TheHobbyist

We’ve been hinting that this year is going to be huge, and we’re ready to share why… in two weeks on Feb 25th, at our Framework (2nd Gen) Event! We’re holding this launch event live in San Francisco and streaming to our YouTube channel at 10:30am Pacific that day. You can sign up now to get notified when the stream starts. The last time we held a live launch event was in March 2023, when we unveiled Framework Laptop 16 and two new versions of Framework Laptop 13. It’s been amazing seeing the interest in these products and the incredible ways the community has been using and extending on them. We’ve been heads down working for the last two years on an even bigger set of announcements.

For this event, in addition to bringing in press and partners, we’re opening a pool of invites to the Framework Community to attend the event in person, meet the team, and get hands on with our newest products. If you’re a current Framework fan and are in the San Francisco area (or are able to handle your own travel to us), you can apply to attend in this sign-up form. We expect we’ll see a lot more interest than we have available seats in our venue, so we’ll likely need to downselect from applicants.

We will be opening pre-orders on at least one new item that day, so if you’re in the market for repairable, upgradeable, long-lasting consumer electronics products, you may want to create an account ahead of time to be ready. We’ve scaled up our e-commerce infrastructure massively, but we expect the site will still be under heavy load.

Five years in, we’re confident that we’re on a fast path to achieving our mission to remake consumer electronics. We’re eager to continue supporting and scaling the ecosystems around our current products, and we’re ready to bring this mission and product philosophy to even more of the world, one category at a time. It’s going to be an awesome day, and all of us in the Framework team can’t wait for you to see what we’ve been working on!

For a hint at what we'll be announcing, head to the event page.

I can't make much sense from their hint, but I'm guessing this is related to when Nirav asked the community what category they should branch out to next, after laptops. I'll see if I can find the post again and link it here.

What are your guesses? In any case, this is a very exciting announcement!

Edit: framework community discussion here.

Just landed on this article by Phoronix on an AI accelerator in an m.2 drive format.

This one is from memryX and seems to be rather mature and capable though mostly low power.

I can't stop thinking that this may be a great usecase for the new expansion bay for the Framework laptop 16, with it's two additional full size m.2 slots. Would be very interesting to see whether two of these could be combined and used jointly and how much acceleration it provides compared to the AMD CPU alone.

Anyway, just sharing because I thought it was cool.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/27152897

Hi folks,

I had first written about my attempts here: https://lemmy.zip/post/24041939

I got to learn a lot thanks to some very helpful lemmyist (thank you @chameleon@fedia.io !), but I ran into a wall and tried to persist alone for a while.

While my initial goal is still the same, I'm right now focusing on seeing whether I can rebuild an initramfs myself, excluding any customizations.

My setup is the following:

• OS: Alpine Linux
• Bootloader: Grub
• OpenRC (no systemd)
• Root in a LUKS encrypted partition
• EFI firmware

When booting using the default initramfs:

mytestalpine:~# lsblk -o NAME,FSTYPE,FSVER,LABEL,UUID,FSAVAIL,FSUSE%,MOUNTPOINTS
NAME     FSTYPE      FSVER LABEL UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
sda                                                                                  
├─sda1   vfat                    515E-70E4                             238.9M    20% /boot
├─sda2   swap                    667a53d2-dc82-4d2a-a121-63a75da51c24                [SWAP]
└─sda3   crypto_LUKS             73cada8c-5885-4334-b72b-b09b7f919d66                
  └─root ext4                    8613c4fe-dbc2-4a4e-9d41-3e7eaa8acf18      5G     3% /
sr0                                                                                  
mytestalpine:~# blkid
/dev/sda3: UUID="73cada8c-5885-4334-b72b-b09b7f919d66" TYPE="crypto_LUKS" PARTUUID="a900120b-4b78-4164-add8-f6a88eadb219"
/dev/sda1: UUID="515E-70E4" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="83a340a7-ec05-4452-a775-178b5d3ea96e"
/dev/sda2: UUID="667a53d2-dc82-4d2a-a121-63a75da51c24" TYPE="swap" PARTUUID="cdddf0ec-5b8d-448f-a1c6-c9a97af06709"
/dev/mapper/root: UUID="8613c4fe-dbc2-4a4e-9d41-3e7eaa8acf18" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4"

Where I'm at:

• I've created a custom dracut configuration file /etc/dracut.conf.d/base-initramfs.conf containing:

add_dracutmodules+=" crypt dm rootfs-block "
kernel_cmdline+=" rd.luks.uuid=luks-73cada8c-5885-4334-b72b-b09b7f919d66 "

• I ran dracut --regenerate-all --force which yielded the following initramfs: -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 10734241 Nov 27 22:56 /boot/initramfs-6.6.58-0-lts.img
• I did not touch /etc/default/grub which contains:

GRUB_TIMEOUT=2
GRUB_DISABLE_SUBMENU=y
GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY=true
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="modules=sd-mod,usb-storage,ext4 cryptroot=UUID=73cada8c-5885-4334-b72b-b09b7f919d66 cryptdm=root rootfstype=ext4"

• I entered my custom boot entry in /etc/grub.d/40_custom:

mytestalpine:~# cat /etc/grub.d/40_custom
#!/bin/sh
exec tail -n +3 $0
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.

menuentry 'Dracut entry' --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-lts-advanced-8613c4fe-dbc2-4a4e-9d41-3e7eaa8acf18' {
	load_video
	insmod gzio
	insmod part_gpt
	insmod fat
	set root='hd0,gpt1'

	if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt1 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt1  515E-70E4
	else
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 515E-70E4
	fi

	#search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 515E-70E4
	echo	'Loading Linux lts ...'
	linux	/vmlinuz-lts root=UUID=8613c4fe-dbc2-4a4e-9d41-3e7eaa8acf18 ro  modules=sd-mod,usb-storage,ext4 cryptroot=UUID=73cada8c-5885-4334-b72b-b09b7f919d66 cryptdm=root rootfstype=ext4 rd.shell rd.debug log_buf_len=1M 
	echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
	initrd	/initramfs-6.6.58-0-lts.img
}

This was closely matched to the original boot entry.

• I then ran grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg (at this point, not sure whether normal or not, I see mention of the original initramfs, but not mine:

Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-lts
Found initrd image: /boot/initramfs-lts
Warning: os-prober will not be executed to detect other bootable partitions.
Systems on them will not be added to the GRUB boot configuration.
Check GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER documentation entry.
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
done

• When attempting to boot into my entry in grub, I get a blank screen which hangs indefinitely where the only text visible is:

Loading Linux lts ...
Loading initial ramdisk ...
_
EFI stub: Loaded initrd from LINUX_EFI_INITRD_MEDIA_GUID device path

I've tried looking up the message but nothing seems to be giving hints at how I can fix it.

Is there something visibly wrong with what I'm doing? I've removed the quiet parameter and added debug flags to the kernel parameters but I'm doing able to get more information from the failed boot... Thanks!

Below is my entire grub conf:

/boot/grub/grub.cfg

mytestalpine:~# cat /boot/grub/grub.cfg
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
  load_env
fi
if [ "${next_entry}" ] ; then
   set default="${next_entry}"
   set next_entry=
   save_env next_entry
   set boot_once=true
else
   set default="0"
fi

if [ x"${feature_menuentry_id}" = xy ]; then
  menuentry_id_option="--id"
else
  menuentry_id_option=""
fi

export menuentry_id_option

if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
  set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
  save_env saved_entry
  set prev_saved_entry=
  save_env prev_saved_entry
  set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
  if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
    saved_entry="${chosen}"
    save_env saved_entry
  fi
}

function load_video {
  if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
    insmod all_video
  else
    insmod efi_gop
    insmod efi_uga
    insmod ieee1275_fb
    insmod vbe
    insmod vga
    insmod video_bochs
    insmod video_cirrus
  fi
}

if loadfont unicode ; then
  set gfxmode=auto
  load_video
  insmod gfxterm
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
if [ x$feature_timeout_style = xy ] ; then
  set timeout_style=menu
  set timeout=2
# Fallback normal timeout code in case the timeout_style feature is
# unavailable.
else
  set timeout=2
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Alpine Linux v3.20, with Linux lts' --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-lts-advanced-8613c4fe-dbc2-4a4e-9d41-3e7eaa8acf18' {
	load_video
	insmod gzio
	insmod part_gpt
	insmod fat
	set root='hd0,gpt1'
	if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt1 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt1  515E-70E4
	else
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 515E-70E4
	fi
	echo	'Loading Linux lts ...'
	linux	/vmlinuz-lts root=UUID=8613c4fe-dbc2-4a4e-9d41-3e7eaa8acf18 ro  modules=sd-mod,usb-storage,ext4 cryptroot=UUID=73cada8c-5885-4334-b72b-b09b7f919d66 cryptdm=root rootfstype=ext4
	echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
	initrd	/initramfs-lts
}

### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/25_bli ###
if [ "$grub_platform" = "efi" ]; then
  insmod bli
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/25_bli ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###
if [ "$grub_platform" = "efi" ]; then
	menuentry 'UEFI Firmware Settings' $menuentry_id_option 'uefi-firmware' {
		fwsetup
	}
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.

menuentry 'Dracut entry' --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-lts-advanced-8613c4fe-dbc2-4a4e-9d41-3e7eaa8acf18' {
	load_video
	insmod gzio
	insmod part_gpt
	insmod fat
	set root='hd0,gpt1'

	if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt1 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt1  515E-70E4
	else
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 515E-70E4
	fi

	#search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 515E-70E4
	echo	'Loading Linux lts ...'
	linux	/vmlinuz-lts root=UUID=8613c4fe-dbc2-4a4e-9d41-3e7eaa8acf18 ro  modules=sd-mod,usb-storage,ext4 cryptroot=UUID=73cada8c-5885-4334-b72b-b09b7f919d66 cryptdm=root rootfstype=ext4 rd.shell rd.debug log_buf_len=1M 
	echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
	initrd	/initramfs-6.6.58-0-lts.img
}
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f  ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then
  source ${config_directory}/custom.cfg
elif [ -z "${config_directory}" -a -f  $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
  source $prefix/custom.cfg
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###

Edit: corrected tagged user & formatting

Hi folks,

I had first written about my attempts here: https://lemmy.zip/post/24041939

I got to learn a lot thanks to some very helpful lemmyist (thank you @chameleon@fedia.io !), but I ran into a wall and tried to persist alone for a while.

While my initial goal is still the same, I'm right now focusing on seeing whether I can rebuild an initramfs myself, excluding any customizations.

My setup is the following:

• OS: Alpine Linux
• Bootloader: Grub
• OpenRC (no systemd)
• Root in a LUKS encrypted partition
• EFI firmware

When booting using the default initramfs:

mytestalpine:~# lsblk -o NAME,FSTYPE,FSVER,LABEL,UUID,FSAVAIL,FSUSE%,MOUNTPOINTS
NAME     FSTYPE      FSVER LABEL UUID                                 FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
sda                                                                                  
├─sda1   vfat                    515E-70E4                             238.9M    20% /boot
├─sda2   swap                    667a53d2-dc82-4d2a-a121-63a75da51c24                [SWAP]
└─sda3   crypto_LUKS             73cada8c-5885-4334-b72b-b09b7f919d66                
  └─root ext4                    8613c4fe-dbc2-4a4e-9d41-3e7eaa8acf18      5G     3% /
sr0                                                                                  
mytestalpine:~# blkid
/dev/sda3: UUID="73cada8c-5885-4334-b72b-b09b7f919d66" TYPE="crypto_LUKS" PARTUUID="a900120b-4b78-4164-add8-f6a88eadb219"
/dev/sda1: UUID="515E-70E4" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="83a340a7-ec05-4452-a775-178b5d3ea96e"
/dev/sda2: UUID="667a53d2-dc82-4d2a-a121-63a75da51c24" TYPE="swap" PARTUUID="cdddf0ec-5b8d-448f-a1c6-c9a97af06709"
/dev/mapper/root: UUID="8613c4fe-dbc2-4a4e-9d41-3e7eaa8acf18" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4"

Where I'm at:

• I've created a custom dracut configuration file /etc/dracut.conf.d/base-initramfs.conf containing:

add_dracutmodules+=" crypt dm rootfs-block "
kernel_cmdline+=" rd.luks.uuid=luks-73cada8c-5885-4334-b72b-b09b7f919d66 "

• I ran dracut --regenerate-all --force which yielded the following initramfs: -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 10734241 Nov 27 22:56 /boot/initramfs-6.6.58-0-lts.img
• I did not touch /etc/default/grub which contains:

GRUB_TIMEOUT=2
GRUB_DISABLE_SUBMENU=y
GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY=true
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="modules=sd-mod,usb-storage,ext4 cryptroot=UUID=73cada8c-5885-4334-b72b-b09b7f919d66 cryptdm=root rootfstype=ext4"

• I entered my custom boot entry in /etc/grub.d/40_custom:

mytestalpine:~# cat /etc/grub.d/40_custom
#!/bin/sh
exec tail -n +3 $0
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.

menuentry 'Dracut entry' --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-lts-advanced-8613c4fe-dbc2-4a4e-9d41-3e7eaa8acf18' {
	load_video
	insmod gzio
	insmod part_gpt
	insmod fat
	set root='hd0,gpt1'

	if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt1 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt1  515E-70E4
	else
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 515E-70E4
	fi

	#search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 515E-70E4
	echo	'Loading Linux lts ...'
	linux	/vmlinuz-lts root=UUID=8613c4fe-dbc2-4a4e-9d41-3e7eaa8acf18 ro  modules=sd-mod,usb-storage,ext4 cryptroot=UUID=73cada8c-5885-4334-b72b-b09b7f919d66 cryptdm=root rootfstype=ext4 rd.shell rd.debug log_buf_len=1M 
	echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
	initrd	/initramfs-6.6.58-0-lts.img
}

This was closely matched to the original boot entry.

• I then ran grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg (at this point, not sure whether normal or not, I see mention of the original initramfs, but not mine:

Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-lts
Found initrd image: /boot/initramfs-lts
Warning: os-prober will not be executed to detect other bootable partitions.
Systems on them will not be added to the GRUB boot configuration.
Check GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER documentation entry.
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
done

• When attempting to boot into my entry in grub, I get a blank screen which hangs indefinitely where the only text visible is:

Loading Linux lts ...
Loading initial ramdisk ...
_
EFI stub: Loaded initrd from LINUX_EFI_INITRD_MEDIA_GUID device path

I've tried looking up the message but nothing seems to be giving hints at how I can fix it.

Is there something visibly wrong with what I'm doing? I've removed the quiet parameter and added debug flags to the kernel parameters but I'm doing able to get more information from the failed boot... Thanks!

Below is my entire grub conf:

mytestalpine:~# cat /boot/grub/grub.cfg
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
  load_env
fi
if [ "${next_entry}" ] ; then
   set default="${next_entry}"
   set next_entry=
   save_env next_entry
   set boot_once=true
else
   set default="0"
fi

if [ x"${feature_menuentry_id}" = xy ]; then
  menuentry_id_option="--id"
else
  menuentry_id_option=""
fi

export menuentry_id_option

if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
  set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
  save_env saved_entry
  set prev_saved_entry=
  save_env prev_saved_entry
  set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
  if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
    saved_entry="${chosen}"
    save_env saved_entry
  fi
}

function load_video {
  if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
    insmod all_video
  else
    insmod efi_gop
    insmod efi_uga
    insmod ieee1275_fb
    insmod vbe
    insmod vga
    insmod video_bochs
    insmod video_cirrus
  fi
}

if loadfont unicode ; then
  set gfxmode=auto
  load_video
  insmod gfxterm
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
if [ x$feature_timeout_style = xy ] ; then
  set timeout_style=menu
  set timeout=2
# Fallback normal timeout code in case the timeout_style feature is
# unavailable.
else
  set timeout=2
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Alpine Linux v3.20, with Linux lts' --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-lts-advanced-8613c4fe-dbc2-4a4e-9d41-3e7eaa8acf18' {
	load_video
	insmod gzio
	insmod part_gpt
	insmod fat
	set root='hd0,gpt1'
	if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt1 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt1  515E-70E4
	else
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 515E-70E4
	fi
	echo	'Loading Linux lts ...'
	linux	/vmlinuz-lts root=UUID=8613c4fe-dbc2-4a4e-9d41-3e7eaa8acf18 ro  modules=sd-mod,usb-storage,ext4 cryptroot=UUID=73cada8c-5885-4334-b72b-b09b7f919d66 cryptdm=root rootfstype=ext4
	echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
	initrd	/initramfs-lts
}

### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/25_bli ###
if [ "$grub_platform" = "efi" ]; then
  insmod bli
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/25_bli ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###
if [ "$grub_platform" = "efi" ]; then
	menuentry 'UEFI Firmware Settings' $menuentry_id_option 'uefi-firmware' {
		fwsetup
	}
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.

menuentry 'Dracut entry' --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-lts-advanced-8613c4fe-dbc2-4a4e-9d41-3e7eaa8acf18' {
	load_video
	insmod gzio
	insmod part_gpt
	insmod fat
	set root='hd0,gpt1'

	if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt1 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt1  515E-70E4
	else
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 515E-70E4
	fi

	#search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 515E-70E4
	echo	'Loading Linux lts ...'
	linux	/vmlinuz-lts root=UUID=8613c4fe-dbc2-4a4e-9d41-3e7eaa8acf18 ro  modules=sd-mod,usb-storage,ext4 cryptroot=UUID=73cada8c-5885-4334-b72b-b09b7f919d66 cryptdm=root rootfstype=ext4 rd.shell rd.debug log_buf_len=1M 
	echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
	initrd	/initramfs-6.6.58-0-lts.img
}
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f  ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then
  source ${config_directory}/custom.cfg
elif [ -z "${config_directory}" -a -f  $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
  source $prefix/custom.cfg
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###

Edit: corrected tagged user & formatting

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/21664063

Linux Mint and Framework Laptops Join Forces

The October 2024 edition of Linux Mint’s Monthly News brings exciting updates, including a significant announcement about collaboration with Framework Laptops, having potential to advance Mint’s compatibility with hardware designed with flexibility, repairability, and sustainability in mind.

For those unfamiliar, unlike most traditional laptops, which are often difficult or impossible to repair or upgrade, Framework laptops are built to be user-friendly, making it easy to replace or upgrade components. This modular approach extends the laptop’s lifespan and promotes sustainability by reducing e-waste.

Hi folks,

I have Alpine Linux installed in an encrypted LUKS partition. I came across this tutorial which shows how to setup a key in a USB drive and when the drive is inserted and the computer booted, the LUKS partition auto-unlocks with the key on the USB drive.

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1414617/configure-ubuntu-22-04-zfs-for-automatic-luks-unlock-on-boot-via-usb-drive

I would like to setup the same thing but I do not have Alpine linux installed on ZFS, so I'm looking for ways to adapt the instructions.

So far, what I've done is:

1. I've setup the key on the usb stick and I can unlock the LUKS partition with that key.
2. create a /etc/mkinitfs/features.d/usb-unlock.sh script with the following content:

(the echo to /dev/kmesg was to check whether the script did indeed run at boot by trying to print to the kernel messages but I can't find anything in the kernel messages).

#!/bin/sh

echo "usb-unlock script starting..." > /dev/kmsg

USB_MOUNT="/mnt/my-usb-key" # The USB stick mounting point
LUKS_KEY_FILE="awesome.key"  # The name of your keyfile on the USB stick

# Search for the USB stick with the key
for device in $(ls /dev/disk/by-uuid/*); do
    mount $device $USB_MOUNT 2>/dev/null
    if [ -f "$USB_MOUNT/$LUKS_KEY_FILE" ]; then
        # Unlock the LUKS partition
        cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sda3 cryptroot \
            --key-file "$USB_MOUNT/$LUKS_KEY_FILE" && exit 0
    fi
    umount $USB_MOUNT
done
echo "No USB key found, falling back to password prompt." # this message never appears, despite not having found the key on the usb stick

echo "usb-unlock script ending." > /dev/kmsg

3. I added usb-unlock to the features in mkinitfs.conf:

mytestalpine:~# cat /etc/mkinitfs/mkinitfs.conf 
features="ata base ide scsi usb virtio ext4 cryptsetup keymap usb-unlock"

4. run mkinitfs to rebuild the initramfs. Then reboot to test the implementation, which was unsuccessful.

What am I missing / doing wrong? Thank you for your help!

Edit: forgot to add step 4

Hi folks,

I'm seeing there are multiple services which externalise the task of "identity provider" (e.g. login with Facebook, google or what not).

In my case, I am curious about Tailscale, a VPN service which allows one to chose an identity provider/SSO between Google, Microsoft, Github, Apple and OIDC.

How can I find out what data is actually communicates to the identity provider? Their task should simply be to decide whether I am who I claim to be, nothing more. But I'm guessing there may be some subtleties.

In the case of Tailscale, would the identity provider know where I'm trying to connect? Or more?

Answers and insights much appreciated! The topic does not seem to have much information online.

Hi folks, I'm considering setting up an offsite backup server and am seeking recommendations for a smallish form factor PC. Mainly, are there some suitable popular second hand PCs which meet the following requirements:

• fits 4x 3.5" HDD
• Smaller than a regular tower (e.g. mATX or ITX)
• Equipped with a 6th of 7th gen Intel CPU at least (for power efficiency and transcoding, in case I want it to actually to some transcoding) with video output.
• Ideally with upgradeable RAM

Do you know of something which meets those specs and is rather common on the second hand market?

Thanks!

Edit: I'm looking for a prebuilt system, such as a dell optiplex or similar.

Yesterday, there was a live scheduled by Louis Grossman, titled "Addressing futo license drama! Let's see if I get fired...". I was unable to watch it live, but now the stream seems to be gone from YouTube.

Did it air and was later removed? Or did it never happen in the first place?

Here's the link to where it was meant to happen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTBYMobWQzk

Cheers

Edit: a new video was recently posted at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCjy2CHP7zU

I do not know if this was the supposedly edited and reuploaded video or if this is unrelated.

From Simon Willison: "Mistral tweet a link to a 281GB magnet BitTorrent of Mixtral 8x22B—their latest openly licensed model release, significantly larger than their previous best open model Mixtral 8x7B. I’ve not seen anyone get this running yet but it’s likely to perform extremely well, given how good the original Mixtral was."

Hi all,

I think around 1 or 2 years ago, I stumbled upon a personal blog of an asian woman (I think) working at OpenAI. She had numerous extensive fascinating blog posts on a black themed blog, going into the technical details of embeddings of language models and such.

I can no longer find that blog and have no other information to go by. Would anyone possibly know which blog I'm referring to? It would be very much appreciated.

Hi folks,

I seem to be having some internet connectivity issues lately and I would like to monitor my access to the internet. I have a homelab and was wondering whether someone had perhaps something like a docker container which pings a custom website every so often and plots a timescale of when the connection was successful and when it was not.

Or perhaps you have another suggestion? I know of dashboards like grafana but I don't know whether they can be configured to actually generate that data or whether they rely on a third party to feed them. Thanks!