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Console Based Software

2025-06-09T16:50:29Z

Let's talk console based software and FOSS operating systems. First, some console based software resources I've liked over the years include:
https://inconsolation.wordpress.com/
https://termux.dev/en/
https://archiveos.org/rogue/
http://inx.maincontent.net/

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Cross-platform Utilities

2022-10-10T19:00:22Z

I'm trying to locate ports of some of the more popular Unix/Linux utilities to other operating systems such as AIX and Windows. I find it helpful to have the same utility on all the systems I work on, not just on a few them.

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WSL and X Windows programs

2022-06-09T13:26:23Z

I've been reading a lot about WSL. It's a great way to run Linux in Windows without needing a virtual machine like VirtualBox or Qemu installed. However, the earlier versions of WSL only ran command line or console based programs. If you wanted to run X Windows programs, you needed an X server. Well it just so happens, I've built the X server on Windows from source and all the packages for it. I've recently been testing remote access to X Windows programs on an AIX machine at work. From those tests, I found X forwarding using tools like putty and a Windows based X Windows server can be rather slow. My experiments with sixel weren't very satisfactory. The other protocols I investigated were vnc and xrdp. Both offer faster alternatives to X forwarding or other techniques I'd tried.

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Lightweight Command Line Utility Program Alternatives

2021-11-19T14:16:57Z

I've been investigating some of the lightweight, command line utilities that are often used to check the status on a system. In some cases, it was hard to track down the packages they were in. It's difficult to search when some of the names are so ubiquitous. Just try running a search for the free utility.

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Online Social and Group Alternatives

2021-10-10T13:50:04Z

Once again, I'm searching for discussion forums and decent social media options online. I've never been a fan of Facebook, but started using their forums quite a bit in the last year because the forums I used to frequent either disbanded or migrated to Facebook. It can be very hard to find a good discussion forum these days except on major social media platforms. Most social media options are designed similar to blogs. You can have two way conversations, but they're really oriented more for one person sharing something he or she knows. It's much harder to find options that let you ask questions and learn from others.

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QEMU Cheat Sheet

2021-06-29T14:58:13Z

I just got used to VirtualBox and ended up having to switch to QEMU. VirtualBox seems to run better than QEMU. I tried to load several operating systems in QEMU that ran fine under VirtualBox and they failed. Decided to try a Debian netinst because that works well with most machines. Then I had to figure out all over again how to get files between the host and guest systems. It's harder to find documentation on what you're looking for with QEMU as compared to VirtualBox.

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Rescue Flash Drive

2020-05-14T15:31:33Z

I am NOT at all happy with Windows 10. I also recommend AGAINST purchasing the Edimax AC 600 WiFi Adapter and a Sandisk flash drive. I've usually felt pretty comfortable using various versions of Windows. However, while working from home, Windows 10 started an update in the middle of an important task I was trying to complete. It then took all night just to update the computer. I turned the system on the next day. It booted up Windows successfully and promptly notified me that there was a problem with the drive and that it would attempt to correct it. After that, I was unable to boot Windows on that computer. In both cases, I was unable to choose not to have the task done to my computer. If Windows 10 had not updated my machine and then attempted to do something to my drive, my computer would still be working right now and I would not have lost what I was working on.

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FLOSS for Low Resource Computers

2020-05-11T14:51:36Z

Considering how hard it is to get computers (still waiting over a month) and computer parts, now is a great time to look into bringing new life to your old hardware.

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FLOSS Educational Distribution - Ideas Needed

2019-05-09T14:04:01Z

For a long time now, I've been wanting to put together an ISO with Free, Libre and Open Source software similar to the kind our Linux Users Group gave out on Software Freedom Day. I'd like to gear it specifically toward educational software so that groups like Schoolforge may make use of it. If you'd like to help, I would love to have suggestions for lightweight, portable software that can run in console or framebuffer mode. I'm specifically interested in educational, hobby-related, utility, information/organizing and/or word processing programs. Have any recommendations? Please let me know ( http://www.distasis.com/connect.htm ).

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GUI library design

2019-02-20T15:00:28Z

Some of the C graphics libraries are great, but I've yet to find a simple GUI that makes it easy to port some older BASIC programs that I want to be able to keep working with. I've created several iterations of my own GUI library, but have never been satisfied with the results. That's the main reason I keep investigating cross-platform GUIs, to see if someone's found a better way to do it. Of the various designs, the ideas behind the immediate mode GUIs seem the most useful for the type of programs I'm targeting. However, I can't seem to find one GUI library that provides a simple way to do what I want. So, I've decided to revisit my old GUI library designs but eliminate some of the framework constraints and some of the object oriented elements. Instead, I'm looking at a more procedural approach that uses concepts from immediate mode GUIs.

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C runtime libraries

2017-05-15T15:10:49Z

Was at a PHP meetup where the group was discussing Docker. Members and the presenter knew certain Linux distributions had a smaller footprint for use with Docker. I was surprised to find out they really didn't know why that was. One of the key factors is the C runtime library. Basic C runtime libraries just cover the functions and data structures that are part of the ISO C standard. Many C runtime libraries also add functions and data structures that are part of the POSIX standard as documented by the Open Group. Some C runtime libraries are rather bloated and provide a wide variety of functions (even beyond those documented by the ISO C and POSIX standards). Others provide a bare minimum. Some, especially those targeting embedded systems are designed for efficiency. Others are designed for functionality. Some provide no Unicode support (locale 'C' only). Some like musl, concentrate on UTF-8 support. Some try to support a large variety of characters sets and internationalization features. All these factors can affect code size and efficiency when compiling programs.

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