Prestburyweb

15/04/2026

The French are pretty smart ......

Positive News: France has announced its plan to switch from Windows to Linux for government desktops. 🎉🇫🇷

Not only that, but they have also moved 80, 000 National Health Insurance Fund Employees to open source alternatives replacing Big Tech platforms like Microsoft Teams and Zoom.

It’s amazing to see the country take action and push for real digital sovereignty! 🇫🇷 🇪🇺

More can be found here: https://www.numerique.gouv.fr/sinformer/espace-presse/souverainete-numerique-reduction-dependances-extra-europeennes/

More on why we need Digital Sovereignty: https://tuta.com/blog/digital-sovereignty-europe

08/03/2026

This popular post is now in its fourth iteration. It has never been more relevant with energy prices soaring and growing risks of supply instability.

With a little knowledge and a bit of guidance you can assemble a very capable "power station" for all communications and other essential (low power) electrical needs. Unlike an over-priced power station my system does not use any inefficient inverters but is a pure 12V DC solution or recommendation.

Think in terms of emergency items that run off 12V DC - devices intended for use in cars etc such as radios, pumps and other items. When buying computer monitors ask for 12V DC powered options, same for routers.

Thoughts on a potential system for solar powering IT and communications equipment in the home.

28/02/2026

https://www.makeuseof.com/linux-mint-released-best-version-yet-its-ultimate-windows-replacement/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-gb

Zena makes Linux Mint a seamless Windows alternative today.

19/02/2026

A solution to the recent rendering problem on Linux. This was caused by a syntax mismatch in .conkyrc and conky-config. Also a switch to a picom process for creating transparency on the desktop.

Fixing the rendering problem for the conky on antix Linux. A recent update has caused a syntax issues affecting the .conkyrc function and compatibility.

13/02/2026

Very capable high-end digital content production on a $0 budget! Linux antiX running Dark Table (photo raw file processor), Gimp (final editor) Kdenlive (Video editor) and Audacity (fully featured digital audio workstation) and all running from app images, the Linux equivalent of a windows exe file.

18/11/2025

Some useful information about confirmation of image generation prompts in Chat GPT. This should help to reduce the number of iterative steps. A few days ago GPT stopped responding to my request to confirm after prompting for image creation. I asked it why this was and got the following answer: -

Q) How can we confirm aspects of an image prompt before you go ahead and create? Yesterday I always asked if you could confirm before executing but that doesn't seem to work now?

Great question — and yes, you’re noticing a real behavior change.

✅ Why “confirm before generating” no longer works the same
With the current image-generation rules, any message that looks like an image request — even if you say “please confirm first” — must be treated as an image-generation command.
So the model is required to generate the image immediately instead of waiting for confirmation.
That’s why when you say things like “please confirm” or “is this okay before you generate?” the system still produces an image.

✅ How to successfully confirm details before image generation
The trick is:

➡️ Don’t phrase the message as an image request at all.
Instead of giving me a full image prompt, you can:

Option 1 — Ask about the concept without telling me to generate it
Example:
“I want to create an image of a resistor. Can I describe the details and you tell me if it's correctly specified?”
or
“Before generating anything, can I describe what I want and have you check if the parameters make sense?”
Because you’re not asking for the image, I won’t generate one.

Option 2 — Describe the prompt as text, not as a command
Example:
“Here is a draft image prompt (do NOT generate yet):
[prompt text]
Could you review this prompt and confirm it's clear?”
The phrase “do NOT generate yet” works only if the message is not structured like a direct image request.

Option 3 — Ask questions instead of instructions
Example:
“What information do you need from me to generate a perfect resistor image later?”
or
“Is this list of attributes enough for an image prompt?”

❌ What will trigger immediate generation
Anything that looks like:
• “Create an image of…”
• “Generate…”
• “Can you make an image…”
• “Please produce a picture of…”
Even if followed by:
“but confirm first”
I’m still required to generate.

If you want, we can create a simple workflow you can use every time Just say the word, and I’ll help you set up a repeatable structure so you always get confirmation first.

16/11/2025

An old but very useful blog post from 2022 about re-caping old mother boards. Electrolytic capacitors failing, or going out of spec, on a MOBO (and other components) is the most common hardware fault in modern IT equipment. https://prestburyweb.oliver-wood.co.uk/recapping-old-motherboards/

12/11/2025

A video tutorial looking at the use of two venerable old Linux commands - tar (tape archive) and split. Here we will 'pipe' these commands together and split files into smaller chunks for handy transport.

10/11/2025

A guide to simplifying SSH connections in Linux.

12/10/2025

Network Chuck spells out why it is still so important to have a website (not just social media) as the hub of an effective online presence. Online presence is generally important in the digital era and becoming even more so, as ownership of our 'persona' online and securing validation from real-world connections is also vital to dissuade identity theft or spoofing which is now being carried out by powerful AIs. Network Chuck also cites the potent ability for online presence and the promotional power of a website as a "serendipity vehicle" - I have positively benefited from this in my own professional life.

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