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  • 16 Comments
Joined 11 months ago
Cake day: July 30th, 2023
  • jordanlund@lemmy.worldtoLinux@lemmy.ml•Is there any way to turn my Linux machine into a docking station?
    16·
    27 days ago

    I guess I’m not understanding the question…

    You have a laptop connected to a docking station.

    You have linux PC connected to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

    You want to use the same monitor, keyboard and mouse on both machines? Switching between the two?

    The monitor is the easy part, lots of monitors have multiple inputs, so you put the Linux PC on one input and the laptop dock on the other. Switch video inputs using the buttons on the monitor.

    The keyboard and mouse would be tricky without a KVM switch. In theory, with a wireless keyboard and mouse, you could connect it to both machines, but you’d run the risk of using one and sending garbage data to the other if both were turned on at the same time.

    I’d just get a KVM, that’s what they’re there for.

  • jordanlund@lemmy.worldtoLinux@lemmy.ml•Stop being elitist, spread Linux!
    2·
    4 months ago

    I don’t know that you can learn “all of them”, there are new ones popping up all the time.

    I started with Unix in 1988 because I wanted to play on the Internet and back then you either learned Unix or you didn’t go.

    Unix is interesting because when Bell labs came up with it, they were told “Look, you can have a monopoly in the telecommunications industry, or you can have a monopoly in the computer industry, PICK ONE.”

    So they picked the telecom industry, but at the same time they went “Hey, here’s this computer OS, see what you all can do with it!”

    So you ended up with Unix System V, HP-UX, Irix, BSD Unix, and so on and so on. They were all Unix but all also a little bit different.

    Roll forward to the early 90s and Linus Torvalds going “Hey! Imma make my own Unix!” and then THAT splintered into all the Linux variants we have today.

    When the early days of Linux happened, my reaction was “Well, I already learned Unix, how hard could this be?” :)

    The problem was, there was no easy way to collect everything you needed for an install, so I waited until someone put out a CD with all the files I needed, I think that was 1993? 1994? Something like that.

    Anyway, my first was Slackware. Since then, I can’t tell you how many I’ve used. Different situations call for different things. I was a Redhat admin for awhile. I installed YellowDog on a PS3 for fun. MacOS X is not Linux, but it’s underpinnings are based on BSD Unix so it’s kind of a kissing cousin. Apple does a lot of goofy shit, but it’s not insurrmountable if you know Unix.

    My certifications were done around 2000/2001 through a company called SAIR and I’m not even sure they exist anymore. They got absorbed into Thomson Learning in 2002.

    It was a great experience though. Wouldn’t trade it for anything. I made some good money administering Avaya Definity and Intuity phone systems running Unix.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avaya

  • jordanlund@lemmy.worldtoLinux@lemmy.ml•Stop being elitist, spread Linux!
    2·
    5 months ago

    I’ve been using Linux for 30 years now, certified to teach it and everything… Here’s your problem:

    “Stop telling people it’s ‘tech-y’”

    Compared to Windows or MacOS, yes, it is very techy.

    “offer to help them install.” - If they need your help to install it they absolutely have no business running Linux.

    “They don’t understand the concept of distros” - If they have no understanding of distros, they have no business running Linux.

    Think of it like this… if they can’t wrap their head around a distro, what’s going to happen when you try explaining a package manager?

    I get the evangelism, but Linux simply is not for everyone, that’s why Apple invented iPads.