Is my photo workflow feasible on Linux?

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!? ...

October 6, 2025 Â· Jack Baty

A couple of weeks full-time in Linux. How's it going?

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. ...

October 3, 2025 Â· Jack Baty
My desktop running Omarchy

It's all upside-down (computer-wise)

i run arch btw

September 15, 2025 Â· Jack Baty

Dusted off the Jack Tries Linux blog

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.

September 11, 2025 Â· Jack Baty

Upgrading php to 8.3 on the (Ubuntu) server

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… ...

March 24, 2025 Â· Jack Baty

Thursday, February 27, 2025

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. ...

February 27, 2025 Â· Jack Baty