And when it’s really unusable as a desktop anymore, it can become a headless PiHole server. There’s always a use. Back in 2005 I was using an old Pentium MMX laptop with a broken screen as a Wifi access point/router. I even bought a two-way 2.4Ghz amplifier to hang off the laptop’s PCMCIA wifi card to boost it throughout the apartment.

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I’m a C/C++ dude but I heard it being called the “Karen compiler”. It doesn’t look that scary based on samples I’ve seen, but there’s way more to it I am assuming.

I learned how a kernel actually loads a program and switches between them by using timer interrupts and interrupt vectors that point to specific locations in memory to resume execution from. Not specifically Linux related, but I’m trying to learn more computer science, and it just clicked for me two weeks ago. I’ve been programming microcontrollers for ten years, but those are monolithic programs, and while I knew what interrupts were and have used them, I never understood how an OS actually runs multiple things while staying in control. Now I do. About time I understood a core concept of these machines that have been here all 42 years of my life.

It’s one of those “aha!” moments like when I realized classes and structs are just data types like any other in C++ when I was starting off programming and can be used like them. OOP became fun after that.

They’ve been doing this for decades. The Mac boot sound has been hard coded since Macs were a thing.

SGI used to do this with their Irix workstations.

What? You don’t have a set of cutting hammers in the kitchen?

The vast majority of regular internet users never think of things from this perspective because they’ve never been in a position of running a public facing website. To most people, the Internet is just there to be taken for granted like the public street and park outside someone’s house. All the stuff on it just exists there by itself. That’s also why we have issues with free speech online, where people expect certain rights that don’t exist, because these aren’t publicly owned websites and people aren’t getting that.

10 PRINT “FARTS” 20 GOTO 10

I get that. I was just saying why it might tick some people off. My idea of a good OS is one that you don’t even notice while using it. It just sits in the background doing its thing and you don’t have to think about whether you’re using KDE, Gnome, or whatever, because it never makes itself known and you just happily use your programs.

Some people just don’t like their OS being used for that purpose and want it to be just a tool that shuts up and does exactly as it’s told and no more. I can see that point of view. Our computers aren’t free billboards. It’s like when car dealers stick their own custom logo on the cars they sell to people.

I really do not understand how this community is so toxic regarding this.

I’m guessing it’s because you’re surrounded by people who DID spend the extra effort to learn something on their own without having their hand held, and now just see people trying to take the easy way out.

You’re not unique. We were all in your position once.

You don’t learn as well when you have someone/something else do the thinking for you. It’s nice to NOT have to keep going back to an LLM for answers.

“What if I just change this a bit…”

segmentation fault

“Nope, nope, let’s put that mystery code back…”

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Well yeah, because it’s Python. Use C/C++, the ancient languages of the Gods. If you can think it, you can make it. It’s basically almost assembly.

I did something like this once. I swapped the “power” and “status” LED silkscreen labels on 100 PCBs on a custom device. The design rules checker in my software doesn’t catch labeling errors.

If you think your design is finally done… it’s not. Check it again. Go to bed, and check again in the morning. And check again in the evening.

Must have been when it was still a bunch of servers in a garage.

And religion, favorite Jolly Rancher flavor, or what car you drive is not one of them. Those are all conscious choices.

Did you write a TCP/IP stack and web browser in BASIC?

Damn I just upgraded to socket AM5 too, great decision. It almost was Intel.