Musings by @rghttps://fediverse.blog/~/MusingsByRg/atom.xml2020-01-11T22:00:28.741725+00:00<![CDATA[Windows 10 FREE upgrade for Registered users !]]>https://fediverse.blog/~/MusingsByRg/windows-10-free-upgrade-for-registered-users/2020-01-11T22:00:28.741725+00:00R.G. Xpressionshttps://fediverse.blog/@/rgx/2020-01-11T22:00:28.741725+00:00<![CDATA[<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/7LJ0DGDx/Win10-FREE-Header-640x250p.png" alt=""></p>
<hr>
<h3>Start Me Up!</h3>
<p>It's January 2020, and in a few days Microsoft will end support for Windows 7 users. No more security fixes, no more bug fixes.</p>
<p>While this might be causing some anxiety to anyone still running a Windows 7 computer, here is a <strong><em>Good News item</em></strong> for you.</p>
<p>Microsoft is still allowing Windows 7 and 8.x users to upgrade their systems <em>(which must be activated)</em> for <strong><em>FREE</em></strong> to a Windows 10 of the same family or variant.</p>
<p>Someone running Windows 7 Home, Home Premium or Ultimate can go thru the process (<em>it's simple and worked well in my personal experience</em>), and have a legal and Activated Windows 10 Home digital license at the end.</p>
<p>If you start with a Windows 7 or 8.x Professional, you will end up with Windows 10 Professional, again fully licensed and activated. No gimmicks!</p>
<p>I was really surprised when <strong><em>RYen</em></strong>, a friend <a href="https://hackers.town/" rel="noopener noreferrer">at <em>Hackers.Town</em></a> mentioned this when he saw <a href="./get-windows-10-pro-legal-key-cheaply" rel="noopener noreferrer">my earlier Blog post about how to get OEM Windows 10 Pro license keys cheaply</a>. I followed a link he provided, and <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-you-can-still-get-a-free-windows-10-upgrade/" rel="noopener noreferrer">read the article</a>.</p>
<hr>
<h3>Why is Microsoft still doing this ?</h3>
<p>A good quote from the article clarifies:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The answer to that first question is easy. Remember, Microsoft's Windows business is predicated on its partnership with PC makers, who pay a license fee for every copy of Windows they install on a new PC. Those OEMs are none too happy about the idea of extending the life of an older PC; they would much rather have you buy a brand new PC instead.</p>
<p>So, to mollify its OEM partners, Microsoft put a time limit on the free upgrade offer, and they simply don't speak of it now. The Windows marketing team continues to promote new models of Windows PCs, and the enterprise sales staff continues to sell volume licenses of Windows 10 Enterprise and Microsoft 365 subscriptions. Nobody talks about upgrades.</p>
<p>Frankly, at this point the only people who are still interested in a free upgrade are enthusiasts, home users, and very small businesses running hardware that's at least four years old.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Makes complete sense, and thank you <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/this-free-windows-10-upgrade-offer-still-works-heres-why-and-how-to-get-it/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ed Bott, from ZDNet</a>!</p>
<hr>
<h3>What are the Requirements ?</h3>
<p>Microsoft allowed this kind of free upgrade, officially, until July 2016, and closed the door at that time. To qualify for this undisclosed offer (again, I tested it successfully with 2 systems, worked in both Win 7 and 8.1), to qualify you need to have a fully activated operating system installed.</p>
<ul>
<li>It will be upgraded within the same family (Home versions, or Pro versions).</li>
<li>You need to use the same type of release; 32 bit installs only upgrade to 32 bit Windows 10 versions.</li>
<li>Memory requirements, a 2 GB system would work better with a 32 bit version install, imo, as the 64 bit ones require more RAM for the system itself.</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/3w6M4qPX/Win10-Media-Tool-640x412p.jpg" alt=""></p>
<h3>Upgrade options ?</h3>
<p>The upgrade installation is <em><strong>very easy</strong> for any average user</em> - you just need to download a small program from Microsoft, which will check your system for compatibility. Download the <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows10" rel="noopener noreferrer">install program from this page.</a></p>
<p>The page has some explanations and tips, you can read those -- or simply <a href="https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=691209" rel="noopener noreferrer">get the install tool directly from Microsoft Servers.</a></p>
<p><a href="https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=691209" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/MGs6stgH/Media-Create-Tool-447x210p.png" alt=""></a></p>
<ul>
<li>The upgrade program will list any incompatible software found, and offer to uninstall it for you.</li>
<li>This again without any user intervention besides accepting the offer to remove the program.</li>
</ul>
<p>Once those preliminary checks are made, he upgrade program will ask you how you want to handle existing files and applications :</p>
<ul>
<li>Keep all user data only. No apps will be migrated to the new install.</li>
<li>Keep all user data and apps - the easiest to keep everything as is and accessible.</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<h3>Create Install Media or Not ?</h3>
<p>On the next stage, you have two options about how the installation will proceed.</p>
<ul>
<li>download and install in this system only. No extra media is needed (USB stick, external drive, etc).</li>
<li>Download the operating system package, and save it or prepare installation media (USB stick, DVD R disc, etc).</li>
</ul>
<p>If you only have one system in the house (or office) that needs the upgrade, the simple choice is to let the installer handle it, and simply install and clean up afterwards.</p>
<p>If you need to upgrade more than one system, accept the option and the installer will download and later help you prepare a bootable USB drive, which can be used multiple times. Or burn the same to a DVD R disc, you will need a blank 8 GB disc.</p>
<hr>
<h3>Running the install ?</h3>
<p>Very simply, you started it with the upgrade tool from within your working Windows 7 (or 8.x) system; make the choices, as described above. And relax and do something else while it goes to work</p>
<p>The installer will request and download the correct version from the Microsoft servers; this will be a large download, about 5 GB. (have more systems to upgrade? Save this and prepare the Boot media as offered in the installer, and reuse this. Saves another large download).</p>
<p>Once the download is completed, the Setup will start, and proceed to install, migrating your apps if you chose so, saving your files intact.</p>
<hr>
<h3>What to expect ?</h3>
<p>Although it can take some time, the process is painless and no user intervention is needed. So I would recommend this to anyone who still runs a Windows 7 or 8.x system, as long as you have at least the 2 GB minimum system RAM as required.</p>
<p>I have personally followed this procedure and done two complete upgrades - both without any difficulties.</p>
<ul>
<li>A Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bits laptop, now running Windows 10 Home 64 bits.</li>
<li>A Windows 8.1 Pro 32 bits desktop, now upgraded to Windows 10 Pro, 32 bits.</li>
</ul>
<p>Good luck and enjoy you freely upgraded and more modern O.S. Happy New Year!</p>
<hr>
<p>Thank you for reading this, please feel free to comment about this post, your input is important. <em>This page created entirely in MarkDown language.</em></p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/d3ThDcdc/cat-mtx-60p.png" alt=""> R.G. <a href="https://qoto.org/@design_RG" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/design_RG@Qoto.org/" title="design_RG@Qoto.org" rel="noopener noreferrer">@design_RG@Qoto.org</a> </p>
]]><![CDATA[When you discover your Instance is blocked.]]>https://fediverse.blog/~/MusingsByRg/when-you-discover-your-instance-is-blocked/2020-01-06T16:17:31.612143+00:00R.G. Xpressionshttps://fediverse.blog/@/rgx/2020-01-06T16:17:31.612143+00:00<![CDATA[<h2><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/3wkMzf80/MT-LTR-640x366p.png" alt=""></h2>
<p>And today we start the day with a To Do clean-up; pending things that need action. Including a recent discovery I made, surprising to me, that my home and primary instance in the Mastodon network was not visible, searchable and in fact, fully Blocked at another place.</p>
<p>Being active and curious, I do have accounts in maybe 10 instances or so, used in varying degrees, some frequently visited, others less so.</p>
<p>Very recently I made a blog post with discussions on <strong><em>why choosing an instance is important</em></strong>, what factors to consider when doing so, and a partial list with descriptions and details of some of the ones I enjoy.</p>
<p>That <a href="./is-it-important-which-instance-you-are-in" rel="noopener noreferrer">post is located here</a>.</p>
<p>After creating a new blog post, I prepare a release text for announcing it in the Fediverse. About 500 characters, it also includes a good image and is posted at Qoto.org, my primary account (<em>and the one which signs off all posts here</em>).</p>
<p>Once this is ready, the text and image are posted at Qoto, and I do visit some of my other accounts, search for that Status URL, and proceed to Boost it for reaching more people if possible.</p>
<p>While doing this, I visited one, Mastodon.Technology, where I could not find the status on that normal search. Odd. What is going on?</p>
<p>A search for my user profile at Qoto did not bring ANY results either. It dawned on me that something was amiss...</p>
<hr>
<h3>WTF ? Blocked possibly ?</h3>
<p>Yes, that was the first thing that crossed my mind. M.T has some clear rules at their front door, the <a href="https://mastodon.technology/about/more" rel="noopener noreferrer">famous <strong><em>About-More</em></strong></a> pages. I looked there, and <a href="https://github.com/ashfurrow/mastodon/blob/public/README.md#blocked-instances" rel="noopener noreferrer">found a link to a Git instance, with a list</a>.</p>
<p>And. We are on it. Last on the list, suggesting possibly a recent addition to his <strong><em>Disgraceful People List</em></strong>. (some are ghastly places, I would agree)</p>
<h2><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/Bvp8w6vn/MT-susp-563x268p.png" alt=""></h2>
<h3>Why ?</h3>
<p>Good question. I couldn't see why. Ash has provided some info :</p>
<blockquote>
<h4>Blocked Instances :</h4>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>"Here are the instances that m.t has blocked. This list is not meant to be authoritative for other administrators. We reserve the right to silence or suspend any instance for any reason. If you are an administrator of an instance on this list, feel that you shouldn't be blocked, and have checked our <a href="https://mastodon.technology/about/more" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>Code of Conduct</em></strong></a>, you can contact <strong><em>Ash Furrow</em></strong> through email to discuss getting unblocked."</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Aha.</p>
<p>This happened a few days ago. What then?</p>
<hr>
<h3>How to Proceed :</h3>
<p>Since it was now clear that an <strong><em>Instance Ban was in place</em></strong>, the next step was communicating with our Admin. We discussed it, and I offered to try and deal with Mr. Furrow and request a review of their decision. Dr. Freeman, our admin and domain owner, agreed, and I went about preparing a case.</p>
<ul>
<li>First step, read his provided link to <a href="(https://mastodon.technology/about/more)" rel="noopener noreferrer">Code of Conduct</a> (the About-More page).</li>
<li>Upon reading it, find what we could have done to be black listed.</li>
</ul>
<p>And it seems it's the final paragraphs, shown in this snapshot.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/T1MKHHbT/MT-No-Fed-634x180p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>So, Guilty by Association, I gather? Ah, yes, to protect the Free Speech of some users, I see.</p>
<p>Had this in my notes and on a admin Forum thread, and now took time and wrote a full, formal letter to Mr. Furrow.</p>
<p>Which, being a writer and a budding citizen journalist, I chose to publish here, in full as well. Text of letter follows, it is only being altered here for formatting enhancements that <strong><em>MarkDown and Write Freely</em></strong> provide.</p>
<hr>
<h3>Full Letter Text :</h3>
<p>January 6, 2020.</p>
<p>To : <strong><em>Ash Furrow</em></strong>,
administrator, <a href="https://Mastodon.Technology/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mastodon.Technology</a>
via email - ash@ashfurrow.com</p>
<p>From : RG, staff member,
Moderator at <a href="https://qoto.org/about/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Qoto.org domain</a></p>
<p>CC : <a href="//fediverse.blog/@/freemo@qoto.org/" title="freemo@qoto.org" rel="noopener noreferrer">@freemo@qoto.org</a>, Admin, Qoto.org</p>
<p>Re : Blocked status of Qoto.org on your instance, Mastodon.technology.</p>
<p>Dear Mr. Furrow,</p>
<p>I am a member of Qoto.org, where I am part of the domain Staff, and moderator at both the Mastodon instance and our Discourse Forums. Being an active user and a curious human being, I do have accounts in various other instances, including yours, where my handle is <a href="//fediverse.blog/@/rgx./" title="rgx." rel="noopener noreferrer">@rgx.</a></p>
<p>Thank you for hosting that service, it seems a nice and active community, and themed on Technology which is one of my personal interests. Being so busy with my Qoto participation, user support, starting to write my own personal Blog, I haven't had the opportunity of participating as much at M.T.</p>
<p>Was however surprised to discover I could not find one of my own Blog announcement posts, from the search function at M.T, where I intended to Boost it for wider audience viewing possibilities.</p>
<p>The Search turned out Blank, no results. A search for my own account at Qoto, <a href="//fediverse.blog/@/design_RG@qoto.org/" title="design_RG@qoto.org" rel="noopener noreferrer">@design_RG@qoto.org</a>, also turned out blank.</p>
<p>My hunch that this was possibly due to an Instance Block was confirmed by <a href="https://github.com/ashfurrow/mastodon/blob/public/README.md#blocked-instances" rel="noopener noreferrer">viewing your <strong><em>Blocked instances list</em></strong></a> .</p>
<p>Honestly, I was appalled. I feel that we are doing a good job and providing valuable services, an active community and an instance theme that is unique, as far as I know.</p>
<p>As mentioned in the page above :</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"If you are an administrator of an instance on this list, feel that you shouldn't be blocked, and have checked our Code of Conduct, you can contact Ash Furrow through email to discuss getting unblocked."</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I did read the <a href="https://mastodon.technology/about/more" rel="noopener noreferrer">referenced page for CofC</a>, and discussed my findings in our Admin forum at Qoto with <strong><em>Dr. Jeff Freeman</em></strong>, our domain owner and Admin. Mr. Freeman agreed to my proposal of contacting you via email to discuss this, and any remediation possibilities.</p>
<p>From reading your CofC, and considering that we are an instance and community in good standing, preeminently listed at <a href="https://joinmastodon.org/#getting-started" rel="noopener noreferrer">the head of Suggested Instances at JoinMastodon.org</a> , I am contacting you to request your consideration of a lift on this instance ban.</p>
<p>I imagine your reason for such is :</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"To protect the free speech of users belonging to marginalized groups, mastodon.technology does not federate with overtly fascist instances. Additionally, we will refuse to federate with instances that themselves choose to federate with fascist instances."</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Is that correct? I can't think of any other possible reason.</p>
<p>I would like to add that I personally dislike some of the communities which are part of the Fediverse; and exercise my user rights on blocking Gab and their peripheral instances in my own personal account. I also intend on writing, shortly, a new blog post documenting all kinds of Filtering and Content blocking that users can utilize to their own satisfaction and better enjoyment of their Fedi accounts.</p>
<p>But as an active user and content provider at Qoto, which is also the channel for my personal blog writing announcements, I am dismayed by our instance being blocked by M.T., specially considering it's a large community and themed in Tech, one of my main personal interests.</p>
<p>On behalf of myself and many other Qoto users, who daily provide good content and valuable interactions with many other instances, I am hereby, with authorization from Dr. Freeman, requesting that you please consider lifting your instance blocking of Qoto.org.</p>
<p>I am also happy to discuss this matter and accept any comments and suggestions on this matter, on behalf of Qoto administration staff and our user community.</p>
<p>I can be reached via this email, which is my Fedi accounts mainline, or via DM to my <a href="//fediverse.blog/@/design_RG@qoto.org/" title="design_RG@qoto.org" rel="noopener noreferrer">@design_RG@qoto.org</a> account. In your own instance, my account is <a href="//fediverse.blog/@/rgx@mastodon.technology/" title="rgx@mastodon.technology" rel="noopener noreferrer">@rgx@mastodon.technology</a> .</p>
<p>Thank you for your time, attention and considering this request.</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>RG,
for the Qoto.org administration team.</p>
<h2>cc: QOTO@syncleus.com</h2>
<h3>Final Thoughts :</h3>
<p>I have sent this letter, the Image at the head of today's blog is a snapshot of my email client just after sending it. Will be waiting for a response, which I hope Mr. Furrow will provide to a courteous and carefully written inquiry.</p>
<p>Thank you, Mr Furrow. I will update this with any news as it develops.</p>
<hr>
<p>Thank you for reading this, please feel free to comment about this post, your input is important. <em>This page created entirely in MarkDown language.</em></p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/d3ThDcdc/cat-mtx-60p.png" alt=""> R.G. <a href="https://qoto.org/@design_RG" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/design_RG@Qoto.org/" title="design_RG@Qoto.org" rel="noopener noreferrer">@design_RG@Qoto.org</a> </p>
]]><![CDATA[Is it Important, which Instance you are in? ]]>https://fediverse.blog/~/MusingsByRg/is-it-important-which-instance-you-are-in/2020-01-05T01:44:19.911782+00:00R.G. Xpressionshttps://fediverse.blog/@/rgx/2020-01-05T01:44:19.911782+00:00<![CDATA[<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/VkvgCZY6/M-Tw-640x477p.jpg" alt=""></p>
<h3>Casual Conversation, Interesting Tips.</h3>
<p>Once again I had an enjoyable conversation, earlier today. From my laptop, logged into my <em><a href="https://qoto.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Qoto acount</a> via Web client</em>, I also browsed <em><a href="https://mastodon.social" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mastodon.social</a> via <a href="https://pinafore.social" rel="noopener noreferrer">Pinafore</a></em>, and we started a chat.</p>
<p><a href="https://mastodon.social/@achso/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>Achso</em></strong> was there(</a><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/achso@mastodon.social/" title="achso@mastodon.social" rel="noopener noreferrer">@achso@mastodon.social</a>, and we kind of continued a conversation from a day or two before. I enjoyed it, said a lot, and thought it would make for a nice blog post.</p>
<p>The full thread <a href="https://mastodon.social/@achso/103426372290015021" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>is online, and can be seen here</em></a>. I was posting <a href="https://nolanlawson.com/2018/04/09/introducing-pinafore-for-mastodon/" rel="noopener noreferrer">via <strong><em>Pinafore</em></strong></a>, <em>and limited to <strong>500 characters</strong>, unfortunately</em> - which led to some choppy posts (instance there limited to 500 chars max).</p>
<p>We really should petition <strong><em>Eugen R.</em></strong> <a href="//fediverse.blog/@/gargron@mastodon.social/" title="gargron@mastodon.social" rel="noopener noreferrer">@gargron@mastodon.social</a> and <em>beg for a larger limit for the Maximum_Toot_Size variable</em>. Currently, it's <strong><em>500 characters</em></strong>, larger in some instances that customized their own limits.</p>
<hr>
<h3>Conversation Follows.</h3>
<p>( Achso's Toots are shown in <strong><em>quoted form</em></strong>, <em>mine are in plain text</em> form. )</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/achso/" title="achso" rel="noopener noreferrer">@achso</a> : Otherwise this will stay a niche thing. And it deserves better than that. I think it is sad that many of my old contacts from abroad - US and other places - refuse to leave their old biotope.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>Some people will come and see what is going on here if it keeps growing and getting media reports.</p>
<p>I only joined here in November -- close to 2 months now, but in that short time I went from total newbie to having 3,400 posts or so, Staff position at my main instance, and being part of maybe 10 instances of Mastodon alone.</p>
<p>Plus the wonderful integrated services - love Write.freely!</p>
<p>Insta, I stayed away, always. Dumb people, hashtag binging, bothers me, they are clueless.</p>
<hr>
<p>Curiously -- I found my curiosity and interest in this Fediverse due to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-asia-india-50343054" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>a <strong>BBC News</strong> report about the Indian Diaspora</em></a>, from TW to mastodon instances.</p>
<p>Saw it on my rarely visited TW timeline, read the article. <em>Uhm, what is <strong>mastodon</strong>?</em></p>
<p>LOL, the rest is <em><a href="//fediverse.blog/tag/History" title="history" rel="noopener noreferrer">#history</a></em>.... :-P</p>
<p>Having lots of fun, it's keeping me happy and busy thru Winter, depressive in general in our Northern latitudes.</p>
<hr>
<p>This very article :</p>
<p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-asia-india-50343054" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/Z5x78vN7/BBC-India-Diasp-606x632p.jpg" alt=""></a></p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/achso/" title="achso" rel="noopener noreferrer">@achso</a> : Twitter classified the famous Landmesser-photo as "hateful imagery"? Wow...
I think there is no lack of antifascist people on Twitter now, but many of them act like - cough... - fascists. Intolerant, stubborn, uptight...
Anyway, Mastodon is different, which is good. ;)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yes, I like it here, it's very refreshing!</p>
<p>With politics and all, but <a href="https://www.fidonet.org" rel="noopener noreferrer">like on <strong><em>Fidonet</em></strong></a>, we can make waves, run our own things, and have a voice.</p>
<p>On the algorithm driven major soc media sites, not a chance, <em>they silence you simply by not showing your content</em>.</p>
<p>Hey, if you even want to try a smaller instance, come and visit <a href="https://Qoto.org" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>Qoto.org</em></strong></a>, <em>it's a nice place, if I may say so</em>.</p>
<hr>
<h3>But does Choosing an Instance Matter ?</h3>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/achso/" title="achso" rel="noopener noreferrer">@achso</a>: Is it really important which instance some is on? Isn't it the core of the fediverse that it does not? Just asking...</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I think that is an excellent question! And I am part of various ones, although lift the flag and sign my blog with my main one.</p>
<p>How does it differ, being in one or another?</p>
<ul>
<li>a <em>very small instance</em> will likely have <em>a very quiet local Feed</em>. This is sad, as the Local feed is where I find most social interaction happens; camaraderie, we see each other, all posts. And sometimes we provide support just to encourage a friend to keep going.</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<ul>
<li>at the opposite end, <em>a very large instance will have an extremely busy Local feed</em>; no lack of things to look at, but like Twitter, many will fly by without any reaction, as people don't have the time to relate, read, respond before another barrage of posts land.</li>
</ul>
<p>I visit and post somethings here in ms.soc, it's the Flagship and sometimes good for exposure. But it wouldn't work for me as a home. I find the Local feed overwhelming indeed.</p>
<hr>
<ul>
<li>
<p>So <strong><em>size</em></strong> is important. <strong><em>Theme</em></strong> also - there are generalist instances, and posts from all kinds; might be good to discover new things, interesting. Less good for more focused posts or interests, which sometimes a more focused instance can better take care of.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong><em>Language</em></strong>, one's native one is ideal, even if we do fluent English, thankfully, bridging the divide; <em>I still love to write and converse in other languages</em>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong><em>Culture</em></strong> : like travel, seeing the instances in other countries, is fun.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>I love this discussion and will likely collate all of my posts above and build an article for a blog post on it. I have been enjoying doing that.</p>
<p>Wanted to ask you, remember our chat from yesterday, regarding Fidonet, Front Door? wanted to request if you allow me to quote you on a possible article for the blog?</p>
<p>If you prefer not to, I understand, but I am a learning journalist and respect my sources. Thank you for the nice conversations!</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/achso/" title="achso" rel="noopener noreferrer">@achso</a>: Sure, no problem.Nothing wrong with a little bit of sentimentality. :)</p>
<p>BTW: As a journalist (desk editor, reporter) for more than 30 years I have to help my young fellow colleagues, no? ;)</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<h3>Thanks, Achso!</h3>
<p>This was a fun conversation, and helped me organize thoughts on why visiting, getting to know different instances is fun and important.</p>
<p>I enjoy traveling and choosing small cafés or restaurants in the streets of towns and cities abroad. Our mastodon instances are very much like Cafés, and the quality varies, the customer base is a big part of how nice they are, how active specially. Management can also make or break a community.</p>
<p>I am grateful to the administrators and staff team of the various instances which I belong to; with all of them I have learned, observed and thought about different ways things can be done. Fun. Thank you, friends. ;-)</p>
<p>Below I will outline a little about these instances I frequent. No specific recommendations, just notes, maybe help you know what's available and how they can vary?</p>
<hr>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/tCWpHD0s/MCircle-474x327p.jpg" alt=""></p>
<h3>Some instances I frequent :</h3>
<p>In no particular order, just writing from the top of my head in my text editor...</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://qoto.org/about" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>Qoto.org</em></strong></a> - listed in my blog signature, Qoto is my primary instance; one where I spend most of my time, have made many posts and enjoy socializing with local friends which follow my work closely. I have volunteered and been elected as a Moderator there recently.</li>
</ul>
<p>Instance Theme : STEM, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math are the theme here. Not strictly enforced in everyday posting, which can be relaxed (I do contribute a lot of Cat pictures!).</p>
<h2>Users number : just over 6,500 now with a recent influx of Spanish Twitter migration. Registrations : open.</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://todon.nl/about" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>Todon.nl</em></strong></a> - A Leftwing instance, Todon has some nice people I had met over the Feeds and enjoyed conversations with. I am also aligned with the local political lean, so it's one of my favourites. Well connected, posts distribute quickly.</li>
</ul>
<p>Instance Theme : there's a number of activists, and users who enjoy the place, where they won't meet any vociferous politically opposing people.</p>
<h2>Users number : just over 5,300. Registrations : are via an application, explain how your personal views align with Todon's. [temporarily Closed atm]</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://hackers.town/about" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>Hackers.town</em></strong></a> - a community of people interested in computing, network and systems administration, security, privacy, and related topics. An interesting place for people interested in learning about those topics, which is my case, because it has experienced users in these various fields.</li>
</ul>
<p>Instance Theme ; Technology, Computing, Security, CyberPunk.</p>
<h2>Users number : about 200, although their total post count is astronomical. Registrations : are controlled, as the front door says "Speak friend and enter."</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://toot.cafe/about/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>Toot.Cafe</em></strong></a> - This is an instance frequented by programmers, web designers, etc, and administered by Nolan, the author of the brilliant Pinafore mastodon client. For many knowledgeable users, Pinafore is tops, for it's speed, streamlining and support of multiple instances - and ease of switching between them. See <a href="https://pinafore.social" rel="noopener noreferrer">more information at the project's home</a>. Not a general instance, but I enjoy visiting and chatting with Nolan when I have a suggestion for Pinafore.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Instance Theme : Web design, Mastodon, programming, UI design, Clients for Mastodon network. Users number : 2,772 Registrations : Open, via Request an Invite link at front door.</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://nerdculture.de/about" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>Nerdculture.de</em></strong></a> - This small instance is run by Ingo J., a veteran systems administrator, fellow FidoNet user and operator and host also of <a href="https://nerdica.net/" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Friendica node I frequent</a>. Ingo's own description :</li>
</ul>
<p>"All friendly creatures are welcome. Be excellent to each other, live humanism, no nazis, no hate speech. Not only for nerds, but the domain is somewhat cool. ;) No bots in general! (only with prior permission)".</p>
<p>E.U. based, so European Privacy and other laws apply - an advantage for me, in any network services choice if available.</p>
<p>Instance Theme : A General instance, based in Germany. Posts in English and German.</p>
<h2>Users number : 365 Registrations : Open</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://mastodon.social/about/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>Mastodon.social</em></strong></a> - The Mothership, this instance is home to Eugene R., who is the lead developer of the Mastodon project.</li>
</ul>
<p>For many new users, it's the only instance they know of, so it has a large influx of new people and the largest number of users in Fediverse (not counting the Gab instance and peripheral systems, as they are not widely accepted by a lot of other fediverse instances).</p>
<p>A very, very busy local timeline, if you get bored of waiting for some new post at any smaller instances. A good place to see what a very large Mastodon instance would feel like (and to know what kids of hardware it takes for such high numbers of users). Also a good place to boost posts from, if you want some extra spreading for a new thread.</p>
<p>Instance Theme : a General instance, no specific theme.</p>
<h2>Users number : 455,000 as I write. Registrations : open.</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://mastodon.technology/about/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>Mastodon.technology</em></strong></a> - A fairly large instance, with a Tech theme and actively moderated. The administrator has clearly stated rules and isolates his instance from many others.</li>
</ul>
<p>Some of the excluded instances (<a href="https://github.com/ashfurrow/mastodon/blob/public/README.md#blocked-instances" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>as listed in his git page here</em></a>) are black balled simply for federating with other instances that Ash Furrow, the local admin, does not want connections with. Sadly this blocks a lot of info from other, more open minded instances (<em>and I mean the ones that are not fascist dominated, but get tarred here in his extensive blocked list</em>).</p>
<p>Instance Theme : Tecnnology. But <em>selectively disconnected, see note above</em>.</p>
<p>Users number : 19,500 Registrations : Open, fill in form ("Why do you want to Join us?") to request an invite.</p>
<hr>
<h3>Mastodon Instances in the World :</h3>
<p><a href="https://i.postimg.cc/6ppjh5hB/Mastodon-in-World-Map-1024x675p.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/66GNdzpM/Masto-World-Map-640x422p.jpg" alt=""></a></p>
<p>Bonus, if you read this far in the page, lol... A nice world Map showing the local concentration of Instances. <em>Click on Image for Large Version</em>. Map of Mastodon instances from <em><a href="https://mnm.social/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Mastodon Network Monitoring Project</strong></a>, August 17, 2017</em>. </p>
<p>From <a href="https://medium.com/@EthanZ/mastodon-is-big-in-japan-the-reason-why-is-uncomfortable-684c036498e5" rel="noopener noreferrer">an interesting article At Medium.com</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>Thank you for reading this, please feel free to comment about this post, your input is important. <em>This page created entirely in MarkDown language.</em></p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/d3ThDcdc/cat-mtx-60p.png" alt=""> R.G. <a href="https://qoto.org/@design_RG" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/design_RG@Qoto.org/" title="design_RG@Qoto.org" rel="noopener noreferrer">@design_RG@Qoto.org</a> </p>
]]><![CDATA[Special hashtag to highlight serious posting?]]>https://fediverse.blog/~/MusingsByRg/special-hashtag-to-highlight-serious-posting/2020-01-02T19:20:57.749993+00:00R.G. Xpressionshttps://fediverse.blog/@/rgx/2020-01-02T19:20:57.749993+00:00<![CDATA[<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/05SGbYc1/HASH-Grey-640x388.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>Received an interesting suggestion via Direct Message, it said :</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What do you think about: Starting a hashtag like : "<strong>qotoarticle</strong>" and all qoto-users who publish journalism-like or good pieces from the internet shall use this <a href="//fediverse.blog/tag/" rel="noopener noreferrer">#</a> to make it possible to find an interesting collection of <strong><em>qoto-news</em></strong>, without all the fun-stuff burying it?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is a nice idea -- and I am opening <a href="https://discourse.qoto.org/t/special-hashtag-to-highlight-serious-posting-at-qoto-org/180" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>a <strong>Discourse Forum</strong> thread</em></a> to chat about it.</p>
<p>Why there, not in the normal Mastodon Local timeline? A few reasons:</p>
<ul>
<li>we won't be posting all kinds of tag ideas with hashes that will go live, and maybe never used again.</li>
<li>it's open to anyone who wants to read it, as I will add thread URL here, and it's publicly readable to all.</li>
<li>it's open to replies, all you need is a quick registration, confirm the email, and presto, you are in.</li>
</ul>
<p>So all good, isn't it?</p>
<hr>
<h3>Consider it done;</h3>
<p>Done, my friend, and here are some of my hash suggestions.</p>
<ul>
<li>They need to be easy, short if possible.</li>
<li>easy to spell so both posters and searchers can use the tag for their own means.</li>
<li>unique, so they will collect the intended posts and no strain content.</li>
</ul>
<p>Which do I think could work? Uhmmm... Brainstorming, put ideas out and don't judge them. Add more ideas. Decide later, at evaluation time.</p>
<p>Maybe : <strong><em>qoto-news</em></strong> . <strong><em>qoto-journal</em></strong> . <strong><em>qoto-daily</em></strong> . <strong><em>qoto-top</em></strong> . <strong><em>qoto-stem</em></strong> . <strong><em>qoto-hq</em></strong> .</p>
<p>or : <strong><em>stem-news</em></strong> . <strong><em>stem-hq</em></strong> . <strong><em>stem-daily</em></strong> . <strong><em>stem-mvp</em></strong> .</p>
<p>Do they have to include the "<strong><em>qoto</em></strong>" word and brand ID? not necessarily, we are just considering ideas here.</p>
<ul>
<li>If including, they might get people to pay attention to our instance in general.</li>
<li>It could be used by others, in fact any hash tag can be overwhelmed and spammed, unfortunately;</li>
<li>not much defense from that other than blocking the twits who did it.</li>
</ul>
<p>There, the ball is at play, let's hear what you all think?</p>
<p>Thank you for considering and participating.</p>
<p><a href="//fediverse.blog/tag/Stem" title="STEM" rel="noopener noreferrer">#STEM</a> <a href="//fediverse.blog/tag/Science" title="science" rel="noopener noreferrer">#science</a> <a href="//fediverse.blog/tag/Math" title="math" rel="noopener noreferrer">#math</a> <a href="//fediverse.blog/tag/Engineering" title="Engineering" rel="noopener noreferrer">#Engineering</a> <a href="//fediverse.blog/tag/Math" title="Math" rel="noopener noreferrer">#Math</a> news are of interest to people all over the <a href="//fediverse.blog/tag/Fediverse" title="Fediverse" rel="noopener noreferrer">#Fediverse</a></p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/d1xCL1T1/Stem-hdr-640x364.jpg" alt=""></p>
<hr>
<h3>Follow-Up :</h3>
<p>All of my long posts are not written in the Toot Editor box -- too small for serious writing. I use a simple Text Editor, <a href="https://www.editpadlite.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>EditPad Lite</em></strong>, free and powerful</a>. Love to get into it and away from the zillion Tabs open in my browsers (2 to 3 sets, in separate windows. I know, busy guy here.)</p>
<ul>
<li>So, I wrote all of the above in the text editor.</li>
<li>Then copied it to Clipboard, pasted into the Discourse Forum, new Thread.</li>
<li>Copied the URL (address) of that new thread, to use in Mastodon announcement.</li>
<li>Switched tab to Qoto Mastodon; pasted the Clipboard contents, first the full text, then the URL, also stored in it.</li>
<li>I had searched on Bing for a good image, sized it for my normal Blog post header at 640 pixels width.</li>
<li>Opened and added it to post via Toot Editor insert Image (paper clip icon).</li>
</ul>
<p>Hit Enter and now that was complete! Ah, sent my friend a link to the Forum with the URL too.</p>
<p>Some replies followed, and considering their content (showing interest, support and some extra suggestions), I made one more longer post, next.</p>
<hr>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/1RKtC4zN/Kd-Toy-640x346p.jpg" alt=""></p>
<h3>Additional Contents Requirements ?</h3>
<p>I found it was a wonderful idea and suggestion -- was glad to receive it, can see the use, for sure.</p>
<p>We need a good hash word, as outlined above, so it will get used.</p>
<p>I like the suggestions of <em>some <strong>content standards</strong> for people using the tag</em>. These not only liven each post, but can lead the way to everyone following the model and producing richer posts all the time.</p>
<p>Some of the possibilities for suggested requirements:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><strong><em>a relevant image in each post</em></strong>. Size should be manageable, too large a file uses disk space everywhere, we can including an image at about 700x700 pixels comfortably. And include a link in the post if you think a higher resolution version is important; then it's available if people want to see it.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong><em>A clear and relevant Title in the first line</em></strong>. Before starting the post, put a blank line after it. So the title will stand out on it's own in people's Feedlines. A better change to snag a reader is important!</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong><em>Always provide any relevant links with the post</em></strong>. If something is a more extensive post, maybe it can benefit from a Blog placement; Like the posts I write and post at WriteFreely. Still, these longer articles can be Announced in Mastodon, with the same format as other, shorter ones; a Clear Title; some text Body; link to full article elsewhere; Always a Good Image! (we are fighting for people's attention, everyday)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong><em>You can post longer pieces in Mastodon as well</em></strong>; Qoto is very special in allowing a HUGE 65,000 characters max per Toot. But even elsewhere, it's feasible to make a Thread, successive posts in reply to the previous one; Best done as a Thread with the 2nd and later replies all set to Unlisted privacy setting (to avoid clogging Local timelines)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong><em>if doing multipart posts, you need to work careful and quickly</em></strong> -- to try and avoid anyone jumping in with a comment or reply while you are still mid-stream in the posts. It's possible, but a bit tense (I did this before). Best done with a machine <em>supporting an enhanced Clipboard, capable of storing multiple pieces of information</em>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>I have and use this daily -- Windows 10 now supports it, all you need is to press <strong><em>WinKey-V</em></strong>, and it will show all current clipboard contents, in time order; you can select any of them, text, URL, image, to insert at this point. So a multi-part post can ALL be copied to Clipboard, piece by piece, then inserted into Toot Editor in quick succession. Insert, Toot. Click Reply, insert next, Toot. and so on, until complete. You will overwhelm any humans looking at the post, less likely to have a stray response.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>I made a nice and long thread with <a href="https://qoto.org/@design_RG/103261667157165272" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>the story of a visit to a Museum</em></strong>, posted here</a>. Later it became <a href="https://write.tedomum.net/rgx/memories-a-visit-to-the-archeology-museum" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>a Full Blog post</em></strong></a>, which took more work but all the story was written already. I used a plain text editor in my laptop, and tuned away all the distractions.</p>
<p>At the end of a post, it would be nice to find some <strong><em>References</em></strong> -- links, see also, anything related to your article. This can be done in a simple way, as a <a href="https://qoto.org/@design_RG/103261682063400456" rel="noopener noreferrer">list of <strong><em>words and links to further info</em></strong>, as seen in the very last Toot</a> in my Museum thread.</p>
<p>Stopping at this point, as it's getting long, but I already see this thread as my topic of the day for a blog post. ;-)</p>
<hr>
<h3>Conclusion?</h3>
<p>We now have the Forum thread, and it allows for <em>easier reading to anyone using a laptop or Desktop computer</em>. Posts there can also be edited, enhanced with in-line images, and use all of the formatting power and beauty of the <strong><em>MarkDown</em></strong> language. A lot of this was formatted there.</p>
<p>Later, I copied all of the text into Clipboard, and <em>into my own <strong>WriteFreely instance</strong></em> -- my editing platform for Blog work <em>is running in my own laptop here</em>, so I can use it even if Internet goes down, <em>and the responses are lightning fast</em>.</p>
<p>Once I am happy with the text and layout, imagery, I can copy and paste the full <strong><em>MarkDown source</em></strong> into my blog hosts.</p>
<p>Hopefully we get good response in the Forum thread, where everyone can respond fast and easily with their comments, ideas. Again, the <a href="https://discourse.qoto.org/t/special-hashtag-to-highlight-serious-posting-at-qoto-org/180" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>Discourse Forum Thread</em></strong> is Here</a>. Please visit there or <a href="https://qoto.org/@design_RG/103414515080426459" rel="noopener noreferrer">respond to our Mastodon Thread about this idea here</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>Thank you for reading this, please feel free to comment about this post, your input is important. <em>This page created entirely in MarkDown language.</em></p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/d3ThDcdc/cat-mtx-60p.png" alt=""> R.G. <a href="https://qoto.org/@design_RG" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/design_RG@Qoto.org/" title="design_RG@Qoto.org" rel="noopener noreferrer">@design_RG@Qoto.org</a></p>
]]><![CDATA[The Fediverse reminds me so much of FidoNet]]>https://fediverse.blog/~/MusingsByRg/the-fediverse-reminds-me-so-much-of-fido-net/2020-01-02T03:59:30.555513+00:00R.G. Xpressionshttps://fediverse.blog/@/rgx/2020-01-02T03:59:30.555513+00:00<![CDATA[<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/PfF8crbS/BBS-Hdr-640x466p.jpg" alt=""></p>
<hr>
<p>New Year's day, and all is quiet in the land. :-)</p>
<p>Time to catch up, and I remembered an idea for a blog post a few days ago. We were having some discussions (<em>which turned a bit heated</em>), but later things calmed down.</p>
<p>Chatting <a href="https://qoto.org/@design_RG/103363676624719804" rel="noopener noreferrer">in a Mastodon network thread</a>, I mentioned the situation reminded me a lot of my days in the BBS world; where I started in computers, dial-up modems, and the network I was soon participating in - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FidoNet" rel="noopener noreferrer">called <strong><em>FidoNet</em></strong></a>. The conversation went as follows:</p>
<hr>
<p>Brings memories of sysops battling it out on our local FidoNet network!!</p>
<p>Time goes on, humanity continues.</p>
<p>Fediverse is indeed quite similar to the wonderful pioneer that Fidonet was. Way before internet was accessible to the masses.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/anarchiv/" title="anarchiv" rel="noopener noreferrer">@anarchiv</a> : as a part of the unthinking masses, I don't know what that is.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Fidonet? it was a network formed by independant system operators (sysops for short) in the days of BBSes (<em>Bulletin Board Systems</em>) being the only computers you could reach and connect to from home.</p>
<p>We only had dial up lines, but it was amazing to dial up and connect to a place with information, software for download, online games. All of this for free in most cases.</p>
<h2>People operated those as a hobby, all of them loved computing. It attracted similar people, which is how I joined. 1992.</h2>
<p>I will write a blog post or more about it soon, there's so many good stories and similarities to the Fediverse. It felt immediately similar when I joined here.</p>
<p>Even the brawling with other sysops, who sometimes we didn't like, we did that as well, lol.</p>
<p>Great fun to be had, lots of coffee was consumed, talks went late into the night.</p>
<p>The network was worldwide, and sent international mail via phone calls. Data lines? not available at the time.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/SK1j2gKm/BBS-scr-640x480p.jpg" alt=""></p>
<h3>Memories...</h3>
<p>Another conversation <a href="https://qoto.org/@design_RG/103119649798111687" rel="noopener noreferrer">mentioned <em>Fidonet</em> on our Local instance</a> chats.</p>
<hr>
<p>I have been seeing and feeling many similarities between the fediverse and my first experience with networking, way back in the early 90s.</p>
<p>Back then, all we had were BBSes, phone lines and 2400 bps modems, but there was an international network linking many of them already - FidoNet.</p>
<p>FidoNet had as one of its core principles something similar to your approach here:</p>
<ul>
<li>Thou Shall not be Annoying. <em>immediately followed by :</em></li>
<li>Thou Shall not be Easily Annoyed.<br>
Words of wisdom to live by!</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/freemo/" title="freemo" rel="noopener noreferrer">@freemo</a> : I started on the BBS dialup days as well. The connected network between them was just coming around at the time.</p>
<p>Did you play the Doors games like LOTRD?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yes, I did play some of the games. Sometimes you had to be waiting to be able to connect, as in most cases there was only one phone line. People had fun running a BBS in a spare computer, and we could get software galore, when there was no Internet access to the public, which only came later (about 1995 or so here in Canada).</p>
<p>Watching the dialing, the link negotiation between the modems, seeing the ASCII art load, it was so much fun.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/freemo/" title="freemo" rel="noopener noreferrer">@freemo</a> : The good ol' days :)</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>From those pioneer days, fast forward 25 years -- And now we have online, free streaming video of the nice "BBS - The Documentary" series, by Jason Scott.</p>
<p>The full series is on Qoto Peertube; see a <a href="https://video.qoto.org/my-account/video-playlists/e42166e0-2b58-4e04-aa2e-957ba52aca0b" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>playlist with <strong>all 8 episodes</strong> here</em></a>. If you want to see the <a href="https://video.qoto.org/videos/watch/228e013c-6bf3-4911-a844-3e700ce2ede4" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em><strong>FidoNet episode</strong>, part 4, it's here</em></a>.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/sg1kfmbY/JScott-640x320p.jpg" alt=""></p>
<h3>Synopsis from DVD version :</h3>
<p>From the <a href="https://docuwiki.net/index.php?title=Bbs_The_Documentary" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em><strong>DocuWiki</strong> page for this series</em></a>, we have the full synopsis :</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Long before the Internet escaped from the lab, connected the planet and redefined what it meant to use a computer there was a brave and pioneering band of computer users who spent their time, money and sanity setting up their home computers and phone lines to welcome anyone who called. By using a modem, anyone else who knew the phone number of these computers could connect to them, leave messages, send and recieve files.... and millions did.</p>
<p>They called these places "Bulletin Board Systems", or BBSes. And their collections of messages, rants, thoughts and dreams became the way that an entire generation learned about being online. When the Internet grew in popularity in the early 1990s, the world of the BBS faded, changed, and became a part of the present networked world.. but it wasn't the same.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/pTPkrXyw/BBS-dvd-400x240p.jpg" alt=""></p>
<h3>Get your own copies :</h3>
<p>Jason Scott has released the original DVDs to the <strong>Internet Archive</strong>, and anyone interested <a href="https://archive.org/details/BBS.The.Documentary" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>can watch online, download individual episodes</em></a> -- or the <a href="https://archive.org/details/bbsdocumentary" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>3 DVD</em></strong> ISO images here</a>.</p>
<p>Our PeerTube videos are <em>better quality</em>, a DVD rip by <strong><em>MVGroup.org</em></strong> and <a href="http://forums.mvgroup.org/index.php?showtopic=49295" rel="noopener noreferrer">released in <em>Bit Torrent and eMule</em> networks</a> (<em>free user registration, login required</em>).</p>
<hr>
<h3>References :</h3>
<p>a. BBS systems :</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A Bulletin Board System or BBS (once called Computer Bulletin Board Service, CBBS[1]) is a computer server running software that allows users to connect to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, the user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging messages with other users through public message boards and sometimes via direct chatting. In the early 1980s, message networks such as FidoNet sprung up to provide services such as NetMail, which is similar to email.
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletin_board_system" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wikipedia page</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>b. FidoNet computer network :</p>
<blockquote>
<p>FidoNet is a worldwide computer network that is used for communication between bulletin board systems (BBSes). It uses a store-and-forward system to exchange private (email) and public (forum) messages between the BBSes in the network, as well as other files and protocols in some cases.
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FidoNet" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wikipedia page</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>c. Dial-Up Networking :</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Dial-up Internet access is a form of Internet access that uses the facilities of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to establish a connection to an Internet service provider (ISP) by dialing a telephone number on a conventional telephone line. Dial-up connections use modems to decode audio signals into data to send to a router or computer, and to encode signals from the latter two devices to send to another modem.
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dial-up_Internet_access" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wikipedia page</a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dial_up_modem_noises.ogg" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dial up modem sounds</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDE9b5iU8vI" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dial up video (26 secs)</a></p>
</blockquote>
<h2><a href="//fediverse.blog/tag/Modem" title="modem" rel="noopener noreferrer">#modem</a> <a href="//fediverse.blog/tag/DialUp" title="DialUp" rel="noopener noreferrer">#DialUp</a> <a href="//fediverse.blog/tag/Networking" title="networking" rel="noopener noreferrer">#networking</a> <a href="//fediverse.blog/tag/Retro" title="Retro" rel="noopener noreferrer">#Retro</a> <a href="//fediverse.blog/tag/Computing" title="Computing" rel="noopener noreferrer">#Computing</a></h2>
<p>Thank you for reading this, please feel free to comment about this post, your input is important. <em>This page created entirely in MarkDown language.</em></p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/d3ThDcdc/cat-mtx-60p.png" alt=""> R.G. <a href="https://qoto.org/@design_RG" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/design_RG@Qoto.org/" title="design_RG@Qoto.org" rel="noopener noreferrer">@design_RG@Qoto.org</a></p>
]]><![CDATA[Re: Shocking Images and Content Warnings... ]]>https://fediverse.blog/~/MusingsByRg/re-shocking-images-and-content-warnings/2019-12-31T21:19:02.667986+00:00R.G. Xpressionshttps://fediverse.blog/@/rgx/2019-12-31T21:19:02.667986+00:00<![CDATA[<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/nVNSCK7v/MCN2-640x449p.png" alt=""></p>
<hr>
<h3>A personal Reflection :</h3>
<p>On the issue of rules regarding content warning and posting in timelines.</p>
<p>We had some disturbing photos posted recently at <a href="https://qoto.rog" rel="noopener noreferrer">a Mastodon instance</a> where I am part of the staff and a Moderator. I flagged some of the posts for moderation, and waited to see what the response from other mods and admin would be; <em>it came and wasn't in line with my thinking, exactly</em>.</p>
<p>I had joined a new instance very recently, and as requested by the administrator's welcome message sent to each new user, <em>went to read their Rules page</em>. Liked what I saw; it was well written, in clear terms and organized into different types of possible objectionable posts contents.</p>
<p>That instance is <a href="https://masto.donte.com.br/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>Masto.donte.com.br, Renato Londe's</em></strong></a> instance. You can see their "About, More" page in <a href="https://masto.donte.com.br/about/more" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>the original (<strong>Portuguese</strong> language)</em></a>, or for ease of understanding, a clean <a href="https://www.translatetheweb.com/?ref=TVert&from=pt&to=en&a=https://masto.donte.com.br/about/more" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Bing Translation to <strong>English</strong></em></a>.</p>
<p>Just this morning, as I reflected and made notes for this post, I looked at them once again - and some of the objectionable content I flagged <em>would be clearly within their definitions of not allowable content at their own instance</em>.</p>
<p>Sanity prevails, even if sometimes rules have to be extensive and worded carefully to avoid misunderstandings.</p>
<p>About a week ago or so we had an incident which took me sometime and attention - I recall now it was on <strong><em>Christmas Eve</em></strong>, exactly, <em>as I found that ironic considering the nature of the incident</em>.</p>
<hr>
<h3>De-Federation Request :</h3>
<p>Someone posted a thread with a screenshot and a <a href="https://radical.town/@DissidentKitty/103360603294150583" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>request for De-federation (isolation, incommunicado)</em></a> of an instance. Mine, as I discovered upon reading, just by sheer luck, one of the replies to her post as it flew by in the busy Home timeline.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/CKLpmCcR/DK-DEF-639x388.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>Being an active user at my instance, I had made many posts and did my best to build community; <em>that someone could make that harsh request was shocking to me, and I went into the fray soon after reading</em>. First thing, I posted an exposé of what was going on <a href="https://qoto.org/@design_RG/103363357923380440" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>in our own instance's Local timeline</em></a> - to allow anyone interested to follow and intervene in the discussion if desired.</p>
<p>Then went on to replying in their own thread, <em>much to the chagrin of the post's author, who did not expect a reaction</em>. Oh, Really? lol...</p>
<p>This took energy and attention away from other tasks, <em>but was important to me at that moment</em>.</p>
<p>To be ostracized like this request indicated would be disgraceful to any Fediverse instance. Look at Gab and what people think, <em>that's their current situation, isolated in their own corner</em>.</p>
<p>The intent of today's blog is not to re-open the issues raised in this thread -- But it might inform some of my thinking, which was further aided by private DM discussions once the fires where out, with a good friend from another instance. A cool one, which I joined simply by meeting some of their members and liking their ways.</p>
<p>So, back on topic - the main implication of the huge discussion here was the way a community can be perceived, by the looks of :</p>
<ul>
<li>Their stated rules and modus operandi, what is allowed, what's not.</li>
<li>Posts and images made at that community, sometimes by simple users, with bad or objectionable content.</li>
<li>Posts and statements by their staff, admins and mods in any place.</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<h3>Our own Instance Rules :</h3>
<p>Below is a copy of the <a href="https://radical.town/media/radical-town-media/media_attachments/files/005/498/189/original/96df0df69ef4c055.png" rel="noopener noreferrer">screenshot that DK posted</a>, and was captured from <a href="https://qoto.org/about/more" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>this page - Qoto.org - About, More</em></a>.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/sxpZwR29/DK-Rules-639x277.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>And upon later DM chat, <em>I agree that we need to do some revisions</em>. The pages are important, as they present publicly where the administration and staff of a community stand, their beliefs and how they plan to deal with infractions or problems.</p>
<p>Upon just going back now and re-reading, I recall <em>a certain skepticism upon reading them when I first joined</em>. Qoto was my entry point into the Fediverse, the first place I found, <a href="https://joinmastodon.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer">via the <strong><em>JoinMastodon.org</em></strong></a> and their <a href="https://joinmastodon.org/#getting-started" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>Get Started</em></strong> (instance referral page)</a>.</p>
<p>Now I have been in the instance for almost two months, but these have been intensive, full days where I explore and discover not only local content but also other instances; other services like this very blog; read and learn, apply what I just learned. And have fun doing it!</p>
<p>The first impression was that the tone of the text and rules <em>was a bit too <strong>Libertarian</strong> for my taste</em>. But that soon melted with getting to know and enjoying interactions with the locals and people in other instances, who either replied and participated in our threads, or that I met at the Home feed, less busy and more manageable that the waterfall of content in the Federated timeline.</p>
<p>This might be a good way to start my reflections on what could we improve in the About page, and posting this could help clarify my thinking to others.</p>
<hr>
<h3>Moderation on the Day to Day :</h3>
<p>I volunteered to help with the moderation in the instance, something I have done and enjoyed in the past.</p>
<p>For me the most important part of a site staff member is not the policing and containing of problems if they do pop up, <em>but tho be an active member of their community and lead by example</em>. I made an extensive post, <a href="https://discourse.qoto.org/t/qoto-moderator-nomination-process-notes/117" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>first on the Discourse Forum</em></a>, then later <a href="https://write.tedomum.net/rgx/qoto-moderator-nomination-process-notes" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>copied over to my blog here</em></a>, describing my thoughts and philosophy.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/tCp1pwTw/QT-Nom-640x338p.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>It was quite a bit of work, but I enjoyed it, and thought it could help inspire other users into supporting and helping build a community -- they are nothing if there's no user participation, or if it drops in reaction to some incident or another.</p>
<p>Then yesterday we had two new users, just joined post some images I felt were disturbing, for different reasons. Not a god way to start in a new community you join, and I was concerned by the perception of those in the Fediverse at large - when there's already animosity as detailed in the long discussions with DK and cohorts.</p>
<hr>
<h3>Report it, report it!</h3>
<p>...Is what we tell everyone, and the best way to act promptly on any bad actors. We might not be online, or deep into participating in some thread, doing other work in the computer, etc. But a user Report will do a few things:</p>
<ul>
<li>it will open a case, and show in the Mastodon Moderation panel.</li>
<li>it will send emails to all the Mods and Admin staff at the site.</li>
<li>it will start a process, which has records step by step ; every action we take is logged in the system.</li>
</ul>
<p>These two images spooked me; upon thinking, I decided to report each post, but not act to let other staff people look at them and opine on course of action to follow.</p>
<p>Waited for some time, and now, the next day, went to see the status.</p>
<p>Reported posts or users are shown as Report <a href="//fediverse.blog/tag/Xxx" title="xxx" rel="noopener noreferrer">#xxx</a>, each with an assigned number, which is included in all emails, logs, etc. The two reports I made were still open (no final action had been taken, which would close them, logging who did what, and any comments they left.)</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/L5FfMsYZ/MCN1-Header-640x419p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>There were notes left, one in each case, suggesting contacting the users in question and asking them to change the images by adding a Content Warning, CW for short. Looking at the controls, I saw I had the option of adding the CW myself, <em>and as a staff person concerned with instance's perceived nature, felt justified in doing so</em>.</p>
<p>The snapshot above shows the logged actions as they appear on the case, now closed.</p>
<p>I edited each image, removing user names and any identifiable particulars, other than my own username, which is used here in the signature of every post, so no secret.</p>
<hr>
<h3>How bad were they ?</h3>
<p>I felt they were bad, in different ways.</p>
<p>The first one was an illustration of a maniacal man, one that had a huge impact in the 20th century. Would annoy many with fixated eye contact it contains. <em>A copy of it is <a href="https://i.postimg.cc/RCwVDdMF/AH-640x424p.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer">stored here (external link)</a> if you want to see it</em>.</p>
<p>The second one shows a predatory attitude, a man armed and showing a dead animal he had just murdered. <em>A copy of it is <a href="https://i.postimg.cc/vHMHFnBv/HA-640x584p.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer">stored here (external link)</a> if you want to see it</em>.</p>
<p>Under <a href="https://www.translatetheweb.com/?ref=TVert&from=pt&to=en&a=https://masto.donte.com.br/about/more" rel="noopener noreferrer">Renato's Mastodon instance rules</a>, <em>these would not be acceptable, and removed immediately</em>. Possibly consequences might come to the user, who is warned at the front door, even before joining, that the community is a moderated instance, and that the rules page listed here apply if they want to request membership.</p>
<hr>
<h3>Now what ?</h3>
<p>Another two images followed, which I have qualms about, but both were posted by staff members and I declined to act or report on them for that reason.</p>
<p>Other than deciding this was the right time to create this post, which ties up different things and will propose we start a discussion and revision process on the currently displayed <a href="https://qoto.org/about/more" rel="noopener noreferrer">"About, More" rules page at Qoto.org</a>.</p>
<p>Upon going out to gather links, images and references for this post, I noticed that <a href="https://radical.town/@DissidentKitty/103360603294150583" rel="noopener noreferrer">DW's original Instance banning thread</a>, now one week old, <em>has 41 Boosts as of earlier this morning, Dec 31, 2019</em>.</p>
<p>So there's a sentiment, there's hostility, <em>and should we not worry and ignore it?</em> That's not my nature, and I see some of the reasons for their concern, so as promised to my friend in our Direct Messages dialogue, I am starting this. Thank you, for helping me and inspiring continuing action, mon ami.</p>
<p>Happy New Year, Fediverse, communities who accepted me, friends I have met through them, thank you all for enjoyable times and the intense intellectual stimulation our interactions brought me.</p>
<hr>
<p>Thank you for reading this, please feel free to comment about this post, your input is important. <em>This page created entirely in MarkDown language.</em></p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/d3ThDcdc/cat-mtx-60p.png" alt=""> RG. <a href="https://qoto.org/@design_RG" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/design_RG@Qoto.org/" title="design_RG@Qoto.org" rel="noopener noreferrer">@design_RG@Qoto.org</a> </p>
]]><![CDATA[Guia de Usuarios en Español para Write.freely]]>https://fediverse.blog/~/MusingsByRg/guia-de-usuarios-en-español-para-write.freely/2019-12-30T20:08:57.651664+00:00R.G. Xpressionshttps://fediverse.blog/@/rgx/2019-12-30T20:08:57.651664+00:00<![CDATA[<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/g03s85hv/Header-PXB-650x340p.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>Después de haber estado usando la maravillosa plataforma de blogs Write.freely durante un par de semanas ahora, finalmente me encontré con <a href="https://forge.tedomum.net/tedomum/documentation/wikis/Write-Freely" rel="noopener noreferrer">una bonita página de documentación (<em>idioma francés</em>)</a>. Desearía haberlo visto antes, ya que no encontré mucha información de la que aprender cuando empecé.</p>
<p>La Guía fué preparada por <strong>Ange</strong>, y tenía como objeto ayudar a las personas interesadas en utilizar la <a href="https://write.tedomum.net/" rel="noopener noreferrer">instancia write.freely en TeDomum.net</a> -- que ha sido el hogar de toda mi escritura en blogs hasta ahora.</p>
<p><a href="https://write.tedomum.net/" rel="noopener noreferrer"> <img src="https://i.postimg.cc/6q35CHhW/Te-Domum-net-logo.png" alt=""></a></p>
<p>Dado que no hay mucha documentación, me pareció útil y un proyecto interesante tomar Ange's Guide y <em>preparar una <a href="https://write.tedomum.net/rgx/write-freely-wiki-documentation/" rel="noopener noreferrer">traducción al inglés, publicarla en mi blog</a> y difundir la palabra</em>.</p>
<p>Ahora, de la traducción Inglesa, hizo esta version en <strong><em>Español</em></strong>.</p>
<ul>
<li>Publicado originalmente por <em><strong><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/angedestenebres/" title="angedestenebres" rel="noopener noreferrer">@angedestenebres</a></strong></em> - <a href="https://mastodon.tedomum.net/@angedestenebres" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/angedestenebres@mastodon.tedomum.net/" title="angedestenebres@mastodon.tedomum.net" rel="noopener noreferrer">@angedestenebres@mastodon.tedomum.net</a> <em>en Mastodon</em>.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://mastodon.tedomum.net/@angedestenebres" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://www.tedomum.net/web/image/442" alt=""></a></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Original publicado <a href="https://forge.tedomum.net/tedomum/documentation/wikis/Write-Freely" rel="noopener noreferrer">en la Wiki Documentación a TeDomum</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>El HTML crudo fué copiado de la fuente arriba; luego paginado pacientemente para el consumo humano y limpiado. La mayoría de las etiquetas html fueron eliminadas, reemplazadas por equivalentes <strong>MarkDown</strong>; mucho más agradable de usar!</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Realmente hé disfrutado descubriendo la simplicidad y el poder de MarkDown - <em>y aprendido mucho con el <a href="https://www.markdowntutorial.com/es/" rel="noopener noreferrer">maravilloso, <strong>Guia Tutorial interactivo</strong> ahí</a></em>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Un proyecto interesante, sumergirse en esto y ver el código complejo generado por la Wiki para una página típica.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<h2>General :</h2>
<p>Write Freely le permite crear blogs conectados al <a href="https://forge.tedomum.net/tedomum/documentation/wikis/Fediverse" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>Fediverso</em></strong></a>. Su interfaz és bastante simple, pero permite utilizar HTML y Markdown para el diseño de página, formato, inserción de imágenes, etc.</p>
<h2>Registrarse en el servicio:</h2>
<p>El registro para el servicio se realiza de forma muy sencilla <a href="https://write.tedomum.net/signup" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>rellenando el formulario de suscripción</em></strong> en la página principal de la instancia de Writefreely</a>.</p>
<p>Tenga en cuenta que <em><strong>no es necesário registrarse</strong> para ver y leer un blog</em>.</p>
<h2>Usando Write.freely :</h2>
<p>En primer lugar, debe <a href="https://write.tedomum.net/login" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>iniciar sesión</em></strong> a través de la página principal de la instancia write.freely</a>.</p>
<hr>
<h3>Nota del editor: ¿Registrarse en otras instancias?</h3>
<h2>También puede registrarse en <a href="https://writefreely.org/instances" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>cualquiera de las <strong>instancias permitiendo nuevas cuentas!</strong></em></a> También hay listas en: <a href="https://the-federation.info/writefreely" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>The-Federation.info</em></strong></a> y <a href="https://fediverse.network/writefreely" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>Fediverse Network</em></strong></a></h2>
<h3>Interfaz de usuario y controles :</h3>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/PJfzY5bD/1-640x199p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>Al pasar el cursor sobre la barra de menús superior, donde algunos botones ya están visibles, los botones <em><strong>de otras funciones se muestran</strong></em>. Es con esta barra de menús que usted será capaz de navegar entre las diferentes páginas :</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/fbqFmrVR/2-640x87p.png" alt=""></p>
<ul>
<li>El botón <code>1</code> le permite ir a la página que le permite ver o personalizar su blog.</li>
<li>El botón <code>2</code> es un menú desplegable:</li>
</ul>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/tT1c5N6t/3.png" alt=""></p>
<p>Las dos primeras opciones le permiten elegir si desea <strong>Publicar</strong> su artículo (haciéndolo visible en todo el mundo) o si desea mantenerlo como un <strong>Draft</strong> (provisional, no visible, para su posterior edición, etc.).</p>
<p>Tenga en cuenta que si desea obtener una vista previa del artículo antes de publicarlo, <em>la elección de <strong>draft es recommended</strong></em>.</p>
<p>El <code>View Blogs</code> (veer blogs) tiene la misma función que el botón <code>1</code> descrito anteriormente y la opción <code>View Drafts</code> (ver borradores) hace lo mismo que el botón <code>6</code>.</p>
<p>Por último, la opción <code>Log Out</code> le permite <em>cerrar sesión en su cuenta</em>.</p>
<p>El botón <code>3</code> le permite <em>elegir otra fuente</em>.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/Pqmm7w2Z/3b-640x209p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>El contador <code>4</code> le permite ver el número de palabras contenidas en el artículo que se está escribiendo.</p>
<p>El botón <code>5</code> le permite cambiar el editor a <strong><em>Dark Mode / Modo Oscuro</em></strong> :</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/qMRx7gvV/4-640x202p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>(<em>nota del editor: mi modo preferido, ya que es mucho más fácil para los ojos para largas sesiones de edición</em>)</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>El botón <code>6</code> le permite <em>ver los borradores</em> que ha guardado anteriormente.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>El botón <code>7</code> permite que <em>el artículo sea publicado</em> (que se está visificando y en vivo en la web).</p>
</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<h3>Escribir un artículo :</h3>
<h4>Qué códigos de formato utilizar:</h4>
<p>Es posible utilizar <em>etiquetas de marcado HTML</em> o las <em>más simples y fáciles <strong>MarkDown</strong></em>; o hacer una mezcla de ambos tipos.</p>
<ul>
<li>Una mezcla de etiquetas de marcado HTML y MarkDown en la ventana del editor:</li>
</ul>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/P52FnRzQ/5-640x421p.png" alt=""></p>
<ul>
<li>Que se muestra así en un navegador :</li>
</ul>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/MGLPvfLc/6-640x770p.png" alt=""></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Todas las etiquetas MarkDown son aceptadas <a href="https://guides.write.as/writing/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>enumeradas y explicadas en la guía <strong>Write.as</strong></em></a>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>(<em>Nota del editor: Véase también <a href="https://www.markdowntutorial.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Guia Tutorial interactivo de MarkDown</strong></a></em>.)</p>
</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<h3>Uso de un HashTag (ou Tag) :</h3>
<p>Las etiquetas se pueden usar en Write.freely. Para ello, solo tienes que poner marcas hash en tu artículo, seguido de la palabra que quieras. Esto hará posible hacer una lista de todos los artículos con un tema común y hacer una mejor referencia a sus artículos, especialmente en <a href="https://forge.tedomum.net/tedomum/documentation/wikis/mastodon" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mastodon</a>.</p>
<p>Ejemplo con la marca hash "<a href="//fediverse.blog/tag/Toutcasser" title="toutcasser" rel="noopener noreferrer">#toutcasser</a>" :</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/T1VC773m/7-544x468p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>Que creará enlaces de nuevo en Mastodon, incluso si no es visible en el mensaje :</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/5NJPYVsm/8.png" alt=""></p>
<hr>
<h2>Personaliza la presentación de tu blog:</h2>
<p>Es posible personalizar la presentación de tu blog (descripción, visualización de artículos, etc...)</p>
<p>Para ello, tienes que ir a tu blog y seleccionar la opción <code>customize</code>(personalizar):</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/bwtdK7jK/10-Customize-640x195p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>En la parte inferior de la página, tendrás la opción de añadir tu propio CSS:</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/P5r2yMsp/9-640x532p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>Tenga en cuenta que puede <a href="https://guides.write.as/customizing/#custom-css" rel="noopener noreferrer">utilizar esta guía <strong><em>Reference guide to CSS</em></strong> (en Inglés)</a> para escribirla.</p>
<hr>
<h2>Estadísticas de sus páginas de blog:</h2>
<p>Para ver estadísticas actualizadas de todas tus páginas, ve a tu blog y selecciona la opción <code>stats</code>:</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/nzHz9MQJ/10-Stats-640x195p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>A continuación, verá una página como esta:</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/DZVr9rDc/11-640x595p.png" alt=""></p>
<hr>
<h3>Notas del editor :</h3>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Un gran <strong>Gracias! para Ange</strong> por la preparación de su <a href="https://forge.tedomum.net/tedomum/documentation/wikis/Write-Freely" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>versión original francesa de la documentación en Wiki</em></a> -- hizo la creación de esta versión en Español *mucho más fácil que la creación de una guía totalmente nueva desde cero *.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>He añadido palabras adicionales en algunos lugares, pensando que podría *facilitar la lectura para un nuevo usuario *; el público previsto para una guía introductoria como esta.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>El texto original en francés se tradujo en bloques de párrafos a través de la <a href="https://www.bing.com/translator" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>maravillosa herramienta__Bing Translator__</em></a>. Esta versión en Español también se há producido con Bing Translate.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Cualquier error posiblemente introducido en el proceso de preparación de esta versión es mío.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Y acabo de encontrar un otro Guia en Inglés, <a href="https://writefreely.org/docs/latest/writer/writing" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em><strong>Writer's Guide</strong> en Writefreely.org</em></a> ¡Marcandole!</p>
</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>Gracias por leer esto, por favor no dude en comentar sobre este post, su opinión es importante. <em>Esta página creada completamente en lenguaje MarkDown.</em></p>
<p>Thank you for reading this, please feel free to comment about this post, your input is important. <em>This page created entirely in MarkDown language.</em></p>
<p>RG. <a href="https://qoto.org/@design_RG" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/design_RG@Qoto.org/" title="design_RG@Qoto.org" rel="noopener noreferrer">@design_RG@Qoto.org</a></p>
]]><![CDATA[ Firefox Add-ons for the Active User ?]]>https://fediverse.blog/~/MusingsByRg/firefox-add-ons-for-the-active-user/2019-12-29T17:46:17.021436+00:00R.G. Xpressionshttps://fediverse.blog/@/rgx/2019-12-29T17:46:17.021436+00:00<![CDATA[<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/mZ9xfzND/FF-Addons-header-640x303p.png" alt=""></p>
<hr>
<h3>A collection of useful Firefox extensions.</h3>
<p>Modern browsers have a lot of power and display content pretty well. But even for the general user, they need some essential add-on Extensions to complement and make life in the Web saner and more comfortable.</p>
<p>Examples?</p>
<ul>
<li>Ad removing.</li>
<li>Password tracking.</li>
<li>Tracking blockers, etc.</li>
</ul>
<p>I have used some of these on the screenshot above for years, while others are newer, discovered recently, when needing some extra, some control or a streamlined experience.</p>
<p>For today's page, I will list and describe each of the Extensions currently in use here, at RG Central laptop and my other machines. The screenshot shows some of the currently active add-ons, in alphabetical order; but I think it makes sense to break them into some categories, from must have for all to more niche applications.</p>
<p>The idea for this post came for a <a href="https://qoto.org/@design_RG/103386074145038918" rel="noopener noreferrer">discussion thread at our <strong><em>Qoto.org</em></strong></a> mastodon instance, and I thank <a href="https://qoto.org/@shibaprasad" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>Shibaprasad</em></strong></a> for inspiring it!</p>
<hr>
<h3>Which Browser :</h3>
<p><a href="https://www.waterfox.net/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/X7sjzBkP/WF-logo.png" alt=""></a></p>
<p>My browser of choice is <a href="https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>Firefox</em></strong></a>, I use a variant of it called <a href="https://www.waterfox.net/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>Waterfox</em></strong></a>, developed and maintained by <a href="https://www.waterfox.net/about/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Alex Kontos</strong></a>. Since October, 2019, <a href="https://www.waterfox.net/releases/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Waterfox has split into two streams</em></a>, and you have a choice :</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><strong><em>Waterfox Classic</em></strong> : is the same project that has been evolving over the years, and has enhancements over the standard Mozilla Firefox like removing telemetry (remote logging of usage, crashes, usage patterns), and allowing the installation and use of some older FF extensions no longer supported by main stream Firefox builds.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong><em>Waterfox Current</em></strong> : this is a new version as of October, and is built on top of very recent Firefox Quantum Beta builds. I loved this version as soon as I first tested - the speed and stability has been wonderful, and I use it exclusively nowadays. The latest versions will be available <a href="https://www.waterfox.net/releases/" rel="noopener noreferrer">from the Waterfox project Download pages</a>, and it should be updated once a month more or less.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>All of the extensions listed here are currently available for Firefox browsers and variants. Many might be available for <em>Chromium based browsers</em> (a big group which includes <a href="https://www.google.ca/chrome/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Google Chrome</a>, <a href="https://vivaldi.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Vivaldi</a>, <a href="https://brave.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Brave</a>, <a href="https://www.opera.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Opera</a>, and even the upcoming <a href="https://www.microsoftedgeinsider.com/en-us/" rel="noopener noreferrer">MS Edge Chromium-based version</a> to be released in January, 2020).</p>
<p>If you do use one of those others, read on and if interested, search your own browser's extensions/add-on repositories.</p>
<hr>
<h3>Must Haves for all :</h3>
<h4>Ad Remover :</h4>
<p>I can't use a computer sanely without controlling the assault of advertising that is present in many sites. There are various different ad-blocking add-ons, I have used different ones over the years but since <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/" rel="noopener noreferrer">finding <strong><em>uBlock Origin</em></strong> it has been the one for me</a>.</p>
<h4>Password manager :</h4>
<p>Another essential tool, to keep the account information (username, password, any special notes for the site) stored and safe. They also allow you to get this information anytime, from any computer you are using - even if it's not your usual environment, you are away from home and office, just borrowing a desktop at a library, for example.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/tJh16R0j/BW-328x171p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>I had used Last Pass for some years, but due to some bugs that started creeping in, went looking for a better alternative. <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bitwarden-password-manager/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Found it in <strong><em>BitWarden</em></strong></a>, and have been happy with it. Use it on all my machines, so any account saved in one is synchronized to the BW vault and available on all the others when needed. Sync is great for anyone using more than one device.</p>
<h4>Cookie Management :</h4>
<p>Websites create little text files in our devices, cookies, to store and save settings; user data, session IDs, etc. Sometimes cookies can be beneficial (like keeping you logged in to a site), many other times they can be annoying or restrict your use of the site (a set maximum number of articles per month, on a news site for example).</p>
<p>Some of the annoyances can be bypassed by removing the cookies -- but best not all of them, just for that particular site. <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/cookie-remover/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>Cookie Remover</em></strong> is a small and simple add-on</a>, which sits in the browser waiting for a click on it's icon; which will remove all cookies for the website in the current browser tab.</p>
<p>Does the job with no fuss, and sometimes that's all you need for accessing more info from that place.</p>
<hr>
<h3>For Active Readers :</h3>
<p>if you are into the video watching, YouTube bandwagon, I don't have many suggestions for you, <em>as I prefer to read than watch a random video</em>. Granted, sometimes a well made video can distill a complex theme into a fast introduction and hook a new interest, bringing a new reader to a site.</p>
<p>These are Add-ons I use and recommend for the active readers.</p>
<h4>Page translator :</h4>
<p>Some browsers, like Chrome, offer built in translation for websites in foreign languages. I don't use Chrome at all, and try t keep my use of Google services to the bare minimum if possible.</p>
<p>Recently I discovered the <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/page-translator-revised/?src=search" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>Page Translator Revised</em></strong> add-on</a>, which has the nice option of using either Google or Bing Translators. Preferring to avoid Google's properties, I found this upon searching for "Bing Translator" specifically. There are many, many add-ons for Google translation alone, which I wasn't interested in.</p>
<h4>Bypassing Paywalls :</h4>
<p>Too common nowadays, and an annoyance for an active reader. I choose to support sites that I access daily, like the wonderful <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/international" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>The Guardian</em></strong> newspaper</a>, which requests a contribution but does NOT restrict content from users who either can't afford or prefer not to pay for their service.</p>
<p>The Guardian is an uncommon exception - <em>many other places will allow only a minimal amount of reading</em> (like 5 pages per month), before locking you out of some or all of their content.</p>
<p>There are tools to deal with that; in some cases, the Cookie Remover listed in the previous section will be all you need. Other times, that won't be enough.</p>
<p>I discovered the <a href="https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-firefox" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>Bypass Paywalls</em></strong> extension</a> from a mention in a website, where I was looking for a way to bypass a specific site's paywalls. This add-on is NOT hosted at the Mozilla add-on depository, as it would attract pressure from media publishers.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/X7Qmbwhw/Bypass-PW-514x169p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>Get it from <a href="https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-firefox" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>the author's Git page here</em></a>, and once installed it will update itself automatically.</p>
<h4>Saving Pages for Later :</h4>
<p>I love the wide access to information we get in the web -- and as a result follow many linked suggestions from pages I am currently reading. The number of tabs in use here is always more than an average user, but with a good machine and browser that seems manageable.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/LXDB1VjD/Add-Pocket-511x240p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>Having a tool to save some newly found page for later reading is useful - allowing me to keep a record to return to later, but being able to close this tab to reduce memory usage. <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/in-my-pocket/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>In My Pocket</em></strong> is the extension</a> I just discovered for that, and creating <a href="https://getpocket.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">a <strong><em>Pocket</em></strong> account</a>will allow you to quickly send any tab's URL to Pocket, in one click, and close the tab without remorse. Recommended for compulsive reference readers! :)</p>
<h4>Backing up Sessions :</h4>
<p>As I work and have so many tasks, websites, mastodon instances, references, etc all open at once, the chance of a crash is worrisome as much will be lost.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/F15tJmy0/My-Sessions-cropped-640x207p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>Found the <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/my-sessions/?src=search" rel="noopener noreferrer">simple and reliable <strong><em>My Sessions</em></strong> add-on</a> to help, and it has been good. It can create a backup on demand (when you request it to), or just do it automatically in the background. In case of a crash, power outage or pressing the wrong key after a long day at work, recovering to the last saved session is a nice thing!</p>
<hr>
<h3>For the Fediverse Activist :</h3>
<p>Finally, we come to some recent finds that I am enjoying to customize or extend my use of the Fediverse and other main stream social media sites.</p>
<h4>Cross-posting from Mastodon :</h4>
<p>I do enjoy to have the ability to create a post in Mastodon, and have the choice of having it on my much less used Twitter account.</p>
<p>For that, I use the <strong><em>BirdSite</em></strong> extension, which is quite simple. It runs in the background, adds a twitter button in the regular mastodon web client Toot editor panel. If that button is clicked, the current new post will be saved to the local instance, <em>and also sent to birdsite</em> - <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/birdsite/" rel="noopener noreferrer">via <strong><em>BirdSite</em></strong> extension</a>. It needs a Twitter account, and allowing the app access to it on the first time you try it, and from there it works well.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/MGryDGn2/Birdsite-Also-Post-button-429x401p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>Keep in mind the <em>very different Limit on Toot lengths versus Tweet maximum</em> : a mere <strong>240</strong> characters. A pity, <em>compared to 500 characters or more in all Mastodon instances</em>. I like longer posts myself, to better explain and elaborate things. But if I want to cross-post, I will keep size limited to allow it to go thru undamaged.</p>
<p>The Toot editor box <em>has a remaining characters counter</em>, to allow you to keep track of current entered text size. (<em>Images are not counted for that limit, and do go thru the bridge as well.</em>)</p>
<h4>Getting a better window into information :</h4>
<p>Using a widescreen laptop or desktop, I quickly get annoyed with seeing the amount of space wasted in many programmes nowadays. Examples abound, many apps and sites are designed to allow content to be easily displayed on mobile devices (cell phones, tablets).</p>
<p>The central column with information, with varying amounts of wasted space on the left and right sides of the screen results.</p>
<p>Improving on that has been a goal, and I have made many tests, tried different things. I have used the Mastodon Advanced Web Interface (AWI for short), and recently discovered <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/collapsed-mastodon/?src=search" rel="noopener noreferrer">the <strong><em>Collapsed Mastodon</em></strong> add-on</a> which makes that even better. Shibaprasad saw my screenshot of my full screen browsing session, and was curious <em>as how Collapsed Mastodon worked</em>.</p>
<p>I took and posted this snapshot to illustrate it: <em>( click on image for larger version )</em></p>
<p><a href="https://i.postimg.cc/Zqmrs3qN/Mastodon-Collapsed-Screenshot-1600x825p.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/dt4Ddx7g/Mastodon-Collapsed-Screenshot-640x330p.jpg" alt=""></a></p>
<p><em>In a nutshell, CM allows you to:</em></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>have a wide, large <strong><em>Toot reply</em></strong> box pop up <em>right below any particular post you want to reply to</em>; just click on the reply arrow, and it will open the box for typing. Hitting Toot will send it in, and close that box, back to reading mode.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>clicking on the <strong><em>New Toot</em></strong> pencil icon will open <em>a new Toot Editor box</em>, much larger and nicer that the Mastodon web client default.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/9XxrwkwK/Collapsed-Mastodon-New-Toot-box-HL-430x539p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>Those two alone are worth trying it out!</p>
<hr>
<p>Thank you for reading this, please feel free to comment about this post, your input is important. <em>This page created entirely in MarkDown language.</em></p>
<p>RG. <a href="https://qoto.org/@design_RG" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/design_RG@Qoto.org/" title="design_RG@Qoto.org" rel="noopener noreferrer">@design_RG@Qoto.org</a></p>
]]><![CDATA[How write.freely New User's Guide was made.]]>https://fediverse.blog/~/MusingsByRg/how-write.freely-new-user's-guide-was-made/2019-12-28T05:07:01.287214+00:00R.G. Xpressionshttps://fediverse.blog/@/rgx/2019-12-28T05:07:01.287214+00:00<![CDATA[<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/7b87c0L2/christmas-decorations-door-640x415p.jpg" alt=""></p>
<hr>
<h3>Letter to a Friend, describing how a project came to be :</h3>
<p>Later in the day, I relaxed to some nice music, and wrote a reply letter to <strong>K.</strong>, who is my penpal via <a href="https://getslowly.com/en/" rel="noopener noreferrer">the wonderful <strong><em>Slowly app</em></strong></a>. She is cool, a great writer and reader, interested and following my blogging closely.</p>
<p>Poor K. will be getting another <strong><em>LONG letter</em></strong>, but she will know the main reason for such length and detail is <em>that I thought it would work equally well for a Blog post</em>.</p>
<p>Describing the whole process I worked thru, from a raw webpage View Code, HTML source, through the various steps to turn it into an editable and nicely formatted Blog post.</p>
<p>In a different language but equally useful for new users (<a href="https://write.tedomum.net/rgx/write-freely-wiki-documentation" rel="noopener noreferrer">now, in English</a>, potentially reaching a large audience).</p>
<p>So, here it is. Just sent the letter, and it will be in the Blog hours before she receives it. But fist a little background info.</p>
<hr>
<h3>Background Info - Write.freely new users guide post :</h3>
<p>Finally came across <a href="https://forge.tedomum.net/tedomum/documentation/wikis/Write-Freely" rel="noopener noreferrer">a nice Write.freely new users guide (<em>in French language</em>)</a>. The Guide was prepared by <strong>Ange</strong>, and meant to help people using the <a href="https://write.tedomum.net/" rel="noopener noreferrer">write.freely instance at TeDomum.net</a>, home for my blog.</p>
<p><a href="https://write.tedomum.net/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/6q35CHhW/Te-Domum-net-logo.png" alt=""></a></p>
<p>Since there's not much documentation, I decided to take Ange's Guide and <em>prepare an English translation, post it on my blog and spread the word</em>.</p>
<ul>
<li>Originally posted by <em><strong><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/angedestenebres/" title="angedestenebres" rel="noopener noreferrer">@angedestenebres</a></strong></em> - <a href="https://mastodon.tedomum.net/@angedestenebres" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/angedestenebres@mastodon.tedomum.net/" title="angedestenebres@mastodon.tedomum.net" rel="noopener noreferrer">@angedestenebres@mastodon.tedomum.net</a> <em>in Mastodon</em>.</li>
<li>Original posted in French <a href="https://forge.tedomum.net/tedomum/documentation/wikis/Write-Freely" rel="noopener noreferrer">at TeDomum Wiki Documentation</a></li>
<li>An interesting project, diving into this and seeing the complex code generated by the Wiki for a typical page.</li>
</ul>
<p>The <strong><em>English version</em></strong> is now <a href="https://write.tedomum.net/rgx/write-freely-wiki-documentation" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>live here at <strong>TeDomum Write.Freely</strong> itself</em>.</a></p>
<hr>
<h3>The Letter itself :</h3>
<p>Hei <strong>K.</strong>!!</p>
<p>LOL, sorry for the inappropriate use of the garland, but that is not my tree, or my house either. It is a photo a friend in Romania sent me with a letter. Sent that photo to a few friends here in Slowly.</p>
<p>Had fun today, created a new blog page that I think might get some good stats for viewing.</p>
<p>I found a nice <em>new user's Guide for the write.freely software I use</em>, at the blog's home Wiki pages. Thing is, the system is in France, <em>and all their documentation is in French, ma aussi</em>.</p>
<p>Still - it looked like an interesting project; I did not have access to the plain text of the Wikipage, but grabbed the HTML source from viewing the page in the browser; and started trying to make sense of it. Owa! :)</p>
<p>It was quite gnarly, not made to be human readable, no spaces or line breaks in the big <strong>DIV</strong> branch that nested the whole page content. And even there, each line had a lot of references, time stamps, etc, from the wiki creation tool, I think.</p>
<hr>
<h4>Editing and cleaning the source :</h4>
<p>But you know me, <em>it was a neat challenge</em>. So I copied that part right off the browser source code viewer, opened a new tab in my text editor, dumped it there. Then saved this, raw first data grab, and saved to a new name for editing - so I could go back to it if I messed something up.</p>
<p>First stage was breaking some paragraphs so I could read and understand the code (<em>it makes sense, but not without any line breaks or even a single space between all the pieces that make up the page.</em>)</p>
<p>Once I had the paragraphs broken up, I copied the text and pasted on <em>a new Blog draft page - to see how things were progressing as I edited and changed it</em>. At first no images at all were displayed (her source had 11 images, all in PNG format); the reason being this code was too complex for the write.slowly editor to present into a blog page.</p>
<p>No worries, it was just the first try; <em>just a question of more cleaning up needed</em>.</p>
<hr>
<h4>Replacing HTML with MarkDown tags :</h4>
<p>I started from the top, and replaced the Heading codes from HTML (<em>H1, H2, H3, etc</em>) to the equivalent text sized <strong>Markdown</strong> ones (simply a hash mark at the beginning of a line; <em><a href="//fediverse.blog/tag/" rel="noopener noreferrer">#</a> gives same as H1, etc</em>), which are super simple and unclutter things really well.</p>
<p><em>Love this new Markdown language, such a great idea</em> - I just started learning it a couple of weeks ago, and have been making much progress and enjoying it.</p>
<p>Other HTML tags also replaced and cleaned up. The images had big blocks of html, with no referrer, etc inside it; once I changed them to the plain Markdown image tags, they displayed perfectly as expected.</p>
<p>An image is inserted like this example; not bad at all:</p>
<pre>![this is optional text](https://fullhost-path-to-filename)</pre>
<p>I just made some <em>good black coffee (Dark Roast, freshly ground, yummy)</em>, had a nice <em>Jazz radio stream in Spotify</em>, and edited away, frequently saving, then sometimes copying over to the blog draft, saving to see how it looked. Progress was apparent. :)</p>
<p>If you wonder why I am going into so much detail, well, guess what? Think this is a nice next page to post at the Blog, as it describes this process of converting a live web HTML page to editable format again.</p>
<p>Will be posting it tomorrow, Friday.</p>
<p>Ange did a really nice job, illustrating her guide with Screenshots as she moved along the text, very nice and helpful for new users, the intended readers. I kept all the original French text until I had cleaned all extraneous html from the file, and it displayed perfectly.</p>
<hr>
<h4>Translating the text :</h4>
<p>Only then I went to work on <strong><em>creating a translation</em></strong>, at this point much easier since all the text was readable. Saved as another name (I do have maybe 4 edits saved, at different stages), so I would not mess up and have to redo from much earlier stages.</p>
<p>With all headers and images insertions formatted in MarkDown, it was time for the text translation. I do understand French, much better than I cna speak it; it has been a long time since I had French classes. I copied a couple of paragraphs at a time, pasted then into my favourite Bing Translator tool, and copied back the English output.</p>
<p>The translated text was quite nice, needing little revisions for corrections or more usual style. Working this way, in stages, was easier than trying to handle a large part or the whole page.</p>
<p>And that went well. Once completed, I copied the whole into the Blog editor, and saved; it displayed properly, a few little glitches to be corrected (when you mistype a closing tag, mostly).</p>
<p><em>Almost done!</em></p>
<hr>
<h4>Processing the images :</h4>
<p>Uhm... Except the images, the same ones Ange has, did not display as well in the blog. Why? The Wiki is formatted to use a normal desktop screen, and some of the images were quite wide, being crops from her own desktop screenshots.</p>
<p>The write.freely software shows a centered column of text in my desktop or laptops. That column is <strong>640 pixels</strong> wide, and the reason for displaying it in that format is simply <em>to make it work in both desktop and mobile browsers equally</em>.</p>
<p>I was very pleased a couple of days ago, when I looked at the blog in my mobile phone. <em>It displayed perfectly, sharp and with the same style it shows on my laptop</em>. Really neat, and I can forgive the wasted columns spaces in the laptop, if it allows such a nice and easy compatibility with mobiles; so many people are all about these, can't ignore those users.</p>
<h2>OK, so what to do? <em>Image editing time!</em></h2>
<h4>Image Editing :</h4>
<p>I downloaded all 11 images (noticing how neatly she simply named them 1.png, 2.png and so on). Once all where down on my work folder, I opened one at a time. Looked for any possible or needed cropping (to eliminate some white space if possible), and once cropped if needed, went on to re-saving them. And after a save -- resize them for optimal blog display.</p>
<p>Since the blog defaults to <em>640 pixel wide columns</em>, the ideal image size is also <em>640 pixels</em>, so down scaling is <em>not needed if the image is larger</em>. Keeping that in mind for all my posts, <em>so it display faster and nicer quality images</em>.</p>
<p>My image editor of choice is <em>freeware, simple and easy to learn one, which happens to be quite powerful too</em>. <a href="https://www.irfanview.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>Irfanview</em></strong></a>, and I have used it for years. Once you learn the basics, it just works like a nice hand tool, sharp and ready for use.</p>
<p>So I touched all the image files, resizing after any crops needed. Then uploaded them to <a href="https://postimage.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer">my favourite <strong><em>image host</em></strong></a> (<em>which took me a day of research to find</em>, so many lesser featured ones).</p>
<p>Once each image was uploaded, one at a time, I would grab the new image URL, copy it and replace the old location in my draft text.</p>
<p>That part was fun too, all of this project was in fact. :)</p>
<hr>
<h4>Final Touches; then Promoting the new post :</h4>
<p>And once this all was done, tested and in the blog host, I just needed a nice image for the page head, which I searched for and found with Bing Images. Crop, resize, upload, edit in the URL and presto, a new blog page complete.</p>
<p>Done, eh? Well, I was done for the web-mastering part; only remaining was announcing the post. I have a method for that already tuned as well.</p>
<p>I prepare yet another little text file, name it <strong>blog announce - title, date.txt</strong> and compose a little piece inside I can copy and paste into Twitter, Mastodon instances announcing new content (about 5 of them).</p>
<p>Today's announce was this text :</p>
<blockquote>
<p>* Write.freely blog - a guide for new users *</p>
<p>Ange made a nice and illustrated guide for new users of Write.freely blogs, but it's all in French.</p>
<p>Goal is to help people interested in using the write.freely instance at TeDomum.net — which has been my blog's home. This morning I took some time and translated her guide to English.</p>
<p>Now the page is on my blog: https://write.tedomum.net/rgx/write-freely-wiki-documentation</p>
</blockquote>
<p><em>In Twitter you can only use a short <strong>240</strong> characters</em>, while in Mastodon instances <em>it is minimum <strong>500 chars</strong>, sometimes much more</em>. So I might have a very short one like above, and maybe a longer one for Mastodon places, <em>if it makes sense to have more text, longer quotes, or multiple links</em>.</p>
<p>So now I have explained the whole process <em>and hopefully not bored you to death, lol</em>... :)</p>
<p>I am really thinking of the blog audience as I type here, the detailed description could help someone with the patience to read thru and understand it.</p>
<p>So, time to hit the send button, Kali. :)</p>
<p>Check out today's page in the blog, the link is in this paragraph above.</p>
<p>Have a good week and enjoy the Holidays; <strong><em>Happy New Year!</em></strong></p>
<p>Till next time, sincerely yours,</p>
<p><strong>rgx</strong>.</p>
<hr>
<p>Thank you for reading this, please feel free to comment about this post, your input is important. <em>This page created entirely in MarkDown language.</em></p>
<p>RG. <a href="https://qoto.org/@design_RG" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/design_RG@Qoto.org/" title="design_RG@Qoto.org" rel="noopener noreferrer">@design_RG@Qoto.org</a></p>
]]><![CDATA[Write.freely New User's Guide ]]>https://fediverse.blog/~/MusingsByRg/write.freely-new-user's-guide/2019-12-26T18:19:20.505323+00:00R.G. Xpressionshttps://fediverse.blog/@/rgx/2019-12-26T18:19:20.505323+00:00<![CDATA[<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/rsDq54Vv/writefreely-header-640x360p.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>Having been using the wonderful Write.freely blogging platform for a couple of weeks now, I finally came across <a href="https://forge.tedomum.net/tedomum/documentation/wikis/Write-Freely" rel="noopener noreferrer">a nice documentation page (<em>French language</em>)</a>. Wish I had seen it earlier, as I did not find much information to learn from when I started.</p>
<p>The Guide was prepared by <strong>Ange</strong>, and meant to help people interested in using the <a href="https://write.tedomum.net/" rel="noopener noreferrer">write.freely instance at TeDomum.net</a> -- which has been home for all my writing in blogs so far.</p>
<p><a href="https://write.tedomum.net/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/6q35CHhW/Te-Domum-net-logo.png" alt=""></a></p>
<p>Since there's not much documentation, I thought it useful and an interesting project to take Ange's Guide and <em>prepare an English translation, post it on my blog and spread the word</em>.</p>
<ul>
<li>Originally posted by <em><strong><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/angedestenebres/" title="angedestenebres" rel="noopener noreferrer">@angedestenebres</a></strong></em> - <a href="https://mastodon.tedomum.net/@angedestenebres" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/angedestenebres@mastodon.tedomum.net/" title="angedestenebres@mastodon.tedomum.net" rel="noopener noreferrer">@angedestenebres@mastodon.tedomum.net</a> <em>in Mastodon</em>.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://mastodon.tedomum.net/@angedestenebres" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://www.tedomum.net/web/image/442" alt=""></a></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Original posted <a href="https://forge.tedomum.net/tedomum/documentation/wikis/Write-Freely" rel="noopener noreferrer">at TeDomum Wiki Documentation</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Raw html was copied from source above; then patiently paginated for human consumption and cleaned up. Most html tags were removed, replaced with <strong>MarkDown</strong> equivalents; much nicer to use!</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>I have really enjoyed discovering the simplicity and power of MarkDown -- <em>learned a lot with the <a href="https://www.markdowntutorial.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">wonderful, <strong>interactive Tutorial Guide</strong> page</a></em>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>An interesting project, diving into this and seeing the complex code generated by the Wiki for a typical page.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<h2>General :</h2>
<p>Write Freely allows you to create blogs connected to the <a href="https://forge.tedomum.net/tedomum/documentation/wikis/Fediverse" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>Fediverse</em></strong></a>. Its interface is quite simple but allows you to use HTML and Markdown for page layout, formatting, inserting images, etc.</p>
<h2>Signing up for the service :</h2>
<p>Registration for the service is done very simply by <a href="https://write.tedomum.net/signup" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>filling out the signup form</em></strong> at Writefreely instance homepage</a>.</p>
<p>Note that <em>there is <strong>no need to be registered</strong> to view and read a blog</em>.</p>
<h2>Using Write.freely :</h2>
<p>First of all, you need to <a href="https://write.tedomum.net/login" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>log in</em></strong> via the write.freely instance homepage</a>.</p>
<hr>
<h3>Editor's Note : Signing up at other Instances ?</h3>
<p>You can also sign up at <a href="https://writefreely.org/instances" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>any of the <strong>instances allowing new accounts!</strong></em></a> There are also lists on: <a href="https://the-federation.info/writefreely" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>The-Federation.info</em></strong></a> and <a href="https://fediverse.network/writefreely" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>Fediverse Network</em></strong></a></p>
<hr>
<h3>User Interface and Controls :</h3>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/PJfzY5bD/1-640x199p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>By passing the cursor over the top menubar, where some buttons are already visible, <em><strong>other functions buttons will appear</strong></em>. It is with this menubar that you will be able to navigate between the different pages :</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/fbqFmrVR/2-640x87p.png" alt=""></p>
<ul>
<li>The <code>1</code> button allows you to go to the page allowing you to view or customize your blog.</li>
<li>The <code>2</code> button is a drop-down menu:</li>
</ul>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/fR7VZ1gP/3-302x246p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>The first two options allow you to choose whether you want to <strong>Publish</strong> your article (making it worldwide visible) or if you want to keep it as a <strong>Draft</strong> (not visible, for further editing, etc).</p>
<p>Note that if you want to preview your article before publishing it, <em>the choice of <strong>draft is recommended</strong></em>.</p>
<p>The <code>View Blogs</code> has the same function as the button <code>1</code> described above and the <code>View Drafts</code> option does the same as the <code>6</code> button.</p>
<p>Finally, the <code>Log out</code> option allows you to <em>log out of your account</em>.</p>
<p>The <code>3</code> button allows you to <em>choose another font</em>.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/Pqmm7w2Z/3b-640x209p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>The WordCount <code>4</code> allows you to see the number of words contained in the article being written.</p>
<p>The <code>5</code> button allows you to switch the editor to <strong><em>Dark Mode</em></strong> :</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/qMRx7gvV/4-640x202p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>(<em>editor's note: my preferred mode, since it's so much easier on the eyes for long editing sessions</em>)</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>The <code>6</code> button allows you to <em>see the drafts</em> you have saved previously.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The <code>7</code> button allows <em>the article to be Published</em> (going visible and live on the web).</p>
</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<h3>Writing an article :</h3>
<h4>Which Formatting Codes to use :</h4>
<p>It is possible to use <em>HTML markup tags</em> or the <em>simpler and easier <strong>MarkDown</strong></em> ones; or make a mix of both types.</p>
<ul>
<li>A mix of HTML markup tags and MarkDown ones in the Editor Window :</li>
</ul>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/P52FnRzQ/5-640x421p.png" alt=""></p>
<ul>
<li>Which displays so on a browser :</li>
</ul>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/MGLPvfLc/6-640x770p.png" alt=""></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>All MarkDown tags accepted are <a href="https://guides.write.as/writing/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>listed and explained in the <strong>Write.as</strong> guide</em></a>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>(<em>Editor Note: See also <a href="https://www.markdowntutorial.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>interactive MarkDown Tutorial Guide</strong></a></em>.)</p>
</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<h3>Using a HashTag (ou Tag) :</h3>
<p>Tags can be used on Write.freely. To do this, just put hashmarks in your article - followed by the word you want. This will make it possible to make a list of all articles with a common subject and better reference your articles, especially under <a href="https://forge.tedomum.net/tedomum/documentation/wikis/mastodon" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mastodon</a>.</p>
<p>Example with the hashmark "<a href="//fediverse.blog/tag/Toutcasser" title="toutcasser" rel="noopener noreferrer">#toutcasser</a>" :</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/T1VC773m/7-544x468p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>Who will go link back into Mastodon, even if not visible in the message :</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/5NJPYVsm/8.png" alt=""></p>
<hr>
<h2>Personalize your blog presentation :</h2>
<p>It is possible to customize the presentation of your blog (description, display of articles etc...)</p>
<p>To do this, you have to go to your blog and select the option <code>customize</code>:</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/bwtdK7jK/10-Customize-640x195p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>At the bottom of the page, you'll have the option to add your own CSS:</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/P5r2yMsp/9-640x532p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>Please note that you can <a href="https://guides.write.as/customizing/#custom-css" rel="noopener noreferrer">use this <strong><em>Reference guide to CSS</em></strong></a> to write it.</p>
<hr>
<h2>Statistics for your Blog pages :</h2>
<p>To see uptodate statistics for all of your pages, go to your blog and select the option <code>stats</code>:</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/nzHz9MQJ/10-Stats-640x195p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>You will then see a page like this:</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/pXH972sj/11-640x614p.png" alt=""></p>
<hr>
<h3>Editor's Notes :</h3>
<ul>
<li>
<p>A big <strong>Thank You to Ange</strong> for preparing her <a href="https://forge.tedomum.net/tedomum/documentation/wikis/Write-Freely" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>original French Wiki documentation version</em></a> -- it made creating this English version <em>much easier that creating a totally new guide from scratch</em>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>I have added extra wording in some places above, thinking it might <em>make it easier reading for a new user</em>; the intended audiece for an Introductory Guide like this.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The French original text was translated in paragraph blocks via the <a href="https://www.bing.com/translator" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>wonderful <strong>Bing Translator</strong> tool</em></a>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Any errors possibly introduced in the process of preparing this version are my own.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>And just found a <a href="https://writefreely.org/docs/latest/writer/writing" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em><strong>Writer's Guide</strong> at Writefreely.org</em></a> itself. Bookmarking!</p>
</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>Thank you for reading this, please feel free to comment about this post, your input is important. <em>This page created entirely in MarkDown language.</em></p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/d3ThDcdc/cat-mtx-60p.png" alt=""> R.G. <a href="https://qoto.org/@design_RG" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/design_RG@Qoto.org/" title="design_RG@Qoto.org" rel="noopener noreferrer">@design_RG@Qoto.org</a></p>
]]><![CDATA[Letter to a Friend, Christmas morning]]>https://fediverse.blog/~/MusingsByRg/letter-to-a-friend-christmas-morning/2019-12-26T01:19:14.980672+00:00R.G. Xpressionshttps://fediverse.blog/@/rgx/2019-12-26T01:19:14.980672+00:00<![CDATA[<h2><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/wMKmgQ0F/Solstice-Shadows-640x384p.jpg" alt="A Wintery forest and sun shining behind it"></h2>
<p>Just now finished writing a letter to a good friend, a young lady who is my penpal via <a href="https://getslowly.com/en/" rel="noopener noreferrer">the wonderful <strong><em>Slowly</em></strong> app</a>.</p>
<p>As I wrote, my thoughts turned to it could be today's blog du jour. The letter did not contain any personal info so, here we go!</p>
<p>Latest of the many letters I have enjoyed writing with this app.</p>
<hr>
<p>Hello K.!!</p>
<p>LOL, still having a chuckle on your disapproving, <em>tsk tsk of my far too busy web browser scene</em>. Yeah, you are right - it's probably even worse than you think now.</p>
<p>The thing is, I haven't turned off my laptop for days on end, I put it into sleep mode and come back later, or next morning and resume from there.</p>
<p>I have at the moment 3 <a href="https://www.waterfox.net/" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>Waterfox</em></strong> (Firefox derived browser project)</a> windows open. Two are normal ones; the last one is a <em>Private tabs window</em>, where I do open Gmail <em>and keep it sandboxed so it can't follow all my wanderings in the main browsing windows</em>.</p>
<p>The other two are to reduce the clutter into the one original one; <em>about 70 tabs if you can believe it</em>, but I swear the laptop and browser handle it with aplomb, no sweat. (<em>A snapshot of my too busy desktop Tasks List shows all the apps in use currently</em>)</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/T2WVFpCC/Task-Manager-Tabs-640x272p.jpg" alt="A snapshot of my too busy desktop Tasks List"></p>
<p>I have many things going on at once, as you know. Mastodon instances, there's maybe 5 or 6 tabs with different ones, different accounts on each tab. I concentrate <a href="https://qoto.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer">on one, my <strong><em>home instance</em></strong></a> (<em>as <a href="https://joinmastodon.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mastodon servers</a> are called</em>), and am very active there. Some of the others I visit frequently, some are less visited.</p>
<p>I do have <a href="https://pinafore.social" rel="noopener noreferrer">a client called <strong><em>Pinafore</em></strong></a> loaded into the first tab in that set, <em>which can support multiple instances (servers) configured</em>. You just switch from the one currently on, to another, and it connects to it and has all the colours, avatar, etc that you selected for that one.</p>
<p>It is an excellent piece of software, besides the flexibility it is very light and nimble, the type of thing I really appreciate; <em>there's too much bloated stuff around, unfortunately</em>.</p>
<p>Got some <em>exciting news</em> to share - I posted a reply letter to a Japanese new penpal, similarly to what I had done with you earlier, same idea of it being a nice piece of writing, without any undue personal and private info, <em>which could be appreciated by other users if I shared it</em>.</p>
<p>Loved writing the letter, as I went into that flowing prose streak you know well, and the letter was satisfying for me, to write memories of various kinds too. While writing it, <em>I recognized that it was that type of letter</em> - and mentioned it to O., my penpal.</p>
<p>Sent the letter and went straight into <em>Blogging mode</em>; editing it in write.freely is so nice since it's a minimalist, no distractions programme, really focus the mind in the words or the formatting you want to apply to them, no buttons around to confuse things.</p>
<p>Added reference links, to Wikipedia sources, <em>but buried most of them in the letter text itself to avoid reader distraction</em>.</p>
<p>The web has this richness of us being able to connect and expand <em>ad infinitum</em>; but we sometimes need to keep focus and the readers in our page, <em>not sent out on a spin, not to return</em>.</p>
<p>The page became quite pretty and polished, <em>as you know I am a picky and perfectionist type</em>; sometimes a bad thing.</p>
<p>Once it was done, I had the idea of suggesting it to the Slowly team at Twitter, for possible publication in their "<strong><em>Slowly Stories</em></strong>" feature. I did, sent them a direct message and they liked it, accepted the submission.</p>
<p>It was posted an hour later, and was announced in social media accounts this morning. :) <a href="https://getslowly.com/en/story/rg/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Yey!! <strong><em>See it here</em></strong></a>.</p>
<p>I sent my penpal a Twitter DM, (she is also a user there) and told her about it. A time warp, since she could see the letter immediately, if she wanted, <em>or wait for delivery via Slowly a few hours later</em>. I think she liked it.</p>
<p>Thank you for the suggestions of reading materials, web pages! I enjoy reading and understanding more about History, Geography, International Relations which tie together well into a deeper understanding of our world.</p>
<p>Nice that you had the chance to watch those favourite films with dad at your side. :) I used to watch a lot of film and documentaries with my older son, he was my buddy for those. We followed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_Bad" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><em>Breaking Bad</em></strong></a> since the beginning, and then on as the series developed, wonderful television and story telling, great acting, such a joy to watch. Even if it kept me tense during and sometimes after the episode was finished.</p>
<p>Time to send this one, K... Have a good week and weekend coming up!</p>
<p>Hugs, Saludos to A.,</p>
<p><strong><em>rgx</em></strong>.</p>
<hr>
<p>Thank you for reading this, please feel free to comment about this post, your input is important. <em>This page created entirely in MarkDown language.</em></p>
<p>RG. <a href="https://qoto.org/@design_RG" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/design_RG@Qoto.org/" title="design_RG@Qoto.org" rel="noopener noreferrer">@design_RG@Qoto.org</a></p>
]]><![CDATA[Yule and Solstice Season Greetings]]>https://fediverse.blog/~/MusingsByRg/yule-and-solstice-season-greetings/2019-12-25T12:35:33.165374+00:00R.G. Xpressionshttps://fediverse.blog/@/rgx/2019-12-25T12:35:33.165374+00:00<![CDATA[<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/rFvCjFf4/stonehenge-winter-solstice-crop-700x350p.jpg" alt=""></p>
<h3>A Winter Solstice Blessing</h3>
<p><em>Native American inspired poem</em>, by <a href="https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/stephanie-laird" rel="noopener noreferrer">Stephanie Laird </a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>May you find peace in the</p>
<p>promise of the Solstice night,
</p><p>That each day forward is
</p><p>blessed with more light.
</p><p>That the cycle of Nature,
</p><p>unbroken and true,
</p><p>Brings faith to your soul
</p><p>and well-being to you.
</p><p>Rejoice in the darkness,
</p><p>in the silence find rest,
</p><p>And may the days that follow
</p><p>be abundantly blessed.
</p></blockquote>
<p>
-----
</p><p>Thank you for reading this, please feel free to comment about this post, your input is important. <em>This page created entirely in MarkDown language.</em></p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/mhxzYhT2/Black-cat-bow-tie-360x445p.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>RG. <a href="https://qoto.org/@design_RG" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/design_RG@Qoto.org/" title="design_RG@Qoto.org" rel="noopener noreferrer">@design_RG@Qoto.org</a></p>
]]><![CDATA[Letter to a Japanese Friend, Winter Solstice]]>https://fediverse.blog/~/MusingsByRg/letter-to-a-japanese-friend-winter-solstice/2019-12-25T12:20:48.953852+00:00R.G. Xpressionshttps://fediverse.blog/@/rgx/2019-12-25T12:20:48.953852+00:00<![CDATA[<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/Jhsy3Bsb/Japanese-kids-bathtub-600p.jpg" alt=""></p>
<hr>
<p>Just now finished writing a letter to a good friend, a Japanese lady who is my penpal via <a href="https://getslowly.com/en/" rel="noopener noreferrer">the wonderful Slowly app</a>.</p>
<p>My friend sent me a nice letter and described some local customs, including the one that explains the image above:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It will be <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_solstice" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em><strong>Winter solstice</strong></em> day tomorrow, 22nd</a>. The winter solstice is the day on which the day is shortest, and the night is longer of a year. In Japan, there is an old belief that on the winter solstice, taking a bath with yuzu (a type of citrus) will help a person to stay healthy through a cold winter. So, I bought a pack of yuzu at a grocery store today.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><em>And that calls for a quick Reference :</em></p>
<blockquote>
<p><em><strong>Yuzu</strong></em> (Citrus junos) is a citrus fruit and plant in the family Rutaceae. It is believed to have originated in central China as a hybrid of mandarin orange and the ichang papeda. The yuzu is called yuja (from Korean) in Korean cuisine.
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuzu" rel="noopener noreferrer">yuzu at Wikipedia </a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>She sent me the photo above, and a Bing Image search confirmed it's a popular custom, <a href="http://www.yuzupassion.com/all-about-yuzu#bath" rel="noopener noreferrer">bathing in Furos with the Yuzu floating about it</a>.</p>
<p>As I wrote, my thoughts turned to it could be a nice post to include here, today's blog du jour. So, why not?</p>
<p>I even mentioned that in the letter, which did not contain any sensitive, personal info. So, here we go!</p>
<p>One of the many letters I have enjoyed writing with this wonderful app. I sincerely thank the developers, who were into penpal friendships and letter writing in their younger days, and now brought their experiences into our more accelerated days in this 21st century we stumble along on.</p>
<p>Without further ado, here goes the letter; written minutes ago today, Monday December 23, 2019.</p>
<hr>
<p>Hello O.!</p>
<p>Thank you for your nice letter! Very nice, and here goes my reply before I get deep into other things, lol.</p>
<p>I am having a lot of fun in the new network I am immersed in now. Posted a new blog page that has a full letter I wrote to a friend and explains about it, a bit long but maybe you enjoy reading it? It's here :</p>
<p><a href="https://write.tedomum.net/rgx/letter-to-a-friend-on-a-wintery-morning" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Letter to a friend on a wintery morning</em></a>.</p>
<p>I am glad to have found something so interesting and that excites me, the intellectual stimulation is great and gets my mind away from the Winter Blahs. Instead, I am here working away in many things, all day, and happy.</p>
<p>Also glad to have started the blog, something I knew would be a good project for me - I love writing, have many personal stories to tell, and enjoy sharing them. So it's all good, and I plan to expand later into maybe more than one blog; creating a couple more for more thematic posts: Bicycles and cycling in one place, travel stories and photos in another. Tech posts and stories, history and geography in another one, etc.</p>
<p>I can always refer from one to another and link pages if they have interests or stories that are shared - like travel and cycling, with stories about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_touring" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em><strong>Bicycle Touring</strong></em></a>, which I have done and enjoyed. It could help other people too, as sometimes we go thru areas that might be not well known; leaving a report could help other people planning trips too.</p>
<p>Nice that you have those special customs for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_solstice" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em><strong>Winter Solstice</strong></em></a> -- it's an important time of the year, in Europe it was always marked by festivals, marking the beginning of the return of the Sun and longer days, better climate, easier times for the people living there.</p>
<p>All of those traditions predate the Christian celebration customs of Christmas, and I find them fascinating.</p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serra_da_Estrela" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em><strong>Serra da Estrela</strong></em></a>, which I mentioned on that Twitter post, is indeed a great place to visit. <em>It has the highest mountains in Continental Portugal</em> -- not the highest in the country overall, which includes the islands of Madeira and the Azores Archipelago; as they have some very high mountains in these islands. All of them are from Volcanic origin, rising from the depths of the Atlantic oceans all the way to sea level and on higher.</p>
<p>The highest peak of the whole country is on the Azores, I believe. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Pico" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Mount Pico, 2350m, Wikipedia page</em></a></p>
<p>My family was originally from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beira_Alta_Province" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Beira Alta</em> region of Portugal</a> (from my father's side of the family), so for many years I had big curiosity of seeing what they were like. Two years ago I traveled there for the first time, cycling all over the country, and really enjoyed it.</p>
<p>The Serra is a large mass of mountains, raising to close to 2,000 meters above sea level. From the neighboring region, they rise at least 1,500 meters from terrain level, and so have a large presence in the landscape. That first visit I was near by and on to the mountain sides to about 600 m elevations. Did not climb up to the top since I feared hurting my legs muscles, as I had a heavy, fully loaded Touring bike, with all that I needed to camp, cook and be happy for a night anywhere with a flat piece of ground.</p>
<p>But this year I returned, and rented a car to be able to explore and visit. <em>It was fun!</em> Had a hotel nearby for a few days and was able to drive to the top of the Serra, and then on to the other side, down to the picturesque town of Manteigas.</p>
<p>This was in many ways a first for me: first time renting a vehicle overseas, first time driving in Portugal, since I had been touring with my bike or backpacking and using public trains and busses in other times, including this trip. Only had the car for a short period, to visit here specifically.</p>
<p>I will create travel stories posts and am sure will greatly enjoy them, as the y will bring me memories of my past travels, so many wonderful places and moments I had.</p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joanna_Lumley" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Joanna Lumley is indeed lovely</em></a>, I did not follow her in her younger days, TV productions, but fell in love when watching the <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1462238/" rel="noopener noreferrer">"Catwoman" TV documentary</a> I mentioned in the post <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0FEsh_B_Gw" rel="noopener noreferrer">(Trailer at youTube, 2 min)</a>. <em>I found her charming, intelligent, and wonderful</em>.</p>
<p><em>Cycling</em> is indeed good for the soul, as you mentioned, helps relieve stress and is good for health as well. I love it, and collected many bikes over the years, as I do work on them myself, feel pity if I find a discarded one on the side of the road, and return home with it, yet another bike for the stable, lol. I stopped counting at a certain point, when they had multiplied to a large wheeled family here.</p>
<p>Nice that you had these days with warmer temperatures, they are great relief for the winter blahs; we had a sunny day yesterday <em>and I made sure to go out and walk on the trail to enjoy it</em>, a special day.</p>
<p>Loved the photo you sent me, thank you O.!</p>
<p>And while writing this letter I thought it would also be a nice one to post on my blog - <em>I will make sure it doesn't have any personal details, and will not violate our privacy</em>. I think people will enjoy reading an example of how Slowly can be a great channel for us that love reading and writing, full letters that are interesting and fun.</p>
<p><em>Happy Holidays, dear friend, hope you have a great New Year too</em>.</p>
<p>Till next time!</p>
<p><strong>rgx</strong>.</p>
<p>p.s. : A photo for you. This is the view from the rocks on a beach near Porto, Portugal, a wonderful place, I stayed here for a couple hours just admiring the beauty of the sun, waves, rocks. Taken in early May, 2019.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/JhdPzJkv/Rocks-Sea-Porto-640x480p.jpg" alt=""></p>
<hr>
<p>Thank you for reading this, please feel free to comment about this post, your input is important. <em>This page created entirely in MarkDown language.</em></p>
<p>RG. <a href="https://qoto.org/@design_RG" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/design_RG@Qoto.org/" title="design_RG@Qoto.org" rel="noopener noreferrer">@design_RG@Qoto.org</a></p>
]]><![CDATA[Memories, a visit to the Archeology Museum]]>https://fediverse.blog/~/MusingsByRg/memories-a-visit-to-the-archeology-museum/2019-12-25T12:17:36.073671+00:00R.G. Xpressionshttps://fediverse.blog/@/rgx/2019-12-25T12:17:36.073671+00:00<![CDATA[<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/SxW9ZWRp/Roman-mosaic-panel-640p.jpg" alt=""></p>
<hr>
<h3>Reminiscences from a visit to the Archeology Museum</h3>
<p>This post is a transcription of a series of un-edited Toots, a conversation in the Mastodon network in December, 2019. It was motivated by <a href="https://todon.nl/@anarchiv/103260707759534544" rel="noopener noreferrer">a series of Toots earlier that morning</a>, posted in sucession by <strong><em>Anarchiv</em></strong>, <a href="https://todon.nl/@anarchiv/" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/anarchiv@todon.nl/" title="anarchiv@todon.nl" rel="noopener noreferrer">@anarchiv@todon.nl</a>.</p>
<p><em>I am grateful to him for his great story telling in a new medium</em>, which reminded me of an experience I described later that same morning; <a href="https://qoto.org/@design_RG/103261667157165272" rel="noopener noreferrer">in my own series of Toots</a>.</p>
<p>And now here, in a <em>blog post format, richer with added formatting and more references, images</em>. Hope you enjoy reading it.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>It started this morning, the thread</em>. And over short posts, someone told a story. Of a Greek man, who lived in antiquity, by the Mediterranean side; in a city whose name is still preserved, and today is written "<strong><em>Marseille</em></strong>".</p>
<p>This series of posts was interesting, I caught one flying by the Local feed, about halfway down his sequence, liked it and went to the top to find the rest.</p>
<p>Enjoying his post, I remembered similar thoughts, of History, and how things worked, <em>how small bits and pieces came to me as I visited an exposition, at the <strong>Archeological Museum</strong>, in Lisbon</em>. (<em>click image for larger size</em>)</p>
<p><a href="https://i.postimg.cc/G2NxyGqT/museo-arqueologico-lisboa.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/HxfbxHkQ/museo-arqueologico-lisboa-640x427p.jpg" alt=""></a></p>
<p>Stopping at each display, I would read and examine the artifacts. All of them had came from the same region, countryside around today's city of Loulé, in the Algarve, Southern Portugal.</p>
<p>The region has been inhabitted for thousands of years, and the exhibit had pieces from pre-historic, Phoenician, Roman, Moorish and more modern times.</p>
<hr>
<p>The <strong><em>Algarve</em></strong> is the most Southern part of Portugal, the warmest and sunniest. Trees, fruit, grapes grow well there. Fish in the seas are plenty. It was good land for settlements.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/hvtRXFZt/ATLAS-Van-Der-Hagen-Crop-Closer-640x385p.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>And they came, different peoples over different eras. Phoenicians, traders at heart, created outposts to explore the land and it's products, while also supporting passing seafarers going to farther places. Some of their mariners came from the homeland in modern day Middle East, traversed the whole Mediterranean, and went past the Columns of Hercules, now Gibraltar, into the open Atlantic.</p>
<p>Wild ocean waters, for people with small ships, but brave they were; and the profits from trading moved them. From home, via this route, into the Bay of Biscay, always a dangerous passage, and on to Cornwall for the Tin metal so demanded by the Bronze Age technology. Tin was plentiful there, and provided profitable mining for thousands of years. Traders came from far an apart to purchase the ore and bring it home for resale.</p>
<hr>
<p>In the Algarve, Phoenicians, Romans set up colonies. The Romans saw the abundance of fish and built an industry of processing then into a preserve, the "<strong><em>Garum</em></strong>" fish sauce which was popular in their cuisine. Garum produced in the region was high quality, and had a demand from various regions of the Empire, including the Capital, Rome itself. (<em>click for larger image</em>)</p>
<p><a href="https://i.postimg.cc/wBn152Yz/garum03.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/W4dDJKKS/garum03-crop-640x341p.jpg" alt=""></a></p>
<p>Garum was created by cutting up the fish and placing them into stone vaults cut into the local bedrock. Salt was added as a condiment but primarily as a preservative agent. The salty fish mix was left on the stone vats to cure for some time, months possibly. And once finished, it provided a concentrated sauce with protein and a flavour judged exquisite by the people.</p>
<p>Quality brings demand, and demand attracts traders; there's money to be made and livelyhoods could focus on supplying it.</p>
<hr>
<p>The Museum showed photos of the larger artifacts, like these stone vaults, carved into natural rock. They showed site maps with pointers of what each part was intended to do. Once you have a product, and an eager market, things will work to get it supplied.</p>
<p>How do we carry this out? The Museum showed many <strong><em>Amphorae</em></strong>, large earthware/ceramic vessels which were built to store and carry various products around, localy, regionaly and along longer routes to Rome and Beyond. (<em>click for larger image</em>)</p>
<p><a href="https://i.postimg.cc/QMzT4s5R/Roman-campania-amphorae.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/SKR9fjX6/Roman-campania-amphorae-Crop-640x382p.jpg" alt=""></a></p>
<p>During the Roman era, there were thriving colonies not only in <em>Lusitania</em>, today's Portugal, but also in the Southern region of today's Spain now called <em>Andalucía</em>, which came from the Moorish era name - <em>Al Andalus</em>.</p>
<hr>
<p>Roman estates in the Andalucia region, then called <strong><em>Baetica</em></strong>, produced fine Olive Oil, another staple of the Mediterranean diet. They sold and exported this widely, quality bringing in demand and profits to traders, farmers and landholders. Baetica was 'next door'to the Algarvians, so trade flowed easily between them.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/g05PnBFV/Iberian-Peninsula-in-125-en-640x512p.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>As documented by the various amphorae, eithe whole or in fragments, on display at this Museum exhibit. The notes pointed out how many Baetican amphorae had been found in the Algarve, testimony of vigorous trade. Algarvians had income and could purchase finer goods - their own region produces olive oil and wines to this day, but the Museum had fragments which had been manufactured in Baetica, and even in mainland Italy, Rome's homelands.</p>
<p>Algarvian amphorae fragments had cruder handles and rougher surface texture. The Baetican ones were finer and prettier ceramics. Past contents of these vessels could still be determined by analysis of residues in some of them.</p>
<hr>
<p>I should point out that I am not a Historian, but a curious man, fascinated by glimpsing the past and being able to understand a bit of how they lived, by seeing such a nice exposition and the numerous Historical buildings, sites and ancient settlements commonly found in Europe. So, my writing probably has factual errors, which I apologize for, the intent being to jot down those and share with others who might find them intriguing, hopefully.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/KY2VKSRh/ATLAS-Van-Der-Hagen-Crop-Loule-640x251p.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>The collection on display was all dug on sites around the modern city of <strong><em>Loulé</em></strong>. Besides these wonderful Roman and pre-Roman era artifacts, they also had later, Moorish period ones, with beautiful ceramics and metal work.</p>
<p>After visiting Europe for the first time a few years ago, I was so impressed and pleased by all these cultural artifacts and History around everywhere that traveling here in my home region, in Norht America pales in comparison.</p>
<p><em>I hope you enjoyed this narrative, and welcome your comments and follow ups. Thank you</em>.</p>
<hr>
<h3>Additional info and links, notes:</h3>
<ul>
<li>Archeological Museum, Lisbon, Portugal :</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p>The National Museum of Archaeology (Portuguese: Museu Nacional de Arqueologia) is the largest Archaeological museum in Portugal and one of the most important museums in the world devoted to ancient art found in the Iberian Peninsula. Located in Lisbon, the museum was founded in 1893 by the archaeologist José Leite de Vasconcelos.</p>
<p>The museum is the most important centre for archaeological research in Portugal. The museum was given the international "Genio Protector da Colonia Augusta Emerita" prize, awarded by the Foundation for Roman Studies and the Friends of the National Museum of Roman art in Mérida, Spain.[3]
<a href="http://www.museunacionalarqueologia.gov.pt/" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Museum Official Site </a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Archaeology_Museum,_Portugal" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Wikipedia page </a></p>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li>City of Loulé :</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p>Human presence in the territory of Loulé remotes to the Later Paleolithic. The growth of the settlement of Loulé likely stemmed from the late Neolithic, when small bands began rotating agricultural crops and herds around numerous subterranean cavities in its proximity (specifically around Goldra, Esparguina and Matos da Nora). Within the following millennium, the settlements began to grow and intensify with spread of Mediterranean cultures, that progressively penetrated the southwestern part of the peninsula. This culminated in the arrival of the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, who founded the first trading posts along the maritime coast, increasing fishing, prospecting for minerals and commercial activities.[4]
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loul%C3%A9" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Wikipedia page </a> <a href="https://binged.it/2RqlQz2" rel="noopener noreferrer"> City of Loulé, Bing Maps </a></p>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Amphorae :</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p>An amphora is a type of container of a characteristic shape and size, descending from at least as early as the Neolithic Period. Amphorae were used in vast numbers for the transport and storage of various products, both liquid and dry, but mostly for wine. They are most often ceramic, but examples in metals and other materials have been found. Versions of the amphorae were one of many shapes used in Ancient Greek vase painting.
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphora" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Wikipedia page </a></p>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Garum :</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p>Garum was a fermented fish sauce used as a condiment in the cuisines of ancient Greece, Rome, Carthage and later Byzantium. Liquamen was a similar preparation, and at times they were synonymous. Although it enjoyed its greatest popularity in the Western Mediterranean and the Roman world, it was earlier used by the Greeks.
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garum" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Wikipedia page </a></p>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Garum Traditional preparation :</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p>Small fish are covered with salt, spread out in the sun and turned from time to time. When they have been completely fermented they are scooped into a fine-meshed basket that is hanging in a vase. The liquid that seeps into the vase is liquamen.
<a href="https://coquinaria.nl/en/roman-fish-sauce/" rel="noopener noreferrer"> cited on Coquinaria NL </a>
<a href="https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/clas/2016/11/15/take-a-smell-walk-into-the-past-anyone-for-garum/" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Take a smell walk into the past – anyone for Garum? </a></p>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Lusitania, Roman period Iberia :</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p>Lusitania or Hispania Lusitana was an ancient Iberian Roman province located where modern Portugal (south of the Douro river) and part of western Spain (the present autonomous community of Extremadura and a part of the province of Salamanca) lie. It was named after the Lusitani or Lusitanian people (an Indo-European people).
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lusitania" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Wikipedia page </a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Spain#/media/File:Prima_tetrarchia_Diocletianus.PNG" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Roman Empire map, 3rd Century </a></p>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Baetica information :</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p>Hispania Baetica, often abbreviated Baetica, was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula). Baetica was bordered to the west by Lusitania, and to the northeast by Hispania Tarraconensis. Baetica remained one of the basic divisions of Hispania under the Visigoths down to 711. Baetica was part of Al-Andalus under the Moors in the 8th century and approximately corresponds to modern Andalusia.
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispania_Baetica" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Wikipedia page </a></p>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Al Andalus :</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p>Al-Andalus, was the name given by Muslim sources during the Middle Ages to the territory in the Iberian Peninsula culturally and religiously linked with them. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied the northwest of the Iberian peninsula and a part of present-day southern France, Septimania (8th century), and for nearly a century (9th–10th centuries) extended its control from Fraxinet over the Alpine passes which connect Italy with the remainder of Western Europe.
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Andalus" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Wikipedia page </a></p>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Moorish Period :</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p>In 711 an invasion by the Islamic Umayyad Caliphate, comprising Berbers from North Africa and Arabs from the Middle East plus other Muslims from all around the Islamic world, conquered the Visigoth Kingdom and founded the Islamic State of Al Andalus. The Umayyads reigned supreme and advanced through Iberia and France until the Battle of Tours (732) but endured across Iberia until the fall of the Kingdom of Granada (Spain) in 1492.
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Portugal#Moorish_rule_and_the_Reconquista_(711%E2%80%931249)" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Wikipedia page </a></p>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Wikipedia's full series on History of Portugal :</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p>The history of Portugal can be traced from circa 400,000 years ago, when the region of present-day Portugal was inhabited by Homo heidelbergensis. The oldest human fossil is the skull discovered in the Cave of Aroeira in Almonda. Later Neanderthals roamed the northern Iberian peninsula. Homo sapiens arrived in Portugal around 35,000 years ago.</p>
<p>Pre-Celtic tribes such as the Cynetes lived in the Algarve and Lower Alentejo regions before the 6th century BC, developed the city of Tartessos and the written Tartessian language, and left many stelae in the south of the country. Early in the first millennium BC, waves of Celts from Central Europe invaded and intermarried with the local populations to form several ethnic groups and many tribes.
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Portugal" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Wikipedia page </a> <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Atlas_Van_der_Hagen-KW1049B12_017-PORTUGALLIAE_et_ALGARBIAE_REGNA.jpeg" rel="noopener noreferrer"> High Resolution Map of Iberia </a></p>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li>The original thread mentioned as inspiring this writing <a href="https://todon.nl/@anarchiv/103260707759534544" rel="noopener noreferrer">was created by </a><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/anarchiv@todon.nl/" title="anarchiv@todon.nl" rel="noopener noreferrer">@anarchiv@todon.nl</a> and can be found here</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>Thank you for reading this, please feel free to comment about this post, your input is important. <em>This page created entirely in MarkDown language.</em></p>
<p>RG. <a href="https://qoto.org/@design_RG" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/design_RG@Qoto.org/" title="design_RG@Qoto.org" rel="noopener noreferrer">@design_RG@Qoto.org</a></p>
]]><![CDATA[Get Windows 10 Pro Legal Key, Cheaply.]]>https://fediverse.blog/~/MusingsByRg/get-windows-10-pro-legal-key-cheaply/2019-12-25T12:08:32.798846+00:00R.G. Xpressionshttps://fediverse.blog/@/rgx/2019-12-25T12:08:32.798846+00:00<![CDATA[<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/dVyF60Vb/windows-10-key-Heade-Croppedr-700x320p.jpg" alt=""></p>
<hr>
<p>There are many people who need a license for a new or updated Windows 10 installation. The support for Windows 7 is expiring in one month from now - January 20, 2020.</p>
<p>If you don't have a license to install Windows 10 and have not yet previously upgraded to it, you can <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/get-windows-10" rel="noopener noreferrer">purchase a copy Directly from Microsoft here</a> The cost at the moment showed as USD$ 199 !</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/fTjWQyNY/MS-Win10-Pro-website-Price-700x149p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>Sticker Shock is understandable, that is a substantial amount of money - But there are ways to get it for less.</p>
<p>It's perfectly legal to download a fresh, updated copy from Microsoft directly. You need a CD key to validate your Windows 10 install, and there are some sellers listed on eBay and other internet malls who offer legitimate license keys for sometimes unbelievable prices.</p>
<p>I came across one such offer this morning - a Toot at a mastodon instance, where the user Ir0n Monk3y posted a link mentioning a low price : $12.48 USD for a win 10 Pro license. This is offered as <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Windows-Pro-OEM-64-bit-Professional/dp/B07Z55BPK7" rel="noopener noreferrer">a Microsoft Retail package on Amazon.ca</a> for CAD$ 129, about USD$ 100 at current exchange rates.</p>
<p><em>How can that be?</em></p>
<p>The low priced key sellers are offering a VLM license, Volume License keys intended for OEM channel - people or companies building computers and selling whole packages.</p>
<p>This offer is for a bare key, no packaging, no DVD media, no shipping costs as the 'product' can be delivered instantly via email to the client.</p>
<hr>
<h3>Details, details :</h3>
<p>The post from Ir0n M0nk3y linked to <a href="https://www.redmondpie.com/get-windows-10-pro-oem-product-key-for-just-12.48/" rel="noopener noreferrer">an article on the Redmond Pie site</a>. (his link on the Toot contained a FB Client string, so I assume it was found on Facebook. I have removed that tracking from link here)</p>
<p>At RP, there's some explanations :</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In order to avail this offer, simply head over to UR CDkeys’ page for Windows 10 Pro OEM keys here and enter code RM20 at check out when buying to bring the price down to just $12.48.</p>
<p>Once you get hold of the genuine OEM key for Windows 10 Pro, simply download Windows 10 Pro from here and install it the usual way. Once installed, head over to Control Panel > System section of Windows and when you are there, click on “Change product key” option and then enter your genuine OEM key which you just got from URCDKeys to activate your copy of Windows 10 as genuine.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The article proceeds to link to <em>UR-CDkeys offer page</em>, and includes a <em>Referrer ID</em> (they might be getting a commission for it). <a href="https://www.urcdkeys.com/microsoft-windows-10-pro-oem-cd-key-global_1966-20.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">This is the same page, <strong>without ANY referrals</strong></a> included.</p>
<hr>
<h3>How to get Windows 10 Pro to install?</h3>
<p>If you need the installation media for Windows 10, a retail package will contain a DVD. Most common those days, and for a faster installation too, is to an USB memory stick with at least 8 GB capacity to create your own install device.</p>
<ul>
<li>Install media : an USB storage device, 8 GB minimum. It will be formatted during the process of creating your Win 10 installer, so make sure it doesn't have any valuable data on it.</li>
<li>The latest version of Windows 10 Pro, which can be legally and quickly <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10" rel="noopener noreferrer">downloaded <em>from Microsoft itself</em> -- here</a>.</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<h3>Download an ISO with MS Media Creation Tool :</h3>
<p><a href="https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=691209" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/PJJbs9Lw/MS-Media-Creation-Tool-DL-700x767p.png" alt=""></a></p>
<p>You can use MS's own tool to start the download of the large ISO package (about 4 GB total), and later prepare the USB media for you. It's a bit slower, but all in one is easier for some people. <a href="https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=691209" rel="noopener noreferrer">Click this link to download it now</a>.</p>
<p>The Media Creation Tool can be used also to simply Download the ISO - and later use the saved file for later use, or with a better USB prep tool.</p>
<hr>
<h3>Better and Faster USB Creation :</h3>
<p>As a tool to create the bootable USB install device, I use and recommend <strong>Rufus</strong>, a small and free package. Download the latest version of Rufus <a href="https://rufus.ie/" rel="noopener noreferrer">from the developer's site here</a>.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/8z9R8ZDF/Rufus-USB-Tool-banner-506x211p.png" alt=""></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Rufus is a utility that helps format and create bootable USB flash drives, such as USB keys/pendrives, memory sticks, etc.</p>
<p>It can be especially useful for cases where:</p>
<ul>
<li>you need to create USB installation media from bootable ISOs (Windows, Linux, UEFI, etc.)</li>
<li>you need to work on a system that doesn't have an OS installed</li>
<li>you need to flash a BIOS or other firmware from DOS</li>
<li>you want to run a low-level utility</li>
</ul>
<p>Despite its small size, Rufus provides everything you need!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Download the Windows 10 Pro package from the Microsoft page, get Rufus and simply install it or unpack the archive anywhere on your computer, and go to work.</p>
<p>Rufus will take about 15 minutes to prepare the bootable USB device. Until then, go brew some fresh coffee, read the news, etc.</p>
<hr>
<h3>Getting and Using the Windows 10 Key :</h3>
<p>Once you have decided to engage in this process, have downloaded the ISO and prepared the USB install media, you can proceed to install Windows 10.</p>
<p>Early on the Install, it will ask you to enter your License Key -- but that same screen has a dismiss button (Leave for Later), which allows the install to proceed. The install will eventually complete, but it will not be Activated with Microsoft - which has some implications. Some of the customization options, like Lockscreen, Desktop colour themes and wallpapers could be not available.</p>
<p>But having your own key on hand, it can be added later without problems.</p>
<p>The Redmond Pie article <em>recommends installing the key afterwards like this</em>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Once you get hold of the genuine OEM key for Windows 10 Pro, simply download Windows 10 Pro from here and install it the usual way. Once installed, head over to Control Panel -- System section of Windows and when you are there, click on “Change product key” option and then enter your genuine OEM key which you just got from UR CDkeys to activate your copy of Windows 10 as genuine.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.urcdkeys.com/microsoft-windows-10-pro-oem-cd-key-global_1966-20.html" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/YS6rxSCX/UR-CDkeys-logo-black.png" alt=""></a></p>
<p>Getting the key is a simple shopping matter. The RP site <a href="https://www.urcdkeys.com/microsoft-windows-10-pro-oem-cd-key-global_1966-20.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">linked to <strong>UR CD Keys</strong> for the Windows 10 Pro license key</a>. (<em>clean link, no referrals</em>) The UR-CDkeys page has this description for the product:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Permanent, Authorized, Global Key</strong></p>
<p>Windows 10 is a personal computer operating system developed and released by Microsoft as part of the Windows NT family of operating systems. It was released on July 29,2015. It is the first version of Windows that receives ongoing feature updates.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>...the important part being the description of the key offered as :</p>
<ul>
<li><em>Permanent</em>, as in non-expiring.</li>
<li><em>Authorized</em>, they are resellers with MS permission.</li>
<li><em>Global</em>, so the keys could be used for any language, localized version.</li>
</ul>
<p>Some comments on the Redmond Pie article suggest caution :</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/PxKdBFZY/Redmond-Pie-article-Comments-are-critical-620x353p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>...as in, that these keys could theoretically be revoked later. They are supposed to be sold to OEMs and not to retail customers. But other commenters had success and report no problems. Your Mileage May Vary is a common internet motto, so keep it in mind.</p>
<p>Redmond Pie mentioned a discount code '<strong>RM20</strong>' for 20% off the posted price. UR CDkeys itself has a banner I noticed in another page with a Christmas Special, discount code '<strong>UKMAS</strong>'.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/qqR6YKtB/UR-CDkeys-Xmas-discount-code-offer.png" alt=""></p>
<p>If you are a new customer, <em>you need to register an account</em>; all they request is <em>an email, First and Last names, no Payment Details Yet</em>. Then you can add the product to your shopping cart.</p>
<p>Adding it, at the Shopping cart, enter the discount code; <em>the UKMAS code is valid until end of December, 2019</em>.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/4xTNHtJK/UR-CDkeys-Xmas-discount-code-offer-Applying-700x215p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>...And it brings the price <em>down to a lower value</em>, once you hit Apply button.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/Bbp988NF/UR-CDkeys-Xmas-discount-code-offer-Applied-700x218p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>So total cost comes down to <strong>USD$ 11.71</strong>. The next stage is the <em>Payment Options, and there's a wide choice here</em>.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/nhg8QfK3/UR-CDkeys-Xmas-discount-code-offer-Applied-Payment-700x262p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>Once you complete the purchase by entering Payment method and account details, you will check out, your key will come via e-mail.</p>
<p>And then it's just a matter of heading to the Settings app in Windows 10, selecting the Update and Security option, then Activation, Change the Product Key as shown.</p>
<p><img src="https://i.postimg.cc/xCs3cnMC/Windows-10-Update-Sec-Update-Key-700x424p.png" alt=""></p>
<p>And that concludes the process... Windows will connect to the Microsoft servers and register your product, then shown an 'Activated' status on the same panel.</p>
<p>Hope all went well, and now you can enjoy a legally updated system without guilt or draining the bank too much.</p>
<hr>
<p>Thank you for reading this, please feel free to comment about this post, your input is important. <em>This page created entirely in MarkDown language.</em></p>
<p>RG. <a href="https://qoto.org/@design_RG" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a><a href="//fediverse.blog/@/design_RG@Qoto.org/" title="design_RG@Qoto.org" rel="noopener noreferrer">@design_RG@Qoto.org</a></p>
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