Dave
@Dave@lemmy.nz
- Comment on Steam Controller 2 is apparently a thing and being 'tooled for a mass production' plus a new VR controller 20 hours ago:
I’ve always used rechargeables. While I agree to some extent, the action to pop them out makes it a lot easier to get them out than in the Xbox 360 controller from around the same time. The Xbone ones are easier now but perhaps they will do steam controller 2 in a similar way to the 1 but leave a little extra clearance.
- Comment on Steam Controller 2 is apparently a thing and being 'tooled for a mass production' plus a new VR controller 1 day ago:
Better battery placement, because the original is a nightmare to get batteries out.
I’m curious about this. There’s a little switchy button thing and the batteries pop right out. I’m not sure what makes it a nightmare, I quite like the battery placement.
- Comment on Final update on my pineapple plant journey. Time to eat this little guy and replant the top to do it all over again hopefully! 1 week ago:
It’s also impressive you kept a pot plant alive for 5 years! I hope to manage that some day.
- Comment on Final update on my pineapple plant journey. Time to eat this little guy and replant the top to do it all over again hopefully! 1 week ago:
Amazing! I went back in your history, awesome job with the pineapple!
- Comment on Mushrooms 2 weeks ago:
Yeah, I don’t know if @Stamets@lemmy.world is a mycologist but he’s certainly named after one.
- Comment on Here’s the paper no one read before declaring the demise of modern cryptography 2 weeks ago:
It seems the RSA-155 (512 bit) encryption commonly used in the 90s was broken in 1999, no quantum needed (due to it being based on primes).
Though from what I can search up, reddit users from 10 years ago were confident a 128 bit modern algorithm (e.g. AES) would never be able to be brute forced, even by quantum computers.
I dunno, sometimes I wonder if not everyone on the internet is an expert.
- Comment on Here’s the paper no one read before declaring the demise of modern cryptography 2 weeks ago:
But isn’t the point that we just need to stay ahead of it. Surely encryption used in the 90s could be broken by a quantum computer today?
- Comment on I feel you, green guy. 3 weeks ago:
Hey cheers for the heartfelt message. I’m cruising through life just fine. I’ve done plenty in my time, and I don’t think I’ve done much out of societal expectations. I’ve never had any big life goals or even small bucket list items, but it works for me.
- Comment on Yep, it's me 3 weeks ago:
Haha I have one of these.
Them: how come most trees are green?
Me: Oh, well the leaves have s…
Them: OK goodbye
I also have another one that likes to hear all the details, and as a young kid they would ask me to explain stuff while they fell asleep.
Me: OK, sleeping time
Them: Can you tell me why we don’t two suns while I lie down?
Me: oh, boy, well… [then I talk until they fall asleep]
I think they were about 3 or 4 when we did this.
- Comment on I feel you, green guy. 3 weeks ago:
What if you don’t have any aspirations?
- Comment on No Google Cloud for 12 hours due to power outage. 3 weeks ago:
I get how it’s possible, but this is Google. Surely they have decades of experience at keeping a website up no matter what happens!
- Comment on No Google Cloud for 12 hours due to power outage. 3 weeks ago:
But how does this happen? Surely Google has the ability to make highly available systems that are resistant to power going out at one of the three locations (as per the article).
- Comment on 2024 Self-Host User Survey Results 4 weeks ago:
Possibly related to the whole mental load thing: english.emmaclit.com/2017/…/you-shouldve-asked/
When you have two jobs you don’t really want a third.
- Comment on 2024 Self-Host User Survey Results 4 weeks ago:
It’s hard to know overall for Lemmy, but I know that both Lemmy.ca and Lemmy.nz have surveyed their members.
lemmy.ca/post/15125231 lemmy.nz/post/12001861
Both were around 87% men, where as this selfhosting one is like 96% men.
I would guess it’s explained by society. Women are less likely to be in STEM which seems to almost be a prerequisite for Lemmy and possibly self-hosting, and of those women in STEM, and ( despite what you might think about your own house) there is still a societal expectation of them running the household and doing most of the household chores, even when they work full time. A third job, selfhosting, may be too much.
- Comment on 2024 Self-Host User Survey Results 4 weeks ago:
Damn, and I thought the gender ratio on Lemmy was bad.
- Comment on Thoughts on HumHub? 1 month ago:
I think largely we are aligned on what we are looking for in a platform. The private blog idea is interesting. I normally consider blogs as public, are there private blog platforms?
So much of PhotoPrism is built on free libraries; the project uses something like 120 OSS libraries. How much of their income do you think they contribute to those projects who’s work their taking advantage of?
I don’t see it like that. OSS is people releasing their work allowing it to be used commercially without limitation (other , it’s what they wanted when they picked the licence, or they would have picked a different one.
Actually, I don’t have any issue with anyone charging for their software, either; it’s just that I won’t use it, and I don’t trust quasi-free projects. That’s just from experience. Most end badly, either by being bought out and going totally commercial, or just slow enshittification for the non-paying customers.
On the other hand, projects die when the maintainers lose interest. I would like a platform that I know is going to stick around. That’s a difficult ask though, if it’s a company like HumHub, it’s very possible if the company goes under it will just die. On the other hand, something like Zusam, if the maintainer loses interest it will likely also die. It would be nice to have some confidence in the longevity of the platform before diving full steam onto it. But I guess at this point, finding something that works is hard enough, without worrying about that!
I do have reservations about HumHub, but it’s the first platform I’ve seen that even comes close to being a familiar feel for users. I’m considering the other idea of using Dokuwiki as well, which I guess comes in as being more similar to your blogging idea.
- Comment on Thoughts on HumHub? 1 month ago:
Ah I don’t have that many extensions in Mediawiki so I have probably had a smoother experience that you.
Thanks for describing your wiki setup. Being able to look back at all your events in a sort of giant scrapbook must be awesome. I’m not quite sure it will do the job I’m looking for, but I really like the idea so I think I’ll have a deeper play.
I have non-technical users doesn’t mean it won’t work for us, because I’m sure they can read even if they can’t edit, and that’s mostly what they would be doing with any solution. Looks like there’s also an android app.
- Comment on Thoughts on HumHub? 1 month ago:
I agree with you on how core emoji reactions are. They solve many problems and I at times I’ve also wished Lemmy had them, but given that I can’t even find a platform that is private by default and supports a good video user experience. It’s clear I’m going to have to settle in some respect.
Is federation or similar mandatory for you? As in, do you want something that allows your users to interact with users that are not part of your family and not on your platform, eventually able to completely replace the mainstream social media? Or is a completely closed platform ok, in terms of it’s only your family and friends, and people have to go elsewhere (e.g. back to facebook) to interact with others?
Personally I’m not as wary of HumHub just because of it’s commercial nature. Maybe a little, because some features are paywalled. But for example, I use Nextcloud, developed by a company, and trust it more for this task because of that. I use Photoprism, which the base edition is FOSS but they have proprietary extras that you pay for (like HumHub). I use Home Assistant, though I think they recently transitioned to a non-profit so maybe that’s a little different, but they charge for a cloud connected component. I use ente, who are FOSS but are a company that charge if you don’t want to selfhost.
HumHub have been around 10 years, so they aren’t exactly new. Plus as it’s extendable, perhaps one day a gfycat or emoji reaction plugin will be added (or if you have the skills, maybe you could make one).
- Comment on Thoughts on HumHub? 1 month ago:
I don’t even care about encryption (except normal TLS). If the intent is that it’s for sharing within the family, generally with people being able to see each others’ stuff, and I also control the server, it doesn’t seem that important.
Circles seems like it might fit much of what you’re after. It’s based on Matrix and is intended for this kind of use case, but I don’t think it’s mature enough to onboard everyone to just yet.
- Comment on Thoughts on HumHub? 1 month ago:
Wow, good effort on that!
you can boost or favorite, but I am – and I think you are probably – looking for something with more variety, like emoji responses, right?
Honestly, this is low down on my list. Yes, it would be great, but I have had enough trouble finding something that handles uploading videos ok. Emoji responses are not a mandatory thing for me.
Pixelfed is an interesting suggestion. It always feels like it’s intended to be public. Were you thinking each user would have to configure default privacy settings? I can see how to restrict to followers but haven’t yet found how to stop anyone being able to follow you. I think for me, if a new user has to set up the privacy settings to stop them posting everything public, that’s probably not the right platform.
BTW there is PixelDroid as a dedicated Pixelfed app, but it’s only on Fdroid.
- Comment on Thoughts on HumHub? 1 month ago:
I personally have a Mediawiki set up that my wife and I have used for years, but it’s not something I want to share wider. I haven’t found it hard to maintain, though (I’m using the docker version).
How do you use the Dokuwiki? Do you create a page for each family event with pictures and videos and things? Then other people can go and have a look? What kind of organisation structure do you use? How do others learn that there is a new page to see?
- Comment on Thoughts on HumHub? 1 month ago:
Oh I should investigate the plugins.
With your family, do you have non-technical and elderly users participating and doing OK with it?
- Comment on Thoughts on HumHub? 1 month ago:
I’ve tried Flarum in the past, but it really doesn’t handle media well. Just looking on the demo site now, no option to add a video, and to post an image you need to use markdown to add an image URL.
Is that different when it’s not the demo site?
- Comment on Thoughts on HumHub? 1 month ago:
As someone who is concerned that users won’t be able to work out how to upload a video, asking users to install Fdroid seems a step too far.
- Comment on Thoughts on HumHub? 1 month ago:
It’s simple enough for me. And many of the people who have grown up with technology can probably work it out. But there is a huge difference in effort between the two.
Say my 70 year old uncle (that does not live nearby) needs to install Conversations.
Fdroid version
Please go to this fdroid website. Click the button to download the APK. Now when you get a warning that you aren’t allowed to install software from this source for security reasons, click the button to take you to settings, then switch the toggle to allow from this source. There’s a message telling you that your phone and personal data are more vulnerable to attacks and you need to take responsibility for any loss of data that results from this, but just ignore that. Now once you’ve installed it please go and disable it. When someone messages you a link to an APK you should never, ever install it. That’s a common scam and it will put a virus on your phone. We need to reenable this setting so you don’t accidentally do that since a link can just start the download. Next, please open the Fdroid app, and search for the Conversations app. For some reason I can’t send you a link because the fdroid website doesn’t seem to have an open in Fdroid button, I dunno why, maybe it depends on your phone or your browser, just search it up and make sure you install the right one. Right, now when you click to install this, you’re gonna have to go through all the above stuff about accepting the security risk of losing all your data again, because it’s another app we are granting this permission to. Don’t remove this permission though, we’ll just leave this one open. Installed that? Great, now depending on your phone it may or may not keep the app up to date so make sure you open Fdroid from time to time, click the button to update, wait for it to download the update, then tap the button to install and then tap the button to install. Make sure you remember to do this because security updates are important.
Compare this to the Play version
Hey here’s a link, click it, and an app page will open in the store. Tap to install it.
Maybe we should agree to disagree, but I do not think I can just leave people to invite other people and sort it out on their own. I’m gonna be spending my days hand holding people. Maybe my family is dumber than average.
- Comment on Thoughts on HumHub? 1 month ago:
In my experience none of the federated platforms handle video well. They are built around things being public, and expect you to upload to youtube or some other video site in order to post a video. If they let you upload videos at all, it’s as an attachment. Admittedly HumHub is a bit like that, but it’s not too janky from a user experience perspective.
One thing I liked about Zusam is the automatic resizing of videos to make them reasonably sized. If I record a 2 minute video, it can be 300 or 400MB. Zusam can be configured to resize the video to a set maximum size in order to make it more reasonable for people watching. HumHub doesn’t do this, but I have wondered if I could use a cron job and ffmpeg to do it.
Do you want this social media to be for your family to use only with family members or for them to use with family and beyond?
I haven’t decided yet. Initially we’d start with people who know our kids. But if some of those people wanted to set up a page for their own kids, they wouldn’t want some of the people on our page who they don’t know. And they might want people on their page that don’t know our kids. So then all the HubHub privacy settings come in handy where people can create a space and control who can see what.
Revolt could be good as a local family group chat if you like the discord style.
I don’t really think that’s something that will be familiar enough to people, especially grant parents and other family of that generation. And I don’t think a group chat is what I’m after, self hosting a group chat doesn’t seem to have many advantages over say a Signal group chat.
You’ve probably already tried it but Pixelfed/mastodon/misskey sound like the easiest to get family on board with and seem like they would be good family social media platforms IMO.
These are generally public, and even if you have it set up as a private instance with no federation then it still feels like a shouting at the void kind of platform. None of the family I have in mind use twitter or mastodon, but everyone uses facebook. So I’m aiming for that sort of a feel. But IMO Friendica is not something I feel is good enough yet from a user experience point of view, the same with Diaspora*.
- Comment on Thoughts on HumHub? 1 month ago:
All the corporate gamification feature are probably quite annoying.
I might have missed that. What features are you thinking about? I haven’t seen any points or badges or things like that?
- Comment on Thoughts on HumHub? 1 month ago:
Fdroid is not suitable for the average person. The average person can install an app from google play, but Fdroid is quite a jump in steps, not to mention all the warnings that Android gives them, all but telling them not to do it.
- Comment on Thoughts on HumHub? 1 month ago:
The idea of a snikket server is good, but I feel it’s not much different that any other chat app. HumHub works on both mobile and desktop, and provides many features above a chat app. It’s more similar to Facebook groups (which people are already familiar with) but without the spying, whereas I don’t get the benefit of Snikket over say Signal.
What is it that makes it unsuitable for families? It seems to be pretty familiar feeling to people used to Facebook.
- Comment on Thoughts on HumHub? 1 month ago:
Conversations says to purchase on the play store. I don’t think I’m gonna get good uptake it every user has to pay money.