The Terminal – For Noobs (Like Me), Part Two
The Why and What
In part one, I tried to establish the basic concepts, like terminal emulator, shell, prompt, and CLI. In this part, I want to go into why people use the terminal – and in the next part, how to make it more noob-friendly.
“But why do people use this archaic thing?”
As mentioned in part one, I’m absolutely not one of those who live in the terminal. But if I were to guess (and this applies to my basic usage as well), I’d say two things are the most important: It’s fast, and it’s powerful.
One way it can be fast, is that CLI programs are computational efficient, as there’s a lot of stuff (like graphics) they don’t need to render.
Another way is that you can do quite complicated tasks in a single* command. For instance, I’ll sometimes run this:
for dir in */; do
(cd "$dir" && mkdir -p .Originals && cp * .Originals/)
done
This will
- run through all folders in a parent,
- add a hidden folder in each, named .Originals,
- and place a copy of each file in that hidden folder.
I use this to create backups of files before editing them (in a specific workflow), and it happens instantly. 👌🏻
CLI tools are both powerful in terms of what they can do, and also in that they’re usually highly customisable. They’re also generally easy to combine with each other, because they often do one thing.
And the combination of being fast and powerful, if you know what you’re doing, makes it a valuable tool in which to invest.
“But what can you use it for?”
The Terminal – For Noobs (Like Me), Part One
The Basic Concepts
If you’re like me, from time-to-time you’ll come across tasks that should be done in the terminal. But as you’re not very familiar with it, you wince a bit, and then just paste whatever they say, and hope for the best. The guide might also assume you know a bunch of concepts, that you don’t really understand. Like, why do some commands start with $?
Hopefully, this guide can answer some of the questions you’re too afraid to ask, and make you less afraid of the terminal. I’ll never be a person who lives in the terminal (especially as I’m not a programmer) – but I’ve managed to get to where I like it, and will be happy if a task can be done there.
Sorry that this will be a bit Mac-focused. But hopefully, it can be useful for more than Mac users!
- Part Two: The Why and What
- Part Three: A More Noob-Friendly Terminal
Basic concepts
To me, things get much less daunting if I understand some basic concepts. And here are some of the basic things you won’t necessarily see explained on guides that include some terminal stuff.
CLI vs. GUI
More on Using a Mac Mini as a Secondary Computer
Remote Access, RSS, and Storage and Backups
Last November, I started using an M4 Mac Mini as a secondary computer. I’m still pleased with it! And I wanted to provide a little update with some more things I’ve learned.
Remote access
Using the Mini, has been pretty simple. I’ll usually use Continuity, via my MacBook or iPad, if the TV the Mini is connected to is on. And I’ll use Screen Sharing if not.1 (I can recommend keeping something like an integrated keyboard and trackpad nearby, if you have the space – which I don’t.)
But I’ve also figured out something else! And I get that this is very basic for many of you, but probably not for all.
On the Mini, I’ve gone into System Settings → General → Sharing → Advanced → Remote Login, and turnet it on. Now I can paste in something like this, in my Macbook’s terminal: ssh erlend@192.168.12.34
The terminal instance, on the MacBook, will now be like if I was running it locally on the Mini. This allows me to reduce the number of times I have to control the Mini directly – as it’s nicer to just use the MacBook.
I also think this is an important setting – even though it’s not as secure:
This means you can’t have FileVault turned on – but it makes it so the Mac will log in (and start all login items) on a restart. This is important to keep services running – but if there’s another (more secure) way of doing this, I’m interested in hearing about it.
RSS
Sharing an Open Letter to Mark Zuckerberg
From Pixelfed – an Open Alternative to Instagram
Link to the post.
Dear Mark,
I hope this finds you well. I noticed something interesting today - it seems Instagram is blocking links to my little open-source project. You know, the one that lets people share photos without harvesting their personal data or forcing algorithmic feeds on them.
I have to admit, I’m flattered. Who would’ve thought a small team of volunteers could build something that would catch your attention? We’re just trying to give people a choice in how they share their memories online. No VCs, no surveillance capitalism, just code and community.
Remember when Facebook started? It was about connecting people, not maximizing engagement metrics. Our project might be tiny compared to Instagram, but we’re staying true to that original spirit of social media - giving people control over their online presence without turning them into products.
You could’ve ignored us. Instead, by blocking our links, you’ve given us the best endorsement we could ask for. You’ve confirmed what we’ve been saying all along - that big tech is more interested in protecting their walled gardens than fostering genuine innovation.
Every time you block a link to our platform, you remind people why we built it in the first place. Your action tells them there are alternatives worth exploring, ones that respect their privacy and agency. So thank you, Mark. You’ve turned our little project into a symbol of resistance against digital monopolies.
Perhaps one day you’ll remember what it felt like to be the underdog, building something because you believed in its potential to make the internet better. Our doors are always open if you want to remember what that feels like.
Best regards,
Daniel Supernault
P.S. Keep blocking those links. Every error message is just free advertising for the social web.
My Adaptive Smart Light Setup
A Guide, and a Glimpse Into the Mind of a Madman (Me)
I’ve previously written about why I think Smart Bulbs > Smart Switches.1 And one of the reasons I think that, is that I (for some reason) really love having the colour temperature of my lights change throughout the day.
Sadly, I’ve found the automatic systems for this really lacking. But here I wanted to show how I’ve created a system I like.
The goals:
- Be effortless to use (and relatively easy to adjust)
- Both provide a good experience with simple switches, and with dimmers.
- Working with different brands of switches and bulbs.
- Keep everything in HomeKit.2
I want a smart home. But, in use, I want it to be as simple as a dumb one. I want guests to be able to operate things at, at least, the same level as they would in another unfamiliar home.3 And then I want to add smart benefits on top of this, like colour temperature, automations, some hidden button features, and being able to override stuff with things like a phone.
My most used switch is the Flic 2. And when the light is off, I want one click to turn on to a setting that’s almost always the right one. But as the “right setting” changes throughout the day, I have to do some adjustments in the background…
While you can adjust the brightness in Home.app, I also wanted to be able to do it with a dimmer switch at some places. So I’ve bought a couple of Flic Twists 🖇️ as well.4 HomeKit/Matter, sadly, hasn’t delivered support for dimmers, though – so I had to be a bit creative to get these to work as I wanted.
The principle
I’ve created three “moods” (which correlates to brightness and colour temperature):
- Glow (warmest)
- Cream
- Glass (coldest)
And, currently, my home moves through these moods at these times:
- From the night before 🌙: Glow
- 1 hour after sunrise ⛅: Cream
- 3 hours after sunrise ☀️: Glass
- 3 hours before sunset 🌥️: Cream
- 1 hour after sunset 🌙: Glow
If you turn on a light during “Cream time” it will turn on to that setting, and so on. And when the mood changes (during the day), it will go through the lights that are turned on, and adapt them to the current mood.
The how
My Wishes for NotePlan
I like and use NotePlan (via Setapp 🖇️), and feel good recommending it to people. But there are a couple of reasons why I don’t love it. So while I keep all my notes and tasks in Markdown files in the NotePlan folder, I prefer editing those in other apps – like Paper. Below are the changes and improvements I would need for me to love it.
The basics needs to be improved
The NotePlan developer is very active, seems like a great guy, and is pumping out updates. Some of these are really ambitious (like more collaboration and a web editor). But the app is, at its core, a Markdown editor – and I think this core requires some improvements, and that getting this right is foundational for the rest.
I get that I can’t expect it to be as good here as the dedicated Paper, and some of the more advanced features, like the Typewriter Mode:
But NotePlan should be better…