commit 52f0a1be3dda287cad71962f1e02d477445c84c5
parent d04674f43ea1c9cf23bae831db3ca26cd10865a7
Author: oscarbenedito <oscar@oscarbenedito.com>
Date: Wed, 27 May 2020 19:41:52 +0200
Added slugs to new posts with date on file
Diffstat:
4 files changed, 129 insertions(+), 126 deletions(-)
diff --git a/content/blog/2020-04-07-on-not-caring-about-your-privacy.md b/content/blog/2020-04-07-on-not-caring-about-your-privacy.md
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
---
title: "On not caring about your privacy"
+slug: "on-not-caring-about-your-privacy"
categories: incidental
tags: ["Privacy"]
date: 2020-04-07T16:17:00+00:00
diff --git a/content/blog/2020-04-18-use-web-feeds.md b/content/blog/2020-04-18-use-web-feeds.md
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
---
title: "Use web feeds!"
+slug: "use-web-feeds"
categories: technology
tags: ["Decentralization", "Personal website", "Privacy", "Website"]
date: 2020-04-18T14:59:00+00:00
diff --git a/content/blog/2020-05-05-journey-through-desktop-environments.md b/content/blog/2020-05-05-journey-through-desktop-environments.md
@@ -1,126 +0,0 @@
----
-title: "My journey through desktop environments"
-categories: technology
-tags: ["Decentralization", "Personal website", "Privacy", "Website"]
-date: 2020-05-05T19:26:00+00:00
-lastmod: 2020-05-06T07:52:00+00:00
----
-My first experience with GNU/Linux was with KDE. It is the desktop environment
-used on my college computers, and it was more or less the only experience I had
-with the GNU/Linux operative system, so it was the desktop environment I
-installed at home (at that point I don't think I knew the difference between a
-distribution and a desktop environment). After some time, I got comfortable with
-the new OS and learned that distributions and desktop environments were
-completely different things, so I started to look around for other DEs and
-decided to go with GNOME. It was a weird choice, as I had only read—and
-heard—bad things about GNOME, but I was reading a lot about the GNU project and
-decided to go with the DE that was part of the project, just to try it out.
-
-Well, GNOME is great. I love GNOME! I am glad I wanted to try it (for a more or
-less stupid reason) against what people were writing/saying. It works great out
-of the box, it has programs for everything I needed and can easily be configured
-to fit your needs[^detail]. With Debian 10, the dark theme is great, and other
-apps like firefox also go dark with it[^not-gnome]. It was a bit confusing the
-first couple of days, but it was easy to get used to. GNOME has worked great for
-me (and still does). With the lack of a bar with all the open windows (like on
-KDE), I have gotten more used to moving around with the keyboard. I also made a
-conscious effort to use the keyboard more, as I had seen many people move around
-faster and more naturally when they weren't using the mouse. So, after gaining
-confidence with the keyboard, I decided to finally give i3 a *real* shot a
-couple of weeks ago.
-
-[^detail]: A very simple example is setting up "natural scroll" for the
- trackpad, which I had a couple of issues the first time I tried with some DEs.
- But there are many things.
-
-[^not-gnome]: I know this feature is not exclusive for GNOME (indeed, I
- configured i3 to act like this), but it works out of the box, which is the
- point I am making.
-
-[i3][i3] is a tiling window manager, which means that it is a window manager
-that arranges windows in a way that they don't overlap. A window manager is the
-software that manages your windows (resize, move, close, etc.). The difference
-with desktop environments is that the latter come with a window manager, but
-also many more programs (like a terminal emulator or a text editor) as well as
-panels, system menus, and other features. These normally all look alike and work
-well together.
-
-I say I decided to give it a *real* shot because I have tried i3 multiple times
-before: mainly logging in, seeing how ugly everything looks, logging
-out[^hidpi]. This time it was different: I had time to figure everything out, so
-I decided to push through the first days (when everything is to be configured"),
-and then decide. I installed it, tweaked it a little, didn't like some things,
-installed [sway][sway], it fixed some things but messed up others, I also
-considered other tiling window managers like [dwm][dwm], and went back and forth
-a couple of times (all in one day). Eventually, I decided sway had one problem I
-couldn't cope with[^sway] and decided to stick with i3. I made a list of
-everything that was missing (or "wrong") and went to bed.
-
-[^hidpi]: I have a HiDPI screen which made everything look super tiny. I had
- some issues with HiDPI screens with KDE (there was always a weird app that
- didn't work well with it). This got solved (out of the box!) with GNOME, and
- after all the frustration I had in the past, seeing it back was a nightmare.
- This was finally solved pretty easily, although the solution is a little hacky
- so I can also plug my computer into non-HiDPI screens.
-
-[^sway]: The problem is that applications using Xwayland are blurry on HiDPI
- screens, and that wasn't solvable as far as I could tell. They also had no
- plans to solve it anytime soon (according to sway developers, it is an
- Xwayland problem, and it's on them to fix it, which is a fair point).
-
-The next day, I grabbed the list and started working on the items. Some of them
-were very easy to fix, like make the sound buttons work. Some others were a
-little harder, like mounting USB automatically. I even had to reinstall i3—a
-fork of i3 actually—so I could have gaps between windows (yes! I needed those!).
-I also added more items to the "problems-to-fix" list as I kept using i3. After
-about a week, I had fixed everything on the list!
-
-This process of going through a lot of minor things made me realize how awesome
-GNOME is. It has so many features, without a need for the user to spend hours
-and hours making everything work. KDE probably also goes into this category, but
-I haven't used it as much so I can't say. Other DEs that I have tried have given
-me some problems here or there, nothing major, but it isn't the out-of-the-box
-experience I appreciate in GNOME.
-
-Some people quickly disregard these DEs because they are "bloated". In my
-opinion, it is true. They have an absurd number of features, but for myself,
-when I simply need everything to work without any tweaking, this is great. As a
-new GNU/Linux user, I wanted my computer to work without much configuration,
-while still being able to be "picky" about some stuff. Even as a
-moderately-confident user, I didn't have a week to spend making i3 look and act
-as I wanted. For all my little things to be included, there are probably many
-more that I don't want, and are also included (and other people want). I am fine
-with my desktop environment being bloated. That changes for pretty much any
-other software I run on my computer, I like simple things, but I also don't have
-unlimited time. Indeed, my initial reason to switch to i3 (or a tiling window
-manager) wasn't "less bloat" or simplicity[^less-bloat] (I find GNOME very
-distraction-free, and it has a good performance on my computer). I switched
-because I was tired of overlapping windows and I wanted to make more use of my
-keyboard for managing everything.
-
-[^less-bloat]: Now that I have tried it and feel comfortable, my next
- installation might come without GNOME and probably have much less bloat, which
- I will appreciate for sure. It simply hasn't been a priority so far.
-
-With all the changes, I am very satisfied with i3, and haven't gone back to
-GNOME for a week. It did take a lot of time to figure everything out (and
-configure it), but it was something I had wanted to do for a long time (that's
-why the many attempts) and I finally had extra time to do it. It was definitely
-worth it!
-
-## Final note
-
-I think one of the major issues I had on my previous attempts was the `$mod` key
-used for all i3 shortcuts. It is so hard to reach the `Super` key! I had already
-switched the mapping of `Caps lock` and `Escape` (which improved my vim
-experience drastically), so I knew `Caps lock` was the key I needed for my
-shortcuts (it is so easy to reach!). I have now mapped `Caps lock` to act as
-`Escape` if I tap it, and as `Super` if I hold down. With this little trick, i3
-becomes a lot nicer, but without damaging vim's experience. If you are
-considering using a tiling manager, think about it! Also recommended if you use
-vim!
-
-
-[i3]: <https://i3wm.org/> "i3 website"
-[sway]: <https://swaywm.org/> "Sway website"
-[dwm]: <https://dwm.suckless.org/> "dwm website"
diff --git a/content/blog/2020-05-05-my-journey-through-desktop-environments.md b/content/blog/2020-05-05-my-journey-through-desktop-environments.md
@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+---
+title: "My journey through desktop environments"
+slug: "my-journey-through-desktop-environments"
+categories: technology
+tags: ["Decentralization", "Personal website", "Privacy", "Website"]
+date: 2020-05-05T19:26:00+00:00
+lastmod: 2020-05-06T07:52:00+00:00
+---
+My first experience with GNU/Linux was with KDE. It is the desktop environment
+used on my college computers, and it was more or less the only experience I had
+with the GNU/Linux operative system, so it was the desktop environment I
+installed at home (at that point I don't think I knew the difference between a
+distribution and a desktop environment). After some time, I got comfortable with
+the new OS and learned that distributions and desktop environments were
+completely different things, so I started to look around for other DEs and
+decided to go with GNOME. It was a weird choice, as I had only read—and
+heard—bad things about GNOME, but I was reading a lot about the GNU project and
+decided to go with the DE that was part of the project, just to try it out.
+
+Well, GNOME is great. I love GNOME! I am glad I wanted to try it (for a more or
+less stupid reason) against what people were writing/saying. It works great out
+of the box, it has programs for everything I needed and can easily be configured
+to fit your needs[^detail]. With Debian 10, the dark theme is great, and other
+apps like firefox also go dark with it[^not-gnome]. It was a bit confusing the
+first couple of days, but it was easy to get used to. GNOME has worked great for
+me (and still does). With the lack of a bar with all the open windows (like on
+KDE), I have gotten more used to moving around with the keyboard. I also made a
+conscious effort to use the keyboard more, as I had seen many people move around
+faster and more naturally when they weren't using the mouse. So, after gaining
+confidence with the keyboard, I decided to finally give i3 a *real* shot a
+couple of weeks ago.
+
+[^detail]: A very simple example is setting up "natural scroll" for the
+ trackpad, which I had a couple of issues the first time I tried with some DEs.
+ But there are many things.
+
+[^not-gnome]: I know this feature is not exclusive for GNOME (indeed, I
+ configured i3 to act like this), but it works out of the box, which is the
+ point I am making.
+
+[i3][i3] is a tiling window manager, which means that it is a window manager
+that arranges windows in a way that they don't overlap. A window manager is the
+software that manages your windows (resize, move, close, etc.). The difference
+with desktop environments is that the latter come with a window manager, but
+also many more programs (like a terminal emulator or a text editor) as well as
+panels, system menus, and other features. These normally all look alike and work
+well together.
+
+I say I decided to give it a *real* shot because I have tried i3 multiple times
+before: mainly logging in, seeing how ugly everything looks, logging
+out[^hidpi]. This time it was different: I had time to figure everything out, so
+I decided to push through the first days (when everything is to be configured"),
+and then decide. I installed it, tweaked it a little, didn't like some things,
+installed [sway][sway], it fixed some things but messed up others, I also
+considered other tiling window managers like [dwm][dwm], and went back and forth
+a couple of times (all in one day). Eventually, I decided sway had one problem I
+couldn't cope with[^sway] and decided to stick with i3. I made a list of
+everything that was missing (or "wrong") and went to bed.
+
+[^hidpi]: I have a HiDPI screen which made everything look super tiny. I had
+ some issues with HiDPI screens with KDE (there was always a weird app that
+ didn't work well with it). This got solved (out of the box!) with GNOME, and
+ after all the frustration I had in the past, seeing it back was a nightmare.
+ This was finally solved pretty easily, although the solution is a little hacky
+ so I can also plug my computer into non-HiDPI screens.
+
+[^sway]: The problem is that applications using Xwayland are blurry on HiDPI
+ screens, and that wasn't solvable as far as I could tell. They also had no
+ plans to solve it anytime soon (according to sway developers, it is an
+ Xwayland problem, and it's on them to fix it, which is a fair point).
+
+The next day, I grabbed the list and started working on the items. Some of them
+were very easy to fix, like make the sound buttons work. Some others were a
+little harder, like mounting USB automatically. I even had to reinstall i3—a
+fork of i3 actually—so I could have gaps between windows (yes! I needed those!).
+I also added more items to the "problems-to-fix" list as I kept using i3. After
+about a week, I had fixed everything on the list!
+
+This process of going through a lot of minor things made me realize how awesome
+GNOME is. It has so many features, without a need for the user to spend hours
+and hours making everything work. KDE probably also goes into this category, but
+I haven't used it as much so I can't say. Other DEs that I have tried have given
+me some problems here or there, nothing major, but it isn't the out-of-the-box
+experience I appreciate in GNOME.
+
+Some people quickly disregard these DEs because they are "bloated". In my
+opinion, it is true. They have an absurd number of features, but for myself,
+when I simply need everything to work without any tweaking, this is great. As a
+new GNU/Linux user, I wanted my computer to work without much configuration,
+while still being able to be "picky" about some stuff. Even as a
+moderately-confident user, I didn't have a week to spend making i3 look and act
+as I wanted. For all my little things to be included, there are probably many
+more that I don't want, and are also included (and other people want). I am fine
+with my desktop environment being bloated. That changes for pretty much any
+other software I run on my computer, I like simple things, but I also don't have
+unlimited time. Indeed, my initial reason to switch to i3 (or a tiling window
+manager) wasn't "less bloat" or simplicity[^less-bloat] (I find GNOME very
+distraction-free, and it has a good performance on my computer). I switched
+because I was tired of overlapping windows and I wanted to make more use of my
+keyboard for managing everything.
+
+[^less-bloat]: Now that I have tried it and feel comfortable, my next
+ installation might come without GNOME and probably have much less bloat, which
+ I will appreciate for sure. It simply hasn't been a priority so far.
+
+With all the changes, I am very satisfied with i3, and haven't gone back to
+GNOME for a week. It did take a lot of time to figure everything out (and
+configure it), but it was something I had wanted to do for a long time (that's
+why the many attempts) and I finally had extra time to do it. It was definitely
+worth it!
+
+## Final note
+
+I think one of the major issues I had on my previous attempts was the `$mod` key
+used for all i3 shortcuts. It is so hard to reach the `Super` key! I had already
+switched the mapping of `Caps lock` and `Escape` (which improved my vim
+experience drastically), so I knew `Caps lock` was the key I needed for my
+shortcuts (it is so easy to reach!). I have now mapped `Caps lock` to act as
+`Escape` if I tap it, and as `Super` if I hold down. With this little trick, i3
+becomes a lot nicer, but without damaging vim's experience. If you are
+considering using a tiling manager, think about it! Also recommended if you use
+vim!
+
+
+[i3]: <https://i3wm.org/> "i3 website"
+[sway]: <https://swaywm.org/> "Sway website"
+[dwm]: <https://dwm.suckless.org/> "dwm website"
