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i switched to linux about 2.5 years ago, after using windows my entire life, starting with 3.1 on a desktop in my room that i got in 1997. i have to say i am absolutely delighted with the state of desktop linux. i tried using linux on my computers a few times over the years without having it stick – first with suse on a laptop in 2002 using cd’s i picked up at a used bookstore, then with ubuntu in about 2010. both times i got fed up with minor annoyances that required much more work to fix than i was used to, inside an unfamiliar paradigm that frustrated me.

what changed this time? well, i put openwrt on a router, and had to use vi to edit the configuration. i finally sat down to learn basic cli functions beyond simply copying commands verbatim from tutorials, and found that it had a relatively straightforward logic to it. i wanted to try unix-like operating systems again and see if i could hack it. this time around, my computers worked flawlessly out of the box, and i didn’t have to fix any fundamental issues. i did one online tutorial in particular – learn the command line, by codecademy – which left me feeling genuinely excited about understanding how computers worked for the first time since i was a kid.

i’ve since switched to linux on every pc i own, and i’ve become one of ‘those guys’ when i talk about computers with friends now. but i can’t help it, i think this stuff is genuinely really fun.

currently i use xubuntu (ubuntu with xfce) on my desktop, an asus vivopc – nothing very special, but a cute little box – and galliumos on my toshiba chromebook 2, which is an xubuntu derivative distro meant for chromebooks.

galliumos is a real treasure – it’s very lightweight, very fast, and all of my hardware works perfectly. my toshiba was chosen almost arbitrarily, just trying to balance between reviews and pricepoint, but i made a really good choice with it on one particular point: it comes with a 16gb ssd, which i swapped out for a 128gb. that was the main constraint on it in its stock configuration, but with the 128 i don’t have to worry about a crowded disk. even with full disk encryption (via luks, which is selected during install), it goes from boot to logged in in under ten seconds.

i intend to dive in a little deeper at some point, and will probably try installing arch on a machine once i’m comfortable restoring from backups, but for now i’m very pleased with my software configurations and workflows.

anyway, the reason i wanted to make this particular post was to share some of the software i’ve found that i’m excited about – the stuff that justifies switching to linux, in my opinion. so are some of my favorite examples:

1. sshuttle

   • this was the first piece of linux software that got me seriously excited: if you have a user account on a remote server you can ssh into, you can tunnel your whole connection through it – a poor man’s vpn. vpn’s aren’t expensive to begin with, but i pay $15/year for one with ramnode. it’s also much simpler than configuring openvpn or similar on your server, and requires much less overhead (somewhat necessary when your vps has 128mb of memory!). one small issue: on every computer i’ve tried running the sshuttle client on, on the first attempt after a boot, it will give an error message and drop the connection immediately. not to worry though, because it will work on second attempt with no hitches. if you have rsa key auth set up on ssh, you don’t even need to enter a password. simply alias sudo sshuttle -r user@server 0/0 to ‘proxy’ or something. voila! you have transparently forwarded your connection. a friend uses it with a vps in the uk to watch geolocked content.

2. vimwiki

• a personal wiki inside of vim, which uses markdown, and autoindexes entries. i use this to take notes for school, and keep my working directory in a folder in spideroak to sync between my computers. it also has an excellent export to html function. mostly, i’m using this to work on my vim abilities.

3. atom

• cross-platform, extensible, and beautiful text editor developed by github. i use this for editing the markdown files for this blog, primarily, though i intend to use it if/when i force myself to learn some programming. it’s a real pleasure to use, especially with a dark theme.

4. borg/borgmatic

• cli backup software, which deduplicates and supports encryption. backup to anywhere you can ssh into, and encrypt it if you don’t trust whoever controls it. borgmatic is a script to automatic the backups, and enforce rules – eg pruning old backups.

5. pass

• cli keepass/lastpass alternative. saves each entry into an individual gpg-encrypted file, making it similarly portable (and combine well with) borg. to be honest, i don’t use this because i’m stuck on lastpass’s convenience, but i’m glad it exists. if i (or you) ever decide to switch, there is fortunately a script to export lastpass-to-pass. if lastpass ever has a security breach that shakes my faith in them, this is what i intend to fall back onto.

6. redshift

• this is simply an open source clone of f.lux – if you’re unfamiliar with it, it shifts the light temperature of your monitor towards warm/orange tint as the sun goes down. the idea is that blue light disrupts your internal clock and can hurt your sleep. instead, your monitor has a warm cfl-like glow as the night goes on. i find it much easier to look at, in any case.

7. fish

• shell with syntax highlighting, autofinishing for commands and tabbing through flags, auto-generated manpages(!), and generally a much friendlier feel than bash. i’ve just switched to this as my default shell and i’m very pleased with it. “finally, a shell for the 90s”.

continuing my theme of identity construction via media consumption, i’ve also spent the last couple of years building up a pretty impressive subscription list of podcasts.

i subscribe to over one hundred at this point, but the nice thing about subscribing to so many is that you’ll always have something you at least kind-of want to listen to, even if none of your favorites have new episodes.

also – the really great thing about podcasts is that you can use them to drown out your thoughts every moment of the day that you’d otherwise be stuck alone with them 🙉

search for these in your podcast client – the patreon subscription ones won’t show up though, obviously. btw, the mediafire links are maintained by me – please don’t share them! or at least mirror them yourself first.

name	desc
radio war nerd	john dolan (aka gary brecher) & mark ames, old exile crew guys, talk about war, history, current events, and john’s tour of e. euro hovels (free downloads here)
cum town	the only podcast i regularly crack up at – easily the funniest thing being produced right now, imo (bonus ep dl’s)
chapo trap house	rounding out the big three twitter podcasts – a couple of ex-lfs who make incel jokes, basically. it’s alright
sean’s russia blog	russian history and current events – really solid interviews by an academic
zero squared	douglas lain from zero books – plenty of esoteric leftist shit but sometimes it’s good, just go on the ep description
sword & scale	obnoxiously melodramatic narrator sometimes, but probably the best true crime podcast
99% invisible	the topic is the world of design, but it’s usually just interesting 20th c history; this guy runs a podcast network with a few other good shows, the memory palace is good if you like this one
war college	reuters-run, hosted by the guy who does war is boring – US military & global conflict topics
future strategist	future-oriented science that does some ‘third rail’ topics like intelligence & genetics. infrequent updates :(
risky business	infosec industry news, weekly updates on breaches and vulns
waking up	sam harris’ podcast. dont click if u muslim
crimetown	slightly over-produced series about providence RI organized crime in the 70s. it’s a little cute sometimes but it’s fun listening
jordan peterson podcast	peterson is a psychology professor at uni of toronto who’s made waves in the last year. his lectures are really superb, typically tying psychology to ethics, morality, history, and philosophy – i recommend starting here for the if you’re unfamiliar

i didn’t bother listing the npr shows, they’re out there if you like them though. i’m partial to radiolab and open source.

since i severed from social media in ~2014, i’ve switched to a more passive mode of internet use. specifically, i mostly read blogs now – a few i’ve found, i’ve already passed around to friends, but i’d like to create a linkable list for posterity.

blog	desc
slate star codex	popular blog written by a psychiatrist, part of the ‘rationalist’ blogger diaspora (samples 1, 2)
melting asphalt	another guy loosely in the rationalist scene, interesting to me for his ideas about hidden rules of human social behavior (1, 2)
ribbonfarm	venkatesh rao’s “unusual takes on familiar themes” – famously, the gervais principle
three pound brain	scifi author r scott bakker – philosophy and posthumanism (1, 2)
underground tradecraft	infosec, opsec, hacking, etc
outside in / urban future	nick land’s blogs
the bored jihadi	jihadi culture
bldgblog	alternative perspectives on architecture
meaningness / vividness	david chapman’s writings – philosophy, ethics, culture, buddhism without being gay (1, 2)
overcoming bias	robin hanson’s blog – author of the age of em, multifield expert at future of humanity institute @ oxford
marginal revolution	economics blog, high volume but high quality
southern nights	sc hickman’s blog, philosophy
west hunter	greg cochran, genetic anthropologist

those are my favorites, but there are dozens more. i use feedly to manage them – thank god for rss.

a friend said that if i started a blog, he’d read it. i’ve been playing around with static site generators the last week and i decided to go with hugo.

i’m not great at writing and i’m not even sure i have a lot to say, but at the least i should post some interesting links.

i’m going to have to work on this theme a little, though – i’m not a big fan of truncated posts in the index.