Fedi, I have a #ComputerScience (maybe #Linguistics ?) Question I need your lovely guidance for 
I have a design problem about grammar ambiguity ish stuff and want to find reading, resources or theory I can check out to get a good understanding of the problem space.
Particularly, I'm trying to find different techniques to use when a given word can appear in multiple parts of the syntax, in order to reduce ambiguity.
I'm being deliberately vague because I'm trying to think about generalisable heuristics here, but here's an example of the type of problems I'm thinking about. Sorry it's computery:
You have two strings (or lists of tokens) you want to combine into a single string, separated by a delimiter, such that both strings can be retrieved again. But, that delimiter can show up in either of the two strings. What are the ways you can sanitize the input strings or format the final string to clarify where one string ends and the other begins, and how do various restrictions in the input strings affect those precautions?
Possible techniques I've thought of are:
- designate an escape token and prepend all instances of the delimiter within the strings with it (eg \") (which is pretty universally used nowadays)
- when the delimiter appears in the string, put a repeat copy of it to distinguish it from the delimiter. e.g. "this string contains "" one quote mark"
- Another crazy option would be interlacing the two strings so all even tokens belong to string 1 and odd ones are string 2. You'd have length difference issues, but maybe there are other solutions taking a similar thought process.
So yeah I'm looking for stuff like that so I can figure out good patterns for unambiguous yet elegant grammars. For a tad more context, I'm thinking about command line argument formats, trying to think of the most user friendly ways one can handle complex data as a list of arguments.
Also please boost and let me know if there's hashtags I should include etc 
#CompSci #programming #askfedi #TechSupport
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Recently did a privacy overhaul to free my digital self from the tyranny of shitty people.
I now find myself on Linux Mint, and my beloved Grado headphones won't function with my tunes. Any linux folks willing to lend a hand?
I've surfed the forums and so far no success with anything I've found.
I'm running an ASUS GL503VD; the sound card is an Intel CM238HD. I'm plugging the headphones in via 3.5mm and the computer is recognizing them; I've checked audio levels in the console mixer and nothing is muted, everything appears to be functioning normally. The headphones work fine on my other devices, and worked on this same computer running Windows before I switched. Now I'm only running linux mint and ran into this trouble.
Any help much appreciated!
Other than this, I've loved the switch!
I really dislike all these distros moving their support to Discord and not installing an online, searchable forum. If it's not searchable via a search engine and free to read, the answer does not exist in my book.
Tapestry offers lots of great ways to filter what you browse in the timeline. You can even create muffle rules to filter blog posts by category for RSS feeds that support them.
Be sure to check out our How To guide on how to use this powerful feature in Tapestry and spend more time reading just the stuff you care about.
When I was doing chat support at AppleCare, I was often accused of being a machine.
Welp, I just got notified my last day is Friday. Now looking for a new #remote in US role in #TechSupport #CustomerService #EnterpriseSupport or related roles. Front line or leadership roles, I'm great in both. I've managed more than 60 direct reports at a time with excellent results. Dependability is my brand. Assign it and forget it. It will happen on time, under budget, exceeding expectations on quality. Highly skilled at de-escalation and knowledge management. #FediHire #GetFediHired
Question for the Mastodon Search Experts:
- Can someone tell me how we can search through the posts that we’ve starred?
- And the posts that we’ve bookmarked?
Thank you!
Ok, this is probably a question I could answer if I wade through all of the bullshit that passes as search engines and tech sites these days, but I thought I'd try a shortcut first, and Ask Mastodon.
If I have a windows 10 box, what is the best way to install win98 software that might want it's own drivers and versions of underlying core OS bits?
It's proprietary code, the creator has passed away, it was hand rolled for me, and I have about 20 years worth of formulations and product history using it. I have all the licensing, I've just lost the machine upon which it has been running since it was compiled.
Überraschungspaket angekommen! 
Am 15. April startete Hetzner ein Giveaway, um den Start ihrer eigenen Mastodon-Instanz zu feiern – eine tolle Aktion, wie wir fanden. Da wir schon seit Jahren zufriedene Kunden sind, haben wir einfach mitgemacht. Und was sollen wir sagen? Wir hatten Glück! 
Heute kam unser Gewinn an – ein echtes Highlight für Gaming-Fans:
Corsair Gaming HS80 RGB Headset
Razer DeathAdder V3 Maus
Glorious Gaming GMMK 3 Tastatur
Danke, @hetzner 
Aber wir empfehlen Hetzner nicht nur, weil wir gewonnen haben – sondern weil sie seit Jahren durch Qualität und Zuverlässigkeit überzeugen. Hetzner zählt zu den größten Hosting- und Rechenzentrumsanbietern Europas. Und das merkt man – stabile Server, faire Preise, kompetenter Support.
Was uns besonders beeindruckt: Das Engagement über die Technik hinaus. Hetzner unterstützt zahlreiche Projekte in den Bereichen
Bildung
Soziales
Kultur
Sport
→ Mehr dazu: https://www.hetzner.com/de/unternehmen/engagement/
So geht verantwortungsbewusstes Unternehmertum. 
#Giveaway #Hetzner #GamingGear #Hosting #Rechenzentrum #Gewinn #TechSupport #Nachhaltigkeit #Engagement #Mastodon
Potentially silly #Mastodon question -- why do links to my website no longer show as link cards/previews?
For example, today's newsletter...
I got a new macbook (air, m3) and my USB-C monitor no longer works as a hub—the monitor connects, but no devices connected to the monitor connect.
I'm going to try to limit myself to spending only an hour trying to figure this out, because otherwise it'll consume my entire day.
Gerne boosten!
Ich brauche mal etwas Hilfe: Ich betreibe eine eigene Mastodon-Instanz (bzw. Sharkey), aber irgendwas mache ich wohl falsch. Mein Profilbild und das Verifizierungs-Icon neben meinem Namen werden nur lokal angezeigt – auf anderen Instanzen scheint es nicht synchronisiert zu werden.
Woran könnte das liegen?
#Mastodon #Sharkey #Fediverse #Selfhosting #InstanceAdmin #TechSupport #Linux #Docker #Hetzner #FediAdmin #ActivityPub #Profilbild
Is there an equivalent to ssh -X for Wayland? #techSupport
I'm looking to migrate our website domains to services not owned by google/squarespace, and our web host to something cheaper than bluehost.
It's just a simple wordpress website for a card game, Penguinslap.com. We don't really get any traffic at all. Very occasionally we make a sale, and those links redirect to a PayPal site.
Any suggestions?
If I open a hashtag here, why is there no option to filter it right there on the screen?? #iosapp #techsupport
Gosh do I hate the need for modern tech giants to do anything anymore. I’m stuck in a Brazil-esque loop with my LINE app account. Can’t login, can’t create a new account, can’t contact support (either requires login OR just errors out on the inquiry form). W. T. F.
#technology #brazilmovie #techsupport #techsucks
For fucks sake! Stop using #Microsoft e-mail addresses outlook.com, hotmail.com, live.com and their variations!
Microsoft aggressively blocks e-mails from independent small and mid server providers for no reason!
Despite: You look unprofessional as hell with whatever@outlook.com
Come work with me. @blacknight is hiring for a new Technical Support Executive.
An exciting opportunity has arisen, and we are looking for an enthusiastic candidate to work with our award-winning IT customer service team.
Applications close: March 31st 2025
https://www.irishjobs.ie/job/Technical-Support-Executive/a-job104480090
QUESTION
does anybody have any tips on how to deal with stalled #bittorrent downloads from @internetarchive? these are all public domain movies from the 1910s, 20s and 30s and they stop 99.5 or 99.9%. some seem to be complete at 99.9% but most don’t work.
bittorrent can be very frustrating like that. i force checkout and download and nothing happens.
@GossiTheDog Edited: Apple used to have excellent tech support. Yesterday spent 2 hours interacting with their "chat" tech support and low level phone support that eventually got me locked out of my account - before being escalated to a senior hooman who solved it immediately. Sigh. #apple #techsupport