Tech Shinobi

After months of disappearing, I’m able to come back blogging, with A LOTS of drafts. I’ll be updating more details about my current situation in a more dedicated post. But for now, let’s talk something technological interesting. Dell Optiplex 3050 Micro has been my ideal open source desktop PC for quite a while, probably since the first time when Libreboot added its support. Recently, I got the chance to have one of these as an upgrade from my older mini PC build. ...

Welcome to Shinobi Hackerspace. I am the host, Shinobi. You are seeing this probably because you have visited the Hackerspace. As the host, I am suppose to give you an on-site Orientation for the first time, but unfortunately this article is all we have right now. I’ll be updating this guideline while we are moving forward! Membership & access Open to anyone with Innovation Center access (Please join the club). Be informed of this guideline or someone on site. Responsibility & community care Everyone using the space should keep it clean and organized. Use equipment responsibly to prevent damage and accidents. Consult manuals online or ask staff/host when unsure. Members are encouraged to help one another; mutual aid is recommended. Hosts & volunteers Seeking co-hosts who can (or willing to learn to) maintain hardware and operations. Hosts/organizers handle safety decisions and incident response. Tool library & Self‑help repair shop Users are expected to perform (or be able to learn) repairs, maintenance, and basic troubleshooting themselves. (iFixit/Instructables/YouTube is your best friends) Contact staff/host for questions, safety concerns, or when assistance is needed. Staff/host may provide guidance but are not responsible for user projects. Borrowing Servers and stationary equipment are onsite use only. Mobile devices (e.g. laptops/phones): borrowable up to one semester; Unpopular devices are renewable right away. Wipe personal data before returning or done using. Small tools, consumables, accessories (pliers, cables, adapters): borrowable up to one month; basic maintenance required before return. AI servers & content rules AI servers are able to generate text, image, video, and audio. (you can run whatever model you want) Delete all generated outputs and personal data when finished. Save and share your awesome prompt/workflow with others! Monitor the CPU/GPU temperature proactively with btop. (let someone know if it goes above 80C) Political, NSFW and illegal content are prohibited. (watch out license/copyright information before using an AI model) Report misuse or problematic outputs to staff. Preliminary rules Check-out/in via a log on paper/spreadsheet or email list. Renewals allowed if no waitlist. Lost/damaged items: find someone to repair or donate something equivalent in share value. To keep an item permanently, make sure there is at least one duplicate/alternative available in the tool library. Donating back something with a similar share value (like your spares, backup, or less needed item that benefits the community). Equipment & safety Safety first. Make sure you have the capability of what you’re doing, or under supervision. Follow standart safety procedures and use PPE. (we’ve got earmuffs, gloves and goggles) Report damage, hazards, or incidents immediately. Other notice Clean work areas and return tools/supplies to their places. Use power tools outside the building. Use headphones for audio; respect quiet zones. Borrowing records retained only as needed for operations. Remove upon request. All other rules and conduct are aligned with Innovation Center.

This has been a problem for a while now. That green dot and popup notification persisted on my Mullvad browser makes me feel like using a bloatware than a FOSS. The right way to do this is either follow their upstream Tor browser update model—just force updating seamlessly without any user interaction. Or, like LibreWolf, manual update with the system package manager. This situation might be because of I’m using the portable version of Mullvad browser. If that’s the case, I shouldn’t blame it. ...

Background with Kicksecure Last year, I set up my Monero Wallet with Kicksecure and happy about it. This distro is really lightweight and easy to use. However, it failed completely after a recent upgrade, which was a major version leap from Debian 12 to 13. It lost drivers, desktop environment stopped working and probably much more which I couldn’t discover because I stacked at a login screen loop. After troubleshooting for a couple of hours, it turns out all lightdm related DEs are unusable and Gnome and KDE are working. ...

This post was originally published on February 2025, and I recently updated the IPATool section in the end as a alternative method to prior ones. iPhone Talks There are a many cellphones that make me feel nostalgic. None of them is Android nor iPhone. Some of them are QWERTY, some are flip phones. Phones were much interesting back in the days when Motorola, Nokia, Sony, Sharp, Blackberry and more are still competitive in the market. Today’s smartphones are indifferent and rather being “boredphones”. And all of these boredness are rooted in the “iPhone Moment”. ...