Linux

In order to use Linux full-time, I’ll need to find a feasible workflow for my photography hobby. Weeks working with Darktable hasn’t converted me. I still prefer both Lightroom (Classic) and Capture One for editing photos. I see people mentioning WinBoat as a possible option, so I installed it, along with Windows and Capture One. It works! Well, technically it works, but is it usable? See that app in the upper right? That’s Capture One, running in KDE via WinBoat ...

I’m giving the Feishin music player a go on Linux. It’s full-featured and very Roon-like, but streams from my Navidrome instance. It’s an Electron app, which some people can’t stomach, but it doesn’t bother me much. It’s a minor ick to suffer for a music player I might actually enjoy using. If it turns out to be too much, then there are dozens of other options. I learned about Feishin from the post, The state of Linux music players in 2026, which was linked to here which was linked to by Andreas’ always interesting Link Dump.

I like being able to create new Org mode tasks from anywhere, via a simple keyboard shortcut. This probably doesn’t justify a whole post, but here’s how I did it. Create a script at ~/.local/bin/orgcapture.sh Here’s the script: #!/bin/bash emacsclient -c -F '((name . "capture") (width . 80) (height . 34))' -e '(progn (org-capture) (delete-other-windows))' In my Emacs config, I have a hook that tidies up the new frame: (defun my/org-capture-finalize-hook () "Close frame after org-capture if it was opened for capture." (when (and (> (length (frame-list)) 1) ; More than one frame (frame-parameter nil 'client)) ; Frame created by emacsclient (delete-frame))) (add-hook 'org-capture-after-finalize-hook 'my/org-capture-finalize-hook) In KDE’s Settings, I added a new command in the Shortcuts settings that point to that script. I assigned it to F3. ...

I finally started to become comfortable in KDE, so I decided to try Gnome again.

I had an urge to give Gnome another go, so I installed Fedora Workstation over the KDE Fedora spin. It took two hours from installation to writing this post in Emacs. I’m getting better at it.

I’ve been alternating between Linux (Fedora/KDE) and macOS since the beginning of the year. I’d describe Linux and the software running on Linux like this: Less polish, more power. What I find challenging is that sometimes I want the power, other times I want the polish. Surprisingly, I am starting to prefer being in Linux than being in macOS. Linux feels like it’s mine and I like that feeling. Everything in the OS makes me believe it was done with me mind. “Me” being “the user”. Even when things are frustrating, I usually understand why. macOS used to feel this way, but has drifted from it. It’s not all Tahoe’s fault, but it certainly hasn’t helped. ...

I’ve been running Navidrome on the NAS for a few weeks as a way to avoid figuring out how to use Roon on Linux. Navidrome is no Roon, but it’s fast and simple and works well enough for my purposes. Navidrome’s web UI is fine, but I thought I’d look for a “real” (Linux) client for it. Navidrome’s API is compatible with the OpenSubsonic API, which apparently is quite popular, so there are many options. I’ve started with Supersonic. ...

I’ve been surprised to learn that I prefer KDE to Gnome

I’m typing this in NeoVim on the Framework running Fedora/Gnome. Earlier today, I fired up the Mac Mini and thought, “Man, this is how I want to do computing.” This, in direct opposition to how I’ve felt about it for the past few months. As part of the new year, I’d “decided” that I was putting the Linux experiment on hold indefinitely. I’d fired up Tinderbox for blogging at daily.baty.net as part of my new move back to macOS. ...

My first serious foray into Linux was driven by how deeply I fell immediately in love with Omarchy. Omarchy made me realize that I could totally live in Linux. If I wanted to. The big draw of Omarchy for me was Hyprland and window tiling. I’ve tried a few other tiling window managers (e.g. i3) but they were either too hard to configure or felt janky. Omarchy’s version worked great, with great keybinding support. It felt good to no longer spend half my time in the OS moving and resizing windows. Omarchy’s rendition of Hyprland made it easy and fun. ...

I’m trying. I really am. I’ve spent a while getting my head around Darktable and digiKam. That’s no small feat, honestly. What weird software. It’s capable, but getting to where I was with Lightroom Classic, Photoshop, and sometimes Capture One has been elusive. There are manuals, blog posts, and Youtube videos to consume, but, given the nature of Darktable, everyone tells me to do things differently. There are a dozen ways to accomplish every task. Which one’s best? Who knows!? ...

TL;DR It’s a love/hate thing, with love in the lead. Here are a few thoughts on how things are going so far. I’m still using Omarchy. I really like the tiling window setup with Hyprland. I sometimes paint myself into a corner, but mostly it makes window management fast and efficient. Workspaces on Linux are so nice. Everything on Omarchy can be done via keyboard. Once I got used to the bindings, this has made getting around, launching apps, moving windows, etc. convenient. I’m not against using a mouse, but It’s nice not to have to. ...

i run arch btw

Remember that time I was trying Linux “for real” and even created a blog to write about it? It was more an excuse to play with the clever BSSG blogging engine, but still. Well, I’m doing it again. This time with Omarchy, so I dusted off the BSSG blog and pushed a quick update. But, but, Omarchy! | Jack Tries Linux. Don’t expect much. This usually lasts about 3 days before fizzling out, but it’s always a fun-but-frustrating 3 days.

I upgraded PHP to v8.3 (from 8.2) today on the server running baty.net. I don’t pretend to be an Ubuntu sysadmin, so I’m writing it down, just in case. sudo apt update sudo apt install php8.3 php8.3-cli php8.3-{bz2,curl,mbstring,intl,gd,xml} sudo apt install php8.3-fpm sudo a2enconf php8.3-fpm # enable it sudo vi /etc/caddy/Caddyfile # replace socket path with 8.3 sudo systemctl reload caddy sudo sudo a2disconf php8.2-fpm # disable 8.2 sudo apt purge php8.2* # in fact, just delete 8.2 The site runs on Caddy, so I needed to change the path to the fpm socket. Here’s the Kirby section of the Caddyfile… ...

New t-shirt is funny. I’ve been shopping for desktop computers to run Linux. Something easy and nice, like a low-mid range Thelios, maybe. This is a terrible idea and I should stop doing it at once. When do you think I’ll finally find something that I’m good at? There are too many people in my head. I like Matt Birchler’s Quick Reviews app, but I wish it would look up the year/director for me. The new iOS app might do something like that, but I won’t use the app on iOS. ...