What's Happening In The Now
- Writing: The Textbook Case Part 4
- Watching: Star Trek: The Next Generation
- Playing: UT2K4
- Tinkering: Keep reading...
Same shit, different day(s). There seems to be some sunny skies ahead, but on the whole, the struggle is still very real.
New Job, One Month In
The honeymoon phase is officially over; I've been at my new job for a month now and... things are a lot better, but it has not been easy.
I mentioned that I had worked this job before, just at a different location. The commute is comparably long, but is more consistent this time around. The hours are not great, but I honestly prefer working shift hours no one else wants (and not just because they tend to pay more). The work itself is physically taxing, but I needed to lose some weight anyway.
It's sustainability long-term has yet to be discovered (this job was a lot easier when I was younger), but for right now, it's consistent income. And that's really all that matters to me.
Chromebook The Arch Way
I have a used Chromebook that I've been using as a testbed and secondary laptop whenever I don't feel like carrying the ThinkPad around. The system on board has rotated frequently, from Linux Mint, to openSUSE, to EndeavourOS. Great choices all around for this device specifically, but the only one that's come close to sticking was EOS, it's just too bulky for something this light.
So, I decided to do a proper Arch install, and it turns out that's really what was needed.
I went with XFCE for the DE; I would have gone with i3, sway or Hyprland if I had dotfiles that I was already comfortable using. I could have potentially gone with something even lighter, like LXQt, but I have much more experience with XFCE.
This was also a great afternoon exercise given that it's been a minute since I did a proper manual Arch install. I run Arch on my main rig and my ThinkPad, but those installs have been chugging along for years; I haven't needed to do a full system refactor and I'm not tempted to "fix" what isn't broken on either.
So yeah, EOS is overkill for a small Chromebook (I guess, unless you have an afternoon to kill).
EDIT: I migrated the install to KDE Plasma. It handles certain UX aspects better, and Plasma is not as heavy as its reputation makes it out to be. If the Chromebook didn't have a touchscreen/tablet mode, I would have stuck with XFCE, but alas, this is where we are.
4D Movies Are Bullshit
I'll end this update with another older unlisted video: 4D Movies Are Bullshit.
And they are; nothing is worse than marketing that actively lies to you.