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  • Showing only topics with the tag "help". Back to normal view
    1. LaTeX: Using a different font for glyphs used in commands like \sum

      Hello everyone. I consider myself fairly competent when it comes to my work with LaTeX, but as everyone who uses it knows, it is definetely strange sometimes. And right now I have a problem which...

      Hello everyone. I consider myself fairly competent when it comes to my work with LaTeX, but as everyone who uses it knows, it is definetely strange sometimes. And right now I have a problem which just irks me in the wrong ways:

      I use XeTeX and a number of custom fonts for my documents, but when writing mathematical formulas I found out that the font I set for Greek letters (Gentium Plus) is used for letter commands like \alpha, \Alpha, ... but not for commands like \sum, \prod. As you can see in this example here. You can see XeTeX defaults to Computer Modern.

      I've looked all over the net for solutions but I can't find one. I'm using mathspec, amsmath, amsfonts, amssymb as my font related packages and I set my fonts like this:

      \setmainfont{Charis SIL}
      \setsansfont{Helvetica Now Display}
      \setmonofont[Scale=MatchLowercase]{Fira Code Retina}
      \setmathfont(Digits,Latin){Charis SIL}
      \setmathfont(Greek){Gentium Plus}
      

      I feel like I'm going insane not solving this problem. Should you require it, my entire LaTeX template is here on Github. Please help, thank you.

      8 votes
    2. Home network support: Setting up a network switch

      I moved into a new apartment and was surprised to see that all my rooms have CAT 5 Ethernet ports in the wall. However, cue my disappoint when I try to naively plug my router and machine in two...

      I moved into a new apartment and was surprised to see that all my rooms have CAT 5 Ethernet ports in the wall. However, cue my disappoint when I try to naively plug my router and machine in two separate ports to find that the ports don't actually work. After searching various forums, I found that I have to:

      1. Locate the panel where all the ethernet ports connect
      2. Wire them to an ethernet switch.

      I found the panel but all the wires look like this:

      https://i.imgur.com/Qzm72g0.jpg

      I'm not sure what I need to do from here to plugging into my network switch. Any guides or advice would be extremely helpful. I don't need every port connected to the switch, only one or two. None of these look labelled so I might have a difficult time isolating which cable runs where.

      And about the network switch... Any qualms about using an old router that has the AP turned off?

      10 votes
    3. Help Packaging Elmer FEM for Nix

      I'm trying to package Elmer for use with NixOS, and could use some help from any experienced Nix users. My current attempt is located here. There is some junk left around in that file from my...

      I'm trying to package Elmer for use with NixOS, and could use some help from any experienced Nix users. My current attempt is located here. There is some junk left around in that file from my experimenting, but it's at least a start. There are also a few lines of error included in the comment here.

      Any help is appreciated!

      6 votes
    4. Does anyone know much about Barbara Stant?

      Just discovered Barbara Stant on a Spotify playlist but can't find much information about her. There is only one album on there and Discogs is only showing some features. Google is coming up with...

      Just discovered Barbara Stant on a Spotify playlist but can't find much information about her. There is only one album on there and Discogs is only showing some features. Google is coming up with a big goose egg as well.

      Just curious as to whether anyone has any info about her history.

      6 votes
    5. [SOLVED] Tech support request: Getting a scanner and controller working in Linux

      Most recent update is here. The Tildes community has been amazing and patient with me as a new and uninformed Linux user, and I'm greatly appreciative of that. I return to you today with yet...

      Most recent update is here.


      The Tildes community has been amazing and patient with me as a new and uninformed Linux user, and I'm greatly appreciative of that. I return to you today with yet another request.


      Hardware

      System76 Oryx Pro
      Distro: Pop!_OS 19.10


      Issue #1 (mission critical)

      Brother MFC-L2750DW

      I have a Brother printer/scanner for which I have installed the drivers using the .deb file provided on the Brother site. It's connected via USB. Printing works fine; scanning does not. My husband and I both need the ability to scan for our jobs, so this issue is pretty important to us.

      I am using the program Document Scanner (I believe it's one of the GNOME default programs?). When I open the program it says "Searching for Scanners" and then recognizes my scanner, giving the model number and says it's "Ready to Scan". Whenever I attempt to scan, however, whether from the ADF or the flatbed, it says "Unable to connect to scanner". I am not sure how to proceed, and any guidance on this would be greatly appreciated!


      Issue #2 (optional)

      Hyperkin Duke Wired Xbox Controller

      This is an optional issue and not at all one that needs to be solved by any means. A while back my husband got me this because it's my absolute favorite controller of all time (I know, scoff all you want!). It worked fine in Windows, but now that I've shifted over to Linux it has been sitting and gathering dust.

      When I plug it in the controller rumbles briefly (which it also did on Windows), but other than that does nothing. No input is accepted. If it's easy to get this up and running in Linux, I'd love to be able to use it, but if it's not that's totally fine. I have another controller I can use, and again, none of this is essential to my work. I just figured since I was asking for help I'd throw this in here too.


      If you need any additional information or need me to try any specific things, let me know!

      10 votes
    6. What happened to subscribe/unsubscribe on the groups page?

      I remember there being subscribe/unsubscribe buttons on https://tildes.net/groups By default new accounts are subscribed to every group, earlier I could just goto that page and unsubscribe from...

      I remember there being subscribe/unsubscribe buttons on https://tildes.net/groups

      By default new accounts are subscribed to every group, earlier I could just goto that page and unsubscribe from groups I'm uninterested in. Looks like now you have to goto each group page and unsubscribe there.

      11 votes
    7. How should I report outdated docs or suggest edits to the wiki?

      I've been reading the docs after joining the site (hi!) and noticed a few places that were either outdated or unclear. Should I ignore them, given the disclaimer on the Instructions doc that says...

      I've been reading the docs after joining the site (hi!) and noticed a few places that were either outdated or unclear. Should I ignore them, given the disclaimer on the Instructions doc that says docs may not be current? Or is it better to report them?

      Here's a list of what I noticed for context:

      Some guidance on what to do with discoveries like these will be helpful for those who read docs :)
      I'm not really asking them to be updated here and now, but that's a fine outcome of this post too.

      13 votes
    8. [SOLVED] Tech support request: Broken start menu on Windows 10

      Solved! Thanks to @pseudolobster's post here, I was able to resolve the issue by creating a new user account on the computer. I'm leaving the post up for posterity, in case anyone else is ever...

      Solved!

      Thanks to @pseudolobster's post here, I was able to resolve the issue by creating a new user account on the computer. I'm leaving the post up for posterity, in case anyone else is ever searching up this same issue in the future.


      My husband is starting to transition to work from home. He is using his personal computer and just yesterday set up a VPN, Microsoft Teams, and Windows' built-in remote desktop so that he can access his work computer. Everything worked smoothly and he was able to finish out his workday from home just fine.

      Primary Issue

      This morning, upon booting his computer, he cannot access his Start Menu. It is on screen, and it appears clickable, but nothing comes up. Likewise, the search bar in his task bar is present on boot, but upon clicking the start menu for the first time it disappears and does not return. Other basic Windows functionality seems to be broken. Alt-tabbing does not work to switch between windows. System tray icons are present, but right clicking them and selecting an option does nothing. We cannot open taskbar settings or network settings this way, for example.

      This might be indicative of a larger breakdown. Even by command line, I can't get to the Windows 10 settings or Windows Update. It seems like all of the "new Windows"-style interfaces won't start (though the old ones, like the Control Panel, do).

      We can still open up apps by clicking on the links in his taskbar, and those seem to work fine. I can also get to the run command with Win+R.

      He is running Windows 10, and as far as I know, it's fully up-to-date (I can't open Windows Update to check).

      Additional Information

      In attempting to diagnose this issue, I've come across several others that are potentially related. I don't know if these are relevant and they're not a primary concern at the moment, but I'm including them here in case they help contextualize what's going on.

      There seems to be a runaway process that slowly eats up more and more memory over time, as well as a chunk of CPU. Sometimes it's called "Service Host: Windows Push Notifications User Service_#####" and sometimes it's called "Service Host: WpnUserService_#####" with the numbers changing each boot.

      Also, in attempting to restart the computer, it sometimes (but not always) pauses with a notification about programs still running, with one of them being "Task Host Window" with the message Task Host is stopping background tasks. (\Microsoft\Windows\Plug and Play\Device Install Reboot Required) Finally, immediately before restarting, it shows an error message from "svchost.exe" which reads The system detected an overrun of a stack-based buffer in this application. This overrun could potentially allow a malicious user to gain control of this application.

      Is this potentially a malware/intrusion issue?

      Attempted Solutions

      I have tried, to no success:

      • Rebooting the computer, both via a restart in Windows as well as by holding down the power button
      • Signing out and back in to his user account on the computer
      • Running sfc /scannow
      • Running DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

      Request for Help

      I know we have a lot of techy people here, but I also know you are all probably busy with everything that's going on. Nevertheless, if anyone has any guidance or help they could give on this issue, I'd greatly appreciate it.

      Also, it's been a while since I've used Windows, but IIRC there's a way of just resetting the whole thing and starting fresh? That's not ideal, but if that's the course of action I need to take, just let me know. Ultimately I just want this to work, by whatever method, so that my husband can be at home and reduce his exposure.

      7 votes
    9. Premature session cookie expiration?

      I've noticed that, even when I choose the "Keep me logged in" option, I usually have to re-log in to Tildes at least once or twice per day. Under what circumstances might the session cookie expire...

      I've noticed that, even when I choose the "Keep me logged in" option, I usually have to re-log in to Tildes at least once or twice per day. Under what circumstances might the session cookie expire on such a short time scale? I can see that the Max-Age is set to one year, so I'm not sure what might be causing that.

      Has anyone else encountered this issue? It's entirely possible that some of my add-ons are interfering (although I don't see how), which is the reason I ask.

      I have to pull up my Tildes password and my TOTP generator in each case, which is just enough pain to encourage me to navigate to another tab instead.

      4 votes
    10. [SOLVED] Some of my internet radio stations aren't playing on my computer

      EDIT: The problem has been solved. @Sill identified the problem here and @cfabbro found a work-around here. Crisis averted! I listen to some internet radio stations on my computer, but a couple of...

      EDIT: The problem has been solved. @Sill identified the problem here and @cfabbro found a work-around here. Crisis averted!



      I listen to some internet radio stations on my computer, but a couple of them aren't working any more: they appear to play, but there's no sound coming from my computer's speakers.

      It is only two stations. I've tested other internet radio stations I listen to, and they still work: I can hear them. I can play and hear YouTube videos. I can stream Spotify on my computer. I can play and hear my music files stored on my computer's hard drive. So I know my speakers work. I know Chrome works as a music player for other sources, including other internet radio stations. It's just these two radio stations.

      One of them is this radio station. Also this radio station. I know their digital streams are working, because I can listen to them via an internet radio app on my phone. So I know their digital signals are being sent out. But, while my phone app can play them, my computer browser can't play them.

      I've tested both non-working stations in Chrome and Internet Explorer. They both don't work in Chrome, but this station also doesn't work in IE.

      I'm using Chrome 80.0.3987.122. And I'm running Windows 7.

      This problem only started a couple of days ago.

      What's going on? How do I fix this?

      12 votes
    11. How do I combat the "women need safe spaces" argument?

      (I am trans-inclusive. I believe trans rights are human rights. I believe in self-identification. I will use whatever pronouns someone choose, and I try not to assume pronouns.) In the UK recently...

      (I am trans-inclusive. I believe trans rights are human rights. I believe in self-identification. I will use whatever pronouns someone choose, and I try not to assume pronouns.)

      In the UK recently there's been a bit of a debate between trans-phobic "gender critical" feminists who say that for sexual safety women need spaces that are women only, and that this means they need to exclude trans-people.

      I think this is bullshit. I'd like some good quality arguments to use against this.

      What are your ideas?

      14 votes
    12. Website puzzle that was posted to Tildes?

      A while ago, maybe like a year ago? There was a thread and two websites were linked to that were basically puzzle sites. As in the sites themselves were the puzzle and you had to find clues in the...

      A while ago, maybe like a year ago? There was a thread and two websites were linked to that were basically puzzle sites. As in the sites themselves were the puzzle and you had to find clues in the site to get to the next page. It was very cool but I managed to lose the link and was hoping someone might know what I'm talking about. We ringing any bells?

      10 votes
    13. Where can I find collected wisdom from Silicon Valley?

      I am talking about advice such as "make incremental improvements" and "ship the minimum viable product." Is there a name for this kind of advice - advice related to software and tech. I am looking...

      I am talking about advice such as "make incremental improvements" and "ship the minimum viable product."

      Is there a name for this kind of advice - advice related to software and tech.

      I am looking to make a compilation.

      7 votes
    14. [SOLVED] Tech support request: Recovering from hard crashes in Linux

      EDIT: Latest update This is something so rudimentary that I'm a little embarrassed to ask, but I've also tried looking around online to no avail. One of the hard parts about being a Linux newbie...

      EDIT: Latest update


      This is something so rudimentary that I'm a little embarrassed to ask, but I've also tried looking around online to no avail. One of the hard parts about being a Linux newbie is that the amount of support material out there seems to differ based on distro, DE, and also time, so posts from even a year or two ago can be outdated or inapplicable.

      Here's my situation: I'm a newbie Linux user running Pop!_OS 19.10 with the GNOME desktop environment. Occasionally, games I'm playing will hard crash and lock up my system completely, leaving a still image of the game frozen on the screen indefinitely. The system stays there, completely unresponsive to seemingly any inputs. It doesn't happen often, but when it does it's almost always when I'm running a Windows game through Steam's Proton layer. I suspect it also might have something to do with graphics drivers, as I'll at times notice an uptick in frequency after certain updates, though that might just be me finding a suspicious pattern where none exists.

      Anyway, what I don't know how to do is gracefully exit or recover from these crashes. No keyboard shortcut seems to work, and I end up having to hold the power button on my computer until it abruptly shuts off. This seems to be the "worse case scenario" for handling it, so if there is a better way I should go about this, I'd love to know about it.


      EDIT: I really want to thank everyone for their help so far. My initial question has been answered, and for posterity's sake I'd like to post the solution here, to anyone who is searching around for this same issue and ends up in this thread:

      • Use CTRL+ALT+F3/F4/F5/F6 keys to access a terminal, where you can try to kill any offending processes and reboot if needed.
      • If that fails, use ALT+SYSRQ+R-E-I-S-U-B.

      With that out of the way, I've added more information about the crashes specifically to the thread, primarily here, and some people are helping me out with diagnosing the issue. This thread is now less about the proper way to deal with the crash than it is about trying to identify the cause of the crash and prevent it in the first place.

      12 votes
    15. Tagging: "poem" or "poems"?

      Simple question. For people's original poems posted in ~creative, should they be tagged "poem" or "poems"? "poetry" is the broader category, and includes discussions about poets and poetry in...

      Simple question. For people's original poems posted in ~creative, should they be tagged "poem" or "poems"?

      "poetry" is the broader category, and includes discussions about poets and poetry in general. However, when someone posts their poem, should that be tagged "poem" or "poems"?

      The tagging guidelines say (or used to say - since I re-organised the Docs pages, I can't find this reference any more) that tags should be plural. That indicates that "poems" is the better tag. But the post contains a single poem, which makes "poem" the better tag.

      Opinions?


      EDIT: In the end, I went with the popular choice. When I looked at the tags used in ~creative, I found over a hundred topics tagged "poem" and only four topics tagged "poems". It seems that most people naturally choose "poem" when posting a poem, so I standardised the few differently tagged topics to use "poem".

      5 votes
    16. How bad is the environmental impact of shipping/delivery?

      I've recently started trying to improve my environmental impact, so I apologize for what might be a very basic question, but how bad is it to have items shipped/delivered to you, rather than...

      I've recently started trying to improve my environmental impact, so I apologize for what might be a very basic question, but how bad is it to have items shipped/delivered to you, rather than picking them up from a store near you?

      I'm specifically interested in two situations:

      1. If I'm buying a specialty, zero-waste product that's not available in stores nearby, which is worse: having it delivered directly to my house, or having to drive a good distance in my own car to get it? Are the two roughly comparable, or is one considerably worse than the other?

      2. I use a service called PaperBackSwap that is sort of like a big, distributed, online used bookstore. You give away books from your collection to people who request them, and for each book you send out you can request one to be sent to you. I like that it's putting books in the hands of people who specifically want them (as opposed to donating them or selling them to a used bookstore where they might be shelved indefinitely or pulped), but now I'm sitting here wondering how bad it is for that single hardcover of mine to travel halfway across the country. On the other hand, the book is getting reused, potentially multiple times if it then gets requested by others after that. Should I be considering this good reuse, or a waste of resources?

      Outside of those two, I'd welcome any primers on the topic at large, as well as any best practices with consumer goods that I can start putting into place. I've already done a lot to find plastic-free alternatives to a lot of what I use, but I don't know if I'm trading one ill for another by getting them from places that have to send them from hundreds of miles away.

      11 votes
    17. Why are some of the tags on title page displayed on 2nd row (next to Article), but some of them on the 3rd row (the old tag list)?

      How does this work, why are some tags on separate line? Example: How big are the fires burning in eastern Australia? Interactive map ~news australia · Article: 207 words natural disasters...

      How does this work, why are some tags on separate line?

      Example:


      How big are the fires burning in eastern Australia? Interactive map

      ~news australia · Article: 207 words
      natural disasters bushfires


      The australia tag is next to ~news, not in the tag list below.

      4 votes
    18. The ending of Joker?

      Not sure how spoilers are supposed to work here, but I deleted my other post and put the image in the comment https://i.imgur.com/6EupcC0.png T.W. - is Arthur imagining it in arkham asylum? When...

      Not sure how spoilers are supposed to work here, but I deleted my other post and put the image in the comment

      https://i.imgur.com/6EupcC0.png

      T.W. - is Arthur imagining it in arkham asylum? When asked by the social worker he didn't have much of an answer why he was locked up before.

      3 votes
    19. Is there any way to combine content from both tildes and reddit into one place?

      I'd like an app or preferably a website that I can use that will combine both discussion from reddit and tildes into one place. I actually haven't used tildes since April 2019 and the reason is...

      I'd like an app or preferably a website that I can use that will combine both discussion from reddit and tildes into one place. I actually haven't used tildes since April 2019 and the reason is because I just straight up forgot about tildes. There just isn't enough content on tildes for me so I find myself spending more of my time on reddit which means I end up forgetting about tildes.

      10 votes
    20. How should I go about requesting a topic move or retag?

      Occasionally, especially for newer users, I'll see a post in a section of the site where it doesn't belong, sometimes without (proper) tags. What's the best way to bring this to the attention of...

      Occasionally, especially for newer users, I'll see a post in a section of the site where it doesn't belong, sometimes without (proper) tags. What's the best way to bring this to the attention of folks who can fix it? Leaving comments is messy and distracts from the discussion, but right now it's the only method I know of to bring up the issue.

      4 votes
    21. Can anyone help me with home security systems?

      I could use some clarity, as I feel like most of what I'm reading regarding home security is either FUD or marketing. I don't trust most of the comments I read online, as almost everything about...

      I could use some clarity, as I feel like most of what I'm reading regarding home security is either FUD or marketing. I don't trust most of the comments I read online, as almost everything about this seems predicated on creating fear in me so that I'll pay up.

      Simplisafe and Frontpoint are supposedly easy (and Simplisafe is quite cheap), but reviews online are mixed, and many people seem to think a self-installed wireless system is garbage no matter who it's from or who's doing the monitoring. Is this true, or is this just stratrgic doubt trying to drive me to a different or more expensive solution? I don't know!

      Also, ADT sent me an ad that was a straight up lie. The person on the phone had to guess at how they might be able to stack discounts to even get close to the price I was looking at on their flyer, and the best she could offer was ~50% higher than what was shown, with their higher tiers costing well over double the price in the ad. I politely terminated the call.

      My home security needs are simple. All I need is basic protection, and, honestly, I'm less concerned about a break-in than I am a fire. That's what I'd want to make sure I have solid monitoring for. My stuff can be replaced, but my home itself and my dog cannot.

      Can anyone help me cut through all of the crap out there and just give me accurate information? What's my best bet?

      13 votes
    22. Is there a reason I cannot have a tag people.doing.something

      I usually don't mind my tags getting erased and someone putting a more appropriate tag, but I want to know what is wrong with people.doing.something, or someone doing something, or...

      I usually don't mind my tags getting erased and someone putting a more appropriate tag, but I want to know what is wrong with people.doing.something, or someone doing something, or someone.doing.something. I tried various ways today, and each one got removed, and I would like to know why.

      5 votes
    23. Group suggestion: tech support

      Right now ~comp and ~tech are getting these kinds of posts, but I personally feel a ~tech_support ~tech.support (or ~tech_help? ~tech.help) group would be a better alternative. People who love to...

      Right now ~comp and ~tech are getting these kinds of posts, but I personally feel a ~tech_support ~tech.support (or ~tech_help? ~tech.help) group would be a better alternative.

      People who love to help would flock to the group, and people who need it would feel safer to ask for help without receiving straight up LMGTFY (Let Me Google That For You) kind of answers.

      There could be also a ~help group, wich a much broader scope (probably about Tildes itself).

      What you think?

      14 votes
    24. Help me get my head around DNSCrypt and DoH/DoT

      I want to adopt these technologies b/c I'm moving to a home w/o WiFi: I'll only use mobile networks in order to save some money. But the general pipeline and setup are hard to digest, and I'm not...

      I want to adopt these technologies b/c I'm moving to a home w/o WiFi: I'll only use mobile networks in order to save some money. But the general pipeline and setup are hard to digest, and I'm not sure if I really understand what are the implications for my privacy, except for the fact that DNS queries are encrypted so I don't leak domain names. This is especially important to me because Turkish internet law and the censorship mechanism is really intrusive, with DPI & DNS blocking. My current ISP does not fiddle with my HTTPS traffic, but I won't have that with my mobile network.

      I'm also considering a VPN, but major VPNs are blocked here. To what extent do the purposes of VPNs and these DNS solutions overlap? Assuming most of my important traffic is over HTTPS+DoH/T, how safe am I, and most importantly how much can I penetrate the censorship mechanisms?

      6 votes
    25. Have "whispers" been implemented?

      I'm really curious if they have, because on this thread, there's a bunch of comments from "unknown user." If whispers have been implemented, how do I use them? I can't seem to find any information...

      I'm really curious if they have, because on this thread, there's a bunch of comments from "unknown user." If whispers have been implemented, how do I use them? I can't seem to find any information about them.

      11 votes
    26. Recovering my account on StackExchange

      Occasionally, I lose control of my account on StackExchange. I don't visit for a few months, I get logged out by some process during that time, and, when I try to log in, it tells me my password...

      Occasionally, I lose control of my account on StackExchange. I don't visit for a few months, I get logged out by some process during that time, and, when I try to log in, it tells me my password is incorrect.

      When I go through the "forgot password" process, get the recovery email, and reset my password... I then get told I'm about to create a new account on StackExchange. I actually did that once, many years ago, and trying to figure out how to combine the accounts was messy.

      It's happened again.

      How do I reset my password without creating a new account? StackExchange has always been a little bit like High Dark Magic to me. Its account structure seems more confusing than necessary.

      7 votes
    27. Advice for starting a Wiki project

      I am considering starting a wiki project for an academic niche. I've already started prototyping using Gitit, I've written a bit easy pages to get a feel for the software and am planning to start...

      I am considering starting a wiki project for an academic niche. I've already started prototyping using Gitit, I've written a bit easy pages to get a feel for the software and am planning to start working on the most important page that summarises the topic itself, which I believe will help guide me to which pages to create first.

      Now, here I'm asking for general advice to a newcomer n00bie wiki admin like me: what to expect, what software, etc. Any advice welcome, but I'll list a few questions below:

      • What wiki software? I am liking Gitit, it is nice and easy to set up, and comes with its own server which I run with a systemctl user unit in the background. I tried Oddmuse but couldn't get it to work with a simple server; Ikiwiki setup is too clumsy for my liking (it friggin put stuff on my $HOME by default!); I want to avoid PHP stuff in general; I want a simple wiki that serves simple HTML pages.

      • How to defend against spam? My plan is to keep it invite-only for as long as I can. IDK how to do that with Gitit yet.

      • How to serve it securely and for cheap, once I decide to publish? It probably won't ever grow beyond a few dozens of megabytes in file size.

      • How do you go about promoting a wiki?

      • What peripheral services (issue tracker, mailing list, IRC/Discord/etc channels) go well with a wiki?

      • What tools are available to ensure content quality (no plagiarism, enforce conventions, monitor changes, ...)?

      13 votes
    28. Hey anybody here want to be on a panel about labor rights and tech contracting?

      I'm putting together a panel for Tech Worker's Coalition for SXSW 2020 and the focus of my panel is on tech contracting. Specifically we're looking to speak on the issues of labor rights and how...

      I'm putting together a panel for Tech Worker's Coalition for SXSW 2020 and the focus of my panel is on tech contracting.

      Specifically we're looking to speak on the issues of labor rights and how they are effected by contracting.

      Anybody interested or have experience with the subject?

      In case I forget to check Tildes (I joined and then I always forget to check it) my email is aslan@jackalope.tech

      We've also got a couple of other panels brewing on the subject of unionization in tech and another on the recent controversies between tech workers and their companies over social issues (such as google walkout over sexual harassment, wayfair's walkout over selling beds to ICE etc)

      6 votes
    29. Site suggestion: Dark mode

      I apologize if this is the wrong topic for this post, and if this feature already exists, I apologize for that too. I looked around and couldn't find it (it's possible I could have missed it). But...

      I apologize if this is the wrong topic for this post, and if this feature already exists, I apologize for that too. I looked around and couldn't find it (it's possible I could have missed it). But I thought a dark mode for Tildes would be most excellent. Right now, there's a lot of white space and combined with my 24" monitor, this site lights up my whole room like it's in the middle of the day. Anyways, thanks for reading. :)

      4 votes
    30. Need a simple way to password protect a webpage

      Hey Tildes! I've got a static, basic website, HTML and CSS. It's one page only. But I'd like to create a second page with some more private content that is password protected. I know that I can...

      Hey Tildes!

      I've got a static, basic website, HTML and CSS. It's one page only. But I'd like to create a second page with some more private content that is password protected.

      I know that I can accomplish this via .htaccess but what I don't like about this method is that when the user navigates to the page, they get a pop up asking for a username and password. What I would like is having the user navigate to the page, and then they are met with a simple form asking for just a password (no username). After they enter the password, the "veil" lifts or the page forwards and they get the private content.

      Here's the thing... the content really only needs to seem private. It's not super secret, personal information. I don't want it indexed by search engines (nofollow), and I want it basically hidden, but the password is only there to make the user feel exclusive. If some tech-minded person encountered this page and jumped through a bunch of hoops to get in without the password, it's not a big deal to me. In reality, 99.9% of people accessing this page will not be able to bypass the password.

      I'm guessing this can be accomplished easily in Javascript, but I don't really know much Javascript apart from finding code snippets and plunking them in. I also want to be able to fully design the password entry page so that it looks branded, so a code snippet plunked down into my HTML doc would be great for this.

      If there is an easy way to actually protect the content behind the password, that would be excellent. In this case, I imagine it would be much like a news site with an ad-blocker-blocker. Just some kind of pop-up that blocks all the content. Enter the password, and you're in.

      Anyhow, I hope I've described what I'm looking for accurately enough. Anybody have any easy and quick ways to accomplish this?

      14 votes
    31. Are the notes played here essentially random?

      I was watching this video and at the linked time I was wondering if there was any technique being used because it looks almost random but sounds quite good. The only thing I could see is he was...

      I was watching this video and at the linked time I was wondering if there was any technique being used because it looks almost random but sounds quite good. The only thing I could see is he was using only the white keys.

      5 votes
    32. Recommend me a song that _________.

      Top level comments should fill in the blank with some sort of descriptor identifying a kind of song you would like suggestions for. Be as generic or specific as you want. Replies can then...

      Top level comments should fill in the blank with some sort of descriptor identifying a kind of song you would like suggestions for. Be as generic or specific as you want.

      Replies can then recommend songs to that individual.

      Hint: Use the "collapse replies" button to view only top-level posts.

      See previous posts of this type: books, games

      13 votes
    33. How do you structure larger projects?

      I'll be writing a relatively large piece of scientific code for the first time, and before I begin I would at least like to outline how the project will be structured so that I don't run into...

      I'll be writing a relatively large piece of scientific code for the first time, and before I begin I would at least like to outline how the project will be structured so that I don't run into headaches later on. The problem is, I don't have much experience structuring large projects. Up until now most of the code I have written as been in the form of python scripts that I string together to form an ad-hoc pipeline for analysis, or else C++ programs that are relatively self contained. My current project is much larger in scope. It will consist of four main 'modules' (I'm not sure if this is the correct term, apologies if not) each of which consist of a handful of .cpp and .h files. The schematic I have in mind for how it should look is something like:

      src
       ├──Module1 (Initializer)
       │         ├ file1.cpp
       │         ├ file1.h
       │         │...
       │         └ Makefile
       ├───Module2 (solver)
       │          ├ file1.cpp
       │          ├ file1.h
       │          │...
       │          └ Makefile
       ├───Module3 (Distribute)
       │          ├ file1.cpp
       │          └Makefile 
       └ Makefile
      

      Basically, I build each self-contained 'module', and use the object files produced there to build my main program. Is there anything I should keep in mind here, or is this basically how such a project should be structured?

      I imagine the particularly structure will be dependent on my project, but I am more interested in general principles to keep in mind.

      14 votes
    34. Is Tildes 18+?

      I was thinking about posting this to ~news, but suddenly I've realised that I don't know if the word “fuck”, or any of the Seven Dirty Words, are allowed in titles. Is Tildes adults-only? Should...

      I was thinking about posting this to ~news, but suddenly I've realised that I don't know if the word “fuck”, or any of the Seven Dirty Words, are allowed in titles. Is Tildes adults-only? Should people write something like “f***” in titles instead?

      11 votes
    35. State of WebRTC outside of major browsers

      I've been trying to set up a reliable lightweight solution for high quality, low-latency webcam (v4l2) streaming from Linux server to browsers, allowing for small (1-5) number of concurrent...

      I've been trying to set up a reliable lightweight solution for high quality, low-latency webcam (v4l2) streaming from Linux server to browsers, allowing for small (1-5) number of concurrent viewers.

      The obvious choice here is WebRTC, which when used through browser APIs, works wonderfully. It has low latency and automatic quality adjustment depending on network performance.
      I also checked out RTSP and RTMP, which are not supported without browser plugins. Next candidates were DASH and HLS, but while they provide high quality, they also have high latency.
      For a while I used MPEG1 streaming through Websockets (using jsmpeg library), which worked and had low latency, but the video quality was bad.

      Back to WebRTC - It seems like reliable, lightweight and maintained projects are really hard to find. So far I've found a few WebRTC media servers, but they're overkill for my use case:

      • Janus
      • MediaSoup
      • Kurento (unmaintained)

      I also tried implementing this functionality using low level Gstreamer elements in Python using PyGObject, but that's proving to be rather complicated with a ton of extremely low level implementation details.

      If anyone has tried doing something similar, I'd really like to hear what (if any) problems you had and if you found any sane solutions. Next thing on my list is using headless Chromium in combination with Puppeteer, but I'd really prefer more lightweight solutions.

      9 votes
    36. Why is my SCHUFA information contradictory?

      Hi everyone. I'm in a more or less of a dilemma here. For the ones that don't know, SCHUFA is monopolistic credit agency in Germany. The good news is that my wife is pregnant and now we need to...

      Hi everyone.

      I'm in a more or less of a dilemma here.
      For the ones that don't know, SCHUFA is monopolistic credit agency in Germany.

      The good news is that my wife is pregnant and now we need to move to a new apartment with one extra room. Luckly, a friend of us is also moving and we simply got in contact with his landlord. We sent the information about our salaries and answered a few general questions and all is well for him. But, the landlord also wants our SCHUFA score.

      We weren't worried at all because we don't have any credit cards or any loans and we are very frugal with our money. We really only spend money for our basic necessities and doing our holidays. We don't have any debts; we pay everything in a timely manner.

      Then, my SCHUFA-BonitätAuskunft arrived. I look at the first page, which is in this diploma-like format and it says: "We had only positive contractual information at our disposal." (Es liegen uns zum XX.XX.XXXX ausschliesslich positive vertragsinformationen vor.)

      "Great!", I thought. Then, I turned to the next pages and I see "Explanatory informations for your certificate" and there it says that I'm a high risk person. Basically, my result is 335, right in the middle (scale from 100 to 600).

      We have a high netto salary and it seems this doesn't count for anything. My guess is that they don't have almost no history about me (I'm only living in Germany for 4 years) and since we are not big spenders, basically we are high risk because they don't have data to infer the risk. A few months ago I opened a new bank account on Commerzbank and I guess my SCHUFA score was good enough to open a new bank account, so I don't understand.

      How is it possible that in my certificate diploma-like paper says that they have only have positive information about me and then on the explanatory pages say that I'm a high risk person in basically every sector (Banken, Telekommunikation, etc)?

      Now we also asked the SCHUFA score only for my wife and let's hope for the best.

      3 votes
    37. What would be a good security setup for me?

      So: I keep all my passwords in my password manager (Bitwarden) All my 2FA codes are generated by AndOTP on my phone. My 2FA backup codes are also in Bitwarden, which I think is a bad idea, because...

      So:

      • I keep all my passwords in my password manager (Bitwarden)
      • All my 2FA codes are generated by AndOTP on my phone.
      • My 2FA backup codes are also in Bitwarden, which I think is a bad idea, because that defeats the purpose of 2FA. So where should I put those?
      • I have my Bitwarden 2FA backup code in my wallet and in a safe at my house. Is that a good idea for the other backup codes?
      • Is there anything I'm forgetting here?
      8 votes
    38. Going to work in South Africa, with a depression prescription

      Good news: I'll be starting my new work in Cape Town, South Africa soon. Not so good news: I have depression, and is currently on the antidepressant Sertraline. My question would be the following:...

      Good news: I'll be starting my new work in Cape Town, South Africa soon.

      Not so good news: I have depression, and is currently on the antidepressant Sertraline.

      My question would be the following:

      How are prescriptions of the antidepressant handled in the South African health care system? Can I obtain, from either a GP or a Specialist, a sort of "long-standing" prescription, valid for (say) a few months, that will allow me to refill at pharmacies or dispensing GPs, without me having to be referred to a Specialist each time I need a refill? I understand that recurring examinations by a Specialist are likely necessary, but I don't expect those to be frequent, as my condition is fairly stable now.

      Also a related question: I'm otherwise young and physically healthy, not affected by chronic conditions except depression. However, it seems that any health insurance schemes there that cover my condition would be rather expensive. Those policies typically include a broad coverage of chronic conditions, most of which I don't foresee a need. For one like myself, what suggestion would you give in terms of health insurance selection?

      Many many thanks <3

      7 votes
    39. Posting original links (own content)

      What is our policy about posting original contents (e.g. me submitting a blog post I wrote, which I just did a few minutes ago)? IMO, if it is a personal blog, it should be okay, and not really...

      What is our policy about posting original contents (e.g. me submitting a blog post I wrote, which I just did a few minutes ago)?

      IMO, if it is a personal blog, it should be okay, and not really different from submitting a text topic here. Especially if the blog is not tracking you.

      15 votes
    40. Is a password manager essential?

      I feel like it's impossible to remember passwords that are long, random, and unique for every service. I have too many accounts. On the other hand, I don't like the idea of giving up control of my...

      I feel like it's impossible to remember passwords that are long, random, and unique for every service. I have too many accounts.

      On the other hand, I don't like the idea of giving up control of my passwords to a password manager and using the ones it generates and stores. It feels weird that I wouldn't "know" my passwords.

      Is this a hangup I should just get past? What do I do if I need to login somewhere but cannot access my password manager?

      30 votes
    41. Error when logging in using a password manager

      I'm using Safari 12.0.2 on macOS 10.14.2 (Mojave). The same issue also occurs on iOS 12.1.2 (using Safari). When using 1Password to autofill with the browser extension on macOS or the "autofill"...

      I'm using Safari 12.0.2 on macOS 10.14.2 (Mojave). The same issue also occurs on iOS 12.1.2 (using Safari).

      When using 1Password to autofill with the browser extension on macOS or the "autofill" feature on iOS an error message pops up: username: String does not match expected pattern.

      I have to either use the browser supplied autofill on macOS or manually copy/paste username and password into the corresponding fields. On iOS there's an autofill API which I have set to use 1Password in the browser, also causing the error

      Edit: Video of the issue

      9 votes