Senpai Respin MX-Cinnamon 25.2 with LMDE’s Cinnamon " I’ve created an MX-25 Respin with Cinnamon as the desktop environment, using the latest MX-Linux/Debian kernel (6.12.90), and added some LMDE packages and themes to get the best of both worlds ;-). " " The Respin includes the latest Cinnamon 6.6.7, along with the Mint LMDE repositories enabled to keep Cinnamon up to date " This looks like something I want to try! https://forum.mxlinux.org/viewtopic.php?p=859623#p859623 #mxLinux #linux #Cinnamon

Announced the winner of my Weekly Computer giveaway. For a chance to win next week (and every week after that), just be a subscriber of my Substack email newsletter. I write about Linux, Retro Edge tech, and computing freedom.

Two Free Linux Books

Weekly Computer Giveaway winner announced!

#linux #tech #giveAway

"It is tempting to try for the best of both worlds—to restrict the privacy of bad people while protecting that of good, permit governments to collect detailed information about us but only allow it to be used for good purposes. But somebody must decide who are the good people and the bad, what purposes are worthy or unworthy. Whoever that somebody is will have his own agenda, his own purposes. Angels are in short supply." — David D. Friedman (The Case for Privacy, 2005) #privacy [ as posted by the CypherPunk Quotes account ]

Good morning #BCHnostr and #XMRnostr ... and #nostr more generally. ☕

Lots of driving today. Glad to be back home.

Last evening, I spent quite a bit of time reading in "gemini space" using the La Grange application. I am pleasantly surprised by how much there is to read there. People are still posting regularly, though the peak publishing seems to be around 2022 - 2024 (just my observation, not measured). I do want to emphasis that I was *reading* and not just browsing. There's a very different feel to reading text over the Gemini protocol compared to browsing on the web, nostr included. There's a lot less time spent scrolling and it feels more like *exploring*. I like it, but is that just my tendency to move toward things that are lesser known and lesser used? "The path less traveled" does not always give the results that we are looking for. I found reading on Gemini to be enjoyable. I'm not tied to that protocol as the solution to the current problems of the internet, as the older Gopher protocol is worth exploring, too. And maybe something a bit different will emerge, but if you are unfamiliar with Gemini... it is worth checking out. About Gemini:

Gemini Quickstart!

A Quick Start Guide For New Gemini Users

La Grange application:

Lagrange

I just finished writing a longer bash shell script. It was challenging and time consuming to complete, but it does what I wanted it to do! I learned quite a bit in the process. #linux #bash #programming

Hot take: I am more “anti smart phone” than I am “anti AI”. A current Android or iPhone seems specifically designed to track individuals, collecting very specific data via apps and then the owners of those apps selling the data. AI has similar privacy concerns, but has the potential to be used anonymously or even locally on hardware you own. I also believe that smart phone usage has done more to dumb people down and create bad habits than AI has (maybe AI hasn’t been around long enough to compare). #AI #SmartPhone #privacy

Advance Notice: I fully realize that I am posting this using a nostr web client that was "vibe coded". My hesitancy about AI is that it is serious invasion of privacy. People “chat” with these tools and reveal all kinds of details about themselves and what they are working on. After that happens, they have no control over what is done with that data or who it is shared with. If AI is used for tasks or technical details where privacy is not that much of a concern, I have less of a problem with it. If AI could be used completely locally without “phoning home” and sharing all the details with BigTech companies, then I’d be much more okay with it. As of now, that’s hard to do. I think the privacy concerns are very real and should be taken seriously. #privacy #AI #LLM

I got a sales inquiry about a custom built computer with Linux from a follower of mine on the Fediverse. Will be giving him a call today. So it is definitely possible to make sales as the result of "social media" ... but it takes a while to build trust. I am guessing that he's been following and interacting with my posts for over a year. #business #socialMedia #Linux

Good morning. I made french press coffee and am about to pour into a cup with un-salted butter. Got a bunch of tech stuff to do today. ☕

Just set up my "tip jar" on nosmero.com for #monero I am also using #BCHnostr, which can do tips and promoted posts using Bitcoin cash. BCHnostr is actually the reason I am back on #nostr. I saw a post about it on the Fediverse and came back to nostr after being away for months to check it out.

I just sent out the announcement of the winner of my Weekly Computer Giveaway:

Giveaway Winner Announced - 4th week

Also, more about Void Linux

This is the forth week that I've drawn a winner. I plan on continuing for a lot longer. One of the reasons I am doing it is to promote Linux. So the computer I give away will not have Microsoft Windows installed, but a lesser known Linux software distribution. I write about: Void Linux Artix Devuan Vendefoul Wolf PClinuxOS and more. #linux #computer #giveAway

Today I sold a laptop to a long time customer who has moved out of the area. She called and left a message. I returned her phone call and helped her determine a good laptop model for her. She decided to go with a refurbished ThinkPad L14 Gen 1 laptop with Linux on it. I'll be getting it ready and hope to ship it out to her tomorrow. #business #thinkPad #Linux

Good morning. Making some coffee and getting ready for the day. I'll be doing a System Migration service for a business client. That's taking their old computer, making a cloned image of it (with some preparation before the clone, then applying that image to a replacement computer, doing software upgrades of the system once it is on the newer computer.

I was not planning on going down a nostr rabbit trail this evening. Now I think I want to look up how to do NIP-05 verification with my own website. I remember that being a thing.