@Newhere Right now my little daughter is sitting next to me playing Toca Boca World on a phone running a modified Graphite OS. I am familiar with it. Honestly, it's a bit of a pain, and I'm normally happy enough with my ultra-budget ChiPhones. Which cost 1/4 as much and frankly do more.
Who can we tell that they have **picked the wrong desktop?**
Xfce's release cycle is much better synched, and it's simple and light, like FreeBSD. It doesn't depend on systemd, unlike FreeBSD. It is stable and versatile, like FreeBSD. It works well without OpenGL, unlike KDE. It is older and more mature than KDE. It is not likely to abandon other OSes soon, unlike KDE.
@Mihies I honestly don't see why, no, not at all. If you want to keep the data then you plug the drive into anything else with a USB interface. If you don't want to keep the data, what's the problem? Just format it and donate it, whole.
@douglasg14b@Mihies But modern drives typically can do at least 10x faster than that, maybe 15-20x faster. You're an order of magnitude out, unless I am missing something.
EDIT: OK, I RTFA. Even so, for incremental use, this seems absolutely fine to me.
P.S. They're extremely comfortable thanks to Sony's tiny unpressurised rubber bubbles. They don't fall out, which all Apple phones do from my ears. The rubber domes are replaceable, and the 'phones came with S/M/L domes provided. They work with both my UK and Czech phones, and my work and personal laptops, and my desktops.
In my not-remotely-humble opinion, wires always beat wireless. I don't use wireless keyboards or mice, either, if I have any option. Wired works better, it's cheaper, it's more compatible, there are no parts to lose, it's totally secure in all conditions, and I never need to charge my input devices.
I spent money on good keyboards, but I use 2nd hand gamer mice, because they're nice and heavy and have integral cords with woven insulation.
They do pulse with colour, but I try to ignore that.
Top tip from nearly 40Y in the industry: always favour the low-tech reliable option over the clever and allegedly convenient one. It's often cheaper and easier as well.
It is surprising how widely this advice applies. It works just as well right up to groupware and office automation software for nation-states, too.
During the COVID lockdown I was doing a lot of walking around the local woods with my infant daughter in a pushchair. I listened to music on my phone. I was using free conf-swag head phones.
So I bought myself new ones. Absolute top-of-the-line super-fancy Sony in-ear things with bass boost and all the trimmings.
They were about CzK 600, which equates to about £25.
I still use them. 6Y later they still sound amazing. By any objective measure they are better than any in-ear things: excellent isolation, superb sound (in as well through the integrated mic), complete cross-platform compatibility, *infinite* battery life -- no batteries! No pairing, no synching, no updates ever. Come with build-in anti-theft anti-loss device: a cable.
£25. What that is in dollarbucks I don't know as I avoid visiting fascist states that might imprison me. $35?
As a one-time committee member on Skeptics in the Pub, there are a lot of things in life that *demonstrably* Do Not Work, never did work, and can be proved not to ever be possible, which all the same, billions of people are very impressed by.
Really? Seriously? It's just a fake, every bit as much as ELIZA was -- just with a vastly bigger set of responses it generates on the fly from a vast database of stolen material.
@Core_of_Arden@Appoxo The only people I know who don't use WhatsApp are the very technophobic or rich, antisocial Apple users. It's ubiquitous. It is the standard method of international texting. I know a few people who use Signal (mostly who work in or around FOSS or security) and a few who use Telegram. They're all nerds. But friends and family and social contacts and to a degree companies are WhatsApp.
The US is one continent sized country. The ROTW is mostly lots of small countries and lots of movement between them. That means that SMS costs money, sometimes a lot of money, and the Google and Apple systems mean you need to know what type of device the recipient has. If you don't know, don't care, and don't want to know, then you WhatsApp them.
@null@Zerush Well I mean it's very good at silently downloading files from remote servers without telling you, if that's what you mean. It does it for other people all the time.
@GregorGizeh@Sxan Old English (and current Icelandic) letters. English had these until we bought printing presses from the Germans, who lack these sounds.
þ represents unvoiced th, ð voiced ð.
So, more logical spellings than the bodge of "th" for both.
@Newhere Right now my little daughter is sitting next to me playing Toca Boca World on a phone running a modified Graphite OS. I am familiar with it. Honestly, it's a bit of a pain, and I'm normally happy enough with my ultra-budget ChiPhones. Which cost 1/4 as much and frankly do more.
Personally I'm with Scott McNeally:
https://www.wired.com/1999/01/sun-on-privacy-get-over-it/
"You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it."
@filister @Newhere
Wow. You spend more on 2nd hand phones than I like to spend on brand new ones!
@yxc999 @zdhzm2pgp
> even this one is way overkill for what I want in a phone. Why can’t there just be a low-spec one instead
Exactly this.
My solution is: dirt-cheap bargain-basement Chinese phones.
They do the job and you can get a lot for under £150.
My best buy was an Umidigi F2. Stunning device for £125. I have bought dinners that cost more than that.
*But* you'll never get an OS upgrade, they're unsupported by all the alternative OSes, and there is the everpresent risk of spyware.
For me, that's worth it, but I get that it's not for everyone and so I do not unequivocally recommend them.
@jumping_redditor @kibiz0r
You really need to read this series:
https://marcin.juszkiewicz.com.pl/2025/07/07/arm-desktop-2025-attempt-part-one/
@dessalines
Link unreadable for me in Firefox.
Target:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia/_Signpost/2026-08-02/News/_and/_notes
@grahamperrin@bsd.cafe @grahamperrin@billboard.bsd.cafe
Who can we tell that they have **picked the wrong desktop?**
Xfce's release cycle is much better synched, and it's simple and light, like FreeBSD. It doesn't depend on systemd, unlike FreeBSD. It is stable and versatile, like FreeBSD. It works well without OpenGL, unlike KDE. It is older and more mature than KDE. It is not likely to abandon other OSes soon, unlike KDE.
Ask @dexter -- I suspect he will agree.
They should have chosen Xfce instead.
@Mihies I honestly don't see why, no, not at all. If you want to keep the data then you plug the drive into anything else with a USB interface. If you don't want to keep the data, what's the problem? Just format it and donate it, whole.
@Mihies @douglasg14b
Stick the drive in a USB caddy and keep it?
If it's an array, buy a big one and then repeat from step 1...
@douglasg14b @Mihies But modern drives typically can do at least 10x faster than that, maybe 15-20x faster. You're an order of magnitude out, unless I am missing something.
EDIT: OK, I RTFA. Even so, for incremental use, this seems absolutely fine to me.
@datendefekt @drawerair
P.S. They're extremely comfortable thanks to Sony's tiny unpressurised rubber bubbles. They don't fall out, which all Apple phones do from my ears. The rubber domes are replaceable, and the 'phones came with S/M/L domes provided. They work with both my UK and Czech phones, and my work and personal laptops, and my desktops.
In my not-remotely-humble opinion, wires always beat wireless. I don't use wireless keyboards or mice, either, if I have any option. Wired works better, it's cheaper, it's more compatible, there are no parts to lose, it's totally secure in all conditions, and I never need to charge my input devices.
I spent money on good keyboards, but I use 2nd hand gamer mice, because they're nice and heavy and have integral cords with woven insulation.
They do pulse with colour, but I try to ignore that.
Top tip from nearly 40Y in the industry: always favour the low-tech reliable option over the clever and allegedly convenient one. It's often cheaper and easier as well.
It is surprising how widely this advice applies. It works just as well right up to groupware and office automation software for nation-states, too.
@datendefekt @drawerair
Yeah, no, that's utter nonsense.
During the COVID lockdown I was doing a lot of walking around the local woods with my infant daughter in a pushchair. I listened to music on my phone. I was using free conf-swag head phones.
So I bought myself new ones. Absolute top-of-the-line super-fancy Sony in-ear things with bass boost and all the trimmings.
They were about CzK 600, which equates to about £25.
I still use them. 6Y later they still sound amazing. By any objective measure they are better than any in-ear things: excellent isolation, superb sound (in as well through the integrated mic), complete cross-platform compatibility, *infinite* battery life -- no batteries! No pairing, no synching, no updates ever. Come with build-in anti-theft anti-loss device: a cable.
£25. What that is in dollarbucks I don't know as I avoid visiting fascist states that might imprison me. $35?
@chobeat
Good?
@Ferk Ah, I see.
I suppose so.
As a one-time committee member on Skeptics in the Pub, there are a lot of things in life that *demonstrably* Do Not Work, never did work, and can be proved not to ever be possible, which all the same, billions of people are very impressed by.
Homeopathy is my go-to example -- see:
https://www.howdoeshomeopathywork.com/
This is true of all Supplementary, Complementary and Alternative Medicine. It's all a S.C.A.M. ;-)
But it goes much further. Gods, for example. All 100% made up.
And yet...
@Ferk @meejle
> … people are not unimpressed by AI
I disagree strongly. Smart people who understand how it works, and the cost, are DEEPLY and profoundly unimpressed by it.
I want to see it banned.
@meejle @onlooker
> The current state of AI is impressive to me
Really? Seriously? It's just a fake, every bit as much as ELIZA was -- just with a vastly bigger set of responses it generates on the fly from a vast database of stolen material.
@Core_of_Arden @Appoxo The only people I know who don't use WhatsApp are the very technophobic or rich, antisocial Apple users. It's ubiquitous. It is the standard method of international texting. I know a few people who use Signal (mostly who work in or around FOSS or security) and a few who use Telegram. They're all nerds. But friends and family and social contacts and to a degree companies are WhatsApp.
The US is one continent sized country. The ROTW is mostly lots of small countries and lots of movement between them. That means that SMS costs money, sometimes a lot of money, and the Google and Apple systems mean you need to know what type of device the recipient has. If you don't know, don't care, and don't want to know, then you WhatsApp them.
@null @Zerush Well I mean it's very good at silently downloading files from remote servers without telling you, if that's what you mean. It does it for other people all the time.
@Sxan Immaculate reasoning. Can't fault it. Well done. 😁
@GregorGizeh @Sxan Old English (and current Icelandic) letters. English had these until we bought printing presses from the Germans, who lack these sounds.
þ represents unvoiced th, ð voiced ð.
So, more logical spellings than the bodge of "th" for both.
So why not?
@UltraGiGaGigantic @geneva_convenience France did have a commercial scale fast breeder reactor, Superphénix.