Is this satire? Forgive me, but 99.999% of the population has no idea what a kernel is. Also, since when would a mouse care about your kernel version? Puzzling post.
this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2023
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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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I'm imagining, it said on the packaging of the mouse that it needed that kernel version.
In Linux, the kernel delivers most drivers, so it may not yet have had the appropriate mouse driver in kernel versions before that.
Maybe this is possible, but typically you're lucky to even find Linux support mentioned at all.
Kind of surprisingly, but kind of not, I've often seen it mentioned for such rather basic hardware.
Thing is:
- The chip manufacturer sells in extremely high quantities (to many mouse manufacturers).
- They probably hardly have to do anything for Linux support, because it's such basic hardware. Write a driver once and slightly maintain it over the decades.
- Aside from low cost, their only real sales argument is reaching a bigger market with their chips, and the Raspi crowd + deals with organizations running exclusively Linux, isn't that irrelevant either.
I did once have a very not technical mate ask for some help with their laptop, and it was randomly running edubuntu? I was like yeah no worries I got this but why TF are you running linux, they didn't even really understand, apparently some random friend had set them up with it because they didn't want to pay for windows lol.
edubuntu
An education focused Ubuntu distro, weird. Also getting into Linux because it's free is a great reason to get into Linux, if you get comfortable with it now it can help you in many STEM careers in addition to your own needs and proposes.
Presumably the friend was familiar with it and didn't want to recommend something they didn't know.
Have an elderly patron at the cafe that I volunteer at as a tech support (basically helping the old sods learn how to use their phones and connect to the new digital services from the government in Denmark) and he is a Linux user too. Dude is 79 and is the fella I go to if I have any linux questions. Think he uses an old IBM ThinkPad and practically consoles everything except his web use. I want to stay as pro as him when I turn 79!
If the website doesn't work in lynx, it's not worth visiting
Man, I tried that approach on a MacOS terminal and it's confusing as heck. Great for slacking off at work pretending to still be working, though. Someone once made a terminal app for browsing Reddit, maybe they can for Lemmy too? :D
Hi Richard!
Today at the grocery store a sweet older lady approached me and asked if I knew anything about computers.
Next on things that totally happened today...
That old lady's name? Albert Einstein.
I worked retail in electronics for quite a while and all the linux people I encountered were turbonerds for the most part. Thankfully I think that is changing. I imagine this lady had one of her family members set her up of course.
Old lady uses Linux … what’s your excuse?
My father, who taught computer science for the US Army, later became a government contractor, and for whom Unix systems were bread and butter, is now retired and farts around on a Mac reading political blogspam all day.
My mother, having never had any interest or real education in computing in her entire life, now uses Linux Mint to take care of important shit and keep the family organized.
i worked in sales long enough to know that No, No sweet older lady ever spoke those words to you "setup on linux mint" and include the capacity for understanding hardware compliances? did everyone in the store clap too? but...it would be a nice fantasy ngl
With what I've been through, I'm beginning to wonder if OP is telling the truth 😂
About 7 years ago I got a call from some random lady in her 70s. Turns out her husband passed away not long ago and every computer in the house had Linux Mint installed. She needed someone to help her with some various simple techy things that her husband used to handle.
I couldn't help but wonder how this random lady got my phone number. Turns out that one day, my Grandfather went on a walk down the road and this lady was outside tending to her garden. I have no clue how the conversation shifted to the topic of Linux, but it did. And my Grandpa knew I was in college for Computer Science, so he just volunteered me for this task.
Fast forward to today and I still help her out once or twice a year with whatever random questions pop up.
Uh my grandparents have Linux on their machine (set up a decade or more ago after I got sick of cleaning out malware/incredimail installs). They know enough to ask if stuff works on Linux though might not know to ask about Mint/Ubuntu specifically.
TBF they usually ask me first but they'll also ask the salesperson.
Do you find it impossible for an older lady to have the capacity to understand hardware compliances or use Linux?
I don’t have any reason to not trust OP, but the likelihood of this conversation happening at ALL seems incredibly unlikely. Never mind that it is described as successful.
If true, this is amazing.
I don’t get why she would take her mouse to the grocery store rather than just ask her son, who installed it for her. All I could guess would be, her old mouse didn’t work so she went out and bought one?
I'm assuming OP meant a store like Target or Walmart that have groceries and also a tech section
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I literally set up Ubuntu for my mother (an old lady by now) 10+ years ago, and she has absolutely no problems with it other than the occasional LTS version updates that I need to do for her. I am pretty sure the overall tech-support I had to do for her over all these years is actually lower as it is much more difficult to accidentally mess up a desktop Linux than some Windows installation.
I live a few hours away from her and can't just go out and buy her a new mouse (and she doesn't like online shopping), so the OP story could be exactly her to the letter (except she isn't using Linux Mint).
I installed Fedora on my aunt's laptop she runs an eBay business with. She only ever used Excel for a spreadsheet she tracks her accounts with and Chrome for her listings. Replaced them with Libre office calc and Chromium, didn't really need to explain anything to her
To be fair chrome is an option on Fedora as well
What grocery store and where? I set up Linux Mint for my Mom. She's 67.
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I've been thinking about switching to Mint in my linux experiments, setting up Arch was fun and all but I think I want a bit less fiddling.
I think I want a bit less fiddling
Indeed. That's why I switched to NixOS, set up once (which can be a major PITA), but then you're done anytime you want to do that again in the future.
But I'm thinking of trying Debian, seeing if I can get it set up the way I want, and maybe switching to that in the future?
I work in IT and my hate for baby boomers is real but after reading this I am less hateful. Thanks
I'll take "Stories That Didn't Happen" for 500, Alex.
I saw Richard Stallman at a grocery store in Los Angeles yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?” I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying. The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter. When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.
All I can I say to that is: what???
its a dumb copypaste bullshit
That was really nice but I think the lady was lucky that she met you. Can you imagine if she had met Linux Torvalds himself? He would have told her off for not knowing that the 2.6 kernel was many years old, the whole Linux world had moved on with strides beyond this old piece of software and reached 6.5 and there was no reason wasting everyone's time with this kind of question. Plus: "we never, ever break the user experience and hence the mouse should work without questions!"
That doesn't sound like Torvalds at all. The guy doesn't suffer fools, but he doesn't just pop off at people randomly. All accounts are that he's a pretty chill dude.
That really does not sound like Linus to me. The guy can be quite blunt and will gladly reach for swear words in his e-mails. But he can just as well be accommodating. I imagine, he'd be delighted that an old lady is running his software.
Doesn't need Linus for that, the average Arch user should be enough
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