Why would you use Perl in 2024?
The rise and fall of the popularity of programming languages is fun to watch.
Quick disclaimer: I'm not a programmer. I've never held a programming job. I have been interested in programming as a hobby for several decades, and have written shell scripts as a part of my job in …
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Which Linux Distro *shouldn't* I pick, and why?
I enjoyed The Linux Cast's recent video tackling the perennially-debated question of "the best Linux" distro, and I wanted to present my own somewhat tongue-in-cheek version of a recommended Linux Distro List, but more like a dis-recommendation list.
So here are some distros I (kinda sorta) do not recommend …
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An unexpected game of "Musical Laptops"
I purchased this laptop I'm writing on now about a month ago. It's a Thinkpad X260 from 2016. I looked it up online, and it was actually shipped the very day (or the day before/after) I graduated college. That's a fun little coincidence to make me feel the passage …
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Organizing photos by geolocation from the command line
Want to organize your photos by gps/geolocation, but don't feel like dealing with a slow GUI app?
That's ok, you can do it from the command line!
precision=2
for file in *.jp*g
do
coord=$(exiftool -c "%.${precision}f" "$file" |grep GPS.Position |sed 's/^[^:]*:[[:space:]]*//')
dir="gps …
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The Toxicity Dance
There's been some kerfuffle today on the fediverse over the issue of toxicity in the Linux and Open Source community. "Toxic" is one of those trigger words that immediately gets fingers a-pointing. The great irony is that just to mention the word "toxic" can in itself be a toxic statement …
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Use what works for good
Exactly a month ago, I wrote an article challenging the prevalent pragmatist-argument for choice in the digital world.
I'd like to refine that thought a bit further, based on recent experiences.
A little over a week ago, I started crafting an article covering FOSS keyboards for Android. This is one …
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So, I Guess I'm a Vampire, Now
As anyone who knows me on the Fediverse can tell you, I've been a bit of a light-theme snob. (If you're not sure what I'm referring to, I'm talking about whether text on a screen (computer or otherwise) is chiefly light colors on dark colors (dark theme) or dark colors …
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FOSS Games, Part II
I got a lot of wonderful feedback on my original FOSS Games are actually pretty good! article, and I wanted to share with you all the information that was so kindly shared with me.
Here are some FOSS games highly recommended by the community, although I have not personally played …
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FOSS Games are actually pretty good!
There's a lot of talk about gaming in Linux these days, and that's exciting, because it's drawing attention to Linux's capabilities. While the games being spoken of are mostly proprietary (and pretty awful, from a software-freedom perspective), it's good to see people getting interested in Linux, even when for only …
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Web 1.0 is (unironically) going great
I resolved never to put a web browser on this machine, which is a Thinkpad X200t from early 2010 with the Libreboot firmware flashed to it, and the wifi card replaced with a FOSS-driver-loving atheros-based card. Ever since I got it in early 2019, it's been my "writing machine …
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