I’m Nat Friedman, future CEO of GitHub. AMA.

June 13, 2018

What is your response to people moving repos to GitLab and other providers?
Developers are independent thinkers and will always have a healthy degree of skepticism, but I admit I was sad to see that some felt compelled to move their code. I take the responsibility of earning their trust seriously.

OTOH, I think it’s great that git gives developers the flexibility to move their repos like this, and I hope those who have tried out other Git hosts in the past few days will keep an open mind and consider moving back once we’ve demonstrated our commitment to openness and made GitHub even better. If they choose not to move back, that’s their prerogative and we celebrate developer choice even when developers don’t choose us.

I understand why people are upset about Microsoft buying GitHub, but the whole point of Git is that this kind of thing doesn’t matter. With Git, you have all of the project files on your local machine. Repositories can be easily moved. This is why non-proprietary tools are best. Because when you have to move, you can. It’s encouraging that Friedman gets this.

I host my personal site through GitHub and I’m not moving just yet. I want to see how things shake out. But if I do have to move, I know it’ll be easy.

I’m Nat Friedman, future CEO of GitHub. AMA. | r/AMA

You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS

June 7, 2018

I’m interested in this because Chromebooks are cheap and pretty light. The idea that I could use it for actual programs, rather than just as a big browser, is interesting. Especially if it happens natively. I know there’s Crouton, but it always seemed risky to buy a machine and potentially break it.

Of course, as we learned earlier this week, I’m still pretty committed to my Thinkpad.

You can now run Linux apps on Chrome OS | TechCrunch

On Old ThinkPads…

June 5, 2018

I remember going to conferences and seeing the older open source people using super old, dirty ThinkPads that looked gigantic and heavy. Whenever I looked at their screens, I had no idea what was going on, nor even what distro they might be using. But I thought it was cool that their technology was old-yet-timeless.

This weekend, taking Amtrak up to a conference, my old, giant, dirty ThinkPad up on my tray, I realized I had become one of those open source people.

It kind of felt nice, but it also kind of made me use a lot of compressed air on it when I got home.

Why I migrated from LastPass to Bitwarden

May 30, 2018

I read about Bitwarden in this article about Firefox extensions. It convinced me to research it, which is how I found Daniel’s post. I decided to give Bitwarden a try (I’d been interested in getting off of LastPass) and Bitwarden has been working well for me. In fact, it feels just like LastPass. I’m happy to support an open source project and plan to move to the paid tier when my life settles down a tiny bit.

Bitwarden is nice, though.

Why I migrated from LastPass to Bitwarden | Ctrl blog

How to undo your to-do list

May 29, 2018

We were talking about to-do lists, because that’s exactly the kind of thing that we talk about, and she said she was removing things from her calendar that she didn’t want to do.

Wait a second, I thought. WE CAN ACTUALLY REMOVE THINGS?!

This isn’t technology or Linux-related but I think it’s an important point for everyone: we can change our mind about doing things. Our to-do lists aren’t written in stone. And they should reflect what we want to do, not what our past selves are forcing us to do.

How to undo your to-do list | Brass Ring Daily

After 5 years and $3M, here’s everything we’ve learned from building Ghost

May 23, 2018

So the biggest takeaway after 5 years is that we have been moving, and will continue to move up market, toward professional users who value power and flexibility over ease of signup. This is where we can win compared to the competition. This is where Ghost comes into its own.

There’s a lot of great stuff in this post, from the challenge of user experience with free and open source software, to GitHub creating a culture of anger, rather than creation.

I don’t use Ghost, but I like that they’re creating a product designed to privilege user choice. Even at the expense of complexity.

After 5 years and $3M, here’s everything we’ve learned from building Ghost | ghost / Blog (via Steven Rosenberg)

The Linux Setup – Peter Y. Chuang, Writer

May 22, 2018

Peter is a writer who makes a great case for Linux. I’m surprised more writers don’t use it. It’s got so much flexibility, it’s easy to make it look and act just right, which I find important for writing. In fact, I kind of like toggling between different distributions, just for a new look when I work. It’s like working in a new place without leaving home.

You can find more of The Linux Setup here.

You can follow Linux Rig on Google+ here and follow me on Twitter here.

  1. Who are you, and what do you do?

    I am Peter Y. Chuang. I am a writer. I write novels, short stories, and other stuff, some of which I put on my website, which is hosted on a server running Linux (of course). I also make a GNOME/GTK+ theme.

  2. Why do you use Linux?

    I tried Linux for the first time nine or ten years ago out of curiosity, and I was very much impressed by its performance, its virtual desktops (coming from Windows, that was quite a revelation), and its customizability. Unfortunately, it took me a few years before I could switch to Linux full-time, as I relied on Microsoft Excel for the financial modeling work that I used to do.

    After being a full-time Linux user for about five or six years, using Linux has now become a habit, so I don’t usually think too much about why I use Linux until I have to touch a Windows machine (I am the tech support guy in my house, so touching Windows machines is inevitable). These days I find Windows very difficult to set up and use. A lot of things that Linux users find very basic require convoluted solutions on Windows. Also, Microsoft’s endless attempts to trick users into letting their computers do unwanted stuff is, quite frankly, sickening.

    To put it simply, I use Linux because Linux is better, easier to use and control, and it’s free and open-source software.

  3. What distribution do you run on your main desktop/laptop?

    Arch Linux. I use it because it is a rolling distribution, has a very good package management system, and is very easy to configure, even though it doesn’t seem like it.

  4. What desktop environment do you use and why do you use it?

    GNOME. I like it for its minimalism, and I think it’s perfect for users who are familiar with keyboard shortcuts.

  5. What one piece of Linux software do you depend upon? Why is it so important?

    LibreOffice Writer. I use it to do most of my writing and editing.

  6. What kind of hardware do you run this setup on?

    I run Linux on a custom-built desktop machine and, until a few weeks ago, a late-2015 Dell XPS 13.

  7. Will you share a screenshot of your desktop?

    Sure. This is my desktop with the theme I made, which is forked from Flat-Plat.

Interview conducted June 17, 2017

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.

Stack Overflow Isn’t Very Welcoming. It’s Time for That to Change.

May 16, 2018

It’s nice to see any technical community looking at what it’s doing well and what it can do better. I especially love this goal:

Let’s reject the false dichotomy between quality and kindness. Quality matters because it means posts can help more people. But a larger, more diverse community produces better artifacts, not worse ones.

Stack Overflow is huge. It doesn’t need to do the right thing. The leadership is making an important choice.

Stack Overflow Isn’t Very Welcoming. It’s Time for That to Change. | Stack Overflow Blog