When you can’t decide between 2 things, add a 3rd
I started writing a daily post over on baty.net but realized it probably belongs at daily.baty.net, since, well…“daily”. I couldn’t decide, so I came over here to this blog instead. Problem solved!1
No, problem definitely not solved.↩︎
Robin Sloan - the value of paper
The value of print is actually not about paper. It’s about the set of demands and offerings that that paper has. Privacy, stability, reliability, sovereignty.”
–Robin Sloan, Print is Forever
Chaos around here
I’m typing this in BBEdit on my Mac. Earlier today, I fired up the Linux laptop and thought, “Man, this is how I want to do computing.” This, in direct opposition to how I felt about it on Jan 1. As part of the new year, I’d “decided” that I was putting the Linux experiment on hold indefinitely. I’d also dismissed this blog as part of an attempt at consolidation.
None of these things stick. I’m about to boot the Beelink running Fedora/KDE and remind myself why I don’t want to live there. It seems like somewhere I’d like to live. Can it really be just an annoyance about keybindings? Can I really not live without a few of my favorite macOS apps?
Anyway, like I said, chaos1.
There’s a “companion piece” to this one.↩︎
What more to do?
Some days, I settle in at the computer, check my mail and read my feeds, then just stare at the thing wondering what else there is to do. I’ve played with nearly every bit of software made. I’ve made dozens of websites and blogs. I’ve changed operating systems. I’ve bought and assembled hardware. I kind of feel like, now what?
P.J. O’Rourke about maintenance
Everybody wants to save the Earth but nobody wants to help Mom do the dishes.
P.J. O’Rourke All the Trouble in the World
I was reminded of O’Rourke’s quote today while reading Joan Westenberg’s The Rime of the Ancient Maintainer
YouTube via RSS on the command line with ytrss
I’m a little addicted to YouTube. They just keep throwing interesting videos at me, and I watch them, for hours. It’s a problem.
In an effort to cut down on mindless viewing, and as a fan of little terminal (TUI) apps, I’ve installed1 ytrss, a nifty TUI RSS reader by @coffe, built for tracking and watching YouTube videos. I love me some RSS!
Screenshot of ytrss (from @coffe)
I learned about ytrss in the latest Linkdump No 87 - 82MHz↩︎
Is Linux my future or just a fun distraction?
TL;DR: I don’t know, yet.
Which one!?
Hooboy this is a tricky one.
Installing and tinkering with Linux is a blast. There’s so much to explore. I love the idea of Linux. I feel good when I’m using it.
I like that I can use whatever hardware I want, from very old to cutting edge. I like that my laptop can be upgraded and repaired, by myself, indefinitely.
Linux gives me all the control over my computing environment one could ever need. Too much, probably.
Most of the best software available for Linux is free…both kinds of free. I’m not afraid to spend money on software, but it’s nice not to always have to.
So what’s the problem?
For me, it’s about software and convenience. There are a few apps that I don’t want to live without and are only available on macOS. I could live without them, but I don’t want to. The lack of Messages.app on Linux could put me off the entire thing. Seems trivial, but isn’t. I just want to share a quick photo with my wife without needing to awkwardly transfer it to my iPhone first, then dropping it into Messages. My family isn’t going to change their behavior because I’m “trying something.”
Then, there are the key bindings. I use Emacs so the default key bindings are hardwired to my brain. On macOS, those bindings are not just in Emacs. They’re everywhere. It doesn’t matter what app I’m writing in, the bindings work. On Linux, not so much. There’s a setting in Gnome Tweaks that supposedly does it, but in my (admittedly brief) testing, it’s hit or miss. That inconsistency might be worse than not having it at all.
One day I wake up convinced I’m going to go all-in, full-time, with [Linux|macOS]. The next day I’m convinced of the opposite. There’s so much that both have to offer. It’s impossible to choose!
I obviously haven’t decided yet, so I’m running macOS on the desktop and Fedora/Gnome on the Framework laptop. I need to get to a point in Linux that things come naturally. I need to find software and workflows that mimic or match those on my Mac. That’s the only way to do a fair comparison.