I love getting years of good service from old computers, but I do want to add something: old laptop means old battery, and if they’re not producing the same form factor anymore, then even a replacement battery will probably be old stock that’s been degrading for years. Unfortunately I don’t know what company’s models have the best longevity here in terms of battery form factor.

That sucks, Internet friend. Want to talk about it?

I was in 6th grade and wanted to know more about computers. I thought being a computer programmer would be a cool job one day. I’d heard Linux was difficult to install and use and thought hey, that’ll help me learn. So I had my parents get me a copy of Mandrake 6. It was perfect because I had the free time to play with it and figure stuff out by making mistakes and fixing them without the pressure of having to do really important work.

I do preach the good word of FOSS, but only to those who are in a position to appreciate the suggestion and benefit from it.

I had amazing luck getting Linux running nicely, way-back-when, with an Acer Aspire One. I’ve stayed with that product line for all my laptops and so far it’s paid off. But then there’s also options like System76 for nice machines with Linux pre-installed.

I’d love to share it. I’m not sure what the best way is. I’m still new to the Fediverse but I feel there must be a way to do it Fediversally.

Last night I grabbed a bunch of audio files for country songs that contain the phrase “ice cold beer,” then I edited them together so that all the "ice cold beer"s lined up amidst the cacophony of about 5 songs being played at the same time. I thought that would be funny but it just didn’t sound as good as I thought it would. Maybe if each song faded in one by one… I dunno.

Pay billions for a userbase, then drive away the ones that aren’t Nazis or bots.

Pretty good. Last full week of summer break so I’m just wrapping up house projects and preparing some teaching materials for next year.

I’ve got 3 main computers because I’m a tech hoarder. Ubuntu MATE, Linux Mint, and Pop!_OS with XFCE. I’ve also got a little craptop for distro hopping, currently it’s got Debian 12. My work provided a Windows laptop but I only have to bring it to meetings.

Where I work just switching into a TTY would be enough to keep anyone out.

Even worse, just making money isn’t enough: you also have to become a fucking global monopoly.

That is by far the most likely scenario. Hell it’s already happening with the AI we do have. Teslas driving into walls, facial recognition mistaking an innocent person for a criminal (mentioned in the article).

Doomsday science fiction is fun to toy with but it usually involves a lot of hand waving.

I’ve been getting into primitive technology lately. It all started when I looked at my back yard and thought hey, if we call it red clay, then I should be able to make it into pottery. I take dirt from my yard, levigate it, add grog and wedge, hand-build pots, and fire them in my fire pit. Been making sharpening stones from river rocks. Crafting replicas of Roman machines. That sort of thing.

Have you ever gotten GNU/Hurd running on hardware?

…by failing they mean “isn’t making money for rich people”.

That’s exactly it. Mastodon won’t live or die by how well it can compete with Birdsite. After making the switch I see that it’s all I wanted from microblogging as a practice.

RIP

Not… So… Fast… We shall counter with our ad blocker blocker blocker blockers!

My guess is: adventurous readers who are intrigued by a small snippet, then figure it out on page 2 after they’ve bought it already.

Me at 11pm: why on earth would I watch a long video deep diving into obsolete incandescent headlights?

Me at 7am: hey did you know that headlights used to be so standard you could just drop in a generic replacement and…

Given how modern suggestion algorithms seem to be poorly moderated, unregulated black boxes aimed at keeping users engaged on site above all else… I won’t be surprised if/when we learn that this has literally happened.