Open source software and nice hardware

Use Texinfo to create gorgeous PDF files

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 21:29:34 +0100

+++ Tuesday 17 February 2026 +++

Use Texinfo to create gorgeous PDF files
========================================

I have been a fan of Texinfo for quite some time. The option to
link pages, read info pages in the terminal, and the immutability
of the pages, including the ones you have written yourself for
your self, makes this a great information and knowledge system.

Lately I have been generating book-size PDF files with Texinfo
and became an even bigger fan. The resulting PDF is stunningly
beautiful and it only takes a moment to generate.

Texinfo
-------
Texinfo is a documentation system that was developed to write and
publish manuals for GNU software. It pre-dates the development of
HTML by Tim Berners-Lee, but it had already a structured system for
cross references, with what we now call hyperlinks.

Texinfo is the official documentation format of the GNU project. It
is used by many non-GNU projects as well, like ZSH, ledger, and
mutt.

Linux old timers know Texinfo mostly because of the GNU info system.
Software running on Linux often came with a short man page and more
extensive documentation in the info format.

Originally, Texinfo was aimed at printed matter, like books.
It makes use of Tex, similar to LaTeX. It supports several
output formats, from which currently PDF is the most important.

Making use of Tex, it is no wonder that it create stunning, gorgeous
looking output.

Plain text
----------
In the past I have used LaTeX a lot. Just like Texinfo, the source
is written in plain text. When done, the user generates a PDF file
from this.

Both in Texinfo as in LaTeX, the source is semantic. The writer
doesn't have to concern with formatting. No fiddling with font
sizes, bullet sizes, or numbering of chapters and subsections. When
referencing to another element in the work, just insert a reference,
and the system will take care of adding the proper (sub-)section
number and page number.

Using plain text as source format has many advantages, like the ease
of using a versioning system (like Git), the option to use scripts
that generate parts of the document, and so on.

Using plain text also means no anxiety that your Office document,
with hundreds of pages and many hours of work, crashes at a critical
moment.

Surprisingly fast
-----------------
When comparing LaTeX with Texinfo, I don't know if both offer the
same flexibility and versatility. I haven't investigated this,
and my use cases have never required much more than the usual
elements and formatting.

However, what I do have experienced is the difference in speed.
Texinfo is blazingly fast!

I generate a PDF from a Texinfo file with the command

   makeinfo --pdf 

To see how fast it is, I used the command

   time makeinfo --pdf 

On my laptop, when generating a gorgeous looking PDF of a 260 pages
from Texinfo source using this command, `time' reported a total time
of just 2.4 seconds. Totally flabbergasting.

The document includes internal references, a few pictures, an index,
and it starts with a table of content.


Last edited: $Date: 2026/02/17 21:29:34 $

Already midway February

Sat, 14 Feb 2026 15:47:36 +0100

+++ Saturday 14 February 2026 +++

Already midway February
=======================

Already midway February, time surely flies!

Last year I declared February is my personal Pareto Month [1]. Which
means that it is time to pick that up again.

So many things to do, it wouldn't indeed hurt to do some
retrospective on "focusing on the vital few and dropping a big chunk
of the rest".

I haven't been on IRC for ages, I think the last time was about
November last year, something that brings the risk of loosing the
connection with the outside world.

The list of people I follow on the Fediverse could use some cleaning
up, just like the list of RSS feeds I follow. Funny how these things
seems to be growing on their own, a kind of kipple that slowly but
surely takes over your life.

A few weeks ago I started with translating the GNU Emacs Lisp Intro
("A simple introduction to Emacs Lisp programming"), which is quite
a time consuming task for the coming period, there will be less time
for other things.

solderpunk announced OFFLFIRSOCH 2026 [2]. Last year I didn't
participate, so I am thinking about doing that this year.

The weather, gray and cold wind, at least isn't very inviting for
outside activity, so that helps :)


[1]: gopher://box.matto.nl/0/february-as-pareto-month.txt
[2]: gopher://zaibatsu.circumlunar.space/0/~solderpunk/phlog/advance-notice-of-offlfirsoch-2026.txt


Last edited: $Date: 2026/02/14 15:47:36 $

KDE login manager systemd only

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 09:33:04 +0100

+++ Wednesday  4 February 2026 +++

KDE login manager systemd only
==============================

A message in the FreeBSD forum [1] mentions another sad move
from kDE. Recently I wrote about how KDE is going all-in on a
Wayland future [2].

This time it is about a step towards a systemd-only system.

KDE's new Plasma Login Manager is tightly bound to systemd,
making it unusable on systemd-free Linux distributions and
BSD systems.

KDE’s upcoming Plasma Login Manager will make its first
official appearance in Plasma 6.6 (scheduled for release on
February 17), explicitly designed as a successor to the
long-standing SDDM, which has been used by KDE Plasma for
years.

It does not mean you can’t use the KDE Plasma desktop
environment without systemd, but you have the use a different
login manager.

The writing is on the wall. More and more open source software
is moving to systemd-dependency, excommunicating BSD's and
other systemd-free operating systems.


[1]: https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/kde-plasma-login-manager-wont-support-systemd-free-linux-or-bsd-systems.101393/
[2]: gopher://box.matto.nl/0/kde-going-allin-on-a-wayland-future.txt

Last edited: $Date: 2026/02/04 09:33:04 $

Lisp is fun

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 13:56:02 +0100

+++ Friday 23 January 2026 +++

Lisp is fun
===========

Lately I am having lots of fun with Lisp.

After diving into Common Lisp the last years, I have now mostly been
playing with Elisp and Guile Scheme.

Both are nice languages. Working in these environments give the
same feeling.

When some interactivity is needed, I prefer Elisp. Emacs takes care
of the user interface for your Elisp programs.

Guile Scheme is fast.

REPL
----
Programming in Lisp has the advantage of working in the REPL.
The REPL lets you look and work inside your program while it
is running.

Emacs integrates well with each of them.

For Elisp there is IELM, and of course Emacs itself.

For Guile there is Geiser. The experience of working with Geiser and
Guile is like the experience of working with SLIME and Common Lisp.

Just pick one
-------------
If you don't have worked with any Lisp before, just pick one and
get started.

Elisp, Guile Scheme, and Common Lisp are all robust and very capable
environments. These are different languages, and there are small
differences in their syntax.

These are all based on the ideas of Lisp, with the same roots.
Building stuff with them leads to a similar way of thinking.
And lots of fun!


Last edited: $Date: 2026/01/23 13:56:02 $

Digital ad spending USD 710 billion in 2026

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 10:19:02 +0100

+++ Monday  5 January 2026 +++

Digital ad spending USD 710 billion in 2026
===========================================

Today I learned that the global digital ad spending market is
projected to cross USD 700 billion in 2026. [1]
Which is bigger than the GDP of Belgium. [2]

The AI slop will probably add even more to that. Different
sources mentions different amounts, but in 2025 there was
around USD 200 ~ 300 invested in AI. And more to come.

Companies only invest in ads because they think it will
give them some kind of return of investment. Which means
that if they didn't spend it, they would expect lower revenues.

Let's say the mean profit margin is about 25%. Than to earn
back USD 700 billion, the global market has to sell USD 2800
billion. And that is only break-even point, we should
multiply that by some factor.

In the end, this all has to be payed by consumers and tax
payers.

Totally crazy numbers.


[1]: https://www.precedenceresearch.com/digital-ad-spending-market
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29


Last edited: $Date: 2026/01/05 10:19:02 $