dt.iki.fi

All Articles (133)

Use root‑tail & top instead of conky

Conky is good for displaying things on the desktop. But it has a few disadvantages: There's no option to continuously show the output of a command (or file), like tail -f or dmesg -w, and update conky's output as that output grows. [X] Some internal conky commands measuring system resources are bug.....

Resurrect a Nokia N9

In my ongoing efforts to get rid of Android, I stumbled upon an older device on our national ebay equivalent: A Nokia N9. A little history: Nokia was great in the mobile phone market, but it took some wrong turns in the smartphone sector and got outcompeted. Microsoft played an active role in it - .....

How to not only encrypt but also decrypt a (password) string

Towards the end (points 4. and 5.) this article has instructions on how to encrypt/decrypt any string. It might come in handy when e.g. checking your Email with curl, because one wouldn't want the password in plain text either on the command line or in some file. Here's a slightly refined version: o.....

Translate Text via Command Line through Tor

I sometimes use a shortcut to quickly translate snippets of highlighted text, via google translate. I hate to admit it, but it does this best. It auto-detects the input language and defaults to english for output, which is what I need in most cases. There's a few applications for translating text sn.....

Pacman and Optional Dependencies

Archlinux packages list optional dependencies: "An array of packages that are not needed for the software to function, but provide additional features." But there's no special treatment built in for these packages, which can lead to problems (or at least needlessly left behind packages piling up). S.....

No More Android ‑ Part 1

Why I've Had Enough Of Android Before I even start, let me clarify one thing: LineageOS is Android, too. Every custom ROM that is based on AOSP is Android, too. For a long time I was trying to make my Android smartphone safer, better, less bloated, more useful... and always struggled with the lack.....

How to provide information about peripherals with dmesg

You want to see how your Linux system reacts to a certain peripheral being plugged in (smartphone, monitor, USB stick etc.). dmesg can provide that information, but one needs to separate it from previous messages. Here's how: Make sure the device in question is unplugged. Open a terminal, maximise .....

Dead Can Dance

The following text developed as a reply to a forum post of someone who likes Dead Can Dance's "new" stuff a lot. Sounds like DCD are remaking their old stuff with even better sound recording quality. That's not a bad thing, but mind the roots. The style of this particular song reminds me of their .....