of a bowl of mostly #cashew nut shells.
#blipfoto #photography #gimp # #rawtherapee #kitchen #food

2026-03-11 21:15:35 UTC

Lunch time
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3478515698475468657
#blip of a #conker #tree photographed in the middle of the day in winter, with a bright blue sky.
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #france

2026-03-10 08:13:23 UTC

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@nprofile…fmqa I find people freak out when you say we need to tax the super rich. They assume I'm talking about them, as they have no concept of how much richer than them the super rich are.
To make it work we need it to be in many countries and with properly funded tax authorities that share data properly, or the money will just vanish into tax havens.

2026-03-09 20:27:37 UTC

Modern LED lamps are rubbish, they burn out in no time. Good job I've plenty of old CFLs that seem to last forever. I know LEDs are amazingly efficient but they are over driven and use cheap AC/DC conversion.

2026-03-09 20:11:47 UTC

Mono Azerty
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3477774878382227861
#blip of an #azerty keyboard on a laptop in #ilford #monochrome
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #monomonday #france

2026-03-08 17:22:14 UTC

Hole in the clouds
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3477370258157733428
#blip of a wet #beach reflection the light from the sun poking through a hole in the clouds.
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #france #france #saintmalo

2026-03-08 11:04:28 UTC

Took the tog for his morning walk. There was a petrol-head meeting at the hippodrome. Most of the old cars are ugly, some of them are tasteless and ugly, and then there is always an American car which is the most ugly and tasteless.
There is occasionally something that has taste, grace and class, but it is usually rare and ignored by the crowd.

2026-03-07 20:03:02 UTC

Watching the judging at #crufts2026. The poor #poodles have been clipped to stupidity. My mother-in-law's poodle is clipped as a puppy, so he looks cute and is practical, no silly pom-poms on him...

2026-03-07 19:37:10 UTC

Mouse and tail...
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3477043754974580315
#blip of a bright red #logi wireless mouse, with a tail added.
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #computer

2026-03-06 20:29:18 UTC

Minty fresh
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3476693099822974552
#blip of an #Acer laptop running #Linux #Mint from a #USB key.
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #computer #debian #ubuntu

2026-03-05 21:12:50 UTC

Random grey
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3476343057782147607
#blip of a metal pencil sharpener in #monochrome.
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #office #desk #ilford

2026-03-05 16:15:52 UTC

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@nprofile…dhn2 @nprofile…rnpp I wouldn't put it past some companies to cut corners and ship poor hardware if they can get away with it. I couldn't comment on what firms do in other countries.
Having said that, China and India seem to have a booming Linux community, so if firms are playing fast and loose with the standards I would have expected it to be more visible.
Lowest end hardware can be unreliable irrespective of the OS you put on it. See recent bit-flip error stats.

2026-03-05 15:42:10 UTC

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@nprofile…dhn2 @nprofile…rnpp I don't deny that some laptops have screwy hardware and come with special builds, such that stock Windows won't work either, but I've not dealt with any myself.
Certainly Dell, HP, Asus, Acer and a couple of generic Chinese designs have all worked perfectly for me in the last 25 years. I've obviously not tried everything, or indeed that many devices from the vendors I've mentioned, but everything just works in my experience.

2026-03-05 15:33:00 UTC

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@nprofile…dhn2 @nprofile…rnpp been running stock #Debian on laptops for years. Except for a 30 year old Dell which had a proprietary sound card that only worked in Windows 95/98, everything has always worked. I can't remember the last bit of hardware that didn't work out of the box.
Can't really comment on macOS, other than to say I'm running Debian on some old Macs that Apple no longer supports.
My in-laws are all running #Linux without issue.

2026-03-04 20:40:25 UTC

Kodachrome conker
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3475972942519599122
#blip of a #conker #tree in mid-winter, with a saturated blue sky behind it - imported with a #kodachrome64 filter.
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #france

2026-03-04 12:17:49 UTC

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@nprofile…s5f3 The UK is on course to restricting VPN services, in the name of protecting children next...
It's a tough call, if you allow everyone to communicate securely then bad people will abuse it. If you limit security then bad people will abuse the lack of security.
We know for a fact that the majority of bad things to have happened have been carried out by people in positions of authority, so I'm minded to not give them more powers.

2026-03-04 10:42:19 UTC

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@nprofile…8myj on work days he gets one in town walk before breakfast and the hippodrome after work.
At the weekend he gets two hippodrome walks per day, and on the best day a beach walk instead of one of the hippodrome walks.
He loves his walks. I do between 40 and 50 km per week just taking him for his walks.

2026-03-04 10:39:43 UTC

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@nprofile…s5f3 I agree that it's the thin edge of the wedge and not ideal, but the actions of some European countries such as the UK are worse.
Many commercial social media sites are riddled with toxic content, but I think that just blocking children from them doesn't address the problem at the root, which is toxic content that makes some people a lot of money.
I agree that governments' approaches are mostly bad and wrong.

2026-03-04 08:20:37 UTC

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@nprofile…s5f3 to be fair to the concept, as annoying as it is, it's better to have something in the OS that we have control of, rather than outsourcing it all to some dodgy third party.
Age verification is a problem, but I'd rather have control of it instead of someone else.

2026-03-04 08:16:17 UTC

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@nprofile…8myj that normally means my small friend will get two dry walks today. He is a bit of a sponge and does go rather soggy when it rains.

2026-03-03 21:18:37 UTC

Velvia afterglow
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3475619296397233808
#blip of the #horizon just after #sunset with some clouds catching the light. Processed with a #velvia filter.
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #urban #france #sky

2026-03-02 20:04:43 UTC

Sunset
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3475239143015973870
#blip of an urban horizon just after the sun has set.
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #france #sunset #sky

2026-03-02 10:44:22 UTC

This morning on my dog walk there was some bloke outside a garage with his monster #Dodge #ram parked blocking the pavement. The chap from the garage was only shoulder high to the top of the bonnet, there is a reason why many of these Stupid Useless Vehicles aren't legal on European roads. I assume it's a "private" import to get round the law, and they were discussing doing something to it..

2026-03-01 16:49:56 UTC

Moody skies
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3474826954136355605
#blip of #Intramuros in #Saintmalo with heavy moody clouds above.
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #france #beach #sea

2026-03-01 10:59:40 UTC

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@nprofile…ehfy our local public library has a decent selection of CDs and quite a few DVDs, plus a streaming service too.
We've borrowed lots of CDs, DVDs and books over the years. It's a great service and a good way of expanding your horizons.

2026-02-28 20:46:28 UTC

Big badda boom!
Watching the #FifthElement again as you do. Lots of silly techno babble, but still fun!

2026-02-28 19:11:19 UTC

Little and large
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3474500317695971040
#blip of a #poodle sniffing something, with a large #tractor #tyre behind casting a shadow.
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #france #caniche #dog #dogsofmastodon

2026-02-28 11:01:36 UTC

Staff loitering outside the front door of a restaurant smoking is a real turn off... Smokers don't seem to realise how much they stink to non-smokers...

2026-02-27 19:46:58 UTC

Yellow on blue
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3474141408862932533
#blip of yellow #blossom against a blue sky.
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #france

2026-02-27 14:12:47 UTC

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@nprofile…xjwa while it is good that the Tories lost badly, Reform are far worse and did dangerously well. In fact they probably picked up most of the Tory votes and some of the Labour ones, which isn't great.
The Tories deserve to be trounced, but if Reform comes close to winning is that any better?

2026-02-27 11:24:19 UTC

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@nprofile…ah0n serves Starmer right. If you lay down with fascists don't be surprised if you wake up with fleas.
In some respects the Tories lost what little support they had to Reform, so will hardly be pleased either.
The bad news is democracy, with Reform coming a strong second, on the back of a nasty campaign.

2026-02-26 19:57:09 UTC

Hari cut
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3473785536525631829
#blip of a #sycamore #tree that has just been #pollared against a blue sky.
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #france #urban

2026-02-26 17:22:29 UTC

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@nprofile…xr9y indeed, but some people will make it...

2026-02-26 11:58:06 UTC

Work issued #Chromebook is so flaky with respect to USB devices. My headset shows up in the OS, but regularly fails to be visible in #Google Meet. I have to reboot it so often, it makes Windows look stable and gives Linux a bad name.

2026-02-26 07:38:35 UTC

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@nprofile…a9kz moving is very stressful, and not to be taken lightly.
I've lived in many places, more than average for a Brit, so my attitude is slightly atypical. I tend to think home is where I am.
If it feels like home, then it is!

2026-02-25 21:16:16 UTC

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@nprofile…a9kz I imagine it can be cold there in the winter then. I just remember the cold and snow, I arrived the day after all the leaves had fallen in the autumn, and was there until the following summer.

2026-02-25 21:11:34 UTC

Flowering quince crossing overhead
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3473441574497551152
#blip of a flowering quince overhead with a blue sky behind.
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #blossom #france

2026-02-25 13:34:08 UTC

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@nprofile…a9kz I worked in Amherst at the University.
Brittany has a nice coastline. It's very rocky with little bays and coves, which have beaches in them, if you can get to them. We live in town so go everywhere on foot or by bike. The bus service is a joke but can be used to get further out. We have good rail service if you want to go to Paris or big towns, not so good for general local use.

2026-02-25 13:22:43 UTC

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@nprofile…a9kz I can't say I'm a fan. But moving south, close to sea level and the coast means I almost never see it at all now.
For my sins I once worked in the middle of Massachusetts over a winter which was unrelenting cold and snowy... I confess to preferring southern California where I also worked and where I am now on the coast of Brittany.

2026-02-25 13:16:49 UTC

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@nprofile…a9kz we're right on the coast, so we almost never get any snow at all.
Where I grew up used to get snow most winters, but because of global warming it's not as regular or as significant as it was when I was a child.
It's nice enough at the moment but there is a lot of haze, which probably means vehicle pollution...

2026-02-25 11:53:33 UTC

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@nprofile…v2v2 companies often think they are great and never consider that they were just lucky.
When the market changes they suddenly evaporate without trace and are all sulky about it... E.g. Nokia.

2026-02-25 11:50:19 UTC

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@nprofile…a9kz it was a very mild 16° yesterday, which is very nice for the time of year. I think it's a couple of degrees lower today, but still bright sunshine and blue skies. Not bad for mid winter.

2026-02-24 19:49:54 UTC

Sunset
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3473058081007472279
#blip of the sky just after the sun has set. There are puddles in the foreground reflecting light.
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #france #sunset

2026-02-24 19:48:37 UTC

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@nprofile…xzpf There is a reason that British plugs have a fuse in them - contrary to popular opinion it's there to protect the cable not you (directly)!

2026-02-24 15:28:22 UTC

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@nprofile…4fvk that's not good, you should get better with that kind of kit.
Is it just as unstable if you start the KDE session in X11 mode? Should be an option on the login screen to change it.
I assume it was a vanilla install?

2026-02-24 15:16:11 UTC

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@nprofile…4fvk there is something seriously wrong with your desktop. Are you using Wayland or X11?
On lower spec boxes I like LXQt, which is Qt based and quite KDE like, but doesn't come with all the bells and whistles.
I've encountered the odd glitch but nothing on the scale you are experiencing.

2026-02-24 14:37:34 UTC

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@nprofile…4fvk I've run Debian stable with the KDE desktop for years and generally found it perfectly stable and reliable. Personally I find it prettier and more usable than GNOME, but other opinions are available.
The Nvidia driver can cause problems, and some laptops (power saving stuff) are just flakey whatever you do.
I've not seen this on any of my systems, more than a dozen, on a range of different platforms.

2026-02-23 16:10:18 UTC

Today it was warm and dry enough to nearly dry a load of laundry outside. While it's not always cold and wet in mid February in the northern hemisphere, it's still quite atypical for the time of year.
Where I live, a one metre sea level rise will put most of the centre of the town under water at most high tides....

2026-02-22 19:11:34 UTC

Weeee!
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3472323955920995860
#blip of the #beach looking towards #IntraMuros in #saintmalo #France in #Ilford #Delta400 #monochrome.
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography

2026-02-22 12:55:47 UTC

My #SFR #IPTV #STB boots to the welcome screen and then stops dead. We don't actually use it much, but when we had fibre installed I tested that it worked okay.
For the #Olympics my wife wanted to watch a few events on catch-up and the box boots to a black screen. HDMI signal, but not picture or sound.
Power cycling shows the boot screen, and at the end of the wait it stops and does nothing else...

2026-02-21 17:46:31 UTC

Now you die Mr Bond...
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3471942460970632391
#blip of a lethal looking #contraption used to drive spikes in the ground so that the grass will drain.
#blipfoto #gimp #photography #machinery #france

2026-02-21 08:06:25 UTC

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@nprofile…93ce my brother-in-law went into the kitchen to grab some sugar for his tea.
He grabbed a jar of salt and didn't notice.
I noticed, but thought it would be funny to see his expression when he drank his tea after putting two tea spoons of salt into it.
It was worth it...!

2026-02-20 19:18:28 UTC

Winter flowers
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3471601417737733819
#blip of some #flowers surviving winter in the #garden.
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #france

2026-02-20 11:29:12 UTC

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@nprofile…lf5x Freesat makes sense for us on the north coast of France, as we can watch any live TV without a VPN. Until a few months ago we only had 7Mbit ADSL, so streaming anything was a joke. Now we have 1Gbps fibre, streaming is viable.
We now have about 400 channels of rubbish (free). I mostly record or download what I want to watch, and almost never watch linear TV.
I run my own VPN, so I can stream UK plus French TV, but only the free to air content.

2026-02-20 08:36:51 UTC

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@nprofile…lf5x Freesat is free and allows us UK TV without paying anything, which is useful. The French IPTV is pretty useless, but does provide catch up services locally.
Streaming costs money and without VPN it's harder to get English language content, as stuff in France is aggressively dubbed rather than subtitled.
Finally I don't watch much TV, so I tend to download free-to-air content and then watch when I want.
I'll probably scrap the French IPTV as it's useless...

2026-02-20 07:52:01 UTC

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@nprofile…lf5x I've a lot of random kit.
Blu-ray player
Freesat decoder
French IPTV box
Computer: media player & VPN for Freesat/TV/Blu-ray
A lot of people have game boxes, but I don't. Even so I'm out of sockets with only three available, of which one isn't as fully featured as the other two.
Apparently some TVs now come with 4 HDMI sockets, but it's very recent.

2026-02-20 07:43:31 UTC

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@nprofile…8myj now you need to take some pictures and post them. I know you are on #blipfoto so away you go now!

2026-02-19 22:02:57 UTC

Little lights
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3471280003008693583
#blip of a small #USB powered #LED light.
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #computer

2026-02-19 14:46:43 UTC

After weeks of grey skies and rain, today we now have an ice cold wind. My office is like a fridge and it's cold enough to trigger the thermostat and turn the heating on.
Apparently next week we can expect 16°C... Totally bonkers weather.

2026-02-16 20:02:26 UTC

Inverted V
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3470163446455078496
#blip of a footpath going towards the horizon forming an inverted "V" against the darker grass.
#blipfoto #ilford #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #monomonday #monochrome

2026-02-09 20:18:45 UTC

O is for oil
https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3467628921674009616
#blip of a bottle of 3-in-1 oil in #Ilford #monochrome.
#blipfoto #gimp #rawtherapee #photography #monochrome #monomonday