Andrew @amason@mastodon.social

Playing Monster Train on Fedora Linux via Flatpak Steam and it's running great.

I recommend using `gamemode` https://github.com/FeralInteractive/gamemode to auto-tune your system for best performance.

#linux #gaming

Use `wget --content-disposition` when downloading files to use the filename provided by the server in the response header instead of the pathname.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Headers/Content-Disposition

#cli #tips

The more I write TypeScript the more I've returned to using basic for(const foo of baz) { ... } loops instead of array methods .map or .reduce.

I find easier to read and understand what's going on with a for loop.

#javascript #typescript

One of the best day-to-day internet speed improvements you can make is switching your DNS provider. I recommend using Steve Gibson's DNS Benchmark tool to find your best alternative DNS provider https://www.grc.com/dns/benchmark.htm

My personal DNS provider is NextDNS https://nextdns.io/

While they might not be the absolute fastest, they are basically a dedicated PiHole. You can even choose IP filter lists similar to uBlock Origin.

#privacy #DNS #performance #speed

Discovered a great open-source Windows cleaning app called Bulk Crap Uninstaller https://www.bcuninstaller.com that makes it quick and easy to remove software and clean left-over files.

#windows #cleaning #opensource

Signal is suffering technical difficulties due to its recent popularity. Now is the time to support open-source privacy software https://signal.org/donate/

#privacy #opensource

Modern browsers have built-in support for date formatting, so you may not need a third-party library.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Intl/DateTimeFormat/DateTimeFormat

#javascript #webdev

Groove Salad radio all day https://somafm.com/groovesalad/ #music #radio

Going back to mindfulness meditation and its having a nice calming effect.

Firefox's Picture in Picture feature is amazing.

Great to see youtube-dl repo is back.

While not a complete privacy-focused email service, fastmail.com has been a pleasure to use and it's a small step to de-googlifing my online life.

#privacy #google

Gifsicle is the go-to tool for all things GIF related. It has saved me so many MB in optimized animated GIFs. https://www.lcdf.org/gifsicle/

Note: It recently merged in the giflossy project with the flag --lossy which can dramatically reduce file sizes.

#gif #linux #cli

Big fan of the tldr terminal app tealdeer https://github.com/dbrgn/tealdeer that lets you quickly look up common command line tool options.

I'm always forgetting the correct argument order for creating a symlilnk.

` ln -s path/to/file_or_directory path/to/symlink `

#cli #tool #linux

JetBrains Mono has become my go-to programming font of choice. Clean, simple and open-source

https://www.jetbrains.com/lp/mono/

#font #programming

` :not(:last-child) { ... } `

CSS selector for all but the last element. Useful for adding gaps in flexbox elements.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:not

#css #webdev

I like to set a `data-active` prop on Preact elements then use a CSS attribute selector `[data-active]` to style active elements. It saves the messy concatenation of CSS class names.

#webdev #programming #css

I've got into the habit of writing my own helper functions instead of installing single use NPM packages. It's had the advantage of gaining a deeper understanding of how the code works and making me a better programmer.

For example, here I learnt about Magic Number bytes https://w.wiki/fka used for file signatures to identify image types without having to decode them.

#typescript #development #learning

PS. The inability to edit posts is a mixed blessing for the dyslexic among us.

On that note, Language Tools https://languagetool.org/ as a Firefox extension is a great sanity typo checker. That and taking the time to re-read a post before hitting send which is always sensible.

I've said it before but TypeScript has made be a better coder.

I'm from a background of hacking stuff together. No formal computer science background, just peek and poke'n C64, Amiga and PC. So when it comes to writing code that should _work_, having the comfort of types is a real comfort.

#typescript #coding #dev