Personal computing discussed

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whm1974
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Strange thought of the day.

Wed May 24, 2017 6:45 pm

I'm not sure if this goes here or in the Unix section, but I have having this really strange thought about that somewhere there a smart 8 or 9 y/o kid who has built a computer and has Linux running without any help from his or her parents. And said kid is better at doing both than I am.

Is this remotely possible?
 
DragonDaddyBear
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Wed May 24, 2017 6:50 pm

I don't know your skill level, but the first part is probably true. Enter Ubuntu disk, pound next, enjoy Linux. I'd say I've seen 8 year olds able to do that. And if they can Google they can learn Linux. Being sponges I don't doubt they could be decent in short order.
 
UberGerbil
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Wed May 24, 2017 7:19 pm

Short story:
In the mid- late 90s I was doing a lot of travelling (for both business and pleasure). On one of my trips to Cambodia, I think around 2002 or so, I went into an Internet cafe. There was an old lady running the til, and a lot of Windows boxes all running the same pirated copy of Windows 2000. The machine I sat down at wasn't connecting to the internet, so I gestured to the lady to indicate that I was moving to a different machine. She gestured for me to wait and then yelled into the back room. A little girl who looked no older than 10 (though she might've been a year or two older -- Asian children in general and especially in countries with high rates of malnutrition can look younger than they are) came out of the back. She sat down at my machine, pulled up a command prompt, and began doing a bunch of command line diagnostics. This was more than just ipconfig /release and ipconfig /renew -- they had a server in that back room and she had a shell open on that to do something (I had stood up to let her sit and the glare on the screen made it hard to follow what she was doing). After a couple of minutes she got up and I sat down to a working system.
 
Captain Ned
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Wed May 24, 2017 8:12 pm

Quelle surprise on the OP. If I find out you're RMS posting under an alias, there will be repercussions. :wink:
What we have today is way too much pluribus and not enough unum.
 
whm1974
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Wed May 24, 2017 8:17 pm

Captain Ned wrote:
Quelle surprise on the OP. If I find out you're RMS posting under an alias, there will be repercussions. :wink:

Well I'm not.
 
Thin Man
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Wed May 24, 2017 8:29 pm

I bought a couple of basic Fire tablets for my nephew's kids to use to play Free Time games. The 5yr old boy has pretty much mastered the thing and most of the games inside of 8 months. I have separate passwords for each tablet and it is only by religiously guarding him from seeing said passwords that has prevented him from making major mods to the system. he knows how to change accounts and how to enable or disable wifi. He knows what a browser is and which icon opens it.
The only thing he hasn't grasped is the fact that you can't open 12 games at once.
"If you take up a starving dog and feed it, it will not bite you. This is the primary difference between a man and a dog." Mark Twain
 
whm1974
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Wed May 24, 2017 8:35 pm

Thin Man wrote:
I bought a couple of basic Fire tablets for my nephew's kids to use to play Free Time games. The 5yr old boy has pretty much mastered the thing and most of the games inside of 8 months. I have separate passwords for each tablet and it is only by religiously guarding him from seeing said passwords that has prevented him from making major mods to the system. he knows how to change accounts and how to enable or disable wifi. He knows what a browser is and which icon opens it.
The only thing he hasn't grasped is the fact that you can't open 12 games at once.

So what would you do if he figured out the passwords and starts modding the tablets?
 
Redocbew
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Wed May 24, 2017 8:42 pm

Tell him he won't get another one if he can't fix it?

5 years old or not, modding stuff sometimes means breaking stuff.
Do not meddle in the affairs of archers, for they are subtle and you won't hear them coming.
 
DragonDaddyBear
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Wed May 24, 2017 8:54 pm

Redocbew wrote:
Tell him he won't get another one if he can't fix it?

5 years old or not, modding stuff sometimes means breaking stuff.

But that's how you learn! Unbreaking your "fix."
 
Redocbew
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Wed May 24, 2017 9:00 pm

That's definitely how I learned. :P

If they can fix it, great. If not, they'll remember it for next time.

I say this not having any kids of my own. If it really was dead and the kid was bummed about it I'd probably just cave and buy him a new one anyway.
Do not meddle in the affairs of archers, for they are subtle and you won't hear them coming.
 
whm1974
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Wed May 24, 2017 9:17 pm

Redocbew wrote:
That's definitely how I learned. :P

If they can fix it, great. If not, they'll remember it for next time.

I say this not having any kids of my own. If it really was dead and the kid was bummed about it I'd probably just cave and buy him a new one anyway.

And have write down everything he did to brick it first so he learn not to it again.
 
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Wed May 24, 2017 9:43 pm

whm1974 wrote:
Captain Ned wrote:
Quelle surprise on the OP. If I find out you're RMS posting under an alias, there will be repercussions. :wink:

Well I'm not.

Oh Richard, you cheeky devil.
 
just brew it!
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Wed May 24, 2017 10:10 pm

I was soldering and wiring up transistor and TTL logic circuits when I was 11 or 12, so it doesn't seem at all far-fetched to me. For parts I was riding my bike to the Radio Shack, and mail-ordering stuff from ads I found in in the back of Popular Electronics magazine (paying via money orders purchased at the local currency exchange with my allowance money). Dad recognized where this was all heading, and bought me an oscilloscope as my elementary school graduation gift. Then I discovered computers and microprocessors. The rest is history. :lol:
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
 
Captain Ned
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Wed May 24, 2017 10:13 pm

I've got the 3rd-gen Heathkit alarm clock kit that needs a-buildin' so I needs me a solder station and some 63/37 eutectic (kit came with silver, which is far too high-temp stuff).

It'll be one more reason for SWMBO to shake her head and mutter as she passes by my "ofice".
What we have today is way too much pluribus and not enough unum.
 
Thin Man
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Wed May 24, 2017 10:25 pm

whm1974 wrote:
Thin Man wrote:
I bought a couple of basic Fire tablets for my nephew's kids to use to play Free Time games. The 5yr old boy has pretty much mastered the thing and most of the games inside of 8 months. I have separate passwords for each tablet and it is only by religiously guarding him from seeing said passwords that has prevented him from making major mods to the system. he knows how to change accounts and how to enable or disable wifi. He knows what a browser is and which icon opens it.
The only thing he hasn't grasped is the fact that you can't open 12 games at once.

So what would you do if he figured out the passwords and starts modding the tablets?


I'm hoping to hold him off until he can actually read some, then begin a lesson plan in how to properly use a computer. That is if he hasn't surpassed my tech skills by then. :oops:
"If you take up a starving dog and feed it, it will not bite you. This is the primary difference between a man and a dog." Mark Twain
 
Thin Man
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Wed May 24, 2017 10:30 pm

Redocbew wrote:
Tell him he won't get another one if he can't fix it?

5 years old or not, modding stuff sometimes means breaking stuff.



I should have said "changing settings" rather than modding, but I agree with your statement. In fact, he's already been told that if he breaks it he goes back to the Leap pad he started with. I think it scared him :roll:
"If you take up a starving dog and feed it, it will not bite you. This is the primary difference between a man and a dog." Mark Twain
 
just brew it!
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Wed May 24, 2017 10:33 pm

Captain Ned wrote:
I've got the 3rd-gen Heathkit alarm clock kit that needs a-buildin' so I needs me a solder station and some 63/37 eutectic (kit came with silver, which is far too high-temp stuff).

Your local Ace Hardware may still stock the real leaded stuff (they did last time I checked, but that was at least a couple of years ago). Failing that, it'll be time for you to place a Digi-Key order.

Captain Ned wrote:
It'll be one more reason for SWMBO to shake her head and mutter as she passes by my "ofice".

My wife was conditioned long ago to not consider things like that to be particularly out of the ordinary. At best it would get no reaction at all; at worst, it would probably elicit a remark along the lines of "What piece of junk that should've been thrown out years ago are you messing around with now?"

Generally it's just a "Why is there a soldering iron on my computer desk?" (From the not infrequent times when I "borrow" her desk for a small project because I have no open horizontal surface left in my office.)
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
 
Bobs_Your_Uncle
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Wed May 24, 2017 11:01 pm

whm1974 wrote:
Thin Man wrote:
I bought a couple of basic Fire tablets for my nephew's kids to use to play Free Time games. The 5yr old boy has pretty much mastered the thing and most of the games inside of 8 months. I have separate passwords for each tablet and it is only by religiously guarding him from seeing said passwords that has prevented him from making major mods to the system. he knows how to change accounts and how to enable or disable wifi. He knows what a browser is and which icon opens it.
The only thing he hasn't grasped is the fact that you can't open 12 games at once.

So what would you do if he figured out the passwords and starts modding the tablets?

Put him under contract to Comcast. They could employ his skill sets to improve the bots they've developed to spam the FCC with anti-Net Neutrality comments. :roll:

EDIT:
And I almost completely forgot: Today (May 25th) marks the annual celebration of Towel Day, the very best day. To honor the late, great Douglas Adams, be sure to keep your towel at the ready because it is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.

Should questions arise, please consult either http://www.towelday.org or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towel_Day and remember, as always, the answer is 42!
Last edited by Bobs_Your_Uncle on Thu May 25, 2017 3:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
 
JustAnEngineer
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Thu May 25, 2017 2:19 am

just brew it! wrote:
Captain Ned wrote:
I need some 63/37 eutectic.
Your local Ace Hardware may still stock the real leaded stuff (they did last time I checked, but that was at least a couple of years ago). Failing that, it'll be time for you to place a Digi-Key order.
"Alexa, order Kester 6337."
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Thu May 25, 2017 8:25 am

End User wrote:
whm1974 wrote:
Captain Ned wrote:
Quelle surprise on the OP. If I find out you're RMS posting under an alias, there will be repercussions. :wink:

Well I'm not.

Oh Richard, you cheeky devil.
Even if he was pretending to be someone else, RMS just wouldn't be able to resist calling it "GNU/Linux". OP is in the clear.
 
whm1974
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Thu May 25, 2017 9:55 am

notfred wrote:
End User wrote:
whm1974 wrote:
Well I'm not.

Oh Richard, you cheeky devil.
Even if he was pretending to be someone else, RMS just wouldn't be able to resist calling it "GNU/Linux". OP is in the clear.

And I would be saying "free software" instead of FOSS.
 
Vhalidictes
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Thu May 25, 2017 10:02 am

notfred wrote:
Even if he was pretending to be someone else, RMS just wouldn't be able to resist calling it "GNU/Linux". OP is in the clear.


I've always wondered... given how much time has passed, is there such a thing as GNU/Not_Linux? Does the GNU project have an actual kernel?
 
Vhalidictes
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Thu May 25, 2017 10:03 am

whm1974 wrote:
notfred wrote:
End User wrote:
Oh Richard, you cheeky devil.
Even if he was pretending to be someone else, RMS just wouldn't be able to resist calling it "GNU/Linux". OP is in the clear.

And I would be saying "free software" instead of FOSS.

IT IS HIM!
 
whm1974
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Thu May 25, 2017 10:05 am

Vhalidictes wrote:
notfred wrote:
Even if he was pretending to be someone else, RMS just wouldn't be able to resist calling it "GNU/Linux". OP is in the clear.


I've always wondered... given how much time has passed, is there such a thing as GNU/Not_Linux? Does the GNU project have an actual kernel?

I think they do but it is very Alpha... Of course you could also have GNU/BSD as well, although I don't how well that would work in practice...
 
notfred
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Thu May 25, 2017 10:28 am

whm1974 wrote:
Vhalidictes wrote:
notfred wrote:
Even if he was pretending to be someone else, RMS just wouldn't be able to resist calling it "GNU/Linux". OP is in the clear.


I've always wondered... given how much time has passed, is there such a thing as GNU/Not_Linux? Does the GNU project have an actual kernel?

I think they do but it is very Alpha... Of course you could also have GNU/BSD as well, although I don't how well that would work in practice...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Hurd
 
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Thu May 25, 2017 11:22 am

whm1974 wrote:
Vhalidictes wrote:
notfred wrote:
Even if he was pretending to be someone else, RMS just wouldn't be able to resist calling it "GNU/Linux". OP is in the clear.


I've always wondered... given how much time has passed, is there such a thing as GNU/Not_Linux? Does the GNU project have an actual kernel?

I think they do but it is very Alpha... Of course you could also have GNU/BSD as well, although I don't how well that would work in practice...


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debian_GNU/kFreeBSD though it's not being maintained any longer?
 
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Thu May 25, 2017 11:31 am

Vhalidictes wrote:
notfred wrote:
Even if he was pretending to be someone else, RMS just wouldn't be able to resist calling it "GNU/Linux". OP is in the clear.


I've always wondered... given how much time has passed, is there such a thing as GNU/Not_Linux? Does the GNU project have an actual kernel?


GNU/Linux must adhere to Stallman's totally and completely free philosophy. No proprietary code at all. So anything with non-free code in it is not GNU/Linux. just Linux
"If you take up a starving dog and feed it, it will not bite you. This is the primary difference between a man and a dog." Mark Twain
 
whm1974
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Thu May 25, 2017 11:59 am

Thin Man wrote:
Vhalidictes wrote:
notfred wrote:
Even if he was pretending to be someone else, RMS just wouldn't be able to resist calling it "GNU/Linux". OP is in the clear.


I've always wondered... given how much time has passed, is there such a thing as GNU/Not_Linux? Does the GNU project have an actual kernel?


GNU/Linux must adhere to Stallman's totally and completely free philosophy. No proprietary code at all. So anything with non-free code in it is not GNU/Linux. just Linux

Since I'm using proprietary drivers and codecs and play proprietary games, than I cannot be RMS. ESR maybe, but not Stallman.
 
Thin Man
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Thu May 25, 2017 12:30 pm

whm1974 wrote:
Thin Man wrote:
Vhalidictes wrote:

I've always wondered... given how much time has passed, is there such a thing as GNU/Not_Linux? Does the GNU project have an actual kernel?


GNU/Linux must adhere to Stallman's totally and completely free philosophy. No proprietary code at all. So anything with non-free code in it is not GNU/Linux. just Linux

Since I'm using proprietary drivers and codecs and play proprietary games, than I cannot be RMS. ESR maybe, but not Stallman.



Uh-Huh, and I'm secretly Andrew Tanenbaum too................. :roll:
"If you take up a starving dog and feed it, it will not bite you. This is the primary difference between a man and a dog." Mark Twain
 
Arvald
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Re: Strange thought of the day.

Thu May 25, 2017 12:35 pm

whm1974 wrote:
I'm not sure if this goes here or in the Unix section, but I have having this really strange thought about that somewhere there a smart 8 or 9 y/o kid who has built a computer and has Linux running without any help from his or her parents. And said kid is better at doing both than I am.

Is this remotely possible?

back 30ish years ago I was rebuilding my own systems at 13 years.
biggest reason it was not earlier is there was no place for me to get parts, first computer store around was when I was 16 and you had to order everything.
other than that you bought a computer at Costco (back then Price Club) or Futureshop (a Canadian chain bought out by Best Buy)

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