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Joey Hess' minimal approach

joey.hess.usesthis.com

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Re: Joey Hess' minimal approach

#111

Post by drivebyacct2 »

pwang wrote: post #55
npsimons wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate to pull this card on you, but what have you done? We're talking about a Debian developer who has also developed (and continues to develop) basically an open-source replacement for Dropbox ( http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joeyh/git-annex-assistan... ), by himself on an incredible budget. He actually Gets Shit Done, and does it relatively efficiently. I would not be surprised at all if a factor towards bein…

> And when you are a creator rather than a consumer (especially of the written word, be it code, essays or books), screen size rarely matters. I don't necessarily agree with the parent post's sentiments, but I also disagree with this very broad blanket statement of yours. I am reasonably happy most of the time on my Macbook Air screen, but I definitely prefer to be coding on a larger screen when I can. I knew Joey ba…

I just had this epiphany. I tried to explain this too my friends but I still out nerd them and they aren't very excitable. I just bought one of the HiDPI monitor for super cheap and it does suck going back to the MBA screen, not just for real estate but quality (and Mac font rendering, bleck). What I can't get over is how much more productive I am. I can have three different bits of code side-by-side, a terminal with gdb, Chrome open with docs, all in one screen.

That's HUGE, at least for me. I'm constantly alt-tabing or changing workspaces on my Mac and every second I have to wait for that animation, or look at that variable name, or remember why it return an (int, error) not just (int), I was losing my momentum.

Honestly, I'm excited to start my full time job to buy another of these bad boys to use at work.

Re: Joey Hess' minimal approach

#112

Post by limmeau »

agumonkey wrote: post #39

Let's make a petition for someone to produce this e-ink open arm laptop. I'd buy one immediately.

Apparently, you can build yourself a netbook with PixelQi's transmissive-reflective display of the OLPC. Not quite paper, but at least black&white without backlight.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/19/how-to-install-pixel-qis-...

Re: Joey Hess' minimal approach

#113

Post by agumonkey »

agumonkey wrote: post #61
cweiss wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is that the big issue is that e-Ink displays have a miserably slow pixel update time. The new Kindle Paperwhite is on the order of 450ms whereas the average LCD display is in the single digit ms range. Great for static text, but horrid for anything real-time.

I should have mentioned that I'd be using text-mode mostly. With my keyboard refresh rate (25key/sec) => 40ms max per redraw. That's .. quite far. If you look at this old kindle refresh rate, used as a terminal screen for a raspberry pi, it's almost usable : http://www.ponnuki.net/2012/09/kindleberry-pi/ I wonder how it would be on a newer eink screen.

Another video: vim on eink

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdmX52SCpG0

not glorious.

Re: Joey Hess' minimal approach

#115

Post by fghh45sdfhr3 »

npsimons wrote: post #35
kami8845 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. Says the guy doing all his work on a 1024 x 600 display. I mean the guy no harm, but so much of what he says strikes me as incredibly back-worldly. Like using dial-up and limiting yourself to fan-less laptops. I mean I get the "thin terminal" philosophy where you have a shit laptop that connects to something much more potent. But where's the point if the connection sucks as well. I guess in the end we have vast…

I hate to pull this card on you, but what have you done? We're talking about a Debian developer who has also developed (and continues to develop) basically an open-source replacement for Dropbox ( http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joeyh/git-annex-assistan... ), by himself on an incredible budget. He actually Gets Shit Done, and does it relatively efficiently. I would not be surprised at all if a factor towards bein…

I hate to pull this card on you, but what have you done?

A legitimate question. However, I've known incredibly smart developers who get shit done, and often they like to hobble themselves. They tend to hobble themselves out of a somewhat irrational love of hardship. But often they'll justify it with some other very elaborate explanation that sounds very smart but is pure b.s.

Re: Joey Hess' minimal approach

#116

Post by hollerith »

jiggy2011 wrote: post #104
hollerith wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here. A person who knows how to program and who are easily annoyed by things like inconsistent computer behavior or lack of design aesthetics should probably avoid Linux if their interest in an OS is to help them be productive.

A lot of Linux based devs prefer "classic" development tools like emacs or vi and operate primarily from the terminal. These things tend to stay very consistent over time, if I was using Windows I would have had to learn powershell over the last few years. My BASH knowledge is still as applicable as it was 10 years ago.

What I meant by "inconsistencies" is that Emacs's keybindings and other conventions differ from, e.g., Firefox's, which differ from Vim's.

Re: Joey Hess' minimal approach

#117

Post by jiggy2011 »

hollerith wrote: post #116
jiggy2011 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of Linux based devs prefer "classic" development tools like emacs or vi and operate primarily from the terminal. These things tend to stay very consistent over time, if I was using Windows I would have had to learn powershell over the last few years. My BASH knowledge is still as applicable as it was 10 years ago.

What I meant by "inconsistencies" is that Emacs's keybindings and other conventions differ from, e.g., Firefox's, which differ from Vim's.

Vim and Emacs use different keybindings whichever OS you use them on AFAIK.

Re: Joey Hess' minimal approach

#118

Post by K_REY_C »

fmstephe wrote: post #3

I love this setup. After the new ARM chromebook came out I got all excited and looked about for a way to dual boot a full OS on my old series 5. It turns out it's easy now ( http://chromeos-cr48.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/chrubuntu-1204-n... ) There is a lot of pleasure in using such a small machine. I am definitely looking forward to an e-ink laptop. As I get older my eyes grow more weary, but the e-ink display on my ki…

I've been looking forward to an e-ink laptop as well. I was truly excited years ago by the "noteslate" project, but it never amounted to anything. There's clearly a place for simple, low-power devices. The ever-blurring line between e-readers and phones and tablets and laptops is exciting. With the trend towards minimalism -- distraction free writing applications -- an e-ink unitasker with git-annex syncing could be an amazing item.

Re: Joey Hess' minimal approach

#119

Post by kerno »

lanna wrote: post #22
anonymouz wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For writing or coding, a decent keyboard seems much more important than a high resolution screen. For consuming stuff the converse is true. (Even though I also prefer a high res display, and he mentions that it took him some time to set up Xmonad in a way that allowed him to effectively work with such a low-res display).

Except the Dell Mini 9 doesn't have anything nowhere close to a decent keyboard.

I owned a Dell Mini 9 hackintosh and recently sold it. I absolutely do not understand how Joey Hess uses it everyday for the sort of work that he does - the keys are roughly 90% of full-size, and I couldn't type more than a few words without hitting the wrong key. I feel admiration mixed with, "why?".

Re: Joey Hess' minimal approach

#120

Post by keithpeter »

fghh45sdfhr3 wrote: post #115
npsimons wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate to pull this card on you, but what have you done? We're talking about a Debian developer who has also developed (and continues to develop) basically an open-source replacement for Dropbox ( http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joeyh/git-annex-assistan... ), by himself on an incredible budget. He actually Gets Shit Done, and does it relatively efficiently. I would not be surprised at all if a factor towards bein…

I hate to pull this card on you, but what have you done? A legitimate question. However, I've known incredibly smart developers who get shit done, and often they like to hobble themselves. They tend to hobble themselves out of a somewhat irrational love of hardship. But often they'll justify it with some other very elaborate explanation that sounds very smart but is pure b.s.

Perhaps there is a closing down of focus being achieved through the 'hobbling'? I accept that if those people examined their process, they might find other ways of focussing without the hobbling
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