Switching to DWM

Date: 13-7-2024

It has been a little while since I have updated or added anything to the website, and this is due to the fact that I have been working on my configs, and so far I have them in such a way that I am happy with them. I have also been switching from Qtile to i3 to, well, Dwm now, which has been fun! The reason why I have switched to DWM is because it is written in C, and as my last article stated, I am currently learning C, so it's a win-win: I get a highly hackable window manager, and I get to learn more about C. I also just like how small it is in size because I have been considering doing a few projects in the future, that being, trying BSD, LFS, and Gentoo, which DWM works on all of them; since two of them (LFS and Gentoo) require me to compile everything, this has not been the worst decision I have made.

Here is my DWM config on my PC

So far, I would say DWM is the perfect window manager for me. I do not see myself going back to Qtile or I3 any time soon because DWM has literally everything I would ever need and more, thanks to the amazing patches I am set up with. I have found it quite easy to configure it; it did take a little bit of time to get used to, but the people at Suckless have made it very easy to configure. I don't think I will be adding much to DWM from now on because I have it how I want currently, so I am pretty happy!

That is all for this post thank you for reading, more posts to come!

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6 Weeks holiday

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On top of trying Gentoo and Linux From Scratch, I will also try out FreeBSD just to see how it is. Though I am not planning to switch to it because nothing can beat Linux! However, I have heard BSD is really good for web servers, and I know you can run Nextcloud on it, so maybe I will try something like that out to see if its any good.

This is my 'testing computer' where I will be doing all this on.

Programming

Learning programming languages

Over the next 6 weeks I will also try and dedicate some more time into learning the C programming language, and I will be trying to learn some more Python because it is easier for smaller progects and I am planning on trying to make a few small programs and see how much I can do.

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Dotfiles Link

Website

I will try to do daily updates to this website. Making this website is one of the most fun projects I have ever undertaken because it is just enjoyable to write down ideas and projects I have done. I will do my best to make this website more mobile-friendly; in fact, I am going to try to do this tomorrow and see how it goes.

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Writing

In the next few weeks, I will be trying to compile all my notes about Linux into a small book that anybody can read! In this book, there will be information about different commands, how to start in the Linux world, and more! So far, I have finished the first part, but there is way more to go. If you are interested, keep an eye on the projects page for any updates!

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That is all for now, as you can tell I am going to be busy but I am going to love the next few weeks! Thank you for reading.

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Trying out FreeBSD

Date: 22-7-2024

Today, I had the pleasure of trying out FreeBSD, the open source, Unix-like operating system. In this post, I will share my experience with FreeBSD based on my time using it.

Instillation

Installing FreeBSD is relatively easy; you are provided with a nice graphical interface that supports mouse input. Below is a screenshot.

I had no issues with the install script. The only problem I encountered was with using Ventoy; for some reason, FreeBSD does not work with Ventoy, so I had to burn it to a standard USB stick.

I downloaded the amd64-memstick.img for my installation of FreeBSD.

I encountered some internet issues because my test computer has an unusual Wi-Fi card. I resolved this by plugging in an Ethernet cable and would recommend doing the same for anyone installing FreeBSD or any other operating system for that matter. Using Ethernet makes the setup process so much faster.

When adding users during the FreeBSD installation, I had to include them in the `wheel` group, which grants them the ability to gain root access.

Post install

After installing everything, the first thing I noticed was that most commands in BSD are similar to those in Linux, as both are Unix-like operating systems. Another observation was that the `sudo` command was not available by default. This command allows users to run commands with root privileges, so I had to install it using FreeBSD's package manager, PKG. The command to install it is listed below.

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# Add this to the very bottom of the file on a new line

shipwreckt ALL=(ALL) ALL

After updating `sudo`, I was able to use the command. The next step was installing X.Org and dwm. I didn't need a display manager (login prompt) since I could use `startx`, so I focused on installing the X.Org package and `git` to use my own `dwm` configuration that I uploaded there. I tested X.Org with `startx`, and it worked fine. However, when I cloned my configuration files and tried to compile `dwm`, I encountered a problem. Fortunately, it was an easy fix thanks to a helpful post on the FreeBSD forums. After applying that fix, I was able to use my `dwm` setup successfully. I then checked if my two most-used programs, Alacritty and Librewolf, were available on FreeBSD. To my surprise, they were, and both were fully functional. Below is a photo of FreeBSD running with `neofetch` (`fakefetch` only works on Linux).

Conclusion

Overall, I like FreeBSD and could use it as a daily driver since it supports three of my most-used programs: `git`, `Librewolf`, and `Alacritty`. I appreciate how it works, but for now, I’m sticking with Linux because I am more comfortable with it and prefer Linux over BSD. In the future, I plan to set up a server with OpenBSD, as I’ve heard excellent things about BSD servers.

Thank you for reading!

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- - - + diff --git a/public/posts/03Art b/public/posts/03Art index 852017b..7518796 100644 --- a/public/posts/03Art +++ b/public/posts/03Art @@ -1,40 +1,38 @@ - - + + + Art - - + +

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Making some art

Date: 24-7-2024

Over the last few days in my free time, I have been messing around with Gimp to make some wallpapers and a profile picture. I do admit this is something I plan to do more of, so I have made a page on my projects page for all of the art I have done! Below are some examples of what I have done so far; I am exited to do some more!

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Date: 24-7-2024

Here I have tried to give Tux a vaporwave effect.

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Here are all the wallpapers I have done so far! I think the Newyork image is the best one so far.

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- - - + diff --git a/public/posts/04Servers b/public/posts/04Servers index 1048db4..08bd8d2 100644 --- a/public/posts/04Servers +++ b/public/posts/04Servers @@ -1,52 +1,47 @@ - - + + + Servers - + - +

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Messing Around with servers

Date: 24-7-2024

Originally, this article was going to be about setting up an email server. However, due to problems with my router and the fact that I do not like the idea of hosting an email server locally in case it goes down, I have chosen not to do that. Instead, I have decided to host a different server on my local network, and that is what this article is about!

Below is my server; it is a ThinkCentre. I do not really care about the specs because it is not going to be doing much, but it does have an Intel i7, so it’s not bad at all for what I am doing. It has 8 cores and 16 GB of memory, which should be more than enough for what I am doing.

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What is on the Server?

The operating system of choice for this server is Ubuntu Server; I do know it is not the best server operating system, but I will stick with it for now because I have already set everything up. In the future, I plan to migrate to either a Debian server or an OpenBSD server due to the annoyance of Ubuntu’s snap packages and other weird stuff Ubuntu likes to do.

This is my first time using Docker. Docker allows you to contain programs, such as Apache, letting you to run multiple instances and manage them easily. It has been a pretty smooth experience so far! With Docker, I have installed the Jellyfin media server.

Originally, I planned to install Plex, but the web interface was scuffed and was stuck on the "Premium Features" popup, and none of the buttons worked. So, I removed that container and chose Jellyfin instead. I have heard good things about Jellyfin beforehand, and those have turned out to be true! So far, Jellyfin has met all my needs for a media server, and I am very content with it. If I do change the server OS, I will stick with Jellyfin. I also like that you can upload books to it but I have not tried that feature yet.

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The other thing I have on this server is an instance of SearXNG on my local network, providing my own self-hosted search engine! I set it up because I wasn’t sure what else to do with the server, and it’s fun having my own private search engine. Plus, it is definitely much more private than using online search engines like DuckDuckGo or, God forbid, Google.

Conclusion

Overall, this has been an enjoyable project, and I will probably migrate my server sometime in the coming weeks. As always, thank you for reading!

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Conclusion

Overall, this has been an enjoyable project, and I will probably migrate my server sometime in the coming weeks. As always, thank you for reading!

Back 🚪 | More Linux 🐧 | Hardware 🖥 | More BSD 😈 | More Tech 🧑‍💻

- + - - diff --git a/public/posts/05Yubikeys b/public/posts/05Yubikeys index 017640e..ea7d29b 100644 --- a/public/posts/05Yubikeys +++ b/public/posts/05Yubikeys @@ -1,29 +1,31 @@ - - + + + Yubikey - - + +

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Using Yubikey

Date: 03-8-2024

For a while now, I have wanted to own a Yubikey, but the price has always held me back since they cost a lot of money. After scouring ebay for a while, I finally found a good deal on one. I bought it, and now I’ve had the chance to mess around with it.

So far, I have been relatively happy with the Yubikey, but there is one concern I have: a lot of the firmware on the Yubikey is closed source, meaning someone like me cannot read the source code. While this may sound like something small to most, and I might seem overly cautious, but all I will say is how can you fully trust a product and its functionality if you can't see what it’s doing? Due to the Yubikey having closed source components, I have looked for some FOSS alternatives. Below, I have listed some of these products below:

Tkey

That is all I am going to look more into hardware keys because well they are awesome, but that is all thank you for reading!

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- + - diff --git a/public/posts/06NewLaptop b/public/posts/06NewLaptop index 6605dae..b504a2e 100644 --- a/public/posts/06NewLaptop +++ b/public/posts/06NewLaptop @@ -1,38 +1,35 @@ - - + + + New Laptop! - - + +

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New Laptop!

Date: 17-8-2024

Last weekend I was able to buy a ThinkPad L560 laptop from a car boot, and the best part about buying this laptop is it only cost me £15 with it being fully working!

Likes

The best thing about this ThinkPad as well as most ThinkPads is the keyboard; it feels so good to type on, and I love it so much; it definitely subconsciously encourages me to type faster. I also like the fact that it is bigger than my main laptop; it gives me a lot of screen space and is more comfortable for me to use. The only disadvantage to this is that the laptop does not fit in some of my bags.

Dislikes

The only thing I really dislike about the laptop is where the ports are located. This is because the charger is at the side when it should, in my opinion, be at the back where there is a USB port. There is also the fact that the screen is not all that bright, not making it ideal for outside use, but I do not plan on using it outside much. But apart from all of that, I am all happy with it!

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Problems

There have been two problems with this laptop so far, the first being that it had issues powering on when I brought it. But after a while with messing around with the laptop, I fixed the issue and it is all good now, but there is a chance this could happen in the future, so I have to keep that in mind. The other issue I had was the fan being weird; this problem has only occurred as of today, but it is only a small problem and is probably fixed for good now!

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- + - diff --git a/public/posts/07FishShell b/public/posts/07FishShell index 28d4aaf..0a47e73 100644 --- a/public/posts/07FishShell +++ b/public/posts/07FishShell @@ -1,27 +1,27 @@ - - + + + 🐟 - - + +

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Trying out fish shell!

Date: 22-08-2024

Fish shell is a command-line shell mostly written in the Rust programming language for Unix-related systems that aims to be user-friendly. The reason I have chosen to try fishing is because I like some of the features it comes with! @@ -32,23 +32,18 @@

Themes

Syntax highlighting

Web Based Configuration

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What I like about Fish!

My favourite feature of the fish shell is that it has built-in tab completion, meaning it gives you options for the command you are inputting into the terminal. This also remembers the last time you typed in a command, so when I am sshing into a server, it makes it so much easier!

I also like the fact that all of the features listed above come out of the box! The only configuration I have had to do is set my aliases and make the Starship program work. I do know there are plugins that I do need to take a look at, but for now, I do not see any need for any since I am happy with what they come with!

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Last thoughts

Overall, I am rather impressed by fish. I will use it as my main shell for the time being, but if I do have any problems, I can just switch to Bash shell for the duration of that problem. I know there is probably a bunch I have missed out on Fish shell, but so far it has been smooth and I have nothing but good to say about it!

Thank you for reading.

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- + - diff --git a/public/posts/08ArchServer b/public/posts/08ArchServer index 7eb5f6b..2d701db 100644 --- a/public/posts/08ArchServer +++ b/public/posts/08ArchServer @@ -1,40 +1,40 @@ - - + + + Arch Linux Server - - + +

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Arch Linux Server!

Date: 26-7-2024

Today I have installed Arch Linux on my home server; I will be honest it has been so smooth!

I use Arch Linux as my desktop Linux distro, and I knew that you could use it as a server, but I never really thought of doing it. The only reason why I have done this is just to see how good it actually is because, well, I do not hear about people using it as a server much.

What do I have on the server? 📋

I have all the same services that I hosted on my previus server install and more!

I was thinking about adding Nextcloud to my server, but I can just use the scp command for backups, plus I do not have much to put on it due to the fact all my work is hosted on Gitlab.

Searxng 🔎

Searxng is a metasearch engine that takes results from other search services. It does not track you; even the public ones don't! I like it because it gives me good results and it is easy to self-host, so I know 100% that I am not being tracked. I did try to install it without Docker, but the guidedid not work for me, so I basically took the easy way out with the official Docker image that worked.

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Last words

I will probably only use Arch Linux for servers because it is hassle-free and easy to use! That is all there is to say it was easy and less of a headache than Ubuntu, at least in my experience.

But thank you for reading!

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BSD 😈

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BSD 😈

17-08-2024 - Trying out fish 🐟

27-07-2024 - Messing with servers

22-07-2024 - Trying out FreeBSD

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Linux 🐧 | Hardware 🖥 | Tech 🧑‍💻 |

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Hardware 🖥

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Hardware 🖥

17-08-2024 - New Laptop !

03-08-2024 - Yubikeys!

27-07-2024 - Messing with servers

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Linux 🐧 | BSD 😈 | Tech 🧑‍💻 |

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Other tags

Hardware 🖥 | BSD 😈 | Tech 🧑‍💻 |

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