Hi, i thought it might be intresting to start a post about the hobbies that people have outside *nix, and more importantly how *nix may become entwined with those hobbies. For me at the moment i have really been into music production, mostly just messing around, but recently moving back to a linux OS has opened up a lot of new ways to approach it, seeing videos of beats people make in C and pipe into aplay and such.

What hobbies do you guys have and how do they tie in with nix?

(22-07-2020, 11:19 AM)fre d die Wrote: videos of beats people make in C and pipe into aplay

Sounds cool, can you link one of those videos?

I've been hiking a lot this summer, but that can't really be tied in with *nix since I don't keep track of my walks..

(22-07-2020, 01:23 PM)sokx Wrote: Sounds cool, can you link one of those videos?

Sure! This is the first video i found, and he links a blogpost in the description that goes into a lot more detail about how it works and explains how the different bitwise operators create different patterns and so on.

What sort of places have you been hiking? Also how do you pack for a hike, i often see the too extremes in peoples back packs of "bloat" or ultra lightweight cutting the toothbrush in half stuff

I've been into music production for a long time too but haven't done much recently because I used Ableton and haven't found a way of using in on Linux. Bitwig looks interesting but I have so many projects in Ableton it seems like a pain to recreate them all.

i was using ableton lite for a bit, but started to look at tracker software like renoise a bit more and it seems to suit me better in some ways. i've also experiment a little bit with puredata(pd) which is essentially a visual music programming language similar to MAX/MSP that Autechre use

(22-07-2020, 01:47 PM)fre d die Wrote: What sort of places have you been hiking? Also how do you pack for a hike, i often see the too extremes in peoples back packs of "bloat" or ultra lightweight cutting the toothbrush in half stuff

I usually just explore the forrests near my home and try to find cool places. My hikes only last a couple of hours, so I just take some water, my phone and maybe a knife and some bread if I'm going on a longer trip.

Interesting off-topic thread.

My most Unix-related hobby is that I'm creating ASCII art. You can find my pieces here and here. I'm mainly using vim to do them sometimes coloring with Pablodraw. We had a thread about it a long time ago when I was just starting out.

I paint, hike, read a lot, garden (some pics from last month), cook, work on a side psychology project, watch movies from around the globe (broadening from the USA movies echo chamber), play CTF and wargames (currently training for a national competition next month), and more.

The most interesting project I'm currently working on is a mapping of mushroom specimens in my country, Lebanon. I love mushroom scavenging but it isn't well known here, so I've found two research papers and I'm basing my mapping on this.

Here's the current result:


There's not much Unix in all this other than syncing with Dropbox, using zathura as a PDF reader, and taking notes in vim.

(22-07-2020, 06:10 PM)venam Wrote: The most interesting project I'm currently working on is a mapping of mushroom specimens in my country, Lebanon. I love mushroom scavenging but it isn't well known here, so I've found two research papers and I'm basing my mapping on this.

Wow! that seems like a really intresting project! I recently bought a book fom the 1950s (A Survey Of British Natural History : Mushrooms & Toadstools) talking about the range of mushrooms in my country (uk) and did some (magic)mushroom picking in Kilpatrik hills. a lot of mushrooms have been poping up in my local parks at the moment, saw one lady in the middle of town picking some that had grown in a semi circle around a tree.

I've started reading a lot more again recently, currently nearing the end of Tropic Of Cancer by Henry Miller

I like this thread. *nix is cool but presumably we all have lives outside of it. I don't really have any hobbies that tie in with *nix but I have other hobbies...

I enjoy riding. Living in Melbourne AUS is great because the city is very accommodating of cyclists and its a fairly flat city. Single speed and fixed gear bikes are pretty popular here. These are my two steeds.


I also used to be well into cars.. (back when I had disposable income living with the folks). Even though I'm a family man now and have more important financial priorities, I still manage to make my car stand out :P



venam, you ever find any of those fun mushies? ;)

(22-07-2020, 10:02 PM)Ramiferous Wrote: venam, you ever find any of those fun mushies? ;)

Unfortunately, unlike fre d die, the "fun mushies" don't grow around here, but there are a some really tasty ones instead.

(23-07-2020, 02:02 AM)venam Wrote:

(22-07-2020, 10:02 PM)Ramiferous Wrote: venam, you ever find any of those fun mushies? ;)

Unfortunately, unlike fre d die, the "fun mushies" don't grow around here, but there are a some really tasty ones instead.

Ohh well. I am a fan of good Fungi! Being Vegetarian means I end up eating alot of them!

Nice bikes Ramiferfous! love riding fixed myself the city im in at the moment is very flat so its proper fun. got a nice njs steel frame.
i made a risotto a while ago with some pink oyster mushrooms i grew. They have so much more flavour than even the proper nice store bought "wild" mushrooms

(22-07-2020, 11:19 AM)fre d die Wrote: What hobbies do you guys have

- actively drinking whisky and beer (for the taste, not just for the ABV)
- writing code
- listening to music
- engaging in politics
- blogging about "code, music and politics"
- trying to learn Japanese (but I really need more free time for that)
- sometimes, going for a long walk

(22-07-2020, 11:19 AM)fre d die Wrote: and how do they tie in with nix?

The "writing code" one: Quite a lot.
The others, not so much.

(23-07-2020, 09:18 AM)fre d die Wrote: Nice bikes Ramiferfous! love riding fixed myself the city im in at the moment is very flat so its proper fun. got a nice njs steel frame.
i made a risotto a while ago with some pink oyster mushrooms i grew. They have so much more flavour than even the proper nice store bought "wild" mushrooms

Yeah I love my Cinelli, I'll never sell that bike. It's a little hard on the knees these days with no breaks and all but I still ride it.
And that risotto sounds amazing, oyster mushrooms are the bomb. Unfortunately cooking isn't my forte, but I do grow veggies in my garden. Maybe I should look into growing shrooms!?

(23-07-2020, 10:37 AM)jkl Wrote:

(22-07-2020, 11:19 AM)fre d die Wrote: What hobbies do you guys have

- actively drinking whisky and beer (for the taste, not just for the ABV)
- writing code
- listening to music
- engaging in politics
- blogging about "code, music and politics"
- trying to learn Japanese (but I really need more free time for that)
- sometimes, going for a long walk

All excellent hobbies. Especially the first one.

(23-07-2020, 10:38 AM)Ramiferous Wrote: [quote="fre d die" pid="21092" dateline="1595506733"]Maybe I should look into growing shrooms!?

Yeah! the ones i grew were froma kit i got a christmas so it was realativly simple to do. Just soak this glob of mycellium in water for 24 or so hours (had to do mine in our flats bin with some soya milk cartons balanced on top. and then just spray it with water daily and leave it in a spot out of direct sunlight.

(23-07-2020, 10:37 AM)jkl Wrote: - actively drinking whisky and beer (for the taste, not just for the ABV)

Do you have any favourite beers / whiskys? only first tried nice whisky last year when my flat mate bought a really nice smoky one.

(23-07-2020, 12:42 PM)fre d die Wrote: Do you have any favourite beers / whiskys? only first tried nice whisky last year when my flat mate bought a really nice smoky one.

I'm more into PX/Oloroso casks, like the Glengoyne 25 (one of my all-time favorites, with the Bruichladdich Black Art 4.1), and complex ones like the Balvenie 15 Single Barrel. My current favorite distillery is BenRiach though.

In the "peat" world, I do enjoy a glass of Ardbeg Corryvreckan/Uigeadail - their 23 was awesome, but too expensive - or Säntis Dreifaltigkeit once in a while, but that's it, actually. They have a peated one (Authenticus) as well, but my sample is still unopened. I'm slowly progressing through my list... :-) edit: The Springbank 15 is also an absolutely awesome whisky, lightly peated and affordable... ah, the list is already longer than I could remember.

... now I'm a German, and I obviously drink a lot of beer. It has become notably less after my last hangover after which I added red wine to my favorite drinks, but it is much easier to find a good beer than to find a good wine in most places, so I have no choice when I'm not at home. So sad. ;-)

I cannot stand the "Pale Ale"s and all the other "craft" "manufactured" hipster beers - I prefer Pilsner, sometimes Helles ("Tegernseer Hell"). The German "Störtebeker" and "Hanöversch" Pilsners are quite fine, but I also enjoy Tyskie, Lech, Staropramen and - occasionally - Heineken for those who prefer non-German beers.

(24-07-2020, 05:36 AM)jkl Wrote: [quote="fre d die" pid="21096" dateline="1595518949"]
I cannot stand the "Pale Ale"s and all the other "craft" "manufactured" hipster beers - I prefer Pilsner, sometimes Helles ("Tegernseer Hell"). The German "Störtebeker" and "Hanöversch" Pilsners are quite fine, but I also enjoy Tyskie, Lech, Staropramen and - occasionally - Heineken for those who prefer non-German beers.

I remember when i went to berlin a while ago. the selection of pilsner and helles was so vast! and im not sure if i saw much ipa at all, i know that Germany still has the purity law but i belive they can still import ipa? eitherway the beer was v cheap for how good it was pretty much everywhere.

Germany has many microbreweries today, all of them seem to brew IPAs. Probably it's cheap to produce them. They're all disgusting...

Outside of *nix I
- program (on *nix)
- listen to music
- play video games
- ride skateboard

After researching the customs of my ancestral region of Westphalia, I've come to prefer altbiers myself. But even though we have lots of microbreweries here in the Pacific Northwest, I haven't found many that brew this particular style. To echo jkl's lament, mostly IPAs.

When it comes to whisky, make mine Laphroaig. I like them peaty.

(24-07-2020, 09:51 AM)opFez Wrote: - ride skateboard

sweet! i've recently just got back into it, built up the courage to drop in for the first time in a few years a couple of weeks ago

I read quite a lot, mostly classics and philosophy books, and recently I've been exploring linguistics quite a bit.

I also do music, acoustic stuff. Write songs or whatever.

Sometimes I do gardening.

I love hiking and exploring old natural site or building,
Read some tech books or read a lot of tech's article and testing it !

Music too, lot of techno or Russian music (Rap or Pop whatever).

And sometimes run in some circuit with my sport car (not in an open road, be careful with that ;) )

I like going on bike tours, reading on my Ebook, and did a lot of Bowling before Corona with a few friends of mine. Recently I've been getting into Go (the board game), but I'm still a beginner.

And depending on how you understand the phrase "Hobbies", I also waste more time that I would like watching YouTube.

I've also been trying to get into Go. I'm still at the stage where I lose every match in embarassing ways though.

(30-07-2020, 07:00 PM)twee Wrote: I've also been trying to get into Go. I'm still at the stage where I lose every match in embarassing ways though.

I can relate to that. Are you on online-go.com/similar sites or do you play against bots?

I also got into Go recently ! And got my first patch applied to a big project (sneaky laugher.. hinhinhin)

I play trumpet. After a change in one of my bands, I'm now responsible for the horn parts, so there's a very thin link with *nix in that I write them out in lilypond/vim.

Other than that, I read a lot, mountainbike and recently (re)started painting tin miniatures. Not related to *nix though.

I enjoy learning about ancient languages like Greek and Latin. I am currently writing a text editor, and along with that some plugins designed to help me use special characters and accent words properly. This will all be accomplished using UNIX pipes.

For example, would return .

That would be rather wrong though, because Chi does not equal C at all. In fact, there is no Greek C.