Simplicity is a form of art...

My application base: Obnam

It is often said, yet too often forgotten: taking backups (and verifying that they work). Taking backups is not purely for companies and organizations. Individuals should also take backups to ensure that, in case of errors or calamities, the all important files are readily recoverable.

For backing up files and directories, I personally use obnam, after playing around with Bacula and attic. Bacula is more meant for large distributed environments (although I also tend to use obnam for my server infrastructure) and was too complex for my taste. The choice between obnam and attic is even more personally-oriented.

My application base: graphviz

Visualization of data is often needed in order to understand what the data means. When data needs to be visualized automatically, I often use the graphviz tools. Not that they are extremely pretty, but it works very well and is made to be automated.

Let me give a few examples …

My application base: LibreOffice

Of course, working with a Linux desktop eventually requires you to work with an office suite. Although I have used alternatives like AbiWord and Calligra in the past, and although I do think that Google Docs might eventually become powerful enough to use instead, I'm currently using LibreOffice.

The use …

My application base: firefox

Browsers are becoming application disclosure frameworks rather than the visualization tools they were in the past. More and more services, like the Draw.io one I discussed not that long ago, are using browsers are their client side while retaining the full capabilities of end clients (such as drag and …

My application base: bash and kiss tools

Okay, this just had to be here. I'm an automation guy - partially because of my job in which I'm responsible for the long-term strategy behind batch, scheduling and workload automation, but also because I believe proper automation makes life just that much easier. And for personal work, why not automate …

My application base: geekie

In the past, when I had to manage my images (pictures) I used GQview (which started back in 2008). But the application doesn't get many updates, and if an application does not get many updates, it either means it is no longer maintained or that it does its job perfectly …

My application base: freemind

Anyone who is even remotely busy with innovation will know what mindmaps are. They are a means to visualize information, ideas or tasks in whatever structure you like. By using graphical annotations the information is easier to look through, even when the mindmap becomes very large. In the commercial world …

My application base: draw.io

The next few weeks (months even) will be challenging my free time as I'm working on (too many) projects simultaneously (sadly, only a few of those are free software related, most are house renovations). But that shouldn't stop me from starting a new set of posts, being my application base …