Recent posts

#91

General Discussion / Re: The Really Unpleasant Comp...

Last post by Jason - July 19, 2025, 09:57:21 PM

This type of exploitation would be much easier to comprehend if we all lived on one small island. The earth is an island of course. And we can't simply pack up and move somewhere else.

It's because no generation thinks of the next. Indigenous people have this concept of thinking seven generations ahead. The best we seem to be able to do is to think of our children (if that). That's why it's so hard to deal with huge issues like climate change, besides the mammoth task of getting every country to do it, is that we're just thinking of our generation. It's easier for governments to kick the can down the road than do something. Look at Carney; we had a consumer price on carbon. Gone for political expediency.

Shush with your apocalypse talk, Buster. I have at least another couple of decades ahead. I'm an apocaloptimist. I know everything is going to shit but I think it'll work out anyway.

#92

General Discussion / Re: The Really Unpleasant Comp...

Last post by Jason - July 19, 2025, 09:51:22 PM

Sort of reminds me of the ominous Skynet from the Terminator movies.

All these bots on the present-day internet, wasting enormous amounts of electricity doing useless searches.

Now replaced with AI!

#93

Linux Applications & Android apps / Re: Handbrake for making a MP4...

Last post by Jason - July 19, 2025, 09:49:46 PM

I think it's a legal issue, possibly. They can provide the file online, but including it with the install can get them in hot water. I don't think any Linux distributor has gotten in trouble but I guess some are more wary than others.

#94

Linux Applications & Android apps / Handbrake for making a MP4 dig...

Last post by ssfc72 - July 17, 2025, 08:53:58 PM

I have used Handbrake, quite awhile ago, to convert one of my bought DVD movies to an MP4 movie file, so that I can watch the movie from a thumb drive, plugged into my smart TV.

You also have to install on your Distro the libdvdcss files, to allow Handbrake to decode the movie dvd.

Today, I tried to use Handbrake to make an MP4 movie file, from a movie DVD, but Handbrake would not work.
The notebook computer I am using has the Mint Distro, but the version I am using is no longer supported, so maybe that may be the problem?

However, I then went to my other notebook which is running an up to date version of MXLinux, and I ran into the same problem of Handbrake not being able to decode the movie DVD.

I went and re-installed the libdvdcss file and then Handbrake worked, decoding the movie dvd and creating an mp4 movie file. :-)

Strange, that I had to re install the libdvdcss on an MXLinux, that was fully updated.

Link to libdvdcss           https://www.videolan.org/developers/libdvdcss.html

#95

General Discussion / Re: The Really Unpleasant Comp...

Last post by buster - July 17, 2025, 06:05:09 PM

Our whole economy seems to be built on waste and expansion. Well the apocalypse should solve much of this.

This type of exploitation would be much easier to comprehend if we all lived on one small island. The earth is an island of course. And we can't simply pack up and move somewhere else.

#96

Distributions / Re: CachyOS ranked 2nd on Dist...

Last post by ssfc72 - July 17, 2025, 04:07:42 AM

The Distrowatch website is my daily goto to get the latest info on Linux Distros.

I know the page hit Rankings are not directly a list of the most used Distros but it still gives a very good indication, since The big boys, Mint, Ubuntu etc, are all at the top of the list.

#97

General Discussion / Re: The Really Unpleasant Comp...

Last post by ssfc72 - July 17, 2025, 04:00:42 AM

Sort of reminds me of the ominous Skynet from the Terminator movies.

All these bots on the present day internet, wasting enormous amounts of electricity doing useless searches.
These wasteful useless searches are requiring huge server farms which are wasting huge amounts of electricity to run the servers and water, to cool and get rid of the heat the server farms generate.

#98

Meetings / Re: PLUG regular meetings?

Last post by Paul Kneeland - July 17, 2025, 03:57:32 AM

I would attend a meeting, circumstances permitting.

[2018]

#99

General Discussion / Re: The Really Unpleasant Comp...

Last post by buster - July 16, 2025, 12:32:51 PM

Well, the story is receiving views at the rate of approximately 1,000 per day. There is no way these are humans. The whole site is being hammered, and I suspect it's AI bots. That seems the easiest explanation. Here's why I think this is algorithm driven and not human driven.

2018: This year we more than doubled our views to over 700,000.

2019: Here we crossed the million view mark with over 1,300,000 views.

2024: We suddenly got to 13 or 14 times the number of the previous year 2023. Suddenly and unexpectedly, we had reached, unbelievably, over 25 million views for the year.

2025: We are getting over 3,000 million views per month.

This is not readers curling up with a good story.

https://plugintolinux.ca/forum/index.php?action=stats

#100

Distributions / Re: CachyOS ranked 2nd on Dist...

Last post by Jason - July 14, 2025, 07:55:53 PM

Intriguing. It explains the distro name, too. Initially, I read it as CaTchy Linux, which would be an outstanding name for a distro! If I were investigating gaming on Linux, its performance refinements could be beneficial.

I would recommend anyone watching the video speed it up. His speaking style is sluggish. But that could be my ADHD surfacing.

Thanks for sharing, Bill.