macOS Setup Guide

Updated as of 02 October 2024.

Here are some recommended utility applications and quality-of-life tweaks from an occasional macOS user. ...more

5 min September 24, 2024 [Tips] #macOS
Backing up your GPG credentials on Linux

GPG is useful especially for signing commits on GitHub. It is a good idea to pre-emptively make backups of your GPG credentials, as extracting them from an unbootable system drive is not a straightforward process.

Backing up GPG

These steps should work on most, if not all, Linux distributions.

  1. First, export your credentials

    gpg --export --export-options backup --output public.gpg
    gpg --export-secret-keys --export-options backup --output private.gpg
    gpg --export-ownertrust >> trust.gpg
    
  2. Afterwards, copy these 3 files public.gpg private.gpg trust.gpg to somewhere safe (like an external drive or NAS).

  3. You can import them on a new machine by running the following

    gpg --import public.gpg
    gpg --import private.gpg # Prompts you to type the passphrase that you used when you first created the GPG key.
    gpg --import-ownertrust trust.gpg
    

Tip: For GitHub users, if you need to sign commits using your existing GPG key on your new machine, here is the official guide.

...more
3 min August 29, 2024 [General] #linux #gpg
Recommendations for GNOME Extensions (2024)

The GNOME desktop environment for Linux is simple, stable, and user-friendly. However, the maintainers tend to make some bizarre design decisions that reduce its usability. Thankfully it supports third-party extensions like a web browser.

Here are some extensions that I found useful, along with recommended settings. These should be compatible with most popular Linux distributions. ...more

3 min August 27, 2024 [General] #linux #gnome