tcballard
Records that name tcballard as author. Nothing here is inferred from a screenshot.
Plugins 2
Omarchy TidyUp
Review app files, uninstall native packages, and recover or delete leftover clutter.
Posts 70
Omarchy README Badges
tcballard shares ready-made Omarchy labels for READMEs — grab them from github.com/tcballard/omarchy-badges.
Built for Omarchy · Quattro README Badges
tcballard adds “Built for Omarchy · Quattro” badges to READMEs — a small green mark that the app was built with the desktop in mind.
Omarchy Is Starting to Own the Whole Machine
tcballard’s Fixing Everything installment covers Omarchy’s bespoke kernel stress test, Snapdragon X installer path, Panther Lake camera fix, and pacman updater honesty.
Omarchy Has to Own What It Ships
tcballard’s Fixing Everything piece argues Omarchy must own post-install reality — updates, plugin breakage, and who fixes what — not just arrival on Macs and apps.
Build Omarchy Plugins v0.4.0 Released
tcballard ships Build Omarchy Plugins v0.4.0 with branding, compatibility badges, and better marketplace preflight checks.
Build Omarchy Themes: Agent Skills Companion
After Build Omarchy Plugins, tcballard previews twelve skills to take a visual idea through palettes, wallpapers, and install-ready theme bits.
Tanks Coming to Omarchy Arcade Before v0.2.0
tcballard says the community voted and he is adding Tanks to Omarchy Arcade tonight before v0.2.0 ships.
Explaining Omarchy: Why Apps Involve Packages
tcballard’s Explaining Omarchy walks through apps vs packages vs dependencies, showing how to inspect GIMP’s source, size, and deps without installing.
Today in Omarchy: Kernel Recipes and Build Repair
tcballard’s Today in Omarchy covers kernel recipes landing, a build blocker fixed 34 minutes after merge, plus Mac and Windows releases the same day.
tcballard Killed a Working Omarchy Migration Tool
tcballard scaffolded an Omarchy migration tool with tests passing, then killed it after realizing agent-built software can outrun a real need.
Omarchy Arcade v0.2.0 Ships with Tanks
tcballard ships Omarchy Arcade v0.2.0 with Tanks added to the twelve-game native Omarchy app.
Today in Omarchy: Owned Defaults Replace Borrowed Ones
Tom Ballard’s Explaining Omarchy installment on 4.0.4: Omarchy’s own kernel, AUR recipe syncing removed, and project bin folders no longer auto-enter PATH—more ownership and fewer hidden assumptions.
Omarchy Netflix Launcher for Horizontal Evenings
Tom Ballard ships a small Netflix launcher for Omarchy after a community ask—proof not everything on the desktop has to supervise agents. Repo: github.com/tcballard/omarchy-netflix.
Omarchy Arcade v0.3.0 Adds Minesweeper
tcballard ships Omarchy Arcade v0.3.0 with Minesweeper—thirteen games, keyboard controls, saved boards, and theme-following colours on GitHub.
tcballard: Somewhere Else, It’s Raining
Tom Ballard publishes another Explaining Omarchy long-form X article titled “Somewhere else, it’s raining,” continuing his Omarchy essay series.
tcballard Starts an Omarchy Plugin Spotlight Series
Tom Ballard kicks off a community plugin spotlight series, opening with ncfrontiersman’s OmaStorm and inviting readers to pick their next plugin.
tcballard: Somewhere to Put It All — Omarchy Drawer
Explaining Omarchy article on a plugin that gives you somewhere to put all your plugins—part of a series recommending and building Omarchy plugins for a clean desktop.
tcballard: Why Is My Computer Asking for My Password?
Explaining Omarchy article unpacking what the password prompt means and why Omarchy can sometimes install an app without asking again (reusing prior authentication)—not a missing safety check.
tcballard: OmaPress — Multi-Destination Article Publisher App
Omarchy app in progress to paste once, choose destinations, and schedule publication across places without making it a second job—working title OmaPress.
tcballard: Build Omarchy Apps v0.2.0 Lessons from OmaCut
After DHH’s interview with 0xSero, lessons from OmaCut and others land in Build Omarchy Apps v0.2.0—who owns state, what runs where, and what agents should not invent from “make it work.”
tcballard: Omarchy Is Deciding What It Owns
Explaining Omarchy installment: marketplace added 63 plugins in 24 hours, one crossed into the default desktop, Hype hit 0.3.0, and Omawake/Omaspeak became managed packages — plus the article on what Omarchy owns.
tcballard: Build Omarchy Plugins v0.4.1 — Review-Queue Homework
Build Omarchy Plugins v0.4.1 turns recurring plugin-review feedback into dependency checks and security guidance so coding agents learn lessons before submit — GitHub release.
tcballard: Explaining Omarchy #016 — What Changes When You Change the Theme
Explaining Omarchy #016 covers why theme switches leave some apps behind: terminals take the full palette, others only light/dark, and Obsidian needs its own theme pick.
tcballard: Retiring His Translation Plugin for a Better One
Tom Ballard kills his own Omarchy translation plugin after preferring someone else’s — and argues the ecosystem should consolidate around the best tools, linking GodofJoper’s google-translate plugin.
tcballard: Year of the Linux Desktop Theme — Zodiac Tux, Oxblood & Gold
Chinese zodiac-inspired Tux theme in oxblood and gold with five wallpapers — on GitHub ahead of marketplace listing, committed as “Year of the Linux Desktop.”
tcballard: Task Manager for Omarchy — Native Process Panel v0.0.1
Building a mouse-friendly Omarchy Task Manager (processes, startup, services) that follows fonts/themes — btop-class monitoring without living in the terminal. Pre-release v0.0.1 on GitHub.
tcballard: A Custom Kernel Changes the Deal — Packaging Trust
Explaining Omarchy article: Omarchy ships its own kernel, but Tom cares most that the RC package bytes match stable — public publish records, builder failures as rules, and migration-filename security pitfalls.
tcballard: Task Manager — Familiarity Is a Feature
Tom’s follow-up on the Omarchy Task Manager: Linux already has process monitors, but one obvious mouse-friendly place to see CPU hogs and stop services is about admitting familiarity is a feature when something goes wrong.
tcballard: Task Manager v0.0.2 — App Icons & Theme Fixes
Tom ships Task Manager v0.0.2 after the v0.0.1 traction: app icons, better window sizing, and live theme fixes — GitHub release on a Dell XPS with Familiar theme screenshot.
tcballard: Plugin Skills Bundle v0.5.0 + OmaKit
After NixFred/ncfrontiersman Sunday Social, Tom tries m_tolhuijs’s OmaKit and folds it into Omarchy Plugin Skills Bundle v0.5.0 — GitHub tcballard/build-omarchy-plugins release.
tcballard: Retires Omarchy 101, backs Learn Omarchy
Tom Ballard sunsets his Omarchy 101 plugin and endorses Dan Wahlin’s Learn Omarchy (github.com/DanWahlin/learn-omarchy) — ego check in favor of fewer, better repos.
tcballard: Build Omarchy Apps v0.2.1 packaging fixes
Tom Ballard ships Build Omarchy Apps v0.2.1 after Task Manager packaging exposed a broken test, shutdown crash, and stale skills guidance — tighter edge-first packaging lessons.
tcballard: Task Manager reaches Omarchy edge (x86_64)
Tom Ballard’s Task Manager hit a shutdown crash caught by Omarchy package checks; after the fix it lands in edge for x86_64 — packaging irony turned into a Today-in-Omarchy lesson.
tcballard: Official packaging changes who owns the failure
Tom Ballard’s X article argues official Omarchy packaging shifts responsibility — when agents make apps easy, install checks decide who owns the failure modes.
tcballard: RSS Feed v0.1.0 plugin for Omarchy
Tom Ballard ships RSS Feed v0.1.0 with feeds, collections, and offline reading for Omarchy, pointing to the GitHub repo as a distribution path for his Fixing Everything writing.
tcballard: Task Manager lands in Omarchy edge packages
Task Manager for Omarchy v0.0.3-3 is now in the official edge package repository for x86_64 — installable as a package without cloning or compiling.
tcballard: Can I ask AI to change Omarchy for me?
Tom Ballard publishes an Explaining Omarchy-style article on turning the OS into what you want with agents — asking AI to change Omarchy for you.
tcballard: Snake draws the Omarchy logo during install
tcballard demos a VM install where a snake draws the Omarchy logo as progress — every move tied to real installer work, freezing when the install stalls — “entirely unnecessary” and very on-brand for the Explaining Omarchy builder.
tcballard: Building browser, games, and Explaining articles
tcballard describes building a browser, task manager, games, plugins, and widgets for Omarchy while writing Explaining Omarchy articles — balancing a day job and two kids, and thanking DHH for the platform that makes AI-built tools addictive to use.
tcballard: Command & Conquer Omarchy Edition
tcballard releases Command & Conquer: Omarchy Edition — playable now with ISO building, package harvesting, coding-agent factions, custom art, and a bundled Omarchy skirmish.
tcballard: Build Omarchy Plugins v0.5.1
tcballard ships Build Omarchy Plugins v0.5.1 with clearer local API guidance, safer updates and stuck-download handling, plus validator fixes informed by marketplace reviews.
tcballard: Day Off Closing Out Omarchy Projects
tcballard takes a day off to catch up on Omarchy work — Workbench, Task Manager packaging, OmaStore native preview, plus games, plugins, themes, and articles.
tcballard: Omarchy Plugin Skills v0.6.0
tcballard releases Omarchy plugin skills v0.6.0, clarifying handoffs across widgets, panels, QML, services, debugging, testing, and publishing after twelve skills disagreed about ownership.
tcballard: Reclaim the Desktop Video for Omarchy
tcballard remakes IterIntellectus's reclaim-the-desktop video for Linux and Omarchy.
tcballard: Omarchy Task Manager v0.1.1 Cuts Sampling CPU
tcballard ships Omarchy Task Manager v0.1.1 with cheaper sampling so the monitor itself uses less CPU, reporting worker CPU on one RTX 3080 desktop down from about 12% to about 3% of a core, and notes it is live in Stable, RC, and Edge via pacman.
tcballard: Omarchy Markets v0.4.0 Adds Charts and Pinning
tcballard releases Omarchy Markets v0.4.0, expanding the bar price ticker so you can open a chart, pin a ticker to the bar, and fold the chart away when done.
tcballard: Command & Conquer Omarchy Edition v0.1.0
tcballard releases Command & Conquer: Omarchy Edition v0.1.0, an OpenRA skirmish on the Package Conflict map with Omarchian bases, package harvesting, the opposing factions Reboot Required and The Walled Orchard, custom units, artwork, and interface, plus coding-agent helicopters, and shares a release video; the video frame is green-on-black pixel art of a terminal-core base with a command prompt screen.
tcballard: Snake Escapes into the Omarchy Software Install Screen
tcballard says the snake escaped the Omarchy installer into the software install screen, where, as Rails installs, the Omarchy logo draws itself in the active theme's colors over the still-visible package log, and asks dhh and ryanrhughes whether it can get into the Quattro release, saying even the waiting should feel like Omarchy; the video frame is an Installing Ruby on Rails dialog.
tcballard: Explaining Omarchy Season 1 Guide Starts October 1, 2026
tcballard says most of September 2026 went to learning Omarchy in public, and on October 1, 2026 the real Explaining Omarchy begins with Season 1, a structured guide from everyday tasks to the bits that make people stop and ask how something works; the graphic reads EXPLAINING OMARCHY in light blue retro pixel type on a dark background.
tcballard: Adds Capture Delay to Postcard After Task Manager Screenshots
tcballard used tahayvr's Postcard to show off the Omarchy Task Manager, then wanted a capture delay and ended up adding one as a contribution, joking that even a screenshot pulls them into another repository, and points people to Postcard under "Pick Your Plugin".
tcballard: build-omarchy-plugins v0.6.1 Skills Cover Quattro Widget Traps
tcballard says Quattro changed the rules for coding agents. Widgets can render without data, and services can survive a reload with yesterday's code. tcballard shipped build-omarchy-plugins v0.6.1 so the skills explain those traps before an agent starts "fixing" them; the video frame is a dark title card with a thin chartreuse bar and a zeroed timecode.
tcballard: Build Omarchy Themes v0.2.0 and v0.2.1 Bundle 12 Skills
tcballard says Build Omarchy Themes now bundles 12 skills covering design, palettes, wallpapers, testing, and publishing, with updated registry guidance, tighter scope, and tooling to test the skills themselves, shipping as v0.2.0 and v0.2.1; the video frame is a dark title card for the theme skills release.
tcballard: dhh Gave Omacut the Missing Middle Cut
tcballard says trimming both ends is only half an editor and that dhh gave Omacut the missing middle cut, with Windows trial 0.6.1 shipped, a quick-start SSH fix merged later so it is not in that download, and a Mac removal hang that got a merged repair after it forced a power-off.
tcballard: Omarchy Plugin for OpenAI Dot Merged and Seeking Testers
tcballard built an Omarchy plugin for OpenAI's new Dot, saying the code is merged and launcher tests pass while the account still does not have Dot access, and asks someone else to test whether it can open the product it exists to open, linking tcballard/omarchy-plugin-openai-dot.
tcballard: Omarchy Theme Liftoff
tcballard says he was inspired and made an Omarchy theme for a rocket-launch postcard, linking tcballard/omarchy-theme-liftoff; the screenshot centers a "Theme Liftoff" card over a rocket liftoff image with tilted theme preview panels and a sidebar listing Music, Timers, Clipboard, CPU 6%, Weather, and Desktop.
tcballard: Today in Omarchy Covers XPS Webcam Softness, Theme Picker Speed, Agent Usage Fixes, and a Boot Pin
tcballard's Today in Omarchy (3-Oct-2026) walks through Spencer Bull's XPS camera package repair that cut frame-to-frame noise from 9.2 to 1.9 on a tested XPS 16 after four separate software-stack faults, Keylimesoda's Quattro image-picker fix that caps expensive work at 33 delegates for people with hundreds of themes, DHH folding 25 community fixes into agent-usage code so Codex's lazy launcher no longer installs itself while being counted, and a Quattro migration that pins root= before upgrades so a ten-second window cannot leave a machine unbootable; the graphic is a black title card reading "TODAY IN" over a larger pixel "OMARCHY" in neon green.
tcballard: Building Familiar for Omarchy for Everyone Who Reaches for the Mouse Before Remembering the Keyboard Shortcut, Preview Lands Tomorrow
tcballard is building Familiar for Omarchy so moving to Linux should not feel like never having used a computer, aiming it at everyone who reaches for the mouse before remembering the keyboard shortcut, themself included, and says the preview lands tomorrow.
tcballard: Familiar Paint v0.0.2 Preview Lets an Agent Draw Too
tcballard previews Familiar Paint v0.0.2 so people can draw, annotate, or let an agent join in, calling it a sneak peek at Familiar coming tomorrow to make Omarchy feel like a desktop they already know; the still shows Familiar Paint v0.0.2 preview with a brush selected, STROKE at 5 px, colour #20242B, 1000 x 540 px, and footer labels Agent: studio, Real app frames, Qt offscreen, scripted input, and CLI output is real.
tcballard: Built Familiar for Everyone Whose Mouse Made the Journey to Omarchy
tcballard says years of Windows and macOS muscle memory don't disappear because someone installed Linux, so tcballard built Familiar: window controls, a dock, and settings to click through, for everyone whose mouse made the journey to Omarchy too, coming tonight; the still is a dark title card with partly drawn "Omarchy is" text and a blue cursor block beside a framed panel labeled "Illustrative render".
tcballard: Today in Omarchy (4-Oct-2026) on Packaging the Apple Neural Engine
tcballard's Today in Omarchy (4-Oct-2026) says seeing Omarchy package the Apple Neural Engine rather than merely talk about Apple Silicon gets an M1 MacBook owner's attention, covering Joshua Warren's opt-in omarchy-mac-ml package, now live in edge for aarch64 with MLX for the Apple GPU, Vulkan support, the ANE driver, and the compiler for Core ML models, enabled by default only on the tested T8103 M1, M1 Max, and M2 Max systems, while the proposed Install > AI row is still a draft; it also covers OpenClaw 2026.9.6-3 restoring the previous package layout and Geert-Johan Riemer's fingerprint repair merging into Quattro; the still is a green pixel "TODAY IN" and "OMARCHY" wordmark on black.
tcballard: Today in Omarchy (5-Oct-2026) on Getting Omarchy Comfortable on Other People's Hardware
tcballard's Today in Omarchy (5-Oct-2026) says tcballard spent much of the day testing Familiar, while there has been useful work on getting Omarchy comfortable on other people's hardware: Try Omarchy for Windows (by btsouth) v0.9.0 brings smoother precision-touchpad scrolling, audio that follows the Windows device's sample rate and volume, battery health information passed through from the host, and Simplified Chinese in the launcher, and the v0.10.0 preparation PR has merged while v0.9.0 is the latest published release tcballard could verify; Omarchy's package repository merged a way to run Slack on ARM Linux by running Slack's JavaScript on a matching ARM build of Electron, an Omarchy packaging solution and not an official ARM release from Slack; a fingerprint-library change adds ARM builds carrying Chris Kearney's Apple Touch ID driver, with 131 passing tests reported on an M2 Max, depending on the Aurora kernel's Secure Enclave support; and a fix merged into Quattro limits clipboard reads to two seconds so a stalled transfer no longer quietly stops clipboard-history captures, which is development-branch work; the still is a green pixel "TODAY IN" and "OMARCHY" wordmark on black.
tcballard: Familiar v0.1.0 Was Meant to Ship Tonight, GitHub Had Other Ideas
tcballard says Familiar v0.1.0 was meant to ship tonight but GitHub had other ideas, and lists what's waiting: a dock wherever it is wanted, Mac and Windows layouts, close, minimize and maximize buttons, and settings that can be clicked, for everyone who loves Omarchy but occasionally wants to use a mouse, coming as soon as tcballard can; the still stacks three cards: "Dock anywhere" with "Bottom, left or right, or automatic. Your choice survives layout changes." over a Dock position menu, a Familiar window reading "FAMILIAR", "v0.1.0", "Coming soon", and "A mouse-friendly desktop for Omarchy.", and "Start from a layout" with General, Windows, and Mac buttons plus "Show desktop" and "Restore windows".
tcballard: Couldn't Leave the Omarchy Installer Alone
tcballard couldn't leave the Omarchy installer alone: animated logo, theme colors, and a live terminal for prompts and progress, asking ryanrhughes "fancy a review?" with Greptile's three findings fixed and pushed, and saying even waiting for packages should look good, linking omacom/omarchy pull request 13563; the still is an orange-bordered installer window over a dark orange-and-black illustrated wallpaper, reading "OMARCHY", "~0%", "Installing Ruby on Rails", and "Preparing installation" above a progress line, with "Use the controls above · Ctrl+C Cancel" at the bottom.
tcballard: Familiar Desktop Is (Finally) Out for Omarchy
tcballard says Familiar Desktop is "(finally) out for Omarchy." They describe a dock placed where it is wanted, apps a click away, and window buttons where they are expected, linking tcballard/omarchy-plugin-familiar-desktop; the still is a pale gray card reading "Omarchy is keyboard-first." above key caps labeled "SUPER", "ALT", "SPACE", "RETURN", and "W".
tcballard: Today in Omarchy (6-Oct-2026) on a Windows Release and a Tougher Testing Standard
tcballard posts Today in Omarchy (6-Oct-2026), covering "A Windows release, a tougher testing standard, and a reminder that release day does not end when you publish." Try Omarchy for Windows 0.10.0 reached stable today: it starts Omarchy while updates download in the background, detects a frozen desktop and offers recovery, resumes more cleanly after Windows sleeps, synchronizes volume and mute, adds night light, and fixes a long list of GPU, clipboard, keyboard and display problems. After the team spotted a gap in how volume sync was tested, every changelog entry now needs a user check on physical Windows hardware against the exact release candidate, with the result and a screenshot recorded, and larger Windows releases will move toward "a roughly fortnightly rhythm." Their Familiar plugin reached v0.1.2 after testing RC.4 on the XPS, with one native Omarchy plugin command followed by an in-app setup screen for choosing Windows or Mac controls and downloading the backend and window controls. They say "Stable does not mean marketplace approved." After publication, hancore_linux found that Familiar could use private browser notification summaries as badge keys, which could expose parts of a notification to another local user; they call it "a review finding, not a reported exploit", and the marketplace submission is open and marked needs-fixes. Build Omarchy Plugins v0.8.0 also shipped with a GitHub-ready repository template; the still is a green pixel wordmark reading "TODAY IN" above "OMARCHY" on a black background.
tcballard: Familiar Keeps Apps and Widgets Down in the Dock, Wallpaper Can Breathe
tcballard says "Fairly easy to get distracted by the rocket here": Familiar keeps apps and widgets down in the dock, with the same transparent treatment as Omarchy's top bar, adding "Everything within reach. Wallpaper can breathe." and "I think that's pretty damn cool tbh". In a follow-up reply they link tcballard/omarchy-plugin-familiar-desktop; the still is a desktop with a wallpaper of a rocket lifting off from a launch tower amid billowing clouds of smoke, above a dock of app icons including "T3" and X icons.
tcballard: Familiar v0.1.3 Is Warming Up
tcballard says "Familiar v0.1.3 is warming up for later today 👀" and "Back to the window you actually last used. Badges that count down properly." CI now boots a real desktop to test installation, window switching and recovery, and they add "Making Omarchy feel like home means sweating the little things."; the still is a window titled "Familiar" with a pixel "FAMILIAR" wordmark above "A mouse-friendly desktop for Omarchy."
tcballard: Today in Omarchy (7-Oct-2026) on an iPhone App Leaving Linux and a Native ARM Steam Client
tcballard posts Today in Omarchy (7-Oct-2026). They have spent months wanting Omarchy to run natively on their M1 MacBook, while JoshuaSWarren "has taken the relationship in the opposite direction: using Omarchy Linux to build software for an iPhone." In "An iPhone app leaves Linux": "Joshua built a SwiftUI app on Omarchy, uploaded the build to App Store Connect, installed it on his iPhone over USB, then stopped at a breakpoint in LLDB." Apple is still in the toolchain, the upload does not mean App Store approval, and an open Omarchy Core PR would add an iOS entry under Install > Development. ryanrhughes published a native ARM Steam package to edge for aarch64, and x86-only titles still need FEX. The new root-image installer branch got its first serious physical-machine repair: a missing iflag=fullblock made the image write take a reported 86.6 seconds, and with the flag the same step took 2.7 seconds. Quattro now lets users enable passwordless sudo for 15 minutes, one hour, one day or permanently, with a red bar indicator while the access is active; this is merged development work, not a stable release. The still is a green pixel "TODAY IN" and "OMARCHY" wordmark on black.
tcballard: Gave Haiku a Basic Prompt and It Made This Launch Video for Familiar v0.1.3
tcballard says "I gave Haiku a basic prompt and it made this launch video." and "Apparently my release process now includes a marketing department 😅" Familiar v0.1.3 is coming to Omarchy: "Better dock previews, less hunting for the right window." They add "Making Linux feel like home, one release at a time." and in a follow-up reply share the prompt: "look at my product release for Familiar plugin v0.1.3 and make a dynamic 30-second motion graphics video that announces the release. go all out and hold nothing back"; the still is "Which window was that?" in bold monospace over a fading grid of black squares at the left, with a cursor arrow, on a light gray background.
tcballard: A Couple of Days, Over 2,000 Clones of Familiar Already
tcballard says "A couple of days. Over 2,000 clones of Familiar already 🤯" and "Turns out “I love Omarchy, but I’d quite like to use my mouse” has an audience." They thank everyone giving it a go ("Watching something I built find its way onto other people’s desktops is pretty damn cool.") and credit the GitHub Traffic Board plugin by hancore_linux for the visual; the still is a "GitHub traffic" panel reading "2,440" views and "10,830" clones, with "omarchy-plugin-familiar-des…" at the top of "Repositories by views" at "779" views and "2,124" clones, over a wallpaper of a rocket lifting off amid billowing smoke, above a dock.