Now that ASP.net is multi-platform as DotNet, it should really be rotated through that list a second time, preferably around 2024.

Seriously, DotNet makes Java look like nothing has happened with it since 2008.

And even in terms of web work, Blazor WebAssembly is neck-and-neck with Rust, and is even beating it in speed for some specific configs.

I’ve been running my own eMail server for almost a quarter century, and I have no clue what all the fuss is about.

Sure, providers are getting very picky about what domains that they will receive eMails from. But that’s why I have gMail, Yahoo, and Microsoft webmail accounts - so I can train their systems by exchanging emails once a quarter.

And yes, you do have to be running whitelists and blacklists and tarpits and have a good Fail2Ban in place. And good geoIP system if you want to cut out regions that you are unlikely to ever have legitimate mail originate from. But that’s just common sense security.

• No mention if it is EME-Free (no DRM playback possible)
• Settings and prefs and bookmarks sync is a strong want from me, I just want to do so self-hosted, and not via Mozilla’s servers.
• Lack of Windows releases means that the 78% cannot contribute/test, leaving only the 3% to do so. You can’t see significant adoption/testing/exposure by cutting off your legs just before a race.

This doesn’t help people for whom their ISP doesn’t even provide IPv6.

I run Telus Business Fibre so I can have whatever port I want open, running whatever service I want, and a clutch of static IPv4 addresses for legacy stuff.

Telus Business has zero IPv6 availability, and is projected to not have IPv6 for at least the next decade.

Like, fuck me.

I know this is an April Fool’s, I’m just lambasting one of Canada’s largest fibre Internet providers for their wholesale inability to remain modern and effective.

That just defeats the IP part of the KVM and in that case you’d better stick with a traditional KVM.

Video cables and USB cables were never designed for a 20m run. Most have difficulties beyond a 2-5m distance.

My servers will be in my basement, at the other end of the house. My C&C machine will be in my office. The entire purpose of remote KVM is such that I don’t have to hoof it all the way down into the basement just to do something quick. Or go back-and-forth if there is something in my office I have to reference while doing the work.

In fact, I suspect that network KVM is exceedingly useful for anyone whose machines are more than five steps away. Even across the room makes a hell of a lot of sense.

You totally misunderstood the comment.

If all the KVM units were on an airgapped system, there is no way to reach those units other than physically sitting down at the C&C workstation that is meant to interface with them and display their output. Because that machine is also on the airgapped network, and is not reachable from the Internet.

It’s no different than a traditional KVM at that point, aside from that C&C machine being anywhere where Ethernet can reach (traditional KVM units being rather distance-constrained).

Now, if you need mobile/off-site access to this system, you put a second NIC into that C&C workstation. First one for the KVM network, the other for world+dog, and then you use a trusted remote-access system to access the C&C workstation, and block it off from anything else on that second Internet-accessible network as best as possible.

I mean, you want secure? Truly secure? Then disassemble all your computers, put each individual part into its own barrel of cement, and then drop each barrel into its own deep-oceanic abyssal trench. THAT is how you get true security.

For everything else, there are reasonable trade-offs that discourage all but nation-state players or people with wrenches.

Both classic Notepad and classic WordPad can be downloaded and installed from third-party sites.

However, to thoroughly neuter the enshittified versions and ensure the classic versions are used in all workflows can take a bit more than what the installers recommend. Primarily, I would recommend adding the *.bak extension to the enshittified versions then make (IIRC) junction links from the classic ones to where the enshittified ones are sitting. This ensures that if anything reaches for the enshittified ones, the junction links are there to redirect the action to the classic versions.

Both classic Notepad and classic WordPad can be downloaded and installed from third-party sites.

However, to thoroughly neuter the enshittified versions and ensure the classic versions are used in all workflows can take a bit more than what the installers recommend. Primarily, I would recommend adding the *.bak extension to the enshittified versions then make (IIRC) junction links from the classic ones to where the enshittified ones are sitting. This ensures that if anything reaches for the enshittified ones, the junction links are there to redirect the action to the classic versions.

There are ways for normal home users to bodily rip this shit out, but it takes some work and technical knowledge to effectively rip-and-tear in ways that work for you.

Some of the tools are also not the most user-friendly, expect the user to be a power user with deep familiarity with Windows, and have non-obvious workflows that may confuse a majority of average users.

While it takes about 8-16 hours of concerted effort, there are ways to castrate Windows into a mild approximation of what it was before.

The big question mark is Windows 12… and whether AI and spyware/malware features such as Recall will be baked into core functionality such that it will be impossible to remove or reliably deactivate.

I’m still with Windows for now, owing to requirements that have no non-Windows alternative (which include supporting and actually opening client data files for the desktop version of Quicken, for example), but I do foresee a time when I would reliably extract my last foot out of the Windows ecosystem.

Thankfully, their server products still appear to be enshittification-free. For now.

OpenSUSE user since about 2005/2006.

My headcanon (in this theme) is OpenSUSE being a tall androgynous-y female tomboy cosplaying as a strait-laced male exec done up in the latest tailored pinstripe German banker fashion, including matching waistcoat and fedora, with black trenchcoat suavely draped over the shoulders and hands in black leather gloves. And with the hair having just enough length and curl to be barely toeing past the line of decorum.

I like RustDesk. If you’re worried about connectivity, you can even run your own relay server.

For many places, it’s operational inertia. If you’ve had a hosting account at the same place since 1998, you’re bound to still have username/password access to services like FTP even though other (and better) options exist.

And then there is the issue of sole control. Many greybeards like myself still run traditional username/password auth on services because,

1. We have whitelisted our IP address, and if dynamic, keep that whitelist updated
2. That outside of said whitelisting, the service is a quasi-honeypot meant to protect the machine as a whole. Any connection made from outside the address space of my ISP, by anyone else, is by default considered malicious, and is banned instantly as a precaution. They don’t even get the opportunity to attempt a login; merely connecting to said service is sufficient evidence of hostile intent.

So while my setup is not ideal, it is ideal for myself. if I had anyone else as co-admin, or even clients, things would get stupidly complicated very quickly. But since it’s just me…

Research RAID more effectively.

RAID-10 is far more efficient not only as a transfer speed but also as redundancy across large arrays. It’s only nerf is storage inefficiency.

RAID-6 requires serious computing oomph to create the parity bits, which dramatically slows down writes and rebuilds. It also needs only two drive losses across any one array before the whole array dies. Conversely RAID-10 has only duplication, no parity, so compute load is far lower and writes/rebuilds are a lot faster, and it can have up to half of all drives fail before the array is irretrievably broken.

For the last decade I have been using IISCrypto to neuter older and obsolete algorithms. I just apply the most recent PCI profile and restart.

Now granted, this program is unknown to many security professionals I talk to, which is why I mention it here: it works on all NT versions of Windows after Vista. Super-easy to restrict a system to the stronger and more secure algorithms.

Doesn’t exactly help when most Android phones more than a year old won’t get these patches for many months or even years – if at all.

OpenBSD does not have a docker engine. Can this be installed without docker?

Another reason why, while AI might be a fun toy, no one who is serious about getting work done will touch it with a dirty barge pole. The gratuitous hallucinations alone ought to be a sufficient deterrent.

Considering how I have seen some servers configured, this is a very real problem.

RustDesk all the way, baby.

All of the mainstream router manufacturers have critically insecure firmware. Nearly all routers ship with hundreds of vulnerabilities, and sometimes even zero-days, even when initially released.

It’s why it is so important to find and acquire routers that are capable of being re-flashed with third-party firmware such as DD-WRT or OpenWRT.

Check with the router database of each project to see if what you currently own is eligible. DD-WRT enjoys wider support but is more limited in functionality. OpenWRT is more powerful but needs more capable hardware to run on.