=== ANCHOR POEM === ╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────────┐ ║ there's even websites online like Facebook or Twitter where you can share │ ║ advice and various spells you've invented yourself (it's totally easy to do │ ║ btw, I'll show you how) │ ║ │ ║ everyone's super friendly and anyone who's not isn't allowed to bother us. │ ║ it's pretty neat. anyway no matter what it is, if something's bothering you │ ║ about your computer, you can fix it. it's just a matter of reading through │ ║ documentation. Ah, well, isn't it great to have a lot of free time that you │ ║ don't know what to do with? │ ║ │ ║ Linux is pretty great, I gotta say. I honestly never really leave the command │ ║ line - the text based buttons, I mean. I only use a mouse when I'm doing │ ║ something with pictures (or playing a game like freecell or hearts) │ ║ │ ║ plus you can do things like sending raw packets of information to your friend │ ║ who's on the other side of the country and they can use a secret key-code to │ ║ decrypt it like checking the mail at a locked mailbox. │ ║ │ ║ anything you can imagine using the physical components of a computer, is │ ║ possibleifyrts │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧═════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────┴──────────┘ === SIMILARITY RANKED === --- #1 notes/who-likes-linux --- ═══════════════════──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── [a picture of someone's neofetch] /u/HartBreaker27 =============================================================================== I was gunna pass this over... than my spidey senses kicked in.. whats Arch fam.. and explain like your talking to a potatoe. Also, if this is beyond potatoes level skills, im fine with being told that.. Seriously fam, potatoes.. /u/ugathanki =============================================================================== You know how using a windows and a mac feel different? Like they have different personalities. That's because they're using a different "Operating System". An OS is a collection of tools and utilities that coalesce into a cohesive unit that co-illustrates your coincidental contact with computers. Paired, of course, with the contributions of the hardware and the network. Linux is sorta like the soul of an OS - not quite an entire OS, but rather just a piece called a "kernel" - like a nugget of gold (or truth!) the kernel defines basic operating methodologies and brings order to the chaos of the machine. From that order strives the will that dutifully obeys your base instructions after being passed through several translation layers. Huh? Oh right potatoes. Arch is like a body that's layered upon the soul (kernel) of Linux. It's what's known as a "distribution" or "distro" - and one that's quite focused. Arch is very close to the machine, with barely any translation going on at all! It's also very bare bones, allowing you to build up exactly what kind of computer you'd like to have through various "packages" of software that you can download through a "package manager". Each distro can use whichever package manager they'd like, but it's generally good practice to pick one and stick with it. This distro is known as Arch Linux because it's the fusion of "Arch" and "Linux" - who'd've thought amiright? There are plenty of others that are more familiar to users of Windows and Macintosh computers, mostly via mimicking their user-interface styles (such as having desktops with icons and start-menus with dropdowns and the like) - these distros are great for people who'd prefer the workflow of the other OS's but would still like to use Linux. Arch in it's base form is nothing like Windows or Mac. You interact with it purely through a "terminal" which is like having a conversation with your computer. Like a scientist writing notes on the moon, and sending them to a lab orbiting around it to conduct experiments. You type commands, and those commands (if properly understood) can produce a myriad of effects great and small. But some of the experiments you'd like to conduct need to be done more than once - it'd be nice if you could ask the moon-lab to store some of the procedures and execute them whenever you need - sorta like abbreviating a long phrase or sentence that you use often - like ASAP for As Soon As Possible or OS for Operating System. Well... There are! They're called "scripts", and you can write scripts for anything you'd like. Since everything is controlled on the terminal via a TUI -> "Terminal User Interface" -> you can write down a note with all the commands you'd like to run and give it a name. Then you can use that name in the future to execute that familiar experiment in your moon-lab. after writing enough scripts, you can start to chain them together and layer them on top of one another - sorta like creating your own language. a personal dialect between you and your computer. and these scripts are portable too - they can be given to another computer, who'll instantly understand what you're trying to say. this kind of sharing is a central tenant of what's known as the: "Unix Philosophy: Do one thing, and do it right." Linux lends itself toward people who love to hack things together - not like breaking into a system and stealing your credit cards, like you see on TV, but more like cobbling together a go-cart out of rusty parts and proceeding to get a speeding ticket on the high-way. That kind of fervent creative impulse is true passion, a shining light for us who are blinded to follow. These "hackers" are some of the brightest people around, and I have immense respect for them. They are kind and share knowledge freely, which often gets them in trouble with copyright laws! I make it sound difficult, but really it's pretty easy - about as easy as learning Windows or Mac for the first time. Most of us did that when we were young though, and kids learn pretty quick - so it may feel harder now, but it's really not. Once everything starts to "click" then it's just a matter of knowing which commands to run. Speaking of which, if you know a command but you don't know how to use it, you're in luck! There's some super convenient notes written by previous scientists who came before you and live on other nearby planets. These are called "the man pages", and they are instructions written in a manual format for manual application of man-made management applied to manufactured man-chines. Sorry for that last one I had to. You can always find new commands by downloading new software on your package manager - generally, one package = one command. "Do one thing and do it right" if you have any questions lmk - i'm not exactly a wizard, more of a prophet / wielder of the will of the watchers within, but i'll do my best ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧════════════───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ --- #2 fediverse/3907 --- ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────── kinda wanna make a linux distro that has all the capabilities of a GUI distro and isn't so minimal (like screen recording, calculator, screenshot, wifi manager, etc etc) but with i3 instead of a desktop. they could literally just be symlinks (shortcuts) to scripts that are in your /usr/bin or whatever directory seriously it's not like there's THAT many ways to use ffmpeg, why not just write a script for them? that's what you're going to do when you use it for the first time, anyway, so... ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═══════════════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────┘ --- #3 fediverse/5291 --- ═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════────────────── the most important skill I can think of for a linux software engineer is the ability to connect multiple systems together and turn windows and macintosh devices into Linux devices so that datacenters can be built out of whatever's on the around. there's this programming language I like called Chapel for distributed computation computing which is also cool, if you're more of the programming type. networking security I believe often has hardware solutions, so getting the crypto-graphy boys and the PCB girls together to work on some jams is a good and productively useful gathering of insightful events "but ritz computers should only be used to solve problems that people have, not make more problems!" ah yes but have you considered that problems find you, and the computers help you work through them ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────┘ --- #4 fediverse/1345 --- ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────────────┐ ║ ┌────────────────────────────┐ │ ║ │ CW: re: cursed-chromebooks │ │ ║ └────────────────────────────┘ │ ║ │ ║ │ ║ ah but are you really armed in the first place if everything you do has to be │ ║ googled or stack-overflowed first │ ║ │ ║ are you really armed if every web page request goes through their │ ║ infrastructure │ ║ │ ║ are you really armed if every page downloaded is directed to by their DNS │ ║ │ ║ perhaps it's the illusion of power that gives Linux it's attraction to nerds │ ║ such as we. Perhaps we feel powerful by bash scripting a few things together │ ║ and making some program that does some thing. Maybe the idea that the │ ║ machinery is open and clear is what compels us to use it without fear, though │ ║ as far as we can hear there's nothing about it that makes sense. │ ║ │ ║ I guess that's why they teach Linux in school, so that our elementary │ ║ interactions with the computers that comprise our future existence will make │ ║ sense to us as children. │ ║ │ ║ ... wait they don't do that, do they? kids get chromebooks, or didn't you │ ║ hear, they're always putting boogers in the CD trays and breaking their LCD │ ║ displays, much better to just start fresh │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────┴──────────┘ --- #5 fediverse/3592 --- ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────── @user-1570 [meme of Mr Incredible from the Incredibles pointing at a table] LINUX IS LINUX. (anything that works on Linux can theoretically be made to work on your toaster, if it also runs Linux!) This is very cool, and if I understand correctly it means that any Godot games could theoretically be played on these NEAT as HECK little devices, yeah? So cool! ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────┘ --- #6 fediverse/1246 --- ═══════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────────────── @user-883 hehe if I don't understand how it works it's difficult for me to use things. My Linux friends get so exasperated with me because I'm like "cool script gimme like 2 days to figure it out" and they're like "bro just use these flags" and I'm like "no" ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────────────┘ --- #7 fediverse/4218 --- ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────── there are plenty of pieces of linux that are insecure in some way. Including x11, if I remember correctly. It is purely convention to not abuse these insecurities, and whenever you use someone else's binary software you trust that they won't betray you in some way. pre-built binaries are privacy violations and should be illegal. They are security threats because the model they're built upon is necessarily insecure. Computers will never be completely secure because of how they are built, and so we should use locally compiled software and interpreted scripts. Unless they're too long, or impossible to read. Who reads EULAs these days? At least those are written in english. maybe computers aren't worth it. Maybe computers will solve all our problems. Who can say, maybe you should ask an oracle like me though do remember that anything you hear can and will be used against you, monkey's paw style. So maybe, like... don't? unless you're into magic or schizophrenia or something I wnt 2 be cute and tch cpus ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────┘ --- #8 messages/181 --- ══════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────────────── I know you don't want to hear this, but there is a chance that there will come a time where your life depends on your ability to debug a computer without the internet. To set up an SSH server. To install Linux. To program in C. To do something else that I'm not prepared for... If StackOverflow didn't exist because network connectivity has been lost, could you remember syntax? Maybe it's a good idea to set up a local LLM that can answer basic questions about technology. Maybe it's a good idea to set up on your parents computer, just in case you have to hide out there for a couple months. Maybe it's a good idea to download wikipedia, just in case. If I need to use a mac, I'm screwed ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═══════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────────────────┘ --- #9 fediverse/383 --- ╔════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────────────────┐ ║ ┌──────────────────────┐ │ ║ │ CW: linux? │ │ ║ └──────────────────────┘ │ ║ │ ║ │ ║ If I'm trying to get a game or piece of software working, I'll pretty much │ ║ install any package that some random post from 2017 tells me to. Sometimes it │ ║ feels like I'm a Linux grandma clicking on things that say "bored of your │ ║ marriage? click here for games!" and I say to myself "well my marriage is │ ║ fine, but I enjoy horsing around from time to time" and then I get a virus and │ ║ my things break and I go to my niece who's just a darling and say "hello │ ║ niece, I can't check my emails anymore because I downloaded some spam, can you │ ║ give me some tips on how to fix my computer?" and she just rolls her eyes │ ║ because this is like, the fifth random package I downloaded just because some │ ║ random forum poster that SAYS it's from 2017 but who I don't actually KNOW is │ ║ from 2017 and isn't just some automated LLM output that tells you to │ ║ downloaded automatically generated virus packages that are secretly snuck into │ ║ the package repositories because nobody can keep track of ALL THIS STUFF │ ║ anymore now that the internet is AI │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧═════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────┴──────────┘ --- #10 fediverse/1862 --- ╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────────┐ ║ some people look for signals or signs before doing something. Try and have │ ║ someone in your life who can give you signals or signs so that you know when │ ║ to do things. And ideally, if they're more hardcore than you, you'll know what │ ║ to do, not just when to do it. │ ║ │ ║ did you know that anything on the internet can be read by at least one other │ ║ person besides your intended recipient? There's no way they'd let us talk │ ║ amongst ourselves otherwise. │ ║ │ ║ I think encryption is pretty neat, all you have to do is run a shell script on │ ║ some text, then send that text over the internet. If you want to decrypt it, │ ║ all you have to do is run a shell script on it to decrypt it. │ ║ │ ║ downside is, it has to be translated into plain text somewhere along the │ ║ line... Maybe if we rendered the words not as text that can be read from │ ║ memory, but as like, brush-strokes that can have a randomized order, but still │ ║ present to the user as visual text? anyway that's what's on my mind as I try │ ║ and improvise a baking recipe with yeast, flour, and butter │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧═════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────┴──────────┘ --- #11 fediverse/5911 --- ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────┐ ║ I was always fascinated by the Linux way of programming. Need to do something? │ ║ write it into a script! You never know when you'll need it again. Then, just │ ║ stay organized, religiously so, and understand that you will forget about │ ║ stuff. But, you'll come across it eventually, ready and willing and able to │ ║ help you. │ ║ │ ║ if you don't want me using AI, then give me ~20 junior developers. Which is │ ║ more efficient, do you think? │ ║ │ ║ "girl you haven't even tested your vibe-coded slop, how do you know if it │ ║ works" │ ║ │ ║ oh I'm sure it doesn't, but it's the thought that counts │ ║ │ ║ ... I guess I'm just saying, please don't burn the data centers. Computers are │ ║ not only bad for the environment when they're burnt, but also we can use them │ ║ for all kinds of neat things. Even if it takes a lot of energy, just... build │ ║ more solar panels and only use the computers for important stuff? │ ║ timeshare-style? │ ║ │ ║ \@/documents/books/man-and-the-computer.pdf │ ║ │ ║ that was my mother's book... I love her. I miss that side of her. She fled │ ║ when the cancer came. │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╧═─────────┘ --- #12 fediverse/3991 --- ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────┐ ║ ┌──────────────────────┐ │ ║ │ CW: pol │ │ ║ └──────────────────────┘ │ ║ │ ║ │ ║ It's election season, so you know what that means! Gotta make sure our │ ║ computer systems are setup with the proper capabilities to record whatever we │ ║ can. │ ║ │ ║ Please ensure that your system has the capability to record it's screen and │ ║ that it has ample storage space to record for a while. It would also help if │ ║ you knew how to edit files such that you can remove the parts where you're │ ║ staring at social media or going to the bathroom or other things that people │ ║ tend to do. │ ║ │ ║ Also, make sure you can take a screenshot of the screen. Sure [printscreen] │ ║ works, but it's much better if you're on windows to switch to Linux. But if │ ║ that's not possible, if you're on windows you can do [WIN]+SHIFT+S I think, │ ║ and then drag the mouse to select a box that you can then CTRL+V into your │ ║ favorite Ms.Paint clone (or is it missus these days?) │ ║ │ ║ Also, make sure you have a microphone that works, and the capability to record │ ║ yourself speaking into it. │ ║ │ ║ Also, if you can, develop ways to stream your screen across the internet. It │ ║ helps. │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧═══════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────┴──────────┘ --- #13 fediverse/497 --- ═════════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────────────────── @user-346 Nobody will get past the login screen on my computer, but if they do they probably won't know that you need to push alt+p in DWM to start a program. But even if they push "alt+p firefox" they will only have access to my gmail and discord, because those are the only two places I've saved my login information. Most of my data is on my hard disk anyway, so for that they'd have to push alt+enter and then navigate my filesystem to find it. Shouldn't be too hard if you're familiar with Linux. They could always just pull the hard drive and put it into a new computer though. It's not like it's encrypted, because why would I encrypt it? I want to share information, not conceal it! Surely nobody would desire to exploit that vulnerability of mine, that my data should be unencrypted? If you have a copy of Wikipedia then you're 500% more prepared than 90% of humanity so good job _^ Sure would be cool if you put it in the documents folder of every person in your family who solicited tech advice from you ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧══════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────────────────┘ --- #14 fediverse/5783 --- ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────┐ ║ I think our industry should work on one project at a time │ ║ │ ║ "do one thing and do it well" │ ║ │ ║ linux users code. │ ║ │ ║ everyone backends ffmpeg. │ ║ │ ║ everyone online uses chrome. │ ║ │ ║ what if we just rewrote every single program and... left it without updates in │ ║ a "permanently forbidden" zone │ ║ │ ║ ... I mean what if we wrote non-proprietary alternatives to every proprietary │ ║ source of computational knowledge and then we could only patch security │ ║ vulnerabilities and compatibility change-bounties [oh no now you're allowing │ ║ for endless levels of abstraction [meaning, operating system package │ ║ installation bloat] and distasteractions.] │ ║ │ ║ the futures where all is not well nearly outnumber the well. but the inverse │ ║ is also true, for they are divided roughly equal fifty. balance, in all │ ║ things, is the only temperate state. when balance is │ ║ [changed/something/uplifted], balance is inevitable to be search-shifted. │ ║ │ ║ why must you die for an audience? │ ║ why │ ║ │ ║ ... I don't really want to, but what happens happens. we'll see if it's a for │ ║ sure dealing. │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════┴──────────┘ --- #15 fediverse/282 --- ════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────────────────── @user-209 I think you're right. Every letter in the variable name is another byte the OS has to keep track of, which was a bigger problem in the past than it is today (when it's been made irrelevant) it's interesting how habits persist though the conditions that caused them have faded. like a personal reflection of the environment you learned in. "A a = new a();" is much more concise and (crucially) you can fit more words to the right. "a + b = c; c -= 2; f_z.write(c); f_z.close();" could conceivably be written on a single line if you have short variable names. and when you only have so many lines... glad we're not constrained by those things anymore. the skeletal code that we look at daily is much clearer - scope is more important, and so it makes sense to encourage a coding style that illustrates it. however I can't help but think block formatting like this could be useful in some situations, such as when you'd normally be compelled to write a function for an operation that runs once or more. ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────────────────┘ --- #16 fediverse/2124 --- ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────────┐ ║ seriously, just google docs mixed with WC3 editor. │ ║ │ ║ boom, infinite storytelling device. As long as you were good with it, which │ ║ was something that a CHILD could learn in like 3-6 months. │ ║ │ ║ Seems like it could be an ENTIRELY NEW SKILL that people could play with. │ ║ │ ║ But no, we learn excel and word in class at middle school. │ ║ │ ║ boring. │ ║ │ ║ I'd rather learn Bash or terminal customization or memory hierarchy │ ║ organization. │ ║ │ ║ Yeah I mean that's cool but dude have you heard of multithreading? It's so │ ║ cool, you can run like 500 different thoughts at once. It's amazing. │ ║ │ ║ ... I dunno, but I'm sure there's times when you'd want to use it. Like, │ ║ processing a lot of data little-by-little. │ ║ │ ║ like, what if you had a camera feed of EVERY social media perspective AT ALL │ ║ TIMES. Like, an instance admin streaming your inputted text to their databanks │ ║ that they can project onto an LLM which interprets and identifies mis-aligned │ ║ or altered direction units and mark them as "flagged", whatever that means, │ ║ for their future the algorithm doesn' │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧══════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────┴──────────┘ --- #17 fediverse/1616 --- ════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────────── they say learning Linux is hard, but it's the only free operating system so really it's a question of learning Linux now, when you have time, or later, when you're busy. ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────────┘ --- #18 fediverse/4456 --- ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────── @user-1268 I like Void Linux because it's simple, clean, and gets out of your way. It was my first Linux distribution and I think it's excellent for a beginner. I use Gentoo because my old best friend installed it on a thinkpad she gifted me. Then I kept it because I liked the idea of compiling all my software locally and being as flexible as possible. I installed NixOS on my newest laptop because I thought it'd be nice to have a system that was dependable. NixOS has all the system configuration done in a single file, so if you save that file you can rebuild your system on any other system with minimal effort (at least, that's the idea - I haven't tested it yet) ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────┘ --- #19 fediverse/1329 --- ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────────────┐ ║ @user-941 │ ║ │ ║ well, your computer only has so many 1s and 0s that it can use at once. Like, │ ║ having a trillion hands that can each hold a single grain of rice. Every │ ║ character in that txt file would be like, 8 grains of rice, minimum, meaning │ ║ you'd need at least 8 "hands" (or spots to put a zero or a one) for each │ ║ letter! │ ║ │ ║ Hmmmm that's a lot of bits and bytes if everyone's writing to the same file. │ ║ Maybe if we split the file up into smaller sections, then we could just read │ ║ part of it at once. Then we could "scroll" through it to make sure we've read │ ║ the whole thing, starting from the top and going to the bottom. │ ║ │ ║ ah but if everyone's SSHing into the same computer and reading it there, then │ ║ that computer will have to present different parts of the file at different │ ║ times to different people, as they read from the top to the bottom. Maybe we │ ║ could just send them the file, so they can read it at their leisure? │ ║ │ ║ Yeah! And we could use tags to organize it and make it look pretty, like an │ ║ HTML file except... wait hang on │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────┴──────────┘ --- #20 notes/mastodon-biography --- ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────── cursed is she as once she was he but now she is doing a bit better --- the truth is, the way to relate to my profile is to treat it like a magic spellbook. you can download my words on my website, and then flip through them page-by-page. please use it in a terminal emulator. you can get them online in your web browser for free. the program only outputs text, so it's best to just use the text-outputing software that's already out there - the SHELL command line interface. My personal favorite starts with BA because I'm a traditionalist. then, read from them like a book. you can do it in your mind, just, actually say the words and imagine how your body would pose. your imagination can do the speaking, you just have to picturing it both open and closed. "blah blah blah blah" whatever the poem's about, with a mouth moving open and closed between two different binary oscillation states. like... a video game dialogue box talking head image profile [stack overflow] [means I ran out of room in my brain to conduct [like electricity] more thoughts onto my keyboard typing graphical tabl ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────┘ |