Community Coffee Break

Robbie's Date Fixer for Linux: https://www.baldnerd.com/nerdgasms

GeezerGeek: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV_OJGkkmq3k9PqVabTp4Xw

Widevine: https://widevine.com/

Linux Kernel Critical Bug: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/03/psa-linux-folks-stay-away-from-the-5-12-rc1-kernel/

Topics Discussed:

Robbie
- Upgrades did not go quite so well, having issues with his editing software
- Describes his Pinebook Pro + HDMI screen, driven via USB-C.
- Clarifies that he is producing his 4K video on his main machine by remoting in from his Pinebook Pro.
- BaldNerd is so happy that the technology exists to support the "new normal".
- has used a bluetooth mask but otherwise they are pretty basic.

Dave Hodsdon
- GeezerGeek on YouTube to help folks out with tech topics.
- Covers Windows, Ubuntu, hardware, all kinds of topics.
- Is a pastor at his church
- Has built a recording appliance that his pianist can just push a button, record the music and push a button to stop the recording. Then he collects the recording to post-process it later.
- bp9 does coffee break the same way.
- zoom is very handy for virtual meetings, etc.

Marshman
- knows how to handle the mute button :-)
- gets teased for his jellyfish background, so he swaps it for the ever-persistent bird at the beach :-)
- Notes that some folks wear full masks with a clear window built in so that folks who are hard of hearing or deaf can still interpret what they are saying (especially useful in a doctors office)
- describes how he gets 10,000 steps a day just by walking all around New York City because he avoids bus, train, and taxi at all costs.

bp9
- It's the beard convention :-)
- having issues with his phone. Maybe factory reset is needed.
- USB-C interface in his pinephone will not activate his USB-C adapter.
- Notes that he may be going deaf; hasn't realized how much he depends on watching mouth movements to see what people are saying; a mask makes that very difficult.
- Used to walk from one end of Melbourne, Australia Central Business District (CBD) in about 30 minutes. Same for North end to South End.

Solbu
- notes that his church is starting to conduct services in person again. Same for Doug's church.
- points out there is a severe bug in the linux kernel for a release candidate of v5.12 that corrupts the root filesystem if you have a swap file, not a swap partition.
- release candidates typically do not appear in the development or stable branches of any distro.

Doug
- is still having problems with SSH keys on his RasPi
- He cannot get WiFi to connect
- BaldNerd thinks SSH keys won't be valid of linux date and time is not set correctly.
- bp9 thinks it's SSL certs that would be impacted by that, not SSH keys?
- In any case, try setting the time manually first, then use NTP (Network Time Protocol) to keep the time in sync.
- Bald Nerd remonds us that although the command is 'date', there is syntax.
- Is still trying to get widevine to load in Raspian, and then Ubuntu on Raspberry Pi
- We think Doug just folds his beard up to make a mask LOL

Peter
- had his first COVID injection Wednesday and had some side-effects, but improved after one day.
- England and Ireland may be opening up again in April.
- Is still having trouble getting electronic parts in, makes it difficult to repair components.
- Laments that an article in a well-known electronics magazine features a circuit that is completely wrong.
- Peter's wife's computer has failed; prices for hard drives and SSDs have skyrocketed at least three times normal price.