The picture was slow to load for me, and I expected Beanie Babies or some kind of precious metal or BitCoin.

Have you considered turning it into a paint ball arena?

It probably wouldn’t be a good investment, but it would make a great story.

I had not heard of Trinity Desktop. That does look like a much simpler path to beautiful Windows XP stylings.

Apparently, many people want to make Linux look like Windows 95?

I’m a developer, so my chances are pretty good. But I take your point.

Even if I weren’t, there’s enough software options out there that I don’t have to pick between paying for proprietary software and living with abandonware.

So I think the need for this security is exaggerated.

Of course. I used proprietary software for a long time. Having things I relied on get abandoned got old, but it worked.

I just expect more from most of my software, now.

I’m happy to pay for software, but I want more than just permission, I want long term security that my investment in the tool will last.

If IntelliJ would open source their oldest versions, I would make my boss buy me a copy of the newest version every year.

I’d say Linux is somewhere around early Windows XP when it comes to usability for a normal person.

I was confused until it struck me that maybe you don’t consider Windows XP the peak of operating system user interface design.

I’ll admit, Vista really messed with my perspective.

That’s why we got together and agreed on one version of Linux to recommend to new adopters.

Even technical folks aren’t huge fans of RTFM.

If I’m doing something incredibly interesting, and I’m asking for help, I should RTFM.

If I’m doing something routine, we can (and usually do, now), make it simple enough not to need a manual.

Oof. Sorry you had such a bad experience.

Pro tip for others: It takes time for volunteers to reverse engineer new proprietary laptop hardware.

If the laptop manufacturers aren’t advertising Linux support, it’s up to the community to play guess and check, to figure out what the proprietary drivers do.

You might get lucky and pick the same exact model as a passionate reverse engineer. Or you might not.

With old stuff, your odds are much better that someone has figured it out for you.

For new hardware, it’s still essential to pick a vendor that chooses to write and release Linux drivers.

This will get better when truly open hardware platforms gain popularity.

And to every other bidder, too, of course.

The comics kind of address this:

Killing the holder of the Infinity Gauntlet usually results in someone equally bad picking it up.

So just killing Thanos often isn’t a complete solution, after the stones have been gathered.

I can explain this chart: SO and AI both give me questionably useful example code, but AI isn’t as much of an asshole about it as the average SO user.

Needs more chains and walls between groups in the top picture. And maybe some ransom notes.

(This is more to try to make you laugh, than useful feedback, sorry. I don’t have a very good idea how to actually include these concepts in a simple diagram.)

That’s a great way to handle it.

I like to pass them the ticket and schedule the next open hour on their calendar for them to teach me how to do it, if they’re a developer. Sometimes they do, because I was genuinely missing something easy. Usually they get to awkwardly discuss why they don’t have it done yet, either.

When the person isn’t even a developer, I’ll explain the usual process between developers, and give them a chance to beg their way out of it.

If they don’t beg off, I schedule them anyway and see if they can actually at least “rubber duck” me through the problem. (Sometimes it even works.)

I’ve had a couple peers discover (or rekindle) their love for development this way. Most just make up a reason not to make the meeting, though.

Don’t feel bad, this place is weird. It’s a good weird. But weird.

this isn’t Twitter

But this is Mastodon (for some of us).

Lemmy and Mastodon share content, now.

This new nerd Internet is weird, but it’s weird in cool ways.

Ooh. Thanks. Today I learned about RePebble. If it doesn’t deliver, there’s still also Gadget Bridge (connect most devices fully locally) and PineTime (another spiritual successor to the Pebble).

It’s actually not a crime to mercy kill and dispose of the body of anyone who says “Well, it’s a simple task. Are you having difficulty?”.

It’s an obscure and weirdly specific law.

(This is a joke, of course.)

Would you settle for a meme about a character from Star Trek installing Linux on something?

I kid. We’re growing. But I agree, we could spend less energy on then.

They mostly ban our accounts when we do, but I don’t mind. I like to tell people when the party has moved, if they seem cool.