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My Go Fund Me Campaign
by Mark Clohesy 14 Aug '17

14 Aug '17

Hi everyone, I am posting this here to spread the word on my go fund me campaign. https://www.gofundme.com/aircon-for-fibromyalgia-sufferer I am a 45-year-old with a number of medical conditions. The one that causes me the most problems is the fibromyalgia. One of the things that happen's is that I have problems regulating my body temperature. I had been using a portable aircon in the window of the lounge room but it has broken down. Even when it did work it was not really large enough to keep the room cool. I am on a disability pension and my wife is on a carers pension so raising the money is difficult. I am trying to raise the money by the end of October so we can get it installed during the first 2 weeks of November. I will be adding my pension advance later in September towards getting the Aircon installed. ---- Here is some information on temperature regulation When you're exposed to heat, does it feel like you're burning up? Does it seem impossible for you to cool off? Or maybe it's cold that bothers you, chilling you to the bone, leaving you unable to warm up. Or are you one of those people with fibromyalgia (FMS) and chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) who is cold all the time, or hot all the time, or alternately hot or cold while out of sync with the environment? https://www.verywell.com/temperature-sensitivity-in-fibromyalgia-and-mecfs-… ----- Thankyou -- Mark "Pockets" Clohesy PH: +61 4 06417877 hiddensoul(a)twistedsouls.com GNU/Linux.. Linux Counter #457297 "In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.." "Well, strangely enough, ma'am, I don't have that information in my database. My programmers, for some insane reason, decided that 'dinosaur bowel movement frequency' tables wouldn't be required. Imbeciles!"

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3d printers
by Brian May 08 Aug '17

08 Aug '17

Hello, Just wondering what is considered a good 3D printer? Should work from Linux, and even better work with open source software. I seem to be bewildered by the large set of options, eg: https://3dprintersuperstore.com.au/collections/frontpage Regards -- Brian May <brian(a)linuxpenguins.xyz> https://linuxpenguins.xyz/brian/

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Re: [luv-talk] The threat of incompetence
by Russell Coker 03 Aug '17

03 Aug '17

On Tuesday, 1 August 2017 9:24:03 AM AEST Rick Moen via luv-talk wrote: > > This would all be very amusing if the US was a small country without a > > nuclear arsenal... > > FYI, ever since an occasion when Richard Nixon was drunk and erratic, > there's been a silent arrangement to ensure that the President cannot > _actually_ just to decide to nuke Paraguay because he or she is a > wack-a-doodle. Even if we could be certain that was the case (and it's not something I would choose to stake my life on), there's still the issue that tweets from the US president are taken a lot more seriously than anything a leader of a non- nuclear country might have to say. > > He's religious! That appeals to Republicans! > > You're _utterly_ missing my point. What sort of extreme psychological > weirdness does it take, such that the only thing you can say when you What psychological weirdness does it take to be a Republican? > > I expect his actions to result in some form of nuclear weapon deployed in > > the US (probably a dirty bomb). So far he has been in the job for 6 > > months without that happening, he is doing well. But a nuclear reaction > > to some action of Trumps may be delayed by some months or years. > > That seems more than a little melodramatic. The only people he's really > induced special hatred in is the 72.8% of the USA electorate who didn't > vote for him and Vice-President Torquemada. He hasn't even gotten his > act together to foment another war, yet. He's been historically > ineffective even at doing just about everything. So, actually, what I Tweeting about North Korea is one of the ways that he can trigger a nuclear reaction. Maybe Kim Jong-un won't be crazy enough to launch a ICBM at the US (but I wouldn't bet on that), maybe he would instead send spies to smuggle a dirty bomb into the US (which is technically a lot easier than launching an ICBM). Maybe Trump will mess things up in Kashmir, there are enough factions on all sides of that dispute that there's probably someone who wouldn't stop at using a dirty bomb. Both India and Pakistan have nuclear weapons so it's plausible that someone in one of those governments could allow a paramilitary group to get some high level nuclear waste. China seems to have a stable government and wouldn't do anything serious and obvious against the US. But if Trump keeps messing with Taiwan the Chinese government might incite Kim Jong-un or some other crazy person to do something. Trump seems to have done something to provoke people in every one of the world's trouble spots apart from Northern Ireland. But maybe I missed some news about Northern Ireland. There are many millions of people all around the world who didn't like what the US was doing even when run by someone as competent as Obama. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/

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Re: [luv-talk] The threat of incompetence
by Rick Moen 01 Aug '17

01 Aug '17

Oh, Russell, want to read something extra-twisty that sounds exactly correct to me, and accounts pretty well for the most recent rounds of craziness? Here's a piece by former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, now Professor of Public Policy at U.C. Berkeley: http://robertreich.org/post/163658444390

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The threat of incompetence
by Mark Trickett 31 Jul '17

31 Jul '17

Hello All, I came across this page, and it is very worrying. The sheer malicious ignorance and incompetence of Trump. he is acting as the CEO of America Inc, rather than as the President of the USA. http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/07/department-of-energy-risks-michael-l… Regards, Mark Trickett

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Coderdojo / Raspberry Pie Merger
by David Zuccaro 22 Jul '17

22 Jul '17

Hi, Does anyone here have an opinion on this article? I disagree with it. I think that the closed, proprietary and exclusionary nature of mac and windows is counter-productive to teaching kids to program. http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/computing/software/opinion-raspberry-pi-… Cheers, David

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android no gapps and micro-g
by Craig Sanders 07 Jun '17

07 Jun '17

an open source clone of Google Play Services. not 100% compatible, but good enough for many apps. Certainly good enough if, like me, you intend to use mostly apps from f-droid and other alternative app stores (I want the hardware, and the open-source side of the software. don't want the proprietary or spyware crap). https://shadow53.com/no-gapps/ craig ps: i've pretty much decided on a Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 Plus....going to look at one today ($439 from JB - i'm sure it'll be cheaper if i wait a bit longer, but that can go on forever...or at least until it disappears from the market entirely and i have to research a new generation of devices). specs are good, there are no clear warning signs saying "avoid, do not buy", and what i've googled about it looks good. it's well supported by at least Lineage OS, and there's a Lineage image with micro-g. If the hardware build quality seems solid (i.e. it doesnt seem like cheap crap that will break in 6 months) i'll get one. https://forum.xda-developers.com/thinkpad-tablet/development/unofficial-lin… -- craig sanders <cas(a)taz.net.au>

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Re: [luv-talk] android tablet + phone recommendations?
by Craig Sanders 05 Jun '17

05 Jun '17

On Fri, Jun 02, 2017 at 03:08:14PM +1000, David Tulloh wrote: > As a few others have suggested your specs are rather ambitious. they don't seem ambitious to me. They seem to be fairly common specs for android tablets from several manufacturers. what i was after was recommendations or notes from people who actually have one of the more recent models. > As an example a high resolution 10" screen uses a fair bit of juice, > just reading a PDF for a few hours will drain some batteries. The > brute force solution, more batteries, hurts your portability and blows > out the cost. most of the 9.7"/10"/larger models on the market advertise at least 10-20 hours of video-watching time. even assuming that's marketing exaggeration (i.e. a lie), reading an epub or even a PDF with WIFI disabled should get at least that much. i'd prefer longer, but that's acceptable. > There are Kindle models which solve this with e-paper displays but > that is black/white only and significantly compromises refresh rate. i've tried e-ink e-readers before. too slow and way too fragile for my liking. From what i've read, current e-ink displays are a lot faster than when i last used them but they're still as fragile. I broke two kobos in less than six months before getting my nexus 7 which has lasted me 5+ years. My first kobo broke in my satchel when i tripped while running and also resulted in a broken wrist so that's forgivable. The second was from falling asleep reading in bed, which is totally unacceptable as that's SOP for me...so i got a nexus 7 - and i can't count the number of times i've fallen asleep reading with it (at a guess, probably over 50% of the last 5 years worth of nights, so over 900 times) and it ends up either under me or dropped onto the floor beside the bed....there's a few little dints in the plastic shell but the screen is still uncracked and works perfectly. > I looked into tablets a few months ago and landed on the Lenovo Yoga > which Yeah, i've looked into the Lenovo Yoga. My overall impression is that it has seriously underwhelming specs for the price. The screen is larger than my Nexus 7, but the resolution is the same (1280x800) so will look blocky and ugly, certainly won't improve readability. it has double the RAM and a 10" screen but otherwise is no better than what i've already got (and at 16GB it has half the storage but does have a micro-SD slot). for just under $300. i'll pass. hmmm...they have some better models, worth another look. Their '10" BusinessTablet' seems better. 4-core 1.3Ghz (only slightly better than my Nexus 7), 2GB RAM (double the nexus), 32GB storage, micro-SD slot, and 1920x1200 resolution. $284 at JB. worth considering but i want something a bit better. cheaper and better than the Tab3. Their 'Tab 3 Plus 10" Tablet' seems better again, 8-core 1.8Ghz snapdragon 652 CPU, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, micro SD slot, and 2560x1600 resolution (so should have beautifully crisp and clear readable text on the 10" screen - that resolution is better than my 27" desktop monitor). it's a bit pricey at $484 (JB again) but certainly matches the kind of specs i'm looking for. I'll put this one on my shortlist. > http://androidbiits.com/lenovo-yoga-tab-3-plus-yt-x703f-android-7-1-1-nouga… this seems to be for the Tab 3 Plus, not the earlier models....but that's fine, it's the model i'm most interested in. thanks craig -- craig sanders <cas(a)taz.net.au>

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Re: [luv-talk] android tablet + phone recommendations?
by Allan Duncan 04 Jun '17

04 Jun '17

On 01/06/17 19:40, Craig Sanders via luv-talk wrote: > Both my phone (~2010 HTC Desire HD) and my tablet (2012 Nexus 7) are > ancient so it's about time to upgrade one or both of them. looking for some > recommendations... If you were to go down the tablet only route, I would suggest the Samsung Glaxay Tab S2 (4G, 9.7"). I have had one of the original strain (SM-T815Y) for 18 months, and ebook reading is one of its primary uses. The OLED gives good battery life at decent brightness. There is a re-issue (SM-T819Y) of the same model with a few tweaks, none enough to make me update. The S3 is now out, but I'm hearing that all-glass may not be the best idea. It may be worth digging around for the 815/819 at a "superceded" discount.

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Re: [luv-talk] android tablet + phone recommendations?
by Craig Sanders 03 Jun '17

03 Jun '17

On Fri, Jun 02, 2017 at 04:12:19PM +1000, russell(a)coker.com.au wrote: > On Thursday, 1 June 2017 7:40:40 PM AEST Craig Sanders via luv-talk wrote: > > Both my phone (~2010 HTC Desire HD) and my tablet (2012 Nexus 7) are > > ancient so it's about time to upgrade one or both of them. looking > > for some recommendations... > > What exactly do you want from a new phone given your stated plan to > use no apps other than a simple calculator? 4G is about the only good reason I have to upgrade the phone and even that's not essential. other than 4G, the main motivation for replacing it is that it's ~ 7 years old now, and won't last forever. Also, i've already replaced the battery on it once, doing that again (probably necessary in the next year or so) seems like a waste of money that could be put towards a newer phone. The CPUs and other componenets have improved a lot in those 7 years. > > - ARM CPU fast enough that I won't have to consider upgrading for > > another 5+ years > > - 1920x1080 resolution absolute minimum. more is better. > > - 8" minimum, 10" or larger preferred. something that can fit a > > full A4 or US Letter PDF page and still be readable without having > > to squint. > > Maybe a larger phone would be an option. A Nexus 6P meets most of > those criteria, it's screen at 5.7" isn't that much smaller than your > stated minimum and may allow you to only carry one device. not as a tablet replacement. i want something with a larger, higher resolution screen than my nexus 7. i mostly want it for more of what i'm currently using it for plus i've recently re-discovered qpython and want to write my own custom apps for it (mostly simple database things without the spyware and excessive permissions demanded by the garbage in google's play store). Also Termux and command line sh, awk, perl etc scripts - with a bluetooth keyboard and Termux I can use it as a tiny laptop substitute. i do some of that now with the 7" nexus, but the screen's a little too small and squinty for that to be comfortable. Tablet size and weight does not bother me. i never go anywhere without at least my roughly A4-sized satchel and often a small backpack too. > > One last thing - if I get a tablet that has 4G capability, does > > anyone know if it's possible or easy to put my SIM card in the > > tablet and use my existing HTC phone as a handset via bluetooth or > > wifi? > > That might be difficult as phones aren't designed for it. But most > (maybe all) tablets that will take a SIM can make and receive calls. > As they support bluetooth they should work with a bluetooth headset > in the same way as a phone, or you could use wired headphones with a > built-in microphone for calls. i'll stick to separate devices for phone and tablet then. which means i'll probably only upgrade the tablet. the phone can wait until either the HTC dies or 4G becomes essential. i remember seeing a brand of phone & tablet a few years ago that could do this, was one of its selling-point features. might have been one of the LG models, maybe not. but it seemed like it was a brand-specific bit of software...i was hoping that there was a generic app to do it. searching for anything on google's play store that you don't already know the exact name of is beyond pointless - there's so many worthless spammy and/or spyware and/or malware shit apps there(*) that you can't find anything, millions of turds hiding the rare useful thing. fdroid's better, but they didn't have anything like that when i searched. (*) hooray for the "free market". hooray for "consumer choice". > > (*) Why purge the youtube app? because every time i enable wifi > > on the tablet, it becomes completely unusable for at least 10-20 > > minutes while youtube, hangouts, and the rest of the thundering herd > > of unwanted apps that can't be removed go apeshit trying to connect > > to google spyware HQ. > > You can configure recent versions of Android to not allow those > apps to talk to the Internet in the background. There's a "network > restrictions" page that allows you to set which Wifi APs are running > on 3G/4G (or otherwise pay for data) and which are unlimited and my nexus 7 runs Android 5. there doesn't seem to be any such option. i made the mistake of NOT rooting it and installing cyanogenmod as soon as i got it and now i've got too much stuff on it that i don't want to lose (rooting it will erase it) or have to backup and then sort through and manually copy/reinstall. laziness, i know...it would only take a day or so to backup, root, re-flash, and then restore my data. cyanognmod/lineage may have more recent versions, but this tablet is barely capable of running v5.x. When I get another tablet, I'll wipe this one and install an AOSP-based Android 4 ROM on it. > Turn off background data on youtube, hangouts, play services (play > store), maps, and Chrome and you'll achieve your stated aim. no, i won't. i want these apps not to run at all. i want them to not even be installed. there's no reason for them to be running in the background, and there's no reason for them to be even installed. I *never* use them so there's no excuse for them to be running, ever. this is not an exaggeration or me just forgetting that i sometimes use them, it is the literal truth - i NEVER use them and NEVER want to use them. I looked at youtube once on this tablet years ago and decided "nope, too slow, too annoying. and no adblock", but apart from that I have never once chosen to run them, ever....but they always start up when wifi is enabled. this is an anti-feature - i have no idea what, if anything, they are reporting to google, or why all these apps are trying to connect, and it certainly does not benefit me at all for the tablet to become unusable for 10 minutes if i enable wifi to quickly (ha!) check something on the internet or fetch something from my network. when i want to watch something on youtube, i have a perfectly good desktop machine with a choice of browsers and a nice 27" 1440p monitor for that. by "unusable", i mean that the tablet can take a minute or more to respond to any touch event. per touch. after 10 or 20 minutes or so it settles down and becomes usable again, but is noticably noticably slower than when wifi is disabled even if i'm not actively using the network. i usually run the tablet in airplane mode to maximise battery life. > > PS: i am in no great hurry to upgrade, so if there's a new > > generation of cpus/screens etc just about to be released, i'm happy > > to wait for that. > > Maybe there is. Google has no tablet offering at this time and the > range of tablets that Kogan is offering is very small. The Samsung Tab A is one of the models I'm considering. I've seen some reasonable prices (around $330-$380) for 2016 models, but that's with only 16GB storage which is not quite enough. My nexus 7 has 32GB and with a faster tablet i'm likely to use it for more things and thus use more storage space. craig -- craig sanders <cas(a)taz.net.au>

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