A 50-something French dude that’s old enough to think blogs are still cool, if not cooler than ever. Also, I like to write and to sketch.
https://thefoolwithapen.com/

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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: November 26th, 2023

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  • Libb@jlai.lutoAsk Lemmy@lemmy.worldBlock US within Lemmy?
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    12 days ago

    Same. I would have left long ago if that was not for that setting and without a careful selection of whatever community I subscribe to ;)

    My only blocked content is a few people who I can’t be bothered reading again. I also have two words blocked: Trump, Musk just to make sire 99.9% of the shittiest content is filtered out.



  • Sure but you still have to believe and trust Filen

    Obviously, like I must trust anyone involved in the whole process of me using a computer/phone to do anything. From the maker of my device (that it doesn’t contain some spyware out of the factory, I remember an issue like that with Lenovo and another with Sony), to the app I use but also my ISP (that in France is legally required to keep all my online activities for a few years, btw) but also the maker (and the seller) of my keyboard hoping that they too did not add some spyware or keylogger.

    As a matter of fact, one of the reasons I moved a lot of my activities offline is me realizing my inability to trust (corporate-owned) digital tools to actually respect my privacy. The simplest solution for me was to remove as much as possible of that tech from my workflow ;)

    Depends what you use cloud storage for obviously.

    Indeed.


  • This is not irrelevant if you just don’t want to bother with encrypting them or with having to deal with a locked folder (I think I understand what that would be, but I’m not sure). Filen does encrypt the folder(s) I tell it to encrypt and sync them to its cloud storage. I have nothing to manage once I’ve setup the sync(s) I need. Different solutions for different needs… and different types of users ;)



  • There are ALLOT of people

    You lost me right there. ‘a lot’ is purely subjective and is not much of a fact. I mean, there are 8 billions of us on the planet. So, what is a lot? How many ‘people on the Internet who adhere to almost a religious orthodoxy to Left Wing values’ have you personally met ? 10? 100? 1000? 10000? 100000? More? And how (what criteria) did you count them?

    Have you guys ever considered going an opposite direcrion?

    Have you ever, and why would that be different for anyone else that is not you?




  • The two big things for me are 1. I don’t want to use the command window for everything, or really much of anything, at least at the start. and 2. I currently use Proton VPN and I’d like to use it on this new laptop too. Unfortunately, based on what I saw on the Proton website, if I want to use it on linux it looks like the only way is to get it on Ubuntu, Debian, or Fedora using the console.

    • Complexity: have been using Linux Mint for a few years and I’m not an expert at all (50+ years old lifelong ex-Mac user, to give you an idea I got my first computer in the early 80s and it was an Apple). Everything worked out of the box (including my Airpods, and back then at least it was the only version of Linux that was able to connect to them). I don’t think I never was forced or expected to use the command line… but I slowly started to use it out of curiosity and I learned to appreciate it’s efficiency and now I love using it but that’s by choice, not out of necessity ;)
    • Proton VPN: you need to understand that most distributions (version of Linux) are ‘clones with a few variations’ based upon a very few limited ‘originals’ distributions. Ubuntu is one clone that has become very popular but in reality it’s based on Debian, and therefore it uses Debian installer package (DEB). MInt being based on… Ubuntu also uses Debian installer. And so is Kubuntu. So, if there is a DEB installer, there is a real chance it will work on most Debian-based distributions.

    Proton: it’s command line. I use it too (I’m a paid subscriber to their service, just not their VPN, which is good), but the VPN I use is Mullvad… which is at least as good and has a graphical installer ;)

    Just for reference, uhhh how easy is it to fuck up the process of trying and then installing a linux distro? Like completely-make-the-computer-unusable fuck up? Because that’s my biggest fear

    1. Testing from the Live CD/USB, there is zero risk of damaging anything. That’s one fo teh first thing I fell in love with testing Linux myself ;)
    2. Installing Linux on the computer, well, shit can happen. They are not usual but they can happen. Hence the importance to test it live before to see that most things are working all right. Using a distribution like Mint things should dead simple just following the graphical installer. The last time I installed Mint, it took me less than 10 minutes total (from the first click to me booting on the new installed system) and most of that was the installer downloading packages and installing them while I was drinking my coffee) But that’s the exception if you use something like Mint (I preach for my own chapel here because I know how reliable it is) with its integrated graphical installer. You simply click a few buttons and answer limited few basic questions like what will be your user name, what is your time zone and do you want to encrypt the disk (you probably want that at least on a laptop so if it’s stolen your data will be safe from thieves). It’s real quick process. That also was impressive coming from macOS (installing any new Mac takes way too much time, a lot more than it used to back in the old days.
    3. No matter what version you decide to use ALWAYS BACKUP your personal files before installing a new operating system. It’s a bit like opening someone’s chest and removing their heart before putting an new one. It’s… well, better be safe than sorry. Do you value your personal files at all? Then you should have backups, and not just during install. At any time.

    Also, I’m kind of confused about how updating things works on linux

    With Mint, you regularly will get a little pop signaling there are updates. If you don’t like Notifications (I don’t), you can simply ask it to deal with updates for you and to not bother you (I almost never have to update anything myself). Then, from time to time there is a ‘major’ upgrade, from one version of Mint to the other. Here again, Mint will kindly let you know when everything is ready for your computer (which will not be the exact same day the new version is announced to the world, there is no hurry), it will tell you if anything needs your attention (and why) and do the upgrade for you (reboot required).

    For all my life I thought in terms of simplicity Apple was the way to go. That was until I tried GNU/Linux Mint ;)

    P.s. I’m sorry to make another “what distro do I use” thread, but I had some questions that I didn’t see answers for in the other threads. And honestly, I’ll feel a lot more comfortable with switching if I feel like I’ve actually talked it out with people who know what they’re doing.

    Don’t apologize. The best thing to do do would be to:

    1. test the the live CD and
    2. keep using a ‘noob’ friendly distribution like Mint (there are obviously others, I’m just totally bluffed by how well Mint worked out of the box, and how reliable it has been for the now 4 or 5 years I’ve been using it. And, yep, I tried quite a few other distributions before settling on Mint ;)). Being ‘noob friendly’ doesn’t mean they’re a lesser kind of Linux, say, not as complete as Arch (which is another kind of amazing distribution, just less easy to begin with). It just means that the technical part, at least most of them, have been taken charge of one way or the other. The moment you need the more advanced/powerful tools, they’re already there, waiting for you to start using them: it’s 100% full GNU/Linux just less intimidating ;)



  • I don’t think I need to spend that much money on my current hobbies. But I obviously could

    • A real lot of pencils, a lot of Bic and a lot of paper to write with (and to make paper planes, too). Like a good chunk of a lifetime worth of supply :p
    • A lot (but already a little less) of top quality watercolor paint (that I don’t need to enjoy my hobby watercoloring), too many top of the line watercolor brushes (that I don’t need for my hobby either) and a lot of excellent watercolor paper (that I may enjoy using but still don’t really need for my hobby ;)
    • The entire line of Caran d’Ache ‘Luminance’ colored pencils and the entire line of Faber Castell ‘Polychromos’ colored pencils, in multiple examples. But why would I need that many colors when I use maybe 10 or 12 regularly?
    • I do a lot of scratch building also using… cardboard. SO, a 1000€ would buy a few decades, centuries?, worth of cardboard and fresh hobby blades too. But since I mostly used recycled cardboard from old packages and parcels… I won’t need to buy those.

    Back when I was making scale models (plastic planes and tanks) I could have easily spend that In a couple hour in any hobby shop worth shopping at, buying a few fancy model kits, too much paint and some of the fancier tools, plus reference books. Or on a single camera lens, but that is another hobby I quit practicing. Or on some rare books… which I also quit collecting. It looks like I won’t be able to spend much money :p






  • I’m not hardcore anything but I quit using Reddit and have not looked back. I also don’t use any other social, even tough I own other accounts I have not logged into for many years.

    Why I don’t see myself hardcore? Because there is no hate, or anger and no desire to preach anyone to switch either. I respect people’s choice. I disagreed with a few of reddit decisions & their policy change back then and took my decision accordingly. I posted a goodbye note explaining why I left reddit and switched to Lemmy. The same with X, Facebook, or whatever: when I realized I could not trust those services, I told people around me and moved away.



  • I’ve known Lemmy for a few hours and I feel like I’m back in the early spirit of the internet.

    Welcome :)

    It’s a bit of a digital version of rural exodus. And since 2017/2018, I’ve noticed that everything that, in my opinion, represented the internet has disappeared.

    This a very interesting metaphor, real spot on.

    But I would say a lot of that rural Internet has not disappeared, not yet. It’s still there, very much alive. People are simply not visiting it anymore. They don’t dare go outside the pretty walled-gardens they’re used to.

    But those people wanting to stay parked in their corporate-owned gardens, or silos, doesn’t make that small and more humane web go away. And would they chose to, they could still come visit it freely, they could still easily interact with their creators. They could even create and tend to their very own part of it, making that small Web a richer place.

    They just don’t do it. Most of the time because they can’t be bothered with doing the actual work, or because they’re afraid to try and to fail. They want to be fed easy to eat content, not learn to cook it themselves.

    They want the a Web that is like those shitty fast-food serving standardized and over-processed industrial food. Something ready to eat that is barely food at all but that will stuff their belly and, more importantly, that will never surprise them. Alas, this food is as much a poison for their head as it is for their body. They will realize that too late. It probably already is.

    Too bad, because the alternative is still a thing, not that far away.

    The small web is still a thing. Many blogs still exist that only share content their author sincerely care about or is interested in, that are ads and tracking free, that respect their readers… But the majority of people have quit visiting them, they simply don’t go outside of, say, YT, X, Facebook, Reddit, Instagram, TikTok or whatever where they can all stay together parked like the cattle they have not yet realized they have become.

    Back to your original metaphor. Digital rurality is still there and many could easily own a small part of it and make it exwactly like they want it to be, and be happy with it. But they prefer staying in the large over-crowed cities, in small overpriced apartments like most their friends are doing.

    Lemmy is a great alternative to reddit but it could relatively easily become another silos—just plural and not corporate-owned but silos nonetheless. It’s up to us to keep it open to the alternatives. I mean, sometimes I feel sad to see little posts & comments inviting people to go read/watch something they liked that is not already hosted on some corporate-owned platform. Heck, sharing personal content feels so much like a lost cause to me that I seldom share a link to my own blog posts: why bother? I also publish a lot less often than I used to, here again: why bother?