9 Months of using linux - some sort of review + some more or less chaotic wall of text
TL;DR: I used linux for 9 months as a main OS, I was infected by FLOSS, and privacy in some parts I'm a happier human now, but the curse of knowledge is making some things worse.
​
This is some sort of review of 9 months of using Debian as a main OS, with a focus on my change of mindset and the technical differences to windows
​
Nine months ago, I started using linux as a main OS.
What happened before that lead me to this steps
I learned C and I read in the internet, that there is MSYS2 that comes with a nice C compiler, that isn't as bloated as MSVC. So I installed MSYS2 and soon after that, I learned the commandline tools of linux like grep,sed,awk,cat and other concepts like pipes.
Then I wanted to try real linux. I looked around and well, as a naive beginner, I choose Kali Linux.
I dual-booted, but because I didn't know what to do with this tools and having no real usage for them (Except nasm-shell, this is pretty nice), I deleted it.
The only nice thing about Kali Linux was its look. Well it looks great and so I have chosen my next distro that looked as good as this Kali Linux: Debian
I installed debian and started using it as a main OS.(In April) I never booted to windows for more than 3 months. I didn't need it.
First, some things were different. I say different, not worse. Installing software without a package manager is so time-consuming and feels wrong. On linux, having a package manager is such a nice thing.
But then, the first problem came to the new world: Nvidia
I have a nvidia graphics card, and I wanted to use it, but never got it working. (I wanted to make it switch between my intel chip and the graphics card, depending on the usage of graphics)
My entire workflow is better, faster, more efficient, programming is a dream, using it is a dream, it's nearly perfect.
Soon after I had installed linux, I came into contact with FLOSS. I opened a github account, made contributions (Sadly only 10 PRs that were accepted, 2 were declined), opened my own opensource projects.
I must say, I nearly "radicalized" (Sorry I don't know any other matching word). I used only FLOSS, I gave up getting nvidia drivers running, as these are proprietary ~~mal~~software, same with my WiFi Card. Only on the web I make an exception and on the smartphone (Fuck you peer pressure, screw you whatsapp), as both are already infected with too much proprietary software. (Although I try to use as much FLOSS as possible[1\])
1 year ago, I would just have downloaded the first program I found for some task. Now I only look for FLOSS solutions. If there are none, I will cancel this task or find other ways to accomplish it, if possible.
As I became interested into more technical things, I went to the topic privacy.
Before I was like "I have nothing to hide", but after reading Cory Doctorows book "Little brother" and randomly going to r/privacy, my eyes were opened.
I cared even more about privacy, I made my browser a fortress, tried to convert(=Showed that privacy is a nice thing to have) others to caring about privacy (I got five of my friends to use firefox instead chrome and converted two to linux)
​
But knowledge is sometimes a curse. All the attacks onto privacy and FLOSS were making my life hard. I read about the things microsoft did, EEE, how non-free software is prevalent in many areas of life, often because of the lobbying of Microsoft or Apple.
For example in schools. Schools should never just teach the product of one company (Especially at my school, germany, in 5. and 6. grade Word and Powerpoint, in the 9. grade Access and Excel). It is in my opinion for example totally wrong, from every POV.
It was making me somehow sad and I was feeling overwhelmed because of the attacks on the consumers/peoples freedom (DRM) and privacy (EARN IT, and the comparable BS the EU wants to do).
​
Some months later, I deleted my windows partition and was happy.
But soon, I had to write applications as I'm
TL;DR: I used linux for 9 months as a main OS, I was infected by FLOSS, and privacy in some parts I'm a happier human now, but the curse of knowledge is making some things worse.
​
This is some sort of review of 9 months of using Debian as a main OS, with a focus on my change of mindset and the technical differences to windows
​
Nine months ago, I started using linux as a main OS.
What happened before that lead me to this steps
I learned C and I read in the internet, that there is MSYS2 that comes with a nice C compiler, that isn't as bloated as MSVC. So I installed MSYS2 and soon after that, I learned the commandline tools of linux like grep,sed,awk,cat and other concepts like pipes.
Then I wanted to try real linux. I looked around and well, as a naive beginner, I choose Kali Linux.
I dual-booted, but because I didn't know what to do with this tools and having no real usage for them (Except nasm-shell, this is pretty nice), I deleted it.
The only nice thing about Kali Linux was its look. Well it looks great and so I have chosen my next distro that looked as good as this Kali Linux: Debian
I installed debian and started using it as a main OS.(In April) I never booted to windows for more than 3 months. I didn't need it.
First, some things were different. I say different, not worse. Installing software without a package manager is so time-consuming and feels wrong. On linux, having a package manager is such a nice thing.
But then, the first problem came to the new world: Nvidia
I have a nvidia graphics card, and I wanted to use it, but never got it working. (I wanted to make it switch between my intel chip and the graphics card, depending on the usage of graphics)
My entire workflow is better, faster, more efficient, programming is a dream, using it is a dream, it's nearly perfect.
Soon after I had installed linux, I came into contact with FLOSS. I opened a github account, made contributions (Sadly only 10 PRs that were accepted, 2 were declined), opened my own opensource projects.
I must say, I nearly "radicalized" (Sorry I don't know any other matching word). I used only FLOSS, I gave up getting nvidia drivers running, as these are proprietary ~~mal~~software, same with my WiFi Card. Only on the web I make an exception and on the smartphone (Fuck you peer pressure, screw you whatsapp), as both are already infected with too much proprietary software. (Although I try to use as much FLOSS as possible[1\])
1 year ago, I would just have downloaded the first program I found for some task. Now I only look for FLOSS solutions. If there are none, I will cancel this task or find other ways to accomplish it, if possible.
As I became interested into more technical things, I went to the topic privacy.
Before I was like "I have nothing to hide", but after reading Cory Doctorows book "Little brother" and randomly going to r/privacy, my eyes were opened.
I cared even more about privacy, I made my browser a fortress, tried to convert(=Showed that privacy is a nice thing to have) others to caring about privacy (I got five of my friends to use firefox instead chrome and converted two to linux)
​
But knowledge is sometimes a curse. All the attacks onto privacy and FLOSS were making my life hard. I read about the things microsoft did, EEE, how non-free software is prevalent in many areas of life, often because of the lobbying of Microsoft or Apple.
For example in schools. Schools should never just teach the product of one company (Especially at my school, germany, in 5. and 6. grade Word and Powerpoint, in the 9. grade Access and Excel). It is in my opinion for example totally wrong, from every POV.
It was making me somehow sad and I was feeling overwhelmed because of the attacks on the consumers/peoples freedom (DRM) and privacy (EARN IT, and the comparable BS the EU wants to do).
​
Some months later, I deleted my windows partition and was happy.
But soon, I had to write applications as I'm
ending school soon. This worked great, until they wanted to make video interviews. I had to installed Webex Teams/Meetings (I don't know which anymore).
I didn't got it running with wine. Every internet connection with this program failed with some Certification failed error, the web client wasn't working somehow. So in the biggest emergency, I had to install windows.
I have it since then. The original plan was to purge it after the application processes, but then the second lockdown came. My school forced us MS Teams down the throat and so my plans for purging this, for me useless, from my disk were delayed indefinitely.
Windows is now feeling foreign. Every minute in which I use windows is feeling like a pain. No I don't want your browser, no I know, what I want to do. I'm 17 and not a fucking child. Maybe I'm prejudging, because Windows is proprietary, but it feels comparatively much worse to linux.
I know, many(?) use windows just for gaming. I was some sort of gamer before I switched to linux, I played Minecraft and was happy. After switching, I played it some weeks, until I got infected with FLOSS. Now I'm happy with 0ad and Supertuxkart.
​
Thank you, all of you that made it possible, to write this text.
​
Congratulations, if you were able to read until here and understand everything.
​
^(Please excuse my english)
​
[1\]: I have only two packages installed, that are in the non-free repo: manpages-posix-dev and manpages-posix
https://redd.it/kvta6e
@r_linux
I didn't got it running with wine. Every internet connection with this program failed with some Certification failed error, the web client wasn't working somehow. So in the biggest emergency, I had to install windows.
I have it since then. The original plan was to purge it after the application processes, but then the second lockdown came. My school forced us MS Teams down the throat and so my plans for purging this, for me useless, from my disk were delayed indefinitely.
Windows is now feeling foreign. Every minute in which I use windows is feeling like a pain. No I don't want your browser, no I know, what I want to do. I'm 17 and not a fucking child. Maybe I'm prejudging, because Windows is proprietary, but it feels comparatively much worse to linux.
I know, many(?) use windows just for gaming. I was some sort of gamer before I switched to linux, I played Minecraft and was happy. After switching, I played it some weeks, until I got infected with FLOSS. Now I'm happy with 0ad and Supertuxkart.
​
Thank you, all of you that made it possible, to write this text.
​
Congratulations, if you were able to read until here and understand everything.
​
^(Please excuse my english)
​
[1\]: I have only two packages installed, that are in the non-free repo: manpages-posix-dev and manpages-posix
https://redd.it/kvta6e
@r_linux
reddit
9 Months of using linux - some sort of review + some more or less...
TL;DR: I used linux for 9 months as a main OS, I was infected by FLOSS, and privacy in some parts I'm a happier human now, but the curse of...
mhtml2html conversion tool
For those of you who have a couple of MHT(ML) files collected on your disk like me: As all viewers seems to be gone these days I needed a way/tool to convert them into a more future-proof format. Unfortunately I couldn't find one, so I've created it myself:
https://gitlab.com/thomas.mc.work/mhtml2html
It has been tested with several input files, from several sites, captured by several clients, including lots of non-standards-compliant parts. So it should be pretty much bullet-proof in the meantime.
Have fun!
https://redd.it/kvrojb
@r_linux
For those of you who have a couple of MHT(ML) files collected on your disk like me: As all viewers seems to be gone these days I needed a way/tool to convert them into a more future-proof format. Unfortunately I couldn't find one, so I've created it myself:
https://gitlab.com/thomas.mc.work/mhtml2html
It has been tested with several input files, from several sites, captured by several clients, including lots of non-standards-compliant parts. So it should be pretty much bullet-proof in the meantime.
Have fun!
https://redd.it/kvrojb
@r_linux
GitLab
Thomas McWork / mhtml2html
Conversion from MHT(ML) format to completely self-contained HTML.
Kate Text Editor - Quick Open
https://kate-editor.org/post/2021/2021-01-10-kate-quick-open/
https://redd.it/kug7kj
@r_linux
https://kate-editor.org/post/2021/2021-01-10-kate-quick-open/
https://redd.it/kug7kj
@r_linux
Kate
Kate Text Editor - Quick Open
After my summary of Kate improvements in 2020, it is my pleasure to show a first improvement coming in 2021.
Quick Open? Kate has since years a feature called “quick open”. You reach it via the button at the right of the tabs or the default shortcut “Ctrl…
Quick Open? Kate has since years a feature called “quick open”. You reach it via the button at the right of the tabs or the default shortcut “Ctrl…
Media is too big
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
The advantage of a fully transparent terminal is that you can watch movie while you code.
https://redd.it/kvyl7l
@r_linux
https://redd.it/kvyl7l
@r_linux
Houdini: run Arm 32-bit and 64-bit applications on an x86_64 system
https://threedots.ovh/blog/2020/12/houdini-run-arm-32-bit-and-64-bit-applications-on-an-x86_64-system/
https://redd.it/kvxcvd
@r_linux
https://threedots.ovh/blog/2020/12/houdini-run-arm-32-bit-and-64-bit-applications-on-an-x86_64-system/
https://redd.it/kvxcvd
@r_linux
reddit
Houdini: run Arm 32-bit and 64-bit applications on an x86_64 system
Posted in r/linux by u/ouyawei • 4 points and 2 comments
csBooks 5.5.1 Released
Dear All,
I am so excited to finished another release for csBooks :D
This release has following improvements.
\- Performance improvement for Thumbnail Generation
\- ePUB reader UI Improvements
\- Consistant download progress for Audio Books
I also made a feature tour video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJH8n7iZx5k
Please give it a try and report any issue here -
https://github.com/caesiumstudio/csBooks-updates/issues
https://redd.it/kw141g
@r_linux
Dear All,
I am so excited to finished another release for csBooks :D
This release has following improvements.
\- Performance improvement for Thumbnail Generation
\- ePUB reader UI Improvements
\- Consistant download progress for Audio Books
I also made a feature tour video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJH8n7iZx5k
Please give it a try and report any issue here -
https://github.com/caesiumstudio/csBooks-updates/issues
https://redd.it/kw141g
@r_linux
YouTube
The best epub reader for linux windows and mac. Check out csBooks.
csBooks is a smart solution to manage all your PDF, EPUB and MOBI books and listening to all public domain books from Librivox. csBooks is focused on clean and beautiful interface with excellent user experience. Features -
Read your ePUB, MOBI and PDF books…
Read your ePUB, MOBI and PDF books…
lartc gone?
I've been referencing the Linux Advanced Routing and Traffic Control HOWTO for going on twenty years. Is it gone now? I can't resolve an A record for lartc.org, and archive.org doesn't show a hit since 2020-12-15: https://web.archive.org/web/20201206043311/https://lartc.org/
https://redd.it/kw2myh
@r_linux
I've been referencing the Linux Advanced Routing and Traffic Control HOWTO for going on twenty years. Is it gone now? I can't resolve an A record for lartc.org, and archive.org doesn't show a hit since 2020-12-15: https://web.archive.org/web/20201206043311/https://lartc.org/
https://redd.it/kw2myh
@r_linux
LibreTech: A free software school
Hi,
​
I am a new/temporary user of reddit. I do not use social media but created this account in order to see if people would be interested in my project. I am currently transforming my website with notes to self about programming to a online school centered around free software/hardware and helping people answer questions such as: how to live a good digital life and how to use technology for oneself and for the good of humanity.
​
You can know more about it at https://libretech.eu/news-libretech-2021/
​
This post retrace the state of the project in 2020, what I want to achieve this year.
​
Nota Bene: In depth content will require a membership, but introductory and most essential content will be accessible to anybody.
​
Thank you.
https://redd.it/ku7oug
@r_linux
Hi,
​
I am a new/temporary user of reddit. I do not use social media but created this account in order to see if people would be interested in my project. I am currently transforming my website with notes to self about programming to a online school centered around free software/hardware and helping people answer questions such as: how to live a good digital life and how to use technology for oneself and for the good of humanity.
​
You can know more about it at https://libretech.eu/news-libretech-2021/
​
This post retrace the state of the project in 2020, what I want to achieve this year.
​
Nota Bene: In depth content will require a membership, but introductory and most essential content will be accessible to anybody.
​
Thank you.
https://redd.it/ku7oug
@r_linux
LibreTech
News about LibreTech
Retrospective on 2020 Last year I have contacted the French minister of education, the academy of reunion island and I have participated in the national survey about the new technologies. Needless to say that I took quite some time to explain the necessity…
Taking forever to allocate disc space
So I'm a linux noob, trying to make a dual boot system on my pc. I got all the way through install alongside windows boot manager to the drive space divider. And it's taking a while... like its been nearly an hour. Is there something wrong?
Edit: wow it took a while but its worked 😂 never panicked this much before with windows 🤣🤣🤣
https://redd.it/kw78do
@r_linux
So I'm a linux noob, trying to make a dual boot system on my pc. I got all the way through install alongside windows boot manager to the drive space divider. And it's taking a while... like its been nearly an hour. Is there something wrong?
Edit: wow it took a while but its worked 😂 never panicked this much before with windows 🤣🤣🤣
https://redd.it/kw78do
@r_linux
reddit
Taking forever to allocate disc space
So I'm a linux noob, trying to make a dual boot system on my pc. I got all the way through install alongside windows boot manager to the drive...
DMG for Linux
Why Linux doesn't have a simple way to install a software like in macos without dependencies problem and so simple?
Yeah, i know, appimage, flathub, snap, but it's not that simple, where is the difference?
https://redd.it/kw6yg4
@r_linux
Why Linux doesn't have a simple way to install a software like in macos without dependencies problem and so simple?
Yeah, i know, appimage, flathub, snap, but it's not that simple, where is the difference?
https://redd.it/kw6yg4
@r_linux
reddit
DMG for Linux
Why Linux doesn't have a simple way to install a software like in macos without dependencies problem and so simple? Yeah, i know, appimage,...
Installation from ks - unable to find repodata
Hi all, I'm new to being the solo sysadmin at my company, and a lot of doco is poor and handover didn't happen.
Right now I'm trying to install Oracle Linux 6.10 (yes, we are THAT far behind) on an ESXi 6.7 instance with a kickstarter noscript.
The kickstarter all makes sense to me, until we hit:
repo --name="UEK4 kernel repo" --baseurl=file://anaconda-addon
Anyway, I get this error when it goes looking for the repo:
​
https://preview.redd.it/bf14gua421b61.png?width=624&format=png&auto=webp&s=da293da7fe81a862072bea8bdc4735d3b1bdd56a
It's already created my filesystem, I can ping the IP I gave the installation interface, but cannot SSH yet. I've checked all the previous kickstarter .cfg files and they have been referencing this repo for several years.
It's possible the rpm that sets up the repo hasn't been installed yet. I'll give that a go while I'm waiting for tech support :)
​
\-- Nug
https://redd.it/kw99s0
@r_linux
Hi all, I'm new to being the solo sysadmin at my company, and a lot of doco is poor and handover didn't happen.
Right now I'm trying to install Oracle Linux 6.10 (yes, we are THAT far behind) on an ESXi 6.7 instance with a kickstarter noscript.
The kickstarter all makes sense to me, until we hit:
repo --name="UEK4 kernel repo" --baseurl=file://anaconda-addon
Anyway, I get this error when it goes looking for the repo:
​
https://preview.redd.it/bf14gua421b61.png?width=624&format=png&auto=webp&s=da293da7fe81a862072bea8bdc4735d3b1bdd56a
It's already created my filesystem, I can ping the IP I gave the installation interface, but cannot SSH yet. I've checked all the previous kickstarter .cfg files and they have been referencing this repo for several years.
It's possible the rpm that sets up the repo hasn't been installed yet. I'll give that a go while I'm waiting for tech support :)
​
\-- Nug
https://redd.it/kw99s0
@r_linux
2020 FOSS Contributor Survey, by the Linux Foundation and LISH
https://www.linuxfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020FOSSContributorSurveyReport_121020.pdf
https://redd.it/kw98dn
@r_linux
https://www.linuxfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020FOSSContributorSurveyReport_121020.pdf
https://redd.it/kw98dn
@r_linux
Translators, please do not translate everything
https://www.schauenburg.nl/posts/2021/01/11_translators_-_please_do_not_translate_everything.html
https://redd.it/kvo87s
@r_linux
https://www.schauenburg.nl/posts/2021/01/11_translators_-_please_do_not_translate_everything.html
https://redd.it/kvo87s
@r_linux
Ramblings of a sysadmin
Translators, please do not translate everything
TL;DR
I'm grateful for translations by translators. But translating everything causes icons to break. Ubuntu MATE 20.04 has several broken icons and most of them are fixed in Ubuntu MATE 20.10 already
I'm grateful for translations by translators. But translating everything causes icons to break. Ubuntu MATE 20.04 has several broken icons and most of them are fixed in Ubuntu MATE 20.10 already
HUMBLE BOOK BUNDLE: LINUX BY APRESS (pay what you want and help charity)
https://twitter.com/AnajonesLee/status/1349245400822136832?s=20
https://redd.it/kwc532
@r_linux
https://twitter.com/AnajonesLee/status/1349245400822136832?s=20
https://redd.it/kwc532
@r_linux
Twitter
Ana Jones
https://t.co/sckEPL1EEr
How to find out who is maintaining manpages
Hello,
at the bottom of man slappasswd (https://linux.die.net/man/8/slappasswd) there is a link to the "OpenLDAP Administrator's Guide" (http://www.OpenLDAP.org/doc/admin/)
The link leads to a 404, however there are guides on OpenLDAP.org.
Who do you think would be the right party to contact in this case?
Kind regards,
Ori
https://redd.it/kwe202
@r_linux
Hello,
at the bottom of man slappasswd (https://linux.die.net/man/8/slappasswd) there is a link to the "OpenLDAP Administrator's Guide" (http://www.OpenLDAP.org/doc/admin/)
The link leads to a 404, however there are guides on OpenLDAP.org.
Who do you think would be the right party to contact in this case?
Kind regards,
Ori
https://redd.it/kwe202
@r_linux
linux.die.net
slappasswd(8): OpenLDAP password utility - Linux man page
Slappasswd is used to generate an userPassword value suitable for use with ldapmodify(1), slapd.conf(5) rootpw configuration directive or the slapd-config(5) olcRootPW configuration directive.
XRDP Settings
While searching for ways to increase responsiveness of xrdp, I noticed a lot of recommendations for setting max_bpp=128 in xrdp.ini.
Why would setting the max bits per pixel to 128 make a difference? Does it make memory reads and writes noticeably faster? It seems like sending more data would increase overhead. Additionally, man pages for xorg.conf state that hardware is only going to use 24 bits.
https://redd.it/kwemn8
@r_linux
While searching for ways to increase responsiveness of xrdp, I noticed a lot of recommendations for setting max_bpp=128 in xrdp.ini.
Why would setting the max bits per pixel to 128 make a difference? Does it make memory reads and writes noticeably faster? It seems like sending more data would increase overhead. Additionally, man pages for xorg.conf state that hardware is only going to use 24 bits.
https://redd.it/kwemn8
@r_linux
reddit
XRDP Settings
While searching for ways to increase responsiveness of xrdp, I noticed a lot of recommendations for setting max\_bpp=128 in xrdp.ini. Why would...
Debian discusses vendoring again
https://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/842319/8adb13e08d0302bd/
https://redd.it/kwef3r
@r_linux
https://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/842319/8adb13e08d0302bd/
https://redd.it/kwef3r
@r_linux
lwn.net
Debian discusses vendoring—again
The problems with "vendoring" in packages—bundling dependencies rather than
getting them from other packages—seems to crop up frequently these days.
We looked at Debian's concerns about
packaging Kubernetes and its myriad of Go
dependencies back in October.…
getting them from other packages—seems to crop up frequently these days.
We looked at Debian's concerns about
packaging Kubernetes and its myriad of Go
dependencies back in October.…
I installed ubuntu linux on a 2009 macbook pro 15”...
After reboot it’s stuck on a purple screen now. Does anyone know how to make it work? I have never used linux before but it looks really nice and setup was very easy. Now after reboot it’s always stuck on a purple screen but the media keys work
Edit: this is the one and only OS running on the mac
https://redd.it/kwgn2x
@r_linux
After reboot it’s stuck on a purple screen now. Does anyone know how to make it work? I have never used linux before but it looks really nice and setup was very easy. Now after reboot it’s always stuck on a purple screen but the media keys work
Edit: this is the one and only OS running on the mac
https://redd.it/kwgn2x
@r_linux
reddit
I installed ubuntu linux on a 2009 macbook pro 15”...
After reboot it’s stuck on a purple screen now. Does anyone know how to make it work? I have never used linux before but it looks really nice and...