Tag: linux

Dropbox client warns me that it’ll stop syncing in Nov, why?

August 30, 2018

Dropbox is annoyingly dropping support for a bunch of Linux file systems. Because backup is so important, I don’t want to use something self-hosted, but I think I’ll give SpiderOak another shot.

I’d say Dropbox doesn’t care about Linux, but honestly I think it’s more they don’t care about their customers (see the Public Folder debacle). They’re just not an awesome company to work with.

Dropbox client warns me that it’ll stop syncing in Nov, why? | Dropbox Community

Moving Beyond Themes

August 23, 2018

Sam Hewitt has a very nuanced post on the challenge of customization with desktops, specifically GNOME. The ability to customize makes it hard for software designers to know how things will render. So less customization options makes their life much easier. But the ability to customize it what draws many of us to Linux. He ends on a fair thought:

I would rather see GNOME evolve as a platform and become a little less developer-hostile by dropping support for third-party themes, than stagnate. Doing so would also bring us in line with the how the major (successful) platforms maintain a consistent look and feel and consider app developers’ control over their apps and their rights to their brand identities.

That said, I doubt such a hardline position will be widely warmly received, but I would like to see a more closed approach to look and feel. Though, perhaps actually building some sort of framework that allows for custom stylesheets (so that downstreams can have their unique visual identities) that doesn’t involve totally overriding the one at the toolkit level would be the best solution.

Moving Beyond Themes | Sam Hewitt

Taking a new direction

August 1, 2018

These statistics brought much internal debate within the Lubuntu team, but we decided that going forward, we need to adapt for the current state of the market. Therefore, our main focus is shifting from providing a distribution for old hardware to a functional yet modular distribution focused on getting out of the way and letting users use their computer.

This is really interesting. Lubuntu is still going to be light—just not as light. Which will allow it to do interesting things while also running well on most machines. LXDE is nice, but it’s not my favorite desktop environment. I prefer Xfce for smallish footprint and i3 for no footprint. But Lubuntu could head into an interesting direction as it embraces newer technologies.

Taking a new direction | Lubuntu

The Linux Setup – Nochka, Nochka’s Weekly Tech Findings

July 25, 2018

Nochka has a youthful energy to her responses. Mostly in that she’s using a lot of software I’m not familiar with! These days, I tend to stick the defaults, but now I’m curious about a lot of the things mentioned here! Specifically, Typora, since I’m always in the market for a good Markdown editor. Nochka also calls out how well Linux works for control freaks, and I have to say that I agree! Minor tweaks are usually easy to make and being able to resolve them always makes me feel better, ie, in control.

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’m a 20-year-old college student from Indonesia. When I have some spare time, I also write on my blog (Nochka’s Weekly Tech Findings) about my everyday experiences using Linux and Android, such as reviews of apps I just discovered or fixes for problems I’ve just encountered. I like to think of my blog as a place where I can improve my writing skills and share my thoughts with the world.

  2. Why do you use Linux?

    I love the variety of choices and customization options Linux has to offer, which is a good thing for someone like me, who likes to try new things and can be a control freak sometimes.

    About a year ago, I decided to take a big leap and stopped using Windows, because Linux is capable of doing​ everything I need it to do, and all the news about Microsoft makes me appreciate the open source philosophy more. I also don’t have to worry about malware 😉

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

    I’m running Xubuntu 16.04 LTS.

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

    I use Xfce, because I don’t have the most powerful machine, yet I still want to have a pretty desktop. I also use TopMenu and Windowck plugins so I can have global app menu and window buttons on the top panel.

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

    I don’t think I can depend on only one piece of software. But I’m a heavy user of Albert, a keyboard-based launcher. It’s a big part of my workflow, and the first thing I’ll install on a new system. I also browse the internet with Firefox, take notes with Nvpy, and listen to music with Gmusicbrowser. To help with my studies, I use LibreOffice, Zotero, Goldendict, and Org-mode. For my blogging needs, I use Typora for writing drafts and Shutter for taking screenshots.

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

    I’m using a Samsung NP370R4V laptop with Intel Pentium 997 (1.6 Ghz), 4GB RAM, and 500GB of disk space. It’s still running smoothly for a four-year-old laptop with mediocre specs.

  7. Will you share a screenshot of your desktop?

    Sure!

Interview conducted August 3, 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.