Comment by dv35z | Hacker News Reader

Comment by dv35z | Hacker News Reader

The other day, I wanted something to hack on (wanting to use Linux to automatically play useful & fun playlists on a cron - but don't want it dependent on my MacBook). Looked through the closet, and realized I had given my Raspberry Pi to a friend - what else could I program on? Then I had a thought - I wonder how powerful the computers used for "POS" (point of sale / cashiers) are? I went to a local tech-oriented mall, and found many vendors selling small form-factor computers. I found a Dell computer, small case, with 8-16 GB of memory, Intell Core i5 processor, 256-512 GB solid state storage - price range was $150-250 USD.

I bought one! When I got home, I was thinking - wow, it's been awhile since making a bootable linux USB drive. After figuring that out, the computer booted nicely into Debian, install was easy, but it brought back all these memories from college (at that time, I was using Mandrake and Gentoo - also on a Dell!).

My mind - full of ideas & possibilities, have been plugging random things into it to see what works - Logitech 3D Extreme flight stick: Yes! Yamaha keyboard - let's see!

I'm now on a journey to figure out how to get the sound system to work at root-level (so that 'cron' can play audio when a user's not logged in)

The whole point of the comment is that (1) this is so much fun, (2) Feels surprisingly good to be in open-source labd and not in MacOS world, (3) Debian Linux feels like a sturdy workhorse tool (4) Exploring the creative possibilities of open source tooling (and having patience for their user interfaces). For example, Inkscape, Blender 3D, music production.

Note: Even Steam worked, and the first game I installed (Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime) worked on the first try (!).

If you're in end-of-year tinker mode, consider picking up a used "mini computer" ("mini" is relative!) - slapping Linux on it, and making something cool.

I was enjoying this comment very much, and then nearly got whiplash from the twist at the end! Wow. Rediscovers Debian and all the creative possibliites of open source tooling, and then at the end, sits back for a nice proprietary gaming session.

No judgment on a personal level, they have lovely games, of course, and it sounds like a nice ending - but there's so many wonderful games to try inside of the "open-source" realm! Here's a list I was perusing the other day, being quite amazed at all the stuff that was there:

https://www.slant.co/topics/1933/~best-open-source-games

Ones that caught my eye were endless sky, teeworlds, hedgewars, but there are actually loads.

Thanks for sharing that link! My brothers and I used to play Command & Conquer, so I'm interested in trying OpenRA (https://www.openra.net/). Maybe you've got ideas on this - I'd love to find a space game that's sort of a mix of Elite Dangerous & X4.

Thanks for bearing with the whiplash - my usual approach with open-source is that I try to figure out what the absolute best commercially-available tool is to solve a problem, then I go find out the best open-source equivalent and invest in that for the long term. Recent example (in speech synthesis): I'm prototyping with ElevenLabs (commercial/proprietary), and then investing in PiperTTS (open-source).

I wonder if I had a demo of Command & Conquer on a CD we got from some magazine back in the day, because shots from the game seem oddly familiar, and we used to play the odd demo like that on our family Windows XP machine. Not sure if I'm imagining it.

OpenRA looks very cool! Added to the list! I'm only picking games back up myself, last I was hard at it was the PS2 a couple of decades ago nearly now. So I could only tell you what an internet search would tell you, i.e.,

https://alternativeto.net/category/games/space-game/?license...

https://github.com/akarnokd/open-ig

I did try Endless Sky recently though, and haven't gotten into the meat of the gameplay, but an hour in, and I think I like where it's going. More space trading, but the storyline is cool, and I like the feel of it.

Otherwise, maybe a bit left field, but perhaps something like

http://discworld.starturtle.net/lpc/

Have yet to try it, but a thread on here about MUDs that I found had a few people who swore by it, so I was very tempted! Terry Pratchett is great, so I imagine the MUD could be very, very fun to get lost in (plus I've discovered MUDs exist, and want to try one).

I'm seperating concerns here with a seperate answer: I do exactly the opposite, when it comes to software! I started "learning computers" a few years ago, rather than just pointing and clicking in a Windows 7 laptop, understanding nothing, hoping it all works, being vaguely terrified something might go wrong, panicking if it does.

I moved to Linux (Ubuntu first, then tons of distro-hopping, etc etc). I look at what's available in the repositories, and allow that to frame my universe. You don't miss what you don't know.

So there's a chance I could be missing some wonderful stuff, sure. However, I've found a solution for everything I've needed at every stage of the past 4 odd years. My understanding has skyrocketed, no real expertise but tons of little things I was terrified of before now seem standard to me, and I feel that exploring terminals and operating systems and text editors and so on has been a big part of that.

Documentation and tutorials and all on that side of the "tech world" seem just lovely, and like they're not trying to trick me into anything. Going "open-source-first-and-only", with extremely rare exceptions if I absolutely must, was the key for me there.

I understand how not everyone's personal and professional situation permits them to do that though, just sharing my perspective :)

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