Mini PC review: Beelink SER5 Pro with AMD Ryzen 5 5600H
About a month ago I bought a Beelink SER5 Pro Mini PC and have been using it as a desktop and test machine. I thought I’d give a quick review in case anybody else is looking at one of these for their own use. The SER5 was a bit...
My new favorite GNOME extension: quake-mode
Guake has long been a favorite application of mine. If you’re new to Guake, it’s a terminal application for Linux that stays out of site until it’s summoned with a hotkey, like the console in Id Software’s Quake games. Hit F12 or whatever combo you set up for it,...
Lazyweb: Best Linux distro for a 2015 MacBook Pro?
Apple has decided that my 2015 MacBook Pro isn’t deserving of the latest macOS, so I’m looking to run Linux on it to get a few more years out of it. My first plan was to put Fedora on it, but Fedora 36 and 37 have failed to “set...
Taming Mastodons for a better web
The surge of people joining Mastodon and the Fediverse the past few days has been inspiring. I’m optimistic about the potential for a better web, but experience keeps whispering in my ear. Right now, people are fired up and ready to try new things. They’re happy to sign up,...
Give nothing, expect nothing: GitLab’s the latest punching bag for entitled users
What do Docker, GitLab, and Red Hat have in common? Aside from various levels of participation in open source, they’ve all been punching bags over the past few years for non-paying users angry that they’ve taken some freebies off the table. When Docker had the temerity to introduce limits...
Quick update
If this blog was a child, family services would have taken it away by now… Sorry for the blog neglect, life’s been a whirlwind of activity for the last month or so. For those of you who don’t know already — I switched jobs at the beginning of September....
Tips: Making Vim easy
Vim’s flexibility and countless features are a major asset for experienced users, but a challenge for newbies. If you’ve always wanted to try Vim but were put off by your first attempts, you can start off gradually by getting to know Vim’s GUI and easy mode. This article is...
WordPress 2.1
After coming back from Linux.conf.au last week (I stayed in Sydney an extra week for vacation) I noticed that the WordPress folks had released 2.1 while I was busy getting sunburned. I’ve upgraded my blog to 2.1 and all went well. Definitely worth a look if you’re the blogging...
Vim tips: Using tabs
Before Vim 7.0 was released last May, I usually had six or seven xterms or Konsole windows open, each with a single Vim session in which I was editing a single file. This takes up a lot of screen space, and isn’t very efficient. With Vim 7.0, users now...
All mail clients suck…
Mutt just happens to be one of the mail clients that sucks less. I’d been getting tired of Sylpheed lately, so I decided to try out several text mail clients and see how they fit my email volume. Part of the fruits of my labor is this tutorial on...