At All Things Open 2019, I gave a talk entitled "Terminal Velocity: Work Faster in Your Shell." It was all about new tools for terminal productivity, with lots of live demos. It wasn't recorded by the conference organizers, but I was able to combine a screen capture with a recording to the audio to produce… Continue reading Terminal Velocity: Work Faster in Your Shell
Shell showcase: `cut`
There are a bunch of utilities that I use daily, but that I learned how to use embarassingly late in my programming journey. I plan to do a sequence of short tutorials highlighting the use of these tools in the hope that others can skip the long, frustrating discovery process that I went through before… Continue reading Shell showcase: `cut`
Working with Kakoune [Part 1]
Some friends recently requested an analogue of this excellent introduction to Vim techniques for the kakoune editor. This is my attempt to demonstrate the fundamental operations that allow you to be productive in kakoune. I'll be following roughly the same outline as that Vim blog post, since I think the progression flows well and it… Continue reading Working with Kakoune [Part 1]
Netflix in Firefox on Pop!_OS
Every time that I install a new distro, I have to jump through a few hoops in order to play videos from Netflix in Firefox. Since I just did this for the seventh time yesterday, I decided to record the proper steps for my own future reference. These steps work on the latest version of… Continue reading Netflix in Firefox on Pop!_OS
Connecting a Sony PS3 Controller to Ubuntu Linux
I've been emulating older games on my desktop for a while now, and I like to use a PS3 controller for games that expect the player to have a controller. I feel that I should share the procedure that I use to connect the controller via bluetooth, as I discovered the trick mostly by serendipity.… Continue reading Connecting a Sony PS3 Controller to Ubuntu Linux
Killing screenkey on Lock
I teach a lecture on object-oriented programming in Java, and I spend a lot of time writing code in my favorite terminal editor, kakoune, in front of my class. My students asked me to find a utility that I like for displaying the keys that I press so that they can learn the commands and… Continue reading Killing screenkey on Lock
Kinesis Freestyle 2 and Linux, Part 4: Automation
After a few more months of contemplation and some helpful suggestions from Ed Nisley (you can check out his blog here), I have discovered a viable way to automate running the userspace driver for my keyboard when it is plugged in. I've already had to tangle with udev once during this project, so it came… Continue reading Kinesis Freestyle 2 and Linux, Part 4: Automation