wltr

I have no proof for this except my memories. Perhaps we could find some links somewhere, but that would change nothing: it doesn’t work today. My guess that maybe it was different for different markets / locations. As I clearly remember a friend learned about Pi-Hole and bought an SBC just to deploy Pi-Hole. I’d been having it censoring the ads for my entire family, till it stopped doing that at some point. I still have that Pi-Hole deployed by the way, it continues blocking trackers and other shitty things online. I wonder why browser extensions still work, while network-wide ad blocker does not.

Well, I remember it actually stopping YouTube ads, 2018 or 2019 was when it changed. Or even 2020, won’t recall.

I have Pi-Hole for like ten years maybe, they cannot stop the YouTube ads since, idk, at least five years, maybe more.

That doesn’t conflict with Linux. Once people get off Windows, it’s easiest to turn to such further. I’m an Apple guy, but most all of my computers run Linux now. Even MacBooks. I am considering of buying a Mac mini, with the perspective of using it as a Linux server, after it serves as a macOS desktop for my wife. Once you change your default system and understand it can be changed, you won’t ever need Windows. Both Linux and macOS are quite close to each other.

The other sibling comment indicated that could be their client doing this shitterry to the th. Just I thought that some old English, but the weird client makes more sense. Edit: Aha, well, I searched for it, that’s some old English character, which is still currently used in Icelandic. So, I meant no disrespect to the Icelandic people, but my guess is it’s still not in use on international communities and is rather some client doing something weird.

Well, you see, when you know and understand Linux well, your chances to become rich are increasingly higher.

My man!

How much is the fish?

I’m not old enough to appreciate its obsolescence. It broke on me so many times, basically every single major update on various machines. Arch Linux never broke on me, and I still run my very first installation. Basically on every single machine. Had no need to reinstall anything. I wasn’t deliberately breaking Debian even, never introduced any unusual repositories, used the default flavour of the desktop environment I chose from the installer. Didn’t change defaults too much. Yet every upgrade I did, something was wrong, it simply broke, and the easiest was to simply reinstall than attempting to fix anything. Arch, broke just a few times, most of which was either me doing something, and I knew that was me, or it was on the main page of the distro, in their news, the breaking changes announcement, plus the steps to mitigate them. I see no point in using Debian, at least for me personally. I use its flavours, DietPi and Armbian on the SBCs, as there’s no Arch, and I don’t really like Arch ARM. Also, Debian’s website yells unprofessionalism, and it’s a bit difficult to tolerate. And the cherry on top, each time I’m about to download it, I have to hunt that BitTorrent link. I know it’s less than a gigabyte, and I could just download it as is from the website. But it’s a matter of principle, if I can download via BitTorrent protocol, I’d do that. Less pressure on the servers, easier and faster for me. Arch, you don’t have to hunt that link. Debian isn’t simple enough for me, I don’t understand its ideas and approach. Having obsolete everything because of stability … how do you know the updated versions are worse, huh? I don’t know, perhaps Sid is stable too, but my bet it’s less stable than Arch. And the names, I personally dislike them. You choose a random Pixar movie and stick to that. Why? Even Ubuntu’s animals are just so much better. To me that’s as weird as naming your software as Gimp, or having fun with these GNU is not UNIX and other recursive abbreviations. It may be fun when you’re a teenager, or a part of some community, but I just don’t like it either. I just don’t feel like I’m the part of this community. I’ve been around Debian for like two decades, and never grew liking it. Not my cup of tea.

Yeah, cool, thanks for the feedback! I guess I’m interested in both, postmarket and nix, but NixOS is just more interesting to explore. I’ve got a Surface RT 3 a week ago, and I’m playing with mobile Linux on it. Not all shiny, but I’m very happy with what I’ve got for $30 / €25. It mostly works, and the battery life is amazing. It cannot sleep, but apart from that, it’s a nice typewriter. I think getting 1+6 at a nice price would be great and educational.

Same, with one exception I don’t really like Debian. Ubuntu, I’m surprised it’s still around. I wonder who use it, especially on a server. I’m eyeballing NixOS. And Gentoo too. And I’m looking for excuse to try FreeBSD.

Hey, we’re yet to discover whether Hari Seldom would become a villain! With this end of the last season, you’d never know!

Oh yeah, it’s good. The link to microslop: microslop.com

Thanks for the conversation. I’m a bit hurrying, so I’d try to squeeze my entire point into the message, in order to not forget to reply later, if I’d to postpone. I think I’d link a blog post at some later point, if you’d ever be interested in a more detailed story. What I’m looking for is some kind of laptop/tablet mix for very light computing. Basically, I’d like to use some text editing for my blog (it’s not deployed yet, because there are a number of posts that I’d like to finish writing, they’re mostly in the draft state at the moment). I have very little time for it (work, kids, family, exhaustion), so I thought if I’d have some light laptop on me at some times, I’d use it instead of mindless iPhone scrolling. I don’t need Waydroid, since I have an Android smartphone lying around, unused. I’m quite good at Linux, so technically, even a 1 GB device would be useful for me. I think writing/editing texts (markdown files) and reading some epubs/pdfs would be 99% of my use cases for such a device. Hence, I don’t really care about cameras, speakers, even the sensor for rotating the screen (however, that would be handy for some reading-mode). Reading is possible from an iPad though (I have iPad 3 lying around at home, and I think I charged it about 3 times over 6 months, its battery life is insane!). A couple of hours of battery life is good, if I can charge that thing from a lying somewhere charger. Say, USB-C is ideal, microUSB is tolerable too, if I’d have some cable on me. That way, I’d just carry the thing in my backpack, and if I’m free somewhere (not at home), I could power it on, and do some light text editing. Surface looks overpowered and too good for this, but since they’re quite cheap, and getting cheap over time, I think I’d buy one. Perhaps not very soon, I’ll see. I found some cheapo Chinese no-name brand locally, for $20, I think I’d go with it, just to play with the concept of such a device. I considered Chromebooks, they seem very good at what I’m looking for, but I think I’d just not take it with me all the time. While a 500…600 g device is not much heavier than a smartphone, so I could have it with me all the time. A couple of hours of Linux time with it sounds very good, if from a single charge. Then, it depends. Theoretically, such a device with Linux… you know, I think I’d prefer it over iPad even for watching videos, but I’m not very sure. I’m having just the very first generation of iPad Pro, and it looks like even the next model (not to say about the next-next models) is very good for media consumption, the screen is just very good. But apart from consumption, I think I’d like such a device. My research today returned me the results that most of the things are supported quite good, and you confirmed it that the mainline kernel just works. I thought it’s quite ironic the device from Microsoft no less is such a good Linux tablet! I didn’t know Linux tablets were even a thing! It’s all about Android vs iOS these days, you know. On the software department, I find Linux mostly good, by the way. It covers most of my basic needs well, frankly, I realised it covers most of my needs. I haven’t used Windows for like 15 years now, but it’s not fair to say that since I am was an Apple guy. Last time I used macOS was in 2019, I think. I use SwayWM, it’s very lightweight, so I expect it would work quite good with any cheap and underpowered laptop. I cannot do much work-related tasks with such a device, and there’s no point. My main machine has 32 GB of RAM, however I don’t think I use more than 16, I just bought +16 a year or two ago, and it was a right decision, as I’ve got them for like $30 or something. But I think a device like that (a Surface with Linux) can do quite a lot, and not in an irritating way (looking at both Windows and iOS). Apple’s Desktop system, macOS, was very good last time I used it. But I still like Linux more, due to its do-it-yourself nature. (I use mostly Arch on my computers, and Fedora on shared computers, where less nerdy people might use them.) Have to go now, thanks for your input again, have a nice rest of the day!

Thanks for your feedback! The model I’ve found is named Surface 3, and it looks like it’s very similar to Go, just the names are different. However, that particular item was sold, so I need to hunt another item. I decided to explore all three models, the one I was considering, yours, and the next one too (Go 2). I’m looking for a keyboard only option, however I realised I may not really need any. Having a decently built tablet with Gnome looks good enough for me! I don’t care about the camera, it’s still worse than my iPhone, and I’m not going to have any video calls, that’s for sure. I thought of reading some books, plus writing a blog. It’s really challenging to write, as when I’m with my computer, I do work. When I’m on a phone, it’s not really comfortable to write long texts, and do any serious work. A Surface tablet with Linux, looks very good. Seriously, a couple of weeks ago, I wasn’t aware you can get a Linux tablet at all! Thanks to M$ for building such a shitty OS, most people selling this tablet as garbage. I thought of buying a used iPad Pro 12.9 (2015), I have a couple at home, and it’s fabulous (especially given the price, you can get one used for about $100). And iPad Pro is just miles ahead of this garbage. But! The real OS (Linux) makes it better than iOS. Windows is real OS too, but since it’s garbage, iOS is still a much better experience in most tablet scenarios. As of today, I think I’d get a cheap used Chinese Windows tablet with a crappy keyboard, just to test waters. Assuming a Surface is a better device in every department (support, built quality, keyboard quality), and the Linux on the go is something I’d find useful, I’d surely go with monitoring local used market for a decent item. So, yeah, thanks for drawing my attention towards this. I’m long dreaming of having a cheap and light Linux laptop with me. And a used Surface looks decent for that. Did I ask you about the battery life and whether it sleeps well? Theoretically, I could turn it on when I need it, not a big deal. The portability is my main issue, otherwise it’d stay at home most times. But if it sleeps good and is usable in a real tablet mode (meaning you forget about a battery, it’s just always charged when you pick it up), it’s just an ideal iPad replacement for me.

Hey, I’ve found the model previous to yours! For money, but it has a keyboard cover, which I need. It’s not too expensive, about $30 / €25 / £22. I’m thinking of getting one. Do you have something to add about yours? I’m mostly interested in how it runs Linux. My research has shown it’s decent for its price.

I was able to run Apple AirPort Utility for managing my Apple AirPort Extreme router. It has no web interface, but an app for all Apple platforms, and Windows too. The Utility for Windows is slightly better than macOS or iOS (in my opinion). It works well, and I’m happy that by migrating to Linux I’m still able to manage my router. There’s no more routers from Apple, and there’s no more updates to the app either, so I’m happy it’d stay that way. Perhaps I needed some tiny tuning to run the app, I won’t recall now. I have the article about it in my not deployed yet blog, so I’d link it, but I need to deploy it first. (Would take me some time.) I have more details there. But overall, it was good. Also, I was able to run Pro100 software for 3D modelling of furniture for my friend. It was working well, I did that with Bottles since his Fedora installation was atomic (Silverblue). It was okay, almost as good as on Windows, with some tiny nuances. I’m happy to see others telling about their apps they were successfully launching and working with. Personally, I’m very interested in the graphical stack (like Adobe or Affinity apps), but I haven’t tried them yet. I’ve seen someone has success of installing modern Photoshop, but no more than that.

I understand, I’d see if I can get one for cheap, I’m not hurrying. I’d love to learn whether it’s good as a tablet, would be pretty great to have a tablet running Linux!

Thanks! I’ve heard of the kernel, yet never had any chance at testing. It’s great to know the old devices are upstreamed, as I might want price over everything else. I’m looking for a laptop that I’d be able to do some tasks, but not everything. I have no idea whether it’s a good idea to get Surface, but it looks quite good.

I wonder how these laptops behave with Linux. I checked the prices for used ones, they’re quite good in my area. I don’t know about their repairability, but the rest look quite good.