Why I Love Suckless Software and Why I'm Going Back to Omarchy
Suckless software is elegant, minimal, and mine. But when every customization means recompiling your terminal, even the most devoted tinkerer has to ask: is this worth it?
code · terminal · homelab · drums · recording
Suckless software is elegant, minimal, and mine. But when every customization means recompiling your terminal, even the most devoted tinkerer has to ask: is this worth it?
After 30 years of hunting-and-pecking, I'm finally chasing the zero-latency dream between thought and code. Here's my messy journey into Vim, touch typing, and why the mouse has got to go.
I gave myself the weekend to build a minimal Linux dev machine with Arch and Suckless tools. I ended up learning more about productivity traps than I did about Linux.
I've been working in software for a long time. I never thought a window manager could change the way I think about my work.
I've head that calling out your shame, can help in letting go and ultimately letting go of that shame.
I asked an AI to help me redesign my blog. Twenty-seven iterations, three PRDs, one Express.js detour, and a lot of mutual name-calling later, I had a site. The AI got the last laugh. I got the context window.
I took the concepts from my oh-my-zsh functions and aliases, and built it into a full-on CLI.
As boring as that sounds, I am tired of half-finished projects littering my hard drives. I'm tired of just floundering between projects with no real sense of... finishing.
It makes the little designer in me cringe everytime I use it, but it's winning the web so I'd better get used to it.
I've noticed that the way I allow myself to talk to inanimate objects tends to spill over into how I treat people in the world. Even my closest friends and family.
I've been looking for work for a few months now. I think I've sent hundreds of resumes, even had an interview or two. But still... silence. To be honest, I was pretty hurt. It made me feel like I must've lost every marketable skill I ever had. The fact is, the rules changed and no one told me.
I was watching a video recently, and the guy said that when he asked people to tell him about a time that made them who they are as a human being, they never recounted good stories. There were hard times that changed them; the loss of a friend or family member, an illness or an accident. Not once did they credit comfort. It was always suffering.
Sometimes it's hard to tell whether you're doing something to gain a result or avoid a consequence. The line can get super blurry at 3am.
That lonely sound of feet on pavement. When the cheers of the starting line have faded, and the only sound is the sound of your own breath. Your own thoughts. **Now** is when the _real_ work begins; and it separates the runners from the racers.
I have a confession to make: I've been using AI to help create videos for this channel. I use it to help with the books I'm writing as well. Is that a _confession_? Is that **bad**? Should I be ashamed? Am I even a _creative_?
When I started in software development (1997), it was exciting. Everybody was just figuring it out as they went. There really was a kind of \"magic\" in it. Everybody worked together to find and fix issues, and they were all learning and building together.
How a little thing my father used to say to me, changed my life forty years later.