DEV Community: Loralighte

Potabi Systems Development | ISSUE #4 - The Bootloader

Loralighte — Fri, 10 Sep 2021 07:56:47 +0000

The image above represents an error I ran into while building Potabi on Sept-9, 2021. The build is currently supposed to be using the RE Base release b_1.0a-base, the files of which are listed below.

For testing purposes, I grabbed the RE Base b_1.0a-base disc1.iso file, as listed in the release. I ran it in QEMU on my personal machine, where the difference in bases between here and on the FreeBSD virtual machine being used for builds should be non-existent. Since I am coming back into development a month after I last did anything, I cannot say with any certainty that this will provide anything useful, but on The Potabi Foundation YouTube Channel, I uploaded a timelapse of this build for fun, not even trying to use it to help debug anything. It shows no issue, as far as I can tell.

Is this possibly an error with the base and kernel tarfiles themselves? Most probably, no. First, they were known to be working at some point in time at least. Second, the disc1.iso is uploaded to these base releases for these kinds of specific issues. If base or kernel are ever updated, so are all of the rest of the files at the same time, especially disc1.iso.

Running disc1.iso in a virtual machine proves with near certainty that my builds with the base and kernel tarballs should absolutely not produce an error.

Where may the issues be? Considering everything, I have located a couple possible locations for issues.

The ISO creation step (most likely)
The addition of software or rc.conf (least likely)

Figuring out what went wrong, where, and why, will be important.

Tutorial for making an Ubuntu fork.

Loralighte — Mon, 23 Nov 2020 01:28:23 +0000

Making an Ubuntu fork is going to be the easiest part of this series, as the tools required are not necessarily difficult to use. We will be using a modified version of a tool developed by the elementryOS team simply known as “os.” We will be using a modified version by Ubuntu Budgie. A GitHub link is provided below.
https://github.com/UbuntuBudgie/iso-builder

Step 1: Change the Repos & GPG Key.

For ease of development, we will be using a Launchpad PPA. You simply need to go to launchpad.net and sign up. Once you do that, click your username in the top-right corner. You will then see your account. First thing first is to follow the tutorial by Launchpad to get your PGP key. They offer both graphical versions and ones done in terminal. https://help.launchpad.net/YourAccount/ImportingYourPGPKey

Once you have your PGP key there, grab a text-based exported version of your key. You can do this using the following command. Replace [os-name] with the name of your OS.
gpg --output [os-name].key --armor --export username@email
Anyways. Make sure you have this file. You will be placing this file in the following directory in your fork of the ISO-builder.
[path to iso-builder]/etc/config/archives
This file should replace the ubuntucinnamonremix.key file. Rename the ubuntucinnamonremix.list file to the same name as the key file. In your .list file.

Going back to your Launchpad, create a PPA named the version of Ubuntu you are forking. The current LTS is probably best to work with. Replace both links with the following:
https://launchpad.net/[your_username]/[ppa-name]/ubuntu @BASECODENAME main
of course replacing [your_username] with your launchpad username, and [ppa-name] with what you named your PPA.

Step 2: Terraform Config

Go back to the main directory of the ISO builder. Go into the inner /etc folder. There will be a file called terraform.conf. Make sure the following options are valid:
BASECODENAME, BASEVERSION, CODENAME, VERSION, and NAME. NAME should be the name of your OS, and BASECODENAME and BASEVERSION are the versions of Ubuntu you plan to fork. CODENAME and VERSION can be custom but make sure they make sense for your OS and OS naming scheme.

Step 3: Custom Packages

Go back to the main directory of the ISO builder. Go into the inner /etc folder. In the package-lists.calamares folder, make sure to add your custom packages, and make sure to remove the Ubuntu Cinnamon Remix packages while your at it. This will be all the packages in desktop.list.chroot_install except for the line that says “@XORG_HWE.” Replace them with your custom packages. In desktop.list.chroot_live only change/replace calamares-settings-cinnamon-remix, and don’t change anything in pool.list.binary.

Step 4: Final setup

You lastly need to worry about [iso-builder]/etc/config/bootloaders. Simply go file to file and replace all mentions of Ubuntu Cinnamon with your operating system’s name.

Step 5: The build

Make sure to install Docker, as this is what is used to build the ISO. Pull the latest Debian Docker with the command sudo docker pull debian. After you have done so, run sudo docker run --privileged -it debian:latest. You should now be in a Debian Docker. Do apt update and install debootstap and git using the APT package manager. Go to the directory /usr/share/debootstrap/scripts and do the following command: cp disco [ubuntu_version], of course replacing [ubuntu_version] with your Ubuntu version. Do mkdir /home/[your_os] and git clone your fork of the repository. Replace your_os with the name of your OS. Run ./build.sh, exit the container, and run sudo docker commit containerID, replacing containerID with the ID of your container. Stop the container with sudo docker stop containerID, and restart it with docker start -i containerID. Change directory to /home/[your_os]/iso-builder and run ./terraform.sh. Let the build script run and you have made an OS! To get it out of the Docker container, simply run sudo docker cp containerID:/home/[your_os]/iso-builder/builds/amd64 . And simply shut down the container one last time.

JS: Functions inside Constants, When, How, and Why to use them

Loralighte — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 23:35:46 +0000

As I have been working on my EMXI Pure JS Library, I have been putting Functions inside of constants. It's not a difficult thing to do, but I feel like they should be used more often. So how do you make one, how do you call one, and why are they so valuable?

Putting The Function inside the constant.

To make one of these, it's quite simple. You simply open your whatever.js file, open a constant, and throw in a function, just like this:

const myConstant = {
    myFunction: function(argument1, argument2){
        // Your code here
    }
}

You then simply call it by:

myConstant.myFunction(1,2)

When could this be useful?

Well if you are like me and making a library with multiple similar functions, this becomes your best friend. I really am not too sure when else this could be super useful, other than maybe making multiple functions under the same name. Let's say you need to have a function for the perimeter of the square and another function for the area of the square, this works well for that kind of stuff.

I mostly see this as a library-centric approach though. Let's take the area/perimeter of a square idea. In EMXI for example, the functions are area.square() and perimeter.square(). This could save time for users of a library, but when making an application its use is a lot more limited. You could just name your functions perimeterOfSquare() and areaOfSquare().

Every situation is different, but this is just a short little thing for you to know one more (small but important) feature in programming languages like JavaScript.

Should You Use Python? 5 Pros and Cons.

Con

This can mean the project is narrow-minded at times. While not always an issue, this can slow down development and rolling out of new features. Not an issue in Python necessarily, just a general problem with BDFL.

Conclusion

Should you use Python? Well, it depends. This article was a small list of items with pros and cons for Python. I personally get sick when using Python, and don't recommend it, but then again I am more biased than the Commission on Presidential Debates on what parties can debate.

Linux Smartphones Are Here.

Loralighte — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 14:42:25 +0000

Okay, so Linux smartphones did technically exist in 2007, first with the OS we all know and love today, OpenMoko. OpenMoko is slightly older than Android, and was the first Linux smartphone OS. Since then there have been very few actual phone OS attempts. Firefox OS was the first real contender to fight Android (if Mozilla didn't kill it), but now we have four different operating systems. Ubuntu Touch, Manjaro ARM, PureOS, and Phosh are the leading the new Linux mobile world. They all have varying levels of usability, but no worse than Android in 2007 - 2015 depending on which OS you mention. However mobile devices are nothing without the hardware, which is what I want to focus on today, as Linux phones are actually here now, as in actual companies starting up to make Linux phones (that aren't Android). Let's talk about the phones I see most promising, and listing them from least promising to most promising.

I will also not give too much information on each phone, as each phone is fun to look into in your own time, I will just give a short opinion on each. I don't feel qualified to describe these phones, so you should go check them out.

4. Purism's Librem5

Purism has it all, a mostly working phone, a working OS of their own, and a sim card. However, it sucks that Purism is deciding to be the Apple of Linux. In the Fivnex blog, I went through why Purism's $100/month sim card is a scam, but it is so much more than their sim card. Their phone is $2,000 US, which is expensive. The price alone puts it in fifth place, but the fact is they do have something and should be on this list.

3. Pine64 Pinephone

While Pinephone is leagues ahead Purism in price and usability, the Pinephone seems like a hobbyist contender in comparison. While being hobbyist is not a bad thing, it sure doesn't sell all that well to non-enthusiasts. Pinephone will definitely be a contender in the war of the Linux phones but I feel like it has a long way to go.

2. F(x)tec PRO1

Technically this is tied for the number one spot. Due to it's fair price, fair size, and popularity on news platforms, the F(x)tec PRO1 is looking to be one of the most promising phones of 2020, live alone for just the Linux sphere. It's real competition comes with VollaPhone, whom we will get into in just a minute. While this phone is crowd-funded, it actually already has everything setup to release the phone by 2022, which is amazing.

1. VollaPhone

VollaPhone only beats the F(x)tec PRO1 in operating system, using their own OS with a preconfigured VPN. While VPNs have issues, they do sell well. VollaPhone looks to be the single best phone on the market, as it protects the user while giving them freedom.

Conclusion

Have you heard of any of these phones? Do you agree or disagree? What phone did I miss? Tell me in the comments

The phones


VollaPhone	volla.online
F(x)tec	fxtec.com
Pinephone	pine64.org/pinephone
Librem5	puri.sm/products/librem-5/

Is Free and Open-Source Software More Reliable?

Loralighte — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 23:40:26 +0000

Open-Source VS Proprietary software is a debate long heated. With GNU having the article "Free Software is More Reliable!" I really wanted to put the claims to the test. As a FOSS advocate, I wanted to really challenge my own personal thoughts and beliefs to the test.

Let's start by the claims by both side:

Pro FOSS claims	Pro Proprietary
More eyes = more fixes	Stronger guide to an idea
More contributors work free	More people who have work experience
Less unchecked vulnerabilities	Vulnerabilities are harder to find
More features	More stability

These are the points that both sides give to the concept. Let's start by the Pro FOSS claims. Anything marked with an "T" means it is a "valid enough" claim, which means it is true but some minor debate points are possible. Anything marked with an "F" means it is completely false.

True/False	Pro FOSS claims
T	More eyes = more fixes
T	More contributors work free
T	Less unchecked vulnerabilities
T	More features

All of it is true, so this is a win for FOSS right? No, because for the proprietary claims:

True/False	Pro Proprietary
T	Stronger guide to an idea
T	More people who have work experience
T	Vulnerabilities are harder to find
T	More stability

So the Pro Proprietary software people have not lost. Wait wait wait, why are these all true!? What do the claims mean? Let me explain.

Pro FOSS definitions

"More eyes = more fixes"

This means any broken code is faster to find, because more people can find them and actually submit a fix for them.

"More contributors work free"

FOSS is well known to be a volunteer based system, meaning more people actually care and don't just do it for the $$$.

"Less unchecked vulnerabilities"

While vulnerabilities are found A LOT more often, they also get patched ten times as fast as a vulnerability in proprietary software.

"More features"

This means more community built features exist. This means there are more tools, extensions, and other things. This can help with work flow and all that jazz.

Pro Proprietary definitions

"Stronger guide to an idea"

This means the idea of the software is more set in stone than in FOSS. While FOSS often splits and forks, proprietary has one stable plan and idea.

"More people who have work experience"

This just means, people who work on this are hired to make the software, which can be argued as a good thing.

"Vulnerabilities are harder to find"

This is self-explanatory. Because no-one can see or edit the code without authorization (or lots of work) the software's vulnerabilities are harder to find, though they are still there and just as numerous if not more compared to FOSS counterparts.

More stability

You can say the same thing for FOSS software, but the idea the code is ready for all enterprises as they want it. Simple premise.

Okay, so we have our definitions for the positives, but anti arguments is where things come into question. We hear the top five cons from the FOSS community so let's see the validity of three points Anti-FOSS people speak on all the time, especially related to reliability.

True/False	Claims
F	FOSS software is only for hobbyists (no professionals)
F	Proprietary software has NO open-source in it
F	FOSS is harder to use and download
F	FOSS is unsafe to use in enterprise
F	No enterprise company uses FOSS

These are the major claims I see as an open-source advocate, especially when it comes to reliability.

Claim: FOSS software is only for hobbyists (no professionals)
Fact Check: Open-source has professional fields, think stuff like Linux Sysadmins or every programming position to exist with almost any programming language (including C#, C/C++, Python, Go, and more).

Claim: Proprietary software has NO open-source in it
Fact Check: Unless it was built ground-up (which is rare), then there will be open-source libraries. Even Windows 10 and MacOS utilize open-source software.

Claim: FOSS is harder to use and download
Fact Check: If it exists, it prolly has someone who supports your OS platform OR at least has easy to follow instructions for installation. It's rare to find FOSS software without binaries for at least Windows 10.

Claim: FOSS is unsafe to use in enterprise
Fact Check: Actually no. The thing is, most enterprises use at least ONE open-source technology, most commonly Linux is at the top of that list. Enterprises care about cost efficiency, something FOSS excels at.

Claim: No enterprise company uses FOSS
Fact Check: Actually all of the big names do. Yes, this includes Oracle, Adobe, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, Intel, Alphabet Inc, Tesla, HP, Dell, and a million others.

To conclude this mess of an article, FOSS is more reliable, enough to the point all major companies probably use at least one FOSS technology.

5 Random Facts About Tech

Loralighte — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 16:27:01 +0000

Note, yes the palindrome numbers are on purpose, I don't know why I did it. Suffer.

1: Linus and the pronunciation of Linux

Linus doesn't care how you say his name (Lee-nus, Lie-nus, Lay-nus, Leh-nus) but he does care how you say Linux (Leh-nux).

2: SUSE makes Linux songs

The enterprise Linux giant makes song parodies and custom songs about Linux. My favorite is how to pronounce SUSE (soo-sah).

3: The creator of JavaScript is homophobic

Wikipedia even puts this fact in an unintentionally funny way: "known for: JavaScript, opposition to same-sex marriage." There were also three citations, which added to my odd enjoyment of the fact.

2: FreeBSD and Pop!_OS both come from Colorado

I am from Colorado, and this makes me happy I can literally drive to see the developers of the project. Colorado (especially Denver) is becoming a huge foundation for tech, like Washington and California.

1: Tor is a government funded project

Ever since the US Navy made the onion router for their secret technology stuff, they had to make it public. They fund Tor as it is the most popular onion routing browser, and helps keep anonymity for the government.

Linus Tech Tip's Video on Windows 10 Customization PROVES Why Linux is Better For the Every Day User.

Loralighte — Sun, 13 Sep 2020 17:49:30 +0000

Honestly I never wanted to make another Windows 10 VS Linux comparison article as it tends to get me a ton of hate from ignorant people who aren't even part of the community. This video and the complexity of the actual methods insults me. Now, I can 100% understand people's issues with software compatibility, which is a reason Linus gave to doing this instead of jumping to Linux. Linus does what is called amelioration. There are some easy methods to ameliorate a Windows 10 installation, including AME, a bit of software I will be using to further insult the idea.

The Reasoning to Do This

While my goal is to prove Linux superiority, there are good-enough points made by LTT. Some distros of Linux are harder to jump to, and some bits of software has issues. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for wanna-be Linux users. First is the issue with Adobe. Adobe is famous for not running on Linux, but at the same time I cannot really argue for those who stay on Windows because of the Adobe suite. To name just-as-good software to each bit of the popular 10 applications from Adobe that CAN run on Linux (one form or another):

Photoshop: GIMP, GLIMPSE, PHOTOGIMP (which is a better fork of GIMP for Photoshop lovers)
Illustrator: Inkscape, more than usable for anything you want to do. Learning curve exists but from experience it works better.
Dreamweaver: Any code editor, plain text editor, and HTML IDE's. Not much of a reason to use it.
Premier Pro: (FOSS) OpenShot, Shotcut, Kdenlive. (Native NOT FOSS) DaVinci Resolve. (Non-native, works with WINE) Filmora (7.5, latest is not working well).
LightRoom: Darktable, I can see this one being an issue though
InDesign: Whole list on Alternative.to
Acrobat; Whole list on ADDICTIVETIPS
Muse: Alternative.to list
Audition: Audacity, + more on Alternative.to

I love Alternative.to, use it for Linux software when switching to Linux. However, understand that if you play games with certain anti-cheat software (especially EasyAC) you will need to at least dual boot. Online games from Valve like CS:GO and TF2 will work without a hitch and are native, but others might present issues.

Amelioration is Insultingly Difficult

The LTT team use AME for their amelioration project. Now the project removes... a lot and can be dangerous of what they remove. Removing:

Windows Update
Cortana
Windows Activation
Microsoft Edge
Windows Media Player
All .appx UWP According to the LTT video. They also make it very clear that it is complete removal from the system, giving you 2GB more space to get almost any ol' Linux distro installed even in a virtual machine.

Of course these needed replacements, and in all honesty it's not a great set. Classic shell being the replacement for the damage removing Cortana does. No DirectX 12 because of Windows Update being gone, and speaking of Windows Update you gain privacy over security. While the issue may be "less important" to Linus, to me I find it utterly insulting. The important bits of software people like me need (media player, browser, and desktop email client) are solved with decent alternatives. Firefox being the browser, Thunderbird for email, and VLC for media. This is honestly good, but is already default on most Linux distros (except VLC, but only in some situations), but I digress. We will get to why using Linux is better in a bit. OnlyOffice is the office software of choice which is okay, I would prefer OpenOffice or LibreOffice but the office software is not lackluster or Linux default so actually good enough for me. File Explorer is replaced with OldExplorer, which isn't bad but Nautilus on Linux better in many ways, and it is the most hated Linux File Manager in existence (as far as I can tell). The settings app is also now ultimately limited and legitimately depressing. Leaving in the things people use but not really can do much with. Windows Tab also is weird, but I always use Alt+Tab so not much is lost (I never even knew Win+Tab was a thing until this video).

At the end of the video, even Linus thinks this isn't great for day-to-day. So let's compare to Linux, and even show how AME can save your butt for a different reason.

Linux Is Better

Remember the list of what we removed from Windows 10? Well,

Windows Update
Cortana
Windows Activation
Microsoft Edge
Windows Media Player
All .appx UWP

Let's take it one by one and see why the list of items you removed/replaced is bad, and why Linux defaults are better.

Windows Update: You control updates on Linux, some updates can even happen live-kernel style (as in, you are still booted and running normally as updates run).
Cortana: Removing Cortana removed a horrific amount of functionality, even needing to use TWO alternatives. Lucky you, Linux has no Cortana-like issues. Even if a Cortana-like program exists, going around it wont kill the functionality of the desktop, file manager, settings, etc.
Windows Activation: Linux is free in most cases, but even then the "you are not a pirate" checkers on Linux also don't phone home more data, and still keep you more or less completely private.
Microsoft Edge: We all know you replace Edge, and luckily there are ~40 browsers available for Linux that I could find (many more exist) (will be listed for fun at the end of the article), including but not limited to: Firefox, Chrome, Chromium, Vivaldi, Opera, Waterfox, Tor, and a million bajillion others.
Windows Media Player: VLC exists on Linux, as well as maybe a billion defaults. Plus the existence of FFMPEG gives you almost 100% of the files you need, if it wasn't pre-included on your distribution of Linux already.
All .appx UWP: We do have those. We don't need them.

Amelioration of Windows is useless on a machine you use, if you want to have day-to-day functionality with your Windows 10 install not spying on you. But... you need Windows because of something like the Adobe suite. Maybe the list of alternatives don't work for you. AME might be insulting to use to fight Linux, but what about AME along-side Linux in a VM?

I feel like LTT's video was miss-scripted. They made it being an alternative to Linux but not a friend of a running Linux system. While their conclusion was "give up" or "run Linux," the idea of running Linux and AME at the same time skipped them. Here's an idea, use AME Windows in a virtual machine. If you REALLY need that Windows software but keep your privacy, here is a short form tutorial:

AME Linux VM

Pick a distro, any distro. For new users, Linux Mint is probably what I recommend, but my Arisblu project will also be decent. Use whatever you want.
Open the CLI and use your distro's package manager to install QEMU. For Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Debian, Pop!_OS, or Arisblu, the package manager to do this is APT. sudo apt install qemu-utils qemu-system-x86_64 -y
Download the AME ISO from ameliorated.info
Create your image: qemu-img create ameVM.img 20G. Feel free to change 20G to whatever size you need/can logically support. G means Gigabytes and is required as "G" not g/gb/Gb/GB/gB.
Run the QEMU image: qemu-system-x86_64 -cdrom /path/to/ISO_IMAGE ameVM.img
Use at your own will.

Optional Things:

Link VM to custom BASH script. File: amevm

#!/bin/bash
qemu-system-x86_64 /exact/path/from/root/to/ameVM.img

chmod +x ./amevm

Make custom script a command sudo mv amevm /bin/amevm

Conclusion

AME takes 2 hours to build, and is complex. It makes your system overall harder to use, but it gives you access to stuff you might need when your both privacy conscious but need Windows software. This won't fix ALL issues, but it will help you with adopting Linux if you so choose.

The ~40 (actually 37) browsers I promised

All work on Linux.

Based on: Browser name Based on being the browser group it is in (Chrome/Firefox/Other), and the browser name being what you need to Google to get it. In no real order, just as I found/listed them.
1. Firefox: Firefox
2. Firefox: Dot
3. Firefox: Waterfox
4. Firefox: Tor
5. Firefox: GNU IceCat
6. Firefox: LibreWolf
7. Chrome: Chrome
8. Chrome: Chromium
9. Chrome: Opera
10. Chrome: Vivaldi
11. Chrome: Brave
12. Chrome: SRWare Iron
13. Chrome: Ungoogled Chromium
14. Chrome: Iridium
15. Chrome: Superbird
16. Chrome: Lulumi
17. Other: Midrori
18. Other: NetSurf
19. Firefox: PaleMoon
20. Other: Gnome Web
21. Other: Falkon
22. Firefox: Basilisk
23. Other: Seamonkey
24. Other: Links
25. Chrome: Breaker
26. Chrome: Yandex
27. Other: Otter Browser
28. Other: Min
29. Other: Qute
30. Chrome: Dissenter
31. Firefox: Konqueror
32. Chrome: Slimjet
33. Chrome: Liri
34. Other: Seilo
35. Other: Sushi
36. Other: Servo
37. Other: Dooble

Development and My Mental Health || Part 3: Imposter Syndrome and Self-Hate

Loralighte — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 05:46:17 +0000

I previously talked about my friends and my personal experiences, as well as some of my trauma. Every action has a consequence. I have been dealing with severe imposter syndrome and self-hate. Especially after posting my last two articles, I feel like I am not really a developer.

Emotionally, I am overall just in a lot of pain. I have started ignoring the issues keeping me from properly doing my school work, I have not been taking care of myself, and I have been very sick and unable to keep my food down anymore (which isn't good for physical OR mental health).

I actually have not been able to bring myself to work on the projects that have been borderline been the last things able to keep me sane. I am not happy with myself, and this is a time where I do not know what to do. The fires in my area are causing me physical pain, and I even had an asthma attack the night before writing this. Every day I am losing more and more focus to more and more anger and not knowing what to do or who to talk to. I have been hating myself because I am not doing enough, demotivating myself, and doing even less the next day. It is a cycle that is dragging me further down into depression and anger.

This might have something to do with my bipolar disorder, this might be my autism, this might even be something else I do not know about, but all I do know is that I am not able to give myself much motivation, and other people cheering me on has not been helping either.

I make this series to rant publicly about issues and hope to do some good by letting other developers know that even in a downward spiral it is okay to be emotional. I am doing badly, but I am sure I can get out of this. You can too if you are in a situation like this. I wanted to make this article really fast so I could just say my recent thoughts on how I feel like I am not good enough, and how I feel things are getting worse. Things will eventually get better, at least I hope. I just want to make sure others know they are not alone, no matter how it feels like it. Everyone deals with some negative emotions, including imposter syndrome, but all I can say is when you are 10 miles below rock bottom, you will eventually be heading up due to the nature of spherical planets.

Development and My Mental Health || Part 2: Needing to ask for help.

Loralighte — Sat, 05 Sep 2020 07:04:03 +0000

My previous article went into a personal dive into why I am like this (read it here). Now I need to talk about what I need to do to fix what went wrong. I also want to give shoutouts to the kind comments, of which multiple saved my life as I was letting myself slip further into darkness. The kind words meant a lot. So where to next?

Step 1: SLOW THE HECK DOWN!!

In trying to prove everyone who hurt me wrong, I ended up with... well to say the least: A METRIC LOT OF WORK. Let's run through a shortened list of what I decided to work on all at the same time:

TWO desktop operating systems based on Linux
A FreeBSD desktop operating system
A Linux server operating system
A FreeBSD server operating system
A markup language
- Have translated parts to HTML
- Have translated parts to CSS
- Have translated parts to JavaScript
- Integrated Microscripts (WTF WAS I THINKING!?)
- Custom COMPLEX tags (WHAT???)
- A Lisp-Like Syntax (which is not easy to make functional by any means... fun fact)
A startup
- Dealing in software
- Making an online convention
- Game/Video/Music Publisher
- Game development
- Media creation
A package management system
- Complex configuration
- Built to work with ANY package manager
- Supposed to use
Software for FIVE OPERATING SYSTEMS:
- Pure OpenGL, No X11/GTK/Qtdesktop
- Complex application ideas
- Applications that merged other applications (why tho?)
- Systemd emulator/container

Remember... shortened list.
What's the solution? Ask for help, manage limits, and do one thing at a time. Simple.

Okay... I lied about the simple part because I never really learned to speak for myself and express myself. After my biological father who never really connected to me left to do drugs with a prostitute and/or stripper (later going to jail, now in rehab) never being all to close to me, and my first step-father being an abusive prick, I never felt able to talk about what happened to me in life. To muster up the courage to talk about why I was not doing well mentally in the last article took a lot of effort. I mean, it mentioned stuff I never told other friends or family.

Let me go into a bit of back-story. About a year and a half ago, I tried to run away, at the time I was breaking down for... a lot of reasons I wish to not go deep into. I ran off to my friend's house, then got brought to my grandmother's house, and moved into a new house where my family moved in a couple of months before I did. I still feel like a stranger here, but the reason this is important is that, well, I have never really been that stable. At the time I put myself in isolation until I snapped. I always thought of doing things alone, because I feared no one else wanted to help. Once I was actually in the Linux and FreeBSD community is when I finally started feeling safer enough to ask for help with issues, regarding software stuff at least.

Now, why was all that important? Well, I am just now learning to ask for help. That, fun fact, was describing how I felt under two weeks ago. Guess how much it changed me to have actually asked for help AND DIDN'T GET BULLIED! I was astounded and excited. I have even yet to understand how to manage my personal limits, or even focus on one thing at a time. I am new to this and honestly, it feels amazing. For the first time EVER I asked my teachers for help when some technology went haywire.

There is genuinely a lot more I have to know about myself. I am excited. This is a smaller update about my emotions about what my next steps will be. But this is only my re-beginning.

Development and My Mental Health.

Loralighte — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 05:46:53 +0000

Before we begin, I do wanna make it clear that later in this article there are multiple trigger warnings, this is because I do mention two very severe situations. Never feel like you are alone when dealing with any sort of issues, seek help, and take care of yourself. If you have any triggers regarding abuse and death, I would not be offended if you turn away now. If you are dealing with abuse or suicidal emotions at this time, 1. Don't read, no need to trigger negative emotions for no real reason, and 2. Get help if you have to. If you are dealing with it, call a hotline, if you are in danger, call 911. I want to make this clear as I don't want another person in my life whom I care about (even if I do not know you) to take their own life away. You are amazing, and you matter.

I have readers on this site, so why did I seemingly randomly abandoned it? Well, let's talk about stats and what they mean. Later, I will talk about what I have been doing, dealing with, and also share some personal information in my life I kinda need to share.

Here are my Dev.to dashboard stats:

Followers: 849
Post Views: 169,958
Post Reactions: 814

I really gained traction on this site. Sure the follower count is not amazing for some but this is the first place EVER on my 10 years online (I am only 17) where I got 849 people following what I do. I will get why to why I have spent so long coming back, and why I might upload again in a minute.

So something obvious that might have happened is several large scale projects... and while I picked them up, I might have not done it in a healthy way. However, I have fun with these projects. I work on MEML, Arisblu/Arisred, UPM2, Fivnex non-software stuff, making games, and even making a donation section for Arisblu at my own Arisblu domain: donate.arisblu.com. Super cool. I even love how I make $2 a month from it, but at the same time money isn't what I have always wanted in life. Sure I am doing cool tech things, but there is a darker truth as to why I do it, why I do things and some thoughts on my mind as of late.

This next section gets personal, so be warned.

As of lately, I have been taking on more and more projects, and while there is a lot I want to keep doing, I do wanna kinda... shorten the scale I am doing. None of my projects are going to be canceled, but there is a bit of mental health I need to deal with.

I have not treated my mental health with the respect it deserves. I always want to prove to those who severely hurt me in multiple ways (no specifics will be given, not the place nor the time) and that is why I started Fivnex. However, I have gone down a cycle of that same issue before, and have never really been proud of it.

It's a very simple cycle: Get severely depressed, reminisce on who hurt me, start a company to prove them wrong, get worse, shut down the company, rinse and repeat.

I want to stop my cycles because I am finally tired of what I am going through. I want to feel successful for once, I want to actually learn. I want to put my past "companies" behind me, stop being the "I need to be an entrepreneur" and instead go "I want to be an entrepreneur." And for me to get better, I have to leave this platform. Why?

To put it simply... there is a toxic side to this platform. I won't lie, I refuse to lie. Sorry to Ben, the CEO of this place. Lovely platform in all ways but the community at times. Now, this "community" (it's really just overhyped fanboys on 12 alt accounts each) that is the major issue and causing the toxicity I have been dealing with is the Windows 10 people. I have honestly had no clue how utterly hostile Windows 10 was, and people honestly have the gall to insult Linux users for the "RTFM" attitude. 169,958 post views, but the majority come from 3 or 4 of them. Of the top 4 articles, 2 of them are archived, 33 of them mention Windows 10, and all 4 have honestly been nightmares. They got so big and people got so angry that the comments got really hostile or long. Some of them both, I couldn't tell you as often I just abandoned trying to read and reply to everyone. A majority of my articles never made it to 100 post views, yet the ones I kept posting because I was exhausted, angry, depressed, and trying to channel other emotions has made me boil myself out.

Some of my more recent articles have been... hostile... to say the least. I admit I screwed up on some of them. Others I stand by the facts, but not the tone. I am sorry for anyone I hurt and angered when writing recently.

I know I am no big star but part of me needs to be honest with the world, and tell myself publicly (so others can hold me accountable): I will stop quitting, I will get better.

This part gets MUCH deeper into projects & actual life issues, this won't be for everyone. This might even trigger negative emotions in some, so please if this is the time you feel like you should leave, leave. I will not be offended

I deal with bipolar disorder. I said it. Whoo-hah, some of you could probably guess that. I have to live with this disorder and so to heck with it. It is possible, and I can try and keep it so where I can actually have myself heal from what I have dealt with. Now, I am going into very deep situations, and this is the last trigger warning. Each of my project ties to someone who hurt me, or someone who I care about not doing well with their own issues. This is an overall trigger warning, last call. I won't be offended.

Anyways, if you made this far, then thank you. If people left, that's fine. Each of the 4 major projects that I am active in has someone part of a traumatic experience I have dealt with.

MEML - This was based on one of my closer friends a while back, who eventually raped me. He taught me my web development stuff, and helped me get inspired to use Clojure for a while. Actually, this is one of the reasons I refuse to touch Clojure again because many people over my life taught me web-dev, but he taught me Clojure. I honestly think that he (and others like him) really shaped my emotional situation and one of the major bad guys who really ruined me for myself.

Arisblu/Arisred - This project was not a clean one. The names do have very significant meaning to me. One of my friends who I met in middle school and kept all the way until the summer of this year took their own life. Now, every time I mention something like this, I always feel like making it clear: If you have suicidal emotions, get help. You matter, and people do care. You can, you WILL change someone for the better, and you will be better if given time. People aren't at the hotline centers to ignore you, so please give them a call if you need to. Anyways, with that aside. Their nickname was Ari, last initial S. Their favorite show ever was Red VS Blue from Roosterteeth. They were one of the few friends who joined me in my hobbies. While I didn't talk to them much, they really felt like a close friend, and I made these distributions in their honor. They had the ideas I am putting into the distribution. I hope they are remembered well, and again, if you are ever having suicidal thoughts, PLEASE get help.

UPM2 - This one is another one based on Ari, partially. Another friend of mine, who I will not name for what will soon be obvious reasons, is actually the full inspiration. I am not sure what happened to this person, but they don't like me anymore because they screwed themselves over and blamed me. This person sexually harrassed Ari, but Ari decided to be mean and make Ugly Package Manager, which was a package management system created originally for OpenBSD that used the same language and "actions" as the other friend. Never have been sure why Ari was like this, but it was a little fun. The other "friend" as I keep calling him threatened to sue, and so the project was shut down, even though we knew he wouldn't do anything.

Fivnex - This one for once is actually partly happy... if you ignore how it began. My friend, an active friend, has been needing space and not doing well with their emotions. Right after Ari passed away, about a week after, I started the company I and Ari wanted to make. However, the true beginnings of it were not so... clean. It was me taking my negative response to the world and while my current closest friend has never heard of this person (no one knows a lot about me, this is 100 times more than my since-elementary-school friends (Sam and Jesse) even know about me) but they do care. After my mental health took a turn, they helped me and made sure I didn't go through another loop. They aren't doing well themselves, but I still care and am grateful for them.

Why did I just share all of this? Why HERE? Well each of them has an answer:

Because I want people to hold me accountable so I can help myself in a healthy way.
I posted it here because I don't really have anywhere else that made sense. Also, maybe not as many people would see it here as opposed to... Medium.com or somewhere else. Also, this article is partly is development-focused, but also mental health is added in.

Treat your mental health with respect, and I cannot wait to see you all in my next article coming: who knows, probably never.

Linux VS Windows 10 - An Honest Comparison

Loralighte — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 21:22:01 +0000

So I work on a lot of open-source software, I do a lot of video editing, and I do a lot of work in general trying to build the best things I can. I love writing, and am planning a book. Now, trust me when I say, since I have been having to use the proprietary software known as Windows 10, I cannot understand why people use this OS platform for ANY reason. So, I want to compare Windows 10 to Linux, and I will be focusing on FerenOS. Why FerenOS? Because I dual boot on my new PC and I chose FerenOS as the Linux OS I boot alongside my Windows 10 install, at least until I get Arisblu working. I want to talk gaming, general note taking, audio and video creation, file management, and not the least of which writing.

Gaming on Windows is AWFUL

Y'know, I was skeptical when LTT said gaming on Linux is easier than Windows 10. Now, as I game every so often on Windows 10, by goodness can I agree with Linus from Linus Tech Tips when he said gaming on Linux is easier and better than on Windows. Go hunt down their video on Linux gaming being easier than Windows, trust me it is so nice. To get access to all the games that matter on Linux you either:
A - Do nothing because many of the biggest games right now, like Minecraft as one example, already exist natively on Linux.
B - Go to Steam and change ONE thing in the settings
C - Run a single command on the CLI, which there you go you have a game.
While there are some games that won't work on Linux, these are ALWAYS multiplayer games. Not kidding, it is 100% just multiplayer games with some awful anti-cheat that will either support Linux in the next 5 years or stop existing by the next 10. So gaming on Linux is much MUCH better for gamers, unless you have to play online.

Note taking

Hey... hey, apple, hey. Guess what. NOTEPAD IS GONE!! WHO AT MICROSOFT HIT THEIR HEAD HARD ENOUGH TO REMOVE NOTEPAD FROM WINDOWS 10!?? This is such a lapse in judgement, imagine if a Linux distro didn't have a terminal emulator? OH WAIT! THAT HAPPENED IN AN EARLY UBUNTUDDE ISO BUILT FOR TESTING! The lack of terminal emulator was a short mistake, one that got fixed quickly because a terminal emulator is a basic feature. When I was being featured on BigDaddyLinux for their live distro chat thingy where they tested a distro for a week and the week was Ubuntu Lumina. Guess what? I WAS RIDICULED FOR THE LACK OF NANO, A BASIC INCLUSION OF SOFTWARE! Even then, the lack of nano was unexpected, and will be added in Arisblu. But WHERE IS NOTEPAD? I am seriously baffled by the lack of Notepad. I use Sticky notes but only if I have to take notes. I would install notepad, but Sticky Notes do... the bare bare minimum.

Video / Audio Creation

This is where Windows and Linux tie. All the half-decent free video editors are on both platforms. I use DaVinci Resolve. If you love Adobe then maybe Windows is a winner here, but I feel like Adobe is best done on a Mac. That's just me personally though.

File Management

File Explorer? More like Denver International Airport because the waits are long, everything is slow, and I am 90% sure it is controlled by lizard people. I hate Windows file management. Sure many things are comparable to Linux but sadly the CLI on Windows is either useless garbage or PowerShell with the word "power" in the name being used loosely. I honestly hate both, so I will not use them for file management. I care about my sanity. But doing it graphically... now this is where we have problems. Sure Linux users are fighting about file managers on their systems but we can all agree Windows File Explorer makes us all want to cry.

Writing.

Now. While this is a similar situation to Audio/Video creation, where the decent apps exist on both platforms... let me make something clear. Writing a basic document on Windows, using the same applications I use on Linux, is a NIGHTMARE. First the fonts. Awful. Except Arial, all the fonts on Windows 10 by default are just awful. On Linux I have OpenSans and FreeSans 99.999% of the time, and if I don't, adding new fonts on Linux is easy and simple. On Windows? No. While it is easy, something ALWAYS BREAKS. I am seriously getting exhausted from the font installer having an aneurysm trying to know the difference between OTF and TTF. Not to mention trying to theme everything on Windows 10 is a nightmare. While many have given Windows credit for theme options, I can't. You can change the bare bones basics, but everything else is just not worth your time. For instance, trying to theme Windows to look/act like Gnome is a nightmare and a half, darn near impossible. To make Gnome act like Windows? 10 settings, 4 apps, an icon theme, and maybe an extension or two. Done. That is actually easy to turn a MacOS-looking desktop environment to Windows 10, not to mention that counted the menu changes.

Conclusion

Don't use Windows if you respect your time and money. It is $100 for limiting you from what many free and open-source options give you. Here is the entire list of why you have any reason to use Windows 10 over Linux:

Adobe (unless you own a mac).
Online gaming, maybe a few rare instances of offline games.
You like wasting time and money.

I use Windows because I want to develop more open-source software for the Windows ecosystem. Oh and devloping on Windows 10 is a nightmare. You think I was scathing Windows on all the other fronts in this list? I could make a much larger article explaining why Windows 10 is the worst OS for developing software, PERIOD. At least MacOS gives you tools to build MacOS specific applications. Windows? Oh boy, I will think on that article. Who knows, I might just make it a book.