Spyke

Replies

linux

Comment on

Microsoft Edge, anyone?

I use Edge daily for work. Everything it Office 365 and there is of course no Outlook client or Word or whatever on Linux. So I use the web version for everything. So I might as well have Edge to do the Microsoft since surely MS must make sure their stuff works on their own browser, right? (right??).

I also use the PWA version of Teams since the native client doesn't really work well and since somewhat recently is also "officially" unsupported.

Anyway, it keeps the MS stuff separate from my normal browsing with Firefox and I've disabled JavaScript in Edge for all non-MS stuff. It works pretty well. Took me some battles to get rid of the Bing sidebar but they finally made that an option you can set.

Comment on

Recommend me a game

I can definitely recommend FTL: Faster Than Light. I still play it after many years in the exact same way you describe, that is short sessions. t's all based on battles that last minutes at most while part of an overall campaign. You can quit anytime, even during battle, and it will just saw the state. You can pause during battle to think as well.

it also has simple rules but with a lot of depth. You upgrade your ship from time to time and also get new weapons or defences. It actually sounds like a perfect fit for what you want. It's cheap too.

Comment on

People who have permanently moved to another country, what gave you the opportunity and was it worth it?

I would say it was worth it. I moved from the Netherlands to Germany for three years for a Master's and then to Canada for a PhD and stayed there and got a job. It's a great way to experience different cultures (though all Western of course).

For the move to Germany, it was really easy. It's all EU so all I had to really do was register at the Kreisverwaltungsreferat. I had also applied for a grant to study abroad so that paid the tuition as well as the rent. Tuition in Germany is very low by the way. It was also a great way to build independence since I had to rely a lot on myself, having come all alone.

I did meet my lovely Canadian spouse there, so there was the opportunity to move to yet another country. Immigration is a massive pain, even when married to a Canadian, but it all worked out with student visa, permanent resident, and finally citizen. Took years!

The downside is of course being 6000km away from my family. Especially from my parents who are not getting any younger. So it's hard to be there for them if something happens. But overall, I would say it was worth it. The experiences have been great and I get to spread ideas that work well from places I've been to my new home in Canada. The lack of proper licorice here is baffling though!

linux

Comment on

FLX1s is Launched

Reply in thread

From the product page:

Powered by Linux at its core, our device transforms the mobile experience into something far beyond ordinary smartphones. It combines the stability and openness of a full desktop-class operating system with the convenience of a pocket-sized device. This means it is not limited to mobile apps alone. Native Linux applications and Android apps run side by side, delivering true versatility and freedom of choice

I suspect it uses Waydroid so there may be issues with Android apps that rely on Google Play services or even worse, depend on the Play Integrity API.

Comment on

Should I bridge Whatsapp on Matrix? (Or alternatives to get on Whatsapp)

Yeah, this is a tricky one. I was in the same situation. I set up an Android VM with just Whatsapp and had the bridge on Matrix. That allowed me to talk to my family. For a while... Then Meta banned my phone number.

That was actually a good thing since now the Whatsapp option was permanently off the table. We installed Element on their devices and now they use that to communicate with me. They still use Whatsapp to talk among themselves though. Can't really blame them for that since even government and most businesses use Whatsapp in the Netherlands.

By the way, regarding the iMessage bridge, can't you run macOS in a VM? The kholia repo makes it pretty easy to set up.

Comment on

Keep Android Open (Stop Google from limiting APK file usage)

Reply in thread

I'm in Canada. I got myself a Sony Xperia and bought a Sailfish licence for it so I could get the Waydroid integration and predictive text keyboard. Works pretty well. So if you are interested in the OS rather than the hardware, that could be a route to go.

Technically, the licence is not for sale in Canada (or US), but meh, it did work at the time. Probably still does.

Anyway, I quite enjoy Sailfish. Been using it for about 4 years now or thereabouts. There's a fair number of native apps, especially with Chum and Storeman. With Waydroid, many Android apps work too, though definitely not all.

linux

Comment on

Linux video editing and Kdenlive tips and tricks for a returning user?

Reply in thread

I've been using Glaxnimate which integrates with Kdenlive. It's a tool for animating SVG elements. It's a bit clunky I find but it's nice in that you can have shapes and text follow animation path with different time curves. It can be used directly from Kdenlive which is pretty cool.

As for other tips, one I use a lot is Timeline Preview Rendering. If you have a whole pile of effects, playing in the project monitor can become very choppy. With the prerendering, you can just render that section and it will play smooth while still allowing you do edit the audio.

Finally, for getting the footage from clips, I use I and O to set the start and end of a part of the clip I want and then with Ctrl+I I can create a zone that shows up in the Project bin. I use that a lot to get the fragments I want first and then build the fill timeline later.

linux

Comment on

KDE Plasma 6.1 Keyboard LED Question

Reply in thread

It's in the announcement for Plasma 6.1, see https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.1.0/

To enable it, you need to use the Brightness & Colour widget. See also the merge request for this: https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-workspace/-/merge_requests/4093

I guess the documentation is a bit lagging still! I don't know about a list of compatible keyboards, but I suppose you can just try it out to see if it works! 😁

linux

Comment on

Action Cams on Linux (i.e. GoPro, DJI, Canon, etc)

I have an AKASO Brave 7LE. I just take out the SD card and put it in an USB reader that I plug into my home server to move the videos. Then I just use my desktop for editing with Kdenlive which has a defish filter for getting rid of the camera distortion these actioncams have.

It's also possible to connect to the camera through WiFi, but it's much slower than using the SD card reader.

Regarding firmware updates, I don't think AKASO is really into that but at some point I had an issue and support sent me a file that you just put on the SD card and the camera does the rest.