Viltrox 28mm F4.5 E mount AF lens review

I have been using a Viltrox AF 28mm F4.5 FE on Sony A6400 for a while. Here is my review.

Good,

• extremely thin and lightweight
  
• auto focus
  
• AF motor is quiet
• affordable
• built-in lens cover

Bad,

• Aperture is fixed at f/4.5 which is too wide for landscape.
• No manual focus mode
• No filter attachment threads
• Prominent flare
• AF motor can be heard on video recordings
• No optical stabilization (not unexpected given the price)

Remeber screen brightness in Fedora

My laptop's screen is always at the lowest brightness when resuming from sleep. It is very annoying. I found a fix.

 

Create an executable file at /usr/lib/systemd/system-sleep/brightness with following contents,

#!/usr/bin/sh

case $1 in
    pre) cp /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness  /tmp/saved_brightness ;;
    post) cp /tmp/saved_brightness /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness  ;;
esac

2022 Civic EX Canadian version review

Good,

• It has heated front seats and heated steering wheel.
• Handling is agile.
• Good fuel efficiency.
• It has remote start without subscriptions.
• The car does not seem to be connected to cellular networks.
• AC control has physical knobs. 
• It prompts me to add windshield washer fluid when the level is low.
  

Bad,

• Lane centering does not work as well as Toyota. It feels jerky.
  
• No wireless phone projection.
• No auto-dimming rear view mirror option.
• No Aux audio input port.
  

Ugly

• Steering wheel controls are complicated. It has toggles, wheels, and buttons.
• Seating position is low. I can see part of the hood even at the highest position.
• Only the two front door windows support one-touch up/down.
• Honda issued a recall for "sticky steering". But all three dealerships nearby ran out of parts and could not repair the recall.
  

Switch Fedora 41 from GRUB2 to systemd-boot

Fedora uses GRUB2 boot loader by default. I want to switch to systemd-boot. Below are the steps. All executed with sudo.

Run ls /sys/firmware/efi to ensure the system was booted in EFI mode. Stop if the path does not exist.

Run bootctl status to confirm that system-boot was not the boot loader.

Run df -h to ensure the EFI system partition's free space is larger then /boot's used space.

dnf install -y systemd-boot

mkdir /efi

nano /etc/fstab
Move the /boot/efi mount point to /efi. Remove the line of /boot.

systemctl daemon-reload

umount /boot/efi

umount /boot

mount /efi

mkdir /efi/$(cat /etc/machine-id)

bootctl install

cat /proc/cmdline | cut -d ' ' -f 2- | tee /etc/kernel/cmdline

nano /etc/kernel/install.conf. Put these two lines
BOOT_ROOT=/efi
layout=bls

kernel-install add $(uname -r) /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/vmlinuz 

dnf reinstall kernel-core 

Reboot. Run bootctl status to confirm that system-boot is the boot loader.

If everything works, delete grub.

rm /etc/dnf/protected.d/{grub,shim}*

dnf remove grubby grub2\* memtest86\* 

 

 

Forward SMS from Android to iPad

The goal is to forward short messages received on a Pixel 4 running Android 12 to an iPadOS 18 device over the Internet.

1. Install Bark on iPad.
   
2. Follow this tutorial to set up a URL like https://api.day.app/<some_random_chars>/. The random chars are the push key.
   
3. Install SMS to URL Forwarder on Android. The app can be downloaded from F-Droid.
4. Add an entry in the SMS to URL forwarder app
5. Set sender to *
   
6. Set webhook URL to https://api.day.app/<some_random_chars>/
7. Set the JSON content to {"title": "%from%", "body": "%text%"}
8. Click test
9. Save the entry if iPad receives a notification.
   

Extend a BTRFS filesystem on LUKS protected partition

My computer's root partition is a BTRFS sub-volume inside of a LUKS encrypted partition. Its space is running low. Fortunately the SSD has unallocated space after the LUKS partition.

Steps,

1. run parted /dev/nvme0n1
2. type resizepart to resize the LUKS partition
3. type q to quit
4. run cryptsetup resize {name_of_the_dm} -v to grow the LUKS volume.
5. run btrfs filesystem resize max /

Credits

• https://blog.tinned-software.net/increase-the-size-of-a-luks-encrypted-partition/
• https://btrfs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/btrfs-filesystem.html

2024 Honda Civic sport test drive impression

Good,

• Interior materials feel nicer than competitors like Corolla.
• Good driving dynamics
• It has proximity key entry and key-less start. 
• And it can lock doors automatically when you walk away.
• It has adaptive cruise control and blind spot indicators.
  
• Key fob is compact and lightweight.
• The rear view camera has dynamic guidelines.
• Physical AC knobs are easy to use.
• The whole interior is black, including the headliner.
• It does not have a sun-roof.
• The infotainment system has physical buttons and volume knobs.
  

Meh

• No sun-glass holder in the sport trim.
• No auto-dimming rear view mirror.
  
• Fully manual driver seat.
• No wireless phone screen projection.
• 2.0L NA engine does not have much power.
  

Bad

• It has auto start-stop.
• The steering wheel controls are confusing. It has buttons, wheels, and toggles. See the picture below.
  
• The 7-inch infotainment screen is small and has a very wide bezel.
• The 7-inch infotainment screen is dim even at the highest brightness.
• The MSRP of 26k is expensive for such a compact sedan.
  
• The salesperson was extremely rude as if I should beg him for the car.
• The dealer has a $500 mark-up.
• The dealer does not have any 2025 models.