Hey creatures critters and cryptids of the EndevaourOS pub.
It’s now been almost a year since I started using Endevaour OS, and more and more often I find myself looking up how to do stuff that I have already done before.
I’ve decided to start keeping a backlog of my own “guides” so I don’t have to go through
“googling → 12+ browser pages → confusion → success” again.
Does anyone else do that? If so, what format/where are you saving them? in your notes app? as plain text files? Do you have a template for writing them? I’m curious
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I document almost everything I do, and for this I use Obsidian + Syncthing + Mega + restic (for backups). 
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Yep. I use my preferred text editor of choice (Kate) to store notes about things I find useful, think I may need, or know I will use again. It always launches with multiple tabs open:
- General commands text file — detailed commands and what they do
- Fish config file — which has all my aliases, including commands from the first file
- i3 config file — in case I need to tweak something real quick
It’s a good idea to also download some manuals and either place them in the config directory for the app or in an “App manuals” directory. This way, you don’t need to generate them (with the man command) or download them (for the ones that don’t have a man page).
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Not really. If I forget how to do something, I either discover a better to do it or rediscover it. I don’t really take notes about anything, as I find it a bit cumbersome.
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I don’t document as often as I should - I like reinventing the same thing over and over I guess.
I did however document the setup of my nfs-nextcloud-vpn server, including its php, wireguard and php-fpm mysql mariadb configs, because that setup took quite some effort. So far I have not needed to use that documentation though - and only by using it one finds out its quality.
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I do make notes sporadically in Obsidian or create a gist on github.
But more often, I just ask ChatGPT 4o.
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I do document almost everything i’ve been through with EOS, how i installed stuff, what i changed in settings, what issues i did have and what software i use
I use LibreOffice and save in doc format (don’t really know why hah)
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I cut and paste all that stuff (if I remember to) and fill a single notepad (gedit) text doc,
In a desktop folder. I call it “Arch Sh**” so I know what it is.
Not one command or fix or how-to is organized, it’s just a big notebook (notepad) of stuff that’s saved my butt with loose narration. Not even necessarily all arch-related----but it’s centralized.
KISS.
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Yes, I keep installation notes/commands etc in .txt format, and also store them on my phone so I can view them on that.
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I find this really valuable. I started doing it early in my career when I was manager of IT at a college, which included building and maintaining FreeBSD servers. It started out as a simple text document, and eventually grew into a sizeable LibreOffice document.
It’s a guide only, so I’m updating (if necessary) when I reference it. It’s valuable in also noting pitfalls to avoid, perhaps from past experiences.
I have a similar doc for Linux based servers, and even one for Arch/EndeavourOS.
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I don’t make notes about anything. I find i learn more by doing things over and over again and having to remember what i did before or figure it out on the fly. The odd time i might copy something down but i usually end up losing track of what i did with it or i wipe it out with a reinstall sometimes. I’m not one to keep thousands of files or backups of anything. I don’t think one remembers much if they always read it form notes and don’t feel it’s a good learning tool. At least for me anyway. I don’t need to know everything or be able to explain it. I just need to be able to do it when needed. 
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Yep, all the time. I have a entire folder full of mark down files. Some sub folders with download html pages, some images, and anything else I found useful on how to do something that I may need to do again.
All of it is located in a folder called How To
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I’ve been thinking for a long time that it would be very useful to have a list like many people have here, I just have interesting topics bookmarked in the forum. There are some very good ideas which would make my life easier.
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“sudo inxi -F > SystemInfo[PC-NAME].txt” for each new installation / new hardware and save this file, plus a simple text file for WiFi-connection and the command to download and install block-tracker https://ajacobsen.github.io/block-tracker/. This file is stored in a separate data-partition on my ventoy-stick.
I use minimal customization, so setup a new system is even possible at 3 AM 
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Not to hijack, but I have been meaning to post a poll/discussion about if people still use hosts file vs iptable rules blocking vs at router vs at firewall vs extensions vs pihole etc etc. Haven’t used a hosts file since Windows daze. So it was interesting to see one…I have considered it for linux…I checked out edit: source’s 4 sources and saw what they blocked.
I think my Umatrix does all this heavy lifting but one can never be sure.
I digress.