• 11 Posts
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Joined 11 months ago
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Cake day: April 18th, 2025

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  • Yeah, I think the somatic and verbal components were supposed to give away casters (making the sorcerer’s Subtle Spell incredibly valuable socially), but it seems like a lot of DMs ignore or minimize it. But yeah, things like a simple persistent Detect Magic field, especially in critical areas, would make perfect sense. In a high magic setting, every vendor having a trinket that grants them Detect Magic continuously wouldn’t be out of the question.



  • As far as Arch-based distros go, CachyOS has a lot of helper tools included, and a lot of GUI programs. That’s probably why people consider it beginner-friendly.

    I wouldn’t really consider CachyOS as a beginner distro. It’s probably the most accessible for anyone looking for something highly optimized, but there are plenty of others that are easier to set up and use.

    Been daily driving Cachy for a couple years now, and I love it. It’s not for everyone, though.








  • 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.




  • 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!