Hi, I’m Benedikt

Welcome to this obscure spot of the interweb that I call mine own!

This is where I write up thoughts, observations, notes for myself and/or others and the like. If you want to get to talking to me about anything I write, there is a “Reply by Email” button at the end of each post. If you’d like to suggest changes, you can use the respective button above each post, it will lead you to the repository where the code for this site is hosted where you can file an issue. You can also hit me up on mastodon and yell at me there.

How To: Find Which Package Provides a Given File

Don’t you just hate it when you’re in your terminal and want to run some commands, only to discover that you don’t have the appropriate package installed (yet)? Maybe you recently reinstalled your machine and haven’t fully set it up yet or there is a mismatch between your personal and work machine. Whatever the case, you quickly want to install the package and get on with it. But what if the name of the command isn’t the name of the package?...

First Impression of the Steam Deck

I received my Steam Deck two weeks ago after a wait of roughly half a year. Thus, I wanted to write a blog entry to jot down my first impressions of the device. If you don’t know anything about it yet: the Steam Deck is a PC running a fork of Arch Linux with a read-only file system in the form factor of a handheld console. It’s tightly integrated with the Steam platform and offers a gaming mode in which you can seamlessly buy, install, manage and play games from your library....

How To: Remove DRM from eBooks

A while ago I bought an eBook reader. I figured it’s a smart investment because the shelves at my place are almost full. Also, this would let me carry my whole library with me at all times so I have to carry less. Buying new books should also be easier because I don’t have to order them and wait but can just download them instantly. What’s not to like? Sure, there’s something to be said for holding an actual paperback in your hands but I think the benefits outweigh the disadvantages, at least for me....

First Impression of GrapheneOS on New Phone

I recently decided to get a new phone. The old one (a ShiftPhone 6m) wasn’t that old yet, I only bought it 2.5 years ago but it was already running on Android 8.1 which is no longer supported. I could have waited for the manufacturer to maybe provide more support in the future but it seemed doubtful to me this would actually happen. As I understand it, the biggest roadblock for this was the CPU, a Mediathek one, for which the manufacturer apparently doesn’t provide support or something of the sort....

Working efficiently with my MacBook Air

I’ve changed jobs recently so I no longer had access to my trusty ThinkPad T490 running Ubuntu anymore. Instead, I was provided with a brand new MacBook Air. I’ve got to admit, I’ve always liked the look and feel of these machine (from the outside that is) but I’ve never used one myself, barring messing around with it in the local electronics shop. With that said, I had some concerns with being able to work with this thing efficiently because I was so used to my Linux setup....