Trendy Thoughts

My thoughts on the May 14th episode of Trendy Talk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz6iRZ--G-E

Self Hosting

Self Hosting your own Fediverse

Self hosting your self on the Fediverse makes sense. Hex brings up some great points. The only problem is most of the Fediverse server software is designed to support a community rather than an individual. It is like driving a tractor trailer when you really just need a pickup. It would great for someone to come up with a Fediverse server designed for just a person or a small group.

Git

I went with using just gitweb which is a perl script that comes with git. If you just want a web interface to your git repos and don't need all that Gitea offers you may want to look at it. It is so lightweight you can even use it on shared hosting if you have ssh access.

Disclaimer: While having a VM like a droplet is great there are uses for shared website hosting. There are times I just want to think about content and not worry about what is underneath. So besides self hosting I do keep one small shared hosting account for things I want to not worry about the infrastructure.

Owncast

As a priest, tutor, and teacher Owncast may be come a tool for me.

HedgeDoc

I wrote the paragraph below as I was listening to the podcast. It wasn't till towards the end of the podcast Hex mentioned he didn't want to use SSH at work. I would still suggest using Vim with tmux if you couldn't use ssh. There are several web based tools that allow you to run the terminal in a web page. So you still can ssh just in your web browser. Let me be clear ssh in a regular terminal is best, Putty is next if you are stuck using Windows, and using a terminal via a web browser to ssh into a server is a last resort.

I am not sure of the appeal of HedgeDoc especially with the discussion that followed. With the discussion focusing on simplicity and the power of markdown why not use vim plus tmux or screen. Tmux and screen allow for real time collaboration on documents. There are two tools sitting on your computer that can accomplish the same task as HedgeDoc. If you need conversion Pandoc is a great tool and there are plenty of tools that integrate with vim to give you markdown preview. I found that I can do notes with bibliographical management within Vim with the help of a Pandoc plugin. Between fzf with ripgrep or silver searcher I have a system where I can search for information quickly and with ease.

Off Lease Machines

All my computers that are in use are machines that came off lease. Much cheaper and being two or three years old make them great Linux candidates.

Every computer and monitor I have is second hand.

Vim

Chris, you need to learn Vim or Emacs. Once you learn either one you can see the power that both programs have. I don't want to go down the VIM vs Emacs rabbit hole.

Disclaimer: Being a one handed typist, I am a Vim user. Emacs combinations are just too difficult typing one handed.

Tabs vs Spaces

Tabs are needed in Gopher and maybe a few other cases other than that use spaces.

FYI, you can set the tab key in Vim to insert spaces in place of tabs. That can be set Vim wide or based on file type.

Deltachat

Chris is required to bring up Deltachat in every episode. I think he has a contractual agreement that requires it.

Chris, I am teasing, even though you have never responded to any of my emails. :)

Keyboards

While Logitech makes some nice inexpensive wireless keyboards, be careful some of their keyboards use a proprietary dongle and if you lose it your stuck, stick with the Bluetooth models.

Jitsi

I thought about setting up a Jitsi server once but it can be bandwidth heavy and I just stick with using the Jitsi as a service.

Manpages

Manpages are a great resource. The problem I have with manpages is that they are written at a knowledge level I may not may not have. Often I don't understand the manpage and I need to lookup what it is talking about. Manpages may not helpful to a beginner with a program. Handy resources that I found helpful are programs like cheat.sh, tldr, and Bro pages. They are often at a level a beginner may need and get you to the level where the manpages make sense.

Closing

Thanks again for a great episode.

Zettelkasten ID **trendythoughts-2021-05-16-1607**