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What are you Reading? (August 2023)
  • I'm a huge fan of the Laundry Files books. Just finished Season of Skulls, the 3rd book in The New Management trilogy. It's a little less bleak than the first two books of the trilogy and very funny.

    I'm now reading War Bodies by Neal Asher.

  • [OC - 1620 x 1080] Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk

    The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk (Kittyhawk in Commonwealth Air Force service) is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938.

    Photographed at the Chino Air Show, Chino California, May 2005

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    Does anyone actually like the default GNOME workflow?
  • an app launcher. Literally every other desktop on the planet has one, how this isn’t considered basic functionality is beyond me. Give your grandparents a vanilla GNOME computer and tell them to get to Facebook and you will see how necessary this is. Default should be dash-to-dock with intelligent autohide so you only see it when you need it. This would fulfill GNOME’s hangups about it while also improving usability, so I fail to see a downside.

    GNOME does have a launcher, which works just like the launcher on Mac and Android. You can even select whether to see all your apps or only the most-used ones. I do agree that a taskbar/dock with intelligent auto-hide is a must, though (at least for my usability). That's also not to say that some folks would rather have a Windows style launcher, and there are several DEs that provide that.

  • What app is so useful, you can’t believe it’s free?
  • Thanks for the reminder about VLC. I don't use it much any more, but back in the wild west days of audio/video codecs (some of which were paid), VLC would play everything.

  • Looking for a black owned calckey instances with federation enabled
  • I don't have an answer for you, but maybe you and your friends could get together and start your own? The beauty of the fediverse and all that.

  • Anyone else missing posts in smaller Lemmy communities because they are overshadowed by the popular ones?
  • The web pages for Lemmy and kbin have the ability to filter by subscribed communities, as well. I think what most of us are thinking of is a way to view the "All" feed that gives more weight to the smaller communities, which would help us discover new communities to subscribe to.

  • What app is so useful, you can’t believe it’s free?
  • Limiting myself to free as in freedom (no ads, not free to use because you are the product): KeePass/KeePassXC, GnuCash, Firefox, LibreOffice, digiKam, GIMP.

  • Meta's Threads has had its daily users down 20% since Saturday and user time spent on the platform is down 50% ~ CNBC
  • In my opinion, microblogging isn't really a conversational platform. It's a creator and audience platform. That format has its place, as well, but Twitter/Threads/Mastodon/etc. isn't a replacement for forums.

  • Does anyone actually like the default GNOME workflow?
  • A qualified yes. I love the overview, which is, IMO, the most elegant way to launch applications and manage workspaces of any OS or DE. I also love the general look and fluidity of the environment and how it gets out out of your way when you don't need it. But I preferred the pre-GNOME 40 vertical workflow to the new horizontal workflow.

    There are also three must-have extensions that make GNOME usable for me:

    • AppIndicator and KStatusNotifierItem Support. GNOME can wish away tray icons if they want to, but the tray hasn't gone away and is still necessary for some applications.
    • DashToDock. Makes app switching more accessible and adds right-click to close.
    • Gnome 4x UI Improvements. Increases the size of the workspace thumbnails so you can actually see what's in them (like it was before GNOME 40).
  • wtf is happening?
  • Login issue reportedly fixed with 0.18.2 update: Lemmy.world updated to 0.18.2

  • Anyone else starting to favor Flatpak over native packages?
  • I still favor native packages, but I don't have a problem with Flatpaks. I'll use them when a program isn't available in the repo or there's a compelling reason to have a never version of an application. I'm on Debian Stable, so I'm obviously not obsessed with having the newest, shiniest version of everything.

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    *Permanently Deleted*
  • 116 °F (47 °C) during the 2021 Western North America heat wave
    7 °F (-14 °C) in Mammoth Lakes, CA

  • [OC - 1620x1080] Northrop N-9M Flying Wing - Chino (California) Air Show 2005

    The Northrop N-9M was an approximately one-third scale, 60-foot (18 m) span all-wing aircraft used for the development of the full size, 172-foot (52 m) wingspan Northrop XB-35 and YB-35 flying wing long-range, heavy bomber. The XB-35 program was canceled in 1949, but the knowledge gained about all-wing aircraft was put to use decades later in the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit bomber.

    Sadly, this aircraft and its pilot were lost in a crash on 22 April 2019.

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    New to linux... I have no idea how to fix this error...
  • To add to what @lordnikon said, the program is called Software & Updates and I'm pretty sure it's installed by default in GNOME (don't know about other DEs).

    Software & Updates Screenshot

  • Does it feel like the fediverse is exclusively used by older tech nerds?
  • I'm a boomer and I'm here. Although I'm probably the exception since I've never had a Facebook account and you couldn't pay me enough to touch anything Meta. Probably because I fit the rest of OP's criteria: way over 30, tech worker, Linux user.

  • What's the worst thing you've ever smelled?
  • Paper mills smell like hydrogen sulfide - rotten eggs. It's a byproduct of the pulping process. It's bad, but some of the smells described here sound much worse. Source: the town I live in used to have an operating paper mill.

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    Honestly, is there any way these people would be cool in 2023?
  • Sure. They'd probably have different haircuts and different clothes, but great talent is timeless.

  • Are you replacing Reddit with Lenny?
  • I'm on Fark more than I used to be on Reddit. It's still my go-to for political discussions and kept me sane during the Trump years. Honestly, the community is pretty good there and there's a nice balance between insightful comments and snark. But Reddit was better for hobbyists, niche interests and tech discussions and I'm hoping those communities will develop here on Lemmy.

  • How should we deal with similarly named communities?
  • As @flloxlbox said, it will either happen organically or users will decide to merge communities, like the Android community did. It's the way federation works, it's not something that can be forced on people.

  • [OC - 1620x1080] Vought F4U-1A Corsair 799

    Immediately recognizable by the distinctive inverted gull wing, the F-4U Corsair was a carrier-based fighter which saw service in World War II and Korea. Photographed at the 2005 Chino Air Show, Chino California.

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    Do you prefer contacts or glasses? Why?
  • Same here. I've worn contacts for 50 years (my user name isn't a lie). A few minutes of inconvenience at the beginning and end of the day, and I don't have to think about my vision aids the rest of the time. And I can walk in the rain and still see!

  • [OC - 1620x1080] Air Force One (Boeing VC-25A), PDX, August 2004

    This photo seemed appropriate for July 4th. VC-25A 29000 seconds from touchdown at Portland International Airport.

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    [OC - 1620x1080] Collings Foundation Nine-O-Nine, B-17G, Aurora Oregon Airport, June 2004

    Nine-O-Nine on the 2004 Collings Foundation's Wings of Freedom Tour. Sadly, this aircraft crashed in 2019 at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. The aircraft was destroyed and seven of the thirteen people on board were killed.

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    [OC - 1620x1080] McDonnell Douglas F-15A Eagle, PDX, Portland Oregon, April 2005

    Registration 77-0091. A Portland Air National Guard F-15 on final approach to Portland International Airport.

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    OldFartPhil OldFartPhil @lemmy.world
    Posts 7
    Comments 33