I blog about #technology #gadgets #opensource #FOSS #greentech #traditionalwetshaving #LCHF #health #alternativeto #hamradio (ZS1OSS) #southafrica - see https://gadgeteer.co.za/blog. I also blog to various other social networks which I list at https://gadgeteer.co.za/social-networks-i-post-to.

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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: September 26th, 2022

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  • I only choose to buy hardware that I can connect to Home Assistant, because I can still use it if the company goes bust or no longer supports it. I have one dashboard in HA that manages all my different devices. Point is, I still buy the hardware and the sale is made. I’m not going to buy 5 different standard products which must all be managed through separate apps. Open standards can open up to a much bigger market. There is good reason why so many OEMs opened up to the Matter protocol.

    But as I say, I check first for compatibility, then I narrow my choices from there. So yes, right now your company’s IOT product won’t get onto my radar. Been there, done that, and got a handful of dead paperweights to show for it.



  • I use Sleep as Android for:

    1. Great softer sounds that can be adjusted to gently increase alarm audio. I use bird sounds.
    2. It can control lighting too.
    3. It’s smartwake looks at my sleep stage to choose the best time to wake on the window of time I allow. It uses my watch to measure sleep stages, but works with numerous other watches, chest straps, etc. or also has its own Sonar function using ultrasonic to detect stages from movement.

    But chiefly it also has other stuff I use apart from the waking alarms such as sleep stats, warning for bedtime, lullabies when going to sleep, anti-snoring measures, noise recordings, 30 min power nap management, etc.






  • Problem is if social media is being used to stay in contact with friends / family then you are stuck with where they are, as they generally don’t move to a new network with you. If it is for news etc, I actually prefer a good selection of RSS feeds that I follow in my RSS reader.

    I’m on lots of different social networks for blogging and although MeWe has my far biggest followings, it is centralised and non-FOSS - it’s the site I’ve also had the most troll issues on. The Fediverse (numerous site services to choose from) has the most potential, being open and federated widely.



  • To be fair to Obsidian, the default view is like three panes making it look busy, but you can toggle off both the left and right sidebar, leaving just the edit view which can be switched between edit and reading modes. Even the various toolbar icons need not be visible, and you could just use shortcuts to call them.

    I use Syncthing to sync my Obsidian notes between desktop, server, Android, iPad, and Android tablet - it happens seamlessly in the background complete with version control.


  • I’m still using Obsidian (free but not FOSS) mainly because of the wealth of plugins. QOwnNotes was another good option I used before. I really liked Logseq, but the deal-breaker for me was its approach to primarily being an outliner - and that modified all the paragraphs of my markdown notes as they become referenced blocks (otherwise it is great). I like to stick to standard markdown for portability to any future app.