Updated 03-Aug-2025 The venerable Neofetch hasn't been updated since 2020 (and was archived last year). Fastfetch is it's reasonable replacement (with a bit more info). Fastfetch is available in apt repositories and also from the git repository (latest editions). Fastfetch was last updated 18-July-2025 and gets ongoing support. The version in apt lags a bit ... Read more
Updated 21-Jul-2026 See also Ebooks and where to buy them which discusses DRM from each ebook seller. Kindle and Kobo ebook readers Calibre Ebook Library, De-DRM, Conversion Jailbreak Kindle KO Reader open source ebook reader Update May 2025 It is still possible to decrypt (de-DRM) Kindle ebooks, just not possible to download them from Amazon. ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 Thunar is the Saxon name for Thor. Thunar is the default file manager for the XFCE desktop but can of course be installed on most distributions. In general it is low-resource, highly flexible, and extensible (supports plugins, and custom actions). It can easily be used for SFTP connections as well. See also Thunar ... Read more
Updated 22-Jul-2026 See also: AI coding for Go I guess I'll be using Golang. Go Getting started Go packages Go applications of note In several cases venerable PHP and C applications have been replaced with Go, which to my mind is a good thing. Start with Awesome-Go a list of Go apps, like this one ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 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 ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 Upon installing XFCE, the xfce4-screenshooter is also installed. Create keyboard shortcut for screenshots Note that the Below will initiate a selection screenshot so that one may select the appropriate screen area using the crosshairs. It will also automatically save the screenshot in the Downloads directory and name it appropriately. In order to have ... Read more
Updated 23-Jun-2026 Git itself Oh shit, git! Git book Oh shit, git! book (not the same as either of the above) Git platforms 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, ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 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 ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 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 ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 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 ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 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 ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 smartctl 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.
Updated 03-Aug-2025 This is a fantastic tool: sudo apt install grub-customizer grub-customizer A nice little GUI.
Updated 03-Aug-2025 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 ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 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
Updated 03-Aug-2025 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 ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 adduser is a more friendly interactive tool that asks to create a password, while useradd simply adds a user with or without a password.
Updated 16-Dec-2025 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 ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 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.
Updated 03-Aug-2025 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, ... Read more