matsdis

I switched to Termux for a while too. It works. But it was a bit too fiddly. (Symlinks and permissions stuff, separate browser window, notification that it is still running, and also I never set it up to start on boot.)

I switched to BasicSync a while ago, can recommend.

For Zulip there are some public instances to look around if you don’t know it, like https://rust-lang.zulipchat.com/

There are some specialized tools if you only need video chat (like good old Jitsi but I think there are some more modern options now based on LiveKit) and there is one centered around a shared whiteboard / slide-sharing area (forgot the name). Or if you’re looking to just quickly do some collaborative editing there is CryptPad.

Also, check out the !selfhosted@lemmy.world community here if you still have questions.

After I fiddle with the firewall rules (or a system install or major upgrade) I usually only do a quick portscan with nmap from another box. (TCP and UDP; only IPv4 only because I disabled IPv6 completely.) There are online port-scan services too, but you never know if they also invite the bots.

I agree with others here that vulnerability-scanning your own applications seems overkill. Like with external virus scanners, I always feel they are just as likely the attack vector themselves. The more complexity, the more risk.

What I do is:

1. Enable unattended system updates (on Debian stable) and automated reboots. And sometimes check if it actually still works.
2. Firewall configuration with a whitelist for public ports, and as a second layer:
3. configure internal services to listen only on localhost, or to filter access by ip/netmask, and
4. put something in front of services that don’t need general public access. (A wireguard tunnel, or HTTP basic auth in your reverse-proxy.)
5. if you expose ssh to the public, make there is some extra step that prevents you from exposing a test user you just created. I’m using the AllowUsers user whitelist, but KbdInteractiveAuthentication no should be good enough too. If the failed login attempts by the bots bother you, you could run sshd on a non-standard port.
6. stop services you no longer use, or at least remove public access.
7. If you have a complex service that needs to be fully public (say a video conference solution, I wouldn’t worry much about a simple static web server) then isolate it from everything else somehow. Ideally on a separate box, make sure it cannot access the internal network, make sure it cannot access any files it doesn’t need. And install those security patches.

Something else I always wanted to do (but never got around doing) is to create a simple canary intrusion detection. Like, putting some important-looking “prod” host into ~/.ssh/config and a private ssh key, and configure the target host to send me a SMS instead when this key tries to log in. (Or even shut everything down automatically.) This should prevent me from becoming part of a botnet for months unnoticed, maybe.

I have a router with a few cronjobs like this:

# m h dom mon dow command  
00 20 12 * * echo "check bank transactions (monthly reminder)"  
00 19 15-21 * * test $(date +\%u) -eq 6 && echo "Anki learning reminder"  

Cron will by default send an email with the script output. So you “just” need a non-broken email setup that forwards system emails to your main account. (Assuming you don’t self-host email too.)

This setup is useful because I have a few other cronjobs (backup scripts, and a health check for my own application) that should notify me in case of failure, and I would eventually notice that this is broken by noticing that those “calendar” emails no longer get through.

You don’t have to live with the developers. You don’t examine Google or Apple with that kind of scrutiny either, as a user. In fact you can’t, because Google and Apple developers have NDAs and PR to prevent any internal human drama from leaking to the public. Doesn’t mean there is less of it.

With community-driven open source projects, almost everything happens in public, so you can dig up all that, and drama gets amplified through social media. If you want the illusion of something free of imperfect humans, better stick to the corporate stuff, I guess.

Unintended consequences are not engineering. Quite the opposite. So “geo” yes, “engineering” no.

E-Reader benutzen um längere Texte zu lesen (im Flug-Modus). News auf PC lesen, nicht auf Handy. Browser plugin (LeechBlock NG) einrichten, das nach übermässigem News-Konsum eine Warte-Seite anzeigt, so dass die Seite erst nach einer Minute lädt. Dann kurz aufzustehen und überlegen ob man die Seite wirklich öffnen muss. Den PC einen halben Tag lang nicht benutzen, dazu Stromkabel raus, Tastatur/Maus entfernen. Zehn Minuten Meditieren, oder nur schon zwei Minuten lang bewusst atmen bringt viel.

Yes. Not going to happen. The next best thing would be to shorten copyright protection to 10 years. (Also not going to happen, but easier to convince people that we should try this.)

You obviously want WTFPL instead of MIT for that.

but businesses don’t have that luxury. That’s why they use proprietary software

Wait, that doesn’t match my business experience. Those proprietary solutions are usually a collection of open source libraries and DBs and Elasticserach or Redis and whatever running Linux VMs held together with duct tape and a small amount of proprietary application code (compared to everything else) using five different open source frameworks.

Or if you buy, say, a Lasercutter, how do you think they convert the images you prepare for engraving? Their own commercial libraries they bought from someone? Because businesses don’t do open source? Nope. How do you think businesses compile the firmware that goes into their CNC machine? Borland C++? Nope.

When you use the proprietary software, they don’t tell you what went into it. That’s kind of the point - you are buying a solution and only want to know the price. When you host your own instead, you kind of need to know what goes into it, because you didn’t pay someone to do the integration for you.

Or more fundamentally: with open source, you only get what the developer wanted to build. If you want someone to build what you need, you got to be either lucky that the two things align close enough, or find a way to pay someone to focus on your needs instead of theirs. Or you can hope someone else pays someone to make it and then pays a little bit extra to also publish it open source for everyone else to use. Rarely happens, but it does happen.

Fun fact: Helikopter brauchen oft auch keinen Schlüssel.

I suspect “infrasonic emissions” are mentioned to summon the image of some scary new unknown. Except cars produce it too, at least the ones with combustion engines. It is sound. It doesn’t matter if it is produced, it matters how loud it is.

Or !inhabitedbeauty@piefed.social maybe?

Yes, and well written too. It was easy to read, and not too long.

Came here to make some smart-ass comment, but the article already says it all. One additional thing I’ve read though is that rat poison (used by farmers) is also a major killer for birds-of-prey. But it may be a local problem.

As for “why is it hard to self-host”, it is only NAT traversal.

TURN, STUN, ICE, etc. are not fun to debug. Not sure if anyone still bothers fiddling with TOS/DSCP on their router. You can build a voice server that just exposes a TCP port, but… latency. And corporate firewalls love to randomly block some UDP port ranges but not others.

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Since you are already on Mastodon, I would start by checking out the instances of people you have interacted with. Many topic-instances are still pretty general-purpose. Decentralize yourself! Join two or three instances. Subscribe to different topics on each. See what sticks.

On a small instance, the local feed is much more important. Local users have a larger influence on what you discover. So, check the local feed first. It may be a bit boring but should be free of spam. Check the external feed. It should not be too tacky, and have a CW where you want one. Check the moderation policy. If you want to commit to only one small instance, find out who pays the hosting and maybe donate.

I love how you can pick almost any number between 1 and 100 and there will be instances in FediDB with exactly that many accounts. Long tail indeed.

Nice. But you are preaching to the converted. Now excuse me while I check if there is anything new on Gemini. (I’m back. There isn’t.)

I don’t know the details, but there is this beautiful Great Britain grid status page, and you can see the transfers to Ireland for the past year. If I’m reading this right they installed an absurd amount of wind (not enough, but getting close) and Ireland is currently importing.