I'm starting to think I'm an alien or android or something. Every time I see one of these articles, I wonder at the difference between my experience and what I'm reading. I've been a full-time...
I'm starting to think I'm an alien or android or something. Every time I see one of these articles, I wonder at the difference between my experience and what I'm reading. I've been a full-time Linux user since '98, and it's been smooth sailing.
I think it's a function of wanting to understand a thing instead of just using it. I don't mind learning about IMAP in order to get my mail; it means that I'm not bound to any particular application when I want to do the thing. I can use Evolution, Thunderbird, Geary, or whatever. If one doesn't do what I want, I reach for another.
I contrast this with the proprietary ecosystems I deal with at work. If I'm an M365 user, I can choose to either:
a) use Outlook
b) get bent
I feel like we're in the "automatic transmission" stage of computing; folks seem happy not knowing what's happening behind the interface, and attributing it to magic or something.
I think you're wearing some very rosy glasses, and I think you make some unfair assumptions. I don't know what you do on your PCs, but I refuse to believe you've been using Linux since '98 without...
I think you're wearing some very rosy glasses, and I think you make some unfair assumptions. I don't know what you do on your PCs, but I refuse to believe you've been using Linux since '98 without getting clotheslined repeatedly by infuriating compatibility issues.
I feel like we're in the "automatic transmission" stage of computing; folks seem happy not knowing what's happening behind the interface, and attributing it to magic or something.
This bit has my hackles raised, I'll be honest. Not using Linux does not mean a person wants to be spoon-fed, they might just have interests which are better served by a different OS. Reducing those with different preferences to "it's magic or something" is pretty dismissive, homie.
I posted elsewhere about having been careful to buy gear that I knew had support; I can only imagine the pain that would come from trying to use unsupported hardware. The "automatic-transmission"...
I posted elsewhere about having been careful to buy gear that I knew had support; I can only imagine the pain that would come from trying to use unsupported hardware.
The "automatic-transmission" bit wasn't intended to be restricted to Linux, nor to exclude myself. Phones, watches, consoles, voice agents... we're all using gear that we can't readily inspect because it's a practical impossibility these days.
I still like having the option of inspecting the source of what I use, even if seldom do so.
We are getting there, and that's a good thing. It means people who aren't interested in doing computer stuff can get on with using computers to do stuff. Making films, music, art, writing books,...
I feel like we're in the "automatic transmission" stage of computing
We are getting there, and that's a good thing. It means people who aren't interested in doing computer stuff can get on with using computers to do stuff. Making films, music, art, writing books, designing clothes, printing weird stuff, etc, etc.
folks seem happy not knowing what's happening behind the interface, and attributing it to magic or something.
To be fair, unless you're writing machine code or soldering actual transistors, you're using a magic box too. You're just a few levels of abstraction closer to the magic.
Also, what's wrong with with magic boxes? I don't know how to fly a plane, run a nuclear reactor, make shoes, etc. (I mean sure, I do at a handwavy sort of a level but actually doing any of those things for real? Not a chance). Modern life is all magic boxes outside of our own specialisations, and even those involve plenty of magic.
I have also been a full time linux user, servers and desktop, for about the same time as you. At this point we are both by almost any standard, experts - so things you don't even think about can be painful hurdles for a lot of people. Also it wasn't smooth sailing. I remember hours of fiddling around trying to get wifi to work in the early 2000s, graphics adaptors have always a been a bugger (and still are!), dual boot was a pain for a long time, even just getting vim to let me type anything was a struggle for a while. The list goes on and on. Just because you don't remember navigating bumps in the road over the last 25 years doesn't mean they don't exist.
There are lots of complex processes we interact with every day. People might only know about a small percentage of them. Some people can use audio programs to produce works of art that move...
I feel like we're in the "automatic transmission" stage of computing; folks seem happy not knowing what's happening behind the interface, and attributing it to magic or something.
There are lots of complex processes we interact with every day. People might only know about a small percentage of them. Some people can use audio programs to produce works of art that move people's souls. But they have no idea about the fundamentals that the complexities of the computer they run their software on, or even the processes that convert their instructions into the music that comes out.
I think it is perfectly reasonable that people attribute computers to magic.
I feel like you were lucky or incredibly picky about hardware you got. Winmodems of the 90s, which came on most desktops and latops, did not work on linux because they required proprietary blobs...
I feel like you were lucky or incredibly picky about hardware you got.
Winmodems of the 90s, which came on most desktops and latops, did not work on linux because they required proprietary blobs only windows had. You couldn't use dialup on any machine with a winmodem unless you bought a seperate modem.
Graphics cards were also incredibly hit or miss.
And interop with others was rough, at best. Office interop was a nightmare back then.
A fair point - I have been careful with my hardware. The "winmodems" were inexpensive and pervasive because of how much of the signal processing got moved off the device and onto the computer...
A fair point - I have been careful with my hardware. The "winmodems" were inexpensive and pervasive because of how much of the signal processing got moved off the device and onto the computer running it in proprietary software. I dodged those hard.
Graphics cards were also a proper challenge; you had to buy something you knew had an X driver, or you were trapped in VESA modes.
I can certainly imagine that trying to replicate this experience without being careful with hardware would be a right pain in the backside. I understand that what is happening right now with SoCs is a trip right back to the bad old days.
Haha this reminded me that Gen Z can’t operate a file browser. Their phones and tablets never needed a downloads folder, the concept of folders and files on computers is alien to them.
Haha this reminded me that Gen Z can’t operate a file browser. Their phones and tablets never needed a downloads folder, the concept of folders and files on computers is alien to them.
This kinda hits me in the feels. This year is my year of the Linux desktop! I went to art school for photography, and ended up working for one of the most iconic photographers right out of...
This kinda hits me in the feels. This year is my year of the Linux desktop! I went to art school for photography, and ended up working for one of the most iconic photographers right out of college. For 7 years I managed this guy's entire archive and digital storage. I quit late last year because I felt they snubbed us 4 employees holding the ship together while he continued to make literal millions each year.
I took a job as a night shift custodian due to them having great benefits and also to not be unemployed. I spend my days until I go to work and nights until 4am learning Linux and working on my homelab. It's been invigorating and somewhat emotional. I'm learning things I never thought I could learn. I'm trying to migrate my photography setup to Linux eventually. I'm also hoping to get a job with the school IT department eventually if I can't find a job doing storage somewhere else. It's opened up a whole new world for me.
Nice read, I love the collaborative writing via nvim, org & git. This year has been my "year of Linux". I've messed around with it over the years (I remember as a kid taking a live cd to the...
Nice read, I love the collaborative writing via nvim, org & git. This year has been my "year of Linux". I've messed around with it over the years (I remember as a kid taking a live cd to the library and playing around with random distros). I've attempted the switch numerous times, but always ended back on Mac or Windows.
This year though, I fully committed to it. Picked up a System76 Pang12 laptop with Mint OS as my portable driver, and put EndeavourOS on my gaming rig. My homelab runs Unraid with a Ubuntu VM. I still use my MacBook Pro for work, but I'm also able to do my job entirely in Linux (my MacBook just has a better webcam for Teams meetings).
Linux has come SO far since I first started playing with it. The Steam Deck was a major turning point for me, removing the last hurdle to fully getting off Windows by making my entire Steam library Linux compatible. DEs like Gnome and KDE are incredibly user friendly now, Gnome especially with it's consistent design language and clutter free approach to UxD.
I recently convinced my wife to give Zorin OS a try on her Surface Book 2, and so far it's met her needs perfectly. Zorin is especially great for first timers with the ability to replicate Windows & Mac DE layouts, plus built-in support for launching .exe through Wine.
I'm starting to think I'm an alien or android or something. Every time I see one of these articles, I wonder at the difference between my experience and what I'm reading. I've been a full-time Linux user since '98, and it's been smooth sailing.
I think it's a function of wanting to understand a thing instead of just using it. I don't mind learning about IMAP in order to get my mail; it means that I'm not bound to any particular application when I want to do the thing. I can use Evolution, Thunderbird, Geary, or whatever. If one doesn't do what I want, I reach for another.
I contrast this with the proprietary ecosystems I deal with at work. If I'm an M365 user, I can choose to either:
a) use Outlook
b) get bent
I feel like we're in the "automatic transmission" stage of computing; folks seem happy not knowing what's happening behind the interface, and attributing it to magic or something.
I'm probably just being a grumpy old man.
I think you're wearing some very rosy glasses, and I think you make some unfair assumptions. I don't know what you do on your PCs, but I refuse to believe you've been using Linux since '98 without getting clotheslined repeatedly by infuriating compatibility issues.
This bit has my hackles raised, I'll be honest. Not using Linux does not mean a person wants to be spoon-fed, they might just have interests which are better served by a different OS. Reducing those with different preferences to "it's magic or something" is pretty dismissive, homie.
I posted elsewhere about having been careful to buy gear that I knew had support; I can only imagine the pain that would come from trying to use unsupported hardware.
The "automatic-transmission" bit wasn't intended to be restricted to Linux, nor to exclude myself. Phones, watches, consoles, voice agents... we're all using gear that we can't readily inspect because it's a practical impossibility these days.
I still like having the option of inspecting the source of what I use, even if seldom do so.
We are getting there, and that's a good thing. It means people who aren't interested in doing computer stuff can get on with using computers to do stuff. Making films, music, art, writing books, designing clothes, printing weird stuff, etc, etc.
To be fair, unless you're writing machine code or soldering actual transistors, you're using a magic box too. You're just a few levels of abstraction closer to the magic.
Also, what's wrong with with magic boxes? I don't know how to fly a plane, run a nuclear reactor, make shoes, etc. (I mean sure, I do at a handwavy sort of a level but actually doing any of those things for real? Not a chance). Modern life is all magic boxes outside of our own specialisations, and even those involve plenty of magic.
I have also been a full time linux user, servers and desktop, for about the same time as you. At this point we are both by almost any standard, experts - so things you don't even think about can be painful hurdles for a lot of people. Also it wasn't smooth sailing. I remember hours of fiddling around trying to get wifi to work in the early 2000s, graphics adaptors have always a been a bugger (and still are!), dual boot was a pain for a long time, even just getting vim to let me type anything was a struggle for a while. The list goes on and on. Just because you don't remember navigating bumps in the road over the last 25 years doesn't mean they don't exist.
There are lots of complex processes we interact with every day. People might only know about a small percentage of them. Some people can use audio programs to produce works of art that move people's souls. But they have no idea about the fundamentals that the complexities of the computer they run their software on, or even the processes that convert their instructions into the music that comes out.
I think it is perfectly reasonable that people attribute computers to magic.
I feel like you were lucky or incredibly picky about hardware you got.
Winmodems of the 90s, which came on most desktops and latops, did not work on linux because they required proprietary blobs only windows had. You couldn't use dialup on any machine with a winmodem unless you bought a seperate modem.
Graphics cards were also incredibly hit or miss.
And interop with others was rough, at best. Office interop was a nightmare back then.
A fair point - I have been careful with my hardware. The "winmodems" were inexpensive and pervasive because of how much of the signal processing got moved off the device and onto the computer running it in proprietary software. I dodged those hard.
Graphics cards were also a proper challenge; you had to buy something you knew had an X driver, or you were trapped in VESA modes.
I can certainly imagine that trying to replicate this experience without being careful with hardware would be a right pain in the backside. I understand that what is happening right now with SoCs is a trip right back to the bad old days.
Haha this reminded me that Gen Z can’t operate a file browser. Their phones and tablets never needed a downloads folder, the concept of folders and files on computers is alien to them.
This kinda hits me in the feels. This year is my year of the Linux desktop! I went to art school for photography, and ended up working for one of the most iconic photographers right out of college. For 7 years I managed this guy's entire archive and digital storage. I quit late last year because I felt they snubbed us 4 employees holding the ship together while he continued to make literal millions each year.
I took a job as a night shift custodian due to them having great benefits and also to not be unemployed. I spend my days until I go to work and nights until 4am learning Linux and working on my homelab. It's been invigorating and somewhat emotional. I'm learning things I never thought I could learn. I'm trying to migrate my photography setup to Linux eventually. I'm also hoping to get a job with the school IT department eventually if I can't find a job doing storage somewhere else. It's opened up a whole new world for me.
Nice read, I love the collaborative writing via nvim, org & git. This year has been my "year of Linux". I've messed around with it over the years (I remember as a kid taking a live cd to the library and playing around with random distros). I've attempted the switch numerous times, but always ended back on Mac or Windows.
This year though, I fully committed to it. Picked up a System76 Pang12 laptop with Mint OS as my portable driver, and put EndeavourOS on my gaming rig. My homelab runs Unraid with a Ubuntu VM. I still use my MacBook Pro for work, but I'm also able to do my job entirely in Linux (my MacBook just has a better webcam for Teams meetings).
Linux has come SO far since I first started playing with it. The Steam Deck was a major turning point for me, removing the last hurdle to fully getting off Windows by making my entire Steam library Linux compatible. DEs like Gnome and KDE are incredibly user friendly now, Gnome especially with it's consistent design language and clutter free approach to UxD.
I recently convinced my wife to give Zorin OS a try on her Surface Book 2, and so far it's met her needs perfectly. Zorin is especially great for first timers with the ability to replicate Windows & Mac DE layouts, plus built-in support for launching .exe through Wine.
I don't think it's even the year of the desktop anymore. We've been in the decade of the smartphone for a while.