Re: Replacing discord...
by John Stoffel
>>>>> "steve---" == steve--- via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes:
> What ever we decide if it ends up costing money Tim you should not
> take that on yourself. Can we at least provide an optional way to
> pitch in? A maybe a WLUG patreon?
I love this idea and will be happy to pitch in too.
> On Feb 11, 2026, at 6:56 AM, Tim Keller via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote:
> John's point that we are leaving people out of the loop because they're not in the signal chat
> is a valid concern.
> Since I'm not paying for meetup.. I'd be down to clown to run a DO droplet that hosted a
> private *something* for us.
> I do like the real-time nature of signal, I feel it has given wlug the "community" thing that
> in the mailing lacks. For better or worse this feels like yelling into the ether instead of a
> conversation.
> We will definitely talk about this at the meeting tomorrow.
> I've long talked about running a zulip server.. maybe that's an option?
> Tim.
> On Tue, Feb 10, 2026, 9:33 PM Tracie Winslow <traciewinslow7(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> What about Mattermost?
> "For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was
> always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished
> business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. At last it dawned on me that these
> obstacles were my life. This perspective has helped me to see there is no way to
> happiness. Happiness is the way. So treasure every moment you have and remember that time
> waits for no one."
> - Souza
> On Tue, Feb 10, 2026, 7:05 PM eroc1990 via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote:
> I did. I've also witnessed these attacks first-hand on other spaces. It's only a
> problem for public servers because anyone can join. If your space and rooms are
> private, that attack vector closes.
> -------- Original Message --------
> On Tuesday, 02/10/26 at 17:20 John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote:
>>>>>> "eroc1990" == eroc1990 <eroc1990(a)protonmail.com> writes:
> Did you read the article i posted? Part of the issue is CSAM being
> pushed into matrix servers and the management was hard to make work.
> But maybe that's gotten better and if we ran our own server it
> wouldn't be a problem?
> Something to talk about for sure on thursday. I'm not up on these
> tools at all, but I do want to make sure that email chats and signal
> chats are shared widely as possible.
> And one of the choices I failed to list is:
> - instant messages (signal)
> - email threads.
> Those are two aspects. When I got home sunday and found 130+ messages
> in signal to catch up on, it was pretty funny. But did I really need
> to read them all? Maybe. Did I enjoy it? Enventually once I read
> them.
> But I like the mailing list and how I don't need to be watching it
> constantly, nor do I get dinged with notifications. Whcih is both
> good and bad. LOL!
> John
>> I feel like the obvious winner in this case would be Matrix. Synapse
>> can be a bit of a bear to set up, but you get E2EE in both 1:1 and
>> Rooms, things can be organized into Spaces and you're able to freely
>> join and leave any room or space that's irrelevant to
>> you. Administration isn't all that bad when you're running a Private
>> server, but it comes with costs in terms of the resources needed to
>> store and serve the various components of Matrix. Would be curious
>> if anyone has any proclivities toward another service with similar
>> offerings.
>> On Tuesday, February 10th, 2026 at 3:49 PM, John Stoffel via WLUG <
> wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi all,
>>> A bunch of us are also chatting on signal (look in the email archives
>>> for a link to join!) and I feel like we're leaving the email forum
>>> users behind.
>>>
>>> And we need to keep the WLUG community working together and sharing
>>> together, no matter what their systems or resources are.
>>>
>>> I found this interesting article on replacing discord with something
>>> new.
>>>
>>> https://taggart-tech.com/discord-alternatives/
>>>
>>> And I thought we as a group show evaluate some of these options as
>>> well. In order of requirements I think:
>>>
>>>
>>> - needs to be open
>>> - WLUG needs to control the data
>>> - needs to have clients across a swath of systems.
>>> - web based
>>> - CLI / plain text based
>>> - Apple/Android clients.
>>> - searchable
>>> - able to organize a bit into channels.
>>> - announcements
>>> - regular chat
>>> - questions or howtos
>>>
>>> Right now I enjoy the signal chat and how free form it is, but since I
>>> can only read it on my phone because getting a CLI client working is a
>>> pain... and I don't want to install the signal app on my work
>>> laptop.
>>>
>>> So what do people think?
>>>
>>> John
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org
>>> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org
>>> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/
>>> Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/
>>> Web Forum/Archive:
> https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/XQDKN…
>>>
> _______________________________________________
> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org
> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/
> Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/
> Web Forum/Archive:
> https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/LCJ64…
> _______________________________________________
> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org
> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/
> Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/
> Web Forum/Archive:
> https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/A7UIL…
> _______________________________________________
> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org
> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/
> Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/
> Web Forum/Archive:
> https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/KLCVN…
> _______________________________________________
> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org
> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/
> Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/
> Web Forum/Archive: https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/RIJFG…
Feb. 12, 2026
REMINDER: WLUG Meeting Tonight! Topic: DNS Redirection.
by Tim Keller
Hey Everybody,
We've got a meeting!
Date/Time: February 12th, 2026 @ 7PM
Location: Technocopia, 44 Portland St. Worcester MA
Virtual Location: https://meet.jit.si/WlugMA
Topic: DNS Interception.
Speaker: Steve Thibault
At every turn, companies are looking for ways to monetize data. It should
be no surprise that DNS is one of these. Recently a fellow WLUG member
Steve Thibault discovered that their upstream provider was intercepting his
DNS queries and worked to fight against this.
Steve is going to tell us his story of how he discovered what his provider
was doing and what he did to foil their prying eyes.
We have a signal group and the invite is here:
https://signal.group/#CjQKIKlVuif-XKEyM_OE5NlItazdhKRrhXlI_l6aRlYx37T6EhCAK…
It's turned into a very lively space where there's always a great
conversation going on.
At tonight's meeting we're going to talk about it and ways that we can
integrate it with email or use some other technology so that people don't
get left out of the conversation!
As usual, after the meeting we'll head out for dinner and keep the
conversation going!
Thanks,
Tim.
--
I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their
constituents as "consumers".
Feb. 12, 2026
Re: Replacing discord...
by Tim Keller
My plan is to start my own stable coin..
I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their
constituents as "consumers".
On Wed, Feb 11, 2026, 7:34 AM <steve(a)patternsoft.net> wrote:
> What ever we decide if it ends up costing money Tim you should not take
> that on yourself. Can we at least provide an optional way to pitch in? A
> maybe a WLUG patreon?
>
> On Feb 11, 2026, at 6:56 AM, Tim Keller via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org>
> wrote:
>
>
>
> John's point that we are leaving people out of the loop because they're
> not in the signal chat is a valid concern.
>
> Since I'm not paying for meetup.. I'd be down to clown to run a DO droplet
> that hosted a private *something* for us.
>
> I do like the real-time nature of signal, I feel it has given wlug the
> "community" thing that in the mailing lacks. For better or worse this feels
> like yelling into the ether instead of a conversation.
>
> We will definitely talk about this at the meeting tomorrow.
>
> I've long talked about running a zulip server.. maybe that's an option?
>
> Tim.
>
> On Tue, Feb 10, 2026, 9:33 PM Tracie Winslow <traciewinslow7(a)gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> What about Mattermost?
>>
>>
>> *"For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin - real
>> life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten
>> through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to
>> be paid. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. This
>> perspective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness. Happiness is
>> the way. So treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for
>> no one."*- Souza
>>
>> On Tue, Feb 10, 2026, 7:05 PM eroc1990 via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> I did. I've also witnessed these attacks first-hand on other spaces.
>>> It's only a problem for public servers because anyone can join. If your
>>> space and rooms are private, that attack vector closes.
>>>
>>> -------- Original Message --------
>>> On Tuesday, 02/10/26 at 17:20 John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org>
>>> wrote:
>>> >>>>> "eroc1990" == eroc1990 <eroc1990(a)protonmail.com> writes:
>>>
>>> Did you read the article i posted? Part of the issue is CSAM being
>>> pushed into matrix servers and the management was hard to make work.
>>> But maybe that's gotten better and if we ran our own server it
>>> wouldn't be a problem?
>>>
>>> Something to talk about for sure on thursday. I'm not up on these
>>> tools at all, but I do want to make sure that email chats and signal
>>> chats are shared widely as possible.
>>>
>>> And one of the choices I failed to list is:
>>>
>>> - instant messages (signal)
>>> - email threads.
>>>
>>> Those are two aspects. When I got home sunday and found 130+ messages
>>> in signal to catch up on, it was pretty funny. But did I really need
>>> to read them all? Maybe. Did I enjoy it? Enventually once I read
>>> them.
>>>
>>> But I like the mailing list and how I don't need to be watching it
>>> constantly, nor do I get dinged with notifications. Whcih is both
>>> good and bad. LOL!
>>>
>>> John
>>>
>>>
>>> > I feel like the obvious winner in this case would be Matrix. Synapse
>>> > can be a bit of a bear to set up, but you get E2EE in both 1:1 and
>>> > Rooms, things can be organized into Spaces and you're able to freely
>>> > join and leave any room or space that's irrelevant to
>>> > you. Administration isn't all that bad when you're running a Private
>>> > server, but it comes with costs in terms of the resources needed to
>>> > store and serve the various components of Matrix. Would be curious
>>> > if anyone has any proclivities toward another service with similar
>>> > offerings.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> > On Tuesday, February 10th, 2026 at 3:49 PM, John Stoffel via WLUG <
>>> wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> >>
>>> >> Hi all,
>>> >> A bunch of us are also chatting on signal (look in the email archives
>>> >> for a link to join!) and I feel like we're leaving the email forum
>>> >> users behind.
>>> >>
>>> >> And we need to keep the WLUG community working together and sharing
>>> >> together, no matter what their systems or resources are.
>>> >>
>>> >> I found this interesting article on replacing discord with something
>>> >> new.
>>> >>
>>> >> https://taggart-tech.com/discord-alternatives/
>>> >>
>>> >> And I thought we as a group show evaluate some of these options as
>>> >> well. In order of requirements I think:
>>> >>
>>> >>
>>> >> - needs to be open
>>> >> - WLUG needs to control the data
>>> >> - needs to have clients across a swath of systems.
>>> >> - web based
>>> >> - CLI / plain text based
>>> >> - Apple/Android clients.
>>> >> - searchable
>>> >> - able to organize a bit into channels.
>>> >> - announcements
>>> >> - regular chat
>>> >> - questions or howtos
>>> >>
>>> >> Right now I enjoy the signal chat and how free form it is, but since I
>>> >> can only read it on my phone because getting a CLI client working is a
>>> >> pain... and I don't want to install the signal app on my work
>>> >> laptop.
>>> >>
>>> >> So what do people think?
>>> >>
>>> >> John
>>> >> _______________________________________________
>>> >> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org
>>> >> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org
>>> >> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/
>>> >> Change Settings:
>>> https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/
>>> >> Web Forum/Archive:
>>> https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/XQDKN…
>>> >>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org
>>> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org
>>> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/
>>> Change Settings:
>>> https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/
>>> Web Forum/Archive:
>>> https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/LCJ64…
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org
>>> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org
>>> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/
>>> Change Settings:
>>> https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/
>>> Web Forum/Archive:
>>> https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/A7UIL…
>>>
>> _______________________________________________
> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org
> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/
> Change Settings:
> https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/
> Web Forum/Archive:
> https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/KLCVN…
>
>
Feb. 11, 2026
Re: Replacing discord...
by Tim Keller
John's point that we are leaving people out of the loop because they're not
in the signal chat is a valid concern.
Since I'm not paying for meetup.. I'd be down to clown to run a DO droplet
that hosted a private *something* for us.
I do like the real-time nature of signal, I feel it has given wlug the
"community" thing that in the mailing lacks. For better or worse this feels
like yelling into the ether instead of a conversation.
We will definitely talk about this at the meeting tomorrow.
I've long talked about running a zulip server.. maybe that's an option?
Tim.
On Tue, Feb 10, 2026, 9:33 PM Tracie Winslow <traciewinslow7(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
> What about Mattermost?
>
>
> *"For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin - real
> life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten
> through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to
> be paid. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. This
> perspective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness. Happiness is
> the way. So treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for
> no one."*- Souza
>
> On Tue, Feb 10, 2026, 7:05 PM eroc1990 via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org>
> wrote:
>
>> I did. I've also witnessed these attacks first-hand on other spaces. It's
>> only a problem for public servers because anyone can join. If your space
>> and rooms are private, that attack vector closes.
>>
>> -------- Original Message --------
>> On Tuesday, 02/10/26 at 17:20 John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org>
>> wrote:
>> >>>>> "eroc1990" == eroc1990 <eroc1990(a)protonmail.com> writes:
>>
>> Did you read the article i posted? Part of the issue is CSAM being
>> pushed into matrix servers and the management was hard to make work.
>> But maybe that's gotten better and if we ran our own server it
>> wouldn't be a problem?
>>
>> Something to talk about for sure on thursday. I'm not up on these
>> tools at all, but I do want to make sure that email chats and signal
>> chats are shared widely as possible.
>>
>> And one of the choices I failed to list is:
>>
>> - instant messages (signal)
>> - email threads.
>>
>> Those are two aspects. When I got home sunday and found 130+ messages
>> in signal to catch up on, it was pretty funny. But did I really need
>> to read them all? Maybe. Did I enjoy it? Enventually once I read
>> them.
>>
>> But I like the mailing list and how I don't need to be watching it
>> constantly, nor do I get dinged with notifications. Whcih is both
>> good and bad. LOL!
>>
>> John
>>
>>
>> > I feel like the obvious winner in this case would be Matrix. Synapse
>> > can be a bit of a bear to set up, but you get E2EE in both 1:1 and
>> > Rooms, things can be organized into Spaces and you're able to freely
>> > join and leave any room or space that's irrelevant to
>> > you. Administration isn't all that bad when you're running a Private
>> > server, but it comes with costs in terms of the resources needed to
>> > store and serve the various components of Matrix. Would be curious
>> > if anyone has any proclivities toward another service with similar
>> > offerings.
>>
>>
>>
>> > On Tuesday, February 10th, 2026 at 3:49 PM, John Stoffel via WLUG <
>> wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote:
>>
>> >>
>> >> Hi all,
>> >> A bunch of us are also chatting on signal (look in the email archives
>> >> for a link to join!) and I feel like we're leaving the email forum
>> >> users behind.
>> >>
>> >> And we need to keep the WLUG community working together and sharing
>> >> together, no matter what their systems or resources are.
>> >>
>> >> I found this interesting article on replacing discord with something
>> >> new.
>> >>
>> >> https://taggart-tech.com/discord-alternatives/
>> >>
>> >> And I thought we as a group show evaluate some of these options as
>> >> well. In order of requirements I think:
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> - needs to be open
>> >> - WLUG needs to control the data
>> >> - needs to have clients across a swath of systems.
>> >> - web based
>> >> - CLI / plain text based
>> >> - Apple/Android clients.
>> >> - searchable
>> >> - able to organize a bit into channels.
>> >> - announcements
>> >> - regular chat
>> >> - questions or howtos
>> >>
>> >> Right now I enjoy the signal chat and how free form it is, but since I
>> >> can only read it on my phone because getting a CLI client working is a
>> >> pain... and I don't want to install the signal app on my work
>> >> laptop.
>> >>
>> >> So what do people think?
>> >>
>> >> John
>> >> _______________________________________________
>> >> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org
>> >> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org
>> >> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/
>> >> Change Settings:
>> https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/
>> >> Web Forum/Archive:
>> https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/XQDKN…
>> >>
>> _______________________________________________
>> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org
>> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org
>> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/
>> Change Settings:
>> https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/
>> Web Forum/Archive:
>> https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/LCJ64…
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org
>> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org
>> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/
>> Change Settings:
>> https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/
>> Web Forum/Archive:
>> https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/A7UIL…
>>
>
Feb. 11, 2026
Reminder: WLUG Meeting Feb 12th, 2026: Topic: DNS Interception.
by Tim Keller
Hey Everybody,
We've got a meeting!
Date/Time: February 12th, 2026 @ 7PM
Location: Technocopia, 44 Portland St. Worcester MA
Virtual Location: https://meet.jit.si/WlugMA
Topic: DNS Interception.
Speaker: Steve Thibault
At every turn, companies are looking for ways to monetize data. It should
be no surprise that DNS is one of these. Recently a fellow WLUG member
Steve Thibault discovered that their upstream provider was intercepting his
DNS queries and worked to fight against this.
Steve is going to tell us his story of how he discovered what his provider
was doing and what he did to foil their prying eyes.
As usual, after the meeting we'll head out for dinner and keep the
conversation going!
Thanks,
Tim.
--
I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their
constituents as "consumers".
Feb. 10, 2026
First WLUG meeting of the year!! January 8th 2026 @ 7PM Location: Technocopia!
by Tim Keller
Hey Everybody!
This is our first WLUG meeting of the year!
Date & Time: 1/8/26 @ 7PM
Location: Technocopia, 44 Portland St. Worcester MA
Virtual Location: https://meet.jit.si/WlugMA
Topic: Still figuring that out! Got ideas let me know. At a minimum we'll
talk about what we want to talk about this year.
Looking at the signal chat we can have a more thorough talk about BcacheFS
vs OpenZFS vs. Btrfs. I can give people an update with my wife and her fun
with Bazzite.
I'm hoping I can get my hands on a couple pieces of identical laptop
hardware and do a head to head performance test of CachyOS vs. some other
distro to show off the greatness or lack thereof of the BORE
(Burst-Oriented Response Enhancer) scheduler.
We can talk about the Helium browser vs. Chromium vs. Chrome.. Lots to talk
about.
As usual we'll head out for dinner afterwards and we'll keep the
conversation going!
Thanks,
Tim.
--
I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their
constituents as "consumers".
Jan. 5, 2026
Re: WLUG MEETING TONIGHT!
by Evan White
> It all went too fast for me. I thought 'git' was for multi-programmer
> group projects. Do you use it just to keep track of versions of
> your own project?
I have used git for solo projects or those in a group or organization. Jujutsu effectively extended the capabilities of Git to allow me to handcraft the recent version history, for the sake of better organization for myself, or making it easier for others to review. This is especially important now that algorithms (Claude, etc.) are writing a lot of my revisions. I need to be able to, e.g. combine a messy log of changes made in separate revisions during experimentation, and split it up into a clean and well-reviewed series of revisions. Once some revisions get pushed to the trunk, they become 'immutable' in Jujutsu, so nobody can go rewriting the history of the trunk. All of this was already possible in Git, and many Git power users suffered the roundabout way of doing these things. Jujutsu made it straightforward by removing the working tree and staging area of git, such that you are always editing a revision that is synchronized continuously with the filesystem, and allowing arbitrary revisions to be directly operated on with a rich set of tools.
> Now I ask: Can I get a root shell?
> Is Linux just hidden, or is it broken and forbidden?
In Android, there are third-party facilities to give root access to apps, and one of those apps could be a terminal. Termux is one such app that is like a container without root which uses Debian packaging in it (Android is not natively capable of it). Termux can elevate to root access over all of Android if your installation allows it. The Android ecosystem, its graphical shell, and its application paradigm are generally much different from the free & open Linux ecosystem. Most vendors (smartphone manufacturers, etc.) default install of Android do not allow root access to apps, and you usually need third-party modifications to access root, or an unlocked bootloader to install an open version of Android for that platform if one even exists.
> Would it be easier to install Debian on an Android machine than a Windows machine?
> Are BIOS passwords a problem?
That's a big issue, and it's even worse than a BIOS password; it's usually a fully locked bootloader. As far as I can tell, the smartphone ecosystem upon which Android is built was never really designed to be open and standardized like PCs were, and it was more profitable or "secure" for this to be the status quo. Since Windows machines are x86 PCs without locked bootloaders (at least for now), it will be much easier to install Debian with root on them. Android can permit you to use a Debian-like environment in a container app like Termux. Some manufacturers are making Linux-friendly smartphones, but if you're weighing the options between Android and Windows, I assume you are looking at small laptops.
________________________________
From: Keith Wright via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2025 10:32 PM
To: Worcester Linux Users' Group General Discussion <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org>
Cc: Keith Wright <kwright(a)keithdiane.us>
Subject: [WLUG] WLUG MEETING TONIGHT!
>>Join the signal chat for more details. >> Thanks, Tim.A
steve--- via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes:
> how does one join the signal chat?
I was about to ask the same question, but I thought I didn't
need to, since somebody had already asked it.
John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes:
> Yeah, I don't know either for some reason. And is it private to WLUG
> only or can we put details onto the web page?
But now two people have asked and nobody answered.
So: How is it done?
Is this the same "signal" that the Secretary of Undeclared War
got in trouble for using?
----------
Evan White via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes:
> We had a great discussion mostly about Jujutsu, and the philosophy of
> Git commit organization, ... , etc.
It all went too fast for me. I thought 'git' was for multi-programmer
group projects. Do you use it just to keep track of versions of
your own project?
----------
Tim Keller via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes:
> Topic: National Right to Repair day
> Speaker: Jack Frimet from PIRG.
>
> Jack Frimet from PIRG reached out to me and asked that he speak at this meeting. PIRG
> is an organization that among many other causes is advocating at the national level for
> the right to repair. As we are all aware, with Win10 reaching EOL, this is causing a
> tsunami of e-waste as people are forced to upgrade to run Win11.
I was not clear if they are expecting people to bring old computers
to have Linux installed, or if I can just give cash and get an
old computer.
Also I asked whether Android was Linux hidden behind a "user interface".
People seemed to agree that that was about right.
Now I ask: Can I get a root shell?
Is Linux just hidden, or is it broken and forbidden?
I am looking for a extra "back-up" laptop. Would it be easier to
install Debian on an Android machine than a Windows machine?
Are BIOS passwords a problem?
-- Keith
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Dec. 24, 2025
Re: WLUG MEETING TONIGHT!
by Tim Keller
Here is the link to the signal channel!
https://signal.group/#CjQKIKlVuif-XKEyM_OE5NlItazdhKRrhXlI_l6aRlYx37T6EhCAK…
Thanks,
Tim.
I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their
constituents as "consumers".
On Thu, Dec 11, 2025, 5:48 AM steve--- via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote:
> I missed the original message about it even though it’s in my mailbox. I
> forwarded it to the list. And I do recall getting a reply to my message
> about joining but I cannot find it. Hopefully though the link in the
> forward works?
>
> > On Dec 10, 2025, at 10:34 PM, Keith Wright via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org>
> wrote:
> >
> >
> >>
> >>> Join the signal chat for more details. >> Thanks, Tim.A
> > steve--- via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes:
> >> how does one join the signal chat?
> >
> > I was about to ask the same question, but I thought I didn't
> > need to, since somebody had already asked it.
> >
> > John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes:
> >
> >> Yeah, I don't know either for some reason. And is it private to WLUG
> >> only or can we put details onto the web page?
> >
> > But now two people have asked and nobody answered.
> >
> > So: How is it done?
> >
> > Is this the same "signal" that the Secretary of Undeclared War
> > got in trouble for using?
> >
> > ----------
> >
> > Evan White via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes:
> >
> >> We had a great discussion mostly about Jujutsu, and the philosophy of
> >> Git commit organization, ... , etc.
> >
> > It all went too fast for me. I thought 'git' was for multi-programmer
> > group projects. Do you use it just to keep track of versions of
> > your own project?
> >
> > ----------
> >
> > Tim Keller via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes:
> >
> >> Topic: National Right to Repair day
> >> Speaker: Jack Frimet from PIRG.
> >>
> >> Jack Frimet from PIRG reached out to me and asked that he speak at this
> meeting. PIRG
> >> is an organization that among many other causes is advocating at the
> national level for
> >> the right to repair. As we are all aware, with Win10 reaching EOL, this
> is causing a
> >> tsunami of e-waste as people are forced to upgrade to run Win11.
> >
> > I was not clear if they are expecting people to bring old computers
> > to have Linux installed, or if I can just give cash and get an
> > old computer.
> >
> > Also I asked whether Android was Linux hidden behind a "user interface".
> > People seemed to agree that that was about right.
> > Now I ask: Can I get a root shell?
> >
> > Is Linux just hidden, or is it broken and forbidden?
> >
> > I am looking for a extra "back-up" laptop. Would it be easier to
> > install Debian on an Android machine than a Windows machine?
> >
> > Are BIOS passwords a problem?
> >
> > -- Keith
> > _______________________________________________
> > WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org
> > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org
> > Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/
> > Change Settings:
> https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/
> > Web Forum/Archive:
> https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/QGC2Z…
> _______________________________________________
> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org
> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/
> Change Settings:
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> Web Forum/Archive:
> https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/PZROP…
>
Dec. 11, 2025
Re: WLUG MEETING TONIGHT!
by steve＠patternsoft.net
I missed the original message about it even though it’s in my mailbox. I forwarded it to the list. And I do recall getting a reply to my message about joining but I cannot find it. Hopefully though the link in the forward works?
> On Dec 10, 2025, at 10:34 PM, Keith Wright via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote:
>
>
>>
>>> Join the signal chat for more details. >> Thanks, Tim.A
> steve--- via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes:
>> how does one join the signal chat?
>
> I was about to ask the same question, but I thought I didn't
> need to, since somebody had already asked it.
>
> John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes:
>
>> Yeah, I don't know either for some reason. And is it private to WLUG
>> only or can we put details onto the web page?
>
> But now two people have asked and nobody answered.
>
> So: How is it done?
>
> Is this the same "signal" that the Secretary of Undeclared War
> got in trouble for using?
>
> ----------
>
> Evan White via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes:
>
>> We had a great discussion mostly about Jujutsu, and the philosophy of
>> Git commit organization, ... , etc.
>
> It all went too fast for me. I thought 'git' was for multi-programmer
> group projects. Do you use it just to keep track of versions of
> your own project?
>
> ----------
>
> Tim Keller via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes:
>
>> Topic: National Right to Repair day
>> Speaker: Jack Frimet from PIRG.
>>
>> Jack Frimet from PIRG reached out to me and asked that he speak at this meeting. PIRG
>> is an organization that among many other causes is advocating at the national level for
>> the right to repair. As we are all aware, with Win10 reaching EOL, this is causing a
>> tsunami of e-waste as people are forced to upgrade to run Win11.
>
> I was not clear if they are expecting people to bring old computers
> to have Linux installed, or if I can just give cash and get an
> old computer.
>
> Also I asked whether Android was Linux hidden behind a "user interface".
> People seemed to agree that that was about right.
> Now I ask: Can I get a root shell?
>
> Is Linux just hidden, or is it broken and forbidden?
>
> I am looking for a extra "back-up" laptop. Would it be easier to
> install Debian on an Android machine than a Windows machine?
>
> Are BIOS passwords a problem?
>
> -- Keith
> _______________________________________________
> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org
> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/
> Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/
> Web Forum/Archive: https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/QGC2Z…
Dec. 11, 2025
WLUG MEETING TONIGHT!
by Keith Wright
>>Join the signal chat for more details. >> Thanks, Tim.A
steve--- via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes:
> how does one join the signal chat?
I was about to ask the same question, but I thought I didn't
need to, since somebody had already asked it.
John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes:
> Yeah, I don't know either for some reason. And is it private to WLUG
> only or can we put details onto the web page?
But now two people have asked and nobody answered.
So: How is it done?
Is this the same "signal" that the Secretary of Undeclared War
got in trouble for using?
----------
Evan White via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes:
> We had a great discussion mostly about Jujutsu, and the philosophy of
> Git commit organization, ... , etc.
It all went too fast for me. I thought 'git' was for multi-programmer
group projects. Do you use it just to keep track of versions of
your own project?
----------
Tim Keller via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes:
> Topic: National Right to Repair day
> Speaker: Jack Frimet from PIRG.
>
> Jack Frimet from PIRG reached out to me and asked that he speak at this meeting. PIRG
> is an organization that among many other causes is advocating at the national level for
> the right to repair. As we are all aware, with Win10 reaching EOL, this is causing a
> tsunami of e-waste as people are forced to upgrade to run Win11.
I was not clear if they are expecting people to bring old computers
to have Linux installed, or if I can just give cash and get an
old computer.
Also I asked whether Android was Linux hidden behind a "user interface".
People seemed to agree that that was about right.
Now I ask: Can I get a root shell?
Is Linux just hidden, or is it broken and forbidden?
I am looking for a extra "back-up" laptop. Would it be easier to
install Debian on an Android machine than a Windows machine?
Are BIOS passwords a problem?
-- Keith
Dec. 11, 2025