Beardy Guy Musings

Daily steps to building our resistance into a General Strike 2026-01-23 In the face of extreme daily brutality the folks of Minnesota have been giving the rest of the US a demonstration of how we resist rising fascism in the US.

2026 is starting off with even more US fascism 2026-01-09 Well, we're one week into 2026 and the regime continues it the war against its own people and its war against the rest of the world.

The visual design and experience of using GNU/Linux 2025-12-28 Last week the folks that build the Elementary distribution of GNU/Linux announced the release of 8.1.

2025 End of year personal computing check-in 2025-12-26 Part 1: The GNU/Linux Experience As I start this post in early November 2025 it’s been nine months since I first installed GNU/Linux on this 2012 MacMini.

What's the web browser outlook for 2026?

2025 Privacy Goals and Progress 2025-11-21 Reduce or eliminate use of cloud services Reduce exposure to data collection by apps Reduce exposure to data collection via web browsers Reduce exposure to location tracking First, I'll go over what I cut out.

Using a data only eSIM + MySudo for greater phone privacy 2025-10-26 I wrote a couple weeks ago about my progress in making my iPhone more private.

Becoming an Activist Part 3: deCleyre Co-op 2025-10-12 Note: This is part 3 in a series that I started in early February 2025 but never finished.

By default my cell phone is a surveillance device.

My ongoing effort to de-Apple the iPad 2025-09-24 As someone who had come to prefer using an iPad for all of my computing the switch to GNU/Linux was an unexpected turn but one that has been far better than expected.

Freeing Apple Devices from Apple 2025-08-29 Over the past year I’ve often come across folks talking about de-Googling which largely comes down to disconnecting from Google services by finding alternatives.

Apple to GNU/Linux Journal - GNU Emacs 2025-08-19 Back in late May and early June I began to give GNU Emacs a try.

Americans’ perpetual consumerism leads to insecurity and then fascism 2025-08-13 One of the problems of America is it’s culture of hyper-consumerism.

Update on our Community Computer Upcycle Project 2025-08-13 It’s been a slower start than I’d hoped for but we are making a bit of progress.

Lefty Activists and Journalists: STOP using Google and other big US tech services!

Five months with local cloud computing 2025-07-31 It’s been five months since I set-up my local files “cloud” and I thought I’d write a short update.

Begin the Journey: Finding a practical starting point with Free Software 2025-07-20 As I’m writing this post it’s 85°F with 80% humidity at 8:30pm after a very hot, humid day in Missouri.

Apple to GNU/Linux Journal: Food and exercise tracking 2025-07-17 Ten years ago, after a short period of weight gain, I decided I needed to get in the habit of better tracking my diet and exercise.

This morning as I was reading through my Mastodon timeline I came across this article, Anthropic, Google, OpenAI and xAI granted up to $200 million for AI work from Defense Department.

Begin the journey: Why your ethics might require adoption of Free Software 2025-07-04 My own journey into free software began with my ethics.

We have a choice to make: How we compute matters 2025-06-26 Which side are you on?

Morning Walk Wildflowers 2025-06-24 Dew covered red clover in the morning sun Rudbeckia hirta, the black-eyed Susan Misumena vatia, flower crab spider waiting for breakfast?

Trisquel: A fully free GNU/Linux distribution 2025-06-20 After spending more time reading through the Free Software Foundation I decided to try out one of their recommended free GNU/Linux distributions: Trisquel.

Your older Mac not eligible for macOS 26?

Perilla!

Community Computer Upcycle 2025-05-20 A few weeks back I began thinking about the possibility of starting up a local community project to upcycle older computers.

Are Apple Enthusiasts Miserable?

Apple to Linux Journal Two months, enjoying the journey!

Progress Exiting Google, iCloud and other US big tech firms Slowly but surely, I'm getting closer.

A few thoughts on consumer ethics and the new trade war 2025-04-06 For most of my adult life I've made it a point to actively boycott companies that seemed to have shitty ethics.

Are you bending the knee to fascism?

Apple to Linux Journal - Scribus is actually amazing 2025-03-29 The full Scribus window with left toolbar and panels docked on each side.

Apple to Linux Journal - Rhythmbox as a local music player 2025-03-27 Okay, let me get this out of the way first: I learned long ago that Apple's Music app is absolute garbage for playing local music shared by a Mac on the network.

Apple to Linux Journal - Migrating from Apple Photos to digiKam One of my first considerations in moving from Apple to Linux was photo management.

2025-03-22 So, you're a frustrated Apple user looking for alternatives?

2024-03-17 Apple to Linux Journal - Linux troubleshooting successes!

2025-03-16 Apple to Linux Journal Series Home It's been a month since I installed Linux on my old 2012 Mac Mini, now dubbed LinuxMini and I thought I'd collect the various posts I've written into one page which I'll update with future posts as I continue…

2025-03-13 Apple to Linux Journal - Can I replace Affinity Publisher with Scribus?

2025-03-10 We need a global foundation for an open source web engine My perhaps too simple take on the current situation with web browsers: We need a new governance model for the development and maintenance of the web browser rendering engine.

2024-03-07 Text Editor " Apple to Linux Journal: Moving email from iCloud to my own domains A mistake I made over 10+ years ago was depending on Apple for my email.

2025-03-6 Linux Utilities: Autokey, Diodon and Ulauncher Upon switching to Linux I noticed there were three things missing that I was missing from the iPad: Text expansion, Clipboard history and Spotlight search.

2025-03-04 Linux apps for notes, blogging, coding and remote file management I've written a couple times in the past couple weeks about switching to Linux.

2025-03-01 Building a reliable local cloud replacement for iCloud or other corporate cloud-based computing It's been 10 days since I installed Linux Mint on an older 2012 Mac Mini and began the process of migrating from Apple's hardware, software and iClo…

2025-02-26 Apple, big tech, lock-in and the corporate colonization of life experience Over the past few weeks, months really, as I've been considering the state of the world and the US (as many have) I've found myself increasingly of the mind that it was…

2025-02-23 Apple to Linux Journal - a Week of progress I'm feeling really good about this move.

2025-02-22 Apple to Linux Journal - First Days Note, I started writing this at the end of my first day with Linux Mint but have been adding to it over the subsequent 4 days of use.

Leonard Peltier is free.

2025-02-19 Progress on migrating away from the Apple ecosystem A couple days ago I posted about my decision to stop using Apple products and services.

2025-02-17 When computing and tech are turned against us "Here's to the fascist ones.

2025-02-09 Becoming an Activist Part 2: The Memphis Social Ecology Project This is part 2 in a series.