Xmonad with XFCE in no-desktop mode.

I can use the xfce tools to configure things like mouse and screen settings, but visually it’s just xmonad.

No more tricky than windows these days. Nice thing is there’s a lack of commercial BS - spyware, ads, unwanted apps etc. And pretty much no matter how old your computer gets, you can still run brand new linux on it.

BeOS went under.

Ed: I was a huge apple fan, bought an apple clone from Power Computing. Then Apple revoked the licensing that allowed all the apple clone companies to exist. That’s when I went to BeOS which would run on my clone, and got a multicore intel machine too. When BeOS went under I tried Suse. Had kind of a sucky UI in my opinion, but I hung in there with linux as an alternative to windows and went Ubuntu/Debian/Arch/Nixos and I’m still on nixos now. Its pretty much my exclusive OS since I quit my job that required windows 5 or 6 years ago.

I kind of want to try wayland just to be modern, but I’m pretty happy with xmonad and don’t want to learn another window manager.

I hear you, its great for most cases, but when a package isn’t available or downloads binaries that depend on hfs it sucks. I’ve been going through hell with android dev lately and am currently doing my compiles on debian, lol.

I think nixos is still niche, but seems to be gaining momentum. It has some unique features:

• Every package has its own dependencies, so you can install a 7 year old firefox alongside the latest, and have no interference.
• Packages with dependencies in common still share them (for space savings).
• Abandons the HFS, but can still fake it for apps that need it.
• Can make dev environments that are exactly reproducible across machines, and only exist within a specific shell session. So you can have a project that relies on an out of date version of a compiler, and another that uses the latest, and run both at the same time.
• Make your own packages that other people can install using a git repo address.
• The package language can also describe a machine’s configuration; systemd services, default packages, user accounts, etc.
• You can build and remotely deploy a machine config in one line.
• You can cross compile a machine config for another cpu architecture, like ARM.
• OS upgrades are atomic, and reversible. If it doesn’t work out, you can go back to the previous config.
• No reason to ever reinstall. Recently upgraded a machine that had sat in a closet for 5 years to the newest release. Flawless upgrade.
• Nixos boasts more packages than any other distro, over 100,000.

There are certainly downsides - poor docs, confusing core language. Instructions for installing something on say debian will not work on nixos. I do think this style of package management is the future, if perhaps not this specific implementation. It can be a pain but its also super solid.

I went the jank monstrosity path. Well, a few scripts anyway.

I use an app called SimpleSSHD on the phone that lets me ssh in. Then rsync to transfer files. The script to sync pictures is like this:

# file 'droidip' contains the local wifi ip of the phone.  
dip=$(cat droidip)

rsync --append-verify --progress  -avz -e "ssh -p 2222" root@$dip:/sdcard/DCIM/Camera newphonepix

Truthfully it was as much about learning rsync as anything, and now I’m sticking with it because momentum I guess. adb is way faster if you really need to move a lot of files.

ok where these files at?

I picture these pages being inviting and helpful, with maybe ascii art “awk sweet awk” or the like, rather than the current “maintenance locker full of random tools” vibe

Kind of off topic, but you know what would be cool? If you had an ‘man explain’ command that would define all the flags/args in a command, like:

man explain rsync --append-verify --progress -avz -e "ssh -p 2222" root@$dip:/sdcard/DCIM/Camera newphonepix

Would give you:

rsync - a fast, versatile, remote (and local) file-copying tool
      --append-verify          --append w/old data in file checksum
      --progress               show progress during transfer
      --archive, -a            archive mode is -rlptgoD (no -A,-X,-U,-N,-H)
      --verbose, -v            increase verbosity
      --compress, -z           compress file data during the transfer
      --rsh=COMMAND, -e        specify the remote shell to use 

etc.

I like this approach of having a model locally and running it locally. I’ve been using the firefox website translator and its great. Handy and it doesn’t send my data to google. That I know of, ha.

You can’t run the linux I use (nixos) without the command line.

The mobile linuxes are way more GUI oriented. Android is first on that list. But also the various other linuxes that target phones, with UIs like phosh. On those I’d say you can mostly never touch a terminal.

But I don’t think you’ll ever be able to do ALL the things without touching the command line though. There’s a lot of software that’s intended to run in a no-GUI situation, like a headless server or embedded. Sometimes a GUI interface will be provided, but I doubt that kind of thing will ever be GUI-first.

I use keepassxc to generate the code.

pretty sweet. wonder what the price will be.

Ok, I thought the article was saying libadwaita was to add special features and styles for use in gnome specific apps.

So I guess the implication here is apps written explicitly for libadwaita will not be usable on generic GTK. So a calculator, for instance, that uses AdwDialog won’t be executable on a platform that doesn’t support libadwaita, like windows.

Will an app dependent on libadwaita be usable on linux without gnome? Like xfce, or xmonad?

Got it working. The problem was really dumb: I use xmonad. When I run mixx, it opens a modal dialog where you have to select a file, or cancel. I didn’t notice the dialog, maybe too many windows or it ended up behind the main window. Dialog never returns, program never gets off the splash screen. 😅 Still get the warnings and errors, but apparently that’s normal.

Anyway, working now, definitely a lot of bells and whistles in this. Inspiring if I ever want to take up DJing.

nixos is great - as long as the software you need is in nixpkgs, and it usually is. reinstallation is almost never necessary. You can switch your system to the unstable channel, and if you get tired of that, back to stable again, no problem. Experiment with software and remove it without a trace left in your system. If you mess up your config, you can roll back to the previous config in the bootup menu. Your system config is in a text file which you can put into source control if you wish, which allows you to replicate your config onto another machine, or revert to what you had 6 months ago, etc.

I’ve had a dell precision 5520 for several years now. Its been solid from a software support standpoint. Downside is the stock batteries swell up; I’ve settled for lower-capacity aftermarket batteries instead. On my second keyboard, second charge port and second power supply. Unfortunately a screw fell out and then the hinge broke as a result, and charging has gotten wonky, maybe since the charge port’s attachment point broke too. If you put the charge cable in just the right place it’ll charge, but sometimes I can’t find that position.

Pluses:

• 32g ram
• nvidia graphic accel
• replaceable keyboard, battery, memory
• touchscreen, webcam, etc all work.
• high dpi screen
• good linux support.
• daily driver for 5+ years

Minuses:

• USB3 dock doesn’t charge enough, still needs power supply.
• front edge of the laptop is a bit sharp
• swelling stock batteries, keyboard and mouse gradually stop working.
• should have used locktite on screws, some fell out and now hinge, power wonky.

I also have a thinkpad w520. Super solid, but gets hot when the gpu is enabled. Probably needs a thermal paste refresh. Still on the original keyboard. On second power supply, first one’s cable is getting sparky. Slow compared to the dell, short battery life, very heavy, still working though!

yeah could be a packaging bug.