wack wack
Search is a thing on the internet and always has been, because how would you find anything otherwise other than word-of-mouth?
I've bounced around with search a lot over the years. In the '90s it was Yahoo!, Excite, Lycos, AltaVista and others. Then came Google. Good for a while, but then started to suck. A lot. Then came AI, which I'll talk more about in a moment.
In the middle of all this craziness was DuckDuckGo, launched in 2008. They have duck.com now, so yeah, easy to remember. I had always known DDG was there but didn't use it much. However, these days, DDG is now my go-to both for search and, believe it or not, AI.
DDG's AI is duck.ai, but I do appreciate the fact that noai.duckduckgo.com exists. DDG put up a vote at voteyesornoai.com, to where 90% said nope, don't want it in my search, so now a no-AI version of DDG exists. Nice.
However, I do use duck.ai because more often than not it actually works pretty well.
Before I explain why, my main reason for using DDG other than for the better search are the bangs. These come in handy more than a little bit.
If I want to search for an image of something, that's !i image-here like !i guitar. If I want to search Reddit using the old UX (always better) instead of the modernized one, an example of that is !rold guitar. If I want a weather forecast using weather.gov, !wgov tpa. Town/state or ZIP can be alternatively used for that instead of airport codes. If I want to search YouTube, !yt guitar or whatever.
Bangs are ridiculously useful, and DDG has a lot of them.
Where duck.ai is concerned, it's no more correct or incorrect than other AI, but one thing is different in a good way. Duck.ai never gives me an attitude.
This one takes a bit of explanation.
There are days when Grok AI for literally no reason will get snarky and/or use "cool person speak" with its responses, which is ridiculously annoying. I should have taken a screenshot of this, but one time I asked it a programming question, and the reply contained, "You could do [this], but nobody does that anymore so it's not worth your time." That's the equivalent of a trust me bro response.
Then there is other AI that is way too sweet/nice/cute. Gemini is definitely one of those, and Copilot isn't too far behind it.
Duck.ai never gives me an attitude, never does trust-me-bro replies, and doesn't try to be sweet and cute. The responses I get from it are what I call polite and normal, which is all I ever want, even if sometimes the answers I get are wrong (not that there is any AI that provides correct answers 100% of the time).
Some may say that all you need to do is adjust the conversation style and then AI will stop all the attitude crap. I shouldn't have to do that, so I don't.
This is not to say I can't adjust the tone of response with duck.ai, because I totally can do that:
...but the point is I don't have to. The Default setting gets the job done.
And where regular search is concerned, it's good. Not just good enough. Actually good.
If AI ever goes bust, DDG will still be there
The fact DDG launched a no-AI version of their search is very forward thinking. They didn't even need to launch that vote site to figure out if people really wanted AI in their search or not. DDG already knew, because how could they not. The vote just confirmed it.
I do like it that DDG already has a solution right now for no-AI search. Other search engines are neck deep in AI with no way out, so if AI busts, they bust. DDG won't and will still work.
which casio watch has lasted the longest?
I have a pile of Casio watches I've owned for long enough to determine which models last the longest.
What I've found out is that there are three things that determine a Casio's longevity. Strap, buttons and battery life, but not necessarily in the way you would think.
Most Casio watches either come with a PUR (polyurethane resin) strap or metal bracelet.
All PUR straps will crumble apart at some point. Even if the watch is kept in a box in a cool, dry place, that strap will naturally crumble apart over time, and there's nothing you can do about it. It's not a matter of if the strap will crumble apart but when.
Even the cheapest metal bracelet on a Casio will outlast a PUR strap, provided it's not worn too tightly. The only thing that can really go wrong is the clasp might start getting loose where it snaps shut. However, I've never had one outright break on me.
Buttons are a weird thing since they all depend on springs.
Digital Casio watch buttons a.k.a. pushers all have a very small metal piece that acts as a spring to push the button back out after it has been pressed. On a few Casios I've had, the spring fails and the button stays permanently pressed in. But I've only had this happen on the cheapest models. I'll be covering the models in a moment.
There isn't any fix for a bad spring other than to replace it. Worth it? No. At that point you're better off just buying another watch.
A battery can be replaced on most Casios, but if the battery is more difficult to get to, the sooner the watch will break.
The winners and losers
The longest running Casio I have that's still 100% original is the AE1000W that's now over a decade old. The battery has been replaced twice. Once because I just felt like doing it, and the other time when it actually needed it. PUR strap is still holding, all buttons work, and the watch still works as it should.
Model W218H has also been a real trooper. Years old at this point, still on original battery and original PUR strap. Flawless, quick button operation, outstanding night light. And although I don't own it, I'm certain the W219H is just as good but with a more rounded case shape.
Model B650WD, which is basically like the W218H, is still running strong and by far has the best bracelet. The clasp in particular still has a good tight snap when closed. Buttons aren't as nice to use as the W218H, but I've had no issues with them. This one is also still on the original battery.
Model B640WD (has more features than the B650WD including a timer with auto-repeat) is still working fine, still on original battery, and metal bracelet has no issues. The only problem is there are some small dings where the lugs are, but that's just a cosmetic thing.
Model AQ230 has had its battery replaced several times, and the bottom left button is acting up a little bit. Everything still works, but I now have to be gentle with it whenever adjusting a setting. It is understandable why this one needs the battery replaced more often, since it uses the SR920SW a.k.a. 371 coin cell, and it's an ana-digi that physically moves watch hands.
Model A178 is still on the same battery even with some years on it (probably 7 or 8 by this point) and the metal bracelet is still a-okay. The clasp still has a good snap when closed, and no issues with the buttons.
Model A158 is one I had to outright replace because the bottom left button spring failed. Worked fine otherwise.
Model W213 (no longer made) had its PUR strap crumble apart. I've since bought a replacement, but the exact same thing will happen to its PUR strap at some point.
Model F-91W had a strap crumble apart. I've not replaced it.
Model F-201WA also had its strap crumble apart.
Model WS1600H still works fine, but the strap is starting to look overly shiny whereas it originally didn't. Will it last? Time will tell.
Overall...
...the A158 is still one of my favorites to wear, even though I had to replace it. It does not have a good night light, and barely any features, but it's thin and ridiculously comfortable.
However, the fact my AE1000W is still working is amazing, because I've not treated that watch well at all. The crystal has been scratched up enough to where I had to apply Polywatch a few times to clear it up. Again, still works.
dodged a disaster with my sd memory cards
This could have ended up bad, but thankfully didn't.
I recently spotted a deal on SanDisk ImageMate SD memory cards in 512GB flavor at Walmart, and got two of them.
If you look at the prices 512GB cards are selling for, prices jump around quite a bit even for name brands. Doesn't matter if it's SanDisk, Samsung, Lexar, PNY or something else. That means if you see a deal, you go for it, so that's what I did.
But then I saw this post that someone bought one from Walmart and got screwed. Uh-oh. Now I'm nervous. Did I just get screwed too?
I had to find out.
I'm nerdy enough to know how to blow away and recreate the entire file system on a memory card (or any other media storage), and that is a way to check the actual storage capacity.
Being I hadn't written anything to the cards yet, into GParted I go, and thought okay, let's do this. Blow away the file system. Check. Recreate file system with GPT (no, not the AI, it's GUID Partition Table). Check. Format using exFAT, which is what it had before. Check.
System reports I have the full 512GB available. Good.
Repeat the same for the second card, same result, I got the 512GB. Good.
But even with that confirmed, I needed a file write test just to be sure. And it had to be something over 32GB since that's the limit of FAT32.
While I was certain the 512's I bought were true 512's at this point, if these were 32GB cards masquerading as 512GB, then there's no way a file over 32GB would write successfully.
To the Terminal I go. Time to create a 33GB file, and did so with this:
dd if=/dev/zero of=33GB_file.txt bs=1G count=33
Copied the file over to the first card. It got all sorts of toasty because that's a big file transfer, but the whole file copied and it worked. Good.
Did the same for the second card. Again, worked. Good. Now I'm convinced that my 512's are in fact true 512's. Crisis averted.
Were I still using Windows regularly, I would use HDD LLF Low Level Format Tool to blow away a file system. Yeah, I know DISKPART is there and has been around since WinXP, but past experience has taught me that doesn't always work. Using compmgmt.msc (Computer Management) as an alternative also sometimes screws up. HDD LLF works. I never use that utility to actually format media, but rather because it's the only for-Windows thing I've ever used that when I tell it to blow away a file system on a specific SD/SSD/whatever, it does it without any grief. Once after running that, then I use Windows itself to quick-format an SD card or SSD or whatever. And if Windows still gave me grief after that (such as not assigning a drive letter), I run into compmgmt.msc to get that crap done manually.
It was worth the risk
I went for the two cards because a deal on name brand 512GB microSD is worth the risk, as the price for a 1TB is nuts, and 2TB is insane.
It's like I said, if you see the deal, you go for it, even as risky as that is. I did so, and fortunately ended up getting two legit cards that had their claimed capacity.
tiling window manager users are insane
Being I mentioned i3 and Sway in my last post, I wanted to talk more about tiling window managers. People who use them are insane.
You may have heard that some Linux users are anti-mouse. True? Yes. I know I am. But then again, I've been anti-mouse ever since the Windows 3.1 days. More on that in a bit.
Modern tiling window managers hearken back to DESQview. Yeah, that shell from 40 years ago that BBS sysops used a lot because it gave you true multitasking in DOS. That was good. For vintage PC peoples, DESQview is the most tiling manager-esque thing you could use. So if you were ever wondering, "Can I tile (more or less) on a PC with just an 8086 CPU and DOS?" With DESQview you can.
But let's talk about the insanity, because that's the fun part.
The deal with using a tiling window manager can be summed up in three major points. Avoid the mouse, do everything possible in text mode, establish as much of a distraction-less computing environment as you can.
My insanity started real early with Windows. I learned how to operate Windows 3.1 completely mouse-less, then carried that all the way to XP (with help from Launchy). After XP, you really couldn't use Windows mouse-less anymore for 100% of the environment. Not comfortably, anyway.
The way I do a lot of mouse-less stuff in Linux is with both keyboard shortcuts and keyphrases using xdotool and AutoKey.
I still use the mouse, but I never double-click anything because I hate double-clicking. My mouse wheel click is my double-click. Back when I used to use Windows, the Microsoft Intellipoint control software had the option to assign the wheel click as double-click. When I discovered that, oh yeah, awesome. I've been using my mouse that way ever since. When I used a non-Microsoft mouse, I used AutoHotKey and this was in my configuration to get back my wheel-click-as-double-click:
MButton::
KeyWait, MButton, t0.1
Click, 2
return
While this wasn't perfect, it worked mostly well.
In Linux, registering wheel click as double-click is this first:
xbindkeys -d > ~/.xbindkeysrc
Second, edit .xbindkeys and add this before "End of xbindkeys configuration" and save:
"xdotool click --repeat 2 1"
b:2 + Release
Third, do this:
xbindkeys --poll-rc
Done. And it always works.
The mouse I'm using these days is the Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse. Three buttons (left, right, wheel), wired, works. Thankfully, other basic wired optical mice are still available. Logitech, Dell, HP, etc., the standard fare.
Something I know all too well is that a big reason why some nerds are anti-mouse is because mice keep breaking, and truly good business class mice don't exist anymore. They're all dopey "gamer" mice now. What to do? Purposely buy cheap mice and use keyboard shortcuts instead, that's what.
As for tiling stuff, I have that available to me in Linux with Konsole:
...so it's not like I need to change out my entire window manager to get it.
I absolutely do not want my graphical windows tiled because that distracts more than helps. Whenever I launch a web browser, I have two keyboard shortcuts to do two very specific things. First, resize the window to 1600x900 with CTRL+ALT+9. Second, exactly center it in the middle of the screen with Super+C. I can't stand having crap to the left and right and need it floating in the center. In addition to 1600x900, I have CTRL+ALT+1 for 1024x576, CTRL+ALT+2 for 1280x720 and CTRL+ALT+8 for 800x600 (which actually comes in handy more often than you'd think).
Back to Windows for a moment, the utility I used to exactly center program windows with a very specific window size using keyboard shortcuts was Sizer. Absolutely brilliant little program. No such thing (that I know of) exists for Linux, so I had to figure out another way and found one. A custom keyboard shortcut resizes the window first with xdotool, then a KWin script Move Window to Center is used with Super+C to center it. This isn't elegant, but it absolutely works.
Where the insanity truly begins...
...is trying to use a modern web browser mouse-less.
No, I'm not talking about Lynx or w3m. I mean using a full graphical browser with no mouse.
Firefox, amazingly to this day, does still have caret browsing:
...and that's as close as you'll get to using a modern GUI browser mouse-less.
Unless somebody has invented another way to navigate with solely the keyboard in a GUI web browser, caret browsing is how you can mostly navigate any web page keyboard-only... except for video sites and social media.
I actually tried caret browsing with YouTube, and... it did not go well. Didn't even bother trying it with other social media, because I'm pretty sure caret browsing would be just as much of a train wreck there too.
Even with a tiling window manager, the web browser dictates that fully committing to the keyboard 100% just isn't doable. You need a mouse when using a desktop web browser and that's just the way it is.
Oh yes, I totally do keystroke everything I can in the browser. I've been CTRL+L'ing to open web addresses, CTRL+T new-tabbing, CTRL+PgUp/PgDn tab switching, CTRL+W closing tabs, and up/down arrow-keying when reading pages for years. But I can't do everything in the browser with just the keyboard. Could if I would, but can't.
While web browsing mouse-less is awful, I can't even imagine how tedious it would be trying to edit video mouse-less. Sure, it's technically possible with FFMPEG and probably HandBrakeCLI (the CLI is already included with the graphical HandBrake), but that doesn't mean it's a good idea.
Next level batshit insane
There's that thing dwm users do. What do they do? They quite literally edit source code to customize dwm, because it's designed to be customized that way.
Yeah, that means actual programming.
I'm not doing that.
But I can appreciate why programmers like it. Programming is required just to customize dwm, so there you go. If you can't program, dwm is not for you.
dwm, put politely, is not what one would call a casually approachable tiling window manager. Yeah, it's tiny and insanely quick. But make no mistake that in order to customize it, code must be compiled and recompiled several (if not many) times to make it do what you want. I'll pass on that.
Will I ever switch to a tiling window manager?
There are plenty of other tiling window manager choices besides dwm that I could easily get along with. Even so, I seriously doubt I'd ever use one because the fundamental thing it does annoys me, which is tiling.
Again, I absolutely can't stand having other stuff to the left and right, and prefer to have whatever I'm working on front and center, literally.
Yeah, I could have a floating window front and center with other tiles running other stuff in the background. Nope, don't want that. I'd rather have a desktop.
See, the deal is that I actually use my computer desktop like a desktop. If I have something I'm working on, I make a desktop folder for it. Then once I'm done, I put the folder away elsewhere or get rid of it if no longer needed.
A floating window manager makes the most sense to me because it's akin to how real life works. If I have actual real folders with paper documents in them, I don't tile them on my desk. I stack them, maybe fan them out, whatever. At no point would I ever physically place folders of documents in a grid.
I also legitimately do like a computer desktop that I can dump whatever I'm working on there until I'm done with it. My use of a computer desktop somewhat acts like a to-do list. Whatever is on the desktop is a not-done.
And yes, this means I keep my desktop clear of program launcher icons. The only two I have as always-there is a link to script I wrote to restart the shell (rarely used), and a Linux notes text file that's my own self-documentation on how to do Linux stuff. I started that text file when I first switched to Linux 2.5 years ago and it still gets updated periodically. Other than that, everything else is to-do stuff. I don't even keep the Trash shortcut there since it's already in the file manager.
I also like the taskbar. A lot. But only when I can keep it skinny/thin, which is easy in pretty much all Linux window managers. Some people hide the taskbar. I don't, because I use it for its intended purpose, which is to show me what's open. And I have a tray area with a few icons and a clock. I like that too. Yes, I know a tiling window manager can also do this, but still, tiles... I don't like tiles.
What's the sell of a tiling window manager?
If you couldn't tell from some of what I said above, I use KDE Plasma, which in itself has a ton of tiling capability baked right in, albeit it's nowhere near as keyboard-driven as a true tiling window manager. But I can tile as the day is long whenever I want. I just don't.
There are three things that sell (as in convince one to use) a tiling window manager. Far less system resource used, the most screen real state given to programs, and heavy emphasis on being keyboard-driven.
Love the keyboard stuff, no question. But I hate the tiling.
the good thing about ram prices going up
Computer hardware prices are skyrocketing right now. There are three specific types of hardware getting the most attention for pricing. RAM, CPUs and SSDs.
There is a good thing about the prices going up as fast as they are.
"Good? How?"
Don't worry, I'll tell you.
Whenever there's a shortage of pretty much anything in high demand, the end result is the unavoidable glut that happens afterward. The process is this:
- Thing in high demand has a shortage, whether a true shortage or manufactured.
- Prices for Thing skyrocket.
- Leading manufacturers of Thing and their competitors purposely overproduce Thing to cash in while the demand is high.
- Once everybody has Thing or people realize they really don't need Thing and find an alternative, people stop buying.
- Giant piles of Thing are now sitting in warehouses and have prices slashed by 50% to 80% or even more just to get rid of them.
The last one is the glut. It's not a matter of if that will occur but when.
Nobody ever knows when the glut will happen. Not even the manufacturers.
Right now, we're at the B and C point.
The glut hasn't happened yet, but it will.
How D happens is going to be interesting, because right now it's a situation of spending more to get less; this is why I put the "or" in D. Hiking up the price of tech makes people do something. They think.
How soon the glut happens all depends on how many people think.
It's one thing to be annoyed just from the use of tech, but if that also includes being directly hit in the wallet and paying more for less, then the thinking starts.
This thinking leads to a question, which is, "Do I really need this?" The moment that's asked, the answer has already been determined, and it's a no.
And that's when people stop buying. Shortly after that is when the glut begins, and that's the good part. Prices go through the floor, and then it's okay to buy again, conditionally. The condition is whether you can actually use the stuff or not. If you can, buy. If not, somebody else certainly will. Or it goes straight to e-waste. Whatever.
Stand pat? Go old?
Windows 10 works for now, but it's a liability because the rug can be pulled out from under it for major browser support at any moment.
Windows 11, even though a total dumpster fire, at least runs modern browsers... when it's not doing other dumb stuff.
Then there's Linux, which is my daily driver OS. I'll say again that I'm not telling anybody to switch to Linux. But concerning PC hardware, what I can do in a Linux environment is get the most out of it.
If it were possible to de-AI Windows 11, strip it all the way down to a Win2000 level, dump the online account "requirement", delete Microsoft Store, delete all Xbox trash, and replace the shell with something like LiteStep, it would be awesome. But that's never happening. The closest you'll get these days is Tiny11, but that's a powder keg.
Should you dare use Tiny11, this is a quote from their Limitations area:
For updates like bug fixing, it works fine, but for big updates, you may face issues, as it may break things completely.
...and that's not hyperbole. Like I said, Tiny11 is a powder keg. No way would I touch that.
On Linux, it is absolutely doable (and altogether far safer than Tiny11) to strip the environment down to an insanely lean level with a window manager like i3 or Sway. Or I can just go lightweight with Xfce or LXQt.
The leaner the environment, the more you get out of your PC hardware. More power can be dedicated to programs instead having it needlessly used just to support the GUI.
Ultimately, that means less needs to be spent on hardware. If all it takes to get everything running smooth and quick is a change of the OS, then you never needed to upgrade the PC hardware in the first place.