This might become a microblog about photography, blogging, emacs, analog tools, tech, etc. We'll see.
I finally got into the darkroom this morning. Caught up on making contact sheets. They're hanging to dry. I keep telling myself that contact sheets aren't worth the effort, but I feel guilty not having them, so I always catch up.
Gotta say, using a CMS that is tailor-made for running a simple blog and nothing else is pretty refreshing.
I don't feel much like computering today. Most of the weekend was spent over-computering about everything, and I'm weary of it. There are no other plans, but the weather is supposed to be rather nice for a change, so I should take advantage of that. Otherwise, I'll end up on another dead end like with Raw Therapee yesterday. Hours and hours with no gains. I have too many days like that.
Took the dog to the park for some roaming about. It's a beautiful day here. Gets my mind of all the horrible stuff...for a few minutes.
In order to use Linux full-time, I'll need to find a feasible workflow for my photography hobby. Weeks working with Darktable hasn't converted me. I still prefer both Lightroom (Classic) and Capture One for editing photos.
I see people mentioning WinBoat as a possible option, so I installed it, along with Windows and Capture One. It works! Well, technically it works, but is it usable?
See that app in the upper right? That's Capture One, running in KDE via WinBoat
Brief testing has made me think that it is not usable for me, at least on the little Beelink mini desktop.
It's fine that it takes 20 seconds to launch. And with the window at a reasonably small size, it's almost responsive enough to work with. It gets worse when the window is maximized and, for some reason, I am unable to resize the window consistently. It feels janky on my machine. Too janky.
The latest version of WinBoat is supposed to support USB Pass-through, but I couldn't get it to work.
Having to buy a Windows license would be gross, but if it solved my problem I'd jump on it. I'm not sure it solves the problem, yet, though.
Still, the bear dances! Maybe a higher-spec machine and the final 1.0 release of WinBoat will make it happen.
I woke up today and found that this blog was still using Pure Blog, just as I left it. I wasn't surprised, really, but sometimes I think that blog gnomes sneak blog changes into my life while I sleep, so it's good to check.
Having spent too much time worrying about how to render different post types or short vs long content, I'm now trying the I Don't Care method. Everything is just a post. Let's see how that feels, Right now it feels liberating.
Spent a couple of days putting this blog together and now I don't feel like writing.
Well, I did it. After days of tinkering with Pure Blog, I've used it for this site at baty.blog.
I didn't have the guts to replace my main blog at baty.net yet. Too much work.
Baty.blog has been powered by Blot for a while now, but I had to put this one somewhere, so Blot had to go. Most of the Blot content has been archived at blot.baty.net.
It feels nice to start fresh. Now, what should I use it for?
Originally posted on baty.net but thought it relevant here, too.
D'ya ever grow weary of thinking about blogging and blogging software and blogging workflows and blogging culture? No? Me neither. Not normally, anyway, but it's happening now.
I've been having a blast testing Kev Quirk's new blogging platform, Pure Blog. He's done a great job of nailing the basics. It's easy and fun to use. So fun, in fact, that I've been teetering on using it for this blog at baty.net.
Sometimes I just want a CMS.
Static blogs using Markdown files are great, but I like to post a lot of images, and SSGs make that more difficult. I've scripted a few things to help, but nothing beats a nice drag-and-drop UI.
It's been a relief using Pure Blog for a few days. Here's the thing, though, once I start considering going back to using a CMS, why not go all the way and use WordPress or Ghost (probably Ghost)? That's what I've been spiraling about for a few days. Am I going to be satisfied with something as simple as Pure Blog, when Ghost has analytics, comments, fediverse integration, etc.? I don't know, maybe?
If I do decide to change platforms, again, I need to deal with migrating thousands of posts. This is made more difficult by having changed platforms a dozen times, already. My Markdown files have all kinds of slightly different front matter; some YAML, some TOML. Some have "featured" images, some don't. It's a mess.
I was considering archiving the baty.net again and starting fresh. That feels like crazy talk, but I can't help thinking about it. Wouldn't it be nice not lugging all this legacy cruft around? Except, it would break a lot of links. It's not like my posts are linked to that often, but they are linked to. Seems rude.
Another option is to use one of my other domains. Baty.blog is a good candidate. That's currently running on Blot but I'd archived that blog before. There's always copingmechanism.com.
Thing is, if I don't continue using baty.net for my primary blog, I'll lose a ton of readers. Baty.net is my blog, and not many folks are likely to update their RSS feeds just to follow me around. Part of me doesn't mind, but I don't love the idea.
You see how it is? I have a love/hate relationship with blogging workflows. My mood changes too often and it ruins each carefully crafted setup. It's a good thing there's a love portion of the equation.
Sooo, anyhoo, that's where my head is, this morning. I'm going to be out for a while today, and when I return I would like to make the call. Stay tuned.
With each passing day, I move closer to using Pure Blog for baty.net. Kev as added a few convenience features and updates that make Pure Blog entirely capable of running my site. It's the content that scares me. Even though Pure Blog uses "standard" YAML front matter, baty.net has adopted a half-dozen of those standards over the years. Converting everything would be a chore I'm not interested in. But (and this is a huge but), what if I started fresh? GASP! I know, I know. I'm seriously considering it, though.
"TILES is an Emacs package for taking quick, title-less notes." Well color me intrigued!
Screenshot from the TILES Github page:
I love trying different methods for taking notes. TILES is sort of a cross between Howm, Deft, and Denote. I think I'll give it a go.
(via Sacha Chua Emacs News
At the beginning of the year, I jokingly resolved that I wouldn't change my blog platform more than once every three months. Technically, I've kept my word. But last week Kev Quirk introduced his new blogging platform, Pure Blog. I am constitutionally unable to resist trying new blogging platforms, so I set up a copy and started tinkering.
It's nice! It's not technically an SSG (it uses PHP), but it maintains content as YAML-fronted Markdown files, just like most SSGs. What attracted me most, originally, was that the whole thing felt like something I'd build, given the time and talent. It focused on the things I find important, so it was a good fit right off the bat.
Here's mine, so far, running at pure.baty.net. I'm playing with fonts and colors a bit. Currently, it mimics my Emacs theme, ef-day.
Without too much fuss, Pure Blog behaves the way I want a blog to behave. It's simple, yet complete for what I need. I do have a wishlist, though.
In fairness, the whole project was meant to scratch a particular itch for one person. I'm not complaining! Like I told Kev, "Can open, worms everywhere!" :)
But now what? Part of me wants to break my rule and move baty.net to Pure Blog. That would be an enormous project, because years of using different tools has brought a variety of front matter formats (TOML, YAML, dates, tags, etc).
Another option is to make a new blog, such as I have so far with pure.baty.net, but even though the domain is fitting and kind of funny, I think the novelty will wear off.
I'm thinking about replacing baty.blog with a fresh new Pure Blog and leaving the old site behind. I have the content saved, so while it'll break links, at least the content is still out there somewhere.
Anyway, Kev's made a nifty, simple, useful, and easy-to-host blogging tool with Pure Blog. I need to figure out what to do with it.
So, we're doing this again, eh?
I'm getting a little ahead of myself here. I keep reloading Pure Blog's github page to see if there's anything new. This morning, I saw the most recent commit was "2 minutes ago" so how's that for timing!?
The update added next/previous post links on each post. That was one thing I was missing, so I jumped the gun a bit and updated this blog. It involved a little customization, since the links are in the default post-meta.php file, which I'd customized earlier. Wasn't hard, but I wonder if I'm painting myself into a corner. Anyway, fun stuff.
I'm happy to report it's been a fairly productive day, so far. I have crossed off all of my chores and a couple of project tasks. Feels nice.