Bernie @[email protected]

This brings in a lot of nostalgic memories of fun stuff we did together on the Sugar Desktop and it's activity set! ✨ Never knew that, this redesigned Pippy logo, paved the way to strong friendship, teamwork and bonding with a very friendly community and mentors, Sugar Labs! Oh sweet! it's the constructionist learning environment!! 🍬🏫

I don't see Google as a platinum-plated sponsor of Fosdem 2022. In fact, I don't see them on the list at all.

Have I fallen through into some new reality?

https://fosdem.org/2022/about/sponsors

@codewiz Uhoh. The Trackpoint requirement is a hard one, it essentially limits you to Thinkpads. Lenovo seems to have managed to build the ultimate vendor lock-in with that.

Apparently the patents have expired, but customizing keyboards is already expensive enough as-is (see S76's keyboard at $280+) that no other vendor seems to dare to work on that.

If you _insist_ on the Trackpoint, there are options, but I'm not sure if any is ideal:

There's the Lenovo C13 Yoga Chromebook that comes with a Trackpoint _and_ coreboot, but as typical for Chromebooks, its specs are rather on the low-end (https://www.newegg.com/laptop/p/1B4-001H-02H79 is the highest-powered model I could find). Also, if you want non-Chrome OS in a comfortable setting, some assembly is required. There's a ready-made alternative firmware image providing a more standard boot method than the one Chrome OS uses, by a trusted community member, that should get you started quickly: https://mrchromebox.tech/#devices (look for "morphius", the code name for that device). It's built from upstream coreboot sources. You could customize your firmware yourself, but starting out is easier with tested releases.

And then there's the modding community, which offers after-market coreboot on some older Thinkpad models. These are usually entirely outdated, but newer models have the firmware locked down, so there's little to do about them. The workaround for _that_ problem is a PCB-swap in an old device like the 51nb X210, which is modern hardware on a new mainboard that is made to fit into an old Thinkpad (but apparently 51nb got into troubles with Lenovo and ceased that work? I never had much luck navigating modding communities, so it's hard for me to find out the latest). Some of these (eg. X210, https://review.coreboot.org/plugins/gitiles/coreboot/+/refs/heads/master/src/mainboard/51nb/x210/) come with after-market coreboot support, which makes that kind of setup doubly unsupported and exciting ;-)

Aside:
One upside with Chromebooks (except 5+ year olds and one particular recent Dell model, sadly): you can flash firmware externally without opening the box and even when the firmware on the device is non-functional (https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/platform/ec/+/cr50_stab/docs/case_closed_debugging.md). That makes them pretty neat if you want to mess with the firmware on your device. Those debug cables are in short supply, so a colleague recently published a video on how to build your own with parts that you can actually buy these days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGsyXlgSxFk

An observation from May 2021. Choreutis orthogona, a Metalmark Moth spotted at Kranji Marshes, Singapore. Really fancy patterning in the scales on its wings.

On iNaturalist [ https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/79903366 ]

#iNaturalist #Nature #Singapore #Photography #Insects #Moths #Lepidoptera #2021

KDE Frameworks 5.89 Further Improves the Plasma Wayland Session, Fixes Many Bugs https://9to5linux.com/kde-frameworks-5-89-further-improves-the-plasma-wayland-session-fixes-many-bugs

Should I apply to this dream job at the EFF? 😍 https://www.eff.org/opportunities/jobs/senior-fellow-decentralization

Or should I go for this other dream job at Tails? ❤️
https://tails.boum.org/jobs/project_manager/

#foss #opensource #jobs

Patagonia enters the #retrocomputing stage with their first #c64 #game:

https://patagonia.itch.io/cabygame

Just fyi as I didnt have the time yet to play it.

The #Seico RC-1000 connected to your #Commodore64, #Apple II or other home computers via RS232.
It stored notes, phone numbers and various alarms.

#c64 #vintagecomputing #vintagehardware

Top 10 KDE Plasma Hidden Feature That You Didn't Know About #Linux #KDE #Plasma
https://www.debugpoint.com/2021/12/kde-plasma-hidden-feature/

What's your primary OS?

Boosts appreciated for sample size :)