Desktop Linux for Everyone
A relatively accessible explanation of containers and why they’re important:
Containers are essentially lightweight, configurable virtual machines — simulated versions of an operating system and its hardware, which allow software developers to share their computational environments.
I’ve written about my love of specific clipboard managers before (here and here) but I haven’t talked about why I love them.
A clipboard manager is a program that retains a history of items you’ve copied or cut to your clipboard. Most operating systems only save the last thing you copied or cut by default. The clipboard manager allows you to review your clipboard history. Wikipedia gets into the details.
As someone who works with a lot of text, I find the clipboard manager to be an indispensable tool. For instance, when moving text around, the clipboard manager allows me to go back to a previous cut-and-paste and insert text where it should have gone, rather than where I put it.
In moving this site to WordPress, I spent a fair amount of time copying-and-pasting text and HTML. The ability to go back to previously copy-and-pasted snippets was a huge time-saver. I also find it tremendously helpful when I accidentally copy something over what I really wanted to keep in the buffer. This happens a lot when I Ctrl-C when I really wanted to Ctrl-V.
GNOME has a built-in clipboard manager, but there are lots of them for Linux. I’ve used Parcellite and Clipman and couldn’t tell you the difference between either of them, which is the beauty of the clipboard manager. As long as it can show you a history of things you’ve copied or cut, it’s working just fine. The interface is usually less important.
I’ll acknowledge that there are security risks with clipboard managers. If you copy-and-paste passwords, they’re in your history. Most clipboard managers allow you to selectively delete items if having a password existing in your clipboard history troubles you. If you share your user account with someone, it’s a legitimate concern. I also had a colleague who used a clipboard manager on what was essentially a public terminal, which is a pretty awful idea.
With that caveat, clipboard managers are wonderfully useful tools. It’s almost like a time machine for your cut or copied text. Anyone who works with words will quickly come to appreciate the ability to return to text that was worked with just a few copy or pastes ago.
If your desktop environment doesn’t already include a clipboard manager, there are a few options in your repository. The clipboard manager will quickly make itself indispensable to you.
Update: Opensource.com has a nice roundup of Linux clipboard managers (via Scott Nesbitt)
Or, you can just not use Gmail… I remain in love with FastMail.
Like Scott, I rarely use a word processor on Linux. LibreOffice is fine when I have to use one, but if I needed to word process more regularly, I’d use AbiWord, which is on his list.
Blues and jazz musicians have long been enabled by a kind of “open source” culture, in which pre-existing melodic fragments and larger musical frameworks are freely reworked.
—Jonathan Lethem, The Ecstasy of Influence: A plagiarism
This is a wonderful article that demonstrates (in a number of beautiful ways) the amazing work that arises when ideas can be freely shared.
I met Alan through Quora. I knew he’d make a great interview and I was right! As he writes, he’s a person who likes to tinker, and the tinkering he does in his physical life translates well to Linux. I wouldn’t say I’m done tinkering with Linux, because that’s rarely an option, but it’s not something I necessarily relish anymore. However, I do respect and appreciate the people who are brave and smart enough to experiment and make cool new things using Linux, much like Alan does.
You can find more of The Linux Setup here.
You can follow Linux Rig on Google+ here and follow me on Twitter here.
My name is Alan Dillman. I am Canadian, aged 44 as of November 2016.
I enjoy hiking in the mountains near my home, jogging, and outdoor activities, such as camping, and do this often.
I’m into wood, metal working, and electronics fabrication, as well as programming.
I’ve done half a dozen home renovations, and currently act as a handyman for a few rental properties. Some of the most fun aspects involve customizing things for residents.
Using my skill set, I’ve begun creating software, devices, and tools for people with special physical requirements, both impairments and regular specific needs. Some of these are inspired from my own life, both by people I meet, and ideas I have had.
For instance, I optimized the toolbox in Inkscape for a friend. A five-minute fix and a recompile and his workflow was improved.
Next on my list is to make a set of kitchen knives for myself. The skills I gain will be used to provide tools for people with arthritis and other grip issues. Or just to make beautiful things.
The main inspiration for my business comes from 30 years ago. When I was a teen, my high school guidance counselor asked me if I might help a young man. Nerve and muscle damage from a car accident had impeded his hobby of drawing. My counselor thought drawing with a mouse might restore the young man’s talent. I was asked to help because I was one of the rare kids with a home computer. A fancy 286+! I think it had a 10 megabyte hard drive? Ha!
The idea was to try my machine, then his caretaker would assess whether or not to purchase one for him. We met twice. The experience turned out less than optimal, and in the MS-DOS days, there wasn’t a lot of fine-tuning to be done with computer periphrals. It was a frustrating experience for that man. It has bothered me ever since, and I realized that I now have skills which would let me help people in those sorts of circumstances. Plus I love creating stuff!
For employment I am in the vending business. I do machine repair, and also supply a remote petroleum camp with snacks and sundry supplies like toothbrushes. I am rather distant from my employer, so the job requires a lot of self-motivation. On the other hand, it provides a lot of freedom. To go hiking. And start my own business.
Why do you use Linux?
I use Linux because I must meddle with things. I like breaking and fixing software other people have made. I like making my own. I like seeing what’s out there and what is possible.
Overall, Linux is a wonderful environment that lets me poke my nose in all sorts of interesting files. Other operating systems would not condone this, so they are of little interest to me. Why eat hamburger out when you have steak at home, right?
What distribution do you run on your main desktop/laptop?
I use Ubuntu.
At times in the past I have used Crunchbang Linux, and like many other people, I have tried quite a few distributions. I’m not hung-up on Ubuntu, I just find their minimal image CD to be useful as a base system.
What desktop environment do you use and why do you use it?
I run Openbox for a desktop environment, using bits and pieces that I have written for my own use and enjoyment. Openbox provides a minimum of functionality, allowing me freedom to write what I need. Currently I use tint2 as a taskbar/panel. Someday I will replace that with my own.
I’m not too interested in software like Unity, KDE, and GNOME, as I feel the goal of those environments is a uniform and standardized user experience. This conflicts with my desire to replace individual elements of the desktop with my own creations.
What one piece of Linux software do you depend upon? Why is it so important?
Python, and Geany as an editor. I program primarily in Python. In addition to that, there are bits and pieces of software I have created for myself. There is so much satisfaction in using what you make, and making what you need.
What kind of hardware do you run this setup on?
I’ll include that in the screenshot!
Will you share a screenshot of your desktop?
NO!
Just kidding.
Most everything you see is at least customized. I have to change things and will never be satisfied with someone else’s vision. Wallpapers are set at log in (or whenever) via a script called randwall.
I have two monitors. On monitor one you can see the shutdown menu that I wrote for myself using pyqt. A friend provided the icons. I created the “menu” button too, since tint2 lacks this feature. Both have been rewritten three to four times over the years, and I expect I am not done there.
You can also see some system stats displayed using neofetch. I just found it and I really like it.
On monitor two is a series of lists (using conky), which are controlled via bash scripts in terminal. At the top is a little date/time bar. It is a new project which eventually will become a replacement for the tint2 panel at the bottom of monitor one.
Interview conducted October 3, 2016
The Linux Setup is a feature where I interview people about their Linux setups. The concept is borrowed, if not outright stolen, from this site. If you’d like to participate, drop me a line.
You can follow Linux Rig on Google+ here, follow me on Twitter here, and subscribe to the feed here.
I am aware that the computer can’t do the writing for me…But I’m for convenience, if I can write twice as much and the quality remains the same, then I prefer the computing. Writing is when I fly, writing is when I start fires.
—Charles Bukowski on computers, via The Captain is Out to Lunch
As Linux gets easier to work with, I wonder how many other people will feel comfortable enough to use OpenBSD for their desktop.
I’m not on Facebook so I don’t see too many Facebook-only posts. But I also assume if someone is saying something important, they’ll do so outside of Facebook.
John Gruber has more on this with more colorful language.
Walt Mossberg has a great, final column on the dangers of ambient computing:
I expect that one end result of all this work will be that the technology, the computer inside all these things, will fade into the background. In some cases, it may entirely disappear, waiting to be activated by a voice command, a person entering the room, a change in blood chemistry, a shift in temperature, a motion. Maybe even just a thought.
Your whole home, office and car will be packed with these waiting computers and sensors. But they won’t be in your way, or perhaps even distinguishable as tech devices.
This is ambient computing, the transformation of the environment all around us with intelligence and capabilities that don’t seem to be there at all.
While this sounds convenient, it’s a problem when our devices are choosing when to work, rather than us telling them what to do.
Wired reports on a future where we don’t need words. Instead, we point our cameras at what we want, not unlike children before they learn to speak or sign.
I’m all for automation and convenience, but the more power we give to our technology—the more we surrender our ability to explicitly tell our devices what we want them to do—the greater the chance of a future where we’re at the mercy of those devices. I’m not talking Skynet. I mean more important-yet-mundane things like not being able to easily hear new music and not being to type a simple email from scratch.
Having computers everywhere is an interesting idea. Just as long as we have the ability to control what they’re doing.
