The Gist
Happy weekend, dear reader. We thought we’d contribute to your list of things to read, watch, or ignore this weekend.
We’ll be presenting a list of online publications, content creators, and other fiddledyjibbits that have caught our eye over the years. From tech news to learning and whatnot.
It is worth mentioning, however, that we do of course apply our very much biased lens in curating this list. Advocacy of Free and Open Source, Minimal Waste, User Privacy, and Educational Value, all being primary factors.
That’s not to say that we won’t include outlets who are genuinely entertaining on the list—provided there isn’t a mismatch between their area of focus, and our standards.
Care to have a look?
Contents
The List
Many creators these days target both the blogging / digital magazine space, as well as the video streaming space. In some cases we’d say the focus is an even split, while in others the focus is clearly on one over the other.
So let’s attempt to go by area of focus instead. In no particular order though, dear reader, this is an attempt at sharing links, not a voting contest. Our best attempts at obfuscating that fact besides. Hmm, what? Never mind, moving on.
FOSS and GNU/Linux
We’ll start with FOSS and GNU/Linux, which most publications target as a single package. Not entirely unjustified, but a little unfair to the many other Free and Open Source operating systems out there, such as the various BSDs, Illumos and others.
The Linux Experiment
The Linux Experiment is a YouTube channel, by a charming gentleman who goes by the name of Nick. He gives weekly news updates on things happening in the FOSS world, along with his opinions, which for the most part are spot on.
Michael Tunnell
Michael Tunnell is another fellow on YouTube, providing many a viewer with weekly updates on FOSS and GNU/Linux. Indeed, his presentation goes by the name “This Week in Linux”, and the tag-line “Your Source of Linux GNUs”. See what he did there, dear reader? Nice one.
Technology Explainers & History Buffs
Gary Explains
Gary Explains is a YouTube channel that discusses all manner of hardware, and software. Mr Sims is quite knowledgeable, and quite good at condensing big topics into short videos.
Explaining Computers
Explaining Computers is both a website and a YouTube channel owned and operated by Christopher Barnatt. This gentleman explains things reminiscent of the 1980’s and 1990’s, in the best possible way. Calm, stylish, and humble. He tends to focus a lot on single-board computers, which we of course very much appreciate.
The Retro Collective
The Retro Collective is a YouTube channel with a focus on preserving and restoring old computer hardware. Interesting for those who were alive in those eras as well as those just peeking around the corner of looking into past computing.
The 8-Bit Guy
The 8-Bit Guy is another charming chap on YouTube with vast experience in hardware preservation and explanation. He’s even developed a few games for these long retired platforms, breathing new life into platforms that would otherwise be more quickly forgotten.
Retrobytes
Retrobytes is a YouTube channel by…Mr…Bytes we guess. Don’t let the name fool you however, as this gentleman is both thoroughly-thorough, and entertaining in his presentations. From deep dives into the companies that started it all—such as DEC, Sun and others—to the technologies that made it possible.
We thoroughly appreciate Mr Bytes, as he explains a lot about how we got to where we are—and he does it so very charmingly. Good luck finding a video on X-Windows or “X11” outside of his content for example. Mr Bytes, thou art a gem!
Asianometry
Asianometry is another YouTube creator that we have very much grown fond of. In-depth reviews, wide variety, just good technology journalism. Fine job indeed Mr Nometry, fine job. Honestly, dear reader, this fellow is worth a respectful tip of the hat—as you Alfred-esque your sideways glance and see this person finally taking some time for themselves—and being happy. Yes, we meant the bit from the (Nolan) Batman trilogy…
Another Boring Topic
Despite their chosen name, Another Boring Topic and their article equivalent Another Boring Article are anything but boring, in our opinion. But then they do publish rather infrequently… Perhaps that’s what they mean: a boring wait between publishing. Their content is absolutely of the highest quality however. Worth a watch ++.
Programming
Sorry, dear reader, this one is too vast and we can’t think of any one channel or outlet that addresses this both thoroughly, and free. Cough…except…cough…us…in…the…near…cough…future.
Apologies, but we will address this per programming language, per target area and whatnot—in upcoming content.
Then why the flippitybollywhats is this section here?
Well…you know, thought it was worth a mention. Fills up the layout of the article… Ahem, moving on.
Web Development
HTML Dog
HTMLDog is a site that offers comprehensive, yet minimalist tutorials on HTML, CSS, JavaScript and more. Especially useful for those still trying to wrap their heads around web development.
CSS Tricks
CSS Tricks as its name implies is a useful site containing all manner of tips and tricks on CSS mastery and trickery. A great resource for answers on less obvious CSS related questions.
Smashing Magazine
Smashing Magazine a magazine on all things web design, and web development. Smashing Magazine goes beyond tips and tricks and features many in-depth articles on design philosophies and making informed choices. They’re also one of the more prominent early adopters of the HUGO static site generator framework
Gaming, Entertainment
Nostalgia Nerd
Nostalgia Nerd is a favoured YouTube channel of ours on all the latest hardware and games of yesteryear, or yester…decades? From thorough reviews, to historical documentaries, Nostalgia Nerd has you covered. Some of his content might be somewhat less recognisable for our friends across the pond however, which brings us to his US equivalent next.
LGR
LGR, or “Lazy Game Reviews” is a charming fellow from across the pond, whose reviews—despite his chosen name—are anything but lazy. Insightful, entertaining, and quite often the instigator of a genuine: “Oh really? Hmm, didn’t know that… interesting…” moment on our part.
So does his UK counterpart Nostalgia Nerd though. You know, have to be fair with these things. They’re both utterly worth inviting over for tea and biscuits. We’d even make a gift bag for them to take home. No, that wasn’t a joke. We absolutely would.
No Reason, Just Funny
Viva La Dirt League
Viva La Dirt League is a comedy channel by a rather funny troop of New-Zealanders. Their Bored series about their team working at a fictional computer hardware shop is what first caught our attention. But there is more, dear reader, so much more. Definitely worth a watch.
Honest Game Trailers
Honest Game Trailers is a comedy channel where Epic Voice Guy Jon Bailey voices mock trailers of games, rather than films as per their other channel Screen Junkies and its recurring “Honest Trailers” series. Oh, who are we kidding, both are very good and worth a watch.
We’d like to hear Mr Bailey do his thing for us… “In a world without Digital Liberty… One group defied it all… Coming this summer: DIGERTY! Rated: G—for Everyone”.
Sorry dear reader, we got caught in the moment. Moving on.
Honourable Mentions
The honourable mentions section… the section for good publications and presentations, but with room for improvement on the Digerty scale of excellence. There is no such official thing of course, but it refers to the things we mentioned in the Gist part of this article.
The Written Word
Linux.org
Linux.org is a site with some interesting articles, tutorials and the like—with an accompanying forum on all things Linux. The forum seems fairly active, perhaps not a bad place to get some assistance.
Phoronix
For those who are already invested into the FOSS ecosystem, there is Phoronix. A great source of up-to-date information on new releases, announcements and more.
DistroWatch
For those looking for an overview of available Linux distributions and their update cycles, there is classic contender DistroWatch. A fairly good resource of up-to-date information on GNU/Linux distributions, new releases, and more.
LinuxBabe
LinuxBabe is a publication run by Guoan Xiao, who seems to be a gentleman…so we’re not quite sure what to make of the naming of this publication… Regardless, they provide very insightful articles on self-hosted VPNs and other self-hosted services. Been a while since their last update however, so we hope they are okay…
It’s FOSS
It’s FOSS is a frequently updated publication on all things FOSS and Linux. They cover a wide array of topics, and have proven a reliable source of weekly updates.
W3Schools
W3Schools is a fairly useful resource for those starting out with web development. It covers many related topics beyond HTML, CSS and JavaScript as well.
Streaming
Level1Techs
Level1Techs or LevelOneTechs is a site, YouTube channel and forum headed by Wendell (as far as we can tell). They provide interesting hardware reviews, discuss both home lab and enterprise solutions and more. Worth a watch.
Some Ordinary Gamers
Some Ordinary Gamers is an interesting channel primarily about gaming, but its host doesn’t shy away from giving his opinion. He even promotes the use of Linux here and there. An interesting experience.
The Takeaway
There we have it, dear reader. A list of things you might like to have a look at. There are of course many more creators and publishers out there, but they either didn’t manage to get on our radar—or more likely were too far removed from our benchmark.
We are of course well aware of the tech reviewers on YouTube, and various commentators on various hardware and software. Let’s be honest, most of those are pretty hard to miss for anyone willing to try out more than 2 or 3 reasonably fashioned search terms. They’re not here, as they simply don’t align with our philosophy. Lest we single anyone out, we’d rather just…not mention them.
Yours,
Digerty
Categories:
- technology
- learning
