cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/27301455

I took my new (to me) electric motorcycle out with friends for the first time.

I calculated from my previous solo trips that the motorcycle had a range of about 120km (75mi). My friends were more experienced than me, and they picked the route. I had told them that I was only comfortable riding 100km, but I guess that didn't mean much. If I had pressed for details about the route instead of trying to fit in, I would have discovered that the round trip was 140km before we left.

The motorcycle performed beautifully until it shut off after about 120km. Still 20km from civilisation.

What I learned that day is that the average person is far kinder than social media will lead you to believe. I was near the top of the hill, so I decided to push to the top and coast most of the way home. I think around 6 people stopped to help push on the steep section of the hill (one at a time), and I lost count of the number of other people who stopped to check on me on the flat sections. I'm guessing over 20. I was actually thinking of writing a sign that said "I'm fine, don't help me" just so I could make faster progress.

It was a pretty warm day and the motorcycle is about 300kg (650lb), so I was happy to take water from 4 different people along the way.

Eventually someone with a trailer stopped and asked if I wanted to put the motorcycle on the trailer and get a ride home. I don't think I've ever accepted anything faster. It cost me a bottle of high quality whiskey, but it was still much cheaper than calling for roadside assistance.

In summary, it was partly my fault for not pushing for details, and partly my fault for not checking the distance travelled as we went. I'd love to blame the motorcycle for cutting out with 2/5 bars remaining, but I really did know the maximum range. It's also a really cheap motorcycle with almost no thought or effort in its design. It even has a chain guard for a hub motor (no chains anywhere).

I still love the motorcycle, will still only ride electric, and will probably ride with those friends again; but next time I'm checking the distance first.

TL;DR
Rode electric motorcycle further than its max range. Humans are much more caring than you'd expect. Got home exhausted, but proud of humanity.

I took my new (to me) electric motorcycle out with friends for the first time.

I calculated from my previous solo trips that the motorcycle had a range of about 120km (75mi). My friends were more experienced than me, and they picked the route. I had told them that I was only comfortable riding 100km, but I guess that didn't mean much. If I had pressed for details about the route instead of trying to fit in, I would have discovered that the round trip was 140km before we left.

The motorcycle performed beautifully until it shut off after about 120km. Still 20km from civilisation.

What I learned that day is that the average person is far kinder than social media will lead you to believe. I was near the top of the hill, so I decided to push to the top and coast most of the way home. I think around 6 people stopped to help push on the steep section of the hill (one at a time), and I lost count of the number of other people who stopped to check on me on the flat sections. I'm guessing over 20. I was actually thinking of writing a sign that said "I'm fine, don't help me" just so I could make faster progress.

It was a pretty warm day and the motorcycle is about 300kg (650lb), so I was happy to take water from 4 different people along the way.

Eventually someone with a trailer stopped and asked if I wanted to put the motorcycle on the trailer and get a ride home. I don't think I've ever accepted anything faster. It cost me a bottle of high quality whiskey, but it was still much cheaper than calling for roadside assistance.

In summary, it was partly my fault for not pushing for details, and partly my fault for not checking the distance travelled as we went. I'd love to blame the motorcycle for cutting out with 2/5 bars remaining, but I really did know the maximum range. It's also a really cheap motorcycle with almost no thought or effort in its design. It even has a chain guard for a hub motor (no chains anywhere).

I still love the motorcycle, will still only ride electric, and will probably ride with those friends again; but next time I'm checking the distance first.

TL;DR
Rode electric motorcycle further than its max range. Humans are much more caring than you'd expect. Got home exhausted, but proud of humanity.

Do any combination of phones and OSes have support for desktop Linux apps, VoLTE, and dual-SIM?

I want to get away from Google. My current phone (Nokia G42) doesn't seem to have support for any OS except Android. My ideal setup would be a Fairphone 5 with Ubuntu Touch, but that doesn't seem to support dual-SIM.

cross-posted from: https://midwest.social/post/35895281

I've had an old laptop running Home Assistant for quite a while. I've recently started getting into docker. I'm part way through setting up a NAS and want to check if I'm doing anything really stupid.

My ideas so far:

• Samba sharing a host folder on the local network
• Rsync for regular backups to a separate host folder
• WireGuard to connect directly to an offsite laptop with the same setup
• Syncthing for realtime synchronisation and temporary file versioning
• Home Assistant for rsync backup monitoring

Are there any issues with this setup, and is there anything else I should consider?

Request: I'm looking for something with high reliability rather than high speed. It needs to support 30+ devices.

Additional information: My house is about 30m (100ft) long, and the internet comes in by ethernet at one end of it. I'm happy to use a Wi-Fi extender if needed.

Context: I've been having issues with both my current and previous routers. Devices are randomly unable to communicate over the network for several seconds at a time. Both ethernet and Wi-Fi are affected.
I live in Australia, so even the slowest router should be more than fast enough.
I have a large number of automated devices that need to stay connected at all times - even 5 second network dropouts are difficult to deal with. Internet dropouts are handled gracefully.

Any suggestions are gratefully received.

Update (8 months later):
My existing routers are ASUS RT-AX53U. Updating the firmware had no effect.
Replacing the firmware with OpenWRT fixed all of the issues.
I've also run an Ethernet cable between them, but it was working perfectly as a Wi-Fi mesh/extender anyway.

A community for users of the wholesale electricity provider Amber to discuss strategies for optimising energy use, and request help with understanding how energy bills work with wholesale electricity.

There are several Amber groups on Facebook and Discord, but nothing that is publicly accessible or viewable without an account.

EDIT: The name is still under consideration. Suggestions for a name to encompass all users of wholesale electricity prices are appreciated. I'm currently leaning toward "Wholesale Energy Australia".