.._________.__ __ .__
/ _____/| | _____ ________/ |_|__| ____ ____ ____ _____
\_____ \ | | \__ \\_ __ \ __\ |/ __ \ _/ ___\/ _ \ / \
/ \| |__/ __ \| | \/| | | \ ___/ \ \__( <_> ) Y Y \
/_______ /|____(____ /__| |__| |__|\___ > /\___ >____/|__|_| /
\/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/
.___ _ _ _______ _______ _______ ____
| |_| || |_\ _ \ \ _ \ \ _ \/_ | http://slartie.com/
| \ __ / /_\ \/ /_\ \/ /_\ \| |
| || || |\ \_/ \ \_/ \ \_/ \ | Giving you the heads up
|___/_ ~~ _\\_____ /\_____ /\_____ /___| on everything console.
|_||_| \/ \/ \/
===============================================================================
19 May 2013 -- slartie -- Final NEWSLETTER ISSUE 0001
===============================================================================
===============================================================================
WARNING IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD
===============================================================================
If you're easily offended by foul language or views on a particular
matter, which might not agree with your own, you should probably get the
fuck out of this document right now. Seriously.
===============================================================================
INTRO
===============================================================================
This is a "When I get to it"-type newsletter with a range of hopefully
interesting links, guides and so on for you to experience. Consider it a
blog in an old-style ASCII newsletter format that you used to get on
mailing lists, USENET groups and your local BBS.
As this is the first issue, I'm going to keep it short just to get a feel
for what the final format will look like. It may require some tweaking,
but the overall look should be kind of set.
Feedback is more than welcome, as I will try to make the format as useful
as possible, for as many platforms as possible.
===============================================================================
CONTENTS
===============================================================================
WARNING (It's for your own good)
INTRO (You just came from there)
CONTENTS (You are here)
TOPIC 01: My rant (Distro bloat)
TOPIC 02: VIM vs. EMACS (Why you shouldn't care)
TOPIC 03: screen vs. tmux (Is there really any choice)
TOPIC 04: Links (Places to visit)
TOPIC 05: Changelog (Recent updates)
CLOSING (Final thoughts)
ABOUT (About the author)
LICENSE (Because we all need one)
===============================================================================
TOPIC 01: MY RANT DISTRO BLOAT
===============================================================================
The size of distros is getting really fucking annoying to me. It's like
some distros want to make absolutely sure that every possible common use
scenario is covered. What the hell is wrong with installing a few things
on your own?
It shouldn't be necessary to uninstall libre office, gimp, pidgin,
gwibber, scanner-o-tron-whatever as the first thing you do when your Mint,
Mageia, Ubuntu, Fedora or OpenSUSE desktop finally pops up. Crap like that
can go right out the fucking window as far as I'm concerned. CrunchBang
Linux has the right idea, although they also include crap people don't
need.
There's a bunch of programs pre-installed, but thankfully not so many that
you feel like ripping your face off. The first thing you see when you get
your CrunchBang desktop, is a terminal window with a script telling you:
"Hey, there's a bunch more stuff we can install if you want. Want to take
a look?" - Hell yeah I do.
If you want Java support, you actually get a say in the matter before it
starts clogging up your HDD. That's the proper way to do things. Arch and
Gentoo fans take it a step further and start out with pretty much nothing,
and this bitter old man can get behind that mindset. I just don't want to
spend my time actually setting the damn thing up.
There's a real risk that even CrunchBang will join the ranks of distros
that can no longer fit on a single CD-R. At least if the pre-installer
crowd gets their way. I'll have to start considering Arch Linux if that
happens. Fuck!
It's not that I have anything against Arch. It's an awesome distro. I just
really can't be bothered with too many of the small bits anymore. I still
find it interesting to play around with audio servers, trashing systemd
just to get my init scripts back and whatever else, but I'll do that after
the system is up and running. I really don't want to spent a lot of time
getting shit to run in the first place. I've done the whole Linux From
Scratch thing, and it was fun - a few times.
As a console cowboy or whatever the moniker is these days, I'd just like
to have a distro with a minimal GUI (openbox, fluxbox, etc.), a welcome to
"Super Awesome Distro, How May I Serve You, Master?"-script to drag me
through some first start optionals followed by getting the hell out of the
way.
If I get annoyed enough, I might actually look into the Debian Custom CD
project.
===============================================================================
TOPIC 02: VIM VS. EMACS WHY YOU SHOULDN'T CARE
===============================================================================
In case you haven't noticed, VI(M) and Emacs users have been in a bit of a
friendly / unfriendly battle with each other since the dawn of computer
editing. I have no idea where it started, but the zealotry is still very
alive and well.
You will be told that VI(M) is better than Emacs because such and such,
and vice versa.
Here's the deal. IT DOESN'T MATTER WHICH EDITOR YOU FUCKING USE. Simply
use whatever feels right for you. Sure you can get more shit done, faster
with some mad Emacs macros or insane VIM regex, but until you get to a
point where you feel it's becoming a problem, just stick with geany, nano
or whatever else your distro came with.
And while you're there, I'll just open gnus in a different Emacs buffer
and check my E-Mail and USENET posts. After that I'll check in with my
emms buffer and see what's up with this horrible music that's peeling the
paint from the walls. Let's get some trance going on this mofo. Once done,
I'll come back and finish up the editing of my org-mode file that gets
exported to HTML in a few keystrokes.
===============================================================================
TOPIC 03: SCREEN VS. TMUX IS THERE REALLY ANY CHOICE
===============================================================================
If you're working in the console for extended periods of time, either on
your own box or via SSH, you will most likely have come across a
multiplexer at some point or another. If not, you really should look into
it and try one out.
Instead of relying on your terminal emulator to provide you with tabs,
windows and splits, you can do all that from within a multiplexer. IRC,
Valgrind, your favorite editor, an extra zsh prompt, that book you've been
working on - all running within one terminal session. If you're using a
multiplexer on a remote box / server, you can disconnect from the session,
come back later, perhaps from a different machine, re-attach and continue
your work. A multiplexer will allow you to do that.
There are basically two multiplexers to speak of. GNU Screen and Tmux. and
Tmux is basically where it's at in my book.
GNU Screen works fine, but has been dead in the water for almost 5
years. People have all but stopped trying to get fixes into the source
tree. It's even come to the point where some out-of-tree fixes are
distributed just to make Screen work as people want it to. Vertical splits
is a "hotfix" you won't find in the GNU Screen source tree for example. At
least I haven't seen any evidence of it getting included.
Tmux on the other hand is very lively and feature full. There are a few
things that GNU Screen can do that tmux can't but overall tmux has the
upper hand.
There's a ton of excellent guides to how you get started with tmux, and
once you get into it, you won't be sorry.
===============================================================================
TOPIC 04: LINKS PLACES TO VISIT
===============================================================================
Stuff I've mentioned in this newsletter deserves some link love, otherwise
you'd have to step out of your comfort zone and use a search engine. Where
would we be if that was required?!
This isn't WikiPedia, so I'm only going to link to stuff I think is worth
looking at.
Crunchbang [ http://crunchbang.org/ ]
Gentoo [ http://gentoo.org/ ]
Arch [ http://archlinux.org/ ]
Tmux [ http://tmux.sourceforge.net/ ]
Screen [ http://gnu.org/software/screen/ ]
Emacs [ http://gnu.org/software/emacs/ ]
VIM [ http://vim.org/ ]
===============================================================================
TOPIC 05: CHANGELOG RECENT UPDATES
===============================================================================
Nothing's changed since the last newsletter, because there wasn't one!
This space is meant for throwing a few "Hey, this tool got a cool feature
update. I've used it, so you should too!"
We'll see what this ends up being. I might remove it. Who the hell knows.
===============================================================================
CLOSING FINAL THOUGHTS
===============================================================================
This is just the first, although very short, newsletter of what will
likely turn into a truckload of newsletters with all kinds of
topics. Unless others give me ideas about what to write, I'll probably
just go through whatever has interested me in the last week (or weeks).
If you like the format and would like to read more of this, be sure to
throw me an E-Mail, a reply on Twitter or whatever other channel you may
dig me up on.
If you'd like to contribute with something that you think fits this
format, go ahead and get in touch with me. I'm sure your rant can be
included. Just, at the very least, do a grammar and spell check.
Stay tuned for the next one.
===============================================================================
ABOUT ABOUT THE AUTHOR
===============================================================================
````...-------------......````` Slartie has been working
``...-----::////////:::----....```` with open source software
`...---:://+++++oo++++++//::---....`` and the community since the
`..-:://++ossyyyyysssssssso+//:--...` early 90s.
`.-:/+oossyhddmmmmdddddhyoo+//::-----.` `.`
`.-/+osyhhhdddmmmmmmmdhyyssoo++++/:---.`.+:` He's considered a little bit
`-::/+osssyhdmmmmNNmddddddmmmdhs+///---.:+: crazy by his peers. Mostly
`-::+osyyhdmmmmmmNmmNNNNNNNNmyo++oso/::-/s- because he likes working with
.:/oydmNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNmhsoyddmmdhys/:+s. the console so much.
./syhmNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNmddms//syooydds/++`
`:+ossssssyhmNNNNNNNNNNMmmdyo+os//shds//- His day job is (sadly one
:shdhhyoooyhdMNNNNNmdmmmddNmmdhssyhyo/-` might say) working with MS
.sdo+oyyhdhhmmdhdmdhyyhdNNNNNNNdhhhyo/. Windows clients and servers.
```/yysymNNNNNmddyyddyydmmNNNNNNNNmdhhs/.```
`````.`-osyhmNNNNNmmhsymdysydNNNNNNNNNmmdhy/.````` After hours are spent with
`.....--+yhmNNNNNNMmsoymmhssssdMNNNNNNNNmdy/--...- coding, tinkering, IRC and
:-:--://+ydNNNNNNNMy+ohmdyo+oshNNNNNNNNNmds/::--:- generally being a nerd.
::::::///smNNNNNNNMmddNNNNmmNNNNNNNNNNNNNds/::::::
///////++oyNNNNNhsso++yNMNNho++sso+sdNNNmho//:::/:
+++++++++ooymNNs:--...-/++:-...-:::-:omdhs+//::///
ooooo+ooooo+smh/-://-----:::::/+hho/:-/oo//++///++ You can get in touch using:
ssssoooooosooss/-/yNdhhhhhhmmmmmmmy/-...-:/++///++
ysssssssssssso:..:+hdysssss+++oos+/-.````./++//+++ Twitter: @slartie
yyyyssssssssss:.```.-:///:/++/++:.```````:+o++/+o+ IRC: slartie (FreeNode)
yyyyyysssssyys+.`````.-:/oyyo/:-..`````./+ooo+++oo E-Mail: [email protected]
===============================================================================
LICENSE BECAUSE WE ALL NEED ONE
===============================================================================
Slartie.com Newsletter (c) by slartie
Slartie.com Newsletter is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
You should have received a copy of the license along with this
work. If not, see <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/>.
===============================================================================
19 May 2013 -- slartie -- Final NEWSLETTER ISSUE 0001
===============================================================================
Created with Emacs - http://gnu.org/software/emacs/Issue 0001
Issue 0001
Last edited by slartie on Thu Sep 05, 2013 10:12 am, edited 3 times in total.
Re: Issue 0001
The forum doesn't play nice with PRE, CODE or anything else I could come up with, so I guess this will have to do. Cut away all the ASCII(art) as a result.
edit: now that my brain is working, it's all good.
edit: now that my brain is working, it's all good.
Last edited by slartie on Thu Sep 05, 2013 10:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Issue 0001
I liked the twisted (unrecognizable) ASCII Slartie face. You looked like if Jabba the Hutt and Chewbacca had a baby.
Re: Issue 0001
I am the baby of chewie and jabba.
Han, Han, make-cheesay. Pa'sa tah ono caulky malia. Ee youngee d'emperolo teesaw. Twa spastika awahl no. Yanee dah poo noo.
Han, Han, make-cheesay. Pa'sa tah ono caulky malia. Ee youngee d'emperolo teesaw. Twa spastika awahl no. Yanee dah poo noo.