I think the biggest culture shock for a lot of people is “fewer surprises, more options.” On my machine at least, updates don’t run automatically – I might get a notification that “updates are available” but that’s it, I still have to say “okay, now is a good time to update”, it won’t surprise me with them.

Similarly, if I want to set a hotkey for like “take a screenshot of the current application”, I can do that! But the downside is that it might not be set up by default, I have to go to settings -> hotkeys or something similar.

Linux “gets out of your way” and lets you solve problems, but that also means it’s not always going to solve them for you. It’s getting better at this over time – if lots of people have the same problem, the solution might get merged “upstream”, but a lot of things are still “well, how do YOU want it to work?”.

is this available in text form?

Thank you, that makes some sense.

the closest thing on android right now is an app called Termux, it simulates a linux scripting environment with several languages (including C, python, and javascript), and it can be programmed to do anything an app can do (including blink the LED).

but c’mon, that should be standard. also phones should come rooted.

how about pocket computers with the power of a smartphone but the common sense usability of a goddamn graphing calculator? i’m sitting on a magic rectangle with more computing power than the apollo mission and it doesn’t even let me blink the LED without installing an app?? these things should legally have to come with a scripting environment.

this is my sticking point with fish. I still need to know bash for writing portable scripts, so its hard to justify scripting in fish.

I still use firefox despite their questionable leadership, for one major reason: it prevents Google from setting whatever web standards they want. Sites that aren’t standards compliant will usually still work in Chromium-based browsers, but they will break in Firefox, and then I can report the bugs.

maybe something like a Raspberry Pi and set him up with html? html and js is still a great way to learn, you get immediate feedback!

Probably Emacs. /j

Yes, we have ghost communities. No, it’s not a problem. We’re not here to entertain you 24/7.

The Reddit communities that drove the most engagement were also the most toxic. The good part of Reddit was, and to some extent still is, the slow-moving communities that act as magnets for scraps of obscure knowledge.

Have patience.

I carry a spare usb stick and some low-capacity microsd cards, because sometimes its just easier to hand someone a file the old fashioned way.

Sometimes I do play games on my phone, but whenever possible I use a usb or bluetooth gamepad, because touchscreens aren’t supplanting buttons any time soon.

And of course the Steam Deck is my favorite gizmo, not just because it can run every PC and emulator game, but also because it doesn’t have any bullshit preventing me from installing mods. If phone modding was easy and accessible i’d be willing to spend more on a phone.

I’ve written about this on my blog: https://nycki.net/blog/2024-09-21-01-ethics-of-reuploading/

in brief: I think the right to keep one’s memories should usually come first over another’s right to be forgotten, but its ultimately a consent issue.

We need to build a space for them to migrate into. Most of what I see on Lemmy is, frankly, whiny. If we want to grow we need to set a better example.

I remember downloading grainy Quicktime video files from people’s homepages. We didn’t need YouTube then and we don’t need it now.

I like to say that Star Wars is to fantasy what Discworld is to sci-fi. Star wars is swords and sorcery in space, and Discworld is ethics and robotics in middle earth.

you may want to be careful how you word this; if you focus too hard on a specific culture then you inherit that culture’s biases. I don’t think english language sci-fi novels are known for their racially and sexually diverse fandom, for instance.

When dating people, I often ask “name a book that’s not Harry Potter”. Doesn’t even have to be one you’ve read. Pick any book at all (other than Harry Potter) and tell me why you thought of it.

I’m not gatekeeping people who do or don’t read books, and i don’t care if it’s sci fi, fantasy, fanfic, nonfic, whatever. what i do care about is that you are aware of at least one book and care enough to remember what it’s about. That’s a low bar, but not as low as you might think.

The “no Harry Potter” clause isn’t specifically due to jkr being a terf (although that too), but because it’s such an overused answer. Yeah, I do remember the books that were so popular that they had their own brand of jelly beans. I have run out of things to say about them. Pick literally anything else.

depending on your budget, consider the MNT Reform, a notebook computer designed to be as repairable as you can possibly imagine. Every plastic part is 3d-printable, every circuitboard is open source, and it uses off-the-shelf parts for its keyboard, batteries, and screen. really its only downsides are the entry price (around $1600) and the fact that it relies on a relatively low-power SOC (system on chip) for CPU, GPU, and RAM.

disclaimer: I don’t have one myself (yet) but I’m keeping an eye on them because it looks like an incredible hobby computer

physche

none of them. linguistic gatekeeping is just disguised contempt for the poor. let people spell however the fuck they want.