Category: Declutter

Things nerds commonly have, but I don’t

Posted on by Morgan

Inspiration: https://forkingmad.blog/things-people-commonly-have-but-i-dont/

In a conversation recently with a colleague I casually mentioned I didn't have something. He was shocked... "but how then do you..." was the response.

So here's my list of don't haves

  • Spotify account. I have CDs and I've bought a CD player from KLIM. I just find the CD to be a very nice looking and collectible object, pleasant to listen to. Also I feel it's mine, and I like the creative goodies and packaging that you don't have with a digital copy of an album.
  • A NAS. I don't need a NAS to backup pictures or stream videos through Plex. I have a VPS where I run a Cloudron which hosts most of my web apps, one is for sharing my family pictures. And I also use Syncthing, and Dropbox to keep my photos in sync and backed up in several places. And next to that I use Plex but I just don't host it on my infra, I pay a provider for their generous bandwidth and for the fact they take care of streaming my content through Plex. It's so fluid. I couldn't and wouldn't maintain this at home.
  • A gaming machine nor a gaming chair. Seriously I do not see the point, because I consider most games do not require super advanced graphics or material to be fun. In fact I love minimalistic games with pixellated art. I'm old and also feel nostalgic of specific games that are all forgotten now. Anyway I'm developing the best game ever, which is the only one I play. More about this soon, when I'll buy the domain for the website, after I decide on a name.
  • A mechanical keyboard. Seriously, what's the deal is with those noisy expensive impractical keyboards.
  • A 3D Printer. Seriously, this is so cool to possess one, I just don't have the space for this now. Maybe when I'll have my own space in our future home.
  • A VPN. Sure it sounds secure but it's just someone else glorified proxy, and it's vulnerable to authority requiring logs or to any part getting compromised. You have to blindly and naively trust the VPN and people behind it to not disclose your information when their company will be required to by the authority. If different contexts I use them, i.e at work, of course, wherever it's mandatory.


Alternatives

Posted on by Morgan

In the recent years, as I feel powerless facing the enshittification in mainstream tech and social media, I've opted for alternatives to many of my previous favorite digital places and tools, namely:

  • Audible ➑ AudioBookShelf (or Plappa on iOs), alternatively Jellyfin (also supported by AudioBookShelf).
  • Google search engine ➑ DuckDuckGo.
  • Chrome browser ➑ Brave.
  • Google Calendar ➑ Fastmail.
  • Gmail ➑ Fastmail.
  • Google Tasks ➑ TickTick.
  • Google Office ➑ Obsidian.
  • Google Reader ➑ InoReader ➑ FreshRSS ➑ Miniflux.
  • Google Authenticator ➑ Aegis and Vaultwarden.
  • Google Play Store ➑ F-Droid, Aurora Store.
  • YouTube ➑ SkyTube (Android).
  • Browser* Passwords Manager ➑ Vaultwarden.
  • Trello ➑ Google Tasks ➑ TickTick.
  • Spotify ➑ Navidrome, Seeker (Soulseek client), DSub (Navidrome client), AntennaPod (Podcasts).
  • WordPress ➑ After looking for SSGs, I'll likely go raw HTML/CSS.
  • Wallabag ➑ Shaarli and with my own tool, Tapas.
  • InvoiceNinja ➑ Replacing with my own invoicing software.
  • Netflix, Amazon Prime Video ➑ Plex.
  • Windows ➑ Linux, MacOS.
  • GitHub ➑ Gitea.
  • LinkedIn ➑ Account closed, didn't attempt alternatives.
  • Facebook ➑ Account closed. Attempted Mastodon, didn't like it.
  • Instagram ➑ Account closed. Attempted Pixelfed, but it's too buggy.
  • WhatsApp ➑ I use it mostly because everyone is on it, but I use Signal instead ideally.
  • SensCritique ➑ Account closed due to their authoritarian moderators.
  • Lobste.rs ➑ Account closed due to their elitist culture.
  • Twitter ➑ Account closed due to their enshittification. Attempted Mastodon, didn't like it.
  • OVH ➑ Account closed. Hostinger.
  • Docker Hub ➑ Docker Registry self hosted.
  • Dropbox, iCloud ➑ Replacing some of it with Syncthing.
  • Zerobin ➑ Privatebin.
  • Most Newsletters ➑ Kill the Newsletter! + Miniflux, alternatively Changedetection.
  • Last.FM ➑ ListenBrainz / MusicBrainz.

This is an ongoing list and non exhaustive, plus it's only about my digital life. I have a lot to say about work and housing as well. Opting for alternatives has also expanded my technical knowledge and independence (see also https://sive.rs/ti).

The main lesson: diversify, stay in control of your life, stay curious and choose freedom, privacy and security over convenience.

Writing

Posted on by Morgan

Today is international logic day, and I really want to read logicomix comic strip someone offered me for Christmas.

I realize as a logician that I can perfectly organize some stuff and as ADHD I feel completely stuck with some tasks yet to have my attention drained by completely unrelated events.

Often the fix or the way to disconnect from my mental paralysis is to write, walk, climb, talk, tell, draw or code.

It's a form of calm expression of self, an escape from news, emails, todo lists, code problems, mental load and daily stress for all the code and life bugs I can't unsee.

Like this blog where I write without caring if anyone is reading, and with no other purpose but the act of writing.

Sans

Posted on by Morgan

Can you live a day at work and at home "sans"?

Sans smartphone?

We used to boot a computer and even a modem and be actually productive and enjoy life without checking for news, notifications, or email every 15 minutes.

Sans version control conflicture crap due to using Git-ware conflict-friendly patterns?

We used to just work together on code and discuss code, without focusing on the version control tooling.

Sans CI/CD tools to validate your work?

We used to validate our work before committing, in the old days.

Sans markdown?

We used to be able to read and write text without non-sense formatting, HTML was even a thing.

Sans proprietary note taking digital tools (Obsidian, Notion)?

We used to take notes on paper or in our own text editors in the past and format our notes in "raw" HTML.

Sans LLM for coding?

We used to reason about code and go read a programming language book or ask for help from colleagues in case of doubt.

Sans daily upgrades and ads and other modern web crap?

We used to have nice experience with computers.

In a world that used to be simple, what other "sans" would you can think of?

The art of crafting and loving your own tools

Posted on by Morgan

I have learned one good lesson from tasting someone's else food, it's never salty enough and I always miss the good drink pairing or something else is missing. And I'll feel bad for making any critique or special request.

I have a similar feeling about apps, tools and platforms I don't maintain. Sure i can help fixing them with requests that will likely be forgotten in their backlog. Or I can pick an alternative product which will unfortunately lack features from the former or will have their own ux issues, bugs, weirdness...

In the end I'll flavor ones that focus on simplicity and which provide good documentation and support for data import/export and customizations through their API or through plugins and scripting.

Miniflux, Shaarli, Obsidian, Dropbox, Cloudron....are those kinds of apps and platforms I use that do a thing well yet I have customized to my taste, e.g of such personalizations:

  • Dropbox is automatically organized based on custom rules, all orchestrated through cron jobs.
  • Bookmarks in Shaarli are tagged automatically thanks to a plugin I've made available in my shaarli_plugins Git repository.
  • My apps hosted in Cloudron are restarted automatically on schedule if they stop responding, thanks to some cron jobs and Cloudron's API.
  • Music I download on-the-go from my mobile phone through Seeker (Soulseek client) is synced automatically to my storage and visible in my Navidrome and Subsonic clients; so I do not need Spotify. It is also orchestrated via cron jobs, using rsync and syncthing.
  • Notes I take on my Obsidian at work and at home are synced automatically thanks to Syncthing an Git on my personal Gitea server.
  • Miniflux is the tool I've extended the most as I've blogged in Reading RSS in peace with a few Miniflux Hacks, e.g:
    • organize the feed categories in Miniflux.
    • group items by author.
    • show stats about each feed.
    • highlight links I've already bookmarked in Shaarli.
    • add one-click buttons Add to Shaarli / Follow in Miniflux next to each link mentioned in those articles depending if it's some RSS feed or a random link I might want to bookmark in Shaarli.
    • Some of those recipes are available in my repo.
  • Email attachments related to our financial activity are archived in our Dropbox and renamed automatically based on their content, using OCR. The whole thing simplifies communication with our accountant and their software.
  • My monthly invoices are generated automatically from InvoiceNinja and I'm looking at a solution using only Python.
  • I'm also making my own RSS feeds from sources that lack one like https://indieblog.page/all and https://www.journee-mondiale.com/les-journees-mondiales.htm, I've shared the source code for indieblog and for journee-mondiale, both are orchestrated via cron jobs.
  • I keep building more, I'm working on my own tools to supplement or replace InvoiceNinja, Shaarli, Wallabag, Obsidian and Miniflux. The fewer apps I rely on, the more focused I become.

Relying on my own recipes, scheduling things though cron jobs and building my own platform saves me costs, improve my computer experience and make me more efficient about problem solving.

It also likely make me a bit lazier and annoying.

You can be more efficient too, and I can help if you like!

Contact me to learn how to master of your digital life.