MystikIncarnate

MystikIncarnate , 1 hour ago

I got a rejection email from a job I applied to in November. It took them six months to say no.

I'm not sure what they expected? But I found a job less than a month after I applied, they never even called me for an interview.

MystikIncarnate , 33 minutes ago

Yeah, I feel like the OP picture is more of a commentary about the overlap, or lack of overlap, between people who use ts, and people that use the service formerly known as Twitter.

MystikIncarnate , 5 days ago

Honestly, I hate these kinds of replies.

None of them answered the question, they just told him that he was wrong for wanting it.

It's just.... Unhelpful.

MystikIncarnate , 8 days ago

What the actual fuck Ricky?

Am I a joke to you?

MystikIncarnate , 9 days ago

Accurate.

MystikIncarnate , 10 days ago

Nope, none of this is math.

MystikIncarnate , 12 days ago

After morale improves, enshittification will accelerate.

MystikIncarnate , 12 days ago

https://lemmy.ca/pictrs/image/513dad16-4a79-4be8-b28b-34168a143227.jpeg

MystikIncarnate , 12 days ago

As someone who is not a sub....

You better like it, you slut.

MystikIncarnate , 15 days ago

Well that's horrific.

MystikIncarnate , 15 days ago

This is the business equivalent of throwing a tantrum.

MystikIncarnate , 16 days ago

I live in North America, I happen to have bought a Windows 10 license from Microsoft's website.

If I install the "N" version of Windows 10, my license key doesn't work.

That being said, give it a try, if it works, great, if not, just install the non-N version and debloat.

GL everyone.

MystikIncarnate , 17 days ago

I work with Windows as a requirement of my job, I'm in IT and I'm constantly in and out of the bowels of the operating system. I have a lot of thoughts on this stuff.

My first thought is, stop moving everything around. Even in Windows 10, if you're using an older version, say 1804, and you switch to a newer version, say 22H2, stuff is moved all over the place. It makes it super hard to direct someone blindly to the control they need to click to get something done. You're making my job much harder than it needs to be. Stop it. There's no reason to move this crap around.

To bring out my grumpy old man routine: back in my day, if you wanted to do anything, you went to the control panel. Everything you needed was there. Now it's in settings, no wait, clicking on this settings option for that thing now launches an appx thing that, surprisingly (/s) is broken.

Too many damn times have I tried to open their damned settings app or the new defender security appx dialog simply crashes. The solution is almost always dkim online repair. Well, if it needs repair so damn much, how about you just repair it for me as part of system maintenance? The fuck.

Windows 11 is a special form of suffering. Right clicking on a file and.... What the fuck is this? I basically click on "more settings" every time I right click. And the changes to the settings application.... Don't get me started.

Also, why in the fuck do we have copilot installed by default now? You're an operating system, stay in your goddamned lane.

The only good thing I can say about Windows 11 is that it has really good security. So good that I frequently have trouble doing routine things. Today, I was trying to run a PowerShell script and it told me some bullshit error, which is pretty common for PowerShell. After googling the error, the recommendation was to change the execution policy. I went to do that at an administrative PowerShell prompt and it told me that I didn't have access to change it. While running as the administrator. Yay. Shit is broken again. Fuck me I guess. I'm off to unfuck my less than five month old new work system because Microsoft can't get their shit straight.

Customization options do not and cannot help me. 90% of the time I'm working on someone else's computer, so I have to fucking deal with the default behavior because I'm not going to change it for 500+ users whom I support. I'm pretty sure I'd get more than a few complaints. So I have to fucking deal with whatever hairbrained decision Microsoft made about what should be default.

Windows 10 had its own share of bullshit. One of my most common annoyances was the way the OS decided to install fucking candy crush, every fucking time a new user logged into the goddamned computer. It's like playing whack-a-mole, but not fun and filled with uninstalls. I hope Microsoft made some good money on that brand deal, because I sure paid for it with my frustration.

After all of this, I keep finding myself in the fucking registry, and thank God that's one thing that hasn't been fucked over by their new UI team. I keep having to fix dumb issues by injecting registry keys so I can not deal with the stupid UI all the goddamned time. It's hacky, and I'm happier for it.

I could keep going. Pretty much every decision they've made in the past 5 years has been some measure of bad. The only thing I've agreed with them doing is finally ending internet explorer. Begrudgingly, edge is better, but not by a lot, IMO.

The last thing I'll say is that the tpm bullshit is going to give me an aneurysm. Having a TPM at Windows install usually prompts the system to activate bitlocker. Bitlocker itself isn't bad, but it's fucking terrible when windows does this shit and doesn't really inform the user about it. Nobody knows that they need to back up their goddamned bitlocker recovery keys, so inevitably, when something goes wrong (we're talking about Windows here, something will go wrong) and the system stops booting, you need the fucking bitlocker recovery key to do anything. Your option, if you can call it that, if you can't get the recovery key, is to format all of your shit, and reinstall from scratch. I know several people who have lost a lot of work and irreplaceable files, like pictures, because bitlocker fucked them over and they had no idea it was even running.

Sorry about your loss, but all those family photos you saved that don't exist anywhere else are locked behind basically uncrackable encryption, get fucked, I guess.

I'm going to cut this rant off. Needless to say I'm pretty tired of Microsoft's bullshit. Make an operating system. That's what people want. That's it. We shouldn't need "debloat" scripts to fix your nonsense. Gah.

MystikIncarnate , 17 days ago

I appreciate that. I don't think my users would tolerate Linux. Maybe MacOS, but I would quit if that happened.

Windows has some very terrible traits, but it's something I've worked with and on for the last ~20 years. I see all the warts. I have no delusions about it, but it's something I know extremely well as a result.

MystikIncarnate , 17 days ago

Agreed.

I could not give any fucks if they want to cram this shit into the crap home version. I don't use it and anyone who does, probably would rather have a more inexpensive version that's been subsidized by all the crap they've piled into the OS. Sure. Whatever.

But this crap is present in the professional, and enterprise versions, this shit still persists. Like, these are versions that are twice or three times as expensive and still, full of shit; just as bad as the cheap home version.

Unacceptable.

The constant stupid UI changes are just icing on this shit filled cake. Why are we moving everything around? Sure, you want to create a less "ugly" control panel, ok that's fine, but why the fuck did you make it borderline impossible to do something as simple as change your network IP address? I don't even try anymore, I just go find the og control panel and load up network and sharing center or something. If you're going to change it, at least make it as functional as the old one, or don't fucking do it at all.

MystikIncarnate , 17 days ago

The only improvement I can find with the windows 11 settings is account administration. Linking to a Microsoft account or adding authentication methods or something, is pretty decent. Everything else, just makes me want to tear my head off of my body and throw it across the room.

MystikIncarnate , 17 days ago

I usually do that anyways. As soon as it's like, "which partition do you want to install to?" I'm like, nope! And delete all the partitions. Just install to the drive.

The windows installer is so retarded with this kind of thing that I make it basically impossible to do wrong. If I have another drive in the system, I unplug it before I install windows, then plug it back in after windows is installed. I want it to see one drive and only one drive and I want it to install to that drive and nothing else. Not a partition, not a specific location, just the drive.

MystikIncarnate , 17 days ago

I try to speak the gospel of backing up your bitlocker recovery key to anyone who will listen without their eyes glazing over.

You can turn it off, if you're okay with going without encryption; if it's a mobile computer, like a laptop or something, encryption is a good idea, so just back up the key in a safe place, even just emailing it to yourself and you're all set.

The bullshit is that the bitlocker dialog won't save a file that contains your recovery key, to the drive that's encrypted; my recommendation is to "print" it to a PDF, which you can save anywhere you want. Once you have it, attach it to an email and send it to yourself, or toss it in your Google drive or whatever.

Full disk encryption is, IMO, a great thing to have, but to rugpull people by just enabling it and not giving them the information to secure access to their data, or even really inform them that it's on, is complete fucking horse shit.

MystikIncarnate , 16 days ago

I agree, there's pretty limited usefulness to keep it enabled on a desktop. Unless you're at risk of someone walking off with it, like your desktop is in a fairly public area, or you live in an area where robberies/burglaries are not rare, I don't know that there's much value in it. You also have to think about what data you're realistically keeping on your PC. Is it something that if that were to become public information, would that be a problem?

Like, if you have pictures of yourself in blackface or nudes or something, maybe think about it... But if you're just using your PC to play games and browse the web, it's probably not very important to encrypt it. Even if someone takes it and looks through all your data, they probably won't find anything of value (to someone else) beyond whatever money they can get for the hardware.

It's a very personal choice, and with higher risk devices like laptops, I would say, just turn on the FDE, back up the recovery keys and forget about it. Desktops, meh. Up to you.

MystikIncarnate , 16 days ago

Oh. I have one for this. I support people from several timezones, so to help myself, I set up a couple of additional clocks in Windows, so I could keep track of what time it is for the user, since most people are bad at thinking outside of their local timezone.

Well, I'm in a timezone that uses DST, and when it started for my timezone this year, all of my clocks changed. Every last one of them are now wrong, since the actual timezones they are for don't do DST.

Gg windows.

MystikIncarnate , 20 days ago

It's warm enough here that we can open the windows and turn off the heating. Not hot enough to need AC yet. So what do I hear all day today?

Lawnmowers.

I mean, we have a lawnmower too, but ours is 100% electric. So we basically mow the lawn in stealth mode. I don't think anyone realises we're doing it unless they physically see us out there with it. We're good neighbors. As for our neighbors.... Ehhh, not so much.

MystikIncarnate , 22 days ago

Nice reference.

MystikIncarnate , 22 days ago

As a man, if I'm offered some Appy slices, regardless of who is offering, you better believe I'm going to get me some fucking Appy slices.

MystikIncarnate , 21 days ago (edited 21 days ago)

I'd be chilling at home. They can keep her.

Wait, is this too "boomer humor" in the line of "wife bad, hurr hurrr"? I need better material.

In reality, no, I wouldn't be listening to music. I'd be on the phone with every person I know who hunts, asking if I can borrow a rifle for a late night hunting trip, right the fuck now. Bonus points if they're a good enough friend that you can ask them to help you bury the bodies, then just invite him along for fun and entertainment.

MystikIncarnate , 24 days ago

Congratulations! I also hope they find a cure for cancer and I would be so happy if they did. I've never been diagnosed with it so I have no bearing on this conversation. Fuck cancer.

This comment is also about student loans. (Which I've had and paid and still hope they grant loan forgiveness, tyvm).

MystikIncarnate , 24 days ago

But the post is about student loans.

MystikIncarnate , 24 days ago

I like you. Wanna get coffee sometime?

MystikIncarnate , 24 days ago

For me, during college, I got my first credit card. Between student loans and credit cards, I've been set up to fail at every turn. I have a crap ton of debt. My student loans? Paid in full. But the fact that I was paying them for nearly 15 years, and the money that took from me while I did it caused me to get deeper in debt from other sources of debt that has led me to be in a position where I'm still just as much in debt as I was when I graduated. The debt has shifted from student loans to mostly credit cards, but it hasn't gotten any smaller. I'm pretty sure I owe more now than I did when I graduated.

Financial debt compounds. Not only on itself, but it creates deficiencies in other areas requiring more debt to maintain balance. It grows like a cancer.

Sure, you can declare bankruptcy, and fuck yourself over for your ability to get any loans, but will that actually help? Does your income conver your expenses? Are you making a living wage? If not, and you go bankrupt, you might be screwing yourself over. It might be better to simply continue the cycle of violence until you earn enough to cover what you need to, then, when you're cash positive, declare it at that point.

I've been on the debt treadmill for over 20 years now. I continue to find myself in situations that require large sums to get resolved. Whether that's a broken vehicle, or another critical item I have to immediately pay for which was unexpected, or simple daily needs that have to be purchased when I'm at a low point in the availability of money. It grows.

I keep trying. I haven't needed to declare bankruptcy yet; but my debts are attached to me like a cancer, slowly killing me by starving my finances.

I'm not even poor. I work a decently well paying job. I'm just so heavily in debt, that I can't get out of it.

MystikIncarnate , 24 days ago

No thanks. I don't want more debt.

MystikIncarnate , 24 days ago

That's all I can ask.... Well, that, and maybe a winning lottery ticket.

MystikIncarnate , 23 days ago

No, this is Patrick.

MystikIncarnate , 24 days ago

I should play fallout.

I own it. Haven't played it.

MystikIncarnate , 25 days ago

Honestly, there isn't much that you do that must be done with a high level of precision. I live in a world of precision. I'm in IT. I administrate the crap you all use. If I screw up, you can't work. I must be precise and validate my work prior to implementation. This sometimes means large scale testing environments.

I once built a full on domain network, with an active directory server, file server and several clients to test.... A script. Like, five virtual machines so I could test something. I had to install client software and everything. It took hours just preparing the lab so I could run, test, troubleshoot and ultimately debug the script before a single line of it landed on a production system. I verified the condition before and after the script, ran all kinds of different and varying tests to ensure that unexpected circumstances wasn't going to mess it up. Testing took almost as long as the setup.

The script was only a few hundred lines, mostly checks and verifications. The "meat and potatoes" of the script was maybe a half dozen lines in the middle to set some values, run a program and that was about it. The first half was checks to make sure things existed and that the script wasn't being thrown at a system where it didn't need to be run, and thus would have an unexpected output if the core logic was to execute on a system which it was inappropriate to do those things. The trailing half was too check and verify that the script had accomplished it's task and notify if there was any unexpected outcomes so they could be addressed promptly (before any of you fuckers notice).

I spent the better portion of two days getting five lines of commands to run in such a way that nobody would notice if they ran, and if anything went sideways that I didn't account for, I could be on it like a fat kid with a candy bar.

That level of care and precision isn't something that most people can even wrap their head around.

Meanwhile if your creative works are aided by AI, it's just expression that's affected, and for the most part, nobody even knows the difference, if you use AI to write emails, a lot of what's being said, no big deal. It's mostly filler text anyways. I've known a lot of people who write many words but say nothing with those words.

But if you screw up your taxes, well, the IRS is going to fuck your whole life up. Would you trust a fucking LLM with defending a court case where you're accused of murder, and you're facing life in prison? Probably not. Shit that needs to be done correctly the first time, will not be done by AI for a very, very long time. Taxes, legal work, and yes, even my job, won't be done by AI anytime soon because bluntly, it has no idea what the fuck it's doing.

MystikIncarnate , 25 days ago

You make fair points.

MystikIncarnate , 26 days ago

That's pretty much all I use it for. To keep my porn browsing off of my history.

Not to hide it from anyone, I don't live with my mother anymore and I don't think my SO would care. More so that when I google something, I don't get porn auto complete entries in my everyday browsing.

I'm fully aware that my traffic is able to be monitored by my ISP (at least to the extent that there's a connection that exists. HTTPS is still not capable of being easily decrypted), and my DNS is resolving the address for the porn sites, and that Google (or whatever search engine) is logging that the search happened.... Or that the sites see my connection, from my IP, and know what I watched.

My only objective is that they can't link that to my normal browsing or accounts.

You know all those "share on"... Twitter/Facebook/whatever links? When they load, from Facebook, it asks the referer URL, and checks the browser for any cookies that might associate that browsing to a person for ad customization. Incognito isolates that information, so while Facebook/X(Twitter)/whoever may know that someone went to that URL, they have no cookie data to link it to a person uniquely, so they have information that the site was visited, but no idea who visited the site since any session cookies I have for those services are in my non-incognito browser.

MystikIncarnate , 26 days ago

Except by default, extensions are not enabled in Incognito mode unless you specifically tell your browser to allow it.

On top of that, if a browsers incognito has the same browser ID of the non-incognito version, that's probably not good. I would expect a browser to randomize any unique information like that when launching a private window.

So all you've got, as a savvy tracker, is the same aspect ratio, which, big deal, not like there's a huge selection of monitor sizes, and the same IP address, which, again, big deal, since any one client IP can have an almost unlimited number of users behind it.

You can presume it's the same person, but bluntly, that's a wild guess. It could be a visitor, or a different user logged into the same computer or another computer at the same location with the same (or at least a similar in resolution) screen. It's honestly a crapshoot. Assuming that's the person you know accesses your site from that IP is a bit of a stretch.

Any tracking cookies created in an Incognito or private window are going to get shredded when the window is closed, as long as the browser is doing what it's supposed to do.

MystikIncarnate , 26 days ago

In other news, the sky is blue, water is wet, and the earth is round.

MystikIncarnate , 26 days ago

What key feature has you going back to the airpods? There's very likely a good alternative, but it depends on what is keeping you using them.

MystikIncarnate , 26 days ago

I use IEMs they're not noise cancelling, but more noise isolating. When I have them in they act like earplugs, silencing the outside world.

The big thing, for me, with my IEMs is that they're wired, but there are solutions to that depending on how you want to proceed.

The IEMs themselves are pretty cheap, especially compared to airpods, so trying them to see if they isolate enough noise should be a very inexpensive proposition. So getting some decent IEMs and testing them using a wired connection for fit and isolation and sound quality should be the first task, if this becomes a serious consideration.

I don't presume to know what it is you're looking for in terms of design, style, sound profile, etc. Even if those things are simply preferences, and not hard requirements. I wouldn't want to recommend bright pink headphones because their specs are great and in line with what you're looking for, if you happen to hate the color pink (as a crude example).

What I can say is what I would think to recommend, which, off the top, I'd be considering the blon bl-05 IEMs paired with either a wired connection to a Bluetooth receiver, such as the Fiio BTR3 or similar, alternatively, the Fiio UTWS3 or similar for the "true wireless" type experience. The last piece that's absolutely essential for sound isolation is better eartips, I've been using these for a while and they're excellent: https://www.linsoul.com/products/tripowin-spiral-groove-memory-foam-eartips

The foam tips make it so I can't hear anything when I have my IEMs inserted.

The catch to all this is that putting them in or taking them out can be a little bit of a pain point, since the foam tips can be a bit finicky to get properly seated in your ear (at least for me).

But, like I said, I don't know enough about your preferences to really make a proper recommendation.

Of course, when you get into this level of earphones, you end up in a market where the sky is the limit on cost. I've seen some IEMs go for thousands of dollars. You can spend nearly as much on cables and add-ons. I'm not into that sort of thing. I've been on the hunt for cheap-but-good IEMs for years and have a small number of pairs that are very good and didn't break the bank.

The nice thing about this kind of approach is that it's very modular, so if you don't like the BT receiver, replace it. If the fit of the eartips isn't good, buy new eartips. If the sound of the IEM isn't what you prefer, you can get a new IEM, and use that instead. It's entirely up to you how you want to customize them and how you use them. Lots of options.

Personally I have a Fiio BTR5, a balanced headphone cable to my IEMs using the foam eartips. For IEMs I have a set of moondrop starfield, a set of blon bl-05's and a set of Tin T2, which I regularly switch between. All of them sound great, but they all sound slightly different, so sometimes I'm in the mood for one over the other. I clip the btr5 to my belt, connected to my phone by Bluetooth, and usually run the cable under my shirt so it doesn't catch on anything.

But that's what I like. You're different, so you'll buy different things if you choose to go this route. No pressure, obviously, I just want to make you aware of the options you have in this regard.
If you do choose to go this route, I'll point you at linsoul (linsoul.com), which regularly runs sales on a lot of this, and otherwise has pretty good pricing. Some items may not be available there, like the Fiio bt receivers, but they're generally going to be available on Amazon, so you should be fine there too.

My entire focus here, is to make you aware of the option. Not to tell you what to pick. Using IEMs has been rewarding for me since there's nothing to throw away. Even if one set of IEMs died tomorrow, I would only have to toss the IEMs themselves. The eartips, cable, etc, would all be able to be reused with another set. With something like the airpods, you basically have to throw out the entire unit with the charging case and all accessories, since Apple usually doesn't bother making any of that compatible with their future versions of the same. It's wasteful. I don't like it.

Whatever you decide, I hope you have a good day, and the best of luck finding a good replacement when you decide to do so. Cheers.

MystikIncarnate , 25 days ago

I didn't have to read far into the documentation of pi alert to find your issue. Scans and detection is done using ARP scans. ARP or address resolution protocol operates on layer 2. VLANs span layer 3 boundaries, so: layer 2 traffic does not traverse VLANs.

Additional scanning (by pi alert) is complimentary to the ARP scan. Which to me reads like ARP scans always need to work.

The easy solution is to use a trunk port into the system, and set up multiple VLAN sub interfaces on the NIC in the OS to handle each VLAN. Alternatively, give the VM multiple NICs, one for each VLAN you wish to scan.

The bottom line is that the pi alert system needs to have a direct network link into each network that it is trying to monitor.

MystikIncarnate , 28 days ago

I don't think it's a secret that despite the overabundance of public messaging that "we" (the public) need to do x to "save the planet" or whatever, it's not working because it's entirely predicated on the idea that it's individuals doing the majority of the damage, which isn't the case.

Recycling is a particular scam. The idea of recycling basically gave everyone the green light to buy and use as many products that were "recyclable" as they wanted and could afford. The businesses making those products, in no small part started using "recyclable" plastics for nearly everything. People were satisfied that it was recyclable, with the three arrows in the package and that was it. All the while, recycling alone likely doubled the number of waste collection trucks on the road (increasing the amount of fuel needed) doubled the number of trucks needed to do collections of waste, and, as many have since pointed out, was largely not helpful, considering that plastics are basically impossible to recycle effectively at scale, into any product that anyone can use. Only a very small amount of plastic was ever able to be effectively recycled, and the vast majority was basically just landfill with extra steps.

So we polluted a fuckton more on an idea that it would save the planet, an instead, we just killed it more with trucks and oil.

This isn't a new story, and it's never been your fault. The last frame in this comic is what should have been done all along, but we were sold some bullshit lie so an asshole we've never met can buy another yacht.

And there's still legions of people engaging in wasteful practices and supporting companies that want you to throw out their products as soon as they release a "newer/better" version of the same. I'm looking at you, Apple. Sure, you've stepped back on this a little bit in the past few years, but remember when you intentionally slowed down millions of phones because they were 2+ years old, and for no other reason? I do.

Net Zero carbon emissions (or any other pollutant) shouldn't be the goal. It should be the minimum fucking standard.

MystikIncarnate , 29 days ago

Everyone knows the real power of configuration on Windows is regedit.

MystikIncarnate , 29 days ago

P2p mesh is great except there's no DNS, so now either someone needs to host that, making them a critical node. Either that or every needs to start memorizing IP addresses. Using discovery through broadcast would easily create so much traffic that you'd run out of bandwidth on a wireless mesh.

Everyone seems to think that a wireless mesh is some kind of golden bullet, but it's really not. Putting that many people on a mesh generates a lot of broadcasts, which by nature go to everyone on the net. Having broadcasts rebroadcast by mesh stations will double the traffic load each time it's done, so beyond 4-5 mesh points, and a few dozen clients, the broadcasts start to take over the available bandwidth.

Rebuilding, basically means that someone needs to set up an IX, and connect their neighbors to them in an ISP-like configuration. One person basically needs to become the ISP/IX for a neighborhood and connect to others doing the same for their neighborhood.

At least one of the IX owners would need to know enough about networking to set up routing protocols and run an IP address management system to ensure nobody overlaps anyone else, and configure routing protocols for all the IX locations so they can communicate to eachother.

Then there's the problem of services. The global DNS system is down, so you need to make a new one. Services you expect on the internet are gone, so those need to be rebuilt, which means someone needs to basically become a datacenter to run the servers to generate those services.

I would be the obvious candidate to do this in my area. I know of a handful of people who could do the same in their area, and only one such person lives remotely close to me (about an hour or so drive away). I have my own homelab servers, and more networking equipment than I can shake my fist at. I'd go and raid the local ISP distribution building to pillage some fiber delivery equipment and build out a gigabit+ speed passive optical network from my basement as the ISP/IX/DC.
Finding outdoor rated fiber lines and whatnot to run any relevant connections would be important.

Then set up a wireless point to point link to any other nearby community networks.

MystikIncarnate , 16 days ago

IX vendor lists are pretty much public information. There's plenty of ways to find the information but you have to work backwards from how you're thinking. The way you've phrased this is to find which IXes an ISP is connected to, but you can only really find what ISPs are at which IXes.

For example, TorIX, a limited list is literally on their main page of their official site:
https://www.torix.ca/

Rinse and repeat for every IX.

If you can find which business segment for an ISP handles consumer connections, you might be able to find them on the peering db ( https://www.peeringdb.com ), which, if you dig hard enough, you could get a list of which IXes the ISP is linked to (aka, peered with). Taking a major ISP here as an example, Rogers, there are eight networks with "Rogers" in the name. A couple are probably not the Rogers ISP/Telco company, but it looks like six might be, each is some business segment. Now, I know that Rogers does most of their internet services using AS 812, so I'd start there, and I can see they're linked to Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, new York, Chicago, Seattle, and Ashburn. The question I can't answer is, does Rogers have a non IX-IX link (something geographically divergent) from, say, Toronto, and their clients there, over to Montreal/new York/Chicago/(etc). Some kind of interconnect that doesn't require the IX to exist? If I'm in, say, London, Ontario, about two hours west of Toronto, (where my closest IX would be Toronto), and the IX in Toronto goes away, will there be a way for Rogers to get my traffic out to the internet? Or does my traffic go to Toronto and get relayed from there every time?

There's no possible way to know without having intimate knowledge of the interconnects that Rogers owns and where they are physically run. Even if that fiber link looks like it goes straight from the London area to, say, Chicago, how do you know that the physical fiber doesn't go towards Toronto, land in the IX then get switched across an IX-IX link, to the Chicago IX? It's impossible to know.

Turning it around on Montreal, if I'm located in say, Ottawa, which is pretty much midway between Montreal and Toronto (closer to Montreal), and the Montreal IX ceases to exist, will my traffic have a viable path to the Toronto IX? In the same way, I have no idea. It could bounce through Montreal's IX before going to Toronto over an IX-IX link.

I suspect that the Ottawa situation is much more likely to have dedicated fiber running from there to both Toronto and to Montreal, since it's the capital of Canada, and having that kind of geographically diverse path to a couple IXes, would be a requirement for any government contracts, so it's likely in that case. But London? Not so much.

You can't just trace route this stuff either, since the ISP will have a preferred path which saves them money. That preferred path is likely going to go through the nearest IX regardless if your traffic should head the opposite direction. You can maybe dig through BGP via a looking glass (such as hurricane electrics looking glass at https://lg.he.net ), but that only tells you if the IP range is advertised as accessible from a location, not how it gets from that location to wherever it's going (IX-IX links only, or is there a geographically diverse path?). It's an ok indicator, but definitely not a definitive answer. Another good indicator is whether a trace route shows IX related links or not, but without knowledge of whether those links that don't indicate transit through an IX are actually in an IX/DC connected to an IX or not. It also doesn't tell you if those are the only links for that path, as the ISP has no responsibility to expose their internal routing information to the public. The IX-IX paths may just be preferred, and the direct paths are simply on standby for them if there's ever a problem with the inter IX path.

Long story short (and TL;DR): you can get some decent hints but unless you work for the ISP, you can never really know. The non-IX paths don't necessitate that they are ever used in the internal routing by the ISP, whether they exist or not, and nobody will just go around spilling those beans whenever the question is raised.

MystikIncarnate , 25 days ago

As a networking professional, I'll just say: it gets worse the more you look at it.

I think others have covered most of what you wanted to know, but ask me any follow up questions that might still be lingering.

MystikIncarnate , 25 days ago

At the risk of resurrecting a zombie post. I'll respond.

I'm not sure on the specifics of xcp-ng, since I haven't run it myself, but, I know proxmox and VMware can both do PCIe pass thru to VMs. Recently L1 techs have done videos on the Intel flex GPUs and their potential with vdi for video rendering (basically for a virtual GPU), which worked excellently. I'm not sure if there's a large feature gap between the a380 and the flex series, but I suspect not. Given the cost of an A380 it's probably worth the risk to try it. With all the recent updates for the Intel GPUs which have been increasing performance and stability, the a380 is a solid buy, even if it's "only" able to be passed through to the VM ...

Good luck

MystikIncarnate , 25 days ago

Indeed it does. I'm looking forward to the flex series (I'm specifically waiting on the 140 because I have systems with a low profile requirement), to try to put together some GPU acceleration on my homelab cluster. I need it for transcoding in the short term but in the long term I'm hoping to put up one of those open source, self hosted "cloud" gaming services.

We still do LAN parties and if I can pick up some cheap thin clients, and connect them to a GPU accelerated VDI or something, people wouldn't have to cart their PC's over when we have a LAN.

I'd go for something more modest like the A380, since sparkle has a low profile version of it, but the 6G of dedicated video memory gives me pause, since I'd basically have to dedicate one whole GPU per virtual desktop, which isn't as scalable as I would need. Even putting two users on a single GPU with 6G of memory is kind of a non-starter for me. I've used GPUs with 3G of memory, as recently as 2 years ago, and bluntly, it's not a good experience. So anything less than 4-6G per user is basically rejected right out of the gate. I might pick one up just to test with a single VM in a VDI situation, but long term that's not going to work.

MystikIncarnate , 24 days ago

That's pretty exciting, for sure. Given that you can get single slot coolers for the half height variant makes it incredibly versatile. Hopefully that trend continues.