@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone cover
@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar

MsDropbear42

@[email protected]

8/7/25: Many prior Masto Instances [1st = 10Nov2022], several alternative Fediverse non-Masto clients, & now, here's yet another fedi-hop. 😲

9/7/25: On any given day, I'll be fediversing-about either in Friendica ([email protected]) or Mastodon ([email protected])... OR... this my shiny new Sharkey instance [email protected].

👍: Classic Oz+Eng lit, sci-fi, fantasy, comedy, satire; Linux+FOSS; Kindness; Gaia.

👎: Cruelty; RWNJs; Anti-Gaia.

Stuff:

  • She/Her
  • Straya born, Thailand reborn [16/11/2006]
  • Linux+FOSS distracts my sadness
  • For Follow-Requests, you MUST have Profile & Public posts, or i'll Reject!
  • Fav #FOSSemojis: ​:linux:​ ​:archlinux:​ ​:kde:​ ​:plasma:​ ​:firefox_nightly:​ ​:zenbrowser:​ ​:floorp:​ ​:thunderbird:​ ​:fedora:​ ​:opensuse:​ ​:debian:​

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. View on remote instance

@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar MsDropbear42 , to random

i am so gobspittingly offended at this lie

Still, says a senior Liberal source, Crisafulli presents as “the gold standard for what a successful leader should be. He focuses on the economy, doesn’t scare people with culture war stuff, is competent and normal. That’s what people want: competence, decency and not being weird.”

ffs 🤬🖕

this arsehole presides over a blatantly racist & transphobic govt. in what conceivable universe could such a bastard be described as > doesn’t scare people with culture war stuff ... decency

@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar MsDropbear42 , to random
@FediTips@social.growyourown.services avatar FediTips , to random

If you see a post you want to share but you want to add a Content Warning (CW), it is now very easy to do this:

  1. Go to the post you want to share
  2. Quote the post (on the web interface click 🔁 Boost and then "Quote")
  3. Add a CW to your own post, the one that appears above the post being quoted. This will hide everything in your post including the quoted post.

This used to be impossible, but since Mastodon added quoting it also allows adding CWs to posts you want to share.

MsDropbear42 ,
@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar

@FediTips @Valdus @Anomnomnomaly @j_j you really should keep emphasising that words such as you've written here are not universal as noobs might presume, & in fact pertain only within Masto... whereas all users of many non-Masto instances can still quote-post Masto posts til the cows come home, regardless of a Masto user's individual setting.

i know that you know this, but i keep reading posts like this one where that important distinction is omitted, such that it will prolly accidentally mislead noobs.

MsDropbear42 ,
@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar

@FediTips yes i understand, but the trouble is that given the nature of fedi & how threads form from individual posts, at any point a reader might stumble onto a thread via an individual post without understanding it's a thread, thus treating the specific post as authoritatively global.

given the nature of your content here, & how often PITA-peeps like me stick their noses in, wouldn't the difficulty be entirely obviated if you made a habit of always attaching a tag to every post that is Masto-specific, saying something like or similar?

@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar MsDropbear42 , to random

the last two or three updates to ​:firefox_nightly:​ have broken video at various sites, so sadly for these i need to use ordinary ​:firefox:​

MsDropbear42 OP ,
@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar

uh, it's actually a bit worse. as well [at least]:

  • left clicks, & right clicks, are ignored in various parts of the nightly UI, stopping me doing various routine things
  • container tabs seem unavailable, in that i can't reopen existing tab in new container, nor choose to open new tab in nominated container

i've used ​:firefox_nightly:​ as my daily default browser, with some periods of alternatives, basically for much of a decade iirc. despite the naysayers, the UX has been overwhelmingly positive & reliable. occasionally, there's some wobbles. seems we are now in another temporary wobbleation.

fwiw, my current version is the latest; Nightly 147.0a1 (20251115204042)

MsDropbear42 OP ,
@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar

Seems to have come good again in Nightly 147.0a1 (20251116092356) ... 🤷

MsDropbear42 OP ,
@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar

Oh no no noooooo, now i am pretty damn upset. It works fine in latest ​:firefox_nightly:​ and ​:floorp:​ in ​:debian:​ and ​:fedora:​ , but back in my preferred ​:kde:​ ​:linux:​ , wherein i first posted of the breakage, videos still do not play [anymore... they used to, til two days ago] in my ​:firefox_nightly:​ and ​:floorp:​ ... yet continue fine in ​:firefox:​ therein. 😮🤯🤔🤷

i have officially reached the stage of wondering just how many more papercuts i can tolerate with this otherwise fabulous alpha OS, before cutting my losses & replacing it with Kinoite [which runs well on my Lappy, & is free of almost all the papercuts i have battled here in my Tower's 3rd-boot KDELinux]. Sigh.


​:archlinux:​ ​:kde:​ ​:plasma:​ ​:kde:​ ​:linux:​
​:debian:​ ​:opensuse:​ ​:fedora:​

MsDropbear42 OP ,
@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar

@a_blahaj ooooh, tricky question, one i have asked myself a lot over the months.

i am expert at neither, but prolly now have slightly more experience running Kinoite, given i put it on Lappy's SSD some/several months ago [posting from it atm, actually].

  • wins wrt me having solved basically all my needs on it now... ✅, [incl Arch, damnit, sigh] ✅, ✅, ✅, with User not Root authority ✅, App Layering ✅, etc.
  • loses in that i can only get its boot menu to offer me two versions, despite me seeing three each time i do rpm-ostree status -v.

  • wins in that its boot menu offers me several versions, which by definition provides more robust rollback capability IMO; Dev explained to me that layering is not a thing in Kalpa coz ... see his quote below
  • loses in that almost every time i have installed it, when i enable Flathub it mandates root permission, ie, i have to install & update all subsequent Flatpaks after giving root permission [iirc one installation correctly made it User not Root, but all the rest "went wrong"].

there is no "layering" on kalpa, but you can absolutely attempt to install your vpn software via 'sudo transactional-update pkg in packagename' if it's in the repos, or 'sudo transactional-update run zypper in whatever.rpm' if you're downloading an rpm from a vendor.

Kalpa isn't image based like KDELinux or Kinoite, you'll be literally installing the rpm into the "immutable root" of the system

Fwiw, back to my KDELinux whinge:
As i was making a coffee, mulling over my least-worst options now [i really really would like to keep it; i have put so much time into familiarising myself with it, & finessing my setup, & overall i have now found various workarounds for almost all the issues that initially troubled me, but the broken videos is almost now a bridge too far], i suddenly began giggling at my silliness. It is an atomic, duh, ergo, its boot menu offers me five versions... so maybe all i need to do is boot back a few days to get good video again? Shall try it later today... 🤞


​:archlinux:​ ​:kde:​ ​:plasma:​ ​:kde:​ ​:linux:​
​:debian:​ ​:opensuse:​ ​:fedora:​

MsDropbear42 OP ,
@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar

@kalpa @a_blahaj i agree, but as i wrote, my experience has been, each installation except once, Discover asks for my root password the first time i enable Flathub, thereafter every time i use it to install or update Flatpaks [ditto in Konsole]. it drives me nuts, coz on one hand my common-sense, & your advice [this is not the first time you have told me] says it should be User, but my 98% experience has been it always acts as Root for me.. incl in a VM i created last night from the latest ISO. 🤯🤷

MsDropbear42 OP ,
@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar

@kalpa @a_blahaj well, ofc, i certainly haven't a clue how & why, but it has routinely happened to me [since april 2024] with all but one of the installations i've done [only VMs, no actual HW... i had intended a month or two ago to install it on my Lappy, but couldn't, then you explained to me it does not support bios & msdos, only uefi & gpt]. the last time i discussed this with you, you told me much the same thing, which ofc only blows my mind further given i dunno why i keep finding impossible things 🤯

atm i am still in the throes of setting up my tower's new Kinoite, installed last night to replace the lovely-but-flawed KDELinux. i do not yet have its QEMU KVM working properly, so can't atm launch my recent Kalpa VM to screenshot the root request for you.


​:archlinux:​ ​:kde:​ ​:plasma:​
​:fedora:​ ​:debian:​ ​:opensuse:​

MsDropbear42 OP ,
@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar

@kalpa Hi again, i've now setup my VMs in my fresh system, so here's some pics from my VM within it, to show you what i mean.

As for your user script, i now begin to suspect this might be closer to the heart of the problem. in many many of the Kalpa installs i have done, that script never completes... the dialogue box sits on the desktop saying "waiting for internet", despite it being connected already. if that is supposed to be creating the User state for flatpaks, but never completes, then i suppose the consequence is... exactly what i have been experiencing.

i'm in australia. is it possible that there are no local mirrors, & so the distant ones are high latency, causing this behaviour? whatever the reason, i assure you this has been a significant problem for me for a long time, across many kalpa installs.


​:archlinux:​ ​:kde:​ ​:plasma:​
​:fedora:​ ​:debian:​ ​:opensuse:​

otoh, simply trying to install a flatpak app with Discover also needs a password, which i do regard as a problem.
my Discover's Settings, showing enabled repos.

@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar MsDropbear42 , to random

expect they let this creep-peep go coz they needed room for the real criminals... climate protesters 🙄🤦‍♀️🤬

RE: https://social.chinwag.org/users/abc_bot/statuses/115539852847516793

@MelissaBearTrix@gives.hugz.online avatar MelissaBearTrix , to random

I wish every minute of the day was like this

Sitting back having a coffee, overcast and quiet

Hugz & xXx

MsDropbear42 ,
@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar

@MelissaBearTrix

overcast and quiet ... every minute of the day

yep, that's me every day. ✅

@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar MsDropbear42 , to random

Hello @kalpa From older convos with you i know that is not & will not be compatible with non-uefi systems... & is not recommended for manual partitioning for dual-booting. I now have a new spare SSD in my uefi pc, on which i wish to install either , , or [with whichever immutable i pick, having the full SSD to itself]. The one remaining doubt i have, potentially blocking Kalpa for me, is whether it has any way at all to layer an individual package onto the base system, like Kinoite can?

My VPN app is only available from the vendor's site, not in any Linux repo. Having already tried installing it in a but finding it can't work that way [unless i can somehow do a "root access distrobox?"], so far the only way i have been able to use it in an atomic system is in Kinoite by layering it with rpm-ostree.

I expect your answer will be "No", but want to be certain. Thx.

MsDropbear42 OP ,
@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar

@kalpa This is such exciting news! Thx so much for replying so fast, too. I shall experiment with it first in my VM, & if that works, will then proceed to install Kalpa into that new SSD. Will let you know later how it goes.

Pls can i just check a detail [silly qu, i know]. In your command

sudo transactional-update run zypper in whatever.rpm

is the only part of that syntax that is "not real", the "whatever" [which ofc is for my specific pkg name], ie, do i type everything else verbatim? It's the in bit that puzzled me, it might denote install, or it might be just conversational English "in", meaning i've misunderstood everything. Ta.

MsDropbear42 OP ,
@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar

@machenni @kalpa Ta. I used to run Tumbleweed, but as mentioned, not since ~7 years ago, & my specifics of zypper recollection are now a bit blurry. It's been Archies & Arch ever since then. Lately though i have become quite exited by & fascinated with atomics / immutables; after playing with them for a year or two just in VMs, i've now reached the point of wanting to give some a try IRL as a daily driver. I just find , , & really great ideas. Of those three, KDELinux & Kalpa excite me the most.

MsDropbear42 OP ,
@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar

@machenni @kalpa yes i certainly have, & funny you ask, even just waking up in the shower this morn i was asking myself about it again. the trouble is... i love KDE & i really really dislike GNOME, which pretty much kills off for me, sadly.

MsDropbear42 OP ,
@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar

@kalpa Alas, it seems not to have even installed, much less be runnable, & i feel disconsolate. 😭

After rebooting, there was no new app icon in the Plasma App Menu. I then went looking in the filesystem. I thought the relevant directory might be /usr/bin, but afaict it's not there.

This is the konsole transcript:

droppie@linux:~/Downloads> sudo transactional-update run zypper in windscribe_2.17.10_amd64_opensuse.rpm
[sudo] password for root:
Checking for newer version.
transactional-update 5.0.7 started
Options: run zypper in windscribe_2.17.10_amd64_opensuse.rpm
Separate /var detected.
2025-10-30 14:03:40 tukit 5.0.7 started
2025-10-30 14:03:40 Options: -c2 open
2025-10-30 14:03:40 Found plugin "/usr/lib/tukit/plugins/10-sdbootutil.tukit"
2025-10-30 14:03:40 Using snapshot 2 as base for new snapshot 3.
2025-10-30 14:03:41 Found plugin "/usr/lib/tukit/plugins/10-sdbootutil.tukit"
ID: 3
2025-10-30 14:03:41 Found plugin "/usr/lib/tukit/plugins/10-sdbootutil.tukit"
2025-10-30 14:03:41 Found plugin "/usr/lib/tukit/plugins/10-sdbootutil.tukit"
2025-10-30 14:03:41 Transaction completed.
2025-10-30 14:03:41 tukit 5.0.7 started
2025-10-30 14:03:41 Options: call 3 zypper in windscribe_2.17.10_amd64_opensuse.rpm
2025-10-30 14:03:41 Found plugin "/usr/lib/tukit/plugins/10-sdbootutil.tukit"
2025-10-30 14:03:41 Found plugin "/usr/lib/tukit/plugins/10-sdbootutil.tukit"
2025-10-30 14:03:41 Found plugin "/usr/lib/tukit/plugins/10-sdbootutil.tukit"
2025-10-30 14:03:41 Executing `zypper in windscribe_2.17.10_amd64_opensuse.rpm`:
Specified local path does not exist or is not accessible.
Problem retrieving the specified RPM file:
Can not create a MediaHandler without a authority Url.
Please check whether the file is accessible.
Problem with the RPM file specified as 'windscribe_2.17.10_amd64_opensuse.rpm', skipping.
No valid arguments specified.
2025-10-30 14:03:41 Application returned with exit status 3.
2025-10-30 14:03:41 Found plugin "/usr/lib/tukit/plugins/10-sdbootutil.tukit"
2025-10-30 14:03:42 Found plugin "/usr/lib/tukit/plugins/10-sdbootutil.tukit"
2025-10-30 14:03:42 tukit 5.0.7 started
2025-10-30 14:03:42 Options: close 3
2025-10-30 14:03:42 Found plugin "/usr/lib/tukit/plugins/10-sdbootutil.tukit"
2025-10-30 14:03:42 Found plugin "/usr/lib/tukit/plugins/10-sdbootutil.tukit"
2025-10-30 14:03:42 Found plugin "/usr/lib/tukit/plugins/10-sdbootutil.tukit"
2025-10-30 14:03:42 New default snapshot is #3 (/.snapshots/3/snapshot).
2025-10-30 14:03:42 Found plugin "/usr/lib/tukit/plugins/10-sdbootutil.tukit"
2025-10-30 14:03:42 Transaction completed.

Please reboot your machine to activate the changes and avoid data loss.
New default snapshot is #3 (/.snapshots/3/snapshot).
transactional-update finished
droppie@linux:~/Downloads>

MsDropbear42 OP ,
@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar

@kalpa oh, so i might still dare to hope? yippee, shall wait with bated breath for your tomorrow morning .. thx!

MsDropbear42 OP ,
@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar

@kalpa ah, i see, well that makes sense, so i shall give it a try later this morn in the VM on my host... thx!

btw, yesterday & last night, with much trouble, i eventually got installed in my new SSD. it runs, it works, but there are multiple issues. i kept running notes. would you be interested in seeing them, or... prolly not coz you already have too much to do?

MsDropbear42 OP ,
@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar

@kalpa i've just rebooted the VM after doing it. i ofc proceeded past your line 31 in that i did proceed, & afaict from all the subsequent lines, no errors arose. i then rebooted as prompted. alas, again, afaict, it still seems not to have worked... i can't find the app anywhere. did you in fact also go beyond 31, to see for yourself [i realise ofc you'd not be able to login, but at least you'd know if the process succeeded or not]? oh rats.

@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar MsDropbear42 , to random

Hi Bobby @linuxiac , love your work, but need to ask... are you sure about this?

https://linuxiac.com/arch-linux-users-are-the-first-to-experience-kde-plasma-6-5/

In the past 24 hours i've seen several fedi-posts from users pleased that they just got Plasma 6.5. I use , not TW, so can't personally confirm.

@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar MsDropbear42 , to random
@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar MsDropbear42 , to random

Qld local council morons condemning generations to major oral ill-health, due to their bonkers cooker ignorance about bogieman . Such fuckheads.

@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar MsDropbear42 , to random

And so...

🐳🌻

🤭🙄🤦‍♀️

For how long this time, i wonder? 🤨🤷

🎵

@jerry@infosec.exchange avatar jerry , to random

FYI - because of what I saw happening over on mastodon. Social and a few other instances, I am resetting all the password of infosec.exchange users that haven't logged in during the previous 3 months. There's a lot of password stuffing and whatnot going on and I don't want to contribute to the problem of spam/phishing on the fediverse, and this was the best option I could come up with. Each of the accounts whose password is reset will get an email, so if you are here wondering "wtf, dude?", that's why.

MsDropbear42 ,
@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar

@jerry Also .space, i assume?

@FediTips@social.growyourown.services avatar FediTips , to random

You can now set your quote posting privacy preferences on Mastodon. You can allow anyone / just your followers / nobody to quote you:

  1. Log into your server's website
  2. Click ⚙️ Preferences (if you're on a phone it's ☰ in bottom right and ⚙️ Preferences)
  3. Click "Other" (if you're on a phone it's ☰ in top right and "Other")
  4. On "Who Can Quote" menu select option you want
  5. Click "Save Changes" button

The actual ability to quote post will be in the next Mastodon update.

MsDropbear42 ,
@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar

@FediTips I continue to be surprised that so many peeps [eg, many in this thread] continue to act / talk as if Mastodon IS the Fediverse. Ofc it simply is not the whole, just one part. Other [non-Masto] software that has long had quote-posting afaict will continue to be able to quote-post whoever they like in public timelines, irrespective of their Masto setting, won't they? Masto peeps really need to understand this, if it is of concern to them. Mastodon is NOT the Fediverse.

@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar MsDropbear42 , to random

Later today, if i can be arsed, i should do my six-monthly check of the 9V batteries in my two smoke-detectors. Increasingly though i begrudge this task, suspecting more & more it's pointless. These are wired detectors, powered by AC, so that the batteries are only for the rare event of a blackout.

So, is there roooooly a point?

  • No blackout = both units are powered
  • Blackout = both units are dead, unless batteries, but...

...during said putative blackout, how would a fire even start? All the usual trigger modes are n/a, if there's no juice. There is one new potential source; a candle. However, i still query that... i would only use a candle in the room i would be occupying, & if i needed to move to another room, the candle would come with me. There's no conceivable way i would be in a different room to the candle. So, if said candle fell over or somehow did do something naughty, i would be right there, able to take immediate action. The s/d wouldn't even get a sniff [boom tish] of the adventure.

What am i overlooking? Have i been doing a pointless task for 20+ years? 🤔🤷

@lydiaconwell@todon.nl avatar lydiaconwell , to random

I wonder if some users ever slip off the wagon and find themselves booting up a laptop with Windows installed, just to get a quick hit of intense rage over how bad it is.

MsDropbear42 ,
@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar

@lydiaconwell Oh goodness no! Abandoned it for the penguin in 2014. Unfortunately though, each month i have to soil myself with win10 when i remote into dad's pooter for updates etc... & it's always horrible. Given , our plan is he's finally gonna lemme penguinise him in Sept. Phew.

@MsDropbear42@blahaj.zone avatar MsDropbear42 , to random