this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2023
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Linux

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[–] [email protected] 158 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Back in the dark, old days of Linux I spent 5-6 hours digging through dbus events and X11 configs to get my mouse working. It was unplugged.

In my defense, in those days, Linux was such an insane asylum that diving into dbus and X11 as a first step was usually the logical approach.

[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Jesus Christ. I've never been so thankful for being a Linux noob in my life. That sounds awful.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Those days gave me a career so I can't really complain.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Remember make

Oh wait. Missing something.

Download it.

Tar unzip make missing something else. Tar unzip make.

1 hour later. What was I doing?

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

Turns out, I do need therapy.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

I owe much of my career to trying to set up Linux From Scratch two decades ago. While it's a much better experience installing Linux nowadays, there's a lot to be said for the experience spending your weekend debugging a system will give you.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago

Had a similar experience with Mint (of all distros) on an old laptop where it would not detect the headphones I plugged in. Spent like 30 minutes troubleshooting the settings/configuration and googling. Turns out the cable was weird and I just needed to not push it in too deep for it to be detected.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Been there with those old printer cables that had the two thumb screws. I spent way too long troubleshooting print problems turned out with some cables if you dont screw the thumb screws all the way in you don't get a good cable connection.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Ah yes the good ol' LPT ports. Back in the days of pin printers and them catching on fire. Good times.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I like that it has those little inside bevels to guide the pins. More connectors should have that.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Back in the dark, old days of Linux I spent 5-6 hours digging through dbus events

That's not possible. In the dark, old days of Linux, dbus didn't exist yet.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

There's always a darker, older day

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Or forgetting to enable the third button/wheel in the kernel

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I am still bitching when I have to touch anything dbus, x11 or xdg.
Also, finding where an environment variable comes from is fun too.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Let's just hope X11 will soon be gone for good.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Remember - if an environment variable's not your fault, it's your parent's fault.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Once helped a nice old lady troubleshooter her computer. Everything was yellow. Checked monitor settings three times. Checked Windows for f.lux. Checked Windows video settings. Reverted drivers. Updated drivers.

Jiggled the cable.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Ah, good old VGA brings the memories back

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

On the bright side you must be tough as bricks now.