Haven’t updated my weeks for about a month, so here’s a backlog, haha
• Switched to Manjaro KDE from Pop!_OS. Missed Plasma too much! Glad to be back… Although, it’s taking some getting used to from ubuntu.
• Switched back to Pop!_OS after one week on Manjaro. I keep trying, but just can’t get a fluid experience as Pop!_OS provides.
• Completed a 27 page project paper for the Linux Admin class I recently finished.
◦ The subject was converting a (small) company from Windows to Linux. This could have been greatly expanded from what I submitted, but I wasn’t writing a thesis! However, it was great fun.
• After switching back to Pop!_OS, got everything back up and running like before and created a core list of applications that I’ve found which I consistently install:
◦ PuTTy
◦ Firefox
◦ Evolution
◦ LibreOffice
◦ Terminator
◦ VNC Viewer
◦ Gimp
◦ Plank
◦ Lutris
◦ Steam
◦ Spotify
◦ Pocket Casts (snap I think)
◦ nordvpn (researching for others)
◦ Duplicati
▪ tried luckyBackup, and will probably migrate to something more like this (using mainly rsync), but didn’t have much luck with getting the sync remotely… but I’ll get it eventually!
◦ Bleachbit
◦ htop
◦ zsh
◦ neofetch
• Setup a multi-display for the laptop, converting to a more desktop experience
• Bought the wife an “Aura” digital picture frame
◦ Found out that it FLOODS the network with requests… Thankfully, Pi-hole blocks nearly all of it. Phew.
• Looked into YubiKey, which I will probably be purchasing soon
• Restarted the RP4 after 16 days of 24/7 operation running with Pi-hole, DHCP, DNS, and NAS
◦ found out that it nearly automatically calls for about 25% of available virtual memory, need to investigate
▪ However, it runs consistently without needing to go past that, and really never utilizes all of the available RAM (4GB) – sitting at 10.9% as I type this
• Set up another monitor for my work laptop running Peppermint, pretty monitory in my office now!
So we recorded the latest mintCast which 324 will be out shortly. I have been editing the audio (all with Linux Mint and Audacity) and finished the second episode audio today (324.5) we record bi weekly and split the recording into two episodes but the raw unedited live stream audio is here if you want to check it out.
The BDLL challenge for this week is Ubuntu Studio 19.10 so I downloaded all 3.6Gb of the iso and may run it as my Distro of the month for February’s Distrohoppers Digest. I think it’s about time I gave it a spin up as it contains so many of the creative tools I use preinstalled out of the box.
Thanks, I think I knew that but didn’t want to commit to that level of detail. It’s always been worth a watch, even, (or especially), if I’m having insomnia at 1 am.
This week, I’ve been struggling with getting Nextcloud contacts properly syncing to my Android 9 phone. I’ve set all the crucial Android Addressbook settings, as well as Davx5 settings. I’m having a dilly of a time syncing in the direction from phone to cloud (and yes, I do a manual sync from Davx5). Cloud to phone works fine.
Edit: an upgrade from Android 9 to Android 10 has mostly solved it.
This week I’ve been struggling with premature christmas wind-down.
When I’m managing to fight that I’ve been looking at upgrading all our GitLab 10 servers to GitLab 12.
Doing a bit of Linux Academy training for an LPIC qualification (and wondering if I should be doing CompTIA or Linux Foundation training instead).
And getting caught up in trying to create a tiny framework for myself to manage one-man projects at work. A lot of what I do will just be me doing it, so I’ve been trying to take aspects of PRINCE2 and my own thoughts on best practice to try to whip up a simple methodology for myself rather than ‘just do it’ haphazardly as I think of things. I can’t decide if this is just procrastination or not.
I got a request to pull the number of CPU’s and the number of Cores for every Linux server in the company I work for. A rather long single line Ansible adhoc cmd provided the results, but then I needed to translate the output from json to csv. For this exercise, I chose not to use Python, but bash only. sed provided the capability to do exactly what I needed, I just had to learn “a little more” about sed.
It is exercises or mini projects like this that allow us to grow to the next level along our Linux journey.
Installed Syncthing on RP4 to act as the server for a few computers, phones, etc in an effort to continue to de-cloud
◦ after fiddling with it for a minute, man oh man… this is ridiculously awesome
◦ settled with creating a cloud between a server (RP4) and clients (2 currently – phone and computer)
Became a patron for DLN!
◦ Absolutely LOVE seeing the uncut episodes (stool)
Taking advantage of the Steam Winter Sale
◦ Purchased Cities: Skyline, returned it…
◦ Purchased Stellaris, returned it…
◦ Purchased “Slay the Spire” and “The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth” collection
– love both of them so far, doesn’t look like I’m returning these
This week I tried out PopOS 19.10 with the Arc menu and the “Dash-to-panel” Gnome extensions. Wow, 10x more sensible Gnome experience. I love how windows nicely tile to the sides when you drag them there. Way better than how XFCE does it (my daily driver is MX19). The other smooth desktop effects of Gnome are really nice, and are making XFCE look a little primitive in comparison.
PopOS, you’ve won me over, but I’ll put off nuking and paving my daily driver as long as I can. How long will I last, before my willpower caves in? Probably about another 6 months, based on how often I tend to nuke and pave.
Installed EndeavourOS on the work laptop Used their new net-installer, works great
– Runs great
Stuck with the previous purchased Steam winter sale games: Slay the Spire - Fantastic game, highly recommend it Binding of Isaac – haven’t played too much of it yet, but what I have, it’s addicting
Purchased a tri-mount and USB switch Planning on mounting two monitor on top of one
– (Top left) EndeavorOS work laptop
– (Top right, bottom center) main laptop (Pop!_OS) Using the USB switch to allow for switching between both laptops with central keyboard and mouse control
Had a great discussion with a co-worker on the topic deriving from DLN’s episode #153 – “FUSE Goes Closed Source” The person I was discussing the topic with brought up some interesting points, one which I found interesting The developer could charge a flat nominal fee for use of the software to entities which make profit off the software, say a low percentage of the profit were to return to the developer
– Whereas, individuals using the software could continue to use it as FOSS software
I’m learning blender. It’s really amazing tool. Surprisingly easy too.
And it might be bit stupid of me to say it without using proprietary alternatives, but I’m gonna say it anyway: why would anyone ever use proprietary alternatives, when blender is this good? Aside from familiarity I can’t find a reason. Even if you don’t care for open source is saves you a lot of money and is so easily available.
On Monday I installed Raspbian x86 onto 3 laptops to donate along with a couple of RPi’s to go to a school in Egypt to teach children computing.
A friend and member of my LUG who is a Linux writer had donated a bunch of Pi’s and a laptop to the same person for setting up a computer lab. The Raspbian x86 is so whichever PC the students are working on they are using the same OS. So when Les told me about the project I said I would put some of my surplus stuff together and send it to the project. I’ve not donated to Free Geek but this is my way of doing something to help bridge the digital divide.
Used their new net-installer, works great