ZTechnical

joined 7 months ago
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HTML’s Best Kept Secret: The output Tag in c/webdev@programming.dev
[–] ZTechnical@programming.dev 5 points 2 months ago

I have no idea why I thought it was a video.

Wemo outage, and abandoned by Belkin in c/homeautomation@lemmy.world
[–] ZTechnical@programming.dev 1 points 2 months ago

Lingering thought (and their outage is now over after an embarrassingly long time)…

Belkin has such short-term thinking with this. They can either burn enthusiast customers, or they could invest in loyalty. If they would provide documentation and work with some open source entity (like Canonical), who could write a self-hosting server and possibly spin up one to assist us. Then they should release a final firmware update that talks to these servers and also provides a feature for installing third-party firmware in hopes that the open source community will step up and create it.

Although they are dropping support, that way we wouldn't feel totally abandoned and insulted.

Who cares about time complexity in c/programmer_humor@programming.dev
[–] ZTechnical@programming.dev 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

there was no regex in ancient rome

HTML’s Best Kept Secret: The output Tag in c/webdev@programming.dev
Wemo outage, and abandoned by Belkin in c/homeautomation@lemmy.world
[–] ZTechnical@programming.dev 5 points 2 months ago

At the time, these seemed good because Belkin has been around forever. They're not top-of-the-line, but they're ubiquitous.

I do have iOS devices in my home, so having it work with either their cloud or HomeKit seemed like a good backup in case something like this happens.

Devices configured with Apple HomeKit before this date will continue to function via HomeKit local control without requiring Wemo cloud services or app.

This worries me though. What if my light switch needs to be reset after that date? Will it connect again?

I'm savvy enough that I have these on their own firewalled VLAN, and I can get to them via Wireguard when I'm out (though I mostly use the app when at home). If they really are garbage now, I'll try to be optimistic about it since devices don't last forever, and I would have wanted to upgrade/replace these eventually. It's just terrible that it is so soon.

Since my friends and family do come to me for technology questions, I'll help them steer clear of Belkin in the future. It's a harder sell to get them to use non-proprietary tech. They are willing to pay more and replace sooner just to have everything in one app with no setup.

Wemo outage, and abandoned by Belkin in c/homeautomation@lemmy.world
[–] ZTechnical@programming.dev 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Even if the devices had continued to work, it was a pretty pricy endeavor. Knowing they’re obsolete in less than a decade means the cost spread over that few years is ridiculous.

https://www.belkin.com/support-article/?articleNum=317601
I unsuccessfully tied to get ahold of someone via chat on this page.

How hard is it to run servers? How much data does turning on or off a device even use?

They should have added one last feature to support community servers, so anyone could host them. Companies really don’t care about burning bridges.

18
Wemo outage, and abandoned by Belkin (programming.dev)
 

I plan to look for devices that support open protocols and open firmware, but in the meantime I need to vent about this.

Here's the only status I can find of the Wemo app/service:
https://downdetector.com/status/wemo/

While investigating not being able to login to the Wemo app for three days, I discovered that Belkin announced they're turning off their cloud services for Wemo in a couple months. They only announced it in July of this year.

https://www.belkin.com/support-article/?articleNum=335419 (archive.org)

Some of the light switches will still work with HomeKit, but I have one that doesn't have the necessary QR code. Belkin (Wemo) says to find an e-waste recycler. Companies should be required to provide a path to install open firmware when they stop supporting their products. Apparently you can install OpenWRT on these if you haven't patched an old exploit:
https://www.realmtech.net/2016-04/openwrt-on-a-belkin-wemo-easy-way

One more gripe: They apparently emailed their customers (but who reads email?) but failed to put an announcement in their app—the obvious place to put it.

It's such a "fuck you, we've got your money" move that I have no plans of buying any Belkin product again.

I guess I'll get to enjoy the journey I'll be taking to find out what the latest developments in open devices has been since I installed my closed-system devices. Thankfully the options and community has been growing.

Does `Out-Host` also signify `Copy-Item` has finished (as `Out-Null` does)? in c/powershell@programming.dev
Does `Out-Host` also signify `Copy-Item` has finished (as `Out-Null` does)? in c/powershell@programming.dev
[–] ZTechnical@programming.dev 1 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Thanks for the reply.

I think your first option can give a false positive if the file is started to exist but hasn’t been completely written to. (Except if Out-File already implies that it’s done being written, so the next part isn’t really needed.)

The second one is good, but I don’t need console output. Just logging.

I’m looking for confirmation that both Out-Null and Out-File have the same (side) effect of making sure the file is done being copied before continuing to the next line of the script. If so, I’ll stick with Out-File

7
Does Out-Host also signify Copy-Item has finished (as Out-Null does)? (programming.dev)
 

I have a script where I copy a file using this code:

Copy-Item "$SourceRoot\$SourceFolder\$SourceFile" -Destination "$DestinationRoot\$DestinationFolder" -Verbose *>&1 | Out-File -FilePath "$LogFile" -Append

I want to make sure the file being copied is done being copied, and I have seen that one way to do this is to use Out-Null. I'm wondering if Out-File can be used instead. That would be helpful since that's what I'm already using. I seem to be seeing that this is true, but I would like assurance that this is indeed true.

Secondary question: Does redirecting all streams make any difference?

Here are some pages referring to using Out-Null to make sure the command has completed:

https://theitbros.com/wait-for-a-command-powershell/
This page seems to indicate that Out-File should have the same effect: "The Out-Null cmdlet is used when you don’t care about the output of an external command. To redirect the command output, you can use Out-File or Out-Host instead."

https://www.sharepointdiary.com/2022/03/powershell-wait-for-command-to-finish.html#h-piping-to-out-null-to-wait-for-the-operation-to-complete

https://www.reddit.com/r/PowerShell/comments/5c1jpn/waiting_for_a_cmdlet_to_finish_before_moving_on/

https://www.delftstack.com/howto/powershell/wait-for-each-command-to-finish-in-powershell/#using-the-out-commands-to-wait-for-each-command-to-finish-in-powershell
"Other examples of Out commands that we can use are the following: … Out-File …"

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/12211131/want-to-wait-till-copy-complete-using-powershell-copy-item
references:
https://www.itprotoday.com/powershell/forcing-powershell-to-wait-for-a-process-to-complete