There really is no going back when you go split and tented. I've was on a Kenesis Freestyle for years, then upgraded to a Dygma Raise (V1) about three years ago. It's served me well, but I've been eyeing a CyBoard Imprint, which is like a Dactyl or Charbydis, but has hot swap-able switches (a rarity for curved key-well boards.) Can't give up my holy panda switches. :)
I've been rocking the Dygma Defy since it came out and it's been amazing. Their software has been buggy though, and left me rebuilding key maps more than once. I just wished it had a rotary dial
I went back - really don't like the wobble of the Kinesis keys. Ironically I prefer just an Apple keyboard since it matches my laptop (making going back and forth easy).
Just because you’re a good programmer / software engineer doesn’t mean you’re a good architect, or a good UI designer, or a good product manager. Yet in my experience, using LLMs to successfully produce software really works those architect, designer, and manager muscles, and thus requires them to be strong.
It’s also much faster that way. We cut so many corners and make wise bets in what to test a lot and what not to bother with compared to spec-driven development with an LLM.
The irony considering "good" ui to a ui designer is completely at odds with users. We got better ui when it was people who had no clue what they were doing just trying to make some sense out of it, vs the cult of dogmatic ui design we see today where everything follows the same crappy patterns and everyone is afraid to step out of line.
Actually the opposite is the case. UI design was best when designers were systematic in their approach, employing concepts from human psychology and rigorously testing and timing how long it took to perform actions on the computer, optimizing for efficiency, discoverability, and ease of use. Today's UI designers copy from designs they've seen before, often poorly, and when they do apply data and metrics it's to bullshit KPIs like "engagement".
I'm talking the sort of tools you open where its like a giant anime cat lady on a background and a couple buttons to just run some functions or other scripts behind the scenes. Where the venn diagram of the person writing the software, understanding the problem, and understanding how people expected it to be solved overlapped perfectly. Tools for tool users by fellow tool users. Like all those little bespoke self made gizmos in my grandpa's old toolboxes.
With Claude, I built a TUI for managing QEMU/KVM VMs (Rust with ratatui.) Solves a lot of problems I had with virt-manager, so I made it a FOSSS project. https://www.vm-curator.org.
Assuming you are using the flagship copilot that is a $30 / mo add on to a 365 subscription, and maybe, maybe if Microsoft replaced CoPilot’s “brain” with Opus 4.5. In my experience, while flagship CoPilot does deliver value if setup correctly, it’s no where near as capable an “agent” as Claude. (And even though Open Claw is now model agnostic, there is a reason for its association to Claude. Despite it’s expense, I find Opus 4.5 works best.)
I love the care and polish that went into the Microsoft Windows XP Welcome/Tour app that played after install. That was the peak of the summit—quality wise.
Yeah, there was a lot of good memories. And it does have a 64-bit version so not a too-bad option as a retro-OS. But I think we need to find retro hardware for it to work properly.
Actually I just installed it over the weekend in a QEMU/KVM VM on my modern desktop. Took about 20 minutes, and works very nicely. You can give it up to 4GB of RAM. Now, I can't use it for much (aside from playing the welcome tour,) because the last thing I want to do is expose it to the internet... On the other hand, I hear there is a modern browser that is maintained for it.
I’ve been trying out both DMS and Noctalia in separate VMs this week (both on Niri.) I like them both. Noctalia seems a bit more refined out of the box. DMS is more customizable. I foresee both taking over from .dotfile packs (and maybe even Omarchy) as better ways to bootstrap a Nir or Hyprland.
But that's the point. Choice and customization. It's the natural result of FOSS and the as-designed modularity of the Linux ecosystem.
Exploring popular options and finding what works for you is easier than it has ever been, and fun too. The difference between Linux today and the Linux of old is that for most setups, all the pieces you choose can fit together nicely and "just work." Despite all the different flavors and variations and distributions and desktop environments and window managers and the like, pretty much every popular distro uses a recent or near recent version of the monolithic Linux kernel + system-d, so all the important stuff is more or less the same (with tweaks here or there.)
It's really a (good IMHO) sign of the times that us old hats have to remind ourselves that most new comers to Linux today aren't necessarily adept at installing another OS, let alone using the command line. The first time I installed Arch was maybe four years ago, but the very first dual boot setup I made was between Win 3.1 and OS/2 2.1 in 1993 when I was 10, and I've been playing with Linux since the mid-late 90s. When I first installed Arch the "hard way" I said to myself--"I don't understand why it has this reputation... this is all stuff I've done before countless times." Frankly, I'm still trying to figure out the distribution graph of Linux knowledge and how to engage with different skill levels.
I agree. I also think that not everyone (I couldn't say if this is generational, I see this among peers sometimes too) has the same appetite for problem solving. People hit a problem or a wall and say "So I tried X and now I see Y. I dont know what to do" and then they just sit there. The reason that LMGTFY and RTFM come off as "elitist" is because people are frustrated by others' willingness to just "stop trying" whenever they hit a road block.
Hi! Yes, it absolutely will. The only caveat with single-gpu-passthrough is that when you are passing your gpu to the VM, you can only use the VM with your main display and peripherals. (The host is still accessible via SSH.) When you shut down your VM, the host returns automatically.
In the "i can only sort of use one OS at a time" sense, it is like dual booting, but the transition is much faster (since there is no reboot required) and, as mentioned, your host doesn't really go away (you can still SSH into it from another PC on your network.)
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