<![CDATA[nixers - All Forums]]> https://nixers.net/ Wed, 15 Apr 2026 08:22:54 +0000 MyBB <![CDATA[Ken Thompson tells a story]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-Ken-Thompson-tells-a-story Mon, 27 Oct 2025 02:22:18 +0000 jkl]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-Ken-Thompson-tells-a-story https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmVHkL0IWk4]]> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmVHkL0IWk4]]> <![CDATA[Atomic Distros]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-Atomic-Distros Thu, 18 Sep 2025 10:05:50 +0000 pkal]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-Atomic-Distros <![CDATA[Some fun engineering advice blog]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-Some-fun-engineering-advice-blog Sat, 21 Jun 2025 08:24:45 +0000 freem]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-Some-fun-engineering-advice-blog Maybe there is a better forum category for this, if so, please move the thread accordingly.

Anyway, here's the link: https://grugbrain.dev

Enjoy!]]> Maybe there is a better forum category for this, if so, please move the thread accordingly.

Anyway, here's the link: https://grugbrain.dev

Enjoy!]]> <![CDATA[UNIX maximalism and minimalism]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-UNIX-maximalism-and-minimalism Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:41:48 +0000 ckester]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-UNIX-maximalism-and-minimalism
After reading it, I'm prompted to ask: is the trend to rewrite so many utilities in Rust or Go an example of minimalism, or of bloat?

I'm tempted to say the latter, because I don't care for the toolchains they bring along. Any time I look at the git repository for some tempting project and see references to cargo, I say no thank you. I dislike that almost as much as cmake.

(It's taken me years to grudgingly accept autotools. But it's still a strike against any program that uses them.)

And maybe I'm misunderstanding or overreacting but golang apparently has a worrisome style of pulling dependencies out of the cloud. Um, no, I'm not comfortable with that either.

What do my fellow nixers think? Am I just a crotchety old C programmer who likes simple makefiles? and everything statically linked and preferably less than a megabyte after stripping (less than 500K even better)?]]>
After reading it, I'm prompted to ask: is the trend to rewrite so many utilities in Rust or Go an example of minimalism, or of bloat?

I'm tempted to say the latter, because I don't care for the toolchains they bring along. Any time I look at the git repository for some tempting project and see references to cargo, I say no thank you. I dislike that almost as much as cmake.

(It's taken me years to grudgingly accept autotools. But it's still a strike against any program that uses them.)

And maybe I'm misunderstanding or overreacting but golang apparently has a worrisome style of pulling dependencies out of the cloud. Um, no, I'm not comfortable with that either.

What do my fellow nixers think? Am I just a crotchety old C programmer who likes simple makefiles? and everything statically linked and preferably less than a megabyte after stripping (less than 500K even better)?]]> <![CDATA[The Origins of Emacs, uncovered.]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-The-Origins-of-Emacs-uncovered Wed, 24 Jul 2024 00:54:29 +0000 jkl]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-The-Origins-of-Emacs-uncovered https://onlisp.co.uk/On-the-Origin-of-Em...-1976.html]]> https://onlisp.co.uk/On-the-Origin-of-Em...-1976.html]]> <![CDATA[text coordinate systems]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-text-coordinate-systems Thu, 27 Jun 2024 18:13:44 +0000 ckester]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-text-coordinate-systems
https://zed.dev/blog/zed-decoded-text-co...te-systems

Much of this echoes Finseth's classic book on implementing emacs-style editors, but with updates to reflect our Unicoded world.

(Many people will avoid dealing with these issues by simply dropping in whatever text widget their favorite library provides, but I enjoy cooking from scratch.)]]>
https://zed.dev/blog/zed-decoded-text-co...te-systems

Much of this echoes Finseth's classic book on implementing emacs-style editors, but with updates to reflect our Unicoded world.

(Many people will avoid dealing with these issues by simply dropping in whatever text widget their favorite library provides, but I enjoy cooking from scratch.)]]> <![CDATA[Old vi]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-Old-vi Wed, 15 May 2024 22:08:02 +0000 jkl]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-Old-vi Result: a new Vim patch…

https://github.com/vim/vim/pull/14778]]> Result: a new Vim patch…

https://github.com/vim/vim/pull/14778]]> <![CDATA[Filesystem choice]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-Filesystem-choice Thu, 18 Apr 2024 09:25:51 +0000 maksim]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-Filesystem-choice Artix Linux because I kinda dislike systemd. So I've been thinking about a lot of choices that have to be made while installing and the one I can't answer for myself is the filesystem I should choose. I am currently choosing between ext4, btrfs, zfs, xfs, reiser(fs/4), heard it's a killer filesystem ;). I've also learnt about bcachefs, which seems kind of interesting. I'm not interested in using RAID, LVM and encryption. I want to have a simple setup with one /boot partition and one / partition.

So I'd like to hear from you]]> Artix Linux because I kinda dislike systemd. So I've been thinking about a lot of choices that have to be made while installing and the one I can't answer for myself is the filesystem I should choose. I am currently choosing between ext4, btrfs, zfs, xfs, reiser(fs/4), heard it's a killer filesystem ;). I've also learnt about bcachefs, which seems kind of interesting. I'm not interested in using RAID, LVM and encryption. I want to have a simple setup with one /boot partition and one / partition.

So I'd like to hear from you]]> <![CDATA[Rocky's Sketchbook]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-Rocky-s-Sketchbook Sat, 20 Jan 2024 15:14:58 +0000 rocx]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-Rocky-s-Sketchbook

The smash hit sequel to "Why rocx is Fucking Amazing" has finally arrived for its 9-ish-year anniversary, curated by the box himself. I finally got a working tablet again from a thrift store and feel like getting back into shitposting with visual diarrhea for the unwashed masses to suffer through.

On the plus side, you're getting 100% genuine artisanally-crafted garbage not even robots can beat.]]>

The smash hit sequel to "Why rocx is Fucking Amazing" has finally arrived for its 9-ish-year anniversary, curated by the box himself. I finally got a working tablet again from a thrift store and feel like getting back into shitposting with visual diarrhea for the unwashed masses to suffer through.

On the plus side, you're getting 100% genuine artisanally-crafted garbage not even robots can beat.]]> <![CDATA[webring ideas]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-webring-ideas Fri, 27 Oct 2023 15:05:00 +0000 yakumo.izuru]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-webring-ideas
Quote:A webring (or web ring) is a collection of websites linked together in a circular structure, and usually organized around a specific theme, often educational or social.[1] They were popular in the 1990s and early 2000s, particularly among amateur websites.

With that in mind, considering that webrings at this age are more or less dead, and there was one guy who went to make one for ActivityPub users. I thought of something different on a XMPP room of mine after reading a post from Russ Cox that z3bra posted in #nixers.

Quote:webring idea: everyone uses qrcodes made with the above and we don't even need link to each other, only the codes have to be shared

And I began doing that using the WebAssembly qart generator for three of my sites.

Examples:
[Image: 653ae51345503cb283716a28.png?web]

This one points to chaotic.ninja

What do you think about it?]]>
Quote:A webring (or web ring) is a collection of websites linked together in a circular structure, and usually organized around a specific theme, often educational or social.[1] They were popular in the 1990s and early 2000s, particularly among amateur websites.

With that in mind, considering that webrings at this age are more or less dead, and there was one guy who went to make one for ActivityPub users. I thought of something different on a XMPP room of mine after reading a post from Russ Cox that z3bra posted in #nixers.

Quote:webring idea: everyone uses qrcodes made with the above and we don't even need link to each other, only the codes have to be shared

And I began doing that using the WebAssembly qart generator for three of my sites.

Examples:
[Image: 653ae51345503cb283716a28.png?web]

This one points to chaotic.ninja

What do you think about it?]]> <![CDATA[Cyber hunt]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-Cyber-hunt Wed, 18 Oct 2023 10:06:08 +0000 z3bra]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-Cyber-hunt
It's been quite a while since my one, but I'm here with a new Internt Scavenger Hunt !
This one has been cooking for the past year, and this is with great pleasure that I advertise it to the community ! Without further ado, here's the link:

⠵ CYB3R HUNT ⠫

It is much more involved and narrated than the other hunts I've made, and benefits from all the feedbacks I got, so brace yourselves ! There's also a whole story line going with it, and progressing through the hunt will unfold the plot.

I hope you guys will enjoy it! Don't hesitate to share it outside of this community, I made it for the whole internet! You can join other hunters via IRC at #cybfarm on libera.chat.

Also if you have questions, I'll happily answer them! (but I won't give any hint 😉).

Note: the hunt only starts on the 31st of October 2023, so everyone gets a chance to top the scoreboard!]]>
It's been quite a while since my one, but I'm here with a new Internt Scavenger Hunt !
This one has been cooking for the past year, and this is with great pleasure that I advertise it to the community ! Without further ado, here's the link:

⠵ CYB3R HUNT ⠫

It is much more involved and narrated than the other hunts I've made, and benefits from all the feedbacks I got, so brace yourselves ! There's also a whole story line going with it, and progressing through the hunt will unfold the plot.

I hope you guys will enjoy it! Don't hesitate to share it outside of this community, I made it for the whole internet! You can join other hunters via IRC at #cybfarm on libera.chat.

Also if you have questions, I'll happily answer them! (but I won't give any hint 😉).

Note: the hunt only starts on the 31st of October 2023, so everyone gets a chance to top the scoreboard!]]> <![CDATA[XDG_CONFIG_HOME as ~/etc]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-XDG-CONFIG-HOME-as-etc Sat, 02 Sep 2023 11:25:38 +0000 adi]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-XDG-CONFIG-HOME-as-etc
Code:
export XDG_DATA_HOME=~/share
export XDG_CONFIG_HOME=~/etc
export XDG_STATE_HOME=~/local/state
export XDG_CACHE_HOME=~/var/cache
export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=~/var/run

Make a lot of sense I believe.]]>
Code:
export XDG_DATA_HOME=~/share
export XDG_CONFIG_HOME=~/etc
export XDG_STATE_HOME=~/local/state
export XDG_CACHE_HOME=~/var/cache
export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=~/var/run

Make a lot of sense I believe.]]> <![CDATA[Help needed to build a lookup tables]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-Help-needed-to-build-a-lookup-tables Mon, 14 Aug 2023 22:45:01 +0000 z3bra]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-Help-needed-to-build-a-lookup-tables The thing is, I need A LOT of them (the final final must be around 2/3Gib).

I did the math, that's ~20,000,000 hashes. Considering that my computer is old, and argon2id was literally made for this to be slow, it would take me more than 2 months computing hashes 24/7 to get this up. And I can't run my computer 24/7…

So I need you help, fellow CPU burners :)

If you would like to help me out, grab the code and join the hash party !

Code:
git clone git://git.z3bra.org/hashcrush.git

All you need to do (if you trust me, otherwise you can read all the code, it's not much) is run the following command (you can try with a low COUNT to see if it works):

Code:
make -j $(nproc) COUNT=500000

This will top all your CPU cores at 100%, so only run it if you're ok with that. If you want to limit it to less cores with: (X being the number of cores)

Code:
make -j X NPROC=X

When it's done running, please submit your "hashes.rec" file to https://up.qw.is. The extension name is important as I archive all .rec files somewhere else (so you can use low retention times).

Thanks a lot for your help, you're all legends !]]> The thing is, I need A LOT of them (the final final must be around 2/3Gib).

I did the math, that's ~20,000,000 hashes. Considering that my computer is old, and argon2id was literally made for this to be slow, it would take me more than 2 months computing hashes 24/7 to get this up. And I can't run my computer 24/7…

So I need you help, fellow CPU burners :)

If you would like to help me out, grab the code and join the hash party !

Code:
git clone git://git.z3bra.org/hashcrush.git

All you need to do (if you trust me, otherwise you can read all the code, it's not much) is run the following command (you can try with a low COUNT to see if it works):

Code:
make -j $(nproc) COUNT=500000

This will top all your CPU cores at 100%, so only run it if you're ok with that. If you want to limit it to less cores with: (X being the number of cores)

Code:
make -j X NPROC=X

When it's done running, please submit your "hashes.rec" file to https://up.qw.is. The extension name is important as I archive all .rec files somewhere else (so you can use low retention times).

Thanks a lot for your help, you're all legends !]]> <![CDATA[What's everyone's daily driver device?]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-What-s-everyone-s-daily-driver-device Tue, 08 Aug 2023 05:48:15 +0000 x0ba]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-What-s-everyone-s-daily-driver-device <![CDATA[RIP, Bram Moolenaar]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-RIP-Bram-Moolenaar Tue, 08 Aug 2023 03:44:59 +0000 ckester]]> https://nixers.net/Thread-RIP-Bram-Moolenaar https://news.itsfoss.com/vim-creator-passed-away/

I'd noticed that updates to vim's git repository has recently been more sporadic than usual. Now I know why and I'm even sadder.]]> https://news.itsfoss.com/vim-creator-passed-away/

I'd noticed that updates to vim's git repository has recently been more sporadic than usual. Now I know why and I'm even sadder.]]>