itchick2014

@itchick2014@midwest.social

IT nerd and synthesizer player from Ohio. Reddit refugee, here to stay.

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What're some of the dumbest things you've done to yourself in Linux?

I’m working on a some materials for a class wherein I’ll be teaching some young, wide-eyed Windows nerds about Linux and we’re including a section we’re calling “foot guns”. Basically it’s ways you might shoot yourself in the foot while meddling with your newfound Linux powers....

itchick2014,

My first experience with installing Linux on a hard drive involved wiping the wrong hard drive (my dad’s) and installing on it. Then panicking when Windows 95 didn’t boot up. Thank goodness my dad was understanding lol.

itchick2014,

I purchased the bundle and so far have been playing Spring Falls, Pixross, Beglitched, and Shutter Stroll. I am enjoying all of those.

Help deciding Os

Hi, I’m learning python and I have purchased a 2015 MacBook air. I want to install Linux on it (Ubuntu) but my friend who’s a developer told me to leave the MacOs because they are similar as operative systems. What do you think? Should I change the os and switch to Linux? Thanks. Edit: thank you for your replies. There are...

itchick2014,

Why not dual boot? It is possible to have both. That is what I typically do and with Mac this can be helpful because sometimes you may need to access MacOS for drivers and such. This way you can cross-compare and have more opportunity to learn.

itchick2014,

Minecraft. Make your own to do list and play at your own pace. I will beat the ender dragon one day but for now I work on my next automated farm lol.

itchick2014,

I just bought one…only because my PS4 died (OG white, RIP). There was nothing on PS5 that ever came out that said “you have to buy this!” I got the original PS4 to play Persona 5 and Final Fantasy XV. I just never was inspired by the design (and I am a sucker for modern design!!!) nor the catalog. I am sure I am not alone.

itchick2014,

I recently bought a used LG Gram to install Arch on after a few years of not having Linux…so recently did similar research, albeit with more Linux knowledge. I do NOT recommend Arch as a first distro unless you are willing to put in time for troubleshooting. That said, looking up a model of laptop you are considering + Linux in a search engine can be valuable in determining how much ease you will have getting basic (trackpad, Bluetooth, webcam, WiFi) items working. I dabbled with a CD distro as a gateway to Linux and the “live disk” option is still the best way to experiment. Nowadays it is on a USB stick. This method allows you to play around without actually installing. Others here have already given good advice. If you go the USB stick route, do be careful with anything related to disk partitioning and formatting. I accidentally wiped my dad’s hard drive once when I was not being careful!

itchick2014,

I haven’t seen Arch recommended to new folks outside of the Arch community circles and even most of them express caution. I always recommend Ubuntu or one of its variants for a person starting out, but it does help for the person to try a bunch of distros to see what they prefer. When I was starting out everyone was recommending Debian or Fedora. The more user-friendly distros didn’t come out until much later. Since then even the mainstream distros have improved a ton concerning usability, though I will say documentation always leans a bit too technical for my taste…for Arch especially. Too many holes for people that have no experience.

itchick2014,

I would say this probably varies by person. I learned a lot by using multiple distros. When I put the dots together that yum, apt-get, and (later) pacman do the same thing, that was a huge ah-ha. Sometimes seeing the differences in how they work in command line especially helps you understand larger concepts. If you stick with one distro (like I did for too long) you may have trouble comprehending these concepts for longer. Some beginners may find choice overwhelming, yes, but I do think it can be useful having exposure to two or three distros out the gate…even if just on live USB.

Why are keyboards getting smaller?

I’m not a true mechanical keyboard enthusiast. I mean I like a good keyboard for typing code, so I rolled with model-Ms in the 80s and 90s, then some expensive Cherry keyboard I only recently retired because it was utterly spent (and it was PS/2), and now I happily use a Wooting Two HE....

itchick2014,

I have a Glorious GMMK2 that I took to the office. It has arrow keys and the page up/down and end keys. (Home is fn+end). I find this to be the happy middle for me. The tiny boards with no arrows were frustrating. Big boards I get uncomfortable after a while due to the mouse being so far away. A smaller board that has the keys you regularly use is more ergonomic since you can keep your arms and hands closer to your core. I don’t mind using fn to access function keys or more rare use case keys. This very much comes down to what you do on your computer. When I had to type in user IDs non-stop working on a help desk…numpad was important. I don’t type strings of numbers as frequently now so it is not as important.

itchick2014,

I agree that Arch is a pro distro. I do IT tech support, have background with Ubuntu, Mint, Debian, Knoppix, and Fedora and installing Arch was hard mode for me. Would I do it again? Hell yeah. Would I recommend it as a second or third install experience? Nope. Too many distros that are beginner to intermediate friendly. That said, I will forever have a fondness for pacman just because I like the name. I am still working out device drivers and a few smaller details a month later. Also, the wiki is written by someone who doesn’t do good technical writing. It assumes too much back end knowledge. I kept having to follow blog or article posts and still had to sandwich those snippets I got together hoping something worked…and again, I have some background knowledge of Linux already. An absolute beginner would be totally lost.

itchick2014,

Glad I am not alone, though I follow unixporn and other communities so was very familiar with the overall sentiments about Arch before diving in. I look forward to when I know a bit more about it. I put it on a laptop I specifically bought to install Linux alongside the existing windows install (LG Gram) so I knew I had nothing to lose and my whole intention was to learn. I would have never installed Arch on a machine I actually need to use at this point. I am lucky that I got as far as I did so quickly. lol.

What's your favorite game that you will NEVER finish?

This question popped into my head when I was playing Void Stranger. I just got done with the game and will probably never play it again despite not finishing it. The game is genuinely amazing but it just gets so demanding as you progress through it. I ended up watching the second half of the game on YouTube....

itchick2014,

Stardew Valley. He keeps adding things before I finish what was already released.

itchick2014,

The VW bug was the OP. Just sayin’.

itchick2014,

I had the last version and thoroughly enjoyed it. MSRP is $70 so be wary of the high price on Amazon. If you go to other offers you will find the ships from Amazon for the proper price.

itchick2014,

All over the map here. As of late I tend to be more focused and am putting in many hours to fewer games. If you look at my trophy list or anything else that keeps track, I have an extensive list of games I have only played a few hours of.

Honestly, neither makes you a “gamer.” Enjoying gaming is what makes you a gamer. Doesn’t matter if that is one game or a hundred games.

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