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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : How to fix any computer
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| PhenixRising Guru  Joined: 07/11/2023 Location: United KingdomPosts: 1261 |
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Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 7681 |
Shouldn't this be in one of the serious threads? ;) Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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| PhenixRising Guru Joined: 07/11/2023 Location: United KingdomPosts: 1261 |
FOTS?  |
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| darthvader Regular Member  Joined: 31/01/2020 Location: FrancePosts: 87 |
A little better resolution for my old eyes   Theory is when we know everything but nothing work ... Practice is when everything work but no one know why ;) |
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| JohnS Guru Joined: 18/11/2011 Location: United KingdomPosts: 4016 |
I'm guessing FOTS = Fruit of the Shed. The Linux "Step 1" is ridiculous. Even as a beginner I didn't do a kernel compile and since then have never needed to do so (*). I've also never needed to switch distros. The rest is even more ridiculous but fails to be at all funny. I like a joke but to be funny it really has to have at least a modicum of truth!! (*) However, I have built custom ones for embedded systems to get small fast simple systems. John Edited 2025-06-05 05:22 by JohnS |
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| tgerbic Regular Member Joined: 25/07/2019 Location: United StatesPosts: 62 |
It is interesting to see all the problems that come up on the backshed with the linuxes used here so for those people I guess this joke makes sense. My experience is probably similar to Johns. I have not had any major problems with Linux in years and have not had to write code or manually recompile a kernel to fix something in at least 20 years. Probably not in this century. I did use the original Slackware, Xenix and some mainframe Unixes over the years but once I started using Fedora, that was it. I have some others on VMs like Kali, Ubuntu, CentOS and Mint but they are just to play/experiment with. Never had to reinstall 2000, XP, Windows 7 or Windows 10. These have run for many years on my home machines. I still have an XP workstation I now use as a backup server and for native old I/O support that is now almost 20 years old and contains a lot of third party software and drivers that will not run on newer revs. Still on the original install. When some windows app will not run anymore I just run the app in WINE, DosBox or on a virtual machine on Linux. I did have a Mac laptop back in the early 2000s for about 6 months. It seemed to work ok (minor problems) but I just kept hitting incompatibilities with mandatory use apps used at work so had to give it up. It was a company policy thing. I am, however, familiar with the joke shown above as it has been around since the 80s. |
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| tgerbic Regular Member Joined: 25/07/2019 Location: United StatesPosts: 62 |
I think one thing that also helps us not need to do OS repair is that at my house we have had a zero tolerance for viruses and malware since about 2000. I have fixed several computers from friends and one at my daughters house that have been horribly mangled by this stuff so don't let it on my network. |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 7681 |
It is a rather nice anti-computer joke, luckily. :) Of course, you can reinstall a Linux distro completely without touching /home so it's usually far easier to recover than the others. :) Oh, and I've only ever changed distros for fun and I've never had to compile a kernel - not since I first started using Linux - with Slackware. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs |
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Quazee137 Guru Joined: 07/08/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 592 |
darthvader THANKS FOR LARGER VIEWING I only compiled things when first started using LINUX. Got I think was 15 or 17 floppies First two was a mini os loader and compiler the rest was LINUX and some programs needed to make a system and yes they all had to be compiled some a few tries to get right. Few years later got KOPPOX live CD to fix windows infected systems. Also DAM SMALL LINUX to play with on old compaqs with low ram. Its like PUPPY LINUX small requirements. Use Ubuntu for a while then they went to the side bar which I did not like. Been using MINT as my main online system. Kali for doing security support. Funny somewhere around here I have windows 2.? and ME which was stable for me. Also have ZCP/M, MP/M-68K source LOL on 8" and a custom OS for the NS3200. WOW where has the time gone Quazee137 |
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| Godoh Guru Joined: 26/09/2020 Location: AustraliaPosts: 512 |
Yes same experience as others. I have been using linux for decades too. Have used Mint, Puppy, and Ubuntu. No problems, rarely have to do any command line stuff, if I do I look it up and follow the instructions. Windows Well I used DOS 5 and 6 versions then windows 3.1, 95, 98, 2000, NT, then stopped using it. I got sick of having to pay for programs that were deliberately updated and made incompatible with previous versions. And all the massive downloads to keep windows working Will stick with Linux pete |
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stanleyella Guru Joined: 25/06/2022 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2473 |
serious use hiren boot cd...it's a rufus usb you boot from ... for win |
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Grogster Admin Group  Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9544 |
I've used Puppy(my NAS still runs it to this day), Mint, Ubuntu, MX and most recently, the latest Raspbian on a PI5. I always run into problems, but that is cos I am still learning Linux as I play with it. I am getting more and more used to it's filesystem and command-line as I play with different distros, but I also have NEVER had to compile or recompile the Kernel, nor would I ever wish to make the attempt! I'll leave that to those who know what they are doing, and with Linux, that ain't me!  Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| tgerbic Regular Member Joined: 25/07/2019 Location: United StatesPosts: 62 |
PhoenixRising, I am not sure this was the response you were expecting. Linux is a solid modern OS and coupled with a modern Linux user interface, makes Windows look pitifully dated. Every single time I use Windows File Explorer I am disappointed when compared to Dolphin on Plasma. I use both FE and Dolphin daily so I am very familiar with both. And, of course, Microsoft is improving Windows look and feel constantly to make it everything some people (somewhere) would ever want (at least the commercials say it is built for you). I don't know those people so cannot ask them if it is nirvana for them. Even with its warts, though, Windows is actually pretty stable, if you are careful with apps/drivers, and keep viruses and malware off it. I cannot speak for W11 as I have not needed or wanted to upgrade, but it seems to be a mixed bag for now. It may be that W10 may be my last Windows OS. I have a VM with it on Fedora so it will always be around if I need it. |
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| PhenixRising Guru Joined: 07/11/2023 Location: United KingdomPosts: 1261 |
Oh, I wasn't having a dig. I am delighted with my Superlite (stripped) Windows. Along with Rollback RX Never a problem.  |
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| Volhout Guru Joined: 05/03/2018 Location: NetherlandsPosts: 4954 |
Bad joke, The linux kernel source is not C++. If you have a system that can compile the kernel, you do not need to compile the kernel. Since W11 the flow chart for Windows and MAC are the same and contain only 1 step. Buy a new computer. I do have 1 remark though. The MAC stuff (despite it's 8x hidden nightly system updates from Lion to Catalina) never crashed. Never. I am not a "power user" with 15 or more windows open, but fact is that it (for me) was far more stable than I ever expected. Volhout PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS |
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hitsware2 Guru Joined: 03/08/2019 Location: United StatesPosts: 719 |
And ( out of curiousness ) , what system would that be ? my site |
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| damos Regular Member Joined: 15/04/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 73 |
There is a good amount of truth in all of them. I had a friend working in corporate support who quickly found that all Windows problems could be fixed by rebooting. These is especially true in large corporations who use a lot of startup scripts that can repair things. An Apple store genius is not a repairer, but a genius at getting people to upgrade to the latest computer. My experiences on MacOS have always been frustrating. The minute you want to do anything more than trivial on Mac you need to go to command line and enter some cryptic command. It is a great system to give to a relative who wants things to be simple, but a Chromebook will do that for a fraction of the price. Every time I try Linux I am extremely frustrated. As I always want to do quite advanced things, it always requires a deep dive to figure out how it do it. It is brilliant that you do literally anything. It is really bad that no 2 unixes are the same, so the first advice is almost always wrong. Quite often the files and directory structure are completely different and the solution you find on Stack Exchange just doesn't apply to your own version of Unix/Linux. Worse still are ARM based Linux installations which are second class citizens. Every time you try to do something you find the solution only works on x86 Linux, in which case you will have to do everything in the joke. If you are just using Linux as a desktop system and not trying to do anything complex is probably fine. |
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