The Random Thread

POSIX.1 said:
For those who cannot do better it is the maximum performance they can provide.
This draws attention but deteriorates the purpose of any forum.
I like to encourage all those in need for such to create their super shitposting forums elsewhere.

And for the super sensitive here: If you cannot stand the heat of the shit you have created, just stay out of the kitchen.
It it a relief for any community if troublemakers leave voluntarily.
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Not used to do it but 1 problem with"shitposting" is that you get accused of it for being too complicated or out of the cult-track, or just being critical while substantial. I don't mind if it's another way. It's fun to read some nonsense now and then.
 
AlfredoLlaquet said:
Quitting coffee (cold turkey, of course) is proving to be a little bit annoying, but it's okay. It's nothing compared with quitting smoking, though. That was hell and took me years.
Click to expand...
100% 💯💯💯

Quitting coffee - the worst is usually 1-2 days, the worse is over in 7 days, the full recovery 1-3 months. Just remember there's tea, which can have even more caffeine than coffee. There's chocolate, there are carbonated sodas, which have caffeine. But small amounts of caffeine in food occasionally should not be a problem.

If you quit smoking, quitting caffeine is easy in comparison. Interesting fact, by the way, nicotine speeds up metabolism of caffeine twice as fast. So when people quit smoking they get insomnia because they consume the same amount of coffee, but coffee has double the effect on them without nicotine (=no sleep)!
 
How to Get RAM and Swap Usage Widgets to Work on Plasma

Preamble: The "standard" widgets don't work. They always show "100%" if my memory serves me right. I wrote this because Maxnix was interested. I don't know if it'll get approved in the "Howto" section of the forum, so I paste it here as well.

This works on Plasma 6 on FreeBSD 15 running Wayland and probably on other configurations.

1) Select a “System Monitor Sensor” widget (a generic sensor widget)

2a) To show the used RAM, configure it like this:

Total sensors = Used Physical Memory Percentage

Sensors =
- Used Physical Memory Percentage
- Free Physical Memory Percentage

Choose a different color for the previous 2 sensors (click on the white little square). If it doesn’t seem to work, apply and try again.

Text-Only Sensors: Whatever you like.

2b) To show the used Swap: Same instructions as in “2a” but:

Total sensors = Used Swap Memory Percentage

Sensors =
- Used Swap Memory Percentage
- Free Swap Memory Percentage

IMPORTANT: According to my observations, these widgets are not very exact. I think that many times when memory is freed they don’t register it, so use them just as nice ornaments.
 
MG said:
What's the best browser for this forum? Firefox is really weird at this.
Click to expand...
I haven't compared (forum pass only saved in FF sync :p), but don't recall seeing anything odd (mostly ESR)

Not sure if it's available FreeBSD, but Servo browser looks interesting: https://servo.org/download/

It seemingly loads the forums (few missing icons):

1769648089045.png
 
Espionage724 said:
I haven't compared (forum pass only saved in FF sync :p), but don't recall seeing anything odd (mostly ESR)

Not sure if it's available FreeBSD, but Servo browser looks interesting: https://servo.org/download/

It seemingly loads the forums (few missing icons):

View attachment 25151
Click to expand...
In Firefox I have to mouse-select a lot of text blocks to read it because they have white on white color without being selected. Also, the text input is almost unuseable. The tags get misplaced and page refresh or cancel input goes wrong.
 
Speaking of HOWTOs; I'm thinking of replacing all your misc ramblings with some code I just wrote.

ReplaceAll"forums.freebsd.org"UserRamblings ver 0.1:
Code: 
printf -- 'this is a tip\n%%\n' > $HOME/my-tips && strfile -so $HOME/my-tips && fortune $HOME/my-tips
TODO:
1. Work on scaling plan.
2. Work on new program name.
 
One good reason for sh*tposting is that you are a sensible and polite person and you see that you can't contribute anything of value to the "serious" threads, but you have the urge to write something somewhere, because the human animal is a complicated beast, so, instead of defacing the "serious" threads with your ample ignorance, you come here or anywhere in the "off-topic" section and you post your sh*t like a normal, decent, civil person. Of course, some people will still be mad, because they are people who enjoy being mad and belittling others as much as I enjoy sh*tposting. The difference is that I do my business in a civil manner whilst they are the title of a certain Britney Spears's song. Another difference is that I have already contributed, despite my ignorance, with three threads to the "Howto" section of the forum. Because sometimes you don't know much, but you happen to know things that can be useful to other people. Anyhow, I'm absolutely certain that some people will rush to see what my three contributions are and will consider them very minor and uninteresting and will have the urge to belittle me by pointing that out because, yes, people are the worst.

Edit: An unrelated but fun post I've seen:
U

Post in thread 'Add capsicum to jails'

loveydovey said:
I don't know, I see a typical response "just fork FreeBSD and do your own thing." But I see this as part of FreeBSD. Why wasn't syscall filtering implemented when everything-else filtering was implemented in capsicum?
Click to expand...
The answer is easy enough. Ideas are cheap and easy. Implementing them is hard.

1769712114421.png
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This one is for JohnK.

I was very excited because I had just made my first contribution ever in the form of this howto:
AlfredoLlaquet

Thread 'ex/vi/nvi editor: .exrc file (config file) advanced topics (undocumented?): Adding comments, escaping the pipe, mapping key combinations'

This config file is usually located in your home directory: /home/user_name/.exrc

Let's use my actual .exrc file for reference:

exrc.png

Comments: Any line that begins with a double quote (or blank spaces + double quote) is treated as a comment.

Escaping command separators (pipes '|'): The command separator is the pipe ('|'). You can write several commands in the same line separating them with pipes. To include the pipe as part of one or your commands, as is the case with my third and fourth macros, you have to escape it by pressing Ctrl+V twice and then the...
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Later I find this comment:
J

Post in thread 'ex/vi/nvi editor: .exrc file (config file) advanced topics (undocumented?): Adding comments, escaping the pipe, mapping key combinations'

Dumb suggestion: Add comments!
In my .*rc files I add comments (even for the obvious ones). The reason why is because in 6 months when I am fixing a stupid thing, I will just open my .*rc file which contains a thousand lines I just do a search for what I think is the problem. -e.g. "I want to turn off wrapping." Open my rc file and "/wrapping". or "/wrap". Having a comment gives me twice as many chances of finding what I want (you will not find "set nu" with "/nu", you will search for "/numbers").

Code: 
set wrap
" turns text wrapping on

set linebreak
" turns line breaking on

set nu
"...
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No "thank you for sharing;" no nothing. Just an obvious remark about something as obvious as the sun being hot.

My "howto" is not about how to write good config files; it's about certain things that were very difficult for me to find out and that I wanted to be documented somewhere (in this forum) so they were accessible to others. Besides, I've been programming professionally for more than 30 years and if I don't want to write comments in a file that is only for me, I don't write them.

Isn't this a graver case of sh*tposting, JohnK—derailing a whole thread with your OWN OBSESSIONS?
 
The FreeBSD Foundation has a new page dedicated to newbies.

Getting Started with FreeBSD | FreeBSD Foundation

A centralized resource page for new FreeBSD users, showing how to get started with installation guides, desktop and virtual machine resources, and community links.
freebsdfoundation.org freebsdfoundation.org

It's a great initiative. I love it.

But I find their recommendation that beginners should use a VM discouraging. I didn't and I was a beginner in FreeBSD and I survived.

If you know how to use a VM you are not a beginner in computers and you don't need so much caution: clone your Windows disk just in case and install FreeBSD on it without mercy. The FreeBSD Foundation's advice is a contradiction in terms. If you are a beginner in computers, now you have two problems: learn about VMs and learn FreeBSD.
 
AlfredoLlaquet said:
The FreeBSD Foundation has a new page dedicated to newbies.

Getting Started with FreeBSD | FreeBSD Foundation

A centralized resource page for new FreeBSD users, showing how to get started with installation guides, desktop and virtual machine resources, and community links.
freebsdfoundation.org freebsdfoundation.org

It's a great initiative. I love it.

But I find their recommendation that beginners should use a VM discouraging. I didn't and I was a beginner in FreeBSD and I survived.

If you know how to use a VM you are not a beginner in computers and you don't need so much caution: clone your Windows disk just in case and install FreeBSD on it without mercy. The FreeBSD Foundation's advice is a contradiction in terms. If you are a beginner in computers, now you have two problems: learn about VMs and learn FreeBSD.
Click to expand...

I have a dream.

A dream that one day FreeBSD has the following implemented for newcomers - and even for more more seasoned people:

A project management website where there are specific tasks listed by topic, level of difficulty, but not just a bugzilla list of bugs or whatnot, but tasks that TEACH you what to do and how to do it. Not babysitting necessarily but introduce people to the FreeBSD ecosystem, the type of problem and solutions, and workflows. Maybe also break down harder tasks into small components. Ramp people up to get involved in compiling ports even. Step by step. So people know what to do.

I don't understand why I had to use Google's Gemini to be able to submit the two patches for my device IDs to be supported by FreeBSD. It needed to be a simple workflow where you are guided on how to do it - because it's not the first time or the last time someone needed to do it - but also because people need to learn and have an easy way to contribute.

Yes, it's a bit time consuming to create such a project management approach, but it'll start paying off quickly and immensely because people will be getting up to speed and start contributing more.

Some of contributions might be simple but mindnumbing and just require someone to do some steps. This would be really good for that too. You just come to a project management portal, choose some tasks that require low expertise, that are specifically marked to require 5 minutes of your time, and complete it.

This would immediately increase engagement and learning by the community. FreeBSD is such a fun project and is already much more accessible to users. But it can be even more so. Maybe it's just not how FreeBSD wants it, though, that's what I suspect, because this project "taskifying" is the first thing I would ever do if I wanted to scale up involvement and contribution by the community.
 
AlfredoLlaquet said:
This one is for JohnK.

I was very excited because I had just made my first contribution ever in the form of this howto:
AlfredoLlaquet

Thread 'ex/vi/nvi editor: .exrc file (config file) advanced topics (undocumented?): Adding comments, escaping the pipe, mapping key combinations'

This config file is usually located in your home directory: /home/user_name/.exrc

Let's use my actual .exrc file for reference:

exrc.png

Comments: Any line that begins with a double quote (or blank spaces + double quote) is treated as a comment.

Escaping command separators (pipes '|'): The command separator is the pipe ('|'). You can write several commands in the same line separating them with pipes. To include the pipe as part of one or your commands, as is the case with my third and fourth macros, you have to escape it by pressing Ctrl+V twice and then the...
  • Thanks
  • Like

Later I find this comment:
J

Post in thread 'ex/vi/nvi editor: .exrc file (config file) advanced topics (undocumented?): Adding comments, escaping the pipe, mapping key combinations'

Dumb suggestion: Add comments!
In my .*rc files I add comments (even for the obvious ones). The reason why is because in 6 months when I am fixing a stupid thing, I will just open my .*rc file which contains a thousand lines I just do a search for what I think is the problem. -e.g. "I want to turn off wrapping." Open my rc file and "/wrapping". or "/wrap". Having a comment gives me twice as many chances of finding what I want (you will not find "set nu" with "/nu", you will search for "/numbers").

Code: 
set wrap
" turns text wrapping on

set linebreak
" turns line breaking on

set nu
"...
  • Like
  • Thanks

No "thank you for sharing;" no nothing. Just an obvious remark about something as obvious as the sun being hot.

My "howto" is not about how to write good config files; it's about certain things that were very difficult for me to find out and that I wanted to be documented somewhere (in this forum) so they were accessible to others. Besides, I've been programming professionally for more than 30 years and if I don't want to write comments in a file that is only for me, I don't write them.

Isn't this a graver case of sh*tposting, JohnK—derailing a whole thread with your OWN OBSESSIONS?
Click to expand...
In my defense, I contemplated the tone of that post for a bit and settled on adding just "a follow-up point" being that it was in a HOWTO section (-i.e. a moderated section, so I was a bit unsure if "conversational" type posts were fitting there because that was possibly my first post here). It was not directed at you exactly, only to other readers who may be reading later (because, while my point may seem fairly obvious, it was nonetheless still "hard-learned" by me--although, I'm starting to think that only speaks more to my ineptitude than a valid follow-up).

Also, I did send you a direct message trying to spur friendly conversation with you and was ignored for my efforts ("no good deed goes unpunished" is the law of the land).
 
JohnK said:
In my defense, I contemplated the tone of that post for a bit and settled on adding just "a follow-up point" being that it was in a HOWTO section (-i.e. a moderated section, so I was a bit unsure if "conversational" type posts were fitting there because that was possibly my first post here). It was not directed at you exactly, only to other readers who may be reading later (because, while my point may seem fairly obvious, it was nonetheless still "hard-learned" by me--although, I'm starting to think that only speaks more to my ineptitude than a valid follow-up).

Also, I did send you a direct message trying to spur friendly conversation with you and was ignored for my efforts ("no good deed goes unpunished" is the law of the land).
Click to expand...
I'm sorry, JohnK. The more I read your posts, the more you sound like a really nice guy. I should not be so sensitive. I'm a mix between a jerk and a snowflake—I'm difficult to stomach, indeed.
 
ha! Thanks.
NOTE: I thought an actual post would be better than me clicking that "thanks" button because it shows more effort in my 'thanks' than a simple click (and would mean more to you and be more polite). ...if that helps in your efforts in deciphering me.
 
JohnK said:
ha! Thanks.
NOTE: I thought an actual post would be better than me clicking that "thanks" button because it shows more effort in my 'thanks' than a simple click (and would mean more to you and be more polite). ...if that helps in your efforts in deciphering me.
Click to expand...
I'll keep that in mind and apply it to everyone. I'm sure there are more people that think like you. But you can do both also.
 
This is a cool "trick" I've seen in the forum. Adapt it to your screen. I will try it the next time I decide to switch off my computer. It's meant to keep the font of the "booting" messages legible. Edit: And it probably also affects the Ctrl+Alt+FN terminals.

lgrant

Solved Post in thread 'Boot messages become very tiny part way through boot'

The kld_list in rc.conf is:

kld_list="i915kms hidraw hkbd fusefs"

I was able to fix the problem by adding this line to loader.conf.local in the /boot directory:

kern.vt.fb.default_mode="1280x720"

Thank you for your assistance. (I spent about 10 years, off and on, trying to get a FreeBSD desktop working. Once I discovered the forums, it got much, much easier.)
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AlfredoLlaquet said:
The FreeBSD Foundation has a new page dedicated to newbies.

Getting Started with FreeBSD | FreeBSD Foundation

A centralized resource page for new FreeBSD users, showing how to get started with installation guides, desktop and virtual machine resources, and community links.
freebsdfoundation.org freebsdfoundation.org

It's a great initiative. I love it.

But I find their recommendation that beginners should use a VM discouraging. I didn't and I was a beginner in FreeBSD and I survived.

If you know how to use a VM you are not a beginner in computers and you don't need so much caution: clone your Windows disk just in case and install FreeBSD on it without mercy. The FreeBSD Foundation's advice is a contradiction in terms. If you are a beginner in computers, now you have two problems: learn about VMs and learn FreeBSD.
Click to expand...
I'd like to add to this.
I appreciate the articles the foundation did/is doing where they document how things (ZFS or Jail related, for example) can be done but they are also not in the BSD mindset because at the end they say something like: "and here is an Ansible playbook to do this". The BSD method is (or at least was) to do as much with base system as possible (otherwise what was the point in having a base system toolset) and this falls into the same problem (learn FreeBSD and learn the automation tool).

I don't typically post my code online, but I've been adding more to github lately. And now I'm wondering if that's me just trying to point out that contradiction, but I really wish the community would get more involved (me included).
 
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