DEV Community: FONZACUS

A Bit Saved is a Bit Earned

FONZACUS — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 16:06:01 +0000

Unorthodox - the act of not orthodoxing

A Wise Man Once Said

A penny saved is a penny earned, a great idiom to live by as we can minimize greed. My siblings and I grew up with the rich parents cheat code, but we are not too swayed by money. We are also trying to raise our kids the same way. Why I would bring this up is a focus on minimalism with coding. On more minimal budgets, a few bytes saved can be the difference between a running project, and a crawling one.

Pass the Source

While not having a formal CV in coding, I do like playing around, coding is no exception. I am fine with any type of coding convention, but I prefer the GNU style as it is easiest to read even without syntax highlight. Modern styles like the ever-changing Google style guide (go one up for the other tech giants) do better with minimizing extra space. There are also exceptions to the rules that require careful indenting like Python, they are only a few, most are fine anyway. Back in the old days (pre-smartphone) I would suggest those wanting to code to try their hands with HTML while practicing CSS and JS as they can easily be tested on even phones. Nowadays there are even some complete compilers and debuggers available, especially those that want to give Termux, their Debian build-essential, and root repositories a try.

Code editors are also guilty here, as they try and force certain styles, and it is hard to tweak it to our liking. There are very nice tools like language servers and code snippets around, even some backed by AI. Web code editors have taken major steps forward within a short time span, and with better AI around the corner, could outpace traditional editors easily. Nowadays choosing one without a source directory project manager is a challenge. Even web based gits think so too. I have been using Vim for almost 15 years, and my usual setup was akin to SpaceVim until I wanted to become more minimal. At the end of the day, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Production Unready

In a released state, I feel it should be a good time to minimize. Few people are going to look into the code, and many compilers strip away the excess weight, but many do not. I agree modern systems can easily tread through without a care in the world, but the penny idiom still hits me. Many projects are going to have different branches to hold different states, so why not have a minimum build for release like most CDNs (content delivery network) do.

There are many plugins for various text editors that do the job well. Google has a very useful JS minimizer called Clojure Compiler, It is also available online. While simple options are easier overall, you can also select the overkill option to also rename everything, obfuscate, and minimize it to the extreme. A great tool to push the release state to. Other languages do not really have a minimizer as capable as Clojure.

Parental Discretion is Advised

I will be using basic HTML as an example since it is the easiest (probably) to understand even for complete beginners. I have also played with owning, hosting, leasing, and admining sites.

As an example; where _ is a tab, 164 - bits - 122:

<section>                 |<section>
_<div>THIS                |_<div>THIS
__<div>THAT               |__<div>THAT
___<div>HERE</div>        |___<div>HERE</div>
___<div>THERE             |___<div>THERE
____<div>EVERYWHERE</div> |____<div>EVERYWHERE</div>
____<div>                 |____<div>
_____ANYWHERE             |_____ANYWHERE
____</div>                |</section> <- HEAD SHOT
___</div>
__</div>
_</div>
</section>

We saved 38 bits, where 1 tab is 1 bit, and a new line is 2. In the short term, this may not mean much, but in the long term, the savings can be huge. If we also minimize all tabs to a still human-readable format, we get 100 bits. Remove the lines, and we get a of 92 bits! Imagine if top sites did this, wouldn't the savings reach unspeakable levels? Many site generators tend to be pretty restrictive, and trying to minimize space can be a challenge.

<section> | <section><div>THIS<div>THAT<div>HERE</div><div>THERE<div>EVERYWHERE</div><div>ANYWHERE</section>
<div>THIS | a bit too chaotic
<div>THAT
<div>HERE</div>
<div>THERE
<div>EVERYWHERE</div>
<div>
ANYWHERE
</section>

Modern browsers will work perfectly fine, those from the Y2K era might choke. Those in the 90s might crash and break the PC when given a popup BTW. Text editors and their syntax engines will properly recognize messy codes. Your favorite browser's devtool will also perfectly line them up nicely as source pages, and also automatically close elements. Many sites have also started excluding <head> and <body> elements for a while, well, I felt like pushing beyond that. This may not even be trendy as most programmers find this unorthodox. IMHO, it is easier to work with as most of the time, machines are smarter than us.

The Whole Nine Yards

Some may be disgusted at what I am trying to say, but give it some thought. Site hosting costs have gone down over the years, but everything continues to get bigger. There are many cost-cutting alternatives, like using CDNs, or even offloading media elsewhere. Phones are also becoming more PC-like, with specs rivaling mid-tier consumer laptops. 5 years ago, who would had thought of seeing >10GB of RAM and VGA as low-tier?

If a penny could be saved, would you do it? Would you pass that penny to somewhere else? Would the penny be happy?

Save Mother Earth

Warm Welcome to Linux P2

FONZACUS — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 08:45:23 +0000

Part 1

Which Island to Hop to Next

Because a first impression is a lasting one, many people request recommendations on which Linux distribution (distro) to try. Many discussions go back and forth about trying to find a shoe that fits you, and everyone else in the house. I will say this: do not get too hung up on it. Distros are like toys; some you keep, and others you throw away for better or for worse. Keeping your system and data partitions separate is a good idea because it is often done even with beginner. Out of the barrel, only some are monumental.

The Cake is not a Lie

Many times, distros tend to be very similar to the untrained user. Like making a cake, the base ingredient is the Linux kernel and hardware support. On top of that, are the GNU utilities that speak between system and users. Then we add the censored word like ready-made mixings, or we make our own fixings. Scramble it up with user interfacing like audio, video, and other inputs and outputs.

The graphical user interface (GUI) is like the toppings; some like it sweet, while others do not. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. My favorite course is usually sticking to something lite but complete, like LXQT, then building on top of that with desktop environment independent apps. I particularly prefer multiplatform apps if possible to keep transitioning over smooth. I try to keep the sugar down, but when I need something stronger, it is ready to launch.

A Try Hard

As a non-computer (hardware, software etc) specialist like myself who has hobbies in computers, I wanted a challenge. Trying their luck with Linux From Scratch (LFS) and beyond as just random. As someone who completed the journey on a whim, it was worthwhile as I got to see a system built. The course takes about a week with trial, error, and sheer willpower. It is like a coming-of-age tale; complete it once and never speak of it again.

Which of the Two

What thinly separates distros (apart from the GUI) is the package manager (PM). There are two main distinctions: source and binary based. Source-based distros are managers that download the source files, and then build them while following their recipes. We must build everything ourselves, including the core system components. The most notable examples come from the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) family and Gentoo from Linux. Some BSD forks try to be more user friendly, and there are also forks of Gentoo available. These are geared toward easier maintenance for their dev team.

These distros are mainly for those who do not really trust anyone. Distros like these are often skipped as they take tons of effort to maintain ourselves. Reading sources may be fun as we get to see unique options not included by default, or even add custom patches to the fixings. A common example of this is the Suckless utilities. After trying out a few, I swore to never try these again. It was way over my pay grade.

Then we have binary-based distros which are the ones usually used because they are built for us. Packages are built either by our distro maintainers, various external first and third-party maintainers, or by ourselves. Windows and Mac fit into this category, and with many toolkits available may see a different option soon enough. They run as ready to rumble with little bloodshed for us users.

A Third Wheel

Some break out of the mold like portable applications, NixOS packages, and Bedrock Linux. These can further be added on top of the base OSs, and theoretically, on top of source-based distros as well. Having choices like these open up routes to more degrees of freedom. It can also be a double-edged sword for non-experienced users. Experience is the best teacher.

While not as trustworthy as an official repository, they can greatly benefit both users and maintainers. Who is to say their distro of choice can be completely trusted? Why not ask Windows users, this can and has happened in Linux, too. Relying on off site packages can also be a blessing, many applications are starting to consider portable applications distributions. This allows for maintainers more time to allocate elsewhere, and some are already doing so.

This is why keeping system and data partitions separate is good practice. After hopping from one distro to the next, many of our preferred settings can be picked up on another system. There may be issues with incompatible apps like an accidental downgrade, but most of the time the app can panic a bit and fix itself up, if not wipe the settings clean again. People also love having their user configs backed up elsewhere like on GitHub or other cloud storage providers.

The Town of Beginnings

Picking a starting distro is like playing a game, it does not take long for us to stay in our starting town. With various informative sites like DistroWatch, and even a testing site like distro test, our options are endless. Beginners should not get too hung up on deciding which game they want to play as there are tons available. Sooner or later in life, some even leave their starting towns, and even their countries.

Keep the ball rolling

Warm Welcome to Linux

FONZACUS — Tue, 28 May 2024 06:16:44 +0000

For easiness, let me call it "Linux" and not GNU/Linux/whatever

Ignorance is a Blessing

Trying to live a more minimal life has its ups and downs. Having been out of the loop for such a long time, the world and the years ahead, look different from under a rock. With many breakthroughs in many fields at once, it seems impossible to catch up. To me, none of that matters much, as I prefer just playing with my kids. My off the entire grid life taught me to enjoy the simple things.

Now With More Broken Glass

PC users are having a tantrum spiral as many Windows rumors turn out to be true. Who knew all these wonderful features could be ever more wonderful (/s). Some have even sworn to move elsewhere. As one who has tried to move since Windows 8 (I dub it H8 BTW), I have tried hopping many times over the decade and have stayed with the basic friendly guidelines (common sense really). The year of the Linux (TM) (R) (C) may finally come, maybe.

DistroWatch, I Choose You

The common sense I advocate mainly revolves around DistroWatch. High ranking distributions (indicated by the hits per day chart) are generally more favorable for many reasons; stability, support, user-friendliness, friendliness of other users and so on. Over the past few years, I have usually recommended the three major M named distros; Mint, Manjaro, and MX. They have had high favorability over the past decade. A first impression is a lasting one.

Short Backstory

My first distro into the Linux distros that I fondly remember started off with Ubuntu as it was the first of its kind back in the day. Many distros were too freedom oriented, and preferred not to include much needed drivers, media codecs, filesystem support and so on. This all changed when Ubuntu broke out of the mold. Nowadays, there are only a few that try to stay true to these old teachings. It was revolutionary at the time when even complete beginners could be happy with a completed, ready to rumble install without bloodshed.

My friends also wanted a stab at Linux and asked me for help. They wanted a simpler experience than Ubuntu. After browsing around for a bit, we decided on Mint. The experience was even more laid back, and something that can be better for beginners. After using it for over a year, I wanted to try Ubuntu again, until I heard some funny rumors. Browsing the Mint site, they started to offer a Debian option, and I decided to finally try Debian after hearing they started to ease on their too freedom ways.

As with many distros, having a large repository may not be enough for some, adding custom PPAs (Personal Package Archives, or 3rd party repositories) was the norm. Whilst staying truly Debian, this can add to a FrankenDebian, and might mess up the upgrade procedure. That is when I decided to try a rolling release distro again, but this time it was Debian Sid (I prefer calling it Unstable, and calling the next stable as Testing). My kitchen PC, which I built back in college 2009, with a top of the line DDR2, is still happily running with the initial Unstable I had installed. It really says something, as long as we RTFM.

There Are Plenty of Fish in the Sea

Trying something new is scary, but there are tools out there to ease the pain. YUMI and Ventoy can help with the discovery phase of distro hopping. They are tools we can use to download ISOs onto our USB flash drives. The kicker is, they can support many bootable disks on one installation. The icing on the cake, they support persistency. We can try their default installers, save our persistent data, try something else, and return to where we left off.

Most Linux apps try to be portable (in a different sense of the word, for another topic) by nature and try to be self-contained. Now there are portable app frameworks that try to do more. I am more AppImage oriented as they are truly portable, without the need for additional software.

After some Frankensteining of my own, I have a USB installed MX as a pocket OS that can be used on literally any hardware. Most common factory default boot options tend to favor booting from USB drives as the first boot option. A few years ago, a new storm called Bedrock Linux caught Frankensteiners by surprise, and this is where I am with my daily driver everyday laptop.

Choose Your Destiny

There are plenty of choices in the Linux distro world, too many as said before. Too much of a good thing can be bad at times, and that can split focus on trivial things instead of pushing to what matters more. At the end of the day, don't worry too much about what you choose as most of the time, most distros tend to be the same, it is the nitty gritty details that only slightly set them apart. Of course this was just an oversimplification, as the iceberg is always larger underneath.

So many choices, so little time, so part 2

My Little Protopage - A Cloud Homepage

FONZACUS — Tue, 21 May 2024 04:25:20 +0000

NOTE: I am not sponsored, nor affiliated etc

A Relic of the Past

Please forgive my ignorance master(s), while not strictly related to coding, I would like to offer a glimpse to an awesome hidden gem called Protopage. It is a customizable personal homepage, but here is why I love it, it does not require an active log in to use. You could make an account, set up a homepage, and easily set any browser's home or new tab page to that site. A simple search could get you a brief example of what other pages look like. Here is what my mini account uses as another boring example.

Unearthing the Fossils

From their Wikipedia and blog entries, they have been around since mid 05, and honestly, I have only discovered it early this year (24) and have wondered why I have not heard about it sooner. Ironically, I have tried many of their alternatives, and have created my own basic homepage with boring HTML, CSS and slight JS, kept it both offline and online. It looks and smells like Protopage. Modern browsers are very finicky about local pages having too much control, and is especially hard to do in mobile phones nowadays. Maintaining that custom homepage for different browsers and OSs became a chore.

What a Twist

The reason I am trying to get others to try it out is because they have recently decided to show an ad and a subscription banner. I am not too alarmed, and have wondered why they have not done so sooner. I am also guilty of using an ad blocker (uBlock Origin), but using it the wrong way. I am fine with ads, so long as they are not the evil kind, such as media, popups, background activities (what people call annoyance and badware listed nowadays). Therefore, I am trying to get more people onboard with them in hopes of keeping their project alive.

The Walled Garden

The main feature of Protopage is that it does not require a login to use unlike many of their competitors. Sure, one could argue there are many extensions for browsers that offer a similar or better experience, but they are all walled gardens. Your device is only able to see your personal homepage, on that browser, on that PC, on that chair. Many similar sites also require an active login to access your site, without being able to see what others look like for inspiration. Protopage goes beyond that wall. If you really wanted to, you could even use someone's homepage as your own, but where is the fun in that.

The Unwalled Garden

What Protopage offers is more than just a cloud bookmark service, it is a dashboard. Pages can be customized to have many widgets such as an embedded web page, embeddable site widget, or even many RSS readers. I am also guilty of using an RSS reader the wrong way, by trying to brute force sites that do not offer feeds, to simply view their site without distractions. In a perfect world, you could embed many site widgets and get much work done without leaving the comfort of your home (page), but alas many sites restrict having their sites embedded for a reason.

The Way of the Proto

A simple idea is all it requires to make a page. It offers simple drag and drop layout customizations like many others, and offers more tweaks like no other. Like a real site, you can have widgets import scripts from elsewhere, while also running inline scripts. A widget can (almost) technically be called a browser window, but with limitations such as many sites not allowing their site to be embedded. A simple site specific search from above could land you an example of such complex pages that fancies you. Some have even used it as their own personal site page, or even a blackboard like organizer.

The Final Words

I am truly shocked this site has been around for so long, yet so few people use it. In another alternate reality, had it gone done Googled, it would have easily beat so many other homepages of the past. I was born 1990, and have seen so many of them gone. There are few remaining and they are making a comeback, but in another form. Having a personal homepage like Protopage is like having your own personal newspaper, where you decide what you want. Let us hope it can continue for years to come...