Kyle Rankin @kyle@librem.one

With some cleaning and some oiling, I was able to get it fully working.

We'll see if I can get this working without taking it apart any further.

Today I'm restoring a Swedish Facit mechanical pinwheel calculator from the late 1930s/early 1940s white labeled by R. C. Allen. At the moment number entry doesn't work, so this could get interesting.

I have to pause on my rug project until more yarn comes in (hopefully next week). I'm pretty bummed at not being able to weave in the mean time.

Canon can't get enough toner chips, so it's telling customers how to defeat its DRM.
https://arstechnica.com/?p=1824817

@th King of spades.

@yaelwrites People who think only geeks deserve freedom and privacy are wrong.

I think a lot of people would be surprised by how many Purism customers are using Linux (by way of PureOS) for the first time. Our support team is a critical piece of that.

@yaelwrites You've just summarized why I disagree with the folks in the Linux community who think you just need to make Linux easy to install or easy to use, for it to be successful.

I argue it's *already* as easy (if not easier) to install or use than alternatives. What it needs to be successful is good support for when people get stuck. That's why it's important that vendors not only pre-install Linux, but also fully support it as a first class citizen, with professional support staff.

@yaelwrites Sure, if you use something that isn't mainstream, whether it's a game written for Windows on a Mac, a website written for Chrome on Safari (or sometimes even Firefox), or some web app written for Windows on a Linux desktop, there's a chance something won't work.

That said, modern desktop Linux, like the PureOS we ship on our stuff, is easy to use and works well with a lot of things.

@yaelwrites Well if you ever decide you want to take the plunge, let me know. The main pain with both are having hardware support everything, which we do out of the box.

@yaelwrites But the beauty of Qubes is that all your problems are compartmentalized.

@yaelwrites Possibly! But then you'd also get to try out Qubes if you wanted!

@yaelwrites I'm obviously biased, but if Linux is an option, the Librem 14 has a lot of ports.

@twotwenty I wish e2ee were easier to implement so I had more choices for a full-featured client than web wrappers. I guess that's similar to my feeling about Signal :)

The interesting thing about Moxie stepping down from Signal is that many in infosec trust Signal less because of the protocol and more because they trust Moxie. How much of that trust will transfer to the project/new CEO?

@remulus The best tip I got from typewriter restoration forums is that last one. Sewing machine oil + cotton balls or cotton swabs is a nice, gentle (but really effective!) way to clean dirt from enameled surfaces safetly. Just use a small amount of oil and clean with cotton balls/swabs until no more dirt comes up, then gently clean any excess oil on the surface.

@remulus Thank you! I've gotten a lot of tips from typewriter restoration blogs/forums. I use dish soap + water w/ cotton swabs, cotton balls, or paper towels for general-purpose cleaning. I use cotton swabs for hard-to-reach, and delicate parts (like the numbers on the registers). I use cotton swabs + isopropyl alcohol for unpainted metallic parts (basically anything you'd oil or grease). I use 0000 steel wool for rust, cotton swabs + sewing machine oil for the painted exterior.

It's back in full working order. Here's 1111 + 9999.

It's looking and working a lot better already.

Here's what over a hundred and fifteen years of dust looks like.