Shallow Thoughts
shallowsky.com · Personal blog · on HN since 2008
Akkana Peck writes about Linux, Python, GIMP, astronomy, and hobby projects.
What HN saysHN links it for her GIMP save/export plugin, which commenters credit for making non-XCF saving easier, and for other Linux and Python tips.
24HN people shared it
11linked it in comments
17stories submitted
141story points
8 months agolast shared
2008people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1The Fibonacci Spiral and the Nautilus4 people · 33 points · first shared 2008 · 13 comments on HN
- 2Gimp save4 people · first shared 2013
- 3Exorcising the Evil Alternate Screen3 people · 2 points · first shared 2010 · discussion on HN
- 4Slope Soaring Tips for Beginners (2004)2 people · 39 points · first shared 2010 · 12 comments on HN
- 5“Cookies are small text files” – what? (2009)1 people · 55 points · first shared 2022 · 60 comments on HN
- 6PyTopo – An Open-Source Tiled Map Viewer and Track Editor1 people · 3 points · first shared 2021 · 1 comments on HN
- 7Distributing Python Packages Part II: Submitting to PyPI1 people · 2 points · first shared 2017 · discussion on HN
- 8Play notes, chords and arbitrary waveforms from Python1 people · 2 points · first shared 2016 · discussion on HN
- 9Becoming Kaylee: Thoughts on Making and Fixing (2011)1 people · 2 points · first shared 2022 · discussion on HN
- 10Ray-Tracing Digital Elevation Data in 3D with Povray (2019)1 people · 1 points · first shared 2021 · discussion on HN
- 11A More Time Zone Tolerant Datetime Class1 people · 1 points · first shared 2026 · discussion on HN
- 12A Homebuilt CO2 Meter as a Virus Risk Proxy (Shallow Thoughts)1 people · 1 points · first shared 2025 · discussion on HN
- 13Blog1 people · first shared 2017
- 14Gtk3 emacs key theme1 people · first shared 2019
- 15Palmlinuxdev1 people · first shared 2024
What HN people wrote when they linked it
trulyme · 2021-09-19
Agree 100%.
About save/export debacle, someone made a plugin which makes saving to non-xcf easier [0] - big thank you to them. It allowed me to still use Gimp when I had to manually edit 100s of PNGs.
It is incredibly frustrating to see good software (I love Gimp otherwise) tarnished with such rookie mistakes/decisions.
[0] https://shallowsky.com/software/gimp-save/
ForOldHack · 2025-07-18
Ill never forget the comments in termcap: "Brain dead", "Very Brain dead" and "Brain? What brain!" I think most of that was terminals that CTEOL Clear to end of line was just garbage.
We just knew that at some point in time, all the Hazeltine terminals were going to end up in the garbage, which is what they deserved, and no one would rescue them.
https://www.shallowsky.com/linux/noaltscreen.html
The parent post is SOLID GOLD.
harikb · 2024-09-12
It was called Palm Pilot - the one pictured as the very first image in Wikipedia [1]. It still works, except for some bleeding/damage on a portion of the e-Ink screen. I probably need to find the appropriate Linux based tools to load the .PRC. I wonder if this [2] still works
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PalmPilot
[2] https://shallowsky.com/linux/palmlinuxdev.html
mandarg · 2019-08-25
This has been my experience exactly.
I switched from Linux to OSX/MacOS around eight years ago, and the better and (to me) more intuitive modifier keys have been one of the features that have kept me there; along with the convenience of Emacs/Readline keybindings for text editing everywhere.
Getting keybindings to work the same way in Linux currently involves a Rube Goldberg setup of GTK3 key themes [1] and AutoKey [2] for me, and some things still don't work right (Super-W closing a single tab in Firefox/Chrome, etc.) Also, it looks like key themes are going away in GTK4 [3].
The Hawck daemon cited elsewhere in the conversation looks promising, maybe that'll work better.
[1] http://shallowsky.com/blog/linux/gtk3-emacs-key-theme.html
[2] https://github.com/autokey/autokey
[3] https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/issues/1669
buovjaga · 2019-01-02
If you don't like the default save/export behaviour, use a plug-in that changes it: https://www.shallowsky.com/software/gimp-save/
satyanash · 2017-09-02
Joel on Software - joelonsoftware.com
Coding Horror - blog.codinghorror.com
Schneier on Security - https://www.schneier.com/blog/
Things of Interest - qntm.org
In Pursuit of Laziness - manishearth.github.io
Still Drinking - stilldrinking.org
Shallow Thoughts - http://shallowsky.com/blog/
Captain Nemo - https://captnemo.in/archive.html
Drdrdrq · 2017-08-25
I've been using Gimp for ages (15 to 20 years) and it was always solid for me. Maybe I was just using the more stable features? But I've mostly used it on Linux. My major gripe was the Save / Export fiasco [0] but even that is OK now thanks to Saver plugin [1].
[0] http://www.gimpusers.com/forums/gimp-user/14339-hate-the-new-save-vs-e…
[1] http://shallowsky.com/blog/gimp/saver.html
imurray · 2016-07-30
Gimp 2.8 frustrated me: I could no longer open a .png, edit it and easily resave it back to .png. The Gimp developers knew better and made the UI strongly favor saving as .xcf, which makes sense in some use-cases, but not mine.
I found this fix, which made quick uses of GIMP less painful for me: http://shallowsky.com/software/gimp-save/
I'm assuming the new save behavior persists in Gimp 2.9.x, but I don't know.
emilis_info · 2013-03-02
This little Gimp plugin will get you the old shortcuts back:
http://www.shallowsky.com/software/gimp-save/
icefox · 2011-03-05
The Nautilus Shell does NOT have a Fibonacci Spiral.
http://www.shallowsky.com/blog/science/fibonautilus.html
MarkBook · 2010-08-14
I upvoted you because i thought people were in these things a belief sadly shown to be false by
http://www.shallowsky.com/planes/weasel/slopetips.html
Aerial combat should have alerted me!