Check out the Books page for the story of how this book came to be. After an extended hiatus from book authoring, I couldn’t ask for a more worthwhile topic.

What’s different about Mastodon?

Mastodon differs from corporate social media platforms in these important ways:

• No one owns Mastodon, and anyone can set up a community.
• You are a valued member of the community, not an advertising target.
• There’s no algorithm that decides what you see. Your feed depends solely on who you follow.
• Community and conversation come first, not virality.

What else is in the book?

Chris and I quickly (the book is just 150 pages) walk you through the process of choosing a homebase on Mastodon. You’ll learn how to connect with other users, including your Tweeps who’ve joined the platform. Not sure how to be conversational on social media? We can help you post effectively too.

We tell you how to build a business on Mastodon too. You’ll find that it’s a very different vibe than Twitter, but if you really put your customers first, you’ll do well.

Besides all the good information we provide, you’ll find all the features — and fun — you expect from a For Dummies book. (Confession: With apologies to the publishers I’ve worked with over the years, I’ve always wanted to write one of these. Another bucket list item checked off!)

Working on Mastodon for Dummies

I’m honored to partner with Chris Minnick on this project, and I can tell you he’s a great guy and a writing dynamo! He has called Mastodon for Dummies his “most important” book, and I have to agree with him.

Anyway, if you’re on Mastodon, do give me a follow: @workingwriter. You can also follow MichaelMcCallister.com directly at https://www.michaelmccallister.com/author/mike/.

Let me know if you have questions about the book, Mastodon, or anything else.

The post Mastodon for Dummies welcomes you to the Fediverse appeared first on Michael McCallister.

This week I received the October 2020 issue #268 with BUILD A SMART HOME OFFICE on the cover. Inside was a small, but pleasant surprise. (Note: I may disappoint you with the link; you’ll see a list of the stories, but can’t read them if you’re not a subscriber.)

On the first page of every LXF issue, the five guys (yes, I’m afraid they’re all men) who write most of the magazine’s content answer that month’s “Who We Are” question. This issue’s question was about top tips or tools to help readers to work smarter.

I smiled at Nick Peers’ recommendation:

If, like me, your thoughts and inspirations vanish as quickly as they appear, you need some way of getting them down on (virtual) paper. And what better tool than Joplin (https://joplinapp.org). which ended my years-long quest for a note-taking tool that does it all? Don’t believe me? Check out our tutorial in LXF260…

Nick doesn’t have anywhere near the space to include every critical detail, but I smiled because I wrote the bloody tutorial!

Now a close reading of this little blurb doesn’t say explicitly that my tutorial persuaded him to try Joplin, thus ending “my years-long quest for a note-taking tool that does it all.” But I’m still going to believe that it did.

What is Joplin?

So what is Joplin? Well, it’s a few things:

• An open-source replacement for the commercial note-taker Evernote
• A place to write down all those brilliant ideas you have in your head, but can never seem to act on
• A Markdown editor
• A place to store interesting things you find online, and access with any device you have

Joplin imports your Evernote notebooks after you export them. If your favorite browser supports extensions, Joplin will let you save web pages and articles.

Using Joplin

Here’s the default screen:

You can organize your notes into Notebooks any way you like. Everything is searchable in the search bar at the top of the second column where your note titles live. The editor shows text with Markdown markings showing formatting. If you don’t know Markdown, use the standard text-editor toolbar at the top. Joplin then renders your notes in HTML on the right.

If you don’t need to see both views, press Ctrl+L to toggle that view. If you love to configure software so it’s just right, there’s Tools > Options (or Ctrl+,).

Joplin runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, Android and iOS, so you should be able to take notes and read them everywhere. To do that, however, you need to store them in the cloud. Joplin currently supports NextCloud, Dropbox and OneDrive. Set up your cloud account in Joplin, and click Synchronize to send your notes there.

That’s the quick tour. If you can’t get a copy of Linux Format #260, the Joplin website can help you get started. The Support forum is really good too.

If you have a favorite note-taking app, tell me about it in the Comments.

The post Working with Joplin Notetaker: Better than Evernote? appeared first on Michael McCallister.

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When a hitherto-unknown politician (at least unknown to me) started running ads about her campaign for state assembly, I got curious. This week, I finally silenced the voices in my head by publishing “Who is Robyn Vining? Why is she running ads on TV?”

The story tells you a little bit about her, and some rampant speculation about her reasons for spending campaign money on TV ads, a medium where many more people will see her ads than can vote for her.

FYI: The story isn’t behind a paywall; anyone can read it.

Let me know what you think of this piece, either in the Comments below or on Medium itself. Should I do more of this? If you happen to be an editor and like it, drop me a line. We should probably talk about other things to write about.

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Perhaps you’ve heard of Google’s Season of Code program. Google started Season of Docs in 2019. Here, technical writers and open source organizations meet up and improve a variety of help docs. North American writers who successfully complete their selected project receive a $6000 stipend from Google. Writers in other countries get similar stipends based on their relative cost of living.

The article is something of a condensed version of the program’s own technical writer’s guide. I also offer some advice on how to select a project and complete the application.

GSoD is something I would have loved to get into when I was a baby tech writer. Sadly, Google barely existed when I got started. Today’s Google may not have “Don’t be evil” as a motto anymore, but this is a positive boost for a variety of open source projects. Of course, the ultimate beneficiaries are the users of the software, so it’s good for everyone! By the way, the WordPress doc team is involved, so you can help improve those documents.

Go read the article, go see the final reports from last year’s GSoD, and then start exploring your ideas for improving open source documentation. You have until July 9, 2020 to apply to the program.

Meanwhile, you can find more of my best work for TechWhirl in my portfolio.

The post New Story at TechWhirl: Guide to Google’s Season of Docs appeared first on Michael McCallister.

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On Friday, September 20, 2019 (and the days following), millions of young people and their older allies march out of their workplaces and schools to demand solutions to the Climate Crisis.

They remind us that there are just a few years for humans to solve the problems that fossil fuels have gotten us into. They demand solutions. I stand with them. We need a Just Transition that protects working people, and a Green New Deal to solve the problem.

Want to take part? Visit https://strikewithus.org/ to find an action in your town. At the latest count, there were strike activities planned in over 2500 cities and towns in 162 countries.

Let’s all go to work.

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The other day, I mentioned a problem to an acquaintance. For the purposes of this story, let’s call my acquaintance Sesquipedalian, “characterized by long words; long-winded.” Ple…

Source: take your best advice and give it away – The Maven Game

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GENEVA, March 4, 2019 — Thirty years ago, a young computer expert working at CERN combined ideas about accessing information with a desire for broad

Source: CERN Highlights the 30-Year Anniversary of the Invention of the Internet

Looking forward to this event next week. I wonder if it will be online?

On the morning of 12 March, the Web@30 event at CERN will kick off celebrations around the world. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Robert Cailliau and other Web pioneers and experts will share their views on the challenges and opportunities brought by the Web.

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https://twitter.com/rho_/status/1100484002882949121

Since most of what I know about Beaker is in the story, I want to tell you more about Linux Journal, and why I’m so proud to write for it.

How I learned Linux

I got my first copy of Linux from a PR person from SuSE Linux in 1999. I’d read a press release about a commercial “Linux Office Suite” (not OpenOffice, which didn’t exist yet), and I asked for a review copy. The PR person asked if I needed the operating system too. A week or so later, I got a big box of software and documentation (those were the days!). Only problem was, my computer didn’t have enough power to install the OS. So the CDs sat gathering dust.

A few months later, Corel released its own Linux distribution, which was really just Debian with a decent graphical installer. Since I’d written reviews of WordPerfect in the past, they sent me a copy of Corel Linux, and WordPerfect for Linux. I don’t know whether I’d gotten a better computer, or that the installer was better at handling the hardware I had. Either way, it ran — and I was hooked.

Books and Magazines

A few blocks away from my apartment was a technical bookstore, Softpro Books. This was obviously in the days when you could fill a modestly sized retail space with all kinds of books about computers and the variety of software needed to run them. Not all of them were in the for Dummies line; some of them were Complete Idiot’s Guides. Still others were doorstop-sized technical guides for more advanced users and programmers.

Softpro also carried a ton of print magazines covering the same territory. Not long after I had gotten Corel Linux installed on my machine, I found Linux Journal on a Softpro rack. I brought it home, and almost instantly realized that I barely understood any of it. The stories were about a variety of projects that other Linux users engaged in, and often had a lot to do with the command-line interface. The letters column would debate fine points of syntax and regular expressions. Not to mention sample code that didn’t always work.

It wasn’t long before I also realized that if I was ever going to get off the Microsoft merry-go-round, I’d have to learn a lot more about this OS. After picking up a few more issues, and getting a little more up-to-speed, I subscribed. I never quit, either.

As a writer, I was always a little frightened to propose ideas to the magazine. Eventually, I worked up the courage to do so. LJ rejected most of them, but this one got on to the LJ website (where good stories that didn’t quite make print went) in 2004.

Between the usual trial-and-error way of learning new software, the books I picked up, Linux User Groups, and Linux Journal, I got good enough at Linux that I eventually wrote one of those doorstop guides I mentioned earlier, openSUSE Linux Unleashed.

LJ’s recent history

Linux Journal was the first magazine to focus on Linux and the applications that ran on it. It’s only a year younger than Linux itself and the ecosystem it covers. It has always been an important voice in the Linux community.

As with many print magazines on pretty much any topic, the World Wide Web has wrought a ton of changes in how writers and editors communicate with their readers. LJ’s last print issue came in August 2011, but full issues in various electronic forms (PDF, epub, even mobile apps) continued to come out every month to subscribers.

Since then, subscribers get to see all LJ content first, in a format consistent with a print magazine. Some months later, those stories are published on LinuxJournal.com for everyone’s benefit.

(Not) The End of Linux Journal

We all got a scare at the end of 2017, when the publishers announced that they couldn’t support electronic releases, and that LJ would end. A month later, Private Internet Access opted to fund the electronic version of LJ for another year (at least). LJ, now with Doc Searls as editor-in-chief, would publish without advertising, and continue as a voice for the community.

I wanted to get on board, and sent a bunch of story ideas. To date, the LJ editorial team has accepted every idea I’ve sent (I’m honored, by the way). The Beaker story ran in the December 2018 issue. In January 2019, I wrote some security tips based on the Linux Foundation IT guidelines. I’m working on two other stories now; I’ll tell you about those as they get closer to completion.

The Linux community needs Linux Journal. If you have any interest in the Linux ecosystem, open source software, the Open Web, and similar topics, you really should subscribe, or become a Patron.

Did Linux Journal, or some other magazine, help you learn the technologies you most treasure? What do you think of electronic delivery of “traditional” magazines? Do you subscribe to any magazines or newspapers in whatever form today, or do you just use the Web and/or social networks?

Drop any of your memories and opinions in the Comments section!

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