hnthrowaway0315

I never used any Apple products before Cook's appointment. Why did it go down?

This reminds me of the recent reading of "Inside Macintosh" on archive.org. I really hope they produce similar paper documentations nowadays. I'd love to hold a dictionary of obscure Mac internal knowledge.

Wait, does that mean there is an option to actually always show scroll bars under Accessibility? I need to check it out.

Ah, I wish I could get a job like that -- both hardware and software. I need to take out the STM32 dev board I purchased a few years ago and started writing software for it.

Yeah that is very frustrating. I recently went to Ubuntu and picked the minimum installation. I then installed a bunch of development tools such as `build-essentials` and `git`. Other than Youtube crashing on Firefox, the whole experience, at least for the programmer part of me, is very satisfying.

BTW debugging still takes a lot of effort to setup in VSCode / or have to write init scripts for GDB which I suck at. I think Visual Studio debugger beats everything on Linux for that purpose.

Maybe I really need to try out Windows LTSC?

I just wish the Linux desktop experience were better. I'm going to give Deepin a try as it is focused on desktop experience.

That's what I think too. I prefer the same UI for 30 years. I don't care about any "UI new age" stuffs.

TBH I don't even care about security anymore, like our data has been sold left and right already. As long as I don't get phished, I avoid 80% of the bad actors out there.

I already removed some update software from Ubuntu, those update notifications are very frustrating.

I think regarding the combination of usability and stability the Win XP/7 era was still unbeatable.

Just curious, why did they decide to use Electron instead of native? After all those are Apple MacOS software.

I'm not sure how many "knowledgeable citizens who are not afraid to act" existed in USSR towards the end.

I don't get it. What do you prefer? The inverse?

I'm more interested in who actually implemented those backdoors.

You need knowledgeable citizens who are not afraid to act. They will naturally push back those people who seek more power/status.

Capital doesn't "know" its place. It just happened that technological advancement gave it greater returns back then so it went with it.

It has always been the same. Knowledgeable citizens who can push back are the only defence.

It is a possible future. But it calls for knowledgeable citizens who are not afraid to act.

Thanks man. I do have a copy of "Inside Windows NT", but I decided to study XV6 first because of its pedagogical value. It's hard even to compile the leaked NT 3.X source code.

I'd imagine someone in EU is trying to push out its own version of Tiktok/Facebook/Twitter/etc as they are very important in national security (any software that can impact millions of people).

TBH I'm always puzzled why EU never managed to push out its own social media software. Maybe just because I don't know?

Thanks for the introduction to this book. AFAIK Linux 0.11 does have its own bootloader in the form of `bootsect.S` but I'm not an OS guy so definitely could be wrong.

Now that I think more about the project, probably the first obstacle is how do I compile the thing...someone must have tried that, or the book must have a section about that. But I'll study xv6 first, just to give me some practices.

Such an inspiring read! Thanks for writing and/or sharing. One of my many future hermit projects is to hack on an early version of Linux.

------------ Please ignore just jotting down for future myself ---------------

(Actually I want to study Win NT more than Linux as it brought me good memories, but Win NT was designed as a mature product from the beginning, and even the leaked 3.5 source code is way too much for me.)

I checked the version history and 0.11 seems to be a good start. Reasons:

- There is this book (https://download.oldlinux.org/ECLK-5.0-WithCover.pdf) which follows the style of Lion's Unix v6 book and uses the 0.12 kernel as reference;

- 0.11 doesn't have a virtual memory or a virtual terminal, and they are among the software I'd like to implement;

- 0.11 does have the basic stuffs so I assume it is not too difficult to set it up with QEMU and QEMU-gdb;

The list of software to implement in mind:

- a Debugger (I'll probably use QEMU-gdb, but if I can write a simple step-in debugger maybe it makes it a bit easier to dogfood? Still too early though as there is no compiler on it)

- a Virtual Memory system (following the MIT xv6 lab, maybe a bit more advanced as I will complete the MIT xv6 labs before pursuing this venture);

- a Virtual terminal (not sure how much I can implement, maybe just a basic one with limited control sequence support);

- a USB driver (not sure if it's possible for 0.11, I have never written a driver before);

- a mouse driver (again probably too difficult for me);

- a LOT of CLI programs as warm-up. Basically simpler versions of modern ones (less switches);

- a text editor. I never liked the key layout of emacs or vim so this is going to be my own thing. I care a lot about moving caret around without using a mouse;

- a very basic GUI system. Nothing fancy, just something that can show windows and some widgets. Maybe don't even care about multiple windows. Showing one window with a menu and some buttons probably needs a lot of effort;

- a compiler/linker of a simple language (can't dogfood without an editor, a compiler, a linker and a debugger I think)

Preparations:

- I need to complete all MIT RISC xv6 labs;

- I need to figure out how to write drivers for USB and mice;

- I want to investigate how X11 and Win32 GUI were implemented and figure out the architecture;

- I need to figure out how to write terminals and text editors. There are tons of tutorials online so shouldn't be too tough;

- I need to study compiler theory, just continue reading Crafting Interpreters should be good enough;

- I need to figure out a comfortable development and debugging environment;

I wonder whether EU has the capacity to pull up itself. After all it is not really an EU state. And do ordinary EU people really want that? I mean double the defence budget (or triple in certain cases), double the standing army and etc.

Is it the famous "We will give them every support, short of help" line? /s

quote: from "Yes Prime Minister"

If working is still a little more important than inheritance, it marks the advancement of the human civilization.

In the country where I was born, inheritance was way more important than working 100 years ago.

I agree that shipping can cost a lot, especially oversea. Last time I checked, Amazon US is still a lot cheaper than Amazon CA. But Canada doesn't have something that can compete with Amazon.

My strategy is to read a pirated copy for 2-3 chapters and then decide whether I want to buy the book. It's similar to the 90s when I used to read volumes and volumes in a bookstore but only with enough money to buy one or two every quarter.

BTW I wish No Starch ships cheaper to Canada. It quickly adds up when I buy more. One of the best publishers out there I think.

I find HN to be the best:

- Good UI

- No Algo, although ranking is a bit vague

- Discussion can go very deep as the limit of characters is large

Other than traditional forums, I don't think anything else beats HN. X and Mastodan and such are just too short, too quick.

It's not. You can freely talk about other topics. In fact, talking politics is probably safe as long as you are not too loud. I think it is the same for all countries I have lived in. Talking about politics is always taboo.

I think tariff targets Chinese goods in general. Maybe you can source from ShenZhen in person but I'm not sure how the Custom office deals with this. I guess it's OK as long as you don't bring in quantity.

Another solution is to just live in ShenZhen when it's applicable. The city is nice and vibrant, and you are treated pretty well as long as you don't get into politics.

My professional work? No. I'm on the blink of completely DGaF about the quality I deliver as long as they don't fire me.

My side projects? Yeah I guess so. Not as sure as I was 5 years ago, but I need to do something when I'm older, no?

I agree. I tried a few times but they never stick. I admit that my life would receive a positive buff if I stick to one of the systems, but I just don't have the heart.

Geological survey material provides the best source. But if you don't want to read them, quarries and river beaches are good places to find. Of course it really depends on where you live. For example, I live in lower Canada so we only get small fossils.

Just curious, what is the procedure that does NOT involve Yocto? I guess a ton of shell scripts? Where can I learn it (i.e. build a Linux system for any embedded system without using Yocto or similar tools)? Is the LFS project the first place I should visit?

Background: I just switched to Ubuntu 22.04 for my daily use (mostly coding for side projects) but TBH I'm just using it as Windows. I use a Macbook Pro for work and know a bit of shell scripting, some Python, a bit of C and C++. Basically your typical incompetent software developer.