[CTWM] Fixing firefox's mouse offset bug in ctwm

Firefox under ctwm has a nasty bug: when in full-screen, the mouse position is a bit offset.

Clicking, marking text, etc., is a bit away from the actual cursor position.

One fix under ctwm is to disable window decorations for Firefox.

You will lose buttons like maximize, minimize, and close, but there is a great solution for this:

export MOZ_GTK_TITLEBAR_DECORATION=system

Dang... problem solved!!!
This happens because Firefox attempts to guess modern (crap) desktop environments, e.g., (Fisher-Price) GNOME or KDE (aka KBloat), and completely miscalculates the window geometry math when forced into a minimal X11 environment.

Even enabling USE_EWMH in your .ctwmrc doesn't always fix it.

The only minus is you wont have the same window decoration on firefox
but at least the most buttons and the border are there...

Happy browsing in ctwm!

[CP/M] Low cost RC2040

 Extreme Electronic's RC2040 is a nice - and open source - project, they offer it as kit or assembled  - if you are nervous about using a soldering iron, and their board is more `advanced` that just wiring one SDcard to a Pico board..-, for others, who already have a Pico RP2040 / or compatible and an SDcard break board its only a few min of soldering, just 6 wires!

Nothing 'complex' there, the instructions are clear, you just need to wire the SDcard break board (it wont boot without one!), in my case (Dolatek Pico) like this

                 Pico RP2040                      3.3V SD Module
              +---------------+           +---------------+
              |               |           |               |
   Pin 36 --->| 3v3 OUT       |===========| VCC (3.3V)    |
   Pin 38 --->| GND           |===========| GND           |
              |               |           |               |
   Pin 7  --->| GPIO 5(CS)    |---------->| CS            |
   Pin 4  --->| GPIO 2(SCK)   |---------->| SCK / CLK     |
   Pin 5  --->| GPIO 3(MOSI)  |---------->| MOSI / DI     |
   Pin 6  --->| GPIO 4(MISO)  |<----------| MISO / DO     |
              |               |           |               |
              +---------------+           +---------------+

Note: No pull-up resistors - 10kΩ - needed if your SDcard break board comes with them! So double check!

[cheats] Vaporum (gog v 420) cheat enabled patched file

Piece of cake to patch that Assembly-CSharp.dll file.. so cheats are enabled now.. :)

left-shift + left-CRTL + / to enable then F11 to see the menu with the keys

get it here just unzip and replace Assembly-CSharp.dll that is located under Vaporum\VaporumGame_Data\Managed

again this is for GOG version 420 

[ToughPad] Enable Pen support for FZ-M1 mk3

Today's fun project was trying to install a pen driver (FZ-VNPM12AU) for the Panasonic ToughPad FZ-M1 mk3.

Thanks to chaotic info on Panasonic's site, it took me almost an hour to figure out what was going on. I realised I needed a driver or a touch screen mode utility, but Panasonic's site only listed tools designed for Windows 7 or 8. I bit the bullet and tried to install one of them, risking my windoze 11 setup. Fortunately, nothing bad happened - as the drivers refused to install. (Why the hell do they still keep them on the main site? They really should move them to an "archive" section!)

Eventually, the next app I found on their chaotic site was the "Panasonic PC Settings Utility." There were various versions, but I downloaded the one from M$'s site just to be safe.

The saga didn't stop there. When I ran the app, there was no touch configuration available. After searching on the web to find an answer, I finally found this info hidden away:

So... the solution was the System Interface Manager. Needless to say, after installing this app, the stylus and other options were finally there!!! 

/!\ YMMV, above info/procedures for FZ-M1 mk3 /!\

[PlayStation 2] Coin batt FFS

PS2 - Brought back after a long time in storage, the coin battery was dead, of course. It was a fun time indeed disassembling the whole darn console just to change a coin battery! But honestly, it was a good time to check the PSU caps... :), btw was nice to see that a notorious small cap on PSU module was not the Lelon one (leaky leaky!) but a Chemicon KY-series.

(mod: SCPH: 39003)

[Panasonic DMC-FZ5] half pressing shutter button issue

Camera is 20yo and counting, and it still works like a champ. However, the shutter button started to malfunction. The half-press feature, which is used for focus, stopped working, and the camera would immediately take pictures. I suspected a contact issue (a replacement is unavailable, incidentally). The camera is dead easy to open, thanks to this guide.

Unfortunately, the shutter module is kind of 'fixed,' which is no wonder—it's more stable than using screws.

A combination of contact cleaner + compressed air on the button, solved the issue (for now... lol)

[swaywm] Rubbish WM better...

Not so nice to see SwayWM crashing like effin mofo when I use Chrome browser....

Seven crashes in 2 hours,..well LOL, it won the "Crap WM" award of the day, back to I3

[fedora] darn abrtd reports Rhythmbox as 'crashed' on close/exit

I bet this is an ancient bug, as there have been posts on the internet about it for ages!

Solution (at least works for me now on F42/Gnome)

edit /etc/abrt/abrt-action-save-package-data.conf and append two lines:

Blacklist = rhythmbox 

BlackListedPaths = /usr/bin/rhythmbox*

This will blacklist rhythmbox from abrtd reporting.

[*] darn GTK4 apps don't follow dark theme

Fresh install of Ubuntu Unity , smooth transition, just few fixes, alas some darn GTK4 apps - eg the half-baked file-roller - don't give an F about the dark theme I have (yaru-dark), they also don't obey anymore the  ' dconf write /org/gnome/desktop/interface/color-scheme "'prefer-dark'" ' that works nicely with GTK3 apps.. (FFS really) , took a while to find the solution, put this 

export GTK_THEME=Yaru:dark

into your .profile

Update

Same crap on Fedora (F42) Gnome ! This time fixed by adding : 

export GTK_THEME=HighContrastInverse 

on my aliases file under the  $HOME/.bashrc.d directory
HighContrastInverse a bit more 'compatible' with the HighContrast on Accessibility -if you like that.
btw you can use something else eg GTK_THEME=Adwaita:dark . still some apps may have broken interfaces because of this, eg style and accent colour are not working anymore (effing mess there ... )

[fix] HP stream 11 repair

Dead HP Stream 11 - there was no power LED (a.k.a. charging LED).

Strangely, it powered up briefly -just for a few minutes- so I assumed something was wrong with the battery charging circuit. A quick test (alas, no schematic of this rubbish - not mine, by the way... I wouldn't touch HP with a barge pole, with the exception of the 12c :-) ) revealed the culprit: continuity between the gate and source of a MOSFET!

bad MOSFET. Note the capacitor (top right); it's a bit burned but works (checked, lol)

IC ordered from AliExpress (EMB02N03HR) and all is well! Some more life for that rubbish... weirdly, it died just a few months after the warranty period expired. HP "quality", I assume.

[fedora] (some) videos on YT laggy under chromium

I've recently had the 'pleasant' experience of watching some videos on Faildora's Fedora's Chromium; they were laggy as hell, especially when viewed in SD resolution. However, you could play them using Google Chrome or Firefox. There wasn't much to find on their forum/Reddit.

After some tries, here is the darn solution: this is an issue because of a screwed-up "free" ffmpeg package (ffmpeg-free), replacing the 'free' one with the version from RMPFusion did the trick!

so:

a/ install RPMFusion

• sudo dnf install https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm

b/ replace the ffmpeg

• sudo dnf in ffmpeg --allowerasing

[BSD] all the BSDs seem to carry a 90s vibe...

 Just read that blog, 1000% with the reasons, issues not only with OpenBSD, FreeBSD as well - lets put aside NetBSD as IMHO is mainly retro-OS- suffer from various issues. Secure and stable OS . yes - but FFS please provide some good support for VM, USB, ACPI, video acceleration.

[debian] Notes on using OpenBSD under virt-manager

* CDROM must be SATA

* Remove the "tablet device" from the preferences, as I've encountered some issues with it.
I'm using CWM on both the host and guest, and I've noticed some strange behaviour with Virt-Manager. Specifically, when I use Alt + mouse to move a window, it affects the virtual window on the host instead of the guest.

[debian] nmtui error: settings plugin does not support modifying connections

Another 'cryptic' error from this goddamned OS, oh well... solution (as I read on various posts on web) :

edit  /etc/network/interfaces and remove any reference to the eg wired, reboot .

BTW keep the setting managed=true on /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf in the case you use NetworkManager (nmcli etc )

[FreeBSD] Ouch ... ok lolz

I challenged my luck and tried FreeBSD again - for the xxth time, I can't really remember when was the last time.

Unfortunately, it failed to work well as a desktop on my system.

Especially disappointing was the lack of compatibility with my system, particularly the inability to resume from suspend to RAM. (Just for the record: OpenBSD* excels in this area!), last time I ve used it the sound was like sh*t... 

The software was in a similarly disappointing state, some packages frequent crashed (even obconf crashed, FFS). Interestingly, during the installation of various ports, I noticed that many of them lacked maintainers, so one day they may be removed. Oh well...  still a nice OS for servers.

 

* OpenBSD is really a champ.. >> VA-API (Video Acceleration API) imported into xenocara  , I am sure the day they implement gfx on vmm I will screw the linux partition once for all! (still need some apps that work with USB devices like oscilloscope..)

Update - 2 years later- ... same SHIT.. at least FreeBSD , firefox not even can be used for M$ Teams - the camera I mean , as 'chat or voice' is fine there (sort of 'advanced' IRC .. FFS !!!)

ALPINE is the fucking future...

[ssh] oh no.. can't connect to the crap old server !

After installing a RHEL 9-based distribution, you might encounter difficulties when trying to SSH into crap older systems because of the newer, stronger cryptographic standards implemented by the operating system.

ssh_dispatch_run_fatal: Connection to XX.XX.XX.XX port 22: error in libcrypto


Anyway, there are some ways to fix this

1. Allow legacy crap system-wide (be warned.. heh)

# update-crypto-policies --set LEGACY

# ...reboot

2. or create a coe a config file (say .legacy_ssh.conf)

.include /etc/ssl/openssl.cnf
[openssl_init]
alg_section = evp_properties
[evp_properties]
rh-allow-sha1-signatures = yes

and ssh to the legacy server/NAS etc via:

OPENSSL_CONF=./.legacy_ssh.conf ssh server.ip -l root


oh, btw , your old server etc may need extra params, in my case I need to set the Key Exchange Algorithm as +diffie-hellman-group14-sha1 so I have a special config on the desktop just for that server eg :

$ cat ~/.ssh/config

Host xx.xx.xx.xx

HostKeyAlgorithms +ssh-rsa
PubkeyAcceptedKeyTypes +ssh-rsa
KexAlgorithms +diffie-hellman-group14-sha1
MACs +hmac-sha1
PubkeyAcceptedAlgorithms +ssh-rsa


In fact that server (a darn NAS in fact) it's just for backups (backup of backup of backup , you have an idea) and it is under firewall, strictly local net, YMMV 

[flatpak] WSJTX / JTDX in effing dark!

FFS, those god-darn apps have no 'dark' theme esp under the fuckflatpak, so you are doomed to burn your effin eyeballs using it.. no more!! 

flatpak run edu.princeton.physics.WSJTX -stylesheet :/qdarkstyle/style.qss 

yes

HAM in dark FUCKING MODE !!! hurrah! 

it is working with JTDX - I think with any other KDE flatpak ...

[fun time] M5Stack cardputer effed up

 

 

Screen screwed. How did this happen? I just touched it while trying to move the cardputer, not even with a 'hard' grip! Indeed the display there is frigging fragile also there is ZERO protection - engineering failure or simply they just want to avoid the extra cost of a few ...cents (?) in order to put a piece of transparent plastic on top of the TFT (FFS really)

 

The bad news: the TFT part of cardputer is not avail, esp as I read on subreddit .

Fortunately, there is a compatible TFT display, that works with the M5Stack Stick.

You can find it usually on the web as "Display Module 135x240 SPI Interface ST7789V 1.14in", keep in mind you will need the 8pin version, alas comes with a shorter ribbon cable.
So I bit the bullet and ordered that, and also an 8pin FPC ribbon extension cable along with an FPC coupler.

I think that if you can't find an FPC coupler you can use two 8pin FPC connectors soldered together, after all its just 8pins not 80 to solder..

Work in progress..

 

 to be update when parts arrive!

Notes:

• M5Stack useless support, no part avail so think well before buy this IoT !!

• FPC extension not quite compatible with the current setup, the FFC extension cable that I got is bit thinner (different manufacturers).

 

yeah!!! It is possible to fix the darn thing....

(oh btw... the displays came from China into a thin bag like crap... FFS some people)

 

 

fix annoying auto-save of PDFs on firefox

 Mozilla crackhead-devs setup by DEFAULT to save any online PDF you open, so in fact this is spamming your Downloads folder with unwanted crap. 

Solution: 

set browser.download.open_pdf_attachments_inline (about:config) to TRUE

[debian] back to minimal....

full desktops are no-go for me...  too much even XFCE.. darn, so 'custom' openbox + my usual apps (wine/arduino/libreOffice, also Lotus123Unix/WP Unix ) + custom scripts, launcher? dmenu of course.

To be honest there are some nice light debian flavours like Lilidog

but FFS I am a cat person!!1 sorry ... 😂