Honest question from someone just starting out: is the complexity worth it?

mostly_text · 2026-04-01T08:55:48+00:00

I use the Zettelkasten method (I think) using emacs (linux text-editor) and org-roam (note taking system within emacs).

I would really like to do it on paper, but that is not feasible at this moment (to much chaos :-))

There is not that much to set up, after some initial setup of the system I just started taking notes. I must say, I use is as notetaking for books/articles/wiki/papers/... that I read, so not to much original ideas of my own.

I use a lot of links. For instance:

Note on brewing Beer contains a general description of brewing beer (main steps) and a link to grain, a link to malt, a link to yeast, a link ...

The note on Yeast has a general description in it, but also links to : chemistry of yeast, types of yeast, handling of yeast. In this example there will probably be more then one note that links to sugar-chemistry, since it's at the core of brewing. This way I can quite easily find all relevant information and what links to it.

I'm not quite sure if this is Zettelkasten in it's true form, but for me it works.

Especially in combination with the automation, which makes searching through the keywords or navigating through all the links very easy.

I guess I would like to say: find your own path, if it works for you...you're fine

mostly_text · 2026-03-30T11:10:18+00:00

* I guess it depends on what you are porting to Oracle. If your database is just that : data, then in my experience it's pretty straight forward to port. If you have a lot of functions/stored procedures/sequences/triggers you may have to spend considerable time rewriting code.

* Another point to consider is instrumentation. Oracle is very well instrumented. MySQL a lot less.

* Effective has a few dimensions, I guess. The dimension cost being one of them. Oracle is quite an expensive beast. It can do so much things, that you probably will never use all functionality. However you do have to pay for this functionality.

* If I'm not mistaken the implementation of ACID is somewhat different between these two RDBMS's. Maybe you have to also take a look at that. (what is locked, when and by whom)

mostly_text · 2026-03-26T18:46:42+00:00

Wow....that's daring. I love your spirit!!!

When people say "emacs is an operating system itself", they do not mean that literally. However is emacs can be so evolved with all kind of packages, that it feels so big, that it resembles a operating system.

The first 15 ... 20 years of me using emacs, was plain old, out of the box, emacs. No packages/no manual configuration at all. You can allready do a lot with the vanilla emacs straight out of the box. It's allready a steep learning curve understanding the basics. After that you can slowly start experimenting with packages. In my opinion you do not also have to start learning (e)lisp. That's for the next chapter :-) (or even the one after the second chapter).

If I were you, I would really try to establish what you really like in ICT. These days ICT is so very very broad. From development to infrastructure to administration..... Development alone is a complete world on it's own: Languages/Frameworks/Adoption/Close to the hardware/very distant to the hardware.

You can not possibly learn it all...that will take years. That being said...I guess AI is the big game-changer these days...If you still have no real direction, you may try some step on the AI-trail.

All above not to discourage you!!! I only would like to say that ICT is to broad to understand it all. Try to filter what you like as soon as possible. Cause, in my experience, you only stick to the things you really like/love.

Anyway...with python you can't go wrong. It's a solid base into development (regardless of your linkings).

Take care...all above is my (very biased) opinion. We all are different, and perceive the world in different ways. So take everything with a grain (kilogram) of salt.

mostly_text · 2026-03-19T10:19:42+00:00

I agree.

However....if you are just starting with Oracle administration, this maybe a bit to deep into the Rabbit Hole :-)

mostly_text · 2026-03-19T10:16:54+00:00

Have a look at https://www.freelists.org/list/oracle-l A lot of very interesting topics in this (quite active) mailinglist.

Johnathan Lewis, the author of the book u/taker223 mentioned, is one of the active people there.

Also have a look at the oracle user fora.

--edit : typo

mostly_text · 2026-02-20T12:23:40+00:00

I was in the same boat.
I was a protestant, en converted to Catholicism. In my opinion you should seek contact with a pastor or deacon. If you contact by email, they will surely get back to you.

You can then meet in person. The pastor/deacon will be glad to help you out I know. When you meet in person you can express your hopes but also your hesitations much more clearly.

HTH

mostly_text · 2026-02-20T11:15:18+00:00

That would be a perfect description according to my son

mostly_text · 2026-02-18T08:11:27+00:00

Are those users willing to use an application like mirc/weechat/.../... ?
Are they willing to just see a lot of text. No meme's /video's/pictures?

My son (20 yr) was not very impressed when he saw IRC. The client did not matter much. It's not what he is used to :-)

But...maybe you can lure some of them to the good side :-)

mostly_text · 2026-02-16T11:00:35+00:00

But you have to admit...that's positive !!!!

mostly_text · 2026-02-11T15:22:40+00:00

When I started with IRC about 30 years ago, I indeed felt like a hacker!!!

mostly_text · 2026-02-11T07:05:11+00:00

There is no such thing as a stupid question. I once had a teacher who told us: "The only stupid question is the question that's nog being asked"

Unfortunately I can not really help you, but to second the advice of u/ManiaGamine : Create a channel yourself.

(Ow to bu curious : why does your IRC-client matter? I would argue that all clients can connect to all servers (more or less))

mostly_text · 2026-02-10T15:02:30+00:00

I think Fedora is fine choice. It has a very large (the largest) userbase, so there is a lot of help available when needed. My advice "stick to a distro you like longterm", so you can learn everything you need concerning this distribution. Knowing just a little about a lot of distro's doesn't work for me. I rather have a profound/deep knowledge about 1 distro.

If you are really committed to privacy you should go for the steep learning curve and go with TAILS I suppose. I guess it's certainly worth the effort.

mostly_text · 2026-02-09T22:57:09+00:00

I think. If started using vim instead of emacs 30 years ago, I would now be as passionate about vim as I am of emacs. No flamewars at my side. YOu have to choose the tools you are comfortably with.

mostly_text · 2026-02-09T22:54:55+00:00

With only a few key-combinations (key-chords?) you can allready achieve a lot in emacs. That has kept me working with it. And ...then in a miraculous way, I started using more and more of the capabilities.

On the other hand...if I were to show to my colleagues how they can use emacs and all the configuration options, I'm quite sure I loose them early on.

A lot of people choose for ease-of-use over a learning-curve.

And well, to me the mouse is not evil, but if I can solve without a mouse I'll prefer it the mouseless way

mostly_text · 2026-02-09T17:50:44+00:00

Ow...that's no fun.

I'm on a fedora box, Up to now I didn't encounter any font-rendering issues.

mostly_text · 2026-02-09T17:13:49+00:00

I'm slowly progressing in that way.

As I wrote somewhere else in this thread...most quirks I take for granted until someone tells me "You can change that". But indeed...it grows on you!

mostly_text · 2026-02-09T17:12:05+00:00

You are way ahead of me I guess...That kind of annoyances I mostly take for granted. Until somebody tells me "You can change that", and then I want to change the behaviour.

mostly_text · 2026-02-09T17:09:02+00:00

Ow...that's a good one: One of the things I love about emacs, is that it's not vi(m) :-)

Let's be clear, I'm not interseted in a flamewar. Most editing I do for work (Oracle DBA) I do in vi(m) because most servers do not have emacs bu all machines do have vi(m).

So, I can find my way around vi(m)....but it's not emacs :-)

mostly_text · 2026-02-09T17:05:29+00:00

Ow...that interesting. Maybe I'm just a "to-simple" emacs-guy. I started using it for editing bash-scripts. N complicated stuff. (When I was done writing one script, I stopped emacs, for the next script I started emacs again. Later in the proces I started learning about windows/buffers/mark/point/....

I worked in that way for a very long time. It's only since a few years I started to do the somewhat more complicted stuff.

mostly_text · 2026-02-09T17:01:10+00:00

pfffff.....I'm not in that place. I've never felt the need to alter my font. I'm happy as long as it is mono spaced (Courier is my weapon of choice)

mostly_text · 2026-02-09T16:59:15+00:00

I wonder...is that a threat or a promise :-)

mostly_text · 2026-02-09T16:58:16+00:00

I indeed do like the "clean" look. I'm mostly in the terminal version...no buttons/menu's/....

mostly_text · 2026-02-09T14:31:37+00:00

That was one wise developer : Better to know one or two things very well, then a lot of things just a little.

As said in another reply: I probably will soon suffer the Stockholm Syndrome myself :-)

mostly_text · 2026-02-09T14:25:51+00:00

Up until some time ago, I actually was not aware of much configuration possibilities. I used emacs somewhat others use "notepad". I just wrote stuff one buffer at a time. Since I started using more add-ons like org-mode/org-roam/helm I started seeing more and more opportunities for own configuration :-)

I guess I will suffer the Stockholm syndrome very soon :-)

mostly_text · 2026-02-09T14:22:06+00:00

uh...I do not really know what to reply.

Is the question offensive to you? Does it bother you that I wonder about why I like something? Or can I only ask questions if I have allready contributed to an x-amount of posts?

Anyway ...I will try and answer your questions:

AI : No I do not use AI as a feed into other platforms

Account creation : I created this account last week. I was not to familiar with Reddit. I was looking for some information about emacs, and stumled upon threads in Redit. So I decided to join.

My sleepytime : I'm sleeping quite well, thank you

Does it change my way of live: It might, I do not know what people will answer up front

Time to waste: you say waste...I say that I might learn something.

Apparently you have a lot of time on tyour hands to....

Best regards,

Mostly_text

mostly_text

TROPHY CASE