Unfettered Freedom, Ep. 4 - Google and FOSS, Patent Trolls, Linux FUD, Firefox, Arch Linux

what is the intro music? it is nice...

Man, I dislike Google because I dislike Google. But this "pure FOSS" zealousness is kind of strange. Microsoft puts vscode together, makes the source code open source and they get punished just because they want to understand how users are using their product. This is why pure FOSS products suck ass for usability. They are always an exercise in pain. I challenge someone to name a FOSS product that is mainstream popular (other than Linux) that isn't more popular in its commercial offerings or didn't come from a large or small commercial enterprise trying to make money from some aspect of that project. NodeJS, Kubernetes, Chrome, VSCode, Git/Github/Gitlab/Bitbucket.

Can there be some acknowledgement that these corporations have done something good for the community. Github has done great things, vscode has done great things, even Chrome. You don't like Google tracking you everywhere and I get that. That's a particular thing about HOW Google does business that you may not agree with. But to find every open source project put together by a commercial company and say "screw them for trying to turn this FOSS project into a commercial product, I won't give them anything back for doing this work and spending all their engineering on this" is just ridiculous. Microsoft wants usage data on it's users. Jeez, doesn't everyone? Have you ever worked on software and not had user data to understand how people are using a product? It's like flying blind. You have a bunch of developers sitting in a room debating what is good and what is bad. And you end getting more tools for the super smart people or the squeaky wheels who file the most tickets.

And what's wrong with putting an open source project on Github. It's out in the public anyway, you have the source code, you own the license to the code. Github can't do anything other than revoke your access to post on their site... which any other site can do too. They see what everyone else sees. And if you want to put a private repository up there you pay for it which is an explicit transaction for a proprietary service. There is no freedom lost in this exchange at any point.

This whole video is a farce.

what's wrong with using fonts? Also I don't mind using some proprietary software.

I actually took the time to read so much into Linux until I was able to really understand what is going on in an Arch install, because right from the start, I did not want to walk the copy and paste path, since if I did, I might as well have stayed with Ubuntu.

The copy and paste mentality is actually really bad. It took me 2 full years of learning (granted, I didn't spend my time with it every day) until I was ready to install it on actual hardware.

Next step is heading for Gentoo.

So yes, I would claim that installing Arch or Gentoo does make sense if you are willing to learn, and at least Arch can be an excellent distro for beginners as well. I refrain from seeing Arch as something restricted to »experts« or »elitists«.

Computer literacy is becoming increasingly important to everyone. Arch will teach you that.

If you really want to learn Linux, install Linux From Scratch.

Well, I disagree with the last story. I installed Gentoo and know around 10% more about Linux than I did before. Arch was not that knowledgable, I concede. But Gentoo, the kernel configuration especially burns a few hundred calories ; )

I love my Manjaro install, that doesn't mean I know better. I like it simply because I have KDE on it and has been stable for two years now, other than that I favor it over my Kubuntu and Zorin OS, neither made me know better, now, learning FreeCAD in any of the above distros made me feel better about myself. All those harassing Linux with the latest threats are just propaganda that is willing to discredit anyone they can sink their paws onto, they will do it to anyone, where I come from they are the yellow newspapers (color of crap), heed not much attention to them.

"There is so much freedom packed into this podcast, I'm pretty sure this podcast is in violation of some code of conduct"
I laughed so hysterically that my mums thinks I smoked ganja early morning.

Blindly copying and pasting from the Arch wiki tends not to work.

The learning experience you get from Arch isn't just about simply installing it. When you have a fresh install of Arch, you are not going into a out of the box Operating system, there are still a ton of other things you need to set up as it's a MINIMAL install and would require you to do things from the ground up. You don't get things just handed to you in other easier distros, you have to install things you never thought you would have to which would make you understand what programs do what.

DT: If you really want to learn Linux, install Arch. "I have long argued that this was not the case."
Also DT: Nov 2019 In a video titled Arch Is The Ideal Beginner's Distro, DT argues the case for beginners installing Arch to "Learn Linux" because with a graphical installer you just click 3 times and in ten minutes you have installed Linux and have learned nothing.
Still love you DT.

This came right on time for my train ride to work :) have a good one DT.

Unfettered Freedom is great! Good job sir!

Hey DT, great podcast

Hey dt, I agree, installing arch using commands is instructive and we can learn much by this process, but installation takes much time so my question: is there a quick method to install arch and get the same system as I installed it using commands?

If you take the time to understand the commands you're copying and pasting when installing Arch, you will learn a lot. If you blindly copy and paste commands without understanding anything, you won't learn anything.

Really like this angle for a show

Thank you, Derek.

i learned a lot from switching to arch. Not by installing it, that was straight forward, rather by going with a minimal WM install instead of a full DE

Long time viewer, good podcast, +1 patreon for you sir. :)

It is 100% false that you can use arch, and ESPECIALLY gentoo without gaining any knowledge about linux. Seriously, for even basic operation of gentoo you need to learn about compiler flags, use flags, dependencies, kernel options, filesystems, init systems, and the boot process. A lot of this also applies for arch.

Artix is the new arch. Artix gang unite!

Hey, DT, what OS do you have on your phone ?)

Using a minimal distro like Arch linux gives you a better "pivot position" to learn about Linux. But when someone's a normie and doesn't feel motivated to learn about linux, you can't get them to solve problems that motivate them to learn even the most basic things about linux because they can mistake a web browser as an "operating system".

You want the most basic overview of linux? Use a distro that is "user friendly" like Linux mint, Fedora, and Pop!_os. Want a deep dive? Don't force yourself into minimal distros like Artix Linux and LFS unless you know you're ready for the deepest dive in your life. "Solve one problem at a time" is my philosophy. A mental map can do wonders for the overview of linux and its related parts, but do take the time to write detailed notes about every component of the system on the side.

Boothole :D I swear some people in the tech industry just like to have a laugh. Great podcast DT

Linus Torvalds uses Fedora. Guess he doesn't want to learn about Linux.

Thanks DT, I really enjoy the content you are putting these days, I mean the news related to open source, sharing your privacy concerns, bringing up topics of being free from google, SJW issues and other stuff like that. The channel has really grown from being Just Another Tutorial channel for geeks and now covering a huge amount of different things that have something to do with Linux and open source. Hope you will only get more viewers and subscribers. I deeply appreciate your work.

Oh wow DT your sounds like a radio broadcaster voice , two tumbs up

Did anyone elses google assistant go nuts over DT saying google so much?

How can I get that cool waveform thing in OBS?

I disagree about the Arch thing. I've been using Linux for maybe 8 years only as a programmer, not for my PC. Installing and using Arch 2 years ago made me learn a ton more about Linux.

One thing worth pointing out about Visual Studio code. Arch has community/code package which is the open source build of VSCode as a binary :). No need to pull the Microsoft one off the AUR.

My first experience with Linux was installing Arch. I'm pretty sure what these people mean when they say "installing Arch will help you learn Linux" is that you're literally forced to figure things out. I spent days in man pages and fixing various broken drivers because I had no other choice. Sure, I just copied and pasted the commands in the first place, but jumping from windows to a minimal distro with no prior *NIX knowledge really kickstarted my learning process.

Could you do a video on Byobu?

I think people have got the causality between installing Arch and learning more about Linux wrong.
The curiosity and will to tinker around is what gets you to install Arch but is also what ultimately gets you to learn more about linux, but with that mindset you'll learn more about linux with or without Arch.
So yeah advertising Arch as THE way of learning linux is plain wrong, installing a distro won't magically give you the right mindset or motivation.

funny how all these 'holes' only affect machines that were compromised in the first place

hmm the firefox crashes on start under dwm these days i wonder why 🤔

if you really want to learn linux install dwm 🤪

Couldn’t agree more. Install a distro that works for you. Not everyone wants to learn the insides of a Linux distro either.

Man, send up smoke signals if you have to. Let us know you are okay and/or need anything. Godspeed

freedom overload! love you're work DT, keep it up!

Day 4 or 5 of no power and I'm jonesin... I need my DT fix... lol's Let's hope things move on soon..

Should they/we push to mozilla firefox also? They use google stuff on their own pages...G. Analytics, for example.

I installed Arch as my first distro and learnt so much. I got stuck many times and had to troubleshoot. I learnt how config files work, how to install packages and Window Managers, and how to compile suckless programs. It also took a lot of learning to get Wi-Fi and Bluetooth working.

So instead of telling people "Install Arch", tell them "Learn and understand all the commands required to install arch", seems pretty good !

In the end, just learn computer science because you'd learn a helluva things about how computers work. Linux is just a component (which is still important) of the bigger picture.