4 ms·

Remember, things are never as good or as bad as you think. 'Offline' internet can come back, we can put 32g of microsd cards in special locations so we can sha

Remember, things are never as good or as bad as you think. 'Offline' internet can come back, we can put 32g of microsd cards in special locations so we can share content and /etc/hosts without anyone knowing, maybe go online from time to time to get the newest /etc/hosts from your friends and the new locations for microsd cards near you. Gopher is making a comeback, and gemini is growing. Pi zero 2W costs 10$ and with 40$ screen you can watch feynman lectures with mplayer -vo fbdev, it boots into vim for 3 seconds (init into openvt -w vim kinda thing). Soon the-eye.eu will be back (hopefully). The new phrack is out. The social networks are eating themselves, same as google is eating itself, the search is garbage, the feed is even more garbage, 99% of the content is anxiety inducing miasma. The web is eating itself, with gazillions of GPT(ish) generated articles. Let it go, life always finds a way.

Nextgrid 5y ago
> /etc/hosts > Gopher is making a comeback, and gemini is growing. > Pi zero 2W Another thing you need to keep in mind is that the number of people with the skills necessary to use this is low. Not to mention that new generations have grown up with the current status-quo and seem to be happy enough with it not to search for alternatives. If things get really bad (a debate for which I'm not taking either side), only a very small minority will be able to use the aforementioned workarounds and can trivially be marginalized and crushed with legislation and its enforcement.
- e9 5y ago
  It’s on this community right here to make these things as easy and accessible as possible for everyone to use.
  - city41 5y ago
    I don't think that's HN and ycombinator. The original intent of HN was to support yc, an incubator that creates semi-giants like Airbnb and DoorDash. If push really comes to shove, most people here are going to look out for themselves. They may not like the current big tech companies, but probably would have no problem becoming the next one.
- GhettoComputers 5y ago
  You download a file and run it on your Pi, its literally made to teach children computing. You can buy a used android phone and do it easier a pi is too expensive or hard.
  - wackget 5y ago
    Questions people will ask: 1. What is a Pi? 2. Where's the keyboard/mouse/screen? 3. What does "download a file" mean? 4. What does "run it" mean? And as for using an Android... that immediately defeats the purpose since they're basically Google data vacuums.
    - GhettoComputers 5y ago
      I don’t see your point. Using the Internet is a data vaccum, you will probably google it even and watch the lecture on YouTube. You don’t need to do any of this this listen to the Feynman lectures.
- throwaway47292 5y ago
  > Not to mention that new generations have grown up with the current status-quo and seem to be happy enough with it not to search for alternatives. Even though this is true, it is not impossible to expand their horizon. We still have not figured out the pedagogy or even andragogy of how to teach technology. Check out my progress with my daughter(10): https://github.com/jackdoe/programming-for-kids https://github.com/jackdoe/programming-for-kids, We are also making a card game https://punkjazz.org/programming-time/easy.html https://punkjazz.org/programming-time/easy.html to play with her and donate to other kids interested in learning. Spending time with pi zero and arduino and building retropie games, using links2 instead of chrome from time to time, she is making great progress. Make the lights in her room work after few claps, with arduino nano and sound sensor so her code can control the light. And this is only with 20-30 minutes per day. You might think that the kids are blind to what is going on, but they do see, they know something is wrong, they know they are being exploited and cheated to buy lootboxes and skins.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - throwaway47292 5y ago
    her website might spark some nostalgia feelings of the early web: https://punkjazz.org/jackie/ https://punkjazz.org/jackie/ :) at least it makes me feel like things are not as bad.
- mro_name 5y ago
  > number of people with the skills necessary I repeatedly run the experiment to pitch a low-tech solution to a high-tech fund and aim exactly there: Reduce the required skill to 1) signing a hosting contract and 2) copying a single file to that webspace. Really! So that's several orders of magnitude more people than today. Instantly. But got it the 3rd time officially now, that such would have no societal impact and isn't considered innovative, either. The time isn't here yet.
- generalizations 5y ago
  > Another thing you need to keep in mind is that the number of people with the skills necessary to use this is low. Then maybe the Eternal September will pass, and October will finally come.
pdimitar 5y ago
Been a programmer professionally for 20 years now and I regret not learning more sysadmin skills. But I'll catch up. In the meantime, more links about how these things are done will be appreciated.
- spc476 5y ago
  I've been programming professionally for 30 years now, and I have learned sysadmin skills---the skills required changed at least three times and the skills I learned in the 90s/early 2000s are largely obsolete, the skills from the early 2000s/2010s are on the way out. You can't win, you can't break even, and you can't get out of the game.
  - throwaway47292 5y ago
    i dont think thats true ip, tcp and udp are the same, rip ospf and bgp are pretty much the same linux's skbuffs or bsd's mbufs are the same as before, the linux dma api changed a bit, but the ideas are the same. there are some changes on the disk layers with geom and such, but nothing super fundamental there are a bunch of layers of indirection now with VMs and cgroups, but deep down things are the same. > You can't win, you can't break even, and you can't get out of the game. there is nothing to win :) its just computers, dont take it so seriously
reaperducer 5y ago
we can put 32g of microsd cards in special locations so we can share content and /etc/hosts without anyone knowing For a short while, when sneakernet was still higher capacity than the internet, people used to embed USB drives in trees and other public places. You'd walk up, plug in, and download the content. Things like full wikis of specialized subjects. Or videos of neighborhood events. Ideally, they were always made somehow read-only. I wouldn't want to imagine what would happen if they were read/write. We'd be right back to the internet we have today. Still, it's something I do wish would have taken off. Maybe we could still do something like that today by setting up miniature web BBSes on hotspots in or near public parks. Not everything in the world should be open to the entire planet. As long as you weren't in a tourist district, you could be pretty sure the content was at least locally generated.
- throwaway47292 5y ago
  i am working on putting a pizero2+solar panel as a hotspot in a tree deep in the nearby forest, you will be able to connect to it and get content i will put all kinds of public domain data on it, from most of gutenberg books to all kinds lectures encoded with h265 will be so cool to have to go to the middle of the forest to download a book :) the whole thing should cost no more than 30$ (biggest challenge is to make sure that the battery bursting in flames wont melt the case and set things on fire)
  - na85 5y ago
    Spend a bit more and get a quality charge controller, and a gel-chemistry battery.
emptyfile 5y ago
>the-eye.eu The fat that this website is down and only links to their Discord is very ironic.

Nextgrid 5y ago

> /etc/hosts > Gopher is making a comeback, and gemini is growing. > Pi zero 2W Another thing you need to keep in mind is that the number of people with the skills necessary to use this is low. Not to mention that new generations have grown up with the current status-quo and seem to be happy enough with it not to search for alternatives. If things get really bad (a debate for which I'm not taking either side), only a very small minority will be able to use the aforementioned workarounds and can trivially be marginalized and crushed with legislation and its enforcement.

e9 5y ago
It’s on this community right here to make these things as easy and accessible as possible for everyone to use.
- city41 5y ago
  I don't think that's HN and ycombinator. The original intent of HN was to support yc, an incubator that creates semi-giants like Airbnb and DoorDash. If push really comes to shove, most people here are going to look out for themselves. They may not like the current big tech companies, but probably would have no problem becoming the next one.
GhettoComputers 5y ago
You download a file and run it on your Pi, its literally made to teach children computing. You can buy a used android phone and do it easier a pi is too expensive or hard.
- wackget 5y ago
  Questions people will ask: 1. What is a Pi? 2. Where's the keyboard/mouse/screen? 3. What does "download a file" mean? 4. What does "run it" mean? And as for using an Android... that immediately defeats the purpose since they're basically Google data vacuums.
  - GhettoComputers 5y ago
    I don’t see your point. Using the Internet is a data vaccum, you will probably google it even and watch the lecture on YouTube. You don’t need to do any of this this listen to the Feynman lectures.
throwaway47292 5y ago
> Not to mention that new generations have grown up with the current status-quo and seem to be happy enough with it not to search for alternatives. Even though this is true, it is not impossible to expand their horizon. We still have not figured out the pedagogy or even andragogy of how to teach technology. Check out my progress with my daughter(10): https://github.com/jackdoe/programming-for-kids https://github.com/jackdoe/programming-for-kids, We are also making a card game https://punkjazz.org/programming-time/easy.html https://punkjazz.org/programming-time/easy.html to play with her and donate to other kids interested in learning. Spending time with pi zero and arduino and building retropie games, using links2 instead of chrome from time to time, she is making great progress. Make the lights in her room work after few claps, with arduino nano and sound sensor so her code can control the light. And this is only with 20-30 minutes per day. You might think that the kids are blind to what is going on, but they do see, they know something is wrong, they know they are being exploited and cheated to buy lootboxes and skins.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- throwaway47292 5y ago
  her website might spark some nostalgia feelings of the early web: https://punkjazz.org/jackie/ https://punkjazz.org/jackie/ :) at least it makes me feel like things are not as bad.
mro_name 5y ago
> number of people with the skills necessary I repeatedly run the experiment to pitch a low-tech solution to a high-tech fund and aim exactly there: Reduce the required skill to 1) signing a hosting contract and 2) copying a single file to that webspace. Really! So that's several orders of magnitude more people than today. Instantly. But got it the 3rd time officially now, that such would have no societal impact and isn't considered innovative, either. The time isn't here yet.
generalizations 5y ago
> Another thing you need to keep in mind is that the number of people with the skills necessary to use this is low. Then maybe the Eternal September will pass, and October will finally come.

pdimitar 5y ago

Been a programmer professionally for 20 years now and I regret not learning more sysadmin skills. But I'll catch up. In the meantime, more links about how these things are done will be appreciated.

spc476 5y ago
I've been programming professionally for 30 years now, and I have learned sysadmin skills---the skills required changed at least three times and the skills I learned in the 90s/early 2000s are largely obsolete, the skills from the early 2000s/2010s are on the way out. You can't win, you can't break even, and you can't get out of the game.
- throwaway47292 5y ago
  i dont think thats true ip, tcp and udp are the same, rip ospf and bgp are pretty much the same linux's skbuffs or bsd's mbufs are the same as before, the linux dma api changed a bit, but the ideas are the same. there are some changes on the disk layers with geom and such, but nothing super fundamental there are a bunch of layers of indirection now with VMs and cgroups, but deep down things are the same. > You can't win, you can't break even, and you can't get out of the game. there is nothing to win :) its just computers, dont take it so seriously

reaperducer 5y ago

we can put 32g of microsd cards in special locations so we can share content and /etc/hosts without anyone knowing For a short while, when sneakernet was still higher capacity than the internet, people used to embed USB drives in trees and other public places. You'd walk up, plug in, and download the content. Things like full wikis of specialized subjects. Or videos of neighborhood events. Ideally, they were always made somehow read-only. I wouldn't want to imagine what would happen if they were read/write. We'd be right back to the internet we have today. Still, it's something I do wish would have taken off. Maybe we could still do something like that today by setting up miniature web BBSes on hotspots in or near public parks. Not everything in the world should be open to the entire planet. As long as you weren't in a tourist district, you could be pretty sure the content was at least locally generated.

throwaway47292 5y ago
i am working on putting a pizero2+solar panel as a hotspot in a tree deep in the nearby forest, you will be able to connect to it and get content i will put all kinds of public domain data on it, from most of gutenberg books to all kinds lectures encoded with h265 will be so cool to have to go to the middle of the forest to download a book :) the whole thing should cost no more than 30$ (biggest challenge is to make sure that the battery bursting in flames wont melt the case and set things on fire)
- na85 5y ago
  Spend a bit more and get a quality charge controller, and a gel-chemistry battery.

emptyfile 5y ago

>the-eye.eu The fat that this website is down and only links to their Discord is very ironic.