A few days ago the beta for Linux Mint 22 was approved for release, and while it hasn’t been officially announced yet I downloaded it off one of the mirrors to take a look at over the weekend. But not the usual Cinnamon edition, or the XFCE edition (which I use on my Chromebook). IContinue reading “Trapped in a Past We Never Made”
Operating System Archaeology
About a month ago, digging into the drawers of my desk, I found a stack of old Linux install CDs. Mostly Linux Mint — versions 5, 6, 9, 12, 13, a couple of others I can’t remember off the top of my head — and an Ubuntu 8.04 CD. Ubuntu 8.04! The first Linux IContinue reading “Operating System Archaeology”
Revisiting a Retro Linux Desktop
Over the last month, I’ve return to a project I worked on in the fall — making a theme for the CTWM window manager for Linux. I started working on it in October, and reached a point where it looked nice enough, but it wasn’t finished. The config was messy, and I planned to revisitContinue reading “Revisiting a Retro Linux Desktop”
Coding Myself a VPN Toggle
At fifty, I am becoming the Linux nerd I feel I should have been at twenty-five. I had a problem. I wanted an easy way to connect and disconnect from Diamond’s VPN. Yes, I could use the Network Connections interface in Linux Mint, but sometimes it expands while I was navigating to the VPN toggleContinue reading “Coding Myself a VPN Toggle”
Building a Dock in Linux Mint Cinnamon
One of the cool things about Linux Mint is that the Cinnamon desktop environment is built from CSS, and with a little custom code you can do some interesting things, like turn a panel — in Windows parlance, a taskbar — into a dock. Like here! That dock at left? It’s CSS, and not veryContinue reading “Building a Dock in Linux Mint Cinnamon”
Going Retro
As we approach the year 2024, there’s really no need for this. I installed CTWM, an old X11 window manager from the early early 90s, on Linux Mint, and it’s not the first time I’ve done this. CTWM is the sort of thing I read about in Byte in those days and never experienced forContinue reading “Going Retro”
New Office Decorations
Sunday was the Harrisburg Senators’ “Fan Appreciation” game. Even without a game–it was rained out–they did a “Fan Appreciation” giveaway. Basically, they opened up a storage room and pulled out whatever giveaway items from the past they had left over, put them on tables, and fans could get in a line and pick something. IContinue reading “New Office Decorations”
August, Sunset
Dark Brandon Delivers
This morning I logged into Nelnet, my student loan servicer, and I was greeted by a wonderful surprise. My student loans from the University of Richmond, taken out twenty-five years ago, give or take, are gone. Paid off. Forgiven. I received an email about a month ago from the Department of Education. Hold on, letContinue reading “Dark Brandon Delivers”
After the Storm
Last night’s storm ripped through Shrewsbury, leaving many, like a colleague, without power. The Royal Farms parking lot was filled with line crews and tree crews, Leader Heights Road had a lane closed for a line repair. 83 was down a lane as well for tree clean-up on the hill south of Loganville. Further south,Continue reading “After the Storm”