this post was submitted on 27 May 2026
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[–] AndrewZabar@lemmy.world 14 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Wow, coding on the worst physical topology/topography for the kind of input you need to perform.

A programmer needs to type fast, navigate the cursor rapidly and with easily attained precision, and needs the information displayed on a large screen so that they don’t go blind working on the code. This machine is a friggin nightmare.

[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

you'd think so as i did, yet people wanted to do it on their blackberry's back when i did front line tech support.

[–] AndrewZabar@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Wanted to, but how many ppl actually did and were productive?

[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

it was my job back then to enable them as much as possible, so i looked for their perforce submits for follow up and every single one of them did.

most of them did it while on ultra long flights to korea/japan/singapore/tiawan/isreal from san francisco too.... on a blackberry. 🤷‍♂️

[–] AndrewZabar@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

That’s pretty cool. I will say that a little productivity is better than none.

[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml -1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

that was the logic that most of them used and i get it a little bit if you're on 20+ hour flight when laptop batteries lasted less than 2 hours back then, but the thought of writing code in one of these makes my hand hurt:

old skool

i supposed it wasn't so bad for the python or ruby guys, but they were in the minority at the time. most were writing in java and that seems painful with all of the non-romantic characters that it requires wo an ide; atleast this lini device has full keyboard w curly braces.

[–] NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I had to manage with one of these things:

At least it ran Linux. The one thing the Zaurus had going for it though? Completely readable in sunlight. It was amazing at the time.

[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

at least w linux, there's a chance you could use and ide -- even if it's only vim or emacs. lol

the blackberry guys were literally just using a text editor. it ever ceased to be amazed at the level of dedication those people had to their jobs.