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Almost 2 years later and still no Fxtec F(x)tec PRO¹ X 256/8GB - QWERTY Smartphone :-(
I ordered this $900 phone back in December 2021, and in September 2023 still no phone and just continued stall tactic.

Debian 12 Q4OS on Alienware M18 r1
Notes on attempting to get Debian 12 and Q4OS 5.2 working on an Alienware M18 r1.
Issues Grub Failing Boot on Debian with NVME Drives
Started with Q$OS tracked to Debian Upstream, problems booting after install.

Don't Get All Your Code Thrown In The Dumpster (Fire)
I have been online and coding (on and off) since 1979, and increasingly over the past 5 to 10 years I have had to toss the entire code bases (and databases) of (other developers) entire platforms/project into the trash because they were such terrible dumpster fires (to mix metaphors). Don't let this happen to your code/project!

"Open Source" Mercenaries: Stop Killing the Geese That Laid the Golden Eggs - Before They Become Extinct
In the past 10 years a disturbingly number of "open source" projects are increasingly sabotaging the overall benefits of open source. That is self-defeating, unscalable, and unsustainable. Please learn the history of what it was like before open source and get back on track before you destroy the progress of decades. Here are some suggestions here on a sustainable model that will help you be more successful, less mercenary, more altruistic, and yet also more financially rewarded.
Example of Rudimentary Practical Exam for Basic Systems Administrator / SysOps / DevOps
I recently accepted an intern from Eastern Washington University.

Debian 11 Q4OS on Alienware M18 R1 Laptop
Here are notes on the trials, tribulations, and triumphs installing and using Linux on a brand shiny new Alienware m18r1 18" laptop.

ASUS ZenScreen MB16AC USB-C DisplayLink Monitor on Asus Strix with Debian 11 Linux Bullseye
Notes on getting an ASUS ZenScreen MB16AC USB-C DisplayLink Monitor with and Asus Strix laptop working with Debian 11 Linux.

Guidance on a More Effective Approach to Your Project and Coding
This posting is about some very basic, but FUNDAMENTAL, steps that should be taken with every project at all levels. Taking short cuts on these basics "passes the buck" down to others and is very inconsiderate of everyone that comes after you, so please make this a basic habit for everything you do, if not for yourself, then for everyone else that has to look at your project or code later (you won't be around forever).

Xwiki on Debian 11 Bullseye
Basic notes for setting up and running XWiki (version: ____) on Debian 11 Bullseye

Matrix.org Homeserver Synapse User Lost Password Manual Reset Through Database
If a user doesn't include an email with their matrix account, it is impossible to reset the lost password.

Apple MacOS MacBook Pro Hiding my Older Version Logic Pro 10.0.6 Trying to force me to buy again
I paid in 2014 for Logic Pro X 10.0.6 (forced to buy a new copy when my 2012 Logic Pro 9 wasn't allowed on newer versions of MacOS). I have the receipt etc. However, when I try to install from App Store with the same account as the receipt, it only shows $199.99 Buy Now, with no option to install. Constantly trying to force me to buy again. I found a solution!

Potential Scam Alert warning pro wiki creation prowikicreation.com
Just a heads-up warning to be cautious about pro wiki creation prowikicreation.com

Plone 5.2 on Debian 11 with Python 3.8
Debian 11 currently comes with Python 3.9. Plone 5.2(.9) is not supported with Python 3.9. This information covers the Linux Unified Installer tarball on this platform and added Python 3.8.

ERPNext Customize Job Openings jobs Autogenerated /Jobs and Job Opening Pages in ERPNext
Unfortunately the ERPNext community forum has been mostly unresponsive to most queries, so I am sharing what I had to do to customize the Job Openings and /jobs pages to actually be usable in ERPNext.
Disable HTS checking in Nginx
Often for testing, development, admin, or troubleshooting purposes, HSTS is a PITA that needs to be turned off. Here are some quick notes to do so in nginx...
ERPNext Self-hosted on Debian 11 Bullseye
ERPNext technically is better supported on Debian 10, but since that is getting a bit old in support I'm trying to make it work on Debian 11 so I can remain on there as long as possible, this does mean some tweaks have to be performed to get it all working and dialed in. This page summarizes the tweaks I have found, and will be updated periodically as new ones come up.

Odoo has become too Mercenary. Abandoning Odoo and evaluating alternative replacement options. - Trying ERPNext
Unfortunately the opensource community in the last 10 years is killing the goose that laid the golden egg. The new generation of coders who don't know what it was like before opensource, are shooting themselves in the foot by becoming increasingly mercenary in their opensource approach. We saw this with Plone, and now with Odoo. So now we need to find another alternative, one again.

Old Technology Grognard's Opinion Piece On Current Hype About Blockchain Buzzword Bingo
I've been involved with computer/information technology since 1979, and online since the same time. This is just a quick response to an email conversation I had with someone, that I thought might be worth capturing here. Much of what I state is arguable, so take it as the opinion piece that it is, rather than the more instructional pieces I usually write. Cheers!
Our Top and Ongoing Woes with Odoo
We've been using Odoo back in the OpenERP days, but still struggle with some core problems in the design of this platform. It meets our needs for our various small companies, but there is significant pain associated. Unfortunately we haven't found a better fit over all these years to the feature set we need. Here is a list of the challenges/problems we keep running into spanning Odoo versions 11 through 15 and ongoing...
Dell 2155 cn / cdn Printer on Debian 11
Installing Dell 2155 printer drivers on Debian 11 with Trinity Desktop Environment (TDE)

Linux on Asus Strix g513qy Advantage Edition - Debian Q4OS and Trinity
My Dell XPS 2-in-1 has been nothing but problems. I have had warranty replacements of the motherboard, daughterboards, keyboards, and other separate warranty services calls half a dozen times. Now ever time I move it powers off. I'm going to call and demand they replace the lemon. Meanwhile, i needed a replacement. So I quickly picked up an Asus Strix Advtanage Edition, model g513qy...
![Scalable Jitsi, Ansible automation, [matrix], bots, ASR, AI, ML, DNN Scalable Jitsi, Ansible automation, [matrix], bots, ASR, AI, ML, DNN](https://www2.techtalkhawke.com/news/scalable-jitsi-ansible-automation-matrix-bots-asr-ai-ml-dnn/@@images/dc54a2b3-7dcf-4a43-ac18-55a7188a202c.jpeg)
Scalable Jitsi, Ansible automation, [matrix], bots, ASR, AI, ML, DNN
Wrapping up work on automated scalability of Jitsi (self-hosted 20k+ concurrent users) through combination of Ansible scripts, Docker, containerd, Kubernetes, etc., in AWS and vSphere. Looking forward to resuming previous years work on Matrix distributed data and communications self-hosted federated platform adapted for education, implementing Automated Speech Recognition (ASR), bots, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and distributed Deep Neural Networks (DNN).
The Fifth AND Second Age of Computing?
Now counting predecessors to electronic processors (mechanical, water, and other computers), nor the "human computer", we are arguably, perhaps by some measures, now in the Fifth (but also back in the Second) Age of computing?

How much do you actually value transparency, privacy, and security for you, your business, and your clients?
My response to a discussion on Alignable: "For small business owners : I have noticed and experienced uptick in legal issues and cybersecurity concerns with some of my clients. What do you small biz owners have in place to help and protect you legally and what do you have in place to not only help to prevent an attack on your company /clients / employees /devices but also to restore the identities and stop the bleeding? "

Matrix Integration Manager 403 Forbidden
One day my matrix homeserver was working, then some days later, during a crucial demo, the widgets and integration server were giving me "403 Forbidden" with no explanation...

Modifying Odoo Menu
An annoying issue with Odoo (Community Edition) (in all versions) is that the Odoo menu (back end) is out of order. Here are the steps to put it in the desired order.
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