I’m not stuck in time. I’ve embraced dependability.
Pic needs a Glock 19
Judging by this posi I should probably start using Debian stable
honestly man…it’s not a bad decision. I for a long time didn’t give Debian the time of day. Now i’m daily driving OpenBSD and I use a Debian VM on it for certain dev work (mainly builds and deploys) and then on my second NVME I first went with Bazzite to do gaming but then I changed my mind and was like “meh, debian” and it’s solid. it’s good. it stays out of my way for what I want to do on it which isn’t much.
It’s a decent distro that’s just kinda there and you don’t have to worry about it.
Except the NVIDIA drivers are 40 versions behind and break every time the kernel updates.
It’s perfect for my 8 year old laptop
The Nvidia driver in the Debian repos is virtually abandoned, though thankfully the Cuda repos hosted by Nvidia support Debian now, and give Debian users access to the latest drivers, like 610.
I enabled this repo last week on Debian 13 (RTX4080). While it technically works, I’d say it’s not without risks for those not a little familiar with linux.
It first required some fiddling cause the file that is supposed to blacklist Nouveau on boot was renamed by apt as .save or something as a result of the package upgrades, so the system just started loading Nouveau instead of the new driver. Fixing this got me further, as the 610 proprietary driver finally loaded.
Sarting my usual plasma X11 session didn’t work though. It launched but didn’t display shit (grey boxes instead of windows and taskbar basically).
Having also plasma wayland available from sddm, I tried to launch this session and it got me a working desktop. So I ended settling with this. Wayland used to be crap on my system, but with this recent NVIDIA drivers, it’s usable. My only real complaint is the extra latency on the mouse cursor.
I also had some difficulty getting it working on my rig, and I’m not a big fan if Debian’s documentation, as it often does assume knowledge, which makes it harder to follow along and feel confident you’re doing the correct steps.
Ultimately I switched my only Nvidia system to standard Linux Mint to have access to their easy to use Nvidia driver installer, which makes upgrading or downgrading the driver a 1-click process (though it requires a third party PPA done by a canonical employee to access the latest 610 drivers).
Just wait until the kernel updates.
I assumed using the repository instead of installing via the .run file would make the driver survive the next kernel upgrade, but time will tell.
It does, but it’s very far behind
My hardware is about 43 versions behind, so… we good. Kinda. Waiting for that bubble to pop.
I’m so glad it’s not just me that’s had this lol. My laptop blackscreened after a house move and when I saw the GPU was offline I thought it didn’t survive the journey.
Wait, openbsd can run debian vms?
Why wouldn’t it be able to if it supports virtualization? Probably could run Windows VMs if you wanted to.
vmm used to only support openbsd as guest os iirc, I guess it has added linux support.
yup very easy to setup too. it’s a VERY basic netinstall of Debian. but right now I have it to run builds, deploy, and even have nix on there to do some nixos stuff.
Where’s your 25 year old leather belt that has wear marks near every hole? Documenting your progression into middle age like tree rings.
No 20 year old belt. But I do have a set of 20 year old suspenders or galluses if you prefer. I wear suspenders because I have a very large surgical scar from a ruptured appendix years ago. Belt are very irritating to wear.
What the fuck? Who’s been taking pictures of my stuff?
I went from cutting edge tech excited nerd to literally this picture, and life is better.
Me too, friend. Generational leaps were so cool when I was a kid. Now that I’m in my thirties, I just see it all as a rent-a-spy.
At this point, even my printer is suspect. It stays unplugged until it’s needed.
But the phone? It’s a shame the telephone is always listening.
I used to be so excited about a everything-digital during my teenage years. Now I look at my mechanical tools with joy, and become suspicious of anything not having an open firmware.
Best part is even when you do a major version update, Debian still doesn’t break your shit. At least it never has with me. Can’t say the same for most other ditros I’ve tried.
I do use Debian stable and I do still use a calculator like that and a wallet I repaired many times.
If they’re still working just fine, why replace them?
Here’s my actual wallet.
I bought it for $25 in 2009 and have carried it every day since. The fabric in the cash pocket has separated from the leather and the plastic window for my photo ID is missing. My wife told me I should buy a new one since this one’s so worn. I said, “Why? It still works perfectly.” Not a knock against her. We just have different ideas about the meaning of durability.
Literally a fossil.
Are you calling them a fossil, or the wallet?
This was my husband. He only bought a new one because he wanted one of the metal ones that just hold cards, that you can stick on the back of your phone. I spent 15 years with him before that, and he’d had the wallet at least 7 years when we met.
“Genuine fossil classic” just makes it better
Similar, but I’ve had mine since 1996. It’s Kenneth Cole brand. It’s amazing how well it’s held up.
I looked at replacing it a few years ago, but couldn’t find one with the same features.
The Debian Stable lifestyle is appealing to me more and more every day now
I drive an older model manual transmission acura and use a 1980s style programmable thermostat with no smart features or connectivity. Use Debian stable with KDE. Checks out
I use arch linux and drive a 2001 sebring i found abandoned. My internet is a hotspot and i have 3 powerstrips hooked into a single outlet
Sir, please step away from the everything.
“I’m in this picture and it’s quite OK here.”
My car is a 20 year old shitbox, my bike gets new brake pads and a bit of random lubricant on the chain once a year and other “maintenance” only when parts fall off, and my stereo is a mix of hand me downs from my dad’s college days and some eBay home theatre stuff that got sold because it didn’t support the newest HDMI bullshit.
Oh, and of course it is a Thinkpad, thanks for asking.
Just the other day, a friend of mine running Arch tried to install something, which resulted in him having to do a full system update, including fixing several “that should not happen” s. Meanwhile, every few years I spend an evening update to the newest stable, and never had bigger issues than the color of some icon being unfamiliar.
What?!
You haven’t bowed to the gods of built-in obsolescence?! How dare you!?Man I always hear about these people who have to fix random that should not happen things. Yet I haven’t had that problem in a decade of using rolling distros.
While ever time I’ve ever had a fixed release cycle distro update it implodes. What black magic fuckery is this.
I guess it depends on how much you can abuse or ignore it. Debian works just fine if you put it in a locker for 3 years and then try to update. With gentoo, if you didn’t update for a week, you might as well reinstall :)
Arch is somehow in the middle, I had an arch VM that never had any problems except that certificate issue despite not getting many updates.
Different colored icon? Literally unusable! Time to distro hop
/jk
I feel like when humble-bragging Thinkpad it must be one of the models that became a Linux enthusiast meme.
Nah, L390 Yoga. I wanted touch because i thought I’d use it, but it ended up in a docking station most of the time anyway. Upgraded RAM and SSD, battery still hold “a few hours” despite being 7+ years old. I figured those 8th gen quad cores would last a while, and so far, they do. Doesn’t feel too terrible compared to my modern core u 235 work laptop.
I don’t have a Thinkpad myself. I do have a 10 year old Acer Aspire V3-372T. It’s a perfectly cromulent laptop. I use it to listen to podcasts and YouTube. I check my emails sometimes. I check weather.gov. I have a copy of my music library. I write my personal budgets. It has a touchscreen that I never use. I get around just fine.
One day, I’ll either get a Thinkpad or a Framework.
Perfectly fine if it does what it should. That is imo the essence of this post: Better is the enemy of good. I wouldn’t buy a new one (again), this one was a bit of an exception (customer return, with a little scratch), since used touch laptops with good performance were quite rare.
I have damn near everything in this photo except it’s a 91 Honda accord and I don’t have a PS2, I have an original Wii. I feel suspiciously called out.
My real car is a 97 Honda Prelude, and yes, it is a manual. When my 2012 Civic had a dead starter motor, that Prelude was my daily driver for six months until the weather cooled off enough to actually do the job.
The Prelude is definitely more of a project/weekend car. Every car guy knows you never project your daily, but I feel pretty comfy dailying my project lol
Prelude is a sick car. Always fond of them and CRXs. 90s Honda/Nissan,Toyota were something else man.
RIP couch level comfort.
I’ve got nothing but love for the Mazda NB Miata and the MX-6. The Subaru SVX was also dope.
Nissan is easy to glaze because the S13 is probably the most sought out neoclassic car that isn’t the GT-R or Supra, but so much of their other stuff from the time gets overlooked. Like the Sentra SE-R or the Pulsar. The S-Cargo is my favorite because the joke is so layered. It’s a cargo van that looks like a snail, and its name is pronounced escargot.
It’s so cute, and I love it.
Thank you for this trivia! Such a cool car!
The coolest car I ever owned was an 81 VW Rabbit with a naturally aspirated diesel paired with a four speed manual. Was a dream of a vehicle and only broke down on me once.
I’ll always miss driving a cool retro car but I can’t justify it with my wife’s safety now a concern.
Dude, that GE clock is the best, that watch is also solid af. Plus look at all those nice old receivers, I bet they sound great.
Also what’s the hate on the tire gauge? Does another kind exist other than a slide stick? Does another fancier kind even need to exist?
Stick pressure gauges are bad.
Bourdon pressure gauges are the only pressure gauge to get. (Not bourdon brand but one that uses what is known as a bourdon tube).
They are analogue AND reliable over the long term.
Gonna have to check these out. Unfortunately for my wife, now I have a reason to go to the hardware store lol
That’s cool looking, I’ll look into those
Yeah these are great. I’ve had one for years now without issue and they’re accurate.
Also what’s the hate on the tire gauge? Does another kind exist other than a slide stick? Does another fancier kind even need to exist?
Allow me to present this abomination:
Why make a tire pressure gauge that needs batteries? Oh just what I want, to pull my bulky ass tire gauge out of my glove compartment and find it’s got corroded dead ass batteries cause it’s been sitting in there for a year untouched.
Beats me.
But it’s definitely a thing that exists. I, unfortunately, got one as a birthday present once, way back when. Used it maybe once or twice, then went back to a normal slide gauge and haven’t touched it since.
Consistency. You can take 3 readings in a row with that stick and get 3 wildly different results. I have a $20 digital one from decades ago that gives me the same reading within 5kPa on each try.
That’s mostly a quality and skill issue. People cheap out and buy low quality gages. My 40 year old stick gage is as accurate as is needed and very repeatable in my hands. And it measures up to 150psi.
And remember, this stuff isn’t that accurate anyway. It just good enough and that’s it.
deleted by creator
The battery died in mine.
I have one of those in my glovebox. I think I bought it in 2003. My 2003 manual jap econobox has no need for TPMS. If a tyre is 30kPa too low, you can feel it.
They exist with a round dial as well. Personally I don’t measure my tire pressure, ever. My car will tell me if one is low, and I’d go to a gas station to fill them to spec. Although lately I got a little compressor which goes in the cigarette lighter, which just lets you enter the desired pressure. I use that for the car, bikes, footballs and whatever else needs to be pumped to a given pressure.
Found a compact dial gauge version and it’s so much better than those stupid sticks.
I’m in this picture and quite frankly it’s a great place to be. Everything either just works, I know how to fix it, or I at least know what is broken and not worth fixing.
Though that is a terrible style of air pressure gauge. Get a good dial one with the tube.
Or the tutorial written for Ubuntu users works without having to think about different package managers
Y’all seem cool as hell, you should leave your basement so we can meet sometime.
The Toyota XV10 Camry is the best car ever produced and that’s a hill I’m willing to die on.
I feel at home in this photo. My beard has turned 1% more gray this blessed night.
The key differences I have come from the fact that I am drawn to the “chief engineer turned goose farmer” future even more than the “greybeard recluse inventor” one. I
get to use a Debian machine at work all day anyway, plus of course the home PC runs it. With KDE there is nothing that feels old about it unless I check when the kernel was released.
My car isn’t THAT old but it’s on its way. I drive an almost 15 year old mazda3, which we have owned for all of those years. I just did my biggest-yet DIY maintenance/repair when I had to replace some disintegrated-yet-seized brake hoses in addition to pads and rotors and flushing the fluid. In my driveway, no garage. I got a bunch of new wrenches and vise grips!
The mazda is an automatic since we originally bought it for my wife. But it was right after the company debuted the Skyactiv stuff. Among other things like great fuel efficiency, that means the transmission locks up the torque converter as often as possible. And it has manual shift mode. So when you’re in gear holding some mid-range RPM, you do still feel that direct powertrain connection between engine and wheels.
Part of me is casually keeping tabs on the “fun” new car models out there that still offer a manual transmission or DCT. But another part of me is constantly noting to self how I already have a nearly perfect old familiar car that is fun and practical for the whole family. It has low mileage for the age and a good maintenance history. And it is $FREE versus $30,000+.
Aside from the car difference, I have cast off a bunch of little devices and accessories thanks to my conscious efforts to be less connected and more about experiencing life at my natural pace. I no longer wear a watch, ever, even though I definitely have the chunky leather wallet. Also no glowing visible clocks in the bedroom or family room. And no big stereo because 95% of my music listening is via headphones at work or working outside in my yard.
My man.
Most of my listening is also done over headphones, and I admit that my library is all in mp3 format. As much as I love optical media, it’s because I can rip my discs to my machine in whatever quality and format I want, then never have to handle them again unless all my copies are deleted. This preserves the discs.
I have a portable CD player from, and I use the term portalble liberally because while it can accept six AA batteries for a power source, it also has no anti-skip because it was made in 1991.
But what I love about this thing is how much of an occasion it makes the listening experience. Handling the discs carefully so as not to smudge or scratch them. Waiting for it to spin up and start playing. And just sitting there and intentionally listening to it. It’s kind of magical. Even more so with a decent set of cans and a dark room.
Mazda3 is an excellent car to have. My brother used to have an '08 Mazda3 hatch until it was totaled by a drunk driver. He wasn’t in the car. It was parked on the side of the road. Really cool car, and the 2.3 is probably one of the most underrated engines out there. They really pack a punch.
I don’t necessarily have a thing against automatics. My beef is more with the fact that manuals aren’t really an option anymore. I said in another comment that my real cars are a '97 Honda Prelude and a '12 Civic. I did daily the Prelude for six months when the starter died in my Civic, but the Prelude is really only a weekend car because it does maybe 25 mpg and takes premium fuel. My Civic does 40 without trying and E10 costs about $1.40 less per gallon where I am. My Civic is an auto, and I’m fine with it. Automatic just feels boring to me. I really enjoy having something to do with all four limbs at once.
If I ever feel like dropping money on a newer car, I’ve always loved the idea of a manual midsize sedan. I know the Accord could be had with a six speed manual all the way until like 2021, which is bonkers to me since Toyota stopped making the manual Camry in 2006. I think my only other option in this very specific segment is a BMW 3-series, and I just can’t picture myself in a Bimmer.
Anything brakes is always so stressful. If anything else fails, you can probably still get the 3,000 pound metal death box to stop. But if your BRAKES fail? Yeah, just pull the hand brake and try not to cry too much. I basically rebuilt the rear brakes on my Civic last month. It has 147,000 miles on it and was running on original brake shoes. And because I’d waited until they started grinding, the drums couldn’t be resurfaced, either. So I went all in and got new hardware and cylinders, too. I’d so much rather do disc brakes than drum brakes. Those springs are such a pain, and Honda made them really weird. Not to mention my hammer was entirely too small for the job of literally beating the brakes off the thing lol 2012 was the last year the Civic LX had drum brakes of any kind. I’m fine with drums. They really do last forever if you’re not a monster on the brake pedal. I’m just glad I won’t be doing brake shoes again for at least another 7-10 years.
My wife points out every new gray hair in my beard. One day, there will be so many new ones at once that she’ll have to stop counting. For now, it’s really cute. I love it.
MY man!
First, I appreciate that your comment is even longer than mine AND came with the multimedia.
I totally get what you mean about it being an occasion to listen to music with the old equipment. I had at least one portable CD player with no anti-skip. So not only can I feel some of that experience just through nostalgia, but then I start thinking about nerdy little kid me getting a player with anti-skip. It had a clear window on the lid, so I could see how the disc spun at 2x speed for while when starting a song or causing skips. I started to understand how it was filling a buffer and must have had a bit of extra RAM in there. And now middle aged me monitors and controls engine RPM all the time in my automatic car, lol.
On listening to MP3s, I see no issue there, but I have always been more of a videophile and less of an audiophile. However, I have also transitioned away from locally stored music, to just streaming from my Jellyfin server. Thanks to that practically eliminating audio size concerns, I just use FLACs of everything.
As high tech as that sounds, the server capacity also helps me discover music in the old-fashioned & natural way rather than algorithmically. When I realize I am missing some song I want, I will add as much of that band’s entire discography as I have available. Then it’s just a question of whether I listen to albums or random songs. Any songs that noticeably stroke my neurons the right way gets added to my single playlist of bangers, for when I don’t want random or albums.
Finally, a manual transmission midsize sedan can still be had in a few non-BMW forms. I have actually been researching current fun-transmission new cars even though I don’t plan to buy anything any time soon. Most of them will be performance oriented models that recommend premium, but most seem to be able to run regular these days with just reduced max hp. So just going off memory for now:
Civic Si - This might be your best bet. High fuel economy, great 6-speed, well equipped, well priced. I think it’s in the Car & Driver top 10, with a 10/10 score, alongside the Type R which is like $20K more.
Mazda3 hatchback - ok it’s not a sedan, but for some reason you can get a specific premium trim level of the hatchback with a really good 6-speed. It’s also a FWD 2.5L that recommends regular unleaded.
Elantra N: 6-speed manual and 8-speed DCT available. Seems like an extremely fun performance bargain. Lots of tech and adjustability, including fancy LSD.
WRX: 6-speed AND full time AWD. I had one long ago and loved it. It isn’t regarded as being quite as aggressive and refined as the Si and the N these days I think, but it’s definitely a great all around vehicle and you aren’t stuck with FWD if that matters to you.
As a person old enough to have driven manuals from 3 on the tree to 4 and 5 speeds, to 4x2, 5x2, 5x3 and 5x4 double sticks, 10 speeds and 13 speeds. Rowing your own gears is highly over rated. And even worse in stop and go driving.
And I use Kinonite on a mini desktop.