Tag: linux

The Linux Setup – Mariana Balla, Ura

January 16, 2019

Mariana works for Ura, the design studio featured here. I agree with Mariana that GNOME is a huge time-saver. I use Cinnamon on Linux Mint, and it’s mostly a great desktop, but I really wish I could search files through the application launcher. In GNOME, you search everything at one time, which works very well for me. Also, please remember I’m super behind in posting interviews, so I’m sure Mariana has made it to Fedora 28, if not past it.

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?

    My name is Mariana Balla and I am an Information & Communication Technology student coming from Tirana. For the past two years I am a member of Open labs Hackerspace, a FLOSS community in my city that, since 2012, fosters events and meetups for open source projects. I work as Communications Manager for Ura, an open source design studio which also develops Identihub, a free software for hosting visual assets yourself. Additionally, I contribute to the Fedora Project as a Fedora Ambassador, to Wikimedia and CityZen. CityZen is an open source Android app that helps you navigate and explore points of interest with OpenStreetMap.

  2. Why do you use Linux?

    I had heard about Linux systems quite a lot in my early college years but I first “met” Linux at the hackerspace. Linux not only as a software, but also the ideology behind it. The values, the principals and the ethics. Also, I loved the fact that many Linux distros have communities of people that maintain the project. Later on I realized that the stability, security and freedom Linux systems offer cannot be compared to other proprietary operating systems. Also, the plethora of free apps and updates that you have at your disposal convinced me we should always choose open source solutions in tech.

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

    As a Fedora advocate it would have been weird if I was not using the Fedora distro. So, I’m a Fedora 27 user. Although, I am a little bit behind because Fedora 28 was just released on May 1st and I need to find time to upgrade.

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

    Currently I’m using GNOME 3.26.2. Fedora provides a pure GNOME experience. When I first started with Linux, I used Cinnamon. As a former Windows user Cinnamon helped me get familiar with Linux quickly. Now I just love GNOME’s features, as it helps me do everything faster and saves valuable time.

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

    I’d say that I spend a lot of time using Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird. Firefox is Fedora’s default browser and I am a huge fan of its extensions and add-ons. On the other hand, Thunderbird helps me quickly organize all my email accounts and keep track of all my conversations. I also use a lot of the LibreOffice suite, especially for work.

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

    I own a Lenovo Thinkpad X220 with an Intel Core i5-2520M CPU, a 8GB RAM and a 250GB SSD.

  7. Will you share a screenshot of your desktop?

Interview conducted May 2, 2018

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.

7 Things Desktop Linux Needs in 2019

January 15, 2019

I disagree with a few of these!

One Distro to Rule them All: Why? I know people complain about Linux fragmentation, but I think fragmentation is also what allows Linux to improve so steadily. All of these distros and desktop environments can “fail” quicker, allowing the community to learn faster. I don’t see multiple distributions as a problem. I’d be sad to see consolidation.

Culling the App Herd: Similar to above. Software moves in and out of development. It’s annoying if something you love disappears, but it happens across operating systems. It’s the nature of software. Very few programs last forever.

Real-Time Antivirus and Anti-Malware: The nature of Linux is different from Windows, which is what makes it more secure. I’m for anything that adds to the security of Linux, but I don’t see this as something needed urgently this year.

Prosumer-Grade Apps: “For those that don’t know, a prosumer is an amateur who purchases tools that are of professional-grade quality.” I think Linux serves pros, amateurs, and “prosumers” quite well. Not to brag, but I kind of have documented this pretty well. However, I would like to see more projects offer themselves a path to financial viability. Very few software projects make any money and depend upon donations. I wish we could figure out payment models that allow projects to see their work supported, while also letting anyone use their software, that also doesn’t bog projects down in accounting, rather than software development.

In fact, if I had to pick one thing Linux needs in 2019, I think the creation of inclusive-yet-realistic financial support models would be at the top of my list.

7 Things Desktop Linux Needs in 2019 | Linux.com

The Linux Setup – Nate Graham, Kubuntu

January 9, 2019

I agree with everything Nate says here. In fact, I feel like I could have said all of it, although not as eloquently and not as much from a KDE perspective. Linux is a fantastic resource for people who do work on their computers. The technical world is more and more oriented to people who are passively consuming content on mobile devices. That’s a fine thing, but it doesn’t work for everyone. I’m guessing it doesn’t work for most people reading this site.

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 Nate Graham, the Kubuntu Product Manager and organizer of KDE’s Usability & Productivity initiative. I blog about that and related topics at http://pointieststick.wordpress.com.

  2. Why do you use Linux?

    I use Linux because I believe it represents the last bastion of user-friendly and user-centric computing on this Earth, and I want to be a part of improving it and helping it to grow. As the major commercial players fall for the lure of mobile devices and let their desktop platforms stagnate or become spyware, it’s more important than ever that Linux be a credible alternative for busy people who actually have real work to get done.

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

    Kubuntu 17.10 with the Kubuntu backports PPA.

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

    I use KDE Plasma 5 because I believe it represents an ideal intersection of features and user-friendliness. Being built upon Qt—a high-quality industry-standard toolkit—it’s also got a very solid and maintainable foundation, which is important for the long-term health of the platform.

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

    I’d have to say KDE KRunner, which is an instant search/app launcher/utility tool like MacOS spotlight. It also does unit conversion, calculation, runs searches on specific web pages using your web browser…it’s pretty incredible. KRunner is an example of the kind of magical software that lets you enter a state of flow, where your thoughts seem to effortlessly transform into actions. It’s a mind-blowing productivity booster.

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

    An HP Spectre x360 laptop with a 13″ screen. I don’t use any additional displays or a mouse.

  7. Will you share a screenshot of your desktop?

Interview conducted March 8, 2018

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.

The Linux desktop: With great success comes great failure

December 20, 2018

I’ll continue being a Linux desktop user. For me, as a power user’s power user, it’s the best of all operating systems. But for most people, Linux will never be a drop-in replacement for macOS or Windows.

I like and respect Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, but I disagree with the premise of this article. Something doesn’t have to be popular to be successful. Desktop Linux works incredibly well. It’s an amazing tool for lots of people, many of whom you can read about here. Where is the failure? Is success defined just by “beating” Windows and OS X?

When I use Linux, all I see is success.

The Linux desktop: With great success comes great failure | Computerworld

Software and Services I Pay for: 2018

December 19, 2018

I’ve taken to writing about the software and services I pay for each year (2017 and 2016 are here). Not much has changed, but I think it’s helpful to share the things I find to be worth the money.

  • I paid for the CalDAV-Sync and CardDAV-Sync apps on my phone. They’re not free, but they’re one-time purchases. CalDAV, which I mentioned last year, lets me use Fastmail as my calendar and CardDAV lets me use my Fastmail address book, keeping me out of the Google ecosystem on my phone (if you ignore it’s an Android phone…). It took a bit of time to get my Fastmail address book together, but it’s well worth a few hours to know I can take my contacts with me anywhere.
  • I forgot to mention this last year, but I use a VPN on my phone and computers. I use privateinternetaccess (who have a nice Linux client). It’s around $40/year. Sometimes I can’t access certain sites because they can see I’m coming from a VPN but in general, I feel good paying for an additional level of privacy. It hasn’t killed my phone battery life, either.
  • I got off LastPass, because it seemed less-than-secure. I didn’t use it for anything terribly important, like banking, but it still seemed like I should explore other options. Opensource.com mentioned Bitwarden and I liked it enough to pay for it, at a very reasonable $10/year.
  • I’m not sure if this counts, but I support the Mastodon Patreon for $1/month. Twitter is rough. I love it for news and for promoting my work, but it can be a dark, sad place. Mastodon is better, mostly because it’s smaller, but I like the idea of supporting something that might someday lead to better online discourse. Here I am on Mastodon, by the way.
  • I also pay for music. Not via Spotify, but actually buying CDs and MP3s I can download. So I always have the tracks and never have to worry about losing access.

Things I Still Pay For and Love

  • Remember the Milk: It’s how I get through life.
  • Newsblur: The price is now a steep $36/year, but it’s something I truly love.
  • WordPress.com: Because I’m willing to pay for the privilege of not having to keep a WordPress installation updated.
  • New York Times and The Athletic subscriptions. I also added the Washington Post. Pay for journalism you trust and enjoy! Please!
  • Fastmail: Still one of my favorite things. It’s a great service. Given everything we continue to learn about Big Tech, at least here in the United States, I don’t know why anyone would trust a cost-free service with anything important.

Things I Still Pay For and Don’t Love

  • Dropbox. It works well but the company is just so rudderless. Instead of maintaining a core service, it feels like they’re always trying to pivot to something else, at the expense of the core service. Their dropping support for btrfs was inconvenient for me when I was using OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. But I couldn’t find a better tool than Dropbox, so I just switched to Linux Mint, which uses ext4. However, I’m open to switching to a service I don’t have to host or support myself.

Things I No Longer Pay For

  • I dropped Trello Gold because it didn’t seem to give me anything extra. I’m using Trello less anyway, and using AirTable for lots of stuff. In fact, I wish AirTable had a tier that wasn’t $10/month. I’d love something for individuals at $5/month.
  • OneDrive. I was using Dropbox for my work files but I lost a lot of the free storage I had accrued. I wound up switching to OneDrive for $2/month and it was pretty easy to use at a fine price point. I was able to dump the subscription when my institution switched to Office 365, so I still use OneDrive at work; I just don’t have to pay for it. Interestingly, my $2/month OneDrive account was non-stop up-sell but Office 365 leaves me alone. Perhaps because there’s no higher tier!

The list above is not all free and open source software, but it’s all stuff I depend upon. I also donate to the cost-free open source projects upon which I depend. I encourage you to do the same, if you can afford to.

You can follow Linux Rig on Google+ here, follow me on Twitter here, and subscribe to the feed here.

The Linux Setup – Roxy Dee, Security Architect

December 12, 2018

Like Roxy, I’m a big LXDE fan. It’s so light and quite configureable. Roxy is also a command line enthusiast, so it’s no surprise to see terminal listed as an essential program. It’s also interesting that Roxy has only had Linux laptops and servers until recently. Anecdotally it seems like some computer users are migrating to desktops, rather than using a laptop for everything. As a home desktop user, I approve of this migration. I love a big, comfortable keyboard and screen that you can’t really move.

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 Linux command line enthusiast! I currently work for Hurricane Labs as a security architect and I specialize in vulnerability management. I also create content related to the command line, so if you want to see my “#1LinuxThingADay” or other Linux stuff from me, you can do so on Twitter. I’m @theroxyd.

  2. Why do you use Linux?

    I’ve never really been much of a Windows user except to get things done and log off. When I discovered Linux and that I could do whatever I wanted from the command line much easier than any Windows experience I have ever had, I was hooked. I’m obsessed with finding more and more things I can do with Linux.

    It just makes sense to me more than any other operating system I’ve used. I like to try different distros, so I’m all about Linux in its many flavors.

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

    For my desktop, I’m using Lubuntu with LXDE. I also have a cute purple HP Stream that I’ve just put Debian on and I’m using that to develop the command line workshop I’m creating now. Ubuntu and Debian are perfect for my desktop and laptop. Although I’m a Linux nerd, I like to keep it simple when it comes to personal computing.

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

    LXDE. I love how simple and lightweight it is. Especially because my desktop has an Intel chip!

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

    When I’m not surfin’ the web, I’m using terminal. I guess that should come as no surprise given that I enjoy the command line so much.

    A recent discovery for me is Shotcut, which is video editing software. I’m hoping to use this more because I want to start making videos which is something I haven’t really used my Linux desktop for previously.

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

    I’m not much of a hardware nerd so I don’t even remember. I’m using a secondhand computer with an Intel Core i5-3330 CPU that had Windows on it.

    It’s now my first Linux desktop. Every other Linux OS I had was either on a laptop or server, and I went without a desktop for a long time.

  7. Will you share a screenshot of your desktop?

    Here’s my desktop screenshot.

Interview conducted February 7, 2018

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.

Pinebook: My First Few Surprising Hours With A $99 Linux Laptop

December 6, 2018

I hadn’t heard of this. The specs aren’t great and I’m shocked it comes with a modified KDE by default, but I’m very intrigued (even though everyone seems to agree the keyboard is truly awful). The price-point makes it feel relatively low-risk. I don’t think I’d use this for serious work, but it might be nice to take to conferences and meetings.

Although, apparently for $50 more, you can get elementaryOS running on an Acer C720!

Pinebook: My First Few Surprising Hours With A $99 Linux Laptop | Forbes