Welcome to America: Here's Your Linux Computer • Hacker News Board

Re: Welcome to America: Here's Your Linux Computer

#71

Post by yellowapple » Fri, Jun 05, 2015, 7:31 PM UTC

austenallred wrote: post #15

omarforgotpwd wrote: post #12

"Remember that shitty computer we got when we were first came to the US?" -- Kids, recounting this experience in 15 years

"Remember that shitty computer we had 15 years ago?" -- Everybody

I still have my old Compaq Presario 1210 sitting in my bedroom. It's been with me for a good 15 years. Was originally my mom's, but she pretty much abandoned it and eventually said "here, son, it's yours if you can get it working".

So I did. Upgraded from Windows 95 to Windows 2000. Saw that the modem broke (was some cheap WinModem that Win2000 didn't support anymore), but was happy that it ran a somewhat-modern operating system at the time. Then switched to Win98SE to get the modem working again (which not only failed at that task, but also caused the sound to not work). Switched back to Win2000, then DOS 6.22 + Win3.1, then Win2000, then DOS + Win3.1, then Damn Small Linux, then FreeDOS, then Softlanding Linux System.

During that time, the power supply partially failed (would hang if taken off AC power, even with a healthy battery), the CD-ROM drive got buggy, and the lid had a hard time staying up. It finally died a few months ago (fans spin, but nothing on the screen and no floppy drive initialization; perhaps the BIOS went kaput for some reason?). It's like your dog dying; it's something that you come to expect as the years add on, yet you're never really prepared for it. Yet, unlike the death of a pet, at least there's some hope of figuring out which part it is I need to replace.

Thus, it's only a matter of time before I fix it again. I'll never give up on you, buddy, 'cause you never gave up on me.

Re: Welcome to America: Here's Your Linux Computer

#72

Post by nkg » Fri, Jun 05, 2015, 7:35 PM UTC

bdcravens wrote: post #40

omarforgotpwd wrote: post #12

"Remember that shitty computer we got when we were first came to the US?" -- Kids, recounting this experience in 15 years

I'm typing on the highest end MBPr you can buy, but my first computer was a 286 with DOS and a handful of programs - this was just after Windows 95 came out, so it was quite shitty for the day. However, no computer has been quite as magical as that one. While I get paid good money to produce code every day, and I think it's damn good code, I don't feel nearly as productive as I did when I was learning to write QBasic…

My first computer was a Casio calculator (so, basically not a computer) with monochrome screen. It was programmable in BASIC and it came with a 500 pages manual. I loved that thing. I spent months playing with it!

Re: Welcome to America: Here's Your Linux Computer

#73

Post by fnordfnordfnord » Fri, Jun 05, 2015, 7:36 PM UTC

tdees40 wrote: post #26

lambda wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have to admit I'm surprised to find that anyone is still trying to make desktop Linux work for normal people, i.e. non-programmers who aren't free-software fanatics. As far as day to day use goes, modern desktop Linux environments are just as usable by end users as Windows. The main impediments to adoption tend to be: 1. Software that they need that only runs on Windows or OS X 2. Syncing to devices like iPods or…

"Just as usable by end users as Windows." Have you seen a non-programmer install a printer on a Linux machine? It's terrifying.

I have. It works as well or better than on Windows. College freshmen, most of whom have never seen a Linux machine manage it.

Re: Welcome to America: Here's Your Linux Computer

#74

Post by pjmlp » Fri, Jun 05, 2015, 7:38 PM UTC

psykovsky wrote: post #53

JupiterMoon wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never install pirated versions of software on any computer. It is simply not worth it.

That also, ofcourse. But on our own machines we can decide, and if you're like me, every computer in your house uses a flavour of Linux and you don't even think about pirated software or software licenses most of the time.

I hope that you at least think about donating back.

Re: Welcome to America: Here's Your Linux Computer

#75

Post by yellowapple » Fri, Jun 05, 2015, 7:44 PM UTC

JupiterMoon wrote: post #69

rconti wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

5. NetworkManager

I see this mentioned a lot but what actually is the problem with NetworkManager that people complain about?

It's a buggy pile of shit, for starters. Constantly drops network connections, will frequently flood your network history with multiple duplicate entries for no apparent reason, will often mysteriously fail to connect to a wireless network for whatever reason even though others work fine (and other devices can connect to the wireless network in question without issue - even other NetworkManager-using ones)... that sort of thing. I know the underlying utilities (namely, wpa_supplicant) aren't the issue, since wpa_supplicant - in my experience - is much more robust when configured manually, with far fewer problems, but at the expense of having to edit wpa_supplicant.conf in order to manage wireless networks, which is a bit of a pain (though perhaps worth not having to deal with NetworkManager).

If someone figures out a way to port Android's network management system (I'm not sure exactly what it is off the top of my head, but I know it uses wpa_supplicant and that it's not NetworkManager) to general-purpose GNU/Linux distros, that would be a godsend.

Re: Welcome to America: Here's Your Linux Computer

#76

Post by yellowapple » Fri, Jun 05, 2015, 7:47 PM UTC

lambda wrote: post #64

rconti wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

5. NetworkManager

I have found NetworkManager to be no more difficult to use than setting up networking in Windows. For me, for simple cases, it tends to just work; for more complicated cases with multiple interfaces, it takes some fiddling but can be made to work as well; and pretty similar to the amount of fiddling on Windows. I've found OS X to require less fiddling for some of the simpler and moderately complex cases, but also hav…

It always "just works" at first. The problems start creeping in after a few weeks or months, when NetworkManager inexplicably vomits all over itself with dropped connections, unexplained failures to connect to wireless networks, and duplicate wireless entries (among many, many other things) when the underlying components (namely, wpa_supplicant) work perfectly fine on their own on the same hardware.

Re: Welcome to America: Here's Your Linux Computer

#77

Post by yellowapple » Fri, Jun 05, 2015, 7:49 PM UTC

the_af wrote: post #32

tdees40 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Just as usable by end users as Windows." Have you seen a non-programmer install a printer on a Linux machine? It's terrifying.

At least as of version 12.04, Ubuntu [1] automagically detects my wireless HP Laserjet printer (albeit with some slightly reduced functionality, IIRC). My wife's Windows 7 laptop struggles with it; the install process was more involved and the printer sometimes refuses to wake up when sending a print job to it. [1] The modern desktop-oriented distro I'm more familiar with. I'm sure other user-friendly distros handle…

At the very most, it might involve having to navigate the CUPS web interface (which, admittedly, is a pile of shit; thanks, Apple) in order to get a printer setup. Still rarely involves having to install drivers (though some vendors are better than others; Brother and HP tend to be the most Linux-compatible, while Canon and Konica Minolta have tended to require driver installation on some distros).

Re: Welcome to America: Here's Your Linux Computer

#78

Post by yellowapple » Fri, Jun 05, 2015, 7:52 PM UTC

pjmlp wrote: post #74

psykovsky wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That also, ofcourse. But on our own machines we can decide, and if you're like me, every computer in your house uses a flavour of Linux and you don't even think about pirated software or software licenses most of the time.

I hope that you at least think about donating back.

I know I do; I've bought every version of Slackware since I started using it a couple years ago (which, granted, has been, like, three versions, but still). I've also bought a few OpenBSD CD sets, though I've slacked off a bit lately.

Re: Welcome to America: Here's Your Linux Computer

#79

Post by dbbolton » Fri, Jun 05, 2015, 7:52 PM UTC

Off topic writing criticism: avoid using synonyms for "said", like "replied", "inquired", and "countered". It's ostentatious and distracting. Let the dialog speak for itself, and only add the bare minimum needed for the reader to keep track of who's saying what:

http://bookblog.kjodle.net/2011/06/he-said-she-said-the-fine...

Now compare this to the original:

"They don't speak much English yet, but maybe the public library will be a useful resource for them," she said.

"Do bring them by here regularly. If they are interested in self-advancing their learning, the public library is the perfect place for them to do that. Do your kids have their own computer at home?" I said.

"No, they currently borrow my laptop, which is not such an ideal situation."

"Tell them they're getting their own donated desktop computer on Monday next week. I'll prepare it for them over the weekend."

Re: Welcome to America: Here's Your Linux Computer

#80

Post by bliti » Fri, Jun 05, 2015, 7:59 PM UTC

meesterdude wrote: post #4

What a wonderful story! and really a great gesture on multiple accounts, and very thoughful for sure. Even something like a raspberry pi would be more than enough for someone like a kid who wants to learn and just needs a means to do so. I never could afford a computer as a kid growing up. All my computers were donations or throwaways that I tinkered with and learned on and fixed up. My first computer was an SE/30 th…

Yes, some of us have these kind of stories. Yours is remarkable! A computer that was getting trashed. That is amazing. I can try and imagine the sense of wonder that it woke up inside of you.

To share a somewhat related story: My first computer was a C64. It was given to us (two brothers and me) by my parents. We were not rich. Lived in a low income neighborhood. Education was important to our parents. But, the funny thing is that we almost got a Nintendo! My oldest brother suggested the C64 instead. I was furious (six years old at the time). My first code was written in that wonderful machine.

It doesn't end there! I had a hiatus from computers when the C64 broke! My middle brother had bought a computer for college and I wanted one. Well, he didn't use it that much. I had an old car. I traded the car for the computer. I met my wife through that computer. Not only that, but it allowed me to connect to the web and learn about software. For which resources were not available where I lived. :D