Posts by mercster

Need a Linux admin? Ask a hair stylist to introduce you to a worried mother

I started running Linux as a teenager in 1993 after hearing about it at a computer shop. Eight years later I was doing UNIX administration work for large companies. I had 0 education, but got my foot in the door through fellow Linux enthusiasts who were already employed (and highly educated.) Did many years of UNIX work, systems engineering. I don't think that can happen today, but that was a cool time.

AmigaOS updated in 2025 for some reason

"fOr sOme rEaSoN"

Because someone is passionate about it, and they want to. OK? What in the hell are you working on there, "Liam?" Why in the hell did a kid from Finland try writing a UNIX-like OS when there was already Minix and the HURD was just around the corner? People do things for the joy of doing them, and it is there that humans find meaning. Not some utilitarian, too-cool-for-school shitty attitude like yours.

Both KDE and GNOME to offer official distros

GNOME/KDE

As a small aside... I was around when GNOME was being built, and ran very early 0.x prereleases (I was on a small private network where many of the early GNOME folk were chatting)... GNOME was great until 3.x. KDE was indeed horrible, until Plasma 5. If you had asked me in 2001 if I would ever run KDE, I would have said "Heck no"... GNOME was much better. It's a strange thing that once GNOME 3 hit, I switched to KDE and have never looked back.

Linus Torvalds flames Google kernel contributor over filesystem suggestion

Bring back the old Linus

Old Linus was +1, his powers amplify with rage.

Re: A better long-term approach...

LOL... petty Linux newbie distro opinions incoming...

The Land Before Linux: Let's talk about the Unix desktops

Title / article mismatch?

Is this one of those things where the editor or someone else who didn't write the article, writes the headline? I clicked hoping to hear abour CDE, Openview, etc. Sure, NeXTStep was given its due but... this really isn't an article about "UNIX desktops" as much as it is yet another article explaining why Linux succeeded. Waste of my time.

USB Cart of Death: The wheeled scourge that drove Windows devs to despair

"Old hands – such as your writer – well remember the days when printers, keyboards, and even the newfangled mouse all had their own connectors. USB promised a way of resolving the mess."

Uhh, well... not exactly. AT connections were probably the most "exclusive"... mice would be connected using a standard serial port, which is not exclusive at all. PS/2 was probably the 2nd most exclusive, a mini-DIN connection developed by IBM and subsequently used on many motherboards for mouse and keyboard connectivity. Back long ago, most devices used either serial or parallel connections... and all computers had those. Mice were serial (as were modems and other devices), printers were parallel... but it's not as if each single device type had a different connector. USB is just much smaller and can support all these things, meaning a single port can do much more. It's also hot-swappable.

Windows File Explorer gets nostalgic speed boost thanks to one weird bug

Re: just get Linux already

An operating system is separate from the applications it runs. Someone may write an application for an operating system that the person does not wish to use. You may not interact much with the operating system... it may simply be a facility that runs applications for you, and that's fine. Some people do more with the operating system facilities themselves. It can be useful to run programs from one operating system on another. This is also a use of virtual machines, which are very popular, and run much of the internet these days, if you weren't aware.

Re: All operating systems suck; Linux just sucks less

Way to make an ass of yourself with political a statement in a conversation about computers. You've proven you have nothing of worth to add. Shoo fly.

Re: just get Linux already

Yes, WINE is pretty good. It used to be better at running apps than games. The reason it's the other way around is actually not Steam/Steamdeck, but a project by one guy (Philip Rebohle... he was hired by Valve well after he had gotten dxvk to do amazing things) called dxvk. It's a Vulkan API translation layer that allows for the playing of DirectX 10/11 games... Steam's Proton is a series of patches on top of dxvk, and is nicely integrated into Steam's interface. They both deserve credit for where Linux gaming is today. WINE as well. WINE is the meat, dxvk is the salt and pepper... Steam's Proton integration puts it on a plate and pours gravy on it, holding the fork while you chew. Wonderful stuff.

(You can still use DXVK in a WINE installation and run lots of games that aren't on Steam. You don't even have to do all the black magic fudgery with the Proton binary, which is integrated heavily with Steam's internal structures and pathing. There are even patch sets that turn dxvk into a stand-alone Proton, providing the compatibility patches and improvements that Proton gets over at Valve. It's a neat project. It's all on github. But this is the kind of stuff a newbie Linux gamer is gonna struggle with, not because it's hard, it's just foreign and takes time to learn.)

WINE is still not perfect, not much better than it used to be (when I first regularly, used it way back before pre-1.0.)

whoops

Whoops, sorry for double post... Register login/posting is weird. Ahh well, expanded/alternative reply to above "Just run Linux!" post.

...and you have no specific requirements that requires Windows, and also don't mind dealing with Linux's own quirks and foibles . And don't come at me with "But Linux has equivalents for everything, and WINE!" Look, I love Linux... I've been running it since 1993. Went on to have a good career as a UNIX sysadmin. But there are lots of workflows and software solutions that simply work better in Windows (just as there are for other operating systems, including Linux.) Gone are the days when there is a massive delta when comparing the two in many areas of usability and functionality. Linux has benefits and deficiencies... Windows has benefits and deficiencies. Use the right tool for the job.

A wise man once said, "All operating systems suck; Linux just sucks less." You can look up that quote to see who said it.

Re: just get Linux already

... and have no specific software requirements that can only run in Windows. Look, I love Linux, I've been running it since 1993. But saying Linux is the best OS for everyone is kinda goofy. Use the right tool for the right job. Linux has benefits and deficiencies, Windows has benefits and deficiencies. This isn't the 90s anymore, Windows has actually improved, dontcha know.

A wise man once said "All operating systems suck; Linux just sucks less." You can look up who said it.

Rocky Linux claims to have found 'path forward' from CentOS source purge

Going to "cause problems"? Good. Great things arise when people overcome problems, instead of leeching and acting like whiney babies when their free lunch gets rescinded.

Spotted in the wild: Chimera – a Linux that isn't GNU/Linux

Re: Why?

Have you ever used an OS besides Windows, MacOS, or Linux before?

Funny

Talk was "highly technical"? I guess that reflects most Linux kids these days... don't know what's going on under the hood at all. I also find that echo'd in people asking "Why do this?" It's called messing with technology, Like when Linus wanted something better than Minix on cheap PCs. I.e., do something other than consume.

Re: But why?

Why not?

Unix is dead. Long live Unix!

Re: Are you ok?

Linux definitely does not stand for "Linux Is Not UniX. I'm old enough to remember that.