gondolyr

Rust enthusiast, privacy enthusiast, Free Software enthusiast, riichi mahjong enjoyer. Also a software developer.

Working on a riichi mahjong client and server called Jikaze (See Codeberg).

Exploring how to promote free software funding sustainability.

gondolyr boosted:
2025-06-07

My talk at @piwo is over.
TL;DR: Free Software won only in limited areas. Even in those, proprietary software is holding it by the throat.

But I forgot about 3 important words:

it's our fault.

It's the software industry that built all this closed software. We're complicit in taking away the control of the world from the regular person.

#freesoftware #piwo2025 #opensource

2025-06-02

I published a new progress update for Jikaze, my Mahjong game. In this edition, I talk about starting to use Bevy and loading the Blender models in Bevy.

amenoasa.org/jikaze/jikaze-upd

I will be scaling back Jikaze progress updates to every quarter in the year.

#riichi #mahjong #FreeSoftware #libresoftware

gondolyr boosted:

Devices like the PinePhone and Librem 5 are slowly carving out space for open mobile computing. These are not sleek consumer devices built for mass market appeal. They are platforms built by and for developers, hackers, and those who demand control over their hardware. With full root access, modular apps, and support for desktop-grade Linux distros like postmarketOS, Mobian, and Arch ARM, they challenge the locked-down nature of traditional smartphones.

While performance and battery life still lag behind mainstream phones, the focus is on freedom: running your own code, replacing parts, and escaping corporate ecosystems. For privacy advocates and tinkerers alike, Linux phones represent a small but significant shift in how we think about mobile tech.

#LinuxPhone #FOSS #MobileComputing #TechFreedom #RightToRepair #PrivacyTools

gondolyr boosted:
josefjk
2025-05-15

the fact that duckduckgo has an AI thing at the top of the search results which DOESN’T answer in character as a duck, or even quack several times between each sentence, is, i think, a shocking betrayal and a demonstration of utmost cowardice

gondolyr boosted:
2025-05-12

You noticed how google search became unusably shit a few years ago?
Turns out that was on purpose

The recent court documents showed that Google's internal testing demonstrated that significantly worse search results would not harm their business operations. This apparent immunity to quality concerns stems from the company's dominant market position, which the recent federal court ruling
addressed. "Since Google doesn't have any real competition, it can make the best information hard to find, forcing users to stay on Google for longer and interact with more ads," Papadimitriou said. "This is dangerous for consumers, most of whom think the best results
appear first."
The strategy appears to be working from a business perspective. The study suggests that poor organic search results actually benefit Google's bottom line in two ways: they make paid advertisements more valuable to users seeking accurate information, and they force users to refine their searches multiple
times, exposing them to more advertising in the process.
gondolyr boosted:
2025-05-09

If you or anyone you know is looking to hire a passionate polyglot senior-level software developer that loves getting deep into interesting technologies and mentoring others, please get in touch! I'm available and looking for work!

My professional experience is mostly with Python and PHP on the back end, but I've got lots of experience with other languages and paradigms, and I'm an avid learner and really love sharing knowledge with teammates!

Please boost and share!

#GetHired #GetFediHired

2025-04-07

Developments in #Jikaze for March of 2025 were pretty slow due to personal matters, though with #BevyEngine 0.16.0 hopefully around the corner, I'm hoping to get started with the client soon.

Development post: amenoasa.org/jikaze/this-month

The textbook I mention is "Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach" by Jim Kurose and Keith Ross (gaia.cs.umass.edu/kurose_ross/).

#riichi #mahjong #gameDevelopment

2025-03-16

To be kind and fair to myself, I do want to avoid prematurely optimizing how I parse hands since premature optimization is the root of all evil 😉. For now, it seems fast enough on a single machine, though I can believe if my current implementation may not scale well. I'd have to benchmark how well it does with thousands of runs later, though my current priority is just having a playable version first.

2025-03-16

I wasn't aware of these papers; I'll have to give them a read! I'm worried my naive design may be incompatible with whatever may be proposed but I'm sure a refactor will be worthwhile if it is necessary.

Thank you for your links!

2025-03-16

I created a new post on my website to give some background/history into how Jikaze 🀄 came to be and what my goals with it are. I left out some historical details (like renaming the project from LibreRiichi to Jikaze) because I didn't feel like they were important enough to mention.

I hope to keep monthly updates about what's been going on in Jikaze.

amenoasa.org/jikaze/this-month

#riichi #mahjong #FreeSoftware #blog #gameDev #OpenSource

2025-03-03

After watching Emily Omier's #FOSDEM2025 talk on "How to Write a Killer README" (fosdem.org/2025/schedule/event), I went back to Jikaze's README and added a temporary logo and a small description of what the project is and its goals.

There's still room for improvement but it's a start.

codeberg.org/amenoasa/jikaze

Jikaze README after the changes with a logo and short description and tagline.Jikaze README before the logo addition and added description.
2025-02-17

Dealing with copyright and software licenses for your projects is complicated, but the FSFE has this handy spec called #REUSE (reuse.software/) to ensure this information is in accessible and consistent locations. They even have a handy tool to aid people into becoming compliant: reuse.readthedocs.io/.

2025-02-17

I've been doing some housekeeping for Jikaze (codeberg.org/amenoasa/jikaze), to clean up unsafe direct indexing access and stuff like that. Hopefully there shouldn't be a need to do major refactoring when the #Rust 2024 edition lands later this week.
dev-doc.rust-lang.org/edition-

#riichi #mahjong

2025-02-11

I've been cleaning up my mahjong_assets repo (codeberg.org/amenoasa/mahjong_) to make it more presentable. I've reworked some of the renders such as the point sticks (tenbou).

I've also added the basic geometry for a junk mat, though it's just basic shapes. The dimensions of it should be around 1:1. I don't plan on refining this model for now while I work on the automatic table model. Anyone is welcome to use this as a starting point though (Junk mat is licensed CC BY 4.0)

#riichi #mahjong #blender

Riichi Mahjong point sticks (tenbou).

Point values from top to bottom:
1. -10000
2. 100
3. 500
4. 1000
5. 5000
6. 10000A Blender model of a Mahjong junk mat. Its shape and colors are basic and lack detail compared to a real junk mat.
gondolyr boosted:

Kept nodding as I read through this

andysblog.uk/why-blog-if-nobod

gondolyr boosted:
LiberuxLiberux
2025-02-10

The Liberux NEXX will include 3 physical kill-switches for total privacy:

1️⃣ Microphone + Cameras
2️⃣ Wi-Fi + Bluetooth
3️⃣ Communications Module
1️⃣ ➕ 2️⃣ ➕ 3️⃣ OFF → all other sensors are also disabled

This was the original design… but we're now considering the possibility of one more switch: 4️⃣ , a slider integrated into the camera’s shutter button, to separate cameras and microphone. What do you think about it?

Kill Switches Scheme
2025-02-09

@edmcbane I do believe Rust can be a valid option for the web in the future. Luca Palmieri has been pioneering that space and pushing Rust to become a first choice option.

For me, Rust mainly provides type safety. Python has tools like mypy and Pydantic but those just sort of fill in the gaps. Too often have I seen int() on an invalid value or have an generic exception raised with no context and it being uncaught. Rust isn't a silver bullet and doesn't solve everything, but it has helped a lot.

2025-02-09

@jaxter184 I won't lie, I was very enthusiastic about Rust and suggested its use at prior workplaces, contributing to this perception. It probably wasn't appropriate then, and I've tempered my excitement since then. I try to look at issues rationally to see if Rust is a good fit now.

2025-02-09

The #Rust community has the (probably deserved) reputation of wanting to RiiR, though I don't personally see this same energy anymore. A lot of crates have been abandoned over the years and people seem to like the "new" kid on the block like #Ziglang. Maybe we should stop assuming the community wants to rewrite everything in Rust? Rust still seems to be in a fairly good spot as a lang, but I don't believe the once overzealous attitude exists as much. Maybe I'm out of the loop 🤷 .

2025-02-09

@flypig Thanks again for your talk! You did well and I'm looking forward to meeting you again at a future talk, or just in general, hopefully.

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