Koliakis's comments

Koliakis | 4 years ago | on: The value of downvoting, or, how Hacker News gets it wrong (2009)

It's a pattern of behavior that affects a lot of online communities from what I've seen, not just HN, but it's particularly concerning when I see that kind of stance here.

There are a number of writers who I disagree with on an ideological level but whose writings and podcasts I'll read/listen to because of the insight these people can provide - even if often I don't agree with their conclusions. I think it's important to be able to consume opinions that don't match your own and be able to hold them in your head without throwing a fit.

Koliakis | 4 years ago | on: Playpulse ONE – The gaming bike that unlocks your fitness motivation

It feels like this would be the perfect application for something like Geforce Now or even just the Steam streaming service. Provide an interface for users to customize the controls and provide an API for advanced users. You could probably coast on people being creative with the games they want to play by pedaling an indoor bicycle and become a cult hit by being accessible and ... cheap? (I have no idea how much these things usually cost)

Koliakis | 4 years ago | on: In Defense of Signal

> Considering if Matrix wouldn't be a better choice as my next default messenger

From what I've seen, Matrix is far worse metadata-wise than Signal. If Signal is bad, Matrix is worse.

Koliakis | 5 years ago | on: Arch Linux's Install Media Adds “Archinstall” for Quick/Easy Installations

That would be the case if they hadn't thrown out the beginner's installation guide. What they have now is completely generic and largely useless for anybody who needs some amount of guidance or explanation. The current guide is basically throwing somebody into the deep-end and saying "here's this wiki page on how to swim, have fun". I pretty much gave up on Arch entirely after that fiasco.

Koliakis | 5 years ago | on: Do you really want Linux phones

I don't think it being Linux is too important for people. If somebody made a working FreeBSD for a phone and there was official support for that device, then people wouldn't be all "Well, it's not Linux". I don't think I've seen any interest from BSD maintainers to bring any form of it to phones though.

As it is now, the PinePhone is officially supported by Manjaro and that makes it the most obvious option. Also, all attempts thus far to bring open source to mobile has been some form of Linux, so it's natural that when people think "open source phone", it's probably going to be using Linux. PinePhone itself already has 18-ish different distros, including ports of Debian and Ubuntu, so it's certainly well on its way.

Koliakis | 5 years ago | on: Do you really want Linux phones

I don't understand this comment. Am I not allowed to use Linux if I haven't ever committed code to an open source project? I've been using Linux for 15 years. Are you taking away my Linux card and am I being banned from the platform?

Because your argument makes no sense at all as to why I might want a Linux phone. I want a Linux phone for the same reasons why I use a Linux laptop and PC. Freedom, control over my computing environment and my data, that sort of thing.

Taking a step back, there is no mobile OS out there that provides the things that I want. The closest that I've seen is Linux for the PinePhone. So, yeah, I want a Linux phone. It's not that my initial premise was "I want a Linux phone". It's "I want control and I want to have the freedom to do what I want with my device, so what system currently offers that kind of freedom while being feasible on technical and usability levels?"

Koliakis | 5 years ago | on: Do you really want Linux phones

Yes, my next phone will be a Linux phone. I'm just done with Android and iOS. They're terrible operating systems run by massive companies with entirely way too much control, money and power.

Koliakis | 5 years ago | on: Flatpak – a security nightmare – 2 years later (2020)

I've been experimenting with Qubes and it's the only OS I'm aware of that adequately addresses this issue. It's not usable for non-technical users though without a lot of learning/training and it can be a bit tedious to use sometimes.

I have all my personal data in its own isolated VM (Qube). I do all my browsing in another VM, which has its own home folder and no access to my personal VM. All my sensitive stuff like banking is done in its own VM. Every proprietary application gets its own VM (mainly Teamviewer and VS Code).

So if I do happen to run some program that's malicious, it has effectively zero access to anything sensitive unless it's aware of Qubes and knows how to break out of the hypervisor (non-trivial).

Koliakis | 5 years ago | on: System Shock

I still can't play SS1/SS2. It's nuts what's possible even with limited graphics.

Koliakis | 5 years ago | on: A new moralism is gripping the literary world

> As long as you are able to do that, is it truly censoring? No ones burning books here. To say the publishing industry is especially censoring today than before is outrageous. The point is that it self censored in the ethnicity and gender of its authors instead of the material.

I've been trying to get the older Seuss books. They're impossible to get. And if one of them does happen to be available, the prices are astronomical. I do think there's some level of censorship happening here and I get inklings of book burning when I consider how difficult it is to get these books.

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