Developing Computer Self-Reliance
cheapskatesguide.org
cheapskatesguide.org
iPads can still feed video to a TV, you can use a cheap bluetooth keyboard for writing letters (and, recently on iPadOS, even mice), lots of USB devices with an adapter, and they're highly mobile, have great accessibility features (increasingly popular with age), the higher-end iPad displays are actually kinda nice for reading, even. New-ish printers seemingly tend to just work over wifi (at least with iOS – so I'm told; I still have a hard time believing it.)
I think that's actually another way of attaining more self-reliance. It's a way to avoid having to learn most of the things mentioned in TFA and still be able to not depend on others so much, without things getting crazy expensive or insecure. Software failure modes tend to be a lot easier to fix, and for hardware – same as with phones, even most knowledgeable people can't fix those themselves, but there are straightforward options to have it done (e.g. take it to an Apple Store), and even as a non-technical person, you can set up a new device without help with very basic skills.
Maybe that kind of self-reliance isn't the most helpful kind in a pandemic or SHTF scenario, or the very cheapest way to solve one's computing needs, but it's viable and way easier than what TFA outlines.
Tolerating such helplessness is not for everybody.
If a device conforms to standards, and is not dependent on a vendor to support it to keep it functional, then I have achieved self-reliance of some kind.
Consider for a moment a PC from 20 years ago, in fact, I have one: An AMD Athlon XP 3200+ with 1G of ram.
Now, this is not a "real" computer today, certainly not supported by anyone or anything- except for FOSS software which actually still runs, I can use the latest encryption schemes (and, yeah, they're slow) and interact with the world.
I can even play the videos that I have on my harddisk which are no longer provided by any streaming service.
If all you want to do is some occasional light browsing, use that banking app safely (that won't even run on Linux), look at photos and share them with others, write the occasional letter – why go through all of this? Unless this is your job or hobby, it feels weirdly out of touch to expect everyone and their mother to do this. It would feel like a huge disservice to them if that was all that IT could offer them as a solution to their needs.
Besides, is it really that desirable to keep hardware that old running for so long, outside of industry or some specific niches? It's doable, with a lot of effort and asceticism, but I'd rather have a recent device with all the convenience and horsepower and battery life and energy efficiency those have.
Much like stoicism doesn’t mean Christians have to die; I fundamentally believe that the time cost you ascribe to owning your own system is the same. Running an “old” computer is definitely not “learn the internal of Linux” as you seem to imply. The difference is you make changes on your terms.
One need look not much further than Windows UI paradigms or the movement to touch optimised operating systems to understand that we need to incrementally learn as time passes through us.
Regardless, this does nothing to speak of our movement to subscription services and “cloud”-optimised programs which have a heavy reliance on an internet connection.
Computers from 20 years ago are a thing that can work because they were not built to exist in an ecosystem. You say you draw value in the ecosystem, I say that it should be a choice you can make.
Running Linux involves learning Linux, which is really hard work unless you have the steep part of that learning curve behind you, or really enjoy this sort of thing. The vast majority of people don't enjoy this. Less-than-optimal hardware choices make running Linux another order of magnitude harder. That's takes a lot of time that could be spent with kids, friends, hobbies, work ...
> I say that it should be a choice you can make.
Which it is. Get a Dell or a Thinkpad with good Linux support, or pretty much any desktop PC with decent components and run Linux. Probably will be a bit rough, Linux on desktop seemingly always is, and you need to be able to do that or climb up that learning curve, but it'll work till the hardware physically gives out in a place that can't be repaired. If you do this, there is a lot more choice than in all closed ecosystems combined.
However, the vast majority of people apparently opt for closed or semi-closed ecosystems that give them a device that works and the apps and services they want, with as little hassle as possible. I'm like that with a lot of things, too; that Macbook just works and Spotify is fantastic. Trading lower costs and a very specific kind of (for most, relatively abstract) freedom for convenience and much lower time invest doesn't strike me as less valid a choice than yours. There are only so many hours in a day and years in a life.
'Why bother learning any of that stuff, just get an iPad and an iPhone and let it do everything for you, it can't be fixed or repaired, but hey just take it to an Apple store, and don't worry about that technical mumbo jumbo'
It's not a different kind of self-reliance, it's using a locked down, device that doesn't let you ever learn self reliance. Can you call it self reliance if a person never learns to take the training wheels off their bike?
I'm not very familiar with Android tablets and the people in my set of anecdata all got iPads, so that skews my perception towards Apple I guess; I didn't intend to sound like an Apple ad. Personally, I'm a strong adherent of "whatever works best" when it comes to computing products, and I'm quite opposed to sticking to one camp or other out of principle. I'm sure all of this is perfectly viable with Samsung devices as well, I believe they actually have a walk-in service point where I live, but I lack the first-hand experience.
At any rate, there are those people who will not invest the time and effort to become capable sysadmins, for whom the learning curve will be far too steep and tall, who may be fluent in a language for which little good studying material is available, those who'd stop too early and just be dangerous, and those who invariably end up with a dozen shady toolbars if left to their own devices and can't be taught otherwise – and lots of those who only need their devices for some light usage in their private time, hence couldn't justify spending so much of their spare time on making things work. Computing is basic infrastructure like automotive mobility nowadays; people expect being able to operate a car with very basic technical knowledge, why should computers be different?
I believe these people do gain a measure of autonomy and security from buying into one of those ecosystems. Less problems to begin with (devices/OSes are harder to break), issues are easier to fix. If that doesn't suffice, less reliance on unreliable third parties like shady "computer repair" shops or that acquaintance who knows computer stuff, instead there's a place to turn to for help that operates on actual processes and is pretty dependable to produce some solution, even if it might not be the cheapest, fastest, or best one, whether that's a Samsung Service Point or an Apple Store or whatever others offer. Maybe that doesn't strictly qualify as self-reliance, but it would seem to be an improvement regardless.
And as the "guy who knows computer stuff" for way too many people, it selfishly feels like a big improvement for me, since I'm no longer needed in that capacity. I'm getting very much out of touch with Windows, anyway, and haven't been able to help at all a few times of late; fixing aging laptops can be fiendishly hard.
I take self reliance a different way, the ability to completely rely one ones self for a given situation.
With the training wheel example, you're not relying on your.own abilities to ride a bike, you're relying on a mechanical aid that simplifies the 'bike riding experience' should your training wheels break, your shit outta luck and your walking your bike or hitching a ride. Continuing the analogy, as you become more self reliant with your bicycle not only will you feel confident enough to remove the training wheels, but you'll learn to fix other problems. As you take your bike into new territory the training wheels wouldn't let you travel, you'll encounter new problems and by solving these problems you'll gain more self reliance with bicycles.
Maybe at first that bike rider just used their bike for a short commute to work, the training wheels weren't a bother. But by removing them and discovering a bike could take you more places, maybe that bike rider decides to take up mountain biking or just going for rides for fun.
>I believe these people do gain a measure of autonomy and security from buying into one of those ecosystems. Less problems to begin with (devices/OSes are harder to break), issues are easier to fix.
I think autonomy and security are somehwat at odds with eachother. Having autonomy automatically means more risk. If you're self reliant and autonomous it implies you are taking responsibility for this security.
>And as the "guy who knows computer stuff" for way too many people,
You should be teaching them rather than condescending them. From my experiences, most people's issues with computers come down to not understanding and finding it too overwhelming to begin to learn to understand. If you're patient and positive with people they can learn.
A lot of the 'those computer guys/gals' have this attitude where they believe people don't know or don't care and should be protected from themselves. I personally disagree with this attitude and have found just by being patient and positive with people you can get them to take an interest. Once they start to see they can do things for themselves, they get excited and try.
It's only condescending if you think it's bad to not wanting to learn about computers, which is an unreasonable position.
> ...Once they start to see they can do things for themselves, they get excited and try.
On the other hand, people may be trying to avoid learning how computers work, because they really don't care about computers and it costs time to learn about it. Getting excited about computers, in my experience, is far from universal. They'd rather be reliant on others than fixing their own computers.
And that's okay. No reasonable person would look down on them for the lack of interest.
That's not condescending, as I myself employ such an attitude to many things in life.
I would never fix a car myself, and would not bother to learn how to do it. And I protect myself from myself, by never messing with my car in any manner. Instead, I spend some extra money to buy vehicle renowned for needing less maintenance, buy 24/7 road side assistance, and to get professionals to fix and maintain it. They my "training wheels" and I'll keep them as long as I keep the car.
I don't do plumbing, I can't repair a shoe, I have zero knowledge about raising corps.
Does that mean a car engineer, a plumber, a shoe maker, or a farmer will condescend me for not wanting to learn? I don't think so. We have our specialties, and it's natural to not study everything.
You could say that I don't have autonomy; I'd say I have more freedom, because I only have a few decades left to live, and I'd rather spend time on things and with people that I genuinely care about.
On the other hand I recently acquired a Windows 10 PC due to work-from-home and it was trouble-ridden. The auto-detect failed and I had a hard time installing drivers when it did fail. I have an easier time printing from my old Thinkpad running an out-of-date Debian. Hard to believe that Windows is still this primitive. It’s disappointing.
Not my experience at all.
You could look at it from a different angle- a certain degree of reliability is a core feature for most products. We tolerate poor reliability when a new product category completely outmodes another (cars vs horses, computers vs typewriters) but as the new product matures, consumers as a group quickly shift to preferring reliability over bleeding edge performance.
Not just that, but often skills aren't even enough, you need special tools to do the job. Those don't transfer well between the models and there's electronics in every freaking thing, you can't repair those, the cost's are climbing for each part.