Sergio Talens-Oliag: Testing New User Tools
On recent weeks I ve had some time to scratch my own itch on
matters related to tools I use daily on my computer, namely the desktop / window manager and my text editor of choice.
This post is a summary of what I tried, how it worked out and my short and medium-term plans related to them.
Desktop / WMOn the desktop / window manager front I ve been using Cinnamon on Debian
and Ubuntu systems since Gnome 3 was published (I never liked version 3, so I decided to move to something similar
to Gnome 2, including the keyboard shortcuts).
In fact I ve never been a fan of Desktop environments, before Gnome I used OpenBox and
IceWM because they where a lot faster than desktop systems on my hardware at the time and I was
using them only to place one or two windows on multiple workspaces using mainly the keyboard for my interactions (well,
except for the web browsers and the image manipulation programs).
Although I was comfortable using Cinnamon, some years ago I tried to move to i3, a tilling window
manager for X11 that looked like a good choice for me, but I didn t have much time to play with it and never used it
enough to make me productive with it (I didn t prepare a complete configuration nor had enough time to learn the new
shortcuts, so I went back to Cinnamon and never tried again).
Anyway, some weeks ago I updated my work machine OS (it was using Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and I updated it to the 24.04
LTS version) and the Cinnamon systray applet stopped working as it used to do (in fact I still have to restart
Cinnamon after starting a session to make it work) and, as I had some time, I decided to try a tilling window
manager again, but now I decided to go for SwayWM, as it uses
Wayland instead of X11.
Sway configurationOn my ~/.config/sway/config I tuned some things:
- Set fuzzel as the application launcher.
- Installed manually the shikane application and created a configuration to be
executed always when
sway is started / reloaded (I adjusted my configuration with wdisplays and used shikanectl
to save it). - Added support for running the
xdg-desktop-portal-wlr service. - Enabled the
swayidle command to lock the screen after some time of inactivity. - Adjusted the keyboard to use the
es key map - Added some keybindings to make my life easier, including the use of
grimm and swappy to take screenshots - Configured
waybar as the environment bar. - Added a shell script to start applications when
sway is started (it uses swaymsg to execute background commands
and the i3toolwait script to wait for the#!/bin/sh
# VARIABLES
CHROMIUM_LOCAL_STATE="$HOME/.config/google-chrome/Local State"
I3_TOOLWAIT="$HOME/.config/sway/scripts/i3-toolwait"
# Functions
chromium_profile_dir()
jq -r ".profile.info_cache to_entries map( (.value.name): .key ) add .\"$1\" // \"\"" "$CHROMIUM_LOCAL_STATE"
# MAIN
IGZ_PROFILE_DIR="$(chromium_profile_dir "sergio.talens@intelygenz.com")"
OURO_PROFILE_DIR="$(chromium_profile_dir "sergio.talens@nxr.global")"
PERSONAL_PROFILE_DIR="$(chromium_profile_dir "stalens@gmail.com")"
# Common programs
swaymsg "exec nextcloud --background"
swaymsg "exec nm-applet"
# Run spotify on the first workspace (it is mapped to the laptop screen)
swaymsg -q "workspace 1"
$ I3_TOOLWAIT "spotify"
# Run tmux on the
swaymsg -q "workspace 2"
$ I3_TOOLWAIT -- foot tmux a -dt sto
wp_num="3"
if [ "$OURO_PROFILE_DIR" ]; then
swaymsg -q "workspace $wp_num"
$ I3_TOOLWAIT -m ouro-browser -- google-chrome --profile-directory="$OURO_PROFILE_DIR"
wp_num="$((wp_num+1))"
fi
if [ "$IGZ_PROFILE_DIR" ]; then
swaymsg -q "workspace $wp_num"
$ I3_TOOLWAIT -m igz-browser -- google-chrome --profile-directory="$IGZ_PROFILE_DIR"
wp_num="$((wp_num+1))"
fi
if [ "$PERSONAL_PROFILE_DIR" ]; then
swaymsg -q "workspace $wp_num"
$ I3_TOOLWAIT -m personal-browser -- google-chrome --profile-directory="$PERSONAL_PROFILE_DIR"
wp_num="$((wp_num+1))"
fi
# Open the browser without setting the profile directory if none was found
if [ "$wp_num" = "3" ]; then
swaymsg -q "workspace $wp_num"
$ I3_TOOLWAIT google-chrome
wp_num="$((wp_num+1))"
fi
swaymsg -q "workspace $wp_num"
$ I3_TOOLWAIT evolution
wp_num="$((wp_num+1))"
swaymsg -q "workspace $wp_num"
$ I3_TOOLWAIT slack
wp_num="$((wp_num+1))"
# Open a private browser and a console in the last workspace
swaymsg -q "workspace $wp_num"
$ I3_TOOLWAIT -- google-chrome --incognito
$ I3_TOOLWAIT foot
# Go back to the second workspace for keepassxc
swaymsg "workspace 2"
$ I3_TOOLWAIT keepassxc
ConclusionAfter using Sway for some days I can confirm that it is a good choice for me, but some of the components needed to
make it work as I want are too new and not available on the Ubuntu 24.04 LTS repositories, so I decided to go back
to Cinnamon and try Sway again in the future, although I added more workspaces to my setup (now they are only
available on the main monitor, the laptop screen is fixed while there is a big monitor connected), added some
additional keyboard shortcuts and installed or updated some applets.
Sway configurationOn my ~/.config/sway/config I tuned some things:
- Set fuzzel as the application launcher.
- Installed manually the shikane application and created a configuration to be
executed always when
sway is started / reloaded (I adjusted my configuration with wdisplays and used shikanectl
to save it). - Added support for running the
xdg-desktop-portal-wlr service. - Enabled the
swayidle command to lock the screen after some time of inactivity. - Adjusted the keyboard to use the
es key map - Added some keybindings to make my life easier, including the use of
grimm and swappy to take screenshots - Configured
waybar as the environment bar. - Added a shell script to start applications when
sway is started (it uses swaymsg to execute background commands
and the i3toolwait script to wait for the#!/bin/sh
# VARIABLES
CHROMIUM_LOCAL_STATE="$HOME/.config/google-chrome/Local State"
I3_TOOLWAIT="$HOME/.config/sway/scripts/i3-toolwait"
# Functions
chromium_profile_dir()
jq -r ".profile.info_cache to_entries map( (.value.name): .key ) add .\"$1\" // \"\"" "$CHROMIUM_LOCAL_STATE"
# MAIN
IGZ_PROFILE_DIR="$(chromium_profile_dir "sergio.talens@intelygenz.com")"
OURO_PROFILE_DIR="$(chromium_profile_dir "sergio.talens@nxr.global")"
PERSONAL_PROFILE_DIR="$(chromium_profile_dir "stalens@gmail.com")"
# Common programs
swaymsg "exec nextcloud --background"
swaymsg "exec nm-applet"
# Run spotify on the first workspace (it is mapped to the laptop screen)
swaymsg -q "workspace 1"
$ I3_TOOLWAIT "spotify"
# Run tmux on the
swaymsg -q "workspace 2"
$ I3_TOOLWAIT -- foot tmux a -dt sto
wp_num="3"
if [ "$OURO_PROFILE_DIR" ]; then
swaymsg -q "workspace $wp_num"
$ I3_TOOLWAIT -m ouro-browser -- google-chrome --profile-directory="$OURO_PROFILE_DIR"
wp_num="$((wp_num+1))"
fi
if [ "$IGZ_PROFILE_DIR" ]; then
swaymsg -q "workspace $wp_num"
$ I3_TOOLWAIT -m igz-browser -- google-chrome --profile-directory="$IGZ_PROFILE_DIR"
wp_num="$((wp_num+1))"
fi
if [ "$PERSONAL_PROFILE_DIR" ]; then
swaymsg -q "workspace $wp_num"
$ I3_TOOLWAIT -m personal-browser -- google-chrome --profile-directory="$PERSONAL_PROFILE_DIR"
wp_num="$((wp_num+1))"
fi
# Open the browser without setting the profile directory if none was found
if [ "$wp_num" = "3" ]; then
swaymsg -q "workspace $wp_num"
$ I3_TOOLWAIT google-chrome
wp_num="$((wp_num+1))"
fi
swaymsg -q "workspace $wp_num"
$ I3_TOOLWAIT evolution
wp_num="$((wp_num+1))"
swaymsg -q "workspace $wp_num"
$ I3_TOOLWAIT slack
wp_num="$((wp_num+1))"
# Open a private browser and a console in the last workspace
swaymsg -q "workspace $wp_num"
$ I3_TOOLWAIT -- google-chrome --incognito
$ I3_TOOLWAIT foot
# Go back to the second workspace for keepassxc
swaymsg "workspace 2"
$ I3_TOOLWAIT keepassxc
- Set fuzzel as the application launcher.
- Installed manually the shikane application and created a configuration to be
executed always when
swayis started / reloaded (I adjusted my configuration withwdisplaysand usedshikanectlto save it). - Added support for running the
xdg-desktop-portal-wlrservice. - Enabled the
swayidlecommand to lock the screen after some time of inactivity. - Adjusted the keyboard to use the
eskey map - Added some keybindings to make my life easier, including the use of
grimmandswappyto take screenshots - Configured
waybaras the environment bar. - Added a shell script to start applications when
swayis started (it usesswaymsgto execute background commands and thei3toolwaitscript to wait for the#!/bin/sh # VARIABLES CHROMIUM_LOCAL_STATE="$HOME/.config/google-chrome/Local State" I3_TOOLWAIT="$HOME/.config/sway/scripts/i3-toolwait" # Functions chromium_profile_dir() jq -r ".profile.info_cache to_entries map( (.value.name): .key ) add .\"$1\" // \"\"" "$CHROMIUM_LOCAL_STATE" # MAIN IGZ_PROFILE_DIR="$(chromium_profile_dir "sergio.talens@intelygenz.com")" OURO_PROFILE_DIR="$(chromium_profile_dir "sergio.talens@nxr.global")" PERSONAL_PROFILE_DIR="$(chromium_profile_dir "stalens@gmail.com")" # Common programs swaymsg "exec nextcloud --background" swaymsg "exec nm-applet" # Run spotify on the first workspace (it is mapped to the laptop screen) swaymsg -q "workspace 1" $ I3_TOOLWAIT "spotify" # Run tmux on the swaymsg -q "workspace 2" $ I3_TOOLWAIT -- foot tmux a -dt sto wp_num="3" if [ "$OURO_PROFILE_DIR" ]; then swaymsg -q "workspace $wp_num" $ I3_TOOLWAIT -m ouro-browser -- google-chrome --profile-directory="$OURO_PROFILE_DIR" wp_num="$((wp_num+1))" fi if [ "$IGZ_PROFILE_DIR" ]; then swaymsg -q "workspace $wp_num" $ I3_TOOLWAIT -m igz-browser -- google-chrome --profile-directory="$IGZ_PROFILE_DIR" wp_num="$((wp_num+1))" fi if [ "$PERSONAL_PROFILE_DIR" ]; then swaymsg -q "workspace $wp_num" $ I3_TOOLWAIT -m personal-browser -- google-chrome --profile-directory="$PERSONAL_PROFILE_DIR" wp_num="$((wp_num+1))" fi # Open the browser without setting the profile directory if none was found if [ "$wp_num" = "3" ]; then swaymsg -q "workspace $wp_num" $ I3_TOOLWAIT google-chrome wp_num="$((wp_num+1))" fi swaymsg -q "workspace $wp_num" $ I3_TOOLWAIT evolution wp_num="$((wp_num+1))" swaymsg -q "workspace $wp_num" $ I3_TOOLWAIT slack wp_num="$((wp_num+1))" # Open a private browser and a console in the last workspace swaymsg -q "workspace $wp_num" $ I3_TOOLWAIT -- google-chrome --incognito $ I3_TOOLWAIT foot # Go back to the second workspace for keepassxc swaymsg "workspace 2" $ I3_TOOLWAIT keepassxc
ConclusionAfter using Sway for some days I can confirm that it is a good choice for me, but some of the components needed to make it work as I want are too new and not available on the Ubuntu 24.04 LTS repositories, so I decided to go back to Cinnamon and try Sway again in the future, although I added more workspaces to my setup (now they are only available on the main monitor, the laptop screen is fixed while there is a big monitor connected), added some additional keyboard shortcuts and installed or updated some applets.
Text editorWhen I started using Linux many years ago I used vi/vim and emacs as my text editors (vi for plain text and
emacs for programming and editing HTML/XML), but eventually I moved to vim as my main text editor and I ve been
using it since (well, I moved to neovim some time ago, although I kept my old vim configuration).
To be fair I m not as expert as I could be with vim, but I m productive with it and it has many plugins that make my
life easier on my machines, while keeping my ability to edit text and configurations on any system that has a vi
compatible editor installed.
For work reasons I tried to use Visual Studio Code last year, but I ve never really
liked it and almost everything I do with it I can do with neovim (i. e. I even use copilot with it). Besides, I m a
heavy terminal user (I use tmux locally and via ssh) and I like to be able to use my text editor on my shell
sessions, and code does not work like that.
The only annoying thing about vim/neovim is its configuration (well, the problem is that I have a very old one and
probably should spend some time fixing and updating it), but, as I said, it s been working well for me for a long time,
so I never really had the motivation to do it.
Anyway, after finishing my desktop tests I saw that I had the Helix editor installed for
some time but I never tried it, so I decided to give it a try and see if it could be a good replacement for neovim on
my environments (the only drawback is that as it is not vi compatible, I would need to switch back to vi mode when
working on remote systems, but I guess I could live with that).
I ran the helix tutorial and I liked it, so I decided to configure and install the
Language Servers I can probably take
advantage of on my daily work on my personal and work machines and see how it works.
Language server installationsA lot of manual installations are needed to get the language servers working what I did on my machines is more or less
the following:
# AWK
sudo npm i -g 'awk-language-server@>=0.5.2'
# BASH
sudo apt-get install shellcheck shfmt
sudo npm i -g bash-language-server
# C/C++
sudo apt-get install clangd
# CSS, HTML, ESLint, JSON, SCS
sudo npm i -g vscode-langservers-extracted
# Docker
sudo npm install -g dockerfile-language-server-nodejs
# Docker compose
sudo npm install -g @microsoft/compose-language-service
# Helm
app="helm_ls_linux_amd64"
url="$(
curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/mrjosh/helm-ls/releases/latest
jq -r ".assets[] select(.name == \"$app\") .browser_download_url"
)"
curl -L "$url" --output /tmp/helm_ls
sudo install /tmp/helm_ls /usr/local/bin
rm /tmp/helm_ls
# Markdown
app="marksman-linux-x64"
url="$(
curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/artempyanykh/marksman/releases/latest
jq -r ".assets[] select(.name == \"$app\") .browser_download_url"
)"
curl -L "$url" --output /tmp/marksman
sudo install /tmp/marksman /usr/local/bin
rm /tmp/marksman
# Python
sudo npm i -g pyright
# Rust
rustup component add rust-analyzer
# SQL
sudo npm i -g sql-language-server
# Terraform
sudo apt-get install terraform-ls
# TOML
cargo install taplo-cli --locked --features lsp
# YAML
sudo npm install --global yaml-language-server
# JavaScript, TypeScript
sudo npm install -g typescript-language-server typescript
sudo npm install -g --save-dev --save-exact @biomejs/biome
Helix configurationThe helix configuration is done on a couple of toml files that are placed on the ~/.config/helix directory,
the config.toml file I used is this one:
theme = "solarized_light"
[editor]
line-number = "relative"
mouse = false
[editor.statusline]
left = ["mode", "spinner"]
center = ["file-name"]
right = ["diagnostics", "selections", "position", "file-encoding", "file-line-ending", "file-type"]
separator = " "
mode.normal = "NORMAL"
mode.insert = "INSERT"
mode.select = "SELECT"
[editor.cursor-shape]
insert = "bar"
normal = "block"
select = "underline"
[editor.file-picker]
hidden = false
[editor.whitespace]
render = "all"
[editor.indent-guides]
render = true
character = " " # Some characters that work well: " ", " ", " ", " "
skip-levels = 1
And to configure the language servers I used the following language-servers.toml file:
[[language]]
name = "go"
auto-format = true
formatter = command = "goimports"
[[language]]
name = "javascript"
language-servers = [
"typescript-language-server", # optional
"vscode-eslint-language-server",
]
[language-server.rust-analyzer.config.check]
command = "clippy"
[language-server.sql-language-server]
command = "sql-language-server"
args = ["up", "--method", "stdio"]
[[language]]
name = "sql"
language-servers = [ "sql-language-server" ]
[[language]]
name = "hcl"
language-servers = [ "terraform-ls" ]
language-id = "terraform"
[[language]]
name = "tfvars"
language-servers = [ "terraform-ls" ]
language-id = "terraform-vars"
[language-server.terraform-ls]
command = "terraform-ls"
args = ["serve"]
[[language]]
name = "toml"
formatter = command = "taplo", args = ["fmt", "-"]
[[language]]
name = "typescript"
language-servers = [
"typescript-language-server",
"vscode-eslint-language-server",
]
Neovim configurationAfter a little while I noticed that I was going to need some time to get used to helix and the most interesting thing
for me was the easy configuration and the language server integrations, but as I am already comfortable with neovim
and just had installed the language server support tools on my machines I just need to
configure them for neovim and I can keep using it for a while.
As I said my configuration is old, to configure neovim I have the following init.vim file on my ~/.config/nvim
folder:
set runtimepath^=~/.vim runtimepath+=~/.vim/after
let &packpath=&runtimepath
source ~/.vim/vimrc
" load lua configuration
lua require('config')
With that configuration I keep my old vimrc (it is a little bit messy, but it works) and I use a lua configuration
file for the language servers and some additional neovim plugins on the ~/.config/nvim/lua/config.lua file:
-- -----------------------
-- BEG: LSP Configurations
-- -----------------------
-- AWS (awk_ls)
require'lspconfig'.awk_ls.setup
-- Bash (bashls)
require'lspconfig'.bashls.setup
-- C/C++ (clangd)
require'lspconfig'.clangd.setup
-- CSS (cssls)
require'lspconfig'.cssls.setup
-- Docker (dockerls)
require'lspconfig'.dockerls.setup
-- Docker Compose
require'lspconfig'.docker_compose_language_service.setup
-- Golang (gopls)
require'lspconfig'.gopls.setup
-- Helm (helm_ls)
require'lspconfig'.helm_ls.setup
-- Markdown
require'lspconfig'.marksman.setup
-- Python (pyright)
require'lspconfig'.pyright.setup
-- Rust (rust-analyzer)
require'lspconfig'.rust_analyzer.setup
-- SQL (sqlls)
require'lspconfig'.sqlls.setup
-- Terraform (terraformls)
require'lspconfig'.terraformls.setup
-- TOML (taplo)
require'lspconfig'.taplo.setup
-- Typescript (ts_ls)
require'lspconfig'.ts_ls.setup
-- YAML (yamlls)
require'lspconfig'.yamlls.setup
settings =
yaml =
customTags = "!reference sequence"
-- -----------------------
-- END: LSP Configurations
-- -----------------------
-- ---------------------------------
-- BEG: Autocompletion configuration
-- ---------------------------------
-- Ref: https://github.com/neovim/nvim-lspconfig/wiki/Autocompletion
--
-- Pre requisites:
--
-- # Packer
-- git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/wbthomason/packer.nvim \
-- ~/.local/share/nvim/site/pack/packer/start/packer.nvim
--
-- # Start nvim and run :PackerSync or :PackerUpdate
-- ---------------------------------
local use = require('packer').use
require('packer').startup(function()
use 'wbthomason/packer.nvim' -- Packer, useful to avoid removing it with PackerSync / PackerUpdate
use 'neovim/nvim-lspconfig' -- Collection of configurations for built-in LSP client
use 'hrsh7th/nvim-cmp' -- Autocompletion plugin
use 'hrsh7th/cmp-nvim-lsp' -- LSP source for nvim-cmp
use 'saadparwaiz1/cmp_luasnip' -- Snippets source for nvim-cmp
use 'L3MON4D3/LuaSnip' -- Snippets plugin
end)
-- Add additional capabilities supported by nvim-cmp
local capabilities = require("cmp_nvim_lsp").default_capabilities()
local lspconfig = require('lspconfig')
-- Enable some language servers with the additional completion capabilities offered by nvim-cmp
local servers = 'clangd', 'rust_analyzer', 'pyright', 'ts_ls'
for _, lsp in ipairs(servers) do
lspconfig[lsp].setup
-- on_attach = my_custom_on_attach,
capabilities = capabilities,
end
-- luasnip setup
local luasnip = require 'luasnip'
-- nvim-cmp setup
local cmp = require 'cmp'
cmp.setup
snippet =
expand = function(args)
luasnip.lsp_expand(args.body)
end,
,
mapping = cmp.mapping.preset.insert(
['<C-u>'] = cmp.mapping.scroll_docs(-4), -- Up
['<C-d>'] = cmp.mapping.scroll_docs(4), -- Down
-- C-b (back) C-f (forward) for snippet placeholder navigation.
['<C-Space>'] = cmp.mapping.complete(),
['<CR>'] = cmp.mapping.confirm
behavior = cmp.ConfirmBehavior.Replace,
select = true,
,
['<Tab>'] = cmp.mapping(function(fallback)
if cmp.visible() then
cmp.select_next_item()
elseif luasnip.expand_or_jumpable() then
luasnip.expand_or_jump()
else
fallback()
end
end, 'i', 's' ),
['<S-Tab>'] = cmp.mapping(function(fallback)
if cmp.visible() then
cmp.select_prev_item()
elseif luasnip.jumpable(-1) then
luasnip.jump(-1)
else
fallback()
end
end, 'i', 's' ),
),
sources =
name = 'nvim_lsp' ,
name = 'luasnip' ,
,
-- ---------------------------------
-- END: Autocompletion configuration
-- ---------------------------------
ConclusionI guess I ll keep helix installed and try it again on some of my personal projects to see if I can get used to it,
but for now I ll stay with neovim as my main text editor and learn the shortcuts to use it with the language servers.
Language server installationsA lot of manual installations are needed to get the language servers working what I did on my machines is more or less
the following:
# AWK
sudo npm i -g 'awk-language-server@>=0.5.2'
# BASH
sudo apt-get install shellcheck shfmt
sudo npm i -g bash-language-server
# C/C++
sudo apt-get install clangd
# CSS, HTML, ESLint, JSON, SCS
sudo npm i -g vscode-langservers-extracted
# Docker
sudo npm install -g dockerfile-language-server-nodejs
# Docker compose
sudo npm install -g @microsoft/compose-language-service
# Helm
app="helm_ls_linux_amd64"
url="$(
curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/mrjosh/helm-ls/releases/latest
jq -r ".assets[] select(.name == \"$app\") .browser_download_url"
)"
curl -L "$url" --output /tmp/helm_ls
sudo install /tmp/helm_ls /usr/local/bin
rm /tmp/helm_ls
# Markdown
app="marksman-linux-x64"
url="$(
curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/artempyanykh/marksman/releases/latest
jq -r ".assets[] select(.name == \"$app\") .browser_download_url"
)"
curl -L "$url" --output /tmp/marksman
sudo install /tmp/marksman /usr/local/bin
rm /tmp/marksman
# Python
sudo npm i -g pyright
# Rust
rustup component add rust-analyzer
# SQL
sudo npm i -g sql-language-server
# Terraform
sudo apt-get install terraform-ls
# TOML
cargo install taplo-cli --locked --features lsp
# YAML
sudo npm install --global yaml-language-server
# JavaScript, TypeScript
sudo npm install -g typescript-language-server typescript
sudo npm install -g --save-dev --save-exact @biomejs/biome
# AWK
sudo npm i -g 'awk-language-server@>=0.5.2'
# BASH
sudo apt-get install shellcheck shfmt
sudo npm i -g bash-language-server
# C/C++
sudo apt-get install clangd
# CSS, HTML, ESLint, JSON, SCS
sudo npm i -g vscode-langservers-extracted
# Docker
sudo npm install -g dockerfile-language-server-nodejs
# Docker compose
sudo npm install -g @microsoft/compose-language-service
# Helm
app="helm_ls_linux_amd64"
url="$(
curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/mrjosh/helm-ls/releases/latest
jq -r ".assets[] select(.name == \"$app\") .browser_download_url"
)"
curl -L "$url" --output /tmp/helm_ls
sudo install /tmp/helm_ls /usr/local/bin
rm /tmp/helm_ls
# Markdown
app="marksman-linux-x64"
url="$(
curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/artempyanykh/marksman/releases/latest
jq -r ".assets[] select(.name == \"$app\") .browser_download_url"
)"
curl -L "$url" --output /tmp/marksman
sudo install /tmp/marksman /usr/local/bin
rm /tmp/marksman
# Python
sudo npm i -g pyright
# Rust
rustup component add rust-analyzer
# SQL
sudo npm i -g sql-language-server
# Terraform
sudo apt-get install terraform-ls
# TOML
cargo install taplo-cli --locked --features lsp
# YAML
sudo npm install --global yaml-language-server
# JavaScript, TypeScript
sudo npm install -g typescript-language-server typescript
sudo npm install -g --save-dev --save-exact @biomejs/biomeHelix configurationThe helix configuration is done on a couple of toml files that are placed on the ~/.config/helix directory,
the config.toml file I used is this one:
theme = "solarized_light"
[editor]
line-number = "relative"
mouse = false
[editor.statusline]
left = ["mode", "spinner"]
center = ["file-name"]
right = ["diagnostics", "selections", "position", "file-encoding", "file-line-ending", "file-type"]
separator = " "
mode.normal = "NORMAL"
mode.insert = "INSERT"
mode.select = "SELECT"
[editor.cursor-shape]
insert = "bar"
normal = "block"
select = "underline"
[editor.file-picker]
hidden = false
[editor.whitespace]
render = "all"
[editor.indent-guides]
render = true
character = " " # Some characters that work well: " ", " ", " ", " "
skip-levels = 1
And to configure the language servers I used the following language-servers.toml file:
[[language]]
name = "go"
auto-format = true
formatter = command = "goimports"
[[language]]
name = "javascript"
language-servers = [
"typescript-language-server", # optional
"vscode-eslint-language-server",
]
[language-server.rust-analyzer.config.check]
command = "clippy"
[language-server.sql-language-server]
command = "sql-language-server"
args = ["up", "--method", "stdio"]
[[language]]
name = "sql"
language-servers = [ "sql-language-server" ]
[[language]]
name = "hcl"
language-servers = [ "terraform-ls" ]
language-id = "terraform"
[[language]]
name = "tfvars"
language-servers = [ "terraform-ls" ]
language-id = "terraform-vars"
[language-server.terraform-ls]
command = "terraform-ls"
args = ["serve"]
[[language]]
name = "toml"
formatter = command = "taplo", args = ["fmt", "-"]
[[language]]
name = "typescript"
language-servers = [
"typescript-language-server",
"vscode-eslint-language-server",
]
theme = "solarized_light"
[editor]
line-number = "relative"
mouse = false
[editor.statusline]
left = ["mode", "spinner"]
center = ["file-name"]
right = ["diagnostics", "selections", "position", "file-encoding", "file-line-ending", "file-type"]
separator = " "
mode.normal = "NORMAL"
mode.insert = "INSERT"
mode.select = "SELECT"
[editor.cursor-shape]
insert = "bar"
normal = "block"
select = "underline"
[editor.file-picker]
hidden = false
[editor.whitespace]
render = "all"
[editor.indent-guides]
render = true
character = " " # Some characters that work well: " ", " ", " ", " "
skip-levels = 1[[language]]
name = "go"
auto-format = true
formatter = command = "goimports"
[[language]]
name = "javascript"
language-servers = [
"typescript-language-server", # optional
"vscode-eslint-language-server",
]
[language-server.rust-analyzer.config.check]
command = "clippy"
[language-server.sql-language-server]
command = "sql-language-server"
args = ["up", "--method", "stdio"]
[[language]]
name = "sql"
language-servers = [ "sql-language-server" ]
[[language]]
name = "hcl"
language-servers = [ "terraform-ls" ]
language-id = "terraform"
[[language]]
name = "tfvars"
language-servers = [ "terraform-ls" ]
language-id = "terraform-vars"
[language-server.terraform-ls]
command = "terraform-ls"
args = ["serve"]
[[language]]
name = "toml"
formatter = command = "taplo", args = ["fmt", "-"]
[[language]]
name = "typescript"
language-servers = [
"typescript-language-server",
"vscode-eslint-language-server",
]Neovim configurationAfter a little while I noticed that I was going to need some time to get used to helix and the most interesting thing
for me was the easy configuration and the language server integrations, but as I am already comfortable with neovim
and just had installed the language server support tools on my machines I just need to
configure them for neovim and I can keep using it for a while.
As I said my configuration is old, to configure neovim I have the following init.vim file on my ~/.config/nvim
folder:
set runtimepath^=~/.vim runtimepath+=~/.vim/after
let &packpath=&runtimepath
source ~/.vim/vimrc
" load lua configuration
lua require('config')
With that configuration I keep my old vimrc (it is a little bit messy, but it works) and I use a lua configuration
file for the language servers and some additional neovim plugins on the ~/.config/nvim/lua/config.lua file:
-- -----------------------
-- BEG: LSP Configurations
-- -----------------------
-- AWS (awk_ls)
require'lspconfig'.awk_ls.setup
-- Bash (bashls)
require'lspconfig'.bashls.setup
-- C/C++ (clangd)
require'lspconfig'.clangd.setup
-- CSS (cssls)
require'lspconfig'.cssls.setup
-- Docker (dockerls)
require'lspconfig'.dockerls.setup
-- Docker Compose
require'lspconfig'.docker_compose_language_service.setup
-- Golang (gopls)
require'lspconfig'.gopls.setup
-- Helm (helm_ls)
require'lspconfig'.helm_ls.setup
-- Markdown
require'lspconfig'.marksman.setup
-- Python (pyright)
require'lspconfig'.pyright.setup
-- Rust (rust-analyzer)
require'lspconfig'.rust_analyzer.setup
-- SQL (sqlls)
require'lspconfig'.sqlls.setup
-- Terraform (terraformls)
require'lspconfig'.terraformls.setup
-- TOML (taplo)
require'lspconfig'.taplo.setup
-- Typescript (ts_ls)
require'lspconfig'.ts_ls.setup
-- YAML (yamlls)
require'lspconfig'.yamlls.setup
settings =
yaml =
customTags = "!reference sequence"
-- -----------------------
-- END: LSP Configurations
-- -----------------------
-- ---------------------------------
-- BEG: Autocompletion configuration
-- ---------------------------------
-- Ref: https://github.com/neovim/nvim-lspconfig/wiki/Autocompletion
--
-- Pre requisites:
--
-- # Packer
-- git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/wbthomason/packer.nvim \
-- ~/.local/share/nvim/site/pack/packer/start/packer.nvim
--
-- # Start nvim and run :PackerSync or :PackerUpdate
-- ---------------------------------
local use = require('packer').use
require('packer').startup(function()
use 'wbthomason/packer.nvim' -- Packer, useful to avoid removing it with PackerSync / PackerUpdate
use 'neovim/nvim-lspconfig' -- Collection of configurations for built-in LSP client
use 'hrsh7th/nvim-cmp' -- Autocompletion plugin
use 'hrsh7th/cmp-nvim-lsp' -- LSP source for nvim-cmp
use 'saadparwaiz1/cmp_luasnip' -- Snippets source for nvim-cmp
use 'L3MON4D3/LuaSnip' -- Snippets plugin
end)
-- Add additional capabilities supported by nvim-cmp
local capabilities = require("cmp_nvim_lsp").default_capabilities()
local lspconfig = require('lspconfig')
-- Enable some language servers with the additional completion capabilities offered by nvim-cmp
local servers = 'clangd', 'rust_analyzer', 'pyright', 'ts_ls'
for _, lsp in ipairs(servers) do
lspconfig[lsp].setup
-- on_attach = my_custom_on_attach,
capabilities = capabilities,
end
-- luasnip setup
local luasnip = require 'luasnip'
-- nvim-cmp setup
local cmp = require 'cmp'
cmp.setup
snippet =
expand = function(args)
luasnip.lsp_expand(args.body)
end,
,
mapping = cmp.mapping.preset.insert(
['<C-u>'] = cmp.mapping.scroll_docs(-4), -- Up
['<C-d>'] = cmp.mapping.scroll_docs(4), -- Down
-- C-b (back) C-f (forward) for snippet placeholder navigation.
['<C-Space>'] = cmp.mapping.complete(),
['<CR>'] = cmp.mapping.confirm
behavior = cmp.ConfirmBehavior.Replace,
select = true,
,
['<Tab>'] = cmp.mapping(function(fallback)
if cmp.visible() then
cmp.select_next_item()
elseif luasnip.expand_or_jumpable() then
luasnip.expand_or_jump()
else
fallback()
end
end, 'i', 's' ),
['<S-Tab>'] = cmp.mapping(function(fallback)
if cmp.visible() then
cmp.select_prev_item()
elseif luasnip.jumpable(-1) then
luasnip.jump(-1)
else
fallback()
end
end, 'i', 's' ),
),
sources =
name = 'nvim_lsp' ,
name = 'luasnip' ,
,
-- ---------------------------------
-- END: Autocompletion configuration
-- ---------------------------------
set runtimepath^=~/.vim runtimepath+=~/.vim/after
let &packpath=&runtimepath
source ~/.vim/vimrc
" load lua configuration
lua require('config')-- -----------------------
-- BEG: LSP Configurations
-- -----------------------
-- AWS (awk_ls)
require'lspconfig'.awk_ls.setup
-- Bash (bashls)
require'lspconfig'.bashls.setup
-- C/C++ (clangd)
require'lspconfig'.clangd.setup
-- CSS (cssls)
require'lspconfig'.cssls.setup
-- Docker (dockerls)
require'lspconfig'.dockerls.setup
-- Docker Compose
require'lspconfig'.docker_compose_language_service.setup
-- Golang (gopls)
require'lspconfig'.gopls.setup
-- Helm (helm_ls)
require'lspconfig'.helm_ls.setup
-- Markdown
require'lspconfig'.marksman.setup
-- Python (pyright)
require'lspconfig'.pyright.setup
-- Rust (rust-analyzer)
require'lspconfig'.rust_analyzer.setup
-- SQL (sqlls)
require'lspconfig'.sqlls.setup
-- Terraform (terraformls)
require'lspconfig'.terraformls.setup
-- TOML (taplo)
require'lspconfig'.taplo.setup
-- Typescript (ts_ls)
require'lspconfig'.ts_ls.setup
-- YAML (yamlls)
require'lspconfig'.yamlls.setup
settings =
yaml =
customTags = "!reference sequence"
-- -----------------------
-- END: LSP Configurations
-- -----------------------
-- ---------------------------------
-- BEG: Autocompletion configuration
-- ---------------------------------
-- Ref: https://github.com/neovim/nvim-lspconfig/wiki/Autocompletion
--
-- Pre requisites:
--
-- # Packer
-- git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/wbthomason/packer.nvim \
-- ~/.local/share/nvim/site/pack/packer/start/packer.nvim
--
-- # Start nvim and run :PackerSync or :PackerUpdate
-- ---------------------------------
local use = require('packer').use
require('packer').startup(function()
use 'wbthomason/packer.nvim' -- Packer, useful to avoid removing it with PackerSync / PackerUpdate
use 'neovim/nvim-lspconfig' -- Collection of configurations for built-in LSP client
use 'hrsh7th/nvim-cmp' -- Autocompletion plugin
use 'hrsh7th/cmp-nvim-lsp' -- LSP source for nvim-cmp
use 'saadparwaiz1/cmp_luasnip' -- Snippets source for nvim-cmp
use 'L3MON4D3/LuaSnip' -- Snippets plugin
end)
-- Add additional capabilities supported by nvim-cmp
local capabilities = require("cmp_nvim_lsp").default_capabilities()
local lspconfig = require('lspconfig')
-- Enable some language servers with the additional completion capabilities offered by nvim-cmp
local servers = 'clangd', 'rust_analyzer', 'pyright', 'ts_ls'
for _, lsp in ipairs(servers) do
lspconfig[lsp].setup
-- on_attach = my_custom_on_attach,
capabilities = capabilities,
end
-- luasnip setup
local luasnip = require 'luasnip'
-- nvim-cmp setup
local cmp = require 'cmp'
cmp.setup
snippet =
expand = function(args)
luasnip.lsp_expand(args.body)
end,
,
mapping = cmp.mapping.preset.insert(
['<C-u>'] = cmp.mapping.scroll_docs(-4), -- Up
['<C-d>'] = cmp.mapping.scroll_docs(4), -- Down
-- C-b (back) C-f (forward) for snippet placeholder navigation.
['<C-Space>'] = cmp.mapping.complete(),
['<CR>'] = cmp.mapping.confirm
behavior = cmp.ConfirmBehavior.Replace,
select = true,
,
['<Tab>'] = cmp.mapping(function(fallback)
if cmp.visible() then
cmp.select_next_item()
elseif luasnip.expand_or_jumpable() then
luasnip.expand_or_jump()
else
fallback()
end
end, 'i', 's' ),
['<S-Tab>'] = cmp.mapping(function(fallback)
if cmp.visible() then
cmp.select_prev_item()
elseif luasnip.jumpable(-1) then
luasnip.jump(-1)
else
fallback()
end
end, 'i', 's' ),
),
sources =
name = 'nvim_lsp' ,
name = 'luasnip' ,
,
-- ---------------------------------
-- END: Autocompletion configuration
-- ---------------------------------
A few days ago
I liked the cool grey tones in the second to last line, from 200 Naples
yellow (PY3 PY83 PW6) and 410 Ultramarine blue (PB29), so I went up a
step on the scale of things to do when having a desire to paint, but
the utter inability to actually paint something and did a bit of
a study with those two colours plus titanium white.
And btw, painting with acrylics on watercolour paper taped to a sheet of
scrap paper works just fine for stuff like this that is not supposed to
last, but the work will get glued to the paper below when (not if) the
paint overflows :D
Another musical retrospective. If you enjoy this, I also did a 
I have been working all year on a solar upgrade aimed at December. Now here
it is, midwinter, and my electric car is charging on a cloudy day from my
offgrid solar fence.
I lived happily enough with 1 kilowatt of solar that I
The coffee shop Ibtehal and me used to visit during the midnight
Grating at a chemist shop in Mombasa, Kenya
Me with players at the Nairobi Gymkhana Club
Cricket pitch at the Nairobi Gymkhana Club
A view of the cricket ground inside the Nairobi Gymkhana Club
Scoreboard at the Nairobi Gymkhana cricket ground
A matatu with a Notorious BIG portrait.
Inside the Giraffe Center
SGR train at Nairobi Terminus.
Interior of the SGR train
Mombasa Terminus station.
The balcony at Tulia Backpackers Hostel had a nice view of the ocean.
A room inside the hostel with fans and mosquito nets on the beds
Nyali beach is a white sand beach
This is the ferry service for crossing the river.
Diani beach is a popular beach in Kenya. It is a white sand beach.
Selfie with truck drivers who gave me the free ride
Newspapers at a stand in Kenya covering news on the airport closure
Spanish Omelette served in breakfast at Nairobi Transit Hotel
Ugali with eggs.
I have no idea either.
Happy Maladay
If you care about the how, it started as china ink on tracing paper,
with the help of a template (and a correction sheet for one page where I
used the wrong line on the template).
A rubber stamp was carved with the author s signature and stamped on
white paper because the ink from the pad wasn t working well on tracing
paper.
Then everything was scanned (with the correction on top of the wrong
page) 
University of Nairobi.
Our group at the conference.
View of Nairobi's skyline from the open area on the fifth floor.
A library in Mahatma Gandhi wing of the University of Nairobi.
One of the conference halls where talks took place.
One of the lunch meals served during the conference.
Minibus which took us from the university to Bao Box restaurant.
This minibus in the picture gave a sense of a real matatu.
I ve been influenced again into feeling the need for a garment.
It was again a case of multiple sources conspiring in the same direction
for unrelated reasons, but I decided I absolutely needed a linen hood,
made from the 
My first idea was to make a square hood: some time ago I had already
made one out of some leftovers of duvet cover, vaguely inspired by the
Except, before I even started on the square hood, I started to think
that the same square top would also be good for a hood-scarf, one of
those long flowy garments that sit on the head, wrap around the neck and
fall down, moving with the wind and the movements of the person.
Because, let s be honest. worn in a way that look like a veil they feel
nice, it s true. But with the help of a couple of pins then you can do
this.
And no, I ve never played that game
And here is the new logo:
Much better, I would say :)
It s not often that a company is willing to make 
Here comes the 2nd article of the 5-episode blog post series written by Guido Berh rster, member of staff at my company Fre(i)e Software GmbH.
Enjoy also this read on Guido's work on Polis,