Looking forward not back – TheWKBlog.com

The year to come

Many blogs and social media platforms tend to offer a look at the year that passed at this time, but I decided to do things differently so here are things I am looking forward to in 2022 or at least hope will happen. Tech in general, Linux and also non tech related.

The improvements on JingOS

As some might know, I am the proud owner of a JingPad A1 and also happen to be a Linux enthusiast. When I first held this device in hand I couldn’t help but admire how well built it was, but at first boot the software was a different story, limited number of available programs, bad battery life, no screen rotation and no other keyboard layouts other than Chinese and English.

But the software has improved, battery life is good already and they recently delivered support for android apps, which I will write another post on some time in January.

All in all it has improved a lot and I am looking forward to what will be happening with it in 2022

The PinePhone Pro

I have had my PinePhone Braveheart Edition since early 2020 and seeing this device evolve to the point it is at right now was just beautiful. It went from a barely running Linux box to a fully functional phone on many if not all operating systems and the amount of work the developers put into this phone is beyond description.

But it has one critical flaw, it is not a fast device in any way, which will be solved by the PinePhone Pro. From what we have seen already of this device on various platforms it sure looks fast and I am very much looking forward to this thing being released.

Will I get one? Not sure, it could only ever be a secondary device for me since it does not do dual sim and I am not going to start carrying two phones with me during the week. But this brings me to the next part.

/e/-OS

This is another project I am very passionate about, /e/-OS is a fully degoogled version of android based on Lineage-OS. The project is headed by Gael Duval who, a while back gave us Mandrake or Mandriva Linux and now has moved on to providing a privacy friendly mobile operating system.

But this is not your typical custom rom, it comes with its very own set of applications, launcher and even a cloud backend called /e/-cloud based on nextcloud. They support micro-g financially to improve support for apps that depend on google services and their road map sounds to good to be true. Most importantly though, they sell phones running their OS, which gives less tech affine people the chance to run it.

Now, they did not deliver on everything they promised for 2021, for example their voice assistant e-livia is still missing, or their privacy central app. But the OS has still improved more than well, we now have gesture support working brilliantly, they introduced dark mode, it gets snappier with every release.

So I am looking forward to the open promises of 2021 being fulfilled, but even more, to see what Gael has in mind for 2022.

Also, by the state it is in right now, I am considering to try its dual sim abilities and using it as my main phone.

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

Yes, a new LTS Version is about to be released and I am looking forward to it, with a bit of a stomachache though. No, I am not going to say because Ubuntu isn’t doing exciting releases anymore and that is bad. Because it is the opposite, Ubuntu releases have become boring, yes, but as products mature they become less exciting because they become more stable. If you want to be stable not always being bleeding edge is the compromise you will have to make.

No, I have a bit of a stomachache because of the choices they recently made on their desktop releases, especially in regards of them trying to enforce their snap packages on their users. It took me a while to get my 21.10 install working the way I want it to.

So how are they stable and mature then you might ask. Well, stable does not mean performant and that sadly is something the Ubuntu Desktop hasn’t felt in a while.

But then, there is still the server release and that is what I am looking forward to, because it will be another super stable release and on the server side snaps work more than well. And the number of available server snaps is growing.

The F(x)tech Pro 1X

A smart phone, running Ubuntu Touch (or lomiri as they call it now), with a physical keyboard, dual sim and the ability to be used as a desktop when connected to an external monitor. Sounds to good to be true? Well…

This thing has become more of a myth or a fairy-tale creature to me by now, I supported it in indigogo when it was announced and up until now it was mostly delays, hardware changes and excuses.

Don’t get me wrong, this is not a rant or me passing blame around. They faced proper challenges like not getting the cpu they ordered and designed the mainboard around and having to restart everything. I get it, they also didn’t choose the best time to release new hardware with all the shortages around.

But I haven’t given up hope to see one yet, they currently state it will be shipped in February 2022 and I sure hope they make that shipment date.

The End of construction and new neighbors

As those who now me from fosstodon.org might remember my sister is building a house right next to mine. By now the house is standing and the windows are in, which means the worst part is over. Construction did a bit of damage to my house and the ground on my part of the fence, but if all goes well, by late spring early summer I should be able to use my garden again and no more diggers will be around to pull wires and piping out of my house…

Also as I said, new neighbors whom I can annoy….

My new office

I am currently deep in planning out how my new office at home will look like and boy oh boy, it will be just perfect. I am optimizing positioning of equipment so I have short ways, all wires will be hidden and it will be in a clean and bright look. Very modern with my current desk being moved aside to become a sort of PC workbench and a new standing desk for me to work on.

Also it will feature a nice little reading corner for tasks that don’t require me to sit or stand at my desk and use a computer or to offer seating should I have a meeting and need to use a beamer for presentations.

Not sure about the final layout, but down to three options by now. I hope to have this done by around March 2022.

More sports

I used to be a rather sporty person, but while renovating my house when I got it back in 2020 I got out of it and have yet to find my way back to do sports regularly again and to start enjoying it again.

I recently took up ski tours (walking up a mountain on skis and skiing it down afterwards) and am enjoying that a lot, I also am still very much into hiking and climbing, but the more regular stuff did suffer, which can be clearly seen when looking at my belt…

My plan for the next year is to get back into running and cycling, there are some very good routes where I live now, maybe I’ll start coming to the office a little later and do sports in the morning so I won’t have the excuse of being to tired after work.

I also outfitted a fitness room at my house, so bad weather won’t be an excuse either.

The big one

There is a plan in my head, that has been there since around 2010 to walk the Austrian “Nordalpenweg”.

What is this you ask?

Well it is a hiking trail from the far east to the far west of Austria, 1000km of walking, through vineyards in Burgenland to the highest of mountains in Tyrol and then descending to the largest lake, the Bodensee in Vorarlberg. 2 months of nothing but walking in nature, climbing and sleeping under the sky.

Planning is going well so far, but I am hearing voices out of the office that being away for two months might not be the best idea. So I am considering doing it by bike, but not sure if that will be possible at all. But it would cut down the time needed.

I will have to see how and if this will be possible next year, but it sure would be a dream come true