Hacker News: jchoksi

New comment by jchoksi in "Android 17 is the first since 3.x to add new APIs without releasing to the AOSP"

jchoksi — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 23:18:56 +0000

https://lite.duckduckgo.com/lite

New comment by jchoksi in "Qwen 3.8"

jchoksi — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 14:37:20 +0000

An alternative to Docling is Xberg: https://github.com/xberg-io/xberg

"A polyglot document intelligence framework with a Rust core. Extract text, metadata, images, and structured information from PDFs, Office documents, images, and 97+ formats. Available for Rust, Python, Ruby, Java, Go, PHP, Elixir, C#, R, C, TypeScript (Node/Bun/Wasm/Deno)- or use via CLI, REST API, or MCP server."

Amongst other things, you can use it with Open Webui: https://docs.xberg.io/integrations/openwebui/#choosing-an-en...

fyi, they are releasing their v1.0.0 release shortly and until then you will need to a release candidate docker image tag: https://github.com/xberg-io/xberg/issues/1192

As a layman, I would say Xberg is better than Docling because its one engine for everything while the former feels like a bunch of scripts and glue logic.

New comment by jchoksi in "Firefox-patch-bin, librewolf-fix-bin AUR packages contain malware"

jchoksi — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 19:58:20 +0000

> So you'd have at least one user (most likely more) getting infected first, and once detected more users wouldn't be able to install it regardless.

This is where your and my intentions differ. I don't want the average Arch user to be infected when it can be prevented because the malware is known about.

New comment by jchoksi in "Firefox-patch-bin, librewolf-fix-bin AUR packages contain malware"

jchoksi — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 19:55:13 +0000

> malware is already being executed at that point

To ensure reproducible / clean builds, I thought makepkg would always be run in a sandbox/chroot environment. The damage done would be localised to that sandbox.

> this is a terrible idea in regards to privacy/infosec.

Ok. Devs could setup an option to pacman -U which allows it to bypass VT for privacy sensitive people. This just puts the onus on you to not ensure you aren't installing malware. The default Arch user should still be protected while allowing for your privacy needs.

> 99% of new malware won't be detected anyway, and once it is known it is way more effective to just remove the offending package from the AUR

Its too late then. People are already affected.

New comment by jchoksi in "Firefox-patch-bin, librewolf-fix-bin AUR packages contain malware"

jchoksi — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 19:27:56 +0000

AUR packages are user-produced content i.e. packages built on their own machines.

They have to be installed via "pacman -U package_file"

Arch developers can code "pacman -U" such that it performs a VirusTotal scan before installation for each package.

VirusTotal's API is free.

- https://docs.virustotal.com/docs/api-scripts-and-client-libr... - https://docs.virustotal.com/docs/please-give-me-an-api-key - https://docs.virustotal.com/docs/consumption-quotas-handled

Since it is end users who are doing the upload and virus scan check, there won't be a consumption quota issue with VirusToal.

Lastly, "pacman -U" should flag failed VirusTotal scans to Arch Security.

Arch's pacman and Flathub's flatpak package managers should be the last line of defence when installing untrusted packages by end users.

New comment by jchoksi in "GTK Krell Monitors"

jchoksi — Thu, 15 May 2025 23:54:56 +0000

The original author of gkrellm, Bill Wilson, also made PiKrellCam. <https://billw2.github.io/pikrellcam/pikrellcam.html>

Which was/is the best Raspberry Pi Audio/Video Recording, OSD Motion Detect Program. It was made to run perfectly on a RPI Zero with its limited CPU and memory.

I was very sad to learn that Bill passed away in Oct 2021. <https://github.com/billw2/pikrellcam/issues/78#issuecomment-...>

I'm glad gkrellm got a new maintainer and continues to exist.

New comment by jchoksi in "Open Source security camera on Raspberry Pi"

jchoksi — Sun, 15 Sep 2024 16:56:55 +0000

An alternative project I was looking to use with my Raspberry Pi Zero WH's was mediamtx.

https://github.com/bluenviron/mediamtx?tab=readme-ov-file#ra...

New comment by jchoksi in "ReMarkable Paper Pro"

jchoksi — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 14:54:05 +0000

I considered getting a ReMarkable a couple of years ago. My primary needs were note taking and PDF reading for studies. The ReMarkable's low powered hardware and limited app ecosystem put me off. Also, I didn't want multiple devices i.e. a tablet and a seperate note taking device.

So, I settled on getting a Samsung Tablet with a S-Pen and using the "Flexcil Notes & PDF Reader" app. The tablet was not cheaper than ReMarkable but I had access to all the apps in the Android ecosystem. The note taking app was not free and its premium features make it cost between £4.59 - £10.49 if billed through Google Play store. The app was well worth it and you can search for reviews of it on Youtube.

If you are planning on getting a ReMarkable for studying, I'd suggest to instead consider using an iPad or Android tablet with pen support instead.

- https://www.flexcil.com/ - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flexcil.fl... - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/flexcil-note-good-pdf-reader/i... - https://www.youtube.com/@flexcil5010/videos

New comment by jchoksi in "Cosmic Desktop: Hammering Out New Cosmic Features"

jchoksi — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 11:16:56 +0000

I am looking forward to trying this. Currently use KDE(Wayland) and was looking to move to Wayfire as I really don't need all the things being offered in KDE and Wayfire satisfied all my needs from a WM/Compositor.

New comment by jchoksi in "Backdoor in upstream xz/liblzma leading to SSH server compromise"

jchoksi — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 22:26:04 +0000

The two active maintainers seem to be: Lasse Collin and Jia Tan

Searching DDG for "jiat0218" I came across a blog post which I found weird. Seems to be dated: 2006-05-03

Blog post: "Kuso拍賣．有靈氣的筷子 - 闕小豪" <https://char.tw/blog/post/24397301>

Internet Archive link: <https://web.archive.org/web/20240329182713/https://char.tw/b...>

The contents of the page when translated seems to be about jiat0218 auctioning a pair of spiritual chopsticks as a prank.

The blog entry is basically a QA between jiat0218 and various other people about these chopsticks.

If Jia Tan does turn out to be a compromised maintainer working for a state actor then some of the content on the blog page can be viewed in a more sinister way (i.e. spycraft / hacks for sale etc.).

Example question 38:

    Question 38
    accounta066 (3): Are these chopsticks really that good? I kind of want to buy
    them! But I recently sent money for online shopping but didn’t receive anything.
    It’s very risky; currently jiat0218 you don’t have any reviews, you can
    interview me. Do you want to hand it over?! … A sincere buyer will keep it.
    
    Reply to
    jiat0218 (4): First of all, I would like to express my condolences to you for
    your unfortunate experience! What can I say about this kind of thing...My little
    sister has always been trustworthy. What’s more, this is a pair of spiritual 
    chopsticks, so I hope to have a good one. It’s the beginning! As you can see,
    my little sister is very careful and takes her time when answering your
    questions. Except for the two messages that were accidentally deleted by her,
    she always answers your questions. If this still doesn’t reassure you, then I
    can only say that I still have room to work hard. You are still welcome
    to bid... ^_^

Note however, it could all just be what it purports to be which is a prank auction of spiritual chopsticks.

New comment by jchoksi in "In two moves, AlphaGo and Lee Sedol redefined the future (2016)"

jchoksi — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 20:27:57 +0000

A winning strategy against the AI that Ender Wiggin could have thought off and executed would be:

1. The human has to play perfectly. 2. The human has to play perfectly and quickly.

The premise being that an AI with less time to calculate its moves could result in an advantage to the human.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_control#Byo-yomi

New comment by jchoksi in "We are retroactively dropping the iPhone’s repairability score"

jchoksi — Tue, 19 Sep 2023 18:54:50 +0000

I just finished reading the comment thread for the "Snowden leak: Cavium networking hardware may contain NSA backdoor" news item and so security and privacy issues were at the forefront of my mind.

So, when I read your comment about "That is one of the many reasons why (we) use ThinkPads." I think people need to be reminded about Lenovo's (POST IBM SALE) controversies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenovo#Security_and_privacy_in...

New comment by jchoksi in "Revisiting KDE"

jchoksi — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 11:39:16 +0000

> Trolling would be more like creating an account just to make personal attacks and defend RH.

user: QUrprUd1nCeicw created: 11 days ago karma: 76

Seems like he has a point. Are you afraid of losing internet karma points on your normal account?

New comment by jchoksi in "Giraffes are as socially complex as elephants"

jchoksi — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 19:55:37 +0000

Its now well known that Giraffes pee on the shorter creatures after a video taped confession from one of them - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IHhAKnCtKc

Ask HN: Share details of the best-in-class software in your toolset

jchoksi — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 10:30:14 +0000

Rule: Best-in-class software is developed to be an optimal solution for an individual category.

My submissions are:

* Category: Grep / Tail

  BareGrep / BareTail from Bare Metal Software 

  Unfortunately not cross platform but on Windows there are no better alternatives to BareGrep / BareTail for tailing logs or searching text. These tools are tiny in size (<=310K), standalone exes, no installers, with config that can be stored in the registry or as an ini file on disk. This software has reached its peak and has not been updated since 2006 and yet as of today, 2021, it is still fully worth the $50 per concurrent user license for the whole tool set. I sorely miss not having these on Linux.

* Category: File Comparison

  Beyond Compare from Scooter Software 

  The best cross platform file/folder comparison tool. The list of features is unmatched by any other alternative and is more than worth the $60 per user license.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27660043

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

New comment by jchoksi in "How China got a U.S. senator to do its political bidding"

jchoksi — Mon, 18 Dec 2017 07:17:21 +0000

> First, Chinese government has no human rights abuse in Tibet

Hah!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_China

https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2017/country-chapters/china...

New comment by jchoksi in "How and Why to Log Your Bash History"

jchoksi — Tue, 31 May 2016 22:03:21 +0000

I implemented bash audit logging[0] by making use of Ryan Caloras's bash-prexec[1] project which provides a fairly robust and resilient way to implement ZSH's preexec and precmd functionality.

Some of the features of my solution are that it creates a sub folder in the user's home directory called ~/.bash_history and underneath this it will create sub folders for each month (YYYY-MM) and under each of those sub folders will reside a daily audit log file of all the bash command history (YYYY-MM-DD). The audit script logs both login and log outs, as well as each command executed in bash.

---

[0] https://github.com/onelittlehope/bash-prompt [1] https://github.com/rcaloras/bash-preexec

New comment by jchoksi in "Chart Shows Who Marries CEOs, Doctors, Chefs and Janitors"

jchoksi — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 20:48:14 +0000

So disappointed. Was looking for the connection that shows who super models marry, so that I may plan my career like wise.

New comment by jchoksi in "Announcing Rust 1.0"

jchoksi — Fri, 15 May 2015 20:06:22 +0000

I was looking to see what UI and database bindings were available as crates and came across the crates.io web site.

It would be useful for people new to Rust to see what existing libraries are available and one way would be to have a link on the www.rust-lang.org site's font page pointing to crates.io site.