sf.cu > Blog > Taking Proper Backups
-27 July 2023
5 min
+sf.cu > Blog > Taking Proper Backups
+27 July 2023
5 min
Taking backups is crucial in every single context. There is simply no situation where the lack of backups was beneficial. Such situations are always detrimental to people. Backups are also important for businesses, especially ones which are responsible for the lives of people, like hospitals.
Taking backups prevents data loss due to software or hardware errors. Even accidents have a minimal impact if you have a backup. It allows businesses to keep growing instead of being worried about recovering crucial client data. For public services like hospitals, being hit with ransomware is an extremely difficult moment. If the ransom is not paid immediately, it can result in loss of human lives. This is why you either have backups or lose money.
Losing precious memories hurts. Backups prevent this gut-wrenching scenario from ever occurring. With many spectacular backup solutions being free or cheap, there is absolutely no reason to take backups. If you work with new computers and devices regularly, then taking backups makes it easy to migrate and install multiple instances on new devices. This is especially easy with Linux systems due to the simple dotfile method. It also provides version control. If you have old versions of documents and files, it is easy to refer to previous examples for future work.
If there is one thing that people love about backups, it is the peace of mind you get knowing that you have an extremely low chance of losing your important data.
It does not matter if you are a normal person or a massive business; you should spend time and money to back up your data properly.
-The 3-2-1 backup rule is a rule that many people recommend following to remember to take proper backups. Here is the meaning of each of the numbers:
It is important to note that these rules are not a plan for everyone, and are instead meant as a base for your backup plans. The least important data that you own should at least be backed up using the base 3-2-1 backup plan.
-When it comes to using Big Tech's invasive services, you have to be extremely careful since they do not respect your privacy at all. At the bare minimum, you should be encrypting the files you upload if they are even of a little importance to you.
A popular program for file and drive encryption is VeraCrypt. To learn how to use it in detail, watch this video. The overall process goes like this:
This makes it difficult to easily access your files from your phone or another device, but it is totally worth it for your privacy.
-Services like Mega allow you to pay for more storage, just like Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox. There are privacy concerns with the latter three, however. ProtonDrive is also a good option, but it has had some controversy due to the privacy concerns of ProtonMail. However, I am comfortable recommending it.
BackBlaze is a backup program that is under the MIT licence. It works really well for most of their customers, so I am comfortable recommending it.
-When you are using services you own, you have to make sure that you verify the integrity of your files. File corruption can happen on every platform, but it is much better to verify your files on your server since there may be issues with your setup that causes file corruption.
It is also important to keep a separate drive or storage medium on your services if possible. If anything happens to your main system, it becomes really easy to just wipe the system and install a new one, knowing that your data is safe.
You can also use sync services like Syncthing for small files that you need synced within all of your devices. I use it to sync my password manager and personal notes. It is encrypted and open-source software and works extremely fast. It is so fast that by the time I save a file and open my phone, the file is already updated. This prevents conflicts.
-If you are taking offline backups, you should be careful with encrypting your data if you need it. You should first assess whether you need encryption or not. If you live in an area with a lot of robberies, encrypt it, as a robber who is smart enough may steal your drive.
Make sure to get an external hard drive or SSD from a reputable company like Western Digital or Samsung.
By buying a product from a reputable company, you get a reliable product that lasts a long time.
-While it is important to back up your data, it is also important to maintain your backups. At the end of every month, check your backups to see if your files are still intact. If a specific backup medium keeps showing corruption in files, move it to another drive immediately, since they can fail at any time.
-While it is important to take backups, it is also important to make sure you are taking them properly. Follow the 3-2-1 backup rule. If you are using invasive services, encrypt all of your files before uploading them using a trusted piece of software like VeraCrypt.
Try to use services that you own as much as possible, to be completely independent. Make sure to have offline backups.
diff --git a/fp/index.html b/fp/index.html index bdc08f7..5fcbfb0 100644 --- a/fp/index.html +++ b/fp/index.html @@ -3,7 +3,7 @@sf.cu > Blog > Writing With Fountain Pens
-30 July 2023
2 min
-sf.cu > Blog > Writing With Fountain Pens
+30 July 2023
2 min
+I have heard great things about writing with fountain pens and decided to try one. I have recently purchased the Jinhao X750 and I have to say that I am not going back.
Buying a fountain pen elevated my writing experience. It is more about keeping in touch with an old lost art, that is writing. As an extreme technology user myself, using digital versions of literally everything, it is refreshing to write using a good tool and love writing again.
-I used the Pelikan 4001 in black, and it is going great so far. I might use this pen for all my writing as it makes it a treat.
-The first time I wrote with my pen, it felt like I had unlocked a new door in writing. It felt like I was writing something that would impact the world in some way, even though I was just writing my name. Every time I write using it, it feels like I am doing something extraordinary, rather than just doing it for the sake of it.
The art of customising what goes in your pen also really piqued my curiosity. The fact that I can choose what ink and converter I want to use makes me relieved, even though I most likely will never change my converter. I can use glow-in-the-dark ink, green ink, purple ink and much more in the same pen and can switch it at almost any time.
I would say that fountain pens are expensive up-front, but cheaper in the long run. You do not have to keep spending money like you would with ball-point pens or roller-balls.
-I love my new fountain pen. It has reignited my love for writing. I will use it for all my writing because of the writing experience.
diff --git a/github/index.html b/github/index.html index 33f1422..f69aac4 100644 --- a/github/index.html +++ b/github/index.html @@ -5,7 +5,6 @@sf.cu > Blog > Don't Use GitHub
+sf.cu > Blog > Don't Use GitHub
-27 May 2023
3 min
If you are a developer, programmer or a coder who works with open-source software, you must have clicked this post in shock. First off, I would like to state that I am not telling everyone to stop making open-source software. What I am trying to say is that GitHub is one of the worst Git platforms to host your projects. We will cover why in this post.
-Simply put, GitHub uses non-free software and non-free JavaScript on their website. It is shockingly ironic that the biggest open-source platform for anyone to use is itself a proprietary piece of software. It is also centralised, for-profit and politically active, which are all completely against free, libre and open-source software. These factors make it similar to SourceForge, which was abandoned by most of its users because of this very reason.
If everyone stops using GitHub and moves to better alternatives like Codeberg, GitLab or even a self-hosted Git instance, then GitHub will fall. Many people may be seething at me suggesting GitLab, but the truth is that GitLab is still open-source and uses free JavaScript instead of non-free JavaScript on their website. It is certainly not the best option, but it is miles ahead of GitHub.
Codeberg is entirely free software and it is a great option for most people. It works in a similar way to GitHub so it is trivial for individuals to migrate. SourceHut is also amazing. It is just as good as GitHub and much better for your rights. Self-hosting a Forgejo or Gitea instance is one of the best options as it offers complete independence. Git is the underlying technology which anyone can use. Therefore, everyone should be independent in using it.
This is the reason I have a website. Everyone should have a website as it gives you independence on the web.
-Microsoft's strategy against open-source has always been to embrace, extend and extinguish. They have tried to do it before with Linux when it was being popularized among developers. Now, they are using Copilot to do so, which is an AI tool that can autocomplete code for you. The main issue with it is that they trained it all on open-source code without giving any credit to the original developers. GitHub's Copilot is now being used to help code for-profit and close-source programs.
Essentially, this results in open-source programs being used to grow close-source programs.
-Microsoft and GitHub's multiple CEOs have kept on speaking negatively about copyleft. This includes GitHub's founder and former CEO. Their OSCON keynote was meant for attacking copyleft and the GPL, trying to discourage the use of free software. Instead, they suggest the MIT license using which many megacorporations exploit people's code without any credit.
-There are many people who suggest using alternatives to products offered by big corporations and they are mostly right. Big corporations are able to give you free products because they profit off of your data. They are not trying to be kind.
For example, look at Google. They offer a search engine, documents storage, free email, cloud storage, a video site with billions of videos, a meeting platform and much more. They are not doing this to help people. They are doing this to harvest your data and sell it to the highest bidder.
Microsoft? Windows, Xbox and GitHub are not tools offered out of their sympathy towards you. All of it is for their own profit, whether it be collecting your data in Windows or preventing distribution of truly free software on GitHub.
-GitHub is perhaps the only Git platform that has no option to self-host. You do not know what is running on their servers and cannot know what is happening with your code.
-Please don't use GitHub. Just use alternatives or self-host it. GitHub does have a lot of projects but if you use it, it brings them closer towards extinguishing open-source.
sf.cu > Blog > Minimal Design
-28 July 2023
5 min
-sf.cu > Blog > Minimal Design
+28 July 2023
5 min
+People often ask me why I choose minimal design for brands. This is because it has numerous practical advantages that provide ease and consistency in a brand.
-One of the main aspects of minimal design is that it focuses on only the required elements of a specific brand. As a result, design becomes distractionless. This is especially easy nowadays since almost no one cares about the meaning behind a logo except in rare cases.
Another advantage of this type of design is that it focuses on the core message, or in this case, brand type. Too much designing can confuse viewers on whether a brand is a playful brand or a luxury brand, for example.
-Minimal design, especially in the realm of branding, makes a brand feel timeless. You could take almost any minimal design from 200 years ago and use it for your brand today if there were no limits on copying. On the other hand, a sophisticated design from even 50 years ago will look dated most of the time.
This works because the elements that cause a brand to look dated are reduced to an absolute minimum. With minimal design, you have as little correlation with time as possible in your brands.
-Minimal design when performed properly can make any brand look elegant. This is due to their simple nature. Look at most luxury brands, and you will notice that their designs are all simple.
-Minimal designs are also consistent. This makes it easy to make a strong and impactful brand that reminds viewers of you. This can also be achieved through other types of design, but it is more powerful on average with minimal design.
Such types of consistency also provide versatility. You can place your brand design in any context, screen size, device and media type while also maintaining a strong brand presence.
-Many designs nowadays are complicated and provide barely any breathing space for your eyes. With minimal designs, however, you can rest easy. Your eyes will not be overwhelmed by minimal design as much as complicated designs.
This is useful on informational posts or flyers. It allows your users to process information clearly without any clutter.
-Minimal designs often make use of negative space or whitespace to make a design look appealing. This can look spectacular if executed correctly. Below is an example:
Minimal brand designs can be easily maintained and modified. This makes them versatile in terms of rebranding.
-Minimal designs are preferred because:
sf.cu > Blog > Password Systems
-sf.cu > Blog > Password Systems
+2 May 2023
4 min
If you find it difficult to maintain strong passwords, then this guide is the only article you need to refer to. In this article, I will talk about an amazing trick to remember and manage all of your passwords.
-It goes without saying that passwords are incredibly important. It is undeniably important to make sure your passwords are:
The most common response I hear from people when I ask them to create a password system is:
"I think using the same password on all accounts is better because I don't have a good memory to use a password system."
That response always baffles me. The whole point of a password system is not to remember your passwords but to remember a ruleset that will be cemented into your brain after 3 or 4 times of entering your passwords.
-As aforementioned, a password system is a set of rules that you need to remember instead of all of your passwords separately. An effective password system consists of the following elements:
The main format and order of a password system is completely managed by you. First, let us go over creating a master password.
-I recommend this method of creating master passwords to anyone since the passwords that are created are easy to remember but practically impossible to guess.
Make sure it is long but easily memorable. The one which pops in your mind when someone asks you to think of a sentence is a perfect choice as long as it is of considerable length.
@@ -67,7 +66,7 @@Do not proceed to the next section without doing this step. Recall the sentence in your mind and try to write the same password you got in the previous step. Do this at least 10 times. Wait a few hours, then do it again. Wait until you sleep and do it again. This may seem unnecesarry, but most people underestimate the power of muscle memory. If you login to an account regularly, then you type your password without even thinking about it. The same trick can be applied here.
After a while, you will be able to type your extremely long password without any effort. You just think about it and your mind glides through the keyboard. This is super useful.
-To make your password different for every website and service you go to, there needs to be a service differentiator. A service differentiator is a special combination of characters you add in your password system to make it unique to the service you are on. It is not very difficult to create a service differentiator and it is easier to remember.
The elements of a service differentiator are the name of the service and length of the name of the service. Below is an example of a name differentiator used for creating a Nextcloud account, Microsoft account and Google account respectively.
nextcLOUD!999
googlE!666
As you can see, I added the name of the service in with the first 5 letter capitalized with an exclamation mark and the length of the service three times.
By this point, you can make your own service differentiator easily.
-It is finally time to integrate your master password into a password system. It is called a password system, which means that it is dynamic and changes for every website. A sample password system can be the following:
(SERVICE DIFFERENTIATOR) + (MASTER PASSWORD)
In my example's case, my Google account password would be:
@@ -83,7 +82,7 @@The password above is 40 characters, yes 40 characters long. No one will be able to guess it and it will take hundreds of centuries to crack. Best of all, it is different for each account.
You can mix the order up. Just make sure you don't keep changing the system and use one system. The best part is that if you need to change your passwords, you can just make another system that will work just as well. By that point, the previous system will be embedded into your brain. So, you can remember multiple strong passwords using this step.
Please note that this is not enough. If you have followed this guide, you have taken a massive step towards protecting your accounts. However, many cybercriminals rely on phishing attacks. Please do not click on random links and please do not enter your information on random websites.
-Congratulations! You now know how to create an extremely strong password that is different on each account.
diff --git a/sm/index.html b/sm/index.html index 013b735..101ecdf 100644 --- a/sm/index.html +++ b/sm/index.html @@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
sf.cu > Blog > Stop Using Social Media
-sf.cu > Blog > Stop Using Social Media
+20 April 2023
9 min
-I know how you felt reading the title. If you are a heavy social media user, you probably said:
"What? Who in their right mind would delete their social media accounts? How are they supposed to live life and talk to their friends?"
Don't worry. That was me last year. I understand your feelings. However, the disadvantages of social media and the perks of deleting it far outweigh its benefits. In this post, I will go over the reasons why you should delete all of your social media.
A study counted 5 billion internet users and it was concluded that, on average, an internet user spends 6 hours and 53 minutes online per day. 6. HOURS. AND. 53. MINUTES. That is almost a whole third of people's daily lives. Another study concluded that people spend more time on social media in their whole lifetime than grooming, socialising (social media !=socialising) and doing the laundry combined.
It is not as if any of the time spent is valuable. Sure, you may learn one or two 'fun facts, which will make you think that you need social media. You may talk with your friends a lot, which will make you think that your account is required to socialise with people. However, these are all nonsensical excuses that your brain makes to justify getting cheap dopamine. Imagine how much work you can get done, how many actual connections you can make with people, and how many good habits can be formed that will make you happier in the long term than social media.
Whenever people hear that social media affects your mental health, they agree but say that it does not affect them specifically. The most common argument I hear is:
"Yeah, I know that it affects other people. However, I am fine with it. I feel normal and do not feel depressed at all.
All I can say is not to trust what your brain tells you whenever you are dealing with any addiction, not just social media. Think about it. The same brain that is telling you that you should keep using social media for meaningless reasons is the one telling you that it is not affecting you.
Social media is a constant source of comparison. You open it up, view a few triggering posts, find out that your favourite actor has passed away, and see your friends perfect lives. Before closing the app, you apply filters to yourself and edit the picture as much as possible for your stories to make yourself look artificially good.
You see, not only is social media fake, it also has an absurd effect on your mental health. It has been proven that many social media platforms track you to show you personalised content. They use human psychology to hook you onto their platforms.
There are two chemicals in your brain that are responsible for happiness:
In many cases, the effect of dopamine is much greater than the effect of endorphins. Recall back to a young age when you realised you were about to receive a toy that you had been waiting for for a few days. The feeling you got when you realised you would get it soon was more intense than the actual feeling of getting the toy.
The same trick applies on social media. Many social media platforms show you content that is completely different from the content that you like just before showing you content that you really like. This results in more dopamine being released, with a good amount of endorphin being released as well. To your brain, it has just achieved something great when, in reality, you have not.
Constantly high dopamine and endorphin releases raise your base happiness levels. This is why things that you used to love now seem boring to you. It is not 'growing up'. It is your social media addiction.
Social media metrics also contribute to this. It makes you think that likes and comments are proportional to your worth, which is simply not the case. When you get a like, it is a form of validation that you are valuable to someone. Someone not liking your post does not mean that you are not valuable.
FOMO (fear of missing out) plays a big role as well. The phrase:
"If everyone is using [insert anything here], why shouldn't I?"
is commonly said by an individual who experiences FOMO without the thing in question. There is a constant fear of missing out on information, which simply will not happen. You may miss some arbitrary information that you would not care about otherwise, but this is not a reason at all to continue using social media.
To hook you into their addiction, social media companies hire "attention designers" who take references and inspiration from casinos to keep you hooked.
Before ending this unexpectedly long section, I would like you to read this quote.
"You're either on, and you're connected and distracted all the time, or you're off, but then you're wondering, Am I missing something important? In other words, you're either distracted or you have a fear of missing out."
Tristan Harris, Former Design Ethicist at Google
If you post everything you do on social media, there is no longer any privacy. Anything you do is public information. If you have a 'private' account, your friends know everything you do. There is no privacy at all if you keep posting everything on social media.
Then there is the elephant in the room. - Digital Privacy.
+I know how you felt reading the title. If you are a heavy social media user, you probably said:
"What? Who in their right mind would delete their social media accounts? How are they supposed to live life and talk to their friends?"
Don't worry. That was me last year. I understand your feelings. However, the disadvantages of social media and the perks of deleting it far outweigh its benefits. In this post, I will go over the reasons why you should delete all of your social media.
+A study counted 5 billion internet users and it was concluded that, on average, an internet user spends 6 hours and 53 minutes online per day. 6. HOURS. AND. 53. MINUTES. That is almost a whole third of people's daily lives. Another study concluded that people spend more time on social media in their whole lifetime than grooming, socialising (social media !=socialising) and doing the laundry combined.
+It is not as if any of the time spent is valuable. Sure, you may learn one or two 'fun facts, which will make you think that you need social media. You may talk with your friends a lot, which will make you think that your account is required to socialise with people. However, these are all nonsensical excuses that your brain makes to justify getting cheap dopamine. Imagine how much work you can get done, how many actual connections you can make with people, and how many good habits can be formed that will make you happier in the long term than social media.
+Whenever people hear that social media affects your mental health, they agree but say that it does not affect them specifically. The most common argument I hear is:
+"Yeah, I know that it affects other people. However, I am fine with it. I feel normal and do not feel depressed at all.
+All I can say is not to trust what your brain tells you whenever you are dealing with any addiction, not just social media. Think about it. The same brain that is telling you that you should keep using social media for meaningless reasons is the one telling you that it is not affecting you.
+Social media is a constant source of comparison. You open it up, view a few triggering posts, find out that your favourite actor has passed away, and see your friends perfect lives. Before closing the app, you apply filters to yourself and edit the picture as much as possible for your stories to make yourself look artificially good.
+You see, not only is social media fake, it also has an absurd effect on your mental health. It has been proven that many social media platforms track you to show you personalised content. They use human psychology to hook you onto their platforms.
+There are two chemicals in your brain that are responsible for happiness:
+In many cases, the effect of dopamine is much greater than the effect of endorphins. Recall back to a young age when you realised you were about to receive a toy that you had been waiting for for a few days. The feeling you got when you realised you would get it soon was more intense than the actual feeling of getting the toy.
+The same trick applies on social media. Many social media platforms show you content that is completely different from the content that you like just before showing you content that you really like. This results in more dopamine being released, with a good amount of endorphin being released as well. To your brain, it has just achieved something great when, in reality, you have not.
+Constantly high dopamine and endorphin releases raise your base happiness levels. This is why things that you used to love now seem boring to you. It is not 'growing up'. It is your social media addiction.
+Social media metrics also contribute to this. It makes you think that likes and comments are proportional to your worth, which is simply not the case. When you get a like, it is a form of validation that you are valuable to someone. Someone not liking your post does not mean that you are not valuable.
+FOMO (fear of missing out) plays a big role as well. The phrase:
+"If everyone is using [insert anything here], why shouldn't I?"
+is commonly said by an individual who experiences FOMO without the thing in question. There is a constant fear of missing out on information, which simply will not happen. You may miss some arbitrary information that you would not care about otherwise, but this is not a reason at all to continue using social media.
+To hook you into their addiction, social media companies hire "attention designers" who take references and inspiration from casinos to keep you hooked.
+Before ending this unexpectedly long section, I would like you to read this quote.
+"You're either on, and you're connected and distracted all the time, or you're off, but then you're wondering, Am I missing something important? In other words, you're either distracted or you have a fear of missing out."
+Tristan Harris, Former Design Ethicist at Google
+If you post everything you do on social media, there is no longer any privacy. Anything you do is public information. If you have a 'private' account, your friends know everything you do. There is no privacy at all if you keep posting everything on social media.
Then there is the elephant in the room.
+ +Digital Privacy.
It is well-known that apps like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and some Google apps collect your data like their lives depend on it (technically, they do). Everything from your name to your IP address and phone number to even the amount of network requests you make or the model of your phone. Not to mention, literally everything you do on the app. This all goes to their servers and is used for more advertisements.
It is pretty safe to say that your digital footprint, as it is called, can be nearly eliminated by deleting your accounts. There are more steps that you have to take to take care of your privacy, but preventing data collection from big corporations is a huge step.
-Fake news. It's everywhere. Even the worst social media addict cannot deny it. You see parody pages that copy the design of famous news channels perfectly and post random news. You see people edit images to exaggerate or divert the subject of an article. There is not much that I need to say. You know what I mean.
-The blue-light from your phone tricks your brain into thinking it's daytime. So, when you use your phone late into the night scrolling on your social media feed, it makes you feel less sleepy.
When this happens, do you know what most people do? They pick up their phones again since they cannot sleep, thinking that they will sleep in 30 minutes when they are sleepy. This cycle goes on. Many individuals of Generation Z do not sleep the whole night for many days on end and instead take naps in the afternoon. Does this sound healthy to you?
And no, using a blue-light filter does not fix the issue. It only slightly reduces its effect.
-When you spend hours and hours a day sitting down with no exercise or action apart from flicking your thumb, what do you think will happen? You may experience the following effects:
Many individuals who use social media are experiencing these problems, which are usually experienced by older people, at ages like 25.
-When you are working and are in the zone (a phase in which you do high-quality work without even thinking about it), any minor disturbance will move you out of that state. A notification about someone liking your post can shake you out of the zone. In the long-term, this will waste hours of your time.
-So, you are ready. You want to quit social media and break this horrible addiction. You realise the effects it has on your life. However, you do not know where to start. If this is the case, check out 'The AIR Method'. If you would like to read how I did it, please refer to the steps below. Referring to the steps I took may help you understand your weak points and how to combat them.
-Make a list of all of your friends and cross out the ones that you know can be reached on other chat applications. Ask the rest for alternative contact methods. This may be through apps like Signal, Session, XMPP, Matrix, or WhatsApp. Just make sure that it is not another social media app.
-Download your data to refer to in the future. Most social media platforms include chats along with it so that you can refer back to the chats if needed. A website like JustGetMyData will allow you to quickly get to this section. Most websites place it in places which are difficult to access to prevent people from deleting their accounts.
-Quitting social media 'cold-turkey' (abruptly) may work for the first few days but it will cause you to fail completely. It is better to slowly reduce your usage by using healthier apps.
If you haven't already, start using RSS feeds. There is nothing wrong with using old technology. RSS provides you with a similar feed to social media but with content you actually like and want to read. It is managed by you, not an algorithm. You read what you want and stop. There is no algorithm or endless feed that compells you to keep using the app.
I am going to make a post about RSS feeds soon. It will be updated here.
-It is also important to announce that you are deleting your accounts. This may not be necessary if you have less than five friends you talk to on your accounts but it is important if you have many friends. This announcement will allow your friends to contact you and tell you their alternative forms of contact. It will also allow people to know that you are leaving for good.
-The moment you have been waiting for. Click on the delete button.
This is much easier said than done, however. Most social media accounts have a grace period during which if you login to your account, your account deletion will be cancelled. For Instagram, the grace period is 1 month. To combat this, I did the following:
These steps were drastic but they practically cemented the fact that my account was going to be deleted, no matter what.
-There is not much left to say. I am much, much happier without social media. I have more time on my hands and I am still getting the information I want from RSS feeds without an algorithm trying to pull me in. Big corporations have much less data about me, I have a lot of time and have produced a lot of work. In terms of academics, my overall percentage in school has increased by over 20%. I find difficult subjects easier and easy subjects a piece of cake.
All in all, if you care about yourself, delete your social media. It is a hellhole that is getting worse by the day.
diff --git a/terminal/index.html b/terminal/index.html index 7fa2be9..822b006 100644 --- a/terminal/index.html +++ b/terminal/index.html @@ -4,7 +4,6 @@sf.cu > Blog > Why I Use Terminal Apps
-sf.cu > Blog > Why I Use Terminal Apps
+13 March 2023
5 min
“Ah, yes. Graphical-user interface (GUI) apps. They are so comfortable and easy to use. You just click some buttons and get your computer to do what you want.”
That was what I thought before I learned how spectacular terminal applications are. I do not use a calendar or email GUI app. I use its terminal equivalent. Specifically, I use Calcurse for my calendar/todo, neomutt for my email, sxiv for my image viewing, mpv for my video playing and even Joplin (CLI) for my notes. I am still actively looking for more apps like terminal file managers (lf, ranger, mc) and terminal versions of GUI apps I use (Bitwarden?). What compelled me to switch?
-Firstly, I realized that apps that allow me to use my keyboard and reduce mouse usage to as little as possible saved me a lot of time. By a lot of time, I don't mean a few minutes. I mean hours in the long run. Moving your hand to your mouse and clicking a button takes at least three seconds. Multiply that hundreds of times a day and 365 days an year. That leads to a lot of time wasted just moving your hand to your mouse.
-The speed of terminal apps have helped me get a lot more productive. Getting myself to start working immediately helped me a lot. I use Neovim for my text editor, and whenever I need to write text, its much faster to press a shortcut to open a blank file in Neovim than to open a GUI equivalent. It is also much faster to press a shortcut than to open my applications menu and search for my calendar app and wait a few seconds for the bloated app to open up. Terminal apps are just more lightweight. As a result, they operate faster and save me more than just a few seconds.
-CLI apps are more standardized. With a GUI, the procedure for solving an issue or using the application's functionality is similar to this:
This is the sole reason that you see the terminal being used so much in Linux. It's easier to say “Open your terminal and type this” than to blabber a long list of instructions that will become redundant if the application in question decides to change their UI in an update.
-Due to the lightweight nature of the command line, your tools can run on just about any computer. It does not matter if your computer has a Pentium processor or a 12th-generation i9. GUI tools have system requirements and if it is a robust tool with a fancy interface, chances are that the requirements just for the app to look good knocks that tool off your app list on your 10-year-old computer.
-While GUI apps are simple to use initially, your speed using the apps remains slow all the time. Sure, you may learn where every button is and be able to open any setting you want quickly, but that speed is nothing compared to one of a command line. With a command line, your speed is slower than a snail at first. However, after some time of using the program, you can do things at a similar speed as a GUI app.
If you daily-drive a terminal program, it takes only a few days for you to become faster at it than using a GUI program. After that, you will be able to understand your most used commands and use aliases to shorten them.
For example, if you view your free space regulary, instead of typing a 50-line command to print your free space, you can just alias that command to 'free-space'. Doing this will make it so that whenever you type 'free-space', it performs the aforementioned 50-line command and displays the output. This will save your more than just a few hours of time.
-With terminal apps, you have a plethora of choices. I can almost guarantee that an app with functionality you wish existed does exist in the form of a command line application. There are obscure apps with spectacular functionality which can change your computing experience that you will miss out on if you stay away from the terminal.
-When it comes to GUI apps, you have to be honest. They do not have 100% functionality. It is simply implausible to fit every single function in a GUI app. Doing so would result in a lot of code to maintain, an extremely heavy app and a confusing layout. However, with a terminal app, all you have to do is type:
man command
or
command --help
and get the complete functionality of the app, all within less than 5% of the app size of its GUI equivalent.
-All GUI apps are basically middlemen for the command line. They essentially use the command line for you. When you ditch the GUI and go straight for the terminal, you talk directly to the computer in a way in which the computer understands.
-When people first look at the terminal, it becomes set in their mind that it is difficult to use and that mentality stays for an extraordinarily long time. Due to this, they never experiment or even open the terminal application. If they run into an issue which requires the use of the terminal to fix, they decide to just live with the issue instead of using the terminal. However, if people use the terminal for a few weeks, they realize that it outpaces almost every other GUI app in almost everything.
-... including terminal applications. Terminal applications are amazing. They allow me to do so much. However, there are extremely rare cases in which I have no choice but to use a GUI. This is if the GUI application in question requires you to use only their app. There are also some specific use-cases in which GUI apps just make more sense. Video editing, advanced photo manipulation and 3D modelling are great examples.
-...terminal applications should be used as much as possible. They are swift. They can be used quickly and also use less resources and space while running on just about anything. They are not as difficult as they look and can be used for uses which GUI apps do not have. They cannot be used all the time because there are rare exceptions in which GUI applications have to be used. However, these are so little that I do not mind keeping GUI apps just for these use cases.
diff --git a/uses/index.html b/uses/index.html index bc275ed..ce5ed83 100644 --- a/uses/index.html +++ b/uses/index.html @@ -3,7 +3,7 @@sf.cu > Blog > Tools I Use
-31 July 2023
4 min
-sf.cu > Blog > Tools I Use
+31 July 2023
4 min
+This post consists of all the hardware, software and other tools I use on a daily basis for all of my work. I am for tools that are lightweight, minimal and work fast on all types of devices.
-I have a custom-built computer that I bought in 2021. This was during the chip shortage but I needed a PC and could not wait as it was impacting my work. These are the specs:
When I am on the go, I cannot sacrifice any of my work. This is why I use the HP ENVY x360 laptop. I was going to buy a ThinkPad but I am using this since it was a gift.
Specs:
I use the Nothing Phone (1). It is a spectacular phone from a great new brand that keeps getting better with each update they release. It looks extremely cool with the glyph lights, which I find to be useful in some cases.
Along with my phone, I use the OnePlus Bullets Wireless Z
-Operating System (Linux Distribution):
+Operating System (Linux Distribution):
I use Arch Linux. I love its lightweight and do-it-yourself nature. It gives me more control over what is installed on my PC.
-Window Manager:
+Window Manager:
I use Xmonad. It is lightweight and uses Haskell as its language. I have tinkered around a lot and reached a setup that I love.
-Terminal Emulator:
+Terminal Emulator:
I use Alacritty. It is fast and works really well. I love the 24-bit colours especially.
-Shell:
+Shell:
I use zsh due to its speed and features like autocomplete and plugins.
-Text Editor:
+Text Editor:
I use Neovim for my text editing and will never switch to another program. It is fast, versatile, extensible and extremely lightweight. Most importantly, it works extremely well for my usecase.
-Web Browser:
+Web Browser:
I use Librewolf with two profiles. For more information, view my post on my browser setup.
-Password Manager:
+Password Manager:
I use KeePass with Syncthing. KeePass is incredibly secure. Read this post for more information.
-Notes:
+Notes:
I use VimWiki also with Syncthing. I use the Markor app on my phone to view the notes. Read this post for more information.
File Manager:
+File Manager:
I have Thunar installed but I do not use it most of the time. I use the terminal for most of my file management.
-Media Player:
+Media Player:
I use MPV, the best media player on the planet. It is fast, free software and infinitely extensible.
-RSS Reader:
+RSS Reader:
I use Newsboat since it reduces the need for me to go to all of my websites separately.
-PDF Viewer:
+PDF Viewer:
Zathura all the way. I am never switching to anything else. It is just so fast and simple.
-Image Viewer:
+Image Viewer:
nsxiv is what I use. It is just like Zathura; fast and efficient.
Recording and Streaming:
+Recording and Streaming:
I use FFmpeg to record and encode my screen recordings. I use Kdenlive to edit my videos. In case of streaming, I use OBS Studio to stream.
-Writing:
+Writing:
I write in plaintext formats as much as possible. When writing posts or other formatted notes, I use Markdown (.md) and I use LaTeX for documents.
-Image Editing:
+Image Editing:
This is perhaps the only non-free software I use. I use Adobe Photoshop
-These are all of the tools I use. They may change in the future, but there is a low chance of that happening since I have gotten used to all of these amazing tools.