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   josef (jk@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 06-Apr-2025 19:21:41 JST josef

   on Linux, is there a way to switch off "Tamagotchi Mode"? specifically i mean the thing where you set up linux exactly how you want, and every 2 weeks you run package updates and some obscure part of your system which you didn't even know existed now no longer works the way you set it up, and you have to spend 90 minutes fixing it, and it's always a different thing, and this happens every 2 weeks, forever. how do you switch that off? (ideally in a way where it won't switch back on after 2 weeks)

   • Polychrome :blabcat: and gidi like this.
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     josef (jk@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 06-Apr-2025 19:22:02 JST josef

     in reply to

     i know a lot of linux fans get a lot of fun out of tending to their linux's daily needs, but i just want it to run programs and keep working the same way i originally set it up, without waking up on a regular basis to "sound output menu no longer selects correct sound output" or "desktop icon spacing now broken" or "SMB share which worked fine for the last 18 months no longer connects" or "your favorite font now has the wrong kerning" or "bluetooth xbox controller used to work... used to"

     gidi likes this.
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     josef (jk@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 06-Apr-2025 19:22:22 JST josef

     in reply to

     of course, since package updates are causing these problems, i've tried the obvious solution: just don't update packages. this goes about as well as ignoring your tamagotchi: eventually the system shits itself to death. depending on your chosen distro, you either become unable to install new programs at all until you agree to upgrade all the others, or if you wait too long, you get so out of sync that the package manager itself gets confused and tries to destroy your OS instead of upgrading it

     gidi likes this.
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     josef (jk@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 06-Apr-2025 19:22:46 JST josef

     in reply to

     it's very difficult to explain to linux people that, i have a folder called "Software" with loads of nested subfolders containing programs, tools, games, etc, many of which are more than 20 years old. occasionally i need one of these programs, maybe once every few years, and i go in there and click on the .exe and it works instantly. next to the .exe are dlls, which are also 20 years old. no package manager needed. the whole thing works great - on Windows, and of course, on WINE

     gidi likes this.
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     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Monday, 07-Apr-2025 00:18:28 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     @jk patches welcome 😉

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     Alexandre Oliva (lxo@snac.lx.oliva.nom.br)'s status on Monday, 07-Apr-2025 06:00:49 JST Alexandre Oliva

     in reply to

     • Martin Owens :inkscape:
     there's no escaping the cost of fighting decay/bitrot and of keeping up with a changing landscape. the progress of entropy is unavoidable. one way people go about it is by outsourcing control, but that is a losing proposition: it costs them freedom and agency, and sooner or later that which seemed to serve them becomes that which they serve, because they've become dependent on what others control and benefit from. IMHO the right answer to alleviate that burden is community: find or form one that shares your preferences, and then you can divide the efforts to keep things working the way you and others in the community like. the more you steer away from the community standards, the more you have to bear the cost by yourself, whereas the more you share goals and preferences with the community, the stronger the community gets and the lighter the burden is on each member.
     
     CC: @doctormo@floss.social
     
     翠星石 likes this.
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     josef (jk@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 07-Apr-2025 06:00:50 JST josef

     in reply to

     • Martin Owens :inkscape:

     @doctormo when i was younger, i loved how so much free software was, well, free-as-in-beer. i didn't value my time that much, so it kinda worked out. but nowadays i'd absolutely pay for a really polished distro that offered a cohesive, stable experience, with guaranteed software and hardware compatibility and some degree of included support

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     Martin Owens :inkscape: (doctormo@floss.social)'s status on Monday, 07-Apr-2025 06:00:51 JST Martin Owens :inkscape:

     in reply to

     @jk

     Good thread.

     #foss often feels like the software of Theseus, except the onboard shipwrite is a kid who has to do all the carpentry because no one else will help, so things keep falling off as we sail.

     And I say that as someone constantly glueing bits of #inkscape back together after every release. The complexity begs for a hundred times the paid labour, but our economic proposition doesn't provide enough resource to staff things properly.

     #PayForFreeSoftware