A 50-something French dude that’s old enough to think blogs are still cool, if not cooler than ever. I also like to write and to sketch.
https://thefoolwithapen.com

  • 0 Posts
  • 40 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
Cake day: November 26th, 2023
  • Libb@jlai.lutoLinux@lemmy.ml•what do you think of people who use linux but use non-linux related stuff as their wallpaper??
    1·
    11 minutes ago

    like for example, one time i was browsing through some neofetch screenshots and i found out that a lot of them have anime or furry stuff as their wallpaper or profile picture, but they use linux.

    younger me would’ve freaked out by the idea of having proprietary files, but i still enjoy linux. what do you think?? please

    What should they use in order to not freak younger you? A screenshot of some lines from the kernel source code? A picture of Stallman and Torvalds tenderly embracing (quite unlikely)?

    On my Debian and Mint computers, I have countryside pictures (I live in Paris, I miss seeing some real country landscape, mind you) and paintings (oil and watercolors, all works I admire) and some illustrations (comics, manga, whatever I appreciate enough to be wanting to look at it from time to time).

    Sorry for younger you but I don’t have a single image related to Linux nor to GNU philosophy, no matter how much I appreciate them.

    freaked out by the idea of having proprietary files

    I would suggest you read a little more about what the four essential freedoms are and how they relate to code and the user rights, not so much to do with art and wallpaper choice.

  • Libb@jlai.lutoLinux@lemmy.ml•When Do Debian Packages Receive Updates?
    1·
    8 hours ago

    I understand. Maybe two things to consider:

    • It will depends how you installed your apps, but I have file containing a fe useful instruction in case I need to reinstall my system, one of them is just a ‘sudo apt install followed by the name of every single app I want to use’. I only need to copy and paste in a next terminal window to gat all my apps installed. All except the few that I don’t install using apt, say the few appimages I also use. For me it means three more apps, so it’s no big deal to download them by hand ;)
    • Most user settings and configuration should be stored somewhere in you home folder (for example, I know there many settings stored in the .config folders, others (related to the system and the DE you’re using maybe stored somewhere in .local, all my custom fonts are stored in ./fonts, and so on. I’m sorry, I’m no expert so I’m not very precise). All of that to say: by baking up your home, you probably also are backing up a lot of your configuration and tweaks.

    I have no idea how those settings are portable between two completely different distros, but I have once reinstalled my system and got most of my settings instantly back just by copying my home folder over to that fresh install. That plus the single line ‘sudo apt list-of-all-my-apps’ I was almost completely operational in mere minutes, including all my customer menus, panels, text size, themes,… The one thing I remember not working from that backup was my SSH keys. No idea why.

  • Libb@jlai.lutoLinux@lemmy.ml•When Do Debian Packages Receive Updates?
    12·
    1 day ago

    Wow. I hate that.

    Well, it’s not like Debian hides it in any way or form. Quite the contrary.

    It’s positively terrible but it explains so much.

    Depends what you’re looking for in your distro. I love that stability and lack of updates outside of security issues.

    And worst of all, I am in far too deep to switch distros at this point.

    May I ask why you don’t think you can change distro? It’s just a matter of installing Linux (which takes a few minutes) and, if it’s not done already, of backing up your personal files and settings (most of them probably in your home folder, already).

  • Libb@jlai.lutoLinux@lemmy.ml•Thinking about switching to Linux; main concern is son's games
    3·
    1 day ago

    Hi. I’ve been thinking about trying out Linux for a while now (haven’t used it before).

    Welcome :)

    I have 1 PC which I share with my son. I mainly use it to browse the web, listen to music, watch movies and TV shows, Office for work, etc.

    Depending your 'MS Office ’ expectations, you should have no issue using LibreOffice. 100% compatibility doesn’t exist, though, but for most users it should work more than fine. For the most part, it is only a few advanced features and tools that are lacking, and some layout stuff. I write books under Linux as easily as I wrote them under, well, not a Windows PC in my case: it’s a Mac.

    I am not a gamer. So, for that I can’t help much, but you have the ability to dual boot your PC and chose between Windows and Linux when it starts. Maybe that would let you use Linux while keeping a small Windows partition for your son games?

    Here is one guide among many others (I have not used it myself, it’s just an example there are plenty more): https://opensource.com/article/18/5/dual-boot-linux

    FYI, you can try Linux directly from a live CD (or a USB stick) without even have to install it on the computer. It’s really cool.

    As for the distro I was considering Ubuntu.

    You can use whatever distro you fancy, you can easily try a few different ones either by using the live CD/USB I mentioned, or by running them in a virtual machine — something I have never done myself as it’s a bit too intimidating and techy to old-and-not-much-of-a-geek me :p

    I use Debian (on my desktop) and Mint (on my laptop). Ubuntu is based on Debian, and Mint is based on… Ubuntu (from which it has removed stuff I’m not happy with in Ubuntu and added a few others I like). There is no good and bad distro, only those that you like and those that you… like less ;)

    Edit: to a beginner, probably more than Ubuntu I would suggest Mint, at least if I can judge on my own personal experience: everything worked out of the box, including my stubborn Apple Airpods.

  • Libb@jlai.lutoPrivacy@lemmy.ml•What are your favorite privacy programs you use frequently?
    13·
    3 days ago
    • MullvadVPN, and a free and privacy respecting OS is another good idea.
    • So is using privacy respecting apps: LibreOffice instead of MS Office, Codium instead of VSCode. And so on, with many FLOSS alternatives to the usual proprietary ones.
    • Services also matter, imho: I’m using ProtonMail for my email (Tuta would be another clever choice, imho, and there are probably others). I’ve very recently switched from iCloud to filen.io for my cloud storage needs.
    • Using one’s phone as little as possible. I’ve almost nothing on mine, I mean only stuff I’m required to have (banking and IDs, stuff like that), no email, no social, not even music or games (the game I enjoy the most play I also I enjoy it the most when I play it offline: chess ;))

    And then… I also started using analog tools much more in the last two years. This helps a lot maintaining one’s privacy. Amazon can’t track my reading habits when I read a printed book (even less if I do not buy it from them), Goofle cant’" track my writings when I use pen and paper instead of their apps, Apple (or Google or Microsoft) can’t track my paper agenda or my paper notebook. And the NSA or whomever is playing that role in my country can’t ask any corporation to install backdoors in my IRL encounters with people so they could spy on me. At least, they cannot do that for now ;)

  • Libb@jlai.lutoPrivacy@lemmy.ml•I just watched a video that explained how Google, the CIA and the NSA work together to get all of our online data. What are ways to minimize that besides not using Google?
    71·
    3 days ago

    What are ways to minimize that besides not using Google?

    1. Do less online, and more offline?

    My journal is paper-based and so are most of the stuff I write, my agenda is paper-based (ok, they still can track the agenda of the people I have appointments with :p), my sketches are seldom shared online, the few photos I value are printed and not stored online. Most people I interact with, I meet them IRL.

    1. And what you do online, do it using less or even better none of the gafam products and services?

    I mean, they want our data. Why make it easy for them to get that while also giving them money to do it?

    After 35+ years being their customer, I’m slowly but definitely switching from Apple to Linux. Not because Apple sells bad products (they’re great working tools, I used to earn a decent living working with Mac and iOS) but because I don’t want anything to do with them and their greed (making unfixable/unrepairable device on purpose) and their overarching ability and self-entitlement to destroy every ounce of privacy we once took for granted, as citizens of free and democratic countries.

    Even GNU/Linux, I’m starting to wonder if it’s not just a stopgap for me as I really do not agree with the ‘moralization’ of everything that I see happening in FLOSS. Freedom as I define it means people should be allowed to think and speak freely, no matter how much I disagree with them, their ideas and even their fundamental values.

    Edit: That may not be much but here is a few of the things I have changed (beside re-using analog a lot more)

    • My main computer is now running GNU/Linux. I keep a Mac for a few specifc tasks and because I don’t wnat to throw it away.
    • I do not use iCloud anymore (and certainly not Google Drive), and I switched to a small German cloud company (Filen.io). It offers less features, but it’s fully encrypted and secure and don’t track me (check my last blog post if you want to read my reasoning for picking them and not some of the many alternatives),
    • I use Proton Mail (I keep my Gmail activa as a trash email, though and only for as long as I will need to transfer all my accounts elsewhere).
    • I use LibreOffice instead of MS Office.
    • Also, I quit most subscriptions services. Instead, I will donate to FLOSS alternatives even though I often get less features in exchange for my money… I get way more privacy (and freedom).
    • The only one I have a hard time leaving is YT: most creators I enjoy are there, not elsewhere.
    • Also, I started reading printed books instead of ebooks (here again, feel free to check my blog to see why and how it’s going ;)

    edit: clarifications and some details.

  • Libb@jlai.lutoLinux@lemmy.ml•Best Distro
    4·
    5 days ago

    Debian (desktop) and Mint (laptop), because I don’t need to use the latest version of every app I use and because it works so well.

    If I had to chose a single one, it would be Debian but I don’t have to chose ;)

  • Libb@jlai.lutoLinux@lemmy.ml•I Tried Running Ubuntu on My Phone, Here's How It Went
    13·
    10 days ago

    My bank offers both an app and a website which is nice, but the app is mandatory for doing any kind of operation involving money (which is not that uncommon when logged-in in your bank accounts ;) even when connecting through their website, as the app is used for some ID-ing process.

    Then, there are a few not-mandatory but such-an-effing-pain-to-not-use apps, say to ID oneself with some (public) services.

    I use a dumbed down iPhone (like, really: no social, no games, no whatever not even email is configured on it) just so I can access those few apps.

  • Libb@jlai.lutoNew Communities@lemmy.world•A new art prompt every weekEnglish
    4·
    11 days ago

    Just had a look, there is no post at all for the moment?

    Edit a bit later: there are a few posts already, see @[email protected] answer just below my comment.

    (and I subbed ;))

    Maybe you should post something(s) right now and not wait until January if you want people to sub or, like you mentioned, to start suggesting ideas.

    Imho, the perspective of facing an empty community with zero discussion going on until next January will not encourage participation.