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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: August 2nd, 2023

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  • Unless a lot as changed, they do care.

    Every single laptop and any prebuilt computer I find in the market comes pre installed with a Windows.

    A good friend approached me to install a Linux on a brand new machine and just to make sure we called the customer support line, informing there was interest to return the windows license, as the software would not be used.

    The reply we got was that by removing the software the warranty of the equipment would be null and void. The option was to ship the computer to their maintenance provider and have it removed, with costs presented at end for labour.


  • I really didn’t want to but their comment just reeks of it my guy.

    Except that you did want to. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have done.

    Unless by “doing this shit here as well”, you’re referring to the act of not reading the article, jumping to conclusions, and spreading fear and disinformation.

    In order to be as fair as possible, I went back and read the comment again.

    Is it inflammatory and excessive, while putting out an outlook of distrust towards a new technology? It can be understood as such. Yet, to a degree, I respect and understand that opinion.

    Spurting out “okay boomer” doesn’t dismantle that comment; it’s a personal attack.

    Either add to the conversation on just keep your peace. Makes the world a better place.




  • I use a derivative of this browser for what I call “junk surfing” and I find it personally satisfying to feed it garbage searches, just for the fun of collecting an obscure crypto I know will never accrue any true value.

    But if they are willing to give it to me, I’ll take it.

    The important searches go through FF or the DuckDuckGo browser.


  • “There are two kinds of people: those of have lost data and those who are about to lose data.”

    Redundancy saves a lot of headaches.

    I’m always for supporting new technologies, new companies, new ideas, but that does not mean I’m dropping everything to just get that brand new shiny stuff.

    I see the concept and technology for SSDs as groubdbreaking and pretty awsome but I don’t trust those drives to store data I don’t want to lose. I still use good old fashioned HDDs: the tech is tried and tested, mature and reliable and very affordable.

    I still use SSDs but I use them as not safe storage mediums, prone to break at any moment, without any warning.

    And regardless of this I still keep several copies of important files and critical ones, if possible, are made physical.

    And even then…

    Read the opening sentence again.



  • This wasn’t one or two isolated cases: it was a race to the stores.

    I was a kid then and my grandparents got caught in the wave and bought more lamps that they required to light the entire house. Which later proved to be of bad quality and aided me in making their transition to energy saving bulbs.

    People would line up in front of stores to get the precious, precious bulbs, making the exact same sort of conversation and observations we can read throughout this thread, criticizing government and politics in general.

    The store owners would chime in and add fuel to the fire, stating a lot of people would lose their jobs, as the factories would close (cute fact: there was precisely zero factories for those products in the entire country).

    People are stubborn and will not change ways unless no other option is available and even then grudgingly, while companies only shift practices if forced, be it by force of law or by cash flow and profit goals.

    Governments enforcing positive laws and regulations, even if unpopular, are necessary measures to move things forward in a modern society.



  • LED refrigerator bulbs are already a thing; bought one recently by accident, when looking for a very low power/low brightness for a bed side table.

    Those, apparently, are no longer a concern.

    Screw in LED bulbs with built in brightness and color control, that you can command from a phone application or through a conventional remote control, are already common, thus rendering conventional dimmers obsolete.

    Why keep those? To my very limited knowledge, dimmers can require expensive and extensive installation.

    I have seen LED traffic lights with built in anti frost measures and the expenditure to have those replaced is not a good argument to keep that particular use of incandescent lamps around.

    LED low power requirements, paired with their long service life, enables traffic lights to be independent from the power grid, through the use of solar panels and batteries, keeping it working even when severe weather disrupts energy distribution. LEDs are also brighter and easier to see from afar.

    There may be very particular cases where incandescent bulbs still do not have an alternative but to say they are irreplaceable is a disservice.

    I’m not trying to be dismissive, I’m trying to be demanding.


  • No really. A lot of people, even when shown proof, out of simple spite just double down on their position.

    When energy saving and early LED bulbs started to be deployed in my country, while the fade out of incandescent bulbs was put in place, we had runs for buying every single incandescent bulb available. The change was not welcome. Even if changing meant real, objective, tangible savings.

    People would put in large orders for bulbs, arguing they wanted to “have proper lighting as long has they lived”. Luckily, the stocks quickly ran out and some distributors simply refused to pass the stocks to the market.

    A government cutting off a product is not overreach: it’s forcing change that otherwise would not happen, for the better.


  • No really. A lot of people, even when shown proof, out of simple spite just double down on their position.

    When energy saving and early LED bulbs started to be deployed in my country, while the fade out of incandescent bulbs was put in place, we had runs for buying every single incandescent bulb available. The change was not welcome. Even if changing meant real, objective, tangible savings.

    People would put in large orders for bulbs, arguing they wanted to “have proper lighting as long has they lived”. Luckily, the stocks quickly ran out and some distributors simply refused to pass the stocks to the market.

    A government cutting off a product is not overreach: it’s forcing change that otherwise would not happen, for the better.


  • I’ve seen dimmer compatible LEDs and, even better, LED bulbs that have built in control of light intensity and even color. I’ve even seen bulbs capable of playing music through bluetooth!

    Shape I don’t really see as a concern, as any shape an incandescent bulb can be produced in, a LED bulb can also be. And then some, as the LEDs can be set up, twisted and bent into some very imaginative shapes and angles.

    And heat is not ready a concern. You can touch most LED bulbs with your bare hands with no risk of severe burn. Unless very high wattage is in play, at most, a LED bulb will be warm to the touch.


  • Never crossed my mind to look for such kind of bulb but I’d risk I won’t be able to find it in the local market.

    If safety/security is a concern, lights are simply placed at hard to reach locations or are bought with safety housings, which are fairly cheap. In extremis, instead of common voltage bulbs, high voltage are used, thus incompatible with household voltage.

    And specific purpose lamps… I may be the odd one but there are other sockets available in the market. Why opt for the basis threaded one?






  • I took the dark path when Vista became thing. With zero technical knowledge, I turned to Linux, with no regrets.

    My entry way was SUSE, which was a shock, with KDE and a radically user experience from WinXP, my former daily driver for many, many years; I was an unashamed fanboy.

    My next and final distro was Debian, when Debian was everything but user friendly. But Debian gave me a sense of control over my computer, which Vista had very proudly took away, while gobling away resources from a not so powerful machine.

    That computer stayed home for about eight years, when it died, beyond any viable repair.

    Debian stayed, although I admit I’ve been using Mint lately, mainly to accomodate for playing GOG games with the least stress.

    But I’m a Debian person, no doubt about.

    And I am the kind of person that spins his laptop at someone sporting a Debian-based distro and utters “I am your father.”