Since i got this new hardware, i have spent many hours gaming, compiling code, browsing the net and enjoying being able to do more than 1-2 things at once. People also seem to think that hardware compatibility on Linux is terrible, but its not. Sure, some companies devices work terribly on Linux (some of the older Lexmark printers for example) but a lot of hardware works just fine.

Expect more frequent blogging from me in the future.

Just a quick post to get my blog verified on Empire Avenue.

Short term convenience means that a user is able to get up and running and familiar with an application, distro or other piece of software very quickly, this has its benefits. It allows a user to quickly get the work they want to do done without having to learn lots of keyboard shortcuts/commands/read lots of documentation. For many people, this is the way they like to do things.

Now, long-term convenience means that a user is required to spend a little more time mastering a given application, but it allows them to have far greater flexibility and more importantly perhaps, convenience. I think the true meaning of convenience is not ease of use but less effort for the user, these two things are not the same thing, ease of use is how easy something is for a user, less effort relates to how effortlessly a user is able to accomplish a task, let me give you an example.

Say a user editing code wanted to open a document, go to a certain line, delete bits of code from inside other bits of code and then go to another set of lines and delete a whole bunch of lines entirely. In gedit, which I would class as a short-term convenience application, the user would have to tediously scroll around the document constantly switching between the keyboard and the mouse. But what if that user used something like vim, which I would class as a long-term convenience application. Then all the user has to do is enter a few short commands all strung together and they don’t even need to use the mouse.

Sure its easier to learn to use gedit, but is sacrificing true convenience for a slightly lower learning curve really worth it? in the long-term, it would be more beneficial for the user to simply learn to use vim. Be sure to share your thoughts in the comments.

Now, Ubuntu’s PPA’s on the other hand, which i used extensively when i used Ubuntu, are great, but they require constant management, because you are constantly adding, removing and changing around the PPA’s. Not to mention the fact that more often than not, many Ubuntu users will have upwards of 40-50 PPA’s added to their system at any one time.

The AUR on the other hand, requires much less maintenance, it only needs to be added once. After that you can either build the PKGBUILD’s by hand or use an AUR helper like yaourt. Either way, it’s very, very easy to use.

The other great advantage of the AUR is that dependencies of applications in the AUR are very unlikely to break your system because the packages are often only a little bit more bleeding edge than the packages in the other repositories.

I am no longer with blogger, thanks to a failed data import and many other annoying things.

Thanks to the comments that persuaded me to come back.

My initial thoughts are that Arch is right for me, it has no frills, it has no intention of being an annoying, newbie oriented, hindering, clunky, non-configurable distro. I am currently happy with my selection of fluxbox, its minimal, although requires some configuring to get right, even after a whole week, I have barely started getting it to the point where I am happy, but at least it doesn’t feel half-configured still, it’s just not the way I want it yet.

Pacman, I like Pacman, its quicker than apt and uses fewer resources, it does seem to have connection problems frequently, although that could be blamed on my net connection, which is currently behaving like a 5-year-old on drugs (i.e. Its frustrating, annoying and constantly making me want to stab something). One thing switching to Arch has done is made me rethink just about all my default application choices, with the exception of screen, irssi and bash, all of which I will probably never swap out.

Installing Arch is not nearly as hard as many people think, it is as easy as an Ubuntu install until you get to configuring graphics and sound, which caused me to become stuck, but I soon figured it out thanks to the awesome arch users on irc. One thing I can recommend to anyone who is thinking of trying Arch is to read the Arch wiki! The Arch wiki is hands down some of the best documentation I have ever used. Not only is it great quality, it’s also extremely comprehensive and provides more than just an installation guide.

The Arch repositories also contain everything you will ever need, they are just as big as Ubuntu’s repositories and they contain much more recent software.

Overall, I am loving Arch, it is a great distro and I plan on using it for a long time to come.

Just a few minutes ago however, I had a *lightbulb* moment, I realised that I should just stick with Ubuntu, why? because I don’t have to sign the contributor agreement, I don’t have to let my membership expire, I don’t need to switch distro’s, I realised that I am happy right where I am, I am happy with Ubuntu. I realised that I don’t actually contribute to Ubuntu itself much, I write my own code, which isn’t included in Ubuntu. I write documentation that isn’t included directly in Ubuntu, I don’t actually contribute anything *directly* to Ubuntu.

So why did i feel this way? why did I feel as if I wasnt doing enough? as if I didnt fit in? I realised that I *do* fit in, I realised that I had no obligation to work my way up to contributing directly to Ubuntu, i already contribute to it in my own unique way. I also now understand that I don’t need to disagree with anything canonical do, since Ubuntu will still be able to use plain old GNOME, it will still be as flexible as before, I realised that I didnt have to accept the default stuff, I could do whatever I wanted, it is Linux after all.

Have you ever felt this way? If yes, what did you do about it?

https://github.com/nisshh/dotfiles

Enjoy!

First of all, I have irssi running inside screen (mostly because I use nicklist.pl), plus screen is useful in a bunch of other ways. The scripts I currently use are:

• nicklist.pl
• lastfm.pl
• scriptassist.pl
• hilightwin.pl
• usercount.pl
• adv_windowlist.pl
• calc.pl
• anames.pl
• shortenurl.pl

The theme I use is a modification of the madcow theme called 88_madcows by Aaron Toponce.

Here is a screenshot of my current irssi window:

My irssi window...

I really like the 88_madcows theme and like Aaron, I also used to use the madcows theme, although at the time I didnt know any Perl or anything, so didn’t consider modifying the theme.

If your reading this post and you don’t use irssi, I highly recommend you check it out, it is an excellent IRC client and the only one I have been able to tolerate using for the past couple of years. If you use irssi, please go ahead and share your setup in the comments.

DDG (DuckDuckGo) is great for a number of reasons:

• DDG doesn’t track your searches (Google does)
• Uses a cool !bang syntax to make searching faster (example: ‘!w linux’ will take you directly to the Wikipedia page for linux, hundreds of !bang shortcuts are available for many popular sites and topics)
• Almost as good search results as Google, there have only been a tiny handful of searches that havent been very good
• Fast and minimal
• The API is open source

Blekko is also very cool, it uses a neat concept where users search using slashes which are designed to give more relevant results. Blekko is also nice and fast and the search results are very good.

I encourage everyone to give these search engines a go, you might just be surprised at what you find.