Nostr notes by niconiconi

More tape backups. Running a backup of this machine right now, ...

2026-10-31T03:58:04Z

More tape backups. Running a backup of this machine right now, which never had a full backup before because of the lack of space.

I implemented a kexec bootloader because I didn't trust PXE, ...

2026-10-28T22:30:48Z

In reply to nevent1q…srdk
_________________________

I implemented a kexec bootloader because I didn't trust PXE, which is unencrypted... I guess it was the correct decision. https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Alpine_Linux_as_a_kexec_Bootloader_for_NFS_Netboot_over_VPN

TIL > NIST SP 800-63B: Verifiers and CSPs SHOULD accept ...

2026-10-26T08:47:29Z

TIL

> NIST SP 800-63B: Verifiers and CSPs SHOULD accept Unicode [ISO/ISC 10646] characters in passwords. Each Unicode code point SHALL be counted as a single character when evaluating password length.

Time to say goodbye to the old classics: 12345678 and asdfghjkl. Say hello to the new classics: いろはにほへと, ㄅㄆㄇㄈㄉㄊㄋㄌ, and 王旁青头戋五一. LMAO.

"We have backups at home." The backup: cp -a /var/www ...

2026-10-23T10:59:06Z

"We have backups at home."
The backup: cp -a /var/www /var/www.backup

Diffie and Hellman were famous early critics of DES's 56-bit ...

2026-10-23T06:49:37Z

Diffie and Hellman were famous early critics of DES's 56-bit key size in the '70s and '80s. So you can say Diffie and Hellman were both known for their key agreement and their key disagreement.

McEliece is one of the oldest post-quantum public key ...

2026-10-22T10:37:58Z

McEliece is one of the oldest post-quantum public key cryptosystems in existence. Since 1978, generations of cryptographers attacked it with only limited success. But TIL since this summer, there's a significant breakthrough. "We report on the solution to the TII-254 McEliece key recovery challenge [...] the original brute-force metric (2^254)." Unbelievable! The "index calculus" moment for McEliece? https://postquantum.com/security-pqc/classic-mceliece-key-recovery-bsi/ #crypto #infosec

> "I fully expect all electronics to be dead at 100℃ if ...

2026-10-20T04:17:09Z

In reply to nevent1q…pyll
_________________________

> "I fully expect all electronics to be dead at 100℃ if not actively igniting"

Baking semiconductors at 100 ℃ for several hours is in fact a mandatory practice to prevent damage during reflow soldering for ICs with a high [Moisture Sensitivity Level](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moisture_sensitivity_level) rating.

> For example, an end user of a SOT-223, MSL 3 package (1.8 mm thickness) that has been exposed to typical ambient air conditions for 72 hours longer than its floor life (168 hours) would need to perform a 27-hour bake at 120 °C

The real problem is other plastic parts (IC packages are fine) and the electrolytic capacitors. But if a circuit board is fully solid state, it will definitely survive a 100 °C bake. The data in the NAND is questionable, though.

Most optical transmitters use unregulated Class I lasers, which ...

2026-10-16T04:50:02Z

In reply to nevent1q…esnu
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Most optical transmitters use unregulated Class I lasers, which are very unlikely to cause injuries.

You know the linear regulator datasheet was written in the 1970s ...

2026-10-09T09:46:46Z

You know the linear regulator datasheet was written in the 1970s when you see an endless number of Rube Goldberg machines built by slapping things into the feedback path: temperature controllers, light controllers, digital output programming, amplifiers, injecting other reference voltages... Engineers: chipmakers just made a super cheap "servo controller on a chip", but only for power supplies. This is too useful to ignore, how do we force it to do things we want?

I meant the risk is that all applications including Web browsers ...

2026-10-08T01:14:50Z

In reply to nevent1q…3nj0
_________________________

I meant the risk is that all applications including Web browsers and games on the machine you use can potentially inject arbitrary commands into all systems you manage, as root. This risk is largely eliminated by QubesOS because you would use a trusted clean VM without random applications in it to do it.

Yep, because I never feel comfortable with the idea that your SSH ...

2026-10-07T19:51:07Z

In reply to nevent1q…u3yc
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Yep, because I never feel comfortable with the idea that your SSH root shell runs on the same OS with random apps.

LTFS mounted to /mnt. Start backing things up now. #tape #backup ...

2026-10-07T19:41:23Z

In reply to nevent1q…7rns
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LTFS mounted to /mnt. Start backing things up now. #tape #backup #lto #ltfs

```
[user@work ~]$ scp root@freebsd.lan:/nas/backup/x230_ssd.img root@tapeserver.lan:/mnt/
x230_ssd.img 42% 50GB 104.7MB/s 11:12 ETA
```

LTFS formatting problems! :blobcatgoogly: My first `mkltfs` ...

2026-10-07T19:18:19Z

In reply to nevent1q…nggw
_________________________

LTFS formatting problems! :blobcatgoogly: My first `mkltfs` attempted failed with "received an unknown sense code 081403", so I needed to patch LTFS with [PR 646](https://github.com/LinearTapeFileSystem/ltfs/pull/646). After that, it now recognizes the "unknown" sense code as an error, but the error just becomes "LOCATE returns End-of-Data (EOD) not found". Trap for young players, for a blank tape there's no EOD marker. You need to do a force-format with `-f`, as in `mkltfs -f -d [SERIAL_NUMBER]`. After that, now my tape has been successfully formatted. :blobcatsurprised: "Volume capacity is 2524 GB." #tape #backup #lto #ltfs

Yes, the tape drive works. :blobcatsurprised: Finally, I can use ...

2026-10-07T18:43:28Z

In reply to nevent1q…wpje
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Yes, the tape drive works. :blobcatsurprised: Finally, I can use `tar` for Tape Archive. Well, I'll try new-school LTFS first anyway which allows you to mount a tape as a filesystem, since seeking the tape forward and backward to find the `tar` you want (or even knowing how much space is left) is a headache. #tape #backup #lto #ltfs

Data backup time. 📼 ...

2026-10-07T13:36:37Z

Data backup time. 📼

You know how prevalent Touhou Project memes were in the 2010s ...

2026-10-02T16:47:55Z

You know how prevalent Touhou Project memes were in the 2010s when someone on my timeline shared a 2-hour Touhou MMD adaptation of *Waiting for Godot* by Flan and Koishi, dubbed with a "Donald Duck" voice filter. I thought, "Something from my history book just became Touhou, better to have a watch." And I became the only one in the class who actually watched it in full, when everyone else memorized it for 5 points in history exams.

In 2007, a Japanese NicoNico otaku successfully built a time ...

2026-09-26T04:11:50Z

In 2007, a Japanese *NicoNico* otaku successfully built a time machine. Upon pressing the start button, the machine roared to life, and the otaku was instantly transported to the streets of Akihabara in 2014. He asked a passerby, "What title is popular this year?" The passerby replied, "Fate/stay night." The otaku wondered, "Did the time machine actually work?" He adjusted the heating time on his *Phone Microwave* and traveled to the streets of Akihabara in 2020. He asked a passerby, "What anime is popular this year?" The passerby answered, "*Higurashi*: When They Cry." The otaku thought, "Oh no, there must be a problem with the time machine's settings! I have to try again!" After tweaking the settings, the machine roared to life once more. Arriving on the streets of Akihabara in 2026, he asked a passerby, "What's the hot game right now?" The passerby replied, "*Touhou Koumakyou*: The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil." The otaku realized with alarm, "Oh no, the machine suffered a catastrophic failure - I'm trapped in a time-space distortion!"

Nostr event nevent1qqs22l3te5dt4x9xwwc89s8slgekwdcafnh3678was37u3yt69er0xqzyryadqmg3e0yevdl5xphg8p0nfcen30c4rhaf8rmmjc2u9z6e48ex5lujl3

2026-09-23T20:22:31Z

PHP = Persistent Hopeless Patching.

Ideal: TCP is a reliable transport. Reality: By default, your SSH ...

2026-09-21T19:11:54Z

Ideal: TCP is a reliable transport.
Reality: By default, your SSH freezes after 20 minutes when it's not scrolling text, because a middlebox decides to close your TCP.

The Internet be like: there is only one protocol in the world, ...

2026-09-21T18:10:40Z

The Internet be like: there is only one protocol in the world, it's called TLS. There is only one port in the world, it's called 443. Just run everything on port 443.

Just invented this evil Prosody hack. I bet Prosody developers ...

2026-09-20T20:11:13Z

Just invented this evil Prosody hack. I bet Prosody developers will scream when they see this. #prosody #xmpp #jabber

Applied Cryptography be like: you can never have enough keys to ...

2026-09-19T16:17:30Z

Applied Cryptography be like: you can never have enough keys to encrypt keys.

Everyone knows the manga and light novels always last for ages, ...

2026-09-19T12:33:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…hhee
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Everyone knows the manga and light novels always last for ages, even after nobody remembers them.

Keep reposting ReiMari and MariAri because I refuse to accept ...

2026-09-18T19:54:56Z

Keep reposting ReiMari and MariAri because I refuse to accept that the 2010s has ended. :marisadance: :reimudance:

Just found a massive footgun if your hostname contains a `.` ...

2026-09-18T16:49:34Z

Just found a massive footgun if your hostname contains a `.` (dot), e.g. if you use FQDN directly as `/etc/hostname`, your gTLD may accidentally become a DNS search domain used by libc. Anyone can register a domain name under your gTLD to bypass DNSSEC. #dns #dnssec