Australis13

joined 2 years ago
[–] Australis13@fedia.io 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Forgetting the fact that the US is now run by a fascist regime who is actively targeting minorities and the neurodiverse, even my own government's general advice basically implies that it's not a good idea to travel to the US (our travel advisory has added warnings three times so far this year, despite leaving the overall risk level at Level 1/Green). The list of caveats is so long that I'd need to have an exceptionally good reason for travelling there now. Here's just a sampling of the warnings from the Overview section (yes, there's a much bigger detailed list of advice):

Violent crime is more common in the United States than in Australia. Gun crime is also prevalent. If you live in the United States, learn and practice active shooter drills. Medical costs in the United States are extremely high. You may need to pay up-front for medical assistance. Ensure you have comprehensive travel insurance. Some prescription and over-the-counter medications readily available in Australia are illegal in the United States. Some states have laws restricting access to abortion and other reproductive health care services. Research local laws and consult your doctor before making any decisions about your medical care. There's no federal law that explicitly protects LGBTQIA+ people from discrimination. Some US states and localities have laws that may affect LGBTQIA+ travellers. An approved ESTA or valid visa doesn’t guarantee entry to the United States. US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials at the port of entry will determine your eligibility. If CBP denies your entry, you may be held at the port of entry or a nearby detention facility while US authorities arrange your return to Australia (or the last country you visited).

See https://www.smartraveller.gov.au/destinations/americas/united-states-america for all the details.

[–] Australis13@fedia.io 18 points 6 days ago (3 children)

You get one dodgy episode and that's all anyone remembers...

[–] Australis13@fedia.io 8 points 1 week ago

Yes, although regular brushing (esp. with a deshedder) and vacuuming helps a lot.

[–] Australis13@fedia.io 2 points 1 week ago

Yes! I have to understand how a process works before I can do it myself.

To all the people who just "give it a go" without knowing exactly what they're doing - I cannot comprehend how you do that.

[–] Australis13@fedia.io 2 points 1 week ago

I've stumbled across a solution: install the Linux Surface project kernel.

I've tested both the mainline kernel provided by Debian and the Linux Surface project and the former consistently produces the error with the keyboard detached. With the Linux Surface kernel it boots successfully regardless. I don't fully understand the mechanism, unfortunately, but this provides a workaround at least.

[–] Australis13@fedia.io 2 points 1 week ago

Thanks - I'm going to have to do a bit more reading to get my head around that. Secure Boot is not my forte!

I think I've found one of your previous posts with the links you were referring to: https://fedia.io/m/linux@lemmy.world/t/113434/UEFI-Secure-Boot-keys-replacement-guide-please-help-sanity-check

And also some more comments here that looked useful: https://lemmy.world/comment/11384715

[–] Australis13@fedia.io 2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

So based on @j4k3@lemmy.world's advice, I had a look at RHEL and found this:

https://github.com/rhboot/shim/ https://github.com/rhboot/shim/blob/main/SbatLevel_Variable.txt https://github.com/rhboot/shim/blob/main/SBAT.md#uefi-sbat-variable-content

Debian's own shim repo (https://salsa.debian.org/efi-team/shim) seems to derive from this. Shim is apparently the bootloader application that is reporting the error I'm seeing.

Unfortunately still no idea what causes the issue (let alone why it's correlated with the keyboard), but it makes me wonder if somehow the contents of the SbatLevel variable aren't formatted correctly in the absence of the keyboard cover.

More digging required.

[–] Australis13@fedia.io 2 points 1 week ago

Thanks, I will check out those resources and see what I can find.

 

I have a bit of an odd issue with my Surface Pro 3, which is running Debian 12.

Occasionally (perhaps 1 in 15 to 20 boots) it fails to detect the keyboard properly (this is a genuine Microsoft keyboard cover that connects via the pins on the edge of the Surface, not one of the generic bluetooth ones you can get now). When that happens, the onscreen keyboard logo appears in the top right corner whilst the grub boot menu is displayed.

When it then tries to boot Debian, it throws some kind of Secure Boot error and displays this error message:

SbatLevel variable initialization failed
Something has gone seriously wrong: SbatLevel UEFI variable setting failed: Invalid Parameter

I then have to force it to power off and then try booting again. Usually it works the next time around.

This one's got me stuck, as I don't know much about the Secure Boot process and I've struggled to find any other references to this error online apart from this question on Reddit (which unfortunately didn't resolve it).

I find it particularly odd that this error only seems to occur when there's an issue with the physical keyboard, despite me being able to use the onscreen keyboard in grub. I can replicate this behaviour by detaching the keyboard and it consistently produces this error.

Apart from trying to address the intermittent keyboard issues, which I am looking into (I may need to buy a new one), I have no idea where to start with the Secure Boot issue. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Update:

Whilst I don't fully understand why this error was occuring, I did manage to resolve it.

My Debian installation was using the default kernel (6.1.0-35-amd64 and 6.1.0.37-amd64 were installed) and selecting this would consistently cause the SbatLevel error with the keyboard removed.

Installing the Linux Surface project kernel (currently 6.15.1-surface-2) per the instructions allows me to consistently boot without the error with the keyboard detached.

[–] Australis13@fedia.io 10 points 1 week ago

Something something deflector dish...

[–] Australis13@fedia.io 8 points 1 week ago

That was Jon Pertwee's go-to for technobabble when he was in Doctor Who (although the full line "I've reversed the polarity of the neutron flow" only appears twice, IIRC).

[–] Australis13@fedia.io 16 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yeah, that's got my attention too. Definitely going to try them out now since I need an alternative for remote support for family.

 

Australia needs to rethink its relationship with the United States.

We've done quite well maintaining a wary, non-trusting trade relationship with China.

We now need a wary, non-trusting security alliance with the US, if that's even possible.

 

Of all the schisms that cleave contemporary America, few are more stark than the divide between those who consider themselves to be victims of US history and those who fear they will be casualties of its future.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-20/sovereign-citizen-australian-taxation-office-tax/104064368

Not Facebook, but still the same sovcit insanity and in this case, how the Australian Tax Office (ATO) is responding.

view more: next ›