Blog Posts

My Year in Linux/FOSS (Dylan)

2021 is coming to a close which gives us a chance to look back on the previous year and a chance to look forward to next year when COVID will hopefully be behind us (why does that sound familiar). The ItsMoss crew will each offer their thoughts using this form for the discussion. Feel free […]

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A look at Pine64: Pinetime

One of the more challenging choices I face as I move further into open source is what to do for hardware needs. I always start with the goal of supporting community driven companies that work together with the linux and open source community. However often this goal often encounters obstacles and I have to admit […]

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Early Graphical User Interfaces

We left off in the previous article with the groundbreaking “Mother of all Demos”. Once into the ’70s, NLS was mostly used internally at the Standford Research Institute. There were a few events and issues that prevented further adoption. The user input required remembering numerical codes via the Chorded Keyset shown below. Picture by Vincent […]

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Linux Lite install

Linux LiteMoss Bliss This is a distro installation report which did not make it onto Distrohoppers’ Digest. I installed version 4.4 on this occasion. The installer is Ubiquity: the more you use it, the easier it is to use. I had no difficulties. It was interesting to see some of the default settings being more […]

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Cutefish OS

by Moss Bliss This is a review which was judged to be too incomplete to include in Distrohoppers’ Digest podcast. Cutefish OS is created by the developers of Cutefish Desktop, which has already been released on Manjaro Linux. It is based on Ubuntu core. I installed this on my Lenovo ThinkPad T540p. Somewhere I saw […]

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Reborn OS install

by Moss Bliss This little distro is an Arch newcomer, and there were some surprises in store. I downloaded the ISO and burned the stick. I installed the stick in my Lenovo ThinkPad T540p. The installer was simple to use once you figured out that there wasn’t a Continue button to hit, just an arrow. […]

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Endeavour “fixes” its GRUB issue

Endeavour “fixed” their grub problem. The issue of having lots of multiples of distros (on a multiboot system) on the grub menu is gone. So is booting other distros from Endeavour altogether. Endeavour completely controls grub, and the only way to get back to your other distros is to boot to the BIOS menu (F7 […]

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The Origins of the Graphical User Interface

In this series of articles, I will be going through the history of the Graphical User Interface (GUI). The questions addressed will include: What is a GUI? How old is it?, Who created the first one? Why did they create it? How have they evolved over time? I will try to cover as much of […]

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Hardware Review: HAVIT 89 key mechanical keyboard

I have to admit that the keyboard has always been an after-thought when I have purchased a computer. In fact, prior to the purchase of this particular keyboard, I have only ever owned ones that came stock with my system purchases. I have certainly used different types of keyboards over the years: from early 90s […]

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Jelly Comb – Evolutionary Trackball

I recently purchased a Jelly Comb MT50 trackball as a replacement for a dying Logitech M570. I don’t know if it’s objective, but the M570 buttons seem to be less sturdy than they used to be… My friend Joe repairs a lot of M570s and suggested I get one. It looks good. It feels good. […]

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