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the eeepc netbook from 2007(?) is still my distraction free coding machine. it was the first cheap portable with ssd and sold with linux ($350 vs $450 with wind

by gcb0 8y ago

the eeepc netbook from 2007(?) is still my distraction free coding machine. it was the first cheap portable with ssd and sold with linux ($350 vs $450 with windows) sadly Microsoft deathgrip made it shortlived, as the article describes so well. and if you want a modern example: blackberry Priv! an android phone with flagship specs, and a freaking physical keyboard + gesture trackpad combo hidden under the OLED curved screen. it is my ssh and vim machine on the go! and you know where you could buy it? on freaking craigslist! even amazon never carried it. verizon and bestbuy? they only ever only had ONE unit, so you couldn't pick up color/storage. or see it in action because apple and google forbade any store from showing those phones. its the retail death grip now, instead of the OEM deathgrip from the 90s the article mentions.

dTal 8y ago
Alas, no root on any of the Blackberry machines, beautiful though they are, due to a 'trusted' boot chain to which nobody except Blackberry has the key. This is a dealbreaker to anyone who wants to do any non-trivial hacking, such as a chroot - a group which I imagine has some considerable overlap with those who insist upon the ever-rare physical keyboard. Such a pity.
- gcb0 8y ago
  this is exactly the same with all other devices. just because you chose to use a leaked version of odin to root your samsung, with a leaked version of the firmware, built with a leaked version of the kernel and a leaked version of the binary drivers' firmware blobs... doesn't make either case better. one you don't have root, but already gives you the hability to filter each app permission (which was the only thing I did with root) via a system app they provide, the other you are pretty much doing the same as running a pirated version of windows. not defending either btw. android sucks in this regard. my point before was mostly to highlight how google and others now have the same invisible hand that Microsoft had before.

by gcb0 8y ago

dTal 8y ago

Alas, no root on any of the Blackberry machines, beautiful though they are, due to a 'trusted' boot chain to which nobody except Blackberry has the key. This is a dealbreaker to anyone who wants to do any non-trivial hacking, such as a chroot - a group which I imagine has some considerable overlap with those who insist upon the ever-rare physical keyboard. Such a pity.

gcb0 8y ago
this is exactly the same with all other devices. just because you chose to use a leaked version of odin to root your samsung, with a leaked version of the firmware, built with a leaked version of the kernel and a leaked version of the binary drivers' firmware blobs... doesn't make either case better. one you don't have root, but already gives you the hability to filter each app permission (which was the only thing I did with root) via a system app they provide, the other you are pretty much doing the same as running a pirated version of windows. not defending either btw. android sucks in this regard. my point before was mostly to highlight how google and others now have the same invisible hand that Microsoft had before.