Using a command-line interface allows all manner of expression that clicking a list of buttons could never achieve. But for all the nice tools in bash, the one I use most often to make my life easier is just sleep. Want to shut down the computer and leave, but don't want to shut off the music just yet? 1sleep 5m; sudo …

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I bought a Sony PRS-600 e-reader, and it's great. I've started reading again, after not reading any books for some years. Nothing could be easier. You plug it into a computer, stick on an epub book or pdf, then the e-reader lists the books you have, keeps the last page open of the books, and lets you make notes. This …

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I love bash, but it's worse than it needs to be. Earlier today I was updating a script, and had to create lines of text in a file. It was working fine with echo, and using \n to place a new line into what I made. However, on the server, this stopped working. Same script, same operating system, same updates, same …

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This isn't advice. If I have any advice, it's just to try various things and find out what works for you. When it comes to productivity tools, I focus always on speed before and above anything else. If some new tool has a wonderful new feature, but takes three seconds to load, it's off the table. I won't even consider …

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I've never been able to focus. I'll be cleaning, or messing with spreadsheets for work, and all of a sudden I wonder 'could you type prose in the international phonetic alphabet (IPA), so you could put accents into a book properly?'. And then I think 'can I use the IPA as a keyboard layout, like I use the Polish …

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For the last ten years, I've tried to expunge the words 'simple' and 'complex' from my vocabulary and thinking. Good and Bad Words Different cultures use different words. I can't say how much it affects their thinking - people have levied many criticisms of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Still, I suspect bad words inflict …

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Standard Linux stat Show file info. 1stat little_programs.md 1 File: little_programs.md 2 Size: 5277 Blocks: 16 IO Block: 4096 regular file 3Device: 805h/2053d Inode: 6554954 Links: 1 4Access: (0644/-rw-r--r--) Uid: ( 1000/ ghost) Gid: ( 1000/ ghost) 5Access: 2022-02-21 20:48:37.840867061 +0100 6Modify: 2022-02-21 …

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Pronounced 'ark', this programme lets you send email from the terminal. I wrestled with neomutt (an awful CLI email client) to send emails in the terminal, and found aerc a comparative breath of fresh air. aerc begins with sensible defaults, and a wizard to help you set up your email quickly. Just tell it your email …

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I found out about the Russian invasion of Ukraine from a meme-site, where someone had cobbled together all the public footage available from the ground. The sirens, the little lights in the sky, the military aeroplanes, and the sound of bombs. Jumping to Youtube (where I watch news channels), I found they have less …

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I always find what I need with Duck Duck go. I've heard others don't, and I have a suspicion they're using it wrong. Anyone used to Google might search for a film by typing in 'that guy with the beard', and find exactly what they're looking for, because Google's algorithm has cached thousands of similar results, and …

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