computer VS obsidian-releases

gs (ghostscript), mutool, ocrmypdf...

To add/remove: mutool merge -h

To split PDF pages: mutool poster -h

I made a script here that I use frequently for scanned documents: https://github.com/chapmanjacobd/computer/blob/main/bin/pdf_...

Shrink PDFs: gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 -dPDFSETTINGS=/prepress -dNOPAUSE -dQUIET -dBATCH -sOutputFile=out.pdf in.pdf

(or switch prepress to ebook to shrink more)

or to really shrink, b&w only:

gs -q -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -dSAFER -sProcessColorModel=DeviceGray -sColorConversionStrategy=Gray -dDownsampleColorImages=true -dOverrideICC -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 -dPDFSETTINGS=/screen -dColorImageDownsampleType=/Bicubic -dColorImageResolution=120 -dGrayImageDownsampleType=/Bicubic -dGrayImageResolution=120 -dMonoImageDownsampleType=/Bicubic -dMonoImageResolution=120 -sOutputFile=out.pdf in.pdf

I've been putting my whole home folder under git for almost a year [1].

I haven't seen any other repos on GitHub with a similar layout. Why do people rely on GNU Stow and other complicated tools to essentially do what git does? I haven't noticed any performance problems with just using git.

[1]. https://github.com/chapmanjacobd/computer/

with these settings: https://github.com/chapmanjacobd/computer/blob/main/.github/firefox/ublacklist-settings.json

The problem with a lot of these tools is there is no incremental escape hatch. I had 25,000 tabs last year which I saved as a line delimited text file.

Then every day I automate opening 7 tabs and I force myself to get through them. Sometimes it takes 2 minutes, sometimes it takes an hour. Sometimes it ends with me adding 50 more links to the text file. Sometimes the tabs are garbage but often they are worthwhile.

https://github.com/chapmanjacobd/computer/blob/main/.config/...

https://github.com/chapmanjacobd/computer/blob/main/.config/...

But over the past year I've gone through 2,555 tabs! So it seems like it is working. Maybe in 10 years I'll reach tab zero

autocrop.lua

I started doing this with my phone and it made formatting my phone painless. The hardest part is getting started. I still haven't added all my config files to git; I have a daily script that will remove one line from my home directory gitignore so I can incrementally add config files. And it has already brought me a lot of peace of mind even if I'm only like 30% of the way done on the desktop.

The closest editor that follows our first principle is Obsidian editor:

The solution was already installed on both my computer and my phone: Obsidian.

> why does open source need to "win"

Open source does not need to win.

But your ability to be in control of your computer needs to be preserved. A proprietary fridge cannot control your diet, while a proprietary App Store can control what software you install on YOUR phone (unless you live in EU, hello DMA!). The tail wags the dog, so to speak. Proprietary software has also been shown to break user workflows or remove functions in an update while leaving users with no choice whatsoever.

One alternative to having open source win is to ensure software must come with a robust warranty and other assurances you expect from the things you buy. EU's CRA will make software vulnerabilities in WiFi routers covered by warranty, for example.

You can also ensure robust and interoperable data storage options. For example, https://obsidian.md/ stores all notes in Markdown, not holding the data hostage in case users will not like how future versions will work. GDPR actually has a provision for data portability (Art. 20), but it does not seem to have a requisite effect on the industry yet.

And until the above issues are solved, open source remains the best way to ensure that a software tail cannot wag your computer dog.

[2] https://obsidian.md/

So I've had my fair share of personal websites and blogs. I have built them on stacks ranging from the most basic HTML and CSS, to hosted frameworks like Wordpress and Laravel, to the more modern single page applications built in Vue and React. For a simple content blog I think you can't go wrong with a Static Site Generator though. These days I am almost exclusively writing everything in Obsidian. Which is great because its all in standard markdown format. This allows for a really neat and easy content publishing workflow.

Consider making an Obsidian[^1] plugin, or writing to Obsidian-compatible Markdown files :)

[^1]: https://obsidian.md/

Obsidian is a writing application created to allow for offline / private note taking in markdown format, in an interface that looks a lot like our regular programming IDE. It is very flexible, with a good collection of community plugins that you can use to customize Obsidian to your heart contents.

Obsidian support via our Obsidian Plugin