Bonum Certa Men Certa

Gemini Links 27/06/2023: Gemini Communities and errno



  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal/Opinions

      • mary louise pratt, toward a speech act theory of literary discourse

        it is one thing for the poet, or even the poet-critic, to claim that his art exists in a universe of its own and bears no relation to the society in which he and his readers live. it is quite another for the literary analyst to unquestioningly accept such a view as the basis for a theory of literature. the poet's declaration that he no longer wishes his work to be associated with 'society' or 'reality' or 'commerce' or 'the masses' is hardly grounds for the critic to decide that the associations have in fact ceased to exist or ceased to pertain to the critical enterprise.

        mary louise pratt, toward a speech act theory of literary discourse

      • 2023 Week 24/25: Status and Photos

        I have a few items in the works for Rob's Gemini Capsule, mainly a new math article and some CGI projects. However, I've stalled on them in the last few months, as pressures from real life have been taking up most of my time and energy. As a result, I've primarily been updating my log on the capsule and little else. I hope that'll change soon.

    • Technology and Free Software

      • Installing Ethernet

        My house used to be connected to Comcast before we switched over to a local fiber ISP. This switch has happened years ago and the house was outfitted with coax back in the Comcast days. Of course now, there is no use for Coax. The local antenna stations are not great and we don't have cable coming in either. So I figured that I would replace our existing coax with ethernet.

        We have three coax ports. One in the basement that goes outside along the wall. And two in the house that share the same wall across two floors. The basement port was very easy to replace as I just had to poke the ethernet out the wall and re-enter into the boiler room—where the networking is located.

      • hottail -- tail -f with a heat-map

        I am a big fan of log files. As I develop and test, and deploy code, logs provide invaluable information for debugging and improving (and sometimes, understanding) the system.

        While watching logs with 'tail -f' works pretty well, I would _really_ like to see a heat-mapped view of a log. By that I mean colorized lines which start hot and slowly cool -- allowing me to instantly see if anything happened recently, as well as the relative age of entries -- at a glance!

        I assumed that anything I can think someone has already done -- the world is now big enough for that. But it appears that no one has, in this case. There are many ways to colorize a log based on its content, but not time-based.a

      • Finishing the BITX40 Case

        Last time I had powered up the front panel to test the radio, and were just about to try some power filter components to get rid of the "tuning clicks". I experimented and found that the clicks went away with a 56 Ω series and 33 €µF parallel low pass filter added to the Raduino power input. I went with a 330 €µF capacitor to have some extra margin.

        Next I soldered shielded cables to the volume knob, the audio out jack and the and microphone in jack. The "mono" cable used for the jacks was quite nice to work with. The "stereo" cable used for the volume knob was a bit bulky. I didn't have a crimp tool for the Molex KK connectors used on the BITX main board, so I soldered the wires into the pins (I had bought a lot of them). I continued with a red-black twin cable for the power and a short run of RG316 coax for the VFO.

      • The Semi-Ultimate ATRAC Encoding Comparison

        In which I present samples of ATRAC1 and ATRAC3 audio compressed using various methods, so you can both compare different ATRAC encoders as well as the different ATRAC versions and bitrates.

      • Backups of RK3588 TRM and Datasheet (on the decentralized web)

        My plan of running language models on my RK3588 board failed because the official SDK segfaults with the simplest of examples. Nothing I can do until Rockchip fixes it. In the mean time, me and my friend cam across the RK3588(S) Technical Reference Manuals on GitHub (not linked in the hope that Rockchip will not spend time to take it down). We decided to look into it and see if we can build our own drivers and SDK. I also made backups of the datasheets and TRMs in case they get taken down.

      • re: Installing Ethernet

        ttocsneb wrote about their plans to run Ethernet through the house. Running wire through the wall is a complete pain! I've heard a chain is a great way to pull calbe from the attic up, and I've used cable fishing lines before for smaller jobs. Even used speaker wire for a recent project haha.

        I got lucky in my house that the phone jacks found in each room were actually wired with Cat5e, all going to a central location in the basement. Was easy enough to replace with RJ45 keystone jacks. I did have to run new cable through to the garage for my PoE security cameras though. Went up through from the basement, through a joist and terminated with 2 keystone jacks. I still have to run one to the back patio though, and I've been dreading that job. Will probably have to drill through my siding and exterior wall to run the cable into the basement. I hate making permament changes 'ya know?

      • Internet/Gemini

        • ✍ Gemtext enhancements...

          I believe I found a method to make tables and ordered list in GemText without any major changes. I will post my take on this subject ASAP!

        • gemini feed'

          I'm looking for a protocol description of 'gemlog' and 'gemini feed'. Can anyone point me to links? (I am studiously avoiding the word 'definitive' here intentionally) 🤔

        • 2023-W26: Locrian.zone

          Locrian.zone has a “Friday link roundup”, which initially piqued my interest in the capsule. The “Friday link roundup” has links of interesting things from multiple protocols.

        • Gemini, the Devil's Advocate

          People who write Gemini software, like myself, are occasionally annoyed by the incompleteness and ambiguousness in the spec. But oh man it is so, so, so much more comfy to write Gemini software than nearly any other network protocol ecosystem. Maybe IRC comes close but even then Gemini beats it in brevity.

          Folks have been repeating variations of the above five criticisms since at least I joined the Gemini community nearly four years ago. In 2021 some of these had some merit, and I had my own specific complaints about Gemini born from actually writing software for it (URLs were still the wrong choice vs IRIs, TLS was still the wrong choice vs a custom noise channel, etc), but it is becoming increasingly obvious now that all the people who criticise Gemini on rational and objective merits have an egg on their face.

        • On communities, centralization and capitalism

          I recently watched a YouTube video talking about the demise of a website called Tumblr (well, demise... the place is still working, but its current numbers make it a very low traffic place), how the NSFW content there made it what it was, how it turned into a very queer friendly place and how ads, revenue and the subsequent companies that owned it didn't want to do any with that content... and that was it.

        • My (third) first gemlog entry

          The FIRST first was on gemlog.blue, which I quickly left after realizing it was completely unmoderated. The SECOND first was on smol.pub, which is a lovely place with a great dev, but over time I came to decide I wanted to keep my gemlog here on my capsule and maintain it myself.

        • Re: The Devil's Advocate

          I'm a relative newcomer here I guess. This capsule's first post is dated from March 5th of last year. I had a capsule up for a few months the previous summer but had a pretty bad hardware failure with data loss. Gemini was pretty much exactly what I was wanting for the past twenty years really. I missed the start of the internet, as I didn't even have a computer until the turn of the millenium, but once I did get started I had just enough time to realize the potential of the web and start learning html before Web2.0 came along and began to slowly swallow as much of the open web as possible under corporate umbrellas. I always felt cheated for having missed out on those earliest years of the web. More to the point, I absolutely hated the change from thousands of interlinked island nations to everyone having a little studio apartment on a few big corporate servers. By the time I had my own blog it was so difficult for anyone to find it that it really was like shouting into the void. I hated everything about SEO and Adsense and social media features creaping into every space that they didn't fit. Gemini, with a spec that was actively designed to make it next to immpossible to extend, gamify, track and advertise immediately resonated with me. I didn't know if anyone would read my capsule, but it still felt like the place I should be.

      • Programming

        • Interleaved 2D Notation for Concatenative Programming

          A really cool 2D concatenative programming language. There's even an online IDE for it.

        • errno

          errno is a global variable; anything can change it within a process. errno may also remain unchanged across who knows how much code, until it emerges with some non-zero value. This can be surprising, especially as the abstractions pile up and errno emerges from who knows where.


* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.



Recent Techrights' Posts

British Justice Minister Sarah Sackman Blasts Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
The "legal industry" is due for "some reckoning"
Someone at Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is Censoring the Birthday Greetings to Richard Stallman
Some people remember
Links 16/03/2026: Moscow Experiencing Cellphone Internet Outages, "Salman Rushdie Is Tired of Talking About Free Speech"
Links for the day
 
Links 17/03/2026: American Fentanylware (TikTok) Investors Implicated in Kickbacks, "Big Oil Knew It Was Wrecking Louisiana’s Coast"
Links for the day
For Third Time in a Week The Register MS Runs Google SPAM That Paints Google as an Ally of Women (Which is False, They're Womanisers)
What does that make The Register MS to women?
GAFAM Deprecating Old Videos ("Content") by Removing the Support for Their Format for No Good Reason
"Security" is not a valid excuse
Credit/Debit Cards Have Long Been Called Plastics, Over Time They're Becoming More Like Pure Plastics
They cost less than a dollar to manufacture
The European Patent Office (EPO) Holds a Public Demonstration Tomorrow and It'll be Live-streamed
The EPO's workforce was meant to be capable of speaking many languages and have extensive experience in the sciences
People Who Attacked Techrights Also Attacked My Mother
Picking on old ladies because you don't like Free software advocates is never OK
Little Community Element Left in CentOS
CentOS, unlike Fedora, was meant to be long supported and solid
Social Control Media is Cancel Culture (Companies Like Facebook Also Punish/Ban Accounts for Mentioning "Linux" and Lobby for Anti-Linux Legislation)
The masters of Social Control Media decide what ideas can and cannot be expressed
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 16, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, March 16, 2026
The European Patent Office (EPO) Illegally Transitioning Into 'Gig' 'Economy' Equivalent (a Shop for Patent Monopolies in Europe)
for scabs aka SEALs
At Least Six EPO Strikes Next Month (Yes, Six!)
The pressure intensifies over time
Several MPs Blast Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) for Inaction and Ineffective Action This Week
"Four MPs have written to the SRA"
Microsofters' SLAPP Censorship - Part 14 Out of 200: The Abusive Cases of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft and His Litigation Buddy Garrett Did Cause "Serious Harm"
claims were de facto abandoned at the trial
Today's Discussions About How IBM Pushes Workers Out
The corporate media keeps trying - baselessly and in vain - to paint everything that happens with the "hey hi" brush
Linux Teck (linuxteck.com) and Ubuntu PIT (ubuntupit.com) Are Botspam
now they just keep experimenting by trashing their sites and reputation
Links 16/03/2026: Arctic Security and 'Mr. Nobody Against Putin'
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/03/2026: KN95 Skins and CSS Surprises
Links for the day
Debian is Dying for Some of the Same Reasons IBM's Fedora is Rapidly Dying
Prioritising CoC censorship, not communities
The Register MS is Again Femmewashing GAFAM (Which Makes Widows) in Exchange for Money
This is a moral issue because they betray or harm women and prop up authoritarian regimes
Gemini Links 16/03/2026: AB 1043, Lagrange Android Beta 47, and Poetry
Links for the day
"Slop-forking" or "Vibe-forking" as the New 'Noble' Plagiarism
New Cloudflare Slop Project?
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part VII - Cult Mentality, Mobbing, Nepotism
Does the EPO actually believe in the law?
2026 Microsoft Layoff Rumours
Surely if we had properly-functioning media, then someone would investigate this rather than rely on official statements from Microsoft and WARN notices
EPO Strike This Week
contact your national representatives about it
Gemini Links 15/03/2026: "Create Opportunities for Good Things to Happen", DOSbook, and Bitcoin Criticism
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 15, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, March 15, 2026
Pirate Praveen Arimbrathodiyil & Debian denouncing volunteers, hiding romances
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 15/03/2026: WB Games Montréal Undergoes Layoffs, "Swiss Reject Cuts to Public Broadcasting"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/03/2026: Messages in Bottles and Audio Streaming in Lagrange for Android
Links for the day
Microsofters' SLAPP Censorship - Part 13 Out of 200: Abuse of Process to Make False Accusations of UKGDPR Violations
familiar barrister and same lawyers
Thrown Under the Microsoft Bus
Microsoft wants disposable contractors
Quitting IBM and "Rumors of an Upcoming RA [Mass Layoffs] in April 2026"
Blue layoffs or "RAs" were confirmed upfront by the CFO
GNU/Linux Distro Builders Barely Paid Enough to Pay Basic Bills, Chief of "Linux" Foundation (Not Even Using Linux!) Increases His Own Salary by Over 50% in 5 Years
Salaries or compensation correlate with the ability to exploit people, not to create things
What Puts the Brakes on GNU/Linux Adoption on Laptops and Desktops is Monopoly Control (or Monoculture) Over the Distros
Distros that adopt systemd are controlled by IBM and GAFAM
The "Zero-Sum" Fallacy
Fallacies like "zero-sum" - especially in the context of foreign affairs including war - are utterly ruinous
A Happy Birthday to Richard Stallman
Richard Stallman will turn 73
Jürgen Habermas is Dead, But the Politicised, Inherently Corrupt, Corporatised Court for Patents That He Inspired Is Not
In the news throughout the weekend
Mountains of Abuses of Process by Brett Wilson LLP on Behalf of Americans and Sometimes at the Expense of British Taxpayers
a virtual "limited liability"
linuxteck.com FUD by LLM Slop, ubuntupit.com Passes the Slop Baton
Unless they get back to doing long-form authentic articles, as opposed to slop, no good will come out of it
Links 15/03/2026: New Shortages, Lynx Populations Depletion
Links for the day
Sruthi Chandran & Debian Diversity, Favoritism, Hidden Conflicts of Interest
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
software in the public domain
Reprinted with permission from Alex Oliva
Links 15/03/2026: Slop "Bubble Driving Interest in Chip Alternatives" and Wildlife Erosion Reported
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 14, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, March 14, 2026