January 2026 - Talk - lists.gtalug.org

1/7/2026 GoLUG meeting, 7pm Eastern STANDARD time
by Steve Litt 06 Jan '26

06 Jan '26

Hi all, Where: GoLUG Online: https://meet.jit.si/golug When: Wednesday, 1/7/2026 7pm sharp Eastern STANDARD time Arrive 15 minutes early for Microphone check & discussion Who: Steve Litt, Troubleshooter, Developer, Tech Writer What: Free for all discussion of Open Source There's no moderator or speaker. Everybody will say anything they want about any Open Source software, as long as it doesn't depend on major closed source stuff (AWS, ChromeOS, etc). Basically, if you can run it on your own computer and by license be able to give copies including source to anyone you want, it's on topic. David Billsbrough will give his observations about Wine. I might praise syntax checkers (lint, gcc -Wall, shellcheck, xmlchecker.py, W3C validator, etc). Everybody else will talk about their favorite Open Source topic, and a good time will be had by all. Hope to see you there. SteveT Steve Litt GoLUG Publicity Coordinator

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(Test) testing duplicate posts
by William Park 05 Jan '26

05 Jan '26

(Testing... so ignore.) I send out 1 email to GTALUG, and I get 2 duplicates coming back. Other people's posts are fine, I only get 1 copy. I think, Thunderbird is filtering twice.

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Interesting PS1
by William Park 05 Jan '26

05 Jan '26

Hi all, While searching for a distro to migrate to, I found an interesting PS1: PS1='[$(tr " " "|" <<< "${PIPESTATUS[*]}") \u@\h \w]\$ ' where the interesting part is the use of PIPESTATUS variable. I knew about it, but used in PS1. It's nice, because you don't have to type "echo $?" every time, and you see the result of each part of pipe. By the way, the fonts I used to type are, - "Fixed Width" for "PS1=" block quote line -- which is "Noto Sans Mono" on my screen. - "Variable Width" for the rest -- which is "Noto Serif" on my screen. How does it show on your screen? --William

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Can someone test <homedepot.ca>
by William Park 05 Jan '26

05 Jan '26

Hi, This is my first email from new distro (CachyOS). In addition, I had to switch from POP to IMAP, and Thunderbird is sure buggy. I hope it goes out. Anyways, can someone go to <homedepot.ca> ? On my Firefox (146.0.1), it's blank screen. But, I know something is there, because mouse pointer changes as I move on the screen.

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(question) how to preserve font in Thunderbird
by William Park 04 Jan '26

04 Jan '26

To those using Thunderbird... Thunderbird is set to use "Variable Width" font and "medium" size. - When I write, it looks like "Noto Serif". - When I see my post, either in "Sent" folder or from GTALUG list, the font is not what I sent out. It looks like some "san serif". And, also, size is not right. So, how do you preserve font/fontsize in Thunderbird? --William

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Re: Linux on a phone
by D. Hugh Redelmeier 04 Jan '26

04 Jan '26

I am a bit confused by This post. It attributes the quote to me, but only the last line is from me. Karen, you seem to be asking which jurisdictions still support 3G. They are other countries, so are probably of no interest to you. In Canada, I think Telus still supports 3G for a little while longer. I think that they've added a surcharge to chivvy you along. And it won't be for long. No, you cannot get a 3G plan in another country and expect to roam with it here. 3G covers the hop from your handset to the tower, so it is pretty local. I'm no expert so you should do your own research. > From: Karen Lewellen <klewellen(a)shellworld.net> > To: D. Hugh Redelmeier via Talk <talk(a)lists.gtalug.org> > Cc: D. Hugh Redelmeier <hugh(a)mimosa.com> > Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2026 15:01:11 -0500 (EST) > Subject: Re: [GTALUG] Re: Linux on a phone > > On Thu, 11 Dec 2025, D. Hugh Redelmeier via Talk wrote: > >> for the calls.?? Also, there's not much point in talking about 2G or even > >> 3G > >> these days.?? There is also Voice over New Radio (VoNR) on 5G, which is > >> pretty > >> much the same as VoLTE at the phone but significantly different on > >> connecting > >> to the cell network. > > (I think that 3g works in many other jurisdictions.) > Where? > Is there a list? > Speaking personally, my 4g experiences are setting cellphone use > back..decades. > Might be worth getting a plan in one of those locations and including Canada, > investment wise at least. > > Kare

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Linux on a phone
by Michael Hill 04 Jan '26

04 Jan '26

I was going to ask for a phone recommendation because my latest phone (a Sony XPeria) doesn't do WiFi calling (thanks to Sony's reduced presence in North America). Then I read this article: https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/app-store-oligopoly I've been following Phosh since I applied for a job at Purism before covid. Debian and postmarketOS now seem mature enough to convince me to spring for the hardware and I was thinking of a PinePhone. It requires less of a financial commitment and runs less hot than a Librem 5, and my son has the watch (PineTime). Casual searching tells me the PinePhone's supported by Freedom and Telus. Does anyone have any experience? Mike

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Zero 2W reboots when plugging/unplugging micro USB OTG cable
by William Park 03 Jan '26

03 Jan '26

(Double posted, so reply to your list) To anyone with Raspberry Pi Zero 2W... I just got Zero 2W + mini HDMI adapter + micro USB OTG cable combo, from Amazon last week. All seem to be working. *Except*, whenever I plug or unplug OTG cable, the Zero 2W *reboots*. Nothing is connected to the USB cable, so it's not "power" issue. I don't know if the problem is Zero 2W side or USB cable side. Does your Zero 2W reboot, when you plug/unplug OTG cable? It's strange that plugging/unplugging just USB cable, would cause a reboot.

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