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Joined 11 months ago
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Cake day: August 8th, 2023

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  • I’m somewhat surprised that there’s no purchasable solution to this problem as all of the technology to make a short range drone interdiction system already exist. To detect one all that’s necessary is an appropriate camera setup and a system hooked to it capable of recognizing them, both of which are already prevalent in the market. Add an inexpensive laser range finder so the system can know if the drone is truly over your property and at an altitude acceptable for interception.

    Once that’s done it becomes a matter of how to interdict the drone. One relatively safe option would be for the system to deploy a high speed short range interdiction drone to overfly the other drone and drop something on top of it meant to snarl its rotors, for instance fishing line with weights.

    None of that is necessarily easy but its certainly doable.


  • it was the 80s/90s, windows didn’t exist

    Wow, that’s a pretty narrow gap. The 80386 started mass production in 1986 and Windows 3.0 (the first actually usable one) came out in 1990.

    I refused to use Windows until Win95 and even then I was experimenting with OS/2. In 1997 I installed Slack 3.4 and have been around every since. I’m currently running Linux Mint but I sorta miss SuSe and may go back to it.






  • I wouldn’t expect HDMI 3 given the HDMI group are openly hostile to open source implementations of HDMI 2.1.

    It just takes a company with sufficient market power, like Valve, to get involved. For example Android had this same problem in the early days, then Google realized that their OS required it for market adoption and found a way to get it done.

    I understand that it may not be possible but that doesn’t stop me from wanting it. :)




  • I don’t know if there’s any pre-built scripting out there (yet) for this but it’s relatively straight forward in Windows to use powershell and either look in the registry for the assigned dhcp options ( HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dhcp\Parameters\Options) or check the routing table for illogical routes.

    Assuming that you aren’t using split tunneling you could also have powershell check your external IP address for the expected result.

    Another possibility is to grab the dhcp test tool from Github, run it in non-interactive mode and then parse it’s output. Something I find VERY interesting is that Andrey Baranov specifically added Option 121 to that tool in March of 2023!

    With any of those it’s a matter of what you want to have happen when you detect the problem such as warning the user and disconnecting the vpn or attempting to mitigate the problem by reconfiguring the routing table.

    I should point out that Option 121 is a legit thing and it does have valid uses so you can’t assume something nefarious just because it’s being used.

    I’ll probably be scripting up a remediation over the next few days, I’ll try and remember to come back and share what I did.




  • What are the missing pieces you’re still looking for?

    The addition of JF or Plex, even with a Steam Dock, doesn’t turn a Steam Deck into a user customizable, privacy respecting Xbox.

    For starters it needs integrated streaming apps. I don’t WANT to have to use a web browser to access streaming content. Next up those streaming apps need Audio and Video support for 4K resolutions, Dolby Vision / HDR, and Dolby Atmos. My Wife doesn’t want to watch Outlander in 1080p with stereo sound on a 65" 4k television and I don’t want to do it when I’m watching shows on Disney Plus.

    How about an HDMI 3.x port? (Steam Dock is only 2.x).

    It needs support for a normal tv style remote control. Game controllers are great but I’ve yet to find a half decent one that has volume and mute buttons.

    The last time I checked a Steam Deck wouldn’t automatically start in a 10’ interface.

    Please understand that I’m not bagging on the Steam Deck with these comments. It’s a damn capable device for mobile gaming but it wasn’t mean to be an HTPC and because of that its never going to function quite right if you try and make it be one.

    An Xbox Series X absolutely murders a Steam Deck as an HTPC when used with commercial services but its not user customizable nor privacy respecting. That’s why I want Valve to bring back Steam Machines.


  • You have to use your internet-facing programs in a VM in Windows to achieve the same effect

    Eh, there’s 20 different ways to detect DHCP Option 121 fuckery and once you know it’s happening its fairly trivial to stop. Any VPN client worth its salt will be updated in 60 days or less to fix this and existing VPN clients can be hardened against TunnelVision with some fairly simple scripting.

    It’s a serious vulnerability but it’s hardly the unfixable world ender that the media has made it out to be.