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authorYuchen Pei <hi@ypei.me>2022-02-17 19:40:10 +1100
committerYuchen Pei <hi@ypei.me>2022-02-17 19:40:10 +1100
commitd4ed7d7df524e397fbcdae5e25e1e13b4f10b4a3 (patch)
treefd3cf6979bab6948686d0328ef342f10fd6bee4b
parent2c422ce0a29154964cbb5011182711b1570541f9 (diff)
added some microposts
-rw-r--r--microposts/big-nonfree-gotcha.org26
-rw-r--r--microposts/google-analytics.org11
-rw-r--r--microposts/lineage-os.org31
-rw-r--r--microposts/mumble-mute-cue.org7
4 files changed, 75 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/microposts/big-nonfree-gotcha.org b/microposts/big-nonfree-gotcha.org
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+#+title: Big nonfree gotcha
+#+date: <2022-02-10>
+
+I just came across my first big nonfree gotcha in formal verification.
+
+[[https://compcert.org/][CompCert]], the verified C compiler, is nonfree.
+
+And I learned there are no free alternatives.
+
+And opam (the ocaml package manager) installed it without any warning,
+possibly as a dep of VST, used in [[https://softwarefoundations.cis.upenn.edu/vc-current/index.html][Vol 5 of Software Foundations,
+Verifiable C]].
+
+But I also learned that the part of CompCert required for the study of
+Verifiable C is free. Someone should definitely extract out the free
+part which I hope can be distributed on opam as say "compcert-free".
+
+On a side note, I feel the GNU Project is missing some essential
+functional packages, which could result in the proglang / formal
+verification community having less aspirations for free software. I
+am not faulting the GNU Project for this, of course. But by contrast,
+all Emacs packages, be it independent or part of the GNU ELPA, are by
+default licensed under GPLv3+, which could be caused by the GNU
+Project having a strong foothold in Emacs.
+
+H/t Kiran G and pgiarrusso.
diff --git a/microposts/google-analytics.org b/microposts/google-analytics.org
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+#+title: Google analytics alternatives
+#+date: <2022-02-15>
+
+[[https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/12/austrian-dpa-schrems-ii/][Austrian]] and [[https://www.politico.eu/article/french-privacy-regulator-rules-against-use-of-google-analytics/][French]] regulators ruled against Google Analytics based on
+GDPR and data privacy. Another big problem with Google Analytics is
+that it is nonfree. There are free alternatives like [[https://matomo.org/][Matomo]] (GPLv3+)
+and [[https://plausible.io/][Plausible]] (AGPLv3+). I used to self host Matomo and it was quite
+decent, but I would like to try out self-hosted version of Plausible
+soon due to its simplicity and lightweight.
+
+H/t Michael McMahon
diff --git a/microposts/lineage-os.org b/microposts/lineage-os.org
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+#+title: Lineage OS helps you degoogle your phone
+#+date: <2022-02-10>
+
+Compared to [[https://replicant.us/][Replicant]], [[https://lineageos.org/][Lineage OS]] is not fully free, as it contains
+kernel blobs and nonfree drivers. But if you are using stock android,
+switching to Lineage OS will be a massive improvement.
+
+The best part: there will be no more proprietary Google apps and
+services spying on you. No google play, google maps, gmail, chrome,
+... You can ensure that all apps are free software by installing them
+from [[https://f-droid.org][F-droid]].
+
+The stock apps that come with Lineage OS are nice too. There's the
+caffeine mode toggle switch in the status bar, which keep the screen
+on for 5, 10, 30 minutes, or indefinitely. I find this feature very
+useful when say I need to check the phone while cooking and I don't
+want it to go to lock screen. The bundled browser comes with an
+option to have all javascript disabled, fixing the Javascript Trap
+with a sledgehammer. By extension, apps with internal browsers like
+[[https://f-droid.org/en/packages/io.github.hidroh.materialistic/][Materialistic Hacker news client]] will also not accidentally execute
+any Javascript.
+
+It also seems like the phone battery lasts longer, which could be due
+to a more lightweight system.
+
+The only things I'm missing are in the I/O department: glide typing
+and a Simplified Chinese input method. I used the proprietary Google
+keyboard on stock android that came with these features, but the input
+methods available on F-droid are missing them. I find myself typing
+less after moving to Lineage OS because I can't type as fast as I used
+to.
diff --git a/microposts/mumble-mute-cue.org b/microposts/mumble-mute-cue.org
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+#+title: Mumble chirping when muted? Try toggling mute cue
+#+date: <2022-02-10>
+
+Recently when I connect to a mumble server and mute myself, I hear a
+periodic chirp / beep once every two seconds or so. It turns out that
+I needed to deselect "mute cue" in settings, which seems to be doing
+the opposite of what it is supposed to do.