Kyle Rankin @kyle@librem.one

A Wilcox & Gibbs chainstitch machine in particular if you were wondering...

Well now I want a Victorian hand-powered #sewing machine. Thanks Repair Shop! #antique

Yesterday I learned via a fiber arts podcast that the surname Walker was derived from the profession of Scottish waulkers who took part in waulking: the process of fulling (felting) woolen handwoven fabric by foot to make them denser/warmer. #weaving

I realized I hardly ever add topical hashtags to posts which probably makes it tougher for folks around the fediverse to see things I write that they might be interested in. I'll try to do better with future posts about #weaving , #calculators , #addingmachines and #Linux #FOSS and #infosec topics.

Before clicky mechanical keyboards in the office were controversial, Toshiba was stirring things up about clicky mechanical calculators to sell their electronic alternative.

I plan to merge these mobile changes back to the original repo (https://source.puri.sm/pureos/packages/smartcard-key-luks) once it gets a bit more testing so the same script can work on desktop and mobile.

Someone in the mobile Linux community modified my Librem Key USB smart card LUKS unlock script to also work for mobile. I tweaked it so now it can also use the built-in Librem 5 smart card reader. Now I have 2FA disk unlock on my Librem 5!

So I made some progress with refurbishing the Comptometer this weekend. I freed up many stuck registers, but that revealed an issue with the carry mechanism on a few digits I will have to investigate further.

I figured I should change my profile picture on here to match what I used most recently on Twitter, in preparation of people moving over to Mastodon.

In 15 minutes (1:30 pm PST) I will be presenting about Snitching on Apps That Snitch on You using OpenSnitch ⁨@lfnw⁩. Drop on by if you are interested in an effective approach to desktop firewalls. https://lfnw.org/conferences/2022/program/proposals/653

This evening I'm cleaning, repairing and refurbishing a Comptometer model 3D11 from the 1950s. This was the last Comptometer the company made and has its final speed and accuracy improvements before the world moved to electronic calculators.

Check out this giant electric accounting machine! It's a combination typewriter and adding machine that is basically the electromechanical Excel of its day.

I'm speaking ⁨at LinuxFest Northwest⁩ this weekend on Saturday and Sunday:

https://lfnw.org/conferences/2022/program/proposals/652
https://lfnw.org/conferences/2022/program/proposals/653

It's being done virtually and I don't know if there will be video, but if so and you are wondering what all that stuff is in my background, here's a better picture.

I'm skeptical of backdoor hardware implants en masse not because they're impossible, but because backdoors in proprietary firmware are easier to implement, to hide, and to explain away when discovered.

I'm not saying this was malicious, but "debug version w/ backdoor added to prod by accident" is a great way to explain away a driver literally named SecureBackDoor. https:://www.welivesecurity.com/2022/04/19/when-secure-isnt-secure-uefi-vulnerabilities-lenovo-consumer-laptops/

I finished my handwoven overshot napkins! They are ready just in time to (maybe) use for Easter dinner. I learned a lot about weaving complex patterns and was able to make all of my mistakes in a project where they didn't matter much. We're wiping our mouths with these after all!