@jonatasbaldin And another option is radical decentralization. Like #Mastodon, for instance. We are already pretty near (or even at) the point where non-technical people can buy a cheap box and self-host whatever apps they like - eg, #Freedombox. The problem is getting a static IP and inbound ports open. #Yggdrasil can possibly help there.

So instead of having centralized services so large that they cost billions to maintain, individuals could host their own at minimal cost.

@jonatasbaldin If we can imagine a future in which it's as easy as a router to set up... Yes, still not everyone, but a lot of people. I suppose we probably need both!

Anyone know about #golang's #power consumption when idle? Tracking an issue where #Yggdrasil uses 1% CPU even when idle, representing 10% of total #battery consumption on the box during that time. I was told "that is the typical power profile of a #go program with a decent number of go routines". Is that correct? strace shows a lot of stuff in futexes and apparent busy-sleeps. How to address? Does GOMAXPROCS=1 help? The program is otherwise idle during these times.

@dch It is connected only to LAN peers, and according to strace it processes a broadcast announcement from one of them every 10 or 20 seconds or so. That's not enough to account for the activity, and strace is showing a lot of futex processing not connected to I/O, so I am inclined to believe the goroutine explanation.

@jvalleroy I keep thinking of more things to say after I write "/end" 🙂 So #Yggdrasil also works on a hyperlocal scale. Take 5 laptops and connect them to an ad-hoc wifi network, and with #Yggdrasil, they'll auto-discover each other and communicate - even if they don't even have IPs assigned! If just one of those nodes can also reach the Internet, then all of a sudden all of them can talk to global Yggdrasil also, because they automatically discover the route. Very cool. /end

@jvalleroy It has a few things in common with each of those, but is pretty distinct. #Yggdrasil is more similar to #cjdns and the #tinc VPN project. Compared with #Tor, strong anonymity is not a design goal of Yggdrasil, while performance and compatibility with existing software is. Yggdrasil may have some anonymity-enhancing properties over "mainnet", but not to the extent of Tor. However, they both share strong end-to-end encryption. 1/

@jvalleroy Expand those concepts out, and you get a system that can and does operate at a global scale, with opportunistic and resilient methods of finding routes between nodes. If you sort of go, "Imagine if 3000 people want to cooperate and have a big, secure #Wireguard between them" and set out to design that, then you sort of arrive at #Yggdrasil. 3/

@jvalleroy Compared to #wireguard, #yggdrasil is alike in that it provides a regular network interface on a system, which any existing app can use. It also provides encryption between endpoints. The differences are where it gets interesting. Yggdrasil nodes' IP addresses are derived from their public keys, rather than assigned by the sysadmin. Yggdrasil nodes form an auto-routing mesh, so it is not necessary to explicitly configure every participant. 2/

@Hyolobrika So several responses to this. 1) I lack knowledge of how Russian #censorship works, so I am unqualified to talk about getting past the Great Firewall of Russia. 2) There is a great deal of state-sponsored Russian trolling on the Internet, which has no place on Mastodon. 3) I am completely well aware that this action was taken by the rich and powerful of Russia, and one of the great hopes for ending this bloodshed is for regular Russians to rise up, and we need to support this.

@Hyolobrika continued/ 4) I don't know what instance that was from, but I can tell you that in the past day, I observed racist misinformation from supporters of Putin, which I reported as such. That the admin of this instance chooses not to federate with instances full of racist genocide deniers is a feature.

Anyone can run a Mastodon instance, and anyone can choose who to federate with. This is not censorship; it is choice. People can say what they want, and choose who to interact with.

@Hyolobrika 5) I choose to use an instance with a strong code of conduct. It has resulted in a very positive Mastodon experience for me. https://floss.social/about/more#our-standards

Again, since I know nothing about what instance it was from, or why that instance was blocked by floss.social, I can't comment. I can just say, I stand with anybody that stands for liberty and peace for #Ukraine, including both Ukrainians and Russians.

Tools that work #Offline with #NoInternet.

Next, @briar . #Briar is instant messaging with a twist: it can use a mesh of Bluetooth devices. Or #Tor. Or, heck, SD cards to carry your IMs. When Internet is available, it uses #Tor. 2/

Tools that work #Offline with #NoInternet (or limited Internet), a thread.

Start with @syncthing #Syncthing Share files among your devices or with your friends. Syncs across multiple hops, over local wifi, with or without Internet. https://syncthing.net/ 1/

Tools that work #Offline with #NoInternet

Few people know about ad-hoc wifi mode. Ad-hoc #wifi lets devices in range talk to each other without an access point. You just all set your devices to the same network name and password and there you go. Sometimes DHCP and such can be a challenge; more on that in the next item. 3/

Tools that work #Offline with #NoInternet

You can get portable satellite communicators that can send SMS from anywhere on earth with a clear view of the sky. #Garmin #InReach and #Zoleo are two credible options. These have subscriptions ranging from about $10 to $40/mo depending on how heavily they're used, and also have SOS features. 7/

Tools that work #Offline with #NoInternet

I was thinking of #Ukraine when I started this thread as communications infrastructure has been targeted there. But these ideas apply to anyone, anywhere.

One final parting comment: FRS/GMRS radios are cheap and effective for short-range voice communications. Don't forget simple things!

All the best to our Ukrainian friends. May there be days of peace and joy in your future.

/end

Tools that work #Offline with #NoInternet

I have written about most of these on my blog, https://changelog.complete.org/ and my website, https://www.complete.org/ . Search there, or ask me here, for more.

What others would you recommend?

8/

I have a new post on my blog: Tools for Communicating #Offline and in Difficult Circumstances. It condenses ideas discussed in this thread. https://changelog.complete.org/archives/10356-tools-for-communicating-offline-and-in-difficult-circumstances

An addendum - if you have a phone line and #modem, #UUCP can get through just about anything. #ZModem too. These older protocols lack modern security themselves, but will deal with slow and noisy #serial links well. #XBee SX radios provide a serial link they can use.

@codeberg @ck Putting explanations in PR instead of commit is one of my pet peeves. One of them is an integral part of the repository permanently. The other is fleeting, tied to a service provider, and not well-integrated into tooling. You're exactly on point there.