David's How-Tos

This website is a compilation of my various computer-configuration-related notes. The primary purpose of this website is to keep my notes easily available in one place. The format of the notes varies — from simple text files to full-featured guides with pictures.

I originally started making the guides on this website as notes for my purposes. Since then, several of my articles attracted a wider audience. Feel free to read and apply any information found on this website. But my notes come with no warranty.

If you need to contact me, you can do so by sending an email to contact <at> davidsebek.com.

Creative

These guides show how to create stuff. I use primarily open-source software.

Operating Systems Notes

These notes mostly cover the installation and configuration of operating systems. Mostly, Unix-like systems are mentioned here because their configuration isn't always straightforward.

Generic Linux Notes

These notes apply to most Linux operating systems.

Fedora Linux

Fedora is a GNU/Linux distribution that, by default, uses the GNOME desktop. Fedora Workstation is my favorite Linux distribution and my daily driver. It has some imperfections here and there, but it is improving with each new release. And I haven't found any other distro that would suit my needs better than Fedora.

Debian GNU/Linux

Debian is a great Linux distribution for home servers, IoT, and for beginners who want to learn Linux. Debian is very easy to use even in the command line mode. Because of its popularity, many Debian guides can be found on the Internet.

Raspbian (Raspberry Pi)

Raspbian is Debian compiled for ARMv6 processor architecture that is found in the original versions of the Raspberry Pi. There are some minor modifications and presets, but from the user's point of view, it is almost the same as Debian. Recent Raspberry Pi models use more modern ARM processors that are supported by upstream Linux distributions, so I haven't used Raspbian in many years now.

FreeBSD

FreeBSD is a version of BSD Unix. It's very stable, but only if drivers exist for the particular hardware. FreeBSD lags behind other modern operating systems in terms of modern hardware support. However, many 3rd party packages are more up-to-date than in most Linux distributions.

Note, though, that FreeBSD may lag behind Linux in implementing security features. For a long time, FreeBSD didn't even support ASLR.

Overview of Operating Systems

Which operating systems are the best? I've created a quick overview of some of the most popular desktop and server operating systems. My recommendations are included.

Overview of Operating Systems How to Choose an Operating System

My Favorite Software

Everyone has their favorite operating system and applications. My preferences are listed on this page:

List of Useful Software

The list may not be complete or up to date because every piece of software has its bugs and problems, and the quality can change from version to version. The best example is Windows 10. It was so unreliable and contained so many bugs that I switched to using Fedora Linux instead and never looked back.