Omarchy Stories

Basti

Omarchy Stories — A signal from nowhere. This is a transmission by the community, for the community. Omarchy is beautiful, fun & agentic Linux — opinionated by DHH, but yours to command. And behind every install there's a story: the developer who stopped renting their workflow from Cupertino, the tinkerer who vibed their way through an alteration nobody thought possible, the stubborn fix that became community knowledge overnight. Omarchy Stories broadcasts those people. Each episode is a field report from someone in command — what they escaped, what they changed, what they fixed, and what the next Omarch can learn from it. No gatekeepers, no marketing filter, no permission required. If you have an interesting Omarchy story, this is your platform. Because that's the whole point: when something breaks, nobody here waits for Apple or Microsoft to allow the fix. Someone finds it. Someone shares it. Everybody moves faster. The community is the signal. Tune in. We can fix everything.

Episodes

  1. 5d ago

    009 Joel Gaff, Jr. - AI Coding: Are We Shipping Faster and Learning Less?

    AI can help you ship faster. But are you still learning to build software you understand and can maintain? In Omarchy Stories 009, Basti sits down with Joel Gaff Jr., a Ruby on Rails developer, former Ironman race director, and creator of Rails Guild and Omarchy Guild. They explore the trade-offs between AI-assisted coding and learning by doing, the hidden costs of maintaining AI-built apps, and what happens to small SaaS businesses when software becomes easier to copy. Beyond the code, they talk about the people behind Rails and Omarchy, building tools for yourself, and finding the confidence to share your work. From a train crossing an Ironman bike course to publishing before you feel ready, this is a conversation about learning, adapting, and getting things out into the world. IN THIS EPISODE • Learning Rails hands-on while AI changes how software is built • Shipping faster without losing understanding of your code • AI-generated software, maintenance, token costs, and small SaaS products • Omarchy, Linux devices, and agents that automate everyday workflows • Rails Guild, Omarchy Guild, and the value of welcoming communities • Imposter syndrome, building in public, and choosing done over perfect 🔗🔗🔗 LINKS 🔗🔗🔗 Basti https://basti.net https://x.com/bastidotnet ‪https://www.youtube.com/@bastidotnet‬ Omarchy Stories https://omarchystories.org https://x.com/omarchystories https://www.youtube.com/@OmarchyStories Joel Gaff, Jr. https://x.com/joelga https://joelgaff.com ⏱️⏱️⏱️ CHAPTERS ⏱️⏱️⏱️ 00:00 Welcome and time zones 00:43 Meet Joel Gaff Jr. 03:56 Endurance sports and the time commitment 04:19 A train on the bike course 07:23 From race directing to Rails development 09:18 Learning Rails without AI 11:44 Understanding your code and your product 12:47 Learning deeply vs. shipping faster 14:14 What AI means for small SaaS products 16:42 Maintenance, token costs, and AI economics 20:07 Can AI-built apps be maintainable? 21:35 Discovering tools built around Omarchy 22:57 The Omarchy community and Basti’s Linux journey 26:02 Where Omarchy could go next 27:24 Omarchy on mobile and Linux-first devices 31:46 AI agents and workflow automation 34:32 How AI changed Basti’s focus 35:29 Building screencasting and livestreaming tools 38:12 Omarchy Guild and Rails Guild 41:40 Rails World, DHH’s keynote, and the Ruby community 47:01 Overcoming fear and imposter syndrome 49:22 Podcasting and learning by publishing 53:14 Personal branding and the fear of judgment 54:40 Done is better than perfect Omarchy Stories — the podcast from the community, for the community.

  2. Oct 21

    008 Alexander Zeitler - Running a Manufacturing Company on Omarchy & AI Agents

    What happens when a manufacturing company stops accepting vendor lock-in and rebuilds its workflow around open tools, AI agents, and event sourcing? Basti talks with Alexander Zeitler, a software veteran who runs a 10-person manufacturing business on Linux and Omarchy. After discovering he couldn't access his own data in a legacy ERP, he used Claude to extract it and started replacing siloed workflows with a system he actually controls. In this episode: • Why "owning" your data means nothing if you can't use it • FreeCAD, OpenSCAD, Python and Rails in real manufacturing workflows • Building products from parameters, not proprietary CAD • Generating decision records, risk assessments and docs from reusable blocks • GitHub issues as event streams, with agents that reason before they code • A second AI review layer for every code change • Why event sourcing matters more in an AI-assisted world 🔗🔗🔗 LINKS 🔗🔗🔗 Basti https://basti.net https://x.com/bastidotnet  @bastidotnet  Omarchy Stories https://omarchystories.org https://x.com/omarchystories  @OmarchyStories  Alexander Zeitler https://www.waltergmbh.de/ https://x.com/lxztlr ⏱️⏱️⏱️ CHAPTERS ⏱️⏱️⏱️ 00:00 Intro to Alexander Zeitler 00:32 From childhood programming to web development 02:20 Business software, not private computing 05:26 Why the company moved away from legacy software 08:20 Using Claude to extract data from an inaccessible database 10:24 Data ownership and control 12:18 Why Omarchy fits a changing engineering workflow 14:16 Rethinking CAD as parameters, math and scripting 17:10 The limits of proprietary collaboration tools 18:09 Building a full process from ideation to shipping 22:56 Documentation, compliance and safety requirements 24:46 From Markdown to a structured document system 26:10 Component-based documentation generation 27:10 Learning Rails while reviewing agent output 28:10 Why event sourcing beats CRUD 33:16 AI memory, speed and context loss 35:31 GitHub issues as a controlled agent workflow 39:10 A second agent for code review 40:27 What new engineers still need to learn 42:26 Domain-driven design and event modeling basics 45:29 End-to-end thinking and edge cases 47:54 Event sourcing the agent workflow itself 48:53 Lower stress, more parallelism, better reasoning 50:43 Closing thoughts "If I can't access the data in my own company, I cannot make decisions." – Alexander Zeitler

  3. Oct 7

    006 Eduardo Martinez - Bringing Omarchy to the Mac

    Eduardo Martinez is a 22-year-old engineer bringing Omarchy to the Mac while using AI to build nearly everything around him. He explains how he created Try Omarchy to make Omarchy easy to test, why virtualization beats dual-boot for most users, and what it takes to get Touch ID, the Touch Bar, webcams, and video acceleration working on unsupported hardware. If you're curious about Omarchy, reverse engineering, or what becomes possible when deep technical intuition meets frontier AI models, this one goes deep fast. Eduardo also walks through his development stack, from Codex to Zed, and explains why he believes the way we build software is changing in real time. Eduardo started coding at 12, did full-stack work at 14, studied at 42 school, and moved through startups, side projects, and AI automation. That background gives him a sharp view on the difference between learning to code and learning to build software, especially now that agents carry so much of the workload. Basti pushes on the bigger question: what should future engineers actually learn, and what still matters when AI handles most of the implementation? The result is a practical, forward-looking conversation about software, hardware, and the pace of change. LINKS: Basti https://basti.net https://x.com/bastidotnet https://www.youtube.com/@bastidotnet Omarchy Stories https://omarchystories.org https://x.com/omarchystories https://www.youtube.com/@omarchystories Eduardo Martinez https://x.com/martiano https://github.com/themartiano https://github.com/omacom/try-omarchy https://omarchy-mx-mac.org CHAPTERS: 00:00 Introduction: Eduardo and the Omarchy Project 00:34 Eduardo's Background and Building Try Omarchy 01:39 How to Try Omarchy on a Mac 03:21 Benefits of Running Omarchy Virtualized 03:52 Touch Bar and Touch ID Support 05:03 Reverse Engineering Apple Hardware 06:48 Virtualization, USB Devices, and Video Acceleration 07:26 Using AI for Development and Research 08:36 Eduardo's AI Coding Setup and Workflow 10:17 Focus, Multitasking, and Working Across Projects 12:25 Learning to Code: Eduardo's Early Career 15:04 The 42 Programming School Experience 17:12 Should People Still Learn to Code? 22:16 Hiring Builders in the AI Era 25:29 Software Factories and Multi-Agent Workflows 28:08 Basti's AI-Assisted Development Workflow 33:16 Local AI Models vs. Cloud-Based Models 35:30 How Far AI Coding Capabilities Can Go 37:49 Comparing AI Models on Real Product Builds 41:28 Closing Thoughts on Omarchy and the Future

  4. Sep 30

    005: Dan Wahlin - AI Makes Starting Easy. How Do You Actually Ship?

    What does it take to build well when AI can write the code? Dan Wahlin joins Basti to talk about Omarchy, learning Linux, and why technical knowledge still matters when you work with AI agents. Dan shares the story behind Learn Omarchy and how he used AI tools to build an interactive way to practice desktop shortcuts. Together, they explore how agents help troubleshoot hardware and driver issues, where human judgment remains essential, and why understanding architecture and security helps you steer an agent toward better results. The conversation also covers the future of junior developers, finding focus when every idea feels possible, and creating opportunities through open source, meetups, and sharing your work. From customizing a Linux desktop to spotting everyday business problems worth solving, this episode is about turning curiosity into useful projects—and actually finishing them. In this episode: - Getting comfortable with Omarchy and its keyboard-driven workflow - Building Learn Omarchy with AI assistance - Why software fundamentals still matter for junior developers - Building in public and showing what you can do - Finding practical product ideas and staying focused enough to ship 🔗🔗🔗 LINKS 🔗🔗🔗 Basti https://basti.net https://x.com/bastidotnet https://www.youtube.com/@bastidotnet Dan Wahlin https://x.com/DanWahlin https://blog.codewithdan.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/danwahlin https://www.youtube.com/@danwahlin Omarchy Stories https://omarchystories.org https://x.com/OmarchyStories https://www.youtube.com/@omarchystories ⏱️⏱️⏱️ CHAPTERS ⏱️⏱️⏱️ 00:00 Getting started 00:40 Meet Dan Wahlin 02:13 Why Linux desktop finally clicked 05:05 Troubleshooting hardware with AI agents 08:23 The idea behind Learn Omarchy 13:13 Focus, side projects, and execution 15:29 AI, education, and junior developers 22:35 Standing out through visible work 31:24 Handling criticism and building community 41:54 Hardware experiments and Linux possibilities 45:10 Dan’s ESP32 project 47:36 Finding business problems worth solving 52:41 Publishing, contributing, and finishing projects 56:08 Closing thoughts

  5. Sep 23

    004: Bjarne Øverli - Omarchy Core Team

    What makes computing fun again? In episode 004 of Omarchy Stories, Bjarne Øverli joins the conversation to talk about Linux, creative side projects, and finding a community you want to build with. A self-taught developer, CTO at Unite AS, and member of the Omarchy Core team, Bjarne shares his journey from early Linux and BSD experiments to helping shape Omarchy. We explore the balance between an opinionated setup and the freedom to make your computer your own—and what everyday life on the core team looks like. We also dig into Thema, CLIAMP, and the appeal of bringing Winamp nostalgia to the terminal. From radio streams and the pirate-radio spirit behind Omarchy Stories to AI in the operating system and meeting fellow builders at Omacon, this episode is about the tools and people that make technology personal. Bjarne also reflects on learning by doing, finding his own path into the industry, and sharing projects publicly before feeling fully ready. Follow Omarchy Stories for more conversations with the people building and shaping the community. 🔗🔗🔗 LINKS 🔗🔗🔗 Basti https://basti.net https://x.com/bastidotnet Bjarne Øverli https://x.com/iamdothash https://contextowl.co Omarchy Stories https://omarchystories.org https://x.com/OmarchyStories https://www.youtube.com/@OmarchyStories ⌚⌚⌚ CHAPTERS ⌚⌚⌚ 00:00 Welcome and meet Bjarne Øverli 01:02 Becoming a self-taught developer 02:41 Life as CTO at Unite and Norway’s media industry 04:21 Discovering Omarchy 06:33 Early Linux distributions and BSD experiments 08:06 Freedom, control, and a practical Linux setup 09:07 Omarchy for development and security research 10:09 The idea of an Omarchy phone 11:12 Themes, Thema, and contributing to the community 16:16 CLI-AMP: Winamp nostalgia in your terminal 17:49 Radio streams and Omarchy Radio 18:55 Omarchy Stories and its pirate-radio roots 21:00 Life on the Omarchy core team 24:18 A growing community and finding podcast guests 27:26 Hacker nostalgia and the joy of computing 29:32 AI as part of the operating system 32:15 Omacon: community, talks, and meeting people 37:05 How Bjarn joined the Omarchy core team 39:15 Starting a podcast, making videos, and putting yourself out there 42:57 Closing thoughts and the next Omacon

  6. Sep 16

    003: Jankees van Woezik - Omarchy Plugins and Indie Maker

    Omarchy Stories 003: Jankees van Woezik In this episode of Omarchy Stories, Basti sits down with Jankees to talk about software development, AI-assisted building, plugins, security, and where coding is headed. Jankees walks through his path from early web development and system administration into building tools, running a company, and writing plugins for Omarchy. Along the way, the two get into what responsible AI use actually looks like in practice, why taste and fundamentals still matter, how children learn best by experimenting, and how AI might reshape work, education, privacy, and software engineering. They also cover Omarchy Kids, screen time philosophy, teaching programming to children, building a startup with AI, the developer community, and practical security research. Links https://x.com/jankeesvw https://jankeesvw.com https://x.com/bastidotnet https://omarchystories.org Chapters 00:00 Introduction: Meeting Jankees 03:08 From System Administration to Software Development 05:49 Discovering Omarchy and Building Plugins 08:37 AI, Plugins, and Security 11:53 Building Tools to Solve Your Own Problems 14:36 The Future of Software Engineering and AI 17:51 Fundamentals, Taste, and Human Creativity 20:18 AI-Assisted Design and Creative Experimentation 23:15 Omarchy Kids and Teaching Children to Build 25:23 Screen Time, Trust, and Parenting 36:00 Preparing Kids for the Future of Work 38:48 AI in Business, Privacy, and Regulation 42:20 Building an AI Startup 43:49 Marketing Through Building in Public 46:31 Developer Communities, Rails, and WordPress 50:00 Security Research and Responsible AI Use 54:51 Collaboration, Funding, and the AI Ecosystem 56:22 Virtual Machines, Local AI, and Security Work

  7. Sep 4

    001: Mehmet Ince - Omarcy Security Team

    In the first episode of Omarchy Stories, I'm joined by Mehmet Ince from the Omarchy Security Team. We talk about how he found his way into cybersecurity and what still draws him to vulnerability research — the kind of work where you keep digging until something gives. Mehmet shares what his role on the security team looks like and how the team works internally: how closely they collaborate, and how much learning happens along the way. We get into the impact of AI on vulnerability research, open source culture, and how vulnerabilities get reported — including what it means when one of them hits the entire Linux ecosystem. From there we look at the particular challenges in the Postgres ecosystem, the wider cybersecurity landscape, and Mehmet's view that security is above all a path of learning and exploration that never really ends. We close on what makes Omarchy what it is — the innovation coming out of the community, and the excitement and engagement behind it. Omarchy Stories — the podcast from the community, for the community. Takeaways Passion for cybersecurity from a young ageImpact of AI on vulnerability research Open source culture fosters contributions to the Linux ecosystem.Vulnerability research in the Postgres ecosystem presents security challenges. https://x.com/mdisec https://mehmetince.net/part-1-6-systemic-risks-in-the-managed-postgresql-industry-extension-risks-are-real-exploiting-postgis-memory-corruption-bug-at-neondb-supabase-and-many-more/ Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Cybersecurity01:01 Early Years and Passion for Cybersecurity02:15 Professional Journey in Cybersecurity03:15 Exploring Linux and Vulnerability Research04:18 Joining Omarchi and Security Team05:35 Impact of AI on Vulnerability Research15:49 Internal Workings and Reporting Process21:33 Collaboration and Learning in the Team23:54 Open Source Culture and Dependencies24:53 Vulnerability Reporting and Mitigation25:50 Contributions to the Linux Ecosystem26:56 Rapid Decision-Making and Experience28:34 Vulnerability Research in Postgres Ecosystem29:56 Challenges in Postgres Ecosystem Security31:23 Cybersecurity Landscape and Impact33:58 Getting Started in Cybersecurity37:24 Journey of Learning and Exploration39:33 Community Innovation and Excitement42:36 Omachii Culture and Community Engagement

About

Omarchy Stories — A signal from nowhere. This is a transmission by the community, for the community. Omarchy is beautiful, fun & agentic Linux — opinionated by DHH, but yours to command. And behind every install there's a story: the developer who stopped renting their workflow from Cupertino, the tinkerer who vibed their way through an alteration nobody thought possible, the stubborn fix that became community knowledge overnight. Omarchy Stories broadcasts those people. Each episode is a field report from someone in command — what they escaped, what they changed, what they fixed, and what the next Omarch can learn from it. No gatekeepers, no marketing filter, no permission required. If you have an interesting Omarchy story, this is your platform. Because that's the whole point: when something breaks, nobody here waits for Apple or Microsoft to allow the fix. Someone finds it. Someone shares it. Everybody moves faster. The community is the signal. Tune in. We can fix everything.

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