Planning a Video Series That Drives Message Home

by Mike Levin

I’ve done a 3 videos in a row using Google Sheets. Feedback has been good. I can distil my message down very effectively in that format, and I’m sure reach a broader audience than with my long rambling format. I still like not editing video. Even this format, I generally do in one take. Life’s too short to edit video, unless you’re sincerely trying to make a living off it. I’m not. I’m in it for higher levels on the Maslow pyramid of needs, like community and stuff.

The long unedited and unscripted videos still let me just do my work and make videos out of it. But with a little planning, vision and revision, I can reach more people more effectively. Next step is to try getting the best of both worlds, and to push myself forward with a series people can follow. They’ll open up with a script laying out what I’m trying to do and why. Then it’ll do it. It’ll be a good tutorial series for the most important thing in tech, plotting your way off of both Microsoft and Apple systems.

I’ll use YouTube playlists and pages on MikeLev.in to compel people into the correct linear sequence. Yes, think in terms of linear sequences of videos! Think in terms of how to keep people on those linear sequences. Drive up view-times per video and subsequent follow-up views of related videos. Lock ‘em in a chute. Microsoft does it at a massive profiteering level. Why can’t I for some social good? Make a page on the site that lays this all out, both to help me to keep on track and for those in my audience who might be interested.

It will mostly be about settling into Windows 10 (again) and giving it a Linux CLI and getting on vim for daily use with virtual desktops. It’ll start with that PC where I reset it to Windows 10 factory default. Then I’ll move along to a full WSL2 install with fullscreen Terminal (again). We generally have vim loaded on that full-screen for a daily journal. And yes, that’s the main message. I think it seems to be emerging as the main thing, but I’ll have “aside” videos where I:

• Doing Windows Properly (Planning Your Escape)
  • Planning a move to a new home.
  • But we begin on a Windows Laptop, Because Reality Is What It Is (For Now)
  • Settling Into Windows (factory reset of Windows 10)
  • Permitting The Zone / Flow (eliminate distractions)
  • Virtual Desktops / animated transition
  • Full-Screens & Taste of The New Normal
  • Windows 11’s Fatal Flaws (zone blocking)
  • Get Your Arse to Linux
  • 3 Pre-Steps for WSL2 on Windows 10
  • An Elsewhere-box SMB / CIFS file sharing (NAS, if possible)
  • 24x7 Non-Cloud Place to Run Code (LXD host)
• WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux)
  • Making sure it’s WSL2
  • Choosing & switching between Linux Repos
  • Windows Terminal (setting Linux & full-screen defaults)
  • Linux Graphics on Windows 10 (VcXsrv)
  • Chrome automation under Linux Graphics
  • JupyterDesktop under Linux Graphics
• LXD Containers under WSL2
  • Getting systemd running on… Windows Sub-Linux
  • Setting up a pseudo-24x7 server on (dev or staging site)
• Side Sequences
  • Life, Passions & Focus (a discussion)
  • Install ChromeOS Flex on spare PC & spare Mac
  • Show alternate editors like neovim, nvi and emacs
• Programming Projects
  • Heartbeat emails (a 24x7 place to run your code)
  • Site-change monitor & change alerts (recovering my PyPI login)
  • SERP Scraping, Screenshots & DOM-saving
  • Instapaper / Leverage Then Replace

Other topics

• The evolution of an idea from capturing to realizing to iterating
• Pursuit of craft in the field of tech (the tyranny of proprietary)
• The 80/20-rule, “Good Enough” defaults, Choosing vim over emacs
• If you have everything you want, everything else is gravy
• Doing what you love for money without ruining it