Articles

Docsify a Different Animal

2021-04-09

I thought I would break the silence on this Hugo powered blog with a post about another SSG Static Site Generator . Docsify is a SSG that is truly a different kind of animal. To illustrate the difference, let me start by mapping my current workflow to make a post using Hugo as my SSG. Make sure I have the latest version of Hugo on my local machine. Admittedly, because it is written in Golang and comes as a single binary this is pretty easy.…

Recycled Workstation Build

2020-12-06

I recycle computers into Linux boxes. Either I repurpose old hardware that I have purchased or I give a second life to computers that others plan to get ride of. Recently I assembled a new workstation to replace the spare computer that I use at work when I’m at my standing desk. My primary computer at work runs Windows 10 so that I can still use a priopritary program that I need for my vocation.…

Sharpening Your Tools

2020-12-01

While taking a break from writing, I’ve been sharpening my writing tools. Four weeks ago, my primary markdown editor was Featherpad . I still love Featherpad, and this amazing lightweight GUI text editor deserves its own article on discoverfoss.com . After I physically changed my workspace by adding a keyboard tray and a new keyboard, I don’t want to take my fingers off of the keyboard as I write because of the increased comfort.…

Bake Up a Btrfs RAID1 Array

2020-11-08

I recently gave my spare work computer which runs Linux a serious upgrade. My old Toshiba laptop had served me well at my standing desk. Since I never unplugged the laptop from its perch on the standing desk it seemed natural to upgrade that machine to a “new to me” desktop computer. Now I had a desktop case that could hold three 3.5" HDD’s. I filled those three bays with these spare drives that I had on hand.…

Pandoc and Markdown for the Win

2020-09-23

When real life intersects my love of FOSS, I get excited. I’ve been working with a physical therapist to learn exercises to prevent future lower back injures. My physical therapist opens our session by asking how frequently I did the exercises that he assigned, and how they went. I decided that instead of trying to recall 3-7 days of exercises, I would keep a log. Since I’m a geek, I kept my log in plain text.…

Using Hugo to Learn Skills

2020-08-30

After spending my free time of the past week enhancing discoverfoss.com , I decided to reflect on why this blog exists, and why I’m using Hugo to manage it. Discoverfoss.com came from a desire to give back to the free and open source community which has given so much to me and my family. I’m not a coder. I have no ambitions of being a “Youtuber”. I enjoy writing, and my profession requires long form writing for teaching and manuscripts for public speaking.…

MX Fluxbox Puts a Shine on Old Code

2020-08-09

Shame on me for taking this long to try MX Linux. My teenage son has been a code contributor to MX since before their October 2019 release of MX-19. He loved MX from his first install, but I dismissed it for my use. I have used distros based on Debian Stable and longed for updated packages. Honestly from a distance, MX appeared to be an eclectic mix of applications from different frameworks on top of a stable (dare I say boring) base of Debian and XFCE.…

Introduction and Terms

2020-08-09

Welcome to Discover FOSS or “Discover Free and Open Source Software.” I have enjoyed FOSS and running a variety of Linux distributions since the early 2000’s. I started Discover FOSS to document my own journey of discovery and to share that journey with the wider community of enthusiastic users. I hope to provide content that tells my story of discovery while at the same time introduces you to perhaps new corners of the free and open source world that you have not discovered on your own.…