l0k1 on Nostr: People wonder why I have at times got really worked up about shitty software ...
People wonder why I have at times got really worked up about shitty software installations and irritating crap in operating systems.
Most of you all don't even know that for decades the X window system has had a secondary copy buffer that automatically fills every time you make a text selection with your mouse. This buffer is pasted at the mouse location when you press the middle button.
Hell, most of you don't even realise it is also a button, and was originally only a button.
Most of the GUIs now built for X are starting to eschew this feature, and it's a total red line for me.
The biggest reason why I hate using windows is having to right click, select copy, place cursor, right click, select paste. I'm used to select, point at paste location, middle click.
It's literally twice the actions. So it takes me twice the time to deal with a task that I do about every 30 seconds.
There is high time preference, and then there is clumsy interfaces. I refuse to accept that I need to accept a clumsy interface in this day and age, just because the majority of computer users, and, sadly, programmers, even on linux, don't know such an elementary interface model that is a huge time saver for programmers especially, but if more people knew it, and cared, it would be universal. That's why the X window system designers made it.
It's because of Apple with their "one button is enough" and microsoft with their "a menu for everything, and everything for a menu" solutions to every problem that really don't fit the text editing use case.
That's just the first gripe I have to deal with.
Then there is the endless problem of configuration systems breaking. Gnome used to be a terrible offender at this, but now it's getting a bit better. But I still have it happen from time to time. Intellij, my preferred IDE has a habit of breaking.
Just last night I was trying to get settled back into my workflow for programming, and install Goland on my shiny new Arch Linux installation, and every single time I try to open a project, BOOM segfault.
WTF is this???
Well, it turns out that in the latest version Jetbrains have totally cocked up the JRE, it is doing bad things to memory, and my system's security hardened kernel reacts with a process kill.
Solution turned out to be pleasant.
Firstly, no need to manually install Goland from an archive any more. It's available from the AUR.
Secondly, the problem is the default provided JRE. It is in a highly unstable state because they are trying to keep up with the joneses by adding Client Side Decorations to their New UI.
Ok, I admit, the new UI is nice, minimalistic and tidy, helps me focus. But the CSD isn't that important.
Another whole can of worms I won't go into is Gnome. In 2021 they made this Gnome 4, aka Gnome 40 bullcrap, and not only have they broken the theming system, leading to me having 3 different window styles on my usual apps, they keep breaking a simple functionality that has been created, and fixed, and recreated in the extensions - something that even Canonical seems to have given up on by abandoning their unity UI. This eliminates the wasted space in the top bar by merging window titlebar functionality into it. Now, at the same time, since Gnome 3, there is this nice feature called Headerbars, and this is clever because it can replace the titlebar, or it can be in addition to it. So the interface is cleaner and more consistent.
But for the most part, unless it's really done well, it was better without it.
I had to switch back to the default, pig of a window/composition manager, Wayland, in order to get the extensions working that hide normal, useless, space consuming title bars. Now, I have a full inch of extra space at the top of my FHD monitors.
For the moment, there is peace in my world, and I am going to be really really resistant to upgrading anything at all at this point.
Discovering my preferred ad blocker has been infected with malware, and having my system break in a weird way that I couldn't rule out the malware escaping from the browser sandbox and messing with my system, not just my own files but the SYSTEM, raised the subject, of all these little grumbles because it literally stopped me from being able to do any work at all.
It has been an exhausting 3 days, with about a sum of 7 hours sleep, to get all this shit so it isn't obstructing me viciously. Everything is beautiful now, and it's gonna stay that way, and IDGAF what else is on in the world, when my workspace is unbearable, that's the only thing that matters to me.
Most of you all don't even know that for decades the X window system has had a secondary copy buffer that automatically fills every time you make a text selection with your mouse. This buffer is pasted at the mouse location when you press the middle button.
Hell, most of you don't even realise it is also a button, and was originally only a button.
Most of the GUIs now built for X are starting to eschew this feature, and it's a total red line for me.
The biggest reason why I hate using windows is having to right click, select copy, place cursor, right click, select paste. I'm used to select, point at paste location, middle click.
It's literally twice the actions. So it takes me twice the time to deal with a task that I do about every 30 seconds.
There is high time preference, and then there is clumsy interfaces. I refuse to accept that I need to accept a clumsy interface in this day and age, just because the majority of computer users, and, sadly, programmers, even on linux, don't know such an elementary interface model that is a huge time saver for programmers especially, but if more people knew it, and cared, it would be universal. That's why the X window system designers made it.
It's because of Apple with their "one button is enough" and microsoft with their "a menu for everything, and everything for a menu" solutions to every problem that really don't fit the text editing use case.
That's just the first gripe I have to deal with.
Then there is the endless problem of configuration systems breaking. Gnome used to be a terrible offender at this, but now it's getting a bit better. But I still have it happen from time to time. Intellij, my preferred IDE has a habit of breaking.
Just last night I was trying to get settled back into my workflow for programming, and install Goland on my shiny new Arch Linux installation, and every single time I try to open a project, BOOM segfault.
WTF is this???
Well, it turns out that in the latest version Jetbrains have totally cocked up the JRE, it is doing bad things to memory, and my system's security hardened kernel reacts with a process kill.
Solution turned out to be pleasant.
Firstly, no need to manually install Goland from an archive any more. It's available from the AUR.
Secondly, the problem is the default provided JRE. It is in a highly unstable state because they are trying to keep up with the joneses by adding Client Side Decorations to their New UI.
Ok, I admit, the new UI is nice, minimalistic and tidy, helps me focus. But the CSD isn't that important.
Another whole can of worms I won't go into is Gnome. In 2021 they made this Gnome 4, aka Gnome 40 bullcrap, and not only have they broken the theming system, leading to me having 3 different window styles on my usual apps, they keep breaking a simple functionality that has been created, and fixed, and recreated in the extensions - something that even Canonical seems to have given up on by abandoning their unity UI. This eliminates the wasted space in the top bar by merging window titlebar functionality into it. Now, at the same time, since Gnome 3, there is this nice feature called Headerbars, and this is clever because it can replace the titlebar, or it can be in addition to it. So the interface is cleaner and more consistent.
But for the most part, unless it's really done well, it was better without it.
I had to switch back to the default, pig of a window/composition manager, Wayland, in order to get the extensions working that hide normal, useless, space consuming title bars. Now, I have a full inch of extra space at the top of my FHD monitors.
For the moment, there is peace in my world, and I am going to be really really resistant to upgrading anything at all at this point.
Discovering my preferred ad blocker has been infected with malware, and having my system break in a weird way that I couldn't rule out the malware escaping from the browser sandbox and messing with my system, not just my own files but the SYSTEM, raised the subject, of all these little grumbles because it literally stopped me from being able to do any work at all.
It has been an exhausting 3 days, with about a sum of 7 hours sleep, to get all this shit so it isn't obstructing me viciously. Everything is beautiful now, and it's gonna stay that way, and IDGAF what else is on in the world, when my workspace is unbearable, that's the only thing that matters to me.