A Great Year for Linux

[Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom]

Man, it's proper.

Linux Prepper is an enthusiast-focused podcast on using free and open tooling to do

absolutely everything, whether we succeed or fail is fine. We're just here to support

each other and do the best we can and embrace a bit of a DIY lifestyle.

So thank you to the longtime listeners and to new fans as well.

I'd like to retry an oldie but a goldie from when I first started this show.

It was honestly the first thing I ever recorded was my key pass ad for

the password manager application.

So I'm gonna give it another go with a better quality recording.

And yeah, enjoy.

Gives you an idea of what my performances are like.

>> Ma'am, have you seen my key pass?

I don't know where your key pass is.

What's a key pass?

It's where I store my information and I can't remember where I put it and I lost it and

I can't find it.

Whoa, considering you.

Maybe that's a bad thing.

Key Pass.

Protecting your data, even from yourself.

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Don't worry, if someone loses or locks their own data, it should be you.

No one can steal your data if you lost it to begin with.

Try and solve that one, big tech. Key Pass. That's K-E-E-P-A-S-S.

Results may vary. KeyPass is free and open source software available to everyone,

wherever KeyPass is available. The show is sponsored by Ameradroid.com. Ameradroid is the

US-based distributor of single-board computers and home automation products. They're based in the

United States, but they distribute for HardCarnall, who produces O-Droid as well as a lot of the open hardware platforms used

by Home Assistant, others, all that. They have global shipping and they have

customer service. You can just call them on the phone. We're using the indie

droid right now for pixel artwork that we'll talk about as part of a game

called mermaids that HP is making. So definitely check them out. Use Linux

Prepper at checkout and thank you to Ameradroid for sponsoring

Linux Prepper. I asked the classic HB, my previous guest to join

me in giving a little bit of an overview for today. So I welcome

having him. Funny note, as you'll notice, HB mentions at

different times that he's not very technical,

yet he seems to be recording from a jet engine server room.

So don't be surprised if it sounds a little bit like little of a scare.

In recording this, I've become curious about how it's going for new users to Linux and

for recent converts.

Like what are the pain points? I decided to ask the Lemme community

and the response and even the last few hours

has been totally overwhelming and positive.

So I thought it would be fun to get HB's take.

I was curious about it because my own family member

moved to Ubuntu from Windows 10

and he's been really happy with it.

And then I had some friends move over to Linux too.

And everyone's been basically fine.

- I'm looking at the post to,

obviously I didn't switch to Linux last year.

It's been a long time.

I guess I do have a bit of a story to tell.

- Yeah, please.

- So my son, he's been using Linux for a long time,

but he never fully committed to putting it on a system

as a primary OS primarily because of

you know games

He recently switched back to Linux man

You know full-time and I think he's really enjoying it

because

You know, he's always really liked Linux man. That was his first system. And

those Linux is like pretty much zero complaints on that. It's easy stuff. I think most people,

if they try the right to show, they're going to have a good time. I know back in the day,

a lot of people would be roofing on a bun too but honestly it's

pretty vanilla for most people to just

jump in and use it. Same thing with

Linux Mint. He's moving from Windows to

Linux as the primary driver which he

hadn't fully committed to before. He was

mostly using it for virtual machines and

stuff. Now complaints, he's always loved

Linux Mint. That's always been his go-to. So I'm glad to hear it

basically. Nice. Yeah. So I had a family member move to regular

Ubuntu. And I wasn't sure how that would go. I haven't been

using Gnome for example, since Gnome 2. So I've been using other

things like XFCE, KDE. And I was curious how that would go.

And that experience was totally fine for him.

The only thing he was confused about

was why he had to click four times

to shut the computer down.

But we did a quick internet search

and we found out how to make it two clicks.

I guess I can put a link to it in the show notes.

And now he's happy.

- Nice.

- Yeah, but it was like that was changing from Windows 10.

I mean, what a drastic change, you know, and the fact that it's all fine says a lot.

Maybe there's never an ideal time to make changes ever, but it's definitely never been

better than it is right now.

And even if it's never the Linux desktop year or whatever, it seems like it's a plenty

fine year if you want to change.

Yeah. next desktop year or whatever, it seems like it's a plenty fine year if you want to change. Yeah, I think it's more accessible than it used to be. There's just a lot of operating

systems that are easy to jump into. Another one is fairly pop OS. I use it. I don't really

care for it too much, but it's just what I use. A lot of the stuff that's happened probably

since I started with Linux is that just like the interfaces have gotten better, documentation has always been good, but I feel like it's

gotten a little more accessible, definitely more of it.

I think that kind of is a good thing to get in per tree will switch if they want to.

How much of it do you think is because of the proliferation of cloud services just taking

over and everything being in the cloud now

and all it really requires is a web browser.

Yeah, I mean, I can see why people would be, I mean, I use a lot of cloud services, not

necessarily like, you know, the normy ones, but you know, I like that I can, for example, log into a terminal on the web and have it actually work.

That's pretty nice.

Yeah.

I'm not sure actually about that if it's because of that or not.

Yeah.

I don't know how much of it is really like the whole AI thing.

I don't know how much people are actually concerned by that or not.

And that's also like one of those things where just like you're talking about like because I'm

in my own sphere, like using this kind of thing already for a

long time, I've like lost touch with reality. So to speak, I've

lost touch with the reality of like people, you know, using

other things so much. Yeah, I'm just not sure how important or

how used to things like the Microsoft experience in 2025,

say people are how dependent on it they are. But based on the comments just asking, let me

users who switched recently what they think the usual caveats rate where somebody has a

specific piece of industrial software they're trying to run for a really specific niche use case

like a CNC machine that only works in a certain way and they're having trouble with that which

makes sense. But if it's a more universally supported thing, it sounds like everyone's

fine. I guess the other good news just looking at these comments is like a person made a

good point here. Nothing stops you from just trying either way. Even if you don't move,

you can always give it a shot, run it,

and without removing anything you already have over USB or something like that.

It's also a painless process to try out.

Yeah, I mean, it's really not that hard.

You just plug a USB into your machine just like you do when you install Windows.

You know, it's just a different interface installing windows is a bit more clunky.

Then installing Linux distro off a USB stick is there's so many weird options now.

Yeah there's really no reason to not give it a shot and i can say that i have been trying gaming on Linux recently with friends and family.

And I haven't had any troubles personally.

So through proton, which can enable like in something like steam or the lutris launcher,

which is more like universal for running whatever.

I haven't had any trouble playing with people or playing games.

And I know that there are specific pieces of

software like related to anti cheat and I heard the game escape from Tarkov and Battlefield 6, I

guess, aren't compatible with Linux because the developers themselves are not trying to support it.

But other than that, like, it seems like everything works great. The sales of the Steam Deck overall,

which is bumped Linux adoption by multiple percentage

points, there's a testament to the fact that it's working. So that's good.

Yeah, absolutely. There's a lot of ways to, you know, to game now. I know like some of the stuff

that you mentioned this right now, my son uses that stuff. And, you know, it's a cool thing too,

is that's there's also ways to emulate older

games and so like introduction to like some really classic stuff is there's really a lot

of options. I personally just don't, I don't know, I can't get into game for some reason.

Just can't. There's nothing wrong with that. It's good because you have other uses of your time. Well, and you've been working on your game.

Maybe take a quick moment to give the Wikipedia edition

of your mermaid's game here,

and then I'll include the longer discussion about it we did.

- Yeah, so quick recap is all that, you know,

surprisingly, I don't like playing video games

most of the time,

but I started a text adventure game with my

daughter who was giving me some sketches of her ideas for it and so I started

doing the art for it too. I actually use Ansear for a lot of different things so

it's been a really fun journey to do that because I get to actually like play

with these ideas of like how does a kid see this game like?

You know it's versus like how do I see this game and so?

It's been interesting to do that and it's just a really basic text adventure game

with some NCR and it's you know

Pretty I think pretty basic overall.

Like I could probably show someone how to make

a similar game if they ask.

- Let's say they did ask, where would you direct them?

Let's say someone listening wanted to try this.

Where would you direct them to get started

in just even thinking about making their own?

Let's just say the game part of it.

- Yeah, I mean, there's tons of resources online

if you look for how to make text adventure game.

I first encountered it, and you probably hear this

in the recap later, magpie 2017 issue,

and they had just a basic Python game,

and it really just, from a point A to point B

just got you through basic stuff like making menus, you know,

making good game logic and all that kind of stuff, picking up items,

attitude, inventory. So hopefully once I'm done kind of polishing up the

last bits of this first level, I'm going to put it on my GitHub, which would include

like a how-to and I most likely would also write a blog

with us about it.

So whenever that comes through, I'll make sure to send it this way for podcasts.

Cool.

And as part of doing episode one, a season one of Linux Prepper, do you mind giving a

quick 30 seconds about yourself, and then I'll do the same?

Okay. Sure.

So, my name is Henry Bogar, I go by HB, known James for a long time, I met through Noise

Bridge.

A lot of things that I'm working on right now is a lot of system stuff, so infrastructure,

working with VPSs, started my own server app recently, so that was last year's project.

Mainly just like to run my own services and the like tail end of

this last year, I really wanted to focus on getting better

programming. So I've just been focusing on Python exclusively,

just so I can kind of get a better football than that world. I am

not a tech person as far as like, I don't work in tech. I know how

to use technology and I know how to

like go hardware together and all that kind of stuff is just not.

But to give yourself credit, you have contributed extensively to open projects and things like

that online for many years. And so you're definitely underselling yourself in how knowledgeable you are, which is well beyond the average person in designing

things like hardware, token-based communication devices and all kinds of crazy stuff.

Thanks.

Thanks.

I appreciate that.

I'll introduce myself.

I'm James.

I'm the host of Linux Prepper podcast.

And I was inspired to do it after volunteering with Next Cloud and

Noisebridge Hacker Space and other community organizations because I thought

it would be really fun to try and experiment of using as much free and

open tooling as possible all the time myself and just seeing how far I could

get and trying to reach other enthusiasts wanting to do the same.

My background is in theater performance.

I performed on reality TV.

I performed as a musician, as a touring musician.

I created my own shows, which I've done really well.

But everything's obviously very niche, including this topic.

So I'm using Linux-prepper podcasts ass away to sort of thread all of my interests together

and meet with more people interested in the same,

which is very exciting.

And I'm happy to be here with you as the show continues.

- Oh, let's do a quick one on containers

'cause we have a whole longer like hour long talk

on containers in response response, containers good.

Containers, yeah.

Yeah, I use containers specifically Tupperware.

Just kidding.

I also use containers, both ones with lids and containers on the computer.

And we have a whole longer talk related to containers.

So if you want to hear all about containers, compose files,

who they're for and who they're not for, we discussed that extensively

and we also look at audience feedback related to it.

So that'll get released after this episode.

If you want to get a whole basic hour just talking about those topics, you can.

And I look forward to the basically the next year of the show in season one, all the extra

content. So a lot of it's going to get released as they call it bonus episodes. So it'll show

up in people's podcast apps. But also if people just want access to these recordings like

in the immediate, I started a Linux prepper Premium which you can subscribe to through Ko-fi or you could just send

me a donation and I'll grant you access for a month or you can do recurring and

I'm pretty easy about the whole thing. I just wanted somewhere that I can release

material without it having to be a part of the regular schedule and that's what

I've been working on the last three months.

If you look, there's already four and a half hours

of material on there and there's more that's going in there.

And some of that will start getting released

in connection to this first episode.

And yeah, I hope people enjoy the Linux Prepper show,

season one.

I guess what would you say HB people should expect

when they listen to this show? - i think that they should expect to hear about a lot of you know good tools that they can try out.

And the best part i mentioned to James before is even just as a listener like if this wasn't a show that i my friend was running or something i would be like well.

My friend was running or something. I would be like, "Wow, it's cool that this guy actually tries these things out."

Gives an honest opinion.

I'm sure you'd tell me if something sucked and not to try it.

But I think you pick things in such a way that they're really the best use of people's

time to hear about.

That's definitely something you can get used to hearing about. Also, you get

to hear from zany characters like me, so you can enjoy that as well. But yeah, I really

like the discussions too about stuff like this that we talked about about Linux. What

is it like to really switch to Linux for good, like a life sentence of Linux or something. So yeah, I look forward to

those next season. A quick state of the podcast. There is now a Lemme community for Linux Prepper

Podcasts these last couple months. It's going really well. You can check it out. I'll put a link

as well as a Discord chat, which bridges into the existing matrix. And that's for both the

Linux Prepper podcast and for the overarching company living cartoon where I do my

shows and work on other projects like merch and things like that. I'll have

links for that. You can also engage on the forum. It's discuss.James.network.

I would be happy to have anyone interested communicate with me in those

ways. And a quick follow up on Steam key giveaways. That went really well.

I did have one person who did not get their key. They sent me their steam username,

but what I needed was their steam ID. So send me email podcast@james.network or podcastlivingcartoon.org. Mr. Fixer.

So Fixer, Fixer, Fixer, Paging Fixer.

Send me a message.

We'll clarify your ID and I'll get you that key because I'd like to give it to you.

It's a small show.

I'd rather give it to you than pass it off to someone else.

So yeah, podcast@livingcartoon.org and I will get you that Steam key.

I'd also like to start a new Steam key giveaway because I thought it went really well.

And the rules are you leave a review for the show on your podcast platform of choice.

So now I guess that could be YouTube, Spotify, Amazon, music, podcast, index, whatever.

Just leave a review.

I don't care what you say.

It just has to be more than one word, you know, make a sentence or something. And that would be great. It really helps promote the show. It

doesn't have to be positive or negative. You just leave your thoughts and I'll have a

form you can send into me with a just like the link to your review and you'll be in a

drawing for a steam key, which I will draw on March 20th, and I'll draw a few winners.

Also requested by listeners,

the show is now available on YouTube music,

so you'll be able to listen there.

I do have some misgivings specifically in regard

to YouTube as a platform,

because I have a history with them that's colorful.

So I'm gonna make an episode talking all about that and that will be separate

It'll be uploaded to premium only most likely and not to YouTube

Because of I think it would violate terms of service otherwise

If anyone is looking for a winter challenge for the season might I recommend Linux preppers derp winter challenge?

That's the derp Winter Challenge or the DIY Unfinished Resurrection Project.

What is that? I'm glad you asked that a Derp Challenge is taking something that is living in a drawer

or otherwise laying around ignored and working on it. If you've already done this in the last

couple months, that counts as well. And you don't have to actually complete the project,

you just have to try. So whatever that means to you between now and March 20th of 2026 which is spring.

So the challenge work on a project you've been putting off. You can try to finish it or just take

a next step. You could replace something that's broken, fix something that's missing and it does

not have to be computer or technical. But what you'll provide is some level of detail, the project, perhaps

why it was neglected, maybe send a picture, or a link, or a URL, if it adds more context.

Ways you can submit, I'll have a one-click form that you can fill out. You can also post

to discuss.james.network or email podcast@livingcartoon.org. If you want to post somewhere else,

we'll just need to be able to find the

info to share if you want it included in a future episode. So that would be probably the April

episode around the time of Linux Fest Northwest. And remember, it's totally fine if the project

was already completed by you in the last few months. Some people have already made submissions

and finished projects for this, and I'm excited to see more. So yeah, feel free to get involved in the DIY unfinished resurrection project or dirt for Linux Prepper in the coming months. Cheers.

If you're jonesing to be a part of this show on the audio level and you'd like to submit a segment

or an idea, I warmly welcome that. People have talked about it, but no one has actually done it.

Welcome that. Um, people have talked about it, but no one has actually done it.

So you could be the first.

You can email podcast@livingcartoon.org.

You can also just send me an audio recording.

I'll leave a form that you can put an audio recording on and drop it and assuming it's

family friendly, uh, I am willing to try to share it in the show or I'll just reword your words for you, which

I'm also happy to do to keep you anonymous or whatever.

Also experimenting right now with getting a co-host.

So I did a discussion with Robin Monks of the Don't Forget to Foss podcast.

He's involved in a bunch of other open source stuff.

But if you want to listen to that, it's a whole hour conversation or more than an hour talking about

home labs and what it means to have a home lab and what that's like. Since HB is with me right now,

I thought I'd ask his take on home labs. What do you see as the main draw of someone say making

their own home lab in any capacity? One of the main draws I think for me was to really learn

how these things work, right?

To learn about alternative systems you can use,

really having control over your data.

You start to realize the way that technology works now.

You don't own anything early.

Even I had an issue recently,

I was trying out Chat UBT 'cause I wanted to compare it

to Claude and some of the other systems, but I didn't pay for my account. They

basically had all of my chats and they didn't give them back to me those

jerks. So I didn't really care that much because I was just testing it out and

trying different stuff with us. Just kind of a reminder to me like, "Hey, you

don't own anything." But like when you home-lapping, you get to learn

about hardware, you get to learn about software, you start learning about networking, you get to

do weird projects. It's kind of like having a little science lab or something in your house,

and it's kind of fun to be able to do those things. Yeah, absolutely. And even taking away

the responsibility of, say, putting something into production, meaning

into being something you actually rely on, it just gives you a, like, a playground sandbox

to plan.

And that's something, if you want to learn more about that, have a whole hour-long conversation

about it.

And I really welcome to people sending in feedback related to this show, podcast@James.network

or podcast@livingcartoon.org.

Linux Prefer Podcast is part of living cartoon broadcasting

and living cartoon company.

So that covers the podcast, but it also covers my performances

and other works that I create.

So I have a new show that I'm working on right now

for Linux Fest Northwest coming up in April 2026. Working

title for it is Hacker Space AI Scan My Brain Run. And I gave a performance about my

theater, physical theater I've worked on for a long time at Stegel. This last October,

it went great, super fun, and inspired me to want to create like a new show to perform

just for people

who are into this Linux property kind of stuff.

Thought it would be fun.

So it's something to look forward to in the future.

And if you want to check that out, I'll be talking about it more as part of living cartoon

as a whole.

So that's related to the Linux prepper premium and stuff because this show is going to stay

more focused on the Linux specific stuff.

But if you're curious about my performance, I'll be talking more about that as we move forward.

Cool man, any less thoughts before we wrap this up?

Half the planet, everyone.

And thank you all so much for continuing to listen to, support, or welcome for the first time to Linux Prepper podcast.