git Gentoo Portage repos on GitHub

git me! The gentoo repos are on github², and I've just discovered them.. mysteriously hidden in the World Wide Web ;)

There is a post on the gentoo forums from 2015, re git/github saying:

Although some developers wrongly still recommend plain rsync-update method, you should never do that, since it is fundamentally insecure (emerge-webrsync is signed by a machine key, but still better). 

You should instead start to sync via git (best do that from github, unless you want to break our infra server).

The Monolithic Cabals

A few decades ago, there was a great big flame war called the Monolithic vs Microkernel debate^[1], between Andrew Tanenbaum (minix) and Linus Torvalds (linux). It is said that the debate was won by Linus, and that is why #linux became more popular.

I am a fan of Microkernels. But I am even more a fan of Open Source. I believe that is the sole reason Linux became popular, not because people loved a monolithic architecture. Folks embraced it because it was #opensource.

A Digital Beep

When you don't have a Speaker/Bell, or you can't make quite make it sound, and you want a beep!

i3 wm

I've been hearing about i3 Window Manager for a while now, and had been waiting to have a go. I finally did.

I love all the features listed on the homepage, particularly:
"Don’t be bloated, don’t be fancy (simple borders are the most decoration we want to have)."

As for me, I disable or hide the titlebars and even the borders :)

softvol boost increase alsa volume

One thing I liked with pulseaudio was increasing the volume to more than 100%. Although audiophiles may disagree, I need to increase the volume beyond 100% so I could hear some movies with low sound particularly voice dialogues.

I missed that feature in alsa. It turns out that this is built-in. Not many know about this, and those who do have issues configuring alsa softvol.

After trawling through much www research, this is what works for me. All one needs is a properly configured ~/.asoundrc file.

$ cat ~/.asoundrc
defaults.pcm.!card 0
defaults.pcm.!device 0
defaults.pcm.!ctl 0

pcm.!default {
    type asym
    playback.pcm "plug:softvol"
    capture.pcm "plug:dsnoop"
}
pcm.softvol {
    type softvol
    slave.pcm "dmix"
    control { name "PCM"; card 0; }
    #max_dB 32.0
    max_dB 20.0
    min_dB -5.0
}

Note that this uses PCM as your volume slider. So config your volume hotkeys (or triggers) to manipulate PCM, rather than Master. Set your Master level to 100% or whatever max suitable, and increase/decrease PCM for audio volume.

gentoo portage

ref: http://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/portage

Gentoo is Portage. Portage is Gentoo.

Getting portage settings right is vitally important. It's not the end of the world, if you don't. But you sure will expend a lot of your time staring at the matrix flowing past, as you compile everything yet again one more time..

dash system & login shell

dash is more efficient than bash in all respects, except perhaps for interactive use. and i always replace system default, root, and login shells to dash.

gentoo second install x86 btrfs debian

Now that my Gentoo Phase 2 has been put on hold for the near future, I have to satisfy this itch to install gentoo on my main laptop. Having it on my primary rig, would allow me to use it more often than pulling out my backup system.

My blind first attempt, at a gentoo install, gave me a lot of confidence in the gentoo community. This second attempt substantially lessens the time/aggro I spent previously installing gentoo.

gentoo phase 2

My first attempt boosted confidence in gentoo (and it's community) beyond expectation. So much that the debian to gentoo transition continues to gather pace.

In all my systems, I have always replaced the full fledged (bloatware?) tools with minimal busybox, wherever I could. Busybox is stable, and fulfils all my requirements rather nicely. This led me to voidlinux which has that same ethos in it's core. It is a great booster that gentoo could satisfy me on this count too.