myrmidex comments on Users of Arch-based distros, why don't you use pure Arch?

Users of Arch-based distros, why don't you use pure Arch? (ani.social)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by kiri@ani.social to c/linux@programming.dev

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(No provocation)

I see these reasons:

newbie
lazy (don't wanna edit config files etc.)
unique features (like assistant/toolbox, some optimizations like in cachyos)
wanna check how different systems are set up (that's rather distrohopping)

Personally, I used manjaro i3 when I was beigginer and wanted to see how tiling WM should be configured (check out ranger config, for example). But after some time, I don't see reasons why not to just customize pure arch (same with debian and debian-based distros).

[–] myrmidex@belgae.social 1 point 2 months ago (10 children)

I switched to nix not too long ago, and I must say, it's been a smooth experience. I can't imagine removing DMS to install the other one via apt or pacman would be safe for the niri config. NixOS could give me a clean separation. And if it doesn't work, the rollback is easy, with 0 impact on my niri or DMS configs. My days of adventure are over I guess :)

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[–] victorz@lemmy.world 1 point 2 months ago (9 children)

Oh no, the Niri keyboard shortcuts for Noctalia would definitely not work if you removed it, or if you aren't running it. 😄 And vice versa for DMS.

That's the beauty of Niri's include directive, that you can include different config files depending on which environment you are in. Very handy.

I have one for Noctalia bindings e.g.

I guess if you are used to nix already and can work efficiently with it, it's a net gain of plus minus zero. I guess that's why I don't use it. I have to learn something fairly complicated in order to be able to do something I can already do equally efficiently. 😅

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[–] myrmidex@belgae.social 1 point 2 months ago (8 children)

hmm those configs get added to the nix files, not sure how I leverage that include directive in such an environment. Should be fun to find out!

NixOS wasn't that bad. I'm not that familiar with the nitty-gritty of Linux so yes it was tough the first days. Setting up everything just right, recreating the Sway layout from before. Still, once that works, it's smooth sailing. I've not yet had the misfortune of having to do a reinstall, perhaps I'll reconsider then 🤣

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[–] victorz@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (7 children)

Hopefully you have all your nix configs backed up somewhere? 😅

those configs get added to the nix files, not sure how I leverage that include directive in such an environment.

Ah yeah, I'm guessing you don't? I don't really know anything about nix yet so I don't understand how it can combine keyboard shortcuts for different shells and Niri into one Niri config other than if you add them manually. I feel like keyboard shortcuts are a very personal thing.

Especially it you're running a custom keyboard like me with Colemak-DH layout. Then the default keyboard shortcuts will most likely not be great. 😅

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[–] myrmidex@belgae.social 2 points 2 months ago* (6 children)

backed up somewhere

yea they're in a git repo, one of the benefits of doing this

I don't think it will be a matter of combining, more of commenting out one import while uncommenting the other (I hope 😆)

Different shortcuts, so custom setups for everything hmm. I don't think NixOS has much if any advantage here :)

Have you been doing Colemak for long? I've always wanted to get off this qwerty, but the brief stint over at dvorak wasn't too great. But I've since pushed through learning vim ... somewhat, seems a similar wall of frustration. I might be up for another challenge.

Why did you choose Colemak?

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[–] victorz@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (5 children)

Nice! I've been meaning to set up chezmoi for my config files for a while. Need to get around to that.

Oooh my, yeah let's get into keyboard layouts! 😃 I've been using Colemak-DH for a little over a year, since I got my ZSA Voyager keyboard.

I was on QWERTY since childhood before that, and was typing at about 117 words per minute before the switch. I decided I was going to use a new layout immediately when starting to use the Voyager because I figured I'd just dive into the deep end. I had been researching layouts for a while before that, following legends such as Ben Vallack on YouTube, and his journey with custom keyboards. It seems like Colemak-DH is a popular and modern choice for split keyboards, among custom keyboard users. So I picked that. But really I just wanted to get off of QWERTY.

Now, I set up the Voyager to have that layout, but not only did it now have a new layout I'm not used to, it also is a split keyboard, and a column-staggered keyboard, so three major things I'm not used to.

I went from 117 WPM to about... 20. It was brutal. Answering people with simple messages on Slack took minutes. I felt like I had to apologize and explain to people why it was so slow chatting with me. 😆 I trained hard and now I'm up to like 80. But it'll probably be another lifetime until I'm ever up to the same speed, if ever.

The ergonomics are worth it though. The split keyboard opens up the chest and shoulders a lot and the hands and fingers are much more aligned with the arms and chair arm rests. Well worth the money and effort for me as a person who works with computers 8h a day.

The ergonomics of keyboard shortcuts for a looot of TUI software suffers a bit though. The HJKL home row is not... in a row, with Colemak. That takes a while to get used to. You could of course set up a keyboard layer where those keys are in line, or change the shortcuts in all your software config files. 😅 I chose just to accept the slower speed and get used to the new location of the keys. 🤷‍♂️ Coding isn't about speed. The thought process is the slowest part of coding. 👍

I hope that answers your question and then some. 😅

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[–] myrmidex@belgae.social 2 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Thanks so much for that detailed explanation!

Whooo the Voyager, so nice! That's been on my list for quite a while now, must be so handy. If only that price could come down a bit :)

20 wpm is brutal! That brings back memories from the dvorak struggles haha. So frustrating. But a good strategy of yours, to do the switch along with the voyager, that way the frustration isn't focused on one particular thing which can then be easily tossed aside.

Ergonomics are important to me too, as I'm not really a spring chicken any more. I already switched to a trackball mouse, as that gave me the most problems in my hand muscles, they've gone entirely ever since. But my posture at the desk is still an issue, so voyager might help me out there.

I also see Colemak is more modern (than dvorak) and keeps a lot of the punctuation and shortcut keys in the same position compared to qwerty, that's encouraging. I also see -DH moves d and h so the vim shortcuts remain? Ingenious, absolutely perfect! I feel giddy now, I might give Colemak-DH a try this weekend (and hopefully longer).

Vim had quite a few learning resources, little games to make me get used to the bindings/motions. Did you use similar games or exercises to train your Colemak-DH muscle memory?

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[–] victorz@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (3 children)

My pleasure 😊

Yeah, of you've been eyeing the Voyager yourself anyway, I can definitely tell you it's been absolutely great! With some effort, patience, and motivation, it's very much worth it. It's a great piece of hardware, and the customization is so simple.

The hard parts are:

Getting used to the layout
Getting used to column-staggered
Customizing the keys and layers into something you want to stick with.*

(*) Maybe not hard, so much as time-consuming, because you need to try a button location out for a little while before deciding you want to change it.

I believe I got some cramps in my pinky because the default layout had backspace on the pinky and I made so many freaking mistakes in the beginning that it was getting strained and overworked. 😅

Yeah I think I had an okay strategy. I figured if I want to retrain myself I really need to just do the thing I want to relearn fully and completely, otherwise it'll just take even longer.

I think the -DH mod to original Colemak was made to suit split keyboards better, if I'm not mistaken. I might be though.

I'm happy that you're excited though, really fun! 😄

I do have some resources which were really good. First of all, when you get the Voyager I think they encourage you to sign up to ZSA's newsletter, and that's really good. But they also send you some emails which have first steps to take with your new keyboard.

One of the steps is to log in to https://typ.ing/ (I think it's the URL). It's like a little training site made by ZSA. It's pretty good! And then there's keybr.com, which to me is a really good training platform, really getting into the nitty gritty of typing technique drills.

Best of luck! I hope you get the keyboard, or some other split keyboard, and hit me up later and share your experiences. 😊

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