Levels of a Linux User

[raymac46]

Thought it might be fun to look at the levels of a Linux user as an ascent from total H377 to Heaven. Here's my thoughts on it.

 

Level 0 (Perdition) You use Windows and Microsoft software exclusively (IE, Office) and buy new machines when your version of Windows becomes obsolete.

Level 1 You run Windows but add in a few FOSS programs - Firefox, Open Office.

Level 2 You run Windows but keep a Linux rescue stick just in case. You might not know the stick is a  Linux system.

Level 3 You run Windows but have  live Linux on a USB to try it out.

Level 4 You run Windows but dual boot Linux on your machine.

Level 5 You run Windows but run Linux in a VM.

Level 6 You run Windows but run Linux on a separate machine.

Level 7 You run Linux but have Windows in a VM.

Level 8 You run only Linux but use non-free blobs where FOSS alternatives exist (e.g. Nvidia proprietary graphics.)

Level 9 You run only Linux and non-free software as needed to get your hardware functional.

Level 10 (Heaven - Richard Stallman) You run only free Linux (er... GNU/Linux) and get your hardware based on how well it runs totally free software.

 I would say I have a way to go to get to Stallman levels. I am at Level 6.

Edited February 28, 2020 by raymac46

[abarbarian]

I am at Level 7.5 = runs linux but dual boot Windows to play games.

[securitybreach]

Well I am level 8-9 but I would never want to be anything like RMS.  Stallman is completely insane and does not even use a computer like a normal person, plus he has horrible hygiene (eats toe jam on stage in front an audience):

 

Quote

I generally do not connect to web sites from my own machine, aside from a few sites I have some special relationship with. I usually fetch web pages from other sites by sending mail to a program (see

https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/womb/hacks.git) that fetches them, much like wget, and then mails them back to me. Then I look at them using a web browser, unless it is easy to see the text in the HTML page directly. I usually try lynx first, then a graphical browser if the page needs it (using konqueror, which won't fetch from other sites in such a situation).

 

https://stallman.org/stallman-computing.html

 

Why would anyone but a crazy person do things like that???

[Hedon James]

I am at levels 7-9.  I'd say I'm an 8-9 by nature, but forced down to level 7 by an outside world that insists that Microsoft, Windows, and computers are all synonymous...

[securitybreach]

2 minutes ago, Hedon James said:

I am at levels 7-9.  I'd say I'm an 8-9 by nature, but forced down to level 7 by an outside world that insists that Microsoft, Windows, and computers are all synonymous...

 

That's what those VMs you run are for

[raymac46]

As Erik pointed out there are intermediate levels within levels. It's not a binary choice either since we have Apple and Android in there now.

[raymac46]

If I were a hermit (with a good Internet connection of course) I would aspire to Level 9. As it is I am confined to Level 6 by family/friends who need help at the lower levels.

[Bookmem]

I'm a level 6 but only because there isn't a decent Android emulator for Linux.

[securitybreach]

Check out Genymotion

 

Quote

 

• App developers can set interruptions for call or SMS when testing whether their application works correctly or not.
• The built-in disk IO throttling feature of this Linux Android emulator lets even emulate devices with very slow internal storage.
• You can easily forward sensor events like gyroscope data from any Android device to your Linux machine with this powerful Android emulator Linux.
• Genymotion is pixel perfect, meaning it can display any Android application on your screen precisely at its original size.
• This Linux Android emulator is a hundred percent compatible with Android SDK tools and Studio.
• This multi-platform emulator lets developers test their websites in several Android browsers right from their Linux system.

 

 

Or  use scrcpy to display and control your Android device from your computer.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

2 hours ago, raymac46 said:

Level 7 You run Linux but have Windows in a VM.

 

I'm right in the middle here between 7 and 8. I run Linux as a primary OS on all my machines, but have a dual-booted (installed on the rails) MS Windows 7 Enterprise on my main systems which has Networking disabled (no Internet access). I use it ONLY for gaming.

 

2 hours ago, raymac46 said:

Level 8 You run only Linux but use non-free blobs where FOSS alternatives exist (e.g. Nvidia proprietary graphics.)

 

[V.T. Eric Layton]

2 hours ago, securitybreach said:

Stallman is completely insane

 

There's a fine line between genius and insanity. RMS steps from one side of the line to the other every now and then.

[securitybreach]

22 minutes ago, V.T. Eric Layton said:

 

There's a fine line between genius and insanity. RMS steps from one side of the line to the other every now and then.

 

While he may been a genius at one time, that was a long time ago. Now he just rambles on about freedom while yelling about "getting off his lawn".

[V.T. Eric Layton]

He's gotten old. Now he's a senile genius.

[raymac46]

 

You are welcome to come stand on my lawn anytime. Bring your mukluks. 

[raymac46]

Probably should have inserted another level for Linux users who dual boot Windows - that would accommodate Eric. 

Seriously I'd be surprised if anybody here would be less than Level 6. I went straight there from my earliest days. Just never went any farther.

[Hedon James]

I think dual-booting qualifies as a 2nd machine.  A 2nd IDENTICAL machine, but still separate instances of Win and Lin.  Level 6...JMO...

[sunrat]

I refuse to be categorised by mere numbers.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

1 hour ago, sunrat said:

I refuse to be categorised by mere numbers.

 

You're the #1 Sunrat, though.

 

1 hour ago, Hedon James said:

I think dual-booting qualifies as a 2nd machine.  A 2nd IDENTICAL machine, but still separate instances of Win and Lin.  Level 6...JMO...

 

Nah... because level 6 states:

 

Level 6 You run Windows but run Linux on a separate machine.

 

This implies that Windows is the PRIMARY OS used. That's definitely NOT the case for me. The ONLY time Windows gets booted on my machine is to play S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Chernobyl (a mod of the original three games in the series). And lately, this hasn't been happening much. I haven't booted Windows in about three months, if I remember correctly.

 

So, there... JMO.

 

===

 

Edited: to correct my incorrect usage of the word "infer" in place of the corrected "imply", as per Fowler's Dictionary of Usage (1965):

 

 

Now you've learned something. It wasn't a wasted day.

[sunrat]

Nice work on the infer/imply dichotomy. (Haha now we have to look up "dichotomy").

 

I was most dismayed to install the new Harrison Mixbus 32C v6 on both Win 10 and AVLinux and find the GUI works much better on Win.   Freezes up with more than 2 plugins showing in AVL but I tested with 8 plugins open in Win with no problem. It's a known frustration with Mixbus/Linux/Nvidia judging from posts on the forums. Something to do with the Nvidia graphics card and OpenGL used for the plugin GUIs. And no, Nouveau is just as bad.

I'd really like to stay with Linux for audio work though, the backend is better.

So I'm the same arbitrary level number as Eric, I guess, #1 in my scale.   Linux for most stuff, dual-boot Win when needed. Can't be bothered with Wine or Steam though, I only have about 2 games on Win, which I hardly play lately anyway, Ace Combat 7 and NFS: Most Wanted (2012 version).

[Hedon James]

3 hours ago, sunrat said:

I refuse to be categorised by mere numbers.

 

I am not a number, I am a FREE man!  \m/

 

 

[abarbarian]

On 2/28/2020 at 11:56 PM, Hedon James said:

 

I am not a number, I am a FREE man!  \m/

 

 

 

 

 

 

The big black limousine you see in the opening few minutes is a Austin Princess Van Den Plas. I used to own one. The Queen owned the first two that were built.

Edited August 11, 2021 by abarbarian

[sunrat]

@abarbarian - you don't need to add the media tags anymore, just paste the URL of the youtoob video and the forum backend will do the rest.

 

While we're talking about levels of user, I just shot back to n00b new explorer big time. Doing major purging and cleanups, deleted my thunderbird profile and recent backups. I found an old backup from ~18 months ago so most of my accounts and filters were restorable, but hundreds of emails are gone. Somehow feels good actually! Very zen.

[abarbarian]

7 minutes ago, sunrat said:

@abarbarian - you don't need to add the media tags anymore, just paste the URL of the youtoob video and the forum backend will do the rest.

 

https://youtu.be/osNmf_zmSyE

 

Maybe in your universe !

 

Edited February 29, 2020 by abarbarian

[sunrat]

 

I just copied and posted that out of your message. Something weird at your end maybe? Our intrepid admins will know how to sort it out for sure!

[abarbarian]

38 minutes ago, sunrat said:

 

Something weird at your end maybe?

 

I know I am a little odd , but , wierd !!

 

[raymac46]

 Seems to work here.

[securitybreach]

3 hours ago, sunrat said:

While we're talking about levels of user, I just shot back to n00b new explorer big time. Doing major purging and cleanups, deleted my thunderbird profile and recent backups. I found an old backup from ~18 months ago so most of my accounts and filters were restorable, but hundreds of emails are gone. Somehow feels good actually! Very zen.

 

That sucks but at least you had a backup (albeit an old one)

[sunrat]

52 minutes ago, securitybreach said:

 

That sucks but at least you had a backup (albeit an old one)

 Yes indeed and mails are still on the servers so I can find them if absolutely necessary. The old profile didn't have the pretty Phoenity Icons add-on so I had to install them again.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

5 hours ago, sunrat said:

Something weird at your end maybe?

 

I'm not sure what's going on. I don't see the vid when he posts the link, but do see it when anyone else posts it. Strange.

 

6 hours ago, sunrat said:

deleted my thunderbird profile and recent backups.

 

Ah... that would be monumentally catastrophic for me. I have calendar data and emails going back decades in my T-bird Profile. This is why I have it backed up in triplicate (mirrored drive, archived drive, DVD copy). Zen or not, I would cry if I lost that Profile.

 

5 hours ago, abarbarian said:

I know I am a little odd , but , wierd !!

 

Weird in a good way, you mean? Maybe a few alternate personalities in the mix?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Bloodaxe

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Testing video post...

 

 

Hmm... works for me. I used the link in the browser's address window, not the generated "Share" link when you click that button. Maybe that's a difference. Let's test...

 

Video with link from Share button on YouTube:

 

 

Umm... well, that works, too.

 

I guess there's just something weird about Erik after all.