Jordan Zucker jzucker2

Xfinity XB3 hardware mod: Disable WiFi and save 2 watts

Background

Comcast has a prepaid "Xfinity NOW" service that's cheaper than normal Xfinity, with unlimited data instead of a 1.2TB/month cap. If you currently have Xfinity, the NOW online signup is hidden, but when I called to cancel my Xfinity service on a date a couple weeks in the future, the NOW signup started working immediately. (I initially queried a neighbor's address to confirm that NOW was available in my area.)

The catch is that you can't use your own modem. They provide a free Arris TG1682P (also known as the XB3), but it's huge and uses more power (14.9 watts) than my Arris SB8200 (9.8 watts). I suspect they retired millions of these things and treat NOW as a recycling service.

The XB3 lets you enable bridge mode via the admin page at http://10.0.0.1/, and IPv4/IPv6 works just like a plain modem, but even in bridge mode, the gateway broadcasts several hidden SSIDs with no option to disable the radios. Curiously I did not see an `xf

Enable PipeWire on Ubuntu 22.04

This guide is only for original Ubuntu out-of-the-box packages. If you have added a custom PPA like pipewire-debian, you might get into conflicts.

Ubuntu 22.04 has PipeWire partially installed and enabled as it's used by browsers (WebRTC) for recoding the screeen under Wayland. We can enable remaining parts and use PipeWire for audio and Bluetooth instead of PulseAudio.

Starting from WirePlumber version 0.4.8 automatic Bluetooth profile switching (e.g. switching from A2DP to HSP/HFP when an application needs microphone access) is supported. Jammy (22.04) repos provide exactly version 0.4.8. So, we're good.

Based on Debian Wiki, but simplified for Ubuntu 22.04.

This is free and unencumbered software released into the public domain.

Anyone is free to copy, modify, publish, use, compile, sell, or distribute this software, either in source code form or as a compiled binary, for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial, and by any means.

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	export default (request) => {
	let query = require('codec/query_string');

	// return if the block does not have anything to analyze
	if (!query) {
	return request.ok();
	}

	// Require console to print debug information
	let console = require('console');

	import praw # simple interface to the reddit API, also handles rate limiting of requests
	import re
	from collections import deque
	from time import sleep

	USERNAME = "Your username here"
	PASSWORD = "Your password here"
	USERAGENT = "Your useragent string here. It should include your /u/username as a courtesy to reddit"

	r = praw.Reddit(USERAGENT)

	# Mac
	.DS_Store

	# Xcode
	#
	build/
	*.pbxuser
	!default.pbxuser
	*.mode1v3
	!default.mode1v3

	[user]
	email = [email protected]
	name = Jordan Zucker
	[alias]
	cm = commit -m
	swap = checkout -
	lc = log ORIG_HEAD.. --stat --no-merges
	mkbr = checkout -b
	sm = submodule update --init --recursive
	llog = log --date=local

	//
	// CollectionViewDataSource.swift
	// Khan Academy
	//
	// Created by Andy Matuschak on 10/14/14.
	// Copyright (c) 2014 Khan Academy. All rights reserved.
	//

	import UIKit

	osascript -e 'tell application "iOS Simulator" to quit'
	osascript -e 'tell application "Simulator" to quit'
	xcrun simctl erase all