December 1, 2020
I created a separated config for Emacs for work, which is working out pretty nicely.
So far, I have Slack working in my work-based Emacs, which is really cool.
You can find out more about how to use ‘Emacs-Slack’ on their GitHub page:
Slack sucks on its own to be honest. It is a dumb proprietary ElectronJS app that wants to be IRC so badly, but had to settle for being a commonplace item in most workplaces. It’s better than Google Suite tools I guess, but it’s still based in good ol’ spooky Chromium, so you can’t really trust it either. Especially since you don’t control the logs –> your employer does. More so, with the trend of everything being a layer of a Chromium browser, you start to realize Google really has a stranglehold on a lot of software out there now unfortunately.
Ideally, my entire work-life would be encapsulated within Emacs, so one could dream. I plan on taking stabs at this each week, ex: Got Slack working this week, next week: work e-mail, the following week: ZenDesk’s API via a Python 3 shell in Emacs, the following week: JIRA Mode in Slack. The reason why you would want to do something like this is that you could manage your work tasks all in one place, with the multiple buffers available to you so that you can easily copy and paste, and move around between them without EVER having to use your mouse. It’s beautiful ;).
Later, I might incorporate Emacs Window Manager into the mix to get an internet browser into the mix, but I think I’ll be happy if I get the basic workflow improved for my current job.
Speaking of Emacs, the Emacs Conference last week was pretty sick. Check out the pre-recorded videos here (I plan on checking out Rainer Konig’s Org-Mode talk in particular):
Other than that, I’ve been taking it easy. I got a used PS3 recently, and have been having a lot of fun. I plan on hacking it to put some emulators and copied games on it, and other cool utilities. Also, I might beef up the Wii-U to play some Gamecube and Wii ISO’s as well, since I already hacked it a while ago with the “Haxchi” hack.
I have been doing art on Tuesdays, so I got further into the Loomis book I have. I studied and referenced bone anatomy, which is coming along, though I have more fun sketching from random images or ideas to be completely honest.
I’m still debating how to best showcase my art from this year, and going forward. There’s gotta be a lightweight “gallery” type app I can deploy for this reason alone since my current implementation is ok… but not exactly what I would want.
Still thanking God for every day that I have the basic necessities, and am thankful to have had a good Thanksgiving week off. Really had a good time as I made a ton of Hungarian food since family is so far away these days.
I’m still making topic ideas for YouTube vids, and will be recording a few screencasts with most likely ‘ffmpeg’. The topics are probably going to be on Linux, FreeBSD (and BSD derivatives), as well as audio production as I don’t see too many people online that help with lower hardware, or just good sources of information on how to teach yourself some of the techniques present. I’m not saying I’m an expert, but there are definitely things I have learned from doing things myself, and I feel that a lot of people could benefit from having easily accessible Free-As-In-Freedom alternatives to bigger proprietary programs to empower them on a daily basis.
And yeah, maybe get the occasional sponsored hardware review to smack Linux or FreeBSD on wouldn’t hurt either ;)
More so, if anyone like myself could learn and install Gentoo, I think at that point, ANYONE can (and should if they want to :D).
FreeBSD is pretty cool, and can be found here:
You basically can install whatever you want, especially with the minimal install, so its like Linux in a lot of ways but a bit better in terms of where the project is going. You can also run a lot of Linux software ON FreeBSD as well, so its a win-win for me in a lot of ways. I’ve been debating making the plunge, but want to grow deeper into the Gentoo VM I had going, and swap to Slackware possibly before going to FreeBSD.
Keep Staying Positive, And Keep Your Life Balanced With Fun Side Projects!
~ Sam