The Linux Thread - The Autist's OS of Choice

[jONALD]

I detest WiFi. The home computer should ALWAYS have a right and proper cable to the modem for internet access. No fuss, it simply works.

 

[Trans Fat 41g]

After I installed a X11 environment on Debian Potato by recursively copying .debs via floppy disk to an old 486 I was perfectly happy with using startx/xinit. If it was good enough for me then it's good enough for everyone else.

I should have a play with that more at some point. Display managers- like screensavers- have always been a bit of a security hole with X, and I'm sure whatever happens with Wayland is even worse. My guess would be that if you're going to have a machine that you walk away from while it's logged into a GUI, your best bet would be something like running startx from a logged in console session inside screen or tmux, detaching that session from the console login and logging out, and then running a relatively low complexity screen locker like i3lock. One probably needs more paranoia (like catching any change to the display screen configuration in XRandR while you're logged out).

Slock (simple lockscreen, suckless tool) is so basic it requires the group access to be specified in config.h depending on your distribution.

I don't know how much this speaks for security, but disabling TTY switching and disabling killing Xorg from a keybinding is recommended for screensavers.

 

[Sperg Coalition]

I don't know how much this speaks for security, but disabling TTY switching and killing Xorg from a keybinding is recommended for screensavers.

Though if you kill the X11 server you get catapulted to the login screen which means that no-one is logged in when the display manager pops up and if someone knows your credentials you are fucked regardless if you use a screensaver or not.

 

[⠠⠠⠅⠑⠋⠋⠁⠇⠎ ⠠⠠⠊⠎ ⠠⠠⠁ ⠠⠠⠋⠁⠛]

disabling TTY switching and disabling killing Xorg from a keybinding is recommended for screensavers.

Yeah, if you've started X with startx and that session is still active and connected, you can just switch back to the text virtual console and ctrl-c to kill the X session, or use ctrl-alt-backspace to dump out of the X session and leave you open to do whatever you can from that shell session. I haven't tried starting X from a (subsequently disconnected) screen/tmux yet but I expect that would get around that issue.

 

[HootersMcBoobies]

Naw, you are making a mistake, you should go install LFS, much simpler, and you'll get a customized, minimal, de-bloated install w/o anyone's bullshit on it.

You joke, but if you have been using Linux for a bit and want to get super hardcore about learning the internals, LFS really is really great idea. I build an LFS way back in the early 2000s and used it for almost two semesters. I had a text file filled with all my ./configure flags for each package, and would check FreshMeat (later FreeCode, now gone) for regular updates.

It made me really appreciate package management. If you ever want to make a super minimalist embedded Linux system, or build your own packaging tool, using and updating an LFS system for a few months is a seriously amazing hardcore deep dive. You will learn so much.

 

[Betonhaus]

would it be LFS -> Gentoo -> Arch -> Debian -> Linux Mint?

 

[Frederica Bernkastel]

would it be LFS -> Gentoo -> Arch -> Debian -> Linux Mint?

In terms of difficulty? I guess. But, often that's missing the point. You ought to use what satisfies your needs. There's a lot of weird elitist non-sense around stuff like this that's unnecessary.

 

[prollyanotherlurker]

Slock (simple lockscreen, suckless tool) is so basic it requires the group access to be specified in config.h depending on your distribution.

I don't know how much this speaks for security, but disabling TTY switching and disabling killing Xorg from a keybinding is recommended for screensavers.

Not so much on the topic of slock specifically. Just suckless stuff in general.

I have come to really appreciate what the suckless guys are doing. I started not liking the idea of them. Mostly because I didn't quite understand how it all worked. The editing the config.h recompiling, patching source code. It sounded hard and complicated. And it CAN be complicated. But it can also be pretty simple and easy. The recompiling after editing your config, is super easy. And because these are suckless programs the compile time is about a second, maybe two or 3 depending on your computer.

Once I got over the hurdle of making myself actually give them a shot. I have really been loving them.

St (simple terminal) the best of the light weight terminals I have tried. Urxvt, and xterm both feel janky. Will give me some of bugs sometimes, and don't tend to have the potential for features ST does when patched (or doesn't if you want it super minimal). Also both, after configuring them, are actually more resources intensive than st (not by much but still).

Dwm. The go to minimal dynamic tiling window manager. The patching which is why I always see people complain about dwm, is part of why I love it so much. You can turn it into whatever you want. So many patches available. And if you happen to actually know c. It likely would be very easy to add on things yourself.

Slock. Is fine. Not much to say about it tbh. Pretty similar to i3lock.

Surf. This one is really dependent on the version of gtk-webkit you run it on. The suckless guys recommend compiling webkit yourself to avoid issues. And I can see why. On some distros webkit is just broken seemingly and anything you run that needs it won't work or crash.

But as far as surf itself goes. It's pretty nice for a minimal browser. Very much like a stripped down qutebrowser. When I have a good webkit version I tend to use it.

Dmenu honestly one of the most useful and versatile tools out there, almost as much as a terminal with everything you can potentially do with it.

You joke, but if you have been using Linux for a bit and want to get super hardcore about learning the internals, LFS really is really great idea. I build an LFS way back in the early 2000s and used it for almost two semesters. I had a text file filled with all my ./configure flags for each package, and would check FreshMeat (later FreeCode, now gone) for regular updates.

It made me really appreciate package management. If you ever want to make a super minimalist embedded Linux system, or build your own packaging tool, using and updating an LFS system for a few months is a seriously amazing hardcore deep dive. You will learn so much.

would it be LFS -> Gentoo -> Arch -> Debian -> Linux Mint?

Gentoo is about the level of difficulty I think where it stops being practical to actually run it for normal use. I can and do run Gentoo and it's great, but it needs more effort, to use. At least to use Gentoo the Gentoo way.

LFS could maybe be practical for some use cases. But I haven't made myself do it yet. I was about to at one point but didn't end up going through with it. I can't remember why. But for now I will hold off. But I don't imagine I would actually end up keeping it around after getting it running tbh. Though idk.


Ooh I almost forgot I came to post this.

I was going to just make fun of them saying this is the least insane tranny (hey this is at least a little better than the Linux distro one they posted).

But then it got to the php part.

Obviously their favorite food is pizza. And the rest made me lol

(Oh and of course they code in rust)

 

[Betonhaus]

LFS could maybe be practical for some use cases. But I haven't made myself do it yet. I was about to at one point but didn't end up going through with it. I can't remember why. But for now I will hold off. But I don't imagine I would actually end up keeping it around after getting it running tbh. Though idk.

I think LFS is useful in cases where you're a company that makes a very specialised device, so you're targeting specific hardware and usage and will be rolling your own updates that get pushed to customers. I wouldn't be surprised if some smart tvs and other crap runs on something based on LFS

 

[Frederica Bernkastel]

The home computer should ALWAYS have a right and proper cable to the modem for internet access.

I mean... in this day & age the most common way for people to access the internet is via their phone. Desktops are dying I believe? There aren't a lot of great open source Linux distributions for phones too which suck.

 

[GNU Abyss]

I mean... in this day & age the most common way for people to access the internet is via their phone. Desktops are dying I believe? There aren't a lot of great open source Linux distributions for phones too which suck.

Mobile platforms are 100x worse than desktop ever was when it comes to program lock-in. As in, your user base will hover around the double digits unless you start porting "apps". Android is kind of similar to Linux, but porting anything from there means pulling in their Google-fied Java VM and all the poo code bogging that down.

When a distro is ported, it's Ubuntu Touch or it's just Linux Desktop but on a phone. Bit of a shame since the terminal workflow of piping data between programs could give benefits on a touchscreen because there's little real estate for windows and the user base already has the mentality of "there's an app for everything" (except they're all bloated, shit and rarely accommodate for being an intermediate actor between two other programs).

 

[x3firehexx]

I mean... in this day & age the most common way for people to access the internet is via their phone. Desktops are dying I believe? There aren't a lot of great open source Linux distributions for phones too which suck.

Desktops aren't dying, just phones are getting a lot more poular. But that doesn't cut into desktop's marketshare, given that those are two different classes of device. They may similar, but they are not. A phone can't really run desktop apps easily, and what's the last time you made a call trough the cellular network from your PC?

 

[peachlover669]

I was going to just make fun of them saying this is the least insane tranny (hey this is at least a little better than the Linux distro one they posted).
But then it got to the php part.
Obviously their favorite food is pizza. And the rest made me lol
(Oh and of course they code in rust)

>them
>their
>they
disgusting. you call it what it is or you call it a tranny.
also stop with the reddit spacing

Desktops aren't dying, just phones are getting a lot more poular. But that doesn't cut into desktop's marketshare, given that those are two different classes of device. They may similar, but they are not. A phone can't really run desktop apps easily, and what's the last time you made a call trough the cellular network from your PC?

you forget to acknowledge the fact that as phones become more viable and popular, the younger generation has less and less use for a traditional desktop which i believe does end up cutting into the marketshare.

 

[x3firehexx]

>them
>their
>they
disgusting. you call it what it is or you call it a tranny.
also stop with the reddit spacing


you forget to acknowledge the fact that as phones become more viable and popular, the younger generation has less and less use for a traditional desktop which i believe does end up cutting into the marketshare.

It kinda does... up until you realise that said younger generous are gonna get a laptop/PC eventually.

 

[Nitro!]

I detest WiFi. The home computer should ALWAYS have a right and proper cable to the modem for internet access. No fuss, it simply works.

If the motherboard I'm buying has WiFi or Bluetooth integrated, those chips will be desoldered before use. All wireless protocols are optional, no exceptions.

 

[prollyanotherlurker]

>them
>their
>they
disgusting. you call it what it is or you call it a tranny.
also stop with the reddit spacing


you forget to acknowledge the fact that as phones become more viable and popular, the younger generation has less and less use for a traditional desktop which i believe does end up cutting into the marketshare.

The "their" was refering to josh. not the tranny. And I don't care enough about autistic pronoun shit on either side to change how I want to say something. Whether its for people here that always want to call man pretending to be a woman a he, or its insane trannies that suicidebait if you call them what they are. Its gay on other side, when I can't just say something how I would naturally say it without someone crying about it.

anyway. onto why I'm here. Why the fuck is this what I get when I go to the zsh wiki. Is this really the important information people need to see when going to a wiki for a fucking shell?

god I hate everything now days.

 

[Frederica Bernkastel]

Dwm. The go to minimal dynamic tiling window manager. The patching which is why I always see people complain about dwm, is part of why I love it so much.

I lhink Dwm had a great philosophical, and design basis, but there were programs likw cwm that did it way better. That's usually the problem with suckless applications. There are just better ways of doing the same thing. Just make something that does one thing, and do it well enough you never have to worry about it again.

But I think the great thing about suckless stuff is how well they work in conjunction with cli applications (tmux, irc, w3m, mpv, lf, rsync etc) because of that simplistic design philosophy.

And,to be honest, dwm doesn't require patching. You can just play around with the keybinds in the config.h file, and make things to your liking.
One of biggest problems with software today is the obsession with accessibility and need to do any and everything.

 

[x3firehexx]

The "their" was refering to josh. not the tranny. And I don't care enough about autistic pronoun shit on either side to change how I want to say something. Whether its for people here that always want to call man pretending to be a woman a he, or its insane trannies that suicidebait if you call them what they are. Its gay on other side, when I can't just say something how I would naturally say it without someone crying about it.

anyway. onto why I'm here. Why the fuck is this what I get when I go to the zsh wiki. Is this really the important information people need to see when going to a wiki for a fucking shell?

god I hate everything now days.

View attachment 6716963

Another reason to not use ZSH

 

[Another Char Clone]

I think LFS is useful in cases where you're a company that makes a very specialised device, so you're targeting specific hardware and usage and will be rolling your own updates that get pushed to customers. I wouldn't be surprised if some smart tvs and other crap runs on something based on LFS

That would be the whole Yocto Project thing. You use it to produce a Linux image with the kernel and init files and stuff in it already setup.
I used it to generate custom initramfs images, with my own /init, musl libc and such. Definitely NOT for normal desktop use, but I know what I want and I know how to get it done.
The whole OS is just a single kernel binary with an embeded cpio file passed to the bootloader.
Edit: LFS is a great learning, Yocto Project just automates the whole bootable image/partition generation thing.

 

[Belisarius Cawl]

Another reason to not use ZSH

It's hard to use software of any kind, open source or not, without running into pozzed shit of some kind or other. FWIW I use fish with oh-my-fish. fish is written in Rust and there is most likely some sort of faggotry involved somewhere but what can I say? It seems to almost predict what I'm thinking.