(As a rubyist) Python sucks.

I've been writing Ruby for almost 9 years now, and I love it. Ruby, for those who don't know it, is an extremely expressive, natural coding language with roots in Perl and Smalltalk. I comment less in Ruby than any other language I've ever used, because the code tends to be clear and self-documenting. The community has a great ethos, driven by concepts like TDD/BDD (test or behavior driven development), DRY (don't repeat yourself), YAGNI (you ain't gonna need it), and convention-over-configuration.

I've been writing Python for about 18 months now, and it's an amazingly powerful language, with a huge wealth of libraries and resources. I don't love it. In fact, the more I use it, the less I like it. Doing a project in Django has really spiked that feeling. It's not that Python sucks, per se, I just feel like a lot of the lessons I've learned in the last 35 years of coding, and many of the concepts I've gotten used to as a Rubyist just don't apply, and that makes me grumpy.

This Thursday, February 4th, I'll be presenting for the Bellingham Linux Users Group, where I'll expound further, hopefully amusingly and enlighteningly, on this topic.

Thursday, Feb 4, at 7pm in BTC room CC201.

Why I have a Moto G.

My Moto X (1st gen) is dying. The camera can no longer focus on anything more than about a foot away. The radio reports 'no service' on a regular basis, requiring a reboot in order to find the LTE signal again (mind you, I can see the tower from my home). Bluetooth has gone from flaky to downright frustrating, making my Moto 360 less useful, and listening to podcasts in the car is nearly impossible. None of these are what I would call "design flaws" or reasons for you not to buy a Moto X; mine is just a few years old, with a few too many drops, splashes and slides in its history. In short - it was time for a new phone.

The 'shapely' Nokia N900

I didn't want a new phone. Especially not right now: every phone manufacturer seems to think bigger is better, and I'd rather have something with the form factor of a deck of cards than that of a notepad. I'd hoped my 4"ish X would last long enough for trends to change. Alas, it didn't.

So, since I couldn't get what I wanted, a small-screened powerhouse, I decided to revisit what I really wanted in a phone, and I decided to be a bit more pragmatic this time around, and not just get the most awesome phone I could find. To that end, I made a new list of priorities:

1. Durability is important. Elegance is not.

My phone lives in my pants pocket. My pants pocket, it turns out, is a relatively dangerous place. It gets mashed against my thigh. My kids sit on it. It gets laundered. Sometimes it's unceremoniously dropped in a pile on the floor and kicked approximately towards the laundry hamper. In short, not at all the kind of place to be keeping something fragile, or elegant, or svelte even. If the first adjectives a device evokes are about its style, it most likely doesn't belong in my pocket. If it can be described using similar words as an NFL Linebacker, than it might stand a chance.

2. Cheaper is better.

As I mentioned, anything that's going to be living in my pants pocket needs to be replaceable. I don't see any reason to keep nearly a $1000 computer in my pants pocket; that would be insane. (I'm looking at you iPhone owners.) I'm not going to put my phone in a $90 case, either, no matter how "life proof" it is.

3. Unlocked is important.

I don't want to borrow, or lease, or rent my phone from my carrier. I don't want a contract, and I don't want a monthly payment for anything but the services I'm provided. My carrier knows I can leave at the drop of a hat, and they provide me a satisfactory service experience, every month, to keep me around. I may have stayed with the same carrier for most of the last 12 years, but that's not to say I'll stay next month. I ask, when I pay every bill "what have you done for me lately?" I can't do that if I'm beholden for 2 years of payments, or if my phone won't take another provider's SIM.

4. Stock Android is the best Android.

Want to make a bunch of techies groan? Start naming phone manufacturer's Android skins: HTC Sense UI. "Argh." Samsung Touchwiz. "Ugh." Moto Blur. "Eww." You get the picture. Stock Android is cleaner, faster, more usable, and the individual parts are easier to replace should you choose to, than any of the vendor skins. Don't like the home screen? Install Nova Launcher. Not enough keys on the keyboard? Try Hacker's Keyboard. Crappy light sensor? Use Lux. If your vendor has mixed and mangled services, you won't be able to do one of those. For example, don't bother installing a custom keyboard if you have an Asus Transformer tablet - unless you like having an on-screen keyboard using up half your screen while the physical keyboard is attached.

Updates are seriously affected by this as well, which makes perfect sense. What's going to take longer - validating and shipping stock Android, or reworking a skin on top of a new version? This is the #1 reason most phones don't get updates.

5. Phones make great cameras.

No one thought to bring a 'camera' to the beach that day.

Having a decent point-and-shoot camera in my pocket has changed the way I live my life, especially how naturally I can share photos with distant loved ones. Click. Share. Send. All of my best photos are impromptu, taken at a moment's notice, without staging or posing, with my phone. Having lived without this capability for the last few months, I've missed a lot, and therefore the whole family has missed a  lot. Cameras are the best part of smartphones, and having one that's both high quality and convenient is critical.

Time to choose.

So... where do I look? Well, the "stock android" limitation really thins the herd. Basically, you've got the Nexus line, Moto, and some random Asian vendors who just don't do much business in the US, yet. And while it's not the most important thing in the world, I may need service from the vendor, and Chinese phone vendors are notorious for bad service. Moto, on the other hand, offers 'Moto Care', no-questions-asked accidental damage protection, and I've exercised that on the Moto X (before the warranty ran out) - their service is flawless. I don't know what to say about Google's Nexus devices, as I've never needed service on any of them during warranty period... so that's both awesome and questionable at the same time.


Looking to purposely avoid high-end phones, I eliminated the current-gen Moto X and Moto X Pure, as well as Google's Nexus 6 (also Moto) and 6P. While the Moto E's price tag is really appealing, the 5MP rear camera (and no front camera) is too much of a step backwards. The last-gen Moto G seems like a great value too, but my provider has awesome LTE service, so buying a device with a 3G radio seemed like a waste. This left me deciding between the Nexus 5, and the current-gen Moto G.

The Nexus 5 had a lot going for it. They've packed a lot of cool new tech into a device that's still reasonably priced: support for Google Fi; an ergonomic fingerprint scanner, USB-C charging, etc.  But, $349 felt pretty steep. I felt like the Nexus 5 was defying the direction I wanted to go; giving me cool tech instead of a reliable tool. Also, the "upside-down" photo sensor really turns me off.

Eat your heart out, rose gold.

The Moto G, on the other hand, was just the opposite - I'd have to give up some tech toys I was used to with my Moto X: NFC, hands-free interaction ("OK Moto X"), the pure black of an OLED screen. In exchange, I get the durability I'm looking for: Corning Gorilla glass; cheap, replaceable shells that maintain a waterproof (!!!) seal over the solid metal frame. For fun, those shells are available in a rainbow of colors, and even with a flip-back magnetic screen cover. Not to mention that the G starts at about half the price of the Nexus 5: $179 for an 8GB with 1GB RAM.

I also get to keep using some of Moto's pioneering improvements, which I've gotten really used to - like their awesome camera app. Two flicks of my wrist, and I'm taking photos: no other phone offers more convenient access to the camera. Their 'click anywhere on the screen' (or on my watch) approach continues to make my life easy. The 1080p video, or 720p slo-mo video, with live snapshotting during video recording, rivals any other devices camera tools. The pictures coming out of its 13MP camera look great both in printed snapshots, or when shared online. The 5MP front camera is more than adequate for videoconferencing as well.

32GB of that is a class-10 SD card.

I liked the Moto G's scaling factor as well - $40 more doesn't just bump up the storage to 16GB, but the RAM as well to 2GB. With an SD slot, and Marshmallow's ability to integrate SD storage seamlessly into the system, I ended up with plenty of storage, and plenty of RAM.


In short, I got everything I wanted: A durable, relatively inexpensive, unlocked phone running stock Android with a camera that makes my whole family smile. For fun, the shell I chose is reasonably close to SUSE green. Do I miss NFC? Sure. Do I regret my choice? Not even a little. This phone is going to last me a few years, and who knows what will be out by the time it dies...

My next phone will project the Death Star in lieu of a ringtone.

I will blog more...

I will blog more.
I will blog more.
I will blog more.
I will blog more....

LFNW14 Wrapup

Welcome to LFNW!

April 26 and 27, Bellingham, WA turned its nerd factor up to 11, and openSUSE was there, sponsoring, presenting, and to make sure everyone had a lot of fun!

This was the 15th anniversary of LinuxFest Northwest, and the both the organizers and attendees made it clear why this event keeps growing every year.  At last count, there were 1500 attendees; and for the first time openSUSE had a wealth of enthusiasts volunteering in the booth to make sure we could help everyone get in touch with their inner Geeko.

Big Geeko

Adrian Klaver and Caleb Gebhart, local advocates, were on hand in the booth most of the weekend, showing two very different sides of openSUSE: Adrian is an avid Python and Qt developer, and has no problem walking anyone through a problem. Caleb brought his gaming laptop, and made the point that gaming on openSUSE, especially through Steam, is as fun as it is easy to setup. Carl Symons, of Community Tech NW stepped in when we needed an extra smiling face in the booth.

Hangin' with Jon 'Maddog' Hall

Taking a more professional turn, Peter Linnell, Technical Specialist for SUSE, and Bryan Lunduke, SUSE's social media manager (and all around ridiculous guy), fielded questions, shared swag, and made sure 'Big Geeko' got lots of love. Bryan and I collaborated on "10 things you'd love about SUSE if you only knew..." which drew an audience of about 150! Peter was able to attend as well, and help out with Q&A, and Michael Miller, SUSE's VP of Marketing and Global Alliances joined the audience as well. Michael hung out at the booth after for a while, where we all got so spend a little quality time with Jon 'Maddog' Hall, Executive Director of Linux International (and grumpy grandpa to all of us Linux users). Peter Linnel wrapped up our presentation track with a deep dive into OBS on Sunday, to another full room.

Presenting with Bryan

Speaking of the "booth", that just really doesn't do it justice.  The openSUSE Lounge was a  popular place, what with the comfy chairs, lots of friendly people, and free Lime JeOS for everyone! When it came time for Jakob Perry, long time LFNW organizer, to give an interview to Slashdot, they couldn't find a more comfy spot to hang out!

Even Ubuntu folks get hugs here.

When it was all said and done, we handed out 100 openSUSE 13.1 promo DVDs, gave away a dozen SUSE USB sticks to the World Famous Raffle, and made countless origami penguins and chameleons (including special orange, blue and red ones for those other distro booths ;-)

We're already looking forward to LFNW2015, where we're sure to have even more fun than before!

Everybody loves openSUSE!

openSUSE @ LFNW 2014

LinuxFest Northwest 2014 is shaping up to be a great event for openSUSE!

We'll be recreating the openSUSE Lounge in our luxurious 100 sqft. booth space.  Stop by and relax in a comfy chair, and have a sip of LimeJeOS with one of our awesome community volunteers!

openSUSE is about community, and about having fun... what better way to show it than a comfortable place to hang out in the middle of any otherwise busy conference hall?

The gang from Community Tech NW will be running the tutorium... this will be a great place to get hands-on with 13.1, as well as a variety of other distros.

The tutorium is, without a doubt, the strongest community component of LFNW - the chance to sit down in front of a variety of Linux desktops and get some advice from experienced users.

Bryan Lunduke and I will be co-presenting "10 things you would love about SUSE if you only knew..."
I'm almost as excited about publishing our out-takes as I am about doing this presentation.

In addition to openSUSE being a Gold sponsor, SUSE donated a dozen USB sticks to the World Famous Raffle.

I just need to decide which Live image to preload...

I hope you can come out and Have a Lot of Fun with us!