Last December I started dual-booting T2 Linux on my 2019 Mac. It’s been 10 weeks since I finished the tutorial on how to do it so I felt it was a good time to check in on what I like and what I don’t like about T2 Linux. Scroll to the very bottom of this page for the TL;DR.

Since the 2014 MBP I was using to run Invisible Arch Linux finally died I’ve felt crippled in my ability to develop quality software effectively. And although running GNU/Linux in a virtual machine or via SSH to Termux on Android have their appeal, nothing beats bare metal. Nothing. So it’s time to revisit dual-booting Arch Linux on a MacBook Pro once again.

Last time I looked to run Arch on my T2 MBP the drivers for the keyboard and trackpad were still under active development and so I got basically nowhere. As of December 2021, however, not only are the drivers working, there’s an entire Wiki set-up around getting Linux on the T2 machines.

The following is a overview of the Arch installation process I used.

If you need to copy files from a Linux computer to macOS desktop, this short tutorial will explain how using Arch Linux with Deepin 20 and Midnight Commander. Rather than using a Wi-Fi gateway such as a a router, we’ll connect Arch directly to macOS using the Personal Hotspot in Deepin 20 giving us an M2M connection.

Are you familiar with the concept of “habit fields”? They’re these magical auras we give to everyday objects, assigning them purpose and allowing us to focus our awareness to accomplish tasks faster. But habit fields can work against you as well, if you’re not careful:

If you’ve been trying to do everything from one place and one device, then you may need to make a conscious decision to divide different modes of behavior.

Jack Cheng, Habit Fields (2010)

One device you may be trying to do everything from one place is the MacBook Pro. With the beefy specs on the flagship Apple notebook it can be easy to piledrive too many activities all into one place, affecting your Mac’s habit field.

But there’s a trick you can use to divide different modes of behavior on a Mac. And that’s to add a second operating system and dual-boot. Here’s how to install and dual-boot Manjaro Linux alongside macOS on a MacBook Pro.

The last time I played my favorite computer game was almost 5 years ago now back in 2015. After recenty creating textfiles.bit I went abandonia.com and was saddened to see they started charging to download Ultima Underworld.

That’s okay though as I found a different site which still had a free copy. In case I don’t find the site again I’ve enclosed the game archive with this post. And the following are instructions on how to play it on Linux.

After upgrading my Invisible Arch box to use the new Deepin Desktop V20 beta I ran into a hiccup trying to start Ungoogled Chromium:

% chromium
/usr/lib/chromium/chromium: error while loading shared libraries: libre2.so.6:
cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory.

What the shit is libre2.so.6? Initial web searches were fruitless so I fell back to GNU IceCat for a minute while I explored Deepin 20’s buttery new interface. Later I found a debugging trick on bugs.archlinux.org to find the problem:

One of the motivations behind dual-booting Linux on my MacBook Pro was to take back control of my personal data. Not just because Apple uses faux encryption on iCloud. And not because macOS has been shown to leave users open to eavesdropping exploits. But because when I use my Mac with macOS the operating system gratuitously beams out activity records¹, sharing information I’d rather keep private with people I don’t personally know nor have I ever met. And without the ability to shut it off, I find my privacy – the sentient and autonomous nature of my very being – constantly under attack.

In many instances, privacy is threatened not by singular egregious acts, but by a slow series of relatively minor acts which gradually begin to add up.

I've Got Nothing to Hide and Other Misunderstandings of Privacy

In this short guide I’ll show you how to encrypt and route your local Internet traffic through a fast, modern, and secure VPN tunnel called WireGuard using a free and open source operating system called Manjaro Linux. I will explain how to install WireGuard on Manjaro, share a simple means of establishing and testing an encrypted Internet connection, and leave you with next steps and personal experience to help further your understanding and gain confidence getting started.

Last week Firefox suffered multiple zero-day vulnerabilities, prompting renewed interest in a browser discussion thread on the Manjaro Forums.

Ironically the reason I’m using Manjaro in the first place is because macOS itself had several zero-day vulnerabilities recently, prompting me to perform a serious back-up of macOS and all my files on iCloud.

Thankfully switching browsers is trivial compared to switching operating systems on macOS. So herein I’ll show you how to easily install a few different browsers so you can try them out and decide for yourself which you prefer.

I don’t know about you but I really like dark interfaces. Dark interfaces use less battery on AMOLED screens, reduce eye strain at night, and help protect you from shoulder surfers and nosy bar flies. Plus they just look good.

Which is why I was a bit miffed after installing ghacks-user.js to lock-down security in Firefox Quantum. I finished setup right before bed, opened the browser and – WHAM – my entire room illuminated with New Tab page:

rupa/z is an amazing shell script that allows users to traverse a filesystem in no time flat. Use it if you spend any time at all changing directories in a *nix environment. It will improve productivity and spare fat fingers quite a bit of backpedaling.