Disabling the DebugLoggerUI service app in Android

Fitzcarraldo
, 05/03/2023 | Source: Fitzcarraldo's Blog

The following notification appeared every time I switched on my Blackview Tab 10 tablet (Android 11): DebugLoggerUI DebugLoggerUI service is running I cannot remember if this notification started appearing after I upgraded the tablet’s firmware last year to remove a bug in the original firmware (I had contacted Blackview and they supplied me with the […]

Orca CAB 2022

I’m excited to share a video about my experience working with Orca Security as Catawiki’s Product Security Architect!

When it comes to protecting an organization’s assets, having the right tools and solutions in place is critical. Orca Security has been a valuable partner in helping us enhance our security posture. With their cloud-based platform, we’ve gained a much better visibility and control of our assets, allowing to identify and remediate critical security issues. This has helped us stay ahead of potential threats and secure our environment.

In the video, I share how Orca Security has contributed to our success at Catawiki, and how it’s helped us protect our critical assets. I believe that by sharing our experiences with others, we can help make the cybersecurity community stronger and more secure.

As a seasoned cybersecurity and cloud professional, I’m always looking for ways to improve our security posture and stay ahead of the curve. If you’re looking to rapidly enhance your organization’s security, I highly recommend checking out Orca Security and seeing how they can help you achieve your goals.

Thank you for taking the time to watch the video, and feel free to reach out if you have any questions or comments!

Replacing the cracked screen on a Blackview Tab 10 tablet

Fitzcarraldo
, 15/02/2023 | Source: Fitzcarraldo's Blog

In a previous post I mentioned that the LCD touchscreen of my Blackview Tab 10 tablet had partially popped out of the tablet’s plastic housing and had developed a crack when I tried to push it back in, as can be seen in the photograph below. I decided to try to replace the damaged screen, […]

My Desktop - January 2023

It’s a new year, which means that it’s time for another “My desktop”-post. The last one, was back in November 2021. Not much has really happened since the last time.

In my last post, I was trying out Debian. I had some idea that I wanted to try out something dead simple. I think that idea lasted for about a month, before I went back to Gentoo again.

My desktop looks pretty much the same as the previous years. I haven’t really changed much in.. an eternity ago. Well. Why change something that works.

Changes since the last post

Yes more panel

In the last post I wrote “No more panel”. I turned out that I actually like having a panel. ;)

My setup

Here’s some information about my setup and some of the more frequently used software that I use regularly.

Operating system: Gentoo Linux
Window manager: i3
System panel: Polybar
Shell: zsh
Terminal emulator: URxvt
Terminal typeface: Terminus
Terminal colour scheme: Solarized
Application launcher: Rofi
Notification daemon: Dunst
Text editor: Neovim
File manager: Ranger
Web browser: qutebrowser
E-mail client: Mutt + mbsync
Web feed reader: Newsboat
Password manager: KeePassC
Bookmark manager: Buku
Media player: mpv
Image viewer: sxiv
Instant messaging client: WeeChat + bitlbee
Document reader: Zathura
Calendar: Khal
Contact book: Khard
CalDAV/CardDAV-sync: vdirsync

Share your desktop

It would be fun to see what your desktop looks like. Feel free to comment on this post on Mastodon with some pictures and information about your setup.

My thoughts about the Tai-Hao Sunshine Nordic ISO keycaps

This is not a sponsored post. The keycaps has been paid for in full by my partner.

My wife wanted to buy some keycaps for her younger brother as a Christmas present. After asking me for some advice, she decided to buy the Tai-Hao Sunshine keycaps. They were available for 449 SEK (≈40 EUR) a few weeks before Christmas.

A photo of the Tai-Hai Sunshine keycaps.
The Tai-Hao Sunshine keycaps

Tai-Hao is an old company from Taiwan, founded back in 1962. They manufacture computer keyboards, keyboard keycaps, keyboard switches and card readers. This particular set is an “exotic” set, and it’s available in both German and ‘Nordic’. The Nordic language support means that they have combined the Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian and the Danish language on one set of keys.

A photo of the Tai-Hai Sunshine keycaps, showing the content of the box.
An overview of what's included in the box.

For some reason, they included two tools for removing keycaps. A plastic version and a metal wire version. Don’t use the plastic tool! It will most likely scratch your keycaps.

The complete set consist of 114 colourful and vibrant keys. Nine of them are extra keys, while the rest is standard keys for a full-size Nordic ISO keyboard. The extra keys are:

  • 4 × 1U Blank (R4)
  • 1 × 1.75U Shift (R1)
  • 4 × 1U Blank (R0)

There’s also a ‘non-exotic’ ANSI version of this set as well. It seems to have some add-on kits that supports the UK-ISO-layout and some keyboard specific layouts, like the non-standard Razer BlackWidow, the Leopold FC-980M and some other keyboards and layouts.

Specifications

  • Manufacturer: Tai-Hao
  • Set: Sunshine
  • Language: Nordic
  • Profile: OEM
  • Plastic: PBT
  • Thickness: 1 mm

The bad

The bad is honestly not that bad, at least not considering the price and the target audience, which is non-enthusiasts and gamers.

Limited compatibility

The set is compatible with a full-size standard ISO keyboard layout. They have included a few extra keys, but if you have some non-standard layout, you’re most likely out of luck in terms of compatibility—unless if you invest in some of the add-on sets, which might be difficult and/or even a bit too expensive to get your hands on, depending on where you live.

Thin keycaps

The keycaps are only 1 mm thick. If that doesn’t mean anything to you, it’s most likely won’t be of an issue for you. Me personally, prefer keycaps that’s 1.3 to 1.5 mm thick, as they make for a better sound profile.

Nordic language support

The good thing about combining the Nordic languages into one set of keycaps, is that you can keep the price down for the keycaps. The bad thing, is that the keycaps looks cluttered with a lot of extra text.

The good

PBT-plastic

I would personally never buy (or even recommend) any keycaps, unless they’re made out of PBT-plastic. The durability, compared to regular keycaps made out of ABS-plastic, is light-years better.

I have owned multiple keycaps in ABS-plastic—before I found out about PBT-keycaps—and they all started to show wear just after a few months of use. And they eventually started to shine not long after that. Compare that, with my oldest PBT-keycaps, which have been used and abused for more than six years now, and they still look pretty close to brand new.

Another thing that I like about PBT-keycaps is the rugged texture they tend to have. This makes for a pleasant experience for the fingertips when you type on them. These keycaps had an extra rugged surface.

It’s also worth mentioning that PBT-plastic, don’t turn yellow by UV-light, like ABS-plastic do. Well. Unless you have dark keycaps, then it doesn’t really matter anyway.

Double-shot moulding

Double-shot moulding is the process of moulding plastic around a preformed metal or plastic insert. This has been a popular process to create truly durable keycaps. It used to be a common method back in the 70s and 80s, back when keyboards wasn’t complete rubbish.

The good thing about double-shot moulding is that the legends are razor sharp and fully flush to the keycaps, which makes them pleasant to type on. The legends will also never wear our.

Price

The price is decent, especially considering what you get for the price. If you want any of the ‘enthusiast sets’ (from brands like enjoyPBT), you often have to spend 3 or 4 times the amount of money.

Conclusion

This is an excellent set for anyone who’s looking for a colourful set, which won’t break your bank.

NetHack: an illustrated guide to the Mazes of Menace

A visual guide to NetHack, describing the stages of the game illustrated with AI generated imagery. - for the full article please visit the website.

Continuing my familiarisation with GeckoLinux/openSUSE

Fitzcarraldo
, 23/12/2022 | Source: Fitzcarraldo's Blog

In an earlier post I described how I installed and configured GeckoLinux on an old nettop. GeckoLinux is actually pre-configured openSUSE: GeckoLinux is a set of Linux spins built from the openSUSE distribution, with a focus on polish and out-of-the-box usability on the desktop. It is available in Static (based on openSUSE Leap) and Rolling […]

Prevent Lubuntu 22.04 (SDDM and LXQt) from leaving an external drive mounted incorrectly for other users

Fitzcarraldo
, 07/11/2022 | Source: Fitzcarraldo's Blog

An external USB disk drive is connected permanently to my family’s PC that currently has Lubuntu 22.04 installed. There are several user accounts on this multi-user single-seat machine. If a user does not unmount the external drive before logging out, when another user logs in, the external drive is still mounted with the priviledges of […]

I’m sorry for yesterdays web feed flood

I was setting up my websites yesterday, in a way that will allow me to update and build them via my phone.

Unfortunately. I derped a little bit. While I was working on it, I accidentally copied some source files from my Swedish website to this website. The mistake itself was quick and easy to revert. The real issue was that I accidentally published several hundreds of ‘new’ posts here, in Swedish.

My apologies to anyone who happen to be subscribed to my web feed and got flooded with a bunch of Swedish posts from my other website.

Anyway. On to some more positive things. If you read this, it means that I have a working workflow for composting and publishing content using my phone. It’s nothing fancy. It just involves git and running Jekyll on my server, instead of on my desktop computer.

A small status update

I haven’t spent much time at my computer for a long time now. Partly because I’m busy with life in general, but also because I haven’t enjoyed computers (or technology in general) for a while now.

There’s just so much crap out there these days, that’s killing all the fun for me. And don’t worry, I’m not going to rant about it. This website is intended to be a positive-only website.

The little time I spend on my computer, is mainly spent on productive web browsing, e-mail and reading a few web feeds here and there.

This also means that I haven’t had much inspiration to write about anything here for a while now. My websites will always be around and I’ll always post something, from time to time.

I have also revoked my self-claimed title “computer geek”. By doing that, and limiting my time at the computer, have put things into new perspectives for me. I actually enjoy computers a little bit more now. I think it’s because I don’t take me or computers as serious anymore. I just see it as a fun toy to tinker with, from time to time.

These days, I spend my limited spare time on drawing and bicycling. Which is two really old interests that I have. I have unfortunately, neglected them both for far too long now, but that has all changed lately! I currently have a road bike and a cross-country mountain bike. I use them to stay healthy and for exploring the real world around me.