Diagrams.net -- previously draw.io -- is a neat web/web 2.0 diagram editor. It supports Google Drive and also VSCode integration. Currently I usually just use Inkscape and draw whatever I need by hand. It is usually faster, and can embed as an SVG or simply output a PNG file. However, if one does a lot ... Read more
The Asus C214MA-BU0546 is a Q3 2021 durable (milspec) 11.6" 2-in-1 Chromebook. It has: Intel Celeron N4020 Processor, Intel UHD 600 Graphics (Integrated), eMMC 32GB SSD, 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM, and 11.6" 1366x768 screen For my mind and money this replaces the venerable Asus C101PA. This device is effectively an update 3 years later, but ... Read more
LibreOffice is marginally (though noticeably) better than OpenOffice. That said, it definitely has more signs of life and so it is the incomplete product which one is better off choosing, when given choice. Installing LibreOffice Installing LibreOffice is a bit strange. First off, the default gateway in Asia hasn't worked in months if not years, ... Read more
Nemo file manager is made for Cinnamon by the Linux Mint folks. However, this file browser works well on plain Debian. It is one of two apps from Mint that are really nice and worth installing, the other being pix. The Nemo distribution is available from the Github repository. One functionality it doesn't have is ... Read more
Pix is another Linux Mint application (the second I use, along with Nemo) that is a useful, lightweight, simple image editor, good for cropping, scaling, and converting between filetypes. However, for actual editing, Inkscape is my editor of choice (I find GIMP hard to use). The latest versions of Inkscape may not be available under ... Read more
LXPanel is the panel for LXDE. Like Longfellow's little girl: > When she was good, > She was very good indeed, > But when she was bad she was horrid. The horrid part comes when something happens and all the settings are lost, which requires about 30 minutes or more of reconfiguring the panel. For ... Read more
Note: as of mid 2023, this still generally holds. The A23 dispensed with Super AMOLED, so that is a non-starter. The A24 does have that, though it seems that a 4gb/128gb is a standard low-end configuration (again, a non-starter). It seems that an A23 and the year earlier A52 are the same price, but with ... Read more
Audio can be a pain on Linux. One thing is the rather low quality of PulseAudio, which is common. The next is the layered configuration of ALSA as a driver and JACK as a connector. However, JACK can override PAVU, so things don't stay in their neat little boxes. That said, I've come to some ... Read more
To format a USB drive from the Linux command line, we use the following commands: df - disk free umount - unmount filesystems, see also the mount command mkfs - make filesystem lsblk - list block devices df command to display drives df -h Identify the USB drive to format umount command to unmount the ... Read more
DRAFT For Debian LXDE there are a few places to configure the keyboard and keyboard shortcuts. LXPanel Enable the Keyboard Layout Handler in Panel Preferences > Panel Applets Once enabled, right-click on the Keyboard Layout Handler and select "Keyboard Layout Handler" Settings Change Layout Option set to grp:lwin_toggle which sets the left windows key to ... Read more