I blog about #technology #gadgets #opensource #FOSS #greentech #traditionalwetshaving #LCHF #health #alternativeto #hamradio (ZS1OSS) #southafrica - see https://gadgeteer.co.za/blog. I also blog to various other social networks which I list at https://gadgeteer.co.za/social-networks-i-post-to.

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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: September 26th, 2022

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  • I’d second that amateur radio is way more than just chatting. There are so many digital modes, SDR, etc that can be explored. May be worth getting a mobile rig that can be pulled out and used in the QTH as well.

    As a ham I’m helping right now to establish a backbone of Meshtastic radios across our city. It’s not ham radio, but it is something I can use my ham experience to build out and support others.

    Personally I’ve been enjoying VarAc on HF for long range comms on low power, but I see they just standardised on some 2m and 70cm frequencies too, which I still want to try out.


  • I use Sleep as Android for:

    1. Great softer sounds that can be adjusted to gently increase alarm audio. I use bird sounds.
    2. It can control lighting too.
    3. It’s smartwake looks at my sleep stage to choose the best time to wake on the window of time I allow. It uses my watch to measure sleep stages, but works with numerous other watches, chest straps, etc. or also has its own Sonar function using ultrasonic to detect stages from movement.

    But chiefly it also has other stuff I use apart from the waking alarms such as sleep stats, warning for bedtime, lullabies when going to sleep, anti-snoring measures, noise recordings, 30 min power nap management, etc.







  • Problem is if social media is being used to stay in contact with friends / family then you are stuck with where they are, as they generally don’t move to a new network with you. If it is for news etc, I actually prefer a good selection of RSS feeds that I follow in my RSS reader.

    I’m on lots of different social networks for blogging and although MeWe has my far biggest followings, it is centralised and non-FOSS - it’s the site I’ve also had the most troll issues on. The Fediverse (numerous site services to choose from) has the most potential, being open and federated widely.


  • Syncthing warns you and asks you to choose which is newer. If you have versions set it should also keep older versions for any roll back. But I make a point to rather work in one device at a time. I actually sync all my devices to a Docker instance running Syncthing, so it works from a central point versus all devices syncing to all devices. That Docker version is on 24/7.


  • To be fair to Obsidian, the default view is like three panes making it look busy, but you can toggle off both the left and right sidebar, leaving just the edit view which can be switched between edit and reading modes. Even the various toolbar icons need not be visible, and you could just use shortcuts to call them.

    I use Syncthing to sync my Obsidian notes between desktop, server, Android, iPad, and Android tablet - it happens seamlessly in the background complete with version control.


  • I’m still using Obsidian (free but not FOSS) mainly because of the wealth of plugins. QOwnNotes was another good option I used before. I really liked Logseq, but the deal-breaker for me was its approach to primarily being an outliner - and that modified all the paragraphs of my markdown notes as they become referenced blocks (otherwise it is great). I like to stick to standard markdown for portability to any future app.





  • GadgeteerZA@beehaw.orgtoPrivacy@lemmy.ml*Permanently Deleted*
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    11 months ago

    Default Signal is better although Telegram has Secret Chat. I love thar Telegram let’s you use a username to connect to others without exposing your mobile number to contacts.

    But I have way more friends who actually use Telegram than Signal. No idea why although for many the massive community groups are used by a lot communities for staying in touch, as well as safety/security groups in communities.


  • I love the idea of Wayland, but it only finally actually booted for me onto the desktop earlier this year (on Manjaro KDE). But it still randomly freezes for about a full minute, quite a bit. I am keen to move to it as my compositor hangs on X11 for some odd reason on KDE every time I try to do a rectangular area screenshot with Spectacle (mmm just realised it is also for around a minute - maybe I do have some other underlying issue), or when accessing the Compositor menu option. But X11 is still otherwise rock solid for me.



  • I’m been in this process for the last two months (because there are so many sites to change my e-mail address). I went with Gmail originally so I did not have to change my address everytime I changed ISPs.

    So my first step was to use my own domain name so that as long as i keep renewing that annually (it’s a small cost) then I keep my e-mail address (even if I change actual e-mail providers).

    Next was to find an e-mail service I could point my domain to. I also needed one where I could download my e-mail to my desktop computer for archiving and reference, eg. I’m using BetterBird, but ThunderBird is another option.

    So finding a mail provider is interesting as most that let you use your own domain name (custom domain name) are not free. One option was paying a small fee to by actual domain provider and use their service. I went though for ProtonMail in the end as I was already paying for their VPN service, so the difference to upgrade to the “everything” account was not that much more and scored me 500GB of online storage too (I pay separately for Bitwarden password management, otherwise that would be another plus). This allowed me to use my custom domain name (unlimited addresses), download mail through their bridge, etc.

    So the real challenge really was finding a suitable mail service. I can switch easily in the future as I just point my domain name to the new mail provider, and never have to update my mail address at any sites again, and all mail is always available on my desktop computer.