No, I setup a MacOS VM on my home Linux server using docker-osx which runs a bluebubbles server. It doesn’t use Matrix.

This is cool but I’m happy self hosting bluebubbles.

The weight issue is why I’m looking forward to (hopefully) seeing the Aptera make it to production. Being super aerodynamic and lighter weight so that it can charge up to 40 miles a day on solar alone. Lithium batteries would be better suited for this form factor.

I installed nameless on my 8t. It works well but Google Pay breaks occasionally with a “Device doesn’t meet security requirements”. On both instances, was able to fix with using a play integrity module but kinda annoying knowing it may not always be reliable.

Might regret it but I just ordered an S23 after trying it out at BestBuy. I saw that Samsung had a Black Friday deal for $200 off with trade-in of an old device. I have an old Galaxy S7 just sitting in a drawer and was amazed to see it on the list of accepted devices.

I’ve really been wanting a smaller phone as my OnePlus 8T gets really uncomfortable to hold after a while. Love everything about it except the size.

I also looked at the Pixel 8 but the S23 felt like the better choice with less compromises. Pixel 8 Pro is even bigger than my 8t, so no-go there.

Really wish the S23 was rootable (in US at least). That’s prob the biggest drawback for me. Will see if I can live without that.

Might as well make it a burst of 9 presses, wait, and then 2 single presses /s

For the technically skilled, there is BlueBubbles to get iMessage on Android. I set this up recently and it works quite well. I’m running a MacOS Ventura virtual machine using docker-osx on one of my personal servers and pretty much all iMessage functionality is available. I modified the Android (flutter) project locally to get my own push notifications working using my self-hosted ntfy instance as a UnifiedPush provider instead of needing to use Firebase.

There is also Beeper which bridges iMessage and many other chat services in one app, but I wanted something fully open source that I can manage myself, plus I think there’s still a wait-list and I didn’t want to hand over my Apple ID to a third party.

It’s hard trying to convince people (esp. iPhone users) to use a cross platform solution because they perceive us Android users as the problem and they know iMesssge just works. And for the non- technical, that’s understandable even if frustrating. So as a software engineer, I am the one making accomodations so they can still use iMessage. But it also made for a fun project for me to learn about.

This time over telnet.

telnet is an insecure protocol. Ideally you should use ssh instead but most which some modern BBS’s support both. Of course if you want to dial in on legacy “authentic” hardware then SSH isn’t possible.

💡You can SSH (or telnet) from your phone using Termux and it works pretty well (though admittedly not as good without full ANSI support). It doesn’t use full height of screen but is still usable. BBS’s could be enhanced to support that though.

Here’s an example of how one looks on my phone:

ssh NEW@bbs.bottomlessabyss.net -p 2222 -c aes256-cbc

Dang had no idea this was a thing, but this looks very useful! I’ve been meaning to troubleshoot slow startup on one of my servers.

I wonder if Cash4Gold would take them. Lol I remember seeing this commercial as a kid.

Obtanium is really good option too and can handle more than just browser updates. Pretty much any Android APK release can be setup and it supports a wide variety of different repository sources.

…And we’re calling it AiPhone! * applause from audience *

I enjoyed my time with Windows 7. I even remember the Windows 7 launch party marketing. Never upgraded to 10, certainly not upgrading to 11. Happy with my adventures in Linux.

Hmm… Wonder how AI predicting what a photo of someone should look like will compare to how they actually do. Guess it’s not that different than the automatic filters phones have to make everyone look better.

That would be more than capable. Retro emulation can run on very low end hardware.

But here’s an ebay listing for same model that I bought earlier. It doesn’t include an SSD but you can buy M.2 SSDs for very cheap which I also did. Plus they’re much faster and more reliable than micro SD cards.

It’s very easy to open the machine up which I liked.

RAM upgrades are cheap too but 8GB is a lot for most cases.

A lot of corporate environments use these so when they upgrade you can find them used for dirt cheap, if you don’t mind some possible cosmetic defects. Mine are just stacked on a shelf and I just use them as servers for docker and whatnot.

While I love Raspberry Pis and have a few older ones, it’s a shame that the latest ones were very hard to come by and far exceeded the $35 price point.

I was looking to upgrade to a Pi 4 a while back but prices were outrageous or it was sold out completely. I eventually discovered tiny form factor PCs.

I bought some used Lenovo Tiny ThinkCentres (which are about 10x more powerful than a Pi 4), off eBay for ~ $70. I upgraded the Ram and SSDs and they are quite capable, low power units!

So to anyone looking for a low power computer to run Linux, consider buying used off eBay. You can get some pretty good deals on used hardware that’s more capable.

Read this as “Scientists just lied to open NASA’s asteroid canister”.

I def agree that there needs to be major interoperability improvements between platforms. Though I do not want to be locked into using Google Messages to get RCS. I wish they’d open their API to other apps and even more so allow self-hosting your own RCS server but I don’t foresee the latter ever happening.

Ya there’s Matrix and whatnot which I use with some people, but most everyone just wants what works by default. I like to tinker and have options, but most people don’t.

Till then, I’ll enjoy postage stamp resolution videos from my Apple friends /s

Well they eventually pulled the plug on iPods…

Took them “only” 10 years to add mouse support for iPads, something that’s been used for decades.

So surely, give it 10 more years and then they’ll “revolutionize” using a bigger external display for iPhone (and not just screen mirroring) :D

They’ll do it, they just take their sweet time.

I’ll admit the hardware on iPhones is excellent but waaayy overkill for iOS.

Let me install my own third party apps w/o the App store (I know altstore exists, but needing to renew apps every few days is super janky). If I spend my money on a device, I should be allowed to put whatever I want on it, however I want. Let me, the consumer accept the risks of doing so.

Let me use HDMI out over USB-C to an external monitor and have a full desktop with ability to run desktop class apps. Let me use the full potential of the chipsets to get actual work done and effectively replace a computer.

Till then, Android it is for me because I can do both these things easily. I know my use cases are more niche, but “Pro” naming on consumer Apple products is just fluff.