Ryo Central Blog

PC-Mode with the Honor View 20: Good bye Desktop!

2019-05-13T09:43:00.003+00:00

It's set... I'm trying to replace my Desktop/Laptop with my phone. And it looks like this will be it. With a HDMI/USB-C adapter it's a blast.

Huawei offers a PC-Mode on the phone. Something that is really appealing to me. So I bought a Iiyama 24.5" G-Master Display with 75hz.
With me doing everything on the web, the most important thing is the browser. Chrome runs in a desktop mode. A little unstable, but good enough for normal usage. Of course you can also use Firefox. Even without having a desktop mode, it's running great.

The apps are running great. Only a very few apps seem to have some issues. But in general you can say, they just work. Gaming is another thing. If you can use a bluetooth gamepad, you are in gamers heaven. If there is only a multitouch control, you're out of luck.

It's fast on the Honor View 20. With 8GB RAM and 256GB Storage it's fun and the main tasks, outside web usage, is done well. That's video encoding. Power Director works great with desktop control and the encoding is quick enough on that device. The phone barely gets hot. Looks like the liquid cooling inside the phone works pretty well.

But there are problems, too. Sometimes the UI/PC-Mode restarts. I couldn't find out why by now. In 3 days there were several times. Sometimes it's just a soft restart, all windows opening automatically and you can just go on. Sometimes it's a hard restart and even the "boot up" screen is showing. I need to check if it's a problem with my settings. the display, the adapter or whatever.

LAN (which needs to be in your adapter, too) works. But you must deactivate "Mobile Data" and WiFi (!) before you connect it. Only then, LAN will be detected and used with blazing fast speed
(see screenshot).
The power-saving options for apps you always want to be in background need to be turned off. Check how it is done right.

All in all you can say it's pretty usable. There are some rough edges. I only run it for 3 days now, so the final verdict needs some more time. I'm pretty impressed with what you can do. External hard drives, USB-sticks, USB-micro, LAN and much more works. That looks like a good start.

Computer Clash of Generations: The Digital Geezers

2019-04-27T15:23:00.000+00:00

Is that thinking strange to you, to have a specific OS to use specific programs for common working scenarios? Yes? Then you are one of the digital nomads. The new users. The future.
But there are still more people than you might think that rely on a specific computer system software to do everything. And sometimes it's understandable.

You have a specific work that needs a specific software? Stop reading now. You probably framed in your company's prison. No one can help you other than your boss or your administrator. You need to worry. Your Company may be a dinosaur ready for extinction... arguably.
If you think you'll need something like "Windows" or "OS X/Mac OS" for your common tasks, you are only a prisoner of yourself and you can break out anytime if you really want.

The reign of OS'es is over!
In the last years we made a lot of progression. Web apps, new services, cloud storage. To all that mobile devices took over the market overwhelmingly. That changed a lot. Almost no company that offers a service can now rely on e.g. Windows alone. And so, many things are offered online, ready to use, or at least with different apps for Android, iOS, Windows and Mac OS and often Linux, too. But you can pretty much live with a browser and do everything.
Some years ago Google started ChromeOS, and even brought us hardware with basically a browser. Since then it went crazy. Almost anything can be done within the browser on any system which runs at least Chrome or Firefox. The reign of OS'es is over once and for all.

No you can not use your old software. Why?

I was quite early in the game, running a GNU+Linux system for years. No Windows partition. Why should I? I have my browsers running on a super stable basis and that's it. Yes, I'm a creative (oh come on Apple snob, stfu) and there is nothing missing. But doing common stuff like you do privately, there is a solution outside the OS prisons anyway.
Yes you can't use your old software. But why should you anyway? We are living in 2019 the time I write this. Don't expect me to use 1990's solutions. Everything has changed. And it's so much better. Mail-clients? Didn't have one for decades now. I can use my mail-account from all my devices, from anywhere, anytime. Same for documents. You don't like Google? Choose one of the others that do the same. You know I could make a list now for a lot of stuff. But it's simple: You can do EVERYTHING with every major OS. Period. There is a solution for everything. You just have to chose it. If you wan't Kai's Power Goo you'll need Windows machine. But you can use your phone for much better results, or one of the dozens photo services on the web, with insanely better features.

You are missing out
You remember how you laughed at the old geezer that keep on doing their things, even if it looks like they're from another world? Yes you laughed so hard and thought "Wow that generation".
Don't be that digital geezer. It's exactly how it looks if you keep on doing stuff like you're living in the 90s and rely on platforms. You are missing a lot of stuff that is possible.
"But I did it like that, why changing?" Now you're sounding like one.
No one is forcing you to change. But it's not the world we are currently living in. Welcome to the digital retirement home.

Why I won't join Openbook

2019-04-04T09:07:00.000+00:00

There it is a new, trustfully, clean and security based social network, funded by the people, for the people without ads. Sound like the perfect place to be.

But there will be the same problems as always. It's not YOUR place, it is a place run by someone else, with their rules and yet still unclear measurements when a dividing or critical topic comes up. You know, Twitter was that place in the beginning. Even Facebook was, in the early days, kind of a light bringing savior for free speech. But for all of those, there came a moment when you discover that you have to play by the rules of the dominating communities at the beginning (and I read a press article where the team already explained that reports from people will then lead to your article being deleted and even your account probably removed), followed by governments, and then eyed by the press and all kind of activist groups from all directions. Then you have the same problem. What do you do? Uphold free speech at all cost? Giving away that right to play nice? Or just close?
I don't believe in public social networks anymore, because they all fall under the same rules in the end.

The only good thing to do is having your own place, your site where only you decide what you do or not with all consequences. THIS is freedom.
I already mentioned how to keep connected in a after-social network world, done by millions of people in some parts of the world already. Where no credible government have the right to snoop or even can snoop into: Your privacy.

I wish Openbook all the good and success for their honorable intentions.
It's just coming a bit too late in my opinion. The fight for free speech on a larger scale, has already been lost. And sadly, mostly the users are to blame for this.

I'm one step away from being a Hikikomori

2019-03-30T12:13:00.001+00:00

hikikomori (countable and uncountable, plural hikikomori or hikikomoris)

(uncountable) A Japanese phenomenon whereby an individual becomes a recluse from society, typically confining him- or herself to the house or a single room for a very long period.

(countable) A reclusive person of this kind.

Source: Wiktionary Hikikomori

Well, with that f-uped society outside, it's an logical conclusion for me to back off as much as possible from normal life outside.
I feel that I can't stand the violent, reckless and disrespectful society more and more. Driving with the car is infuriating these days. People don't care for anything, speeding, and bringing other people in danger. And they don't even care.
People talking about freedom and will take free speech away from anyone whose not having their own view.
People want to be tech their savior (that it is!) but whining about big data.
People talk about protecting the environment and hugging pets, but still participate in mass-killing of animals for food.
Our society is gone highly illogical and are a threat to theirselves and others. And I can't go outside without getting angry, because I'm not looking away. No I'm not just carelessly walking by an idling car polluting the environment.

So, I stay at home more and more. The route to being Hikikomori fortunately, is still blocked by some positive things. I like nature. I'll go outside in the forests geocaching or just walking around. But I always hope that at best, I see no other people while walking. So I'm still looking forward to go outside feeling mother earth. Edit: Oh and playing Pokémon Go. I like this.

But at home, it's not really perfect either. Too much noise, voices and reckless people who think it's okay to play music and party at home in the protected-by-law rest periods. That's exactly what I mean. Nobody seems to care about the others anymore. So I'm going to build myself a soundproofed space to sleep. And to be honest, if I had enough money, I would buy a house far away from any population, and made a fortress out of it with a gym to go even less outside. And food? Well, Amazon & Co. would do it... at least if you have too much money at your hand. Those prices are ridiculous...

Wikipedia in Germany calls last chance for freedom with shutdown

2019-03-21T08:08:00.001+00:00

Today Wikipedia in Germany is shutdown. If you visit it, you only see a site telling you that this is you last chance to retain freedom.

In this protest, it's the first time for Wikipedia to shut down completely in Germany since they are online. The most controversial parts of this try to rebuild a new copyright law in the EU, is article 11 and article 13 which are basically a demand for websites to censor content form users when uploaded before it is showed. This will lead to so-called upload filters. Together with a new EU-wide right for publishers to get money even from small snippets, this will effectively lead to the end of the free internet in Europe.

I warned about it over and over again. This EU copyright directive is made by people that don't understand it, fueled by lobbyists of the big media companies, and supported by people that only recognize their own "creativity" and totally see that the internet made us all creatives.

Dissenter will change the Internet forever [Updated: ... or not]

2019-03-07T13:46:00.001+00:00

Yes it's one of those moments. Not by a single company, but by the mere idea of it. Commenting about anything on the web, every site, every article, without having this site a chance to manipulate or delete it. It's genius!

Simple. I'm not even sure if Dissenter.com had this idea first, or if there is anyone who tried it before. It's a very bold move. Uncensored comments by anyone. Not that you couldn't do that with your blog or your own feed anywhere else, but if you copy the URL of any page on the web into the form at Dissenter, you see if other people made a comment on the page and enable you to comment on your own. No need to find a blog somewhere on the web with no connection to the site. There is also an add-on for Firefox and Chrome to comfortably see comments when you visit a site by clicking the add-on icon.

I don't care much who made this tool, because it doesn't matter at all. It's YOUR comment. If sites like Engadget come up with populist titles to describe Dissenter there is only one reason for it: Fear! Fear that people have free speak with no control over it. Live with it!
The good thing is that with a tool like these, the company that publish it, have no power to push for a certain direction.

It also will help circumvent bloggers and site owners in the EU, where you can be held responsible for any comment on your page, making it impossible offering comments on articles without 24/7 monitoring. You want to comment? Just use Dissenter. Since the site owner have no way to restrict you from making comments there, they are not responsible.

I don't know how to put it, but because everyone can comment, it's making no sense to call it biased. Of course one thing is sure: Only those who participate can give their views and sides for other people to read. So if you think there is something not correctly in the comment, you need to tell it. There is also a discussion, replies and likes for the comments. So you'll have all tools needed to agree or disagree and to put your view out.

Now tell me, how can this be a bad thing? It can't be. At least if you believe in a free and open internet, in freedom of speech and in the right to express it. It's up to you what you express.
And make no mistake. It can't be stopped. Maybe Dissenter can be censored and suppressed some day, but the idea is born. It's over!
You have to deal with the right of other to express their opinion about your site or article. Live with it!

Update 2019-04-11: Okay, so I've stopped using Dissenter. First of all their plugin keeps requiring more and more rights to access websites shown in the browser. While I don't see an abuse of this, I have get no real benefit out of discussing things in dissenter with the lack of people participating in my region and language, and on my topics I'm interested in. So I see no sense wasting my time with another service.
If necessary I can use the dissenter website without any plugin, but I do not see traction catching on at things I'm really interested in.

Social Networks are slowly dying

2019-01-19T14:13:00.000+00:00

It's no secret. Social Networks as we know it are dying. Slowly but constantly. And that is not only tied to exotic things like Google+ which will be closed 31st March 2019. I wrote about it in a short notice before and my transfer to a Line Messenger Group. And here are the signs and reasons for it.

People are fed up by false friends and wrong behavior

We all came to that moment after using those big networks. People follow people for getting followed from other people. False friends that having no interest in you. I'm not saying that you can't have very good friends on those networks, but to be fair, those are rare. Most people connect to others in their surrounding, while others use social networks to reach out for the masses. For the latter ones, I'll come up to their problems now and in the future later. Those people that want to connect to their real friends begin to ask why they are using things like Facebook and Twitter for that. There is no real reason anymore to pump your private stuff on a network and wait for the next breach or mistake to leak your stuff.

The time for free speech is over on social networks

And it might not coming back easily. There are now a lot of triggers around the world. Different in each country. In the beginning it mainly was tight to the country in which the service was hosted. That time is long gone. If any country is upset or even a poor, frustrated human being are not okay with what you're saying, chances are higher and higher every day that your thought, content or sometimes even your account is gone quickly. Censorship is everywhere on those networks. It gets worse and worse everyday. And even in so-called "free countries" there are more restrictions every day. It's over.

If you are a company you need your own property

So many companies already learned that you can not rely fully on the service of those networks for different reasons. Again, you should be able to say what you want as a company on your own site. Others learned it's not a good idea to pump out more and more data to a third party. In some countries restrictions have been put in place what you are allowed to give away. Especially in Europe. You can be held reliable. So keep the data on your property. Plus for the networks are in decline, you should also focus on your target audience. The big old social sites are no longer a place to reach younger audiences. The same for higher educated people. More and more of those pull out. For a reason.
And that's why you need your own place to pump your stuff out. You can still share it via every network you like. But be aware if you go "Facebook or Twitter only", you will miss more and more people. Having to force people to go to Facebook is a no-go. A lot of people won't go there for you.

Conclusion and solution

As always the "swarm intelligence" are looking for solutions. And they found it. If you are looking to connect to your friends or a little "broader friend-sphere", there is a new star: Messengers with Groups. Like Line Messenger (big in Japan and Taiwan) or Telegram. Those can hold a decent amount of Users. Line has 500 Member per group. Make as much Groups as you like. Those are private. That means you need an invitation. Telegram has public groups, but those face the same restrictions indirectly than you would on any social networks.
The power of your private group is incredible. In most countries there are much more possible if you're non-public. In addition the problem is mostly not even materializing. I feel free to share things, that would probably be subject to a Shyster looking for the quick money. You are more secured. Of course it depends on the trust of people you invite to the group. But all in all, it is much much better for your privacy. No company like Google or Facebook have access to the group content. In case of Line groups, they are fully encrypted (letter sealing). Same for non-public Telegram groups as far as I know. Share photos, videos, make calls, go live (yes fricking live broadcast in the group) and so much more.

For someone that want to reach the public, use your website, your blog, your CMS. At least YOU decide what will be taken down or not. You know, I only respect one authority: The Law! And you should too. Not the opinion of the shareholders or moral police of a multi-million dollar company that makes money from your content.

Update 2019-01-21: Just came in from Reuters: WhatsApp is limiting sharing to 5 contacts to "fight misinformation and rumors" a.k.a. as free speech [Reuters news article].
Don't use WhatsApp, a Facebook product, but use things like Line Messenger. If you absolutely need to do so, you can circumvent the limitations by taking a screenshot or copy/paste the text to a new message, sharing with more people. Don't let companies shut you down. Rather you should shut them down.

EU-Japan Trade Deal negotiated! Finally!

2018-07-06T17:53:00.003+00:00

A rare occurrence. The EU is doing something right.
I hope for custom free imports and less expensive trading with Japan. That would be great!

The EU has finalised negotiations for a trade agreement with Japan.

EU firms already export over €58bn in goods and €28bn in services to Japan every year.

But European firms face trade barriers when exporting to Japan which make it hard for them to compete.

The trade agreement with Japan will:

remove these barriers

help us shape global trade rules in line with our high standards and shared values

send a powerful signal that two of the world's biggest economies reject protectionism.

source: European Commision

We have such a high standard of living. Why aren't we more positive?

2018-05-02T10:19:00.003+00:00

Here I am standing looking out of the window, listening to electronic chillout music from Google Play Music, sipping a green tea from thousand miles away and getting ready to play on my PlayStation 4. All while I have time to think about life.
We have such a high standard of living. I'm really wondering why leaders of the countries that live a life in luxury still waging wars and people seem pretty unsatisfied. I could understand if this would only apply to regions where the people are living in bad conditions and having a very low standard. But it seems that this isn't even is a thing.
We should altering our focus and be grateful to having such a good life and stop spreading war all around the world. Instead we could part our overall wealth.

But I'll guess it's always the same. You have much, you want more. But in the 21st century we should quickly learn to be satisfied with what we have achieved in regards of life standards. At least as a basis to improve necessary progression for the future. Not more is the key, less with more efficiency is inevitable. Before it's too late.

A Life Without Twitter is Great!

2018-03-24T14:05:00.000+00:00

So, after 1 week off Twitter, I won't come back so quickly. Automatic posts from my blogs will appear there, but I'm out participating.

On April 18th I followed the move from Ron Gilbert (yes, it's the Secret of Monkey Island programmer *sigh*). I didn't think that I would resist using Twitter so long. But after 3 Days it felt like a big relieve. And now I'm out. And not only that. All private social media activities will be shut down. There are still my blogs and websites (comments are mirrored to Google+, so it appears that I'm still commenting on Google+ via my blogs). I will also shut down reading comments on news sites. It doesn't make any sense or difference.
Reading comments about news is a guaranteed way for anger. Why should you do this? To proof the majority of society is a piece of crap? Don't need social media for that, just check real life.
Don't get me wrong. I was very early participating in social networks. But it all changed in the last 2-3 years dramatically from a role-model for the future to a total pile of garbage.

A real place on earth. Social networks have no meaning anymore.

And here we are at the reason why. It's not because of that "Facebook scandal". It's no scandal, it's common business. Everybody is doing that, every fricking political party, and it#s an essential business model for all social networks. So, I don't give a crap about that.
No, it's the waste of time. The meaningless bullcrap we put out everyday and read it. And how dare you not reading it?
And you have to have a common opinion on everything, or you're a troll. Eff this hypocrite pile of society crap. I once thought the Internet if a relieve for mankind, because they can speak their opinion freely. Social networks pretty much ruined it now. Twitter censors the crap out of people if you have a different approach to problems, and thinking they are the savior of the world by forcing silicon valley's will on people world wide. Eff them.
But no, that's not the only reason. It's because PEOPLE are actually fallen for their crap! Yes, instead of keeping values like freedom, free speech and neutrality, they actually are a horde of hatreds that would sacrifice everything for a few clicks. Or, even worse, they actually believe that bull they were taught by the networks.
In short: Participating is a complete waste of time. On social networks, real life is not mirroring, it is trying to influence, but miserably fails in real life society. That's why, if you read the tweets, you could think that is the world. It's not. Not even close. It's a sick, distorted picture of a few without merit. You'll see that easily if you shut down your computer & phone and visit the many places.
Social networks are also a complete time killer with endless and useless discussion about problems you probably wouldn't care about without it.

You see, I'm not willing to waste my time on complete senseless, and much worse, very angering crap that I read the whole day any longer. No. I don't care anymore for the social networks, because they don't care about the real life. The REAL life you know. Not what some super-hipsters with bags full of money from weak people are telling you it is.

That means I will tone down all social network activities to a bare minimum with a complete shutdown of Twitter & Co. I was not active on Facebook for years, so...
And now I'm my own social network. Love it, or leave it !

How to Still Make Money off YouTube

2018-03-21T14:50:00.002+00:00

YouTube made a very bad decision and illogically ousted smaller channels and kicked creators butt. But that doesn't mean you have to give up hope.
Here is a workaround to still make money from your YouTube videos and probably get more benefits from doing so.

First, you'll have to set up a blog on blogger or use your existing one. Of course you can have wordpress or anything else, too. It's just very easy with blogger.
You easily can monetize your blog with adsense, as you should to have this working. After you did this, you can start posting your videos on YouTube like normal.
After you published a video, instead of promoting the YouTube-link, you share your video with blogger or your favorite platform ad shown in the video above.

Now if someone invokes the link, ads will be shown according to the settings in your blog. In the example is a non intrusive banner under the post. You can also use your sidebar or top to show ads.
So instead of showing ads on YouTube, they will be shown in your blog. This works better than expected if you keep linking your blog post on social media and anywhere else instead the video directly on YouTube. People can watch the video like normal without leaving your blog. Instead of using a complete description on YouTube, only post a short teaser and post a brief description in the blog alongside your video.

Get even more people visiting your blog by adding valuable content, like real articles, photos and other multimedia content. You might up ending giving real value to your viewers and that is a great thing.

How to get Cool Retro Term running on KDE neon

2017-12-24T08:31:00.006+00:00

I found the awesome looking cool-retro-term recently and installed it on my KDE Neon system via a repository. But of course, I had no luck.

The main text color was invisible. I searched the Internet up and down, and only find 1 person on Twitter with the same problem.

Text on the left column is missing. The main text!
So when you e.g. do a "less xyz.txt" nothing will be showed!

Strange. Must be KDE Neon. And what can you do when something goes wrong on GNU+Linux? Right, recompile it :).

Make sure you installed all dependencies. For Ubuntu 17.04 e.g. it's:

sudo apt-get install build-essential libqt5qml-graphicaleffects qml-module-qt-labs-folderlistmodel qml-module-qt-labs-settings qml-module-qtquick-controls qml-module-qtquick-dialogs qmlscene qt5-default qt5-qmake qtdeclarative5-dev qtdeclarative5-localstorage-plugin qtdeclarative5-qtquick2-plugin qtdeclarative5-window-plugin

Then it's pretty easy:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/Swordfish90/cool-retro-term.git

cd cool-retro-term/

qmake && make

Don't know if necessary, but as usual I did a

sudo make install

And boom, that's it. Working like a charm and I'm back in the 70s :)

Smart Home is finally real

2017-12-09T16:17:00.002+00:00

I waited for decades for this to happen. The Sci-Fi movies all promised this for a long time. It finally came to a point where it gets serious. It's not perfect by now, but it's a good start.

There is nothing here that wasn't around for decades. Computer geeks used their computers via relais to turn thing on or off for fun. But the thing that really drove smart home forward was the appearance of the Assistants.
Alexa, Google Home and even the Google Assistant on your phone are the key to success.

That's because it's not pratical to go to your computer and give the command to turn on the lights. Why don't you walk to your wall switch in the first place?
But if you sit on your couch and it's getting dark and you can just say "Hey Google, turn on the lights", and the lights are shining in a second, that's where you never want to go back.

However it is not cheap to automate your home. A set of 3 light bulbs with bridge costs you about 200 Bucks. Sure you have a lot of extras like colors and dimming, but still. Not better with power switches. Adapters that sit between the device and your wall power outlet. But about 30 Bucks per device is some serious drawback.

Here is where the Sonoff switch comes into place. The basic model is around $5-8 Dollar. Now we're talking. With that money, everything can be switched with Alexa or Google Home, and your smartphone. Even from underway!
The processing is decent, and if you know what you're doing, it's a quite safe thing. New badges of these comes wit many standard certificates like ROHS and CE. The basic models can handle 10A (2200 Watt), which is good enough for most things. Check your device before using it with this switch. There is a PWR model that handels 16A which is for all common electric devices that plugs into your wall outlet.
You are one of those person that really fears to left the heater running or the oven on when you left? Just take a look. You not only you can see if the device is on, but you can switch it from anywhere.
I use a switch to turn on my sound receiver and the connected Chromecast Audio. I don't have to stand up to turn both things off, but save energy by not letting them run 24/7. I put this in a little certified box (very cheap at your local tool store) and attached a 3 plug outlet to it for switching more devices in the future. You need to keep in mind that the ground wire needs to be connected directly, since there is no ground through in the Sonoff switch.

There are more Sonoff models. Not only for 16A instead of 10A, but with a monitor to see how many energy you consume. Or with a thermostat or humidity control. So basically you can set a heater to only run when the temperate falls below a specific temperature. So you can safe money, but won't let the house go completely cold when underway.

But there is more, much more, to be solved.
Turning on and off is great, and many things can be done. But some devices need a deeper integration, and those often big companies are too slow. The washing machine is a bad example. Smart washing machines are way too expensive and have a bad integration. I want to control and get status via my Google Home or Alexa device. Basta. These things would cost approx. 50 bucks or less (basically they could do this with a small wifi module and a Raspberry Pi). But well-known companies charging hundreds and hundreds of dollar on top of the, already very expensive, prices.

Some other stuff needs better integration, too. Basically everything that needs an action after you turn it on needs more than a simple on/off switch. Sure, I can switch on my Nespresso machine. But I need to press a button after connecting the power and another to start dripping the coffee. Yes, Nespresso e.g. has a connected machine. But only via Bluetooth and only connected to the app. Bummer. No Google Home connection again. Maybe I'll switch to a good old coffee brewer because of that. Just power and the coffee starts to come out.
More examples: VCR/PVR devices to record stuff. Playback is great via Google Chromecast: "Hey Google, play Stranger Things on Netflix" but no recording of a simple TV cast. Door locks also need better integration. Same with window shutters.

But the start is awesome since the voice controlled assistants are available. I'm looking forward to see more things to come, and more possibilities to make Eureka look like a nostalgic romance.

Can't focus... I want to play Neverwinter now

2017-08-06T09:57:00.000+00:00

A few days ago I found the MMORPG Neverwinter on the PS4. I know it's qute some time on the market now, but I never recognized it until Friday.

By Pop Culture Geek [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Now I think this game can motivate me for a long time. Today's researching for the netcasts are a complete disaster because I just want to play this game now.
I'll soon head over in my living room and play it for the rest of the day.
I really didn't have that WoW feeling when playing an MMO for a long time. This is close to it when playing. Nice. The controls are nicely made for the console. So let's see how it is after playing some time and getting deeper into the game.

See Neverwinter Website

Back to blogging... about tech!

2017-07-21T09:37:00.000+00:00

Yes, I said it on the beginning of the year. I wanted to stop talking about political shit. But it went the other way.
I just couldn't watch that propaganda while people kicking our values that secured freedom for decades with their feet. But I have to admit, I'll let them crash right into the mess they are building up.

So, I'm having enough. I can't change the world, and to be honest, I don't want to change it anymore.
I'm a computer freak, a tech nerd, a science geek and an Android Fan. I like video games and Japanese Anime & Manga.
That's what I want, and that's what I should have sticking to, not making the same mistake that some leftist hipsters are doing: Trying to engage in a topic they didn't really care about since they were born and now forcing their absurd ideas into politics.

I'll really try to concentrate on those topics. Politics are only a framework for people doing really important stuff.
If you're a scientist, developer, engineer or other highly specialized person, just keep to your topic you're are good in. I've learned that. It makes no sense, and you'll harm your whole field of profession otherwise. Don't waste your energy on topics you are not qualified.
That's especially important in science. There is nothing wrong in having an opinion and state it, no matter what that opinion is, but if you invest most of the energy in a fight you don't understand, it will leave your much more important work undone.

New high tech products that secures the future are more helpful to bring people a better life than to cry out loud on TV.
Discovering new milestones in science will change the world view of people much more long-term than your hatred on Twitter can.
Even developing Apps can bring people of all kind closer together than you can by trying to force your views on everyone.

That's why I want to back off and concentrate on things I'm really committed to. And yes, that includes even "Russian" tech and science. Because talking about living together in peace, doesn't mean you can just bring up an outdated picture of an enemy and channel all hate towards them. That will badly go wrong at some point.
I only hope I don't let myself get sucked in that political discussions again.

The Death of the Free Internet

2017-07-06T10:05:00.002+00:00

You can easily see, that recently my posts in all of my blogs are seldom.
That has something to do with teh social media sites. We know for long: Using social media kills blogging, right?
But it isn't that easy. There is a cascade of problems that emerges out of it.

Why social media is taking over blogging

First of all easiness. Retweeting/Sharing is all over the place. Just share stuff with a preview of the site or a photo, nicely presented right on your timeline with one click. Enter your own short opinion about it or not. Boom!
With blogging, it's not nearly as easy in both technical or legal procedures. Think about just pulling a preview of a photo and article header from a news agency right into your blog. Well you've got a problem in most parts of the world. You need to get permissions. It's timely and depressing. Why can't a blog have the same status than things you post on social media?
Then the technical site. There is no "share" button with preview etc. You only share a link to your blog. You need to do everything on your own. How does the post look like etc.

Then there are expectations. People seem to think you need to write a long article. Even if the thing you want to say fits into 140 chars. Ineffective! Don't write unnecessary words.

"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." - Albert Einstein

Why this is a bad thing

Companies like Facebook and Google are under immense pressure from governments all over the world. They openly admitted to censor things, even in the so-called free world.
In Germany laws have been applied that literally force those companies to delete things in 24 hours when "illegal". No judge necessary. So they need to decide on their own. Google said they rather will delete anything quickly than face the immense fine they have to pay otherwise.

People lose control over their own rights. The thing is, if you do something illegal, you have to face the consequences. But you can't be stopped to do so, if you're sure you're doing the right thing. Often, putting out information and opinions are at first not okay, later on they are valuable legal writings.
Think about what happened in the past if you could control a pen and only let you write things the government liked. Now pens are irrelevant. The Internet are. And if you hand over the control of free speech on the Internet to companies that get pushed by the governments, we lose our ability to write freely. We may do so by law, but we can't.

Bloggers are being hunted everywhere

Read those news before? "Blogger in <type in shady country here> got arrested".
Well you can say that in Europe, bloggers are hunted by the governments. They are under immense pressure and have to fear getting personally ruined. It's more subtle, you aren't get killed. But your life can get ruined quickly.
Imprint rules are taking away safety and privacy of the blogger. More and more legal restrictions putting them in a situation where you better just blog about cats, or else you are getting financially ruined by fines and compensation. Or worse, having one foot in jail if you have the wrong opinion, even in many "western" countries.
Those things are easily overseen.

So, it's no wonder why people just sharing stuff on social networks. You have apparently more rights there. Apparently, because although you have the rights, action will be taken to delete or mute your posts & videos.
Yes, it's easy. Very easy. But that comes with the cost of losing your right to express yourself freely. Think again.

The Internet is under attack. Using laws on private companies to suppress "unwanted" opinions is a clear sign for that. If we lose the Internet, we lose free speech. Because even now, but much more in the future, it's irrelevant what you say, until you can find it in the global network of people.

Using Twitter much more again

2017-06-01T08:34:00.001+00:00

Well, you can't deny that Google+ is on the decline in general use. Google is repositioning it for business usage, and will continue to be an important tool for group and private communication.
For me that means, I have to choose another platform to reach general public. And so I find myself using an old comrade much more again: Twitter!

Instagram is tempting, but it belongs to Facebook. Don't want to use their services. But Twitter got many good features lately. Using it for photos is good enough, 140 chars capping doesn't bother in normal usage, and for writing longer article, I'm using my blogs anyway and link on Twitter.

And Twitter got much attention lately :). Did you recognize? No media without embedding tweets in their posts.

But no, that's not the end of Google+ for me. It's still the place where I share my stuff with my friends, and I still post public. But don't expect to post every tweet there, too. And that's the thing. Twitter took the crown of importance for me from Google+ again. No anger, no complain. Just the way it is.

With that, I'lll remind you of my Twitter-account. Check it out. But beware... I post weird stuff sometimes :).

i3wm as a C64 lookalike

2017-03-15T13:54:00.002+00:00

Retro feelings are the new spring :)

So I decided to make my i3wm a C64 lookalike on top of KDE Neon (Ubuntu).

For that I used C64 TrueType v1.2 / Style, which is brilliant. The most exact font I found. Remember to disable anti-aliasing when using this font in GIMP e.g. since there was no anti-aliasing back in the days ;)

I made a "fake" C64 screen with a Ram and Rem visit (those from Re:Zero, you know, so I don't get confused with the konsole (KDE). I switched back to bash for this, just because I need a simple environment.

The C64-Wiki was very useful to get the correct colors. Thanks to the people behind the font and the wiki for keeping the spirit of this nice little computer alive with their work!

3 terminals with htop at the top

It's not emacs on the C64, calm down ;)

I made the Google Chrome theme with My Chrome Theme

That's the fake C64 screen wallpaper. I thought Ram (!) and Rem (!) fits in perfectly ;)

Full Screen Konsole with i3bar on the bottom

Audacity. I changed the GTK-Fonts to C64 Pro

Gimp. GTK-Font C64 Pro

Konsole with some commands. It feels like the real deal.

Okay, while this is all "work in progress", I think it's a start. There are room for some improvements. And starting Vice64 in that environment, it naturally floats in :).

Installed KDE Neon 5.9 over Kubuntu 16.04 LTS

2017-02-18T11:45:00.000+00:00

Yesterday I took the step and dared to upgrade a live system from Kubuntu 16.04 to KDE Neon 5.9. I didn't do a clean install to save work.

Again it turned out after several update/upgrade cycles, and force install neon-desktop with sudo apt install neon-desktop -f , the system rebooted without issues and I could go on. I still get 2 error messages regarding korcag and kgpg. The first issue doesn't seem to have something to do with the upgrade and the kgpg is to be investigated. Since the major programs like kdenlive and the multimedia players works, it seems to be consistent so far (fingers crossed). No dependencies left over.

I like what I see on the new Plasma desktop and I like to have the latest version of KDE running on top of a stable LTS base. So while the KDE team says that KDE neon is not a real distribution, for me it is and should be presented like it. Let's see how this works out over time. For now my needs are satisfied.

To be honest, most of the time, I'm not even running Plasma, since I use i3wm. But I use programs running on KDE, like the mentioned kdenlive and sometimes dolphin (but I like dired-mode in emacs). And the underlying structure is also used for kdeconnect and Konsole. Even those really bothered me when out of date. I can't understand that people think "stable" means "outdated". Stable is the newest thing that works. It does not mean you should get only security patches. Everything that is unstable is beta and has nothing to do with new features! Sigh...

KDE Neon and the KDE Slimbook

2017-01-29T12:13:00.000+00:00

There is a problem I addressed from time to time with updating software on Ubuntu. Or the non-existent updates. Like having emacs 24 when emacs 25 is out for month.

Now fear no more if it comes to having the latest and greatest KDE on your machine.

Screenshot taken from neon.kde.org

KDE neon is here to solve that problem based on the Ubuntu LTS version but having always the newest version of KDE. A great idea. To be honest, I would prefer this over Kubuntu anytime. The problem with Kubuntu is the same. It lacks updates. I think the KDE team was really frustrated on pushing out a modern and great system, only to see it takes ages (until they have another even better version) to get it to the people.
However KDE says it's not a "distro". That's technically true. The distribution is Ubuntu 16.04LTS paired with a "package archive with the latest KDE software". But KDE neon is distributed in a separate image, ready to install or run as a live system from that image. So you could also say it's a distro, it's "KDE neon" in the end.
I'll check on later if it's possible, without any negative side effects, to transform a Kubuntu version to KDE neon by removing the Ubuntu KDE repositories and adding the package archive from KDE muon.

But there is another awesome thing that surfaced this week in the media. The KDE Slimbook, a KDE notebook running KDE neon from the start. The tech specs seems to be enough for both developing and using this productivity system:

KDE Slimbook i5 or KDE Slimbook i7

CPU
Intel i5-6200U
2.3GHz, Turbo Boost 2.8GHz
2 Core 4 Threads
3M Cache
or
Intel i7-6500U
2.5GHz, Turbo Boost 3.1GHz
2 Core 4 Threads
4M Cache

Intel Graphics HD 520, 13.3 inch Full HD 1920x1080px LED Screen
RAM 4GB, 8GB or 16GB DDR3 - 1600 Mhz, Samsung/Crucial mSata 120GB or 250GB or 500GB SSD, LED back-lighting Keyboard
Bluetooth 4.0 with Intel 3160 or 7265 AC, Wireless LAN Intel Dual Band: 3160 or 7265 N or 7265 AC, Webcam and Microphone, 2 ports USB 3.0, Mini HDMI, SD and MMC Card Reader

OS: KDE Neon

Silver Aluminium, Size 33 x 22 x 1,8 cm, Weight 1,36 kg

Battery 6800mAH high lithium battery

It's a long missed move to bring more dedicated hardware devices that comes with a fully functional GNU+Linux System. The price ranges from €729.- for the smallest system which are a great start, to €1268.- for the best available version with all expansions.

While the entry price seems a bit high, keep in mind that this is not a cheap netbook, but a full-fledged, high quality device that comes perfectly trimmed to use KDE Neon (and soon more GNU+Linux systems to choose).

Yes, cold brewed coffee is drinkable ⛾.

2016-12-15T08:25:00.000+00:00

Yeah you know I'm away from drinking filter coffee. I prefer my capsule of Nespresso. But this time I tried something: Cold brewed coffee.

What is this? Coffee poured with room temperature water and leave it for 12-24 hours.

I used Lavazza Espresso coffee, which is one of the finest you can get in most regions. 1/8 coffee. That means 1 cup of coffee powder to 8 cups of water. Like I always do, I used filtered water, to get a soft water but that's totally not necessary. You can also use normal bottled water or even tap water. I chose to let it soak for 14 hours over night. Totally convenient. Just prepare it at the evening and in the morning you have your coffee waiting for you. A french press (see photo) is very convenient to separate the powder from the water later on.
I found that it isn't that much of a different if you try it one hour less or more. So you're kind of flexible on that.

So the taste is like you can read in many places of the internet. Strong taste with not so much caffeine than normal coffee. But be clear on that, because we need much more coffee powder to brew it, it will have just enough caffeine 😁.
You'll discover that it tastes much more intensive than normally brewed coffee, but not bitter, because there are less acid pulled from the powder. That's a great feeling.
Furthermore it is said that it is better suitable for your stomach, but I can't prove that. My stomach is coffee compatible anyway. But it's worth a try if you're sensible to it, but still want a strong tasting beverage.

So yeah, if you want to try something new, you can do it. It's easy to make, and for all the preppers and environment friendly people: You need 0 energy to brew that kind of coffee.
Have a nice day!

Tip: If you later decide you would like to have a hot coffee instead of drinking it cold, no problem. Just heat it to your likes after you pour the coffee. Do not boil, just so much heat that you can drink it. And do not heat it with the powder still in the water.

Ubuntu repositories are way too slow

2016-11-20T13:06:00.001+00:00

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS... after month there is still no emacs 25.1 despite having a big feature upgrade.

I build it from source on my own. This is in no way acceptable for consumers and it's beyond me, why it takes so long to offer the new version in the Ubuntu repositories.

After the installation with sudo make install , you can remove the outdated version with sudo apt remove emacs24 emacs24-lucid emacs24-nox .
That's necessary because the package emacs uses a strange version number (46.1) resulting to overwrite emacs 25.1 on any upgrade.

This is really an annoyance, but not the only one. The repositories need to offer new versions much, much faster.

Emojis come to blogger.com

2016-11-20T10:33:00.002+00:00

What took so long?
Maybe because there is no real developing anymore on Google's Blogger.com?
Finally a new feature has added after years of absence: Emojis!

No no, that wasn't sarcasm. This is really useful and nicely integrated. You can choose from hundreds of emojis and there is even a search where you can type what you want, or even draw the emoji you're looking for.
So this will be used a lot from myself. ☺

However in the editor it looks like crap. That's not the fault of Blogger.com though, but the problem of fonts. These emojis are font characters, not images. On a smartphone, they look good as usual, but on a computer it doesn't have an appealing look.
Well, since desktop 🖥 is dead, this isn't a big of a deal.

Trust your emoji-lust. 👀

The EuGH Link Disaster - It might be worse than you think

2016-09-20T08:46:00.000+00:00

It's like a blast from the past, the verdict of the European Court (EuGH). Hyperlinks to websites need to be checked if there is illegal content on that site.

What sounds okay to people that doesn't understand the Internet and modern communication is a disaster for free speech in Europe. To link a source or point to a proof of some kind is mandatory on every good web article. Not anymore in Europe.
No small media site can afford the risk to being sued into oblivion. And the bloggers? The culture of linking to each other? Gone.

There is a statement on Fefe's blog that it's only relevant for blogs with ad banners or commercial sites. Okay, but seriously, this isn't any good. It's even worse if you can't do any professional work in Europe anymore without being half in jail. Is it really this bad to get a few bucks from ads? To say, like the EuGH did, that those people can afford to check everything, is just ridiculous. Even big companies can't have the manpower to check everything. At least they have the money and lawyers to survive it.
And it's not even clear that there is need for an ad banner to be targeted by this ridiculous verdict. There are terms in some European countries that declares a regularly updated site, like a blog, as a business like work. You guys in Germany should know this from that "imprint-discussion".

So, the EuGH just broke all the laws understanding and the Shysters will take over, soon.
So many questions are still open. And that's very bad for a law view that results from this verdict.

>>> To which level do you need to check?
Only look at the site you're linking to? What if there is a link to illegal stuff on this site? And on the one, this site linked and so on?
I made a simple calculation. If your blog has 100 links (something I will archive in some blogs in less than a week), and links to other sites with also 100 links on their own, at the 5th Level you have 10 billion links to check. Have fun with that.

>>> Is there a time frame I need to check? Who needs to prove it?
So I checked this 100 links (in reality not possible but just saying), and I'm good to link it. Then this site a few days later, or a month, or a year, publishes illegal stuff. Can I get a (very expensive) warning letter or even a fine?

I know there are even more questions on the horizon. What is "business like"? What is about your OLD articles? Do you have to go to your (in my case ten of thousands) articles and remove or check links? Really? Okay, my 1000 employees I need to do this are getting paid from the adsense banners, right? For the old judges and lawyers, that was sarcasm you know...
But the two questions above are enough to say, basically you can't afford to link to anything in the future when living under EU jurisdiction.

So please, be nice to European blogs and sites if they can't link to their sources or to your site. They can't just bear it to do so, because even if you think your site is 100% legal, that might not even remotely be true for European law. And that's what the poor girls there need to look after.
A sad day for the internet, and it will affect even sites in the USA or everywhere in the world indirectly. Because you might get less traffic some day from this crappy sentence.

Emacs org-mode is great, but I can't go out of the Googleverse

2016-08-31T08:40:00.000+00:00

So, I have too much time on my hand today and philosophized over the usage of emacs for a complete schedule, to-do and note taking replacement via org-mode. I'm using org-mode for my diary for years now and thought about to expand usage.

There it is:

1. Test Org Mode
- 1.1. Notes notes
- 1.2. Todo list list
  - 1.2.1. TODO item 1
  - 1.2.2. DONE item 2
  - 1.2.3. TODO item 3
- 1.3. Calendar calendar
- 1.4. Table table
2. Conclusion
- 2.1. Decision

1 Test Org Mode

1.1 Notes notes

Notes are made very easy. Just write… you can tag a note, too. This is very useful!

1.2 Todo list list

1.2.1 TODO item 1

1.2.2 DONE item 2

1.2.3 TODO item 3

1.3 Calendar calendar

<2016-09-04 So> Just an event <2016-09-06 Di> Another event

1.4 Table table

Just a Test. Cell1	cell2	cell3 - proceed with TAB
New row	New row cell2	new row cell 3
another	go	another row
Calc	300	138
result	---	41400

2 Conclusion

Why should I use it? It's fast, everything together in emacs, secure.
Why shouldn't I use it? Offline, not much Android software, complicated, not cloud compatible and shareable with other non-emacs users

2.1 Decision

While I love emacs and it feels simply good to organize everything in emacs, I don't see any real value over using Google Docs / Calendar / Sheets / Keep. If you need a quick, uncomplicated online access and collaboration, it's not quite the choice for me.
However, I'll keep using emacs org-mode for my personal diary which is kept offline and secure only on my computer. I see no better way with so many powerful features if you want to keep something safely off the internet.

Author: Ryo

Created: 2016-08-31 Mi 10:28

Emacs 24.5.1 (Org mode 8.2.10)

Exported to HTML in emacs.