Cassidy James :roost: :gnome:

https://mastodon.blaede.family/@cassidy

Building open communities and useful, usable tech for good.

:roost: [@roost](https://hachyderm.io/@roost ) OSS Community Manager
:gnome: GNOME @ #GUADEC2026 (npub1dug…kxeq) Foundation Director

Previously: partners & community Endless Access (npub16ew…urp9), co-founder & CXO at elementary (npub16nm…cc46); UX & web at System76 :popos: :ubuntu: (npub1mjj…a2m6).

Still an emo kid at heart 🖤

#fedi22 #GNOME #OpenSource #TrustAndSafety #Flathub #3Dprinting #StarWars #HomeAssistant #SmartHome #FOSS

Website, blog, links: https://cassidyjames.com
Pronouns: he/him
Location: Colorado, USA

Public Key

npub1lvcsqmwtf0nedyct3pau5r4kyxfyvf5sp8d3u7xr5k7ypvh7xn5q7qcedh

NIP-05 Address

cassidy_at_mastodon.blaede.family@momostr.pink

Profile Code

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Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1lvcsqmwtf0nedyct3pau5r4kyxfyvf5sp8d3u7xr5k7ypvh7xn5q7qcedh

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Published at

2026-08-18T04:39:19Z

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0 Metadata

Event JSON

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Last Notes

2026-01-24 20:44:50 UTC

Friendly reminder that Signal—while maybe not perfect—is a much better choice for communication than RCS, especially if you are communicating anything sensitive. Doubly true if you are on iOS or communicating with anyone who is, as Apple still does not even use end-to-end encryption like Google does on Android.
https://signal.org/download/

2026-01-23 19:11:33 UTC

TIL Inkscape has built-in zine templates! You can design the individual pages and then it lays out the print layout automatically. Neat!
#TIL #Inkscape #OpenSource #Zine
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodonblaedefamily/media_attachments/files/115/945/989/875/986/961/original/d1ce341809aa69be.png

2026-01-06 18:58:33 UTC

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hell yeah, looks as easy to open up as a Framework! Of course I don’t expect the same level of repairability/upgradability, but it looks soooo good. And high refresh rate OLED?? A little low resolution for 2× scaling, but maybe it would be fine…
This might be my next laptop!

2025-12-12 21:14:42 UTC

Mastodon/fediverse peeps who come across Bluesky accounts that are bridged (i.e. using Bridgy Fed), how do you feel about them and their posts?
Please boost widely, I’m trying to get input from more than just my followers. 🙏
#Mastodon #fediverse #Bluesky #ATproto #ActivityPub

2025-12-02 07:03:33 UTC

The late night temptation to stay up “just a little bit longer” because the European #GNOME folks are starting to wake up… 😬

2025-12-02 03:30:41 UTC

It has been an exceptional 2025 when it comes to what GNOME has delivered. Let’s help the Foundation reach 1,500 Friends of GNOME by the end of the year to be able to deliver even more in 2026!
https://cassidyjames.com/blog/looking-back-gnome-2025-looking-forward-2026/
#GNOME #GNOMEFoundation #OpenSource #FOSS #Linux #FriendsOfGNOME

2025-11-26 19:13:15 UTC

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This is why trust and safety (T&S) is so important for online platforms. It’s not just what you might think of as moderation, but actively working to safeguard the people on a platform from harm.
It means combating the spread of harms including hate speech, grooming, child sexual abuse materials (CSAM), non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII), terrorist and violent extremist content (TVEC), and extortion.
#trustAndSafety #socialMedia

2025-11-26 19:10:31 UTC

This is so freaking sad. The criminals behind this are reprehensible—but the buck doesn’t stop there. It is the responsibility of social media platforms to work to prevent these schemes from succeeding and spreading on their watch.
https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/west-virginia-boy-sextortion-scheme/
#TrustAndSafety #SocialMedia

2025-11-15 02:10:24 UTC

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there are so, so many posts telling people to use the terminal for Linux. People think they are being helpful, but too often just reinforce this idea that using Linux *requires* you to use a terminal. You can just pop open your app store and install basically whatever you want these days thanks to Flatpak (and Snap on Ubuntu), but if the first time you Google how to do something on Linux you come across ten posts telling you to open a terminal, you're gonna do that.

2025-11-13 17:26:37 UTC

RE: https://mastodon.online/@samreich/115543462893041980
Excuse me, Sam Reich, CEO of Dropout, is posting on Mastodon with *nicely captioned alt-text!*
If you don't already subscribe to Dropout, you really should. It’s like if American comedy was actually funny; a spiritual successor to Whose Line Is It Anyway in many ways, but also leaning into all the nerdiness and queerness of theater kids, D&D players, and comic book geeks. Truly smart and hysterical humor that lifts people up while never punching down.
I really like Dropout. 🥰
#note1c68…48rn

2025-11-12 20:46:02 UTC

It’s really tiring hearing the, “open source is bad for security!” argument whenever it pops up, but especially in domains that *have a lot of work to be done* when it comes to adopting open source, like LLMs and AI models.
Being MORE open is not the problem here. Opening up the weights and releasing under open licenses does not suddenly create security vulnerabilities, unless you believe solely in security through obscurity—which, I’m sorry, the tech industry has moved on from for the better.

2025-11-12 05:04:42 UTC

Aurora, Colorado finally living up to its name! Straight out of the camera, no edits. 🤩
#aurora #AuroraCO #Colorado #NorthernLights #AuroraBorealis
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodonblaedefamily/media_attachments/files/115/534/972/873/676/521/original/9d7a10f20be65c98.jpg
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodonblaedefamily/media_attachments/files/115/534/977/924/460/396/original/d8b51d3079828aa0.jpg
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodonblaedefamily/media_attachments/files/115/534/978/133/244/807/original/21e0ce4613d4e42e.jpg

2025-10-29 16:35:03 UTC

Google Docs has a handy “Copy as Markdown” feature where you can paste rich text and then copy it out as (at least mostly reasonably-formatted) markdown. This is handy for quick and dirty conversion of a web page’s content, e.g. to quote in a blog post.
Is there some native app on Flathub I can use to do something similar? The perfect scenario would be just pasting rich text into a text field and it immediately converts it and spits out the Markdown into the text box.
#Linux #Flatpak #Flathub

2025-10-29 16:12:54 UTC

I was admittedly bearish about Bazaar early on; I was confused by the design that was trying to reinvent a lot of things, plus I didn’t know how I felt about diverging efforts from GNOME Software.
Now that the Bazaar team has decide to clone the Flathub web UI whenever it makes sense (and improve on it in cool ways!), I’ll admit it: it’s pretty rad.
Huge props to the designers and developers making Bazaar. It’s the Flathub app store @npub1dkc…3gke always wanted.
#Flathub #Flatpak #Linux #GNOME
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodonblaedefamily/media_attachments/files/115/458/294/486/048/013/original/0575a8d10791b253.png

2025-10-28 14:34:08 UTC

I largely prefer the architecture and experience of the fediverse/Mastodon over ATproto/Bluesky, but there are a number of accounts I care about that are only on Bluesky and not bridged to the fediverse. And even with bridging, it's not the best experience.
How are other people handling this?
The result for now is that I have two separate accounts… but I really don’t want to manage two different accounts. 😭

2025-10-23 20:53:32 UTC

I gave a short talk at the #UbuntuSummit about funding @npub1dug…kxeq! Watch it to learn about how GNOME is actually funded, and what we’re doing to help ensure it stays sustainable. 👀
https://www.youtube.com/live/bEEamxJ60aI?t=7h47m29s
#Ubuntu #Linux #GNOME

2025-09-23 18:34:17 UTC

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I was literally just looking for this blog post! I read it last week or so but couldn’t find it by googling for the life of me. I finally found it in my browser history and then saw you shared it again here when I came onto Mastodon. 😁
This is SUCH a spot on analysis and really explains iPhone Air (and modern Apple) so well to me. Especially pulling straight from their own words. Excellent work, it deserves more visibility.

2025-09-18 18:44:34 UTC

What would Wikipedia be “rated”? If you had age-based parental controls installed on a computer, would you expect your kid to be able to use a Wikipedia app?
I would expect so (It’s an encyclopedia! Knowledge is power!), but if you rate it literally according to something like OARS, it gets marked as unsuitable for children—because nudity and sexual organs and whatnot.

2025-09-16 14:46:08 UTC

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that's what I've heard, so I'm optimistic! My only hesitation is that I have quite a few HACS repos and then I am currently running Homebridge and MQTT outside of Home Assistant on the same hardware. I think I just need to back any configs from that stuff up in case I can't get it to come back the same way when switching to HA OS.

2025-09-16 14:38:07 UTC

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Does anyone in my circles have experience migrating a Home Assistant install? I have backups and nothing is mission critical if I had to redo it, but it would be annoying to have to set things like automations and dashboards back up. But those *should* be safe with my multiple backups in different locations…
I'm just wondering what I should look out for. I'm nervous lol
#HomeAssistant

2025-09-16 14:19:15 UTC

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Update: files have been copied. The NAS has been reset. Plex has been installed directly on the NAS and is now doing all of its media analysis and database building. I probably could have figured out how to directly migrate my existing Plex install, but starting fresh is kinda nice.
The next (and more painful) step will be to reset the NUC and set up Home Assistant OS. Maybe during the day when nobody else is home is a good time to do that? 🤔

2025-09-15 19:14:15 UTC

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I’m also currently exposing this server to the Internet so I can access it remotely (and I’d previously thought about hosting my website from it), but I pay for Home Assistant Cloud through Nabu Casa and am happy to use tailscale for anything else.
I’m also currently running Homebridge (I think as a package from their PPA?), which I think I can replace with my Starling Home Hub and/or use as an add-on with HA OS.
I think that’s “all” the machine is doing these days…

2025-09-15 19:04:57 UTC

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Note: I am not (and do not want to be!) a sysadmin. I’ve been running the same Ubuntu server install for something like five years, upgraded several times. Plex is currently installed as a Snap, which had been working fine for years until it recently filled the OS disk with thumbnails. Home Assistant is running on the same install via Docker, which I manually update every month or so when there are new releases. More than anything, I would like it all to be as hands-off as possible.

2025-09-15 18:54:49 UTC

I have a bunch of files I need to move from one hard drive to another for boring reasons, and am wondering if this is a good time to finally rebuild my home server. I have an Intel NUC plus a Synology NAS for storage, and I mostly just run #Plex and #HomeAssistant.
With Home Assistant, I’ve been a bit annoyed with the Docker image not supporting some of the add-ons you can use if you use Home Assistant OS. I wonder if I should run that directly on the NUC, and then Plex on the NAS? 🤔

2025-09-15 18:35:38 UTC

I am looking forward to the big @npub1rx6…pdar update!
Custom timelines specifically is how I genuinely feel like social media should be designed; I am surprised the official @npub163h…mv0n app hasn’t aped that and leaned into it especially with both Threads and Bluesky shipping something similar.
Eventually I’d love to see some UX iteration on the feature from either Moshidon or Mastodon proper, too; I think there could be some really nice, naturally interactions around curating your feeds.
#Mastodon

2025-09-04 17:06:21 UTC

I might start daily driving GNOME OS soon… but not how you’d expect. 👀
#GNOME #GNOMEOS #Linux #OpenSource

2025-08-29 01:45:41 UTC

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That's not how the Force works!
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodonblaedefamily/media_attachments/files/115/109/521/151/323/432/original/6335685dd0d2308f.mp4

2025-08-22 15:18:14 UTC

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Google Now was sooo good originally and delivered so much that is being promised about Gemini and everything now. And then it got turned into a clickbait delivery mechanism, and somehow Google just… forgot about it.

2025-08-19 22:32:48 UTC

I’m looking for my next challenge in some intersection of open source, community, and developer advocacy! I am passionate about helping others and doing good with technology, in particular—thus I’m especially interested in working with a non-profit or strongly value-aligned organization.
I’ve loved my work with @npub16ew…urp9, but unfortunately due to strategic decisions, my particular role won’t exist in the coming months.
https://cassidyjames.com/resume
#GetFediHired #FediHire #OpenToWork #jobs #cv

2025-08-06 23:35:21 UTC

If you’re on Linux, there’s a good chance you use GNOME: it’s the default experience across Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora Workstation, Endless OS, and more. If you’re on another desktop, you still likely use components developed by GNOME contributors—or maybe you get apps from Flathub.
Want to become more than just a user? How about… a friend? 🥺 Become a Friend of GNOME to support GNOME, Flathub, and the work we do!
https://donate.gnome.org/
#GNOME #Flathub #Linux #OpenSource

2025-08-01 03:12:39 UTC

I still have a few Google Nest speakers around, but I hardly ever use the voice assistant. I was talking to my kid about Spider-Man and decided to ask, “How many Spider-Man movies was Andrew Garfield in?” because I forgot the titles, and if there were two or three.
It showed on the screen: “At least 24,” and then told me out loud, “55.”
It turns out he has been in two.
#ai #enshittification #gemini #llm

2025-07-25 07:00:52 UTC

GUADEC day 2 is kicking off shortly! Come watch remotely. Track 1: https://www.youtube.com/live/18Ir6RXkIeA
#GUADEC #GUADEC2025 #GNOME #Linux #OpenSource

2025-07-24 18:58:48 UTC

I’m looking for anyone in my circles who:
• is a front-end web developer
• has some design sense
• understands the allure of buying a Linux computer
• is open to paid work
A Linux computer company reached out asking if I was available for paid work on their website and while I would love to, I’m just not able to find the time right now. But they’re a great company and I would love to connect them with someone!
#Linux #OpenSource #WebDesign #WebDev

2025-07-24 13:46:39 UTC

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on iOS I think that's using OCR in the Photos app itself rather than saving it in the file metadata. But alt text metadata for image files seems… smart? If that’s not a thing, how is that not a thing?? 🤔

2025-07-23 19:47:20 UTC

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Search engines should be designed to *cut through* the marketing BS and deliver actually useful information from a variety of sources. Instead, they serve the marketing machine and reward this crap. :(

2025-07-23 19:44:30 UTC

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It’s bad enough when you come across those “What’s the best FOO software solution?” blog posts from a company that happens to make a FOO software solution. At least those are predictable and obvious, but this feels… dirtier and even more dishonest.
Mix in some LLM-generated garbage, and I’m beginning to give up even searching for things on the Internet.

2025-07-23 19:42:36 UTC

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And then you get to the end of the blog post… and they upsell you on their SaaS solution that totally makes the entire blog post you just read obsolete.
The problem is that it’s presented as factual and upbeat (“It’s super easy! Just follow these seventeen simple steps!”), but now I don’t trust that entire blog post *at all.* Not only is it an SEO ploy to get people to their site, it very likely also overcomplicates the entire “how to” to make their paid software sound even easier.

2025-07-23 19:41:55 UTC

I’m noticing an annoying trend when searching the Internet for how to do certain things with software. (This is probably not new, but just happens to be more common with what I’ve been looking for lately.)
Some SaaS company will have a “helpful” blog post that sounds like it’s just what you’re looking for; say, “How to build a calendar view in a spreadsheet.” You start reading it and think, “Wow, this sounds complicated, do I really want to take the time?”

2025-07-15 03:51:52 UTC

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I'll do you one better: https://gitlab.gnome.org/Teams/Websites/welcome.gnome.org/-/merge_requests/45

2025-07-15 03:49:06 UTC

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should be at https://gitlab.gnome.org/Teams/Websites/welcome.gnome.org

2025-07-07 17:04:25 UTC

There’s a GNOME hacker currently in an unsafe living situation. Unfortunately I can’t commit to hosting someone at my place, but can any of my friends out there provide a safe temporary living situation within the continental US?
Please contact @npub1y6d…m6cl (or reply privately here and I can connect you).
https://fantastic.earth/@deobald/114801963915517129

2025-06-23 22:41:06 UTC

Any open source projects out there using Nextcloud Talk for real-time chat?
I’ve been researching and testing a whole bunch of solutions for open source projects while explicitly evaluating them on their fit for something pretty cool I’m working on. The gist is supporting an inviting, easy-to-join open source community of mixed-age members (including teens and adults). Due to this, safety tooling and moderation is extremely important.
#Nextcloud #OpenSource

2025-06-12 14:25:42 UTC

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I need to give it another try! I think it failed in past experiments because my git tree is pretty massive for the site I'd tried it on, but I'll try it on something more realistic this time. 😁

2025-06-12 14:24:06 UTC

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yeah for editing an existing page, I think that's a pretty good experience! The main problems I see with this sort of flow (which is what I tend to go for, too) are that it’s a fair bit more complicated to make a new page, plus the experience of including images breaks down pretty quickly. Otherwise it does work fairly well!

2025-06-11 23:04:11 UTC

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Git forge web UIs are pretty good and can get you pretty far with editing existing content, but fall apart with more rich text authoring, image embedding, and creating new pages.
Something like Obsidian (or the FOSS Logseq) seems like it might be an option, but you still have to deal with syncing via git somehow (unless you bypass it completely?).
I’ve seen a handful of “CMS for static site generator” projects over the years, but never got them to work in production.
Am I missing something?

2025-06-11 23:02:10 UTC

I find myself once again looking for a good solution to a common problem: as an open source project, hosting documentation/text-based resources as Markdown files in a git repository makes a lot of sense. Buuuut as a collaborative project that wants to invite explicitly less-technical people into the fold, using git and Markdown has a fairly high gatekeeping factor.
How is this not a solved problem? :(
#OpenSource #documentation

2025-06-10 17:46:47 UTC

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what's a rough membership count for “pretty small?” :) We're starting relatively small, but hoping to scale up to pretty huge if we do our job right. :D

2025-06-09 20:30:50 UTC

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unfortunately Matrix is a nonstarter due to our specific safety requirements around teen learners and no 1:1 communications.
I like the idea of Matrix, but it’s emphatically not the right tool for this job.

2025-06-09 15:38:47 UTC

Those self-hosting Mattermost for open source community: how is that working out—especially cost-wise?
Paying Mattermost directly seems to be cost-prohibitive for a large open source community ($10/user/seat??), but it’s not clear to me what the actual infra costs of self-hosting could be. But free solutions like Slack and Discord are no-goes due to certain policies and a lack of safety protections we need.
Boosts welcome for exposure! 🙏
#SelfHosting #mattermost #OpenSource #community

2025-05-09 02:44:48 UTC

I recently saw someone use #LoFi to refer to local first software, and I *love* that appropriation of the term. LoFi is chill. LoFi is about being left alone whether to focus and get things done or just vibe.
Let's make more #LoFiSoftware

2025-05-07 23:19:30 UTC

Please join me in a very warm welcome to the new @npub1dug…kxeq Foundation Executive Director, @npub1y6d…m6cl!
https://blogs.gnome.org/steven/2025/05/06/introducing-myself/
I’m excited to work with Steven and see him help steer the GNOME Foundation going forward. He’s a great guy and I’m already excited by his framing and deep understanding of what GNOME is—and needs to be.
#GNOME #Linux #OpenSource #FOSS #FLOSS

2025-04-25 17:36:46 UTC

“On Elephants,” from fellow GNOME Foundation Director (and long-time, valued contributor) Allan Day
https://blogs.gnome.org/aday/2025/04/25/on-elephants
As noted by Allan, the post is his personal view and not an official position of the GNOME Foundation board. That said, I personally feel like it includes important context and is well worth a read.
#GNOME

2025-04-24 15:17:19 UTC

Fellow #3Dprinting peeps: does anyone know of a good quality “blurple” colored¹ PLA filament? I’ve mostly just stuck to Inland and Anycubic PLA+/PLA Pro filaments for my Ender 3v2, so something similar would be great.
¹Blueish-purple, like this:
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodonblaedefamily/media_attachments/files/114/393/595/558/770/777/original/d186cf3c90008c06.png

2025-04-15 16:09:50 UTC

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Remember that GNOME Circle app developers are eligible to become voting members of the GNOME Foundation. And according to the bylaws¹, all contributors are eligible, including those who contribute to areas like documentation and advocacy.
Become a member if you aren’t already, then don’t forget to vote!
If you’re curious what the GNOME Foundation does, Allan has written an update² of recent activities.
¹https://gitlab.gnome.org/Infrastructure/foundation-web/blob/master/foundation.gnome.org/about/bylaws.rst#membership
²https://blogs.gnome.org/aday/2025/04/14/gnome-foundation-update-april-2025/
#GNOME #Linux #OpenSource #FOSS #FLOSS

2025-04-15 15:02:02 UTC

If you contribute in some way to GNOME, are you already a GNOME Foundation member? If not, you should apply ASAP: https://foundation.gnome.org/membership/
Once you do (or if you’re already a member), don’t forget to VOTE in the upcoming Foundation elections!
The GNOME Foundation Board of Directors is elected by Foundation members. If you want to influence how the Foundation is run, one of the most effective things you can do is to become a member and vote.
#GNOME #Linux #OpenSource #FOSS #FLOSS

2025-04-15 04:11:02 UTC

Coffee bean earrings? Coffee bean earrings. Idk what I’m doing but I have been wanting to make these for a while. 😁
I would attach the charm a bit more elegantly, but I don't have more of the tunnels. Perhaps I should get some to make a more integrated version… 🤔
#coffee #handmade #handmadeJewelry #craft #crafting
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodonblaedefamily/media_attachments/files/114/340/002/266/445/715/original/94fcb6ab29bdede5.jpg
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodonblaedefamily/media_attachments/files/114/340/002/537/527/322/original/0cf4e2be2ff0322a.jpg

2025-04-03 15:58:12 UTC

There aren't enough hours in the day. 😭 I have so many side projects that would take a significant amount of time investment to actually do right, but alas I work a full-time job and have a family. And some hobbies I very occasionally get to do, I guess.
How do people manage their time to actually work on side projects??

2025-03-25 14:51:25 UTC

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Oh, and to be clear: mad props to the @npub1ncy…3x0q community and @npub1auk…aqva contributors for making such a great product. I genuinely think Kdenlive is at the level of professional video editing software I grew up using (thanks, Mom’s computer!), at least when it comes to my workflow. I’m not looking for all kinds of wild compositing and special effects, but what’s there in Kdenlive works, and works well for me.
👏 Bravo to Kdenlive for that!
#KDE #Kdenlive #LinuxForWork

2025-03-25 14:48:46 UTC

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I guess the obvious answer is to try Pitivi again. I think I’ve been burned by it in the past with it losing a project and waiting a long time for an export to get something that wasn’t accurately following my intended cuts—but maybe it’s gotten better?
Is that the best option for me to try again, or is there something else that works well and looks good on a modern GNOME desktop that I should be looking at?
#GNOME #videoEditing #AVproduction #LinuxForWork

2025-03-25 14:46:07 UTC

I just used Kdenlive to edit together a 15-minute video from about an hour of original footage and a few slide overlays. It worked flawlessly. I'm not doing anything wild and crazy—mostly recordings from OBS w/lots of little jumps to cut out “ums,” “uhs,” dead air, and alternate takes. It went really smoothly!
I don’t have a problem using the best tool for a job even if it’s not designed specifically for GNOME, but should I be trying a more GNOME-y app?
#GNOME #KDE #Kdenlive #LinuxForWork

2025-03-24 14:39:27 UTC

Finally watched the Severance season 2 finale. For some reason I assumed this was the final season, in which case, I would be kind of pissed about the ending.
This show is so weird. But… wonderful? Idk. I’ve really been enjoying it, and now I’m very curious to see where it goes for season 3.
#Severance #SeveranceS02E10
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodonblaedefamily/media_attachments/files/114/217/920/660/557/620/original/2ba9d0eac02aed56.mp4

2025-03-18 23:21:58 UTC

I’m honored to have been appointed to the GNOME Foundation Board of Directors! This is a midterm appointment due to a vacancy; I had expressed interest in running for the board, and was graciously offered the appointment for the remainder of this term.
I’m thrilled to roll up my sleeves and get to work as a director to help operate GNOME Foundation day to day, and I look forward to the opportunity to earn Foundation members' votes when the regular term elections come up.
Time to get to work. 💪

2025-03-14 05:01:19 UTC

Anyone familiar with working on GNOME Shell or making Shell extensions interested in helping with a design experiment? 👀
The GNOME design team is interested in exploring some improvements to window/app switching, but we want to make sure we actually *use* the concepts before making too many assumptions. I may write up a longer blog post or something going into more of the thinking behind the design we’re exploring—but in the meantime: anyone interested in helping out? 😊
#GNOME #GNOMEdesign

2025-03-02 03:29:43 UTC

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probably the @npub1mjj…a2m6 Thelio desktops? https://github.com/system76/thelio

2025-02-26 17:53:18 UTC

It took a long time to sort through things, make connections, and get a handle on the ecosystem, but I feel like I’m in a good place to start building an open source game-making community. 🎮
We run learning programs at @npub1hjl…w773 where we help teach kids how to contribute to an open source game (and a bunch of the skills that come along with that), but right now there’s not really a community to *invite them into* after the fact. I want to fix that.
#OpenSource #GodotEngine #Godot #GameDev

2025-02-25 17:15:01 UTC

I randomly came across this short, very well-produced little explainer of open source and I really like it! It makes me want to have all the time and resources in the world to produce stuff like this… that’s also openly licensed itself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEttd0Qkqnc
#OpenSource #FOSS #FLOSS

2025-02-25 03:21:21 UTC

A nice surprise: ROTA—the open source Godot Engine game I’ve previously gushed about—is currently trending in the #4 spot on Flathub!
https://flathub.org/apps/net.hhoney.rota
This is likely thanks to recently passing all the quality guidelines, including the delicious new app icon from @npub1scf…7stj. 😍
(You might see the old one cached on the link preview; click through to see the new one!)
#Flathub #OpenSource #Flatpak #Linux #LinuxApps #LinuxGaming #Godot #GodotEngine #ROTA #ROTAgame

2025-02-22 02:40:10 UTC

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thanks for the feedback and sharing with your followers! 😊

2025-02-21 19:17:05 UTC

US income tax withholdings are wild. You use one calculator and it’s like, “deduct nothing, you must pay all of your money to the government!” and you use another and it’s like “lol deduct thousands of dollars, you’re all good.”
This whole system is frustratingly confusing.

2025-02-21 06:22:58 UTC

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Fun fact: if my process and math is correct, Flathub is down to <5% of apps being built from other packaging formats as extra-data sources.
205/4101
Thanks to @npub12ma…4qta's blog post¹ for pointing me in the right direction and gasinvein’s Flatpak Remote Metadata Fetcher² for the handy tool.
¹https://blogs.gnome.org/wjjt/2022/06/14/how-many-flathub-apps-reuse-other-package-formats/
²https://github.com/gasinvein/flatpak-remote-metadata
#Flatpak #Flathub #OpenSource #Linux #LinuxApps

2025-02-21 06:03:25 UTC

Welp, Thursday nights are apparently my “write a big ol' blog post” nights. Idk if this will publish tonight or some time tomorrow (probably the latter so it can get some review), but it’s a good one—and this time, not about feet!

2025-02-14 06:39:21 UTC

Friday night?
Perfect time to drop a blog post that might sound like clickbait, but that I genuinely hope can help forge a path forward while making everyone happy—or at least pissing everyone off equally (sometimes the best you can ask for!)
https://cassidyjames.com/blog/gnome-foot-logo-rebrand/?1
Edit: lol it’s Thursday night. I should go to bed.
#GNOME #OpenSource #Linux #GNOMEdesign

2025-02-11 01:50:55 UTC

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these static entries are Desktop Actions, which are a FreeDesktop spec: https://specifications.freedesktop.org/desktop-entry-spec/latest/extra-actions.html
Dynamic actions aren't currently part of the spec, but are implemented on many desktops with the Unity LauncherEntry API. I hope that support will be added to GNOME either for this API or another one, specifically because that’s something we identified as missing from the Background portal as a replacement for status icons.

2025-02-05 00:20:57 UTC

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note that Red Hat does not control GNOME. If they want to build some code completion LLM thing “for GNOME” it means it is designed to be used with GNOME—it doesn’t mean GNOME is suddenly AI-laden or that it would ship in GNOME itself.

2025-02-03 21:59:49 UTC

Happy birthday to me! My family knows and loves me. 🥰
#plushtodon #PlayStationPortal
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodonblaedefamily/media_attachments/files/113/942/195/218/694/640/original/6092d7abf42626f7.jpg

2025-01-23 17:10:56 UTC

Do I know any designers explicitly experienced in *brand* design who would be willing to help out an open source project? I’m working with a project that is interested in a new logo, and I’d love to connect you.
Unfortunately I don’t know that there’s a budget, so this would likely be a volunteer/pro bono effort unless we think we could crowdfund/find a sponsor to pay for the work. Still, if you’re interested, let me know in a reply, please!
#design #OpenSource #OpenSourceDesign

2025-01-15 18:22:09 UTC

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that’s a space I’d love to see more of in the Fediverse: opinionated *clients* that don’t have to be their own service.
I feel like you could do something similar for photo-sharing where it’s more like an OG-Instagram design and only shows posts with certain attributes like 1+ photo attachments and maybe a default (configurable) set of hashtags. Then it could even auto-include those hashtags when posting from that app.
Boom, you have Pixelfed without requiring another account.

2025-01-15 18:14:32 UTC

Local-first peer-to-peer GNOME people… if I wanted to make a GNOME app similar to those party games where you enter a code and then all join one host's game, then compete for trivia questions or something, is that relatively straightforward to do with our current tech stack? What would I use to do that?
I'm tempted to make a FOSS Kahoot-alike game in Godot, but it could be fun as a GNOME app, instead.
#GNOME #gamedev #Godot #GodotEngine

2025-01-07 16:54:58 UTC

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What ended up happening is that we kept the unique model names but still used the categories, which was better than before (they had an “UltraPro” laptop when I started! 😅). I think at best we narrowed down to something like:
• Gazelle 15" or 17"
• Galago Pro 14"
• Serval WS 15" or 17"
But at times we also had the Lemur (which is now Lemur Pro?), Pangolin, Bonobo WS, Darter, Oryx Pro, Adder WS… all of which I couldn’t even tell you why you would buy one over another in the same category.

2025-01-07 16:45:01 UTC

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Imagine shopping for a laptop and you have three choices:
• Galago $999
• Galago Pro $1299
• Galago WS $1799
The base Galago might use a bit more plastic, an entry level processor, and integrated graphics, but is super portable with great battery life; 14"
Galago Pro is all metal with a higher-end display, a bit more compute/graphics but about the same portability; 13" or 15"
Galago WS is a thicc boi with a desktop CPU and dedicated GPU that runs laps around other laptops; 15" or 17"

2025-01-07 16:37:05 UTC

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Within each category you differentiate by size (which used to be entirely different products). It never really panned out the way I’d have liked with just one mainstream, Pro, and WS model w/different sizes. Part of that is due to working with a supplier that designed drastically different looks for e.g. a 14" and 17" model, but the biggest recurring barrier was a lack of focus with the product lineup. Sales people wanted to offer like 12 barely-differentiated models to hit all the price points.

2025-01-07 16:32:25 UTC

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For reference, I pushed for the mainstream, Pro, and Workstation monikers at System76. The idea was that you would have:
• Mainstream: no moniker; great product; entry level
• Pro: for people who use their computer for work (or want the nicest option); best combination of power and form factor
• WS: beefiest option for the highest end; trades portability for raw power; for the ML, automotive, 3D animation, science-y stuff
You still see some remnants of this scheme, but it’s not as clear cut.

2025-01-07 16:24:42 UTC

This seems _so close_ to the right scheme, but fails hilariously by confusing people with plus, pro, premium, and max which all effectively mean the same thing.
Soon after I started at System76, I pushed for simplifying our product lineup and naming scheme and it stuck for a bit, but wound up having a similar problem as this: too many models, which the sales and marketing people all want to say are “Pro” or whatever.
https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/6/24325799/dell-pro-max-premium-plus-ces-laptop-pc-rebrand-announcement

2024-12-27 19:17:48 UTC

I finally watched the 3D animated Lion King (because the five-year-old loves everything Lion King and finally asked to watch it).
It is basically a shot-for-shot but not line-for-line remake, and it honestly loses nearly all of its charm.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s very pretty and impressive as a technical showcase, but entirely unnecessary (and actively worse) from a storytelling perspective.

2024-12-19 22:11:24 UTC

How do I help people understand that *for an indie app store,* taking only a 30% cut of each app purchase is literally not even sustainable on its own?
And suggesting that 10% is too high and that it should be 5% for proprietary apps and 0% for FOSS apps is just… literally impossible??
We’re not talking Apple or Google here—we’re talking a small, indie open source app store that doesn’t collect personal data, respects and protects privacy, prioritizes FOSS apps, and does everything openly.

2024-12-17 18:53:18 UTC

I’ve been thinking through a lot of the feedback on (and things I've learned about peoples' perception of) @npub1wfe…w0av's MetaInfo quality guidelines. I think I'd like to iterate a bit on how we present/talk about them; it could be helpful to make them more "branded" in a way to help make it more clear that they're really more of an opinionated, almost editorial thing.
#Flathub #Flatpak #OpenSource #LinuxApps

2024-12-13 17:55:42 UTC

I keep getting these two apps mixed up. I wonder why…
#Linux
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodonblaedefamily/media_attachments/files/113/646/799/387/032/805/original/3197c3d3b03ec4df.png

2024-12-13 03:53:25 UTC

I just added all the files required to Flatpak a Godot Engine game *and it worked on the first try!* :o
Idk if I should be proud of that, or if it's a sign that I'm in too deep. Maybe both? Either way, I'm excited for this one, too. And to get wider exposure for these excellent open source games. And to get more quality games onto Flathub!
#Godot #GodotEngine #Flathub #Flatpak #OpenSource #LinuxGaming

2024-12-11 09:43:17 UTC

Here it is; my write up of about a week's worth of work to better understand Godot Engine, Flatpak, and—in a way—game developers. :D
https://cassidyjames.com/blog/publish-godot-engine-game-flathub-flatpak/
It looks like a long post (and I could probably use an editor for concision!), but I hope it’s an easy read, and useful reference material.
Boost widely! Let’s get more indie games to Flathub!
Oh, and reply publicly here to comment on the post. :)
#Godot #OpenSource #Flatpak #Flathub #GodotEngine #GameDev #LinuxGaming

2024-12-06 07:50:46 UTC

New game dropped on Flathub: meet ROTA!
https://flathub.org/apps/net.hhoney.rota
I was going to wait until we clean things up a bit more (I have a PR open to backfill release notes, maybe a nicer icon, verification), but I’m too obsessed to not share it immediately.
ROTA is completely open source, built with Godot, and released on Flathub (including for ARM!). And seriously, it’s SO GOOD. So much love and attention has been poured into it.
#GodotEngine #Godot #OpenSource #Linux #LinuxGaming #Flathub #Flatpak

2024-12-04 16:36:05 UTC

Question for my game developer friends out there (please also feel free to boost/share widely!): why do indie games still tend to be closed source, especially compared to indie app ecosystems where there are thriving open source communities?
That’s obviously a super broad question, but I’m open to broad perspectives. :) I’m especially interested in hearing from folks who have been actively involved in video game design, development, publishing, etc.
#GameDev #OpenSource #Godot #GodotEngine

2024-12-04 03:19:48 UTC

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Why I ask: I’m wanting to help make the #GodotEngine to #Flathub publishing pipeline better. Godot Engine is open source. Flathub prefers to build things from source if possible. So… I think the ideal setup for open source games is:
You specify a Godot Engine version in your manifest and point it to your source code. Flathub infra reproducibly exports your game from source and bundles the correct Godot Engine runtime (or maybe even uses a Godot Flatpak runtime??).
#Godot #Linux #GameDev

2024-12-04 03:12:47 UTC

Godot Engine people, especially familiar with Linux: can you fact check me on something?
When I export a game for Linux, I get a .x86_64 file and a .pck file. Is the former anything more than the Godot Engine runtime for the specific version I used to export my game? Is all of the magic actually in the .pck file? I know the latter has my resources, but I am not 100% I’m understanding it correctly.
Further, is the .pck file unique to Linux, or universal?
#Godot #GodotEngine #Linux #GameDev

2024-12-03 17:00:06 UTC

An old classic Endless game is now eligible to be featured on Flathub! I spent a bit of time recently improving its metadata, so now it can be featured as a daily app or in the large banner on the Flathub home screen.
https://flathub.org/apps/com.endlessnetwork.fablemaker
Fablemaker is a fun little intro-to-programming game for kids that retells the classic Aesop’s fables with beautifully-animated hand-drawn artwork—and then encourages you to “hack” the story by changing its code.
#Flathub #Linux #LinuxApps #EndlessOS

2024-11-13 20:27:33 UTC

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💦
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodonblaedefamily/media_attachments/files/113/477/522/182/616/111/original/2bd801a1a50a6ece.png

2024-11-13 20:23:29 UTC

lol my design timeline is basically all @npub14qx…v8wz’s Threads shitposts about water 💧

2024-11-13 16:46:08 UTC

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The other direction is getting Android apps to run on Linux phones, which while interesting, seems backwards to me. It’s getting ahead of ourselves—let’s get these awesome modern adaptive apps that we’re building in the hands of more people and show them what an app ecosystem that respects you, your time, and your privacy looks like—then they’ll be clamoring to get the whole OS on their next phone. :)
#Linux #LinuxMobile #GNOME #OpenSource

2024-11-13 16:42:56 UTC

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Going forward, it looks like we might be able to get actual Linux apps running on modern Android through a built-in VM, similar to what you can do on ChromeOS today.
If you think that’s too nerdy for most people, you’re probably right—but it’s *much* simpler and lower-barrier than flashing an entirely new OS and abandoning the entire ecosystem they’ve been using for the last decade or more all at once for an ecosystem that frankly isn’t ready.
#Linux #Android #LinuxMobile #OpenSource #GNOME

2024-11-13 16:41:34 UTC

Linux-on-mobile folks: I hope you’re paying attention to the new Linux VM stuff in Android 15.
I genuinely think one of the most important approaches to building the Linux mobile ecosystem is to enable people to get (and fall in love with!) our app ecosystem on the phone *and OS* they already use.
It’s critical to build the whole experience (like we see with GNOME and PostmarketOS), but we need to meet people where they are, first.
#Linux #Android #LinuxMobile #OpenSource #GNOME #postmarketOS

2024-11-13 16:36:41 UTC

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Also, for someone unfamiliar with the Fedora change proposal processes… how would I go about recommending something like this? It’s a one-line change in the default profile, but I imagine people will have Opinions™ about it.
Do I have to go through like a whole technical change proposal process or something?
#Fedora