I’ve read a lot of fucked up shit in the last few years - that’s the first time I’ve thrown my phone in response!

(My phone’s fine - I just threw it onto the sofa beside me, but still…)

It’s fun to point at the crappy performance of current technology. But all I can think about is the amount of power and hardware the AI bros are going to burn through trying to improve their results.

Saying Redhat is based on Fedora just seems wrong. I know there was discussion about this when the simpler version was posted and I think I understand that, today, RHEL is downstream of Fedora. But Redhat existed before Fedora so it still feels wrong to say Fedora is based on Redhat.

“Fedora Core 1 was the first version of Fedora and was released on November 6, 2003.[15] It was codenamed Yarrow. Fedora Core 1 was based on Red Hat Linux 9.”

This is perfectly logical and I agree. Except that this controversy has prompted me to go learn about Lennart Poettering. I’ve been using systemd forever and I like it - I like journald and remote journald, I like networkd, I even deleted cron off my systems and use systemd timers exclusively. I knew there was some controversy about Lennart, but I didn’t really care. Now that I’ve read a bit about his background and, maybe more importantly, his new company - I don’t have a good feeling for the future of systemd.

I’m thinking the same. I understand the people saying it’s no big deal, it’s just an optional field. But the existing optional fields (GECOS) have been there since the beginning of time. The original Unix user database (/etc/passwd) was created in a different time. Things have changed in the last 50 years and we now know that a simple field in an OS level database is not really an appropriate place to store PII. I don’t know what the solution is, as these laws are coming and there will be some people that need to comply, but I don’t think the current change to systemd is the right approach.

On the plus side - this controversy has prompted me to look into other options for my home servers and I’m loving the minimalism and simplicity of Alpine. (This isn’t a knee jerk reaction - I’ve been frustrated by the bloated feel of mainstream distributions for a while - more the straw that may break the camel’s back)

I never said I can’t do it - I’ve been running different varieties of unix for over 35 years. I said it’s not trivial.

And, being a bit pedantic with your terminology - systemd does not “centralises stuff that does not relate to each other into one single program”. systemd, systemd-journald, systemd-networkd, systemd-resolved etc. etc. are all separate programs, provided by the systemd project, with their own configuration. You are free to pick and choose which parts of systemd you use and which you don’t.

All that being said - I am a bit over complexity of modern mainstream distributions and am now considering moving to Apline for my servers.

I’ve never followed the people or the politics - I just started using systemd when it appeared in whatever disto I was using at the time and liked it. I’m trying to catch up now because I have reservations about using projects that incorporate AI (and I’m learning this may be impossible to avoid) and I most certainly won’t use anything that implements age verification. (The irony of typing this on a device that has age verification via my credit card hurts)

I accept that Microsoft had significant influence over systemd when Poettering worked there, but I don’t understand how they do now.

I also understand that Poettering likes Windows, and wants to make Linux more like Windows. That’s not the same as Microsoft controlling systemd.

Are you saying that Amutable is just a front for Microsoft?

Do you believe Microslop funds and maintains systemd because Lennart Poettering works there, or is there more to it than that?

If it’s just that Poettering works there, you may be interested to know that he left in January this year.

It might be trivial for you, but not for me. I like systemd - perhaps because I came to Linux from AIX? Anyway, because I like it, I use it on all 4 of my servers - I have custom systemd unit files for applications I run that don’t natively support it, I’ve removed cron and use systemd timers for all my scheduling and I use systemd’s remote journal capability to centralise logs to my monitoring server.

Really?

My list of “not trivial to replace” is:

• firefox - desktop and android
• ImageMagik - I don’t use it directly, but other things I use depend on it
• VLC - yeah, I know there are other options but VLC has so much else going for it, it’s hard to change
• Jellyfin - what’s the alternative? Kodi? Oh wait…
• curl
• rsync
• .NET - I don’t use it directly, but things I use depend on it
• python
• vim - I’ve been using vi for 35 years, I’m not changing now. But I’m happy to use old versions.
• Joplin - argh, just finished migrating my documentation into here
• KeepassXC
• Mastodon
• Lemmy
• systemd
• Linux Kernel!!

Sadness and dread is a perfect description. As I started reading I was building a mental list of things to stop using - I didn’t get very far before I gave up. So many projects I’ve held up in high regard.

Sadness, dread and defeat.

Edit to add - I want to be clear that I’m not judging the developers of these projects. If they’re being overwhelmed with AI generated PRs, they’re being forced to use these tools in their “real jobs” and it spills over, or they just feel that this is the way things are going or whatever reason - they’ve got to do what they’ve got to do to survive. My sadness, dread and defeat comes from the state of the world and this is just the symptom that’s currently front of mind.

I can only imagine that you’re assuming that to be the case, or your hearing is damaged worse that mine - because I can’t imagine anyone that has heard decent audio reproduction saying that. And I’m not being some audiophile snob - you can get decent reproduction from a $10 DAC and $20 IEMs if you do a bit of research before buying.

We are spoilt these days - there are lots of options. You can get that level of resolution from $20 in ear monitors. But, if you’re after that level it’s not just the headphones - it’s the whole chain (assuming you’re listening to digital):

• you need a decent DAC - again, it does not need to be expensive - a $10 Apple USB-C to 3.5mm adaptor will do it (but the built-in one in your laptop, or older phone, may not).
• you need decent, or preferably no, compression. Turn up the bit-rate in whatever streaming app you’re using or preferably use CD or uncompressed (FLAC).
• perhaps most importantly, and most overlooked, you need good source material. Lots of music out there has been horribly recorded and/or mastered. With low quantity reproduction this isn’t an issue, but once you’ve taken care of the rest and you’re spending time really listening to your music you will find yourself from time to time thinking “this sounds horrible”, and you know you’ve done everything at your end and it turns out you’re listening to a bad master. There are forums dedicated to discussion about the relative merits of various versions of different recordings.

It’s a huge rabbit hole, which stereotypicaly is very expensive - but doesn’t need to be.

I’ve only scratched the surface, but with my old, damaged, ears there’s no point digging further.

I’ve got a Sony and even it’s showing home screen ads - normally it’s just “suggestions” for shows on streaming services I don’t have, but the occasional car ad also comes through. I have a theory that the reason Sony are getting out of the TV business is that they don’t want to develop their own TV OS and they’re sick of their customers complaining about the ads in Google’s OS.

I’m about to get a 2nd one and I’m seriously considering a computer monitor hooked up to a mini PC running XBMC or something.

Two thoughts -

1. I believe (with nothing to support it) that “in the beginning” a bunch of communites were created by some sort of automation, to mirror Reddit, and they are now dead because no-one actually wanted them here in the first place and

2. I often join communites because I’m mildly interested in the topic and am curious to learn more by observing to conversation - I’ll probably never end up posting. I don’t have any weight to pull in this scenario.

I’m not sure if it’s Lemmy or my client (Jerboa) but when I tap on that link I don’t get their real Mastodon profile. I get something that looks legit, but it has minimal details and only one post from 9 months ago??

It’s not just that it’s slavery, but it’s literally destroying the people doing it. Being exposed to so much horrendous content has lasting impact. It’s like the coal mines (or any number of other body destroying examples) but it’s not lungs that suffer, it’s the brain.

I don’t get the downvotes here. I read it as frustration at the number of people that seem to think the current state of the USA is something that can be fixed at the next election - when it’s clear to anyone with half a brain that it’s way beyond that. We’re already at the point where high profile journalists are being arrested and Nov. is still nine months away!

I’ve been using Niagara forever (since at least early 2019) and it is different, but it really works for me. I’ve tried to use other launchers from time to time out of curiosity but keep coming back.

I’ll disagree. The Israeli leadership is doing horrible things and the only way for those of us not in Israel to attempt to stop them is to boycott all of Israel - we have no way of picking and choosing products/services from Israel that will help/hurt the regime. Moves like this by NVIDIA are seen as subverting the boycott in a very significant way and draw out the negative responses you see here. The only people that can legitimately change the Israeli leadership are the Israeli people and they are going to face negative opinions from outside until they do. I understand very well that I’m extremely lucky that I live in a country that has not been taken over by fascists and I do what I can to keep it that way.