My StarBook Horizon is here! Now to explore elementary OS and the device itself.
| Pronouns | He/Him |
| Site | https://www.merrell.dev |
| GitHub | https://github.com/smerrell |
Sam Merrell
- 67 Followers
- 293 Following
- 23 Posts
Tinkerer. Parent. ADHD. Developer.
My new laptop from @starlabssystems Arrives today! I’m really excited to try it out. I’ll be giving @elementary a try as well. It’s the first time using Linux full time in over 15 years.
One of those days where anxiety and stress got the better of me. Had to take the day off from work.
Sue is Writing Solarpunk 🌞🌱Boss, it's the fascism.
(Literal note in my journal today: "I’m struggling with short-term memory (which happens when I’m stressed) and that’s part of why I’m keeping the journal.")
I’m not too annoyed at the 1Password price increase itself but I am annoyed by one thing in the announcement. I personally haven’t seen any updates to 1Password in the last few years improve my experience. Instead the apps have gotten less stable and slower. I used to enthusiastically pay for 1Password, I don’t feel enthusiastic about it anymore.
E-ink displays are one of the few pieces of technology I still find magical. I've been wanting to make an E-Ink Calendar display for my family's calendar and managed to get something working over my New Year break: https://www.merrell.dev/using-the-pimoroni-inkyframe-as-a-google-calendar-display/
Using the Pimoroni InkyFrame as a Google Calendar Display
After a year and a half of off-and-on work, I’ve finally gotten my E-Ink Calendar project in a working state. Since it took me so long, I wanted to document a bit about how it works and some of the things I learned while working on it. First, though, some explanation for why I started this project in the first place. I have a large family—5 kids—with children ranging from their late teens to kindergarten age. With such a large family we have a lot of events on our calendar: doctor or dentist appointments, school events, after school event, etc. My spouse expertly uses a large whiteboard calendar to keep track of all the events, but one major struggle I’ve had is making sure the events we have in our shared Google calendar are easily visible to everyone (by everyone I mostly mean me).
Moving across the country last May was… a lot. But now that we’re settled in more here’s some thoughts on good albums I listened to in 2025.
2025 Album Reviews
A little into 2026, but 2025 was a busy year and I’m only barely getting back into things. Here are some quick reviews of albums that I enjoyed in 2025! I’m still doing my best to purchase more music and support artists more directly, slowly building up my album collection and I fully intend on doing more of that in 2026. Perverts - Ethel Cain Favorite Track: Pulldrone I hadn’t listened to Ethel Cain’s previous albums but this one pulled me in when I saw there are four songs that are over ten minutes long. I love the dark, droning and unsettling vibe the album creates. This feels like the back half of Preacher’s Daughter expanded to a full length album.
Amherst is really pretty in the winter. Still adjusting to the cold but it’s nice I can get out on the rail trail so easily. #WesternMass
Dgar
Star Trek Minus Context