Privacy, hardware, and unfair comparisons

Nov. 9, 2021

One of the challenges of taking on a privacy-first approach to tech, and when recommending changes to other people, is the experience when changing hardware. As a Linux desktop enthusiast with a privacy emphasis and someone who installs third-party ROMs on my mobile, I spend a lot of time tinkering with old hardware. This is often for two reasons. One, I find it fun to refurbish old hardware for new uses. Two, I have an extremely low budget and acquiring old hardware is somewhere between cheap and free. But I often deal with very underwhelming experiences because I am using old hardware. I think this permeates through the user experience and leads to unfair comparisons that is stopping people from trying, and enjoying, alternative options with a privacy emphasis.

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Trying (and failing) to find something happy

Nov. 5, 2021

I will admit, I am in a dark place a lot lately.

Don’t get this confused with not being able to go out. Refuse to let extroverts make introverts feel guilty for not going out in the public. I can 100% guarantee you that being around other people would fix my overall disposition. I find other people… Draining. Going out in public has the exact opposite effect on me. I dislike eating at restaurants, prefer to watch movies at home (where I can have real captions on the screen and not in some dumb box), and would never waste my time shopping in a store where they probably don’t have what I’m looking for.

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Firefox is just the better browser. That’s the blog.

Nov. 2, 2021

At this point the browser flame wars have been going on for three decades. If software freedom and privacy matter to you, even a small amount, then why are you still using Chrome?

The fact is that using any version of Chrome, whether the official Google version or a Chromium fork, continues to solidify the dominance Google has over the open web. Yes, there is an open-source version of Chrome that is theoretically de-coupled from Google. But, you could say the same for Android and the AOSP project. The project may be open-source, however the direction and priorities are clearly set by Google. Just look at the differences between official Chrome and Chromium, including the recent enforcement of using Google sync features with Chromium.

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I’m thoroughly impressed with CloudReady on a nearly 8 year old Dell

Nov. 1, 2021

Being able to re-purpose old hardware for modern uses is one of the pillars of tech I strongly believe in. I’ve been repairing PC’s for over 10 years, trying to squeeze as much life out of hardware other people felt deserved to be in the trash heap. With this mindset, I recently had a chance to install CloudReady onto an old laptop for a coworker and I have to say: I am thoroughly impressed.

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Gnome theming and tweaks on Pop_OS

Oct. 25, 2021

Although the default theming from Pop_OS is nice and hasn’t been a problem for the 2 years or so I’ve been daily driving it, for whatever reason I got the urge to play around with new Gnome themes. I believe this was largely driving by an interview with Pop_OS principal engineer Jeremy Soller on the Opt Out Podcast.

In the interview, Jeremy Soller indicated that he has a vision that Pop_OS isn’t necessary a distro, but a series of configurations and tools that can be applied to any distribution. Rather than thinking of Pop_OS as a complete package, like Windows or MacOS, my desktop really is something I own and can do what I want with it, which includes changing the look and feel.

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Configuring wireless adb and Android screen mirroring with scrcpy on Pop_OS

Oct. 23, 2021

This is a way to connect to an Android device wirelessly through adb. Doing this will enable using scrcpy over the network, which is important because my phone cannot currently use it’s USB-C port.

The downside to this setup is that you need to be able to connect to the device over USB at least once.

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Building the perfect CLI-only laptop with the Pinebook Pro

Feb. 17, 2021

Networking

These are popular and baked right into the OS.

• nmcli
• nm-tui

speed-test
Went with this snap instead of fast because fast is not available for arm64 and I want to use on my Pinebook Pro. Instead I’m using speed-test.

bartaz / speed-test-snap

CLI Management

Fish Shell

Finally, a command line shell for the 90s

This is much better than the standard bash shell. The directions on their site weren’t the way I needed to set it up, however.

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Playing in my our Lovelier World | LAN Minecraft server setup guide

Feb. 15, 2021

Having exclusively played the Java version of Minecraft for a decade, I was finally pulled into the Bedrock edition because of a new map from Stampy. In his recent videos he has been exploring his Lovelier World which my 5-year old has been devouring. Of course, this means I wanted to setup a server so both of us could play in Stampy’s Lovelier World together.

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Streaming at home with NDI and virtual cams for family fun

Feb. 8, 2021

I’ve used OBS for a long time for game and screen recording. I was well aware that was barely scratching the surface of what it can do. Yet, that’s basically all I needed it for, mostly for screen recording training videos. I never had a reason to go deeper into OBS, but now I’ve spent my entire vacation learning deep diving after running some fun experiments based on ideas I had while watching a few of my favorite streamers. In particular, virtual cams and NDI streaming.

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Embracing my disability & addressing accessibility

Jan. 25, 2021

Although there are not many nice things to say about 2020 – including my journey through the economic crisis of being pandemic laid-off, being denied unemployment by the State of Arizona, then moving 2,000 miles across the country – there was one aspect of my life that has changed for the better. This is the year I finally accepted that I am hearing disabled.

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