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ramin_hal9001

@[email protected]

I'm just some kind of nerd: software developer, big fan of functional programming, especially Haskell and Scheme. I also love old Macintosh computers. Haskell programming since 2007, Linux user since 2008, Emacs user since 2018. Currently working as an app developer at a small machine learning consultancy. You could call me a "full stack" engineer, but server-side is where I am really in my element.

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ramin_hal9001, to random
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David Pierce of

It is nice he thinks ActivityPub is the Internet of the future, calling it "the post-platform" world in which journalists, individuals, organizations all run their own ActivityPub services rather than create accounts on platforms like Ex-Twitter or Facebook. But his perspective is still limited to a world where all applications run on the HTTP protocol with DNS identifying services. He talks about the "Post On (your) Own (host), Syndicate Everywhere" (POSSE) model, and how organizations and individuals can deploy Mastodon instances on their own servers. They also interviewed @pluralistic (Cory Doctorow) which was nice.

They really should have interviewed the @spritelyinst folks to see the real Internet of the future, in which HTTP is replaced with the Object Capability Network (OCapN). But to be fair, this tech is still pretty new and maybe not yet to the point where tech journalists at The Verge would be interested in doing articles about it.

ramin_hal9001,
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@spritelyinst @interpeer @pluralistic

> "Talking to folks like @interpeer made me realise that an Internet without DNS is possible. Something that didn't cross my mind."

@RyunoKi thanks for pointing me to @interpeer . I am very interested in all of these up-and-coming technologies.

weirdwriter, to foss

@foss there was a Linux distro for writers but it appears to be dead. Anyone have links to similar distros for non technical writers? Read about the mentioned distro at https://www.linux.com/news/ghostwriter-linux-distro-writers/

ramin_hal9001,
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@weirdwriter @foss

there was a Linux distro for writers but it appears to be dead. Anyone have links to similar distros for non technical writers?

I think if you are going to create software that is "for X" (e.g. for writers, for music producers, for electricians, etc.) a Linux distro is not the correct category of tool to use. A better tool would be a "software suite," or a "metapackage." For this, you should just install a common Linux distribution like Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, Pop!_OS, and then search that distro's software repository for a writers metapackage, or packages tagged with writers tools.

According to that article you linked, you really just need 4 applications: LyX, GIMP, "gv", and Dillo, all of which are available in the Ubuntu repository.

A Linux distro is not a software package at all, really, it is a service. It is a group of people that provide a reliable and up-to-date set of software tools that all work together. They have to regularly compile updates to the hundreds or thousands of software packages, and test each one to make sure changes to some of the underlying library code has not cause the application to break. Then they have to distribute these packages to the users of the distro, nowadays over the Internet, but many distros used to do CDs or DVDs as well.

So really, you should choose a Linux distribution based on whether they have the software you need, and based on how often they upgrade their software packages (are you getting the latest versions or do you have to wait years to get the latest and greatest), and also based on how much you trust the service provider, and based on how reliable their package delivery service is (i.e. how reliable is their website).

(See also: how to pick a Linux Distro)

ramin_hal9001, to random
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Why is important (1/3)

The should all agree to never federate with

is an agreement between all current Mastodon instances to never federate with , in response to the 's recent announcement that they will be making Facebook compatible with the standard, and thus allow Mastodon and other ActivityPub services to federate with Facebook.

Most of the arguments I hear in favor of federating with Facebook come down to trying to expand the reach of the fediverse and Mastodon in particular. If people on Facebook can interact with Mastodon, this can only grow the fediverse and make it more relevant. This is a failure to recognize the real threat of Meta.

This pro-Facebook sentiment is usually accompanied by accusations of supporters being irrationally dogmatic, overly paranoid about advertising and other for-profit ventures, overly concerned with privacy, and/or ignorant of how technology works. The attitude here is "Don't be so paranoid, just try it and you will see the benefits." This is a straw-man argument against .

(1/3 continued)

ramin_hal9001,
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Why is important (3/3)

Simply said: a battle between a federation and a corporation.

(and other services) needs to see themselves the way the corporation sees Mastodon: as a competitor and a bitter enemy. Mastodon and the larger fediverse needs to strive to make itself a better and separate from . The federation should not be providing free content that improves the quality of their competitor who is trying to shut them down.

Therefore all instance admins ( ) should agree to . Federating with Facebook entails nothing but risk, and provides no actual reward. Federating with Facebook will not grow the fediverse, it will destroy it, slowly but surely.

Maybe, if hell freezes over**, Meta might agree to pay admins of Mastodon instances for federating with Facebook. Those who provide the service of quality content should be compensated, after all. But that is a separate discussion entirely. Let's just say that any Mastodon admin that allows Facebook to federate with their instance without compensation, especially for the increase in web traffic to their server accompanied by the increased bandwidth costs, is poorly informed fool who is happy to be exploited by a massive corporation.

**EDIT (2023-06-23 16:10) Someone I trust has explained to me that Meta will in fact pay some instances for federating with Facebook. In that case, I favor an evidence-based approach to deciding whether to defederate with the instances "blessed" by Facebook.

(3/3 end)

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