If it’s 99%, I don’t think it counts as “abnormal” anymore.

I would pronounce it “DEEmon” but that gets some religious folks all freaked out, so I usually go with “DAYman”.

Simmer down, Satan

Too bad. I know how MAGA likes their safe spaces. My old church also had an “alternative” half-time show to protect the kids or something. And if they don’t have these spaces, who will protect them from weird ideas like kindness and empathy?

No problem! I love chatting about this stuff, questions are always welcome!

Not sure what online retailers are available or what you have access to in Vemezuela, but something like this starter kit would be ideal. But anything you can get your hands on can be fun.

In general, you need:

• a microcontroller
• a way to program it
• hardware to control and usually some sort of input or sensor

Even if you can’t find a starter kit, finding a USB UART interface lets you hack into all sorts of devices (did that to reprogram a router a while back), as long as you’re handy with a soldering iron. And like another commenter said, hardware emulators would let you get started writing and running code if you can’t get hardware right away.

Hope it’s fun! Feel free to DM with questions if you’d like.

You’re looking for what’s called Embedded Programming, which is that low-level stuff where the software you create makes things happen in real life outside of just a computer screen. There are lots of hobby beginner kits that come with things like motors, lights, etc. That’s probably your best bet for actually getting some hands-on experience.

If you want something a little higher-level, go for something like a Raspberry Pi (a Single Board Computer or SBC). On these, you’ll have a full-fledged Linux kernel and operating system, but still have ways of interacting with hardware like lights and such. If you want to get lower level, try Arduino or something based on ESP32 (the key word here is microcontroller). On these, you’ll either use a smaller OS or go “bare-metal”. Though note that Raspberry Pi makes things at this level as well (their “Pico” line).

For making that connection between computer theory and programming, I recommend experimenting with microcontrollers. You can even do some projects in assembly and understand what all the key registers are doing. I started on PIC micros, which was a great beginner thing. Not sure if they’re still around.

If you want recommendations on a starter kit, let me know your budget and what country you’re in, and I can send some suggestions.

Source: embedded programming for 20+ years.

I’ve been using Proton Mail for a while. It works well for me.

You don’t gotta tell on yourself like that, ma’am.

why not just skip the middleman

Because many people take for granted their advanced understanding of Unix systems that allows them to get into the “meat”.

If you’re the type of person that is excited by a terminal display and prepared to read a whole pile of documentation, then sure–go straight to Arch, or Alpine if you’re insane. But most people want something that’s familiar, easy to set up, and will never force you to open a terminal. That’s Mint (plus a number of other beginner-friendly distros). And most average people are perfectly happy to stay there. And that’s perfectly fine.

You’re not missing anything. Mint is perfectly good for the vast majority of users.

Linux distros are a bit like vehicles. For most people, a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla will do everything they need. But if you go onto forums of car-enthusiasts, you can probably find thousands of voices that say those vehicles have such low horsepower, or they’re not perfectly streamlined, or arguing about the buttons on the seat belts. Things that the average user doesn’t care much about.

I started 20 years ago with Slackware, tried out FreeBSD, and a number of others. I switched to Mint as a daily driver years ago. These days I found what I like (CachyOS), but I’m fairly knowledgable and quite comfortable on the command line, which is definitely not the case for most newer folks.

Mint is a great distro. When I put it on my wife’s laptop, literally everything worked right away. Have fun!

Probably at least like 4 days

How Lineolium Is Made: a Silent Documentary

Yeah I know, it just sounded catchy to me

I can’t figure out whether the verb is “still” or “physical”.

Missed opportunity to call them “lunar panels”

“Eat shit” would take on a completely different meaning

If a quick game lasts 10 minutes, then 10^152 minutes, which is about 10^136 times the age of our universe.

Good Republicans don’t stay Republican for long

gallop gallop gallop

For me, each step seems to have corresponded with hearing a new piece of advice and gradually learning to apply it.

For example, “don’t play hope chess” or “don’t force your opponent to make a good move” were both things that I had to work at, but once they clicked, my competency felt a lot better. And each thing only made sense once I was at a point to understand it and ready to start applying it.