sbeak

sbeak@sopuli.xyz · 3 days

As for laptops, there are a lot of other options like Tuxedo, NovaCustom, and Slimbook

I would avoid the Brax phone, they haven’t fulfilled orders and are super shady + social media influencer platform is never a great look. I would prefer the Fairphone, they’ve been around for ages, and you can install mobile Linux on their devices too since they let you unlock the boot loader. postmarketOS on the FP6 is developing rapidly and very exciting! Other pmOS supported devices like the OP6 or Pixel 3a series could be considered too, as well as the custom Android ROMs (Graphene, Calyx, etc.)

AsteroidOS is Linux on smartwatches, what more do you want? You also have Pebble if you’re into e-ink and that sort

As for TVs, it’s tricky, but just look for the non-smart ones (there are quite a few!), and I know Sony makes the Bravia TVs where you can set them to be “basic” non-smart mode. You could also go with a projector instead, those usually don’t have smart TV shenanigans. You can also use a Linux mini PC running Plasma Bigscreen and/or Kodi as an alternative to Google TV.

Mini PCs running some form of Linux (Bazzite, CachyOS, Fedora, Mint, whatever) are always awesome. You also have emulation stuff, like the MiSTER Pi mentioned by another user, but you could run emulation stuff on any cheap hardware (running Linux) just fine.

OpenWRT is supported by lots of routers, and GL.iNet makes routers that have it preinstalled. You also have the MikroTik routers, which run the Linux-based RouterOS (+ they are based in Latvia 🇱🇻)

Reolink cameras w/ Frigate and Home Assistant is the best combo.

The only wireless headphones I would recommend are the Fairphone Fairbuds Gen 2, since they won’t die in a few years w/ replaceable parts and battery, and even then, for 99% of usecases, I would rather go with IEMs + some wireless dongle (I use the Fiio BTR11, but others exist too, in particular, the Fiio Snowsky Retro Nano has replaceable batteries of an esoteric form factor). You get the convenience of wireless as well as all the benefits of wired: harder to lose, better audio quality, WAY cheaper (seriously, I spent less than $30 on my kit), longer lasting, etc. I would recommend the Kiwi Ears Cadenza and Truthear Gate, and I’ve heard the Hexa/Pure is great too. Moondrop’s Chu 2 are awesome too with a metal shell for a ridiculously low price, but the brass nozzle oxidises and clogs in humid environments (I am in the humid land of HK, so no go for me)

As for printers, the Open Printer is crowd funding and looks really neat! You of course have the Brother laser printers too, but not sure about their telemetry and tracking.

sbeak@sopuli.xyz · 3 days

Jolla phone runs Sailfish OS (partially closed source, but Linux-based) while the Volla phones can either run Android or Ubuntu Touch (more open-source). They have very different aesthetics and target different prices too (the former is cheaper and has a plastic fantastic build, while the latter are glass slabs)

Personally, I’m rooting for postmarketOS, since it’s compatible with lots of devices. has the ability to install Flatpaks due to using a mainline (or at least closer to it) kernel over Ubuntu Touch and SailfishOS using the Android kernel (or at least parts of it I think, “proprietary blobs”), and recently the Fairphone 6 has been getting good pmOS development (super exciting! Even fingerprint has been made to work!)

sbeak@sopuli.xyz · 3 days

I really want one. It’s a little cheaper than the original RG DS, has larger screens, ships with Linux OOTB (and sacrifices the memory needed by Android, which never ran well to begin with), has an integrated stylus, and comes in pink too! (I’d rather have a lilac, but you take what you get)

The only thing I’m waiting on is Rocknix support. It looks like the new NNDDSS still needs a bit of work too (can you change it to Drastic in stock firmware?). GammaOS Nano is also able to run on this apparently, which is pretty exciting. Will definitely wait for CFW, since Anbernic’s stock OS is never all that great.

If I do get one, this would be my first dedicated handheld (I’ve mostly used my laptop and phone for it right now), and I’m eyeing a dual-screen option since it will fulfill a use case that neither device does very well. The candy bar devices are all excellent, but they’re essentially smartphones with a controller attached to them (smaller ones, but an extra device that fulfills a similar function nonetheless)

I think the RG DS is better if you want a smaller device that can do more RAM intensive stuff (like Android or PortMaster), or perhaps you just like Turquoise or the Red/Black dualtone over the Deep Blue or Pink (white is present on both), but for me, I would take the Plus any day.

sbeak@sopuli.xyz · 6 days

Just of note, Arab != Muslim. The Arabs are a people group who originate from the Arabian peninsula and can be of any sort of religion. There are plenty of Muslim Arab nations, yes, but there are also a huge population of Christian Arabs (of various denominations + other minor religions also exist)

edit: or somebody who speaks Arabic (again, does not necessarily mean they are Muslim), as pointed out by somebody else

One more point, not all Muslims are Arabs! You have Turkey, central Asia, South East Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Iran, Bosnia, etc.

sbeak@sopuli.xyz · 3 days

Ideally ones that provide RSS/Atom feeds. Currently, I’m following the BBC, CBC, The Guardian, DW, and Al Jazeera, and they provide reliable information, but there is always a bit of a bias. For instance, BBC and DW are quite pro-Israel, while Al Jazeera are rarely critical of the Qatari government. Are there any independent news outlets that have less of bias w/ RSS feeds?

edit: Wording has been changed a bit. One more thing, I’d rather have news sources that are not US-centric. As somebody from Hong Kong, I’d also like to ask if there are any good ones that cover the South China + Southeast Asia region, since SCMP was bought out by Alibaba a few years ago.

sbeak@sopuli.xyz · 3 days

Ich kann nicht ein schlaffen.

Kann ich commen?

Kann ich helfen?

Eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben, acht!

That’s about the extent of it right now.

sbeak@sopuli.xyz · 10 days

Off-topic, I just realised why I couldn’t see a lot of posts on Lemmy (including my own!). When enabling the ability to view German language posts (I’m trying to learn a bit!), I accidentally deselected English. It’s fixed now, and I can see English posts again!

sbeak@sopuli.xyz · 3 days

Their ToS mentions the laws of New Zealand, while their privacy policy includes GDPR. Are the servers hosted in NZ, the EU, or somewhere else?

Also, is there any reason not to use the piefed.social instance (over other Piefed instances)? I’m interested in trying out Piefed, and use it in conjunction with Lemmy

edit: It looks like it’s hosted in Australia, and rimu (who operates the instance) is from New Zealand. Mention of GDPR does not mean it’s hosted in the EU.

Also, it looks like it might be better to use a different instance regardless of where piefed.social is hosted, for decentralisation (like piefed.ca and piefed.blahaj.zone, which are Canadian, piefed.nz, which is hosted in NZ, or nord.pub and retrofed.com, both German)

sbeak@sopuli.xyz · 3 days

Aside from Wireguard, you have Wireguard alternatives-but-not-really-since-they-are-based-on-Wireguard like Netbird and Tailscale. The latter is more well-known, but the main downside is that, to connect to the cloud servers, you need a Google, Microsoft, or Github account to login. It can be self-hosted with Headscale (community project) though (and you don’t need an account for that, since it’s your hardware)! Netbird is similar to Tailscale, but you can use normal email login to use their cloud servers, and they offer official self-hosting support.

sbeak@sopuli.xyz · 3 days

Number one thing, don’t get a “Pro” controller from Nintendo. 8BitDo, GameSir, Gulikit, etc. all have excellent options that undercut NIntendo by a lot (you have $20 controllers that perform nearly as well), and they all use hall-effect sticks (or TMR with the fancy ones) so you won’t suffer from the same stick drift. You could also get a Gulikit mod kit for the Switch 2 joycons and replace the sticks with TMR ones, but at least from my experience with the original Joy-Con, it is incredibly annoying to open it up (and you always need to do it multiple times, because you didn’t seat the ribbon cable properly, you are pinching a cable, etc.), and I doubt the new ones are any more repairable.

As for specific controller recommendations, from 8BitDo you have the Ultimate 2C Bluetooth (C is for cheap, I think it’s $25 or something, but no gyro and other bits) and the Ultimate 2 Bluetooth (has gyro, trigger lock, dock, etc.), from Gulikit you have the TT Max (symmetrical stick layout!) and the KK3 Max (the TT Max but with hall-effect instead of TMR, older version of the 2.4 GHz dongle, and asymmetrical), and from GameSir you have the Nova 2 Lite (cheaper, no gyro) and Supernova (rubber grips, gyro, trigger locks, dock, etc.)

Next, the Switch 2. That is a big asking price, and I personally don’t think it’s worth it, especially since there is no pack in game. If you do want a Nintendo console, you can easily find original Switches used online for very cheap (unless you already have one, which is even better!), and unless you want to play some of the Switch 2 exclusive titles, those are definitely the best from Nintendo in terms of value. Almost all the original Switch games will play exactly the same in the Switch 2 unless you get the upgrade packs (some of which are free, others are paid), which is incredibly stupid in my opinion, paid or not.

If you are not interested in any Nintendo exclusive games and want to play cross-platform titles only (like Hades II, Silksong, etc.), I would definitely suggest getting a used Steam Deck (if available + you need a handheld) or building a PC (with AM4, DDR4 memory, and the used market if you have one, you can definitely build something decent that will outperform the Switch 2 in every metric, but the value will depend on the cost of components where you live!!).

If you just want to play Nintendo games (or Playstation, Xbox, Sega, etc.) but don’t care for the latest and greatest “Mario Kart World” or similar, you could always go the emulation route! There are a lot of good handhelds right now:

the RG XX line is great for anything under PS1 (I particularly like the 34XXSP for the clamshell)
the TrimUI Brick is another one in that price bracket and relatively small
the Miyoo Mini is even smaller!
the RG DS is decent for DS w/ Rocknix (but it will be replaced with the RG DS Plus soon, so you might want to check if you want the better screen in exchange for a third of the memory. The new one will have the same chip though)
Retroid’s Pocket line is always awesome (the 5 uses the Snapdragon 865 and is good for everything up to GC and PS2, while the 6 uses the 8 Gen 2 and can do more Switch and PC emulation and will handle every GC and PS2 game with upscaling)
Ayn has fancier devices ($300-400 price range) like the Odin 2 Portal (beeg screen Pocket 6) and Thor (3DS champ), which both use the 8 Gen 2

sbeak@sopuli.xyz · 3 days

The main improvement seems to be the larger 1024x768 4.3" screens (compared to the 640x480 4" screens on the RG DS) and the inclusion of a built-in stylus (still one of those rubber nib ones though), as well as some minor changes to the hinge and other bits. However, it uses the same chip, has less RAM (from 3GB to 1GB), and ships with a Linux-based OS instead of a barely-runnable Android version. It also has a single stick instead of dual, but the RG DS was never powerful enough to run most dual stick games anyways (PS2, GC, etc.), so that probably isn’t an issue. The internal eMMC storage has also been removed in favour of another microSD slot (one for the OS, another for ROMs)

It’s a little weird they called it the Plus, since the only improvement is the screens and maybe the stylus, while having downgrades to the memory.

It comes in pink, black, and blue (navy-ish), while the RG DS had the red/black, turquoise, and white colourways.

What do you all think of this RG DS “Plus”?

edit: announced, not released!!

sbeak@sopuli.xyz · 3 days

I prefer analogue clocks since they tend to be smaller in desk footprint and they are much easier to manually adjust (you need to do 20+ beeps on a digital alarm clock). They also just look kind of neat. I prefer if the clock ran on AA batteries (not AAA, and definitely nothing non-replaceable), and some sort of backlight would be ideal (but a good white/warm one, not a blinding blue/green light!

edit: I have bought two alarm clocks by “Rhythm”, they take a single AA battery each and have cute colours too. Quartz movement, backlight, everything! I also found the Braun BC02 (and BC03, the bigger one), which also uses AA batteries + quartz movement + backlight, but it only came in black or white, at least where I was purchasing it.

sbeak@sopuli.xyz · 3 days

Hang on a minute, this looks familiar…

No problems here though, more awareness about this is always better! Still kind of insane the U.S. gov can just designate an online service as a “global terrorist organisation” and block them with DNS.

https://cavallette.noblogs.org/2026/08/10076

from A/I: “Antifascism and anticapitalism are not terrorism. Protesting is not terrorism. And everyone has the right to speak out and to struggle for humanity.”

sbeak@sopuli.xyz · 3 days

In a nutshell, A/I provides services like email, web hosting, and blogs. They are financed by donations, and their policy requires that users are against fascism, racism, militarism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia. They don’t allow commercial use of their services either. A/I is also anticapitalist in the sense that they don’t like the disparate economic inequality and the current state of the world.

The U.S. has labeled them as a “global terrorist organisation”, in the same category as Al-Qaeda. The reason? They support “far-left extremist antifa terrorists”. In normal person talk, the Trump admin is suppressing them for being against fascism and inequality.

A/I has denied the claims by the U.S. government.

I also use their email service, so this really sucks! It’s also a bit harrowing how they can censor something like this so quickly without any discussion in court.

sbeak@sopuli.xyz · 3 days

A few days ago, the U.S. government sanctioned A/I for supporting “extreme far-left antifa terrorists”. If you didn’t know, A/I is an antifascist and anticapitalist group based in Italy, and they host a lot of services (like email, website hosting, etc.) run through donations. Their policy states that they are against racism, sexism, militarism, homophobia, and transphobia, and you have to agree to those principles to use their services. Their website and mailing server has been taken down, and unfortunately, that also means my email no longer works. It’s kind of insane how quickly the American government can take down internet services they don’t like. A/I has denied all of the allegations by the Trump admin, and rightfully so, they’re just a digital services provider who respect your privacy and are against fascism and bigotry.

relevant link if you want to read more about this: https://cavallette.noblogs.org/2026/08/10076

I still need to use email, so what’s a good alternative email provider that doesn’t profit off of my data? I have used Disroot in the past and had good experiences with their services, so they are currently my fallback. I have ruled out Proton and Tuta, as neither support IMAP properly.

edit: It appears that it’s only the autistici.org domain that has been blocked (the registrar for the .org TLD is American), the services are still running (though my email is unable to receive mail, I can only read existing mail). A/I is working towards providing users with a new mail address. If that doesn’t pan out, I’ll probably go with Disroot.

sbeak@sopuli.xyz · 3 days

A lot of people have already mentioned neutron bombs, which are more immediate, but things like infected hoards of mosquitoes, rats, etc. would be devastating, especially for urban populations. One of the main reasons why the native peoples in the Americas and Australia didn’t put up much of a resistance against European colonialism was due to the spread of foreign diseases killing the majority of the population, and in many cases, the idea of deliberate infections has been brought up (whether this was implemented is pretty controversial and still an open question). The Black Death is another example, and aside from how many people died from it across Eurasia, the corpses of those who died from the plague were used as a weapon.

And of course, you have all the chemical and bioweapons of the 20th century developed by the Germans, the Japanese, the Americans, the Soviets, etc., all of which have been used for mass killings, warfare, and terrorism.

sbeak@sopuli.xyz · 3 days

Basically, wired in-ear buds. IEM stands for “in-ear monitor”, since they are often used to monitor audio in the music and film industry. They are really neat actually for general use too!

sbeak@sopuli.xyz · 3 days

I have the Moondrop Chu 2, an awesome IEM that works really well, but the brass nozzle it has easily oxidises, especially given that I live in a relatively humid climate, so green bits keep on clogging the nozzle and need to be cleaned out. Are there any good value options (let’s say under 100 ideally) that don’t have a brass nozzle (or similarly corrosive materials)?

edit: I have bought the Truthear Gate, since it appears to use a plastic nozzle

sbeak@sopuli.xyz · 3 days

Wait, so somebody called Jack is basically the equivalent of “dude”? Interesting. So a lumberjack is just a person who deals with lumber*, that makes a lot of sense!

edit: Correction, a person who cuts down trees and produces lumber (not a merchant)

sbeak@sopuli.xyz · 3 days

Like the phrase “peeping tom” is used to refer to a creep trying to see somebody else using the bathroom. What on Earth did this Tom character do to become the definition of such a creep?

Why are women who do not have traditionally feminine traits sometimes called tomboys? Why Tom?

And why do people say “Bob’s your uncle”? Was this Bob a super helpful and reliable guy, so much so that his name is used for the definition of something being finished and done?

And the playing card representing an aristocratic / upper class man is called Jack, who is this Jack? Why do people say a “jack of all trades”, was this Jack character incredibly talented? Or is it related to the playing card, where they are good at everything but not the best (i.e. a king or queen)

I know of a few that are of religious origin, like the Achilles’s heel after Greek mythology, and the bumpy bit of your throat is called Adam’s apple is biblical.

sbeak

What are some good, independent news outlets that are reliable?

(answered) Where is the piefed.social instance based in?

Anbernic RG DS "Plus" was recently announced, what do you all think of it?

(Found!) What is a good (analogue) alarm clock that runs on AAs?

So Austistici/Inventati was recently designated as a "global terrorist organisation" by the Trump administration, what do I do now?

Cheap IEMs that don't use nozzles that easily corrode?

What's the origin of the many phrases that include a person's name?