Desktop Linux for Everyone
One may not agree with me, but it is my interpretation that, since the Chagossians aren’t seeing any profits for the ccTLD that corresponds to the land they lived on but were forcibly removed from, by buying .io domains, one directly supports the still-actual behavior of the UK government defending their colonial history and acts against human rights. (emphasis original)
A thought-provoking post about the politics of domains.
No to .io, yes to .xyz! | yarmo
This was submitted via the contact form. It’s always great reading about other people’s setups!
My linux desktop configuration| Dem Wahren, Schönen, Guten
This is an interesting debate over the utility of the sudo command. There are lots of perspectives, from how it allows you to log who’s doing what to a system, to how it helps protect users from themselves. It’s a surprisingly compelling thread considering it’s a command most of us use fairly regularly.
(via lobste.rs)
Is sudo almost useless? | StackExchange
A very cool look into K-9’s development, which is slow and steady. I stopped using it for some reason, but I’m thinking I should give it another try.
What’s up with K-9 Mail? | K-9
To be perfectly honest, I don’t remember how I found Emma! I’m guessing Twitter. But that’s not important. What’s important is that Emma uses Mint. She got into Linux during the pandemic and it wound up sticking. Mint gets you like that. I wasn’t a huge Mint user, but had it on a laptop, and have been using that laptop more as I work from (and around my) home. Emma uses Cinnamon and is enthusiastic about it. I’m using MATE and think it’s fine. I prefer GNOME but I like the smaller footprint of MATE on an older ThinkPad. And be sure to check out Emma’s Vim suggestions, too!
You can find more of The Linux Setup here.
You can follow me on Mastodon here and follow me on Twitter here.
Who are you, and what do you do?
Hi, I’m Emma. I am currently entering the final year of my BSc in Digital Forensics and Cyber Security at Technological University Dublin, but also working as a Security Analyst for edgescan. My passion is all things Linux, maths and Vim! You can find me on Twitter @3mm4h3ff.
Why do you use Linux?
Initially, I always used Linux through virtual machines for capture the flag competitions or minor tasks. While lockdown had us caught up indoors, I decided it was the right time to experiment and develop my command-line skills. While my laptop is primarily Windows, I ended up running Linux Mint 19.3 on my desktop. Since the move, I can see the dust gathering on my laptop! Nothing against Windows or other operating systems, but the reasons I use Linux are for freedom, security, good performance, and high stability.
What distribution do you run on your main desktop/laptop?
I am running Linux Mint 19.3, Tricia.
What desktop environment do you use and why do you use it?
Cinnamon! It’s extremely slick and easy to use, especially as it helped make the transition from Windows to Linux fairly fast. I have used GNOME on Ubuntu 18.04 in the past and love it!
What one piece of Linux software do you depend upon? Why is it so important?
If I can only pick one, it most definitely is Vim, the text editor! I am no expert—just a huge fan. I use Vim for the efficiency and countability! Whether I am using Linux or Windows, Vim’s got me covered. Lots of people ask how can they get into using Vim. It’s quite simple: on the shell prompt type vimtutor or check out vim-adventures.com. Thank me later!
What kind of hardware do you run this setup on?
Currently, I am running my setup on an Intel i5-2500K, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti, 16GB RAM and 250GB SSD. Superfast for my everyday usage.
Will you share a screenshot of your desktop?
Interview conducted May 26, 2020
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 me on Mastodon here, follow me on Twitter here and subscribe to the feed here.
There’s a genre of article that’s a lament for the state of RSS. You can get a nice sense of the scope of the genre here.
But I always link out to these articles because RSS is great and a more widespread adoption would result in more informed people (assuming everyone checks their reader, which is another issue).
It’s Time to Get Back Into RSS | Daniel Miessler
Someone asked Cory Doctorow about his tech set-up:
Nothing too surprising. But I’m always happy to see an email client get a shout-out. Working from home, I’m shocked how much I actually miss Outlook! But I didn’t want to intermingle my work and personal accounts in Thunderbird, so I’m using Evolution to handle my work Exchange email and it’s been super easy and seamless. I got it up and running in a few minutes.
I don’t see myself ever using Evolution as a primary client, but it’s doing the job as my temporary backup.
Avi reached out to me via the contact form, for which I’m eternally grateful. I’m also always happy to showcase that isn’t overly technical. Avi’s using Linux for lots of, as he puts it, “regular” things. Like so many, but not nearly enough, I’ve been working from home, which has been a real test of my own Linux rig. I’m able to make my own file format/workflow choices with personal work, but work-work often has less options. But I’ve been able to record screencasts and video chat quite easily. Office365’s web interface lets me deal with weird Word formatting issues pretty easily. I’m finding myself popping into my Windows VirtualBox less and less often.
You can find more of The Linux Setup here.
You can follow me on Mastodon here and follow me on Twitter here.
I am Avinash. I work for a major Human Capital Management company on the implementation side of things.
Why do you use Linux?
I am just a regular computer user: browse the web, listen to music/podcasts, play some Steam games (I am not a heavy gamer) and watch videos.
What distribution do you run on your main desktop/laptop?
I currently use Linux Mint 19.3 on my laptop. It is based on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and thus I know that I am fully supported until April 2023. If I need the latest and greatest software, I use a mix of Snaps, Appimages, and Flatpaks.
What desktop environment do you use and why do you use it?
I use Cinnamon, which is the flagship desktop of Linux Mint. I used GNOME in the past and I kind of miss the one-touch workflow with the meta key. Who knows? I might install it in the future.
What one piece of Linux software do you depend upon? Why is it so important?
Mozilla Firefox is my main piece of software. I use it because it is a browser I trust to protect my privacy. I also make use of almost all its services, like bookmark/password sync, data breaches, and Facebook container.
What kind of hardware do you run this setup on?
I have an Acer Swift 3 laptop which I bought last year. It has a core i5 processor, 8GB RAM and 1TB SSD.
Will you share a screenshot of your desktop?
Sure. Nothing fancy. Simple and uncluttered.
Interview conducted May 4, 2020
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 me on Mastodon here, follow me on Twitter here and subscribe to the feed here.
I don’t know what to think of this. I use Zoom and appreciate that they maintain a Linux client, but I know their security and privacy practices are problematic.
I have a Keybase account, but to be honest, I have no idea what to do with it. But I appreciate that they too, spend a lot of time maintaining a Linux client.
So maybe this is a good thing? A win-win as some people say? Zoom will improve and the Keybase team will thrive? And, perhaps I can be less embarrassed to admit I use Zoom? Because I feel some judgement out there…
Keybase joins Zoom | Keybase Blog
Facebook did offer privacy controls, but as with all software, default settings rule: Providing privacy controls is not the same as providing privacy. “What makes this seem secure, whether or not it actually is?”
I didn’t think much of Zuckerberg before reading this but I think even less of him and Facebook now.
The italicized part of the above quote comes directly from Zuckerberg’s personal notebook. It’s chilling because you have this person with access to all of this personal data not interested in securing said data, but rather, in making it look secure. It’s sort of like a bank that uses paper locks on their doors.
