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Avoiding Vendor Lock In

Black Friday (read: Month) brought about all kinds of ridiculously cheap MacBook deals.  These were the Arm  Apple Silicon models with the formidable M1 and M2 chips.  $600 for the M1 at Walmart was tempting.  So very tempting.   Let's back up.  I'm a long time Android user.  After Palm's failed attempt to enter a renewed smartphone market, I switched to a Moto Droid 2 Global (Walmart still sells a dummy version for unknown reasons).  Looking back, that phone was terrible yet it started a nearly 15 year stretch of Android phones.   I had one brief encounter with iPhone.  My ex-wife was a big fan while I stayed on Android.  I ended up with an iPhone 7 in rose gold.  What a color.  I gave Apple a real shot.  I swapped the SIM from the OG Pixel Really Blue into the iPhone 7 for a month.  A very long month.  There were a few things I enjoyed on it.  Apple had more apps at the time.  Most ap...
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How to Make Fedora Look Like Ubuntu

  Ubuntu is known for its theming and Unity-esque appearance.  Fedora's theme has improved over the years, but I still largely prefer the appearance of Ubuntu.  It has a certain Mac like modern look to it and the Ubuntu font is among the best available.  To make Fedora look like Ubuntu, you can follow these steps: Open a terminal and run: sudo dnf install gnome-shell-yaru Enable the Yaru theme in GnomeTweaks. Install Tweaks first if needed. sudo dnf install gnome-tweaks Go to the "Appearance" tab and select the Yaru theme for the Shell, Icons, and Cursor. Install Gogh for Terminal Theme Install Gogh from GitHub: sh git clone https://github.com/Gogh-Co/Gogh.git cd Gogh ./install.sh Select the "Clone of Ubuntu" profile for your terminal: gogh clone ubuntu Apply the theme: gogh apply ubuntu Install Ubuntu Fonts : Download the Ubuntu font family from Google Fonts. Copy the font files to the fonts directory: sudo ...

Fedora 41 After Install Guide

    This getting started guide will help quickly set up Fedora 41 Workstation after a fresh install. This is my personal guide that has been revised through numerous Fedora releases and thoroughly vetted by the Linux community. The instructions here may seem familiar for those that referenced the  Fedora 40 Guide . Most instructions remain identical to past versions. I personally test these commands on my laptop and desktop. This guide is intended for the Fedora Workstation edition. The commands will work on the different desktop spins such as KDE and Budgie. Other Fedora editions such as Silverblue are not compatible. Fedora is a very popular Linux distro for  good reason . It is a favorite amongst developers and end users alike. Its also my current and preferred distro. Current Stable Release Fedora 41Workstation and other Spins were released as stable on October 29, 2024.  How To Use This Guide Open a command line, a la Termina...

Comparing Oil Prices

I'm a sucker for spreadsheets.  Its so convenient to lay out the data, compare, and make an informed decision.  Okay.  I probably get carried away with it.  Did I really need to make one to compare oil prices?  Um no.  But I didn't anyway.  My Grand Oil Price Comparison Spreadsheet This comparison includes motor oil, gear oil, and transmission fluid prices I compiled from Amazon, Autozone, Meijer, Menards, Tractor Supply, and Walmart.  These prices are generally for the West Central Indiana market so they may vary. As I have time, I will add other local retailers (Advance Auto, Napa, and O'Reilly).  This is mostly centered around my fleet of Fords.  In our household, we're driving a 1998 F-150 XLT 4.6L 4x4, 2004 Expedition XLT 4.6L 4x4, and a 2010 Expedition EL Eddie Bauer 5.4L 4x4.  I never meant to be a Ford fanboy but its pretty convenient keeping all the same fluids and filters around.  Some oils are marked specifically as ...

Praying Mantis Sees You

Shot with my Motorola Droid Turbo.  No touch ups but minor cropping.  Taken summer 2015.

Splitting Kindling

Its fun revving up the saw and felling a tree.  Its relaxing to rhythmically swing a maul.  Its delightful to hear the wood crack and pop as it splits.  The neatly stacked rows of seasoning wood are a proud accomplishment. Kindling is the one wood heat chore no one seems to like.  Its time consuming.  It can be dangerous.  The meager mound of kindling feels like a weak victory compared to tenacious, stacked cord wood. At least, that's how I felt.  I was never quite sure what to do with it.  I often gathered sticks and sometimes the wood bits from splitting.  When I tried splitting wood down to kindling size, it felt like it took forever.

Linux Uptime

Linux rarely needs a reboot.  With more recent kernels, it doesn't really need to reboot at all.  Since I've been studying for my CompTIA A+ exam, I've left a lot of material open and handy.  I lost track of how long my desktop had been running so I ran a simple terminal command "uptime" to see. Yes, that would be 53 days, 14 hours, and 38 minutes.  Try doing that on Windows.