VOID GAZING

void linux


tags

documentation
green
map
safe
technology


I've had a lot of personal history with Linux. I like the aesthetics most of all I think. I like the idea being able to make a system my own, a personal expression. The fact of the matter is I have never been able to actually achieve that ideal. To any degree. It's clear that when it comes to computing, and the operating system as "performance art" there is always going to be compromise between what is possible, in terms of technology as well as aptitude and what is reasonable to achieve the level of "productivity" you wish to see. Productivity as an idea is kind of a loaded concept, bringing along cultural based value judgments, about where time spent is best or worse. Perhaps the most productive thing from a humanity's mental health first perspective would be to abandon computers entirely and return to pen and paper. There is a dichotomy between ease of use and simplicity that is hard to really pin down. That might seem like a paradoxical statement at first blush. Having ones own person environment be as easy to use, often entails the most amount of unseen complexity. This is a frustrating situation for those of us who are unwilling, or as the case may be, unable to ignore what lurks within the void. Void Linux then is somewhat a refreshing take on the concept of simplicity. Throw out your preconceptions about what you think Linux is or should be. They won't help you here. Nor should they. Those conventions are built on a monument of complexity on complexities. Void Linux has decided that the kernel is the hood and everything else should be ornament. This is, in my opinion, a good thing. It might be nice to dig into the kernel at some point, to really understand the ins and outs of it. To untangle that particular hydra, as it were. But that is beyond the event horizon of my current understanding, and honestly if Linux is ever to be something that matters in any way to a normal person it should be forever cast out to the realm of the esoteric. Most distros are content to package in all manner of convenience in the system. You will clearly want some kind of word processor, being a normal human with normal needs. But that is an assumption. And one I don't take much joy in. If I want to have some kind of text processor I want to make the decision. And so I have. This concept extends to every facet of the system. You want to have your system use GRAPHICS? Well you need to make the decision about how before you can. You might allow that decision to be made for you, of course, that option is available to you. Just follow one of the many guides online, follow the handbook. But in forcing you to make that decision the consent lies in the hands of the user (or the system administrator as the case may be) X should not be a default (Wayland shouldn't be the only, reasonable, alternative (please don't pm me about how enlightenment is actually totally reasonably an alternative)) but this debate can't even be had within the standard distro paradigm. By printing out the ballots with two names already written in, the most basic level of research about who is even running is not required to have a voice in a debate that effects everything from that decision onward. I'm sorry I think my writing got a little metaphorical for a bit. Happens from time to time. Convenience, when it comes to operating systems. And nothing else. Has been taken for granted. You expect an install to take seconds, not days, because you have been blessed by complexity. The void Linux install, if you know what you are doing, is a very fast process. Format the disk. Run void-install, update the system. Anything beyond that is a decision you are choosing to make. And you can do it. My first full disk encryption setup is the one I am writing this very document on, thanks to the documentation void Linux provides. I would have preferred not to have to go to some other site to know why l u k s 2 is not really preferred, and what the difference between it and its predecessor, but I also would prefer to be able to telekinetically do all my work and play while my body wastes away in a bed and never have to physically move a single muscle in my body. Human bodies are so disgusting. Of course it might take a while to install your first void system. You might have all sorts of questions. You might take an interest in the hows and the whys of the way it works. This is not a bad thing, and if you don't take the approach that you get you pc and expect to be surfing pornhub before lunch then maybe you too will gain a new respect for what computing means and what it can do for you by gazing into the void for a bit. For you arch users... Go play with gentoo or something. Don't at me. ZZ .

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