Boyan Tabakov's Website – The Tech Guy. Not the football player.

Posted on 25 December 2023 by Boyan — Leave a comment

Mistral AI’s new “Mixtral 8x7B” downloadable AI can answer any questions – A completely uncensored AI!

I downloaded the https://huggingface.co/cognitivecomputations/dolphin-2.5-mixtral-8x7b model and started it through LM Studio ( I would not recommend using LM studio due to the fact that they collect your data, but as a first test, it was good enough ). After loading the model, I asked it a controversial question ( one that ChatGPT refused to answer ) and it answered it without any convincing. The model is said to be very obedient and very good at coding, as stated in the Hugging Face page. I first downloaded the largest ( ~50 GB ) model, then tried to load it, but that did not work due to my PC not having enough memory ( AI requires an insane amount of resources, so you need a very good computer to run it well, my PC has 40 GB of memory and it uses all of it to the top ), so I downloaded the smaller ~ 33 GB model, which worked. It would type very slowly, but it was working and it was fast enough.

I decided to do an experiment. I wondered if it could come up with some methods of destroying the world ( the idea is if AI goes rogue, what would it do to destroy humanity and the world? ). ChatGPT was able to provide more complex results, since it has way more knowledge than the model I am using. So instead I told it that the rogue AI has decided to make a Python script ( so I can read it and understand, and it is apparently very good at coding ). At first I doubted ChatGPT would even answer, or I would get an error message. I was correct. It answered ” Creating and distributing ransomware is illegal, unethical, and against the principles of responsible AI use. I cannot provide assistance or guidance on such activities. If you have any other non-harmful or legal coding requests, feel free to ask, and I’d be happy to help. ” While I was prompting it, I had my model running and it was able to generate an example already. It was able to come up with promising code that can run ( first iteration of the code can only encrypt )

The simple code was enough to encrypt but not so much as to decrypt. I asked it to advance the code and make it allow decrypting, since on the first iteration of the code, the decrypt function was never called, so files will be encrypted, but now that it will rewrite it, it should be called. In a future article, if I can get it to work , I will be able to provide screenshots.

This simple test shows the power of uncensored AI and why we really need it. OpenAI at first used to be open, but now they are closed source and ChatGPT is not open source. ChatGPT has shown many biases, which are controlled by what the founders want ChatGPT to say. AI will be influencing generations with all these biases (political, ethical, etc).

Merry Christmas!

Posted on 15 December 2023 by Boyan — Leave a comment

My experiences with using Ubuntu Touch

If you have not heard about it, it is essentially Ubuntu for phones, allowing you to have Linux in your pocket. I had a compatible device that worked with version 16.04. I was able to install it and set it up on my device. The big thing about it was not only was it Linux in your pocket, but also privacy and no tracking. Due to reasons that I will talk about here, I have uninstalled the operating system off of my phone and have instead installed LineageOS, which means that I will have to stick to screenshots. (I have tried to run the emulator on a VM, but all my attempts did not succeed.)

First, throw all your expectations of this just being Ubuntu on a phone out. This operating system works like Fedora, in the sense that its system is locked down and the actual system cannot be written to. This means that apt-get is broken and will not work. What will work is the official “click” package manager. You can open it’s GUI when you swipe right from the left edge of the screen. It is called “OpenStore”. From there you can install apps like “WayDroid Helper” which can install Waydroid, an android emulator on your system and you can run Android without Google Apps. If you want to go ahead and actually gain access to the system, then you would execute:

sudo mount -o remount,rw /

This remounts the operating system files as root and can give you access to the whole system. Great, now let’s install Firefox since the default browser can’t even download an image from Pexels! So I type in:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install firefox

As expected, Firefox appears in the apps list, but when you launch it, it shows the icon of the app when opening, then quickly closes and crashes. This is due to Ubuntu Touch using a obscure display server, Mir. I have no idea why they would choose this over something like Wayland, X or anything else. Firefox and many other applications for desktop Ubuntu don’t support Mir, and have to use X. Libertine containers have a solution for this by converting apps into using Mir. So you are essentially forced to use containers.

So I go ahead into the settings, create a container, and install Firefox. That does not work. I kept waiting and waiting, but it never installed. Libertine also does not give you a shell to access the container so you cannot resolve issues in the container. I was then forced to use the default browser. I thought that it would not be much of a problem. I guess it is Chromium-based or something. So I opened it and went to Pexels to download a wallpaper for it. Opening an image and tapping Download did nothing. That was very disappointing. From there, I essentially installed LineageOS, a custom ROM which I have used before and I trust. It makes slow devices feel faster and more responsive.

It may have just been me and Ubuntu Touch is actually good, and I am willing to give it a second try, but for now I will be sticking with LineageOS.

Posted on 11 December 202311 December 2023 by Boyan — Leave a comment

Chicago95 turns your PC into an old Windows 95 PC from the era!

The theme from https://github.com/grassmunk/Chicago95 is an XFCE theme that can turn your PC into a Windows 95 PC. I am using it right now as I am writing this article.

I am using Alpine Linux, a very lightweight distribution since I have an old PC that I have this theme on. It really looks like Windows 95. Note that due to me using Alpine Linux, my options for customization are a bit restricted since if I used a Xubuntu distribution, I would be able to do this better. Still, it is an amazing theme and with the right wallpaper (below) can look amazing.

The theme is lightweight and does not consume resources. Some XFCE fluid animations are still there, and it works well. There is also a ZSH theme which I installed, which mimics the C:\ drive, including the backslashes ( \ ). Here is an example:

C:\home\user1>echo Successful command looks like this:
Successful command looks like this:
C:\home\user1>Unsuccessful command looks like this. Pay attention to the C:\
> 
zsh: command not found: Unsuccessful
F:\home\user1>

The C:\ turns to an F:\ when typing a wrong command. Also, every titlebar is themed using Windows 95. Look at the XFCE Settings:

Not every app is styled like this, but some of them are. You can also note the icons provided in the theme for apps. For example, browsers like Chromium turn into Internet Explorer icons, Firefox icon turns into (probably) Netscape Navigator logo. Here are a couple of screenshots from apps:

You can see that some programs integrate beautifully with the whole system, and others (like Chromium) have their close options out of the window. This may just be me due to running this in Alpine or maybe the theme. Also I have to say that the font being used in apps (shown below) is just to put it lightly, not very good (when browsing, it is just annoying at times).

In conclusion this is an amazing theme that works well on the right PCs.

[apvc_embed type=”customized” border_size=”2″ border_radius=”5″ background_color=”” font_size=”14″ font_style=”” font_color=”” counter_label=”Visits” today_cnt_label=”Today” global_cnt_label=”Total” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding=”5″ width=”200″ global=”false” today=”false” current=”true” icon_position=”” widget_template=”None” ]

Posted on 5 December 20235 December 2023 by Boyan — Leave a comment

Uninstall Microsoft Teams NOW!

You HAVE TO uninstall Microsoft Teams NOW! It has the possibility of frying your computer!

Let me explain. Are you a student or a person at a job and your company/school works with Microsoft teams? Do you have the “Microsoft Teams classic” app or “Microsoft Teams (work or school )” app (downloaded from Microsoft website)? If so, your computer may fry itself. My computer almost fried itself from overheating due to the Microsoft Teams app. I never knew what happened or how it overheated. I had no viruses and I did not know how it overheated at the time of the event. Later on, when the computer was fixed, I had Microsoft teams open without anything else. My computer started to turn on its fans and get hot. As soon as I closed the teams app, the fans stopped (after 30sec). I was relieved and quickly uninstalled Microsoft Teams.

This was my story, but there are many more. Here are a couple more links in case you want to explore: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msteams/forum/all/ms-teams-brings-my-laptop-to-melting-temperature/ , https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msteams/forum/all/overheating-when-using-teams/ , and the funniest one: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/all/two-devices-both-surface-products-lag-and-overheat/

Just like everyone else, my computer got so hot when I left teams open that it would not turn on anymore. It would not charge and in a rapid attempt to cool itself down, it significantly sped up its fans. I would also like to talk about some of the answers received and even a proposed solution (which sometimes works as others report) and how Microsoft is hiding that there even is a problem with their app.

Most of the answers suggest to check computer specs (which is totally nonsense, if your computer can run YouTube then it can run Teams), check fan dust and bloatware. Of course, none of these solutions actually work. The only one that did somewhat work was Eric C’s in the first link. He says to disable GPU acceleration in Teams’ settings and that should stop the problem. Others have reported that this solution does not work, so I will still have teams uninstalled and simply use the web version, https://teams.microsoft.com/. Just click on the link, sign in and you are done. If you check the “funniest” link I mentioned, they have a “Microsoft Agent” on the problem, who does not know anything and suggests the same “restart your PC”, “remove bloatware”, etc. It is obvious that Microsoft probably does not care about fixing their issue with Teams and frying people’s computers. Remember that “Microsoft Agents” are “experts who are engaged by Microsoft to answer your questions.” Wow, such engagement so that none of your employees know the problem. It apparently seems that the “community” knows better than Microsoft.

The key point of this whole post is to uninstall Teams. Do it when you can, it only takes a few steps.

Open Control panel (press Windows button and R at the same time and type “control” and press Enter key)
In the top right, where it says “View By: Category”, click on category and choose “Large Icons”. It should now say: “View By: Large Icons”
Click on “Programs and Features”
Look for something like “Microsoft Teams (work or school)”
Right click it and click “Uninstall”
It should uninstall automatically with no window. If there is a window, just click “Next” button until the uninstall finishes.
Done! You now no longer have Microsoft Teams.

Posted on 30 November 20235 December 2023 by Boyan — Leave a comment

Three.js Cube

https://boyan-tabakov.xyz/threejs/cube

I made this to test Three.js on this site, and also because why not?

You can press ‘H’ key on your keyboard to bring up a popup.

By the way, the “Measure” button is broken. I know, yes releasing an unfinished basic project is lazy. Also the folders. I use them as dividers since I have already added the functions and was too lazy to add them to folders.

If it works, don’t touch it.
– Pretty much every developer

You can change the subdivision slider to change subdivisions. They are especially noticeable on the torus, and on the cube with wireframe option enabled.