I like my Linux installs heavily customized and security hardened, to the extent that copying over `/home` won't cut it, but not so much that it breaks when updating Debian. Whenever someone mentions reinstalling Linux, I am instinctively nervous thinking about the work it would take for me to get from a vanilla install to my current configuration. It started a couple of years ago, when dreading the work of configuring Debian to my taste on a new laptop, I decided to instead just shrink my existing install to match the new laptop's drive and dd it over. I later made a VM from my install, stripped out personal files and obvious junk, and condensed it to a 30 GB raw disk image, which I then deployed on the rest of my machines. That was still a bit too janky, so once my configuration and installed packages stabilized, I bit the bullet, spun up a new VM, and painstakingly replicated my configuration from a fresh copy of Debian. I finished with a 24 GB raw disk image, which I can now deploy as a "fresh" yet pre-configured install, whether to prepare new machines, make new VMs, fix broken installs, or just because I want to. All that needs to be done after dd'ing the image to a new disk is: - Some machines: boot grubx64.efi/shimx64.efi from Ventoy and "bless" the new install with `grub-install` and `update-grub` - Reencrypt LUKS root partition with new password - Configure user and GRUB passwords - Set hostname - Install updates and drivers as needed - Configure for high DPI if needed I'm interested to hear if any of you have a similar workflow or any feedback on mine.
monovergent 3 weeks ago • 100%
They sell finished motherboards with the upgrade on eBay and Aliexpress. Nothing newer than Ivy Bridge though.
monovergent 3 weeks ago • 100%
Is that with the 3612QE or the 3615QE?
Anyone here use an X230 with the quad-core mod? I'm looking into it and was wondering about the reliability and battery life compared to the stock i5-3320M.
Been using searx.be for a bit now and they had many results in Dutch and German, which can be expected for a site based in Belgium. But does anyone notice an influx of results in Russian? Did they change the server location or are users in Russia catching on to it? Yandex isn't toggled on in the settings either. Not trying to judge security by language. I just kinda liked having results in a mix of languages I could read.
monovergent 4 weeks ago • 100%
What did it in were the semi-annual mandatory feature updates, which restored the invasive settings and bloat I worked hard to remove. Already being acquainted with Linux at that point, I began dual-booting and later having Windows on an entirely separate machine for a few stubborn programs I needed for work.
What made me acquainted with Linux was looking for alternatives after the loss of theming options and the start menu in Windows 8. That eventually brought me to my present Debian setup with the Chicago 95 theme, which recreates (and even improved) the workflow and stability I had grown to love in Windows 2000.
The first time I ever booted into a Linux iso, however, was to migrate files off of my machine, which was excruciatingly slow to transfer files under XP.
monovergent 1 month ago • 100%
TIL what happens when the thermometer maxes out
Banking apps seem to be a motif among things that don't play well with privacy ROMs. My bank's website does everything I could want out of it. I think I might be ignorant to something. - What about banking apps is especially compelling? - How often do banks put must-have features behind an app? - And should I be concerned that banks might move away from offering services through browsers?
monovergent 1 month ago • 88%
IMF: Imperialist Monetary Fund
monovergent 1 month ago • 100%
If you want to avoid this judgement, get an Apple silicon Macbook Air or something...
Damn, me over here trying to flex my Chicago95-ass X201T to my classmates
monovergent 1 month ago • 100%
Storytime!
As a physics major, daily driving Linux worked out pretty smoothly. The thing that saved me from trouble the most was making a weekly full system backup (I used Clonezilla and my file server). If anything was truly incompatible, I took care of it on the school's computers.
In my second semester, I began dual-booting on my X201 Tablet and desktop, eventually booting into Windows infrequently enough that I made my X201T Linux-only by the end of my second year.
Around that point, I began using LUKS full-disk encryption on my machines and USB drives. I highly recommend if you don't already, even if just for peace of mind. I have strong ideas about the way things ought to look and work, so being able to customize Linux to my heart's content (with Chicago95 ofc) made doing work on my computer a bit more enjoyable.
Documents
- MS Office: Libreoffice worked 95% of the time. For the other 5%, I used the school computers or my Windows VM.
- Google Docs and GMail: accessed through Chromium, which I only used to access Google and sites linked to my school's SSO system.
- We did a lot of writing in Latex, though it might be a physics thing
- A lot of other small stuff I'm starting to forget, but if I don't mention it, I probably did it through the browser.
Lab
- MATLAB: GNU Octave sufficed 75% of the time, often needing just slight changes to the code. Otherwise I used the lab computers or my desktop with actual MATLAB.
- Proprietary dana analysis software: One had a .deb package for oldoldoldstable so I set up a VM just for that. Otherwise, lab computers it was.
- Lab computers running old and new versions of Windows were available to us, so if there was anything computationally intensive or requiring proprietary software, I would just take care of it in the lab.
Social
- Slack, Discord, Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp: browser client, which I would check on a schedule
Tools
- VPN: NetworkManager, though it was a bit janky. I think it's a lot better nowadays.
- Printing: We had a web print portal to upload docs and pdfs to a printer of our choice.
Graphics
- Mostly prepared my posters, etc in a mix of Libreoffice Draw, GIMP, and Inkscape
- Adobe: Had to use it on one occasion. Used the library computers where it was installed for everyone to use.
- Digital notes: I would use Xournal on my X201 Tablet whenever I forgot to bring my notebook or refill my fountain pen. Managed to impress a few of my iPad-toting classmates when I whipped out the pen and the display around on what they believed to be an ancient clunker.
As for the desktop, I had purchased it with gaming in mind, but it eventually became my SMB file share, media server, and RDP session host so I could make any library desktop like my own. Each thing in its own VM, of course. By the end of it, I was one of about 3 students running a server over the campus LAN. Even in the comp sci department, surprisingly few students used Linux.
Linux also met all of my computing needs while studying abroad in Germany. For five whole months, I had not used Windows once. Though my SSD did give out on me once, a backup saved the day.
A friend once did need to use a rather invasive remote proctoring tool. Highly recommend a separate laptop or at least a fresh SSD for this case.
Mobile privacy, if it's relevant
- I was in the fortunate position where none of my classes or jobs required proprietary mobile apps
- Friends used Venmo or whatever else, I paid back in cash
- SMS and emails sufficed for regular communication
Overall, it was smooth sailing using Linux throughout my college years and no incompatibilities that couldn't be solved in the library or a computer lab.
edit: i used debian btw
I'm about to degoogle my stock Android phone. For the past few years, I've used it to handle the non-open source apps that I don't want running on my main phone. As I've finally weaned off GApps, I realize that I might as well go degoogle the rom as well. edit: to be clear, I'll be using sandboxed Play services on GOS But since that phone is my compatibility guinea pig, is it likely I'll still run into an app that demands unmodded Android with no alternatives? In your experience, has any bank or other service required the app on regular Android, with no alternative for the desktop, browser, etc?
monovergent 2 months ago • 100%
I wanted to see if having a dedicated low power writing machine with "emergency" internet access would help with my productivity. Also a bit of nostalgia as it was one of my first laptops. Nothing too remarkable about it as long as I kept to offline office tasks. But between the short battery life and the profound slowness of google docs (have to use it for work, ugh), I went back to using my X230.
monovergent 2 months ago • 100%
Assuming full GUI is preferable over CLI/TUI/tiling WM minimalism, as it was for me while toying with a 2005 Celeron laptop with 2GB RAM
Hardware:
- Use a native PATA SSD
- Take good care of the T42, it's relatively delicate as far as ThinkPads go
OS:
- antiX for more packages and less configuration
- Alpine or Adelie if you are more adventurous
Desktop:
- IceWM (default in antiX), FVWM, and wmaker are all snappy enough
- XFCE is marginal and will eat up a good chunk (~450MB) of your precious RAM
Browser:
- Netsurf is workable but there will be sites that don't work
- Librewolf with Javascript disabled by default (uBlock makes it easy to whitelist as needed) might do, but expect a severe CPU bottleneck
- Security aside, surfing the web on 98 will simply be painful
- I would also remote into my desktop's browser over LAN with either RDP or compressed X forwarding. YMMV if not over LAN
Productivity:
- Modern Libreoffice unfortunately feels a bit sluggish on old hardware. Writing in plain text and making spreadsheets in Gnumeric might be a better experience, as it was for me
monovergent 2 months ago • 100%
Middle mouse click is indispensable but it seems to be first to fail on my mice
monovergent 2 months ago • 100%
Wayland, but I'm patiently waiting for xfce to support it
monovergent 2 months ago • 94%
yt-dlp. Too many options to remember and look up every time, but all useful and missing from GUIs when you just want to dowload audio or 'good enough' quality video in batches without re-encoding.
While nmtui is perfectly fine for the CLI-uninitiated, I sometimes wonder why the nm-connection-editor window doesn't provide the same level of functionality.
monovergent 2 months ago • 100%
A metal 128 GB USB on my keychain next to the U2F key
16 GB Ventoy partition with:
- Clonezilla ('deploying' my system image and backups)
- Mint Debian Edition (everything needed to test and recover my Debian systems)
- Debian netinstall
- Various manuals and reference documents
- Portable CrystalDiskInfo and VeraCrypt for Windows
- Dumping grounds for files that I intended to transfer between machines, particularly the XP retro gaming rig
- An optimistic IF-FOUND.TXT
- KeePass
- Previously Windows, until once upon a time, I booted into WinRE via Ventoy, got confused between X:, C:, and whatever else, and proceeded to nuke my USB instead of another disk. The Windows installer lived on its own USB happily ever after.
And a LUKS encrypted partition in the remaining space with more documents and a backup of almost all of my photos.
monovergent 2 months ago • 88%
The only thing that had broken was one of the rear reflectors, and that’s only because my dad crushed it
After two years of near-daily use, the truck is holding up admirably. I know that fact is going to drive the haters up a wall
Bruh, of all possible criticisms?
As I understand it, X11 has many inherent security concerns, including programs being able to read the contents of other windows and intercept keystrokes. Wayland addresses these concerns but at the moment breaks certain functions like screen readers, cursor warping, and the ability of a program to resize its own window. I am curious as to how the display protocols of MacOS and Windows handle these situations differently. How does a program in those operating systems gain permission to read the contents of other windows, if at all? What is to be done in Wayland for these functions to be more seamless or are there inherent obstacles?
monovergent 2 months ago • 100%
GrapheneOS profiles ftw
monovergent 4 months ago • 66%
To make it clear, I would still use Linux with GNOME/libadwaita over Windows any day. Yes, some themes are ridiculous and will be a nightmare for any developer to work around. That said, I can't help but be concerned about the coming demise of theming with the way GTK is going.
What first pushed me to start exploring Linux was when Windows 8 forced the Metro theme down our throats. My time with Linux would have started three years later if M$ had kept Windows 7 theming options - that's how important a customizable, sensible theme is to me.
I'm glad that I don't have to do that again since there are DE options that do insist on keeping theming alive.
monovergent 4 months ago • 100%
Is DivestOS any better in this respect?
monovergent 5 months ago • 100%
On a file share, a notes directory with each category as a subdirectory, and plain text files for each note. Accessible from my computers and phone.
On my laptop, the launcher for my text editor (Pluma) points to a bash script that creates a blank text file YYYYMMDD_text in ~/.drafts and opens that file with Pluma. If it already exists, YYYYMMDD_text_1, or whatever increment is created. That's mostly to take advantage of Pluma's autosave feature, which only works with already saved documents. Then I save the document to the file share if it's worth keeping.
monovergent 5 months ago • 100%
ThinkPad X230 with 9 cell, 16 GB RAM, total 1TB storage, and an Atheros NIC. A bit limiting at times, but I 'outsource' heavier tasks to my much more powerful desktop. I'm quite uncompromising with laptop design and 'ergonomics', so I'm trying to piece together a custom laptop based around the Framework mainboard before the X230 no longer meets my demands.
For testing stuff on Windows and work stuff that requires it, an X1 Carbon Gen 7 with 16GB RAM and 256 GB storage.
monovergent 5 months ago • 100%
First experimented when Windows 8 took away Aero Glass and other customizations. Committed when I had to fight with Windows 10's twice-yearly feature updates that messed with my settings and wasted space with new programs I didn't ask for. I now keep a separate laptop just to run Windows when I have to.
Distrohopping was mostly confined to my first year using Linux. Deepin (kept crashing) -> UbuntuDDE (went unmaintained) -> Arch Linux -> Debian. Settled on Debian Stable since it just works, I haven't been using bleeding-edge hardware, and I don't like things changing around too often (see my Chicago95 rice).
monovergent 5 months ago • 100%
-
Room phone: A clear 90's phone
-
Cell Phone: Some sort of non-folding T9 phone, it wasn't a Nokia though
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Smartphone: Knockoff iPhone 6
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Computer: Pentium III desktop with 256 MB RAM, 30 GB HDD, Windows Me. It was also the family computer. Later upgraded to 1GB RAM and Windows 2000
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Computer (my own): 10.6" notebook with a 1 GHz Celeron, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB HDD, and Windows XP (later upgraded to 2GB RAM)
Bought a Pixel 4a second hand since it's the last Pixel with a headphone jack that isn't too big for me, and I'm hoping to keep it as long as I can. Unfortunately, it's about time for me to replace the battery. I tend not to treat my battery too well (can't be bothered to keep it between 20% and 80%, but it's supposed to be consumable, right?) and I'm not sure if replacement batteries will hold up as well over the years. So I'm wondering if it's fine to just replace the battery and pop the whole thing back into my case without gluing the screen, so future repairs are a bit easier and won't involve the risk of breaking the screen while prying it off. For reference, I'm using one of those cases with an interlocking front and back, so it ought to hold itself together and not fly apart if I drop it. (edit) I guess what I'm looking for is experience as to whether the newly introduced slack between the glass and body tends to make make the screen more fragile or put undue strain on flex cables.
monovergent 5 months ago • 100%
Wondering if anyone else is in the opposite boat. I don't recall the name of any Kardashian except for Kim but I've known about Yuri Gagarin since primary school.
monovergent 5 months ago • 100%
I also had a netbook with an Atom Z3735F and 2GB RAM, albeit an Ideapad 100s. The 32 bit versions of Debian Stable 11 and 12 worked out of the box for me.
If you are at the terminal, try running apt install grub-efi-ia32-bin
before installing grub.
monovergent 6 months ago • 100%
No shame in that. My phone's at 305 tabs. I'll look random things up throughout the day and sometimes I'll find a longer article that I'd like to read later. But I hate reading on my phone. So it just hangs out until my next tab purge, which is perhaps a yearly event.
monovergent 6 months ago • 100%
More or less replicated the desktop layout I had used throughout childhood, sans desktop icons
- Debian 12 stable
- XFCE + Chicago95
- Chicago95 black cursors
- Helvetica bitmap font
- Not shown: wdm login and slock screen locker
- Running on an X230T with classic keyboard mod to complete the look
monovergent 10 months ago • 100%
Windows 10. When your OS no longer respects your choices and you have to fight it every minute, there is something wrong. The creeping invasions on privacy have only cemented my use of Linux
Truthfully, I'm not sure if I would have ever switched over if Microsoft kept the Windows 7 paradigm. But I started my search for alternatives when Windows 8 - already too adventurous for me - came with the computer I bought.
Towards the end of my time using Windows 10 as my primary OS, the realization that the UI is not an inherent component of the OS sealed the deal. As a Windows 2000 fan, I fell in love with the way Chicago95 Debian replicated the look and stability that I had sorely missed.