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“This is not the computer for you”

samhenri.gold

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Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#251

Post by kfajdsl »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #225

1. This is the most optimistic, inspirational thing I've read in months :) 2. Are there kids like that still?? I would love to think so. None of the kids in my circle of parents are. There is one teenager who's going into computer science because they are smart and love math, which is great, but they never built or explored or been curious about anything on their computer as far as I can tell. There is a big ecosyste…

To 2., yes - you just have to look in the right places. You're sure to find them in middle/high school or university robotics teams, for example.

When computing was niche, you really only got into if you had a real interest in it (I assume - I wasn't around back then). That's changed, but it doesn't mean that that category doesn't exist anymore. If anything, it's probably way larger in absolute terms, if a smaller proportion of people who work on software in general.

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#252

Post by ghoulishly »

saagarjha wrote: post #168
mr_briggs wrote: post #151

> A Chromebook’s ceiling is made of web browser, and the things you run into are not the edges of computing but the edges of a product category designed to save you from yourself. I'm in the same boat as the author; I cut my teeth on a hand-me-down 2005 eMac, then a hand-me-down 2008 Macbook, before finally getting my own 2011 iMac. I think this is overly harsh on Chromebooks given they belong to the cheaper end of t…

When Chromebooks originally came out, that was not an option. And almost all school-issued computers will not let you do this.

Author of the post here. You nailed it here; I used Chromebook as the example in my post since the one I used in high school was locked down to basically a kiosk. Couldn’t even open dev tools, much less root it. Such a wild departure from the eMacs I used in my elementary school’s library where I could set bonkers `defaults write` commands and customize every aspect of my account.

If I got a Chromebook as a personal machine as a kid, I probably would’ve rooted it and see what I could do, but growing up, the beauty of the Mac (in that Snow Leopard era) was progressive disclosure. I could start on the happy path and have a perfectly stable machine, then customize the behaviors through the terminal, see what it does, mess with the system files, see what breaks, revert it, then go back to using iMovie like normal.

In my (admittedly limited) time using a rooted Chromebook, it’s much more like a switch flip. You go from mandatory water wings directly into getting pushed into the ocean and Google shouting “Good luck!!”

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#253

Post by martwyymem »

I could 100% agree, putting up with i5-4210u and geforce 840m for twelve years. Making stupid shit, ditching Windows for Linux to gain any usability. Editing videos in too high resolutions. I taught myself being patient with electronics and it's the thing I couldn't have taught any other way.

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#254

Post by jeswin »

butILoveLife wrote: post #222
hylaride wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look, MacOS has certainly rotted over the past few years, but the primary reason I use it is because it's still a hundred times nicer to use than Windows (which is also regressing for worse reasons - shoving in AI and ads instead of benign neglect). It's still the best desktop UNIX experience, especially since cheap PC laptops (and until very recently expensive ones) almost always have horrible build quality. It's al…

Oh man, you NEED to use Fedora. Fedora is the best OS humanity has ever made. No exaguration. There needs to be the best, and its Fedora. Linux gets a bad reputation because 20-ish years ago Ubuntu sent out free CDs and became the dominant OS. Ubuntu/Mint is part of Debian family, outdated linux. They call outdated Linux 'stable', but its not stable like a table. Its software version frozen. Bugs that are fixed today…

> Linux gets a bad reputation because 20-ish years ago Ubuntu sent out free CDs and became the dominant OS.

I've been an Ubuntu user for 20 years, and RedHat and Suse prior to that. Ubuntu just worked. Debian had packages for everything, including from 3rd party vendors. It lets me focus on my work, and not worry about the OS, or compiling packages, or finding installers. When I had issues (rare), the large user base meant that someone had already figured out a solution to the problem.

The flavor of Linux doesn't matter so much in my opinion.

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#255

Post by mghackerlady »

anthk wrote: post #227
butILoveLife wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh man, you NEED to use Fedora. Fedora is the best OS humanity has ever made. No exaguration. There needs to be the best, and its Fedora. Linux gets a bad reputation because 20-ish years ago Ubuntu sent out free CDs and became the dominant OS. Ubuntu/Mint is part of Debian family, outdated linux. They call outdated Linux 'stable', but its not stable like a table. Its software version frozen. Bugs that are fixed today…

Fedora Silverblue it's better and Cosmic Desktop looks good for a DE in every release (upcoming 44). For some isolated and rollbackable option, your only options are Silverblue and Guix for the hard way. If you use Nonguix for Guix, on your own, but I'd only use a nonfree kernel in an emergency (the wireless adapter somehow gets broken and the alternative is to boot the OS with propietary fw in order to buy a new one…

Glad to see someone else care so much about software freedom. Guix is great (though my ideal system would be debian with a shepherd init, fhs, and guix for non-root package management)

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#256

Post by PaulHoule »

"A Chromebook doesn’t teach you that"

But seriously, if you go to school today they will make a point to put you on the slowest, weakest Chromebook available because they're terrified that you're going to play Krunker.

The result is you become an adult and you'll never buy a Chromebook. It's the same way that being bullied on the schoolbus means you become an adult who'll never ride public transit.

https://ithacareuse.org/

will sell you a desktop computer for around $150 (e.g. four of them for the price of a Neo) which will put an enterprising young person on a much better path to learn about computers than the Neo ever will.

Now you might say I'm being Orwellian but I really think Swift/XCode/iOS is "slavery" and the web platform is "freedom". I mean dev tools are fully competitive for the web platform, I can write my application once and run it on desktop and phone and tablet and VR headset and game consoles and all sorts of things I don't even know about it. I never have to ask permission if I want to deploy an app or update it. I don't have to pay anyone 30% of my revenue.

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#257

Post by ghoulishly »

haritha-j wrote: post #149

I don't think this is about the macbook neo. I don't think the comments need to devolve into a mac vs. linux argument. It's simply an ode to that kid pushing hardware to the limits, and learning so much along the way. What I feel a bit sad about is, I was that kid. Growing up in a 3rd world country, running games that i didn't own on hardware that ought not run it, debugging why those games don't work, rooting my pho…

(Author of the post here) The post was inspired by the Neo and provoked by a certain YouTuber’s review of it, but yeah it’s about the Neo in the same way that The Old Man and the Sea is about fishing.

I wrote about the Mac in general since that’s what I know, but I imagine if I grew up in the Windows world and liked Windows more, I would have a similar experience with my dad’s old ThinkPad or something.

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#258

Post by Lalabadie »

butILoveLife wrote: post #211
mr_briggs wrote: post #151

> A Chromebook’s ceiling is made of web browser, and the things you run into are not the edges of computing but the edges of a product category designed to save you from yourself. I'm in the same boat as the author; I cut my teeth on a hand-me-down 2005 eMac, then a hand-me-down 2008 Macbook, before finally getting my own 2011 iMac. I think this is overly harsh on Chromebooks given they belong to the cheaper end of t…

> The Macbook Neo is an awesome machine for it's cost/value Uh... if you need to compile for iOS, sure. But outside of that, no its not. You are literally just paying the Apple tax that they deliberately choose.

What amount of that 600$ cost do you reckon is the Apple tax? I'm curious what comparables you see, and how much they cost.

Re: “This is not the computer for you”

#260

Post by coldtea »

mauzybwy wrote: post #226
mr_briggs wrote: post #151

> A Chromebook’s ceiling is made of web browser, and the things you run into are not the edges of computing but the edges of a product category designed to save you from yourself. I'm in the same boat as the author; I cut my teeth on a hand-me-down 2005 eMac, then a hand-me-down 2008 Macbook, before finally getting my own 2011 iMac. I think this is overly harsh on Chromebooks given they belong to the cheaper end of t…

Man I got a computer engineering degree in 2015 with a $200 Chromebook chrooted into Debian. And I worked professionally for years on an 8gb MacBook Air. The Neo is definitely something younger me would be interested in.

I mean, never mind younger us. I have a M5 MBP and even I am tempted for a Neo for travelling
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