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  1. Mercutio

    Android phones: Tips, tricks?

    RCS 4 will support native video calling in your SMS (well, RCS) messaging application as a standard. Pixels and a few Samsung phones now directly support Apple Airdrop as well. I'm not sure why they bothered when QuickShare exists and already works with literally everything, but it might be nice...
  2. Mercutio

    Empire in Decline

    ... and here we have the actual Nazi shit. Actively illegal medical experiments on imprisoned transpeople with an emphasis on preserving the fertility of transmen.
  3. Mercutio

    Something Random

    I'm just one person. I think it's silly to have a yard and a bunch of space I'm not using when it makes more sense for me to be in density-efficient housing. There's no one coming after me, so a home as a mechanism for wealth preservation rings hollow as well. It might be the American dream but...
  4. Mercutio

    Something Random

    I still don't want a home. My parents are coming up on 80 years old and want me to move in with them. I don't want to do that, but it's the most likely path to home ownership for me. The biggest impediment for me getting a lease somewhere else is actually my cats. I have four, which is two...
  5. Mercutio

    Something Random

    FFS. Turns out the solution to my problems was a part or serial number mismatch between some of the chassis components and the replacement motherboard. I don't know why it's only now a problem since I've never bothered to update the BMC but once I forced the numbers to match, the stupid thing...
  6. Mercutio

    Something Random

    xClarity Pro isn't THAT expensive, like $100/year/node. Some of my systems are licensed because it was part of the package when I got the machines. This one is a frankensystem that I put together by mating a chassis with a dead motherboard with a working Lenovo replacement and a pair of Xeon...
  7. Mercutio

    Something Random

    I have been through the borked .NET runtimes many times. IIRC I had a conversation with long-time member timwhit about it in the early Vista era. Same exact problem. The last time I reloaded Windows on my previous (Threadripper) workstation was because .NET fucked itself. The cleanup tool and...
  8. Mercutio

    DNS issues?

    Same line of thought, but an OpenWRT travel router or the like? Seems safer than using suboptimal encryption.
  9. Mercutio

    DNS issues?

    Maybe you could offload the tunnel to your phone and run a local hot spot for access?
  10. Mercutio

    DNS issues?

    How likely are you to do anything that needs that level of security on your older devices in the first place?
  11. Mercutio

    Android phones: Tips, tricks?

    I'm actively interested in getting a device that can run GrapheneOS, which is sort of the last gasp of functional AOSP builds. It only works on Pixel devices and it's missing some of the DRM functionality needed for things like banking software. I might get a Helium Mobile SIM for it, which...
  12. Mercutio

    Empire in Decline

    The most recent two episodes of the It Could Happen Here podcast have been a discussion of the goals of the Venture Capital class and the ways in which Tech Bro billionaires are attempting to reorganize the world around them. The guest for these episodes does a lot of putting pieces together to...
  13. Mercutio

    Empire in Decline

    What do you think made the Secretary of the Treasury look like he's going to faint after being pulled out of an interview to speak with Trump, then come back to finish? He starts talking about how he's proud of his kid. Friday evening is the traditional point when release terrible and/or stupid...
  14. Mercutio

    Here is a thread to talk about gaming

    What I've seen from Wayland is that it often ignores explicit config files in favor of doing whatever the fuck it wants. That's not endearing behavior for anything running on *nix. In theory, I could sub in my Arc A770 or a Radeon 6700 or 7800 instead of the 5070ti. Or I could put Windows on...
  15. Mercutio

    Here is a thread to talk about gaming

    I understand that the next thing will be a full-fat PC that is able to run software meant to run on Windows and supposedly regardless of where that software originates (GoG, Steam whatever). That's a lower bar to clear than building an actual new console. I suspect it'll be higher-spec than the...
  16. Mercutio

    Here is a thread to talk about gaming

    I have never, ever seen Wayland "just work" and I would testify to that in court. The original headache was that I have generally used Rustdesk for graphical access cross-platform to stuff where I bother to run a desktop or, you know, Macs. Guess what doesn't work, STILL, with Wayland? But, OK...
  17. Mercutio

    Here is a thread to talk about gaming

    Apparently, Windows 11 is getting an Xbox mode soon. It appears to just be a controller-friendly game launcher for Microsoft-first gaming, but even the Xbox people I know really don't play those Xboxy titles they get through their $30/month Game Pass subscriptions on PCs. So congratulations on...
  18. Mercutio

    DNS issues?

    I have two UBNT and two Omada sites. Omada is cheaper, but it's a Chinese company and the US Government keeps telling people not to trust it. Ubiquiti costs more, but has a broader ecosystem that includes things like NAS and PoE cameras. It is also sometimes hard to find someplace that has the...
  19. Mercutio

    DNS issues?

    I've never tried to use a Microtik switch as a router myself; I don't even think I've ever used one of their managed switches with more than 8 ports. I'm sure they CAN, but it would probably take some finagling with the management interface to get it going and that sounds like a PITA. I do...
  20. Mercutio

    DNS issues?

    I don't think your issue is pfSense as such; I've done both pf- and OpnSense installations without running into this. But in your environment, where users regularly switch between wired and wireless, a couple things make sense to check. One of them is that you set your DHCP lease options in...
  21. Mercutio

    Windows 11

    Brazil's OS-based age verification rules take effect on March 17, 2026. California, New York, Colorado and Illinois have proposals for OS-level age verification. These laws are being framed as protection for children. They WILL pass. There's not a doubt in my mind that age is only the first step...
  22. Mercutio

    Empire in Decline

    https://www.mutualaidhub.org/ Two of the places I have found organizations to volunteer with a through my personal doctor, who is a first-generation Mexican-American. Both her Husband, a legal immigrant from the Bahamas (and also another physician) and her sister (an Immigration Attorney...
  23. Mercutio

    Empire in Decline

    Great now do RFKjr, Hegseth and fucking Stephen Miller. I see the war with Iran ultimately playing out identically to Iraq. We're going to HAVE to put boots on the ground. Air Power is great for a lot of things, but it doesn't hold land. Eventually we'll get tired of their ability to lob...
  24. Mercutio

    Windows 11

    Think about all the weird stuff we use that technically has an OS and probably talk to the internet. Copy machines, medical and industrial equipment, routers and switches, IoT gear... how silly is this going to have to be? I am mostly concerned what this does for the state of anonymity online...
  25. Mercutio

    Windows 11

    Several US States and multiple countries are in the process of trying to force OS vendors to add an age verification tool to their account generation process. This is something that could put the nail in the coffin for Local Accounts on Windows, but moreover, how the hell would niche OSes like...
  26. Mercutio

    Something Random

    I remember having scads of desktop systems around a dozen years ago. I realized I needed to stop collecting them about around the time I realized even my low-end systems had 12 threads. I still have more systems sitting around than I use with any regularity, but I'm down to actively using only...
  27. Mercutio

    Something Random

    The Consumer Council of Norway posted this on Youtube yesterday and goddammitsofuckingmuch if it doesn't describe our entire world now.
  28. Mercutio

    Empire in Decline

    A decapitation strike on a reactionary religious state is not going to end well for anyone. This is just going to turn into another Afghanistan. We'll have to occupy and then spend decades and trillions dealing with bombs and drone strikes that kill a few of our soldiers a week until we decide...
  29. Mercutio

    Laptop time?

    I was able to get a bunch of 15.6" Vivobooks with Ryzen AI 5 330s, 500GB SSDs and 16GB RAM last week for $400. They're not as well constructed as typical Asus laptops, but for $20 more than my Ideapad 1s, that was a crazy good deal. I sold them all within a day and now that same model is $600.
  30. Mercutio

    Android phones: Tips, tricks?

    I'm looking at a direct trade with Samsung; maybe other carriers have different offerings, but not the weird little one I'm using. I'll need to check retailer trade-ins. Maybe Best Buy will give me more for the phone than Samsung will, but its discounts are usually tied to big carriers...
  31. Mercutio

    Android phones: Tips, tricks?

    In the final accounting, as much as it completely sucks, I can't justify the cost for an S26+. In past years, the preorder bonus was a $100 coupon and a storage upgrade. This year, the preorder bonus is a $30 coupon AND a vastly lower valuation on my trade-in, with no storage upgrade at all. I'd...
  32. Mercutio

    Something Random

    It's pretty easy to get heavily discounted rate at Trump Tower Chicago. I've been known to use rooms there for affordable (sub-$100) photo shoots . Normally I hate working in hotel rooms but it's a very tall building with great views on every side, so sometimes it works for me. Eventually, the...
  33. Mercutio

    Empire in Decline

    Chicago named its newest Snowplow Abolish ICE.
  34. Mercutio

    Something Random

    If you were at all worried if the RAM crisis is a real thing or not, I just traded a G. Skill 2x32GB DDR5-6400 kit that I think I paid about $150 for a year ago for an Asus TUF RTX5070 Ti.
  35. Mercutio

    Merc's Useful Tools of the day

    Today in useful things for Windows Admins to know, here's the recipe for putting the Windows Recovery partition at the beginning of your drive. This is super helpful if you are maintaining disk images or Windows virtual machines. This is assuming there's only one drive in the system and you're...
  36. Mercutio

    Black History Month

    Greg, do please go be an admitted racist someplace else.
  37. Mercutio

    Empire in Decline

    I will leave this here without additional comment. 😔
  38. Mercutio

    Laptop time?

    The Ideapad 1 systems I've been buying and reselling by the dozen for the last couple of years are now being sold with 4GB (soldered!) RAM and 128GB SSDs for the ~$300 SKU, while the previous $319 SKU with 8GB/256GB is currently selling for $380. Yikes.
  39. Mercutio

    Black History Month

    My musical taste can largely be described as "things wealthy Europeans liked 120 years ago", but I do enjoy a certain amount of jazz, definitely including the previously mentioned Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson. William Grant Still is the only African American composer of Classical music I can...
  40. Mercutio

    WD 18TB and 20 TB

    The great Satan has sold every drive it was going to make this year.
  41. Mercutio

    Selfhosting fun

    I am really impressed with how far I've been able to push Wazuh as a fully cross platform SIEM. Built in Compliance reporting and everything. Goddamn.
  42. Mercutio

    Empire in Decline

    "This page does not exist." I can't wait until that applies to the rest of Twitter as well.
  43. Mercutio

    Selfhosting fun

    Svideo output is a substantial improvement on Composite even on VHS-C sources. VHS-C is still going to look like ass to us, spoiled as we are by 1080p videos, but someone who maybe only watched their old home movies on the same crappy 2 head VCR everyone else had will be surprised that it can be...
  44. Mercutio

    Selfhosting fun

    I did it with TDARR, where you can specify templates that give the encoder something to do. My rules basically look at the source video to decide if it's progressive scan (i.e. analog source) or not and then upscale based on that. TDARR is interesting in and of itself because it just sends out...
  45. Mercutio

    Something Random

    This is EXTREMELY out of left field, but it's fascinating to me, a long form interview with minimalist composer Steve Reich, about his well known (for people who like late 20th century classical music, anyway) piece Different Trains. It's from a podcast called Song Exploder, which most often...
  46. Mercutio

    Something Random

    She likes to climb and she's made herself a little nest on top of my fridge. RIP my Flour Jar. She's also claimed my ENTIRE couch. The other three cats are holding the line at keeping her out of my bedroom though. She doesn't sit still very much, so I've had a hell of a time getting a decent...
  47. Mercutio

    Something Random

    An additional kitty has entered my life. I found her out by the dumpster at my office, snuggling a bigger, lifeless cat. She squeaked, but didn't even try to move. She was covered in blood and at first I was afraid she was also mortally injured, but I think she just didn't know what else to do...
  48. Mercutio

    Empire in Decline

  49. Mercutio

    Empire in Decline

    This link has some commentary on DOJ Attorney Julia Le's testimony before Judge Jerry Blackwell on the ongoing debacle in Minneapolis. Everyone above Le and in the employ of ICE is in the process of resigning their posts, so this VERY junior attorney who was only given credentials to see...
  50. Mercutio

    Android phones: Tips, tricks?

    The Sxy+ models generally make sense as premium devices. They typically have the RAM and storage options the Ultra models do, but lack the stylus, better cameras and slightly larger batteries. I'm looking forward to the S26+ so I can go back to a smaller phone. I'm sincerely hoping that...
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