{ "500": [ { "title": "Web-Development on an Android Tablet Pt.1", "date": "2022-01-26T00:00:00.000Z", "lastmod": "2022-01-27T00:00:00.000Z", "tags": [ "Web-Development", "Android", "Neovim", "Termux" ], "cover": "https://comentic.sirv.com/Images/gwigwi.com-xiaomi-pad-5-mendarat-ke-indonesia-setelah-global-launch-harga-dan-spesifikasi-1-1000x600.jpg", "slug": "/dev-on-android/part1.svelte.md", "path": "/dev-on-android/part1", "toc": [ { "depth": 2, "title": "Introduction", "slug": "introduction" }, { "depth": 2, "title": "Sofware Availability", "slug": "sofware-availability" }, { "depth": 2, "title": "Termux", "slug": "termux" }, { "depth": 2, "title": "npm run dev", "slug": "npm-run-dev" }, { "depth": 2, "title": "Thoughts after Day 1", "slug": "thoughts-after-day-1" }, { "depth": 3, "title": "The good", "slug": "the-good" }, { "depth": 3, "title": "The bad", "slug": "the-bad" } ], "html": "

\"https://comentic.sirv.com/Images/gwigwi.com-xiaomi-pad-5-mendarat-ke-indonesia-setelah-global-launch-harga-dan-spesifikasi-1-1000x600.jpg\"

Introduction

Today I bought the Xiaomi Pad 5. I needed an affordable portable device for when I’m not at home. My use cases where the following:

browsing the Web, YouTube and Reddit
some light Web-Development
conference-calls and video interviews

I didn’t want a laptop since I can’t be asked to use the built in keyboard and that would just take up extra space. Ideally I would’ve wanted a linux tablet, but the options are very limited. I looked into convertibles and Windows tablets (in particular the Surface product line) but the price points on any models that I liked were too much of a turn off.

So I thought I’ll give Android a try. The options for affordable tablets are much more plentyful with that OS. I’m aware that I’ll have to make due with a much more limited environment. So this will be an experiment and I’m not sure that I’ll stick with it.

This will be part 1 of a multipart series. I’ll try to write down my thoughts each day and give a verdict after about 10 days.

Sofware Availability

This was bound to be one of the biggest problems. I was prepared to use a lot of web-apps to make up for the lack of quality FOSS native applications. My preferred browser (Brave) and password manager (Bitwarden) were available in the Play Store, so that was nice. However IDEs and Terminal Emulators aren’t things that can be found on most peoples Android devices. There is an app called Termux that proved to be my saving grace.

Termux

The most popular terminal emulator on Android is actually a pretty decent replacement for what I’m used to. It’s not Alacritty but I was surprised at how easy it was to install Git and Neovim.

Initially I wasn’t able to install anything but a quick search revealed an easy enough solution.

This command:

termux-change-repo

allows you to change the default repo and doing that got rid of the error messages. Then I could install the apps I needed with:

pkg install git clang neovim nodejs-lts

After the installation was completed I just pulled my Neovim config and I was ready to go.Again: I was surprised at how quickly and easily I got this working.

npm run dev

$\"npm_run_dev.jpg\"$

The built-in split screen functionality allowed me to look at my editor and the website at the same time. Usually I would to this with mulitple monitors but this wasn’t too bad.

Thoughts after Day 1

The good

Termux is intuitive to use and offers linux web-apps
Split screen works well
Popular apps are available through the Play Store

The bad

Lots of bad native apps with tons of ads
Escape-Key is remapped to ` for some reason which is especially annoying in Neovim
Poor support for navigation with keyboard shortuts

Some things work surprisingly well while other things (that are crucial to my workflow don’t work at all). Making this post definitely took a lot longer than it would have on my main PC. That is in large due to the fact, that it wasn’t easy to find a serviceable image editing app to make the thumbnail. I find myselft having to leave my keyboard and reach for the touchscreen a lot which sucks. I’m not sure this is a keeper. We’ll see.

to be continued…

" }, { "title": "AwemsomeWM vs Pop!OS", "date": "2022-01-24T00:00:00.000Z", "lastmod": "2022-01-24T00:00:00.000Z", "tags": [ "AwesomeWM", "Pop!OS", "Linux" ], "cover": "https://comentic.sirv.com/Images/awm_vs_pop.png", "slug": "/awesome-vs-pop/index.svelte.md", "path": "/awesome-vs-pop", "toc": [ { "depth": 2, "title": "Introduction", "slug": "introduction" }, { "depth": 2, "title": "Coming from Pop!Os", "slug": "coming-from-popos" }, { "depth": 3, "title": "A Fully fletched DE", "slug": "a-fully-fletched-de" }, { "depth": 2, "title": "Going WM only", "slug": "going-wm-only" }, { "depth": 3, "title": "Initial encounter (with QTile)", "slug": "initial-encounter-with-qtile" } ], "html": "

\"https://comentic.sirv.com/Images/awm_vs_pop.png\"

Introduction

As a developer I’m always looking for new tools to streamline my workflow. The Awesome Window Manager is my latest experiment. In this post I will explore my experience with setting it up and doing work with it. I will also compare it to my previous environment.

Coming from Pop!Os

A Fully fletched DE

A while ago I made the switch from Windows to Linux on all my machines. After some initial distro hopping I stuck with Pop!OS (or at least the Pop!Shell).

The window management is what really set it apart from anything else I had tried. I quickly fell in love with the tiling and window stacking functionality. Combining that with the vertical desktops of Gnome 36 really increased my productivity at work. Using a tiling layout was a real revelation to me. To me it was one of those things that I never gave much thought, but once I had tried and gotten used to it, I could never again live without.

At some point I realized that I wasn’t confined to using Ubuntu underneath my beloved Pop!Shell. So up until recently I’ve been using Arch + Pop!Shell.

Going WM only

Initial encounter (with QTile)

ToDo

" }, { "title": "My keyboard journey", "date": "2022-01-18T00:00:00.000Z", "lastmod": "2022-01-18T00:00:00.000Z", "tags": [ "keyboard", "diy" ], "cover": "https://comentic.sirv.com/Images/reviung39-min.jpg", "slug": "/keyboard-journey/index.svelte.md", "path": "/keyboard-journey", "toc": [ { "depth": 2, "title": "How I went from…", "slug": "how-i-went-from" }, { "depth": 2, "title": "Introduction", "slug": "introduction" }, { "depth": 2, "title": "First Custom Keyboard", "slug": "first-custom-keyboard" }, { "depth": 2, "title": "Picking Switches", "slug": "picking-switches" }, { "depth": 2, "title": "Finding Keycaps", "slug": "finding-keycaps" }, { "depth": 2, "title": "Split it up", "slug": "split-it-up" } ], "html": "

\"https://comentic.sirv.com/Images/reviung39-min.jpg\"

How I went from…

… a regular full - size 104 key to a 39 key.
… QWERTZ to QWERTY to Workman
… standard keymap to custom QMK
… wired QMK to wireless ZMK
… normie to power user

Introduction

I would like to share my experiences, pitfalls and realizations about the world of custom - and in particular ergonomic - keyboards.At times it was definitely not easy to find the information I needed.So maybe this can be helpful for somebody out there.

First Custom Keyboard

$\"GMMK$

This bad boy was my first step into the rabbit role. Pretty large compared to the cover image of this post, huh? Well… let’s explore the journey from back then to now.

60% and 65% custom keyboards are the most readily available ones. At first picking all the individual parts was kind of overwhelming and I couldn’t imagine getting rid of my numpad or my arrow keys at the time. So this seemed like good compromise. Somewhere inbetween completely custom and completely prebuilt. It was also hot-swappable, which was great since I had no clue what kinds of switches I liked.

The only other mechanical keyboard I had ever owned before this - like many young lost souls - was a Razer Blackwidow and I just accepted the clicky switches that were inside of it. To be honest I haven’t really gone deep on boutique switches and all the mystique around that surrounds them but I did at least some exploration.

Picking Switches

I first ordered the GMMK with Gateron Clears which proved to be too light of a spring for me.Since I couldn’t get my hand on any high quality lube, I tried spray lubing them. That turned out to be a huge mistake because half the switches ended up no longer functional. Maybe I just didn’t do it right.

Being left unsatisfied with Gateron Clears I ordered a selection of different types of switches - mostly linears and tactiles, mostly Gaterons due to the pricepoint.I don’t wanna dive too deep but the end result was me sticking with Gateron Reds to this day. I would day for any newcomer to this world it’s a good starting point to get a hotswap board and a selection of switches(only need to buy about 30 of a kind to fill up alphas + space etc.) and try em out.That’s really the only way to find your preference if you’re completely unsure.

Finding Keycaps

As a creature of habit I also wasn’t ready to switch to QWERTY (ANSI-US) from QWERTZ (ISO-DE). But I also didn’t like then standard keycaps that came with the GMMK. This made finding keycaps even harder than it already is. I settled on a cheap set of PBT keycaps from AliExpress in QWERTY. I was actually very satisfied with the quality and I still use them today.

Split it up

I continued to use the GMMK for bout a year and was honestly pretty satisfied. I stopped looking for parts and watching keyboard build videos. My interest for the hobby was pretty much gone. Until…

… I disovered the “ergo-world”. I started learning about ergonomics and my passion was sparked again. This time I went even deeper down the rabbit hole. Whenever I thought I had discovered “endgame” I discovered something new.

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" } ] }

Stefan Watt