As multiple people commented that I should not distribute as .zip, I decided to follow the recommendation and pushed the Brainiac v1.2 to Codeberg.

I will keep the .zip packages I already created in order not to brake the links in the previous blog posts, but from now on I will publicly release over that Codeberg repository.

Have any thoughts or comments?

Hello everyone!

I have been using the Brainiac intensively over the last months and made some changes to the configuration along the way. Get your update here.

Improvements: – Added journal.org to the list of refile targets. – Reduced the width of comment, source, etc. boxes in brainiac.css. – The attached items are now visibly listed in the drawer of the headline. – Minor changes in the configuration, e.g. increase of idle time etc.

New things: – Added org-crypt to the config, so that sensitive information can be encrypted if storing files on public servers. – To integrate Brainiac into your system menu, I propose the following: copy brainiac.desktop to ~/.local/share/applications and brainiac.svg to ~/.local/share/icons. – I added basic AI support by using a customized ollama-buddy-mini and running models locally with ollama. Although I previously stated that Brainiac would not have AI, the chosen combination presents a nice compromise between functionality and privacy. – I also introduced the abbrev-mode as a template storage for some useful org templates and as a mechanism for storing AI prompts for future usage. – In order to consolidate important functions and keystrokes, I configured a menu which can be reached by pressing C-c b using transient.

Have any thoughts or comments?

This setup was done on an HP EliteBook 840 with Intel Tiger Lake hardware, running Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

Ubuntu 24.04 ships with PipeWire and WirePlumber by default, which is a solid foundation—but getting microphone, noise suppression, and sane device naming to work properly on this platform still requires some manual tuning.

Enable Pro Audio Mode

To be able to use the microphone, the audio card must run in pro-audio profile.

pactl set-card-profile alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1f.3-platform-skl_hda_dsp_generic pro-audio
pactl set-default-sink alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3-platform-skl_hda_dsp_generic.pro-output-0
amixer -c 0 set Master 100%
pactl set-default-source rnnoise_source

After switching profiles:

1. Open alsamixer and set all relevant channels to 100%
2. Take the code above, put it in a script and run it on every reboot.

WirePlumber Configuration

WirePlumber allows fine-grained control over audio devices using Lua scripts.

Configuration files are placed in:

~/.config/wireplumber/main.lua.d/

Rename the Audio Device

Default ALSA device names are long and unreadable. This rule renames the main audio device to something human-friendly.

rule = {
  matches = {
    {
      { "device.name", "matches", "alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1f.3-platform-skl_hda_dsp_generic" },
    },
  },
  apply_properties = {
    ["device.description"] = "Laptop Audio"
  },
}

table.insert(alsa_monitor.rules, rule)

Disable Unused Inputs and Outputs

Pro-audio mode exposes many unused nodes. Disabling them keeps the device list clean and avoids accidental routing.

rule = {
  matches = {
    { { "node.name", "equals", "alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3-platform-skl_hda_dsp_generic.pro-output-3" } },
    { { "node.name", "equals", "alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3-platform-skl_hda_dsp_generic.pro-output-4" } },
    { { "node.name", "equals", "alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3-platform-skl_hda_dsp_generic.pro-output-5" } },
    { { "node.name", "equals", "alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3-platform-skl_hda_dsp_generic.pro-output-31" } },
    { { "node.name", "equals", "alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1f.3-platform-skl_hda_dsp_generic.pro-input-0" } },
    { { "node.name", "equals", "alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1f.3-platform-skl_hda_dsp_generic.pro-input-6" } },
  },
  apply_properties = {
    ["node.disabled"] = true,
  },
}

table.insert(alsa_monitor.rules, rule)

Noise Suppression

For calls and recordings noise suppression is essential.

Install RNNoise for PipeWire from here:

👉 https://github.com/werman/noise-suppression-for-voice

Once installed, set the RNNoise source as your default microphone (see script above).

Faster Audio Switching in GNOME

Install the GNOME extension:

Quick Settings Audio Panel

This makes switching audio sources and sinks fast and practical during daily work.

Final Result

On an HP EliteBook 840 (Intel Tiger Lake) with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, this setup delivers:

• Clean and stable microphone input
• System-wide noise suppression
• Readable audio device names
• No unused or confusing audio nodes

Enjoy!

Have any thoughts or comments?

My son is now at that point of his education where he can choose some subjects based on his interests and possible carrier aspirations. Last night the teachers were pitching their classes, so that the students can make informed decisions and parents can help them choose (wisely). Offered classes are: – Spanish language – Russian language – Natural Sciences and Engineering – Computer Science

The pitch for Spanish concentrated on the fact that you learn another widely spoken language and the associated culture. Then they started showing pictures of people traveling thru Spain, Americas etc. and talking about how it was great that they could speak with tourist guides in their native language. The Russian teacher tried to explain why it is very important to learn also this language, as it's one of the languages in the Slavic group and these are spoken in a lot of European (if not strictly EU) countries. Pulling east and west of Europe closer together in the future was one of the topics mentioned. The Engineering and Informatics people concentrated that in these subjects you will learn how stuff like instant messaging works, how to solve technical problems, how to build things with your hands, write computer code, improve team work etc. etc.

So about which class did the perspective students and their parents have the most questions? It was ... Spanish!!!!!! That the kids see nice selfies and think “Oh cool stuff!” and “This will be an easier class to pass.” is understandable. But that their parents still didn't learn that carrier opportunities for their kids lie in sciences and informatics, is really beyond me. I guess this is the sickness of modern western society, where people want all the pleasures of life but do not want to learn or work hard for them. Guess they think this will fall from the sky or be achieved by talking nice and extorting wealth from some long lost colonies?

Wake up Europe ... that is over.

Have any thoughts or comments?

Are you chasing happiness in your life, or is it enough to be content? Happiness seems to be an ideal, which could be hard to reach … at least for the perfectionists among us.

What would it mean to live a happy life? Everything would have to be perfect, be it at work or in our private life. We would be in a good mood and positive every minute of our life. Doesn’t seem very likely, unless you are a monk, spiritual guru or similar.

What would it then be to live a content life? We would have to live with our inner critic and keep him under control as far as possible. Seek calm and be positive when it’s possible and accept that nothing we do will ever perfect, that life will throw a lot of hardships our way. As the saying goes „be happy with small things“ and try to accumulate as many of those moments as possible. This will fuel you thru the next phase, where happiness is just a distant thought.

Have any thoughts or comments?

Over at Nextcloud they are talking about digital sovereignty. The phrase “Europe is a digital colony.” is correctly describing the current state of the affairs.

I am all for digital sovereignty and just looking at IT, I think we have all the open-source tools needed to achieve this at least for e.g. school system and state administration. We would probably save money and actually create job opportunities. Here a couple of examples:

• Why do schools in Germany use Microsoft powered computers to teach kids basic computer literacy? Linux powered computers are more then capable to do this and kids will not even notice it, as they are not “locked in” to M$ by their employer.
• Why doesn't the German administration go to German companies (Strato, 1&1, ...) and get them to host the servers centrally for e.g. all schools in the state? This would probably propel the digitization on the next level, protect the privacy of our kids and create jobs.

On the other hand in the industry, why do major German automotive OEMs seek alliances with US or China based companies to advance areas like e.g. infotainment or autonomous driving, when it's clear that they are the junior partners in those co-operations? Don't we have universities, engineers, scientists of our own? Did Europeans become so stupid, or are we simply lazy to learn the “hard stuff”?

Have any thoughts or comments?

Very interesting article on Lifehacker, as it hit the moment in my life.

My stress levels, measured by a Garmin watch, go up if I am in a meeting where I need to talk or present something, but also if I had a pizza, drank a beer or went running. As the article states, some of measurable data is related to „real“ stress but other stuff is actually a positive arousal of the nervous system while e.g. doing sports or having some fun with your partner 😉.

If you would want to keep that reading below 20 (Garmin‘s threshold for Rest) at all times, you would have to turn into a couch potato with healthy eating habits 😀.

Have any thoughts or comments?

Because “... each tiny “I don't care” iteration to tech products is a small step closer to Star Trek's promised land of holodecks, abundance, and hot aliens ...“, and I want that future!

Have any thoughts or comments?

A couple of days ago I was going to the office. It was Friday, I had some meetings scheduled and some light office tasks to do. All in all, it should be an easy day as it was the first working week of the year.

As I was walking from the car park to the office, I noticed a guy walking in front of me. He was strolling along, with a coffee in his hand and looking kind of dreamy. Unintentionally I set off to overtake him and hurry along my way. Then it hit me: “Why am I in a hurry?”. As I wrote above, there is no urgent meeting that I needed to attend or a task I had to do. Where did this urge to overtake him and look busy come from?

The modern life being promoted around us, teaches us not to loose time and to always be busy. If we are not, then we will not be successful, reach our goals or we will simply be brand-marked as slackers. But this time I intentionally chose to stop my overtaking and match the speed of a dreamy looking guy.

Have any thoughts or comments?

This year the company I work in did their bi-annual Employee Survey powered by Gallup. The company wide numbers came out same or worse then 2 years ago, but my team‘s Employees Engagement Index went up significantly. I was rated very good by the people I lead concerning my leadership skills and they showed way higher engagement values than the rest of the teams in our department.

After reflecting on it and talking to them, I think the reasons boil down to these two:

• Take responsibility and give your team focus by making decisions when they need it. We live in chaotic and volatile business times. People need clear direction and managers should be the people giving them what they need. Sometimes you can just say what has to be done in this week, so do that and be open about the „low visibility“. When the visibility gets better, then aim for longer time periods and loosen the „micromanagement“. The worst thing you can do, is to get afraid and try to sit it out. If you do that, the whole team will grind to a halt.

• Be authentic and treat your people the way you would want to be treated. I do not believe in the nonsense of „separate your personal and work behaviors“, because I think you would need to be a psychopath to be able to pull that out convincingly. E.g. when you are sick, do you want your boss asking you to join meetings or call you during your sick days? No, you probably want some words of assurance that everything will be taken care of, that you should go offline and have some (chicken) soup. The same applies if you find out that your employe has a sick child, wife has family issues etc. Treat them with respect and speak to them openly about the good things and the improvement points, they will come back to give you 150%.

Have any thoughts or comments?