An electrical engineers opinion on the Librem 5.
Hello everyone. In light of the most recent update, ["Supplying the Demand"](https://puri.sm/posts/supplying-the-demand/), I would like to share my **opinions** on the current state of this device.
The following is some basic info of my background. You are free to criticize any and all aspects of this post.
1. I am an electrical engineer who specializes in digital signal processing (DSP), systems (debug), and comms.
2. I currently work at a large company that operates in the cell phone industry. My roll is within a 5G research/testing department.
3. This is my main Reddit account which is reasonably old and active. I typically lurk a lot and rarely post.
4. My knowledge of programing is very limited. I preform 95% of my job functions with Python and Matlab. This will be a hardware and systems level discussion of the Librem 5.
The CEO of Purism, Mr. Todd Weaver, outlined three major problem areas within the current iteration of the Librem 5: **Thermals, Power, and Reception**. Let us go through these in order.
~~=========================================================~~
**Thermals:**
Thermals and power are closely intertwined so let's only focus on Purism's options to fix thermals, assuming they make no changes to improve power consumption. Given that the Librem 5 is (thankfully) a thick device, I see no reason why Purism would not be able to fix the thermal issues. In a worst case scenario, they would have to redo the motherboard layout, add some thermal pads/paste, and maybe add a [thin yet expensive copper vapor chamber.](https://celsiainc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/advantages_of_vapor_chamber.png) This would result in a worst case scenario of a possible delay and additional bill of material cost of 20-30 dollars. *In my opinion, the thermal problems are solvable and within reach.*
**Power:**
Because of the strict requirements Purism placed on the goals of this device (regarding binary blobs), they have chosen [modem(s)](https://puri.sm/faq/supported-networks/) that were not designed for this use case. All four variants of the offered modems by both modem vendors (Gemalto and Broadmobi) are internet of things (IOT) class chips. From an EE perspective, these modems are fine **in the right context.**
Industrial communication with large equipment (shipping yards)?
Great.
Vending machine credit card processing?
Also Great.
A mobile device (UE) that users will be moving around (mobility) and expecting good reception on a strict power budget?
And thus we arrive at the root of the power and reception issues. I am going to talk about reception in it's own section so lets talk power.
The large modem vendors in the smartphone space (Qualcomm, Samsung, Huwawei/HiSillicon, MediaTek, Intel) spend an huge amount of time and effort on power management features. Not only is logic level hardware design done with power in mind, but once the chip is fully taped out, months of effort by 100's of engineers is sunk to improve power characteristics via firmware development and testing. As much as we all hate binary blobs that may (probably) spy on us, these companies have good reason to keep their firmware (and thus power saving IP) secret. Significant competitive advantages are created between the modem vendors from this firmware and digital logic level power savings effort.
When a company markets their modem as "IOT", they are effectively admitting that little to no effort was done to keep chip power in check. In the example IOT applications I mentioned (vending machine's and large industrial equipment), power does not matter. The devices themselves draw far more power than the modem that will be inside. Space is not a concern. So companies making IOT products with these modems simply ignore the power draw and slap on a large heat-sink. From lurking on r/linux and /r/Purism , I have seem others call out the modems without going in depth to why these products even exist. Yes, the specifications and capabilities of these modems are far lower. So be it. I think all of
Hello everyone. In light of the most recent update, ["Supplying the Demand"](https://puri.sm/posts/supplying-the-demand/), I would like to share my **opinions** on the current state of this device.
The following is some basic info of my background. You are free to criticize any and all aspects of this post.
1. I am an electrical engineer who specializes in digital signal processing (DSP), systems (debug), and comms.
2. I currently work at a large company that operates in the cell phone industry. My roll is within a 5G research/testing department.
3. This is my main Reddit account which is reasonably old and active. I typically lurk a lot and rarely post.
4. My knowledge of programing is very limited. I preform 95% of my job functions with Python and Matlab. This will be a hardware and systems level discussion of the Librem 5.
The CEO of Purism, Mr. Todd Weaver, outlined three major problem areas within the current iteration of the Librem 5: **Thermals, Power, and Reception**. Let us go through these in order.
~~=========================================================~~
**Thermals:**
Thermals and power are closely intertwined so let's only focus on Purism's options to fix thermals, assuming they make no changes to improve power consumption. Given that the Librem 5 is (thankfully) a thick device, I see no reason why Purism would not be able to fix the thermal issues. In a worst case scenario, they would have to redo the motherboard layout, add some thermal pads/paste, and maybe add a [thin yet expensive copper vapor chamber.](https://celsiainc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/advantages_of_vapor_chamber.png) This would result in a worst case scenario of a possible delay and additional bill of material cost of 20-30 dollars. *In my opinion, the thermal problems are solvable and within reach.*
**Power:**
Because of the strict requirements Purism placed on the goals of this device (regarding binary blobs), they have chosen [modem(s)](https://puri.sm/faq/supported-networks/) that were not designed for this use case. All four variants of the offered modems by both modem vendors (Gemalto and Broadmobi) are internet of things (IOT) class chips. From an EE perspective, these modems are fine **in the right context.**
Industrial communication with large equipment (shipping yards)?
Great.
Vending machine credit card processing?
Also Great.
A mobile device (UE) that users will be moving around (mobility) and expecting good reception on a strict power budget?
And thus we arrive at the root of the power and reception issues. I am going to talk about reception in it's own section so lets talk power.
The large modem vendors in the smartphone space (Qualcomm, Samsung, Huwawei/HiSillicon, MediaTek, Intel) spend an huge amount of time and effort on power management features. Not only is logic level hardware design done with power in mind, but once the chip is fully taped out, months of effort by 100's of engineers is sunk to improve power characteristics via firmware development and testing. As much as we all hate binary blobs that may (probably) spy on us, these companies have good reason to keep their firmware (and thus power saving IP) secret. Significant competitive advantages are created between the modem vendors from this firmware and digital logic level power savings effort.
When a company markets their modem as "IOT", they are effectively admitting that little to no effort was done to keep chip power in check. In the example IOT applications I mentioned (vending machine's and large industrial equipment), power does not matter. The devices themselves draw far more power than the modem that will be inside. Space is not a concern. So companies making IOT products with these modems simply ignore the power draw and slap on a large heat-sink. From lurking on r/linux and /r/Purism , I have seem others call out the modems without going in depth to why these products even exist. Yes, the specifications and capabilities of these modems are far lower. So be it. I think all of
Purism
Supplying the Demand – Purism
Purism — Private and Secure Hardware, Software, and Services
use are fine with "100 MBit" peak down-link (reality will be 10-20). The problem is that these chips were not designed for power efficiency and never intended to be in a small compact device. You would not put the engine of a Prius into a flatbed truck. The engineers at Toyota never intended for a Prius engine to go inside such a vehicle. The same situation has happened here.
Now on to how Purism can fix this power problem. With a herculean effort, the firmware developers employed by Purism (and hopefully some community members) can improve power characteristics. I suspect Purism employees have spent most of their time getting the modem firmware and RF-fronted SW into a functional state. There was a blog post somewhere where a Purism employee brought up a call over the air (OTA). I can't find it but that was by far the most important milestone of their effort. Getting past RACH and acquiring a base-station OTA is huge in the industry. The first phase of binary blob development is predominately focused on integrating features while avoiding attach failures and BLER issues. In this first phase, power saving features are typically disabled to make everything else easier to debug. It is safe to say that the Purism employees have neither had the time nor the resources to even start on modem/RF power saving features. *Again, in my opinion, the power problem can be solved but this will be a huge massive incredible exhausting undertaking.*
**Reception:**
As I have explained above, IOT-class modems are not designed for, and do not care for certain features. Certain features are really necessary for a regular smartphone (henceforth refereed to as a "UE") to function well. Some examples are:
1. Mobility. The ability of a UE to switch to new base-stations as the user travels (walking, driving, whatever). This is distinct from the ability of the UE to attach (pass RACH msg 4) to a cell tower from boot or a total signal loss.
2. Compatibility with all LTE bands. This is why Purism has to support four modems and why you the user will likely to have a somewhat unpleasant time setting things up.
3. Interoperability testing vs Standards Regression Testing. Suppose that LTE specs can have 1000 different configurations for a cell network and towers within that network. Large modem vendors rigorously test 100's of possible configurations, even if the carriers (Verizon, Sprint, China Mobil, ...) and the base-station vendors (Huwawei, Nokia, Ericsson, ...) only use a few dozen possible configurations. This means that niche bugs are unfortunately likely to show up.
4. Low-SNR performance. Companies who deploy these modems either place their devices in physical locations that get good SNR (20 dBm ish) or they just attach a giant antenna to get an extra 6-10 dB gain. Users of cellular devices want to still have basic connectivity for voice calls, SMS texts, and notification batches... even if the SNR is bad ([1-bar ~= 7 dB SNR; NOTE: EE's use SNR and SINR interchangeably based on background](https://usatcorp.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/lte-singal.png)) users still expect basic functionality. IOT modems do not have the hardware blocks to handle low-SNR signals. This is to keep the chip small and cheap. Some DSP tricks like higher order filter banks, over-sampling, and many other linear algebra tricks likely can not run on the modem in real time, rendering them useless. (wireless channel coherence is often quite short)
What concerns me the most is that in the "Supplying the Demand" post, Mr. Weaver only implies that there is a reception issue by very briefly mentioning an "antenna routing" problem. I do not find the claim plausible. UE base-band antennas are typically PIFA, patch, or Log periodic in design. Depending on many factors which are beyond my knowledge, you can get around 6-15 dB of gain from antennas alone. Even though I am a DSP engineer, my job requires me to have a surface level knowledge of antenna radiation patterns. Up front, I can tell you that antenna placement can not and is not a issue. In the Librem 5 batches that do
Now on to how Purism can fix this power problem. With a herculean effort, the firmware developers employed by Purism (and hopefully some community members) can improve power characteristics. I suspect Purism employees have spent most of their time getting the modem firmware and RF-fronted SW into a functional state. There was a blog post somewhere where a Purism employee brought up a call over the air (OTA). I can't find it but that was by far the most important milestone of their effort. Getting past RACH and acquiring a base-station OTA is huge in the industry. The first phase of binary blob development is predominately focused on integrating features while avoiding attach failures and BLER issues. In this first phase, power saving features are typically disabled to make everything else easier to debug. It is safe to say that the Purism employees have neither had the time nor the resources to even start on modem/RF power saving features. *Again, in my opinion, the power problem can be solved but this will be a huge massive incredible exhausting undertaking.*
**Reception:**
As I have explained above, IOT-class modems are not designed for, and do not care for certain features. Certain features are really necessary for a regular smartphone (henceforth refereed to as a "UE") to function well. Some examples are:
1. Mobility. The ability of a UE to switch to new base-stations as the user travels (walking, driving, whatever). This is distinct from the ability of the UE to attach (pass RACH msg 4) to a cell tower from boot or a total signal loss.
2. Compatibility with all LTE bands. This is why Purism has to support four modems and why you the user will likely to have a somewhat unpleasant time setting things up.
3. Interoperability testing vs Standards Regression Testing. Suppose that LTE specs can have 1000 different configurations for a cell network and towers within that network. Large modem vendors rigorously test 100's of possible configurations, even if the carriers (Verizon, Sprint, China Mobil, ...) and the base-station vendors (Huwawei, Nokia, Ericsson, ...) only use a few dozen possible configurations. This means that niche bugs are unfortunately likely to show up.
4. Low-SNR performance. Companies who deploy these modems either place their devices in physical locations that get good SNR (20 dBm ish) or they just attach a giant antenna to get an extra 6-10 dB gain. Users of cellular devices want to still have basic connectivity for voice calls, SMS texts, and notification batches... even if the SNR is bad ([1-bar ~= 7 dB SNR; NOTE: EE's use SNR and SINR interchangeably based on background](https://usatcorp.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/lte-singal.png)) users still expect basic functionality. IOT modems do not have the hardware blocks to handle low-SNR signals. This is to keep the chip small and cheap. Some DSP tricks like higher order filter banks, over-sampling, and many other linear algebra tricks likely can not run on the modem in real time, rendering them useless. (wireless channel coherence is often quite short)
What concerns me the most is that in the "Supplying the Demand" post, Mr. Weaver only implies that there is a reception issue by very briefly mentioning an "antenna routing" problem. I do not find the claim plausible. UE base-band antennas are typically PIFA, patch, or Log periodic in design. Depending on many factors which are beyond my knowledge, you can get around 6-15 dB of gain from antennas alone. Even though I am a DSP engineer, my job requires me to have a surface level knowledge of antenna radiation patterns. Up front, I can tell you that antenna placement can not and is not a issue. In the Librem 5 batches that do
not have metal construction. There should be zero problems. Plastic does not interfere with radio waves enough to cause more than 1-1.5 dB loss in the absolute worst case. In the devices with metal bodies, there should be no issue anyway because of [antenna bands.](https://zdnet3.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2019/08/05/01ca94f7-18a5-4fc2-aa7b-fc31fc3a076e/resize/1200x900/108e3cfb8870f30b703ad9ab0ce0901f/galaxy-note-10-3.jpg) The image I linked is a modern ultra-high end device where you can easily see two thin rectangular plastic antenna bands. There is a reason modern antenna bands are so small: it has become incredibly easy (and thus cheep) to mass produce highly directive antennas. This is especially true for for designs intended for UE's. As a student working in a lab on campus, we had a tight budget and needed to buy antennas for a system we were building. For legal reasons, we were operating on the 1.3 GHz band. Unfortunately, this was impossible because all the "off the shelf" (and very cheap) antennas were designed for various cell phone bands. We ended up ordering a custom design (Gerber files from a fellow student) and fabricated 150 large PIFA antennas for ~$100.
In summary, this large paragraph is a justification for the following strong opinion. *I believe there may be serious reception issues with the Liberm 5. These reception issues are not related to antennas. Mr. Weavers in-passing and extremely brief mention of "antenna routing" issues may be the tip for the (reception/SNR) iceberg.*
~~=========================================================~~
I want to make clear that I do not hold ill will against Purism or FOSS mobile efforts. I absolutely hate that any activity on my smartphone goes directly to Google. For years, I have been holing onto a 100-200 dollar class smartphone because use of said device must be kept to a minimum to protect my privacy (I try to keep all my online activity on a laptop that I control). However, this entire post is an opinionated criticism of Purism's hardware choices. At the end of the day, a cellular device that truly protects your privacy (with potential serious hardware and reception issues) is no different than a Android or iOS phone which has had its antennas and RF cards ripped out. A smartphone is only useful when it can be used. Otherwise, a laptop on a WiFi connection with VoIP (and a VPN) will be objectively more useful.
https://redd.it/dnmwlc
@r_linux
In summary, this large paragraph is a justification for the following strong opinion. *I believe there may be serious reception issues with the Liberm 5. These reception issues are not related to antennas. Mr. Weavers in-passing and extremely brief mention of "antenna routing" issues may be the tip for the (reception/SNR) iceberg.*
~~=========================================================~~
I want to make clear that I do not hold ill will against Purism or FOSS mobile efforts. I absolutely hate that any activity on my smartphone goes directly to Google. For years, I have been holing onto a 100-200 dollar class smartphone because use of said device must be kept to a minimum to protect my privacy (I try to keep all my online activity on a laptop that I control). However, this entire post is an opinionated criticism of Purism's hardware choices. At the end of the day, a cellular device that truly protects your privacy (with potential serious hardware and reception issues) is no different than a Android or iOS phone which has had its antennas and RF cards ripped out. A smartphone is only useful when it can be used. Otherwise, a laptop on a WiFi connection with VoIP (and a VPN) will be objectively more useful.
https://redd.it/dnmwlc
@r_linux
New Video Series Out "How To Use Linux Mint | A Complete Guide"
I just recently finished producing a complete video series on how to use Linux Mint, from the Cinnamon Desktop, to files & folders, installing apps, customizing, and more! I made them to be a resource to all, so please enjoy and feel free to share with new users who might find it a helpful resource:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUC9RbrS0q0&list=PLrW4kXWyzgoKKLkdHTH8E5v\_JboLeAITi](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUC9RbrS0q0&list=PLrW4kXWyzgoKKLkdHTH8E5v_JboLeAITi)
​
https://i.redd.it/9dwl04t461v31.jpg
https://redd.it/dnpx3i
@r_linux
I just recently finished producing a complete video series on how to use Linux Mint, from the Cinnamon Desktop, to files & folders, installing apps, customizing, and more! I made them to be a resource to all, so please enjoy and feel free to share with new users who might find it a helpful resource:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUC9RbrS0q0&list=PLrW4kXWyzgoKKLkdHTH8E5v\_JboLeAITi](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUC9RbrS0q0&list=PLrW4kXWyzgoKKLkdHTH8E5v_JboLeAITi)
​
https://i.redd.it/9dwl04t461v31.jpg
https://redd.it/dnpx3i
@r_linux
YouTube
Complete Guide On How To Use Linux Mint! | Part 1 - The Desktop
Part 1 of 7. Learn how to use the Cinnamon desktop, the most popular desktop environment for Linux Mint!
This week in KDE: Goodbye Noble Cashew
https://pointieststick.com/2019/10/26/this-week-in-kde-goodbye-noble-cashew/
https://redd.it/dnr2vq
@r_linux
https://pointieststick.com/2019/10/26/this-week-in-kde-goodbye-noble-cashew/
https://redd.it/dnr2vq
@r_linux
Adventures in Linux and KDE
This week in KDE: Goodbye Noble Cashew
Plasma has a brand-new way to edit and customize widgets and panels: a global “edit mode” that can be entered using the context menu for the desktop and panel, or pressing-and-holding o…
The Sad Saga of Purism and the Librem 5 : Part 2
https://jaylittle.com/post/view/2019/10/the-sad-saga-of-purism-and-the-librem-5-part-2
https://redd.it/dnrl51
@r_linux
https://jaylittle.com/post/view/2019/10/the-sad-saga-of-purism-and-the-librem-5-part-2
https://redd.it/dnrl51
@r_linux
Jay Little - Software Obsessionist
The Sad Saga of Purism and the Librem 5 : Part 2
This post marks the second in my series about the sad saga of Purism and the Librem 5. If you haven't read the first post yet, I highly recommend that you click here. Give it at least a good skim before reading this one as it contains important background…
Linux DIY: How to identify your MTP file-transfer device (such as smart-phone) in Bash
https://prahladyeri.com/blog/2019/10/how-to-identify-mtp-device-bash.html
https://redd.it/dntlxx
@r_linux
https://prahladyeri.com/blog/2019/10/how-to-identify-mtp-device-bash.html
https://redd.it/dntlxx
@r_linux
Prahladyeri
Linux DIY: How to identify your MTP file-transfer device (such as smart-phone) in Bash
In the good old days, USB file-transfer between your laptop and smart-phone used to happen through the much easier
GNOME is raising funds to fight a patent troll and invalidate their patent
https://www.gnome.org/news/2019/10/gnome-files-defense-against-patent-troll/
https://redd.it/dntbws
@r_linux
https://www.gnome.org/news/2019/10/gnome-files-defense-against-patent-troll/
https://redd.it/dntbws
@r_linux
reddit
GNOME is raising funds to fight a patent troll and invalidate...
Posted in r/linux by u/TotallyNotCarson • 16 points and 0 comments
Void Linux on ThinkPad X61
https://suberbower.com/post/2019-08-22-x61-void-install/
https://redd.it/dnu2n5
@r_linux
https://suberbower.com/post/2019-08-22-x61-void-install/
https://redd.it/dnu2n5
@r_linux
Suberblog
Void Linux on ThinkPad X61
This machine in 12" 4:3 aspect ratio is great to have on the side, literally. The TN-panel looks awful in picture but is actually good enough to work in terminal environments. The classis 7-row keyboard gives this machine it's right to exist eternally. I've…
Bodge it Your Way - A Linux Story
**tl;dr:**
*Too many tabs open in Firefox. Want more keyboard centered control over Firefox. Plugins do not suffice due to API restrictions. Build a custom solution where i3 and rofi manage the "tabs"(which are now windows). Works fine on Arch, Rofi is the show stopper on debian. Final thougts on the greatness of our savior linux, some xkcd comics and a note with cheesy philosophy.*
​
**Main Content:**
I like vim. And I like surfing the web. Until some years ago, there were some Firefox plugins that allowed to use your browser similar to vim. Due to security risks, the Firefox plugin infrastructure got rehauled and the Firefox-vim solutions now are somewhat limited.
My Linux path let me down the long dark road of tiling window managers, what I feel is just consequent should you also like vim (possibly for emacs users too, for that matter, but that wasn't my road to follow). Of course, one does not just use i3, but combine it with dmenu, its i3 incarnation or some other derivative, to start your programs with it at least. In my case its rofi. Using already i3, rofi and the castrated Firefox-vim plugins I thought "Wouldn't it be lovely if i3&rofi managed my tabs". Having usually 20-30 open tabs, I stopped using the top tabbar long time ago, but I loose oversight also on the sidebar, should I exceed 15 or so tabs. So I dreamed of tabs I could switch with rofi, Firefox showing only the addressbar and website and a mouse I would never have to touch again. So I bodged together something that reminds of a solution to my problems.
What I wanted:
1. New windows instead of tabs, so i3 can manage it.
2. Open new address with rofi, but have my Firefox url completion.
3. Start a search from rofi
4. Switch window/tab with rofi
5. only the address bar in Firefox
Where there Problems? \[This goes for arch linux\]
1. There are plugins and some settings in Firefox you can click to make that happen. No Problem here. Also no problem in opening dozens of windows. Windows and tabs seems to be the same for Firefox. This is different, should you force Firefox into opening a new instance! But I don't want that anyway, so this is fine. (You might think about doing this if you want to separate your banking account from your facebook account, so maybe that is a future feature of similar bodge?)
2. That was surprisingly easy. Firefox's History resides in a SQLite file somewhere. I copy it to /tmp, so its unlocked when I open it. SQLite generates a list of entries and the FZF search in Rofi gives me sane sorting of these addresses. The sorting is not as good as in Firefox, but its gets the job done surprisingly well...(More specifically, I move a first copy of the history in /tmp to a new name and then query with SQLite on that, while I copy a new history in parallel, so I don't have a delay when opening rofi)
3. This doesn't work. I "query" Firefox via commandline arguments. Firefox comes with "firefox --search <term>" which for some reason doesn't work on neither arch-linux nor debian. Via random trying I got it to search under some strange conditions and when my first word was "google", but then "google" would also appear in my search, which rendered this solution useless... Should you have any idea why that is so, I would be happy to hear about it.
4. Well, the developers of rofi build rofi with that feature in mind. No problem here. You can set a filter, so only Firefox windows are shown to start with.
5. Many people want to get rid of the tabbar. It is/was not supported by Firefox by default. But you can hack the UI's css... So thats what I did. I had to do it a long time ago, when I started using the sidebar, so this was already solved for me.
The same setup on debian failed, as rofi doesn't take the input I generate with SQLite. I don't care too much about this, as my debian has a large screen and the tabs are not to much of a hazzle. Its my primary workstation and debian's main purpose is, that in one or two years it should reliably behave like it does today. So I don't want to try to muc
**tl;dr:**
*Too many tabs open in Firefox. Want more keyboard centered control over Firefox. Plugins do not suffice due to API restrictions. Build a custom solution where i3 and rofi manage the "tabs"(which are now windows). Works fine on Arch, Rofi is the show stopper on debian. Final thougts on the greatness of our savior linux, some xkcd comics and a note with cheesy philosophy.*
​
**Main Content:**
I like vim. And I like surfing the web. Until some years ago, there were some Firefox plugins that allowed to use your browser similar to vim. Due to security risks, the Firefox plugin infrastructure got rehauled and the Firefox-vim solutions now are somewhat limited.
My Linux path let me down the long dark road of tiling window managers, what I feel is just consequent should you also like vim (possibly for emacs users too, for that matter, but that wasn't my road to follow). Of course, one does not just use i3, but combine it with dmenu, its i3 incarnation or some other derivative, to start your programs with it at least. In my case its rofi. Using already i3, rofi and the castrated Firefox-vim plugins I thought "Wouldn't it be lovely if i3&rofi managed my tabs". Having usually 20-30 open tabs, I stopped using the top tabbar long time ago, but I loose oversight also on the sidebar, should I exceed 15 or so tabs. So I dreamed of tabs I could switch with rofi, Firefox showing only the addressbar and website and a mouse I would never have to touch again. So I bodged together something that reminds of a solution to my problems.
What I wanted:
1. New windows instead of tabs, so i3 can manage it.
2. Open new address with rofi, but have my Firefox url completion.
3. Start a search from rofi
4. Switch window/tab with rofi
5. only the address bar in Firefox
Where there Problems? \[This goes for arch linux\]
1. There are plugins and some settings in Firefox you can click to make that happen. No Problem here. Also no problem in opening dozens of windows. Windows and tabs seems to be the same for Firefox. This is different, should you force Firefox into opening a new instance! But I don't want that anyway, so this is fine. (You might think about doing this if you want to separate your banking account from your facebook account, so maybe that is a future feature of similar bodge?)
2. That was surprisingly easy. Firefox's History resides in a SQLite file somewhere. I copy it to /tmp, so its unlocked when I open it. SQLite generates a list of entries and the FZF search in Rofi gives me sane sorting of these addresses. The sorting is not as good as in Firefox, but its gets the job done surprisingly well...(More specifically, I move a first copy of the history in /tmp to a new name and then query with SQLite on that, while I copy a new history in parallel, so I don't have a delay when opening rofi)
3. This doesn't work. I "query" Firefox via commandline arguments. Firefox comes with "firefox --search <term>" which for some reason doesn't work on neither arch-linux nor debian. Via random trying I got it to search under some strange conditions and when my first word was "google", but then "google" would also appear in my search, which rendered this solution useless... Should you have any idea why that is so, I would be happy to hear about it.
4. Well, the developers of rofi build rofi with that feature in mind. No problem here. You can set a filter, so only Firefox windows are shown to start with.
5. Many people want to get rid of the tabbar. It is/was not supported by Firefox by default. But you can hack the UI's css... So thats what I did. I had to do it a long time ago, when I started using the sidebar, so this was already solved for me.
The same setup on debian failed, as rofi doesn't take the input I generate with SQLite. I don't care too much about this, as my debian has a large screen and the tabs are not to much of a hazzle. Its my primary workstation and debian's main purpose is, that in one or two years it should reliably behave like it does today. So I don't want to try to muc
h stuff on it... On my notebook, I have arch installed. Being a notebook, I care about my limited screens "real-estate" and there it works fine... So I didn't care to much about digging into a solution.
I use this setup daily and my main problem is my default behavior of opening tabs with Ctrl+t when surfing to google for something new. I havn't yet found out how to remap that to new window. So now I sometimes and up with having multiple windows and in some windows multiple tabs... Other then that it works like a charm (well, as much charm as you could expect from a bodge like that)
**Final thoughts**
Is this more efficient? If so, will this ever pay off?You probably already have your favorite xkcd comic at hand. Should you not, here are two possible options for you:
[https://xkcd.com/1205/](https://xkcd.com/1205/)
[https://xkcd.com/1319/](https://xkcd.com/1319/)
The answer is probably: NoBut it should be: No, does it have to be?
I would love to see myself in a long line of craftsman that took pride and joy in their work and tools and put ornaments on them and improved them in small ways, that might never pay of. However, I just bodged together a couple of programs and didn't even debugged a probably minor problem that stopps me from using it everywhere. Nevertheless, I still like my solution. I like whats possible with Linux/arch/debian (maybe its possible with windows & mac, but probably not this easy). I am, again, impressed how much I could change my system by just combining some programs in a certain way (Yeah, I know its the UNIX-philiosophy. But just because it has a name doesn't mean it shouldn't be cherished from time to time) . Of course, this takes a long time learning that these programs exist and one could combine them in that certain way to achieve a certain outcome... But now that its out its easy and it feels good ;)
To end on a philosophical note: Maybe that's something that, among other aspects, drives Linux desktop users: The possibility to bodge your tool into something that fits you and your style. In a far reminiscence of those gone days where we roamed the wild and slugged stones on stones to sometimes even improve our weapons, instead of just making a big pile of dust. Its maybe not about efficiency but feeling good with the tools at your hand and exploring the space of possibilities.
https://redd.it/dnrdxl
@r_linux
I use this setup daily and my main problem is my default behavior of opening tabs with Ctrl+t when surfing to google for something new. I havn't yet found out how to remap that to new window. So now I sometimes and up with having multiple windows and in some windows multiple tabs... Other then that it works like a charm (well, as much charm as you could expect from a bodge like that)
**Final thoughts**
Is this more efficient? If so, will this ever pay off?You probably already have your favorite xkcd comic at hand. Should you not, here are two possible options for you:
[https://xkcd.com/1205/](https://xkcd.com/1205/)
[https://xkcd.com/1319/](https://xkcd.com/1319/)
The answer is probably: NoBut it should be: No, does it have to be?
I would love to see myself in a long line of craftsman that took pride and joy in their work and tools and put ornaments on them and improved them in small ways, that might never pay of. However, I just bodged together a couple of programs and didn't even debugged a probably minor problem that stopps me from using it everywhere. Nevertheless, I still like my solution. I like whats possible with Linux/arch/debian (maybe its possible with windows & mac, but probably not this easy). I am, again, impressed how much I could change my system by just combining some programs in a certain way (Yeah, I know its the UNIX-philiosophy. But just because it has a name doesn't mean it shouldn't be cherished from time to time) . Of course, this takes a long time learning that these programs exist and one could combine them in that certain way to achieve a certain outcome... But now that its out its easy and it feels good ;)
To end on a philosophical note: Maybe that's something that, among other aspects, drives Linux desktop users: The possibility to bodge your tool into something that fits you and your style. In a far reminiscence of those gone days where we roamed the wild and slugged stones on stones to sometimes even improve our weapons, instead of just making a big pile of dust. Its maybe not about efficiency but feeling good with the tools at your hand and exploring the space of possibilities.
https://redd.it/dnrdxl
@r_linux
xkcd
Is It Worth the Time?
Is taskwarrior dead/dying?
Taskwarrior is a super cool task manager, but...
There haven't been any posts in the taskwarrior [blogosphere](https://taskwarrior.org/) since early 2018
There hasn't been any significant [Git activity](https://github.com/GothenburgBitFactory/taskwarrior) in the past \~6 months
Their [IRC Channel](https://botbot.me/taskwarrior/) provider has shut down.
Does anyone have any background info about what is up?
https://redd.it/dnu9g9
@r_linux
Taskwarrior is a super cool task manager, but...
There haven't been any posts in the taskwarrior [blogosphere](https://taskwarrior.org/) since early 2018
There hasn't been any significant [Git activity](https://github.com/GothenburgBitFactory/taskwarrior) in the past \~6 months
Their [IRC Channel](https://botbot.me/taskwarrior/) provider has shut down.
Does anyone have any background info about what is up?
https://redd.it/dnu9g9
@r_linux
GitHub
GitHub - GothenburgBitFactory/taskwarrior: Taskwarrior - Command line Task Management
Taskwarrior - Command line Task Management. Contribute to GothenburgBitFactory/taskwarrior development by creating an account on GitHub.
Operating Ststems comparison
Hi there,
I'm looking for a book (or site) that compares Windows 10, Mac OS X and Linux from a technical point of view, do you guys have any suggestions?
Thanks guys
https://redd.it/dns76a
@r_linux
Hi there,
I'm looking for a book (or site) that compares Windows 10, Mac OS X and Linux from a technical point of view, do you guys have any suggestions?
Thanks guys
https://redd.it/dns76a
@r_linux
reddit
Operating Ststems comparison
Hi there, I'm looking for a book (or site) that compares Windows 10, Mac OS X and Linux from a technical point of view, do you guys have any...
The US national hall of inventors included the fathers, Ritchie and Thompson, for the invention of UNIX: Awesome short video with Ken
https://vimeo.com/309887752
https://redd.it/dnyq2m
@r_linux
https://vimeo.com/309887752
https://redd.it/dnyq2m
@r_linux
Vimeo
INDC_AnnouncementVideo_FINAL_01042019
This is "INDC_AnnouncementVideo_FINAL_01042019" by Marketing Communications on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.
Linux Experiences/Rants or Education/Certifications thread - October 28, 2019
Welcome to r/linux rants and experiences! This megathread is also to hear opinions from anyone just starting out with Linux or those that have used Linux (GNU or otherwise) for a long time.
Let us know what's annoying you, whats making you happy, or something that you want to get out to r/linux but didn't make the cut into a full post of it's own.
For those looking for certifications please use this megathread to ask about how to get certified whether it's for the business world or for your own satisfaction. Be sure to check out r/linuxadmin for more discussion in the SysAdmin world!
_Please keep questions in r/linuxquestions, r/linux4noobs, or the Wednesday automod thread._
https://redd.it/do3vpz
@r_linux
Welcome to r/linux rants and experiences! This megathread is also to hear opinions from anyone just starting out with Linux or those that have used Linux (GNU or otherwise) for a long time.
Let us know what's annoying you, whats making you happy, or something that you want to get out to r/linux but didn't make the cut into a full post of it's own.
For those looking for certifications please use this megathread to ask about how to get certified whether it's for the business world or for your own satisfaction. Be sure to check out r/linuxadmin for more discussion in the SysAdmin world!
_Please keep questions in r/linuxquestions, r/linux4noobs, or the Wednesday automod thread._
https://redd.it/do3vpz
@r_linux
reddit
Linux Experiences/Rants or Education/Certifications thread -...
Welcome to r/linux rants and experiences! This megathread is also to hear opinions from anyone just starting out with Linux or those that have...
HTTPDirFS - a filesystem which allows you to mount HTTP directory listings, and servers which support Subsonic API.
https://github.com/fangfufu/httpdirfs/
https://redd.it/do34s5
@r_linux
https://github.com/fangfufu/httpdirfs/
https://redd.it/do34s5
@r_linux
GitHub
GitHub - fangfufu/httpdirfs: A filesystem which allows you to mount HTTP directory listings or a single file, with a permanent…
A filesystem which allows you to mount HTTP directory listings or a single file, with a permanent cache. Now with Airsonic / Subsonic support! - GitHub - fangfufu/httpdirfs: A filesystem which all...
Google Snap: a Microkernel Approach to Host Networking
https://ai.google/research/pubs/pub48630/
https://redd.it/do3ypr
@r_linux
https://ai.google/research/pubs/pub48630/
https://redd.it/do3ypr
@r_linux
Google Research
Snap: a Microkernel Approach to Host Networking – Google Research