drnick1

Are these kinds of tests still relevant in the AI age? Genuine question, I have not interviewed for a very long time. They seem as useful as take home college exams.

Increasingly software is distributed by "curl dodgysite.com/get.sh|sudo bash -"

I don't think this is the norm at all. I have seen curl/bash install scripts for tools like Claude Code, but they don't use sudo, and the expectation is that you deploy them in isolated user accounts or containers.

Arch or Fedora, because you want a very recent KDE version.

It's not "quasi-malware," it is malware.

Another reason not to use ISP hardware. That's on top of a well-known backdoor (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TR-069).

Open up the back and disconnect the wifi antenna.

Upvoted. This is precisely the kind of thing I expect to read on HN.

So first you have to get a raspberry pi, install pi hole, then switch your router’s DNS.

This does not provide any meaningful protection against data exfiltration. The TV is very possibly using public DNS or outright phoning home through stable IPs.

I would suggest a mini-PC running Linux and Plasma Bigscreen instead of an AppleTV if you want something 100% private and user-controlled.

Another win for the Linux security model (software installed and updated manually from vetted repos only).

thanks to Google efforts switching to GrapheneOS mean tons of apps either not working or break every few months.

Sometimes, all you need is a Web browser. I personally don't want any "apps" on my phone that aren't basic utilities.

I am aware some banks in Europe require 2FA on a mobile device. Short of switching banks, my answer to that is a cheap or e-waste Googled Android phone that stays at home and serves that sole purpose.

It is crazy people think apple isnt on the side of privacy.

Apple is on the side of making money, and the privacy claims are mostly marketing. The entire stack is closed source, which means it is difficult and expensive to independently verify any of the claims made. What's more, the "auto update" universal backdoor means that Apple can forcibly push a user-hostile "feature" like client-side scanning when it wants or is compelled to by a state actor.

But you still need backups right?

I back up files to my own cloud with a Nextcloud integration for Android. That being said, a monthly or so backup of devices via USB/Ethernet, like we used to in the pre-cloud area, would be enough for all intents and purposes. It's not like what people have on their phones is generally very valuable.

The world where the operating system on my phone (GrapheneOS) isn't conspiring against me or uploading my files to someone else's computer.

I simply don't trust services such as iCloud. The legal landscape is too volatile, and Apple's own "terms and conditions" are also subject to constant change. As far as I can tell, most people don't need cloud backups, and iCloud mostly shows up as an annoyance designed to extract more money from customers. In fact, most people probably don't know that Apple and Google vacuum up their files the moment they are created, for their own good, of course.

One thing that Jellyfin does really well is integrate devices like the HDHomeRun. You can then watch OTA TV from any device on the LAN or elsewhere through the Jellyfin Web portal or dedicated clients for Linux/Android/iOS.

If your HTPC is powerful enough, you should also check out Plasma Bigscreen as a substitute for XFCE4.

A Ph.D. is usually a collection of papers/chapters, so even if a fatal flaw is found in one of the chapters, it does not normally result in "failing the Ph.D." It just means that that particular paper isn't publishable. The bar for getting a Ph.D. is actually quite low; what is truly difficult is clearing the bar in terms of publications for academic positions and later tenure.

booting into a black screen, random software breaking, games not working, bad performance and just jank in general.

That has not been my experience at all, using either the old closed source drivers or the newer "open" drivers. (Note: I am referring to the open source Nvidia kernel drivers, not Nouveau.)

There will be smaller versions in the 10-30B parameters range that can run on consumer GPUs.

I still have one too in a home server to power a local AI model. That being said, even my 3090 is starting to show its age. Recent games require aggressive DLSS (performance or super performance) to maintain at usable 70-80fps at 4K. That being said, in practice the upscaling isn't very noticeable.

Linux and OpenWrt have an incredibly good security record compared to what ships on typical consumer devices.

Giving sudo permissions to an agent seems reckless. Claude gets his own unprivileged UNIX account, no more. I don't bother with containers or VMs however.

QEMU is also a good option for Windows software that won't run on Wine. Unless you explicitly pass through a peripheral, Windows won't see it and start downloading malware in the backgroud.

Which is very hard, because most of these devices don't work locally.

Then don't buy those devices. All of my home devices are either Zigbee (local-only) or were bought specifically because they can be reflashed with open firmware to liberate them from the cloud.

Hell, even the internet-loved Ecobee has a banner that shifts everything down most of the time that you open the app.

I don't want such apps. The only app I need is Home Assistant, and installing proprietary software on my phone (running GrapheneOS) is out of the question.

In fact, the reason Linux is considered secure is simply because hardware vendors haven't standardized enough to build automatic deployment pipelines.

The Linux security model (sudo to install or update software) doesn't allow this. No reputable distribution would include a program that scans hardware identifiers and prompts the user for permission to install proprietary software from a third-party source. This is possible on Windows because of the "universal backdoor," aka Windows Update, with Microsoft's consent.

Not sure what your homegrown solution is, but check out Plasma Bigscreen too.

You don't have to win the hardware support lottery if you do a bit of research or buy a laptop made for it.

Just use Debian. It's just as easy to install and use nowadays, and does not come with bloatware/malware.

The fact that the European flag isn't seen anywhere in Europe tells you a lot about how people really feel about the E.U.

Yes this. My experience with Zigbee is that it just works, but the setup and specific hardware probably matters. I use a SONOFF USB dongle through Zigbee2MQTT and Home Assistant.

No matter what you’re doing you have to trust that your home router doesn’t have an externally accessible SSH port with no password set.

No, you don't have to trust. I build my own routers precisely because I don't.