A new progress report on living with (Net)BSD, with some artistry, too.
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A new progress report on living with (Net)BSD, with some artistry, too.
This original illustration is
succubusdaemon. Installed by runningpkg_add succu, and can be started with default settings with/etc/rc.d/succu onestart.She's a bit wonky and rough around the corners, and she looks more like a ghost than a succubus. But she's highly configurable, and her ~source code~ incantation spell is written by a human being and can be understood by a human being as well.
The illustration is a mix of traditional and digital art, and all the digital parts were done on NetBSD 11.
Thread start!
🧵 1/?
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A new progress report on living with (Net)BSD, with some artistry, too.
This original illustration is
succubusdaemon. Installed by runningpkg_add succu, and can be started with default settings with/etc/rc.d/succu onestart.She's a bit wonky and rough around the corners, and she looks more like a ghost than a succubus. But she's highly configurable, and her ~source code~ incantation spell is written by a human being and can be understood by a human being as well.
The illustration is a mix of traditional and digital art, and all the digital parts were done on NetBSD 11.
Thread start!
🧵 1/?
Let's get some basics sorted out. Using NetBSD is generally more difficult than using Windows, MacOS or Linux. It is harder to configure, its hardware support is not as good, and there's fewer software options available. Depending on your needs and circumstances, using NetBSD (or OpenBSD, or FreeBSD) as your main operating system might be difficult or even impossible.
So, why bother, you might ask.
Well, I keep thinking about a metaphor; it might not be the most apt one, but I can't think of anything better: imagine that you're vegan, and you absolutely do not want to eat animal products. It is very obviously a choice. Now, if the supermarket does not sell vegan food, you are going to have a problem. Maybe you'll make your own tofu and seitan. It is not an easy life, but you try. Maybe you can't fully commit to it, because it's hard, but you feel like you (and everyone else) should have a choice.
So, if one wants to choose not to use LLM-tainted software, I'm afraid NetBSD is one of a few options.
🧵 2/?
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Let's get some basics sorted out. Using NetBSD is generally more difficult than using Windows, MacOS or Linux. It is harder to configure, its hardware support is not as good, and there's fewer software options available. Depending on your needs and circumstances, using NetBSD (or OpenBSD, or FreeBSD) as your main operating system might be difficult or even impossible.
So, why bother, you might ask.
Well, I keep thinking about a metaphor; it might not be the most apt one, but I can't think of anything better: imagine that you're vegan, and you absolutely do not want to eat animal products. It is very obviously a choice. Now, if the supermarket does not sell vegan food, you are going to have a problem. Maybe you'll make your own tofu and seitan. It is not an easy life, but you try. Maybe you can't fully commit to it, because it's hard, but you feel like you (and everyone else) should have a choice.
So, if one wants to choose not to use LLM-tainted software, I'm afraid NetBSD is one of a few options.
🧵 2/?
@nina_kali_nina I will follow this thread with due attention, as I too wonder if this is a move I should make. Might not have wifi available, so I could use ethernet. Can play Minecraft on BSDs apparently, so that's a go. I wonder, how is the sound situation? I sometimes use Ardour for recording purely audio from my other studio gear when I don't want to mess with Logic, I get more of a tape machine feel with it.
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Let's get some basics sorted out. Using NetBSD is generally more difficult than using Windows, MacOS or Linux. It is harder to configure, its hardware support is not as good, and there's fewer software options available. Depending on your needs and circumstances, using NetBSD (or OpenBSD, or FreeBSD) as your main operating system might be difficult or even impossible.
So, why bother, you might ask.
Well, I keep thinking about a metaphor; it might not be the most apt one, but I can't think of anything better: imagine that you're vegan, and you absolutely do not want to eat animal products. It is very obviously a choice. Now, if the supermarket does not sell vegan food, you are going to have a problem. Maybe you'll make your own tofu and seitan. It is not an easy life, but you try. Maybe you can't fully commit to it, because it's hard, but you feel like you (and everyone else) should have a choice.
So, if one wants to choose not to use LLM-tainted software, I'm afraid NetBSD is one of a few options.
🧵 2/?
@nina_kali_nina That reminds me I should get a blueSCSI for my sparcstation. NetBSD is pretty much the only "modern" OS that can actually run on it, though it definitely needs some help for first setup (anything that involves generating RSA keys is a straight no-go if you don't want to wait a literal week for first boot with ssh keygen, you have to generate them on a faster machine) and I still haven't figured out what's causing postfix processes to stack up until the machine OOMs...
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Let's get some basics sorted out. Using NetBSD is generally more difficult than using Windows, MacOS or Linux. It is harder to configure, its hardware support is not as good, and there's fewer software options available. Depending on your needs and circumstances, using NetBSD (or OpenBSD, or FreeBSD) as your main operating system might be difficult or even impossible.
So, why bother, you might ask.
Well, I keep thinking about a metaphor; it might not be the most apt one, but I can't think of anything better: imagine that you're vegan, and you absolutely do not want to eat animal products. It is very obviously a choice. Now, if the supermarket does not sell vegan food, you are going to have a problem. Maybe you'll make your own tofu and seitan. It is not an easy life, but you try. Maybe you can't fully commit to it, because it's hard, but you feel like you (and everyone else) should have a choice.
So, if one wants to choose not to use LLM-tainted software, I'm afraid NetBSD is one of a few options.
🧵 2/?
My particular computing needs are complicated: I browse web, I play and make games, I explore old software, I draw, and I make music. On top of that, I do some writing, I work with spreadsheets, and of course I hang out with my friends and family online.
All those things, obviously, can be done on NetBSD. All those things come with some friction. Resolving this friction is generally highly rewarding.
Among recent examples:
- figuring out how to have graphical acceleration on my computer, so video playback is very smooth;
- configuring my desktop in such a way that my most commonly used programs (terminal, file browser, taskbar) are LLM-free;
- hacking around xf86-input-tablet driver to make my tablet work in NetBSD.
All of those taught me a lot about my computer. They were not as simple as I hoped, but they gave me a bit of agency over my computing needs.
🧵 3/?
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My particular computing needs are complicated: I browse web, I play and make games, I explore old software, I draw, and I make music. On top of that, I do some writing, I work with spreadsheets, and of course I hang out with my friends and family online.
All those things, obviously, can be done on NetBSD. All those things come with some friction. Resolving this friction is generally highly rewarding.
Among recent examples:
- figuring out how to have graphical acceleration on my computer, so video playback is very smooth;
- configuring my desktop in such a way that my most commonly used programs (terminal, file browser, taskbar) are LLM-free;
- hacking around xf86-input-tablet driver to make my tablet work in NetBSD.
All of those taught me a lot about my computer. They were not as simple as I hoped, but they gave me a bit of agency over my computing needs.
🧵 3/?
Speaking of the computing needs: as you can see, I almost sorted out the drawing part of it. I have GNU IMP, Krita, and even pre-genAI LibreSprite (I needed to write four patches so it'd compile and won't crash; perhaps, I should package it, or at least document for someone).
With my music-making, things are not as good yet. Among the applications that reliably work, I have Audacity, timidity (MIDI player) and XMMS. The LMMS DAW, for some reason, isn't very stable, and it refuses to talk to any of MIDI devices. I still don't have a solution for editing MIDI just yet. At least music tracker applications should work.
But you know what, having XMMS available is a big heartwarming thing, I missed this little gadget on my desktop. And Audacity is still better than nothing at all.
🧵 4/?
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Speaking of the computing needs: as you can see, I almost sorted out the drawing part of it. I have GNU IMP, Krita, and even pre-genAI LibreSprite (I needed to write four patches so it'd compile and won't crash; perhaps, I should package it, or at least document for someone).
With my music-making, things are not as good yet. Among the applications that reliably work, I have Audacity, timidity (MIDI player) and XMMS. The LMMS DAW, for some reason, isn't very stable, and it refuses to talk to any of MIDI devices. I still don't have a solution for editing MIDI just yet. At least music tracker applications should work.
But you know what, having XMMS available is a big heartwarming thing, I missed this little gadget on my desktop. And Audacity is still better than nothing at all.
🧵 4/?
@nina_kali_nina Oh the memories of XMMS.
Also didn't audacity fell in the slop? (While the tenacity fork hasn't) -
Speaking of the computing needs: as you can see, I almost sorted out the drawing part of it. I have GNU IMP, Krita, and even pre-genAI LibreSprite (I needed to write four patches so it'd compile and won't crash; perhaps, I should package it, or at least document for someone).
With my music-making, things are not as good yet. Among the applications that reliably work, I have Audacity, timidity (MIDI player) and XMMS. The LMMS DAW, for some reason, isn't very stable, and it refuses to talk to any of MIDI devices. I still don't have a solution for editing MIDI just yet. At least music tracker applications should work.
But you know what, having XMMS available is a big heartwarming thing, I missed this little gadget on my desktop. And Audacity is still better than nothing at all.
🧵 4/?
Here's a short clip I recorded in Audacity. I've got a backing drum track pre-recorded, and opened it in Audacity.
Then I simply plugged my guitar's USB interface into my NetBSD laptop, and tried to record the sound.
And of course it didn't work at first.
The audio interface is 48kHz, and Audacity settings were 44.1kHz, making simultaneous recording and playback impossible. I switched the project settings to 48kHz, and things started to work magically.
I played a few bars from SubaHibi's opening theme while listening to the backing drum track, and then added a bit of effects over the tracks. It's not production quality, and it is not as simple as Garage Band, but I'll take it.
🧵 5/?
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Speaking of the computing needs: as you can see, I almost sorted out the drawing part of it. I have GNU IMP, Krita, and even pre-genAI LibreSprite (I needed to write four patches so it'd compile and won't crash; perhaps, I should package it, or at least document for someone).
With my music-making, things are not as good yet. Among the applications that reliably work, I have Audacity, timidity (MIDI player) and XMMS. The LMMS DAW, for some reason, isn't very stable, and it refuses to talk to any of MIDI devices. I still don't have a solution for editing MIDI just yet. At least music tracker applications should work.
But you know what, having XMMS available is a big heartwarming thing, I missed this little gadget on my desktop. And Audacity is still better than nothing at all.
🧵 4/?
@nina_kali_nina XMMS is quite old, I use Audacious.
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Here's a short clip I recorded in Audacity. I've got a backing drum track pre-recorded, and opened it in Audacity.
Then I simply plugged my guitar's USB interface into my NetBSD laptop, and tried to record the sound.
And of course it didn't work at first.
The audio interface is 48kHz, and Audacity settings were 44.1kHz, making simultaneous recording and playback impossible. I switched the project settings to 48kHz, and things started to work magically.
I played a few bars from SubaHibi's opening theme while listening to the backing drum track, and then added a bit of effects over the tracks. It's not production quality, and it is not as simple as Garage Band, but I'll take it.
🧵 5/?
@nina_kali_nina Cool for ringtone as well!
-
Here's a short clip I recorded in Audacity. I've got a backing drum track pre-recorded, and opened it in Audacity.
Then I simply plugged my guitar's USB interface into my NetBSD laptop, and tried to record the sound.
And of course it didn't work at first.
The audio interface is 48kHz, and Audacity settings were 44.1kHz, making simultaneous recording and playback impossible. I switched the project settings to 48kHz, and things started to work magically.
I played a few bars from SubaHibi's opening theme while listening to the backing drum track, and then added a bit of effects over the tracks. It's not production quality, and it is not as simple as Garage Band, but I'll take it.
🧵 5/?
Another major computing need that I (and most others) have is modern internet. Things are not looking super great here.
For now, I'm using a fork/LTS release of Firefox. How long until it stops being supported, and the only option for a browser that can open modern web would be LLM-tainted one? Probably a month or so at best (and it's possible that the one I have is already tainted).
Using an outdated browser is a security risk I'm not willing to take.
So, I'll try to use more of sm0l web - Gemini, Gopher, no-js web. It's not the same.
I probably will still have to compromise on my "LLM boycott" and use a tainted web browser. I don't know, honestly. Sorry, I wish I knew what to do about it.
Ah, that was quite a long rant!
Thanks for reading. I guess what I wanted to say is that things aren't too bad on this side. Could've been better, but I'm managing to scrape by, making choices that I find important.
🧵 6/6
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@nina_kali_nina I will follow this thread with due attention, as I too wonder if this is a move I should make. Might not have wifi available, so I could use ethernet. Can play Minecraft on BSDs apparently, so that's a go. I wonder, how is the sound situation? I sometimes use Ardour for recording purely audio from my other studio gear when I don't want to mess with Logic, I get more of a tape machine feel with it.
@csgraves I have WiFi working quite reliably through USB WiFi dongles. For a couple of my laptops I'm considering getting a replacement for the internal WiFi board.
I'm not sure if modern Minecraft works on BSD, but Java version should. There are open source alternatives, too, though I have not tried them in a long while.
As for Ardour... It is packaged, and I had it starting a few times, but it is very crash-happy on my setup for some reason. Considering that it has slop in it now, I'm more interested in trying LMMS. LMMS is far more stable, but I have not figured out why my MIDI gear doesn't work with it.
For now I'm using Audacity, it seems, but I should try and compile Tenacity as a slop-free alternative.
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Another major computing need that I (and most others) have is modern internet. Things are not looking super great here.
For now, I'm using a fork/LTS release of Firefox. How long until it stops being supported, and the only option for a browser that can open modern web would be LLM-tainted one? Probably a month or so at best (and it's possible that the one I have is already tainted).
Using an outdated browser is a security risk I'm not willing to take.
So, I'll try to use more of sm0l web - Gemini, Gopher, no-js web. It's not the same.
I probably will still have to compromise on my "LLM boycott" and use a tainted web browser. I don't know, honestly. Sorry, I wish I knew what to do about it.
Ah, that was quite a long rant!
Thanks for reading. I guess what I wanted to say is that things aren't too bad on this side. Could've been better, but I'm managing to scrape by, making choices that I find important.
🧵 6/6
@nina_kali_nina hmm, do you need a fully-featured web browser on your personal system though? Do you have examples of sites that require all the bells and whistles of chrome/ff that you use day to day for fun?
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My particular computing needs are complicated: I browse web, I play and make games, I explore old software, I draw, and I make music. On top of that, I do some writing, I work with spreadsheets, and of course I hang out with my friends and family online.
All those things, obviously, can be done on NetBSD. All those things come with some friction. Resolving this friction is generally highly rewarding.
Among recent examples:
- figuring out how to have graphical acceleration on my computer, so video playback is very smooth;
- configuring my desktop in such a way that my most commonly used programs (terminal, file browser, taskbar) are LLM-free;
- hacking around xf86-input-tablet driver to make my tablet work in NetBSD.
All of those taught me a lot about my computer. They were not as simple as I hoped, but they gave me a bit of agency over my computing needs.
🧵 3/?
@nina_kali_nina how has been gaming there for you? I was pondering using it, but as far as I could tell, it seems to be really difficult to get games to work there...
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@nina_kali_nina Oh the memories of XMMS.
Also didn't audacity fell in the slop? (While the tenacity fork hasn't)@lanodan it did, but the version shipped in pkgsrc is 2.x branch, far before the slop wars. I do want to build tenacity for it. But things are quite overwhelming as they are, so I'll have to carefully choose what to focus on.
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@amarioguy I strongly suspect the same, yes.
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@lanodan it did, but the version shipped in pkgsrc is 2.x branch, far before the slop wars. I do want to build tenacity for it. But things are quite overwhelming as they are, so I'll have to carefully choose what to focus on.
@nina_kali_nina Ah yeah that works too.
And yeah need to prioritise things and not chew too much at once. -
Another major computing need that I (and most others) have is modern internet. Things are not looking super great here.
For now, I'm using a fork/LTS release of Firefox. How long until it stops being supported, and the only option for a browser that can open modern web would be LLM-tainted one? Probably a month or so at best (and it's possible that the one I have is already tainted).
Using an outdated browser is a security risk I'm not willing to take.
So, I'll try to use more of sm0l web - Gemini, Gopher, no-js web. It's not the same.
I probably will still have to compromise on my "LLM boycott" and use a tainted web browser. I don't know, honestly. Sorry, I wish I knew what to do about it.
Ah, that was quite a long rant!
Thanks for reading. I guess what I wanted to say is that things aren't too bad on this side. Could've been better, but I'm managing to scrape by, making choices that I find important.
🧵 6/6
@nina_kali_nina I read a comment a few days ago about the whole Debian thing where someone was saying this'll push some people to NetBSD, I see you're already getting there !
I'm much less far on my journey personally, here I was just happy to have just almost completed my move to get rid of big tech services... There's always something isn't there ?
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@nina_kali_nina hmm, do you need a fully-featured web browser on your personal system though? Do you have examples of sites that require all the bells and whistles of chrome/ff that you use day to day for fun?
@petko the most obvious thing is banking websites. I can find alternative clients for most of the comms stuff, but not for banks. I suppose I could try to run Android emulator for those, but I doubt it'd work well. Also, video games, due to HTML5+js being quite a well-supported platform. Neither are day-to-day, but something that'd be sad/difficult to give up on.
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@petko the most obvious thing is banking websites. I can find alternative clients for most of the comms stuff, but not for banks. I suppose I could try to run Android emulator for those, but I doubt it'd work well. Also, video games, due to HTML5+js being quite a well-supported platform. Neither are day-to-day, but something that'd be sad/difficult to give up on.
@nina_kali_nina ah... e-banking via web as opposed to apps is on its way out. After all how are banks' CSOs going to have green checkmarks in their excel sheets if they aren't violating their users' privacy and digital rights via an intrusive mobile app...
Gaming on the NetBSD though... That's a hard one
