15.feb.2024

operating system and new freaks

a few days ago i embarked on the journey of installing arch linux onto my old laptop. i had barely touched it since getting my new one for school, and have only been using it to draw using my large screen tablet. but, i was bored, and wanted to jump headfirst into cold water.

the reason i chose arch is mostly because one of my classmates is also trying it out lol. trying ubuntu in a VM just isn't enough for me personally; i really wanted to get my hands dirty on actual hardware. what i like especially about arch is that you have full control over what is installed on your system. you do the updates, you choose the software you need. there's no bullshit pre-installed! i can't overstate how freeing that is after seeing microsoft continuously shove more shit down users' throats as time goes on.

also feel the need to mention that the iso for arch is about 930 mb big, and the USB i used to boot into the installation environment coincidentally had about 970 mb of space. VERY tight fit there. just thought that was funny

the installation was a bit spooky, but the worst i had to lose was a laptop i didn't consider very good to use, considering its lagginess and low battery life. what took me the most time, thinking and googling, was setting up the partitions and using pacman for the first time. i had to re-do the former because i wasn't able to use the boot partition that was already there from windows and i needed to make a new one, and the latter took me several hours because of some issues with the keys or signatures or something. but i did get it all working in the end!!!

i chose xfce as my desktop environment because it's very lightweight, and you can easily install new themes onto it. i'm very happy with my choice! it's pretty configurable. the top-taskbar (or "panel") was very discombobulating at first but i've gotten mostly used to it, and it's staying up there.

my laptop has better battery life now, by the way. it runs for WAY longer than it used to. that's just one of the many upsides i'm discovering in arch. there's a few disadvantages, of course, namely resources and solutions to problems being harder to find than for windows, some software just not being available for linux (this is pretty rare nowadays, though). also for some reason my wifi disconnects when i keep the computer closed for too long, which is strange. that's a one-command fix, though. (another thing, my laptop keyboard, which ive opted to disabling every time on startup because it would activate keys without me pressing, would be enabled again, as far as i could tell. ALSO strange. but also a one-command fix.)

i obviously can't speak for other distributions, but arch linux has turned my slow, shitty little windows 10 drawing laptop into a fast device that i can use for fun side stuff as well as exploring a new OS! sadly i don't think i can recommend this specific distro to people who aren't comfortable with using command line interfaces, since that's ALL you're doing for the installation. but it's absolutely worth it if you've got a computer to spare and wanna do some tinkering with it.

one more thing: more criminals have infiltrated my houseOH FUCK

music pick of the day: Dutch Schultz by Gaston

04.jan.2024

Entry #1. NEW YEAR WOOOOO

wow! a new year! so much has happened. and is continuing to happen actually

i think this year is gonna be extremely stressful. soon my third semester for IT school ends and the last one will start. meanwhile we've gotta work on our diploma project as well. but midnight is not the time to be thinking about that. i'm updating my WEB SITE.

i have two things to talk about. first of all, back in september when i watched ducktales and was incredibly not normal about it, a lightning strike of inspiration hit me.

*I* could make bracelet. i could make bracelet for friends! i could get so good at it! and then i spent a solid 2 months doing that without being able to tell anybody cuz i wanted it to be a surprise.

how cool is that!!! top ones are for my family, left are for my friends (if you read this ily :) ) and the other ones are just for fun. the funny duck cartoon made me teach myself a new skill and i think that's insanely cool

news number two: THERE IS NOW A DRUMSET IN MY ROOM!!!

this is a yamaha dtx 402. i'm gonna be honest, it's not the best thing in the world lol, the sounds are kinda dogshit. cost me about 370 euros on thomann. i would have preferred one with a beater for the bass pedal, and rimshot support, but i didn't want to spend too much on a hobby that i wasn't sure would last. i've had this thing for almost a week and it's super fun so far! playing on a practice pad ahead of time really did help with getting me started. i'm not very good, but i'm already moving past basic rock beats. listening to math rock pays off.

alright i'm outta here . checking in again in 1 or 2 months. bye !!!

music pick of the day: Pan Matsuri by Naked Flames