Hi,

Have fun & enjoy!

I kind of agree with this comment. It does not mean I subscribe or like it. But it is, what it is.

The do it yourself part applies to me. Also the expectation to cost nothing (I am not a computer commercial gamer user) is also me, to be honest. Diversity is my lifestyle. I breathe customization. I taught my self to comfy with command line. Kind of like learning another language besides just english. I was not born knowing how to cruise a terminal or understand code readouts.

I am not intimidated when something does not work for me the 1st time. My inquiring and curious mind wants to know why it did not work. I apply this mindset on all things. Motorcycles and computers.

The laziness/I quit gene, in my family gene pool, did not survive the concentration camps of WW2.

Nice read on a Saturday morning onebuck. Thanks.
Rok

I think the bit about customisation is particularly true. When some-one says "you'll get used to it" (e.g. when Gnome 3 came in) my response is always "I expect my computer to get used to me!"

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PC
Personal Computer
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Computer

There you go, the most boring poem ever. This is one of the things that annoys me about Microsoft. They could have easily made Win7, Vista, XP, and Vista Basic (like XP, but nicer and black) themes for Win10, but they didn't bother. I utterly despise the garbage "flat" look and I refuse to use it. I paid for the computer, thus it should look how I want it to look. But nope, that's not how Microsoft (and Apple) feel for some reason.

That's part of what makes me content to enjoy Xfce. There are lots of existing themes and if I feel like it I can make my own by following a straightforward set of guidelines. I guess the same is true for my Samsung Galaxy S6, which is also easily themed with the Samsung theme store (with many free and reasonably priced themes).

Can you buy themes for Windows? Yes. Is it built into the OS, easy to find, and does it it allow the owner to roll his own theme? Not really, no.

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Computer

Not all Linux users are natural hackers. I come from a position that software should be useful and should work. That's almost all that I require. That and one thing more: that I should be able to understand what I am doing.

My generation is naturally technophobic, so we read manuals compulsively and try to avoid using any tech that does things behind our backs. We are a bit afraid of our computers. That's the very opposite of being a hacker, but it leads to us loving Linux because Linux is safe and good-tempered and always explains what it is doing.

The main difference between Windows and Linux users is that Windows users don't know how their system works (they're not allowed to) and Linux users mostly do. I don't think it's an accident that the two most popular series of books on computing are called ... For Dummies and Idiot's Guide to .... The authors of these books always make it clear of course that they don't consider their readers to be idiots or dummies, but they are writing for people who have been encouraged to see themselves like that. These people are more likely to dare to read a book if it's labelled "For Dummies".

Windows warns off its users from trying to explore their system because they can so easily do damage there through ignorance (and of course there's also the aspect of commercial secrecy). But the result is that they stay ignorant and feel like idiots. It's a vicious circle. Linux encourages users to explore because file ownership and permissions allow this to be done safely. And so the users learn what each part of the system does and are less and less likely to do any damage. And they feel knowledgeable and competent.

Hi,
Depending on distribution the likely hood for a user to tweak their systems is available more so than MS Windows. Some Linux users do naturally inquire the system as to how one can tweak to suit the system via console or even GUI. Myself, I prefer the cli as I started using the console to get things done early. No need for someone else to do the jobs for me via GUI.

I am glad you are speaking for yourself but not the generation as a whole. I am sure that we come from the same generation. I just started early with my inquisition into technologies at a very early age via radio technologies that enabled my moving into simple circuit design & building that then led to interfacing systems for computer controls. I did start out in my early adult years training in software and decided to marry that into hardware design & implementation.

We did not have STEM to aid us but we did have HAMS that would take us by the hand to show us different things concerning electronics. Open our minds to the wonders of electronics that opened other doors that would help one to move into different branches of the electronic field. My computer interest were driven due to Intel's first 4004 microprocessor that led to the 8008 and then the 8080 which opened the microprocessors to the people who desired to build a system.

At about that same time, I was working with DEC equipment that opened doors via UNIX and controls. I do remember saying to a colleague that the microprocessor would one day replace the mini-systems. Of course he rebutted that would never happen. I see that same friend at HAM fest and I sometimes remind him of that discussion.

So personally our generation does have loads of techno-freaks that opened their own doors via education/experimenting and enduring long nights working in the cellar to achieve to a level of understanding that some colleges would love to model programs after.
I do remember the early days of the PC with IBM & Microsoft contentions that opened the PC to the world because of the squabbling between the two. IBM released the BIOS to spite Microsoft when legal battles were on going. Once that BIOS was released then the PC schematics were released thus opening the clone manufactures. The people who were building systems at the time welcomed the clone so we could get to a machine faster plus cheaper than the originals.

We were able to write and develop at the time tools that could be used by everyone. MS intro of the first windows system win/286 was a big mess. I remember writing programs that utilized re-entrant code with multi-tasking/multi-processing that would be a windowed interface for a statistical mapping program I had been contracted by a small company to develop this program while at the University. Long hours of coding and debugging to get this out the door. We had the core program and subsets to provide the output for queried input. We did know the intrinsic parts of the PC to allow the control of the hardware via our code. This was due to the fact of having released PC information from IBM at that time. It was necessary to use this information to evolve the code.
Microsoft has been evolving over the years. Information is out there, you just need to know where and what to look for. Sure the Gnu/Linux community does share more information than the propriety supported companies but one can investigate to get warranted information. It all depends on how deep one wants to delve into a project. I have never felt like I needed to prevent myself from opening an investigation on any system. I have several colleague that have the same model for debugging or working on something. If one puts up shields for not doing something then that same persons is inhibiting any gain within that project by the placement of mental roadblocks.

I really like this; Hazel, I am not intentionally contradicting you but showing that my generation does have persons who can do and will do things to improve or expand their knowledge and understanding.

Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy!

I believe that in our generation, it was mostly males who messed with electronics (and I agree with you that hacking software was largely an extension of hacking hardware). Gender roles were much more stratified in those days than they are now.

On the other hand, a lot of women worked in offices, interacting with mainframe computers using a command-line interface. Keyboard work was always something of a female ghetto.

People might be interested to read about it here:
http://www.hrussman.entadsl.com/ramb...sed_to_be.html

Hi,

Very true that mostly men were doing hands on electronics. While at school I would help some ladies with their code if they in turn would punch my card sets. I still am not the fastest typist but have gained over the years.

In Unit records there were mostly women operators & supervisors. Most of our main frame systems utilized Grad students mixed guys & gals. While I was at University 80s thru 90s we had a small number of Engineering female students. The ones that we had were at the top of the class. Always in my office during office hours having queries for help with their LABS. I could tell the achievers by just how many would seriously follow up wanting to know if their thoughts & procedures were correct and always wanting more than was presented during LAB periods or objectives. I miss the students but not the stress that almost killed me. Research kills in more than just by physical means!

Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy!

I'm not sure if windoze users have gotten more and more so in the last few years or if I've just become more protective of my time, but it's become too frustrating to try to educate them.

8.) Linux users start counting at zero.