throwaway403

u/throwaway403@programming.dev
1 posts · 28 comments

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Beyond none of its branches actually satisfying my preferences, I feel like the way it handles major version upgrades is way too involved. I suppose it makes sense; it's paying back the accumulated debt of a couple years worth of bliss...

Having said that, my experience on Fedora Atomic is (almost) equally blissful without requiring any of that whenever a major version update strikes.

Don't get me wrong; I definitely do believe Debian has its uses on desktop Linux. But I can't shake off the feeling that they're definitely more niche compared to say Fedora.

For posterity's sake:

  • I'd like to thank everyone. However, I didn't quite get the feedback I was hoping for. Perhaps these wallets are too niche. I don't know...

In the end, the reqs found below only yielded Frenchie Co.'s Speed Wallet Mini - Aroma Collection (with Essentials Pocket). So, it became the wallet I ultimately decided upon.

  • Semi-perimeter ≤ 163mm and Depth ≤ 30mm (Both of these values are data-informed to justify the wallet as compact)
  • Capacity floor of:
    • 7 cards
    • some amount of 160 x 77 (in mm) bills - which will be straight inserted without requiring pre-folds or causing wrinkles
    • some amount of coins
  • Still in production
  • Presence of third party clout. Basically; do people talk about it on the internet
  • Contained bills shouldn't be exposed when handling cards or coins
  • Sane handling only; for reference, both TROVE Cash Wrap and Slimpuro Znap fail this
  • No prone-to-yellowing ID windows
  • At least one premium/quick access slot from where a card can be pulled (and reinserted) with the wallet closed
  • Selective RFID; shields the bank card, lets a transit card tap through a closed wallet. Full RFID kills the tap; zero RFID forces sleeves on the cards you do want shielded

FWIW, I wouldn't be surprised if a subset of the above would already be sufficient to single out Frenchie.

Do your pants have a change pocket?

Hehe, most of them do. So, I suppose I got my answer. I'm not sure how robust it is, though. Perhaps I should buy pants that do a better job at keeping it shut.

I hadn't heard of them yet. Looks cool. Thanks for mentioning it.

Though, I wasn't able to find any of their offering that provides a solution to both:

  • carrying coins
  • fitting/inserting bills unfolded

Do you happen to know if they sell any wallets that satisfy both requirements?

Yeah you’re right, don’t think they do because of the unfolded requirements,

Yup, I believe that's the primary culprit.

The push towards minimalist wallets has produced plenty of innovation and I'd say has been great overall. But it's a pity that folding bills has pretty much become a given across the board 😭. Which, I suppose is somewhat expected as it's quite straining on the design space.

Thank you for your thoughts!

Coin capacity is highly overrated.

I personally agree with this.

You put your wallet in a pocket. Coins can also go in the pocket. You still have to dig around to find the right number of coins for the task, regardless of which method you choose.

But the idea of loose objects in my pocket doesn't sit well with me. Perhaps it's a me-issue; I only use my front pockets. Ever. So, the coins would (probably) reside together with other objects: could be phone, keys, or wallet. The thought that coins may slip/come out of my pocket whenever I'm grabbing something else horrifies me. It's not even about the unnecessary loss of money, but the fact that my EDC doesn't provide a robust solution to it.

I'm somewhat of a perfectionist. Hence, I'd rather be over-prepared instead of under-prepared. Even if this causes friction with minimalism. Thankfully, a wallet like say Frenchie Co.'s Speed Wallet Mini proves to me that a minimal coin pocket shouldn't be too much to ask.

Don’t underestimate the value of RFID blocking.

I used to be a die-hard RFID fan. But Walletopia's videos on the topic led me to believe it's more nuanced. However, I wouldn't be surprised if my understanding is still severely lacking. So please feel free to educate me 🙂.

FWIW, all the wallets mentioned in the post offer RFID in some capacity.


Regarding your thoughts on card storage areas, they do resonate with me. I believe this is somewhat reflected in the shortlist:

  • STUDIUM timik basically has two pockets/slots for cards. One of which is supposed to work as a quick access slot, the other is larger and is able to contain like half a dozen cards or so.
  • The Frenchie Co.'s Speed Wallet Mini doesn't even have single-card pockets/slots. Instead, it has two high-duty pockets/slots that demand three cards each.

I believe this is the primary reason why they can have such a small footprint while being very thin still. (The EXENTRI Multiwallet has a considerably larger footprint than both. Allett Coin Wallet 2.0's footprint is even massive.)


The bigger the wallet capacity the more you will fill it. You really don’t need all those cards.

I agree. Currently, there are only 4 (type of) cards I'd like to carry:

  • Bank cards
  • Public transit cards
  • Identification cards
  • Tracker cards

And it's very much possible that I'll only carry one of each. Tracker cards are thicker than regular cards, though. So, effectively, even with just one of each, it'll be as if I'm carrying ~5-6 cards.

The one downside of this is that your basic two panel elastic wallet kind of sucks for cash. But I don’t use a lot of cash anymore.

I still need my cash 😜. But thanks for mentioning it!

You can’t however make it use other init system or other DE/WM.

You're AFAIK correct on the bold part. But definitely not on the strike-through part. You're probably only limited by your creativity and the effort you're willing to put into it:

I have snapper and pika backing up, so in a few minutes all is back to normal, so the main selling point of atomic/immutable distro is kind of irrelevant to me

FWIW, openSUSE literally pioneered the above workflow with Tumbleweed. But that didn't prevent them from developing openSUSE MicroOS (and its desktop-adjacent siblings). So, unless openSUSE has absolutely no clue on what they're doing, there is more to it than that. Even if 'that something' isn't relevant for you (yet).

RFID protection is often present in wallets, and it would be helpful

Thank you for mentioning this! FWIW, all of the wallets mentioned in the post offer RFID (in some capacity).

I have other places to keep coins

Like where 😜? Looking for inspiration on a robust solution.

https://bellroy.com/

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I've come to the following conclusions regarding Bellroy:

  1. IIRC, only their Note Sleeve fits the bill (pun intended).
  2. IIRC, reports on quality are mixed; i.e. not everyone is fond of it.

Though, I suppose All The Wallets' review is at least promising regarding the Note Sleeve's long-term durability. So, I'll grant it the benefit of doubt and put it on the shortlist. Thank you for mentioning it!

Btw, how have your experiences been with Bellroy wallets?

Do you have any ideas why the difference in RAM usage is so stark and how I could further investigate?

Assuming this is a minimal install of Arch, that's kinda the point. Furthermore, I wouldn't be surprised if Asahi isn't fully optimized yet.

Aight. Understood. Thank you!

In your case, I'd propose something like NixOS then. As your full system configuration can be contained within a (set of) config file(s), the very same ones you use to install/config stuff, a reinstall just becomes very easy. Heck, if you're willing to embrace the "Erase your darlings"-lifestyle, then I don't even think you'd ever feel the need for a reinstall. Because, frankly, the clean slate is just a reboot away.

EDIT: Perhaps Guix System is also worth considering as an alternative to NixOS*.

EDIT2: If you still want to explore other distros, then it's worth noting that nix, i.e. NixOS' package manager, is available on most distros and offers a lot of the benefits already. Like, you could configure your system using it, and then use that config on another distro to get your config back. Good stuff.