Nicholas Toone

Nicholas Toone

  • Friction Update: GrapheneOS

    I’m taking another run at GrapheneOS and this time, I think I’ve managed to make it work.

    I basically have the same issue I did when initially moving from Windows to Linux: I needed to change mindset from “ok, what replaces this thing that I use” while looking for the exact the same thing with a different name to “what is it I need/want to do?” and then find something that does that thing – and be patient while learning the new app. Sure, Photoshop may be the industry standard but boy, do I remember how difficult it was to learn how to use it. It’s the same with every tool out there but we just allow ourselves to lulled into the complacency of the status quo.

    The cool thing about the Open Source world is there is something for everyone. Some apps are completely amazing. Some are utter shit. And there is everything else in between. Be patient. You’ll find something that works.

    Yes, there will be a learning curve but that’s all part of it. And the learning curve for GrapheneOS turned out to be not as bad as I thought the first time around. If I include the few days I played with it at the end of February, I figure it took about the same amount of effort as it did when I switched from iOS to Android.

    You just gotta be patient (there’s that word again) and treat it like something brand new not something you feel should be exactly the same.

    Blah blah blah, here’s where I am:

    App Stores

    The GrapheneOS “app store” literally has twelve entries in it. One of them is an app store called Accrescent which I installed, downloaded a maps program I haven’t opened yet. There’s not a lot there tbh.

    The GrapheneOS “app store” is where you can install the Google Play Services and Store, allowing you to login and download apps. However the idea of GrapheneOS is to avoid this if you can, so I started looking to the alternatives.

    F-Droid

    F-Droid is an Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) repository. It’s pretty easy to install, just go to the website, download the APK, tap on said APK and install when prompted.

    I really, really like F-droid so far. I’ve found all kinds of goodness that I’m using on a daily basis.

    • Auxio. A nice, neat, simple music player. While I like Qobuz and appreciate a vast catalog of music on demand and in my pocket, I do love that I can copy my actual MP3 collection to my device and not have to worry about whatever I’m listening to crapping out as I drive outside of good cell reception.
    • QUIK SMS. I don’t really like the default GraphereOS messenger so, at first, I tried out Simple SMS Messenger. It was ok but it has an issue where pictures that my contacts sent through would not load. QUIK SMS doesn’t have this issue and seems to do the job.
    • HeliBoard. Admittedly, I really like Google’s keyboard (Gboard) but I don’t like Google and don’t want them tracking all the shit I type. I also don’t like the default GrapheneOS keyboard. It’s kinda butch. So I’m trying HeliBoard. So far it’s good. I miss the gif option, but I’ll live. I have installed Gboard for comparison purposes and so far HeliBoard is doing what I need.
    • Aves Libre. The default GrapheneOS image gallery is junk. I mean it’s, really, really bad. It picks up single photos as folders and just shits the bed with navigation. No matter. If there is one thing I love about FOSS, it’s that someone out there has come up with a reasonable alternative. And, so far, Aves Libre seems to be just that. Its Collection layout makes sense, you can hide shit you don’t want to see, you can do a variety of edits from basic filters to more advanced options like curves. I may try out a couple of others.
    • Acrticons. Holy shit this icon pack is amazing. For the first time I’ve found a pack that covers all of my app icons1 and really helps with the look and feel I was going for. Fantastic.

    Aurora

    If you need something from the actual Play Store, but don’t want to bother with the Play Store, the Aurora Store is an excellent alternative. I’ve grabbed the rest of my apps from here; Simplenote, Qobuz, my financial shit, and my work shit. I haven’t had any real problems, only mild annoyances – the main one being my work shit needs the Google services and Play store installed to work properly. Regardless, Play is installed, but I haven’t even launched it. I guess it just needs to be there (and both it and its services are sandboxed). If there is an app of the closed sourced variety I need, I just grab it from Aurora and away I go.

    Some Friction

    Maps. Hooo boy. I really want to not rely on Google Maps, so I’m giving Here We Go a spin. It makes me realize how fucking good Google Maps is. But Google Maps is so fucking good because they track every single thing we do.

    We have a grocery store here named Metro. I was out with the family the other night and needed to pick up a couple of items. In Google Maps, I’d simply type in metro and it would automatically pop up the one closest to me and I could then very quickly select it and check store hours.

    In Here We Go, I typed metro and… it showed me all the Metro stations in downtown Montreal.

    I sighed, opened a browser and checked the Metro Grocery store website and found that they were still open.

    Look at that. We live in a world where an extra thirty seconds of work feels like a personal slight. How dare I have to open a web browser and search a store’s hours?

    I just took a deep breath and, realizing the absurdity of the whole scenario and headed to the Metro.

    Then there’s text messages. I haven’t been able to get RCS working on GrapheneOS. When I first tried this in the spring, I thought RCS was a must have and was one of the reasons I gave up.

    I now realize that RCS doesn’t really matter all that much to me. RCS is really just SMS two-dot-oh and it appears that Google has locked down the API that would allow RCS so other developers are shit out of luck adding RCS into their message apps. And I do not want to use the Google Messenger app.

    Besides, I don’t use 90% of the features crap that’s been stuffed into modern messaging apps thanks to RCS or iMessage, or whatever. I just want to send you a message. Or a picture. Sometimes I’ll use an emoji. Maybe a gif2 if I’m feeling fancy. I mean, I really miss simple text emoticons. They convey so much with so little.

    Of course, my convos from the Google Android phone didn’t come over but I wasn’t expecting them to. I did manage to export and import my contacts so there is that. I’m still going to answer people with “New phone, who dis?” when they message me first.

    So…?

    I’m fucking loving it. I think I may just have GrapheneOS working just right. While I’ll give it a few weeks and see if there are any major snags, so far it looks like I’m ready to ditch the official Google Android for more private pastures.

    1. One exception: There was no icon for CloudPlayer, but no matter. I’d replace this with Auxio anyway. There is an icon for Auxio. Problem solved. ↩︎
    2. Hard G. Yes, I’ll die on that hill. ↩︎

  • Jab, Cross, Hook, Cross, Kick

    Since I completed the unfinished songs last year, I’ve been doing very little other than angrily switching around all of our tech shit from Big Tech to Not So Big Tech.

    For the first time since I can remember, I’ve not felt the urge to work on new music. I still do creative things; I’m painting a little bit and I’m writing, (both here and something longer and more interesting). But other than that, there was … nothing.

    I’d been doing music almost non-stop in some form or another for since I was a teenager. There was a point where visual art was my main driver, but that changed in my late teens and music took over as my main creative outlet.

    Now, all these years later, I found myself bored of it and I needed to step away and try something new. But what?

    That led me to thinking: “What’s the most not me thing I could do?”

    I came up with a couple of ideas and one of them is Muay Thai.

    Now, please realize that I have zero plans of actually fighting in a ring. I’m doing this to try something new. To get out of my comfort zone. And something that’s way, way, way out of my comfort zone is combat sports.

    At the beginning of March, I signed up for a “discount two weeks” at one place and was just dropped unceremoniously into a class where I was paired up with someone and we all drilled full combos all while I had no idea what I was doing and no one ever considered letting my know that I was standing completely wrong and alone that my punches were incorrect. Very incorrect.

    And wow, I just was not feeling it.

    Rather than give up, I scoped out and contacted another place who informed me that their Phase 1 classes were designed for beginners. Based on that, I signed up for a free class there was a warmup, then shadow boxing. It was here that the Kru asked all first timers to join him and he taught:

    This is how you stand.

    This is how you move.

    This is how you hold your arms.

    Always remember to bring your hands back to your face after a punch.

    The drills themselves are based on how many newbies were in the class. This is how you corkscrew your jab. This is how you pivot your foot and hips to add power to your cross and/or hook. This is how you step slightly out and spin on the ball of your foot when you kick. Here are some basic blocking maneuvers. Etc. You’re paired up with someone and the Kru and his assistants walk around offering suggestions and corrections.

    Perfect1.

    Two months in and I’m clicking with most of the basics (not all, there’s so much to remember, but most), my jump rope has improved, I don’t wind as fast as that first session, I don’t hurt as much the next day, and let me tell you, I generally walk out of the gym feeling pretty fucking great.

    I’ve also waded into a couple of the All Level sessions and they’re interesting. I feel pretty good knowing the basics, and then the Kru will throw in something more advanced like grappling/throwing and I feel lost again. It doesn’t matter though, as the people are awesome, patient, and understanding. Not just the Kru’s but all of the participants. We’re all there to learn, to improve.

    I’ve been paired with advanced people2 who are very patient with me even though I feel like I’m slowing them down. Recently I’ve been paired with people who are just starting out and I’m patient with them remembering where I was at all those weeks ago and knowing that I’m just far enough along to provide some basic pointers3.

    The outcome if that I feel good. The workout is intense but definitely not boring. There’s a lot to learn which is what I was really looking for.

    Look, life is huge and it can be uncertain and scary at times. I know that when it comes to facing the new, most people’s inner self tells them “oh, you’ll hate this, it’s gonna suck, so don’t do it”. So what? What if it ends up not working out? Who cares? It’s cliche but at least you tried, and that’s the important part.

    You’ll find that if you say “fuck it” and just try, eventually you’ll find something good that clicks and that it’s really worth it to step away from the familiar.

    Sawasdee khap!

    1. Well, not quite perfect. The warmup includes two, three minute sessions of jump rope. And let me tell you, I absolutely suck at jump rope. Or, rather, I used to. A couple of months later, I only kind of suck. ↩︎
    2. Even though we’re punching and kicking into pads, after being teamed up with a couple of advanced dudes, I could feel said punches and kicks for a couple of days after. I feel like if we’d have been sparring, I’d be in the hospital. ↩︎
    3. Bringing your hands back to protect your face after throwing a punch is a big one. ↩︎

  • Oh, Fuck YOU, Microsoft

    I know I’ve said it a million times before but, fuck you, Microsoft. Fuck you, fuck you, FUCK YOU!

    Now that we’ve moved a huge chunk of our lives away from Big Tech, I’m in the process of cancelling our Family MS365 account. One of the people who has a shared account still needs access to a subscription so I worked to set them up with a Personal account.

    When you subscribe to a new MS365 account you have two options.

    1. Microsoft 365 Family: $145/year.
    2. Microsoft 365 Personal: $115/year

    That’s it. So you choose one. In this case, Personal.

    Apparently all accounts include Copilot bullshit but, whatever. Sure. Won’t use it and it sucks to have to pay for it but…

    I discovered that if you then go into your account, right after paying1, and click Cancel Subscription, you are then given the option to change to a Microsoft 365 Personal Classic (basically normal account with no Copilot AI garbage) account that’s only $79/year BUT the $79 only happens when the subscription renews next year. There is no option to turn off AI and be refunded the $36.

    So you’re stuck with Copilot with the AI garbage for a year. Then, next year, they will they charge you less and remove the garbage you don’t want2.

    How the actual fuck is this type of shit allowed?

    If an account without AI is offered as a reason to keep subscribers, then is should be an option from the start. Period. Full stop. The Microsoft Plans page should look like this:

    1. Microsoft 365 Family: $145/year
    2. Microsoft 365 Family Classic: $115/year.
    3. Microsoft 365 Personal: $115/year
    4. Microsoft 365 Personal Classic: $79/year

    But no. Microsoft would rather force you to pay for Copilot so they can say brag about the number of people signing up for Copilot rather than allow people to choose because I’m pretty sure MS knows that most people would choose to pay a little less to not have some stupid AI garbage stinking up their apps.

    If I ever had to remind anyone again why I’m moving away from Big Tech, this is a perfect example. All of these companies are fucking shady, horrible, terrible, grifting fucking monsters.

    1. I knew dropping to a Classic account was a thing if you tried to cancel, but thought it was only for anyone who has subscriptions before MS added Copilot and increased the price – so like, people who had accounts before January 2025. I’m honestly shocked that this is a hidden thing for brand new accounts. ↩︎
    2. Maybe. They could very well change this by this time next year. I’m usually not a betting man, but I got $36 that says I’ll get an email from Microsoft sometime in early 2026 saying they’re deprecating the Classic option and raising their subscription pricing. ↩︎

  • Pause

    Things have been busy and crazy and I’ve been dealing with a bummer of a head cold for well over a week. I haven’t really had the time, nor have I been in the mood to write anything here. So while I work on a post about what’s really on my mind, here’s something quick for now.

    TureNAS Scale is running and Plex is plexing and that is good.

    The old laptop was wiped and Linux Mint was installed. Gave it a run, found it a little too, uh, I dunno. It just didn’t jive with me. So I wiped it again and installed Ubuntu Studio.

    You know what was nice? Two operating system installs (Mint & Studio) and each was just:

    • Pick a language/keyboard layout
    • Pick your internet (if you want, don’t need to, can do it later)
    • Choose a disc
    • Give your computer a name, create a computer user/password
    • Install.

    That’s it.

    No having to login with an online account.

    No having to pay close attention to, and opting out of, a laundry list of “privacy” settings.

    No answering questions of what you’ll be using your computer for.

    No “Let’s customize your experience by checking more boxes!”

    No nags to use the trial of Office 365.1

    No Join Game Pass for $1 options (maybe later because you’re not allowed to just say No).

    No LinkedIn, no Instagram, no Photoshop Express, no whatever other paid promotions are littered in the Start menu.

    None of having to go through this absolute bullshit.

    Holy hell, I really don’t think we realize how much these giant tech companies take from us.

    1: Now officially called “Microsoft 365 Copilot app”. I just can’t with this AI shit.

  • Project: Friction – Update 3. This Mess Is A Place

    Getting there. It’s a slog, but I’m getting there. Just so you’re on the level, here’s what we’re working with:

    • An old WD Elements “bookshelf”, 4TB platter drive that we got in sometime in, I think, 2012. It has old family computer backups as well as a massive folder of photos.
    • Tiny computer with 256GB main SSD and a 1TB SSD storage drive (both M.2 2280). Going to be a NAS.
    • Old Dell Latitude with 1TB 2.5″ SSD. Old kids computer that had been turned into a temporary Plex server.
    • USB enclosure with a 500GB, 2.5″ SSD. My backup. Had music shit on it that has since been organized and moved over to my main desktop.

    The WD is the one that was taking a shit last week and while I wasn’t overly worried about the computer backups, I was very worried about the photos. There are pictures in there from as far back as 2009.

    This is how I manged to work things:

    I wrote about the the bullshit with TrueNAS Core, and while I’m still somewhat pissed about them killing plugins, at least what’s setup now is functioning as a NAS. I’d also written about how the WD drive was freezing my main desktop when I was copying files. I plugged the WD into the Old Dell Latitude, let Windows 10 do whatever repairs it wanted, and then copied the Photos directory over to the laptop a bit at a time. Then connected the laptop to the NAS and copied the files over to that. Then connected my main desktop to the NAS and copied the files here. Then I did this with the rest of the backup folders on the WD. One good thing that came out of this was I took time and went through my ridiculously massive backup folder, organized it and shitcanned so much useless crap (like full Time Machine backups from 2010 though 2016ish). Once I culled that folder, the entirety of our family archive took on a more reasonable size.

    Last thing that’s being coped over is the Plex library which should be done in (looks over at laptop) about half an hour. Then another hour or so to copy it from the NAS to my computer (or Ms. Tucker’s – we’ll see how mine is doing for space) is now copying over to my desktop.

    Then the real fun will begin! Stay with me now…

    • Remove the 1TB drive from the laptop, put it in my USB enclosure
      • This will be plugged into the TinyPC for extra storage purposes.
    • Wipe the Tiny PC and install TrueNAS Scale.
      • Copy backup and media files over to the NAS
      • Install and configure Plex server.
    • Put the 500GB drive from the enclosure into the laptop.
      • I’m going to install Linux on this for two reasons:
        • Writing
        • Steam (only for JackBox. It’s the only game that will run on the laptop and it’s a fave when we have people over. We plug the laptop into the TV, fire up JackBox and enjoy the shenanigans).
      • Gonna give Linux Mint a spin, I think.

    Slow and steady wins the race and all of that shit. We’re getting there :)

  • Project: Friction – Update 2. Backup And Bullshit.

    Data backup has been, well, something. While working on the NAS, I’ve been figuring out how much data we have to backup and where to put it. It was in the middle of this where I found out that the freezing I’ve been experiencing on my PC was most likely due to one of two things:

    • A whacked out file somewhere in the large mess of directories and files or
    • the backup drive I was trying to copy file over to/from

    I zeroed in on the drive and started using Konsole to copy but holy hell, even rsync froze the computer. Jesus, wtf?

    I did some research and found that freezing while copying large amounts of files can be attributed to a bad disk – and for some reason I’d ignored the fact that this large USB backup drive is well over ten years old. Guess I needed to check it for errors and, well, smartctl wouldn’t pick up anything about this old drive at all, so eeeek. At this point I don’t even know how it was managing to spin its platters. All I knew was Linux wanted all but nothing to do with it.

    I plugged the damn thing into the old Windows 10 laptop we have that’s doing nothing but being an interim Plex server (until I get a NAS up and running, which is a story on its own) to see if I could find out anything and Windows complained that “This disk has errors, please fix”. I let it do its thing and everything worked out enough for me to move data off that old drive onto the SSD on the laptop – which is now being copied over to the secondary drive on my desktop (by way of the temporary TrueNAS Core machine). Convoluted? Sure. But, as they say, it is what it is for now.

    Speaking of Windows. The aforementioned laptop is an old Dell, i5 that I put a new SSD drive in. It runs Windows 10 which has been fine. Yesterday I turned it on and it took its time updating, like Windows does, and it eventually landed here:

    What the absolute shit is this? A few more services, eh? I really, really dislike this “oh! they must have all the things connected all the time!” mindset.

    I clicked Remind me in 3 days (because of course they won’t make a button that’s labeled: “No, never. Absolutely not ever in a million years do I want to connect to more of your services, even if it’s just a few”. That would take up the whole bottom of that screen and it would look yukky design wise) and it put me at the login screen. I logged in…

    .. And there was a Copilot button next the the Start menu.

    I just can’t with this AI shit. At least I could uninstall it. No matter. Once all the file copying and NAS setup is done, this old laptop is going to be introduced to Linux.

    Goddamned Phone

    GrapheneOS update: I got one of my work apps sending notifications. I really wish I could move to this full time, but I just can’t at the moment.

  • Project: Friction – Update 1. “Oh, Come ON!”

    Project: Friction is ongoing. Working to setup a NAS has been… friction-y.

    It took a few attempts to install TrueNAS Core on the refurbished desktop but I got it. Once I got going, took about maybe ten minutes from starting the install to loading the interface up and logging in. Maybe another five minutes to create a pool and a share and a user and opening a file explorer and moving some test files around.

    I’m impressed.

    Moved on to getting a Plex Server up and running because the Internet says this be super easy on TrueNAS Core (and why I chose it in the first place). Started the process and…

    Well, there’s an error, so there is a web page out there that will tell me what the actual shit this error is. I’m sure it’s a config issue of some sort or I need to manually add a … wait, what? They have a new version called TrueNAS Scale and have just completely shitcanned their plugins in Core?

    Maybe I should have read more about TrueNAS Core before I dove in and got this far, but come on! I’d have been happy with “This plugin is unsupported: it blows up, you’re on your own.”

    This is some bullshit, lemme tell you what. Guess I’ll be checking out Scale.

  • Really?

    Moving my online accounts away from my Microsoft email. Decided to click the Summary button again for shits and giggles.

    Can someone please tell me, with a straight face, how the fuck this makes life better? This Summary is the literal content of the email Parts Select sent me minus a few words and small images. As with the last time, it took me the same amount of time to read the actual email.

    I can’t help but think I caused a brownout in some podunk town when I clicked that Summary By Copilot button just to get that output.

    AI is so stupid. Every single time I try it, I’m reminded how utterly stupid it is.

  • ToneLib-GFX: libgl1-mesa-glx

    On Ubuntu Studio I ran into an issue installing ToneLib-GFX. It was telling me that the libgl1-mesa-glx dependency was missing on my system.

    Here’s my notes on the two ways I could get this solved. Note: ToneLib-GFX-amd64.deb file is in my Downloads directory.

    Download/Command Line

    Download the package. I got it at pkgs.org but I’m sure you can find it all over the place.

    This will, of course, put it in your Downloads folder

    cd to Downloads, then:

    $ sudo dpkg -i libgl1-mesa-glx_22.3.6-1+deb12u1_amd64.deb

    Once this runs, then install ToneLib:

    $ sudo dpkg -i ToneLib-GFX-amd64.deb

    Command Line Only

    Update apt

    $ sudo apt update

    Install the package

    sudo apt -y install libgl1-mesa-glx

    Once that’s complete, install ToneLib

    $ sudo dpkg -i ToneLib-GFX-amd64.deb

  • 2/24/2025 – Randoms Go Boom!

    Oh, FFS. Really. FFS.

    Weirdness abounds all of a sudden. First up, Plasma Discover is acting strange. I get this when I launch it:

    Dunno why. Researching online shows that I may have (re)configured repositories when installing my shit. Or not. Who knows really.

    I do know that when I uncheck all of these:

    The error goes away, but then I have problems installing shit. Windscribe was a particular pain to get on here even though I’ve never had issues installing it in the past. I did find a fix for this (the missing dependencies bit), however it included rechecking all of those Other Software options. So now the error is back in Discover… until I pulled the nuclear option and ran sudo rm -r sources.list.d (after I backed it up, of course). That removed all of those entries on that list and I probably have to build the repositories again… we’ll see I guess.

    Another thing to note is that my computer is randomly freezing. No rhyme or reason. Just in the middle of something, anything, and boom! Frozen. Hasn’t happened since early this morning, so maybe that nuke I dropped on the repository sources fixed up something else that fixed the freezing? I’ll never know.

    I’m kind of kicking myself since the Ubuntu Studio install I had prior to the complete wipe and reinstall was humming along just fine. Or was it? everything but my gamez was ok. Now my gamez are ok.

    Make of it what you will.

    I’m not adverse to wiping and starting all over again, but I’d much rather not.