I recently found an unopened HP PhotoSmart 6520 in my mother in law's closet. She had it prepared for when her workhorse gave out. I've needed a scanner downstairs and want to figure out if I can safely connect this thing to the network without it bricking itself. You all probably already know HPs reputation and how they do sketchy things like blocking third party ink with firmware updates after the consumer has already purchased the product, or making it so you can't scan if the ink is out. Right now, all I want to do is scan some docs to linux, likely over USB, maybe over the network if I can get it to work. I don't want to rule out that my partner may want to print something.

What is the best way to go about this? Can I block the printer from accessing the internet on my router, but still have devices on the local network print to it? Should I? Can I see somewhere if updates are reported as safe and only then unblock the internet access so it can update?

Problem is, as usual, Google is less than helpful. Does anyone know where I can find a list of which printers were affected and which are still affected?

I'm down to the last few hours of discounts here. I need to get my NAS and my server onto a UPS months ago. Both are already set to come back on when power restores. We rarely have power outages and have solar panels (no house battery though), so a full outage is even rarer.

I understand that a UPS can send a shutdown signal when power is lost. Is this a universal standard or format for this? If so, what keywords should i use when searching for compatible products? My father told me to look for one with Ethernet ports. I just want to make sure everything is compatible. I go out of town occasionally and as well as preventing data loss, I also need everything to go down and come back up automatically so I don't have to call a friend, neighbor, or my spouse to go mess with stuff for me.

UPS brands considered (alternatives welcome): APC, Cyberpower

Systems protected, Synology DS 220+ & BeeLink MiniPC running Debian 12.

Also, for anyone who has helped me out previously in my self-hosted journey, thank you! Things are going great and I have a few useful docker images running various services and have set up grub btrfs snapshots to easily fix my screwups. This community has been incredibly helpful.

Hi folks, I just picked up a Pixel 8 Pro on an early black Friday deal. I've had my previous OnePlus 9 for way longer than the average timeframe and the same with my Oneplus 6 before that.

Looking at cases, I noticed I recognize very few of the manufacturers, basically just Otterbox and Spigen.

If you gravitate towards a particular case manufacturer, I would love to know:

Who makes the best phone cases in 2024?

No limits on style or form, but I don't need rhinestone bling or anything like that.

Hi folks,

You all have been instrumental to my self-hosting journey, both as inspiration and as a knowledge base when I'm stumped despite my research.

I am finding various different opinions on this and I'm curious what folks here have to say.

I'm running a Debian server accessible only within the home with a number of docker images like paperless-ngx, jellyfin, focalboard, etc. Most of the data actually resides on my NAS via NFS.

1. Is /mnt or /media the correct place to mount the directories. Is mounting it on the host and mapping the mount point to docker with a bind the best path here?

2. Additionally, where is the best place to keep my docker-compose? I understand that things will work even if I pick weird locations, but I also believe in the importance of convention. Should this be in the home directory of the server user? I've seen a number of locations mentioned in search results.

3. Do I have to change the file perms in the locations where I store the docker compose or any config files that don't sit on the other end of NFS?

Any other resources you wish to share are appreciated. I appreciate the helpfulness of this community.

Hello fellow lemmings,

I was a wiz at google in the early 2000s. I would find obscure forums for every interest and usually get some pretty good info. My research skills haven't aged well, and I'd like to get a bit more with it.

I use:

• Rtings, for TVs and monitors
• Consumer reports, for <500
• Sites like scamreport where people rant about shitty companies not living up to their promises
• glassdoor, to see what a company's employees think and how they are treated

How do you research your purchases when there is so much AI slop out there and google doesn't really work right anymore. Duck duck go and bing are marginally better. Are there trusted impartial review sites?

Hi folks, I know many of you are elite system admins running custom built NAS solutions networked together with servers tucked in every spare closet and space in your home, which is awesome. Having said that, I am still newer in my self hosted journey and my existing knowledge is more from running Linux as an daily driver OS since 2005 rather than actually hosting anything. For this reason, even though it's not ideologically pure, I opted for a SynologyNAS for simplicity of management. This was the next step for me after dipping my toes into self hosting after messing around with some VMs and an old laptop.

With the new DSM update, Synology removes several apps and codec support, most notably h.256. I experienced something similar on Linux where I cannot view videos recorded on my action cam. I don't know how many of these photos and videos I have in my file system, but my NAS is local network only and basically contains my photos, videos, ebooks, documents, etc. in separate shares containing a hierarchical folder structure.

My questions:

1. How can I most easily search my NAS for files needing the removed codecs so I can gauge how much this will actually effect me? I want to approach the problem in a simple way that I can understand.
2. With Linux and Synology DSM both dropping codecs, I am considering just taking the storage hit to convert to h.264 or another format. What would you recommend? I havent recoded video in ages so I'm learning from scratch, but I do have a desktop with dual 1080s that should be up to the task.
3. I access my shares via dolphin on KDE. When it comes to thumbnails for a remote filesystem like this are they generated and stored on my PC or will the PC save them to the folder on the NAS where other programs could use them. I just want to make sure I can visually browse the videos and photos on my NAS and have them show up appropriately.

I'm a bit frustrated and kind of favoring just moving things to a different format. I bought a Synology device for an easier experience, and having said that, even if I built a custom solution, didn't Debian remove h.265 as well? I will probably do a TrueNAS or whatever at some point, but I've had way to many family events in the last few years and have to take an easier path right now.

My Linux knowledge is intermediate and my self-hosting knowledge is still fairly basic.

Hi folks,

About a month ago, I posted the thread at the shared link because my phone keeps spontaneously rebooting at my local Safeway store. I found several other people with similar issues online, but no one who has discovered the actual cause. I also haven't fully understood why, but I have a few updates to share since visiting the store a few more times.

• Scanned subGhz (w/ flipperzero) and Bluetooth frequencies. Lots of interesting things. Something bluetooth or bluetooth LE keeps popping up on the logs on my phone before the phone crashes, probably a beacon
• Turning off Bluetooth does not stop the behavior
• Pulled the log from the phone post-crash and it has some interesting things in it. I don't understand it fully, but it reads like the whole system is dying due to something happening in the wifi manager?

Can anyone glean any additional information from this:

time: 1727914596869
msg: android.os.DeadSystemException: android.os.DeadSystemException
stacktrace: android.os.DeadSystemRuntimeException: android.os.DeadSystemException
	at android.net.wifi.WifiManager.getScanResults(WifiManager.java:4451)
	at com.android.systemui.statusbar.pipeline.wifi.data.repository.prod.WifiRepositoryHelper$createNetworkScanFlow$1$callback$1.onScanResultsAvailable(WifiRepositoryHelper.kt:88)
	at android.net.wifi.WifiManager$ScanResultsCallback$ScanResultsCallbackProxy$$ExternalSyntheticLambda0.run(D8$$SyntheticClass:0)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.internal.LimitedDispatcher$Worker.run(LimitedDispatcher.kt:115)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.TaskImpl.run(Tasks.kt:103)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.CoroutineScheduler.runSafely(CoroutineScheduler.kt:584)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.CoroutineScheduler$Worker.executeTask(CoroutineScheduler.kt:793)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.CoroutineScheduler$Worker.runWorker(CoroutineScheduler.kt:697)
	at kotlinx.coroutines.scheduling.CoroutineScheduler$Worker.run(CoroutineScheduler.kt:684)
	Suppressed: kotlinx.coroutines.internal.DiagnosticCoroutineContextException: EmptyCoroutineContext
Caused by: android.os.DeadSystemException
	... 9 more

I think what's happening is the phone is trying to take some kind of action based on a beacon and is crashing, but I don't have any loyalty apps installed. Does anyone have a better understanding of how this stuff works?

I'm looking for 3rd parties who watch and report on developments in these large "world-shaping" corporations. Like a watchdog or a canary when they get into lawsuits or get caught doing bad things. Investigative reporting whether IRL or thorough internet documentarian style is ideal.

I've been thinking a lot about how google's algorithm changes have contributed to the web becoming the shit show it is now and what the alternatives could be. I do want to make sure I have a clear understanding of as much of the history as I can.

I tried searching "who watches google" and obviously just got advertised pages of Android Wear spy bracelets.

Is there a good old-fashioned directory page (or Community) for these anti-Web 2.0 resources?

Your help is appreciated!

Howdy fellow lemmings,

I know your collective knowledge is greater than mine, so I have come to you for your wisdom.

My OnePlus 9 is nearing the end of it's life. The power button doesn't work or registers a double press (I use tap2wake and tap2sleep instead) and some other parts are hinting that they're starting to die. Also, something in 915Mhz or 925Mhz seems to be causing random UI reboots at the grocery store. Might be hardware or custom rom related.

I'm looking for something with:

1. Unlockable bootloader with option for root. I may or may not root this time around, depends on how tailscale to my pihole at home works. I absolutely must be able to strip out the bloat and preferably the google apps as well (though I'd like to keep the option for play store), I'm extremely ad-phobic.
2. Open hardware that third party developers can properly use. I'm running CrDroid on my OP9 and it's ridiculously great, but cannot make good use of my camera. There are quality issues, cropping issues, and functionality issues and I've experienced similar with other phones I had in the past. Are there manufacturers who publish specs resulting in better 3rd party camera implementations? I would be fine with a more midrange phone, as I don't play many games, but I need the camera to work well.
3. A large/active modding scene is appreciated
4. Bonus points if they don't advertise a bunch of AI bs that I don't want or need
5. Location is USA, though phone can be from anywhere as long as it works. I need at least a few bands to be able to use the phone in Germany.

Can anyone advise on which manufacturers meet my requirements?

My understanding is: OnePlus - unlockable, rootable, custom ROM cameras suck unless the rom uses default op9 camera and it seems that this doesn't work well with more AOSP-y ROMS

Pixel - varies by manufacturer

ASUS - I'm seeing concerns about unlocking and Roms though it seems they have been good in the past

Nothing Phone - unlockable/rootable

Fairphone - seems ideologically pure, but performance, camera, and battery life may not be awesome

Suggestions and insights are appreciated.

Hi folks, I'm in a bit of a personal crisis currently and need to quickly find a piece of speech transcription software that works on Linux and does not require a significant time investment to set up and can help me transcribe a number of audio clips <15 min. each.

• Can someone recommend a program that can transcribe some audio recordings for me and is relatively simple to set up and use?
• Do such programs need a GPU to run effectively? I'm running a Dell XPS 9370 laptop which only has internal graphics.

My backup plan is to listen and transcribe by hand, so recommendations of a program that will allow me to self-transcribe by typing while listening at a reduced rate are also appreciated.

• If any experienced transcribers are reading this, have you found that your pedals worked well with Linux?

Normally I would try out all the different programs and do more than the small number of searches I've done, but my timeline doesn't allow time for to build a cluster of custom-coded transcription bots running gentoo on hand-soldered hardware.

My environment is EndeavorOS running on a Dell XPS 9370,internet is over Wifi, with no external dongles or anything currently hooked up.

I visit a store regularly and every time to try to reference something on my phone in that store, I get UI crashes. The phone works fine everywhere else. Its a Oneplus9 running a custom rom.

Two questions:

1. What could cause this? Is some sort of interference in the store crashing things? Is the bright light causing the luminosity sensor to overwhelm. Is the store trying to mess with or track my phone in some way and all my modifications, privacy configurations, etc. are choosing to crash instead of allow it?
2. Do you have any ideas about how I can figure out what is causing it? Spectrum analysis with a flipper zero or something similar, logs of some kind on the phone, process of elimination? Links are appreciated if it requires advanced nerd cred (I'm probably intermediate with Linux, Android and tech in general, except networking where my knowledge is mediocre bit growing).

I am beyond curious what is going on because it is so weird that it works perfectly everywhere, but the UI keeps rebooting in this one store.

I have a decent 2 bay synology, but want to put all my docker images/ VMs running on a more powerful machine connected to the same LAN. Does it ever make sense to do the for media serving or will involving an extra device add too much complexity vs just serving from the NAS itself. I was hoping to have calibre/home assistant/tube type services, etc. all running off a mini PC with a Ryzen 7 and 64gb ram vs the NAS.

My Linux knowledge is intermediate; my networking knowledge is begintermediate, and I can generally follow documentation okay even if it's a bit above my skill level.