Xfce has been my go-to for over a decade. It is one of those pieces of software that is so stable and reliable that I genuinely forget it exists most of the time, I take it for granted. That is a property of a quality piece of software.

I am always creating content on one half of my screen and browsing through documentation or specifications or chat logs on the other half. So it makes sense, and saves me lots of time, if I setup my computer to automatically place certain windows such that they fill the whole left of the screen and other windows so they fill the whole right of the screen. And this is precisely what tiling window managers are designed to do – especially ones that let you define your own rules about what windows go where.

Wow, even with most of Canada on fire, these oil and coal industry fucks are doubling-down with their dark-money astro-turf groups.

Applications without source code don’t exist.

Oh, they meant, “you should have the source code to the applications you use.” Well in that case, good call on them.

To do Android development, I got myself a Banana Pi, which is a Raspberry-Pi like single-board computer. They provide you with a rooted Android OS image that you can flash onto the device, and you can install whatever else you want onto it. I give it it’s own display and keyboard, but can also SSH-into it and control it from my other computers.

Ha, nice try. It’s still beautiful.

My advice is to search the Internet for some good resources on how to learn the Bash programming language, or else the “POSIX shell” (which is very slightly different from Bash). This is the command line language used by most Linux distros by default. POSIX shell is a complete programming language with built-in data structures, control flow like conditionals (if statements) and loop syntax such as for and while, and function composition by way of shell pipes. Combine these with tools like find and grep and you can accomplish quite a lot with just a single line of code.

Also, I highly recommend you practice using Vi or Vim as a text editor until you get somewhat fluent. It isn’t strictly required, but I recommend it simply because most people who use Linux as their daily driver also use these tools, and it helps a lot when communicating with other people in the Linux community, especially when it comes to solving problems. You want some fluency in using apps that the majority of people in your community are using. Also it is a good place to practice writing shell scripts.

Also not required, but learn a bit about Emacs as well. Learn how to use Dired (an Emacs app for working with ls output interactively), learn how to open an edit a file from Dired, learn how to run find and grep from within Emacs. Learn how to run shell commands in Emacs and capture their log output. Also learn a bit about how to use Org-mode. (Shameless plug: I have my own series of blog posts on how to do these things.) This handful of basic skills will get you a very, very long way.

I can’t comment much on customizing Cinnamon, but Cinnamon uses the Gtk toolkit, and so you can use any of the good Gtk themes out there to customize Cinnamon. Check out the UnixPorn community for more in-depth advice on that topic.

People will say “use this editor” or “use that window manager”, but honestly it’s just personal preference

Just the same, if you are serious about using Linux, it really is a good idea to practice using Vi to the point where you are somewhat fluent. It doesn’t hurt to learn Emacs either, though I would prioritize Vi.

The reason is simply that these are the editors that the majority of Linux-as-my-daily-driver users use, and it makes it easier to communicate with others and do problem solving if you have experience with these very commonly used Linux apps.

Exactly. I’m an atheist and electronics geek, but I am torn between Radio Shack and Jesus. I bet Jesus could effectively organize a world-wide general strike that completely overthrows capitalism and replaces it with a dictatorship of the proletariat so fast it would make Jeff Bezos’ head spin and pop off.

As long as I am fantasizing, I’ll bet if Radio Shack came back, they would start selling Framework laptops to ordinary consumers and kick-start a market of DIY mobile computing platforms from laptops to cell phones to TV sets to home rack-mount servers running fediverse services all built with standardized parts and overthrow the consumerist electronic appliance market.

You mean, there are still websites that don’t auto-detect what OS you’re running and make you actually choose?

I don’t think I’ve ever seen an ad more obviously targeting the “men with tiny penises no self-respect” demographic.

Nice job theming! This is the first time I am hearing about Firefox Cascade, looks really cool!

it isn’t platform specific because you can add scripts for any distro or architecture.

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it just stores and runs bash scripts to install stuff

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to remove once installed, or automated ways to update.

Well, any Linux distro has a package manager which you can use to install, update, or remove software. So can Nix, Guix, AppImage, and FlatPak. And Nix and Guix allows you to build from source code.

So I guess my question is, if I were thinking about using your app to install software, and update and remove it, how is it more convenient than using my ordinary package manager? If it is more convenient for building software from source, how is it more convenient than Nix or Guix?

It would be easier for me to understand if you can explain how this is different from the various other methods of installing software onto a computer.

• How is this different from a package manager, or something like FlatPak or AppImage, where you can find scripts (not necessarily bash scripts) to install whole packages from a binary repository?
• How is this different from Nix or Guix, which provides a method of automatically setting up a shell environment with all dependencies ready for you to build a piece of software from its source code?
• Is there an advantage to your solution over something like OhMyZsh, which provides a repository of Zsh functions you can install to configure the Zsh user interface.
• Is there a reason why, if someone does not want to use a package manager, or Nix/Guix, they would prefer to use your solution rather than just go to the website and find the script there to install the software they need?

Its the same as how the vast majority of the US citizens hate both main political parties, but the majority also says “I wont vote for a third party because they could never win.”

We are forming communities on the realized image of the internet that we were told we would have back in the 80s and 90s.

Exactly! Back in the 80s, tech enthusiasts would run their own dial-up message boards in their homes. The Fediverse is like that, but with all the benefits of modern technology. Anyone can run their own instance if they have a decent internet connection (usually fiber). But it is more than just message boards: they can run Lemmy, Mastodon, Wordpress, and even things like Tor and NextCloud, and instantly contribute their computing resources to the larger Fediverse community.

Exactly. No human community exists without infighting. Infighting is not a good thing, but it is a good sign – a sign of growth.

I got the hell out when I could. My life is so good now, especially since where I live now, owning a car is optional. I had always kept open the possibility of going back home one day – until Roe v. Wade was overturned. Now, I do not intend to go back anymore. I think I will be happier to remain an immigrant forever.

Object oriented programming is endless class struggle.

Pure functional programming is freedom from state.