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  • Showing only topics with the tag "help". Back to normal view
    1. Is there a way to filter out everything posted by a user?

      I did a search and the last time this was posted about was nearly two years ago. I don't know if there have been any updates on the subject since then. I see that there is a ublock filter...

      I did a search and the last time this was posted about was nearly two years ago. I don't know if there have been any updates on the subject since then.

      I see that there is a ublock filter suggested on the wiki, but that is not an option on some of the devices that I use to browse tildes.

      Edit: Anyone who thinks it might be them, yes it is very specifically you. All of you. You know what you did. :)

      43 votes
    2. Help needed with jpegli please

      Hi Seems we need to compile jpegli from git. https://github.com/google/jpegli I'm not able to do this at present. Maybe a tildean person here is. :-) I want to experiment and compare results with...

      Hi
      Seems we need to compile jpegli from git.

      https://github.com/google/jpegli

      I'm not able to do this at present.
      Maybe a tildean person here is. :-)

      I want to experiment and compare results with my installed mozjpeg.

      Anybody know where there is a jpegli precompiled?
      Something to drop into Linux usr/local/bin.
      Or a windows executable to use with wine.

      Blogpost... https://opensource.googleblog.com/2024/04/introducing-jpegli-new-jpeg-coding-library.html

      5 votes
    3. Does anyone here own a Humane Ai Pin they’d be willing to part with?

      Title, frankly. I’m looking for an old stock Humane Ai Pin (that stupid clothes pin gadget so bad it sunk the entire company that made it and then had the remaining employees move to the HP...

      Title, frankly. I’m looking for an old stock Humane Ai Pin (that stupid clothes pin gadget so bad it sunk the entire company that made it and then had the remaining employees move to the HP printer division, frankly a fate worse than death) to play around with. I recently learned that the sticker on the back covers four pins, which just expose standard USB, and it’s an Android device so in theory, it’s hackable.

      I wanna try turning it into something more useful. It was such a cool little piece of hardware, although the software, pitch, whole idea really was of course threadbare to garbage. I guess I am still romanticising the Star Trek com badge experience.

      Willing to pay up to 200 USD, excluding shipping to either the EU or continental US, whichever’s more convenient. Sorry if requests like this aren’t allowed, but I’m kinda drawing a blank. Even emailed the guy who designed it, but he doesn’t have any either.

      29 votes
    4. Looking for feedback and just art criticism of my work

      Goooood morning dear users, humans, non-humans, and things. TLDR some more info about me and why I decided to seek out feedback / criticism I write to you all because I recently thought of asking...

      Goooood morning dear users, humans, non-humans, and things.

      TLDR some more info about me and why I decided to seek out feedback / criticism

      I write to you all because I recently thought of asking for some help for art criticism and general feedback on one of my latest pieces that I have created. To my background, I am currently studying in my last year of photography, and I am currently, or rather should be, writing and designing my bachelor project, but here we are doing everything except working on my project.

      I saw the recent post about abstract art and that not all people hate it and many people are either interested in art or even like it. I, myself like art. I sometimes even try to create some art myself, even though it sounds just so performative when I say that but that is another topic all together.

      So I discussed this with another user on this site in direct messages and they suggested that I could make a post on tildes (here) and show my art and ask for feedback, criticism and maybe even discuss it in some way.

      Now I really liked that suggestions. In my past I am fortunate enough to participate in some exhibitions. Which would most likely be the best way to display your art. Sadly this is currently not really feasable and I also don't know if this art would be even fitting.

      This project is still ongoing and currently has 2 pieces. I once shared one of the pictures back in winter I think not sure brain empty and stuff

      Gash

      More info on the Gash image

      I took polaroids with my RZ67 Zinstax of different cracks on the floor on the wall or just anywhere in the city. My idea was to display sort of these "scars" or blemishes of the city just as a person would when they have an accident or get surgery for something.

      Here are the 2 unstitched polaroids and a test I did

      I tried singular thread and also embroidery thread. When I tried the single thread it was really tough to get it tense and also that it would look good. This is why I tried embroidery thread. Embroidery thread is basically 6 individual threads in one. It stood out much nicer in real life and also was a lot easier to tighten and overall looked way better.

      I tried to connect these 2 Polaroids but still wanted to respect the borders of the polaroid. Also in those 2 Polaroid there is a slight color gradient from the top left which the concrete is the lightest towards the bottom right where it's the darkest.
      It might look like they were shoot in the same place but they were not.

      Also the definition of gash:

      a strong sweeping cut made with a sharp instrument
      It is a type of wound or type of injury.

      Bound

      More info on the Bound image

      These pictures again were made with my RZ67 with the Zinsstax back.

      Here are the raw and some tests I made with a spare polaroid.
      To the Gallery

      I really wanted to get a medical or a surgical look with the lighting and that's why I choose color polaroids. I set up some lights which I could control the color temperature and I set it to I think 5000 K which is very neutral light.
      I also wanted the light to kind of look like flash. Like one of those photographers that take pictures of the crime scene. Kind of that was the vibe I was going for.

      When I first sewn into the polaroids I really struggled with not bending the polaroid too much while punching through with the needle. I fixed this with an awl. I tried different size of gaps and I also tested how many threads I wanted to use. In the gallery you can see the test I created and in the lower stitch the gap was too narow and I also used the 6 threads. Then I spaced it more apart and only used 3 threads. I liked the threads much more but the gaps were too wide. So I had to do basically a middle ground with the gaps and kept it at 3 threads.

      For the stitch I used a chain stitch. I wanted it to look like the extremities were tied up and that was the ideal stitch for me.

      I want to signal to the viewer that this perso is tied to something or as I mentioned tied up. I also aligned the images this way because it can almost look like these are either multiple people or someone is hanging upside down or they were cut up in half.

      Definition bound:

      something that limits or restraints.

      I really liked creating these and also writing this post. Thank you for reading this or even looking at the images.

      This little exercise is reminding me of what we used to do in class. Criticize each other's work, which I always really enjoyed. And I do miss. So maybe if someone else wants their work to be criticized, please let me know; I will gladly take a look at some other artworks or work of some other people. Potentially this could even be a scheduled post if enough demand is here and available.

      Also if you think you don't have enough knowledge about the medium or the technique, THAT IS NOT IMPORTANT.

      Feedback and criticism is always valuable you may see something from a entirely different point of view that I or "we" have never considered. ˙ᵕ˙

      If you need further clarification or have further questions, just ask. ˙ᵕ˙ I won't bite I think unless you want me to*

      So, thanks so much for reading this and I wish you a nice day.

      Anways that's all

      Best regards,
      your neighborhood creature

      23 votes
    5. [SOLVED] Help me find a particular short story / book?

      Yesterday I saw a mention somewhere online a story, maybe a book, maybe a short story. It was: science fiction literary is uncommon (actually illegal?) the main (?) character is obsessed with film...

      Yesterday I saw a mention somewhere online a story, maybe a book, maybe a short story. It was:

      • science fiction
      • literary is uncommon (actually illegal?)
      • the main (?) character is obsessed with film and learns to read based on the words that appear in the background of the films he watches
      • there are robots?

      Does anyone know what this is? I tried search, but search is worthless nowadays.

      10 votes
    6. Another movie longshot request

      Hi all, I'm looking for a copy of a student film called "Helpline" that was made in 2016. Here is the IMDB profile if it helps: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6841114/ I know it's a longshot but...

      Hi all, I'm looking for a copy of a student film called "Helpline" that was made in 2016. Here is the IMDB profile if it helps: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6841114/

      I know it's a longshot but thought maybe tilderinos would have some idea of how I can find it. Suggestions on how to find it are also welcome!

      10 votes
    7. Longshot - anyone has DVD or Blu ray of Convoy (1978) starring Kris Kristofferson, Burt Young and Ernest Borgnine in English?

      Pretty much the title. I love the movie, I watched when I was a kid from a VHS tape with really bad Czech dubbing, but I loved the trucks and how truckers fought against corrupt sheriff. I don't...

      Pretty much the title.

      I love the movie, I watched when I was a kid from a VHS tape with really bad Czech dubbing, but I loved the trucks and how truckers fought against corrupt sheriff. I don't have the VHS anymore (not even means to play it), but I got DVD with Czech and English dubbing. Sadly the Czech dubbing isn't that great in this version and I watched English original.

      Not long ago I managed to record terrestrial broadcast of the movie in 1080p with the same Czech dubbing AND in full version (there is a scene where trucker shows his ass on the camera), sadly this version doesn't have original English dubbing.

      I'm looking for someone who would have the original (this is a must) DVD or Blu ray of the full uncensored version of the movie with original English dubbing - it should be 107 minutes long (1:47 hours), NOT 104 minutes.

      If there somehow happens to be someone who has this movie and is able to rip it to their computer, could you please leave a comment here?

      And because I don't really believe I will find somebody, let's discuss the movie itself in the meantime. Have you seen it? What is your take on it? Do you play American Truck Simulator with Rubber Duck's truck modded in as I do?

      20 votes
    8. I'm looking for an adage or "law" (like Conway's law), but for dealing with AI slop

      I currently work in an organization that is very AI forward. It is common for individuals to forward AI generated documents, meeting notes, or etc, with no critical thinking or review, in lieu of...

      I currently work in an organization that is very AI forward. It is common for individuals to forward AI generated documents, meeting notes, or etc, with no critical thinking or review, in lieu of actual work.

      This practice is insanely counter-productive, as it means that any good-faith attempt to interact with the individual pushing such documentation, really just pushes the burden of putting together said documentation onto the receiver, except now they also need to edit and verify the document they were forwarded.

      I need a shorthand way to refer to this practice, that calls it out as a bad practice.

      A few months ago I found an article that explained that it was bad manners to reply into a conversation anything akin to the phrase "I asked ChatGPT and it said X", for exactly the reason mentioned above. Can anyone find a link? I can't seem to find it.

      This article (https://tombedor.dev/human-attention-and-human-effort/) seems to hit the nail on the head, though it does so so succintly and at such a surface level, I don't think it really gets the point across. The reason we use books as reference points for knowledge, is because they are difficult to make, and therefore we trust that the author put real work into ensuring their work was credible. If we knew they did not, their work would not be credit worthy. Neither is an unreviewed AI generated message. By this rule, the more obviously something is AI generated, the less likely it is worth reading.

      I would love a law (like Conway's law is a law), that said something like: "It is never worthwhile to spend more time reading a document, than it took to write." that I could point people at when they send me AI slop, with explanations of the above.

      Is anyone aware of such a thing or website?

      39 votes
    9. Is anybody using HEY for Domains?

      Hi everyone, I have a quick couple o'questions since a friend of mine recommended HEY email and I'm not opposed to trying new things, even if I can think of better people to support than DHH....

      Hi everyone, I have a quick couple o'questions since a friend of mine recommended HEY email and I'm not opposed to trying new things, even if I can think of better people to support than DHH.

      Specifically, I'm thinking of moving my personal email, which is currently three addresses on the same domain, to HEY. So my questions are as follows:

      Extensions let me make an infinite number of domains on the same domain. Like, hello@example.com, delphi@example.com, hi@example.com and so on. All of my questions are related to this mechanic.

      1. Can I start an email exchange from an extension?
      2. If not, if I reply to an email that came in on an extension, will I reply with said extension?
      3. Can I filter emails by the extensino they came in on?
      4. Can I set a catch-all that will any email to any extension come in, even if it's not explicitly set up?

      Thanks in advance.

      Best,

      d

      Edit after just trying it: It does do all of the things I described, including Catch-All email, although it's clearly not a primary use case and they discourage you from using it. It works just fine though.

      9 votes
    10. Can't post URLs with CJK chars in them?

      Hey, Im trying to share a post from マリウス.com, but clicking the submit button just returns an error that the link is not a valid URL. Ive also tried percent encoding to...

      Hey, Im trying to share a post from マリウス.com, but clicking the submit button just returns an error that the link is not a valid URL. Ive also tried percent encoding to %E3%83%9E%E3%83%AA%E3%82%A6%E3%82%B9.com, with the same results. I assume this is not intentional @Deimos?

      EDIT: It looks like punycoding it to xn--gckvb8fzb.com works.

      11 votes
    11. Forgot password and email suffix... am I bucked?

      groggy waving @ reader's screen in similish distressed moodlet Hi uh, a recent bing update corrupted my passwords from a while back recovery options seem obscene. I swear I had the right email but...

      groggy waving @ reader's screen in similish distressed moodlet

      Hi uh, a recent bing update corrupted my passwords from a while back recovery options seem obscene. I swear I had the right email but didn't get anything back.

      I do currently have access to the email (however have multiple mails so not sure which one) but think I did the gmail + thing & forgot the suffix.

      thx!

      15 votes
    12. Can’t generate invite codes

      Dear Tildes team, I’ve been on here for a year now, I think, and after praising Tildes to a friend for a long time, he recently asked me for an invite code. I had never invited anyone before, but...

      Dear Tildes team,

      I’ve been on here for a year now, I think, and after praising Tildes to a friend for a long time, he recently asked me for an invite code.

      I had never invited anyone before, but when I went to the invite page, it read: “You aren't able to generate more invite links right now.”

      Any idea what the issue might be?

      5 votes
    13. Help - Steam Link inconsistent across different games

      Hey Steam users, I'm wondering if you can help me troubleshoot an issue I am having with Steam Link. Some games work flawlessly, and some games just show a black screen (with game audio) on the...

      Hey Steam users, I'm wondering if you can help me troubleshoot an issue I am having with Steam Link. Some games work flawlessly, and some games just show a black screen (with game audio) on the Steam Link Client. I have tried this in various configurations and devices, but my host machine remains the same (PC running Bazzite)

      I have tried this wired via router (to Steam Link on raspberrypi OS), wifi (to steam deck), and cellular via remote streaming to the android app.

      The symptoms are the same on each setup. Games like Helldivers 2 and NMS run flawlessly, others are just a black screen.

      Also, big picture mode runs great until you bring up the menu, and then the screen goes black.

      Do you guys have any ideas?

      SOLVED

      thank you everyone for your suggestions! I switched to an X11 session and everything is working now with steam link!

      8 votes
    14. Help me test my chess bot

      The last couple of weeks I've been fooling around with different ideas for how to build a chess bot that's fun for beginners to play against. I don't have much real experience with chess, so I've...

      The last couple of weeks I've been fooling around with different ideas for how to build a chess bot that's fun for beginners to play against. I don't have much real experience with chess, so I've mostly just been testing it against myself.

      After looking into the different techniques that are used to force engines to play at a certain level, I put together my own (somewhat silly) approach and have had some fun playing against it. The problem is, as I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to the actual game, I can't be a particularly good judge of how others will feel playing with it.

      Regardless of your own skill level, I'd be super appreciative if anyone would give it a try and let me know what they think.

      I'm working on a full write up of how it works, but here's the short version:

      Click to view the hidden text

      The inspiration came from this paper which describes a "Tutoring Search" wherein the engine attempts to find the worst move available that it predicts the opponent will not recognize as an error.

      My implementation doesn't follow this exactly, but it does have the same aim. Two engines are used: one (Stockfish) as an oracle treated as a true measure of any state's quality, another (Maia) as a substitute for the opponent model. On each move the bot consults both of these to identify a move which:

      1. Would plausibly be played by a skilled human, judged by its probability of being played by Maia.
      2. Provides an advantage to the opponent, judged by Stockfish.

      The idea is that, if a human would be likely to play the move, they also would be unlikely to identify it as an error. The ultimate goal is a bot which gives the player plenty of opportunities to win, but only if the mistakes are likely to go unnoticed.

      There are a few other supplements to the implementation like adapting to opponent choices and some tweaks to early and end-game play, but the above is the core idea.

      14 votes
    15. How computationally expensive is filtering and ignoring?

      Hello, I realised that I dont ignore and/or filter out topics and/or tags because I think they are costly for the servers. Is there something to it or is it almost free? Can I help alleviate the...

      Hello,

      I realised that I dont ignore and/or filter out topics and/or tags because I think they are costly for the servers.

      Is there something to it or is it almost free?

      Can I help alleviate the cost by going back and "unignore" posts that won't clutter my frontpage any longer since they aren't active?

      20 votes
    16. Trying to find other uses of a specific sample

      Was listening to the new album by Young the Giant, and there is a sampled quote that I recognize that I cannot place. The song is: This Too Shall Pass (YouTube link to song), and they use it right...

      Was listening to the new album by Young the Giant, and there is a sampled quote that I recognize that I cannot place. The song is: This Too Shall Pass (YouTube link to song), and they use it right in the opening.

      The sample in it's entirety is:

      "There's a new and strange environment at first

      Just suddenly finding yourself in orbit"

      According to this article, it is from a NASA video archive of the moon landing. So my question is, is there an easy way to search the use of this specific sample, to figure out who else used it to help me figure out why I recognize it? If you recognize the quote, feel free to comment where you recognize the sample from, and maybe it is the same place I recognize it from

      8 votes
    17. Looking for early users to try my app

      Hello tilderinos, I'd like to launch my tab manager soon and to ensure a smooth launch, I'm looking for early users who would be willing to try my app as part of the private beta. For those who...

      Hello tilderinos,

      I'd like to launch my tab manager soon and to ensure a smooth launch, I'm looking for early users who would be willing to try my app as part of the private beta.

      For those who would actually need this product, I'm happy to offer one year free (or more!), but even if you don't need it, I'd really appreciate the help.

      I don't really need anything fancy, I'd just like to have some people install the app and try it to know if it works properly for them or if any unexpected issues come up, especially major ones. I'd like to make sure that the actual launch will be smooth, especially considering that I've been working on this project for four years now. It'd be a shame if it all went to waste.

      Thanks a lot in advance!

      PS - I wasn't sure in which group to post

      15 votes
    18. Is there a FLAC equivalent for digital comics?

      I’ve bought enough digital comic bundles now that they’re starting to take up a decent chunk of storage space. What I’d love to do, if possible, is losslessly compress them all down to their...

      I’ve bought enough digital comic bundles now that they’re starting to take up a decent chunk of storage space.

      What I’d love to do, if possible, is losslessly compress them all down to their minimum sizes, in the same way that FLAC does with music. Is this a thing? And if so, what’s the best way to do it?

      If lossless compression isn’t possible, is there a lossy compression that’s effectively lossless in that I won’t be able to tell the difference anyway? Lossless compression gives me good piece of mind, but the storage savings from an invisible lossy one are honestly quite appealing too.

      23 votes
    19. Can you recommend some visual aids for 'The City and the Stars' by Arthur C. Clarke?

      I'm having a lot of trouble creating an image of the city in my head and would like some help! Any kind of image or graph is appreciated. Maps, artist renditions. Anything. Both for the city as a...

      I'm having a lot of trouble creating an image of the city in my head and would like some help!

      Any kind of image or graph is appreciated. Maps, artist renditions. Anything. Both for the city as a whole and the different locations within the city that Clarke describes.

      But it must be accurate, or at least an attempt to be accurate (which is why I can't just use Google for this, since I lack the ability to distinguish between freestyle art and accurate ones).

      Thanks!

      5 votes
    20. Tildes in JavaScript-free browsers

      I'm used to browse the web without JS on my phone. (It's old, battery degraded.) Recently I noticed that Tildes is broken without JavaScript. Contracting/expanding threads doesn't work, as well...

      I'm used to browse the web without JS on my phone. (It's old, battery degraded.) Recently I noticed that Tildes is broken without JavaScript. Contracting/expanding threads doesn't work, as well trying to reply to a comment.

      Is it possible to fix that? Maybe expanding all comments when JS isn't available and opening the reply form in a new page?

      21 votes
    21. Game testers wanted for science fiction game

      I have a bare bones prototype of a game made in twine and I will be honest it needs a lot of work. The story and main architecture of the game is already planned and I am happy with it. It is the...

      I have a bare bones prototype of a game made in twine and I will be honest it needs a lot of work.

      The story and main architecture of the game is already planned and I am happy with it. It is the story hooks and pathing that I am looking to improve and for that I would like to give out a early Alpha build for volunteers to critique and provide any dead ends, errors and story beats they find engaging.

      Please feel free to send a message if you would like to participate. Thank you for your time.

      Edit: Thank you for your interest in the game the final build should be ready for volunteers in one week. I will send links to you directly at that time. Thank you again for your interest this is much better than I hoped for.

      42 votes
    22. Wordle on first guess?

      Has anyone solved the Wordle at wordleunlimited.org today? I just got the answer on my first try, which seems unlikely to say the least. I think it could be a malfunction. Would anyone mind...

      Has anyone solved the Wordle at wordleunlimited.org today? I just got the answer on my first try, which seems unlikely to say the least. I think it could be a malfunction. Would anyone mind posting the answer under a spoiler box so I can check? Thanks!

      Update: Thanks, folks! It seems like the site uses a different word for each person. It also seems like it's working fine. So, go me! Or it was a one-off problem. My word was AUDIT, btw.

      7 votes
    23. I’m looking for landscape architects or designers who use watercolor in their master plans

      I’m having a problem finding landscape architects and designers who use watercolor in their plans. I’ve used several search engines and AIs. The problem seems to be twofold: the word watercolor in...

      I’m having a problem finding landscape architects and designers who use watercolor in their plans. I’ve used several search engines and AIs. The problem seems to be twofold: the word watercolor in my search brings up results that use digital watercolor, and the word landscape brings up artists of landscapes. I’m looking for example work not just names of artists. I’m currently studying landscape design and am enjoying hand rendering plans. A friend gave me some watercolors to try after I complained about not really liking colored pencil or markers. My watercolor rendered plans look way better, but I don’t really know what I’m doing or what I’m striving for because I can’t find a lot of examples. Can anyone help me out? I thought I was good at search, but this has me rethinking that assumption :(

      (Didn’t know what group to put this in)

      21 votes
    24. [SOLVED] Why is mobile Safari (iOS) slow with Tildes?

      Tildes links take about a minute to open on iOS Safari. Firefox Focus by comparison (again, iOS) has no issues. I've tried clearing the cache/data for Tildes in the Safari settings. It may have...

      Tildes links take about a minute to open on iOS Safari. Firefox Focus by comparison (again, iOS) has no issues.

      I've tried clearing the cache/data for Tildes in the Safari settings. It may have helped initially but the problem persists.

      15 votes
    25. Request for help: Backing up NASA public databases

      TL;DR: NASA's public Planetary Data System is at risk of being shut down. Anyone have any ideas for backing it up? Hi everyone, Bit of a long-shot here, but I wanted to try on high-quality tildes...

      TL;DR: NASA's public Planetary Data System is at risk of being shut down. Anyone have any ideas for backing it up?

      Hi everyone,

      Bit of a long-shot here, but I wanted to try on high-quality tildes before jumping back into the cesspool of reddit. I'm posting it in ~science rather than ~space as I figure interest in backing up public data is broader than just the space community.

      I work regularly with NASA's Planetary Data System, or PDS. It's a massive (~3.5petabytes!!) archive of off-world scientific data (largely but not all imaging data). PDS is integral for scientific research - public and private - around the world, and is maintained, for free, by NASA (with support of a number of Academic institutions).

      The current state of affairs for NASA is grim:

      And as a result, I (and many of my industry friends) have become increasingly concerned that PDS will be taken down as NASA is increasingly torn down for spare parts and irreparably damaged. This administration seems bent on destroying all forms of recording-keeping and public science, so who knows how long PDS will be kept up. Once it's down, it'll be a nightmare to try and collect it all again from various sources. I suspect we'll permanently lose decades worth of data - PDS includes information going all the way back to the Apollo missions!

      As such, we've been pushing to back-up as much of PDS as we can, but have absolutely no hope of downloading it all within the next year or two, nevermind in a few months if the current cuts impact us soon.

      If you or someone you know would be interested in helping figure out how we can back-up PDS before it's too late, please let me know here or in a DM. I've already tried reaching out to the Internet Archive, but did not hear anything back from them.

      Edit: to clarify, the larger problem is download speeds - we've topped out at 20mb/s with 8 connections.

      61 votes
    26. IT helpdesk request?

      I'm frankly all out of ideas on how to solve an issue, so I'm hoping that the Tildes community might have a suggestion for solving this issue. I have an 8tb HDD that spins up and is recognized by...

      I'm frankly all out of ideas on how to solve an issue, so I'm hoping that the Tildes community might have a suggestion for solving this issue.

      I have an 8tb HDD that spins up and is recognized by windows when plugged into a USB HDD dock, but in another machine (also running windows 10) the drive can't be seen (**this is using data connections directly to the motherboard).

      There is:

      • Nothing mechanically wrong with the drive as it reads/writes on the HDD dock.
      • I've tested the drive as an NTFS formatted drive and as unallocated.
      • Neither Disk Manager nor the bios sees the drive.
      • Multiple SATA cables and Power jacks tested on working drives and the non working drive.

      Open to thoughts, prayers or possible solutions.

      Thank you!

      21 votes
    27. I need a sanity check from security experts (opening ports on the router)

      First, let me just say that I'm tech savvy, but I'm self taught for the most part. I never studied cybersecurity or network security. I know the basics, but not the nitty-gritty. I used to host my...

      First, let me just say that I'm tech savvy, but I'm self taught for the most part. I never studied cybersecurity or network security. I know the basics, but not the nitty-gritty.

      I used to host my own Anytype Server (note taking app) on my raspberry pi. To do this, the documentation says that I need to open two ports, one TCP and another UDP. So that's what I did, and had it set up this way for a while now.

      Yesterday though, my raspberry's microSD died. So while I wait for the new one to arrive, I'm taking the chance to review my home network settings.

      I closed off a third port that I had for my synology server (for the OpenVPN). I am now using Wireguard (with Tailscale) which doesn't require opening ports. And since my raspberry is offline, I also turned off the other two ports (as of now, I have none opened)

      So here's the thing: I remember from my searching that a lot of people are strongly averse to opening ports. Iirc, the basic idea is that if a bad actor knows my home IP and which ports are open, they can enter. So, in theory, a hacker could potentially infiltrate my raspberry pi - and from there potentially wreak havoc in my other devices.

      So my questions are:
      1- Is it really like that? Could a hacker gain unlimited access to my raspberry via an opened port?
      2- If yes, is there something that I can do to strengthen my raspberry pi security?
      3- Am I being overly paranoid by worrying about this, even if it’s theoretically possible?

      12 votes
    28. Strange Pop! OS 24.04 behavior

      I have a computer that is not quite powerful enough to run my flight simulators, but which is still quite capable. I tried to sell it for close to what I bought it for, after using it maybe 50...

      I have a computer that is not quite powerful enough to run my flight simulators, but which is still quite capable. I tried to sell it for close to what I bought it for, after using it maybe 50 hours, but the stink of "used" was on it, so I only got low ball offers for the system as a whole. Selling the individual components would be better but take substantially more effort. Instead, after finding an absurdly good 64 GB RAM deal ($150 for DDR4, in early December, crazy), I decided to use it to educate myself on some work-adjacent science simulation capabilities, putting it at home to avoid the feeling like I'm doing work (and also so I can install nonsense on it if I want).

      I settled on Pop! OS, after finding out it has the best NVIDIA GPU support of the .deb Linux family, and installed 22.04 on it last month. After a standard "oops I messed something up on a new-to-me Linux distro, might as well wipe it," I reset the bios to see if it fixed things, then loaded 24.04 on a live USB and ran the update at POST.

      24.04 made some very big changes to Pop! OS, which I won't list, other than one that puzzles me. After installing, I ran Geekbench 6 to benchmark it, and I found out my system CPU performance was about 33% down from the prior benchmark. I rationalized this as being due to no XMP being on, and tried to enter BIOS on boot...but Pop24 refused to enter BIOS, and my motherboard didn't even POST? But it would load into Pop24 without issue? So I was stuck without a way to tune my system. I eventually removed the SSD, hard wiped it on a separate device, and reinstalled Pop22, whereafter I was able to enter BIOS and enable XMP. Performance was restored, and even better than ever.

      My question...why is Pop24 different? I tried to disable fastboot. I tried to have it use systemctl to reboot into settings. I tried everything I could find online. The best guess I have is something to do with UEFI? But I have no clue. I'm not really a computer guy, I just futz around, and I don't know what I'm doing.

      11 votes
    29. Deleting topics

      I'm being brief because I'm not trying to stir up trouble. Is it common for threads here to be locked without a reason given? In cases where it's not obvious, can we ask or is that grounds for...

      I'm being brief because I'm not trying to stir up trouble.

      Is it common for threads here to be locked without a reason given? In cases where it's not obvious, can we ask or is that grounds for being moderated?

      For full transparency, I'm not asking about a topic I was part of, but was following and surprised to see locked.

      21 votes
    30. Help me enjoy Baldur's Gate 3

      I've owned Baldur's Gate 3 pretty much since it came out. I prefer role-playing games with good stories and characters that feel real and interesting, so this game should be right up my alley....

      I've owned Baldur's Gate 3 pretty much since it came out. I prefer role-playing games with good stories and characters that feel real and interesting, so this game should be right up my alley. Turn-based, party combat is not my favorite but I find it enjoyable once I make the mental switch.

      I've tried playing 3 times. The first time, I went in blind (as did everyone) because it had just come out. Having gotten into it somewhat, figured out the basics, I realized that I had managed to totally miss 2 of the main companions. I was also playing as a ranger and regularly getting my butt handed to me, because I had no warriors in my party. . So I restarted, but found the restart a slog And then an update broke my play-through so put it away for (quite) a bit.

      After many months, I thought I'd try again, when Cyberpunk fatally crashed late in the game because of my modding addiction. This time there was LOTS of information on the web about BG3, which I read, hoping to make sure not to miss anything important (like, all the warrior companions...) I tried playing a mage. But this time I felt constantly stressed about getting the "right" outcome, picking the "right" dialogue, getting the "right build....It wasn't fun. I think it was my fault.

      There are a bunch of people who consider this game the greatest ever, and I really think it could be up there for me, but I'm doing it wrong. So I am asking--how to you play this game to maximize your enjoyment? How much did you rely on wikis or our guides? Are there mods out that you recommend? What attitude so you bring when playing that makes the game enjoyable for you? Help me love this game, I really want to!

      EDIT: Thank you everyone, I'm totally psyched to start again with a new attitude and some new strategies!

      EDIT2: Sorry I didn't respond to the later posts... I took all the advice and tried again and have spent all my free time having a blast with BG3, so THANK YOU

      31 votes
    31. Anyone know of any good way to transfer Apple Music playlists onto a hard drive?

      EDIT: As one user pointed out, this is not about Apple Music the streaming platform, this is about basically itunes but itunes no longer technically exists as an application. So a little...

      EDIT: As one user pointed out, this is not about Apple Music the streaming platform, this is about basically itunes but itunes no longer technically exists as an application.

      So a little background: my father just died and a big part of his life was listening to music, for most of his life he's been building themed compilations of songs he liked using whatever medium was available, magnetic reel tapes in the '60s and '70s, then cassette tapes, then CDs, and of course playlists for the last 20 or so years. Now my mother and I would like to back up and save a lot of that work as those compilations have a lot of sentimental value and are pretty unique. There's lots of old obscure rhythm and blues and soul songs that you aren't really going to come across anywhere else. However, it's pretty much all locked into Apple Music, which isn't really a problem in the here and now, because we all have tended to use macs since my mother adopted them in the '80s or '90s. However, we don't really want that data just locked into a private ecosystem that has been getting more and more restricted and where we have less and less control.

      So I'm looking for a way to keep those playlists intact and export them out of Apple Music in a playable format and into a less locked in system to then back them up. Most of the music should be DRM free as a lot of it would have been taken off of CDs probably as MP3 files, though a lot of that would've happened 15+ years ago.

      Does anyone have any ideas about the best way to do that? I seem to be able to manually export each one into a .txt file but of course it's not really playable sound files. My tech skills are pretty limited, I have about an average amount of knowledge or even slightly more for someone my age (30s) who grew up around computers and the internet but I grew up after it necessary to have basic coding skills to use computers so my experience doing even basic coding or running scripts is pretty much nil. Any ideas would be appreciated.

      Edit: it’s version 1.0.6.10

      18 votes
    32. Tildes login session management?

      Does Tildes have any way for me to logout of a device I'm not currently using? I don't see any session management or "logout of all devices" in the settings. Would resetting my password invalidate...

      Does Tildes have any way for me to logout of a device I'm not currently using?

      • I don't see any session management or "logout of all devices" in the settings.
      • Would resetting my password invalidate all active sessions?
      • Do I need to email someone?
      21 votes
    33. Markdown/inline links don't work unless URL starts with http(s)

      I figured I can't have been the first to notice this but I can't find any specific mention, and it still trips me up every so often. If I want to link to Tildes, I can type http://tildes.net,...

      I figured I can't have been the first to notice this but I can't find any specific mention, and it still trips me up every so often.

      If I want to link to Tildes, I can type
      http://tildes.net,
      https://tildes.net, or
      www.tildes.net,

      and they format automatically. Simply tildes.net (or blog.tildes.net) doesn't automatically turn into a link, which makes sense.

      However, if I do inline links, only the first two will work:

      Tildes (http), and
      Tildes (https).

      Tildes (www) results in Error 422 (Unprocessable Entity), topic_id36: String does not match expected pattern.
      Tildes and Tildes (blog) do the same.

      I saw the link canonicalization issue on GitLab but I don't know if this would fall under that.

      20 votes
    34. The Netflix app on Android TV

      I have resubscribed to Netflix after cancelling about 6 months ago and I think there's been a change to the GUI which I really don't care for. I could be wrong but didn't the TV app use to work in...

      I have resubscribed to Netflix after cancelling about 6 months ago and I think there's been a change to the GUI which I really don't care for. I could be wrong but didn't the TV app use to work in the following way: after selecting a movie or television show, the first click would open a menu that would then allow further options including playing the movie or an episode of the TV show? I miss this. Currently, they're is one option at the to of my screen when I open the app that has a selectable 'More Info' option but everything else does not and the media just starts playing immediately upon selection.

      I miss the 'menu on first click' behavior. Is there a way to get back to that?

      Thanks.

      2 votes
    35. How can I combine several ranked lists into one mega list?

      Hello smart ~comp people! I have a very basic, layman question. The kind of question I'm scared to make on Reddit and gettting flamed. Tildes is usually more patient ;) Suppose that I get get a...

      Hello smart ~comp people! I have a very basic, layman question. The kind of question I'm scared to make on Reddit and gettting flamed. Tildes is usually more patient ;)

      Suppose that I get get a bunch of "best of" lists for several videogames. Like "the best RPGs on the Nintendo DS" for example. The lists have varying lenghts. Is there an easy way for me to combine those lists into one that doesn't require (really) learning to program?

      I can follow instructions! Thanks!

      24 votes
    36. Show Tildes - Gametje V2

      Hi All, It's been coincidentally EXACTLY 1 year since my previous post about Gametje. I've been busy creating some new games and re-designing all the main pages with the help of a UI/UX designer....

      Hi All,
      It's been coincidentally EXACTLY 1 year since my previous post about Gametje. I've been busy creating some new games and re-designing all the main pages with the help of a UI/UX designer. I have posted a few updates in the weekly What programming/technical projects have you been working on? threads but I thought this milestone deserved its own post. I published the new site earlier this week and also migrated to a new backend server. Here's a refresher of what it is for those that may have missed my previous post a year ago. I also recently started working on it full-time last month after not really working on it much from January-June this year. You can read more in my recent blog post.

      What is it?

      It's a set of online games that can be played in person with a central screen (like a TV) or remotely via video chat. It's also available directly in Discord as an embedded activity. It is playable in 9 languages and doesn’t require any downloads. Most games revolve around creativity in some form. None of the games require fast reflexes and can be played by just about anyone.

      Where can I try it?

      https://gametje.com and directly on Discord

      You can use the "quick play" option to launch directly into the game as a guest.

      What's different from last year?

      There are 2 new games (Sync Think and Hide & Peek) and the main pages have been redesigned. I also implemented a game room concept which allows you to bounce between games without having to recreate it each time. I also integrated with Discord, which means you can play directly in their interface and also use Discord as an Identity Provider when logging in. The games themselves need a bit more polish (especially the two new ones) but overall they should work.

      What am I looking for?

      I'm trying to gather some feedback about the games and the overall concept. Are the games fun? Is this something you'd try with your family? What could be improved? Is the site clear about what you can/should do? Should I add some gameplay videos to give you a quicker feel for the games?

      I'm also open to game ideas, I have a few in the backlog already but need to focus more on the business side at the moment. Any advice on the games/marketing etc would be highly appreciated.

      Side note: I'm probably going to rename the whole site soon since the name Gametje doesn't exactly roll off the tongue and has caused some debate with Dutch speakers. The branding for the new name isn't quite ready. I am considering calling it GameBuffet as my avatars are all food related and its more of a "all you can play" offering for any games added to the platform.

      Thanks for reading.

      10 votes
    37. New linux user: dual boot Mint install fatal error

      Following this guide (linuxtechi) and got Mint Cinnamon 22.2 (Zara) - yes the iso is verified, created bootable USB with Etcher, and after the screen where I input user details and password, well...

      Following this guide (linuxtechi) and got Mint Cinnamon 22.2 (Zara) - yes the iso is verified, created bootable USB with Etcher, and after the screen where I input user details and password, well along the install process, got a fatal error (screenshot) :
      Unable to install GRUB in /dev/sda
      Executing 'grub-install/dev/sda' failed
      This is a fatal error
      Here is a screenshot of the GParted, fdisk, df, lsblk and what re-running the install now looks like.

      Restarting (after pulling out USB) , instead of going to Windows 10, goes to a black screen that says

      This is not a bootable disk. Please insert a bootable floppy and press any key to try again ...
      Turn it off, back on with USB, at least I can still boot from there into USB-space mint for now.

      I'm guessing this has something to do with some peculiar hardware/BIOS settings than the fault of Mint. Worth mentioning that this is a refurbished 2013 HP box (order excerpt) , with a windows 10 digital key license, and that upon every fresh boot up (first time ever to now) it shows a black-background screen that says

      The preboot authentication application cannot be found.
      Press any key to attempt boot without authenticating.
      so it's very possible something is bork'd from the get go or else it has some very unorthodox settings to begin with.

      Can confirm running Mint off the USB is fine. The screencaps are sent from Firefox within, and I'm super happy with how clean everything is. Just not sure what to do now. If it's complicated, I can try sending the box back for refund and try again with another brand new box. But now I'm shy about trying dual boot on my regular desktop.

      Questions after looking around for help:

      1. am I booting from UEFI or Legacy? I don't know -- how do I check ?
      2. Fatal error installation hard stop: is there a way to access a log of what happened ?
      3. How do I boot back into Windows 10 for now ? use GParted to delete all the "new" partitions and try booting again?

      Edit: gave up . It's now a Mint box. Goodbye Windows you can kiss my dust

      18 votes
    38. Linux noob question regarding full / partition

      Background: I started daily driving Linux (specifically Mint) several months ago and for the most part it's been great. Some weird hiccups occasionally but nothing I can't handle/deal with. When...

      Background: I started daily driving Linux (specifically Mint) several months ago and for the most part it's been great. Some weird hiccups occasionally but nothing I can't handle/deal with. When doing my research to set the system up for the first time, I decided to go with 30GB for the / partition and ~220GB for the /home partition (the other half of the drive is for Windows 11 and the various essential tiny partitions). For a while this seemed to be fine, but lately I've been starting to get warnings when performing software updates via the Update Manager that the / partition is running out of space. I think it peaked at maybe 90-95% full a few weeks ago, at which point I started doing some research and cleaning up a bit (apt autoremove, deleting old logs and kernels, etc). I was able to claw back ~4GB and kick the can down the road, but now the warnings have returned and I'd like to handle this properly. I'm working from the assumption that I simply made the / partition too small and intend to double it by giving it some of the Windows space.

      My question: How do I know if this is expected or if I've been doing something wrong? Is 30GB indeed too small on modern Mint, or should that have been enough? I know it partially depends on what all I actually do with the computer, but I really don't have very many applications installed (aside from defaults of course) and only four of them are Flatpaks, which I read tend to be larger. If it helps, the Disk Usage Analyzer reports that within /, /usr is taking up 13.2GB (55%), /var accounts for 9.1GB (38%), /opt is 1GB (4%), and everything else is <1% each.

      Thanks in advance!

      23 votes
    39. Disabling Auto-Zoom in the YouTube app (iOS)

      Hey y’all, YouTube recently decided to put a feature into the app which zooms in to fill the screen more and reduce the dark space. There’s apparently settings for the android app, but I can’t...

      Hey y’all,

      YouTube recently decided to put a feature into the app which zooms in to fill the screen more and reduce the dark space. There’s apparently settings for the android app, but I can’t seem to find any way to disable if for iOS. Does anyone have any suggestions? It’s incredibly annoying and distracting when watching videos.

      14 votes