[23-05-2022] -- phlog entry imported from retired g.nixers.net gopherhole

	[23-05-2022] -- phlog entry imported from retired g.nixers.net gopherhole

	OK the phlog starts here!

	Well, if you read the other entries before this one then you probably
	didn't make it this far. The phlog starts here.

	I have come a long way and I am quietly proud of myself. I'm talking about
	my UNIX journey. It all began in 2009 when I starting playing around with
	linux (Ubuntu) after I becacame sick of windows and needed a new
	distraction from my studies. I was keen on customising the look and feel
	of my operating system long before finding linux. I dabbled with Blackbox
	and a few other windows shell replacements. I had a DeviantArt account and
	I'd share my screenshots and take inspiration from others doing the same
	tthing. Linux opened up a whole new world of customisation potential, albeit
	with a steep learning curve.

	It didn't take long before I thought I was a command line ninja. Apt-get
	install this, a apt-get install that! Wow I thought, this is COOOOL! I
	still think it is cool that I can add and remove programs on my laptop
	without leaving the terminal. I started to look at other distros and
	wondered if I should hop. And of course I did, straight over to, you
	guessed it, Arch btw. Back then Arch wasn't such a meme, it was just
	considered to be a blazingly fast and minimal distrobution. I learned a lot
	about linux during my Arch days. I remember fondly a guy who went by the
	name `crshd` (holla at me if you're out there still). He kind of took me
	under his wing and taught me the ways of linux and customising every aspect
	of it. He was a real master of his craft and I sometimes wondered why he
	was so nice to me, taking the time to teach me things. That was rare back
	in those days, esspecially in the Arch (RTFM) community.

	Fast forward 10 years. I'd pretty much stopped using linux after graduating
	in 2011. I'd found other hobbies to occupy my time and also no longer had
	a personal laptop to mess around with. However, in 2019 I decided to
	purchase a refurbished ThinkPad X230. I was keen to get back into it but I
	wanted a challange so this time I decided to try out BSD. I'd always had a
	facination with NetBSD. I didn't really know why, maybe it was just because
	it was the least popular (or at least the least represented of the BSD's).
	I had no idea what I was doing so I did the sensible thing and joined a
	forum. Two actually, nixers.net & UnitedBSD. The latter being the most
	helpful in terms of getting a working NetBSD system installed. I found a
	noob friendly install guide written by a user by the name Pin. It was most
	helpful, and I managed to get somthing running, but I had questions. I
	decided to message him directly, and after many messages back and forth
	(currently an ongoing threat with over 1000 messages) I was up an running
	and, best of all, I was enjoying it. In a way, Pin took me under his wing,
	much like crshd did all those years ago. If you find yourself reading
	this, Pin, cheers mate.

	Pin and I bonded initially over our love for the Spectrwm window manager.
	I had used it back in 2010-2011 on my Arch Linux machine. Back then it was
	called ScrotWM. I suppose they changed the name because it was too close to
	scrotum. Fair enough. We also bonded over our appreciation for minimal and
	clean systems and aesthetics. It wasn't long before I had my X230 set up
	with NetBSD and customised to the way I liked it. There were times when I'd
	bork the whole system and I'd imediately message Pin and ask for help.
	Without a single complaint, he'd message me back and walk me through the
	solution. What a bloddy ledgend! I even insisted on buying him a beer to
	thank him for his selfless work in helping me. That is the other thing we
	shared in common, a love for craft beer.

	I could go on for longer and go into much more depth about my *nix journey.
	And perhaps I will update this entry later and expand on it. But for now,
	I'm just chuffed that I am writing this phlog entry, from xterm, using
	heirloom-mailx to send an email to z3bra's nixers gopher server which,
	though the use of scribo and some other wizardry that I am yet to
	undersatnd, this will end up in my phlog where likely no one will read it
	lol.

	I may never be a unix wizard myself, but I have come a long way for
	someone who just tinkers with nix in their spare time. Oh, and I forgot to
	mention, I started my NetBSD journey specifically, right after my first
	child was born. So it was only rarely that I had time to sit down and
	really learn anything. I will continue to learn new things though, and I
	will try to update this phlog again soon. Even if no one reads it.

	bye

	pfr