jasoneckert

God that machine was terrible - underpowered and undercooled, which led to frequent overheating and component failures. When I first started at Sun, they put one of those on my desk as a joke on my first day (it was quickly replaced so that I could get some real work done).

Certain companies are well-known for their legal teams. Qualcomm is one (often described as a legal company that employs some engineers). Nintendo is the other.

As a result, Nintendo's legal team is far more likely to ensure they get refunded, and quickly. They could provide a template for others to follow.

macOS is a capable UNIX, but it's not Linux - which has since become the standard platform for most cloud/web/ML development.

As a developer myself who uses Fedora Asahi Remix as my daily driver, I can also tell you that Linux runs 2x faster (often much more) for everything compared to macOS - on the same hardware! And that performance gain is also important for my work :-)

ARM's failed lawsuit with Qualcomm revealed these same ambitions, albeit in a much more negative light: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42475228

After following that drama, it's difficult to see ARM as anything but a greedy profiteer.

Imagine if Fedora locked you out of vi because your Red Hat account had an issue.

The unsettling part of stories like this isn’t “Microsoft bad,” it’s the growing assumption that local tools should be downstream of remote identity systems. A text editor is about as offline and fundamental as software gets, yet it’s now possible for account state, sync bugs, or policy enforcement to make it inaccessible on your own machine.

This is where non-macOS UNIX and Linux systems draw the line - if it’s installed locally and you have permission, it runs. Cloud services can enhance that experience (backups, sync, collaboration) but they don’t get veto power over whether vi opens.

When that boundary erodes, we start to see our systems as thin clients, instead of full local OSes, as the author mentions.

If Linux had a revenue stream and model, this would make sense. But the style of open-source is to make good software, and let others gravitate to you as a result.

This is great!

I did something similar, but with GitHub Discussions because my blog is hosted on GitHub Pages and composited with Hugo, and I wanted all components to run as close as possible to one another: https://jasoneckert.github.io/myblog/github-discussions-blog...

I don't think that's inconsistent - all but one member of NATO share the same values currently, and it's important they work together to resolve the current annexation threats from the US. That particular sign can be taken off later, if necessary.

With WSL2, Windows can run a real Linux kernel and Linux apps with tight integration into the graphical, network, and storage subsystems.

In that configuration, I guess you could say it's already a Linux distribution.

When it comes to laptops, I’ve primarily used MacBooks but really miss the excellent keyboard and TrackPoint on ThinkPads. Nothing seems to comes close.

My solution was to buy a Lenovo ThinkPad TrackPoint Keyboard II and pair it with my MacBook over Bluetooth. An added benefit is that I can keep the MacBook on a stand, avoiding the wobble you get when typing directly on it.

I also use an Apple Trackpad alongside this setup, since I find it hard to beat for certain tasks.

The most important benefits in my opinion are choice and price - people like me who prefer to buy software outright can still do so at a reasonable cost, while others who opt for a subscription can also do so (again, at a reasonable cost).

The smooth, tile-based interface of Metro/Modern UI of Windows 8 and the Windows Phone are underrated in my opinion. It was simple, fast, and focused on touch. While I didn't have a touch-based Windows 8 laptop or tablet at the time, I had a Windows Phone, and I enjoyed using it more than any other device I've had since.

Sage point. But it actually turned out to be non-hardware-related (I added an "Update: It's alive!" section to the blog post).

I've got the Dell version of the DGX Spark as well, and was very impressed with the build quality overall. Like Jeff Geerling noted, the fans are super quiet. And since I don't keep it powered on continuously and mainly connect to it remotely, the LED is a nice quick check for power.

But the nicest addition Dell made in my opinion is the retro 90's UNIX workstation-style wallpaper: https://jasoneckert.github.io/myblog/grace-blackwell/

The battery life is terrible - as soon as I unplug my Mac Studio, it basically just shuts down.

I've been an Asahi user since the early stages of the project when it used Arch. Today, I run Fedora Asahi Remix on a Mac Studio M1 Ultra with the Sway desktop, and it truly has been the perfect Linux workstation in every way.

https://github.com/jasoneckert/sway-dotfiles/blob/main/Asahi...

It took me far too long to figure this out from their site, but when I did, the project looked far less interesting.

For a while there, I thought the "been in existence for 20+ years and our users represent an engaged, supportive and invested global community of users focused on sustainability and growth" was the Fedora Project extending their expertise in file organization and distribution to other use cases.

But on the bright side, I now have a link I can use to confuse my students with (to keep them out of their comfort zone and promote deep research).

From my experience as a Canadian who has travelled to both the US and within Canada recently, I find that two of the bold statements made in this article are simply not true:

#1 "Many Reddit users in Canada have been claiming they can no longer afford domestic travel. This has created a paradoxical situation in which flying to Europe can be cheaper than traveling to a different Canadian province." Flights in Canada this year are a bit cheaper than I've seen them in a while. I actually scored a last-minute flight to Calgary from Toronto for $94 in August (return trip was double - also a last minute deal). Gas is cheaper as well (for road trips!).

#2 "Still, the more detailed border controls are only one of the ways Canadians are also experiencing the consequences of the travel boycott." I have yet to experience a delay at the border that is much longer than what I would have expected on average over the last 2 decades.

That said, my desire to travel to the US for pleasure has definitely nosedived this year given the political climate and statements made by the current US administration. And I'm not alone - most Canadians feel as if they are not welcome in the US from this messaging. In other words, you won't find MAGA merch in Canada... but you will find MAGBA (Make America Great Britain Again) merch, because we haven't lost our sense of humour!

But the second half of this title makes it an article worth forwarding to co-workers ;-)

I echo this. My desktop has stayed virtually unchanged for decades, and in retrospect, it explains why I use the Sway tiling window manager today.

It's so nice to see installfests still happening in the Linux community - I have fond memories of running many of them 25 years ago.

As for the distributions mentioned, the points are definitely sage, but I would argue that the Flatpak-centered Fedora Silverblue is the best distribution for beginners, and that the sentence "...but the system can be potentially more unstable than Debian" is no longer true nowadays.

Weekend... well that's a vi-able alternative ;-)

I dual boot my M1 Mac Studio with Fedora Asahi Remix (native Linux for Apple Silicon for those unfamiliar). I'm far more comfortable and productive in Linux for development, but wanted to keep macOS there for times when I needed it.

It turns out I haven't needed it, and I honestly don't remember the last time I've booted into macOS on that system.

I like Apple hardware, but the last time I enjoyed using macOS was pre-2010.

I'm assuming this was posted to draw a parallel with current U.S. international policy, such as tariffs and protectionist measures, which share some fundamental similarities with Brexit.

The first thought that popped into my mind when reading this article was whether Andrew Strangeway was the Elder who maintained The Internet on Big Ben, because the sitcom "The IT Crowd" has ruined me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDbyYGrswtg

I was an early adopter of Asahi Linux on my M1 Mac Mini (and later M1 Mac Studio). As a result, I benefited from the most amount of support for the platform at the beginning of the project (laptop-specific hardware support was provided after desktops) and have been using Asahi ever since (now Fedora Asahi Remix).

It's nice to see that M3 and later is coming, but as a Linux person, it's not necessarily a bad thing to be a bit behind the latest hardware. After all, many of us still use ancient Thinkpads running Linux, and prefer to buy used hardware for a better cost (M1/M2 hardware can be had much cheaper now).

With the same number and types (P/E) of cores, the M5 seems more like a feature refinement over M4. I wonder if this is a CPU that Apple released primarily for AI marketing purposes and perception, rather than to push the envelope.

Even though the article says that Microsoft removed the “bypassnro” workaround earlier this year, I just used it earlier this evening to set up a new Win11 PC for a neighbour successfully (she didn't have a Microsoft account on her previous Win10 laptop, and wanted it the same way).

At the part of the initial setup where it asks to connect to a network, press Shift + F10 to open the Command Prompt. Then, type oobe\bypassnro and press Enter. The system will reboot and start the initial setup again in a non-network mode that allows you to create a local user account.

The ICON picture in this blog post is of my ICON and taken from my blog (with credit, which is a nice gesture). If anyone is interested in reading my two posts about the Burroughs ICON computer running QNX, here are the links (the first post has YouTube links of my QNX demos):

https://jasoneckert.github.io/myblog/icon-computer/

https://jasoneckert.github.io/myblog/lexicon-computer/

You don’t have to be a biologist or zoologist to appreciate what Jane Goodall brought to the world.

Her work transcended science. It touched on compassion, respect for all living beings, and a deep curiosity about the natural world that inspired generations. She didn’t just study chimpanzees; she taught us what it means to observe with empathy, to advocate with conviction, and to act with hope. Her legacy will echo for a very long time.