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Signal, Matrix, XMPP

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These are more-or-less protocols (well, maybe Signal is not). So instead this article could be named: Signal, Element, Dino I've used Signal for the past number of years as a chat / videocall app, having switched from Telegram after it went full Nazi. But there are other options, some I've tried. Below are some notes ... Read more

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BYD Dolphin

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Sometimes there is a confluence of innovations, both technological, and economic, which conspire to prompt a purchase. Now it is that time for me, concerning the 2024 BYD Dolphin Standard Range. Reasons for buying: Phenomenal price 570,000 THB, 610,000 THB with 7% VAT (~17,600 USD) This is highly discounted, even since January 2024 when it ... Read more

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Ruizu x52 mp3 player

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Note see also Sandisk Clipjam and Portable Music Players and Linux Because the Sandisk Clipjam appears to be no longer manufactured, the most approximate portable MP3 player (with clip, suitable for running/bicycling) is the Ruizu x52 mp3 player. It is about $25 USD on Lazada, sold by Ruizu itself, with good reliability ratings. The unnecessary ... Read more

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Google TV Shenanigans

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Google is such a tool. Even with apps only mode they show full-screen background ads on top of everything. Without that mode, nearly every element on the screen pushes apps and content that is unwanted and unneeded. It is now impossible to remove this without changing Google TV / Android TV launchers. Thankfully, this is ... Read more

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VS Codium / codium

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Codium aka VSCodium Alternative to the instrumented VSCode. Less tracking, same Open Source flavor. Another option is Pulsar, the resurrected Atom editor. Ignore Pulsar, vscodium is fine. Note that with Foam, Codium can provide some level of Obsidian-like functionality, though not nearly as extensive functionality and constrained to a desktop (no mobile apps). Installation Installation ... Read more

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Obsidian

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I use Obsidian which is a closed source application but focused on open data standards, and with a thriving community of extensions and use cases. The main competitors of Obsidian are Notion (closed source cloud service) and Logseq (open source). So, why Obsidian? Why Obsidian? Freemium model, including various ways to help fund the organization ... Read more

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Git and Git-related

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Git is great, and even better as a core part of a full development / deployment toolchain. These days there are choices as to which more robust Git platform to use. First, those not to use: Github (owned by Microsoft), proprietary Gitlab (owned publicly traded company), open core Both of these are worrisome for privacy ... Read more

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Chrome / Chromium Browser

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This is meant to help with selecting and installing a chrome-based browser, with minimal tracking and other cruft. Ungoogled Chromium for Debian Actually there are a variety of OS builds for ungoogled Chromium. For Debian, the simplest is the add repository and install manually option. echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/ungoogled_chromium/Debian_Sid/ /' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/home:ungoogled_chromium.list curl -fsSL ... Read more

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Mobian – Debian on Mobile

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I have not played with Mobian (yet), but it, and two other projects (Termux and UserLAnd), are quite promising. The biggest issue seems to be hardware at this point, as there are only Pine Phone and Tab, and Purism Librum, as well as one or two other devices are supported. That said, the Mobian project ... Read more

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Cost Effective Computing 2024

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Current cost-effective computing is focused on small, mobile, and Linux + Windows + Android. The Windows is for general familiarity and games for the children Current Devices Linux c214 - Ampton (ASUS C214MA) chromebook with Debian 12 (Bookworm) and Breath 4gb / 32gb + 256gb microsd n8 - NUC8i3BEH (Intel NUC) Debian 12 (Bookworm) 16gb ... Read more

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Linux PDF Readers / Editors

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There are many choices for PDF readers and editors for the Linux platform. I've used a variety over the years. Lately I had preferred these two: Xournal++ (xournalpp), which is a reader and editor, and is touted as a handwriting notetaking software with PDF annotation support ... supports pen input from devices such as Wacom ... Read more

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Termux

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Termux is an Android application (and plugins) which provides a Linux environment as a terminal emulator. Actually the Termux terminal doesn't need to be used, as it is possible to access various elements via API. The main support is various programming languages. Access to repositories via Git. And using Rclone, one can mount cloud drives ... Read more

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LineageOS on Xiaomi

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Major update to this post as of April 2024, nearly 4 years later The below is woefully out of date. Trying to do the same thing with the same product (but different device) results in tears, mainly around Xiaomi OEM unlocking. The unlock tools simply don't work on the Linux and Windows devices I've tried ... Read more

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Debian Chromebook

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Because ChromeOS is simply ridiculous in terms of resource requirements (on devices meant for it), the only proper approach is to install or boot from a USB drive running Debian Linux (in this case, Debian Stable). Note: there is GalliumOS but it seems to have stalled development. There are various steps involved in getting this ... Read more

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Chromebooks in 2024

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There are low-end and high-end Chromebooks. This is about relatively low-end devices, specifically an ASUS C214MA which is a cheap, somewhat small, ruggedized device meant for the schooling market. It has an 11.6" HD+ screen and a 4gb/32gb RAM/ROM configuration. In our household we've run up against the limits of this device in a variety ... Read more

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Linode and Linux

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I've used Linode for the past three years, and before that, another two years (with 3 years of AWS in between). There has been a (reasonable) increase in prices, and not much else since the acquisition by Akamai. Before Linode I used Servint which had more tools but also was much higher in prices, for ... Read more

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Smart Control (drive health app)

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[smartctl](https://www.baeldung.com/linux/storage-device-check-health) is a tool for testing hard drives. There is a graphical interface called gsmartcontrol which oddly cannot be found in the standard Debian testing repository but is otherwise available.

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LMDE to Xfce desktop environment

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I've been having trouble with the sleep cycle of a new monitor, such that causes problems with the LXDE lxpanel app. Basically the panel unloads when the monitor sleeps (or awakes). Since lxpanel is more or less frozen, I've looked to other desktop distributions to remedy this. Though I am generally satisfied with LXDE, it ... Read more

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Removable Disk Volume Name

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To change the volume name of a removable disk (USB / SD), in Debian (or other Linux): Open up > Accessories > Disks Click on device Click on gears icon (Additional partition options) Edit Filesystem Enter partition name

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Can I use PPAs on Debian?

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PPAs are personal package archives that allow people to distribute application packages to Ubuntu distributions. Since Ubuntu is based on Debian, and PPA packages are in the .deb format, they can theoretically be used in Debian. However, there are several complications that need to be understood: Why PPAs are not recommended for use in Debian ... Read more

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Subversion

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Subversion is a legacy source code control system. It is run by the Apache foundation. Subversion exists to be universally recognized and adopted as an open-source, centralized version control system characterized by its reliability as a safe haven for valuable data; the simplicity of its model and usage; and its ability to support the needs ... Read more

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MuseScore

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MuseScore is a free and open source music notation application. Is MuseScore 4 a Sibelius killer? Installing MuseScore on Linux MuseScore 3 is available through standard software channels such as apt in Debian. MuseScore 4 (a substantial upgrade) is distributed as an appimage (as of March 2023, and may be available in Debian Sid). Not ... Read more

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Samba on Linux

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Note: to be honest I'm a bit lost with my configuration. I've had a bit of trouble but it looks like it is ultimately due to the USB interface I'm using to connect HDDs and sharing them. In any case, Samba is working, but I'm not too sure about what kind of mapping to do, ... Read more

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Calibre Ebook Library, De-DRM, Conversion

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Calibre is an ebook management tool. It is open source and cross-platform, and has been around for a long time. This explains the rather dated interface. While it is ugly, it works fairly well, and there is nothing that competes. Calibre Functionality Calibre calls itself an ebook management tool, but really any digital document can ... Read more

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The Fediverse

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The Fediverse is a disparate set of social media services across many implementations, with two core elements: They use open protocols to communicate across services and instances, creating a federation of users and uses. They are primarily distributed and decentralized. This decentralization (and federation) is not in the sense of a blockchain with multiple copies ... Read more

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Mastodon, Pixelfed, Fediverse

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Fuck Elon Musk. So, Mastodon. I'd created accounts back when it first got started in 2016, so I'm @[email protected]. The server feels a bit slow, so it may be useful to move to another server, and there is a migration path for users in that case. The main thing is to find other people to ... Read more

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Zotero

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Install a repository to manage Zotero via apt. Install Chrome Zotero connector

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Linux and Debian Trademarks

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The Linux Mark The Linux Mark is a protected (reserved) mark and beyond fair use, requires a sublicense for its use. The Debian Logo and Trademark The Debian Logo and Debian trademark are protected (reserved) and require licenses (or may not be used) in certain ways.

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Balena Etcher OS Flash Tool

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Balena Etcher is software to flash Operating System images to USB drives and SD cards. It works well. Normally it is offered as an AppImage, but it is also possible to add the Balena Etcher github repository and install as a .deb file from there. Installing Balena Etcher on Debian with apt Debian installation instructions ... Read more

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Window Managers

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Beneath every window-based Desktop Environment (DE) there is a windows manager. And beneath the windows manager, is a display server protocol such as X.org, Mir, and Wayland. When choosing a Desktop Environment, one can simply choose a windows manager and then add various other utilities such as menus, panels, search interfaces, configuration interfaces, etc. This ... Read more

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Gutenprint printer drivers

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Previously named Gimp Print, Gutenprint is a high quality package of printer drivers for CUPS on Linux, Macintosh OS X, and other POSIX-compliant operating systems. This project also maintains an enhanced Print plug-in for GIMP 2.x from the same code base. Gutenprint includes a large number of printer drivers for Canon, Epson, Lexmark, Sony, Olympus, ... Read more

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neofetch cli system information

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Neofetch is a CLI system information tool written in BASH. Neofetch displays information about your system next to an image, your OS logo, or any ASCII file of your choice. It is an active Github repository with 230 contributors and over 5,000 edits. Neofetch Readme > Neofetch is a command-line system information tool written in ... Read more

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How to move a window that is offscreen?

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In Linux, a standard shortcut is to use Alt + F7 and then drag the window back onscreen. Obviously some small bit of the window needs to be visible, but that is almost always the case. This works with Openbox and LXDE.

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SomaFM Linux Clients

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Playing internet radio from the command line is quite a thing, especially the excellent Soma FM. Unfortunately there are some problems of late with various clients including: Uscheck, my favorite until this issue in October, 2021 Rocky Madden, who also suffers from the problems of October, 2021 The best approach is to fall back to ... Read more

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OBS Studio on Debian

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OBS (Open Broadcaster Studio) Studio is a popular, open source multiplatform broadcasting and recording control panel. OBS Installation for Debian sudo apt install linux-headers-$(uname -r) ffmpeg obs-studio v4l2loopback-dkms Note that the Linux headers and loopback (not included in the most recent release of OBS as of February 2022) enable a virtual camera button, so that ... Read more

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Diagrams.net (was Draw.io)

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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

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LibreOffice

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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

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Nemo File Manager

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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

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Pix Image Editor

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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

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SanDisk Clip Jam

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Silly name, a bit bulky, but overall a functional mp3 music player. The venerable ipod shuffle is sorely missed. Note 2024-10-08 This item appears to be no longer manufactured (prices on Amazon are crazy). What appears to be the best successor (for better or worse) is the Ruizu x52. SanDisk Clip Jam features MP3 player ... Read more

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Debian + LXDE Installation

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Debian 11 Bullseye Alpha 1 / 3 These are notes from an initial installation of Debian 11 (Bullseye) Alpha 1 from 2019-11-30, and A new reinstall using Alpha 3 from 2020-12-20. This is meant as the daily driver on an Intel NUC6CAYH, which is a four core celeron with 8gb of ram and a 256gb ... Read more

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Markdown Syntax Cheatsheet

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Markdown makes editing easier and faster. It is faster to use markdown than having to reach for the mouse to format things, and even if one wants to use the mouse there are markdown editors that provide. Markdown is very portable and since it is in plain text can be used across a plethora of devices and interfaces. It is highly readable without hiding any detail.

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Inkscape SVG Editor

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Open Source Vector Graphics Editor

Inkscape Vector Graphics

Inkscape is an amazing vector graphics editor. It is free and open source and works on a variety of platforms, including Linux, Windows and OSX. Inkscape replaces Corel Draw and Adobe Illustrator and can read their files, and is a first class citizen among these other editors.

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KeePass, OTP, and Themes

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Originally published 2018-09-06, updated 2022-09-05 My beloved KeepassX has not seen a release since 2016, but a newer fork entitled KeePassXC has. The latest version looks very much the same when viewed from LMDE3 with a dark theme. The added functionality is quite nice: A TOTP Seed and Code Generator. For native theme support (under ... Read more

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Syncthing replaces Dropbox / GDrive

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See also the local file sync tool FreeFileSync for handy local drive copying. Google Drive (GDrive) and other cloud storage alternatives such as Dropbox and Microsoft OneDrive all have the serious drawback of keeping one's information in a third party cloud repository. Privacy and security are generally compromised this way, even when paying for storage ... Read more

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APT – Advanced Package Tool

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APT -- Advanced Package Tool -- is all that is needed for most application installations when there are repositories which are regularly updated for packages of interest. Note that apt essentially makes irrelevant apt-get so there is no reason for that redundancy any longer. Note: Use aptitude when dealing with packages that have upgrade/downgrade issues, ... Read more

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Firefox Browser on Debian

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Firefox has dramatically disintegrated under the so-called leadership of Mitchell Baker, enriching herself to the tune of millions while the market share (and revenue) of Firefox plummeted and 250 employees were laid off. This alone is reason enough to avoid such a toxic software environment. There is no need to coddle multi-millionaires in order to ... Read more

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Portable Music Players and Linux

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This article briefly describes some issues with managing portable music players on Linux, particularly the Apple Ipod Shuffle and the Sandisk Clip Jam (it's replacement). Note that the Ruizu x52 is the proper replacement for the Sandisk Clip Jam Quod Libet Quod Libet is absolutely zero help with managing portable music players (with a single ... Read more